Skipping

by missmissa85

Summary:

Steve skips through sixty years of American history. Fortunately, Darcy is there to call him on it. What starts out as a simple friendship becomes infinitely more complicated as more of the Avengers become involved with one another.

Chapter 1: Buildings Crumble

He’d never seen buildings like those.  They were massive and towering.  So much bigger than the Empire State, and he had thought that was the most amazing building he would ever see.  They were beautiful buildings…and they were burning.  Tears ran down his face as he watched the first building fall.

“Did you skip ahead?” a voice asked from behind him.

Steve quickly wiped the tears from his face and saw the bespectacled girl he’d only barely noticed the previous day.  She came fully into the room and continued, “You must have skipped ahead.  You were on History Channel’s weekly showing of Hitler Sunday just yesterday.”

“I don’t sleep much,” he muttered, folding his arms across his chest and refusing to look at her.

She smirked.  “Well, I guess a seventy year nap would do that to you.”

Steve shifted in his seat, but still did not look up at her.  He was focused on the people running in the streets of Manhattan covered in dust and ash and debris.

“What’s Woodstock?” she asked suddenly.

“Excuse me?” he replied, looking at her for the first time.

“If you didn’t skip ahead you should know what Woodstock is,” she told him matter-of-factly.  “But maybe you weren’t paying attention to the social history.  Describe the causes of the Vietnam conflict.”

“I…what?”

“Who’s the Ayatollah Khomeni?”

He just blinked.

“Fidel Castro?  Mikhail Gorbachev?  Richard Nixon?  J.F.K?  Any of those names ringing any bells?”

He looked at the floor.

“What about Osama bin Laden?”

He finally looked up and met her eyes.  She was looking at him with the utmost kindness.

“He did that,” Steve answered quietly, glancing back up at the television screen.  “Not by himself, obviously, but he’s the one responsible.”

She looked up at the screen for a few moments before looking back at him and saying, “Since you already skipped about sixty years, you might want to skip through the next ten.”

“Why?”

She leaned down to be eye level with him from where he sat in his chair.  Her kindly smile turned into something more akin to a smirk as she said, “We got the mother-fucker.”

A strange mixture of relief, pride, and curiosity rolled over him.  He didn’t even notice the girl—whose name he hadn’t bothered to ask—was already gone.  He looked back up at the old/new report and decided that it was all the past now.  Now was all that really mattered.  He suddenly wished he knew that girl’s name.

Chapter 2: Stark Contrasts

He went looking for the girl later that day, but he couldn’t find her anywhere.  He did, however, manage to discover her name was Darcy Lewis and that she worked with a SHEILD operation in New Mexico.  He’d asked a couple of people if they were sure her name was Darcy.  He was almost certain he’d read it somewhere as a man’s name.

“Ya lost?” a voice asked him lazily.

He couldn’t help flinching when he looked at Tony Stark.  He was so much like his father, who had apparently been dead for almost twenty years.  It was like meeting a ghost every time Steve saw him.

“I, um, I was looking for someone,” Steve replied, trying not to make it too obvious he was edging away from Tony.

Tony smirked as he pulled out his phone and started texting.  “Do I really look that much like him?”

“What?” Steve asked, stopping in his tracks at the sudden shift in the conversation.

“My dad,” Tony explained still looking at his phone.  “Fury told me you knew him.  I never thought we looked that much alike, but I’m biased.”

Steve considered him for a moment before he said, “You look almost exactly alike, except, well…you’re older.”

Tony barked a laugh before his face fell after what he read on his phone.  “Oh, no, that’s not good.  How the hell does she know these things?  Oh, well…you’re with me, Steve.”

“I’m…what?” Steve asked, stunned as he looked at Tony’s well-clothed back.

“You’re coming with me.  Let’s go,” Tony replied without looking back.

Steve’s feet were following Tony Stark before his brain could catch up.  “But…where are we going?”

“Out.  I have to get a birthday present.”

“Why do you need me?”

“Oh, I don’t, but you need to get the hell out of here before you go nuts.”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to—”

“Listen,” Tony said, putting an arm around Steve’s neck and pulling him down slightly to his level, “your enlistment was up like sixty years ago.  They can give you an afternoon.  Loosen up.  Have a drink.”

Though he’d known Howard Stark for a relatively short amount of time, Steve was fairly sure that ‘have a drink’ in Stark-speak meant ‘drink until you can’t see straight.’  He was also fairly sure that Tony inherited more than just his looks, money, and brilliance from his father.  “I can’t get drunk,” he reticently told Tony as they passed through the base’s corridors and got into an elevator.

“Oh, of course you can,” Tony said, waving a hand dismissively before taking out his phone and sniggering briefly at what it said.  “The Army isn’t against alcohol,” he said as he tapped out his reply.  “In fact, they practically encourage drunkenness."

“No, I mean I can’t get drunk,” Steve clarified as they walked through the sunlit hallways of the ground floor.  “I’m physically incapable of drinking myself into a stupor, and, believe me, I’ve tried.”

Tony stopped and blinked at the other man as they reached the front door.  "You poor bastard."

Steve shrugged. "There are worse things."

Tony seemed to consider this for a moment before saying, “Not many.  Come on.  Let’s get out of here before Coulson jumps out of the bushes tasers the both of us.”

Steve barely had time to wonder was tasering was before Tony shoved him into the backseat of a shiny, black car.

##### 

“Really?  She lives that close.  That’s amazing.  Do you know how I could get in touch with?  Great.  You are completely amazing Agent Casey.”

Jane looked up from her computer screen and peered over at her humming intern.  “What are you so happy about?”

“Nothing,” Darcy said, shoving a scrap of paper under a stack of papers, grinning secretively.  “Why aren’t you happy?  We’re running a test tonight.  You love the test running, and Tony okayed everything.”  After you spent an hour shouting at one another in math-speak, Darcy added silently.

“Tony shouldn’t need to okay anything,” Jane replied hautily as she stood up from her computer.

“Would you rather deal with S.H.I.E.L.D’s other scientific consultant?  A shouting match with him would probably result in the destruction of about half of New York City.”

Jane just glared in response.

“You wanna make sure everything’s loaded in the Hummer?” she asked her intern as she looked back at her computer screen.

“Fine.  Whatever,” Darcy replied, automatically getting up and moving toward the parked Hummer at the back of the lab.  She didn’t even bother taking the inventory list.  She already knew it by heart.

As soon as Darcy’s back was turned, Jane jumped up from her seat and sprinted toward the intern’s desk.  Darcy barely had time to run back before Jane had a hold of the piece of paper she’d hidden earlier.

“Jane, stop!”

“Nope!” Jane replied, holding it out of Darcy’s reach.  “Who’s Margaret Carter-Walsh?”

“No one,” Darcy said, failing at every attempt to snatch back the scrap of paper.

“If she’s no one, why are you calling her?”

“I am allowed a personal life, aren’t I, Jane?  Just give it back!”  Darcy surprised herself at the harshness of her own words and quickly added a hushed, “Sorry.”

Jane handed her the slip of paper, all traces of mischief gone from her face.  “If it’s personal, why were you getting information from a S.H.E.I.L.D. agent?”

Darcy bit her lip and looked at the floor.  “Well,” she began reluctantly, “I needed this information that is kind of S.H.E.I.L.D. related so I could personally do something for another person that’s, you know, personal.”

Jane blinked at her.  “That made absolutely no sense.”

“I know it didn’t, but just let me have this one, okay?”

“Fine.  Let’s finish loading up the Hummer and get going before it gets dark.”

 

Chapter 3: In The World

Steve was fairly sure Tony invited him on his little excursion just to find out what made Steve the most uncomfortable.  Their first stop was Tiffany’s where the entire store shut down for Tony and every salesperson fawned over the two of them.  Tony asked for Steve’s opinion on what seemed like every item in the store.  His opinions, however, were mostly noncommittal shrugs as Tony had neglected to tell him who the present was for.

Steve was slightly surprised when Tony opted for an overtly large engagement ring as he thought they were just looking for a birthday present.  He was downright stunned when a saleswoman congratulated Steve as though he was the one getting the ring.  Steve didn’t get the joke, but Tony doubled over, he was laughing so hard.

Tony then dragged Steve into a haberdashery where Steve was summarily stripped, prodded, and measured.  He came out wearing jeans, basketball shoes, and a button-up shirt unbuttoned enough to reveal his undershirt.  His grandmother would have said he looked like a bum, but Tony assured Steve he now looked like a normal human being.  Steve wondered how Tony could possibly be an authority on anything normal as the other man held up his phone.  Steve cocked an eyebrow at the resultant clicking noise he heard.

“What was that?”

“I just took your picture,” Tony replied, smirking as he fiddled with the device in his hands.

“Really?”

“Yep.  Be right back,” Tony said, jumping out of his cushy chair and moving to talk to a graying man in the corner.  “Happy, keep him entertained.”

Happy, Tony’s bodyguard/chauffer, rolled his eyes in response.  Steve guessed his name was a joke as he had yet to see the man crack a smile.  The two of them stood awkwardly in silence as Tony had a quiet conversation with the man in the corner.

“Is he always like this?” Steve suddenly asked.

“Uh-huh,” Happy replied tiredly.

Steve looked out at the gridlocked image of Fifth Avenue.  New York was always busy and big, but it had grown beyond anything he could have imagined.  Despite Tony’s flippant and overbearing attitude, Steve was actually enjoying being out of the concrete and steel cage of the SHIELD base.  He just hoped they weren’t suddenly surrounded by men in black suits and faced with an angry Commander Fury.

“They’re not coming after us you know,” Tony said, walking up behind him.

Happy looked doubtful.

“Okay, fine.  Fury actually told Coulson to get the kid out in the world, but I left a note.  You’ll thank me for saving you from a terrible fate,” Tony added to Steve.  Steve wasn’t sure how he felt about Howard Stark’s son referring to him as ‘the kid.’

“Alright, to The Old Haunt!” Tony said, rubbing his hands together excitedly as they walked out of the door and to the car.

“What’s—”

“Bar,” Happy supplied.

“Oh.”  Steve had the horrible feeling Tony was going to try to disprove what Steve had told him earlier.

 #####

“So, what are you and Stark going on about?” Jane asked as she drove down the empty, desert highway.

“How do you know it’s Tony?”

“Because it’s always him.  So, what do you two find so amusing?”

“Oh, well, Tony sort of kidnapped someone I met when we were in New York yesterday.”

Jane eyed her intern curiously.  Darcy was biting her lip and if Jane wasn’t imagining things, she was blushing.  “Okay, who the hell is this guy you met?”

“How do you know it’s a guy?”

“You’re blushing and grinning and being weird.”

“Like you when you think about that kiss with Thor?”

“We’re not talking about me.  We’re talking about you.  So…spill.”

“Well, he didn’t actually introduce himself because he was kind of distracted, but it was Steve Rogers,” Darcy said, ending the sentence abruptly and biting her lip once again.

Jane had to think for a minute to remember who Steve Rogers was.  “Wait a second…you mean the guy they just dug out of the polar ice cap?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What was he distracted by?  That Romanov woman?”

Darcy shook her head, unsure what Jane’s sudden problem was with Natasha Romanoff.  “Um, actually, he was watching some old news reports from 9/11.”

“Oh,” Jane said, her tone changing instantly.  “He must have really moved through all that historical material.  I heard he’d only been conscious for a couple of days.”

“He skipped ahead.”

“That…probably wasn’t the best idea.”

“Nope,” Darcy agreed.  “I told him it wasn’t it all bad news, though; if he just skipped ten more years, he’d find out we got son of a bitch.” 

“Did you actually say ‘son of a bitch’?”

“Actually, I said, ‘mother-fucker.’”

“And he didn’t scold you for your coarse language?” Jane asked in a mockingly scandalous tone.

“He was in the Army.  I’ve seen Band of Brothers.  Soldiers were foul-mouthed in the forties too.”

“If you say so,” Jane said, turning off the highway and into the dusty desert.

##### 

“Ugh, what was that?” Steve asked as he downed the third glass of liquid Tony had put in front of him.

Tony cocked an eyebrow in an expression of approval mixed with mild disgust.  “That-that was tequila.  Sixteen fluid ounces of tequila.  You know, most people would have dropped dead by now.  You just look like the miserable puppy I brought into this place.”

Steve glared at the other man as Tony moved his hand over the many bottles of alcohol the bartender left for them.  “Let’s see, we’ve done vodka, double-malt scotch…Irish whisky.  Always a classic.”

Steve swallowed a groan and drank the liquid more slowly after Tony poured him another glass.  Unlike that tequila stuff, he actually wanted to enjoy the flavor.  “Why aren’t you trying to get drunk?”

“I’d like to get laid tonight.”

Steve choked on his drink and tried to stop his ears from turning red.  Tony laughed loudly and clapped Steve on the shoulder.  “You really are from n forties.”

Tony watched as the seemingly younger man’s demeanor sank into an even deeper shade of gloom.  “What’s the deal with you and L’il D?” he asked, deciding to change the subject.

“What?” Steve asked, clearly confused.

“Darcy,” Tony clarified.  “Why were you looking for her?  I didn’t even know Fury introduced you to the ladies.”

“Well, I, um, never even really asked her name yesterday.  She just sort of appeared in my doorway.”

“She does that.  It’s not a superpower or anything, she’s just…sneaky, not to mention short.  What were you doing when she snuck up on you?”

“I was watching some news reports from September 11^th,” Steve said before taking another gulp from his glass. 

Tony nodded.  “I remember I slept in that day.  When I got to the office, Obi looked at me and said, ‘We’re gonna make some money now, kid.’  Should’ve known then he was an evil bastard.”  He took Steve’s glass and finished the little that was left in it.  “You skipped ahead, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“L’il D told you that was mistake, didn’t she?” Tony asked, grinning. 

“Yeah, but only after she gave me a pop quiz,” Steve said, cracking a small smile.

“She tell you we got the mother-fucker?”

Steve’s eyebrows knit together.  “In those exact words, actually.”

“You’d never heard a girl talk like that.”

“Nope.”

“She’s also got a tattoo.  You think that makes her a tramp?”

“What?  No!  Why are you telling me that?” Steve asked in quick succession.

“No reason.  Ever been to L.A?”

“Just a couple of times with the War Bonds tour and when I made those stupid movies,” Steve replied sourly.

“Good, you’re coming to L.A.,” Tony said as he stood up and withdrew his phone from inside his jacket pocket and started tapping away at the screen.

“I don’t think—”

“Steve,” Tony interrupted, looking the other man in the eye for the first time, “what are they going to do to you?  You’ve given them your life.  Come to Malibu.  Take a swim.  Meet the wife.”

“You’re married?” Steve asked, now genuinely confused.

“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a wife.  I have several, in fact.  One of them is an A.I.”

Steve made a mental note to ask what an A.I. was as he jogged after the other man.

##### 

“So…Tony annoys the hell out of you, but you’re using his components for our Bifrost?”

“It’s an Einstein-Rosen Bridge.”

“Bifrost is easier.  Snickers?” Darcy asked, holding out a bowl of the miniature candies as they sat in their lawn chairs waiting for power to build up in the circle of Stark generators they had set up in the fading light of the desert.

“No Three Musketeers?”

“They were out at the Stop-N-Save.”

Jane sighed, but took a handful of the candy bars anyway.  She glanced at the screen connected to the computer system running the show.  “We’ve still got an hour.”

“Remind me again why we can’t just turn the stupid things on and wait for Thor to fall out of the sky?”

“Well—”

“The non-sciencey version, please.”

Jane rolled her eyes.  “Black hole swallows Earth into oblivion.”

“I knew it was something like that.”

Darcy’s phone went off again.  “Oh, jeez!  What an asshole!” she said as soon as she looked at her screen.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Darcy said, tucking away her phone.  “Tony’s just torturing Steve with stripping stewardesses.”

Jane quirked an eyebrow and said, “I’m pretty sure most me wouldn’t consider that torture.”

“Steve isn’t most men.”

“You met the guy yesterday.”

“I’ve read his file.”

“You have access to something like Captain America’s file?”

“No, but you do.”

“When did I give you my access code?”

“You didn’t, but it wasn’t that hard to figure out.  It’s the Fibonacci sequence.  Took me a while to figure out where you started, though.”

“You have been spending way too much time with Tony Stark,” Jane replied, shaking her head and popping a Snickers into her mouth.

“Tony had nothing to do with it.”

“Who told you what the Fibonacci sequence is?”

“Okay…Tony had very little to do with it, but that’s not the point.  The point is; I’ve read Steve’s file and he’s a good guy even by 1940s standards.  You’d like him.  He’s like the anti-Tony, but not evil or anything.”

“So he’s not an entitled, egotistical functioning alcoholic with extreme guilt?”

Darcy couldn’t help but flinch at Jane’s bitter tone.  “What’s up with you?  I know you don’t like Tony, but what’s with all the hate?”

“It’s not Stark, not really,” Jane said, tearing open another Snickers and shoving it in her mouth.  “I’m just…upset that Erik decided to go back to New York.”

Darcy just nodded.  She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of Erik’s departure from their tight-knit little family.  He was still working for SHIELD, but it was on a special project for Commander Fury and he was ensconced in New York.  He came back to deliver the new components Stark designed and then hurriedly claimed he had to get back.  Jane had obviously been disappointed, but she quickly distracted herself with plans for their new ‘Bifrost’ as Darcy had taken to calling it.

“I…I kind of think he doesn’t believe in what I’m doing,” Jane said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“I guess it could be considered sort of selfish…”

“How is it selfish?  You’re broadening man’s horizons.  You’re opening a door to one of the Nine Realms.  You’re—”

“Not my publicist, Darcy,” Jane completed for the girl next to her.

Darcy sighed and smiled kindly.  “It’s not selfish to want to see him again.  He’s a hero, and he probably, like, saved the universe by going back to Asgard.  Imagine what he could do for Earth when he comes back.”

“What if he doesn’t want to come back?” Jane asked quietly.

“Really?  We’re going there?  Jane, there’s a whole town back there that knows how much he adores you.  I saw him kiss you.  He totally wants to come back.”

Jane opened her mouth to reply, but the computer system started whirring loudly and the wide ring across the desert floor suddenly lit up.  Both women stood up so fast, candy and blankets went flying as they knocked their chairs over.

“I thought you said we had an hour!” Darcy shouted over the rising noise.

“We did!  I don’t know what’s going on!  I can’t shut it down!”

“You don’t want to,” Darcy breathed, staring up at a sky that no longer belonged to New Mexico.  It was blacker, full of constellations she didn’t recognize, and contained multiple jewel-colored nebulae.  “It’s working!  Jane, it’s working!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4: Her Dearest Wish

            The sky was turning a beautiful inky blue as they flew across the desert.  Steve realized he’d never flown without the possibility of mortal danger, and he found he quite liked watching the sky change colors from such a fantastic height.  He heard Tony chuckling and turned around to make sure they weren’t about to do something that would require him to strap down.  Tony, however, was just tapping out another message on that phone of his.

            “What’s so funny?”

            “I’m telling L’il D I’m torturing you with stripping stewardesses.  She’ll be incensed,” Tony replied, grinning.

            Steve’s brow furrowed slightly.  “Why would she be—wait, stripping what?”

            Tony laughed loudly.  “You lived a sheltered life, didn’t you?”

            “I…no,” Steve replied, suddenly fidgety.

            “Have you even seen a naked woman before?”

            “Yes.”

            “Pin-ups don’t count.”

            Steve just looked away as his ears involuntarily turned pink.

            “Jesus, kid, you are a rare specimen.”

            “Don’t call me kid,” Steve said quietly, his eyes focused intently on the floor of the airplane.

            Tony seemed to consider the other man for a long moment.  “You are a kid.  I know you’re practically old enough to be my grandfather, but you’ve only lived in this world for what, twenty-five years?  You’re young, enjoy it for God’s sake.”

            Any response Steve was formulating was forgotten as the plane shook violently, throwing he and Tony out of their seats and onto floor.  They rolled, their backs slamming into the bulkhead opposite of where they were sitting as the plane banked suddenly before righting itself.

            “What the hell?”

            “Tony,” Steve said, pointing to the bluish-white column of light outside the cabin windows.

            Tony’s eyes widened significantly.  “Holy shit,” he muttered before scrambling to his feet and moving toward the cockpit.  Steve rushed to follow him.

            “Are we over New Mexico?” Tony asked, shoving Happy out of the copilot’s seat.

            “We were,” the pilot answered.  “Now none of the instruments are working.  We’re flying blind.”

            “What does that mean?” Steve asked, holding onto the top of the bulkhead for support as the plane shook all around them.

            “It means Jane Foster is about to get her dearest wish,” Tony replied as he buckled himself into the chair and transferred control of the plane to his wheel.  “Did they get the modifications I ordered installed?”

            “Yeah,” Happy answered, strapping himself down in the chair behind Tony, “but they haven’t been tested.”

            “No time like the present.”

            “Pepper’s gonna kill you.”

            “She’ll have to take a number.  Steve, get your ass in that chair and strap in.  This is gonna be bumpy.”

 #####

            A scramble of voices shouted in the air; “What is happening?  Midgard…it is Midgard.  Wake him!  Wake him!  Where is the prince?  Wake him!”

            An all too familiar voice shouted in reply, “I am here!  I am coming!”

            “Did I imagine that?” Jane asked, tears streaming down her face.

            “No!” Darcy shouted back over the din.  “We’re hearing freaking Asgard!  Jane, we did it!”

            “We haven’t done it yet,” Jane yelled, running back to the computer set up.  “It has to be stabilized before matter can come through.  Jesus, I wish Stark were here.”

            The noise increased exponentially as what looked like a private jet landed with the help of engines that suspiciously resembled Iron Man’s flight stabilizers.  “You should wish aloud more often!” Darcy shouted, laughing before she heard Jane scream.

            “Did you see that?” Jane yelled from behind the laptop, her expression suddenly one of absolute terror.

            “What are you—”

            In agonizingly slow motion, she saw a blur speed from Jane and a knife lodged in her friend’s belly.  “No! No! Jane, no!” she heard Thor’s voice bellow from across an immeasurable distance.  She screamed as Jane pulled out the knife and crumpled to the ground.  She barely had time to notice the high-pitched noise coming from the machinery before a wave of energy connected with her body, jettisoning her off her feet and back down to the rocky ground.

##### 

            Thor awoke with a start.  All of Asgard shook with an unnatural and unfamiliar force.  He heard shouts about Midgard and dressed quickly, tightly grasping Mjolnir as he bolted out of his chambers.

            “Thor!  Thor!” he heard Sif’s voice shouting.

            “I am here!  I am coming!” he shouted back.

            “It is the Earth woman,” she reported as she met him and then ran alongside him.  “The Bifrost she built has started to work.”

            “Then why is all of Asgard shaking?” he asked as they ran through crowds of people moving in the opposite direction.

            “Apparently, it is not working very well,” she answered as they met the Warriors Three at the broken bridge.  Heimdall stood ahead of them on the precipice.

            “What has he said?” Thor asked.

            “I think he’s waiting on you,” Fandral replied.

            Thor looked around at his friends.  Volstagg clapped him on the shoulder and said,  “We will stand ready to fight alongside our prince.”

            Thor nodded with a grateful smile as he moved toward the all-seeing guardian and the light that struck their home with such force.  “Heimdall?” Thor said cautiously.  There was no need to ask the question.

            The guardian turned toward the prince.  “There is a force.  Unseeable.  Chaos falls on Midgard.  The Stark and the Captain cannot face it alone.”

Thor understood absolutely nothing Heimdall said to him.

“The mortal woman.  She is gravely wounded.”

He understood that.  He shouted into the light as though it would make a difference.  He started to jump, but a hand on his shoulder held him back.  Odin looked sternly at his son.

            “You will return to us should our need arise.”  It was not a question.

            “I will,” Thor said.

            “Then, go, Thor Odinson.”

            At the reassuring nods of his friends, Thor leapt off the end of the broken bridge and into the light from Midgard.

 

Chapter 5: All Together Now

            A series of disjointed images and noises filled her mind.  Tony Stark’s voice joined the sound of rushing wind and crackling machinery shouting something strange and computer related she didn’t understand.  She saw Steven Rogers kneeling over Jane while happy hurriedly handed him items from inside a gray case.  She heard her friend’s blood-curdling scream.  She saw Steve apologize for the pain.  She heard Tony yell: “There’s something in there!”  She saw the light fading from behind Jane’s eyes.  She saw the blade with Jane’s blood still shining on the surface and she reached for it.  A sharp buzz filled her ears, her eyes, and her mind before blackness overtook her.

            In a wilderness seemingly miles away, a voice screamed, “Darcy!”

 #####

            Darcy gasped and sat bolt upright.  She hoped all those horrible things were just some sort of nightmare, but the ache in every part of her body and the grit on her hands and clothes proved a terrifying reality.  She was inside, she could tell that from the harsh lights and the lack of a breeze, but everything was still blurred around the edges.

            “Glasses?” a kind voice offered.

            “Thanks,” Darcy replied, instantly noticing that her throat was raw as though she recently vomited.

    Bruce Banner was sitting a stool nearby and gave her a little smile and a wave.   

            “Where-where’s Jane?” she asked in between coughs.

            Bruce wheeled over to a nearby cart and poured a glass of water.  He wheeled back and handed it to her before saying, “She’ll be okay.  They’re stitching her up.  She lost a lot of blood, but if that Rogers guy hadn’t known what to do, she probably would have bled to death before help got out there.  I guess Army first aid training is effective, even if you do sleep through seventy years.”

            Darcy sipped the water and nodded as Bruce talked.  Relief coursed through her as the liquid soothed her throat.  Then she suddenly realized she had to soothe her throat.

            “What happened to me?”

            “I was wondering when you were going to ask that,” Bruce replied, grinning slightly as he slid over to a metal cart and pulled it back to the gurney without getting up from his wheeled stool.  “You touched this.”

            Darcy stared at it under the bright lights.  It was just as disconcerting in the light as it was in the dark.  The blade was some sort of black steel and eighteen inches long.  Characters Darcy recognized as ancient Anglo-Saxon runes ran along the length of the blade.  The golden head of a snake biting its own tail made up the pommel and its body twisted around the rest of the hilt and even around the blade at, making the entire sword seem oddly asymmetrical.  It was also emitting a sort of hum that she felt rather than heard.

            “Don’t touch it!”

            “I’m sorry!  Don’t get mad!” Darcy replied, quickly withdrawing her subconsciously extended hand.

            Bruce glared at her from behind his glasses.  His eyes, however, were still a mercifully normal shade of brown.  “I’m not mad,” he said, pushing the cart with the sword out of her reach.  “I just don’t want you to have another seizure.”

            “I had a seizure?”

            “Yeah, it’s something about the sword,” Bruce explained.  “I think its Asgardian, cause of the rune things.  I’d say it was a common trait of Asgardian technology that it can only be handled by Asgardians, but Rogers picked up the hammer no problem—”

            “Hammer?” Darcy asked, suddenly keenly aware of everything around her.

            “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about that part.”

            “Forgot to tell me what?”

            “Hey, don’t get mad at me.  I’m a physicist.  Exposition isn’t my strong suit.”

            Darcy took a deep breath and smiled a Bruce a little too sweetly to be believed.  “I’m sorry.  Bruce, what hammer did Steve pick up with no dire consequences?”

            Bruce gave her an exasperated look before he said,  “Molinar—”

            “Mjolnir.”

            “Whatever.  Thor’s hammer.”

            “Thor’s hammer is back on Earth?”

            “Yeah,” Bruce replied as though it was obvious, “and so is Thor.”

            “What?!”

            “Yeah, he came through just as the bridge was collapsing.  We’re not totally sure what it did to him because he’s kind of unconscious and—Darcy, your ankle’s probably sprained.  Come back!”

            Even though she was wincing with every labored step, she was already out the door and ignoring Bruce Banner’s pleas to get her to stop.  She hobbled down the hall toward the sound of harried voices.  She heard the deep resounding growl of Thor’s voice shout, “Where is she?!”  She sped up despite the pain shooting up her leg.  She froze when she heard metal and plastic crashing in a nearby room.  A grunt followed Natasha Romanov’s ejection from the room.  A glance over her shoulder told her Bruce was slightly more than panic-stricken at the scene unfolding in front of them.  She stumbled into the doorway in time to see a Thor throw a punch at Steve, who blocked it, grabbed the Norse god’s wrist, twisted his arm around, and pressed him face-first into the nearest wall.

            “Calm down.  Now.”  Steve didn’t even raise his voice as he issued the order.

            Thor’s entire countenance changed.  His tense body slackened and his face took on an expression more akin to embarrassment than anger.  Steve released him and Thor turned slowly to face him.  “Thank you.”

            Steve raised an incredulous eyebrow and uncertainly replied, “You’re welcome.”

            “I apologize for my behavior,” Thor said to the group of medical personnel huddled in the opposite corner of the room.  “I was not myself.”

            “I’m diggin’ the sleeveless look.”

            Thor and Steve both seemed to notice her presence for the first time.  Thor moved so quickly, she didn’t really have time to prepare for tight hug he gave her.

            “Are you alright?”  This came from Steve; genuine concern etched on his face.

            She looked over at him as Thor put her back down on her one good foot.  “I’m fine…mostly.”

            “Uh, guys, I think Agent Romanov’s unconscio—”

            They watched the next few moments in a horror-struck blur.  Natasha Romanov’s eyes shot open and she reflexively punched the person standing over her on the nose.  Unfortunately, that person happened to be Bruce Banner.  Almost everyone collectively gasped.  Even stone-cold Agent Romanov looked suddenly terrified.  Thor and Steve looked at one another in total confusion as Bruce started shaking.

            Darcy let go of Thor and knelt/fell to her knees in front of the shaking man.  “Bruce.  Bruce, it was an accident.  Don’t be angry.  She didn’t mean it.”

            Bruce just continued to shake as his skin started turning green.  Darcy could feel everyone in the vicinity starting to tense.  She took a deep breath in order to keep herself calm and said, “Bruce Banner, you are stronger than the monster inside of you.  You know that it was an accident.  You know that Natasha didn’t mean to hit you.  You know that and you can stop this.  Bruce Banner, you’re bigger.  You hear me?”

            A tense moment later, Bruce stopped shaking and his skin turned back.  He took in a shaky breath and wiped off the blood running from his nose.  “Thanks, Darce,” he said, barely above a whisper.

            “Anytime,” she replied, sighing in relief.

            “What’s going on here?” Agent Coulson demanded as he rounded a corner with Clint Barton and his crossbow in tow.

            “It’s fine.  Everything’s under control,” Natasha stated, standing easily to her feet.

            Coulson gave her a dubious look after taking in Banner’s bloody nose and ripped lab coat.  He blinked at the sight of Thor standing in the doorway and said, “You’re awake.”

            “Where is Jane?”

            Coulson barely avoided flinching as Thor towered over him.  “They just brought her out of surgery.  She’ll be fine.”

            “You did not answer my question.”

            “Down this hall, take the first right, it’s the third door on the left,” Barton replied, ignoring the glare Coulson gave him.

            “Thank you.”

            “Hey, Thor,” Darcy called from her place on the floor, “if she says anything weird, it’s just the drugs talking.”

            Thor nodded as though he understood, but his facial expression said the complete opposite as he moved down the hall with heavy footsteps.  Coulson turned his attention back to Natasha.

            “You want to explain why Pepper Potts just arrived, Agent Romanov?”

            “She called me when Tony-Mr. Stark didn’t arrive in Malibu.  She called me, and I explained the situation to her and asked her to join us.”

            “You asked—”

            “If you want Tony Stark working on this, trust me, you want Pepper Potts around.  I’m going to escort her inside.  Excuse me,” Natasha replied matter-of-factly before briskly walking past them.

            Coulson, obviously annoyed said, “Don’t we have any doctors around here?  Somebody take a look at Banner’s nose.  He’s bleeding all over the floor.”

            “Thanks for noticing,” Bruce muttered as one of the nurses ushered him into the exam room.

            “Ms. Lewis, why are you on the floor?”

            “Well, I got down here and then realized I can’t really stand back up.”

            As soon as the words left her mouth, an arm encircled her waist and Steve draped her arm over his shoulders as he gently pulled her into a standing position.  She steadied herself, holding onto him as she said, “Thanks.  I’m Darcy, by the way.”

            “Yeah, I know,” he replied.  “I’m Steve.”

            “Yeah, I know,” she said, returning his smile.

            Agent Coulson shook his head.  “Ms. Lewis, get your leg checked out.  Your presence is required at a briefing with Commander Fury in ten.  You too, Captain.  Barton.”

            “I got it,” Barton assured him with a nod as Agent Coulson turned and quick-marched in the opposite direction.  “That man seriously needs to get that stick out of his ass.”

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6: Normal? Never

            Jane could feel her mind swimming ever closer to the surface.  She felt a dull, numb ache in her torso and she heard an incessant, high-pitched beeping.  Then she remembered pulling a sword from her stomach and realized she must be in some sort of medical facility.

            Tears came unbidden to her eyes when she saw the figure pacing at the end of her bed.  He didn’t look very different except for the slightly longer hair and lack of sleeves.

            “Am I dead?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

            He stopped and looked at her, his blue eyes wide with concern.  “Jane?” he said, smiling as he walked to her side.  “Are you all right?”

            “Am I dead?” she repeated, looking up at him.

            His brow furrowed slightly.  “This must be what Darcy meant.”  He grasped Jane’s hand tightly and said, “Jane, you are not dead.”

            A sob escaped her throat and he leaned over and kissed the side of her face.  She wrapped her free arm around his neck as she cried into his beard.  The latent anger that had been bubbling inside her for months suddenly surfaced and she punched his bare bicep as hard as she could manage.

            “Jane?” he asked, suddenly standing erect.

            “Don’t even act like that hurt.  I know it didn’t,” she said, wiping the tears from her face.  “What took you so long?  It’s been almost a year.  You said you’d come back.”

            He had genuinely dreaded this conversation since he pounded Mjolnir into the surface of the bridge in Asgard.  Jane did not have all the facts and was—in her mind—justifiably angry.

            “I—I had to destroy the Bifrost in Asgard,” he told her reluctantly.

            “Why?”

            “Loki was using the Bifrost to obliterate Jotunheim.  The only way to stop him was to break the bridge…and my only way back to you.”

            Jane bit her lip and purposely looked away from him.  “That makes sense,” she muttered.

            “I always knew you would make a way,” he said, taking her hand once again.

            Jane looked up at him.  “I didn’t make a way,” she told him quietly.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I mean something went wrong and the bridge opened and it was spiraling out of control,” she explained.  “It may have even been harming your home.”

            “It certainly was not helpful,” he confirmed, “but Heimdall foresaw chaos on Midgard and confirmed you were wounded.  I had to come.”

            “Are you all right?”

            Thor chuckled slightly.  “Jane, you are in a bed and I am standing.  I am clearly unharmed.”

            Jane’s gaze toward him narrowed.  “That’s the sort of arrogant tone that got you kicked out of Asgard in the first place,” she told him sleepily.

            Thor decided to attribute that particular statement to the ‘drugs’ as well.  He ignored it altogether and said, “Did you see who hurt you?”

            “It was just a blur,” she told him, consciousness slipping away.  “There was a snake.”

            “A snake?”

            “On the sword,” Jane explained, her eyes closing.  “They’re probably all having a big pow-wow about it right now.  They probably want you there.”

            “I do not want to leave you.”

            “Just as long as you’re here when I wake up,” she told him before slipping back into sleep.

            He gently kissed her forehead and whispered, “I swear.”

 #####

             A few years ago—by his reckoning, anyway—Steve would have thought Darcy was an odd duck.  He knew a girl at school that wore glasses; she was painfully shy and self-conscious, although Steve thought she was rather pretty even with the glasses.  Darcy wasn’t shy or even remotely self-conscious.  She wasn’t bothered about her glasses or even her sprained ankle.

            “Hey, Hawkeye, when do I get to shoot the bow?” Darcy asked as she limped after the sniper in question.

            “Well, L’il D,” he began, grinning, “let’s set a date for when hell freezes over.”

            “Aww, don’t you trust me?”

            “Not with my bow.”

            Bruce shook his head and chuckled slightly from his place where he had fallen into step with Steve.  He was holding a short sword wrapped in clear plastic in one hand.

            “Is that the thing Darcy tried to pick up?”

            “Yeah.  It messes with your neurological system when you touch it.  I haven’t quite figured out why yet because I’m a physicist and weird, alien tech is not really my area, but I was the only scientist here, so I kind of got stuck with it,” Bruce explained.

            “Where is here anyway?” Darcy asked, looking over her shoulder at them.  “You never said.”

            “I told you exposition wasn’t my thing.”

            “Alamogordo,” Hawkeye replied, though he hadn’t been asked the question.  “We don’t use this base very often, but it was closer than Albuquerque.”

            “Yeah, because everyone needs a healthy dose of nuclear radiation,” Bruce muttered sardonically.

            “Why would you say that?”

            “Well, this is the nearest town to White Sands,” Bruce explained.  Upon seeing Steve’s blank expression, he continued, “It’s where they set off the first nuclear bomb.”

            “That sounds familiar,” Steve said, trying to remember why it sounded familiar.

            “You really should not have skipped ahead,” Darcy told him before her attempt at limping backward began to fail miserably.

            Steve rushed forward and grabbed her waist before Bruce could even react.  She gasped in surprise and gripped his shoulders as her ears reddened in embarrassment.

            “If you’re gonna walk, maybe you should just try going forward,” Steve suggested, his hands still on her waist.

            “Maybe,” Darcy agreed.

            Bruce seemed to be swallowing a laugh as he gave them an amused grin.

            “What?” Darcy asked, glaring at him.

            “Oh, nothing,” he replied still chuckling. 

            “Hey, children, will you come on?” Hawkeye asked from several paces ahead of them.

            “Oh, why don’t you get the stick out of your ass?” Darcy said as Steve released her.

            “Don’t push me, Li’l D,” Hawkeye warned, opening a door and ushering them inside.

            Steve saw Natasha Romanov sitting patiently at the round table and Hawkeye went to join her.  Bruce sat down a few seats away from them and placed the sword on the table.  Happy was obviously asleep in a chair in the corner.  Tony was on one side of the room surrounded by the remains of the equipment from the desert.  He was having a discussion with a redheaded woman Steve imagined was Pepper.  He couldn’t tell if the conversation was an actual argument, or if they always looked so annoyed with one another.

            “Why did I have to hear it all from Natalie?”

            “You know her name is actually Natasha, right?”

            “Tony!”

            “I was busy!  Things were exploding, Jane was bleeding, and Darcy had a seizure.  Darcy, tell her you had a seizure.”

            “I did, actually,” Darcy replied, walking over to them.  “Happy birthday, by the way.”

            “Thank you,” Pepper replied, smiling at the younger woman.  “At least someone remembered.”

            “I remembered!” Tony protested, pulling a pale blue package from his trouser pocket.  “I even got you a gift.”

            “Tiffany’s, huh?” Pepper asked dubiously before turning to face Darcy.  “Did you remind him that today is my birthday?”

            Tony shook his head vigorously and repeatedly mouthed the word ‘no.’  Darcy just grinned mischievously and said, “Yes.”

            “You’re dead to me.”

            “Play nice, Tony,” Pepper warned him before she noticed Steve.  “You must be Steven Rogers.  I’m Pepper Potts.  Sorry he roped you into everything today.”

            “I didn’t rope him into anything…much.”

            Steve politely shook her hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”

            “Oh, God, please don’t call me ma’am.  Pepper is just fine,” she said, chuckling slightly.  “You look really familiar.”

            “Maybe I have one of those faces.”

            “Oh, I sincerely doubt that,” Darcy muttered.  Pepper caught her eye and grinned at her.

            “He knew my dad,” Tony said, fiddling with a piece of equipment.

            Pepper quirked a dubious eyebrow.  “Really?”

            “I considered Howard Stark a good friend,” Steve replied seriously.

            “I guess exposition isn’t Tony’s thing either,” Darcy teased loud enough for Bruce to roll his eyes in response.

            “Did you hear something?  I thought I heard a little, whiny noise and a cold breeze,” Tony asked, looking directly at Steve, who just stared back in confusion.

            “Stop being such a chi—” 

Pepper’s voice suddenly died in her throat when she opened the Tiffany’s box and discovered the ring.  Darcy caught a glimpse of it, gasped, and clapped her hands over her mouth.

“Oh…yeah, I forgot about that,” Tony said after looking up to see why Pepper had actually stopped in the middle of scolding him.

“Forgot?” Pepper nearly screeched, her neck and face starting to match her hair.  “How could you possibly forget something like this?”

“There was a plan…sort of.  I was going to let you think I forgot about your birthday and then I was going to propose and give you the ring.”

“Well, then your plan nearly worked.  You just forgot the proposing part!”

“Why do I even need to propose?  We’ve practically been living together for years.  I love you.  The entire world knows I couldn’t make it five minutes without you.  Just marry me, already!”

“Fine!” Pepper yelled back, shoving the ring on her finger and forcefully placing the box back in Tony’s hand.

Steve just gaped while everyone else in the room stared and Darcy grinned.  Happy had apparently woken up at some point and was now giving his boss a downright flabbergasted expression.

“Oh dear God,” Agent Coulson groaned as he walked into the room.  “What’s happened now?”

“Tony and Pepper are engaged,” Darcy said, giggling.

“Oh,” Coulson replied, completely unfazed.

“Is all this normal?” Steve whispered to Darcy.

            She smiled up at him.  “We’re not really an authority on normal, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

            “Will you all please sit down?” Coulson asked, shaking his head.

            “Hey, where’s Erik?” Darcy asked, sitting down next to Bruce.

            “Professor Selvig is still in New York,” Coulson replied.

            “Are you serious?” Darcy asked in a growling tone.  “Have you brainwashed him or something?  Jane was stabbed.  They’re practically like family.  He wouldn’t just stay in New York!”

            Darcy was on her unsteady feet again and Steve stood behind her, ready to catch her if she fell.  A door at the far end of the room open and the imposing figure of Commander Fury strode into the room.

            “Dr. Selvig doesn’t know about Dr. Foster’s accident.  He’s reached a critical stage in his project in New York.”

            “You didn’t tell him?!  What the hell kind of asshole are you?”

            “Darcy…”

            Her head whipped around to face Steve with amazing speed.  “He’s not my commanding officer.  I can scream at him all I want.”

            “Sit down, Ms. Lewis,” Fury told her in a placidly calm voice.

            “No,” she refused, the anger bubbling just under the surface of her voice.

            “Ms. Lewis, you are not in charge of this operation.”

            “And you are not in charge of all our lives!”

            “And you are incapable of seeing the big picture!” Fury yelled back, his cool finally slipping.

            “Don’t talk to her like that.”

            Every face in the room turned toward Steve in stunned silence.  Darcy smiled at him gratefully.  Fury considered Steve’s angry expression for a long moment before he turned his eye back to the young woman.

            “Dr. Selvig has been working on an energy source for months using a device in SHIELD’s possession.  When Dr. Selvig went to New Mexico yesterday, the device was nearly stolen.”

“Isn’t that kind of your fault?”

Fury ignored her remark and said, “Now, his experiments have reached a critical point and if he left, it could have been catastrophic.  I made a decision, and you’re going to have to deal with it, Ms. Lewis.”

            Darcy crossed her arms and muttered, “Fine,” as she plopped down in her chair.

            As everyone else took seats around the table, Tony pointedly cleared his throat and said, “If this energy source is so important, why am I not working on it?”

            “I don’t trust you nearly that much,” Fury replied matter-of-factly.  “Congratulations, by the way.  Ms. Potts, my condolences.”

            Pepper giggled while Tony glared and sat down next to her.

            “The first thing I need to hear,” Fury began, pacing around the table, “is what Dr. Foster’s intentions were in the desert this evening.”

            “We weren’t planning on a live test, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Darcy explained testily.  “If we were, Jane would have shut down the air traffic.  We were just out there testing Tony’s equipment because we didn’t want to blow up the lab if something went wrong.”

            “Thanks for the vote of confidence, D.”

            “I thought I was dead to you.”

            “Anyway,” Fury interrupted, preempting the impending argument, “what happened next, Ms. Lewis?”

            “I don’t really know.  The computer system controlling the flow of energy just went nuts and suddenly the Bifrost was open.”

            “Bifrost?” Steve asked.

            “Einstein-Rosen Bridge,” Tony interjected as though that explained everything.

“It’s a way to travel between worlds,” Darcy explained quickly.  “Thor and his people call it the Bifrost.  As a matter of fact, that’s even what it’s called in Norse mythology.”           

            “Hey, Darce, if we wanted a history lesson, we would have gone to college.”

            “Agent Barton,” Fury warned, ignoring the fact that the intern and the sniper were sticking their tongues out at one another.  The commander rolled his lone eye and turned toward the richest man in the room.  “Mr. Stark, it was your equipment.  What happened?”

            “First of all, my equipment probably saved our asses,” Tony said, standing up and moving toward the screen at the front of the room.  “And by ‘our asses’ I mean the whole damn world and probably a few others.  If the generators hadn’t blown, the bridge would have torn a permanent hole in the fabric of the universe.  Jesus, chalk?  How old is this base, anyway?”

            While he was talking, Tony had moved the screen to reveal a chalkboard underneath.  Fury glared at him and Tony continued, “I can work with it.  Look, I designed the equipment and Foster did most of the math.”  He drew a circle.  “You connect an energy source to the generators—in this case, a battery from a Mack truck—and the energy builds with each successive turn,” Tony explained, tracing his circle several times.

            “That’s brilliant,” Bruce interrupted, “and, you know, green.”

            “From you, I take that as high praise,” Tony replied.  “Anyway, since nobody but Banner would get the math, I’ll just tell you the energy build-up should have looked like this,” he said, drawing a geometric quadrant with a line cutting it in half diagonally.

            “Should have?” Fury asked.

            “Yeah.  This is what actually happened.”  Tony drew another line with a much shallower angle before it suddenly swooped upward and became almost vertical.

            “Of course,” Bruce said, his eyes wide as he stood up and walked around the room toward the chalkboard.  “You’re trying to shorten a dimensional gap with this bridge.  A steady increase in power just wouldn’t cut it.  The power has to build and then basically increase exponentially to excite the surrounding matter.”

            “Told you he’d be the only one to get it,” Tony said to the rest of the room.

            “Wait a second, you said Jane didn’t mean for the whole exponential explosion thing to happen,” Pepper pointed out.  “Then how did it happen?”

            “Smart woman,” Tony said, moving toward his pile of equipment and picking up one of the Stark Industries branded generators.  “I made these things simple because the more simple something is, the less shit can go wrong, and shit has been going wrong on this project almost since Foster and I started working on it; busted casings, fused wiring, random shit.  I even had these babies secured in cases that only Foster could open once I put them inside and I built each one of these myself.”

            “You’re amazing.  We get it, already.  Could you just tell us what happened?” Darcy demanded.

            Pepper looked as though she might explode from laughter as she tried to cover her mouth.  Hawkeye didn’t even try to hide his amusement as he barked out a laugh before Fury have him an angry eye.  Even Natasha sniggered before she clamped her mouth shut and went back to looking dignified.

            “The girl’s got a point, Stark.  Get on with it,” Fury told him.

    "Little Janie's computer controlled the show.  It’s totally fucked.”

            After a short silence, Bruce said, “That’s terribly non-specific.  Care to elaborate?”

            “Someone broke into the computer, reprogrammed the control system, and then set it to blow a hole in the universe.”

            “Who is someone?” Coulson asked.

            “Like I said: fucked,” Tony replied, tossing the chalk away.

            “I know I’m not a genius or anything, but I’m going to say it was the same person that stabbed Jane with Jormungand,” Darcy posited.

            When they all stared at her blankly, Darcy looked directly across the table and said, “This is why we go to college, Hawkeye.”

            “Who the hell is Jormungand?” Tony asked.

            “It’s a snake; a really big, mean snake.”  Darcy turned and gave Steve an expression of shock mixed with admiration.  He smirked and said, “They had Norse mythology in the forties, too.”

            “Yeah, I guess they did,” Darcy said sheepishly.  “Anyway, that’s the snake on the sword.”

            “How can you tell?” Bruce asked dubiously.

            “The runes on the blade, and there just aren’t that many snakes in Norse mythology because it’s freaking cold in Norway and snakes aren’t generally fond of freezing their asses off…or tails…or whatever the snake equivalent of ass is,” she replied in a rush.

            Steve stared at her.  He’d never heard a woman use the word ass so many times in so short a space without quoting the Bible

            “Is—whatever it’s called—a bad guy, or what?”

            “It’s a snake, Bruce.  When has a snake ever been one of the good guys?”

            “Are you trying to make him angry?” Tony dubiously asked Darcy.

            “I think Jormungand was one of Loki’s children,” Steve explained.

            “Okay, so, bad guy.  Loki is the bad guy, right?” Tony said, directing the question to Darcy.

            “Well, he’s not exactly on the side of truth, justice, and the American way.”

            “I’m sorry,” Pepper interrupted, “are you telling me these people can give birth to snakes?”

            “No.  That would be preposterous.”

            They all turned to see the imposing figure of Thor standing in the doorway.  Pepper’s eyes widened.  “Wow,” she breathed.

            “Wow what?” Tony asked, affronted.

            “Jormungand was more of a pet,” Thor explained, gliding into the room and moving toward the sword.

            “Hey, is Jane okay?” Darcy whispered to him.

            “She is resting,” he replied, smiling slightly.  “I do, however, believe the drugs you spoke of were affecting her.”

            “You have something to tell us about that sword?” Fury asked, sizing the Asgardian up with his lone eye.

            Thor looked back at Coulson and said, “Who is this man?”

            “This is Commander Fury.”

            “He is your superior?”

            Darcy bit her lip to keep from laughing as Coulson just silently nodded.  Thor picked up the sword and, ignoring Bruce’s objections, tore off the plastic.

            “This is not an Asgardian weapon,” Thor concluded.  “There is poison on the hilt.  It does not have much of an effect on me, though I believe it could be quite harmful to a human.”

            “We know,” Bruce said, taking a deep breath.  “Darcy had a seizure.”

            “Are you all right?”

            “Fine,” Darcy assured him.  “Is the poison Asgardian?”

            “I honestly do not know.”

            “Fat lot of help you are,” Tony muttered, folding his arms across his chest.

            Thor turned his angry gaze on the other man as Darcy hissed, “Seriously.  Don’t.”

            “Loki is a prankster.”

            Suddenly, Commander Fury had everyone’s attention once more.  He looked directly at Thor and continued, “Stark said small things have gone wrong with this project from the beginning, we had an unsuccessful break-in, and Dr. Foster was nearly killed.  Your brother has a thing for mischief, doesn’t he?”

            Everyone looked at Thor for a response.  “Loki did have a penchant for mischief, more so than the rest of us, I suppose.”

            “Did?” Coulson asked.  “Past tense?”

            “We fought and he fell,” Thor replied shortly, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

            “And you don’t think he’d take something like that out on your girl?”

            Thor flinched slightly as Fury seemed to look right through him.  A pregnant silence filled the room.  Fury finally looked around at them and said, “We’re centralizing.  I’ll see you all in New York in forty-eight hours.”  

 

 

 

 

Chapter 7: Learning Attempts

            Steve felt he might have made a mistake.  He was starting to feel particularly lonely.  He hadn’t wanted to go back to New York with Coulson and Fury.  He also felt odd going to Malibu with Tony and Pepper after they had just gotten engaged, although Agent Romanov had gone with them to return to her cover job at Stark industries.  Steve thought he might find some company in Alamogordo but Darcy and Banner had disappeared to pack up Jane’s lab and Thor had hardly left Jane’s room in the medical wing.  Barton was around somewhere, but Steve had yet to see him.

            He slept on an uncomfortable bunk, but he was actually quite happy he’d managed a dreamless sleep at all.  He was still having nightmares about losing Bucky and he rarely slept anyway.  It was a useful ability when one was fighting a war.  It was not so useful when one was just being stared at while other people wondered if it was safe to let him outside.

            He finally found a library, which was actually just a table and two walls of bookcases, but it was better than utter boredom.  He looked for books on American history because he’d been repeatedly informed—mostly by Darcy—that skipping sixty years had been a terrible notion.

            He started with a book on World War II and skipped ahead to 1944.  He couldn’t feel guilty about the years for which he was present.  On paper, the D-Day Invasion looked like the sort of idiotic plan Steve would have come up with himself.  He did, however, find it amazing how Eisenhower managed to unite the armies of several countries into a single military operation.  The carnage of the nuclear strikes in Japan disturbed him and he was glad the U.S. never actually had to drop them on an enemy again (a fact he learned from looking in the index).

            He’d moved on to a book called American Society: The Baby Boom to Flower Power, which treated some apparently interesting things as though they were as dull as a rolling pin.  He tossed the book onto a pile at one end of the table and sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

            “What are you attempting to learn?”

            Steve tensed before he realized it was just Thor standing in the doorway.  He looked far less intimidating in flannel than he did in his armor and cape.  He also bore an expression of genuine interest in what Steve was doing.

            “Well, actually, I was trying to learn about sixty years of American history,” Steve answered honestly.

            “Why?” Thor asked, stepping further into the room.

            “Well, I slept through most of it.”

            “Were you an inattentive student?” Thor asked, sitting down across the table.

            Steve chuckled.  “No, I was actually a pretty good student, but I was born in 1917, and I crashed a plane into an Arctic ice flow in early 1944.  SHIELD just pulled me out of the ice about ten days ago, so I kind of missed everything in between.”

            Thor raised his eyebrows at him.  “You are ninety-four-years-old.  That is quite an advanced age for a human.  You do not look it.”

            Steve shrugged.  “They’re not exactly sure if it was the ice, or the serum and vita-ray process, or both that kept me from aging.”

            Thor cocked his head to one side slightly.  “You were not born the strong man you are now?”

            “Hell, no,” Steve replied, chuckling slightly.  “I was a ninety pound asthmatic.”

            Thor sat back in his chair and quietly regarded the other man for a moment.  “I owe you my thanks.  They told us you saved Jane’s life.  If you hadn’t known what to do, she could have bled to death.”

            Steve shook his head and squirmed uncomfortably in his chair.  “I didn’t do much.  The doctors are the ones that really saved her life.  It was just a coincidence I was even there.”

            “I don’t believe in coincidence,” Thor stated in reply.  “Barton also told me you carried Mjolnir out of the desert.”

            “Actually, I just put it in the back of a truck.  It wasn’t really a big deal.”  He then noticed Thor’s narrowed gaze, and said, “I’m sorry.  Did I just offend you?”

            “A little,” Thor replied with a small smile.  “Exactly how strong are you, Captain Rogers?”

            “Probably not as strong as you,” Steve replied somewhat sheepishly.

            “Care to find out?”

            “Are-are you challenging me to a fight?” Steve asked dubiously.

            “No,” Thor replied, his manner still open and friendly, “just a simple competition.”

            “Okay.  Let’s go.”  Steve had a deep-seeded feeling he was going to regret this particular decision.

 #####

            “Jane, I’m a physicist.  I know how to secure and ship sensitive scientific equipment,” Bruce insisted.

            “And I supervised,” Darcy added.

            “All you did was make snarky remarks when you weren’t talking on your phone.”

            “What were you doing talking on your phone?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Oh, is it that personal you’re personally doing for someone else that’s personal?”

            Darcy glared at Jane as Bruce said, “Huh?”

            “I think it has something to do with Captain America,” Jane said slyly.  “She has a crush on him.”

            “I—what—no, I don’t!”

            “Um, I’m with Jane on this one,” Bruce interjected.

            “Where’s Thor?” Darcy asked suddenly.

            Jane shook her head at Darcy’s obvious attempt to change the subject.  “He went to find your boy, Captain America—”

            “He’s not my boy and his name is Steven Rogers.”

            “Thor wanted to thank him for saving my life, and I was kind of okay with him going.  He’s been a bit clingy, but I suspect that has something to do with my drug-induced rant about why he didn’t come back for eight months.  He’s been gone a long time, now that I think of it.”

            “Hey, you guys want to see something amazing?” Barton asked, appearing in the doorway without his crossbow and with an uncharacteristic grin.  “The Cap and Thor have been boxing for over an hour without even a thirty second break, and they’re still going at it.”

            Jane and Darcy looked at one another.  “This cannot be good,” Darcy concluded.

            Jane nodded her agreement vigorously.  “Somebody get me a wheelchair.”

 #####

            Steve did not quite understand why Thor needed a hammer.  He hit like one even with his fists encased in boxing gloves.  He felt like wincing and occasionally screaming in pain with every hit Thor managed to land.  It wasn’t as though Steve was just taking the punches, however.  Blood was running fairly copiously from a gash in Thor’s forehead that resulted from Steve falling down and subsequently ignoring the Marques of Queensbury rules of boxing.

            Then he made a mistake.  He wished he could pinpoint what it was, so he wouldn’t do it again.  The result of Steve’s mistake was a mind scorchingly painful blow to his rib cage.  He’d never felt pain so great, not even as a ninety-pound asthmatic.  He felt himself falling to the floor of the boxing ring as he became increasingly unable to process oxygen.  Blood traveled up his throat and trickled out of his mouth and in a distant part of his brain he wondered if he looked like his mother did when she was dying.  He heard a woman scream and Thor repeatedly calling his name in concern, but he didn’t care.  All he seemed to be able to care about was that next breath.

 #####

            The four of them had been watching in lip-biting silence for nearly five minutes when Steve raised his right arm just enough for Thor to sneak in a monster body shot.  A sickening crack filled the air and Darcy screamed involuntarily as Steve stumbled backward.

            “Rogers?  Rogers?” Thor asked, first in confusion and then in genuine concern.

            “Banner, go get a doctor.  Go now!” Hawkeye yelled before sprinting past Darcy toward the ring.  He wordlessly pushed Thor out of the way to get a better look at Steve.  “Jesus, you caved in his ribcage.”

            “I did not mean to cause him such harm.”

            “But he’s going to be okay,” Darcy insisted, kneeling next to Hawkeye.  “His metabolism processes at, like, four times normal human speed.  He heals really quickly.”

            “Darcy, it doesn’t matter how fast he can heal; if he can’t breathe, he dies!”

            A loud crash and a labored groan sounded in the distance.  “Aw, shit!  Banner panicked,” Hawkeye muttered before sprinting out of the room past Jane, who was still helplessly trapped in her wheelchair.

            “What should we do?” Thor asked, looking directly at Darcy.

            “Just keep him breathing, I guess.”

            Steve’s breaths shallowed and came closer together.  Darcy had no idea how to medically keep a super-soldier breathing, so she did the only thing she could think of; she bent down low enough to whisper in his ear and said, “Peggy Carter has your sketchbook.”

            His eyes shifted and focused on Darcy.  “She wants to give it back to you, but you have to keep breathing,” she whispered, holding onto one of his hands.

            Steve squeezed her hand tightly and took in a deep, labored breath.

Chapter 8: Worthiness

            Images flashed behind his eyes.  Old friends and family members bleeding slack-jawed from the mouth.  Bucky falling into a bottomless chasm.  Blood splattered on Darcy’s chest.  Steve’s own bones cracking and breaking through his skin as he plummeted from the top of a high building.

 #####

            He gasped as his eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright.  His entire body was covered in a sheen of sweat.  Every deep breath caused some slight discomfort, but the real pain was, for the most part, gone.  He ran his hands through his sweat-dampened hair as he sighed in relief.  He looked to his left and saw Bruce Banner snoring on the bed next to him.  To his right, he found Darcy smiling at him from her perch on an old, metal stool.

            “Hey, soldier,” she greeted jovially.  “You feeling okay?”

            “Yeah,” Steve replied, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.  “Did I pass out?”

            “Only after you started to recover,” she told him.  “The prevailing theory is that your body worked so hard at keeping you alive, that it had to get some rest.  The doctors here don’t really understand you all that well.”

            Steve chuckled slightly.  “You know, I was supposed to come here to be studied until Senator Brant asked me to do the war bonds tour.  Maybe it would have helped.”

            “I doubt it,” she replied, chuckling slightly.

            “What happened to him?” Steve asked, nodding toward Bruce.

            “Um…he sort of lost his cool and Hawkeye had to shoot him up with enough tranquilizers to fell several grown elephants to keep him from transforming completely.”

            “What exactly happens when he transforms, other than him turning kind of green?”

            “Well, he grows about six feet, loses all self-control, and indiscriminately knocks stuff down,” she explained.  “He destroyed a wall and part of the ceiling caved in before Hawkeye got to him.”

            Steve looked at the man sleeping peacefully a few feet away in disbelief.  Nothing Darcy said seemed like it could apply to the man.  “Was he born that way, or…”

            “No, he wasn’t,” she answered quickly, cutting him off.  “He didn’t volunteer like you did, either.  It was a lab accident.  I don’t really understand the science behind what happened, but it involved gamma rays and an explosion, and now you really don’t want to be around when he gets upset.”

            Steve nodded as he processed the information.  “What about Thor?  Is he okay?”

            “He’s fine.  He wasn’t entirely sure you’d want to see him.  He’s really, really sorry, by the way.”

            “It wasn’t his fault,” Steve said, shaking his head.  “It was just an accident.”

            “Well, we thought you were going to die there for a minute,” she told him quietly, looking at the floor.

            “Were you telling the truth?” he asked her suddenly.

            “What?”

            “What you said about Peggy.  Was that true?”

            “You think I’d lie?”

            “I don’t actually know you that well.”

            “Fair enough,” Darcy concluded sheepishly.  “I was kind of half telling the truth.”

            “How do you half tell the truth?” Steve asked, bitter anger slipping into his voice.

            “Well, um, Peggy Carter does have your old sketchbook along with some of your other personal effects,” Darcy hurriedly explained.  “I’m sure she would want to give them back to you, but I didn’t really think she’d believe me if I just told her over the phone you were still alive.  And if she did believe me, I didn’t want to be responsible for giving a ninety-five-year-old woman a heart attack.”

            Steve’s brow furrowed in thought.  “So…Peggy is still alive?”

            “Were you not listening to anything I just said?” Darcy asked, her eyes widening in frustration.  “Yes, she’s alive and she lives in Albuquerque.”

            Steve bit his lip and quietly said, “Do you think she’d want to see me?”

            Darcy smiled back at him kindly.  “Of course she would, you idiot,” she replied.  “But take a shower first because you kind of smell, and change your shirt because there’s blood all over that one.”

            Steve looked up in time to see her limping out of the door.

 #####

            Jane tiptoed through the halls of the compound with a hand placed gingerly over her wound.  She probably shouldn’t have been walking around, but the only doctor and nurse on the base were busy pouring over tests they conducted on Banner while he was sedated.

            After a few minutes, she found him sitting despondently in the corner of the mess hall; Mjolnir hanging loosely in his hands.  He looked up as she walked into the space and his face instantly filled with surprise and concern.

            “Jane, you should not—”

            “Oh, shut up,” she responded as she sat down next to him.  “I’m not nearly as breakable as everyone thinks.  I’m fine.  Are you alright?”

            “I was mostly unharmed, unlike Rogers.”

            “He is fine,” Jane reiterated.  “And it was just an accident.”

            “Be that as it may, I regret challenging him in such a fasion.”

            “Then why did you do it?”

            He met her stern gaze and said, “Throughout the mythology of your world, I am always depicted with Mjolnir.  If anyone knows my name, they know I carry a mighty hammer.  Without much effort, Steven Rogers picked it up and carried it.  I wanted to know how worthy he actually was.”

            Jane nodded as she brushed some hair out of his eyes.  “You know, he wasn’t born as strong as he is now.  He volunteered for a project during World War II that gave him enormous strength and stamina, and apparently made him kind of ageless.”

            “It is not just physical prowess that determines a man’s worth.”

            Jane sighed and thought silently before she began her response.  “You’re a lot alike.”

            Thor just looked at her and waited for her to continue.

            “Granted,” she went on, “he was an orphan from Brooklyn and you’re a prince from Asgard, but you both have an acute understanding of the meaning of self-sacrifice.”

            “In what way?” Thor asked, his eyes wide in genuine interest.

            “He crashed a plane into the Arctic Ocean to save the world even though it would keep him from seeing a woman he cared about ever again,” she explained.  “In order to save a race of people you frankly didn’t like, you fought your own brother and destroyed your only way back to me.  I’m, of course, assuming that you care about me.”

            Thor blinked at her and his mouth opened in obvious hurt.  “Jane, I have never cared about anyone more than I care about you.  How could you possibly think otherwise?”

            “I didn’t,” she replied, smiling slyly.  “I just wanted to hear you say it.  It’s a thing we Midgardian women do.  I’m sure you’ll catch on soon enough.”

            She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.  He responded gently until she grabbed his face and parted her lips, granting him access and urging him on with her own tongue.  The kiss deepened in intensity as he pulled her closer, and then Jane felt a sudden, sharp pain in her side and pulled away, wincing in pain.

            “Are you alright?”

            “I think so,” Jane replied, taking a deep breath.  “That probably wasn’t the best idea on my part.”

            “Is this an awkward moment?”

            Jane glared over at Darcy.  “It kind of is now.  How long have you been there?”

            “Long enough to see you two making out.  Nice technique, by the way,” Darcy said with a thumbs-up.

            Jane was almost sure Thor was blushing.  She looked back at her assistant and said, “Why are you here, Darcy?”

            “Why are any of us here?  What was the universe thinking when our parents started bumping the uglies?”

            “Eww!”

            Thor looked between the two women, his brow furrowed in utter confusion.

            Darcy grinned and said, “I’m taking Steve to Albuquerque.  He totally doesn’t blame you, by the way.”

            Thor made no reply, but looked down at Mjolnir.

            “Um…why are you going to Albuquerque?”

            “Thank you for remembering that’s where I’m actually from, and it’s where Peggy Carter lives.  Now, I’ve got to go before Hawkeye realizes I’ve stolen his keys.  Later.”

            Jane found herself grinning.

            “What?” Thor asked in amusement and confusion.

            “He’s going to get to see her again,” Jane said simply.

 #####

            “What are you trying to do to me, Li’l D?”

            “Damn.”

            “What’s happening?” Steve asked dubiously, looking between Darcy and Hawkeye, who was leaning up against an old jeep.

            “We’re busted,” Darcy replied despondently, tossing a set of keys to Hawkeye, who caught them easily.

            “See, Cap, you were being misled by Tony Stark, Jr. here.  God help us when there actually is a Stark Junior,” Barton muttered in mild horror before tossing keys back to Darcy, who let them fall at her feet.  “Just ask like a good little girl next time, okay?”

            “Are you serious?” Darcy asked, picking up the keys.

            “I know what you’re doing,” Hawkeye told her, stepping away from the vehicle.  “The other nice thing about you, Li’l D, is that you remember we’re all still just people.”

            Darcy stood on her tiptoes and kissed Hawkeye on the cheek.  “Thanks, Clint.”

            He waved her off and said, “If you’re not at the airfield at seventeen-hundred tomorrow, I’m throwing you under the bus.”

            “What’s seventeen-hundred?” Darcy asked, looking back at Steve.

            “Five o’clock.”

            “Oh, sure, we’ll totally be back by then,” Darcy promised before climbing in behind the wheel of the jeep.

            Hawkeye shook his head and looked at Steve.  “Good luck, Cap.”

            “Thanks.”

##### 

            “Are you sure you know how to drive this car?” Steve asked when they were just a few miles away from the base.

            “Of course.”

            “It wouldn’t be making that ridiculous noise if it were in the right gear,” Steve hollered over the din.

            “This is the only gear it would go in,” Darcy replied in frustration.

            “You have to hit the clutch.”

            “What’s a clutch?”

            “Pull over.”

            “I’m pretty sure if you ever had a license, it expired sixty years ago.”

            “Pull the car over.  Now.”

            There was a certain definitive quality in Steve’s voice Darcy had never heard before.  She immediately pulled over and stopped the car to the best of her ability.  Steve hopped out through the jeep’s open doorway and Darcy silently scooted over to the passenger side.  Steve got back into the vehicle, moved the gear shifter into a position Darcy didn’t even know existed, and easily pulled out onto the highway.  The engine hummed at a mercifully low volume.

            “Okay, so I don’t know how to drive a stick.  I didn’t think it would be that hard.”

            “They make cars a different way now?” Steve asked, his attention focused on the empty highway before them.

            “Yeah, don’t ask me to explain it.  Ask a guy if you really want to know.”

            “I was honestly never that interested in engines and stuff like that.”

            “Oh, right.  I forgot you were an art student.”

            “That’s really unfair.”

            “What?”

            “You know everything about me, and I know your name is Darcy Lewis.”

            “What do you want to know?”

            “What do you want to tell me?”

            “Um…well, I’m from Albuquerque.  I’ll be twenty-one in a month.  I was raised mostly by my dad and my uncle because my mom passed away when I was nine.  She had ovarian cancer.  C.K. was only two.  He’s going to be in the eighth grade this year and he’s already a foot taller than me; it’s so unfair.  C.K. is my brother, Clark.”

            “Your brother’s name is Clark Lewis?” Steve asked with a smirk.

            “Yeah, Mom and Dad didn’t think that one through,” Darcy admitted.  “They weren’t even trying to name him after Lewis and Clark.  His name is Clark Kent.  That’s why I call him C.K.”

            “Your brother is named after Superman?”

            “You remember Superman?”

            “Of course I remember Superman,” Steve replied, slightly offended.  “I used to draw Superman for practice.”

            “I forget Superman’s been around so long,” Darcy mused.

            “Thanks for that,” Steve replied, shaking his head.  “So did your dad remarry, or did he raise you alone, or…”

            “Oh, no, my dad is a one woman man to the end,” Darcy said, smiling.  “He didn’t raise us alone, though.  My grandparents lived close by and Uncle Max lived with us.  Uncle Max was more of a sibling than a parental figure, though.  We got into so much trouble that Dad still doesn’t know about because of Uncle Max.”

            Steve chuckled slightly and continued, “So how did you get mixed SHIELD and a scientist like Jane?”

            “What?  Do I not look sciencey enough to roll with Jane?”

            “No, I mean—I—I—”

            “Relax.  You didn’t insult me.  It was kind of a misunderstanding, really.  I signed up for this internship that was for science majors only, and I was a political science major, so I thought I would at least apply, and as it turned out I was the only applicant,” Darcy explained.  “And then Thor fell to Earth and it all got really, really complicated in a very short space of time.  I’ve cut my hours at school way back so I can help Jane full-time with her research.

            “Why were you a political science major?” Steve asked.  “Were you going to be a lawyer?”

            “I actually didn’t know what to major in, so I kind of picked something at random,” she replied.  “I didn’t have much of a plan for my life, which is good because the last few months would have totally ruined it anyway.  Did you have a plan for your life before you enlisted?”

            “If anyone had a plan before the war started, it changed completely after December 7^th.  My only plan before I enlisted was to somehow figure out a way to enlist,” Steve explained with a slight smirk.

            “I guess that’s what made you so special.”

            “I never thought I was special,” he replied quietly.  “I felt like everyone else did.  We all wanted to do our fair share.  It’s what made us a united nation for those years.”

            “You know, most people’s definition of ‘fair share’ does not include volunteering for dangerous scientific experiments,” Darcy pointed out.  “And that’s what made you special.  That’s what Peggy Carter thought, anyway.”

            Steve smiled self-consciously.  In the fading light of the desert sunset, Darcy couldn’t tell if he was blushing, but she was fairly sure he was.  She bit her lip and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Um, Steve, there’s something I haven’t really told you about Peggy,” she said reluctantly.

He looked over at her and frowned.  “She’s dying, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.  How did you know?” she asked gently.

“My mom worked in a TB ward.  I know what the ‘someone’s dying’ face looks like,” he told her grimly.  “I’m just grateful she’s here at the moment.”

“You’ll be okay, Steve,” she said, gently patting his shoulder.  She slowly pulled off her jacket and spread it across her lap as she folded her legs up under herself.  “We’re not gonna get there until morning.  Will you be okay if I doze off?  You can follow the directions on the GPS.  It’s already programmed in.”

            “I think I can manage,” Steve told her, glancing at the rectangular piece of technology lying between the seats.

            “Good.”

            He looked over at her and found that her glasses were already askew and her mouth was slightly open as her head lolled on the back of the seat.  He couldn’t help but smile as they drove on into the night.

 

Chapter 9: Living

            “What do you want?”

