I just finished my pro demos with a professional engineer and my levels were no problem.
What does that mean? Use more words. We have to visualize what you’re doing from multiple time zones away. You had an engineer come into the house? I used to do that. Engineer for hire. I still have my travel cases.
So you have one of these?

Baby steps. Disconnect the headphones. Close Audacity.
The Scarlett 2i2 USB light should be on and I believe your microphone takes 48 Volts so that light should be on, too.
Speak into the microphone and watch the knob lighting. It turns green at the quietest of the vocal range…

… and lit turns red when you’re too loud.
Turn the right-hand microphone all the way down. I assume you’re not using it. If that knob is up, it just makes noise.
Can you force the left-hand microphone knob to turn red? That’s not metaphorical, I need an actual answer to this.
Crank the microphone volume up and keep speaking louder and louder (Never blow into a microphone) until that knob flashes red. Between the knob flashing green and flashing red is the normal volume for the microphone. I would not be shocked if the knob only works right all the way up, and maybe not even then.
That’s the flashing light version of the engineering mixer sound meters. Nobody goes anywhere until we can get good volume at the mixer, or the 2i2 interface in your case.
Once you get that, turn the headphone control all the way down and plug the headphones back in.
Turn the large Monitor knob all the way up.
Speak normally so the microphone knob turns a good solid green. No fair one flash every couple of seconds. Turn on Direct Monitor, and turn the headphone volume up until you can hear yourself.
I expect you didn’t get that far, so where are you missing steps? Did you have to scream into the microphone? Any sound you can make with your voice including screaming is valid as long as you don’t blow. You can destroy a microphone by blowing into it.
Koz