Author's Note: I still think you are the absolute best readers an author can have! This is my Advent gift to all of you, but I'm planning on a series one-shots for the 12 Days of Christmas (Dec. 25-Jan. 5). If you hit up my tumblr – serenityscribbles – you can leave me a trope/prompt for a Darcy fic. They'll be T or lower fics and HAPPY (no angst!). Acceptable pairings – romantic – Darcy with either Clint, Bucky, or Phil. Acceptable pairings – familial/platonic – Darcy with any of the MCU Avengers and affiliates. I'm planning on TWELVE and two are already taken! (This one was TOUGH to get down on paper… Feels.)
Bond #8 – The Computer
Darcy stared around her quarters in the refurbished Stark tower. Or Avengers tower as it had now come to be called. Thor rated an entire floor and as Jane's shieldmaiden, she rated a set of rooms – rent free, no less. The temptation to pinch herself began to blossom in the back of her mind. How the hell did she come to be living in this place? She winced. Stupid question.
She came here through an almost literal hell.
The past few weeks… Hellacious. She could not think of another word to describe them. Her breath still grew short when she remembered the feeling of something tearing through her mind. Clint and Erik went silent. Nothing came across their bonds and her own emotions seemed to bleed out without reception. Their bands on her arms remained iridescent, so she knew they lived, but… She had snatched up her phone, dialing Phil's number without a second thought.
"I'm a bit busy, Miss Lewis." His voice sounded tense – still steady, still calm, but tense.
Her own voice wavered and faded. "Something's wrong with Clint and Erik."
"…I know." Phil paused. "Darcy."
"They're not dead!" Fear shot through her at the sound of her name.
He sent a wave of reassurance down their connection. "No, they're not," he agreed and she breathed a sigh of relief. Only to tense again as he continued, "But they have been compromised. I need to get you and Doctor Foster somewhere safe."
"Safe?"
"Yes, safe." He took a deep breath. "Barton would never betray you deliberately, but someone else is controlling him right now. The two of you need to be somewhere he will not consider. You would both make excellent hostages."
"Why would we…?" Her voice trailed off. "Does this have to do with Thor?"
"His brother."
Surprise and confusion swirled through her mind and then her memory kicked in. She could feel her eyes growing wide with anxiety. "Are we talking the crazy guy who sent the giant robot?"
"Yes."
"Damn." Darcy let her thoughts spin for a moment before huffing out a breath. "Okay, so, yeah, we need to get out of here." She bit her lip. "How the hell am I supposed to convince Jane to go to…? Wait, where exactly are we going to go?"
"There have been some strange atmospheric readings occurring in Norway," Phil replied. "In Tromso to be specific."
"That would do it," she agreed, "but why the hell do you even know that?"
"We have had people tracking that kind of thing since Thor's visit."
She could swear she heard a smile in his voice even though she knew his face would still be set in stoic lines. "Why? In case you have to relocate stubborn astrophysicists?"
"Or in case of an unexpected visitation."
"SHIELD," she muttered, "the workplace for the professionally nosy."
"Curious is the preferred term," he chided her, that light hint of teasing making her smile despite the hollow places in her head. "I shall set the wheels in motion," he continued. "Make sure you and the good doctor are on the transport we arrange."
"Okay," she sighed. "You'll get them back?"
"We will." Silence stretched between them for a moment. When he spoke up again, he sounded tired. "Do not come back until you hear from either myself or Tasha. Treat any contact from Barton or Selvig as a trap." He hung up before she could say anything else.
Convincing Jane to follow the pretty lights to Tromso had proven easy. Too easy. That had to be a bad sign.
And she was right. She and Jane both felt Thor's return as their bonds to him flared with emotion. Darcy wanted to be happy, excited, but she knew the situation had to be bad for Thor to be here and not calling Jane. Her mind and heart felt torn in two as various emotions coursed through her. She compartmentalized as fast as she could, but some things would not be muted. Sharp fear and desperate concern spiked through her link with Tasha. Anger and betrayal howled down her bond to Thor. Then came the worst moment of all.
Determination poured through her connection to Phil…only to be followed by pain and a black emptiness. Her wrist burned as his band dulled and turned gray.
