El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
SPOTLIGHT
Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
What had started as a pretty decent day, had turned into hands down, one of the worst days of her young life. She’d lost track of just how many times she’d almost died hours ago. Even after the Leviathans were put down, there were hundreds of Chitauri and Chitlian to contend with. That had been the difficult part for her. With no superpowers or high tech battle suit to call her own, she’d been forced to stay on the ground during the entire attack.
On the plus side, her marksmanship had probably improved significantly, especially considering just how much pressure was on everyone in the barricade. On the bad side, she had done some things she wasn’t exactly proud of…
Sitting beside a desk inside one of the many New York Police Department precincts, Darcy inhaled a deep breath. Jasper Sitwell had made an appearance about an hour ago. The cops Darcy had holed herself up with had appreciated her hard-handed approach to getting them some air support for the last Leviathan, but apparently the military had not taken so kindly to the tactic. Sitwell wasn’t actually her S.O., but it was his name she’d thrown out there. It had seemed safer than Coulson, that was for sure. She wasn’t sure if his being alive still was common knowledge yet.
As she watched Jasper leave - he was a high ranking operative, not a babysitter - Darcy sighed, mentally tacking on an extra $20 to the iTunes gift card she owed him for all of his help getting her into the academy almost two years ago. Damn, she was really bad at getting people gifts in a timely manner.
A small groan drifted past Darcy’s lips as she shifted in the chair. She’d been on a light SHIELD training regime for the past year, but even the aches from those workouts didn’t compare to the pain she felt right now. Her right arm had taken a decidedly hefty blow from a Chitauri spear. A few dozen stitches kept the skin held tightly together now, and beneath the slightly-too-big NYPD hoodie Lieutenant Hughes had found for her, it was wrapped in a ridiculous amount of gauze to help staunch the bleeding.
Aside from her arm, she was surprisingly in relatively good condition. Her ankle was a bit sore, but the medic had assured her there was nothing sprained, fractured, or otherwise injured. That had probably been her most brutal kill of the day, even if it had been to the detriment of her favorite boots. Curb-stomping an alien was not something she ever intended to do again, no matter how much of a morbid relief it had been at the time.
By the time a hushed murmur of excitement went rushing throughout the precinct at the arrival of someone important, Darcy had consumed half a cup of cocoa and was very nearly asleep at Hughes desk. Her ruined boots - along with the rest of her shredded and blood soaked clothing - sat in a nearby trash receptacle, guilt emanating off of each article. Turning her attention away from the discarded clothes, she glanced casually in the direction of the precinct entrance. Hopefully it wasn’t another SHIELD agent here to reprimand her. Sitwell had been nice, as usual, but she didn’t need to be a student of Communications to hear the disappointment in his voice.
The mop of brown hair moving towards Hughes desk, tucked at the back of the main office floor, felt like it should be familiar, but she was honestly too tired to even try. There were hundreds (thousands?) of SHIELD employees, and there was no telling how many were brunettes. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if it was a SHIELD employee. For all she knew, it could just be some military man. Or maybe the chief of this precinct. Or any number of people.
Darcy was about ready to resume staring at her poor, ruined clothing, when she caught a glimpse of the new arrival’s face. Sucking in a sharp breath, she flew to her feet. Lieutenant Hughes stopped, a pair of athletic sneakers in his hand, but she brushed past him and skidded forward on socked feet. Pain flared throughout her entire body, but she brushed past that, too, hell bent on getting to the man she could now see clearly through a break in the crowd.
“Tony!” she called out, her voice squeaking from a mixture of pain, relief, and a slew of other emotions she couldn’t even be bothered to quantify right now. “Tony, you’re alive!”
Notes: finally! sorry for the wait Tagged:Darcy Lewis
As soon as they broke into New York airspace, Tony jumped from the plane. He had to find Darcy. The fact that she'd gotten caught up in the attack had made him more worried than he cared to admit. He didn't want to really acknowledge the uncomfortable feeling that had settled in his gut during his own fight at the thought of her stuck in the battle without him around to help her. She could take care of herself; he knew that. That didn't stop him from worrying about her. She was one of those people that had wormed her way into his heart; become part of his life like very few did. Reaching the tier of people that until recently had really only included Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy was difficult.
