Hephaestus
By the time Tony Stark is attacked on the racetrack, Darcy recognizes that itch she gets under her skin when she watches him. It’s the same itch she gets when Jane or Erik are out of her sight for too long. It means he’s hers. She recognizes Hephaestus’ mark on the harness that holds the whips Stark’s attacker yields and sees red. She stocks up Jane’s lab with sandwiches, poptarts, coffee and water, kisses the scientist on the head, admonishes Erik he has to be the adult for a few days, and tells them she’ll be back as soon as she can.
It takes her a few days to find him, but eventually she tracks him to a facility in Queens and breaks into his office, waits for him with her feet propped on his desk. He smiles when he comes in and sees her. “Darcy.”
She inclines her head in acknowledgment and swings her feet to the floor. “Hephaestus.”
He grins. “It’s Hammer these days. Justin Hammer.”
She rolls her eyes. “I know.”
“To what do I owe the unexpected pleasure?”
She rolls her eyes. “Stow it, Fess.”
He frowns back. “Okay… I don’t even know what I did.”
“Stark,” Darcy growls.
He groans. “Oh come on. Don’t tell me you’re a Stark groupie.”
Her eyes blaze gold and she leaps over the desk, wings almost bursting out as she shoves right up into the god’s space. “He’s mine, and you almost fucking killed him!”
Hephaestus balks. “Tony Stark is your Mate? Isn’t he with his CEO?”
She pokes him in the chest, heedless of her claws breaking his skin. “He doesn’t have to be my Mate to be mine.”
Thor feels like a memory of another life. Aside from her recent tiff with Hephaestus, it’s been ages since she’s rubbed elbows with gods. The other under his skin, even suppressed as it is, makes the other under her skin hum. He’s hers almost even more than Jane is, with the magic, the energy that flows around those that are not human. Once he regains his worthiness, his own other, he cocks his head at her curiously, then offers a deep bow. “It is my honor to know you.”
Darcy smiles, too sharp, lets her eyes flash gold, and nods her head back. “And mine to know you.”
After Thor, they get brought into Stark Industries by way of SHIELD. Some lackey is showing them around the labs when Darcy catches sight of Tony through the glass of one of the labs. As if feeling her eyes on him, he looks up and meets her eyes through the glass. He grins and gestures for her to come in. She makes her way toward him, ignoring the protests of the intern showing them around, and heaves herself up onto a mostly empty worktable, never breaking eye contact with Stark.
He tilts his head. “Lewis, right?”
She grins. “You’ve heard of me?”
“Got a really weird apology from Justin Hammer. Mumbled something about pissing Darcy off.”
Darcy throws her head back and laughs. “Okay, I’m still pissed at him, but the fact that he apologized just ‘cause I growled at him…”
“So, two questions.”
“Shoot.”
“First, how does an intern know the CEO of a multinational company? And yeah, I know you know Thor, but this threat was definitely made before Thor. And second, why bother threatening him over someone you don’t know?”
Darcy cocks her head, considering how to answer. She’s never blatantly told anyone the truth before. “How willing are you to suspend some disbelief?”
Toby shrugs. “I’ve seen some shit, Lewis.”
“Got any privacy protocols in this place?”
“J - lock her up!”
The door slides shut and all the glass frosts over.
Darcy nods approvingly. “Sound proof?”
“Of course.”
“Try not to scream, anyway?”
“Why would I -woah!”
Darcy doesn’t fully shift - there’s not enough room, but she lets her wings come out, allows her fingers to lengthen and nails to sharpen, blinks away her human eyes. Her fangs make speaking a little difficult, but by no means impossible. “I’ve known Hammer since long before he was Hammer.” She lets her human guise slide back into place. “His real name is Hephaestus, and it makes him grumpy that you’re good at his Thing. I told him that was no excuse to try to kill you.”
Tony takes a deep breath, then nods. “Okay, so you’re a Dragon, and Hammer is a psychopathic god. That answers so many questions, but only one that I actually asked.”
Darcy chuckles. “Somehow I’m not surprised you know about Dragons.”
His hand drifts to his chest.
Darcy eyes him curiously.
He heaves a sigh, then yanks off the ratty old band tee he’s wearing.
Darcy gasps. Just under his sternum is a glowing circle of gleaming metal and… “Is that Caladrius bone?” She can’t seem to stop herself from reaching out and brushing her fingers over it.
Tony nods. “The ones who had me in that cave… they kept one in a cage. Could barely even shift back to his human form, he was so messed up… he died while I was there. I didn’t even know they could die. His name was Yinsen. He made me promise to make them pay, no matter what it took.”
Darcy taps his chest. “You kept that promise.”
“I did.”
Darcy sniffs. “He was sick, you said?”
Tony nods.
“That bone may be keeping you alive, but it’s also slowly killing you. If he was never free to purge whatever sickness he was carrying, you’re basically slowly feeding that into your system.”
Tony’s jaw drops. “Huh… I thought it was palladium poisoning.”
“I might be able to help. Give me a bit to put some feelers out.”
“You never answered why you care.”
“No, I didn’t.”
It only takes Tony two days of being around Darcy, and watching her with Jane, Erik, and Thor, to figure it out. He corners her in a kitchen on one of the lab levels in the middle of the night when she’s making a fresh pot of coffee. “Hoard!”
Darcy raises an eyebrow. “What?”
Tony’s eyes are a little manic. “Hoard! You made people your fucking hoard!”
Darcy rolls her eyes. “You say that like I did it on purpose.”
Tony mutters something incomprehensible under his breath.
Darcy pokes him in the chest until he looks up at her again. “When was the last time you slept?”
“Huh?”
She rolls her eyes harder. “JARVIS, when’s the last time the bossman slept?”
“It has been approximately sixty-one hours since Sir slept, Miss Lewis,” the A.I. answers promptly.
“Traitor,” Tony mumbles.
Darcy shakes her head and smacks his hand away from where it’s creeping toward the coffee pot. “Don’t you dare. Off to bed with you.”
“But-”
Darcy raises an “I will throw you over my shoulder and lock you in your room if I have to.”