It'd been about a week and not much had happened. They stayed at the safe house in upstate New York–which was apparently where it was. Alex's arm healed completely by the second day, a fact that Bruce was both happy about and fascinated by. He tried to ask her more questions about her abilities, but she kept to herself as much as possible.

If Alex was honest, even she didn't have all the answers. She hadn't had much time to learn. All she really knew was that when she touched someone, she could almost read their mind. But it wasn't actually telepathy. It was more like… well, more like memory. The closer to the surface, the easier the memory was to see (not that she tried), but it was still kind of random. The whole taking injuries part was completely involuntary. Bruce had a theory that she might just be able to copy abilities too, but none of them were too keen on testing it. Mostly because Bruce was pretty insistent that she didn't want anything to do with 'the other guy.' Whoever that was.

Either way, she was happy to not have to talk to anybody. Clint came and found her in whatever nook she'd tucked herself into at least once a day. He left breakfast and dinner in her room, but mostly she stayed away from them both. All of this was just so new and weird. She wasn't used to being able to go where she wanted in the compound.

No, she reminded herself. Not compound. Safe house.

Alex sighed, glancing down the hallway at the sound of Clint's footsteps. Each of the two men had their own very distinctive sounds. Clint was quiet. He stepped fully. Bruce dragged his feet everywhere, like he was just too tired from running whatever new test in the lab.

"Mornin," came Clint's voice from her right side.

She glanced out the window at a hot afternoon sun. "Morning."

"Yeah, well." He dragged a hand over his face and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Alex could see the dark circles under his eyes and the red tint around watery blue irises. She looked away and wiggled further into the soft armchair she'd tucked herself into about an hour ago. It was jean blue, but not jean fabric. Her fingers picked at the almost crocheted stitch.

Her mouth opened, then closed again. Finally, before she could chicken out again, she asked, "Any news on Rayner?"

Clint was leaning against the counter when she peeked back up, one hand still holding an already half empty coffee.

"Not yet." He shrugged.

She blew out a sigh and nodded. Why was that somehow a relief? And also terrifying. They obviously still had him in custody. Maria would've called them if not, right? Eh. It didn't matter. S.H.I.E.L.D. had cut the power to the GPS in the collars before they even hit the compound–no, safe house–and no one at Safeguard knew where they were. Not unless they'd managed to infiltrate a serious government organization. Which was possible. According to Clint, they used to be full of HYDRA spies… which was something like Nazis. It was all so confusing and weird. None of this made any sense.

Okay, so the multiverse angle made a little sense. She still had no idea how she'd somehow hop skipped to another universe, but Bruce was working on it.

"You get any sleep?" Clint asked.

"Did you?" she countered.

He nodded, pursing his lips with a 'touché' kind of look on his face. "Some."

She shrugged.

"It's all just weird," she said after a moment of silence.

Clint lowered the mug from his lips and swallowed. "How so?"

"I–don't know where to start." How about watching Magnum kill a version of herself or this building or the Avengers. None of that fit with her universe. They didn't have superheroes. Just assholes like Rayner.

His head tilted in thought. "You got Starbucks?"

"What?"

"Starbucks. You know, coffee?"

"Of course, we have Starbucks."

"Avengers?"

She shook her head.

"See, now that is weird."

She huffed. "Well, you guys don't have enhanced. Not really. I mean, Bruce kind of is, but…"

"What are enhanced?"

"People with powers. Usually born with them. It's some kind of gene."

The E-Strand. That's what the news called it when she was kid, back when enhanced were first starting to surface and everyone acted like it was the end of the world. Maybe it was?

"So people with powers."

"Yeah, I guess. Some kids are just born different. Usually it shows up at puberty."

"Oh," Clint said, "you mean mutants."

Alex raised her eyebrows. That seemed like a way less polite name for it.

"Sooooo, you're enhanced?"

Her tongue dragged over the bottom of her canine tooth. Her voice got quiet. "Kind of."

"Well, that's alright." He said it like it was no big deal.

But it was. No way did people here accept the enhanced. Hell, they even called them mutants. That alone told her everything she needed to know.

"Hi, uh…" Bruce's awkward voice seemed to come from the wall itself. "I think I found something."

Clint tapped a button on the intercom near the door. "We're on our way."

He nodded at Alex and she uncurled herself from the chair.