"JARVIS, get me Darcy's signal," he ordered the AI and the affirmative reply was followed by the coordinates the AI pulled from her phone popping into his HUD so that he could set course for them. He was relieved to see that she was in one of the police stations, as it meant that she was relatively safe.
Landing right outside the station, he stepped out of the suit with a scowl. The SHIELD bodysuit that he often wore under the suit on deployments like the one to Seattle wasn't the most attractive, but it would be fine. Setting the suit in Sentry mode at the doors, he pushed into the station, immediately setting course for the man in charge until he caught sight of a small woman rushing towards him.
He turned towards her with a relieved smile, the constricting in his chest that had been there since her text finally loosening up so that it felt like he could take real breaths again. He moved for her quickly then, hands moving to cup her face and pull her into a kiss. There was a suspicious hush that fell over the nearby officers, and Tony was pretty sure that he heard one of those shutter noises that phones tended to make nowadays.
Pulling out of the kiss, he wrapped her in a hug instead, pulling her tightly against him. "Of course I'm alive. Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" he asked as he pulled back slightly, hands settling on her hips. He winced as he definitely heard another shutter noise. "Well, suppose that's gonna be on the internet in a few minutes," he grumbled.
Elation turned to shock and then back to elation again as Darcy finally reached Tony, just in time to be pulled up into a kiss. She could feel heat rising into her cheeks as the men and women she’d fought beside for the past few hours stared on in silence. Or was she just imagining the silence? She wasn’t sure, honestly. All she could hear now was the rapid ‘thud, thud-thud, thud, thud-thud’ of her heart ramming against her chest as it fought to burst free. Her uninjured hand slid up, wrapping around Tony’s neck, her fingers pressing tightly against him as if afraid he might slip away.
As the kiss ended moments (which felt like ages) later, she sucked in a deep breath, her eyes still shut. The left side of her lips twisted up shortly before she pressed them both together in a shy smile of bliss. Slowly, but surely her eyes fluttered back open and she let out a sigh, mixed with a chuckle.
“Hey… Can’t blame a girl for worrying,” she chided the billionaire, skimming his face for any signs of injury. He seemed healthy and whole, thankfully, probably due to spending most of his battle time inside a protective suit. “Took a spear to the arm,” she drawled, tilting her head towards the shoulder of her injured arm, “but the doctors say I’ll live to see another day. Same can’t be said for the dickbag that got me, though.” She was trying to keep things light-hearted, and thus far, she thought she was doing a pretty good job.
Darcy was about to lean forward to use Tony’s chest as a place to rest her head when she spied the wince. A look of confusion began to form on her face, but his next comment caused realization to dawn on her features. Turning to look at the police officers in the room, all of them with their faces (and some with their phones) pointed directly at herself and Tony, Darcy scowled.
“So help me, if I see one picture of this online later, I will bring every ounce of my wrath down on each and every one of you,” she called out, her eyes narrowing at a group of cadets near the watercooler. Their eyes seemed to light up, a hint of fear in the young men. Darcy may not be a bonafide superhero like Tony, but she’d proven herself capable of getting shit done when necessary.
That strafing run over the last Leviathan they’d encountered had been proof enough of that, and the arrival of SHIELD legitimizing her as a member of the organization shortly after the conclusion of the battle had only added. “Delete them. Now.” All around the room, touch screens were fiddled with and phones promptly put away. “As you were.”
Turning back to Tony, Darcy offered him a tiny grin and waited for the natural din of activity to resume. When she spoke again, her voice was hushed and tinged with amusement. “I learned that last bit from NCIS,” she admitted, shooting a quick wink up to the man whose arms were still pleasantly encircling her hips.
The rest of the threat was 100%, grade-A Darcy Lewis sass.
Notes: protective tony is super protective Tagged:Darcy Lewis
“I wear a suit of armor,” he replied, lips quirking in what would have been a smile if he wasn’t so worried over her in that moment, “It takes a lot to injure me through that.” Granted, it wasn’t like it hadn’t been done before, but his newest versions of the Iron Man were far more durable than previous ones had been, as he’d learned a lot about keeping himself safe inside the suit in the past few years - the adage ‘practice makes perfect’ rang uncomfortably true in Tony’s world.
