Echoes 12 - Refuge

            “Damnit.” Scarlett dropped the Petri dish on her marble countertop in frustration then shoved it aside. The liquid inside of it had turned a putrid green color. She sat on a barstool in a long sleeved button up pajama shirt in her kitchen. On the counter rested a microscope, various phials and test tubes along with pills upon pills of medicine. To her left was a stack of papers scattered about and folded in various directions in an order that only she would understand. The mess had been there for days and each night she returned to it.

            “Nothing’s working.” She rested her elbows on the counter and placed her head in her hands. There were several discarded Petri dishes and microscope slides off to the right of the counter, each discolored or dried up. Every attempt she’d made that night to complete her project had failed. It didn’t help that her head was pounding.

            After she’d passed out in the parking garage she’d been brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in Boston by Natasha and Jinx. After searching one of the men that had attacked them, S.H.I.E.L.D. recovery agents, who had been sent to clean up the scene, had discovered that they had been sent to capture her or gather blood samples.

            Since Scarlett was such a threat they had each been armed with a series of sedatives to placate her. Unfortunately that sedative had conflicted with a medicine she was already taking and had lowered her blood sugar. She’d spent several hours hooked up to IVs with her vitals being monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors that she was unfamiliar with. Most of that time had been spent answering questions she couldn’t provide answers to and being poked and prodded to no avail. After the ordeal she hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with anyone about going after her ex-boyfriend and the very people who had attacked her that night.

            Scarlett was feeling rather defeated. It didn’t seem likely that Nick Fury would trust her to go on a mission on her own. She was far weaker than she had once been. Staying fit had become a much more difficult task in the weeks past but she was determined to fight harder than ever.

            Her past was catching up with her faster than she could outrun it and there were no bridges left to burn. Head still pounding from the side effects of the medicine she’d been dosed with, Scarlett rubbed her temples and tried to think clearly. It may have been too late for her to be working and she had been told to rest for the night, but instead she’d stayed up and performed chemical tests. It had been several hours now and she’d tried every combination she could think of that wouldn’t kill her. She’d hope to have a few mysteries solved before she made it back to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the morning.

            Nothing was working for her no matter how hard she tried.

            She turned to the half drained glass of wine she’d poured after she’d gotten home. Of course, she wasn’t supposed to drink either but Scarlett was very tired of being told what to do. Everywhere she turned something else was out of her control. Control was something Scarlett was not used to giving up. If she wanted to drink she was going to drink. Maybe it was time for her to give up the ghost, at least for the night, at least on her experiments. She wasn’t in her right mind. None of her chemistry problems were going to be solved at least not that night.

            Natasha had promised she would consult Nick Fury in the morning, once they were sure she was okay, about pursuing MedCo and getting revenge for her Indian friend. But somehow Scarlett felt even that endeavor was a fruitless one. After the attack in the parking garage S.H.I.E.L.D. would view her only as vulnerable and would be less likely than ever to allow her to go on the offensive. At that point she couldn’t rightly blame them. Between her failed tests, letting a MedCo Security Agent stick her with a strange needle, and her waning strength Scarlett wasn’t sure she was fit for duty. Natasha had been right when they’d been on their way to the parking garage to retrieve her car.

            Scarlett had been severely emotionally and physically compromised.

            That had never stopped her before, but it was possible she didn’t have a choice anymore. If it hadn’t been for Jinx and Natasha that night who knew where she would’ve ended up and in what kind of trouble? She had gotten lucky and luck was something she didn’t believe in or rely on. Even with the facts laid out in front of her Scarlett found it hard to give up and let others care for her. It wasn’t in her nature.

            Before she could dwell further on the matter a resounding buzzing came from the other end of the counter.

            Her phone was ringing, dancing across the marble. Scarlett reached over the counter and picked it up, turning it over to look at the screen. She didn’t recognize the number but it had been programmed into her contacts as An Interruption. Beneath that was a picture of Tony from earlier in the day. For some reason she found herself smiling. How had he managed that? Regardless of her amusement she knew she should ignore him. She needed something to cheer her up so against her better judgment she answered his call.

            “Do you always call strange women at three in the morning?” Scarlett picked up her glass of wine and walked away from the mess she’d made and over to her couch. If she was going to be up she might as well be comfortable. “And how the hell did you manage to program yourself as something cute into my phone? I don’t recall taking your contact information or letting you touch my phone.” Scarlett took a sip out of her wine glass. She didn’t regret disobeying doctor’s orders. It was possible she’d regret it later, but that was something she could push off for now.

