Family is complicated

Both ends of the call went silent. This would be the first time they talked in over 12 years. The first two years Jake was mad Elliot for leaving him behind to deal with their dad. Jake was still mad about being left behind the way he was. If Elliot would have said he was going to join the Army Jake would have gone with him. It was a good thing he didn’t.

“Look, we don’t have time. We can hash out everything on the plane. You can hit me for letting you think I am dead after we get Darcy back.” Elliot said just when they started to talk.

“Yeah, I might take you up on that punch later but come to Cathedral Park off of North Bradford Street. Hurry up.” Jake just hung up.

Jake went to Jenkins to get a backdoor ready. He needed to get close to Avengers Tower but not in it. The security was tight even though they were invited Jake did not want to expose himself too much. Jenkins was in his lab with Cassandra. When Jake requested the door, Jenkins asked his questions, but Jake was not in the mood left when Jenkins said yes.

“Jake, we don’t have time to look at the bridge or whatever you want.”

“Just come in.”

Elliot went into the small room, which was bigger inside than the outside. It reminded him of that show Hardison made him watch with that blue box.

“Come on, Elliot. This should take us about a block from where Darcy’s friends are.”

Elliot just walked through the door, wondering what Jake had gotten himself into if this could take them from Portland, Oregon, to New York in less than a second. The last thing he heard from Portland was a woman wondering when there was two Jakes. It took Elliot a minute to realize that he was in New York. It was time to meet with these people his cousin got tangled with.

Reaching Avenger Tower was the easy part. The hard part was getting to Doctor Foster. Elliot had dealings with SHIELD before the fall. Most of those dealings did not end well. He just hoped they let him be so he could get Darcy.

Jake went right up to the desk giving his best good old southern boy smile. “I am here to see Doctor Jane Foster. My name is Jacob Stone, and this is..”

Elliot had to interrupt Jake before those ex-SHIELD Agents posing as security pull out their guns “Donald Blake. Doctor Donald Blake.” Jake just gave him a weird look. Elliot will explain later. They were waved through directed to an elevator that was hidden in the corner.

The ride in the elevator was quiet. Elliot knew Jake wanted to ask questions. Hell, Elliot wanted to question Jake, but neither dared to ask. When the elevator opened, they meet Hawkeye or Clint Barton. Elliot knew about Barton before he was working for SHIELD. They had competing contracts at times. He did have a kill contract on him at one point too. He did not do it.

“Doctor Foster is in the conference room. This way.”

When they entered the room, a knife went flying toward his head. It was easy to catch. The person who throws it though might be a problem. Elliot’s history with the Black Widow was dicey. He first encountered her when she was going to seduce a man he was sent to kill. Both needed something from the man. She could get her information, and he would get his kill. Both at the time where work for their respective countries. The next time they meet, both were long past working for God and country. This time she was sent to kill the man he was going to rob. Again, they worked together to get what they wanted. Though what they did after was probably one of the best nights he had. She could bend in ways he had not seen before or since. They ran into each other one more time. She was with SHIELD, and he had just left Moreau. Elliot was not in a place to take her offer of getting red out of his ledger. Though what he was doing now was helping.

“Really, Natasha. I was expecting something a little different.”

“Elliot Spencer what the hell are you doing here with a clone?”

“What do you think. I am here to retrieve Darcy.”

“Darcy Lewis, huh. Not the kind of payday you are used to. Don’t think Stark will pay your fee. Doctor Foster spends all her money on her research. Thor would pay if he thought it was noble enough, but his money usually comes from Stark. So again, Spencer why are you here?”

That got Jake’s attention. Retrieve. Fee. “What the hell Elliot. What have you been doing since you were declared dead? Also, lady Darcy has enough money on her own.”

“Natasha, no fee. Not for this job. Darcy is family. Jake, I’ll start to tell you when you tell me about that door.” That shut Jake up and piqued the interest of the Avengers. “Wait money of her own?”

“Family how Spencer?”

