Cassie Scott in the flesh. Honestly, he thought he'd never see her again. The mission into space was a Rachel-esque move, it was risky, no one else was going to do it but Jake couldn't sit back knowing that their friend-in-arms was out there somewhere. The possibilities of what could be happening to Aximili were.. well, terrifying, and Jake was never one to just sit idle on such thoughts. His last meeting with Cassie.. It played through his head like a bad record. Things weren't horrible, but they weren't great either. Regardless, seeing her now, seeing her face.. It was easy to push away fears and worries. This was Cassie, the ever sweet one of their group, the one who could turn any storm into a beautiful art piece of natural life. She was an anchor, and right now, Jake felt anything but grounded in this world.
"Hello," he offered politely in return, stepping inside her apartment when she let him in. "That's okay, gives us a few minutes to talk." When it came to Jake, at least, his older self, there were more formalities now than ever before. The military training, the lifestyle of forever being at war... It took a toll on someone so young. No longer was he just a teenager, not with what they'd all been through, and not with what he kept doing with his life. His hair was slightly unkempt, and the stubble on his face spoke volumes of his restlessness over the past.. well, time didn't seem too relevant, he wasn't exactly keeping track of it.
He should have started the conversation with something cordial like, 'You look good,' or 'mighty fine place you have here,' but, he couldn't. With Jake, it was all business and no play. "How long have you been here?" Judging by her height, her hair, and even her eyes, she looked to be around the same age, so it made him wonder if they were all taken to this place at the same time. Add in the Rachel-factor, though, and that theory spiraled out of reality because Rachel was dead. He sent her to to death, he witnessed her death. She did not return from that mission and yet someone online was claiming to be her, someone from SHIELD was insistent that his cousin was alive. No matter what his training now held, he knew he wasn't prepared to see her again. Having Cassie around was the only thing that was going to keep his mind from exploding.
"And the Yeerks? They aren't here? Just a fictional entity?" Yeah, he spent the majority of his time on Google thanks to the suggestion of a fellow named Sam.