Darcy looked up from trying the newest invention when Jane came back without the baby. "Problems?"
"Bored stupid, and Heimdall said you were testing the new thing?"
"I am getting ready to." She held up the caged guinea pig. "Just in case it's not safe for a person yet." She checked them again, having to hike off to the other plate. Then she came back to set the guinea pig on it and set it off. On the other plate, the guinea pig and cage manifested. Jane squealed, going to check on it, make sure it was safely all right. "I've done some weight tests with inanimate objects, mostly rocks, and it takes a bit longer after three hundred pounds." Jane grinned, petting the thing. "I know I don't have a distance skew under five miles."
"I can try it," Jane said.
"And have half of Asgard on my ass if something happens? Pass!"
Jane rolled her eyes and got one of the guards down there. "Test this for Darcy so I can."
He sighed, looking at the Princess of Asgard. "This invention does what?"
"Jane, put him down and press the blue button. The red is cancel."
She did that and the guard watched as it changed location. "All right," he decided with a nod. "We'd rather the queen not test this, Princess."
"Which is why you're going first," Jane quipped with a grin for him.
He sighed but nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"I've done a lot of safety tests," Darcy assured him. "There's a slight extra few seconds when you're over three hundred pounds but it's proven safe for the last few months."
He sighed but stepped onto the plate system, letting Darcy send him over. It took a few seconds but he did reappear. "That is a weird feeling. It feels like you're being twisted around but without pain." Darcy grinned. "And the time between I did not see anything horrendous."
"Did you have vision during it?" Darcy asked.
"Nay." He looked at the queen. "We'd rather you not test it until a few more have been sent, Queen Jane. The king would have our heads."
"Jane tested the bridge on herself first. She didn't even test with rocks, sheep, or guinea pigs. By the way, Jane, he's going to Eric."
"That's fine. He's a good age for a pettable thing in a cage to love." Fenrir came trotting over. "Hey, Fenrir." He barked and lapped her then strolled over to lap Darcy. He looked at the plate then her.
"It's not big enough for you to stand on and the only one that is, we have a weird wobble with three plates. We don't have a fourth one made. Later. I'll take one of these out and let you test it." He nodded, settling beside her by laying on the ground to stare at Jane and the guard. She looked down.
"The guinea pig is Eric's new pet so he learns to love all fuzzy things. Don't eat it." Fenrir sighed but nodded. "Thanks. I know you've had a lot of fun hunting bunnies." She reached down to pet him. "And the spider that got into my bedroom. Thank you especially for that." He doggy grinned at her. She grinned back and tested a few more things.
The guard noticed Jane moving toward the target and pulled her away gently. "My queen, perhaps Heimdall should test it first?" he offered with a smile. "There hasn't been many females through it."
"The guinea pig is," Darcy said. "And if it was female specific I didn't know that about Heimdall. Considering the way I've seen a few of the younger girls staring at his body, I doubt others do either."
He blushed but nodded. "We can have him appear with one of the maids."
Darcy sighed. "Let me get the bigger target for boxes." She came back with that set, removing the other set from the system and installing those. She plugged them in and finished the installation. "There, that should do. Fenrir, wanna go first?" He nodded, getting up to come be tested on. It took a few extra seconds beyond what it took the guard but he did appear. "Was that too weird?" she asked him, getting a doggy grin and him shaking his head. "You sure? I know you're a lot bigger, Fenrir, and I don't want you hurt." He trotted back to lap her and settled down again.
Heimdall appeared, looking at Darcy as he handed over the maid. "I made sure she is not pregnant and a healer will be right down to make sure it has no harm on a body." The healer appeared behind them and walked around to test Darcy first, then frowned. "She is not well?"
"I've got an IUD in," she said. "Test Fenrir? He just tested it for me. And the guard has too." The healer nodded, going to check him first then Fenrir.
"You're not like the hunting hounds," she said. "You have human internals. Interesting, Fenrir." She petted him with a grin. "It's rendered them spermless for a day but they're already regrowing them. Men are apt to do that daily anyway." Darcy nodded. She tested it on herself and let the healer check her over. "That device is odd."
"It's to prevent conception."
"I can see how it would do that. It irritates your lining." Darcy blushed a bit. "But it hasn't hurt your organs or fertility. It doesn't appear to bother anything but perhaps a mind chemical. You're a bit low on dopamine, Lady Darcy." She checked the guard, nodding. "As is he. Interesting but not very low, just a lower than average level." She tested the maid. "Try her to make sure." The maid squeaked.
"This is like the bridge," Jane told her. Darcy nodded, walking her over explaining what was going to happen. The young woman sighed but nodded. Darcy sent her the twenty feet to the other target and the healer tested her. Jane smiled at the healer's grin. "Did it do that to her?"
"No. No change in any bodily chemicals or even in her fertility. Though she's near her cycle so she's not at a high fertile point. I don't sense any difference at all." The young woman sighed in relief. "I would not want to see this used on a pregnant one, Lady Darcy."
"Me either. It's way too soon to try that."
"Good. That it may fuse into the uterus or some such. Heimdall, would you mind?"
"I'm not against testing this new traveling device." He stepped onto the portal target and Darcy reached down to send him to the other plate. "That's a weird feeling. It's like I ...squiggled and then undid that. Interesting." He checked himself and let the healer do so. He checked his sword as well, nodding it was fine. "Very interesting, Lady Darcy." She beamed at him. "When do you present this?"
"Probably in six months. I might ask Jane if I can borrow a bodyguard?" she asked her.
"I don't see a problem with that. People are going to scream that you got teleportation to work." Heimdall looked at her then sighed. "Yeah, it's like that or the transporters on Star Trek I guess."
"I have seen that show. It was most amusing that humanity would become that peaceful and optimistic." He looked at Darcy. "Our people would also probably like to see thus presented."
"Do you guys have science conferences?"
"I do not know." He looked at Jane, who shook her head.
"We'd have to make one for the various scientists to brag at. Plus do the testing up there first to make sure nothing in the air up there bothered the system." She canted her weight off to the side. Thor and a fussy Eric appeared. "What's wrong? Not liking Daddy time, Eric?" He struggled so Thor put him down to pout on the ground while she and Darcy talked about how to do the safety testing on a new plane or planet.
No one but Fenrir knew that Eric was now crawling. He was staring at the baby, shifting to get in his way. The baby cooed and petted him, ignored by everyone. He saw the shiny thing and crawled onto it, petting the buttons, because buttons were pretty things. He squealed as he disappeared, it appearing a second later on the other plate. Fenrir trotted over to sniff him and glared at the healer, who was moving to test him.
Jane took him to hold. "Son, you're not supposed to test science on yourself," she said dryly, staring at him. "It's not a good idea."
"He took no harm," the healer admitted. "It was nice his squealing reappeared too."
"Let me shut down the system," Darcy said, going to unhook the parts. "I've had a problem with the coding when I fully shut down the computer."
"We can figure that out. We're women in science, we can do anything," Jane quipped. "Because men think we can't." Darcy nodded at that. She looked at her son. "Was it fun?" He beamed and patted her then wiggled so she put him back down once the plates were in the bag again. He pouted but Fenrir nudged him with his nose so they wandered off together. Fenrir had spotted a few smaller birds so they could hunt those. Thor watched, looking confused as Fenrir leapt up to capture his prey, bringing it to Eric to look at. Then he showed him how to eat it, dropping some for the baby to chew on too with a hopeful look.
"He's too young for meat," Jane said, following them over there. Too late, her son had his first taste of bird. "Fenrir, most humans cook their meat, dear." She hugged the wolf. "You're a magnificent hunter and some day you'll teach him the best way to do all that. He should be able to walk first though." Fenrir stared at her. "I know but he's too little for more than milk and mushy stuff. Please wait until he can walk?" The wolf being rolled his eyes but nodded and settled in to clean the boy's messy face up for him. He had drooled out some of the blood. The healer was squeaking so she brought the baby back to let her test him.
"He seems fine. Thank thee for feeding him, Fenrir." The wolf being smiled and took the baby back to crawl off with him again. She looked at Jane. "He's a very good uncle."
"He is. And he's one of the few ways I can stop Eric from throwing a fit at times."
"He's very cuddly too," Darcy agreed. "And he runs warm so you never need a blanket when he's curled up next to you."
The healer blinked at her. "He sleeps with you?"
"Sometimes. Usually across the bottom of the bed. It's a bit cramped so most of the time he sleeps on the couch. I leave on a fan and the tv for him to the news station or MTV classic."
The healer blinked a few times but nodded. "Very odd, Lady Darcy. He has not shown...manly urges?"
"No. Not in the least. He hasn't even interrupted me in the bathroom like most lesser beings would."
"That's very sweet of him," she said, sounding amused yet awed.
Thor was following his son and the being many said was his nephew by his brother. He had no idea but he had never seen Loki pregnant either. He wouldn't ask, that would be rude.
The healer considered things then decided her mind was in a bad spot in public so shoved it away until later while the queen and her near-sister talked about her design work and all the issues she'd had to fix. Heimdall was looking amused but he got to see much that was strange in all the worlds.
"Son, you're too young to want to fish yet or swim," Thor said, looking at Fenrir, who pouted back. He sighed and took off his boots to wade out with them so the baby could play in water. He did love his baths. Fenrir apparently didn't mind being wet today so it was fun for his son to splash them both and play in the water with the rocks and such. The healer came to sit nearby in case something happened like the baby tried to eat a rock or he fell into the water or something.
Heimdall was asking Darcy and Jane about the new devices and something Darcy was working on in the barn so they got to look at that with the patient guard following along. The maid went to help the poor prince, who had no idea what to with a squealing baby.
***
Darcy looked at the upcoming conferences. The one she had thought to apply to speak at was going to be a problem. She hadn't realized where it was being held. And it was too late to back out. "Why is it in Italy?" she complained. "That's way too close to him and other SHIELD people." She pouted. She could hold off. Or she could suck it up and be protective. Sally was going to be there in her actual identity. The boys would be there. She did want to catch up with them.
Bill had sounded upset with his mother's ideas again. She considered it and how to hire bodyguards. Not that she had the money to do that right now. Her yearly funds were getting low. The trust she had set up for herself from that lawsuit were getting low too. Well...maybe someone would want to buy the plate system to work on. At the very last, the airlines were not going to be happy about it being around so they'd try to shut her up or down or try to buy it to hide it.
She looked up the University of Camerino to see where in the country it was. Middle part, closer to the eastern side, a few hours from San Marino but inward. She looked up the expected temperatures and realized it wouldn't be sweltering hot at least. She'd look crappy while speaking if she was sweating that much. She made her trip plans, wincing at how expensive it was. Even with it being a few months ahead it was a huge expense. Plus the checked bag fees probably. And taxes. She considered shipping things but she hated that UPS never found her present house.
