Well... fuck. Is the thought that crosses Darcy's mind as she figures out the situation after several minutes of panic, fear, and yeah, fine, some tears.
'Cause when she'd woken up this morning, it's not like she would have figured she'd end up in said situation. Hell, not too long ago, she never would have thought she'd be here.
After New Mexico. The mess with Thor and SHIELD. Then being fucking transported against her goddamn will all the way to Tromso and then more Thor disaster in London and hey, look, Miss Lewis, maybe move toNew York and work for us there via theAvengers, it's not like you have a choice or anything.
And it also helped that Tony Stark had been courting Jane to fund her research and work in his Tower so, there is that.
Even after the nasty that had happened in DC, she'd stayed with Jane at said Tower. Jane, with her science know-how and Darcy in much the same position as before. Only minus any SHIELD relation. More or less just on Tony Stark's payroll.
And really, it's not as though moving to New York City of all places is such a bad thing. Everybody dreams of spending a portion of their lives in the Big Apple at one point or another.
She had and now, here she is.
Stuck in a fucking well.
Yup, that's right, she is stuck in a nasty, dark, dank, sludgy, shallow pool of gross well water.
The same one that asshole Timmy fell into and that dumb Lassie could barely save him from.
The one where clean drinking water goes to die.
She's the unofficial wrangler of superheroes and mad scientists. She's sequestered in a lab for half of her work day and then the other half at a desk data streaming her perky ass off. And then let's not forget working as a certified assistant to Pepper Potts and/or Stark, if he wants it so (he often does, the jackass!).
Regardless of the stress. The hassle. All the worry of oh my god, if I do something wrong, an Avenger's gonna be up my ass! She likes her job. Enjoys it even. It challenges her in a way she hadn't experienced before.
So, this is not where she'd pictured happening after waking up today: Spending what's supposed to be a nice, relaxing weekend at what Tony likes to call his version of a company retreat. Made to give the Avengers some time off from, y'know, saving the world like they so often do.
Darcy had been invited via her close connection to Jane whilst Jane had been invited via her up and close personal to Thor, all the way Upstate to her billionaire boss's large joke of a cabin.
The only other person who hadn't been part of a pair was... yeah, she's so not gonna think about him right now.
She'd been more than a little bored over at Stark's cabin so, she had decided to just go for a walk earlier when the sun had still been out, sliding slowly behind the clouds. The rural area actually seeming nice and magical to her.
It's fine. She'd thought as she had walked the path into the steep woods behind the house. She'll just retrace her steps afterward and get back safely.
But, no, she'd gotten lost and had fallen into a damn well.
It'd been darker and darker since she'd fallen in - she swears to christ, that she hadn't seen the stump, one time she doesn't look ahead where she'd been going, one time! - and it sucks. Sucks so bad.
She's cold, dirty, and scared out of her mind.
This is ridiculous! She snarls to herself, pulling a face as her hand comes back with a black, slimy substance after running it through her hair then immediately shaking it off into the dirty water.
God, she'd faced down aliens. She'd tasered Thor. She had kinda helped save the world one time. She had had more bizarre things happen to her after moving to Avengers Tower than anyone else. She should be able to own up to being a dumbass like an adult.
But, of course, had she been an adult person in the first place, she'd have handled her boredom like a boss and not wandered off into the woods like stupid Little Red Riding Hood and then fallen into a well.
The same well she's starting to contemplate making a home in because no one would care enough to find her.
Fine, she is exaggerating just by a tad because Jane cares. Thor cares, even without Jane's encouragement, which is pretty nice. Some of the others sort of care, too. They like and appreciate her, she thinks.
The only person she has no idea gives a shit is the only person she gives too much of a shit about.
Another example in which she's a dumbass. Crushing hard on a man who barely looks at her twice. Who can hardly deign to hold a conversation with her for more than two seconds and frowns every time she talks about fun stuff. Giving her those odd, unreadable looks whenever she'd walk into a room.
And she could read people real well - maybe, she thinks - and she could never do that with him.
Whatever. She sighs, leaning against the cold wall above the water. If she's gonna bite it in a damn well, then she may as well not go depressed at the one thing not going well in the scheme of things. Namely, her love life or lack thereof.
Thank Thor I'm used to it by now.
She has no clue if it's minutes or hours or what the hell before she hears something. All she knows is she's so unbelievably fucking cold that her extremities are starting to pain. She feels the dirtiest she's ever been. And... some she may or may not have had a panic attack or two.
Then she hears it. A crunch. A few of them in a pattern that grows louder and louder until she realizes that someone is walking above her. Footsteps.
"H-Hey!" She calls loudly before clearing her throat and shouting. "Hello! Is anybody up there?!"
There's a small pause in which she holds still in order to clearly hear the footfalls over her head that fade momentarily before coming closer again.
She doesn't even realize she's started holding her breath til she hears. "Hello?"
The voice is deep and reverberates down towards her ears. A man probably?
"Oh my god, yes!" She yells, nearly creaking her neck in looking up into the moon illuminating the well. "YES! I'm in here! I'm down here! Can you help me?!"
If at any point she sounds desperate, well... she's been stuck in a well for god knows how long. She's filthy and freezing. And anyway, no one needs to know except for her and/or her potential savior.
Said savior that's now appeared at the mouth of the well, kind of blocking the full moon above.
Big. Broad-shouldered. Long-limbed. Most definitely a dude.
Or large, deep-voiced woman. Wouldn't be the first time.
"You alright down there?" He asks loudly enough for her to hear. Voice cloaked in concern.