His gaze fell to her arm as she mentioned the injury, and he gently lifted it with one of his hands, the other still securely on her waist as he inspected it; seemed that it was bandaged fine and would be alright. He still wasn’t pleased that she was injured at all, though, and something in him wanted to lock her up somewhere safe for the attack that was likely going to come next. After all, the aliens hadn’t achieved their goal yet.
Tony’s eyes widened slightly as Darcy turned to start threatening the employees of the NYPD around them before it fell into a chuckle as they scrambled to obey and then a full-on laugh when she turned back to wink at him. Leaning in to press another quick kiss to her lips, he gave her another quick squeeze before somewhat extracting himself from her arms in order to turn towards the head of the precinct.
“There’s likely going to be another attack within the next day, so get everyone ready for that,” he instructed, “Clear escape routes for civilians, medical stations for the injured, blockades for protection; the works. We have a window to prepare for the next round, so make it count.” There was no away their would-be alien conquerors would leave things as they were, not with the attack weakening them as it had.
Turning back to Darcy, he motioned toward the door. “Need a lift somewhere?” He asked, “SHIELD Medical?” If it were up to Tony, maybe Antarctica. Or Canada. No one would attack Canada.
“Yeah, well, there was a lot out there. And ‘it takes a lot to’ is way different from ‘this thing is literally impenetrable’, just so you know.” Thor and all of his warrior Asgardian buddies also wore armor, and she’d seen them get their asses handed to them before. Lucky for them, their skin was naturally denser than humans’ so at least any blows that got through were muffled somewhat. Tony didn’t have that luxury, though. He was squishy inside and out, despite the tough front he liked to show the world.
Dark orbs shifted, following Tony’s gaze as he gave her arm his own cursory inspection. She fought the wince that threatened to appear on her face at the movement, covering the look up with a forced smile. The pain meds she’d been given weren’t exactly strong. But she was training to be a SHIELD agent, so she needed to act tough. One dose was enough for now, no matter how badly she ached.
The second kiss was just as surprising as the first, but didn’t last nearly as long. She wanted to pout - he was more than a little fun to kiss - but now wasn’t the time, nor here the place. Instead, she swallowed past a lump in her throat and licked her lips as he turned to speak his own piece to the men and women of the NYPD. What he had to say was considerably less irate, but no less threatening.
Another attack? Shit, wasn’t one every few years enough? Thank god they didn’t have to deal with Asgardian Destroyers all the time, at least. But still. Couldn’t these Chitauri take the friggin’ hint and stay gone for crap’s sake?!
Concern filled Darcy’s face full and clear when Tony looked back in her direction. This notion of a second attack was news to her, and she could tell she wasn’t taking it well. “I, uhh…” she babbled, trying to work past the anxiety that was already bubbling up inside of her. “Yeah. A lift.”
Turning back to where Hughes had deposited the pair of sneakers nearby, Darcy moved over and slipped into them like a zombie. She needed to get out of here all of the sudden. The walls seemed to be moving in towards her, and the pain in her arm spiked before spreading out to heat the nerves throughout her entire upper body. Her breath was ragged and short, but while she hid her face with the thick locks of hair, she forced herself to keep moving, keep thinking, keep living.
“Yeah, there,” she murmured, finally beginning to get an ounce of control over herself as she looked up and stepped back towards Tony. She didn’t know where he’d suggested - it could have been Antarctica for all she knew - but she didn’t feel like asking him to repeat himself. God, what was that? Had she just had a panic attack? Was that what a panic attack felt like?
Without thinking about it, Darcy slid her hand into Tony’s and headed towards the front door of the precinct. If he was offering her a lift somewhere, he must have a car outside. Or a jet. Hell, maybe a helicopter. Nothing really stood out and screamed Tony Stark as she reached the top of the precinct’s front steps, except… Wait… Brows furrowing together, Darcy turned and shot a look of confusion over to the billionaire. “A lift? Like… Just with that?” she asked incredulously, pointing to the armor standing in what looked to be some kind of defensive watchout mode at the base of the stairs.