            Darcy blinked at the young woman behind the screen door and brightly replied, “And a very good morning to you, too.  Are you Sharon?  I think I talked to you on the phone.  I’m Darcy Lewis.”

            The woman’s face remained stern and implacable.  “So you want to interrogate my aunt about a dead man?”

            Darcy glanced at Steve who was standing next to her and reluctantly replied, “Not…exactly.”

            “Sharon, you are not my guard dog.  Let them in,” the English-accented voice of a woman shouted from the back of the house.

            Sharon’s cheeks reddened as Darcy grinned and muttered to Steve, “I see why you like her.”

            Darcy pulled open the screen door and stepped inside without ceremony.  Sharon haughtily got out of the way and quirked an eyebrow at Steve and said, “You look familiar.”

            “He’s got one of those faces,” Darcy said before possessively grabbing one of his wrists and pulling him toward the back of the house.

            They got to the doorway of the sunny back room and Darcy said, “I’ll talk to her first, okay?”

            Steve sighed a little and replied, “Thanks.”

            She squeezed his arm slightly before walking into the room.  “Mrs. Walsh?”

            “I’ve gone by Carter for the last ten years at least,” the white-haired woman told her from her seat looking out onto the backyard.  “Walter has been dead for nearly twenty years.”

            “Right,” Darcy said, pulling a chair up nearer to the woman.  Despite Peggy Carter’s extremely advanced age, her brown eyes still held a certain intensity Darcy thought it best not to underestimate.  “I wanted to talk to you about Project Rebirth.”

            “It’s my kidneys that are failing, dear, not my memory.  I did speak to you on the phone.  I know why you’re here.  I do have to have to say, though, you don’t much look like an agent.”

            Darcy looked down self-consciously at her attire of jeans and a tank top beneath a denim jacket.  She somehow knew that any form of deception wasn’t going to work, so she simply explained, “I’m the assistant of a SHIELD scientist, who is not actually connected at all to Project Rebirth.”

            “Then how do you know about any of this?” Peggy asked, beginning to get exasperated.

            “I’m nosy,” Darcy replied, “and I had my boss’ access codes.  It became a particular point of interest for me because the project was reactivated a couple of weeks ago.”

            A fire suddenly blazed in Peggy’s eyes.  “Reactivated?  They are not trying to create another super soldier, are they?”

            “No, no,” Darcy answered quickly.  “The last time they tried that sort of thing, it went terribly awry.  Project Rebirth was reactivated because they found the original test subject.”

            Peggy’s eyes fluttered to the table beside her chair.  It was full of framed photographs of varying ages.  Darcy followed Peggy’s gaze to a picture of Steve in his Army uniform.  She cautiously stretched out her hand and laid it over one of Peggy’s.

            “The combination of the treatments he received and the ice preserved him perfectly for the last seventy years.”

            “Preserved?”

            “He was fine after just a couple of days.  He is exactly the as the last time you saw him.”

            A silence hung into the air for a long moment.  “May I see him?” Peggy asked quietly.

            Darcy smiled brightly.  “He’s standing right outside the door.”

            Peggy looked up just as Steve stepped across the threshold.  Their eyes locked and Peggy covered her mouth to hide her shock. 

            “Hi,” Steve said shyly.

            Darcy smiled and stood up.  “I’ll leave you two alone,” she said as she patted Steve’s arm before walking into the hall.

            “Well, don’t just stand there like a buffoon.  Sit down,” Peggy told him.

            Steve smiled at her and sat down in the chair Darcy had just vacated.  Peggy took a long, hard look at him.  “She was right.  You haven’t changed at all,” she said.

            “I don’t think you have, either,” he replied with a smirk.

            “Oh, poppycock.  I got old.  Terribly so, in actual fact.  I’m dying.”

            Steve looked down at his shoes.  “I know.  Darcy told me.”

            “She’s very informative that girl of yours.”

            “She—she’s not mine.  I just met her three days ago.”

            Peggy laughed lightly and sat back in her chair.  “You definitely have not changed.”

            Silence hung in the room once more.  “So…how have you been?” he asked awkwardly.

            She laughed as him and said, “It’s been a good, long life.  I got married.  Walter was a nuclear physicist Howard knew from the Manhattan Project.  He introduced us.  It was only fair.  I introduced him to his wife, Maria.  That’s their wedding photo there.  I was maid of honor.”

            Steve picked up the photo and examined it with a smile.  Howard Stark was looking back at him with the cocky grin his son inherited.  The woman next to him in the white dress was exceptionally beautiful with her long, glistening black hair and light olive complexion.  Peggy smirked when she noticed him staring.

            “Maria was a model, but her temperament made her and Howard genuinely suited for one another.  She didn’t overly nag him about his drinking and she didn’t try to kill him when he flirted incessantly,” Peggy explained.

            “You know, I thought you and Howard might have…”

            “Please, I would have murdered him in his sleep,” she muttered.  “Walter was, of course, nothing like Howard.  He was a quiet, reserved sort of pan.  Very brilliant, but quite humble about it too.”

            Steve perused the photographs on the table.  “No children?”

            “Not of our own,” she replied, her voice low.  “It wasn’t in the cards.  We had lots of nieces and nephews, though.  Sharon is my brother’s youngest, and she is quite protective of me, as you no doubt witnessed.  Walter and I liked to travel.  All the things in this room we collected on our travels.”

            He looked around at the collection of African masks and royal crests and figurines of famous buildings scattered around the walls and ledges of the room.  A great sadness weighed down his chest and he was once again unable to meet her eyes.

            “Steve?” she asked, running a weathered hand through his hair.

            “It’s just…the world,” he sold her.  “You got to see it, and you got to see it change, and I—I’m not sure if I belong anymore, or if I should even be here, or what I should do.”

            “My dear heart,” she began, gently squeezing his hand, “the more the world changes, the more it stays the same.  You are a good man, and the world always needs a good man.”

            “It’s a world I don’t understand.”

            “And you understood it so well seventy years ago?” she asked dubiously.

            Steve cracked a smile in response.  “I guess not.”

            “You know,” she began slowly and quietly, “I can’t really dance anymore.”

            He felt that same deep pain ricocheting through his midsection.  “I’m sorry I’m so late,” he whispered.

            “I can’t teach you how to dance, but I believe you might have already found a very good teacher and partner.”

            Steve quirked an eyebrow.  “Who are you talking about?”

            Peggy rolled her eyes and muttered, “Of course you don’t know.  Help me up, please.”

            Steve very gently took hold of her thin arm and helped her to her feet.  He held on lightly as she shuffled toward the fireplace.  She took a plain wooden box from its place on the mantle and placed it in Steve’s hands.

            “They’re your things,” she explained.  “Go on.  Open it.”

            He lifted the lid and discovered his old sketchbook, a few pictures, and even an old book upon which he probably owed millions of dollars to the Brooklyn Public Library.  There was also a small key he couldn’t remember ever owning.  “What’s this?”

            “That goes to a storage unit on State Street.  What it contains wouldn’t fit on the mantle,” she said with a mischievous smile.  “The number of the unit is on the key.”

            “Thank you for this,” he told her timidly.

            She gingerly kissed his cheek and whispered, “I’ve lived a good life, Steve.  Please do the same for me.”

            “I’ll do my best.”

 #####

            “Hey,” Darcy said as Steve climbed into the jeep next to her.  “Everything okay?”

            “Yeah,” he replied, setting the box on the seat between them.

            “What’s in the box?” Darcy asked.  “I’m nosy.”

            “I actually figured that out on my own.”

            Darcy playfully glared at him and he smirked in response.  “It’s my old sketchbook and a few other old things.  There’s also this.”

            She looked at the key he’d placed in her hand and said, “State Street Storage, huh?  Do you know what’s in it?”

            He shook his head.  “She wouldn’t tell me.”

            “Hmm.  Should be interesting.  I’m not really sure where this storage place is, but that’s why we have GPS.  Oh,” Darcy moaned disappointedly.  “Angry Birds killed my phone.”

            “What?” Steve asked, looking skyward.

            “Not real angry birds,” Darcy explained quickly.  “It’ a game and I kind of drained my phone’s battery with it.  Fortunately, this neighborhood isn’t too far from my dad’s house.  He’s a fire chief, so he pretty much knows Albuquerque better than he knows himself.”

            “Then let’s go,” Steve said as he started the jeep.

 #####

            Darcy opened the screen door of the blue stucco house she’d grown up in and loudly said, “You know, this isn’t exactly secure.  Anyone could just walk in.”

            The zombies on the living room television suddenly froze, and a head with a mop of curly black hair popped up from the back of the couch.

            “Deecee?”

            “No, I’m a thief that stupidly decided to announce my presence.”

            His face was much like Darcy’s only longer and thinner.  His bright blue eyes widened and grin broke across his face at the sight of his sister.  “It is you,” he said before dropping the video game controller, jumping over the back of the couch, and promptly falling to the wood floor.

            “Well, you’re never going to be leaping tall buildings in a single bound,” Darcy told him.

            “Are you okay?” Steve asked, kneeling down to help the younger man.

            “Yeah, happens all the time,” Clark said, rubbing his shoulder as he stood up.  He was almost as tall as Steve, but his body appeared to be based on the design of a spaghetti noodle.  “Why is this guy so much nicer to me than my own sister?”

            “I changed your diapers.  I don’t have to be nice to you.  And he’s pretty nice to everyone.  You’re not special.”

            “Who are you, anyway?” Clark asked Steve.

            “Steven Rogers,” he replied, holding out his right hand.

            “Deecee, he’s offering to shake my hand.  I’m a man!”

            “No, you’re not,” she told him shortly.  “Shake his hand, C.K.”

            “I’m Clark,” he said, taking Steve’s offered hand.

            “C.K,” Darcy corrected.

            “I go by Clark now.”

            “As long as you call me Deecee, you’re C.K.”

            “Not everyone has to call me C.K.”

            “Everyone I know does.”

            “Um, are you going to let go of my hand?”

            Clark let go of Steve’s hand as though it were made of acid.  “Sorry.  That was probably getting awkward for you.”

            “Just a little,” Steve replied, swallowing a smile.

            Clark looked at the two adults about to fall apart in giggles and quickly said, “Nice wheels.  Where’d you get them?”

            “We borrowed them.”

            “From who; Colonel Kurtz?”

            “Who’s Colonel Kurtz?”

            “Who let you watch Apocalypse Now?  Never mind, it had to be Uncle Max.”

            Clark tapped the end of his nose with his index finger.

            “What’s Max done now?  Darcy?”

            A man of about fifty appeared in the living room doorway wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  He had a high forehead, prominent, square chin, and a receding head of grayish blonde hair.  He smiled warmly at the sight of his daughter and wrapped her in a tight hug.

            “This is quite the surprise, though not quite as big a surprise as that,” he said, motioning toward Steve.

            “That’s a him, Dad.”

            “That’s what I mean.”

            “I’m Steven Rogers, sir,” he said, extending his hand to the seemingly older man.

            “He’s polite too.  I’m David Lewis,” he replied, shaking Steve’s hand.  “So, how do you know my daughter?”

            “I…”

            “Dad, don’t interrogate him.”

            “Since when has one question constituted an interrogation?”

            “Many interrogations consist of only one question until someone’s heart stops beating.”

            “This isn’t Gitmo.  Steven, how did you meet Darcy?”

            Steve glanced at Darcy, who was silently groaning and looking up at the ceiling in resignation.  “I met Darcy at work,” he said reluctantly.  It was almost true.

            “And what exactly do you do for work?” David asked, shoring himself to his full height and folding his arms across his chest.

            Steve met the other man’s blue eyes and said, “I’m a captain in the United States Army.”

            “Dude, you wanna kill some zombies with me?  I bet you’d be awesome.”

            “Clark,” his father admonished before turning to his daughter.  “How did you meet an army captain?”

            “Uh…Jane’s work for the government has some military applications,” Darcy replied, hoping that half-assed explanation would fly.

            “And you brought him here because…”

            “I didn’t bring him here on purpose.”

            “Nice to know how much you love us.”

            “Shut up, C.K.  We came to town to get some of his stuff and his friend put something in a unit at State Street Storage and I don’t know where it is and my phone died,” Darcy explained in one breath.

            “What the she a girlfriend?” David asked, looking directly at Steve.

            “Uh…”

            “Okay, timeout,” Darcy cut in, pulling her dad out of the room.

            “Dad, Steve and I are not together,” she hissed at him when they were out of the living room.  “Why are you treating him like we are?”

            “Why aren’t you together?”

            “Wh-what?” she asked, blinking in surprise.  “I met him, like, three-ish days ago.  We came here to get directions.  That’s it.”

            “Why doesn’t he know where his stuff is?  He kind of seems like the responsible type.”

            “He was MIA for a long time, Dad,” Darcy told him, lowering her voice to a whisper.  “He just got back and found out she lived here.  Can we just leave it at that?”

            David looked down at the faded POW-MIA tattoo on his forearm and said, “Yeah, we can leave it at that.  Did you ever think that State Street Storage might be on State Street?”

            Darcy’s gaze narrowed and she said, “I don’t know where State Street is, Dad.”

            “I’m glad.  It’s not exactly the best part of town.  I suppose you’ll be okay with Steven.  The kid looks like he could kill an ox,” David muttered as he grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil from a side table.  “I’ll do this the old fashioned way; with a map.”

 #####

            “So…are you going to go crazy?”

            “Beg pardon?” Steve asked, looking up at Clark with a quirked eyebrow.

            “Our great uncle Jack went missing in Vietnam for nine months and, when he got back, he turned into a hermit that got obsessed with small rodents.  When he died, there were like fifty taxidermied squirrels and rats in his cabin in the woods,” Clark explained in a deeply serious tone.

            “I, um, that’s not going to happen,” Steve assured him, nodding uncomfortably.

            “That’s what Great Uncle Jack said too, at least according to Uncle Max, who is, admittedly, not the greatest witness, but Dad’s never corrected him.”

             Steve opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out, so he just sealed his lips.

            “I can’t really imagine my sister rolling around in that jeep.”

            “She didn’t really know how to drive it,” Steve told him.

            “Oh, right.  It’s probably a standard.  Although…Darcy has driven stick a couple of times, if you know what I mean.”

            “Clark!”

            “Crap,” the young man muttered.

            “Um…she really didn’t know how to drive that jeep,” Steve pointed out.

            Darcy and Clark stared at him.  Clark looked at his sister and said, “Wow.  He is a really nice guy.”

            “And you can thank your lucky stars for that,” Darcy said before smacking the back of her brother’s head.

            “Ow!”

            “It would have been worse if he’d gotten it,” she muttered.  “Dad drew us a map.  Give Uncle Max a kiss for me when he gets off day shift.”

            “I’m so not doing that.”

            “Yeah, yeah.  Bye, Dad.”

            “Bye, Baby Girl.  Be careful.”

            “It was nice to meet you both,” Steve told them.

            “You take care of my daughter.”

            “Dad!”

            “I will, Sir,” Steve replied, before he followed Darcy out of the house.

 #####

            “Storage places give me the creeps.  I always expect to find a dead body around every corner.  But that’s probably because I watch too much TV.”

            Steve glanced at her from his place behind the wheel of the jeep.  “I don’t think I’m going to watch very much TV.”

            “Don’t.  I rots your brain,” Darcy advised.  “This is it.”

            Steve stopped the car and took the key from his pocket.  He undid the padlock and lifted the metal door as Darcy limped up to him.  He chuckled and grinned at what he saw within the dark space.  “Wow.”

            “Oh.  My.  God,” Darcy said, grinning widely.  “Tony is gonna love this.”

Chapter 10: Routine

            Routine set in upon their arrival at the Stark mansion in upstate New York.  The place might have looked like a blue-blood haven of brick and stone on the outside, but, with the exception of a few richly decorated rooms, the interior was as modern as Tony’s mansion in Malibu.  The basement was more of an underground complex of concrete and stone.  The largest room, of course, held Tony’s suits and cars.  It was also where he spent most of his time since Steve showed up with a rusty, yet still tricked-out, ’41 Indian motorcycle.

            Jane set up shop in a more traditional space.  She had control over her own SHIELD telescope, and when she wasn’t studying star charts or making calculations, she and Thor were smiling awkwardly at one another and making Darcy roll her eyes.

            Natasha went into the City everyday to maintain her cover at Stark Industries.  When Pepper could drag Tony away, he also went with them, but only if it was absolutely necessary.  A media circus had ensued in the wake of the announcement of Tony and Pepper’s engagement.  Both of them were sort of okay with hiding from the frenzy for the time being.

            Bruce had emptied a room in the basement of all equipment and furniture and set about reinforcing the walls, floor, and ceiling.

            “Is he doing what I think he’s doing?” Pepper asked as she and Tony walked past the space Bruce was transforming.

            “Yeah, probably,” Tony replied, paying far more attention to the 3-D motorcycle designs on the tablet in his hands.

            “That’s right under the dining room.”

            “Then you might want to move my grandmother’s fine china,” Tony suggested.

            Hawkeye had taken it upon himself to train Steve on modern weaponry.  Darcy found this highly amusing, as Hawkeye’s weapon of choice had been around since the Dark Ages. 

            Darcy found herself extremely bored one day while Thor and Jane ate lunch and compared notes on Idrasil and the rest of the known universe.  She decided to wander the halls of Tony’s 150-year-old mansion in an attempt to discover the hidden passageways she was sure existed somewhere.

            “Hey, Darcy, I was hoping to catch you alone.”

            Darcy cautiously turned around to face Pepper and said, “Am I in trouble?”

            “No, why would you say that?” Pepper asked, shaking her head.

            “It’s usually what’s happening when someone wants to talk to me alone,” Darcy explained.  “What’s up?”

            “Well, I wanted to ask you to be a bridesmaid, and I didn’t want Jane to be offended that I wasn’t asking her.”

            Darcy’s eyebrows shot up in utter surprise.  “Um, wow.  Jane doesn’t really get all girly about that sort of thing, and why would you want me to be a bridesmaid?”

            “Well,” Pepper began, nervously tucking a strand of ginger hair behind her ear, “I don’t have that many female friends.  Tony’s pretty much all I have in the world.  I asked Natalie to be my maid of honor because she’ll be helping me plan the wedding anyway, and she, I suppose, does qualify as my closest female friend.”

            “That still doesn’t answer the ‘why me’ portion of the question.”

            “Oh, it was sort of Tony’s idea,” Pepper replied, grinning, “and I thought it was a great one.  I’m fairly sure Tony would adopt you if he could.”

            “Aww…that’s so sweet!  Of course I’ll do it,” Darcy said, throwing her arms around the taller woman.  “Now I have to go harass Tony for being an old softy.”

            Pepper laughed as Darcy skipped toward the basement.  A few minutes later, she approached Tony’s vast workspace.  The sound of raised voices greeted her as soon as she opened the door.

            “You couldn’t even give me a phone call?”

            “You were busy killing terrorists, or whatever the hell you do.”

            “A text message, Tony.  Anything, so I don’t have to hear about it from a buck private with an iPhone.”

            Colonel Rhodes looked stern and annoyed in his blue Air Force uniform, but Tony was far more interested in the motorcycle on which he was working.

            “You didn’t tell him you were getting married, did you?” Darcy asked, grinning as she skipped into the room.

            “Must’ve slipped my mind,” Tony replied through gritted teeth as he attempted to loosen a rusty bolt.  “Rhodey, this is Li’l D.  You don’t know her, but she knows you.”

            “Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes,” Rhodey clarified, offering his right hand.

            “Darcy Lewis, intern,” she replied, shaking his hand.

            “Hah!” Tony exclaimed in triumph as the rusty bolt finally came loose.  “So…tux or dress uniform?”

            “What?”

            “The wedding.  You’re the best man, so, tux or dress uniform?”

            “Tony, you have not asked me to be your best man.”

            “I have to ask?  Why do I have to keep asking people these things?” Tony complained, looking at Darcy as he stood up.

            “It’s what normal people do; like how when Pepper asked me to be a bridesmaid at your suggestion.  Which reminds me,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and planting a kiss on Tony’s cheek, “thank you.”

            “Don’t get all mushy on me,” he muttered.

            “I’m not mushy.  You are.”

            “Am not.”

            “Are too.”

            “Am not.”

            “Are too.”

            “Wow.  I see why you two get along,” Rhodey said, motioning between them.

            Darcy grinned while Tony rolled his eyes and went back to working on the motorcycle.

            “So, is this Steve’s bike?” Darcy asked, walking around the workstation.

            “Yeah,” Tony replied, already distracted.  “I don’t think it’s been out of that storage unit in over twenty years.  Fortunately, I can get original Indian parts.  Steve has designs he drew around here somewhere.”

            Darcy started looking around the room as Rhodey raised his hand and said, “Who is Steve?”

            “You’ll love him.  He’s the white, ninety-four-year-old you,” Tony said as a piece of rusty metal broke apart in his hands.

            “He’s the white what?” Rhodey asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

            “Long story.  JARVIS, bring up Steve’s SHIELD file.”

            “Sir, I should remind you that Colonel Rhodes does not possess appropriate clearance—”

            “Screw the clearance.  Bring up the file.”

            “On your own head be it, Sir.”

            Rhodey looked at the computer screen while Darcy continued to search for Steve’s sketchbook.  “So…Captain America is real?”

            “Yes, and he’s a very nice young man,” Pepper said as she walked into the room with a leather folder under one arm.  “When did you get here, Rhodey?”

            He smiled and gave her peck on the cheek and replied, “Only about twenty minutes ago.  You know, you could have told me you were marrying this joker.”

            “Sorry, it’s been a hectic couple of weeks,” Pepper explained.  “Did he ask you?”

            “No, he just assumed I’d be willing.”

            “What?  You’re not going to be my best man?” Tony asked with a suspicious eyebrow.

            “Of course I’m going to be your best man,” Rhodey replied, irritated.

            “Sweet.  I’m planning the bachelor party, though.”

            “You are not having a bachelor party,” Pepper told him sternly.

            “Why not?”

            “Probably because your entire life was a bachelor party until about a year ago,” Darcy piped up, grinning.

            “She’s got you there,” Rhodey agreed with a laugh.

            “Exactly,” Pepper added.  “Natalie sent this over.  It needs your imprint.”

            “Fine,” Tony said, holding out his right thumb.

            “Not with those hands,” Pepper said, jerking the tablet away from him.

            “When did you become my mother?”

            “Wash your hands, Tony.”

            While Tony rolled his eyes and washed his hands, Darcy opened a book she found on a metal workstation.  “Oh my God, these are really amazing.  Have you seen these?”

            “He wouldn’t scan them into the computer,” Tony said, drying off his hands.  “What am I approving?”

            “Do you actually care?”

            “No,” he told his fiancée before placing his imprint on the tablet.

            “Regardless of whether or not he scanned them into the computer, these are still really great,” Darcy continued.  “Pepper, you’re the art expert.  What do you think?”

            As Pepper moved to the other side of the room, Tony went back to the motorcycle and Rhodey went back to the screen with Steve’s file.  Pepper looked at the pages full of bright and brilliant motorcycle designs with a bright smile.

            “Tony, have you really not looked at these?” she asked in disbelief. 

            “Of course I have.  The kid is talented.”

            “You do realize that ‘kid’ used to hang out with your dad,” Rhodey said, looking up from the computer screen.

            “Yeah, but he’s only actually lived for about twenty-odd years, which puts him on par with L’il D over there,” Tony explained.

            Darcy rolled her eyes as Pepper turned to a page full of doodles that seemed to be reminiscent of Steve’s old uniform.  “He could have easily had a career as a graphic artist,” Pepper commented.

            “The war changed everyone’s plans,” Darcy said quietly, quoting Steve.

            “I’m not saying it’s a bad weapon, I’m just saying I don’t like it,” an irritated voice said as the door opened and Steven marched in followed closely by Hawkeye.

            “What’s happening?” Tony asked.

            “Cap doesn’t like the M-16,” Hawkeye explained with a slight grin.

            “I just like to keep things simple,” Steve replied before turning to the only person in the room he didn’t recognize.  “We haven’t met, sir, I’m Steven Rogers.”

            Rhodey blinked in surprise before shaking Steve’s hand.  “Colonel James Rhodes.  It’s nice to meet you, Captain.”

            Steve glanced over at Darcy and Pepper.  “What are you doing?” he asked with a biting edge to his voice.

            “We were just looking,” Pepper replied with a placating smile.

            “My fault,” Darcy explained.  “I’m nosy.”

            “Maybe you should be less nosy, Li’l D,” Steve muttered, closing the sketchbook and pulling it away from them.

            Darcy flinched slightly.  “I’m Li’l D now to everyone,” she said under her breath.  “Jane probably needs me,”

            Everyone watched her leave.  Rhodey looked at Tony and said, “Was that weird?”

            “Yeah, that was weird,” Tony replied.

            Pepper rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly.  “Steve, there’s something I’ve been meaning to show you for a few days.  Would you walk with me, please?”

            Steve nodded silently and followed her with his sketchbook in hand.  Hawkeye looked at the other two men and said, “Are you confused?  I’m confused.”

 #####

            Darcy found Jane in her lab, deeply engrossed in whatever was on her computer screen.  “Where’s your boy-toy?” she asked, slumping into a chair across from her boss.

            “Huh?” Jane asked, finally noticing Darcy’s presence.  “Oh, he, um, he wanted to get out for a while.

            Darcy took a closer look at Jane and noticed her hair was fairly askew, she was more flushed than the room temperature could explain, and her shirt was buttoned up wrong.

            “Were you having sex?”

            “What?  No!”

            “You were thinking about it, though.”

            “No, we were just—”

            “Is Thor cooling off in the North Atlantic?”

            “Maybe,” Jane muttered, sheepishly re-buttoning her shirt.

            Darcy shook her head.  “You two shouldn’t be carrying on like that.”

            “Carrying on?  What are you; eighty?”

            “I wish I was eighty,” Darcy muttered, pouting.

            “What’s up with you?”

            “Nothing.”

            “No, not nothing,” Jane said, leaning back into her chair.  “What happened?”

            “It’s not—it’s just…Steve called me Li’l D, like I was a kid, or something.”

            Jane considered her intern for a long minute before realization dawned and her eyes widened.  “Oh, Darcy, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” Jane assured her.  “He probably just picked it up from the rest of the guys.  It doesn’t mean he thinks you’re a child.”

            “But I am, aren’t I?  He’s, like, ninety-four-years-old.”

            “That depends on how you look at it,” Jane argued.  “Sure, he was born in 1917, but he’s been frozen for nearly seventy years.  He’s only lived for twenty-five years.  He’s not really that much older than you, and right now he’s the babe in the woods.  He doesn’t know this world at all.  He needs someone like you.  We all do.”

            Darcy cocked an eyebrow and said, “What am I like, exactly?”

            Jane smiled and replied, “Real.  That’s what you are, Darcy: real.”

 #####

            “I probably lost my temper back there.  I’m sorry,” Steve said quietly as he followed slightly behind Pepper.

            “Wow.  You thought that was losing your temper?  I guess it’s probably a good thing you’re so even-tempered what with Tony, a Norse god, and...Bruce hanging around,” Pepper said before walking into an office with a rich, espresso desk and high bookcases.  The bookcases did not contain books, however.  They were filled with half completed devices and trinkets, most of them covered in a significant layer of dust.

            “This was Howard Stark’s office,” Pepper replied to Steve’s unasked question.  “Tony thought it was too small, so he’s never used it.  It’s mostly just been sitting here for the last twenty years.  But I realized where I’d seen you before when I was in here looking for something the other day.”

            She passed him a photo in a silver frame.  Steve looked at it and smiled.  It was a picture of him and Howard laughing so hard, they were almost doubled over.  Pepper smiled at the nostalgic look on the man’s face and said,  “I took me a minute to recognize you from the photo.  You’re such a serious person.”

            “The photographer was trying to get us to pose like we were discussing the design of the shield, even though it was already finished.  It all seemed so stupid, we just started laughing,” Steve explained.  “I’ve never actually seen this picture before.”

            She smiled kindly as she replaced the frame on the desk.  “You know, Howard sent expeditions to the North Atlantic every summer until he died.  He always hoped he’d find you.”

            Steve shook his head somberly.  “I wish I could have known all of them better.”

            “Most of them are gone now,” Pepper said quietly, replacing the frame on the desk.  “But we’re all here, and you can get to know us, and we can get to know you.”

            Steve raised an eyebrow and said, “You’re trying to get something out of me.”

            Pepper smiled and replied, “Nothing, but I did want to tell you something about Darcy.”

            “What?”

            “Don’t call her Li’l D.”

            Steve’s head tilted slightly in surprise.  “Everyone calls her Li’l D.”

            “You are not everyone,” Pepper told him authoritatively.  “It’s a little thing, but it’s the little things that count.”

            “Count for what?”

            “You’ll figure it out someday, I’m sure.”

Chapter 11

            Steve’s sketchbook landed on the table with a resolute thud.  Tony looked up from the gauntlet he was working on and said, “Maybe you should go outside.”

            “Why?”

            “Because you look like you’re about to explode and don’t want you messing up my stuff.”

            “You’re an ass.”

            Tony actually looked up and stared at the other man.  “Are you okay?”

            “It’s like we’re prisoners here,” Steve said, starting to pace.  “After Jane and Darcy were hurt, Commander Fury acted like there was a huge crisis about to happen, but we’ve just been sitting here for three weeks.”

            “Okay, this is actually my house, so I don’t feel like a prisoner,” Tony replied.  “Besides, if I stay in the house, I stay out of trouble and Pepper likes me more, if you know what I mean, which you probably don’t, because you’re you.”

            “Jesus Christ, Tony, I know what you mean!  I’m not an idiot,” Steve said, seething in frustration before stomping out of the room.

            Tony blinked at the empty space Steve had been standing just a few moments earlier.  “Uh, JARVIS, Steve’s upset.  Tell Darcy she should take care of it.”

 #####

            Steve walked outside to find a storm brewing over the old, stone gazebo in the back yard.  Thor was standing underneath it, absentmindedly spinning his hammer from the lanyard.

            “Um, are you doing that?” Steve asked, motioning to the sky as he approached the other man.

            “Oh,” Thor said, suddenly noticing the clouds and lightning.  “I am sorry.”

            “It’s okay,” Steve replied, hopping onto the railing as the sky cleared.  “Is something wrong?”

            “I…feel confused,” Thor answered reluctantly.  “I came back to this realm for Jane.  I had given her my word and an opportunity presented itself and I took it, and now I feel…useless.  And now Jane is likely to go to the City of New York."

            “Why?”

            “Erik has asked for her assistance and he is much like a father to her.  She, of course, wants to give him any aid she can,” Thor explained quietly.

            “You think you made a mistake coming back?”

            “No,” Thor replied without hesitation.  “Something is wrong.  I can feel it.”

            Steve followed Thor’s gaze toward the woods at the south of the grounds.  He felt nothing untoward in them, but he was also not a Norse god.

            “Do you think perhaps we have placed our trust in the wrong people?” Thor asked, his eyes still focused on the distance.

            “Howard Stark founded SHIELD, and Howard was my friend.  I trusted him, and I have to believe in the people he trusted.  If you can’t trust your friends, whom can you?”

            Thor nodded and said, “I trust Jane, and her judgment.”

            Steve regarded the other man for a long moment and said, “Does she know you feel that way?”

            “Of course.”

            “So, you’ve told her?” Steve asked dubiously.

            “I…no,” Thor answered, his brow furrowed in mild confusion.

            “I’m not expert, but, as I recall, women like to be told things,” Steve explained.  “Especially that you trust her and her judgment.”

            “Sage advice, Cap.”

            The two men looked around and saw Darcy walking toward them with her arms folded across her chest and a small smile on her face.

            “You really should go and talk to her,” Darcy continued.  “She’s…confused and concerned, and she’s driving me nuts, so please go.  Now.”

            Thor smirked.  “Thank you for your advice, Captain,” he said quietly before giving Darcy’s arm an affectionate squeeze and walking toward the house.

            Darcy looked over at Steve and hopped up on the railing next to him.  “So…I heard something interesting.”

            “What’s that?”

            “Well, JARVIS told me that Tony told him—it, him, it, whatever—that you were upset and that I should ‘take care of it.’”

            “I wasn’t—”

            “Don’t try to weasel out of it,” Darcy warned.  “JARVIS played me the tape.  You were definitely upset.”

            “The house is spying on us?”

            “The house is alive,” Darcy said, waggling her eyebrows dramatically.  “Seriously, though, you have to be the even-tempered one in this group of people.”

            “So, I’ve been told,” Steve muttered.

            “So…you’re feeling useless,” Darcy said.  “As I recall, the last time you felt useless, you pretty much single-handedly rescued four hundred men from a HYDRA prison.  Maybe it’s a good thing you’re bored.”

            Steve shook his head, but he smirked slightly.  “I wasn’t really alone for that.”

            “Um, look around, Cap.  You’re not alone now.  What do you want to do?”

            Steve blinked at her.  “I, uh, I don’t really know where to start.”

            “Well,” Darcy began, thinking, “Bruce has been collating and analyzing data from the accident.  We could start by asking what he’s found out.”

            Steve smiled.  “Let’s go.”

 #####

            “Jane?”

            She looked up and saw Thor standing in her doorway.  She smiled and pushed away her half full suitcase.  “Hi,” she breathed.  “I’m glad you’re here.  I wanted to talk to you.”

            “Darcy told me as much,” he replied, sitting down next to her on the bed.

            “I—” they began together.

            “You—you go first,” Jane said awkwardly.

            Thor sighed slightly and said, “I believe you should go to the city of New York to assist Erik.”

            She blinked at him blankly and said, “What?”

            “I know that Erik sees you as a daughter,” he began.  “And I believe you return his sentiments.  If my own father asked for my help, I would tear the heavens asunder to help him.  I would not keep you from doing the same.”

            Jane stared at him.  “What is wrong with you?” she asked, standing up suddenly.

            “I’m sorry?”

            “You tell me you’ll come back for me, and you do that and then I start thinking about leaving and you understand why and you tell me to go.  Who understands something like that?  Not any man I’ve ever met, so what is wrong with you?”

            “I…”

            “Exactly.  Nothing is wrong with you!  Why are you even here?”

            He looked up at her and simply said, “I love you.”

            Jane opened her mouth, but no sound came out.  Thor continued, “When I was lost, you were the one found me, and in finding me, helped me find myself.  You did not blindly place your faith in me.  I had to earn your trust, and you have earned mine.  I do love you, and I will support you in whatever you think is proper.”

            She covered her face with both hands before looking at him with a smile in her eyes.  “You know what you are?” she asked straddling his lap as he remained seated on the bed.  “You’re my hope.  You gave me hope when mine was almost gone.  And it wasn’t just about the Einstein-Rosen bridge or that you showed me that the whole wide universe is out there.  You showed me that people are still willing to make ultimate sacrifices for the people they care about.  You gave me hope that people could still be good and even great.”

            “And I love you, too,” she added in a whisper.

 #####

            “Good, you’re here.  Wanna lend me a hand; preferably a left one?”

            “Why?” Pepper asked dubiously.

            “I wouldn’t ask if it was life-threatening…much,” Tony replied.  “You’ll even get to keep your hand attached to your arm.”

            “Very reassuring, Tony.”

            “Just hold out your left hand.”

            Pepper reluctantly did as he asked and watched in mild amusement as he strapped a half-formed gauntlet onto her forearm and hand?

            “What is this?”

            “What does it look like?”

            “Well, it looks like your armor, except it fits me for some strange reason.”

            “It fits you because it’s for you.  Now hold your hand up like this and brace yourself.  The first time I did it, I got thrown across the room.”

            “Hold on,” Pepper interrupted, pushing him away slightly.  “Go back to the part where this armor is for me.  Tony, why the hell are making me armor?”

            “In case I ever need backup.”

            “You hate back up and you have Rhodey for that,” she replied matter-of-factly.

            “Fine,” Tony sighed.  “It’s in case I need you to save my ass.”

            “Save you?” Pepper asked, more dubious than ever.

            “Don’t act so surprised,” Tony told her, securing the gauntlet to her arm.  “You always rescue me.  You’re very good at it, actually.  It’s one of the many reasons I love you, so get your hand up.”

            He put an arm around her waist as a tear slid down her cheek.  She smiled as he guided her arm up and said, “Flex your fingers out to activate—”

            They were suddenly tossed across the room until Tony’s back collided with the far wall.

            “Ow.”

            “Maybe we should work on that.”

            “Ya think?”

##### 

            They saw Bruce stalking down the lower corridor.  “Hey, Bruce, wait up,” Darcy called after him.

            He spun around on them and said, “You two aren’t going to start fornicating now, are you?”

            “Huh?”

            “What?”

            The two people in question gave one another perplexed and uncomfortable glances.

            “I was just minding my own business,” Bruce continued, stalking into his closet-sized office, “and then I walk past a room and your boss and her Norse god are making out and clothes are starting to fly and the door is just standing wide open.  I realize he’s ‘The Mighty Thor’ and everything, but we are not barbarians.  And then Tony and Pepper are sprawled on the floor, and we have just been in this damned house too damned long.”

            “Are you getting angry?”

            “No, D, I’m just annoyed,” Bruce assured her.  “Did you guys need something?   

            “That seems to be the prevailing opinion,” Darcy told him.

            “We were wondering what you’d managed to find out about the accident,” Steve asked.

            “Oh, well, Bruce wasn’t kidding about the computer.  There’s nothing I can get out of it.  The sword was a little more interesting.  It was stolen from a museum in Oslo.  It’s actually kind of an interesting story: the Norwegian police think it’s related to a string of fairly minor crimes across the country.  However, one of the crimes was major vandalism at a church in Tonsberg.  A World War II memorial was heavily defaced and a tomb was almost completely destroyed.  Most of the crimes had at least something to do with ancient Norse history or Norse mythology.”

            Steve thought about what Bruce said and then looked sidelong at Darcy.  She met his gaze and read him almost immediately.

            “No,” she told him.

            “He’s called ‘The Prankster.’  All these crimes are little more than childish pranks.”

            “He’s dead.  Thor said so.”

            “Thor said he fell.”

            “That’s just fancy Asgardian speak for ‘died’.”

            “Would you two please cut me in on the conversation?” Bruce interrupted.

            “Cap here thinks Loki is the culprit behind all those incidents.”

            “It makes sense.”

            “The dude is dead.”

            “Thor said he fell.”

            Both Steve and Darcy’s heads turn toward Bruce who continued, “I was talking to Jane the other day.  Based on what Thor has told her, she thinks the wormhole created by the Asgardian tech doesn’t just snap shut; it slowly closes—or in the case of Thor destroying the Bifrost—slowly collapses.  If Loki fell while the wormhole was still collapsing, he could have come through.”

            “In one piece?”

            “Thor came through your collapsing bridge,” Bruce reminded them.  “He was unconscious for a while, but other than that he was fine.”

            Darcy sighed deeply.  “Well, how are we even supposed to begin finding a Norse god with a penchant for mischief?”

            “You could ask the Norse god upstairs, but I get the feeling he’d be really annoyed if you interrupted him right now.”

            Steve scoffed before attempting to hide a smile.  Darcy smirked and shook her head.

            “Look,” Bruce began, “I know how people try to hide.  Even if he is a Norse god, or whatever, maybe I can still see some things the Norwegian police missed.”

            “That’s a good idea.  While you’re doing that, we’ll research Loki, maybe figure out a discernable behavior pattern.”

            “You got it, Cap,” Bruce said, turning to his computer.

            Steve and Darcy walked out of the room.  She grinned at his back as Steve marched purposefully down the hall.  “You’re being very captainly today,” she told him.

            “What is that supposed to mean?” he asked, turning around to face her.

            “Oh, nothing,” she replied, brushing it off.  “You know, there is one thing missing from your theory about Loki: why?”

            “Simple: revenge,” Steve replied.

            “I don’t think so,” Darcy said shaking her head.  “I mean, yeah, getting back at Thor definitely has something to do with it, but revenge is not all there is to it.”

            Steve sighed as he thought for a moment.  “If you were a fallen god like Loki, what would you be trying to do?”

            “Well—putting aside the fact you believe I can think like Loki—I would be trying to get my power and position back by any means necessary,” Darcy said.  “You know, I don’t really think Earth is that important to the Asgardians.”

            “So…if Loki is behind everything, he’s probably not just making trouble here.  Where else would he be?”

            Darcy shrugged and smiled.  “Jane’s clearance doesn’t really go up that high.  Screw the library.  Let’s find out what your thumbprint can get us.”

##### 

            Jane smiled into Thor’s eyes as he tucked her hair behind her ear.  “Come with me to New York,” she whispered to him.

              Thor sighed slightly as he ran his fingers down her bare arm.  “I don’t believe I should,” he replied quietly.

            “What?” Jane asked, sitting up slightly and pulling up the covers.

            “Do not think it is because I don’t wish to be near you, but…something is happening, and those of us here must learn to work together,” he explained quietly.  “We do not even know each other.  It is time we should learn to fight together.”

            “How very noble of you,” Jane replied, rolling her eyes and laying back down in the bed.

            “Are you angry with me?” he asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

            “I’m not sure.  I’ll let you know when I decide,” she replied with a smirk.

            His brow furrowed slightly and he said, “You’re joking.”

            “Yeah, I am,” she answered, rolling her head over to look at him.  “You’re a warrior, I’m a scientist.  We have to do our part in our own ways.”

            She curled herself into his side and rested her head on his chest.  He put his arm around her shoulders and absent-mindedly ran his fingers down her bare spine.

            “I just want to stay here until I have to leave.”

            “As do I,” Thor replied softly.

##### 

            “How do you even know how to read these star charts?”

            “It was either learning to read the star charts or having Jane give me the ‘you are such an idiot’ look every ten seconds,” Darcy replied, flipping through the standardized reports on the screen.  “It’s too bad your security access only got us species profiles and not current activity reports.  It would be helpful to know what these guys are up to at the moment.”

            “Well, they probably didn’t want me to know too much.  I could be crazy, you know.”

            Darcy smirked.  “People have a tendency of underestimating you, Cap.”

            Steve cocked an eyebrow.  “Why are you calling me Cap?”

            Darcy shrugged and refused to meet his eyes.  “Well…it seemed like the thing to do.  Almost everyone else calls you Cap.”

            “Darcy,” he began, “please just keep calling me Steve.”

            She looked up and saw the shy smile on his face.  She bit her lip and said, “Sure.  Whatever you want, Steve.”

            “Hey,” Bruce said, bursting into the room with his laptop in hand.  “I think I found something.  I was looking for odd occurrences around the times and areas of the crimes committed in Norway, and I found atmospheric disturbances near every location that look like this,” he continued, setting the laptop down in front of the other two.  “D, does this data look familiar to you?”

            “Um, sort of,” she replied, squinting at the screen of equations and colored rings.

            “Here’s the SHIELD data from the Bifrost appearances in New Mexico,” Bruce said a few keystrokes later.  “Do you see it?”

            “Is-is that what Jane’s talking about when she says the lensing is indicative of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?” Darcy asked, looking between the two similar images of colored rings.

            “That’s exactly what she means.”

            “The one from Norway is…rougher,” Steve pointed out.

            “These phenomena…I think they may be naturally occurring,” Bruce replied with a little more than a hint of excitement in his voice.

            “That’s a very interesting theory, Dr. Banner,” a deep voice of Nick Fury resonated from the doorway.  “Care to share what else you three have been digging up?”

 

Chapter 12: Catch This

            Bruce’s watch started beeping.  He took a deep breath, pressed a couple of buttons, and hurriedly put his hands behind his back while biting his lower lip.  Darcy’s face scrunched up as though she were waiting to be hit.  Steve stood up and faced Commander Fury.

            “Are you actually going to do something about it if we tell you.”

            Darcy and Bruce’s heads snapped toward Steve.  That had not been the response they were expecting.  Fury, however, actually smiled.

            “You were never satisfied just staying home and sitting still, were you, Cap?”

            “No, I was not,” Steve replied, still looking the other man in the eye.

            “Don’t mistake waiting for doing nothing, Captain.”

            “Waiting too long can get people killed.”

            “I wasn’t planning on waiting forever,” Fury told him before looking over at Bruce.  “What have you got?”

            “Huh?  Oh, the sword, yeah,” Bruce replied, befuddled after having so raptly followed the previous exchange.  “The sword was just one of a string of crimes and when I looked into the crimes, I found atmospheric disturbances with readings consistent with an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, but unlike almost anything we’ve seen before with this kind of phenomenon.”

            “You think they’re naturally occurring?” Fury asked.

            “Yes.”

            “What do you need?”

            “Uh…data.  As much as you can give me,” Bruce replied.

            “You can have satellite data within the hour and ground data by tomorrow morning.”

            “Data from where?”

            “Everywhere.”

            “Huh,” Bruce said, slightly slack-jawed as he scratched the back of his neck.  “I’m gonna need a program to sift through all the data.”

            “Tony could build you a program,” Darcy suggested.

            “Probably, but will he hear me when I ask; probably not,” Bruce replied sardonically.

            “Wear a red wig when you ask him.  Tony loves redheads.”

            “I’m not doing that.”

            “Ms. Lewis, you have a knack for making yourself heard,” Fury pointed out.  “Make sure Mr. Stark hears Dr. Banner.”

            Bruce and Darcy both looked at Steve who nodded and quietly said, “Go on.”

            Fury gave Steve a knowing look.  “I wondered how long it would take you,” Fury said.

            “Take me to what?”

            “To remember who you are,” Fury replied simply.  “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me, Cap?”

            Steve considered telling Fury about his and Darcy’s theory, but thought better of it.  “I need to talk to someone else first.”

            Fury set his jaw and nodded as though he understood a little too well.  “Just keep me in the loop, Captain.”

            Steve stopped at the door and met the other man’s steely gaze.  “As long as you do likewise.  Commander.”

#AVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERS#

            It had been relatively easy to convince Tony to help Bruce build a data-sifting program.  His robots were busy fabricating parts and he needed an excuse to keep Pepper from making him focus on Stark Industries.  Pepper finally gave up and walked with Darcy toward the main staircase.  Darcy smirked when she saw Thor carrying Jane’s bags while she walked down the stairs next to him.

            “Have good sex?” Darcy asked them brightly.

            Thor definitely blushed and Jane stumbled down the last step.  Fortunately, Thor’s reflexes were still quick enough to keep her from falling on her face.

            “Um,” Pepper began, trying to suppress a laugh, “bags.  Let’s get your bags out to the car.”

            She was still shaking her head and trying not to laugh as Thor sheepishly followed her to the door.  Jane glared at Darcy.

            “I hate you.”

            “No, you don’t.”

            “How did you even know?”

            “You left the door open and poor Bruce had his eyes assaulted.”

            “Oh, God,” Jane groaned, covering her face with her hands.

            “Yeah, you were probably saying that a lot.”

            Jane glared.  Darcy grinned as they moved toward the door.

            “Sure you don’t need me?”

            “Absolutely positive.”

            “I’ll probably see you soon anyway.  Everything always happens in New York.”

            “Very true,” Jane agreed before giving the younger woman a hug.

#AVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERS#

            Thor enjoyed the rooms Tony Stark had for the most part let alone.  They reminded him a little of the grandeur of Asgard.  He stared into the blazing fire and thought about the uncertain future before him.

            “Pizza?” Steve offered, holding out a plate and sitting down across from Thor.

            Thor took the plate and said, “What is this ‘pizza’?”

            “Well,” Steve began slowly, as he had never had to explain this before, “it’s basically a thin kind of bread covered in a sauce made of vegetables, and then it’s covered in shredded cheeses and thin slices of meat and then it’s all baked together.”

            “It sounds like very healthy and balanced nourishment,” Thor replied.

            “You’d think that,” Steve muttered, smiling as he took a bite of his own slice.

            Thor took a large bite and his eyes almost instantly widened.  “This is good!” he declared through a mouthful of pizza.  He swallowed and continued, “My friend, Volstagg, would greatly enjoy this.”

            Steve chuckled.  “Well, it’s been the best slice in Brooklyn for almost a hundred years,” he said.  “Tony picked it up himself, in the Iron Man suit, which I’m sure gave quite a few people a start.”

            “This Stark is a bit of a braggart, is he not?” Thor asked between bites.

            Steve shrugged and smiled slightly.  “He gets that from his dad.”

            “You knew his father?”

            Steve nodded.  “But, there’s an old expression: ‘it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.’  The Starks always deliver on their promises.”

            “I suppose you would know better than I.”

            Steve finished his slice and set it on the coffee table.  “Thor, I actually came here to talk to about something important.”

            “What is it?” Thor asked leaning closer and setting his empty plate aside.

            Steve took a deep breath.  “How…how sure are you that your brother is really dead?”

            Thor’s insides clenched.  “What makes you ask such a question?” he said, his voice barely controlled.

            “The sword that was used to stab Jane, it was part of a series of pranks at Norse sites connected to the mythology you and your family and friends helped shape,” Steve explained briefly.  “Most of it was just mischief.  Isn’t that sort of your brother’s specialty?”

            Thor shook his head silently and sat back in his chair.  Steve placidly continued, “That’s no all.  Around the site of every incident Bruce found evidence of passageways like the one your people call the Birfrost.  Would Loki have known anything about that?”

            Thor felt his anger cracking.  He knew Loki had knowledge of hidden paths between the realms.  Heimball had told him as much.  “Yes,” he admitted quietly.  “Loki would know of such things.”

            “If everything that’s happened is Loki’s doing, why is he doing it?”

            Thor suddenly found himself unable to sit any longer.  He turned away from Steve and said, “I do not know what Loki would do.”

            “He was your brother.”

            “He is so full of hate and hurt now,” Thor said quietly, turning around.  “He is not the person I called ‘brother.’  I’m afraid I don’t know what he’s capable of anymore.”

            “That’s…not good,” Steve said, shaking his head.

            “We have to stand together against whatever my brother is planning.”

            Steve stood up and faced the other man.  “You’re right.  It’s time we really get to know one another.”

#AVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERSAVENGERS#

            “Ms. Lewis?”

            Darcy nearly choked on her pizza.  “Oh, hi,” she replied to Agent Romanov as she set her plate down on the kitchen island.

            Natasha laid a handgun down next to Darcy’s pizza and said, “Do you know what this is?”

            Darcy was starting to feel worried.  “Um, I think it’s a Glock 9, but I’m not really an expert.”

            Natasha smiled slightly.  “Your father was in the military, correct?”

            “Yes.  How-how do you know that?” Darcy asked cautiously.

            “You’re no the only person who can read a personnel file.”

            “I have a personnel file?”

            “Of course,” Natasha replied matter-of-factly.  “Do you know how to use that?”

            “Uh, well…” Darcy said, picking up the gun and making sure the safety was on.  She pressed the button on the side of the handle releasing the magazine, and pulled the slide back, locking it in place.  She set the loaded magazine and empty gun down on the counter and said, “That’s the extent of my knowledge.”

            “You left the safety on,” Natasha commented.

            “I didn’t want to shoot myself in the foot,” Darcy explained.

            “Very good,” Natasha said as she released the slide and replaced the magazine.

            “Was this a test?” Darcy asked with a raised eyebrow.

            “Sort of,” Natasha replied.  “Have you ever fired one?”

            “No.  Dad took my brother once, which is totally sexist, but he’s old and he’s my dad, so what can you do?” Darcy explained.  “I’m pretty handy with a taser, though.”

            “I’ve heard that,” Natasha said with a smirk.  “Come with me.”

            Darcy picked up her plate and rushed after the redhead.  “Um, what are we doing?”

            “If you’re going to be staying with us, you need to be more of an asset than a liability,” Natasha explained without stopping or turning around.

            Darcy stopped in her tracks and said, “You think I’m a liability?”

            “Generally, no,” Natasha answered, turning around to face her, “but in a real fight, you need to be able to protect yourself because we won’t be able to do so.”

            “Is there a problem with running away?” Darcy asked, only half joking.

            “It’s not always an option.”

            Darcy sighed and took a big bite of her pizza before jogging after the other woman.

Chapter 13: The Breakfast Club

            “Darcy, good morning.”

            “Look, I made enough breakfast even for you,” Darcy replied setting a large plate of eggs, bacon, and toast down in front of Thor on the kitchen island.  “That’s the same amount of food I used to make for my dad, uncle, and brother combined.  Enjoy.”

            “Thank you, Darcy,” he replied, sitting down on the stool to eat.

            Bruce trudged in looking worn out and disheveled.  “Is there coffee?”

            “You know they invented this wonderful thing called sleep a while back.  Maybe you should get some,” Darcy teased as she poured him a cup.

            “I would like some coffee as well,” Thor said brightly through a mouthful of eggs and bacon.

            “Oh, no, I have something special for you,” Darcy said, crossing the room and pouring him a cup of brown liquid from a silver carafe.

            Bruce raised an eyebrow and said, “You just gave him a whole cup of espresso, didn’t you?”

            “Uh-huh,” Darcy replied, grinning.

            “You’re a crazy person,” he muttered, sipping his coffee.

            Thor drank half his cup in one go and smiled brightly.  “This is delicious.”

            “Don’t break the cup,” Darcy admonished quickly.

            Thor shook his head, but smiled and said, “May I have some more?”

            “Good job,” she said dramatically as she refilled his cup.

            “He’s not a puppy, D,” Bruce groaned.

            She ignored him and went back to the stove.  A few moments later, Steve walked in in his bare feet and said, “What smells so good?”

            “Aw, thank you,” Darcy said, shifting the contents of a pan onto a plate.  “Omelet and toast.  Would you like coffee with that?”

            “Uh…sure,” Steve replied uncertainly as he took the plate from her.  He looked at Bruce with a confused expression.  Bruce just shrugged and shook his head.

            Darcy handed him a cup and said, “You can sit down, you know.”

            Steve took his food and coffee and quickly sat down next to Thor.  High heels clacked across the floor and Natasha entered the room.  “Good morning.”

            “Morning,” Darcy replied, handing Natasha a plate of toast and a cup of coffee.

            Natasha raised an eyebrow.  “You’re extremely efficient.”

            “I grew up in a house with three men.  Somebody had to be,” Darcy replied.  “Although, I do think I may be reaching my limit.  Tony’s not going to show up any time soon, is he?”

            “I don’t think he knows there’s a kitchen,” Natasha said, pouring her coffee into a thermos.  “How’s your wrist?”

            “It’s still sore,” Darcy said.

            “That’ll go away with practice,” Natasha assured her.  “We’ll pick up tonight where we left off.”

            “Sounds good,” Darcy said.

            The three men in the room looked at Darcy as Natasha left.  “What exactly are you picking up tonight?” Bruce asked dubiously.

            “Oh, she’s teaching me how to shoot,” Darcy explained briefly, taking Bruce’s cup and refilling it.

            “Why?” Thor asked.

            “So I’ll be able to defend myself in a fight.”

            Steve quirked an eyebrow.  “What’s wrong with running away?”

            Her eyes turned on him so quickly and fiercely, he almost jumped back from the sting.  “That is rich coming from you.  You’ve never run away from a fight in your life.”

            “Well, that’s fine for me, but you’re a…you…”  Steve somehow knew finishing that sentence would be a bad idea.

            “I’m a what?” she asked with venom in her voice.

            “You’re—you’re not a soldier,” Steve finally finished without meeting her eyes.

            Darcy glared at him.  “Neither were you when you were a ninety pound asthmatic,” she hissed before stomping out of the kitchen.

            “I deserved that,” Steve said, looking down at his omelet.

            “Darcy is much like Jane in that she does not appreciate being told what she should and should not do,” Thor said quietly.

            “Actually, in my limited experience, most women are like that,” Bruce said, clapping Steve on the shoulder before walking out of the kitchen.

#AvengersAvengersAvengersAvengersAvengers#

            “Why are all men idiots?”

            Pepper looked up from her computer and watched as Darcy plopped down in the sitting room.  She smiled and replied, “That question is so broad, I really can’t form a coherent answer.”  After she watched Darcy huff and cross her arms across her chest, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

            “Well, Natasha’s teaching me how to shoot,” Darcy began.

            “Oh, yes.  Tony thought that was just a very odd attempt at bridesmaid bonding,” Pepper said, nodding.

            “She just wants me to be able to fend for myself,” Darcy explained.  “Anyway, I told the guys about it and Steve basically suggested I should run away from a fight because I’m a girl.”

            Pepper raised a dubious eyebrow.  “That doesn’t really sound like Steve.”

            “I know, right?  He always seemed so enlightened for a guy from 1943.”

            Pepper sat back against the couch and regarded the younger woman for a long moment.  “Darcy, could he maybe have said that not because you’re a woman, but because you’re you.”

            “What is that supposed to mean?”

            “Well, Steve is not stupid enough to suggest that a woman is incapable of fighting,” Pepper said gently.  “So, maybe he said that just because he doesn’t want you in a fight.”

            Darcy seemed to consider this for a moment before saying, “No, that’s not it.”

            “And how are you so sure?”

            “He doesn’t see me that way.  Nobody does.”

            “Sweetie, you are a beautiful woman.  Somebody definitely sees you that way, and they’re probably closer than you think.”

            “Hey, I have a bone to pick with you,” Hawkeye said, stomping into the room.  “Why’d you only make breakfast for the super-people?”

            Darcy looked at Pepper and said, “See what I mean?  Idiots.”

#AvengersAvengersAvengersAvengersAvengers#

             They found a large room that seemed to have been intended as a basketball court, but failed to receive a wood floor.  Light streamed in from high windows that peeked out just above the ground outside.  A large box on one side of the room, was labeled with Steve’s name.  He opened it and reverently pulled out the item on top.

            “A shield?  That is your chosen weapon?” Thor asked dubiously.

            “I use guns, too, but that’s not really relevant in this situation,” Steve replied, sliding the shield onto his arm.  “Looks like they freshened up the paint.”

            “What will it stop?”

            “Haven’t run into anything it wouldn’t stop,” Steve said proudly.

            “Really?” Thor asked with the hint of a smirk as he gripped Mjolnir’s handle.

            “Yeah.  Really.”

            Steve was ready when the hammer collided with the shield.  He hardly felt the impact.  Thor seemed genuinely stunned when Steve quickly recovered and pushed back.  They went on like that for half an hour until a frenzied voice yelled, “Whoa whoa whoa!  I could hear you all the way outside.  What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

            The blond pair stopped and looked at the new man in the room.  “We’re not just going to sit around on our hands anymore, Hawkeye.”

            “Okay, I get that.  Really, I do, but how is potentially beating the crap out of each other and getting me fired in the process supposed to help you get ready for…whatever is supposedly coming?” Hawkeye finished lamely.

            “Have you a better idea?” Thor asked.

            “I…no, not really,” Hawkeye admitted with slouched shoulders.

            A buzzing suddenly filled the room and from the far wall, a small horde of green-skinned, bi-pedal creatures rushed forward.  The three men instinctively readied themselves.  The creatures, however, blinked out of existence just moments after engaging the trio.

            “Not bad, huh?”

            They looked around and saw Tony smirking at them with some sort of remote in his hands.

            “What was that?” Steve asked, slightly out of breath.

            “Oh, those were just aliens from a video game,” Tony explained.  “I couldn’t make the projections solid unless I blacked out New York City, and they get so tetchy when you black out New York City.”

            “So this is a combat simulator,” Thor said, motioning to the room around them.

            “You could call it that,” Tony replied.  “Darcy thought you might need some help with this whole training thing.  By the way, which one of you pissed her off this morning?”

            “Yeah, I was wondering that myself,” Hawkeye interjected.

            Thor tried not to look at Steve and failed miserably.  Tony cocked an eyebrow at the captain and said, “Seriously?  What could you have possibly done to L’il D?”

            “I don’t entirely understand it,” Steve muttered in reply.

            “Story of your life, huh, kid?  This button here will set your enemies on shuffle.  I did set up some baddies from the SHIELD files in there, so it might actually be useful.  Have fun,” Tony said, tossing the controller to Hawkeye before he started to walk away.

            “Tony, wait,” Steve called as he jogged after the other man.  “Join us.”

            Tony turned in his spot in the hallway and smirked at Steve.  “You’re kidding, right?”

            “No,” Steve replied earnestly.  “Suit up and join us.”

            “I’m not really an ‘us’ kind of guy, kid.”

            It was Steve’s turn to smirk.  “I don’t believe that.  And deep down, neither do you.”

            Tony let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.  “Well, you’re kind of naïve.”

            “And you’re not actually going to sit idly by while people are in danger,” Steve told him.  “I know what kind of person you are, Tony.  Join us when you’re ready.”

#AvengersAvengersAvengersAvengersAvengers#

            Darcy spent most of the day in her room attending to her much-neglected schoolwork.  She was only taking a couple of classes and she had a special arrangement with the dean—courtesy of Jane—but she still needed to do some of her coursework to get anything resembling a passing score.  Her father would, after all, be devastated if she didn’t graduate from college.

            She’d never been more excited about someone coming home than when the sun started to set and JARVIS informed her that Natasha had returned to the mansion.  Darcy jumped up from her bed and darted down the stairs.  Natasha was still standing in the entryway in her business suit and holding a garment bag.

            “Hey, you’re back!  When can we get started?”

            Natasha cocked an eyebrow at her and said, “You must be bored.”

            “Extremely.  What’s that?” Darcy asked, motioning to the garment bag.

            “I’m not entirely sure.  It’s from Mr. Stark’s tailor, but it’s addressed to Captain Rogers,” Natasha replied.  “If you could take this up to his room, I’ll get changed and meet you downstairs in ten.”

            “Sure,” Darcy quickly agreed, taking the garment bag from the other woman.  She knew Steve was still downstairs training and unlikely to walk into his room.  He only slept there anyway.

            She slipped into the room and hung the garment bag in his sparsely populated closet.  Her natural curiosity got the better of her and she unzipped the garment bag enough to see what was inside.  They were modern Army regulation uniforms.  Granted, not every Army captain had a uniform made by a million-dollar tailor, but it was a nice gesture on Tony’s part.  She zipped the bag back up and turned around just as Steve appeared in the doorway wearing a sweat-soaked t-shirt.

            “Hi,” he said, his eyes widening at the sight of her.

            “Oh, hey.  Natasha brought back the garment bag from New York.  I was just putting it in your closet.”

            “Oh, thanks,” Steve said, slightly surprised.

            “Well, bye,” she said, attempting to rush by him.

            “Hey, Darcy, wait,” he called, running after her into the hall.

            “What?” she asked, turning around.

            “I just wanted to say…I’m sorry for what I said this morning,” he told her.

            “Oh,” she replied, shifting uncomfortably and tucking her hair behind her ear.

            “I didn’t mean to make you think that I thought you were weak, or cowardly, or…”

            Darcy grinned as the sentence completely got away from Steve.  “It’s okay,” she assured him.  “I probably just overreacted.  I do that.”

            “It’s just…I don’t—I don’t want you to change.”

            Darcy cocked an eyebrow.  “What?”

            Steve took a deep breath and continued, “When people get into combat, it changes them; makes them harder, heavier.  And you’re just so…light, and kind, and considerate, and happy, and…I didn’t like the idea of you losing that.”

            Before her brain knew what the rest of her was doing, she had grabbed both sides of Steve’s face and brought his lips down to hers.  When her brain did catch up, she let go of him and looked up into his stunned, blue eyes.  Since she was at almost a complete loss for words, she just winced and ran off down the hall, leaving blue eyes staring at her in utter shock.

#AvengersAvengersAvengersAvengersAvengers#

            Tony was sure he’d come upstairs for a reason.  It was probably important.  It might have been for Pepper.  He didn’t know why he was there because it all flew out of his head when he saw Darcy kissing Steve in the hallway.  It was hilarious for several reasons: one, Steve was a good foot taller than Darcy and she had to pull him a good ways down to kiss him; two, Steve’s hands were slowly flailing about, not touching Darcy and not staying at his side.  It wasn’t quite two seals flapping around, but it was close.  Li’l D was so distracted she didn’t even see him when she ran off like a wounded puppy.  He wasn’t discovered until Steve turned around and saw him grinning like an idiot.

            “Aw, shit.”

            That reaction just made Tony laugh.  It was frankly the last thing he expected to come out of clean-cut, Steve Rogers’ mouth.

            “Why are you even here?” Steve asked, sighing.

            “What?” Tony asked, swaggering down the hall.  “This morning you were all like, ‘join my club, Tony.’  And I frankly don’t remember why I came up here because I just saw that.  Why’d she kiss you anyway?”

            “I’m not really sure,” Steve said, running a hand through his hair.

            “That’s becoming the story of your life, huh?”

            “Shut up, Tony,” Steve said, trudging into his room through the open doorway.

            “You know, that’s no way to get me to join your fight club,” Tony said following him and then leaning against the doorway.  “Why the long face?  A pretty girl just kissed you; a pretty amazing girl at that.”

            “You think I don’t know that?  Of course I do.  It’s just…what the hell am I supposed to do about it.”

            “Are you asking me?”

            “Yeah.”

            “I honestly don’t know.”

            “What?”

            “Sure, I have women kiss me all the time, but they’ve never run away afterward.  Are you a really bad kisser, or what?”

            Steve rolled his eyes.  “I never really took a survey.”

            “You mean of all three women you’ve kissed in your life?”

            “It’s more like six.”

            “You’re not counting your mother and grandmother, are you?”

            “Are you going to join us tomorrow, or not?” Steve asked, attempting to change the subject.

            “The Iron Man suit isn’t really designed for use indoors.  Pepper would kill us if we destroy a hundred-and-fifty-year-old example of Victorian American architecture,” Tony informed him.  “And that’s a pretty lame attempt at changing the subject.  Besides, it’s not like you and Li’l D’s theory is actually happening.”

            A body crashed into the wall behind Steve followed by the sound of electronic beeping and Bruce Banner gasping.  “Guys, something’s happening!” 

Chapter 14: Follow Through

            Darcy felt like beating her head against a wall.  Or jumping off the roof.  Or both.  They all seemed like reasonable actions after kissing Steve Rogers full on the mouth like a raving lunatic.  She wasn’t even really sure why she kissed him except for the fact that he was nice, polite, gorgeous, and he called her light—which for some reason seemed like the nicest thing anyone had ever said about her.  Actually, she knew exactly why she kissed him.  It would have been lunacy not to kiss him after all that.  What she didn’t understand was that look in his eyes.  It was the same look Disney characters had before they hid in the bushes from a newly-revealed danger.  Was that what she was; a new danger?

            “Darcy?  Are you alright?”

            She suddenly realized she hadn’t made it all the way to the range and had just sunk to the floor in a hallway in the basement.  She quickly stood up and brushed her hair from her face.  “I’m sorry, it’s nothing,” she lied, knowing full well Natasha would never buy it.

            Natasha’s eyebrow lifted a fraction of an inch.  “I read people very well, and I know you’re upset, and I’m not going to let you handle a gun in this state, so you might as well tell me.”

“It’s a long stupid story,” Darcy sighed.

            “I haven’t got any other plans this evening.”

            “After you left, the guys asked me what we were doing and I told them and Steve basically suggested that instead of learning to shoot I should run away and I got pissed and told him off and ten minutes ago he apologized and he told me he didn’t want me to change because I was light and it was possibly the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me and before I knew what was happening I was kissing him,” Darcy explained in a single, rushed breath.

            Natasha’s eyebrows arched upward slightly.  Darcy shifted uncomfortably under the other woman’s gaze and looked at the floor.  Natasha took a breath and said, “I have one question for you.”

            “Just one?”

            “Do you really see a future with him?”

            “Why are you asking?”

            “Because with these people, normal things like relationships tend to end in tragedy: emotional and otherwise.  I just hope you know that before you take this any further.”

            “I wasn’t planning on taking anything anywhere,” Darcy replied hurriedly.  “My lips just got ahead of my brain.”

            Natasha smiled kindly.  “Sometimes your brain doesn’t have to be involved at all.”

            “You’re not advocating that, are you?”

            “No,” Natasha answered with a slight smile.  “Come on.  We have work to do.”

            Darcy understood that meant the conversation was over and followed the other woman down the hall.  Natasha stopped a few moments later, however, when she spied Hawkeye headed toward Bruce’s office with a  slightly concerned expression.

            “I wonder what’s going on,” Darcy said.

            “Let’s find out.”

 #####

            “Okay, is your watch going to stop beeping anytime soon because it’s starting to get on my nerves,” Tony said as they hurriedly followed Bruce down into the basement toward his office.

            “I’ll be fine, okay?” Bruce replied, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth.  “Take a look at that.”

            Steve followed Bruce’s hand to a screen full of brightly colored symbols and numbers.  “What does it mean?”

            “It means there’s a wormhole opening up in the middle of Manhattan,” Tony replied, sitting in front o fthe bank of screens.  “You got visual on these coordinates?”

            “Yeah, that’s the thing,” Bruce said, his watch mercifully silent as his fingers danced across the keyboard.  “This is a live image.”

            Steve cocked an eyebrow at the video of people calmly walking down a busy Manhattan sidewalk.  “There’s nothing happening.”

            “Exactly.”

            “Signal interference?” Tony asked.

            “Oh, right, Stark, that wasn’t the first thing I thought of,” Bruce said, annoyance in his voice.

            “Calm down, Banner.  Can you get closer?”

            “There’s no other angles on this area.”

            “You can’t zoom in?”

            “I have access to the images, not the cameras.”

            “Maybe you don’t have access,” Tony muttered.  “JARVIS, hack into New York City’s surveillance.  I want to own those cameras.”

            “Of course, Sir,” JARVIS replied calmly.

            “What is going on?” Thor said as he entered the room.

            “Um…something’s happening in Manhattan and we can’t see what it is,” Steve explained, though eh wasn’t really sure what was going on either.

            “Hey, hey, I got something,” Tony announced as the image zoomed in on what looked like heat waves near the alley.

            “That looks like its going at regular intervals.  Is that normal?” Steve asked Bruce.

            “Not even remotely,” Bruce replied.

            “I thought your theory was these things were naturally occurring,” Tony said.

            “They are, but you can manipulate nature: like damming a stream,” Bruce explained quickly.

            “What’s—”

            “Invisible wormhole.  Middle of Manhattan,” Tony replied, cutting Hawkeye off.

            “Okay,” Hawkeye said slowly.  “Nobody’s fallen into it, have they?”

            “No…I don’t think so anyway,” Bruce answered hesitantly.

            “No,” Thor breathed suddenly.

            “What?  What is it?” Steve asked him.

            “I thought—I thought I saw my brother.”

            “That screen there, roll it back,” Steve ordered Bruce, who quickly complied.  “Stop it there,” he said on the image of a man with shiny black hair, sharp cheekbones, and cold eyes.  The man gave him the shivers.

            “Yes,” Thor replied, barely above a whisper.

            “Oh, my God.  Did you guys not notice the address?”

            They all turned and looked at Darcy who had entered the room unnoticed with Natasha.

            “Um…no,” Bruce answered.  “What about it?”

            “It’s across the street from SHIELD headquarters,” Natasha answered since Darcy was already dialing numbers on her phone.

 #####

            Jane was not used to being the balanced un-obsessed one.  She completely understood the nature of Erik’s experiments, she had not yet figured out why he was so enamored of the entire project.  She understood the strange artifact could somehow be used as an infinite power source and that that could change the face of the earth, but she did not understand the application to which Erik had applied the power source.

            Jane’s bifrost—she’d given up on anyone ever actually referring to it as an Einstein-Rosen Bridge—was a very tangible.  Despite Erik’s impressive machinery, however, his results weren’t tangible at all.  Even the energy readings being given off were minimal.  But Erik was enraptured with every small detail.  She suddenly realized what it must have felt like to have been Darcy in the months before Thor fell from the sky.

            As Erik poured over data, Jane’s phone buzzed in her pocket.  She saw Darcy’s name and answered it quietly.

            “Hey I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

            “What floor are you on?”

            “Um, the second.  Why is this relevant?”

            “Hey, what side of the building is that thing on?” Darcy asked someone who was obviously not Jane.

            “Southwest corner.  Toward Fifth,” Bruce Banner’s voice replied.

            “Did you get that?”

            Jane rolled her eyes despite the fact that she was already moving that direction out of curiosity.  “I still don’t understand what this is all about.”

            “Why are you calling Foster?  Fury’s already got men on the way,” Barton’s voice said in annoyance at Darcy.

            “This is a sciencey thing, not a soldiery thing,” Darcy replied before saying, “Jane, do you see anything in the alley?”

