There's a lot of moving parts at this point in WandaVision, I've tried not to make it too much a retelling of the show!

Reviews

Guest: Thank you so much, glad you're enjoying!

Guest: That was kind of the dynamic I was going for with Rikki in ITSOYW!

10th November 2023

"As punishment for my reckless evening," Wanda told an invisible camera interviewer, in her pajamas, "I plan on taking a quarantine-style staycation. A whole day… just to myself. That'll show me."

On a remote road far out of Westview, but within the seemingly invisible walls of the Hex, a soldier stood alone on an empty highway.

But not a soldier like those in the S.W.O.R.D. base - those had been turned into clowns.

The soldier wore the dress uniform of a modern US Army Sergeant, which actually happened to be styled after the old WW2 dress uniforms: Khaki brown, belted around the waist, with a service cap over his short dark hair. His Sergeant's insignia gleamed on his left shoulder, and two flesh hands could be seen at the ends of his sleeves.

He blinked for a moment, then turned around, peering at the highway and the surrounding fields.

"Now where was I…?"

S.W.O.R.D. Temporary Retreat, Eight Miles Outside Westview, NJ

Hayward looked over his new base, set up on a commandeered farm just off the highway. They'd set up their main canvas tent under a metal barn roof. The place was crawling with reinforcements; S.W.O.R.D. agents and military.

Hayward strode through it all to Rodriguez, his number two, who stood at the edge of the farm looking out at the Hex. It was plain as day now, even in the direct sunlight; a towering scarlet hexagon with black clouds looming over the top, at least a mile high.

"Lucky for us she pumped the brakes," Rodriguez muttered when she noticed him by her side.

"Yeah, I feel very lucky," he chuckled sarcastically. "What's happening with the broadcast?"

"Dead air. The signal's gone."

"Make sure the team has everything they need." He instructed, then looked at her. "We launch today."

"Yes sir." She nodded and turned to deliver his orders. Then she glanced back. "And our prisoner?"

Hayward sighed. "I'll talk to him."

He strode further in, through the green canvas flap of their main operations centre, until he found the cage of poles and wire.

Master Sergeant and Avenger Sam Wilson sat inside the cage on a haybale, handcuffed and surrounded by haybales and animal feed pellets. The area had probably been fenced off to keep the rats out, but Hayward's agents had put a sturdy lock on the door. Wilson had a juice box and an MRE pack beside him, which he hadn't touched, and as Hayward approached he looked up with a supremely annoyed expression.

"I am sorry, Master Sergeant Wilson. This is a secure operation so I can't have you leaving just yet, but I assure you we'll handle your release back to the Air Force as soon as this is dealt with."

"So you are keeping me as a prisoner? Just for the clarification," Wilson said, gesturing with his handcuffed hands at the cage around him.

"You are free to find your own verbiage," Hayward said, and turned to walk off.

"You should let me talk to her!" Wilson shouted. "I know her, she's not a bad person."

Hayward whipped around, suddenly seething. "You saw what she did, Wilson. Just because she fought with you once upon a time does not make her a saint." He pressed close to the bars. "Now, I admire and respect your contributions to our country." He levelled a gaze at Wilson. "But this is dangerous, enhanced power beyond our understanding. And it needs to be stopped."

Wilson laughed under his breath, his eyes suddenly very serious. "Stopped. Funny way of saying killed. You couldn't kill Wanda if you tried."

"Couldn't I?" Hayward said, cocking his head.

Wilson's brow lowered.

"Enjoy your juice box, Master Sergeant." Hayward turned and strode away.

After awaking in the strange circus that had popped up outside Westview where there had once been a base of some kind, Vision slowly paced toward the escape artist chained to the front of a large red car. She was the woman from last night, but instead of handcuffs she was wrapped in chain and a lock, and instead of her dark clothes she wore a bright blue costume.

"Can I help you, creeper?" she asked, eyebrows high.

"You don't remember me from last night?" he questioned. "We locked eyes. There was an… unspoken understanding."

"Um, hard pass." She broke the chains and stormed off.

Ah.

"No, wait! Wait up!"

Wanda let out a sigh of relief as Agnes guided Billy and Tommy out of the house. They'd been asking so many questions. Tough questions.

Across the road, Tony was busy mowing the lawn of 2799 Sherwood Drive, headphones blaring in his ears. Maggie watched him from inside the house, a cloth in her hand as she cleaned the windows. Trying to make the outside clearer.

