The news had been devastating.

Darcy felt numb now and cried out. She had flicked on the television to see if there were any news reports on what was going on at Stark Industries. Sure enough, a white faced employee was being interviewed.

"It was horrible. We accepted a delivery – a white Styrofoam chest. We weren't expecting anything like that so we took some precautions before we opened it. It seemed clear of anything dangerous, so we opened it." The camera didn't miss the guy's horrified expression. "It was Miss Potts."

The reporter faltered. "Pepper Potts was in the chest?"

"Just her head."

Darcy was grateful for the nearness of a trashcan, because she promptly puked into it. In between her wrenching heaves, she listened to the SI employee describe how he had immediately notified Tony Stark, and then how Iron Man arrived and began destroying everything after taking the head for safekeeping.

Poor, poor Tony. Darcy could barely breathe between puking and sobbing. Her throat burned, her eyes burned...she wanted to scream, but she didn't have the breath to do it. That was how Jane found her, and when Darcy managed to gasp out what had happened, Jane broke down with her.

It seemed that the Avengers would need to live up to their name. Darcy couldn't imagine that Stark would ever recover from this. Pepper was his other half. She completed him. Tony couldn't function without Pepper. Pepper, who had become one of Loki's biggest supporters after he saved Tony's life.

The Avengers would wreak complete and utter devastation on the person that had done this, but...

Darcy cried and heaved until she physically could do neither any more. Her head ached and felt like it was six times its size. Her abdomen hurt from the constant heaving. Her throat burned. She wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

"Jane?" she asked, voice rough and scratchy.

Jane hadn't stopped crying yet. For such a skinny thing, she had a lot of moisture in her. She was crying silently, shoulders shaking only a little.

Darcy blew her nose, and handed the tissue over to Jane. Gradually, her friend's tears dried up, and Jane just sat there, cross legged on the floor, staring at the floor. She finally looked up to meet Darcy's eyes.

"You look awful when you cry, Foster," Darcy noted dully.

"Likewise," Jane returned. "How could this happen? Who...who would do something like this?"

It was hard to swallow past the massive lump in her throat, but Darcy managed. "I don't know, Jane. But I know that the Avengers will find out. They'll make whoever did this pay."

Jane was trembling. "Tony...Tony won't be able to deal with this."

"No, he won't." Darcy wished she could still cry. "But we'll do what we can to help him through this."

The real question was would he be able to get through it? Would they?

Waiting and not knowing was horrible. Darcy hated this part. She didn't worry about Loki too much, he could take care of himself. But Tony was extremely vulnerable right now, and he might lash out against his friends. He might force a confrontation until they had to take him down.

The news didn't help. There was one brief shot of Loki going into the building, and another of the Quinjet arriving. There were also shots of windows exploding, and the speculation of a fight. Then nothing...

Darcy felt almost sick. Her mind was producing the most awful ideas and images of what could be happening.

"I want to puke," Jane said dully.

"Go ahead," Darcy told her. "You'll probably feel a little better. I did." She passed the trash can over to Jane, and averted her head as her friend puked several times.

"It didn't help," Jane informed her, after she had rinsed her mouth with water and spit.

"Sorry."

They both sat in numb silence, watching the breaking news report speculate on what was happening. One employee identified Loki as the guy that had attacked the city months before and they wondered if he had something to do with it. That made Darcy feel bad as she realized that the world in general still probably thought that Loki was a super villain. The Avengers had never really said anything on the subject, other than that Loki was in their custody.

The wild speculations made Darcy angry. Anger felt better than sick anguish, so she went with it. When this was over, when the hurt was not as bad, something needed to be done about Loki's reputation. She would address it with Coulson or Fury. It wasn't fair to Loki that the world still thought of him as a villain.

Maybe...maybe she would talk to Tony about it. It might give him something to focus on, other than his own pain.

She wished that someone would make a call, update them with what was happening. Tell them that Tony was safe in their custody. But there was no communication. The phones stayed silent. It seemed to last forever, but in reality, minutes were eternity.

Darcy finally pushed up off the floor, and stretched a hand out to Jane. "C'mon Foster. We need to re-hydrate."

Jane allowed Darcy to pull her to her feet. They walked like old women, hearts heavy, back to the conference room where Bruce had dumped quite a few bottled waters. Darcy downed two, blew her nose a few more times, and felt almost human again. Except for the suppressed emotions. Those would come out again, probably when she saw Tony.

