They were all gathered in the lab, surrounding Bruce as he tried to explain as best as he could what they had just found out. Colonel Rhodes and the Captain had arrived as soon as they received notice that they had made a breakthrough.

"Okay, it's important to understand that this is mostly theoretical." The doctor rubbed his temple and skimmed through the EEG's readings. "I mean, I do have some tangible results, but this is a hypothesis."

"Get to the point, Banner." Rhodes gently gestured.

Taking in a deep breath, he threw a reassuring look at Maggie, telling her with his eyes that regardless of the outcome of this conversation he was on her side. And this meant a lot to her. In her status as an outsider, and also after losing her previous life, she found a mentor and a rock on the doctor. He had always reached down to her with kindness and understanding.

"There is something going on with her, with her brain to be more specific. I see here similar readings to the ones Wanda ha- had." Clearing his throat, he resumed. "See, this is her brain scan when she was 'reading' Nat. These areas," he pointed out, "light up like a Christmas tree in December."

"Which means…" Steve indicated for him to continue.

"Well, such high activity is not seen in any living thing we've studied yet, except- you know." His speech was accelerating considerably. "And this was due to Hydra's experiments with the Mind Stone, so this tells us that it's got to be related to some extent to one of the Stones. Of course, one would think that it would be the Mind Stone because, well, it's like she can read minds, but we've kept our eyes on that one, and something just doesn't read right, so it must be one of the other ones. But which one? Can't be the time or space ones, wouldn't make sense, and it's not like she's altering the fabric of reality so that one's out too. Should be the mind stone if she's reading minds, except-"

"Except," the Captain interrupted Bruce's babbling, "she's not reading minds, she's reading souls."

Silence stretched across the room, and Maggie was caught by surprise. Stones? Experiment? Mind reading? What were these people going on about? As far as she was concerned, she had arrived to an extremely technologically advanced African country, that dabbled in space trouble or something similar. She had heard them talk about it, in hushed whispers. Perhaps they were so advanced that they were also experimenting with people's minds, like the Mk Ultra thing, and thought she was collateral damage. Oh God, what if they were the ones that brought her here? What if they created some sort of inter-dimensional rift and teleported her to this place? Were they responsible for what had happened to her? Many questions were suffocating Maggie, the room spinning around.

"What did you do to me?" She pointed accusingly. "What. did. you. do?"

Bruce raised his arms to try and calm her down but Maggie swatted his hands away. "We didn't do anything to you, trust us. We're as surprised as you are."

"Something tells me you aren't! The hell are you going on about mind control and stones and mystic powers. First you imprison and interrogate me, then you poison me, and now what?" She cut him accusingly.

"How much do you know?" Natasha got closer to her, and she knew that this would be in order to restrain her if she failed to keep her cool.

"How much do I know about what?"

Nothing made sense. They talked about entities of other planets, magical stones that granted powers of some sort, intergalactic civilizations in complete chaos. And not only that, these people weren't exactly normal either. They were something straight out of a comic book. She thought Shuri was joking when she mentioned the superhero thing, but she thought it was more of a 'extraordinary people working for good' and not so much 'people with extraordinary powers working for good'. What had she just gotten into?

"Maggie?"

"I need to think." She pushed past Bruce and made it through the doors of the lab.

Wandering around the palace, she found that what she really needed was fresh air and a quiet place to think and get back to the ground again. With swift steps, Maggie made it to one of the higher levels' balconies, and dropped against the edge with abandon. Her legs dangling in the air, the only thing keeping her safe was the metallic railing, and this gave her some comfort. She was floating but grounded, and in that moment she realised that was what she needed. With her face against the iron bars, she let the breeze play with the loose strands of hair.

This was impossible at best. There really was no way to rationalize what had happened to her, what was going on around her. Was she in a coma and dreaming things after a bad plane crash? That seemed like the most probable answer, the last thing she remembered before arriving to this place was losing control of the plane. But something was pressing at the back of her mind, telling her that this was real, or as real as her previous life had been. She had too many questions, questions that she didn't even know how to phrase.

"Feels like someone dropped a bucket of ice cold water over you, huh?"

Maggie lifted up her eyes and found someone she didn't expect. The Captain. He made a sign as if asking for permission, and sat down next to her after she nodded. Talking about being uncomfortable.

"For me it was quite the opposite, as if I'd been been frozen and someone took me out of the ice." He smiled to himself, something she thought was uncharacteristic of the surly man. "Literally."

"What does that even mean?" She muttered to herself. "It doesn't even make any sense."

"What I mean to say is…" He turned to look at her, pity in his eyes. She did not like that, she preferred when he looked at her like he was irritated. "I know what you're going through, I know it's hard. But the sooner you pull your head out of the water and start swimming, the better for everyone."

