Across the Universe

Scarlett had made a scene in front of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and had left Captain America standing with his mouth agape. Then she’d marched off and taken a walk, seemingly to clear her thoughts.

Only that wasn’t what she had done at all. It was a great coincidence that Jinx had left something unfamiliar in her pockets to scare Steve into arguing with her. She’d have to make a point to apologize to Captain America for giving him such a hard time about it later. Most of what she had argued had needed to be said anyway but not in such a spectacular fashion.

Scarlett could be a bitch when she needed to be but at the moment she had far different motives. No, Scarlett had felt watched since they left the coffee shop. It had partially been why she’d wanted to ignore her wound and get on the perimeter so quickly. The distraction with Captain America had made her look like she disagreed with the process of S.H.I.E.L.D entirely at least from a distance.

Now she was walking further from the scene toward the bigger buildings she had made note of upon arrival which turned out to be a group of shops scattered amongst university buildings. It was the college town Scarlett had expected it to be from the get go.

The feeling of eyes on her only heightened as she walked but Scarlett made no move to show that she noticed that she was being followed. Usually Scarlett was the one doing the following so the feeling was odd and out of place but she knew she was being followed and would keep going about her business until whoever was watching her wanted to be seen.

Just as she had predicted someone approached her in the darkness of an alleyway between the school buildings. The voice came from above, on the roof of the smaller building on Scarlett’s left.

“Where are we?” The voice demanded. It was the same woman who had come flying out of the portal and even though she was trying to hide it, Scarlett could tell she was as confused as ever. If Scarlett had really been taken by surprise she would’ve taken her gun and found her target but instead she stood still and didn’t even bother looking up at the silhouette of the woman who sat on the edge of the roof hunched like a gargoyle.

“The United States of America. Pennsylvania, to be more specific. Earth, if that helps.” Scarlett responded as easily as she could. She wasn’t sure how much that would mean to this strange woman seemingly from another realm. The whole concept still blew Scarlett’s mind but once she had gotten over her initial disturbance she grew fascinated by it. What else was out there? She wanted to know and knew now more than ever that she could find out.

“How is that possible?” The stranger muttered underneath her breath and exhaled, letting her guard down. Once she realized Scarlett wasn’t going to attack her being on the defensive didn’t seem as important as before. Scarlett hadn’t let the man in the American flag costume take her anywhere plus she was wounded pretty severely from what the stranger could tell.

“What’s your name?” Scarlett took a chance. “I mean, what should I call you? Even if it’s not your real name.” When she didn’t get an answer Scarlett continued. “My name is Scarlett Damien. I’ve got a ton of aliases if you don’t like that.” The woman jumped onto the fire escape and then jumped from there to the ground in front of Scarlett. She’d cleaned herself up since Scarlett had last seen her. Her golden brown hair was fixed beneath her red bandana and her long brown jacket had been dusted off. This woman could’ve blended in with the crowd without a problem but instead she chose to stay behind and seek Scarlett out.

That spoke volumes to Scarlett.

“Mitchell. Mitch for short.” The stranger spoke apprehensively but honestly. “Who do you work for Scarlett? Who are those people back there?”

“I was sent by a group that goes by the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division otherwise known as S.H.I.E.L.D. They’re an anti-terrorism organization as far as I know. It’s kind of my first day.” Scarlett played on the idea that she wasn’t attached to S.H.I.E.L.D. which was natural for her because she most certainly wasn’t. The woman grew angry and red in the face and stamped her foot in frustration.

“Some protection agency? Why is some S.H.I.E.L.D. agency tracking me down?” In Mitchell’s experience big corporations and law enforcement divisions were rarely up to any good. She’d been pursued one too many times by companies claiming they did the good of their countries that she was obviously offended. Scarlett liked this woman more and more by the moment even though it didn’t seem like Mitchell was exactly fond of her at all. Women like Scarlett were usually trying to put her in some lab to study her.

“Ah, we weren’t tracking you at all to be honest. I don’t even know who or what you are. We were tracking radiation. There have been some nasty things going on here and I was hoping to put a stop to them before anyone else got hurt. We didn’t expect any portals.” Scarlett wanted to say she didn’t expect any demons, since Mitchell had mentioned that earlier in her panic, but didn’t want to push this woman past her comfort zone.

