The Babes of the Night. by Voracity2

The Babes of the Night.

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Everyone in the tower that night got the order to gather in the living room. Pepper was on the screen, smiling at all them. "Good evening, people." A few waved at her. "Tony has forgotten to tell you that we are hosting a charity event for a local children's hospital in three weeks. In the lobby. Which means you all have to attend."

"Why?" Clint asked. "I hate those things."

"Because you guys attending will bring in more money for sick children," Pepper said. "We haven't told anyone you'd be there but we are doing a silent auction at ten that night and you guys being there will get people more chatty and they'll spend more money at the auction." A few grimaced. "Sorry but it is for sick kids, guys." She looked at the ladies in their corner. "Yes, that means Jane has to dress up." Jane sighed in displeasure. "Think of it this way, you get to be really hot and pretty for Thor for a night. Then he can peel it off you." Jane blushed but smiled at Thor. "Thor, that means you need a tuxedo."

"Where would I procure such a garment?" he asked.

"I can get someone in to fit you, big guy," Tony said. "Not that big of a problem. That's how Steve got his." Bucky looked at Steve, smirking a tiny bit. "That means you need one too, Barnes. You and Darcy get to help me make the crowd look pretty."

"I'm just an intern," Darcy quipped. "Not an Avenger. No one wants to talk to me and I won't make anyone more loose walleted."

Pepper smiled. "You're going to be helping with the auction if I can talk you into it. Please? I need someone to manage the flow and all that. I was going to ask you tomorrow and promise to buy you a pretty yet subtle dress." Darcy grimaced. "Please? I may not be able to get there until a few hours beforehand."

"I guess," she sighed. "But I get to taze anyone that tries to cop a feel instead of unleashing the snark."

"Go for it," Pepper said. "Things like that give the rest of us stuff to talk about. That makes it less boring." She smiled. "Tony, please make sure she gets to my usual designer?" He nodded. "Tomorrow. I'm emailing them for an appointment so you have to take her. You know they'll try to keep her out if you're not there. They're a bit snotty but they're really good," Pepper said.

"I can go retail."

"Darcy, the retail ones are not going to fit your body. They're meant for toothpicks, like I am. Ladies with any sort of bulging anywhere, including real breasts, they look horrible on."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

"Good. Then that's settled. Barnes, yes, please attend? It'll mean Steve's not as bored. Give him someone to talk to. Plus you can make sure no enemies get in or help break wrists if they try to rob us during it again. Or beat the ones that try to grope Darcy."

He snorted but nodded. "If I must."

"Thank you." She smiled. "Clint, please?" He huffed but nodded, looking at his hands. "Bruce?"

"Not a chance I'm going to be cooped up with a crowd of greedy people, Pepper. I'd probably start telling them how their selfish and shallow natures were ruining a good portion of the world."

She shrugged. "Things like that are entertainment. Just...try? Please?" He groaned. "It is for sick kids, Bruce." He scowled. She smiled. "Please?" He rolled his eyes but nodded. "Thank you. Tony, I'm trusting you to help me. Thank you, people. I'll hopefully be back there in two days but there's a labor dispute at one of the factories because I made him quit hiring children." She logged off on her end. Stark ended the video on the tv.

Natasha stared at Clint then at Tony. "Include Clint in your trek for tuxes, Stark. His is ill-fitting and makes him look like a teenage boy going to his prom." Clint rolled his eyes and sighed. But he did nod at the end when Stark looked at him.

"I don't own a suit," Bruce said. "Not a lot of call for one in my life." Tony stared at him. "There's not."

"Sure, we can do that," he agreed. "Lewis?" She grimaced at him. "I'll drop you off with Romanoff so you get something hot." She shrugged. "Since you're helping, something dark colored." She nodded. "I'll have your new tazer ready by then." She grinned. "Romanoff?"

"I have a few dresses. I'll figure out which one I want to wear."

"What happened to all the stuff SHIELD used to have for missions?" Darcy asked. "Didn't they have a closet of weapons and clothes and stuff for undercovers?"

"I don't think anyone went for those," Natasha said. She looked at Jane. "We'll bring you with us so you can find something decent."

"I can buy off the rack. I'm a toothpick like Pepper."

"Thor would appreciate you looking sexy," Stark quipped with a smile for Thor.

"I'd rather she be comfortable."

Darcy looked at him, shaking her head. "High heels, Thor. Not comfy for most anyone."

"There are ones that are more comfortable plus insoles," Natasha said. "Otherwise, they're still pinching and make your feet ache. I'll be going to the spa the next day to take care of mine." Clint smirked at her. "Even if someone does give me an excellent foot rub after the event. I'll deserve it for not killing anyone," she finished in Russian.

"You?" Bucky snorted in Russian. "I'm going to need to be mostly disarmed so I don't damage them."

Stark fiddled with his tablet and it repeated a translation. "Oh, yeah. We don't care what you bring with you, Barnes, just no bloodshed unless they attack the group. If they do, then don't let the fainting women see more than a tiny puddle around them. Tell us first so we can move the fainting ones."

Steve shook his head. "I hate those things. Speeches?" Stark shook his head quickly. "What are we auctioning?"

"Some art pieces from local artists," Stark said. "Including a few that need to be picked up."

Darcy looked at him. "They can bring them here. This city has all sorts of cabs."

"Point," Tony said. "She'll send you the manifest and all that tomorrow probably, if she hasn't already. Pepper's highly organized." He stood up. "Tomorrow, ladies?" They nodded with a mass sigh. "Thanks." He walked off tapping on his tablet to Pepper.

Darcy looked at Natasha. "I hate gowns," she said quietly. "They always make me look wrong."

"Maybe this one being designer will help. Wear better underwear than usual."

"I'll try. I have some pretty ones. Strapless just in case?"

"Straps," Jane said. "You look better in straps."

"Point, I do." She saw Clint staring at her. "I do!"

"I didn't think they made strapless in your cup size." Natasha hit him on the arm. "She complained about that once."

"They stop the cup size above mine, Barton. I'm only a D." He grinned. "And if that was for a bet, ask to see the tags in person instead." He laughed. She shook her head. "Who gets to tell Agent iPod thief that he and his minions have to attend?"

Natasha gave Clint a tiny, evil smirk. He gave back a huge evil grin and dialed him. "Hey, May, Clint. Stark just popped news on us that there's a mandatory Avengers wide charity event coming up. We're all required to go and so are you guys. It's in three weeks, for a children's charity, and you have to wear formal attire." He hung up on her spluttering. He counted. Two minutes later, Coulson called back to find out what he had done to May *this* time. He repeated it. Coulson promised to miss it so he said that Pepper was counting on him being there in case someone attacked and it was Avengers wide. Even Lewis had to come. Everyone in the room heard the groan that Coulson gave out. "Remember to get your geeks dressed up too," he quipped before hanging up. A minute later, his phone beeped with a text message from Pepper. "Thank you, I forgot to talk them into it," he read. Natasha laughed.

Bruce shook his head with a sigh. "So it'll be us, their team, and then a lot of snobs. Great."

"Some of the local heiresses have been known for charity work," Darcy said. "Two went on an immunization charity trip last month," she said when Bruce looked at her. "And they actually did stuff, not stood there and brought attention to it. One of them tried to call to talk to you about some of yours but I'm pretty sure they blocked them."

Bruce shook his head slowly. "Wow."

"They've raised millions for a few different health-related charities and for Make A Wish."

"I can accept that," Bruce said. "If they're there, point them out to me?" She nodded.

"How do you find this out?" Bucky asked.

"News programs and entertainment news programs," she said with a smile. "They went to a charity 10K fun run recently and talked about it."

"That's nice," Steve said. "They have charity jogging events?"

"Yeah. Plus any race you can raise money by running," Jane said. "I did that in my undergrad for a scholarship."

"I don't run, I manned the drink station when we did it," Darcy said.

Steve stared at her. "You don't run?"

"No, I don't run. I don't jog, I don't run, and if I'm chased I'm more likely to turn around and do something I hate doing, attacking."

"Why not?" he asked. "You can't run?"

"Actually, I can't run," she agreed. Steve scowled. "I have a damaged ACL, Steve. If I run, I tend to end up in a lot of pain within hours. I used to play youth soccer and ripped it to shreds. Surgery mostly fixed it but not enough. I can sprint but anything over a block I'm screwed and I'm likely to fall down when I rip the thing again."

"Oh. I've never seen a torn ACL."

"Yes you did," Bucky said. "That's what happened to Joseph's leg."

"Oh!" He nodded. "I remember he went lame from it. They can fix that?" Darcy nodded. "That's good then. At least you're not lame."

"I did hop for almost six months," Darcy said. "Casts suck."

"Yes they do," Clint agreed. "And so do torn ACL's. I only dislocated mine by one end coming up. I spent three months in traction after surgery." Darcy shuddered. "I feel ya there."

"Don't remind me. I nearly put you out of all of our misery," Natasha said.

"I would've let you," he quipped back. "I was miserable and the medical team was stingy with pain killers."

"I got super advil because I was twelve," Darcy sighed. "No real painkillers for teenagers." Clint shuddered.

"Ow," Jane muttered.

Darcy straightened up. "As a matter of reference, Steve, how fast do you heal?" He shrugged, staring at her. "I ask because I heard you coughing earlier like you had bronchitis."

"Probably a few days with the right antibiotics," Bruce said. He stared at Steve. "Meet me in my lab, or in the infirmary."

"It was choking on food," he said.

"That's why you choked up stuff?" Darcy quipped. "Because you spit into the handkerchief." He glared at her. She stared back. "Whine, dude. The team needs you healthy." She smiled. "And if missions happen, and you're in bed, you're going to be swearing at yourself. Especially since that would mean me or Jane making sure you took your meds and ate." Bucky was trying not to smile at that. "So get treated?"

He nodded. "I'll let Bruce listen later."

Bruce grinned at Darcy. "Thank you for making sure I ate the other day."

"You're welcome." She smiled at him. "Like Jane, science took over your brain for a while." He nodded.

Jane shook her head. "I've been good for the last week."

"That's because Thor's made sure you ate," Darcy quipped with a grin. "By the way, Thor, great job." He smiled at her. She stood up. "Let me go find things I'll need to add to the damn gown." She walked off.

Steve looked at Bucky. "If I had seen you doing that, you would've already been in the infirmary," Bucky assured him. Everyone else tried not to smile at that growl. "I saw you with pneumonia twice. I don't want to see it again."

"I'd get better a lot faster. Just a few days," Steve said.

"Yay as the girl says."

Steve rolled his eyes but got up and headed for the infirmary. Bucky got up to go with him and Bruce followed, smiling a tiny bit at the old friends.

Clint looked at Natasha. "Do we look like that when you nag me?"

"Not exactly. You're not built like Steve." He smirked at her. She stood up and walked off. "Let me look at my dresses."

Clint got up to go clean his bow collection before someone else nominated him for other chores.

***

Darcy looked at Jane before their trip the next morning. "You need to take Thor shopping," she said.

"Why?" Jane looked at her. "He has clothes."

"Jane, it's about to be winter. Does he have sweaters? A real jacket?"

"Oh. I guess we will. It's a few months off." She got back to work. "Beyond that, I don't see why I have to do it."

