20

I don't know about you guys but tis the season for some pouring rain.

Chapter Text

Daisy flowed through her morning tai chi. "Keep your arm up."

"How are you not in pain?" Pietro grumbled from where he was following her movements.

She was healing, another week and she'd be able to help Peter in the field more. It was becoming noticeable she healed faster than humans. Bullet wounds didn't heal at the same rate as broken bones. She lowered her arms coming out of her stance. "If you're in pain we should stop."

"I can keep going." He disagreed.

Daisy patted his shoulder. "You're doing good. Dr Cho did good work on you, for nearly being swiss cheese over half a year ago, the fact you're getting back into shape already is impressive."

"You were shot a week and a half ago." He picked up a towel and wiped his sweat away.

Daisy shrugged. "Not human, and they avoided hitting anything vital or the joints themselves."

"I'm powered by an infinity stone." He picked up his water bottle and took a long drink.

She smiled while pulling on her sweatshirt. "Inhuman." Daisy pulled out her phone checking that no one had messaged her. "And you should really work on flexibility."

"I'm fast." He gave a challenging smirk.

Daisy chucked her towel at his head. "And clearly cannot dodge."

"That hurts." He dropped both of their towels down the chute. "Why am I the only one suffering your morning workout regime?"

Daisy held the door open for them. "Because we've both been shot. And Tony hired his physical therapist based on cup size not competence."

"I thought he'd improved since he became involved with Potts?" Pietro frowned.

She walked towards the gym showers. "He hired her while they were on a break." Which… she needed to talk to Tony.

"I do not understand how you and the others are related to him." Pietro paused as they reached the respective locker rooms.

Daisy rocked back on her heels. "I don't know, there are more similarities than I expected."

Daisy pulled her hood down as she made her way into the lab. Slipping her phone into her pocket she sighed. Eventually she was going to have to select one of the therapists she'd been running background checks on. Still, she'd reached her destination. She paused as she looked at the green energy car. It was...well it looked like a spaceship from the future. Still, she picked up a knut and tossed it at Tony's head.

"Hey!" He jerked out of his mechanical fugue state. He spun in outrage only to seemingly pause as he recognized her. "Daisy?"

She raised a hand. "Sup Poprocks."

"Did you just call me Poprocks?" He looked kind of baffled.

Daisy hopped up onto the workbench, letting her legs swing off the edge. "Well yeah, or was that a Darcy only nickname?"

"No, I just...wasn't expecting that. I mean I know how amazing I am, but you know…" He waved his blueprints away absently.

She considered the man who was her biological father. "You dropped everything to help me, to help SHIELD. Mace would have died if you and Darcy hadn't been there. Who knows how much damage Aida could have done if she'd managed to give herself a biological body. And you just did it."

"Didn't you get the memo? I'm this thing called a 'superhero', it's kind of in the job description." He brushed off.

Daisy shook her head. "It means a lot. And as someone in the 'superhero' club we don't have to do this."

"Is this a heart to heart kid? Cause I really don't do those." Tony actually looked like he was trying to figure out to escape out of his own lab without looking ridiculous.

She huffed. "I think this means I want in on the Avengers prank war." Daisy held out her paintball gun. "And I have some ideas."

"Huh, how do you feel about a coordinated attack on the super spy herself?" Tony asked.

Both of Daisy's eyebrows rose towards her hairline. "I enjoy not being dead."

"Lame, but we can work with that." Tony's smug grin filled his face with boyish glee. "FRIDAY, bring up Operation Pretty Pretty Princess!"

Daisy snickered, she had a feeling that name had Darcy's fingerprints all over it. "So Sam is next up?"

"Well with team Cap in the tower for once the opportunity of a lifetime is available." Tony rubbed his hands together.

She smiled, while slipping Darcy's prototype of a taser handcuffs into her back pocket. Multitasking, the best way to get things done. "Have you considered turning our opponents' revenge against each other?"

"Miss information campaign?" Tony's eyes lit up. "I like how you think Offspring."

////

Darcy threw up her hands as her latest prototype started smoking. "I GIVE UP!"

"Hmm…" Jane mumbled while scribbling away at the whiteboard.

