"Sir, there is some footage I think you need to see."
"Jarvis, I'm in the middle of something."
"I believe I made an error. I rejected an astrophysicist's application to the labs."
Tony Stark flipped his goggles up on top of his head and looked up at his hologram model.
"Seems like you made the right decision. We have no need for an astrophysicist currently."
"Yes, sir. This is what I believed to be true. The astrophysicist's work was quite disputed by the scientist community."
"Jarvis, get to the point."
"I noticed some readings recently that started to coincide with some of her theories. However, without further data I was not able to compile reasoning behind them. Her intern has shown up today with evidence that her research was evidently correct."
A dark eyebrow rose, "Where's this intern now?"
"I directed her to one of Happy's secure meeting rooms. She was being pursued by I quote 'Men in Black who wished her to sign scary NDAs'."
"The footage, Jarvis."
"Already in front of you, sir."
[Video footage]
A face appeared in the camera-view, oval and pretty with ruby red lips and light blue eyes behind heavy rimmed glasses. 'Checking one, two, oh good. It's working.'
The camera turned over and was faced toward a room after some maneuvering.
A woman with a harried expression appeared in frame, her eyes flitting briefly down, 'What..'
'Shh, I've got it all figured out.'
The woman gaped, 'How?'
'You don't want to know.'
The woman wrinkled her nose but then was immediately distracted as a large frame of a man came into the picture nearly eclipsing the whole video.
'Thor, dude, back up. So you were telling us about the Rosenheim...sorry...Rainbow bridge.'
The great hunk of man then began to expound in old fashioned speak of a bridge in Asgard that will allow a person to traverse within the Nine Realms, Midgard or Earth being one of them.
A loud tapping caused the video to shift and find four warrior-like individuals all dressed in ancient wear waving at the one called Thor. Then there were introductions.
[It was what followed that caused Tony to tense.]
Screams came from outside and suddenly a large giant of metal was striding down the streets.
The warriors tried fighting it to no avail.
[At one point Tony let out an aggravated sigh when they lost visual of the amazing feat of engineering. A begrudging smile on his lips when he saw as the girl saved all the puppies she could from a flaming pet store before sending them on their way with the evacuating city.
It was when they were turned back to the action that he realized what bothered him, other than the obvious things. The warriors were far hardier than any he had seen, the closest comparison was perhaps the once great Captain America. He winced.]
The bulky man from the beginning was down. He had surrendered himself on behalf of the town. The shouts of the two women could be heard over the video but then the impossible happened again.
'Thor's' hand twitched just barely and suddenly zooming out of frame came what looked like some sort of mallet flying into the man's hand. He rose like a hero of old as lightning struck his body, a warrior's armor rippling down his body as if by magic. The man, or alien, then dispatched the robot rather easily afterwards.
He left via a stream of light that came from above, a mark almost like a fingerprint all that was left in his place.
[End of Video]
"Damn. Jarvis, have you been able to affirm the appearance of 'Men in Black' from her previous location?"
"Indeed sir. I have also found out through my monitoring of the intern and through my resources that Dr Foster was stripped of all her research. The 'Men in Black' as she called them took even the backups of the backups."
"How was the intern able to evade Shield?"
There was a moment where Jarvis paused, a moment that Tony had learned was his way of using brevity and sometimes even humor.
"She used her life savings to book multiple flights out of New Mexico. Then left via bus from one of the stops before taking a train the rest of the way here sir."
Tony sat back in his chair. He pulled up the briefing room on the above monitor where the intern was shown within it. She didn't look stupid, or like the typical spy. He leaned forward suddenly, "Who's she talking to?"
"To me, sir."
~Perspective Shift~
Darcy was sore. It had been an uncomfortable flight, then an uncomfortable bus, train and multiple taxi rides to the Stark tower. She stretched and her back popped.
"So Mr. Jarvis, how long have you worked for Stark Industries?"
