Refuge remained a beacon even after closing. Scarlett had a strict policy that overtime had to be approved. When discussed, she insisted that work-life balance was too important to ignore. In truth, she was covering her own ass. Though she didn't necessarily disagree with the lie she concocted.

After hours Scarlett frequently held meetings with SHIELD on the upper floors of Refuge. The less people who noticed the better. The top floors were locked with the exception of Scarlett and SHIELD. Once inside the building, Scarlett waved her keycard at the security lock and approached the front desk. The security officer stood alert with a smile. Most people, employees included, took every chance available to try and impress her.

It was both nice and incredibly irritating. Sometimes Scarlett didn't need to be impressed. Sometimes it was nice for people to just go about their business so she could go about hers.

"I need you to wrap it up for the night." Scarlett had an argument with a security guard once about why they had to end their shift early. After that, she'd had a meeting with them to explain that was just part of the job. There were no further complaints after that. She paid them generously and treated them well so very few argued with her rules. Most of security staff only desired to keep her safe. But what Miss Damien says goes, no questions asked. That was the law at Refuge.

Without a word, the security officer went on his way. Scarlett walked past him and to the elevator that she then rode to the top floor where her office was. It was locked after hours so she scanned her key and stepped off of the elevator. She nearly leapt back inside as Jinx appeared right outside its doors.

"Jesus." Scarlett rested her hand over her chest and looked to the ceiling. She took a deep breath and once again reminded herself of her blood pressure. Jinx had a way of scaring the ever living hell out of her. Appearing out of thin air, being directly behind doors, and such.

Even though Jinx was her secretary and had become a close friend, they were hardly confidants. SHIELD had sent her. There was only so much Scarlett could say.

"Widow is waiting for you upstairs." Jinx spoke, a playful smile lingering on her lips. Even so, Scarlett could see that the reason for Widow's appearance was troubling. Jinx did a poor job of hiding her true feelings.

"We can have our meetings in my office. Even clandestine ones." Scarlett walked past Jinx and down the hall. Jinx walked alongside her and made to talk but Scarlett knew what she wanted to talk about and wasn't in the mood. "Don't bother."

"Well, that's lame."

"There are more important things going on than your silly card reading." Scarlett waved her off. "I'll be back after Natasha's done with me."

"Maybe we can grab a meal or something after." Jinx suggested. She wanted to gossip.

"I'm not very hungry." Scarlett opened the door that hid the stairwell to the roof.

"You need to eat…" Scarlett didn't hear the rest of Jinx's scolding before the door closed. The climb to the roof was a foreboding one. It wasn't that Scarlett didn't care for Black Widow, or as she preferred to call her, Natasha Romanoff. They were friends, as much as Scarlett could call anyone a friend at this stage in her life. They'd worked together in the past. While it felt like a faint memory now, it was at least a fond faint memory. Life was a lot less complicated back then.

On the roof, Scarlett saw no one but knew that Natasha was somewhere, lurking in the shadows.

"Why are you all dolled up?" A quiet, monotonous voice spoke from the shadows at the far end of the roof. The red-headed Natasha Romanoff wore head to toe black, looking every bit the militant spy she was. Though she was significantly shorter than Scarlett, Natasha was a force to be reckoned with. She had more than earned the name Black Widow.

"Why do you insist upon perching like a gargoyle on my roof?" Scarlett retaliated. The redhead approached with a stern look, her curls bouncing just shy of her shoulders. She stopped a few feet before Scarlett then her expression softened into a smile.

"Old habits."

"I had a big press thing this morning then a working lunch that became a working dinner." Scarlett acknowledged the overly formal dress for their meeting.

"How are you feeling?" Natasha wasn't getting to the point which was unlike her. People like them didn't do small talk.

"Why are you here?"

"Scott." Natasha was judging her reaction and with good reason.

Scarlett averted her eyes and clenched her jaw. The name put her nerves on edge. She slowly walked to the edge of the roof and away from her friend.

Scott Aaronson.

A man Scarlett thought she knew as well as the back of her hand. Someone she'd known intimately. They'd lived together for years while she traveled the world for work. Their departure had been less than amicable. She scowled.

If it hadn't been for what Scott had done to her then she wouldn't be in this position. She never would have come to Boston. Never would have become a public figure. Never would have founded Refuge. Never would have gotten involved with SHIELD.

Taking slow, controlled breaths, Scarlett focused on the city lights. They were beautiful in the distance.

