I made my way into the living room slowly behind the agent. I wasn't sure exactly how much I could trust his 'word' about not whisking me away without anyone knowing, so I lingered next to the door as he walked over to the couch to sit down.
"What is it that you need to talk to me about?" I asked, tugging nervously at the sleeve of my shirt.
Mobius perched on the edge of the couch before beginning, "Madison, I need you to understand the severity of what I'm about to say."
Growing up, we knew about TVA agents. We were always warned that if one of them confronted you that you should take whatever he or she had to say very seriously because they rarely ever showed up without an important reason. They weren't good or bad, but they were quick to correct something they felt was wrong. So if they told you something you were better off to listen to it.
I slowly made my way to sit near him on the couch, "I'm listening," I said as I made sure to focus my attention on him even though internally I was wishing someone would come running in here to save me. The stress was weighing heavy on my nerves.
"You cannot tell them anything about their futures in this timeline," Mobius stressed.
I was confused, I understood that part. He had made that abundantly clear. But what he said next threw me for a loop.
"What is about to happen in their universe is going to affect billions of lives and we cannot allow this to happen again," Mobius' voice was pitched low to keep from speaking too loudly for others to hear but it held a urgency to it that confused me.
I stood to my feet, "That's how I crossed universes isn't it?" I asked, finally understanding why I didn't just travel back in time within my own timeline but rather was propelled into someone else's.
"We made that happen actually," he rose to his feet and began pacing the floor in front of the fireplace.
"You wanted me in this universe? You caused my travel to cross parallels? I thought that was against the rules?" I just couldn't understand why they would break the first basic rule of the multiverse.
"Sweetheart, we created the rules, we can bend them, break them, or rewrite them to suit our needs whenever we want to…but in this instance it was a necessity and not a whim that this was decided upon." Mobius motioned for me to take my seat again on the couch.
"Thanos is a deviant," he stated, taking a deep breath before sighing, "but, he's also an eternal."
"An eternal? I thought those were just bedtime stories that my dad used to tell me about. You're telling me they are real?
"Listen, there's just too much to tell the story to you properly, but just know this," he leaned in closer to me, his voice even lower if that were possible, "he came back the second time right before your father sent you back in time. We couldn't prevent the destruction of your world, but you might be able to prevent him from doing it again in this one."
I was beyond shocked. Was he actually telling me that it was up to me to stop this universe from being snapped into nonexistence? My eyes had to have grown two sizes larger in amazement and shock as it finally dawned on me the monumental task Mobius was laying at my feet.
"I have to stop Thanos?" I yelped, jumping to my feet before quickly being yanked back down to the couch.
"Quiet, big mouth," he loudly whispered back at me, "you don't have to stop him yourself, you just have to change a few key details of events that bring about Thanos's first snap in this universe."
I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my chest. How in the world was I going to stop a mad titan from destroying half of all life in the universe? "Wait, I only have to change key details? But wouldn't that be creating alternative threads which is also against the rules of time and space," I said exasperatedly.
Mobius pinched the bridge of his slightly crooked nose, taking a deep breath in and out before addressing me again. "Listen again to the rules." He grabbed both of my hands and made sure I was looking him straight in the eyes before he continued, "you can't tell them anything about what is going to happen. But you can directly influence events in their timeline because the events you are changing you aren't really changing, because for them they haven't happened yet!" His voice kept getting higher and higher as he explained the loophole.
"Going back in time and changing things or removing things causes deviations in time. That is a rule we can't break from. But if the past hasn't happened yet, then you aren't technically breaking any rules by redirecting the present in another path."
Even though I now understood, more-or-less what he was telling me and what I had to do, the weight of it all was still extremely heavy.
I had to have time to think. This was all just too much. My head was spinning with all of the information and I was developing a splitting headache.
"If the TVA is so powerful, I mean you can control time and all that, why don't you just step in and wipe out Thanos? Then all of our problems would be solved," I reasoned.
"We can't do that. We are balance to the time-space continuum. We can't choose sides and we can't directly affect an entire universes path like that. Plus, remember what I said about lessons being learned? No one would learn anything from their experiences if some cosmic being just magically fixed every problem. Sometimes you have to go through the bad to truly appreciate the good."
Rising to his feet Mobius walked slowly back towards the living room entrance before turning back to me, "remember Madison, this affects them," he motioned towards the members waiting for us in the other room, "directly, so you can't tell them anything about the events that you know are going to happen. If things are changed, you have to directly be involved and unfortunately they can't know why. Remember, too many ripples from one event could cause the TVA to have to intervene again," he climbed the three steps that would take him from the room before turning to me again.
"We don't want to see what happened in your universe happen again to another one. So we are going to give you as much leeway as we can, but tread carefully."
With that he rounded the corner and was out of my line of sight. I sat there in stone silence thinking about all that I had learned today and how much my life was completely screwed up.
I held my throbbing head in my hands trying to shut the light out that was causing my head to pound harder. "Why did you send me back dad? I should have just died with you and mom like everyone else," I mumbled to myself as I began to cry.
The couch dipped slightly next to me as I felt a set of arms wrap me in a hug. "Maddie, is there anything I can do to help?" Wanda asked softly as she held me close. Her friendship was quickly becoming the only lifeline I felt I had right now and I was willing to hold on for dear life if she'd let me.
Dropping my hands I looked up and saw that everyone had entered the room and was looking at me expectantly.
My eyes traveled around the room, one face after the other searching me for answers that I didn't have or if I did have them, I couldn't tell them about.
