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It wasn't her fault, really it wasn't. She was trigger happy, that was it. Trigger happy Darcy Lewis and her taser landed her a spot sort of working for the Avengers Initiative along with her former mentor/boss/person Jane Foster. Jane had two excuses though, she was routinely sleeping with the god of thunder, and she was also all science almost all the time. So when SHIELD brought Jane in and Darcy objected, the taser went off so Darcy went too. Now they both lived in New York under SHIELD monitored roofs, in SHIELD funded apartments, and were more or less government employees.
Darcy had been in the New York Avengers/SHIELD satellite offices for around a month, and was still in training. She knew some of the regular workplace faces, she certainly knew the Avengers, and she was becoming increasingly intimate with the coffee machine in the break room. She was less familiar with the strange man in the grey sweater sitting in one of the chairs watching baseball and swearing at the TV. No blazer, no immaculately combed hair, no firearms that she could see, what in the hell was he doing here? It was more or less employees only, so who was he? A loud crash immediately followed by a piercing series of alarms informed Darcy that the Stark Industries/Avengers Initiative Scientific Brain Trust bungled yet another attempt at pre-coffee science.
The man in the sweater shot out of his seat and through the door faster than Darcy would have thought, but she could worry about him later. Jane, Doctor Banner and Mr. Stark were probably multiple shades of blue, or maybe comically windblown from whatever had happened. It would definitely be worth getting on camera. So out the door she went.
Sure enough, upon arrival in the cavernous lab, doctors Banner and Foster, with Tony Stark flapping around like an agitated chicken, where standing over multiple stoves with various sinister chemicals dripping over the counter. There was glass all over the floor and for whatever reason, the fake plant by the mini fridge was on fire. Captain Rogers,as Darcy had taken to calling him, strode out of the elevator with a look of confusion on his face. The man in the grey sweater was here too, and he moved right over to Captain Rogers' side and they began talking quietly before the captain addressed the room at large.
"Do I want to know? There's a game on and wait...should the countertop be melting?" he asked, all curiosity with just a slight hint of fear. From what Darcy could gather, the super soldier wasn't too big on labs. Neither was the man in the sweater either, he had the look of a caged animal, but he was holding himself together admirably.
Doctor Banner made a noise like a startled animal and stepped away from the eroding piece of furniture. No, apparently it wasn't supposed to be melting. Jane was trying to battle the houseplant with a small fire extinguisher and Tony just looked around with half a smile. This was probably normal for him. Darcy was slightly disappointed that it wasn't a photo opportunity but occupied herself in the only way she could. She pushed buttons on the alarm system and hope it would stop wailing.
"I guess not then, i'll go find a vacuum. I don't think whatever that is will eat through the floor so we won't worry about it for now. Bucky, can you go help Darcy over there with the alarms?" The man in the sweater stepped around Jane's flailing form and made his way over to Darcy and her attempts at pacifying the alarms.
"Do we know whats going on?" he asked, trying to get a look at the buttons and the small display screen around Darcy's hands.
"Other than my plans for the rest of the day coming to a screeching halt? I think they may have tried making super charged coffee again. They aren't usually the chemicals in vials type of science nerd, so it's the only plausible explanation." Darcy jammed at the "enter" button with her thumb, groaned and stepped back to let the mystery man examine it.
"Screeching? Nah, maybe shattering, wailing, and crashing halt but not screeching. Screeching is more in line with car tires, owls, and maybe the odd teenager. I'm Sergeant Barnes by the way. You were the girl in the break room right? Darcy?" He turned and smiled. It was the first time Darcy had gotten to see his face properly. She needed a moment to connect her brain and mouth to "workplace professional" as opposed to "dear god, I have no ovaries left". Captain Rogers had disgustingly attractive friends.
"Yep, Darcy Lewis. Nice to meet you too. I kind of work for Jane, and kind of as an office gopher. Sergeant? You don't look military. No uniform." Darcy was having a hell of a time trying to wrestle her hormones back into their cage. Work had been keeping her busy and sadly away from eye candy. A quiet series of beeps and green flashing lights indicated that the sergeant had gotten the alarms in order, within five seconds the room was almost quiet.
"And you don't look government. I'm kind of off duty, kind of on leave, kind of training for the team. Steve and I knew each other before the war. He got me the job, long, dull story. Would you maybe want to hear part of it over drinks? I know you said your plans were shot, but things seem to be under control here and I don't have anything to do tonight. How about it?"
"Yes! Absolutely! Apartment 12, 3rd floor. Jane and I are in the SHIELD apartment building so we're easy to find. 7 works for me." Before she could process what she was saying, the words were out. Darcy Lewis had a date with a near perfect stranger, that she had met during an explosion. This was her life now. She waved quickly and sped into the nearest elevator. She'd punch out, go home, have a good long panic attack, raid her closet, take a really cold shower, re-arrange her books, and wait for Sergeant Sexy, damn! Sergeant Barnes! She'd have to ask for his first name, if this went well, Sergeant Barnes was too long a name to scream.