"It's time to make hits and it's time to diss
How you still dissin', still can't find some hits?"
- "Barbie Tingz" by Nicki Minaj
Part Four: Senator Carol Danvers
Darcy bought a storage unit and ordered a bunch of boxes. Her life in Queens could easily be packed away in a day or so but she left it until a night she had off, bought herself a bottle of Merlot and tackled the task along while listening to music.
The sounds of her ripping off pieces of packing tape interrupted verses but Darcy swayed, unperturbed while she boxed up another shelf.
Her phone rang and she frowned, because she told Cherie and everyone else at headquarters not to call her unless it was especially important.
"Hey," she said, unlocking her phone and dialing back volume on her laptop.
"Steve Rogers again, Darcy. I'm sorry," Cherie said, sounding out of breath. She was too anxious. Darcy needed to sit her down sometime soon and try to rewire her.
Darcy pursed her lips, swiping her glass from the empty bookcase and took a sip. She'd avoided Steve Rogers' calls for the last few days because she knew what he was going to ask her.
"Give him my number," Darcy said, and then she hung up and drained her glass before refilling it.
Another two hours later she was in her bedroom and wrapping her framed law degree in an old t-shirt. It had to be some hook-up from God knows when because it was a ripped Cardinals t-shirt in an XXL.
Her phone finally rang while she was flipping through an old year book and she answered, waiting.
"Thank you for returning my call," he began, sarcastic.
"No problem," Darcy replied. "What's on your mind, Captain?"
She could hear people in the background. He was still at work at 11.30 at night. She briefly considered he might sleep there occasionally. He'd have a sleeping bag under his desk, a tight squeeze for such a good boy scout.
She wanted to screw with him just a little bit before he managed to land any hits, so calling him by his former rank was probably what caused him to pause on his end.
"Captain?"
"You're not gonna do the Superbowl. It is Congresswoman Gunn's tradition to attend each year and Stark should not try to divert the attention from the game for the sake of grandstanding."
Darcy let out a short laugh lacking mirth and looked around for her wine glass.
"And Miranda won't be shaking hands? She'll stay out of sight the entire game? I live in the real world."
"If you lived in the real world, you'd know the raging dumpster fire that is your precarious position in this race can only last so long," Rogers replied, and Darcy could feel his contempt as if it radiated through the phone, despite his level tone.
At least he wasn't boring, she'd given him that. She also knew that Gunn's husband was the football fan and not her. She didn't go there for her own family fun. She would otherwise stay home in the Hamptons and have a barbecue.
"Have you been holding onto that line for a while, Steve?" she asked, finally picking up her glass to take another sip of her wine.
"Stark will not go to the Superbowl."
A chink in his armor. He didn't know how to deal with her. He tried to appeal to her feminism too soon with that comment about Gunn being the first female President, and now he was just clutching at straws. She half expected him to call her names.
"I'll think about it," Darcy said, and then she hung up, swirling the wine on her tongue.
She didn't actually have to think about it.
Darcy got a bunch of men in her contacts asking about the Superbowl and whether she needed a date. Disgusted, she blocked those numbers and made sure she triple checked the schedule.
They arrived fashionably late to the VIP rooms, partly because of Tony's own style and partly because Darcy wanted the element of surprise.
The look on Steve Rogers' face when he spotted her was priceless. She wished she could have it framed, it made her feel elated. He glared at her seconds later from across the ball room, the other elite attendees turning to see Tony standing between Darcy and Pepper with a smile on his face.
"What I miss?" he said, and several people laughed.
"Mister Stark!" cried the Ambassador from the United Kingdom, coming forward to shake his hand.
Darcy turned to see the Patriots were ahead, and Pepper smiled at her. They glided over to the bar, their eyes traveling over to Congresswoman Gunn whose surprised was barely concealed by her fake smile while she shook Tony's hand.
Rogers shook Tony's hand but it looked like it hurt him to do so. His eyes flitted away from Tony when his hand fell to his side, and then he looked right at Darcy.
"Eat it," Darcy murmured, before she took a sip of her beer.
Pepper caught her eye and her eyebrows rose, before someone else sidled up to them asking how the Stark toddler was doing.
Tony finally peeled himself away from the crowd to come up beside Darcy while Pepper worked the room.
Tony spoke in a low voice: "That's Captain Rogers?"
Darcy laughed softly, licking her lips. "The one who said I'm on the wrong side."
"The poor prick," Tony murmured, his mouth spreading into a smile. "What did you do to him?"
"He didn't want us here," Darcy replied, and they watched Pepper float toward Gunn's party, shaking hands with the Congresswoman before turning to Rogers.
"He knows we're staring at him."
Darcy didn't care. "I want him to think we're laughing about him."
They erupted into guffaws, making Rogers tense up, his eyes moving from Pepper to Darcy. She could see his jaw tick from that distance.
Pepper came back ten minutes later, kissing Tony before taking back her beer from him and drinking.
"What are you two up to?" she murmured, and Darcy's face returned to neutral, her eyes on the score on the TV screens surrounding them.
The next part was probably taking it too far, but Darcy didn't appreciate the raging dumpster fire analogy. It felt like low hanging fruit, anyway.
Tony was four points behind Congresswoman Gunn when he finally announced he was seeking the Democratic nomination. The only other threat was Governor William Ainsworth, but Darcy still regarded anyone but Tony as boring and safe.
She began to refer to Gunn as Wonder Bread in her head, and occasionally Ainsworth was Bran Muffin if she remembered he existed.
