Fanfiction - The Avengers - Gotta Catch 'Em All!
First fic I've completed in a long time. I wanted to do a Phil Fix-it story since the Avengers came out and its taken me this long to do it.
On a side note, Regina, an OC who appears at one point was originally thought up for an Iron Man fic that was meant to be set between IM2 and the Avengers. That how long I've been working on some fics lately :/
When S.H.I.E.L.D. had Jane Foster moved for her safety, Darcy Lewis wasn’t moved with her. Apparently a degree in Political Science and a BFF who did all that astro physics stuff did not earn her a place at one of the top observatories in the world. Besides, no one really remembered her anyway. Dr Selvig had been under the spell of Loki and the Tesseract and Thor had been a little preoccupied himself. But one man remembered the outspoken young woman with the taser and the weird knitwear. He couldn’t sort it that she stayed with Jane but he managed to have her headhunted for a secretarial job at S.H.I.E.L.D Central in New York City. Darcy couldn’t recall applying for the job (she’d lost count of the jobs she’d gone for before meeting Jane) but with the impressive pay and the chance to work for the company who had hired Jane, she took the job, no questions asked.
Her first week she survived an alien attack and came into contact with two of the Avengers. Captain America being her favourite, though despite being told Tony Stark was an asshole, she kind of liked him too. But nothing measured up to Cap’s fantastic ass.
It only took the base a few days to get back to almost full operational capacity. A lot of agents were drafted in to help with the clean up of the city and on the newly grounded Helicarrier. Darcy, on the other hand, had been charged with a lot of the considerable amount of paperwork incurred due to the damage. She spent days stuck at her computer. She thought she was about to lose her mind completely when she got a call from the director himself.
“Yo.” she said as she picked up the phone on her desk.
“Am I speaking with Darcy Lewis?” A firm and loud voice asked.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
The was a long pause on the other end.
“Uh, hello?!” Darcy said. At this rate she’d be working to stupid o’clock yet again.
“Miss Lewis, this is Director Fury.”
“Who?”
Fury’s mood was becoming his namesake. What Coulson had seen in this young woman was beyond him.
“The director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?” he said through gritted teeth.
“Oh cool. What can I do for you? More insurance forms or apology letters perhaps?” she asked pushing her glasses up her nose. The slightly snarky tone in her voice wasn’t lost on Fury, but he chose to ignore it. He didn’t have time to give her a lecture about respecting her superiors.
“Actually, no. I have a little field mission for you.”
Darcy sat bolt upright in her chair.
“I believe you are familiar with Agent Coulson.”
“The dude who stole our stuff?”
“Yes...the uh, dude who took Miss Foster’s research. He was injured in the line of duty last week and I need you to collect a few things from his apartment.”
“That’s my mission?” she asked in a monotone.
“Yes, I’ve emailed you his address and what I need you to pick up.”
Darcy heaved a sigh. “Fine.” she said and hung up.
Another perk of Darcy’s job was the company car. She did think the huge, black SUV was a tad excessive for little her, but she preferred it to taking the subway. It even had a dock for her iPod. Much of Manhattan was still in lock-down, but not for an employee of S.H.I.E.L.D. It didn’t take her long to make it to the Upper West Side. A woman in a fetching blue jumpsuit had accosted Darcy in the S.H.I.E.L.D. parking garage and handed her a set of keys. It took her three goes to find the correct one. She had to use a little force to open the door. Mail had been building up behind it. As she scooped up the various envelopes and flyers and placed them on the breakfast bar, she spotted a magazine for personal weapons. Their featured article was on stun guns. Maybe this Coulson wasn’t so bad after all. Just as she started to contemplate looking for an online subscription to Munitions Monthly on her phone, she heard a loud scratching. She wandered into the living room and found a large, grey cat pawing at the window. It seemed to have a sad sort of expression on its round face and Darcy immediately rushed to it. She had a terrible weakness for all things fluffy. The cat seemed a little wary of her at first as she opened the window for it. However, it wasn’t long before the creature jumped inside and ran into the kitchen. Darcy watched as it paced up and down in front of one particular cupboard.
“You hungry?” She could only assume it was Coulson’s cat, but she bent to check it’s collar.
“Roger.” it read on one side of the little brass medallion. “If found, contact Phil Coulson.” and it gave his home number on the other. Darcy stroked Roger’s head as he stared up at her with big, yellow eyes.
“Let’s see if we can find you something to eat, little guy.” She quickly found a tin of cat food and left Roger to enjoy whilst she searched the rest of the apartment. The place was exactly as Darcy expected. Very neat and orderly right down to the carefully folded face cloths in the pristine bathroom. She found Coulson’s study at the end of the hall. His laptop sat opened on the otherwise empty desk. Darcy quickly closed it and put it in the bag she found on a nearby shelf. As she went to leave the room a large display cabinet caught her attention. It was filled to bursting with what appeared to be vintage Captain America memorabilia. Goofy looking action figures peered out from between metal lunch boxes and postcards and alarm clocks. A few items displayed Steve’s smiling face, but they all had the old stars and stripes somewhere.
“Star spangled man with a plan, huh?” she mumbled, reading from the front of a plastic sealed comic book. Agent Coulson was definitely going up in her estimations. It seemed they both had the same favourite Avenger and his collection rivaled even Darcy’s impressive lot of shot glasses and cocktail stirrers she’d picked up on her travels. She glanced at the bookcase beside the cabinet and found a leather folder just like Fury had said. She opened it to find plastic sleeves filled with trading cards. There were a few empty spaces here and there. She slid that into the laptop bag as well.
Roger seemed to be sated because Darcy found him sprawled on a patch of sunlight on the living room carpet.