***
Darcy walked around the campus, looking up at the buildings. She smiled at the man staring at her. "The students who go here must be very happy with how pretty it is," she told him when he walked over.
"It is very beautiful. They went to some trouble to make it so. Unlike so many office buildings." His english was accented, and he was clearly Italian by the way the vowels sounded. He looked like an average white guy to her, which meant he was probably some sort of agent.
She nodded. "Working or studying in those sort of buildings can suck all the life out of you so you get depressed and leave the field." She looked at a statue, going over to read who it was to.
"Are you in for the conference?" he asked.
"I am. I'm speaking actually." She smiled, strolling off to look at the other buildings. Her hotel was a bit away from the campus, because it was cheaper and the conference hotel was full. She grinned at him since he continued to follow her. "Are you going to tell me about the buildings?"
"I can. Where did you attend?"
"Culver mostly. In the US."
"Hmm. I've heard of that school. Don't they have weird things there like that being?"
"The Hulk? Someone messed with Bruce's experiment. Then someone military redid it to get that sort of power underneath them. Fortunately that one's getting some help."
"You act like you met him?"
"I have met him. When I was an intern under Dr. Foster she worked at Stark's labs for a bit over a year. He was a very nice guy. Very chill, very calm, liked teas." She shrugged but grinned. "Everyone has an internal ogre. His just has an outlet and is green."
"I had not thought about that." He spotted someone staring at her. "You're perhaps married?"
She looked then put on her sunglasses. "Exboyfriend and SHIELD formerly. Pain in my ass." He nodded, taking her arm to walk her off to show her around the campus. "So, which department are you with?" she asked with a smile.
"I'm in the history track."
She paused him to smile. "I've seen plenty of agents," she said quietly. "So who're you with and are you here specifically to look at me?"
He laughed. "You're paranoid."
"Yes I am because there's actually people out to get me. Including that ex. So who're you with, dear?"
He stared at her. "Interior Ministry. Who're you again?"
"Dr. Darcy Lewis. Former intern of Dr. Jane Foster." She grinned. He winced but nodded. "Are you here for me?"
"No. Just saw a pretty, lost girl."
She grinned. "Then let's get me unlost. I need to see more pretty things. I haven't seen pretty Italian things since we were on Lipari."
"That's a beautiful island." He glanced at the exboyfriend as he walked her off. "He does not seem pleased.
"He's not. And I don't care." She shrugged but grinned. "Personally I think I'm just a fantasy of his, to the point in his life when things were normal and usual for him," she said loudly. She looked at her escort again, winking. "SHIELD is many weird things all wrapped up in blankets of confinement."
"Hmm. I've heard it called worse."
"Yes but I only swear at them to their face. Not usually about them." He laughed and nodded, walking her off. The boyfriend was huffy but oh well. He could report in after he escorted her back to her hotel and watch what she was presenting. Her name was there but the title of her presentation was a set of coordinates for some reason. He wasn't sure why. Then again he wasn't a scientist.
He looked her up and found out that many hated her former boss for rebuilding the Rainbow Bridge and they thought this one was just as screwy but capable. And they hated that about her apparently. And his boss told him SHIELD was looking for her to confiscate her to force her to work for them so yes, she was paranoid for a reason.
***
Darcy looked over as her hotel room suite's window opened, staring at the man there. "I'm pretty sure my new taser will work on you, Brock. So why are you here?"
"Is that what you think?"
"Yeah. I think you're remember the past as some idyllic 'things were normal' and I think that you're wanting to go back there. Before the HYDRA reveal and the building falling on you. When you were just a SHIELD agent. Am I wrong?
"Yes!" He huffed, sitting on the windowsill. "That's not why I liked you, Lewis." She stared at him. "You were kind and nice and innocent back then." She snorted. "You were."
"I wasn't. You thought I was. I had already run into SHIELD a few times by then in case you forgot. I was well aware of how thug your people were."
"I..." He paused then adjusted his hair that was being blown by the breeze. "It's never been about that. I'd like you back in my life."
She nodded. "You were going to hand me to people to torture, Brock. Would you forgive that?"
"No," he admitted. Then he huffed. "But I gotta try, right?"
She shrugged. "I guess. But don't screw me up this weekend. What I'm presenting is super weird and very dangerous if it's tampered with." He shivered. "And could get more people to want to kill me or steal me to work for them."
"Great," he muttered. "Your *date* earlier?"
"I asked him who he was with since I figured he was an agent. He was too intentionally bland. He said Interior Ministry."
"He is." He grimaced. "I could play bodyguard."
She stared at him, shaking her head. "No. I don't trust you. Sally and the boys are all at another hotel. You can watch over them if you want, make sure Sally gets home again with them. Because she helped with a lot of this work too."
"I guess. I'd rather guard you." He looked her over. "You're skinny again."
"I've gained five pounds. Your eyesight is gone." She laid down. "Have a better night."
"Fine. I'll stalk you around tomorrow. SHIELD isn't here right now."
"Yet."
"Is it that big?"
She grinned and nodded. "Yeah, it is." He shivered, going back out the window to finish his descent to the ground. She got up to close and lock the window just in case he came back.
***
Darcy met up with the boys and Sally right before she was going to go on. "You guys got credit too." She hugged each of them. "The patent office in the Hague was most pleased. Riri, I put your full name but called you Sally in the paper."
"That's fine, Darcy. It is my middle name." She grinned at the boys then at her. "How's Jane?"
"Pretty good. The baby's good too. We've had some auntie time with Fenrir helping too."
The guys blinked at her. "Mythological wolf being?"
"Yeah! He's a sweetie. Loves little Eric a lot." They just nodded. She spotted someone and winked at them, squealing as she ran over to hug him.
"Oh, Darcy! It's you! I was worried about a fan experience," Dr. Erik Selvig complained. He looked her over, nodding. "You're dressed too seriously. So you've found something."
"I have. And Jane liked it." She pulled him back over. "These were my interns before SHIELD became dangerous again. These are Riri, Jamie, and Bill. Guys, this is Dr. Erik Selvig." They smiled and shook his hands. "Have you gotten baby pictures of your namesake?"
"I haven't." He grinned. That was the usual Darcy he remembered. She got to show all them the baby pictures she had. Including one of him hiding inside Fenrir's chest floof. Riri grinned at that one. The boys sighed. He grinned at her. "I'm glad this hasn't been wearing on you, Darcy."
"It has. But right now I'm working somewhere pretty safe. And I'm about to probably piss off some other geeks." She winked with a grin. "Coming to my talk?"
"I am. Is Jane here this weekend?"
"Nope. Thor's got some official thing. Jane had to complain she couldn't leave little Eric at home because she didn't trust the maids not to kill him. They've tried a few times." He winced but nodded. "Surprisingly, it was Loki who guarded her and him when she was in labor."
"That is shocking," he said, frowning. "Seriously?" She nodded. "Hmm."
"Well, kids are chaos sources," Riri said dryly.
"True," Erik agreed happily. "Which is why I don't have any." He checked his watch. "We should go sit, guys. Darcy, we'll see you afterwards?"
"Okay. I plan to reappear in the hallway." She pointed. "There."
He nodded. "Okay." The kids followed him. They were nice to talk to, very smart, a bit smartassed, and very good in their fields. Darcy had chosen well with them.
Darcy checked the plates and the computer, readjusting that one value again. She ran the checking program she had written and found one more change that she studied for a second before changing it. Then she started the system when they announced her. She smiled at the person watching over the one plate. "Don't let it be moved please?" He nodded slowly. She stepped onto it and hit the blue button with the toe of her shoe. She appeared on the stage. "Hi, people."
A few shouted. She waved a hand. "I know, but what better way to show it off?" She smiled, moving to go over the formula. A few were looking huffy. "I have patented it so others can look it over. Because I have found flaws. The computer program will eat a few values anytime the computer's turned off. We have a wobble if we add three plates to the system but not two or four. I haven't tested beyond four. We've tested it up to twenty miles recently. We do know that there's a slight lag for any hundred pounds over three hundred. We asked Heimdall to test it and it took him an extra two-point-five seconds." She grinned. "But I'll accept questions."
"Is that like the bridge?" one demanded, standing up.
"Nope. Hers is a direct transmission. Mine's a more folded wifi application."
"What?"
She put up the basics of the formula. "I started here." She pointed. Then she put up the other one. "That's the basics of Jane's bridge." He came up to look and frowned at her. "I know, the math isn't *elegant*. It's my weak spot. Sorry. I did great with it and let my interns help me when I lost all thoughts for a week thanks to the flu."
"I want to test this."
"That's fine. I have it hooked up to a nine-volt battery right now because the hotel didn't want us to use any excessive electricity. Let me change the battery out." She did that, checking the other plate in the hall, leaving the door open. She checked the program. "Hmm, someone's hacked me." She smiled. "Give me a second, sir." She fixed that problem. "Riri, can I have you come up and reenter those values?"
"Of course, Dr. Lewis. Always happy to help one of my mentors." She trotted up to fix the place the hacker had been trying to ruin. "Hmm. Two lines of code." Darcy looked and fixed it. Then she held up a hand, tried her purse. It worked. A new battery again in each plate and she waved a hand. Riri got out of the way.
"Hit the blue button," she said with a point.
He looked and hit it, squeaking as he appeared in the hallway. He stomped back in. "It takes a single battery?"
"Two. There's presently a nine-volt running the processor and one running the targeting part." She grinned. "The hotel said to not use too much electricity so I made it work at the lower level. At the longer distances you will need more power. Still cheaper and less polluting than a jet plane though."
He stared at her. "You're dangerous, young lady."
She grinned. "Only when I have to be." She winked and moved around. "So, people. Any other questions?" They all started to ask them and she answered.
Riri got one or two from a corner full of business people. She smiled at the one trying to get her to work for him. "Sorry, now that I'm not an intern I work in the Stark labs. Tony was my idol." That one moaned. She grinned.
"Is your name really Sally?" one of the other business people asked.
"I'm Riri Sally Williams." She grinned. "But I did love interning under Darcy. She's a great mentor." She noticed the probable agents were all stiff. "You look like you have a question, sir," she told the one who had been escorting Darcy around. She had seen them so she picked him.
"Can this be used to go other places?"
"Target to target," Darcy quipped with a grin. "And only target to target."
He nodded slowly. "So some day airports will have rooms of these plates?"
"Probably. Or at least we hope so. So much faster to fly across the world. My last one took over half a day."
Riri looked at her. "Only half a day?"
"No but I'm being generic there." That got a nod. She understood why Darcy was still paranoid and she had caught sight of Rumlow in the crowd. Darcy smiled at the next one. "Okay, we're about out of time. Two more questions?"