Mom, Natasha that is, perched on the arm of a chair across from me. She kept fiddling with the rings on her right hand. A gift given to her by her 'mother', or at least the closest thing she had to a mother. She never took them off. My gaze lingered on her the longest but she just couldn't seem to bring herself to look me in the eye.
"According to the agent I'm allowed to stay," I said after finally returning my gaze back to the friendly smile of Wanda.
Her joy practically radiated off of her as she squeezed me close and gave a small squeal of delight. How could someone who suffered so much be so joyful all the time?
"Well then I guess that means we should set you up in a room here within the compound," Pepper's organizational skills kicked into gear. "Friday," she said out loud, "Yes, Ms. Potts," came the digital voice with a slight Irish twang, "I'd like to set Madison up in the system. Would you give her general protocol clearance, level 1 please?"
"Of course Ms. Potts," the voice answered back.
"Just say hello and state your name. She'll take a voice print from that so she can recognize you in the future when or if you should ever need assistance." Pepper's cheerfulness almost made the idea of talking to thin air seem normal.
"Hello?" I called out to the room.
"Hello Ms. I am F.R.I.D.A.Y or the Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Assistant Youth. If you should ever need assistance, please just call my name. I am programmed for assistance anywhere within the compound. Would you mind stating your name for me so that I know what to call you?" How was it possible that even the artificial intelligence unit here was friendly?
"My name is Madison, umm" I stammered, "to be honest, I'm not sure what else to say beyond that."
"That's quite alright, I've got enough information to complete my basic databank necessities. In the future as we interact I'll be able to build a bigger databank on you."
"Okay, I guess," I would never get used to having long conversations with AI. Uncle Tony's complex back home was very similar to this one in that it was wired with every gadget known to man as well, the main difference being that his AI took a physical form of an android, not a faceless voice.
"With that settled, let's go over what things you'll need for your room," Pepper jumped back in, starting a list on her tablet she had been using. "You are going to need some more basic furnishings, the computer in there of course you have access to, and of course you'll need a wardrobe. You can't stay in that forever," she motioned towards my shirt and shorts.
"Oh my god, that means we can go shopping," Wanda said excitedly.
I was a little overwhelmed at the moment and really just needed to take a breather. Plus my headache was pounding so hard now I swear I could start my own rock band with the massive beats it was laying down.
"Not to put a damper on things guys, but is there any way that I could just lie down for a little while? My head is throbbing and I'm just a little overwhelmed with all of this information." I felt badly for the sudden look of disappointment that fell over Wanda's face, but she quickly recovered to replace it with a smile of support.
"Of course you can," she said sweetly, "I'll show you back to your room and while you rest I'll just go online and find somethings you might like and when you're ready we can go shopping then. How's that sound?" Her big blue eyes stared hopefully back at me just waiting for my enthusiastic agreement, so how could I turn down such an offer.
"That sounds terrific," I said as I got to my feet, trying to offer her a smile in return. I didn't have it in me at the moment to argue. All I really wanted to do was just to sleep and probably take a massive aspirin as well for my head. As I began to follow Wanda out of the living room, her light-hearted chattering continuing as she entered the hallway, I remembered the envelope I had stuffed into my pocket before all of this had begun.
Pulling it from my pocket I turned it over and noticed on the outside was scrawled my name in my dad's handwriting along with the words, 'Open right away'. Slipping my finger under the seal, careful not to tear it too much I found inside were two more smaller padded envelopes. One was addressed to, 'my sweet little girl' and the other was addressed to 'Steve Rogers'.
I stood there mesmerized by the small envelope addressed to Steve. How could my dad have planned this all out? How could he have known that I'd end up finding them? My head couldn't take much more information to sort out, I needed rest. My eyes felt heavy and my limbs like lead weights were attached. I felt sure that if I didn't lie down I was going to fall down and soon. Shuffling to stand in front of Captain America himself, who currently was leaning against the wall next to Bucky who stood just in the doorway, I handed over the envelope. "I guess that belongs to you," I said softly, holding the envelope out for him to take.
If I wasn't feeling so bad at that moment, I might have been able to enjoy looking into the deep blue eyes of Steve Rogers, but as it stood I felt like I was going to throw up any moment. His hand, so much larger than my own, reached forward and took the envelope from me.
Wanda seemed to sense my growing distress because she rushed quickly to my side and pulled me down the hall towards my room which I had previously vacated. "You are all going to want to watch that," she called as she moved me quickly down the hall.
Thankfully we weren't too far from my room because as soon as I was inside I was rushing for the bathroom. Sliding on my knees hurt like hell but my head barely made it over the toilet before I was vomiting up any of the breakfast I had managed to eat.
I was so thankful I had tied my hair back this morning while getting dressed or I would have needed another shower. The more I threw up the more my head pounded. It felt like hours had passed before I finally reached only dry heaves.
Finally able to look up I saw that Wanda was standing back to me fidgeting from one foot to the next. Reaching back towards me she handed me a damp face towel. "I'm so sorry," she said "I wish I could do more but I'm a sympathetic vomiter."
I confess, even in my great discomfort that made me chuckle.
I took the offered cloth and wiped my face slowly with it. The cold water felt so good against my skin that seemed to be burning up. Reaching up I flushed the toilet before slowly lowering myself down to the cool tile floor.
She must have turned around because I felt Wanda's fingers gently brushing back the loose tendrils of hair from my face. "Come on" she spoke softly to me, "let's get you to bed. You'll rest better there."
I'm pretty sure I mumbled something along the lines of 'stay here, feels better,' before passing out completely.