            She squinted at first, but she soon saw heat waves on the street level.  It was mid-March.  There was no way that was natural.  She looked at the machine in the isolation room behind her and realized it was humming in time with the rhythm of the heat waves.  She gulped and looked down at the street.  A pair of icy eyes met her gaze and she involuntarily yelped and blinked and the man disappeared.

            “Jane, what’s—”

            “You must be the woman.”

            The voice gripped the bottom of her spine like a hand of ice.  She slowly turned around and found herself face-to-face with a tall, thin man.  He might have been handsome had his skin not been so pale nor his eyes so cold.  His lank, black hair hung in greasy strands at his shoulders, and she was reminded of that Snape character from those Harry Potter movies Darcy coerced her into watching.

            “Jane?” she heard Thor’s voice faintly ask over the phone that was a fair distance away from her ear.

            The man leaned into the phone and said, “Told you I’d pay her a visit, brother.”

            “You!  Get away from her!” Erik yelled, coming out of the observation room.

            “Oh, not now, Dr. Selvig,” the man said with annoyance before a block of ice seemingly leapt from his hand and hit Erik in the face.

            Jane stole the opportunity to punch the man in the face but before she could run a foot, he turned on her, laughing as he grabbed her throat and shoved her roughly against the glass.

            “Oh, you’ve got spirit.  I see why he likes you.”

            Amidst the shouts now emanating from her phone that had fallen to the floor, she clearly heard Thor’s voice yell, “Loki, no!”

            At the sound of his name, Jane found herself truly terrified by the presence of the man pinning her to the window.  She’d seen at very close range the horror he was capable of releasing upon the outmatched SHIELD agents entering the room with their guns drawn.

            “Freeze!”

            Loki turned his head while maintaining a firm grasp on Jane’s throat.  “Poor choice of words.”

 

Chapter 15: Live Together, Die Alone

            A moment of silence followed the sound of breaking glass and Jane screaming.  Then Hawkeye started barking back into his phone at Coulson.  Bruce and Natasha furiously worked the computers.  Tony was suddenly speaking into his phone and Steve was trying to stop Thor from bursting out of the door.

            “You can’t do this!”

            In response to that admonishment, Steve found himself pinned to the wall with Thor’s forearm pressing against his windpipe.  “Do not tell me what I can’t do!”

            “Stop it!  All of you just stop!” Darcy yelled, regaining everyone’s attention and causing them to freeze in surprise.  “You’re all trying to fix this on your own and you can’t do it.  We’re all here together, so work together because you can’t do this alone.”  Looking directly at Thor, she said, “Jane doesn’t just need you right now; she needs us.”

            Thor released Steve who gave Darcy a grateful look before taking a deep breath and saying, “We can’t just blindly fly around New York.  It’s too good a place to hide.  There has to be some way we can track Loki’s movements.”

            Hawkeye shook his head with one hand covering the mouthpiece of his phone.  “SHIELD says he’s in the wind.  They have no idea where he went.”

            “Please don’t tell me you stopped to help a little old lady across the street,” Tony suddenly said into his phone, drawing curious glances from everyone around.

            Bruce, obviously ignoring Tony, cautiously raised his hand and said, “I have all this satellite access.  I could retask some of them if I knew what to look for.”

            “Ice,” Thor said quietly.  “Loki is a Jotunn.  He would be cold.”

            “The SHIELD thermal imaging array,” Hawkeye and Natasha said together.

            “I have the codes,” she added, typing them in for Bruce.

            A few moments later, Bruce said, “Looks like there’s something moving and really cold in an alley near 57^th and Lex.”

            “Are you anywhere near 57^th and Lex?” Tony asked into his phone.

            “Who are you talking to?” Steve asked him.

            “Spider-Man,” Tony replied, as though it were obvious.

            “When the hell did you meet Spider-Man?” Hawkeye asked, holding the phone away from his ear.

            “When I picked up the pizza the other day.”

            Steve looked at Darcy and said, “Who’s—”

            “Masked vigilante from New York,” she explained shortly.  “One of the good guys.”

            “Is he reliable?”

            “On a bad day, probably more reliable than Tony.”

            “That is not comforting,” Thor muttered, his knuckles turning whiter as the seconds ticked by.

“Wait, what?  Is she still with him?”  Tony asked hurriedly.

“Sir, I think you’re going through a tunnel,” Hawkeye said before ending his call and tossing the phone away.

“What is going on?” Thor asked Tony in a low growl.

“Your crazed relative apparently stole a car,” Tony answered quickly.  “She is?  Don’t engage him unless it’s absolutely necessary.  He just took out a room full of SHIELD agents.  I’m gonna be there ASAP with a friend.”

            Tony plugged the phone into a jack on the console and said, “JARVIS, lock onto this signal and get the suit ready.”

            “Right away, Sir.”

            Tony looked up at Thor and said, “I can lead you in, but from there it’s your party.”

            Thor nodded curtly and said, “Agreed,” before marching off to don his armor.

            Tony looked at Steve and said, “You coming?”

            “Be right behind you.  I don’t really fancy hitching a ride on your back,” Steve replied with a smirk.

            Tony barked a laugh before running off to his workshop.

            “You want a chopper, Cap?”

            At this question from Hawkeye, Steve felt a sudden assurance in himself that he’d almost forgot existed.  With his shoulders squared and his voice strong, he replied, “Yeah, and make sure we can all hear each other.”

            “You got it, Cap,” he replied before jogging down the hall.

            “Natasha, I need you to keep track of Loki’s position and make sure the airspace is cleared for us.”

            “Yes, Sir.  Would you like me to inform Agent Coulson and Commander Fury of your plan?”

            “Give it ten minutes.  I don’t want those agents putting themselves at further risk.”

            “Of course,” Natasha said as Bruce rolled out of her way.

            “What do you want me to do?” he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

            “You need to figure out what was happening with that wormhole because Loki is doing an awfully damn good job of distracting us from it,” Steve told him.

            “Good point,” Bruce said, spinning around in his chair.

            “Tony just told me what happened,” Pepper said, striding confidently into the room.  “What can I do to help?”

            “I could use an extra set of eyes,” Natasha called out.

            Pepper automatically moved toward the computer screens and Darcy looked up at Steve and said, “Do you want me to help Bruce?”

            “No, I want you to come with me,” he said, placing a hand on her back and nudging her toward the door.

            “Going with you where?” Darcy asked as they moved out of the door and toward a room the SHIELD personnel had been using as an armory.

            “You’re coming to New York with me and Hawkeye.”

            Darcy shook her head and hotly replied, “The only reason I’m not questioning that is because we don’t really have time for this conversation right now.”

            “Whenever Tony and Thor get Loki cornered, Hawkeye and I will drop and you’ll be taken to SHIELD headquarters so you’ll be there when we get back with Jane,” Steve said, pulling on a thin weave Kevlar shirt.

            “Okay?” Darcy asked, still not completely following his logic.

            “What I really want you to do is find out what Dr. Selvig is up to,” he said, strapping on some webbing.

            “You think it has something to do with all of this?” she asked dubiously.

            “I think it’s too big a coincidence that he was conducting an experiment while a wormhole opened up across the street right before Loki appeared,” he replied, checking his sidearm before holstering it and strapping on a few extra clips of ammunition.

            “Look, I trust Erik,” she argued.

            “I’m not saying he’s a bad guy.  I’m just saying that something is fishy,” he replied, picking up a helmet and goggles.

            Darcy followed him into the hall where she heard Hawkeye yell, “Heads up, Cap,” before a red, white, and blue blur whizzed past her head.

            Steve easily caught his shield and said, “Watch it, Hawkeye.”

            “Sorry.  What are you doing here, Li’l D?”

            “I’m coming with you,” she said with more confidence than she actually had in Steve’s plan.

            Hawkeye glanced at Steve and said, “Seriously?”

            “Seriously,” Steve replied flatly as he strapped his shield onto his back.  “Let’s go.”

 #####

            “You guys call that stealthy?”

            “Well, you call that ballerina costume useful,” Tony said, striding across a roof toward the lithe figure of Spider-Man.

            “Oh, yeah, I’ve never heard that one bef—whoa.”

            Tony sniggered as the kid in the costume had apparently just seen his Asgardian companion.  “Spider-man, Thor.  Thor, Spider-man.”

            Thor nodded curtly before kneeling down on the roof to get a better look at the building below them.  Spider-man cocked his head to the side, giving him the distinct look of a confused, netted puppy. 

Tony sniggered and said, “Just roll with it, kid,” before kneeling down next to Thor.  “What have we got?”

“I only see Loki with Jane, and she seems unharmed.  She’s not even restrained.”

“Loki?  Really?”

Thor and Tony both glared at him and Spider-man sheepishly held his hands up in apology and surrender.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Tony said, looking back around at the nearest native New Yorker.  “What’s in that building?”

“Nothing.  It’s just an abandoned warehouse, like almost every other building on this block,” Spider-man explained without hesitation.  “There might be some squatters around and the building we’re standing on is being turned into luxury lofts or whatever, but the workers knocked off as soon as the sun went down.  He’s basically alone.”

“That may not be entirely true,” Pepper’s voice said into Tony and Thor’s ears.  “There’s an intricate system of tunnels running beneath those buildings and the surrounding area; probably leftover from Prohibition.  There could be anything down there.”

Tony looked at Spider-man and said, “You know anything about tunnels underneath these buildings?”

“Under ground is not really my thing.”

            “Fat lot of help you are.”

            “Watch it, Iron Maiden.”

            “I can take the tunnels in.”  This came from Steve, who effectively cut off Tony’s biting reply.

            “That does not seem like a wise idea,” Thor stated simply.

            “Pepper, do you think you could lead me in?”

            “Uh, yes, but I think I have to agree with Thor on the wiseness issue.”

“There’s nothing on the thermal imaging array,” Natasha told them.  “The worse thing down there is probably sewage overflow.  Probably.”

“I’m going down there,” Steve’s voice said resolutely.  “We’ll drop two blocks from your position.  I’ll go underground, Thor, you tell Hawkeye where you need him.  We’re three minutes out.”

They listened to a lot of chatter until a young voice clearly said, “So…what’s this ‘not wise’ plan?”

Thor and Tony simultaneously stood up and face Spider-man.

“You are not a part of this,” Thor told him in a fashion that almost sounded like a query.

“I am the one who chased your…whatever they are…all the way across Manhattan,” Spider-man said, poking himself in the chest.  “I’m staying until the curtain drops.  Where do you need me?”

“Cover the building opposite,” Thor said, motioning with his hammer hand to emphasize his point.  “Stop anything that moves in your direction.”

“Hey,” Tony said, opening a compartment in the arm of his armor.  “Put this in your ear.  You’ll be plugged in this way.”

“Thanks,” Spider-man said before shooting a string of webbing out of his arm and swinging around the warehouse beneath them.  Tony imagined it was taking all of the kid’s self-control not to be yelling, ‘Yahoo!’ or something equally as childish as he swung around and expertly landed on the building opposite.

“He might actually prove useful,” Thor mused.

            “I can hear you.”

            Tony sniggered before he could stop himself.  Then, remembering Jane’s life was in the hands of a crazy person, he said, “Let me guess: Hawkeye on the building to the south.”

            “Exactly.”

            “Copy that.  I’m on my way to you now.”

            “Steve, you okay, buddy?”

            “I’m fine, Tony.  It’s just a tunnel.”

            “You cover this building.  I will go in from the north,” Thor said with a sudden finality.

            Tony looked at him.  “With Steve coming from the tunnels, we’ll have him completely boxed in.”

            “Though my brother has apparently developed many new skills, flying does not seem to be among them.”

            Tony nodded as his suit alerted him to Hawkeye scaling the fire escape on the southern building.  He held out a hand to Thor and said, “Good luck.”

            Thor considered Tony’s hand for a moment before he grasped the other man’s armored forearm and replied, “Thank you,” before leaping from the roof to the ground below.

 #####

            Steve could feel Darcy glaring at him.  He wished they weren’t in a fancy, stealthy helicopter so he could at least pretend her hadn’t heard her when she said, “You’re insane!”

            “Loki stopped there for a reason, and those tunnels will either be a tactical advantage, or—”

            “A ginormous trap!” she finished for him.

            “I have to find out what’s down there,” Steve said, a finality in his voice.

            Darcy ignored his tone entirely and said, “You shouldn’t do it alone.  It’s suicidal.”

            “Hawkeye would be useless in a tunnel.”

            “Aren’t you going to get insulted?” Darcy asked, looking across at the bow-wielding man.

            Hawkeye shook his head and said, “I’m going to check the coordinates with the pilot.”

            Darcy’s head whipped back around but Steve preemptively said, “I’m going down there.  That’s all there is to it.”

            She said nothing, but sat back in her seat with her arms folded across her chest.  Steve picked up his helmet and discovered and A and a pair of crude wings had been drawn on it with a grease pencil.

            “You wouldn’t quite be you without it,” Darcy said in a voice so quiet, he almost didn’t hear her over the sound of the muffled rotors.

            He looked up at her sad blue eyes and suddenly realized she was kissing him less than two hours ago.  She cared about him and she obviously didn’t want him to die or disappear for seventy years.  And he honestly didn’t like the idea of not seeing her again until she was old and gray.  He gingerly reached out and took one of her hands in his.  “Darcy, I—”

            “Just don’t die,” she cut him off sharply.  “And you are absolutely forbidden from getting stuck down there for seventy years.”

            Steve smirked.  “You got it, Cap,” he teased.

            She was leaning toward him when Hawkeye’s voice called out, “We’re over the drop, Cap.”

            He looked back at Darcy, and in a quiet, but firm voice she said, “Come back.”

            Steve made no reply other than to press his lips to her knuckles before strapping on his helmet and sliding down the rope after Hawkeye.

 #####

            Jane felt woozy; like she was coming out of some sort of fog.  Dim lights hung high above her head and a massive and ancient wooden structure surrounded her.  As her memories came back to her, she was shocked to find she wasn’t restrained to the rickety, wooden chair in which she sat.  And then she saw him standing a few feet away smiling down at her a little too sweetly.

            “You can run if you like.  Nothing will happen to you,” he told her in a voice masterfully manipulated to sound comforting, but Jane wasn’t fooled.

            “Then what am I?  Bait?” she asked, trying to sound more annoyed than scared.

            “Hmm…perhaps, but this is no trap,” Loki replied, starting to slowly circle her.  “I just wanted to meet the woman that turned my brother’s head so completely.”

            Shivers ran down Jane’s spine, though she desperately tried not to let it show.

            “You know, I never much cared for this realm before I was so inconveniently trapped here.”

            “Hmm…that makes me a little proud of my planet,” Jane said, replying with some of Loki’s own sarcasm.

            He chuckled mirthlessly.  “Your strong voice does not fool me, woman.”

            Jane was sure her lungs turned to ice.

            Loki knelt down in front of her so they were almost eye level with one another and said, “I know the myths of this realm.  Not once has an entanglement between a god and a mortal ended well.  Do you honestly think it will be different if the myth is real?”

            Jane’s fingernails dug into the wood of the chair and she resolutely refused to meet his gaze.

            “How could The Mighty Thor possibly consider sharing your piteous, ant-like existence when compared to the infinite majesty of Asgard?”

            A solitary tear ran down Jane’s cheek and Loki smiled triumphantly.

            “You see?  Even deep in your own heart, you know my words to be true.”

            A guttural scream pierced the air moments before Jane realized it belonged to herself.  She threw her fist across his face with all the fury built up inside of her, but Loki just laughed as he licked the crimson from his lip.  He clutched her throat and lifted her out of the chair as he stood to his feet.

            “No matter how great your anger, little Midgardian, you are still nothing.”

            A mighty bellow preceded the sound of something heave whizzing through the air.  Loki, however was faster than the eye could see, and a blast of frost diverted Mjolnir as he tossed Jane to the ground.  While she was still winded, she felt icy tendrils wrapping around her wrists and ankles.  She looked down, horrified to find vines of ice growing around her body.  She cried out for help, but the din Loki diverting Mjolnir every ten seconds effectively drowned her out, as did the falling debris from the crumbling building.  And with every passing moment, the ice continued to grow and bind her more tightly to the floor.

            “Well, this isn’t going to plan.”

            “No shit, Sherlock.”

            “Watch it, kid!”

            “I don’t have a shot!”

            “Steve, where the hell are you?”

            “I’m a little busy right now, Tony!”

            Tony looked across to the red and blue dot on the opposing roof.  “I’m going in.  You with me.”

            “Naturally.  I’ve always wanted to get in the middle of a mythological family dispute.”

            Tony couldn’t help but chuckle before he dove down toward the warehouse.  As he crashed through the roof, he shot a repulsor blast down, instantly separating Thor from Loki.  Loki stood to his feet quickly, but almost immediately received Spider-man’s feet in his face as the young man swung through the gaping hole Tony had made.

            Thor stood to his feet and summoned his hammer, but Loki had recovered enough to divert it once more.  The thunder god cried out angrily and ran toward his hammer as Tony marched toward Loki.  Loki shot a blast of frost at his opposition, but Tony just smirked under his mask.

            “I solved the icing problem a long time ago.”

            Loki smirked and replied, “Solve this.”

            A knife of ice seemingly harder than steel struck against his armor and Tony was instantly aware that something was terribly wrong.  The reactor in his chest was damaged and the suit was locking up while his lungs were unable to obtain fresh air.  He would have crashed to the concrete floor if Spider-man hadn’t suddenly appeared to catch him.

            Thor experienced a jolting and unexpected moment of indecision as Loki rounded on him.  As the ice grew over Jane’s chest, the mischievous brother said, “You see?  He can’t even decide if he would rather save you or revenge himself on me.”

            “He doesn’t have to,” Steve said, covered in grime and breathing heavily as he slammed his shield against Loki’s head.

            Loki was debilitated but he struggled to get back to his feet until an arrow pierced his side, forcing him back to the ground. 

            “Keep him down,” Thor said, tossing Mjolnir to Steve.

            Steve easily caught the hammer and tossed his shield back to Thor.  While he laid the hammer on Loki’s chest, Thor slammed the hammer against the ice, immediately freeing Jane.  Steve saw Thor wrapping her in his cape as he jogged toward Tony.

            “Pepper, I can’t understand you.  What are you saying?”

            “Get his helmet off.  He can’t breathe in the suit without power.”

            Steve yanked the helmet off with considerable force and Tony gasped in a deep breath of air.  “Emergency reset.  Back of the neck,” Tony rasped.

            “I got it,” Spider-man said, quickly finding the panel and pressing.

            Tony sighed in relief and almost immediately sat up.  “That should give me enough time to fix this damned thing.”

            “Emergency power will only last you about an hour.”

            “I can fix it in an hour.”

            “Tony!”

            “I’m Spider-man, by the way,” the young man said, extending and hand toward Steve and ignoring the argument in their comms.

            “I’m…” Steve hesitated, unsure whether he should give his real name to a masked stranger.

            “He’s Captain America,” Tony finished for him.

            Spider-man’s head cocked to the side as he shook Steve’s hand.  “Captain America is a comic book character.  Comic book characters aren’t real.”

            “Neither are Norse gods, and the guy on the floor and the guy with the shivering scientist kind of prove otherwise.”

            “Yeah…guess that’s true.  Nice to meet you, Cap.”

            “Nice to meet you,” Steve replied as they helped Tony to his feet.

            “Hey, Coulson’s sixty seconds out,” Hawkeye announced as he jogged into the warehouse.

            “That’s my cue,” Spider-man said before slinging a web and disappearing through the hole in the ceiling.

            “Oh, Fury’s not gonna like that,” Hawkeye muttered.

            Steve shook his head and made a mental note to ask Darcy about the dynamic of Fury’s relationship with Spider-man.  “That doesn’t really matter right now,” he said, moving to the place where Loki was pinned to the floor.  “What are we gonna do with him?”

            “I have some ideas,” Tony said.

            “As long as we don’t have to hear him,” Jane said quietly as she wrapped the cape more tightly around her shoulders.

            Loki calmly turned his head and smiled wickedly as he said, “Oh, you have to hear me to know that I am right.”

            “Shut him up.”

            Thor nodded grimly before crashing his boot across his brother’s head.

 

             

 

Chapter 16: Fallout

            “Hey, D, I got us on a private channel,” Bruce’s voice said in hushed tones in her ear.

            “Maybe I wanted to hear what was going on,” Darcy replied as the helicopter landed on the roof of SHIELD headquarters.

            “I promise I will tell you if something happens to Cap.”

            “That is not—”

            “Don’t try to lie.  We all heard your ‘please come back’ speech.”

            Darcy growled in frustration as an agent she didn’t recognize guided her into the building.  Bruce continued, “I need you to find out if there’s any SHIELD intelligence about Chernobyl.”

            “Chernobyl, Chernobyl?” Darcy replied under her breath.

            “How many Chernobyls are there?  There were some strange atmospheric readings there around the same time the wormhole was opening up in New York.  I think it warrants investigation.”

            “Will you be alright here, miss?” the agent asked as they stopped in front of a bank of elevators.

            “Yes, thank you.”  She waited for him to get well out of earshot before she said, “Couldn’t the cause of those readings just be, you know, Chernobyl itself?”

            “I don’t think so,” Bruce replied.  “I was one of the first scientists allowed in after The Wall came down.  These readings aren’t just the result of a nuclear meltdown.”

            “You’re the expert,” Darcy said, getting into one of the elevators and hitting the button for the second floor.

            “Thank you for remembering that.”

            The elevator had almost reached its destination when she heard Bruce say, “Whoa!”

            “What’s going on?” she asked as the doors slid apart.

            “Um…I think Cap might be fighting a gorgon.”

            “Are you kidding me right now?”

            “I don’t know.  I didn’t get a good look before the night vision goggles got tossed off his head.  He’s still talking, though, so I think he’s okay.”

            Darcy shook her head.  “You’re a real comfort, Bruce.  Is Jane okay?”

            “Um…”

            “Never mind.  Just tell me when it’s over,” Darcy said, as she made her way through the nearly deserted corridors.

            She imagined everyone was dealing with the crisis at hand and she was grateful as she was able to walk around virtually unhindered.  It wasn’t difficult to find the lab Jane was in when she was taken.  Bodies frozen in terrified positions were still being wheeled out on dolly carts.  It reminded Darcy of pictures she’d seen of Pompeii.

            She waited for the activity in the lab to die down before she slipped in through the open door.  The lights were off but the wind still whistled through the broken window.  A melting slide of ice lead down to the street below, which explained how Loki escaped without managing to kill Jane.  She found Jane’s security access card amongst the shards of broken glass and used it to get into the inner part of the lab containing a bank of computers and an observation chamber.  The screens were down on the windows to the inner sanctum, but the flip of a switch solved that problem.

            She blinked and squinted as a blue light flooded her eyes.  After her eyes had a moment to readjust, she could make out a metal and glass cylinder containing a blue cube which was giving off the impossibly bright light.

            “Erik, what the hell are you into?” she breathed.

            “D, it’s okay.  Jane’s fine.  Cap’s fine.  Stark is a little damaged, but I think he’ll get over it.”

            “Thanks for the update.”

            “What have you found?”

            “I’m not really sure.”

            “Well, you might want to hurry up.  Now that the crisis is over, they’re going to start noticing your presence.”

            Darcy rolled her eyes, but obediently went to one of the computers and logged on with Jane’s access codes.  She searched the database for files containing references to Chernobyl.  Most of them seemed to contain merely scientific data, but one caught her eye.  It was labeled: Winter Soldier.  She clicked on it and her breath almost immediately caught in her lungs.  Looking back at her was a face she knew from Steve’s file and large red letters that read, “Not Deceased.”

            “Darcy, what’s going on?  What did you—”

            Bruce’s voice suddenly cut out and the lights came on above her head.  She spun around to find Fury staring her down with his lone eye.

            “Ms. Lewis do you honestly think you’ve ever found anything I didn’t intend for you to find?”

            Darcy folded her arms across her chest defiantly and said, “Well, I honestly can’t imagine anyone else being that big a micromanager.”

            Fury chuckled and flipped the switch that lowered the screens to the observation room.

            “What is that thing?”

            “A project an old friend of mine gave up on a long time ago.”

            “A Howard Stark kind of old friend?”

            Darcy saw Fury raise his single, visible eyebrow.  “You are very smart, Ms Lewis; smarter than either Dr. Selvig or Dr. Foster give you credit for.”

            She didn’t know how to respond to that so she opted for looking at her shoes and shifting uncomfortably as she said, “You’re not going to answer my question, are you?”

            “You’re smart enough to know that answer.”

            She groaned inwardly and said, “Why haven’t you told Steve about this?  He would want to know.  He deserves to know.  And don’t you dare give me that crap about me not seeing the bigger picture.”

            Fury gave her a smile that would have been comforting had it reached more than one eye.  “I simply didn’t want to.”

            “You didn’t want to?” Darcy asked, trying hard not to scream at him.  “What the fuck kind of answer is that?”

            “I didn’t want to run the risk that Rogers would run off to save his best friend before he was ready.”

            “And what, exactly, do you consider ‘ready’?” Darcy asked as the sound of sirens filled the air.

            “I think you already know the answer to that as well, Ms. Lewis,” Fury told her.  “And I trust you’ll do the right thing.”

            Darcy glowered at him.  “They call you Fury because you’re infuriating, don’t they?”

            She actually heard him chuckle as she stomped past him toward the stairs.  There was already a crowd of agents forming at the door and she was grateful for her small stature as it allowed her to slip to the front.  A caravan of black SUVs pulled up and Jane got out of the first one wrapped in what looked like Thor’s cape.

            Darcy rushed forward and flung her arms around the other woman as she said, “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

            Jane hugged her tightly in reply before Coulson firmly told them, “Inside.  Now.”

            “Wait, where’s—”

            “He’s with Thor putting Loki in a hole,” Hawkeye answered, appearing out of nowhere as they neared the elevator banks.

            “Well, where’s Tony?” Darcy asked, almost sheepishly.

            “Yeah, because Stark is really who you were concerned about,” Hawkeye replied dubiously.  “He went to the SI building to fix his chest piece.”

            “Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Darcy said as Coulson sent them on an upward trajectory.

            They first went up to the medical ward to see Erik, who was going to be nursing a concussion for the next twenty-four hours.  He cried when he saw Jane and he even gave Darcy a bear hug.  Darcy attributed his behavior to the head wound.  Then they met Thor in the hallway and that was when Darcy determined something was amiss with Jane.

            “Jane, is Erik alright?” he asked in his deep, kind voice.

            “Oh, he’s fine,” she replied, stopping short of getting within two feet of him.  “Here’s your cape.  Thank you.”

            Thor took his cape from her, his face portraying the confusion he felt at her behavior.  “Jane, are you all right?” he asked, reaching out to touch her.

            She flinched visibly and a look of deep hurt crossed his face.  “It’s nothing.  I just, I really need some sleep,” she said before walking past him with her head down.

            Darcy and Hawkeye shared a confused glance before Darcy said, “I’ll talk to her.  By the way, where’s Steve?”

            “Oh,” Thor started, seemingly pulled out of a silent reverie, “the captain sends his apologies; he smelled of rotten fish and raw sewage.”

            “Hmm…that might be a turn off even for Li’l D.”

            Darcy shot Hawkeye a death glare before following Jane down the hall.  Hawkeye then clapped Thor comfortingly on the shoulder and said,  “I wouldn’t worry about it, Big Guy.  It’s probably just something your crazed brother said to her.”

            Hawkeye was sure he heard Thor growling as he stalked off to the nearest staircase.

 #####

            An agent helpfully directed Darcy to Jane’s quarters as she had lost sight of the other woman while glaring daggers at Hawkeye.  The rooms were only slightly larger than Jane’s trailer back in New Mexico and Jane herself was wearing and oversized CalTech t-shirt and making a cup of tea with water heated in the microwave.

            “Tea and an oversized alma mater t-shirt: a sure sign of the truly depressed.”

            Jane rolled her eyes as she picked up her cup and moved to the sparse seating area.  “I know what you’re going to say, Darcy.”

            “Oh, I wasn’t going to say anything.  I was just going to ask you a question: what the hell did Loki say to you?”

            “It wasn’t just what he said.”

            “Bullshit.”

            Jane sighed and sat back in her chair.  “He just pointed out a fallacy in the logic of how I’ve been living my life.”

            Darcy raised a dubious eyebrow and when Jane didn’t continue, she said, “I’m gonna need a little more than that.”

            “I’ve been acting like this has all been some sort of modified fairy tale and that Thor is the handsome prince.”

            “He kind of is.”

            “But that’s not all he is,” Jane continued.  “He’s—he’s a god with a home in the heavens…and I’m just a human.  And the fact is…that never works out.”

            “Wow,” Darcy said flatly.  “There are so many problems with that argument I don’t even know where to begin.  First of all, calling him a god is being a little generous.  He’s an alien, albeit a really, really powerful one, but not a god.  At this point I’ve read enough about these people to believe that they are really not in control of the universe.  Secondly, you’re not just a run-of-the-mill human being, Jane.  You’re a brilliant scientist that’s going to change the world someday.  You’re the extraordinary one; I’m the normal one, remember?  And ‘facts’?  There are no facts.  There’s just myth and myth is from the ancient Greek word meaning lie.”

            “Actually, it’s from the ancient Greek word meaning ‘word’,” Jane replied with a slight smile.

            “Whatever!  The fact is that myths are not historical records.  They were designed to teach moral lessons and illustrate character.  And the character they illustrate for Loki is that he’s a freaking liar.”

            “But he could be right.  What if Thor gets called back to Asgard and doesn’t want to come back to Earth?  To me?” Jane asked, rubbing her finger along the rim of her cup.

            “He came back this time, didn’t he?  Give him a little credit.”

            “You really think I can compete?”

            “Of course you can,” Darcy said reassuringly, “and if you can’t, he’s got the rest of us to come back for now, too.”

            “Thanks a lot,” Jane replied, laughing.

            “Well, since I’ve got you laughing, can I ask you something else?”

            “Sure.”

            “What are you and Erik working on?”

            Jane sighed and shook her head.  “I can’t tell you that, Darcy.”

            “Well, I already know it’s blue; very bright blue.  I’m not sure what that contraption around it is, though.”

            “I’m honestly not entirely sure what it is either,” Jane admitted reluctantly.  “It’s some sort of energy converter, but…”

            “But what?”

            “When the machine is running, it gives off a rhythmic hum and when you pointed out those heat waves…I noticed they were in time.  What were those heat waves anyway?”

            “They were the only visible evidence of an active wormhole,” Darcy explained quietly.

            “You’re joking.”

            “Could I make up a joke like that?  You see, Bruce has been looking for and tracking naturally occurring wormholes and the one across the street broke with its pattern and was just staying open.”

            “I’m the closest thing to an expert on these things.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

            “You were busy at the time.”

            Jane rolled her eyes.  “I’m a scientist.  I don’t like to believe in coincidences, but I really, really hope this is one of them.”

            “Maybe, but you can’t really worry about it tonight, Erik’s taken a serious head wound, and you have someone slightly larger and much better looking to take care of tonight.”

 #####

            Steve had finally scrubbed the stink off his skin and was pulling on his pants when he heard the sound of crumpling metal.  His muscles were tensed for a confrontation as he moved toward the locker room, but he instantly relaxed when he saw that it was Thor who had crumpled nearly an entire bank of lockers.

            “Something wrong?” Steve asked, looking between the warped metal and the Asgardian.

            “The guards will not allow me into the cell to speak with Loki,” Thor said in a tone that wasn’t too dissimilar from a growl.

            “Why not?”

            “They said once the seal on the door was broken, it could never be resealed, and I did not wish an audience for what I had to say to my dear brother.”

            “Which was what?”

            Thor sighed and sat down on a nearby bench.  “I believe he may have said something to turn Jane against me while he held her captive.  She could barely look at me.”

            “Um, did you think about talking to her?” Steve asked.

            “I doubt she would be willing to listen.”

            “You sure?  She’s standing right there,” Steve said, pointing to the figure over Thor’s shoulder standing in the doorway.

            “Hey,” Jane said, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.  “Can we talk?”

            “Of course,” Thor replied.

            Steve breathed a silent sigh of relief as he watched them walk away hand-in-hand.  “Crisis averted,” he muttered under his breath before he found a shirt and a clean pair of boots.

            “Hey, Cap,” Hawkeye said as Steve laced up his boots.  “Stark has invited you to escape SHIELD headquarters and stay at his oversized penthouse at Stark Tower.”

            Steve chuckled and said, “I think I’ll take him up on that offer.  The mattresses here are hard as rocks.”

            “I hear you,” Hawkeye replied.  “Recon teams anything in those tunnels, by the way.  Although, they did say it was obvious something had just cleared out of there.”

            “Whatever it was, there was more than one of them.  I couldn’t really tell.  I shouldn’t have been using those night vision goggles without spending more time training with them.”

            “Don’t beat yourself up, Cap.  They do take a lot of getting used to.  On a completely different subject that’s probably none of my business; why didn’t you just kiss her?”

            “Beg pardon?” Steve asked, staring up at the other man.

            “Li’l D.  You kissed her hand, and as close as she was to you, her lips were not that much further.  So why didn’t you just kiss her?”

            Steve knew exactly why he hadn’t kissed her.  The last time he’d kissed a girl before going into a dangerous situation, he had to bitterly disappoint her and he didn’t even get the chance to apologize for nearly seventy years.

            “I think we can probably put that under the category of things that are none of your business,” Steve said, standing up.

            “Sure thing, but just keep in mind, she is going to ask you the same question eventually,” Hawkeye warned him.

            Steve nodded solemnly.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

            “Stark has a car waiting for you at the back door.”

            “Thanks.”

 #####

            “Hey.”

            Darcy’s head whipped around at the sound of his voice and she couldn’t help the smile spreading across her face.  “You came back.”

            “Yeah,” Steve replied almost sheepishly.

            They both stood in front of the blank metal door awkwardly, both of them wanting to move, but neither of them actually taking initiative.

            Darcy felt the secret she’d uncovered burning inside of her.  Steve was right in front of her and he deserved to know the truth.

            “Steve,” she began, looking down at the floor and gulping.  “Did you fight a gorgon?”

            Steve blinked in response.  “What?”

            “It’s just…they apparently had a feed on your night vision and Bruce said it looked like you were fighting a gorgon,” she replied, shifting uncomfortably.

            He chuckled.  “I’m not really sure what it was.  It did kind of look reptilian, but I didn’t turn into stone, so…not a gorgon.”

            “Oh.  Good.  I’d hate to think there was a gorgon running around New York.”

            Just then, a SHIELD agent came in from outside and said, “Your ride is here.  Where’s Thor?  He was invited as well.”

            “I’m pretty sure Thor is going to have other sleeping arrangements tonight,” Steve replied with a slight smirk.

            Darcy snorted and then covered her mouth with her hand.  Steve shared a smile with her before he moved toward the door.

            “Ms. Lewis!”

            She raised an eyebrow at Coulson’s presence and told Steve she’d catch up before turning to face the oncoming agent.  “Yes?”

            Coulson handed her an iPad and said, “With the director’s compliments.”

            Darcy did a double-take between Coulson and the device in her hands.  “What’s on it?”

            “Something I sincerely hope he’s not making a huge mistake in trusting you with,” Coulson replied.  “Have a good evening, Ms. Lewis.”

            The ride to Stark Tower was mostly silent and she and Steve had an awkward goodbye before going their separate ways to their rooms.  Tony was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t unexpected.  Tony was Tony and he was a terrible host if Pepper wasn’t around.  When she got to her room, which had a gorgeous panoramic view of the city, she immediately turned on the iPad.  It asked for her voiceprint and after she clearly said, “Darcy Lewis,” images began appearing on the screen.  Fury had given her every single piece of intelligence SHIELD had on the Winter Soldier, or as Steve had known him, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes.

 

 

Chapter 17: Obsession

            “Are you using this?”

            Tony looked up, surprised to see Darcy pointing at an old touch screen display board tucked away in a corner of his workshop.

            “No.  I have 3D holographic imaging.”

            “Can I borrow it?”

            She said it so fast, the request almost sounded like a single word.  Tony didn’t often worry about the personal wellbeing of others.  He supposed it was that textbook narcissism Natasha wrote about in that report.  But he felt himself genuinely worried for Darcy.  Her hair was in a tangled ponytail and there were dark circles under her bloodshot eyes that her glasses didn’t cover up.  If her speech had been slurred, he would have assumed she’d been drinking, but since she was talking a mile a minute, he guessed her appearance was the result of not enough sleep and too much coffee.

            “You get any sleep last night, kid?” he asked, putting down the chest piece on which he was working.

            “Not much.  Can I borrow this?”

            “How much coffee have you had?”

            “A lot.  Can I borrow this, or not?”

            “Sure,” Tony replied uncertainly.

            “Thank you,” Darcy said, pulling it toward the door.

            He followed her out of curiosity and watched as she pulled the board down the hall.  Steve was walking in the opposite direction and stopped when he saw her.

            “Hey, Darcy, I was wanting to talk to you.”

            “Oh, yeah, you’re probably wondering what I found out about Erik’s project.”

            “Well, yes, but that’s not—”

            “It’s blue, and it’s an energy converter, and Jane suspects it might have had something to do with that wormhole, but she’s not sure.  I’ll ask her again in a couple of days.  Oh!  And there’s something about Chernobyl, but you should probably ask Bruce about it.  Gotta go.”

            Steve was left with his eyes wide in confusion and his mouth hanging slightly open.  He and Tony watched as she awkwardly pulled the board into her room and closed the door.

            “So, the last time you two had an awkward encounter, she was kissing you,” Tony said.  “What did you do this time?”

            “Nothing.  I didn’t do anything,” Steve replied, still staring at Darcy’s door.

            “Maybe that’s the problem.”

            Steve glared at him.  “What was that board thing?”

            “Well, it’s the top-of-the-line consumer model that’s out right now, but I’ve had it for about six years,” Tony said as they walked back toward his workshop.  “Honestly, I’m surprised I still had it.”

            “What was it?” Steve asked, slightly annoyed.

            “Oh, yeah, you wouldn’t know, would you?  It’s like a cork board or a chalk board except it’s computerized and you can control it by voice or touch.  It can also interface with tablets, computers, and cell phones,” Tony explained.  “I have no idea why Li’l D wanted it, though.”

            “She didn’t look all right, did she?” Steve said quietly.

            “She didn’t sleep last night, and she’s probably had way more coffee than her little body can take,” Tony said, going back to work on the armor he’d abandoned earlier.

            “That’s not like her.”

            “No shit, Sherlock,” Tony replied.

            Steve raised an eyebrow.  “Wherever did you hear that expression?”

            “Spidey said it to me last night.  I think I like it.”

            “Who is this Spiderman guy anyway?”

            Tony shrugged.  “No one knows.  I think that may be why Fury doesn’t like him.  Spidey’s the one thing Fury doesn’t know absolutely everything about, and Fury likes knowing everything.”

            “Do you trust Fury?” Steve asked, folding his arms across his chest.

            “I don’t distrust him,” Tony replied.  “I know he doesn’t trust me.  Can’t say I blame him.  I haven’t always been the most reliable person in the world.”

            “Why not?”

            “Because I’m an alcoholic,” Tony answered, not meeting Steve’s inquisitive gaze.

            A stunned silence followed.  “I haven’t seen you take a drink since I’ve known you, and you took me to a bar.”

            “I haven’t had a drink in three months,” Tony said, crossing the room to grab a different tool that a robotic arm tossed to him before he got halfway.  “Huh.  You know, I haven’t told anyone that.”

            Steve blinked in surprise.  “Not even Pepper?”

            “Especially not Pepper.”

            “Tony, you’re marrying her.  Shouldn’t you tell her something like this?”

            “I just don’t want to see the look on her face when I fail.”

            “Don’t you mean ‘if’?”

            “You, my friend, are an optimist,” Tony said with a smirk.

            “Maybe I just believe in you.”

            Tony snorted.  “Now you just sound like an idiot.”

 #####

            Darcy knew her heart was beating too fast from all the caffeine she’d consumed through the night, but she had managed to construct most of a cohesive narrative from all the intelligence contained within the file.  She was not any closer, however, to figuring out how to break it all to Steve.  Would he rush off blindly to save his friend as he had done before?  Or would the complete, apparent truth about Bucky crush his spirit?

            She didn’t know what to do, and she honestly didn’t know anyone nearby she could ask for advice.  Then she remembered the one person that, despite his often overbearing opinions sometimes, was always full of good advice.

            “Dearest Darce, what on earth has reminded you of the existence of your precious family?”

            She couldn’t help the smile spreading across her face, even though he couldn’t see it through the phone.  “Hey, Uncle Max.”

            “So what’s this I hear about you bringing an Army captain home?  Where’s your Air Force pride?”

            Darcy shook her head.  “I didn’t ‘bring him home.’  He just happened to be with me when I walked in the door,” she explained, although in reality, she wouldn’t have minded ‘bringing him home.’  “Is Dad around?”

            “High rise fire downtown.  Left me here to mind the store.”

            “I just wanted his advice on something.”

            “Well, I am a fount of good advice.”

            “That’s a biggest lie I’ve heard since you told me buffaloes have wings.”

            “Come on, Darce.  Give me a chance.”

            “Well,” she began considering how best to explain, “I’ve sort of discovered a problem and I have to tell a specific someone about it, but I don’t know how.”

            “So…do you think there’s any sort of solution to this problem?” Max asked after a brief pause.

            “I don’t know.  Maybe.”

            “Well, it’s like your dad always tells me: people don’t want problem finders, they want problem solvers.  Maybe you should figure out a solution before you present the problem to the ‘specific someone.’”

            Darcy took a moment to think about it and smiled.  “See?  I knew the good advice would come from dad.”

            “Oh, ha-ha.”

            “Uncle Max, what if I can’t come up with a solution?” she asked quietly.

            “Dearest Darce, you are the smartest person I know.  If you can’t figure it out, no one can.”

            “Thanks, Uncle Max.  Give Dad and C.K. a hug and a kiss for me.”

            “I’ll give them hugs, but no kissing.”

            “Bye,” she laughed.

            “Bye, Darce.”

            She looked at the board with renewed vigor and said, “This calls for more coffee, but first, a shower.”

 #####

            Steve saw Darcy in the kitchen, tapping her fingers impatiently as she waited for the coffee to finish brewing.  The sunlight sparkled as it danced off her damp hair.  As he watched her, he felt an emotion he’d rarely felt in the entirety of his life: cowardice.  He genuinely wanted to shrink back out of the door and walk away rather than have an awkward encounter like the one they had earlier.  But the larger part of his nature was not willing to retreat, so he stepped into the kitchen and quietly said, “Hey.”

            Darcy jumped half a foot and then laughed nervously when she saw who it was.  “Oh, hey.”

            “Um, did you just take a shower?” Steve asked as the conversation floundered into silence.

            “Yeah,” she replied, running her fingers through the ends of her wet hair.

            “Did you get any rest?” he asked as he got a glass from the cabinet and filled it at the kitchen sink.

            “No, not really.  You know, no actually gets water from the tap anymore; not to drink, anyway.”

            “I’m sure it’s no worse than getting your drinking water from melted snow in a German forest,” he replied, taking a sip as he smirked and leaned against the counter.

            “Probably not,” she agreed as the coffee maker beeped.  She grabbed the pot and said a hurried goodbye before quickly moving to the door.

            “Darcy, wait,” he called after her as he put his glass back in the sink.

            “Steve, please don’t,” she cut him off, turning around to face him, but not looking him in the eye.  “I can’t do this right now.”

            “I just want to talk to you.”

            “Well, I can’t talk to you because I’m in the middle of something really intense and strange, and if I talk to you right now, I’ll just blurt out things I’m really, really not ready say, so just…wait.”

            At that, she simply turned and walked away.  Steve stared as his blood started to boil.  His fists were balling up as he heard another voice say, “Don’t you dare!”

            He whipped around to face Pepper with a guilty expression.  “I wasn’t—”

            “Don’t lie to me,” she warned him.  “You’re no good at it, and besides, I’ve spent most of my adult life with Tony Stark.  I know what it looks like before someone throws a fist through a wall or does something else equally destructive.”

            Steve felt his face turning red as he looked down at the floor.

            “Come on,” she said gently, patting him on the back and guiding him to the living room.  “Tell me what’s wrong.”

            They walked to the large open living room and sat down in adjacent chairs near the fireplace.  Pepper looked at him expectantly and when he continued in silence, she said, “You know, Tony told me Darcy kissed you last night.”

            Steve irritably ran both his hand through his hair.  “He would tell you that.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “Nothing.”

            Pepper raised a dubious eyebrow, but decided to let it go.  “Steve, I’m sure you’re smart enough to realize she has feelings for you.”

            “I-I know,” he replied solemnly.

            “Do you not have any feelings for her?”

            “I…yes, but—”

            “You don’t know what to do about it,” Pepper finished for him.

            Steve just silently shook his head.

            “You just don’t want her to get hurt, do you?”

            “No, I don’t.”

            Pepper sighed deeply.  “Steve, I’m going to share something with you from my own experience; not knowing, being in doubt of the other person’s feelings, is far more hurtful than anything you could actually do.”

            Steve looked up and saw a decade of hurt behind Pepper’s smile.  He instinctively reached out and covered her hand with his.  She smiled back gratefully.

            “It’s okay.  I know now,” she said, holding up her left hand to show off her ring.

            Steve chuckled and squeezed her hand before letting go.  “The thing I really don’t understand is why Darcy is avoiding me,” he said quietly.

“I have no idea what it could be either, but…it’s Darcy.  I’m sure she has her reasons.”

The elevator, which served as the entrance to the penthouse opened and Natasha quietly entered the room.

            “Ms Potts?  I have some documents that require Mr. Stark’s attention.”

            “Thank you, Natalie,” Pepper replied.

            “Out of curiosity,” Steve interrupted as he sat back in his chair, “why are you the only one that calls her Natalie?”

            “It’s how we were introduced,” Pepper replied distractedly as she was already perusing the documents in her hands.

            “Natalie Rushman was my cover identity at Stark Industries when Director Fury assigned me to assess Mr. Stark, and it’s still the identity I use at the company,” Natasha expounded.

            “Why have you kept your job at Stark Industries?  It’s not as though you’re still assessing Tony.”

            Pepper looked up suddenly.  “You’re not, are you?”

            “No,” Natasha replied.  “I just like my job.  It’s sort of normal.  By the way, SHIELD analysts have been examining the footage of your fight in the tunnels and testing your clothes, but their results have been less than conclusive.”

            “Maybe Bruce should take a closer look at the footage.  He seems to be good at this sort of thing.”

            “Very good, Sir.  I’ll request the footage from Director Fury.”

            “And I will make sure that Tony actually looks at these,” Pepper said, standing up.

            “Agent Romanoff.”

            They all looked up to the voice calling down from the open second floor walkway.  Darcy’s whole body seemed to be quaking and her jaw shifted angrily as she continued, “I need to speak with you.”

            “I have business at SHIELD—”

            “I need to speak with you now,” Darcy said firmly.  “In private.”

            Natasha’s face remained expressionless, but her body took on a defensive posture as she moved toward the stairs.  Steve looked up and worriedly said, “Darcy?”

            “Don’t,” she said firmly with a sharp expression before she and Natasha disappeared into her room.

 #####

            Darcy quickly realized she was as close as she was ever going to be to making the Black Widow panic.  Natasha’s eyes had immediately lighted upon the display board and those same eyes involuntarily widened in surprise.

            “How did you get access to all of this?  Neither yours, nor Dr. Foster’s credentials—”

            “Director Fury gave me access to all files related to the Winter Soldier,” Darcy replied, holding up the iPad Coulson had given her as some sort of proof.  “I sort of stumbled onto it while I was looking for something else entirely.”

            “What do you think this has to do with me?”

            Darcy was unfamiliar with quiet rage.  She’d been angry at her brother plenty of times growing up, but she just screamed at him in response to that anger.  She never wanted to make him suffer with her silence or her calm.  But what she had learned about the woman in front of her—a woman she had grown to trust—over the last half hour had enraged her in the most quiet way.

            “I’ll get to that,” she replied flatly.  “Have you read Steve’s file?”

            “I’m familiar with his service record.”

            “Of course you haven’t completely read the file. Why would you?  You were never assigned to spy on him.  But I get the feeling Director Fury was just protecting you.”

            “From what?” Natasha asked snidely, obviously losing her patience.

            “From this,” Darcy said, calling a picture of Captain America and his unit from World War II up on the screen.

            “Yasha,” Natasha breathed before covering her mouth.

            “That’s Russian for James, which is actually his name; James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes, Steve Rogers’ best friend,” Darcy explained.  “You know, I wondered why your unrestricted personnel file was in this information.  I thought at first it was because you and Bucky were both trained at this facility near Chernobyl in Belarus,” she said, putting the picture up on the screen.  “You would know the layout.  You could help plan an operation to rescue Bucky.”

            “I could,” Natasha said, nodding.  “I’ve actually—”

            “I’m not done yet,” Darcy cut her off.  “There’s a date in your file; February 23^rd, 1982.  It’s the date of your last Soviet mission on American soil, though it doesn’t say what that mission was.  Now, I’m just going to ignore the fact that you were somehow old enough to be on a mission before you were born because that’s just world we apparently live in, but what I couldn’t ignore was the fact that it’s also the date of Winter Soldier’s last mission before they put him on ice.”

            An old photograph of what appeared to be a young couple on their way to the beach.  “Those ridiculously huge sunglasses hide a lot, but that’s you and Bucky in Malibu on February 23^rd, 1982.  Do you know what’s so important about that date?  It’s the day Howard and Maria Stark died in a car crash in Malibu.  Did you kill Tony’s parents?”

            A tear slid down Natasha’s cheek and a sob actually escaped her throat.  “Yes.”

Chapter 18: Shared History

            “Are you listening at the door?”

            Steve looked up at Bruce with a guilty expression.  Bruce looked at him over his glasses and said, “It won’t do you any good.  This is Tony Stark’s penthouse in Tony Stark’s building.  If it’s not soundproofed to prevent corporate espionage, it’s soundproofed because Tony likes to be the best at everything.  Why are you trying to eavesdrop anyway?”

            Steve groaned.  “It’s stupid.  I just…Darcy called Natasha into her room and she was acting…weird.”

            “Which she?”

            “Darcy.”

            “She’s been acting weird all day.”

            “You don’t understand.  She was angry.”

            “Angry?  Darcy?”

            “Yeah.  She was shaking, she was so upset.”

            Bruce thought about it for a moment and shrugged.  “You know, Darcy is one of the few people I’ve run into in recent years without any sort of ulterior motive.  Whatever she’s up to, it’ll be fine.”

            Bruce started to walk away, and, after glancing at the door one last time, Steve gave up on his ill-fated attempt at espionage and followed him.  “You know, Darcy told me I should ask you about Chernobyl.  Why does that name sound familiar?”

            “A reactor melted down at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986.  If you’ve been catching up on your history, you couldn’t have missed it.  It’s often credited as the single most important event in the crippling of the Soviet economy,” Bruce explained as they walked into his new office.  It was actually larger than the one he’d had upstate and the computer equipment was already alight with life.

            “Well, what did you find out about Chernobyl?”

            “Best I can tell, whoever is in this old Soviet facility was trying to keep a wormhole open, just like what was happening in Manhattan.”

            “You said ‘trying.’”

            “You see, I don’t think it worked.  The wormhole in Manhattan was opening and closing in a very steady fashion.  In Chernobyl, it was like they didn’t have enough power and that wormhole acted more like a flickering light bulb.”

            “Hmm.”

            “What are you thinking?”

            “It’s just something Darcy said about Dr. Selvig’s experiment,” Steve replied.  “She said it was an energy converter, and he was running a test or an experiment or something while that wormhole was opening up.”

            Bruce thought for a moment then sighed.  “Maybe I should talk to him.”

            Steve cocked an eyebrow.  “Do you know him?”

            Bruce nodded.  “Yeah, he and old Dr. Foster were my mentors during graduate school.  Erik and I stayed in touch until…things happened.  Actually, he’ll probably be really shocked I’m alive, but he might open up to me as a fellow scientist.”

            “It couldn’t hurt,” Steve agreed.  “I also thought you might take a look at my fight in the tunnels; maybe figure out what the hell that thing was.”

            “I’m guessing no one appreciated my gorgon theory,” Bruce said with a smirk.

            “I’m guessing it didn’t seem that realistic.”

            “Because realism is so important in our lives.”

 #####

            All the rage Darcy had pent up in her system seemed to have utterly dissipated.  Natasha Romanoff was sitting on the bed in tears.  Darcy’s first instinct was to put an arm around the other woman and comfort her.  But she also knew that Natasha was a spy and a trained killer and that it could all just be a rouse that would end in Darcy’s broken neck and a convoluted cover story.

            After standing there awkwardly became unbearable, she quietly said, “How did you become involved with Soviet Scientific Research?”

            Natasha brushed away the tears and took a deep breath.  “I was sixteen and my family was struggling so I could one day dance in the Russian Ballet.  A man approached me one day and made me an offer: my family would be fed and I could be young enough to dance forever, and that was all I wanted: to dance forever.”

            Darcy decided it was safe enough to take a couple of steps closer and said, “They gave you some sort of treatment, didn’t they?”

            “Yes,” Natasha replied.  “You see, most variants on the super-soldier serum go wrong because their designers want the whole package: increased strength, speed, agility, stamina, and sensory perception.  The variant I was given focused on agility and stamina and its only side effect was aging more slowly, and I didn’t mind that.”

            Darcy felt it safe enough to join Natasha on the bed, although she stayed on the far end.  “When was all this?”

            “Nineteen seventy-eight.  Would you like to know how I earned the name Black Widow?”

            “A black widow kills its mates.  I can figure out the metaphor,” Darcy said.  “You were just 16 in ’78.  How were they—”

            “Some men like that,” Natasha said, looking Darcy in the eye and cutting her off.

            Darcy thought she might hurl all the coffee she’d ingested during the day.  She quickly looked away from Natasha’s pained eyes and said, “You-you called him Yasha.  You knew him.  How?”

            Natasha sighed deeply and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs.  “Winter Soldier was something of a cold war legend, despite the fact that he was only used half a dozen times over the course of thirty years.”

            “He must have been very good.  SHIELD only has complete details on two of his operations.”

            “He was.  But there was a problem.  I knew he was an American soldier because they had to reprogram him every time they sent him out.”

            “And by ‘reprogram’ you mean brain wash.”

            “Yes.  And the really worrisome thing to my superiors was that the programming would sometimes wear off before he made it to a rendezvous point.”

            “He would start to remember who he really was.”

            “Yes.  I was brought in to ensure that wouldn’t happen.”

            Darcy let the silence linger before she said, “What happened on February 23^rd?”

            “We were sent on a mission in Malibu.  We didn’t know who the target was for nearly a week.  It was nice.  He asked me to run away with him, even though he didn’t know what he was running from,” Natasha said with a distant look in her eye.  “Then we got our orders.  We were all set up when I finally gave him the picture and name of the target.  It was Maria Stark.”

            Darcy’s brow furrowed in confusion.  “Just Maria?”

            “Yes.”

            “Why?  What did Maria ever do to the Soviets?”

            “It wasn’t a vendetta.  I didn’t know it at the time, but they were trying to force Howard Stark into giving them something.  I never found out what it was, but I assume it was some sort of weapon.”

            “But something went wrong.  They both died.”

            Natasha nodded slowly.  “Yasha…snapped as soon as he read her name.  He became violent when he saw Howard Stark in the sights.  I didn’t completely understand until you showed me his true identity ten minutes ago.  It wasn’t just because he thought Howard Stark was some sort of American hero; it was because he knew the man, and he was unwilling to hurt him or his family.”

            “There was a struggle, wasn’t there?”

            “Yes.  The gun went off.  Blew out a tire on a semi.  The driver lost control and hit Howard and Maria’s car head-on, killing them instantly.  It’s my fault.  And it broke him so completely that they could never use him again, not to their own ends anyway.”

            “But they didn’t kill him.  They put him in stasis.”

            “They spent too much time messing with his mind and restoring his body.  They didn’t want to just throw him way.”

            “What do you mean restoring his body?  I thought he was pretty much preserved when they pulled him out of that frozen river?”

            “His left arm was apparently shattered.  They cut it off and gave him a new one made of adamantium bones and synthetic flesh.”

            Darcy hurriedly looked through the files on her iPad.  “That’s not in here.”

            “No one’s ever asked if his left arm is real or not,” Natasha replied.

            Darcy looked at the other woman for a long moment.  “When SHIELD found out Tony was dying, you weren’t just assigned to him, were you?  You asked to be assigned to him.”

            Natasha nodded.

            “It was your penance for being involved in the death of his family.”

            “Yes.  Are you going to tell them?”

            “It’s not my story to tell.”

            Natasha looked up at her with silent gratitude.

            “You know,” Darcy began, standing up and changing the subject, “the reason they haven’t gone after Bucky in the last sixty years is because there hasn’t been anyone around that cared enough about him to stop what they were doing and go after him, but now there is.  As soon as Steve finds out Bucky is alive, he’s going to go after him.  And we need a plan because one man cannot just run in, guns blazing and take this facility down.  You know the layout.  You know their behaviors.  Help me.”

            Natasha stood up and looked at the collected information on the display board.  “I need a map.”

 #####

            Bruce felt uncomfortable in SHIELD headquarters.  It probably had something to do with the fact that they hunted him down and dragged him out of his Canadian hideout and hauled him away in a giant net between a couple of Chinook helicopters.  He eventually found Erik’s disheveled lab and knocked on the open door.

            “I’m a little busy right now!  Come back later!” a disembodied voice shouted in reply.

            Bruce smiled and said, “That’s funny.  You used to say you were never too busy for your students.”

            Erik suddenly appeared from the inner room with a bandage on his head and a stunned expression on his face.  “Bruce Banner?  Is that really you?”

            “Most days.”

            “Look at you,” Erik said, smiling brightly.

            “I know.  I got old.”

            “If you’re old, I’ve one foot in the grave,” Erik laughed as pulled up two nearly decimated chairs.  “Come.  Sit down.  Where have you been, Bruce?  Most everyone in the scientific community thinks you’re dead.”

            “I prefer it that way,” Bruce said quietly as they sat down.  “I’ve been everywhere, really.  Spent a lot of time in South America.  More recently, I was in Canada, and not the civilized Montreal type Canada; the freeze your ass off and get found a year later by a team of sled dogs type Canada.”

            Erik laughed loudly and said, “Sounds like home.”

            “I guess it would to you,” Bruce replied, chuckling.

            “Whatever to that biologist you were so mad about?  Did she finally realize she was gorgeous and far too good for you?”

            Bruce did his best not to cry and pasted on a smile.  “She’s fine.  We’re still friends…I think.”

            “I’m sorry, Bruce.  I know what she must have meant to you.”

            “She’s better off,” he replied quickly.  “I was sorry to hear about Doc Foster.  I know he was your best friend.”

            Erik looked down at the ground.  “He let his work consume him until there was nothing left for the rest of us, not even for Jane.”

            Bruce made a point of looking around the destroyed space and said, “You sure that’s not about to happen to you?”

            “What?”

            “Erik, look around.  This place is in shambles.  Jane was kidnapped by the Norse god of mischief yesterday, who, by the way, probably stabbed her a month ago.”

            “Stabbed her?  What are you talking about?” Erik asked, anger in his voice.

            Bruce’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.  “Okay, there’s two explanations for how you don’t know that: either she didn’t feel like she could tell you, or she told you and you weren’t listening enough to even process it. You helped raise that girl after her mother died, and since her dad took a swan dive off the science tower, you’re all she has left.  What’s wrong with you?”

            “You may not be my student anymore, Bruce, but don’t you dare talk to me that way,” Erik said, standing up to tower over the other man.

            “No, I’m not your student anymore,” Bruce replied, standing up and not backing away.  “What I am is someone who got so wrapped up in their work, and so full of pride and arrogance, that I didn’t just lose the one thing that mattered.  I lost everything, even the shit that’s not worth a damn.”

            Bruce’s watch started beeping.  Erik quietly said, “What’s that?”

            Bruce took a deep breath and the beeping slowed.  “It’s a heart monitor.”

            “I—”

            “Just think about what I said,” Bruce told his old professor before stomping from the room.

 #####

            They had a plan.  Or enough of a plan that Darcy felt comfortable telling Steve about Bucky.  Well, comfortable was probably an overstatement.  The conversation was going to be difficult no matter how well prepared she was. To make matters worse, the caffeine had worn off, dehydration had set in, and it was well past midnight.

            He was laying down in front of the fireplace.  She tried to be quiet as she came down the stairs, but the steps creaked anyway.  He didn’t even flinch, so he must have been aware of her presence.  He seemed to be staring at the ceiling, so Darcy followed his gaze to see a perfect view of the night sky above Manhattan.

            “I did not know that was there,” she stated setting the iPad in her hands aside as she sat down next to him, cross-legged on the floor.

            “You didn’t notice all the natural light?” he asked without even glancing at her.

            “I haven’t really looked around that much.”

            “Who’s fault is that?”

            Darcy cocked her head curiously.  Steve’s face was mostly expressionless, but he actually sounded a little pissed.  “I-I wasn’t trying to avoid, or ignore you.”

            “Darcy, I’ve been avoided and ignored plenty of times in my life.”  He turned his head and looked at her.  “Yes, you were.”

            Darcy suddenly felt a flood of conflicting emotions she was sure were the result of not enough food or sleep, or maybe it was just because of the man in front of her.  She finally settled on anger and blurted out, “I’m sorry!  I’m sorry I kissed you and ran away.  I’m sorry I gave you that stupid speech in the helicopter like I was some idiot in love and—and—you know what?  I grew up in a house with three men and they had those Captain America comics, and then you were real and I read your file and you’re actually better than the person in my head.  You’re good, and you’re smart, and you’re modest, and I’m sorry I spent all day trying to figure out a way to save your best friend.  I wasn’t trying to avoid you.  I was-I was…”

            Steve was sitting up and staring at her with wide eyes.  She started to get up and he grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her back down.  He put a hand on either side of her face and brushed away her tears with his thumbs.  “What did you say?” he asked quietly.

            “Dammit!  I didn’t mean to—I had a plan, I—”

            “Darcy,” he cut her off, making her look him in the eye.

            She took a deep breath and wrapped his hands in hers.  “Bucky Barnes is still alive…and he needs our help.”

 

 

 

 

Chapter 19: Just Sleeping

            Steve’s face remained stonily expressionless as Darcy recounted the tale of the Winter Soldier.  He just stared at the picture in his hand as she told him about how his best friend became a feared Soviet assassin whose name was only spoken in hushed whispers among the intelligence communities during the Cold War.

            “I should have gone after him,” Steve said quietly.

            “The war and the Red Skull weren’t going to wait for you to find Bucky,” Darcy replied kindly.  “And there was no reason to believe he could have survived that fall.”

            “How did he survive?”

            Darcy shook her head.  “We don’t know.  Most of the intelligence we have on Bucky Natasha brought out with her when she defected, and she didn’t get files that went back that far.”

            “Wait a second.  Are you talking about Agent Romanoff?”

            “Oh, yeah,” Darcy said sheepishly, suddenly realizing she left out a few key details.  “She’s turning fifty this year, but that’s not the point.  If I had to take a guess at how Bucky survived that fall, I’d say it probably goes back to his captivity at that Hydra base in Austria.  I read your report.  You said you found him separate from the rest of the prisoners and that he was strapped down like they’d been experimenting on him.  When you got back, the Army really only checked to make sure Bucky was healthy.  They weren’t looking for anything else.  Zola might have done something to him that gave him the ability to survive, or at least be easily revived after they thawed him out.”

            Steve silently nodded and Darcy continued, “They had to brain wash him every time they sent him on a mission because it would never stick.

            Steve actually smiled at that.

            “On his last mission, they sent him out with…another agent to insure he would stay on mission, but the target was Maria Stark.”

            Steve looked up and said, “Tony’s mom?”

            Darcy nodded.  “He couldn’t do it, though.  His true nature wouldn’t allow him to murder Howard Stark’s wife.”

            “But…she and Howard both died,” Steve said with a furrowed brow.

            “Bucky got into a struggle with the other agent and the gun went off, blowing a tire out on a semi,” Darcy explained.  “It killed them both, but that wasn’t what the Soviets wanted.  They were trying to leverage Howard into giving them some sort of weapon by killing his wife.  With Howard dead, there was no one to bargain with, and they realized Bucky was never going to be a valuable asset to them again.”

            “But they kept him alive?”

            “Yes,” Darcy said, taking the iPad from his lap and flipping through the pages.  “They invested too much into him to just get rid of him.  Some sort of Soviet loyalist group took over the research facility where Bucky was being held after the fall of the Soviet government.  This picture was taken on a SHIELD fact-finding mission less than a month ago.”

            Steve looked at the picture of his old friend seemingly frozen in place in a glass cylinder.  “You said this was taken less than a month ago?”

            Darcy bit her lip as his jaw started throbbing.  “Yeah,” she confirmed, not sure what else she should say.

            “How long have you known about this?”

            “A day,” Darcy replied.  “I stumbled across some of the Winter Soldier files when I was trying to find something out about Chernobyl for Bruce, but Fury caught me.  And then he gave me access to every piece of information SHIELD had on Bucky.”

            “Fury has known about this the whole time?” Steve asked, his jaw quaking in anger.

            “He didn’t want to tell you until you were ready.”

            “And who the hell is he to decide when I’m ready?” Steve asked, properly seething.

            “He was right.”

            Steve was taken aback by Darcy’s reply.  “How could you say that?”

            “You came out of the ice into a world that wasn’t yours.  And if you had known about this, you would have gone after him just like you did before, and you would have been alone,” she argued.  “You didn’t do it alone the first time.  You can’t do it alone now.”

            Steve looked at the fire to avoid looking back at her.

            “The facility is surrounded by woods, so we could approach it pretty easily.  Natasha and Clint apparently speak Russian.  They can sneak in, posing as scientists and disable the security system.  Bucky is in the basement.  There’s a couple of weak points in their security and you could easily sneak in and get him out.  I know it’s not a great plan, but it’s the beginning of a plan and—”

            Darcy couldn’t continue because Steve’s lips were covering hers.  She just remembered to kiss back when he pulled away slightly.  She looked in his pale blue eyes and said, “Did I fall asleep in the middle of that speech?”

            “No,” he replied, still holding onto her face.

            “Why did you—”

            “Because no one has ever done for me what you’ve done, and…I think you may be the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

            Darcy squeezed her eyes shut and opened them one at time to find Steve grinning back at her.

            “You’re awake.  I promise.”

            Darcy smiled this time as she ran her fingers through his blond hair and kissed him back.

 #####

            Bruce had always been able to run on very little sleep.  It had actually gotten worse since the accident.  The only times he really needed significant rest were after incidents with the Hulk.  Other than that, he only needed a couple of hours a night, which was why he was analyzing the video from Steve’s fight in the tunnels at the crack of dawn.  The night vision screwed around with the picture quality, but he had managed to isolate two, for lack of a better term, creatures.  One he really didn’t recognize, the other he felt like he had seen recently.

            “Shit,” he breathed as he went through the SHIELD alien files Darcy compiled a few days earlier.  “I need a second opinion.”

            He got up quickly, data pad in hand, nearly toppling his chair in the process.  He moved swiftly down the hall and opened the door to Darcy’s room, forgetting every manner his parents ever taught him.  He instantly regretted it.  He was also glad his watch didn’t start beeping from the shock.  Darcy was still asleep, but her head was resting on Steve Rogers’ chest.

            Holding his breath, he tiptoed backward out of the room and closed the door as gently as possible.  “I hate my life,” he muttered to the air as he walked down the stairs.

 #####

            He told her a story about how his mother used to let him use a stethoscope to listen to her heartbeat when he couldn’t sleep.  He would fall asleep listening to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.  So, when Darcy said she felt too tired to actually go to sleep, Steve placed her head on his chest and told her to listen to his heart.  It worked, too.  But now his heart was beating far too quickly.

            She looked up to find that a bead of sweat forming on his forehead as his head jerked back-and-forth.  He was muttering incoherently and his breathing was erratic.  She gently placed a hand on the side of his face and whispered, “Steve.  Steve, wake up.”

            His breathing shallowed, and his face contorted as though he was in agony.  She shook him gently and firmly said, “Steve, wake up!”

            His eyes shot open and he reflexively pushed her away.  She yelped as her back collided with the footboard with a crack.

            “Jesus!  Darcy, I’m so sorry,” he said, pushing off the covers and moving toward her.

            “It’s okay.  I’m fine,” she lied.  She was winded and she was sure there was going to be serious bruise on her back, but she was not going to tell Steve that.  He was obviously already making himself feel bad enough.

            “Lying does not help,” Steve told her, swinging his legs off the bed and covering his face with his hands.

            She took a deep breath and moved around to sit next to him.  The collar of his t-shirt was soaked in sweat and his pants outrageously wrinkled.  She wished, not for the first time, that she’d gotten him out of his clothes before she fell asleep on his chest.  She ran her fingers through the short hairs at the nape of his neck and said, “Tell me about it.”

            Steve shook his head.  “It was just images, really.  Flashes of people falling.  Different people.  People I care about,” he said quietly.  “It’s not a new nightmare.  I’ve had it ever since Bucky…ever since I thought he died.”

            “It’s not your fault.  It was never your fault.”

            “It hurts like it was.”

            “Well, now you can save him and satisfy that ginormous hero complex of yours.”

            Steve looked and shared her smile.  He brushed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.  “You look tired.”

            “Thanks.  That’s just what every woman wants to hear in the morning.”

            “I woke you up.  You should go back to sleep.”

            “You know, I’m too tired to argue with you,” Darcy replied, stretching out and laying down on her side, careful to avoid her bruised back.

            Steve stood up and pulled the covers to her shoulder.  She grabbed his wrist and said, “Steve, don’t kill Fury today, okay?”

            He grinned and kissed her forehead before whispering.  “I’ll do my best.”  He walked out and shut the door as quietly as possible.

            “No fucking way.”

            Steve wanted to shrink into the ground at the sound of Tony’s voice.  He couldn’t even bear to look at what he was sure was the gleeful expression on Tony’s face.

            “So…she kisses you one day, avoids your presence the next, and your solution is to sleep with her,” Tony said, grin spreading across his face.  “I have to say: I’m impressed.”

            “I didn’t—we weren’t—I mean, we did sleep together, but nothing—we didn’t…”

            Steve stopped talking as Tony was laughing too loudly to hear him anyway.

            “Hey, is Darcy up yet?” Bruce asked Steve as he moved quickly down the hall.

            “She just went back sleep.”

            “He slept with her last night.”

            Steve glared at Tony as Bruce looked between them sheepishly.  “I sort of already knew that.”

            Both Tony and Steve snapped their heads toward him in surprise.  Bruce shrugged and said, “I just walked in and there you were.  Yes, I know, I have no manners.  These two images look alike to you?”

            Loud footsteps were heard as Steve studied the tablet Bruce handed him.  He glanced over to see Jane coming up the stairs with Thor close behind her.  She looked livid.  He looked concerned.

            “Where the hell do you get off, Banner?”

            “I’m sorry, what?” Bruce asked as everyone gave her a perplexed look.

            “What did you say to Erik?” she demanded.

            “Jane,” Thor said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder, which she quickly shook off.

            “I didn’t really say much,” Bruce replied.  “Why?”

            “He said he talked to you yesterday and then he threw me off the project for what he called my own good,” Jane told him angrily.

            Bruce rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “He completely missed the point of what I was trying to say.”

            “And what were you trying to say?”

            “I just didn’t want him to go the way of your old man.”

            “You son of a bitch!” Jane yelled before shoving Bruce hard on the chest.

            “Whoa!”  Steve and Tony quickly got between them while Bruce took some deep breaths and Thor held onto Jane’s waist.

            “Can interject something before you really piss him off and this beautiful penthouse Pepper put together gets destroyed?” Tony said.  “Steve slept with Darcy last night.”

            Tony’s comment seemed to have the desired effect.  The anger seemed to dissipate from Jane’s body to be replaced with shock and confusion.

            “What is wrong with you?” Steve asked the man standing across from him.

            “You’d have to consult Pepper for the list, but it worked.  I diffused a tense situation with humor, although in the joke is true.  Look at those pants.”

