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Chapter Text

He straightened his tie and smoothed back his thinning hair with one shaking hand and practiced his monologue one more time.
“My name is Doctor Craig LaRange and I demand to see Captain Rogers right this instant!” He’d practiced in the mirror, and then in front of his wife, who told him to be more stern. They would never let him in if they thought he was just a fan, trying to get their paws on Captain Rogers. He stared up at Stark Tower, a gleaming, phallic symbol in the sky, a bright ‘A’ burned bright even in the midday sky.

A shove to the shoulder got him moving and he stumbled his way into the reception area. There was an ostentatious water fountain in the middle of the area that was two lions with their backs turned toward each other, arched up in a frozen gold growl. There were potted plants, leather chairs, women and men circling the large reception desk in what looked like matching pant suits and was that a statue of Iron Man?

He shuttered and meandered up to the desk. He suddenly felt underdressed in his brown slacks and checkered shirt, a plain black tie that his wife had pressed for him. He put his hands in his pockets and fiddled absently with the watch that was in there. After ten minutes of shuffling forward awkwardly he was at the front desk. The red-headed receptionist looked at him with a tight smile on his lips.
“How can I help you sir?” He smelled coffee on the man’s breath, he could see a hint of makeup around his eyes and what looked like an rash breaking out by his collar, probably a reaction to cologne or laundry detergent.

“I need to speak with Captain Rogers.”

What he wasn’t expecting was for the man to laugh. But he did, loudly. Garnering the attention of his coworkers and a few guards standing near a potted palm filling out paperwork.

“Get in line.”

Craig felt his face flush in embarrassment. “Now listen here, I’m serious. This is a matter of life and death and I need to speak with Captain Rogers this instant.”

“Whose life?” The red headed man challenged. “Mine.” Craig snapped.

“Listen, this isn’t a security service. This is one of the most important offices in the world. I don’t have time to do this today,” He made a gesture with his hand waving over a guard. “Emanual, please take this man outside? Another Rogers fan.” He said. The security guard offered Craig a look of pity, and then held out his hand, giving a two short pumps that obviously meant, ‘right this way crazy asshole’, but Craig wouldn’t have it.

'She deserves better than this, and I’m running out of time.'

“I refuse! I demand to see Captain Rogers or I’m not leaving! You have no idea what your allowing to happen.” Emanual puffed out his chest.

“Sir I’m going to need you to come with me.” His voice was stern, but the pity was still there.

“I don’t need this! I need to see Captain Rogers!” He was causing a scene now, his face flushed in embarrassment and anger.
“Sir-!”
“Why do you need to see the Captain?” They turned to find Tony Stark in pressed black slacks, an ACDC shirt with a black suit jacket over it. Beside him was Pepper Potts, looking tan and fresh in a white pant suit and black brief case.

“I need his help.” He said. Tony Stark was honestly the last Avenger he wanted to ask for help from. He was the most self serving one, and may not have the same reaction to her as the others might.

“I’m going to need you to elaborate.” He said. Taking a step forward. Craig made a split decision. Looking around in all the cameras that Shield could be watching him through, he decided he didn’t care. She deserves better.

“Shield. Shield is after me, after us. They’re holding her captive! They wont let her go.” He rushed out. He didn’t know how fast Shield could be there to take him. They could already be in this building.

“Shield?” Tony Stark took a step forward. Eyeing the cameras. He quickly pecked Pepper on the cheek, and then took hold of Craig’s shoulder.

“Come on.” He led them toward an elevator. But Craig heard the screetch of tires outside, alerting him that they had come. He began to sweat.

He was pushed into an elevator.

“Jarvis, private floors. Lab 4. Lock down from 15 up. Lockdown. Nobody in. Nobody out.” He said. The elevator was moving at blinding speed and Craig felt nausea rise in his stomach. But he wouldn’t back down.
She deserved better.
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“I need you to tell me everything, no skipping parts.” Stark ordered. He glared down at the man who stared down at the interrogation table. Craig was sweating into his tie. His stomach in knots, regretting the oatmeal he’d forced down an hour before.

He was in an interrogation room. Everything was cold metal and glass where he was sure he was being watched from the other side.

“Captain Rogers.” He demanded again. He wanted to tell this to Captain Rogers.

“He’s on his way. And you better not be wasting his time. Or mine, for that matter.” Stark said. And leaned back in his much comfier seat.
The door slid open a moment after that. Captain Rogers stepping in. His shoulders looking like they barely made the cut, squeezing through. Behind him, closely followed Sargent Barnes. In black pants and a black T-shirt, the metal arm gleaming under the florescents.
Captain Rogers stepped silently into his seat. Flipping open a folder that he knew his face was in.

“From the beginning, please.” It wasn’t really a request.

“I was hired at Shield ten years ago, I was teaching at Brown at the time, genetic studies. Shield came to me, asked if I wanted to assist the world, I said yes. I’ve been there ever since. Taking care of their genetic experiment.”

“Genetic experiment?” Rogers questioned.

“She has a small genetic mutation, likely caused by her proximity to a nuclear reactor that her parents had cooked up in her family barn. Trying to make weapons. She’s been at shield since she was a little girl. Since her parents had no official record of her they have no idea how old she actually is. But her bone structure and mentality convince me that she’s maybe fifteen – sixteen. She’s told me her birthday is in October.”

“Besides the whole experimentation part what makes you think she needs saving?” Stark asks, earning a disapproving look from the Captain.

“What?” He shrugged. “Fury’s an asshole but we know that usually he means well.”

“They’re harvesting her!” He shouted. His voice echoing in the room. No one flinched. Barnes reached toward his belt slightly.

“Harvesting?” Stark and Rogers said at the same time.

“Her mutation, of sorts, is an odd one. It has … healing qualities. Can heal everyone but her. Everyone’s been telling me that they’re keeping her there to keep it from getting out but … they’re using her. Hydra used her, to preserve their life." Barnes gave a rough growl. Craig was aware of his past with Hydra, everyone working at the newly rebuilt Shield was. Craig clenched his fists.

"Now Fury claims she cant go because she’s too valuable. If someone got their hands on her.. but … she suffers with them. She’s educated through the computer. Doesn’t leave her room. Doesn’t know what most food tastes like, doesn’t have friends. I was planning on retiring next week, although … it might come early now… I couldn’t leave without making sure someone was there. She’s used to me, she comes to me, speaks to me, but they told me once I left, I couldn’t come back. I tried to get them to give her to me, they told me I was too old, and incapable. But her speech and behavior suffers from constant isolation. I fear what will happen to her without me to visit everyday. After her accident she’s suffered from a shell shock of sorts, loud noises, strangers, they make her hide under the nearest object. She’s skittish, and doesn’t speak well. But she’s smart, and talented. I just need to make sure she gets the justice she deserves before I leave.” The room was silent as he fingered his tie.

“My wife’s cancer has been gone for five years now, we promised if we made it this long that we’d go on a trip, around the world. We’ve been saving since we were nineteen, but I cant go thinking she’s all alone, and will remain that way until they finally suck the life out of her.” He dug in his pocket for his watch. Dropping it on the table and opening the face, taking out a folded picture and smoothing it onto the table.

A small girl, curled up on a mattress with a blanket covering her shoulders, long, dark, curly hair sprung from her shoulders, down to pool on the mattress in its length. She had a birthday hat on, and a piece of cake was by her food. She was smiling.
It read,

“Happy Birthday Darcy.”

Chapter Text

“Fury… Fury.. Fury..” Tony Stark turned the corner in the Avengers communal kitchen. “How’d you get in here?” Director Fury was enjoying a cup of coffee, absently flipping through a file.

“You think I’m going to tell you that?” He raised a dark brow.

“That’s okay, Jarvis will tell me.” He assured. Moving over to the refrigerator. He dug out the fixing for sandwiches. He began to spread mayo on a slice of rye keeping one eye on Fury who was absently sipping his cup of joe.

“So… child trafficking?” He said. Breaking the silence. Fury’s brow rose up to his bald head.

“That’s what your going to call it?” He said. Steve and Bucky inched their way into the kitchen, Bruce not far behind. Bucky sat his gun belt on the counter and began to make himself a sandwich. Snatching the bread from Tony, taking out two slices.

“What else is there? Kidnapping? Detaining? Either way, holding a fifteen year old girl hostage for ten years? You don’t think there’s anything wrong with that?”

Fury snorted, “He told you she was fifteen?”

Tony stopped slicing his tomato for a moment. Just long enough for Bucky to steal the three slices he’d cut and lay them on his own bread.
“She’s not?”

“I don’t think her age matters right now.” Steve levelled Tony and Fury with a disapproving look. Bucky subtly rolled his eyes. Laying layer after layer of roast beef on his tomatoes.

“Either way.” Tony began again. Putting turkey on his own sandwich. “Holding her hostage? That’s unlike you.. no… that’s exactly like you? How long were you going to keep her?”

“She has nowhere else to go.” Fury said, standing.

“Doctor LaRange said he’d take her. He’s been taking care of her.” Steve said. Shaking his head slightly as Bucky took a large bite of his sandwich, digging a beer out of the fridge. Bruce circled the kitchen a bit before coming up with an apple and some peanut butter.

Fury barked out a laugh, “Doctor LaRange only got so close to her so he could use her.” Steve rose a questioning brow at Fury.

“He thought we didn’t notice him sneaking home with her blood? He took from her to heal his wife’s cancer. I’m not stupid. I don’t think she needs to be with him.”

Steve cursed under his breath.

Bruce dropped peanut butter in bowl and drizzled it with honey. Almost looking like he was ignoring the conversation going on.

“Great. And you didn’t stop him?” Tony asked. Talking with his mouth full. It was that moment that Pepper stepped into the room. He’d had her filling out paperwork with Craig. Giving him some retirement benefits via Stark. Now he was regretting that. Closely behind her followed Coulson, in a navy blue pant suit. Coulson stood next to Fury after a moment, giving the room the same plain stare he was probably born with.

Pepper took in Fury, the food making and the disapproving slant of Steve’s shoulders and made a beeline to the wall bar.

“No. I didn’t stop him.” Fury admitted. “But she didn’t say no either.”

“Has she said no to you?” Tony challenged. Fury falter after that.

“Yes … but ..”

“But nothing! What do we call this? Super Power Rape?” He demanded. “So you what? Tie her down, stick a needle in her arm, and suck the life out of her so that your bullets are healed faster? Or what else could you be using her for? Drug making? Pharmaceuticals?”

The silence was deafening. He didn’t have to look at Pepper to see her popping the cork off some Spanish scotch and pouring a glass full.

“For fucks sake Fury!” He shouted.

The silence encased the room once more. Bucky took a deep sip of his beer and peered about, his training finding all the weak spots in the adversary. Taking in windows, escape points, people to protect. Counting the exact number of seconds it would take him to leap the counter and twist Fury’s neck into a bow
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“What do I need to do?” Stark asked. Bucky rose a brow at that. Stark was usually the last person who wanted to take responsibility for anything. That’s why he and Pepper where on the edge, teetering dangerously. Stark didn’t even take responsibility for his bots or is nosey A.I. But Bucky could distinctly remember Howard being the same way, all genius, no heart. He didn’t know what button this girl had pushed in Stark, but now he was curious.

“Excuse me?” Fury took a threatening step forward and Bucky’s armed whirred in warning.

While he didn’t like Stark all that much, he really didn’t like Fury right now.

“You want more weapons? Is that what you made me design that medical room for? So you could harvest little girls? You don’t think that’s sick. So what do I need to do for you? More weapons? Another helicarrier? Tell me.” He didn’t approve of the silence, so the next words came out in a deafening shout.

“Tell me!”

“What would you have me do Stark?” Fury asked. They were basically nose to nose now. Stark’s sandwich forgotten on the counter.

“Give her to me.” He said. It came out almost as a plead.

“Tony..” He whirled to face Pepper, who was ash face and stricken. “You cant take her from her home! You don’t know what you’re doing.” She said. The ash disappearing into an irritated red that as enveloping her face.

"You that place is her home!" He raged at her. But she continued on,

“And I don’t want to be in charge of her.” Pepper said, “You can barely keep a goldfish alive.” She argued.

Tony scoffed at her, “I’m glad you think so well of me Pepper. Don’t worry, you won’t even have to see her.” He said. Pepper stepped back as if she’d been slapped.

“Excuse me?” She said.

He ignored her this time. Looking Fury in the eye. “Give her to me. I think I’ve done enough for you.” He said.

“And if I say no?” Fury asked. Shifting away a bit. Bucky kept his eyes on Coulson who looked like he would be making a move any moment now.

“Then I pull the funding. Those millions of dollars I’ve invested in your R&D gone. Those hellicarries, and jets, and weapons and medicine. And I never publish for you again. All my research is my research. Not to mention all those secrets you don’t want to go online? Don’t think I wont.” He threatened.

Pepper was standing open mouthed. Steve stood behind Stark with his arms crossed. It was Bruce who interrupted next.

“I’d also like to say that I don’t know how comfortable I’d be with … lets call it helping, out Shield anymore if I knew that they were holding young girls captive.” Fury looked around at the figures that stood in stiff postures in the room and gave a loud laugh.

“You want this, Stark? You can have it. But don’t think I wont snatch it away from you if I feel like your abusing your pow-“

“Abusing my power! You have no idea, do you?” He snarled. Steve put a reassuring hand on Starks shoulder and gave him a light shove backwards so he could speak with Fury.

“I realize that the world has changed, but for some reason I didn’t think it had changed this much.” He said. Fury didn’t back down, perhaps that’s what made him the most mad. “If you really think you’re doing this girl a favor…”

“I’m not doing her a favor, I’m trying to keep her safe. You want her so bad, come get her.” He snarled.

But Stark was already gone, stalking down the hallways. Pepper close at his heels.

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“What do you mean I wont have to see her? What are you saying?” He turned, his anger red on his face.

“What do you want from me Pepper?” He hissed. “I’m trying, I’m doing everything I can. I’m sorry that I –“

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with you! You don’t sleep. You barely eat. You don’t talk to me! You know how much responsibility you’ve dropped into my lap I don’t even know what to do with you, you don’t want a new P.A. you don’t want to work in the office again.. you don’t want to do anything!”

“I fell from space Pepper! I saw things up there…” He trailed off. “Don’t worry, I just got myself a new PA” He turned to get back to the labs, he had some blueprints to go over with Jarvis.

“What are you going to do with a speech impaired, shell shocked, young girl, Tony?” Pepper asked. She had exhaustion in her voice.

“I’m going to let her live.” He answered.

Chapter Text

Bucky had often seen the disapproving slant of Steve’s shoulders. Many times back even when he was smaller, his shoulders seemed to show every emotion on the man’s body. And the way he was looming down over the resident assassins.

“Is there an explanation for this?”

“What happens isn’t always something we can talk about.” Clint was trying to explain. He really was, but everything coming out his mouth didn’t seem like an explanation, more like an excuse.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to talk about the torture and kidnap of a young girl either.” Steve snapped. Bucky kept his expression neutral, his eyes mostly on the Widow, who was in a chair, a glass of vodka in front of her, her expression cool, hardened. She was hiding.

“It’s not like that.” Clint snapped. “You think we would let something like that happen?” He asked. Hurt.

“You did, didn’t you!” Steve said. Clint stood then, chest to chest with Steve, who of course didn’t back down. Never could back down.

“You think if we knew she was being tortured we would have let her stay? And who even said she was tortured, that quack doctor!” He asked. Steve’s nostrals flared.

“Yeah, having your blood stolen from you is just a day on the beach.” He spat.

“Oh fuck yo-“

“Stop.” Natasha’s voice was solid. Both males froze.

“If you think it’s easy to turn our backs on the organization that saved us, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“Remember the red room?” Bucky broke in. Natasha paled a little under her foundation.

“Remember having no light, no food, fighting for everything you had, scared it would be snatched away… I remember. I wonder if she’ll ever forget.” He asked her. She looked away.

