Note: This is not IM3 (I like to pretend it didn't happen at ALL), CA:TWS, or AOU compliant. I'm playing fast and loose with plot lines... Peggy Carter is still kicking it like the badass that she is. I don't own any of em otherwise Bucky and Clint would belong to me. Anyone else that wasn't drummed up by Marvel belongs to my delightfully demented imagination...

In which we begin to bring our delightful cast together...

A little over ten months earlier...Starbucks, two blocks away from Avengers Tower...

Darcy hummed to herself as she drank her White Chocolate Mocha and typed away on the keyboard of her laptop. It was a nice day out and she decided some Vitamin D might not be such a bad thing. In between answering emails and creating her schedule and work lists for the week, she was talking (typing she mentally corrected herself – in her mind she heard Steve's Captain America 'I'm disappointed in the 21st century' voice "Back in the day, talking actually meant using real speech Doll" – cue the roll of her eyes now) to her.

LiLBiT312: So when is my darling cousin going to take a break from the big bad PR world and come visit us lowly Starks not in the Tower?

She bit back a giggle.

DarcyWithaD: I'm sorry, I wasn't aware there was such a thing as lowly Starks? Would that make Tony or Pepper Rapunzel? And not for nothing, Tony's been trying to rectify the fact that there are two of you not accounted for when we do Tower roll call. I'm saddened by the fact that the begging and pleading from both a Lewis and a Stark hasn't convinced you yet. He's getting so desperate that he's threatening to sick Pepper on you.

LiLBiT312: Pepper's too badass to play the damsel in distress. Tony'd be Rapunzel. Cept it'd be more along the lines of Iron Man, Iron Man, send down the Mark 45.

DarcyWithaD: LMAO! I can't with you. Seriously though, I think Pepper's planning to come see you next week.

LiLBiT312: That'd be a dirty move...

DarcyWithaD: But it'd be effective wouldn't it?

LiLBiT312: Darce, I've accepted the fact that I'm going to need to step up to the family mantle eventually. But I need to do it in my own time. I'm not sure I'm ready to go from it just being me, Sansa and the pets at home to living with everyone. I feel like if it the Tower had a soundtrack, it'd be 'Welcome to the Jungle' (at least from how Aunt Peggy describes it). Is it so wrong to just want to concentrate on my little girl right now?

Darcy sighed deeply. Concentrating on Sansa was always Jenny's excuse as to why they hadn't moved to the Tower yet. To keep Sansa out of the media spotlight. Which, while it was a legitimate concern, Jenny also knew between her and Pepper's connections, there was no way the paparazzi would ever get close enough to the little girl.

In all reality, she thought Jenny might have some form of social phobia. Sam agreed with her after she'd spoken to him about it. Together, they thought it stemmed from the accident that took her parents and Sansa's father. While she only had one physical scar (which was cleverly covered up by a tattoo), Jenny hated the way people would sometimes look when she signed. And she wasn't sold on the hearing implants yet. She could still talk, but was preparing herself for the day when her hearing would finally go completely. She didn't want to be known as the deaf Stark. So instead, she kept to herself out on Long Island and socialized only when doing her charity work.

DarcyWithaD: No, but Sansa would also benefit from having more family around. Think about it how awesome a childhood the kid could have growing up around the Avengers. Steve and I were talking about having kids somewhere down the line. Not to mention the fact that Tony and Pepper are planning to have a baby within the next year or so. She'll get to grow up with her cousins the same way we did J.

LiLBiT312: I'll think about it Darce. I promise. * pinky promise *

It was at that moment, her reply to Jenny was interrupted as a man sat down across from her. He was wearing a Captain America sweatshirt, dark jeans and a Dodgers baseball cap. His hair just barely touched his shoulders. His face had a few days worth of stubble. There was no malice in his eyes, only fear and a myriad of other emotions. But mostly fear. Why's he afraid of me?

"You're Steve's girl," he said in a raspy voice.

Wordlessly, she nodded.

"I need ta see him," he pleaded, a distinctly Brooklyn accent seeping through.

As much as Darcy knew she should be alarmed, something told her that it wouldn't be necessary. She could practically hear Jenny and Natasha's voices telling her to go with her gut. "Who are you?"

"Punk had ta've talked bout me enough that ya can figure it out Doll," he responded with a faint smile.

She gave him a really good look and gasped as recognition flared in her eyes. "B-b-bucky? How? You died in '44!?"

He shook his head. "No Doll. I fell in '44 but I wasn't dead."

"Then where've you been for 70 years?"

"Hydra had me. I got the files ta prove it," he rasped.

Without giving it a second thought, she sent a message to Jenny.

DarcyWithaD: J, I'm not sure what to do. This guy just sat down across from me saying that he's Bucky Barnes. He claims that Hydra's had him all this time.

LiLBiT312: Okay. Calm down Darce. Don't you remember the vision I had when we were kids? What'd I say that set Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jim off? Shit, Steve doesn't even know that I know that...

"If you're really Bucky, what did you and Steve always tell each other, even when you were kids?"

