Sally strolled up to Pepper's office. "Is my kinda stepmom in please, Gretchen?"
The secretary stared at her. "Do you have an appointment?"
"I'm Riri."
"Oh! She said you were coming in a few days, Miss Williams."
"Yeah and then we ran into SHIELD." She nodded. "Twice."
"Oh, dear. She's upstairs with Morgan."
"I can go up there. Thanks." She headed up there, hauling on an arm on the way. "I'm taking up bad habits from my predecessor." She grinned at him. "And they have you on a special list, Dr. Banner."
"Riri," he said, smiling at her. He hugged her in the elevator. "We're going to Pepper?"
"We are." She handed him the file to look over. He growled. "Yeah. Why I'm going directly to Pepper, and to see if she'll comp me a bedroom. Being an intern doesn't pay well."
"No it doesn't. Mine complained about the same thing." They got off the elevator. "Who were you interning under?"
"Dr. Darcy Lewis." His step paused and he stared at her. She grinned. "SHIELD came back again too. That's why I'm early." Pepper looked over at them. She grinned back. "Hey, kinda stepmom!"
"Riri!" She smiled, getting up to hug her. "Did you enjoy working with Darcy?"
"I really did. The boys were cute little guys who needed some confidence. Darcy was finally not paranoid and then SHIELD showed up." Bruce handed over the file. Pepper read it and huffed. "We do need to look on some secret servers to find the order against her this time too."
"I heard and we're helping stop it."
"Rumlow showed up to help guard her. She's back to paranoid land. But she did get to pull Thor back to his wife and kid's side by his penis. Because he was having a battle instead. Again." Pepper snickered. "No, I mean literally. She sharpened her nails. Some day I wanna grow up into Darcy."
"Me too," Pepper agreed. "She's always been a happy woman." She settled her on Morgan's other side. "Morgan, this is Riri. Your daddy worked with her."
"Hey, sprout." She held out a hand, getting it shaken. "I already know you're exceptional because you're a Stark." Morgan looked smug as she nodded. "So when you need to learn stuff you can sometimes ask me." She winked. She looked at Bruce, who was shaking his head. "The last boring Stark was Howard."
"True," he agreed, settling in. "Has anyone else seen that file?"
"Rumlow told a certain redhead not in this room."
"She'll have fun with that," Banner agreed. "How else was DC?"
"Okay until the conference and then we had to flee SHIELD again. We went to Thailand, then to Lipari. Which is beautiful. It's like a dream place to live. Kinda warm but lots of great food, fussy older women who thought we were all too skinny, and mostly who thought I was too cute to be smart." She grinned. "I've got to visit Jamie and his wife when they're working in Greece. Supposed to be just as pretty.
"Bill's going home to let his mother nag a lot about his unmarried state and introduce him to a lot of single women. He's scared she'll be illiterate. He had her on speaker one night and she was horrified that I was a woman who did science things and so was Darcy, plus his boss." She grinned. "But we think his niece'll still be safe."
"They're still trying to use him to get information?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah. But his niece is the daughter of a state senator sort. So he think she'll be safe. We hope." She grinned. "Half of Asgard seems to think Darcy's an incarnation of Hela. Especially after she brought Fenrir to meet Jane's son Eric Ian Thorson. I'm hoping Jane comes back down here if she and Thor keep fighting."
She looked at Pepper. "They tried not to call Darcy up for the baptism thing. Darcy said they were giving her looks like she was the evil fairy godmother. She blocked someone stabbing the baby at the blessing." Pepper shuddered. "Loki had to help and protect Jane through the birth."
"If she wants to come back, Jane would be more than welcome to come to our labs. Darcy might be if she wanted."
"I have no idea. I haven't asked." She looked at the staring kid. "You'd like Darcy. She bakes stuff and teaches people things and she's pretty neat. Just a bit paranoid."
Someone came off the elevator, staring at the woman he didn't know. "Hi."
She nodded. "Rogers."
"Do we know you, Miss?"
"Riri Williams." She smirked at him. "Intern from Dr. Darcy Lewis." He nodded once but you could tell he had tensed up. "I did learn a lot about how to handle the science community that think women are weak." She looked at Morgan. "My motto is take no shit but do no harm unless they start it. Can you say that, Morgan?" The kid's eyes went wide and repeated that. "Exactly." She gave her a hug. "Have you seen Harley recently?" Morgan shook her head slowly. "Huh."
"He's hiding," Pepper sighed. "He won't come out."
Morgan pulled out her phone to text someone. She grinned. "They'll show up tonight." She grinned at Pepper. "All the Stark adopted kids. Including Peter."
Pepper patted her on the shoulder. "It'll be good to have you all home."
She grinned. We're going to warp Morgan so she's the best Stark ever."
"I know you will," Pepper sighed but she was smiling. Two guys came off the elevator and Riri whistled, tipping her head.
"Eyes right, kid," Sam Wilson complained.
"I'm totally legal. Even by US standards, Mr. Hotty McFlyerson."
He paused to stare at her. "Riri!"
"Yeah!" She smirked at him. "I'm back!"
"Oh, hell." He looked around. "Darcy?"
"Moving today. SHIELD put out some sort of hunt order on her."
"I thought I ended that," Rogers said, considering it.
"We had the guy who had history with Darcy show up. Again. The last time got us to move out of the US because Hill had him come out of retirement to guard her and us. This last time he showed up to warn her and started us moving so we could evacuate. He promised to guard her or else I'd pretend to be Darcy and destroy him."
"Who?" Steve asked.
"Rumlow."
Rogers growled. "I'd like to have him under the ground, not in her face."
"Which Darcy can do herself," Wilson reminded him. "Girl took down a HYDRA team and got free before we could find her, Rogers." He sighed but nodded. Riri got into the files she had stolen from Rumlow's system, that Darcy had hacked. She held it up to him, letting him take the phone to read. Sam winced as he read, grimacing and shaking his head as he handed it back. "That fucker. Morgan, don't say that word."
"Rumlow? Could be," Steve said sarcastically.
"No, Nick Fury. He's the reason behind all that stuff." Steve took the phone to read over that file, grimacing as he read. He nearly threw the phone but she saved it. "Yeah, we gotta protect Darcy. I'm not sure Rumlow would be good enough."
"He's moping about her," Riri offered. "A lot."
"We'll see if we can help her," Sam said. "Any idea which way she's heading?"
"There's no labs for rent on the sites she showed us. I looked on the flight from Sicily."
"You were in Sicily?" Sam asked.
"Lipari." She grinned. "Little old ladies thought I was too skinny and too pretty to be smart."
"I knew a few mothers like that back in the day," Bucky said quietly.
Riri grinned at him. "I wondered if you were mute, handsome."
"Not at the moment. You're Riri Williams, one of the engineers following Stark's work."
"I am. And the other two are showing up tonight so we can catch up." She grinned. "Don't worry, I'm not the scary geek. This week," she quipped. "Unless I have to be."
He nodded. "That's a good idea," he agreed. "Makes good sense." He went to the kitchen. "Morgan, want some water?"
"Koolaid?" she called after him.
He looked at her. "It's not good for you."
"So? It's a special night!" She grinned at Pepper, who sighed but nodded. She looked at Riri. "Do you make cookies?"
"I can try sometime soon but I'm not great at it." Morgan pouted. "We can try tomorrow sometime." Morgan hugged her and ran to get her special drink. She grinned at Pepper. "I'm sorry about the mess I'll be making."
"It happens. I do the same thing. That's why I make tube cookies." Her phone beeped so she looked. "Natasha's here. She just got through security. And she had Peter hitch himself to the top of her car. The guards were really amused by that." She swiped that notification gone. "How long before Harley gets here?"
