Work Text:
It was an average day at the Tower. Darcy was busy entering data into the computer while Jane was scribbling furiously at her station.
They were lucky to have the lab to themselves. Bruce had been busy with some pretty rank plant life and his station still held traces of his research.
Tony had finally managed to convince Bruce that they needed to get some food. Tony swore he knew the best vegan places and Bruce had quietly gone along with the madness.
Darcy hummed along to the mellow tunes that Jarvis had thoughtfully provided. She pushed her glasses up, they were steadily slipping down the bridge of her nose.
Jane muttered to herself and Darcy smiled as she looked over at her friend. It was business as usual in the lab.
"Always maintain your cover, Darcy." Harry had repeated it so often that it had become a way of life. The baggy sweaters, the glasses and the loud persona had served her well.
Underneath it all, under the persona of efficient assistant lay the real Darcy. And she had the familiar whispers flitting around at the back of her mind. Her dark passenger was always with her.
But Coulson had given her a badge, a high clearance level and he had given her a purpose. It was far more than Harry had ever imagined for her.
The dark whispers were softer nowadays because the dark passenger was sated. Darcy used her skill and it kept the monsters at bay.
She sighed deeply as she rolled her shoulders. She had been sitting still for far too long.
Jane looked up at the sound, "Hey, Darcy you can take a break if you'd like."
But before Darcy could even consider the offer, the music cut out from the speakers and Jarvis spoke out.
"I should inform you, someone is hacking my systems. I will be offline..."
Jane looked at Darcy wide eyed, "The building is under attack."
Darcy stood up so fast that her chair fell over. Dark Darcy took over. The tiredness was gone. Her spine straightened and her voice went hard. "Get into the storage closet."
She was already bundling a protesting Jane into the small closet that held their cleaning supplies at the back of the lab.
"No, what about you?" Jane asked.
"I have my taser," Darcy replied calmly. "They don't want me. Whoever it is will come looking for you, Bruce or Tony. They don't want me."
Jane looked tiny even in the small space, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Darcy held onto the door, "No but it makes me feel better to know that you'll be safe." Without a second thought, she shut the door and locked it. "Be quiet, no matter what you hear." She warned Jane a final time.
It wasn't that she was afraid that she would be hurt, no that wasn't it at all. She just didn't want Jane to see her true nature. Because no matter how many enemies entered the lab, Darcy would go down fighting. She would take as many of them down as she could.
She strode to the front of the lab so that she could see out the glass doors. She grabbed her taser out of her bag and held it in her hand. The weight was soothing. "Jarvis?" She looked at the ceiling but there was no reply. That meant that the AI was down. Good, there would be no video feed of her fighting.
She smiled and anyone seeing that smile would have been terrified. It was a gleeful smile, her eyes filled with dark intent. The blue of her eyes darkened as her pupils went wide. She shifted on her feet, anxious for the familiar dance. The dance of death.
She wasn't a regular girl, Bucky told her that often enough. But that's what made her special. He always told her that.
She didn't have to wait long, her blood sang as they stormed the lab.
They had come to fight, to kill and to claim. They wore all black with the Hydra symbol on their uniforms.
A small group of four surrounded her and they looked confused. They had not been expecting her. "Where's Jane Foster?"
"You'll never find her," Darcy smiled and that seemed to shake their confidence.
One of the men aimed his gun at her, "Where is Doctor Foster?" He yelled.
Darcy shrugged and lifted her taser. She had been holding it behind her lower back. She tased the Hydra agent in the chest and he went down fast, twitching as he fell.
"You'll pay for that!" One of the goons rushed her but she was prepared.
Darcy let her body go fluid, she mirrored his movements. Natalia had been teaching her how to fight. Darcy loved the grace of dance that the ex-ballerina showed. It was a deadly grace, a thing of beauty. The Black Widow was all about elegance while Bucky had taught her brute force.
The Winter Soldier was all about direct attacks that did the most damage. Darcy drew from his training and she clenched her fist and as she turned she hit the guy in the throat, crushing his windpipe without any delicacy so that the goon collapsed to his knees as he held his throat.
