Chapter 1

"So, what happened this week?"

"Nothing."

Sigh. "Come on, Lorraine, you keep on telling me the same story for two years now."

She wasn't into this, no. To be honest, she hated doctors. Their presence made her nervous and scared and yet she kept on seeing this one. He wasn't anything special - he had watery, small eyes hiding under silver bushy eyebrows. He was overweight sixty year old man in a nice suit along with expensive tie. His hair was short and white as snow, splashed with dark here and there, just like his short beard. Wrinkles were around his eyes and on his wide, smart forehead. He looked like her grandfather.

"Well", she started quietly, putting a wisp of her straight dark brown hair behind her ear, "we have this one project..." Her blue eyes met his and she crushed her bottom lip, now putting her hands on her knees. She inhaled and exhaled. She just wasn't feeling good around doctors of any kind.

"Let's get from the start, shall we?", doctor Flag said, his deep voice grumbling just like always. His eyes looked up at her and she managed to crack a shy smile in embarrassment, revealing a charming gap between her two front teeth. It quickly disappeared, though. "How was your week?"

Lorraine shrugged. "Same as always, I guess", she replied with a slight frown. "I passed those tests I studied hard for and..." maybe she shouldn't mention it. After all, all they did was laugh and call her weird. Not that she couldn't defend herself, she was just bothered: why do they always have to pick on the quiet ones? "Some people from my class took my notebook today."

The doctor wrote something down at his few sheets of paper. "Uh-huh, I see", he murmured. He glanced back up at her. "And how did you react?"

"I managed to tell them to get it back", she replied without emotions. Those were her poems, not something to joke around with. Words written there came from the depths of her heart, mirroring her emotions perfectly, just like nothing else could. She swallowed and decided to continue since Flag never looked away. "And of course, they read it. It was obvious it was a romantic poem, but they couldn't actually see about who", she added quickly and looked at the floor.

She heard when the pen stopped going over the paper. "It was about Loki, wasn't it?"

Blushing deeply, Lorraine managed to pull her shoulders closer to her chest, gripping her knees tighter. She wished she could disappear. It wasn't a bad thing, doctor Flag told her that when she first told him (she almost cried). That was only her way to find peace and comfort after that stressful period. Many people do so, and she wasn't the only one. That made her slightly better, but she couldn't shake it off. She saw the way he looked at her and she could imagine how he told his wife or his colleagues about a girl that was in love with a fictional character. And they'd all laugh at her. It always made her palms to clench into fists.

The leather chair sighed with relief when doctor Flag got out of it. "Come, I want to show you something."

Getting up, she did her best to take her bag wit her. They left his small office and headed down the hallway in apricot color. She couldn't stand that color. The carpet was a horrible shade of brown, reminding her of mud. Few plants were here and there, some of them barely even alive. Questioning if he was going to take her somewhere else made her scared. She wasn't really comfortable being alone with men, not since what happened. To be polite, she continued being silent and looked up at the man when he cleared his throat.

"You see, Lorraine, I've been interested in science ever since I could walk. My father thought it would be good if I become a doctor and I did that just to satisfy him. I never stopped working along with silence, you know. Always projects, always testing, always something to keep me busy..."

He was always open with her, maybe even too much for her taste. She surely reminded him of his granddaughter. Or it was something of other matter...she cringed with that thought and quickly pushed it away, disgusted.

"...and so, considering that many people would like to get away from reality we live in, me and my friends - all of them crazy and committed enough to do something like that - created a machine", he looked down at her to see if she was listening. When he was sure, he smirked. He didn't speak until they reached the elevator. As soon as the door closed behind them, he continued, "It's not just an ordinary machine. It's the one that can transport one to universe by will."

Blinking couple of times, she raised a brow. "Isn't that a little bit of too science fiction-ish?" She didn't believe a word he was saying. It was obviously a lie. That maybe was possible, but it would take a lot of time for something like that.

Doctor Flag nodded and pursed his bottom lip. "Yes, it is. You don't believe me?"

"No", she almost whispered.

That made him smirk. Another hallway with those horrible walls and disgusting carpet. Lorraine wondered who was designing these places. They entered into another office, but this was rather big. Gray, monotone sky was painted on the walls splashed with large raindrops. There was a woman with short red hair sitting at the computer, and she looked up immediately. Her eyes were the same shade as whiskey.

"Miss. Sean", doctor Flag said and Lorraine heard a smile in his voice. The woman smiled back - she couldn't be older than twenty five. "Can you please help us out with the project?"

Miss. Sean knit her perfect eyebrows together. "Sir, you mean..."

He nodded. "Yes, Miss. Sean, the project."

