Imagine: The List
Fic posted by members of Vo's Imaginings YahooGroup


Darcy sent a single picture to Jensen from her window, getting a smiley face back from him for it. Then she went to arrange her furniture. Clint had done it for her and things were...a bit weird to her sense of style. So she arranged things and threw quilts of the back of the couch instead of in the closet. She moved her desk completely and sighed in displeasure. She had no room to work at a desk. This apartment was tiny compared to even her first one in Chicago. She got a text message to go to her closet and push on the button. She did that and found a spare hidden room. That was nice and her desk wouldn't fit in there at all.

It was good for a safe room but not her work area. She sighed and decided maybe she didn't need enough seating for anyone but her. She sent Jensen a thank you for finding her a new safe room and asked where she should put her desk. He sent a suggestion to get rid of a chair and the coffee table to put it where the chair was. She took a picture and he made another suggestion so she tried it and nodded, but it meant she had a couch that had to be given away. She went to answer the knock on her door, staring at Clint. "We couldn't find anything bigger?"

"If you wanted to live in Brooklyn, yeah." He held up the bag. "I brought ice cream."

"My cable's not on yet but c'mon in, we can unpack movies." He grinned, coming in to put the ice cream up and help her move a few things around. She ended up keeping the chair and using it for the desk while it was shoved next to her tiny sliding window onto the fire escape. It wouldn't block access but it was funky looking there. "Sure, I like funky," she decided, making him grin. "Thank you." She went to get the two boxes of movies and tv shows, bringing them out. Of course, she had no room for bookshelves either so they'd probably have to stay packed somehow.

He looked around. "You did have a much bigger apartment before."

"Yeah, and I had to upgrade some stuff when I moved from the first one." She looked at him. "Did I rent or buy?"

"Rent, six month lease. We figured you'd want to move somewhere less straightlaced."

She smiled and hugged him by leaning over. "That'll be great. Thanks, Clint. You can help me by reminding me I need shelves." He laughed but nodded. "And I'm paying movers." She got up to get the ice cream while he picked the movie. She brought the ice cream back with his six-pack of beer, earning a laugh and them sitting together on the couch. Halfway through the movie he paused and switched the couches around with her to the more comfortable couch. That worked and they settled back in to watch the rest of the movie and a few more.

***

Darcy heard something and frowned, calling Clint. "It's me. Sit down if you can. No it's serious. I just heard though a weird grapevine of someone in London that Max is out to get you out of the way." He burst out swearing and stomped off. "I don't know, Clint. The source in London is a good one, it's Eric's new helper, but I have no idea who told her. She wasn't totally sure but what I've looked at showed that she was right. No, I haven't asked them yet. I don't know.

"I have no idea of why or anything, Clint. All I know is that I got a head's up I'm passing on." She smiled at his assurance he could handle that. "Okay. Remember, if you have to go A-Team too, call me. Sure, you be more careful than I have to be. Yuppers." She hung up and sent back a simple thank you. She got back to figuring out what Shelly was angsting over and how to fix it for her. Somehow Shelly had double-booked herself for a conference and a speech on the same day across the country from each other. She had no idea how Shelly had done that to herself. Then Shelly IM'd her to tell her. The conference had been moved. Wonderful! Oh, and it had changed cities too. Even better.

***

Scott was pouting as he walked around the upstate center for the Avengers. "Darcy can't babysit," he complained when he ran into Clint. "I thought she would, she said she would."

"Yeah, we just got a call out for her house," he said, staring at him. "Barnes is there and acting weird."

"Oh! No wonder." He winced. "Do we think he's gone again?"

"No idea and she didn't have one either. And Steve's in DC testifying." They walked off together, grabbing Natasha on the way. "Barnes," he said at her look when he pulled her off by her arm.

She groaned. "Where?"

"Darcy's safe room," he quipped with a grin for her. "Darcy said he was acting really weird and quiet but not shy or blushy."

"She didn't mention it to me when I called to see if she could do some emergency babysitting," Scott said.

"We can evacuate her to your house," Clint offered. "Maybe she can watch her there."

"Maybe," he said, texting Darcy that and he hadn't known about Barnes when he asked. She sent one back and he sighed, showing it to Clint.

"Sure, quin jet it is instead of a helicopter," he decided, heading for one to start takeoff procedures. Natasha made sure they had tranquilizers on board. Scott made sure his suit was on there, just in case. It didn't take more than twenty minutes to get to the city in the quin jet and they had parking spots near Darcy's apartment. By the time they got there, Barnes was free, Darcy was locked in the bathroom humming as she did her nails, and Barnes was in a foul mood.

"I'm not triggered," he said, stomping back to the safe room. Scott took one of the tranq darts and shrank, running after him so he could sneak inside and dart him suddenly.

Natasha knocked on the bathroom door, letting Darcy know she could open it. The girl had her hair in a messy pony tail, like it had been pulled, and had a black eye. Clint touched it and came off with smudged dirt. He held it up. She held up the container. "I didn't know bruise cremes came in black."

"It's got some sort of wood ash to help bring up the blood. The stuff works well." She wiped it off to show him. "He and two thugs jumped out of the SUV. One of them grabbed me by the hair and James nicely turned around to hit them then stalked toward me with that murder strut as they call it online. So I ran up here and he followed. He's clearly not normal."

"No, he's not," Natasha agreed. "Does that work well?"

"Yeah. It also helps clot. I got it from some west coast hippies when I was in LA and looking to cover up a bruise from someone in the airport's elbow." She let her see the jar.

"Huh." She nodded. "That's nice. Ice could help."

"I'm going to start tutoring tonight."

"No wonder you couldn't babysit," Clint quipped. Scott opened the safe room door, the only way it opened was from the inside, and came out with a clearly knocked out Barnes behind them. "She can bring Cassie to tutor."

"Ummm." He winced. "The kids here are a lot more rough, Darcy."

"I know." She stared at him. "I'm not scared. They went thug to be safe and to be protected. That doesn't mean they can grow up and go do other things with only lip service to the old ways since they're not eighteen."

"Point," he agreed. "Keep your emergency button on you?"

"The HYDRA guys had it. One grabbed it when the other grabbed my hair. He has my whole purse actually."

Clint called someone and it was brought to him by a SHIELD agent. "Thanks. I knew you guys were raiding today."

"Well, gee, that would've been nice," Darcy said. "They would've brought me back just after they left." The lower agent spluttered but Clint nodded.

"Quite probably because no one would expect them to be doing that today with that raid," Natasha agreed. "Since it was spilled online that SHIELD vehicles were heading somewhere as a group." She looked at the lower agent, who huffed but left. "It's sad they had to scrape the barrel so hard," she said in Russian, cracking Clint and Darcy up. Scott gave her a 'tell me too' look. So Natasha repeated it.

"They had to squeeze the wood to get the pulp out," Scott said dryly, taking off his helmet. "Because some of them have to be wood pulp with how stupid they are."

Clint nodded. "I do feel sorry for them. Sometimes." Barnes groaned. "Let's get him back with us. Be safe, Darcy, and text us when you're due home."

"I'm going at seven, I'm there for three hours, might stop to get coffee or breakfast on the way so I'll be home by midnight," she said with a nod.

"Okay, I can stay up that late." He helped Natasha carry Barnes out and down to the car they had driven over. Barnes was waking up. "Stay still," he ordered. "We're taking you back to the facility."

"No! She's mine!" He struggled but Natasha nerve jabbed him.

"Damn it, he's still triggered," Clint muttered. Scott stuck him with a second tranq dart. "Thanks." They loaded him into the trunk under Natasha's glare and went back to the jet to go back to the facility.

Darcy settled in to make sure she had clean jeans and a t-shirt plus a good jacket, and then checked her tazers she'd be bringing later. And the cute little bra-mounted pepper spray that shot off when someone touched the pressure keys that went into her bra on each side.

***

Clint stared at his phone the next morning. "Okay," he said, texting her back. "Sorry, I got hit by Bruce's tea," he admitted. "Nat stayed up. Nat, did you check on Darcy?" he called. He was on the main lounge's couch, she was somewhere nearby. Or FRIDAY would tell her.

"I did," she admitted. "They tried to menace her so she patted one on the cheek and told him he was a cute puppy but she liked cats more. The thugs laughed but she settled in to tell them how her former program had worked and how she was doing tutoring for GED classes, it was expected to be under a peace truce, and she didn't put up with stupid shit but she welcomed light hearted fun.

"Plus how she had accepted the little kids they had to take care of in the class too because it meant they got read to and taught that education was a good thing." She came out of the kitchen, handing him a cup of coffee. "She also pointed out how many more things you could do when you had at least a GED and it was a good stepping stone. Even if you didn't plan to go on from the point where they were, a GED meant that you had accomplished something in your life that a lot of others hadn't.

"They glared about that point but she told them the facts of where she had been working and how many dropouts they had. The locals agreed they had higher because the schools in the city are worse funded. She agreed and said she was open to tutoring very often because right now she was still looking for a new job and after she found one it'd be at least three days a week. They agreed that would be fine and most of them had siblings that had been trapped and needed out of their lives to be safe.

"She agreed that was a great start because with a GED they could go to community college, start in a better class of job than fast food, or even try the military if they wanted." She showed him the text message she had been reading from. "A few didn't like it and one threatened her so she pepper sprayed him and said she didn't take no shit from anyone."

Clint grinned. "It's good she's still spunky. Did they figure out who she was?"

"One did. Her later text message said one of the girls had paused her after the meeting to tell her thank you for sticking up for girls protecting their own assets." She showed him that one.

He smiled. "That's good." He sat up to drink his coffee, wincing some. She handed over a tylenol. "Thanks." He drank it with the full cup of coffee, getting up to get another one.

Natasha shook her head. Darcy was clearly interested in making a good change in people's lives. Thankfully she might be more protected now.

***

Darcy looked at the guys who had her hostage, had gotten her on her way out for danish that morning. "Why do you care that I'm tutoring kids to get their GED's?" she asked bluntly.

"We don't," the one sneering at her said. "You're just worth a lot to someone."

"Most of my family's dead," she said dryly. "So you're talking to the only one who could pay you a ransom. All I have are a few stepaunts left." She tried to shrug.

"We can do that but I heard others might want you too," he sneered. "Until then we can have some fun." He grabbed her chest and got pepper sprayed.

Darcy coughed a bit, then spit off to the side. "No thank you. Because I'll kill your ass when I get free." The others were laughing. "Not like I haven't before, guys." And that was a bad day for her, but yay, she could handle this. They may have her tazer, her gun was still hidden and near her hands anyway with the way they were tied. The guy that got pepper sprayed came back and slapped her hard enough to knock her on her side. He spotted her gun and sneered, grabbing it.

"What's this, little girl. Do you have a license for this?"

"Yeah, I have allowance for it by the FBI personally because I have a few death threats on me," she admitted. "Not that they'll pay you either. They'd just kill us all and have fun with it." She stared at him. "Anything else you wanted to know?" He kicked her in the stomach. "Well, good thing that only hurt a bit." One of the ropes was loose and she was getting free. Then the cops stomped in. "Help," she called. "Before I have to quote Monty Python please." They stomped in to grab all of the thugs. One of them helped by untying her hands and she got up and kicked one of them in the chest then slugged him. "And that's for the rape attempt, mother fucker."

"Girls like you swear?" he sneered. He spat some blood.

"Girls like me, we call in people to so we only have to swear." He stared up at her. She smirked evilly. "And then we go to your hideout and tell your guys there how you went bitch and cried and begged the cops." The others hissed. "Then we help ruin them as well because I've never been rude to anyone who wasn't rude first. My mother taught me right." He struggled to get up.

"Ma'am, please quit baiting him," an officer said, walking her off. "Are you all right?"

