Darcy is fucking tired of hiding out. She escaped HYDRA two months ago. SHIELD is in shambles, infiltrated by HYDRA for all of these years. The world is an unstable place. She's pretty sure they injected her with super soldier serum the first day they had her. She'd been experimented on and finally pumped up on fertility drugs. They'd taken two eggs from her and injected them with Captain America's and the Winter Soldier's super jizz. So here she is pregnant with super soldier children. When the test came back positive, Darcy began to plan her escape. She'd waited for the perfect time, letting one of the minions think she was drugged, then she makes her move and has been running ever since.
Darcy is now watching the news about the shit show in Lagos, then the Accords. It was a mess, but she wasn't expecting the Avengers to fight among themselves at all. Now somehow, Stark had fixed everything and she watched as Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes disembarked the SI jet on national tv.
The boys were back in town, the Avengers were getting back together, and she was ten weeks pregnant with twins. She'd watched the old films of Cap and the Howling Commandos in school.
Her current set up in a women's shelter wasn't the Ritz, but it was safe. She'd had enough time over the last month to look through all of the SHIELD files that Natasha Romanov had dumped over the internet, revealing SHIELD/HYDRA's dirty secrets.
When HYDRA had taken her right off the street, she didn't know why. Her only connection was Thor so she guessed that was their reasoning.
Quickly, she got up off of her bed and began to pack all of her meager belongings into her backpack, and was headed to the Avengers facility. Darcy looked in the mirror at herself and could barely recognize the person staring back.
'Jesus Lewis. You look like shit.' She said to herself in her mind.
She'd scraped together enough money to have cab fare out to the facility, and handed the cab driver a note with the address where she wanted to go. She really didn't know what to expect from the Avengers, or if they would believe her. She wouldn't believe her either.
Right after they'd injected her with the serum, they wasted no time and put her in that fucking chair, and tried to wipe her mind over and over. When HYDRA realized she was not going to be turned, they opted for plan B. To make her a baby machine for super soldier babies. She couldn't let them get her babies. They were monsters and she couldn't trust SHIELD to help her either.
The cab pulled in front of the facility. She got out and paid the driver. Two very burly men stepped toward her.
"Can we help you miss?" Big dude one asked.
She wrote what she needed on her notepad and handed it to him.
"Yes. I'm Darcy Lewis. I need to speak with Mr. Stark. It's an emergency."
Both men looked at her curiously. Internally, she is freaking the fuck out. But she holds her ground. These guys were big and reminded her of HYDRA goons. She waited while dude one talked to someone in his earpiece.
"We'll escort you up. I'll take your bag." Dude two said.
She handed over the bag, pretty sure they just wanted to make sure she's not going to assassinate Stark with it.
She entered the building where more guards stood, and now Darcy felt like she was going to have an anxiety attack. Darcy's time with HYDRA had stolen more than her voice, even though being mute was likely psychological, dealing with people was going to be a disaster for awhile.
After HYDRA's last attempt at wiping her mind, she had refused to talk to anyone. It didn't seem to bother the scientists in the least and they continued with their plans. She let those bastards think they'd broken her, but that had been far from the truth. They had underestimated her. After the IVF procedure, they'd let their guard down, and she had escaped. Darcy was sure that a lot of minions died because of their mistake that day.
Darcy rides with the two men for a few minutes, and then when the doors open She was met by Dr. Bruce Banner.
"Hello. I'm Bruce. Tony is in an Avengers meeting. How can I help you, Miss Lewis, you are Jane's assistant correct? She'd assumed that you went home to visit your grandmother." Bruce asked her.
She hands over the paper she'd written about everything. She was honest and explained it all.
Darcy watched Bruce read the paper. She could tell he was upset, trying not to Hulk out.
"Jesus Christ. They had you, HYDRA did all of this to you?" Bruce asked angrily.
Darcy nodded.
"My god. You've been in a women's shelter. I'm also guessing psychological mutism?" He asked.
Darcy nodded again.
"We can help you. You look exhausted. Come into the communal area and lie down. I'm going to inform every one of the situation." Bruce smiled slightly.
She grabbed her pack and laid down on the oversized couch. She was so exhausted.
Bruce ran to the team meeting as fast as his feet could carry him. Christ. So much for HYDRA not planning anything big recently. He burst into the meeting where Steve was currently briefing them on a mission.
"Guy's we have a serious issue here. Darcy Lewis just showed up outta nowhere. HYDRA has had her since the London incident." Bruce told them.
He watched Jane start to freak out.