She had the chores, the roles in her mind. And that ever-aching grief snaring her mind like vicious barbed wire.

She worked at a particularly grimy spot on the glass, her eyes still fixed on her brother.

Outside the Hex, in the armored truck that Bucky had dove out of last night, Woo read through the email Darcy had sent him last night, including the files about Project Cataract.

"Hayward wasn't decommissioning Vision, he was trying to bring him back online! Nothing worked until…"

"Wanda stole Vision's body," Monica breathed.

"That's why he was so focused on tracking Vision inside the Hex."

"Hayward wants his sentient weapon back."

"Someone has to tell Wanda," Woo said grimly.

And then they crested over the rise, revealing a team of people with a few trucks and a shelter of some kind waiting for them.

Woo and Monica parked, strode over, and were shown the huge moon-lander looking vehicle they'd brought.

"She's perfect," Monica smiled.

Back in Westview's new circus, Vision touched Darcy Lewis's temples, and yellow light rippled over her skin.

"Oh - whoah," Darcy staggered, looking around. "Okay. Whew."

"Awake?" Vision asked, hands outstretched helplessly.

"Uh, yeah." She turned in a circle, eyes wide.

"Alright?"

"Oh, hello, self," Darcy breathed. "You know, part of me secretly wanted a guest spot on this show, but seriously, that sucked."

Moments later, after a bit of quick explanation, Darcy and Vision took off in a funnel cake van.

The moon lander didn't work. It roared against the edge of the Hex, unable to penetrate, until finally being spat back out, the front half now turned into a giant pickup truck. Monica had thankfully been able to escape, but now she stood, alone and in a space suit, on the grass before the Hex.

Her chest heaved, and she looked to Woo.

"No, no," he murmured.

"I can get through," she replied. And she dropped the helmet and ran.

"Monica! No!"

But he was too far away. He could do nothing but watch her force her way into the scarlet magic and vanish - once again.

The funnel cake van did not go very fast. Thankfully, this gave Darcy plenty of time to explain the whole convoluted story of the Avengers and Ultron and Thanos and Infinity Stones to Vision.

Of course, they were also being slowed on the way - all the red lights, and now a full on construction crew with a truck pulled up in front of them trying to fix the traffic light, meaning they had to sit there and wait.

"So if I understand correctly," Vision said, "my original code dates back to an AI called Jarvis." Darcy nodded. "But my corporeal form was born of Ultron's plan for global genocide."

"Correcto," Darcy said awkwardly.

"What am I now?"

Darcy sat back in the driver's seat and sighed. "Honestly, I'm a STEM type of lady, so I thought she just flipped a switch in your head and brought you back to life, but… what I don't get is why you can't leave the Hex." She watched his face grow somber. "What I do know is that I've been watching WandaVision for the past week, and the love you two have is real." His gaze lifted, unsure. "You belong together."

Vision looked away, digesting that.

Darcy looked away, to give him some privacy. She scowled at the busy hubbub construction crew fixing the light and blocking the way. Then she looked further down the road. She frowned.

There was a single figure walking down the road toward the intersection.

"Is that…?" She wound down the funnel cake van window and stuck her head out. "It is!" She flung the door open, making Vision glance over, surprised, and she jumped out onto the street.

"Bucky!" Darcy began shouting, waving both arms over her head. "Bucky Barnes!"

The lone soldier wandering down the road, who'd gotten pretty close to the construction crew by now, blinked and looked up. Darcy took a second to stare at his outfit: he looked like he'd just come fresh home from decommission, with his service cap and his uniform and his ensignia shining in the sun.

And as she stared at him, Darcy realized that the Bucky Barnes on the road before her did not recognize her. He pointed to himself, as if questioning her shouts. Darcy nodded rapidly and waved for him to come over.

He glanced around, as if there could be anyone else she was gesturing to, then made his way over at a half-jog.

Vision had climbed out of the van as well, so Darcy turned to him. "He's the one I was telling you about, he's Maggie's husband - or maybe not, I never got that clarified."

"He's her husband?" Vision queried, looking up in eagerness. "He's real?"

"Yeah, he must have gotten Hex-ified like the rest of us. I gotta say, he fits the uniform well. He looks just like his pictures."

"Pictures?" Vision asked.

