Bygone

It’s five years. She nearly gets hit by a car that pulls into her alley rapidly. They lay on the horn like it’s her fault.

She uses a pay phone to call for a cab and goes to the New York apartment that Howard had set aside for her. She showers and changes into clothes she’d left behind.

She eyes the phone with dread. It can’t be helped. Howard is sixty-eight now, and he’s hardly led a healthy lifestyle. She pours herself a drink, her favored brand kept in stock, then picks up the phone and dials the mansion.

“Stark residence.” EJ answers. His voice sounds papery.

“Hey EJ.”

“Mrs. Rogers.” There’s a bit more warmth in his tone. “Welcome back. Do you have a pen, I’ll give you Mr. Stark’s telephone number.”

Relief floods her. Howard has been her guide. Her steady rock. “I’m ready.”

She dials the number on the mint green rotary phone and waits while it rings.

“Go.”

“Really, Howard?”

“Kid.” His voice sounds heavy and her heart drops. Fear floods her.

“What? What is it? Is it Peggy? The Commandos?”

“Calm down, nobody died. We do have a problem. We need someone we can trust in LA.” Darcy hears voices in the background. “It’s Darcy. Well, kid? Will you come out?”

“Tell me when and where. I do want to see JJ and Andrew-“

“We need you yesterday.” Howard says distractedly. “I’ll get it arranged. You good with flying yourself? I can get you something to the mansion in an hour. They’ll bring the flight plan.”

The cars are boxier in 1986. There are more billboards and neon lights. But the mansion estate is the same, and that’s comforting to her.

Maria is there, along with a camera crew. Maria gives Darcy a hostess smile and comes down the steps to greet her. She hugs her and kisses both of her cheeks whispering, “House tour. Of course Howard forgot. I’ll get them back inside, you make sure he comes home.”

Darcy nods and Maria hugs her again, once more, tightly. Then she turns around, deflecting questions about Darcy’s identity and coaxing the crew back inside, promising a peek at Howard’s home office.

She means the study. Howard’s office is down in the vault. But the crew doesn’t know that and they forget about Darcy.

Darcy runs for the airstrip, not sure how long Maria can keep them occupied and away from window. She performs her pre-flight check, reads the flight plan, and is in the air in ten minutes.

She lands on an aircraft carrier a hundred miles out to sea, and Jacques is waiting under her wing. He holds his arms up, so Darcy drops but she winces when she hits him because she can feel him stagger a bit, struggle.

He jokes that she’s gotten heavier and kisses the top of her head.

He leads her to a control room where Peggy and Howard sit with Dum-Dum, Fred Phillips, and two people Darcy doesn’t know.

One is Mitchell Carson, SHIELD’s Head of Defense. The other is Hank Pym, and Darcy remembers that he is a scientist, one that Peggy had once considered worthy of watching.

Carson objects to Darcy’s presence, and Darcy notices that Pym slows his efforts to pack up his things.

“Mitchell. Please.” Peggy says firmly. She has several gray streaks in her hair, and her face wears many wrinkles. Darcy looks around the room to give herself time to accept that Peggy is an old woman. Still a badass though.

“Keep me apprised.” He says firmly, then leaves after Peggy nods.

Howard rolls his eyes and moves around the table to remove two boxy listening devices, one from under the table and one from under Carson’s chair. He breaks them in half, then sets his own black box on the table and presses a button.

A small whining sound fills the room.

“Hank, this is Darcy Lewis. She is the only person I would trust with this. She flew from New York to be here with us.”

“Why would I trust SHIELD when it’s your scientists fault in the first place that this has happened?” Pym’s hand makes a fist and he bangs it on the table. “Janet gave her life in service of this organization, and you go behind our backs-“

“Hank, please. This is not about Janet. And Miss Lewis is not a SHIELD operative. She, like Mr. Stark, is one of my most trusted friends.”

“Hank, you can shrink to the size of an ant. Don’t let her age fool you.” Howard warns. Then he stands and approaches Darcy. “Hey kid. How are you doing?”

