Hi, it's Miranda.
I fell asleep at some point, a deep, dreamless sleep. The only explanation I can come up with for that is that whatever Hawkeye gave me also contained something to make me sleep. He never admitted to later, so it will have to remain a mystery.
I woke to someone shaking my arm. "Here, take this," said Hawkeye, pressing a glass of something into my hands.
If he had added something, it wouldn't have mattered whether I drank it or not – he would have gotten it into me one way or another, and I was thirsty. I drained the contents and set it down.
He grabbed my arm. Instinctively, I tried to pull it away, but he tightened his grip and tightened something shiny onto one wrist, then the other. "It's just a precaution," he said, standing up and walking away. My gaze went down to my hands in my lap, cuffed together.
I wasn't really thinking about any of this and, instead, did my best to pretend it was a dream, that could end at any minute. This I knew to be wrong. My arm was sore from my pinching it over and over again.
I had also considered the idea it was all a practical joke. The joke probably would have ceased long ago.
The only reason I hadn't freaked out about it was because I focused on other things. What was Ivy doing? She'd always said she'd like to meet Black Widow, her all time favorite Avenger. She was the comics fan between the two of us. Whenever anything with Black Widow came out, she was all over it. She knew far more about Marvel than I did, though she'd only been into comics since The Avengers, which was her first Marvel movie. What I knew came only from movies – which I'd seen as they came out, instead of all afterwards – and Ivy's exited chatter over comics that she'd enjoyed. To me, though, X-men beat Avengers every time. Like I've already said, Wolverine would just slice through them all with his claws and not take any damage.
It was just so strange, though. I knew the favorite Avenger of nearly every friend of mine who'd seen the movie, and most of them had. Ariel's favorite was Hawkeye, while Carmen preferred Captain America, although she was with me on the X-men being the better of the two teams. It was too bizarre that this was happening, that these people really existed here.
What was going to happen to me here? What would Loki want with me, when he got out? Would Ivy just keep her nose out everything and stay out of the way – that wasn't a question, really. I didn't doubt she would, it was just a matter of how far she would get in.
Supposing this all turned out well, though – what would happen? Would we ever get back where we belonged? In our proper universe? Where the planet didn't get invaded by aliens and people didn't build flying armored suits or turn into green rage monsters?
I read fanfiction on occasion. Mostly when Carmen showed me the ones she found. Despite whatever a person might say about it, there are good stories among the bad ones. Anyhow, I'd read a couple stories where people found themselves in the Marvel universe. Many people who like a particular fandom probably wish they could get pulled into the story and meet the characters, or at least think about it. Ever wondered what you'd do if you actually did get pulled into the story? You probably have. You'd save Coulson and all that.
But what about its impact on everything that was to follow? One little change might alter the future the Marvel movies. Ever thought of that?