One of the business people stood up. "Are you associated with a lab right now, Dr. Lewis?"
"No. I'm presently not. I wouldn't mind it sometimes but I've had too many run-ins with people who didn't have their lab people's best interests at heart and people breaking in to steal things from the lab. Including one that sold it and created a problem I ended up helping fix because those agents didn't show back up for days."
He winced but nodded. "There's all sorts of labs available."
"And I'm looking at them," she assured him. "I just need to make sure I'm safe first. Thank you for reminding me." He sat down, nodding at that. She looked at the other one. "Go ahead, Dr. Chambers."
"Dr. Lewis," he said dryly. "Has Foster seen that?"
"Yes. She helped me test it at the five and twenty mile ranges. Actually, her son tested it before she did. He was crawling and we didn't realize it until his squealing disappeared for a second then reappeared on the other tile." She grinned. "That was when Heimdall tested it as well for us and we had a healer down to look over any side effects."
He nodded once. "Are there?"
"She said the men who tested it lost some of their sperm for the day. But it'd be replaced within hours like usual." He nodded once at that. "She noted two of us testing it had lower dopamine levels but it didn't appear to be changed in others so we might just have been low. Fenrir tested it and took no harm, or the guinea pig I got Jane's son that tested it for safety reasons. After many rocks of varying sizes and less animate things that were natural." She clapped her hands. "The guinea pig is safely being petted by her son and Fenrir is putting up with such a small bit of prey near his favorite nephew."
"Fenrir, the one from mythology?"
"Yeah." She nodded with a grin. "He's such a sweetie and very protective of Jane's son." She grinned. "He's huge and he's overly warm most of the time when he's curled up next to you but he's a sweet guy who just happens to be furry." Dr. Chambers, who had taught both Jane and Bruce Banner at Culver, looked confused. She smiled back. "Anything else, Dr. Chambers?"
"No, Dr. Lewis. You do your alma matter proud I guess." She beamed and nodded. "Foster and Selvig too I guess." He stared at her. "Are you hoping for others to update it?"
"I figured someone would. That's how science goes from what I've seen. Someone finds something great, we look it over, try to disprove it, find a way to make it easier and stuff, then we talk about it at conferences like this one." She waved a hand. "Don't we?"
"Yes, that is how it goes. Patented?" She nodded. "In the US?"
"Hague. I'm not in the US at the moment. I've submitted the forms anyway but that might be a slight problem."
He sighed. "What about the implications for airlines?"
"Some people will always prefer to fly, Dr. Chambers. I understand that. I totally get that desire. I like trains for that same reason." She grinned again. "But that doesn't mean we can't make traveling a less painful, intrusive experience."
"Is that how you're getting back to wherever?"
"No. I've got a flight starting overnight tomorrow night." He slumped but nodded once, sitting back down. "Thank you for coming to my talk, people. Please also applaud my three interns, Riri Sally Williams, Jamie," she said, waving a hand at him. "And Bill. They were magnificent interns while I was pulling my hair out." They smiled and nodded. "I really do need to mail them cookies soon." She picked up the plate, Riri got the computer, and they left to grab the other plate then go hide in her hotel room. Thankfully it was a mile away so away from all the bitching that was going to go on soon.
The agent looked at his phone, which he had been using to video call his boss once he saw how she appeared. His boss stared at him for a moment. "I'll guard her?" he asked quietly.
"Please. Where is she going?"
"No clue."
"Find out."
"If I can." He hung up and went to track those four. He recognized Riri by sight, if not by name. She was the heir to Ironman. The other two were nice seeming boys. "No wonder SHIELD tried to snatch her," he muttered as he walked. "They are thugs!"
Rumlow was back in a corner, shocked as hell. "They're going to come back so hard," he muttered, shaking his head. "Damn it, Darcy." He noticed the agent leaving and decided to follow him. The guy paused to stare at him in a small sidewalk open area. "Sto cercando di proteggerla, (I'm trying to protect her,)" he said in Italian.
"Ha detto che sei lo SHIELD e ora capisco perché è paranoica. Andare a casa. (She said you're SHIELD and I realize now why she's paranoid. Go home.)" He walked off again.
"Neanche voi ragazzi potete averla. (You guys can't have her either.)"
"Non è il mio dipartimento. Se ci vediamo più tardi, ti farò arrestare per la sua sicurezza. (Not my department. If I see you later, I'll have you arrested for her safety.)" He found the hotel and went up to check on her and her interns. They were talking quietly at least. No screaming, crying, ranting or anything. That spoke well of Darcy's pleasant nature. He knocked and one of the males opened the door. "I'm here to guard her," he said in English.
"He's okay, Bill. He's Italian Interior Ministry. He won't kidnap me," Darcy said. She grinned. "So, what did you think?"
"You should stay more paranoid," he said bluntly, walking in. "We will make sure you get to the airport safely, Darcy."
"I'm taking a commuter to Rome then flying out from there."
"I know you said not the US. May I know?"
"Southern Asia."
"Oh, all right." He nodded. "That is a long trip." She nodded. "We can arrange that." He took the tickets from her purse since they were sticking up, wincing at the fare. "That's expensive and we can make sure an agent is watching all those flights and the transfers. Including in Hong Kong." He handed it back. "Fifty-four hours of flight? I'd use the plates."
"You can't get stamped back into the country."
"True." He stared at her. "I ran off your ex."
"Thank you, Gawd!" Riri complained. Darcy smirked at her. "He's creepy, Darcy. He's all but stalking you."
"I know and I swore about this conference being so close to where he's retired. I was hoping it was the one in Russia. Shows me I have to pay more attention when I fill out forms." She looked at her escort. "We should be fine."
"We hope," he agreed with a smile. "I'm going to have coffee at the little café right outside the door. If you need something, yell?"
She nodded. "I often do after I tase someone."
"Good." He patted her on the cheek. "We'll keep you safe so you can run and hide from the scary ex and his people." He went back down there to have something to soothe his stomach. He sent his boss a message, getting back orders. He pointed out she had tickets leaving that night. It was going to be safe enough for a few hours. She had a slight five hour layover in Rome so they'd have to watch her there and pay attention to those flights. Maybe someone wanted to go on vacation to the islands?
Darcy looked at the kids, shrugging. "He was a really nice tour guide and ran Brock off." They grinned at her. "So, how's things going, guys?" She settled on the bed to talk to them again. She really did need to keep in touch with them and send them more cookies.
***
Riri walked back in Monday afternoon, staring at the people in Pepper's office. "We need to talk about the conference, bosslady." A few of the assistants glared at her.
"We can hear the report about it in a few minutes," she said with a smile for her but she looked exhausted. "Did you have fun and catch up with Darcy?"
"Yes, minutes before SHIELD did." Pepper winced but nodded. "Because she had something *huge*. She went nearly Tony-like to announce it." Pepper shooed out the others so Riri showed her the film she had taken on her phone.
"Oh, dear," Pepper said. She rewatched it then sighed and looked at her husband's protégé. "Is she safe?"
"By herself? With Fenrir sometimes admittedly. The Italians were guarding her before she left. One ran into her staring at the pretty campus and walked her around. Ran off Rumlow once or twice. SHIELD showed up as she was at the airport to get the commuter flight to Rome. Interior Ministry guy was very polite as he had them held indefinitely for invading Italy." Pepper winced. "Rumlow's still trying to stalk her. The Italians nicely escorted her out of the country and paid attention to the flights. I finally got an 'I'm home' from her because it was two days and a bit to get home with layovers."
"Ow. That's a stupidly long flight." She leaned back in her chair. "If it was safer, we'd bring her here but SHIELD is still hanging around."
Riri nodded. "Can we find a way to hide her better?"
"I'll figure out something if I can. Fenrir? Hela's pet?"
"Yeah, only he's sentient and cuddly and really loves Jane's son. Darcy told this great story how Fenrir was teaching him to hunt by catching things to feed him some." Pepper winced. "Jane was amused and told him to wait until the baby was walking. Dr. Selvig was in horrified shock at her presentation. And how she appeared. She had a plate in the hall and used it to appear. Very Tony-like. I had to fix the hacking going on at that time too."
"Any idea who?"
"SHIELD. It was someone in their labs. I noted the ISP and looked it up." She handed that over with a grin. "Someone there wanted to hire her to work in their lab but he's in Russia from what little I found when I took his picture to look him up. Jamie's scared that they'll come after him now because he worked with her. His wife told him to quit before she paddled him in the un-fun way. Her words not mine." Pepper smiled slightly. "They're going to try again."
"They are annoyingly persistent," she agreed. "Damn it. Any other good things happen?" Riri handed over two papers with a grin. She scanned them. "Oh! Yes, we'd probably like to have them here with us." She looked up. "Where is Darcy?"
"Newsies."
Pepper grinned at that code. "At least it's probably safe and Italy probably asked them about her protection."
"But will they be able to stop SHIELD?"
"That I don't know." She considered it. "I'm going to ask Barton. He's so retired no one will pay attention if we go visit his farm." Riri grinned and nodded, handing her the microSD card from her phone. "Thank you."
"Welcome. Have fun." She went down to the lab, Bill meeting her down there. "Jamie get home okay?"
"Yes, and his boss wanted to talk to him about Darcy but he had to admit she was hiding from agents because they were trying to force her to work for them. His boss agreed their lab wasn't the sort she'd need at least but he did note that to others so they could watch out for her being kidnaped."
"It's possible." She sat down. "Pepper was highly amused at her pulling a Tony to start her presentation."
"So was I. She was only here a year. She must've gotten it contagiously."
She laughed, nodding. "Somehow many picked that up from him, yes." They got back to their daily start of the work day duties.
***
Pepper got out of the rental SUV at the farm in Iowa, staring at the old lady she didn't know. "Isn't Clint here?" she asked.
"He's in the barn, Miss Potts. Why're you here?"
"Catching up with him. He has sanity, unlike our labs. Thank you." She hugged the kid that ran into her. "Hi, Nathan."
"Hi, Pepper!" He ran off. "Mommy, Pepper's here!" he bellowed.
She smiled and waved at Laura. "Looking for sanity. Again."
"Go ahead. He knows how insane it can get, Pepper. This is my mother."
"Ma'am," she said with a nod and a smile. "Have fun with the grandchildren. I'm looking forward to Morgan having some eventually. They have to be easier than your own kids." The old woman laughed but nodded. She walked that way, Clint staring at her when she came in. "Nathan is a great guard."
"All kids his age yell loudly at new things." He smirked. "Just sanity?"