            “Does he speak the truth?” Thor asked with an open expression.

            “We just slept together,” Steve said, gritting his teeth before handing the data tablet back to Bruce.  “Yes, they look alike.  Why were you asking?”

            Bruce looked down and then across to Jane.  “I wanted Erik to shut down his project because I think it’s connected to those wormholes and now…I think I know what was coming through those wormholes,” he said, holding up a clear picture of a green, scaly being.  “They’re called Skrull, and they’re on Earth.”

 

Chapter 20: Vengeance

            The entire Skrull culture revolved around the concept of war.  This was partially due to their reptilian biology, but it was mostly due to their millennia-long war with another race called the Kree.  Their long struggle had already burned its way through both of their home worlds and the distant reaches of space.  It seemed Earth was likely the next battleground, but no one seemed to have a clue as to why.

            Steve mulled the crowded pieces of information through his brain as the scalding water from the shower washed over him.  It felt as though three days worth of experiences had been crammed into less than twelve hours.  A deep heaviness was settling on him that the water couldn’t even begin to wash away.

            When he finally made himself leave the warmth of the shower, he dressed and found Director Fury standing on the balcony just outside his room, looking down at the city below.  Steve pulled on a sweatshirt and joined the other man.

            “I don’t recall inviting you in, Sir.”

            “Door was unlocked, Captain,” Fury replied.  “I suppose you’re angry with me.”

            “A part of me would like to hold you over the side of the railing and threaten to drop you.”

            Fury smirked.  “You’d never actually drop me, though.”

            Steve shook his head.  “No, I wouldn’t.  And you know that, so I won’t bother…today.”

            Fury smiled as he continued to stare across the cityscape.  “I see Ms. Potts gave you a room with a view of your hometown.”

            Steve noticed, for the first time, how clear the view was of the Brooklyn Bridge and confessed, “I haven’t really spent that much time in here.”

            “So I’ve heard,” Fury replied with a knowing smile and an air of amusement.

            Steve groaned and looked at the ground.  “Tony has a big mouth,” he muttered.

            “How would you like to get some distance from Stark’s big mouth?”

            Steve raised his eyebrows suspiciously.  “And go where?”

            “How about Brooklyn?  I understand it’s mostly a nice place to live.”

            Steve folded his arms across his chest.  “Are you trying to split us all up?”

            “No, Cap,” Fury replied in a tone that was almost gentle, “I’m just trying to save you from having to answer uncomfortable questions about your best friend’s checkered past until the time you’re able to rescue him.”

            Steve couldn’t find a reason to argue.  Bucky’s involvement, however accidental, in the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark, was not something he wanted to face Tony with everyday.

            “I’m going after Bucky as soon as possible,” Steve said, matter-of-factly.

            “I know.  You need a better plan.”

            “Working on it.  I also need Clint and Natasha.”

            “Of course.  I’m sure Agent Romanoff wouldn’t accept any other alternative.”

            “Darcy’s coming too,” Steve said, trying not to meet Fury’s eye.

            Fury regarded the other man skeptically.  “I wouldn’t think you’d want her in harm’s way.”

            “I don’t, but, in case you hadn’t noticed, she doesn’t really like hearing the word ‘no,’” Steve replied with a smirk.

            “I had noticed,” Fury said, reaching into the pocket of his jacket and placing a set of keys in Steve’s hand.  “Your personal effects from upstate have already been moved.  I think you’ll find everything you need.”

 #####

            “Are you two having a fight again?  Because that’s starting to get a little old,” Darcy teased as she leaned up against the wall next to Thor.

            He smiled as he looked down at her.  “It is not really a fight,” he replied.  “I offended her because I agreed with Erik’s decision to keep her away from his project, and now she is giving me the silent treatment.”

            Darcy cocked an eyebrow.  “Did she tell you she was giving you the silent treatment?”

            “No, but I am well familiar with the concept,” he explained.  “It was my friend Sif’s favorite response when I wronged her as a child.”

            Darcy considered her companion for a moment and said, “Were you and she, you know…betrothed?”

            Thor chuckled slightly.  “It was talked about when we were quite young, but not seriously since,” he replied.  “She is my dearest friend, but no more than that.”

            “Good.  I’d hate to have to kick your ass for two-timing my boss,” Darcy told him.

            Thor smiled at her joke and said, “What is this I hear of you and Captain Rogers?”

            “Hmm…Tony’s a jerk,” Darcy concluded.  “There’s not much to tell that you haven’t already heard.  We were talking last night and then he carried me to bed, and I asked him to stay, and he did, and he was a complete gentleman.”

            Thor gave her a sly little smile.  “Ah, well, I have a friend who would have not been quite so gentlemanly with you in similar circumstances.”

            “What?  What are you talking about?” Darcy asked, suddenly very curious.

            “Fandral.  He quite fancied you.”

            “The Robin Hood guy?  You’re not serious.”

            “I’m quite serious,” he assured her.  “He found you quite brave in a very human fashion, and he appreciated that.  He wished he had had the chance to know you better.”

            Darcy raised a dubious eyebrow.  “I still don’t believe you.”

            “Believe what you will, it doesn’t change the truth of the matter.”

            “Darcy, could you help us catalogue these occurrences, please,” Jane called from across the room.

            “Coming,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

            Thor, feeling quite useless in the busy room left and made his way up to the roof of the building.  There he found Steven Rogers resting his forearms against the top of the railing.  He silently joined the captain and took in the panoramic view of the city below.

            “This city is quite remarkable for a human edifice,” Thor stated.

            Steve smirked.  “I’ll take that as a compliment.  I grew up on the other side of that bridge there.  We’d all look across the water and dream of making a life in the City.  Fury offered me a place of my own in Brooklyn, and I jumped at it because now all I want to do is go back.”

            “I find that the spirit of a place stays with us despite our distance from it,” Thor said quietly.  “That spirit will always bind us to our home.”

            “You ever miss your home?”

            Thor chuckled and replied, “It’s strange.  When I was first banished to Earth, all I wanted to do was go home, and when I got home, all I wanted was to come back here.  This realm has become a second home to me.”

            “So, I guess you and Jane worked everything out all right?” Steve asked, glancing at the other man out of the corner of his eye.

            “I assured her I would always come back for her.  I’m not certain she believes me, but she believes I intend to keep my word.  At the moment, she’s angry with me for agreeing with Erik, but I’m sure the moment will pass,” Thor explained.  He let the silence linger as Steve shrugged and nodded his understanding.  Thor looked at the other man with a furrowed brow and said, “May I ask what your intentions are toward Darcy?”

            The question shocked Steve only slightly less than the deadly serious expression on Thor’s face.  “I-I’m trying to use her or hurt her.  She’s…amazing.  When we met, she wasn’t afraid of me, and she didn’t treat me like I was going to break at the first sight of a cell phone.  And she’s bent over backward to do something for me that I never even asked her to; she’s done it twice, actually.  What kind of person does that?  She’s-she’s special.”

            One look at Thor’s grin told Steve he’d said more than he intended.  His ears burned red in embarrassment and he looked down to the streets below, even though it made him a little dizzy.

            “I doubted your intentions could be anything less than honorable,” Thor confessed.  “You are a very good man.”

            “I try,” Steve said, squinting at a building a few blocks away.  “Is that SHIELD headquarters?”

            “I am not very familiar with the structures of this city, but I believe it is.”

            “There’s something moving on the roof.  Can’t quite make it out.”

            “Is that a looking glass?” Thor asked, motioning to a nearby telescope.

            Steve nodded and Thor quickly looked through it.  He backed away after only a moment with a startled and concerned expression.

            “It’s Erik.  He’s standing on the ledge.”

            “Try not to startle him,” Steve said quickly before Thor took off and Steve bolted for the door to the stairs.  He jumped past the last flight of steps and ran down the hall toward Bruce’s office.

            “Dr. Selvig’s on the roof of SHIELD headquarters,” he announced as he burst into the room.  “He’s on the ledge.”

            “What?!”

            “Oh, my God!”

            “I just got a—”

            “We know!” Jane yelled, cutting Hawkeye off.  “Let’s just go!”

 #####

            Thor landed on the roof of the building with a resounding thud.

            “Don’t come any closer!” Erik yelled without looking back.

            Thor held up his free hand and stopped moving in response,  “Erik, what are you doing?  This is madness.”

            “Is it really?” Erik asked.  “I’ve lost whole days.  I don’t even know why I’m working with that damned cube.  I don’t know what I’ve done.”

            “This is not the answer,” Thor replied as sirens sounded up to them and the door behind him opened, spilling SHIELD agents onto the roof.

            “Stop!” Erik yelled.

            “Stay where you are!” Thor ordered the agents, who quickly obeyed.  “Erik, please come down.”

            At Thor’s soft and pleading tone, Erik turned and looked at him.  “Something has had a hold of me,” he said quietly.

            Thor dared to come closer and noticed Erik’s hands and arms were bloodied.  “It is not your fault,” he said gently.

            “Isn’t it?  I was too weak to fight it.”

            “You are not weak.”

            “I am.  I was always more cautious and careful than Jane or her father.  He jumped; did you know that?  Though not quite from so high.”

            “Caution is not a sign of weakness.  It is a sign of wisdom.”

            Erik looked directly into Thor’s eyes.  “What I’ve done…the world will burn.”

            “And we will avenge it,” Thor assured him in a quiet and firm voice.

            Erik slowly shook his head and edged backward.  His tall form dropped, but Thor was ready.  He lunged forward and grabbed Erik’s arm.  He heard a sickening crack as Erik’s shoulder dislocated, but his arm did not become completely detached, for which Thor was grateful.  He pulled the other man up with some difficulty and held onto him as he screamed in agony. 

            Thor looked back at the stunned agents and yelled, “Get help!  Now!”

 #####

            The group rushed into SHIELD’s headquarters from a black SUV that had barely come to stop.  An agent in a suit met them at the door.  “Dr. Selvig is being taken to the medical ward as he speak.  He jumped, but Thor saved him.”

            “Oh, thank God,” Jane breathed as she squeezed Darcy’s hand tightly.

            “Can we see him?” Bruce asked, sighing in relief and running a hand through his hair.

            “Of course.  Come with me, please.”

            Steve started to follow, but then he glimpsed the bank of screens behind the security desk.  Loki was looking directly at the lens, smirking.  It was like he was taunting them, and Steve didn’t like that.  He broke off from the group without warning and jogged toward the basement.  He easily found the room containing the metal box in which Loki was held.

            “I need to talk to him,” Steve said to the technician who was enjoying a sandwich in front of his bank of screens.

            The tech just looked up at him with a dumbfounded expression, but another agent with close-cropped hair and a stern expression that marred her pretty features purposefully crossed the room.

            “No one is allowed to communicate with the prisoner, Captain Rogers.”

            “You see that?” Steve said, pointing at Loki’s still-smirking face on the large screen in front of the box.  “That is the face of a man who knows something and I need to speak to him.  Now.”

            The agent just blinked at him.  “I know you’re Captain America, but you can’t give me orders.”

            “I can, Agent Hill,” Natasha Romanoff said, striding into the room.  “Open communication with the prisoner.

            “Agent Rom—”

            “You’re excused, Agent Hill,” Natasha said firmly.

            Agent Hill stomped out of the room and Steve quietly said, “Thank you.”

            “Maria’s a bitch,” Natasha replied flatly.

            “Hmm…I must keep that in mind,” Loki’s image said from the main screen.

            Steve and Natasha looked at the tech who sheepishly replied, “You said to open communication.”

            Natasha rolled her eyes, but Steve looked resolutely at Loki’s face on the screen in front of them.  “What do you know about what’s going on?”

            “How would I know anything?  I’ve been in this rather fascinating box for the last…what…two days?” Loki said innocently, though his laugh was anything but innocent.

            Undaunted, Steve continued, “There’s evidence that there are Skrull on Earth, not that far from where you were holding Jane.”

“Skrull?  What’s that?”

“And Erik Selvig just tried to kill himself.”

            Surprise flashed across Loki’s face for the merest of moments and Steve smiled triumphantly.  “He wasn’t successful.  Thor saved him.”

            “Dr. Selvig also destroyed all of the equipment he was using for his project,” Natasha added.

            Loki looked away and pursed his lips as though he were considering an answer.  “Perhaps was just…finished,” he replied with a sly smile.

            “What did you have him doing?” Steve asked.

            “What?  You mean me?”

            “Yes, I mean you.”

            Loki focused on Steve and said, “Do you understand the concept of vengeance, Captain?”

            Steve didn’t miss the snide tone in Loki’s voice.  “The country I serve went to war with half the world because one country attacked us on our own soil,” he replied, knowingly simplifying the causes of World War II.  “I remember that feeling.  I participated in the response.  I believe I understand the concept of vengeance.

            Loki laughed high and loud.  “You are so small,” he said in an almost giddy tone.  “Your concepts are even smaller.  You will not truly understand vengeance until this whole planet burns and writhes in agony.”

            Steve set his jaw and folded his arms across his chest.  “Whatever you think you’re going to get away with, we’ll stop you.”

            “You couldn’t even stop me from taking Thor’s lover from right under your noses,” Loki laughed.  “Do you honestly think you can stop me from doing exactly what I want?”

            “I think we already have.”

            Loki shifted his eyes around his surroundings and said, “Perhaps.  Or perhaps next time it will be the little one with the blue eyes and the spectacles.”

            Steve felt the veins in his neck and arms throbbing.  “You so much as touch a hair on Darcy’s head and you’ll be choking on your fingers.”

            Loki’s eyebrows shot up in amusement.  “What is that Earth expression?  Oh, yes: I believe you’ve rather shown your cards, Captain,” he said with a triumphant smile.

            “Go fuck yourself,” Steve growled through gritted teeth.

            Loki’s smile just widened.  “Go on.  Gather all your little friends.  You’re going to need them.

Chapter 21: In The Past

            Jane, despite what Darcy probably thought, was actually acutely self-aware.  She knew she tended to obsess.  She knew she tended to latch onto things and never let go.  She also realized that while she held onto things for dear life, it was rare anyone could truly become close to her.  It probably had something to do with her mother dying when she was just a toddler, and even more to do with her father committing suicide when she was just eighteen.  She never told Darcy any of it, though she was sure Darcy already knew.  Darcy had an annoying habit of being overly-informed, and it had only gotten worse since they started working for SHIELD.

            Thor held Jane as she cried over Erik.  He led her away from the medical ward and back to her quarters.  He gently made love to her when she started pulling at his clothes.  He didn’t ask her questions.  He just let her talk as his fingers caressed her bare spine.  She fell asleep on his chest having recounted her sad history and he wrapped her securely in his arms.

            Night had fallen when she awoke.  Thor was sound asleep when she tiptoed out of bed and dressed in the essentials.  She made her way to the medical ward and found Bruce Banner sitting by Erik’s bedside with his laptop open in front of him.

            “What are you doing here?” she asked, almost immediately regretting her accusatory tone.

            Bruce sighed and continued looking at his computer screen.  “I was an eighteen-year-old physics major.  I was young, but I was already a junior and focusing on gamma radiation and astrophysics.  I looked up to Erik and I spent a lot of time in his office, and a lot of that time was spent watching this four-year-old run back and forth between Erik’s office and her father’s.  I’ve known him almost as long as you have, Jane.”

            She bit her lip sheepishly as she sat down next to him.  “I didn’t realize.”

            “There’s no reason you should have,” he replied quickly.

            She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.  “You’ve…been through a lot,” she stated.  “Did you ever…”

            He looked up at her over his glasses and noted how significantly she was looking at Erik’s prone form.  He followed her gaze and quietly replied, “Yeah, I’ve thought about it…a lot.  Almost tried it a couple of times, but, not only am I not sure it would work, I just couldn’t give in.  I had to keep hoping.”

            She looked at the floor and the tear that fell near her foot.  “Dad gave in,” she whispered.

            Bruce closed his laptop and said, “Your dad was sick, Jane.  He was always that way: too intense and a little unbalanced.  That’s why he needed Erik around; to be the sensible one.  What happened happened because Erik was in Norway and you were on the other side of the country at Columbia.  There was no one to keep him steady and no one he needed to be steady for.  And don’t even start to think it was your fault.  It wasn’t then and neither is this.”

            Jane silently considered his words for a few moments.  “Then why did he do it?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.  “It’s like you said; he’s the sensible one.”

Bruce sighed. "There's a Norse god, known for his ability to manipulate people, locked in the basement," he said. "Erik is not in his right mind, and we all silently know who's really responsible. We should just send the bastard back where he came from."

Jane blinked. "We should," she agreed, a smile forming on her face. "Bruce, we should send him back."

"Okay ... " Bruce replied cautiously.

"Erik destroyed the equipment, but did he destroy the cube?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"It would be blue and really, really bright—like having an LED flashlight shone in your face."

"Um, you know, I think I saw Coulson and some other agents moving something like that when we were coming in," Bruce answered. "Coulson looked pissed, but that's kind of his baseline."

Jane nodded and smiled. "Then we can do it. We need Stark," she said, jumping out of her chair.

"For what? Jane, what do we need Stark for?" Bruce called after her, standing from his own seat.

She turned around and grinned. "We're gonna give Loki the ultimate prison sentence: we're sending him home."

 #####

Steve was a little surprised by the size of his new living arrangements.  The ground floor was a defunct boxing gym, the second floor was a loft-style apartment full of exposed brick walls, modern fixtures, and comfortable furniture.  The third floor was basically just a storage attic.  He’d forgotten how easy it was to get used to solitude since he’d been surrounded by people ever since getting out of the ice.

            It wasn’t until after he made his breakfast, drew for a while, and worked out that he started to feel loneliness settling in. He had a cell phone, but he wasn't entirely confident in how the thing worked.  He also hadn't really told anyone that he was moving.  Dr. Selvig's attempted suicide overshadowed anything he might have wanted to say.  Besides, after his conversation with Loki and the hole he subsequently punched in the wall, he really hadn't wanted to tell anyone anything. It was frustrating, and he was taking out his frustrations in a time-honored fashion: on a punching bag.

The bag went flying across the floor and Steve heard a familiar chuckle. "What did the bag ever do to you?"

"Darcy?" he smiled. "How did you-"

"Get in?" she finished. "I had to sign my over first born in the blood of an ox, but it's a small sacrifice...I hope."

Steve smirked in reply.

"Apparently, Fury programmed in my voice and retinal scans," she told him honestly. "Natasha told me where you were, because I certainly didn't hear it from you."

He didn't miss the teasingly accusatory tone in her voice. He looked at the floor and scratched the back of his neck as he said, "Yeah, um, I'm sorry about that. I, um ... "

"It's okay. Natasha told me Loki made you punch a hole through a basement wall," she told him. "You know, if you do that enough, you could bring down the entire building."

"It wasn't exactly one of my most shining moments."

Darcy smiled and shrugged mischievously. "Debatable. You see ... Natasha told me the whole story, including what Loki said to piss you off so badly."

Steve felt his ears turning red.

"Thanks," she said quietly, avoiding his gaze when he looked up at her. She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a data tablet. "I actually came over to share some information with you. Apparently, Russian intelligence is as interested in this installation as we are. They're sending in a couple of operatives and one of them apparently owes Natasha a favor. They're sharing any intelligence they gather with us, which will be really helpful in breaking into the facility and getting out, you know, alive."

Steve put on a business-like demeanor and said, "Do we know anything about the facility that could help us right now?"

"Yes. We're going to need some serious inoculations against radiation poisoning."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

            "Look, here's a map approximating the fallout from the Chernobyl disaster. The facility is right here in the middle on the Belarus side. Even today, people shouldn't be there. From what we can tell, most of the building’s security procedures are in place not to protect secrets or keep people out, but to keep the radiation out."

Steve examined the map on the tablet carefully. "How are we going to get in?"

"It will probably involve large amounts of deception," Darcy replied, replacing the tablet in her bag. "I was going to ask Bruce if he knew any ways we could deal with the radiation, but Jane seems to have commandeered him and apparently Tony to help with something to do with Erik's work. I wasn't really paying attention when she was talking to me, which is possibly why she didn't ask me to help. That probably makes me a terrible person."

"You're not a terrible person," he told her quietly.

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments until Steve said, "Do you want to see upstairs?"

"What? You mean you don't actually live in the gym?" she joked back lamely.

"Come on," he said, motioning toward the stairs. "You can teach me how to work the television."

 #####

"Foster, it's common knowledge you don't like me. Why are you here?"

She glared back at him across his work table. "I need an engineer, and I need someone Fury trusts more than he trusts me."

Tony burst out laughing. "I did not know you had a sense of humor, Foster. You should do stand-up."

"Tony, please," Jane said, working hard to keep her temper. "Fury knows you, and I need access to that cube. You have to talk to him."

"What cube? Is it like that thing from Transformers because that would be kind of awesome," Tony asked, typing into a computer.

Jane looked a the articulated arm that seemed to be looking back at her and slowly said, "I'm sure you would probably think that, but, no, that's not what this is. It's a power source that that Erik was working with."

Tony stopped what he was doing and stared at her. "Is it a cube or a tesseract?"

"What?"

"Is it a cube or a tesseract: you know, a cubic prism?"

"I'm familiar with the geometrical concept. Why are you asking the question?"

"Uh ... " Tony replied, jogging across the room to a pile of old parts and papers. After a few moments and apparently no success, he called out, "Pepper!"

Pepper appeared in the doorway a few moments later. "Yes, dear?" she replied sardonically.

"That old notebook, Dad's old notebook, do you know where it is? Did we leave it in Malibu?"

"Yes and no," Pepper replied.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Yes, she knows where it is. No, you didn't leave it in Malibu," Jane translated.

"Of course you would understand that," Tony said as Pepper cross the room and picked the medium-sized, leather diary up from between the cushions of the couch.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked cheekily as she handed him the journal.

"I'll let you know, Ms. Potts," Tony replied before kissing her on the lips.

Jane shook her head as Pepper left the room. "How did you avoid a serious sexual harassment lawsuit all those years?"

"I am the soul of discretion."

Jane's eyebrows shot up.

"Fine, Pepper's the soul of discretion. That's not the point. This is my old man's journal. Look at this." Jane studied the drawings and equations repeatedly before looking up at Tony's smirking face.

"This...would have been preposterous thirty years ago," she said.

"It's preposterous thirty minutes ago," Tony said. "Dad thought a tesseract could contain and generate nearly infinite amounts of power if it was made up of the right elements. So, I'm asking you again: is it a cube, or a tesseract?"

Jane shook her head. "This is why I need you to talk to Director Fury."

"Aww," Tony whined. "Fine. Let's go."

#####

"Okay, so I programmed your remote so you only have to use one," Darcy told him. "I know how old people hate having to use multiple remotes."

Steve rolled his eyes as he placed a grilled cheese sandwich on the coffee table in front of her. "I am not old," he said, sitting down next to her.

"Your birth certificate says otherwise," she said before biting into one ofthe triangular halves. "Oh, my God! This is amazing! What's in this?"

"Wouldn't you love to know?" Steve answered slyly before taking a bite of his own sandwich.

She shoved him playfully, and he laughed through his full mouth. "It's just real cheddar. You've probably just forgotten what that tastes like."

Darcy shrugged. "Probably. I'm pretty sure I lived off grilled cheese and scrambled eggs while my mom was sick and right after she passed. My dad really didn't know how to cook.  He still doesn’t know how to cook actually.  Kind of makes me wonder how they’ve been managing to feed themselves for the last few months.”

“Men are not nearly as helpless as women seem to think they are,” Steve told her.

“Oh, because you have so much insight into what women think,” she said sarcastically.

Steve shook his head and groaned as he sat back against the couch.  “I’m not quite the idiot about women everyone assumes that I am.”

Darcy looked at him with a furrowed brow.  “You’re not a virgin, are you?”

Steve nearly choked on his sandwich.  “What?  Where did that come from?”

“I’m sorry.  It came out before the brain-mouth filter caught it,” Darcy replied sheepishly.  “So…are you or not?”

“This is humiliating,” Steve grumbled, covering his face with his hands.

“Because you’re a virgin and I thought you weren’t, or because you’re not a virgin and the fact that I called you on it bothers you?”

Steve looked up at her and said,  “How did we get on this subject?”

“Doesn’t really matter.  We’re on it now.  You have to tell me.”

“You know, I finally see what everyone was talking about when they compared you to Tony,” he told her.

“Come on.  How horrible could it be?”

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.”

“Would it help if I told you about my first time?”

“No.”

“Would it help if we just dropped the subject?”

“Yes.”

“What could be so embarrassing that you’re this defensive about it?”

“I thought we were dropping the subject.”

“No, you just said it would help if we did,” Darcy grinned.

            He glared at her playfully as he sat back against the couch cushions.  “You’re not actually going to make me do this, are you?”

            “Yes, I am.”

            “No.”

            “Yes.”

            “No.”

            “Yes,” Darcy said, reaching over and tickling his ribs.

            He laughed in surprise and grabbed her wrists, pulling her across the couch.  She was on top of him before they stopped laughing enough to catch their breath.  He pushed her hair from her face and said, “I had an asthma attack.”

            “What?” Darcy asked, taken aback by the statement.

            “The first time I had sex, I had an asthma attack,” he admitted.

            Darcy snorted and then covered her mouth.  “I’m not laughing.”

            “Yes, you are.  Arlene Maxwell laughed too.  I’m pretty sure she did it because she felt sorry for me, and I think Bucky’s girlfriend might have talked her into it.”

            “So…this happened before you enlisted?”

            “Shocked?”

            Darcy shook her head slightly.  “You were actually kind of cute back then, before they turned you into an Aryan wet dream to ironically fight the Nazis.”

            Steve raised an eyebrow before he started laughing with her.  Darcy suddenly stopped and bit her lip as she slid off his lap.

            “I should go.  Jane might accidentally need me.”

            “Darcy—”

            “The remote is pretty self-explanatory now.  I’ll probably be back as soon as Natasha hears something from her friends in Russian intelligence.  Bye.”

            Steve blinked and stared as she grabbed her bag and bounded down the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 22: Gelato and Ball Bearings

            “Okay, I just found out I volunteered to go on some sort of mission to a nuclear fallout zone with you, Cap, and, for some reason, Darcy,” Hawkeye said, walking into Natasha’s office.  “I have the strange suspicion you’re responsible.”

            She glared up at him from the corner of her eye.  “I had nothing to do with it.  Captain Rogers requested your presence.”

            “Fine,” he replied, sitting down in a chair and rolling it so he was sitting behind her.  “I figure I’m the last person to know about it, so what, exactly, are we doing?”

            “We’re going to rescue someone.”

            “Tasha, please.”

            “It’s Sergeant James Barnes; Captain Rogers’ best friend.”

            Hawkeye raised an eyebrow.  “I’m guessing that somehow the guy is not a senior citizen?”

            “No, he is not,” Natasha replied flatly.  "He was some sort of operative for the Soviets. They put him on ice thirty years ago and now this organization called 'The Faction' seems to have inherited him. With the state of things, we really need to get him out of there."

"Did you know him?"

"How would I have?"

"Well, you were a Soviet operative thirty-odd years ago."

She turned around and looked at him, doing her best to keep her expression blank. He smirked and continued, "It is a little weird sometimes when you realize that the sexiest thing walking is nearly old enough to be your mother, but I got over it."

Natasha's cold exterior broke and she laughed as he affectionately reached out and squeezed her knee. "Come on, Tash, talk to me. Did you know him?"

She nodded. "He's the reason I defected. I saw what they did to him, and I couldn't stay any longer. Even then, I didn't know the whole truth. I didn't know he was Bucky Barnes."

"What did they do to him?"

"Ever hear of the Winter Soldier."

"Yeah. The old-timers used to talk about him like he was the evil, supernatural Gunny Hathcock," Hawkeye replied with a smile that quickly faded. "Wait a second, are you telling me that Bucky Barnes was the Winter Soldier?"

Natasha nodded silently.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"What's the plan?"

"An acquaintance of mine in Russian intelligence is infiltrating 'The Faction.' We should have enough information by the end of the week to mount a rescue plan."

"How reliable is this acquaintance of yours?"

"He knows what I'll do to him if he lies."

            Hawkeye smiled with a wolfish look in his eye.  “You know, along with being the sexiest thing on two legs, you’re also one of the scariest.”

            She smirked at him and he placed a gentle kiss on her temple before adopting a business-like demeanor.  “What intelligence have we got so far?”

 #####

"So, Foster has this insane theory, in the midst of all her other insane theories, that you trust me more than you trust her," Tony said as he invited himself into Fury's office and sat down across from him. "Is it true?"

"It wouldn't have been true a week ago," Fury replied, folding his hands in front of him on the desk.

"What exactly changed in the last week?"

"You learned how to play well with others," Fury told him as he stood up. "I assume Dr. Foster asked you to come here."

"Yeah," Tony answered. "Why did you hide the thing from her? She and Selvig were working with it."

"It wasn't Dr. Foster herself that concerned me," Fury said, placing a hand on a scanner that appeared out of the wall the moment he came near.

Tony raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. "Why would Li'l D or Thor concern you?"

"This object has an interesting and tangled history," Fury said, setting a metal case down in front of Tony. "Go ahead. Open it."

Tony blinked at the amount of light the thing was giving off. Despite the brightness, however, he managed to make out lines within the cube. "It is a tesseract. The old man knew what he was talking about."

Fury nodded. "It's probably also what got him killed."

Tony shook his head resolutely. "It was an accident what happened to Mom and Dad."

"You honestly believe people like Howard and Maria Stark died in an accident?”

"I try not to see conspiracies in my soup. I leave that to you people."

Fury closed the case and looked Tony in the eye. "The Soviets somehow found out your father had this. They sent one of their most feared operatives to kill your mother."

Tony looked away from him, but Fury knew he still had the other man's full attention. "Had they succeeded, I'm sure they would have next threatened you to leverage your father into giving them this."

"But they didn't succeed. They killed both my parents. Why are you telling me this?"

"So you'll understand how deeply this thing is tied to all of you."

"All of us?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark. All of you."

 #####

            Darcy remembered very few things about her mother.  She mostly remembered her mother being sick, first from the cancer, and then from the chemo that didn’t work.  She also remembered climbing into her mother’s bed one afternoon because, as Ariel Lewis put it at the time, she wasn’t going to be around to say all of the things she wanted to say to her daughter.

            Among the things they talked about that afternoon was the difference between love and sex.  Darcy had gotten the mechanics from an older cousin a couple of years earlier when her brother was born, but her mother wanted to make sure she understood the difference.  Sex involved bodies; making love involved a person’s whole being.  She honestly hadn’t understood the full weight of her mother’s words at the time.  She hadn’t understood them until she fell asleep in Steve Rogers’ arms a couple of mornings earlier.  She didn't want to just screw around on his couch, and that was where it felt like they were going a couple of hours earlier.

"Excuse me, Miss, but you have gelato dribbling down your chin."

"Huh?" Darcy said, hastily wiping her chin only to find that it was dry.

"Just kidding, but it looked like you were headed for gelato dribbling."

Darcy threw her nearly empty cup away and glowered at the smirking figure in front of her. He was young, nineteen at the oldest with Buddy Holly glasses. He wasn't exactly tall, but he had the muscular, lithe build of a gymnast or a dancer. He wore a hoodie and skinny jeans with a worn out pair of Converse and a backpack slung over one shoulder. She looked around and realized she was in some sort of academic-looking place and assumed he was some sort of student.

"Hi, um ... "

"You have no idea where you are, do you?"

"Not precisely, no."

"Columbia. The university, not the country."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I didn't think I walked to South America from Brooklyn."

"Hey, walking to the Upper West Side from Brooklyn is kind of a feat in itself."

"Well, I took the subway most of the way," she admitted, "and I apparently kind of got lost after the gelato."

"Aw, you don't have superpowers.  I prefer meeting people with superpowers," he whined mockingly.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Who are you?"

He grinned and extended his right hand.  "Peter Parker. And you are?"

She copied his infectious smile as she shook his hand and said, "Darcy Lewis.  It's nice to meet you, Peter Parker."

 #####

"Tony?  Tony, are you alright?"

He didn't look up at the sound of Pepper's gentle voice. "Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"You're still," she replied, resting an arm around his shoulders.

He smirked as he wrapped an arm around her waist and gently pulled her down until she was sitting on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his. "What's in the case?" she asked, following his gaze to the metal case on the table in front of them.

Tony's mouth twitched uncertainly. "It's the thing that got my parents killed." He could feel Pepper looking at him, but he didn't meet her gaze. "Fury showed me the memos from Soviet Intelligence and if the thing is as powerful as my old man thought, I could believe old Mother Russia was willing to kill for it.”

"That still doesn't explain what it is," she said, smiling against his cheek.

He chuckled and turned his head to kiss her lightly on the lips. "It's a power source, a nearly infinite power source."

"More infinite than ... " she asked, tapping the reactor in his chest.

Tony shrugged. "Maybe," he said, opening the case to let the bright light shine on her face. "Before my dad had it, this psychopath called Red Skull actually parceled independent power cells off the thing capable of destruction well beyond World War II tech.  Steve apparently had to crash that giant ass plane into the North Atlantic to stop him from destroying half the world with this thing."

Pepper squinted and said, "Lovely."  She shut the case and said, "Who had it before the Red Skull?"

"Dead Viking."

At Pepper's raised eyebrow, he continued, "Seriously, it was hidden near the tomb of a very, very dead Viking. Legend says that Odin himself bequeathed it to the dead guy because of his bravery in the face of some sort of invasion from somewhere."

"Well, if Thor and Loki are real ... "

"Yeah," Tony cut her off. "I'm thinking this is some sort of Asgardian tech."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"In the long run, I don't know. The possibilities are kind of endless," Tony said.  "But right now; we're building Foster's bridge so she can get rid of her annoying brother-in-law.  Can't say I blame her.  The guy's kind of an ass."

Pepper giggled.  "Who's we?"

"Me, Foster, and Banner. Banner is salvaging any data Selvig had and Foster is gathering schematics and her boyfriend. I have a suspicion he can shed some light on this thing that no one else can."

Pepper smiled as she gently stroked his beard. "I'm so proud of you."

"Why? Because I can 'play well with others'?"

"Well, that, and because today marks one hundred days since you last took a drink," she told him with a smile.

He blinked at her. "You knew?"

"Tony, I know every detail of your life. Of course I knew you stopped drinking, and I know why you did it, and I love you for it," she said, softly kissing his cheek.

"So, Ms. Potts," he said slyly as his hand snaked up between her legs, "do I get a reward for this hundred days of good behavior?"

"Sometimes, Mr. Stark, you are such an ass," she said before pressing her lips to his.

 #####

"I'm doing this internship with Dr. Connors after school right now and it'll count toward my college credits when I start attending here full-time in the fall."

"So, you're like some sort of genius then?"

"I wouldn't say genius ... well, maybe a little."

Darcy rolled her eyes and shook her head as they walked along the bricked, tree-lined path.  "That's the thing about geniuses, they're not exactly modest."

"And just how many geniuses have you met?"

"What?  You don't think I'm the sort of girl who can hang with the smart people?"

"I didn't say that," Peter back-pedaled. "You actually look quite egg-headed with those glasses."

"Gee, thanks."

"Well, if you didn't have the glasses I would probably be focusing on an area slightly below your facial region, actually it's kind of hard not to be distracted by them now."

She backhanded him in the stomach and he laughed as the air expelled from his lungs. "Damn girl. You can hit."

"I have a little brother," she explained easily. "You have no idea how to really talk to a woman, or a girl for that matter, do you?"

Peter shrugged. "Girls never look at me in anything remotely resembling a romantic sense, so I just talk to them like I talk to, you know, other people," he explained. "I have girls that are my friends, but that's about where it stops ... unfortunately."

Darcy looked at him out of the corner of her eye and said, "So, what's her name?"

"What?"

"The girl that gives you sad puppy-dog face."

Peter shook his head. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"Huh?"

"Who's the guy that gives you dribble face?"

Darcy rolled her eyes. "His name is Steve."

"Is he a jock? I've never met a Steve that wasn't a jock."

"No. Well, sort of. It wasn't really on purpose."

Peter cocked a dubious eyebrow. "How does someone become a jock not on purpose?"

"He joined the army. Before that, he was going to go to art school."

"An artist, huh?  Is he gay?"

Darcy smacked him in the stomach again and said, "That's profiling and it's wrong."

"Not according to the FBI," Peter replied.  "So, I'm guessing this Steve guy is basically perfect: strong, smart, and sensitive."

"Kind of, yeah," Darcy admitted, grinning sheepishly.

"So, what's the problem? Does he barely know you exist; because I totally know what that feels like."

"No, he definitely knows I exist. I mean, we've kissed, and I know he cares about me, but we sort of got in this really intimate situation and I just-I didn't-I-I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"You didn't want to just bang him, did you?"

Darcy stopped and stared at her companion. He smiled at her and said, "I'm very intuitive. Did I mention that?"

She rolled her eyes and replied, "I'll add it to your list of superpowers. So, I showed you mine. Who's yours?"

Peter's smile became sad and distant. "Mary Jane."

"Is that a euphemism?"

"No," he answered quickly.  “She's my next door neighbor. I've kind of been in love with her since I was seven."

Darcy smiled at how suddenly Peter had become a sheepish and self-conscious little boy.  "And she thinks you're just her weird neighbor?"

“What makes you think I'm weird?"

“I've spent the last hour talking to you."

"Harsh, D," he said with a slight laugh. "You're right, though.  She talks to me about her lousy boyfriends sometimes.  It makes me want to hit something."

"You know, chances are if you just keep listening, eventually she'll notice you."

"Hopefully before I die."

"You're eighteen. Death isn't waiting for you just around the corner."

"Hey, I live dangerously."

"Sure, you do," Darcy replied dubiously.

"You'd be surprised," he said with a smirk.

She regarded him curiously and said, "Well, I do think I may have bruised my knuckles on your abs."

“I'm full of surprises."

Darcy's phone started beeping in her bag and she groaned when she read the message.  “Now she needs me."

"Who needs you?"

“My boss; Jane Foster."

Peter's eyebrows shot up. "Doctor Jane Foster?  Crighton Foster's daughter? The astrophysicist?"

Darcy backed away slightly. "Oh, God, you're a fan, aren't you?"

“Who wouldn't be?  She's an amazing, out-of-the-box thinker.  Her theories could seriously change the way we perceive the universe, and...she's kind of hot."

Darcy snickered.  "She's also taken, bro."

"Aw, really?"

"Yeah.  The guy looks like a Norse god, so even with your rock-hard abs, there's really no competition."

"You're breaking my heart, Darcy."

"Well, I gotta go."

Peter suddenly snatched the phone out of her hand and said, "I'm giving you my number in case you ever need help with your homework."

Darcy shook her head dubiously. "It of course has nothing to do with the fact that I work for a scientist you have a serious crush on."

“Absolutely not," he replied handing the phone back to her.  “I will leave you with one piece of advice about your situation with this Steve guy: just because you're a little uncertain, doesn't mean you shouldn't jump in head first."

"You're a fan of throwing caution to the wind, aren't you?"

"Hell, yeah," Peter replied, grinning.  “See you around, D."

"Later, Pete."

 #####

"Cap? Hey, Cap—damn!"

Hawkeye ducked just in time to avoid having a baseball-sized projectile go straight through his head.  He looked between the concrete wall, which contained several holes of varying sizes, and Captain Rogers, who was holding a metal ball bearing in his right hand.

"Sorry, Hawkeye. Momentum was already going when you came in. Couldn't stop."

"Yeah, okay," Hawkeye replied cautiously.  “Something wrong with using baseballs?"

"They sort of disintegrated," Steve said, throwing the ball bearing and causing a loud crack to fill the air.

Hawkeye nervously rubbed the back of his neck.  “Did you just find out the Dodgers moved across the country?"

"Known that for weeks," Steve replied flatly as he picked another ball bearing out of the box at his feet. 

“So ... is Li'l D the cause of all this?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, I find her frustrating sometimes and I've never slept with her."  Steve glared at him angrily and his grip on the ball bearing tightened.  "Please don't hit me with that thing, or ... at all," Hawkeye requested.

Steve threw the metal ball at the wall and another crack filled the room, causing Hawkeye's ears to ring slightly.  "Damn, Cap, what happened?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Steve replied, turning and marching toward the stairs to his apartment.

“Is that the problem?" Hawkeye asked, jogging after him.

“Why are you here, Hawkeye?"

"Well," he began as he entered his security code into the computer console on the desk.  The room darkened and the windows became computerized touch screens like those littered all over SHIELD headquarters.  "I was finally briefed on our mission, and I started researching The Faction.  They were practically a cult before the fall of the Soviet Union and they've gotten worse since.  Most of them were Soviet fringe science researchers and they moved to a fallout zone so the Kremlin wouldn’t bother them.  They've brought up a whole generation underground at this facility.  They just recently elevated their current leader; this guy, Yvgenny Zolanoff."

Steve cocked an eyebrow.  "Wait, that looks like...it looks like Arnim Zola."

"Yeah, I thought you might notice that," Hawkeye replied.  "Zola was released for 'services rendered' in '48.  I'm guessing he emigrated to Russia and changed his name...rather unimaginatively, I might add."  

Steve sat down and sighed as he looked at his feet.  "Zola knew Bucky.  He experimented on him."

"Yeah. I read that in your report," Hawkeye said quietly.

"If Zola's son, or whatever, has Bucky, and Bucky is...we can't just leave him there."

"I know, Cap."

“We can't wait any longer.  Whether we've gotten intelligence from the Russians, or not, we're going the day after tomorrow."

Hawkeye smiled. "Stupid is just how I like my missions."

 

 

Chapter 23: Boxes

"So ... what's it for?"

"It wasn't for anything particular as you might imagine," Thor replied.  “In the hands of a worthy man, it could do anything."

"Um," Bruce began with a raised hand, “what, exactly, constitutes a 'worthy man?'"

"Good question, Banner!"

"Shut up, Stark."

Thor ignored their bickering and replied, "Odin must judge a man worthy, as he once judged Sven, Son of Erik worthy."

"So, I'm guessing it would be bad if one of us just tried to pick the thing up."

"Quite."

“Well, you don't have to touch it to use it," Tony said. You got those old film reels loaded, Banner?" Bruce nodded and silent images appeared on the screen.  Thor watched as Tony narrated, "This is nearly seventy years ago, and even today we don't have mass produced technology capable of creating this kind of destruction.  Those weapons were created using your dad's little cube there."

"Who created such weapons?" Thor asked gruffly.

"Wait for it," Tony said until and image of the Red Skull appeared.  "That guy."

"What the hell happened to his face?" Jane asked.

“Hundred bucks says botched super-soldier serum,” Bruce betted.

“No bet,” Jane replied.

“Good call.  You would have been out a hundred bucks, Foster,” Tony told her.  “It was actually an unfinished version of the same stuff they gave Steve.  Obviously, its side-effects were greatly lessened the second time around.”

“How were the soldiers of the time able to fight one with such weaponry?”

“We had Captain America,” Tony said motioning everyone’s attention back to the screen.

Thor’s eyebrows raised slightly as he watched Steve in his full Captain America regalia thwarting the blasts from the Red Skull’s futuristic weapons with his shield and easily knocking out Hydra soldiers.  “Captain Rogers is a very skilled warrior,” Thor commented simply.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s really let loose yet,” Tony muttered.

“I’m guessing you don’t want us to tell him about the cube,” Jane said, her arms folded across her chest.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Thor asked curiously.

“Well, it’s sort of the thing that made him crash a plane into the Arctic Circle and get frozen there for seventy years,” Bruce pointed out.  “I wouldn’t feel good about seeing the damned thing again.”

“But it is not in the hands of a man such as this Red Skull,” Thor said.  “It is not even in the hands of just one person.  Few would be worthy of it alone, but together…you are more than worthy guardians.”

“Yeah, I still get the feeling it would piss him off,” Tony said after a short silence.  “And he’s going on some sort of mission so it probably renders the whole thing moot.  You guys get started on the plotting, I have a project to finish.  Hey, look, it’s Fury.”

Fury was indeed rolling his eye as Tony walked past him and two other agents.  He shook his head at Tony’s behavior and then turned his cycloptic gaze toward Thor.  “I was wondering if I might have a word.”

“Of course,” Thor replied politely after Jane smiled at him before focusing on a computer console.

He followed Fury and the two agents into the hallway where Fury looked over the railing to the living room below as he said, “How are your hunting skills?”

“Fair when compared to the skill of my friend, Hogun.”

“And when compared to the rest of us mortals?”

Thor just smirked in reply.

“That’s what I thought.  This is Agent Dugan and Agent Tapper.”

“Sir,” the agents said in unison.

Thor acknowledged them with a nod and then looked back at Fury, who was smiling.  “How would you like to take them Skrull hunting?”

Thor smiled.  “I think I would like that very much.”

 #####

"Um ... this is extremely complicated."

"Having the targets move is more realistic. Most people are not going to stand still and let you shoot at them," Natasha said flatly. "Try again."

Darcy took a deep breath and concentrated as the human-shaped targets zigged and zagged toward her. She fired until the slide on the gun locked back, indicating she was out of ammunition. Natasha froze the simulation and her eyebrows rose approvingly as she looked at her computer screen.

"Not bad. You actually managed to hit all six targets. Out of curiosity, though, are intentionally avoiding shots to the head and chest, or is your aim actually off?"

Darcy shrugged. "I don't really want to kill anybody. If they die of a secondary infection, that's totally not my fault."

Natasha smirked slightly. "I suppose Captain Rogers would prefer it if I didn't turn you into an actual killer."

Darcy couldn't help but blush a little bit.

Natasha handed her a clip to reload the magazine and continued, “Did something happen with the two of you yesterday?  Clint told me the captain seemed a bit frustrated yesterday.  He was throwing ball bearings into a concrete wall."

"Yeah...that may have been my fault."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Nah. I talked about it with a random stranger, so I think I'm good."

Natasha cocked an eyebrow. "You talked to a random stranger about Captain Rogers?"

"It's not like I told the dude I was falling in love with Captain America."

"Falling in love?"

Darcy's blush started to turn downright crimson.

“I thought I warned you about that," Natasha said in a tone that reminded Darcy of her high school principal.

"You did, but think some people, some relationships, are worth jumping into head first and maybe getting your heart a little cracked in the process," Darcy replied, paraphrasing Peter with a slight smile.

"Sometimes your heart gets more than a little cracked," Natasha said quietly before reactivating the simulation. "Try again."

 #####

Fury had been very thorough in sending all of Steve's belongings to the Brooklyn apartment. SHIELD apparently even had his old footlocker in storage along with all of the things he'd stored when he enlisted. Among these possessions included a safety deposit box key to a box at Brooklyn Central Bank. It had belonged to his mother and then to him, though he never bothered to look inside the box before he left Brooklyn.

He'd learned enough about computers in the last few weeks to do a search to see if Brooklyn Central Bank still existed. It didn't, however, the building had become a branch of the First Bank of New York, and the safety deposit boxes had remained undisturbed. It was possible whatever was in the box was still there.

His curiosity got the better of him and he journeyed the few blocks down the street to the branch. A perky account representative checked his ID—which Fury had helpfully provided—and didn't question the fact that the owner of the box should be seventy years older than he appeared. It did not exactly give him a great deal of confidence in the institution, but he was glad he didn't have to make up a silly lie. They removed the box and the young woman led him to a small room with just a table and a chair and no cameras.

"Take all the time you need Mr. Rogers. You know you don't really look like a Mr. Rogers kind of guy."

"Um, thank you...I think," Steve replied with a furrowed brow.

The representative blushed and sheepishly looked at her shoes. "You can lock your box back when you're finished. I'll be upstairs to answer any questions you might have."

"Thank you," Steve said as she left.

He sat down and opened the box. Most of what was inside belonged to his mother; her old stethoscope, the little watch she used to pin to her apron, and a lot of pictures.  He found a faded portrait of his parents' wedding. Their stern expressions made him laugh as he knew how happy his parents had been.  He'd rarely seen pictures of his father growing up, as his memory was often too painful for his mother to bear.  As he examined the photo, he realized he looked a great deal like his father, especially since the Super Soldier serum had broadened his shoulders.  Though the picture didn't display it, he knew his father's hair was red and not blond because, as his grandmother had once put it, "Gerald Rogers was a proper mick, complete with red hair and stupidity."  Steve loved his grandmother, but she was a judgmental old crow and Steve always strived not to be like her.

Sifting through the photographs, he found most of them were from his childhood. One struck him in particular; it was a picture of him and Bucky when Steve had only been about five. Bucky was six months younger, but he was still significantly bigger than his sickly friend. Bucky had been Steve's protector throughout their adolescence and then even into adulthood. Then suddenly their roles reversed, and Steve always felt he hadn't quite been as good as Bucky had been for all those years. "I'm gonna bring you home. I promise," he whispered to the dark-haired boy in the photograph.

He was almost ready to close the box when he spotted a small, rusted tin in the back corner underneath a pile of photos.  He opened the tin and was surprised to find a small sapphire inset on a silver disc and chain.  His stomach twitched a little when he realized the stone reminded him greatly of Darcy's eyes.  On the back, he found an engraving that said, "To my Love."  It was probably a gift from his father to his mother, which was also probably why he had no memory of her ever wearing it.

He replaced the necklace in the tin and put it in his pocket along with the wedding portrait and the photo of him and Bucky. He locked the box away and carefully avoided the overly-bubbly representative that helped him earlier as he made his way back out to the sidewalk. His phone began ringing in his pocket and he answered it, saying, "Rogers."

"Oh, my God. You've mastered how to answer a cell phone. I might shed a tear."

Steve rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Tony?"

"Well, I went to your room and then Pepper informed me that you moved out the day before yesterday or something like that. That's very hurtful, Steve."

"What do you want, Tony?" Steve repeated with more than just a hint of annoyance.

"I need an artist. So, if you can stand to be in my presence, bring your sketchbook to the penthouse ASAP. See you."

The call suddenly disconnected and Steve shook his head as he replaced his phone in his pocket.

 #####

"You know, only old men tuck their shirts in these days."

"Technically, I am an old man," Steve said, looking around Tony's workshop. His bike was standing up on the floor looking quite shiny and high tech. "Is the bike ready?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't suggest driving it off the balcony. We're over a hundred floors up and a flying motorcycle would just be ridiculous."

Steve shook his head. "So, why am I here?"

"That," Tony answered as a cylindrical case spun around revealing a suit of armor. Unlike the rest of Tony's suits, this one was a deep sea blue and designed for a much thinner and seemingly feminine form.

Steve smirked and said, "I don't think that's going to fit you, Tony."

"Ha-ha," Tony replied mirthlessly. "It's for Pepper."

"You're putting your fiancée into an armored suit?" Steve asked dubiously.

"Hey, leave lecturing me on the psychological implications to Rhodey and Romanoff, and the answer is yes and no," Tony replied. "There's not really any weaponry, but it's probably got better defenses than any of my suits: repulsor shields, high density force fields, low exhaust thrusters. She'll be my salvation, and maybe yours, too ... if it comes to that."

"Looks like it's finished. What do you need me for?"

"What? You didn't notice the fact that there's not a helmet?"

"I guess not."

"I want you to design it."

"What? You've done this lots of times."

"Yeah, but not for a girl."

"A girl? Really, Tony?"

"Semantics. I just want it to be perfect and Pepper actually likes your work, so you should really get on this."

Steve chuckled softly and shook his head as he sat down on a stool in front of the suit. "You know I'm leaving in the morning, right?"

"Hence why I called you today," Tony replied. "Got you some gear lined up from a Stark facility in the Ukraine. It'll be waiting for you when you land."

“Thanks,” Steve said, finding himself genuinely touched. "Do you even know what we're doing?"

"I heard rescue mission, nuclear fallout zone, and extensive underground tunnels. I extrapolated what you'd need from there. Was I wrong?"

"No, you were right."

"I should put that on a t-shirt," Tony thought aloud, causing Steve to shake his head.

"Do you even care who we're rescuing?" Steve asked.

"Not particularly. I figure if you're involved, the guy probably deserves to be rescued," Tony said while fiddling with one of his own suits.

Steve bit the inside of his mouth, deciding whether he should give Tony more details, or if that would just bring up some uncomfortable questions.  “He was my best friend,” Steve finally said quietly.

“I’m guessing he’s not in the geriatric ward?” Tony asked while fiddling with one of his suits.

“No.  They’ve preserved him, and I don’t want to find out what ends they have in mind for him.”

“What’s so special about the guy, other than the fact that he was Captain America’s best friend?”

Steve glared at him.  “He may have been given some form of Super Soldier serum, and he apparently has an adamantium arm.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Li’l D dig all this up for you?”

Steve silently nodded.

Tony stopped working on his suit and walked around the table to where Steve was sitting.  “You know, I don’t often offer advice, but—why do you have so many drawings of Pepper’s face?”

“I need to know her facial structure if I’m going to design a helmet for her.  And I’ve got drawings of everyone.  It’s not a big deal.”

“Just what do you mean by ‘everyone’?” Tony asked, snatching the book out of Steve’s hands.

“What are you?  Five?”

“I’ve been accused of much worse,” Tony replied, backing away as he flipped through the pages.  “You’ve drawn Darcy.  I knew that’s why you didn’t want her snooping around your sketchbook.  Wait, who’s this?  It kind of looks like Darcy, but…not.”

“It’s Darcy’s mom,” Steve replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “or what I think her mom would look like today.”

“What?  Is her mom not around or something?” Tony asked, looking at the picture once more.

“Her mom died when Darcy was nine, and she was sick a while before that.”

“And I thought I had it rough,” Tony muttered.

“I was going to give it to her.  She doesn’t really have that many pictures of her mom.”

Tony closed the book and handed it back to him.  “You know, you’re really outdoing the rest of us in the overtly-sweet, romantic gestures category, and you’re the only one not getting laid.  There’s something wrong with that.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 24: Choices

They were using one of Tony's older planes to get halfway across the globe.  It was less conspicuous, but it also meant that they were traveling at subsonic speeds without repulsor technology to help them land.  The hour they'd been in the air was spent in complete silence since Hawkeye was napping, Natasha was looking over files on her data tablet, and Darcy and Steve were doing their best to avoid one another's gaze.

When Hawkeye awoke to the silent and awkward atmosphere, he got out his phone and texted Natasha.  "Would it be less awkward if we left the compartment?"

"Doubtful," she replied after taking a moment to roll her eyes at him from across the cabin.

“We should do something to get them talking."

“This is not a situation comedy."

"Sometimes you really are an old bitty."  This elicited a death glare from the recipient, and a smirk from the sender.

"You seen any good movies lately, Cap?" Hawkeye asked, breaking the oppressive silence.

"Huh?" Steve asked as he nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise.  "Uh, no, I haven't really watched that many movies since ... I've been back."

"Li'l D, how about you call up a modern classic for the Cap?"

Darcy cocked an eyebrow at him as though she knew he was up to something, but he activated the information screen anyway.  After a few moments of scrolling, she said, "Oooh, I think you'll like this one.  Nazis get their faces melted off."

Steve's eyebrows shot up, but there was a definite glint of curiosity and excitement in his eyes.  Darcy started the movie and was only marginally surprised when their seats came together to form rows like in a cinema.  They were, after all, flying in the property of a man who often turned his planes into strip clubs.  She caught Hawkeye grinning and Natasha shaking her head in derision before the lights dimmed completely.  She also heard them leave the compartment as Indiana Jones ran away from a giant boulder, but Steve was too enamored of what was happening on the screen to notice.  Darcy stifled a giggle at the sight.

"I wouldn't have thought a whip would be that useful," Steve whispered.

"It's just us. You don't have to whisper," she whispered back.

Steve looked around, confirming her words and then quietly replied, "Sorry.  Habit."

"It's not a bad habit," she told him.  "And I'm sure a lot of people didn't think a shield was going to be that useful, either."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and caught her grin.  He chuckled slightly as he bravely wrapped his hand around hers.  She was glad the lights were almost off so he couldn't see her blush.  She watched him as he watched the film.  She hadn't seen anyone enjoy something so obviously since C.K. first watched Raiders when he was four.  She saw a curious glint in his eye as they were introduced to Marion.

"You like her, don't you?"

Steve shrugged noncommittally.  "She's...feisty."

Darcy strategically tightened her grip on his hand. "Well, she was the best."

"The best what?"

"There are three sequels and two of them had different women as love interests," Darcy explained.  "She was the best, though, which is probably why they brought her back in the last one."

"Were the other movies as good as this one?"

"Don't watch the second one, Temple of Doom, it's just bad. The fourth one is okay...ish, if you like schmaltz.  Last Crusade is almost as good as this one. There are Nazis in that one too."

"We'll have to watch them sometime," Steve said quietly.

Darcy smiled.  She liked the idea of planning something with him in the future.  Besides, she always did have a soft spot for Indiana Jones.

"How did he get on the submarine without anyone noticing?"

Darcy rolled her eyes as she tucked herself up under his arm. "People have been asking that question for decades.  They've never gotten an answer."

She felt Steve squirm uncomfortably as the power of God melted off faces and blew holes in several Nazi soldiers.  "What is it?" she asked him gently.

"It just kind of reminds me of something," he replied.

"Care to elaborate?"

"When the Red Skull—when he died, I guess—the ceiling and the sky just opened up, and he disintegrated…slowly.  I was like God himself was consuming him," he explained quietly. "It's not really an experience I enjoyed."

"I'm sorry.  Did it ruin the movie for you?"

Steve shook his head. "I liked it.  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of them."

"Oh, no, you're gonna make me watch Temple of Doom, aren't you?"

"What's the point in watching some of them if you're not going to watch all of them?"

"Ugh.  You're one of those people."

"Apparently, I am," he said quietly.  "Happy birthday, by the way."

Darcy blinked up at him.  She'd almost forgotten herself.  She was downright amazed that he somehow knew what day it was.  "How-how did you know?"

"I don't need to steal someone's access code to look at a personnel file," he told her, smirking as he stood from his seat.  "You also told me a while ago that your birthday was this month.  I kind of got you something."

"Really?" she asked, sitting up.

"Actually, I made it," he said, sitting down next to her in the wide chair and handing her a square envelope.

She tried to contain her excitement as she opened the envelope. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw what was inside. Steve, unsure what to make of her reaction, bit his lip and sheepishly said, "I noticed you didn't really have that may pictures of her at your house, and I'm no expert on how people age, but I guess you could just call it artistic license."

She was still silent as she stared at the picture and tears formed in her eyes. "Darcy, please say something," he asked, panic starting to seep into his voice.

"She would have loved you," Darcy replied, barely above a whisper. "Almost as much as I do."

It was Steve's turn to lose his breath in his throat.  “Darcy, I—”

“Shut up,” she told him quickly before grabbing his face and straddling his lap as she kissed him hard on the lips.

His response almost surprised her.  He wasn’t stunned into motionlessness and he didn’t try to push her away.  In fact, he grabbed her right leg and pulled her closer to him as he tangled his fingers in the hair on the back of her head.  Heat rose between them as they pressed into one another.  Then the compartment rocked violently and Steve accidentally bit her lip as their faces smashed together uncomfortably.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Steve hissed through clenched teeth as Darcy got back into her own seat and strapped in.  If anything was ever going to happen between them, it was certainly going to be a bumpy ride getting there.

 #####

            Thor was not the best hunter in the universe.  That title certainly belonged to Hogun.  Thor considered himself Sif’s equal, and she was second only to Hogun.  Volstagg only enjoyed the end result of hunting and Fandral was only interested in a different sort of hunting.  Loki had always been more interested in less active pursuits.

            In Dugan and Tapper, Thor found excellent hunting companions.  They were both quiet and yet highly observant.  Tapper also had exceptional knowledge of the city’s tunnel system.  Thor had his hammer at the ready as they tracked a cold-blooded being through the city’s underground.

            They came to a junction and Thor motioned for his companions to hold as he scouted ahead.  He found two scaly, green, bipedal creatures he recognized from Banner’s briefing as Skrull in an alcove.  They were chattering over a screen of images and data displayed in unrecognizable characters.  When he got a clear view of the main image on the screen, he involuntarily gasped.  Unfortunately, his gasp caught the attention of the two Skrull.  Thor backed against the wall in response and motioned to Tapper and Dugan.

            As the Skrull exited their cover, Tapper and Dugan opened fire.  The Skrull, however, were quick and easily evaded the gunfire by clinging to the walls of the tunnel.  One of them pounced on and pinned Tapper to the ground and Thor’s intentions of catching one of them alive disappeared.  He tossed his hammer and the head of the Skrull on top of Tapper exploded at the impact.  He summoned Mjolnir back and tossed it toward the one attempting to escape.  The hammer impacted through its middle and then its head on the way back to Thor’s hands.

            “Ugh, this stuff is disgusting,” Tapper said as he wiped away the goo that covered him.

            “Better than being dead,” Dugan reminded him as he pulled the other man to his feet.  He looked at Thor who was staring at the screen in the alcove.  “What happened?”

            “I was distracted,” Thor replied quietly.

            Dugan looked at the rotating picture of a golden staff capped with a green stone.  “What is it?”

            Thor looked at the other man and said, “It’s a myth.”

 #####

            Darcy was being left in a van in the woods, but she was actually quite okay with this.  She was used to being left in a van.  She did not like dark, enclosed spaces.  When she told Steve to be careful, he actually kissed her on the mouth, with Hawkeye smirking at them the whole time.  Then the trio disappeared into a cave and Darcy monitored their progress through the plethora of surveillance equipment Tony provided.  He’d even set up a program that automatically hacked their surveillance

            Hawkeye’s analysis was apparently spot on as the tunnels were completely abandoned and unused.  When they came into the main part of the building, they split up as planned; Steve and Hawkeye separately making their way to where Bucky was being held and Natasha meeting her ‘acquaintance’ to crash the security system for their escape.

            It was all going strangely well.  Steve managed to knock out a scientist and steal his lab coat and glasses, effectively hiding his shield and other equipment and sort of disguising himself.  Darcy had to bite her lip to keep from giggling at the image of him in the thick-framed glasses.  They actually kind of worked.  Hawkeye depended much more on stealth and avoidance to get to the sub-basement.  Natasha was attracting a fair amount of attention, but not at all in a negative way.

            Then things started to go sideways, but not for the trio in the fortified building, for Darcy.  Some sort of secure transport truck stopped and one man jumped out, dancing as though he needed to pee very badly.  Another man with an AK-47 and an annoyed expression climbed out and stood by the truck.

            “Shit, shit, shit,” Darcy breathed.

            “Darcy, what’s happening?” Steve’s voice asked.

            She didn’t reply as she dimmed all the screens in the van and crouched down beneath the line of the windows.  The sound of urine hitting the side of the van filled her ears at a volume that was much higher than natural.  Then the sound suddenly stopped, replaced by heavy, Russian chatter.

            “Oh God.”

            “Darcy, how many are there?” Steve asked in a preternaturally calm voice.

            She quickly glanced out the window and said, “I can see two.  They’re coming toward the van, and one of them has an AK.”

            "Darcy, just stay calm."

“I think my heart may be beating too fast for that."

"Darcy, you're going to have to shoot them," Natasha told her stoically.

Her hand gripped the Glock they left her, but it did nothing to ease her shaking.

“Darcy, it's okay," Steve's voice said comfortingly.

“No it isn't," she breathed as the van door slid open. She shot at the first one she saw and he went down quickly, but then the gun jammed and the second one easily wrestled it away from her. She kicked at him, but he was significantly larger and pinned her arms to her sides without much difficulty.

“Vat you doing out here, little girl?"

While he had her upper arms pinned quite securely to her sides, she was still able to move her hands. She reached into her coat pocket and grabbed the little device Jane had given her for Christmas. She took the small Taser and activated it as she pressed it to her captor's leg. He shook violently before collapsing into unconsciousness.

"Oh, thank God," she said, releasing a haggard breath.

"Darcy, you okay?"

“Yeah, Steve, I'm fine...I think," Darcy said, picking up her captor's gun and then hopping out of the van to grab the gun of the guy on the ground. He was bleeding heavily from the stomach, but unlike his companion, he was still conscious.

Darcy, taking a cue from any number of movies she'd seen over the years, pointed her gun at the man and said, "You speak English?"

"Da," he replied in a strained voice.

“What are you doing out here?"

"Pick up cargo...precious cargo."

“What cargo?"

“P-p-pocket."

"Don't take your eyes off him, D," Hawkeye's voice warned.

She crouched down with her gun still trained on him and felt around on his chest until she pulled a phone out from his pocket. As soon as she turned it on, a picture of a golden staff capped with a green stone appeared. She raised a dubious eyebrow and said, “What is this?"

“Staff of-of Burin," he gargled out.

Darcy thought she might choke on her own breath as she slowly stood back up to her full height.  “Where are you taking it?"

“Darcy, what's the big deal about this thing?" Hawkeye asked.

"Where are you taking it?" Darcy repeated more fervently to the man on the ground.

“Transport to-to New York."

"To who?"

The man shook his head as blood started to trickle out of his mouth and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Dammit," Darcy hissed under hear breath, making sure the man was disarmed before she turned back toward the van.

“Darcy, you've got to talk to us," Steve told her.  “What's going on?"

“These guys were going to pick up the Staff of Burin," she replied hurriedly. “There’s probably coordinates or directions on this phone.”

“Darcy, you don't need to do this," Steve told her.

“Someone want to clue me in?" Hawkeye asked.

"Burin was Odin's grandfather in Norse mythology," Steve replied in clipped tones.

“A weapon of his could be devastatingly powerful," Darcy replied as she pulled the unconscious man out of the van and let him slump onto the ground.

“And it could just be an old relic," Steve told her.

"You know, the Norse god my boss is sleeping with is definitely not an old relic, so I'm going to choose to believe that this thing is actually dangerous," Darcy said, clearing off the rest of the camouflage. "The GPS coordinates of the meet are on this phone, I'm going to pick this thing up."

“D, they're gonna know something's up and they will shoot you," Hawkeye warned her.

"I'll sneak up on them. I have it on good authority that I'm good at being sneaky."

“Tony Stark is not an authority on everything," Steve replied hotly.

“Wouldn't tell him that," Hawkeye said under his breath.

"Darcy, are you sure you want to do this?" Natasha said gently.

"We don't really have another choice. We can't let the staff fall into the wrong hands."

“Darcy, stop. Don't do this," Steve told her firmly.

"You know what? I'm pretty sure I just killed a man over this thing, so I'm going after it. I'll be careful."

“Darcy—"

“Sorry, Cap, I'm not in the Army or SHIELD, and you can't give me orders," she said, slamming the door.

"Darcy!"

She pulled the earbud out of her ear and pulled out onto the dirt path.

 #####

"Godammit!" Steve hissed as the Darcy's com disconnected. That exclamation earned him a stare from a wispy scientist passing by. Steve quickly put his head down and moved on.  "Hawkeye, where are you?"

"I'm almost there.  I'll open the door from the inside as soon as Natasha tells me she's turned off the motion detectors."

“It's already done," Natasha replied flatly.

"We're going to have to do this with more speed and less stealth," Steve said as he quickly moved through the corridors.

"Captain, I think Darcy will be alright," Natasha said quietly.

“She's running on anger and fear and she has no idea what she's doing or what she's going into," Steve replied without pausing in his relentless march toward the basement storage unit.

"She's also smart and motivated."

“We left her alone, and in twenty minutes, she could be dead," Steve said, finally pausing in front of the locked door and releasing a shaky breath.

Natasha remained silent as Steve put on a stony expression. The door in front of him slid open and Hawkeye motioned him inside.  He immediately shed the lab coat and tossed the glasses as he and Hawkeye raced down the metal staircase toward the metal and Plexiglass cylinder in the center of the room.

“Tash, how about that code for this storage unit?"

“Not possible," she informed them.  "It's on a random hourly rotation and the code isn't kept on the main server.  But the container, however, is only made of high-grade steel and Plexiglass.  Captain Rogers' shield should be able to penetrate it with some effort."

“Won't that set off some alarms?" Hawkeye asked.

"I can silence them from here and I'll stop anyone from responding to the actual noise you'll be making," she promised.

“What will it do to Bucky?" Steve asked.

"It will probably be a little like Return of the Jedi," Natasha replied.

Steve looked at Hawkeye who said, “I get the picture, Tash. He'll be fine, but it won't be pretty at first."

Steve nodded in reply and took the shield from his back. He hit the cylinder with all his might, but it barely made a dent. “This is going to take a while," he muttered.

In between bangs, Hawkeye said, “So, you mad because Darcy put the mission in danger, or because she put herself in more immediate danger?"

Steve just glared at him in response and Hawkeye smirked. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

“It's just unnecessary," Steve said through gritted teeth, putting a larger dent in the containment unit.

"What if she's right? What if this Staff of Buri thing is a real danger? I mean, Thor is real, and dangerous, even as just a person."

"If she's wrong, she's running into a firefight for absolutely nothing."

“Cap," Hawkeye said gently, “she just killed a man. She's not a soldier like us. She has to justify that man's death for herself."

Steve stopped and looked at the other man.  “I shouldn't have put her in this position."

"You didn't," Hawkeye assured him.  “She chose to follow you, just like this guy did seventy years ago."

Steve nodded, remembering something Peggy said to him a long time before.  He took a deep breath before hitting the cylinder with renewed vigor. The dent deepened to the point that the integrity was completely compromised and a white gas spewed out. Steve wedged his shield into the crack and, together, he and Hawkeye used it as a lever to open the container. Bucky's motionless form collapsed out of cylinder and the shield clattered to the floor as Steve caught him in his arms and gently laid him down.

“His breathing is really shallow, but he's alive."

"Tash, what's your status?"

“Busy," she bit back.

"We probably want to hurry," Hawkeye said.

Steve didn't respond as he shook his friend and said, "Bucky. Hey, Buck, you in there?"

Bucky's eyes suddenly shot open and his left hand was instantly grasping Steve's throat. Before Steve had any chance to respond, Bucky had flipped the situation and pinned Steve to the concrete floor with Steve's own sidearm jammed into his stomach.

"Holy shit!" Hawkeye said in surprise as he pulled back on his bow and aimed it at Bucky.

“Don't," Steve rasped out.

"I'm not stupid," Bucky growled.  “I know this is a trick."

“Not a trick," Steve said, gasping for breath.

“Cap?" Hawkeye asked.

“If you're really Steve Rogers, then prove it," Bucky replied.

“The first day we met in first grade, Eloise Harden was beating me up, and you pulled her off of me so hard, you pulled out a fist full of her hair. She used that to guilt you into taking her to a dance our freshman year," Steve said between rasping breaths.

Bucky raised an eyebrow but didn't loosen his grip on Steve's throat. "What was the last thing your mother said to you?"

"'Don't let Momma make you bitter,'" Steve quoted, knowing he'd only ever told that fact to the man presently trying to strangle him.

Bucky let go and stood up, offering Steve his hand, "Sorry."

"It's okay," Steve replied, grabbing Bucky's offered hand and taking a deep breath as he got to his feet.

"What year is it?" Bucky asked quietly, handing Steve back his sidearm as Hawkeye cautiously lowered his bow.

“2012," Steve replied.

"You're not serious."

"He's completely serious," Hawkeye interjected.  “How are you—”

"I could ask you the same question, but we don't really have time for that right now," Steve said, taking the gun from his ankle strap. "You know how to use one of these?"

Bucky took it from him and said, “Do you?"

"Jerk."

“Punk," Bucky replied before glancing at a slightly bemused Hawkeye.  “I see you decided not to come by yourself this time."

"I still had to come save your sorry ass."

"Okay, if you guys are done having your touching reunion, we should really get the hell out of here," Hawkeye told them.

“You've broken me out of that thing and we don't already have an army of guards on us. What's the rush?" Bucky asked, tucking the gun into the waist of his pants.

"His girlfriend sort of went rogue and did something rash," Hawkeye explained.

"What?" Bucky asked, staring at his friend.

Steve shook his head.  “It's not exactly what it sounds like."

Bucky looked at Hawkeye who nodded his head in opposition to what Steve was saying.

The door above them slid open and a bespectacled scientist appeared. At first he just stared, but then he started shouting in a panic. Hawkeye raised his bow, but then a crackling sound filled the air and the scientist crumpled to the ground revealing the shapely redhead standing behind him.

Bucky's hand was on his gun almost quicker than Steve could see. He aimed for Natasha, but Steve had a hold of one of his arms before he could pull the trigger.

