Hi everyone.

Sorry for the wait for this chapter (and the shortness of it :( But I have been busy during the new year, and may get busier soon with a potential job prospect coming up. But hopefully I can still pump out chapters at a faster rate.)

I am working on a long 12k chapter update for 'A New Team (Done Right)' as well as a new Young Justice story (and my re-write of Young Justice Dark , and several Marvel chapters.

Now this chapter takes place 2 months after the previous one, and has 'Darcy' settled into her internship as Erik arrives.

And for those of you wondering, yes I will start calling her 'Darcy' from her perspective in future, probably after she meets Tony (unless a lot of people want me to keep referring to her as 'Toni' we'll see. I could go either way at this point)


It had been two months since Toni had begun her internship with Jane in Puente Antiguo, having flown across the country to work with her in her makeshift lab and help her collect and research data regarding the Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory.

Toni had to admit, she was onto something. It may have been a bit out there, but there was still a solid theory underlying everything Jane was researching.

For the most part she'd been doing grunt work, recording and collecting data, helping Jane set up her equipment, drive her out to the research sites she'd mapped out, etc.

Though she'd shown a sliver of her true intellect during her meeting with Jane, she still kept herself unassuming for the most part. Though she had taken to doing some maintenance on Jane's cobbled together tech when the older woman was sleeping, or in a three day science bender that left her basically sleep walking through her research, in which Toni had to coerce her to sleep.

It was strange to be the one doing that to someone else for once.

She'd also been fixing Jane's math for her, not that the Astrophysicist would normally require that much correcting, but again after days of no sleep there were glaring errors that popped up that Toni just couldn't let slide.

Jane had been suspicious, but Toni had thus far avoided all attempts at being caught out.

She'd also built a database for Jane, but when asked how she did it, Toni said she'd simply bought the program. When Jane gave her money to pay her back for it, Toni merely slipped it back into Jane's budgeted funds in several smaller amounts.

All in all, it had been a pretty good two months, the little town while missing a lot of the amenities and comforts the big cities possessed, still had a certain charm about it that Toni grew to enjoy.

And the local diner owner Izzy, had taken a shine to her and Toni always got discounts or extra servings thrown in when she went to eat there, or to pick up orders for Jane.

"You need to feed that woman, I swear she's going to collapse face down on her computer one of these days" she'd said to Toni when she'd gone to pick up some sandwiches the other day.

Toni had to hold back on telling her she had in fact found Jane like that more than once.

She finally knew how her friends felt when they'd constantly berated her on her own lab schedule, if you could call the chaotic uncoordinated sessions which varied from hours to days at a time she herself had spent working on her suits or other projects.

Pepper, Rhodey, Phil, Melinda, Aunt May, Jarvis, and even Peter sometimes when he hadn't been right there beside her in their science binges, had all had turns at coaxing Toni from her lab at one time or another.

That wasn't to say she wasn't still going to go on the inevitable science binge, but at least now she was more aware of the situation from the other side of things. Though maybe she could remember to set timers for taking a proper snack break, or to take a nap.

Back onto the topic of Jane, she had gone to pick up her old professor and colleague Erik Selvig from the airport which was all the way in Albuquerque and wouldn't be back till this evening.

Toni had thus spent the time organizing and cataloguing more data after getting back from lunch hours ago, having made sure to organize dinner as well before she returned. Though knowing Jane, she'd probably have to hold the food in front of her face and press it into her mouth manually, as when she got back she knew the Astrophysicist would want to go straight into explaining all of her research first thing with Selvig.

After spending another two hours working, she decided to take a break and returned back to her room. It wasn't big or spacious, but she made do with the tiny bedroom, finding it cozy and comfortable...after a few weeks of adjusting to it. Jane mostly slept out in the trailer she had parked adjacent to her lab, so she allowed Toni to use the room for herself.

She sat on her bed and worked on a few private projects she'd placed on her laptop, as well as in some of her notebooks, having found some pretty good hiding places for the notebooks and other items in her room she didn't want Jane finding. Not that she thought she'd snoop, Jane had only set foot in the room once when showing Toni around, but she still was a bit paranoid and wanted to take precautions.

Same with the synthetic skin solution she'd brought with her, which she had a few spares, and was kept in bottles that looked like deodorant and hairspray, again kept out of sight just in case.

