"We apologize for the misunderstanding, miss. But you know how it is. We have to cover all of our bases."
The officer held out her knife sheath and her cell phone. They had been the only items on her person when they had forced them to the ground and arrested them. Daisy had been livid, threatening an assortment of dismemberment tactics. Sousa, being the good, law abiding citizen he was, had tried to explain to her that they were only trying to do their job. They had no idea who they were or what had happened in the club. But that didn't stop Miranda from giving the officer a withering glare as she took the items from his hands and turned to leave.
Miranda switched on her cellphone. Several alerts crowded the screen. Missed calls from Eiko and a single text message that had come in nearly two hours ago.
The Convergence. Now.
Miranda blew out a breath, unease settling in her stomach as she pushed open the front doors of the police department. Daylight was just beginning to dilute the dark of the night sky with streaks of pinks and yellow. Daisy and Sousa stood at the bottom of the stairs talking with a tall African American man. He was broad and long limbed, and Miranda would recognize him anywhere.
"Eavers." Director McKenzie called to her. "I'll admit. I was a bit surprised to get a call from Daisy. I knew she had been called in to consult but I didn't realize she was in town already."
He opened his arm to her and pulled her into a half hearted hug. "But what surprised me more was when she told me that you were a part of the merry miscreants she had coerced into wreaking havoc."
"I'm really not sure why." Daisy smiled, crossing her arms. "We are nothing but trouble when we are together."
"Almost more trouble that you are worth," Mac said, nodding toward an unmarked SUV across the street. "Take that car back to the Avengers compound. We have some things we need to discuss after we have dealt with the PD and misled the press."
Daisy nodded. "What about Barnes and Wilson?"
Miranda glanced up to see Bucky and Sam descending the stairs. Bucky's eyes were focused on her, dark with intent. She took a steadying breath.
"I actually have a quick errand I need to run." Miranda said, looking up at Mac.
"At 4 in the morning?"
"Personal errand?" She offered.
Mac sighed. "Make it quick, and get back to headquarters directly after."
"Of course." Miranda nodded, stepping back and away from them before turning on her heel.
She didn't make it far before someone caught her arm. Bucky. He jerked her back and she twisted in his grip, breaking his hold.
"You owe me an explanation."
"I owe you nothing," Miranda spat, backing away from him.
"You are involved in this somehow. Aren't you.?" He asked, following her. One step, then two.
"How can you say that?" She asked, forcing her tone into breathy disbelief.
"It's the way you react to all of this. None of it surprises you. It has surprised the hell out of the rest of us."
Her mind shifted into overdrive, trying to see a way out of this. She couldn't tell him the truth. Even if she did, he would never believe her. Or he would tell the others. They would try to involve themselves in this. And all they would do was make everything worse. And yet, a little voice in the back of her head whispered, you know that's not why you won't tell him. It's because if he really knew the truth, if he really knew what you were, what that meant, he would despise you.
So she did the one thing she knew better than breathing. She lied. "I've faced these things before... It's the reason I joined SHIELD. It allowed me resources I would have never had as a civilian. They killed someone very dear to me, and after encountering them again in New Mexico...It festered into a bit of an...obsession."
"But why keep that from us? We are hitting nothing but dead ends here. Every little bit of information helps."
"I spent years feeling like I was insane. Studying witchcraft and black magic. How do you think the police handled it when I told them that demon's killed my boyfriend? Huh? They laughed in my face."
He stepped closer to her, and she forced herself to stay where she was. It was hard to tell if her body was trying to tell her to step away from him or move closer. His eyes searched her, digging for any sign of deception. She would not give it to him. "You are talking to a man who was born over one hundred years ago. You saw what Daisy can do. We live in a world where anything is possible."
"Old habits die hard?" She offered weakly.
"You can trust us."
She stepped back, allowing herself a moment to regroup. "I don't really know much. You said it yourself. Trying to spiral down that rabbit hole leads to nothing but dead ends."
"But if you did know something, something important to this investigation. You would tell us?"
His tone was so earnest, his expression so soft and honest that she could feel herself wanting to give in to him. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Eiko. She squared herself, burying any weakness down deep.
"Of course."
Then she turned from him, the morning light warming her face, and walked away.
By the time she stepped into the cavern below the mausoleum, she was wound tight as a bowstring. Her sister's words played over and over in her mind.
Daddy says hello.
"Finally. Why aren't you answering your phone? I have been calling for hours." Eiko demanded
"You look like hell, boss." Astlyr joked.
Miranda didn't even have it in her to respond with her typical snark. "Did you close it?"
"Yes." Domini said, hand in her hip, tone sharp. "It is our job after all."
Slowly, Miranda twisted on her heel, the sound of the gravel on the soles of her shoes scraping stone lots in the quiet room. Domini had never liked her. Never appreciated the opportunity that Miranda has given her. Instead, she had always pushed back, questioning her authority. She approached the other girl slowly, not stopping until she stood over her.