There was nothing left to say.
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Pepper dangled her wine glass from between her fingers. Watching the light play on the glass, flashing back and forth. The red wine sloshed near the top as she filled it to the brim. And for once she didn’t care if she spilt on the white carpet. Actually, she wanted to. She wanted to douse this carpet in red wine, destroy the windows and toss all this expensive furniture into the fire pit. Anger churned fresh in her stomach. She took a healthy gulp of her wine.

She glared into the fire pit. Her hair was wet, and tangled, her pajamas were silk, probably worth thousands of dollars, and she wanted to tear them to pieces. The jazz playing on the sterio wasn’t helping either. She wanted to yank the plug from the wall, throw it out the window. But she knew it would probably bounce back and hit her.

She was contemplating throwing the decorative pillows in the fire when the wine was pulled from her fingers. She jumped, and looked up, preparing to yell and Tony for stealing her drink. But was surprised to find Bruce, instead. Taking a sip of her wine.

She looked at him open mouthed.

“Bruce… I wasn’t expecting..”

“I know.” He assured. He sat in the arm chair closer to the fire and she awkwardly shifted around as he got comfortable. She looked up at him, suddenly embarrassed by her disheveled appearance. Bruce and her sat in silence, him sipping her wine.

“I never understood why Tony put a fire pit INSIDE the Tower. But then I realize that …these aren’t real flames are they?” He was saying, Pepper didn’t understand, “Not real flames but .. they look..”

“Flames don’t just come on with the flick of a switch.” He said. She flushed again, embarrassed.
“Of course.. is there something-“

“You can do for me? No… is there something I can do for you?”

She paused, and then sighed. She knew he was talking about the previous morning. It had been a day and a half since she had last seen Tony, or he had come out of his lab. She knew Bruce well enough that he wouldn’t leave that alone.

“No… Not really. I just don’t … understand where I’m at … where… we’re at .. I guess.” She said. Staring absently into the fake flames. She was suddenly glad she didn’t throw anything into it.

That would have been mortifying.

“I can see it.” Bruce stretched in the arm chair. It was hard to imagine there was a green, towering, monster inside of him. He was the most relaxed person she knew, but she supposed, he had to be.

“I mean, I can see him … where he’s at.” Bruce clarified.

“Enlighten me.” Pepper stole her wine back.

“He fell from a black hole, he doesn’t feel like he’s accomplished enough, his whole childhood situation ya know, not having a life of his own. He’s trying to make up for some stuff he did. He’s … strangely enough, finding himself. We all got to have that time in college, to decide who we were going to be, he never got that choice. He was always going to be Tony Stark.” Bruce said. Pepper absorbed this. It made sense.

He was always trying to live up to his own image.

They sat in companiable since for a while.

“You know I cant have kids.” She said. Bruce raised his brow. “I kept getting infections when I was younger, they found marble sized cysts in my ovaries. They were scared that they could turn cancerous and I wouldn’t be able to tell until it was too late … my mother had ovarian cancer … so, I removed them when I turned 21. I was scared, ya know? … I watched my mom go through Chemo and radiation. .. she suffered, my whole family did, I figured, when the time came I would adopt, but it never did. I’ve never really wanted kids. After having taken care of Tony for so long I found that I didn’t want to take care of anything else. Until now. Sometimes I look at him and wonder what our future is. And I don’t necessarily want kids but I want the choice. The last time I asked him if he wanted kids he said ‘not in a million years’ and kept working. Now all of the sudden he wants to pick up a fifteen year old girl … with us on the fritz … we barely see each other. I work more than I’d care to even admit.. Tony’s a science baby, I wonder what our future is.. he never even asked if I wanted kids…”

“And then he flew into a black hole.” Bruce surmised.

“Yes.” And then it all made sense. He didn’t need kids before, he had her, he had himself, he had the bots, but now … now he needs this.
Bruce watched her take in what he already knew.

“This is his second chance.” She said. Mostly to herself.

Bruce nodded solemnly.
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And they sat in silence.
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Tony leaned precariously over the cooler case. The girl behind the case fidgeted again, looking at him anxiously. It wasn’t often a billionaire stepped into the bakery. Tony checked his phone again, he was running low on time but he had no idea what flavor to get. He contemplated calling Pepper but then.. he realized..

Anyway, he turned back to the case. He was caught between chocolate and funfetti. There were two slices in each container, one for him and one for Darcy. He would have to make sure to pick up a drink for her to have.

“Can I help you sir?” She asked, finally. He perked up. He looked at her speculatively for a moment. He yanked his sunglasses off.
“I’m going to meet my new houseguest. She’s fifteen. She likes cake. But no one told me what kind to buy.” He spilled his dilemma. She pursed her lips, lifting a frosting bag to her chin and tapped a few times.

She leaned over the case. “Well, my favorite in the strawberry cream, it’s got real strawberries and fresh cream icing. But our most popular with the younger crowd right now is the blueberry paradise. It’s blueberry cake, with cream cheese icing, with sugared blueberries on top The mango cake is really good. If I were you I would impress with a more unique flavor.” She said.

He thought for a moment and bent down and scooped up the blueberry cake.

“If this doesn’t taste good I’m coming after you.” He said. Pointing at her with his sunglasses. She shrugged and pointed to her name tag, it read, ‘Kitty’

“Name’s Kitty Moe, here every Monday through Saturday.” She assured. Leading him over to the register where she started to check him out. Wrapping the cake in a puffy pink bow.

“Is there a name I need to put on here?”
He slipped his sunglasses on his face.

“Darcy”
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Darcy slipped around underneath her hiding spot expertly, navigating her body so that she was not only comfortable, but concealed. The room was pitch dark, because she hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights this day. This day was her off day, they wouldn’t be coming to steal from her today.

She hid her prize behind her back. Her flower had bloomed. She tucked it into her waistband, they usually took things form her. She wished she were brave enough to crawl out from under the bed to snatch the blanket off the top and roll in it. It was cold under here. They’d moved her bed to the vent to try and keep her from going under.

She’d been used more in the past view days then in the last few months. She was still suffering from dizzy spells and her arms were riddled with needle holes. Her head lolled from side to side as she fought to keep from itching the holes. If she did, they leaked. Often times they were too rough removing the needle and caused tears in the skin. She had a bed rash from laying in the same position on the exam bed, on the itchy lamb blanket they laid under it. There was a bowl of mashed potatoes on the floor somewhere that she’d ignored. The thought of eating more food they gave her made her stomach roll.

The last time they gave her the potatoes mashed, they had been drugged. They crushed up pills in them. They made her recover faster. If it was up to her she wanted her recovery time to be as long as possible, that kept them away. If she was ill. She used to make herself sick. It kept them from taking blood. That was good until the food started coming up on its own. They hadn’t liked that. She was on an IV after that, for months. Feeding her.

Her mouth grew sensitive from unused.

She heard the heavy boots of Fury outside of her door, and heard the door bang open. She saw the familiar black leather. He flipped the lights on and she flinched away from the brightness.

“Not hungry?” He boomed. He always spoke too loud in her presence.

She scoot further behind the bed. Hiding her prize in her pants.

“You have a visitor.” He said. She shuttered. It was probably another doctor. The door burst open again. This time more abrupt.
There was silence and then,

“I brought cake!”

Chapter Text

(Earlier on in the day)
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“Director Fury I’m sure you’re well aware that this isn’t a dictatorship.”

“And I’m sure you’re aware that when I do something, I know what the hell I’m doing.” He stopped pacing in front of the three holographic figures in front of him. Since the removal of Pierce, they’d quickly replaced him with Brandon Evers, new leader of the World Security Counsel.
But Fury quickly realized he was dealing with the same asshole, different day. The three north American counsel members stared back at him like he’d kicked their puppy and shit on their doorstep.

“You’re allowing one of our best assets out into the wild, with no protection, no supervision, who’s to say she doesn’t mutate again?” Evers asked.

“Who’s to say she doesn’t go out there and do perfectly fine? And with no protection? She’s with Iron Man!” He said. He could feel Coulson fidgeting behind him.

“Tony Stark is one of the most irresponsible humans on this entire planet, and you’re giving away our best asset to this man who can’t even keep his tower standing.” Evers argued back.

Fury felt the vein in his forehead throb and wished for just a moment that he could inject himself with Asprin.

“I would like to remind you that Tony Stark’s tower was taking down by alien space ships right before he almost sacrificed his life for your sorry asses.” He said.

“If anything happens to it, it’s on you.”

“She’s a her, not an it. Sir. And I’m sure that Tony Stark is going to take better care of her than you ever allowed us to.” Fury signed off and turned to look at Coulson. Who was giving him the same blank stare he’d been giving him for the past fifteen years.

“Mr. Stark is causing a scene down in reception.” He said, after a moment.

“Of course he is.”
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“What do you mean I can’t take this in? Its just cake!” He shouted at the woman again. Holding the cake container high over his head to keep from her grabby hands.

“Where’s son of Coul? He’ll understand.” He argued.

“Mr. Stark! I Cannot let you take outside food in here, especially into the detainee level. It’s against protocol A, section 25 of Chapter 7.8” She squeaked. He raised a brow.

“Where does Fury find you people?” He switched the cake to behind his back.

“Listen, cake is her favorite thing, I’m bringing it in, I’ll take the heat from eyepatch and Agent and we can work this out later.” He said, about to slide past. Guards were standing between him and the sliding metal door that would no doubt lead him right to where he wanted to go.

Just as the woman was about to make another flying leap at him to get the cake, the metal doors slid open and the familiar sound of Fury’s leather work boots clapped on the metal floor and closely following was the Agent himself.

“Well, look it who it is. Came to join the party? Sorry, I only have on slice of cake.” He thought for a moment, “Well two, but ones for me, one’s for the D-lady.” He said.

“Stand down Tara, I know he’s a pain in the ass. Next time just tase him.” He said. Fury gestured and Tony quickly followed them through the sliding metal doors.

“You really shouldn’t bring contraband in here.” Coulson said, after a moment of quiet walking.

“Someone want to tell me why she’s on the Detainee level.” He asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

“That’s where they told us to put her.” Fury said darkly. “And by them you mean the WSC?” He surmised.

“I knew you didn’t have it in you.” Tony joked lightly. “Just have to look beyond the eyepatch.”

They took pause next to a room where Fury punched in a security code and they entered, on the inside of that door, was another door. Which was tightly sealed and had a magnetic D, on the outside.

“I’ll go in first. Give me a minuet before you come in and make a scene.” He ordered. Tony watched as Fury went inside, he picked up the fact that there weren’t any lights on in the room. He felt the anger he’d been trying to push down rise up in his throat like bile. He fought the urge to call upon his suit, and wreck this place. His head started to throb around his ear.

“So you don’t keep the lights on?” He asked Coulson. Who turned and gave him a plain look. He pursed his lips for a moment, “No. She does that.” Coulson assured.

As they sat in silence for a while, Tony began to pace and then turned to enter the room, a pale hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“They didn’t know.” He said.

“Pardon me?” Stark turned, and faced him. Coulson could see the anger brewing in his brown, almost black eyes, and paused.
“The Widow and Hawkeye, they didn’t know. About all of this. Most of them don’t. The WSC backed Fury into a corner. Either he took care of her, or they did. They had her for many weeks, by the time we got her back she was … broken beyond what she is now. They have us following so many protocols and checking in so often we don’t have many choices.”

Tony waited, not knowing how to respond. Or if he could really trust the advice. Coulson straightened his tie, and prepared to take his leave.

“That having been said, watch your back.” Coulson left with a subtle flourish.

Tony straightened his suit jacket, looking at the cake, that was slowly beginning to sweat in the container, and without hesitation, flung the door open.
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Coulson took a turn down the right hallway, not flinching with a dark shape dropped beside him, he just kept in stride until he reached the elevator, sliding his security card in, he took a step in and the shape came with him. Standing slightly behind his back. The elevator began its ascent.

“Nat won’t come out of her room.” Was the thing he said. “She thinks that Stark thinks that she had something to do with it, and frankly I’m starting to think that too, you going to tell me what the hells going on here so I can get Captain America and the Snotty Soldier off my back?” He asked.

Coulson and Barton made haste to his office. Where Coulson shut the door, and proceeded to spill his guts all over his regulation shoes, fully prepared to face the consequences later on.
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Tony observed the room silently after his outburst. Nothing happened, no one was in here. His eye began to twitch.

“Is there a reason we’re standing here in an empty room?” He asked.

There was a small bed chained to the wall. Pale blue blankets, like you would find in a hospital were on top with two, small, flat pillows.

There was a medium sized dresser, there were clothes folded on top. All black pants and white shirts. There were two pairs of crocs on the floor. Small size. There was a thin ledge, and a thin window, where there was a plant, barely getting any sunlight, lying plump in it’s spot. The flower removed. The window wasn’t even large enough to get a full look outside.

Fury held a finger up to his lips, silencing Tony. And made a gesture that pointed to under the bed. She was under the bed.
She was hiding under the fucking bed.

There was a small wooden table in front of the window, just small enough for two chairs to be apart from it. A bowl of mashed potatoes was on it, along with a couple of slices of bread, some full water bottles and some orange pill bottles. He walked over and set the cake on that. And then stood in front of the bed again.

Tony felt that organ inside of his chest squeeze tight under the metallic pull of the arc reactor. She was hiding from them under the fucking bed. She was small enough to fit underneath the bed.

Even though he knew that she was under here, when he crouched down to look she still startled him. Curled up on the floor like a child, her hair swamped her. It was long, curly, spidery tendrils. Her pale hands were flat on the floor, holding her chest up off the ground. But it was her eyes that terrified him. Wide and blue, staring at him like neon beacons from the dark under the bed, stark against her pale skin. She was terrified. And now so was he.

They lay staring at each other for a while. He reached a hand out, she flinched backwards like he’d snapped at her and stared at his hand.
“I’m Tony Stark, you might have heard of me.” He said. She just stared at him.

“I’ve brought you some food, and I’m here to help you. Actually help you, I’m sure you’ve heard that a thousand times. But I mean it.”
She didn’t respond. And he was running out of ideas. For some reason he’d assumed the cake would make her fly out from under the bed, and it didn’t.

“Do you want to get out… of this building I mean, do you want to go outside?” He asked. Feeling oddly like he was speaking to a dog, but she seemed to respond. She opened her chapped lips but nothing came out. Instead, she reached a hand out
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He reached his a bit forward so that they could just touch the tips of their fingers together. Hers were cold, and shriveled like they were dry. He grasped them gently as she relaxed a bit. He gave a small tug. But Fury shifted in his spot and she flew back into the back corner, banging her head against the metal bars.

“No! No! No! He’s just here to watch. He’s going to get me the paperwork to help me get you outside.” He assured. She put her hand out again, and this time, she began to slowly slide herself out. Her helped her as she started to come out. Grasping her frail and thin shoulders, he helped her out. She curled in on herself on the floor, and looked up at him like a child.

He fought the urge to vomit, but couldn’t necessarily stop his gag at the vision of her arms. Holed and sliced they were raw and red. There were multiple ID holes littering her arms, one on her neck and deep bruising encased her legs and elbows. She was shaking, and he would bet it was from blood loss. He made a split decision and scooped her off the floor and up onto her feet.

He realized two things then, the first being that she more likely than not, was NOT fifteen. Fifteen year olds didn’t have … the parts that she had. Or that she was developing. Her face was too mature to be a teenager. But her bones said ten year old. Thin wrists, the skin stretched tight over the bones. He could almost see the white. Her veins were so close to the surface he could feel the throb of her blood rushing under her skin.

“You hungry?” He asked. He would wait until he got her to the tower before he started to deeply examine her. She gave a brief nod, he led her past Fury, to her table. She sat curled up, he opened the cake container and handed her the plastic fork that was entwined with the bow. She began to inhale the cake like he was going to snatch it. He drug the other chair over and sat close so he could examine her cuts. Some of the holes looked like they were staring to get infected. He looked at Fury, who was leaned against the bed post staring at him.
“Paperwork?” He asked. Fury shrugged and left him to it.