"No," she admitted. "He has my gun, which is licensed, and my tazers, which are allowed by the FBI due to death threats. They decided to take me hostage because they thought someone might pay ransom for me."

"You don't look like a celebutante," one of the cops joked.

"Hell *no* I've never been that brainless," she said with a glare.

"You're the lady that popped that politician," one realized. Darcy nodded with a grimace. "Oh, crap. You're in Chicago?"

"I got moved by blackmail from my friends," she said bluntly. "I'm still doing charity work and I'm still tutoring people who need their GED's to get somewhere in life. Which was their original problem." She glared at them. "I'm good at making people sorry, dears. Sorry about your lives." She smiled and waved. "Have fun with that in prison since you're all bitches." One struggled to get to her but she kicked him when he got free of the officer. He went down with a groan, curling up around his now-sore balls. "I'm sure they'll love to ice that for you in jail," she said dryly. "Tell them I said hi." She waved.

"Ma'am," another officer complained.

"Sorry but I'm that sort of woman." She looked at the officer questioning her and moved him. "Shit! Move!" They moved out of the way of the spray of bullets through the window from the attempted drive by. "Mother fuckers," she muttered, glaring out there. "Sorry, guys, I only saw the windows come down and a gun barrel. Green four door with a rusty back plate over the wheel." An officer called that in and the officer escorted her home. Just in case. She was muttering about who it could have been this time. The officer was giving her weird looks but he could handle it and they probably wouldn't go after him again if she wasn't there.

"Ma'am, can you stay inside for a few days," the officer asked as he walked her to her door.

"No, I can't. I have things I've promised to do and if you give in to fear, they just grow stronger. If you act scared they win." She opened her door. "They shouldn't try it again if that was about me. Thank you for the help and the saving earlier, Officer." She went in and locked her door, leaning on it. She stared at the guy on her couch. "Hey, Phil." She put her purse down. Her tutoring kid was there staring at her. "Sorry, I went out for danish and ran into stupid."

"I, um, heard someone was going to try something."

"Yeah, they tried for a bit. I would've managed to get free even if the PD hadn't shown up, and then someone showed up to drive by them." She got them both some water, handing him a bottle before sitting on her chair. "So, you came to warn me?"

"Yeah, I did," he admitted, staring at her. "Why do people want you?"

"My bimbo whore of a former stepmother still has a death threat on me because I got her arrested for poisoning and killing my father. There's a few guys at the college I went to that thought women being able to protect themselves made them less macho. The politician dude that's still worthless tried to put a hit out on my life for telling him no." The late teen winced but shook his head. "Yeah, I know he lives here somewhere. He can stay in his shiny gold plated apartment sucking the life out of his newest bought trophy wife." She looked at him. "Thank you for trying to warn me. It's sweet of you."

"Yeah, you're welcome." He sipped the water. "That's not normal."

"It's got lemon in it. It's all I could find on the way home last night." She grinned at him. "It's cool though. A bit different but different experiences can help stop the boring in your life."

"Have you ever lived hard?"

"I ran away. I made it two weeks avoiding the pimps in LA." She looked at him. "I admit I grew up unconcerned about things." He grimaced. "We weren't truly greatly rich but we were comfortably enough that we didn't worry about sudden bills. My dad was a tv show producer."

"So you got to see a lot of kids that just got forgotten but weren't living hard," he said.

She nodded. "A lot of those. A fourth of my graduating class in high school has been to rehab for more than being fashionable." He grimaced but nodded. "And a few have went to jail for the same reason. As Whitney said 'crack is whack' and rich kids get higher level drugs. We had one teacher that OD'd in class. She thought her noon bump was cut more than it was. It was a lot more pure than she thought and a few of my fellow students knew what to take to bring her back from the OD from the illegal drugs." She stared at him for a minute. "Just because life was easier doesn't mean it's any less screwed up, filled with drugs and alcohol, and people aren't just as soulless. It's only we have more things to buy to show off. Our bling is bigger and shinier. And sometimes more subtle." She looked up a picture on her phone. "That's a piece of crown jewelry. What people like my mother grew up with. She married down into Hollywood from a banking family." She let him see it.

"That's very...boring looking."

"Yup, and worth probably three mil."

He handed the phone back. "For ours, you show it."

"Yeah, I've seen that. And fixed a few chains in my day." She smiled. "New money buys. Old money doesn't have to buy because we're secure in it. The same as new money buys limos. Old money buys safe cars with a driver and a nice backseat."

"We'll never be old money."

"You'll never be old money this generation," she corrected. "Even my mom's people started out poorer. I'm told that they were merchants. So they bought stuff and sold it higher, and they invested that money into their business so their kids could take it over, and build more wealth, and on and on until one ended up running a saloon bank during the gold rush years. Old money takes generations. You gotta work for it at first and make sure your heirs know that they'll probably have to build it up too, but any wealth is that way. Everyone who has money now had someone who worked for it. A lot of them don't understand that."

"So you're going to marry well?" he joked.

"No, I don't need to. I need to invest," she said dryly, smirking some. "I'm at the point where I can do what I feel is right for the world and not have to worry about being paid for it. Then again, I spent five years as an unpaid intern to a woman that became my best friend too." He blinked at her. She smiled. "I made sure I wouldn't run out of things."

"Then why are you living here?" he demanded. "It's tiny and dark."

"When I got...talked into moving back to New York by a few friends, meaning they moved me and then told me." He burst out laughing. "Seriously. Due to the death threats." She shrugged and sipped her water, looking at it. "Raspberry. Okay." She took another drink and put it down. "I'm thinking about moving somewhere bigger and maybe a bit brighter but more windows means more chance of someone killing me. I would like at least an office though. I need somewhere to put my books and movies."

He looked at her. "That's weird."

"Yeah, but I like my books. Most of them are even textbooks."

"Wow." He shook his head. "We have libraries."

"I donate a lot to libraries but if they don't want it, they sell it to make money."

"I didn't know that." She nodded. "Huh." He looked around then at her. "You probably have gowns and stuff."

"Charities do fund raising things that way. Plus sometimes people award charities with money for doing good work. I bought bridal stuff. Less than two hundred each." He gaped. "Phil, designer duds only fit women who look like crack hos. I don't have that body and most designers would hate my body because I do have curves. It's not fashionable anymore. So I find stuff that makes me look great and choose that. That's how real women do it. We find what makes us look good and dare people to say that we're not good enough."

"Oh. Huh. My girl's got a Macy's habit."

"I like some of their stuff but a lot of it's way too uptight for me. That was a whole other social class to mine. My mom's uncle wouldn't have shit on Macy's, he only went designer. My mom bought stuff that made her look hot and wanted." She shrugged. "I personally tend to shop in second hand stores because I don't have to break in new jeans and I find interesting stuff."

"I noticed the beanie. We all did," he admitted dryly, staring at her.

"Knitting was actually my mandatory art class in my undergrad." He burst out laughing. "Seriously. It was that or pottery and I hate playing in the dirt." He shook his head while laughing. "So I have a few beanies and some scarves."

He let it trail off, looking at her. "Could you shop like a celebrity?"

"Yeah. I'm worth more than enough to do that. Why would I want to? I don't have a job where I have to please people with how I look. I don't have to be conscious of that stuff due to the paps or other sleazy reporters. I don't care if they talk about me not shaving my legs for weeks on end. I don't have a job where it matters."

"You don't?"

"There's no biological reason for shaving," she said.

"Girls have stuff that happens if they don't."

"No they don't. Just like you guys don't." He gaped. She nodded. "Same body structures, Phil." She smiled. "Women don't have to shave, and doing some shaving is actually not encouraged because it can cause problems like ingrown hairs, it's just a social construction. Coco Channel created it when she made sleeveless shirts fashionable."

"Women used to shave."

"In Egypt, where it kept down fleas. In Asia, where they were delicate maidens who had to pluck out each hair individually. Egyptian women of all classes used to due to the heat and the flea problems. They also used to shave their heads and wear wigs because of it."

He grimaced. "That would suck."

"Yeah. Women back then didn't go anywhere without their wigs. Much like some older women in church." He snickered, nodding. "They could have a fire and the woman would put on her wig before grabbing her kids to evacuate them. Again, a social thing."

"Huh."

"People like my grandmother make those sort of rules. She never cared, she went to jail a number of times so women could finally get the right to vote."

"She did?"

"Yeah. Got arrested six times for protesting for the right to vote. It's a family badge of honor. My mom lived up to her standards and so do I."

"Wow."

"Some people do charity work because it's the right thing to do. Some people do it because it gives them notice. Some people give to them because it gives them a tax break. I'm in the first group because my mother trained me that I had things that could be used to help people. My mind is my best asset and I can use it to help others."

"Why not become a doc or something?"

"Eww, insides." She grimaced. "Gross." He smirked at her. "Seriously, insides are nasty. I've seen enough of insides, thanks."

"True, they are gross and blood is nasty." He stared at her. "You could become a politician."

"Yeah but I'd hate to live in the public eye so often. It's annoying and I'd hate to play reindeer games to get help with what I need to have done."

"I can see that." He stood up. "Thanks, Miss Lewis."

"It's Darcy. I'm not the formal, stick up the ass sort, Phil." She smiled. "I've seen heros with the flu and bad guys wanting to take over the world. I'm more than strong enough to be called by my first name."

"Sure." He smiled. "I'll tell the others you're not the usual do gooder sort."

"Thanks. Twitter me to tell me what sort of cookies I'm making too. I know I need to bring healthy ones but that doesn't mean they can't have organic chocolate chips." He smiled and nodded, heading out to talk to the others.

Darcy settled in to read her emails and stuff. It was a good day for it and if someone tried to take her again they'd have a lot of problem getting in there.

***

Melinda May limped into Darcy's apartment when she opened the door.

"I'm just heading out," she said blandly. "I've got tutoring in a bit." She stared at her. "Get comfy, don't order anything on pay-per-view please. Or you can come with me and then cab from somewhere," she chirped when she saw the glare.

"It'll take ten minutes, Lewis."

"And I'm already running late." She hefted the cookies. "C'mon. We can talk in the car. At least it's secure." May huffed but followed her, letting Darcy lock her door. They went down to the car and Darcy got in to drive, putting the cookies on the back seat. She checked everything before turning on the car and driving off. "So, why the visit?"

"Why was there a gang trying to shoot you?" she asked patiently.

"I have no idea and are we sure they were after me and not the gang that was trying to hold me for ransom?"

"Um...hadn't heard about that."

Darcy shot her a grin at a stop light. "Yup, sure was. I was getting free so I could make them miserable." She went on at the honking, making sure the light was green first. May typed that into her phone as they kept going. She was still answering someone on the other end when Darcy parked. "Tell Coulson I said hi." She got out and got the cookies and her bag, hurrying inside. "Sorry I'm late. I lost an earring in the sink." She walked in and put the cookies down, smiling at the staring people. "Aren't I supposed to be here tonight?" They all nodded. "Did you think I forgot?" She looked at her watch. "I'm seriously sorry about the five minutes late thing. I overshot my nap." The kids came to check the cookies and settled in to go over what the GED was and the prep test books. She started them on some simpler exercises to see how good they did. A few got frustrated but she moved them up to a harder thing. The test had some light equational math and geometry on it. That was going to be harder.

"I'll never get there," one of the guys said, grimacing at what his friend was doing.

Darcy patted him on the hand. "Never say never. It's only never if you give up trying. If you can't do it today, maybe in a few months you can. That's something you build up to. Or like growing your hair out," she said with a smile. "You get a little today and you build up as you go until you finally get supermodel hair."

He snorted, shaking his head. "None of us are model material."