She grabbed the prototype and whacked it against the workbench. "No I'm done. Fuck it. I'm going to go get coffee. You want anything bosslady?"

"Hmm…" Jane didn't even twitch towards her.

Darcy glared at her best friend. "No fancy drink for you."

"Huh?" Jane looked at her, glazed over quality to her eyes. "Did you say something Darcy?"

"Nope." Darcy picked up a pop tart and shoved it into Jane's hand. "Feed thyself." She turned on her heel and marched towards the elevator. Fancy coffee from the lobby was calling her name. And not Thor, not Freya herself was going to stop her. Which was why when the elevator slowed and opened she was considering murdering the individual who had delayed her destination.

Only it was Steve Rogers who stepped in. He gave a polite nod. "Ms Lewis, I was hoping to have a word if you don't mind?"

"It's Doctor, and I don't mind if you pay for the coffee." She couldn't help her amused twitch as she got a good look at the hot pink hair of freedom up close. "The pink suits you."

Steve reached up touching his hair ruefully. "I can pay for the coffee Dr Lewis."

"Then we'll be just fine Cap." Darcy accepted the delay and conversation. First hand visuals of the pink hair of freedom and free coffee went a long way.

Steve looked ever so slightly amused. "I've found myself regretting underestimating you Dr Lewis."

"And don't you forget it." She gave a cocky grin. "So what did ya need to talk about Cap?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "I was wondering what it'd cost to buy your assistance in getting revenge on Tony for the glitter shield."

"Joining in on the prank war. Interesting move." She examined the good Capsical.

Steve's mouth pulled into what might even be considered a grin. "I'm a soldier not a saint. And with the trial, Bucky needing the Tower's hulk room and medical facilities I'm going to be stuck living with Tony for months."

"You're in luck. Poprocks failed to tell me he was making me his heir. Revenge is sweet, and I've been told I'm excellent at it." Darcy held out her hand. "I'm in."

Steve actually laughed at that, but he took her hand and shook it. He gallantly gestured for her to lead the way as the elevator doors opened. "So do you have any ideas? Because I have quite a few."

"Well for the best ideas we'd need Quake's help." Darcy waved off his confusion. "She's a hacker. But since I doubt she'll turn that easily I have a secret weapon, I know where she keeps the viruses she wrote specifically to delay the Iron suit if need be."

Steve held open a door for her. "She has pre-prepared viruses to be used against the team?" His face went all serious.

Darcy laughed outright. "Unless the Iron suit doing the polka while blasting the classic music 'Peanut Butter and Jelly Time' is nefarious I think you can unclench my dude. I said delay not incapacitate. Also I bet I can sweet talk FRIDAY around to letting me change up some paint jobs."

"Neon blue." An unholy light lit Steve's eyes. "I want his suit neon blue, bright red with stars. And glitter. Do you think we can do that? Like the flag threw up on him."

Darcy bit the inside of her cheek to keep from cackling. "Had enough patriotic jokes?"

"You have no idea." Steve replied seriously.

She nodded, she could see it. Afterall she definitely got the snark honestly. "I can see what we can do. But have you considered patriotic tutu and winged eyeliner on the suit?"

"Doctor, if i was not already committed I'd propose marriage to you for that suggestion." Steve intoned with a sort of malicious reverence.

Darcy gave the man a second look. "You're a troll at heart aren't you?" She nodded. "You may be my pranking husband. As pranking husband you may call me Darcy."

////

Wanda was content as she sat, half curled against her brother's side, her head laying on his shoulder. He kept grumbling, as if he wasn't going to end up crying by the end of the movie. It'd been May's turn so they were watching Pride and Predjudice. It was comfortable and just the whole room felt like home. Also this couch was really comfortable.

"I wish we still danced like this." May sighed into her large glass of wine. She was comfortably curled in the armchair.

Daisy, who looked like she was about ten minutes from falling asleep spoke up from the couch, her voice slurring slightly. "I can dance suuuuper good. Waltzzzing and tango and sssshit."

"People still dance like that?" Peter asked from where he was buried under blankets and fiddling with his web shooters. They were all pretending they weren't aware he was fiddling with the web shooters.

