Author's Note: Fifth chapter here! After this it's the bonus chapter, so here's to hoping I don't stuff this up. :D
V. Peter Parker aka Spiderman
Really, all things considered, Darcy really should have seen this coming, she realized with a sigh as she stared down at the unconscious superhero at her feet.
All she'd wanted to do was go out, get the stuff to make pancakes to celebrate the gang's move into Avengers Tower, but noooo, she wound up walking into the middle of a convenience store robbery instead! That was what she got for being thrifty, Darcy decided, and damn that convenience store for having such great prices! She should have just had Jarvis order the stuff, but because she wanted to make the first breakfast special she wound up walking into a robbery-in-progress.
Emma was never going to let her live that down when she found out, she really wasn't. And then she'd tell everyone else, which was a whole other kettle of smelly embarrassing fish.
Anyway, robbery-in-progress; it was actually pretty professional as far as robberies went. Two guys with guns, one guy covering the customers, the other telling the cashier to put the money in the bag, and Darcy walking in and promptly being ordered to stand with the other hostages. She'd gone calmly and quietly, trying to figure out a way to get to the shiny new panic button she'd been given just the day before by Tony Freakin' Stark (totally his middle name, according to half the internet and the man himself).
Turns out she didn't need to, because scarcely a minute later a blur of red and blue spandex dropped down from the ceiling, punched out the guy pointing a gun at the hostages, and then turned on the robber holding the money. That's when things started to go wrong - the robber stepped back as Spiderman (of course she knew who he was, she had access to the internet and a T.V.) approached, the gun went off, several of the hostages screamed, and everything kind of blurred. When things came back into focus, the gun was webbed to the wall, the robber was knocked out, and Spiderman was nowhere to be seen.
Since she hadn't wanted to stick around to be questioned, Darcy had quietly left the store while everyone else tried to calm down. Her own heart was pounding a bit, but that was normal. What ticked her off was that she hadn't even gotten what she'd come to the store to get, and right then all she wanted was to chow down on her emergency pint of Ben & Jerry's chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream.
Fate or coincidence just had to be a jerk and make other plans, however.
When she walked passed an alley no more than two blocks from the Tower, she heard a muffled groan, and her curiosity and nurturing nature took over from there. She kept a hand on the taser in the pocket the entire way down to the source of the noise. Just because she had a weakness for people needing help didn't mean she had to be stupid, after all.
The person who groaned turned out to be Spiderman. Of course it did, she thought with a sigh as she scanned his body and noted that he was holding a hand pressed tightly against his side. Apparently the gunshot had hit something, and that something had turned out to be the webbed wonder himself. Which really had to suck, she thought sympathetically, taking a hand off her taser and crouching down next to the hero.
It looked like he was unconscious. Awesome. Note the sarcasm on that last bit.
And that was how Darcy wound up calling Victor to bring a car and help her load a knocked out, injured superhero into it to bring him back to the Tower.
What? It was the only thing she could think of at the time! She could hardly carry him herself!
"Okay, before you do anything, just know that the only other option was leaving you to bleed out in a dirty alley."
That was the first thing Darcy said when her patient/guest opened his eyes, blinking in clear confusion as he looked around the spare room on Darcy's floor (she didn't think it would be good for him to wake up in the infirmary, and Doctor Banner had agreed). She was rather proud of it, considering just a day ago it had been completely empty and now it sported a nice bed, dresser, and some bookcases. Although judging from the hunted expression on his face, he wasn't admiring the decor.
The intern stayed tense, standing by the door in case she needed to make a quick getaway, waiting for Spiderman to notice something rather important to every superhero.
She saw the moment he realized he wasn't wearing his mask, as both his hands flew up to touch his face, and his follow-up assessment revealed that he wasn't wearing the rest of his costume either (he did, however, still have on his boxers). She hadn't removed it herself, but Banner had, and she blushed just thinking about it. Spiderman wasn't bad-looking, far from it actually, but what really stuck with Darcy was how young he looked. Soft, fluffy-looking brown hair, light brown eyes, and a face softened by youth that promised to be gorgeous in a few years. He looked like he was barely out of high school and wow, Darcy felt guilty for admiring how ripped he was. She felt like a dirty old woman now.
But enough about her misbehaving libido, she thought, turning her attention back to reality and noticing that Spidey looked like he was seriously freaking out, trying to both scramble away from her and untangle his legs from the blankets. He didn't really succeed at either one of those things, but the panic clear on his face made Darcy lift her hands up in the classic 'look, I'm unarmed!' pose as she said gently, "Hey now, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, really!"
Spidey shot her a look that clearly said, 'not what I'm worrying about, lady' and Darcy felt a little stupid as she added belatedly, "And I didn't go looking up who you were, definitely not!" although Jarvis might have, she silently added.