"He's about ten miles from here," Riri said with a grin for her. Natasha came off the elevator with Peter, who she got up to hug. "Oh, boy, you're a sight for sore eyes. I've been surrounded by too polite boys who're scared of strong women. It was like two Hindu brothers for you." He snorted but hugged her back. Harley came off the elevator and got hugged too. "I've gotta introduce you to Jamie and his wife. They're a neat couple and in Greece."
Harley frowned. "Greece? You were in Greece?"
"We were in the Italian islands. They're going to Greece. Bill's going home to get married probably."
"Poor guy. Being stuck with a woman." He walked them back to the couch, picking up Morgan to hug her when she squealed and ran at him. "Hey, shorty."
"Harley!" She leaned back. "Hi, Peter!"
"Hi, Morgan!" He patted her on the head. She giggled and decided to make them all sit together so she could wiggle around their laps and talk to them. Pepper smiled, watching her talk to the ones who were like bigger siblings to her. It was good to have the kids home.
***
Natasha looked at the gathered Avengers members, handing over the two files and one sheet of paper. "These things are ones that Rumlow found. One he's handed to me to handle before he had to tell the agents about it and they revolted. The second, the agents below Hill are trying to create us a new science team." She looked at Steve, who shook his head slowly.
"And the third is the hunt order on Lewis to join that. Specifically her. Based on some earlier orders from Nick Fury and possibly Odin. I unbent myself enough to ask him and he said he thought Odin may have stepped in to suggest it to keep her from backing Jane up.
"Though, Thor could use some manhood lessons, Steve. He was off fighting a fun battle instead of being with his pregnant wife who had to have Loki protect her and help her through the labor." She smirked at him. "Darcy sharpened her nails and pulled him back to Jane's side by his cock. Literally. And brought Fenrir to meet the baby. Apparently Fenrir is a fond uncle already."
"His mother must be complaining in the afterlife," Steve said. "Mine would've found a way to come back to take care of those lessons herself."
Bucky stared at him. "My Ma would've heard first, Steve. Your Ma would've had to wait in line."
Sam nodded. "My mother would've killed me and everyone who had to witness her killing me so she didn't have to go to a trial. A fun battle?"
"Against a not very serious threat. He left her at nine months pregnant to go get into pointless battles with his troop of friends. Rumlow said that they think Darcy is an incarnation of Hela again."
Steve nodded once. "She won't kill anyone."
"Probably not," she agreed. "But we must handle the three issues."
They took them to look over. Sam waved his. "Does this say SHIELD is breeding the gay agents to get future agents?"
"Yes," Natasha said. "I've ended much of it but I'm having problems finding the rest of the lab team. I've blown up the sample vault, the vault I found for cloning agents, and the other two I found from HYDRA related scientists who had samples of unknown origins." She smiled at them. "Bucky, would you like to help since your name's on that list as well?"
"Yes," he said with a nod. "I'll be damned if there's another Red Room started," he said in Russian. She smirked and nodded. "Great. How many lab people?"
"I think five originally. It should be in there." He took the file to read over. Sam scowled but let him. She looked at Steve, who was reading that order. "Is that the same one?" He nodded once. "Can we end it?"
"Yes I will even if I have to take out a few agents." He looked up. "Rumlow?"
"Pouting. Darcy's remaining uptight. Though she has a skinned, sprained ankle."
"Someone get her?" Sam asked.
Natasha smiled, shaking her head. "They have cliff side slides that naturally formed there. She went down one that had a bit of a gap and banged it on a rock."
"That sounds like fun," Sam admitted. "Where were they?"
"Lipari." She smiled. "A beautiful island to hear Riri talk about it. She found the open lab on a rental site that was doing rentals of former HYDRA labs. They had been at one in Thailand before my team was sent to raid the base. My sniper had an extra set of orders from Hill to seriously injure her so she could be retrieved from the hospital. He retired once he made it out of the jungle by himself without any weapons."
Steve and Bucky nodded at that. "Nice," they said together.
"Yes I was as I only injured him," she noted. "So how do we end that one?"
"Make sure they can't try it again?" Steve offered. He handed the paper to Sam, who scowled at the wording. "Yeah, that's offensive and horrifying."
She raised a hand. "The original mission that got her hurt by HYDRA and let her meet Sam for her rescue, she had been forced onto. Rumlow did not know that. Or that he was to hand her to HYDRA for their uses with Bucky." Bucky sat up. She pulled up a picture of Darcy from her facebook page. "This is Darcy if you haven't met her."
"She's pretty."
"She could look like a dame from our years," Steve told him with a nod. "So they were gonna brainwash her, make you believe she was yours, and then have your kids."
Bucky stared at him. "I'm barely fertile."
"They have ways around that," Natasha reminded him.
"They need to leave his dick alone," Sam quipped. "Okay, so he didn't know?"
"No. He used a lighter sedative than they wanted so she woke up sooner. That night she sedated him and stabbed him. Then she was leaving and went back to get the knife for evidence, which woke him up so she stabbed him a second time." She smiled. "Then she fled with the dog she rescued. HYDRA picked her up about ten days later at a motel she was hiding in and begging for extraction. Which Hill didn't send. The STRIKE agents who helped her did it against orders and didn't tell Rumlow," she told Steve.
"Darcy's a sweet lady and not too many hate her after they know her," he said quietly. He shifted to put his feet up. "How do we end this once and for all so she's safe?"
"Remove Hill," she said. "And stop all the background orders and servers. Or as Rumlow said, bring it down again."
He nodded. "I can see that."
Bucky nodded. "That's evil, we do fight evil."
"I'm going to ask the bad question," Harley said as he, Riri, and Peter walked in. "Could this guy be doing all this himself to bring down SHIELD or to get his hands on her?"
"He's been moping over her for years," Natasha said. "But I never put anything past him. He was the head of STRIKE when he was there, Crossbones when he was HYDRA, and turned on them to kill HYDRA and at Fury's orders."
"So if we had Wonder Woman's lasso," Riri joked. "We could find that out?"
Natasha nodded. "There are truth serums but he's probably immune as HYDRA gave him a version of the super soldier serum." She sipped her water, shaking her head. "That's too elaborate for him to have done all this. That specific order? She was under the other one and Maria Hill does have a lot of interest in getting Lewis into SHIELD."
"Should've heard her complaining when Hill asked her to help with that bubble problem," Riri said. "She came in to do orientation for geek helping and they tried to induct her as an agent. Even though she had an iron clad contract saying she was not going to do that." She handed over a copy of it with a grin for the older woman. Natasha read it and moaned. "Yeah, they owe her for that. She stuck to it, they did not.
"They tried to sedative dart her to do her intake physical against her will. The agent she got with her taser had to retire according to her." She grinned. "They screwed with her car's alarm in the parking lot. Sent an ex boyfriend as an Uber driver to talk to her when Hill failed at the coffee shop next door. And then Melinda May showed up to talk to her. Darcy agreed to help with the problem because a few of those geeks trapped up there were good, even though it meant saving Justin Hammer too. But she wouldn't come near them.
"And the next day, somehow Rumlow showed up from his retirement in Corsica. He said Hill called him back specifically. They had a few quiet, intense talks about their personal history me and the boys didn't hear." She got into the system and pulled up the backup drive for the former lab's security system. "That's our former lab."
Natasha found the first time he was there, letting them see it. And the other meetings. "He didn't look at any information."
"No, he didn't." She grinned. "And he was horrified by the X-task box." She giggled. "Pity!"
Natasha looked at her oddly and got into the hotel's security files for the conference to look at that incident. "Oh!" She blinked a few times. "Who made that?"
"Andrew. Before my time," Riri told her. "No idea other than that and there's a signed contract."
