Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.


Every morning, right when I wake up but before I open my eyes, I like to think of all of the people that I could potentially irritate if I got out of bed.

It's really the only thing motivating enough to get me to put pants on.

This moment in time; despite that I'm not lying in a bed and I currently have no idea what's going on or where I am, I took a few moments before I opened my eyes to inventory my list.

And what an… interesting list it is.

Number one on the list, is whoever shoved my off that platform this morning. Number two? Croc feet guy….I hate him so much. Number three? Whoever made me fall and hit my head. They're gonna get it. And Number four? Myself…for getting out of bed this morning. What a horrible idea THAT was.

After my list was unfortunately completed, I had no other recourse but to reluctantly open my eyes.

TWO sets of bright green irises stared down at me with deep interest, and I jerked into an upright position. They took a step back, still staring.

I took the opportunity to breathe deeply and catalog my injuries.

Just a splitting headache.

Awesome.

I gingerly massaged the huge lump on the back of my head that most likely accounted for my pain, and the guy in front of me winced.

Gotcha.

I turned pointedly towards the other set of green eyes, the female.

"Sorry about that." She apologized in a lightly accented voice, "My brother's not known for being…" She shot him a look, "gentle."

"I kinda got that." I grumbled, rubbing the back of my head a little harder. "What with the brain damage and all."

The guy scoffed and I ignored him in favor of looking back at the female.

"So…who are you, where am I, and what do you plan on doing with me?"

The woman smirked. "I am Wanda, and this is my brother Pietro," She answered first. "You are in Sokovia, and," She and Pietro shared a smile, "We haven't decided what to do with you yet."

"Sketchy." I nodded slowly. "Alright, well, I'm Madison." I introduced, attempting to lift myself off the floor. A warm hand on my elbow helped me as I rose, lingering until I shot the man to whom it belonged a glare. He then retreated swiftly. "And I have no idea what's going on."

"Are you in league with the Avengers?" The…Pietro asked, and I stared at him blankly, not answering.

The tall, muscled man's green eyes narrowed as he waited for a response.

I said nothing.

He sighed and ran a hand through his wavy brown-white streaked hair.

I remained silent.

"Are you going to answer me?" He burst out, frustrated.

Still….I said nothing.

Wanda sighed. "Are you in league with the Avengers?" She repeated her brothers question.

"No." I answered promptly. The Pietro huffed and threw up his hands, and Wanda narrowed her eyes.

"You are not?" She repeated.

"Nope." I agreed brightly. "I don't believe in movies."

Wanda furrowed her brow. "Movie?" She asked delicately.

I nodded. "Yeah; you know, a story or event told using actors and recorded using cameras and shown in a theatre or on television?" I defined slowly.

"We know what movies ARE," The male scoffed. "What does a movie have to do with The Avengers?"

I frowned and crossed my arms.

Were these guys crazy?

"Because…" I said slowly. "The Avengers is a movie."

"The Avengers are a group of superheroes." Wanda corrected.

"The Avengers is a movie about a group of superheroes." I rephrased. "You DO realize The Avengers aren't real, right?"

Wanda and her brother shared a look, and I crossed my arms.

"What is the date?" The male asked.

"May 1st." I answered promptly.

"What's your full name?" Wanda asked.

"Madison Ryan Sinclair." I rolled my eyes.

"And who is the President of the United States?" Pietro added.

"Barak Obama." I smirked. Wanda and Pietro shared a look. "The black guy?" I added. When no recognition lit their faces, I groaned.

"Alright. Who are you, and what kind of crazy universe is this?"

"Universe?" Wanda tilted her head.

"The Americas is run by a black guy. Everyone and their DOG knows this fact. If there's no black guy at the helm, then I don't know what's going on."

"What's going on is you aren't…from around here." The large metal robot from earlier stepped into the large empty room. For some reason…I just got a good vibe from him….like we were friends….or buddies. Yeah, buddies.

I tilted my head. "Where are we again? Sock-via?" I made a face. "You're right. I'm from Manhattan."

Giant Robot Buddy, (GiRoBud, a much catchier name in my opinion,) chuckled. "I'm not speaking in a geographical manner. I speak of dimensions.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Are you saying I'm in some sort of weird alternate reality where movies are real life and I don't exist?"

GiRoBud blinked slowly. "That's not at all what I was going to say." He said frankly. "But it's a more plausible idea than the one I had…so let's go with your theory."

Ignoring me for a moment, he turned to the duo. "Wanda, are you able to read her?"

I made a face. Read me? I wasn't a book.

Wanda shook her head slowly.

Of course she couldn't read me. I'm not from around here.

"Because she's not from around here?" Pietro guessed.

I shot him a look. Reading my mind was so RUDE.

"That's the most likely theory." GiRoBud admitted. He turned back to look at me.

"Are you an enhanced?" He asked.

"I didn't take any AP classes in high school." I admitted.

GiRoBud huffed and shot The Pietro a look I couldn't read, and all of a sudden the guy had a knife in his hand and was slashing it downwards…in the direction of my hand.

I wasn't fast enough to jerk away, but apparently I didn't need to, as the knife went through my hand like it was made of air.

My eyes widened.

"That was fortunate." I said after a moment. "I wipe with that hand."

Wanda shot me a look of slight disgust, but her eyes moved quickly away from my face to stare accusingly at her brothers.

He flushed lightly, avoiding both her gaze and mine.

I shrugged and turned to GiRoBud. It was probably just a twin thing.

GiRoBud studied me intently. Then, after a long moment, he turned.

"Follow me." He threw out over his shoulder. I shot the twins a shrug, and did as the robot said.


GiRoBud led myself and the twins, who'd deigned to follow us, down a long narrow hallway to a giant room…where robots all of a similar size and were hard at work building duplicates of themselves.

I shot GiRoBud an impressed look.

"This is a classy place." I complimented. "Nice set up and everything."

He shrugged.

"It's only temporary." He said dismissively, but he watched the scene before him with a vast amount of pride.

I let the man/Robot/thing take a moment to appreciate his handiwork, trying to see the scene through his eyes.

"Why show me this?" I asked after a moment.

"So you can understand." He answered simply.

I looked back towards the robot, brow furrowed.

"There's…a poetic justice in all of this." I said after a moment. When GiRoBud simply shot me a look, I continued, trying to explain. "What we create in all aspects of life are only truly reflections of ourselves." I snorted as I thought that theory through. "Which doesn't say much for humanity," I admitted wryly.

GiRoBud shot me a look less condescending and more impressed than anything else he'd sent my way thus far, and despite myself, I straightened with pride.

"What do you mean?" He pressed for further explanation, and I obliged him.

"If all we can create are reflections of ourselves; how does what we've created, both our masterpieces and all the things that result from them, say about us?" I began slowly. "War, famine, discrimination, just plain hate." I shook my head.

"That's our legacy. That's humanity's legacy."

I sighed heavily, depressing myself more the longer I spoke.

"That's what we've created."

I was silent for a long moment. "That's what we are," I finished softly.

GiRoBud nodded slowly. "Your words carry weight." He observed. "They're quite powerful."

I shrugged. "I'm a writer, I pride myself on my words." I explained away, but Girobud shook his head.

"There's more to it than that," He observed me closely.

"I think…." He began, wonder and excitement threaded through his cool tone,

"I think you understand."


Well...Maddie is taking this pretty well. Do you think she realizes she's with the bad guys yet?

Heh...me either.

~CLC~