“Miss Lewis is returning after having taken some time off after the death of a close friend. It followed on the heels of the death of her husband.” Peggy says, and Howard stiffens.

Darcy looks at Peggy and thinks she sees a flash of apology in her eyes for a second. Then Peggy is eyeing Pym.

It worked. Pym is now looking at Darcy in consideration.

“Miss Lewis is a skilled pilot. She can take you where you need to go, and get you home.” Peggy says. “While she is not trained in combat, she has functioned well as Mr. Stark’s lab assistant.”

“More than well. She was my partner on several projects. She can help you once you get in.” Howard corrects.

Dum-Dum is leading the SHIELD team that accompanies them. Darcy notices that he hangs back more, only stepping in when needed.

When they reach the lab he helps bar the door and then comes to stand next to Darcy.

“I’m getting too old for this.”

Darcy winces, but keeps searching the lab. The sounds in the hall make it clear they don’t have a lot of time.

“Here!” Pym yells. On a screen is his stolen work.

Darcy runs over as there’s a small explosion in the hall.

Pym looks at her, and then at the door. “Tell me right now, can I trust you to destroy this? No copies, no tricks.”

Darcy looks him in the eye. “I’m not SHIELD. I’ll do what’s right.”

He nods and turns, shrinking before her eyes to almost a speck.

Darcy destroys the work, then sets the computer on fire. She checks the remaining computers for hardware links, but they’re clean. She finds a stack of floppy disks and checks those as well, stuffing one into her shirt.

“Let’s go.”

Dum-Dum nods. They fight their way back out, doing well until there’s another explosion. Darcy looks up from the floor to find herself staring down the barrel of a gun, then suddenly the man flies backwards.

“Keep moving!” Pym yells, seemingly from nowhere.

They make it to the plane and Darcy gets them in the air. Someone is wounded and she can hear them moaning as they’re tended to.

It’s the first time she deploys missiles. Three times she presses a button, and then hears the explosion, seeing the dots fade off her radar.

When they land she gives Pym the floppy disc and walks directly to Howard.

“Come on kid. I’ve got a boat.”

She elects to stop in and see Tony. Howard continues on, saying he’s in the middle of something.

Darcy plans to visit Tony, then fly back to New York. She’s already called JJ and Andrew to schedule brunch.

She finds Tony in the MIT labs. They’re empty at this time of night, and his work area is a mess. Going on what she’s heard from Jane, his work habits don’t change much over the years.

He’s lanky, with lean muscles. He’s fifteen, so he’s still got some growing to do. His hair is a mess.

“Hi Tony.” She says, but he doesn’t look up from his soldering iron. Instead she walks around the small room. She nearly jumps out of her skin when a large hunk of metal rolls forward holding a fire extinguisher.

“I learned a barrel roll on my own.”

“I hope you don’t mean that literally.” She sighs. “Of course you do.”

He pushes back in his rolly chair and knocks into a wall. “When did you get back?”

“Two days ago.”

“Have you seen dad?” There’s something else to his question, but Darcy doesn’t know what it could be. So she nods. He huffs out a laugh. “You sure you’re not really his kid?”

Darcy laughs. “I am one hundred and ten percent positive I share no genetic makers with either of you.”

Pepper Potts had checked. She’d insisted after they’d met in person.

Tony’s brows go up arrogantly. “Mathematically impossible. I hate it when people say that. They sound like idiots.”

“I love saying it. Sometimes I say a bazillion percent.” Tony actually winces.

He digs through two tool boxes, then rolls his chair across the room to another. Darcy boosts herself up to sit on the cleanest desk.

“I don’t understand why people get married. It’s the stupidest thing ever.” He says after several minutes of silence.

"I got married. Best decision I ever made.”

“You were married?” Tony stops what he’s doing to look at her in disbelief. “Oh fuck. Did he like, get old and die on you?”

“He just died.”

“My fake sister comes with a dead fake brother-in-law.” Tony goes back to digging through the tool box and comes up with a huge socket wrench. He rolls back to his workstation. “Uh. How are you doing with that?”

“Super shitty.” Darcy responds.

“Want to weld stuff? I could teach you.”