"Uh..." She checks around herself. She feels about ready to shut down in the low temps. Her body is hurting with it and she feels disgusting but... "I'm okay." She responds, trying not to yell herself hoarse in relief and yet unable to keep from word-vomiting all over a complete stranger after being alone for the past few hours. "I'm fine! I'm just... I've been down here a while. I'm really cold and hungry and I think I'm about to have another panic attack but, otherwise, I'm good."
Jeez, Lewis. Overshare.
A huff of what she thinks is a laugh follows her down and she's far too relieved of the possible rescue that she's not even offended. "Are you hurt?"
Hurt? "I..."
"Do you have any injuries?"
She vaguely recalls falling earlier. The horrified confusion and fright as she'd taken a spill. The fear as she fell. The feeling of surfacing and trying to take oxygen back into her lungs again. The little bit of pain at her... "My foot." She answers, putting it all together in her head. "I banged up my foot, I think. I'm not sure if I broke anything but-"
"Can you move it okay?" He interrupts gently.
Feeling silly but, a whole hell of a lot better than before, she places a careful hand up on the gross brick wall behind her and rotates both her feet. Just now realizing the dull pain on the heel of her left foot. "I can move it fine, it just... hurts a little." She says eventually, trying very hard not to feel pathetic.
"Alright." She hears her savior-with-no-name say after a contemplative silence. "I have rope in my car. It's not too far. I'm gonna go get it and then I'll be right, okay?"
"No!" She shouts without meaning to, sudden fear gripping her. "Please. Don't. I just-"
Oh, well. So much for not being pathetic.
"Hey, hey." She hears from above her, interrupting her inner panic. "Listen..." He starts in a soothing tone of voice that she has a strange, immediate inkling that he's used before. "...My car's just down the road and I know the trail real well here, okay? I will be right back."
He sounds like he's giving her a guarantee that he's gonna return and she doesn't know what compels her to ask but... "Promise?"
If he takes any note of her voice breaking, he says nothing about it.
A long exhale reaches her before he speaks again, confidently and without hesitation. "I promise I'll be back, okay?"
She nods and then remembers he can barely see her down here. "Yeah. Okay."
"Good." He utters and then the shadow disappears over her and he's gone.
Leaving her in the well. Alone. Again.
So, realistically, she knows she'd just heard him tell her that he's coming right back but, really, she has no idea what just downthe road actually means in this scenario and she also knows that this isn't some dumb horror movie where he's left her here to die alone and god, she thinks she's slowly losing her mind.
She's gone and put her faith in a complete stranger. Awesome. Good thinking.
Dammit. And she never even got his name either.
And she's actually a little thankful for her mental paranoia because it keeps her attention long enough that before she knows it, Secret Savior Man is back and after some setbacks - namely her nearly falling back into the water over and over again 'cause right, this guy seems pretty strong but, he's no Captain America and she regards herself of the more sturdy set, so - they manage to heft her ass up and out of the well that's been her apartment for the past few hours.
"Hey." She hears that soothing, warm tone again much more clearly this time and two big man hands - okay, so he's most definitely male - land on both her shoulders and at first, she's confused as to why he could possibly be using that tone of voice before she realizes that her vision is starting to fuzz at the edges and her breath is coming out in shallow pants and oh right, panic attack, nice to see you again.
He helps her through it as her eyes squeeze shut and she heaves and heaves into the cold air, nearly curling g into the fetal position on the now damp grass beneath her, once again using those dulcet tones made to calm and settle and that she's once more sure he must have experience with.
After a few minutes of that to pass (enough to calm down but, not enough for mortification to come into play, that'll come later), she takes a cleansing breath like she's been told you're supposed to do at times like this and finally, opens her damn eyes and takes a first look at her rescuer.
Even though he kinda looks like he's recently gotten into some scraps, a few minor healing bruises and cuts around his face, Darcy can't really ignore the fact that he's - as has become the norm in her life after taking up residence in the tower that also houses the earth's mightiest heroes - ridiculously attractive.
And in a sort of surprising way, too. She'd kind of expected someone different from the way he'd been speaking to her throughout this mess. Someone a little more unassuming. Because honestly, he doesn't look friendly though, she must admit, the severe, dark-eyed thing works for him. And the cheekbones - christ, she could cut herself on those cheekbones. And the cuts and bruises actually add to his appeal. As does the stubble. And the dark eyes aren't too bad either, shrewd but not unkind.
Her lady systems haven't been reacting normally as of late because of it's recent focus on a certain Avenger but, she can still appreciate a fine specimen.
And the GQ model that just rescued her from possibly living in a well, counts as such. Even as he's dressed a bit like a mountain man.
"You okay now?" He asks and oh, alright, the voice goes together with him, too. Kinda not fair. "You started freaking out there for a bit."
"Yeah." She shakes her head to snap out of it and clears her throat, trying again. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I just don't normally get stuck in wells and I was very close to becoming one with the slime monster down there before you showed up so, I'm thinking it's all that excess energy of being scared out of my mind that I was gonna die there all by myself and-"
She doesn't realize she's doing it again (babbling her life away) until he's interjecting gently, squeezing her shoulder lightly. "Take a deep breath." She does what he says and when she faces him, he's looking at her questioningly. "What's your name?" He asks curiously.
He starts, looking him over, at the disarming expression he's trying for and just says. "You first."
He chuckles as if she's just issued him a challenge or whatever.
He smiles. Kind of. A little bit. The upward tilting of his closed mouth and glint in his gaze softening the edges of his razor sharp features. "I'm Grant."
And like, yeah, he may still be dangerous and might strangle her in his truck or whatever and yet... she's also not stupid, in spite of recent events, and honestly, she'd been wrong more than often lately so, when her mouth opens, out comes. "Darcy. I'm Darcy. Pleased to meet you."