"Because I doubt you want someone else helping your boyfriend try on sweaters."

"Good point. When it's closer to time, I'll make sure he gets some. And quit making plans for us to have alone time. It's manipulative."

"Fine."

Tony leaned in. "C'mon, you two." They sighed but followed him down to the limo. Natasha joined them. "Great. Simmons?"

"Has one and is vowing to go on a suicide mission instead. She's never liked these events," Natasha said blandly. She looked at Darcy's usual outfit, including knitted hat. "Are you cold?"

"My hair wouldn't do anything today." She pulled it off and put it into her jacket pocket. She pushed it back and tried to finger comb it.

Tony shook his head. He knew not to help women with their hair unless they asked. Pepper had trained him well. They got to the store and the ladies walked out. Darcy walked in first while Natasha forced Jane.

"Madam, we don't really carry your size here," the salesman said, looking her over.

Darcy looked at him. "That's not my fault you guys only go up to a size two. Though the boss might be a bit upset." She pointed back at Tony as he walked in. "Tony, they said they can't fit me here. I'm not a skinny bean pole anorexic. Then again, I've never looked like I did heroin for my career."

Tony patted her on the arm. "Pepper wanted you to go here. We'll see if the real people instead of the plebes out here can do something. If not, you and Natasha can go somewhere nicer with better salesmen." He walked them into the back. "Pierre, Pepper sent these three to you. Two are attending and Darcy here is Pepper's assistant for the charity event."

The designer looked at them. "Interesting." Darcy undid her jacket. "Oh, good. Most of our designs wouldn't look good on someone with a bit of flesh on their bones." She stared at him. "You're quite...." He looked her over.

"Stacked? Yes, I have boobs," Darcy quipped with a smile. "I was gifted with them."

"You have hips too," he said, looking at them.

"Not all of us belong in eating disorder treatment facilities," she quipped with a smile. "I'm highly proud of my body. Thank you."

"That's fine. It's your body," he agreed. He looked at them. "Though our usual designs would really only look good on the blonde."

"That's Dr. Jane Foster," Tony said.

Pierre blinked. "Thor's girlfriend?"

"And holder of three different theories that are taught to physics students," Darcy said. "That's a bit more important to her than Thor's arm."

He scowled. "Why?"

"Because some of us wanted to do things beyond look like hos for a living," Jane quipped. "Tony, can we find somewhere nicer?"

"Definitely. I'll have to tell Pepper about this." He took them off. "Any idea where, Natasha?"

"House of Betsy," Darcy said. "She does some retro stuff but her designs would fit myself and Natasha better and Jane can probably find something." They got back into the limo. She looked at Natasha. "Do you get that?"

"Not that often. I walk in wearing weapons. SHIELD had designers on hand for us if we needed something." They went to the other store and she walked in first.

"Agent Romanoff," the saleswoman said with a smile. "Dr. Foster!" She beamed. "My sister was talking about your theories over dinner. The rest of us had no clue but she really likes your stuff. Made Mom have a headache over Thanksgiving but she's happy."

Jane smiled. "It's great to hear some people want to carry on my work and make new things of it. This is my assistant Darcy. Pepper's talked us into going to the Stark charity ball in three weeks. Pepper's choice only wanted to dress me because I'm tiny and have no breasts."

The saleswoman nodded, looking at Tony. "Pierre," he said.

"Yeah, he's a snob about boobs. He's gay so they disgust him or something. The head designer's in the back." She led them back there. "Ma'am, special clients," she called. The door opened. "This is Dr. Foster, her assistant Darcy, and Agent Romanoff being escorted by Mr. Stark for their charity ball in three weeks." She left.

The designer looked at them. "Just attending?"

"Pepper's nagged me into helping the silent auction," Darcy quipped with a grin. "Thank you for not sneering because I have curves."

She looked her over. "You have good curves. Womanly curves. Women should always have some curves."

"Pepper sent them to Pierre," Tony said.

"Ah!" She nodded. "He hates women anyway." She let them in there. "Any needs in particular?"

"I look best in straps and its probably got to be dark," Darcy said. "Tasteful."

"I can do that. I have an older one that would look fantastic on you with some fitting." She went to get it and sent Darcy to a dressing area. She looked at Natasha. "Black or gray?" she asked.

Natasha smiled. "I can wear colors."

"I've seen you at battles."

"Either would be fine."

She smiled and got to work on her. Jane's was easily crafted and nicely pretty. Darcy came out and let Tony zip her up. "Hmm, bit tight," she said. "But easily fixed." She came over to look at it. "Let me get one other thing. It's in navy blue." She went to find it. It had a square, slouchy neckline held up by thin straps and it was fitted down the body in a fit-and-flare silhouette. Darcy tried that on instead. That worked and it was a bit loose so it could be fitted. It did give her a bit too much cleavage but they could fix that too.

Jane stared. "I haven't seen you in something that form fitting," she said. "Huh." Darcy smirked at her. "I need a padded push up bra."

"Viccie's sells those," Darcy quipped. "Like the purple one Thor ripped." Jane blushed.

Natasha shook her head. "I cannot shop there." The assistant back there had fabric out to drape on her. She picked one. "I like the pattern on this. Very subtle and not flowery yet delicate."

"We can do that." She got Darcy pinned and came over to design something simple yet classic, something old Hollywood. Jane got a simple slip dress with some design around the bodice to make it look bigger. They smiled and Tony paid for it. The ladies left with him, getting lunch at Darcy's insistence since Jane hadn't eaten and neither had Tony. He let them nag him into it so that was fine.

***

Darcy walked up to Thor that afternoon, pushing him onto the couch to stare at him. "Jane said I was being manipulative."

"Why?" he asked, smiling at her. Their girlish spats were sometimes very amusing.

"I pointed out that the winter months were coming on fast and you could use some stuff like sweaters. Unless there's a godly gift to let you survive snow?"

He shook his head. "No, there's not. Why would that be manipulative?"

"Because I pointed out that Jane would probably like to help you shop for sweaters and pants." She held up something. "It's Jane's jacket, which she thinks is fine."

"How cold can it get?" he asked, staring at it. It was a bit ripped up.

She pulled up the average monthly temperatures. "This is through the year. We're supposed to have a bit of snow and a lot of cold again." She let him see. "Today it's seventy-five in here and about eighty-two outside but within two weeks, winter clothes are coming out so they'll be on sale."

He went outside to check the temperature then came back in. "That's a drastic difference if a mere ten degrees feels the difference between out there and in here."

She nodded. "Exactly. We had some cold in New Mexico. Especially at night. It's going to get colder and windier here because of the air off the water and coming down from Canada. My suggestion was she take you to do that so she could approve of all the new sweaters and stuff. She said it's manipulative of me to arrange for you two to go shopping."

He smiled. "It is something needed. I know she has a few sweaters."

"Just as holey as the jacket, Thor. She hasn't bought new clothes in years. Like two years. That's even worse than mine." Bucky walked in. "How are you doing on winter clothes?"

He paused. "I have a leather jacket." She held up the projected weather report. He winced. "I need some sweaters."

"Him?"

"He's got the thicker leather jacket and maybe some sweaters. He runs warm."

"Things start coming out in about two weeks," she said. "So sales."

"He'd like that. We both would," Bucky agreed. "Gloves." She pulled up last year's temps in January and let him see it. He shivered. "I'm usually okay with cold."

"Is that because they programed you to ignore it or the frozen stuff?" she asked quietly.

"Probably a bit of both," he admitted, handing the tablet back. "I'll talk him into it. Thanks for thinking of that, doll."

"Welcome." She looked at Thor, who smiled. "I'll work on gloves for her. She won't want mittens." She patted Thor on the arm. "You guys can all find it together." She sent an email. She got one back fairly quickly so she sent that information to Bucky's email.

***

Up in Canada, where the first snowfall had just hit, a young boy yelled. "Dad, Darcy said I shouldn't suggest that we move to Brazil for the pretty girls and beaches because there's bad guys you might have to fight."

Xander came out to look at his son. "I know you hate snow." Darrien nodded, staring at him. "Brazil is nasty and we're not moving. Suck it up, son."

"Fine." He pouted at his father. "Can we at least go somewhere warm in January or so? That way we don't have to defrost in May?"

"No. You can tell Uncle Spike that the goddess up the road is still really looking forward to him coming to her world of ice and crystals." Darrien grinned and sent that email. Xander answered Darcy's second email. He had some suggestions for Bucky's winter needs. And hers, because she'd need to look cute. He knew how that worked thanks to all the slayers having clothing pouts. Darrien muttered something. "Your pronunciation still stinks in that language. Have Eira teach you the proper accent when you swear," he said dryly.

Darrien ran to talk to her. He could talk her into going somewhere warm. She was hating snow already. She said it had something to do with her last boyfriend, but he didn't understand that connection.

Xander shook his head. His son was so cute at times. Weird, but cute.

***

Darcy looked up, shivering. "JARVIS?" she called. "Can you please turn the temperature up?" No answer. She stood up, looking around. "JARVIS?" Still no answer. She started to call again but went up the hall to check on Stark. He was passed out on his table, shivering and slightly blue. It looked like he had been asleep when the heat went out. She tried the phone to get Bruce's help. The phones didn't work. She hauled Tony up, making him moan. "C'mon, Tony. You're going to the infirmary." He started to struggle. "It's Darcy, I've got you." She hauled him up to the infirmary.

"Guys, he's got hypothermia." They gave her funny looks. "It's eighty in here but it's all of twelve degrees in the labs! Go check the hall." They took Tony to get warm. She headed back down. Bruce wouldn't come out of his meditation when she pounded on his locked lab door. She checked the other labs on that floor. Almost all empty. All locked though. She turned and found a demon there. "Fuck." She zapped it with her new tazer and ran off calling. "Dara, Darcy Lewis. Greenish, jewel on the forehead.... Smash it to kill them. Yeah, here. At least two."

She hung up and texted as she went back to Bruce's lab. "Bruce!" No answer. "Fuck!" She looked. Three more demons coming toward her. "BANNER!" No answer. She picked up some metal rebar that Tony had been fiddling with and left all over the labs. She swung at the first one. It ducked but she got the second in the throat. She took off running when they tried to grab her. "Damn it!" She spotted something and ran for the lab alarm. Her leg was killing her but it had to happen. The others had to know. She hit it and the lock down started. That overrode most everything. The elevator on that end of the hall read 'key use only' on any button she tried. She ran out and went to hide for a few minutes. The demons were heading for Stark's lab but the lock down would keep them out. She sent out an Avengers wide message.

//Any Avengers heading back to the tower?//

Then she called Pepper's assistant. "It's Darcy Lewis and it's kind of an emergency. I'm pretty sure only Pepper and Tony would know but he's in the infirmary due to hypothermia. We have demons in the lab and they've jammed the elevators and the thermostat. It's like twelve degrees. Does she know where the main thermostat is?" She listened to the assistant interrupting Pepper to tell her that. Pepper told her. "Okay, 23rd floor, so thirty down from the labs by stairs. Um, Dara told me they're Molar or something. You break the jewel in the forehead. Yeah, I've got the lock down alarm started and they're heading for his lab. He's in the infirmary. I can do that. This floor's all but empty and Bruce would not wake up. He's meditating. Thanks, Pepper." She hung up. She had answers.