“Hey kitty.” she said, crouching to pet him some more. “Your daddy isn’t well right now, but I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
By doing a little nosing above her official security clearance,(she had Jane to thank for her easy to guess passwords. It was Mjolnir11) Darcy soon found out that Agent Coulson, or Phil, had been placed into a medically induced coma while he recovered from a serious stab wound. So for a few weeks on her way home, she popped in to feed Roger and collect Phil’s mail. Every time she visited, she spotted something new, another clue as to who the mysterious agent really was. It was true that he was serious and meticulous but he did appear to have a softer, more personable side. The cute kitty was a big hint. As were the photos of friends and family that were dotted around his home. Some of them even had Phil himself in them. Smiling, of all things. As she dusted around some of those photos, Darcy wondered where he was being kept and if any of those faces had been to visit.
One morning Darcy arrived to work in a hurry after a drunken, Sunday night catch-up with Jane. She kept her shades on as she made her way to her floor. The summer sun had been too much and she didn’t fancy her chances with the dazzling fluorescent lighting. She clutched a large cup of black and sugary coffee in her shaking left hand. Anyone who greeted her got a grunt in response so she was none too happy to find some dude in a black, leather trench coat sitting in her chair, his feet propped up on her desk.
“You’re late.”
Darcy froze a few feet from her desk.
“Director Fury.” she croaked out and pushed her hair back with her sunglasses.
“Good night?” Fury asked getting to his feet.
“Uh, yeah.” she said. Resisting the urge to say ‘Aye, aye Captain!’ instead made her head pound even more.
“I understand you’ve been visiting Agent Coulson’s apartment pretty regularly.”
Darcy swallowed hard. This wasn’t doing her hangover any good.
“It’s his Roger. I mean his cat, y’know...I just thought I’d...”
“It doesn’t take over an hour to feed a cat. What exactly have you been doing?”
Darcy pushed past time and slumped into her chair. “Just stuff.”
Fury glared at her. “What stuff?”
Darcy sighed and looked away from his gaze. “A little cleaning and just...hanging out I guess. I’ve been pretty lonely without Jane and I’ve only seen Erik a couple of times. He’s been keeping to himself. That and my apartment kinda sucks. Phil’s apartment is a nice place to be.”
When she turned back to Fury, he had an eyebrow raised. “Phil?” he asked. Darcy felt like Fury had slipped her some truth serum because as soon as she opened her mouth again, she couldn’t stop.
“Okay, okay. Look, at first he was just some idiot who took our stuff. I still sorta hated him even after he hand delivered my iPod after the whole Asgardian fiasco. But seeing that super cool collection and then finding out he almost died single handedly taking on a freaking god and I started to wonder what kind of man he was besides a hero.”
Fury gave the tiniest of smiles, but Darcy saw it before it disappeared. “Funny you should mention his collection. How are you with eBay, Miss Lewis?”
The next week or so in work was much more exciting than the weeks leading up. Darcy had been given custody of Coulson’s trading card collection and his laptop. She was to do her best to fill the empty spaces again. Of all the research she had done, this was probably the most fun. Fury had given her a blank cheque and she decided to use her new found power to call in an expert on the matter of 1940’s memorabilia. This resulted in a trip to Stark Tower. And Darcy couldn’t have been happier. She was picked up by a man who was actually called Happy and this made her smile even more. On reaching the tower she was greeted by Pepper Potts.
“You’re much taller in real life.” Was all Darcy could say as she grinned like an idiot. Pepper smiled warmly and led Darcy to the lift.
“Tony insisted we treat you very well. I think he’s almost ready to admit he actually kinda likes Phil. He’s a dear friend of mine, so anything you need, just ask.”
Pepper explained that they’d be heading for the lab. The upper levels still weren’t ready after the battle because Tony had been spending an awful lot of time with his new best pal, Bruce Banner.
“The hulk guy?” Darcy asked.
Pepper nodded. “Yes, but he’s really very nice.”
When they reached the lab, they found Tony tinkering with something that resembled an engine. Only thing that seemed out of place was the bright blue light shining from within. Bruce and a young woman around Jane’s age stood behind a large, transparent screen, their eyebrows knitted as they observed Tony and made notes. Pepper managed to pull Tony away and make him put his tools down long enough to shake Darcy’s hand. He remembered running into her at S.H.I.E.L.D. Central.
“Oh yeah, you made that excellent Café Bombon! Ridiculously good! Especially when I was expecting some crappy machine stuff in a paper cup,”
“I do love my coffee.” Darcy grinned.
“I think you and I will get along famously.” Tony grinned back and then over Darcy’s shoulder at Pepper. Pepper rolled her eyes. She had been warning him about his caffeine consumption. It seemed to have increased tenfold since Bruce had moved into the tower. Tony saying something about sleeping when he was dead had made Pepper’s stomach lurch. Besides, that much caffeine was not good for anyone’s heart, let alone one that needed a helping hand from an Arc reactor.
“Yes, I’m sure you will.” she said, giving Tony a stern look. “Where is our invited guest?” she asked.
“Steven should be back soon. He’s been spending a lot of time visiting Coulson now that we know he’s actually alive. You guys can have the conference room; this job needs to be done well.” Tony said, using a spanner to indicate the floor below.
When Steve Rogers arrived and introduced himself Darcy was sure her face was burning with the fire of a thousand suns, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. Him being so polite made her even more giddy. Since Darcy seemed to be finding it hard to speak, Pepper took the lead and asked Steve if he could tell them anything about the Captain America memorabilia. It turned out he didn’t know a lot as much of it was produced when he was on the road and even more after he crashed into the ice, sacrificing himself for his nation. However, he did offer to pitch in and help anyway he could. But not before Darcy quizzed him on the Chutari and Loki.