"Well, I promise that the armor is practically impenetrable and that I survived the battle with no injuries on this occasion and on most occasions it will be the same," he replied easily, knowing very well that words meant things and that his armor was not totally impenetrable. If it were, he'd have a lot less to worry about in the field. As it was, however, he wanted to reassure her and he knew that he was currently fine and would continue to be so for the foreseeable future. His suit held up well against this particular kind of enemy, and he was sure that it would in round three as well.
With the precinct informed of the impending second wave so that they could prepare, Tony felt fine with removing Darcy and himself from the premises. They had their own things to do and the police department would hopefully be okay mostly on their own. SHIELD would be in contact soon enough anyway, as they were planning to link as many of the people on the field of battle as they could for the next time around to make communication easier.
Tony watched nervously as Darcy went to put on her sneakers, frowning a little as he heard her breathing faltering a bit. He gently placed a hand on her upper back, rubbing small circles there with his fingers in an attempt at comfort - which he had never been very good at, but he could still try. As she stood, he wrapped an arm around her to lead her outside again. SHIELD Medical seemed like a great choice at this point in time, as she was clearly not even close to 100%, although he wasn't really sure what he expected to be the case. Who was fine in the wake of an alien attack, after all? Especially when thrust headfirst into the actual battle.
"Yes, with that. I carry other Avengers around all the time. Even Clint. You'll be perfectly safe, promise," he replied, brushing a kiss over her forehead before moving to step back into the suit, feeling it close around him. He'd need to change suits before the next wave, as some of the joints weren't in the best of shape. He held out a hand to Darcy, planning on lifting her in a bridal hold to fly them over to the nearest medical set-up. He didn't really feel like going all the way to the Helicarrier or the Academy at this point.
“You know ‘practically’ doesn’t mean ‘totally’, right?” Darcy asked, giving the billionaire’s shoulder a gentle shove. Since he was injury-free, the tap shouldn’t do him any harm, but her cheeks took on a pale and she grimaced slightly. Damn. Wrong arm. Bad arm. Stupid Darcy. Swallowing past the pain, she shook her head at the absolute certainty in Tony’s voice. Confidence was definitely a good thing (an attractive thing), but so was intelligence - i.e. knowing that you weren’t invincible just because you put on a metal suit.
Knights of the Round Table used to wear metal suits and they got killed all the friggin’ time, after all.
Moving was a real bitch. So was breathing. So was basically living in general. The pain killers she’d been given earlier were wearing off, as was the slight sugar rush she’d gotten from that half a cup of cocoa. Oh, and the adrenaline from the battle was basically all gone. And had she mentioned just how much of a bitch moving was?
Something told her Tony had noticed the pain as she tugged on the borrowed shoes (a bit too big, but ehhh…) and her back stiffened at the feel of his fingers pressing there. She paused in her knot tying in order to appreciate the sensation, but couldn’t stay in such an awkward, hunched position for long. Once it was on and as secure as it was going to be, she stood back up to her full height before leaning into Tony’s protective half-embrace. Her legs weren’t terribly injured - a few bumps and bruises from scrambling away - but the longer she was on her feet, the more jelly-like they became. It wouldn’t be long until they were utter mush and she’d be nothing more than a puddle on the floor of the precinct at this point.
Talk about embarrassing.
Darcy still wasn’t entirely certain about the idea of being carried by him in the suit. Any other day, she would have whooped at the prospect. Maybe her hesitance was just post-battle weariness. Yeah, that was probably it. Stepping forward once he was fully ensconced in the suit, she didn’t fight the metallic arms curling around her, lifting her up. Her head canted slightly so that she could look up at the gold face plate of the suit and she smiled tentatively. “I trust you.”
Take off was the most frightening part, but the jolt of fear only lasted for a few moments. As the feel of wind on her face registered, Darcy opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) and instantly regretted it. Holy shit they were high! With her injured arm tucked somewhat gingerly against the hard suit, she used her other to wrap tightly around Tony’s neck, fingers pressing fiercely into the metal. “Okay…” she called out after a few more moments, as the sensation of flying around in the open hundreds (thousands??) of feet in the air finally began to set in and her fear leveled out. “I think I can see why you like this so much…” She’d still rather have something protective - like super powers, or a badass protective suit - but yeah… sure… this wasn’t so bad…
The landing was surprisingly less terrible than she’d anticipated, though the slight jarring sensation of his boots hitting the ground sent a wave of pain up through the SHIELD trainees body. Groaning beneath her breath, she waited until they were stable on the ground to slowly ease her way back to her feet… which didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Darcy wobbled the moment her toes touched the ground and instinctively reached out to grasp something to hold herself up with. Tony’s Iron Man suit did the job nicely and despite a shooting pain in her injured arm, she only hissed a little as she steadied herself and took a look around at their new surroundings...