Tony turned to gaze at the girl. He noticed some of her hair had tangled itself into dreadlocks, her eyes were deeply bruised and she was starting to eat his slice of cake. He saw the goose bumps rising on her flesh and removed his jacket. She paused to watch him like a scared deer in the road. He wrapped her in it. It was then her eyes zero’d in on the arch reactor. Her hand reached out and then dropped to her lap.

“It’s okay, you can touch it.” He said. Her hand pulled out again, poking the metal under his shirt and then back to her lap.

“Do you like the cake?” He asked.

She nodded, more enthusiastic.

More hesitant, he turned, and asked, "Can you speak?"

She opened her chapped lips, and blood leaked from them just a bit, and then she said, “Yes.”
And then she vomited blue all over his shoes.
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tbc..

Chapter Text

By the time Steve and Bucky arrived on the scene, there was well … a scene.

He heard Tony screaming from down the hall, guards with guns were waiting anxiously by the doors, watching the commotion inside. They didn’t even need directions. Steve picked up the pace as he heard their neighborhood tech genius screaming. He and Bucky shared a tired look before continuing into the room.

“Back up! Back up! You’re scaring her!” He was shouting.

“Mister Stark, YOU’RE scaring her!”

“Not as much as your needle of doom!”

Steve paused, taking in the scene like his training called him to do. There were two people In lab coats, whom he presumed to be doctors, one with an empty drip bag and the other with a plug and an IV of sorts. Two guards were there but Fury was holding them back with the raise of two fingers, their guns were set in motion thought, pointed at Tony who was standing in a corner, in a puddle of vomit, holding a chair like a lion tamer, standing in front of a crouched figured on the floor.

“We need to check on her! She’s ill.” One of the lab coats was trying to placate.

“Not with that you don’t.” He gestured wildly with the chair. “You people are the reason she’s like this. Go away.” He snapped.
“Mister Stark!” The exasperation was palpable.

“Tony.” Steve barked. The guns swung in his direction, but he didn’t flinch away.

“Oh look who it is, the good Captain. Tell these assholes that I’ve got this under control!” He shouted.

“Really?” Was Bucky’s dry retort.

“Alright, weapons down!” Steve shouted. The guns fell, so did Fury’s fingers, and Tony’s chair. He turned toward the lab coats, “That includes needles in this case.” With a sheepish look the doctors placed their needles on the floor, and stood still. The room was stock quiet except the quiet gasping and sobbing of the ill girl on the floor.

“Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” He asked, Bucky recognized it as the ‘you better tell me before I get the shield out” voice, and rolled his eyes.

“Mister Stark has made the subject sick from eating too much sugar. Now he wont let us check on her.” The female lab coat said.
“I’m not a doctor or anything” Tony drawled, “But I don’t think you need all those needles to make sure she doesn’t have a tummy ache.” The ending came out as a shout.

“You’re the reason she’s sick in the first place!” Came the lab coats. As Tony began to yell at the lab coats again, and Bucky turned to speak to Fury about what had ACTUALLY happened. Steve began to head to the girl in the corner. When he was just a few steps away Tony poked him with the chair, pushing him back.

“Back up Cap.” He ordered.

“Really, Tony? You think I would hurt her?” Steve asked, offended.

“No. You stay here. Take this.” He handed Steve the chair, who looked at it, confused. And then turned around to comfort his new squire. Steve watched Tony hunch down in the vomit that smelled confusingly like cake, and began to pat her down. He yanked the pillow off the bed, and pulled the case off of it and began to wipe her down with it. He pulled her up like a toddler and began to clean her off. Steve ignored the marks on her for now, instead, stood with the chair so that Tony could do his thing. The lab coats inched in the edge of his vision and he held up the chair. Bucky snorted at him again, and the two coats jumped back.

Tony snatched the water bottle of the table and opened it, using the other pillow case as a wet wipe of sorts to clean her legs and arms off.
“I need one of the people in this room to get me a wheelchair or one of those movable beds. Don’t tell me they don’t exist, I’ve been in one before.” Steve turned to talk to Tony, He watched him clean off the girl who gripped his shoulders and was trying to scale his body, obviously still scared.

“One sec, let me get you clean then I’ll make an honest effort to carry you, no promises. Haven’t slept in days.” He was rambling, and Steve recognized this as Tony’s comfort zone.

A guard returned just as Tony was wiping the blue goo from her hair with a wheelchair. Tony snatched it from him, unfolded it, and sat the girl down in it.

“Mr. Stark, you can’t take her yet.” Fury ordered.

“Watch me.”
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“You couldn’t have known.” Was the first thing he said when she came in the lab. He was leaned over a gold machine, his hand deep inside, the other gripping a screw driver. She was surprised, of course, to find him working alone. She was most surprised, of course, of finding Pepper sitting at Tony’s desk, on his computer.

“What do you mean?” She asked. She sat in his rolling chair. Looking over the equipment laying about that Tony had left lying about. She had come down to talk to him. To try and explain herself at least as much as she could. She didn’t want to think about the looked he’d give her when he found out that she played a part, at least a very small part, in the girl that he was freeing from captivity.

“I could have. She was a floor down from me. Nobody was hiding her.” Was her answer. She looked around, feeling surrounded by eyes. Even though it was just Bruce and Pepper, who was studiously ignoring her.

She narrowed her eyes at the red head, having heard through the grapevine that her and Tony were on the edge, she didn’t quite know how she felt about the woman right now. Hearing about how she jumped into hysterics at the thought of Tony taking in the girl.

“They were just hiding what they were doing to her. Which is like the same thing.” Bruce rationalized. She studied Pepper’s hands, flying over the keyboard in the most familiar of ways.

“But I never looked. I never went to check. He blames me.” Was all she said. Pepper looked up at her at that. And for a moment, a rare moment of vulnerability, the women locked eye contact and shared sympathy. She understood Pepper in that moment, scared, confused, feeling a bit abandoned.

“I don’t want to interrupt, but Mister Stark is pulling into the garage. He should be up in a moment.”

They kept eye contact for a moment, before Pepper stood, straightened her white dress, and made her way out, and Natasha followed silently. If she couldn’t save the girl then. She would help save her now.
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Tony didn’t know what he expected would happen when he put a girl whom hadn’t been outside in years, in the back of his car and went 90 miles an hour down back roads and then honked his way through traffic to get home. But it wasn’t what he expected. Or, what he didn’t expect, or something along those lines. Either way she curled up in the backseat and shook like a leaf.

He’d tried talked to her, but she didn’t respond. She held her stomach, whined and cried and turned a little green. She didn’t vomit in his car though, that was good. It was only when he parked that he began to feel really awful. Her hair was caught in the seatbelt lock, she was sweating, crying and shaking, still covered in vomit, smelling like cake.

He didn’t know if it was even a good idea to put her in the elevator. He climbed in the back seat with her, sitting next to her waiting for her to acknowledge him. She sat up after a while. Her hair still caught in the seat belt lock. He made quick work of untangling it. Trying to smooth the storm that was her curly hair.

“You good?” He looked at her. She was staring at his chest again, the blue light almost beaconing her further. She laid her head on it, he realized it may be because it’s warm.

“How ya doing kid?” He asked again.

She mumbled at him, but it wasn’t anything legible.

“I have to tell you I have no idea what I’m doing here. I mean, I kind of came to get you because I didn’t think that what they were doing is right, but I’m not saying I’m going to do everything right. I’m just trying to … I don’t know,… give you a life or something. Something beyond online school, and vampires sucking you dry.” She looked up at him. He caught her blue eyes, and felt a twinge. She looked so vulnerable in that one moment, her eyes were watery and large.

“So.. I’ve got a huge tub upstairs that you can get into right after you shower off. I’ve even got some clothes for you but now that I’m looking at you I’m completely positive they are going to be too big. I also have bread. Bread and ginger ale, that will make your stomach feel so much better than it does now, so if you want, I can take you up there, or …” She looked startled at the option.

“We could hang out down here for a little while longer, I don’t care. Whatever you want kiddo.” She waited for a moment before pointing her index finger up.

“Good choice.” He huffed himself out and dragged her out to. Fighting the urge to gag at the way he could feel her bones underneath his arms, her skin was like nothing. There was no fat to keep him from feeling the shifting of her bones, the round shape of her joints or the shiver in her back.

He carried her to the private elevator where they stepped in and he stood her up for a little.

“Jarvis to the penthouse, and start a bath, and the shower. We have a guest.”

Chapter Text

By the time Pepper arrived on the scene, she was welcomed by splashing. And Giggling, it sounded like a child. She looked at Natasha, who was sharing her wary look. The redheads went deeper into Tony’s bedroom to get to the connected bath.

Pepper took in the amount of socks and screw drivers lying around and was saddened, it had been weeks, maybe months since she had slept in this room. She missed the bed, and the plush carpet. Nat stopped her with a grasp on her wrist. Pointing at a pile of clothes on the floor, covered in some sticky blue substance that looked like cake.

There was more splashing and giggling but they were close enough to now hear Tony’s voice.

“Alright, quit splashing me, we’re supposed to be getting you clean.” There were more splashes, and laughter. “Come onnnn.” There was a feminine giggle, that sounded very childlike in nature.

The scene in the bathroom was both endearing and disturbing. There was a girl in the tub. Her long hair covered in white goop that Pepper was sure was her coconut oil. She was in a blue T-shirt that was becoming see through, and Pepper couldn’t see her bottom half but prayed she wasn’t naked. Tony was holding one of her feet, sitting on a small rolling stool, scrubbing her foot with a sponge. She was splashing her other foot around getting water all over the floor and Tony, who was soaked head to toe.

“C’mon Darce, other foot.” He dropped that foot in the tub and got her other one. Pepper realized that the shower had been used as it was foggy and still damp in there. Natasha and Pepper stood unnoticed for a while. And all it took was a glance.

The moment her eyes met Peppers, she flung herself backwards into the tub. Nearly drowning herself as her head dipped underwater and she came up sputtering, panicking but not uttering real words. Tony leapt forward, dropping the sponge in the water and patting her back vigorously. He glared over at them, before realizing who it was, and then his face, dropped to that still and silent mask Pepper had grown used to in the last year.

“Tony… what are you doing..?” She asked.

“We needed a bath.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Tony you can’t.. it’s inappropriate.” She tried to say.

“She has clothes on Pepper.” He sounded exasperated. “She ran through the shower while I found her clothes to wear, and then I helped her scrub off in the bath. It’s not like that.” He spat.

“I know I just …” She shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know.” The silence was deafening.

“Can I help.” Natasha’s bleak voice cut through it, like a warm knife through butter. It wasn’t really a question as she had already slipped her shoes off and was strutting forward. Tony stood, blocking her way from the quivering girl.

“No.” Was his answer.

She looked at him, her face a mask of nothing, but he could see something dancing in her eyes.

“I would like to help.” She asked again. There was that something, dancing around in her voice. This time it was more forceful.
“What do you think you can help with?” He asked her.

“She can’t bathe in her clothes. Let me help.” She said again. Tony looked behind her, at Pepper who was pulling bubble bath out of a container from under the sink. She caught his eyes.

“We need to talk..” Pepper said.

Tony sighed, with his hands on his hips, and looked at his bare feet. Darcy, whom was still in the tub, looking at them with suspicion. He finally turned and faced her, kneeling down.

“Listen D, I gotta go talk to Pep. This is Nat, she’s … she’s good. She’s going to help you take a good bath.. I’m going to go right in the other room and talk to Pep, If you call for me, I’ll be here.” He rubbed a hand over her soapy head and pinched her nose before standing, gesturing Pepper into the other room.
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Natasha leant down, scooping her jacket off her shoulders, draping it over the hook meant for a robe, She noticed there was a robe waiting, it was terry cloth, with STARK, stitched into it. She leaned down in the tub, hitting the drain, and watching the water swirl, quicker than it probably should and reached for the bubbles.

She looked at the scared girl.

“Alright. Can you stand?” She asked. There was a head shake in the negative.

Natasha reached over and slid the shirt from her shoulders, and helped her out of the boxers.

“I know you don’t trust me.” She flipped the water on. “I know, you think I’m like them, but I’m not.” She looked in the eyes of the girl. The blue eyes startling her with their depth.

“I want to help.” She said again. “I want to fix this.” She said. The warm water caused a flush on both of their skin as Natasha picked up the sponge. Rubbing it gently on her feet. She worked her way up the right leg, gentle with the needle marks she saw behind her knee’s, and on the tops of her feet.

She stopped immediately. Upon the bruises she saw on the girls thighs. She felt nausea roll into her stomach.

‘please, no.’

She looked up at the girl, with dark, pleading eyes.
And stared.
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Pepper watched Tony change from his wet clothes into black cargo pants and a Batman shirt. The irony wasn’t lost on her. He faced her, his hands on his hips, his hair wet. He looked at her, with dark eyes.

“What’s happening here?” She asked. She sat heavily on the chair on the vanity. Picking at her nails. She noted the split ends of her frizzy hair, and dark bruises under her eyes.

“I don’t know what you mean.” He said. He rubbed his eyes with his hands.

“I mean with us, what are we doing? This time last year we were talking about, marriage, and the future and now … what?” She asked.
“Pep..” He began.

“Don’t talk to me about Iron Man… talk to me about Tony Stark.” She pleaded. He sat on the bed, rubbing a hand through his hair, anxious.
“This is hard, Pep.” He said. “This is hard because I don’t know if you understand, I don’t know if I even understand. Falling from the fucking sky.. like nothing. It made me nothing. All of this” He threw his hands up, “The tower, the cars, the mansions, the whole fucking business. This is nothing. If I am nothing.” He looked at his shoes.

“My mom and dad used to fight about money, all the fucking time, he seems like. My father, he wanted to charge on, build up his fortune he used to call it ‘mattress at the end of the fall’ my mother told him, that it would mean nothing, if he didn’t spend time with us.” He sighed. “I never understood that. Until I fell. This is nothing, when I’m fucking dying, old or some shit, I don’t want to just be Iron Man, or Tony Stark, I want to be….” He paused.

“You know a lot of this is my fault, I started this … arms race. I don’t know how to finish it.” He said.

“What do you want to be?” She asked. He looked at her.

“You said ‘I want to be..’ Want to be what?”

“A father.”

Chapter Text

Tony hadn’t really ever admitted that out loud.

Pepper, for all intents and purposes had been very clear that she could not have kids, and had not intentions of ever wanting them, and in the beginning, he couldn’t agree more. He had no desire to spawn something from himself. He even went so far as to have a vasectomy, when he was at 24. At twenty-four he tried to make a decision for the rest of his life. And while even now, he was a bit squeamish about something coming out with him in their veins.

He was sure about this.

The moment he heard the man talking, about the girl, it settled in his chest. Between the roof of the arc reactor and his heart, she nestled. This was his chance.

In the beginning, he could admit, it was selfish want. He could repay some of that debt that kept him awake at night, and at first he thought he could take her in, get her a babysitter, and get her well enough to function in the word. And then he saw the picture.

She may not be the child everyone thinks she is but she is not an adult. She was vulnerable, so vulnerable, trapped in a world people like him had created. When he’d snapped his eyes shut and helped her into her clothes before putting her in the bath, heard her giggle. He didn’t know what it was like to see a baby smile for the first time, or to see one roll, or walk, but he was sure it felt something like hearing Darcy giggle.

He felt needed, and useful, and .. paternal.

He didn’t look up into Pepper’s face, he couldn’t. He had guilt in his heart, but also he was sure. There was nothing she could say that would change his mind, or make him do any different. He hoped, somewhere that she would understand. But he was long past depending on Pepper, she was either with him, or not.

He peaked up at her, her mouth was opening, and her face was determined. And then the bathroom door burst open.

Natasha stepped through. Soaking wet, with an expression never before seen on her face.

Fear.
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Natasha stopped at the bruises. She looked up at the woman, and then back down at the bruises. They weren’t hand shaped, they were shaped like paddles, thin and long, around both of her thin thighs. Natasha felt her breath pick up, and took a deep breath.
“I know you can talk, and I know you don’t want to, but I need to know..”