The plan was to make Rogers more pissed off, and it was easier than Darcy expected. She researched him more, finding out that he was the brains behind Carol Danvers' campaign a few years ago. Danvers was the youngest female senator in Illinois' history with a huge social media following.
With her headphones in one afternoon ten days after the Superbowl, Darcy sat at her desk at headquarters while she scrolled through Danvers' Instagram. The woman was less than two years older than Darcy with a lot of the same tastes as her. There were so many pictures of food and Danvers' ginger cat named Goose.
Darcy scrolled far enough back to find a video of none other than Danvers' old campaign manager at his laptop. Danvers was the one behind the camera giving her commentary.
"And we've got Captain Steven Grant Rogers here workin' hard to make a livin'!"
Rogers put up a hand, realizing he was being filmed. He smiled shyly, shaking his head at the camera. It only made Danvers giggle, her hand pointing to his two open beers next to him on the edge of the screen.
"You into the double fisting, Cap?"
"You know I hate that expression," Rogers chided, still smiling. It only made Danvers cackle off-screen. "You gonna put that down so we can get back to work?"
There was something beneath his tone, a kind of playfulness Darcy recognized as a secret flirting and the video ended with the camera still on his face.
Darcy's mean idea meant having Jane call around, and eventually they managed to get hold of the senator's headquarters and schedule.
At the beginning of March, Carol Danvers was shaking hands with Darcy and Jane before she took a tour of the non-profit in Queens.
She was all smiles and dressed down, and she might be the coolest person Darcy had ever met. She was surprised the woman got along with Rogers so well.
"Oh, my goodness," Carol said as a fifth grade girl handed her an illustration of her cat Goose she made using a smart pen donated to the non-profit. "I have to give you a hug. I have to."
Carol brought little Monica into a hug and glanced at Darcy, mouthing, "Thank you."
Darcy found herself smiling. She knew the trouble this would cause. By saying yes to the visit, Carol Danvers was inadvertently endorsing Tony for the nomination.
Darcy liked that she was right about Carol as a person, because she hoped the senator did actually care about the young girls she spoke about in speeches.
Once the offices closed for the night Carol hung around, still asking questions about how they were helping girls in Queens and around New York.
"You want something to drink?" Darcy asked finally, and Carol's eyes lit up.
"You got beer?"
Jane departed eventually, and Darcy gave her a rare hug goodbye since she'd most likely not see her again for several weeks because of Tony's schedule.
"First debate coming up," Carol said when they were alone.
Darcy nodded. "Yeah, and I'm new to all this."
"I wouldn't know. Tony Stark has a very compelling message."
Darcy smiled briefly, taking a swig from her beer. Carol hesitated but then pressed on despite whatever thought she had.
"I'm in trouble for being here already," she admitted, and Darcy met her gaze.
"Hmm."
They blinked at one another before Darcy cleared her throat.
"I'm expecting an angry phone call any second now."
"Steve's not that angry," Carol replied. "He's just very protective of whatever corner he's in."
Darcy waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't think she'd change her mind about Rogers.
"This is his fourth campaign. When I ran there was the veteran angle. We met through – through a service."
"For what?" Darcy asked.
Carol looked away. "I got sick during my time in the Air Force and I met Steve through his non-profit."
Darcy didn't ask what she suffered with. That felt like something that was probably used against her during her campaign but she couldn't remember it off the top of her head, but it wouldn't be a stretch to consider it was post-traumatic stress.
"He wanted me to work for him," Darcy admitted, and Carol's eyebrows hiked.
"Oh. And he's so stubborn, he would have hated you saying no," she replied.
Darcy was pleased by that, but shrugged to convey nonchalance.
There was a buzz and Carol let out a small groan, pulling out her phone from her jean pocket.
"My PA. She hates me ignoring her."
"Take it," Darcy said.
Carol got up and answered it, asking what was happening. She turned around, an amused expression on her face.
"Really? How many times has he left a message?" Her eyebrows nearly reached her hairline. "Five. Okay. Probably because of the photo I put on Twitter."
Carol eventually hung up, sighing.
"He's pissed. He thinks this is bad for my image."
Darcy frowned. "There are worse people than me to be photographed with."
She deduced they may never have slept together. It was probably more like a brother-sister bond than anything sexual. If any kind of fling had occurred it was long over, anyway.
The first debate was in Nevada, and neither Wonder Bread nor Bran Muffin made any comment regarding Tony's contribution. Neither acknowledged whether they were excited to debate with Tony.
They were pretending he didn't exist, and Darcy wasn't there for it. Inspired by her perusing Carol's Instagram she decided to record Tony at his dining room table in the Manhattan mansion on her phone and upload it to the official Twitter account.
Tony sat with his hands folded, his face almost blank compared to his usual infectious smile while he stared straight into the camera.
"Congresswoman Gunn and Governor Ainsworth will be at the first Democratic debate held in Nevada this Thursday. You know that because they won't stop talking about one another. They want to ignore the fact that I'm polling level to Congresswoman Gunn while Governor Ainsworth lags behind. These are facts."
Tony tilted his head slightly.
"I'll be in Nevada Thursday. I'm swinging by. This is your only warning."
Darcy lowered her phone and Rhodey yelled behind her, "Game fucking on!"
Darcy pressed stop.
Tony smiled, himself again. "Keep that in."
"Sure," Darcy said, and Rhodey nodded at her. He was still fired up, the whole room that included most of Tony's staff still was, too.
"I'm done with these snobs," Tony muttered while Darcy uploaded the video.
"We're going to win," she said, putting her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. She placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. "We're going to win."