"Mostly." He nodded once. "I wanted your opinion too." She sat on the stool by his work table. Then she put down letters. "From the ones there that wanted to send one but were chicken. Including one from Wanda." He grinned, settling in to read them. He found the small card in one and put it in his pocket for now. "I needed an opinion on how to guard Darcy. And maybe sink Rumlow."
"He's back?" he demanded. "He retired after getting pardoned."
"Longer story than that." She pulled up a report from Riri to let him read it. He winced but nodded. Then he ran the card in his phone, blinking a few times at what he saw. "How do we protect her?"
"Move her somewhere absolutely no one knows it's her." He looked up. "And make sure she's shielded from internet and things. They might still try though."
"Maria Hill stated she did not add that one line to the order but it is handwritten in her handwriting."
"That can be copied. Hers is very precise." Pepper nodded. "We think?"
"Hill hasn't ever liked her. I don't know. I know the little one there is paranoid."
"Where is she right now? Around here?" She shook her head, flipping through that report to the picture on the bottom of a map. Then she removed that file. "That's not a bad area. Not a lot of people so she'd notice new ones if she was in town. Which I doubt she is."
"No, Riri said a rental farm."
"Which makes good sense." He considered it. "That's more Tasha's thing than mine, Pepper."
"I know but she still has tighter ties. I'm not sure if I can trust her with this."
"True. She does work for her own interests usually. Though I doubt she'd give Darce up."
"No. Probably not, but would others beg to have that information?"
"Yes, they will be." He considered it. "Can we get her somewhere more quiet?"
"We don't have a lab that has that sort of protocol. If we still had Tony maybe but we don't."
He nodded at that. "This is one time I wish he was here too. He'd outflash her to protect her." He considered it again. "She needs to be in a safe, solo mostly place where no one can find her. Including Foster."
"She's taken in Fenrir a few times and watched the baby for Jane."
He nodded. "Will their people freak out?"
"Maybe. She did talk about Heimdall testing it."
He licked his lips. "Let me think?"
"Of course. I'm going to go get some sanity from Laura. The labs are driving me nuts." She got up. "Let me know?"
"I can do that later." She nodded, going back to the house while he read the rest of those letters. One had been left to him by Stark's will and he read it over, grinning at the playful asshole moments Stark had noted and how he had done something to protect his family. That left one worry, and she was a cute worry but still a worry.
He hoped none of his kids ever went into science. Being an archer was as weird as he wanted his kids. No spandex, no science! And hopefully no Asgardians!
***
Darcy got offered a chance to possibly sell her plate system and thought about it. She was running low on funds and it wasn't the main part of her research really. It was just a side project that had turned out great. She considered it then wrote to the Interior Ministry guy that had helped her last time. He had asked nicely that he tell her if she was going to be back in Italy.
He wrote back almost immediately that he would make sure she made it to the meeting at least. Though he did worry about that meeting. Darcy made the flight reservations and answered the email about the meeting, setting up an appointment for the day she'd be there. Long trip to be there for a day then turn around and come back. But maybe she'd have a better trust fund after this.
***
She was doing a bit of stress relief shopping in a little market in Rome when she ran into someone she didn't really want to see again. She walked around her rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses but went to look at the pretty scarf she had spotted. Why was Brock's mother in Rome? Shouldn't she be nearer to him if she was in Italy?
She greeted the stallkeeper quietly in Spanish, getting an odd look. "Sorry, don't speak Italian," she muttered in English. "How much?" She fingered the scarf. The shopkeeper smiled and named a price. Darcy considered it then bought it. "Thank you." She walked on, going to find something for lunch. Behind her, she heard the bitch whine.
"Oh, it's *you*," she heard. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "What? Too good for me now? You never were good enough, Lewis."
Darcy turned to look at her. "That's DR Lewis and you're just a bitch that doesn't matter. Have a great day. I'm busy." She walked off again, making a few of the watching women smile at that. The woman stomped after her to grab her but Darcy pulled her arm free, glaring at the elder Rumlow woman. "What do you want? Because I don't have time for this petty, childish shit you're trying." She walked around her. "Say your peace that I'll ignore again."
"You were never good enough for my son," she sneered.
"I'm too good for your son. *I* would never raise a kid who could pretend to be HYDRA well enough to fit in for years." She shot her a look. "Guess that's your fault, huh?" She walked off again, finding something cute. She picked it up to look at. "Can I pay for this over there?" she asked quietly with a point. That got a nod and she bought it, then walked off again. She ran into the Interior Ministry guy. "The ex's mother," she told him. He huffed. "Yeah, not my doing. I have no idea why she's here." She grimaced, holding up the trinket box. "Isn't that pretty?"
"Very. Come along, Dr. Lewis."
"Sorry, I was stress shopping. I just passed my international bar exam the other day." She grinned. "I deserved a new scarf."
"Those are hard. Congratulations."
"I bet you're just his mistress," Mrs. Rumlow called.
"No. Not in the least. He's not into me that way."
He looked at her. "You're very pretty but very paranoid."
"I am. For a good reason." They went into the hotel and she went up to the meeting room. "Sorry, I was buying a new scarf to celebrate passing my International Bars." She smiled and shook hands. "So what are we here to talk about, gentlemen?"
"Dr. Lewis, you have created something that is very world changing," he said.
"Yes. I have. I'm proud I managed it. It was just a side project for me really."
"We did not see a patent for it yet?" he asked.
"Oh, I've filed one at the Hague. I'm not in the US so I filed remotely there and it takes about four months to get through, if not six." She considered it. "I filed in England and Germany's specifically, and one in New Zealand." She handed over the paperwork from those. Most of them had been accepted already.
"You're very careful about that."
"I am. There's a lot of industrial espionage and theft within the scientific community. I've seen plenty when I was an intern and people stole from Dr. Foster. I've only had two things stolen from my own lab and both of those were by SHIELD. Which I then had to struggle to end myself because SHIELD was chronically late."
They looked at the forms. "We would like to hide this for a few more years."
"People need to know that the future is possible. Other scientists need to work on things and make things faster, safer, and better. Like what happened with planes and cars. There'll probably always been a need for planes and cars but maybe not the global need we have now with the pollution they can bring."
"That could be a bright future but someone could figure out how to not use the targets."
She nodded. "Someone probably will because that side of science is very lucrative. People doing the wrong thing always pay highly." She stared at the one speaking. "Being realistic it's probably going to be at least a decade before we're using them in a limited way, the way the Concords started out."
"You're old enough to remember that?"
She smiled. "Barely but I did a report on it once in middle school."
"Oh." He nodded. "That had a promising start as well. I can see the comparison between these two systems." She nodded. "We would like them to be hidden for a bit longer than that."
"Change always happens. Looking ahead means that you're right there to take advantage of it." He nodded at that. She accepted the papers back, putting them into their folder. That went into her bag. She looked at them again. "I'm not against selling the plans to industrial groups instead of scientists working from my original work in journals. But I'm not giving up my full rights to it. I have to fund my work somehow."
"You could hire on in a lab."
She nodded. "I could. I have in the past. Unfortunately that comes with the problems of people trying to steal my work. And agents at times and other things that I didn't like before. I'm paranoid because there's people out to get me. Including SHIELD and a few other labs trying to force me to work for them. So I'd rather be in my own lab for a bit longer."
"That's reasonable." He stared at her. "Many are disquieted by your discovery."
She shrugged. "A lot of them hate me because I'm female. If I had been a standard white guy from Germany or France or England no one would've said a thing. That's been proven a few times."
"That could be," he decided. "We would like to buy the rights and plans for your system. The full thing."
"I'm not into selling my rights for it. That would hamper my own work on later versions. I'm not selling the patents. I'll sell the entire work folder but I'm not going to hamper myself or other scientists. This could have great implications for space travel and the ISS's needs. It could have a lot of implications to getting to emergencies faster. Like the tsunami that happened in Japan a decade ago. We could've gotten rescuers and doctors there a lot faster if they didn't have to use the airport. I won't cripple that. I'll sell plans, I'll sell access to the side work I did on it. I'm not going to just hand it over to be hidden."
"Others could use it to try to discredit you."
She smiled. "Sir, that's happened at every single thing I've done because I'm a female and I interned under Dr. Jane Foster while she was building the Einstein-Rosen bridge." He winced. "I've seen all this happen before. And we worked through it then too. If it happens this time, I'll sue someone again. Just like the last time someone tried that." She smiled. "I'm a thirty-something white woman from the US with a PhD and a JD after my name. I know the meaning of the word lawyer."
He cleared his throat. "That is better than most scientists have."
She grinned. "I got bored while studying something else and took a law term class. Then it became my stress relief. I just passed the International law exam last week."
He nodded. "That is very well done, it's said to be quite hard. Harder than the one in the US."
"It is and I've passed that one already." She grinned. "It's easier to take the international after the US or English one." He nodded once. "But I'm willing to let some industrial group have access. They can hire their own scientists to make it better, faster, safer, all that. That way they're on the cutting edge."
"That is a good idea." He looked at the others, who showed no emotion. "We'd like to think about that."
"That's fine. I'm staying in this hotel until I leave tomorrow afternoon." She smiled and packed up her bag, taking it with her. "Have a good talk." She went up to her room, looking at her guard. "They want all the rights to hide it."
He nodded. "It figures. Car peoples did the same thing to anything not their standard engines." She nodded at that. "Are you well?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Why?"
"You look flushed."
She checked her own fever with her wrist. "It could be traveling."
"I hope so. It would look bad if you got poisoned here."
She nodded. "I'd hope not. I had that as a nightmare." She got into her room and smiled as she closed the door gently, going to shower and lay down for a bit. She had been careful not to touch anything that could be poisoned. She was wearing a skin coating lotion that would keep it out. So hopefully there wasn't something in that room.
***
Brock broke into her room that night, staring at her. "You insulted my mother."
Darcy moaned, flipping over to look at him. "She started the shit, I just gave it back. I have no idea why she was there but oh well. She shouldn't flap her gums if she doesn't want others to hear it." He rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to sleep off the cold I caught on the flight over. Do you mind?"
"You sure that's what it is?"
"Pretty sure. Unless this is my nightmare where Asgard's out of time, I have Fenrir and the baby to watch over, and the guys I was meeting with poisoned all of us to get us to quit making science. Which led to us getting back with Stark and them fixing the temporal problem Asgard had."
He blinked a few times. "Very detailed nightmare, princess."
"I know." She grimaced. "I'm hoping I'm not suddenly prophetic." She yawned. "Have a great night and quit staring."
"You really think she raised me that wrong?"
"Do you have an oscar? Because even the best actor, even Olivier himself, could not pretend to be HYDRA non-stop for over eight years without having to break cover sometimes. So either you leaned slightly at least or you're a better actor than any one ever." She stared at him through squinted eyes so he was only mildly blurry. "Which is it?"