//Thor, Steve, and I are across town,// Bucky sent. //Big danger? HYDRA?//

//Ten minutes out with Natasha,// Clint sent.

She sent out a new message. //Demons invading the lab to get Stark tech. Lab is under lock down alarm. They have screwed with the elevators and electrical systems. Thermostat is down to nearly zero. It's on 23rd on the east end according to Pepper. Break the forehead gems. I'm clearing the labs. Bruce would not wake up from meditating. Maybe in his bio-safe room.// She checked the hall then headed for the stairs at a fast limp. She broke three of them on the way up by surprising them. She ran onto the other floor.

"People, move!" she bellowed. "We've been invaded by some sort of demon. You break the jewel to kill them! They screwed with the elevator." She knew two were in wheelchairs. They were pretty well boned. She found Fitz and Simmons guarding them. She panted. "Biosafe room behind the biology lab," she said, staring at them. They nodded, getting the trapped ones up there. "Break the jewels if they find you."

"We can help," Fitz said.

"Good!" She handed him her piece of rebar. "Electronic supply closet is on 23rd. That's where the main thermostat is. Downstairs is half this temp."

He nodded, following her. "Going down," he called.

"I'll get something to help once I get them safe," Simmons called back. "I've alerted Coulson. He's within a half hour."

"Great," Darcy said. "Clint's ten out with Natasha. Bucky, Steve, and Thor are across town. Tony's in the infirmary with hypothermia." She nodded. They went down. A few demons were trying to come up. She tazed one and he smacked one on the jewel with the rebar. Didn't break. She switched with him and hit one, knocking it down the stairs at least. She heard running. "Break the jewel."

"We heard," Natasha said, shooting those in the forehead jewel. "Bruce?"

"Meditating. I couldn't get him out. Tony's in the infirmary." Natasha opened the door and shivered. "I know, and JARVIS is down too."

"We can handle this," Natasha said. "Fitz, can you shoot?"

"I'm not a terribly good one. I suppose even a bad shot will harm them." She handed over a spare gun. They went to free the lab. They found Bruce staring and she pointed. He pointed at Jane's lab so Darcy went in there to get them out while the others freed Tony's lab. Fitz followed her in a minute later with Natasha letting out Bruce. "Why would they want Jane's work?" he demanded.

"They can probably warp it to open other portals," Darcy said, swinging and killing another one. Natasha shot the other two in there. Darcy stared at her, smiling. "Thank you!"

"Welcome. We'll do a level-by-level."

"Elevators are stuck, need an override key," Darcy warned. "Thankfully the infirmary is on this floor for Tony. He was blue and barely groaning."

"His lab was half the temperature of the rest of this floor," Natasha said. "You two, make sure the other geeks are safe then find a safe room. Simmons as well." They nodded. She looked at Bruce. "You can help them."

"They'll listen to Darcy when they won't listen to me." He followed, taking one of her spare weapons and some more of the rebar. "Break the jewel she said?" Natasha nodded. "Okay. What are they?"

"Mohra demons," Clint said, coming out of the elevator shaft. "I ran into Dara rushing in. She's starting on the lower levels so we can do the top ones. They do heal unless you break the jewels." The other two avengers nodded. "Who got these?"

"Darcy got at least three herself," Natasha said. "I've shot six." He nodded. They cleared that floor then moved upstairs. Two more trying to get into the safe room the geeks were trapped in. They went down and they checked the other floors. They ran into the slayer on the lower floors and she pointed at one. "What's that?" Natasha asked.

"He can psychically merge with electronics to hack," she said dryly. "Probably how they did it." They nodded. "No good way to kill it without it exploding so I tied it up."

"We can handle that," Clint agreed. They moved on to get the other floors. The others were showing up thanks to Thor getting them up to their common floor. "Break the jewel, guys." They nodded. "We've cleared all but this floor and the next three that are the gym and all that." They went up to do that. Clint looked around. "Apartments." They checked and ran into a few in Natasha's rooms and one in Jane's apartment. All killed and their bodies dragged out.

Dara stared. "That's most of a clan. What do they think they'll get from here?"

"Dr. Foster, who works with Darcy, is rebuilding the Bifrost," Natasha said.

Dara groaned, shaking her head. "Oh, god, they're going to want her so hard to get some of the old portals reopened! We had a cataclysmic closing of a lot of cross-realm portals closing a few years back after the battle in LA. Closing that one broke some other ones. It's closed immigration points and escape methods, plus a lot of very old portals." She leaned on a couch's back. "Let me call Xander. He told us to watch out for Dr. Foster being taken but not why." She called him.

"It's me. A whole troupe of Mohra demons attacked Stark tower." She listened. "Him and Dr. Foster. Who Darcy works for." She listened. "Exactly. Rules?" She nodded. "We'll talk to her about it soon? Great. Thanks. Yeah, I can take the night off to watch the sprout. He'll probably like my view," she said dryly. "I know I've got help coming for that anniversary party. I have to put up with Buffy?

"Really?" she whined. "Can't I have Faith at least?" She grimaced. "No, if the choice is Buffy or Kennedy and Cho, I'll take Buffy. Yeah, here now. Thanks, X man." She hung up. "We're going to have a talk with them in a few days. He's going to show up tomorrow to talk to Dr. Foster about that portal problem before she's stolen." She nodded, looking around. "There's a vampire here." She frowned, walking off. She stared at the guy coming off the elevator. "They injected you with vampire blood?"

"Who in the fuck knows," he growled. "Who are you?"

"Dara."

"Thank you for helping me the other day. Is it that recent?"

"Yeah, they may have tried to taint you. It'll wear out in about a year or so." He nodded once. "We clear?" They all nodded. "I'll bring Xander tomorrow so he can talk to Dr. Foster about what the hell the demons were thinking. Maybe they can figure out something so they don't try it again."

"Why would we worry about that?" Natasha asked. "We can remove them for it."

Dara stared at her. "Mohra are a warrior culture, Agent Romanoff. They do things as warriors and they have an honor code. They hardly ever hire themselves out. Most likely they acted right now because two of the realms are presently going through one hell of a civil war with no way off them. They're thinking genocide is the nicest thing going on there." Natasha shuddered. "Xander plays poker with the mate of a lower warrior. Let him ask what they were thinking and then he'll be here tomorrow to tell everyone." They all nodded. She looked at the tall, buff guy in front of her. "Including you."

"Thanks. The others?"

"Lab staff still down there are locked in safe rooms while the lock down alarm is on," Clint said. "It's a safety measure in case of invasion. The safe rooms have separate environmental controls and air scrubbers." Bucky nodded.

"I had Darcy and Fitz helping me. Simmons was clearing their floor as two are in wheelchairs. She said Stark's in the infirmary with hypothermia and JARVIS was turned off."

"Okay, we can handle it," Bucky said. "The bodies?"

"They may want them back," Dara said. She texted Xander, shaking her head. "They will. They'll consider it a huge insult if you burn them."

"Then we'll stick them in a specimen freezer," Natasha said, getting nods from the others. They went to gather them and do that. Steve scowled at it. "They probably wanted Jane to open portals so two realms being overrun by a nasty civil war could escape," she said. "They're warriors and will want their bodies back. We're not going to make this any harder than we have to."

"I've tossed two," he admitted, going to get them. Thankfully that system was offline too.

Bruce went to the infirmary. All the lab staff was sent in there by Simmons. "We good?" he demanded.

"Yes," they mostly said.

One raised her hand. "What were they?"

"They wanted Jane to help them open portals," Bruce said. "Maybe even for a good reason." They all grimaced. "Jane, someone's showing up tomorrow to talk about it."

"Why would I care?"

"Two of the realms are having huge civil wars." She slumped, staring at him. "Xander will be here tomorrow." He looked at Darcy, whose knee had an ice pack on it. "You good?"

"Didn't retear it," she quipped. "I'm just glad we managed it until you guys got here."

"You did good," Bruce said. "You got the labs in lock down. You handled Tony's injury. You were handling it well." She grinned. "Rest, kiddo." He walked off.

Jane looked at Darcy. "You killed some."

"You bet I did. That's me or them. I'm not suicidal."

"Good!" She hugged her. "I'm glad you're okay." She went to check on the others. Thor was scowling. "What's this about portals?"

The guy that appeared shook his head. "It was about all the closed portals." The kid behind him peeked around his side. He grinned at him. "Sit and wait. We'll go to the hotel later." He sat down and grabbed a magazine to look through. He looked at her, sighing a bit. "During the battle in LA we had to close a massive portal. Wolfram and Hart built it on the backs of the local portals that were immigration points and escape hatches." She nodded slowly. "Us having to blow up the portal...."

"Did what I did when I took my hammer to the Bifrost," Thor said. Xander nodded. "Was it built on that?"

"Not that we can tell. We did see some flashing through the remaining portals."

"Why can't they use those?" Jane asked.

"Because they don't go to the right places. The ones that are going to the four horrible civil wars, because two just broke out yesterday against tyrants from what little we've heard, are stuck without the ones that went there. They were the only ones that entered some of those worlds. One of them is the Mohra home world." She nodded, sitting down on a chair, staring at him. "So they were hoping you could tell them how to reopen them."

"They can't ask?"

"What's left of SHIELD filtered it. I got told they tried and now they're panicking."

She groaned, rubbing her forehead. "I don't want anyone to suffer."

"One went nuclear late last night from what little information we've heard. One species can see onto closed realms." She grimaced. "They're the ones that have given out information and the Mohra clans decided together to find a way to open them. The local ones noted you were here because they're scared and respectful of Thor, but they'd really like it if you could figure out how to reopen them quickly."

She winced. "I'm not against that. I'm against them attacking here and trying to steal my research."

"They were going to ransom anyone they could to get you to talk to them and they were expecting SHIELD's remains to be here and be protecting people. They did apologize for that and they will bring a formal apology to the meeting tomorrow if you're willing to listen." She nodded she would. The others as well. He tossed over a book. "That is from one of the traveler clans, who are peddlers to a bunch of realms. That's how they do realm portals."

She flipped to the stuff. "Is that in magic?"

"It's magic that opened it. In this case, magic is just a different stream of energy. The Mohra clan have a whole group of magic users who are waiting to give all their energy to reopen them."

"Their all?" she asked.

He nodded. "They want them open so badly they're willing to commit suicide by leaching all their energy to do so."

She grimaced but nodded. "I can see why. Let me look." He nodded. "The meeting?"

"Noonish? Can we do it here or should I arrange it in my hotel room?"

"Here," she said. "They have to apologize to Tony."

"Agreed. Though...agents?" He looked at Natasha.

"I will speak with any that are here," she promised. "That's too important to risk." He nodded. His son hopped up when he waved and they left together.

Jane looked at Thor. "If it can help ease suffering, I would not argue with you helping them," he told her. She smiled. "Is Lady Darcy all right?"

"Leg's swollen from that problem. She's on a bed with an ice pack."

"I was surprised, she had a good swing," Clint said. Natasha nodded. "She killed a few."