Bucky's attacks had no elegance but it made all the difference. The remaining two agents lifted their guns to shoot.
Darcy ran as bullets rained down. The work tops were destroyed and she had to cover her head with both her hands to protect her eyes. She dodged gunfire as wood splinters sliced at her legs. Glass shattered, computer screens exploded. Glass decorated her curls like diamonds but they hurt her skin.
She got to Bruce's corner and took shelter under his desk.
Then she remembered, she lifted her hand even as she flinched from the noise.
The Hydra agents were yelling at each other and into their comms.
Darcy sighed, almost giddy with relief as she found her old friends. Scalpels from Bruce's tray. She held them in her hands as she gathered her bearings.
Cool silver caressed her skin, like an old long lost lover. The blades were a little dirty from the plant sap but Darcy wiped them down on her sweater until the blades shone. They were utterly beautiful to her as she held them in her slim hands.
This was her weapon of choice, it had always been. Her dark passenger rejoiced in her mind, ready to destroy whoever crossed her path. She gasped as she heard the hollow sounds of their weapons. They needed to reload. Darcy almost pitied them. They were loud in their fear as they shouted, but they had come to hurt those that she watched over.
She stood up, ignoring the small cuts on her skin and she dove at the Hydra fiends.
They clumsily tried to jam their bullets into their guns but she ignored the guns.
Darcy felt her eyelids lower, as the same old dance steps took over her body. The band was playing her favorite tune. Her hands moved of their own accord, slicing through the air. The slim steel blades seemed to vibrate and hum with power as they cleaved their way, destroying everything in their path.
Darcy was lost in herself. Every blood vessel in her body felt like it was expanding, she felt utterly alive and untouchable. Even when the blades became slippery and her hands slipped and she cut her fingers. Pain did not register, it was a relief to allow herself to simply be.
The blades were sharp, they cut through armor like butter. The screams were glorious to her ears. She inhaled, reveling in the bliss of it.
Her face was wet, with tears or blood she didn't know.
But they were all dead. The Hydra agents lay at her feet. She dropped the scalpels to the floor and that's when she felt it.
Darcy looked up only to meet the eyes of a fellow predator.
"I came to save you..." His voice was weak, even as his hand tightened on his weapon.
"I took care of it," she breathed. She allowed her mind to clear and she found herself again. "Thanks Clint."
Hawkeye looked like he was in shock but he seemed prepared to take her down if the need arose. "I can see that." He swallowed hard and his distate was clear as he looked at the bodies on the ground. "Hydra will always try to take us down."
Darcy ignored her injuries, she held a hand out in surrender. With her other hand, she reached for the lanyard around her neck. "Agent Darcy Lewis." She smiled as she showed him the ever present ID that she always carried with her.
Hawkeye lowered his bow as he took in her clearance level and when he looked at her, it was as if he was sad to see that her innocence had been lost.
He knew nothing about her and she wasn't about to share her history. "Also known as Dexter." She provided for further clarity.
Clint seemed to rock back on his feet. "Coulson's newest assassin." His eyes changed and he looked at her with something akin to respect.
"I'm his best kept secret," Darcy said without any pride. Her secret had to be kept. No one in the Tower could know.
"Understood," Clint replied quickly. "Welcome to the team, Agent Lewis."
Darcy laughed, "Thanks Agent Barton." She wiped her hands on her pants and shook his hand. She hid her badge again.
He looked like he wanted to say so much to her. But Clint Barton didn't know her, not like Bucky or Natalia. He wouldn't understand. He couldn't save her because she didn't want to be saved from this life.
Darcy ignored his enquiring eyes, "Let's go get Jane out of the closet. She'll be getting anxious."
"Your secret is safe with me," Barton promised as they headed to the back of the lab. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here."
"Thank you," she replied. "And if anyone asks, you saved us." She appreciated his concern but she felt nothing. Her choices were her own. Without waiting for a reply, she opened the door and Jane hurled herself out of the closet.
Darcy hugged Jane as her friend clung to her but Darcy could feel Barton's eyes on her.