House Rules.
"JARVIS what are we doing here?" Steve asked when the elevator only went to level 39, to the Tower employees' gym.
Protocol DL-6 has been activated since Agent Romanoff got shot, your companion is missing authorized access.
"JARVIS is the Tower security guard?" Sam asked surprised.
Good morning, Mister Wilson. I am Mister Stark's AI, I manage the Tower among other things. Please wait for further instructions.
"Seriously?" Sam asked looking confused at a smirking Steve.
"Well I could also leave you here and go up without you it will certainly take less time." Steve shrugged pointing at the stairs.
"No need to go to extremes Capsicle, I am here to help." Stark said getting out of the Elevator like he owned the place, which he did. "Oh and I won't be so confident Darcy is pretty pissed you might not be on the authorized list either." Stark pointed out making Steve groan rubbing his palm over his head.
"How mad is she?" Steve asked and Stark looked at Sam than back at Steve who nodded.
"Well if you didn't have your own floor I would say you're looking at lonely nights on the couch in your near future, but you know you have an actual bed to go to if it comes to that." Stark explained.
"I think I'll stick with the couch." Steve said resolutely.
"Might be a wise choice." Sam told him, trying really hard not to laugh at his friend, but really sleeping on the couch for a few days will do more for them than if he went back to sleep on his floor, showing her he was taking his punishment instead of going around it.
Stark took a few measurement with his tablet, voice imprint, fingerprint, DNA scans, Sam was feeling naked even without having to take off any of his clothes.
"JARVIS send everything to Hill, tell her to add him to the security protocol." Stark said looking at them. "It's going to take a minute. Got the wings back in the lab, you're going to have to explain what happened to them."
"The Winter Soldier tore them off." Sam said shrugging.
"Barnes did that?" Stark asked and Sam could see Steve tensing up.
"No I am pretty sure Barnes would love them, the Soldier however not so much." Sam had taken to differentiate them it was easier on Steve and would probably help the Avengers and the public make a difference between the man who had been a POW since 1945 and the Asset Hydra made him to be.
Stark sized him up and nodded. "Okay than, come take a look at them when you're done with the house rules." He told him.
Sir you still have 5 hours on your lab restriction.
"Darcy is being unreasonable, sure I blew up half the lab but she was bleeding out on the damn couch, I should not be held responsible." Stark complained, making Steve try badly to hide a laugh with a cough "So if you could come by after…" Stark looked at his expensive watch groaning. "…3 pm. We'll look at your wings." And with that he went back to the elevator. "You're coming?" He asked leaning on the far end wall of the cart.
"It's only been 5 minutes and I feel like this is going to be a weird stay." Sam told Steve while they entered the elevator.
"Your boy is out by the way, something to do with London and Ian, we couldn't join his bodyguard after you took down SHIELD so since Ian works for us it's our responsibility, plus his guard was on Clint's list of trusted people so he went to see what was going on." Stark explained.
"Did he take anyone?" Steve asked worriedly.
"No, said that they probably just went dark on their own, Ian would show up here while Clint was looking for him." Stark shrugged dismissing it but Steve still looked worried.
"And Darcy agreed?" Steve asked when they got out of the elevator.
"He's my assistant. If I wasn't sequestered in here I would be in London looking for him too." Darcy said, she was waiting for them. "Sam!" She told him holding out her hand to shake.
"Darce!" Steve whined but she ignored him.
"So as you just saw, house rule number one is no visitors, at least for now, until we can be sure the Tower security isn't full of Hydra Agents." She explained to Sam. "Hill says we have to send three more people to Nevada if that's okay." She told Stark.
"We better find somewhere else, I don't want the Nevada facility to become a Hydra plant." Stark said walking away taping on his tablet.
"Why not just fire them?" Sam asked.
"Leverage? We know they are there, we can control what Intel they get their dirty hands on eventually trade them if the need arise." Darcy explained coldly, it made sense but looking as Steve shuddered at her tone of voice, she wasn't really acting like her usual self.
"Darce!" Steve tried once again.
