Chapter Nine:
Steve was beyond tired after a full day in the gym. It had been weeks since Moonstone showed up and it was driving his anxiety crazy. What was her next plan? He wanted to know and be ready to prevent it. Darcy had been avoiding him, holing up in the lab with Jane, claiming she was super busy and leaving the second she was done. Ever since they almost kissed he barely saw her at all. There was most definitely an awkwardness between the two but it seemed she had no intention of fixing it.
One night when Darcy was packing up her things to go and Jane was long gone, she heard someone walk in the lab. She turned to see Steve in his tight-fitting shirt that practically forced her to look at his muscles. "Uh, hi. What's up?" she tried to ask coolly making it seem as if nothing was wrong between them.
"Nothing really," Steve said with a frown. "I haven't seen much of you lately."
"Yeah, Jane's working me like crazy with research. We're almost onto something though, which is good." Darcy said and tried to force a normal smile with the lie.
"That's great," he said while nodding.
"Yeah. She's actually being taken to Asgard with Thor tomorrow. She finally convinced him. Or made it worth his while." Darcy said with a shrug.
"So you're off tomorrow?" Steve asked.
"I have to come in and make sure things are running smoothly but after that, yeah." she answered.
"Let's go out for lunch. Pizza?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
Darcy smiled, trying to hide her discomfort. "Yeah. Alright. I gotta run though, see you then." she said before leaving. As she was walking home in the dark she heard a few noises behind her. She turned to find nothing and shrugged it off. Once she started walking again she was grabbed by two men and as she tried to scream a hand clamped over her mouth. Before she could do anything to defend herself, a tall woman with shining eyes stepped before Darcy and as she placed a hand on her head, Darcy blacked out.
The next morning when Darcy didn't come in, Steve began to worry that she was doing this to avoid him. He paced back and forth in his room anxiously awaiting her arrival.
"Sir, would you like me to try Ms. Lewis' apartment telephone?" JARVIS asked.
"Uh, yeah, sure." Steve said, picking up the phone from his bedside table. It rang a few times before being answered groggily. "Darcy?" Steve asked.
"No. Alex. Roommate. What do you want?" she groaned.
"Is Darcy there?" he asked, trying to remain patient.
"No. She didn't come home at all last night. Figured she got laid finally." Alex said with a snort.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked, suddenly losing his sense of calm.
"Yepp." she answered. Steve hung up quickly. Where could she go? What if she was in trouble? He checked his watch and cursed under his breath finding that Thor and Jane had already left for Asgard. He ran up the stairs to the kitchen where he found Tony and Bruce arguing over some invention and having coffee.
"Capsicle, please tell Bruce here how I am always right, and his calculations must be incorrect." Tony said, rolling his eyes.
"Darcy's missing." Steve said, ignoring Tony. "We need to find her."
"Relax, I'm sure your little girlfriend is fine. Call SHIELD, they probably have her." Tony said, getting up to pour himself more coffee.
"No. Something's wrong. I just know it." Steve said angrily. "I'm going to find her." He began to walk out when Bruce called out.
"Wait for me!" he said, shrugging his lab coat off and following Steve.
They arrived in Director Fury's office an hour later. "Gentlemen, I think I know why you're here." he said, getting up from his desk. "Darcy Lewis has been taken, I am aware. We think we have some answers." Bruce and Steve followed him into a small interrogation room where a man with a black eye and several cuts on his face was sitting, handcuffed to a chair.
"This is one of Moonstone's handy men. He so kindly told us that Jane Foster would be taken and we would all be lost. Problem is, they took the wrong damsel." Fury said, eyeing the dirty man.
"Where did they take her?" Steve asked, trying to remain calm.
"That, he refuses to answer." the Director said. Steve walked up to the man and took him by the collar.
"I will never tell. You will never be able to stop her." the man said with an ugly grin. Before he could stop himself Steve hit him hard in the face. He began bleeding yet still had the stupid smirk on his face. "You will not get it out of me." he said before biting down on something. Before they could realize what he'd done, the man had fallen limp and there was foam coming from his mouth. When Steve checked for a pulse, there was none.
A/N: dun dun dun! Updates won't be as often now. I'm deathly sick so yeah. And there's a few more weeks until break, yay! Reviews please! Any suggestions for what should happen next? Oh! And give me ideas for another fic! Avengers-related or not!