Jane smiled. "Darcy is pretty surprising sometimes." She went down to her lab to look over the book with Eric's help when she called him and Coulson's geek team in. Coulson could complain to Steve about things.

***

Xander opened his hotel room door, nodding Jane and Tony in, with Thor following them. "Thanks for coming, guys. It means a lot." He checked the hall and glared at the agent out there. "Don't even try."

"I'm only here in case Mr. Stark or Dr. Foster need help, Mr. Harris," he said, standing straighter. "We have no intention of coming in to bother anyone. Director Coulson was absolutely clear on that point."

"Good." He closed the door. He looked at the ones meeting there. Darrien was helping the two lower warriors make sure everyone had bottled water and cookies. "Thank you, Darrien."

"I'll go play with Auntie Buffy next door," he sighed, heading down the hall. "Daddy, can I smite the agent giving me bad looks?" he called.

"If he touches you I get to kill his ass," he called back.

"I'm not, sir, just making sure he's not sneaking out," the agent said.

"Dude, my dad can track," Darrien said dryly. "He did plenty of it working with my mother in Africa." He knocked on the other door. "They're talking so you've got help doing your hair." He grinned.

"Sure, kiddo. Come help me braid my hair." He came in to do that.

Xander closed the hall door again, shaking his head as he looked up. Jane smiled at him. "Sometimes my son is the most weird thing ever."

"Children and other spawn can be," the head warrior said. He looked at them. "We did not want to invade but we were worried that agents would continue to not let us talk to Dr. Foster. We tried our best to not harm your people, Mr. Stark. The warriors thought lowering the temperature would drive most of them somewhere warmer. They had no idea that people who work in labs would not focus on that. I apologize greatly for invading your home and fortress to gain help."

"Invasions aren't usually seen as a plea for help. Why didn't you contact me?" Tony asked.

"We did try. The young tried to use the new communication methods." One of the lower warriors showed him the emails. "Did you not get them either?"

He stared. "I didn't. If I had, I would've talked to Xander as soon as I read them."

Jane nodded. "I don't want anyone to suffer. Xander told us how they're suffering." The demons all nodded. "I probably wouldn't if it was just for commerce but I can't let anyone suffer." She opened the book and pointed. "What little we could figure out, as we don't use magic, is that this is the key to opening the portal?" The head warrior snapped and a being in the bathroom slithered out to help. "I've never met one of you before."

"He is harmless but his kind build temporary portals to closer areas," the head warrior said.

"That's fine. I'd like to know how in case it could help with my goal of rebuilding the Bifrost." The demon bobbled at her and moved to help her understand the portal making process. It'd take hours and much chatting with Eric, Jemma, and Leo. Xander got them dinner and Darcy was making sure the group there ate. By the morning they knew how to open them and Jane had a few extra ideas on the Bifrost problem.

Stark looked at the warriors as they were getting ready to leave. "Xander asked that we preserve the bodies," he said quietly. "They're in the specimen freezer. It was the only place large enough to leave them together."

"We are very grateful," the head warrior said, bowing his head. "If we're allowed, we'll come gather them in a few hours?"

"That's fine. Have Xander call us so I can make sure no one bothers you." He shook the head warrior's hand then Xander's. "Thank you."

"Welcome. None of us want those wars to keep going. Or to spread." He nodded and they left. He looked at the head warrior. "Can you open it?" He nodded quickly. They got up and the lower warriors went with his second-in-command to gather the bodies with Xander's help. The head warrior and the portal making demon went back to try to open them. They hoped they were in time.

***

Xander showed up that night, smiling. "They managed to get to three of the realms. That other one, any safety concerns would keep the portals down. It went totally nuclear and they're not sure if anyone's still there. Unfortunately the Mohra home world but they're going to send through an expedition of beings that can withstand the radiation." He bowed to Thor and Jane. "Thank you." She nodded with a smile. He nodded at Stark. "Thank you as well."

"Not a problem. Next time, have them ask you if they don't get through."

"Two of mine to check on Darcy didn't get through."

He winced and glared at Agent Coulson. "It was not us," Agent Coulson said. "That I know of. I'll make sure of it, Xander."

"Thank you. There's still a lot of locked off realms. Between the one in LA and the one I had to blow in Gambia...." Coulson sat up, staring at him, eyes squinting. Xander smiled. "She came out to take hostages and slaves. I did what I had to do at that time and found the portal afterward. I borrowed from the local military and blew it up. Unintentionally blowing up a few other portals that were hooked to it. You'd think a goddess would have more energy and wouldn't have to piggy back."

Coulson sat back, rubbing his face with his hands. "That was you?"

"Did you think it was my shadow?" Xander asked. "Who else did you think could do that?"

"You took down a military!"

"Yup, they got in the way and then they saw why so they helped instead. I wasn't about to let my ass get stomped. And technically I only had someone who owed me a poker debt sleep spell them." Stark stared at him, mouth open. Xander shrugged. "I was rescuing the ones that goddess had stolen. They showed up to protest because they were confused. Sleep spell, finish the rescue, going to talk to the head guys. Who all got really pissed at the goddess. So we handled it."

"Do others have that skill?" Stark demanded.

Xander smiled. "No one's like me, Stark. Why would they have the past possessions and things?" He walked toward the elevator.

"Possessions?" Stark asked, getting up to follow him. "What possessions?"

"A hyena and then a soldier at halloween." He smirked. "It was real handy at times." He pushed the button. Darcy hopped off when the door opened. Xander hugged her. "I tried to email you but they blocked it."

"I'm sticking this crutch up someone's ass," she said. "Sideways." Xander smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Give a cuddle to the little guy for me."

"I can do that once I pull him away from Buffy's weapons." He got onto the elevator and escaped Stark's questioning.

"I wanted to talk to him, Lewis."

She smiled at him. "There's a biography. Read it. Admittedly written by Rosenburg but it can't be all crap. I asked him about a few things in it and he said he was blushing hard." She hopped around him and flopped down in a chair with a sigh of relief. "I hate crutches."

"Two more weeks," Jane said. They all stared at Steve when he started to cough. "Do we have to nag?" she asked. "I can have Darcy make sure you take your medicines."

"I've heard that Stark made immobilizer beams," Darcy quipped with a smile. "That's even better than handcuffs."

"If we have a mission, then she's gotta make sure you get meds," Bucky said. He looked at her. "How are you going to hop in the pretty gown?"

"I'll barely be off it that night. I'll have a cane if I need it."

Stark looked at her. "That'll still look nice with that dress." She smiled. "Now, anything not discussed. Speaking of, Lewis, where are the plans that were on my desk?"

"No clue, Stark. I only lifted you off the desk and walked you to the infirmary."

"Crap. They never got near the desk."

"Is it maybe in that back corner you sometimes hide in?"

He stared at her. "How do you know about that?"

"Because I brought you coffee a few times? That's how it mystically appeared next to you with food."

"Oh. Thanks. I thought that was JARVIS. Hey, JARVIS, where are the propulsion engine plans I made?"

"They're presently mostly laying on the back workstation by the miniature trial core but a few have floated off due to air flow," the AI said. "You've complained about that many times but haven't gotten around to moving that workstation yet, sir."

"Then what am I missing?" he asked.

"I believe you're missing the new lock system plans and the new location beacon's plans but they're in Drs. Fitz and Simmons lab. They wanted to compare them to the ones they have. I believe they found the locator beacon lacking as it was so large."

Stark got up and went to talk to them. "They can work with me but no stealing from my labs."

Jane nodded. "I feel the same way." She leaned on Thor's arm. "We need to relax."

"We have a fitting tomorrow," Natasha reminded them. Jane moaned, shaking her head.

"Sure, I can hop that way too," Darcy quipped. Natasha smiled at her. "Until then, I'm going to go soak. My knee is aching again." She made it to her feet and hopped off for the elevator.

"Let us know when you want to start looking at apartments again," Steve said. "I doubt you can carry stuff with the crutch."

She looked back at him. "I'm still looking." She got onto the elevator and went down to her apartment.

Tony walked off the elevator and stood in front of Steve, glaring at him. "Shut. Up. I want Darcy to live here. It's safer for her. I don't care *what* you want." He looked at Bucky. "Your puppy needs a leash." He walked off to go back to the lab again.

"Since the AI probably told Stark," Clint said, standing up. "And most of us agree with that, I'm going to remove myself so you two can talk." He walked off. Bruce followed. Natasha followed after shooting Steve a dirty look. Coulson went down to his too.

Bucky looked at him. "Forget your mother being ashamed of you. I am. That's bad considering what I've done in the past." He stood up and walked off.

Steve slumped, huffing to himself. He wasn't trying to be an ass to her. "I really don't want to be an ass to her," he told himself. "It keeps coming out wrong." He trudged to his apartment to sulk.

***

Darcy came out of the changing area, spinning slowly and carefully. "Looks like it fits pretty good. Bit big in the chest."

The fitter smiled. "It's not often we see real ones that large, Miss Lewis. We had planned for the overinflated implant version."

"They can look like watermelons," she agreed with a smile. "Can we make sure I don't trip on a cane? I'll barely be off the crutches." The fitter nodded, giving her an inch of clearance with the floor. "I'll probably be wearing these shoes."

"That's helpful. Is that the same bra?"

"It is. I washed it specially last night." She smiled. "I know to always wear the proper underwear and shoes for fittings."

"Some people just don't get that."

"Some people are more concerned about stupid things like their hair," Darcy quipped. The fitter smiled and nodded. "Speaking of, I adore that highlighting method. Cap?"

"No, just bleaching by grabbing a few strands here and there then doing the same with the color." She smiled. "It's a lot easier."

"It has to be. I tried to do chunky highlights a few years back." She shuddered. "So bad." The fitter smiled. "The foil nearly ate my hair. I swear it burned it."

"Ewww."

"Yeah! Just so bad. Took me until last year to grow out the last burned part." She shifted at the poke. "Um, wobbly. Sorry." She shifted her stance. The fitter got her the crutches to lean on. It meant her hem got adjusted up by another quarter of an inch but that was fine. It meant her shoes peaked out.

Natasha came out to get fitted. "I like that on you, Darcy."

"Thank you." She smiled. "Hopefully it'll be the cane. They said I could."

Pepper bustled in and paused. "Darcy?"

"I should be on a cane that night, Pepper."

"Good! What happened?"

"I aggravated my old ACL injury when we were fighting the slightly evil event the other day."

"Ow. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit swollen and sore." She smiled. "I should be on a cane that night."

"Wonderful you're going to be okay." She stared at the dress. "That is fantastic on your figure. I'm glad you came here."

"Pierre sneered at her about having a body," the fitter said with a smile. "The boss said he was at the designer bar where they go to nag each other on Saturday. She said he was complaining about people being snotty because breasts are natural and about not being toothpicks."

"He sneered first," Darcy said. "Not my fault he likes those who have more skeleton than muscle."

Natasha nodded. "He bluntly said he could only fit Jane."

Pepper huffed. "Figures."

"We all think he's scared of women's bodies, that's why he designs such stick figure clothes," the fitter said with a smile for Pepper. "The last one he did for you hid all your assets, Miss Potts."

"That's what I thought but you know how Tony is if you ask." They all nodded. Jane came out with the fitter helping her. "Oh, that's pretty, Jane." Jane smiled at her. "It'll match Thor's cape."