"You're not skinny like them but you're fairly well built." He smirked at her. "Not hitting on you. Sorry. But you are. It's clear you're working out. Those things are subjective." She shrugged. "Who'd want to be someone so uptight about every little thing anyway? Do you really want to have to worry about a single zit ruining your career because it might scar?" Everyone shook their heads. "Me either. It's a horrible way to live." They smiled and got back to work, Darcy shifting to help a few with their simpler maths. A few needed reading help too but that was normal. "Everyone, the cookies are actually pretty healthy cookies. I usually bring fruit, since we used to work with a group that gave kids food baskets on the weekends, but I didn't get a chance to go out after I got home today." Down the table Phil was shaking his head with a sigh. "Who were they anyway? Someone asked me."

"No clue," he admitted. "Rumors don't state anything."

"That kinda sucks. I like knowing when people threaten me." She got back to work. One of the girls stared at her. "Someone decided they'd like my company at knife point and tied me up then nagged me that they'd get someone to pay me." She smirked. "I abused that notion really fast and was getting free so I could kick them around, but the NYPD got there and then a drive-by."

One of the boys shuddered. "I heard they tried and they got sorry."

"They're damn lucky I didn't get my hands on my tazers," she said. "Because that would've been a mess to clean up." The guys stared at her. She smiled. "What?" They groaned but got back to work.

One of the girls tossed her pencil. "Why do we have to do problems like this?" she demanded. "It makes no sense."

"It's kinda like making you do mazes," Darcy said. "It makes you think about how you order what's important and why it's important." She took the form to look at. "Oh, the train sort of question. Okay, these are easier if you make a drawing." She took the pencil to draw it out. "If you have two trains, on two tracks, because otherwise they'd hit each other and end up on CNN for the wreck, draw that. You have one going east, one going west, and one's going 40mph. One's going fifty mph. The distance between the two cities is ...." She reread it. "It doesn't say." The girl nodded. "Huh. That's weird. Well, we'll look it up." She pulled out her phone to do that. "Google maps said that there's a hundred-thirty-two miles between the two towns." She put her phone back into her pocket. "So if this one's going forty miles an hour, how many hours will it take to get there? This is the long version."

"So forty for this one, fifty for this side," she said, making pencil marks. "Them meeting halfway is thirty-six. No, sixty six." Darcy nodded. "So them meeting there would take just over an hour for both of them. But it says where do they meet?"

"So break it into portions. Where do forty on one side and fifty on the other meet up?" She marked them off proportionally. Then marked the center point. "How far is that?"

"Um...mile sixty-six, which is one hour and ..." Darcy handed over her phone with the calculator pulled up. "About two and a half minutes." She did it again for the other train. "So they're both going to be meeting up just past an hour." She looked up. "Still makes no sense."

"It's to make you think and reason it out, like you did. Now, on the test, you'll probably have a multiple choice from what I heard. It's a bubble form."

"Huh." She made note of that and went to the next one. Darcy's phone got passed down to someone else who needed the calculator.

"This isn't new," one said.

Darcy nodded. "It works and does what I want it to do. Why would I spend money to upgrade it?"

"It's not new though."

"New doesn't mean better. You guys ever hear about new coke?" They all shook their heads. "It happened about when I was a toddler. Coke's people did a huge research study talking to a bunch of people about what they wanted in coke to change. A lot of them apparently said they thought the taste should change more, be more like pepsi. So coke changed the formula completely and came out with new coke. Which no one would buy because they didn't like it. They associated coke with the old taste and couldn't stand the new one. They had to write off a ton of loss thanks to that and about four months or so later, they reintroduced original coke." She smiled. "And then later on diet coke, which is a diet version of new coke." They all stared. "Sometimes new isn't better. It's just new. If it's working for you, why change it?"

"I get that. But it's still dinged up."

"Yeah, I dropped it a few years back while running away from those mechanical spiders. Nearly into the sewer but I saved it." She smiled. "I'm lucky I saved it with how many pictures I have on that thing that I need to save down later."

The girl got into it. "I'm being nosy."

"If I objected I would've snatched it back," she promised with a small grin. "Go ahead."

She looked. "Who's... that's that Captain guy."

Darcy looked. "Yeah, we had been up all night watching older monster movies. He used to really like those."

She looked at her. "How did you do that?"

"I worked in the tower with Jane Foster as her science intern."

"Oh." She flipped through a few more. "Thor's got perspective issues. That's a huge zit on his nose." The others looking laughed.

"I taught him how to focus better after I saw him taking selfies with my phone. Sweet guy until you piss him off. He's also a pretty good dad to their spawn."

They looked at the other ones. "Where's this?" she asked, holding it up.

"Where I finished my studies. That's in Pennsylvania. A small, kinda conservative college." She took it to look at more closely. "That's the science and arts building in the background so that's from the dorm quad. I was a floor monitor for a year because housing near that campus sucked. And good thing I was. The next few are probably girls on my old floor." She nodded, flipping through them.

"She's hot," one of the guys said.

Darcy smiled. "The Asian one? Yes she was. She's still hot, but now she's hot in a lab coat. She went into molecular biology." He shuddered. "And had a small wreck a few years back that gave her a scar on her face but she survived. She's trying some new things to heal brain cells."

"Huh," the girl said. She went forward. "Hey, something I recognize."

Darcy smiled. "That's the first meeting of the kids I was working with in Chicago. Great kids. That's Macy," she said with a point. "She's just turned four a few days back. I sent her a few books and a new blanket. She loves blankets."

"Then why are you here?" the girl asked, sliding the phone back.

"Because my friends got really worried about the stupid going on over there. So they kinda told me I was moving back here. I got ambushed at work and told I was moving back here and that they were packing up my apartment for me. They're great friends and I miss the ones I was working with in Chicago. I still do work for Shelly, my old boss. She's hiring three people to take my place."

"So you're still looking for a group to work with out here?" Phil asked.

"I am. I did a lot of good work in Chicago and I'd still be working there if it wasn't for that problem I had with the death threat thing."

"Death threat thing?" one of the other girls asked.

"Yeah, that politician I tazed to get him off my ass has one on me and so does my bimbo whore of a former stepmother. She's still in jail but every now and then she talks someone into trying me. Not that it'll get her out of jail for killing my dad."

"Wow. That's way tough."

"She was poisoning him. She wanted to be the only heir. Tried to force me into an arranged marriage with a guy who ended up killing his first wife and vowed if I had married him instead I could've straightened him out. Pity but I'm hoping his cellmates fixed him for everyone."

"I saw that interview. It's rough to lose your parents."

"It is," Darcy agreed. "I still miss my mom. She would've kicked my ass good for swearing so much while I was getting that scummy thing off my butt." She smiled at Darcy, shaking her head. "Seriously. My mom was the practical mom in the neighborhood. She baked, she gave advice to the kids who only had nannies. She was a good mom. If I ever spawn I'm super going to be like her. But that's not looking realistically soon."

"When I watched that, that one group called in," she said.

"Yup. And they're interested in how I'd be as a mom too." That got a wince. "If we have someone bust in here, do we know how to get out safely and fast?" They pointed at the exit. "Good. I'm sure you guys know how to scatter to protect yourselves." She smiled. "I also don't mind if anyone's watching their kid," she said, looking at one of the boys. "Reading to little kids makes them smarter and we can start them on a lifetime of learning too so they manage to go do something beyond these walls and this neighborhood."

"I don't got none," he defended.

Darcy smiled. "Which is good. You're too young. You still have your wild years in front of you."

"Nah, had those as a teenager," he admitted. "Damn glad I wasn't the daddy the one scare I had."

"Yeah, I'm glad neither of mine came true," Darcy agreed. "I was enjoying the clubbing and stuff." They all groaned. "London has some *great* clubs. I dragged Jane to many of them to relax from science."

"Why were you over there?" the first girl asked.

"Jane wanted to be over there and I was her flunky. But not a minion because I had self will and made sure she ate."

"Wow." They went back to work. Then one of the boys suddenly stared at her.

"You were there when the elves were," he said, staring at her.

"Yup, I was helping Jane." She smiled. "Scary shit, really. So much scary shit. That ranks right up there with staring down a gang in lower Mexico when I was down there helping an aid group that my mom used to support. I'm not sure which is worse really. Dark elves or Mexican drug gang members. Probably the elves. They wanted to kill me. The drug gang members probably would've sold me into slavery with someone scummy." She shrugged. "Probable death is always worse than possible death." They groaned, staring at her. She smiled. "It is." They nodded, getting back to work.

"Did you ever do any of those crazy white people things like bungee jumping?" one of the girls asked.

"Twice with a boyfriend who was into that. One tandem one where he wanted to make out at the end while I was trying not to puke and the other one we landed in the lake thankfully. I don't have the stomach for that. We broke up because I wouldn't go fully naked and bungee jump tandem with him for the sex rush. I told him it wouldn't have been sexy when I threw up on him."

She shrugged. "He called me a chicken. I pushed him down a flight of stairs and he howled I was evil. His uncle the cop told him he was an idiot and no woman with sense was going to do that shit with him, verbatim thank you, and that he needed to straighten up before he died doin' it. Or before his uncle had him turned into the local minister as suicidal and possessed. He did not like that exorcism a few weeks later. I got asked to testify in front of their board of helpers about what had went on."

"I would've been prayed over by everyone in the church while my mother and aunt went 'oh Lord Jesus, protect this baby' in the background over and over," she said.

"I was a senior in high school and he was a freshman in college. I wasn't legally old enough to go on those trips," Darcy said with a grin. "I think that's the only time the bimbo whore told me I had sense."

"Did you have a housekeeper?"

"No. My mom had someone who came in twice a week to do windows, the bathroom, and vacuum for her," Darcy said. "Even when she was sick, it was our job to take care of everything else. She just hated those jobs so she hired someone."

"No nannies?" one of the boys asked.

"Nope. Mom and I both hate those with an ever-fiery hatred. It leads to a lot of problems for their kids. And a lot of pain for the nanny. Most of my family was very against those unless it was something like the parents had to travel and the kids couldn't or they were going through a messy divorce so the kids had someone to cling to."

"So you guys didn't have any help?" the first girl asked, staring at her.

Darcy shook her head. "No, I had parents who actually did parent things. I had some babysitters now and then. They had to go out and do things for his job and her social position. Dinners, awards, one week they went to France and I was ten so I got to stay with my uncle and his...let's see, he was in the middle of divorcing his second wife to marry his third, who was his mistress. She was a bit bipolar. Textbook definition bipolar. She screamed at me for being there so I told her about these new wondrous drugs that had come out recently then I went to his first wife's house and hung out with her for the rest of that week. That first aunt made sure the others knew about them all and that they could at least be polite with each other. She had given him a son. Who his last wife got drug addicted and molested while grooming him to be her future sugar daddy. He's getting out of jail in about a month I think."

The girl blinked at her. "Wow."

"Yeah, his last wife, number four, killed him." She grimaced. "She got high and stabbed him once too. They had just finalized the divorce when she had him carjacked and killed. My first aunt and the second one stared her down in the morgue with me until she shot herself in the stomach then confessed. My aunt is not the one you wanted to screw with and I knew that. My uncle said she reminded him of his own mother. Who was a harsh woman about women's rights. She went to jail six times fighting for women's votes. And nearly once for stabbing her husband for cheating on her visibly. She died when I was six."

"Wow." She frowned. "Did some women really hate on the idea that they could vote and stuff?"

"Yeah. You've seen those brainwashed fundie women in churches?" She nodded. So did a few others. "Just like they'd fight now not to have any rights, back then the same sort and some higher society women who thought it was crass that women might think about politics, did fight not to have the right to vote. Back then the suffragettes were seen a lot like the Rise Up groups now."

"Wow."