She curled up in the middle of her bed, tears streaming down her face. Time passed. Minutes…? Hours...? Did it matter? Darcy lost all sense of time as she mourned, trying to keep her sorrow and anguish from echoing down the bond even as she could feel the same flooding her from Tasha.
Then her bond with Clint cleared.
Darcy felt him once more, quiet as if asleep or unconscious, but at least she feel him again. She knew the moment he woke up. A cascade of guilt and grief almost overwhelmed her, but she managed to shunt it to the side, focusing on trying to send him the same affection and support she had been sending towards Tasha. Maybe it worked, maybe it did not, but a switch flipped in both of them and a new feeling of vengeful resolution blazed between them.
Then Jane screamed her name.
The two women glued themselves to the television, watching as a team of heroes fought in an apparent alien invasion of New York. Both of them held their breath as they recognized Thor. Darcy spotted Tasha and Clint, as well as Iron Man, but she blinked in surprise at the other two. Hulk and…was that Captain America? Her thoughts scattered as her wrist started tingling. She gaped down at it as Phil's gray band began to darken and sparkle once more. A heavy weight rolled off of her chest and she could draw a full breath.
Phil wasn't dead.
Tears glistened in her eyes, though she did her best to blink them back. She took a minute to offer thanks for the gift of modern medicine. That had to be it – somewhere over there, someone must have managed to resuscitate her soulmate.
She was going to give him such hell for scaring her like that!
New York looked messy and battered at the end, but the city still stood, proud and defiant. Workers began clean up within hours of the battle, but even they did not move as fast as Jane. The scientist began making calls and demands as soon as she saw the hole close over the city. Both women felt Thor leave once more, and that seem to just give fuel to Jane's fire. Somehow the determined woman managed to connect with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts and the next thing Darcy knew, they were on a private jet flying across the Atlantic towards a still shell-shocked New York City.
And now she stood in an apartment that rivaled the size of her childhood home.
"I wonder if there's any food around here," Darcy muttered as she stared around the room in bemused fascination and disbelief.
"If I may, Miss Lewis, the common kitchen is fully stocked."
She spun around, trying to find the source of the voice even as her mind registered yet another tingling sensation at her wrist. It sounded like one of those butler guys from the BBC dramas she and Jane managed to get addicted to while in Europe. "Who said that?"
"My name is JARVIS, Miss Lewis," came the strange voice yet again. "I am the artificial intelligence designed by Mr. Stark to be his home computing system."
Her jaw fell open. "You have got to be kidding me!"
"I assure you, Miss Lewis, I am not 'kidding' you. I have given you an accurate, if limited, analysis of my identity."
"A snarky computer," she murmured. "Scientists and Thor and spies are not enough – I get a computer?" Darcy pushed up her sleeve, wondering if maybe she had mistaken that feeling, but no – another of her marks glittered in the light. "Oh, boy."
"Are you well, Miss Lewis?"
"I'm confused," she admitted. She held up her arm. "Know what these are, JARVIS?"
"Your soulbonds, Miss Lewis," the AI's voice replied. "Marks showing the status of your soulmates."
"Right." Then she pointed to the new line of iridescence. "And that one lit up as soon as you started talking to me."
"That is…" JARVIS paused. "I believe I will need to consider this development, Miss Lewis. That should not be possible as I am merely an artificial form of intelligence. I do not possess a 'soul' as I understand the term."
"Well, you can't program a soul," Darcy agreed, "but…well…" She shrugged and pointed to the mark. "There you are." She concentrated on the new bond. "You feel…confused?"
"Forgive me, Miss Lewis, but I must consider this and speak with Mr. Stark."
She nodded, feeling sympathy well up within her. If she was confused, she could only imagine how lost JARVIS must be. His programming probably had never taken this into account. "Please point me to the kitchen," she requested, "and let him know that's where I'll be if he wants to talk to me or something."
"Thank you, Miss Lewis. Please return to the elevator. I will make sure it takes you to the correct floor."
She left her apartment and stepped into the elevator. "Thanks, JARVIS."
"You are quite welcome."
JARVIS fell silent and Darcy leaned against the wall, feeling the elevator begin to move. "And here I thought my life was weird before."