“With that?” Mitchell gestured toward the gun under Scarlett’s arm.

“If I had to defend myself, then sure. But it rarely comes to guns with me. I’m pretty good at what I do.” Scarlett shrugged her good shoulder. She had about three thousand questions in regards to other universes, to the woman that had supposedly thrown Mitchell through the portal, about what Mitchell was and why she was so strong and had abilities Scarlett had never seen before in her life. But right now she was going to let Mitchell do the asking of questions. It was clear to Scarlett that Mitchell didn’t like guns or cops. They had that in common and Scarlett planned on playing on that.

“I don’t like being tracked. They’re going to hunt me down, aren’t they?” Mitchell took a nervous step away from Scarlett but Scarlett had no intentions of pursuing her. Everything she did with this stranger would be on her terms. Even if Mitchell didn’t seem very fond of her and wouldn’t trust her even for a handshake, Scarlett wasn’t going to condemn her for it. How many times had she been in that position? Far too many times in this last year alone to count. Every encounter she’d had with S.H.I.E.L.D. before she’d worked with them, hell half the time she’d spent in Tony’s Malibu mansion had been spent being defensive and avoiding making connections.

Obviously that hadn’t worked very well, but still, Scarlett understood the paranoia. But Mitch had approached her after all was said and done and that meant something. Scarlett planned on continuing to be her link to this world, or at least that’s what she was hoping for.

“Not if I have any say in the matter.” Scarlett knew she couldn’t promise anything but she would at least present herself as an ally. Everything was moves and counter moves right now and Scarlett was playing her part very carefully. It felt good, after all this time, after the many failures and oversights of the last year, to prove that she was damn good at what she did.

“Big corporations don’t often let one woman stand in the way of what they want.” Mitchell spoke skeptically and seemed to be scrutinizing Scarlett as they spoke. She didn’t trust her and she likely never would. It was remarkable how much she looked like the woman who had tore a hole into her world and then shoved her through the portal. “And from what I’ve witnessed they’re usually up to no good.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Mitchell.” Scarlett folded her arms over her chest and resisted the urge to respond to the pain in her shoulder. At least now she could finally ignore the ache. Finally, her body was getting its shit together. “Look, the only reason I work for these clowns is because if I didn’t I’d be in a prison cell right now.”

“Oh, really? What did you do to deserve that?” Mitchell smiled for the first time since Scarlett had met her.

“The list is pretty lengthy. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices to keep living. I don’t know how long I’m going to work with these people but… for now it’s best to let them keep an eye on me mostly so I can keep an eye on them.” Scarlett usually had to lie in these situations, but today wasn’t one of those days. It was all true, S.H.I.E.L.D. had pressured her into working for them and she saw it as her only option. But it didn’t mean she was going to keep it that way for very long. Especially after what a disaster this had turned out to be with Captain America. She had a hard time even calling him that. What a ridiculous name. She didn’t call Tony Iron Man, so why should she call Steve something so ludicrous? Super hero names didn’t work for Scarlett. She didn’t need a persona to kick ass and take names.

“Take me with you.” Mitchell spoke finally, after turning the words over in her head. “I want to get to the bottom of this. Something is keeping me here and I want to know why. I want to know why that woman tossed me here, I want to know why she looked like you and I think you can help me figure it out.” It wasn’t something Mitchell would usually do but if this woman’s skill set could keep her above local law enforcement then even if she didn’t like her it made sense to keep her as an ally. She wasn’t so sure about the star spangled man who had lifted her off the ground with such strength it had surprised her, but Scarlett seemed to be holding all the cards, at least right now.

“No way.” Scarlett laughed immediately much to Mitch’s surprise. She thought for sure that Scarlett would’ve been eager to take her in to her corporation and use her to the best of her ability. “Look, no matter how we spin it you’re from some other world. S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t going to let you in on this so easily. They have protocol and other nonsense they have to follow. I think they hired me partially because they knew I wouldn’t follow protocol. Why they stuck me with captain do-good back there is beyond me.” Scarlett had considered that on multiple occasions.

She wasn’t known to work well with others so why had Phil Coulson and Nick Fury been so insistent on her hiring? Every one of them knew it was going to end in disaster and yet here she was, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and on her first day already breaking a handful of the rules in the handbook she’d promptly thrown in the garbage when she’d gotten home from her so-called orientation.