WORDS: 664 || OUTFIT TAG: Tony Stark Not sure where exactly he took her to…
"Yes, Darcy. I know what words mean," he replied, a smirk twitching at his lips. Trust Darcy to catch on to his careful avoidance of claiming total invulnerability. He frowned as she winced, though. He really did hope that she was okay and the injuries would be healed up in no time. Worrying about her during his whole battle on the other coast had been... hellish. If she was hurt too badly... well, he would have to blame himself for not being there, wouldn't he? He was the one that had taken the damn bait on the other coast while the aliens weakened New York.
It was becoming clear that the only thing keeping Darcy on her feet was pure moxie and stubbornness, so Tony decided that expedience was the most important thing in getting her to a medical station so she could be patched up. What kind of a... boyfriend-type-person would he be if he let her sit around feeling miserable when he could at least somewhat fix it?
Tony picked Darcy up gently, cradling her in the arms of the suit with her injured arm tucked between them where it was most protected. As soon as she was secure, he took off into the air. He grinned under the mask as she finally relaxed enough to enjoy herself. "I'll take you up one day when you can fully enjoy it," he promised. After all, why not share this with someone he cared about in a situation where the other party wasn't injured and in-pain? That sounded like a good idea to him.
It didn't take long for him to approach an adequate SHIELD medical set up, and he paged in to the crew on the ground to make sure they had the space before beginning a careful descent, mindful of Darcy in his arms.
He winced a little as the landing jostled her enough to let out a groan of pain, carefully setting her down and helping her get steady on her feet again before stepping out of the suit and letting it go back into sentry mode, careful not to disrupt Darcy's grip on the arm as he did so so that she still had something stable to grip.
The temporary building was half-tent and half-mobile-home-looking-thing, almost, and there was a bit of a hectic feeling to the people wandering around the area. Wrapping a supporting arm back around Darcy, he walked her towards the part-building and looked around for the SHIELDy in charge. "Hey. So, this is Darcy. She's at the Academy right now and got caught up in the action. If you could look at her...?"
The woman nodded and led them to a nearby cot area, where Tony assisted Darcy in getting comfortable so that the Medic could look her over.
Right. Clearly he knew the difference between the two words. Too bad he didn’t bother paying any attention to it. Darcy didn’t look away when Tony offered his rebuttal, instead staring the billionaire straight in the face as she fought through the pain of her stupid attempt at being cutesy. “Could’ve fooled me,” she murmured through grit teeth, before sucking in a deep breath to steady herself.
Okay. Pain was going away. Good. Whew. Damn, that had not been a good move. Stupid aliens…
The pain returned as she let Tony pick her up, but once she was settled, it evened out into a dull ache. Her fingers - the ones on her good hand, at least - scratched at the metallic surface of his suit, searching for purchase. Finally, she got her hand around something secure and managed to settle, even as the adrenaline of the height and speed they were traveling at hit her.
“You’d better,” was all she managed to choke out as a somewhat delayed reaction to the voice emanating out from the helmet. Flying seemed like a shit load of fun, but as a mere mortal, it wasn’t something Darcy ever expected to do unless stuck in coach on board a 747. Really, she ought to be living this up right now. It was her first time in the air outside the TSA’s grasp. “I still can’t believe you do this on the daily,” she sighed, letting her thick mane of hair thud gently against the Iron Man chest piece as she finally relaxed.
Darcy didn’t say anything out loud, but she was happy when Tony stepped out of the suit and helped her walk towards the tent. She’d been okay being carried through the air by him in the Iron Man suit, but she was on SHIELD turf now. She needed to look strong and brave now. (Right?) That didn’t mean she needed to walk on her own, though, and she gladly used Tony’s assistance crossing the distance to the medical tent.