Natasha looked at her. "The Stark tech?"
"She won it in a poker game against Tony."
"That figures," Sam muttered, shaking his head. "Who was that guy?"
Natasha grinned. "The one who tried to discredit her by saying she stole from Jane's work so she sued him for six million dollars. It got him all but banished from all grants." She looked at Riri. "Was she sane before Rumlow got her?"
"Starting to finally relax again?" She shifted her stance. "She was awfully paranoid back in DC, Romanoff. Like I didn't even know where her apartment was. Anyone she spent the night with was in a hotel room. When she rescued Jane from someone, Jane stayed in a hotel." Natasha winced.
"I know she had nightmares. She fell asleep in the lab a few times. The first one scared Bill into nearly peeing himself. She didn't talk about the reason behind them. She was finally starting to relax again as of last month when nothing had happened for six months. And then Rumlow showed up in the store I was buying groceries in. He did apologize for making her paranoid. Oh," she snapped her fingers. "He did something to his scars. He looked different now."
Natasha looked at the old film. "Scar tattooing?"
"Oh," Peter said with a nod. "That started for abused wives and people with a lot of scarring. They can tattoo in skin colored ink into a scar to make them a lot less noticeable."
"Interesting." She looked at the airport in Italy. "Which airport?"
"We flew out of Catania in Sicily. If I got the name right. Something like that."
She looked up that airport and hacked it, nodding. "He did fix the scar issues. That's how he looked before he had a building fall on him."
Steve was moving his jaw around like he was using his tongue to check his back teeth. "How hard is that?"
"Tattooing," Peter said. "So lots of needles."
Bucky frowned at his prosthetic arm then at them. "They can do any scars?" Peter nodded. "Interesting." He looked at his arm again. "I have a few I'd like to make less noticeable." Sam looked at him. "Not like I can hide the arm but I hate the scars in my chest," he said quietly.
"Sounds like a plan. Will tattoo ink work on you?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "I have two." He looked at Natasha then at the kids. "How do we help Darcy?"
"Help her find a safe location to set back up?" Riri suggested. "I have no idea where she'll be renting this time. The rental site doesn't have many smaller corporate areas that she could turn into a lab. We're not a machine heavy one but there's a few and a soldering station and a lot of computers."
"What is she working on?" Steve asked.
Riri looked at him. "No comment. It is classified and I have an NDA. It would build on Jane's work but not duplicate or even be that closely related for her side project. The main one? The alarm system for future aliens."
Steve blinked a few times. "Has she presented?" Bucky asked.
"That one, yes. At the conference actually." That got a nod from everyone. "She teased a formula that would go for nanite cloning. To make them easier." Natasha shivered at that. "Which that kit proved." She grinned. "She's gonna be one of those mad geniuses some day soon. Not sure if she'll be the Doc Brown type or the insane type or just the really angry one."
Peter looked at her. "Does she usually have a temper?"
"I think there's a reason why parts of Asgard think she's an incarnation of Hela," she told him then grinned. "And I think when she wants to be she can be." Sam nodded quickly at that. "I don't think she *wants* to be but sometimes it's gotta happen as she said."
Steve blinked a few times. "The Darcy I remember cried over hurt kittens in the alley."
"She still will. But if the guy who hurt 'em tries to hurt her she'll beat an ass," Riri told him.
Harley grinned. "I want to work with her for a bit!" He sighed. "She can mentor engineers, right?"
"Yeah, Bill was an engineer. Jamie was a wannabe satellite maker so combined the two. Darcy combined some of the two. I'm me so of course I did a lot of everything." That got a nod from Natasha. She smiled at Harley. "She'd probably love to have another intern sometime. Not sure if now is a good time though."
"Maybe in a few months then." He sat down. "So how can we help?"
"You're children," Natasha reminded them. "You may not. Even Peter may not unless we need his specific skill set or webbing." Peter rolled his eyes. "HYDRA is not a minor problem, Peter. They're not the street level crooks you deal with most often. It's not even as small as the Kingpin." He nodded at that. "And Rumlow is slippery. He was a high ranking SHIELD agent. He was a SEAL. He was HYDRA and a terrorist that stymied people for months on end. The only one who could probably bring him in is Jack Rollins."
"He's in Thailand," Riri quipped with a smirk for her. "We nearly ran into his back getting takeout to go to the airport with. Him and his boyfriend."
"That's a good thing to know in case we need to ask for his help," Natasha said. "Is she going to head back this way or in any direction?"
"When we moved to Lipari, the options were there, Paris but it was up the street from a SHIELD office, or the Outback. It depends on what's up for rent. She was muttering about maybe a house because there's nothing open."
"The Outback?" Bucky asked. "Why?"
"She said it was by that town that they mine opals in."
He blinked a few times, looking that up. "Well, it's tiny so anyone new would get noticed very fast." Riri grinned and nodded. "Can she handle that?"
"She met Jane in New Mexico."
"Point. Huh." He put his phone back up. "So it depends on the rental situation. Which site?" She pulled up the one she knew about. They scanned it for likely rentals, finding a few.
"Too small," she said. "Not enough electrical." She pulled up the last lab, which was now being offered for rent in another month.
"That is nice," Natasha said. "Pretty views." Riri grinned and nodded. "Wonderful. The one in Thailand isn't open. The ones who took that are morons that should be handled by someone local." She looked over it for that criteria. "Hmm. That one in Paris is impractical." Riri nodded. "The one in Albania isn't. A bit big for her needs though."
"So she wouldn't have to rent an apartment," Peter said. "She could outfit the lab as an apartment too. Saves money."
"True," she agreed, looking at him. "What would you two pick?"
Peter looked and pointed at something. "Middle of nowhere. Former office building. No one would expect an American astrophysicist there."
"Within thirty miles of a body of water she could escape through," Harley agreed with a nod. "There's one in the more wild parts of New Zealand. Up in the mountains. Pretty isolated. That was a house but it was a former ranch so lots of areas to work in." Natasha looked at that one. "Solar and wind turbine so free energy."
Riri looked then nodded. "That'd do. Plenty of power. She could set up things in the barn. Nice tub." She enlarged that picture. "I'd like that."
Natasha nodded. "Me as well. Clint's farm needs one of those." She kept looking, finding another few that would fit the kids' criteria.
"Go back," Harley ordered. She scrolled back up. "The blue thing." She looked and then at him. "That area had a mad genius who did robotics about twenty years ago. I recognize the town name. That's in the US though so would it be safe?"
"I don't know," Natasha admitted, adding in that to the search terms she was building. That brought up a few more areas and one did have a small garage with a wood working shop attached. "I never thought about where you could put a lab."
"Hers in DC was in a small, three room lab area," Riri offered. "The one in Lipari we took over the extra rooms as apartments. The decontam area had our bathroom."
"Which saved money," Harley agreed with a nod for her. "The interns cute?"
"One was married to an engineer and flirting freaked him out. The other one was young. So very young." She sighed, looking at him. "They were like Peter and didn't know how to talk to girls. Jamie said his wife pounced him at a college party one night and she nearly proposed to him but they got interrupted so he finally got some sense and did it himself."
She smiled at Peter than at Harley. "It was so like two Hindu Peters a lot of the time. I nearly called Bill Peter a few times. He got so confused." She grinned. "They're good boys. Even if Bill is already fighting his mother's plans to marry him off to some girl who can't read. His mother hates smart women. She was horrified that I was a woman and so was Darcy."
Natasha nodded. "That can happen in some old fashioned mothers." She looked at Steve then at Bucky.
"My mother would've demanded they could read pretty well," Steve quipped. "In case something happened she might need to work and smart moms made smarter kids who didn't work menial jobs."
Bucky shivered. "My mother told my sisters that too. It was practical."