But at this point, Bucky had approached them, eyes roving over them curiously - particularly Vision, in his android form. His gaze turned back to her. "Hi there, doll," - Darcy's eyebrows shot up - "I seem to have gotten myself turned around. I'm looking for…" he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Number 2799 Sherwood Drive, Westview. Could you point me the way?"

"Bucky, it's me," Darcy said, pointing to herself. "Darcy?"

He smiled at her blankly. "Nice to meet you, ma'am." He took off his service cap in greeting.

Darcy made a disgusted noise, despite the general handsomeness, and turned to Vision. "Vision, you fixed me, can you…?"

"Of course." Vision stepped forward, making Bucky's eyes widen, then said: "Pardon me," and touched the sides of Bucky's head. With a flicker of yellow energy Bucky cried out, his eyes screwed up, and dropped to his knees.

"Oh dear," Vision said, looking back at Darcy. "I didn't mean for it to be painful, it wasn't with you."

"He's got a lot of memory shit going on, I don't think it's your fault," Darcy said sympathetically. She crouched down next to Bucky, careful not to touch him. "Bucky? You in there?"

With a groan, Bucky sat back on his haunches and pushed his hair back, eyes still screwed shut. "Back again," he grimaced. "Shit." He looked down at himself, plucked at the uniform, then stared at his flesh hand. The fingers wiggled - they certainly looked like flesh. He tapped his left palm with his right hand and there was a definitive metal tink. "What the fuck is Wanda playing at."

"She already gave you a part before you got here," Darcy shrugged. "Now you're filling it."

Bucky looked at the paper in his hand. "Even better, she's given me an address. And if she fucks with my memory again, I swear I'll-"

Behind Darcy, Vision cleared his throat.

Bucky looked up, focused on Vision, and his eyes widened. "Wow." He stood up, reached out hesitantly, and touched Vision's shoulder. "It really is you."

"Do you know me?" Vision asked curiously. "Are you an…" he looked to Darcy for a second as she stood up. "Avenger?"

Bucky winced. "Uh… up for debate. But yeah, sort of. You were trying to arrest me for a while, but then we fought together against Thanos. I was there when you…" he trailed off, staring now at the glowing gem in Vision's forehead.

"Ah, yes," Vision said delicately.

"I didn't know you that well," Bucky said apologetically. "But Meg - Maggie - did, you were… friends. She thought you hung the moon."

"I see," Vision said. "That explains a lot. She has felt… familiar. Do you know her brother Tony, too?"

Bucky's jaw twitched. "That Tony is some poor fuck from Westview being put in the place of Tony. Tony Stark died three weeks ago. He died to bring half the world - and Wanda - back."

"I see. Poor Maggie."

Bucky jammed his hat on his head and pocketed his address. "Let's go get her."

"We can't, there's traffic," Darcy gestured.

Bucky stared at her, then looked at the men. "I will tear their fucking construction truck to shreds-"

"Alright, Terminator, calm down. See, they're moving now anyway." The men were indeed clearing off. "Get in the van, both of you."

Vision and Bucky exchanged a glance, then nodded and headed to the funnel cake van.

When Maggie saw the black woman in the strange white and black uniform run into Wanda's house, she stopped wiping down the windows. The cloth dangled in her hand.

Geraldine? Maggie's brow furrowed. But Geraldine had left town.

When the woman was then blasted out of the house again a few moments later, held aloft by crackling red energy, Maggie put down her cloth and went outside.

It was wrong, that she did this. A step out of line, out of script. But she walked out the front door anyway, her eyes on Geraldine, now twenty feet off the ground and trapped by that scarlet energy. Wanda stormed out as well, her hands flaring red as she shouted up at Geraldine.

"All you do is lie!" Wanda slammed her hand down and Geraldine dropped - but she landed on one knee, her hand braced on the sidewalk as a strange pulse of energy rippled out from where she'd impacted. And ever so slowly, she looked up at Wanda.

Everyone on the street was watching by now - Dennis the postman, Dottie up the street with her rosebushes, Tony with the lawnmower, another couple with a pram outside of Maggie's house. And as one, they all froze - Maggie felt her limbs lock up too, until she was merely a pleasantly-smiling statue at the top of the stairs up to her front door, her hand resting lightly on the banister.

She heard Wanda and Geraldine's words as if she were underwater. Like she wasn't really listening, like she would forget it soon after.

"The only lies I've told are the ones you put in my mouth," Geraldine said, rising.

Scarlet light flared in Wanda's hand. "Careful what you say to me."

