Hiking his way up from Red Oak to New York City had been a hell of a time. Being unable to get into a car and hitchhike properly made for a long journey, but all it took was a single day's travel after pushing himself to move faster (like Kessler did) and after delving a little into Kuo's powers. While he could move pretty far with a quick ice launch, he'd been trying to learn how to fly like she had. Cole thought he'd done it once, but hadn't been able to replicate it sinceβnor did he really feel like trying, especially not after nearly flying right into a small lake.
At least there'd been a few train tracks here and there that he was able to cheat on. That made the travel a hell of a lot faster.
Still, he was here now, in New York City! Manhattan, to be specific. There was a lot that was different, but there was so much that was familiar too. One of which being Zeke's apartment building, and thusly, the roof the two of them had taken to living on during the quarantine. After climbing up it, thankful that the darkness of night obscured what he was doing, he got up and stared at it for a long, long time. There were even mannequins on top of it, like some sort of cosmic joke. The chain link fence, couch, and television, however, were all missing. All the signs of Zeke's presence beyond those mannequins were gone, but it was still so familiar.
Walking to where Zeke had set that ugly ass couch, Cole sat himself down in the exact spot to simply close his eyes and pretend it was all still there for another incalculably long time. Hours must've passed before he finally felt composed enough to text Cas. The guy could fly and move faster than Cole could even comprehend, so he could be here in an instant! And sure enough, as soon as he got to his feet and sent the text off, Cas was there.
Turning to face the shorter man, Cole greeted him with a grin as he tucked the phone back where it belonged and said, "I wanted to show you this." Opening his arms out wide to motion the whole city, he specifically meant the roof they were on. "For a while I wasn't sure it'd be here, but this building? It's exactly the same as where I come from. Empire City and New York City got plenty of differences. But this place, right here... it's the same."
Looking it all over again, a small laugh of pure wonder coming from him as he did so, Cole soon added, "I can't even believe it. I spent a month of my life stuck on this roof, hiding away from everyone who thought I was some kind of freak. My friend Zeke set us up here to keep everyone else at bay."