Glancing around the area, she felt her stomach do a flip - a belly flop, if you will. People in way worse condition were scattered around the room. She was fairly certain dudebro in bed number five was straight dead. Swallowing down a lump, she turned at the sound of Tony’s voice and looked to the woman he was speaking with. It was a SHIELD agent. Clearance level 7, judging by the number on her badge. Well, at least that meant he was competent. “It’s not that bad…” she tried, large chocolate orbs shooting around the area again as they were led towards an empty cot.
“Sit. There. Now.”
Darcy sat. There. Now.
It took a bit of effort to get the hoodie off and Darcy was in more pain than she wanted to be, but she refused to show half of it on her face. Had she given in to her instincts and winced outwardly, the medic might have just cut the jacket off - something she didn’t want to happen. This thing was a bonafide NYPD hoodie; it was a souvenir, dammit! “What’s the verdict, doc? Am I gonna survive?”
Turning up, she gave Tony a reassuring grin and wink. She could feel the medic’s finger like little knives, digging into every inch of injury on her body. At some point during the inspection and clean up, she thought she might have blacked out, but Tony’s face was there every time she opened her eyes. Thank goodness for Tony fucking Stark. Man was an angel. An angel with a goatee.
“Ms. Lewis.”
Darcy snapped to at the sound of her last name. She didn’t recall offering it to the woman torturing her patching her up, but maybe she’d mumbled it during one of her not-so-lucid moments. “Yo.”
“Take two of these now and two in a few hours. Should curb the pain a bit. You’ve got some bruised ribs and that cut on your arm required a few dozen stitches. Try not to move it too much.” The medic looked up as a hubbub started at the entrance to the medical area and she sighed, clearly exhausted. “If you’ll both excuse me, looks like I’ve got more customers…”
As the medic rushed off, Darcy stared down at the pills in her hand and frowned. She definitely wanted to take two. Hell, she wanted to take all four. That would probably be bad, though, so it was best to follow doc’s orders. Wrinkling her nose, she sighed and glanced up at the Avenger. “She didn’t get me any water…” the Academy trainee pouted.
"I would never break a promise like that," Tony replied, the grin under the mask obvious in his tone of voice. He chuckled a bit at her next words. "It's pretty cool, isn't it?" he mentioned, pride seeping into his words. He was glad that he got to do what he did, and flying in the armor was an incredible experience that he was proud of building for himself. There wouldn't be a day where he would take it for granted.
Getting Darcy to the medical set-up turned out to only be part of the battle. They were overrun with injuries, which made sense considering the attack, but at the same time, it was difficult to look around and see others in various states of pain. Some of them wouldn't be fixed; he didn't have a medical background and he could tell that. None of them would ever be the same, he knew. Getting attacked by alien invaders had a way of changing your perspective.
Tony hovered the entire time that the medics worked on Darcy, taking her hand when he could and simply watching with a worried expression when he couldn't. He was assured multiple times that she would be fine, and he was certain that his relationship with her would be talk of the town soon enough, but what mattered more than anything in that moment was simply making sure that she got through this without being too worse for the wear.
He chuckled a little as Darcy seemed to come back to herself as the medics wrapped things up, watching as the final instructions were given out and the medic left to go take care of other patients in the area. Tony grabbed a water bottle from a nearby supply station and handed it to Darcy after cracking the seal for her, sitting next to her on the cot and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Feeling any better?" he asked softly as he watched her. She looked a bit better now that the injuries were cleaned and stitched and bandaged.
Darcy wanted to respond to Tony’s little quips, but her lips refused to work properly, but she was beginning to feel extremely light-headed. Whether it was from blood loss (dear god, she hoped not!) or from the altitude (again - please, no! Then how was she going to go flying like this after she was all better?!), she wasn’t sure. Either way, she only managed a slight chuckle and some form of murmured nothing before sinking into silence for the rest of the short flight.
“Y’know…” she mumbled to nobody in particular between medical procedures, “last time this happened, I was breaking firewalls and internet security protocols in Norway.” A laugh began to form at the back of her throat as memories of the last incident spiraled through her mind.
