Brighter
Their trip outside seems to take forever. They peer around every corner and edge past the defenders that Bucky and Steve downed on their way in. None seem to be breathing, but Darcy can't bring herself to care. Two intersections down the hall, they meet Steve and a singed and bloody Katya. "It's not as bad as it looks," she insists, at Darcy's startled exclamation. "You know how head wounds bleed."
"You still got shot in the side," Steve reminds her, and she glares at him.
"They didn't need to know that. It only grazed me. You're the one who took a chair to the head..."
Darcy looks over her sister as she speaks and concludes she is not in danger of immediate collapse. Tugging on Bucky to get him moving again, they continue down the corridor. After a moment, the other two follow them, still arguing.
They arrive at the jet at the same time as Natalia, who gestures for them to board ahead of her.
Yulia is on guard at the bottom of the ramp. Her face lights up when she sees Darcy and she sheathes her knife, following them in. "You look terrible," she tells them cheerfully. "Let's get going so we can blow up this popsicle stand."
Something about the wording doesn't sound right to Darcy, but she focuses on putting one foot ahead of the other up the ramp. If she gives into relief now, she'd collapse on the floor.
"Who's that?"
She feels Bucky tense beside her as he spots the stranger with white-blond hair unconscious in the quinjet and the brunette sitting at his side.
"My name is Wanda," she says, her voice betraying her as a local, "and this is my brother Pietro."
"HYDRA had them captive and was experimenting on them," Clint explains from the cockpit.
Steve, dirty but looking otherwise unharmed as he follows Katya up the ramp, stiffens. "HYDRA?"
"You will be the new fist of HYDRA," Bucky mutters. Everyone stares at him and his shoulders hunch. "I- someone said that to me, once."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lemme get this straight," Darcy says, drawing everyone's attention. Bucky's left fist is clenched tight and he is barely breathing under their scrutiny; as people look away from him, some of the tension leaves his frame. "A bunch of Nazis have been experimenting on people in the middle of Europe? What year is this, anyway?"
"I've been wondering the same thing," Steve admits, brows drawn together. "Also, why are they on our jet?"
A grin threatens to split Yulia's face, much like when the first time they were allowed to train with grenade launchers. "Katniss adopted them. Offered to take them to the secret farm he thought I couldn't hear him talking about."
"What!?"
"Aw, Tasha, I couldn't just leave them there. Their entire family's dead and they're not even 18!"
Natalia looks less than impressed and stalks into the cockpit. The door slides shut behind her, closing them off from the main cabin. In the ensuing silence, Bucky eyes the strangers distrustfully and guides Darcy to a seat opposite, where they can keep an eye on them. Katya seats herself on the other side of Darcy, hugs her sister tightly.
"I was so worried," she mumbles, then hisses in pain as Darcy tries to return the embrace. "Not there, 'kay? I'm a little sore."
Steve coughs, a noise that sounds suspiciously like "shot", and she turns to look at him, one arm still around Darcy. "That's a terrible cough you got there, Cap. If it gets much worse, you could die."
Yulia snorts from where she is stretched out, a seat away from Wanda. "I think that's a warning, Rocky. Katenka was always good at making things look like an accident."
"Funny how that works out: when one actually think about things before rushing in," Katya muses.
Darcy nudges her lightly, no energy left to make the warning any harder. "Be nice. I think that was a compliment."
"Can we get back to the Nazi experiments?" Steve asks, his voice strained, and Bucky shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "I-"
Something beeps and Yulia makes a show of checking the time. She hits the control panel next to her and the cockpit door slides open.
"What?" Clint exclaims, sounding slightly breathless.
"Get Stark back here, it's time to go," Yulia tells him.
"What's the hurry?"
Yulia smiles sweetly. "I rigged the backup generators to explode fifteen minutes after Darya got back. They're right in the centre, should bring the entire castle down." She checks the time again. “We've got five minutes.”
"You what?" Steve bursts out. "There might be people in there."
"We cleared the containment rooms and only found the twins. Wanda confirmed that the people in the castle all wanted to be there. Apart from us, of course. You saw what they were doing, Captain. Do you really think the world would be better off if you saved them?"
Steve's jaw works for a few seconds, but he says nothing, and Yulia smiles in triumph.
"I'm getting us off the ground," Clint says, hitting switches and buttons across the dashboard in front of him. "Stark says he'll meet us in the air." The jet shudders as it goes airborne, the still-open ramp giving Darcy a view of the castle she missed on the way in.
Their trajectory puts them at the perfect angle to see the walls bulge slightly, then crumble inwards. The shockwave hits seconds before the sound of the explosion itself, shaking the jet slightly.
The view is blocked as Iron Man lands on the ramp. “Thanks for the heads-up,” he scowls when the face plate opens. “I barely made it out in time.”
