When Kamala eventually came to, she felt she did rather well not to collapse on the spot straight away again, for her hero was looking down at her. With the sun filtering in through the open window, it was frankly unfair how angelic the woman looked. Her long blonde hair, captured in a braid on one side, was turned golden by the light. Kamala wondered whether she'd died and this was what Jannah happened to look like. If it did, then she wasn't too fussed about the whole dying thing. It was the only reasonable explanation for what was happening because there was no way…absolutely no way…that Captain Marvel was actually standing in her bedroom.

"Hi, there," the woman said in greeting, a small smile lighting up her face. She'd seen that same smile in artwork and on posters, but nothing compared to having it right in front of you.

"Hi," Kamala returned nervously, shaking out the word rather than actually saying it. Was her heart pounding out of her chest? It certainly felt that way.

She watched, unmoving, as the captain's face was pushed away from her line of view, now replaced with another blonde woman. Maybe she had a type. The Doctor was looking down at her, frown lines creasing her brow. Kamala tried to remember what had led to this point. She was on the ground, that was for sure. She could tell because she could see the old plastic bottle that had rolled under her bed several months ago which she'd never been bothered to retrieve.

"This is probably going to be quite loud," the Doctor commented before shoving the sonic screwdriver in her face, making it whirr. From its close vantage point, it sounded more like a high pitched screech. It only lasted a few seconds but the bright, yellow light was enough for Kamala to start seeing spots. It definitely wasn't the best wake up call she'd ever gotten.

"That's only quite loud?" Kamala asked in complaint. She rubbed her ear in a slow circle, still hearing the buzzing noise even if the sonic had been put away.

"I just had to make sure that you were feeling alright. You took a pretty heavy fall there. Took us all by surprise, really. The thing is…" The Doctor's face was remarkably close to hers as the strange woman peered at her. "...the sonic can't pick up on any reason for you to behave like this. At first, I thought it might be an adverse reaction to your interstellar endeavours but that doesn't seem like the case. Maybe you're dehydrated. Or hungry. You might not have enough vitamins in your system. I could ask your mum to make you some food. Her pakoras are a lot better than the ones Yaz's dad makes."

"Hey," Yaz said, interrupting her mid-flow. "There's no need for that. I mean, they are terrible. But he tries his best."

"Isn't it obvious, Doctor?" Dan's voice joined the mix though he remained out of Kamala's eyeline as she stayed on the floor. The woman had a surprising degree of strength as she kept an arm on her shoulder, practically pinning her down to the ground. "She was starstruck. Probably still is. Look at all the posters around you. And now look at the woman standing next to you. Notice any similarities?"

The Doctor shifted, giving Kamala the space she needed to slowly sit up. She saw the Doctor pick up one of the paintings that had been left on the floor, holding it to the captain's face. She seemed to look between the image and the person several times, mulling things over. "I guess one might say there's a slight comparison. Though this drawing gives you a terribly wonky nose."

"I never claimed to be a great artist," Kamala ground out, feeling the effects of her collapse. It was making her considerably more grouchy. She was doing her best not to focus on the fact that a real life superhero was still standing in her room without adding much to the conversation.

Yaz snatched the piece of paper from the Doctor's hands. "You drew this? It's amazing! I always wanted to be able to draw. My sister got all the artistic talent in the family though. God, she loved rubbing that in as well."

"Why do you have so many pictures of this woman in your room?" the Doctor enquired, prompting Dan to wipe a hand across his face. She was the most intelligent person he had ever come across and yet she still had the capacity to be the most clueless at times. "Do you know each other?"

"I can't say that we have." The captain narrowed her eyes at Kamala, though there didn't seem to be any animosity there. If anything, Kamala might have said that she was smirking. Did superheroes smirk? Of course they did. They were real, normal people after, maybe very deep down. Tony Stark had done nothing but smirk for the majority of his life from the plenty of interviews she'd seen.

"You know, I've thought about this moment for years, maybe my entire life," Kamala admitted bashfully. "And the last thing I need right now is for you to make it even more evident than it already is how much of a geek I am when it comes to Captain Marvel."

"Ohhhh!" the Doctor exclaimed. " This is Captain Marvel? I thought it was just a really neat 'stume." She nudged Yaz's shoulder. "Did you see what I did there? Shortened the word costume to 'stume because I'm just that cool."

"Keep telling yourself that," her friend responded.

"You saw her glowing!" Dan pointed out. "And flying midair! I don't think a costume can do that."

Yaz raised her eyebrows at him. "Wasn't it you who saw what Kamala was capable of and immediately thought that it had to be some sort of light show?"

