22

Turk Barrett returns to his jalopy in an alley, after a long day of sneaking arms deals. He's made much money. And he owes a lot of debt. Sometimes, though, he does business with the right people.

His jalopy is in the alley behind Jeri Hogarth's law firm. He unlocks the driver door, and gets in.

He notices his rearview mirror. Once again, he's got a visitor.

"Jessica Jones," he mutters. "I never thought I'd see you like this."

"Yeah, spare me the bullshit, Turk. I got partners. They're all in trouble. I need a gun."

"Figured as much. But what's the target?"

"That's the curveball. It's a dragon...and from what I've heard, he's got a friend...who seems to have become more than a friend by now."

"Ooh... That's an unusual problem, Jones. Turk Barrett's clients don't get many dragons. And the price of the Judas bullet went up after that last one didn't kill Luke Cage. Sorry about you and him, by the way. I always hoped..."

"I don't care what it takes. I need the weapon to shoot it with."

"I don't know, Jones. I'll look, but...I can't promise anything."

"Just let me know if you find something. Oh, and I...prefer it if you didn't tell anyone you're trading with me. These people I'm up against think I'm dead...as do some of my partners. I need to surprise them."

"Understood. Now," he straightens out his hair, "can Turk Barrett's Uber division take you home?"

Without hesitation, Jones gets out of his car, and runs away. Barrett smiles, chuckles, and shakes his head.

"She's gone black," he remarks. "She shouldn't go back."

Jones meets Madani at a police station. Madani's brought along one of her new coworkers at the CIA. Her name is Sharon Carter. To her coworkers, she's Agent 13 (NOT David Ketchum in Get Smart, nor Bill Murray in the movie; far from both).

Madani asks Jones how the case is going. Jones smiles, and elaborates on how it's gone. She assures her that Free Davos is not the same person as Raft Davos. He is, but he isn't.

Madani and Carter both seem confused. Madani insists that the dichotomy had better become more black-and-white soon, or else she's going to start docking Jones's pay.

Jones elaborates more, and tells that that Free Davos is working for a dark sorcerer, who wants to rid the multiverse of sorcerers. To do that, the dark sorcerer has imported a dragon from an alternate reality-the same one that Free Davos is from.

Carter and Madani still don't seem to believe her. But they listen.

Jones confesses that she needs to either kill that dragon, or send it back to where it came from, or both. And, she's got partners who're in trouble. She needs to save them too. But she doesn't know how to do that, and she's afraid that if she approaches Wong or Clea about it, she'll lead Mordo's Illuminati right to them-and that, in turn, would put Dr. Palmer in danger...as well as one more person who Jones doesn't yet have the willpower to talk about.

Madani asks, if this Free Davos truly is from another reality, as Jones says, if sending the dragon back to it would send Free Davos there as well. It's not that the local prisons are crowded; it's just that Madani and Carter are going to have a hard time convincing their superiors that there are two men in prison who have the exact same sets of fingerprints.

Jones doesn't know...but she intends to send them both back at the same time, if possible. Sadly though, she doesn't know where the dragon is. But she knows where Free Davos is. He, Mordo, and Murakami are visiting every likely volcano on Earth-199999, looking for where Wizardkiller eloped with the Vorm to.

Madani asks if Murakami was that ninja leader who got crushed by Midland Circle. Jones confirms that he's the same; but apparently she, Cage, and Rand made the mistake of leaving his head on his shoulders before leaving him. It didn't seem like a priority at the time. Murdock had just asked the three of them to leave him to die under Midland Circle as it collapsed.

Jones trades looks between the two of them, and asks them to repeat how they know each other. Madani repeats they're both CI agents.

Carter elaborates, and confesses that Captain America's her boyfriend. He and her late aunt saw each other during WWII. But when he got fished out of the ice, her aunt was too old for him, and dying. Her old boss asked her to watch and protect him, which she did, until her old employer and some other people destroyed his own agency, and required her to transfer to the CIA.

Jones stares at Carter. Carter stammers, and remembers that "Captain America" prefers "Nomad" now. She looks at Jones, and implores her not to tell anyone else that Steve Rogers is Nomad. Legally, he and a bunch of other men, who work with him, are wanted by the UN for, she clears her throat, "unauthorized hero work."

Jones nods her head. She admits that she knows about the Sokovia Accords, but can't figure out why she, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, or Punisher haven't been punished by them yet-no play on words intended for the latter.

Madani asks Jones who else is working with Free Davos, Murakami, and Mordo.

Jones tells her about Carson, Sterns, and Owlsley. She advises them to keep an extra eye out for Owlsley, in that he's not just a heartbreaker; he rips hearts out of chests, throws them in barrels of booze, and sets the booze aflame.

Madani smirks, and remarks that she once knew a man like that. His name was Billy Russo...the one the news still calls Jigsaw.