She loved the sound of Jarvis's voice. Despite all the hell she'd been through in the last 48 hours his soothing British tones were like a balm plus they were kind of sexy too even if spoken only in a no-nonsense Alfred sort of way. Of course she smiled; she always had a crush on Alfred when she was growing up, which always made her friends think she was weird, but she always felt he was the true superhero of the Batman story.
"I have been with Mr Stark since his early 20s."
"Oh." She couldn't help the blush. He was sounding even more like an Alfred than she expected.
"Are you feeling alright, Miss Lewis? You are looking quite flushed."
She rubbed her cheek slightly embarrassed.
"I'm alright, thank you. I think I'm just a bit jet lagged."
The door burst open.
Darcy glanced to the side, not that surprised to find the actual Tony Stark bursting through, as if he owned the place...which he did.
"So I'll take it, you want a job."
Darcy looked at Tony Stark and had one thought, 'an aggressive teddy bear indeed'. From all his tv interviews she'd always thought so but in person he seemed to personify the description even more. Fluffy but spiky hair, gruff but cultured facial hair and piercing eyes that dared anyone to test him.
Darcy sat up and went straight to the point, "I want Dr Foster to get a position as one of your scientists in your labs."
"You used up your life savings for Dr Foster to get a job? No one is that self-sacrificing. Perhaps you expect some money for the video."
Darcy shook her head, she felt a little dizzy even as she rolled her eyes.
"If I wanted money, I could have sold the footage to any media station. I didn't. I came to you with it directly. Jane is important to me. She has put everything she is and has into her work…only to have it suddenly ripped away from her…" Darcy stood, her eyes flashing like twin storm clouds, "No thank you! I can't go against those guys on my own. I can't protect her and I know she'll continue working on it because that's who she is. So I went to you!"
She strode purposely over to him and poked him in the chest. "Tony Stark, the supposed genius. Probably one of the most powerful people in the world, because you could give her a job and you could keep her safe." Darcy heaved a breath before collapsing into the seat nearest to her, "I have a feeling the big guy is not coming back from space any time soon, being a space prince and all."
Darcy's head hit the cold glass table as the world spun around her after her tirade, "Ug…I think I might be running out of juice."
She hadn't realized she had actually passed out until she woke up in a different room with a white coat next to her checking her vitals. There were tall windows on either side of the room that made her think she hadn't left the tower.
"What's the diagnosis, doc?"
The woman was petite with an easy smile and a nice bedside manner that immediately put Darcy at ease. She wasn't a fan of hospitals, although she supposed not many people were but she had spent most of her late teens in them so she'd grown tired of their linoleum floors and heavily disinfected smells.
"It seems you have some slight dehydration and low blood sugar. The IV will have you fixed up and right as rain in a couple more hours. Go ahead and press the buzzer on your side if you feel faint again."
Darcy had just closed her eyes when she heard Stark's voice pipe up from the doorway, "You have quite the track record for rescuing the less fortunate."
She frowned but didn't open her eyes. She didn't really want to think about how deep of a background check he was able to do in the time she was out.
"I thought the rescuing of the pups was a one time stunt, but nope. You are bent on rescuing Dr Foster. Then I found out you were quite the little heroine in your hometown."
Darcy let out a long sigh, "What's your question, Mr. Smarty Pants?"
He flopped the newspaper in her lap and asked, "Why do you do it?"
She felt the thin edges of the paper and pursed her lips before shrugging. "I've always either been the comic relief or the mom in my friend groups."
"What about you Darcy? Who rescues you?"
She glanced up to find a frown on the now grumpy teddy bear and she couldn't help the small giggle that rolled up her throat.
"Who says I need rescuing?"
"Sir, Miss Potts has informed me that she has approved your request."
Darcy smiled as she heard the British accent. Unknowingly causing the 'teddy bear' to glance at her reddening cheeks with a smirk.
"Jarvis, why don't you keep Darcy company until her suite is ready.'
"It would be my honor, sir."
Darcy's face reddened even more but still she asked, "What suite?"
However Stark didn't answer instead he left chuckling beneath his breath.