She wanted to curl up in a bed for awhile, and there were at least a dozen private rooms on some of the upper levels. "C'mon Jane," she suggested softly. "Let's go hit the private rooms and hide."

The scientist nodded and rose shakily to her feet. Darcy slipped an arm around her thin shoulders, and they headed for the upper rooms.

Rounding a corner, Darcy froze. Iron Man had returned. He was standing with his back to her and Jane, head bowed, gently cradling the body in his arms. She wanted to run to him, and hug him, and tell him it would be all right again some day. But she was frozen in place.

Jane lightly tapped her arm and Darcy turned to her. Jane's eyes were wide and...was that confusion? Why was Jane confused? Jane pointed to her head, and then made hacking charade motions at her neck, tongue sticking out. Darcy still didn't get it, but she turned to look when Jane pointed to Tony. Then she saw it.

Pepper's body still had its head. How was that possible? She'd been decapitated, right?

"Tony?" Darcy whispered.

Iron Man's head turned to look. So did the supposedly dead body's head. And it smiled.

Darcy shrieked and backed away hastily, hands up to protect her from...whatever. Jane wasn't following her, she noticed after about two steps. Jane was staring, analyzing. Darcy stopped moving.

"What the hell, Tony? What's going on? We heard on the news..."

Stark popped his faceplate up. He was grinning. "You believe everything you hear on the news?"

"I'm fine," Pepper assured. She smiled up at Stark. "You can put be down now, Tony."

He frowned. "I don't know that I'm ready to let you go yet. After all, you were dead for a couple of hours."

Darcy took a few more steps back. "What? What did you do, Tony?" There was a picture in her head of zombie Pepper, still looking completely normal, coming after her when the need for brains was overwhelming. Had Tony made some kind of unholy deal?

Peppers laugh was music to her ears. "I wasn't really dead, Darcy. Everyone thought I was because my head was delivered to Stark Industries."

"That's not at all reassuring, Pepper. People usually can't live without their heads."

"It was a fake," Stark assured. "A former competitor of mine thought it would be a great way to destroy me. And it nearly did."

"Nobody checked to make sure it was real?" Jane finally spoke. She looked skeptical.

Stark glared at her. "If someone handed you a Styrofoam chest, and you saw Thor's head when you opened it, would you stop to make sure it was real before you freaked out? Wait...actually, you probably would. But most normal people wouldn't do that, Jane. So when the employees saw it, they called me. When I saw it, I destroyed Pepper's office. Hell – even Loki and the other Avengers thought it was real!"

Darcy blinked. Loki had been fooled? That wasn't like her man. He was so damn smart that she just couldn't picture him being fooled by a fake.

"How did you figure out it was fake?" Jane wanted to know. Darcy glanced at her sharply. Jane looked morbidly curious, and Darcy got the funny feeling that her friend would slow down to analyze bodies from a car wreck, too. Ugh.

Stark grinned. "Everyone was out for blood, even Fury and Coulson. Fury asked Loki to find out who had done it, using his magic. I'm a little hazy on how the details to that work."

Darcy nodded. "He told me a story one time of how the body retains the memories of its last moments, and he can access those memories. But if it was a fake, he wouldn't have been able to get anything."

"Exactly. So he got pissed. I was kinda not really there at that point, but I heard him get angry. It's been awhile, and we're friends now, but angry Loki gets my attention every time. And I was close to windows so I really started paying attention."

Pepper barked out a very unladylike laugh, and then covered her face in embarrassment. Stark paused to look down at her fondly, and Darcy almost melted. Yeah, the guy was a train wreck most of the time, but there was no doubting the love he held for the woman in his arms.

"So Loki figures out it's a fake, and he finds out who did it. He makes this grand announcement, and I'm alive again." Tony tore his eyes from Pepper's, and met Darcy's gaze. "That's what it felt like, anyhow. Loki was beyond pissed, and he jumped all of us to the warehouse where Pepper was being held. I caught the guy responsible, and administered a little disciplinary action."

Pepper crowed in delight. "You should have seen it, Darcy. He bitch slapped Justin Hammer until the man was begging for mercy, and then flew him to the nearest police station after stripping him down to his socks and briefs."

