Hollow Scars

The heavy grogginess of sleep had managed to defeat Scarlett on multiple occasions that morning and forced her to rest much longer than she would have liked. Opening her eyes at long last, it took approximately three minutes for the world around her to stop spinning and for her vision to focus. Every part of her body was chilled despite being covered up with every blanket available on the bed. Her eyes burned as though she hadn’t gotten any rest at all, despite being sure that she’d gotten more than a solid eight hours.

Each time she’d closed her eyes and had gone back to sleep through the night she’d suffered some kind of horrid nightmare. Thankfully she couldn’t recall the details of what had occurred in them, and as she drifted further from the edges of sleep they were lost entirely from her memory. Lifting her head so she could examine the hotel room she hadn’t cared so much about the night before, Scarlett gave up when she felt a throbbing pain surge through the back of her neck and up through her head finally settling just behind her eyes and blurring her vision worse than it had been when she’d first woken up.

Closing her eyes again, she grimaced and considered that maybe it was time to see a doctor about the nasty symptoms that had only gotten worse over time. After she’d reached her next destination she would see who she could get in touch with on the matter. If she was going to seek medical help it would have to be done while she was on the move.

MedCo wasn’t going to wait for her to catch up to them just because she had come down with some kind of fever. But then again, if she kept letting it get her down then it was going to leave her even more vulnerable to them. Tony had been right about many things when they’d argued on the balcony the night before and that had been one of them.

The people who ran the company were after her and she had to stop acting like she was stalking them silently in the night without risk. Seemingly, the two remaining leaders of the corporation knew her every move and were always somehow one step ahead. The only thing that was stopping Mikhail and Marcia from taking her was sheer luck at that point. Pulling the blankets up higher around her in attempts to warm up, Scarlett did her best not to noticeably shift in the bed. As much as she loved Tony she wasn’t yet ready to deal with him until her head had stopped pounding. If he saw she was suffering then he wouldn’t let her do what she knew she needed to do. Boyfriend Tony Stark was both cute and frustrating in his own special and unique way.

Still, lying naked in bed after what wonderful things she’d succumbed to the night before, probably wasn’t the best way to tackle her spiking fever. How weak had her willpower become to simply give in the way she had to him? Then again, she barely considered it giving in anymore. It was more like she was finally doing what she wanted to do. Her heart had no resistance left against Tony Stark and her mind was starting to catch up with it. War was being waged in her head between her selfish want for love, happiness and a normal life and her moral compass guiding her to prevent further pain for anyone caused by MedCo. Hell if she knew who was going to win that battle. She considered asking Tony to travel with her rather than running off as she had initially planned to do.

Scarlett was tired of being alone, especially when she didn’t have to be. As she stared at the door, she wondered what it would be like to wake up in someone’s arms and not have to stress about where she would go next or if she would make it through the day without being attacked.

But fear immediately objected to the thought of asking Tony to join her and brought a thousand new questions racing into her mind. What if he got hurt following her around? Maybe he wouldn’t want to travel with her? Would he stop her from investigating places he didn’t deem safe like he’d done the night before if he came with her? Could MedCo take him to use against her like they’d done with Scott?

And then there was Scott.

Why hadn’t Scott been chased down the way that she had after she’d escaped? Was it because unlike her he was useless to them? Either way, it didn’t seem fair to her that she had to suffer when the only reason she’d gotten involved with MedCo in the first place had been at Scott’s urging. Not willing to deal with what her subconscious was trying to tell her about her ex-boyfriend, Scarlett ignored it. Scott wasn’t around or involved anymore and thinking about the role he might have played in MedCo’s dirty dealings would do nothing but stress her out further. Her pounding head reminded her that she had more than enough to stress without that. First she’d thought Tony had been behind it, but she was slowly coming to the realization that no one else was to blame for her involvement with MedCo.

Chancing opening her eyes again, Scarlett found that her vision focused normally and the pounding in her head had ceased to a dull roar rather than the scream of a banshee. That was definitely the kind of headache she could deal with. Sitting up slowly and making a point to hold the blankets over her chest since she knew a snide remark would come from Tony if she flashed him first thing after waking, Scarlett found it incredibly difficult to move. It wasn’t because of the fever she likely had or the once crippling headache. Not at all.