Daisy made an affirmative hum.

"Rich assholes dance formally, and swing dance is back." Darcy reached over and pulled Daisy's blanket up higher on her sister as she replied. Darcy's hair was still poofy from her transportation via Quake flight...a supremely unpleasant experience. But pretty untrackable.

"It seems overly complicated." Wanda was relieved to see Daisy looked far more solid and put together than she had when she'd seen her last. And she was weirdly grateful Daisy hadn't indicated she wanted assistance to sleep again.

Pietro huffed, he looked down at her pointedly.

She zapped him with a flick of her fingers.

He jolted. "Ow! Where is your respect? I'm twelve minutes older you know?"

"Children!" May chided from the armchair.

"Sorry Aunt May." Wanda settled back against Pietro. She did have a question still. "This is not how I remember this movie. Wasn't Kiera Knightly playing the lead role?"

Peter let out a groan.

May looked over at her. "That's the newest version. But Colin Firth is the best Darcy."

"Boo! Mcfadyen is the Darcy who makes me want to smoosh another Darcy." Darcy stuck her tongue out at May.

Peter slumped further into his blanket nest. He looked rather like he wanted to die.

May looked surprisingly sly. "He wasn't the one your mother was thinking of when she named you."

"I pre-date the Firth version." Darcy crowed.

Pietro's nose scrunched. "I thought Darcy was a man's name? And you are very much not a man."

"Eyes up pretty boy." Darcy snarked. "And my mom was on the good stuff when I came into the world."

Wanda let her powers swirl around her fingers in warning for her brother to shut up. She was enjoying the movie thank you very much.

Wanda pressed a hand to Pietro's back. "I'll be back."

"Don't take too long." Pietro passed a freshly cleaned plate to Peter.

She smiled as she watched the boys working their way through the dishes. "Have fun brate."

Wanda made her way up the stairs. She knocked on Daisy's partially open door. "Daisy?"

"Come on it." Daisy called.

She stepped in, closing the door behind her. Wanda raised an eye as she saw the various bits and pieces of machinery everywhere. "What on earth?"

"I was thinking about what we talked about before you did your mumbojumbo on my head." Daisy looked up from where she was doing something to metal bracelets? "Thanks for that by the way. Sleep really helped."

Wanda hesitated. "What are you doing building things? Isn't that more Darcy's thing?"

"Typically, but she'd be opposed to this for dumb reasons so we're not telling her." Daisy snapped what was apparently handcuffs not bracelets around her wrist. She snapped both cuffs onto the same wrist.

She stepped closer. "Is there a reason you're putting one of your arms in handcuffs?"

"They're designed for inhumans, one shot tasing if the heart rate goes above resting. My powers when triggered by pain cause my heart rate to spike. If I have a nightmare it'll wake me." Daisy lifted the blankets showing the contraption she'd apparently attached to the underside of her bed. "And that's one of Darcy's prototypes. It dampens vibrations."

Wanda held out her hand. "Want to explain this from the beginning?"

"You mentioned the hulk room." Daisy accepted the hand up. "Which won't work. But the prototype should dampen my quakes till the taser wakes me up."

She thought that one through. "Tasing yourself can't be healthy?"

"Well it's not ideal. But I need a short term solution that isn't asking you to knock me out every night." Daisy actually seemed fairly calm and practical about the whole thing. "I've gone through withdrawal from mind powers before. No thanks."

Wanda softened slightly, it was still crazy, but she could see the logic. "Not that my powers are a good option, but hurting yourself isn't either."

"It's a stopgap." Daisy brushed her hair behind one ear. "I found a therapist, and from experience the night terrors become manageable with time. But time isn't exactly safe for everyone else."

She looked at the other woman in surprise. "You are going to go to therapy?"

"I'm full of surprises." Daisy grinned. "And I can't be who I need to be if I'm the biggest danger."

Wanda sighed. "Alright, I'll keep quiet about all of this. But if you get tased three nights in a row will you let me help you?"

Daisy hesitated for a split second before nodding. "I do trust you Wanda. Thank you, I know my head couldn't have been a fun place to be."