Jane had been offered the position at Tromsø very suddenly, and Darcy - ever the instigator - had urged her to accept. In no time, they’d been on a plane headed for Europe. When nobody there could tell her what position Jane was filling, Darcy had begun to do some investigating of her own. The look on the scientists’ faces had been priceless as she broke through their technological defenses to find what she was looking for: videos showing the attack on New York, which Jane’s beau had been smack dab in the middle of.
That was then, though, and this was now. And wow, that was a weird sentence.
Thankfully, the doc was good at her job, and in no time, the pain of needles and fingers and other medical pokey bits stopped, leaving her with just an overall ache. Staring down at the pills, she mused over just how difficult it would be to dry swallow them. She was utter shit at that trick, and would almost prefer to deal with the pain than suffer through that awkward nonsense.
“Unf. My hero,” she swooned, only partially teasing as Tony returned to her side with a water bottle. He was even thoughtful enough to open it for her. Such a smart man. Smart, smart Tony. Her eyes fluttered closed as he placed a quick kiss to her forehead and she knew there was a dopey grin plastered to her face now, but she didn’t care. Smart, sweet Tony.
Popping two of the pills into her mouth, she washed them down with half the bottle (jesus - she didn’t realize she’d been that thirsty!) and let out a large breath. It took her a moment to steady herself mentally as her chin returned to its natural downward-pointing position, but she recovered quick enough. At the sound of Tony’s voice, she turned back to the billionaire and nodded gently.
“Yeah. It’s just… a lot.” This time when she shrugged, the pain was at least a bit more manageable, but she still wrinkled her nose in disappointment - mostly at herself, for not remembering to keep her body movement in check. The Destroyer incident had been small compared to this. A speck on a grain of rice small. “We haven’t quite covered the Alien Invasion Do’s and Don’ts course at the Academy yet. I think that’s 101 for Operations, but yeah… We mostly just learn how to y’know… communicate at my branch,” she grinned, trying to bring a bit more of a light-hearted air to the conversation. She’d been training in hand to hand and all that jazz, too, of course, but that regime was light compared to the rest of her classwork.
Notes: ugh this is short sorry. Tagged:Darcy Lewis
Tony's eyebrows quirked in amusement at her mention of hacking while in Norway, remembering that SHIELD had moved Jane and Darcy there when Loki had shown up back in the first alien attack in order to protect them from the same fate as Dr. Selvig. That had been before he'd met Darcy; long before. Though it was no wonder that they got along so well if that was her idea of a Thing to Do.
Chuckling as Darcy took the water bottle from him and started on the pills. He wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her against his side, kissing her cheek. He was just glad that she was okay; he'd been so worried about her after the brief communication during the battle, hoping that when he got back she would be okay. This was the thing that he would have to be worried about from now on. This was what had drove Pepper crazy when they'd been dating, and Tony could... kinda get the picture now, he supposed. It wasn't fun to worry about someone who was off putting themselves in harm's way.
"Well, seems like you're learning the alien invasion thing quickly. Maybe you can get credit for keeping your head in the battle," he suggested. The next question... he felt like he didn't want the answer. But he had to know. "You planning on heading back out there for the next wave?" he asked, hesitation apparent in his voice as he rested his chin gently on her shoulder.
This whole thing kinda sucked a little. Worrying about people was still rather new for him. Sure, he'd worried about Rhodey and Pepper, but they'd been in his life for a long time. Darcy was new and the worry he had for her was acute and different and he didn't know how to describe it.
Darcy’s amusement at the extreme difference between the last alien attack and this one died away as a jolt of pain stabbed through her. Her laughter hissed to silence and a soft whimper replaced it at the prick of a needle piercing her flesh. Stitches? Ugh! Stitches meant scars! She supposed that meant she was definitely on the way to being a real, bonafide SHiELD agent, right? They were all super badasses with an epic scar behind every blemish of their otherwise perfect skin.
At least her first real scar was from an alien invasion. It really didn’t get much more epic than that.
When Tony tucked her in tight against him, Darcy let out a giant sigh she didn’t even realize she’d been holding in. Looking back, she assumed she’d been effectively holding in a whole shitload of tension ever since the first needle prick. She didn’t have anything against needles per se - she just… well, she wasn’t a living, breathing pin cushion, so being threaded like the hem of a pair of jeans was just not exactly comfortable.