"Bucky, don't."

"You don't understand. She's one of them."

“No, Bucky, she's with us," Steve replied gently, but firmly pushing his friend's hands down.

Bucky shook his head fervently.  “You don't know who she really is, Steve. You couldn't."

“Yasha," Natasha said as she came down the stairs and attracted the undivided attention of the three men in the room.  She continued to speak to Bucky in hushed Russian.  Steve didn't understand what she was saying, but he gathered from the changing expression on Hawkeye's face that she was attempting to explain herself and her actions.  Bucky didn't buy it.  He grabbed Natasha's throat with his left hand and pointed his gun at Hawkeye—who had drawn his bow—with the other.  Steve steeled himself to stop either Bucky or Hawkeye.

"I could pop your head off your neck right now," he told her in a deep, growling voice.  “It's no better than you deserve."

"Then do it," she whispered back.

"Cap, I know this guy is the whole reason we came here, but if he doesn't let her go, I'm going to shoot him in the throat," Hawkeye said flatly.

Bucky slowly shook his head, ignoring Hawkeye's threat. "I'm not that man. I never chose to be that man. But you, milli moi, you chose this."

"Bucky," Steve said gently, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, “I know what she's done.  I know she was with you when Howard and Maria Stark...died. And I know that without her we wouldn't have known that you were even alive. She's the reason we're here."

Bucky lowered the gun he had pointed at Hawkeye and slowly released his hold on Natasha's throat as he turned around and looked at Steve.  "I don't trust her. I can't trust her."

“Do you trust me?" Steve asked.

Bucky nodded. "Always."

"Then you need to let this go, so we can get the hell out of here."

“Okay," Bucky replied quietly.

“You need to be inoculated against the radiation," Natasha told him matter-of-factly as she pulled a hypo from her belt.

"What radiation?"

"Trust us. There's radiation," Hawkeye said as Steve injected Bucky with the hypo.

“Can we get out the way we came?” Steve asked Natasha.

“Not anymore.  We’ve been noticed.  The place is in chaos right now, but it won’t last.”

“Then we need a diversion.”

“We might be able to get one if Li’l D is still alive.”

“Thanks for you vote of confidence, Hawkeye.”

Everyone stopped at the sound of Darcy’s voice and Bucky looked around at them curiously.  Natasha handed him an earpiece which he reluctantly took with a glare.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked gruffly.

“Yeah.  This thing is really heavy, though, and it’s humming,” she replied, grunting slightly.

“Don’t touch it.”

“Thank you, Steve, I do actually remember having that seizure,” she replied bitingly.

Steve swallowed a reply and balled up his fists.  Bucky did a very poor job of hiding a grin.

“Was there a crate just sitting in the road?” Hawkeye asked.

“No, there were two guys and a truck.  I sort of hit the two guys with the van.”

“I have an idea,” Hawkeye said to all of them.  “Darcy, I need you to cut the brake lines of that truck.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 25: The Rescue

Thor marched into the room where Loki's cell was situated.  "I would speak with my brother."

The technician gulped and looked across the room at the stern form of Maria Hill.  "Since we don't have rules anymore, go right ahead," she replied before turning back to her screens.

The technician then hit a few buttons and Loki appeared on the large screen before them.  Loki seemed disappointed at the sight of Thor.

"Oh, it's only you.  I was hoping for one of your newfound friends.  They're far more entertaining."

Thor ignored his brother's words and said, "Are the Skrull helping you find the Staff of Buri?"

"The Staff of Buri?" Loki laughed.  "Didn't our grandfather destroy that?  That's what Father told us.  You don't think he would have lied, do you?"

Thor felt Loki's hate and hurt dripping from every word. "This has nothing to do with our father, Loki." "Everything has to do with our father, you blockheaded simpleton," Loki bit back. "Do you even remember what he told us about the staff; because he did tell us?"

Thor shored himself up under Loki's insults and consciously unclenched his fists. "The staff gained its power through fear and whoever wielded harness that power to control whole-whole worlds," Thor finished reluctantly.

Loki smiled smugly.  "I don't know why you're so concerned about me.  I recall being told only an Asgardian could wield the staff.  I don't know if Father has bothered to tell you this, but I am not actually your brother.  I'm a Jotunn.  I couldn't wield the Staff."

Thor slowly shook his head.  "You, brother, have always been blessed with the ability to be exactly what you wanted to be.  If you chose to wield the Staff of Buri, I have no doubt that you could."

"Your confidence in me is touching."

“Loki, why are you so determined to take your vengeance out on this planet?"

"Why are you so determined to protect this planet?  It couldn't possibly be just because of your little whore."

Thor, refusing to give Loki the satisfaction of a fight, turned toward the door.

"Did she believe you?"

Thor turned back to see his brother with a face that was less smug and more curious. "What?" he asked.

"Did she believe you when you assured her I was full of lies and deceit and that you would always come back to this pathetic hole?"

Thor wanted to bite back with a cutting reply.  He wanted to lie.  But the man on the screen looked so much like his lost brother, Thor simply said, "No, not in her heart."

"She still shares your bed, though, doesn't she?" Loki asked.

"That is none of your business."

"That means yes," Loki replied, smiling.  "That also means I can still use her against you at my leisure."

"Whatever your plan, Brother, we will stop you."

"I've heard that threat before. It's not even as frightening from you as it was from your friend, Captain Rogers," Loki told him.  "Go home, Thor.  Go home and grow old and dishonest like your dear father."

Thor slowly shook his head.  "No."

"Then you will suffer the consequences...Brother."

 #####

            “Any progress?”

            “The data is coded and in a different language, an alien language, in fact.  Rome didn’t burn in a day,” Tony told Coulson.

            “It wasn’t built in a day.”

            “What?”

            “The expression is: ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’”

            “It didn’t burn in a day, either.”

            Coulson rolled his eyes and crossed the room.  “What about you, Dr. Banner?”

Bruce sighed deeply. "Look, I have plenty of experience in cellular biology, even mutant biology, but this-this is a little beyond me. These ... guys-I think they're guys-are very dead, but these fluid samples keep shifting at the cellular level. I just don't possess the expertise to analyze and understand this."

"You could call a cellular biologist," Jane said, having walked in the room near the end of Bruce's explanation.

"Feeling better, Foster?" Tony asked with a smirk. "You know, I never pegged you as the weak stomach type."

"Those bodies were disgusting," she retorted, taking a seat in front of her star charts. "But you threw up twice."

"Shut up, Stark."

Tony turned his attention back to Bruce and said, "You know, calling a cellular biologist isn't a bad idea. You do know the best in the business, don't you, Banner?"

Bruce glared back at Tony's smug face. "Are you trying to make me angry?" "Maybe a little."

"This must be what kindergarten teachers feel like," Coulson muttered.

"Yeah, well, it's not going to work," Bruce told him. "I know you slept with Betty at your parents' funeral. Hello, Pepper, your timing is impeccable as always."

Tony gulped as Bruce took on a smug expression. Pepper looked between them with an amused grin. "You slept with Betty Ross at your parents' funeral?" she asked her fiance.

"Um ... yeah," Tony replied uncertainly. "I was sixteen and upset because my parents had just been killed in a terrible car crash, and we'd grown up together. She felt sorry for me."

"Of course, pity is the reason most women sleep with you," Pepper said sarcastically. "Although, it does explain why you slept with her at that conference in Las Vegas two years ago."

Bruce's smug expression instantly faded. Tony looked at him out of the corner of his eyes and said, "Does that make you angry?"

"No," Bruce answered tightly. "I figure the number of women in the universe you haven't slept with is far smaller than the number you have."

"That's certainly true," Pepper agreed.

"Do you have a record of all the women I've slept with?" Tony asked with a little trepidation as he looked up at Pepper.

"Only for legal purposes, dear," she replied slyly.

Jane snorted and covered her smiling mouth as Bruce shared her mirth and Tony glared at her.

Pepper, quite satisfied with herself, handed Tony the tablet in her hands, "This is the food order for that children's charity in the Sudan."

"When is it due for delivery?" Tony asked, suddenly all business.

"Tomorrow at noon, local time. Stark security personnel in the area have been maxed out for the delivery."

Tony shook his head. "That's not good enough. I'll go in myself."

"Alright," Pepper said in a business-like manner. Tony flicked his eyes across her face and could easily tell that she was not entirely happy with his decision. No one else in the room, however, knew her well enough to tell.

His phone went off and he raised an eyebrow a the message he found on it. "Hmm. I gotta go. Do you want Greek tonight? I'm feeling like Greek tonight."

Pepper blinked at the sudden change in subject, but easily replied, "That's fine with me. Would you like me to call-"

"No, I can pick it up myself. Love you," he said before giving her a quick peck on the cheek and heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Coulson asked.

"Eastern Europe," Tony replied. "Oh, and, JARVIS, call Betty Ross."

Tony was gone by the time the phone started ringing over the room's speaker system. Bruce's eyes became shockingly wide when, on the second ring, a female voice said, "Hello?"

No one spoke and Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Hello?" Betty's voice asked again. "What's that beeping?"

Bruce covered his wristwatch as Pepper comfortingly squeezed his shoulder. "Hello, Betty, this is Pepper Potts."

"Oh, hi!" Betty replied brightly. "I should've called a long time ago. Congratulations, by the way." "Thank you very much," Pepper replied genuinely. "Tony decided to call you before running out of the room to go to Belarus. That was the reason for the awkward silence when you picked up."

"Oh, okay. That sounds like Tony. Did he need something?"

"Actually, yes. He's working on a project for SHIELD that apparently requires your particular expertise. If you're available, he'd really like a consult," Pepper explained.

"Alright, are you guys in Malibu or New York?"

"We're at the Stark Tower in Manhattan."

"I have a lecture in the morning, but I can be there by tomorrow afternoon."

"That would be great. We'll see you tomorrow. I'll make sure security is expecting you."

"Thank you very much, Pepper."

"You're welcome, Betty. See you tomorrow."

The line disconnected and a silence filled the room. Bruce broke it with a deep breath as he said, "I have to ... not be here."

Coulson opened his mouth to protest as Bruce escaped to the hall, but Pepper held up a hand and said, "I'll handle it."

She followed him out of the door and called after him, "Bruce, hold on."

"You know what, I don't get you, any of you," he said, turning around to face her. "She slept with your fiance and you were genuinely nice to her, and not the kind of nice with thinly veiled contempt...which I've heard about, but never actually experienced."

Pepper smiled kindly and said, "What's the point of being angry with her? It was the past, and Tony was a different person ... both times. And, I've gotten to know her socially for the last couple of years, and she's an extremely smart and pleasant person, unlike most of the women Tony has slept with. Are you angry with her?"

"I ... no," Bruce replied, looking at the floor. "It's jusLI've spent most of my adult life completely in love with her, and ... I've spent most of my adult life completely disappointing her. I can't-I can't face her like that."

"Why? Because you're not cured? Because you haven't been perfect? Because she probably thinks your dead?"

"Yeah, that pretty much covers it."

"Bruce, she's going to be overjoyed you're not dead." "How could you possibly know that?"

"I told you, I've gotten to know her, especially since you made your sudden reappearance last year," she explained. "Bruce, people disappoint one another. It's just what we do. Someone like Betty is worldly enough to know that, and she can forgive it. You can hide from her tomorrow if you want, but you won't be able to hide forever."

 #####

The quartet stood in a tight circle with their backs to one another as security forces surrounded them in the foyer of the building.

"Was this part of the plan?" Bucky asked.

"Not really," Hawkeye replied.

All the security forces seemed to freeze, but kept their weapons trained on the would-be escapees.

"Ah. Captain America. So the rumors are true."

They looked up at the man speaking down to them from the balcony. Bucky's eyes widened involuntarily.

"Shit. Did he get taller?"

"It's his son," Steve muttered in reply.

Yvgeny Zolanoff made his way down the creaking stairs as he said, "Are these the people that the great Captain America chooses to surround him? A simpleton with a bow and arrow, a traitor to her own people, and a man so weak he could not even protect his own mind?"

Steve heard the high-pitched hum of an approaching engine and smiled. "You left someone out."

A look of confusion crossed Zolanoff's face for only a second before Steve's shield smashed into it. "Get down!" Steve yelled as an armored transport vehicle barreled through the front door, taking a good portion of the wall and the security forces with it.

"Let's go!" Steve shouted to his small team as confusion rained down around them and they made for a side door.

Natasha's usual coordination left her and she tripped over a piece of fallen debris, winding herself.  She managed to face upward just in time to see an angry man coming toward her with a rock.  She then watched as three bullets landed squarely in his chest and he fell uselessly by her side.  She looked back to see Bucky lowering his pistol as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to her feet.  And then they were running together, and, to Natasha, it was startlingly familiar.

The came out onto a grass covered path that was devoid of other life.

"Um..."

"Where is she?" Steve asked gruffly.

No sooner had he said it than the van came skidding around the corner followed by an improvised cavalry of motorcyclists and machine guns.  Steve's shield took out a couple and Hawkeye took out another, but bullets started flying the moments preceding Darcy's pause to open the doors.  Natasha grabbed a machine gun and threw it to Bucky, who opened fire, covering Hawkeye and Natasha's retreat into the van. He stepped one foot inside and grabbed Steve by the shirt collar as the van sped off.  Steve stumbled inside and his shield clattered to the floor of the van.  Bucky covered their escape until he cried out and fell back into the van.

"Bucky!"

"It's okay. It's just a scratch," Bucky groaned as Hawkeye slammed the door.

"That's bleeding a hell of a lot more than a scratch."

"We have incoming!"

"Thanks, Tash, we already knew that!"

"Not from the ground, from the air!"

Steve looked at the crate on which his hand was resting. It was indeed humming and making him extremely angry.

"Is this thing worth it?" he shouted at her.

"Shut up!  I'm trying to drive!" she shouted as bullet zoomed through the van and struck Steve on the shoulder.

Just then, the road exploded in front of them from a blast from above.  Darcy swerved and missed it, throwing everyone against one side of the van. Then there was another blast, and another, and another.  Darcy narrowly missed each one until a quick succession of blasts directly in front of them caused her to slam on the brakes.

"I don't know what's worse, puking or bleeding to death," Bucky said in a strained voice, blood seeping out from between his fingers.

They were all crouched down as the sound of bullets came closer.  Then another sound filled the air; the sound of repulsor thrusters.  The sound of firing bullets continued, but it was quickly followed by the sound of bullets clinking off the Iron Man armor.

"What the hell?" Bucky asked.

"This is what you get for not inviting me to the party," Tony's voice reverberated through the van.

"Thank God he reads his text messages," Darcy sighed in relief.

"You called Stark?" Hawkeye asked with a hint of insult in his harried voice.

"I'm sorry I didn't think cut the brake lines and then shoot at them until they drive away at top speed was the most cogent plan in the world!"

The noise outside suddenly stopped and Tony's voice ordered, "Punch it, Li'l D."

Darcy slammed her foot down on the gas and the van jumped forward. She still had to swerve to miss all the recently made potholes. She was suddenly grateful her uncle Max had given her all those lessons on how to be a 'professional stunt driver.'

"Tony, there are still air assets after us," Natasha told him, her attention divided between the readouts on the screen and Bucky, who had turned shockingly pale.

"Thought of that.  Rhodey, you ready?"

"Waiting on you, Tony," Colonel Rhodes' voice replied.

"Do it already!"

Four loud, metallic thuds reverberated off the roof of the van.  "What the-"

"Darcy, let go of the wheel."

She complied with Tony's command and the van swerved to the side for a moment before it lifted off the ground.  Bucky looked around in slight confusion and said, "Hey, this is like that movie we saw when we were kids."

"Yeah, yeah, it is," Steve said, pressing down on Bucky's wound with a gloved hand.  "Tony, we're gonna need medical attention."

"Got you covered."

A large, starkly white airplane compartment replaced the night sky.  They floated in place in until the doors beneath them banged shut and they dropped the few inches to the floor with a jolt.

"Sorry. Haven't worked out all the bugs yet," Tony said, opening the door of the van.

"You said we had medical help?" Steve said, not leaving Bucky's side.

"Yeah," Tony said as a team of military doctors appeared with a gurney.

"This a military transport?" Hawkeye asked as he helped move Bucky out of the van.

"Sort of," Rhodey replied, appearing in his Air Force uniform.  "It's a military C-47 outfitted by Stark Industries as a medical rescue vehicle."

"How are we not being shot down for violating Belarus’ airspace?" Natasha asked, climbing out of the van.

"Called in a favor," Rhodey explained as Tony's helmet deconstructed and disappeared from his face.  Bucky gasped suddenly as panic swept across his face.

Steve quickly grabbed his left arm and firmly pushed him down to the bed.  "It's okay, it's okay.  It's his son.  He's Howard's son," Steve assured him, momentarily assuaging Bucky's look of terror.

Confusion settled on Tony's features as he looked between the man on the gurney, the awkward expression on Steve's face, Natasha's stone-cold stare, and Darcy's sheepishly bitten lip. "What the hell?" he asked as the doctors wheeled Bucky toward the aft of the plane.

"He knew your father; like I did," Steve replied, trying not to look at Natasha.

"That's probably true, but you, my friend, are the world's worst liar," Tony said before turning to Natasha.  "You are probably the world's best liar, so I'll ask you, Li'l D.  What the hell was that?"

Darcy was halfway out of the van and she stopped in the doorway at Tony's stern tone. "I, um, well ... it's kind of complicated."

"Come on, D, you know that's not a real excuse," Tony told her, his face still completely serious.

"I-I-" she stammered.

"He was a Soviet experiment for over thirty years," Natasha said, drawing Tony's attention away from Darcy.  "They brainwashed him into becoming an assassin known as the Winter Soldier."

"Okay..."

"Thirty years ago, he was sent on a mission to kill Maria Stark." She paused as shock and anguish passed across Tony's face. "He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill the wife of an old friend from his real life."

Tony's mouth twisted angrily. "My parents died thirty years ago," he told her through clenched teeth.

"There was another agent with him and there was a struggle over the gun and it went off, blowing the tire off of a semi, which lost control and crashed into Howard and Maria Stark's vehicle."

Tony gave her a long and hard look. "This isn't just something all ex-Russian spies know, is it?"

Natasha held her chin up and looked him in the eyes. "I was the other agent with him the day your parents died," she told him solemnly.

Tony looked over at Darcy and said, "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Darcy silently nodded.

"And you thought you'd just tell Steve, and not me?"

"She didn't tell me about Natasha," Steve interrupted.  "I just had the rest of pieces, and I...figured it out."

Tony nodded slowly.  "Alright.  I'm going to Greece."

"Wait, Tony, what are you doing?" Rhodey said, following his friend toward a compartment on the hull.

"Leaving," Tony said, stepping into the compartment.  The interior door closed, the exterior door open, Tony's helmet encapsulated his face, and he was gone.

Rhodey sighed deeply and said, "That's not good."

 

 

Chapter 26: What's Your Type?

            Rhodey met Pepper Potts less than thirty minutes after Tony met and hired her.  In the ten years since that meeting, he had only seen her really flustered and unkempt one other time: when he told her Tony had been kidnapped.

            “So he just left?”

            “Yeah.  We couldn’t even track him.  It’s his tech.  He knows how to avoid it.”

            Pepper nodded slowly and turned toward the window.  “He was here.  He left a bowl of magiritsa from that little place on Mykonos on the bedside table.  I’d fallen asleep.”

            “I just thought I’d explain everything to you before I started looking for him.”

            Pepper shook her head.  “No, I need you to take the day off from the Air Force to protect a food shipment to the Sudan for Stark Industries.  Tony was going to go, but that was before…”

            “No, no, I understand.  It’s important.”

            “And you should be there if he shows,” Pepper continued.  “Rhodey, he’s been sober for three months without the benefit of hostile captivity, and if—if…”

            “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Rhodey assured her, pulling her into a hug.  “I get it.  I am one of the few people that’s known him longer than you.”

            She laughed lightly.  “I know.  You should suit up.”

            “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a mock salute before he kissed her on the cheek.

            She turned back to the window and sighed deeply.  Then she turned to her closet.  Tony might have temporarily disappeared, but Pepper had a company to run.  She readied herself and marched downstairs. 

            Natasha was sitting in the living room with her arms resting on her knees and her eyes firmly focused on her boots.  Clint Barton was sitting on the other side of the room seemingly attempting to stare a hole through Natasha.

            “Agent Barton, would you mind giving us a moment alone?” Pepper asked politely.

            “Oh, um, yes.  I should have gone a long time ago,” Hawkeye replied, getting up and stepping into the elevator.

            Natasha stood up and faced the other woman.  She opened her mouth to speak, but Pepper held up a hand to silence her.  "I'm not angry with you."

Natasha made no attempt to reply.

"The prevailing story has always been that Tony's parents died in an accident, and they did.  I know you were just doing what you thought you had to do."

Natasha slowly shook her head.  "There wouldn't have been an accident if we hadn't been there, if I hadn't made him be there."

"You have no way of knowing that," Pepper told her.  "I am a great believer in letting the past be the past.  We have to live now because that's truly all we have.  And right now, I need you to get cleaned up and go to work."

Natasha blinked up at her.  "What?"

"Tony's gone, which means I have to run the company and run interference with SHIELD and the press, and I've learned I can't manage that alone, so I need you at Stark Industries, Ms. Rushman."

"Right away, Ms. Potts."

 #####

Bucky awoke to a cold, white room.  He was slightly surprised to find he wasn't strapped down to the bed.  Most of his memories of waking up in unfamiliar surroundings involved being strapped down and prodded with needles by men speaking Russian.  Then the pain in his torso reminded him of the bullet he'd taken to the gut.  The wound was still tight, but he didn't feel any excruciating pain. He sat up slowly and discovered he was wearing a loose-fitting cotton shirt and pants.  He put his feet on the tile floor and immediately wished he was also wearing socks.

"Hey, would you like some coffee?"

He looked up to see the girl that had been driving the van during their escape.  She was wearing jeans and basketball shoes with a t-shirt that said 'New Mexico' across her ample bosom.  Her curly hair fell around her face and shoulders in a poor attempt to hide the bruises and scratches on her face.  She was also holding a large, steaming mug with both hands.

"Oh, yeah, thank you," he said, holding out a hand to accept the cup.

She carefully handed it over and pulled up a chair. "My grandfather always said that coffee tastes so much better now than it did seventy years ago. I, of course, have no context because I'm only 21."

Bucky sipped the dark liquid and decided her grandfather was very right. "You're really only 21?"

"Do I look older?"

"No, it's just l'm...how old am I?"

"Ninety-three-and-a-half," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Do I look that old?"

"No," she laughed, understanding exactly what Bucky was getting at.

He continued to sip his coffee as he asked, "Where are we, exactly?"

"SHIELD headquarters in Manhattan at Fifth and Lex."

"That's geographically precise, but what's SHIELD?"

"Strategic Homeland Intelligence, Enforcement, and Logistics Division?" she replied uncertainly.  "I think that's what it means anyway.  Basically, they're this clandestine UN peacekeeping force that's sort of in charge of making sure the superhumans don't jack up the place accidentally."

Bucky smiled at her explanation. "I hate to ask this, but I can't remember your name."

"Darcy," she said with an understanding smile.  "Most everyone calls me D, or Li'l D, though."

As the conversation lulled, she said, "You know, you're lucky you were conscious when we rescued you.  Steve wasn't and they tried to convince him it was still 1944 when he woke up."

"How did that go?"

"They had a Dodgers game playing on a radio, but it was from 1941 and Steve recognized it because he was there."

"He always did have a very good memory, especially when it came to people and baseball," Bucky commented.  "What happened?"

"Two guys got thrown through a wall and a several others got knocked to their asses trying to stop him from leaving the building.  He made it all the way to Times Square before they stopped him."

Bucky chuckled as he took a deeper drink from his cup.  "Did Steve send you in here to make sure I was okay?"

"No," she answered reluctantly. "We're not exactly speaking right now.  He's in a debriefing with Commander Fury—the director of SHIELD—right now.  Otherwise, I'm sure he'd be here."

Bucky raised an eyebrow.  "Why aren't you speaking to him?  I kind of got the impression that you were his girl."

"I-well ... "

"I'm sorry.  Is it offensive to say that you're his, or something like that now?"

"Some people might find it offensive, but I don't think I do."

Bucky couldn't help but smile at the look on her face as she bit her lip and looked at her feet.  "So, why aren't you speaking to him?"

"Well, he's mad at me because I didn't follow orders, or I put the mission in danger, or something like that and I'm mad at him because he's mad at me," she blurted out, folding her arms across her chest at the end.  "I'm sure I'll get over it, though," she added, barely above a whisper.

Bucky raised his eyebrows and quietly said, "Damn."

"What?"

"I’d just forgotten what that looks like."

"What what looks like?"

"Being in love."

Darcy shifted uncomfortably and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Bucky noticed the quantity of scratches and bruises on her face and said, "Looks like you had a pretty rough time of it last night, too."

"It's not that bad," she replied. "It's mostly just from the glass shattering. They treated it with this stuff that'll keep my skin from scarring, but I'm thinking I might keep one just so I can tell my brother I have a real battle scar, while all of his are from falling off of things."

Bucky smiled as the sound of a light knock on the open door filled the room.  Darcy flinched at the sight of Steve standing in the open doorway and quickly rose from her chair.  She muttered something about being late as she brushed past him into the hallway.  Steve looked like he wanted to say something, but clamped his mouth shut at the last moment and watched her walk away.  When he looked back at Bucky, his old friend was smiling.

"What?"

"I just didn't realize you had a type," he replied, finishing off the last of his coffee.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You like busty brunettes, my friend."

The proper side of Steve's nature wanted to refute what Bucky said, but he couldn't find it in himself to lie to his best friend.

"You know, you could just have her in an instant," Bucky continued. "All you'd have to do is reach out."

Steve was suddenly desperate to change the subject.  "Yeah, well, I didn't realize you liked redheads."

Bucky's smile faded as Steve sat down next to him on the bed.  "It was just the one. It's just like remembering a dream, or a nightmare...and then I have that horrible moment when I realize it all actually happened."

"Bucky, do you think maybe you should talk to somebody about it?"

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

"That's not what I meant."

"I'm not talking to a head-shrinker, Steve."

"Even if it would help?"

"It wouldn't help.  No amount of therapy can undo the past," Bucky said solemnly.  "So, did you have to tell Howard's kid what happened?"

Steve shook his head.  "Natasha told him.  He's trusted her for a while now, so it was a little hard for him to take.  He disappeared right after she told him about Howard and Maria.  Everyone's concerned, but they're fairly sure he'll be okay.  Fury told me it's not the first time he's gone off the reservation."

Bucky picked non-existent dirt from beneath his fingernails and Steve put and arm around his shoulders.  "Come on. I got permission to take you out of here."

"And go where?"

"Brooklyn," Steve replied, smiling.

 #####

Everyone was busy.  Jane was running calculations and simulations for her device.  Bruce had mysteriously disappeared.  Pepper was busy 'misleading' the press (she didn't like to use the term lying).  Natasha was maintaining some semblance of order at Stark Industries.  Hawkeye was shooting things.  Thor was planning his next hunting trip with his new best friends, Agents Dugan and Tapper.  Nobody had time for Darcy and she honestly didn't want to intrude.  They were trying to save the world, after all.  That left one person in the general vicinity she could talk to.

"Hey, Pete," she said into her phone as she walked down the New York City street. "It's Darcy.  Do you even remember me?"

"Of course I do," he told her brightly.  "Actually, I'm glad you called. You said you knew Tony Stark?"

"Yeah.  Why?"

"Does he have a doppelganger or a clone or something that he uses when he wants to be two places at once?"

"Not that I know of.  Why?" she repeated.

"Well, I think he's at a bar in Queens, drinking water."

Darcy raised a dubious eyebrow. "You're joking."

"No.  I was in there applying for a job and he was at the end of the bar with a glass of water.  He even smiled and waved.  I kind of froze up and didn't say anything back."

Darcy rolled her eyes.  She'd never really bothered to hero-worship anybody and she didn't know why anyone else did either.  "Where is this bar?"

"Astoria."

"That's in Oregon."

"Why don't I just meet you at the subway station?"

 #####

"Geez, kid, you must really want this job."

"Um..." Peter replied.

"Grab a broom and start cleaning up."

Peter looked at Darcy and said, "If this ends up being a terrible job, I'm blaming you."

She grinned back at him before moving through the almost deserted room to the figure at the end of the bar.  "Queens seems like a very strange place to hide."

Tony smirked at her.  "Obviously not a very good place to hide.  Who the hell is that guy?  You're not stepping out on Steve, are you?"

"There's nothing to step out on...I don't think, maybe."

"Uh-huh."

"And that's Peter Parker.  I met him the other day.  He's a big fan of yours.  He claims to be a fan of Jane's too, but I think he just has a crush on her."

"Well, she is very beautiful."

"You know she's sleeping with the Norse god of thunder, right?"

"I'd heard that somewhere.  I'm not really interested, anyway.  I'm engaged to a leggy redhead."

Darcy smiled at their repartee before she bit her lip and seriously said, "You still mad at me?"

Tony shrugged.  "Not really.  I understand there wasn't really an easy way to tell me something like that.  It's not even really Natasha's fault, I guess."

"That's a very enlightened attitude."

"I'm a very enlightened sort of guy."

Darcy rolled her eyes.  "You haven't been sitting here drinking water for the last twelve hours, have you?"

"What sort of irresponsible louse do you think I am?"

"You know Pepper had to send—"

"Rhodey to the Sudan?" Tony finished for her. "Yeah, I know.  He's not as good as I am, but you have to admit, he's pretty scary looking."

"I assume I'm never to mention you said such a thing to him, am I?"

"Absolutely correct," Tony said, taking another drink form his glass.

"Well, if you haven't been getting shitfaced, what have you been doing all this time?"

"Do you know what happened to the truck driver involved in my parents' accident?"

"No," Darcy replied, shaking her head.

"No one does," Tony said. "He gets ignored by the world because Howard and Maria Stark were Howard and Maria Stark.  His name was Jeffrey Thomas.  He was paralyzed in the crash."

"What happened to him?" Darcy asked quietly.

"He couldn't work after that, and Obi went after him claiming negligence on behalf of Stark Industries.  The case didn't really hold water, but Obi—the old son of a bitch—weaseled it through.  Jeffrey Thomas drowned in debt until he shot himself in front of his twelve-year-old son."

"What happened to the son?"

"He had an atypical reaction to watching your dad blow his own brains out; he got into college and was on his way to medical school when his mom got sick.  He had to drop out to take care of her and now he's drowning in debt."

Darcy smiled.  "You paid his debts and got him back into college, didn't you?" Tony grinned in reply.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing in Queens," she reminded him.  "Oh, Mike—that's the kid—had your friend's new job this morning."

"You really are an old softy, aren't you, Tony?"

"Whatever."

"Are you gonna order something harder than water?" the bartender asked Tony.  

"No, I'm good.

"Ooo! I'd like to," Darcy said excitedly.  "He can pay for it."

The bartender cocked an eye toward Tony who said, "Sure, whatever."

"You got any ID, sweetheart?"

"I do," Darcy said, proudly showing him her license. "I've been legal for a whole 36 hours."

"Well, what would you like?"

"Hmmm...tequila," Darcy decided.

Tony snorted into his glass.  "This should be good."

 

 

 

 

Chapter 27: Lightning

"Well, admittedly, it's not the greatest thing in which I’ve ever participated."

Tony flinched as the sound of Darcy retching from the hallway bathroom reached his ears.  The look Pepper was giving him could have easily set him on fire.

“She did want to got to Brooklyn, so I did avert that particular disaster.”

"You got her drunk?" Pepper asked, anger boiling up over the surface.

"No, no, I let her get drunk.  There's a difference, albeit a small one."

"Tony, you have done a lot of stupid, selfish things in your life, but I never felt like doing what I'm about to do."

"Which is what?"

She slapped him so hard, he heard his neck pop and he was almost sure he felt his teeth rattling.  "Ow!" Tony said, rubbing his cheek.

"Have I come at a bad time?"

They turned to see Betty Ross standing in front of the elevator door with a garment bag over one shoulder and coat draped over her other arm.

"Depends on your definition of a bad time," Pepper said walking over to greet her.  "How was the train ride?"

"It was good.  What did he do?" Betty asked in a stage whisper.  

"I can hear you."

The sound of retching filled the air again and Pepper's mouth twisted angrily.  "He got an underage girl drunk."

"Wait, wait, is that what you're mad about?  Darcy's not underage.  She's been 21 for two days," Tony argued.

"Oh my God, she had a birthday and no one noticed?"

"That's what you took from that?"

"Maybe you should just tell me where the lab is," Betty suggested gently.

"Hey, has anyone seen the—shit, that did not work out at all."

Betty's blue eyes widened to outrageous proportions.  "Oh my God," she breathed, dropping her things and moving toward him.  "Is it really you?"

Bruce shifted uncomfortably.  "Last time I checked," he replied, not meeting her eyes.

She slapped him hard across the face causing his watch to go off as he cried out in pain.  Tony looked at Pepper and said, "There must be something in the air."

Then Betty wrapped her arms around Bruce's neck and he sighed in relief as he hugged her back.  Tony looked expectantly at Pepper and she replied, "You're not getting anywhere near that lucky."

Tony laughed to himself as he watched her stalk away from him and he followed.

Bruce let go of her slightly and said, “You’re not mad?”

“Yes, I am, actually,” she replied.

“Okay…”

“But I don’t have enough time to be angry with you right now,” she said, kissing him lightly on the lips.  “Come on.  Show me what you guys have been working on.”

 #####

"I don't think this getting drunk thing is all that awesome," Darcy said, wiping her mouth.

"In my experience, it’s the drinking, not the being drunk part that was great," Jane said, gently stroking Darcy's hair as the younger woman rested her head on Jane's lap.  "Have you ever even done tequila shots before?"

"No.  I mostly just drank beer, or champagne if someone was getting married," Darcy grumbled.  "Tequila is only fun when you make it part of a game."

"What would you know about it?"

"Hey, I partied," Jane protested.  "Not a lot, but I did party, especially after my dad died."

"My mom died," Darcy stated.  "But I was only nine, so I didn't-"

Her words were cut off by another bout of vomiting.  She groaned loudly before laying her head back down on Jane's lap.  "He gave me a picture of her."

Jane quirked an eyebrow and said, "Who gave you a picture of who?"

"Steve.  He drew a picture of what he thought my mom would look like if she were still alive.  Gave it to me for my birthday."

Jane clapped a hand over her mouth.  "Oh, my God, Darcy, I'm so sorry.  I completely forgot your birthday."

"S'okay.  Even my own family members just sent me text messages, not that I was where I could receive them at the time."

"But your twenty-first birthday is special.  You're supposed to go out and have cocktails with your girlfriends, not do tequila shots while a recovering alcoholic watches you for kicks."

"I killed a man on my twenty-first birthday," Darcy said quietly, a tear slipping out of her eye.

"What are you talking about?" Jane asked gently.

"There were two guys, and they were going to break into the van, and I just had to shoot one of them, and-and he bled to death.  I used to kill people all the time when I played video games with my brother, and it's not the same.  He could have had a family, or something."

Jane gently stroked Darcy's hair and said, "You were defending yourself.  And we'll never know if that man had a family, or if he was just a career criminal, but we do know about you.  You do have a family and lots of people who love you.  I don't know how I would have survived the last ten months without you."

"That's nice," Darcy replied, patting Jane's knee. "But I don't want to just be everyone's favorite pet."

"Darcy, you're not everyone's favorite pet," Jane argued.  "Before you started puking, you were talking about how angry Steve was at you.  He's mad because—because he loves you."

"What do you know?" Darcy grumbled.

Jane chuckled lightly. "It'll all work itself out.  I promise."

##### 

Steve gagged at the sickly, metallic taste in his mouth.  He spit the blood out on the mat and looked up at his best friend.  Bucky was trying to look apologetic, but all Steve could see was the grin on his face. 

"You said not to hold back," Bucky reminded him.

"I did say that, didn't I?" Steve said, pushing himself back to his feet. "I forgot you're a lefty now."

"The Soviets were good for some things.  Sure you don't want me to hold back?"

"I'm sure."

            They managed to spar for another minute or so before Bucky got in under Steve's arms and grabbed him by the waist, pulling him down to the mat.  They wrestled for only a few seconds before Bucky was behind Steve with his legs wrapped around Steve's waist, his right arm around Steve's neck, and his left arm pinning back Steve's left arm.  Steve was in so much pain, he felt like screaming.  He tapped on the arm Bucky had around his neck, and his best friend immediately let him go.

Steve gasped in a breath and sat up.  "What the hell was that?"

"A smarter way to fight," Bucky replied, standing up and offering a hand to Steve.  "You see, I know you're stronger than me, and I've got a hole in my side, so, beating you into submission is out of the question.  I just had to wait for an opening arid pin you down.  I can't really beat you, but I can definitely cut off your air supply and make you pass out.  It's a method you never really cabbaged onto when you were the little guy."

"You really think I could've won a fight back then?"

Bucky thought about it for a moment and then said, "Actually, no.  That's why you had me."

Steve chuckled.  "I was kind of a useless best friend, wasn't I?  You were always saving me.  What did I ever do for you?"

"Hey," Bucky said gently, "I may have scared off a few bullies when we were kids, but you jumped into enemy territory by yourself to save me from a psychotic tyrant.  I think that makes up for any shortcomings in our youth."

Steve laughed as Bucky hugged him tightly around the neck.  The doorbell sounded and Steve climbed out of the ring to get it.  He was surprised to find Jane Foster standing on the other side.

"Dr. Foster," he greeted.

             "Don't you Dr. Foster me," she told him angrily, jabbing a finger into his chest, causing him to back up into the gym.  "You know why I'm here."

"Um...not really, no," he replied, a little bit frightened of how angry the woman in front of him appeared.  

"Do you know what Darcy did this afternoon?"

The hair was standing up on the back of his neck and his heart started beating a little bit faster as worry started floating through the back of his mind.  "What happened to her?"

"She found Tony Stark in a bar in Queens and then she did tequila shots until Tony-freaking-Stark thought it was time to leave!"

"Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine.  She threw up the last couple of days worth of meals and she'll have a hell of a headache in the morning, but she'll be fine, no thanks to you."

"What do I have to do with it?"

"Are you really that dense?"

"Yes," Bucky answered, leaning on the ropes of the ring.

Jane jumped as she noticed the presence of the other person in the room.  "Oh, you must be the guy that they—I'm sorry, I just don't remember your name."

"James Barnes," he replied with a smile.

"Jane Foster," he answered quickly before turning her attention back to Steve.  "And do you really not know how she feels about you?"

"I—I—" Steve couldn't find it in himself to answer the question.  He knew exactly how Darcy felt about him.  He just didn't know what to do about it.

"Well, let me make it perfectly clear for you: she loves you, and you're staying angry with her because of something stupid."

"It's not stupid!" Steve argued.  "She put us all in danger."

"You were already in danger with that half-assed, cockamamie plan of yours, and she killed somebody.  Do you know what that does to someone like Darcy?"

"You think I don't feel that for her?  You think I don't feel guilty for putting her in that situation?"

"Yeah, well, she doesn't know that.  And she doesn't need me or Tony or anyone else right now; she needs you, and you're hiding out in Brooklyn with your little friend...no offense," she quickly added.

"None taken," Bucky said, still grinning at the situation.

"What do you expect me to do?" Steve asked through gritted teeth.

"Apologize to her," Jane told him.

"I have nothing to apologize for," he argued.

"You really are a blockheaded idiot.  It was nice to meet you," she said to Bucky before stomping out of the door.

Steve ripped off his fisticuffs and angrily threw them against the wall.  Bucky climbed out of the ring and said, "She's right, you know."

"How is she right?  Darcy put herself and the rest of us in greater danger."

"Yeah, but we got out of it and everything was fine, partially because of her," Bucky reminded him.  "You're justified in being angry, you're not justified in giving her the cold shoulder."

"She's the one who wouldn't even look at me last night."

"Probably because she thinks you're mad at her."

"I am mad at her."

"Then just stop being mad at her."

Steve groaned loudly as he brushed his fingers through his hair.  "Why does this have to be so complicated?"

Bucky chuckled.  "You don't even know what complicated is."

##### 

"What are you dragging into my home now, Coulson?"

"I see you made it back from wherever you were," Coulson replied flatly as two other agents wheeled in a long, metal crate.  "This is the artifact Ms. Lewis recovered in Belarus.  Director Fury didn't think it was safe to store it in the vicinity of our prisoner.  I assume you wouldn't have a problem storing it securely for us."

Tony shrugged as he stood up from his couch.  "I want to see it first, though."

"Is that really necessary?"

"You're asking me to store it for you. How do I know it's not some sort of bomb...or a gila monster?"

Coulson rolled his eyes, but motioned for the two agents to open the crate anyway. The golden staff rested inside the padded crate. The green stone glimmered and the whole thing seemed to emit a hum.  As he reached out for it, he heard, "I wouldn't do that if I were—"

But he did wrap his fingers around it and the world around him changed.  Everything was sharper and more focused and the colors seemed even brighter.  Then Coulson and the two agents got down on their knees in seeming fealty.  Tony looked back at Bruce Banner, the owner of the voice he'd heard earlier.  Bruce was looking between Tony and the men on the ground in utter confusion, but he was making no attempt to worship anyone.

Tony dropped the staff back into the crate and the world returned to normal and Coulson and the agents were back on their feet looking at him like nothing had happened.  He turned to look at Bruce, who had come closer, and said, "Did you see that?"

"Yeah," Bruce replied slowly.

"What are you two talking about?" Coulson asked, clearly annoyed.

"Pick it up," Tony told Bruce.

"I don't think that's a good—”

"Just do it!"

The world didn't shift into the sharper focus he'd seen before, but Coulson and the agents were on their knees and Bruce had instantly transformed into the roaring form of the Hulk.

“Shit!  Put it down!  Put it down!"

The staff clattered to the floor and Bruce was Bruce once more.  His shirt wasn't even ripped.

“What is wrong with the two of you?" Coulson asked, easily picking up the staff and placing it gently back in the crate.

Tony and Bruce looked at each other with raised eyebrows.  “You didn't feel anything just now?" Bruce asked.

“I felt annoyance at how the two of you are treating a priceless artifact like a Wal-Mart toy," Coulson replied.  “Stark, can we store this here, or not?"

"Yeah, sure.  It's around the corner and down the stairs."

Coulson and the two agents headed that direction with the crate and Bruce whispered to Tony, "We can't keep that thing here.  It's like the One Ring, or something."

"You know you just sound like a nerd when you say stuff like that, right?"

“Tony!"

"I know.  I know," he replied, starting to follow Coulson's path down the stairs.  “It didn't have the same effect on Coulson, though."

"Maybe it's because he's normal," Bruce suggested.

Tony stopped and looked at the other man.  “I think you may be onto something.  Maybe the Staff empowers the powerful, and Coulson is really just Fury's bitch."

"Then we really shouldn't keep the damned thing here," Bruce argued.

"No, I can set the vault so none of us could ever open it."

"Well, someone's got to have access."

“Who do we know that's powerless, and basically completely content about it?"

"Darcy," Bruce replied easily.

Tony smiled.  "Exactly."

"You do remember that was the reasoning behind giving Frodo the ring, don't you?"

"Yes, I do, but all Frodo lost was a finger.  And don't say shit like that to me.  I don't want people thinking I'm as big a nerd as you are."

Bruce rolled his eyes as he followed Tony down the stairs.

##### 

Thor found himself appreciating Darcy's love for her Taser more and more.  The two Skrull guards were incapacitated without much of a fight and without creating a loud noise.  Thor was leading a hunting party of Hawkeye, Tapper, Dugan and a few other agents on this particular expedition into New York City's underground.  They had been tracking unusual variations in the thermal readings, and the two guards they just took out were a good indication they were on the right track.

The abandoned subway tunnels they were traversing suddenly split off into three routes.  Thor looked around at his resources and said, "Tapper, take those two down the southern path, Dugan take the others down the center.  Hawkeye and I will follow the northern path."

"Yes, Sir."

A few yards into the much darker tunnel, Hawkeye said, "Well, this isn't creepy at all."

Thor's hand tightened around Mjolnir's handle as a figure dropped down from the roof of the tunnel.  Hawkeye raised his bow as the figure stood up and said, "Whoa, whoa, hold your horses, Robin Hood."

"Spiderman," Thor said, instantly relaxing.

Hawkeye sighed and said, "You know I'm a SHIELD agent, right?  I'm under orders to bring you in for a debriefing if I find you."

"I'm more of a boxers guy, actually."

Hawkeye rolled his eyes and shook his head as he lowered his bow.  Thor looked down at the much smaller man and said, "What are you doing in these realms, Spiderman?"

"I chased an arsonist down here yesterday, and my spidey-senses started tingling. I came back to investigate and you guys should see what I found."

They silently followed him to where the tunnel ended and the floor seemingly dropped away.  A noise like a thousand insects hissing and clicking filled the air.  They got down on their knees to crawl toward the edge and were stunned at what they found at the bottom.

"Shit."

"There must be two hundred of them at least."

"What are they?"

"Skrull.  They're a race of aliens called Skrull," Hawkeye explained.

"Are they planning on invading the planet with just two hundred guys?"

"No," Thor answered.  "An enlightened warrior sends in an advanced force to scout enemy assets and test their defenses before mounting a full-scale invasion."

"You think these guys were what was coming through the day Loki took Jane?" Hawkeye asked.

"I do," Thor said, nodding.

"Um, did you guys have more people with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Look."

Across the chasm, they saw Dugan's team appearing at the end of their tunnel. One of his agents lost their footing in the loose earth at the end of the tunnel and started to plummet.  Spiderman sprang into action, first catching the agent with his webbing and swinging across the chasm to deposit him safely on the other side.  The agent was still alive, but unfortunately, the hissing and clicking had stopped and the Skrull knew they were there.

Chaos ensued as energy weapons fired and bullets started flying.  The Skrull were making their way up the walls of the chasm and they were vastly outnumbered.

"Thor, what would happen if you summoned lightning down here?" Hawkeye asked as he let three arrows fly.

"I do not know!" Thor admitted as he smacked a rather large Skrull away.  "I think it's about time to find out!"

##### 

"Bucky! Bucky, wake up!"

He came back to himself screaming.  Steve had a hold of both of his wrists and pinned them both to his chest Bucky took several deep breaths before assuring Steve that he was okay.  Steve let go of him and sat next to him silently on the bed.

"I guess I woke you up, huh?"

"Yeah, it's okay, though," Steve told him.  "I don't really need as much sleep as I used to."

As silence settled between them, Steve said, "What was the nightmare about?"

Bucky ran a hand through his sweaty hair and said, “It was this Chinese diplomat I killed as the Winter Soldier.  I shot him on his wedding day.  You know, in Asia, the bride's dress is red and not white, but you could still see the blood all over it."

"That wasn't you.  You know that right?"

“It was sometimes, though," Bucky explained quietly.  “I swear, I was the person in love with Natasha.  I was the person asking her to run away with me, even though I didn't know what I was running away from.  If I was me for that, what else did I just let happen?"

"Bucky, they took away your free will and they used you for their own ends," Steve told him.  “Nothing that happened was your fault."

“I wish I could believe that."

Suddenly, a bright light flashed from across the river and a rumbling like a small earthquake shook the building.

“What the-"

"You remember how to ride a bike?" Steve asked, standing up. 

“Yeah."

"Then we need to go.  Now."

 

 

Chapter 28: Thunder

“You don't see it, do you?"

“No, that's probably why Tony called you," Bruce replied.  “Also, he wanted to screw with me."

Betty ignored his last comment and said, “You used to have a daring imagination, Bruce.  You've gotten far too cautious."

“Ruining your life because of your own pride will do that for you," Bruce told her.

“I don't think you've ruined your life, Bruce," she replied kindly. "Not yet, anyway."

“Something to look forward to. What have you found?"

“The cellular structure keeps shifting randomly because there's no neurological commands going to the cells."

“Meaning?"

“They're shapeshifters," she replied simply.  “For instance, your actual cellular structure changes when you transform, but it doesn't stay that way.  Also, your transformation is more chemically based than being the result of electrical impulses."

“What's the difference?"

“Their transformation doesn't just have a trigger, it has a control mechanism with their neural network, making any transformation of theirs more stable."

"So...for all I know, you could be Skrull."

She glared at him and Bruce said, "Yeah, I didn't really think so.  What can we do about it, though? Would a blood test or something prove that someone's a Skrull?"

“I'm not sure.  I'm not familiar enough with their living biology to give you an answer.  I'd need to do tests on a live Skrull."

“Well, Thor and the guys are out hunting for them, so maybe you'll get lucky and they won't actually have to kill them."

Betty nodded.  “Is this Thor person really the Norse god of thunder?" Bruce shrugged.

“As far as we know."

The door slid open and Jane appeared with her arms full of yellowing blueprints and metal film reel canisters.

“What is all of that?" Bruce asked her.

“Well, we've been having a problem making sure the energy transfer is stable," she said, dropping the pile onto her workstation.  “Then I remembered that the Cube had actually been used back in the forties to make weapons, and they must have run into the same problem.  The SSR managed to recover a lot of data on it when they stormed Hydra's base back in the day and it's been sitting in SHIELD's hardcopy archives ever since.  Thought they might provide some answers.  Do we have a film projector anywhere?"

"That would be a Pepper question," Bruce replied.

“Alright.  Thanks," Jane said, before rushing off back out the door.

“Does that make you feel really old?" Betty asked as Jane disappeared.

“Oh, you mean the fact that she was a little girl when we were in college?  Yeah, it makes me feel like a senior citizen," he replied with a grin.  "Shouldn't make you feel old, though.  You're just as beautiful as you always were.  Me, I look like a completely different person."

Betty just giggled and shook her head.

Then a bolt of lightning split the sky outside the window and the whole building shook as a rumbling shockwave from a dozen blocks away hit it.

"What the—there's not even a cloud in the sky.  Where did the lightning come from?" Betty asked, looking out the window.

“Thor," Bruce breathed as the phone started ringing.  “Yeah."

“There was an explosion and building collapse near Thor's team.  We're going to investigate," Coulson's voice said on the other end.  “Don't let Dr. Foster leave the penthouse."

The line clicked off and Bruce rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, that's going to happen," he muttered before jogging out the lab door.  He was nearly bowled over by Jane running along the corridor with Darcy in tow.

“Come on, we have to go!"

"Jane, you're not thinking about this clearly,” Darcy told her, still wearing her pajamas and looking extremely tired from her experience the day before.

“Hey!" Tony called down to them from where he'd suddenly appeared behind Bruce.  "Happy's waiting for you at the door."

“Thank you," Jane said sincerely before dragging Darcy into the elevator.  "You coming?" Tony asked Bruce.

"I-what-no.  What could I do?"

“Fine, whatever.  I'm suiting up," Tony said before jogging down the hall.

Bruce turned around to find Betty staring at him with her arms folded across her chest.  "What?" he asked, walking past her into the lab.

"Why aren't you going with them?"

“Betty, I'm a scientist.  A building collapsed.  What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Bruce, I've seen you tear apart Abrams tanks, I'm pretty sure you could easily move a little building debris."

Bruce shook his head.  “You said it yourself not ten minutes ago.  My transformation is not that stable."

“But you can control it, Bruce, I've seen you do it."

Bruce shook his head.  “No."

“Why do you think you're here, Bruce?"

"Well, they didn't exactly give me a choice at the time, and they—they needed my technical expertise."

“That's bull and you know it.  They didn't bring you here because of what you can do.  They brought you here because of who you are."

It was taking almost all of Bruce's self control to not get angry.  "I am not the Hulk."

“I've looked into the Hulk's eyes and I have seen you there, Bruce.  When you accept him as part of yourself, you can control him," she said, gently covering his hands with hers.

Bruce yanked his hands away from her and simply said, "No," before turning on his heel and walking away.

 #####

In retrospect, asking Thor to unleash the full power of Mjolnir in an enclosed space under New York City had been a bad idea.  Of course, Clint Barton didn't really appreciate that fact until he was buried under a pile of rocks and bricks.  He wasn't really claustrophobic, but he imagined just about anyone would be in his position.  It was pitch black and the air he was breathing was still full of dirt.  He could still wiggle his toes in his boots, but he couldn't even bend his leg, so he assumed he was pinned.  His skin had already started to crawl when his own voice started reverberating in his ears, crying out for help.

Something moved and the pressure lifted from his leg and a sideways shaft of light hit his face.  “You okay?" a voice asked.

"I will be when you get me the hell out of here!" Hawkeye hollered back.

The mound of debris covering his torso lifted up and revealed James Barnes holding it up with his left hand while offering Hawkeyes his right.  Despite the fact that Hawkeye no longer wanted to be trapped, or that he had no desire to die, he really did not want to take the hand of the man standing over him.  He wanted to tell himself that it was the part of him that was raised in Reagan era anti-Communism that was hesitating.  But that wasn't it at all.  He'd seen the look on Natasha's face when she saw him.  She looked at James Barnes in a way that she had never looked at him.  And Clint Barton was extremely jealous of that fact.

"Come on! I can't hold this thing much longer."

Hawkeye grabbed his arm and allowed James to pull him up.  Pain immediately shot up his leg and he had no choice but to allow James to drape his arm over his shoulders and help him hobble across the debris to the relative safety of the sidewalk.  He took in the scene and shivered.  It looked like an entire building had collapsed in on itself and fallen into a hole.  He spotted Tony and Spiderman zipping around above their heads while policemen and firemen worked on the ground, presumably with Cap in the midst of them.

"What happened?"

“Not sure," James replied.  "It looked like lightning hit the building and then it just imploded."

“What about civilians?" Hawkeye asked, a nauseating wave of guilt hitting his stomach.  “Have any of them been hurt?"

"Don't know yet," Bucky replied shortly.

"Clint!"

He turned to see Natasha coming toward him from a black SUV.  He stumbled slightly as he let go of James and caught Natasha around the waist as she hugged him.  He held onto her tightly and looked over at James only to discover the other man had disappeared in an instant.

"What happened down there?" Natasha asked him.

“You know how we thought there might have been Skrull coming through that invisible wormhole?"

"Yes."

"We found them, all two hundred of them, at the bottom of that hole."

"What went wrong?"

“Someone fell down.  Spiderman saved them, but we were spotted and they started coming after us.  We were so outnumbered, I sort of thought Thor should do whatever the hell he does with that hammer, and then everything went sort of black," he explained, not meeting her eyes.

“Oh, Clint."

"Were there any people living in the building?"

"Squatters, mostly.  The surrounding buildings took some damage and have been evacuated.  The cover story right now is that a gas main exploded," she replied in a business-like tone.

"You'd think no one would have any faith in the gas companies as many times as we've used that cover story."

"Come on. We need to get you sitting down," she said, draping his arm over her shoulders and leading him to an ambulance.

"Have they found Thor yet?"

Natasha silently shook her head and Hawkeye felt such a tremendous force of guilt on his shoulders, he threw up on the sidewalk.

 #####

"Can't you drive any faster?"

"It's New York City, Dr. Foster. I can only go as fast as traffic will allow," Happy answered cooly.

"He did this on purpose," Jane muttered angrily.

"Tony or Thor or Happy?" Darcy asked.

"All of them," Jane answered quickly.  “l'm not actually serious.  But what would have possessed him to summon lightning in New York City's subway tunnels?"

"I don't know.  It kind of sounds like the sort of cockamamie plan Hawkeye would have."

“I like the word cockamamie."

"It's a good one, isn't it?"

Jane squeezed Darcy's hand after a short silence.  Darcy looked at the distant expression on Jane's face and said, "What's up with you?"

"Nothing."

"No, not nothing.  I know the world has turned kind of upside-down in the last couple of weeks, but—”

"I'm late," she told her, cutting her off.

"Late for what?" Darcy asked with a raised eyebrow.  When Jane gave her an annoyed expression, she jumped at the realization that just entered her sluggish brain.  "Oh, you're late.  How the hell did that happen?"

"Did no one have that conversation with you?"

"I'm serious, Jane."

“Well, I had to stop taking the pill after I was stabbed because it can cause blood clots, and then I forgot to start taking it again, and...we haven't exactly been careful," Jane explained sheepishly.

"No shit," Darcy said flatly.  "And I somehow have the impression that Asgardian sperm is super-modal.  Exactly how late are you?"

"Just a couple of days."

"Okay, that could just be your body adjusting to not taking the pill, or the massive amount of stress we've been living under, or anything," Darcy replied hopefully.  “There's no need to panic yet."

“I know it's just a possibility, but what if he's ... "

"He's not, okay?" Darcy said, squeezing Jane's hand tightly.  "It'll all work itself out.  I promise."

#####

He pulled up the first dead body of the evening.  Coulson identified him as Agent Tapper, and Steve regretted never having met the man as his fellow agents carried him away.

"Brings back memories," Bucky commented quietly.

“Not good ones," Steve replied.

"Guys, there's someone over here!" Tony called over to them as he moved a chunk of twisted steel.  Steve and Bucky rushed to his position and easily found a gloved hand flailing about.  Steve grabbed the hand and loudly said, "It's okay, we've got you."

He pulled on the hand as Bucky moved around to the side and pulled up on the man's shoulder.  The big man emerged coughing and sputtering, but able to stand on his own two feet.  Steve and Bucky found themselves staring when the man brushed the dirt and debris from his face.

"Wow.”

“That's interesting."

Dugan blinked a few times and then looked at Steve and said, "You're Captain America, aren't you?"

"Yes," Steve replied, still slightly dumbfounded.

"It's an honor, sir.  My grandfather served with you," Dugan said, shaking Steve's hand. 

“Well, that explains that," Bucky said with a smirk.

"Are you Sergeant Barnes?" Dugan asked, looking at him.  “I had no idea you were back too."

"I-it's a recent development," Bucky told him as Dugan vigorously shook his hand.

Dugan's demeanor shifted as he looked around at the scene around them. "Have you found any other survivors?"

"Hawkeye, and Agent Casey, and a squatter from the building," Steve replied.

"Casualties?"

"Only Agent Tapper so far."

"Tapper's gone?"

Steve nodded solemnly.

"Agent Dugan, I need you to come with me, so we can check you out," Coulson said, making his way across the debris in his suit as if it weren't even a minor difficulty.

''I'm fine, sir.  I want to help with the search."

"It's not an option, Dugan."

Dugan begrudgingly followed Coulson with more apparent difficulty than Coulson was having.  Steve looked up at Tony's floating form and said, "Any more readings?"

"I'm getting a lot of interference from that area," Tony replied. "Thor might be under there with that hammer of his.  I can't get a good read on it though, so I don't want to start moving stuff around in case I accidentally crush someone."

“We'll start small," Steve said.  "Let's go."

They spent a few minutes moving bricks and small rocks until Bucky tapped Steve on the shoulder and said, “Hey, your girl's here."

Steve glared at Bucky, but looked toward the street where Jane and Darcy were emerging from the back of a Town Car.  Jane was fully clothed, but Darcy appeared to still be in her pajamas.  It was Darcy, despite her tired appearance, that was taking in the scene around her and rubbing Jane's arm comfortingly.  Then the sound of cracking brick and mortar filled the air.  The damage to one of the adjacent buildings was taking a toll, and unfortunately, Darcy and Jane were standing right underneath the crumbling wall.

"Darcy, look out!" Steve yelled.

Darcy looked up in time to see the pile of bricks about to fall on her head and shoved Jane clear.  Steve watched helplessly from fifty yards away as a blue and red blur swept in and removed Darcy just as the wall hit the sidewalk.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod!" Darcy yelled as she found herself safely deposited on the other side of the street.  "That's like the worst amusement park ride ever!"

"Worse than the one where you get crushed by falling debris?"

She glared at Spiderman in response.

"Darcy!" Steve called, jogging across the field of debris and the deserted street.

"Oh. Is he ... ? It all makes sense now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing."

Darcy couldn't see his face, but she pictured one of Peter Parker's mischievous grins from Spiderman's tone of voice.

"Are you alright?"

Darcy looked up into Steve's pale blue eyes and felt the weight of his hand on her arm.  It was all she could do to not to throw herself into his arms and tell him she was sorry, but she still had enough control over her faculties to simply say, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well, I'm going to leave before this gets even more awkward," Spiderman said before slinging a web and flying across the street.

"I—" Steve and Darcy began simultaneously, only to stop just as quickly.

"Darcy, I'm sorry," Steve said after another moment.

She shook her head slightly.  "No, I'm the one who should be apologizing," she told him.  "I was being reckless, I guess, and—"

"You were doing what you thought was right," he cut her off, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and letting his hand linger on her face, "and I should have understood that.”

She looked up into his eyes, but the sounds of shouting from across the street filled her ears.  "You know, I'd really, really like to have this moment with you right now, but a building collapsed, and Thor's probably under it somewhere, and Jane's about to have a panic attack, so..."

Steve smiled slightly and squeezed her hands before he jogged back across the street.  Darcy watched him go and muttered to herself, "God, I am such an idiot."

 #####

That had been a horrible idea. Thor determined that would be the first thing he would say to Hawkeye the moment he saw him. For the present, however, he was simply trying to determine whether he was just surrounded by darkness, or if he was still unconscious. Then a shaft of light hit his face and he heard his own voice yell, "I am down here," but he was not the one to speak. He looked across the space and saw a mirror image of himself smiling back wickedly as it reached for Mjolnir's handle.

 

 

Chapter 29: The Quiet

Something blasted out of the hole where one of the SHIELD agents reported finding Thor, but it was too big to be Thor, and it was flying too erratically.  Tony had to swerve suddenly to miss it, and Steve had to pull off his shield with more speed than he knew he possessed to avoid a collision with a piece of debris that turned out to be Mjolnir.  He pulled the hammer from the smoking asphalt and looked to a spot ten yards away where Thor seemed to be fighting a mirror image of himself.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked Tony as the other man landed next to him.

"Not sure. The bio-readings are muddled and that thing's giving off a lot of interferencw.” Tony said, motioning toward the hammer.  "I should probably do something about that."

"They're shape shifters!" a voice yelled above the din.

They looked and found Bruce Banner hopping out of a Humvee that had barely come to a stop. He ran up to them and said, "The Skrull are shape shifters. They can imitate any cellular structure, apparently very well."

Then Steve saw something that horrified him out of the corner of his eye: Bucky, who had been standing just a few feet away, in one fluid motion, grabbed Jane by the throat and held a gun to her head.  She and Darcy both screamed.  Steve started toward him, but Tony caught his arm and calmly said, "Wait."

One of the Thors immediately turned to protect Jane and didn't see the blow that knocked him to the ground.  Before Thor had even hit the pavement, however, Bucky had let go of Jane and was firing his handgun at the standing Thor.  His magazine ran out and Natasha threw him another as she pulled Jane and Darcy to relative safety.  As Bucky reloaded, Tony hit the faux-Thor with a repulsor blast and the creature stopped looking so much like Thor and started to more closely resemble the Skrull form Bruce ranted about a week earlier.

The Skrull in the street moaned as Thor got back on his feet.  Steve tossed Mjolnir to him and he easily caught it.  He looked over his shoulder to assure himself of Jane's safety before raising the hammer to deliver a deathblow to the Skrull in the street.

"No, no, wait!" Bruce said, running in front of him.  "We need it alive."

"Are you mad?" Thor growled.

"No, you'd know if he was mad,” Tony said, the smirk evident in his voice.

"We need one alive so we can study its living biology and understand how they work, so we can fight them,” Bruce explained in a calm, measured tone.

Thor lowered the hammer but still looked as though he wanted to hit something.  Coulson joined their circle and said, "How do you expect to move that thing?  It's not even really unconscious."

Steve tightened his grip on his shield and conked the Skrull on the head.  Its body immediately went slack.  Steve just looked at Coulson, who rolled his eyes in response.  Everyone could hear Tony sniggering.

"What's your plan if he wakes up?  It's obviously strong enough to pick up that hammer."

"It did not,” Thor responded angrily.  "It tried and it failed.  I thought I had knocked it out, but it grabbed hold of me as I flew out of that chasm.”

"That still leaves the fact that it was kind of kicking your ass,” Coulson replied flatly.

Thor's hand tightened around Mjolnir's handle, but before he could respond, Spiderman flew across the scene firing several web balls at the Skrull that formed bonds around it's arms, legs and mouth.  Spiderman then landed, balancing on top of a light post.  He was obviously grinning, though none of them could see it.

"Looks like we've handled all your problems, Coulson,” Bruce said calmly.  "Now, just stick it in the back of a truck and take it to Dr. Ross at Stark Tower.”

Coulson raised an eyebrow at Bruce's slightly forceful tone, but started issuing orders into his walkie-talkie to do exactly as Bruce requested.

"Did Betty make you grow some balls?” Tony asked.

Bruce glared in response and Steve sighed and said, "Stop picking on him."

"Why? Because he can turn into a ten foot rage monster?"

"No, because you’re better than that."

"Uh, guys..." Bruce interrupted, drawing their attention to Thor who had rounded on Bucky. 

Bucky made no move to defend himself as Thor landed a fist on his jaw.  Bucky collapsed to the pavement and Steve rushed forward to defend his friend which turned out to be unnecessary.  Thor knelt down next to Bucky and said, "Do not touch her again."

Thor gave Steve a look that was somewhere between angry and determined before he turned to catch Jane in his arms as she ran up to him.  Steve looked back down at Bucky to find Natasha already kneeling in front of him, speaking to him softly in Russian.  Bucky suddenly grabbed her arm with his left hand and tightened his grasp until she winced in pain.  Steve silently readied his shield, worried about how erratic Bucky's behavior had been all night.

"Don't speak to me in Russian,” he hissed at her through clenched jaw.

He let go and she gingerly rubbed her wrist. "James,” she began slowly, "he broke your jaw, didn't he?"

He glared at her as though he were annoyed she'd guessed his problem.

"Can you stand?" she asked him.

He grimaced as he pushed himself to a standing position. Natasha reached out to help him, but he batted her hands away.  Steve also reached out, and to that Bucky said, “I can manage." Bucky then tossed Steve the empty gun and headed toward the little medical station SHIELD had set up.

"Stay with him,” Steve quietly said to Natasha.

Steve saw Darcy, who had slipped away from Jane and Thor, squeeze Natasha's arm comfortingly as the redhead walked past her.  He heard Bruce directing a truck a few yards away and then he heard heavy footsteps and the mechanical whir of the Iron Man suit directly behind him.  Without turning around, he said, "How did you know what Bucky was trying to do?"

"I'm more devious than you are, Steve,” Tony replied in a tone that was almost serious.  "I figured your old friend was too."

Steve was sure he heard a note of bitterness before Tony continued, "I've got enough data now.  I should be able to do a sweep and make sure we don't have any more Skrull surprises in store."

As Tony flew off, Steve looked at Darcy, who was now standing a mere two feet away from him.  "Is Jane okay?” he asked.

"She's fine,” Darcy assured him.  "Bucky startled her more than anything.  He startled me too. I was afraid that-that—”

"So was I,” Steve admitted.  "He had a nightmare earlier, and I was afraid that the Winter Soldier had come back.”

"Yeah,” Darcy agreed quietly.  “When he didn't say anything in return, she spotted a blue and red figure swinging quickly toward the rising sun and away from the disaster site.  She smirked and said, "He must have to get ready for school.”

Steve raised his eyebrows. "You think he's that young?”

"Well, he does kind of remind me of my little brother, and he'd have to go to school this morning, although because of the time difference, he's actually still in bed right now, which is where I'd like to be.”

"Stark's given us the all clear!” Coulson announced.  "We can only shut down a New York City street for so long, so let's pack it up, people!”

"Well, that's nice,” Darcy said, sighing in relief.

Steve caught her hand and quietly said, "Come home with me.”

Darcy looked up at him, her eyes widened at his sudden request.  "What?”

"Come home with me,” he repeated.  "It's just across the bridge.  Tony's place is all the way uptown.”

Darcy bit her lip as she smiled up at him.  "Yeah, I'll come home with you."

 #####

The medics gave Bucky an ice pack to ease the swelling and the pain.  It was not doing much for either, but they were unwilling to do anything else without x-raying his face.  Something told him they also wanted him back in their medical bay so they do all the tests that Steve cut short when he took him back to Brooklyn.

He heard Steve send Natasha after him.  He wouldn't have been able to notice her presence had he not been so familiar with the way she worked.  Steve made sure he was okay before SHIELD packed them up.  He even offered to go with him, but Bucky could see Darcy lingering behind and looking hopeful.  Besides, Steve's presence wouldn't be comforting; it would just make him feel guilty.

Threatening Thor's girl seemed like a good idea, and it had worked too.  The imposter had been revealed, but Bucky had seen the look Thor had given Steve. Some trust between them had been lost, and it was Bucky's fault.

"Can you feel cold with that hand?"

Bucky looked across the moving vehicle toward Hawkeye, whose leg was stretched out in front of him.  They hadn't really said much to one another while sitting at the site or since the journey through Manhattan's morning traffic had begun.  Bucky wasn't sure whether it was because his jaw was injured or the fact that Hawkeye threatened him with a bow the day they met.

"Not really,” Bucky answered, careful not to move his jaw too much.  "I only feel it when it's enough to cause damage."

“Do you know how you lost the arm?"

Bucky looked over at him in disbelief.  "Why are you asking?"

Hawkeye shrugged.  "Just trying to be friendly.  Maybe offer an olive branch for threatening to shoot you that one time."

Bucky almost smirked before he remembered how much that would hurt.  "No olive branch necessary, and no, I don't remember how I lost the arm,” he replied quietly.

"What do you remember?"

"Everything else,” Bucky whispered back.

Silence fell over them for a minute before Hawkeye said, "I come from a family of snipers, going all the way to the French and Indian War.  I even had family on both sides during the Civil War.  My dad and three uncles all served in Vietnam.  My dad and two of my uncles were a little afraid of you, though they'd never outright admit it.  But one of my uncles respected you and maybe even thought of you a little like an ally."

"Why?" Bucky asked, genuinely curious.

"He was on the other side of the ridge when you took out that Chinese diplomat at his wedding,” Hawkeye answered simply.  "You did his job for him."

A shiver ran down Bucky's spine.  "Who was he working for?"

Hawkeye quirked an eyebrow.  “The United States Marine Corps,” he answered as though it were obvious.

"Why are you telling me this?" Bucky asked quietly.

"So you know you weren't the only one being asked to do unspeakable things."

"I was never asked Bucky said through gritted teeth.

"That fact should make your guilt even less."

"It doesn't.  Please stop talking to me."

They spent the rest of the journey in utter silence.

 #####

"So, you went anyway?" Betty asked, peeling Spiderman's webbing from the Skrull's body. Tony had repulsor-based restraints holding the Skrull down on the examination table.

Bruce shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't do what you wanted,” he told her.  "But I did make sure you got to have a live Skrull.  Merry Christmas."

"Christmas is eight months away, and you know I prefer jewelry."

She smiled at him and Bruce couldn't help but grab her face and press his lips to hers.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.  It didn't matter that there was an unconscious Skrull between them.

"That's just creepy."

They broke apart and it was obvious by the look on Tony's face that he found their position more amusing than creepy.

"I've-I've got to...satellite data.  Yeah, satellite data,” Bruce said before shooting Tony a death glare as he walked out of the room.

“You shouldn’t tease him like that,” Betty admonished Tony.

“Why?  Because he might get angry?”

“No, because you’re better than that.”

"Everyone keeps saying that.  I'm not sure why."

"It's true, Tony,” she replied, carefully drawing a sample from the Skrull's arm.  "I think that's blood.  I'm not really sure,” she muttered to herself.

“I am not a nice person, Betts.  Everyone should know that by now.  And he can handle a little ribbing…I hope."

"He's not a child,” she said without looking up from her work.  "You always had the potential to be a very good person, Tony, and think that's what you've become.  Now you just have to learn to apply that goodness into how you deal with other people."

"I don't need to do that.  I'm supposed to be rude and eccentric.  It's in the richer-than-God-man's handbook."

"You're also supposed to spend your private life in complete loneliness and misery.  How's that working out for you?"

Tony started to reply, but found that words didn't come out of his mouth.  He certainly wasn't lonely.  He had a penthouse full of people, and when his long-standing guilt started to overtake him, he just pushed it aside and focused on what he was doing, which generally had something to do with making sure the world was a safer place.