Darcy nodded. "A lot of things got pushed down onto us. Did you know that at one point in time it was thought that women were only incubators for the kids? According to the Catholic church, which was basically the only one around outside the Orthodox ones, thought that babies were in men's sperm and just got shot into us to be carried." She giggled. "Yet it was still our fault if we had too many daughters. One of those things you learn in college is there's history, there's women's history, which isn't always the same, and there's minorities history, which is never the same. We live through the same events but not in the same way. It affects our lives differently."

"When Loki invaded with those alien whale things, rich people went into hiding and hoarded gold and gems," one of the guys said.

Darcy nodded. "It's considered universal currency. You can trade it with nearly anyone. What did you guys do?"

"We put up emergency food closets," one of them said. "And a few extra weapons if we can get our hands on them. What did you do?"

"I was with Jane and we got tricked into going to the Northern end of Europe by SHIELD. We made emergency plans to evacuate people we liked and knew. Jane called her boyfriend to bitch him out for not calling her since he was back on this planet with her. I baked and knitted for a while to calm down and then we went into 'fuck this, it won't happen again and if it does we'll handle it' land so our plans went into the filing cabinet. Some of them got used to evacuate us after Ultron." The kids all stared at them. "I cared more about the people than I did the things. I could replace most things and my go bag had most of the important things in it already. I had to get Jane out of it if necessary. Plus anyone injured in the tower."

"So you didn't stock up on things like food or money?"

"I already have a lock box with some ready cash and my go bag has a bit too. My kitchen's stuffed because I can cook, guys. It may not all stay good for a hugely long time but I also took a gardening class in my undergrad for an easy credit and to get out of gym for a semester. It was a filler but it worked. I'm horrible at it but I know how to do it properly if I have to start a garden. I just really suck at it and I hate playing in the dirt. I support the local farms and the empty lot farms by shopping there and donating."

They grinned and got back to work. Darcy moved to help a few more kids with their word problems. They were annoyingly hard. "Is it true the prep tests are harder than the real one?" one of the guys asked her.

Darcy smiled and nodded. "Yup. Same as the ACT and the SAT are for college admission or the GRE for graduate school is. I haven't taken the ASVAB or MCAT so I can't tell you from experience."

"What're those?"

"ACT and the SAT are for college admissions," Darcy said. "To get into a good school you often have to take the test somehow. If you go to community college, you don't have to usually and you can transfer so you may not have to take it at all or you'll be taking it after two years of community college. GRE is for graduate school, getting a master's degree or a PhD." They nodded. "The ASVAB is for the military, it's their entry test. The MCAT is for medical school. There's one for law school too."

"How do you even get to law school?"

"You do really great in your undergrad, take the LSAT, and apply then hope like hell since there's so few spots," Darcy said honestly. "I didn't have the focus for the law. But basically it's excellent grades, recommendations from instructors who know you'd do great, and then a great test score and move up. Four years as an undergrad, four years in law school, then years of working your way up from the bottom of the shit pile of new graduates." They nodded. "Same thing for med school."

"You could've done that," one of the boys said.

"Insides, ewww!" she said with a grimace. "They're nasty. I didn't want to deal with that every day."

"I get that. It is nasty," he agreed. They got back to work, taking more cookies to nibble on while they worked. Darcy ran out to the car and came back with the bags of juice and plastic cups. "Thanks."

"I forgot, sorry. Bought them earlier so they're pretty warm. They were in the car." They shrugged, they'd had warm apple juice before. She'd worry why Agent May was still in her car later, when she was going to use it to get home.

***

Agent Melinda May walked into her boss's office, staring at him. "She's only gotten perkier."

He looked up, smiling until he saw the new bandage. "Darcy has always tried to make the best of it. Why are you injured?"

She touched it then grimaced. "We had a small realm breach incident. It unfortunately happened right in front of Miss Lewis. And Mr. Stark was happily nearby to help." Coulson winced, leaning back in his chair to hear this one. "For a short time of twenty-three minutes and forty-two seconds, we had two Clint Bartons on this plane." Coulson let out a tiny moaning sound. "Darcy did greet him and wondered what had happened. She and that Clint Barton shared information and she showed him internet memes of himself while she was waiting on our version to answer the desperate text message.

"Though she did get one from someone and noted that 'what, do you think I'm Jane Foster suddenly' back at them." She looked up from reading her notes. "That second Barton was most amused at our fan culture for his arms and bow. And Miss Lewis' list of his favorite things since it included his dog, coffee, and his bow, in that order. But before the cookies and fudge."

"He can have a sweet tooth, yes," Coulson said dryly. "How did this lead you to being injured?"

"By the time Stark got there to happily undo the lab accident that happened on that side, Clint told her he was not with Natasha, he had his own dame as he put it, and she didn't seem to notice his staring at her chest or rear end." Coulson's eyebrow went up. "Apparently, though I did not ask. Stark got there with something to reverse the stream or however they do it and it reopened the portal. Miss Lewis was keeping him busy by making sure that they hadn't had some events yet. Apparently they hadn't had Loki at that time. So she said she didn't want to be nosy or hurt him but in the interest of comparing she made sure his brain hadn't been put into a blender by said chaos being.

"Barton was horrified that it had happened to him here, and possibly in other versions of himself, and vowed not to let it happen this time. She let him see the news reports that had access to classified information about that series of events so he was warned. Stark did put in a warning not to change their timeline too much but Darcy quipped back that it's one possible reason why he was thrown over here in front of her, so she could tell him these things so they could change it on their realm, and wouldn't they all be better off without that incident.

"Stark agreed it's a plausible reason but quipped and said that Barton probably landed in front of her to get cookies. She handed him some and Stark grabbed one too while working on the portal generator. Rogers showed up about then and demanded to know what was going on. He was on his motorcycle and blocked Darcy's sedan in by parking in front of it, and nearly pulled a weapon on Stark because he thought he was the problem at that moment."

"Ours?"

"Yes. Darcy told him what was going on so he told that Clint about his current self's goings on and Darcy quipped something about needing a date beyond his puppy on Saturday nights. Rogers gave her a dirty look for it but she just offered him a cookie for that dirty look that the rest of us flinch from. Stark finally got it open and we find out that they had an open mic basically while working frantically to get their agent back to their labs. Darcy smiled and waved at a few people she knew from the labs and told Stark 'look, it's Meathead from Biology', which made Stark growl at him for the lab accidents that one had caused over the last few years. They managed to get the second Barton back to his own realm before ours died from having two of them here."

"Then why are you injured?" he asked.

"You know how Barton feels about me, Coulson. That one called me your ice princess." He let out a tiny smirk. "Though the cut on my cheek is because I tripped over Rogers' bike on the way to the agent SUV there to pick me up so I could have this headache in peace and quiet." She handed over the report she had typed up on her tablet and had printed as she walked into the building. "I'm going to rest in a dark room and ignore the rest of you for a bit." She limped off, going to her bunk to lock herself in.

Coulson read that report, smiling at the facts. "That's interesting," he decided, calling Rogers. "May I have a report on what went on?" he asked politely. "I have one from Agent May but she didn't note what sort of incident brought the second Clint to our realm, Captain. Please. Thank you for that. Did someone lock Miss Lewis in her apartment?

"No, I'm more worried that the gang that kidnaped her for ransom this morning when she was getting danish will come back," he admitted. "Yes, that's what I said." He winced as Steve Rogers bellowed Darcy's name. He heard her quip back that she was fine, just going home. Rogers hung up as he was stomping over, because you could hear him stomping over the open line, and nagging her about having someone kidnap her for breakfast. "I do not need to know what happens," he decided. "Yet. I'll get a report from her in the morning."

***

Steve Rogers hung up as he stomped over to where Darcy was filling out the NYPD paperwork. "You were kidnaped this morning?" he demanded.

She looked at him. "They weren't great at it. I was getting free when the nice officers busted in there." He scowled. She smiled and held up a cookie, letting him take it. "I'm okay, really. The rescue by the nice officers was even interrupted by a drive-by, but it had nothing to do with HYDRA, Steve. They wanted to ransom me off."

He scowled while he chewed. "It's not a good thing," he noted.

"I know. That's why I went home and put on all my locks and took a nap."

He huffed, staring at her. "You're not safe."

"Is that my fault?"

"No," he admitted, rolling his eyes. "I'm almost thinking you were safer in Chicago after all."

She shrugged. "Not my doing, Steve."

"Uh-huh." He stared at her. "You need to go home and be safer."

"I will be. I need to change a few locks. One of my tutoring kids managed to break it this morning."

He blinked at her. "That door had three locks."

"He was waiting on me when I got back from the kidnaping to warn me."

Steve huffed again, walking her off. "Let me make sure you get home safely, Darcy."

"How are you going to do that from your bike since I can't ride a motorcycle." He stared at her. "I have in the past and my boyfriend wanted me to grope. I don't know how to ride one without groping and you aren't one that wanted me to grope you, Steve. So I can drive home and you can follow me."

He pointed at the car. "Do that. I'll be right behind you, Darcy." She nodded, climbing in and starting her car while he got on his bike and kicked it into life.

"Helmet," the officer yelled at him. "Or get a ticket and you'll have to chase her." Steve put on his helmet with a nod at the officer and a short wave, then followed Darcy home. The officer looked at the ticket. "She gave the tower as an address," he complained. So much for his second boss's desire for her new address. But HYDRA could trace Rogers' motorcycle across the city's cameras. He went to call that in. He could see why the higher ups wanted the girl. She was strong yet perky.

Steve walked Darcy up to her apartment, nodding at the young guy in there. "How did you get in? We'd like to up her locks on her so I'm asking." The kid choked, staring at him. He smirked a tiny bit. "She's a great movie watching buddy."

"Top lock's loose, Captain sir. Middle lock's crap. Bottom lock's not locking at all."

"I'll have that fixed tomorrow. Thank you."

"Steve, this is Phil, one of the kids I tutor."

"I'm not a kid," he complained.

"I'm nearly thirty," she told him. "I'm old enough to be your big sister." He snorted but looked amused as he got up and left them alone. The one in the kitchen came out to leave too when Steve spotted him. "I'll bring more food next class," she called after him with a wave. "If you want something like banana bread let me know on my twitter."

"Yes, Darcy. Please."

"Sure, I can do that." She went to lock the door, and he checked it. He came in to grab a screwdriver to fix the locks. Darcy went to check her stuff, finding it all there. Including her gun and the two tazers the cops had confiscated off the idiots that morning. "I have to hug those boys." Steve gave her an odd look so she held up her tazer. "They got them back for me. It's sweet."

"It is," he agreed. "I don't want to know how but it is sweet of them." He went back to fixing the door. Clint showed up to stare over his shoulder. "Two of her tutoring kids were visiting but I'm a bit upset with things since she got kidnaped this morning for attempted ransom."

Clint looked at Darcy. "How do you get into those things?"

"Don't know. Isn't it sweet they got me back my stuff?"

"It is," he agreed patiently. "You need a nap."

"I took one earlier before I went. That's why I was a bit late when Melinda was suddenly on the couch too."

"Did the other me get home okay?" Clint asked.

"Yeah. He waved from that side and said it was good and he was home."

"Cool. Was he with his Natasha?"

"No, he said he had a nice dame but that they should get a dog. I told him what you told me about how you got Lucky."

Clint grinned. "I'm sure he'll have fun with that." He walked over Steve's legs, going in to check the rest of the apartment for her. The safe room too. Then he hauled Darcy up and carried her into her bedroom to toss her onto her bed. "Nap. We'll watch over you tonight."

"I'm perfectly fine, Clint. Really."

"Uh-huh. Seeing two of me so close together must've browned your brain out at my magnificence, so rest." He went to check her security system. "Do you not turn this on?" he called.