“So what did you do after the battle?” Darcy asked
“I decided to go on a little road trip actually. The world has changed a lot in seven decades. I wanted to see just how much. Then I get a call from Tony telling me I’m needed urgently because Phil Coulson is alive and we need to find his trading cards. I was back as quickly as my bike would take me.”
“Uh-huh.” Darcy said. She was only half paying attention to what he was saying. The rest of her concentration was going on examining Steve’s lovely arms. He stared back at her, biting his lip a little and wondering what the hell was going on. Darcy was a very pretty young woman and she was looking at him like she wanted to eat him.
“So!” Pepper said, before things got too awkward. “How are you doing with the search?”
Darcy mentally shook herself and opened her laptop. She explained how she managed to find information on most of the missing cards by comparing Phil’s blog to the folder. There were 50 cards all in. One for each of the states. Phil had 12 of them on the Helicarrier and Fury had ruined most of them. Much to Darcy’s dismay.
“You all thought he was dead already, no need for the theatrics.” she said. She still had a bunch of Pokemon cards from her childhood and dreaded the thought of anything happening to them after all of her hard work.
And so they got to work. Steve sat with Darcy as his computer skills were pretty much nonexistent (though he was getting there since Stark Tower was just one big hunk of modern technology) and Pepper tapped away on her Stark tablet.
“Hey, I found an adorable little auction house that specialises in old comics and memorabilia in Austin. They have the New York card listed for sale in two days.” Darcy soon piped up. Steve’s home state card was the rarest. Only a few hundred were ever made. It was one of the few that were glossy and it was also embossed with Steve’s signature.
“I better charter the jet then.” Pepper said.
Both Darcy and Steve looked at her with surprised expressions.
“Seriously?” Darcy asked.
“I told you, this means a lot to Tony and I. We’ll do everything we can to help. Including flying us all to Texas.”
“Sweet!” Darcy called out and raised her hand to high-five Steve. It took him a few seconds but eventually he gently slapped her hand with his own.
Tony managed to drag himself away from his work with Bruce for a while and joined Pepper, Darcy and Steve in Texas. The card was likely to only sell for a few hundred dollars but Tony insisted on buying this particular one. And of course he couldn’t just let someone else bid or nod in a subtle way to the auctioneer. There was a dramatic entrance and a ostentatious bidding war between himself and severe looking young man on the phone to whoever he was representing. Darcy grinned like an idiot the whole time and cheered Tony on whilst Pepper and Steve did their best to dissociate themselves from the other two. They, of course, won the card when Tony offered to buy the auction house for a stupid amount of money. The owner politely declined and practically threw the card in Tony’s face just to get rid of him. They cracked open some very expensive champagne on the flight back. Darcy and Tony got way too drunk as they continued the drinking when they got back to the tower. The next morning Tony delighted in showing a very ill Darcy the security footage of them dancing to the Spice Girls (at Darcy’s request) and then her promptly passing out on Steve’s lap. Iron Man was swiftly becoming her least favourite Avenger and that was even after she had met Grumpy-Pants aka Clint Barton. Hulk was competing for first place with Captain America as Bruce tried his best not to laugh and pushed some painkillers and water her way.
In the days that passed, Darcy got into some pretty fierce bidding wars of her own on eBay. She’d stay up late or get up early to make sure she won. She managed to track down all of the cards but one. The Hawaiian card was being rather elusive. It depicted Steve with Hula dancers wearing leis made of red, white and blue flowers. It was one of the rarest because it went into production a long time after Captain America had gone out of fashion. Darcy hadn’t been too worried about it until she heard that Coulson was regaining consciousness. After almost three months of healing, he was waking up and she hadn’t completed his collection for him.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” she said with a sigh one morning in Stark Tower. She’d taken to hanging out there a lot. Bruce sat across from her at the breakfast bar in the communal living area. He was flicking through the paper and sipping green tea. “I’m sure Coulson will understand. You’ve done very well.” He said with a gentle smile. “Hey, that smells good, you got any more?” he asked Steve who was at the cooker. He was frying some bacon to try and cheer Darcy up.
“Sure, you want some eggs too?” he replied and Bruce nodded.
“I wish I could just, like, paint him one or something.” Darcy said as Steve piled scrambled eggs onto her plate next to the crispy bacon.
“Steve, you’re an artist. You could do that.” Bruce said as Steve joined them at the table with his own plate of food.
“You can draw?!” Darcy exclaimed.
“Um, yeah…I guess.”
“Why the hell didn’t you say so?! Dr Banner, that is an awesome idea!”
“I don’t know.” Steve said. “I’m no where near as good as the artists who did the originals…and because it’s on a really small scale…”
“Don’t be modest.” Bruce interrupted. “He’s very good.” He said to Darcy.
“Will you do it, Stevie? Please? It would mean the world to Phil. An original Steve Rogers, just for him.”
Steve screwed up his face a little. Darcy got up from her stool and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Please, please, pleeeease!” she begged, shaking him a little.
“Alright!” he said with a grin and a slight blush as Darcy kissed him on the cheek.
“Yes!” she shouted and picked up her plate. “I’m taking this to go. I gotta go get you a copy of the card right now!” With a giggle she swept out of the room. Bruce smirked across the table at Steve.
“I think she likes you.”
Darcy was given a lot of opportunities to visit Coulson in the S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital but she refused until Steve finished with the card. They had decided after a few tries that Steve should draw it on a larger scale and they’d scan it to make it trading card size.
“We could frame that one for him as well.”