The longer he stayed in silence, the wider her smile became.  "I have a super power after all: I can shut up Tony Stark."

He grumbled in reply.

##### 

Thor had barely said anything since they returned to the quarters they'd been sharing at SHIELD.  Jane was sure it had something to do with the fact that he had lead a team of eight to the tunnels and only Thor, Hawkeye, Dugan, and an agent called Myers made it back to the surface.  She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, but she knew that would have been a lie.

She opted for brushing his hair from his eyes and said, "You had no other choice."

Thor said nothing for a long while.  Then he quietly said, "I forgot that the men and women with me were not as...resilient as my friends in Asgard. They would not have been so damaged by my foolish and reckless behavior."

"The way I heard it, Skrull were climbing up the walls to kill you.  You would have all been dead had it not been for the lightning."

"There's no way of knowing that's true."

"There's no way of knowing it isn't,” Jane argued.

Thor looked away from her. "You are very stubborn, and there is not point in arguing with you,” he said quietly.  "It will not change what has been done."

"Then there's no point in letting yourself be weighed down by guilt either,” she said firmly.  "It's done.  You have to pick yourself up and move on.  You should get some sleep.  I'm going to visit Erik."

A small smile spreads across his face as he remembers Jane's passion and determination, the two things that drew him to her in the first place.  As he lay down in their bed, he tried to focus on Jane, and not the sight of men being crushed under the weight of a collapsing tunnel.  It didn't work.  He eventually just found himself wandering the halls aimlessly.  Then he crossed paths with the man who threatened Jane to flush out the imposter.  Darcy briefly explained that he was Captain Rogers' best friend, whom they'd recently nearly lost their lives rescuing.  He had a large, angry bruise on the left side of his face and an armed escort just a pace behind him.

"Have they deemed you untrustworthy?" Thor asked him.

James, as Thor learned was the man's name, seemed surprised that anyone had spoken to him at all, but he answered without hesitation, "I think they've just deemed me unpredictable.  And I have no idea where I'm going."

Thor noticed James was making a concerted effort to speak without moving his jaw.  He made a brief motion with his head and the armed guard walked away.  He and the SHIELD agents had developed an easy rapport over the last week. "Is it broken?" he asked, pointing briefly to the bruise.

"No.  Just cracked a little."

"I should not have retaliated against you,” Thor said.  "Your intention was only to help."

“It wasn't the best idea I'd ever had, but no one else had any ideas.  I shouldn't have done it, though.  You don't know me,” James replied quietly.

“It made your ruse all the more convincing in those short moments,” Thor said.  "I think I know you a little better now.  Darcy thinks highly of you."

James smiled with the undamaged part of his face.  "She only thinks that because of Steve.  It's not exactly an unbiased opinion."

Thor smiled slightly.  "She is quite taken with him. I think she even loves him."

James nodded his agreement. "I don't think Steve quite knows what he feels for her, but I've known him almost all of my strange life, and he's only ever looked at one other person the way he looks at her.  He loves her, he's just a little slow on the uptake."

Thor nodded, almost solemn as absorbed James' information.  He extended his right hand to James and said, "I believe this gesture sometimes indicates a reconciliation among men."

"It does,” James replied, gripping Thor's hand firmly.  "Thank you.  Do you think you could tell me how to get the hell out of here?"

Thor smiled genuinely.  "This way."

 #####

Steve felt a presence standing over him.  He grabbed the gun from the coffee table and sat bolt upright.  Fury didn't even flinch as Steve aimed the gun at him.

“I did not expect to find you on the couch,” Fury said flatly, his hands clasped behind his back.

Steve set the gun back down on the table and swung his legs off the couch, making a space for Fury to sit down.  “She fell asleep on the back of the bike.  I’m lucky she didn’t fall off,” he explained.  “I didn’t want to take Bucky’s bed in case he came back.  Where is he, anyway?”

“Forty-Third and Fifth, last I heard,” Fury replied.  “He shook off two of my best men.”

“Not Natasha, though,” Steve said without looking at the other man.

“No, not Agent Romanoff.  Though I suspect he knows she’s there.”

A silence hung between them and Steve considered the calm man next to him for a long moment.  “You like it, don’t you?”

“Like what?”

“Being the conductor and controlling and guiding all our lives,” Steve replied.  “You like it.”

Fury shook his head.  “I don’t, but someone had to do it,” he replied simply.

“Maybe you don’t have to.  Maybe we’re capable of running our own lives and making positive choices.”

Fury chuckled and said, “I think you’re being a little optimistic on that last part, but I didn’t think it was at all possible until very recently.”

Steve suddenly felt uncomfortable at the way Fury was staring at him with his single eye.  “Is there a reason you’re here, Sir?”

Fury shrugged.  “Everything has gone quiet.”

“What do you mean everything?” Steve said, doing his best not to roll his eyes.

“I mean our communications satellites have stopped picking up alien chatter.  Every terrorist and criminal organization SHIELD monitors has gone silent and stopped operating in the open,” Fury explained.  “You’ve been in a war, Cap.  What do you think that means?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Steve said shortly, standing up and walking to the window.  “It means they’re coming.  Why else are you here?”

“Brought you your new suit,” Fury said, standing up and buttoning his jacket.  “I also wanted to offer you a word of warning, or advice, depending on how you want to take it.”

“What?” Steve asked, turning around to face the man with his arms folded across his chest.

“Don’t leave things undone or unsaid,” Fury told him.  “You’ve already done that through one war.  Don’t let it happen through this one.”

Chapter 30: Brighton Beach

            James turned swiftly into an alley.  “I know you’re there.  You might as well just come out.”

            Natasha leapt from the fire escape with her usual grace and landed in front of him.  She didn’t say anything and he just shook his head and turned away from her.  “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” he asked.

            “I’m under—”

            “Orders?” James finished for her.  “We’ve all had orders, Nat.  Doesn’t mean we have to follow them.”

            “We’re not going to let you roam the city alone, James,” she informed him.  “We didn’t even let Captain Rogers into the city by himself.”

            James cocked his head curiously.  “Oh, did you people sic Darcy on him?  Because I get the feeling that might have backfired on you.  Clandestine agencies like yours don’t like it when people form…attachments,” he said slowly backing her up to a brick wall, letting his left hand hover over her midsection.

            “SHIELD is not the KGB,” she replied calmly, looking into his eyes.  "SHIELD is concerned with the safety of the world, not just a country or a union."

"You say tomato," he said before taking a step back “Why did you switch sides anyway?  What did they give to the famous Black Widow?”

“814 Ocean View Avenue in Brighton Beach,” she replied simply.

He cocked his head in mild confusion.  “What?”

“That’s where you’ll find all that’s left of why I did everything,” she said before starting to walk away.  “I’ll stop following you now.”

“I don’t believe you,” he called after her.

"Try," she replied before disappearing into a crowd.

 #####

Darcy felt him get into the bed next to her and wrap his arms around her to pull her back into his chest.  She lay awake for a few moments, enjoying the warmth spreading through her before he turned around in his arms to face him.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hey,” he replied, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead and tucking it behind her ear, letting his hand come to rest on the side of her face.

“You took off my shoes,” she stated.

“Yeah.”

Her gaze narrowed toward him and she said, “You’re infuriating.”

He raised an eyebrow and said, “How so?”

“You yell at me, you apologize, you ask me to come home with you, and I fall asleep, so you just take off my shoes and tuck me in,” she explained.  “Who does that?”

“Did you expect me to do something different?”

“No, not really,” she replied with a slight laugh as she rested her hand on his face and ran her thumb absent-mindedly across his cheekbone.  They laid there in comfortable silence until she quietly said, “What is this?”

Steve tried to smile as he released a slightly shaky breath.  “I-I’m not sure.”

Darcy smiled sadly.  “That’s what I thought,” she replied, moving out of his light hold and sliding off the bed.

“Darcy—”

“No, Steve, it’s fine,” she lied slipping into her shoes.  “I should’ve known better than—”

“I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing,” Steve cut her off as he sat up and looked at the floor as he nervously gripped the side of the mattress.  “I loved Peggy, I know that, but it’s just…we never really got a chance to fall in love or be in love and I don’t really know what I’m doing right now, so please…be patient with me.”

She placed a finger under his chin and lifted up his face so he was looking at her.  “You’re still infuriating,” she told him before she kissed him lightly on the lips.  “Come on.  You can listen to me whine all the way through Temple of Doom,” she said grabbing his hands and pulling him toward the living room.

 #####

814 Ocean View Avenue in Brighton Beach was the locale of a flower shop.  The neighborhood had changed significantly from what he remembered.  The street signs were all in Cyrillic as well as English.  Some of the shops had forgone English altogether, and for good reason.  James’ ears told him that almost everyone around was a native Russian speaker.  He ducked into the flower shop to avoid the bitter wind coming off the ocean and the bitter memories appearing at the front of his mind.

He disappeared into the foliage for a few moments before a blonde girl around the age of sixteen shyly approached him and, in broken Russian, asked him a question that vaguely sounded like, “Can I help you?”

He smirked slightly and said in Russian, “I speak English.”

Her eyes widened.  “Um…”

“He’s playing with you, Natalia,” an older voice said from around the corner.  “He just told you he speaks English, in perfect Russian, I might add.”

His breath caught in his throat when the owner of the voice came into view.  Her red hair had streaks of gray in it and her blue eyes sparkled past her alabaster skin.  She looked like Natasha, only older in places other than her eyes.  His mouth opened to make some reply, but the words never seemed to form.

The woman smiled at him kindly and said, “You can go, Natalia,” to the young woman.  The teenager gladly made her escape, and the woman set about rearranging the vases on the wire racks.  Without looking at him, she continued in Russian, “So where are you from?”

“Williamsburg,” he answered simply.

“And your parents?”

“Williamsburg,” he answered honestly.

She cocked an eyebrow at him.  “You’re not Russian?”

“No, ma’am.”

“What’s your name?”

“James.”

“Ekaterina,” she said, shaking his hand before taking a few disgraced flowers to a bin behind the counter.  “And how, exactly, are you so well spoken, James from Williamsburg ?”

“I worked…I worked in Russia for a while,” he replied hesitantly, without meeting her gaze.

“Mercenary?”

He finally met her eyes and silently nodded.

“Then you learned very well,” she told him.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he muttered quietly.

She just smiled at him kindly for a few moments.  Boisterous male voices filtered through the door.  James surmised from their conversation that they were members of the Russian mob.  One of the larger members of the group started for the door of the flower shop.  James tensed up, ready for a fight, but the young man’s friends pulled him away.  He distinctly heard them say the phrase, “Not allowed.”

Ekaterina stood next to him and watched as the gangsters moved away from her shop.  “They’ve never demanded protection money from me.  Not even once.  I’ve never understood why.”

A slight smile tugged at James’ lips.  “Did you have a sister?”

Ekaterina’s eyes widened as her head turned toward him.  “How could you possibly know that?  I’ve not seen her since I was ten.  I named my daughter after her.”

“You look like her,” he informed her honestly before he opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. 

He sped past a couple of shops before he ducked into an alley and waited.  He’d been shot and smacked around the last couple of days, but he really just wanted a good old-fashioned fight, and he was almost sure the Russian mob would easily provide.

He waited for the leather-clad trio to cross in front of him and he yelled the first thing that came to his mind, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

The three men laughed heartily and moved toward him.  The biggest of them sauntered toward him.  James easily avoided the first punch and then grabbed his wrist and kicked him in the back of one of his knees.  The next guy pulled a gun which James easily twisted out of his hand before kicking the guy in the gut.  The next guy, however caught him in the side, right where he’d been shot a couple of days earlier.  It stunned him enough to allow the third man to kick him in the head and drive him to his knees.  The mobster pulled his gun, but James grabbed the gun with his left hand and easily twisted it out of the other man’s grasp.  He used the momentum to toss the guy into his two friends.  Despite the pain in his side, he stood up and faced the groaning trio.

“You stay away from the flower shop because of the Black Widow, yes?”

The least injured mobster nodded.

James smirked and said, “If your boss is so scared of her, ask him how he feels about the Winter Soldier.”

He smashed the gun against the wall and walked away without favoring his side.  He’d gone a few dozen yards before he felt her presence behind him.

“You’re bleeding.”

“You probably know better than I do that I’ll be fine.”

 “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“You’re lecturing me about taking on the Russian mob?”

“You’re not ready to—”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child,” he cut her off.  “And do you know what you should do?  You should go tell your little sister your still looking out for her.”

Natasha stepped back, startled by his suggestion.  “I couldn’t possibly do that,” she replied quietly.

James shook his head.  “You know, I’ve already lost my left arm, but I would give my right arm just to see my mother one more time.  Steve would give anything to have laid eyes on his father just once.  You claim your family is the reason you did everything.  It’s not really worth a damn if they don’t know how much you love them.”

He didn’t wait for a reply.  He just turned his back and headed for the nearest subway station.

 #####

“Oh, it’s you.  Perfect.  You’re just what I needed…literally and figuratively.”

“Tony, what are you doing?” Pepper asked as he sat her down in a chair and placed a device that looked like a silver coronet attached to an over-abundance of wires on the crown of her head.

“I’m mapping your brain.”

“Isn’t that impossible?”

“Only if you’re IBM.”

Pepper rolled her eyes and said, “Why are you mapping my brain, Tony?”

“I like your brain.  It’s a nice brain, with a nice…covering.  Oooh, that’s interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“Your brain’s reaction to hearing my voice,” he replied, showing her the readings on the glass tablet.

“Oh, so that’s what annoyance looks like.”

“Hmmm,” Tony murmured before kissing her on the lips.  “And that’s what that looks like.”

He turned his head away from her and said, “Oh, and now you’re rolling your eyes.”

“When was the last time you slept?”

“Um…Sunday-ish.”

“It’ll be Wednesday in three hours.”

“See, I still have plenty of time.”

“Tony, you’ve been through a lot in the last couple of days.”

“I’ve been through worse.”

Pepper sighed and sat back in the chair.  Tony cocked his head as he looked at the readings on the screen and said, “You’re not giving up.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not giving up the argument.  You’re just taking moment to evaluate your next move.”

“This is a huge invasion of privacy.  Why are you actually doing this, Tony?”

“So JARVIS can tap into your brainwaves and pilot the suit.  I figured it would be easier than throwing yourself into a wall a couple of times.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow.  “You’re mapping my brain so your AI can read my mind?”

“Well, it sounds kind of creepy when you put it that way.”

“It is creepy,” Bruce interjected as he came into the room.  “But, you know, it’s sort of every nerd’s dream to invent something to read a girl’s mind.”

“That’s just untrue,” Tony argued.

“Says the king of the nerds,” Bruce replied with a grin.  “You ever figure out this Skrull code?”

“Oh, that?  Kind of forgot about it.  Why do you think it’s important anyway?”

“They were studying that staff.  They could have known something useful and I’m sure as hell not going near the thing again,” Bruce told him.

“You couldn’t get to it even if you wanted to.  Li’l D couldn’t either,” Tony explained.  “The security on my special storage unit requires voice, retinal, and DNA recognition for access and SHIELD, shockingly, does not have her DNA profile on record.  Although, Steve might have a sample by now.”

“Ugh, Tony, that’s a disgusting way to put it,” Pepper told him.

“Ten bucks says he hasn’t,” Bruce said with a smirk.

            “And don’t you think you’re putting Darcy in danger by giving her sole access to that staff?” Pepper added.

            Tony’s head whipped between the two of them before he settled first on Bruce.  “Seriously?  Just ten bucks?  And how do you know what we did with the staff?”

            “You mean your little brain scan isn’t telling you how I know these things?”

            Tony glared at her before redirecting his attention back to Bruce.  “You’re really only willing to risk $10?”

            “Fine.  We can bet a million dollars, because I’m going to be right.  They didn’t have sex.”

            “But what am I going to get when it turns out they did have sex?”

            “Oh, dear God,” Pepper groaned.

            “Name your price…as long as it’s not money.”

            Tony pursed his lips and seemed to think about it for a moment before he said, “You come to work for me.”

            Bruce cocked an eyebrow.  “Seriously?”

            “Sure.  It’ll be fun, and the entertainment value will be priceless.”

            “Whatever.  Deal,” Bruce said, shaking Tony’s hand.  “So, how are we going to settle this?”

            “Oh, for God’s sake,” Pepper muttered.  “JARVIS, call Darcy Lewis.”

            “Of course, Ms. Potts.”

            “Look at that,” Tony said, motioning to the readout of the brain scan.  “It’s a beautiful mind.”

            Bruce chuckled while Pepper rolled her eyes and tried not to smile.

            “What do you want, Tony?” Darcy’s voice said over the speakers in the room.

“Hello to you, too, Darcy.  Am I interrupting something?” Tony asked a little too suggestively.

“We’re watching Temple of Doom.  What do you want?”

“You’re mad at me for interrupting that?”

“Is that one of the Star Wars movies?” Pepper quietly asked Bruce, who gravely shook his head.

“You’re shaming me, Pepper,” Tony told her.

“I’m sorry.  They all run together after a while.”

“Why are you calling me?” Darcy asked in a deep, growling tone.

“Did you and Steve hook up yet, or not?”

“How is that your business?”

“I have a million dollars riding on it.  That’s kind of, sort of a lot of money.”

“Really, Stark?” Bruce asked in mild shock.

“Bruce, is that you?”

“Um…”

“Did you guys make a bet?”

“Yeah, so did you have sex, or not?” Tony asked shortly.  “I say yes, Bruce says no.  Who wins?”

“Bruce.  Go to hell, Tony.”

The line clicked off and Tony pouted as he looked over at Bruce.  “I suppose you want cash.”

“With slightly less guilt than I feel right now would be nice,” Bruce said, twisting his face distastefully.

“Well, you two deserve it,” Pepper said.  “And don’t you two dare start making fun of Steve for this.”

“Would we do a thing like that?” Tony asked playfully.

“I think that was mostly directed at you,” Bruce told him.

Pepper shook her head and pulled off Tony’s device, much to his displeasure.  “Hey, that’s not done—”

“Come to bed,” she cut him off.

Tony shrugged and said, “Okay,” before following Pepper toward the door.

“Whipped,” Bruce muttered.

“Hey, you should really try that sometime,” Tony told him before Pepper took his hand and pulled him out of his workshop.

Bruce shook his head and sat down at one of the many workstations.  “JARVIS, you sure you’ve run this report through every linguistic translation program?”

“Yes, Dr. Banner.”

Bruce sighed and thought for a minute before he said, “The Skrull Betty was working on, do you have vocal samples from it?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“What if you ran its vocal sample through phonetic translation in conjunction with the written translation algorithms?”

“An excellent idea, Sir.  Shall I get started?”

“Please do.”

“Have you noticed he’s polite to everyone but Tony?”

Bruce looked up and smiled at Betty as she came into the room.  “Well, an AI is always a reflection of its creator, and Tony isn’t exactly nice either.”

“Hmmm…too true,” Betty said, sitting down next to Bruce.  “I just delivered a testing method and our Skrull friend to Coulson.  I’m going to back to Virginia in the morning.”

Bruce nodded silently.  He bit his lip and said, “You think you might be able to make it back on Friday?”

“Maybe.  Why do you ask?” she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Well, I was thinking that maybe you might want to…go to dinner with me,” Bruce said, surprised at the words that were coming out of his own mouth.

Betty turned her head and smiled at him.  “Wow.  You haven’t done that in a long time.”

“What?”

“Ask me out on a date,” she replied with a smile.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know how long this is going to last.  I might as well enjoy it while I can,” Bruce said with a sardonic smirk.  “And apparently we can go anywhere because I’m a millionaire now.”

Betty raised a dubious eyebrow.  Bruce groaned slightly and explained, “I sort of just won a million dollar bet with Tony…kind of wish I hadn’t though.  It might have hurt Cap and Darcy’s feelings a little.”

“You mean Captain America?  I really want to meet him,” Betty said with a hint of excitement.

“W-why?” Bruce asked, a little concerned.

“Just so I can tell my dad I’ve met Captain America and he hasn’t,” Betty told him.  “And I’d love to have dinner with you on Friday.”

She kissed him on the lips briefly before he watched her walk out the door.  He was still grinning when JARVIS politely interrupted, “Dr. Banner, I believe we may have some preliminary results.”

Bruce took a look at the screen and sighed, “Huh.  I shouldn’t worry about Friday.  We’ll probably all be dead by then.”

 #####

Steve honestly felt a little shame at the fact that a part of him didn’t care that the woman in the movie was about to be sacrificed too…something.  He cared more about the angry look on Darcy’s face after she had hung up on Tony and Bruce.  He hadn’t heard the conversation, but whatever had been said, it didn’t end well.

“Darcy, are you all right?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m fine.  Why do you ask?”

“I wasn’t born yesterday,” Steve answered cautiously.

The tenseness in Darcy’s body seemed to break and she dissolved into a fit of giggles.  “That is so true!”

“It’s not actually that funny.”

“Yes, it is!” Darcy insisted.  “You’re like ninety-four.  That’s about as far away from yesterday as you can get!”

Steve shook his head, but he couldn’t help but smile at her ridiculous condition.  He looked up when the door opened and saw Bucky come in.  His lighthearted mood instantly vanished when he saw the state his best friend was in.

“Hey, are you all right?”

“Sure.  Why would you ask?” Bucky replied nonchalantly as he got a bottle of beer out of the refrigerator.

Darcy paused the movie and turned around on the couch as she said, “It might have something to do with the large bloodstain on your shirt.”

“One of my stitches popped.  It’s fine,” he replied opening and closing the cabinet drawers.  “Is there a bottle opener anywhere?”

“It just twists off,” Darcy told him.

“What were you doing to bust your stitches open?” Steve asked.

“You’re not my mother, Steve,” Bucky replied before disappearing into his room.

“Hmm,” Darcy said after a few moments.  “You should probably take care of that.  I should probably go back.  Jane might accidentally need me.”

“I can call you a cab.”

“I’m perfectly capable of hailing a cab myself.”

“It’s not that, it’s just it’s already dark, and—”

“I’m not afraid of the dark, Steve, and I can hail a cab at the corner, and you will stay here and take care of your friends because bros before hos.”

“Um…what does that mean exactly?”

Darcy smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips.  “It means go take care of your friend.  I’ll be fine.”

Steve sighed slightly as he watched her go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 31: Friends

            Steve didn’t bother to knock before he opened the door to Bucky’s room.  Bucky had changed his shirt and was sitting on the end of the bed staring down at his half-empty beer bottle.  Steve just sat down next to his friend and let the silence hang in the room.

            “I got into it with Natasha,” Bucky began quietly.  “She told me to go to this address in Brighton Beach.  She said the reason she did everything was there.”

            “What was it?” Steve asked quietly.

            “Her sister and her niece,” Bucky replied.  “Have you been to Brighton Beach lately?”

            “I was never really a beach kind of guy, Bucky.  You know that.”

            “It’s true.  You did always sort of look like a bleached skeleton.”

            Steve shoved his friend, which elicited a slight chuckle from Bucky.  Steve felt some of the tension of the room dissipate as Bucky continued, “I don’t know what the place is like in the summer, but right now it’s just very…Russian.  The signs, the shops, the people…it’s all painfully familiar.  And the Russian mob, they collect protection money from the shopkeepers who can’t really afford it, but they leave Natasha’s sister alone.  It’s not hard to figure out why.”

"I could see how she would single-handedly intimidate a crime organization."

"You have no idea, Steve.  You have no idea what she's truly capable of.  If I were a former-KGB Russian crime lord, I would run for the hills too at the first mention of the Black Widow."

"Still doesn't explain how you got so beat up," Steve pointed out.

"Got into it with a few mob enforcers.  Threw my old name around a little."

"You could have gotten yourself killed.  Why did you do it?"

"I don't think you'd understand."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't have any red on your ledger," Bucky replied quietly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Every time you take blood of an innocent, or if you take blood unjustly, your ledger gets further and further into the red," Bucky explained quietly.  "You wouldn't understand because you've never done anything wrong in your whole goddamned life."

A large part of Steve suddenly wanted to knock Bucky's head off his shoulders.  The other large part, however, simply swallowed his anger and said, "You weren't responsible for the things that happened when—”

            “Don’t,” Bucky said quietly, but firmly as he got up and moved to the window.  “Don’t try to tell me that.  All that death is a part of me now…all that red.  I gotta do something to wipe it out.”

            “You don’t have to do it all yourself,” Steve told his friend.

            “No other way to do it,” Bucky said.  “What use is it for us to have these abilities if we don’t use them to protect the innocent?  It’s not just about saving the world, Steve.  It’s about saving the pieces.”

            Steve let his friend’s words sink in.  He slowly stood up and said, “I don’t want to watch you die again, and I sure as hell don’t want to hear about it from someone else.”

            Bucky chuckled slightly.  “You got it, Cap.”

 #####

Darcy, much to her surprise, hailed a cab at the corner of Steve's street and made it all the way back to Manhattan without incident.  She was just a few blocks from the Stark building when the cab crawled to a stand-still due to construction and a wreck.  Due to her desire to not sit in a cab for the rest of her life, she paid the cabbie and started walking.  That was when it suddenly started to rain and she took shelter under the canopy of a darkened storefront.  That, it turned out, was a mistake.  She could feel the extra eyes on her back and it made her skin crawl.  She started moving despite the rain and, suddenly, someone pushed her into an alley.

"Dude, you really don't understand the badness of this idea," she said, punching what felt like a stomach and breaking free.  She only made it a few steps, however, before another man grabbed her by the shoulders and held her back to his chest with an arm around her neck.

            “You all wet, baby,” the man holding her said huskily in her ear while the other stormed toward her.

            Anger and instinct rose up in Darcy and she kicked the oncoming attacker and elbowed the one holding her in his ample gut.  She broke loose long enough to bolt for the relative safety of the sidewalk, and then she heard the recently familiar sound of Spiderman’s webslingers.  She slowly turned back around to find one of her assailants stuck to a wall while the other was hanging from a fire escape by his foot.  Spiderman then suddenly dropped down in front of her.  She could almost feel him smiling under the mask.

            “It’s okay,” he told her.  “You had them on the ropes.”

            She opened her mouth to reply when sirens sounded nearby.  Spiderman suddenly grabbed her by the waist and said, “Going up?”

            “No, no, not this again!” Darcy screeched, closing her eyes and holding onto him for dear life as he swung them across New York’s streets.  Her feet felt solid ground and she opened her eyes to find herself on a roof underneath a covered portico in front of the roof-access door.

            “So, is it your luck, your judgment, or your sense of direction that is just really, really terrible?”

            Darcy irritably grabbed for his mask and pulled it off to reveal Peter Parker’s face.

            “Shit, D!  I think you pulled out some of my hair!”

            “I thought it might be you,” she said angrily, tossing the mask back at him.

            “I knew I shouldn’t have thrown in that crack about your sense of direction,” he replied, rubbing the back of his head.  “But, seriously, what are you doing wandering around New York at night, in the rain, in your pajamas?”

            “They’re not pajamas.  They’re yoga pants.”

            “They’re yoga pants when you’re at yoga.  You’re not at yoga and that tank-top, sweater combination is not doing anything to hide your breasts there.”

            “The fact that you’re Spiderman is not going to keep me from smacking you,” she warned him.  “In fact, it really just makes it an enticement.”

            Peter backed out of her reach and said, “Are you lost again or what?”

            “I was just walking the last couple of blocks to Stark Tower, which was right there before…you did whatever it is you do.”

            Peter grinned.  “It’s still not that far away.  I’ll walk you there to make sure you don’t get eaten or anything.”

            “You do realize you’re not exactly inconspicuous dressed like that?” she asked him.

            “You know, I actually plan for instances like this,” Peter replied, opening the roof access door.

            Darcy cocked an eyebrow as she followed him into the stairwell.  “Why would you possibly plan for something like this?”

            “Well, if I have to run from the cops or something, it would be convenient if Spiderman could disappear in a hurry,” he explained, leading her down a single flight of stairs to a landing where he proceeded to crawl up a wall.

            “Okay, that just looks creepy.”

            “You get used to it,” Peter said, pushing aside a ceiling tile and pulling down a duffel bag.

            “Why are you at odds with the cops, anyway,” she asked as he landed on his feet next to the bag.  “Batman practically has them in his back pocket.”

            “Batman lives with his butler in a mansion on some giant-ass estate.  I live with my aunt in broken-down old two bedroom in Queens,” Peter explained, pulling off his gloves and unzipping the bag.  “Also, he’s fictional.”

            “Still, you seem to have more enemies than friends,” she pointed out.  “Criminals, of course, don’t like you.  The NYPD doesn’t like you.  SHIELD leans toward the not-liking-you side too.  You have to know you’re at your most vulnerable when you’re alone, Peter.”

            “Says the girl wandering around Manhattan by herself in the middle of the night,” Peter replied, pulling down the top of his suit.  “You might want to turn around for this next part.”

            Darcy turned away, rolling her eyes.  Peter chuckled and continued, “Although, I don’t know.  I might not be any comparison to the great Captain America.  Did you two finally do something about all that tension or not?”

            “You realize I’m going to maim you when I turn around?”

            “I’ll take that as a ‘no,’” Peter said, zipping up his jeans.  “I guess you can turn around now.”

            Peter was sitting on the landing, pulling on his shoes, appearing once again as his regular, geeky self.  She did, however, notice the skin on his knuckles was broken and bloodied.

            “What happened to your hands?”

            “I fight bad guys.  It happens,” he replied, not meeting her gaze as he tied his shoes.

            “You wear gloves.  That happens when you hit someone with your bare knuckles.”

            “And how are you an expert?”

            “A dad, an uncle, and a brother,” she answered shortly.  “What happened?”

            “It’s not a big deal,” Peter said quickly, putting on his glasses and grabbing his bag.  “We gotta go back out to the fire escape.  The doorman in this building is scary.”

            “Spiderman is scared of a doorman?” Darcy asked following him back up the stairs.

            “Nope.  Peter Parker is scared of a doorman,” he replied, leading her back across the roof.

            They were halfway down the steps of the fire escape when she said, “Those wounds look pretty serious, so either you repeatedly hit a brick wall because you’re an idiot or you got into it with someone who’s got sturdy bone structure.”

            “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

            “My tenacity is legendary.”

            “I didn’t realize tenacity was a super-power.”

            “Come on, Peter.  What happened?” she asked, following him closely as he wound through New York’s back alleys.

            “I lost my temper,” he replied, not looking back at her.

            “You realize you have to keep going, right?”

            “School had just let out and I was running late because I’d just gotten a lecture about a paper I turned in late in history class, and I was getting my stuff out of my locker, and Kell, Mary Jane’s boyfriend shoved me like he always does, but she—she told him to leave me alone for some reason.  She’s never done that before.”

            Peter stopped and turned to face Darcy, but looked down at the ground.  “What happened next?” she gently prodded.

            “Kell got mad and grabbed her arm so hard, she was wincing in pain.”

            “What did you do?”

            “I hit him,” Peter replied simply.  “He fell down and I just…kept hitting him.  MJ had to pull me off.  She looked at me like I was some sort of monster.  Then I just ran for it before school security and the principal showed up.  I’ve probably been suspended or expelled in absentia.  Hell, there might even be an arrest warrant out for me.  They take this sort of shit seriously these days.”

            “You don’t care about any of that, though, do you?  You just care about the way she looked at you,” Darcy said quietly.

            Peter silently nodded.  “I know it’s stupid,” he said rubbing a tear from his face.

            “It’s not stupid,” she said as she stepped forward and wrapping her arms around his neck.  “It’ll be okay, Peter.”

            Peter hugged her back and smiled as he pulled away slightly.  “You know, this is why they all love you.”

            “Why?  Because I give good hugs?  Pretty sure I’ve only ever hugged Steve and Thor.”

            “No, because you remember what it’s like to have normal problems and to just be…human,” starting again through the dark alley.

            “Gee…thanks,” Darcy replied, nonplussed.

            “It’s a compliment, D,” Peter assured her.  “Come on.  We’re almost there.”

 #####

            “I’m afraid I don’t understand what it is you are trying to say?”

            “Look, Thor, you told us that the Staff of Burin, or whatever, was destroyed and obviously it wasn’t,” Bruce began.

            “Careful what you say next, lest you impugn my family’s honor,” Thor warned him.

            “I’m not saying your grandfather—it was your grandfather, right?—didn’t try to destroy it,” Bruce replied.  “Maybe he threw it into a black hole and it came out on the Skrull homeworld, but now they think it’s theirs.  They passed it around to kings and priests and war admirals over the last dozen centuries.  Best I can tell, they destroyed several Kree planets with the thing, although the last guy accidentally destroyed half the Skrull fleet with it, which is why it’s been on this planet for the last hundred years or so.”

            “I’m confused.  Why did this warrant getting us out of bed?”

            Bruce opened his mouth to reply, but it was Thor that said, “It won’t matter if you’re able to send Loki back to Asgard.  The Skrull will come to retrieve what they perceive as their Staff whether Loki helps them gain control of the Tesseract and this realm, or not.  They are going to come.  And they are going to come right at us.”

 

Chapter 32: And The Truth Will Set You Free

It was nearly midnight when Peter turned the corner onto his street.  A flash of red hair under a streetlight immediately caught his eye.  He inwardly groaned.  She was really the last person he wanted to see at that moment.  He started to turn around and just  go up the alley, but a moment of hesitation gave her enough time to spot him.

“Peter!  Oh my God!  Where have you been?” she asked, running toward him.

“Like you care,” he muttered, brushing past her.

“Peter,” she said, grabbing his arm and effectively stopping him.  “I care.  We all care.  Everyone’s been looking for you.”

"Everyone in this case meaning my aunt Mae?”

No.  Everyone meaning me, Aunt Mae, my mom, Mrs. Hoskins, Mr. Wong from down the street, your friend, Gwen, Harry--okay, mostly it was Harry's driver, but still...the point is, everyone you've basically ever met has been worried sick."

"Why?  I spend plenty of time on my own."

Mary Jane blinked in surprise and cocked an eyebrow.  "You beat a linebacker senseless," she reminded him simply.

"Wasn't that hard.  He didn't have much sense to begin with," Peter replied.  "And shouldn't you be weeping by his bedside or something about now?"

"I'm...not really with Kell anymore," Mary Jane said, defensively folding her arms across her chest and looking down at the ground.

Peter chuckled mirthlessly and said, “You know you’re better than guys like that.  God, why am I even talking to you?  You never listen.  I don’t know why I’ve wasted my time on you,” he hissed at her, turning to walk away.

“Wasted your time?” she called after him angrily.

“Fine!” he yelled back, turning around to face her, dropping his bag on the sidewalk in the process.  “I hit all the clichés.  I’m skinny, awkward guy who’s in love with the redheaded girl next door who barely acknowledges his existence!”

Mary Jane stared at him with her mouth slightly open.  “Peter, I—”

“Don’t.  Just…don’t,” he said, grasping the handle of his bag and turning away.

“No one’s ever said that to me before,” she said, just loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" Peter asked, suddenly too shy to turn around and face her.

"Well, I mean, my mother has told me she loves me, but no one else has.  My dad never even said it before he…left,” she said slowly.  “No one ever said it even on Valentine’s Day.  I always wondered what was wrong with me.  You should have said something sooner.”

Peter turned around slowly and faced her.  “Is it too late?” he asked, barely above a whisper.

She shook her head with a sad sort of smile.  “No, it’s not too late.  It just would have been easier.”

Peter stepped closer to her and cupped her face with both of his hands.  He took a deep breath and said, “I have this friend, and she is basically head-over-heels for this guy she’s with.  It’s understandable.  The dude is practically Captain America.  But he hasn’t told her how he really feels about her, and she’s told him that she loves him.  She won’t come right out and say it, but it’s driving her crazy.”

“How many girl friends do you have?” she asked suddenly.

“That’s not the point,” he said, evading the question entirely.  “The point is: I love you, Mary Jane Watson, and I don’t want to be in the dark about how you feel about me.”

She bit her lip and looked up at him shyly.  “I trust you, Peter, more than I’ve ever trusted anyone, and…I think you might actually need me as much as I need you right now,” she replied.  “Is that okay?”

Peter smiled and nodded.  “Yeah, that’ll work for now,” he said before leaning in and gently pressing his lips to hers.

“Peter Parker!”

“Holy crap,” he muttered, suddenly breaking away at the sound of his aunt’s voice.  “Is she angry.”

“Livid,” Mary Jane replied, smiling slightly.

“Great.  I should’ve stayed in Manhattan.”

 #####

“Darcy?  Darcy, are you awake?”

“No,” Darcy replied, pulling the covers over her head.

“Whatever.  I need to ask you something,” Jane said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“I can’t hear you.  I’m asleep.”

“Why do you think SHIELD has all of HYDRA’s research and surviving weapons related to the Tesseract?”

“I’m sorry…what?” Darcy said, rolling over and sitting up.

“Oh.  Um…first, I should probably tell you that the power source Erik and I were working with was actually the cube the Red Skull used to make weapons during World War II,” Jane explained, almost sheepishly.  “We didn’t tell you because we sort of figure the first thing you would do is run off and—”

“Tell Steve,” Darcy finished for her.

Jane silently nodded.

Darcy laid back down and said, “Well, it’s not the first thing I’m going to do.  And SHIELD probably has all of HYDRA’s research and crap because they want to do exactly what HYDRA did with the tesserae.”

“It’s Tesseract…and HYDRA made weapons.”

“Yeah, I know,” Darcy said, fluffing the pillow underneath her head.

“You think SHIELD wants to make weapons?  But they’re a peacekeeping organization.”

“They’re not the Salvation Army, and the guys with the biggest guns keep the peace,” Darcy replied.  “Why do you think we had an arms race during the Cold War?  I didn’t think you were that naïve, Jane.”

“I’m not being naïve.  I’m just concerned,” she explained.  “We all assumed Erik sort of melted down because of Loki.  What if he did it because of what Fury and SHIELD wanted him to do?”

“Why is this so important now all of the sudden?”

“Bruce cracked the Skrull language code,” Jane explained.  “That staff you found, they think it’s theirs.  They’re going to come for it even if they give up on the Tesseract.”

“So…basically we’re screwed?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Can we talk about something more pleasant?” Darcy asked suddenly.  “Are you pregnant, or not?”

Jane sighed deeply.  “I’m not not pregnant, and how is that more pleasant?”

“You could be the first woman to actually be pregnant with an alien baby.  How awesome is that?”

Jane shook her head and slumped her shoulders.  “I don’t think I’d make a very good parent,” she said quietly.  “I certainly wouldn’t make a very good single parent.”

“Why do you think you’d be a single parent?  Do you still think he’s going to go back to Asgard and just abandon you?”

“He may no have a choice,” Jane replied calmly.  “And I can’t expect him to turn his back on who he is for me.  That’s not fair.”

“Okay, but why do you think you’d be a terrible parent?”

“We all become our parents eventually, don’t we?  I never even knew my mother and my father was…more involved in his work than he was in my life.  It’s not a very good formula.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow.  “Have you looked around?  It’s the only formula around this place.  Almost all of us had at least one parent missing, and we’re okay.”

“You would say that.  Your dad was Father of the Year.”

“Okay, the Rotary club mostly did that because he saved one of their cats from a fire, but the reason my dad was able to be a good father was because Uncle Max was around to drive us to school, or to the doctor, or ballet.”

“You took ballet?”

“Yeah, that dream died when the girls decided to take up permanent residence on my chest,” Darcy replied quickly, pushing off the covers and climbing out of bed, “but that’s not the point.  The point is: there is no formula, and it’s not just biology.  It’s about the surrogates and the community and the ‘village’ or whatever.  And you know what?  I will be there, I swear, and I am pretty amazing.  And we will all be fine.”

She kissed the top of Jane’s head before she started for her bathroom.  “I am now going to take a shower before I make Tony Stark wish he was never born.”

Jane shook her head as Darcy disappeared behind the closed door.  “She’s going to be a scary mother someday.”

##### 

“This is actually more comfortable than I thought it would be,” Pepper said as Tony fiddled with something on the suit.

“I do think of everything,” Tony said as though it were obvious.  “Like the color?”

Pepper did a very poor job of hiding a smile.  The suit was blue instead of red, which was what she expected.  Moreover, it was the exact shade of the dress she’d worn the night she and Tony first danced, which was an evening of which they both still had completely different perceptions.  Her response, however, was, “You have very good taste, Mr. Stark.”

“I thought about making it backless, but then I remembered that might defeat the purpose,” he said, holding out a helmet to her.

She was surprised at the orb in her hands.  Tony’s helmet and mask had sharp, square angles, which mimicked the angles on his face, but Pepper had never been overly fond of it.  This helmet was a perfect oval without a mask and rounded slits for the eyes and mouth.  She touched it gingerly and said, “It’s beautiful.”

 “You like it more than mine?” Tony asked with a hint of jealousy.

“Well, yours sort of looks like something you’d wear to make a ritual, human sacrifice.”

Tony’s mouth opened slightly.  “Have you always thought that?”

“What does your little brain scan tell you?”

He huffed and said, “You’re breaking my heart, Ms. Potts.”

“Don’t think that’s quite possible, Mr. Stark,” she said, tapping the arc reactor in his chest with her metal-covered finger.

“Let’s not test that theory,” Tony replied quickly.  “I got you actual adult supervision for this flight.”

“Oh, really?” Pepper asked dubiously.

“Rhodey, you there?”

“Waiting on you two.  You know, I do that a lot, actually.”

“Oh, stop complaining,” Tony told him as Pepper put on the helmet.  “It might take you a while to get adjusted to the heads up.”

“It’s not too bad,” she said, her voice only slightly altered by the electronics in the helmet.  “But how do I make it do anything.”

“It’s not an ‘it’, Pep, it’s you,” Tony told her.  “All you have to do is think, and it’s a pretty well known fact that you’re much better at that than I am.”

Tony could feel her glaring at him, but a moment later, her repulsors ignited and she was out through he opening in the ceiling he designed for that specific purpose.  “Stay on her six, Rhodey, but don’t get too attached.  It’s my six.”

 “You realize I can still hear you, right?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Tony replied with a grin.  “You’re catching on really well.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Tony chuckled as the door opened and Bruce came in. "Hey, have you done any more research on that staff?"

"No," Tony replied with a hint of annoyance.  "You seem to have the thing figured out all on your own."

"You jealous I figured it out before you did?" Bruce asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Please," Tony replied dubiously.  "You basically verified that the thing is going to kill us all.  What more do we need to know?"

"Frankly, I'd really like to know how to destroy the thing.”

“Well, aren’t you just a killjoy?”

“You were there, you know what it can do.”

“It’s also pretty well protected right now,” Tony said, glancing at his screens.  “Pepper, you sure you should be going that fast?”

“You’re really going to lecture me on that?”

“Lady has a point,” Bruce muttered.

“No one asked you,” Tony replied childishly.

“Hey,” Darcy said, announcing her presence as she came in the room.  “I have a bone to pick with you two.”

“Oh, yeah,” Tony said, walking up to her and casually plucking a hair from her head.  “I need that.”

“Ow!  What is wrong with you?” she yelped, slapping away his hand.

“Jury’s out.  JARVIS, feed the DNA profile from this hair into the special security vault.”

“Of course, Sir.”

“What do you need my DNA for?” Darcy asked, still rubbing her head.

“Well—”

“It’s a surprise,” Tony said, cutting Bruce off.  “You need something, Li’l D?  A vibrator, perhaps?”

Darcy glared daggers as Bruce groaned and said, “Christ, I didn’t need to hear that.”

“Well, she probably needs something as she apparently can’t get anything out of Captain America,” Tony said, still grinning.

“You know what?  My sex life, or lack thereof is really none of your business, and that’s not why I’m here,” Darcy said, crossing her arms across her chest defensively.

“I think I’ll just—”

“Sit,” Darcy ordered, effectively sitting Bruce down in a chair before he had a chance to escape.

“What’s got you all worked up, other than habitually not getting laid?”

“I wouldn’t call it a habit…yet,” she added quietly.  “And still not the point.  The point is, you didn’t tell Steve about the cube and you’re all planning to use it to send Loki back to Asgard.”

“He was leaving to rescue his friend.  Didn't really seem important at the time.”

“Not important? That thing—”

“You don't have to tell me, D. I've seen the films, read the reports, and my dad’s notes.”

“Then why haven't you told him you have it?  He deserves to know.  He deserves to know what you're doing with it.”

“Why? Just because he's Captain-fucking-America?  He can't do anything about it or with it.”

“What's your problem?”

“What's your problem, Darcy?”

“You are lying to him and he trusts you.  What do you think he's going to do?  Throw a tantrum?”

“You mean like you're doing right now?”

“If I'm throwing a tantrum right now it's because of you!”

“It's a really good thing you two didn't grow up together,” Rhodey interrupted.

“Look, you're not going to make me feel bad, Li'l D.  Just because Steve spent a war fighting over the thing doesn't give him ownership.  Cap's little friend was sent to kill my parents over the cube.  It's just as connected to me as it is to him.”

“Oh, I thought you were enlightened enough to be over that?”

“Like you're over shooting that guy and leaving him to bleed to death in the woods?”

Darcy froze like she'd been slapped across the face.  “How did—”

“You talk a lot when you're drunk.”

Bruce looked quickly between them.  Tears were forming in Darcy’s eyes and she was shaking as Tony just stared her down.  Bruce had been in Darcy’s position on more than one occasion.  It was never pleasant.  He stood up and tugged at Tony’s shoulder as he said, “That was unnecessary.”

Tony rolled his eyes and turned away.

“Look, Darcy, you’re right, but it wasn’t just Tony, it was all of us.  We all agreed to keep it from Steve, and we will tell him the truth,” Bruce explained earnestly, trying to catch her eye.

“We will not,” Tony argued petulantly.

“Shut up!” Bruce bellowed in response, making Tony genuinely flinch.  He did not, however turn green, as he turned back to the other person in the room.  “Darcy—”

She shoved his hand away and turned on her heel before practically running out of the room.  Bruce turned around and made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan, “Real nice, Tony.”

“How many times do I have to keep saying this to you people: I’m not nice,” Tony said, nonchalantly moving back toward his bank of computers.

“Hey,” Bruce said, roughly grabbing Tony’s arm, “you can make fun of me and try to ‘make me angry’ to your hearts content.  I’m a big guy.  I can take it.”

“You got the ‘big guy’ part right,” Tony muttered.

“Shut up,” Bruce barked.  “I don’t care who you are, but you don’t throw something like ‘you killed a guy’ in someone’s face.  And we are telling Steve.  You can just deal with it.”

Tony stared as Bruce left in a huff.  He didn’t turn back around until he heard Pepper and Rhodey land behind him.  “Don’t,” he said before moving toward a pile of discarded junk on one side of the room.

Rhodey, who’s mask was already slid back from his face, looked at Pepper, who’s helmet was already in her hands, and said, “Rock, paper, scissors?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Pepper told him.  “As I recall, you have a meeting with the JCS.”

“Don’t know how you keep up with it all, Pep,” Rhodey said before taking off again.

She moved toward Tony before he called out, “Stop.”

The floor opened up and several robotic arms appeared and started removing the suit from her body until she was left in her yoga pants and t-shirt.  When the arms were gone, she stepped away from the panels and took a deep breath.  “Tony—”

“She was annoying me,” he replied quickly.

“Says the most annoying man on earth,” she bit back.  “And it’s not Darcy that was getting to you.  It was Steve.”

“How’s that?  He’s not even here,” Tony pointed out, crossing the room.

“Well, as you put it, he’s Captain-fucking-America,” Pepper said, following him.  “He’s supposed to be above reproach, and he knew about your parents, and he didn’t he didn’t tell you.  You’re his friend, and your father was his friend and he withheld the truth from you, which is just as good as lying, especially if you’re from his generation.”

“I don’t know why I care,” Tony said quietly, fidgeting with some gadget he found on the worktable.  “It’s not like they were good parents.  They never came to my soccer games.”

“You didn’t play soccer.”

“I know, but that’s not the point.”

“I know it’s not the point, Tony.”

He gasped suddenly and covered his face with his hands before running them through his hair.  Pepper saw the unshed tears rimming his eyes and wrapped an arm around his waist while she let her other hand rest on the reactor in his chest.  They stood there holding each other for a long moment before he finally said, “They may have been shitty parents, but they were my shitty parents.”

“That’s right,” Pepper said quietly, smiling.  “And Steve probably didn’t tell you because, well, you’re hard to predict.  For instance, I never thought I’d see you cry over your parents.”

Tony shrugged.  “I must be growing as a person,” he replied.  “But, honestly, though, what good is telling Steve about the Tesseract going to do?  It’s not like he earned a degree in thermonuclear astrophysics while he was doing time as a Capsicle.”

“Tony.”

“Fine.  But I’m doing it on Skype.”

 #####

“So, all that time I was gone…nothing happened.”

Steve just bit his lip and looked down into his chow mein.

“I wasn’t just wandering around New York to mess with Natasha.  I was trying to give you two some time alone.  My God, Steve, you haven’t been an alter boy in what? Eighty years?” Bucky asked, leaning back in his chair at the kitchen table.  “Give it up already.”

“It doesn’t feel like eighty years,” Steve reminded his friend.

“Alright, so it’s only been twelve years, by my reckoning,” Bucky continued, undaunted.  “She was in your bed.  You don’t have asthma anymore.  What is the problem?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said, letting his chopsticks fall into the box as he sat back.  “It’s a combination of bad timing and just…not knowing where to stand.”

“I tell you this because you don’t really have that much experience: it’s a lot easier if you just lay down.”

“That’s not what I—”

“I know what you meant,” Bucky said, cutting off his friend.  “Look, I was your best friend for over twenty years.  I know you think that your responsibilities are more important than anything, but you’ve gotta stop letting the world get in the way.  You love her.  Stop thinking so much and do something about it.”

Steve blinked and stared past his friend out the window.  “I do love her,” he said quietly, as though he was just figuring it out for himself.

Bucky rolled his eyes as he picked up his box of takeout.  “You always were slow on the uptake with some things,” he said as he threw the box in the trash.

“Did you not like it?” Steve asked, turning around in his chair.

Bucky shrugged.  “I prefer actual Chinese food.”

“You spend a lot of time in China?”

“The Soviets and the Chinese may have both been communists, but they didn’t exactly get along,” Bucky explained, crossing his arms as he leaned against the kitchen counter.  “Is China still communist?”

“Technically,” Steve replied.  “Although Darcy says they have shopping malls which completely negates any communist ideals they might have had.”

“Oh,” Bucky replied.

The computer monitor in the living area suddenly started beeping.  “What’s that?” Bucky asked.

“It’s like a phone, except with a screen, and you can see the other person talking,” Steve explained, proud of the meager level of expertise he’d gained over the last few weeks.  He looked at the notice on the screen and said, “It’s Tony calling.”

“I’ll be downstairs,” Bucky quickly replied.

Steve didn’t argue.  He knew it would be pointless.  I nstead, he went to the desk and activated the screen.  Tony’s face instantly appeared, and if Steve hadn’t known better, he would have sworn Tony had been crying.

“Look at you,” Tony began.  “You can answer a cell phone and a video call without assistance.  You are so much more advanced than the rest of your generation, most of whom are dead.”

Steve blinked.  There was a harsh edge to Tony’s words that he didn’t fully recognize.  “Did you need something?” Steve asked uncertainly.

“You knew what really happened to my parents, and you didn’t tell me.  And it’s not like you didn’t have the chance.”

Steve bit his bottom lip and tried to look away.  “I’m sorry, Tony.  I just…didn’t know how you’d react.”

“Yeah, people tell me I’m volatile.  I don’t really listen.  Anyway, I just didn’t expect that sort of subterfuge from you.  Natasha?  Sure.  She’s a spy.  Her secrets have secrets.  But you’re…Captain America.”

“I’m still human,” Steve replied quietly.

Tony sniffed and twisted his mouth the way he did whenever anything was getting too serious.  “Yeah, well, had to get that out of the way because Pepper told me to.”

Steve smiled as he imagined the long-suffering redhead rolling her eyes just off screen.

“Anyway, recognize this?”

Steve’s face fell as images of a blue cub appeared on the screen with Tony’s face.  It was the same cube that had powered all of HYDRA’s weapons.  It was one of the last things he’d seen before he didn’t see anything for seventy years.  He would have known it anywhere.

“Why are you showing this to me?” Steve asked dubiously.

“We have it,” Tony replied shortly.  “We’ve had it for a while, actually.  My dad fished it out of the ocean while he was looking for you, but I guess it just sat around Fury’s office until Selvig came along.  It’s what he was working with before he fell off his rocker.  Banner, Foster, and I have been working with it to build a bridge back to Asgard.  We didn’t tell you because, well, we didn’t want you to get all…you about it.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, I personally figured there would be a large amount of righteous indignation involved.”

“Gee, I wonder why?”

“Nice use of sarcasm.  You’ve obviously been spending too much time with Darcy, although I don’t think you’re making the best use of your time there.”

Steve rolled his eyes.  He really did not need another lecture on his idiocy for NOT sleeping with Darcy.

“And that brings me to the next thing I have to tell you,” Tony said.

“There’s more?” Steve asked, slightly horrified that Tony might be about to tell him they’d been building a death ray.

“Yeah, we didn’t tell Darcy about the Tesseract either because we figured the first thing she would do is run off and tell you.  That’s not what she did, though.  She decided to come in here and read me the riot act, and I may have possibly reminded her that she killed a guy a few days ago,” Tony said with a sheepish expression that looked odd on his face.

Something had twisted inside Steve when Tony told him about the cube, or Tesseract, or whatever they were calling it now.  But it was more akin to annoyance than what he felt at that moment.  He was angry, and not just at Tony.  He was angry at himself for not broaching the topic with Darcy earlier, because he knew from personal experience that taking a life was never an easy thing.  He held onto the edge of the desk to keep from shaking as he said, “Why would you do something like that, Tony?”

“It’s kind of one of those had-to-be-there kind of things, but that’s not really the point,” Tony replied.  “The point is: she left.”

“Left, and went where?”

“Um…not sure.  She left her phone here, so I can’t track her with GPS.  I’ve got JARVIS running facial recognition with the city’s CCTV and Pepper asked Hawkeye to look for her, but so far no luck.  I’m guessing by the look on your face she’s not there with you.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Steve growled, standing up and grabbing his jacket.  “Keep looking for her.”

“Yeah,” Tony replied before abruptly ending the connection.

Steve raced down the stairs and exited into the gym.  He found Bucky with the basket of ball bearings, throwing them at the wall he’d previously pitted.  “I’m working on my aim,” Bucky explained.  “What happened to this wall anyway?”

“It’s a long story,” Steve replied evasively.  Bucky raised an eyebrow, but let it pass as Steve continued, “Look, Tony and Darcy apparently got into an argument, and he brought up the fact that she killed a guy a couple of days ago.”

Bucky’s face was suddenly full of empathy and concern.  “She run off?”

“Yeah.”

“You need help finding her?”

Steve shook his head.  “No, just stay here.  If she shows up, just call me.  You know how to call me, right?”

“The basic concept of a phone call hasn’t changed that much,” Bucky replied with a slight eye roll.

“I know.  I’m sorry,” Steve apologized.

“It’s okay,” Bucky assured him.  “Get out of here.  Go find your girl.”

 

 

 

Chapter 33: Sometimes It's Worth It

Darcy had always tried to be a person that focused on the bright side.  For instance, while Erik focused on the fact that Thor seemed nuts and Jane focused on the fact that he broke things, Darcy focused on the fact that he had a smoking hot body.  It had been hard to find a bright side to her mother dying, but Uncle Max wouldn’t have been around to cover for her quite so much had her mother lived.  She was still looking to the bright side of having killed a man.

She had really wanted to get the hell away from Tony Stark, but she didn’t storm away in a huff.  That had a tendency not to end well.  She put a jacket on over her street-worthy clothes, left her phone on her bed and took the battery out of it for good measure and stuffed her handheld taser in her pocket along with her wallet.

She took the subway, at which she was becoming fairly proficient, and got off at Central Park West near 72^nd St. because the death place of John Lennon seemed slightly less depressing than her present state of mind.  She crossed Strawberry Fields and found a bench overlooking the lake.  She settled herself down and, as she stared at the water, attempted to reconcile what she had done with everything she believe and everything she knew from life and a semester as a philosophy major.

 #####

Steve wondered if it made him a bad boyfriend that he had very little idea where to look for Darcy. He then suddenly realized that he was someone’s boyfriend, which he supposed wasn’t the most unexpected thing that had ever happened to him, but it was at least in the top five.  He checked out Café Grumpy in the Village and asked around at some of the bookstores she’d talked about visiting.  Then he remembered Darcy talking about a place in Central Park dedicated to some musician that’d been shot.  Steve thought it would have been a depressing sort of place, but Darcy had insisted it was beautiful there.

“Hey, Cap, JARVIS said he spotted Li’l D on the twelve train headed to Central Park, but he lost her not long after that.  She’s apparently been hanging around us too much,” Hawkeye said through the device in Steve’s ear.

“What about Strawberry Fields?  Where is that exactly?” Steve replied.

“Uh, 72^nd and Central Park West.  I’m actually not far from there.  I’ll check it out.”

“Thanks,” Steve said before heading to the nearest subway station. 

He’d always had a good visual memory, which he’d applied to art before the war and into memorizing maps after he joined the army.  The new subway system, while certainly more complicated, was not all the difficult for him to memorize.  The difficulty came in remembering how to use the transit card he’d been issued and resisting the urge to push inconsiderate men in suits out of the way.  The cars themselves were just as crowded as ever, although little old ladies seemed a bit more handsy than he remembered.  He was more than happy when he arrived at the station and could breathe relatively fresh air.  He followed the path into the park and didn’t flinch when Hawkeye appeared out of nowhere and fell into step with him.

“She’s down by the lake.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was fine,” Hawkeye reported in a military manner.  “She’s not, though.  She’s just sitting there.  Li’l D doesn’t just sit.”

“I know,” Steve replied solemnly.  “I should’ve—”

“Don’t do that to yourself, Cap—” Hawkeye cut him off.  “We’re guys.  We’re not supposed to know what the hell to do in these situations.”

Steve stopped and smiled gratefully at the other man.  Hawkeye had the weary look of a man who hadn’t done a lot of sleeping, but he was still managing a smile.  “Are you doing all right?” Steve asked him.

“I’m fine.  Ankle’s good.  It was mostly just bruised,” Hawkeye answered, not really meeting Steve’s gaze.

“I wasn’t talking about your ankle.”

“I know you weren’t,” Hawkeye replied.  “I’ve had worse days…and months, so I think I’ll be fine.  She’s just down that way on a bench.  Pretty sure she has her taser on her, so be careful if you choose to sneak up on her.”

Steve smirked as he continued down the path.  He spotted her fairly easily.  She was one of the few people sitting on a bench while everyone else seemed to be playing on the open field or feeding the ducks by the lake.  He sat down next to her and she didn’t react although he saw her eyes briefly flick in his direction, so she knew he was there.  He then had the horrifying realization that he had no idea what to say to her, so he just stretch out his hand and took hers in his.  After a few moments, her grip on his hand tightened as tears silently made their way down her cheeks.  She turned to him and rested her head on his chest and let go of his hand to wrap her arms around his neck.  He pulled her close and she pulled her legs up onto the bench so she was almost completely his lap.  He held her close and let her sob into his shirt.

He gently stroke her hair until she stilled in his arms.  He held her close and said, “I got to forty-three before I stopped counting.”

She didn’t have to ask what he was talking about.  “Why did you stop counting?”

“There was a sergeant in my unit called Dugan,” he began slowly.  “He wasn’t always wiser, but he was older and more experienced than the rest of us.  He said to me once that you can’t hold onto the idea that all life is precious when you’re a soldier.”

“That’s kind of bleak,” Darcy said morosely as she frowned into his chest.

“That’s not all he said,” Steve assured her.  “He told me that we were fighting to protect something more precious than a single life and that that was enough to black out any ledger I was keeping.”

Darcy shook her head slightly.  “I’m not a soldier.”

“I know,” Steve replied quietly.  “But you were defending yourself, and…maybe this is the wrong way to think, but your life is more precious than that of some random asshole who was going to hurt you.”

Darcy lifted her head enough to look him in the eye.  “Do you really mean that?”

“I’d shoot the guy in the head myself because…because I love you,” Steve said, releasing a breath as the last words left his mouth.

Darcy smiled up at him.  “You mean that?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t have said it otherwise,” Steve replied.

She grabbed his collar and pulled him into a long kiss.  When they couldn’t breathe anymore, they broke apart and Steve rested his lips on her forehead.  Darcy smiled as she slid her hand beneath the collar of his shirt.  “I said it first,” she whispered in his ear.

“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?”

“Nope,” she promised with a smile.

##### 

“You’re extremely proficient at sneaking out of the house for one of the good kids.”

“I’m a complicated guy,” Peter said, tightening his grip on her hand as they walked through Central Park.  He had become a genuine expert at sneaking out since the accidental acquisition of his powers.

“Probably more complicated than those people,” Mary Jane said, motioning to a couple making out on a park bench.

Peter cocked his head.  The couple making out on the bench was oddly familiar.  He was pretty sure it was Cap and Darcy.  “I think I know those people.”

“How can you tell?  Their faces are kind of attached,” Mary Jane said with a sly smile.

“Never pegged you for one to be against public displays of affection,” Peter said, grinning.

"I don't know.  I've just been witness to so many displays of utter ridiculousness over the last few...years that I'm just kind of over it."

"You think you've seen displays of utter ridiculousness?" he asked, letting go of her hand and walking backward down the path.

"Oh my God, Peter, what are you going to do?  Peter!" she called after him as he wildly ran up a hill toward a tree.

"I'm going to climb this tree to show you what a real display of utter ridiculousness is," he replied, starting to scale the trunk.

"Peter you're going to hurt yourself," she called up to him as she looked around.  "That kissing couple you know is starting to stare."

"That's probably because you're screaming my name at the top of your lungs like a crazy person," Peter said, stepping out onto a relatively low branch.

"Says the grown man climbing a tree," Mary Jane replied, her arms folded across her chest and her hip cocked out as she shook her head in derision.

"Hey, I'm only eighteen.  By most people's estimations, I'm still a kid," he replied, crooking his legs over the branch and falling backward, hanging upside-down from the branch.  "See: utterly ridiculous."

Mary Jane's posture softened as she giggled.  Peter grinned and said, "Made you smile."

"You're crazy...in the best possible way...I think," she told him.

"That was like two-thirds of a compliment."

"All the blood's going to rush to your head and give you an aneurism," she warned him.

"That's a myth," he assured her.  "Although I am probably going to have a wicked headache."

"Well, maybe I can make the blood rush somewhere else," she said before placing her hands on either side of his head and placing her lips against his.

Peter was absolutely sure nothing quite so amazing had ever happened to him.  He found that he was completely comfortable in such awkward position, despite not having the faintest idea what to do with his hands.  He even parted his lips and let her tongue stroke against his own.  That was when gravity placed it's unrelenting hold on him until is was just black behind his eyes.

 #####

Darcy frankly relished the feel of Steve's hands on her skin.  She was fairly certain he hadn’t intended to let his hands find their way under her shirt since he wasn’t going much further than the small of her back and the curve of her waist, but he wasn’t exactly doing anything to rectify the situation either.  Somewhere, in the far recesses of her mind, she wondered how far they could take this thing in the middle of Central Park without getting arrested.

Her lips stopped moving at the sound of Peter's name, mostly out of disbelief.  She turned her head and raised an eyebrow when she saw Peter Parker running toward a tree followed by a redheaded girl.  "You have got to be kidding me," she muttered, shaking her head at Peter's behavior.

"Do you know them?" Steve asked slowly, his hands still on her back and hip.

"I know him," Darcy replied off-handedly.

"How, exactly, do you know him?" Steve asked, suspiciously eyeing the young man climbing the tree.

Darcy turned around and grinned at him slyly.  "I think you've got a little green in your eye there, Cap," she told him, causing him to blush.  "No worries.  He's like a sandy-haired C.K. and that would be icky."

She punctuated her words with a kiss to his cheek.  He smiled at her before he looked over her shoulder at the young man hanging upside-down from a tree limb.  Darcy followed his gaze and shook her head.  "I think he may be trying too hard," she said just before the redhead placed her lips against Peter's.

Steve cocked an eyebrow.  "That looks dangerous."

"Dangerous?  Really?  Oh my God!" Darcy yelled as Peter dropped out of the tree.

“See what I mean?” Steve muttered, as he quickly stood up and went over to the girl standing over the still body of the young man.

“Oh my God!  Is he going to be okay?  I did not think that would happen,” the redheaded girl said in a rush.

“Don’t know,” Steve answered as he looked Peter over.  Other than the fact he wasn’t moving the kid looked perfectly fine.  He was still breathing and there wasn’t a wound or blood seeping out the back of his head.

“Kid, you still in there?  You okay?”

Peter’s eyes shot open and he shivered at what was leaning over him.  “Jesus, Cap, you are not what I was expecting,” he said, breathing heavily.

“Pete, are you okay?” Mary Jane asked, looking down at him.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he replied as Steve pulled him to his feet.  “I wish I knew why there were two of you, though.”

Mary Jane rolled her eyes as Steve cocked an eyebrow at the young man and said, “What did you call me?”

“Uh…”

“Steve,” Darcy said as she suddenly appeared, “this is Peter.  Peter, Steve.”

Steve raised an eyebrow at Darcy.  Her smile was far too strained to be genuine, but he opted to just shake the young man’s hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too,” Peter replied, looking anywhere but Steve’s face.

Darcy rolled her eyes before looked at the other girl and said, “You must be Mary Jane.”

“I must,” Mary Jane replied.  “And you are?”

“Darcy.  This is Darcy,” Peter quickly interjected.

Mary Jane looked between Steve and Darcy as she shook Darcy’s hand and said, “And he’s…so that must make you…I totally know who you are now.”

“Okay,” Darcy replied slowly, withdrawing her hand from Mary Jane’s grasp.

An awkward silence ensued until Peter opened his mouth and said, "Well, Darcy, it's nice to see you got fully clothed today."

His eyes widened as both Steve and Mary Jane snapped their heads toward him and said, "What?"

Darcy glared at him and said, "How do you live with your foot in your mouth all the time?"

"It's hard to eat sometimes, but other than that, you just get used to it," Peter replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"What is he talking about, Darcy?" Steve asked, looking sternly at Darcy.

"This is so easy to explain," she began.  "I just ran into Peter when I was on my way home last night, and you know, I had sort of spent all day in my pajamas."

"Ha! You admit they were pajamas!"

"Will you shut up?"

"Sorry."

"I thought you were going to catch a cab,” Steve said to Darcy.

Darcy glared at him.  “Actually, Dad, I did take a cab all the way back to Manhattan.”

Steve’s fists clenched at her little jab at his age.  “I just—”

“Hey!” Mary Jane interrupted.  “Can I just point out that two minutes ago, you two had your tongues down each other’s throats?  You know what, it doesn’t really matter what happened last night because the end result is that Darcy here and she’s fine.  What do you really have to get mad over?”

Steve and Darcy both looked down at the ground.  “I guess it’s nothing,” he replied.

“It’s not nothing,” Darcy replied.  “I know you just worry because you care and you’re Ca—you.”

She caught the dubious look on Peter’s face at her near slip-up, but Steve just smiled and took her hand in his.  “I understand.”

“How’d you do that?” Peter whispered to Mary Jane.

“My girlfriends love drama,” she replied.  “I’ve talked couples much less in love out of worse fights.”

“You’re like a ninja,” Peter said, smiling at her.

Darcy rolled her eyes as she wrapped an arm around Steve’s waist.  “Shouldn’t you be grounded or something?” she asked Peter.

“Oh, I am, but it’s Queens, not Rikers.”

Darcy rolled her eyes while Mary Jane shook her head.  Steve just gave him a quizzical look.  Before the silence had a chance to become awkward once more, Mary Jane said, “I was thinking we could maybe go to Hannigan’s in Williamsburg.  It’s supposed to be a fusion of a bar, a coffee house, and a club.  Would you guys want to come?”

Darcy looked up at him and Steve just shrugged.  “Why not?”

 #####

Hannigan’s felt more like a throwback to the bars and pubs from the neighborhood when he was young.  The place was, however, significantly larger than any of those old places.  It was built into an old warehouse and therefore had a fairly significant sprawl.  There were two levels with the modest-sized dance floor situated beneath the off-center opening in the floor of the second level.  The DJ’s booth and a bar that specialized in cocktails was situated on the upper level with a multitude of mismatched highboy chairs and tables.  It was obvious that renovations and remodels had been attempted several times over the years as the ceiling was dropped and vaulted in places.  Those modifications, however, along with the mismatched tables and chairs and overstuffed couches were what gave the actually cavernous space a cozy feel.  A large, u-shaped, polished wood bar took up a good portion of the lower level along with red leather covered booths and bookshelves full of worn volumes.  The bar tenders and wait-staff ranged from their twenties to forties and it was seemingly some sort of requirement that they all sport at least one colorful and intricate tattoo.

“Wow,” Darcy said, as they slid into a booth with a low, stained-glass light fixture.  “This place is kind of amazing.”

“It’s big and little at the same time,” Steve said, looking around at the collection of old photographs and advertisements hung all over the exposed wood walls.

“How did you hear about this place?” Peter asked Mary Jane.

“Some kids in the drama club come up here a lot,” she replied.  “They have poetry readings and tea tastings every Thursday.”

“Sounds like an interesting place,” Steve said, still looking around.

“Oh my God, you would have been a hipster if you were, you know, younger,” Darcy said, looking at Steve with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s a hipster?”

Mary Jane raised an eyebrow.  “You look maybe twenty-five.  How old are you?”

“Um…”

“Would you guys like something to drink?” the waitress with brilliantly purple hair asked as she came up to the table.

“I’ll have a beer,” Peter said quickly, glad to not have to answer Mary Jane’s question.

“Only if it’s of the root variety kid,” the waitress replied.  “We do actually have a great root beer on tap.”

“Sure, I’ll have that,” Peter muttered, shrinking into the booth and turning red at the ears.

“And you?”

“I’ll have a chai tea latte,” Mary Jane replied, biting her lip.

“I guess I’ll do Irish coffee without the Irish part,” Darcy replied.

“You sure?  I’d believe your ID if it said you were twenty-one.”

“Oh, it does, but I’m swearing off alcohol for a while,” Darcy replied, smiling.

The waitress turned to Steve who said, “I’ll have whatever you’ve got on tap.”

“We’ve got over a dozen beers on tap, but you look Irish, so we’ll go with a Guinness.  Be right back.”

Steve looked across at Peter and Mary Jane and smirked.  “They seem pretty responsible here,” he said.

Peter sighed.  “Responsibility sucks sometimes,” he muttered.

Darcy shook her head and pulled the cell phone out of Steve’s pocket.  “What are you doing?” Steve asked her.

“I’m going to gather a group of people who know little to nothing about responsibility,” she replied, grinning as her thumbs flew across the screen of Steve’s phone.  

 

 

 

Chapter 34: The Morning After

The Sniper, The Soldier, and the Spoiled Brat

“Ugh…” Hawkeye groaned as he came too in a dimly lit room.  “Oh, Christ.”

His throat felt like sand paper and the light through the slits in his eyes seemed to send shooting pains through his head.  He slowly sat up and discovered he was in a ten-by-ten room with a metal door and no window.  He was on a top bunk; which he half jumped, half fell out of.  He found James Barnes on the lower bunk.  He shook the other man’s arm and said, “Barnes.  Yo, Barnes.”

He accidentally-on-purpose fell to the floor as James swung at him with his left.  “Jesus, Sarge, you could kill somebody with that thing!”

“Sorry,” James groaned, sitting up on his elbows.  “Are we in jail?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe,” Hawkeye replied, looking around their cell finding another body in the bunk across the room.  “Oh, shit.”

“What was that kid’s name?” James asked, rubbing his eyes.

“That’s Harry Osborne,” Hawkeye sighed, leaning back against the bunk.  “Do you have any idea what we did to wind up in jail with the heir to one of the largest fortunes in the world?”

“No idea.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

 #####

The Sweethearts

Betty had to cover her mouth and take several deep breaths to stop from laughing.  “What did you do?”