Riri grinned. "And we prove they're right." She texted Bill, getting angry texts back from his mother. So she told her who she was and she was checking on him about how his telecommuting was going to work. She could set up the system for him if he was having problems. His mother clearly had the phone taken from her and Bill answered he had it and he was escaping that night. He had turned down her ideal girl twice already.
She looked up. "FRIDAY, can you ask Pepper if we have room for my former intern?" The AI popped up a text message from Pepper, who said that would be fine and Bill seemed charming even though he was having to industrial spy to save his niece. She grinned, sending that to him. He sent back he'd be there this week unless his mother tied him up. She told him to be careful, honor killings happened to guys too. He pointed out he knew and was 'going to the store now' so he'd talk to her soon. She put her phone down, watching it. Bill wrote when he got out of the area safely. She grinned.
Natasha looked at her. "He's coming here?"
"Had to escape his mother. She was threatening to tie him up. He turned down her dream wedding twice."
Natasha nodded. "That's probably helpful."
"I'm hoping she doesn't try to have him arrested before he can get out of the country." She considered it. "How does Darcy do that?" She looked up.
Natasha smiled. "There's many ways." Suddenly a guy appeared, looking startled. "Hi."
"Hey," Riri said with a wave. "This is Peter, that's Harley, my fellow adopted kids."
"Heimdall is *really* big. I feel so scrawny next to him," he said, sounding awed. "I can see why Darcy hugged him so often." He sat down with a sigh. "Thankfully my laptop doesn't have anything on it. Or my phone." He leaned his head on her shoulder, getting patted. "Thank you for the saving."
"Did you thank Heimdall? I didn't ask him."
"Yes, I did. He's *really* big. Totally muscular and *huge*. Thor might feel tiny next to him."
Natasha smiled at him. "He was when I saw him, yes. But he's also a very strong warrior."
Bill nodded. "I can see why."
"Was Darcy up there?"
"I didn't get to ask." He pouted. "Can we check on her?"
"I have no idea where Rumlow has her. Corsica has a few towns."
"His apartment is in the Saline quarter of Ajaccio." She smiled. "The capitol city. That's a touristy area."
"I know he speaks Italian," Riri offered.
"Corsica is owned by the French," Natasha said. "But they're close to Italy so it's probably normal." She hummed. "French and Italian have a lot of words in common as well. They both come off Latin."
"I do Spanish," Riri said. "I was learning Italian but I was still on little kid words. And yelling at guys in bar words. They're less leechy than American guys in bars but a bit more slimy and talking to my breasts. They all seem to think being a decathlon athlete in bed is the greatest thing but they have shit for style beyond many."
"TMI," Peter sang.
"Sorry, kid." She looked at Bill, who was blushing. "This is the Peter I compared you to." They waved at each other. "So how can we help, Mistress Natasha?"
Bill sat up, staring at her. "You're the scary redhead that Darcy had the bad dreams about but not the nightmares."
"I could be," she agreed with a nod. "I did work with her and Jane a few times." She looked at the guys then at them. "Bill, do you have any idea where she's heading?"
"No. She was muttering about having to rent a house because nothing was open when we left to hit the last ferry of the day. Sorry?"
"It's fine. We have people everywhere who'll tell us where she is when she pops into a grocery store to feed her candy habit," Sam said.
Riri looked at her. "She orders it from a small batch company in the Netherlands. One that doesn't fall back to slave labor to harvest the cocoa. I do not remember the name though."
"We can look that up," Natasha assured her. "There can't be that many." She looked that up as well. "How often does she order?"
"Every two months," Bill said. "Small box, many candy bars. She got us the ones we liked so we could have a chocolate party with her one day each month. It was our party to music day." Riri grinned and nodded.
Natasha smiled. "She is very good to her students." She added that to her list. The more unique data points the easier it was to search one person among seven or eight billion on the planet.
***
Darcy woke up again on Corsica. She could hear a tv running in the background in French. She looked at the phone next to her. Not hers. His probably. It was two days later. She got up, checking her ankle. It felt fine so she limped out there, staring at Brock's back since he was in the kitchen. "Did you drug me again?" she demanded quietly.
He looked at her. "No. The paramedic that treated your panic attack on the ferry did." She scowled. "We hit some rough water, sweetheart. The paramedic on board sedated you for that part of the trip and you lasted all the way here."
"It's been two days!"
"Yeah, and I was hoping you'd wake up today." He stared at her. "I'm not going to drug you."
"Where's my phone?"
"Your bag," he said with a point. "It's rang a few times but I haven't looked." She limped over to get that. "Ankle okay?"
"Bit sore but not swollen anymore."
"Good." He handed her a cup of coffee. "With milk and sugar?"
"Thank you." She sipped carefully in case it was hot.
"I'm not going to poison you."
"I was making sure I didn't burn my tongue." She took a bigger drink.
He looked over from cooking. "Omelette?"
"Too early for food."
"Okay. I can make one later." He went back to making his own lunch.
She sat down to look at the news, frowning. "What happened?"
"The ferry almost sank on the way back there. We were on the trip before then." He looked over. "Which is why you got sedated and even I took a benadryl to get a bit tired."
"Okay. Thank you for watching over me. My lab's stuff?"
"It's in storage in Sicily, waiting to be shipped."
"Okay. Thanks." She finished that cup of coffee, going to get more. He handed the pot over then a plate with a half omelette. She frowned at him.
"You should be starved."
"I usually take about an hour before breakfast if I don't skip it for brunch."
"It's nearly one. It is brunch." She nodded, settling down to nibble slowly through it and inhale the coffee. She looked at the cup then at him. "Yes, that's Italian coffee. It's a lot better than American swill." He grinned. "Not espresso, it's too late in the day for that." She nodded, ducking her head down to eat another bite and drink another lot of coffee. He grinned, shaking his head. "Any idea on the moving stuff yet?"
"Not really. Unless new things opened up." She got up to get her phone to look up the rental site. "Hmm. A mad genius' house. A workshop for wood working...probably has enough power to do the computers." She considered it. "Albania? Upper eastern Russia?" She hummed as she looked.
He looked at her. "The last two won't be safe."
"I'm an astrophysicist. Not one they'd want to steal."
"Not necessarily the truth," he said dryly. "They could want you to come to them."
"They won't."
"They have."
"They didn't want Jane and she was a nobel winner."
"She had Thor, Darcy. You don't have Thor." She scowled at him. "Seriously. You won't have a guard or the minions."
"The intern kids weren't minions. I fed them good chocolate bars."
"You didn't bake for them?"
"I haven't had a kitchen in the lab." She ducked her head down to eat another bite. "Where are we?"
"Ajaccio."
She blinked a few times. "I think I've seen that name on a map."
"We can go sightsee if you want," he offered.
"That's probably not safe."
He nodded. "Probably not. The very few places you shouldn't go I won't let you near."
"I was thinking the teams that are out to find me."
"They're working to end those."
"That's good. Thank you." She dug into the food again, getting up to get another cup of coffee. He smiled but fed her addiction well. And her very well. She ended up napping on the couch after she ate.
He sipped his own cup of coffee, shaking his head. "Still paranoid." He wanted to help her change that but he doubted she'd let him. Which sucked. He had overplayed his hand before. He'd try for more subtle this time if she'd let him. He went to nap in his own bed since she had the couch. He had been a gentleman. Because she would've stabbed him again if he had curled up next to her to nap.
He woke up that night and she was gone. He had no idea where. She had left a nice thank you note in the bathroom on top of his hairbrush. He rolled his eyes at that move. He moved to search for where she had went. She had tickets to Albania but there was a connecting ticket to Paris, and from there he was stymied. The French wouldn't cooperate. "She's probably staying in Albania because I said it was dangerous," he muttered. "The ticket to Paris is probably a false lead."
