The Man by The Killers
- from Darcy's iPod
ix.
NOW.
Darcy changed her mind. Or, she made it seem like she'd had a change of heart somewhere between seeing Tony and then going back to the city alone a day later.
She wore a Chanel suit this time, with huge sunglasses that made her look like a bug. She donned pastels and kept her long mane loose and wavy. This was meant to be like a massive seduction and everybody needed to know who she was, and who she knew.
She wasn't like herself, and Darcy was comforted by that alone.
Natasha and Bucky were far away – off somewhere in the outskirts of Versailles, France. Natasha's friend who'd evaded Interpol thanks to her some years back owed her a favour, and Natasha got a black and white photo of a satellite image showing a building with several trucks surrounding it.
"According to my source, Steve is here," Natasha said, pointing to her laptop screen as they planned again for the final time in the Jeep.
Instead of flying off together, Darcy gave herself what she never wanted – a reality check. She could be a team player by staying behind, and it wasn't as if she was completely useless being back in the States while Natasha and Bucky went to rescue Steve in France.
Her task was to garner as much sympathy as possible for Bucky and Steve. She would play the demure, grieving friend to anyone who would listen. She'd find it in her heart to forgive Tony for his little attempt at bribing her into giving away Bucky's location in exchange for Bruce.
All the while, Darcy would be sharpening her claws and waiting for the precise moment to pounce.
Darcy called Pepper Potts the second her feet landed on the pavement in Manhattan. She turned to tip the cab driver and gave him a small, charming smile. She even gave the guy a little wave goodbye, although she was sure he'd deliberately taken her a block out of the way to jack up the price.
Pepper sounded breathless on the other end of the line.
"Darcy, why are you calling me on this number?"
"I'm guessing you're aware of the urgency, then?"
Pepper sounded flustered. "Tony said he saw you yesterday but you weren't –"
If Pepper was about to say 'you weren't in your right mind', Darcy was sure she'd scream, but she talked over her before she could finish.
"I'm calling in a favour."
Darcy let Pepper guess which favour she was referring to, because between the two women they both knew Darcy was owed a lot for being Tony's assistant all that time ago. There were countless fires put out to say the least.
Nothing could be smoothed over so easily, and yet Darcy found Pepper more than happy to oblige.
Tony met with Darcy again, but this time in a mutual territory, at a diner neither of them particularly favoured, but Darcy wanted a cheap cup of coffee.
Tony was wearing his tinted sunglasses again and a pressed suit, and looked Darcy over quizzically when he arrived at their booth and sat down opposite her.
"This is a surprise."
"I went shopping."
"Clearly."
She didn't come across as an inconsolable friend of Captain America, but he wasn't who she meant to appeal to. She propped her elbows up on the table and tilted her head.
"You're not going to ask me where Bruce is?" Tony quipped, looking over the menu with mild interest before pushing it aside and taking off his glasses.
He looked tired, like always.
"I figured you weren't going to tell me," Darcy said airily, shrugging.
"He doesn't want to be found, that's what he told me a year ago. In this lame, pedestrian barely encrypted message I got."
Darcy felt her façade waver before fitting back into place. She didn't know what she expected from this conversation, only that if Bruce didn't want to be found, he had a very good excuse.
He could be suicidal. He could just resent her that much. But why couldn't he send her divorce papers like everyone else did?
Darcy waved over a waitress and ordered a slice of apple pie with ice cream.
"Tony, I asked you here because I'm going to salvage Steve in whatever way I can. After you dragged him through the dirt for offending you."
"He hid a fugitive from me that he knew killed my parents. And so did you."
They only glared at one another for a moment, and then Darcy remembered they were once friends, and that she loved working for him. All that time ago when she cared about what people thought of her. She didn't know when she lost that, but it had been ripped away sometime between her miscarriage and now.
"Bucky got his arm and his freewill taken away from him, and you blame me and Steve for wanting to keep him safe and away from people like you?"
The waitress dropped the plate of Darcy's pie in front of her and sauntered away.
"People like me?"
"People like you are the ones who keep Bucky in the same box like he chose all this. He regrets every day what he did to your family."
Tony scoffed. "So why did he run away?"
"Because you were going to kill him!" Darcy yelled, her mouth full. "He already doesn't trust anybody. He spent years away trying to find every copy of his book of triggers to stop anything like that ever happening again."
"He should have stayed! He should have let me and SHIELD work something out to protect everyone. How are we supposed to pretend everyone is safe when there's a guy like him out in the world who could flip his switch at any second?"
"The world isn't safe, Tony! And everybody knows that."
"I tried to get Steve to agree to this, to be accountable. We have to be put in check."
Darcy shook her head and laughed harshly. "Either way, he's missing."
Tony lowered his voice and didn't take his eyes of her. "Everybody is looking for him. And I know Barnes and Natasha are out there, too. I know because I let them go without getting arrested."
Darcy stopped chewing and swallowed hard.
"Good."
"So what are you doing here with me?"
"I'm warning you that things are about to get messier."
"Oh, really?"
Tony had already gone back to being cocky and unconvinced, which only made Darcy want to humiliate him faster.
"I'm going to do an interview with the New York Times."
Tony made a sound like he was trying to form a sentence, and Darcy went back to her pie. It was a delicious as she'd hoped it would be.
"I'm going to tell them everything."
