Darcy Lewis smiled to herself as the elevator doors closed and she began to rise up to the penthouse of Stark Tower. Frankly, she was just happy to be out of the office. She enjoyed her job at SHIELD, but at a certain point the paperwork started to drive her crazy. So after bugging Coulson for the millionth time out of boredom, he'd finally sent her out to retrieve some papers from Tony. And there were few things Darcy enjoyed as much as getting a rise out of Stark.
"Ding dong!" she called, exiting the elevator and continuing right on into the suite, not bothering to knock.
"Good afternoon, Miss Lewis. Mr. Stark is downstairs in the workshop. Shall I tell him you've arrived?" came JARVIS' disembodied voice.
"Oh, no thanks J. I think I'll go surprise him myself" she said, looking around the room. No matter how many times she had been in Tony's place, she couldn't get over how cool JARVIS was. She wondered what it would take to talk Tony into creating one for her.
Passing through the living room and heading down the stairs, she had only made it halfway before hearing the music blasting through the walls. AC/DC, she thought, pausing for a second to decipher the muted bass pounding. Reaching the bottom, she peered through the glass doors and saw Tony with his back to her, rifling through a pile of junk on a long table.
Figuring that he wouldn't be able to hear her over the music, she crept up behind him. Having made it undetected, she stood right behind him and leaned as close to his ear as she dared.
"Hola!"
"Jesus –" he yelled, practically jumping out of his skin. "Darcy!"
The music cut off and he glared at her.
Tony just sighed. "JARVIS, I thought we had an understanding about who was allowed in here?"
"Sorry, sir."
"Oh, me and Jarv are buddies, he wouldn't do that to me."
"So you're here why?" Tony said, pinching the bridge of his nose and attempting to ignore his growing impatience.
"Aw, don't be mad. I'm sorry Daddy Warbucks. Just thought I'd drop by and see if you've changed your mind about adopting me" Darcy said with a wink. Hopping up onto a clear spot on the table, she swung her legs back and forth like an excited kid.
"Haven't I asked you not to call me that?"
"You might have mentioned it once or twice" she said, wincing as she knocked some pieces of scrap metal off the table. Clattering to the floor, they scattered across the tiles and Darcy hopped down to grab them. "I'm just saying, what kind of eccentric billionaire are you without adopting some needy orphan?"
"First of all" Tony said, not believing that he was even partaking in this conversation, "you're an adult. Second, not needy. Third, and perhaps most important, not an orphan."
"Well, there's that" Darcy said, grinning. "I'd be willing to make some sacrifices for the lifestyle to which I want to become accustomed."
Shooing her away from the worktable, Tony returned to looking for the components he had previously been trying to find. "So are you here for an actual reason or just to raise my blood pressure?"
"Fine, if you're going to be like that" Darcy huffed, "Coulson said you have some papers for him."
"Oh yeah, they're around here somewhere…" he said scanning the room, sure that he had seen the files not too long ago. Locating them on a desk across the room, he hurriedly grabbed them and thrust them at Darcy. "Here ya go, guess you better be on your way. So sorry you couldn't stay longer" he said, ushering her towards the door.
"Alright, but if you change your mind, just let me know" she said, heading for the stairs. As she ascended, Tony could hear her voice drifting back down.
"The sun will come out tomorrow…" she sang.
"JARVIS" Tony barked.
"Yes, sir?"
"If she shows up with red hair, there's no way she's allowed in. Got it?"
"Got it, sir."