She spent the next half an hour putting the finishing touches on a schematic she'd been playing around with for another suit design. Not that she could build anything on par with her previous suits yet, due to her still lacking the resources necessary for anything as high tech as that, but she still did like to keep designing and writing down ideas as they came.

By the time she put her notebook back in it's hiding place, she got a text on her phone from Jane saying they were a few minutes out, making Toni check the clock and notice how much time had passed since she'd gone to her room. She made her way back out to the lab with interest, as she'd researched Erik Selvig. The man was a brilliant Astrophysicist, as well as a former colleague of Jane's father, and knew her from when she was a young child.

Jane spoke very highly of him, and Toni had to admit he was a very well respected and accredited scientist whom she was excited to meet, especially since he didn't exist back on her Earth.

"Darcy, we're back" Jane said as Toni saw her enter the lab's front door with Doctor Selvig, and taking a moment to examine the man she couldn't help but suppress a laugh, he was an exact image of what came to mind when most people envisioned Astrophysicists.

While Jane still went around dressing like she was still a grad student, or shopping from a thrift store. Doctor Selvig was totally rocking the whole 'rumpled scientist' look, only missing a tweed jacket, though that may have gone into stereotype overload.

"Darcy, this is Dr Erik Selvig. Erik, this is Darcy Lewis, my intern" Jane said, introducing him as they approached.

"I've told her all about you" she added to the older man.

"Oh yeah, she's been chewing my ear off all week since she called you" Toni said with a grin thrusting her hand out. "Nice to meet you"

Erik stared at her for a moment, as if examining her before shaking her hand and giving her a slim smile. "Likewise" he said before Jane began ushering him over to her workspace.

"Now you have to look at this data we collected just yesterday, we managed to get some great readouts" Jane said as she began looking over the various papers, only for Toni to interrupt her, bringing over the paper bags of food she'd brought back before.

"Oh no no on, you have to eat first. I am not getting another lecture from Izzy about your eating habits, that woman has the power to cut off my own food and caffeine supply, and there is no way I am switching to gas station food." Toni said as she placed a bag down in Jane's lap, causing her to wave her hand at Toni.

"It can wait, I need to show Erik the data"

"Which you can do while eating, no arguments" Toni said before offering the other bag to Erik. "I didn't know what you'd like so I just got some sandwiches, there's coffee and other stuff in the kitchen if you want some"

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Erik said with a more genuine smile. "Anything will taste better than what they served on the plane"

"Eugh Airline food, the school cafeteria lunches of the sky" Toni said grimacing.

And ok fair enough, she'd never had a normal school cafeteria lunch, having gone to insanely rich kids schools and then college at a very young age, and either had high quality food prepared, or what Jarvis made for her at home. But she heard enough horror stories from Rhodey and Peter to know they were not appetizing to say the least.

Watching with a pleased smile as Jane relented and began going over their research in between bites of her sandwich, Toni adjourned to the kitchen to make herself a drink.


It was now late in the evening, and Toni was now on the roof of the lab in the little spot Jane had set up with a firepit and some chairs, a small fire was burning as Toni was taking steady breaths while maintaining her stance.

She had taken to coming up here in her free time, when Jane wasn't up her that is, and would sometimes listen to music or try and relax, as well as practicing her self defence and martial arts.

As she took in the night air, she continued her Tai-Chi moves, making her way through the slow but practiced forms.

She was still glad Phil had insisted she agree to self defence training and picking up some fighting skills. While she did have some knowledge of it before having become Iron Maiden, they didn't compare to the training Phil had her undergo, insisting she needed to be able to be proficient in protecting herself outside the suit.

And she had to agree, the training did come in handy more than once, and she had thanked Phil for it eventually, after several bouts of cursing him for the many many bumps and bruises she'd picked up along the way.

Her trainer had whipped her into shape though, even after all of Toni's complaints. Most of which had been internal, as she hadn't the nerve to say most of what she was thinking to the woman's face.


Phil walked through the administration offices of SHIELD, walking through the halls of endless bureaucracy till he came to a specific office, peering in to the end of it to see that the cubicle he was heading to was still occupied.

Walking in, he made sure he was a few feet away before speaking. "Agent May" he said as the woman in question had just finished stamping and filing a series of papers.

He saw her stiffen and hold her head up straight before she replied simply. "No"

Phil stepped to the side of her cubicle to see her turn to him with a blank look. "You don't even know what I was going to say"

"I know Fury has you working on a new project, and now you're here. Somehow I doubt you're here for requisition forms, so whatever you want Phil, the answer is no" she said sternly.