"She wrote down everything and gave me permission to read it to you," Bruce told them.
"Miss Lewis was your assistant right?" Bucky asked.
Jane nodded Bruce noticed she was already bordering on hysterical. Thor was uncharacteristically quiet.
"I'm going to read this, but I want everyone to let me finish before commenting."
Bruce took a deep breath and began. It took him ten minutes to get through the letter trying not to Hulk out. When he was finished. The silence was scary. Steve and Bucky were holding hands looking appropriately devastated. Jane looked like she was going to be sick. Thor looked desperately sad. Everyone else was in shock.
"Oh Darce," Jane said and started to sob.
"I made a vow to protect my lightening sister. I have failed her." Thor said.
"I hate to be the douchebag, yet again, but how do we know this isn't some HYDRA trap," Tony said carefully.
"Fuck you Stark. Darcy would never betray me, Thor, or the Avengers. Ever." Jane said lowly.
"Take care how you speak friend Tony," Thor warned.
"Ok, ok. I was just throwing it out there." Tony said.
"Where is she, Bruce?" Jane asked jumping to her feet.
"I left her in the communal area to rest. Just a warning Jane, she looks exhausted, underweight, and she's not speaking. The trauma has rendered her mute." Bruce explained.
Jane sobbed harder. "Get Dr. Cho, Bruce. You and Helen are the only ones I trust." She said, trying to get herself together.
Bruce had already text Helen before he entered the conference room.
Darcy slept twenty or so minutes before her reoccurring nightmare woke her in a cold sweat. She sat up quickly, getting her bearings. She was safe at the Avengers facility.
That same goddamned, fucking nightmare. HYDRA finding her, cutting the babies out, taking them away, and then letting her bleed to death. Insomnia, depression, anxiety, and a shitload of PTSD. She was a mess, but Bruce had said they'd help her. She hadn't even told them about the attempted mind wipes. She was afraid it might trigger Bucky and he didn't deserve that at all. She put her head in her hands, trying to calm herself. Hearing footsteps she looked up to see Jane rushing toward her.
Darcy was stunned. She hadn't expected to live to see Jane again. Jane grabbed her and hugged her tight. She'd forgotten what good human contact felt like. Tears rolled down her cheeks but no sound escaped.
"Jesus Darcy. I swear they'll pay for this. Any decision you make I'm with you." Jane told her.
Jane thought she wouldn't want to keep the babies, but she was wrong. She was keeping them, and they were gonna be happy, just to spite fucking HYDRA. Darcy grabbed her pen and paper.
"I'm keeping them. They didn't do anything. They're Steve and Bucky's babies too." Darcy wrote quickly.
"Ok Darce. Whatever you want." Jane told her.
Darcy looked over Jane's shoulder and saw Thor, Steve, and Bucky moving closer. She stared at them, then looked at her hands.
"Oh Lady Darcy, what have they done to you my lightening sister? I swear on my place as King of Asgard, that I will burn HYDRA to the ground." Thor promised her.
"Get in line pal," Bucky growled.
Darcy looked up at them. Steve, Bucky, and Thor looked ready to murder, death, kill, some people.
"Bruce and Helen Cho want to examine you in medical. I trust them Darce. I won't leave your side." Jane told her. She nodded and got up slowly, grabbing her back.
"Can I carry that for you sweetheart?" Steve asked her.
Darcy narrowed her eyes. She stepped forward, handed him the back, and stepped back. She then let Jane and Thor take her to medical, with Steve and Bucky close behind.
She entered medical seeing Bruce, and a woman, she assumed, was Helen Cho, smiling at her.
"We're gonna take good care of you Darcy. Please call me Helen."
Bruce watched as Thor, and the two super-soldiers went to the waiting area. Jane stayed right by her side. Darcy was writing on her pad and handed it to him. He thought it couldn't possibly get much worse for her than this, but he was wrong. He handed Jane the pad, and went out to talk to the three men waiting outside the doors.
"Lady Darcy will keep the babes. She has a big heart and will not let HYDRA win. She will also keep them because they are yours." Thor explained to the two men.
"Christ," Steve mumbled.
Bucky hung his head. He knew that Darcy was way too good to do this for them, but he wouldn't take that decision away from her and neither would Stevie.
"That is our Darcy. Always caring for others over herself." Thor added.
Just then Bruce came out of medical to speak with them.
"Well, guys. It's worse than I thought if that's even possible. HYDRA tried to wipe her, a lot. When she wouldn't turn, they started with the fertility aspect of their plan." Bruce told them.
