Author's Note – written in answer to an online challenge. I hope you enjoy!
Dark as Night
It had taken SHIELD nearly a month to fetch them from Tromso. Darcy Lewis was furious, but she kept her mouth shut and stood back to watch the show. Because Jane? To put it in a nutshell, Doctor Jane Foster was absolutely livid. Darcy could not quite decide if she was watching to see if the agents meeting them on the deck of the weird aircraft carrier would spontaneously combust from the heat Jane's gaze, or if her verbal barrage could make them cringe. There was a distinct lack of smoking going on, but…
Yep, she thought, ole' One-Eye looks to be fighting a wince.
With the dressing down safe in Jane's hands, Darcy let her eyes wander the faces of the people nearby. The easily recognizable Tony Stark stood close. He couldn't seem to decide if he should laugh or applaud, and seemed to be restraining himself from doing either with the considerable, if silent influence of the equally famous Pepper Potts. A dark-haired woman in a SHIELD uniform remained stoic save for a light twinkle deep in her eyes while two figures half hidden in the shadows seemed to be taking bets on something.
For their sake, she hoped it wasn't Jane.
A slowly approaching figure drew her gaze, but she let it slide away almost immediately. Damn it. He was too average; not the average of reality, but a carefully calculated average. No scars, no marks, plain uniform, average length hair, normal looks, average build, and so on – in other words, he was too 'normal' to be normal. Everyone had something that made them different, and while it was within the realm of possibility that 'normality' might be his, she wouldn't make book on it.
Her training wouldn't let her.
As the man drew closer, she moved, ambled actually towards the boss-lady. She didn't know who his target was, but he wouldn't be taking Jane on Darcy's watch. He spotted her, of course, but Darcy's training was done properly. She looked the quirky college intern with clothing and habits that made her stand out from the agent crowd. Hiding in plain sight her trainer would have called it.
"Jane," Darcy spoke in a quiet, almost hesitant voice.
"Not now, Darcy" the scientist replied, barely braking the stride of her verbal recriminations.
Darcy shrugged as if to say she had tried, but she didn't move back once more. She almost felt the newcomer dismiss her as a negligible threat. Mistake number one, she thought quietly. As he came almost even with the group, he started to angle obliquely. Darcy repressed a sigh. Jane was definitely his target. She didn't have all the details yet on what had caused the havoc in New York, but she knew a lot of information had fallen into unfriendly hands…including information on Jane.
She noted a stealthy movement from the shadows and a woman with a shock of red hair came into her peripheral vision. Ah, so this is where the infamous Chernaya Vdova had disappeared to…hmmm. Her mind considered the new information, trying to determine whether to let Black Widow handle the situation or- The man leapt forward abruptly, a knife in hand and angled towards Jane.
Apparently he had seen Widow moving as well. "I hate the 'victory or death' sort," she muttered, already moving to cut off his access to Jane. Darcy shoved her startled friend into the shocked arms of SHIELD's director and swept around to deliver a roundhouse kick. He ducked it.
The fight which followed was fast, short, and brutal…but not fatal. Killing the man would do no good and they might need his information, but Darcy had little other pity for someone trying to kill her best friend. A handful of quick moves and he was unconscious at her feet. "Stupid," she murmured. "They always write off the sidekick. I mean, really."
As everyone stared in shock, Darcy brushed off her hands and walked away from the unconscious idiot. Her eyes zeroed in on Jane, making sure her friend had taken no hurt. Jane waved it off. "I'm fine," she replied to the unasked question. "Not a mark." A smirk crossed the petite scientist's face. "You know, for a woman who wants to get away from her past, you certainly do more than your fair share of giving it away."
"Well, if someone I know would stop attracting all the wackos both on and off planet, maybe I could!" Darcy huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Those guys from Hydra were not my fault," Jane offered.
"No, they were definitely Logan's fault," Darcy agreed before giving her a sarcastic look. "They just decided you were the juiciest hostage in a room of three hundred guests."
Jane opened her mouth to reply, but Widow stepped forward, her eyes fixed on Darcy. "Kto ty? (Who are you?)" she demanded. Darcy blinked at her, head tilting to the side in confusion, but the redhead brushed that off. "I ne probuy. Ya znayu etot stil. (Don't even try. I know that style.)"
Darcy gave a long slow sigh before her frame seemed to shift, center, and a deadly edge peeked out. "Sumerki (Nightfall)," she shrugged. "Predatel. (The traitor.)"
Widow's eyes widened ever so slightly before focusing on Darcy's gaze with a searching intensity. Darcy stood still, allowing Widow to look her fill. After a moment, her entire form relaxed. A small smile played over her lips. "Natasha Romanoff," she introduced herself, using an American accent and holding out her hand. "Do not endanger my people."
"Darcy Lewis," she replied, shaking the other's hand. "Don't let your people endanger my scientist."
"Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?"
Both women looked over to where the slowly boiling leader of SHIELD glared at both of them. Darcy let the hidden danger peek out once more before subsuming it beneath her harmless college persona. "Chill, dude, you're going the have a stroke," she snarked at him. "We're just setting some basic ground rules. Negotiations can happen later."
He swelled up. "You-!"
"I said, chill," she replied, shifting between him and Jane. "I've got exactly one loyalty, Nick Fury, and it's to the woman behind me, so back off." A teasing light entered her eyes. "Besides, you made us wait an entire month. I don't think a little time is going to kill you." Jane smothered a laugh behind her, and Darcy tossed a quick grin over her shoulder before turning back. "Not that it matters," she noted airily. "You could lock me up I suppose, but then who will translate half-crazed astrophysicist for you? Not to mention your people still haven't figured out my filing system, and they've been working on it for ages."
Jane peered around her shoulder and focused a direct gaze on Fury. "If you try and take her from me in any way, I will personally ask Thor to kick your ass when he gets back…again." Her infuriated stress of the final word was not missed by anybody within earshot.
Fury took a deep breath, opened his mouth once, twice, and then he gave a wordless growl before striding away. Darcy turned to face the others. "Was it something we said?" she asked as innocently as possible. As the others laughed, something inside of her relaxed. Maybe, just maybe she now had some help in keeping Jane safe… Maybe she could finally relax.