After Tony’s lips pressed against her cheek, Darcy let a tiny smile finally grace her lips as she rest her head against his shoulder. It wasn’t terribly comfortable at first, so she shifted slightly, until she was nestled snugly into the crook of his neck. There we go. Much better. And way better than snuggling with the Iron Man suit.
“I don’t know if the Academy accepts credits. It’s not like a normal university,” she chuckled. Maybe if she transferred to the Academy of Badassery Operations, she’d earn some kind of Get Out of Class Free card for the first semester of Alien Invasions 101. She had Jasper Sitwell and half of an NYPD precinct as witnesses for her quick thinking under pressure. Well, maybe not quick thinking, but… Hey, if she hadn’t made that phone call and pulled her pseudo-SHIELD weight, they wouldn’t have got air support. And if that hadn’t happened… Hopefully someone else would have taken out the Leviathan, but not nearly as quickly.
At least she’d saved some lives, or so she hoped.
Being so close to Tony, she could feel him tense before the question tumbled out. The question itself almost seemed to stick in his throat, and she lifted her head in order to look at him. His head quickly slipped in as hers left, and she smiled down at him. Her good hand slipped out, seeking out the hand that wasn’t currently wrapped around her waist, and she slipped her fingers into his.
As a general rule, she tended towards humor - especially in stupidly tense and awkward moments like that. Making people laugh just came easier than these kinds of serious conversations. Brushing this off with a joke, though, probably wouldn’t be the best. Despite common perception, she did know how to be serious when the time called for it. Letting out a small sigh, she turned and pressed a slow kiss to his temple. “If another wave comes, yes.” She really hoped another one didn’t, but Tony was probably more in the loop than she was. If he thought there was another attack coming, she didn’t doubt it.
“Look… Tony…” she murmured, her lips twitching as she fought the instinct to interject with something funny - something to make him worry less. God, this was killer. But he needed to hear it. If he was serious about this whole… them thing, he needed to get used to this kind of stuff. The sooner, the better. Sure, she was just studying at the Academy of Communications, but she was still going to be a SHIELD agent. “I know I don’t seem like much, but I do have legitimate training. If I don’t go out there, someone else - a kid or something - who doesn’t even have the small amount of training and resources that I have, could get hurt. Or worse.” Expelled!
“That’s what you do every day, right? As an Avenger. You save the world. But…” But what, Darcy? “But you don’t have to do it alone. There are a shit ton of us here on this planet, and if a few hundred - thousand, however the hell many - aliens think they can just come down here and make themselves at home, you’re damn right I’m gonna put my foot down, shove a my taser into their throat, and make them seriously question getting out of bed that morning.”
And she’d do it with a dozen stitches in her arm, to boot!
Notes: probably fin unless you wanna do a wrap up post? Tagged:Darcy Lewis
He was glad when Darcy made herself comfortable against him; taking comfort in her proximity himself. He was so glad that she was safe and so glad that he was lucky enough to know her in the first place. Now she was curled against him and everything was fine. "Maybe they should make an exception for alien invasions," he chuckled as well. If anyone would do it, it would be SHIELD. He just wanted her to be safe, though. She wasn't an Avenger or an Army- or SHIELD-trained person, at least not for battle. She didn't have powers. She was just... squishy little Darcy. She'd get hurt. Then he'd... well, he didn't know what he'd do.
Darcy's hand slipped easily into his and he held it tightly as she caught his eyes. And he knew what her answer was going to be. He knew and he still... he still hoped that it wouldn't be that. That it would be anything but that. That she would stay somewhere safe where there was no threat of losing her. He let out a heavy sigh when she responded in the positive nonetheless, eyes slipping closed as she pressed a kiss against his temple. This sucked.
He opened his eyes again, shootin her a small grin. "Yeah, I know," he replied as she finished speaking, "It just... I don't want you to get hurt. So seeing you put in harm's way... it'll take a while to get used to it." He couldn't stop her; he knew that. She was stubborn and more importantly, her own damn person. He'd be a shitty boyfriend if he tried to rule her life. And that was the one shitty boyfriend trap that he didn't feel like falling into again anytime soon.
Sighing, he leaned in to give her a soft kiss, shaking his head a bit as he pulled away. "You wanna at least grab some sustenance before the aliens attack again?" he asked.