"Don't call him that." Scarlett collected herself and turned her gaze from the twinkling lights of the Boston skyline. "There's nothing left of the man he was. I don't know what he is now but he's certainly not Scott anymore. He hasn't been Scott for a long time." Scarlett hadn't seen Scott since he'd attacked her and held her prisoner. She'd barely managed escape. Wounded and frightened, Scarlett wound up in the arms of SHIELD. Her life before that had been running from shadow to shadow. Now she couldn't seem to stay out of the light.

"Regardless of what we call him, I have news." Natasha approached cautiously. Scarlett avoided her eyes but could feel her friend's prying gaze. She didn't need anyone worrying about what was going on in her head.

"Stop scrutinizing me and tell me."

"There was an attack in India. Just outside of Calcutta."

"Was there?" Scarlett's eyes lit up. She was not unfamiliar with the area. In fact, Scarlett was rather fond of much of India though she didn't think the country cared much for her after her work there. "Unless you found his smoldering corpse, I don't know what the point of this is. You don't look celebratory so I'm guessing that's not the case."

"There was a bunker outside of the city. One you might remember." Natasha stood next to Scarlett. "The attack was carried out by sophisticated technology."

"Get to your point."

"We cleaned up the aftermath but there wasn't much left by the time we got there. We were able to recover some of the tech and study it. It was a very familiar design." Natasha scowled. "They're straight from your journals."

"You know as well as I do that the only weapons I've ever designed were on paper. Nothing came to life until Refuge. I always put off those ideas in favor of other things."

"Except for what Scott stole from you."

"Stop calling him that, please."

"Fine. Except for what he stole from you, Scarlett." Natasha had no patience for trivialities. Scarlett hadn't told her the whole story. Scarlett wouldn't tell anyone. The moment she'd shared anything with SHIELD it became classified. "He's sending you a message. He knew we'd find the remnants and that we'd report it back to you. He can't get to you directly so he went through us." Scarlett couldn't admire Boston anymore and instead watched the shadows Refuge cast.

The name was symbolic. SHIELD offered her refuge. This company was supposed to be her refuge.

Instead it turned her life upside down. This was not the refuge she'd imagined in its founding. There was no refuge. Not for her. Scarlett didn't even want refuge anymore. She wanted to do something. To do some good. Now she had to play a character while people like Natasha did the work she used to do. It was like purgatory. Not knowing who she was or what to do anymore. Lost between her old life and her new one.

"Were there casualties?" Scarlett exhaled. Her heart was racing.

"It was a bloodbath." Natasha stood in front of Scarlett, blocking her view. "But there was only one name that mattered."

Scarlett narrowed her eyes and her thoughts were drowned out. Her eyes burned with hot tears and her heart raced so hard that it deafened all other sounds. She twisted her face to avoid an emotional response but her thoughts were frantic. Natasha didn't have to tell her who it was. Scarlett already knew.

Her handler. A friendly man who worked out of a bunker just outside of Calcutta. She'd never known his name. On purpose. He'd confessed to her once that he could get her out if she wanted. She could spend her days in Calcutta doing good works and living a simple, honest life.

He'd been her eyes and ears in the field for a decade. A kind, gentle man who disagreed with many of the ways of the world. That was how they'd become acquainted. He knew she was a good, strong woman who was willing to do the dirty work to make change happen. He knew his way around seedier channels. They made the perfect team.

Her vision went in and out of focus.

When she'd gone dark, she'd done so without telling him. Had he known why he was being targeted? Maybe he'd spotted her in the news and realized something must have happened. She should have warned him, damnit.

Scott was sending her a message, Natasha was right.

Scott and the people he worked for were coming for her and they would take out anyone who stood in their way.

Had he suffered? Scarlett wanted to know. She had to know but she knew that Natasha wouldn't tell her. Natasha shouldn't have been involved with her case at all in the first place. They were too familiar. Emotions never mixed with this kind of work. Maybe she could hop on a flight to India before SHIELD realized. She could get in and out of the country under the radar.

She was shaking. Her ears were ringing and something was literally pushing and pulling her around like a ragdoll. Scarlett saw a blur of darkness and a swirl of color. The ringing in her ears went from a slight hum to a scream, a scream she swore she recognized. Dizziness made her unsteady. Her heart was beating too fast.

"Scarlett!" Natasha's voice broke through her thoughts with urgency. Almost too fast, Scarlett's vision focused on her friend's face though the ringing didn't fade. She stumbled and nearly lost her balance. "Scarlett, are you alright?"

Scarlett wanted to tell Natasha that she was fine. She wanted to see proof of what happened in India but she suddenly couldn't breathe. She kept swallowing to gasp for air, but instead, she struggled. She couldn't physically accomplish the task. It was as though something very large was caught in the back of her throat. It made her gag. Swiftly pulling from Natasha's tight grip, Scarlett hunched over and coughed. An impossible task.