"Ah, so that's it!" She exclaimed, shoving him lightly with her shoulder. "You're worried about the team, not me." He furrowed his brows at her and she got it as a cue that he did not get her humor. "I was beginning to worry you were a shape-shifting alien or something, your personal concern is very uncharacteristic."

He rolled his eyes at her, certainly amused, as he pushed himself off the ground. He gave her one last look, this time pity was out of his eyes and replaced by something else.

"Keep your head above the water, Bellamy."

"What is it with this man and water?"

"Have you finished packing?"

Bruce was leaning against the door-frame of her guest room, impatiently waiting for her.

She grimaced at him and shoved the bedside lamp on the suitcase they had provided her, raising her shoulders at him.

"What do you want me to pack, doc?" She exclaimed. "The bed sheets?"

"Some clothes would be nicer, I think." He reprimanded her with a knowing smile.

She threw herself over the mattress in defeat and raised an arm at him.

"I know, I know, sorry." Sitting up, she let one leg swing over the border. "But what do I even have to pack? My old clothes and the plane's seat."

"No, we threw the later one out."

She smiled at him, letting her friend know she appreciated his cheerful disposition. She had been told that morning that they would be heading out back to the US, to their headquarters, to try and regroup and think things over. Which meant that she would be leaving with them as well, as the doctor had kindly indicated. It was hard convincing the Wakandan government to let her go, but with Shuri over their command, they came to the agreement that she would be supervised at all times. She wasn't free just yet.

But she appreciated the help. She knew it hadn't been easy on the Princess. Or Queen. When she came back to the ritual, she had come back victorious but defeated. She didn't get the details, but it hadn't been an easy ceremony. Regardless, she was happy her friend seemed to be adjusting to her new role, regardless of the looks of disapproval from some of the other members of the court. But she had to recognize she would miss her; after all, she was one of the two people who seemed to like her.

"No need to look so gloomy."

The voice surprised her, seeing her friend pass through Bruce as she went to stand with her.

"I know, right? Because I am usually a beacon of light."

Shuri brushed it off with a laugh and sat beside her, her arm resting over Maggie's shoulders.

"I have something for you, something I would like you to have." She leaned closer to her. "Something the Captain is not going to like."

"Oh, good, that's the best kind." She waved at Bruce as the man decided to take his leave. "Please, tell me."

"I want you to have the ship."

She wanted her to have the recipient of months of hard work? The spacecraft she had designed, the one Maggie had helped with in the simulator? Although she was tempted to accept without any more concerns, she needed to be sure of what she was being offered.

"Are you sure I can have it?"

"As sure as it's mine, and I can decide who to give it to." She shrugged it off. "Besides, it's already calibrated to you, after all those hours of simulations. And every ship needs a captain."

She warmly smiled at the girl. Her friend knew exactly what she was offering and still she was giving it to her, proudly. She couldn't help but throw her arms around her and laugh, hugging her tightly. She was going to miss her.

"Come on, don't you want to see your new ride?"

They rushed through the corridors back to Shuri's workshop, which was filled with the most incredible technological advances, as usual. As they passed through endless shiny and extremely expensive toys, they reached what looked like a small hangar, a silver gleam waiting for them.

"I can't believe it."

"I know."

A small spacecraft rested against the floor, it's frame slender and it's surface sleek. It was mainly the color of midnight, a beautiful dark blue that seemed to hold a glimmer to it, along with silver accents. It was small, compact, it could only fit one person, two if need arose. The girl signaled at her to get closer and Maggie couldn't help but to run her hands along it's exterior. She noticed that as she dragged her hand the color changed to a lighter blue, following the path she was making.

"Heat sensitive paint."

She absentmindedly nodded, pressing both hands against the aircraft this time, staring at the hand-prints she had left behind.

"If you're losing it over the paint job wait until you see what's inside."

The top retracted almost soundlessly, and she could barely see the control center standing on her tiptoes.

"Oh no, the Captain is not going to like this." Maggie whispered in awe.

"Not one bit." The girl smiled proudly.

Sorry for the delay! Life got in the way, but I'm back and with fresh ideas after watching Endgame twice. I'll try and adapt the story-line to Endgame as much as possible, but since I started writing this straight after Infinity War came out there'll be some differences.

Also, since 5 years pass in between, it doesn't make sense that this is a Peter Parker x OC story because of the age difference. So I'm thinking of changing it, maybe to Steve or Thor, let me know if you guys have any preferences! If not, I'm thinking that people that were dusted continue aging, making Peter around 23 years old when he comes back.

As always, let me know what you thought of the chapter!