"Do it then," Geraldine said, and spread her arms. "Take me out." Wanda hesitated. "See, that's where you and Hayward differ. He's gonna burn Westview to the ground just to get what he wants. Don't let him make you the villain."

"Maybe I already am."

"I'm not afraid of you, Wanda," Geraldine said, stepping closer. "I lost the person closest to me, too. The worst thing I can think of has already happened to me. And I can't change it, I can't undo it, I can't control this pain anymore, and I don't think I want to. Because it's my truth."

Something about the words unstuck something within Maggie. She was still rooted to the spot, her hand on her banister, but the ringing in her ears cleared up, as if she'd just swum upwards and broken the surface. As Geraldine reasoned with Wanda, Maggie was able to open her mouth.

Maggie was able to say: "Listen to her, Wanda."

Alarmed, Wanda stared past Geraldine at Maggie standing across the road, near her front door, as if she'd forgotten she was there. Geraldine looked back too, her eyes warming with sympathy.

"Young lady!" snapped a new voice, and Geraldine glanced back to find Agnes marching up next to Wanda. Maggie's tongue seemed to stick to the roof of her mouth, silencing her. "I think you've overstayed your welcome." Agnes reached out to hold Wanda's shoulders. "Poor Wanda's been through enough."

"This doesn't concern you," Geraldine said. "Wanda…"

"Run along, dear," Agnes smiled, and steered Wanda away.

"Wanda, you have to take it down!" Geraldine called.

"No," Wanda snapped, turning around to point at Geraldine. "Don't make me hurt you." She turned, eyes flashing, and continued to walk with Agnes into the other house.

Geraldine turned back, looking across the road to the frozen statue that was Maggie. "I'll help you, I promise." Her eyebrows came together.

When the door shut behind Wanda, the world came unstuck. Maggie gave the street a pleasant smile, seeing Dennis striding past with his packages, the couple with the pram now onto the next house, Tony turning off the lawnmower and wiping his brow. She barely noticed the woman in the strange uniform across the road. She turned around and went right back inside.

On the crossroads leading into Westview, Darcy started the funnel cake van and began driving - only for a man in a yellow vest with a stop sign to get in the way. A line of schoolchildren streamed past, hand in hand. Blocking the way.

"Kids?" Darcy exclaimed. "What's next, puppies?"

Bucky, standing in the back of the van where the funnel cakes were made, looked ahead and let out a frustrated groan.

Vision, for his part, was completely silent, looking off into the middle distance. Until, suddenly and without a word, he floated up, phased through the roof of the van, and then soared off through the air toward town.

Darcy stared, leaning on her steering wheel to try to spot him as he soared away. "So I'll just meet you there, then!"

Bucky leaned out between the front seats, peering at Vision rapidly disappearing into the distance, then down at the road. "Look, they're clearing up now." He climbed awkwardly into the passenger seat, creasing his service cap in the process. Once he was safely seated, he turned to Darcy. "Step on it, Doctor Lewis."

She looked to the clear road ahead. "Gladly."

Sitting on the couch of Agnes's house, as Agnes pottered in the kitchen making tea, Wanda frowned.

"Where are the twins?"

"Oh, they're probably just playing in the basement," Agnes called.

Wanda went downstairs.

"The name's Agatha Harkness," said the woman with Agnes's face a few minutes later. She grinned in the dim light of the strange underground space, overgrown with roots and smelling of sulfur. "Lovely to meet you, dear."

In the magical darkness beneath Agatha Harkness's house, fearing for her boy's lives, Wanda was forced to step through into her memories:

Sokovia, and the Dick Van Dyke Show, and the bomb.

Then HYDRA, and the Infinity Stone. The silhouette in the light.

The Avengers Facility, Vision on her bed. But what is grief, if not love persevering? The moment she fell in love, never knowing it at the time.

The S.W.O.R.D. Facility. Vision's body in pieces. I can't feel you.

Back to Westview, but a week ago. The empty plot of land. The land deed, with the love heart: To grow old in. V. The magic surging out of her, and seeing Maggie's shocked face just a second before it completely overwhelmed her. Vision's body, forged out of golden light.

And then an empty stage, where Agatha applauded her.

And then her boys shouting for help.

Overwhelmed and desperate, Wanda dashed out the stage door and onto Sherwood Drive, where her worst nightmare unfolded: Agatha was in a long purple robe floating twenty feet in the hair, holding purple strings of magic cinched around Billy and Tommy's throats.

