Glaring with confusion at the man in front of her, she let out an annoyed huff. She was pretty sure they had seen her aircraft crash, it is hard to miss a plane, no matter how small, going adrift so close to the ground. And she had already given them her name. On the other hand, she would probably be nervous as well if an unidentified aircraft crashed into her area.

"I know you have some form of military training, your uniform gives it away"

Furrowing her brows, she scanned the room. There were three men and a woman, all of them staring at her with varying degrees of curiosity and suspicion. Maggie pushed her legs over the edge of the stretcher and observed she was feeling much better, as if she hadn't been ejected from a plane. She pushed her hair behind her ears and sighed.

"It is obvious you are in the Air Force." One of the other men spoke, leaning over to his side to look at her shoulder. "A Cadet judging from your rank insignia." He shuffled his weight from one of his legs to the other, and Maggie noticed he had some sort of metallic structure supporting him. "But that wasn't a military aircraft, and they don't let your rank fly on their own so soon."

"I know." She nudged the jacket off and laid it over her lap. "A friend has- had a plane. I was borrowing it."

"Borrowing a plane? What for?" the first man threw her a look of disbelief.

"To gain experience, I was tired of the flight simulator." They stared at her as if they were expecting her to go on. "I need flight hours, even if they're from a different plane. I asked for extra help to one of the instructors and they offered this alternative."

"And why would you need the extra help?"

She looked at the ceiling and tried to remain calm. She had just been in an aircraft accident, drifted through a formless space, and almost died. A formless space. Her eyes widened and the air got caught up in her throat. She had almost forgotten, she was too preoccupied with surviving. But the woman interrupted her train of thought.

"How is it that there is no record of you then? If you were really part of the Air Force there would be a file."

"There is a file."

"Where?"

"There should be a file." Maggie lowered her head in defeat. She did not know how to explain the situation to herself, let alone strangers.

"Not even face recognition worked, it's as if you never existed." She paused and picked the tablet again, showing it to her. "As far as we're concerned, you don't exist."

She felt the edge of a panic attack, the bile making its way up. This couldn't be possible, she had been part of the training program of the Armed Forces for the past year, ever since she turned eighteen. She had a social security number, a driver's license, she was even registered to vote. There had to be some sort of trace.

"Nat, let's take a step back." The bearded man looked at her with tired eyes. "If she doesn't want to speak, let her be. We have other things to worry about for now."

"She could be related to the stones, Steve. We all saw the light explosion after… after... " she struggled to get the words out. "And then she appeared out of nowhere. I watched the surveillance videos, went through all the systems, it didn't even record her presence before the explosion."

"As if she had appeared out of thin air." One of the men that helped carry her to this room spoke. "And that's just not possible. She wasn't discovered until after the power surge from the stones."

"What should we do then?"

"Not sure, but we shouldn't leave her here alone." He turned to the other man and whispered loudly. "She could have answers."

They were kind enough to let her rest for a while before coming to interrogate her again. Although she suspected this gesture wasn't all about kindness and more about them having other priorities. She hadn't been alone though, as another armored woman was assigned to keep an eye on her. Maggie had enough time to wash her face with cold water, hoping it would give her clarity and some sense of anchorage in reality. But she still couldn't make sense of what had happened. How do you appear and reappear in a different airspace? Scratch that, how does one pass out while flying and still remain on the air? There were too many questions going around her head, and she decided the only logical response to the situation. Hierarchy.

Putting her questions in order, she decided that the most pressing issue was to figure out where she was. Then, if the orange place really existed or was a figment of her imagination. Probably the latter. And finally, how she got there.

"Stand."

She was guided through corridors and passages until they arrived at a spacious room filled with people. She noticed that most of them wore beautiful elaborate clothes, of some sort of tribal design she had not seen before. The ones who had previously interrogated her stood aside, solemnly awaiting until she stood in the middle of the room. Once she reached it, another armored woman came to stand at her side, and she suddenly felt as small as one could feel. This was a hearing, and judging by the atmosphere of the room, one that wasn't in her favor.

"Who are you?" An elegant woman gestured to her to speak.

"I am Maggie Bellamy, Cadet of the U.S. Air Force."

"And what is your business in Wakanda?"

"Where?" Geography wasn't exactly her forte, but she was sure she'd never heard anything about a Wakanda before.

She heard some shuffling as people leaned in to whisper to each other. Granted she was only nineteen, but at that moment she felt like a child. Unrest was growing throughout the room, and Maggie couldn't bear to be at the center of it. The weight on her shoulders suddenly doubled when she heard the woman accuse her.

"You enter Wakanda's airspace, appearing in a civilian's aircraft but wearing a military uniform." She paused, evaluating her. "With no trace of you or your plane before the… explosion." It seemed like this was hard for the woman as well. "Where do you come from?"

"The United States of America."

"No." Her impatience was growing. "Where were you before you crashed into us? You appeared from the skies, out of nowhere."

Maggie found herself at a crossroads. She could speak about her vision in orange, explain that she had some sort of hallucination and found herself here. Maybe crossed some sort of wormhole. No, those only showed in space. She could barely make sense of what had happened to her, how was she supposed to explain it to others? Nervously evaluating the scene before her she found that telling the truth, or at least her truth, would be the best.

"I… I'm not sure." Trying to order her thoughts again, she slowly inhaled. "I was out with my flight instructor, getting more experience flying solo. I… I don't know where it came from but there was suddenly some sort of… orb?" She questioned herself, then shook her head. "No, just some bright light. It took control of the plane's trajectory, like it had its own gravitational pull. I couldn't change direction, or try and land, so I just flew into it." She couldn't judge by the look on their faces if they believed her or not. "I'm not entirely sure of what really happened after that, I was drifting through space. At least I thought it was." She quickly decided against mentioning the floating bodies. "I passed out, and when I woke up my plane was losing altitude and I… crashed."

She expected the room to be completely silent after her revelation, but a buzz of words suddenly erupted from all corners. Everyone was embroiled in a conversation. Scratching her forearm, Maggie's eyes wandered throughout the people, taking in their reactions. Some disbelief, some mockery, some… compassion? Did anyone really believe her? Her story was absurd, they should have taken her for either crazy or a liar. But she saw their eyes, some of them wanted to believe her.

The woman who seemed in charge sat down upon what appeared to be a throne and with a dismissive gesture she spoke.

"Although your story is… compelling" she raised her eyebrows, and Maggie feared this foreshadowed something bad. "There is no substantial proof you exist, ghost."

With that, the women standing guard beside her took her by the arms and pulled her towards the door. Maggie started to panic, struggling to find a way to prove to these people she meant no harm, her breath caught as her throat started to close in. In her state of distress, time slowed down enough for her to remember something.

"My phone!" She exclaimed, almost shrieking. "I have pictures!"

Thanks for reading! Let me know your thoughts on how the story is progressing.

Going to watch Infinity War again tonight so I can refresh my mind, and also because I'm a masochist.

The next chapter will be uploaded at the beginning of the next week.