Part of her wouldn’t ever really turn her back on shield, but she knew that if someone had laid hand on this innocent girl, and stolen that innocence away. She would not only turn her back, she would skin their hides. Of all the cowardly nuances she enjoyed in her life, she wouldn’t allow this one to go any longer.

She had stood with her eyes closed long enough, and now it was time to peak them open, and stare into the light. When she first heard about this project, she wasn’t aware it was an actual human, she thought it was just that ‘a genetic experiment’ Coulson had told her.
She winced at the thought, Coulson.

Then she’d seen them wheeling her down a hall, but she was smiling up at an elder doctor, and she figured it was a want to be there. There was, of course, talk around the Triskellion, about an unwilling participant in the MedX program. But she hadn’t looked far. That was just before Loki invaded, and the thought had left her mind.

Now she was regretting it.

“Hormones.” She said. Her voice was hoarse, form unused, and so frail and low that she could barely hear it.

She pointed toward the needle marks on the back of her knee’s, and then drew them up to her chest.

“They injected you with hormones?” She asked. She got a nod.

“And then what?” She asked. She stroked the girls hair as lovingly as she could.

“Machine.” She made a claw like motion with her hands. And gripped her thighs. “Open.” She said.

“They opened your legs?” She was having a hard time keeping her voice even, as much as it wanted to crack, break, shatter everything. She held it steady.

She got another nod yes.

“And then?” She asked.

“Steal.”

She broke.
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The door the bathroom banged open. Natasha stood there with a look of fear upon her face.

“Call a meeting to the round table, we need to talk.” She said.

Chapter Text

The table was at full set today. Bucky next to Steve, who wasn’t at the head of the table for a change. Next to Bucky was Clint, who was absently playing with an arrow next to a relaxed Bruce, who sipped iced tea with good posture. Thor was next to him, flipping through a book that Jane had given him on World War Two. At the head of the table was Natasha, next to her was Pepper.

They were waiting on Tony, who was still trying to settle Darcy in. He had set her up with a movie but she attached herself to his arm and wouldn’t let go, so he was waiting for her to fall asleep.

He stepped in, and found a seat.

The round table was developed as a safe room of such, with no camera’s, no outside access, the walls were cement, there were no windows. Just a glass table, three screens, three computers, and a steal door. It also operated as a panic room of sorts, as well, the floors dropped and it turned into an elevator that secured itself underground.

Not that Tony had told any of them yet.

When he got there Natasha was typing a hundred miles an hour on the computer. He sat down, in a new set of clothes and immediately began whispering to Bruce, who inquired how Darcy was faring.

“She’s fine. She’s sleeping. Jarvis will warn me if she wakes up and freaks out.” He said. He pulled a pack of gum out of his jacket pocket and began to smack loudly. His eyes were on Pepper as she chatted softly to Natasha, who finally stood and commanded everyone’s attention.

“MedX.” She said. Clint stiffened, “Tash we can’t..” she shut him up with a look.

“MedX is what kept Fury alive when he was shot by the Winter Soldier.” No one looked Bucky’s way. Although everyone knew it wasn’t his fault, it was still a touchy subject around the tower. His biggest sympathizer of course was Clint, who was the first to go down and spar with him or have a midnight chat with him, right after Steve, of course.

“MedX was a secret program developed in the R&D of the first triskellion. In the underground in Kansas, where … Darcy … was found. They were looking for a pharmaceutical that could not only keep them alive, but to sustain the lives of their experiments and subjects. The drugs that come from MedX are Baltrician, a blood pressure medication. Tromophosin an anti-psychotic, Loubavin, an anti-anxiety medication and Romlin, a numbing agent. Shield began to sell these medications on behalf of the board, in order to get money, but to also help with foreign affairs.” She pulled a screen, a 3D diorama of the pills arose.

“All of these medications have one thing in common. Compound Dx4. At least we now know what the D stands for. I hacked some files from Shield while we waited.” She pulled papers off the printer and threw them on the round table.

“The Dx4 is the compound found in Darcy’s blood, and in her genes’ – it’s compartmentalized in three different ways. They usually pull it from her blood, there it’s the most potent. But they have used her saliva, hair, even tried her bone marrow.”

“So us taking Darcy is us taking Dx4.. from whom?”

“Well the drug hasn’t officially hit the public market. The board … kept it private. Millionaires, Billionaires and some less savory groups who we work with.” The mob.

“It was expected to go further two years ago but there was a Hydra breakout. Then Shield didn’t know who to trust. After the clean up, they were working to go forward again but she kept getting sick.”

“How do you know all of this?” Pepper asked.

Natasha rolled her head to look at her, “I hacked doctor LaRange’s files.” And then she turned and spoke,
“They were going to go forward with the project when they discovered something … else.”

“Another compound.” Bruce said.

“Compound Dx10.” She answered.

“More than just a healing factor, more than regentative, she is immune. Her immune system is basically indestructible, if you chopped her finger off it would grow back.” She said.

“Dx10 is basically doctor Erskine’s formula. It makes you stronger, faster, more resilliant to disease. Unfortunately, Shield lost the files and the ‘subject’ during the Hydra invasion.”

Tony rubbed his eyebrows.

“So this formula, to make super soldiers, is just running around out there.” He said.

“That still doesn’t explain why she’s all banged up.” Steve said. “If she’s regenerative all that.”

“I believe her powers are more potent on other people and beyond that, from what we know about mutants. Their true strength doesn’t kick in until they really need it. Her body has grown accustomed to these bumps and bruises.”

“Excuse me. Super soldiers. Running around.” Tony butt it again.

“They were still trying to compartmentalize it when Tony swooped in, and got Darcy.”

“So what happens to the pharmaceuticals now?”

Natasha bowed her head. “That’s … what I called this meeting for. Shield stole … Darcy’s DNA.”

Tony sighed, “I kind of figured they’d sucked a ton of blood from her before I got her..”

“Her eggs.” She said.

Bruce removed his glasses.

“They stole her eggs.”
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Darcy shook awake at the sound of a TV. The Wizard of Oz was still playing gently in the background, she rolled over. And looked for Tony.
Tony was an odd one. In her humble opinion. While trying to get her to go to sleep he’d rambled about the room she was in, how he designed it with his mother in mind, all the rosey pinks and dusky golds. She was buried in the blankets.

Tony was an odd egg.

He liked to talk, and had a weird thing with her hair. He spent a long time while they were in the bath trying to wash the vomit and knots out. He wasn’t all too successful as she felt the knots rubbing the back of her head. She sat up, and took in her surroundings. The bathroom light was on and she could see inside of there, so that was her first destination. She crept quietly into the bathroom and shut the door. Looking around. There was a big tub like in Tony’s bathroom and a glass shower. She dug around in the drawers and found what she was looking for. Scissors and a comb.

She refused to look like a prisoner, any longer.
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“So what’s the game plan here because we can’t let them do that?”

Natasha looked up at the team, “I’d like to clarify that this is a counsel decision and has nothing to do with Fury. He’s been veto-ing their decisions since they brought her back to shield in the early 90’s.”

Tony choked on his gum. “Early 90’s? She was just a baby then!”

Natasha looked at Tony, confused, and then back down to her files.

“Tony, Darcy is in her 20’s”

“She’s been with them for over fifteen years. She’s just not aging.”

Jarvis’s frantic voice broke over the intercom, his crisp British accent excelled by his panic.

“Mister Stark, Ms. Darcy is cutting her hair.”

Chapter Text

Tony can’t say he’d ever evacuated that fast before. Whipping into a suit was easy enough, it usually came to him. But the speed that he’d dragged himself from the table and out the door, pressing the code on the way out was incredible. He could feel someone hot on his heels and he was sure it was Natasha but he didn’t necessarily want her following.

This was something he had to do.

Her room was the guest room in his own suite, getting there was easy enough.

“Jarvis, close and lock the doors behind me.” He got into the elevator one step before Natasha and the doors slammed on her. He could almost hear her growl of frustration. He knew, part of him knew, he shouldn’t have left her alone, but he had to. He had to find out what they had done to her.

he didn’t care how old Natasha said she was, in his eyes, she was a child.

The suite opened up to him and he spun to the right, he made way swiftly down the hall. The door was cracked open the way he left it, and the wizard of oz was still playing on the television. The bathroom door was ajar and light spilled from the open doorway.

He pushed it open, and gasped.

The first thing he noticed was the hair all over the floor. It was covering every surface, long tendrils stuck to the tile floors and in the plush bath mats. She was standing in front of mirror, a rough pair of scissors in her hands and she was cutting, chunks, away. The curls were falling long and tangled down the floor. There were parts where her hair was still well past her behind, and some of it was diced fairly short. It looked like she was making her way clockwise. She cut off another particularly long piece.

She had a comb in one hand and was running it through the newly cut pieces and then running it through the rest, as soon as it would catch on a knot she would cut it off.

“..Darcy…” he voiced.

She spun and looked at him. Scissors locked in her hand like she was prepared to shank him with them. Hand shaking in trepidation, he noticed the sweat the bloomed across her brow, and her eyes, borrowed in concentration, the low blue depths swimming beneath her eye lashes.

“Baby…” He said. He could hear the sadness in his own voice and winced. “Why’d you cut your hair?” He asked. He stepped forward as she placed the scissors on the counter. She shrugged. Her shoulders drooped forward and her head bowed, almost as if in shame.

“Knots.” She said.

“Ugly. Knots.” She said.

He embraced her as gently as he could and hauled her out of the bathroom, shutting the door soundly. He put her back in the bed and sat in the chairs beside it. She was looking up at him with lopsided hair and big watery eyes.

“I have knots.”

Tears began to flood her baby blues and leak down her cheeks like a dam slowly breaking. He gripped her bruised and fragile hand. His heart weighed heavy behind the metal encasing that magnetized it.

“I do too.” He said. And as she cried, head on his shoulder, water soaking into is suit jacket he would be man enough to admit to her, one day, that he cried too.
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Natasha stared at the closed elevator and sighed. Knowing already that Tony had restricted their flow to his suit. And she really didn’t feel like pissing of Jarvis by hacking him. She slammed her hand on the metal surface, frustrated at Tony once again, booting her from righting her wrongs. She laid her head against it briefly and waited.

It was maybe twenty minutes before Jarvis opened the elevators back up. She flew on them, slamming the doors in Steve’s face. Steve had been more than sympathetic towards Darcy, even though she had kept Tony distracted from meetings the last few days and generally put the team in disarray, she knew that in Steve’s heart he knew Darcy belonged here. But that didn’t mean he was the best pick to comfort her. Not that she had any fears over him being insensitive, but she needed a gentle, calming hand, Steve might be a little too brush. She could remember him trying to help Bucky recover, and what a disaster that was, she wasn’t going to take the chance on Darcy.

When she arrived ,Darcy was sitting in the bathroom. On the toilet, facing backwards, in her hand was Tony’s phone. She was figuring out a puzzle as Tony lifted lengths of her hair and brandished some scissors, some sheers, a spray bottle of water and a wide tooth comb. To her horror she realized that he was going to cut her hair.

Tony Stark was going to cut her hair.

“Don’t.” She warned. They both turned to her, with deer in the headlights look. Tony went so far as to tuck the scissors behind his back like they hadn’t been there.

“Don’t do anything. I’ll do it.” She said. She removed her long shirt, and was in her tank top. Tony backed away. And sat on the bathtub. She could see it, the want to purge your old life from out of your skin. The urge to burn away the past and start fresh, if this is what Darcy needed, she would do it.

“Don’t worry, Darce. I’ve got this.” She said. She picked up the scissors. And went to work.

Chapter Text

Darcy stared down at the plate of steaming mashed potatoes and wondered if she could reach for the salt.

Conversation was all around her. People speaking, and digging into their plates of steaming pot roast that smelled faintly of rosemary, sautéed vegtables and mashed potatoes. All Darcy had on her plate was mashed potatoes. She was sitting on a chair, to cushion the bruises on the back of her thighs and buttocks, and the rest of her wounds were carefully bandaged. Her hair was pushed out of her face with a silk headband that the red head – Natasha – had given her.

She hadn’t had real mashed potatoes in so long. All she really remembered about them was that she liked them really salty. The salt was diagonal from her, right in reach if she stretched a bit, but she didn’t know if she was allowed, let alone should reach her hand in front of the blonde man that sat in front of the salt.

She held the heavy silverware in her right hand.

Her hand twitched.

She looked up to Tony, who was leaning toward the dark haired man – Bruce – and was saying words she couldn’t even begin to understand. His plate looked delicious. All of his food smothered in dark gravy. She wondered if she could have gravy on her potatoes. But remembering the blue vomit that had covered her kept her from even looking at the gravy bowl. She wanted to ask Tony if it was okay for her to have the salt, but he was speaking, and she didn’t want to interrupt. So instead she poked at the steaming potatoes.

She looked longingly toward the salt again, and reached out, slowly. She could see her bandaged hand shaking, reaching out toward the salt. She scoot up a bit, glanced around and saw no one looking at her, she inched forward some more, and gripped the glass salt shaker in her hand and began to pull it back. No one was still looking so she quickly dumped the salt on her potatoes. She set the salt back where she found it, right in position. And began to eat. As she began swallowing she looked toward a pile of dinner rolls that sat steaming and dripping in butter in front of her. She didn’t know if she could have those either.

She glanced quickly around.

No one was looking.

She leapt forward and stole one of those, cramming it into her mouth, nearly choking she chewed quickly. And then shoveled in more potatoes.

She looked up to get the salt again, and realized everyone was staring. And she was chewing with her mouth open. She clamped her mouth shut and held the soggy food inside.

“Chew.” Tony said gently and she did.

“Slow down, or you’re going to be sick again.” Tony warned. She nodded quickly, feeling the heat encase her face. Shame rushed up her throat and silenced her. She didn’t want to eat anymore. Even though, her stomach was growling in protest. Minuets went by and everyone kept speaking. A hand reached out, grasped the salt and salted her potatoes.

She looked up.

It was the blonde man. He went on speaking to the other blonde man, as if he didn’t do anything. She hesitantly picked up her fork again. And began to eat, slowly this time. She cleared her plate as everyone else was finishing. And handed it off to the staff member who came by. And then waited like everyone else.

A plate of apples, sautéed and over vanilla ice cream came to her. Everyone else got a thick piece of chocolate cake. She begin to eat the ice cream first, eyeing the apples warily. She didn’t know if they would make her sick or not. After the ice cream was cleaned up she slowly ate the apples. She could feel how far her stomach had expanded through the black T-shirt that Tony had given her. It had a picture of Iron Man on it. She wore it proudly. When she finished, she noticed that everyone was making their way to the room next door, where there was a flat screen TV.

Tony turned to her.

“We planned to watch a movie, if you want to you can come too. Or you can back up to your room. It’s up to you.”

“Choice.” She said.

He nodded, choice was right. She hadn’t had choices like this before. She didn’t know what to do. Would it be rude for her to go upstairs even though she was so tired? She didn’t want to insult her host. She was so full and warm though, more comfortable than she had been in a long time, she was tired. Exhausted really. But determined not to insult her host she pointed in the other room.

Tony made quick work building her a fort. Building up pillows, and blankets he made her a bundle in the corner spot of the couch. They bickered picking out the movie. The blonde man came and sat down next to her. He stretched his long legs out, and sat back, crossing his arms over his massive chest. The movie was about war. Saving Private someone…

She didn’t know. She fought her eye lids. And even lifted the blanket off her feet, hoping the cold air will keep her awake. But as her eye lids dipped down for the tenth time, the blonde man reached down and covered her feet again. He leaned in, and he smelled distinctly like warmth, and comfort and amber.

“Sleep” He said.

And she did.
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Bucky watched Steve watch Darcy. And recognized the look. It was the look of a man enraptured. He had to admit. Darcy was a bit of an enigma. She was small, and fragile. But he saw something in her eyes, in the way she snatched a roll off the plate like someone was going to steal it from her.

She was a survivor.

She had that edge in her eyes that told him if he made a wrong move, it might be his last move. But perhaps, she didn't know that yet. She didn't see the way she effected everyone in the room. Bruce twitching and observing. Clint narrowing his gaze on her. She didn't know the hold she had on the household, or what she had coiled up inside of her.

