Elsewhere, Selina huddles, panicked, as she tries to make sense of it all.

Somewhere around the time that darkness still covered the city and General Ricks's possessed body lay down in his opulent hotel room, Selina McCarthy huddled in an alley outside an apartment complex and shivered in the cold of the waning night. The curvy chief's hands rubbed her bare arms as she tried to keep warm but still shivered. Jonny had placed upon her middle-aged body a sexy black dress that left little to the imagination but plenty to the elements, and Selina was now paying for that decision even though she did not make it.

Selina stumbled, panicked, through the alley outside an apartment building somewhere in the city. "Dammit!" she said as she bumped into a garbage can and sent in tumbling, her balance thrown off by the sexy high heels Jonny had put on her. Suddenly, Selina spied a police cruiser and an army jeep rolling suspiciously down the street together. She dove behind a rusty old dumpster and lay down on her belly. She peeked around the corner of the dumpster just barely as the lights of the police cruiser probed about the darkened corners of the alley, illuminating garbage and the occasional scurrying rat. Sweat formed on Selina's forehead as her heart quickened, but the cars and their accompanying light soon passed.

"What the hell happened to me?!" Selina said as she clenched her fists and scampered back up from her hiding spot. She shuffled her way to a flight of stairs and up to the first level, still rubbing her arms to stop the cold from biting at her. Selina then stumbled like a crazed drunk down a hallway on the second level of the apartment building. Her heels echoed in the hallway as she headed haphazardly toward the middle of the building away from the balconies on the outside of the building and, rather importantly, away from the prying eyes of passers-by. There, Selina slowly sank down in a corner where not much light was to be found. She closed her eyes and tried to get some rest and hoped not to be discovered. She tried to calm her mind, and this was the first real sleep she had attempted in days. She needed the rest. Was all this real?

Within a few minutes of trying to doze off, Selina jumped and her eyes shot open as an apartment door a few feet away swung open. Out of the room stepped a young boy of about seven. He had curly blonde hair and an Iron Man set of pajamas. "I think I left it out her--" the boy started, apparently looking for a toy or something of the sort. The boy's eyes scanned the fairly dark hallway. As soon as he saw Selina, he jumped. "Wha--who--" he began, his voice shaking as he backed away. The last thing Selina needed was for this little kid to scream and alert everybody to her presence. "Hi there!" Selina said to the young boy with a broad smile on her face, "what's your name?" she asked. The boy stared at her for a few seconds, probably having been told never to talk to strangers, certainly not scantily-clad ones outside his apartment in dark corners of the building at night.

The boy stood afraid for a few more seconds before he seemed to relax. "My--my name's Tommy," he said meekly, "What's yours?" Selina smiled. "I'm Selina," she said as she extended her hand and shook Tommy's. She'd had to do this sort of thing before. Life as a cop put her in contact with a lot of kids who just happened to be at the house where a **** bust occurred or perhaps a whore house where some of the hookers had kids. This was the ugly part of the job, but Selina's younger days--perhaps 15 or 20 years ago--taught her something about dealing with situations like this. She looked nervously around the hallway and listened intently to the television that was on inside Tommy's apartment. "Tommy, are your parents home?" Tommy shook his head. "My mommy's a nurse at the hospital . . . said she's gotta work late 'cause the army men told her she's got to treat the people hurt in the big boom across town . . . Daddy's gone," Tommy said as he looked down, obviously missing his father. "So you're here all by yourself?" Selina asked. Tommy nodded.

This was no good, and Selina knew it. A kid this young shouldn't be home alone ever, and sure as hell not at a time like this. His mom probably had **** but to work all the hours she could get--still, this wasn't safe for Tommy. "You're a pretty lady," Tommy said nicely. Selina smiled. "Thank you Tommy, and you're being such a brave big boy handling things here all by yourself. Say, Tommy, since you're the man of the house, do you think you would mind doing a pretty lady a favor?" Selina asked. Tommy nodded pleasantly. "Do you think you could let me come in to your house just for a bit to stay and get warm--I'm pretty cold," Selina said. Tommy thought about it. He had been told not to do such things, but it was awfully cold, and this woman seemed nice. "Okay, come on in!" he said with a smile as he took the tired police chief by the hand and led her into the house.

Selina stepped into the apartment and was greeted by an oh-so-pleasent warmth. Sexy clothes were great, but not in the cold of the night. Truth be told, Selina had another motivation--she couldn't be out in daylight, and daylight fast approached. She figured whoever pursued her could be anywhere, or anyone, and the last thing she wanted to do was be visible. Selina looked about the house. It seemed like the home of a loving mother who could not be home nearly as much as she wanted. Pictures of Tommy and his mom were all over the place, but the place was a mess. There were instructions for Tommy to make his own meals taped to the wall because his mom as unlikely to be home to do it herself. Tommy's clothes were strewn about, as were a few pairs of scrubs that presumably belonged to his mom.

Selina heard a noise and let out a slight yelp as she jumped. Tommy looked at her strangely. "It's okay . . . just the microwave with some pizza roles. Want some?" Tommy said as he removed the things from the microwave. Selina had to calm down--what was wrong with her? She had spent too long as someone else's puppet. She trusted no one--other than Tommy, at the moment. "Um--sure, yeah. Thanks Tommy," Selina said as she walked over and sat down next to Tommy, who kindly allocated half of the pizza roles for himself and the balance for his new friend. "So are you?" Tommy asked. Selina paused, struggling to understand the question. "Oh--you mean my job?" she asked. Tommy nodded. "I'm a policewoman," she said. Now it was Tommy's turn to be confused. He looked Selina up and down. She looked like a hooker. "Did you get new uniforms?" he asked, "or were you undercover?" he whispered with a smile indicating he was enthralled by the idea. "No, no Tommy I--well, see I'm still figuring that part out," Selina said as she tried to put on a brave face. The two munched their pizza rolls in peace.

Now with a bit of warm food in her belly, Selina thanked her young host. "That was a fine meal, young man," she said. She leaned back and stretched and yawned. "Tommy," she began, "I'm real tired. Do you suppose that I could rest in your room?" she asked. Tommy quickly agreed and pointed the way to his room, saying that he would be watching TV. The morning cartoons would be on soon. Selina stood up and walked back to Tommy's room. As she stepped into it, she noted an assortment of Marvel characters adorning the wallpaper. Action figures littered the floor, and Tommy had Captain America sheets on his bed. Selina laughed. It had been a long time since she had slept in such a small bed. Still, she lay down and pulled the covers over her buxom body as sunlight began to creep through the closed curtains. She tried to drift off the sleep and enjoy, however tenuously, her control over a body that had not been hers in some time. At least she could pass some time here. Who knew when Tommy's mom would return and how she would react, but it was better than being outside and paranoid.