Mickey Briggs had lived in Harlem for the better part of his young life. His father and mother had worked night and day, trying to save up enough money to buy a house or even a nicer apartment. Unfortunately more important things had come up such as having his appendix removed when he had been 8, getting his younger sister braces at 12, and getting his grandmother through cancer when he'd been 16. Now he was 19 and living in a rundown apartment across the street from the one he'd grown up in.

Oh, his parents had moved to Queens when he'd been 18. Mickey had come into a large amount of money when he had turned 17. His parents had asked him where he'd gotten the money. He had just smiled at them both and shook his head. "I sell things," was all he would say.

He knew that his parents were convinced that he was a drug dealer. One of those scum that sold crack to little boys and girls on their way home from school. Mickey wished that he could tell them the truth, maybe then they'd look happier when he wired money into their bank account.

The truth was, Mickey didn't sell drugs. He sold information. Mickey Briggs was one of the best informants the government had. He knew where there were methamphetamine labs near churches, or when large gang wars would be taking place and when. He also knew when a bank robbery was going to take place, and he usually knew who was pulling the heist. Mickey had always been clever in that area since he'd been a little kid. In the larger government bureaus, it was rumored that Mickey could squeeze information out of a rock.

Of course, sometimes Mickey missed something, and a bank robbery was pulled off or some poor unsuspecting citizen was shot in the crossfire. This was why the police and the government kept more than one Mickey Briggs in their files. However, it was Mickey Briggs that G.W. Bridge was waiting for on a cool September night in New York.

G.W. Bridge, one of SHIELD's finest operatives was sitting in an Olive Garden in Times Square waiting for Mickey and had been for the past 10 minutes. G.W had only arrived in New York City the night before. He and Domino had been in Canada tracking down CopyCat. When that road had come to a dead end, Bridge had decided to call up Mickey in the hopes that the informant might know something.

Bridge was wearing street clothes and so was Mickey. With a smile the waitress showed Mickey to Bridges table and then with another smile, left the two alone, promising to bring the some bread.

"What kind of info do you need, Bridge?" Mickey was not a person to beat around the bush. He was in public with a government official, and as far as he was concerned, the faster this meeting went, the sooner he could get back into the shadows.

GW was a little taken aback at the direct approach from Mickey, but decided against arguing. "I need information that only you can supply. There was a bank robbery at-"

"-Gotham Bank," Mickey finished for him. "I heard about it. It wasn't a planned robbery otherwise I would have told you guys about it." He stood up and threw his menu on the table. "If that's the only reason you wanted to talk to me, you've wasted my time."

"Wait," Bridge said softly. "I also need to know about the UN headquarters bombing attempt. We think it may have been the same group that pulled off the bank robbery. Do you know anything?"

Mickey sat back down and gave Bridge a confused look. "I already told SHIELD everything I know. What more information could you need?"

It was Bridge's turn to look confused. "Someone from SHIELD contacted you? On the phone?"

Mickey laughed at Bridge's confused face. "You SHIELD guys don't talk to each other, do you?" He leaned across the table and began to whisper quietly. "It was the big man himself that contacted me. In person and everything. In a restaurant a lot like this one too. I can't believe you don't know."

"Know what?"

"That Nick Fury is on the SHIELD helicarrier here in New York City."

Max tried to slide into the floor to no avail. Nick Fury had seen him and was heading his direction with a look of purpose on his face.

Max Chebul had been G.W.'s personal secretary up until a day ago when he had been re-assigned, while Bridge was on vacation. Much to Max's chagrin, he'd been reassigned to beNick Fury's personal secretary. Although Max didn't know why he'd been reassigned, when Fury had a perfectly good female secretary named Marjorie.

"MAX!" Fury spit out as he sat down across the table from him. The cafeteria had been busy and noisy just a second ago, but everyone seemed to quiet down once the Director walked in. The loudest noise in the room was the motor sound resonating from the helicarrier's engines. Max hated that sound.

"Yes sir," he answered slowly as he looked at his watch. "I thought I had another fifteen minutes of my lunch hour. I'm sorry, I'll go back to your office." He began to stand up, but Fury shook his head and motioned for him to remain seated.

"You still have awhile for your lunch hour. I simply wanted to have a little chat with you. If it's all right."

"Sir?!" Max's voice cracked in surprise. Director Nick Fury didn't 'chat' with anyone. Max could feel an invisible cage closing around him and wondered at this new direction the director was taking.

Max wasn't stupid. He knew that Fury was looking for information on G.W. Bridge. So far the questions had been easily avoidable, as he hoped they would be this time. Besides, it's not as if Bridge had told him anything, it was quite the opposite actually.

"Tell me about yourself Max." This question surprised Max and he stared dumbly at the general until Fury was forced to repeat the question. "Your interests, hobbies, passions in life? Since you're my new secretary, I thought we should get to know each other."

Without realizing it, Fury had given Max an easy way to change the subject. "About my new position as secretary, sir, I don't quite understand. Whatever happened to Marjorie?"

