An Insect Gave You What?
Stark Tower - New York City - August 2014
It had been two months without so much as a lead on Darcy and the team had split up and gone it’s separate ways. Deadpool hadn’t been seen since the day they raided the lab in Hungary. SHIELD had promptly gone back to their base and everyone at the tower had politely pretended they had no idea where it was. The Mob had gone back to Budapest, with a consoling touch on the shoulder and a sympathetic prayer. The Avengers had gone back to searching for the Scepter. Darcy’s Fathers had disappeared without a trace, although Bucky would occasionally get a call with a set of coordinates to a place that held no more than the ash and bones of men who had refused to yield to their righteous fatherly rage. Sam had been assigned to 24/7 Darcy search, and he was constantly trawling through CCTV feeds and checking out leads alongside Bucky.
All in all, he was starting to lose hope in ever hearing her laugh - or seeing her smile ever again. He dreamed of her every night, twisting and turning in beds that felt too big without her pushy presence to shove him into the very corner. When he was in the tower, he had taken to sitting in Clint’s room with the man in question and his dog and llama and trying to get drunk. He was yet to succeed. They would often trade stories of the girl with a heart of fire and an unbreakable loyalty. He wasn’t giving up, he didn’t think he ever would, and each day she was gone it hurt even more - but he was starting to steel himself for the worst possibility.
He and Clint were sitting in the common area one morning, and Clint was mourning the lack of Darcy’s ‘Excellent hangover homemade muffins’, when a familiar voice drifted down the hall.
“Honey, I’m home!” Wade called dramatically, stepping into the room in full Deadpool regalia.
“Indoor voices, Wade,” Clint groaned, covering his ears and dropping his head to the marble counter.
“Wade who? I don’t know what you are talking about, kind sir,” he sniffed haughtily, and made an indignant squawk when Natasha walked past and yanked his face-mask off.
“Get over yourself, Wade,” she chided. Moments later, Bucky heard the telltale zombie waltz of Jamie approaching the room at approximately 2 shuffles per hour.
“Coffee,” she groaned piteously, and Bucky had no doubt she’d been up all night trying to fix the machine that they’d used to track down Darcy the first time. Before they had even managed to get halfway home from Hungary, a Hydra team had infiltrated the Tower and destroyed it - meaning she had to start from scratch. When she saw Wade, however, she straightened abruptly and threw the steaming liquid she was about to drink in his face.
“You piece of shit asshole!” She exclaimed, and Bucky silently exchanged glances with Natasha and Clint.
“Told you they slept together,” Bucky muttered, and Clint grumbled and slid twenty dollars at him across the table.
“I have to go do something important now!” Jamie was yelling in a horrible approximation of Wade’s voice, “My friend who can see the future says we’re meant to be together!” Her face was almost as red as his (And he’d just been hit in the face with steaming coffee) as she continued, “I couldn’t live myself if I left here not knowing what it would be like!” Wade made no attempt to save himself from her tiny fists as she punched him in the chest repeatedly. “You utter asshole!” She screeched, and when she went for the whole coffee pot, Clint intervened smoothly, holding the jug above her head as she struggled to get at it.
“Dammit Clint!” She yelled, making incoherent noises as she jumped up and down, much to the crowd her yelling had drawn’s amusement.
“Use your words, sweetheart,” he suggested before jumping up onto the cabinet and taking a sip from the pot only to have it confiscated by Pepper.
“Six year olds,” she muttered, pouring herself a mug, “I live with a bunch of six year olds,”
Letting out a loud put-upon sigh, she turned and fixed Jamie and Wade with a no-nonsense stare.
“Do you two care to explain what is going on at-” She looked at her watch, “Oh good lord, 6:30am on a Sunday?” Crossing her arms, Jamie turned back to Wade with a poisonous glare.
“I was just in the process of discovering a new species of asshole, this one here is at least three categories worse than ‘I’ll call you’”
“Oh, Come on Sweetheart -” Wade broke in, only to be silenced by Jamie’s indignant yell.
“Don’t call me that!” Bucky felt like he was watching a tennis match as the pair descended into shouts of rage once more.
Pepper once more broke the pair up, and manouvered Thor inbetween them to keep the peace before turning to Wade.
“Mr. Wilson,” she said crisply, “Do you care to state the nature of your visit?” Nodding vigorously, Wade made a face at the sky for a second before turning back to Pepper.