The spider-powered hero did not look reassured, and he sharply retorted, "Forgive me if I don't believe you, lady. What do you want to keep quiet? I won't hurt anyone, no matter what you have on me." He had an angry yet resigned look on his face, which Darcy found personally insulting because she would never do anything like he was obviously thinking she would!
She scowled at him, planting her hands on her hips as she shot back, "I told you, kid! I'm not going to hurt you, and I didn't look up who you are! I really did just find you passed out in an alley after getting shot in that convenience store, and I didn't want you to die so I called a friend to help me get you back here so a doctor I know could treat you." She kind of lost steam towards the end of her rant as she noticed how scared and defensive his body language was - it was practically screaming terrified. Now she felt guilty, because of course he would be afraid that anyone who knew his secret identity, or even just his face, would use that against him, doubly so if he had friends and family to protect.
That seemed to remind Spidey of how he had come to be waking up in some strange person's room in the first place. He looked at her suspiciously before carefully examining the bandage wrapped around his torso as Darcy continued, "In case you were wondering, the only people who've seen you without the mask are me and Dr. Banner, and he's cool." it had actually been Bruce's (and how cool was that? She was on a first name basis with the Incredible Hulk!) suggestion to take off Spidey's mask so that he could breathe easier while unconscious, but it seemed like the wrong time to mention that.
Darcy couldn't really blame Spidey for being upset, but they had only wanted to help! It might be tough to get him to understand that though, she acknowledged and felt her heart ache at the lost, frightened look that Spidey likely didn't know was on his face. It was vulnerability, pure and simple, and she tactfully didn't do anything to draw attention to it.
And Jane said she wasn't good at reading the atmosphere.
Spidey took several deep breaths, his shoulders tense as he looked back at her, and in an abrupt change of subject asked, "Where am I?" Apparently he was choosing to ignore the whole secret-identity-somewhat-known thing for the moment, and Darcy was totally okay with changing the subject. It gave the kid some time to calm down, at least.
"Avengers Tower, though Tony still tries to tell people that it's 'Stark Tower' when they bring it up," Darcy said cheerfully, and was promptly treated to the sight of Spiderman gaping in shock as he looked around, and then let his gaze land on the window. Soundlessly taking in the view, Spidey swallowed nervously.
"Alright then," he breathed out, his expression now a bizarre mix of shock, fear, and hero worship, because hey, who doesn't love the Avengers? Darcy would totally bet that Spidey was a Cap fan. Everyone loved Captain America.
Darcy grinned as she said, "Yup! You are currently recovering in one of the rooms of Avengers Tower, a room that is on my floor, might I add, so just lay back and enjoy the experience while I go get you something to eat." She turned to exit the room and head towards the kitchen, pausing in the doorway to toss back, "And Jarvis has all the windows locked and electrified, so don't even think about jumping out of one to run away while I get the food."
Spidey had the grace to looked ashamed of himself.
Since keeping Spiderman in the Tower indefinitely was neither practical nor conductive to the kid trusting her not to reveal his identity, as soon as Bruce gave him the all clear she cheerfully waved goodbye as he jumped out the window.
Once he'd loosened up a little Spidey had actually been a pretty nice guy, not to mention funny, and she'd seriously called it on the Spidey being a fan of Steve thing. She'd thought he'd have a fit the one time Steve had knocked on the door to let her know that Emma and Vanessa were arguing over the T.V again and that Victor had made popcorn. She was pretty sure the kid had squeaked before clamping his mouth shut, and she cherished the memory of his face when he'd said hello to Cap when he poked his head in the door.
Darcy could have sworn she'd seen stars in Spidey's eyes at seeing the national icon.
The second time Darcy ran into Spiderman actually went a lot like the first time, except with more shouting.
"Seriously, are you just predisposed to getting shot?!" Darcy demanded, scowling down at the wincing Spiderman as the hero tried to staunch the blood seeping from the wound in his shoulder.
"It's not like I could just let that guy shoot you, lady," Spidey retorted, sounding a bit short on breath as he put pressure on the entry wound. The bullet hadn't passed through his body, so Darcy was understandably concerned as she stood guard. They were once again in an alleyway, though this one was marginally cleaner than the first one, and Spidey had once more saved the day, this time from a maniac with an AK-47 trying to rob a bank. Darcy had just been there to make a withdrawal, and now she was pissed off and still short on money.
Still, when the maniac had tried to shoot her, Spidey had taken the bullet and then punched the guy out, breaking his nose in the process, before fleeing the scene. Darcy had followed, because what else could she do? Now she was alternatively chewing out the hero and glancing periodically towards the mouth of the alley, waiting impatiently for Bruce to get there.