He nodded and smiled at Darcy. He rarely liked people hovering around when he was drawing, but he was enjoying her company and the fact that she brought him coffee on a regular basis. She had also bought him paints once he had perfected the line drawing. And as much as she wanted to stare at Steve whilst he finished the card, Darcy was called up to a few meetings within her department. Apparently being under the orders of Fury didn’t excuse her from helping to devise paper work strategies.
Two days later and Steve appeared at Darcy’s desk to a chorus of whispers and giggles from the rest of the staff in her area. “Here you are.” Steve handed Darcy the framed, original of the Hawaii card.
“No, you should give him that. You worked hard on it.”
Steve smiled. “I’d like that. Thanks Darcy.”
He showed her the final product of the trading card. Tony had been educating Steve in Photoshop. Apparently people liked to do all sort of weird photo manipulations. From trying to make already beautiful women even more ‘perfect’ to putting Tony’s head on the body of a T-Rex.
“I think it looks better than the original.” Darcy said as she placed it into Phil’s binder. “Well, I guess it’s time.” she added and gave Steve a smile.
“Good luck.” he said with a hand to her shoulder. Darcy tucked the folder under her arm and headed for the infirmary.
When she arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D hospital and medical research facility in Brooklyn, Darcy was shown into the lift by Agent Hill, the same woman who had given her Phil’s keys. As she reached Phil’s room she peered through the glass and found him sitting up in bed, talking to a woman. She quickly turned away as Phil took the brunette’s hand and held it against his chest. She almost left and went back to her desk before she scolded herself for hunting for the tiniest excuse to avoid Phil. Besides, he was expecting her, it wasn’t like she was being a total creeper, watching him and whoever his lady friend was. It was already 2.03pm, she was three minutes late and she was sure Phil was the kind of man who appreciated punctuality. So she swiped her pass card and pressed the green button on the outside of the door and it hissed and slid open like something from Star Trek. Phil and his friend looked up.
“Hey, uh...sorry to interrupt…”
“No, not at all, come on in.” The young woman stood up. “You must be Darcy.” she said with a broad smile and took her hand and shook it.
“Hey, I know you. You work with Stark and Dr Banner.” Darcy replied and the woman nodded. “Yes, I’m Regina Harrison. Phil’s told me lots about you.”
Darcy flushed. “Really?” she asked.
Regina nodded. “You tased a god apparently? That’s pretty badass in my book. Anyway, I hear you have an appointment, so I’ll leave you guys to it. See you in a while, Phil.”
He smiled what Darcy could only describe as an affectionate smile and nodded. Regina gave a little wave and closed the door behind her. Phil watched her go through the glass until she was out of his line of sight. He then turned his attention to Darcy who was standing as far away as she could possibly be. She was clasping the folder to her chest like it was trying to fly away and Phil suppressed a grin.
“Please, sit, Miss Lewis.” he indicated the chair his previous guest had just vacated. She quickly sat down and thrust the booklet at Phil.
“This is yours.” she said, sounding like she was a little out of breath. His eyebrows bunched in the middle a little as he took it from her. He realised he should have recognised it straight away as it was indeed his. But the folder was plain, black soft leather and it didn’t have an distinguishing features. He looked back at Darcy with an inquisitive look but she merely bit her lip and revealed nothing.
Fury was the second person to speak to Coulson when he woke up. The first being the nurse who was checking his vitals. He had apparently given him quite the scare by suddenly gripping his wrist as he took notes. As ordered he had informed the director straight away. When Fury arrived he told Phil the whole story, including what he had done to unite the Avengers. Phil had only been a little mad at the fact Fury had lied about his death, after all it probably was the only thing to stop the invasion. However when he explained the theatrics with his precious card collection, that was a whole other story. The agent who rarely questioned his superior was ready to rip his face off. If only he could move and wasn’t hooked up to so many wires. He settled for glaring and then going on a very quiet and weary rant about how long it had taken him and what they meant. This exhausted him and by the time he was done, he was ready to sleep again. Fury had watched him nod off and then had gone to call Darcy Lewis to make sure she had completed the job he’d given her.
Phil pulled the elastic from over the button on the front and slowly lifted the cover. In their shiny sleeves sat his Captain America trading card collection. Completely intact and void of any fake blood. He knew exactly which cards he had in his locker on the Hellicarrier and they were all back. Slotted into the correct holders (alphabetically by state) some of them looked to be in even better condition that the ones he had found himself. His hand stopped over the card for Hawaii. It looked different somehow and he narrowed his eyes a little. Maybe they had found an even rarer print than it already was. Darcy noticed his hesitation.
“Steve did that one. I’m sorry about it...it was just…”
“No…” Phil interrupted. “This is…” he cleared his throat and looked at her with his eyes shining. He swallowed hard and looked back at the folder. “This is probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.”
Darcy felt like she wanted to cry and she was sure Phil probably did too, but they both gave awkward smiles and she giggled probably a little too loud. After a few more minutes of looking over the cards in silence, Phil closed the folder and placed it gently on the bedside cabinet.
“I have a question for you. It might be a little forward of me, but I feel your talents are wasted where you are.”
“What talents?” Darcy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well for a start, I hear your coffee is delightful. But you also studied political science with an emphasis on international relations. I think you might really do well as an agent. Whether that be in intel or perhaps even a field agent, I’d like you to shadow me when the medical staff let me get back on my feet to see where you could fit in.”
“You wanna be back on your feet already, don’t you?”
“Very much so, though I’m told I’m not ready.”
Darcy smiled and patted Phil’s arm. She was now convinced they were a lot more alike than she was first led to believe.
“So what do you think Miss Lewis, are you in?”