"I have it on all the time." She came to the bedroom doorway. "Isn't it on?"

"It says it is." He popped the faceplate off to look at the inside. "Melinda bypassed it. That's SHIELD's method." He took the clips off and then reset the system. "Now it reads right." He looked at Steve.

"I got asked for a report on the second you," Steve said. "I can add that as a note. She was limping and tripped over my tire."

"Good, she needs paddled for leaving Darcy so vulnerable."

"Guys, be nice," Darcy warned.

"Go get comfy," Clint said, grinning at her.

She sighed but did that. "Oh, hey, I thought the web guy was a myth," she said, watching him swing past. She fought off the urge to boob flash him to shock him. She wasn't that young anymore.

"No, met the kid. Stark's mentoring him," Clint called. "He's a bit mouthy and all that but he's a genius somehow."

"Ah. That makes sense." She closed her curtains and put on jammies, reopening the curtains when she heard a thump. She smiled and waved at the web guy, pulling on her sleeping t-shirt. Then she opened the window. "Hi, I'm Darcy. You?"

"Spiderman," he moaned, trying to move. "I hate that guy."

Darcy smiled and grabbed something without looking at it. Then she hit him with it. He shrieked and fell off the building. "I'm going to pretend I'm MewMew and zap you so hard you'll wish it was before electricity, mother fucker," she called with a smile and a wave. "Don't piss me off. I'm not the nice one." She looked at the guy. "Are you okay? I have a first aid kit." She turned but ran into Steve.

"Captain," the guy said with a nod. "I didn't mean to intrude. I just got slammed into the window.

"Clint, my first aid's in the bathroom closet, can you get it for me please since Steve's in my way?" she called. He brought out the soft sided gym bag. "Get in here so we can treat them."

"I'm kinda hiding who I am," he said, trying to ease away.

She hauled him in by his ear, pushing him onto the bed. "I'm not an Avenger, kid. I do charity work with underprivileged kids to help them get their GED's." He slumped. "Now, I can treat the injuries or Steve can treat the injuries."

"She's more gentle," Steve said and walked off. "I won't look, kid."

"Um, thanks."

Darcy pulled his mask off, closing the curtains and working on his injuries. Then she went to get him a few of the cookies, smiling at him. "I welcomed other Avengers with cookies. You just missed out on my baking in the tower years."

"You said you're not an avenger."

"I'm not, I was a lab intern." She grinned. "I'm super fantastic at it too."

He smiled. "I've heard about you. Jane's complaining she still misses you."

"I miss Jane too but I couldn't keep doing that." She pinched his cheek. "Go home, rest. Elevate that wrist and keep it wrapped tonight. Don't make Steve tell Bruce to check on your injuries. Most of the Avengers go to him instead of the docs because they hate doctors."

He nodded. "I've heard. Thank you."

"You're welcome, kiddo. Have a good night at home. And if they show up here I'll tase the asshole again." He laughed but took off out the window, going home for now. She cleaned up the mess and made a long note for Steve. "Here, for Stark about his mentoree. He's got bruised ribs too."

"He probably shouldn't be out doing his thing then," Clint said as he installed a new lock.

"I told him to go home and wrapped his probably fractured wrist."

"Good," Steve said, tucking it into his pocket. "I'll have Stark talk to him about safety things." She pinched his cheek. "Go rest?"

"I've had a nap today and I don't have to get up until almost noon tomorrow, Steve. My interview's not until the afternoon."

"It'd be safer if you were in there. You never know who might come in."

She went to close her window and closed the curtains, going to read in bed for now since they were so fussy. Men, just the fussiest things ever even when you weren't dating them. She did kinda miss all the big brothers she had when she was working with Jane but this was getting weird and bordering on creepy, stalker stuff. Now all they needed was Scott there to stare at her until she gave in and did what they wanted. She checked her bed just in case he was hiding to make sure she was all right. No tiny red suited guy so she was okay. Because that would be super creepy.

Or she might fart in her sleep and send him into a wall or something. She didn't want to hurt him by accident.

Clint looked at Steve. "We should tell Scott," he said quietly.

Steve smiled. "He'll frown at her again."

"Yeah, but it might be a good idea." They nodded and Steve texted Scott that she was all right again. His one back from Scott's ex-wife wanted to know why that was important. He told her it was a friend Scott had worked with in Chicago. Her 'oh, Darcy' back was telling. Steve confirmed that and that she was fine again. They had made sure of it. Scott clearly took the phone from her to ask why they had to make sure. Steve gave him a list. Scott groaned and promised he'd introduce her to people in the morning that she could be safe around. Steve smiled because that might be a really good thing. He showed Clint, who sent his own suggestion.

***

Darcy showed up at the address she had been texted to meet Scott at. The woman in there stared at her. "Scott Lang is supposed to meet me here."

"Do you need a PI, lady?"

Darcy smiled, holding out a hand. "Darcy Lewis. I work with underprivileged kids so they can get their GED's and I'll find a regular job in a few weeks to go with that."

The woman shook her hand. "Jessica."

"Scott told me about you a few months back." Scott walked up behind her, brushing her hair off her shoulder. "Hey! Don't touch the do. I know I need a haircut."

"You could trim it, yeah," he agreed, smiling at Jessica. "This is Darcy. I'm introducing her around to the lower level people. She used to work with Jane Foster as a lab flunky." Darcy nodded. "Now she's got an accounting degree at the bachelor's level and a public policy masters."

"Wow," Jessica said. "Those go together?"

"I have another bachelors in poli sci," Darcy admitted.

"I know there's some groups down this way that could use her help so I'm helping her introduce herself around."

Darcy stared at her. "By the way, I know about all this stuff. I knew Thor pretty well for a few years when he came back finally. So nothing like this will freak me out if something happens around me and I tend to react if they do. I'm not the damsel so you don't have to worry about me, okay?"

Jessica nodded. "That's always safer."

"She tazed Thor when he landed after being thrown out of Asgard the first time," Scott told her. Jessica laughed, nodding once. "So yeah, she was in the tower for almost three years before she left to go back to school."

"I'm also a champion baker and I can knit," Darcy said. "It was an art class alternative."

Jessica smiled a tiny bit. "That's weird but sure. If I hear about a group hiring I'll gladly pass your name on."

"Thanks." Darcy handed over a card. "Let me know if you need my help with something. I'm not the squeamish sort and I've hidden more than one person in my safe room."

"I can do that. Are you going to introduce her to Gerdy?"

"I am," Scott agreed. "I figured they were at the diner. Oh, this is Clint's cookie source."

"That makes a lot of sense," Jessica said. "He always brags that he got new cookies." Darcy giggled, smiling at her. "Go have fun, guys. I'm not scenic by any means. And warn her, Lang."

"I will." He walked her off, telling her about a few of the bad problems down there. Who probably wouldn't come near Darcy anyway. He walked her into the diner, spotting a few people that were more scenic attractions and one he wanted to introduce her to. "Gerdy, I have a friend you should meet."

Darcy smiled and held out a hand. "Darcy Lewis."

The woman stared at her. "I saw that video."

"Until I got moved via blackmail I was working with Shelly in Chicago with the tutoring program and other things."

"You do charity work?" she guessed.

"I do charity work," Darcy agreed, sitting down. "This is what I worked on with Shelly, and was helping organize a few other co-projects between us and a few other groups." She let her see her list of projects worked on. "Since I got moved to New York for my own safety," she said with a glance at Scott then smiled at the other woman. "I'm looking for a new job."

"We can't afford to hire right now, hon."

"Who said I needed a paycheck?" she asked. "I have money. My mother taught me it was my job to make something of myself that would help others. She worked with abused women. I work with teenagers so they have a stable base to grow from."

"That's a good thing. I heard someone restarted the tutoring center." Darcy nodded with a smile. "We hated that it got funding cut and had all those threats."

"I'm not scared of much," Darcy admitted. "It's all fun and games until you get blown up in a lab so you wake up to the Hulk checking your leg by poking it." Gerdy stared at her oddly. Darcy smiled. "This is my resume," she said, handing over that.

"Oh." She read it over, nodding. "That's actually a handy thing. The accounting, you're certified?"

"I haven't looked into the CPA exam yet. I was really using it to up my own trust fund. I can do basic bookkeeping through tax and all that stuff but I'm not a CPA. If it's something I find I can use on the job I'd probably be going for it in my spare time. I have a few nights free when I'm not tutoring."

"Wow. I know a few people who could use you." Darcy slid over her card. "Thank you, hon. If you're as good as you say you are and seem you are, you're a blessing. We're all exhausted here."

"Shelly and I were too but I had to do it because no one else was and those kids deserve a chance to build up from there."

"They do," she agreed. "Thanks, Scott. I'll pass her along to a few others who could desperately use her help."

"Welcome, Gerdy. We'd like to see Darcy in a nice job that makes her happy. She loved working with Shelly but it wasn't as safe in Chicago."

"The kids you tutored?" she asked Darcy.

"No, they were great to me!" she said with a smile. "A few even helped the night I was nearly kidnaped by HYDRA and some assholes the politician jackhole hired. I adored the kids I worked with. They're great kids. I'm hoping they all get really great scores because they all took their GED's right before I left."

"That's good," Gerdy agreed. "So why wasn't it safe?"

"HYDRA," Scott complained. "And the politician douchebag."

"Oh, please, Scott. He's not even fun enough to be a single use enema bag. Don't give douchebros a bad name." Gerdy was choking but shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm a bit blunt. I speak my mind. I can do polite more often but some subjects just bring up the bitch in me. He's one."

"Good," she panted, sipping her coffee. "Thank you, Darcy. I know a few who'd love to have someone blunt to help them and I'll call them once I find my card file." Darcy smiled and shook her hand then they left together. Scott had been talking to that nice lawyer boy in the corner but Gerdy had just found a gem. She looked back at one of her coworkers, who shrugged. "Betsy?"

"Banger," she said. "He could use the most help and he does work with at risk teens. She any good?"

"She's got all the creds we could want. We can ask Shelly." She walked off with the resume and information, going to do that from her car. Shelly waxed poetic about Darcy and how much she did and arranged for her. Yeah, Darcy would love working with the teen's shelter.

***

Darcy smiled, meeting her new boss that night. "Hi. I'm Darcy."

"You're more perky than I expected, love."

She smiled. "It's a perky day. I had super coffee this morning."

He smirked. "That's good. You work with other teens?"

"I'm formerly Shelly's super assistant out of Chicago."

"Oh! We heard they were doing good with the GED program."

"I did a lot of tutoring with that and I'm restarting it here three nights a week."

"You can't get funding for that."

Darcy shook her head. "Why would I need funding?" He blinked a few times. "The library's not charging us for the room. I bring snacks and sometimes cookies. I have the workbooks we used before run off in multiple copies. It's an open meeting so more can show up if they want."

"I...most people would want a paycheck. How are you doing that?"

"I have money. I have a small trust fund. My mother taught me I was to make the world a better place and I'm living up to her wishes. She started a lot of abuse shelters back when I was a little kid."

"Huh. The woman I heard about doing that...."

"I'm naturally a DeCrith," she said quietly. "I go by my grandmother's maiden name because my stepmother has a contract out on me for putting her in jail for killing my father years ago. It was thought to be safer."

"That explains a lot." He stared at her. "Your mother wasn't real tolerant."

"Mom only knew gay people in Hollywood. Not any in regular life. Then again, she would've hated my girlfriend in high school but would've gotten over it fairly fast. My mom was tolerant, but it was the eighties and no one knew anything."

"Good point." He tipped his head to the side. "Do you have that problem?"

"I'd never make my ex ashamed of me."

"So you're bi?"

