Darcy woke with a start. She hadn't even noticed that she'd fallen asleep. The bright sunlight falling through the windows of her guest suite at Stark Tower made her squint, and she immediately checked her phone.

Nothing.

No messages, no calls, nothing.

Sighing, she sat up, wincing as she noticed a pulled muscle at the back of her neck. She'd been trying so hard to stay awake in case there was any word from Steve that she'd refused to even go near the huge bed in the next room, no matter how comfortable and inviting it looked. It didn't quite work however – instead, she'd just fallen asleep in an armchair in the living room, the tablet on which she'd been reading in her lap.

Darcy sighed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. As she was brushing her teeth, her mind wandered back to the extremely short phone call she'd had with Steve not even twelve hours ago. Steve's voice had sounded incredibly urgent, and she could tell from his tone that he was in full mission-mode.

"Darcy, there's something going on and I haven't figured out what and how big it is. Could you stay at the Tower tonight? It's just a precaution but it'd make me feel a lot better. I just talked to Tony and he said you could have one of his guest rooms. I'll call you as soon as I can."

Only a few minutes later, Tony had come – or rather flown - home in his suit. He told her and Pepper that he'd just checked on Steve's on-the-job apartment in DC because there had been an explosion, and that Director Fury had been seriously injured. Now, Steve was off catching the bad guys who did it, having refused Tony's help for the time being.

After Darcy had freshened up a little, she took the elevator up to the general living area on the top floor. On her way up, Jarvis informed her that Jane and Thor were in Jane's lab, and that Pepper and Tony were having breakfast. Dr. Banner was still in India with Dr. Ross to show her where he'd spent the last few years (and probably to rekindle the flame between the two, Darcy mused – those sparks between them were very hard to overlook).

True to Jarvis's word, Darcy found Pepper and Tony eating pancakes at the kitchen island and quarrelling as they usually did. They stopped when Darcy came near them.

"Good morning, Darcy! Would you like to have a pancake? It seems we have enough to feed an entire army!" Pepper greeted her with one of her incredibly heartwarming smiles. Darcy shot her a small smirk.

"Yeah, thanks!" She replied as she sat down on the chair next to Pepper's.

"Heard anything from Steve?" Pepper asked. Darcy shook her head as she helped herself from a truly immense mountain of pancakes in the middle of the island.

"I've been keeping tabs on SHIELD's servers. Nothing there about him either," Tony replied, his mouth full of pancake. "As a matter of fact, hardly any new information at all since last night, and absolutely nothing on Fury."

Pepper shot him a reproachful look and raised one of her eyebrows.

"I thought we talked about hacking into SHIELD's databases," she said, her voice cheerful yet somehow like steel.

Tony looked at her, eyes wide.

"We did, and we agreed that it was absolutely fine to take a look at their data in special situations, and this is most definitely a special situation, don't you think? I mean, the safety of Capsicle is on the line here," he replied, stuffing another fork-full of pancake into his mouth.

Pepper rolled her eyes.

"No, you said it was fine to hack into SHIELD's computers in special situations, and I said that we should clear it with them first. There's a reason why SHIELD's information isn't accessible for everyone. How would you feel if they hacked into our Stark databases?" she asked, impatient.

"They couldn't. There's no way they'd get through our firewall," Tony shot back with a wide grin before shoveling some more pancake into his mouth.

Pepper shook her head and turned her attention back to Darcy.

"I'm sure Steve is fine," she said with a sympathetic smile.

Darcy just nodded and squirted a syrup smiley on to her pancakes.

Pepper spun back to Tony and was about to say something when Jarvis spoke up all of a sudden.

"Pardon the interruption, Ms. Potts, but SHIELD is requesting Mr. Stark's and Mr. Odinson's immediate assistance at an oil refinery fire in Canada."

"Shanksh, Charvish," Tony said through another mouthful of pancake as he drew up the files SHIELD sent over on the table surface next to him.

"Well, that looks bad. Better get going," he said as he gulped and hopped off his stool. He gave Pepper a quick peck on the cheek and then fixed his gaze on Darcy.

"Stay here, ok? I promised Steve I'd look after you," he said in a serious tone that was very much unlike his usual chipper self. Darcy just nodded.

"Great," Tony grinned, took another bite from his plate, waved at them, and then headed off to the balcony to get into his suit. A few seconds later, he was joined by Thor who smiled at Darcy through the window, and then the two were off.

"Right, I have to get to work as well. Are you going to be ok? I'm really sorry that I have to leave you like this but I have a conference call in a few minutes," Pepper said as she, too, got up.

Darcy gave her a crooked smile.

"That's ok, don't worry. I'll head down to Jane in a minute, anyway," she replied.

Pepper gave her a last compassionate smile before she left the kitchen.

Darcy had just pulled up Candy Crush on her phone when Pepper's worried voice rang into the room.

"Darcy! You have to come see this!"

Darcy immediately slipped off her stool and jogged into the living room. Pepper was standing in front of the television, which was currently filled with a headshot of Steve.

"… anyone knowing of the Captain's whereabouts is asked to notify authorities via the number at the bottom of the screen immediately. Do not try to confront him – he is armed and extremely dangerous, as you just saw from our footage of his breakout from SHIELD headquarters." The TV presenter's voice was ringing in Darcy's ears.

"Wait, what? They're looking for Steve like he's a criminal?" she said, desperately looking at Pepper for an explanation.

"I know, I have no idea what's going on," Pepper replied, shocked.

On the screen, the news program switched from Steve's headshot to air footage of him riding a motorcycle across a bridge. A quinjet was confronting him, but Steve took it out, and it crashed in a giant fireball behind him. Darcy's heart seemed to stop for a second.