But he was going to find out.

Chapter Text

Legs swinging over the edge of the lab table she was seated on and feet swinging, encased in a pair of Tony’s old socks. Her attire: A sweatshirt that was too big and had a music band on the back and a pair of black shorts. A vanilla pudding cup sat untouched on the table next to her as she watched Tony bounce from station to station looking for something, all the while yelling at the little robot who frantically followed behind him.

“I know you took it you scrap metal piece of junk.” He was yelling at it. Darcy looked over at her pudding cup, it was looking deflated and a little wet and her stomach growled so she considered taking a bite or two.

After falling asleep during the movie and waking up in her new room her day had gone quick. Tony had showed up not long after she woke, probably told by Jarvis. He brought her some clothes and drug her off to the lab for what he said was “Her first day of work.”

This had been an exciting prospect, for she had never had a job before. Next to her was a phone, that she was supposed to answer if it wrung, but Tony had said it was okay if she hung up on them. He also said it was okay if she took naps on his couch, touched the machinery and ate in here. All of the things it said not to do on the door. It also said “No Girls Allowed” on the door, but she was allowed to ignore that, too. She picked up her pudding cup and plastic spoon and began to shovel it in.

The phone rang as she had a mouth full of pudding. She picked it up and held it by her ear.

“Stark!”

At the bark on the other end of the phone she hung it up in surprise. She looked up at Tony, who looked at her surprised, and then laughed.

“That’a’girl!”

She smiled.

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Steve was lounging in the sitting room, he idly watched the television, which was on a reality TV show, which turned out to be Jane’s kryptonite. The scientist was two bowls of popcorn in and she and Clint were arguing over some person on the show, he wasn’t really listening. It was nice to be in their company. Bucky was in the gym still, where he had been since seven that morning.

They were changing the channel to Jurassic park when Rhodey came steamrolling in. With a look on his face that usually meant Tony was in trouble.

Steve stood to greet the man, “Rhodes.”

They clapped hands

“Cap.”

“You know where the pain in the neck is? I’ve been calling all morning and I keep getting hung up on.” He was chewing the inside of his cheek in an obvious ‘I’m pissed off’ way.

“Should be in the lab.” Rhodes turned that way and began to storm that way, Steve followed, because no matter the circumstance, usually the two in the same room provided for some amusement. They came to the lab doors, and were kept out by thumping music. Rhodes quickly overrode Jarvis and let himself in. And came face to face with a desk. There was a large oak desk where an open space used to be. On the desk was a computer, a stack of notebooks, and a phone. And of course, Darcy. She was dwarfed in Tony’s clothes and was clucky away on the computer. There was a sign in front of the desk that read in Tony’s obvious hand writing, “Assistant.”

“Since when does Tony have a lab assistant.” Rhodes had to shout over the music. The girl still hadn’t looked up, she was typing away at the computer with skilled fingers. Surprisingly skilled.

“Since he practically adopted one.”

Rhodes shouted to Jarvis, “Turn the music off.”

And then the lab was in awkward silence. Darcy’s head jet up, she had a pretzel dangling out of her mouth, which she quickly shoved in and then flapped her hands uselessly. Tony came dangling out of a Iron Man suit that was suspended in the air, he wriggled down and lept the rest of the way. And began to saunter their way.
“Ah. Rhodey, I’ve been waiting for you to show up.” He said. He propped himself up on Darcy’s desk. Who was cramming another pretzel in her mouth.

“Who is this? Tony if you kidnapped another kid..”

Darcy’s head perked like a puppy, and Steve murmured “Another..?”

“Don’t ask.” Was the answer between Tony and Rhodey.

“This is my first lab assistant, Darcy. She’s been hanging up on you all day because you cant answer the phone like a normal human, and you scared her.” Tony said. He gave Darcy a pat on the head. She was almost done with her little bag of pretzels. Tony dug a bag of goldfish out of his pocket and produced it to her.

“Tony…. You had a meeting with the army leaders of the united states yesterday, and you didn’t show up. Now I’ve got them crawling all over my ass. I told you not to miss this.”

“Yeah. About that… I didn’t want to go. And Pepper didn’t remind me. And I had to take care of Darcy, so … we should reschedule.” He said.

“We cant reschedule the meeting already happened without you. In order to keep your suits out of their hands you have to appear. You’re lucky I was there, I rescheduled for Friday, that’s tomorrow and you need to go.” He said.

Tony turned to Darcy, “Want to go to a meeting?”

“Not so fast, Mr.Stark.”
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Darcy fought the urge to duck under the desk at the sight of the familiar face. Nicholas Fury was standing, boots shoulder width apart, leather jacket, dressed to the nines in all black. She cowered back into her recliner, it was Tony’s hands that stopped her from scooting back any further.

“I’m sorry, I hate to ask, but did you read the sign?” Tony asked.

Fury held up the piece of paper that had Tony’s rules on it, written in what looked like crayon. Under ‘No Girls Allowed’ it also said, ‘No Shield Agents.’ – that kept Natasha and Clint out most of the time.

“This sign?” He asked. Tony narrowed his gaze, the confident swagger was still there but there was the smart suspicion that made him Tony Stark.

“What can we help you with Nick?” He asked.

“We need to bring her in for examination tomorrow. I need to make sure that’s not going to be a problem for you.” He said.

“Actually it is, Darcy and I have a meeting tomorrow with the navy or army or something, and we cant miss it, her schedule is booked.” He said.

“I didn’t realize that Darcy was on your payroll.” He narrowed his eyes.

“Yup. Six figures a year, 401K, paid vacation, sick leave, the whole thing. So, I’m afraid she didn’t put in vacation, so she cant go.”

There were a tense few moments, as Tony and Fury stared each other down. And then a slight smirk cracked Fury’s face.

“Well played Mr. Stark, I’ll let the World Security Counsel know they have to schedule from here on out.” He said.

He chuckled on his way out, his boots not making a sound, “Well played.”

Chapter Text

Pepper leaned unceremoniously over the monitor and watched the situation with the eyes of a hawk, and she had to admit, even to herself, that Tony was sort of good at the whole Darcy thing. She had been watching them for the past hour, after breaking into the security feed of LABONE, she had made herself comfortable in her chair, and gripped a cup of coffee and a notepad. She knew it was bad, but she had come up here in the first place to prove to Tony he wasn’t cut out for this, he was waiting for him to yell at her, or shut her out, or let her do something she wasn’t supposed to do. And well, that wasn’t what she got.

Tony was gentle.

At the moment he was squatted down with one hand resting on the back of her head, and one pointing up into the belly of the gaping MIIV suit. It was still unpainted and in its skeleton. She couldn’t hear them, because turning the mic on would alert Tony to what she was doing. She could see when she zoomed in the camera, that his thumb was rubbing smooth, and delicate circles on the back of her head. He pulled some parts out of the machine and showed them to her, he let her hold them, and install them back in place. The phone rang off the hook, but they turned the volume off and ignored it.

Pepper didn’t really understand why she was so upset, perhaps it was because things had changed so suddenly, that in one instant they were planning their lives together and the next they just weren’t. Perhaps it was because she never wanted kids, and Tony was taking that away from her. And perhaps, the small dark corner of her brain whispered, it’s jealousy. She wasn’t jealous of Darcy in a romantic way, in any sense, the look on Tony’s face was nothing but paternal, worrisome, joy. But Tony needed Darcy, and it appeared he didn’t need her anymore. In those first couple of years being together, romantically and not, it felt good to know that someone needed her. In all of her past relationships, she was the one who was in need of the other, left at a disadvantage if they left. But in this relationship, he needed her, at least, she thought he did. And the thought of someone taking even one of her important roles away was nothing but heartbreaking. Tony was getting something he wanted, he wanted to be a father, but and Darcy could satisfy that need.

She could not.
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“What do you mean we have to set an appointment? I’m not setting an appointing with my experiment. You tell Stark to have her here tomorrow, or they’ll be hell to pay.” The words were whisper shouted.

“I think the ones who will be paying hell, will be us. You, of all people should know what would happen if Stark pulled his funding, Councilmen Brough, so will all due respect. I think we should just leave them the hell alone.”

Game set. Match.

Stark: 1
SHIELD: 0
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The farm looked like no one had ever left it, there were still signs of life everywhere. Natasha felt the ground below her squish underneath he soft heel of her boot. She observed the farm house with criticizing eyes. This was the place in which Darcy was taken.

It sat on thirty acres of land, the massive, three story compound was something to behold, despite the fact that it was covered in ivy and obviously falling apart, it was still beautiful. But it was still beautiful, almost as much beautiful as it was evil. There was something grossly disgusting about the home. There was a faded, lost sense of darkness about the home. They stepped off the quinjet silently, despite the boisterous comraderie that overtaken the flight, there was a still silence about them now. The five of them fanned out, all of them donning dark evidence bags strapped across their backs.

“We’ll fan around outside on the lands first, and then we’ll head into the house, and then the barn.” Bruce gave clear instructions, and with a wave of his hand, they were off. Natasha drug her glasses over her head and onto her eyes. And they fanned. Steve next to her, dead silent in his boots, a look of determination on his face, and Bucky next to him, metallic arm glinting in the bright sky. On her left side Clint walked, in converse and a pair of dark cargo pants he went casual. But no one more causal than Bruce, in his usual slacks and button down.
“For a place that’s been abandoned for decades, it sure has a lot of upkeep.” Clint mentioned dryly. She could see his point. The grass was long, but not too long, there weren’t weeds everywhere, things looked fairly… maintained. And that was worrisome.

They fanned out around the house, Bruce collected some paint samples from the house, and some grass samples from the home. Steve took some mud samples. Natasha watched. When they got to the back of the house, they froze.

There was a playset. There was never any mention of a playset.

But there it was.

Old, and wooden, and obviously constructed from hand. It was tiny, there was a small, half tire swing. A slide painted yellow. Some stairs, and covering it all was a tent cloth that had little hand drawn designs on it and then was stitched together with many different fabrics. They all inched to it, there was something haunting about it. Like something lived there, and never left. Bruce was the first to reach it, and immediately ducked underneath it to look around with his flashlight. Natasha’s eyes dusted the crooked stairs, she could imagine pale little feet dancing up the stairs, did Darcy play on this? Who made this?

“E.L.” Bucky muttered.

“What?”

“Initials, scratched into the surface, they say E.L.” She could see him writing it down in his book, and she leaned to snap a picture, when Bruce spoke up.

“Guys."

On the tip of his examination prod, was a small, yellow shoe.
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Darcy peered over the top of her desk, where she was seated with a small baggie of cereal. Her guardian – that’s what she’d taken to calling him – was face down, sleeping on the desk. They had already missed the supposed meeting they were supposed to be going to, because Tony insisted that she learn to make her own protein shakes.

It was strange, it had been so long since she had been in a safe place, she couldn’t even remember what this fluffy feeling was. But it was nice. She ducked around her rolling chair and scooted just a bit closer to Tony, she could hear his light snores getting heavier and heavier as he paraded deeper into sleep. She checked once more on him, and then edged out towards the bathroom.

She had been fighting the urge to pee for more than an hour now, she had become entranced at watching Tony, and then didn’t want to get up in case she missed one of his valuable lessons. Or, at least, that’s what he called them: Tony’s Valuable Life Lessons. They’d gotten to at least 25 in the last six hours, and she was dutifully writing them down on the pink post-it notes that were left at her desk and then folding them and tucking them into the large pocket of the hoodie that Tony had lent her. She kept a tight grip on them in the pocket though, because they were prone to slipping out.

She inched towards the sliding glass door and quickly typed up her message to Jarvis on the screen that popped up. She was able to communicate with him freely now, via keyboard and the little phone that she was given that was programmed only to Jarvis and Tony.
The bathroom was just right across the hall. She would have used the one in LABONE, but, as Tony had apologetically told her, LABONE was the smaller lab, and the bathroom only had a urinal. So unless she could pee standing up, which she seriously considered trying, than she needed to take her skinny butt across the hall.

Even though she could see the door, and knew what was right behind it, the journey to the restroom seemed a mile long, there was something, she thought, about the walk there that made her uneasy. And that proved to be right, when three steps from the lab door, a strawberry blonde strode around the corner.

Darcy froze.

Like a deer in the headlights, she didn’t know what to do. She knew from the little time that she has spent in the tower that the redhead didn’t like her. It didn’t take a genius to decode the sly, angry looks and under-the-breath huffing that was being emitted from her. She had mostly been spared her presence, except at breakfast. When Tony, after sleeping in the recliner in her room, had pushed her down towards the breakfast bar for a bagel and to hoard some snacks. The redhead had been at the counter, drinking coffee and eating an omelet. The air had become noticeably thick and tense. They had quietly gathered their things and Darcy tried to ignore the small talk that was being made, but she caught parts of it.

‘Didn’t come to the room last night.’
‘Was busy’
‘with her?’
‘What’s it to you?’
‘Jesus, Tony.’

Darcy froze, her left foot made soft impact with the ground and she stood perfectly still, wondering that if she didn’t move, would the woman still notice her. The woman came to a pause too. She was in a sleek white suit, she towered over Darcy, and as probably a few inches taller than Tony as well. Her heels were added effect. For some reason, Darcy couldn’t help but compare the two of them. Where the redhead was sleek, and groomed, Darcy was frumpy and grungy. She was in another pair of Tony’s old socks, these one’s had a small hole. A pair of black tights and this large hoodie. Her hair was tied back in a braid that Tony had watched her do this morning with fascination.

“You.” The woman’s voice was cold, and quiet. And it made Darcy flinch inside, because she had heard voices like that before. Usually they were followed with leg stirrups, needles and bags of blood. People usually treated her like that. But it was odd, because it was as if she had done something wrong. But she couldn’t figure out what that was. Nervously she forced her arms to cross and her hands to grip her elbows, fingernails biting into the skin. Her bottom lip became captured in her teeth, mostly to hold in her squeals.

“He let you out of the lab?” She stepped closer still, and while Darcy wanted nothing more than to put some distance between them, she couldn’t seem to get her feet to move. Logically, she knew where she was, she knew she was in the tower, in the hallway, across from the bathroom. But the room looked like it was changing, beige painted walls were turning cold and grey, warmed woodened flooring was shifting into cold, unforgiving concrete. It was like she was back there. Her teeth pierced the skin of her lip.

“I think you’re aware that I’m not … the biggest fan of the situation.” The woman kept inching closer, and Darcy kept biting harder
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“Because I love Tony, and I don’t want anything to happen to him, and I know what’s good for him, even when he doesn’t.” The woman was inches away now. The room had spun into that hallway, the same forboding dark space that she had lived in for so long. The white suit turned into a white jacket. She could taste the metal of her blood pooling in her mouth from the force of her teeth.

“And I will stop at nothing to make sure that he is safe. Even if that means getting rid of you.”

And then there was nothing.
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The home still looked lived in, and perhaps that was what made it so chilling. The front door came open with not much tampering and swung open to reveal a small foyer, that led up to a deep living room. They fanned out inside. Natasha’s eyes danced upon every surface for a few moments before jetting away. There were still toys on the floor. An ancient looking TV took center stage of the room. The carpet looked well worn. The kitchen was much of the same, a china cabinet, a dinning room table, cabinets full of plates and cups.

It wasn’t the house of harvesters, of people who built a nuclear reactor in their barn, of people who locked away their child. But things weren’t always as they seemed, that she knew for sure.

“Guys.” The voice came from upstairs, Clint, of course, who was eager to move through the house and come back for details later. They pushed forward, Natasha palmed her gun. The room that they stumbled on, seemed to put everything in place. Yellow walls, a rocking chair, a small toddler bed, toys everywhere, and the walls, the walls were covered in paint. Finger paint. Obviously don’t by a small child.
She felt herself unconsciously step forward, there were little clothes strewn about, a laundry basket still full of fresh laundry. And a picture, on the little stand next to the bed. She grasped it between her hands, ignoring the slight shaking of them.

