Chapter Text
Darcy Lewis had officially decided that this was the most boring stakeout ever. If it wasn’t for the fact that Steve was her friend…
Steve Rogers had come back to Stark Tower a week ago, accompanied by Sam Wilson (were there any superheroes that weren’t hot?). He looked like he had been to hell and back, but he refused to talk about what had happened in Washington, D.C. All Darcy knew was that something big had happened with SHIELD, and Steve was temporarily in charge of SHIELD. He, Tony and the rest of the Avengers (minus Natasha, who had disappeared, and Thor, who was in Asgard) had been having long meetings every day behind closed doors. Darcy could usually charm her way into any meeting or situation, but everyone’s lips were as sealed as Ft. Knox.
Of course, all she had to do was go out on the internet, and she could read pretty much everything she had ever wanted to know about SHIELD, its operations, and operatives – but there still wasn’t much about what had happened in D.C.
Steve had come up to her a few days ago, and had apologized for keeping her in the dark (although he still didn’t share anything) – he was doing it to protect her. He needed a favor from her – he needed her to go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in D.C., hang around the Captain America exhibit, and watch for anyone that seemed out of place – anyone dressed oddly, anyone who lingered too long, etc. If she saw anything at all, she was not to approach the person – instead, she was to avoid their notice and immediately call him.
Darcy would have said no, but she could see from the look in Steve’s eyes that this task was very important to him. He said he would have done it himself, but extenuating circumstances were keeping him in New York City, and he wouldn’t be able to get away for a few more weeks. Darcy was also excited to see D.C., since she had never been there. More importantly, the entire trip was on Tony Stark’s dime – who was she to refuse the best hotel and room service (although she might need to go easy on the room service, her pants were a little tight today) in Washington, D.C.?
Wait…what was that? Had she finally noticed something unusual? A thrum of excitement began to pulse through Darcy’s veins. A man in a hoodie and blue jeans was standing in front of the Bucky Barnes exhibit. She wouldn’t have given him a second thought, except for the fact that he had been staring at the exhibit for a good ten minutes – and the hoodie. Not only was the hood up, as if he had something to hide, but it was the middle of summer, and even with the museum’s air conditioning on full blast, it was too hot in the museum for such a heavy piece of clothing.
Darcy slowly stood up from the wall where she had been leaning, supposedly examining the uniforms of the Howling Commandos (Captain America’s was suspiciously absent). She took her phone out of her pocket and dialed Steve’s number, but the call didn’t go through – disgusted, she noticed that she had no signal. Stupid phone. All of the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up, and a chill ran down her spine as she sensed someone watching her.
She looked up and froze. The stranger was looking directly at her, and while she couldn’t see most of his features, he didn’t appear to be pleased. His eyes (she couldn’t tell what color they were from this distance) seemed to pierce through her skull, exposing the deepest of her secrets. As they say in the movies, she had been “made” – he knew that she was there for him.
She was in deep, deep trouble – and looking at her phone, she still had no signal. The stranger began to move towards her, snapping Darcy out of her trance. She kept her phone out as she started to move towards the nearest exit from the exhibit. It was a Saturday, and the museum was crowded – which could work for or against her. She worked her way into the main part of the museum, neither looking to the left or right, only looking behind her to check on the stranger. He was not only still following her, but he was gaining. Darcy briefly entertained the idea of alerting a security guard, but she got a very dangerous vibe from the stranger, and she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.
“Go to D.C., he said. Go to the museum and watch for something unusual, he said. It’ll be fun, he said,” Darcy muttered underneath her breath.
Next time she saw Steve, she was going to kill him for sending her into a situation like this without the proper information. If she had known what she was going to be facing (and she wasn’t even sure what that was, still), she would have been more cautious. Her only comfort was that she had remembered to bring her taser with her. If she had to, she would light this guy up like a Christmas tree.
Finally, she saw her way out. There was a large group of teenagers standing on the stairs in front of her, waiting for their tour guide to finish consulting a map of the museum before continuing. She could see a staircase behind them, marked with a “Staff Only” sign. She threw herself into the crowd of teenagers just as they started to surge forward. She looked behind her again – to her satisfaction, the stranger was momentarily stalled by the crowd.
Darcy stepped over the warning sign and ran down the steps, almost falling in her haste. She burst out of the door into a side alley of the museum. She looked for something to barricade the door with, but saw nothing, so she kept moving towards the street – once she made it there she looked back again, but didn’t see anything in the alley. Had she finally lost him? She chewed her lip as she pondered what to do next – it was doubtful that he had given up, he looked like he was a very determined man.
She had to keep moving, that was all she could focus on; she weaved her way down the street, slowing down but still walking faster than normal. She looked down at her phone, and practically crowed in relief – she had a signal! She looked behind her again – still nothing – and ducked into an alley (in retrospect, not the smartest decision she had ever made). Her phone already had Steve’s number up, so she pressed Call.
The phone rang and rang.
“Come on, Steve,” she said, tapping her foot nervously. “Pick up.”
“You’ve reached the voicemail of Steve Rogers. Please leave your name, number, and a short message at the tone, and I will call you back as soon as possible.”
Darcy groaned. Perfect.
“This is Darcy –“she wasn’t able to finish her sentence because her phone was knocked out of her hand. Her feet were suddenly dangling off the ground and she was having problems breathing as she was lifted up with one hand, which was currently wrapped around her throat. The stranger had found her.
“Who sent you???” he asked. His hoodie had fallen backwards, exposing a face that she would have deemed handsome in any other circumstances – as it was, he just looked insane. His light blue eyes burned with rage, and his hair hung around his face in dark, greasy chunks.
“Was it Hydra? Did Hydra send you? Answer me!” he said, shaking her slightly. Dark spots were dancing in Darcy’s vision, and she was afraid she was going to pass out.
“Can’t…breathe,” she forced out, clawing at her captor’s arm.
She gasped for air as his grip loosened just enough for her to be able to breathe again…which turned out to be a big mistake on his part, because as soon as Darcy had her breath back, she grabbed her taser out of her pocket and let him have it.
His arm completely let her go as he fell to the ground, twitching as he lost consciousness. The sleeve on the arm that had gripped her throat rode up slightly, and Darcy saw a gleam of silver. She reached up and pulled it up further, then stepped back in shock.
Steve may not have told her what had happened in D.C., but from the information released on the internet and views from traffic cameras she had hacked into, she knew who the stranger was – and it suddenly made sense why he had been at the museum, and why he had been looking at the Bucky Barnes exhibit.
If she survived this, she was going to kill Steve, she reiterated to herself. As if on cue, her phone began to ring – it was Steve. Darcy ignored it, her mind reeling.
She had just tased James “Bucky” Barnes…the Winter Soldier.