"I... I broke cover; I just had to do it in private."
"Uh-huh." She blinked a few more times. "Do you really believe that?"
He huffed again. "Yes!"
"Well, then maybe it's still her fault that you're a great actor. Can I sleep now please?"
"Fine." He snuck back out. The Interior Ministry guys got him on his way out, walking him off. "La stavo controllando! (I was checking on her!)"
"Sono sicuro che lo eri, (I'm sure you were,)" the Interior Ministry agent agreed. "Hai ancora fatto irruzione in un hotel. Nemmeno gli agenti possono farlo legalmente. (You still broke into a hotel. Even agents can't do that legally.)"
"La lascerò in pace. (I'll leave her alone.)"
"Sì lo farai. Prima di doverti cacciare dal paese, Agente Rumlow. (Yes you will. Before we have to kick you out of the country, Agent Rumlow.)"
"Sono in pensione in Corsica. (I'm retired to Corsica.)"
"Il che significa che sei in arresto perché non sei con nessuna agenzia attualmente riconosciuta. (Which means you're under arrest since you're not with any currently recognized agency.)" The agent grinned at him. "Buono a sapersi. Grazie! (Good to know. Thank you!)"
The other agents watching over that perky one shook their heads. They had seen other obsessed former lovers doing odd things. This one clearly needed a bit of help somehow. Probably his mother as well.
***
Darcy walked into the meeting room then backed out to sneeze in the hallway. "Sorry, apparently I caught a cold from the flight up here." She came back in using some hand sanitizer." She sat down, staring at them. "So, did you make a decision?"
"We think it's dangerous. Probably a security problem as well. I'm sure various governments would be wanting that technology to disappear, Dr. Lewis," he said smugly.
"Yeah, they've been trying to stop me since I worked for Dr. Foster and kept her sane and alive as an intern. It won't work, but they do try." He gave her a smug look. "That's fine then. You have a great day." She got up and walked out. Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a closet, putting a hand over her mouth. She looked then jabbed them in the eye, making them shout and let her go. She walked out, looking at the agent watching that. She shrugged. "Grabbed me. I poked him. I'm happy I have my taser on me though."
He blinked a few times then nodded, going to check who that was. He got them arrested and sent off while he went to help that perky young doctor of science. They got her evacuated to the airport a bit early but it was safer there. There was security there who would watch over her just in case. They could talk to other airports to get her the same watching over on all her layovers.
They might not understand why, he barely did, but people were sometimes idiot about scientists. He asked his boss later about why they wanted her so he showed him the film from the conference. He went to pray in church that night. He had survived weird scientists who had proved their weird ideas. His mother would be proud.
***
Darcy made it back to the new rental. It wasn't quite as remote as the farm was, but it was pretty remote and anyone getting near there would set off her new security system. She had designed it using some commercially made parts and some other things she had written the code for. She managed to collapse while sneezing and it was nicer. Her alarm went off once and she looked then sighed and went to meet the local minister at the door. She blinked at him. "I'm sick," she said as he got out. "I was just flying halfway around the world."
"You poor thing. Do you want to talk about our church? We can pray for you."
She smiled. "No thank you, Reverend. I'm pretty good without the prayers. I'm hoping it's not one of my grody colds."
"That's sweet, dear. Are you here by yourself?"
"I have a security system that tapes everything and downloads it once a day to a secure server." He winced. She smiled. "Thank you for coming out here but I'm not really interested in churches at this moment. Have a good day. I need to go take cold medicine." She walked back inside and shut the door gently, leaning against it. He was looking inside the windows but none of them looked her way.
She did set off a shock plate she had installed by the door when he tried the knob. He yelped, making her smile. He drove off again so that was nice. "I can ask the sheriff tomorrow," she muttered. She went to the kitchen to get some water, her chosen cold meds, and then went back to the couch to watch some tv over her internet connection. She heard the car coming back and put up the anti-tire strip. It popped the tires on his car.
He got out swearing but was hiking up to the house. She called the local sheriff. "Hi, I'm Dr. Lewis, I just rented the farm on the east side of town. I'm getting a visit from someone wearing a reverend's collar for the second time today. I just set off my security system to pop his tires. No, not older. Middle aged, white, brown hair with very little white or gray hairs. Blue eyes.
"That figures, but he's here right now, stomping up toward the house. He's about half a mile out. Yeah, I can disable the anti-driving strips. Please." She hung up and went to check the doors and windows, then find her taser. Someone tried to jimmy a window so she zapped him, making him scream and flail as he hit the ground.
"Dude, I have the word no tattooed on my forehead," she said dryly. "I don't care who you are really. And if you're an agent, fuck off." The man stared up at her. She grinned. "Did you think I was helpless?" He nodded. "I'm not. I haven't been in many years. Don't make me call for more help." She saw the cop car slowly moving that way and waved. "Hey, Officer." The guy got up and Darcy got him again, making him scream but reach for her. She got out of the way, staring at him. "No."
"Miss," the officer called from his car.
"Come get this guy before I have to really hurt him."
"Of course. Is that a gun? We have some pretty strict gun laws."
"Taser. I have an older note from the FBI authorizing me to carry it."
"Okay. We don't mind those. They're not fatal." He came over to pull the other man out of the way. "Who're you? The local reverend is sixty if he's not seventy and he's barely able to walk. So who are you?"
"Don't know," Darcy admitted, relaxing some. The officer pulled a weapon on her. The tines of her tazer were still in the first guy. "Huh. Cute. You an agent too?" He smirked and nodded. "Which country so I know who to sue?"
"It won't make it, love."
"Oh, you're Brits. Yeah, we ran into you after Elves invaded London." She stared at him. "You might want to look up my name before you do anything else. They have a file on me too." He called that in. The other guy, probably also an agent, struggled. "Shut up, dude, before I set it off again! Making me paranoid is a really bad idea." That one shrank away from whoever was behind her. She looked, nodding at Heimdall. She turned to hug him. "Hey, Heimdall."
"Princess Darcy, are you having troubles?"
"Apparently the guys I wouldn't let me screw over for the plate system decided to hire some agents to kidnap me. Probably to kill me." He scowled. "And I'm not into that sort of playing." She turned her head to sneeze. "Sorry, long flights."
"It was." He stared at them. "She is the acknowledged sister of Thor. She is a princess of Asgard. Do you really wish this diplomatic incident?" The 'reverend' shook his head quickly.
The British agent hung up and looked at her. "You were Foster's intern."
"And now I'm a doctor myself and a lawyer." She grinned. "But yes I was."
He nodded. "We'd like to talk about that system."
"I think you overplayed your hand by trying to kidnap me. I'm really not into that." She stared at him. "I thought SHIELD was bad, dude." He winced at that. "Hell no and I'm going publically release that thing so *everyone* can have one for all of this shit I've had for the last few days. Am I clear?" He nodded, backing away and taking the other guy.
"Please, take him with you. Take his crappy rental car. Just...go. Before I work on the death ray." He laughed. "Seriously, my work is for alarms and weapons against the next alien showing up here. Do you think I don't have one started?" He winced but nodded, walking off with the other guy. "And if there's others, bring them home too? The only ones I trust right now are from Italy's Interior Ministry."
"Understood. Where is Dr. Foster?"
"Queen Jane is with her husband I hope."
"Is that going to happen again?"
"Every two thousand years the convergence happens naturally. That wasn't science, that was astrological. We just watched it in awe."
"All right. Do you really have a death ray?" She grinned and nodded. "Will it take out single people?"
"No, it's got a wide spray because it's meant to go against space ships." He swallowed, taking off with the other guy. They could have a talk in town. She looked up at Heimdall. "Thank you for saving me." She gave him another hug.
"It is not a problem, Lady Darcy. We would all hate for you to go evil for real." He gave her the cuddle she wanted, letting her stress cry on his shoulder. It was good for her. She wore herself out so he put her down on the couch, covering her with the blanket on the back. He went back to his post to report to Thor and Jane. She was not going to be happy.
***
The agents decided to share notes about what was going on. The British one pulled out their file on Darcy and her former boss. The German one pulled up what they had been told.
"The ones who sent me talked of SHIELD," the German agent said.
The British one asked that question to his team and they found it, sending it over. That file was very sparse but there was a warning that they had made her paranoid by wanting her to work for them. A copy of that order was included. "She's paranoid for a good reason." They went over things. His team found out *why* she was wanted and they watched the film from the conference. "Oh, dear."
The German agent nodded. "This is not going to make anyone happy." They talked to their people, and the Italian people. The German's team called someone one of them knew to get them a contact, who came on to swear at them in multiple languages. They shared their file on her. And her stalking ex-boyfriend. Their communication gear, down to their phones, all got shut down.
The locals showed up, smirking at them. "Howdy," one said with a grin. "Why are you bothering someone taking refuge in our great country of Greece?"
The German agent waved a hand. "Someone important asked us to pick her up. She came up with an idea that is actually very far fetched but she managed it."
"They're fully peeved," the British agent agreed. "Another group, same sort of one though, asked us to come pick her up." He showed them the film from the conference. The Greek agents winced. "She's not willing to be shut up. SHIELD is hunting her because her ex was one and they want her to work for them. She told us she's working on a death ray because she's been working on things in case aliens show up again." The Greek boys all groaned. "We saw what had to be an Asgardian. Huge guy, gold armor, scary as fuck. She called him Heimdall."
"The Bridge's guardian," the German agent put in. He leaned on the table. "He told us she's the acknowledged sister of Thor so a princess on Asgard." He looked at them. "This is not the assignment I want to die on. And her tazer is quite mean."
The Brit one nodded. "I started to pull a weapon but that Heimdall guy showed up."
"All right," they agreed. "What's that from?" He pointed at the phone.
"Conference in Camerino few months back. The Italians said she had met with an airline group that wanted to buy her invention to shut her up."
The Greeks shared a look then two of the trio went to talk to her. They could watch over her until she woke up.
"My rental is in her driveway. She had a spike strip," the German said.
"I came in as an officer so she let me through." More files came in from Italy so they looked them over, sharing them around. The Greeks were highly amused. They hadn't known anything about a high profile target. The orders from SHIELD were grimaced at. The German growled at the full plot file that they got from Italy's SHIELD office.
The British agent called his team back. "We're a no-go, we were lied to, blokes. Tell the head boys that and we'll be back to report tomorrow late. Flight time basically." He hung up, looking at the Greek agents. "We'll make note of this so she's protected if she shows up around us again. Where has she been hiding?"
"Her paperwork for her Visa said she had been working in New Zealand on the South Island on some rental farm. Very far from people." The Greek agent looked at the German one, who was shaking his head. "And yours?"
"I will note this. It is not right that we work for corporations instead of the government." He stood up, wincing some. "She is quite mean with her tazer."