“You're welcome,” Yulia replies, ignoring the sarcasm. “I do try and avoid collateral damage where I can.”
Darcy winces as Tony's face shuts down at the reminder of his parents. A tic starts underneath his right eye - then he shakes his head and goes to sit on the other side of the cabin. “Wake me up when we're back at the Tower,” he orders the world at large, and then to all appearances, falls asleep.
“What the hell,” Steve says conversationally, as the ramp closes.
Too tired to wonder, Darcy shrugs one shoulder and rests her head on Bucky’s arm. Confusing and maddening Tony might be, but he does have some good ideas from time to time, and a nap seems like one of them.
Bucky doesn't relax, even when Darcy's breathing goes slow and even. Barton might have taken a shine to the teenagers now conversing in soft Sokhovian, but his judgement is suspect, as evidenced by the way he has warmed up to Bucky himself. He only just got Darcy back; he's not risking her safety with strangers around. At some level, she's still his mission.
Yulia eyes him from across the cabin. “She must really trust you,” she says, gaze flicking to beside him. “I still can't fall asleep around strangers.”
“Me too,” Katya admits.
None of them let their focus waver too long from Barton's strays. The flight home is concluded in exhausted silence.
Barton sets the jet down gently and powers off the engines. Natalia shakes Stark awake; Bucky lifts Darcy into his arms as he stands and she barely stirs. “Let me take her,” Steve offers. “You're barely standing yourself.”
Teeth gritted, Bucky shakes his head and stumbles down the ramp. He makes his way back to their apartment by memory, surprised how familiar it feels already. Katya gets the door and heads to her own room; Yulia makes a beeline to the bathroom, already loosening her tac vest. Bucky gets Darcy to the bed, closing the door behind them and stripping off her boots. He does a full security perimeter check of the room before collapsing next to Darcy and giving in to unconsciousness.
He snaps awake when someone opens the door but stays still as they cross the room to Darcy’s side. It hasn’t been enough rest by far, but he’s functioned on less and his gun is inches from his hand if they prove a threat.
“Dashenka, wake up.”
Darcy’s eyes flicker at Yulia’s words. “Go away,” she mutters, and it’s the most beautiful thing Bucky’s ever heard.
“Sorry, sestra, but Anya’s awake and I thought it would be good to talk to her together before I go.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home, of course. We got you home and I need to get back to mine, but I need to know what Anya’s doing first.”
Darcy rubs a hand over her face and stretches, giving Bucky the chance to feign waking up. “What’s up?”
“We’re going to see Anya. Let me take a quick shower, yeah?”
Scrubbed clean and feeling marginally more awake, they head down to Anya’s cell. She’s sitting in the middle, an empty tray from the cafeteria in front of her. Darcy squints at it.
“Did you give her cutlery?”
“Yeah, but only the plastic stuff.”
She sighs, hears it echoed beside her. “It’s not on the tray now, which means she’s probably going to use it to kill whoever steps through the door.”
“Good thing we waited for you lot, then.”
Loosening Bucky’s grip from around her waist, Darcy steps forward. “Yulechka, you better go first. Katya’s looking wobbly and I’m not feeling too good either.”
“How do you know she’s past whatever they did to her?”
“She’s stealing cutlery. If she remembers enough to do that, she will remember us.”
The door hisses open and the three of them walk through, steps slow and deliberate. Anya’s head snaps up at their approach and her eyes go wide.
“Do you know us?” Yulia asks as they fan out to flank her, the door sliding shut behind them.
Her throat works as she swallows, then she gives one short, jerky nod.
“If you call us your missions, I’m personally going to tase you,” Darcy tells her, finger settling on the trigger.
“No, no, I know you, I - what happened?”
“We were hoping you could tell us.”
“I was stupid. Got overconfident, thought they’d stopped looking. There was a fire - I got out, I think, but it all gets a little fuzzy. There was a chair, and it hurt… the next time my head was clear, I was here.”
They ask a few more questions, but there isn’t much more she can add. After much discussion, all conducted in heated whispers outside the cell, she is allowed the use of another of the rooms on Darcy’s floor, with even more stringent restrictions on her movement. Given the surplus of furniture and electronics there, she could probably get out if she wanted to, but she doesn’t seem to know about FRIDAY and the AI has promised to keep a particular ‘eye’ on her.
Several hours into the catch-up, which has been moved to the shared apartment, Yulia stands.
“It has been lovely to see you, Anya, given the circumstances, but I need to go.”
“What’s the hurry?”
A soft smile. “I have a dance recital to get to. One performer, in particular, would be upset should I be late.”
“You have a daughter?” Darcy exclaims.
“Can we meet her?” Katya pleads.