"Mom!" they cried when they saw her, struggling with the magic around their necks.

"I know what you are," Agatha declared, her purple robes flowing. She yanked on the tethers, and Billy and Tommy cried out, their heads snapping back.

"It's okay, baby," Wanda breathed, glowing hands outstretched. "It's okay."

"You have no idea how dangerous you are," Agatha said. "You're supposed to be a myth, a being capable of spontaneous creation. And here you are, using it to create breakfast for dinner."

"Let go of my children," Wanda snarled. She allowed her gaze to dart for a moment, searching for a solution. But she'd somehow in her panic emptied the street of all people. Perhaps because she knew how dangerous this was. She did see, out of the corner of her eye, the house across the street. And Maggie behind the kitchen window, wiping the glass down with an absent smile on her face.

"Oh yes, your children," Agatha said derisively. "And Vision, and this whole little life you've made. This is Chaos Magic, Wanda. And that makes you the Scarlet Witch."

The hostage situation turned into an all-out witch fight, bolts of scarlet and purple magic flying back and forth, Agatha absorbing all the bolts Wanda fired at her. Wanda hurled a car at Agatha, sending her through the front wall of her house, but when she checked, there was no body.

And then a strange being floated down on the street behind her.

Vision, only… he was completely pure, bone white.

"Vision?" she breathed, and strode over. He eyed her, strange and white, eyes and gem ice blue. "Is it really you?"

He reached out to caress her cheek. "Wanda." His other hand landed on her head. And then he began to crush. He lifted her off her feet as she cried out, feeling her bones begin to press inward.

"And I was told you were powerful," he murmured. In the next second, a red and blue blur shot past - Vision, the real Vision, smashing the white one away and tossing him into a house down the street.

"Where are the boys?" he called.

"They're in the house, safe," Wanda panted. "Vision, I should have told you everything. The moment I realized what I'd done."

"It's alright, Wanda," he said. "I now why you made this world, but this…"

"I can fix it."

"Can you?"

The white Vision reemerged from the bonfire at the end of the block, and then Agatha appeared in midair above her house.

"Vision," Wanda said, turning to her husband. "This is our home."

"Then let's fight for it," he nodded.

They both dove into battle.

Trapped inside Agatha's house, Monica pounded on the window.

Trapped inside her house, Maggie repetitively wiped at the same window pane, back and forth, back and forth. Her hand was starting to ache from how tightly she clutched the cloth. Behind the glass, out of focus, Wanda, Agatha, and the two Visions spiralled off into battle.

Agent Woo was escorted into the S.W.O.R.D. Temporary Retreat base in handcuffs, under armed guard. There'd been no getting past the S.W.O.R.D. perimeter from where he'd been, after Monica disappeared. He'd lost both his friends into the Hex now, and he couldn't see a way out.

"Hey, it's my favourite member of the bureau," Hayward called as Woo was marched up to him.

Dick.

Hayward got distracted, talking to his second, Rodriguez about some asset they wanted to keep under control. It sounded like the asset was mid combat, whatever it was. Project Cataract, Woo remembered. The real Vision's body. Had they got him back online?

Woo spotted a cellphone lying on the desk next to them.

"You'll never be able to cover this up," Woo said, sidling forward.

"I won't have to," Hayward replied with barely a look. "Wanda cancelled her show, so there's no footage proving there was ever more than one Vision."

With his back to the desk and a slight lean, Woo deftly scooped up the cellphone and pocketed it. "Oh, there's S.W.O.R.D. HQ security tape and evidence of tampering, no doubt."

"No one's gonna care once I've eliminated Wanda Maximoff," Hayward said, turning around to face Woo fully now. "They'll believe that the Vision who emerges from the Westview rubble is the same one she illegally tried to bring back to life. They'll thank me for recovering such a valuable asset." He leaned in. "You could be a part of that victory, Jimmy. If only you had a little more… vision."

Woo chuckled. "That's a good one, Hayward." He nodded. "Okay, I'm convinced. Trouble is, my friends at Quantico will probably have something to say about your plan, when they arrive inside the hour."

Hayward eyed him for a moment. "You're bluffing."

Woo lifted his chin to look Hayward dead in the eye. "Am I?"

Hayward jerked his head at a nearby agent. "We're done here. Take him to his friend."

The agent stepped forward, grabbing Woo's shoulder. "Friend?" he questioned. "Darcy?" But Hayward had already turned away.

