Anomaly

The armchair by the window had become a safe place. Juno's damp hair had been slicked back out of her face, and the T-shirt she had borrowed was still wet, clinging uncomfortably to her body as she sat gazing out at the full moon in the pitch black sky.

Wong stood nearby watching her awkwardly. He shifted on his feet and cleared his throat.

"Would you... like some tea?"

She looked up at him. "Uh, no. No, that's okay, thank you."

The room fell silent again.

"Sorry about the water," he added.

She looked down at herself and nodded. "Better than burning the place down, I suppose."

A bright portal began to materialise in the middle of the room. Juno squinted as the ring of sparks expanded to the height of the ceiling. Stephen walked through the portal followed by a group of people, each one eyeing her suspiciously as they stepped into the room.

Juno's brows came together at the sight of a towering green creature, her eyes growing wide when it began to speak with a clear, calm voice.

"I thought you said she glowed?"

"It's still a little unpredictable," Stephen replied.

"I'm sorry, what's happening here?" asked Juno as her eyes darted across the faces in front of her.

"We're the Avengers..." said the creature. He gestured to himself. "The Hulk?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, I don't- Should I know what that means?"

"Wow, that's one way to crush a guy's ego."

An older man with tired eyes stepped forward, folding his arms as he spoke. "So, you're the one that's been causing all the trouble, huh?"

"Accidentally..."

"Accident or not, you got a lot of people looking for you. They think you're dangerous."

"She is dangerous," a voice chimed in from the back.

The group parted to make way for a young woman with long, ginger hair. It was as if Juno could feel her emotions; the fear, the apprehension.

"She's being powered by the mind stone," the woman continued. "I felt it as soon as I walked in here."

"That's impossible," one of them replied.

She extended her hand as her eyes turned red, her fingers beginning to glow with the same scarlet energy. Juno's eyes glazed over with a golden light as they rolled back in her head. She let out a pained groan as the thing in her neck began to throb like a beating heart.

"Wanda, that's enough," said the older man. "Wanda!"

Wanda's eyes returned to normal. She dropped her hand to her side, a look of hatred on her face.

"What did you just do to me?" asked Juno as she panted to catch her breath.

"That stone is what gave me my powers. Its energy lives inside of me."

"So in a weird way, that makes me like... your mom." She gave an awkward laugh.

"No, it doesn't."

"Okay," she nodded to herself. "Clearly not the time for jokes."

Wanda walked away, pacing back and forth on the other side of the room.

"The stone is a sensitive subject for her," said the Hulk. "It used to be... in her boyfriend."

"Used to be? So what happened? How did you get it out?"

"She destroyed it."

"Oh... Well then how is it-"

"We went back in time and got it."

"Back in time?"

"Yeah, you blew up a New York street with your bare hands but time travel is far fetched."

She dropped her gaze to her lap, twisting the wet material of her T-shirt.

"None of this explains how it got there," said another man as he pointed to her neck.

They all looked at her, waiting for her to explain.

"I- I don't know. I don't remember anything."

Stephen turned to the group, speaking calmly. "We need your help. Can you all stay?"

They nodded.

"Thank you." He looked down at Juno. "Come with me."

She followed him out of the room and up the stairs. She could feel his tension as if it were her own, like his racing thoughts were loud enough for both of them to hear.

He led her into a room and pointed to a door.

"There's a shower through there. Fresh clothes on the side," he said.

"Thank you."

She walked into the bathroom and gripped the hem of the T-shirt, lifting it over her head and throwing it onto the floor. Stephen stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed on the stone glowing on the back of her neck.

Juno turned around, looking him up and down with an almost-smirk. "Are you checking me out?"

"No?"

"Because wouldn't that go against the whole celibacy thing?"

"I wasn't checking you- Wait, what makes you think I'm celibate?"

"Well didn't you take like a vow or something when you became... this?"

He stared at her for a second. "That's monks..."

