Chapter Text
Darcy glanced across the back of the quinjet to Jane and gestured to the woefully small pile of assembled luggage. Her and Jane each had a backpack, that was it. “They could at least let you bring some of your shit.”
Jane didn't exactly look any happier about the situation. “Yeah. Coulson assured me they'd have everything I needed, but they don't have a theoretical physicist on staff, so I'm not sure how they'd know that.”
Darcy shrugged. “You should have brought something anyway. At least the toaster thing, that totally would have fit in, like, a suitcase or something.”
Coulson, not dead apparently, had called a couple of days ago and said that he really needed to borrow Jane. Apparently one of the SHIELD agents was stuck on another planet, and Coulson wanted to open up a portal to get her back. They weren't just doing it from scratch, they had ideas, they just didn't have a theoretical physicist to put it all together. Jane was kinda the foremost expert in Einstein-Rosen bridges on the planet.
“We're landing,” came the smooth voice from the front. At least they'd been sent a ride, and hadn't had to put stupid paper bags over their heads or something like they'd been threatened with when they'd gone to that secret base years ago.
Sure enough, the gravity pressure in the quinjet changed a little bit. They couldn't really see outside from where they were strapped in the back, but Darcy was hoping they'd be where they needed to be. Because she was not walking a mile uphill in the snow again.
There was a faint low clanking sound as the quinjet set down. In just a second, the tall blonde who'd picked them up came through to the back, a reassuring smile on her face. “We're here.”
Darcy wasted no time undoing her seatbelt-harness thing. She grabbed her backpack and slung it up on her shoulder just as the ramp started to lower.
They were in some kind of hanger? Obviously the right place, there was Coulson over there in one of his suits. She wondered idly if they ever came off, or if they'd been grafted to his skin or something.
There were two men with him, a short one with curly hair who looked like he was just about ready to explode or something, and a very tall one with no hair that Darcy had the sudden urge to climb like a tree.
Well, they weren't there for that. Still, she eyed him up as they walked down off the ramp and towards the trio in the hangar.
“Thank you, Agent Morse.” Coulson's eyes flicked over the tall blonde, not-so-subtly dismissing her. She turned and passed one last smile to Jane and Darcy before she headed off somewhere. He turned his attention to Jane and Darcy. “Dr. Foster, Ms. Lewis. It's been a while.”
“Looking pretty good for a zombie, Coulson.” Darcy reached out and poked his shoulder. It felt like a normal shoulder. “Just making sure you're not a robot clone or something.”
An amused look crossed over his face. “Not yet. These are Agents Fitz and Mackenzie.”
“My friends call me Mack,” said the taller man said, extending a large hand in Darcy's direction.
“Okay.” She took his hand and shook up. “I'm just Darcy. No one ever calls Ms. Lewis.” She shot a look to Coulson.
“I'll keep that in mind,” Coulson answered, still looking faintly amused.
Agent Fitz was gushing over Jane in a thick Scottish accent. He was sort of commandeering her away, and she was looking very attentive as she walked with him.
“Uh.” Darcy stared after her friend. She'd been kinda hoping for a cup of coffee, maybe a bit of a chance to stretch her legs or something, but Jane was being sucked right into work. “I should probably...” She gestured after her friend.
“Mack, why don't you show Darcy where she and Dr. Foster will be staying before you take her to the lab?” Coulson glanced up at Mack, then turned and left.
Darcy hefted her bag on shoulder, turning her head to take in the whole hangar. It was huge. And there were still no windows. “So. Grand tour of your super secret base?”
Mack smiled at that. “I can arrange that.”