Maggie woke up gently, for the first time in God knows how long. Her eyes fluttered open and raising her hands above her head she stretched. She had a pleasant dream, that she was sure of. What she had dreamt of she did not know. Her breathing was steady, as was her heartbeat. Light was filtering through the open windows, the sound of life from the outside calling out to her.

"Oh shit."

Struggling with the tangled up bedsheet, she finally pulled away from the bed and ran through her bedroom door to sprint down the corridors. She couldn't believe she was missing this. It all seemed deserted, and she knew exactly why.

"Shuri!" Out of breath, she reached the girl before she stepped out through the main doors of the palace.

"Maggie." She welcomed her, and eyed her up and down when she noticed she was out of breath. "Were you working out?"

She looked at her clothes, black joggers and a plain white t-shirt, and smiled apologetically.

"No, I was sleeping."

"In sports clothes? Didn't you see the pajamas?"

"I don't believe in pajamas."

"What do you mean you don't believe in-"

"Listen." She interrupted her friend, a sense of urgency in her voice. But she was out of words and did not know what to say, not even what she wanted to say.

"I am."

"You know, they usually say 'good luck', but that's not it." Pursing her lips, Maggie quickly exhaled and looked directly into her eyes. "Be smart, play smart, think smart. Do what it takes to win. I'll be waiting for you at the lab, so come back."

The girl let the air she didn't know she was holding and nodded her head, either in acknowledgment or agreement, and they gave each other a silent goodbye. There was nothing Maggie could do except offering her friendship and encouraging words; she couldn't fight other people's battles and even less when these held a deep cultural meaning. Shuri, as the next in line, was about to be part of a sacred coronation ritual, in which she would have to defeat any challengers that may arise in order to defend her birthright to rule. And she was just a kid. Hell, Maggie was a couple of years older than her and she couldn't see herself being a victor in that situation.

Shuri gave her one last warm smile, trying to keep the nervousness under control, and nodded again. She knew her friend wanted to say something back, but she was struggling to find the right words under the uneasiness she was feeling. It was an important day for Shuri, and she wasn't ready for it. And after what had happened with her brother's death, she was even less prepared. She wasn't in the right state of mind or heart, and Maggie wasn't sure if that would play to her advantage or disadvantage.

Heading towards the common room, she found the rest of Wakanda's guests that were not allowed at the ceremony. Picking up a plate and filling it up with fruit, she sat down next to Bruce as he focused on his tablet, scanning through the information. She gave a quick look around the room, and noticed in the atmosphere that yesterday's outburst at the simulation center was still fresh on people's minds. She locked eyes with Steve for a couple of seconds before looking away. His face was unreadable, she wasn't sure if he was still mad at her or not. She decided it must be the first. Pinching Bruce on the arm, she pointed her finger at the screen he was holding.

"What's that?"

"Damage control." He sighed and took off his glasses. "Normally Tony would be in charge of this, but we can't get a hold of him."

"Tony?"

"A friend." He eyed Steve and turned to them. "Anybody got a hold of him yet?"

"No, not yet." Colonel Rhodes looked up from his own screen and offered a dimmed half-smile. "The bastard's probably stopped in the middle of space for Starbucks." He tried to joke, but Maggie could see how deeply affected he was by his disappearance, the emotional toll it was taking on him and his conscience.

"That is if he survived."

Rhodes' mug shattered against the cold hard floor, and he turned towards him. "Dammit, Steve."

"We need to be realistic here, it's been two weeks and we haven't heard of him yet."

Maggie's heartbeat halted as she stood up and stopped in front of the man. She stared at his eyes for a moment, in defiance, and when she was about to say something in anger, she saw something buried in them. Guilt. He felt guilt, and it was slowly eating him away. Guilt of something past, of secrets kept, but also guilt of inaction, of not doing enough to protect his friend. Because regardless of how he decided to act, Steve saw that man as his friend.

"You're only saying that because it's easier on your conscience to think that he's dead than that he's alone somewhere in the universe and it's your fault." She stopped him before he interrupted her. "Because you like to tell yourself that you offered your help if need be, but you know deep inside that you didn't fight hard enough for him."

"What do you know?"

"Whatever your eyes tell me." Maggie maintained her daring stance. "And they're telling me a whole lot."