"I am. I'm kinda picky. I haven't really seen any women seriously since then. A few times fooling around during my masters but they didn't want anything serious. I'd like something serious some day soon and I'm not against whoever they are unless it's someone like Loki."

He snorted but smiled. "Good answer."

"I miss my wild young days sometimes. There's been no time to go club and get loose and happy. It used to be my stress relief."

"Is Captain America gay?"

"I never asked him," she said honestly.

"Huh." He walked her off. "We run a shelter for runaway gay youth."

"Okay. That's cool. I was more focused on the educational end before and I'm not a psych major by any means but I'm a damn good big sister if they want to talk to me informally and I can help with things like homework and normal kid problems."

"That's a good thing. Mostly we're monitors. We've had some that got aggressive thanks to their problems."

"Because someone did it to them and they don't want to be prey again?" she guessed. He nodded once. "That does suck and something that can be worked out in therapy. Do we have a therapist on staff?"

"We have two. One of them takes the night shift to help with nightmares."

"I tutor three nights a week from seven to ten," she said, handing over a schedule. "I'm good with working longer hours but I need to be able to get to that."

"That's fine, we're used to people who can only be here a few hours at a time."

"I can be here during the day if any of the kids aren't in school and need help."

He looked at her. "We don't insist on school. It's hard for some of them around here."

"I can understand that. Do you want me to bring in my GED prep supplies?"

He blinked a few times. "You think you could?"

"I don't think it's a huge problem," she said. "You can't get much of anywhere without an education. I doubt most of these kids are the sort that can go home if they ran all the way up here. I know a minority came up here because they thought it'd be easier but at home wasn't horrid. I saw one kid that had his dad set him on fire for it."

"Wow. I've only seen a few that bad. Um, yeah, that'd be great. We could use some office help too."

"Sure, I can do that too. A few hours of tutoring makes a nice break from the paperwork and letters."

"We have a secretary to do all the thank you letters. We do need bookkeeping help."

"I can do that. That's not a huge problem. Do you do it on computer or in the books?"

"We try to do it by computer."

"Okay. Show me?" He took her to the office, letting her look around. She frowned at something. "We have a statement here." She let him see it. "Is that a problem I'll have to watch out for?"

"No. That's someone broke in. We're not sure who."

"I can see that happening. I had one of my tutoring kids show up on my couch this morning to warn me that a gang was thinking I was pretty." He winced. "Oh, no, not an issue." She looked over things, nodding. "I can get started on that tomorrow if you want."

"I'd really like that. Say a thirty day trial?"

"I can do that." She smiled and held out a hand, letting him shake it. She saw the big red plus on his arm and covered it. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I know a few who were lost."

He nodded. "I know a few too many around here. The city was hard hit and I was teen when that started."

"I was a little kid but I grew up watching the news and seeing the ones that my dad worked with disappear." She patted him over it again. "Let me know if I need to bring in anything special for celebrations of marking off another year. I'm actually a really great cookie maker. I can even give references." She grinned.

He smiled. "I've got one in a few months so we'll talk about it closer to that." She nodded and left, going to pick out what she'd need. He went to talk to the others. "I hired us an unpaid office helper," he announced as he walked into his office. His secretary, his son actually, stared at him. "She's young, she has money, and her mom used to work with abused wives so instructed her she was to do good."

"That's good. Will she set people off by not being gay?"

"Had a girlfriend in the past, isn't all too picky now but too tired to date."

"Even better," his son agreed with a smile. "She can do a lot of paperwork tomorrow."

"She's also offered to work on GED prep for the kids who want it." He handed over her resume.

"Wasn't she the lady that got that politician?"

"Yup. She seems nice. Was a bit perky because of too much coffee." He sat behind his desk. "She'll hopefully fit in well here."

"That's good," he agreed, filing it in the employee file. "How did we hear about her?"

"Someone introduced her to Gerdy."

"Great. That's a great thing." They got back to work and went to talk to the kids when they came in for the night. Hopefully this new girl wouldn't freak out anyone.

***

Darcy's new boss found her the third day hugging one of the girls who was sobbing. "What happened?" he asked quietly, squatting down next to the couch. "Hey, Patrice? What happened?" he asked her when she looked at him. She sniffled and told him about the asshole who grabbed her on the street. "Yeah, there's a bunch of those in this city," he sighed. "Did he hurt you?" She shook her head quickly. "Just scared you?" She nodded. "Okay. That's good. If they try to hurt you, you let us know."

"I will," the young teen said quietly.

Darcy tipped her face up. "Sometimes guys are uncultured animals. We all get that. One that tried to grab me earlier today by the hair got my fist in his nose." The girl blinked at her. "I shoot back at them with sarcasm. A lot. Also, headphones. Even if you're not listening to anything, having them on makes them think you can't hear them. It's not safe to walk around with them playing music thanks to all the crunchy mugger sorts, but if you're wearing headphones they tend to give up faster. Also, don't look at them. If you give them attention they'll eat it. That's their food source. Like giving vampires blood."

Patrice straightened up, nodding. "I get that."

"Also, try to run in packs. They're less likely to try their shit on a girl that's in a group of more than three. Duos can still get it but trios don't. Duos also get asked if they're together and can the idiots watch. I got that a few times with some friends who were female." She wiped the girl's cheeks off. "There's men like that everywhere. They just don't have anything better to do in this city so they congregate. If you and the other girls keep track, they can probably track where they are so you can avoid them if you want to try. They don't tend to range far from their own stoops."

"I can talk to them about it, though they won't like it. They'll think I'm weak."

Darcy tipped the girl's face up again. "I get the same damn thing. They're just too stupid to see that we're more than pretty. Men like that are wastes of their mother's time. You're thirteen, you shouldn't be more than scared of them at your age unless you've been taking martial arts since you were a baby. Being scared is nature's way of telling you that shit's gotten bad and it's time for you to get out of there. That's a direct quote from my mom. Most of it was. That's what she told me when I nearly got mugged at twelve because the guy thought I was fifteen with my boobs." She gave her a look. "If the girls can't see that you're thirteen, that's a slight problem but they're mostly seventeen and older so that's kinda nature's split. Like how girls your age are all about certain things and girls their age are all about other things."

"True. Thanks, Darcy."

"You're welcome, Patrice. I make a great big sister. I was never lucky enough to be one so all those instincts are going to waste if you girls don't need it." She smiled and went up to talk to the other girls. "Remind them I'm going to be bringing in the GED prep stuff tomorrow if they want to go over any of it with me," she called.

"I can do that," Patrice promised, skipping up the stairs. "Guys, Darcy's seriously into the big sister stuff. She cuddled when I cried," she told them.

Darcy smiled, helping the boss up as she stood. "I'd make a great big sister." She went back to the office.

"Most of the girls won't let anyone touch them."

She looked at him. "I'm non-threatening. I'm about their own age and I seem to be just a sweet lady who bakes a lot. Which I am until someone makes me be something worse. The girls asked me about stuff and I told them about myself. They know I'll give out hugs if it's a bad day. They know it's not flirting too. We talked about actress' boobs." She went back to her office.

"Females are so weird," Banger complained as he went back to his own office to make a note in the daily log.

"Yes we are. It's the extra hormones," Darcy called. "Come in here please?" He came in. She handed over her spreadsheet. "This is just from the raw papers." She pointed. "I have no idea why that's happening since that's this thing," she said with a point at it. "And that's...." She handed over the form. "Is that allowable?"

He read it, shaking his head. "No. Who did that?"

"I don't know," Darcy said. "It was dated last month." She looked at him. "I went back six months and there's always a reimbursement form that takes that amount." She showed him the others. "One's a clear forgery by what I've seen of your other forms." She pointed. "I have no idea who that is."

"Did you get one this month?"

She pulled out that folder to look through it, handing it over. "Two." She handed over a second. "I'm not a CSI like on the show, Banger," she said quietly. "I can't compare signatures."

"No, but I can figure it out." He took that with him. "Get this month's done?"

"I was waiting on the donor letters from your secretary." She flipped tabs. "This is this month's in progress."

He looked and nodded. "We have a birthday?"

"Janey's turning eighteen next week. The girls wanted my opinion on how to bake cupcakes. Which I paid for but they filed for reimbursement for the other stuff like balloons." She let him have that form.

"That's fine. We like to celebrate the big ones."

"Trisha's not doing her sixteenth," she said quietly. "One of the girls asked and she said she didn't want a party then walked off to cry in the bathroom." She looked at him.

"Her home was pretty horrific," he agreed. "I'll make sure, Darcy. Thanks."

"Welcome. Let me know and get me that donation sheet so I can finish this up today?" He nodded taking all that to his office to go over it. The donor list went back to her and she got back to work on the budget mess they had while he figured out who was taking an extra fifty bucks a month. Sometimes that was a huge amount.

***

Darcy stepped into her tutoring class, looking at them. "Guys, this isn't for the ladies. Guys, why is it that some of you pretend that women are actually wanting you when you know they don't?" They all stared at her. "Because I had to kick the living shit out of a man just now who thought I'd appreciate his touching my breasts as I walked past paying no attention to him." A few winced.

"And yeah, he looked a lot like you," she told one of them. "Sorry if he's a relative. Maybe he needs to find some reality." She looked at the guys. "You guys don't do that, right? You know that women aren't objects, we're real human beings?" They nodded. "You sure?" They all groaned but nodded. "Good." She dragged in one of the other kids and pushed him into a seat. "Sit there and learn how to be a man from others who have those qualities.

"Because I'll be damned if I'm going to let you harass a girl who's twelve because you think she's hot. You nearly attacked her and I would've killed your ass to get you off her. You wouldn't be the first person either." He flinched but slumped down. "Now, let's get back to work, guys." She handed over new worksheets. "English today. It sucks but they'll want you guys to know grammar stuff."

"She was twelve?" that boy asked.

Darcy looked at him. "Yes she is. She's also healing from multiple cuts and broken bones thanks to her father trying to beat her for daring to look at a boy on tv and think he was cute. Not hot, but cute." The boy slumped some more. "That girl spent over ninety days in the hospital, twenty of them of them in the ICU and you just sent her into a panic attack by nearly raping her for thinking she's hot. Real women don't appreciate that. Hell, even hos and money grubbing hos don't appreciate that! Even the prostitutes that get that sort of problem thanks to their job don't appreciate it."

"She's probably gay," he sneered.

"So? I'm bi. And?" Darcy shrugged. "If she is, she is. Though her fundie parents would probably kill her for that instead." The kid gaped. She stared at him. "Yes, Darcy's had a girlfriend. She's also had boyfriends. She's also had stress relief and even rented some once when it was so bad she just really needed a cuddle and had no one around. I still wouldn't have went anywhere near you even if you were selling it because you're just a little boy playing dress up.

"Do you think you're ever going to get anywhere with that sort of disrespect? Hate to point this out but women make up fifty-one percent of humanity and I doubt you treat your mother that way. Real men treat all women, even the ones that have to work on their backs, with some level of respect. Trying to get your hand up her skirt isn't respectful. And really I should've kicked your ass like the guy I got downstairs that tried my breasts, but you're underage." He glared at her. She stared back. "You can comment back. This should be a dialogue so you learn something. Then maybe you won't want to try to molest a little girl." He got up and stomped out.

One of the boys sighed. "His dad's the same way."

"That happens a lot. We mirror the attitudes and problems we see from those around us. I'm a lot like my mom. Though she probably would've hit him with something. My mom couldn't punch worth a damn but she was a fierce woman and she would've had both of them on the ground and begging for what they did." A few of the girls smiled. "You guys treat women better, right?" They all nodded. "Good! Now let's get back to english grammar. Which often makes *no* sense so we all learn it and forget about it after the test." They laughed but got back to work.

