Bygone

Carly Simon’s You’re so Vain plays out of an open window and Darcy does quick math. Her friends are now in their fifties. JJ is twenty. That realization has her fighting tears.

Then she pulls her coat off and tugs up her sleeves. She’d left Peggy and January behind for a warm May day. She has her leather pouch, now filled with two hundred dollars in twenties and fives. She still has a key to the mansion, and to the Prescott’s new house.

But Stark Industries is closer, and she decides to try her luck there before taking an expensive cab ride.

In the new building there is a reception desk. Darcy approaches it confidently and tries to project an aura of ‘ain’t nobodies mistress’, not really wanting to sit through another board room talk.

“Hello,” Darcy says, giving her best don’t you even think about making me put up with your shit look to one of the women behind the desk, “I need to see Howard Stark.”

“Do you have an appointment?” The woman asks, glancing to one of the other women at the desk.

“No. My name is Darcy Lewis, he’ll see me.” Darcy narrows her eyes, daring the woman to deny her.

But the woman’s eyes go wide, and the other woman steps over immediately. “Darcy Lewis?”

Darcy is escorted to the elevator, and then up eighty floors. She’s offered drinks and sandwiches. Then she’s led into Howard’s empty office, where she’s left with a tray of food, a carafe of water, and a wave towards the wet bar.

She eats a sandwich and wishes someone had given her an idea as to what she’s doing here.

Then the secretary's voice comes from a box on the desk. “I’m putting Mr. Stark through to you, Miss Lewis.”

Darcy picks up the phone when it rings. “Howard?”

“Hey kid! Damn it's good to hear your voice!”

“Where are you?”

“London. Got a project with Peg, and we need you on it.” Howard replies instantly. “I’m sending you a car, and I’ll send word to Rebecca and John. They’ll get you set up, and then you’ll fly out in a few days. You will come out, won’t you?”

Darcy hears Peggy’s voice in the background.

“Peg says Gabe and Falsworth want to come get you.”

“Ask Peggy what kind of mission this is.” Darcy orders.

Howard is laughing when he comes back on the line. “She says not moderate or difficult but certainly not easy.”

“Give me a week with Rebecca and John, and you’ve got a deal.”

It’s a punch to the gut when Rebecca opens the door. Her friend’s hair is streaked with gray, and her face has new lines. But her eyes are still the same brightly lit brown, and strong arms pull her into a tight hug.

JJ is in Paris on a buying trip, his first solo attempt. Rebecca says it’s only because John was still getting over a nasty cold, and that the two butt heads constantly at work. Just like John had with Erwin.

John is still recovering, but grumpy about it. He hacks and coughs but refuses to stay in bed. Instead he takes Darcy’s measurements, giving her a smile when he says she hasn’t changed a bit.

All week she gets deliveries from the shop, making her a new wardrobe. At the weekend, JJ returns. Darcy and Rebecca are out to lunch, and when they get back JJ and John are arguing over the receipts.

JJ looks up with a smile for Rebecca. “Mom, come look at these and tell Dad I’m not crazy.”

His eyes flick to Darcy and his golden brows knit. “Aunt Darcy?”

“We told him everything.” Rebecca explains. “Howard agreed.”

Darcy fights tears when JJ gives her a hug. They stay up late going over the receipts from his trip, and JJ has Darcy look through his sketches. He grins when she says she’d like one of the capelets.

Gabe and Falsworth arrive the next day. They shake John and JJ’s hands, and hug Rebecca. Gabe’s hair is more salt than pepper. Falsworth has one prominent gray streak.

As she’d suspected he would, Falsworth has her in the co-pilot’s seat. Gabe sticks close, telling her about his son’s work in a civil rights group and how he’s gone back to school to become a lawyer. Gabe is officially retired, but still comes in for Peggy and Howard.

Falsworth is all business. He has her take control of the plane and go through maneuvers, familiarizing herself with its response. He drills her on new regulations.

Darcy knows why when she spends the next six weeks flying Dum-Dum and his new team into and out of West Germany. When she returns to base, one of the commandos is always waiting under her wing. In Berlin, Dum-Dum or his right-hand man Coltrause catch her.

She has drinks with Howard and talks about his two year old son, Anthony. Howard states emphatically that Anthony is a genius, and Peggy rolls her eyes.

She and Howard end up in the papers. Howard is helping her out of a car. The newspaper only got a picture from the side. Howard holding one of her hands, his other hand on her side as she jumps a puddle. Her hair blocks her features. Stark’s Other Lady! Back to his Old Ways! Stark’s Mistress Buys Up London!

The fervor doesn’t die down for weeks.

Darcy speaks with Peggy by phone at least once a week, but it’s all business for the most part. Peggy had found a rat, and the information trail ended in Berlin.

They’re trapped for six weeks when they come under heavy fire, and Darcy finds herself holding a gun for the first time in her life. The infiltrators are put down before they reach the haven Dum-Dum’s team had fortified in an abandoned weapons facility.

Darcy goes to work attempting to create a taser. She suffers several small shocks during the process and Dum-Dum orders her to stop. When she turns to look at him he adds ‘Please’.

When she knocks herself out, she wakes up to Dum-Dum leaning over her.

“You’re an idiot, Rogers.”

“Whatever, help me up.” Darcy responds, holding out her hand. He avoids the burned skin and pulls her to her feet. She sniffs. “Oh, shitballs. My hair!”

Coltrouse laughs, but the rest of team just stares at her.

“Oh, man. It’s huge.” Darcy pats at her hair, relieved when it doesn’t crinkle. Then she catches sight of her creation. “My baby! It works!”

“That was it working?” Dum-Dum asks.

“Well, it needs a few adjustments. I got up too fast, and I need to switch out the charges since it can’t recharge itself, but yes. I’d like to see you do better.” Darcy waves a hand at her work table.

Dum-Dum grins and shakes his head. “Roberts, patch up Lewis here.”

The day they finally leave, Darcy ends up with giant floppy disk strapped to her stomach. Dum-Dum says it’s because she’s the only one Peggy would trust with it other than him, but she’s pretty sure it’s because it means he gets to push her into the middle of the group.

She still gets to use her new taser, and it saves Dum-Dum’s ass.

“Work well enough for you?” Darcy asks him, stepping over her newly unconscious friend.

Peggy and her team meet them at the gates, and then Howard is waiting back at the base. He refuses to listen to Peggy and takes Darcy with him. Darcy feels a little guilty, but she’s been eating MREs for weeks and Howard promises her Italian. In Italy.

“She’s not one of your soldiers.” Howard says. “Or one of your agents.”

“I’m bribable. I’m sorry.” Darcy adds as Howard drags her away.

Peggy gives her a look, but one corner of her mouth ticks up.

A few weeks later Peggy gets her own, using a new fighter jet to tempt Darcy back. Morita and Jacques are her detail, and Darcy ferries special teams. Morita runs the radio, feeding whatever story works to various air traffic controllers.

Darcy is the only pilot that doesn’t lose a bird that year. A planted team does try to take her hostage after she flies them out of a hot-zone, but Morita and Jacques take them down.