Her lungs ached, her chest was sore from the effort.

Time crawled and Natasha stared with worry, talking but Scarlett couldn't hear her above the ringing. Leaning over, hands on her knees, Scarlett wretched. Her throat was too tight. Finally, agonizingly slowly, she managed to breathe though it was shaky and labored. It felt like her throat was closing for a minute there. Maybe it had been. A reaction to something she didn't want to think about.

She knew what she had to do but she wasn't sure she could accomplish it. She stood, fixed her hair, cleared her throat, and caught Natasha's gaze. The Black Widow's frown was so intense it was almost funny.

Almost.

"I'm fine." Scarlett's voice was scratchy but confident. Natasha turned her gaze away and to the left. Scarlett followed it to where she found Jinx standing by the door, leaning against the wall. She shook her head no to contradict Scarlett's declaration. "Honestly. I'm fine." Scarlett took a deep wheezy breath. Her heart was still racing. The tinnitus in her left ear was annoying, but other than that, she was recovering. Jinx was radiating with concern.

How long had the fit lasted this time? And how long had Jinx been there? Scarlett couldn't remember.

"Bullshit." Natasha scoffed, hands on her hips sternly. "When do you see Michelangela again?" Scarlett didn't get to answer. Jinx did for her.

"She'll see Percy tomorrow. Fitz Simmons are supposed to stop by too."

"Who cares?" Scarlett was frustrated. "Who gives a shit? What I need to do is find him and end this. It's gone too far. This plan isn't working." She walked back to the edge of the roof, trying to clear her throat. "I know what you're going to say. SHIELD is taking care of it. But India is a waste of time now. He's long gone. He was long gone before SHIELD knew what was happening there. My guess is that the Russian is behind it." Before their farewells Scott had crawled into bed with a nasty corporation. Pulling the strings of that corporation were three people. Scarlett had only met them once. That was one time too many.

"It's not a lead, Scarlett. There's nothing to follow. It's a warning and you should heed it." Natasha approached Jinx and Scarlett could feel the line in the sand drawn between them. A boundary between duty and friendship. SHIELD first. Scarlett second.

"What do you propose I do, then?" Scarlett didn't know how to be. Neither Natasha nor Jinx had the answer. They just watched her sorrowfully. "Stand idly by while people I care about are murdered by those monsters? That's what's bullshit." Scarlett clenched her fists but stifled another cough. Her lungs remind her that she simply could not behave like this. She had to be more mindful.

"I'm sorry, Scarlett. This was a mistake. You've been compromised. You shouldn't be doing this. At all. I shouldn't have told you to. I shouldn't have agreed with Nick Fury." Natasha had no problem admitting when she was wrong but it was very rare when she was.

"You're damn right I'm compromised, Tasha." Scarlett wanted to punch something but she couldn't. Her heart wouldn't let her. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"It's more complicated than the black and white of it. You know that." Natasha was pleading with her. "You're no help to anyone in a morgue."

"I'm no help to anyone here either, so what's the difference?" Before Jinx or Natasha could object, Scarlett continued. She didn't want pity or justification of the good work she now did. "I made a deal with SHIELD to use my knowledge to stop my ex and those assholes he's working for. Let me. I can go after them. After him. I should be out there hunting them and collecting their heads, not going to press conferences and board meetings." Scarlett rubbed her temples in frustration. Her head was splitting. She didn't remember the headache coming on. Usually the headache came first, like a warning. "I can stop them. I can stop MedCo. Or whatever alias they have now. I stopped counting."

"I know you can." Natasha said, much to Scarlett's surprise. Jinx was skeptical behind her. "I've seen you work. I've worked with you and against you. I know that if you could, you would be hunting them." Scarlett waited for the lecture that would usually follow. "If you want, I can talk to Fury and see what I can do."

"...really?" The grip on Scarlett's chest lessened but she doubted Nick Fury would see their logic. Pursuing MedCo felt like the right thing to do but how the hell would she go about it? She was a celebrity now. People recognized her face. She had hoped that SHIELD would have taken care of this already. That she could pay back the debt she owed. She'd practically sold her life to SHIELD.

But it hadn't happened that way. Scott had disappeared. MedCo went dark. And now they were on the offensive and Scarlett was caught with her pants down. Someone she loved was dead because of it.

Her past was catching up with her at a breakneck pace. She could practically feel the maws of the beast nipping at her heels. Scarlett wanted to spend every minute she had left fighting to take back her life. What else did she have besides that? Not much.

