Across the Universe

“So it’s about a fisherman?” Scarlett examined the glossy cover of the harlequin romance novel that Jinx had eagerly handed to her. She had only hoped to change the subject away from her inevitable demise and had gotten more than she’d bargained for. This was, at least, much funnier than death.

Mickey had tried to hide her embarrassment about the book at first but now her face was so red it was near impossible. She couldn’t think of a way to change the subject, in fact her mouth seemed filled with cotton. Things had become far less awkward once Jinx had laid off of the “oh you’re going to die horribly and your life will be filled with misery and woe” nonsense. That was at least until Scarlett had asked about the ridiculous book sitting on the desk. She should’ve asked about the gossip magazine that Jinx had showed her earlier with Scarlett on the cover of it.

“A fishmonger actually.” Jinx’s eyes, which had once been creepy, were now alight with excitement. She wasn’t so bad when she wasn’t predicting Scarlett’s death. In fact, Scarlett was rather enjoying her company. It seemed that Jinx’s filter was a little damaged or nonexistent, either way, it amused Scarlett to no end.

“Isn’t that the same thing? I’m a little rusty on my fishing terminology.”

“Well, by definition all they have to do is sell fish to be a fishmonger. Fishermen do the fishing.” Jinx explained waving her own copy of the book around. The one that Scarlett had taken was the copy she’d picked up to give to Mickey. It seemed as though the two had a very strange, very naughty book club. Jinx seemed to be trying to convince Scarlett to join it. Scarlett, on the other hand, was mostly amused.

“Jinx…” Mickey hissed under her breath and threw her a look. She hoped she could stop the conversation before it continued. “I don’t think that Miss Damien wants…”

“This man is clearly fishing this woman out of the ocean and into his lusty embrace. There’s a fishing net. He’s obviously got some fishing experience.” Scarlett turned the cover around so that Jinx could take a look. Jinx scrutinized the art and then nodded her head in approval to agree.

“You are correct. I guess he is also a fisherman.” Jinx relinquished to reason.

“Either that or he’s a really terrible fisherman. I mean he did catch a woman. She is clearly not a fish. Not even a hint of a tail there. I mean I guess it’s possible she’s part mermaid…”

“She’s not, that would be an amazing twist though!” Jinx gripped the book tight in her hands and opened her mouth to speak but was instantly interrupted by Mickey.

“I think that we could argue semantics over this all day long, but it’s still just a smut novel. They don’t have to make sense, they are what they are!” Mickey stole the book from Scarlett’s hands and shoved it back into Jinx’s in hopes of avoiding further embarrassment. However, she had every intention of returning for the book later.

She really wanted to know if the woman turned out to be a mermaid now in the end.

“Aw, I wanted to see how dirty it got in there. What words they used to avoid saying dick, ya know? How many expletives she avoided crying out in the throes of passion.” Scarlett smirked, amused more than anything at how sheepish Mickey was about the book. Mickey’s face turned red again. It had finally begun to recover. Not so much anymore.

“You should check out page 95, it’s steamy. The wording’s a bit rough but it gets the point across.” Jinx’s eyes sparkled playfully as she picked the book back up and made a motion to hand it back to Scarlett.

“I think we’re supposed to be working, okay?” Mickey pleaded with her friend silently that she’d stop embarrassing her in front of someone who she was now supposed to work with on a regular basis. She knew Scarlett was teasing them, even if Jinx didn’t seem to get that she was. Taking the book away from Jinx before Scarlett could grab it, she hid it behind her back so it would be out of sight.

“Pierce!” Coulson called from down the hall, drawing their attention away from the naughty book in Jinx’s hands. She’d picked up her personal copy when Mickey had snatched the other. Instantly Jinx put the book down on her desk upside down and out of view from the other agents. It was common knowledge that Jinx enjoyed those books in her free time, even if Mickey wasn’t as obviously open about it. Still, Phil Coulson had said if he saw one more book on her desk where a man’s pants were ill fitting then he was going to have to do something about it. Jinx was curious about what he would do but also didn’t want to be banned from reading at work. “Bennett!” He was smiling, so they expected good news.