"He's swearing he's not wearing it to the event but he thought it was a great thing," Jane agreed, smiling at her. "Do you have something?"

"Oh, yeah. I have three or four in the closet at all times. You'd be surprised how often this comes up out of nowhere." She watched Darcy being fitted. "That does do fantastic things for your figure." Darcy smiled. "Sometimes I wish I was curvy." She looked at Natasha. "Closer to yours but I'll never have those muscles." The ladies got fitted. Darcy got to take hers home. She came out hopping with the bag over her shoulder. Pepper handed the bag off to the driver and made sure they had paid for it already. Jane and Natasha's needed one last fitting so that was fine.

They got hustled back to the tower and Darcy put up her dress then got summoned so Pepper could teach her what she needed to know to handle the auction for her. The missing art pieces got called and they were brought over. One was still drying so they'd bring it that night. Darcy and Pepper's assistant took pictures of everything and put together a booklet for the auction. Pepper's assistant was making sure of the catering and bar. Darcy got a short break to go have her leg checked, but then had to get back to work.

***

The night of the event, Darcy limped into the common area, pretty wooden cane in one hand. She had her hair partially up and to one side with faux jeweled combs holding it up. She had pretty earrings. Her lipstick was a darker red and her makeup was simple. Her shoes were shiny. She held up a bracelet. Clint took it with a smile to help her get it on. "Thank you, kind sir."

"Welcome, Darcy. You look fantastic." He looked her over. That navy dress was showy and fantastic on her body. She smiled. "Pepper probably has an earpiece for you."

"Probably. I'm heading down now." She headed to the elevator, nodding at Bucky when she ran into him. "Have fun."

He looked her over. "Damn."

She smiled, swatting him on the arm. "I'm being the help tonight."

"You could help me with stuff," he offered with a smile.

She winked at him. "Ask me when I'm exhausted." He laughed, going to gather with the others coming out of their apartments. She went downstairs, startling Pepper. "Okay, boss. Where am I?"

"Here," she said, handing over the earpiece. Darcy tucked it around her ear. "Do you want to be out front?"

"Not truly."

"Okay," she sighed with a smile. "You can come get drinks or whatever."

"We'll do it after the auction." She winked and went into the back. "All right, people, make sure everything's in order for the auction. The pretty things going out are in order of grabbing. Make sure we have an area for people to gather their new pretty things on the way out." They all stared at her. She stared back. "What? Wouldn't that make it easier?" They nodded. They fixed things so they were in lot order instead of size order. Everything was set up when Pepper snuck back to look things over. They were going to let the partygoers come see things in person in a few minutes. She nodded and let them handle it.

Darcy smiled at the guys. "Fade." They faded into the background and when the 'important' people showed up Darcy smiled. "Welcome to our auction's contents. Everything is in lot order and once they're bid on you'll be able to pick them up in the room across the hallway." She pointed with a smile. "That way you can pay, get it, and take it to the car before coming back to party some more." A few smiled at her. She snapped at one. "No touching please. The artist asked that you not touch it before you buy it. He's a bit touchy about that." She walked over to make the man back up, smiling at him. "You know how some artists are, sir. They're very superstitious."

"I figure that's something for some of them," he said with a smile. "Are you for sale too?"

She smirked but shook her head. "I'm too expensive for all the wallets in here together." She strolled off as smoothly as she could. She heard something break. "You break it, you bought it," she called, looking back at that man, who was wincing. Pepper showed up. She pointed. Pepper went to handle it. Darcy smiled at one of the waiters, taking a glass of sparkling juice. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Miss Lewis." She tipped him with a smile. He walked off to deliver to others. Them seeing the tip on the tray meant they tipped the servers as well, something they hadn't been doing. It was nice of them.

Darcy sipped her juice, staring around. She nodded at one of the auctioneers. "We've got them in lot order," she said quietly, shaking his hand. "Then we'll remove them to across the hall for picking up so no one has to see you paying for things." The one taking the money smiled, going over there. The crew had set them up a desk with a power strip for any machines she might need. They helped her set up and made sure she was blocking the way to the art but easily gotten around.

The auctioneers looked at the broken one and the man Pepper was talking to. "He touched it?" She nodded. "He's done it before to some crystal statues a few years back." They got set up and Darcy got them a podium to stand behind for their notes. The auction booklet was handed over as well. That got a smile and they settled in to handle things. "I believe we'll start in five minutes," he announced. People went back out to the area in front of the stage. The art handlers came out to move the first thing up front. The man who had broken something was already off paying for it with Pepper's help. The art handlers gathered the pieces up for him so he could ask the artist to fix it. His wife was sighing and having more wine.

Darcy smiled as things ran smoothly. Only one person complained about their method of payment not being taken. Loudly. Everyone was staring that way and the auctioneer stopped things so he wouldn't interrupt others. Finally he got done ranting and stomped off. Finally it was done and the guys came out to get food and drinks while mingling a bit off on one side. They were mostly art students so they could handle the crowd.

Darcy walked up to the bar. "Sparkling juice please?" she asked quietly. The bartender nodded, pouring her a glass. "Thank you." She put a tip in the jar and walked off sipping. She smiled at Tony. "You okay?"

"I'm good. Where's Jane?" She glanced and subtly pointed. He looked and smiled. She was talking with Eric Selvig, who had clearly snuck in since he wasn't wearing formal attire. Though thankfully there were pants on tonight. "Go send them upstairs with Thor? He looks ready to smite someone."

She nodded, strolling over to hiss that in Thor's ear. He nodded and smiled, heading up there with Eric. Darcy strolled off to smile at Bruce, who smiled back. "Hey, big guy. You good?" she asked quietly.

"I'm okay, Darcy." She smiled and patted him on the arm before walking on.

"Pepper's assistant?" the shallow little brat sneered.

"No, one of the lab assistants. She's the one that makes sure the lab runs right." He walked off to find smarter company.

Natasha paused him to adjust his collar. "Jane, Thor, and Eric Selvig are hiding in the labs," she said quietly.

"What an excellent idea." He smiled at her, heading subtly for the stairs. He snuck up there and sighed in relief when he walked onto the lab floor. Jane leaned out of the lab sitting area to stare at him. "I've already talked to the smart ones. The shallow ones were circling me."

"Me too," Thor said. "That's why I let Jane shield me."

"I about asked Darcy to shield me." He sat down with them, undoing his tie. "Better." They all smiled. Simmons and Fitz snuck up a few minutes later and joined them. She looked nice enough but he looked uncomfortable. They relaxed and it was better.

Downstairs, Natasha was looking at the rest of the team. Clint was talking to someone. She smiled when she realized who it was. Clint's ex-wife. Tony was talking to a few others who made things. Pepper was chatting with a few other CEO's looking amused. Steve was looking uncomfortable and Bucky was hiding slightly behind him. She walked over to pat Clint on the arm, smiling at Bobbi. "Thank you for keeping him out of trouble."

Bobbi grinned. "It's a hard job but he's sweet about the leash training."

Clint rolled his eyes but he was smirking at his ex. "Sometimes." He smiled at Darcy, waving her over. "Bobbi, this is Darcy Lewis. She's the main lab fussing person. She came with Jane Foster and stayed to nag everyone else about eating."

"You have a lot more patience than I do. I did that once for a mission and it drove me nuts," Bobbi said, smiling and shaking her hand.

"You grow into it. Sometimes you have to be a bit crafty and trick Jane into eating."

"I'm sure."

"Darcy, this is my ex-wife Bobbi," Clint said.

"Ah! You're the one that tried to teach him manners."

Bobbi burst out laughing but nodded. "He had some before we married but yes I did." He still looked amused. She leaned on his arm. "You poor man. Everyone's picking on you."

"Yes they do." He looked at Darcy and Natasha. "Someone needs to go save Steve and Bucky."

"Steve will scowl if I do it," Darcy said. "You know that." She looked. "I'll go save Bucky. Natasha?"

"I can save Steve." They smiled at Bobbi and left the former couple to talk.

"She's charming."

"She's sassy and carries a tazer," Clint quipped. Bobbi giggled and gave him a hug.

Darcy walked over, catching Steve's eye. "Bucky?" she asked quietly. He flinched and looked at her. "C'mon. There's some doors to check in the hallway where the art was." He nodded, walking off with her, her hand on his arm to help ground him.

Natasha walked up to Steve, patting him on the arm. "It will be fine," she said quietly. "It's helping him."

"It is. I hate this."

"If you were doing science you could be with them."

He smiled at her. "I can learn to like science."

She walked him off to where the art students were. "Children, this is Steve Rogers. He was in art school before he joined the Army way back when." They smiled and included him talking about techniques they were learning. Steve didn't know about some of the new ones but he knew some of the old ones that were about the same. It let him relax and stay less alert.

Natasha followed Bucky and Darcy, finding him breathing into a wall and her standing next to him, leaning against the wall. "James?" she asked quietly. He looked at her. "Are you better?"

"Slightly." He took a deep breath and stood up. "I needed that out."

Darcy smiled at him. "You can always come find me and have me bring you somewhere quieter."

"Thanks, ladies." He rolled his head to pop his neck, nodding at the man staring at them. "Just needed some air. It's too stuffy in there." He looked at Darcy. "There's no security system back here?"

"Not much of one considering the rest. This is the east lobby entrance. The draping and stage changed the look of things."

"Oh, that side." He sighed, going with them to check the doors. It did need to get done. They came back and Bucky looked around. "Who are they?" he asked.

"They're the ones who handled the auction. They're all young artists and art students," Darcy said with a smile.

"Then Steve's in good hands." He looked at them. Natasha smiled and let him take her arm to walk off. "Thanks, Darcy."

"Welcome." She strolled off to check the other entrances. She ran into a familiar young man. "How did you get here?"

Darrien smiled at her. "You look beautiful." He held up a flower.

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, precious." He helped her settle it into her hair.

"You're welcome. You deserve it." He grinned. "Dad's going out to dinner with Auntie Buffy but I really don't want to hear that stuff. She nags."

"So do I."

"Yeah but you nag about important stuff. Auntie Buffy nags about stupid stuff like Dad handling big things without a slayer." He waved at someone and she took his hand, walking him over with a grin and a wink. "Hi, Mr. Clint."

"Hey, Darrien. Did you sneak away to stare at Darcy for being pretty?"

Darrien blushed and ducked his head. "Dad's having dinner with Auntie Buffy and Miss Darcy is always pretty and nice." He smiled and kissed the other woman's hand. "Hi, I'm Darrien Harris."

"I'm Bobbi Morse, sweetie. You're very sweet and such a little gentleman."

"Sometimes but sometimes I taunt the slayers about their hair." She giggled and leaned down to hug him. "Thank you, Miss Morse."

"He is Xander Harris' son," Darcy said with a smile. "I met him when Xander came to help me with stuff."

"Awww. I've met his father before. He and two slayers were working near where I was." She smoothed down Darrien's hair. "You're still very sweet but I see your father scowling." She pointed.

"He was having dinner with Auntie Buffy. It's so *boring*," he sighed. He smiled and hugged Darcy then ran off to his father. Who sighed but picked him up to walk off. "Xander, he was quite the young gentleman. You've done good with him."