"Moving one, the Tower is surrounded by spies from a lot of agencies, mostly on the ground though since the new plans prevented direct view into the tower from the skyscrapers. General Ross has several men down there around the clock, Bruce and Betty aren't allowed outside without protection until we can make sure he is not paring up with Hydra. If you're willing to help with that tell them directly although they rarely get out of the Tower anyway." Darcy explained and from what Natasha had explained about the Strike team being ex-Ross soldiers it made sense.
Darcy had led them to the kitchen offering him fruits juice, and re-heated pancake breakfast, but still not talking to Steve or even looking at him really, Sam crocked an eyebrow at that but Steve brushed it off he will take care of it later.
"We all have free reign over every common areas, Sunday night are movie nights though. You'll be living with Steve 'on his floor'" she insisted on that last part even though Sam already knew the Captain had no intention to sleep down there. "JARVIS will order anything you need or simply want, as long as it's related to day to day life, Avengers stuff you'll have to ask Dumbass next to you or Stark, maybe Hill I haven't decided yet."
"Okay that makes sense." Sam said getting up to rinse off his plate and put it into the dishwasher.
"Security protocols. We each have our own, JARVIS will inform you if we activate one and what you're allowed to do or not, or where you can be or not depending on who activated it. Natasha leaves guns everywhere, if needed she is not opposed to sharing them otherwise don't touch. If I were you I'll check before sitting on any couch or chair, Clint tends to leave arrow heads in unlikely places. JARVIS usually manages for Iron Man's equipment or Tony's experiments not to go boom unexpectedly." She started to explain.
"I heard that Lewis." Stark screamed from far behind them.
"Go to sleep Tony!" She screamed back. "So I guess this leaves…"
"Hulk." Sam finished for her.
"He is around enough, Bruce and Tony build a safe room for him, but quick rundown, if he is mad and I am not around don't second guess yourself and run." Darcy told him.
"And if you're around?" Sam asked and Darcy grinned.
"I like you." She told Sam, seeming proud that someone was asking questions. "Tell me Sam how is your Bond situation?"
"Hum…" Sam said looking at Steve for advice but the Captain just gestured for him to answer. "Got parental ones, and I had a platonic one with Riley so it's not going to be a problem."
"Riley?" She asked but Sam saw Steve shaking his head and she continued without waiting for an answer. "So the situation of the house is a little complicated." She said leading him to the lounge and its couches
. "Want something stronger to drink?" She asked but Sam only asked for coffee Steve serving one to the three of them.
"So here is the deal, Bruce and Betty are romantic bonds, Pepper is bonded to a civilian she sometimes have lunch with it's all very platonic, everyone else is a blank." Darcy explained and Sam didn't comment he had figured that the Avengers wouldn't be bonded to people it would be dangerous with the kind of work they do plus he had seen enough of Natasha's and Steve's skin to take a guess. "We learned the bonds come from the Tesseract and Dumbass…"
"Darcy stop that." Steve protested and Sam looked at his friends surprised.
"Really? How?" Sam asked.
"Scienc-y stuff will be taken care off by the scientists after their nap." Darcy said sounding like his mom whenever she was trying to render his nephews.
"The Scientists?" Sam asked anyway.
"Jane Foster, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Betty Ross…" She said and Sam knew his face showed how interested he was into talking to all those people. "Welcome to Wonderland Wilson, please keep your arms and legs close to your body at all time, I don't like looking for parts." She was so serious that a shiver run down his spine.
"Okay I'll keep that in mind." Sam confirmed.
"So this part is more personal, and kind of complicated." Darcy said wiggling on her seat, Natasha entered the room and came to sit next to her snuggling against the woman.
"Sam" she acknowledged him with a smile.
"Natasha." He answered smiling back.
"Hey Darce, you heard from Clint?" Natasha asked.
"Left my phone in the bedroom. JARVIS?" Darcy inquired.
Agent Barton hasn't called or texted yet today.
"Okay." Natasha said rubbing her hand on Darcy back. "So how is it going?" She asked gesturing to Sam.
"Well we were getting to the 'Me' part of the security tour." Darcy said blushing and suddenly looking anywhere but at any of them.