Bucky smiled again. Good girl, he thought to himself. Being cautious. Steve must've told her. Punk taught her right. Asking him something that wasn't on public record was a perfect way to verify that it was really him. "That we were with each other til the end of the line."

Darcy gasped covering her mouth. "Wow. Um okay. Why'd you come to me?"

"You're Stevie's girl an this is the first time I've been able to get near ya without a small army of bodyguards around ya Doll."

Darcy froze for a second, reaching under the table for her souped up tazer that Tony'd given her for her last birthday.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya Doll. I'd never hurt Stevie's girl."

Before Darcy could respond, another message came through her computer.

LiLBiT312: Darce, it's really him I swear it. I had a dream about it last night. Just didn't think it would happen so soon otherwise I woulda told ya. And no, he won't hurt you. He's finally in his right mind (don't ask, not my story to tell). Call Tony first to get him clearance. Do not call Steve! He'll just end up waiting in the lobby which will make Bucky all kinds of anxious. Talk to him a little bit and call me later with the details. I wanna know what happened to my favorite historical hottie.

DarcyWithaD: Only you'd say something like that J. Alright, I'll trust you on this. I'll call you or text you later. XOXO.

Bucky watched as Steve's girl smiled at whatever message she'd received. She typed a response and then closed her laptop. "Sorry, talking to my younger cousin."

"'S no problem Doll."

"Why now?"

"Broke my programming a while back. Been on my own until I could get who I was straight in my mind."

"Programming?"

"Hydra brainwashed me," he said in a tone that clearly said he didn't wanna talk any further on the subject.

A tone that really didn't faze Darcy Lewis (soon to be Rogers). "Hydra as in the Nazis? I thought Steve and the Commandos took them out. He killed Red Skull."

"Cut off one head," he responded trailing off.

"Shit. Tony and Steve need to know this."

"Tony?"

"Anthony Stark. Howard eventually married and had a child. Tony's married. His wife's the CEO of Stark Industries. I'm the Director of Public Relations and of the Avengers Initiative. Tony, as he goes by, is more commonly known as Iron Man."

"I get the feeling you're more than that Doll."

She looked up from her phone (she was texting Tony a mile a minute). "Tony's uncle and my aunt were married. So yeah, we're kinda family. He might be annoying as hell at times but he's the big brother I never had."

"'S how I always felt about Steve. He was my brother."

"He's missed you," she said giving him a soft reassuring smile as she reached across the table. "Never quite got over it."

"Is he okay"

She laughed. "He's, um, adjusted to the 21st Century as best he can. Still a superhero fighting crime. Cept he does it with a bunch of other superheroes. Oh and we're engaged," she declared holding up her left hand.

"That's his Ma's ring," he said softly, his tone wistful.

She smiled brightly nodding. "I cried hysterically when he gave it to me. Turns out Aunt Peggy had all of his stuff in storage."

"Peggy? Peggy Carter?"

She nodded. "Mine and Tony's godmother. Practically raised us. Everyone's favorite Battle Axe is alive and kicking at the ripe old age of 95. Still sharp as a tack and keeping all of us in line. Lives a few blocks from the Avengers Tower but only because she refuses to live in what she calls a fraternity house for wayward superheroes with parental issues and varying degrees of post traumatic stress disorder."

Bucky laughed because he could see Peggy saying something like that. Woman had a sharp tongue and incredible wit. One of the things he'd always liked about her.

They were interrupted as a blonde man approached from behind Darcy. While he wasn't overtly threatening, he was clearly there to protect her. He kissed the side of her head as he sat down casually beside her. She smiled widely and poked his side good naturedly. "I told Tony I was fine," she grumbled with a grin.

"Be that as it may Sparky," he said with a grin of his own. "We're all a little too partial to ya to take chances. And if Steve caught wind of the fact that I knew and didn't come to check on you, well, let's just say that I'd rather not consider the consequences. Sides that, Tasha told me to come down. She said to tell you she'd help Tony get things settled."

She nodded. "That woman is so freakin perceptive it's scary. Bucky Barnes meet Clint Barton."

–

In which the Avengers learn that Darcy and Tony are kinda sorta related...but not...well maybe...

It was a typical Tuesday night (well as typical as it could get for a group of intergalactic super heroes and their companions) in the Avengers tower. Tuesdays were family dinner night – a tradition started by Tony just after the group moved in three years ago. Meaning that everyone (including Pepper, Jane, Erik, Darcy and Bucky [in spite of the fact that the spysassin was doing his very best impression of a recluse – but that didn't stop Tony from trying...and it was starting to work]) was required to attend.

Usually after dinner, they broke out the board, dance, video, card games and went to town for the rest of the night. Tony, Steve,Thor, Bucky, and Clint were in the middle of a game of Texas Hold 'Em (Bucky was kicking some serious ass – his poker face was epic...). Bruce and Erik were playing Scrabble. Darcy, Jane, Pepper and Natasha were on their second bottle of wine, cracking each other up with an increasingly raucous game of Cards Against Humanity (complete of course with the both of the Avengers Expansion Packs).

Jarvis interrupted the fun. "Sir, a young woman and a child just appeared in the private lobby. The child is asking for both you and Ms. Lewis. She appears to be extremely agitated."