Xander smiled. "Thank you, Miss Morse. Later, Darcy." He looked her over, making Darcy blush a tiny bit. "Wow." He walked off. "Let's talk about you running off, son."

"He snuck onto the jet when we went up to gather Coulson," Clint said. "Darcy watched him overnight."

"Awww. He's very smart."

"He is super smart," Darcy agreed with a grin. "He's a charming young guy." She walked off to get more juice. "Can I have a half-glass of sparkling juice please?" The bartender smiled and poured it, and she tipped him. She turned and ran into Steve. "Hi," she said, moving around him.

"Champagne?"

"Sparkling juice, Steve. Non-alcoholic. Some of us don't need to drink tonight. We'd look bad to the bosses." She walked off again. She yawned, staring at Tony and Pepper. Pepper caught her eye and nodded. She smiled and almost saluted then went up to check on the scientists.

Steve walked over to Pepper. "They make sparkling juice?"

She let him sip from her wine glass. "It's not fermented. It's a safe choice at events."

"Oh. Darcy was drinking that."

"She doesn't need to be tipsy while her leg is still swollen." She stared at him. "Darcy did an excellent job tonight." He nodded, glancing around. "Bucky?" she asked quietly.

"He and Natasha were checking the exits. This was a bit crowded for him."

"That's fine, Steve. Darla, have you met Steve Rogers yet?" They shook his hand and smiled at him, talking about Avengers things and his shield. He smiled back and chatted.

***

Darcy came into the labs the next morning, following the orders from JARVIS to go to Tony's lab. "What's up, boss?" she asked, smiling at Pepper. "Did things go okay?"

"Things went very well, Darcy. Thank you." She stared at her. "Why is Steve all cold about you?"

She shrugged. "He has been since all this started. I don't know why and I've mostly avoided him. Even when I help make team dinners he doesn't want to eat. Apparently to him I'm somehow evil or tainted or something." She leaned on her cane. "I'm not usually around him so that's not affecting anyone but him."

Tony walked in. "Steve's on a snit this morning."

"What's crawled up his shield this time?" she asked.

"Bucky went home with a girl," Tony said with a smile for her.

"Not me. I went to bed alone after making coffee for the science group."

"No, it was some brainless, booby thing." He sat down, looking at Pepper. "What's wrong?"

"Trying to figure out why she and Steve don't get along."

"Because Steve's being a dick," he said. She stared at him. "Even my father would've said Steve was being a dick, Pepper." Darcy shifted again. "Sit!"

"Shut up. I'm fine. I'll be sitting most of the day while helping Jane. I've got to collate her reports."

Tony shook his head. "I hate doing that." He looked around then at her. "You got asked about last night."

"Yeah, one guy asked me if I was for sale too," she said dryly. "Politely, fuck him with one of your robots because I'm not touchin' that."

Tony grinned. "Beyond the assistant Mayor."

"He was? Wow, I've got to vote him out of office next election."

Tony laughed. "We'd all like that. We got asked if you were the lab manager."

"Only of Jane."

"You could," Tony said. "We need someone to do the same thing for the rest of us."

"I can probably handle a few more but not all of you," Darcy said, sounding careful. "Just nagging you would take hours at a time, Tony."

He nodded. "Good point. So, okay. You nag me, you nag Jane, you nag Bruce, you nag Coulson's team." She nodded. "That too much?"

"Leo and Jemma are usually a lot easier. They're used to taking regular breaks outside of emergencies."

"Fine." He flapped a hand. "That would mean a better paycheck."

"I could definitely like that. Yeah, I can start doing that. Today?" He nodded. "Then eat breakfast if Pepper didn't feed you." He burst out laughing and pointed at his english muffins on the plate next to him. "Good boy." She smiled at him. He ate a bite, shaking his head. She looked at Pepper. "I have no idea what crawled up his shield and died in his ass," she told Pepper, making her look amused. "I've never been anything but pleasant to him. I don't even snark at him because he'd probably freak out."

"Yet last night you made him glare."

"I was helping Bucky calm down. He was tense and looking like he was fighting himself."

"He was," she said. "I talked to him earlier. He said thank you by the way."

"He's welcome. I told him to come find me if he needs to get out of things. I usually want to escape too."

Pepper nodded. "That was smooth, getting him to check the entrances."

"I figured it'd get him out of the way and was a plausible excuse. He decided to check them afterward anyway."

"That's fine. Thank you. Go nag Jane?"

Darcy smiled. "She's still snoring on Thor."

"That's so sweet," Tony mocked with an evil smirk.

"He doesn't even mind if she drools on him while she sleeps," Darcy quipped with a grin. She nodded at Pepper. "Let me check on my other charges." She strolled off to do that. She had some ideas that would help most of the people in the lab regularly eat and sleep.

Tony looked around. "JARVIS, lock the doors for a minute and pull up Steve's reactions to Darcy over the last month please," he said, eating a bite of english muffin with peanut butter.

She watched, grimacing. "I didn't think he was that bad."

"He's being a dick," Tony said. "It's not her fault. Since she got attacked, he's been the same way. She avoids him." The one from after her injury came up and she winced. "Exactly." He finished that english muffin. "Bucky has no problem with her. The others don't and she's done good work. I'm about to knock Steve in the head to make sure he's not under someone's control. Or call his friend the therapist."

"Would that help?"

"Yup." He smiled. "JARVIS, my man, please zip all those and send them to Sam Wilson at the DC VA."

"Captain Rogers' friend?" the AI asked.

"Yup. He needs to talk to his friend about his problems."

"I've zipped and sent them with that message, sir. They went to his private email he seems to check more often. It doesn't have much stored."

"Thank you." He looked at her. "If it was about the attack he's never said anything outside hinting that he thinks she might have compulsions still on her."

"I doubt that. She helped save Bucky."

"Bucky thanked her for that. Steve just scowled."

She huffed. "That's not like him."

"Apparently it is. He's stubborn and it's screwing with his world view for some reason. I don't know why but Bucky's told him his mother would be ashamed of him."

"I'm ashamed of him," Pepper said. "I hope his counselor friend can fix him. Steve was nicer to be around before he went to DC."

"Maybe he had a girlfriend and they had to break up," Tony quipped.

She shook her head. "I don't think so." She rewatched them. It was just the security footage with sound. She was definitely on Darcy's side in this one. She got up to make some tea for herself and coffee for Tony. They settled in to talk about the event last night. Things had gone better than usual and the amount of whining had gone down. It was a welcome change.

***

Bucky walked into Jane and Darcy's lab, leaving her a sandwich from her favorite deli. She smiled at him. "You didn't have to do that."

"You kept me from having an incident last night. You deserve it." He winked and walked off.

"Thank you, Bucky," she called. She opened it and dug in. It was lunch time. Jane was staring. She gave her a quarter of it. Jane grinned and ate, but frowned at the mustard. Oh well. They ate and got back to work. Darcy had great ideas about how to make it easier for the lab staff, she was drafting them out in between bursts of data to be collated.

Tony walked in. "You ordered?"

"Bucky brought it to her," Jane quipped.

"That's sweet." He looked at her drawings. "Why?" he asked.

"Because if there's things that have food around they might use them," Darcy said. "Especially if we put the coffee maker in there instead of the area by the elevators." She smiled at him. "Plus sitting areas so they can stop and talk to others about ideas that're stuck."

"They won't use it."

Darcy took him up the hall and pointed at the safe room. She had already put two couches in there and a cheap coffee maker. There was Bruce talking with a few other lab people about their problems. Tony walked in to help. Darcy smiled when she got him some of the pizza out of the box on the table. He ate and talked and it made him happy.

Tony came in a few hours later, smiling at her. "Okay, you're right. What do we need?"

"That blank storage room no one uses and a few other places to sit and eat." She handed over the ideas. "Free vending machines with at least half of them being healthy food. You can have the sandwich lady in the lobby do that for you daily if she includes things. Guards with clearance can stock for her or watch her stock things."

He blinked, nodding. "Day beds over couches?"

"You can do both. Couches are comfy but not everyone can sleep on the couches. Right now, if we have to use the safe room there's not enough seats for everyone on the floor. There's no emergency first aid kit, because we'd be locked in so no infirmary service. We could use bottled water service and that stuff for long time storage in case something happens."

"More than four hours would require food and water, plus resting sources," he agreed. "Huh. There's the extra area upstairs too." He walked off. "Thanks, Lewis."

"Welcome, boss. Remember, some scientists eat nuts and things and some can't. The ladies in lab three are allergic."

"I can do that too."

Darcy smiled at Jane, who was staring at her. "I asked before I made the brownies."

"That's sweet of you. Do we have any brownies?"

"If you go down to the lady in the lobby before she leaves." She checked the clock. "In fifteen minutes." Jane got up and went to do that. Darcy grabbed the stuff she still needed to work on and input them.

Coulson walked in. "Miss Lewis?"

"Busy collating, Agent Coulson. What's wrong?" She looked at him.

"You are aware you're not allowed near Drs. Simmons and Fitz's work?"

"You do realize I'm now their lab manager?" she asked dryly. He scowled. "Stark's orders. Go take it up with him. Beyond that, they don't need me to collate reports, just make sure they eat, rest, and come out of the lab at times."

He huffed and went to talk to Stark. "She can't be the lab manager over my people."

"Shut up," Stark said from inside his suit. "She's seen more classified things than you think and it's not up to you who does lab managing in my labs, Coulson." He came out to stare at him. "Not like she's going to sell things to HYDRA."

"How can you be sure?"

"Did whatever infected Rogers' brain hit yours?" he demanded. Coulson flinched back because Tony looked like he was going to punch him with that wrench in his hand. He had never seen Stark that angry before. "Seriously." Tony put down his wrench, staring at him. "I don't know what you *think* you know but I'll be damned."

"She's consorting with vampires."

"She got fucking raped by them," Tony shot back, glaring now. Coulson shrank back, shaking his head. "Yeah! They took her from a sports bar by compulsion. It's not really consorting." He stared at him. "Get the fuck out of my building before I throw you off the roof." Coulson stomped off. Tony caught his temper and went to check on Darcy, who was quietly typing to some music. "Found out some of the problem."

"I heard. JARVIS told me." She looked at him. "Thanks."

"Not a problem. He's a damn moron and I'm about to sic Romanoff on him."

"You don't have to fight my battles for me, Tony. If I wanted him ruined, I'd go hit him." Tony smiled and left again. "Get a double pot for in there. That way they can have hot water for tea."

"I can do that, Miss Nag."

"Thanks." She got back to work. "JARVIS, is he still in the building?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Miss Lewis, he is. He's in the gym."

"Great." She saved stuff, shut it down, and went down there. She walked over to Coulson and hit him as hard as she could, knocking him down. "I don't need someone to fight my battles for me. If you have a problem with me, you come to me, jackass." She stared at him. "I hope like hell you go through what I went through some day. I normally wouldn't wish it on anyone but you've earned it." She walked off. "Have fun with that."

"I ...." He stood up, touching his broken lip. "Miss Lewis, I didn't know," he said, following her.

