Cynthia turns from the TV and begins heading out towards the edge of the town again.
"Oh no..." Jimmy says. "Cynthia!" He frantically tries to go after her. Darcy confused and shocked is torn between either continuing the show or following. Sighing, she follows Jimmy, hoping this situation will yield more information.
"Cynthia stop!" Jimmy shouts, finally managing to catch up and grab her arm.
"Jimmy let me go," she says.
"No. Have you lost your mind? You can't go in there."
"Why not?"
"Because we have no idea what will happen to you..."
"He's right," Darcy agrees. "I only just discovered the broadcast. If you go in there, you might disintegrate or shrink and end up in the TV... god kind of like Mike Teevee..." She shudders at the thought.
"And what about the last time you touched the energy?" Jimmy says. "It nearly killed you."
"It didn't kill me," Cynthia says. "It just made me ill."
"Yeah, big difference," Jimmy mutters sarcastically.
"Wait, she touched the energy?" Darcy asks in shock. "Why wasn't I told this? Why doesn't Hayward know?"
"Because my lack of faith in Hayward is becoming stronger with each passing moment," Cynthia answered. "His actions speak much louder than his words."
"Yeah, he's not a great guy."
"Plus, you said you heard screaming and pain..." Jimmy points out, ignoring the girls' banter. "Who knows what could happen in there."
"I only heard it because of my empathetic abilities. Even now, both your worry and concerned feelings are causing me pain," she explains, still trying to find an excuse to get out of Jimmy's grip.
While the agent wants to release her to stop this, he knows she'll just try to go towards the anomaly. He needs more time to figure this out and not lose another person to it.
"I'm not letting you go in there until we know more."
"We won't know anything until someone does go in there and I don't trust the man dressed up as he came off the show, Breaking Bad."
This reference impresses Darcy. "Have you seen the show yet?"
"On the last season," Cynthia smiled. "Just got around to it. I may be a part of the superhero team but that doesn't mean I don't like to binge-watch series."
"Darcy focus!' Jimmy snaps. "The point is, it's too dangerous and I'm not letting anyone else get lost in there."
Just then, Darcy's phone buzzes.
"There's been a development," Darcy says. "I'll leave you to deal with her and I'll be back at base."
The two are then left alone with the agent still refusing to let go.
"Jimmy please... let me go in there. If this really is Vision and Wanda... I'm probably the only one who they can trust. I've known them for years and I know that if I were in trouble, they would..."
Suddenly, a crackle over Jimmy's walkie-talkie interrupts them.
"Agent Woo, report immediately in Tent B, please respond."
While still holding Cynthia, the FBI agent grabs the device and talks back.
"Agent Woo, reporting in 5 minutes."
He then looks at the Avenger.
"I know you want to help them, it's what all heroes do, but please... just wait until we know more. Let our tech and personnel take care of it before we rely on the superpowers. Please Cynthia... please..."
The empath sighs, feeling Agent Woo's desperation and concern in full force. She refuses to show any signs of pain but looks into the man's eyes. She knows he is correct. Her impulsivity was a result of her teenaged nature, even though intellectually she was much wiser. She was still a child in a sense and nowhere near prepared for what might be happening. She wished that Tony or Steve or even Vision were here to help her think more rationally rather than run head into danger.
"Okay, but the second there's a threat of missiles or drone attacks, I'm taking action."
"Fair enough," Jimmy says, before finally releasing the girl. The two then head back to the S.W.O.R.D. base.
...
"First and foremost, our main objective is to get any intel on Captain Rambeau," Jimmy explains to his team in a make-shift conference room. "But originally, this case was a missing person, so we're going to start there. We've successfully identified two individuals inside the Westview anomaly. Let's keep going."
Cynthia sits on a nearby table eating an apple while watching Jimmy and a crowd of other agents begin to decipher who each person is in the first few episodes of the sitcom.
She and Darcy sit with the TV still playing as everyone else works.
"Apple?" Cynthia asks.