Down the hall after him came Tony Stark, his jacket hung over his forearm and his hands in his pants pockets. Scarlett looked genuinely surprised to see him and hoped that she didn’t show any of the worry she immediately felt. The last thing she wanted was to have this argument in front of her new coworkers. They’d already gotten a weird enough impression of her. She had a distinct feeling that she was going to be known as some kind of bad omen now, at least to Jinx. Much to everyone’s surprised Natasha Romanoff trailed behind the two men, her arms folded over her chest and a sour look on her face. Scarlett could hear Mickey and Jinx whispering about Agent Romanoff before Coulson came within earshot.

“Yes, Coulson?” Jinx made a poor attempt to appear innocent while Mickey looked overly alert, her cheeks still burning red. Scarlett walked past Coulson while he spoke to his Agents and closer to Tony but not close enough for him to easily grab her. Everything they said in this hallway would be said loud enough for everyone to hear. She hoped this would prevent Tony from starting an argument. Then again, Tony seemed not to have as much concern with what others thought as she did. Still, there was no harm in trying to keep their personal problems personal.

“What are you doing here Tony?” She asked discreetly, not wishing to interrupt Coulson with whatever he was talking about to his agents, though it sounded like he was talking about her. Scarlett figured if it was important he would ask her to pay attention. He didn’t.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Tony narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, accusing her of lying about her plans for the day day without saying anything at all. Scarlett returned the glare, though she did feel guilty for having deceived him. She knew that if she’d told him where she was going he would’ve found a way to talk her into doing something else and it would’ve gotten put off again.

“You’re up to something. Don’t think I don’t know that.” Scarlett looked to Natasha who she caught smirking out of the corner of her eye. The Black Widow knew something she didn’t know and seemed very eager to tell her what it was. She guessed that was why she was there in the first place. Tony instantly spoke over her and threw Natasha a wide eyed glance as if to dare her to step on his toes.

“We’ll discuss it later.” Tony narrowed his eyes at Natasha who narrowed her eyes in return.

“I have an office now apparently. We can discuss it right now privately.” Scarlett nodded down the hallway and Tony froze. He then quickly shook his head.

“You’re busy right now, later.” He obviously didn’t want to tell Scarlett why he was there and Scarlett was more than willing to share why she was. It wasn’t like the reason she was there had been a secret. The only secret was that the meeting had been today. Unless Tony had been called in to do some work there was no reason for him to be at S.H.I.E.L.D. Scarlett was sure that he didn’t want to tell her his reasons because he knew they would get him into trouble.

“I know you’re up to something.” Scarlett didn’t take her blue eyes away from him even though Tony made every attempt to look at something other than Scarlett. She had this way of reading him when he was lying to her and he hated it. While most times it benefited him that she could see through him to his true intentions this was not one of those times. It was unfair; half the time when she was lying he hadn’t the faintest clue. There were, of course, occasions when her eyes betrayed her but today was not one of those days. He could tell she was suspicious of him, if nothing else.

“Not now,” Tony spoke but still avoided her gaze.

“Miss Damien. I trust that Mickey and Jinx have shown you the ropes around here.” Coulson drew their attention away from each other but Scarlett let her glare linger just a little longer at Tony before addressing the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.

“Oh yes, they have gone above and beyond the call of responsibility… which I’m guessing was to keep me entertained while you were busy with my boyfriend.” Scarlett took a step away from Tony but he followed her and she threw him another curious glance. He didn’t want to discuss what was going on but he didn’t want to leave her to her own devices either. There was no way he could act any more suspicious. He wanted to hear every word of what was about to happen. If Coulson told her she couldn’t work for them then Tony was in so much trouble.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Coulson smiled at the two female agents who looked entirely surprised to hear Scarlett’s opinion of them. When Coulson turned away they high fived and then drew their attention back to the matter at hand. Scarlett could’ve sworn she saw Mickey mark a page in the novel she’d hidden before slipping it onto Jinx’s desk. “Now that you’re officially a member of the team there are a few technical matters to discuss. Policy here dictates that you work with a partner while out on the field.”

