With little ceremony and only the most tiniest sigh Darcy falls face first onto the huge bed. It's been a month of long days, a month of worries and it was the biggest relief to know that it hadn't been in vain. Missions have failed too often over the last few months. Especially the ones that had no other objective than keeping the peace. All those times Darcy and her team left for the triskelion filled with dread because they hadn't been able to quietly shut up a hateful trouble maker or to disperse a group of war and power hungry terrorists. It seemed like fate was working against them, it seemed like the whole world longed for chaos and violence.
This time though, they've achieved their objective. They've disposed of a small but loud man who had managed to amass a sizable following of frustrated young people who were ready to kill and maim just about anyone. They've managed to do so without anyone knowing about their interference and they've found someone they deemed better suited to try and give the masses a sense of purpose. S.H.I.E.L.D. took pride in their policy of not just leaving a situation they've destabilized themselves, their policy of not leaving devastated locals to fend for themselves. They do not interfere without a full plan, without offering an actual solution, S.H.I. . does not only complain, they also know how to do it better.
During the first debriefing the mission was deemed a complete success.
Still,I In light of the recent slew of failures the team was asked to stay put to be ready to make corrections should the situation prove to not be as stable as it looked.
They were booked into a nice hotel with all the comfort they could need in order to refill their batteries.
With her face squashed into the pillow Darcy can't hear her phone at first, misinterpreting the muffled ringing as coming from a different room.
Unable to keep her exhaustion out of her voice she picks up with a barely audible 'yo' without even checking caller ID first.
'You sound like you did that one time we didn't sleep for three days to finish your masters thesis.'
'Ian' his voice sounded just as tired as she felt, 'I haven't heard from you in ages.'
He tells her what she's hearing from many old friends these days. Tells her how busy he is all the time, how things aren't going so well despite everyone's best efforts, how the demands from superiors get increasingly ridiculous. He tells her about how suddenly everyone is so damn paranoid, about how hard it is to work when no one tells you what exactly you' re working on.
Hearing all of this, listening to all of these familiar complaints coming from him, who started out in this crazy organization together with her, who is one of the people she trusts the most, hearing him talk about how S.H.I.E.L.D. was changing sends a cold shiver through Darcy.
None of them had chosen to be part of this organization but over time both of them had found their place. Darcy would argue that Ian was exactly where he needed to be, but still he seemed as unsure of his position as Darcy did.
'And then there is this team no one really knows much about' he says 'Except that they're the only ones who still seem to come out on top more often then not. You should see some of he stuff they bring in, Darce, that shit is dangerous. And all we' re ever asked is to make it even more dangerous. Feels to me like everyone has learned a wrong lessons from what happened last time the played around with strange forces.'
The weariness in his voice, the hint of sadness makes her want to cry.
'I'm guessing things aren't going so well at your end either.'
Darcy just nods, expecting Ian to interpret her silence as affirmation.
These days her words fail her. She is so unsure of them. That had never been a problem. Uncertainty hadn't meant silence. She'd still say whatever came to her mind. These days though the words vanish when they reach her lips, forming in her head and in her mouth just to dissolve into thin air unsaid and unheard.
'Darce, I worry about you.'
More silence.
'To be honest, I worry about all of us.'