“Are you saying they’ll put me in a cage?” Mitch scowled. She was a smart woman, a very smart woman, and she knew better than to fall for the scheme plotted by any sort of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Scarlett genuinely seemed to want to keep her out of trouble, so what was the harm in taking her advice into consideration?

“Look, if I didn’t work for them I’d give it six months before I wound up in one and I was born in London.” Scarlett laughed, but was unfortunately dead serious. When S.H.I.E.L.D. did their threat assessment she was sure that their agents were at the top of their list but only remained free because they were employed by them. Natasha knew that better than most and while she hadn’t outright said it to Scarlett, she knew that the only reason she worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., at least initially, was so she wouldn’t end up in prison for her crimes against the United States. But then again, Natasha had other motives as well. It wasn’t something the women discussed much in their free time. They weren’t the type for heart to hearts.

“What if I want to help you?” Mitchell weighed her options. While they were speaking in theoretical questions, she figured it couldn’t hurt to find out.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. watches me. Unfortunately the only way for you to help me is to go through them. You can do that if you want, I’ll help you and do what I can to keep you out of a containment cell but as good as I am… there’s only so much I can do against big corporate. Some things are bigger than even the strongest and smartest of us.” Scarlett had learned many lessons over the last year but that was the most important one. Going against MedCo had been the greatest mistake she’d ever made, but also the most beautiful one because of where it had led her.

Mitchell scrutinized Scarlett and then finally sighed heavily and unfolded her arms from across her chest. There was no point in acting hostile. She obviously wasn’t intimidating the woman. They were on level ground and neither woman was willing to make a move toward the other. She didn’t like that Scarlett worked for whatever this corporation was but it was the only link she had to this world.

“Are you trying to trick me?” Finally Mitchell asked what was on her mind. “You really don’t want to bring me in?”

“The safest place for you is in the shadows and it seems like you’re pretty good at hiding in them.” Scarlett shook her head. Mitchell could be a valuable asset but not at the expense of her freedom. “I don’t know what exactly happened back there but it was clear to me that you got caught in the crossfire by whatever is really going on here.” Whatever information she had Mitchell could give her at another time when there wasn’t a S.H.I.E.L.D. cleanup crew a mile down the road.

“No offense, but I have a hard time believing that you want to keep me hidden from the people who pay you.”

“Money is of no object to me.” Scarlett chuckled, rolling her eyes. Of all the things that had held worth in her life, money had never been on the list. Sure, it was nice to have money and to buy whatever she wanted but Scarlett found that when it came down to it there were very few tangible things she wanted in life. Mitchell remained skeptical. If there was one constant in all the universes she’d traveled to on her own it was that wealth was of value to almost everyone. “I’m not asking you to trust me, that is the one thing I could never ask anyone.” Scoffing, Scarlett looked to the side. “In fact, I’d tell you not to trust me. I’m a liar, I’m a con artist, and sometimes I’m even a cheat. I’ve done terrible things and trust is the one thing no one should have when it comes to me.”

“Why are you being so open with me? I’m a stranger. You know so much about trust so why are you trusting me?”

“Oh, I don’t.” Scarlett laughed. “I don’t trust you, don’t mistake honesty for trust. I’m doing what I think is right. Apparently that’s what I do these days as stupid as it may seem,” she added under her breath. Mitchell couldn’t help but smile a little. “This isn’t trust.”

“Then what is it?”

“I know all too well what it’s like to be thrown into something you had no involvement with in the first place. I know what it’s like to have the wool pulled over your eyes and if I can help it I’m going to avoid putting anyone else through that.”

“Even if you end up getting in trouble for it? You said it yourself: they have a cell waiting for you if you get into trouble with them.” Mitchell could help keep Scarlett out of that cell if she needed to. Half of what Mitchell was good at was running from the people pursuing her. Hell, that’s what she’d been doing for as long as she could remember.

“I’m not worried about that.” Scarlett shook her head. “Your best bet is to lay low. I won’t mention this to S.H.I.E.L.D. if you won’t. They’ll be none the wiser.”

“Really?” Mitchell couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around Scarlett’s generosity. What was she getting at? There had to be more to it than just generosity. For now Mitchell would follow Scarlett’s advice since it seemed to be the only option she had but she would keep a close eye on the woman just in case she was up to something.