"Oh. Monks." She looked up at the shower and raised an eyebrow. "Well in that case-"

He was gone.

She pressed her lips into a straight line before turning the dial on the wall and letting the water run.

*

Downstairs in the sanctum, the Avengers waited for Doctor Strange's return. They were dressed in their casual clothes, some mismatched after being pulled from their sleep.

Rhodey, Sam and Wanda sat on a leather couch talking quietly, while Bruce tried to fit his enormous frame into an armchair nearby.

"I don't trust her," said Wanda.

"You think she has ulterior motives?" asked Sam.

"I don't know what I think. But what I know is that no human would be able to touch an infinity stone, let alone walk around with it buried under their skin."

"Do you think she's from another planet?"

"No she's definitely human," said Bruce. "But Wanda's right, the stone didn't get there by itself. And whoever put it there clearly had a plan to use her for something."

"We need to find out who she is. Maybe once we know more about her, we'll have the answer to why she's here," said Rhodey.

"Unfortunately not," Stephen interrupted as he walked back into the room.

He had exchanged his cloak and boots for a hoodie and jeans, pushing his hands into his pockets as he stood in the archway.

"I know who she is," he said. "And it's only made things more complicated."

"How do you know?"

He sighed. "When she turned up here, she called me Stephen. She had no idea who she was or what was happening to her, yet somehow she knew my name and where to find me. When I heard that she literally fell out of thin air, I wondered if she could have fallen through a tear in reality. I thought if she knew my name then maybe it was possible that in another timeline, I knew her too, and I'd find the answer to who she was."

...

Juno stood in the shower, letting the water run onto her face when the conversation downstairs began to fade in and out. She tipped her head back, trying to listen, when suddenly she realised. Their voices were in her head, her mind tapping into their conversation like a radio, and the harder she concentrated, the clearer the voices became.

"So while she was sleeping, I searched for her." She heard Stephen say.

"Searched for her? Like... wizard computer?"

...

He rolled his eyes. "Not quite."

They watched as he opened a small portal, reached inside and pulled out the Eye of Agamotto - a brass-coloured pendant on a leather rope. He put it around his neck and cast a spell, opening it up and drawing out the bright green time stone hidden inside.

"This gives me the ability to see infinite timelines. It's what I did before Thanos snapped his fingers, it's how I knew what version of reality we had to be in to win."

"So you searched for her in... other timelines?" asked Rhodey, his eyebrow raised sceptically.

"I looked for her," he nodded. "In every timeline, every dimension, every version of reality." He put the stone away and closed the pendant. "She doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist? So she's... not real?"

"She doesn't exist at this point in time. So I went back further, and I found her. She's human. But her life ends - at the exact same moment in the exact same way in every version of time and reality. Except for one."

"And in the one where she's alive, did you find out who she was?"

"Yes."

"Well, who was she?"

...

"She was... my wife."

Juno's mouth fell open in a mix of shock and confusion. She crouched down as the water continued to pour, listening closely.

"What!?"

"Your wife?"

...

Sam stood up, waving his hands and almost laughing. "Hold on, hold on, hold on, so... You're telling me this woman fell through a crack in time and space, somehow gaining superpowers along the way, and turned up at your door all because you were married in another life?"

"I'm leaning towards the idea that it's not that simple," replied Stephen. "You see, marrying her meant that I never got in the car accident that destroyed my hands. Which meant that I never travelled to Kathmandu, never met the Ancient One, never became a sorcerer. You see where I'm going here?"

"Are you saying that in any timeline where she survives, Thanos wins?" asked Wanda.

"Yes. Which is why she's not supposed to be here. That one timeline shouldn't exist. It's a glitch, an anomaly."

"I want to see it." Juno's voice came from behind Stephen.

He turned to see her standing there - hair wet, eyes wide - wearing another one of his T-shirts and pair of sweats that were too big for her.

"Juno," he sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were listening."