"You know, if you wanted to come back to the Tower, you really didn't need to get yourself shot to get an invitation," she complained, "I would have invited you to the next movie night if you'd asked, and Bruce and Tony would love to talk Science! with you."
Spidey perked up at the mention of Bruce and Tony, then paused before asking, "Wait, you guys have movie nights?"
"Yep, Tony has an awesome entertainment system, and access to pretty much every movie ever made." Darcy answered distractedly, attention drawn by the sound of running footsteps.
Before Spidey could answer, Bruce came skidding into view, holding his medical bag and with Steve close behind him.
Oh yeah, those were definitely stars in Spidey's eyes. She totally called it, and Kitty owed her thirty bucks. She'd bet that Tony would have been Spidey's favorite.
The third time it was a stabbing. Darcy lectured Spidey for almost ten minutes as Bruce stitched him up.
The fourth time it was for broken ribs where a thug managed to get in a lucky shot with a baseball bat.
They both agreed never to speak of the fifth time ever again, and really, what was with some of these villains? That guy had disco music. Some things had no place in a battle.
When Darcy wound up dragging Spiderman to the Tower for medical treatment for the sixth time, however, she put her foot down.
"That is it, mister! If you can't keep yourself in one piece on your own, then we'll have to do it for you!" Darcy snapped, glaring at the uncomfortable-looking Spiderman sitting on her couch while Bruce set his broken leg.
"Um, 'we'?" Spidey asked surprisingly meekly, his mask off (Darcy and Bruce were the only ones in the room, and he figured since they already knew what he looked like...) and his face doing an impression of a kicked puppy. Darcy was not swayed.
"Yes, 'we'! We as in the Avengers!" Darcy said triumphantly, getting a sort of vindictive pleasure from the shock on Spidey's face and a warm glow when she saw the small smile on Bruce's. "Congratulations, Spidey-me-man, you are now an official member of the Avengers, which means you get your own room in the Tower and Avengers communicator so we can get in touch with you. That also means that you get to go on Avengers' missions, and when you get into a fight you will have reliable back-up!" she gracious explained to the gaping Spidey, "Hopefully now you'll be able to cut back on the injuries, buster, because Tony is not happy when one of his Science Bros goes out of commission."
And yeah, Darcy had called that one. Tony absolutely loved Spidey, who could actually understand a lot of his technical talk.
Spiderman blinked rapidly, managing to close his mouth through great force of will, and then choked out, "Seriously? I'm an Avenger? Just like that?"
This time it was Bruce who spoke as he sat back from tending to Spidey's leg, "Just like that, kiddo. There's some other stuff that Pepper and Tony want to talk to you about, namely security clearance and such that Darcy glossed over, but other than that you're in." He patted Spidey's uninjured leg and stood up. "Welcome to the team, Spiderman."
Right before Bruce made it to the door, Spidey said, eyes suspiciously shiny, "My name's Peter. Peter Parker."
Darcy and Bruce shared a smile at how choked up Spide - Peter sounded, and Darcy rushed off to make some food for the kid, because when she got the warm fuzzies she also got the urge to cook (which Victor had figured out and shamelessly abused by showing her kitten videos on YouTube).
Peter's first meeting with the Avengers went great, if 'great' meant 'Peter was fangasming so hard he could barely speak and when he did he sounded like he was going through puberty'. Poor kid was so embarrassed he hid from them for a week, vanishing to his aunt's house instead of the Tower after fighting crime.
His first meeting with the rest of Darcy's strays, as Jane called them and they didn't object to, actually went a lot better. Emma approved of him, Vanessa thought he was adorable, Victor thought he had good taste in movies (turns out they both liked the Lethal Weapon series), and Kitty...well, he and Kitty bonded over computers. Darcy was a bit afraid for her ringtone, especially when Jarvis got in on the action. She made all three swear to not interfere with her electronics before she left them alone.
When Clint's phone rang in a meeting and it sounded like a gaggle of chickens, Darcy saw a prank war looming on the horizon, and thus did the smart thing and holed up with Jane.
It went on for a week until a prank caught Natasha by accident. Jane and Darcy had a moment of silence for their doomed friends.
Peter cemented his place in the Avengers to the general public (as if there was ever any doubt) when he appeared to help them deal with a Dr. Doom/Loki team-up.
The picture of Spiderman punching Loki in the face went viral, and even the Bugle couldn't spin the battle against the web-head. It was a good week, Peter announced at the celebratory dinner, and Steve patted him on the back. Somehow Peter's fanboy heart survived, but it was a close thing.
Of course, that was when Tony started talking about building Peter his own suit of armor.
Peter joined the others in trying to stop Tony, because dang it, he was there for the incident with the toaster oven!
