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There were very few things that Darcy would consider to be a perk of working for Coulson. Technically it was SHIELD, but she’d never associated herself with the double crossing agency of doom that had been infested with HYDRA ™ . There was the traveling, even if always got cut short by gunfire and yelled orders, a kick ass wardrobe to literally kick ass in, new scientist friends for Jane to play with, and then there was the Mark Finder.
Due to the job’s high fatality rate, a machine had been invented to find the agents soulmates based on various samplings of handwriting and Science! that Darcy wasn’t quite sure she wanted to understand. What the agents chose to do with that information was completely up to them, either way, fate was going to play out. So, here she was, at the crossroads between finding out who her soulmate was or just letting things play out.
“See, the way I figured is that we get shot at every day, right?” Darcy gestured to Trip, who nodded and was clearly amused by her antics. “Don’t smirk at me. You’re doing the smirky thing, the thing you do at Skye when watches kitten videos. Stop that.”
Trip held his hands up in mock surrender, giving her his most charming grin to which Darcy only rolled her eyes at and then continued to twitch nervously as she stared at the little scanner. It almost looked like the barcode scanner Darcy had loathed through high school at her job at the Piggly Wiggly, and now she was going to use it to find her soulmate. The thought made her feel somber, remembering the burning sensation of the mark appearing that jolted her from her sleep in the middle of the night.
“Do you know that I didn’t get my mark until I was twenty-three?” Darcy said softly to Trip, picking up the device and turning it over in her hands. “Twenty-three years old, in the middle of frickin’ Denmark, I got my mark.” She turned to her friend, who only opened his arms and she went in for a hug. “I was terrified. I thought I was going to be twenty-three years older than my soulmate. God, I got so wasted that night that I let Jane take notes on her Poptarts because we were out of paper. I didn’t even read my words.”
Trip gave her a squeeze and rubbed her back soothingly, the Mark Finder pressing awkwardly into their stomachs. “Then I find out what they are and it’s ‘Pleased to meet you, Agent Lewis.’ Agent Lewis. Then New York happened, Coulson was dead, and I had pretty much decided that Agent was never going to happen.”
“Then let me guess, there was a whole lot of not-dead and a shiny offer from the Lazarus himself?” Trip supplied as Darcy’s rambling died off. Darcy sighed heavily and Trip just patted her back. “So why not just let things happen? Worked for me.”
Darcy snorted and unwound herself from him, waving the Mark Finder at him accusingly. “Yeah because ‘Heaven better have wifi along with hot man services’ is totally a common occurrence.”
Trip just smiled fondly and thought about the words twisted around his upper thigh. “I maintain- it worked for me.”
Dacry huffed and looked at the Mark Finder. “I- I’m not always great at first impressions. I want to know. I don’t want to screw this up.” She looked back up. “Everyone is supposed to have their own fate, or destiny, or whatever. What if this is mine?”
Antoine just shrugged, yet again. “Yeah, you’re getting really annoying with all that shrugging business.”
“Then why am I here?”
Darcy gave him a sharp smirk and wiggled her eyebrows. “Why dear Antoine, I thought you’d never ask.” She turned around and lifted her hair into a ponytail. “Your assistance in operation Soulmate is crucial. Scan me up, Scotty.”
The only thing painful about the scan was Antoine’s long suffering sigh at her joke and watching the computer monitors compare the slight and delicate script that circled under her right scapula. Finally, the computer let out a small notification noise as it found a match in its system.
Trip howled with laughter as Darcy let out a slight squeak of indignity.
There, on the screen, was Darcy’s soulmark and several writing sample from the one and only, Steven Grant Rogers. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and glanced from Trip’s still laughing form to the computer.
“So what do you have to say to yourself, Agent Lewis?” Trip asked with a wry smirk as he finally gained some semblance of self again.
“Does this make me Agent America? Because let me tell you, I could be down for that operative name.”
It became a team bonding exercise to find new ways to tease Darcy about her mark over the next few months, Coulson saying that he was already lighting candles and saying vigils for those who would surely be harmed in the wake of the universe collapsing itself upon their meeting. It wasn’t until Darcy was escorting the Brain Trust to have Science!time with Tony Stark that she realized how real her words were when Captain America stepped off the elevator in front of them, nodded once in their direction and headed directly to a redheaded woman with freckles and dropped a tender kiss on her cheek before offering her his arm and exiting the building.
“Did that just happen?” Jemma asked, blinking owlishly as the silver doors closed with a hiss.
“Yep.” Darcy drawled, placing her hand on the display for recognition and the elevator started to move up towards to Tony Stark’s personal labs.
“And you’re not going to go and say something? He’s your soulmate!” Fitz rounded out, the three scientists nodding their heads.
“Nah, it’ll happen when it happens. I know enough at this point, I don’t need to actively search for him. I’m pretty sure Coulson is going to deliver him to me on a platter with a nice little bow.”
Jane snorted and rolled her eyes. “So it doesn’t bother you at all that you just saw your soulmate with another woman?”
Darcy grinned and elbowed her friend in the stomach. “Nah, right now he’s probably thinking of forever with that chick. Making breakfast, watching movies, the whole nine yards. Pft.” Darcy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Yeah right, see your star-spangled ass in a few years, buddy.”
In many ways, Darcy was right, Coulson would actually end up delivering Captain America to her. Though she had rather hoped it wouldn’t have been when she was halfway up the counter and stretching for the abandoned box of toaster pastries in the back corner.
“And this is Agent Darcy Lewis.” Darcy looked over her shoulder carefully, tongue sticking out and immediately wished to disappear. Phil merely raised an eyebrow and gestured to her for good measure. “I assure that despite what you saw of both Skye and Lewis, they are the best.”
Darcy tried to slink off the counter slowly, as the good Captain’s attention wasn’t solely focused on her, but her shoe squeaked loudly on the plastic and she toppled backwards. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, but strong arms wrapped around her middle and caught her before she hit the floor.
Darcy panicked internally and carefully opened one eye, glancing up to see her savior and soulmate chuckling softly. “Pleased to meet you, Agent Lewis.”
Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt a dorky smile spread across her face.
“Literally sweeping me off my feet. My soulmate has game.”
His eyes widened in shock and his grip faltered for just a split second long enough for Darcy to squawk and throw her arms around his neck. “Though he apparently does not do well with surprises.”