Yulia shakes her head. “She’s getting involved in all of this over my dead body.”
“That’s not the most promising of wordings,” Anya notes, forehead creasing. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that movie. It doesn’t end well for your character.”
A pause as they all consider this. “Maybe when she’s older, then,” Yulia allows. “For now, she gets to be a child.”
Four women who never got that chance share a look in perfect agreement.
“Why’d you let her go?” Steve asks, as they once again watch Yulia walk out of the Tower.
“It wasn’t her fault. Someone else ordered that hit and used her to carry it out. I’m going to find out who that was and burn their world down.”
“Tony, it was twenty years ago.”
“Good thing these files I lifted from that base she blew up go back decades. Hey, HYDRA is supposed to be extinct, right? I spent 7th Grade History flirting with Mallory Weissman, but I’m pretty sure I remember that.”
“I- I was told they were destroyed after World War 2, that Peggy and SHIELD dismantled the whole organisation. Why?”
“Not only does your freezer-buddy there remember them and Barton’s strays name-dropped them back in the quinjet - I watched the recording - but,” Tony spun his tablet to face Steve. “I have here a list of the current members of the HYDRA High Council and I recognise half these names.”
Romanoff takes the tablet from him and swears, loudly and at length. “These are senators, politicians, philanthropists, and-”
“What?”
She jabs a finger at one name on the list. “Alexander Pierce. He’s practically Fury’s best friend.”
“I know him,” Bucky says, peering at the attached picture. “He was there when I woke up, the last time. He’s the one who sent me after Darcy.”
“I don’t believe it,” Tony proclaims. “The evil part I can accept, but I don’t think Captain Eyepatch has any friends.”
“Whatever their relationship, he’s part of the World Security Council. He has the ear of world leaders, even those that aren’t on this list.” She shoves the tablet back at Stark. “Get more details, Stark. We need to be sure.”
It takes several weeks, long enough that Darcy has recovered enough to help Jane in the lab, before Tony calls them all back to the conference room. At his insistence, Clint and Natasha have returned from wherever they left the twins to join the meeting.
“What took so long?” Katya asks, as soon as everyone is seated.
“You haven’t seen the size of this info dump, so I’m going to ignore that and all other questions until I’m done.” The main display flickers to life - a world map, covered in red dots. “Those are current HYDRA bases and these-” A list of names and faces starts scrolling down the side- “Are HYDRA recruits, current as to a few weeks ago. It’s a good thing Von Struker was so meticulous about his notes.”
“Stop,” Steve said, holding up a hand. “I recognised someone.”
His face paled as he read down the list. “These- these are all SHIELD agents. I’ve worked with a lot of them. Hell, it’s the entire STRIKE team!”
Clint and Nat both look shell-shocked, eyes glued to the screen. “Are you sure?” he demands hoarsely, as she shakes her head in denial.
“Wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t,” Stark assures them. “But Fury’s not on that list, you’ll be pleased to know.”
The SHIELD agents look less than pleased, but there is a loosening of tension in their shoulders that speaks of relief.
“What are we going to do?” Steve asks, and his words are greeted by silence.
Until Darcy speaks up. “We kill them, of course.”
“You what?”
“You heard me, Steve. You spent a good few years killing Nazis. Now there are more of them to kill.”
“Darcy, I didn’t enlist to kill Nazis. I enlisted to stop them from taking over the world.”
“How about this?” Katya breaks in. “We look into these members of HYDRA. Once we find evidence that they are up to no good, and I am sure we will given the twins and what they tell me, then we kill them.”
“Spoken like a true lawyer,” Clint mutters. “And when have you talked to the twins?”
Katya smiles serenely. ““Thank you, and we Skype. I like to know the people around me and it’s pretty lonely for them out in the middle of nowhere.”
“No, stop,” Steve insists. “We can’t just kill them. If we act as judge, jury, and executioner, we’re no better than they are.”
“Who are we going to tell? Half the Supreme Court is on that list, and a fair number of their potential successors.” Darcy looks around defensively. “What? I studied political science, I like to know these things.”
Katya purses her lips. “We’ll split the load. The Avengers can take out the HYDRA bases and whatever they find there. I’ll research each of these people and their involvement with HYDRA. If we decide they’ve crossed the line, Darcy, Anya, and Bucky will take them out.”
“How come we’re on the kill team?”
“You did suggest killing them in the first place, Dashenka.”
“True.”
“How come we’re not?”
“You’ve worked with some of those people, Barton. We can’t ask you to kill them.”
“Is anyone else concerned that we’re sitting here discussing mass murder?” Steve looks around the room. “I notice you didn’t volunteer yourself for the dirty work.”
She narrows her eyes at him. “I’m happy to do my share, but my skill at research and building a case almost certainly surpasses most of you.”