“Well, I had to ask for some pants.  It’s not like I had any other choice.  That goat was getting a little too friendly,” he replied, barely containing his own laughter.

“You crazy kids want some breakfast?” an older waitress asked, refilling their coffee cups.

“Breakfast?  What time is it?” Bruce asked.

“This is what you get for not wearing a watch anymore,” Betty said, sipping her coffee.

“It was getting my nerves,” Bruce replied quietly.  “There’s too much excitement in my life.”

“It’s 7:30, in case you’re actually interested,” the waitress told him.  “So, is that a yes or no on breakfast?”

“Sure, why not?  What have you got?” Bruce asked her.

“Well, the Hannigan’s house specialty is green eggs and ham.”

Betty burst out laughing, which earned her a raised eyebrow from the waitress.  Bruce chuckled and said, “Yeah, we’ll have two of those.”

##### 

The Geeks with the Redheads

Peter opened his eyes and looked around, not immediately remembering where he was.  Then he remembered that he was full of adrenaline and endorphins when Tony Stark offered to give him and Mary Jane a place to stay for the evening.  He had to give it to Tony Stark; he didn’t skimp as a host.  Their view of New York was amazing.  His aunt was going to murder him if she ever saw him again.  But Mary Jane was asleep on his chest, so he was thinking his imminent death might be worth it.

He slipped out of bed and Mary Jane immediately hugged his pillow to her chest.  He smiled and looked around, not finding his shoes or socks anywhere.  He padded out of the room, careful to close the door without waking MJ.  He padded down the hall and quickly realized that the Stark penthouse was roughly the size of his neighborhood back in Queens.

“Ya lost, kid?”

Peter whipped around just in time to see Tony Stark disappearing into a large room.  He quickly followed and his mouth fell open as he walked into Tony’s workshop.  “Whoa,” he breathed, looking around at the robots and the holographic displays and the half-finished suits.

“Oh.  This must be some sort of wet dream for you, huh kid?” Tony asked, playing with a schematic in front of him.

“Not wet, exactly.  Maybe a little damp though,” Peter replied, smirking as he bent over to more closely examine Dum-E.  He didn’t see Tony throw the wrench and he wasn’t aware of it until the nanoseconds before he caught the heavy tool in his hand.  “What the hell, man?  You could have killed me!”

“No, I couldn’t have,” Tony corrected him.  “Thor could have thrown it at you and you would have caught it or avoided it every single time.  It’s one of your abilities.”

Dum-E took the wrench from Peter as he angrily crossed to room to stand across the table from Tony.  “I don’t remember telling you anything like that.”

“You didn’t.  I’m just not stupid.  I’m the opposite of stupid, in fact,” Tony replied.

“What do you want from me?”

Tony shook his head.  “I don’t want anything from you, Peter, or from Spiderman, actually,” he explained.  “On the other hand, what I would like is to offer you a job.”

Peter’s mouth opened slightly.  “Huh?”

##### 

The Lovers

Steve hadn’t slept well since he woke up from his involuntary hibernation.  He didn’t need much sleep due to the effects of the serum and the nightmares had really put him off the activity for a while.  Although it may have also been due to the fact that he just hadn’t been properly spent since they broke him out of the ice.  Certainly, he’d been in fights and physical training and had found himself emotionally drained, but he hadn’t expended his considerable stamina on one activity until he made love to Darcy.

The first time there was a sense of desperation.  They had waited long enough and it was well past time for the two of them to attempt to break the laws of physics and become one object.  That desperation made the experience go by far too quickly, though not unsatisfactorily, and Steve took his time in the second round.  He wanted to know every inch of Darcy’s body and he explored it with his hands and his lips and his tongue.  He smiled with every moan of pleasure from deep within her throat and buried himself within her as her nails dug into the flesh of his shoulders.  The third time he just remembered the laughter and the joy before they fell asleep tangled in one another’s limbs.

Light filtered in through the curtains and landed diagonally across them.  Darcy was still mostly curled around him with her head resting on his chest.  Her lips were red and swollen and Steve felt as though his probably looked the same.  Though her eyes were closed, he was fairly sure she wasn’t asleep as she was rhythmically rubbing her leg across him, causing him to groan in frustration.  He gently tugged on her hair, tilting her head enough to see the grin on her face.

“God, you’re going to be the death of me,” he said between kisses as she crawled on top of him.

“Oh, yes.  This was always my plan: ride Captain America to death.”

Steve smirked as pushed some of her hair back over her shoulders.  “And here we were thinking you were the only one without an agenda.”

“Oh, please.  Everyone has an agenda, or a plan,” she told before placing kisses on his collarbone and neck.  “Mine currently involves lots of amazing sex with an American icon and waking up in the morning with Steve Rogers.”

She was looking him in the eye as she said his name, and despite her teasing tone and their generally playful position, he could tell she had never been more sincere about anything in her life.  He slid his fingers into the dark curls behind her ear and said, “I always wanted to wake up next to the woman I loved.  It’s a good thing I love you.”

 #####

The Scientist and Her God

It had really just been an offhand remark she made while Hawkeye was teaching Thor how to dance.  She hadn’t even been sure Natasha was listening, but apparently she had been.  There was no other explanation as to how a pregnancy test specifically designed to detect the early signs appeared on the counter in her bathroom.

Jane really wanted to call Darcy, so the other woman could metaphorically hold her hand while she waited.  But Jane had seen them dancing, and she had long memorized the physical signs of arousal.  There was no way Darcy was going to be available to talk for another few hours at least.  She could have woken Thor and told him everything.  He had only been slightly more than tipsy.  He would certainly be sober enough to listen after a couple of hours of sleep, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that either.  For all her talk of venturing into unexplored territory as a scientist, in her real life, Jane was something of a coward.

After the allotted time, she looked down at the pregnancy test.  A pink plus sign stared back.   

Chapter 35: The Assembly Point

Mary Jane woke up as a body plopped down on the mattress next to her. She opened her eyes and saw Peter laying flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "You okay?" she asked. "How much did you drink last night?"

He shrugged. "Not a lot. I don't feel hung over or anything. You?"

"No. I kept snacking and drinking Tony's water, so I guess I'm fine. Oh my God, I can't believe I just called Tony Stark by his first name like I know him or something," she said, propping herself up on her elbow.

"Well, you do know him," Peter reminded her "And he just offered your boyfriend a job."

"What?" MJ asked sitting up. "What kind of a job? Does it have benefits?"

"You mean like a dental plan?" Peter asked, looking up at her.

"I mean, what does he actually expect from you?" MJ asked. "I mean, is he going to pay you next to nothing, work you all hours of the night, and then steal all of your amazing ideas?"

Peter cocked an eyebrow at her. "My ideas aren't really that amazing."

"Yes, they are," she protested. "I heard you guys talking last night. I understood like none of it, but it all sounded really smart."

"You know what sounded smart to me? When you started quoting Shakespeare," he replied, smiling.

"Oh, God," she groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I can't believe I did that."

"Yeah, well, I can't believe you told Megan Jackson she only got ahead in the world because she spends all her time on her knees with her mouth open," Peter replied slyly.

"She deserved it," MJ replied, laying back down next to him. "She was all up in Tony's business and she made fun of you."

"Everyone makes fun of me, MJ."

"Well, I've decided they shouldn't," she replied quickly. "And you never answered my question. What's Tony expecting from you, and what's he willing to give you in return?"

"$50,000 a year for whatever hours I want to or can work during the school year. I get medical benefits, 401K, all that stuff. And my name goes on any discovery or technology to which I contribute."

"That's not bad considering you're not out of high school yet," MJ said proudly.

"That's not all. He offered to either pay for an apartment close to Columbia, or for a dorm on campus if I was looking for the 'full college experience.'"

"And none of that would come out of your pay?"

"Nope."

"So, you'd have plenty of extra money. You could help your aunt Mae with the bills."

Peter quirked an eyebrow at her. "How'd you know that's what I was thinking?"

"I have eyes. I can see how much you care about what she's going through," MJ explained. "So, what did you tell him?"

"I said I'd have to think about it."

"What's to think about?" she asked quickly. "This is like your dream job for when you get out of college, and he's offering it to you before you even go in."

"But there's my internship with Dr. Connors, which I'd have to give up, and then there's Harry…"

"Harry? What on earth does he have to do with it?"

"Well, he always said he'd get me a job at Oscorp so he wouldn't have to be alone up there," Peter explained. "Despite all the money and everything, Harry's not exactly Mr. Popularity."

"He looked pretty chummy with that blonde girl last night. What was her name?"

"Natalie? No, Natalia. I think she said she was Russian."

"Well, if he can get Russians to like him, I'm pretty sure he'll survive at his own father's company."

"You've never met Norman Osborne," Peter told her solemnly.

"Pete, look at me," she said, tilting his face so his eyes were meeting hers. "This is a huge, huge opportunity for you. And in the mean time it's actually going to be good for your family, and there's nothing you care about more than the people you love."

"I still should probably talk to Aunt Mae about it, which is, ironically going to require me to go home and talk to my Aunt Mae."

"You're gonna get really murdered this time."

"Will you hold my hand?"

"Every time."

---

"Okay, so, jail cell. How did we get in here?" James asked, sitting on the edge of the cot.

"I think the better question is how the hell we wound up in a jail cell with him," Hawkeye said, motioning to Harry, who was leaning against the rail of his bunk half awake.

"What's so bad about me?" Harry asked groggily.

"I don't know, but I'm sure whatever we're doing in here is his fault."

Harry shrugged. "That's probably true. I don't suppose you happen to remember what happened to Nat, do you?"

James and Hawkeye gave one another perplexed looks. "Who are you talking about?" Hawkeye asked him.

"Who do you think I'm talking about?"

"Red head."

"Blue eyes."

"Curves in all the right places."

"Could kill you with her little finger."

Harry's eyes darted between the two men as they described a woman he barely recognized. "That's the girl you two were in a thing with," he informed them.

"What do you mean 'in a thing'?" James asked, standing up and folding his arms across his chest.

"Um…you," Harry began, pointing at Hawkeye, "started yelling at her over something, and she looked like she was about to throw you over the second floor railing, and this dude here stopped her, and then you guys became BFFs, or something."

James cocked an eyebrow at him. "What's a BFF?"

"Hopefully, you'll never hear the term again, so don't worry about it," Hawkeye replied quickly. "Did any of that ring any bells for you?"

"Well, I told you about her…it's her niece! You're talking about Natalia, her niece," James said, looking at Harry.

"Duh."

At James' bemused expression, Hawkeye said, "That means yes. I remember you told me that girl was her niece and I got mad because she never told me she had any family left."

Harry leaned back against the wall and said, "Redheads are scary. Parker's an idiot."

"Who's-?"

"That's not important right now," Hawkeye interrupted. "What is important is what the hell you were doing with Natasha's niece that landed us in here."

"Why does it have to be my fault?" Harry whined. "You two were the ones who were totally wasted, although…now that I think about it, you kind of got wasted in really short period of time."

James and Bucky turned and looked at one another. "You think we were drugged?" James asked.

"I've been blackout drunk before, but I've never had gaps in my memory like this."

"Who would've done it, though?"

"Um, suggestion?" Harry said, raising his hand. "It's probably the same people that put us in here…or Tony Stark."

"Why would Tony Stark do something like drug us?" James asked.

"Cause he would think it was funny, and he has to have something to fill his time since he gave up drinking," Harry explained with something of a smirk. "He did call that one nerdy guy's ex just to get him to do Thriller."

"Which nerdy guy are you talking about? The younger one, or the older one?" James asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "The younger one is my friend, Peter Parker, whom I would have just called Peter, or Parker."

"Awww," Hawkeye whined. "That means I can't remember Banner doing Thriller. Hopefully someone put it on YouTube."

"You might be glad you can't remember," Harry warned them before a loud commotion down the hall cut him off.

"Oh, shit," James said after listening to the loud voices for just a moment.

"They're Russian," Hawkeye said.

"Listen to the accents. They're Russian-American," James groaned.

"What'd you do to the Russian Mob, Sarge? When the hell did I start calling you Sarge?" Hawkeye asked, looking at the ceiling.

Three men suddenly burst into the room shouting orders in Russian and pulling the three others out of the cell.

"My Russian's not actually that good. What the hell is going on?" Hawkeye asked James as the Russians shoved them down the hall.

"We're going to see the boss."

"Well…shit."

"How's your hand-to-hand, Barton?"

"Oh, passable," Hawkeye replied modestly.

A heavy body suddenly flew across the corridor and landed with a thud. The distraction was a good enough opening for James and Hawkeye to disarm and disable the three guards around them.

"Well, that was lucky," Harry said, standing up from the position he'd taken up.

"Not luck," Natasha said, marching up the hallway bearing seemingly no ill from the night before. "You good?"

"Memory of last night's a little hazy, but other than a little dehydration, we're fine," James answered in a business-like tone as he handed Hawkeye an extra handgun.

"Talia is still here somewhere. We need to find her," she said, grabbing Harry by the arm.

"Oh, is this all his fault? Cause that doesn't surprise me at all," Hawkeye said.

"That's just rude," Harry said, glancing back at Hawkeye. "And I'm really, really sorry I apparently got into it with the heir to the Russian mob."

"Shut up," Natasha said firmly. "Let's go."

The moved swiftly down the corridor, but an eerie calm had settled over the place. The calm didn't escape the noticed of the three very well trained operatives in the building.

"Something's wrong," James said, just as seemingly every large Russian in Brighton Beach appeared around them looking angry.

"Really wish I had my bow right now," Hawkeye muttered.

A well-coifed young man in too-tight jeans and a leather jacket appeared dragging behind him a thin blonde; her champagne-colored dress ripped and dirty, one over her shoes broken, and her mascara hopelessly smeared. The young man pushed her hard and Natasha caught her bedraggled niece in her arms. James, sensing something strange, lowered his weapon and stepped out in front of the women. The young man initially stuck his chest out confrontationally, but backed off after only a few moments.

"Very good, Sasha," a voice said from the shadows. "One should not seek battle with the Winter Soldier."

An older gentleman with graying hair and a neat suit emerged from the shadows. He sneered as he said, "I did not believe my men when they described you to me."

"I don't see why," James replied coolly. "You haven't changed at all, Alexei."

The older man laughed mirthlessly. "You saved my life once, Soldier. And now your life is in my hands. I shall repay my too long-held debt and let you and your friends leave my care."

James was suddenly glad for the modifications Zola and the Russians had performed on him over the years because it gave him the ability to put old Alexei in a choke hold with his left arm and point his gun at young Sasha with his right before anyone else even had a chance to move.

"You listen to me," James hissed in the old man's ear, "never, not for one moment, has my life been in your hands. I saved your life once and you will owe me that debt for the rest of it. Understand?"

Alexei managed to croak out a response and a nod while everyone else in the room stared.

James looked over at Hawkeye and said, "Go. Get moving."

Hawkeye just nodded as he nudged Natasha toward the door and pulled Harry along. When James heard them exit the door he let go of the old man, who immediately turned on him.

"You're a fool. What stops me from killing you now?" Alexei demanded.

"Nothing," James replied, glancing around the room. Every one of the thugs, that surrounded them, including Sasha, had their hands raised or away from their sides. "And everything."

He turned to leave and Alexei called after him, "You've gone soft, Soldier."

James aims his gun back and puts a bullet into Sasha's knee. "No, I haven't."

He got into the passenger seat of the black SUV Natasha had commandeered. He could feel all of them staring at him. They went a few yards before Hawkeye said, "What was that shot we heard, Sarge?"

"Nothing," James replied stoically.

---

Steve had had a grand total of two sexual encounters in his life before Darcy. The first one he never really got to 'finish' since he, at a certain point, stopped breathing. The second one he stopped before he really even got started because he hadn't even known the poor girl's name. He still didn't know her name, although he imagined she had grandchildren running around Milwaukee somewhere. He also made the mistake of relaying that story to Bucky, who had, in turn, relayed it to Darcy.

He would've had to murder his best friend had Darcy taken that particular story differently. It had been a personal low point for Steve. He was lonely and the girl smiled at him and paid attention to him in a way to which he wasn't used. He was just thankful they were only half undressed when he realized he was being the sort of man he would've openly despised. He never wanted to be a love-em-and-leave-em sort of guy. He wanted to fall in love and wake up with the same woman everyday until he was too old to remember his own name. After the way his life had gone, he highly doubted that would ever actually happen, but it was still a nice dream.

Darcy was asleep on his chest, her chestnut hair covering her shoulders in a tangled mess. He pushed the hair from her face and nudged her slightly. She stirred in his arms and looked up at him.

"Hey," she said, smiling up at him before rolling off his chest and laying back, staring up at the ceiling. "So…what now?"

"I was thinking I could make you breakfast," Steve replied glibly.

Darcy smirked and said, "I meant after that."

Steve moved to his side and propped his head up on his hand. "You remember when I told you everyone's plans went out the window when the Japanese attacked Pearl. I'm great with tactics, or plans of attack, but long-term plans are not really something I'm good at. And I don't entirely see the point of making them, given my lot in life."

Darcy propped herself up on her elbow to look him in the eye and said, "So, basically, we just take it one day at a time?"

"Unless you have any better ideas."

"No, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

Steve leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. When he pulled away, he said, "Breakfast?"

"Sure," she replied, settling down onto the pillows. "You get right on that, Cap."

Steve smiled as she closed her eyes and started breathing again in a rhythm of sleep. He kissed her forehead and got out of the bed and headed for the kitchen.

---

The Previous Night:

She plopped down next to him on one of the many couches and said, "So who is that girl?"

"What?" Bucky asked, surprised at her presence.

"The blonde, teenaged girl that waved at you like she knew you and then somehow set off a shit storm between Natasha and Hawkeye," Darcy replied without hesitation.

"Oh that's, um, that's Natasha's niece," Bucky replied reluctantly. "I probably shouldn't have said anything to Barton, but Pandora's out of the box now, I guess."

"How do you know her?"

"Nat told me where to find her family, and Talia and I met in her mother's flower shop. She tried her Russian out on me. She can't speak Russian. It's a little sad."

"So Natasha told you that she had family still and where to find them. That explains the shit storm then. He's her partner, you know."

"I did figure that out on my own," Bucky replied, looking down into his half-empty bottle.

"Son of Coul! Come! Drink with us!"

Darcy and Bucky watched as Coulson, who was probably there to break up the party, was forcibly pulled to the bar and given a shot of something. Agent Hill stood a few feet away shaking her head and pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. Steve, who had been attempting to explain that he couldn't become intoxicated to his Asgardian friend, gave Coulson a sympathetic look before going back to looking completely amused at the situation.

"Did you do that?" Bucky asked after a lengthy moment.

"Do what?"

"That," he replied, motioning to Steve who was kicking back another shot. "I've known that man practically my entire life. He's always been so serious. It's not like he didn't have a sense of humor or anything, but he would have never done something like, well…that."

"I can't take full credit," Darcy replied, shrugging. "Tony Stark has probably made it one of his minor missions in life to corrupt Captain America."

Bucky chuckled. "Sounds like a Stark thing to do," he said, staring into his half empty beer once again for a long moment. "You're a lot like her, you know."

Darcy raised an eyebrow, though she knew exactly to whom Bucky was referring. "Why? Because we both have pin-up worthy racks?"

Bucky didn't embarrass nearly as easily as Steve, and he merely smirked and took an undisguised gander at her breasts before looking up at her and saying, "They are very nice, but, no. I mean you're alike because you talk to him, treat him like a person, you're not afraid to tell him when he's wrong, and you kind of drive him crazy."

Darcy smiled. "That's nice to know."

"Although, she had a penchant for ignoring me, and you apparently don't," Bucky added before taking a swig of his beer.

"Well, there's always something to be improved upon," Darcy said, sipping her coffee. "What was Arlene Maxwell like?"

Bucky choked and Darcy grinned. The Winter Soldier was blushing. "He told you about that?" he rasped, still trying to clear his lungs of the beer he'd accidentally breathed.

"Yep, though to be fair, I was tickling him at the time."

"Yeah, but back in our day, we were trained to withstand tickle torture."

"C'mon," she whined, shaking his arm playfully. "Tell me about this hussy you lined up to pop your best friend's cherry."

He glared at her. "Well, she wasn't exactly Einstein and she was blonde and skinny, like he was," Bucky explained. "I figured a girl like you might accidentally break him."

"Well, I'd certainly give it my very best," Darcy said, grinning.

The smirk on Bucky's face told her he understood exactly what she meant. "Did he ever tell you about the girl in Milwaukee?"

Darcy raised a genuinely surprised eyebrow. "Um, no."

"Oh. Nevermind."

"No, no, no, no, no," she replied quickly. "You can't stop summoning the genie halfway out of the bottle. Spill."

"I think I may have already done enough damage tonight," he said, motioning up to the second level where Natasha and Hawkeye were apparently hissing at one another.

"I am not Natasha and Steve isn't Hawkeye. And I have surveillance pictures from your Winter Soldier of you dressed very badly in the seventies that I will show to absolutely everyone if you do not tell me about Milwaukee girl."

"You're very tenacious."

"It's her super power," Peter said as he and Mary Jane passed them on the way to the dance floor.

"That's true. It is," Darcy confirmed, setting her coffee down and folding her arms across her chest. "Go on."

Bucky rolled his eyes and said, "First off, I have to tell you how I wound up knowing about this. He didn't just tell me. You see, we were all sort of living in the woods while we were taking down HYDRA and we started…telling stories one night."

"You mean you guys were trying to one-up each other by talking about your sexual exploits."

"Well, yes. Do people talk about these things in front of ladies now?"

"Often," Darcy replied. "Continue."

"We were talking about our most…embarrassing encounters, and I had kind of been drinking this swill that Dugan made and since Steve wasn't saying anything, I just kind of told the story about Arlene Maxwell for him."

"With judgment like that, it's amazing you've lived this long," Darcy said flatly. "What did Steve do?"

"He very calmly corrected me by saying that was not his most embarrassing moment with a woman," Bucky went on. "He told us about this girl that asked him for his autograph, and he talked to her for a couple of minutes and then asked her back to his hotel room, because he'd seen it, well…"

"Work for you?" Darcy completed.

"Yes," Bucky replied, with a groan, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Anyway, they apparently got halfway undressed before it occurred to Steve that he didn't even know the girl's name. That was the biggest humiliation he'd ever had with a girl. He apologized and sent her home before anything happened. When he told us that story, we all sort of felt like—"

"Giant ass-hats?" Darcy finished for him.

"Please stop finishing my sentences with words I don't know."

"You should learn ass-hats. It's a good one, and it totally applies in this situation," Darcy told him. "You know what's interesting? To me, that story hasn't tarnished his reputation at all."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's actually kind of nice to know that he's been tempted and still did the right thing."

"Now you're kind of making him sound like Jesus."

"Well, he did fight a devilish red guy and then sort of came back from the dead."

They both burst out laughing until Steve came over to them and said, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," they both replied in unison.

Steve blinked at them and cautiously sat down next to Darcy. She smiled at him and said, "Are you even a little bit drunk?"

"No," he replied. "I think Thor might be getting a little close, though."

"Oh, he's pulled Agent Hill into it to take your place," Darcy said. "This is turning into a great night."

"Tony's here," Steve told her, motioning to the entourage coming through the door.

"He's kind of hard to miss," Darcy said, avoiding Steve's gaze.

Steve stood up and held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go make peace."

"That's his determined face. Last time he got that look he joined the army and grew a foot and a half. You should probably go," Bucky warned her.

"Fine," Darcy sighed, taking Steve's hand and standing up.

Steve looked between his girlfriend and his best friend and said, "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

Darcy grinned. "Probably not."

"But I plan on enjoying every minute of it," Bucky interjected, tipping his bottle to them before taking a long drink.

---

"Honestly I'd never noticed."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I heard she talked you down once," Betty continued. "You never thought to ask why? Not even as a scientist?"

"I try not to focus on my…problem so much anymore," Bruce explained quickly. "I honestly never noticed how much Darcy looks like you until Tony pointed it out last night, and then I just felt like a perv."

"Oh, sweetie, why?" Betty asked. "She's an adult."

"I have gray hair."

"She went home with a World War II veteran last night. You are not a perv for noticing her large breasts, and that her eyes and hair and lips that are very similar to my own," Betty informed him as she took a sip of her coffee.

"You have a much better ass," Bruce muttered into his own coffee.

Betty's laugh was loud and peppered with gasps that sounded like little screams and it filled the room. Bruce just smiled as he watched her attempt to regain her breath. "I missed your laugh," he said quietly.

She returned his smile and laced her fingers through his. "I missed you."

"You never really thought there was an emergency, did you?" Bruce asked.

Betty shook her head. "It was just a convenient excuse to give the university. Everything's okay when Tony Stark calls."

"It is really convenient knowing that guy sometimes," Bruce said, leaning toward her.

"Hey, guys," the waitress suddenly interrupted, "um, this is just a theory on my part, but do either of you have a problem with the law, or maybe even the army?"

Bruce's face fell as he sat up straighter. "Why are you asking?" he said cautiously.

"Uh, there's an old dude in a uniform with one of those bushy mustaches and he's got a bunch of army trucks and tanks and some soldiers and they look like they're surrounding the building." Bruce's face fell further and his body seemed to shrink into itself. Betty tightened her grip on his hand and said, "Bruce, it'll be okay. You just have to—"

"Do not tell me to stay calm," he cut her off.

"Maybe I should go talk to him," she suggested.

"Because that does have a history of working out so well," he replied sarcastically.

"Well, then what do you suggest? He probably already has the place surrounded."

"I have a suggestion," the waitress said with a raised arm.

Bruce eyed the tattoo of the Virgin Mary on the under side of her forearm and said, "You suggesting a Hail Mary?"

"Not exactly. Why don't you just call Tony Stark? He is Iron Man, you know?"

Betty smiled slyly. "Dad's gonna love this."

---

"Okay, it's after ten o'clock. You're in bed way past your awake time," Tony said, as he waltzed into the bedroom.

"Go away," Pepper grumbled, pulling the covers up over her head.

"You sure? I've got coffee, aspirin, and taco truck tacos."

"What?" she asked, pushing the covers off to look at him.

"Hangover food," he explained, setting the sack and the mug down on the bedside table as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Aspirin first," she said, opening his hand and placing the little tablets in hers.

She sat up against the pillows and raised her eyebrow at him. "You've never once asked me for aspirin or taco truck tacos," she said wearily.

"That's because my cure for a hangover was more alcohol," Tony replied. "I've been duly informed that this is what normal people do for a hangover."

"Informed by whom?" Pepper asked, popping the pills in her mouth and following it with a gulp of coffee.

"Parker's little girlfriend, Mary Jane," Tony replied. "I sent Natasha out for the tacos. I think she feels guilty for being involved in the death of my parents, and maybe for breaking Barton's heart. I'm not sure. Then she ran off to do something with her Widow face on. She's hard to read sometimes."

Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony's disconnected thought processes. She opened the sack and winced as the smell hit her nostrils. "Ugh, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Tony shrugged. "I've developed a habit of believing whatever a redhead tells me."

Pepper rolled her eyes before finally biting into one of the tacos. Almost immediately she felt a strange relief flood her body. It either had something to do with the plethora of spices confusing her nervous system, or it was one hell of a placebo, but she literally moaned in satisfaction. "Oh, that is so good."

Tony grinned as he crawled across her sit up next to her in the bed. She eyed him from the corner of her eye, and said, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"You being hung over and me being perfectly fine? No, I'm not enjoying that at all," he replied, chuckling

Pepper just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Tony continued, "It was actually kind of fun being the only sober guy in the room, especially when you did that table dance."

"What?" Pepper sputtered into her coffee.

"Just kidding," Tony laughed.

She sighed. "And you were not the only sober person at the party. Steve was very sober despite matching Thor shot-for-shot."

"He also seemed angry when I gave him that condom," Tony said.

"They were having a romantic moment and you interrupted it by being crude," Pepper argued.

"Okay, just because you told me to play 'At Last' and they were dancing to it does not mean they were having a 'romantic' moment."

"It does too."

"You didn't get a good look at the guy. His eyes had practically gone all black. He looked downright predatory. It was frightening."

"Well, how would you look if you hadn't had sex in 70 years, and then, at last, the love of your life comes along?"

"I wouldn't know how to relate to any of those things, and Steve is ninety-five, not seventy."

"Yeah, but he's not a virgin."

"What?" Tony asked, brow suddenly furrowed in confusion.

"He's not a virgin," Pepper repeated. "Darcy told me and Steve's friend—I think his name is James—confirmed it."

"Wow," Tony said, staring into space. "You're kind of shaking my world view here."

"Steve's sex life can shake your world?" Pepper asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It sounds really terrible when you put it like that," he replied with a furrowed brow.

Pepper said something else, but Tony couldn't understand around all the taco parts in her mouth. "That is the single most disgusting you've ever done," he told her. "It's kinda hot."

Pepper laughed and covered her mouth to keep the taco inside. Tony chuckled as JARVIS said, "Sir, sorry to interrupt, but Betty Ross is calling for you. She says it's quite urgent."

"Told you not to disturb me, JARVIS."

"Tony!" Rhodey said, bursting into the room.

"Is everyone else's definition of 'do not disturb' different from mine?" Tony asked.

"You need to see the news," Rhodey told him.

"Did you stay here last night?" Pepper asked him.

"Yeah, driving didn't seem like a good idea," Rhodey replied.

"Especially after you did 'Moves Like Jagger' with Hawkeye and Thor," Tony interjected, grinning.

"Tony, look," Rhodey said, ignoring his friend's jab and pointing at the television.

"Oh…fuck…" Tony said slowly.

"Did you put that video of Bruce and all of us doing 'Thriller' on the internet?" Pepper asked flatly.

"Well, it is the whole reason I called Betty up here," Tony replied almost sheepishly.

"Thaddeus Ross has soldiers surrounding the place. They're gonna take Banner into custody by force."

"I've got eyes, Rhodey. You good to fly?"

"It's probably not—"

Tony grabbed the sack from Pepper's lap and said, "Have a taco. Let's go."

---

Jane watched from the doorway as Thor stood over the stove making her breakfast. He wasn't even slightly hung over and when he awoke to find Jane's saddened and sullen state, he was eager to do anything to make it better. As she leaned against the door jamb, she supposed he was hands-down the best boyfriend she ever had. His faults were fewer than when she met him. He wasn't quite so arrogant, all the time anyway. The only remaining hang up was that he could be called home at any moment, and he would go without hesitation.

She took a deep breath and then moved forward, ready to share her secret with him. Then she knocked over one of his boots and a smooth stone fell out onto the tiled floor. She picked it up and held it in the palm of her hand as she examined the markings. "Thor, what is this and why was it in your boot?" she asked, as she moved into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

He turned to look at her as he plated the eggs and said, "It's a Healing Stone. I've kept one in my boot since my first journey to Midgard. You lot are far more fragile than I and I thought it prudent."

"That's sweet," she said, placing the stone gently on the table.

"How so?" he asked, placing their plates in front of their chairs.

She shrugged and said, "It's just another reminder that you wanted to come back."

His smile brightened as he poured them both cups of fresh coffee. Jane then stared at her mug for a long moment. It was common knowledge caffeine was bad for an unborn child, but Jane's unborn child would be half-Asgardian. It could be worse for him, or have no effect on him at all. Jane then realized with a start that her unborn child was suddenly a 'him.'

"Jane?" Thor asked, sitting down next to her at the table. "Are you sure you're quite all right?"

"Huh? I mean, yeah, I'm fine," she explained quickly, getting up and going to the refrigerator. "I just feel more like orange juice today."

She sat the carton of orange juice down on the table and then retook her seat before realizing, "Oh my God, I hate orange juice. I don't even know why I have it."

Thor's eyebrows arched upward and knit together. He reached over and took her hand into his and squeezed it gently. "Jane, please tell me what is troubling you?"

She looked into his concerned blue eyes and sighed deeply. "I—"

"Hey, you guys awake?"

"Tony, it is just really creepy you can hack into the PA system in my apartment," Jane said, balling her fists in frustration.

"I'd love to trade barbs with you right now, Foster, but I don't exactly have the time," Tony replied. "Banner's in trouble."

"How so?" Thor asked, standing up and gathering his clothes.

"His girlfriend's dad just showed up to put him in a hole. It's a long story, but trust me it's bad. You in?"

"Of course," Thor replied, pulling on one of his boots.

"See you in five."

"Don't forget this," Jane said, holding the Healing Stone out to him.

He reluctantly took it from her and said, "Jane, if you do not—"

"No, you should go," she cut him off. "I know who Tony's talking about. General Ross only sees science as a means for war and Bruce does not deserve what Ross would do to him. So, go. Help him."

Thor cupped her face and kissed her gently. "I love you, Jane Foster."

"I know."

---

Darcy decided there was nothing sexier than man cooking shirtless. It did, however, help that the man in question happened to have Captain America's abs. He caught her eyeing him out of the corner of his eye and said, "You look nice."

Darcy rolled her eyes. She was wearing his ridiculously wrinkled button-up from last night and her horrifyingly tangled hair was up in a messy bun. 'Nice' was not at all the way she looked. "Captain America is a bold faced liar. Who knew?"

"It's not a lie," he stated gently.

"Well, that's a matter of opinion," she replied.

"Truth and lies have to do with facts, and facts and opinions are not interchangeable."

"Oh my God, I thought you were an art student, not a philosophy major," Darcy whined as she sat down at the table.

"I read," he replied simply.

"Well, don't read too much. You'll turn into a pompous ass," she warned him. "And we've already got Tony for that."

He smirked and shook his head as he set a plate of eggs and bacon and toast down in front of her. "I'm sorry I don't have any coffee. I haven't quite figured out how to work the machine."

"My Grandma Epps can work a coffee machine," she said, biting into her bacon. "Why is it you can master a smartphone, but can't make coffee?"

"I have priorities," Steve replied, pouring her a glass of orange juice.

"Coffee is a priority," she argued.

"I was never too high on coffee."

Darcy gasped in mock-horror. "Thor will totally disown you if he hears you say that."

Steve chuckled before he went about eating his breakfast. They sat in comfortable silence as they ate. A couple of times, she caught Steve looking at her. It's different, though, than it has been. Darcy wondered idly if it's because they had sex and that was something that really mattered to Steve, at least according to Bucky.

"What's on your mind, Cap?" Darcy finally asked.

"I, uh, I was just wondering about something," he replied.

"Care to be more specific?"

"I was just wondering how some things work in the world today."

"Can I get a little more specificity?"

Steve sighed and said, "What I really want to know is if you would consider—"

"Steve!"

"Tony, you have the world's worst timing," Steve replied to the disembodied voice.

"Cry me a river, Capsicle. General Ross is storming Hannigan's with tanks and trucks because Bruce is still inside. Li'l D, explain it to him. See you there. You should consider a dramatic entrance."

The line cut off and Steve looked at Darcy who said, "General Ross is Betty's dad."

"Fathers must have gotten really over protective in the last seventy years," Steve said, dropping his plate in the sink before going back toward his room.

"It's not just that," Darcy said, running after him, "he was the military sponsor of the experiment that went wrong and turned Bruce into the Hulk. He's always believed the Hulk is his property."

Darcy came into the room to see Steve staring at his new uniform. "Put it on," she encouraged. "I get the feeling General Ross probably worshipped you as a kid."

"Thanks a lot," he muttered.

Darcy's phone started ringing and she saw that it was Jane calling. "Hey, Jane. I get the feeling I shouldn't have let you bring me my phone last night," Darcy answered.

"I'm pregnant."

"What the fuck?!"

"What's going on now?" Steve asked, buttoning his trousers.

"Uh…I'll get back to you on that," Darcy said, back tracking out of the room to find her clothes strewn across the apartment. "You're sure about this whole thing?"

"There was a test on my bathroom counter when I got up in the middle of the night to pee."

"Well, that's not at all freaky."

"It had to be Natasha. She was the only one close enough to hear that can also do creepy things like break in and out without being heard."

"Okay. Granted," Darcy said, awkwardly pulling on her jeans and using her shoulder to hold her phone to her ear. "But are you sure."

"I double-checked. And those tests are generally regarded as foolproof. I'm having a baby."

"Well, did you tell Thor?" Darcy asked, frantically trying to remember when she kicked out of her shoes.

"I started to, but Tony—"

"Interrupted you?" Darcy finished, triumphantly punching the air as she discovered her shoes. "Yeah, he did that to us too. Steve was in the middle of a sentence."

"He was probably going to ask you to marry him now that he's slept with you," Jane replied. "You did actually have sex this time, didn't you?"

"Oh my God! Yes! Stop asking!" Darcy practically yelled into the receiver. "It was amazing, by the way. We can talk about it when I get to your place."

"I'm on my way to Stark Tower. This is not going to stop me from working."

"You are a modern, empowered woman," Darcy said flatly. "I'll see you there."

She disconnected the call and looked up to see Steve in his uniform holding the shield in one hand and his helmet in the other. Darcy had seen Steve's old uniform and it was mostly just a modified version of his BDUs with primitive Kevlar. This uniform was sleeker, cleaner, and more form fitting in the most perfect of ways. As she stared, he said, "Is everything alright with Jane?"

"Huh?" Darcy said, attempting to regain the power of coherent speech. "Yeah, she's fine. I have to go, though. It's kind of a girl thing."

Steve nodded and then stood there for another moment, fidgeting with the strap on his helmet. Darcy placed a hand on his wrist and said, "Hey, don't let Ross' moustache and the rank intimidate you. You're Captain-friggin-America. You outrank everyone."

Steve chuckled and leaned down to kiss her. "I love you," he whispered. "Be careful."

She cocked an eyebrow and replied, "Don't let the boys destroy Hannigan's. I liked that place."

---

"Bruce, are you okay?" Betty asked, coming up to the second level where he was looking distantly out the windows.

"You notice anything strange about the guys with the General?" he asked.

"Well, they're all a little older and I think I recognize most of them," she replied. "They've been with him a while."

"Exactly."

Betty blinked as the penny dropped. "Only those most loyal to him came with him on this little escapade."

"He doesn't have permission to be here," Bruce concluded.

"He doesn't have permission to be here," Betty repeated as she pulled out her phone.

The phone rang twice before a weary voice replied, "Pepper Potts."

"Pepper, hey—" Betty flinched at the sound of shouting and banging in the background. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Rhodey somehow locked down the system while he was stumbling around trying to find his room last night Tony was putting me to bed. Tony is now, therefore, yelling about giving Rhodey upper-echelon access. They've almost got it sorted out, though."

"Well, it was a wild night," Betty said. "Do you think you could send Rhodey to Army CentCom? I don't think the General has permission to be here."

"Have you talked to him?"

"No. Right now it's just a hunch, but looking around at the guys he's got with him, it's a good one."

"Alright. I'll let them know."

---

Pepper ended the call and marched into the lab, where Rhodey was all suited up and Tony was shouting and giving her a migraine. "Boys!" she shouted, flinching at the sound of her own voice as she abruptly halted their argument. "Rhodey, you need to go to Army central command and find out if General Ross actually has permission to be holding up a bar in Brooklyn to get to the Hulk. Bruce and Betty apparently think he doesn't."

"You got it," Rhodey said before closing his helmed and flying up through the exit in the roof. Pepper groaned at all the noise he made.

"When I was drunk, I never screwed anything up this badly," Tony said.

Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, well, nothing technical."

Pepper raised both eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"Your eyebrows were doing all the talking."

"Well, as you are constantly reminding the entire world, your greatest creation is the Iron Man suit, and, remind me, were you drunk or sober for that?"

He glared at her and said, "Doesn't count. Wasn't by choice."

Pepper rolled her eyes as machinery whirred to life and Tony stepped onto the platform to be dressed in the Mark VI. "Hey," she began seriously, "don't underestimate Ross. He's probably expecting you. And he hates you."

"Yeah, but I'm betting old Thunderbolt won't be expecting the actual god of Thunder, or Captain America. I'm pretty sure guys like Ross worship the ground Cap walks on."

Pepper put her hands on her hips as she said, "Is this about helping Bruce, or getting back at Ross."

"Oh, helping Bruce is just a bonus."

As she closed her eyes and shook her head, he leaned down slightly and said, "I love you."

"I'm not sure why, but I love you too."

Notes:

So...I made the mistake of asking the lovely people at FF.net their opinion on if I should write the whole party or just show pieces of it through the continuation of the narrative. BIG MISTAKE. There wasn't an overwhelming opinion, and it just delayed my writing, although it was nice to see that so many people actually HAD opinions. Also, this proved to be a very complicated chapter that I just decided was finished once I was well past the 7000 words mark. Hope you guys enjoy. Thanks for reading! You are all the best!

Chapter 36: Such A Time As This

Summary:

Hey! I didn't die. Changed jobs. Got my heart all broke and stuff *sigh* Anywho, the first half of this chapter has been written for at least three or four months, finishing it up was kind of a bear. There was The Hobbit, Christmas, Downton Abbey happened for a while (don't get into it, you'll only have your heart broken) I also started thinking about the sequel to this fic (which is totally useless when you haven't finished the first one). Bottom line: been distracted. But this update is over 7000 words, so enjoy, but before you do that, here's some Spiderman explanation:
You're probably wondering which version of Spiderman I'm using for this fic. Primarily it's both movie franchises (not a huge fan of Amazing Spider-Man, but LOVED Andrew Garfield as the character, however) and a little bit of Ultimate Spiderman (as in Mary Jane is the high school girlfriend and Gwen Stacy is around at the same time b/c everybody loves a good love triangle...ask the Twi-hards...) My head cannon: Uncle Ben's death was a little more like Raimi's Spiderman, but Peter's being pursued by the police more like Webb's Amazing Spiderman. The rest will mostly be explained within the story...hopefully. Thanks for reading!

At some point, Natalia became fully aware of her situation and circumstances and, seeing as how she was only a sixteen-year-old girl, started screaming loudly and repeatedly.  They pulled into an alley and Natalia was almost immediately on her knees on the ground, retching and throwing up yellow liquid.  Harry was, oddly, the first one brave enough to approach her.  He knelt down in front of her and said, "Do you need to go to the hospital?  Did they hurt you?"

"Don't touch me!" she screeched, batting away his outstretched hand.  "I wish I'd never seen you!  You're just a stupid, rich jackass!  You're no different from Sasha."

Harry cocked his head and said, "My money's not all in cash."  He stood up and marched back over to where the other three were waiting by the car.  "I'm done.  Who's next?"

James knelt down in front of her and said, "Natalia, I'm sorry for what you've gone through.  I know it's horrible-"

"How?" she asked, her eyes wide and frantic.  "You're just like them.  I heard that shot go off.  You killed one of them in cold blood, didn't you?  My mom thinks you're some sort of damaged hero; like you got in over your head with bad people and it wasn't your fault.  But she's wrong.  You're just another bad guy."

James could feel his blood boiling as he clenched his jaw.  A part of him had always been a little hot-tempered and really wanted to lash out, but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.  "He's not one of the bad guys, Natalia," Natasha's voice said calmly.  "He's actually as good as they come."

"And just who the hell are you?" Natalia asked, standing up to face the redhead.  "I heard them saying you're my aunt, but you can't be.  She was older than my mother and she's probably dead and you're like 25!  You can't be her."

James slowly stood up and said, "I was born in 1918."

Natalia looked at him in stunned silence.  Hawkeye raised his hand and said, "If it makes you feel better, I was born in 1980."

Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he quickly replied, "Fine.  It was 1978.  Shut up."

Natalia regarded the redhead and slowly said, "Why?"

"I did what I had to do, or what I thought I had to do at the time."

"Mom adored you," Natalia said, tears rolling down her cheeks.  “You just disappeared.”

“Kid, she’s the reason you didn’t grow up in a frozen wasteland,” Hawkeye said before looking at Natasha and saying, “at least I remember that being why I was yelling at you last night.”

“You’re all just fucking crazy,” Natalia growled, trying to stomp away, and limping instead.

“She lives around the corner.  I’ll make sure she gets there,” James said, moving around Natasha and Clint.

The pair of assassins stood there in silence for a minute or so before Clint said, “Go after them.”

“You’re still angry,” Natasha replied without looking at him.

“Yeah, but I’ll get over it.  I always do.  Go, Natasha.”

She gingerly squeezed his forearm before jogging after James and her niece.  Hawkeye sighed and stood there for a minute, clenching and unclenching his fist.

“Um, hey, just FYI, I’m still here,” Harry said with a raised hand.

“Jesus, how did I get stuck with the rich jackass?”

---

 

It was all part of the plan…the really, really tenuous plan they’d cooked up in less than five minutes.  That was what Bruce kept telling himself as he looked down at the floor of the van.  General Ross was sitting across from them, staring daggers at Bruce’s forehead.

“What was your play here, Banner?” the general asked gruffly.  “Did you have a plan until we showed up at the restaurant?”

Bruce smiled and shook his head.  “General, I haven’t been one for making plans in a long time.”

A loud bang emanated from the truck behind them as something crashed through its engine block.  Bruce looked up and met the general’s eyes.  “Recently, though, I’ve become acquainted with some people that really like making plans.”

The van they were in suddenly came to a halt and the general angrily stood up and moved toward the cab.  “We need to get the prisoner out of here!  Why are you slowing down?”

“I-I’m sorry, General.  The lead vehicle just stopped!”

“Hey, Dad,” Betty piped up a little too sweetly, “did you know that all Humvees designed for the U.S. military between 2004 and 2009 have an electrical system produced by Stark Industries and designed by Tony Stark himself?”

The general glared at his daughter and produced a sound strikingly similar to a growl.  “Back it up.  Take us down that side street,” he yelled at the driver.

“But, Sir—”

“Do it!”

The van moved so suddenly that Bruce and Betty had to hold onto their seats as they giggled.  General Ross stormed over and pulled Bruce up by his jacket collar.  “What do you think you’re going to accomplish here, Banner?”

“Um, sir?” the driver asked, slowing down slightly.

“What the—?”  Ross asked, eyeing the red, white, and blue figure down the street as he loosened his grip on Bruce’s jacket.  He narrowed his gaze and said, “Keep going.”

“Really?” Bruce asked as the general shoved him back into a seat.  “You’re gonna play chicken with Captain America?”

“It’s just a man in a suit,” General Ross grumbled, looking straight ahead.

“You wanna bet?”

“Sir?” the driver asked as they came to within a few hundred yards of Captain America.

“Step on it!”

The next few moments passed in slow motion.  Bruce and Betty grasped each other’s hands as they clutched onto their seats.  The van collided with Cap’s shield with such force that one of the soldiers knocked himself out on the dash and several others, including the general, were knocked to their backs.  The front of the car had caved in around the curve of the shield.  Steve backed away and came around to the side where he pulled the sliding door off the van.

“You alright?” Steve asked as he helped Betty out of the van.

“We’re good, thanks,” Betty replied, nonchalantly stepping over her father’s motionless form.

“Did he not stop?” Tony asked coming in for a landing.  “That’s just unpatriotic.”

General Ross sat up laughing.  “What would you know about real patriotism, Stark?”

“Wow.  Somebody gets grumpy when they lose,” Tony said before letting the mask slide back from his face.

Ross pulled himself up and said, “You hurt my men—”

“Your men are unharmed,” Thor announced, landing with a thud.

“What the hell is that supposed to be?” Ross asked with a horrified expression.

“That’s Thor,” Bruce said, finally standing up and moving around the general.  “And, yes, I mean that Thor.”

Ross chuckled mirthlessly as he watched Bruce step out of the van.  “Is that the point of all this, Banner?  To prove to me that you have friends now?”

“That, or he’s just proving what a humongous ass-hat you are,” Tony suggested.

Ross shook his head.  “I certainly hope that you all aren’t laboring under the impression that he’s still going to be your friend when the monster comes out.”

Bruce looked down at the ground and then at the men around him.  They were all meeting his gaze and not shrinking away.  He and Betty shared a brief smile before he turned around and faced the general.

“You never knew me very well, Sir,” Bruce began.  “All you ever bothered to find out was that I was capable of giving you what you wanted and that I was in love with your daughter.  You didn’t know me then, and you sure as hell don’t know me, or the Hulk now.”

The general just scoffed and shook his head.  “We’ll see who’s right in the end, I suppose.”

The sound of repulsors and the rumble of many engines suddenly filled the air.  A column of military vehicles sped up the street with Rhodey flying in front.  He came in for a landing and the mask slid back and he said, “General Ross.”

General Ross stepped out the van and faced his fellow officer. “Colonel Rhodes.  To what do I owe the displeasure?”

Rhodey didn’t flinch.  “General Dempsey sends his regards.  He also says you’re under arrest.”

“Who is this General Dempsey?” Thor asked.

“He’s the—”

 “Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Steve cut Tony off, causing the latter to raise his eyebrows.  “I can read, you know,” he quickly explained.

Thor’s face still held a blank expression and Betty clarified, “He’s the highest ranking officer in the most powerful military on the planet.”

“You’re going to regret this, Rhodes,” Ross said as two MPs cuffed him and lead him to one of the humvees.

“I sincerely doubt that, General,” Rhodey replied, moving toward the others.  “What happened here?” he asked, motioning to the sizable dent in the transport van.

“Ross apparently thought it was a good idea ram a van into Captain America,” Tony replied.

“Huh.  We need medical attention over here!” Rhodey called back to his column after noticing the two unconscious soldiers in the front of the van.  “Anyone else hurt?”

“We were most careful to leave the soldiers unharmed,” Thor told him.

“Although the ones in the truck Thor disabled might need some new underwear,” Tony joked.

Rhodey shook his head along with Steve and Bruce as medics rushed forward to assist the injured soldiers.  A few moments later, the ground started shaking silently.

“What the hell?” Steve muttered as both Tony and Rhodey’s masks came down.

“JARVIS, what’s happening?”

 “The seismic event is not being caused by tectonic shifts or volcanic activity.”

“Then what the hell is causing it?”

“It appears several of the inter-dimensional rifts Dr. Banner has been tracking have all opened at once in subterranean locales across Manhattan.”

Bruce’s eyes widened slightly.  “That’s not happening naturally.  JARVIS, what’s happening with the Tesseract?”

“It appears to be active.”

“You should have led with that!” Tony angrily informed his AI before rocketing into the sky.

Steve looked back at Thor and said, “Jane and Darcy were going to the Tower.”

Thor’s arm was up and the rest of him followed before Rhodey said, “You need a ride, Cap?”

He nodded briefly before turning to Bruce and Betty.  “Meet us there.”

“You got it!” Bruce yelled after him before Rhodey lifted them into the sky in a blur of red, white, blue, and silver.

---

 

“Hey,” Darcy said cautiously as she entered Jane’s lab in Stark Tower.

“Hey,” Jane replied, bent over a circuit board with her glasses on the end of her nose.

“Are you okay?” Darcy asked.

“I’m fine,” Jane answered, setting down her soldering tools and carefully placing the board in a tower.  “I’m sure you had a much more interesting night than I did.  I like how you modified his shirt with a belt, by the way.”

Darcy self-consciously smoothed the wrinkles and said, “Yeah, my shirt was kind of unwearable.”

Jane smirked as she replaced the covering on the tower and started connecting wires.  “Sounds like you had fun.”

“I did, but…it was more than that,” she said softly.  “Did anybody ever tell you that there’s a difference between having sex and making love?”

“No, but I’ve figured it out for myself over the years,” Jane answered, pushing her glasses up and lowering the Tesseract into a piece of machinery.

"I've had plenty of sex before, but I don't think I've ever made love, at least not like that.  It's like he wanted to capture every single moment, every nuance.  Of course, I may just not be used to sleeping with an artist that has the body of a Greek God."

Jane chuckled as she sat down behind a computer screen and started typing.  "Well, after the lecture you gave me, I certainly hope you used protection."

"Yeah, well, you see, I'm actually quite diligent about taking my birth control and because I don't want to find out what super-soldier sperm can do to my birth control, we took extra steps, courtesy of Tony Stark."

"I saw that one.  Tony's kind of an ass," Jane muttered.

Darcy regarded her boss for a long moment and walked around the console to join her.  "Are you okay, Jane?"

"Of course.  I haven't experienced much morning sickness.  Some people don't, although it could also be because he's not entirely human."

"‘He’ being the baby?" Darcy questioned.

Jane nodded, seemingly still focused on the computer screen in front of her.

"How do you know it's a boy?"

"I just do."

"I know you didn't have a chance this morning, but...are you going to tell Thor?"

"I'm not sure," Jane replied, finally stopping her work with the computer and looking up at her assistant.

"Jane, he's the father.  He kind of deserves to know."

"But it's not just about him.  If I tell him, he'll tell everyone and then Fury will know, and God only knows what Fury will do then," Jane argued.

"Jane, I think you might be--"

"I'm not overreacting," she interrupted.  "You're the one that told me SHIELD has standing orders to bring Spiderman in, and you're the one who said it was because Fury doesn't like the idea that someone is out of his control and not dancing to his tune.  What do you think he's going to do about a half-Asgardian baby?"

"Well, he's not going to just take the kid.  Thor won't let him."

"And what if Thor's not here?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, he's not the only super hero around."

"And they all work with Fury."

"That doesn't mean they march to his tune and it doesn't mean they'd let anything happen to your kid!"

A high-pitched whine, a loud pop, and a bright flash punctuated Darcy's words.  She looked at the small glass cube in the middle of one of Jane's contraptions.  A blue orb was glowing inside of it.  "What the hell was that?" Darcy asked.

"It worked," Jane breathed, standing up and moving to examine the small cube more closely.

"What worked?  Jane, what did you do?"

"I leeched power off the Tesseract to create an independent power cell," Jane explained.  "It's what Arnim Zola did seventy years ago."

"Well, that's a recommendation," Darcy replied facetiously.  "Why did you do it?"

"To make sure the physics were still sound," she murmured.  "You know Tony's Arc-Light projects?"

Darcy nodded.  "Clean energy based off of arc reactor technology," she said.  "This building runs off that technology.  It'll run this building for a year."

"This could run it for ten years, easy," Jane said, picking up the cube and holding it in the palm of her hand.

"Should you be, you know, holding that thing?" Darcy asked, backing away slightly.

"It only puts out low levels of gamma radiation.  No big deal."

"I'm pretty sure Bruce Banner would disagree."

"I work with Banner, I know what's safe and what's not."

Suddenly, a loud, mechanical thud filled the room and the Tesseract itself started spinning in its casing.  Every computer monitor in the room buzzed to life, bright with warnings.

"Jane, what's going on?"

"I-I'm not sure.  I'm not doing this.  The program was already shut down--Darcy!"

Her last protest was in response to Darcy roughly grabbing her arm and yanking her to the door.  "Don't argue.  The last time something got out of your control, you got stabbed in the gut, and it's not just you you've got to look out for anymore!"

Jane reluctantly let Darcy pull her away as the sound of mechanical and electrical buzzes and pops filled the air.

---

 

James hadn’t been properly scared of a parent in a long time.  That one night he brought Connie Gierson home at 3 a.m had been pretty terrifying, but her father had had a shotgun.  Ekaterina was making him want to soil himself with her eyes alone.  She was also yelling at him in Russian about being a child molester and calling the police.

“Mom, no!” Natalia insisted.  “It was my fault.  It was Sasha Ystrohvsky.  This man was just helping me.”

Ekaterina chuckled mirthlessly and fixed James with a relentless glare.  “You picked a fight with Sasha Ystrohvsky?”

“No.  I shot him in the knee,” James replied.

Ekaterina shook her head.  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?  Do you have any idea what vengeance they will take on us?”

“You always worried too much, little sister.”

All of their heads turned toward the young redhead standing in the doorway.  Ekaterina’s jaw dropped and all the air expelled from her lungs.  “How can this be?” she whispered.

“I volunteered for things I probably shouldn’t have,” Natasha replied briefly, not meeting her sister’s eyes.  “I have always tried to look out for you, but, as you know, I was not always successful.  After what happened to Mikhail, I made sure they would never bother you again.”

“And last night?” Ekaterina asked, looking back at her daughter.

“That was…kind of, my fault…” Natalia said sheepishly.  “There was Sasha and…this other guy, and things got a little out of hand, and then that guy and his snarky friend got involved, and things became more complicated.”

“Snarky friend?”

“He’s my…” Natasha began to answer.

“Partner,” James finished for her.  “It was always hard for you to say.”

She looked up at him and said, “It was always hard for you to be.”

“Not when it came to you,” he replied.

Ekaterina cleared her throat and shook her head, smiling.  “Some things never change.  Men and boys were always falling over themselves to be in your presence.”

James blushed and Natasha smirked slightly as her sister moved forward and gingerly placed her arms around the seemingly younger woman’s neck.  “I shall have to tell people you are my younger sister now,” Ekaterina said quietly, “or my niece, whichever I find less distasteful.”

Natasha chuckled and hugged her sister more tightly. 

“Don’t think this means you’re not grounded,” Ekaterina said to her daughter, who had been edging toward the back door.  Natalia sighed deeply and pouted as she looked at her feet.

“I wish I could say the same for you, Agent Romanov?”

They turned to find a small olive-skinned, bespectacled man in a suit in the doorway of the flower shop.  “Agent Sitwell?” Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m sorry to interrupt this awkward and touching family reunion, but, as Agent Coulson was indisposed, I’m to collect you.  Both of you,” Jasper Sitwell said, looking between Natasha and James.

Natasha squeezed her sister’s hand and said, “I’ll be back soon.”

Ekaterina nodded solemnly.  Natasha moved to follow Sitwell, but James stayed rooted firmly in place.

“I’m under no obligation to go with you,” he said flatly.

Both of Sitwell’s eyes arched upward thoughtfully.  “So, I could just call in a tip to the police about the mob-related shooting of Sasha Ystrohvki’s kneecap earlier this morning?”

James grumbled before stomping after them and climbing into the back of an SUV.  He slid into the bench seat next to Natasha who was at that point sandwiched between him and Hawkeye.

“You guys got called to the principal’s office too, huh?” Clint asked.  Natasha rolled her eyes.  James cracked a smile.

“Where’s Osborne?” Natasha asked.

“Some Oscorp guys appeared and picked him up.  I got to meet Norman Osborne.  He’s a very unattractive man.  Seriously, you could put one of those wacky African ceremonial masks on his face and it would be an improvement.”

"Do you really think making light of other cultures is going to help you right now, Agent Barton?" Director Fury asked, leaning forward into the light as Sitwell climbed into the front and the car pulled away.

"No, Sir," Clint mumbled while still clearly suppressing a laugh.  James covered his mouth with one of his hands, but a chuckle was still making its way up his throat.

"I fail to see what is so funny," Fury stated.  "You got so shitfaced you were overpowered and imprisoned by low-level Russian mob."

"I don't believe that's correct, Director," Natasha interrupted.  "With James' modified metabolism and Clint's level of fitness; the only way they could have become so intoxicated was through the use of drugs stronger than alcohol."

“Regardless, the lack of control you all displayed was more than a little disturbing,” Fury told them.

“I was under the impression control was Agent Coulson’s purview, Sir,” Natasha replied flatly.

James and Clint both turned their heads to look at her with raised eyebrows.  Fury shook his head.  “Everybody knows control becomes your purview when Agent Coulson becomes incapacitated.”

“I thought that’s what Sitwell was for.”

“I can hear you, Agent Romanov,” Sitwell said from the front seat.

“Can I interject, please?” Clint asked with a raised hand.  “We kind of missed the rest of the party due to the Russians.  What happened?”

“You really think that’s important right now, Agent Barton?”

“Well, you’re never going to decide who the biggest control freaks of your underlings is—it’s Hill, by the way—so I’d just like to get caught up on everything else.”

James snorted before covering his face to hide his laughter.  Natasha pursed her lips, laughter dancing just behind her eyes.  Clint, to his credit, looked Fury in the eye unwaveringly.  Fury had no choice but to shake his head and sigh as he said, "Apparently, Tony Stark managed to upload video of Bruce Banner dancing Thriller with Betty Ross and the rest of you."

"Huh.  I remember that now.  By the way, how did you even know Thriller?" Clint asked, looking past Natasha toward James.

"I've been around," James replied cryptically with a smirk.

"That's not the point the director is trying to make," Natasha told them.  "Images of Bruce Banner have been uploaded to the Internet."

Clint's face fell.  "Oh.  Yeah.  That is bad."

"What?  Why?  I don't get it," James said.

"Dr. Banner is supposed to be dead," Natasha explained flatly.

"And his ex-boss is kind of an ass who would like to put him in a cage," Clint added.

"Is General Ross on his way?" Natasha asked.

"General Ross is already here," Fury replied.

"What?  Why aren't we stopping him?" Clint asked.

"The others appear to be handling it quite well considering their almost complete lack of sleep," Fury answered.

"What is that supposed to mean?" James asked.

"Probably means your best friend finally got laid," Clint muttered.

“Not going to believe that until I have proof,” James said.

“Like video?”

James’ eyebrows shot up.  “God, no!  I was just going to ask one of them.  What’s wrong with you?”

Clint shrank back into his seat as everyone, including Sitwell from the front of the SUV, stared at him.  “I’m blaming this on the drugs,” he said before looking out the window.

“You might be doing that for a while, Agent Barton,” Fury warned him.  “Since it’s Agent Romanov’s opinion you were drugged, you two are going to get real familiar with the inside of the infirmary for the next twenty-four hours.”

Clint and Bucky shared the look of a pair of five-year-olds that just lost their favorite toy.  Natasha, ignoring the fact that this was happening across her vision, pressed on, “What about Harry Osborne, Sir?  I believe he’s been witness to far too much for the last few hours and is probably a serious liability.”

“I’m sorry.  Are you suggesting we rub out Harry Osborne?” Clint asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That is not at all what I was suggesting,” Natasha replied, sighing deeply and rolling her eyes.

“Did we finally invent that memory wiper gizmo from Men In Black?” Clint asked, looking quickly between Fury and Natasha.

Fury eyed him and said, “What do you think, Agent Barton?”

Clint’s eyes widened comically.  “We did, didn’t we?”

Fury shook his head.  “Harry Osborne is nowhere near a primary concern right now.  He makes all the trouble he can and still can’t get enough attention from his daddy, so I sincerely doubt he’ll prove to be a problem to our clandestine operations.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about the kid,” James commented.

Fury fixed him with a steely gaze as they came to a stop in front of SHIELD headquarters.  “It’s my job.  You can get out now.”

They all silently got out of the SUV and walked into the lobby where Coulson, Hill, and a cadre of medics were waiting for them.  Clint managed to swallow a snigger at the fact that Coulson was wearing his sunglasses indoors.  Agent Hill looked absolutely no worse for wear.

“I believe the medics can take you from here,” Fury told them.  “Agent Coulson, I need to speak with you about—“

The ground shook slightly before a shockwave reverberated throughout the building, shattering several windows and scattering debris.

“What the—“

“Sir, something’s happening at Stark Tower!” one of the techs from the main security desk shouted.

Fury looked at Coulson, who simply nodded and said, “Change of plans.  Romanoff, Barton, you’re with me.”

“Saved by the bell,” Clint muttered, closely following Natasha.

James started to follow, but Agent Hill intercepted him and injected a sedative into his neck.  It didn’t knock him out completely, but he did seem to lose most of the motivation to his limbs.  Agent Hill was as cool as ever, despite the death glare Natasha gave her as she ran into the street with Clint and Coulson.

“Agent Hill, what do you think you’re doing?” Fury asked hotly as two medics rushed forward to support James’ weight.

“He’s proven to be a dangerous and unpredictable element in the field with Captain America standing right over his shoulder,” Hill pointed out.  “What do you think he’ll be like when the only person that can control him is distracted by a genuine crisis?”

James made an incomprehensible sound of protest and made a move toward Agent Hill, but the medics easily held him back.

Fury angrily set his jaw and said, “Get Sergeant Barnes to medical immediately.  Agent Hill, get yourself back downstairs and monitor our prisoner.  No one else is to see him until we get the all-clear, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Hill replied before jogging toward the stairs.

“Agent Sitwell, we’re going to the roof,” Fury said, stalking off toward the elevator.

Sitwell couldn’t contain his smile.  “Yes, sir.”

---

 

Pepper’s head was still pounding, but she could tell the buzzing reverberating around the apartment wasn’t coming from within her own head.

“JARVIS?” she asked, sitting up and slowly pulling herself out of bed.

“Dr. Foster’s latest experiment appears to have excited the Tesseract.  Energy is beginning to build exponentially,” JARVIS explained calmly.

Pepper opened the door to find Darcy struggling to get Jane to move down the hall.  She spotted a figure racing up the stairs and called out, “Happy, get them out of here!”

Happy, who was obviously dressed for a workout, rushed forward and put an arm around Jane’s waist, gently forcing her to move with him.  “What about you?” Happy asked Pepper.

“I’ll be right behind you,” she called after him before grabbing Darcy by the arm.  “Did Jane’s experiment actually cause this?”

“I’m not an expert, but I don’t think so,” Darcy replied hurriedly.

Pepper let got of her and said, “Get out of here.”

Darcy started to move, but stopped when she realized Pepper wasn’t right behind her.  “Pepper, what are you doing?”

The redhead took a deep breath and said, “Get out of here, Darcy!  Now!”

Darcy gave her a fleeting, confused look before running down the stairs after Happy and Jane.  Pepper walked purposefully toward Tony’s lab as the building started to rumble.  “JARVIS, what happens when that energy is released?”

 “It’s not entirely clear, but based upon my own calculation, I would say a hole will be torn in the fabric in the fabric of space similar in nature to what you would call a wormhole.”

“So, this invasion they’ve all been worried about is actually happening?” she asked calmly entering in the code to access her suit.

“I believe so, Ms. Potts.  May I ask what it is you’re doing?” JARVIS asked with a hint of worry.

“A sufficiently powerful force field could contain the energy before it expands, couldn’t it?” she asked as she stepped up onto a platform and Tony’s machines assembled the suit around her.

“Possibly, but—”

“Tony built the best force field generators on the planet into this suit,” she cut him off.  “I’m not going to waste them.”

---

 

“On a scale of 1-10, how mad do you think Aunt May is going to be?” Mary Jane asked as the subway sped them back to Queens.

“Forty-five,” Peter answered with a smirk.  “I was already in trouble and then I snuck out and stayed out until the next day, so I can’t really blame her.  My job offer will probably soften the blow significantly.  And maybe I can blame the staying out all night on Harry.  Aunt May has really mixed feelings about poor old Harry.”

“Well, I have to admit, even though he’s got everything in the world and kind of acts like an entitled douche sometimes, I always feel sorry for him,” Mary Jane said, resting her cheek against the upright rail.

“He hasn’t got everything,” Peter said.  “His mom’s gone and his dad isn’t really there.”

“Both of your parents are gone and you haven’t taken a nosedive off the deep end,” Mary Jane pointed out.

Peter chuckled nervously and looked at his shoes.  Mary Jane released a shaky breath and said, “God, Peter, I’m sorry.  I’m such an idiot.  I shouldn’t’ve—”

“It’s okay,” he cut her off.  “Really.  I was really young when they…um, died.  I miss them.  I wish they were still here sometimes, but they didn’t make me who I am.  It’s not their legacy that I have to protect or live up to.  That’s what Uncle Ben and Aunt May gave me.”

He met here eyes to find a tear slowly rolling down her cheek.  “Mary Jane, what is it?” he asked gently.

“Nothing,” she laughed, brushing the tears from her face.   “I just think you may be the most…good person in the world.”

“God, I hope not,” he replied, laughing nervously.  “I get the feeling being the good guy all the time would totally suck.”

She let go of the pole and placed both of her hands on his face before kissing him deeply on the mouth.  “You sure about that?” she asked with a smile.

“I don’t know,” he replied slyly, using his free arm to pull her closer.  “I might need o do more research on the matter.”

She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again.  Then a feeling not at all related to what was happening in front of Peter’s face started to crawl up his spine.  Most of the time, his Spidey-Sense would just give him a tingling intuition or just helped him avoid flying bullets.  But this time was different.  This time, it told him that a whole shit-ton of Skrull were about to descend upon their heads.

“Peter?”

“We gotta get out of here,” he breathed.

“What?  Why?” she asked.

The train came to a stop and Peter grabbed Mary Jane’s hand and bolted for the door. 

“Peter, this is Flushing Avenue!  We’re nowhere near—”

The lights flickering and a rumbling across the platform cut her off.  She tightly gripped Peter’s hand as he tensed for a fight.  Then a shockwave and a bright light shot through the platform.  Peter could almost feel their marching footsteps.

“MJ, you have to run,” he told her.

“Peter, I can’t—”

A nasty, hateful, reptilian face appeared from a flash of light ten feet away.  “I told you run!” Peter yelled and Mary Jane was quick to obey, dashing toward the nearest set of stairs.

He took a deep breath and time slowed down.  The lights were still out and that was okay with him; he saw better in the dark.  He slung a web at the first Skrull and pulled it off its feet.  The second one took a shot at him, which struck the wall as he easily avoided it.  He grabbed the gun with one of his webs and sent the Skrull chasing after it as he kicked another one coming up behind him.  He fought on like this for what felt like an hour.  And then he stopped, his heart still pumping adrenaline to his shaking hands.  Half a dozen unconscious Skrull surrounded him on the otherwise empty platform.  The lights were still flickering, but the rumbling and the Skrull-producing flashes had stopped.  The whole thing had taken about thirty seconds.

He dashed toward the steps and grabbed his phone—which, fortunately, wasn’t shattered—from his back pocket and dialed the only helpful number he’d managed to save.  It rang twice before he heard, “Peter, this really isn’t—”

“There are Skrull in the subway,” he told her, taking the steps two at a time.

“What?  Peter, you’re breaking up.”

“Dammit.  I said there are Skrull in the subway,” he repeated when he reached the surface.  “Only half a dozen and they hadn’t had a chance to change, but I could have just gotten lucky.”

“Oh my God,” Darcy breathed.

“What’s—”

“Peter!”

He turned at the sound of Mary Jane’s voice and quickly ended his call before shoving it in his pocket.  “Why’d you stop running?  We have to get out of here,” he said, reaching out for her.

Her arms remained folded across her chest.  “Peter, I saw,” she said quietly.

“Saw what?” he asked lamely, knowing any hope of a cover was crumbling around him.

“I saw you fighting those aliens, or monsters, or whatever they were,” Mary Jane explained.

He exhaled a shaky breath and said, “I, uh—”

She reached out and grabbed his wrist.  Then her thumb landed upon the thin disc he usually wore hidden under his sleeves or leather cuffs during the day.  “What is that?” she asked.

“Web shooters,” Peter replied meekly, “although, that sounds really stupid that I’ve said it out loud.”

“Peter…are you Spiderman?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” Peter breathed, barely believing it was coming out of his mouth.

Mary Jane let go of his hand and took a step back.  Peter winced and ran both of his hands through his hair.  “Come on, Mary Jane.  What is it that bothers you most about this?  Is it because I didn’t tell you, or-or do you think what I do does more harm than good, or—”

“Peter, could you just shut up for a second and let me absorb this?”

“Sorry,” he replied sheepishly.

After pacing back and forth for a few moments, she asked, “When did this happen?  I mean…are you a mutant, or—”

“No, I wasn’t born this way,” he answered quickly.  “I wandered off during a trip to Oscorp with my internship group at Columbia.  I got bitten by a genetically enhanced spider and woke up like this the next day.”

“That’s a hell of a field trip,” she commented.

Peter shrugged.  “I don’t know.  It wasn’t so bad.  I met Harry that day…it was about a year ago I guess.”

“But Spiderman has only been around for what? Eight, nine months?  Why did you decide to—” Mary Jane’s own thoughts suddenly cut off her words.  “Your uncle Ben?”

“He always used to tell me that bad things happen because good men stand by and do nothing,” Peter told her, quickly brushing a tear from his face.  “And the last thing he told me was that with great power comes great responsibility.  He was talking about using my intelligence to create world peace or something instead of trying to impress a girl, but he died that night because I didn’t do anything, so I took it to heart.”

“Peter, it wasn’t your fault.”

“You weren’t there.  You don’t know,” he told her quietly.

“So…all those people last night…were they…”

“Darcy’s boyfriend is actually Captain America, so I’m thinking the answer is yes.”

“And what’s happening right now?”

“Pretty sure it’s a genuine alien invasion.”

“So…we should probably talk about all this later?”

“Probably,” Peter confirmed.

“What should I do?” Mary Jane asked after a deep breath.