"You know you don't have to do it, we already talked about this." Natasha told her.
"You all made your case, I listened, you were right if he is going to chase after our missing person and play with you on occasion he needs to know, I'll feel better if I can speak clearly in front of him. Plus he is going to live here for sometimes and …" She stopped and looked around them. "Weird stuff are bound to happen, like Hulk showing up for movie night."
"Wait Hulk does movie night?" Sam asked surprised at himself.
"He likes to cuddle in front of Disney movies." Darcy shrugged off.
"First off Sam, Darcy is off limits, outside of the Tower she doesn't exist or is strictly Miss Lewis head of the civilian part of the Avengers." Natasha told him.
"But in reality she is the head of the Avengers period." Sam remembered from the Dam facility.
"Not quite. Steve when he is in full possession of all his neurons is the head of the Avengers when it's about fighting and planning and training, and all those stuff I don't want to deal with and don't have time to spare for anyway." Darcy explained and Sam was confused she had been the one calling the shots the previous week after all. "Destruction of SHIELD created political chaos, civilians distrusting the government agencies, hole into SI human resources, PR disaster, injuries of allies and of, well, the four of you, and that's all on me, and my team but they do as I say so still on me, thank for bringing Hill on though she's been a great asset."
Sam understood, what they did had repercussions, Steve, Natasha, Fury, Hill and himself they had been the front of the attack, people knew they were there they showed themselves protected all they could but in the end there was civilian casualties and a lot more was down than just a building and a few carriers. The Avengers were a super-heroes team, a public face fighting for what was right, Darcy was the support system behind it, keeping them into the public good grace.
"I was wondering why the Winter Soldier hadn't been mentioned." Sam said aloud making Darcy smile.
"Hydra kept him as secret as SHIELD did with me, but JARVIS found some files anyway." Darcy admitted.
"SHIELD kept you secret?" Sam asked remembering the look Steve had send Fury when he said JARVIS should take care of any Darcy related files.
"Yep, JARVIS didn't find anything about me." She was proud of that fact.
"Not even…?" Natasha said looking at her without finishing her sentence.
"Nope, not even about Max." Darcy shrugged. "Phil and Nick did a good job hiding me, I would send them flowers, you know, if they were not dead." She said rolling her eyes.
"JARVIS said I should get up here." They heard from the elevator as Hill came into the room.
"Darcy was about to explain why she doesn't exist. But you already know that don't you?" Steve asked the new comer.
"No only obeyed orders where she was concerned. I don't mind doing it that way again." Maria said looking at Darcy.
"Sit down Hill." Darcy gestured to the couch. "Once upon a time…"
"Stop that." Natasha told her pushing her gently off the chair, helping her getting back on it after it.
"What? Horror stories princess style are only allowed when it's yours?" Darcy asked crocking an eyebrow.
"Horror Stories?" Sam asked suddenly incredibly uncomfortable, maybe he should have agreed to get something stronger than coffee, that girl couldn't be older than 22 what kind of horror could she be talking about?
"JARVIS my private file please." She asked and a file appeared on holograms in front of Maria and Sam startling him.
"Ross' experiment? I thought they shut it down after…" But Hill looked at something specific in the file than at Darcy. "I see."
"I highly doubt that." Darcy said chuckling.
Sam read the all file quickly, looking at the dates, the agencies names on the reports, the variation of things that made no senses to him apart from the fact that apparently SHIELD and the Avengers, even before they came together had spent a lot of time either protecting her or looking for her.
"So I am bonded to all of them." Steve coughed when she said that and Sam could immediately tell that it was a bad move from the death glare he received from it. "Except Captain America of course he doesn't have a bond he is a 95 years old martyr who acts like everything on Earth is always his responsibility and his alone."
"Yeah I kind of deserve that one, I am going to leave you to it." Steve started to get up when Darcy growled.
"You're going to sit your ass back down on this couch read that damn file and listen to what I have to say for once or I swear Thor is going to shove Mew-Mew so deep down your throat he'll be able to retrieve it by the other end." Darcy told him pointing an accusing finger on the Captain chest and Sam had never seen the man this shaken before.
