Chapter 1
It had been two years since London, and Darcy had returned to Culver to finish her degree. The rational part of her brain knew that all the things she’ seen and done with Jane and Erik were crazy, dangerous and she should be glad to no longer be a part of it. She was safe, no aliens were going to fall from the sky and she should be grateful to have gotten away in one piece.
The other part of her brain, the one that had no filter, liked to taze the God of Thunder and referred to the whole thing as The Adventures of Science and Aliens, well that part wanted back in.
She felt left behind. It was probably because they HAD left her behind. After London she had signed a bunch of NDAs, been given a cup of really shitty coffee and told to go back to her studies. Jane had a new lab and toys at the Avengers compound and Erik went back to lecturing. Jane kept in touch when she remembered that there was a world beyond her machines and notes, or when she was craving pop-tarts and there was no one around to feed her. Which meant that Darcy spoke to her about once every two to three months. She was worried about Jane, that she didn’t sleep or eat properly. But she couldn’t do anything about except remind Jane of it when she called.
She had finished her degree and even taken some extra classes. She was no scientist but felt that the years with Jane and Erik should at least have given her some new knowledge. She managed to scrape through a couple of courses, enough to establish that she would never become a scientist by osmosis.
And now here she was, with a degree and a massive student loan, a few boxes containing her meagre belongings and a whole bunch of things she couldn’t tell anyone. The monthly call from her mother to tell her how disappointed she was that Darcy kept wasting her potential was just finished when Hydra decided that kidnapping Darcy was a smart thing to do.
Sweet Thor were they wrong.
They put a hood over her head and drove for hours. Darcy didn’t even try to guess where they were taking her. She really should panic, maybe try to call for help or at least make a token of resistance. Instead she sits and contemplates how long it will be before anyone notices that she is missing. The answer is not very encouraging.