“Get back home.  Grab your mom and Aunt May and get as far away from Manhattan as you can, and, for God’s sake, stay out of the subway,” Peter told her, gently grabbing her shoulders.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, finally looking up into his eyes.

“I don’t know,” he replied with a sad smile.

Mary Jane pulled him close and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug.  Peter reciprocated and whispered in her ear, “I love you.”

“I know you do,” she said before kissing him softly on the mouth.  “Go get ‘em, Tiger.”

Peter smirked before dashing toward the nearest alleyway.

---

 

Happy and Darcy finally pulled Jane into the elevator and the doors slid shut, leaving them in eery silence.  After a few deep breaths, Happy said, “Doc, what’s happening up there?”

“Same thing that happened in New Mexico,” Jane replied slowly.  “A…wormhole is about to open up.”

“So…the aliens…they’re coming?” Happy asked.

“Yeah,” Jane replied simply.

“Right,” Happy said, pressing the button for Tony’s private garage.  “We’ll get you both back Westchester; out of danger, but still able to monitor—”

The lights started flickering and the elevator shook violently.  All three of them grabbed hold of the railing and gritted their teeth.

“We jump before we hit the ground.  That’s how it works, right?” Happy asked above the noise of shaking metal.

“They did it on Mythbusters!  It doesn’t help!” Darcy yelled back.

“Thanks a lot!”

Suddenly the shaking stopped and the lights were back on.  The elevator, however, was no longer moving.

“Dammit.  I gotta do a reset,” Happy said, prying open the main panel.

“You okay?” Darcy asked Jane.

“Yeah, I think so,” Jane replied, one hand clutching her stomach.  “I think so.”

“Got it,” Happy said triumphantly as the elevator started to move once more.  “It’s taking us back up to the penthouse, though.”

Darcy’s phone started ringing in her pocket.  She glanced at the caller ID as the elevator doors slid open and answered, “Peter, this really isn’t—”

“Skull…in the…sub!”

Her forehead crinkled up at both the smell of burning metal in the penthouse and the Peter’s broken message in her ear.

“What?  Peter, you’re breaking up,” she told him, jogging up the stairs and ignoring Happy’s protestations.

An electronic hum joined the smell of burning metal as Darcy drew closer to Jane’s lab.  Then Peter’s voice clearly said, “There are Skrull on the subway!”

That was all Darcy absorbed before she breathed, “Oh my God,” at the sight in front of her.  Wind whipped through the room, presumably due to the window Tony broke when he flew in.  He was looking at the scene around them with as much shock as Darcy.  Pepper was standing before Jane’s machine, her suit was obviously shorting as her helmet was half on/half off her face, but the forcefields she was generating from her hands and chest-piece were holding steady.  The blue energy inside the forecfields was twisting and gyrating, but it was certainly not expanding.

“Pepper, what did you do?” Darcy asked looking around at the screens.

“I think I may have stopped it,” she replied hopefully.

“No!  You didn’t stop anything!” Tony exploded, tossing his helmet across the room.  “You just stuck your finger in the goddamn dyke!”

“As I recall, that saved Holland!” Pepper replied hotly.

“It’s a story!” Tony yelled back.  “Real physics doesn’t work that way!”

Tony didn’t even notice when Thor came through the window almost silently and went to Jane who was waiting at the door with Happy. 

Darcy took a deep breath and said, “Well, don’t leave us hanging there, Stark.  Finish your cheerful physics tale.”

Tony looked at her and some of the angry flush faded from his face.  He took a shaky breath as Rhodey arrived with Steve and said, “When you plug a hole from one side in the face of a rushing torrent, it doesn’t just stop a leak, it builds pressure on the other side.  It won’t just be about a hole, it’ll be about a crack, or, worst case scenario, an eruption.”

“Let go,” Thor suggested.  “We can fight whatever comes through.”

“Thor’s right,” Steve agreed.  “Pepper, you’ve given us enough time.  Just let go of it before it gets worse.”

“I don’t think I can,” Pepper replied, panic creeping into her voice and across her face.

“You can’t,” Tony told her, laughing almost maniacally, “because the suit wasn’t ready and you shorted it out.”

“You let me fly around in it!”

“It was ready for that.  If it was ready for everything, I would have told you,” Tony argued back.  “You were hung over, and you made a bad judgment call.”

“You’re giving me that lecture?”

“Yes, I am!” Tony bellowed.  “You feel that pressure at the base of your skull?  That’s the neural interface I designed fusing with your nervous system.”

“What does that mean?” Pepper asked, turning her head to look Tony in the eye.

“I can—I can’t—I can’t get you out of the suit without killing you,” Tony said, a tear escaping from his eye.  “And the rest of the universe can tear itself apart for all I care, because if you’re not in it, I don’t give a shit.”

A long silence permeated the space.

“Tony,” Steve began, “you can do this.”

“I really don’t need your ‘ra-ra, go America’ attitude right now, Steve,” Tony replied shortly.

“That’s not what he means, Stark,” Bruce said, pushing through the veritable crowd, including Coulson, Natasha, and Hawkeye gathered at the door.  “He means you’re the smartest guy in the room, I’m not too proud to admit it.  You can do this.”

“I’d really appreciate it if you gave it a try, Mr. Stark,” Pepper said quietly, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

“Tony,” Darcy said, stepping up to face him, “what do you need?”

Tony thought about it a beat.  “I need the motor from a kid’s scooter.”  

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 37: It Means Everything

Notes:

Hey guys! I promised this update wouldn't take as long! AND this one is longer...AND Iron Man 3 comes out in a week! Hurrah! Enjoy!

Chaos was a good way to describe the scene in the lab.  Chaos and fit, half-dressed men.  Steve, Thor, Clint, Rhodey, and Happy were doing the heavy lifting involved in building new force field generators under Jane’s direction—while Tony offered unwanted advice every three seconds, of course.  Tony was mostly focused, however, on Pepper.  Betty, as the only biologist in the room, monitored Pepper’s condition, while Tony worked on the suit.  Bruce was monitoring the situation with the cracks Tony warned would form in his heated speech.  Some of the pre-existing fissures were opening up and some strange figures were appearing and disappearing.  Natasha was helping monitor the situation and Coulson had his phone glued to his ear coordinating SHIELD response teams.

“Here.  Drink this,” Darcy said, holding up a glass of water with a straw for Pepper to drink from.  “You have to stay hydrated to keep your muscles from cramping up.”

“They’re cramping up anyway,” Pepper said after a long sip. 

“Speaking of muscles, there’s a very nice display around here, don’t you think?” Darcy said, smirking.

“I do have to agree,” Pepper said with a tired smile.

“I’m right here,” Tony said from his place on the floor, attempting to get the metal boot off Pepper’s foot.

“Even yours has some pretty nice arms on him.”

“Thanks, Darcy.  That means the world,” he told her sarcastically as he freed the armor from Pepper’s leg with a groan of effort.

“God, that feels good,” Pepper gasped.

“You know, she usually says that in a completely different context,” Tony said, eliciting a glare from Pepper.

“Ugh,” Darcy said, her mouth twisted in disgust.  “Thinking of the two of you having sex is practically like thinking of my parents having sex.”

That got a glare from both of them and Darcy grinned in reply.

“Well, that certainly got their attention,” Betty commented.  “Darcy, if you don’t mind, I need to ask Pepper some questions to test her mental abilities.

“Absolutely,” Darcy replied quickly stepping away from them.

“Say that again.  He’s doing what?”

“Problem, Son of Coul?” Darcy asked the man yelling questions into his phone.

“Not necessarily,” he replied.  “Apparently Spiderman is assisting our teams in the subway, and by assisting, I mean doing their jobs for them.”

“Did he just say Parker’s in play?” Tony asked, momentarily distracted.

“I told you he said there were Skrull on the subway,” Darcy reminded him.

“Whatever.  Tell him to get his ass over here.  I could use him,” Tony said.

“Who is Parker?” Coulson asked.

Darcy raised an eyebrow.  “You’re like the last one to know this, but he’s Spiderman,” she told him.

“Well, that kind of raises more questions than it answers, but we don’t have time for that right now,” Coulson said before turning his attention back to his phone.  “Agent Dugan, I need you to pass a message along to Spiderman.”

“Tony, this room’s protected from interference, right?” Bruce hollered, rolling in a chair between computer monitors.

“Of course it is,” Tony yelled back.

“Then what—Thor, could you put your hammer in the hall?”

“Excuse me?” Thor asked as the room came to a pause.

Bruce looked around at everyone’s shocked faces and coolly continued, “It’s throwing off a lot of interference, and if it were farther away, it would help considerably.”

“Of course,” Thor said, though he still eyed Bruce warily as he moved to do as asked.

“That could have gotten ugly very quickly,” Darcy muttered to Natasha as the redhead came close.

“It’d be an interesting fight, that’s for sure,” Natasha replied.  “Darcy, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Coffee?  It’s kinda my specialty at the moment.  Be right back.”

“No, Darcy, it’s not that,” Natasha said, stopping her with a firm hand on her arm.  “I need you to go back to SHIELD and get James out of the infirmary.”

“Geeze.  What did those guys get up to last night that landed Bucky in medical?”

“It’s long story, but what happened last night had almost nothing to do with it,” Natasha explained quickly.  “Agent Hill sedated James to keep him from coming here with us.”

“Well, she is kind of gung ho, but why do you want me to go get him?  You could go, and I can stay here and help Bruce,” Darcy offered.

“You’ll be a lot less conspicuous than I would be while SHIELD is in crisis mode.  And…I’m not entirely sure James would come with me,” Natasha replied matter-of-factly.

Darcy sighed and said, “Okay.  It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to spring Eric while I’m at it, if he’s not in a ‘let’s jump off a building’ frame of mind.”

“Good idea.  I already talked to Happy.  He’s going to drive you,” Natasha said, motioning the aforementioned chauffeur over.  “Here’s my security access card.  It should get you anywhere you need to go.”

“I’ll be right back, then,” Darcy said, heading for the door with Happy.

“Hey, hold on a sec,” Steve called after them about the time they reached the door.

“I’ll go start the car,” Happy said with the hint of a smile as he continued walking.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked when he reached her.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal.  I’m just going to spring Bucky and Eric from SHIELD medical,” she answered.

“Medical?  Why?  Clint and Natasha didn’t say anything about him being hurt last night.”

“He wasn’t.  He apparently just ran afoul of Maria Hill.”

“Oh.  Well, she did seem a little...”

“Batshit insane,” Darcy finished for him.

“Well, I wouldn’t have said that,” Steve replied, reddening just slightly.

“I know.  That’s why I said it for you,” she said as she kissed him on the cheek.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll walk in, grab your best friend, and walk out.  Everything will be fine.”

Steve sighed and nervously bit his lip before he turned back to help the others.

---

 If his dad had actually said something about his behavior the night before, Harry hadn’t managed to absorb what it was.  Besides, it wasn’t as if the whole thing was his fault.  There were criminals and possible secret agents involved.  It didn’t seem to faze Norman Osborn much, anyway.  As soon as they got back to the penthouse, the elder Osborn got on a helicopter to go to some meeting on D.C., or somewhere.  Harry stopped paying attention to his father’s plans a long time ago.

He was sipping his father’s best scotch to cure his hangover and the effects of whatever drug he’d been given when his cell phone started ringing wildly.  He picked it up and said, “Christ, Parker, it’s too early in the morning for this shit.”

“You need to get out of town,” Peter’s voice replied firmly.

“Oh, did you actually get drunk last night?” Harry replied.

“Harry, didn’t you feel that tremor earlier?”

“Sure, but that’s, like, global warming or something, right?”

“You are not that stupid, Harry.”

“Not according to some people,” he muttered.  “Look, I’m sitting on top of a billion dollar monument to Norman Osborn’s paranoia.  I think I’ll be fine.”

“You’re sitting on top of a nice, big target,” Peter replied tersely.

“Target for what?”

“The…aliens,” Peter answered reluctantly.

Harry snorted.  “I’m back to thinking you’re still drunk, Parker.”

“Harry, you know I wouldn’t—oh, shit!”

“Pete?”

Silence preceded a few loud crashes and then a sickening hiss, which accompanied the entire building shaking.  “Pete?” Harry asked again, this time far more worried than before.  Peter’s voice made no reply, but a message alert buzzed in Harry’s ear.  The picture he received was of a screaming, reptilian face.  He almost dropped the phone when he saw it.

“Pete?!” he yelled into the phone again.

“Do you believe me now?” Peter’s voice yelled into the phone, slightly winded.

“I still don’t think they’re aliens, but, yes, I’m getting out of town,” Harry replied before swallowing the last of his scotch.  “What about Aunt May?  You need me to get her out, too?”

“No.  MJ just texted me.  She’s already on her way upstate with MJ and her mom.”

“What?  Why the hell aren’t you going with them?”

“I, uh, I kinda got called into work.”

“Since when do you have a job?” Harry asked, tossing stuff out of his dresser.

“Well, I sort of took a job with Tony Stark this morning,” Peter replied reluctantly.

Harry grasped his mother’s locket in his hand tightly.  She’d always told him to be careful about his anger.  He’d never listened.  “Hope he doesn’t get you killed, Pete.  Have a nice life.”

He stormed out of his room with the locket in one hand and his phone in the other.  “Carson!” he yelled.  “Get the car.  We’re getting out of town.”

The portly, older man appeared out of nowhere as he always did.  “I wouldn’t suggest such a course of action, Sir,” he replied calmly.  “It seems the tremors have frightened most of the populace to flee.  We will be on the roads for hours.”

“We’re not taking the roads out of town, Carson,” Harry explained.  “We’re going to the docks.”

---

 “You want me to go in with you?” Happy asked her when they reached SHIELD headquarters.

She shook her head.  “Don’t want to attract any extra attention.  We’ll be right back.  Don’t worry.”

It irked her just a little to have to tell everyone not to worry about her every ten seconds.  She grew up in a house with three guys, two of which had been in the military.  She could handle herself just fine.

Natasha had been right about SHIELD headquarters.  Lots of agents were running around, but none of them had the time to even notice Darcy’s presence.  There wasn’t even anyone behind the main security desk.  She spied the feed of Loki’s cell on the bank of screens.  He looked as though he were meditating, but there was a smile on his face.  That made her shiver.

She rushed to the nearest elevator, using Natasha security card to gain access and headed for medical.  The floor was more empty than it had been downstairs, but there were still people running around, moving and securing equipment.

Eric and Bucky were in beds spaced less than six feet apart.  They were both awake and struggling against their restraints, and neither of them even noticed Darcy watching them.

“Look, you’re just going to have to dislocate your thumb,” Bucky told Eric.

“And how, exactly, would you suggest I do such a thing?” Eric asked shortly.

“It’s not that hard, you just—”

“Okay! ‘How to survive Russian torture’ class is now over,” Darcy interrupted, moving forward to undo the straps holding down Bucky’s arms.

“Am I glad to see you,” Bucky said, sighing in relief.  “Steve send you?”

“Actually, it was Natasha,” she informed him.

“Really?  Why would she do that?” Bucky asked, rubbing his wrists.

“You are such an idiot,” Darcy muttered, moving to Eric’s bed.  “So, are you going to run off the roof if I take these off?”

Eric completely ignored her question and said, “The Tesseract; it’s active, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Darcy replied, releasing his restraints.  “Pepper did something rather rash and is holding back the flow of energy, but that won’t last very long.”

“Pepper…that’s Stark’s girl, right?” Bucky asked.  “Is she okay?”

“For the moment,” Darcy replied.

“Well, that doesn’t sound good at all,” Eric concluded.

“That’s why we should go,” Darcy told them.

“I’m going to find my gun first,” Bucky said resolutely.

“What? Wait? Ugh,” Darcy said as he disappeared into another room.  “Who gave him a gun anyway?”

“Darcy, is Jane alright?” Eric asked her seriously.

She looked at him for a long moment and said, “You’re yourself again, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“It’s about time,” she told him.

“Darcy, I was—”

“Hey!  What are you doing in here?” a guard in black fatigues barked at them.

“I’m just talking to my friend here,” Darcy replied nonchalantly.  “I have clearance to be here.”

“This guy is on psych watch; supposed to be restrained.  You have clearance to release him from that too?” the guard asked dubiously.

“Um…”

The guard started to reach for his walkie and Bucky quickly stepped up behind him and used his left hand to grab the man between his neck and clavicle.  After a moment of surprise, the guard crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Darcy’s eyes widened excitedly.  “Oh. My. God.  The Vulcan neck pinch is real?!”

“The what?” Bucky asked as he relieved the guard of his sidearm and tucked it into the back of his own pants.

“They didn’t have Star Trek in the Soviet Union?  There was a loveable, if annoying, Russian character and everything.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Bucky confessed.

“I have so much to teach you,” Darcy said with a grin.

“Will you stop dawdling?  We have to get out of here,” Eric reminded them.  “Jane is going to need my help.”

“Right,” Darcy said, leading the way into the hall.  Her phone started ringing before they reached the sliding doors.  “Dad, I really can’t—” she started to answer.

“Darcy, for once in your life, just shut up and listen,” her father cut her off.

“Dad, what’s going on?” Darcy asked, stopping in her tracks and causing the two men to stare at her.

“The Guard called,” her father told her simply.

“Oh, my God, they’re not actually putting you in a plane, are they?”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, sweetheart.”

“You know what I mean, Dad.”

“I do.  They knew I’m a station chief and thought it best I stay with the civilian population for the time being,” David explained.  “They did, however, ask your uncle to report for duty.  No floods, no explosions, no terrorist attacks, and they’re scrambling the Air Guard in New Mexico.  I got the impression that boyfriend of yours was kind of important in the military.  Do you know what’s going on?”

“He’s not my—well, his is now, but he wasn’t at the time—oh, God, never mind,” Darcy blurted. 

“Darcy, we have to go,” Eric reminded her as she glared at him angrily and mouthed the word ‘no.’

“Look, Dad, I can’t explain it all right now, but…something is going on, and it’s bad, and…Granny didn’t fill in that bunker under her house, did she?”

“You’re suggesting we hide out in the shelter my dad built to hide from the inevitable Russian invasion?” David asked.

“Well, I’m suggesting you put Clark there, probably with his Xbox so he doesn’t hurt himself,” Darcy replied.  “And, Dad, there’s a woman that lives on Angeles Street.  Her name is Peggy Carter.  She’s ninety-five and on dialysis and she’s got a niece living with her, but I just have to know she’s alright, okay?”

“Alright, Darcy,” her father promised.  “I’ll ask you why that’s so important right after I ask you how your job and boyfriend keep you so well informed.”

“Hey, you called me, remember?” Darcy reminded him as a tear rolled down her cheek.  “I love you, Daddy.  Tell Uncle Max and C.K. I love them too.”

“I will, baby girl,” David promised.  “Be careful today, and good luck to that boyfriend of yours, too.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

She could almost see his smile as the line disconnected.  She quickly brushed the tears away and joined Eric and Bucky in the elevator.  As the doors closed, she said, “They’ve scrambled the National Guard in New Mexico.  Why would they do that?”

She looked directly at Eric, who solemnly replied, “That’s where the Bifrost has appeared in the past.  If the Tesseract is being used to manipulate pre-existing fissures, it’s likely New Mexico will quickly become a focal point of any invasion from the outside.”

“Right,” Darcy said, nodding slowly as the elevator doors slid open.

The lobby was mostly empty and Happy was waiting for them inside.  “They think the whole thing might be about to collapse,” he told them.  “We have to go right now.”

Darcy heard Happy, but his words didn’t move her.  She was staring at Loki’s face on the security feeds.  He was grinning at her smugly.  “I’m gonna walk back,” she announced quietly.  “There’s something I have to do.”

“Darcy!” Eric called after her as she moved quickly toward the stairs.

“Cap’ll hang me if I come back without you!” Happy added.

“I’ll look after her, just go,” Bucky told them as he ran after her.  When he caught up to her in the stairwell, he said, “Darcy, wait up.  What’s going on?”

She stopped on the stairs and slowly turned to face him.  “This is all Loki’s fault,” she said simply, anger boiling under the surface.

“Loki is Thor’s crazy brother, right?  He’s a psychopath.  What makes you think he’s going to tell you anything?” Bucky asked.

“I don’t need him to tell me anything,” Darcy explained, continuing down the steps.  “I just want him to know that if my dad, or my brother, or my uncle get hurt or killed because of his stupid, familial vendetta, I will personally stab him in the balls.”

Bucky blinked in surprise.  “I’m suddenly a little concerned for my best friend’s manhood,” he told her, following her lead down the stairs.

Darcy chuckled.  “Don’t worry.  I probably like his manhood as much as he does.”

“Oh, Christ!  I didn’t need to hear that,” Bucky groaned.

They arrived at the detention area and Darcy used Natasha’s access card to get inside.  Only Agent Hill appeared to be on duty, and she smirked slightly when she saw them.  “Miss Lewis, I happen to know you definitely don’t have access to be in this room.  How did you get in here?”

Darcy shrugged and looked the taller woman straight in the eye as she said, “I used my infinite powers of persuasion.”

Bucky hid a smile very badly as Agent Hill regarded them dubiously and folded her arms across her chest.  “And why are you here?” she asked them.

“I want to talk to him,” Darcy replied simply.

“Well, I don’t’ suppose there could be any harm to it now,” Agent Hill replied, working the computer console until Loki’s face appeared on the screen.

Darcy raised an eyebrow at how easy it had been to convince her.  She looked up at Loki’s smug face and said, “You probably don’t know who I am.”

“Of course I know who you are, Little One,” Loki replied smoothly.  “You’re a sister, lover, or friend to all of them.”

“Well, not all at the same time, but, yeah, I’ll take that description,” Darcy replied with an insincere smile.  “I just want to know what you think you’re going to gain from this whole revenge thing?  I mean, you should really watch some of our movies if you want to know what pursuing revenge gets you.  If you were in Star Wars, you’d wind up with no arms, no legs, and no Natalie Portman; and you know everyone loves Natalie Portman.”

“What’s your point?” Loki asked with a smirk.

“I don’t really, truly care about much,” she told him.  “But what I do care about, I care about with everything that I am.  You’ve put my family and people that I love in jeopardy.  You’re gonna pay for it, I promise you.  I just want to know what you think you’re going to get out of it?  You don’t care about this planet, you don’t need the Tesseract for anything, you—”

“Darcy?” Bucky asked, reaching around behind for his gun.

“You want the Staff of Burin back,” Darcy concluded suddenly.  “That was your price, wasn’t it?  With the Staff of Burin, you could screw the Earth and the Skrull and the Kroods or the Kree or whoever and go right back to Asgard and take the throne because the Staff is the only thing that could even come close to trumping Mjolnir or Gungnir.”

“Clever girl,” said Agent Hill with a sinister smile.

“What the—”

“Bydd y cywion yn deor,” she said, cutting Bucky off before he finished his sentence.  The words also seemed to have the magical effect of freezing Bucky in place.  His hands dropped to his sides and his eyes went cold.  Darcy didn’t even have a chance to respond before Maria Hill had her pinned to the wall with one hand on Darcy’s throat.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Darcy said, struggling under Agent Hill’s grasp, which was unnaturally strong.  Then, before Darcy’s eyes, Agent Hill faded away to be replaced by a raven-haired psychopath with a sinister grin.

“Words, Little One,” he replied.  “Just words…with the power to shut him down.  They were implanted in him oh so long ago, but are every bit as effective today, don’t you think?”

A glance at the screen on the wall told Darcy that the Loki in the box of a cell was suddenly just another Skrull emerging from within.

“Oh my God,” Darcy choked out, struggling against Loki’s hold on her throat.  “Is Maria Hill even a real person?”

“Of course she is, or she was.  Not sure she’s still real anymore,” Loki replied with a mirthless chuckle before nodding off the Skrull.  “She wouldn’t have been useful at all had she not been real; and she was very, very useful in helping me and my friend switch places.”

“He’s not your friend,” Darcy told him.  “He’s just using you like you’re using him.”

Loki bounced her head off the wall and moved in so close she could feel his breath hot on her throat.  “You don’t know me, Little One,” he hissed, his free hand drifting down her torso toward her hip.  “But I know you.  You haven’t been told you’re beautiful nearly often enough.  Others have so often been preferred above you.  You are the last choice.”

“I am not like you,” she spat back.

“Think that if you will,” Loki replied, having withdrawn Darcy’s cell phone from her pocket.  He crushed it in his hand as he said, “You’ll find your fate decided far before mine.”

He tossed her in Bucky’s direction and Bucky grabbed her and held her firmly by the shoulders.  “Bucky, come on.  You’ve gotta snap out of this.  You’re Sergeant James Barnes.  You used to rescue Steve from bullies all the time.  That’s all this guy is.  He’s a bully, Bucky.  Bucky, come on!”  Throughout her pleading and struggling, his eyes remained cold and his grip only became stronger; to the point she was screeching due to the pain radiating from her right arm.

“He won’t listen to anyone save myself until I release him,” Loki explained as he morphed back into the visage of Agent Hill.  “Let go of her.”

Bucky released his grasp and Darcy breathed a sigh of relief.  “How do you know I won’t run?” she asked.

“Well, you’re not exactly built for it, are you?” Loki replied playfully.  “And, of course, you know him, and his capabilities as a lethal weapon.  Come along.”

Darcy had to close her eyes and grit her teeth to control her breathing as she followed Loki—as Agent Hill—with Bucky boxing her in from behind.  A SHIELD jeep was waiting for them at the back of the building and the guard handed the disguised Loki the keys without a second thought.  Darcy thought about screaming, but Bucky was too close and could snap her neck before she got out anything more noticeable than a squeak.  She was sandwiched between them in the front as they pulled out into the extraordinarily busy New York streets.

After a couple of minutes, Darcy took a deep breath and said, “Your shape-shifting abilities are greater than we realized.”

She could see a proud smirk forming at the corners of his mouth.  “There is much I have learned since leaving my brother’s company.”

Darcy shook her head at the sound of Shakespearean jibber-jabber coming out of Agent Hill’s mouth and continued, “Then why go to all this trouble?  You could just change into the President, nuke Iran, and let the planet go to hell that way.”

“That wouldn’t exactly get everyone what they want.”

Darcy bit her lip and wracked her brain for all of the intelligence reports she’d been through with Steve when they first realized they were about to be invaded.  Earth was nowhere near Skrull territory; as a matter of fact, it was lightyears out of their way.  Earth was, in fact, the only non-developed planet near Kree space.  The Kree; the eons-long enemy of the Skrull.

“The Skrull aren’t just doing this for the Tesseract,” Darcy concluded.  “They want to use Earth as a base to strike at the Kree.”

“You really are very clever,” Loki told her.  “Nick Fury should have hired you as an analyst a few months ago and avoided all this fuss.”

“I wouldn’t work for a liar like Nick Fury,” Darcy muttered as she turned to Bucky.  “Come on, James, I know you’re in there.  No form of hypnosis or mind control can completely erase who you are.  If Steve doesn’t stir your memory, what about Natasha?  Or Natalia, as you knew her.  It baffled the Soviet scientists studying you that you trusted her so easily and bonded to her so well.”

He actually looked at her out of the corner of his eye and she knew she was on the right track.  “I’ve seen both your files.  You could have intersected on a couple of different missions.  Did you—”

Loki pulled back sharply on Darcy’s hair and said, “If you keep speaking, I’ll have to break your teeth.”

---

 “This is the best we can do in less than the time it takes to get a pizza delivered,” Bruce told Tony. 

“The field’s only going to hold maybe ten minutes when we get Pepper free.”

“Then you’re going to have to be ready for whatever comes through that portal.”

“And what about you?  I imagine alien smashing is probably pretty high on your list of undiscovered talents.”

“It’s not going to happen, Stark.”

Tony cocked his head to the side and said, “I thought you turned green, not yellow.”

Bruce’s fist tightened as Steve placed himself between them.  “Now is not the time, gentlemen,” he told them.

Tony set his jaw and turned to pester Peter about the device the younger man was building.  Steve looked at Bruce and said, “Jane needs to speak with you about a…science thing.”

Bruce sighed deeply and ran both his hands through his hair as he turned to find Jane.  Hawkeye smirked as he walked by with extra cabling and said, “Smooth, Cap.”

Natasha narrowed her gaze toward her partner and said, “I didn’t see you getting in the middle of it.”

“Well, I didn’t take my stupid pills this morning.”

“All evidence to the contrary.”

Hawkeye glared at her before continuing on with his cabling.  Steve looked at the door and quietly said, “They should be back by now.”

“New York traffic is murder at the best of times,” Natasha replied encouragingly.  “After an alleged earthquake, people will be scrambling to get out of the city.  They’ll be back soon.”

Steve ran his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply.  “I-I don’t want to be like this.”

Natasha smiled slightly and said, “Yes, you do.  Everyone wants to be in love at some point.”

Steve noted the distant look in her eyes.  “Even you, Agent Romanov?” he asked.

She shook her head.  “I never wanted it.  It just sort of happened.”

“Back off, Stark,” Peter snapped, drawing everyone’s attention.

“You know, you’d probably be less tense if you took your mask off,” Tony told him.  “We all know who you are.”

“Seriously?”

“We have brains, kid,” Tony told him.

“And Tony has a pretty big mouth,” Steve added.

“Ms. Lewis wasn’t exactly helpful, either,” Coulson said, sparing a moment from his phone.

“Darcy let me down?” Peter asked, sounding slightly like a betrayed toddler.

“Only after Tony announced it to everyone,” Steve explained.

“Well, that figures,” Peter muttered before returning to his device.

Tony opened his mouth to respond, but Pepper’s voice interrupted, “Tony, stop it.  Come here.”

He sighed and walked over to her.  “Yes, dear?”

“Why did you bring him here?” she asked flatly, as though she already knew the answer.

“You know—”

“Just tell me again, please,” Pepper said calmly.

“I-I don’t do little,” Tony said quietly.

“And?” she prodded.

“Peter already trusts his life to tiny devices of his own design and I needed his expertise to free you from this…thing.”

“You needed him,” Pepper reminded him.  “And Peter came here for you, so let him do what he came here to do.”

Tony’s face twisted in distaste.  “I hate it when you’re right.”

“Which is, of course, most of the time,” she replied with a smirk.

Tony rolled his eyes before softly placing a kiss on her cheek.  Eric and Happy chose that particular moment to appear in the hallway.  Jane’s eyes widened upon the sight of her old mentor before a smile broke out across her face.

“You’re here!” she exclaimed, leaving her side of the lab to throw her arms around his neck.

“Jane, I’ve had some revelations,” Eric told her.

“Not the bad kind, I hope,” Jane replied with a small smile.

He shook his head.  “Thor, I think we’ll need your help.  Dr.  Banner, I think I’ll need your eyes.”

They went off to their corner of the lab while Happy stood at the door awkwardly.  When it was obvious no one else was joining Tony’s chauffeur, Steve marched up to the man and in a barely controlled calm said, “Where are they?”

“Hey, I know what you’re thinking, and this is really not my fault.  She—”

“Where are they?” Natasha asked, anger boiling just under the surface.

Happy stepped back slightly and gulped as he looked at her.  “She wouldn’t come with me,” he answered shortly.

“What do you mean she wouldn’t come with you?” Steve growled.

“She said she had something she had to do and then took off for the basement,” Happy explained.  “You know how she can get; she was pretty damned determined.  Your friend went with her!”

“You mean Bucky?” Steve asked.

“Is that his real name?”

“Your name is Happy,” Natasha reminded him flatly.  “And his name is James.”

“Why would she go down there?” Steve asked, looking between Happy and Natasha.

“She was in a hurry, and she doesn’t really seem like a fan of explanations,” Happy pointed out.

“That’s true,” Natasha agreed.

“I’m sorry, Happy,” Steve apologized.  “I didn’t mean to snap at you.  I’m just a little on edge.”

“It’s alright, Cap,” Happy replied, moving away and eyeing Natasha warily.

Steve quirked an eyebrow as he followed the other man’s trajectory and said, “He’s built like a fighter from my day; why is he so afraid of you?”

“He’s seen me at work,” Natasha replied flatly, without looking at Steve, “and I put him on his back within five minutes of meeting him.”

“That’s not very polite,” Steve said with a hint of a smirk.

“He was being a bit sexist at the time; he had it coming.  James will take care of her, you know.”

“I do,” Steve replied gravely.  “I just…I don’t want to give Loki the chance to do what he threatened, and she just walked right into his path.  Why did she do that?  Why does she always do that?”

“She may have just wanted to give Maria Hill a piece of her mind.  I know I’d like to,” Natasha said with a grumble.

“General, I hear you,” Rhodey said loudly into his phone, attracting everyone’s attention.  “I will report as soon as possible, Sir.”

“What’s going on, Rhodey?” Pepper asked as he snapped his phone shut.

“They’ve scrambled the entire Air Force; Reserves, Guard, everybody.  I have to report for duty,” Rhodey quickly explained.

“Go.  See you out there,” Tony said extending his hand to his friend.

“You got it,” Rhodey replied, clasping Tony’s forearm before heading out the door to the staging area where his suit was located.

“The Air Guard,” Steve breathed.

“Captain?” Natasha asked.

“Darcy’s dad and uncle are in the Air Guard,” Steve replied quickly as he moved toward Jane and Eric.  “Dr. Selvig, did Darcy know about the Guard being sent into all of this?”

Eric allowed himself to be distracted only as long as it took him to notice Steve’s deadly serious expression.  “She did, yes,” he replied.  “She was more than a little upset.”

“Wait a second,” Jane said, looking around.  “Where is Darcy?  What has she done?”

“She went to SHIELD’s basement to yell at Loki for putting her father and brother in added danger,” Steve explained.  “JARVIS, could you please locate Darcy for me?”

“Of course, Captain.”

“What’s going on?” Clint murmured to Natasha. 

She whispered her reply as everyone’s attention turned toward Peter, whose mask was shoved on top of his head like a stocking cap.  He gingerly attached his device to the preexisting wiring on the back of Pepper’s neck and stepped away.

“You sure this is going to work?” Tony asked him.

“Nope,” he answered honestly.

“You’re not instilling me with a whole lot of confidence here, Parker.”

“Hey, the scientific method is trial and error,” Peter replied, turning to the older man.  “You asked me to create something perfect on the fly and that’s just not how I generally roll.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Betty said, cutting off the impending argument as she stepped onto the platform.  “Look, Pepper, you’ve put your body under an enormous strain with all of this.  Add in electric shocks to the cerebellum, no matter how miniscule, and we’re looking at dizziness, nausea, and loss of consciousness.”

“Okay,” Pepper said slowly.

“No, not okay,” Betty replied, shaking her head.  “Pepper, you might never wake up.”

“Are you serious right now?” Tony asked, standing next to Pepper and looking across to Betty.

“Tony, you’ve known me almost all my life, is this the sort of thing I would joke about?” she asked incredulously.  “The mind is a funny thing.  None of the things I listed may happen, but given the circumstances; I think a persistent vegetative state is a real possibility.”

“Oh,” Pepper said quietly. 

Tony was, for once, utterly speechless.  His mouth hung open slightly as though waiting for words that never came while his eyes glassed over with unshed tears.

“But you’re the famous Pepper Potts,” Natasha said, stepping toward them and breaking the silence.  “You’ve kept up with Tony Stark for more than ten years.  You’ve kept him relatively sane and given him something to live for.  Honestly, you were the only thing I was worried about when it came to getting close to Tony Stark, and I’m frankly still in awe of you.  You’ll get through this.”

Pepper smiled weakly as a tear escaped her eye.  “Thank you, Natalie.”

Natasha genuinely returned her smile, “You’re welcome, Ms. Potts.”

Pepper turned her head in time to see Tony brushing away an errant tear.  “No matter what happens, I believe you can fix it.  I have faith in you,” she told him.

Tony smiled slightly before kissing her softly.  “That means everything.  I hope you know that.”

“I do.”

“Alright then,” Tony said stepping off the platform and stretching his hand toward the device Peter was holding.  “Give it to me.”

“You sure?”

“Positive,” Tony replied as Peter placed the controller in his hand.  “Bruce, remember you’re going to have to ramp the power up slowly or—“

“Or the whole place goes up,” Bruce finished as he took his station behind the force field generators.  “I remember, Tony.  Let’s go.”

Everyone took a whole step back as Tony fired the first volts of electricity into Pepper’s brain.

“The suit barely registered any interruption,” Peter reported.

“The field is still intact,” Bruce added.

While they had a brief sciencey conversation, JARVIS said, “Captain Rogers, I have been unable to locate Ms. Lewis via her cell phone signal.  I’m now attempting to find her through facial recognition and CCTV feeds.”

Steve and Natasha exchanged a worried glance as Peter loudly said, “It’s not about voltage, it’s about frequency.  Stark, just keep hitting the button.”

“You okay, Pep?” Tony asked, looking at her.

She nodded and said, “I know it’s not your strong suit, but just trust him okay?”

Tony took a deep breath and pressed down hard on the controller in his hand.  Peter looked at his computer screen and said, “Here we go!  It’s working!  Dr. Banner?”

“I got it,” Bruce replied, slowly pushing forward on a nearby lever.

Pepper let out a blood-curdling scream and Tony held his breath as though he was in physical pain.  The floor began to shake and everyone started looking for something to brace themselves against.  Moments later, Peter yelled, “We got it!” and Bruce shoved the lever the rest of the way up.  A shockwave radiated across the room, knocking everyone off their feet.

Steve groaned as he stood back up.  “Bruce?” he called out.

“Yeah,” Bruce replied, pulling himself up to look at his computer screen.  “The field’s holding.  We’re safe for the moment.”

Steve sighed in relief as JARVIS quietly informed him, “Captain, Ms. Lewis has just arrived in the company of Agent Hill and Sergeant Barnes.  She appears to be unharmed.”

Steve smiled to himself as he pulled Coulson to his feet.  “Thank you, JARVIS.”

“My pleasure, Sir.”

“Captain, there’s probably something you should know about Agent Hill,” Coulson began.

“Pepper?” Tony called out, crawling over to where she had collapsed in a heap of blue metal.  “Pep, are you awake?”

He looked over at Betty, who looked up from a tablet in her hands and said, “Her vital signs have returned to normal, but that doesn’t…”  She let her voice die rather than finish the sentence.

Tony pulled her body into his lap and said, “C’mon, Pep.  You’ve gotta wake up now.”  He withdrew his hand from the back of her head to find it covered in her blood.  “Oh, shit.”

Steve knelt down next to him and said, “Head wounds bleed a lot, Tony.  It doesn’t mean—”

“Will you please listen to me?” Tony said, ignoring Steve completely and holding Pepper’s face close to his own.  “Natashalie is right.  Most of the good I’ve done in my life, I’ve done because of you.  So you have got to wake up, you hear me?  Wake up, goddammit!”

“Oh, God, will you just shut up and kiss me already?” Pepper groaned.

Tony laughed loudly as he unceremoniously smashed his lips against hers.  A communal sigh of relief spread throughout the room.  Betty’s knees started to buckle before Bruce caught her in a tight hug.

“I fucking love you,” Tony said when he broke away for air.

“Thank you…I think,” she replied with a raised eyebrow.

Their joy was short lived, however.  Heavy, metal blast doors suddenly covered the only entrance to the room and main lights went out, leaving only the emergency lights to illuminate the room. 

“What the--?”

“The field’s unaffected and holding steady,” Jane announced.  “That’s why we gave it an independent power supply.”

“JARVIS, what the hell are you--?”

“Sir, several security protocols are being overridden.”

“By who?”

“SHIELD agent Maria Hill.”

Everyone’s attention suddenly focused on Coulson.  He took a solemn breath and said, “That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier, Captain.  The word came down from the World Security Council yesterday afternoon; Maria Hill is the new assistant director of SHIELD.”

Natasha’s eyes widened as her gaze narrowed.  Clint openly shook his head.  “You have got to be shitting me!  I’m more qualified for that job, and I’m not qualified at all!”

“It was the Council’s decision and Director Fury didn’t exactly have any leverage to argue the point,” Coulson told them.

“I don’t really give a rat’s ass about your office politics,” Tony told them as he helped Pepper into a chair as Betty pressed a compress against the back of her head.  “Why the hell is she breaking into my building?”

“And what is she doing with Darcy?” Steve added.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Coulson replied honestly.

“Enough of this,” Thor growled, extending his right hand toward the door.

“Wait, don’t--!”

Tony’s protestation was drowned out by a massive, resounding thud that filled the room and shook the floor.  When the sound died out, Thor glared at Tony.  “Precious few things can stop Mjolnir from reaching me,” he stated flatly.

“It’s vibranium,” Tony told him.  “The same stuff Cap’s shield is made of.”

“How did you get that much vibranium?” Steve asked dubiously.

“There’s a small country in Africa sitting on a ton of the stuff,” Tony explained.  “I built them a school, they gave me vibranium doors.  Seemed like a fair trade at the time.  Parker, get her out of this suit.  I’m gonna get the doors open.”

As Peter and Tony traded places, Jane looked up at a security monitor and said, “Um, guys…”

They all looked up at the screen just as Maria Hill pulled Darcy into Tony’s private elevator with James following close behind.  “Darcy’s afraid,” Steve breathed, staring at the image.  “Something’s wrong.”

“Look at James,” Natasha said.  “I’ve seen him look like that before.  It’s not good.”

Steve’s eyes flicked over to his friend’s face.  Bucky did indeed look dead behind his eyes.  “Oh, God,” he whispered.

As soon as the elevator doors slid shut.  Maria Hill transformed to the form of a fallen, vengeful god.

“Oh shit!” Tony yelled.  “JARVIS, shut down the elevator!”

“Sir, my protocols have been completely overridden.  I am unable to—”

“Shut the hell up!”

“Tony, you gotta lock it down!” Bruce yelled, seemingly in a state of near panic.

“It can’t be locked down more than it already is!”

“What it are you two talking about?” Steve bellowed.

Bruce took a deep breath and said, “The Staff of Burin is downstairs in a secured vault.”

“Maria Hill would have had access to that information,” Coulson pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s not the problem,” Tony explained.  “The problem is that no one but Darcy has access to that vault, and now that psychopath has Darcy.”

“Why would Darcy be the only one with access?” Steve asked, confused.

“Because she’s Frodo,” Tony replied as though it were obvious.

Steve just blinked at him.

“I’m pretty sure that blank expression means he hasn’t read or seen Lord of the Rings yet,” Clint pointed out.

“She’s the last person who would want anything to do with it,” Bruce clarified.  “It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time.”

Steve looked at the screen and then at the closed doors.  Before he could get his plea out, Tony, focused on the computer screen, said, “I’m working on it, buddy.”

Loki, Darcy, and James emerged from the elevator onto the main floor of Stark’s penthouse.  “I can see you all now,” Loki began; “all scrambling about trying to stop me.  You won’t succeed.  This SHIELD contingency was very well designed, with the help of one Natasha Romanov, I believe.”

Natasha flinched at the mention of her name.  “I—”

“It was a good Idea at the time,” Pepper said as Peter removed a piece of armor from her leg.

“You know what?  I really don’t have time to be insulted right now,” Tony said, hurriedly clacking his fingers against the keyboards.

“Thor, come help me,” Steve requested as he desperately pushed at the metal door.

“You can’t force it open,” Tony informed them without looking up from his computer screen.  “Bruce couldn’t get through those doors if he was having a really, really bad day.”

“We have to do something!” Steve protested.

“Not everything can be solved through strength of character, Steve,” Tony yelled back.

“They’re in the central elevator,” Coulson informed them, his eyes glued on the screen

“I-I can just down the power to the central elevator,” Bruce yelled.

“Do it!” Tony ordered.

“No, don’t!” Thor shouted, effectively stopping Bruce in mid-motion.  “Loki is as a feral beast at this moment.  If you corner him, there is no knowing what harm he will bring to Darcy or the captain’s friend.”

“So we just let him have the Staff?” Bruce yelled back.

“What does this staff do that has you two so worried?” Pepper asked, rotating her now free arm.

“Well, I’m not sure what it does to everyone else, but I didn’t like what it did to me,” Tony replied without looking up.  Suddenly, another heavy door came down in front of the vibranium doors.  “You have got to be fucking kidding me!  How insane did you people think I was going to get?” he shouted at Natasha.

Loki’s unsettling cackle filled the room.  “You have trapped yourselves and you don’t even know why you must stop me,” he said.  “This must be so frustrating for you.”

“Cap, you can force this door up.  Use your shield as a lever,” Tony said before returning his full attention to his screens.

“I know my brother has not been terribly informative about the Staff of Burin,” Loki continued as he and his unwilling entourage exited the elevator into the hallway leading to the vault.  “He never much cared to listen to what his own father was trying to tell him.  He just wanted to fight and claim the throne for his own.”

Thor contritely looked down at his boots and said nothing in his own defense.  Jane touched his arm supportively and laced her fingers through his.

“Fear,” Loki continued, “is the most powerful force in the universe.  You should know that even on this pathetic excuse for a planet.”

“Parker, I need one of Pepper’s gauntlets,” Tony said calmly as Steve wedged his shield beneath the steel door.

“The staff isn’t a weapon as your puny minds perceive such,” Loki said, forcing Darcy’s face in front of an iris scanner.  “It is a harness; a harness for the most powerful force in the universe.  Imagine the fear you felt when you were left alone in the dark as a child.  Imagine that fear focused and amplified and multiplied by millions,” he finished as he forced Darcy’s hand onto a spindle-like device.  She yelped as blood trickled from her finger and the vault doors opened to Loki.

“This could get loud,” Tony warned them as he placed the gauntlet palm down on the console.  “Cap, get ready to run.”

Everyone steeled themselves as Tony activated the gauntlet.  A short whir preceded a pop then a crackle as the computer console sparked out.  The lights briefly went out before coming back on at full power and the two sets of blast doors started sliding out of the way.  Steve took off and Thor summoned Mjolnir to his hand.  There was a chaotic noise and shuffling until Jane’s scream pierced the air.  Their attention shifted in unison to the security monitor where Loki was nowhere to be seen, Darcy was bleeding on the floor, holding in her stomach, and James was looking at the gun in his hand in utter shock.

 

 

Chapter 38: Feedback

Notes:

I'm on a roll! Actually, I've been sick in bed all day and have been switching between this fic and my knitting. Anyway...Enjoy!!!

Darcy wanted to groan at every word coming out of Loki’s mouth.  He looked like Severus Snape and villainously pontificated like Hans Gruber.  She was 97% sure Loki had to have a killer Rickman impression whether he knew it or not.  She sucked on her bleeding finger as Loki swept into the room and grabbed the staff from its pedestal.  Darcy half expected Loki to turn into a giant or for the entire building to start shaking, but Loki just smiled as he hefted the staff in his hand.

“Okay, so you have the glow stick of destiny now, so just say the magic words and let us go,” she told him.

“I could do that, yes,” Loki replied, coming closer to her.  “But I won’t.”

Darcy braced herself against the wall to hide the shakes threatening to take over her body.  “Why?” she asked thickly.

“Because they have to know the price that will be required should they chose to fight me,” Loki told her matter-of-factly.

“They will always fight men like you,” Darcy told him firmly.

“Hence why I am requiring payment now,” Loki replied with a smirk before turning to Bucky.  “Take out your gun.”

Darcy’s breath quickened as she realized what Loki intended to do.  “Please don’t make him do this,” she begged.

Loki chuckled.  “You really don’t understand the quality of vengeance, do you?” he asked before sweeping out of the room.  Moments later, he yelled back, “Kill her!”

Bucky raised the pistol.  “Please, you don’t want to do this!  Bucky, please? Bucky!”  She saw the muzzle flash in the same moment she felt the burning impact to her torso.  She fell to the ground as the light came back on behind Bucky’s eyes and the pistol clattered to the stone floor.

---

… 

Silence fell among them as they stared blankly at the screen.  In the end it was Hawkeye who broke the silence and opened the floodgates

“Son of a bitch!” he yelled as he ran for the door.

“Clint!” Natasha yelled after him, although her feet seemed to be glued in place.

“Your boot!” Jane said suddenly, looking at Thor.

“What?” he replied, still blinking away his shock.

“The stone in your boot,” Jane reminded him simply.

Thor’s eyes widened.  “Yes,” he breathed before taking her hand and running down the hall.

Coulson ran after Jane and Thor, shouting into his phone for a medical team.  Bruce groaned loudly and was bent almost completely over before he fell to his knees on the floor.  Betty knelt down in front of him and took his hands into her own.  Peter was staring blankly at the floor before Tony snapped his fingers in front of the younger man’s face.

“Kid, you in there?”

Peter looked up at him.  “She’s my friend.”

“I know.  She’s my friend, too,” Tony replied, nodding.  “You have to make sure that force field holds for just a little bit longer.”

“But—”

“Peter,” Tony cut him off, “you’ve got to do this.”

The younger man slowly nodded and moved to look after the force field generator.  Tony knelt down in front of Pepper and started removing the last piece of armor from her leg.

“Tony?” she asked.

“Is your head still bleeding?” he asked without looking up.

“Not much.”

“You probably need stitches,” Tony continued without looking up.  “If no one’s in medical, I’ll have Happy take you to the hospital, if Selvig lets go of him.  He’s known her longer than any of us.  Where the hell is his heart?” Tony asked, his voice deteriorating to an angry hiss.

“Tony,” Pepper said more firmly, placing a hand under his chin and forcing him to look up at her.

A solitary tear rolled down his cheek.  “She’s only twenty-one,” he whispered.

Pepper said nothing and simply pressed her lips to the top of his head.

---

… 

Darcy had an epiphany as she lay on the cold floor: one’s life flashing before their eyes did not mean a movie of a person’s life played in fast forward.  It wasn’t about what you had done or could have done; it was about what you had yet to do.  That’s what flashed before Darcy’s eyes as the life literally drained out of her.  She saw herself holding a small blond boy while attempting to explain to Thor that a baby shower was not a literal shower.  She saw herself standing with her brother after his high school graduation.  She saw herself in a red dress, dancing with Steve as he held her close.  She looked down into the most beautiful pair of cerulean eyes as Steve kissed her shoulder as he stroked their daughter’s blonde curls.

… 

Steve heard the gunshot.  It didn’t make him want to stop or even pause; he just continued downward at a quickened pace.  Tony had apparently unlocked the entire system because he had no trouble making it downstairs and the door to the vault was wide open.  His heart sank when he saw a dark figure scrambling away from the vault.  It was Bucky, and he was running away, which meant the victim of the gunshot could only be one person.

“Darcy! Darcy!” Steve yelled, falling to his knees and pulling her head onto his lap.

“Oh, hey,” she replied, smiling up at him.  “You made it.”

He covered her wound with his hand in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.  “You’re gonna be okay, Darcy.  I’ve seen men walk away from a lot worse.”

She laughed weakly.  “You’re a terrible liar, Steve Rogers,” she said before screamed and shuddered at the pain obviously coursing through her body.  “It wasn’t his fault.  Loki had him under a spell.  You have to find Bucky and tell him it’s okay, okay?”

Steve choked back tears and said, “You’ll tell him yourself.”

“I love you,” she replied, stroking the side of his face with her fingertips.  “Clark always wanted an older brother.”

“Darcy—”

“Could you do that for him, please?” she pleaded.

Steve focused on his breathing as he saw Thor come in out of the corner of his eye.  Thor tried to move Steve’s hand from Darcy’s wound and Steve firmly resisted.

“Please,” Thor pleaded in a whisper.  “I can help.”

Steve reluctantly moved his hand brushed Darcy’s hair away from her face despite the fact his had was covered in her blood.  He slowly nodded and said, “I’ll take of C.K.  I promise.”

“Don’t let Tony teach him about women,” she warned.

Steve laughed even as the tears fell from his eyes.  “I won’t.”

Darcy looked over at Jane who was kneeling next to her across from Steve.  She weakly grasped the other woman’s hand and said, “It’ll be okay, Jane.”

Jane quickly shook her head as her eyes filled with tears.  “Not without you.”

“Yes, it will,” Darcy assured her.  She looked back up at Steve and said, “What were you going to ask me this morning?”

“It’s not important now,” he replied.

“It’s more important now,” she told him.

“I-I…It was selfish.  I just—I was going to ask you to stay in New York,” he told her.  “I know that Jane and your family and your school and everything are all back in New Mexico, but…I just want you to stay.”

“Oh,” Darcy said with a smile.  “I would have.”

“Please don’t go,” Steve tearfully begged.

“Don’t really have a choice.”

“Stay!  Please, Darcy, don’t go.  I love you.  Stay!  Please…I love you.”

Her eyes fluttered shut and she went limp in his arms.  He looked at Thor as the last bit of dust fell from his hand over Darcy’s wound.  Thor looked confused and heartbroken as he looked at the floor.  Somewhere in the numbed recesses of Steve’s brain, he heard Coulson shouting for a medical team.  When he started to crash that plane into the ice, he felt a similar pain; he knew he would never dance with Peggy or truly hold her in his arms.  This was a million times worse.  He'd had love, and it just died in his arms.

Blue eyes shot open and Darcy gasped as she clutched Steve’s shoulders.  Jane yelped in surprise and Coulson’s phone clattered to the ground.  Steve moved Darcy’s shirt from her stomach and smoothed away the blood to find only a small pink scar and not a gaping bullet wound.  He looked back up into her eyes and she smiled at him.

“Hi,” she said as a tear escaped her eye.

Steve made no reply but to kiss her hard on the mouth, not even breaking away from her when Jane and Thor enveloped them in a massive hug. 

When they finally did break apart laughing, Darcy wrapped her arms around Thor’s neck and said, “Thank you.”

He smiled and replied, “ You are most worthy.”

Darcy looked up at Coulson and said, “Come on, Son of Coul, you know you want in on this group hug.”

Coulson just shook his head as he picked up his phone and said, “She’s alright.  You can abort the pick up, but keep an eye on them.”

“Who were you picking up?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ms. Lewis’ brother and grandmother,” Coulson replied shortly.  “If you’ll excuse me, I imagine I have two agents to corral.”

Coulson walked out of the room and Darcy dramatically said, “He likes me; he really likes me!”

At Thor and Steve’s nonplussed expressions, Jane laughed and said, “I don’t think they know who Sally Field is.”

“Yeah…but they will,” Darcy declared.  “I’m totally having a Gidget marathon after this.”

“Hey, Li’l D,” Tony’s voice sounded in the room, “glad you’re not dead.  We’d hate to have to replace you as a bridesmaid.  Ow!  I was joking!”

The four of them laughed at the pain Pepper was obviously imposing on Tony.

“Anyway, hate to break up this heartwarming moment, but Bruce says we still have a world to save, so…hurry up.”

…

“Seriously, did they put you on some meds that turned you into a heartless bastard?” Happy asked as he moved another computer console for Dr. Selvig.

Erik shook his head.  “Don’t mistake my resolve for heartlessness,” he warned.  “We all know who is responsible for what just happened to Darcy, and if we don’t get a gateway built back to Asgard, Loki will never get the punishment he truly deserves.  And if the stories I grew up with are any indication, Asgardian justice will be much harsher and more effective than anything we can dole out.  Hold down this button while I adjust the phase settings.”

Across the room, Betty knelt down in front of Bruce and held his wrists together with her hands.  He was trembling within her grasp.  “Bruce,” she said gently, “it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” he replied heavily.

“I don’t mean that Darcy being shot is okay,” she clarified.  “I don’t even mean to say that she’ll be okay because I’m too much of a realist for that.  But it’s okay to be angry.”

“Not for me,” he said roughly.

“Yes, it is,” she insisted.  “It’s literally one of the five stages of grief.  She was your friend.  She believed in you, and she knew that you were more than just the Hulk, and you treasure that in people.  And we all know that that Loki guy is responsible for what just happened.  A young woman has been shot and the lives of at least two men have been ruined.  Feel free to get angry.  Feel free to get big and green and break something.  Feel free to break that bastard in half because God knows he has it coming.  It’s what the rest of us would do if we had the ability.”

Bruce heard footsteps beating a hasty exit and then he looked past Betty toward the screen in the corner and smiled.  “I am angry, Betty.  I’m always angry, but I don’t need to get angry right now,” he told her, motioning toward the screen.

Betty turned to see a very much alive Darcy hugging kissing Steve as Jane and Thor enveloped them both in a hug.  Peter whooped loudly and Erik laughed and sighed in relief.  Pepper released a long breath with a sound akin to a giggle as she said, “Wait, where did Natalie go?”

“My guess: to stop Barton from blowing her ex’s head off,” Tony suggested as he stood up.  “You know what, we’ve already saved Bruce, and Pepper, and Darcy today.  Why don’t we just pack it in and take the rest of the afternoon off?”

Bruce looked at him dubiously as he joined Peter at the forcefield generator.  “I had an idea.”

“While you were half-Hulking out?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.   We can create a feedback loop along the line of the Tesseract’s power generation,” Bruce replied.

Peter blinked.  “This is kind of outside of my area, so…why?”

“A feedback loop is what you were afraid of when we were generating both force fields in one place, correct?” Bruce asked Tony.

“Yeah.  Not only would the resulting explosion probably kill all of us, the field would collapse completely.”

“Exactly,” Bruce said with a small smile.

“What?” Tony and Peter asked in unison.

“I have a plan,” Bruce assured them.  “Just get everyone back up here.”

…

One Year Ago:

“Hey, you!  Where’s my iPod?”

“I beg your pardon?” the agent replied, looking down at the bespectacled young woman with her fists on her hips.

“Where’s my iPod?” she repeated.  “You guys took it when you decided to clear out Jane’s lab.  Since you’re here putting all of Jane’s stuff back because a Norse god threatened you, I thought you would bring my iPod back too.  Where is it?”

The agent checked his tablet and said, “There’s not an iPod on my manifest, ma’am.”

“Don’t you ma’am me, you—”

“Ms. Lewis,” Coulson interrupted as he approached, “is there a problem?”

“Yes, there’s a problem.  You people stole my iPod and you’re not giving it back!”

Coulson looked at the other agent and said, “Sitwell, is there an iPod on the manifest?”

“No, sir.”

“Then we don’t have it, Ms. Lewis.  Good day,” Coulson said before going into the former car dealership with Sitwell in tow.

“Hey!  Grrrr,” Darcy growled as she kicked the sandy ground.

“You should just give up, Ms. Lewis,” a voice from above told her.  “Nobody’s right more often than Phil Coulson, at least not in his mind.”

Darcy shaded her eyes from the sun and found there was a man sitting on the ledge of the roof of the old dealership.  “His name is Phil?  I could have sworn his first name was Agent.”

The owner of the voice laughed before scooting off the wide ledge and moving swiftly along the rusty sign before dropping to hold onto the stucco moulding. He then let go to easily drop down to the sandy ground.  “I’m Hawkeye,” he told her nonchalantly as he extended his right hand.

“Really?” Darcy asked as she shook his hand.  “Your parents must’ve really loved M.A.S.H…or Last of the Mohincans.”

“Neither, actually,” he told her.  “It’s a nickname.  My given name is Clint Barton.”

“Oh, so your mom really liked The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, or those movies with the orangutan!”

“Not anything as complicated as that, although my dad's favorite movie is Heartbreak Ridge,” he replied, laughing.  “My mother’s maiden name was Clinton, but Clinton Barton just sounds weird.”

“Mother’s maiden name, huh?  Like Clark Kent?”

“Wow.  Somebody’s a big Smallville fan.”

“No,” Darcy answered quickly.  “I mean yes, well…Tom Welling is really hot, what was I supposed to do?  That’s not why I know Clark was Martha Kent’s maiden name though.”

“I’m waiting,” Hawkeye said after a beat.

“My parents thought naming my brother Clark Kent Lewis wouldn’t scar him for life, so I learned an awful lot about Superman growing up.”

Hawkeye raise an eyebrow.  “Wow.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s not nearly as bad as what my grandparents did to my uncle,” Darcy said as she started ambling toward the center of town.  “His name is Maximus and he was born waaaaay before Gladiator came out, so there’s really no excuse.”

“I don’t know,” Hawkeye said thoughtfully as he walked beside her.  “I think Maximilian would be a lot worse.”

“Good point,” Darcy said.  “Drink?”

“Is the bar in this town even open?”

“It’s noon, and don’t even give me the ‘it’s five o’clock somewhere’ line,” she warned.  “Besides, I’m only twenty.”

“Seriously?” Hawkeye asked with a mildly horrified expression.

“What?”

“Nothing.  I just kind of feel like a pedophile for looking down your shirt when I was on the roof earlier.”

“I’m twenty, not twelve,” she protested.  “And I am not unaware of the fact that my breasts are quite nice and of the variety most men adore.”

“You mean large?”

“Exactly.  And just so you know, you have a very nice ass, and if the cut of your arms through that Under Armor shirt is any indication, I imagine you’d be a really great lay.”

“You want to go right now?” he asked with a smirk.

“I’d rather have coffee,” Darcy replied with a smirk of her own.

“Well, that’s not a blow to my ego at all,” Hawkeye replied, sounding genuinely insulted.

“It shouldn’t be,” she told him.  “Izzy’s coffee is the best in the Southwest, and I’ve actually had all the coffee in the Southwest due to this misguided road trip I took with four dudes one spring break.  And she’s open despite the fact she only has one window.”

“Well, that’s something to be said for the American spirit.”

“True that, homeboy,” Darcy replied, opening the door for him.

“You’ve never met a real gang banger, have you?”

“What you can’t tell by my fantastic grasp of the lingo?”

“Nobody says lingo anymore, Li’l D,” he told her as they sat down at the counter.

“Li’l D?  Really?”

“Yeah, like Li’l Wayne or Li’l Bow Wow.”

“I had such a crush on Li’l Bow Wow when I eleven,” Darcy said distantly.  “Two coffees, please, Izzy.”

“Just made a fresh pot,” Izzy replied, setting two cups out in front of them and pouring the brown liquid from a steaming glass pot.

“Hm, that is pretty damned good,” Hawkeye said after a sip.  “Had better in Colombia, though.”

“Of course you have,” Darcy said, rolling her eyes.  “So, how did you get a nickname like Hawkeye?”

“Your dad and uncle were in the military.  How do most people get a nickname like Hawkeye?”

“It’s really creepy that you know that about my dad and uncle, but I would have to say that you’re probably some sort of sniper.”

“I’m not just some sort of sniper.  I am the sniper.”

“Modesty is not a virtue for you, is it?”

“I’ve got generations of Army and Marine snipers in my background.”

“It’s a miracle you don’t have porphyria from all the inbreeding.”

“Burn.  I was also in the Olympics.”

Darcy raised a dubious eyebrow.  “Doing what?”

“Archery.”

“Really?  You’re about to tell me you’re one-sixteenth Cherokee, aren’t you?”

“Iroquois, actually, but that has very little to do with it,” he assured her.  “I’m great with a gun, but I’m at my best with a bow.  It’s mostly just the years of practice.  So, what’s the deal with your iPod?”

“They took it when they cleared out Jane’s lab and I just downloaded thirty songs onto there and they weren’t backed up anywhere else, and now your black suited brethren are claiming they never had it in the first place,” Darcy huffed.

“Uh-huh.  Did you actually pay for any of those songs you downloaded?”

She glared in response.  “It’s the principle of the thing.”

Hawkeye laughed.  “I’ll see what I can do.”

One Day Later:

Darcy was making the coffee the next morning when she notice a small, metallic rectangle with a note that was labeled ‘Li’l D’ on the kitchen counter.  She smiled as she opened the note and read:

Apparently, Agent Walker kept this in her personal possession.  Lucky for you, my skulking skills have given me plenty of stuff with which to blackmail her.  I do have a few questions, though: 1) Why does your ‘Morning’ playlist consist of mostly Katy Perry songs? B) Why is your ‘Mourning’ playlist mostly obscure, Scandinavian metal bands? And III) Why don’t you have any real rock on this thing?  (No, your ‘Flannel’ playlist of 90s grunge bands does not count.)  I have corrected this oversight with a playlist of The Who, The Stones, CCR, AC/DC, Grand Funk, Journey, etc.  You’ll figure out which one it is.  By the way, this means you owe me.

Darcy laughed before scrolling through her playlists until she found one titled ‘Iroquois’.

Present Day:

“Stop,” was the only command Clint gave as he found James running across Stark’s garage in the bowels of the tower.

James froze and turned to face the other man.  He hadn’t even heard him, which meant that Hawkeye was even better at his job than James had given him credit for.  Clint had his handgun trained on James’ forehead.  He wasn’t even trembling in the slightest.

“Loki have you under some kind of spell?” Clint asked with barely any inflection.

“It doesn’t matter,” James replied.

“Oh, yes, it does,” Clint told him.

“I don’t remember anything until I pulled the goddamned trigger and saw my best friend’s girlfriend bleeding on the floor.  Is that what you want to hear?”

“It wasn’t your fault, then,” Clint said, lowering his weapon slightly.

James laughed mirthlessly.  “You’re letting me off that easy?” he asked.

“You think it’s easy?  She was my friend!”

“Then don’t let me off,” James asked.

“What?”

“Just kill me!”

“No.”

“Oh, what?” James asked mockingly.  “You afraid Nat will never forgive you if you kill me?”

“Don’t you bring her into this,” Clint growled.

“Oh, come on, Hawkeye,” James said, laughing maniacally.  “She’s always been in this.  Admit it, you’re jealous because I’ve actually fucked her and you haven’t!”

Clint yelled in frustration and belted James across the face with the barrel of his gun. “You’re just trying to make me angry.”

James stumbled back a few paces and spit the blood out of his mouth before he said, “Obviously, it’s working.  Just kill me and get it over with.”

“No,” Clint responded, letting his arm drop to his side.

“Please?  I can’t go back now,” James pleaded.

“He won’t want you dead.”

“Steve Rogers is too damned righteous for his own good!  He always has been!  Just kill me and end it!”

“Is that really what you want?” Clint shouted, raising his weapon.

“Yes!”

“You really think it stops here?”

James grabbed the barrel of the gun and put it against his forehead.  “Just pulled the goddamned trigger!”

“Stop!” Natasha yelled, suddenly appearing and throwing herself between them.

“Nat, get out of the way,” James said, grabbing her arm and trying to force her from between them.

“No,” she said rooting herself firmly in place.  “Darcy isn’t dead.”

“What?” Clint asked, his arm dropping back to his side.

“Thor had some sort of stone that he broke over her and…it fixed her.  I don’t know how it worked, but he fixed her and she’s fine,” she explained before turning her head to look at James.  “There’s nothing to forgive.”

He reluctantly met her gaze and slowly shook his head.  “I pulled the trigger.”

“Yasha—”

“Don’t try to make this okay,” he warned.

“Come back with us.  We can help you.”

“Natalia,” he began, shaking his head and smiling sadly, “do you really believe that SHIELD is any better than the people that played with our minds and messed with our bodies until our lives were utterly ruined?”

She looked back at Clint who looked away before he finally met her gaze and smiled at her comfortingly.  She smiled herself before turning back to James and saying, “Yes, we are.”

James shook his head.  “I can’t believe that, milli moi.”

“Yasha—”

“Stop calling me that,” he told her before roughly pulling her to him and kissing her hard on the mouth.  The kiss ended just as suddenly as it had begun and James bolted toward a vintage motorcycle.

He revved the engine and, as he started to take off, Natasha yelled, “אני אוהב אותך רק!”

She felt Clint behind her as she held back tears.  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“Why?” she asked without turning around to face him.

“I was going to pull the trigger.”

She turned and saw the truth in his eyes and looked down at the ground.

“I also speak Hebrew,” he told her as he holstered his weapon.

Natasha’s eyes involuntarily widened and her mouth opened as her mind tried to form an explanation.

“Agents,” Coulson called from the other side of the cavernous room, “we’re needed upstairs.”

Both Clint and Natasha were grateful for the interruption.

---

…

They were all assembled.  Darcy had changed into a t-shirt that wasn’t covered in blood.  Steve had his outer jacket on and was holding his shield.  Even Tony was back in his armor, although without his helmet.  Clint had even found himself a bow and arrows and was solemnly standing with Natasha as she filled Steve in on what had happened with Bucky.

“Bruce, whenever you’re ready,” Tony prodded.

“Okay, what we’re going to do is create a feedback loop using the Tesseract’s own energy to collapse the naturally occurring fissures that have opened up,” he began.  “I started working on the calculations weeks ago and, with Erik’s notes, and Jane’s own work with the Tesseract, I’m about 97% sure this will work.”

“Well, that’s encouraging,” Tony said sarcastically.

“Ninety-seven percent is good enough for me,” Steve said.  “I get the feeling there’s bad news, though.”

“Yeah,” Bruce said meekly.  “To create the loop, we have to take down the force field and if we do that, we won’t be able to put it back up.”

“Which means what, exactly?” Peter asked.

“They’ll be able to open up their own Einstein-Rosen Bridge from the other side,” Jane supplied.  “It would be bigger than any of the pre-existing fissures.  They could move any munitions, or ships, or large numbers of troops across it.”

“That does not sound agreeable at all,” Thor stated.

 “Not necessarily,” Steve said, stepping forward.  “The enemy having a large bridge to move their forces across may seem like a bad thing, but it’s only one way in.  It’s a choke point.”

“Exactly,” Bruce agreed.

“So, we keep the fighting here until you guys figure out a way to shut down the Cube or send Loki back to where he came from?” Tony asked, looking between Jane and Erik.

“That’s the plan,” Bruce replied.

Tony shrugged.  “I’ve heard much worse.”

“There’s just one problem,” Darcy piped up; “Loki.  Nobody knows what he can do with that Staff.”

“It could be anything from controlling minds to using it as a facsimile to one of your guns,” Thor replied.

“Then you’ll just have to figure out a way to get him here, so we can send him back home before he really gets a chance for a demonstration,” Jane said matter-of-factly.

“Right,” Steve said solemnly.  “Set it up. Let’s get this going.”

The scientists started bustling about as Coulson ditched his phone and his jacket before taking a seat at a computer console and donning a headset.  Pepper placed a Bluetooth piece in her ear as Tony grasped her hand in concern.

“You sure you’re up for this?”

“I managed you for the better part of a decade,” she replied.  “I think I can handle an alien invasion.”

Tony kissed her quickly and said, “Cap, how do you feel about base-jumping?”

…

Within ten minutes, they were up on the roof.  Betty handed out earpieces and while Darcy did the final checks on Steve, Clint, and Natasha’s base-jumping equipment.

“What are we going to do if they change shape?” Steve asked.

“They won’t,” Darcy answered.  “This isn’t a secret invasion anymore; it’s a balls-out-rolling-tanks-into-Paris invasion now.”

“I think she’s right,” Betty agreed.  “You’ll just have be careful of stragglers.  If you take on a group, make sure you take out the whole fucking group.”

Steve flinched at Betty’s swearing and Darcy had to stop herself from giggling.  “She grew up with an Army general, sweetie.  She probably knows how to swear better than any of us,” she told him.

“It’s true,” Betty replied with a smug nod.

“They’re ready downstairs,” Bruce announced to them.

Steve looked around to the rest of them and said, “Are we clear on the plan?”

“Sure,” Peter said from behind his mask.  “we’re all clear on ‘the plan.’”  Darcy guffawed at his use of air quotes.

Steve rolled his eyes although it didn’t have quite the same effect from behind his cowl.  “Let ‘er rip,” he told Bruce.

An achingly long thirty seconds followed before they heard a string of loud pops resonating across the city.

“That’s the fissures closing,” Bruce explained.  “The SHIELD teams should be able to clean up whatever’s left.”

“What happens next?” Clint asked.

“That,” Thor replied, pointing at the hole opening up in an otherwise perfectly blue sky.

“Alright, we—”

Steve was cut off by a snake-shaped ship zipping out of the hole at top speed.  It’s trajectory was then cut off by the growling, green form of the Hulk tearing across its nose and pulling it toward the ground.

“Huh.  He really does turn green,” Tony mused.

“Yes, he does,” Betty said, smiling in a way that could only be called proud.

“Was that part of ‘the plan’?” Peter asked as platoons of Skrull started landing on the ground.

“It is now!” Steve shouted.  “Everyone to your positions!  Let’s go!”

Tony and Thor took off and Peter swung out whooping like the teenager he was.  Before he could leap over the railing, Darcy grabbed Steve and pulled him down for a kiss.  “Go get ‘em,” she told him with a small smile.

Steve had to put down the sickening wave of déjà vu that threatened to overtake him as he leapt off the building, gliding down with Clint and Natasha close behind.