“Start calling me Darcy and you have a deal.”
Let me know what you think :)
On a side note, Regina, an OC who appears at one point was originally thought up for an Iron Man fic that was meant to be set between IM2 and the Avengers. That how long I've been working on some fics lately :/
When S.H.I.E.L.D. had Jane Foster moved for her safety, Darcy Lewis wasn’t moved with her. Apparently a degree in Political Science and a BFF who did all that astro physics stuff did not earn her a place at one of the top observatories in the world. Besides, no one really remembered her anyway. Dr Selvig had been under the spell of Loki and the Tesseract and Thor had been a little preoccupied himself. But one man remembered the outspoken young woman with the taser and the weird knitwear. He couldn’t sort it that she stayed with Jane but he managed to have her headhunted for a secretarial job at S.H.I.E.L.D Central in New York City. Darcy couldn’t recall applying for the job (she’d lost count of the jobs she’d gone for before meeting Jane) but with the impressive pay and the chance to work for the company who had hired Jane, she took the job, no questions asked.
Her first week she survived an alien attack and came into contact with two of the Avengers. Captain America being her favourite, though despite being told Tony Stark was an asshole, she kind of liked him too. But nothing measured up to Cap’s fantastic ass.
It only took the base a few days to get back to almost full operational capacity. A lot of agents were drafted in to help with the clean up of the city and on the newly grounded Helicarrier. Darcy, on the other hand, had been charged with a lot of the considerable amount of paperwork incurred due to the damage. She spent days stuck at her computer. She thought she was about to lose her mind completely when she got a call from the director himself.
“Yo.” she said as she picked up the phone on her desk.
“Am I speaking with Darcy Lewis?” A firm and loud voice asked.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
The was a long pause on the other end.
“Uh, hello?!” Darcy said. At this rate she’d be working to stupid o’clock yet again.
“Miss Lewis, this is Director Fury.”
“Who?”
Fury’s mood was becoming his namesake. What Coulson had seen in this young woman was beyond him.
“The director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?” he said through gritted teeth.
“Oh cool. What can I do for you? More insurance forms or apology letters perhaps?” she asked pushing her glasses up her nose. The slightly snarky tone in her voice wasn’t lost on Fury, but he chose to ignore it. He didn’t have time to give her a lecture about respecting her superiors.
“Actually, no. I have a little field mission for you.”
Darcy sat bolt upright in her chair.
“I believe you are familiar with Agent Coulson.”
“The dude who stole our stuff?”
“Yes...the uh, dude who took Miss Foster’s research. He was injured in the line of duty last week and I need you to collect a few things from his apartment.”
“That’s my mission?” she asked in a monotone.
“Yes, I’ve emailed you his address and what I need you to pick up.”
Darcy heaved a sigh. “Fine.” she said and hung up.
Another perk of Darcy’s job was the company car. She did think the huge, black SUV was a tad excessive for little her, but she preferred it to taking the subway. It even had a dock for her iPod. Much of Manhattan was still in lock-down, but not for an employee of S.H.I.E.L.D. It didn’t take her long to make it to the Upper West Side. A woman in a fetching blue jumpsuit had accosted Darcy in the S.H.I.E.L.D. parking garage and handed her a set of keys. It took her three goes to find the correct one. She had to use a little force to open the door. Mail had been building up behind it. As she scooped up the various envelopes and flyers and placed them on the breakfast bar, she spotted a magazine for personal weapons. Their featured article was on stun guns. Maybe this Coulson wasn’t so bad after all. Just as she started to contemplate looking for an online subscription to Munitions Monthly on her phone, she heard a loud scratching. She wandered into the living room and found a large, grey cat pawing at the window. It seemed to have a sad sort of expression on its round face and Darcy immediately rushed to it. She had a terrible weakness for all things fluffy. The cat seemed a little wary of her at first as she opened the window for it. However, it wasn’t long before the creature jumped inside and ran into the kitchen. Darcy watched as it paced up and down in front of one particular cupboard.
“You hungry?” She could only assume it was Coulson’s cat, but she bent to check it’s collar.
“Roger.” it read on one side of the little brass medallion. “If found, contact Phil Coulson.” and it gave his home number on the other. Darcy stroked Roger’s head as he stared up at her with big, yellow eyes.
“Let’s see if we can find you something to eat, little guy.” She quickly found a tin of cat food and left Roger to enjoy whilst she searched the rest of the apartment. The place was exactly as Darcy expected. Very neat and orderly right down to the carefully folded face cloths in the pristine bathroom. She found Coulson’s study at the end of the hall. His laptop sat opened on the otherwise empty desk. Darcy quickly closed it and put it in the bag she found on a nearby shelf. As she went to leave the room a large display cabinet caught her attention. It was filled to bursting with what appeared to be vintage Captain America memorabilia. Goofy looking action figures peered out from between metal lunch boxes and postcards and alarm clocks. A few items displayed Steve’s smiling face, but they all had the old stars and stripes somewhere.
“Star spangled man with a plan, huh?” she mumbled, reading from the front of a plastic sealed comic book. Agent Coulson was definitely going up in her estimations. It seemed they both had the same favourite Avenger and his collection rivaled even Darcy’s impressive lot of shot glasses and cocktail stirrers she’d picked up on her travels. She glanced at the bookcase beside the cabinet and found a leather folder just like Fury had said. She opened it to find plastic sleeves filled with trading cards. There were a few empty spaces here and there. She slid that into the laptop bag as well.
Roger seemed to be sated because Darcy found him sprawled on a patch of sunlight on the living room carpet.