“How about a compromise?” Darcy suggests. “We turn this list and the accompanying evidence in to Fury, being sure to point out those he may otherwise trust. Anyone who is likely to escape court due to money or status, we deal with. Quietly.”
“That sounds better,” Steve agrees slowly, “but I still can’t sit at a table and discuss killing like this.” He stands. “Which is why I am going to lunch. Anyone care to join me?”
Barton gets to his feet, shaking his head. “Yeah, I’ll go. That’s not who I am anymore. Tasha?”
After a long moment, Natalia stands too. “If you need a hand, I’m in, but Clint’s right. It’s not who I want to be, not anymore.”
Anya opens her mouth to protest, perhaps to comment on the Black Widow’s choice of words, but a well-placed jab to her ribs has her jaw snapping shut.
Stark stands as well. “You crazy kids have fun, but espionage has never been my thing. Don’t get caught.” His words are met with scoffing as he follows his teammates out, the door closing behind them.
Darcy looks over at her soulmate. “Bucky? You don’t have to do this.”
He shakes his head. “Steve’s always been soft in that way. I ‘member watching his back because the punk was too honourable to think about someone stabbing him there. If you needed something done, something dirty, I did it. Kept his hands clean.” He looks down at those hands, one now metal. “Guess not much has changed there. What about you, doll? You left this life behind you.”
“I left being a weapon behind me. Wanted a life with choice, where going out didn’t have to mean killing people, not if I didn’t want to and mostly I don’t. I don’t have a problem killing people who need to be killed and I reckon Nazis just about fit the bill.”
Her sisters nod in agreement and they reshuffle their chairs to better see the screen as Katya takes over its control.
“First up, we have a senator…”
SHIELD quietly cleans house as the Avengers salt and burn HYDRA bases across the globe. Clint is ecstatic to be relieved of pilot duty; the new pilot is happy to stay in the quinjet and trade quips and kisses with the brunette in charge of communications. For their lack of visibility, they avoid media nicknames, but internally they are termed ‘Summer’ and ‘Winter’ and more than one group have been surprised at how well the Avengers’ exit strategy is protected.
Stark Industries beefs up their internal legal team; one of their new hires is still studying towards the bar but as she is their liaison with the Avengers and the assistant to Pepper Potts, no-one questions her inclusion too loudly. The Avengers have a few cadet members now and getting them legal residence in the States takes up more of the legal team’s time than they would care to admit.
A debilitating illness sweeps through the upper echelons of the US Government, tragically killing a number of well-respected senators and judges. It must be their age and associated frailty, the pundits agree, ignoring the illness’ younger victims. It even spreads across borders through an international summit - for a while, there are fears of a worldwide pandemic. There are a number of car accidents, too, and new safety regulations are pushed through too late to save several promising young politicians. There are also a spate of freak accidents and heart attacks that strike prominent businesspeople, but that’s life, isn’t it?
Somewhere in the suburbs, a mother brushes her daughter’s hair and tells her about the aunts she will someday meet, mostly. One is sensible and one is clever and one is resourceful and one loved to dance, just like her. There’s a spare cellphone inside a bundle of cash at the back of the wardrobe, under the box of adoption papers and a marriage certificate, but with every tragic headline, it becomes less and less relevant. The mother hopes her sisters are as happy as she is.
The alarm on Darcy’s phone chimes and she looks up. “Okay, Jane, it’s ten o’clock and you haven’t had a breakthrough. Time to leave the lab, or I’m going to drug your coffee.”
“Damn you and your super spy skills,” Jane complains, making a face.
“I have no problem with using them on you, so git.”
The other lab workers around them exchange indulgent glances and laugh along. It was nice to see Dr Foster developing a sense of humour, because cheerful, gregarious Darcy is the opposite of any spy they can imagine, and the Black Widow has been known to drop by the lab, along with that mysterious new Avenger, the Lynx.
Darcy hustles everyone out, shooing the last along before setting several booby traps and turning off the lights. Bucky slips up behind her and places his hands over her eyes; she spins with a shriek, clutching at his shirt.
“Warn a girl, would you? I could’ve killed you.”
“I’m wearing one of Stark’s new stab-resistant shirts.”
She waves his objection away. “Doesn’t protect your neck. You’re lucky I love you.”
He doesn’t dispute the last because it’s true. “How was your day?”
“Tolerable. How was the meeting with Dr Garner?”
“It was okay. Told him about talking more with Steve and he was pretty happy with that. He’s a good guy.”
“That he is. We still on for movie night?”
“Damn straight. You’ve been insulting me in a French accent since you saw the movie schedule Katie drew up.”
“Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.”
“I really hope that makes sense at the end of the night.”
“Oh it will. Probably.”
Hand in hand, they leave the lab.