"Lewis what's wrong with your eyes?" Maria asked and Sam looked up, the woman's eyes were green where they should be white.
"JARVIS where is Bruce?" Natasha asked sitting Darcy back down to take a few deep breaths.
"I am here." Bruce said sitting on the floor on the other side of Darcy rubbing a hand on her knee.
"Tony?" Steve asked the scientist.
"Better be sleeping." Darcy growled again but Stark came to join them in the room Darcy visibly relaxing at having him there, even more when he leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
"Clint?" Bruce asked.
"Still in London." Natasha told him.
"Okay let's do this then." Stark told them. "Story time or visual?" He asked. "I kind of like the visual I miss the Big Guy."
"Big Guy?" Maria asked.
"Let's keep it to story time please I want to go back to work after that." Bruce told them.
"Okay I am bonded to all of them. They are NOT bonded to one another." Darcy said quickly. "If I am upset my eyes turn Green and if I don't calm down Hulk tends to show up, weirdly enough he has a calming effect on me like a really good anti-depressant without the dependency problem." She explained rubbing a hand on Bruce's hair.
"I see." Maria said, but honestly Sam doubted she saw anything more than him into this.
"When Tony gets hurt, I feel the physical pain of it." Darcy said. "That's how I ended up in Ross' experiments."
"Dr Ross experimented on you?" Sam asked feeling uncomfortable.
"No, she helped me get out, her father was the one who ordered the experiment he wants to build an army of Hulk bonded to him for that he needs to figure out how it works." Darcy explained.
"So the Ross' spies outside?" Sam asked needing the Intel.
"Here for Bruce and Betty, I am nobody to them or at least we hope so, I wasn't Darcy Lewis when I was a prisoner, I was Max and thanks to the Hellicarriers and SHIELD the Strike Teams members who could have identify me are not a concern anymore." Darcy assured him.
"Natasha?" Maria asked moving thing along.
"If she gets hurt it shows on my body. Bruises, cuts, bullet holes, whatever it is, but no pain though." She assured them squeezing Natasha's hand.
"I never heard of anything like that." Sam said.
"As far as we know she's the only one." Stark explained.
"It's convenient that she's linked to the Avengers though." Maria said suspect-fully.
"JARVIS pull up the video feed please." Darcy said looking at Steve. "Get out." She asked him.
"I want to see it." Steve said when the feed appeared but the video was paused not showing what it was supposed to.
"Get. Out." Darcy hissed at him and Steve went to the kitchen.
The video screen cut off in two halves on one side Darcy talking to Barton and Banner in the kitchen, on the other Natasha in the street running away from the Soldier. It was easy to understand why Darcy showed that moment to them, easy to see on her white dress shirt the blood starting to stain it at the exact moment Natasha got shot and the screams from Banner and Barton when it happened, contrasting with Darcy's calm she didn't even look like she had noticed before she looked down at the blood.
Sam knew why she didn't want Steve to see it, but he also knew the man would ask him what he had seen, not really sure it would be a good idea to explain to him that basically when his brainwashed BFF shot at his current BFF he also almost killed his Girl.
"JARVIS cut it off." Darcy said and Natasha brushed her finger against the girl's arm. "Yeah okay, tell Cap he can come back."
"Still finding it convenient?" Stark asked Maria clearly testing her, he would have no qualm making sure the ex-SHIELD assistant director disappeared if it would assure Darcy's safety.
"How are you even still alive?" Maria asked Darcy.
"Luck?" Darcy shrugged. "Seriously no idea. Though I did die a few times."
"They were not all my fault." Tony protested even though no one had even looked at him.
"Never said it was, even when it was because of you." Darcy told him leaning over Natasha to kiss Stark's cheek.
"What does this make about us?" Sam asked.
"Nothing. You're part of the team you needed to know, in case Tasha gets shot again, or Tony dies, or Hulk shows up I guess, or anything that we haven't figured out yet. Telling you is a mark of trust not a request to join the mad house." Darcy concluded. "Now if you excuse me I think Captain Spangles and I have some things to talk about." She said pointing at the elevator for Steve to follow her.