“Hey kitty.” she said, crouching to pet him some more. “Your daddy isn’t well right now, but I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
By doing a little nosing above her official security clearance,(she had Jane to thank for her easy to guess passwords. It was Mjolnir11) Darcy soon found out that Agent Coulson, or Phil, had been placed into a medically induced coma while he recovered from a serious stab wound. So for a few weeks on her way home, she popped in to feed Roger and collect Phil’s mail. Every time she visited, she spotted something new, another clue as to who the mysterious agent really was. It was true that he was serious and meticulous but he did appear to have a softer, more personable side. The cute kitty was a big hint. As were the photos of friends and family that were dotted around his home. Some of them even had Phil himself in them. Smiling, of all things. As she dusted around some of those photos, Darcy wondered where he was being kept and if any of those faces had been to visit.
One morning Darcy arrived to work in a hurry after a drunken, Sunday night catch-up with Jane. She kept her shades on as she made her way to her floor. The summer sun had been too much and she didn’t fancy her chances with the dazzling fluorescent lighting. She clutched a large cup of black and sugary coffee in her shaking left hand. Anyone who greeted her got a grunt in response so she was none too happy to find some dude in a black, leather trench coat sitting in her chair, his feet propped up on her desk.
“You’re late.”
Darcy froze a few feet from her desk.
“Director Fury.” she croaked out and pushed her hair back with her sunglasses.
“Good night?” Fury asked getting to his feet.
“Uh, yeah.” she said. Resisting the urge to say ‘Aye, aye Captain!’ instead made her head pound even more.
“I understand you’ve been visiting Agent Coulson’s apartment pretty regularly.”
Darcy swallowed hard. This wasn’t doing her hangover any good.
“It’s his Roger. I mean his cat, y’know...I just thought I’d...”
“It doesn’t take over an hour to feed a cat. What exactly have you been doing?”
Darcy pushed past time and slumped into her chair. “Just stuff.”
Fury glared at her. “What stuff?”
Darcy sighed and looked away from his gaze. “A little cleaning and just...hanging out I guess. I’ve been pretty lonely without Jane and I’ve only seen Erik a couple of times. He’s been keeping to himself. That and my apartment kinda sucks. Phil’s apartment is a nice place to be.”
When she turned back to Fury, he had an eyebrow raised. “Phil?” he asked. Darcy felt like Fury had slipped her some truth serum because as soon as she opened her mouth again, she couldn’t stop.
“Okay, okay. Look, at first he was just some idiot who took our stuff. I still sorta hated him even after he hand delivered my iPod after the whole Asgardian fiasco. But seeing that super cool collection and then finding out he almost died single handedly taking on a freaking god and I started to wonder what kind of man he was besides a hero.”
Fury gave the tiniest of smiles, but Darcy saw it before it disappeared. “Funny you should mention his collection. How are you with eBay, Miss Lewis?”
The next week or so in work was much more exciting than the weeks leading up. Darcy had been given custody of Coulson’s trading card collection and his laptop. She was to do her best to fill the empty spaces again. Of all the research she had done, this was probably the most fun. Fury had given her a blank cheque and she decided to use her new found power to call in an expert on the matter of 1940’s memorabilia. This resulted in a trip to Stark Tower. And Darcy couldn’t have been happier. She was picked up by a man who was actually called Happy and this made her smile even more. On reaching the tower she was greeted by Pepper Potts.
“You’re much taller in real life.” Was all Darcy could say as she grinned like an idiot. Pepper smiled warmly and led Darcy to the lift.
“Tony insisted we treat you very well. I think he’s almost ready to admit he actually kinda likes Phil. He’s a dear friend of mine, so anything you need, just ask.”
Pepper explained that they’d be heading for the lab. The upper levels still weren’t ready after the battle because Tony had been spending an awful lot of time with his new best pal, Bruce Banner.
“The hulk guy?” Darcy asked.
Pepper nodded. “Yes, but he’s really very nice.”
When they reached the lab, they found Tony tinkering with something that resembled an engine. Only thing that seemed out of place was the bright blue light shining from within. Bruce and a young woman around Jane’s age stood behind a large, transparent screen, their eyebrows knitted as they observed Tony and made notes. Pepper managed to pull Tony away and make him put his tools down long enough to shake Darcy’s hand. He remembered running into her at S.H.I.E.L.D. Central.
“Oh yeah, you made that excellent Café Bombon! Ridiculously good! Especially when I was expecting some crappy machine stuff in a paper cup,”
“I do love my coffee.” Darcy grinned.
“I think you and I will get along famously.” Tony grinned back and then over Darcy’s shoulder at Pepper. Pepper rolled her eyes. She had been warning him about his caffeine consumption. It seemed to have increased tenfold since Bruce had moved into the tower. Tony saying something about sleeping when he was dead had made Pepper’s stomach lurch. Besides, that much caffeine was not good for anyone’s heart, let alone one that needed a helping hand from an Arc reactor.
“Yes, I’m sure you will.” she said, giving Tony a stern look. “Where is our invited guest?” she asked.
“Steven should be back soon. He’s been spending a lot of time visiting Coulson now that we know he’s actually alive. You guys can have the conference room; this job needs to be done well.” Tony said, using a spanner to indicate the floor below.
When Steve Rogers arrived and introduced himself Darcy was sure her face was burning with the fire of a thousand suns, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. Him being so polite made her even more giddy. Since Darcy seemed to be finding it hard to speak, Pepper took the lead and asked Steve if he could tell them anything about the Captain America memorabilia. It turned out he didn’t know a lot as much of it was produced when he was on the road and even more after he crashed into the ice, sacrificing himself for his nation. However, he did offer to pitch in and help anyway he could. But not before Darcy quizzed him on the Chutari and Loki.