Carter hears Sterns's name, and remembers that Black Widow apprehended him sometime after he turned Emil Blonsky into the Abomination. She's sure SHIELD would like to know that their prisons are missing an inmate.

Carter also remarks that she's familiar with stories of how Carson was once the head of defense at SHIELD. But then he retired and became a terrorist, and after SHIELD released all of its old secrets to the world wide web, they found out that Carson was a HYDRA agent...and still is, as Carson was still at large long after Ultron killed Wolfgang Strucker, who was HYDRA's last leader before its last strongholds fell to the Avengers. And she'd heard that Carson had stolen something from Pym Tech that he could've used to make an Ant-Man suit. She just wasn't sure that he'd get desperate enough to try without Darren Cross's or Hank Pym's help.

Jones tells them about Thompson, too. She's Kilgrave's illegitimate daughter from Canada. She tried to use her power-her father's inherited power-on Jones. Jones retaliated by breaking her arm. She left the Illuminati to seek medical attention. Jones hasn't seen her since.

Madani smiles, and hopes that she'll get a clue and highball back to Canada. It's already bad enough that New York had to put up with her father, and it's too much worse that Mordo has five villains working with him.

Jones also tells them about Batroc the Leaper. But he left the Illuminati in their pocket universe, and still wasn't back before Jones escaped.

She also tells them that Mary Walker's back-if they know who she is. She gave Rand, Wing, and Knight some trouble some months ago, although she did prove herself helpful a few times.

Madani asks Jones if she'll be needing help. Jones assures them that if she does, she probably won't go to them. But she's still committed to dealing with Mordo's Illuminati and the two dragons. They can't do much damage without Wizardkiller, but they're sure to get him back, and she implores Carter and Madani to be ready when and if they do.

They both wish Jones good luck, and implore her not to make this mess bigger than the CIA. Jones chuckles, and tells them that that'll be impossible to do-in that no one knows how big the CIA actually is.

Also, Jones isn't Lieberman. She can't just hack into the CIA database whenever she feels lucky...although personally, she wouldn't mind having the innate ability to...

It's nighttime in the Catskills. But it's never a quiet night, for the Kaaterskill Falls will never know how to call it an early night. Except when there's a drought, of course. But then, of course, it's surrounded by trees; it never is.

A scary black creature with huge fangs marches through the forest. He's got something big in his arms. All of the Catskills' nocturnal creatures clear a path for him. He is hungry; but his human host insists on business before pleasure.

They've come all the way from San Francisco. They may be new to trading with Turk Barrett, but at least the scary creature's host isn't new to road trips.

The scary creature, Venom, listens for the arrival of their client. He hears something strange. He sprouts out tendrils from his back, and swings through the trees until he gets within walking range of the noises' source. Once there, he returns to the ground, and shapeshifts back into his human host, Eddie Brock.

Venom leaves the package under some trees before letting Brock take over. Brock wanders towards the forest trail, whispering for their client.

It's Jones. She stands near a black SUV, waiting for a sign. She flexes her bare arms, and follows the whispered signals. There's a moon out tonight.

The two meet. Brock gapes at her. Jones reminds her of why she's here. Brock nods, acknowledges this, and leads Jones into the forest.

The moon peers down at all. Sadly, though, it won't be ratting on any arms dealers to the ATF tonight.

"Who is she," Venom asks, inside Brock's mind. "Her breast meat looks bodacious!"

Brock takes her to where it's hidden. He asks her what she needs it for. She doesn't hide anything, and tells him she needs it to slay a dragon. Brock arches his brows. He asks her if she'll be needing any help. Jones scoffs, and rejects his offer.

It's in a large case. Jones asks him from where he got it-besides Barrett. Brock admits that he doesn't know much about the transaction, but does know that Barrett himself got it from some weird red-headed chick named Hope Summers. Barrett seemed amazed; she just showed up to his place and left it in the backseat of his car. When Barrett asked her where she was from, she just said she was there to prevent an apocalypse. He chuckles, and admits that Barrett says she's from the future.

Jones scoffs. She admits that redheads are always trying to fool guys into thinking that they're weirder than they really are.

Brock warns Jones that the case is really heavy, and offers to help her carry it. She stuns him when she proves she can lift it over her head without straining.

Brock gapes, and asks her to remind him what she does for a living. Jones smiles, and says she's a PI. He still gapes. She adds that it's her day job.

"She is hiding something from you," Venom says in Brock's head. "And I don't mean her drumsticks!"

She thanks Brock for his service. She reminds him which way San Francisco is, and leaves him.

Alone at last, Brock shapeshifts back into Venom. He grins, and licks his fangs.

"I hope we meet her again," he says. "With meat as that, she could keep us fed for a decade!"

He takes to the trees and swings away. As Jones pointed out, they're a long way from San Francisco-or "Frisco," as she meant to subtly badmouth Brock.