"I'm a big enough man to admit when I might have gotten a few things wrong," Dan allowed. "Frankly, quite a lot has happened since then to open my eyes. Especially what you just told me after you looked on the internet. Anything's possible."

"I'm trying not to be offended that you don't know who I am," the Captain remarked. It was becoming apparent that she had a rather dry wit. Kamala didn't know how she was acting so casual amongst people she didn't know. It was her absolute worst nightmare. But that was the role of a superhero, having to act cool all the time even if you weren't feeling that way. It was all about image. Was Kamala expected to act the same way? Could she be relaxed at all times? Definitely not. She still had a lot to learn.

"Please don't use their ignorance to think poorly of all of us," she said in intervention. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked at the woman. Maybe Kamala was also feeling a touch self conscious at the fact her face was plastered all over her walls. She didn't want the captain to get the wrong impression. Was she supposed to still be referring to her as the captain? It didn't feel right to call her by her first name, as if she had to earn that right first.

"I definitely know who you are." Kamala continued eagerly. "You're the Captain Marvel! Carol fricking Danvers! Strongest Avenger. Puncher of Thanos." She didn't have time to elaborate on that as she saw Dan mouth the name in confusion. How could they possibly not know of the Mad Titan? "And you're standing in my room! I don't know what I did to deserve this but I'd very much like to do it again. But why? Why are you standing in my room? Is it something I've done? Something bad I've done? I knew this was going to happen. I get these powers but it's too much for someone so young so they send someone like you to take them away for everyone's safe keeping. I understand. Well…I understand but I'm still going to complain, you know? Because I really don't want to lose my powers! I can show you all the good I've done since I got them! If you ignore that time I accidentally dropped that kid on a car. And the numerous times I've inadvertently damaged private property."

Danvers put a hand on her shoulder to stop her in her tracks. "Hey, kid, let's try and slow down, yeah? I can barely understand a word you're saying."

"Captain Marvel is actually touching me," Kamala whispered. "I'm never going to wash these clothes ever again. I'll fight my mum if she goes close to putting them in the washing machine."

"First thing to get out of the way, kid, is that you can call me Carol."

"Captain Marvel wants me to be on a first name basis with her." It was likely impossible for her smile to be any wider. "Then you can call me Kamala."

"Hey, Kamala…this is your room then? I might have noticed. Thanks for keeping the poster business alive."

"Because it indirectly keeps your funds going?"

Carol smirked. "No, though I should look into that. I was just thinking that they're really cool posters. I might have to take one off your hands…not that I exactly have a place to put it up."

"You can have all of them if you want. Take them! I'll buy more!"

Carol got down onto one knee so that she could get a bit closer. "Hey…Kamala…this isn't going to work unless you calm down a touch. Trust me, the energy is properly infectious and I love meeting fans. But if we're going to work together, I'm going to need it dialled down ever so slightly."

"You want to…work with me?"

"Why else would I be standing here right now?"

"I was wondering the same thing." The Doctor had grown rather frustrated that the conversation was taking place with minimal input on her part so she was on hand to change that as soon as possible. "Hi, I'm the Doctor by the way. This is Yaz and Dan. We've given ourselves the job of looking after Kamala so you'll forgive me for being wary."

Carol narrowed her eyes at the other woman. She was finding it surprisingly difficult to get a read on her and she prided herself on her ability to quickly know how a person was likely to operate. It was all a part of her Kree training. "I've been waiting outside for quite some time, hoping to find whoever lived here. And do you know how hard it is for someone like me to hide in the street? Especially with this outfit. It's not exactly inconspicuous."

"But why hide? From my many experiences, I've learnt that it's usually guilty people who hide in the shadows." Maybe the Doctor was trying to show off or big herself up, because she could tell this was an intimidatingly powerful woman she was coming up against.

"Were you involved in what happened to me?" Kamala asked suddenly. "Did you break my wardrobe? Because that's probably going to be an expensive fix and I don't know how much money you make as an Avenger, but we could do with a small donation."

"It wasn't strictly my fault that it happened. I was looking into some old tech and it turned out to originate from Hala."

"Like Hula Hoops," Dan offered before receiving dismissive frowns from everyone.

"Like the home planet of the Kree," Kamala summarised for him. "I've read all about it, of course. You spent most of your time on Hala after you gained your powers."

"You've got some good knowledge there. I know a guy who could do with someone with your investigative skills."

Kamala waved a hand. "Nah, it was nothing. I just read a lot of Buzzfeed articles."