"No. Your job is to watch the lines. Your jobs are to catch these anomalies before anything comes of them. Those creatures should not have gotten as far as they did." Domini's swagger fractured, and Miranda pressed down on the break. "People died tonight, Dom. Because you let those things get that far. You're responsible that."
"Me? Were you not out partying like some frat brat with your little superhero friends? How hypocritical-"
"I'm not denying fault. Is this not our purpose? To stop this death at his hand? We failed. And we cannot fail again. Don't forget where I pulled you from. I can just as easily send you back."
She watched the color drain from Domini's face. The comment had been harsh, and bared a weight that would haunt the girl for days. But she was tired of this. Of her. So tired…
"Mor…" Eiko's voice was quiet at her shoulder. "There's something else."
Miranda sighed, pressing her fingers to her pounding temples. "And here I thought this night could not get any worse."
They led her through the cavern of the Convergence and into a smaller room that branched off it. Valanna reached out and touched the empty bowl of a sconce on the wall, whispering something the others could not hear. A small blue flame flickered to life, bathing the room in light.
A woman sat huddled in the center of the room surrounded by a hastily drawn chalk circle. Messy runes had been scratched into the stone floor. When she saw them approach the woman stood. A horrid red enveloped her pupils, and energy, swirling like smoke around her fingers, burst around her and ricocheted off the warded barrier.
"Who is she?" Miranda asked, moving closer.
"We don't know. We found her at the tear in the divide."
"She's a witch," Miranda noted wryly as the woman flung energy blast after energy blast at the barrier. It bowed and flexed around her, but it did not break.
"She killed two Karryer demons when they tried to come through."
Miranda glanced back at Eiko, brows raised in surprise. "So she's an ally?"
"We don't know. She wasn't overly friendly when we arrived."
Miranda huffed a laugh. "Can she hear us?"
Eiko glanced back over her shoulder. "Valanna?"
At her name the girl moved forward, scrubbing away one of the runes that encircled the woman.
"Can you hear me?" Miranda asked, her voice louder to ensure it's clarity.
The woman didn't speak. She simply existed amid the red mist emanating from her eyes and hands.
"Do you have a name?"
"Let me out of here before I tear this place down myself." She snarled. Her voice held the touch of an accent that Miranda couldn't place.
"Wouldn't you have done that already then, if you could?" Miranda asked, slowly circling her. "Is there not someone who will be looking for you?""
"Everything I have ever loved has been taken from me."
"If you are looking for sympathy," Miranda tapped a finger on her crossed arms, "You will find better luck elsewhere. There are no happy childhoods here."
The woman tilted her head, auburn hair tumbling down one shoulder. "What were those things?"
"Demons. Sent by my father to kidnap me."
"Mortekaia," Eiko warned, taking a step toward her.
Miranda settled her with a low gesture. "She knew what they were. Or she wouldn't have been at the tear. But what I'm curious about is the 'why?' Why were you there?"
She looked down at her hands. A swirl of red encircled the ring finger on her right hand. "I have been having dreams. Terrible dreams."
The room was quiet around them. Waiting for her to offer more.
"When I looked into those...those demons, I saw nothing but death. So much death. And when I look at you now, I see the same."
Miranda's smile was wicked. "And what? You were going to wage this war alone? A lonely woman's crusade for death?"
"I was searching for a purpose." Her words revealed a weariness that had settled bone deep. "Without that I have nothing."
Miranda and Eiko exchanged a glance. "Now that is something that we do respect around here. So maybe, we won't kill you."
It was an empty threat, but this woman didn't need to know that.
"I can help you."
Miranda's laugh was without any humor. "No you can't."
"I'm more powerful than-than you think."
"Don't you mean more powerful than me?" Miranda tapped a finger on her breast bone. "Because that's what you really wanted to say. Right?"
Oh, if she could have welded the look she gave Miranda like a weapon, it would have been a dagger to the heart.
"How long, exactly, have you had these abilities, witch? A few years? A decade maybe?"
Still she remained silent.
"I have been a part of this universe for eons. Your existence is a blink in comparison to mine. I assure you, child. You are not more powerful than me. And if you have even an ounce of self preservation, you will not meddle in my family affairs."
Miranda stepped away from her and turned toward the door.
"You are making a mistake." The woman called after her as she strode from the room.
Miranda lifted a hand both simultaneously silencing the woman and smothering the flame in a single gesture.
"What do you want me to do with her?" Eiko asked, when they had stepped out from the dark.
"Keep her here. As much as I hate to admit, she is powerful. We don't need her fucking around with something she doesn't understand."
Eiko sighed, glancing back over Miranda's shoulder. "Maybe she really will try to help us."
"Maybe," Miranda said, "But don't let her draw you in with empty promises."