            “I have my ways, Miss Damien.” Tony was surprised that she had picked up. He’d spent the last twenty minutes trying to talk himself out of calling her. But he couldn’t get it off of his mind so there he was. “And well, it’s only midnight by me so I guess… I don’t usually do this.” Despite him being as witty and clever as he had been during their earlier conversations Scarlett couldn’t help but feel like he was off. There was something about his voice that sounded shaky and unsettled. Maybe it was just the late hour getting to her.

            “Why are you calling, Tony?” Scarlett laughed, setting her glass down on the coffee table and pulling her feet up onto the couch to curl beneath her. The pillows were comfortable so she hugged one in her arms.

            “You’re so full of questions tonight, Scarlett. My turn. What… are you wearing?” She could practically hear the smile on his face but rolled her eyes in response even though he couldn’t see her.

            “Very cute, but avoidance isn’t moving this conversation along.”

            “I wasn’t being cute. I was being serious. You seem to get those two adjectives confused quite frequently. I mean, I am cute, but it shouldn’t be that distracting, really… Especially over the phone, it’s not like you can see me. I can, however, tell you what I’m wearing and it’s not very much…” He drifted off, afraid to talk about what was really on his mind. Hearing her voice had calmed him for whatever reason but it didn’t mean he actually wanted to talk about what had happened.

            Actually he really did want to talk about his fight with Pepper and the realization that his anxiety was taking over his life. He just wasn’t sure how. It had seemed like such a simple idea in theory. But now that he had Scarlett on the phone the words simply wouldn’t come to him.

            “What do you want from me, Stark? It’s late.” Scarlett smiled but her voice became serious as she continued on. After the night she’d had there was little room left for joking. Somehow, Tony had still managed to pull a smile out of her and that was not an easy task to do. Jinx had spent half her time in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters trying to make Scarlett laugh. She tried everything from reading passages from the smutty romance novels she frequently read to telling corny jokes that were so painful they made Scarlett wince. Usually it would’ve worked but Scarlett had far too much on her mind that night. “You’re avoiding very simple questions when you’re the one who called me. You must have something to say.”

            “Why is it you don’t sound tired for someone who claims it’s an annoyance to call her at three in the morning?” Tony countered, ignoring the obvious dig. Scarlett saw right through him even from thousands of miles away. She couldn’t see his face, couldn’t hear the panic that had been so obvious earlier in the day, so how the hell did she know that something was up? Then again, it was midnight and he was calling her out of the blue after they had only met less than twelve hours earlier that same day. “Was that call you took earlier, you know the one that interrupted our liquid lunch, really serious? It must have been to keep you up at this hour.”

            “It was. So why is it you’re not sleeping, Stark?” Scarlett very quickly forgot about her wine glass while she spoke to Tony. It was weird having someone to talk to while she was at home. After forming Refuge, when Scarlett wasn’t publicizing or putting on an act somewhere she was spending her time alone researching or sleeping. For someone who was in the public eye as often as she was her life had become incredibly lonely.

            “I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about you.” Tony didn’t sound like he was joking but maybe that was because he wasn’t. It wasn’t in the way that he’d implied, of course, but he had been thinking of how she had calmed him earlier in the day and the fun they’d had together. There was nothing lustful or unsavory behind his words, only sincerity and curiosity. Talking to her was taking the edge off. For brief flickers of a moment Tony felt like his old self. It was a good feeling, a very good feeling. It gave him hope that maybe, someday, things would be okay even if he was never the man he used to be.

            “I highly doubt there’s any truth to that.” Scarlett laughed under her breath and traced her fingers over the pillow in her arms. She had a hard time sitting still but at least she was managing it for a little while. Talking to Tony took her mind off all the nonsense that had happened earlier in the night, at least partially. Somehow she felt deceitful, not telling him everything about herself but that was by design. The less people knew the safer they would be and that had never been more true than it was that night. Her contact had gotten killed simply because he’d been part of her life for so long. Anyone she had known for an extended period of time was at risk now.

