Fanfic: Marvel Woman in "Unlock the Doors" Part 1

NOTE: This story does not take place in Marvel Earth-616 continuity. Let's call this Marvel Earth-7619.

Okay, what's going on here?

All of a sudden I'm fourteen years old again, inside the Central City penthouse belonging to Mr. Simon Williams and Mrs. Wanda Maximoff-Williams (a.k.a. Wonder Man and the Scarlet Witch), baby-sitting their three-year-old daughter, sitting on a very tiny, very uncomfortable chair, playing tea party. I wasn't into tea parties when I was little, so I'm not into it, but I'm trying my best to please the little one, who is adorable and sweet and whose parents are obviously raising her right.

She holds up a plastic tray filled with little plastic cakes. "Another cake?" she asks.

"No, thank you," I reply, "I'm stuffed."

I take a pretend sip of my imaginary tea from a tiny empty cup, and smile. "You put on the best tea parties, Maggie."

"That's MAGDALENE!"

The icily regal voice behind me is unmistakably that of the just-returned Mrs. Maximoff-Williams. I'm shocked and embarassed. I turn around. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. M-m-Maxi-moff-Wil-liams. I promise I won't make that mistake again."

She responds promptly and crisply. "See that you don't."

Suddenly, the room empties of all other people and all furniture. The room starts spinning as I recall how mortified I was at my faux pas, and suddenly a voice that sounds like my own double-tracked with the voice of someone with an unplaceable accent begins talking to me, and my head feels like it's full of cement.

"That's why your application for probational membership in the Avenging All-Stars was turned down. You gauche little fool."

"No, no," I yell, "it was just a little thing."

"And then you decided you'd show them by starting and leading your own team with your friends, the Young Warriors...and all of them but you died during the alien invasion. You failed them. You're a FAILURE!"

Before I can respond, a pair of decomposing hands tears through the wall and zombies stumble in. I scream in horror, then scream louder when I recognize who they are: the other Young Warriors! Namorita, Speedball, Red Raven, Blizzard, and Firestar. All present, all dead, all coming for me.

"NO! PLEASE! DON'T HURT ME! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

I cower in a corner, curled up into a ball. Then they disappear. But no sooner is one threat gone than other appears. Suddenly basketballs, soccer balls, volleyballs, and softballs begin dropping out of nowhere until I can't dodge them anymore and I'm all but drowning in them. Then the balls sprout arms, legs, bloodshot eyes, and mouths with sharp teeth. Above my head, a pink cloud appears through which I see all things sugar and spice: dresses, unicorns, dolls, tea sets...

Then the voice returns.

"You never really learned to be a girl, did you? You were too busy trying to be the son that your parents wanted. You tried so hard to please them. But it didn't keep them from getting divorced, now did it? You've never succeeded at relationships, you don't have children -- you're a failure as a superheroine, a friend, a daughter, a woman. You're a WORTHLESS FAILURE!!"

Now I feel like I'm drowning in the ocean. There's no top, bottom, or sides to anything. Just water. Dirty, disgusting, polluted water. I'm drowning, I'm about to surrender my will to live...

When, suddenly, I find the strength inside me to go on and fight back. My words are defiant and proud. "I'm not a kid anymore. I'm not a failure. I'M MARVEL WOMAN!"

I break the bonds that have been holding me and rip off the needles and tubes that have been injecting chemicals into my brain. I open my eyes. I'm back in the real world.

I'm in a high-tech laboratory.

I see the people responsible for my ordeal: a raven-haired woman in her forties, and a girl of about twenty who looks like the woman, except with green hair.

I frown and grit my teeth as I issue my ultimatum. "You have three seconds to tell me what's going on here before I bring this whole place down on your heads."

TO BE CONTINUED