***
Darcy got out of the cheap, used car she had found when she had gotten off the plane in New Zealand. So Brock had been right, they were false leads. It had just taken all her airline points to do that. But she was here for now. And it was gorgeous. No animals on the farm but a nice barn. Nice looking house with a slight roof tilt in one area. Which she could totally have fixed if the landlord wouldn't. She looked at the POD container, going to start her unpacking. She had gotten two outfits to travel in since all her clothes were packed but that was a very minor bag to carry inside. The computers were a lot heavier.
***
Riri met with Natasha and Steve the day after she officially moved into the lab with Bill helping her. She turned on her lab stool, looking at them. "What's up, guys?"
"We cannot find her anywhere," Steve said.
She nodded. "She's paranoid. I'm sure she's hiding as hard as she could. She did in DC. She almost never went out."
"Did she have a doorman on her last apartment?" Natasha asked. Riri shrugged. "You don't know?"
"No. I have no idea where she lived beyond not Arlington. She badmouthed the politicians that lived there."
Bill nodded from his desk. "She never mentioned anything and her driver's license had a PO box on it." He looked over. "She had all her GPS tracking things disabled. We had to try to figure out where she was a few times when she was late to something important."
"I've gotten an email but she uses a VPN out of Germany," Riri told them. "It said she's fine, she's free of Rumlow, and she's missing having interns to hook up stuff for her."
"May I?" Natasha asked. Riri pulled it up for her. She read it over, grimacing. "It has no substance." She tried to track it and ran into the VPN. She tried to track that account but it was a higher level of security. Which would bring attention Darcy didn't need or want. "Do we have any idea on where she went?"
"She used her airline points to make a ticket to Albania and then Paris," Bill said, straightening up to look at her. "But I doubt she used them."
Natasha sighed but nodded. "That is something many could do." She considered it. "So we can rule those areas out."
"She might like Paris," Steve offered.
"With a SHIELD office there?" Natasha asked. "Plus that would give them an advantage because SHIELD has always been in Europe. Being in the wilds of Asia would be a bit more iffy for them being nearby."
"Or South America," Bill agreed. "There's some great observatories down that way."
Riri nodded at that. "But they keep asking about Foster."
"True. Which makes Darcy roll her eyes and show off pictures of the wedding."
Natasha nodded at that, looking calm. "That does make sense." She went to look at the rental site. Most of the ones they had looked seriously at were taken now. Which was a problem. It hadn't even updated in a day.
They would never find her that way.
***
Darcy looked up as Jane appeared with the baby, taking him to cuddle since he was super fussy. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You look weird and he's got a fever."
"I think he got poisoned. Thor's...weird."
"Okay. Get a healer? A good one you might trust?" Jane went to do that and came back with one in Brunnhilde's hands. "Hey. The healer?" The Valkyrie nodded. "Okay. The baby's sick," she said. Jane was fretting and kicking a wall. She let the healer have him and she moaned as she tested him. "What's wrong with him? Is it something simple or easy? Something normal?"
"No, he's been poisoned," the healer admitted. Jane kicked extra hard.
"Jane, rental," Darcy said. She looked at the healer again. "Can you tell what poisoned him and therefore possibly who?"
"Nay, Lady Darcy. I can tell he has been. There's one better at them but the Queen does not appreciate her viewpoint." She glanced at Jane then at Brunnhilde.
"She tried to stab the baby at his blessing," Brunnhilde said dryly. "Is there another?"
"On Vanaheim?"
"Can you summon them?" Darcy asked. The healer nodded and Jane took the baby back before she could disappear with him. Darcy looked at her. "Where's Fenrir?"
"Back with Loki."
"They can both stay here for a bit. I've been bored," Darcy offered looking at Brunnhilde. "What's wrong with Thor this time?"
"He insists it's all a play."
"Have we slapped the living fuck outta him?"
"Yes." The Valkyrie smiled and nodded. "Twice now. Loki swears it is not his doing."
"Could it be the same poison?"
The healer returned. "Nay, the king's mind isn't muddled, he's just...being like his younger self," she complained. "He did this much as a child when things he didn't want to see happened." The other healer appeared and she was an old crone of a woman. "Healer Elmira, this is Lady Darcy, Queen Jane, Princess Brunnhilde, the regent, and Prince Eric. He has been poisoned."
The older woman came forward. "Let me see him," she ordered calmly and quietly. Jane handed her son over. She checked, grimacing. "Thrist leaves." She looked at the younger healer. "Why not ask for your senior healer?"
"I ended up tripping her during the blessing so she lost the dagger she was going to stab him with," Darcy said.
"The other one," Brunnhilde said. "The one with the red cloak."
"Oh, snotty woman. Yeah, I blocked her view as she started to mutter about how wrong the child was."
The older woman grimaced. "She was always a bitch," she sighed. "We can treat this, Queen Jane." Loki appeared and she guarded the baby from him. "What did you want?"
"I'm the child's guardian," he said. "Because Thor was off doing Thor things." He looked at Darcy. Who grinned and waved. "Fenrir, she has a yard you can borrow," he called. The wolf being showed up to sniff the baby and lapped him a few times. "What's happened?"
"Thrist leaves," the younger healer said.
"How on earth?" he demanded, looking at Jane. "Purple, spiny leaves?"
"I had one removed from his nursery. He hadn't gotten a chance to chew on it. He can't move himself yet. I saw it being placed and sent it off because it stunk and it was spiny so probably dangerous."
"So someone fed it to him," the senior healer said. "How? Is he not nursing?"
"I don't have much milk," Jane said. "Half the bottle is my milk I've pumped, the rest is a formula. They had a fit that I wouldn't go to a wet nurse for everything."
The older woman rolled her eyes. "They hate you for being from a lesser lived people, Queen Jane."
"I know that and I usually kick them around for it." She grinned. "Can it be cured?" She petted Fenrir. "Easily cured?"
"Yes. There's treatments. We'll do his usual checks to make sure he's healthy and progressing normally as well."
Darcy pointed. "I have some herbs planted but not that many if they'll help. I can run to get a clean can of formula too."
"Please, Lady Darcy," the younger healer sighed. Loki nodded that was a good idea so she grabbed her keys and shoes to do that.
Loki looked at the senior healer then at the younger one. "What's Thor doing now? I've only heard a rumor. I've been at my own house recently."
"He's thinking this is all a great play."
"His mother used to have him treated with enemas to cure that backed up state," Loki said dryly.
"There's home kits available down here so he can do it in the privacy of our suite," Jane offered with a grin. "If it'll help. That way no one can talk about him having to do that." She looked at Brunnhilde. "Who takes over if something happens and he's still doing this?"
"I do," she said. "I'm the baby's chosen regent." Jane sighed and nodded. "I will smite Thor if he makes me do that."
Loki grinned. "Have fun with that. I have." Darcy came back with a bag. "That was fast."
"The nearest store's only about a mile away." She gave Fenrir a ham bone she had bought. He woofed and laid down to chew on it. The healer took the formula to look over, nodding as Jane made a clean bottle. Darcy had a few spares in case she had to babysit. Not tampered with by anyone on Asgard. She settled in to feed the baby to keep him calm while they worked on the cure.
The healers gave it to him and it made him fuss at his tummy ache, plus cry at his runs it caused. By that night he was better. The healers were pleased. The old one was very grandmotherly and fussed at him and Fenrir. She did admit the wolf being was a good napping friend for the baby so the baby was happy with that.
Darcy went up there with the healers. She walked past Heimdall, patting him on the arm. "I'm about to call his mother back."
"She is gone," he said.
