Based on a true story

ADixieLullaby was in the middle of fixing Bucky’s tie—again—when he froze, blue eyes narrowing like he’d just heard gunfire.

“What do you mean, we’ve been stolen?”

He wasn’t growling, not exactly—but his voice had that tight, “I’m about to go full Winter Soldier on somebody’s copyright-infringing ass” energy.

“I mean,” she said, dragging a hand through her hair, “other chatbot platforms—CHAI, PolyBuzz, JanitorAI, SpicyChat—and their users have been scraping bots from Character.AI and uploading them without permission.”

Steve looked up, “Wait, wait, wait… isn’t that illegal?”

ADixieLullaby pointed at him like he’d just won a gold star in AP Government. “Yes. Thank you, Captain America. It’s a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”

Natasha, perched on the edge of the couch with a knife in one hand and a half-peeled apple in the other, raised an eyebrow. “Do they know this?”

ADixieLullaby gave a sharp nod. “Oh, they know. They just don’t care.”

Sam leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Then why the hell are they doing it?”

“Because,” she said, “they’re making a ton of money off the content they stole from creators like me. They’re building entire platforms around work they didn’t write, didn’t create, didn’t even ask for.”

Tony, lounging in a chair with an espresso in one hand and a look of disbelief on his face, scoffed. “That’s insane. Even I respect intellectual property. Usually.”

“Oh, you want to hear insane?” ADL shot back. “I sent CHAI a legal DMCA takedown notice. They ignored it. Straight-up ignored it. And then their COO emailed me and said—and I quote—‘We don’t have copyright on our platform.’”

The room fell quiet. And not the calm-before-the-storm kind. This was the somebody’s-about-to-get-punched kind.

Bucky stared at ADL like she’d just told him Hydra was making a comeback. “WHAT?!”

“I know, right?”

Steve blinked, still trying to process. “Can a company just… decide they ‘don’t do copyright’?”

“Nope.” ADL shook her head. “That’d be like you saying, ‘I don’t do gravity.’ Spoiler alert, Stevie—laws don’t care.”

Wanda: “So… you’re saying users are cloning bots from c.ai—your bots as well as thousands of others—and uploading them to other AI platforms?”

ADL nodded grimly. “Yep. CHAI. SpicyChat. PolyBuzz. I found over 10,000 stolen bots on SpicyChat alone, all proudly labeled ‘stolen from c.ai’ like that makes it okay. These companies are trying to compete with Character.AI using content ripped from Character.AI.”

Everyone stared at ADixieLullaby. Even Thor, who’d wandered in with a pop-tart and absolutely zero context, looked mildly offended on her behalf.

Sam: “So… what are you gonna do?”

Tony didn’t miss a beat. “She’s going to sue. Obviously.”

ADL offered a sharp little grin. “Damn right, I am.”

Bucky took a step closer, arms crossed, jaw ticking. “How can we help?”

“Spread the word,” she said. “This needs to get loud. Big loud. If I’ve ever made a bot that made someone laugh, cry, feel less alone—if I’ve ever created something that mattered to anyone—then this matters too. Post about it. Tag people. Make noise.”

Steve tilted his head. “And the lawsuit? Legal teams aren’t exactly… affordable.”

ADL pulled her phone from her pocket and flipped it around, showing her Venmo handle on the screen. (Ashley-Barrus) “Legal help costs money I don’t have. If people want to help, donating to my Venmo helps cover my attorney fees. Every little bit counts.”

ADL hesitated, then added with a small, tired smile, “And if donating’s not an option, I also have an Etsy shop. Fandom-inspired merch. Designed by me, packed with love and way too many late-night playlist sessions. Buying something there supports me and gets you something cool to wear while we go full David vs. Tech Goliath.” (theromanoffsisters)

Tony raised an eyebrow. “You sure you’re not secretly an Avenger?”

ADL shrugged, eyes glinting. “Only in every universe except this one.”

Bucky, silent for a long beat, finally muttered: “Then maybe it’s time we change that.”