A man and a woman, the woman tall and tan, with dark, long hair and big blue eyes. And the man, lean with straw blonde hair that peaked out from under a straw hat. And a little girl. With dark hair, chubby cheeks and blue eyes. They were smiling, and happy, the toddler was squished between two adults. The toddler bed in the room was made, a stuffed animal propped on it, the play pin was handmade.

This wasn’t a girl who was born to fiends, who was raised in a barn with a nuclear reactor. This was girl, who had been taken from a happy family.

And that broke her heart.

Chapter Text

Tony was a statue of stark anger beside Darcy’s bedside. His shoulders were tense and straight, and his mouth set in a hard line, his hands knotted together in a ball of frustration. Darcy lay prone on the bed, her head tilted slightly to the side, fingers twitching every once in a while.

“What else did you find?” He asked the team, who stood, leaning against the wall just having returned from the farm house.

“We found some evidence of Shield putting up a fight for her, My guess, Shield got wind of what they were doing – her parents were scientists – wanted in, and put their foot where it didn’t belong. Well, less Shield and more Hydra.” Clint drew. He was fiddling with an arrow at the end of the line.

“Drop all the evidence in the lab and Bruce and I will go through it once we’re done here. Natasha, Clint, try and dig up some Shield files on her if you can, Steve check in on the world security council, you’re the only one of us they want to see. Barnes…. I don’t know go do some pushups or something.” He ordered, they all stalked off, all but the redhead, who inched closer to the bed and shifted the blankets over Darcy’s prone little body.

“What happened?” She asked. She brushed a hand over Darcy’s hair.

“Pepper” He answered. He slid back, less tense in the room. “She’s cornered Darcy or something. Doc said it sent her in shock, said she probably had a small seizure. They wanted to take a scan but, I don’t know who I can trust around here who wont mouth off to Shield, so I’m waiting for Bruce to get back so we can do it ourselves.” He said.

Natasha was silent for a moment.

“You want me to talk to Pepper?”

“No. I’ll talk to her.” He promised.

And he would.

Because this couldn’t go on.

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Steve stood, feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed looking at the five faces in front of him, each of them wrinkled and frowning.
“We’re glad you’re here Captain, but could you inform us what this visit is about?” They asked. They’d had a rocky relationship ever since the whole Hydra thing. And while the council just as a general rule disapproved of the Avengers, they also saw them as a necessary evil and put up with them for the greater good.

“I’d like a little more information about Ms. Lewis.” He said, he decided not to shoot the shit with them today, he wanted answers.

“You have all the fil-“

“We have what you want us to see, but I want to know what there isn’t to see.”

“Either you tell him, or we do.” Steve spun to find Fury and Coulson, standing there looking very much like the powerhouses they were. Fury dressed to the nines in black, and Coulson in his traditional dark navy suit, with a red tie.

The council signed off, leaving them in the dark.

“I guess I have my answer.”

Fury led them to his office, where he put in the punch code, and walked in. Everything was matte black, the desk, the bookshelf, to the black wood floors. A computer was there, and some files. Steve took a seat in a familiar black leather chair and waited.

“I see that you made a trip to the farm house. We weren’t expecting you to move that quickly, honestly.” He pulled out a red file, with a black X on it, it was glaring against its beige brother and sisters.

“Darcy was taken from her home from Hydra soldiers in the early nineties. She was just a baby, really. A toddler. Her parents were killed. They originally went in to take the nuculur reactor they were building, it was supposed to be some kind of bomb, but when they got there they realized that some kind of human experimentation was taking place along with that, both the parents, Edward Lewis and Janet Lewis were not aging. That was like a gold mine for Pierce. He wanted a piece of that. ” He flipped the file to Steve, who thumbed it open. There she was, a chubby toddler girl, with dark, dark hair and bright blue eyes. Except, they weren’t both blue, on was brown.

“In the beginning, Hydra kept her in a home facility, because they didn’t understand that her blood was the key to what she did. She developed normally, like any normal child would. She even went to school for a little bit. During a physical, at the doctor’s they drew blood and tested it. It came back odd, and that was months before they almost just shipped her off to a foster family because she wasn’t doing anything special, she was aging. The blood results went straight to the top, and she became a walking, pharmacy.” His hands tightened on the file, when he flipped to a particularly gruesome photo.

She was lying there, maybe six years old, in just a pair of underwear, wires and tubes everywhere. He felt bile rise up in his throat.

“Sometimes they messed up and took too much. As you can see, that happened around the time I became director and they let me in on their little secret. I knew I had to take some kind of action. Keeping her here was the best I could do, I could make sure they didn’t kill her and at least try to educate her.”

He could see it on Fury’s face, the helplessness that was also swallowing Tony. She created those black holes, he wondered what would happen when the light began to shine in Lewis’s life.

“Continue.” He ordered.
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Pepper was sitting, still as a statue when Tony came into the apartment. The TV wasn’t on, there was no noise, just Pepper there with a wine glass. Eyes bloodshot, white suit not creased. Tony sat down on the ottoman, and rubbed his forehead, wishing for a moment that he wore glasses, thinking that perhaps that would help relieve the stress of his eyes from looking at her scans.

“Her blood and brain came back clean, she had a small seizure, but Bruce think’s it’s because of the stress and being off the boosters they were giving her, so Bruce is going to format something that was like that and wean her off of them.” He said. Pepper didn’t react to the news, and for some reason that lit the fire of anger in his stomach.

“Does that make you happy?” He asked. She looked up, startled her near perfect lips parted and then opened and closed again.

“Excuse me?”

“Does that make you happy?” He shouted. She stood, her glass hitting the ground.

“No! No! of course not!” She shouted back. Her eyes welled with tears and they slid down her face, leaving tracks of mascara in the wake of her foundation.

“Really!? Then what will, Pepper! Scaring the shit out of a traumatized kid, are you insane?” He shouted.

“No! No!”

“Do you have any concept of what she’s been through Pepper?” His voice fell to a pleading, disgusted whisper. “Have you seen her arms?” Pepper wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head.

“She looks like a druggie! Tracks marks every fucking where. She’s scared and she’s completely alone and you think that she’s the threat here!” He yelled at her, incredulous.

“What the hell is your problem?” He asked.

“You!” She shouted back. Her face had regained it’s color, and then flushed angry red.

“You are my problem Tony Stark!” She hissed.

“What have I done to you?” He asked. “What did I do that was so bad?” He pleaded.

“You abandoned me.” She said. He paused, and looked at her for a moment like she slapped him.

“I aban-“

“You left me. Before all of this … shit, we were happy. You made me happy. We were going to get married, we were going to travel the world, we were going to go to sleep happy and wake up in love. What about the wedding in the sky that you promised me? What about the holidays that you’ve missed, or my birthday? I love you Tony, I love you so much that I put up with all of this, but I wake up in an empty bed, I go to work alone, I don’t hear from you for weeks at a time.”

Tony’s ass hit the ottoman in shock.

“That’s what this is about?” He whispered.

“Yes! That’s what this is about! Not about Darcy, not about the suits, about us. I spend all my time trying to protect you, and you… don’t even sleep next to me anymore.” She whispered.

He stood abruptly and turned to her. Red faced, with black tracks and swollen lips, she looked younger and more lively than he’d seen her in a while, her face wasn’t frozen white in makeup.

“I’m sorry, Pepper. This doesn’t excuse what you did to Darcy.” She flinched. “But I understand. I do. I haven’t been a good … anything lately, and I’ll try to better, I promise. But Darcy is innocent. And I’ve already taken her in and I’m not giving her back. She’s part of my family now. And I’m sorry if that screwed up your plans, or if that ruined whatever picture you had for us, but there is nothing more important than life, Pepper, and I intend to give her one.” She looked at the floor for a moment.

“And you to.”

She blinked at that, and Tony reached out, lightly to touch her hand, she immediately grasped his back.

They could fix this.

They could.

Chapter Text

“I know what you’re doing.”

He ignored the voice from beside him and continued on with his work. He was sitting in his favorite chair, at his desk turned to face the couch, where Darcy was finally asleep. He had his tablet open on his lap, a large mug of coffee next to him, and now all he had to do was wait. He hoped that she would get at least four hours, and they were on minuet thirty, so he thought they were off to a good start. And now he was planning, and ignoring of course.

“Take her away, and I’m going too.” He spun a little at that and faced the red head assassin that was sitting on his desk. She had silently cleared herself a spot and sat, fiddling with a part of his laptop that he had yet to replace.

“Of course you are.” He drew, and of course she was.

“Moving her won’t help the situation, the tower is the safest place for her.” Natasha tried to reason with him, and in her most emotionless voice as possible. Her reasons for wanting to help Darcy were only partially selfish. She had lived two floors above this woman’s own red room hell and the least she could do was aid her recovery, but it was more than that. Like the Red Room, her future had been stolen from her. Even younger than Natasha was. She was taken from an obviously happy home, and into this fresh hell. The mental picture of her pointing to the bruises on her thighs haunted her dreams, more than any gunshots or gore scenes ever could. She had been Darcy once.

“It’s not actually.” Tony said. And that caught her attention, even more from the young woman sleeping on Tony’s couch, with a red Iron Man throw, and a large sweatshirt on.

“I’m pretty sure I remember you saying to me that the Tower was, quote, ‘nearly the safest damn place in the world’” She said, with sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Nearly, I said nearly.” He said. Not looking up from his tablet, because color schemes were hard.

“You have a bunker.” She deadpanned.

He looked at her, the classic Tony twist of his lips on his face.

“No. I have a mansion.”

She blinked at him.

“In the mountains.”

“Oh.”

Because of course he fucking does.

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Darcy shifted absently in her bed, she’d been awake for a while, but was fighting getting out of bed. Because it appeared that each time she left her bed, something bad happened, and if that wasn’t all the reason in the world to stay in bed she didn’t know what is. She’d had dreamless sleep. Which was not something that she was used to, honestly she was very used to waking up in a puddle of cold sweat but that hadn’t happened in some time. She adjusted heavily under the covers, although she remembered falling asleep on Tony’s couch, she was used to waking up wherever he drug her off to.

“Darcy.” The voice, which she had more than grown used to in it’s dry invisibility sounded above her, “Perhaps you would like a hot bath to continue your relaxation.”

Now that, sounded good. She tipped out of the bed and into the bathroom. Where she turned on the bathtub and took her clothes off, she spun, to pour bubbles into the bathtub but paused at a glance at herself in the full body mirror that was beside the tub. It had been some time since she had paid any attention to what she looked like naked. In her rooms at her old – prison – she wasn’t allowed mirrors, she used them as a weapon only once and they were taken away. She hadn’t wanted to see what she looked like for some time and that’s because usually when she saw herself, mostly half of her was blue with bruises and marks.

Now, not so much. She was pale, that was sure. She was pale with long limbs, slightly stooped shoulders with these little dots on them – freckles – round, pert breasts with red centers. A mostly flat stomach, it was rounding now from the food that she had been consuming regularly now. Her ribs were still showing a bit, but that would go away sometime as well. Her hair, that had recently been cut was a waterfall of curls down her shoulders stopping at her collar bone, the back was a little shorter than the front. She gave a slight turn and stared at her back, where her spine was still pressing upon the skin of her back, showing her spin with little difficulty, her shoulder blades like knives between.

Similarly, the backs of her knees and the insides of her arms were still covered by those little dark scars, those needle marks that she would probably always have. Her face, is what fascinated her though. Thin, too thin, razor sharp cheek bones, made her lips look thick and too puffy for her face. Nose set in the direct middle of her face, Her eyes were big in wide and blue on her face, and for a moment, she was startled. Because … she didn’t remember them looking like that. No, something was different.

They were supposed to be darker, one was supposed to be darker. She poked at the skin around her eye leaning closer to the mirror.

“What did you do to me.” She startled at the sound of her voice. She was nose to nose with the mirror. She examined her right eye, it was not supposed to be that color. This was the wrong eye. It was like she wasn’t herself, she was Darcy, but she wasn’t that Darcy. Her body was moving all on its own. She gave the mirror a good thump with the heel and a small sliver appeared.

“Ms. Darcy.” The voice was trepid.

“Quiet.” She murmured, one more good thump and it shattered. She took a sliver from the ground, ignoring her aching feet, and prodded around the corner of her eyes.

“Ms. Darcy I’m informing Mr. Stark.”

But she ignored him, there was something there that wasn’t supposed to be there. With familiar movements she made the first slash above her brow, exposing the wire, and down the side of her right eye and down towards her ear, pulling it out. There was blood than what she knew what to do with, it ran down her eye and onto her chest and onto the floor. Head wounds always bled a lot. On the end of wire was a little metal ball. She was examining the small ball at the end when the door burst open.

The red head woman was there, painting and looking startled.

She held up the wire and ball.

“Device.”

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10 Minutes Previous

The group meeting wasn’t going well, and that was normal.

“So you’re just going to move out, and leave us here.” Clint clarified.

“I’m not leaving you here.” Tony said.

“Sounds like you are, what about the Avengers?” Steve asked. His voice was all the captain.

“I never said you guys couldn’t come with me!” He threw his hands up in the air. But Jarvis chimed in,

“Mr. Stark, Ms. Darcy is …. Harming herself.”

Chaos ensues.

Chapter Text

Darcy looked over at Tony from her post next to him in the black SUV, his lips were pursed and the little line between his forehead was extra pronounced. He seemed to stay like that since she had removed the device. She thought in the beginning that she had made him upset, he had taken the little device and taken off with it. She wondered if he destroyed it. And then she realized that anger wasn’t the right emotion, Tony was sad. If not confused. She knew that he wasn’t punishing her but that’s what she felt like.

Natasha had helped her pack her meager things after her head had been taped up by Dr. Banner. He laid beautiful little butterfly bandages onto her forehead. And then they packed her things. Her new clothes, which were just Tony’s clothes, her little computer and her bathroom things. She took a nap on the couch and then they were all ready to go, a short plain ride later, she and Tony were stuffed in the back of a black car and headed ‘into the mountains.’ He hadn’t said a word to her in six hours. So she took the initiative. She owed it to him to make sure that he was okay. There had been too many nights when she had forced him awake from her nightmares, or slid underneath his workbench for safety. He had don’t so much for her.

With a shy finger she reached forward and poked the side of his head. His head jerked to the side, analyzing her. His deep dark eyes looked sad and droopy, he had deep bags underneath his eyes. She poked them absently. And then trailed her finger above his brow, where her device had been implanted. His skin felt smooth, and somehow rough all at the same time. Aged. He had laugh lines by his eyes, and his mouth was tipped up just a little naturally. A natural smirk.

“Device.” She said and he nodded, his jaw working as if he was grinding his teeth. The device made him angry, and she didn’t know if that was because he didn’t know that it was there, or if it was because of how she got it out. She didn’t think to wonder what it was, to her it was just ‘device.’

“Device made you sad. I sorry. I sorry Tony.” She said. She put four fingers over his brow in sadness. She couldn’t hug him because she was strapped into the seat. So the hand was as good as it was going to get. He gave her a startled look, eyes widening around the edges, his mouth working for a moment, before it closed. He gave a strange chuckle through his nose. He leaned into her hand slightly.

“Oh D.” He said. He reached his hand up and brushed his fingers over her bandage. “You don’t have to be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. Those Hydra bastards. It's their fault, I'm starting to think a lot of shit is their fault but don't worry, We’ll get them.” He promised. He laid a hand on her head and drug her forward, until she was resting her head on his shoulder. She had never had affection like she had with Tony, people tried to not touch her or doing anything with her for that matter.

“Take a nap we’ll be there soon.”

She tried to nap but she couldn’t. Tony was on the phone the rest of the ride there, more animated than he was before. He seemed to be having multiple phone calls at once, talking over the people on the other line. At long last he hung up and took a deep breath and looked down at her. She was looking up at him still, and gave her a little smile.

“We’ll have the house to ourselves for like … an hour. And then the crew will be here. I hope they know they’ll have to bunk up.” He said. He gave her a wink as the car came to a sudden complete stop. She peered out the window as she unstrapped herself. The house was big and made mostly of stone with high clear windows and a big landscape. It wasn’t as big as the tower, but it was just as grand.