“The last few months I was tracking down some friends of mine, I thought they might be able to help with… the Darcy thing,” he explained. “But then there was … some other stuff that came up and I had to deal with that before I came home,”
“Other stuff?” Tony asked curiously, walking further into the room and jumping up next to Clint and stealing the coffee pot back from Pepper.
“Yeah, there was this fight within my sort of family - y’know the gig, betrayal, mayhem, torture, murder. Normal family stuff - Anyway, that isn’t really the point…” he trailed off, staring out the window again. Sighing loudly and feeling sure he would regret it, James broke in.
“What is the point, Wade?”
“The? Oh, right. Um. I sort of forgot, you know, with the coffee in the face and.. yeah,” he trailed off again, before visibly brightening and sitting up again. “Oh, yeah! I think the people who had Darcy are the same guys who made my Brothers and I,”
“Made…” Tony said, scrunching his whole face up in confusion, “What are you?” he asked and Wade bounced on his toes for a second, his whole face lighting up with a grin.
“Oh boy I was hoping someone would ask that! Thank you!” he exclaimed, grinning up at the roof again. You're Welcome, Wade. Bucky exchanged a puzzled glance with Clint before shrugging and turning expectantly back to the mercenary.
“Okay,” Wade began, “So… I’m not normal,”
“Shocker,” Steve interrupted dryly on his way to the couch, dropping on it face first. He was joined a moment later by Maria, who bypassed the coffee to flop gracelessly on her boyfriends back.
“Rude,” Wade said before continuing, “Ha, Ha ha, well, I have powers,” Silence greeted his statement, and he shuffled on the spot like a chastised child, “And I’m sort of a Super-Soldier? Who can’t Die? I mean, I haven’t aged in a while. Which is sort of inconvenient. Neither do my brothers, though, which is more inconvenient for them then it is for me because let’s face it you would not want to be stuck with all of this,” he gestured at himself, “For forever, amiright?”
At this, everyone but Jamie made an agreeable noise. The tiny scientist had snuck around Thor and was standing with her hands on her hips. Her 'I've-been-fucked-over-andI-really-do-not-like-it' glare had lessened into her slightly less terrifying ‘I will science you until I drop’ face.
“Explain?” she asked with a hesitant curiosity.
“Well,” Wade said, raising one hand, “Super Soldier Serum,” he waved his raised hand before raising the other, “Plus Teregenis,” he waved the second hand and knocked them both together, miming an explosion, “Equals… Me?” From where he was standing, Thor let out a disgruntled noise at the mention of the Kree weapon.
“What powers were you granted, Son of Wil?” he asked, and Wade let out an embarrassing little squee at the name.
“Oh,” he said after a moment, seeming to remember he was asked a question, “I just teleport,”
“You just teleport?” Repeated Jane incredulously, looking like she might club him over the head and drag him down to her lab to help her with her wormhole research.
“Yeah, Remy and Logan have much cooler powers than me,” this time, when he spoke, Bucky felt, more than saw, Natasha flinch next to him. Turning to her, he raised his eyebrow curiously, he quickly turned back to Wade when she gave him a blank eyed stare that said ‘Do Not Touch This With a Ten-Foot Pole’.
“And Remy and Logan are…” Bruce prompted from where he was making a rather large pot of his steaming relaxation tea.
“My Brothers who I went to find!” Wade exclaimed, and Pepper let out another gusty sigh.
“Ah yes,” she said dryly, “At last, we arrive at the point,”
“So Remy and Logan are… like you?” Bruce asked, absent-mindedly pushing away the coffee that Tony was trying to sneak into his beverage.
“You mean don’t age, don’t die, super-powered?” Wade asked, before nodding vigorously, “Oh yeah, they have the coolest powers. Remy can see the freaking future and do something or other with kinetic energy - I don’t really listen when he talks about it. Logan is way cooler, though. He has freaking claws! Giant metal ones! Well, They used to be bone claws. But then, y’know, there was some unfortunate trickery and torture by the big guy, and Badda bing, badda boom - Metal,” Sighing dreamily, he leaned up against the counter. “Boy, I wish I had metal claws, teleporting is so lame,”
“Okay…” Clint was the first to speak after a few long moments of shocked silence, “So, they sound like they could help with the Darcy thing… Do you know where they are?” Pushing off of his perch, Wade made his way over to the window and stared dramatically out into the rain.
“Knowing them,” he said quietly, staring out at the Empire State Building, “Exactly where they need to be,”
Logan’s Beat Up Truck - NY - August 2015
As far as she could remember, Darcy had been raised in the facility that Logan had found her in - she hadn’t seen the sky, she’d never felt the breeze of a warm summer day on her skin, and she’d sure as hell never been in a car. Which was why she was now curled up in the backseat of what she had been assured was a ‘perfectly safe’ Chevy. She couldn’t help but feel like this was another lie.