“So what did you do after the battle?” Darcy asked
“I decided to go on a little road trip actually. The world has changed a lot in seven decades. I wanted to see just how much. Then I get a call from Tony telling me I’m needed urgently because Phil Coulson is alive and we need to find his trading cards. I was back as quickly as my bike would take me.”
“Uh-huh.” Darcy said. She was only half paying attention to what he was saying. The rest of her concentration was going on examining Steve’s lovely arms. He stared back at her, biting his lip a little and wondering what the hell was going on. Darcy was a very pretty young woman and she was looking at him like she wanted to eat him.
“So!” Pepper said, before things got too awkward. “How are you doing with the search?”
Darcy mentally shook herself and opened her laptop. She explained how she managed to find information on most of the missing cards by comparing Phil’s blog to the folder. There were 50 cards all in. One for each of the states. Phil had 12 of them on the Helicarrier and Fury had ruined most of them. Much to Darcy’s dismay.
“You all thought he was dead already, no need for the theatrics.” she said. She still had a bunch of Pokemon cards from her childhood and dreaded the thought of anything happening to them after all of her hard work.
And so they got to work. Steve sat with Darcy as his computer skills were pretty much nonexistent (though he was getting there since Stark Tower was just one big hunk of modern technology) and Pepper tapped away on her Stark tablet.
“Hey, I found an adorable little auction house that specialises in old comics and memorabilia in Austin. They have the New York card listed for sale in two days.” Darcy soon piped up. Steve’s home state card was the rarest. Only a few hundred were ever made. It was one of the few that were glossy and it was also embossed with Steve’s signature.
“I better charter the jet then.” Pepper said.
Both Darcy and Steve looked at her with surprised expressions.
“Seriously?” Darcy asked.
“I told you, this means a lot to Tony and I. We’ll do everything we can to help. Including flying us all to Texas.”
“Sweet!” Darcy called out and raised her hand to high-five Steve. It took him a few seconds but eventually he gently slapped her hand with his own.
Tony managed to drag himself away from his work with Bruce for a while and joined Pepper, Darcy and Steve in Texas. The card was likely to only sell for a few hundred dollars but Tony insisted on buying this particular one. And of course he couldn’t just let someone else bid or nod in a subtle way to the auctioneer. There was a dramatic entrance and a ostentatious bidding war between himself and severe looking young man on the phone to whoever he was representing. Darcy grinned like an idiot the whole time and cheered Tony on whilst Pepper and Steve did their best to dissociate themselves from the other two. They, of course, won the card when Tony offered to buy the auction house for a stupid amount of money. The owner politely declined and practically threw the card in Tony’s face just to get rid of him. They cracked open some very expensive champagne on the flight back. Darcy and Tony got way too drunk as they continued the drinking when they got back to the tower. The next morning Tony delighted in showing a very ill Darcy the security footage of them dancing to the Spice Girls (at Darcy’s request) and then her promptly passing out on Steve’s lap. Iron Man was swiftly becoming her least favourite Avenger and that was even after she had met Grumpy-Pants aka Clint Barton. Hulk was competing for first place with Captain America as Bruce tried his best not to laugh and pushed some painkillers and water her way.
In the days that passed, Darcy got into some pretty fierce bidding wars of her own on eBay. She’d stay up late or get up early to make sure she won. She managed to track down all of the cards but one. The Hawaiian card was being rather elusive. It depicted Steve with Hula dancers wearing leis made of red, white and blue flowers. It was one of the rarest because it went into production a long time after Captain America had gone out of fashion. Darcy hadn’t been too worried about it until she heard that Coulson was regaining consciousness. After almost three months of healing, he was waking up and she hadn’t completed his collection for him.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” she said with a sigh one morning in Stark Tower. She’d taken to hanging out there a lot. Bruce sat across from her at the breakfast bar in the communal living area. He was flicking through the paper and sipping green tea. “I’m sure Coulson will understand. You’ve done very well.” He said with a gentle smile. “Hey, that smells good, you got any more?” he asked Steve who was at the cooker. He was frying some bacon to try and cheer Darcy up.
“Sure, you want some eggs too?” he replied and Bruce nodded.
“I wish I could just, like, paint him one or something.” Darcy said as Steve piled scrambled eggs onto her plate next to the crispy bacon.
“Steve, you’re an artist. You could do that.” Bruce said as Steve joined them at the table with his own plate of food.
“You can draw?!” Darcy exclaimed.
“Um, yeah…I guess.”
“Why the hell didn’t you say so?! Dr Banner, that is an awesome idea!”
“I don’t know.” Steve said. “I’m no where near as good as the artists who did the originals…and because it’s on a really small scale…”
“Don’t be modest.” Bruce interrupted. “He’s very good.” He said to Darcy.
“Will you do it, Stevie? Please? It would mean the world to Phil. An original Steve Rogers, just for him.”
Steve screwed up his face a little. Darcy got up from her stool and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Please, please, pleeeease!” she begged, shaking him a little.
“Alright!” he said with a grin and a slight blush as Darcy kissed him on the cheek.
“Yes!” she shouted and picked up her plate. “I’m taking this to go. I gotta go get you a copy of the card right now!” With a giggle she swept out of the room. Bruce smirked across the table at Steve.
“I think she likes you.”
Darcy was given a lot of opportunities to visit Coulson in the S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital but she refused until Steve finished with the card. They had decided after a few tries that Steve should draw it on a larger scale and they’d scan it to make it trading card size.
“We could frame that one for him as well.”