Lorraine saw how the woman glanced at her quickly, but long enough to notice every line of Lorraine's body. Now she was glad she wore a plaid shirt. It made her thinner. Miss. Sean nodded and left through the door they entered. Two of them followed her to the elevator. Button of the fourteenth floor lightened up as soon as Miss. Sean pressed it. Slightly confused and even more excited and also scared, Lorraine looked at her psychiatrist with worry on her pale face.

Glancing back down at her, he smirked kindly. "You still don't believe me?"

She was starting to. "No", she replied quietly.

The smirk never left his face. "It took us many years to finally finish that project. And when we did, we were happy. What we only need is someone to test it."

"So, me?", she asked even though she knew it was her. The look on his face was saying everything. That thought seemed terrifying. It invaded her brain and spread through her body like poison, so she could only exhale and again crush her lip. She pulled down longs sleeves of her shirt. This was pure nonsense. Something like that wasn't possible. If it was, everyone would build a machine like that already. Maybe it was something he imagined, one of his places to escape like she had poetry. Maybe Miss. Sean played along, but she showed no signs that this was all just a pretend.

What if it was real? What if it was completely real? What if she actually could meet somebody? What if she could meet Loki? Her stomach twirled just like every time she'd thing of him. Possibilities were great. She could also meet the Avengers, and many other people of Marvel. She could meet Natasha. Peter Parker. Deadpool. For a moment, euphoria filled her entire body, shaking it slightly. She forced herself to breathe steadily and deeply. She looked up at the old man with a serious face.

"I'll do it."

Grin danced on his lips and he exhaled, lifting his chin up like he was thanking somebody. When they reached the fourteenth floor, Lorraine was still trying to keep her euphoria under control. She only managed to wide her eyes as the elevator door opened. It was a dark room - dark, heavy curtain were covering wide windows, oddly looking machines were against the wall. Wires and wires were spreading over naked cement floor, all plugged into something with the same size as a suitcase. Next to it was something that looked like bed. It all smelled like oil, stiffed air and dust.

"Here", doctor Flag said and lead her to bed. Lorraine swallowed, now not so sure about all of this. She though it was all just a joke, that they were messing with her, but now...almost unwillingly, she putted her light brown bag with books from school on the ground next to bed. Once again she crushed her lips. Tightly holding the edges of her sleeves, she sat down. When doctor Flag told her to lay down, she froze, but did as told. It was rather uncomfortable and she swallowed hard, noticing that Miss. Sean was now touching one part of the wall that suddenly turned blue. It took her a moment to realize it actually was the screen.

"Will it hurt?", Lorraine asked, trying to make her voice strong, but failed.

"No", the doctor replied and put something on her temples. Then he looked in her eyes. "You can give up if you want to."

"No", she said harsher than she meant. She was still stiffed like a stick. "I want to do this, trust me." She was scared, but she wouldn't admit it. She tried to hide it.

"Here", the doctor said and gave her something she only saw in movies. She took it and then he wrapped something around her wrist. It was slightly itching. "That'll measure your heart beat and your pressure. You can put it on your chest. And this", he pointed at the white ribbon around her wrist, "will help you to get to your place." She nodded slightly confused and pressed the thing against her chest, glad that he didn't do it. When she laid down again, she could only hear the clicking. "This works like a dream. If something happens to you and you die, you'll wake up. If you don't die, then we'll wake you up."

She blinked and swallowed again, trying to make her throat less sore. "How?"

"With water", he simply replied. "Now, if you need some instructions, you have to find a woman called Andromeda Galaxy. In this case, she'll be at SHIELD's base. She'll tell you everything you need to know." He was again typing something she couldn't see, so she managed to sigh again. She glanced back at the blue screen on the wall (it looked like something from the Iron man movie) and did her best to not open her mouth in surprise.

"So, I guess that Thor will suit you-"

"No", she said. All of this was a complete nonsense, stupid and idiotic. Why was she lying there? Why was she even doing that? She should be at home, studying! "The Avengers."

He kept his glance on her for a moment. "Alright, then", he replied and nodded. It was obviously a sigh for Miss. Sean to do something. "Now just relax. You're safe here, I promise. You have an hour."

Closing her eyes gently, Lorraine wondered how was she supposed to relax. She couldn't do that even at home. She frowned slightly and did a series of breathing. It relaxed her kind of and she simply let her mind float. This was all stupid, and yet there she was, lying on some sort of uncomfortable bed with things attached to her head and chest, willingly waiting for an experiment to come to life, which it won't. Stupid. Why was she still there?

She again inhaled and exhaled, relaxing completely. Before she knew it, she was already asleep.