"Joe Boxer smiley face yellow briefs," Stark confided. "Hammer hates to be humiliated more than anything else. It was too good to pass up."

Darcy finally relaxed enough to walk forward and hesitantly reach out to touch Pepper's hand. It was warm.

Pepper watched her, eyes crinkled in mirth. "Still alive? Still human?"

"I guess for now, yeah." Darcy grinned, and stretched up on her toes to awkwardly hug the woman. "Please don't do that to us again, okay? I puked like four times, thinking you were dead."

The older woman smiled in delight. "You puked for me? I'm honored."

Stark looked disgusted. "Pepper, that's revolting. Gross." He stuck his tongue out and made an ick face.

Apparently being "dead" had made Pepper a little more alive and a lot more feisty. She smirked up at Stark, and looped her arms around his neck. "Would you just shut up and take me to bed?"

It was absolutely priceless to watch the blush that colored his cheeks, and the somewhat wide-eyed expression on his face. "Um...okay."

"And Tony...take the suit off."

Darcy just couldn't help herself. "We won't wait up." She turned and ushered Jane back the way they had come, trying to stifle her laughter. Tony's face...priceless!

Three hours later...Darcy was slightly pissed. Okay...slightly more than slightly pissed. The others had still not returned. Local news had identified the heroes at a local bar, drinking to drown their sorrows? Reporters indicated that Iron Man was not with them, and the heroes seemed to be celebrating. When asked for an official comment on Pepper Potts' death, Captain America told reporters to "wait for the press conference."

If Darcy and Jane hadn't bumped into Tony and Pepper, they wouldn't know that Pepper was alive. Darcy was incensed that no one had used a phone yet to update them. What the hell? Shit, if they hadn't seen the news reports, they wouldn't even know that Pepper had supposedly been killed. Somebody was gonna catch hell when they drug their sorry asses in from the bar. Several somebodies, actually.

Jane was also promising mayhem, stalking back and forth and muttering to herself. Several times Darcy overheard the phrase "arrogant, thoughtless, Asgardian lunkhead" come from her friend's mouth, and that surprised her as much as Pepper talking dirty to Tony. Well...as much as Pepper ever talked dirty. Thor could do no wrong in Jane's eyes, but this had made Jane angry.

******************************************************************************************************************************************

Darcy heard them before she saw them. She winced. Drunk Thor was LOUD, and he was singing. Offkey. In a 'I'm so happy I don't care' slurring voice. There was a slightly softer even more offkey voice...was that Bruce? Darcy shared a wide eyed look with Jane. The group was approaching, although it sounded like they were staggering through the hallways. And maybe bumping off the walls.

Rogers voice was embarrassed. "C'mon guys. Only a little further. Loki – a little help here?"

Darcy's eyes popped open wide when her man answered, because he was very obviously intoxicated. "I am helping, Captain Rogers. It is not my fault. The floor keeps moving."

"I told you to go easy on the vodka," Rogers chided, voice echoing down the hallway.

"I did!" Loki's voice was proud. "I respected the vodka, and I did not once belittle it."

Jane tittered, and then pressed a hand to her mouth. Darcy just shook her head. Well...drunk or not, she was giving them a piece of her mind.

Thor was leading the way, and he made a valiant attempt to get through the conference room doorway. But he missed. By several feet. After thumping against the wall and the door frame several times, he reached up to scrub at his face. He blinked his eyes a few times, lurched three steps to the left, and finally made it through the door.

Darcy stifled a laugh. Barton was draped over one of Thor's shoulder, completely out.

Bruce staggered through next, leaning heavily against Natasha, who was leaning just as heavily into his lean. They both looked cheerfully unfocused and very tired.

Steve looked embarrassed when he appeared in the doorway, supporting Loki. Darcy had to laugh. Loki looked...smashed was the best description. And boneless. It looked like there was very little supporting his body in an upright position, other than Rogers' arm. He was so adorable. But Darcy was still angry with him. With all of them.

"I am very angry with all of you," she stated calmly, as they found chairs. The moment was slightly spoiled by Thor laying Barton out on the conference room table.

Jane was right there with her though. "I am also very angry with all of you. But especially you!" She jabbed a finger at Thor. He blinked. "You...you go off to subdue Iron Man after he goes ballistic and nobody calls to update us! We heard on the news that Pepper was decapitated!"

