Bygone

Darcy’s heart is pounding. Racing. So fast. She can’t catch her breath, and her skin feels too hot and tight. The prickling is all over, and it’s not stopping. That’s not right.

Something is wrong. The bright light isn’t going away.

She reaches for Tony, his voice echoing in her mind.

Something collides with her.

“Darcy!”

Darcy opens her mouth, but her throat is dry. Her vocal chords won’t work. She blinks, trying to make the lights recede. Green shapes dance in front of her eyes. Phosphenes her so helpful, really, brain supplies.

“Darcy. Come on, Darcy. Come on, it’s okay now.”

Jane. It’s Jane.

“Hey.” Jane holds Darcy’s face and smiles down at her even as tears drip down her face. Darcy pretty much claws her, trying to drag her closer.“Hey. Hi, you.”

There’s a loud boom. A bomb. Darcy knows that sound, it’s a bomb. “Jane?”

Jane laughs, still crying. “It’s me. Can you stand? I’ll help you.”

Darcy has to lean on Jane heavily. Her limbs don’t want to work, her feet feel heavy. They’re in a lab. Not one that Darcy recognizes.

It’s more professional grade than Jane’s old labs. Too military looking to be one of Tony’s. The emergency lights are flashing on the walls, the overhead sprinklers are on, and only half the lights are on.

Jane clumsily pats at her side, then comes up with a gun. She’s holding it wrong. “Scan her.”

Dr. Cho stands on the other side of the room, her hands slightly raised.

“Darce, get in the scanner okay? We have to make sure we got it all.” Darcy blinks again, and shakes her head trying to get rid of the ringing and make things make sense.

Jane pushes her towards the padded table. Darcy’s hip hits it, and then Jane is pushing harder.

“Just lay down, Darcy. This will only take a moment.” Dr. Cho comes forward, hands still raised.

“Jane?”

“Down, Darce. Everything is okay. Okay?”

Darcy lays down, and Dr. Cho starts pressing buttons on a holographic keyboard. “Okay, but you have a gun, Janie.”

Ha. Janie’s got a gun. Darcy shakes her head again. Not helpful. She needs to be figuring this situation out. Looking for weapons and ways to defend herself if this goes to hell.

“Print the results, Helen.” Jane orders.

Dr. Cho nods, raising her hands again. She knocks into a tray, and tools clatter down from the table. Darcy manages to grab a screwdriver and tuck it under her leg.

Dr. Cho sets four pieces of paper and a file on Darcy’s stomach, then slowly backs away.

“Time to go, Darcy.” Jane keeps the gun pointed towards Dr. Cho. “Helen, put in the emergency code.”

At the back wall, Dr. Cho flips up a light switch to reveal a key pad and fingerprint scanner. A section of the wall slides up, exposing a narrow, dark hallway.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Jane mutters, already pushing Darcy forward.

“Fine. Just go.” Dr. Cho whispers.

The door slides shut behind them again. “Are you okay?”

“Better now that I know holding up nice doctors isn’t your thing now.” Darcy tells her. Her voice is only a rasp. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Jane actually stumbles, but she rallies impressively and picks up her punishing pace again, dragging Darcy through a maze of hallways.

“I was expecting an alley in Brooklyn.” Darcy bumps into the wall and leans for a second. “Damn it, Jane. What happened?”

“I will tell you everything, but what is important right now is that a good portion of the US military is going to be coming through these halls after you any minute, and if they find you I’m really worried it will take Thor breaking about nine treaties to make it so you see the light of day again, Mrs. Rogers.”

They turn another corner, but stop as voices echo ahead.

“Okay, plan E.” Jane wheels around. “That means, left, left, straight, right.”

“Guessing I don’t want to know what happened to plans A through D?”

“Energy surge, lab invasion, lab locked down, power lines cut and we had to wait for the generators which meant more time for them to surround us, and now jack booted thugs in the way.” Jane pulls her faster. “But we have to hurry, because my other plans all hinge on us getting out of these hallways.”

“I would help you, except I feel like we dipped my shoes in concrete.”

Jane slows long enough to duck under Darcy’s arm and take on some of her weight.

Darcy expects to come out to a pounded gravel lot, to miles of metal fencing, and maybe a runway. She’s seen more than her fair share of military bases.

She does not expect to dart through what looked like a bank lobby and out onto a crowded city street. People are running and screaming, police with riot gear keep a crowd back.

A guy in military olive turns towards them and starts yelling. Someone tries to pull Darcy away from Jane. A fist glances off of Darcy’s face, and a canister flies past spewing white smoke.

A rifle fires, one, two, three times. Darcy falls, and Jane screams.

Darcy kicks and stomps and twists. She manages to get to her feet again only to be body slammed into the side of an armored truck. Jane stomps on the back of her attacker’s knee and he goes down onto his knees. Darcy knees him in the face, watching as he falls backwards and a knife drops from his hand.

“Come on, come on.” Jane collides with Darcy. They crawl under the armored truck. Boots pound past. The smoke gets thicker.

“Now.” Darcy rasps.

They run, Darcy clinging tightly to Jane’s hand. The smoke is so thick no one can see. They hit the riot gear line, and manage to slip through a break. The crowd presses tight. Elbows, shoulders.

It’s like that rock concert she went to when she was fourteen that turned into a mosh pit. Only not.

They finally break free, but the smoke is drifting on the breeze and the crowd swarms. More police are running towards them.

Darcy tips her head back, trying to get more air, and sees the street sign. “Plan F!”

Then she jogs through the pain, still holding Jane’s hand. They hide behind a dumpster for ten minutes waiting for someone to follow them. Darcy watches the reflections in every surface. She digs out her pouch, then her cell phone. There is no service. The pager works though. She pings Tony, again and again. So he’ll know it’s an emergency.And she leads Jane to her apartment.

Her big brass key works, like always. The door opens smoothly. But at the elevator, there’s a new fancy finger print pad. Tony had said he was going to add some security measures. Hopefully he did it in true Tony Stark fashion, and it makes the President’s security measures look like child’s play.

Because Darcy doesn’t think she can run anymore.

Darcy presses her thumb to it, and the elevator doors slide open.

“Okay. Okay.” Jane helps haul Darcy into the elevator. “Stay with me, Darce.”

“Sorry.” Darcy whispers, because that’s not happening.