Happy, the driver she had been introduced to came out of the car and got their bags. As Tony led her up the high stone steps into the house. She had been forced to put shoes on and she thought for a moment that she was going to slide right out of them.

“Come on, come on.” Tony urged her forward and paused, hunching over.

“Get on my back.” She looked dubiously at his back before climbing on. Her legs going against his side and her arms around his shoulders. He snatched the ‘flip flops’ off her feet and threw them on the ground and they went further.

“This is the house I grew up in.” He told her as he came forward, a key ring that she had never seen before came out of his pocket. She figured before that he had no use for keys, she actually hadn’t seen real keys in a long time. After the first building that she had been staying in was updated they had no use for them, the doors seemed to open on their own. And it was the same in the tower, there weren’t even door handles.

The home was beautiful and huge and homey. The floors that they walked in on were hardwood, a grand set of stairs cascaded up the foyer, he bounded up the stairs like she wasn’t on his back.

“There’s an elevator but no one has lived here in decades, so I don’t know about trying to use it.” He admitted. She studied the pictures on the wall, a lot of a little boy who was obviously Tony. And some of a brunette woman, and a dark haired man. These were Tony’s parents. He led her down a long hallway that was on the middle floor of the house. He pointed to the room that was next to the door they stopped in.

“My room.”

He pointed to the door next to it.

“Your room.”

He pushed open the door, and she felt … Tony. The room felt like Tony. Dark navy walls, a billowing white bed. There was no TV, but there was a big window, and a big map on the wall. There was a little room attached that was obviously the bathroom. There were three bookshelves pushed together covered in books. She lept off his back and went to study the books.

“If you like those there are more where that came from, there’s upstairs… it’s a library.”

She perked.

A library.
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“This isn’t smart.” Clint said. The ride on the quinjet was quiet, because no one was going to say what Clint just said out loud.

“I’ll fucking say it, it a’int smart. Moving into a smaller house, with Hydra’s biggest meal ticket a’int smart.”

“He said we could stay behind.” Bruce was buried behind a book, not looking up to face the excitement.

“I’m not staying behind if there’s any chanced that Hydra’s going to come out of the wood work. I owe those fuckers a visit.” Clint said, snapping. He had grown quite close to Bucky in the short time that they had lived together. Both of them formerly brainwashed had gained a sort of comradery around the fact that both of them had been mind controlled at some point in time. Clint was also probably the least fearful of Bucky (excluding Bruce, because what did Bruce have to fear?) He was the first to spar with him, and the first to leave the tower with him.

“The house isn’t even updated like the tower is, is there even a Jarvis?” He asked. Bruce gave a faint smile. “Tony transferred everything to the Adirondack residence before he left.” He had been there for Tony’s mad dash around the lab, the quick transfers, the money transfers, and him throwing the bloody cord in a baggie and dragging it out of the room. They had barely had time to make plans for him to be joined, before Tony was off.

“And we should probably also talk about the kid, while we’re here.”

“She’s not a kid.” Steve said. “You heard the report.”

“Okay but fuck, she’s mentally a kid, okay? You’re held in captivity can barely talk and all that, you’re a fucking kid. And Tony’s got this weird as fuck connection with her that we should probably talk about. Because if she turns out to be some kind of sleeper agent, or if we find any more ‘devices’ in her she might be a big fucking liability. Hey! Don’t look at me like that, I’m not trying to be a dick but you guys see something with big eyes and all that and fall right into her spell.” He said. He looked pointedly at Natasha, who was looking pointedly out the window.

“If she is, then we’ll deal with it.” Steve said.

“She’s fucking indestructible. How are we going to deal with that? Send the hulk after her?” He asked. Bruce stiffened under the scrutiny.
“She’s scared of her own shadow, I don’t think she’s going to go big spy mode any time soon.” Natasha said. She rolled her eyes, but inside she was planning. Because they had no real way of subduing Darcy if push came to shove.

“I’ll do it.” Bucky said. Everyone looked at him, hunched in the corner.

“If she needs subduing, I’ll do it.” He said. He flexed his metal arm under their looks and looked away.

Nothing else to be said.

Chapter Text

Darcy peeked up from under her safe spot under the table out the window, trying to gage the time. The sun was gone, and the light in the room was generated by the high chandeliers that were dangling in the library. She was on her third book of the evening after Tony had given her permission to explore she had crawled up and down the house. All the way down to the big kitchen in the basement. The lab where Tony would be doing most of his work, and all 12 bedrooms. The bathrooms and the big living rooms. This was the house Tony must have grown up in, there were marks of him everywhere. Dashes carved into the wood of an archway, height. Little bots, here and there. And even some photo’s – of a small, big eyed Tony.

She felt that perhaps, this was where she was meant to be.

Tony had been busy preparing for the rest of the team to come. Darcy wasn’t so sure about them, she had fit so well with Tony, but she was fully aware that she was a bit of a menace to their team, she hadn’t brought much good to the team. So while Tony was away, booting Jarvis, preparing the labs, he was up and down all day, having Jarvis check on her. Eventually after her running and exploring, she had done herself a favor and found the library.

Tony had kept the library fully stocked throughout the years, people had come to deliver books three times a year, sometimes before they were even out. The library was mostly windows with deep comfortable chairs, dark oak tables and rows and rows of books. She had snatched three off the shelf and crept underneath a table, and begun to read. Jarvis had checked in on her three times, and then seemed busy with Tony. She had folded herself underneath one of the heavy oak tables and read for hours it seemed. She had felt the safest there, just like the bed in the facility. But now, night had come, and she was sure the team was back, and her stomach was growling.

She wondered if perhaps Tony was hungry too, he seemed to only eat when she did. She wondered absently what he did before she got there. She crept down to the kitchen, quietly. She wasn’t quite used to being able to move about freely still, so when she did, she do so quietly – fully expecting the men in black to come bursting through around a corner to snatch her away. Part of her new that this wouldn’t happen, that Tony and Jarvis would not let that happen, but part of her would always be wary. There were three kitchens in the home. One of them was a large, industrial kitchen and one of them was a normal sized one. So she went to that one.

The meal she made was simple. She got pretzels and apples and put them on a plate. She thought about cutting them in funny shapes, but didn’t, just peeled them, and laid them in circle, and then searched for the peanut butter. Peanut butter had been a treat for her when she was in confinement. That and cheddar cheese. So she went in search of that too, but the refrigerator was empty, and she figured they would have to go to the grocery store to get things like that. With the plate in hand, she brushed off her clothes – Tony’s clothes – and headed to find Tony.

She paused though, before turning another corner, because the raised voices stopped her, and froze the blood in her veins.

Around the corner she could see Tony, her protector, pressed up against the wall by the dirty blonde haired man who had been giving her the evil eye since she arrived. That was when she felt the shift in her body. She had never felt particularly strong, as a matter of fact, she had almost always felt fairly weak. They had kept her weak. But there was something inside of her, building that she felt had been suppressed for some time. She felt strong. Her right eye, the one with the device felt like it was throbbing.

She wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt Tony, she decided. Tony had kept her warm and safe when no one in the world decided to. So she entered the room, laying the plate on the ground. There was a storm brewing outside, but she paid it no mind because something had caught her eye. She didn’t know how to protect Tony, because the blonde was so much bigger than she was.

But a weapon, gleaming and shining on the ground, caught her focus.

A hammer.

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The mood in the living room was tense, and that was the most the gentle way to explain what was happening. Arguments amount the group where frequent and explosive. Especially between Steve and Tony, but this time, for once, they seemed to be on the same side. It was Clint and Bucky, who were facing off today.

They had arrived at the home about 45 minutes previous, and the standoff had started then. Tony had been sitting in the living room, looking tense and dark like he knew the conversation was coming, and he probably did – Jarvis was the biggest tattle-tale that ever lived.
“Got a problem with my house guest, Clint?” He asked. He had a glass of something golden and probably aged in his hand. It had been a while since anyone had seen him drink, Darcy had been a welcome distraction from his PTSD and drinking problems.

“Don’t have a problem with her, just not being delusional about her either.” He said.

“She’s not dangerous.” Tony said, through clinched teeth.

“Like I said, she’s Hydra’s meal ticket, and you fucking took her. And now we’re all going to pay the price. I’m just saying, we have no idea about her ability, what she can do, and how she can do it. But we’re going to live with her.” He said. Clint seemed lax, not at all worried – But the trained eye could see the tenseness in his shoulders, and the tightening around his eyes.

Thor stood quietly in the background observing.

“She’s not dangerous. She’s in my care.”

“But you don’t know that.” Tony looked at Bucky, who had chosen that moment to speak. He tightened his eyes at him.

“You’re one to fucking talk, Barnes.” The quiet whirring of the metal arm broke the silence, at Bucky’s tensing it prepared or battle.

“I can control myself.”

“Can you?”

“Tony. That’s enough” The Captains voice. “Bucky, Clint, we have it under control. She has no where else to go.” Steve said, pleading slightly with his friends. This wasn’t he time to argue.

“She could go back to Shield.” Clint said.

“And be used and fucking abused like last time, fuck that.” Tony said. He snarled it, standing up. He and Clint stood nose to nose. The same height, shoulders huffing and chests heaving.

“We could make Fury prom-“

“And we could give you back to Loki and see what happens.” Tony snarled. Steve grasped his shoulder, pulling him back an inch.

“Fuck you Stark, I’m looking out for the good of all of us.” He snarled, spitting slightly – his eyes blue in fury and anger glaring at the man.

“Fuck you Barton.” He spat.

“You know what Stark? You got a big fucking mouth. Lets see how you do without the fucking suit on, see if you’re as tough as your words.” He said.

“Clint, knock it off.” Steve snarled at him.

“Get off it, Steve. He’s right.” Bucky snapped. Steve’s eyes snapped at him.

“Yeah Barton, let’s see.” Tony asked, in a flurry of movement, Barton had Tony up against the wall, they tumbled forward. Tony’s knee finding Clint’s stomach. Clint jammed his head into Tony’s who’s head bounded back.

“Big man without the suit Tony.” Clint snarled, nose bleeding slightly. Spitting little droplets of blood all over Tony’s white T-shirt. Thor stepped forward, going to separate them.

But three things happened in rapid succession that froze the whole room.

A large crack of thunder erupted outside, followed by a light blue streak of lightning. Then a panting Darcy appeared, she had at some point in time appeared in the room. She was just as Tiny, and fragile as she had been before. But there was something different about her, her eyes, specifically the right one was large and dilated under the butterfly bandages that were above it. Her lip was curled in a snarl. She stalked forward, and without hesitating scooped Thor’s hammer off the floor and threw it at Clint, it missed by a fraction leaving a large hole in the wall.

“Don’t touch my Tony!” She snarled.

Chaos ensues.

Chapter Text

Steve stared warily at the girl crouched behind Tony, in a ball so small she wasn’t visible behind his shoulders except peeks of her hair and little fingers that were dancing on his shoulders. The hammer sat beside her, gleaming almost smirking at the shocked company around it. After the whole situation had become silent, Thor had let out a loud booming laugh, startling Darcy into dropping the hammer on the ground and scurrying around Tony like a little animal and trying to help him up by pushing him forward. Tony stumbled to his feet, and then tumbled forward, grasping Darcy to bring her along too. They stumbled over to a couch and collapsed, Tony rubbing his sore shoulder absently. Darcy let out a little wounded noise and grabbed Tony’s bleeding nose, squeezing. Tony let out a loud yelp and snatched her hand off giving her a slanted glare that disappeared when he saw the fear on her face.

“I’m alright. This asshole just has a hard head.”

She held her hand up, finger brushing over his finger, she slowly brought her finger up to her mouth, like she was going to bite it, and he slapped her hand down.

“I don’t need you to heal me, it’ll heal on it’s own, you don’t have to do that anymore.” He said. Once realizing she wasn’t going to get anymore out of Tony she turned her glare to shocked and sheepish Clint who was freely bleeding down his shirt and being held by Bucky’s study metal hand on his shoulder. Thor stood in between them all, taking up a large amount space in the room with his wide and bulky shoulders and white, broad grin.
“I find that you’re all finished now?” He boomed. Smile never leaving his face, Thor was an odd creature. He loved strong and fought fierce, but he was much brighter than everyone gave him credit for.

“There are bigger things we need to worry about than each other. Like this Hydra that has become something of a pest problem in your world.” He commanded all the attention in the room, and most of the air as Clint’s head dropped, ashamed. Darcy was startled when he turned his sky blue eyes on her, looking slightly remorseful but mostly solidified. He was a short and stalky individual. And Darcy realized as she stared at him, that he reminded her of something from her past, something looming with big, bulky shoulders and a slanted little mouth, pink tongue lolling out of the side. A dog. A short stalky dog from her past, it was tan and white, and she remembered it, she remembered it lumbering down old wooden stairs, she remembered the heavy way its breath left it’s body when it moved to fast or jumped to hard. She worked to try and remember the name, only catching glimmers of what the man before her was saying,

“ – It’s not that I don’t want you to be better, and I’ll admit I went about this the wrong way, I did! Okay! I get it. But this team is my family, and I just want them to be safe. And you too, I want you to be safe too.. so .. what do you say kid, you forgive me?”

“Blues” She said.

The man’s eyes squint at her.

“What’s that?”

“I had a dog. His name was Blues. He was a fat dog, he was white and tan. His name was Blues. I remember. I remember blues.”

.

.

.

Darcy had been tucked (as much as she could be. Tony had stayed with her at least until she had stopped squirming. He then gave her a valium and left her in a puddle) he joined Bruce in their makeshift lab, going over some files.

Bruce laid a picture on the table in front of him as he took a hard sip of his coffee, Bruce nursed a big glass mug of tea, and gave him a weak look.

“I found the dog.”

The small album of pictures they had taken from the old farmhouse, was laid on the table, the pictures scattered and numbered with removable stickers to try and lay Darcy’s life out chronologically. The dog was featured in one. The woman, who was identified as Darcy’s mom holding the fat pup up, a bulldog. It was no wonder that Clint reminded Darcy of the incident.

“She’s been away from SHIELD and their treatment for so long, it’s only a matter of time before she starts to remember more and more. Soon we may be able to piece together the whole story, even.” Bruce said. Placing his butt in the swivel chair and examining the dirt sample, although Tony didn’t know what kind of thing he was thinking he was going to find in the dirt. He was more interested in the photos. Darcy was a cute kid, as far as kids went. With big flushed cheeks and huge bright blue eyes, a few teeth here and there.

“So what’s she to you?” Bruce asked, Tony jolted his head up, time flew in the silence of the lab.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… I don’t know Tony, I’ve never seen you care this much.” Bruce said, tossing a pen up and down in his hand, it landed solidly in his hand each time.

Tony glanced away, eyes losing focus for a moment. “I don’t know man. It just is. It’s messed up. I think I spent so much time hating my childhood and praying that I didn’t put that same neglect on some other kid that I forgot stuff, you know, important stuff.”

Bruce, with his pen motioned for Tony to continue.

“Important.. like?” He urged.

“I don’t know. Doing things that normal people do. I’ll never be able to hold my own child, you know. Not that I ever wanted to before this.” He grumbled. “I don’t know what it was, but I saw that picture, and I thought of what that doctor.. whatever his name was … told us, and I just thought …” The silence was deafening for a moment. “I cant screw this one up. What could I do that could make her situation any worse? It’s like we were made for each other.” He said. And then picked up the baby picture, a squirming baby in a diaper, likely Darcy’s first picture ever taken on this planet, live and in the flesh, and tucked it into his back pocket, for safe keeping.

Pepper leaned her head on the window as the rain beat heavily down, Happy in the drivers seat, patiently waiting for her to decide to get out of the car and enter the mountain house. She could see lights on, and could almost hear the bustle from the inside. This house was smaller, and with Thor and the super soldiers they would all but be on top of each other. But she signed up for that. She had taken the last few days to cool her mind, visiting the spa and for the first time in many years, her therapist. Pepper had begun to see her therapist during Tony’s missing persons stay, and had stopped seeing her when Tony had gotten back and … stabilized. However it occurred to her, the night that her rage had put Darcy in the infirmary. There were unsolved things there, things that Tony needed to know and Darcy didn’t deserve.