She glared from in front of the elevator. "Aren't you supposed to be some sort of senior agent sort? The type to go find intelligence information and then act on it? How great you must be at your job." She got onto the elevator. "Don't come near me or Jane ever again, Coulson. You won't enjoy it."

"I did not know," he said, staring at her.

"That's your fault." The door shut and she went back to the lab. Jane was back with her big brownie and a cookie. Darcy smiled and came back to get back to work. Jane handed her some of the cookie. "Thanks, Jane."

"Welcome, Darcy. Bathroom break?"

"Yeah, it was." She settled in to nibble, listening to her music, and work on the stuff Jane needed done.

Clint walked in an hour later, staring down at Darcy from beside her where he sat on the desk. "What did he do?"

"He told Tony I was *consorting* with them." She stared at him. "I don't need people to fight that battle for me."

"You did good. I need to work on how to hit harder though." She smiled. "We'll talk to him."

"No, let him suffer. I don't need you to hit him for me."

He kissed her on top of the head. "I'm not. I'm going to kick his ass because it happens to female agents all too often and I'll be damned if I want them to go through the judgmental shit you've been through. So I'll make sure he'll remember it when it happens to one of them." He got up and walked off.

Jane looked at her. "Bathroom break?" she asked dryly, smiling at her.

"Yeah, it was. Because I had to flush the sewer." Jane winced. "Coulson thought I was *consorting* with them."

"Fuck him," Jane said. "I'm not doing a damn thing for SHIELD and they need to leave us alone." She got up. Darcy stopped her. "No, I'm going to make sure he knows I don't want them in my email or anything else." She walked off, going up there. "Guys?" Fitz and Simmons stared at him. "Nothing against you but the rest of your agency needs to leave me and mine alone. I don't like the email filtering. I don't like the way they've treated me and Darcy as if we work for them. We don't work for SHIELD. While I like you two, I'm not joining you there. You're more than welcome to join us in the real world of science though."

"They've been filtering your emails?" Skye asked from her seat.

"Yes," Jane said. "That's why we had the demons invading." She stared at her. "So if whoever keeps it up, I'm going to have to do something. You don't want that." She walked off. "Jemma, you and Leo are more than welcome in my lab to come do science things with us."

"Thank you," Leo said. He looked at his lab mate and best friend. She nodded. "I agree," he agreed. "SHIELD has no right censoring anything of theirs or trying to take it over." He looked at Skye.

"I've always hated that." She shrugged. "How bad is it?"

"Very," Jemma said. "We've seen hints of a lot of things." She sighed, looking at Leo. "I'm loyal to Coulson."

"Rumor on the walk back from the loo just a few minutes ago has it that Darcy walked up to Coulson and laid him on his bum," Leo said with a smile.

"Good!" Jemma said. She sighed. He sighed and nodded. "I don't know. I like doing the good things. Working for the good of all."

"You guys sound like you want to be Dumbledore, but what happens when you run into Harry and set him with the evil family?" Skye asked. "Good for everyone is never good for anyone."

They nodded, going to talk to Tony Stark. Coulson was in there. They looked at Tony. "If we were thinking about leaving SHIELD," Leo said. "Could you help us find a nice private lab to work out of?"

"If you leave us here without your giant brains I'll have Pepper sob on you," Tony said with a smile. "If you don't want to be SHIELD we'll make sure you guys get good support for your work." They smiled at him.

"Fitz? Simmons?" Coulson asked.

"I don't want to be the bad guy," Leo said. "If we're confiscating others' work and trying to isolate and protect them for their own good, against their wills, then that's the bad guy. We're not Nazis. We're not going to allow that to happen. Are you scanning our emails as well?"

"No. I have no idea where...."

"Um, demon invasion?" Tony said. "Proved you guys had been doing it to at least Jane and myself. Which I am not very happy with and it will be ended or else I will end it. All your happy hackers can suffer." He looked at the two geeks. "As long as you're not like that, you're welcome to the lab. We need more smart people in the world."

Simmons smiled. "I'm not planning on making little scientists yet."

"When you do, we have a wonderful infirmary plan and they can call in an OB to help you, Jemma." He smiled at her. "The same as we would for any other scientist or resident in the tower that we work with."

"Including Darcy?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, we called in one to help advise us. That was so weird. Five days of mystical pregnancy but thankfully Xander knew what he was doing. Even when we got forced to see Rosenburg it was okay enough." They smiled and nodded. "Relax about it. You're Stark geeks now." They went back to their labs. He turned around to get back to work. "Anything else, *Director* Coulson?"

"No, Mr. Stark." He walked off thinking. He had screwed up. He had to stop that problem and make sure it quit happening. He called in his present head of technology, who defended it was standing orders. He unstood them and made himself clear with the promise to start firing people and having Stark eat them. She whined but oh well. He paused in his team's lab but they were writing their families to make sure they hadn't missed any emails from them. They were talking about it. He walked off to get back to handling SHIELD matters. He didn't want to lose his team. He ran into Melinda upstairs, staring at her. "We need to make sure we're not injudiciously invading some people's privacy."

"Why?" she asked. "If they're threats then we should watch them."

"We're not watching threats, Melinda. We're doing it to our own people."

"How are we supposed to weed out any remaining HYDRA people?" she asked.

He stared at her. "Not that way." She nodded, grimacing. "Or torturing them or anything like that." He walked off and realized that was part of the problem. He was surrounded by people who were willing to go to the worst case scenario and worst actions as a first action instead of working their way to it. Next thing he knew they'd be waterboarding new hires to make sure they weren't compromised by HYDRA. He sat down, staring at Barnes. James stared back. Coulson shook his head and huffed. "I just realized how bad the rotten core is in the remaining people. They're no longer protecting anything but themselves."

"Steve said he told Fury what he had planned wasn't protection, it was fear." Coulson looked at him. "When he saw the new helicarriers."

"It is," he said. "No, I don't want to do that. We have too much work to do for that. I'm paranoid but not that way."

"You're the director," James said.

"Point. Do you want to hire on?"

"No. I don't want to torture people for information on their families."

Coulson shook his head. "I hadn't heard we were."

"Then you're not really in control, are you?"

"Apparently not." He got up. "I need to go gather people back together. They're doing things too much on their own." He went to make that plan, taking Melinda with him. And Skye. JARVIS hated Skye and he wasn't going to let Stark torment her any longer. It was driving her batty.

***

Clint Barton walked into the room after Natasha, who was following Coulson. They stared at the group then at Coulson. "It's too bad all the good agents are gone. You're left with the used coffee grounds." He looked at Natasha. "I'm not rehiring on."

"Me either. I would not work with any of them," she said. Coulson stared at them. "I would not trust them to watch my back in the field. Why would I? Most of them would like to stab me instead."

Clint nodded. "Yup. Means we're not coming back, sir. Sorry." He smiled at the one walking in. "Coming? We're not signing back on."

Bobbi looked around then at her ex. "I can help rebuild it."

"With them?"

"We can hire better."

"When you do, talk to us," Natasha said simply, walking out.

"You also might want to start with the tech department that's been trying to filter everyone's email. You pissed off Jane Foster, which means you pissed off Thor, which then pisses off Odin." He smirked a bit at her, making her shiver. She knew that look. "Jane's been talking to Thor for hours about that. Since last time it led to an attack on Stark Tower? He's not happy either." He kissed her on the cheek. "Call for dinner and stuff, Bobbi," he said in her ear. "Good luck." He left. He didn't see Coulson slumping in on himself.

Bobbi stepped up to stare at him. "You have my help rebuilding, Coulson. You need all the help you can get."

"I do," he agreed. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. But if that's true, do you want to face Odin?"

"No. I've already ordered that ended."

She nodded. "You'll have to cut cords. They did it to mine and I've already taken out the one doing it." She sat down beside him, staring at the others. "For those of you who don't know, I'm one of the few senior agents still left. I'm Agent Morse, better known as Mockingbird." A few shuddered. "The only two higher are in private service and at the CIA. I'm fairly certain they are coming back soon."

"I hope so," Phil said. "Because they might keep me from killing everyone else in this room for the problems you've caused." They all sat up at that. "In case you did not realize, I'm Director Phil Coulson. I'm the head of SHIELD as we rebuild. My team has been the one freeing our former safehouses and bases. With the exception of a few in Europe."

"Who named you head?" one demanded.

"Fury. Himself." He put the thing Fury had handed him on the table. The former senior agents all winced at that. Two women walked in, one dark haired, one a blonde. "Ladies."

"Phil," the blonde said. "If we're going to come back to the right side I may rejoin SHIELD. You have my sword."

"Thank you, Agent Carter." A few of the ones in the room shuddered. "Agent Hill?"

She shrugged. "I don't know yet. I don't want to step into the mud pit we became."

"I don't want to step into the well some of them have started to dig," he said. "That's going to take strength up top."

"It will," Agent Hill said, staring at them. "I can see why Barton called them the used coffee grounds. No other agents?"

"Not that want to rejoin," Coulson admitted.

She nodded. "Then we'll rebuild, just not on this quicksand. Not until it's straightened out." She looked at him. "I'll help you rebuild SHIELD but I'm going to reserve my rejoining until I see how bad it is. Right now I don't have to worry about being attacked unless Stark summons something."

"Where were you when the demons invaded?"

"In Malibu," she said dryly. "Or the science team wouldn't have had to fix it." She crossed her arms over her chest, staring at them. "I'll get you some better agents." A few were glaring. She stared back. "Don't try it, children." She looked at Agent Carter. "Are you?"

"Maybe." She looked at him. "How is the Captain?"

"Having a moment of confusion and asshole tendencies," he said honestly. "Not even his old manners would work. Sam Wilson showed up from DC for a weekend and started by smacking him hard across the head."

She winced. "That's bad. Why?"

"Stupid things and I let him tell me what he was thinking without finding out the truth. Which means the Avengers will not work for SHIELD but may cover for emergencies." Maria Hill winced. "I've tried to apologize and make amends but they did have some points. Including that we should not be in their emails."

"No, we shouldn't," she agreed. She sighed, staring at them. Then at Phil. "I'll help." He nodded, smiling some. "Starting with that problem. Where are we regathering?"

"The old Beta base is cleared and safe."

She grimaced. "We hated that base. It has electrical problems."

"The others were more compromised. We've been clearing them but we got there after HYDRA more often than not since they were already there."

"Understood. I'll work on that next." She looked around. "We'll have you moved tonight." She walked off. "Let me file for a sabbatical."

"Thank you." He looked at Agent Carter, who shook her head.

"When you prove you're ready for me and my skills. Until then, I'll stop the others from doing the same sort of evil. Call me, Coulson." She left, going to find Steve to talk to him.

Coulson looked at the group. "At least it's a start. We have transportation to Beta base tonight."

"Some of us have responsibilities, sir," one said.

"You can have pets sent for."

"Sir, some of us were married," one said sarcastically. "I doubt I can tell my twins that they're pets."

"They can travel with us."

"No they can't. My wife has a life and they're in school."