“If you had any idea what kind of day I’ve had you would know I’m not joking. I’m out of jokes. It doesn’t happen often, but today it has.” Scarlett was so over this Saturday. She was even looking forward to Monday where she would have to meet with lawyers and sit through incredibly boring meetings. It seemed like a picnic in comparison. Maybe she’d put aside some time to beat the crap out of something. That sounded nice.

Scarlett missed her old life again. She missed the danger and her biggest worry being how to stay alive. Was it odd that she would prefer her well being in danger rather than all this emotional nonsense she had to deal with? Probably not. Her shrink would likely have other things to say about it. Like living a life void of emotion wasn’t living a life at all. Scarlett didn’t completely agree with that at this point. She’d given the whole emotional thing a try and it had caused her nothing but grief so far.

Well, now she was just pouting. Scarlett shook the thought out of her head.

“This radiation you mentioned,” Mitchell began, walking behind Scarlett to check outside the alleyway and make sure that no one had followed them or overheard their conversation. There were people walking to and from whatever event was taking place a block or so away, but no one paid them much interest. Everyone was too invested in their own lives to care what two women were doing talking in an alleyway even if it was probably more interesting than whatever they were up to. “What do you know about it?”

“Not much. It’s happened a few times now in a couple of nearby states. Leaves a swathe of destruction in its path. We didn’t see any portals until today. Only thing we could figure is that it leaves a trail of gamma radiation. Usually that’s harmless but obviously whatever’s causing this amount of radiation isn’t harmless. So S.H.I.E.L.D., being the group of all around good guys they claim to be most of the time, is following it to try and stop whatever’s responsible. Big corporations aren’t always bad they’re just never worthy of trust.”

“Like you.” Mitchell narrowed her eyes.

“I like you.” Scarlett couldn’t help but smirk but Mitchell didn’t seem nearly as amused by the gesture. “You’re smart. You know that if S.H.I.E.L.D. is pursuing this anomaly they’re going to be there every time it shows up. Which means if you are too then they’re going to find you eventually. Their agents are pretty put together.”

“I can see this.”

“Do you know anything about the woman you claimed brought you here?”

“No.” Mitchell immediately grew frustrated at the thought of her assailant. “Other than that she looked remarkably like you.” She had noticed a few differences the more she had reflected on the situation she’d gotten herself into, but still, the resemblance was startling.

“Well, that’s good for my reputation. Anything else before I head out of here and pretend I found nothing?” Scarlett nodded toward the end of the alleyway. Mitchell shook her head no, still skeptical that Scarlett was going to let her go scot free. “Then it was nice meeting you Mitch. If you need to find me, I live in Manhattan. Look for Stark Tower. It’s impossible to miss.”

Scarlett turned and walked away from the stranger who was still flabbergasted by the encounter altogether. Never, had she given someone such an opportunity to take her in and not have it used against her. To say she was confused was an understatement. Mitchell jumped back onto the fire escape and onto the roof, watching as Scarlett walked out of the alleyway and continued her meticulous observation of the area as though the encounter hadn’t happened at all. She would keep an eye on the woman from a safe distance and intervene if necessary. It was the only way she would be able to get out of this universe, as benign as it seemed to be. Mitchell wasn’t one to stay in one place very long.

Scarlett may have come out of the conversation relatively empty handed but she felt pretty successful. Her ruse had been perpetrated, unfortunately at the expense of Steve’s shame, but she’d managed to find out a bit about the strange woman from the portal. Even if it was just her name and that she was far from home it was more than she had. It was astounding how much information one could get from a simple conversation. Mitchell didn’t trust anyone but now Scarlett was the only person in that universe who Mitchell knew that could also possibly help her. Unknowingly to the stranger, Scarlett had created a link between them that would transcend her phobia of big corporate and law enforcement.

Only a few more blocks then Scarlett could find Steve and wrap this investigation up for the night. All Scarlett really wanted was to go home and beat the hell out of something. And once she’d gotten that out of her system she’d do what she could to understand what had happened in the park that night. Who was the woman who looked so much like her? Was she the cause of the portals that were creating such horrid destruction throughout the tri-state area?

Why on earth did she have to look like Scarlett? That seemed incredibly unfair. Didn’t she have enough problems without some criminal from another universe looking just like her?

Scarlett had decided that she was very over this weekend.