“So you say you’ve... done this before?” Darcy called hesitantly from where she was clutching the edges of her seat and squeezing her eyes shut.
“Huh?” Logan asked, turning completely around from his spot in the driver’s seat and looking at her with a cheeky smile.
“Oh my god, Oh my god! Look at the road you crazy person! I am not dying for six college credits!” She shrieked, desperately pushing his face until he turned around in his seat and concentrated on the road again.
“...Six college credits?” Remy asked, turning around from his spot and giving her a quizzical look.
“I don’t… I mean - I don’t know. Maybe I saw it in a movie,” She replied, furrowing her brow and staring out the window.
“They had movies in there?” he asked doubtfully, and she gave him a level stare.
“Of course they had movies, they were asshole Nazi’s - not cavemen,” she told him sardonically.
------------
“Woah. Dude. Holy shit,” Darcy breathed, pressing her face as close to the glass as she could as they drove through New York City. (The New York City!) Winding down her window, she stuck her head out and breathed in the smell of garbage and exhaust fumes.
“It smells like civilisation!” she cried gleefully, only retracting her arms from where they were waving in the wind when Remy cursed at her in French and told her she’d lose an arm if she kept doing it.
“It’d totally grow back…” she grumbled like a chastened child - but she did it anyway.
“Don’t think anyone’s ever been so excited to see Brooklyn before,” Logan commented, and she aimed a small kick at his seat before turning to the city once again.
A Crappy Motel (Yes - Again) - Long Island - August 2015
“Darcy- stop that! Oh god. Remy! She’s petting a stray cat! Make her stop!” Darcy ignored Logan’s whining as she sat herself on the ground in front of the motel that they’d pulled into in Long Island. The three legged cat that settled itself in her lap was immediately dubbed Luke Skywalker (Post Cloud-City, Obviously) and she decided that anyone who tried to separate them would be losing more than an appendage.
“Oh man, of course it has three legs,” he groaned before raising his arms in a surrendering gesture. “I’m not going to try to take it away! We just need to go inside now,”
“It has a name, you know,” she sniffed, pushing her way past him and bouncing onto the first bed she saw.
Settling into the middle of the bed, she pulled Luke into her lap and made a quiet, discomforted noise at the uneasy feeling that was settling over her like a heavy blanket.
“What is it, Chére?” Remy asked, settling himself on a chair in front of her.
“I have the weirdest Deja vu right now,” she said, her voice sounded lost to even her ears as Remy smiled sympathetically at her.
“There was a time when you practically lived in places like this, if my information is correct,” he told her before settling more firmly into the seat and spreading his hands wide.“You’ve gotta have questions, so it’s open floor, kid,”
Taking a deep breath, Darcy asked the question that had lingered in the back of her mind for as long as she could remember.
“Am I a monster?” At this, Remy let out a dry huff of laughter.
“No more than Logan or I, my dear,” he told her with a cheeky grin.
“Great,” Darcy said in a monotone, “What a relief. I’m no more of a monster than the man with freaking claws. Awesome,” Remy seemed to take a moment to take her in before leaning forwards and placing his elbows on his knees. He spoke in a whisper, as if he was letting her in on the world’s biggest secret.
“You know, chére. I have often found it is not what you are, but who you are that determines whether or not you are a monster” Letting out a gusty sigh, Darcy continued to pat Luke and dropped her shoulders.
“You’re right. I’m being an asshole. Logan, you saved my life - and I’m grateful for that. I - I know that Wanda and Pietro… weren’t the good guys. I mean, I don’t think they were,” she admitted, and Logan grunted in acknowledgement from where he was making himself coffee. “Although, I don’t even know if my name is actually my name right now, so...”
“Oh no, It’s Darcy,” Logan called helpfully from where he was consuming an unholy amount of coffee and Darcy let out an indignant gasp.
“Like Mr. Darcy?” She asked, looking scandalized, “Did my parents have a thing for Jane Austen? Did they hate me? Is that how I ended up with weird powers in a Hydra facility? Do I have daddy issues?!” She couldn’t understand why the two men were laughing, but if they didn’t stop in a minute, she was going to sic Luke Skywalker on them.
“Oh wow,” Remy gasped loudly, holding his gut tight and coming down from his giggles, “You have no idea how ironic that question is,” Rolling her eyes, Darcy sat back on the bed and let Luke crawl up onto her shoulder.