“You didn’t mention that when we discussed the terms of our arrangement.” Scarlett folded her arms over her chest. She didn’t look at him, but Tony had the distinct feeling that had been directed at him. It wasn’t the end of the world to have to work with someone else but Scarlett didn’t necessarily find the idea appealing either. She worked her best when she was left to her own devices. If she was going to work with someone then they were going to have to realize that and give her the space she needed. Instantly she looked to Natasha in hopes that the woman would volunteer. But the Russian avoided her gaze and her scowl deepened.

“It slipped my mind given all your requests, but I trust it won’t be a problem. You work with Tony well enough. If you can work with him then you can work with anyone.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. But no, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’m afraid that both Romanoff and Barton are currently unavailable to be assigned to you. Your new partner will be someone you’ve never met before and the selection process might take a bit longer because of the delicate nature of your skills. Unfortunately that means there won’t be any fieldwork for you to do until your new partner has been properly assigned and arrangements have been made.” Coulson was trying to hide his smile. The conflict in the room was obvious, it was almost comical. Poor Jinx and Mickey had absolutely no idea what the three heroes nearby were really thinking.

“I don’t know.” Scarlett looked back to her friend again, trying to read her but discovering nothing. “Natasha doesn’t look very busy right now, more nosy than anything else. And I’m pretty sure that Clint just finished a long term assignment with you.” Though she wasn’t outright saying it Scarlett knew Tony had something to do with this arrangement. When they got home they had an awful lot to discuss. Tony couldn’t interfere in her affairs behind her back, it was not okay. She wouldn’t do the same to him.

Though as she considered it she wasn’t really sure how differently she’d respond to him walking into a dangerous situation. It was entirely possible she would go above and beyond to make sure he stayed out of harm’s way. The only difference was that Scarlett was sure she would’ve been much quieter about it. Tony was looking at the ceiling now, desperately trying not to blink or give himself away but by doing so he was only incriminating himself further. It was almost comical.

“I’m afraid that’s not an option. I will let you know when your new partner is ready to train with. You can, at any time, file a motion to change partners if things don’t work out for you.” Coulson continued, hoping he could get Scarlett to agree without too much arguing. The last thing he wanted was for the deal they’d made to fall through. It may have been nice to see Tony concerned about someone other than himself, but Coulson wasn’t going to give up an opportunity to work with Scarlett just because he was worried about her. It was fun to see Tony squirm if nothing else.

“Fine.” Scarlett agreed, much to everyone’s surprise. Even Jinx and Mickey were amused to see that she wasn’t putting up a fight. It didn’t seem in her nature considering how much they’d known about her from the files they’d been given when she’d started causing trouble in Africa.

“Really?” Phil and Tony spoke in unison, completely shocked that they wouldn’t have to argue further about it.

“If I can’t have Romanoff or Barton then how about Mickey?” Scarlett nodded to the brunette leaning against the desk whose eyes widened. Her face went pale as everyone turned toward her. At that point she had just been enjoying watching the drama unfold like it was a good soap opera. “She’s perfectly capable and it looks like she’s cooped up in the office during most of her employment here.” Scarlett continued when no one else seemed to respond to the offer. Mickey was completely flustered and unsure of how to respond. There was a mixture of fear and confusion in her eyes. Eventually it was replaced with excitement the more she turned over the idea in her mind.

“Yeah!” Mickey cleared her throat and hoped that maybe she could tone her enthusiasm down just a little bit. It had taken her a few minutes to realize what a grand adventure it could be to go on assignments with Scarlett. She’d seen the woman at work from afar and didn’t think there could be a better way to tackle fieldwork than with someone who knew what they were doing and well at that. “I’m not working on anything specific right now. I’m definitely available if I can get the approval.” Mickey was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet trying to hide how pleased she was for the opportunity. She had, at first, thought that Scarlett hadn’t been fond of her in the least. Now she was sure that the woman had simply been misread! Why else would she volunteer her? Unless it was some kind of a cruel joke.