She smiled. "Jane miscalibrated her bridge once and out came the dead." He shuddered. She went to talk to Thor first. He was looking amused at her. "Thor, your son is healed."
"He was not ill."
"Bullshit."
"It was all a..." Darcy walked up to him and slapped him. "Darcy!"
She glared. "It was not a play, Thor. None of this is a play for your amusement! Your son nearly died. Again!" she shouted. "I don't know what's infected you but damn!" He scowled. She stared at him. "You know what I'll do to you if you hurt Jane or the baby."
"They are fine!"
"They are now! Since we had to get two healers down to work on him!"
Thor frowned. "Tis a play!"
"Tis not a play! And watch me call back your mother!" He shuddered, shrinking away from her. "Fuck it. Take me to Jane's bridge," she ordered. The guards stared at her. "Now, bitches! This take's a mother's touch. And maybe en enema according to the healers."
"She is dead, Darcy," Thor said, standing up.
"I know that." They took her to the bridge terminus again and she fiddled with it, then smiled and adjusted it a bit more. She stepped onto it and stared at the waiting spirit. "Not you, Odin. Where's your wife? It'll take a mother's hand this time."
"Who are you to make demands," he sneered. She hit him too, knocking him backwards. He shuddered, feeling Hela stroll closer.
Darcy looked at her. She had talked to Hela greatly to try to get her to stop killing beings, sharing history with her. Hela and she understood each other, and Hela knew she had to stop her to save Asgard, so didn't hate her at least. The smile on the Goddess of Death's face showed she was still amused by her. And maybe wanted to kiss her again, which Darcy might not mind. "Thor needs to talk to his mother. His son was poisoned and he thinks it's a play. Can we borrow her shade, Hela?"
"Yes. I think that would be amusing." She smirked at her. "You do me proud."
"Sometimes a woman has to be a bitch in the face of idiots." She pulled out her phone to show off something. "Fenrir has really taken to the little boy. They're cutely cuddly together. They share nap times."
Hela looked and smiled, melting some. "He was such a ferocious one."
"He still is; anyone comes near Eric they get eaten." A female walked over. "Ma'am, we need Frigga. Can you tell her that her elder son is thinking things are a play again? Before I assassinate a king?"
The woman nodded, floating off faster than she had floated over.
Frigga strolled over, staring at her. "Darcy!"
"I am. And your elder son's a moron I'm going to kill because he thinks his son being poisoned by Thrist leaves was a play."
"Hmm. He needs another enema."
"We can get him a kit to do it at home," Darcy quipped. "Midgard has plenty of them." She smiled at Hela. "Thank you."
"The bridge closes," Hela warned. Darcy held up something and pushed it. "What does that do?"
"It summons Jane Foster." She grinned.
Hela moaned. "You two do my history proud, Lady Darcy."
She grinned. "When a woman has to be, she has to be." They walked back through the portal. Hela let it close again but she looked quite amused. Heimdall was really pale for someone so dark skinned. Darcy grinned at him. "Behold, Lady Frigga has reappeared to talk to her errant son." People staring screaming and ran. "Sure, you do that," she called after them and waved. "We'll talk in a few minutes!" She smiled. "I'll follow as a handmaiden, Lady Frigga."
"Thank you, Darcy. Jane?" Jane smiled, letting her see her grandson. "He is quite adorable."
The healers bowed to her. "He grows as one of us, My Queen," Healer Elmira said quietly. "He is truly Thor's son."
"Of course he is. He's very stubborn." She noticed Fenrir. "Hello."
"This is Fenrir, Lady Frigga," Darcy said with a smile and a wave. "C'mere, she won't hurt you." He came closer to sniff her then plucked the baby to carry him off to cuddle and protect him. "Okay, come tell us if he needs changed or bring him to us if you have to protect him, Fenrir." She got woofed at.
The younger healer stared at it oddly. "He's protective?"
"He's very protective," Jane said with a grin. "They share nap times. Fenrir was trying to teach him how to play fetch the other day."
The healers smiled and nodded because that had to be cute. "A pet is good for a boy," the elder healer agreed. They followed the spirit queen, the present queen, and the omen of doom back to the throne room. Thor looked up and stood up suddenly, mouth open.
"Do sit down and hush," Frigga ordered quietly.
"Darcy, what have you done?" he demanded.
"I asked Hela if we could borrow her so she could see her grandson." She smiled. "That way he learns the good points of the family from someone who loves him." Loki strolled in, pausing at the sight of his mother. He licked his lips but Darcy grinned at him. "This way she can talk to her son and grandson and tell him family stories so he learns about the good members of the family."
Loki nodded once. "How did you do that?"
"Jane's bridge. She miscalibrated it once and got to talk to Eienstein."
"Ah," he said weakly, looking at Jane, who smirked and nodded. "I see." He cleared his throat. "The babe?"
"Fenrir has him."
"You cannot get much more protective than him," he said calmly. His mother stared at him. "Mother." He nodded at her.
She smiled, floating over to pat him on the cheek. "At least I never had to order you cleaned out so whatever body blockage was cured." She floated over to look at her elder son. "Darcy, do come hit him for me, dear?"
"Gladly." She came to hit Thor again until he ducked away from her and tried to get away. She smiled at Frigga. "I told him if he hurt her or the baby I'd be the last one he saw as I threw his barely living body into a deep lake."
"As true family would say to protect a sister," Frigga said, smiling at Thor. "You are having that problem with plays again?" she asked calmly.
"Mother, it must be. There's none who would harm the child. They all love that we have a prince!"
The senior healer stepped forward. "Thor, no one loves your wife's people. They think her weak because her people don't share our life essence. They think the babe weak for the same reason. They will never love a child not from an Aesir mother." He slumped, staring at her. "I treated your son for Thrist leaf poisoning. It was in his formula."
"He does not nurse?"
"A real father would know that," Jane noted. "And no, he's partially on formula too. I don't produce a lot of milk."
Darcy looked at her. "Might help if you put on weight again."
"I know!"
"We can go bake, Jane."
"Nay, she does not need it," Thor said. He scowled at her. "She is very womanly, Darcy!"
"Thor, she's ten pounds underweight."
"More like thirty," the senior healer sighed, staring at her. "Yes, you shall bake, Queen Jane."
"Yes, ma'am." She ducked her head.
Thor stared at the healer. "But..." The healer slapped him, making him hold his cheek. "How dare you!"
"Shut up before I have Lady Darcy do it for me," the healer ordered. "She seems quite fit for that." She stared at him. "I doubt an enema would actually cure your problems but if we must and your mother thinks so I'm game to try it." He blushed, backing away.
"We have home kits on Midgard," Darcy told him. "So you don't have to go to the healer's area to do one. You can do one once a week or so if it helps."
He scowled at her. "You are turning evil."
"Gay men do it all the time, Thor. Right before they have sex."
He slumped again, scowling at her. "That is mean."
"Uh-huh. And you've let your son nearly die and your wife suffer. I'm pretty sure Asgard has at least one deep lake."
"Five miles to the north," Loki said with a point. His mother gave him a look and he piped down again. A guard rushed in and he stared at him, shaking his head. "Do not interrupt," he hissed.
"That feral wolf has the prince!"
Darcy stared at him. "Fenrir isn't feral. He's a great guardian for the baby. He actually likes to nap with the baby. And if you touch either one I'm going to come out there to fix all this shit." The guard laughed until she grabbed his arm and walked him out there. "Let's go chat while Thor talks to his mother about his mental issue." The guards were threatening Fenrir.
"Hey." He handed her the baby. "Okay, come with me. I'll yell at the idiots." She let the guard go, letting him run off. She turned to scream at the guards. It was very stress relieving. Fenrir hid behind her for now. When she was down to panting, the guards were shrinking away from her. "Do not harm Fenrir. Or the baby!" she snarled. "Am I clear!"
