Chapter Text
Darcy huffed as she rooted around in her bag for the lab keys. She had, for once, managed to cajole Jane out of the lab for a whole weekend and had been looking forward to living like a normal human person for a couple of days. But no. Jane, just about to rainbow off to Asgard with Thor, had given her a panicked look and cried, “Darcy I didn’t switch off the-” before disappearing.
Well that meant that Darcy had to go all the way back to the tower from the isolated Avengers facility, go back to the lab and search every goddamn socket until she found whichever doodad Jane had been talking about that needed to be turned off, before actually being allowed to go home. She had been tempted to just cut the power to the lab but from previous experience, including a small explosion, she had decided that would be a Very Bad Plan.
Once she had located the keys, Darcy pushed open the heavy glass door – seriously what was the point in glass doors? At least Stark had installed bullet (or random bits of flying machinery) proof glass now – and stomped into the lab. She stopped short as she rounded a corner and saw a figure hunched over in front of the computer.
“Jesus Christ, how many times have I told you nerds to turn on the lights when it gets dark?” she sighed, flicking the switch next to her.
A Very Bad Plan.
The figure shot out of the seat and had pinned her to the wall by her throat before she had a chance to breathe. His hair fell about his face, which was half covered by a black mask. Piercing blue eyes bored into her, as if waiting for her to explain her presence. Darcy, never one for staying quiet, gave a shaky laugh.
“I can turn them off again if you want?”
The man ran his eyes over her, assessing the threat, before nodding once and releasing her. Without looking away, Darcy felt for the switch and sent the room into darkness. The man ignored her stares and went back to the computer.
“You won’t find it on there,” Darcy spoke up from her position by the wall. Moving didn’t seem like that great an option at that moment in time.
His head snapped round and he once again glared at her.
“Jane doesn’t keep her research here, not now anyway,” Darcy shrugged. “Too many people have tried to steal it.”
The man frowned.
“It’s not here at the moment, and it’s not coming back any time soon,” Darcy said with a shake of her head.
The intruder stood once more and advanced on her.
Darcy raised a hand and pointed at him, “If you’re thinking about killing me, I have a lot of friends in high places.”
The man quirked an eyebrow and made a noise of derision, but stopped walking. Darcy didn’t dare say another word – the man had stopped advancing and she wasn’t going to risk him continuing his attack.
A tense silence fell upon the room, neither of them moving a muscle.
Suddenly, the elevator doors dinged across the hall. Darcy turned sharply to the source of the noise, and watched as one of the harried looking interns stepped out, coffee in one hand and papers in the other. Darcy opened her mouth to warn him of the intruder, but when she glanced back into the lab, she was completely alone.