            Scarlett could only hope that it wouldn’t apply to the new people in her life, those who thought she was the brilliant CEO of Refuge and nothing more. Those lives were innocent and she had worked hard to keep her distance as much as she had. Though she wasn’t sure how well she was doing with Tony Stark considering they were on the phone at three in the morning.

            “You know it’s only midnight here in Malibu. I think that’s a pretty reasonable hour to still be awake, thank you very much.” Tony continued to dodge questions left and right. Maybe he didn’t have to tell Scarlett why he’d really called. He could feel the grip on his heart and lungs loosening and breathing became much easier. The vitals that Jarvis had refused to put away were finally returning to normal and that alone comforted him. Maybe he didn’t need Scarlett to talk him down. Hearing her voice seemed to do the trick. He didn’t think it was her specifically that was doing it for him, rather talking to someone who didn’t judge him and understood what he was going through seemed to calm him.

            Or maybe it was Scarlett and she had some kind of magic touch with him. How was he supposed to know? Either way this phone call was providing him with comfort that he didn’t think possible only moments prior. Any doubts he’d had about calling and disturbing her had completely flown out the window when he’d heard her voice.

            “Are you implying that I’m the one who must be hiding something because I’m up at three in the morning?”

            “That’s exactly what I’m implying.”

            “I’m going to backtrack a little here and point out again that you were the one who called me. For all you know I may just sound really alert when I’m woken up in the middle of the night.”

            “Yeah, because that happens to anyone.” Tony laughed and shook his head. He didn’t think anything of her being up or that she had any secrets to hide. For some reason he’d hoped that she had been thinking about him and the offer that he had made her earlier in the day and it had kept her up late doing research. While he had no idea if that was something she would do, he liked to think that’s how it played out. Once Tony believed it to be so in the back of his mind it was very difficult to convince him of otherwise.

            “I happen to suffer from insomnia. I couldn’t sleep.” Scarlett shook her head. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but none of what she said was exactly a lie. It was conveniently not the truth, that’s all.

            “Ah, I suffer from the same curse.” Tony sighed in understanding and Scarlett felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach. He seemed to think that they were bonding over this little factoid. Then again, she did often suffer from insomnia. It just wasn’t the reason she was awake on that particular night. It hadn’t been plaguing her nearly as often these days. Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. Scarlett often found herself exhausted at much earlier hours than she was used to. Sometimes in the middle of the day she would have to cancel her meetings to catch a nap. It was something she had never thought she’d be doing, but circumstances were different now. Sleep was a necessity.

            “I hear it comes along with genius. I guess it must be a blessing and a curse.” Scarlett still felt guilty, but at least it was over something little that she understood completely.

            “You should fly out here.” Tony suggested abruptly. “Then we could at least work through the insomnia and it wouldn’t be time wasted.” Temporarily Scarlett was at a loss for words. It was a very bold offer, considering how little they knew each other. Yet for some reason it left her wanting.

            “It’s about a five hour flight not including preparation time and traveling to and from airports.” Scarlett scoffed once she’d gathered her wits. “By the time I got there it would be morning. Unfortunately I would never be able to make it back in time for the meeting I have at eight with an investor.” Scarlett spoke sympathetically. She wasn’t sure the offer had been real anyway. Realistically, there was no way she could get to Malibu and back before then and she had to meet Mickey that morning for some S.H.I.E.L.D. thing. If she didn’t, someone would come and collect her and that would be messy. She didn’t want to deal with anything messy, at least not for a little while. That night had been messy enough.

            “Aw, come on… you always have meetings! You’re starting to sound worse than me.” Tony whined dramatically. He got up from the chair behind his desk and walked over to the couch in his basement. He’d relocated his blankets there earlier in the morning and had decided to sleep closer to his suits. He didn’t do it because he wanted to feel safe, but he thought it made more sense than traveling up and downstairs every day. With Pepper gone he could very well sleep in his own bed but it somehow didn’t seem right given the circumstances.

            Weirdly, lying in that bed while talking to Scarlett almost felt like cheating on Pepper. Tony was many things but he was not a cheater. He may have been at one point in his life but it wasn’t something he’d ever do to Pepper, at least not while in his right mind. But considering the way things had been he was sure that no one would blame him if the opportunity came up and he didn’t pass it by. There he was, already justifying cheating when he knew he wouldn’t. Immediately he pushed the thought from his head.

            “Your company has been well established under your control for years, Stark. My company just went public. I have to keep up or Refuge isn’t going to stay afloat.”