When the boy's father showed up to yell at her she got into his face about his son nearly molesting a child and how he was a horrible boy who wasn't growing up. The man took a swing at her so she kicked him in the nuts. She stared down at him and lectured him quietly about women and how he wouldn't have treated his mother that way and real men didn't treat women any differently than their mothers. He got up and stomped off. He tried to get a cop but Darcy told him why and the officer told the boy he was going to jail if that girl pressed charges and that dad huffed off. The officer finished the statement, letting Darcy sign it then go back to class.

One of the girls looked at her. "They would've shot us," she said.

"The dad or the officer?" Darcy asked. "Though possibly. That's one reason why I did it for the girl. She wasn't strong enough to and it would've gotten her hurt." The girl stared at her. "I'm well aware of the ethnicity gap in what's considered acceptable, Bertrany. I knew that even when I was a kid. It's in LA too. It's why kids who aren't white in Hollywood have to be *so* much better. And twice as much if they're female. There's always been one and it's been closing, it's a lot smaller than it was even when my mom was a girl.

"She was a teenager in the sixties. She was helping with voters registration and those things until her father pulled her out of a registration booth by her hair, literally by her hair, and yelled at her on the way to the car with a state sheriff standing there with a shotgun in his hand. Someone caught it on film. After that, she went with her brother so she was supposedly safer. Her father couldn't say anything about that because it was right after the Selma march."

A few of the kids hissed. "She was doing the right thing and her dad didn't understand and thought she was too weak because she was a woman. Her dad lived long enough to see her defending one of the first abuse shelters from some guys that the cops had told where it was with some privately paid bodyguards. And her own shotgun she had no idea how to use." The girls smiled. "She said he called up to scream at her about it but she pointed out women weren't weak. If we were, the kids came out weaker and weaker every generation. Strong mothers with strong skills made the best mothers. Because we're the ones that influence the kids and teach them right from wrong. And also education stuff."

"Smart moms make smarter kids," one of the boys agreed. "Was she in the south?"

"Texas. They were there for a few years while her father rehabed a company. That's what he did, going in to reorder companies so they worked better and more economically. One idea of his was that female workers cost less, which they still do, and work harder because they had to prove themselves. Therefore better for the company. Which is true, but still a shitty opinion for those reasons given."

The boy nodded. "Yeah. They say girls make like a quarter less per dollar."

"Depending on the field it's as much as forty cents per dollar." He winced. "And it starts right out of college. Someone actually tested that with HR managers and a set of identical credentials on a resume. The women got offered jobs for far less. Apparently having to wear extra clothes to be considered polite holds down our IQ too."

"What?" one of the other girls asked.

"If women go out, we have to put on a few more pieces of clothes than the guys do to be considered polite. Things like a bra."

"OH!" She nodded. "Yeah, they suck."

"Yes they do and the larger size you have the worse they are. I bawled the day I had to start wearing underwire for real because of how sucky it is." A few of the girls nodded and one adjusted her chest since she was braless. "I'm with the ladies in Europe who think that if guys can go topless we have the right as well. It's just that men sexualized women's bodies. Really, they're the same as guys have only ours sometimes give out milk and they're bigger. Though I've seen some guys who seriously needed a bra."

She shrugged. "But at least we're not treated like cows anymore." A few laughed but they got back to it. "I've got to check but next time's history. I'm not sure if the local test has more than US history on it so I'll check on that tomorrow on the way to work. It might mean a few extra history lessons." She put the fruit on the table and let the kids get their own.

***

Darcy looked at her boss about day twenty-eight of working there. "What's up, Bangers?"

"I just got an uncomfortable letter, Darcy. I just really can't turn it down." He let her see it. It was a promise of a donation if they dumped her, immediately. He stared at her. "I don't want to."

"Did he actually deliver? He's brushed off donations he's promised in the past." She handed it back.

"He did. The copy of the check was in there." He let her see it.

"Ten grand's nice and it'll do a lot of good work." She looked at him. "Let me go say goodbye to the girls." He smiled and nodded. "And then I'm going to work on ruining him a bit more." She smirked. "If you know of someone who needs me, send them my way."

"I can do that." He shook her hand. "I wish like hell I had two more of you, Darcy doll, but I can't turn that down."

"I know, and if he doesn't come through, call me back." She walked out, going upstairs. "Ladies?" she called. A few leaned out of their rooms. "It's a meeting, guys." They came out and got others that weren't listening. "Listen, girls, someone upper crust but underhanded just handed Banger a donation he can't turn down but they want to get rid of me."

"Because of that politician's slimy paws?" one asked.

"Yup. It's also why I got bit by a lizard during an awards dinner." They all groaned. "Banger can't turn it down. It could shut the shelter." They all nodded. "So you guys know where I am and if you want to talk to me or stuff, email or tweet me." They nodded, giving hugs. "I'll miss you guys." They smiled and a few sniffled. "Hey, I'm still here in the city and I'm about to go make a *huge* stink on social media." She winked at one. "Okay?" She nodded.

"Remember, teenagers are strong because they have to rebel against their parents and stuff. The only time you'll be stronger is in your early twenties when you're getting stuff worked on so you can adult properly." She tipped one's face up. "You, don't rebel too hard where I can't see it. Got it?" She quit sniffling and smiled, hugging her again before going back to her room.

"Okay, well, if you guys want to see me, let me know. I'll miss you guys." She went to pack her few things and then went home to sulk and sell off all the stock her investment person had said was a good idea. She sent him a nice letter first about why she was going to try to tank some of his stock prices. He agreed it was underhanded and he could help with that. She did get happier when someone, Clint or Scott, she couldn't tell, sent her a donut pop 'tree' as a 'quit sulking' present. It was sweet of them.

***

At the upstate Avengers facility, Pepper Potts was stomping into the kitchen to make some tea. Tony was actually eating without nagging so he paused when he saw his woman stomping that way. "Did our stock plummet again?" he demanded.

"No. That underhanded creep struck again in Darcy's direction. Gave her boss a ten grand donation to fire her immediately." She stared at him. "Darcy's nicely firing back by tanking some of his stock but how underhanded can you be!"

"In his case, a lot. What're we doing to support her move?"

"I've already sold off all ours. We only had a few experimental shares that went back a few years. I've also put out a note that any *good* employees shouldn't have any trouble finding jobs with *real* companies." She poured the boiling water into her cup and put in a tea bag, turning to look at him again. "I don't know why that idiot's even doing any of this."

"He's a classic narcissist," Natasha said as she came in. "It's all about him and she proved him wrong by not giving in to his nasty wants and then telling everyone about it so they knew he wasn't worthy."

Clint strolled in and paused. "Darcy?" he guessed. "We sent a donut pop 'tree' as a feel better."

Pepper smiled. "That's a sweet thing, Clint, and yes. I really want to ruin that man."

"Have someone in the IRS audit him?" Tony offered. "Infect him with a mutant virus?"

"That's a bad idea," Natasha said.

"Fine." He looked at Pepper. "You're much more wicked than Darcy could be. You learned how on the board."

She smiled, kissing him on the nose. "Yes I did." She strolled off with her tea to formulate evil thoughts.

Tony sighed and relaxed, grinning at his teammates. "At least it wasn't something I did this time."

Natasha stared at him. "Thankfully. You would've taken the slap with a joke about her being too tough for you after all."

"I did learn better."

"Pepper has trained you admirably," she agreed dryly.

He finished his lunch and went to tell Jane this newest thing. He came out laughing, going to talk to Pepper. "The idiot has stated if there's a trade mission going to Asgard to set up trade relations, he's probably going to be on it."

Pepper looked up at him. "Really? What did Thor say?"

"Jane told me it was unintelligible even to All Speak, unless you were his mother, and then she'd be washing his mouth out with soap."

Pepper smiled. "Wonderful. Has Thor talked about a trade mission?"

"No. I made sure but Thor's back off-world again."

"Lady Sif's down here."

"Is she with SHIELD?"

"I can call, Tony." She smiled as she picked up the phone. He walked off humming with some dirty ideas. Pepper in that mood always gave him dirty ideas. Pepper called Agent May's phone. "It's Pepper Potts. Is Lady Sif there?" She listened to her telling about the tour of the military base she had asked to go on. "That's charming. You might look up what the great idiot that's fighting with Darcy has done this time and what he's said about going to Asgard for her." May looked it up and choked. Pepper waited through the spluttering. "Yes, then Darcy bought and sold a bunch of his stock to plummet the price by twenty percent. Someone taught her well." May groaned but found what he said about Asgard. That made her growl. "Exactly. Thor's off world so he can't smite him. You have fun with that. We're going to be doing the same thing." She hung up. That was a bit of fun. She had to be evil more often.

***

Lady Sif looked at the phone the agent with her was holding out. "From?" she asked, taking it to look at the message. She snorted. "He would not be welcome, we have standards," she sneered, handing it back. "I will formulate an answer for my prince on the way back. Thank you for alerting me. Darcy?" The agent asked that question and showed her the answer. "Hmm. She does that well. We knew she was a warrior in a few fields." She handed the phone back.

"I'll deal with that as the representative later." They walked on to see what their military bases looked like. The single general who had went up to Asgard had been enthusiastic about their military bases. So she would tour this one. It got Thor out of something he'd probably hate anyway and let her ogle many fit young warriors who were mostly pretty. She stopped at one, touching the marks on his arm. "Does that have meaning? It's pretty."

He smiled. "It's my dog. I lost her right before I enlisted, Lady Sif."

"Dog friends are good. I enjoy playing with Clint's dog friend Lucky." She patted him on the cheek with a smile. "Hopefully you will find a new one someday soon." She walked on. The guy was blushing but that was cool. She was a wanted Goddess of Warriors. She knew that and enjoyed it quite a lot sometimes.

***

Darcy looked up from tutoring lessons when the power went out. "Okay," she decided. "Let's pack things up by cellphone light and we'll go home early tonight, guys." They all nodded and grunted as they packed things. "I've got the little guy. He's hugging my thigh. I'll meet you by the door, Momma."

"At least the sign is still lit," she agreed. "I cannot find my phone." Another of the kids shined her's that direction so she found it and packed it. "Thanks." They trooped out together, Darcy having to pack a few last things before she could follow them.

Darcy ran into the kids in the doorway, watching outside. "Aww, fuck," she muttered. The kids stared at her. Darcy looked. "It's cracking the pavement so the subway tunnel isn't going to be totally safe. Library ladies, is there a doorway out in another direction? We have giant mechanoid crabs out this one."

"We're under a shelter in place," one said. "And please watch your language, young lady."

"I try," she promised with a smile. She leaned out to look then huffed. "Not the Avengers handling it." She looked it up on social media, putting out a report that there were people trapped in this library, tagging the NYPD's twitter too. They ordered her to move them. She showed the librarian, who nodded and got the others to join them. Darcy went to check then waved. "We can get past the giant mechanical panda.

"There's only one and an actual Avenger is fighting it so we won't get hit by accident with the way Wanda's firing on them. Go to the right, run down into the subway station, there's a shelter down there," she said with a point. "Not the one on the street corner, but the one up this way in three blocks for the other line." They nodded.

Darcy tweeted she had ordered them moved but hadn't checked the building for stragglers since the librarians had told each other. They were going to the nearest subway shelter up from the library. Darcy went with the last lady out, hurrying her up that way with a nod at Wanda. "We're probably clear in there," she told an officer as they jogged past the battle line. "Guys, down," she called with a point. They hurried down into the subway. One of the officers stared at them. "We were at the library, tweeted we cleared, the librarians told each other so I didn't do a room search," she reported.

"Thanks," the officer said, calling that in. "Why do they have to come here," he complained.