Rogers, who couldn't get drunk, looked guilty. "I'm sorry ladies, I-"

"Talking here," Darcy interrupted. "So, we bawl and we puke and we bawl some more. And we wait for some kind of update. Any update."

"Are we getting yelled at?" Loki asked, blinking a little fuzzily.

Thor clapped him on the back. "We are. We have upset our ladies."

"Thor." Jane's voice was steely.

"Yes my love?"

She frowned. "Quiet." She turned to Loki. "You too."

Darcy fought laughter when her man pressed his lips together. He was so adorable. And completely unable to focus his eyes. But that didn't mean she wasn't still angry.

"We're still trying to think of how we can piece poor Tony back together, because Pepper is his everything. And maybe we bawl and puke a little more." She glared at the intoxicated heroes. "And then, we happen to bump into Tony. Guess who he's carrying?"

"Pepper?" Thor asked. He looked very pleased with himself when Darcy nodded.

"So Tony and Pepper tell us what happened. If we hadn't bumped into them, we still wouldn't know that Pepper hadn't been decapitated." Darcy glared, and felt slightly vindicated when Bruce and Natasha managed to look guilty.

Jane was working herself into a righteous fury. "It's a terrible thing to think that a friend had her head cut off." She pointed at Thor. "Did you even think of calling me? Even once?"

He shook his head miserably, now with a sad, puppy face that was enough to melt even the coldest heart. But Jane wasn't budging. "It's not easy having to wait around when you go out on missions, because anything could happen. It makes me sick to my stomach every time. And this...this thoughtless behavior only makes it worse!" She glared, hands on hips, eyes flashing.

Before anyone could say anything, Barton sat straight up on the conference room table. He looked green, like he was going to Hulk. But instead, he leaned over one side of the table and puked on the floor beside Steve's chair. Then he wiped his mouth, and crashed back down onto the table. And started to snore.

Darcy blinked. "Classy, Barton." She wrinkled her nose as the smell of vomit hit her. "Ugh. You guys are cleaning that up. And don't ever, EVER, not notify us of something major like that again."

She noticed Loki leaning to one side dangerously. His eyes were almost closed. "How much did he drink?" she demanded of Rogers.

Steve shrugged. "Not really all that much. But apparently, on top of being magically drained, again, it affected him more than usual."

She felt herself begin to thaw a little. "Damn. Will you help me get him to a bed?"

Rogers nodded. "Bruce, Natasha, you okay to get yourselves home?" At their nod, he stood. "Thor, you're on your own. Jane can yell at you in private some more."

"What about Barton?" Darcy asked.

Rogers shrugged. "He can sleep it out on the table." He neatly avoided the puke on the floor and caught Loki before the God of Mischief fell off the chair. "Is Tony okay?"

"He is," Darcy affirmed quietly. A smile quirked her mouth. "This whole thing seems to have brought out Pepper's feistiness though. She had him a bit off balance."

Steve smiled. "You women are good at that. And at being tricky. Like setting up one friend with another."

Darcy tried to look innocent, but thought she was probably failing miserably. "Don't know what you mean."

Rogers shook his head. "Sure you don't. The whole situation was a little too...neat. I didn't expect you to be so sneaky. But at the same time, it was for a good cause. I really like her."

She smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Good. Let's get the usual mischief maker to a bed." She followed Steve as he half dragged Loki from the conference room. Everyone needed some sleep. Tomorrow was another day.

Behind them, she heard Jane issuing orders to Thor to clean up the puke. Darcy smiled. Thor would have to do some serious groveling to make up to Jane. For that matter, Loki would need to do the same to her. Once he was sober.

She made sure that Loki was tucked in safely in one of the private rooms, and then headed home. It had been a long, long day.

♾️ ♾️ ♾️

Argh.. we have like 10 chapters left and like 200 days till avengers 4 comes out.

I'm gonna rant a bit about how I don't want any of the OG Avengers to die. Especially not Tinny and Stove please. I love Bucket but I still don't want him to replace Stove. And HARLEY IS COMING BACK FOR A4, YAYY! ..... but I still don't want him as the new Iron Man, Sorry.

Also.... captain marvel is cool and all but if she's overpowering the whole Avengers 4 then sorry it's not fine. Also.... rumors say, Drax the Destroyer is gonna die in A4. I'm not sure how to feel. I can't wait Urgh.

Love,
InfinityHaze ♾️