"I heard you've been associating with Jane's former assistant," commented Natasha as she wondered into the kitchen. "Care to explain?"
Clint looked up from the coffee maker, one eyebrow rising in question at his partner. "Fury wants her to help me though some shit."
It was Natasha's turn to raise one eyebrow at him, the elegant curve capable of catching anyone's attention. "Why her?"
"Apparently it was Coulson's idea," replied Clint quietly, his attention returning to the coffee maker. "He thought she could help me for some reason."
Natasha hummed a little, her eyes boring into his back. "Don't upset her like that again."
"Huh?" asked Clint, turning back towards his partner. "What are you talking-"
"We invited Darcy to come shopping with us yesterday," cut in Natasha, angry gaze leveling at him, "but she turned us down. She was upset. Pepper checked the security feed; we saw you shout at her. Don't do it again."
Clint's shoulders sagged a little in relief. Natasha thought it was something that he'd said to Darcy that upset her, a fact he knew was false. It was still his fault of course, but there wasn't much he could do about it unless he told Darcy to stop trying to help him. And Fury wouldn't let that happen. "It wasn't that, Tasha. She...helping me is dragging up some of her own demons. It's the content of our discussions, not anything I said to her, that upset her."
Natasha's brow rose in disbelief. "And what, pray tell, is the content of your conversations?"
"What happened when I was under Loki's control mostly," replied Clint, voice surprisingly level. Talking with Darcy must really be helping more than he thought it would. "She's helping me through the after effects."
"Why?"
Jane's voice startled Clint, his eyes cutting to the doorway just behind Natasha. To his surprise, both Jane and Pepper were standing there. Based on the look Jane was giving him, she'd heard most of the conversation. Pepper, on the other hand, looked less surprised and more worried.
"Does it have something to do with why Phil raised her?" asked Pepper, surprising everyone. Natasha and Jane both turned to stare at the CEO, who just shrugged a little. "Phil approached me after the incident with Thor and asked if I needed an intern. I told him we were always looking for interns, but Tony wouldn't work with anyone. He handed me Darcy's resume and said 'I don't mean in your technical department. My adopted daughter recently got mixed up in something I'd rather keep her away from. I was hoping you might have an opening on your staff that would be more in line with her skills'." Stepping into the room, Pepper headed for the refrigerator. "She was perfect for our PR department and I fully intend to make her my assistant as soon as Fury gives her back."
Natasha's eyebrow rose in surprise. "You didn't ask why he took her to begin with?"
"Phil is the one who came and got her," explained Pepper. "I wasn't going to ask why he needed his daughter back. I assumed it had to do with whatever Tony was getting mixed up in."
"He sent her with me to Norway," stated Jane, clearly in shock. "Why didn't she tell me Agent Coulson was her father?"
"She probably assumed you'd assume Agent was having her spy for him," cut in Tony as he wondered into the kitchen. "Least, that's what I'd assume."
"That's what you did assume when I hired her," pointed out Pepper. "Remember?"
Jane shook her head, groaning in frustration. "I can't believe Darcy didn't tell me Coulson was her father."
"Adoptive father," reminded Natasha. "And Stark's perspective is a valid one. However," turning, she leveled her 'you will tell me what I want to know now or face my wrath' look at Clint, "I'm more curious as to how she came to be adopted by Coulson."
Clint just shrugged. "I don't know; she hasn't told me." Pausing, he locked eyes with Natasha, returning her look with his 'I'm not telling you jack' one. "Besides, our conversations might not be protected legally, but I'm not telling you anything she says in confidence. Her secrets are hers to tell."
"Who's got secrets?" asked Darcy curiously as she walked into the room. "And why are we exchanging secrets about other people?"
"We aren't," replied Natasha, turning interested eyes on Darcy. Behind the former lab intern, Steve, Bruce, and Thor entered the kitchen. "We're wondering about what secrets you're keeping, Darcy."
Both of Darcy's eyebrows shot up. "My secrets?"
"Secrets?" repeated Steve, brow furrowing. "What secrets?"
"Secrets can be dangerous," commented Bruce mildly, heading for the stove and the kettle he kept there.
Thor's eyes widened slightly as he turned towards Darcy. "Lady Darcy, are you in trouble? Do we need to act on your behalf in a matter?"