"Hard pass," Darcy says wrinkling her nose. "Not my favourite."
Cynthia then conjures up a chocolate doughnut.
"Glazed?"
"How the hell did you do that?" Darcy says, hesitating as doughnuts coming from nowhere is a little sketchy.
"Still learning about my powers, teleportation is one of them."
"Where did this teleport from?" the doctor asks suspiciously.
"That guy's lunch back," Cynthia smirks, pointing at Agent Monti, who refused to help Darcy earlier with her heavy equipment.
The two laugh with each other before Darcy plays the first episode again.
"This guest is leaving your home." Mrs. Hart says.
"Yes, thank you for coming,"
"Mr. and Mrs. Hart. Played by Todd and Sharon Davis," Darcy says as someone adds profiles of Vision's boss and wife to a bulletin board.
"Computational forms. And no one can process the data quite like you do, pal," Norm says.
"Agent Woo," another agent calls out.
"You're like a walking computer."
"Abhilash Tandon is Norm," Jimmy says.
Another profile goes up.
"Harold Copter is Jones," Darcy adds.
The group then moves on to the second episode.
"We got Isabel Matsueida cast as Beverly," Jimmy continues.
"John Collins as Herb," she says.
During a relatively mundane scene, Jimmy gasps when he recognizes a face... the face of Captain Monica Rambeau, all decked out in the 50s and early 60s attire. Her beautiful curly hair now straight and put into some unusual-looking 50s style.
"Really?" Wanda says
"It's her!"
"Does she seem okay to you?" Darcy asks.
"Well, she doesn't appear to be harmed in any way, but that is definitely not the boss lady I met yesterday."
"So what, deep cover? Monica has to play along?"
"Hypnosis?" Cynthia suggests. "Brainwashing?"
The two look at her and the teen shrugs.
"I am just trying to keep the brainstorming going."
"But if she is playing along, with whom? Or else, what?"
"All right. Brass tacks, Dr. Lewis. What are we lookin' at here? Is it an alternate reality? Time travel? Some cockamamie social experiment?" Jimmy asks.
"It's a sitcom. A 1950s sitcom," she answers.
"But why?" Jimmy questions.
"Hey, man, we're working with the same scarcity of intel. But, listen, I do have an idea..."
"Spill."
"So, you've seen that radio in Wanda's kitchen counter, right? The next time she's washing dishes, which, by my count, happens about once an episode, barf, we'll shoot a signal to that little guy. This transmitter will mimic the frequency of the broadcast, and if my theory is right, allow us to speak directly to her. This is totally gonna work. Don't touch that."
Darcy then chastises Jimmy for touching something.
Cynthia bites her lip, skeptical that this will work. Whatever has happened with Wanda and Vision.
Just then, another agent walks in with a few more profiles.
"More profiles Agent Woo," he says.
"Who do we have?"
"Steven Rogers... also known as Captain America. Playing Mr. John Simmons"
This causes the trio to freeze in their tracks.
"Dr. Bruce Banner playing Dr. P. Greene."
"James Buchanan Barnes as Eli Driscoll."
"Clint Barton and his wife as Mr. and Mrs. Fowler. Children yet to be seen."
"Peter Benjamin Parker as Jason Webb."
The last name causes Cynthia to freeze absolutely still and her heart drops in her chest. She can feel her hands becoming warm in anxiety and her mind completely blanks out.
"Are you serious?" Darcy gasps.
"And also Scott Lang..."
"What?!" Jimmy gasps, grabbing the profile before the agent could finish. Sure enough, his former parolee's face is there in black and white, dressed in a very ugly 50's dinner jacket.
"Agent Booth are you sure this is correct?" he asks.
"Affirmative Agent Woo and I have several more."
"Guess we know where the Avengers went after the Blip," Darcy says.
"Where's Cynthia?" Jimmy realizes that the Avenger that escaped this anomaly has vanished from the room.
"Oh crap!" Darcy hisses as they both head out into the pouring rain to stop her.