“Miss Pierce is not a field agent. Unfortunately so she’s off limits.” Phil looked away from Mickey as she mentally deflated. Opportunity had slipped so quickly from her grasp. Jinx reached over the desk to pat Mickey on the shoulder. Tony seemed somewhat relived too. After the masquerade that had gone awry, before he’d been dating Scarlett, where Mickey’s fiancé had been killed. He was hoping to avoid putting Mickey into any further danger because of them. Not because he had a personal attachment to her but because he didn’t want them causing her any further strife.

“Why not?” Scarlett glanced behind Phil to Mickey who was practically leaning against the desk due to the weight of her disappointment. She obviously wanted to be a field agent so why wasn’t she? Scarlett knew something was up with Mickey’s situation but had never had the opportunity to bring attention to it until now.

“She’s currently not trained for fieldwork. The time and finance it would take to prepare her to work alongside you wouldn’t be…” Phil started on what was a promising rant and sounded rehearsed. It was obvious that others had asked the same thing about Mickey.

“Seriously? This woman has been practically bred to be a field agent since her youth.” Everyone turned to look at Scarlett in awe and Mickey’s jaw was practically on the floor. No one had ever argued on her behalf before, especially not anyone involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. Her cheeks turned red again with embarrassment when she realized that Phil was looking at her suspiciously as though she had put Scarlett up to it when she was just as surprised as he was. “You’re going to argue that it’s not fiscally reasonable?”

“What makes you think that, Miss Damien? Your contact with Miss Pierce has been very limited to say the least. There have been very few opportunities for you to see just how prepared she is. I assure you if she was ready to be a field agent then she would already be one.” Mickey turned her gaze away and almost asked Jinx if this was really happening.

“She has aced every test she’s been given. Physically and mentally she’s more than prepared to be a field agent. She’ll probably be a little skittish at the start but that’s only because you’ve obviously left her feeling defeated by not promoting her for so long. How long have you been working here, Mickey? Honestly, why can’t she be my partner? If there was ever a time to send her out into the field isn’t this the best opportunity? You know I’ll keep her safe while she learns the ropes.” Scarlett could feel Tony’s eyes boring a hole through her but she wasn’t sure if he was ogling her or becoming irritated by her insistence on going through with this S.H.I.E.L.D. thing.

“How the hell does she know that?” Mickey whispered under her breath, more to Jinx than anyone else. Jinx shrugged. “How the hell do you know that?” She spoke louder, walking away from the desk so she could approach Scarlett. But the fiery brunette was too busy having a stare down with Coulson who seemed to be tossing the words over in his mind.

“How do you know that?” Jinx walked around her desk so she could better participate in the conversation. Scarlett smiled knowingly. The answer was obvious and if they couldn’t figure it out she didn’t feel the need to explain it to them.

“You went through S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel files.” Coulson whispered mostly to himself. If Scarlett didn’t know better she could’ve sworn he’d smiled for a second and seemed proud of her. Everyone else in the room began muttering their suspicions except for Mickey who stared slack jawed at Scarlett who was still smiling at Coulson. “Hill,” He picked up his radio and spoke into it to the woman on the other end. “I need you to look into our system and see if there was any unauthorized access to personnel files or security breaches that went ignored in the past two weeks.” He turned to look at his radio and ignored the bustle around him. Natasha was arguing with Tony about something in a hushed tone.

“Everything’s in order, sir.” The woman responded from the other end. “No unauthorized access, nothing changed.” The radio continued to buzz with questions as to why he wondered, if he suspected a breach or if she should take action. Coulson placed his radio back down at his side and looked to Scarlett curiously.

“How did you manage to hack our computers without leaving a trace behind?” Coulson spoke through thin lips. Scarlett couldn’t tell if he was angry or amused. Tony was standing behind her trying desperately not to laugh.

“Why are you so surprised?” Scarlett chuckled, resting her hands on her hips and giving him a meaningful look. “You’re part of a dangerous, secret, and notoriously manipulative corporation. You’re asking me to work with you. Did you really think that after what MedCo did to me I wasn’t going to take every precaution necessary against you?” If Scarlett had simply looked into MedCo’s background a little deeper she could’ve prevented one hell of a tragedy in her life, but instead she’d taken their offer at face value and trusted the man who had offered her that job. For that she had paid dearly and continued to pay for it up until that day. She was sure she would pay for her blind trust until the day she died.