She looked at the large box that was wrapped in gentle pink paper and a big white bow, she would bring it to Darcy. Resolved she finally stepped out of the car, covering her head from the rain she brought the gift inside. Since it was well past 3 a.m. she knew that most of the house would be asleep. She found Clint awake, playing video games on the big screen. Natasha curled up on the couch beside him.

She knew exactly where to find Tony. His childhood bedroom veered right off the side of the library, and the door opened easily for her. That made her feel better, at least Tony hadn’t ordered JARVIS to lock her out, which he could easily do. Tony’s childhood bed was occupied. The small ball in the middle with the ratted curly hair was easily identified as Darcy, Pepper waited patiently for the resentment to bubble up, and was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t. She laid the box in front of the night stand, knowing Darcy would see it in the morning.

Tony was found in the recliner. That recliner had originally resided in his nursery, but it appeared he dragged it in, and fell asleep. An Iron Man blanket thrown over him, his hand resting on his stomach. He looked all the man that she had wanted to marry. In that moment, with their dual snoring soaring through the room, Pepper made a promise to herself. She would fix this. She would fix this and she would be better, after all, she was Pepper Potts. She could do anything.

Chapter Text

Darcy stared down at the hammer warily where it had been sat by her head, she had been peacefully eating her cereal, debating the box that had been left at the food of her bed, when the larger blonde man – Thor had come stomping in, he was jovial for it being so early. He set the hammer down next to her head, and took down four toaster pastries, a plate of eggs, and ten sausages, he was now working his way through two ‘protein’ shakes although from what she saw the last thing he needed was protein.

She ducked her head into her bowl of slightly soggy cereal and thought of what she would do today. She had tucked a few books into her reading corner for safe keeping for today. She had some assignments due in class, and she and Tony had looked up cupcake recipes that they were going to try.

“Does it call to you little lightning sister?” Her head jerked up to him, he was a looming presence slurping heavily down the shakes, at the same time. He was one of the biggest people she had ever seen, if he stood next to her he would blot out the sun. However, his question had her puzzled for a moment. The only thing that called to her at the moment was the promise of cupcakes.

“The hammer. My Mjolnir, it calls to me sometimes. It feels like she is pulling at the inside of my body at times, like my heart is thrumming for her. Do you feel that?”

The hammer, that had invaded her dreams all the night. Visions of gold armor, weird eight legged creatures, lightning and storms, she would wake up in between dreams, Tony’s soft snoring lulling her back into sleep. So when the man mentioned the hammer, she peered up at him. She tried to find her voice, she usually reserved her talking for Tony. Because there was only so much talking she could do before she went hoarse.

“The hammer..” She started out gently. “.. the hammer it belongs to you?” She asked. Hating how tiny her voice was in the face of this large and consuming man.

“She” He corrected gently. “She is my hammer, but she is not so much my belonging as my partner. She deemed me worthy, and the worthier still.” He leveled her with a strong look. “She deemed you worthy as well.”

Darcy tossed the words around in her head for a little while, “Do you think…” She said, and paused.

“Do you think that I could see it again?” She asked. He looked at her for a moment, in a look that she was familiar with. Contemplation. Not knowing how to react to her, or what to say or think. A look of study.

After a moment of silence he slid with his finger the hammer closer to her, she shuffled her bowl away and took a look at it, taking in the gentle swirling, block like designs, the thickness of the handle. It appeared almost like it wouldn’t move if she went to push it, but she knew from experience that it would be lighter than a feather if she went to pick it up. So to begin she started with just stroking it, sliding her pointer finger over the edge, which was sharper than it looked, it was rectangular in shape and hearty. It even gave off a smell. She smoothed her fingers over the edges it was cool and hard to the touch, shallow ridged where swirls indented inside. There was a brimming hum every time she touched it, like something was vibrating on the inside.

“Mjolnir is more than a war weapon you see.” He said, taking a long sip of the chocolate shake, having finished the strawberry one. “She is used in war, this is true. But she is protector of honor. Not to be used only in war.” He said. She rode her finger up the handle feeling the red thick woven material that held the handle together, upon further inspection it was not just red, it was a lot of different colors, four shades of red, a few purple, a few green and a few black strands, The leather strap that held the hammer to Thor’s wrist was made of thick grey-black leather.

“Pick it up my little lightning sister, she will not bite nor shock.” So Darcy did, taking the surprisingly light weight in her hands, shifting it side by side, hand to hand, going left to right, it made a solid ‘whirring’ every time it passed hand to hand.

“She is an enjoyful weapon do you not think?” He asked a playful glint in his eyes. She nodded eagerly, the more she felt the weight in her hand, the more she felt connected to it. Thor stood suddenly and peered out the window.

“It is a sunny day! Let’s see if we can change that.” His smile was mischievous. His smile was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a slinky red head.

“Going somewhere?”

“So what’s in the box?” Pepper caught only Tony’s back as he was leaned over a table looking into a microscope. It never ceased to amaze Pepper the things that Tony could do, Pepper was smart, but she wasn’t Tony Stark smart. No one was Tony Stark smart.

“I got her some clothes.” Pepper admitted. “A pair of slippers, a pair of tennis shoes, but mostly some tights and T-shirts. Thought she should have some clothes that are just hers. May make her more comfortable.” He didn’t turn to face her and she didn’t expect him to.
“Tony. I know. I know you don’t want to talk to me. And that’s fine. I’ll do all the talking. I’m good at that. None of this, what’s happening with us, what’s happening with you and me is your fault. This is my fault. I did this.” She blinked hard and looked away, pacing toward the table where equipment lay she leaned heavily against it. Her body wary, feet aching from decades of high heels, head pounding from meeting after meeting, shoulders stiff from the hard leather chair in her office.

“When we got together, I thought for sure that I would be the rock in this relationship. You were flying around in a suit and fighting aliens, and I was sitting a board room. I thought for sure you would need me, and when you did I could swoop down and be there for you. You know what they call me in the office? The Amazing Potts. I don’t get that at home. I’m not amazing at home. I’m overworked, I’m tired, I’m grump, I’m no fun. You can run around with the team and play with nerf guns, and play in the lab with Bruce, and joke with Natasha and Clint and I’m boring, I’m no fun. I know what you do when you get bored of me Tony. Every time I start talking to you … you fade away, your brain checks out but your body is still in front of me.” Looking down at her hands with blurred vision, he tears hitting her palms softly, first warm and then cold as they rolled onto the table.

“And then Darcy came along. And she was everything you needed. She thinks you hang the moon. I’m not good for you.” She let out a rough breath through her nose. I promised myself last night, I would fix this. But I know, from experience, that sometimes fixing it… is letting it go. I am who I am, I love my job, I love my coworkers, and I love you. But It’s clear I cant have my cake and eat it too. It’s not fair to you. I’m not good for you anymore. I’m not… the same. I’m… fading. I let us fade because I didn’t change when you did, I couldn’t roll with the punches.” She braced herself against the rail and turned to walk out, instead of seeing the door, she bumped directly into Tony. She stood nose to nose with him for a second. While she took him in, he took her in. The light silver strands of hair coming out at her roots, the wrinkles in between her eyes, which were dark, and red rimmed. His hands came up, covered in oil, and bracketed her head, hands covering her ears. His fingers worked quick at the back of her head, undoing her solid silver clips until her hair, too long since a cut, fell forward making her look as young as she was. It took him some time to remember that Pepper was only 38, still young compared to his late forties. Her lips were dry and chapped, her skin was pale and ashen from being cooped up in the office, her hands, which lay resting at her side had rough callouses on them, were split at the nails and cracking, little cuts from where she typed and wrote by hand all day. That was one of the reasons he hired her, because unlike the thousands of typed letters he had gotten, hers was hand written in bright red ink.

“Oh Pep.” He said, his voice tired and sad. She looked away, another tear coasting down her cheek.

“No. Listen to me. Look at me Virginia.” His voice was stern.

“This, this wasn’t all your fault. Part of this was me, I should have come to you. I should have done things for you Pepper.” She began to shake her head but he steadied her with a solid grip on her head. “I should have taken you to dinner, I should have been spontaneous, what reason did I give you for coming out of the lab? You know I’ve never given you flowers? Ever. In God… how many years.. I’ve never given you flowers. Or chocolate. Or a fucking night off of babysitting me. I should have been there for you, I should have brought you lunch, I should have swept you off your feet, I should have made love to you on that fucking desk of yours, and I never did. I hid from you, I hid from the company I gave you. I should have been there for you, I know you don’t give a shit about the things that I create, but you listen, and you follow. And you deal with so much more bullshit a day than I do, and I couldn’t even listen. I don’t want you to change. I don’t want you to be anything but my Pepper.” She was crying in earnest then, sobbing lightly. He brought her close to him, laying her head on his shoulders as she cried heavily.

“This isn’t the end of us Virginia Potts. This is the beginning.”
And that was a promise.

Chapter Text

Darcy stared dubiously down at the hammer, which was vibrating with want for attention down at her feet, and up to the blonde man who was slowly stripping his clothes off. Not that she was complaining. She had seen plenty of men in her life, actually she had seen more men than women, but none of those men were a …. Thor. If that was just a thing. So she stared up at him in wonder, mostly scientific curiosity and then back at the Hammer who, if it were a dog, would be scooting across the floor happily.

“Alright young lightning Sister, there are lessons you must know before you can wield my honorable hammer.” He said. He stood, towering over her, if he didn’t have the jovial smile on his face, she might have feared him. He put his hand on top of her head and rubbed absently, almost like she were an animal, she would have protested this if she didn’t feel like perhaps this was part of the process.

She could hear a small grunt of disapproval that had began once they had met in the backyard. Natasha had taken up a post leaning against a tree, she had watched with disapproving eyes as Thor stripped his clothes off, and then some more as Darcy had toed the hammer at her feet. Darcy couldn’t see her eyes as she had put on dark aviator sunglasses before she walked out the door. There was something both unsettling and comforting about her presence. During the few times that Darcy was able to be out in the halls during her … incarceration … at Shield she’d seen her a few times. Mostly bloody and stoic. She was stoic now, but it was a warmer stoic, she wasn’t ice cold in Darcy’s presence, so she was going to take that as a good thing.

“For me, Mjolnir manifests as lightning, and storm. For my father, it was water, heavy gusts like a monsoon. We are the only two to have wielded it, so perhaps it may manifest as something different for you. So to begin, I want you to be sure you point the hammer away, see over there?” He pointed over in the distance, where a few redwood tree’s stood tall and proud, jutting up into the sky like beacons. Their tops swayed lightly in the nighttime breeze. Darcy had never spent a lot of time outside that she could remember, and still marveled at what nature could bring forward, the tree’s were huge, she couldn’t even wrap her arms around them all the way, her finger tips wouldn’t even touch. She had never seen anything (besides the big metal buildings outside) that tall in her life. She wanted to know all about them, perhaps they were redwoods, perhaps they were oak trees, either way she wanted to know. Darcy nodded at Thor.

“I want you to point Mjolnir in that direction, bring forth inside of you the power that is inside your belly, roiling around, ready to be set free.” He said. Darcy looked dubiously at him from her post. She didn’t feel anything roiling around in her belly. But without question she took it and pointed it at the tree, and then closed her eyes.

She tried to sense the things deep inside of her, she could feel something moving around, prodding and poking here and there but it didn’t feel like anything he described, if she could relate it to something she might have said gas! Pushing aside that embarrassing thought she tried to harness some of that inside of her, but there was nothing. She peaked open one eye that she had slid shut and look around, there was no monsoon gushing from the sky, there was no lightning striking down the imposing trees. She looked over a Thor, who was there like a dog, faithfully, smiling – if he had a tail, it would be wagging.

She flailed her arms uselessly at him, waving the hammer around, indicating that nothing was happening.

“Little one it will take some time.” He said, gently and easily. She shot him the stink eye and focused once again at the hammer, if Thor was the happy dog, the hammer was a sad, damp cat. She picked it up, spun it around and closed her eyes, once again trying to locate the feeling inside. This went on for about an hour, eventually Natasha, tired of acting like a bored statue sat down and fiddled with some grass, eyes still on her, and Thor leaned against a tree and watched her with a wrinkle in between his eyes, it wasn’t an unhappy wrinkle, it was a curious one. Like he was studying her, which was unnerving all on it’s own. Darcy watched the sun descent some, drop a little below, she had been at it for hours, and was growing tired. She set the hammer down and sat on her bottom, staring at the thing.

“Do not give up hope little one.” Thor said, coming over to pat her head again. Someone would eventually have to get Thor some kind of pet. A cat, probably. Though he might squeeze it to death. That thought made her giggle, and then laugh. The sound was near hysterical and Thor looked dubiously over at Natasha who was slowly standing on her feet again, presumably to lead Darcy inside. In the moment that Natasha stood and Darcy crumped over on her side in laugher a loud boom came from the distance, shaking the ground. Darcy jumped to her feet and looked toward the tree’s. There was a moment of silence, and then the sounds of tree’s rapidly falling. Thor struck a defensive pose the hammer still at Darcy’s feet.

In one moment a large shape dodged out of the tree’s and toward them.

In the next moment the Hammer was in Darcy’s hands.

In the moment after that the sounds of an explosion rocked the forest.

Darcy leaned over Bruce’s bed and looked at him worriedly. He was awake and staring over at her like he wanted to pet her like Thor did. She put a small hand on his arm. He covered it briefly with his own.

“Sorry Bruce.” She apologized. He nodded.

“No I’m sorry. No actually, Tony should be apologizing.”

They both turned their glares on him, he snorted and skittered to the other side of the room, picking up pens and putting them down, essentially trying to look busy.

“This is his fault.”

Tony had been testing a new launch pad, lured Bruce on it, and launched him out of the glass ceiling and into the forest. Thus, the hulk.

“Everything turned out fine!” He said, stomping his foot indignantly. Darcy looked at him, and then out the glass window pane at the smoldering tree’s and grass, where Clint stood hosing down stubborn fires that still burned at the massive bomb like energy shot from Mjolnir. Bruce made an irritated grunt of annoyance and glared at Tony.

Who huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We should forget about his and focus on Darcy’s cool new super power.” He said, he inched over toward the hammer, that looked like it would arch it’s back and hiss like a cat at Tony. She could almost see it’s metal hackles rise. Tony prodded at the handle of the hammer, gave it a good tug (it didn’t even flinch) and stalked away. He leaned heavily against the counter.

“We could get Thor to go to Asgard, get us a sample of whatever the hell Mjolnir is made out, we can make you your own hammer!” He said. He dug his finger into his ear and twisted it around, like he was cleaning it out.

“Except it can be like …. Wrist bands! We can make wrist bands…. Bruce get up! We have work to do.” He practically skipped over to the monitors that Bruce was hooked up to and yanked the plug-in’s from the wall, the machines went crazy for a moment before dying. Bruce look scandalized.

“Tony …we don’t..”

“I’ve got the whole thing on video.” He said giddy like a child, now fiddling heavily with his phone, eyes drawn down on the screen. His eyes darting around like a crazy person’s. His hands flew a thousand miles a minuet across the screen. “If we can harness that raw energy we could probably do a little bit of work on the tower too, we have to find where it comes from first. Don’t worry Darce! We won’t be experimenting on you! Bruce stop being so lazy! I know you’re fine! Get up!” Tony began to swat at Bruce in impatience.
Bruce groaned and dropped his head to the pillow, eyes drawn in resignation up at the ceiling.

“We’ve got something for you SHIELD fuckers now..” Tony said and scuttled from the room like a cockroach, back down the basement. Darcy looked helplessly at Bruce. Bruce met her eyes with a shrug, as if to say ‘well, what can you do?’ Darcy shrugged and began to help Bruce stand, loping his arm around her shoulders and drug him after Tony, who was yelling at the bots to gather supplies. Pepper walked by with a mug of tea in her hand and shook her head. They were all thinking the same thing.

Well, what could you do?