Darcy smiled. "Because New York hasn't been more than fractured yet. DC and LA are so much easier to break, much less somewhere like Seattle and all the coffee addicted hipsters. Breaking New York is major cred. Do we have a med station? I can help bandage."

"Not yet, Ma'am."

"Okay. Guys, if you're injured, let's get back against the wall," she called with a point. "Any kids without 'rents, hang out with the kids I came in with please?" she asked them. Most of them nodded. "Okay, come hang with these guys if you're here without a parent so we can make sure no one tries anything stupid. C'mon, sweetheart, you're injured. Back against the wall so you have somewhere to rest," she said more gently to one older lady.

"I can handle it! I've lived past every other incident in this city! I can do it now."

"Of course you can. Women of your generation were stronger than mine are because you had to handle more things for yourself and make all the things we rely on now, but I can wrap that broken wrist for you if you want." The old woman huffed but let her wrap it with her scarf for now. The roof shook and a few people screamed, including one of the officers. Darcy looked up. "Guys, no dust. It'll dust before it falls," she called. "Like in earthquakes, it's stronger around doorways and against walls. They have support there." She checked a few more and one made her grimace. "Officers, we've got someone here with what looks like a stab wound," she called.

"Paramedics can't get near here," one of them called back. "It'll be the end of the battle. Can they hang on?"

Darcy looked at him. "I'm gonna have to move the shirt to look, sir. I'm not groping or anything." She looked then winced, pressing gently, making him moan. She got up and went over there. "He's gonna need a trauma surgeon," she said quietly but bluntly, staring at the officer watching her. "There's bile coming up with the blood." He winced. "I need something to stuff the wound with. Do we have any bandages?"

"No, ma'am. I'm sorry. All the official shelters they've put up have been uptown and Harlem because that's where they were before."

She nodded. "Okay. Can you check anyone else for serious injuries while I put some pressure and use my shirt to hold the wound closed?" He nodded, going to do that with a word to his partner. She looked at the signs then tweeted the NYPD twitter again about needing a trauma team for a stab victim in this shelter since they hadn't put any supplies in it yet. She got an ETA of about an hour for the battle to stop. She put her phone up then took off her outer shirt, then her tank top, putting on the outer shirt again. She bundled up the tank top, smiling at the guy.

"It's gonna suck," she told him. "It's gonna hurt. I'm seeing clear fluid as well as blood, sir. I'm gonna put direct pressure on it and use my shirt to hopefully staunch the bleeding. Okay?" He moaned but his hand twitched. "Okay. Let's do this. By the way, my name's Darcy. Who're you?" she asked. He was trying to stay awake. "Just listen to me babble, it'll ground you and keep you slightly awake. We need you to stay awake. This is hopefully going to be the worst night of your life but at least you have a pretty nurse helping for right now. Remember, stay with me, even if you're staring at my tits, it's okay." He snorted, his eyes opening slightly.

"See, I knew you could do it. Just hold on. Battles usually last less time than they say and they said only an hour. Not like the blitzkriegs in London that lasted for hours on end each night." He nodded, trying to swallow. Darcy checked her bag, coming out with her diet pepsi. "Here, I know it's foul but I needed caffeine and the coffee shop was already closed. Sorry." One of her kids came over to help him drink. "Thanks."

"Welcome, Darcy. I've seen my brother come home cut up more than a few times." She moved so the guy's head was in her lap. "It'll be okay. Darcy's one of those people who fuss over others so we can handle this until the guys in ugly spandex are done fighting whatever happened this time."

"Giant mechanical crabs could I guess cut you in half with their pinchers but they don't have teeth to bite," Darcy said. "The giant Panda's a clear knock-off of a movie." The girl laughed, making the injured guy smile. "What's your name, Handsome?"

"Dave," he said, trying to move. "Sorry."

"No, just stay as still as you can," Darcy said, checking the wound. The roof shook again and this time there was some dust. "Oh, come on, guys," she muttered. "Which one was it this time?" she called.

"The giant panda fell," the officer on the doorway called back. "That leaves a crapload of crabs on the next block."

"As long as they don't get the roof," the old lady said.

"If they do, I will *so* find the villain that did this and go kick his ass," Darcy said. "It wouldn't be the first one I've kicked." The kids she worked with chuckled but they knew how Darcy was. Nope, there was part of the roof. The officers got people away from there. "Damn it, I need some super artillery," she complained quietly. "Then we could drive them away from the shelters." Someone fell down the hole but they got up with a groan and ran up the stairs. "Yay, Steve's mad," she quipped, cracking a few people up. "Hey, Cap getting mad crashed part of DC," she said. Dave winced but coughed. "Uh-uh. None of that. No death rattle. At all, Dave. I didn't want to hear it when my mom died, and I'm not letting you die down here so deal with it and let's take a few deeper breaths." He coughed but was trying to laugh.

An officer came over. "Will he live?" he asked quietly.

"I'll be damned if I'm just gonna give up," Darcy told him. She let him see the wound and he grimaced. "I know, but we've got less than an hour hopefully." Someone else came crashing through the floor. "Natasha, I need your first aid kit," she yelled. "Please!" She tossed it over as she ran up the stairs to the outside. "Thank the Gods," she said as she opened it to look. "Clotter," she said, using it on him. He moaned. "I know, it sucks, it hurts, it burns, but hey, saving your life. It only feels good if you're being saved from a hanging from what I've been told." The guy let her repack his injury with gauze and her tanktop. The officer nodded, going to check the others. Darcy looked at her helper. "You're good, Shinin. Want to think about becoming a nurse?"

"That's really hard."

"Yeah, but it'll mean you get to do less dramatic things than this all the time. There's always a shortage of nurses. Even at the lower levels you can get through vo-tech as an LPN or whatever. A year of vo-tech and then you can decide on being an RN at a later date."

"I....it'd pay good," she admitted, brushing over the guy's hair and cheek to make sure he was still alive. She looked at Darcy. "Can I do that while I'm taking my GED?"

"Have to ask them. I know some have a GED program as well. Of course, you're still welcome even if you join one of those." The girl smiled and nodded. "Nurses make a real difference. When my mom had cancer, I remember more about the nurses than I do her docs. Patients see nurses more often."

"I...yeah, I might think about that." She looked down. "He's really pale."

Darcy nodded. "That's from the bleeding," she admitted. "He needs a surgeon pretty badly." The girl nodded. They all looked up at the thump and one green arm hanging through the hole. "Hey, Bruce is here." She noticed the girl looked scared. "Hulk will only attack you if you try to scare him or attack him. I've seen him cuddling a kid who was sobbing hard on her teddybear because she was scared after a battle. Just treat him like you would anyone else and be nicely polite. He might look confused and maybe even yell but he's just out of tea."

Shinin stared at her oddly. "You act like you know them?"

"I was a science flunky for a bit." She grinned. "They forget to eat a lot while they're busy. Or drink, or sleep. Jane lives on poptarts but only certain flavors."

"Wow." She pointed. "He's changing back and his body's starting to fall."

Darcy looked. "Hold him." She rushed over. "Guys, help me before he falls and concusses himself." The officers came to help pull him down and Darcy took him back to her corner. "Hey, Bruce," she said when he moaned at her. "Stay there. It looks like you're pretty banged up and I'm helping this nice guy here with a stab wound." Bruce flinched, staring at her. "Hey, Bruce." She smiled. He held his head with a moan. Darcy pried open an eyelid. "Concussion?" Bruce nodded slightly. "Okay. Then you lay there and tell me how to help this poor guy with the liver stab wound."

"Hospital," he said. She pointed around them. "Oh, hell." He sat up slowly, moving to look at what she had done. "Is that Natasha's med pack?"

"Yeah, she fell through earlier and I yelled to see if I could have it. She threw it on her way back out."

"That's good. The clotter's set up for her unique body but it'll still work on humans." He looked at the stab wound. "That's nasty and needs stitches." He looked in the med pack. "Which she didn't repack. I need to check those this week." He winced, holding his ear. "Damn it," he muttered as he stood up. Darcy held onto his hand. "I have to. You guys be safe. We're nearly done." He changed as he ran back out.

Darcy smiled at the girl, who was staring in awe at her. "He really likes this tea by the Lotus tea company." She burst out giggling and it was good stress relief because she ended up crying on the poor guy they were helping. Darcy checked the wound. The bleeding was slowing but she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Paramedics rappeled down a line from the hole. "Oh, thank you, God, whichever one you are," she muttered. The officers were briefing them and one was heading to them. "This is Dave."

"Thank you, Miss. We can handle it."

"I've got pressure on his bleeding liver spot." Darcy stared at him. "Get the gloves and stuff out." He did that after a glance. Shinin got out of the way for him. "Ready?"

"Two more," he said, pulling out more gauze. "What's that dark thing?"

"My formerly army green tanktop. It was the cleanest I had since my scarf went to wrap the nice old lady's broken wrist."

"You sure it was broken?" he asked dryly.

She stared at him. "The area above the wrist joint was at a ninety degree or so angle to the rest of her arm. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it wasn't just dislocated, dude."

"Okay, that's a good reason." He nodded and she moved, taking the tanktop and gauze with her. "That's nasty. And that's bile."

"I noticed," Darcy said, holding Dave's shoulder down. "We've got a paramedic, Dave. So just a few more, okay?" He groaned but blinked at her. She let him have another few sips of her soda. "You survived a giant mechanical crab invasion, no jokes about STD's in special armor please, and a giant knock-off movie panda out to destroy the city," she said with a grin. "So you'll have stories to tell others at least."

He nodded slowly. "Free drinks at least," he said, coughing some blood up. The paramedic looked at her and nodded for her to go.

"Behave, Dave, and don't pinch the pretty nurses." She got up and went into the bathroom to clean up, catching her breath in there. She stared in the mirror once she had the blood off her hands and forearms. "I'm *so* going to kick whatever mother fucker did that and make them beg me to hand them to Pepper," she told herself in the mirror. "Because damn it are they too stupid to live." She took a few deep breaths then went out, grabbing her bag. The paramedics were evacuating people. She waved at Dave's stretcher. "Be safer, Dave." An officer stopped her. "Hey. Thank you for the help," she said.

"Who are you, for the records, miss?" the officer asked, looking polite.

"Darcy Lewis."

"I know that name. Actress?"

"Activist and I socked a stupid motherfucker who thought my ass was his playground," she said dryly, staring at him. "I was tutoring some people who need GED's at the library up the street."

"Ah! Okay. Thank you and good form for what you sent. The higher ups said that you handled that well."

"Not the first time," she admitted with a smile. "Let me go calm down with the sacred margarita I've got waiting on me at home."

"Have a better night."

"You too." She walked out and found some army guys heading for a downed Bruce. "Nope, not gonna work," she muttered, sneaking around because Clint had just fired something to block their way. She grabbed Bruce with a grunt, hauling him up and into the alley then to the next block so they could go home. Her car was only a few blocks up and not destroyed for once. It wasn't even stripped for parts. That was sweet of someone.

Bruce got a shove into the backseat and she got in to drive, taking him to her place. She got him upstairs and into the safe room. If someone showed up for him she could close the door. It had to be opened from the inside. Darcy went to make the sacred margarita and settled in to sip slowly tonight while she finished calming down. And then she'd find out which villain had that sort of bad idea and kick them until they begged for Pepper Potts to save them.

Clint smirked as he saw who was saving Bruce, giving her some more cover. He had noticed her evacuating a library so that was good. She could handle things. He called that in. "Our favorite intern has him," he called then hung up.

Stark looked over from his flying perch, nodding. "Not that bad of an idea." He flew off to go back to the tower to change back into regular clothes. FRIDAY, his new AI, was following all the reports and no one had been reported trapped. A few pretty bad injuries but no one was trapped and needed his help yet.

***
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