"Dude, seriously?" asked Darcy, cocking an eyebrow at Thor. "How did you get from 'secrets' to 'acting on the behalf of another'? Actually," one of her hands came up to halt Thor's response, "don't answer that. And what makes anyone think I'm keeping secrets?"
"Well, you certainly don't have any background that would allow you to assist Clint with his various issues that I'm aware of," countered Natasha. "And I don't see Fury asking you to help Clint unless he thought you could. So, I'm assuming that you're keeping something from us."
Rolling her eyes, Darcy moved to stand next to Clint, fishing a coffee cup from the cupboard. "A) Phil is the one who volunteered me to help Clint, not Fury. Fury thought it was a bad idea to get a civilian mixed up with S.H.I.E.L.D. business. B) I'm not hiding anything, I'm just not volunteering the information either. And yes, there is a difference, as Phil taught me."
Clint looked at Darcy as she said the last bit, noting the way her voice fluctuated a bit. "He was really important to you, wasn't he?"
"Well, duh," replied Darcy as she looked up at Clint. "The man adopted me. He actually chose to be my father. It means a lot."
Nodding, Clint glanced at the others, debating if he should ask what he wanted to or not. Her words resounded heavily with him, and he suspected she'd revealed one more piece of the puzzle. At least, to him. What he wasn't sure about was how much she wanted to reveal to the others. Giving clues that someone who'd been through the same thing could pick up on was one thing, admitting it to other people was another.
He was still debating if he should ask or not when she spoke again. "Just ask, Clint." At his startled expression, she explained. "Dude, you think so loud the whole room can hear you."
"You sure you're not a mind reader?" teased Clint, a touch of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"Positive," replied Darcy. "Now ask, before I kick your ass."
Clint really did smile at that. "You wish you could."
"I know I could," countered Darcy. "Phil taught me how to. Now, ask."
Sighing, Clint grabbed a cup as well, pouring the now-finished coffee into Darcy's cup. "Fine. Darce, were you, uh, abused?"
"Yeah," confirmed Darcy. Her voice was casual, but he could hear that it was forced. The rather loud gasps that came from Jane and Thor along with the sound of Pepper's water bottle hitting the ground didn't help any. "My birth parents were real bastards like that."
Clint felt the grip he had on the coffee carafe tighten. "Both of them?"
Darcy shrugged. "Mostly it was Andrew, but Meredith didn't exactly try to protect me, either."
"Oh Darcy..." whispered Jane, the astrophysicist hurrying to hug her former intern. "Darce, why didn't you say anything before?"
"Because it's in the past?" offered Darcy, squeaking slightly as Jane tightened her hold.
"Past or not, such offenses can not be left unpunished!" exclaimed Thor angrily, one arm shooting into the air with Mjolnir gripped tightly in his fist. "We shall seek out those who birthed you and teach them such actions will not go unpunished!"
"Um, they already learned that the hard way," informed Darcy quietly, pushing at Jane until the astrophysicist released her.
Natasha nodded, reaching out to lower Thor's arm. Or, well, try to. "She's right, Thor. Coulson isn't- wasn't- one to leave something like abuse unpunished."
Clint glanced at Darcy, noting the way she winced slightly. Without much though, he reached out and carefully lay a hand on her back. She jumped a little, but otherwise didn't move his hand from it's place. "'Tasha's right. If they aren't rotting in a S.H.I.E.L.D jail somewhere, they're probably in some shit-hole barely getting by."
"Actually, they're dead," informed Darcy. Her voice was solid, but he could feel her body shaking under his hand. "So, yeah. Non-issue."
Thor lowered Mjolnir slowly with Natasha still hanging slightly off his arm. "At least do met me the justice of knowing they suffered greatly then."
"You don't know the half of it," muttered Darcy. Her hands were visibly shaking a little at this point, making Clint worried she might spill her coffee.
"Darcy?" asked Jane gently, apparently having picked up on the way the brunette was shaking. "What happened?"
For a moment, Darcy fell silent. Her eyes dropped to the coffee cradled between her hands. Licking her lips, she began to explain in a very quiet voice. "I killed them one night. Someone- someone convinced me to do it and I did." Gulping slightly, she took a deep breath before continuing. "It wasn't exactly a hard thing to do, convince me I mean." Shaking her head, she took a moment to breath before continuing. "But, Phil helped me put it in the past. That's where I've kept it ever since."