Bucky just stared into space.
"She didn't tell us right away because she was worried about Cap and Barnes' reactions. Namely triggering Bucky." Bruce explained. "This woman is one of a kind, Jane. "
Just then Helen rushed out of the room.
"I'm not sure what triggered it but she's in the corner having an episode of some kind," Helen told them. The five of them rushed back into the room. Finding Jane trying to talk a shaking Darcy, who had curled up into a ball, in the corner. She couldn't stop shaking. When she came to a bit Jane was there, comforting her.
"It's ok Darcy. Helen needs to do an exam, but I'll stay with you. I promise." Jane said. She nodded to the men, who silently left again.
Darcy nodded, and let Jane lead her to the exam table. Helen took blood, then her vitals, and did a quick internal exam of her lady bits. Of all the things HYDRA did to her, rape hadn't been one of them, but the forced IVF had been a horrible violation, with not so horrible consequences.
She watched as Helen set up the sonogram machine and she motioned for Jane to give her the pad and pen.
"Steve and Bucky should be here for this." She wrote and handed to Jane.
"Are you sure Darce?" Jane asked.
Darcy rolled her eyes at her friend.
"Okay, okay. Geez." Jane smiled.
Withing a minute Steve and Bucky shuffled in quietly.
"You sure about this doll?" Bucky asked her.
She nodded at them both. They were the fathers of her babies, no matter how it happened. Darcy wouldn't leave them out of this, because it wasn't their fault, just as much as it wasn't hers or the babies fault.
"Now I'm able to do an amnio early in the pregnancy. I have designed this test to be virtually risk-free. We'll be able to tell everything about the babies." Helen explained.
Darcy gave a thumbs up. She laid still and watched Helen squirt the cold jelly on her abdomen. She took even breaths as she remembered HYDRA doing the same thing to her. She grasped Jane's hand firmly and kept telling herself that she was safe and that Helen was helping her and the babies.
"Alright, well here they are. Perfect growth, fraternal twins. You are ten weeks pregnant Darcy. Now I'm going to take the samples to do the testing. We'll have all of the information in about six weeks" Helen told them all.
Darcy looked at Steve and Bucky. They looked shaken, but in awe of the blobs on the sonogram screen. Darcy laid still. It was over quickly, and Helen had printed pictures for the three of them.
"Now, you are extremely underweight, and I'm betting anemic. The super serum has sped up your metabolism like Steve and Bucky here. The babies are also just like the three of you. You need to put on weight, and I'm putting on you vitamins with extra iron. I'm also increasing your calories, so eat whatever you can handle." Helen told her.
Darcy nodded, knowing this was new territory for the doctors and everyone else too.
"I'm really tired. Is there somewhere I can sleep please?" Darcy wrote on her pad of paper.
"Of course. We'll take you up. You'll be across from us." Steve said. "Jane and Thor are down the hall from you."
Darcy watched Steve and Bucky's expressions and they seemed ok with the setup. She didn't want to make them uncomfortable or but into their relationship and screw it up. She followed Thor, Bruce, Jane, Steve, and Bucky to the elevator.
"Welcome Miss Darcy. I am Friday sir's AI." The computer informed her.
Darcy loved Tony. The fact that he had an AI that could talk to you anywhere, was awesome.
"Tony said he would have a Starkphone and StarkPad with real-time texting ready for you in the morning. That way you can communicate directly with any of us, including Friday." Bruce explained.
She gave him a thumbs up and smiled a little.
"Hey Tony takes care of his people, and you're one of his people now Darce," Jane explained.
Finally, they made it to their floor.
"Well if you need anything doll, we're right across the hall. You need to get some sleep." Bucky said.
Darcy can't disagree. She walked into the apartment and somehow Tony had already sent for clothes and things for her.
"Ok, well, we'll leave you to it then," Bruce said.
Janey hugged her and told her that if she needed anything to come down the hall. Everyone left, and she walked around the apartment. It has two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living area, dining, and walk-in closets. She walked into the huge bathroom. Definitely a step or two up from the shelter, she thinks. Darcy stripped off her clothes and started the hot shower. It had been awhile since she had her own bathroom.
Instead of going to their rooms, Bruce calls a team meeting in the communal area for and update on Darcy.
"Ok guys. We can't pressure Darcy to talk or tell us about her time with HYDRA. If she feels threatened it puts her and the babies at risk. It can also set her back on her recovery." Bruce told them. "We can expect more episodes like earlier in medical. With more time we can learn what triggers them. She has massive PTSD, so everyone tread lightly for awhile please."
