Discliamer: I do not own Marvel.

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Proactive ch. 2

More Introductions

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I sigh, staring off into space. When Dr. Oathout had finally returned he and a older woman helped me into a wheelchair and took me to some kind of waiting room. There were comfortable looking chairs and couches, all warm shades of brown. The carpet was a nice beige and the walls cream. It was nice, nothing out of the ordinary.

My brow creases and I bite the inside of my lip. The rest of this place though...

During the short trip from my room to here I was able to get a look at this place and came to a few conclusions. One, this isn't a hospital. At least it doesn't look anything like any hospital I've ever been to. The hallway walls are made of concrete and there are exposed pipes on the ceiling. Two, I'm no where near home because there's snow outside and its supposed to be April. And three...

And three those men entering the room look like Will Smith and Agent Coulson from the MCU. They're both wearing black suits and look like Men in Black and SHIELD agents respectivly. 'Will Smith' adjusts my wheelchair so I'm facing one of the couches while 'Coulson' sits down across from me. 'Will Smith' then goes to stand by the door like body guards do in movies. Do they do that in real life? That sounds right.

'Coulson' smiles that signiture secret agent smile that I've come to associate with the dry witted SHIELD agent. "Hi, do you know who I am?"

"Um, no? Sorry, I'm not very good with names and faces." I smile back awkwardly. Obviously this guy isn't actually a fictional character. Nor could he be the actor, because that wouldn't make much sense. These two men just really look like the actors. At least, without my glasses they do. This situation kinda reminds me of that one customer at Wendy's who looks like Catherine Tate and I almost thought she was except for her accenct was American.

'Coulson' doesn't say anything and smile nervously again, not sure what to say. Other than the Marvel character I'm coming up blank on who this man could be.

"I mean, you kinda look like Agent Coulson from the Avengers movie, but... I'm sorry, no, I don't know who you are."

"Avengers movie?'

"Uh, yeah. You know, the Marvel movie? They just released a new one, Avengers: Endgame. My brother and I just watched it." I frown. No one's told me where Ricky is yet. He should be alive, given he was furthest from the truck. "Where is my brother? Richard? He was right next to me, in the passanger seat, when... we got hit."

"Don't worry, he's fine. He's at home with your family."

I sighed, relieved. If they sent him home then he can't be that bad off. I mean, all I've got is a broken arm and mild concussion. The other driver must have seen us and was already slowing down by the time he hit us. I lean back into the wheelchair, my shoulders relaxing ever so slightly.

"So how was the movie? What's it about?"

I blink at the unexpected question. "It was really good." I absolutely loved it, honestly. There is a good chance I'll be seeing it again. "It, um, they're superhero movies. I don't really want to spoil too much, but Endgame is what all the movies have been leading up to. In the last movie Thanos erased half the universe's population after he got the all the Infinity Stones, so in Endgame the Avengers have to figure out how to bring everyone back. Its pretty cool. Tony Stark even invented time travel." I nod my head to the side and scrunch my face. "Sort of. Its more like creating a new timeline whenever they land in the past. That way it doesn't alter any events in their own personal pasts. Kinda like what happened in Back to the Future II, when bully character went back to give himself the sports almanac thing and created a distopian future."

"Cool. Do the Avengers win?"

"Of course. Not without a few losses, but not as many as the directors were saying there'd be."

'Coulson' hummed.

I should really find out his name. But I'm not sure how to ask. He didn't already say it, right? He asked if I knew him, but I don't think he said after. Did he? Was I not paying close enough attention?

"Sounds interesting. What about the earlier movies? You said I looked like one of the characters?" His smile relaxes a little. "Is he a superhero?"

"Might as well be. Agent Coulson of SHIELD, the guy you look like, appeared in the, uh..." My eyes move to the side and I tap my teeth together in thought, head tilted. Lifting up my hand I mentally count how many movies came before the first Avengers movie. "sixth? Yeah, I'm pretty sure Avengers was the sixth movie. Seventh, if you count the first Hulk movie. Technically its not cannon, but if you look past the actor change for Bruce Banner, then the story kinda still fits. Kinda, sorta, not really but... Anyway, Agent Coulson was in that movie with the first Avengers team. And then later on he got his own show, called Agents of SHIELD, which is really good. It got really dark after the first few seasons though, so stopped watching. I'm thinking of giving it another try though."

