A SHIELD base

Sylvie landed somewhere dark, immediately alert when she heard voices. She quickly pocketed one TemPad, keeping the other close at hand.

Maybe she could visit Ultron again. If she just left the TemPad there with a portal open to the TVA, she wondered what a near-endless army of robots could do to the place. There were possibilities. A lot of possibilities. She did need to start thinking long-term, eventually.

For now, though, she was here; she'd glimpsed something called SHIELD in Laura's mind, old defunct bases, underground sites that didn't get much attention. It felt like they could be a good place to hide. Few visitors, less variance...

Not ideal, but abandoned, which meant she could claim it for the time being, as she had with abandoned worlds before. A home base, a store for more equipment - clothes and more pro-active things.

And as sick as she was getting of Midgard, it had a databank of things from this world, weapons that might work even in the TVA.

She wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes, poised to make her escape in case she caused any unexpected variance. This place seemed abandoned enough that she didn't expect it.

When nothing happened at once, she began to let herself relax. Okay, it wasn't as ideal as an empty planet, and she probably would leave more traces in the long term, but it was a much-needed respite for her to catch her breath.

Too much had been happening, recently.

Eventually, Sylvie sat down at the databank and skimmed. Unknown technology seen in this area, accounts of people with powers - only a little of it seemed particularly useful to her. Still, she made a mental note of a few places.

She picked a more vaguely described location first. In of itself, it didn't sound interesting, some kind of club, but it sounded like a confluence. A lot of people went there, a lot of paths crossed. Even if she didn't immediately find what she was looking for, she could get hints from eavesdropping and glancing into minds.

Sylvie set her TemPad and walked through.

Her destination was noisy. There were yells, music blaring, more yells; chains clattered somewhere ahead of her. Pulling her arms inwards, she looking around the raucous atmosphere. Some kind of fight club - that was what the SHIELD data had said. Unusual things tended to congregate here.

She squeezed through the crowd, whatever waves she made at least temporarily being swallowed up by the sheer chaos. People were cheering some scuffle in the central arena. On the other side of a wall made up of horizontal chains, a woman with fairly short, black, neatly cut hair was twirling through the air in some admittedly impressive martial arts.

Huh. That was... Sylvie paused.

She'd learned to take care of herself, inevitably. Still, that wasn't the same as actual training, and if she wanted to take on the TVA...

She had no powers when she walked onto their turf. Having a little more in the way of conventional skill couldn't hurt. The woman looked gifted. Quietly, Sylvie drew back, finding a quiet spot between tables at the back of the club, and made a small modification to the coordinates on the TemPad.

She walked through the portal quickly, ending up in the club's back-room. Almost on cue she heard cheers; by the glimpse she'd had, she'd guess the woman had won. Which meant...

It wasn't long before she strode into the backroom, wiping her brow. She slowed when she saw Sylvie.

"No one was invited back here," she said.

"I tend not to be invited many places," Sylvie said. "Look, we don't have much time. Never do."

"Who are you?" she said.

"You wouldn't remember my name," Sylvie said. "What's yours?"

"Xu Xialing," she said. "Get out."

She raised her arms - apparently even fresh out of the arena, she was more than ready to fight again. Sylvie rocked back onto the balls of her feet, considering. Well, it was a kind of practice, she supposed.

And actually would make this easier. No need to explain, just learn a few moves, use magic to get Xialing off of her when the TVA came, and leave. Sylvie shrugged.

"That works," Sylvie said. She lifted an arm, made a face, then shrugged off the loose outer shirt - she'd stolen it from Kate, but hadn't been a huge fan of it anyway. It just trailed. She was more than decent enough without it.

The scuffle only lasted a minute before the noise from outside alerted Sylvie to the TVA's presence. She watched Xialing's movements, avoiding more than combating. As far as strength went, she had the edge, but that didn't seem to entirely hold in the TVA, so any edge she could gain from watching was a plus.

And when there was a flash of orange light outside the window, and Xialing paused, sparing a quick glance back over her shoulder, Sylvie lifted her arms placatingly.

"Good start," Sylvie said. "I guess you won't remember this."

"What?" Xialing said.

"Don't worry. You've got some intruders out there. Give them a good punch from me," Sylvie said.

When Xialing looked away, Sylvie stepped back through a portal, re-emerging in the old SHIELD base. She was grinning.

Maybe it was a petty thing, but the simple fact of being able to make a day trip without losing any items of clothing felt like an achievement. She could pop back to that club on occasion too, build up her repertoire, even in bursts of a few minutes. She was sure she'd see Xialing again.

Sylvie crouched. She had two TemPads with her, anyway - she still wasn't totally sure what she had that second one for, but she kept it permanently ready to open up a portal to this base. For the time being, until the TVA discovered it, it could be her safehouse. In the other, she noted down the coordinates of that club, at around the time a ready-to-fight Xialing went out back.

And then remembered she'd left the outer shirt there. Sylvie groaned. Well that just figured. She grimaced, and debated on opening a portal - the last thing she wanted was to walk through when the TVA's reset charge went off.

Ugh. Oh well, at least it wasn't a priority. Shirt, pants, panties, bra. She was content enough to be seen in this. The lack of shoes bothered her, but she had enough natural resilience to get by.

Sighing, Sylvie went back over to the SHIELD files to remind herself. Something here, she was sure, would be useful. The fight club was too chaotic to explore - she'd draw the TVA too quickly, but maybe somewhere more remote, or somewhere she could act faster...