"Her SHIELD files list a warning about her using that on agents," the Brit quipped. "Including former Director Fury."
The German spit. "May he roast." He looked at the Greeks. "May I go home?"
"Yes you may. Thank you for that kind offer." They left, gathering their people on the way to the airport. The Greeks took the files they had back to their head people, who were highly amused in the worst possible way. New Zealand had been watching over her subtly and shared what they had.
Yes, she had a death ray.
Multiple agents wished that Tony Stark was still around to fight off Dr. Lewis when she went evil because they had pushed her there.
Maybe they would talk to that ex, see if she had a better former lover who would calm her down more. It really would be stress relieving for the agents if she was less paranoid.
***
Brock Rumlow looked up from his trek back from his gym via the grocery store, when someone walked up next to him. Nice enough clothes, sunglasses. "SHIELD agents usually wear dark suits with white shirts."
"Yes, we have seen them looking like Mormons." The agent stared at him. "May we speak?"
"I guess. Let me check out." He did that and they walked off. "HYDRA problems?"
"No. They have one lab but we simply blew it up," the Greek agent said. He handed over copies of those files and the 'capture for us' requests. Brock snorted at what he saw, getting into something on the agent's phone to pull up a better file on her. He read it, grimacing. "Is there one who can calm her down so she is less paranoid so we quit wishing that Tony Stark was still alive to protect us from her going too paranoid and turning to the dark side?"
Brock stared at him. "Darcy would hate herself forever if she hurt people."
"She gave the German agent heart palpitations with her tazer."
"She does like to use that toy." He went back to reading, grimacing. "Stark's protégé, Williams, was her intern." He looked at him. "Can you keep people from bothering her for a bit? She'll naturally calm down. She's usually one of those happy, bouncy young women that you have to smile at because she's got so much energy bopping along to her music. Unless my mother is trying to sneer at her again."
He handed the file back. "If we could get SHIELD to give up, it'd be safer and she'd calm down once she heard. The airline guys? They're gonna try to end her to stop her from destroying their profits. Car companies did the same thing to energy saving and alternative energy people."
"I heard. Is there perhaps an ex who could have a fling with her for now?"
"She briefly dated someone that worked with her and Foster. They broke up after a week. She had a few girls in there, some boyfriends in there, but nothing steady. We were together thanks to SHIELD forcing her on a mission and HYDRA trying to grab her to control Foster. She hates me because I'm the first person she stabbed. That mission got her tortured." He stared at him. "I've flirted a few times when I was trying to protect her. She turned me down and downright insulted me. And my mother when she accidentally ran into her in a market in Rome."
"I see. Are there better choices who would know more?"
"Foster maybe. She's somewhere on one of the other eight realms being Queen Jane Odinson and raising the prince to the realm."
"So no hope of speaking to her?"
"You can ask their embassy if they can. Last time I heard gossip from their area of the worlds, she had taken Thor's hammer to a few people who thought she was weak. Some had tried to poison her kid. Darcy went to Hela to get the shade of Frigga back. Real lots of fun from what I heard."
"I can try that. Is there any known way to calm her down?"
"I fed her into a nap a few times? She does like food. I know she's probably worn herself out. She apparently recently passed some international lawyer test." The agent winced but nodded. "Foster would probably feed her chocolate and let her cuddle the baby or something. I know she talked about petting Fenrir a few times. He's a huge dog thing."
"That could help as well. Is she settled enough to handle living on little money?"
"She's living on a trust she set up for herself after winning a settlement against some geek that tried to discredit her. She's nice, sweet, gentle, all smiles and weird scarves and beanies, until you fuck with her. SHIELD did the ultimate version back then and kept it up. She's probably gonna snap. I'd hate to be in a SHIELD office but she is suing them as well for all the hell they've put into her life."
"Could she win that?"
"If the judge doesn't keep letting it drag on," he offered. "But Maria Hill's gonna look bad so she's had it stalled."
"We'll talk to someone about that. Did you know she was building anti-alien weapons?"
"Her, weapons?"
"Yes, the agents in New Zealand said she did have that death ray she quipped about."
"She was in New Zealand?"
"Yes, on the South Island."
"No wonder her flight was so long to the conference." He considered it. "Deal with SHIELD for her. Make sure no one comes near her for a bit unless they're friendly locals. She's a nice lady, very sweet girl. Little old village ladies love her. Especially since she bakes. But get SHIELD off her ass, keep the airline people off her ass. Which countries?"
"UK and German agents."
He snorted. "UK agents came near her after that elf thing? They vowed to never come near Foster or her again. And Selvig too." He considered it. "Treat her like she's just stressed. Make her have some fun, protect her backside. She's lone wolfing a team job because people would threaten her interns."
"I can see that. Thank you, Mr. Rumlow. Have a good day." He walked off making notes to report on. Could they get SHIELD off her? Perhaps. He could only hope so. And perhaps her former intern would like to talk to her as well? Any heir of Tony Stark had to be a hero in the making at least.
***
Riri looked at the official letter that had been delivered to the lab, frowning at it. "What is that?" She opened the envelope, reading the stuff. "Wow, Darcy," she sighed. Bill's head popped up. She waved the letter, letting him read it and laugh. "They're still going and now that last thing got her the wrong sort of attention."
"Tell Pepper?" Bill suggested.
She nodded. "Going to tell Pepper." She got up and took the letter with her up to the office. Pepper's secretary glared at her so she stared back. "Have a great day, dear." She walked around her to get into the office after a quick knock. Pepper looked up, looking upset. "You want a laugh?"
"Please. It's been a long week." Riri handed over the letter, making Pepper read it, looking confused. "A death ray?"
"She's been working on anti-alien protections for anyone non-Asgardian."
"So a death ray?"
"Could be. She's been paranoid and mostly alone." They shared a look. "Can we make SHIELD stop?"
"If I could, I would've already done it. Darcy deserves some beach time fling. Especially in the Mediterranean. Why is she in Greece?"
"People kept wanting her to fly to Italy."
"That makes sense."
"She also thinks she made the Italian Interior Ministry people pouty about the extra work she caused."
"I doubt they are." She considered it. "I want to buy the rights to the plate thing."
"She's said she's not giving up the patent rights or anything like that but she will sell the plates to some corporate entity for them to become cutting edge tech."
"Which Stark labs are known for," Pepper decided. "It could go into her trust fund so she's not feeling panicked about money too." She frowned. "Does she have a lawyer?"
"She is a lawyer now. Contract law." She grinned. Pepper moaned. "Yes, really." She walked off. "Let me know when you're going over so I can ride along?"
"Of course. And Bill too if he wants to go so you guys can catch up with the other one."
"His wife has him locked down because they screwed up on the birth control."
"That poor woman. It's always nicer when you plan that." She checked her schedule. She had no free afternoons, much less few days. She had to work that out.
***
Darcy looked up from sitting on her porch with a notebook of ideas and some coffee, blinking at the SUV rolling slowly up the driveway. It hadn't set off her security system so something had happened. She started to shift but a familiar arm came out a window to wave. "Did you cut my security system?" she called as Riri got out of the SUV, and Bill quit driving, then Pepper Potts got out of the back. "Hey, guys." She came over to get hugs.
"The Greek agents have control of most of it," Riri said. "They met us at the airport to see why we were coming in with plans to come bug you, bosslady." She looked at her. "You're skinny."
"I just had an airline cold." She hugged Bill again, getting a grin back. "How's your mother?"
"Don't know, I haven't spoken to her in over a week thanks to her plans to marry me off to some illiterate child again." He grinned at her. "The Greek agent asked me nicely if I was your boyfriend so I could calm you down."
"You're like my little brother, Bill. Doubt it'll happen without AIM's sex poison stuff." She hugged Pepper. "Hey, Pepper. What's up?"
"Death ray?" she demanded.
"Anti-alien attack and remote viewing things? Why yes, I am." She smirked. "That's what I'm actually working on. The plate was meant to be a side project to get extra stuff up there to fight them."
Pepper sighed, shaking her head. "Tony would be so amused, Darcy."
"I know. C'mon in, it's hot out here." She let them into the house, going to make more coffee. "I've got a pods system, Pepper. Want something?"
"I'm good, Darcy." The kids made their own and settled around the living room area. "I've decided to side-swipe all the problems the airlines are giving you by buying the plate system for Stark Industries. We are cutting edge and would need to work on anti-alien things ourselves really." She stared at her.
"I'm not selling the patent rights. The work, yes. Including all the little side projects on it. I'm not outright selling my rights. I might need it to live off of some day." She came back with her fresh cup of coffee. "They can't really stop it from going forward. It's been printed in a journal or two."
Riri took a drink as she nodded. "And they've gotten hell for it. Did you get the request to put out more information on it?"
"I did. I've sent in a better portfolio on the mechanics." She got up to get that paper from her desk of stuff, bringing it back. "That's the extra I submitted. That answered all but one demand."
They went over it, Pepper smiling. "That's not bad. Still somewhat hidden but not totally. It proves you didn't build it on the bridge too." She looked up. "It hints at using a monitor?"
Darcy got up to get that full file. "That's the full file on that. I pulled it together in case the airline's offer was legit." She handed it over. "The monitor isn't anything spectacular. I did plan to integrate it into the early warning sensor system I'm still working on." She let Riri have that one with a grin. "Which your name is going on, yes."
"Thank you." She read it over, nodding. "You improved that a lot, boss." She looked up. "Over half of my work is gone now."
"Not likely. It's more hidden. You had the engineering chops I needed to create that thing to go on a satellite."
"True." She grinned. "I'm so modest but it is mostly your work and my case design stuff." She went back to it, letting Bill see. "Did you take his not-a-transistor thing?"
"It won't work in this. In the monitoring orbital platform it does work a lot better." She got that whole box of stuff to bring back. "It's actually the brake on the system, the failsafe to keep it from firing at the planet." She grinned at Bill. "You and Jamie got full credit for that."
"Thank you." He looked that over, nodding. "That's the intent. I was going to try to market that."
"Go for it," Darcy agreed with a nod. "I'm putting your name on that anyway."
He grinned. "Jamie must be pleased."
"I sent him a letter. His wife's paranoid. Her boss wanted Jamie to talk to me about coming to a lab he knew about. They may be switching soon."
Pepper smiled. "We can talk to them since we're over here."
Riri grinned. "Jamie and his wife would work great in the satellite division, Pepper. That's really more his field of study." She took the stuff from Bill to look over, moaning. "Oh, that's sweet, Darcy! You created that Tower thingy from that comic book."
"Well, we'll need it to monitor the satellite feeds and to respond to threats. The International Space Station is science and engineering, not 'look, aliens are invading' capable." She sipped her coffee, getting comfortable. Pepper looked at something then handed it to Darcy, who looked then tucked that behind her.