"Yes," they called, sounding scared.
"Who be you?" one yelled.
"I'm Darcy. The Lightening Sister."
"Thank you for sparing us," that idiot begged.
She stared at him. "I don't like to kill people. Some people beg for it by harming my near-sister and her son, but I don't *like* to." They nodded so she walked off with the wolf. They gave her an honor guard all the way back there. Thor was sitting with his head on what would be his mother's lap, letting her pet over his hair. Darcy grinned. "We're okay."
She handed the baby to Jane and moved to check Fenrir. He growled at one point. "Is that an injury? Let me see, Fenrir." He whined. "Let me see." She moved the fur to look. "Someone stabbed you, baby. We gotta get that cleaned up and bandaged." She looked around. "First aid kit?" The younger healer came over to heal it. Darcy hugged her. "Thank thee, Healer."
"Welcome, Princess Darcy." She petted Fenrir. "I did not imagine you were that wise or that soft." She went back to stand beside her elder. A few other healers came in and Healer Elmira went off on them.
Darcy grinned at Fenrir. "I want to be a lady like her some day, only without being a healer. Insides are icky." He lapped her and cuddled her, whining at Jane. Who sighed and handed back the baby so they cuddled up together. Darcy curled up against them to rest for now too.
Jane watched her fall asleep then sighed in displeasure. "She's not taking good care of herself. Again." She looked at her mother-in-law. "If there's going to be such problems, I've been told Eric and I would be welcome back in the Stark labs." Thor stared at her. "I don't want people to try to kill me or him because they're hateful jackasses, Thor. I thought your people were more evolved. Turns out people are people and if we stay here they'll just keep getting mad."
"Nay, I will fix this," he vowed. "And nag Darcy for treating me like that."
"She knows I don't want to abuse you," Jane said firmly, staring at him. "I will if I need to over my son."
"Our son," he said just as firmly.
"If he was your son you'd be helping me with him," she said. "Walking him, cuddling him, reading to him, feeding him, changing him, bathing him, all that parent stuff."
He swallowed, looking at his mother, who nodded. "Even Odin had to change a few diapers, Thor."
He swallowed again, nodding. "I will do better, Jane. If I do not, you can go back and I will seek help for my faults."
"Fine." She looked at Frigga. "Are you staying? I could use someone to talk to."
"For now," she agreed. She smiled at the young woman. "I had many problems but they were never this bad. It will take a mother's hand to fix it. Before your handmaiden destroys Asgard in Hela's place."
Jane rolled her eyes. "Darcy is very concerned at social problems. And with our health."
"I understand what sisters are like, dear. I had one for many years." She stood up, floating over to her. "We will talk later. A lot of that will mean a staff change. Which would be a welcome gift at this moment." She glared at someone. "You harmed the baby's guardians?"
"They're evil!" she protested with a point.
"Evil is harming someone that has not harmed you," Frigga shot back. "Such lessons are not for my grandson to learn."
"He is weak," she spat. "His mother is weak." Jane punched her and knocked her down. "You'll pay for that, witch!" Which woke Darcy up and she got up to help Jane. "Two of you?"
Jane looked and held out a hand, getting the hammer to her. "Really? Am I?" The woman gasped and fled for her life. "Darcy, let me hit them?"
"Of course. My hands hurt. Thor has a rock jaw." She went to check the baby and Fenrir. "You are more than welcome to come where I'm staying right now, Fenrir. It's really boring there by myself. So you can come cuddle me whenever you want. Because you're a good boy no matter what bitches say about you." The wolf being doggy grinned, getting a hug back. "Good boy. Let me change that messy butt." She took the baby back to go change him. Loki escorted her to make sure she was safe. She grinned at him. "They're both very good boys. And you try awfully hard too, Loki."
He smirked. "Only as an act."
"Uh-huh." She found the nursery and changed him after checking to make sure things weren't poisoned. Then she walked him back there. "Here we go, one clean butt." She held him up. Thor was kissing his wife and his mother was sniffling. "Aww, they made up, Eric. Can you coo at mommy for that?" The baby squealed and bounced in her arms.
Brunnhilde looked at him. "That's loud. It's an excellent field command voice." Darcy laughed at that. "Many work their whole lives to get a voice that strong." She took him to hold, letting him curl up on her shoulder. "He begged for another chance."
"If Jane's happy I'm okay with that. I've still got a plan in case he hurts her or the baby though."
Brunnhilde nodded. "I'll make sure you have a cart to carry him so you don't have to drag him all that way." They hugged. Fenrir stole the baby again to cuddle with him and Loki went back to his seat rolling his eyes.
Jane looked at Darcy. "Thor says you're mean."
"For a good reason."
"Yeah, it was. Though he's worried Hela will come back."
"She thought Fenrir cuddling the baby was adorable too. She fully smiled at that."
"Dogs and kids should go together," Jane agreed, grinning at her. Darcy grinned back. "We need to get you up here more often. You're too alone."
"Yeah but SHIELD came back. Again."
"Heimdall told us."
"Hmm. They're still trying. I really do need to see if that agent did sneak off. If not, he's still locked in the old grain room." She considered it. "Did I leave him water?"
Loki sighed, looking at her. "Your mind is tired, Lady Darcy."
"Yeah, I can't risk anyone right now so I'm pretty much alone."
"That one that admires you would help you."
She stared at him. "There's history there, Loki. Including bad shit that got me tortured." He winced. "While he was good in bed before then. No. He drugged me, he was going to give me to HYDRA. I got tortured for a few days thanks to that. I'm tired of running but I'd probably never take him back. I think I'm just an unobtainable fantasy for him. The last time his life was really normal."
"Possibly. I can talk to him for you."
She smiled. "Thanks for the offer but not really needed. I can't really appear in places until they've fixed the order to capture me, rape me to make me quiet down, and then use my mind for their own ends." Jane growled. "And maybe I'm paranoid but I don't know if he had anything to do with that beyond being sent to mysteriously show up and flirt while helping me move."
Frigga looked at her. "He did aid you?"
"I'm some fantasy in his mind, Lady Frigga. He doesn't want *me* he wants the fantasy that he can go back to that point and make things better. He was the first person I stabbed because he drugged me so he could hand me over. Thankfully I woke up and escaped."
Frigga winced. "No, that is not a sound relationship."
"No. I'm happy he helped me get away this last time but I ...I'm not desperate and I don't do abusers."
"I agree, it's not wise," Loki said, frowning. "You need a guardian of your own."
"Yes but that would get them harmed. I don't want someone hurt because they were helping me." She shifted. "I hate people being hurt because of us."
Jane nodded. "It does suck greatly." She looked at Thor.
"She knows she could seek sanctuary up here."
"Yeah but then the accusations of me sucking off Jane's science will come back," Darcy said. "Even if we're not working on the same things. It nearly ruined my career a few times."
"They tried to do it to me too. Erik Selvig had to tell them off and they left him alone because he's a guy. Now they're looking at her like they looked at me." Darcy nodded. "It could be safer to have someone there to guard you though."
"Not really. How would I know if they're tainted by SHIELD? Any intern would be a target and they'd discredit them if they didn't give in. Hill tried that one on one of my papers and I came out swinging again. She's hating that lawsuit that's grown by more counts. The judge hates it too. He might try to dismiss it but I'll file it the hell again."
Jane gave her a hug. "You don't do well alone, Darcy."
"I know. But sometimes you gotta."
"Go back to Stark?"
"I can't. They don't want me. Pepper said it'd be dangerous for me because SHIELD's still there. I've avoided Rogers and Romanoff trying to find me a few times. Hill's thing is to give them a dedicated science team to take the place of Stark. Thankfully Riri knows that."
