Sol 62, Pt. II
“Ok. I’m hiding in a parking structure,” Darcy said, pulling into a space and taking the first deep breath in what felt like ages.
“We’ve got you on cameras,” Steve said. “The bots are looking for you - whoever’s controlling them doesn’t seem like he wants mass casualties.”
“Or she,” Darcy added automatically.
“Or she,” Steve agreed. A crash, then a yell sounded from behind him. Then, Jane shouted in triumph.
“They get somewhere?” Darcy asked, fingers tracing the leather of her steering wheel to keep herself busy.
“JARVIS is back up,” Jane shouted from what had to be the other side of the room. “Give us two minutes - we’ll help Bucky hack the AIMbots.”
“Wait what now?” Darcy shook her head. “You mean Sargent Tech-Savvy’s the one that’s been hacking the cameras for me?”
“Such ingratitude,” she heard Bucky say from further away, half-masked by Steve’s chuckle.
“He’s doing fine,” Jane said at a more normal volume. “Two minutes, Darcy. You ok holding on for that long?”
Darcy glanced towards the edge of the parking structure - she was loitering in the middle, as far away from direct line of sight as possible. “Should be,” she said. “Tell me how Barnes got into hacking.” If nothing else, the explanation should stop her from staring at her phone and watching the seconds tick by.
“Well,” Steve said. “I’m not really sure how it started - you were there when we showed him Google. And Youtube. And Tumblr. I still say that was a bad idea.”
“If you think that’s the worst the Internet has to offer,” Darcy heard Barnes say distractedly.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, jerk,” Steve shot back, and Darcy grinned. “Anyway. I get up one morning, and he’s using the laptop, typing away - turns out he spent the past two nights learning Python, and was coming up with code to wake him up if he looks like he’s having a nightmare.”
“Oh.”
“No shit.” She could hear exactly how much Steve didn’t like the fact that Bucky was still having nightmares. Screaming, bloody nightmares, if memory served, which left Bucky with scratches all down his real arm that took his serumed self a full day to heal. “Anyway. He went to Jane to debug it, and she sent him to Tony, who fixed the code, and then sent him to Pepper, who set him up with some courses. He’s been working through them ever since. I think it keeps him busy.”
“Speaking of busy,” Bucky said. “Feel free to take a look out the window anytime you like, doll.”
“Which direction?” Darcy asked.
“West - your right.” Bucky answered without even thinking about it. Darcy put the car in drive once more and accelerated to the edge of the parking structure. She arrived just in time to see the last of the AIM bots falling out of the sky, joints clearly red-hot, landing on an empty lot with a thunk.
“Nice work,” Darcy said. “Really stuck the landing there.”
“Glad you approve,” Bucky replied.
Darcy let out a long, slow breath, now the immediate threat was contained. “I guess I should get back to CNN,” she said. “I’m guessing they’ll be almost done shooting, but I can’t just disappear.”
“Call us after?” Jane said. It wasn’t a question.
“Aye, aye,” Dary replied, glancing at the clock. “Four hours or so?”
“We’ll be here. Stay safe, Darcy.”
“Thanks,” she said. “You too. Say happy re-birthday to J for me, huh?”
“You got it.” That was Steve. “Talk later.”
When she got back to the studio, twenty unhurried minutes of travel later, no one even noticed she’d been gone.