"Sorry, Pepper. That was actually a sleep deprivation project. It was that or bake science." Bill looked at her. "Various power sources that would super power a vibrator to cure Jane's grumpiness." He laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, that project Jamie found and told me that wasn't right for atomic power sources."
Pepper looked at her. "They used to be steam driven."
"Yeah. And this one has a tiny little atomic engine." She showed it to her. "Jamie thought his fiancee at the time could really use that help too so he worked on that part while he was frustrated with the wedding plans."
Pepper snickered, nodding. "I can see why." She handed it back." She looked over the rest. "This is a lot of work that's connected." She looked at her. "When are you presenting this part?"
"When I'm less in danger probably. But that would be corporate pitching instead of conference bragging stuff. I've got patents filed for a lot of it." She heard a car and looked out there, wincing at who got out of that car. "Great. Kids, don't get in the way of the ex. She's deadly and the director of SHIELD." She walked out there, staring at her. "Hey, Melinda."
She stopped far enough away to be out of range of the taser but also unable to grab her. "Darcy." She sighed. "I've fired Maria Hill."
"Great. I'm still suing her and SHIELD."
"I'm here to talk settlement. It's clear to everyone it's a bad idea to make you paranoid. Death ray?"
Darcy grinned. "I've been working on alien sensing capabilities and defense projects."
"You should get a DARPA grant to help pay for it."
"I had one."
"I didn't see that. They didn't admit it." She nodded. "May I?"
"Pepper Potts is here."
"She'll smack me around if I do more than kiss her on the cheek, Darcy. I can fight a whole HYDRA base and not win against Pepper." She nodded, rolling her eyes but letting her inside. "Morning."
"Director May," Pepper said with a nod. "Have you met Riri Williams and her assistant Bill ...."
He waved a hand. "It's Indian, Director May. Call me Haps. Everyone does."
Riri looked over at him. "I call you snuggly because you keep falling asleep on my shoulder. I'm requisitioning us a cot for the lab."
"I took a lot of naps on Fenrir," Darcy quipped. "He's very comfy." Bill blinked at her, staring oddly. She grinned. "He is!"
"I'm sure he is." He nodded. "The pictures of him and the baby showed him to be enormous."
Darcy showed Pepper those. "Jane's son Eric and his favorite snuggly uncle."
"Awww." She smiled, flipping through them. "That's so sweet!" She laughed at the picture of Eric covered by the chest floof, except one foot sticking out. "Wow. He is huge."
"He is but he's sweet. And very warm when he's napping next to you. I watched Eric for a few days while Jane and Thor worked on stuff because he thought dads didn't do much. So Eric curled between us on the bed. Fenrir's great to nap next to though."
Riri stared at her. "You need a beach fling, bosslady. The Italians were right."
"Yeah but I think that's trashy and from romance novels I don't read. Go ahead and sit, Melinda. Pepper's talking about buying the plate system from me. With full credit given to my intern team."
Melinda looked at her. "Good. It'll hopefully keep you safer. Three top German people and one British agent all got to retire quietly by force for taking corporate money to snatch you." She blinked a few times. "Italian Ministry?" she asked Riri. "Why?"
"At the conference in Camarino, Darcy ran into someone Interior Ministry and he guarded her from Rumlow," Riri said. "Then he helped her get out of there before they snatched her for showing off like she caught some Stark cooties." Bill snorted into his cup, nearly choking from laughing. Pepper was grinning but shaking her head.
"When I went back to talk to the airline people, they guarded me then too," Darcy said. "I think they ran into Brock a few times though. He's retired to Corsica."
Melinda May looked at her. "You're pining for him?"
"No and I still think he's focused on me because I'm one of the last pieces of a normal life as an agent he had. Hill sent him to the lab in DC to guard us to that one conference. He showed up when we were in Lipari to warn us SHIELD and others were coming so guarded us. And got me out of there while knocked out thanks to turbulence on the ferry. I snuck away then to go to New Zealand."
Melinda May nodded. "We didn't track you to New Zealand. We saw French countryside and Albania."
"Airline miles," she said with a grin. "Rented a house for a month but I was never there. Loki did say he spotted them and decided to have some fun. They were hunting Darcy bunnies according to him." She sipped her coffee.
Melinda May stared at her. "The German agent that tried to snatch you thought you may be going evil. His last report, on that situation, stated that they were hoping that someone became the next Tony Stark to defeat you."
Darcy grinned. "I'm not that evil. I'd only take out greater evils. So certain terrorist groups would probably be gone but most of humanity would be okay. And Bill's idea with Jamie would keep me from using any of the anti-alien stuff I've been working on toward the planet."
"The Italians wanted her to have a beach fling but she's against that," Riri told her.
"That's because most of them have been agents," Melinda said dryly. "Though fun." She smirked at her former short-term lover, who grinned back. Darcy showed her the pictures of Eric and Fenrir. "He is a very large canine being." She smiled. "Would his former mistress like that?"
"I showed her those when I went to get Frigga's spirit to nag her son. She was amused but said he had been such a fearsome warrior. I pointed out he still was, just over Eric."
"Did you talk to Hela?" Pepper asked, looking concerned.
"When she showed up on Asgard, yeah. We had a long talk over some wine about things. Including feeling threatened for being female and about how I understood the urge to destroy because it was all tainted and making you worse. I even kissed her but Loki snatched her from me and threw her off the bridge."
Pepper blinked a few times. "Wow, Darcy."
Darcy shrugged. "I feel for Hela. Her daddy used her, turned her into a killing machine like Barnes was made into, and hurt her greatly. Then he threw her away because he couldn't control what he created." She stared at her. "It wasn't her fault."
"No, it wasn't her fault. I didn't know about that." She made a note to herself. "Go over Melinda's offer while I see what we can offer for most of this."
"A lot of that is ongoing, Pepper. Especially the orbital platform and the monitor. It's being a pain in the butt this week." She looked at Melinda again. "So you fired Hill. Is she still wanting me to come in to be Rogers' geek?"
"Probably but she won't and Rogers knows now too. So does Romanoff. They may come begging but they wouldn't want you forced or abused and then forced. He saw that memo and threw a fit that destroyed two rooms, across the hall from each other. He threw a table through them by accident instead of out the window."
She winced. "That's nice of him. So what does SHIELD want now?"
"To not have to go to court. We don't need the bad press. You don't need the paranoia. It's a win-win to solve all this, Darcy. Can we?"
"As long as it quits happening. I heard Rumlow tried to get someone to grab me to protect me the other day?"
"Rollins about chewed him a new one for it. He still thinks you're sweet and innocent?" She nodded. "You haven't been that way since you met Foster. He apparently doesn't remember you're the one that got into Coulson's face about your i-Pod."
She grinned. "That had sentimental value."
"I'm sure it did." She handed over the legal envelope. "That's our settlement offer. It's lowballed of course because of the World Security Council. They laughed about it. Even after seeing Hill's plans." She grimaced but read it over, frowning as she read. "Also, I hear congratulations are in order on getting your JD?"
"And passed the US national bar and the international. I haven't taken a state one yet," she admitted, then looked up with a grin. "I'll do that once I settle in an area. Hopefully I get to settle in an area." She went back to the paperwork. She heard a crinkle. "Don't open that. That's the anti-theft device, Pepper, not a leftover poptart."
"Good to know." She carefully put that aside. She didn't want to know what a dye pack would do. Or if it wasn't a dye pack. "That box at that conference outside DC? Where did it come from?"
"A guy named Andrew." She grinned. "I bought it off him." She went back to reading, shaking her head and picking up a pen to make a few notes on the margins. Melinda sat back and let her work on it. She made a few more notes, including critiquing the language used. Weird word choices that were ambiguous. She crossed out three things completely and added to the amount, handing it back. She smiled. "Try that."
She read the notes over, then frowned. "Ask for more, Lewis."
"I can do that."
"The three clauses you deleted, they were for your protection."
"With the way they're written it would've obligated me to give SHIELD access to my work. Or force me to work for them."
She read those over, nodding. "Two would have. The third was to stop agents from being anywhere near you."
"No, your people steal stuff again, I want them to come fix it instead of me." She stared at her. "Unlike the last few times."
"Point." She put it back into the envelope. "I'll have it drawn back up better and bring it later. I'll be at the local SHIELD office." She stared at her. "Are you okay otherwise?" she asked more quietly.
"I'm fine. Bit lonely but they'd have hurt an intern as a power move or tried to discredit them like they keep trying with me. Oh, you can tell your Dr. Bloomers I am suing him for his stupid. I hope he enjoys it."
She smiled. "I'd like to kick that old man in the ass personally. But suing hurts him in other ways." She shook her hand and left to go back to the nearest office. The World Security Council wasn't going to be *happy* but oh well. They had started the problems. She could also casually mention that Lewis needed to talk about their present orbital platform versus her ideas.
Pepper looked at her. "Is there one presently?"
"It's twenty years old," Riri said. "And it's sucky. SWORD runs it." She got up to get more coffee, coming back to sit back down. "I took some of the kit from the conference to work with me and they decided to fix the building."
"They're for electrical work, Riri. Did it hurt something?"
"Took out a few spots that were eating power. Turned on Banner's lab then shut it back down since he's not in residence. But it tuned up all the electronics in our floor." Bill nodded at that, looking up again. She looked up. "Rainbows."
Darcy looked then got up to move a few things, leaving the bridge to come down. Fenrir trotted off. "Hey, Fenrir. I was hoping you could find me again since we moved again." She pulled him over to cuddle. "Come see Riri and Bill and meet Pepper?" He barked, coming over to sniff the interns and then stare at Pepper before lapping her hand gently.
Pepper smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Fenrir. Darcy's said you're a great friend." He doggy grinned, going to curl up around Darcy. She settled on the floor to give him cuddly space and petted him while Pepper looked over things. Pepper finally put things back, staring at her. "I didn't even think you'd become that sort of scientist. I thought maybe a backup to Jane's bridge work, maybe taking it in another direction. Not creating an anti-alien system."
"No one wants another Thanos."
"True." She smiled. "That's a lot of good work. It'd work on most other aliens. Including that one if somehow he comes back." She looked at the notes she had made. "Well, my initial offer was just for the plates but I can see how they'd be integrated. Can you put this out there?"
"Yeah, I can submit it tomorrow." She grinned. "It wouldn't be published for months though. Then they'd be expecting corporate or NASA offers. The one thing under a DARPA grant is the monitor I can never get to work. It does pick up all the streams of energy but powering it is becoming a problem. I'd need to find an energy source that would work in space and on earth but isn't super dangerous. The only one I found was nuclear rods but that's not a good idea in orbit."