It was after the question came out, and Fury's eyebrows came together in a crease on his forehead, that Max realized what he'd done wrong. He'd broken the unspoken cardinal rule number one. You don't ask what had happened to a missing coworker - ever.

"I-I-I'm sorry sir," Max stammered out. "I realize that it's none of my business. Forget I asked."

"I will, Max." Fury stood up then, still glaring at his secretary. "I believe you've had enough of a lunch hour. There's a pile of paper on your desk for you to sort and file. I suggest you get to it." Without a further glance, Fury spun on his heel and marched out of the cafeteria. Max gave a sigh of relief and began to gather up his garbage.

At least he'd gotten out of answering any questions about his past. He'd die before he revealed to anyone that his first and only love was computers. He could hack into any system, governmental or otherwise. He'd even managed to partially break into the Pentagon computer but the security measures had been clicked on before he could figure out the disabling code for them.

It's not as if Max were a risk-taker. He hated anything that had to do with getting caught. He hated adventure or excitement. But he enjoyed a good puzzle. The one fear Max possessed was that someone from SHIELD would find out what a whiz he was with computers. He had no wish to be put on assignment in some war zone, but since he'd signed a twelve year work contract he would have to do whatever they assigned him to do.

Thinking back on that contract, Max kicked himself. It had been so stupid to sign it. There were twenty other employee's who had also signed it. Luckily after two months of requiring all new employees to sign it, the government had decided it was too constricting for workers, so no one else had had to fill out the form. If only Max had waited a few weeks before applying for the job in the mailroom, maybe he'd be able to quit and get off this hellicarrier he was stuck on. Oh well, as long as it didn't go into battle mode, he was fine.

He hoped.

It was midnight at the harbor of New York City. The Statue of Liberty glowed under the moonlight, her position one of welcome.

G.W. Bridge shivered and took another sip of his coffee as he made his way to the meeting point. Domino was already there, staring out across the harbor. She smiled at him as he handed her the espresso he had bought for her.

"This'll keep you warm," he whispered.

"Thanks," she whispered back. "Did you get it?"

He nodded and handed her a slip of paper. "I still have some contacts, they were able to find out his last position and get a phone number." He paused as if deciding rather to continue. "Do you want me to stay, or can you handle this on your own?"

She gave him a small smile and turned to walk towards the phone booth. "I'm a big girl Bridge, I think I can handle it. Besides," she whispered to herself, "It's only Cable."

With a trembling hand, Domino typed in the number on the slip of paper. It was only Cable, she kept repeating to herself. She wondered how he'd been, what he was doing, if he even thought about her anymore.

"Whoa, girl," she whispered to herself. "Pull yourself together. It's only Nathan."

She prayed that he would answer the phone. She needed him to contact those informants, or contacts that he had and get some information.

The phone kept ringing but there was no way she would hang up. Cable had to be there! He had to be!

Bridge watched Domino's motions from outside the booth. She kept pacing and looking upset. He turned away from her and stared out at the bay, just as the SHIELD helicarrier started to move across the water towards another section of New York. As if the fact that SHIELD was watching, all criminals would stop committing crimes.

He turned away from the water and began to watch other midnight walkers. He saw a few couples, and a few brave souls that were out walking on their own. One woman caught his eye and he did a double take. Her hair was cut short and close to her head in a familiar haircut, and he looked into the phone booth to make sure Domino was still there. Sure enough she was still pacing in the enclosed space.

Bridge turned to look at the woman again. She had stopped walking and was staring out across the water at the helicarrier. Alarms were going off inside his head, but they didn't register until he saw her pull out a small black box that she pointed in the direction of the carrier.

"Stop!" He yelled, but a huge explosion mushrooming over the water drowned the shout out.

Domino threw down the phone and ran out of the booth toward G.W. who was already running towards the other woman. If it weren't for the flames out across the water, he never would have seen the tattoo she had over one of her eyes. Nor would he have seen the milky white skin. She was the look-alike!

He spared a glance over his shoulder at Domino and sure enough, she was directly behind him. It was while he was turning his head to look back in the direction he was running, that he caught site of the hellicarrier. He stopped dead in his tracks and just stared. Domino didn't even pause in her step as she ran past him, dead set on catching her look-alike.

Bridge continued to stare at the SHIELD carrier. It was glowing a bright orange as several sections caught fire. The whole ship took a plunge and seemed to be barely staying in the air. He wondered how long it could stay in the precarious position.

G.W.'s momentary awe was the only opening Agent Marjorie Huntsley needed. With a swift kick to the knee, Bridge fell forward in momentary shock. He rolled with the fall and was able to get back on his feet before another punch could stop him.

He turned to face his attacker and stopped in surprise. "Marjorie?"

She grinned at his confusion. "It's Special Agent Huntsley, sir. Try to remember in the future."

Bridge didn't even need an opening. Just knowing that a SHIELD agent was trying to take him down caused the vein in his forehead to protrude as he was overcome with rage. With a swift kick and a punch, he had quickly defeated the shocked Agent Huntlsey.