“That’s different.”

“How exactly?” Scarlett interrupted, looking back at Natasha who seemed neutral to the conversation. “How is it any different? They claimed to be helping people just like you claim to be. I thought they were benevolent and I’m not taking any risks like that again. You’ve practically been shoving dangerous jobs down my throat without my permission. What did you expect to happen? You should have known that I was going to do everything within my power to make sure I wasn’t being fooled again.” Scarlett didn’t understand what the big deal was even though the others around her seemed to be waiting for the axe to drop. “No one’s going to lie to me again, Coulson. Not even S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Stunned silence followed her announcement. Mickey was still reeling that she had passed every test she’d taken with flying colors. Why hadn’t anyone told her that?

“That still didn’t answer my question.” Coulson finally managed to speak. Breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D. files gave them the opportunity to arrest Scarlett but he quickly voted against it. She had barely agreed to work for them, arresting her would very quickly put her on the outs with them. Scarlett was a very powerful ally but an even more powerful enemy.

“After hacking into Jarvis and through Stark Industry security your system was a breeze. Tony’s personal firewall was far worse than this.” Scarlett gestured toward where Tony stood behind her. All eyes turned to Tony who shrugged his shoulders in response. After the first time Scarlett had fallen into his bed she had seized the opportunity to disable Jarvis’ security feature and dig through Tony’s business and personal files in search of answers. The end result had put her on the outs with Tony and Pepper but it had also proved Tony’s innocence to her. She had suspected he’d been funding MedCo’s operations and providing them with weapons and technology.

She had been wrong.

“I try not to think about that.” Tony looked away but the memory burned in the back of his mind. It had been the cause of their first real fight and he had felt betrayed at the time. Even if he understood her motives now he was still hard pressed to admit that he had been bested by a woman who had lured him into bed.

“I don’t know about how things would’ve played out for you if you had hacked into MedCo’s files Miss Damien but we are not MedCo. We have protocols that need to be followed and…”

“Oh, stop the act.” Scarlett rolled her eyes and pointed an accusing finger at him. “S.H.I.E.L.D. is just as full of double standards as every other nasty company is. You manipulate the cards in the drawer so that they’re stacked against the peons below you in hopes of using it to your advantage later in the game. Even with me, I’m sure that there’s a prison cell somewhere nearby to put me in if I ever get out of line. Same with Tony, same with Natasha. You’re prepared for every outcome. Well, so am I. I don’t leave things to chance. I don’t leave things to fate. So either arrest me or drop it.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that there are rules we all must follow in order for S.H.I.E.L.D. to function as a unit. If everyone’s spying on each other we’re not really going to function well, are we?” Phil argued. It wasn’t like he agreed with everything that S.H.I.E.L.D. did, but it was his job to enforce the rules.

“Those rules provide a double standard that leans heavily in S.H.I.E.L.D. favor.” Scarlett bickered. Tony nodded to agree over her shoulder. He was glad that no one was yelling at him, he’d been yelled at enough today. He agreed whole heartedly with Scarlett and had argued this many times with Phil. It didn’t matter; they had to follow the rules. It was part of how S.H.I.E.L.D. functioned and while Tony had eventually realized the fight was fruitless he knew that Scarlett wasn’t going to let it go so quickly. Then again, they had manipulated Scarlett far more in the last year than they had ever tried to manipulate him.

“How so?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. pried into my life and my history with no regards for the secrecy I needed or my safety.” Scarlett dared him to fight against that. “When I was pursuing MedCo you followed. By following you compromised my location again and again. You found people from my past and used them to manipulate me further! How is that fair? Hmm? Just because I don’t have a big fancy office and a set of rules for other people to follow when they’re in my presence means you can stick your fingers into my life and stir the pot?” Phil was about to respond but Natasha stepped next to Scarlett and spoke quietly but purposely. Generally when Natasha spoke everyone listened.