Tony and Darcy shot each other a look across the room. Pepper and Jane looked up knowing what the pair was thinking. Steve froze as his eyes locked on his fiance.

"Did the woman say what her name is J Man?" Darcy asked wondering if it was who they thought it was.

"I'm afraid that she appears to be injured and having a difficulty speaking. The child is injured as well, however her injuries appear to be superficial. She is speaking for both herself and the woman."

Without another word, Tony, Steve, Pepper, Darcy and Jane stopped what they were doing and ran for the elevator. Darcy was in such a hurry, she jumped over the back of the couch (in a move that on any other day would've made Clint, Natasha and Bucky proud). Tony made a mad dash the likes of which none of them had ever seen before.

The rest of the group quickly followed suit wanting to know what was going on. No one had ever seen Tony or Darcy act this way and it was really freaking them out.

As the elevator doors closed on all its occupants, it sounded like the set up for a bad joke: a Hulk, three scientists, a super soldier, two spysassins, an archer, a Norse god, a PR rep, a corporate CEO, and a billionaire walk in an elevator...

Any other time, it would've been a contest to see who woul out snark who with the jokes. But now, in this moment, the tension was palpable.

The whole way down, Tony kept punching the lobby button. "Jarvis, can't we punch it?"

"I'm afraid not Sir."

Darcy was bouncing on her heels hovering in front of the door. Steve put his hand on her back in an effort to sooth her. But it was to no avail. "C'mon J, pick up the speed just a bit please?"

"As I told Sir, I cannot alter the speed of the elevator Ms. Lewis."

"Who is it that we think is down there?" Clint queried from behind his friends.

She turned and looked up at him. "Remember I told you about my cousin Jenny and her little girl Sansa?"

He nodded.

"It could only be them. They're the only family Tony and I have in common anymore. No one else would be asking for both of us at the same. At least I don't think so."

"I thought they were away Darce?"

"Last we knew they were."

"Something's not right," Tony said, his expression full of worry.

Clint looked between them in confusion. "Wait, family in common?"

"Marielena Lewis, my aunt, married Kristian Stark, Tony's uncle and they subsequently had two kids: our cousins Faolan and Jenny. Our aunt, uncle and Jenny's best friend slash baby daddy Alsander were all killed when they were hit head on by a drunk driver a few days after her 18th birthday. Jenny was thrown from the car but somehow escaped with very little injury. A few months later, Faolan was declared KIA after his unit was attacked in the Middle East. She's been on her own ever since."

"Not for lack of trying on my part though," Tony murmured. "I've been trying to get her to move in with me since then. Especially after she had Sansa."

"And we've both been trying to get her to move here for over a year now."

It felt as if it took forever for the elevator to reach the ground floor. In reality it only took maybe a few minutes.

When the doors opened, nothing could've prepared Darcy and Tony (or the rest of the team) for what they saw.

There was a woman slumped on one of the couches with a crying little girl next to her. She was bleeding from wounds to her head, shoulder, stomach and both thighs. Her neck had dark and angry purple hand prints wrapped all the way around. As did her arms in multiple places. Her left eye was black (not to mention swollen shut) and her right eye didn't look much better. She was breathing but it was clearly shallow. Her head lolled to the side as she fell in and out of consciousness.

The little girl had a black eye and cuts up her left arm. Her left wrist looked pretty swollen. But all in all, she was in far better shape.

The second she laid eyes on Tony and Darcy, she made a beeline for them.

Darcy bent down and caught the crying four year old in her arms. "Aunt Darcy," Sansa sobbed into her shoulder. "The bad guys hurt us. Mommy used her powers to get us outta there."

The words the little girl used had Bucky, Steve and Clint all looking at each other. 'Powers' Steve mouthed to his best friends. Both shrugged not knowing what was going on.

"It's okay Sansa Girl. Aunt Darcy's got you. You're safe." Tears welled in her eyes as she looked her little cousin over. The state that both she and Jenny were in told her all she needed to know. She gently rocked Sansa back and forth as she carefully smoothed her hair down.

Not waiting for anyone else's approval, Natasha and Bruce ran for the woman to see what they could do for her.

Tony meanwhile, knelt down his eyes looking over her form in horror. "Jenny?"

"Tone," she responded hoarsely, unable to open her eyes. "Hurts," she rasped as she bowed in pain - the agony written all over her face. She was covered in a macabre collection of bullet wounds, bruises, cuts, abrasions and shit, were those bites?

"Shhhh don't try to talk," Bruce said as he examined her.

"Tony," Natasha said pulling him out of his daze, "we need to get her upstairs. Those wounds aren't through and throughs; and she might be bleeding internally."

He nodded, his expression frightful, as he slid his arms under her as gently as he could.

She cried out but managed to weakly wrap her arms around his neck.

Tony turned towards the elevator. "Jarvis, get Doc Cho to meet us in medical stat!"

"Yes Sir."

Darcy stood with a still sobbing Sansa clinging her to like a baby monkey.

The group followed as the pair stepped into the elevator with their younger cousins.

–

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