A short, uncomfortable walk later, Woo was brought to a small cage of wire and metal bars, which already had an occupant.

"Oh. You," Woo said, feeling the disappointment all over again that Darcy had probably ended up swallowed by the Hex.

"Welcome to the club," Sam said, leaning against a pile of haybales and waving with a handcuffed hand. The door was unlocked, Woo thrown in, and the door locked again. The guard strode away. "They got you, huh? Where's Bucky and Rambeau?"

Woo let out a frustrated sigh. "Both in the Hex, in the end. On purpose, both of them."

"Yeah, I could see it in Bucky's eyes," Sam sighed. "Darcy went in too, but she didn't have a choice. I'm sorry, you trusted me to look after her."

Woo shook his head. "She's a tough lady. She'll be alright." He shifted uncomfortably on the hay bale he'd ended up on, and eyed their surroundings. No prying eyes. "So you're Captain America now, right?"

"It's… complicated," Sam scratched at his chin with his handcuffed hands.

"Where's the shield?"

He winced. "In my car, back in the Hex somewhere probably."

"Seriously? Why didn't you bring it with you?"

"I… I don't like just walking into places with it, it feels weird-"

"It's a Vibranium shield! You could've had us out of this by now."

"Alright, alright, get off my back, man. Where are your useful FBI skills then, anyway?"

"Coming right at you," Woo grinned, giving the last jiggle to the safety pin he'd also swiped from Hayward's desk. His handcuffs clicked open, and he brought them around to wave at Sam. "Flourish."

Sam's eyes lit up. "Nice, man. Do me."

A moment later they were both handcuff-free, and Woo produced the cellphone he'd stolen.

"You are just full of surprises, Agent Woo," Sam grinned.

"Glad to be of service," Woo said, shuffling against the largest part of the haybale stack. "Cover me?"

"On it," Sam shuffled to keep a watch out.

Woo dialled, and thankfully the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

"Cliff," Woo breathed. "Uh, James Woo. Hey, I've got a situation and I was hoping you could get here inside the hour?"

In Westview's town square, Agatha recited the lore of the Scarlet Witch, her eyes flashing violet as she hovered in the air.

"It's your destiny to destroy the world."

"I'm not what you say I am!" Wanda shouted back.

"Oh really?" Agatha twisted her hand and chanted under her breath; the words seemed to slither through the air, sick and twisted, until they found their target: on the ground, clutching shopping bags, Dottie stopped in her tracks. A strange pale energy shimmered over her temples, until…

She looked at Wanda with wide, clear eyes. "Wanda?"

"Dottie-"

"My name is Sarah. I have a daughter, she's eight. Maybe she could be friends with your boys, if you like that storyline? Or the school bully, even. Really, anything, if you could just let her out of her room?" her voice went high and desperate. "If I could just hold her, please-"

Wanda's head snapped back to Agatha. "What are you doing to her? You're making her say this."

"She's your meat puppet, I just cut her strings." With a glint in her eye, Agatha raised her hands and began to chant once more. The words slithered and whispered down the street, needling into the minds of all the surrounding Westview residents and piercing the scarlet haze of Wanda's magic. Their eyes cleared, their gazes turned to Wanda. Agatha's voice grew, and slithered its way down Sherwood Drive.

Freedom hit Maggie like a tidal wave. The pale energy shimmered over her temples and she gasped, dropping the dishes she'd been washing and barely hearing when they shattered in the kitchen sink. She whirled around, reaching up to touch her head.

"I - I-" her mind throbbed like it had been cinched tight in barbed wire, and the room spun a little as she turned, trying to see, trying to understand. She was in a house, she was-

The front door of the house burst open and she looked over, eyes wide. He was there - the dark haired man with the strangely shaped facial hair. Her not-brother. His hands shook as he stared at her.

"Oh my god, oh my god." He touched his face, touched the beard, still staring. "Where are my kids?"

Maggie swallowed down her bile and darted past him, out the door and down onto the street. The light hurt her eyes and she turned, her chest heaving.

She was in a place she didn't know, her mind loud with the memories of the strange reality she'd been living in. She looked down - unfamiliar clothes, and two whole flesh legs. Her heart pounded.

But she knew that somewhere under this confusing mess of fantasy and reality, she had 200 grams worth of nanotechnology adhered to the skin of her back.

Maggie Stark closed her eyes and wished.