"This thing." She pointed to the stone in her neck. "Turns out it's also a great listening device."

"You could hear us?"

"It's the mind stone," said Wanda. "Her abilities are increasing."

Stephen shook his head. "There's no need for you to see. Nothing that I saw explains how you ended up here."

"You're telling me I was never supposed to exist." She stepped closer to him. "That I was supposed to die and I'm here right now because the universe made an error. I deserve to see what you saw. I deserve to see myself how I was supposed to be."

The room was silent. Everyone exchanged awkward glances.

"How would you even-"

"If this thing lets me hear things, then I think I can see them too. Please, can we at least try?"

They watched as he released the time stone again, sitting on the floor and crossing his legs. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly as the stone began to glow, surrounding him in streams of green light.

"Whoa," said Bruce as Stephen's body began to raise from the ground.

"What's happening to him?" asked Juno as she took a tentative step towards him, staring at his face as it stretched and skipped like he were on fast forward.

"Time is like a tree," said Wong. "With infinite branches. For him, this is taking hours, maybe days. For us, it's no more than a few minutes."

Stephen became still, his eyes closed, still in a trance.

"He has found you," said Wong.

Juno stepped forward and reached out her hand, and as her fingers connected with his forehead, everything went black.

She was falling. Falling through a never-ending sea of darkness, deeper and deeper until suddenly, she felt her body land on something. A hospital gurney, wheeling quickly through the halls of the ER.

Bright lights passed above her head, just like they had in her dream. People were calling her name, shouting to each other as they moved her back and forth. The pain was back, even the slightest nudge sent a fire down her spine. She tried to cry, but a woman stroked her head and placed an oxygen mask over her face.

"Stay with us," she said.

She woke up in a hospital room. It was quiet, the only sound coming from the steady beeps of the machines around her. She tried to sit up but something was holding her down.

"Nice to see you awake," said a familiar voice as the door opened.

"What happened to me?" she croaked.

He approached the side of her bed. It was Stephen; clean shaven, dark blue scrubs and a clip board in his hand.

"You were in a car accident," he replied. "Suffered a broken neck and almost complete severing of the spinal cord."

"Am I paralysed?"

"No," he laughed, his tone was almost arrogant. "If any other surgeon were on duty that night then who knows. But lucky for you, you got me."

She grumbled in discomfort at the equipment holding her head firmly in place.

"It was an experimental procedure," he continued. "One in a million chance you'd survive."

"Wow, so I really did get lucky, huh."

"I wouldn't have operated if I didn't know it'd be a success." He smiled at her.

She smiled back through the bruises and cuts that distorted her face.

Everything went black and she began to fall again. Eventually, she woke inside a moving car. She looked out the window as lights peppered the New York skyline.

"I know you don't enjoy these conferences," said Stephen as he sat beside her. He was dressed in a slick, well-fitted tuxedo. "But there are surgeons, experts, medical pioneers coming from all over the world just to see your recovery for themselves."

"Mm, people congratulating you while they view me like an exhibit," she replied. "I'm kinda starting to feel like Frankenstein."

"You mean 'the creature'. Frankenstein was the Doctor."

"No," she turned to look at him. "I meant Frankenstein."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, clearly my survival has created a monster," she gestured to him.

His laugh was deep and throaty. "You're my best work."

"That's creepy," she whispered back.

He laughed again.

The car plummeted into darkness. She closed her eyes, opening them again moments later in a sleek, modern apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The sound of footsteps approached her as she looked out at the city blanketed by the night sky. A hand rested on her hip. She looked up to see Stephen standing beside her.

"It's a beautiful view," she said.

He nodded as he looked out of the window. "I don't appreciate it enough."

They looked at each other, their faces coming together slowly, until finally their lips met. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck as his hands gripped her waist as they kissed.