"No, it's not," Riri agreed. "Arc reactor power either." She considered it, looking at Bill, who shrugged. "Jamie might know better. He does like satellites."
"Solar?" Pepper guessed.
"It'd take more power to constantly monitor," Darcy said. "If it were intermittent it'd be okay but that's not going to be good enough. We have something like that but it's weaker, doesn't get as much scanning done, and it's not picking up all sources of energy. This reads the whole spectrum so people like Jane could take the readings and work on stuff and so NASA or whoever could work on any spikes. It's just the power core."
Pepper nodded. "Arc reactor won't work, Riri?"
"It needs to be self recharging or recharging on the solar available. And to be the best at it, it'd have to sit farther out, out by or past the asteroid belt."
"If I wanted to make it the size of a quinn jet, we could do that," Darcy said. "I could totally have recharging batteries and the like in it. But it needs to be tinier."
Pepper considered it. "When is the grant done with?"
"Six more months. I've shown what I've gotten done and they were happy with it, it's better than what they have. I pointed out the power problem I had and why, and they agreed it was a problem. I noted I'm still working on it but it's stuck at that point. They wanted tinier than I think it can be. I thought maybe large boulder sized but I think I undercounted." She got up to find those plans. "The various energy options and how large, how much mass it'd have."
Pepper looked it over, frowning. "We'd need the batteries to recharge the arc reactor and to power each other along with the solar." She looked at the options. The best option wasn't safe. "What about a photosynthesis system? I read something about algae power?"
"That's on the second page. It might work but you'd have to go check on it every two years to recharge the algae mother to grow from."
Pepper looked at that idea, nodding. "Have they seen this?"
"No. I've been thinking out loud." She leaned against Fenrir, petting him. "I could link the sensors to an observatory down here but that would only last for six months until they were too far out of reach to work due to different orbiting speeds." That got a nod from Bill. "So I'm trying to figure out a power source that works better. The basics of the design are sound and they agreed they were sound. And that I had more than earned that grant. I did reserve the right to keep the patent rights to that as well because I pointed out this was actually part of a much larger project. They drooled a bit but I didn't tease anything else."
"What needs that sort of energy?" Pepper asked. "If we put it on the ISS for nearer readings would that keep it powered?"
"Yes. Most likely it would. They might have to adjust some of the solar output specifically for it. But to make it to an area where it would pick up incoming alien traffic, it'd have to be further out."
"Which does make sense," Pepper agreed, nodding slightly. "Even at this level, it's going to help a lot of scientists in your field and others get the data they need. I need to talk to the DARPA people about that." She made a note on her notes. She smiled. "You've done a lot." Darcy grinned. "You deserve cookie making time. Let me leave the kids here for the day while I go back to call around to our board?"
"Okay. I didn't have any plans for the next two days."
"I'll see you by tomorrow morning. Behave, kids." She got up and hurried out to talk to their people. This was fantastic. This was Stark's level of tech and it was needed. She wasn't going to let her people lowball Darcy either.
Riri smiled at her. "Is it baking science time?"
"Yeah, we can do that." She got up to start on some dog treats for Fenrir and then human cookies for them. Bill and Riri came in to help. Fenrir padded in to lay just out of the way since they were doing food things and he did like food. Especially the cookies Darcy made for him.
***
Pepper met up with Melinda May, who was blatantly waiting on her. "What's our orbital platform look like?"
"SWORD's domain. Why?"
"The thing Darcy's working on is the whole system."
She considered that then called that in to her new assistant director, who talked to SWORD, who got back to conference call them in an hour with what they had about it. Pepper compared and showed them the basics of what Darcy had built up. "The only problem she's having is the power for the monitor for the long distance ones." They considered the ideas.
The head of SWORD, stared at her. "Miss Potts, who designed this and did they have access to ours?"
"I have no idea what sort of access Dr. Lewis had."
"The one with the plates?" he asked.
"Yes. That's to aid that system. That was a side project to all of this. Because she said we'd need a lot more warning in case something like Thanos came back."
"This is definitely updated from ours but not on the same plans. And it's a bit bigger on the platform, which the occupants would like. We do need to design the next generation. A lot of her ideas aren't exactly practical but they're not fanciful. The," he cleared his throat, "weapon isn't really practical."
"It works but it's got a large spread," Pepper said. "She had testing video of a smaller version. And it has a failsafe to not be used on the planet."
He blinked a few times. "If Stark Industries could secure that, we could see our way to working through them to update it. It's my understanding that young scientist is fairly paranoid thanks to the people next to you."
"Hill wanted her to become the Avengers geek squad," Melinda agreed. "Including having to capture her if they had to. I'm just happy she didn't use it on us."
Pepper looked at her. "Darcy hates hurting people."
"Until SHIELD steps up," Melinda reminded her. "Then we're fair game because we made ourselves be targets. Which is an appropriate response to what she's had to handle thanks to our people. I fully admit SHIELD messed up with her." She looked at her counterpart, who was smiling. "Maria Hill's fault mostly."
He just nodded. "No comment, Director May." She smirked at that. "Is Stark Industries going to be working on furthering this?"
"That's one thing we were thinking, yes. I do know the monitor is under a DARPA grant."
"We saw. We agreed it's a great idea and the power problem is stymying us as well."
"She has a list of what various sources would require but she's thinking the longer distance ones as well."
"Which could be of great use to us for that very purpose, and for the scientists like Dr. Foster I'm sure." Pepper nodded. "If you do secure it, we could probably contract with Stark to build us a new platform system. Especially if it had a failsafe to make sure it wasn't used on the planet itself."
Pepper smiled. "Her male interns did that part specifically. They and Riri were her interns for a few years."
He moaned. "That's great news. We've heard rumors some were worrying she would turn into the next great evil we'd have to fight."
"Only if she's pushed there."
"Even better. Send me the details on what a contract would entail, including preliminary costs to formalize a plan for it and all that. I'll expect it within three days." He hung up.
She looked at Melinda May, who smiled. "My bosses want her to just go away. Quietly."
"With their luck she's going to find a way to open up alternate realities."
"Don't tempt her, Pepper. She might. Oh, if she's baking, she's thinking hard. If she messes up the baking, she's in a science rut." She walked off. "Let me know. SHIELD would like the plans for that failsafe so we can trip if it we have to."
"We'll see." She talked to her people and they all agreed it was a good idea. They could even put Darcy on as the project leader. She didn't have the qualifications but it was her design so she should get to continue it. They worked out a contract and she went back there. They were all napping off the various cookies.
She smiled, settling in to turn off the beeping microwave timer and checked the oven before turning it off as well. She looked around the space. It had clearly come furnished as this wasn't to Darcy's tastes, but she had put her own touches on the rental with all the bright pillows and throw blankets. Riri woke up to stare at her. "It's good, kiddo. I've got a great contract for her."
"Good. She could use it. Someone SHIELD showed up to nag her until she threw hot oil on his face." Fenrir groaned and flipped onto his side with a sigh of pleasure. "He ate a whole plate of Fenrir cookies."
"Sometimes you need 'em." She came back to wait on Darcy to wake up. Darcy would hopefully be pleased. The New York upstate facility wasn't near the ocean but it was a pretty enough area. And it'd give Fenrir a place to run and play too.
***
The guards at the upstate facility looked over as a rainbow came down. "Bridge," one announced. The guards came out to make sure it wasn't a threat. It was two PODS. And then a large canine, and a woman petting him. Then their boss, Potts, and her interns. The bridge disappeared but came back with a baby, who squealed and chased after the dog thing, making it run around looking like an extra large labrador while they played tag. Then Queen Jane appeared.
"Son, quit bothering Uncle Heimdall," she ordered. "You may not use the bridge without permission and going around him is sneaky and mean to Uncle Heimdall. You will apologize." She smiled, cooing and petting Fenrir. "I wondered if you were back with Darcy to get more Fenrir cookies." He barked and got chased by the baby again, the woman that had landed with him joining in.
"Oh, no, Eric the Fierce is going to get us, Fenrir. Whatever shall we do!" she squealed, grinning at the baby. He squealed back and chased after both of them. When he fell, he got back up and looked even more determined. "I think your daddy had that look on his face anytime he was hunting for cakes."
"Yes he does," Jane agreed then sighed. "Still." The baby caught Fenrir's tail, putting it in his mouth. "Don't eat your uncle," Jane said patiently, going to save him. She petted Fenrir before picking the baby up. "Say thank you for playing with me?" He babbled noise mostly. "Close enough. Fenrir has all speak." She looked at Pepper, who was grinning. "Sorry. He snuck past Heimdall. Twice today. At least this time he landed somewhere nicer than the dwarves, who were most amused by him." She hugged Darcy. "You're finally back here?"
"Yeah, they wanted the whole anti-alien system." She beamed.
"Wow. Yeah, that's going to be great science." She walked off with Darcy and Pepper. Lab grunts came to get the PODS to put up. "Do not unpack the boxes," Jane ordered. "She has anti-theft dye kits or something. It'll destroy everything and mean redoing all the work." They sighed but nodded. "Just put the personal stuff wherever Pepper says and the lab stuff wherever Riri says."
Riri, who had helped Darcy pack everything, got the POD for the lab taken closer to that area. Less distance to carry it. The personal items went up to her apartment in the living quarters with Darcy, Jane, Pepper, Eric, and Fenrir following it. Fenrir barked at the kitchen, looking at them. "Soon, dear. Let Darcy rest. She's tired from the trip," Jane ordered.
"He's got some leftover Fenrir cookies. Which are edible by humans but they're kinda spicy." He got them out when the kitchen stuff was unpacked, taking his plate over to let the humans deal with that clingy stuff that he hated. It got stuck to his fur and he hated that sensation. He got two cookies and settled in to nibble and rest from the playing baby. Eric tried to snatch a cookie, like his father he loved cookies, but his mom gave him one he should eat instead. He was happy enough with that, it was still a cookie. Darcy put those back into the kitchen and got back to arranging things.
Over in Corsica, Rumlow, who had hacked into the security system, was amused that she had went back to Stark. It was her life's work and he got that, but he was highly amused she had given up the ocean-side villas for that. He got to be amused all the way up until Maria Hill kicked in his door. They shot at each other and he got her. She barely got him. He smirked. "Not nice, Hill. Really."
He got up to grab a few things so he could leave the safehouse for a better one. She was slowly dying in the hallway. Police showed up. "She had been SHIELD," he told them. "I'm a former agent. I'm going to an emergency fallback while they deal with their own people." He stomped off. Maybe some of his plans had gotten a bit out of his control but overall, not bad. Darcy was fairly predictable but now and then.... But he could talk to her about that later.
The End.
Sensible but Problematic.