Her left wrist was handcuffed to the railing of the wooden bed above her head with the same handcuffs she’d used to imprison Tony days before in Cairo. Scarlett actually laughed when she saw what he had done. At least it made sense why her hand felt numb now and it wasn’t some new confusing symptom of the illness she was suffering. Pushing her hair out of her face as it fell into her eyes she couldn’t help but smile when she found Tony sitting at the far end of the room at a large and modern looking black desk, sipping a cup of coffee and holding a newspaper in his other hand.

“Good morning Scarlett, or should I say good afternoon? It’s two o’clock Miss Damien! I know I rocked your world last night, but come on… We only did it the one time. It should be at least round three before you need a good twelve hour nap to catch up.” Tony didn’t look away from his newspaper, but the smile on his face let Scarlett know just how pleased he was with himself. It’d been an afterthought of his to handcuff her to the bed and really just an attempt to slow her down more than anything.

Sleep had been an elusive thing for him throughout the night but he’d been more than happy to let Scarlett catch up on what she’d needed despite how he was now teasing her about what time it was. When she hadn’t gotten up before noon, Tony had become concerned. He’d set the Jarvis function on his phone on speaker and rested it on the nightstand so that he could keep an eye on her vitals. If they went off, even just a little, into a dangerous zone Tony would be able to jump into action. Her fever had gone up considerably in the last few hours but was still low enough that Tony wasn’t ready to rush her to a hospital.

[a name="here"][/a] At first he’d spent a few hours holding her and comforting her. But at eight in the morning when Scarlett had finally stopped tossing and turning and had instead laid feverish beneath the covers but otherwise seemingly peaceful, he’d become bored of lying around and had even considered waking up Scarlett so he’d have some entertainment.

Unfortunately he knew waking her up would actually make their parting happen sooner, so he left her sleeping and instead had sat on a conference call with some people from his company who were working on some projects that had been picked up from a smaller company that Stark Industries had recently purchased before Tony had started chasing Scarlett. It was a common thing for the company to absorb smaller ones particularly after he’d started reaching out to companies with great ideas but without the proper funding to really get going. The Stark Expo, a world’s fair for the engineering and science world, had brought to light the great minds of the world and now Tony was reaching out to them in order to make advancements in the world of technology that might not have otherwise happened.

After that he’d spent time looking at schematics of the products from those companies and then enhanced them and sent them off to the team in Malibu that would produce and test them for the next phase of development. Then, still bored, he’d finally answered the questions that Pepper had for him from the night before about the house in Manhattan that was really turning into more of a skyscraper that would have his name across the top of it. It wasn’t only a home for him but also would be his place of work and where he would work on the designs for his Iron Man weapon. A town in upstate New York had recently agreed to be part of a trial run for the energy conversion process that Tony and Scarlett had been working on.

He’d only recently finished speaking with the interior design team about what he was thinking for various areas of the building when he’d noticed Scarlett stirring beneath the comforter. Stopping what he was doing on his phone, he had watched her to see what she would do next with baited breath. She’d done this several times over the past few hours but had returned to sleep only seconds later. If nothing else, at least Pepper would stop annoying him for a few days to keep up with his business while he was otherwise occupied.

“I bet I’d last longer than you would.” Scarlett leaned her head back comfortably on the pillows. The aroma from Tony’s coffee filled her senses and her stomach rumbled for food and coffee, as well. Leaning her head to the side she smiled when she realized that Tony had actually ordered her a cup of coffee from room service and it was resting on the nightstand. She guessed that he had no idea how to work a coffee maker on his own thanks to years of having someone else get it for him, so she knew that he hadn’t been the one to make it. Still, the notion was sweet.

“Oh, do you? I’ll gladly take this bet. Even if I lose I win! What are the stakes, hmm?” Tony considered, folding up his newspaper and wondering what he could have her do for him if he won such a tantalizing bet. It would be silly to ask for more sex even though it was what came to his mind. “I have a few things in mind for if I win. But give me time, and I’ll have even more.”