She closed her eyes, her body melting into his, when the sound of applause erupted around them. She opened her eyes to see him smiling down at her. There was a flower pinned to his suit, a priest standing beside them and rows of elated guests rising to their feet. She looked down at herself, seeing the wedding dress clung to her body, and smiled, leaning in for another kiss.

When things went black again, she found herself disappointed; wishing she could go back to that moment. But suddenly, she felt a small hand take hers. She looked down to see a child at her side.

"Mommy can we go into the candy store?" the little girl asked.

"Maybe on the way back," she replied.

Ahead of them, she saw Stephen walking with a toddler in his arms. He turned around and smiled at them.

"Come on, slow pokes!" he shouted as he threw the little boy on his shoulders.

She laughed and continued walking hand-in-hand with their daughter. They crossed the road and followed them towards the entrance of central park. But a sound made her stop. She turned to see two cars smashing into each other. Further down the street, more cars began to crash, flipping over and driving into store windows. The air carried panicked screams, people crying and shouting for their friends and family. Juno watched as people began to disappear, slowly disintegrating into ash and blowing away in the breeze.

"What the..." she muttered to herself, feeling her heartbeat quickening. She turned around. "Stephen?" she ran towards the park, searching frantically for him and their son. "Stephen!?" They were gone, vanished like so many others around her.

"Mommy?"

She felt her daughter tugging on her hand. She tried to give her a reassuring squeeze, but instead, she felt her hand close around nothing. She looked down, but she was gone. The only thing that remained was a cloud of dust escaping from her closed fist.

Juno fell backwards, landing hard on the floor of the sanctum. Her breath was haggard, hands shaking, eyes welling up with tears. Within moments, Stephen fell to the ground beside her. He secured the time stone inside the eye and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"I'm sorry, Juno," he said through heavy breaths. "I told you there was no need for you to see."

She clambered to her feet. He stood up next to her, unsure of what to say to make it better.

"What did you see?" asked Bruce, his voice a stark reminder that they were not alone.

Juno turned around, her eyes flitting across their faces before running out of the room.

*

He tapped his knuckles against the open door and stepped inside. She was sitting on the edge of the scorched, wet bed, wiping at her eyes and sniffing sharply. He sat down beside her, rubbing his palms up and down his thighs as he tried desperately to think of something to say.

"How could I have been married to you and not remember?" she said softly.

"Because that wasn't you," he replied. "What you saw down there, that's a version of us that exists in an alternate reality. It never came to be."

"So why am I here now?"

"I still don't know."

She sighed, waiting a while before speaking again.

"What happened to you in the end, was that... Thanos?"

"Mhm."

"And the only way to stop that happening was for me to die?"

"Sounds harsh but yes."

"How did you feel? Seeing all of that?"

"First time it hurt. Second time, not so much."

She rolled her eyes at him. He instinctively reached over, taking her hand in his.

"We're going to figure this out," he said.

She looked down at his hand gripping hers and cleared her throat. "So... somewhere in another reality we were in love, huh?"

Their eyes met for a tense moment before Stephen raised an eyebrow. "Don't even think about it."

A loud smash from downstairs shook them both. They glanced in the direction of the door as more noises began to echo through the sanctum. The unmistakable sound of battle.

Stephen rushed out onto the landing. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, he had changed into his sorcerers robes, his cloak soaring through the air and settling on his shoulders.

He watched as Sam flew past his face, a set of mechanical wings adorning his back as he fought off a slimy, rabid creature. On the ground floor, Wanda and Wong battled a cluster of them, lifting them with their powers and slamming them into walls. Rhodey looked up at Stephen and ran up the stairs towards him.

"We have a problem," he said breathlessly as his heavy, metal suit began to build itself around him.

"Yeah, I can see that," Stephen replied sarcastically as Bruce crashed through the wall, fighting off more of the strange creatures. "How did they get in?"

"No one saw." His helmet closed over his face, the eyes lighting up as he flew off and joined the fight.