“Men,” she said disgustedly, and she took the gentle headbutt to her temple as agreement for the sentiment.
Ten minutes later, when the two men had calmed down enough for Darcy to ask them to explain to her how ironic that question was, she was immediately stonewalled.
“How are you feeling?” Remy asked her, studying her intently at she scratched Luke Skywalker’s tummy. “What do you already know about your life? What do you know about your powers? How you got them?” Narrowing her eyes at his, frankly, poor attempt at avoiding her question, she decided to humor him.
“I didn’t always have these powers? Whatever - and I feel fine, just like I did the first five times you asked me that on the way here. And as for my life, My name is Darcy - just Darcy. Like Cher. I’m 25 years old. I don’t know how long I’ve known the twins…. It’s kind of - hazy? The past, I mean,” she clarified, bunching her nose up delicately before continuing, “I try to think about what happened past a few months ago and it kind of... hurts. Like something is missing? Which, I mean, obviously now I know is the truth, because apparently it wasn’t enough for those assholes to take my humanity. Oh no, they had to take my memories as well,” grinding her teeth at the thought, she physically repressed the buzzing energy that was itching to make its way past her hands and hurt whatever was distressing her. “I think - that I was an orphan. I mean, I have this feeling of maybe having a family… once. But then I was just - alone. I don’t really remember anything about life outside of that damn windowless apartment. Except for the man with the metal arm. I… I knew him,”
“What do you know about who I was? Who I am?” she asked, and resisted the urge to zap Remy when, instead of answering, he shot another question at her.
“Tell me what your powers feel like,” he prompted, folding his hands together and leaning back.
“My powers?” at his nod, she sighed and moved Luke off of her lap, “Well, I have this sort of - current? That’s probably the best way to describe it - I have this sort of current kind of running through my veins - and it feels like … sort of like static electricity? But not in a bad way? If that makes an sense?” At his encouraging nod, she rolled her neck and concentrated for a moment before continuing.
“And I can also… sense other people’s energy. Like, for example, the couple in the room next door have been fucking all day and the lust that is rolling off them is both a little stifling and very disconcerting when I’m trying to have a serious conversation,” Logan choked slightly from somewhere behind her as she focused once more, “The guy at the front desk is depressed. Like - seriously. I’m sort of concerned he’s going to hang himself, or at least drink all of our minibar refills. Someone should probably get him some help. Logan,” she said, gesturing over her shoulder at where she could sense him standing, “Has this whole constant agony thing going for him. Like, Holy Manpain, Batman. And you…” she fixed Remy with a level stare and a small smile, “You are yearning for a lost lover. She left, and now you’re having trouble finding a reason to get out of bed in the morning,”
A few minutes of silence followed her revelation before Logan threw himself down on the bed next to her and smirked.
“Well..” he said, “She’s not wrong. I’ve been able to hear those two going at it like jackrabbit’s since before we pulled up,” Wincing sympathetically, Darcy absentmindedly gave him a pat to the head - ignoring his indignant squawk.
“Super hearing sucks balls dude. I feel your pain,”
“Ok… so that’s it then? You can sense the energy of others?” Remy asked, and Darcy couldn’t help the snort that came out.
“Ha, no! I can shoot freaking electricity out of my hands. Cool, right?! I’m a goddamn Taser!” Cracking her knuckles, she flicked her wrist gracefully, and they all watched as a bolt of electricity blackened a spot on the wallpaper.
“That’ll teach them to go for Grandma chic in the design department,” Logan commented offhandedly.
“Also, I can heal stuff,” Darcy added calmly, calling Luke back into her lap and continuing to eradicate his fleas.
“What, like yourself?” Remy asked curiously.
“Yeah,” Darcy allowed, “And other stuff, too,” At this, she proudly held up Luke, who had been mangey at best a few minutes before - and was now a healthy looking cat (Minus a leg) with a glossy black coat.
“Shit,” Logan breathed out, and both men leant in to inspect her handiwork. Luke Skywalker was quick to remind them that he was a badass tomcat that was not having any of their cooing today. He was accepting discreet bully-rubs, though.
“Alright, so that’s it now…right?” Remy asked again, and Darcy couldn’t help but feel a little insulted by his narrow mindedness.
“What do you think?” she asked with a smirk before turning her attention to the bedside lamp. Concentrating for a second, she turned it on with her mind. Logan leant over and unplugged it, but the lamp remained on.