"So they have Buzzfeed here," Yaz murmured, mainly to the Doctor. "At least that's one similarity."

"Similarity? WIth what?"

"Nothing!" Yaz thought she was good at playing it cool but now wasn't one such occasion. She could sense Dan wanting to laugh behind her.

"Anyway," Carol said slowly, giving her a scrutinising look. "That Kree technology was somehow linked to you. And I want to know why."

"I love a curious woman," the Doctor remarked, again trying to get involved and only making Yaz slightly jealous. "I'm usually good friends with curious women. We're trying to figure out the same thing here so if you'd just…let…me…" She pointed her sonic straight at Carol, hoping to get a read on a theory she had just come up with. Yet, to the untrained, suspicious eye, the movement could have been viewed as someone attempting to pull a weapon on the superhero, whose hands began to glow menacingly, stopping the Doctor in her tracks.

Carol's eyes were as fiery as her fingertips. "I'd recommend you put that thing away before I make you."

"But…it's sonic!" the Doctor protested, more annoyed at the delay rather than any fear of being hurt. "It's not going to harm you! It's a scientific device! Why does everyone get so paranoid about it recently? I thought I'd designed it in a cool, non-threatening way."

Yaz, on the other hand, was fully giving in to such concerns, pushing the Doctor out of the way and putting herself between the two women. "You better not be threatening her. She did no wrong! Do you go around, intimidating everyone you come across like this?"

Carol's fists unclenched as some of the worry abated. The flickering power lessened and some of the tension left the room, though she was still getting glared at by Yaz. She was actually impressed at the show of fierce loyalty. There weren't many people who would be willing to stand up against her, especially someone who didn't seem to have any powers of her own. It was either bravery or naivety, but she would commend her either way.

"Sorry." It wasn't a usual occurrence for Carol where she had to apologise for someone over her own actions. Maybe she was just paranoid. Being lied to for a large portion of her adult life tended to have that effect on someone. "I didn't know what she was about to do. I thought…she might be trying to get the slip on me, or maybe taking a sample of my blood."

"Does she really look like the person who takes someone's blood without asking?" Yaz asked, refusing to back down still.

"I've learnt not to judge people by their appearances. When you spend a lot of your time around Skrulls, you tend to be a bit more cautious around people. Not that they're bad or anything. They just teach you a valuable lesson."

"Skrulls, Hala…" the Doctor murmured, completely over the little incident. "Races and planets even I've never heard of. That's remarkable." She was talking in a hushed tone, more to herself than the rest of the group. But everyone was standing so close together in the partially wrecked room that it was difficult not to listen in. "You'd think that they'd be the same whichever reality you're in but maybe that's not the case. Isn't that interesting? Not strictly parallel worlds after all. Every day's a school day."

Kamala looked at her as if she didn't understand a word she was saying, which was definitely the case. "Can we just focus on the fact that we got to see Captain Marvel use our powers right in front of us?!"

"Carol," said superhero muttered under her breath.

Dan smirked. "At least this time you didn't faint as soon as you witnessed it. You're getting better already around her."

Kamala glared at him slightly. "I was hoping that that wouldn't be brought up again. I'm already mortified by it as it is. I'd planned what I was going to write in my autobiography when it came to this moment and now I'm going to have to change everything! Unless…I could lie. That's an option. Everyone lies in their biographies. It's like a thick, heavy version of a tinder profile."

Carol was wondering whether the girl was too young to know about that particular dating website but she had other things to focus on. She had her hands on her hips, now in a relaxed position, as she looked at the Doctor. "What were you trying to do with that sonic…device…thing?"

"Frankly, I understand why she was so worried about it. The DODC tried hitting me with a sonic cannon a couple of times and, let me tell you, that stuff stings. Obviously, that thing is quite a bit smaller but maybe they've been able to streamline."

"Let's…circle back to that at a later date." Carol was looking at her, impressed by the story. "But I'd still like to know what you were doing, Doctor."

"Something I've been doing whilst you've been jabbering away," the Time Lord admitted, revealing her whirring sonic with a grin. It was great to have a quiet setting for times like this. "You were saying that the technology you were researching was from a certain planet, yeah? I was just working on a hunch. Did you happen to be in outer space when you were looking into it?"

"It was on my person mid flight."

"Interesting. Because the energy levels you're giving off are remarkably similar to the readings we picked up when we were first introduced to Kamala. And that energy is coming from the bangle around her wrist."

Carol looked down at the mentioned item. "So that's what linked us…"

"What do you mean, linked?" Kamala asked worriedly. "I was linked with you? I don't know whether to be thrilled or terrified!"