“Blood.” By giving that one-word, Elliot knew that he earned at least a truce with Natasha. Admitting to having a blood relative was dangerous in his line of work. “Jake don’t think you are going to get out of that conversation on money. I know that the company went under a few years ago.”

“Does Darcy have time for us to play story time?”

“We have to work together. So yes, story time.”

“Fine. Elliot and I are twins when we turned 18 Elliot decided to not tell anyone he joined the Army. I had been saving for years for my own place and moved out the day after my birthday. Like the rest of the family I went to work at the family oil company. Then three months later my Aunt April came over with Darcy. Said it was my turn to take responsibility for the family screw up. See when Darcy was two her dad was drunk on one of the rigs slipped and died. Her mom’s drug problem increased. Eventually she got in so deep with her drug dealer he came to the house. When he would not sell her anymore, she killed him. She is still in jail. Since then Darcy was passed from family member to family member. When Darcy was 13 Aunt Kate brought her to me. Apparently, she was supposed to go to Elliot, but he was in basic training. She flinched from my touch and any time there was any loud noises she flinched.

Eventually I found out that everyone was taking everything out on her. God was she skinny. It took me months to even get her to talk. I would never let her see my anger. I wrote my anger in letters to Elliot. When Elliot got leave, he visited us. Darcy had been living with me for about a year when Aunt Kate came over saying that she was taking Darcy to the next family member. I told her to go to hell and filed for guardianship the next day. When I filed for the adoption the judge looked at me funny when I said my brother and I were going to adopt our cousin. He laughed and signed the paperwork. Elliot came back on leave and four-day weekends. The family was not really happy to have their extra money being taken away.

I pushed Darcy to do well in school. She would work on her homework and I would read my books. Eventually she pushed me to publish an article on what I knew. Elliot had deployed to Afghanistan for the third time at the beginning of Darcy’s junior year. One day when we were pulling in with dinner there was two people from the Army at our door. We were told that Elliot died. It somehow got around town that Elliot had been killed in action. Mom and dad thought his death benefits were going to them since Elliot was not married. They either did not know or did not care about what Elliot wanted. When it came out that the money was to be spilt between Darcy and me the family said we stole it. I did not listen to them. I put most of the money in a trust for Darcy and only kept a little for a little fun.

When Darcy graduated, I told her to go as far away as she could. I followed soon after. We talk about once a week though we never told each other about work too much. She told me about helping Doctor Foster and I told her about my new papers. When I ran into them in London, I had to tell her what I really did. She told me about the other part of her job that did not include the lab.”

With the end of Jake talking the room was quiet and they all turned to Elliot. “Fine. Everything is the same until I went to Afghanistan. I was approached about doing some more but a little more. I said yes. They gave me a new name and put me in with some type of training. When I finished, I wanted to take some leave to see Darcy and Jake. That is when they told me they killed me. Gave my family a flag. With the only two people I cared about thinking I was dead I though myself into my work. When the lines started to blur, I went out on my own. I ran into Darcy during a job. After she tazed me.” Elliot turned toward Jake “Thanks for that by the way. I stayed a week with the Doc and Darcy. I liked the Doc and she was taking good care of Darcy. So, I gave them a number to make sure they stayed safe. Darcy, I guess wanted me back in her life. She would call me every few days. When Doc would go on her science benders Darcy would call me. When she would get frustrated, she would hand Doc the phone. I would talk to her or just let her ramble. At some point I kinda adopted Doc too.”

“If you trust Doctor Foster so much, Spencer what is up with the using Thor’s old alias?” The words came from Hawkeye.

“Saw those ex-SHIELD agents posing as security guards. I did not know what my name would do. So, I used the alias Darcy gave me.”

“Darcy wanted a name that she could put down in case the world went to hell that could help and not raise eyebrows.” Everyone turned toward the door to see Captain America pushing Doctor Foster with Tony Stark walking behind them. “Hey Jake. Elliot. How did you get here so fast? I only called you about an hour ago, and you both were in Oregon.”