“Let me out of these handcuffs and we’ll find out just what the stakes are.” Scarlett pursed her lips, having no intention of crawling back into bed with Tony like she had the night before. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to because the bet honestly had intrigued her. Unfortunately she was sure she was too sick to actually win the wager she was making. She’d be lucky if she made it through one go with him nonetheless to see who had had the higher stamina. That’d likely take all day.

“Oh no, see…” Tony got up from his seat and started to walk around the room, fixing things with his back turned to his girlfriend for dramatic effect. “You outwitted me when we were in Cairo but I won’t let you do that again, at least not so easily. This is vengeance of sorts. I repaired those handcuffs, seeing as I had to break them to get out after you locked them to the bed. Very kinky and all but the next time you want to see me in a pair of handcuffs, you better be wearing a leather corset, five inch heels and have a riding crop in your right hand.”

Scarlett laughed and reached for the cup of coffee after she’d managed to maneuver herself into a sitting position despite being in handcuffs. Next to the coffee was a receipt from room service along with a ballpoint pen they’d provided for signing purposes and Tony hadn’t bothered to return. She watched him with amusement as he continued on and on about the handcuffs. Something had changed while she’d slept and she was grateful for the reprieve.

Considering again asking him if he’d like to travel with her so that they could actually spent time together, Scarlett threw the idea out the window but for different reasons this time. He’d handcuffed her to the bed and was now teasing her about such things. She had to break out of them and escape on principle. But things would be different, she promised herself that. Head still pounding, Scarlett set down her cup of coffee after enjoying a long drink of it. Much to her surprise, Tony had remembered just how she liked hers mixed: with skim milk and a teaspoon of sugar.

“As much as I would like for us to continue experimenting with these particular handcuffs, I’ve done this for a completely non-sexual reason if you’d believe that. I know it’s really hard to understand that I’ve done something kinky and don’t expect sex, but it’s the truth.” Tony glanced at her again, pleased to see the happiness on her face, even if her eyes were dull and hazy like she didn’t feel well. Turning away from her and looking out the window he took a sip of his coffee. “Though you are naked and I have thought about it pretty much every second since I handcuffed you while you slept, there are far more important things at hand.”

“I think I’d actually be disappointed if you weren’t thinking about it.” Scarlett responded, reaching for the pen on the nightstand. She bit the end tip of it and pulled the tube of ink from the inside of it free of the casing. Tossing the casing aside she twisted the tip of the pen apart and then fit it inside of the lock of the handcuffs.

“See, I knew you liked me.” Tony smirked, pleased with himself. “No, today I’ve got you handcuffed so that you’ll actually listen to me instead of the way you tend to ignore me and then just run off to god knows wherever. My slippery girlfriend, you make it very hard to share a bed with you some nights! You know that I’m going to follow you anyway, so I don’t know why you bother running away.”

Scarlett continued quietly twisting the pen inside the lock, until she had successfully maneuvered through the different stages of the lock. Finally it clicked open and she’d managed to pull the cuff free from her wrist and carefully set it down against the wooden headboard so it wouldn’t make any noise and disturb Tony’s speech. He was enjoying the sound of his own voice far too much to notice that Scarlett was, in fact, escaping right under his nose.

“Girlfriend, huh? We have titles now do we?”

“Of course. Even if you deny it, that’s what you are.” Tony retorted. The term girlfriend was juvenile in his mind but there was no other word he could think to describe what they had going on between them.

“You need my help, even if you won’t admit it. And think of how much simpler it would be if you could use my resources to hunt down MedCo! I know you said that you’d get caught that way but with our brilliance combined? I don’t think so. I have technology that MedCo could only dream of without kidnapping people like you. We could catch up to them together and then take them down without having to chase each other around this damned desert continent. Speaking of which, I’m extremely tired of the desert. Let’s go somewhere cold. Maybe Switzerland or Norway? They have some amazing hotels up there and I haven’t been skiing in ages…” Tony rambled off topic before shaking his head and continuing on. Scarlett was right; he did tend to get distracted very easily.