“It’s true. I was the one who located her old contact in India. You turned him in order to protect her. He was reluctant. You changed his entire life in order to get him involved.”

“The key word is protect.”

“Protect someone who didn’t want your protection, you mean?” Mickey finally found her words again. Her head was still spinning. Coulson looked at her as if to dare her to continue. “I followed her all over the place and let me tell you Pluto hates flying.” Mickey was very close with her golden retriever and had brought him almost everywhere with her. “She didn’t want the help. She practically ran at the sight of me, at the sight of any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.”

“Saying it was ‘for her own good’ is not a viable excuse.” Natasha shook her head. “I agreed to it only because she was my friend and I was concerned with the way things were being handled.”

“Aw, thanks.” Scarlett nudged Natasha who finally cracked a smile.

“The reason they found her in Senegal was because you dispatched me there.” Mickey frowned, recalling all too well having her transmission interrupted. “We didn’t even send her back up after that. She could’ve died because we were being followed.” Scarlett looked to Mickey in surprise, this information being clearly brand new to her. “S.H.I.E.L.D. has good intentions but often the road paved by us is filled with deceit and unnecessary manipulation. So her breaking into our systems to read some files doesn’t seem to have much relevance in the scheme of things.”

“There have to be consequences for everything. And I agree that what we did in order to eventually help Miss Damien…” Coulson argued but something about him showed his heart wasn’t in it.

“God if I hear Miss Damien one more time. Call me Scarlett already.” She groaned.

“That’s how I felt every time you called me Stark… just throwing that out there.” Tony looked up at the others who had obviously heard him despite that he’d leaned down to whisper in her ear. There had been a time where she had only ever used his last name in a pathetic attempt to keep from growing attached to him. That had obviously worked very well for her. “What?”

“I have a bad feeling.” Jinx spoke quietly but somehow drew everyone’s attention. Her face was pale and she looked sick to her stomach. Scarlett rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She was wondering if Jinx ever had good feelings about anything. Coulson, Mickey and Natasha seemed to brace themselves for something to happen around them but only silence followed.

“Who the hell is this?” Tony whispered to Scarlett and she leaned her head away from him.

“You are spitting in my ear.” She whispered in return and Tony curled his lips in a grin when she swatted him. “Don’t start.” Tony pouted but then turned to the others who were staring at them.

“I know what you’re all thinking.” Tony broke the silence since no one else seemed to be willing to. “Don’t get any ideas. I overhauled my system back home and it’s impenetrable. Actually hacky-mchackerton over here has been testing it for flaws and weaknesses. If she can’t get into it then neither can any of you.” Tony looked at them all suspiciously, lingering a little longer on Natasha than on the others.

“Can we get back on topic please?” Coulson held a hand to his forehead. Why was it whenever Tony Stark showed up at S.H.I.E.L.D. he ended up with a massive headache? No wonder he had started carrying around aspirin. “Please?”

“Wasn’t that on topic?” Tony placed his hands on Scarlett’s hips and looked to her quizzically.

“We’ve been through this, Tony.” Despite still wanting to have a few strong words with him Scarlett couldn’t help but smile. Mickey was consoling Jinx and assuring her everything was fine by the desk. Coulson went to speak again but stopped when Natasha held her hand up to silence him.

“Do you hear that?” She whispered. Everyone stood in silence and sure enough they heard something odd. There was a low rumbling somewhere below the building. It wasn’t much and could’ve been anything, but still it was there.

“I have a bad feeling.” Jinx grabbed onto Mickey’s arms to get her to stop consoling her but Mickey was no longer paying attention.

“Come to think of it, so do I.” Scarlett turned to look at Tony over her shoulder. The lights flickered overhead and then went out, the hum of electricity completely fading leaving them with the ability to hear the rumbling as it grew louder.

As menacing as the rumbling was it was soon drowned out by the jingling of hanging lights overhead. A gentle sway of the building urged the lights to swing harder. Then the floor began to shake and tremble. Tony grabbed Scarlett and pulled her closer, bracing himself against the wall nearby.

“Get down!” Coulson shouted but his voice was drowned out by an earsplitting shriek of metal against stone.