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Darcy sank into her sofa, drink in hand as the holo projector popped up. Outside, only darkness and a few blinking stars. No trace of the planet they had just visited.
Connecting to the USS Avenger announced the ship’s computer.
A few seconds passed as she settled comfortably, then another message was relayed.
Connexion established. Opening communications with Lieutenant Junior Wanda Maximoff ’ s quarters .
There was a soft beep, then her friend’s red hair appeared on screen, her face sideways.
“Darce!”
“Hello Wanda”
“You’re a bit early, everything okay?”
“Yes, don’t worry. Just a weird-ass day today, and I really wanted to have something normal.”
“Alright, tell me.” On the other side, the image showed Wanda walking around something, then settling down.
“It might sound a bit crazy, so please promise me you will let me explain properly?”
“Okay…”
Darcy took a deep breath, shuddering at the memory, then looked at Wanda straight in the eyes - as best as she could through a holocall anyway. “We almost got killed by sentient slime.”
“A Denebian slime devil?”
Darcy frowned, unsure of what her friend meant.
“The thing with multiple eyes?” continued Wanda.
“No… Although I’m sure that’s dangerous.”
“And disgusting. It’s a bit similar to Terra’s crocodiles?”
“I… see, I think. But that’s not what it was. I’m talking about sentient slime, as in gooey, viscous quicksand.”
“That was
sentient
?”
“Yes”
“You’re pulling my leg.”
“I promise I’m not!”
On the holo, Wanda was frowning, clearly not believing her. “Give me a second,” Darcy said, then stood up. She turned around, then pulled on her top to reveal the bruised skin under her ribs. “See? The regenerator healed the cut, but I’m going to have a bruise for a few days.”
“Shit. How did that happen?”
“As I said, sentient slime. We beamed down to take samples on a M class planet… don’t ask, I forgot the blasted name. We got there without problem, collected stuff Selvig and Jane wanted, then
someone
decided to explore a bit.”
“Let me guess. Fandral?”
“Yup. So we set off, everything was going well… then we saw weird bubbles coming from what we thought was mud. Except it wasn’t, and as we stopped to look at them, the slime slowly circled us. Long story short, we saw that too late and the thing just… jumped at us. Fandral and I were caught, I heard Sif yell, suddenly I got kicked, then cut and I was struggling to breathe… then my arm was gripped by someone with a strong hand. Next thing I knew, Fandral, Sif and Venaak were sitting on the dirt far away from the slime and I was in Loki’s arms.”
“Loki, huh?”
“Shush. If he hadn’t been there, I would probably not be talking to you now.”
“I’m glad,” Wanda replied with a serious expression. “How are you feeling?”
“A little shaken, but otherwise I’m fine. I won’t get close to any puddles for a long time though.” Darcy took a sip of her drink as Wanda nodded. “Anything interesting on your side?”
“Nothing much. The Captain got injured once more, so we had the usual scene in the med bay. First of’ was grumbling all the time, saying things like ‘I swear Stevie, if you die I’ll make them bring you back from the dead then kill you myself’. He thought we couldn’t hear him.”
“First officer, you said? Still with that weird situation then?”
“Yes. It seems to work well, though. Barnes is a lot better than Stark with people, our chief of security and him are like peas in a pod, and Stark now actually has time to completely manage Ops.”
“Everyone is winning then?”
“Yes, especially the Captain.”
“If the rumours are true… I understand.”
There were a few seconds of silence, then Wanda smirked. “So you were saying… Loki rescued you?”
The asshole.