"Right now you're seeing the footage of his escape that we showed you earlier already. This was happening right after Captain America was supposed to be questioned in connection to the death of a high-ranking SHIELD officer. So, again, if you see Captain America anywhere, don't talk to him and don't try to stop him, just call the number at the bottom of the screen."

Darcy swallowed. Apparently Fury was dead, and SHIELD seemed to think Steve killed him. Panic and fear were rising inside her. She unconsciously reached for her phone, but there were still no calls or messages. For a brief second she thought about calling Steve, but then stopped herself right away. She was sure that SHIELD knew about her connection to him, just like they knew everything, meaning that she was certainly being watched right now.

"I have no idea what this is about, but I think we both know that there is no way that Steve is a criminal. I'm assuming that the "high-ranking SHIELD officer" is Fury. Wow." Pepper paused for a second. "I can't believe he's dead!"

Pepper silenced the TV and turned to Darcy.

"I know this is really scary for you. I'll try and contact Tony and Thor right away," she said, rubbing Darcy's upper arm. The clacking of her heels filled the room as she headed across it to her home office.

Darcy swallowed and took a deep breath. She pressed her eyes shut and forced herself to calm down. She absolutely needed to stay levelheaded now. Maybe there was a way that she could still help Steve.

Just a second later Pepper came back to the room.

"Ok, this is getting even stranger. I think someone has jammed our outgoing communications. I can't reach Tony, or Stark offices, or anyone outside the Tower," she said, tapping on her phone as she spoke. "Whatever I do, it says 'Call failed.' And the Internet isn't working either."

"But the TV does work, so satellite reception seems to be ok," Darcy replied grimly.

"Jarvis, could you please look into that?" Pepper called as she dropped onto the sofa next to Darcy. "Try everything you can to lift the block."

Jarvis confirmed her order and then remained silent, presumably to execute it. Darcy groaned.

"What if Jarvis can't fix this? Should we leave?" she asked. "At least you could go to the office."

Pepper thought about that for a moment, but then shook her head.

"No. Something is clearly wrong right now. Until we know exactly what's going on, we should stay here. We're safe here. Even if we can't communicate externally, no-one can come into the tower if we don't want it. Tony and I made sure of that when we built it." She raised her voice.

"Jarvis! Initiate protocol 11-5-B, Tower Lockdown."

"Protocol 11-5-B activated," the computerized voice replied.

"Great, thank you. Please also make sure that everyone who is not Dr. Foster, Ms. Lewis, or me leaves the tower right away," Pepper added.

"Yes, ma'am," came the confirmation.

"Could you ask Jane if she can work up here today? I'd feel much better if we're all in one place. I have a bad feeling about all this," Pepper asked Darcy, who just nodded. Her eyes were back on the TV screen and her brain was still desperately trying to wrap itself around the pictures she was seeing.

They called Jane via the internal communications system and then sat down on the couch in front of the soundless TV.

"I have to say that I'm really worried," Pepper said quietly. "Captain America really is a national hero, a sappy as it sounds. To brand him a criminal and in such an intense fashion is not just a blip. People have seen and heard what he's done for us, at least during World War II and during the Battle of New York. If you publicly announce someone with Steve's image to be a criminal, it is a very deliberate move. Given that we both know that Steve would never kill Fury or evade SHIELD unless there was a pretty good reason for it, I'm just worried about what's really happening here."

Darcy bit her lip. Pepper was right. Even if Darcy herself couldn't explain it as well as her, Darcy, too, had a bad feeling about all of this.

"And that's just the beginning. It doesn't take into our account our jammed communications or Tony and Thor coincidentally being called away just before the news about Steve broke," Pepper continued. "Jarvis, any update on the jamming?"

"Unfortunately not, ma'am. I'm still trying to break it," came the reply.

"You think they may be cracking down on Tony and Thor as well?" Darcy asked, shocked.

She hadn't even thought about the possibility. It looked like her naiveté had gotten the better of her again, and she silently berated herself. It seemed that more often than not, she just wasn't cunning enough to imagine all the stuff the bad guys could be up to. While she of course knew that there were lots of bad people in the world doing bad things, it felt like she never quite understood just how many bad guys there really were and how evil they could get. A part of that was probably due to the fact that she couldn't understand why some people tried to hurt others in the first place. Sure, if someone was starving and fighting someone else over a loaf of bread, or if someone stole money to pay their sick loved one's medical bills – she got where those people came from. But others? Just why would someone want to enslave an entire planet or country? Or human traffickers, and drug lords, and the like – just how could they not care at all about the people they were hurting? Did they never think about having the same thing done to them?

"Yeah," Pepper said quietly. "I think it may not just be Steve who's on that list. And given our connections to everyone who may also be targeted, it is safest for us and them if we stay here."

Darcy just nodded and swallowed. She turned her attention back to the TV where Steve's headshot was shown again, and a minute later, Jane exited the elevator. Pepper and Darcy quickly filled her in, and just like the other two, Jane was stunned when she saw the footage of Steve and heard of Pepper's thoughts. She couldn't get through to Thor or Tony either, and finally, all three of them ended up sitting on the couch together, staring at the TV. It seemed like there were no other news stories that day; on all news channels, Steve's head shot and the escape footage kept playing in a continuous loop and were only interrupted by small bits of presenters expressing their shock and disbelief over America's fallen hero.

Darcy set her jaw.

"There has to be something we can do," she said, determined. Then, something dawned on her.

"Jarvis, do you have any copies of the files Tony looked at last night when he accessed SHIELD's database?"