"Yes. I mean it. I don't know if I can convince him but if I promise that we work together then he might agree. If we can nip this in the bud before it gets worse… before more life is lost then I'm happy to help."

"When you say help, you don't mean babysit, right?" Scarlett frowned. Ever since this all began, since she'd formed Refuge, someone was over shoulder monitoring her. It'd been flattering at first considering the horrifying and catastrophic events that led to this point, but now it was just annoying. Scarlett was still a strong and capable woman even if SHIELD didn't agree.

"Help. I promise." Natasha reassured her. Scarlett breathed a little easier and she felt suddenly completely exhausted. She probably looked a fright too. "We'll have to check in with SHIELD. Figure all that out. But it can't be much worse than this, right? We have to shift directions."

"Yes. You're right." Scarlett couldn't shake the cough now that it'd begun. Her lungs still ached. One minute she'd been fine and the next she was struggling to breathe.

"If anyone cares… I have a really bad feeling about this." Jinx warned.

"You have a bad feeling about everything. All the time." Scarlett's frustration was gone.

"I was right about this morning, wasn't I? I've been right about everything so far. My feelings never lie. I'm surprised you don't trust that by now." Jinx shivered. She was underdressed for the chilly November night air.

"This morning? What happened this morning?"

"You were not right about this morning actually." Scarlett ignored the question. "You said I would meet a dark-haired stranger. I have meetings with strangers everyday. It's vague bullshit."

"No. I said you would have a meeting with a dark-haired stranger that would lead to romance." Jinx grinned. Natasha shook her head but smiled. It was far easier to joke about something so harmless after the heaviness of everything else.

"Romance? Spare me. It's not all the garbage on the internet that people keep printing about you, right?" Natasha was on Scarlett's side about this which she was grateful for. "I love a good story as much as the next person but you know better."

"I'm just saying, what are the odds that I predict you'll meet a dark-haired stranger that will lead to romance and then one literally flies into your office? You do the math. That was never my thing."

"You spend all day on the computer and you still won't do the math?" Scarlett looked to Natasha for help but Natasha instead looked curiously at her. So much for being on her side.

"I noticed the door was broken. Hadn't gotten around to asking what happened yet."

"Iron Man flew through the window." Jinx grinned.

"Stark?" Natasha laughed, something quite rare. "Tony Stark?"

"Oh, enough of that." Scarlett pointed at them both but she was grateful for the distraction. "Tony Stark is not a romantic interest. He's not even a potential romantic interest. He's a pain in my side who destroyed my office. He came with a business offer. That and he's not single. Not that it matters. I have no interest in dating right now. According to the papers I'm dating Nathan. Though, that's not true either, to set the record straight." Natasha and Jinx stared at each other for a long moment.

"Is that why she's all dolled up? For Stark?"

Scarlett deflated.

"Sort of. She really did have a press conference this morning. But they went to the cigar club for a business lunch." Jinx made air quotes.

"You do know what they say about Stark, right?" Natasha turned her attention back to her friend. Scarlett walked past them both and to the door.

"Oh, so you're finally talking to me and not just about me?" Both women laughed in response. "Enough gossip, ladies. The rest of the world does it enough. I don't need it from you too."

"You're no fun."

"I'm plenty of fun. You should see me at parties." Scarlett stepped inside but smiled at the fond memory of her lunch. She was well aware of Tony's reputation but it couldn't be less like that.

"Where are we going?" Natasha and Jinx followed.

"Inside. One, because it's cold. And two, because you are both silly. Then we're going to SHIELD so that you can try and convince Nick Fury to let me off my leash." Scarlett insisted. It was worth fighting for. She would try. "Even if he can't talk to you until tomorrow, at least make your intentions known."

"Fair enough."

"Come on, ladies." Scarlett moved slowly. She was fatigued. The others walked ahead of her and she made sure to keep up. But the truth was, she simply didn't have much energy left. "It's time to put me in the field. To get permission to stop being the good girl just to fit the image SHIELD has painted of me." Jinx snorted.

"I don't think anyone would describe you as a good girl. Especially not the internet."

"I don't think SHIELD anticipated what the internet would do with someone like me. I'm sure they were going for America's Sweetheart but that didn't work out. I somehow became a harlequin romance novel." Scarlett rolled her eyes. "I don't know how it happened. People just assume I'm up to no good."

"The good news is that it's worked toward the SHIELD initiative. Otherwise they would have taken steps to change it. But you're right. Let's go see what we can do." Natasha insisted.

"Good." Scarlett was relieved as they walked to the elevator.

"And get you something to eat." Jinx added.

"Oh, and we're not discussing Stark."

"Then what's the point?" Jinx whined.