He nodded and smiled at Darcy. He rarely liked people hovering around when he was drawing, but he was enjoying her company and the fact that she brought him coffee on a regular basis. She had also bought him paints once he had perfected the line drawing. And as much as she wanted to stare at Steve whilst he finished the card, Darcy was called up to a few meetings within her department. Apparently being under the orders of Fury didn’t excuse her from helping to devise paper work strategies.
Two days later and Steve appeared at Darcy’s desk to a chorus of whispers and giggles from the rest of the staff in her area. “Here you are.” Steve handed Darcy the framed, original of the Hawaii card.
“No, you should give him that. You worked hard on it.”
Steve smiled. “I’d like that. Thanks Darcy.”
He showed her the final product of the trading card. Tony had been educating Steve in Photoshop. Apparently people liked to do all sort of weird photo manipulations. From trying to make already beautiful women even more ‘perfect’ to putting Tony’s head on the body of a T-Rex.
“I think it looks better than the original.” Darcy said as she placed it into Phil’s binder. “Well, I guess it’s time.” she added and gave Steve a smile.
“Good luck.” he said with a hand to her shoulder. Darcy tucked the folder under her arm and headed for the infirmary.
When she arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D hospital and medical research facility in Brooklyn, Darcy was shown into the lift by Agent Hill, the same woman who had given her Phil’s keys. As she reached Phil’s room she peered through the glass and found him sitting up in bed, talking to a woman. She quickly turned away as Phil took the brunette’s hand and held it against his chest. She almost left and went back to her desk before she scolded herself for hunting for the tiniest excuse to avoid Phil. Besides, he was expecting her, it wasn’t like she was being a total creeper, watching him and whoever his lady friend was. It was already 2.03pm, she was three minutes late and she was sure Phil was the kind of man who appreciated punctuality. So she swiped her pass card and pressed the green button on the outside of the door and it hissed and slid open like something from Star Trek. Phil and his friend looked up.
“Hey, uh...sorry to interrupt…”
“No, not at all, come on in.” The young woman stood up. “You must be Darcy.” she said with a broad smile and took her hand and shook it.
“Hey, I know you. You work with Stark and Dr Banner.” Darcy replied and the woman nodded. “Yes, I’m Regina Harrison. Phil’s told me lots about you.”
Darcy flushed. “Really?” she asked.
Regina nodded. “You tased a god apparently? That’s pretty badass in my book. Anyway, I hear you have an appointment, so I’ll leave you guys to it. See you in a while, Phil.”
He smiled what Darcy could only describe as an affectionate smile and nodded. Regina gave a little wave and closed the door behind her. Phil watched her go through the glass until she was out of his line of sight. He then turned his attention to Darcy who was standing as far away as she could possibly be. She was clasping the folder to her chest like it was trying to fly away and Phil suppressed a grin.
“Please, sit, Miss Lewis.” he indicated the chair his previous guest had just vacated. She quickly sat down and thrust the booklet at Phil.
“This is yours.” she said, sounding like she was a little out of breath. His eyebrows bunched in the middle a little as he took it from her. He realised he should have recognised it straight away as it was indeed his. But the folder was plain, black soft leather and it didn’t have an distinguishing features. He looked back at Darcy with an inquisitive look but she merely bit her lip and revealed nothing.
Fury was the second person to speak to Coulson when he woke up. The first being the nurse who was checking his vitals. He had apparently given him quite the scare by suddenly gripping his wrist as he took notes. As ordered he had informed the director straight away. When Fury arrived he told Phil the whole story, including what he had done to unite the Avengers. Phil had only been a little mad at the fact Fury had lied about his death, after all it probably was the only thing to stop the invasion. However when he explained the theatrics with his precious card collection, that was a whole other story. The agent who rarely questioned his superior was ready to rip his face off. If only he could move and wasn’t hooked up to so many wires. He settled for glaring and then going on a very quiet and weary rant about how long it had taken him and what they meant. This exhausted him and by the time he was done, he was ready to sleep again. Fury had watched him nod off and then had gone to call Darcy Lewis to make sure she had completed the job he’d given her.
Phil pulled the elastic from over the button on the front and slowly lifted the cover. In their shiny sleeves sat his Captain America trading card collection. Completely intact and void of any fake blood. He knew exactly which cards he had in his locker on the Hellicarrier and they were all back. Slotted into the correct holders (alphabetically by state) some of them looked to be in even better condition that the ones he had found himself. His hand stopped over the card for Hawaii. It looked different somehow and he narrowed his eyes a little. Maybe they had found an even rarer print than it already was. Darcy noticed his hesitation.
“Steve did that one. I’m sorry about it...it was just…”
“No…” Phil interrupted. “This is…” he cleared his throat and looked at her with his eyes shining. He swallowed hard and looked back at the folder. “This is probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.”
Darcy felt like she wanted to cry and she was sure Phil probably did too, but they both gave awkward smiles and she giggled probably a little too loud. After a few more minutes of looking over the cards in silence, Phil closed the folder and placed it gently on the bedside cabinet.
“I have a question for you. It might be a little forward of me, but I feel your talents are wasted where you are.”
“What talents?” Darcy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well for a start, I hear your coffee is delightful. But you also studied political science with an emphasis on international relations. I think you might really do well as an agent. Whether that be in intel or perhaps even a field agent, I’d like you to shadow me when the medical staff let me get back on my feet to see where you could fit in.”
“You wanna be back on your feet already, don’t you?”
“Very much so, though I’m told I’m not ready.”
Darcy smiled and patted Phil’s arm. She was now convinced they were a lot more alike than she was first led to believe.
“So what do you think Miss Lewis, are you in?”
“Start calling me Darcy and you have a deal.”
Let me know what you think :)