He pinned her on the ground and growled out a warning. "You tell Fury to back off! I'll get this case solved, and I'll do it without anyone's help."

"Don't let your feelings get in the way, Commander. I'd hate to have to report to Fury what I saw."

Bridge stared at her in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

She laughed up at him. "I was snooping around your hotel room while you were both asleep. I barely managed to jump behind the couch when Domino came out and stopped you with a nice kick. Then you kissed her." She was now smiling smugly. "Tell me Commander, is that the newest way to apprehend a suspect?"

He pulled her to her feet and shoved her away from him. "Go back to Fury," he whispered hoarsely. I'll get his suspect apprehended."

"See that you do Commander, otherwise I have the authority and the willpower to do your job for you. I've been ordered to bring in Domino and I won't stop until I do. Nor will I pause if anyone gets in the way."

She paused long enough to stare out across the water at the now stable helicarrier. There were minor fires throughout it, but the ship seemed to be stabilized. "Consider this a warning, Commander: I will capture Domino. But right now It looks like SHIELD has a bigger problem." With a mock salute she turned and ran back into the shadows.

Bridge turned and glared at the hellicarrier. Then his thought returned to the woman who had pushed the button. "Domino!" He whispered aloud, and began running in the direction both Dominos had run.

Max wiped the sweat from his forehead as he pushed himself away from the computer terminal. In less time than it would have taken the SHIELD emergency crews, Max had been able to put the carrier back on course and electronically extinguish all the fires.

Still smiling, he turned to go back to his desk, but was met with the immovable chest of Director Nick Fury. "So Max, just what exactly happened there. I expected you to be one of the first people to run to the escape pod, yet I see you here fixing our damaged craft." Fury pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket that Max instantly recognized.

"I've got your resume right here, Max, and it says nothing of any kind of computer skills. Is there a reason why?"

Max stammered and desperately tried to think of a way to change this conversation. "My skills aren't that impressive sir, anyone can do what I just did."

Fury just smiled and waved one of the emergency crews forward. He began addressing the captain of the group. "Just how long would it have taken you to reroute the computer to fix the emergency we just had?"

The man didn't even hesitate. "Ye can't do it with a computer, sir! That's just impossible! Now where's this fire ye were yellin' about over the speaker?!"

The director waved him away and still smiling, turned back to Max. "Impossible? Did you hear that Max? It's impossible." Still smiling, Fury put his arm around Max's shoulder and began walking with him. "I think you and I need to have a chat."

Domino didn't pause to take a breath as she lept over a fence. Her look-alike was only a few yards ahead - if she could just will more speed into her legs, she'd catch her.

The double however, seemed to know what Domino was thinking and knocked over garbage cans as she ran, hoping to slow down her shadow. It was one of these garbage cans that Domino finally decided to use as a vault. With a huge step and a push off, she sailed through the air and tackled the second Domino.

"All right, lady, you aren't me! So who the hell are you?"

The double didn't answer, at least not with words. She answered the tackle with a quick elbow jab to Domino's gut, quickly knocking the wind out of her. The double followed up with a quick right hook across Domino's chin to propel her even farther away.

With a laugh, the double jumped to her feet and was about to sprint away, but Domino performed an unexpected move. With a quick grab, Domino wound her hand around her counterpart's ankle, tripping her and causing her to fall into a pile of garbage.

Domino brought the double's arm around to the corner of her back and applied just enough pressure to cause her twin to cry out in pain. "I'll say this one more time! Who are you!"

No answer.

Domino applied more pressure, but the double still didn't answer.

Domino leaned forward until her mouth was near the other womans ear. "Maybe you think I won't resort to drastic measures to get some information out of you. Well, you're wrong. I'd be happy to pull out each of your fingers then I'll move on to other appendages until you're screaming in agony. Got it?"

The double said something softly and Domino leaned forward to hear it. Stupid move, she realized too late, as the double freed her second arm and grabbed a fistful of hair. Domino went tumbiling over the garbage and cracked her head on the pavement. She lay there stunned for a moment until she saw a fuzzy image of herself hovering over.

"You first," the double whispered as she moved even closer. "It looks like your luck has finally run out."

"HEY!" she heard someone shout, and suddenly the double's image was gone from Domino's line of vision, only to be replaced a moment later by a more comforting one.

"G.W.?" She croaked out, then winced when her head began to hurt. It felt like hundreds of drums banging against it. "I have a concussion don't I?" she groaned.

He didn't say anything as he scooped her up in his arms and began walking off into the shadows. After a few moments of walking he whispered softly at her. "Did you get a clue as to who it was?"

She began to shake her head, but stopped when the movement hurt to much. "I don't know who it was."

He nodded, his face set in a grim state. "Did she say anything to you?"

"She only said "It looks like your luck has-" Domino gasped as realization struck. "Your luck has run out! Bridge, I know who it was! And when I find her, this time, I'll make sure she stays dead!"

NEXT: What does Domino know that we don't? Who is her double and why is she impersonating Domino? Check back next month for the conclusion to Double The Pain!