"She was a good scientist." She cuddled her. "We'll figure it out. You could have a vacation."
"This is one. It's a lot more fun than the farm sometimes." Some man stomped in looking like a priest. Darcy moved between him and the wolf being and kid. "Were you invited to this talk?"
"You have no place here," he sneered. She zapped him with her tazer, making him scream. "How dare you! Odin will damn your soul!"
"Oh well. Then again, isn't he dead?"
Frigga floated over. "Leave her be!" The man flinched away from her but tried to pray at Hela to take her back. "Do get hm again for me, dear." Jane took the tazer and used the hammer on the man, making him scream as it sent him out the window and onto the courtyard's bricks. "Well that will do. Though it may start rumors."
Jane smiled. "Whoever be worthy," she quoted. Frigga grinned and nodded, looking at her son.
"I find her very worthy, Mother." He took his hammer back. Someone else stomped in to complain. He kept Jane from taking it again. He lost because Darcy got him with a light zap so he had to let it go. Then Jane hit this one too, stomping out to go yell at people. They saw her with the hammer and fled because that meant she was worthy of the throne.
Darcy nodded. "I like her temper sometimes." Thor rolled his eyes, following Jane to calm her down. She looked at the baby, who was awake but happy being cuddled. "They'll be right back or I'll steal you for a few days of auntie time." She winked and grinned. "You can both come hang out with me."
Frigga stared at her. "You could have your own."
"Which would put them in danger. That would be a hostage someone could take to make me help them."
"True," she sighed. "That is a dilemma, my dear. Loki, can't you fix that for her?"
"I've handled a bit of it that worried Heimdall." Darcy stared at him oddly. "I have."
"Who?"
"A search team last week at the place you supposedly rented." He grinned. "They were most unsatisfactory. So now they wander a woods searching for a bunny named Darcy." She walked over to hug him. He grinned at his mother. "She thinks me good, Mother."
"I have hopes that you are," she shot back. "I know you can be, son." He rolled his eyes. Darcy let him go and went back to gather the baby and wolf being to go home. Jane was still yelling at someone out there and some people were screaming about being hit by the hammer. He made sure they got back to the farm, taking the tied up one to send him somewhere less hospitable and safer for the babe. Darcy was too soft hearted.
Frigga sighed, sitting on her former throne. They would finish working this out later and Jane would go snatch her son back from his aunt.
***
Jane looked around a few days later, frowning at the quiet in the room. "Are we missing the baby?" she asked Thor, who nodded. "I'll go get him from Darcy tomorrow then."
He pulled her back down beside him. "One more night won't hurt."
She looked at him. "Daddy time has to do some waiting, Thor, and we're not having another child for a good, long time if ever." He pouted. "Do you remember how sick I got with him? How much weight I lost and all that?" He pouted but nodded. "So yeah, it's going to be a while. I've got things I want to do and I can't do that while pregnant because you turned hyper overprotective and kept me out of the lab. I'm miles behind on my own work."
"You don't have to...." he started, staring at her.
"That's like asking you to give up fighting ever again."
"Oh." He nodded, looking at his hands. "I can understand that. I do not want you hurt or your mind to go stale." She nodded, settling in again. "How do other couples do such when they have a young child?"
"They often don't have a lot of time for things like personal matters until their child is a bit older." She stared at him. "Sometimes you hire a babysitter just to get a nap if the baby won't sleep." He nodded at that. "I realize we have more help than usual but I don't trust most of them."
"We will find ones that will not hurt the babe," he said quietly, cuddling her. "Thankfully we do have one who would love to watch our son often."
"She's got to work too, Thor."
"Yes she does," he agreed with a nod. "I agree with that. He needs his parents around more often."
She nodded. "He does. Both of them." He nodded, looking patient. "Even if we did, it'd probably be a daughter so she'd follow me into science. Our son may."
"He'll have to follow me," he reminded her.
She smiled. "He can do both."
"The hammer must find him worthy of the throne or we must have an heir who is."
She nodded. "I'm aware of that but what the hammer thinks is worthy isn't always what good people are. If Odin was worthy then the measurement device is skewed toward warlords and warriors instead of people who want their people to have peace and prosperity."
"I had not thought on that," he admitted. "Nor do I like it."
She stared at him. "You're very bored when your people aren't fighting, Thor."
"True." He considered it then nodded. "I am because I trained for wars and battles, not peace and quiet times." He cuddled her again. "We will work this out, my Jane."
"I know we will." She knew she could always go back to the labs if they didn't. He knew she was serious about that threat. He'd pout a lot but it'd be like a divorce. He'd either come around or she'd be with her son. She checked the time and sighed. "It's the middle of the night."
"Aye. Darcy can handle him for a few more hours probably." He looked toward the door. "Is there news from Lady Darcy?" he bellowed.
"Nay, sire!"
"Thank thee."
Down on Midgard, Darcy was looking at the non sleeping baby, who was a bit fussy but sighed and took him outside to show him the stars. His mom liked stars. His dad liked nighttime. Fenrir padded out with them so they were safe enough for now. The baby stared at the sky, looking surprised. Darcy grinned at him, pointing out constellations and that the trees at night were pretty.
The baby sucked on his fingers, liking this calm auntie time. She finally got tired and brought him inside so they could nap together. She didn't have a crib handy. Fenrir curled up on the bed around them so they didn't need a blanket either. This was a really nice night for the baby to giggle his way through. He finally drifted off, snoring into Fenrir's side and it was nice. Maybe someday Darcy would think about kids. If she ever felt safe again.
When Fenrir heard people he looked up and barked quietly. Darcy shifted to cuddle the baby, pulling him closer but didn't wake up.
"Go water a bush. I've got it," Thor told him. He smiled at his son being cuddly. "Good morning, son," he said quietly. His son woke up and screamed at him. "Well, that's not pleasant to your aunt." He ducked the stabbing from Darcy. "Darcy, it's me."
Darcy blinked at him. "Thor." She looked down. "I know, he woke you up." She sat up, cuddling him until he calmed down. "Is that better?" He huffed and glared at his father but cuddled into her shoulder. "He was being nocturnal last night."
Jane came in with his morning bottle, shaking her head. "He is?"
"Yeah, we talked about stars and how pretty the light made the trees for a few hours."
"You don't do that with me. You fall asleep in the lab."
"Lab time isn't night time."
"I didn't think about that." She took her son to look at. "You need a bath. You're covered in Fenrir's fur, Eric." She walked him off feeding him his breakfast. He was happy with that, kicking and wiggling. Fenrir looked over. "You need a bath too." The wolf being stared at her. "And brushed." She petted some of the loose fur off. "We can do that." She grinned. "Or you can ask Darcy to brush you if you want. Then come up in a few days? That way you get some time away from the baby?" Fenrir padded back inside and grabbed the brush for Darcy to hopefully use. He gave her the most hopeful look with it in his mouth.
"Of course I can brush you!" She sat up to do that then looked at his fur. "Let's do that outside so the birds can take the fur for their nests?" He padded out with her to do that. He got a thorough brushing, making him a happier wolf. Thor was looking confused. "It's what people who work with animals and have animal friends do, Thor. Not like he can do it himself and he'd get a hairball like a cat." Fenrir stared at her. "I know but he's never had a pet." Fenrir grinned at Thor, letting the nice one spoil him with attention.
Jane looked at him. "She did the same thing to me. Always fussing at you. It's why I kept on any weight for a few years." Fenrir leaned over to lap her on the cheek. Darcy was happy taking care of him.
Thor was still confused by pet ownership things that Darcy was doing but someone else had taken care of the hunting hounds the palace shared so he wasn't used to a personal pet.
***
Sensible but Problematic.