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The atmosphere was calm. Pandy was sitting in a giant tree as close to the top as she could get. She had been there for awhile now, at least an hour had passed since she got to the barren trunk. The area itself was rather desolate, save for a handful of trees akin to the ashen-colored one Pandy currently resided in, scattered about the field of dry dirt as if they were accidentally dropped from the hands some colossal space creature. The area was familiar in the worst way. It was the sorry excuse of a forest that surrounded the place she and Retro woke up before being arrested.
For the past... hour? Two hours? Three? Who knows how long. For a length of time, the stoic woman had her eyes fixed on the ever-cumbling moon in the sky. At least what she could make of it, that is. The air had been polluted to hell and back during the five years Pandy and the dumbasses had crash-landed back on earth, giving the sky a constant rusty red hue. The sudden lack of air quality was largely intentional, apparently. Something about a galactic defense against a space diety that showed up shortly after the three arrived back on earth. Pandy never really bothered herself with current affairs unless it was immediately threatening her situation. And even then, there were rare circumstances where - even if the face of danger - Pandy would remain unflinching.
These were one of those rare circumstances.
Deep down, somewhere in the barbed-wire pit of her heart, Pandy knew that Galactica had something to do with this whole ordeal. Hell, maybe the brat was the space diety threatening the earth. The gray-hair mockingly smirked at the idea, writing a headline in her head.
"BREAKING: 20-SOMETHING-YEAR-OLD SADIST WITH CRIPPLING DADDY ISSUES ASCENDS TO GODHOOD, CONTINUES BEING A TWAT TO EVERYONE SHE ENCOUNTERS".
"Yeah, that's one for the papers." Pandy thought to herself with a cocky grin. The idea of Galactica turning into some sort of pseudo-goddess was comical to the ex-prisoner.
It was also fucking terrifying.
Pandy broke her gaze from the red sky, the sight of the demolished prison sending a sudden pang of fear and anger through her very being. It wasn't that she was scared of Galactica possibly being the Mother of Armageddon (as that was what the colossal threat was dubbed via the internet). No, Pandy was not afraid of Galactica. She was afraid of Galactica's immaturity.
The girl was smart. If she wasn't, the prison wouldn't have ran nearly as efficiently as it did during those eight years of cryo-sleep. Not to mention the discoveries her old man left behind for her probably required a helluva lot of intelligence to even begin to decipher, let alone understand. Regardless of her violent lack of a moral compass, Galactica was anything but stupid.
But between the absolute power trip that the title as prison warden provided and the vast amounts of knowledge at her disposal, her ego was (and probably still is) inflated to hell and back. And, in the same way that ego led to the horror that was the Dead Leaves prison system, it would most likely also lead to the end of the world as well.
Pandy pinched the bridge of her nose, agitated by her train of thought. She didn't have time to be worrying about this shit. Nor the energy, or the will, or the ability to even care. She couldn't do anything. The government couldn't do anything. The world couldn't do anything. No one could do anything about the impending doom that it the giant catepillar-looking creature looming over the bottom of the Earth. What could anyone do, anyways? The only option is the same it's ever been. Keep going to work. Keep investing in whatever trend is floating about. Keep telling your loved one's that you're fine. Keep telling yourself that everything will be okay.
Keep lying to yourself.
With that, Pandy's phone went off. A call from the loudest TV known to man. "Oh yeah, forgot to tell them I was leaving," Pandy thought before accepting the call.
"WHERE ARE YOU???" Retro shrieked, his voice accompanied by a smoke alarm and a string of curses coming from Drill in the background.
Pandy grimaced at the possibilities of what the hell could've happened in that apartment. "I'm out in a field. Trying to clear my head."
"WELL CLEAR YOUR WAY BACK HERE BEFORE THE--" Retro suddenly paused, realizing where Pandy was. The speechless discomfort blanketed the phone call, memories of everything the two had been through flowing through the silence.
"I'll be there in 15. Don't kill yourselves."