"The person who was in your head before, they left a lot of damage." She frowned. "I don't know if I could fix it."

"It's healing." Daisy felt tired as she said that. "Shouldn't you and speedy boy be heading back to the tower?"

Wanda rolled her eyes. "We'll leave soon." She sat down pointedly on the foot of Daisy's bed. "I wanted to thank you for working with Pietro. He grumbles, but he is happy to be doing something again."

"He'll be using his speed again soon enough." Daisy smiled and joined Wanda on the bed. "I'm sorry for being a bit...manic about the safety issue with my sleeping."

She shook her head. "I understand being afraid of your powers."

"What do yours feel like?" Daisy tilted her head. "Mine are like thousands of bees under my skin. I can feel the vibrations all around me in my bones."

Wanda bit her lip. "I could show you?"

"Alright." Daisy agreed without hesitation.

She...this was new. Still, Wanda slowly reached out taking Daisy's hand and letting her powers seep into her. "It's like looking at the stars, all that expanse, and then knowing it's contained inside of you."

Daisy sucked in a startled breath, her eyes widening. "Oh." She smiled, tightening her hold on Wanda's hand slightly. As Wanda's powers ebbed away Daisy focused on her. "These are mine."

Wanda felt the vibrations then. Closing her eyes she felt it. How the whole world vibrated all around them. It was the universe, but it was too grounded for that. But it was...it was like a blind man seeing or a deaf man hearing. A totally new way of experiencing the world. "I can feel it." She opened her eyes, smiling. "I never expected anyone to understand."

"I wish you could have seen Afterlife." Daisy's eyes were soft, but she felt of pain and loss. "It was beautiful. I thought my abilities were a curse till I was there."

Wanda's voice was gentle, half expecting Daisy to stop this openness. "Would you tell me about it?"

"I think I'd like that." Daisy pulled her legs up underneath her. "They were super into all that herbal mumbo jumbo. And like acupuncture, mud baths probably. But then considering how old everything was there it probably wasn't weird old remedies to them. I caused an avalanche my first day."

Wanda found she didn't want to let go of Daisy's hand. "So your approach of making me use my powers in frankly insane ways is just following their example?"

"Well...not really. I mostly just made glasses with water in them sing." Daisy's free hand raised and the energy drink on the desk began to ring. It ceased as she lowered her arm. "I shattered a lot of wine glasses."

She snickered. "Really? Your training was making wine glasses vibrate and you thought to just jump straight in to seeing how much of an explosion I could contain? Or how high I could chuck you."

"But my way was more fun and consisted of 90% less hot dirt juice." Daisy grinned. "Speaking of I was thinking, since I've got to wait for these bullet holes to heal, how do you feel about working on your bullet stopping abilities?"

Wanda sighed. "I thought we already had been working on that?"

"Well I haven't gotten to break out my rifle in a while." Daisy looked slightly gleeful.

She felt a shiver of dread, but also...well training with Daisy was just plain fun. "Alright, but when you're healed I have some ideas of things to work with your powers on." Wanda tilted her head. "Actually, do you think you could vibrate things at a distance to explode?"

Daisy blinked. "Yeah? But usually I'm avoiding the explosions."

"But wouldn't it be useful to be able to master that?" Wanda prodded.

Daisy nodded. "It could be. Huh, I'll have to work on that." She smiled. "I can't wait to see if we can make your brother go faster by shooting him like a slingshot."

Wanda accepted this was in the future. Peter would get way too into it too. Oh well, it would probably be worth it. "Another month before we let Pietro use his power at the shipping yard."

"That's probably wise." Daisy yawned. She laughed softly at herself, pulling her hand away as she leaned back. "I think that's my cue that I still have sleep to catch up on. Thank you again for well...everything."

Wanda resisted reaching back out to take Daisy's hand again. Instead she stood up. "Friends don't keep track of who owes whom. I was happy to help."

"I'll swing by after the gym tomorrow." Daisy said before Wanda could leave.

Wanda bit at her lower lip. But then she turned back to face her friend. "Why don't I meet you two at the gym? We could go to that juice place Darcy has been talking about?"

"That sounds fun." Daisy smiled and she was radiant.