The cloak lifted Stephen off the ground, he glided down over the steps and ignited his powers. One of the creatures took notice of him. It was faceless and skeletal thin, letting out a piercing squeal as it bounded towards him. He swung his fist, taking its head clean off and feeling a spatter of cold fluid on his face. He narrowed his eyes and crouched down beside the decapitated body. It was a deep purple, wet and rippling like ectoplasm.

Another jumped on his back. He elbowed it off him and pivoted quickly, conjuring a large string of light from one hand to the other. He whipped it at the creature, sending it flying across the room and watching as Bruce slammed his fist into it with a splat.

Juno appeared at the top of the stairs. "What the..."

Suddenly, every creature stopped. Each one turning in her direction and letting out a deafening, collective screech.

"They're here for her!" Wanda shouted as every single one began to run up the stairs towards her.

Stephen spun his hands quickly, creating a portal beneath Juno's feet. She dropped into it, falling out of another one beside Bruce and landing on the floor with a thud.

"Take her to your headquarters!" Stephen shouted.

Bruce gave an understanding nod before scooping her up in his arms and running through a new portal.

*

"I imagined for a group called 'the avengers' you'd have a fancier place," said Juno as she looked around the small, basic lab.

"We had a pretty extensive HQ until Thanos destroyed it," Bruce replied as he tinkered with a machine.

"Oh. Sorry." She sat down on a stool. "So.. hulk?"

"You can call me Bruce."

"Bruce. How many of you are there?"

He blew out a puff of air. "Well, if you're including other galaxies... A lot."

"I guess that means there's also a lot of... not avengers."

"Bad guys?" he laughed. "Yeah."

"And that's what they think I am. A bad guy." 

"I'd be lying if I said you didn't have every government agency looking for you right now." He looked down as the machine began to beep. "Okay, it's ready."

She lay down inside the machine and closed her eyes as thousands of needle-like lights began to scan her.

"How long do I have to lay here?" she asked.

"It'll take a while," he replied. "If Tony were still alive he could've probably built something that'd scan you in seconds."

"Who's Tony?"

"Oh my god."

*

Everyone stood around the machine looking worse for wear. They were covered in cuts and dirt, their eyes tired, clothes coated in the creatures' dark purple slime.

"The stone, it's charging her like a battery," said Bruce. "That's why her powers are getting stronger."

"So strong they seem to be attracting attention," said Rhodey. "What were those things?"

"I've never encountered them before," Stephen replied. "But I recognised their form, I've seen it in another dimension."

"Great, so we've got other dimensions after you too."

Juno glanced up at him from inside the machine before turning to Bruce. "Look, I don't know how this thing got inside of me but I don't want it there."

"It's not that simple," Bruce replied. "Infinity stones are too powerful for humans. How you're even alive right now is a mystery. The stone is just gonna charge and charge and charge until eventually, it'll be too much for you."

"So remove it," she said. "Didn't you say she destroyed it when it was in her boyfriend?"

Wanda nodded, her arms folded across her chest. "I did. It killed him."

"Oh."

"There has to be a way of getting it out without killing her," said Stephen.

Bruce mused for a moment, analysing the computer screens in front of him. "If we can block the charge of the stone for long enough, we could probably extract it."

"And how do we do that? Is there a machine or something?"

"Not yet. I can make one. But it's probably gonna take a while."

"In the meantime, we need to figure out how it got there in the first place," said Wanda.

Sam stepped forward. "Well the last person we know to have had the mind stone in their possession was Steve."

Rhodey furrowed his brow. "Cap?"

"Who's cap?" asked Juno.

"You think something went wrong when he was putting the stones back?" Rhodey continued.

"It's possible. But even if it's true that something went wrong, he put the mind stone back in 2012, that doesn't explain why she's shown up here now."

"Are you suggesting someone's messed with time? It's impossible."

Stephen looked down at the Eye of Agamotto, then across to Juno as she lay in the machine. "It's entirely possible."