Not perturbed by her reply, he merely smiled at her slightly.

"You could at least hear me out first before shutting me down so quickly"

"Phil-"

"I'm not trying to drag you back into the field, if that's what you're worried about" he said, causing her to pause.

"I swear, this is something I need help with in preparation for field work, yes. But you won't have to worry about leaving the...comfort of your cubicle, save for a few hours a day at most" he said, glancing at the small enclosed space before looking back at her.

Melinda stared at him for several moments, assessing him before she replied with a slight sigh.

"What do you want me to do?"

"It's Toni Stark"

This received a slight frown from the other agent, who turned her chair around to face him fully. "What does she have to do with this?"

"She's the whole reason I'm here. You see I asked Fury to make me her handler, and official liaison with SHIELD. But I also wanted her to get a little extra training in, she's going to be a consultant for the moment, with a potential agent status in the future, regardless she's going to be involved with us, and I want her to be able to defend herself"

"Pretty sure she has a multi-million dollar suit packed with enough firepower to invade Afghanistan single handedly, some would say that's overkill"

"That's true, but outside of that suit she's a teenage girl who's just as mortal as the rest of us." Phil replied before his expression shifted slightly though he tried to mask it, but Melinda had known him too long to miss the sliver of concern that peeked through the 'Agent' mask of collected professionalism.

"You're worried about her this much?" Melinda said in a softer tone.

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. And I can't think of anyone better to train her than you May" Phil replied before he was silent for a few seconds.

"If you really don't want to, I can ask-"

"Four PM this afternoon"

"I'm sorry?"

Melinda stood up, taking the documents she'd finished stamping and putting them into a folder before turning back to Phil.

"Bring her by at Four PM, I want to inspect her physical condition first before we go any further," Melinda said as she stepped out of her cubicle and began walking to the entrance of the office.

"May" Phil's voice called out, causing her to pause and look back at him.

"Thanks" he said genuinely, receiving a nod from her before she left the room.


Toni finally returned to her room a few hours later, crashing into bed after putting her pyjamas on. She played a few games on her ipod before finally drifting off to sleep.

Though it didn't take long for her peaceful expression to shift as she began to move around in her sleep, her unconscious body twitching and jerking around as she let out whimpers and sobs.

This only got worse as her whimpers ascended into screams and her body thrashed around under the covers until her bedroom door was thrown open and Jane rushed over to her, shaking her and calling out to her before Toni's eyes sprang open and she sat up quickly, looking around frantically as her body was now covered in sweat as she stared with a haunted expression on her face.

"Darcy! Darcy it's ok! It's ok, you were having a nightmare" Jane said softly before Toni pushed the covers up and stood up, backing away from the older woman as she walked shakily over to the door.

"I-I..I need some air" she said as she stepped out of the stuffy room and made her way to the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water and quickly downing it as she leant over the cool metal of the sink, taking slow and measured breaths to try and slow her erratic heart beat.

"Has this been going on for awhile?" came Jane's voice as Toni turned to see her standing on the edge of the kitchen, fumbling with the edges of her nightgown.

"Sometimes," Toni said shortly. "They come and go"

"I'm sorry"

"Not your fault" Toni replied, causing Jane to shake her head.

"No, I'm sorry for not realizing. I could have helped if I had-"

"Jane, really it's nothing you need to worry about" Toni said trying to placate her as she refilled her glass and took another sip, silence overtook them for almost a minute as she finished the glass slowly before Jane spoke up again.

"Who's Peter?"

This question caused Toni to freeze up as Jane walked over to her side, seeing the haunted look return to her face.

"I-I heard you calling out that name when you were having the nightmare. Is he a friend, or boyfriend?" Jane asked gently as Toni still looked into the distance, before her reddened eyes began to moisten as she tried to keep her composure.

This failed however as she tried to speak, only for a sob to erupt from her throat which was quickly followed by another, and before she knew it Jane had her arms around her as she couldn't hold back the tears.

The image of her little brother being slaughtered by Thanos playing over and over again in her head, despite how many comforting words Jane whispered in her ear.


And there you have it, chapter 4 all wrapped up.

The next chapter we will delve into 'Thor' events.

I am excited to write more, and for your feedback. What did you like about this chapter? And would you like more flashbacks (too bad if you don't, they're coming anyway XD)

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please drop a review below if you did.