“Okay, so you can turn a lamp on,” Remy conceded, making it very clear he was unimpressed. Raising an eyebrow at him, Darcy commanded the lamp to rise until it was floating over his head. When he still appeared unimpressed, she threw it at the wall, only to stop it at the last moment, and allow it to float harmlessly back to its perch beside the bed.
“You gotta admit, that’d be handy as hell in a fight,” Logan broke in, giving her a roguish grin.
“Also,” She broke in, “I’m really hot,”
“Yes… You are,” Remy replied, giving her a predatory smile, “That has nothing to do with what they did to you, Chére,”
“No, you idiot,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes at him, “I meant my temperature. My temperature is always really hot. No matter what, it’s pretty convenient actually, I’m like my own space heater,”
“Ah, That’d be the extremis,” he said, tilting his head and looking thoughtfully at her.
“Extremis?” Darcy asked cautiously, not sure if she actually wanted the answer.
“The super soldier serum they gave you,” Logan supplied helpfully before going back to scratching Luke Skywalker behind the ears.
“Wait. Wait. Holy shit! Super Soldier Serum? Like Captain America super soldier serum?!” She asked, perking up and looking between the two men eagerly.
“Ye-es?” Remy replied cautiously, no doubt because of her flaring eyes and the static electricity that suddenly filled the room.
“Holy shit! That is so cool. Does that mean I’m Captain America now?” Darcy wasn’t sure, but the heavy sighs that filled the room sure felt familiar.
Twenty minutes later, Remy and Logan appeared to be doing this weird silent communication thing that Darcy politely pretended to not notice while she read a file on herself. She couldn’t quite believe that she had four fathers (Four!) - or that she’d met an actual god and forgotten about it. How could she forget about that?! She was also pretty pissed that other her didn’t have an apartment and a dog yet, but hey, baby steps. When she got to the part where the man with the metal arm (Still no names - or photos, this guy was good) kidnapped her, she couldn’t help but jerk her head upwards and look at the two bickering men.
“Other me was kind of an idiot,” she observed quickly, before returning to reading about her escapades.
When she finished reading the file, Remy came and sat next to her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder and smiling.
“Are you… trying to comfort me?” She asked skeptically, she hadn’t needed comfort ever before in her life (That she knew of, anyway) and she wasn’t about to start now. He retracted his hand with a small smile before getting all earnest (Ew) and asking her if she was okay. Ick.
“Well…” She replied slowly, thinking deeply, “I don’t actually remember the last time I used the bathroom,” she said, and when she saw the confused expressions on their faces, she elaborated. “Seriously. I literally cannot remember ever having used a bathroom before in my life. Like, I know I must have - ‘cause I don’t smell bad, and I obviously have a bladder because I have to pee now. And I also definitely have to change. Because I’m just now realising it looks like a stepford wife picked out this outfit, and I’m pretty sure that is the shit I do not like,”
“Okay…” Remy was clearly struggling with the dilemma she had presented him with, “So… go use the bathroom? And you can borrow some clothes? If you want,” he offered, and Darcy nodded gratefully. “I don’t think Logan’s would fit, for some reason he insists on wearing shirts so tight even you couldn’t manage,” at her blank stare, he grinned gleefully and elaborated. “You know… because of your,” at this, he looked pointedly at her chest, and Darcy let out a disgusted snort and rolled her eyes violently.
“Right. A tit joke. I may not remember anything, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that one before,”
In the bathroom, Darcy was methodically stripping out of her clothes when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed loudly, bringing her hands to her stomach and staring. Moments later, Remy and Logan kicked the door down, the former carrying a glowing knife and the latter with his claws out.
“Guys,” Darcy stressed when where she was standing in the middle of the room, “I have abs,”
“You’re- She’s kidding right? She didn’t just scream like that because- Oh my god. I am going to kill Wade for getting us into this. And then I am going to ignore him for a really long time. Like at least a decade,” Logan let his claws slide back into his hands as he began gently hitting his head against the door.
“Seriously! Guys! Where did these even come from? I may not remember much, but I totally would have remembered these puppies,” she exclaimed, still training her wide eyed stare on her stomach. Letting out a gusty sigh, Remy sheathed his knife and took a step into the bathroom.
“That’s probably the centipede part of the serum cocktail you were injected with,” he told her.
“An insect gave me abs?! Awesome!”
“No, not an inse- You know what? Sure. Yes, Darcy. An insect absolutely gave you abs,”
So I drew a thing - It's Darcy and Luke (Skywalker) , Go easy on me, I drew this on my ipad with my fingers (Bc apparently I am incapable of keeping a pen around without losing it)