Clint wrapped his arm tighter around Darcy, sensing she hadn't been 'convinced' so much as brain-washed into doing it. And he knew from experience that it wasn't hard to brain-wash a kid who was being abused. There wasn't much you could say to something like that either, another thing Clint knew from experience. So he didn't say anything, just tightened his arm a little more.
"You- you killed your parents?" whispered Jane, her eyes gazing at Darcy in shock.
"It sounds as if they deserved it," remarked Natasha. Pepper nodded in agreement. Steve looked like he wanted to object, but couldn't find something to object to. Tony's expression was unreadable, but Clint hadn't expected much more. The man had faced horror at the hands of terrorists; he could probably imagine what it was like to be abused as a child.
"It wasn't- it wasn't sexual right?" asked Jane, her voice still horrified. It was the type of horror related to knowing her friend had been tortured as a child and not for what Darcy had done in retaliation.
Darcy laughed, voice dry. "No, never. Andrew wouldn't touch me unless it was to hit me. It was the one saving grace."
"It doesn't matter what kind of abuse it was," cut in Clint quickly. He could feel the tension thrumming under Darcy's skin and he wasn't going to watch everyone else push her for answers when she wanted to clearly run. She was helping him, the least he could do is return the favor. "Abuse is abuse and it can't be soothed or justified."
"We weren't suggesting otherwise, Clint," soothed Natasha. He could see from her expression she knew he was connecting with Darcy's history on a personal level. "We're just curious, is all. No one is demanding answers."
Reaching out, Darcy carefully grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "It's alright, Clint. Like I said, I don't have secrets."
"But you are tensing up," murmured Clint gently. "This shit isn't easy to talk about."
"No," agreed Darcy. "It's not, and the horror never goes away. But it's also in the past for me. Pretty far in the past, for that matter. Really, I'm okay."
Steve's brow furrowed in concern. "Darcy, when did all of this happen?"
Darcy sighed, leaning her head carefully on Clint's shoulder. "I don't remember when the abuse started. It was definitely happening by the time I was eight though. I killed my parents when I was ten, which was the same time that Fury and Phil rescued me." She sniffed a little, taking a sip of her coffee. "I'm still surprised they didn't throw me in jail."
"You didn't deserve to be imprisoned," reasoned Tony mildly, leaning against the island counter. "No one would have convicted you."
"You didn't see what I did to them," whispered Darcy, a touch of horror leaking into her voice.
Clint shook his head, squeezing her shoulder. "Doesn't matter. No parent should ever hurt their kid. Whatever they got, they deserved it and probably more."
"It doesn't matter anyway," stated Darcy firmly, though her voice was a touch watery. "I swore I'd never do anything like that again."
Jane leaned heavily on the counter, one hand rising to her forehead. "I can't believe..."
"You were ten when this happened?" repeated Steve, horror clearly painted across his face. "That's..."
"Horrifying," offered Bruce. "Horrifying seems apt."
Darcy shrugged, curling in a little on herself. "It happened. Doesn't matter if it was horrifying or not."
"She's right," broke in Pepper. "What's in the past should remain there."
Thor nodded once, firmly. His silence through most of the discussion was unnerving, but Clint didn't imagine the alien god had much of a point of reference for dealing with these things. "Then let us go to the room of living to partake in activities to dispel such memories of terror."
"Sounds like a plan," agreed Tony, grabbing Bruce's arm and pulling him out of the room. "I think I've got something with explosions in it that might be worth playing."
"Tony," groaned Steve as he followed the mad genius out of the room. "We're trying not to aggravate Dr. Banner..."
Pepper shook her head, heading for the door as well. "I'd better make sure Tony doesn't destroy the tower again."
"Come fair Jane, let us partake in the playing of war games on the screen you call a television!" exclaimed Thor as he practically swept a still-dazed Jane off the ground and carried her from the room.
Natasha chuckled faintly at the antics of the others before turning back to Darcy and Clint. "No one will be surprised if neither of you appear. In fact, it's expected." With that, she slipped out of the room to follow the others. Likely with the intention of collecting blackmail.
Clint listened to her walk away, arm still wrapped around Darcy. When Natasha's footsteps became over-whelmed by the sounds of shouting from the others, he turned his attention on Darcy. "So, want to collect on that rain check for a sparring match?"
"Gladly," replied Darcy, abandoning her coffee in favor of a bottle of water. "Meet you in the gym in ten."