"Wow, that's a lot. How many are there?"

"Movies?"

He nods.

"Oh boy... I, don't really know. It'd be easier to just Google it. I know there's this site that keeps track of the movies in the MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the TV series connected to them in chronological order. I don't remember the name of the site, but if you just search up "list of MCU movies" it should be towards the top."

"I'll remember that."

"Ok." I nod.

Cue awkward silence.

"Um, sorry." I shift in the wheelchair. Do I still need this thing? They didn't say there was anything wrong with my legs and they feel fine. "I didn't catch your name. Sorry..."

"Its no problem, I forgot to indroduce myself." He scoots forward and holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."

I snort, shaking his hand. "Right. So you've seen the movies, I take it."

"Something like that."

I raise a brow.

"What's the last thing you remember before waking up and talking to Dr. Oathout?"

My other brow joins the first. That's definetly one way to change the subject.

"Arguing with my brother and getting hit by a semi truck."

"You don't remember coming out of a portal moments before Loki, escaping a collapsing building with Director Fury, and falling out of a helicoper?"

"What?" I cough, holding back a laugh. My face twists, my mind trying to process what he just said. That sounds like the opening of Avengers. I pinch my lips and I lean back. That also sounds kinda like the dream I had last night.

"What can you tell me about Loki?"

"Um..." I swallow and hold my hands together to keep them from fidgeting. "He's the adopted brother of Thor. Prince of Asgard and rightful heir to Jotunheim. I'm sorry, what does this, um, what does this have to do with the crash?"

"We checked your ID and according to the records Erica Oak is a thirteen year old girl living in Missouri."

I blink. huh?

Coulson's smile returns. I didn't even realize it had left, but am very relieved to see it back. "I think there's a lot we need to discuss.

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Later...

"Hi."

Can you blame me for my brain freezing right now? Captain America is standing across from me on a SHIELD plane.

"Hi", I wave. Then I realize he's holding his hand out to shake mine. Blushing, I stand up and take his hand, once again grateful its not my right arm that's broken. "My name is Erica. Its nice to meet you, sir."

"Steve Rogers. Though, I suppose you already knew that."

"Yeah." I chuckle weakly.

Despite everything Coulson told me back at the base I'd woken up in, this still didn't feel real. I almost expected to wake up any second now in a hospital bed. But I have gone through all the tests I can think of to prove to myself I'm not dreaming. I pinched myself. Ow. I focused on people's faces to see if they changed, and with my new glasses I can 100% say they don't. I even tried that one trick from the Doctor Who episode where the 12th Doctor and Clara were under the influence of dream crabs. The Doctor showed that while in a dream words on a page change after you look away. So I tried that with the ingrediant list on a water bottle they gave me.

I'm pretty sure Coulson is questioning my sanity when he caught my reading the ingrediant list for water for the fifth time.

If he wasn't already when I told him he was a fictonal charater.

Speaking of Coulson, he and Cap are strapping in their seats now so it must be time to leave.

For the majority of the flight Captain America is catching up on the Avengers Inititive and the Loki situation. Coulson does, something, with a radio near the front. Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Thoughts such as, what am I even doing here? Supposing this is all real, which it does feel real, then I really did get thrown out of a tesseract portal into another universe where superheroes and Thanos are real.

I gulp. Thanos. He's real here. He sent Loki, who may or may not be in full control of his actions, to Earth to take the Tesseract and conquer Earth. He's going to wipe out half of this universe's population and I'm currently in this univerese. What am I gonna do? What can I do?

What am I thinking? I take a deep breath to ease the tension in my chest. I can't do anything! I'm a Wendy's cashier, not a superhero!

I glance around the plane cabin, eyes lingering on Coulson. I was too nervous to ask him earlier, but I'd really like to know why I'm here. Why they're taking me to the helicarrier and not... I don't know, arresting me? I came out of the portal moments before Loki and I know a scary lot about their secret spy organisasion. That's super suspisious. As much as I don't want to be arrested, I can't help but wonder why I haven't been.

I glance back towards the front of the plane. I guess I'll find out soon enough.