Scarlett, on the other hand, was out of bed already after she’d made sure he was kept busy on the other end of the room. It had taken her a few minutes to gather her bearings because her head was aching worse than it had been when she’d been lying down but she was moving as quickly as she could without vomiting. The room kept spinning with every step she took but the more she stood up and walked about the easier it became for her to function. Spying around the room she searched for her clothing and other personal items and saw them all lying in a neat pile near the end of the bed. For someone who had a butler to clean up after him on a constant basis, Tony was pretty neat and cleanly.

“Anyway, I figure we’ll head back to Malibu as soon as I can get the clearance for the jet to fly back that far and of course refuel. That’s a long flight… but my plane, you’re going to love my plane.” Tony smirked and sighed contently before walking back to his desk and setting his coffee cup down. He picked up his laptop that was resting on the desk and glanced through the new messages and emails that had arrived while he’d been momentarily away from it. “Once there we can use Jarvis and the facility out in the desert where we’d created the new element and figure out exactly what MedCo is up to without having to leave the safety and comfort of home. No more of this getting our hands dirty nonsense.”

Scarlett liked the sound of Tony’s ideas but knew it wasn’t feasible. When she’d hacked into Jarvis’ security she’d found his research on MedCo. Even with his unlimited technological resources he hadn’t been able to find anything about the company other than the location of the facility in South Africa and even then that had been a bust. If she went back to Malibu and did things his way, then she’d hit another dead end.

Worse than that, she’d still be on the run from the vile company. As long as MedCo was still around she would be hunted and she would continue to put Tony’s life at risk. And not only Tony’s life would be at risk in Malibu, but Happy’s, Pepper’s and any of his other friends who might show up at some point to try and help them or even just have dinner with them. As tempting as it was to go back to his home and relax in the life of luxury that only Tony Stark could afford, Scarlett knew that she had to stay on the battlefield until someone had won the fight. Slipping back into her clothing, Scarlett retrieved her phone and found the next flights available from Senegal to the Madrid-Barajas International Airport in Spain and then one to Istanbul Atatürk International Airport. She’d consider her options on the way out the door and decide on a course of action from there.

“I know you’re worried about my safety, it’s actually pretty cute, which is a word I’m finding that I’m using way too often for my liking lately, I might add.” Tony sat back down in the desk chair and opened the paper again, nonchalantly sipping at his coffee before setting the cup down entirely. “But I’m Iron Man, babe. You can’t keep worrying about me like this or you’re going to be worried all the time and that will give you wrinkles. I’ve got my enemies and you’ve got yours and there’s no reason that you and I can’t figure out a way to work together without having to panic every time one of us is in danger. Danger is going to be a big part of this relationship.” Scarlett actually stopped to listen to Tony when he spoke about danger specifically.

It was true. If their relationship was going to work, then Scarlett would have to embrace the fact that Tony, was in fact, one of the most hated and sought after men on the planet. No matter what she did there would be someone after him and she wouldn’t always be able to protect him. Confusion raced through her thoughts as she considered that Tony might be in danger from MedCo no matter what she did. He was already affiliated with them in a very real sense. The crates that she’d found filled with Stark Industries supplies and weapons when she’d been working for MedCo had meant that someone was keeping an eye on Tony and what he was up to just as much as they were keeping an eye on what she was doing.

Still, it was something they could talk about once he’d caught up with her or after she’d put two bullets in Marcia and Mikhail’s heads. Placing her bag over her shoulder once she was sure she had everything gathered, Scarlett walked quietly over to the nightstand and put the pen she’d half destroyed back together. On a pad of paper she wrote a note for Tony to read once he finally realized that she’d given him the slip, and mostly on principle this time. From her wallet she placed down a few fifties to give him for the hotel and placed it underneath the note.

‘Sir Talks-Too-Much,

While you were enjoying the sound of your own voice, I had to try and make up for the time that I lost while I slept in. I’ll see you when you catch up to me but this time I’m not getting my own hotel, so I hope you book somewhere nice. Fly safe and thanks for the coffee.

PS I’m still holding you to that bet. And don’t call me babe, I’m not a piglet.’