They stood against each other for a while, both in equal degrees of boldness and recklessness. She felt someone jerk her by the forearm, and she found Natasha scrutinizing her own eyes, looking for something as well. She felt intimidated by the woman.

"Banner, we should head to the lab."

Maggie was connected to the brain scan machine again, to her dismay, as she pulled at the bottom of her t-shirt. It wasn't that she was particularly uncomfortable around medical equipment, it was Natasha's piercing look and Bruce's tension that was making her uneasy. And she was sure that this wasn't all about whatever they thought they could find in her brain. For whatever reason, there seemed to be quite a lot of underlying feelings within the team, and it all seemed messy. She didn't like messy.

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"Well, the things you figured out," Natasha sat down in front of her as she directed a look of seriousness at her, "aren't easy to find, even through interrogation."

"What are you saying then, that I'm a psychic?" she snorted.

"No, psychics read minds, you-"

"It seemed like you were reading his soul." Bruce interrupted. "If souls were to exist. So you're either an excellent body language reader with a lot of luck, or there's something else going on."

"I'm just really perceptive."

"That's what we want to measure." He eyed his computer screen and signaled to Natasha to connect the remaining electrodes to herself as well. "The EEG should tell us more."

"Why is she connected as well? And what is an EEG?" Maggie's confusion grew with each passing moment, as did her uneasiness. She knew she had agreed to be a lab rat, but she didn't expect them to find anything. What if they did find something? Something out of the ordinary?

"More variables and Electroencephalogram." He loosely explained. "I need something to measure you up against, or to know if you have an effect on people. And this thing," Bruce pushed his chair closer towards her. "measures the electrical impulses in your brain. It will tell me where and what kind of activity is going on."

"But we already did this one." She looked back at her memory, this was one of the first trials they had performed.

"Yes, but we didn't account for external impulses, so we're gonna try it out." Bruce felt her nervousness and gently squeezed her hand, offering a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine, you've seen this doesn't hurt."

Maggie eyed him cautiously and decided to trust him. He pulled away to sit behind the computer and gave them a thumbs up to start. Her eyes shifted from him to Natasha.

"Try to read her, like you did with Steve." he instructed. "Keep your eyes on her as long as you can."

She focused on the woman in front of her, her unreadable eyes. Something told her that it wouldn't be as easy to read her as it was with the Captain. He had his guard down, emotionally speaking, so his eyes held more truth. This woman's eyes were like a robot, void and calculative. There was nothing to read there.

"I'm getting nothing." With an exasperated sigh, Maggie was close to giving up when she had barely started.

"Try harder." Bruce encouraged her.

Rolling her eyes, she resumed what was going to be a fruitless enterprise; Natasha was as closed as a bank's safe. Struggling to get past the iciness, she noticed there was a veil in her eyes. It wasn't that she was closed off, something was closing her. She pressed harder against the veil, losing touch with her surroundings. There were only her inscrutable eyes. There was something hidden behind that veil, she only had to push past it.

With a strength she didn't know she had, Maggie finally found what she was looking for.

"You see in red. Mostly." She struggled to catch her breath. Reading Natasha was taking more energy than she knew she had. "You're angry, but you don't know what you're angry at so you direct it at everything. But you keep it under control. It's your drive. Because if you don't control it, if you don't spread it and it finds a single target, it will destroy it and your last bit of conscience."

Natasha pushed at her, ripping the electrodes from both their heads. She wrestled with the chair until she found the armrest again and tightly gripped it. Her breathing was uneven, and she looked disheveled for the first time since she'd met her. With bulging eyes, the woman tried to read her back, but she could only find surprise and bewilderment. The girl was just as worked up as she was.

"What is wrong with you?"

"I don't know." The beginnings of grief and anguish were in her voice.

"But I do." Bruce looked up from the screen, a smile of amusement upon his face.

They were finally closer to figuring out the mystery that was Maggie Bellamy.

Here's the next chapter! Let me know what you think of the direction the story is taking.

I know it's a bit angsty right now, but I think it would take a bit of time for the team to begin to heal after everything that's happened to them. And Tony better find a way to get his ass back home. Good things are in the horizon though!

The next chapter will be posted at the beginning of the coming week.