            “It’s your baby, Scarlett. It’s doing great, way better than you seem to think it is. Refuge is a staple in this industry now. Why do you think I’m so insistent on you working with me?”

            “I thought it was because I’m brilliant and good publicity.” Scarlett pursed her lips. Of course she knew that was why Tony had contacted her in the first place. He most certainly had not been the first CEO of a company who wanted to share her limelight that had contacted her.  However, he had been the first that she had indulged. Mostly that had been because he’d been so incredibly insistent upon getting her attention. She’d had every intention of letting him down gently as she had every other offer before him but then he’d had that panic attack. Scarlett had seen him struggling and in that moment had become the friend that he’d needed. It wasn’t that she had meant to do that, it was that she’d acted on instinct. Maybe somewhere deep down, Scarlett had needed a friend too. Natasha and Jinx were all well and good but neither one of them were there simply because they wanted to be. S.H.I.E.L.D. was forcing them to be with her.

            Even when she’d been angry and upset about her Indian friend Natasha and Jinx had been ultimately thinking about S.H.I.E.L.D. and what lay ahead. Maybe Scarlett needed to go out and drink until she couldn’t see or maybe she needed to punch something until her fingers bled. But no, instead, it had become about her situation. It had become about the initiative. Scarlett felt her life slipping out of her hands.

            Tony had been at the right place at the wrong time and for some reason she was driven to help him. How was it that no one seemed to notice he was struggling behind that air of confidence? Scarlett seemed to think it was obvious but maybe it was because no one seemed to see her struggle either. She knew what struggle looked like because she saw it in the mirror every day.

            “Well, yeah that’s part of it but, no really, it’s because you’ve come up with something… developed technology I didn’t think was possible! Let me tell you, that’s impressive because I am responsible for ninety percent of the technology that no one thought was possible.” Tony chuckled.

            “Only you would somehow manage to turn a compliment into a way to toot your own horn.”

            “I never toot my own horn, it’s not my style.” Tony smirked and Scarlett stifled a laugh on the other end of the phone.

            “Stop it.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” As quickly as he had changed the subject he returned it to the original topic. “You know, if you accepted my job offer it wouldn’t be a problem if you flew out to Malibu for a week at a time. You could come out here, do some work and still manage to run your business from afar. It’s good worker relations and all that… Plus it’d be nothing but good press for you.” Tony insisted, though he wasn’t sure that was true. The newspaper that Pepper had thrown at him was already filled with rumors. Maybe if they gave the press a real story it would be less conjecture and more about the facts. Tony doubted it. Facts were often far less interesting than all the rumors but it was something they could at least hope for. Rumors seemed to follow Scarlett no matter what she did. He doubted they bothered her these days.

            “You’re right.” Scarlett sighed, pulling her blanket over her legs and curling up against the couch. She could go lay in her bed, and given the way her night had gone she probably should’ve been resting. She resisted for whatever reason. It felt lazy to rest.

            “Can you say that again? I don’t think I heard it right the first time.” Tony blinked in surprise, having not expected her to agree with him.

            “Don’t push your luck, Stark. Don’t you get enough praise?” Scarlett chuckled, forgetting about the mess on her counter and the hours she’d spent in a S.H.I.E.L.D. infirmary. “I have to come out to Malibu soon anyway but I have an important meeting in the morning that I can’t miss out on.”

            “Why is it you have to come out to Malibu? I mean besides to see me, of course.” Tony batted his eyelashes comically. He’d have to hook Scarlett up with a video capable phone. He didn’t much like talking to anyone this particular way. He would rather have Jarvis control his calls the way he usually did. It wasn’t often that he actually used his phone in a typical manner.

            “I must perform my due diligence before I really consider any deal you offer me. That means I have to come and look at what you’ve got going on in Stark Industries. Officially.”

            “Seriously? You’re going to feel me out here?” Tony cocked an eyebrow curiously. “That’s more like third date material, but I’ll take it I guess.”

            “I don’t jump into anything without knowing what I’m getting into. I have to make sure you’re not trying to screw me over, Stark.”

            “Well, I’m definitely not trying to screw you over, but if you change the wording there a little bit… then it’s definitely third date material.”

            “Go ahead, joke all you like.” Scarlett laughed. She hadn’t laughed that much in a very long time. She’d started to think that she had forgotten how to sincerely laugh about anything. Her life had been filled with cynicism and sarcasm on a monumental scale in the months past.