Scarlett didn’t bother signing the note since it was obvious it was from her. Instead she glanced at her reflection in the glass of the picture hanging over the nightstand and fixed her hair. Slipping red lipstick out of her bag she applied it carefully and then picked up the note and gave it a kiss near the bottom. Even if she was still running out the door, this time it felt different. She wanted him to follow her and she was inviting him to stay with her. If that wasn’t progress, Scarlett wasn’t sure what was.

Watching Tony as he took another drink of his coffee, Scarlett hesitated to leave and pouted slightly as she considered staying behind. When this MedCo nonsense was over, she wanted to do nothing but spend a week in bed with Tony, starting their relationship off on the right foot. Without turning back to take a second glance at her lover, Scarlett walked out of the hotel room, silently closing the door behind her. Guilt still churned in the pit of her stomach despite how she knew that she wasn’t abandoning him the same way that she had before.

“Oh, shut up.” She muttered, glaring at her stomach as if it were somehow her body’s fault that she was suffering from guilt. No matter what decision she made she somehow felt guilty. Maybe Scarlett was just going to have to adjust to feeling guilty for awhile until things somehow evened out.

“I know you’ve got to be tempted. Even if you just tell me where you want to go next we can work together and do this as a team rather than on our own. Why don’t we just take today, hmm? You’re obviously not feeling well. If you’re not better by tomorrow we should get you to a doctor anyway. You can argue with me all you like, Scarlett, but you’re sick. You had nightmares all night long last night! I can’t watch you suffer like that any longer…” Tony drifted off as he finally turned his attention back to where Scarlett was handcuffed to the bed.

Or at least to where Scarlett had once been handcuffed to the bed considering she was definitely no longer seated there. The handcuffs were hanging from the railing, neatly closed. Scarlett’s things were gone from the pile he’d placed them in the night before. Tony sighed and then scratched his head, wondering how long he’d been talking to himself or if she’d actually heard anything that he’d said.

Walking lazily over to the bed, Tony picked up his cell phone that he’d placed on the opposite nightstand to monitor Scarlett and turned off the Jarvis function for the time being. Sitting down next to where Scarlett had once laid, he rested his head on the pillow closest to him and inhaled deeply. Was it creepy for him to be enjoying the smell of her from the night before? It probably was but he didn’t care.

“How the hell did she get out of those so quickly?” Tony poked the handcuffs that had seemingly not been damaged in any way shape or form. He knew she didn’t have bobby pins in her hair and she’d been naked, that he was sure of, so it wasn’t like she’d had anything in her pockets to aid her in escape. He was torn between being amused and sad that she was gone. Thankfully he was easily distracted and instead concentrated on just what had occurred in her past to make her so skilled at escaping handcuffs and of course, all of these thoughts were kinky in some form or another.

Then Tony noticed the note with the money hiding underneath it and picked both things up. When she’d had the chance she’d insisted upon helping him pay for the hotels and meals that they’d shared even though Tony was always more than happy to cover the bill. It made his heart flutter in the strangest way. There he was, once the most eligible bachelor on the planet, a billionaire at that, and his practically-a-spy girlfriend was trying to take the check from him. He smiled fondly. It was a very weird turn on.

Reading over the note he actually laughed and felt much better about Scarlett leaving than he had before. If nothing else, she’d accepted that they’d be together again soon and had stopped asking him to go home without her. As much as he preferred to have her traveling with him this was a good alternative. Maybe if he hadn’t insisted upon handcuffing her to the bed and teaching her some misguided lesson about revenge, then she would’ve traveled with him. Either way, he knew that he’d find her and they’d be sharing a hotel room probably by the time the next morning rolled around.

“How the hell?” Tony laughed again as he tugged at the handcuffs. Was there a trick to the lock that he hadn’t been able to find? Either way, Scarlett had bested him again but this time, it was amusing if nothing else. Turning his phone on once again he spoke to the Jarvis application installed on it.

“Trace her phone and find out where she’s headed next, Jarvis.” Tony yawned and leaned against the pillows, surrounding himself in the scent of the woman he’d spent the night before with. “She’ll be expecting something nice, I assume so let’s go ahead and locate her and book the nicest hotel you can find under my current alias, okay?”

“Yes, sir. Champagne and strawberries waiting for you as well?”