"I'm impressed that she resisted their mind wipes," Tony said.
"Darcy can be a stubborn bitch, that doesn't like to be forced to do anything she doesn't want to. They probably pissed her off first thing, and she resisted them." Jane said simply.
"I would not cross my lightening sister when she is angry. It is very scary. Darcy's assistant, Ian, made unwanted advances toward her, and she used her tasing device on his nether region. I am uncertain whether he will be able to father children." Thor told them.
All of the men in the room including Bruce flinched at the thought of a taser to the balls.
"My guess is that HYDRA caught her unaware and drugged her," Jane added.
"Where is this assistant Ian?" Bucky asked.
"I suppose he's still in London. After Thor and I went to Asgard, Darcy was supposed to go visit her Grammy. Ian was still recovering." Jane said.
Bruce watched Steve and Bucky give each other a serious look. Damn. That look was never a good one.
Steve knew what Bucky was getting at. Ian had sold Darcy out as revenge for turning him down and tasing his worthless ass. Or worse Ian had been a HYDRA plant all along.
"Someone needs to find fucking Ian Boothby. That bastard has questions to answer." Jane said. Clearly catching on to what Bucky was getting at.
"That sorry son of a bitch," Natasha spoke up. "Please tell me we get to take turns interrogating him?" She asked Bucky and Steve.
"You bet your ass, Natalia," Bucky told her.
Bucky now had one more reason, on the fucking long list of reasons, to destroy HYDRA.
Darcy stayed in the shower until the water ran cold. She'd scrubbed her hair and then her body. She wasn't looking at those clothes again, so she was throwing them away. She stepped out of the huge shower and put her hair in a towel and wrapped her body in another towel.
"Are you okay Miss Lewis? I can contact Dr. Foster for you." Friday said.
Darcy shook her head and gave the thumbs up to the ceiling.
"Very well. If you need assistance please give the thumbs down." Friday told her.
Again, she gave Friday a thumbs up.
She found underwear, and a sports bra and put them on. Her closet had yoga pants and every kind of vintage tee shirt imaginable. Tony made sure every band was represented. AC/DC was her choice. Darcy walked to the kitchen, she ate two bowls of cereal and a bunch of fruit. She discovered an iPod sitting on the counter. Jane must have duplicated all of her songs for her and transferred them to the new one.
Darcy smiled. God she loved Janey.
She then wondered if she could science wrangle for Tony, Jane, Bruce, and Helen. None of them took care of themselves and she needed to do something to keep her sanity, or what she had left of it. The phone and StarkPad would make it easier too.
Steve and Bucky headed back to their apartment again.
"Do you think we should check on her Buck?" Steve asked his boyfriend.
"No. We need to give her space punk. She knows where we're at if she needs us." Bucky said as they made their way to their living room.
"It's hard to believe we're gonna be dads in 7 1/2 months. I'm still processing it." Steve said.
"Yeah. Fucking HYDRA still fucking with us. But they're not gonna get Darcy or the babies again." Bucky replied.
"Darcy resisting that machine still blows my mind, Buck," Steve said.
"Maybe when they gave her the serum, they didn't anticipate that it would help her resist them," Bucky said.
"I'm hoping Bruce and Helen can give us more information about all the tests they're running," Steve replied.
Both of them wondered whether they'd get their questions answered at all.
Darcy laid in the darkness of her bedroom for two hours before she gave up and decided to go exploring, which turned into checking on all of the Avengers in the facility.
She crossed the hall to Steve and Bucky's room and was met by the sounds of their lovemaking. She smiled and moved away. Having super hearing would take some getting used to, and had it's good and more embarrassing points. Darcy moved down the hall to Thor and Jane's quarters and heard Thor's loud snoring through the door. Again, she smiled, remembering how much she missed her friends. Within forty-five minutes, with Friday's help, she'd checked on each Avenger, bringing her lastly to Tony's door when she heard him in the throes of a nightmare, only to hear Bruce comforting him. She was surprised for a moment, then could totally see them together. Darcy wondered back to her apartment and went in and laid back down. Drifting off to sleep she wondered what her babies would look like. They had to be gorgeous with the two super-soldiers from the forties as their daddies.
The next morning found her running to the bathroom to puke her guts out. Yeah, she was gonna have to mention this to Bruce and Helen. She'd hoped she would miss this symptom of pregnancy, but luck had never come easy for Darcy Lewis.