"Fine, if you have such needs, then you have a week to get there." They all sighed but nodded. "We need to know what we have on our side, people. Thanks to recent events, I'm going to be on top of everyone to make sure we don't revert, we don't step out of bounds of decent agency standards, and that we quit pissing off our allies. Because right now, we may be living on the back of Stark." A few grumbled. "So therefore, stop all activities that aren't absolutely important. Watching scientists and their emails is not that important and it will be ended. Unless all of you want to face Asgard's troops?" They shrank down. "Good. Report to Beta base transport tonight or let me know you'll be there within a week." He stepped back. The other agents filed out of the room. He looked at Bobbi.

"I'll make sure they get there. And that they stop that. I don't want to face people like Thor." She got up and followed them.

***

Stark looked around his group. He had called the team to assemble in his office for a meeting about SHIELD and their issues. "Guys, I know we've all seen the issues starting. Where do we stand?"

"What issues?" Thor asked.

"The email issues and other things," Tony told him.

"They do it to more than Jane?"

"And me, and their two geeks upstairs," Tony said dryly.

"That is not what good groups do," Thor agreed, frowning at him.

Darcy pounded then walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, but Pepper has a direct need for intervention, Tony. She's having a hissy. A screaming, hopping up and down hissy. The lab out there was invaded by guys wearing weird bee keeper costumes she said. She's on drink four or five." She handed over the tablet to him. "Thor, you've got a visitor."

"The Warriors Three?" he asked with a smile for her.

"Just one, not in armor so a social visit. He's charming Jane."

"Hogun?"

"Fandral."

He shook his head. "I'll see him in a few moments." She nodded and left.

"Why not let JARVIS tell me?" Tony called after her.

"He's down again."

"I'll work on that later." He opened the connection, seeing Pepper gulping scotch. "What happened? Darcy said weird bee keeper people?"

"AIM," Clint groaned. "Techno masterminds who want to start a techno revolution by selling arms and futuristic shit to the bad guys."

"So they took over for Ten Rings?" Tony demanded, staring at him.

"No, Ten Rings was in it for their own selves," Natasha said. "These ones want to rule the world after the revolution they spark."

"If someone has a ray gun, it's AIM," Clint quipped. "They put out sci-fi weapons."

"Great," Tony sneered. He looked at Pepper. "You okay? Happy and everyone else okay?" She nodded, gulping the rest of that glass. "Did they get anything?"

"No." She stared at him. "How do we stop them?"

"We'll pull up the files on them," Natasha said loudly enough to be heard by Pepper. "They're not great but they're annoying."

"How annoying?" Steve asked.

"Like crusty zits to a teenage girl annoying as the last person over their files put it," Clint said.

Tony shook his head. "Never was a teenage girl and I didn't have too many zits. Pep?"

"I'm coming out there tonight. I've put the lab out here in lockdown with a full inventory being ordered. I want to know who these weird people are, Tony."

"We can do that." She nodded and hung up. Tony shivered. "You don't get Pepper that mad without her getting into someone's face and making them wish they had never been thought up."

"She's usually very calm," Steve said.

"Every woman has a temper. Some just hide theirs better," Natasha said simply. She looked at Stark. "Coulson has ordered all that monitoring ended."

"And I believe he'll manage it sometime next to never," he shot back.

"If then," Clint agreed sarcastically. He relaxed, looking at Natasha. "She and I aren't hiring on again until they're fixed and ready to handle missions beyond mopping up."

"If then," Natasha countered.

"You guys all know you're welcome here. That's why I gave you rooms," Tony said. They all nodded. "Thor?"

"I do not like them peeving my lady that way, and I would hope they would stop it before I find a way to stop it."

"Oh, I'm finding a way to stop it. Hackers are a speciality of mine," Tony said smugly, smirking at him. "We'll see what they want to do after I get done with them. Which is probably what's wrong with JARVIS." He picked up the tablet to fiddle with something. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir, I am back."

"Why did they turn you off?" Natasha asked.

"I believe so they could grab a few people. Dr. Fitz is presently not in the building and his tracking device has been cloaked. As has Miss Lewis's and Dr. Foster's." Thor sat up, starting to growl. "By the internal cameras they gassed Dr. Foster's suite and took them but not Lord Fandral. He's still unconscious."

"Let me find them," Thor said, standing up. His hammer flew into his hand and his clothes changed.

"I cannot find her tracking device but the one on Miss Lewis is still in Manhattan. Tracking that area I don't see the other two but... They're in the tunnels going out of the city. One of the nuclear sensors just read Dr. Fitz's location beacon."

"Got it," Steve said. "Stark?"

"Go. I'll get Darcy." He looked at Natasha. "Wanna help?"

"Definitely." She got up and followed him out to let him get armored, get her more weapons, and then they left. The others took a helicopter out to the tunnels to stop the idiots.

***

Darcy sneered at the man that walked up to her. "I'm not telling you a damn thing."

"We have our ways of making you talk," he said casually, looking at a file. "Including how it says here that you consort with vampires."

"I was compulsed and raped; I don't consort. If that's your idea of willing then your definition is highly cranked and needs repaired." She sneered at him.

"That's interesting. I'll have that note fixed but it does give us other avenues." He hit her. "Now, let's talk about what happened with the portals."

"Fuck yourself," she said. He hit her again. She did yelp, it hurt, but oh well. "Try it again, mother fucker."

"If you wish." He smiled and hit at her again but this time she bit him. Hard. When he pulled his hand away from her mouth, his skin was still in it. She spit it out and stared at him. "Hmm, you're not pleasant."

"You kidnaped me. I'm not going to be *pleasant*."

"This could go much easier. Since you don't want it that way." He snapped and they brought in a hooded man, releasing his cuffs then pulling off his hood and backing off.

"Aww, it's the pretty motherly one," the vampire said, sniffing at her.

"I don't care about him," Darcy said.

"You already sound like one of us," the vampire cooed. He sniffed at her. "Hmm, tasty." She spit the blood still in her mouth at him. He licked it off his hand. "Thank you."

"Shut up and go away. I'll deal with you in a minute." The vampire giggled and moved closer. Darcy glared. "I don't care if you rape me again. I've healed once. I can heal again and you still won't turn me. And I still won't give Agent Prick anything." He tried to hit her again so she bit him and ripped his sleeve.

"Hey, this is Gucci!" he complained, backhanding her.

"Aww, you poor princess," she sneered in a coo. "Did we hurt the clothes?" She stared at him. "I'm not telling you a damn thing, even if you do torture me. I can guarantee you'd better kill me though. You won't like it when I find you."

"You're a failed political science student," the agent laughed. "What can you do?"

"A lot. You've already underestimated me." The vampire moaned. "You, sit!" she ordered. "I've had enough of your shit."

"They have my mate, Mother."

"Don't call me that! I'm not anyone's mother!" The vampire shrank back. "And frankly, why would I care about your mate?" He snapped at her but she headbutted him.

A quiet clearing of the throat went off behind the agents. "This is sweet. I'll have to send people pictures," the male voice said. The agent spun and got a sword in the throat for it. "Nice to meet you again, Agent Prickless." He stared at the vampire. "Take your mate, leave this city. Never come near Darcy again unless you're going to save her life."

"The others?"

"Gone. Do you think I'd be so casually standing here if they were behind me?" Xander asked, fully sarcastic.

"Thank you for the mercy, Knight." He ran off. His mate was easily untied and they left.

Xander picked up the file and the dead agent's pen, writing a note on it. "I have her. They were going to torture her for information. Xander," he said as he wrote. "C'mere." He got her free and helped her stand up. "I've got you. It's okay." She nodded, sniffling some. "Darrien can fuss, he's really good at it. I've taught him well." They disappeared thanks to his amulet.

When Stark and Natasha got there, she looked around. "Stabbed." She spotted the chair in the temporary room, and the file on it. She jogged over to get it. "Xander rescued her."

"Thank you, God," Tony muttered, looking around. "He's a bit mean when he wants to be. This other chair with ropes?"

She sniffed. "No human scent, no soap, no shampoo."

"Vampire," he said. She nodded. "Let me call him to see what happened." He pulled out his phone but before he could fully dial JARVIS announced a new email. He read it, letting her see it. "Fuck them," Stark said bluntly. She nodded, following him with that folder. They told the other team Darcy was secure with someone who had saved her and let them get the others.

***

Stark walked up to where Steve was standing on the patio area, talking with Bucky. He put down files he had hacked once he had read the original. "I don't like how you manipulated things."

"I didn't."

"You did. You told them she *consorted* *willingly*."

"She did!"

Stark hit him, knocking him back. "I don't think brainwashing and mind control is the same as willing. If you think it is, then you talk to your friend about what he did while under it. Or Clint while he was under it." Steve shuddered. "They took her to torture and were going to have her raped and killed by them. Congratulations. Get out of my building and never come back." He walked off.

Thor stepped out and casually grabbed Steve by the throat. Steve was struggling but Thor was bigger and had a longer reach. He held him over the porch railing, all but his knees and feet hanging into open air. "I do not like this vengeance you have plotted against one who is like my own sister," he said coldly. "You should flee while still able. Because right now, I am not against the bloodshed."

Clint leaned out then walked off. "Bucky, you probably don't want to watch that."

"No, I don't," he agreed. "Are you going to treat me like that, Steve?" he asked. Then he walked off.

"It's not the same!" Steve said, still trying to get free.

Thor eased his grip and Steve realized he was going to fall about fifty stories. "You have intentionally harmed my claimed sibling. You have made enemies of my family. I will give you one chance to make amends but if I should see you before you make amends you will not survive." He hauled him back and threw him to the patio floor. "Do have fun leaving." He walked off scowling. Jane was still crying. She had called Darcy but she was too shaken to really talk back. Xander had her well in hand though. Fandral was worrying and seething that they had dishonored him and Thor's family that way. "Come, Jane. We will go see Lady Darcy." She wiped her cheeks and stared at him. "We will make sure she is fine and if she wants to return or not. She may be safer up there and I believe her savior may have a bit of a crush on her."

"He's nice but tough," she said.

"As are all warriors." She smiled, giving him a hug. "Come, pack for a few days. We will go visit her. Fandral?"

"Of course I follow you, Thor. You need it." Thor smiled and clapped him on the arm. "If Sif were here, she would have left chunks."

"Sif's temper is legendary for its own reasons," he agreed. "Such sleep methods do not work on her usually either. They make her much more angry." Jane laughed. "The last time we had a sleep spell put over the camp, the rest of us woke up to her huffing in anger over many parts of enemies." He walked Jane out, but she ran down to pack Darcy a bag of clothes. Thor went out to talk to Stark. "We are going to visit Lady Darcy and her savior."

Tony quit gulping water and pointed outside. "Clint's got the jet ready for you. He'll fly you up."

"Thank you." He shook his hand. "Do not save the world until we get back."

"Of course not," Tony agreed, smiling at him. "Tell her I hope she's okay and I'll be making sure they won't be doing it again."

Thor nodded. "I'll make sure she knows. The ones who ordered it?"

"I think that's the one she bit."

"Good." Jane came off the elevator. Fandral stood straighter. Thor looked at him. His friend smiled at him. "Perhaps you will find a lady love soon as well."

"Don't do that to me, Thor. I'm too young and pretty to settle for one maiden yet." He nodded at Tony. "Thank you for your help." He followed the couple. He wanted to gag at the sweetness Thor used for her but he wouldn't destroy Thor's happiness. Plus Jane swatted hard.

***

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