Sol 6 (2)
“Hey, Stark - have you seen Darcy?” Jane Foster, Ph.D, D. Phil, poked her head around Tony’s lab door.
“What, Shortstack?” Tony frowned. “I haven’t seen her - she went to speak to someone.” Tony’s frown grew. “A few hours ago. She should be back. JARVIS, who was Darcy talking to?”
“A Mr. Venkat Kapoor,” JARVIS replied. “He is the Director of the Mars Mission at NASA.”
“Oh shit.” Tony watched as Jane’s face grew even whiter. “JARVIS, where’s Darcy?”
“Miss Lewis is in her office.” Jane spun and started to dash down the hallway. “She has been there since speaking with Director Kapoor.” Tony took a look at the reactor housing in his hand, then started to jog after the tiny scientist, pelting questions at her as he ran.
“Foster? What’s up? Why is the guy running the Ares missions calling Darcy?”
“Probably because something’s wrong,” Jane half-panted as she sprinted down the last hallway and skidding to a halt outside Darcy’s door. She stood there, listening, then knocked, two gentle raps. “Darcy? It’s Jane. Can I come in?”
No reply.
“Darcy, it’s me. Tony said you’d been talking to Venk?” What sounded suspiciously like a sob came from behind the door, and Jane’s shoulders squared. “I’m coming in.” Jane tried the doorknob, then tried again.
“J, unlock the door,” Tony said, worry growing as he heard another sob come from behind the door. This one sounded different - as if someone was trying to hide the sound - crying into a sleeve, perhaps. The latch clicked, and Jane’s weight on the door practically dumped her onto the floor inside Darcy’s office.
“Oh Darce,” Jane breathed, then was across the room to kneel beside an obviously crying Darcy, pulling the girl into her arms and trying to soothe her. Tony followed more slowly, trying not to upset Darcy any more. For all the shit he gave her, the girl saved their butts on a weekly basis. Not to mention she was part of the team - part of the family. Seeing her crying into Foster’s shoulder on the floor of her office set his gut churning. What had happened? He pulled out his Starkphone and started inputting commands, getting JARVIS to search anything related to Venkat Kapoor and the latest Ares mission, especially in connection with one Darcy Lewis.
“What’s wrong?” Jane was asking as he searched. “What did Venk say? Did something happen to -“
“He’s dead,” Darcy said, voice quavering. “There was a storm, and the MAV, and he’s dead - they left him on Mars, and he’s dead!” Fresh tears tracked onto her cheeks, and Jane’s grip tightened on her friend. She glanced up at Tony.
‘Later,’ she mouthed. Tony nodded, and left, scrolling through JARVIS’ search results as he went.
‘Incident Report - Sol 6,’ he read.
Who does Darcy know on Mars?