            “Oh, I plan to. You couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

            “That’s why I’ve decided that it’s much less stressful not to try. Plus, it’s mostly funny.” Scarlett sighed softly. She knew that Tony hadn’t called her to discuss business so late at night. Something else had been on his mind but for whatever reason he didn’t seem capable of actually discussing it with her. When she’d first heard his voice it had sounded strained and confused but now, as it had earlier, he sounded flirty and carefree. In a weird way, Scarlett was sure he was seeking some kind of comfort in her voice. She’d never been a comfort to anyone before, at least not that she could recall. Maybe there had been a time before her life had become so complicated that she had been but those days were a faint memory. It felt nice to help someone. With death seemingly following her everywhere a little life was a relief.

            “I’m still surprised you answered your phone so late.”

            “Or early in the morning depending on how you look at it. To be honest I didn’t realize the hour when I picked it up.” Scarlett clarified, glancing at the clock on her wall. “Time escapes me pretty often. It’s all relative. I’ve missed many a meeting simply because I’ve forgotten about what time it is. That’s why I had to hire a secretary or I’d never be where I’m supposed to be.”

            “I understand that more than you know.” Tony thought that he did at least, or he had at one point in time. There weren’t many meetings he attended these days after what had happened in Manhattan. But now he was hoping to get back into the swing of things. It didn’t seem like such a daunting task when he was in the right frame of mind. He missed working at his company, he missed telling other people what to do, and he very much missed going out and having a good time. With any luck in a few weeks his life would return to the way it was.

            Maybe. It hadn’t seemed so simple an hour ago. Somehow, for the second time that day, Scarlett had managed to calm him down. Only this time she’d had absolutely no idea that he’d required calming in the first place. If he told her that he’d fought with his girlfriend and began to panic beneath the overwhelming amount of stress that had piled up in the past months would she laugh at him? Would she judge him? From what he could tell, he really didn’t think she would.

            Perhaps he was putting her on a pedestal and building up who he thought she was. That was what he was sure Rhodey would tell him. Or maybe he could see exactly who she was behind the mask the press had made her wear.

            “So how do you plan on functioning five hours from now without any sleep? And if you don’t have any plans can I make a recommendation?” Tony laughed. He should’ve hung up the phone and insisted she go get some rest but he didn’t want to. His walls had been closing in on him only an hour ago and now the basement seemed inviting again.

            “I just figured I’d drink twelve cups of coffee in a very short period of time and substitute caffeine for the sleep I didn’t get.” Scarlett shrugged, glancing over at the remaining glass of wine. She should finish it but the more she relaxed on the couch the less motivated she felt to grab it. Still, she hated to let it go to waste.

            “I’m telling you that a Bloody Mary will be the best thing to wake you up.”

            “There’s nothing like vodka in the morning to start off your day.” She scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

            “Trust me.”

            “Big words coming from a man who broke into my office earlier today.”

            “I told you I’d pay for that. Does that not count for anything?” Tony artfully and very quickly changed the subject. “When you come down here you’ll have to let me know. I can set up a guest room for you if you like…”

            “Oh, no way, I am not staying with you. That sounds like the worst idea in history.”

            “Fine, fine, it was worth a shot but I do know the finest hotels in Malibu and can email you some suggestions or set you up with a place. I have connections…”

            “Yeah, that’s just what we need in the press. Tony Stark buys Scarlett Damien, notorious sex-bomb, a hotel suite near his home. Let me take care of accommodations if and when I end up out there, okay? I don’t care about the rumors but we don’t need to hand them a story either.” Scarlett laughed and she could practically hear Tony pouting on the other end of the line.

            “You are taking all the fun headlines away from me.”

            “You’re trying to get me into trouble and trust me I do that just fine without your help.” Scarlett closed her eyes. How long had they been on the phone? It didn’t matter. However long it was, it wasn’t going to end anytime soon. They continued talking into the night until the sun had risen. Tony would fall asleep holding his phone and lying on his couch. Scarlett only hung up after she was sure that he’d fallen asleep and that was only because she’d heard a quiet robotic voice with a soft British accent alerting her that he’d passed out.

            There wouldn’t be any rest for her. Maybe a catnap here or there, but nothing substantial. Scarlett had far too much on her mind.