“Not for my arrival but make room service aware that I’ll be expecting them to answer to my every whim.” Tony smirked and got up from the bed then started about gathering his things. There was little point in rushing around until he knew where exactly Scarlett would be going so that he could make arrangements for his jet to do the same.

Scarlett rushed to the stairwell and hurried down a few flights of stairs before she was winded and out of breath. Usually she’d manage the entire set of stairs before having to rest, but the constriction in her chest from illness was too much and she decided it was worth the risk of Tony catching up for her to keep from passing out in the middle of a flight of stairs. That was the last thing she needed. Once out of the hotel and on the streets of Senegal, Scarlett caught a ride to the inn that she’d booked by the airport so she could retrieve her rigged luggage and then head to her next destination.

The problem after that was she was unsure if she should head to Turkey or to Spain. Logically, she thought that heading to Turkey would make sense. It had been the second set of coordinates on the list and if she didn’t head there next then it was likely by the time she got there after she was done in Madrid then whatever facility was located near Istanbul would likely already be gone like the one in Senegal had been. There had been a brief period of time where she’d considered heading back to the abandoned town where they’d been surrounded by robots the night before.

But on the ride to her hotel Scarlett had decided that Tony had been right about one thing. There was nothing at that place that was worth risking her life further. He’d been absolutely right to drag her out of there forcefully while they’d had the opportunity to escape. If she had lingered any longer then they would’ve been pursued by the robots and likely outmanned and quickly at that. Why she’d ever considered staying behind she wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was sheer stubbornness that had made the decision seem like a good one at the time.

It was more likely that she was just frustrated after not having found anything and having wasted over a day chasing ghosts. Once at her hotel, Scarlett retrieved her bag after disarming the shocking mechanism that she’d developed and then checked out at the front desk. Walking the short distance from the hotel to the airport, she considered her options again. It was a tough decision but she was leaning toward Madrid for more than one reason.

Years prior on a job she’d taken in Turkey she’d been hired by a man who had trusted only one other man, his brother. The man had been from Vietnam and had been running a shipping business from one country to the other. When he’d hired her to look into some mysterious financial disputes in his Istanbul facilities, he had insisted that his brother accompany her to keep her in line. Unfortunately, what had started out as a case of simple espionage and fraud had evolved into a complex and dangerous situation involving a drug smuggling ring. The situation had elevated to violence and quickly.

Her employer’s brother had been shot in the crossfire and neither had ever forgiven her for not being able to protect him. She’d always insisted upon working alone, but since the case had seemed simple she’d never considered the man would be in any danger of any kind. Seeing as she had a reputation as a thief on some occasions, she had understood her employer’s worry and had taken his brother along on what was supposed to be an easy gig.

While she’d managed to wrap up the drug smuggling case and clean up the company the way that she’d been hired to, her employer had blamed her for the paralysis his brother had suffered and had even requested she pay his hospital bills. Scarlett had done so, because it was simpler than disputing the claim. Her employer had been the kind of man who would’ve gone to legal means in order to hold her accountable for the debt, so it had been in her best interest to simply pay him off.

Unfortunately, now whenever she went to Turkey she had to keep her eye out for her employer and for the men who had once been a part of the drug smuggling ring that she’d driven out of the manufacturer’s business. It was all very messy and complicated and the last thing Scarlett needed was another case from her past creeping up and biting her in the ass. She was already having nightmares about Afghanistan. It would be too much to take on a third debacle from her sordid history.

Scarlett’s sins had to stop catching up with her so quickly.

Deciding that it would be in her mortality’s best interest to avoid Turkey, she walked into the airport and purchased a seat on the next flight to Madrid. Maybe MedCo would expect her to go to Turkey after having seen her show in Istanbul considering it was the second facility in line. If she could go to the facility in Madrid, even if it meant forfeiting ever seeing the one outside of Istanbul, then she had more chances at gathering information than she ever would have had in Turkey.

Stopping in one of the convenience stores in the airport, she purchased a bottle of water which she proceeded to mix into the eucalyptus tea she’d purchased the day before at the markets. Maybe she’d get the chance to catch up on her health during the flight over instead of spending it vomiting like she had on the flight from South Africa.