"There's no easy way of putting this but…we switched positions. You were transported to space and I was teleported right here. Into your wardrobe, in fact."

"But…how?"

"I'm pretty sure that that bangle is Kree in origin and…somehow…the two devices linked themselves, causing the accident."

"An accident that could have killed her if we hadn't been on hand," the Doctor pointed out sternly. "You shouldn't have been messing with technology that you don't understand."

Carol wasn't exactly used to people talking to her like this and she got an odd thrill out of it. "I admit that I made a mistake."

"Captain Marvel doesn't make mistakes," Kamala remarked with a dismissive wave of the hand. "I was fine . In the end. With a bit of luck."

"But I'm trying to rectify that mistake by being here. I can't claim to understand what's going on…but I know a place where they have people who might."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Can I just say what an honour it is to be included in one of your top secret superhero missions?"

From the backseat of the car, Kamala groaned audibly at her dad's question. They were on their way to New York, following Carol's instructions, with Yusuf eagerly offering to drive them. WIth the captain in the front, giving him instructions, that left three seats to be occupied in the back, but four people needing to sit in them. In the end, Yaz had been forced to perch precariously on the Doctor's lap, something that Dan was finding extraordinarily hilarious.

"Dad," Kamala moaned. "Can you not try to embarrass me for a few minutes?"

Yusuf grinned through the rearview mirror. "Am I embarrassing you? I don't feel like I'm embarrassing you." He nudged Carol playfully with his free arm, earning a confused look from the woman. "So…are you this Captain of Marvel that my daughter is always talking about?"

"It's…Captain Marvel, Dad." Kamala had her head in her hands.

"I suppose I am," Carol answered with a faint smile.

"Do you think my daughter can be a superhero like you? What am I saying? She already is one in my eyes! Even before she got her powers! Hey, sweetheart?"

Kamala was giving the Doctor a serious case of side eye. "Is there a reason why we couldn't travel in your ship?"

"The engines are completely knackered," the Doctor replied. "Trust me, that's something I want to get fixed as soon as possible."

"I could take a look at it," Carol offered, though her eyes stayed on the road. "I've been taught how to manage a wide range of different technologies. I'm sure whatever you have won't be difficult for me."

The Doctor didn't particularly like the faint insult. "I'll have you know that the Tardis is the most complex kit of machinery you're likely to ever come across." She folded her arms petulantly, which was a hard action to do with another woman sitting on top of her. "Anyway…I always like a car ride. It happens so rarely for me."

"I have to say it's been quite a while since I was in a car. I usually just…you know…fly everywhere."

Yusuf looked at her excitedly. "Could you make this car fly? Like the end of Back to the Future?"

Carol couldn't help but be swept in by his enthusiasm. "If you gave me enough time." She looked down at the display on her wrist. "Take a left here."

He did so obligingly, though he was more focused on the technology on show. "What's that? Is it the latest Stark accessory? A wristwatch that is also a phone? What will these people think of next, hey?"

"It's one of the few remaining items I have from my time on Hala. It can do more things than you could imagine. And, right now, I'm using it for directions. Go right, then pull up on the pavement."

"But…there's a sign there saying no parking."

"Do you really think anyone's going to give Captain Marvel a ticket?"

Once the car eventually came to a stop, Yusuf still eyeing the sign warily, they were all quick to get out. Dan was stretching his legs painfully whilst Yaz was doing her best not to look the Doctor in the eye after their surprisingly intimate journey. Carol was straight to business, marching up the steps towards an old building, the main feature being a large, circular window on the second floor.

Kamala leaned her head through the window to place a kiss on the top of her dad's head. "Go go some sightseeing, yeah? There's got to be loads to do around here."

"You…don't want me to come with you?" Yusuf asked with a frown.

"It's going to be boring anyway! You won't like it. And I'll be fine. It's not as if I'm going to get hurt with an actual superhero as my bodyguard."

"I wasn't lying about what I said earlier. You're just as much of a superhero as she is in my eyes, Beta."

"Abbu…I just wish I can live up to your expectations."

By the time she was rejoining the group, it was slowly dawning on her just where they were. The doors opened slowly and a man walked through, a serious look on his face. Kamala's eyes went wide at the sight of him. It was quickly dawning on her just how mad her life was becoming.

"Captain," the man greeted. "I'm surprised to see you so soon and in person. I don't want to sound rude but…normally, when you're on world, it means there's a lot of work to be done in my near future."

"Oh, Wong…you have no idea."