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Soaked to the skin, and fur. That was the only way to describe Darcy and the angry bundle she had stashed in her coat. It reminded Jane of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, but Darcy was no naïve Holly Golightly. She rushed to her desk and deposited the hissing ball in the middle, and it immediately began grooming its leg.
Darcy pulled her coat off and threw it over the back of her chair. From the linen closet that accompanied the in-lab shower area, for either a chemical spill or when Jane was on a science bender and went far too long without showering, Darcy pulled a fluffy white towel which was smothered around the wet, black cat, much to its dismay. Darcy wasn’t new to owning cats, but her last cat passed away just before she went to college. She knew throwing a towel on a wet cat and rubbing it down would annoy the cat, but it would warm her up, and she would be thankful in the end.
“What is that yowling sound?” Tony asked, walking into the lab. He wanted to get some readings from Jane, but the sound almost made him go right the other way.
“My new cat,” Darcy beamed in Tony’s direction. Darcy pulled the towel away and the cat immediately went to her leg to begin grooming again.
“Didn’t I put a ‘no pets’ clause in your lease?” he asked her, head tilted to the side and eyes squinted, trying to remember.
“I don’t have a lease. I live here to keep YOU alive, bossman. So, whenever you want to die, you can fire me and kick me out. Until then, I have a cat.”
“Doesn’t someone have an allergy?” Tony inquired. “Friday, check medical records and see if anyone, and I mean ANYONE on the compound has a cat allergy. Or dust, or anything I can use to get rid of this cat, please?”
“Sorry, boss,” said Friday, “medical records are sealed, per Dr. Banner. And since Dr. Banner…”
“Blah blah blah, jumped ship, I know. OK, fine. Hey, Dr. Cho, is she around?” he asked, opening a hologram of a keyboard to begin typing.
“Negative, boss, she’s in Seoul, at her own lab. But she’ll return in a week.”
“And in a week,” Darcy cooed towards the cat, “you’ll be in love with her. So just get over it, OK? We have a new mascot.”
And a mascot she became. Meow-Meow was the one constant sight around the compound. She was also present at all meals, begging for chicken, turkey or tuna, mostly at Steve’s feet. She figured early enough that he was the softest touch. She didn’t know it was because Steve had soft spot for Darcy. Darcy didn’t notice Steve staring at her in the commissary, or in the common room when they would watch a movie. He was supposed to be learning about modern films, meanwhile, he was staring at Darcy the whole time.
The first night Meow-Meow didn’t show up in her room, Darcy went looking outside, calling her name.
“Captain Rogers?” came the synthetic voice of Friday.
“Yes, Friday, what’s wrong?” he asked. She only addressed him so formally when something was wrong.
“Cap’n, Darcy’s out looking for the little bundle of fluff that’s curlin’ up in your lap. Do you want me to have her come to your room?” With her Irish lilt, Steve could listen to Friday talk all day long, but now wasn’t the time.
“Yes, please, tell her I have her cat.”
Steve waited the few moments it took to alert Darcy and then the thumping footfalls through the hallway of her heavy black boots. The pounding on his door almost made him laugh. He barely opened the door before Darcy charged in, calling for Meow-Meow to come out.
“Whoa, hello to you, too,” Steve said, closing the door. Meow-Meow wasn’t happy to hear Darcy yell and went up on her toes, arching her back and hissing. It was a Halloween decoration come to life.
“Hey! What did you do to my cat? Why is she hissing at me?” Darcy demanded, rounding on Steve and planting her fists on her hips.
“Maybe because you’re screaming at her?” he asked, smirking and walking towards the uptight kitty.
“I’m not screaming, I’m asking. And why is she in here, anyway?” Darcy visibly deflated, as well as did Meow-Meow.
Steve lifted the cat into his arms and started skritching her neck, calming her into purring. “She followed me. She likes me, I guess. I didn’t want to leave her wandering around the compound alone all night.”
“You should have told me,” Darcy said. She reached out and took Meow-Meow back, heading towards the door.
“I should have, you’re correct. If she follows me again, I’ll tell you. You can bring the beer.”
“Beer?” she asked. “Why am I bringing beer?”
“I dunno, I’ll get the pizza? We can…uh…see a movie? So many that I’m catching up on.”
Accompanied by Steve’s semi-clueless smile, the one he used to get all the admins and assistants back at SI to do his bidding, Darcy knew she was putty in his hands. She wanted to tell her feelings to shut up and calm down, but the flutter in her belly, and not the purry cat in her arms, made her just nod and turn to leave. Steve pounced to get the door for her and let her out into the hall.
Over the next few weeks, Meow-Meow would lead Darcy to Steve’s room so they could curl up on the couch with him to watch movies, and get skritchings. The cat, not Darcy. Although, she did get her arm stroked, where it rested against Steve’s thigh, which was about as exciting as it got.
But things began to get exciting when Thor returned, stopping Jane’s research in its tracks, for many, many nights. It also affected Steve, the whole God of Fertility thing. Darcy was very pleased, to have an amorous super soldier vying for her time.
Along with long periods of absences by Jane and Thor, which made everyone thankful that Tony soundproofed everyone’s room, came the inevitable problem of Thor leaving Mjolnir on every surface of the common areas of the Avengers compound. Every surface that was graced by Meow-Meow was also graced with Mew-Mew. Initially, this wasn’t a problem, until there was a quiet evening, when everyone had settled for a team-building event, watching the Pixar film, “The Incredibles” and Thor placed Mjolnir on the coffee table to curl up with Jane on the love seat. Meow-Meow had been purring in Steve’s lap when she saw the hammer get placed gently and it intrigued her.
The jump from Steve’s lap was long and majestic, capturing everyone’s attention away from a character that looked and sounded a LOT like their boss, Nick Fury. But after a while, everyone went back to the film.
“Friday, lower the light in here,” Tony said, trying to ignore the cat who was curling around the magical hammer so haphazardly abandoned on the table. “Maybe that cat will blend into the…”
THUNK!
“What was that?” Darcy asked.
“Friday, pause the movie and all lights on max,” Tony commanded.
The sudden brightness shocked everyone, but not as much as the sight of Meow-Meow lying on the table and Mjolnir laying on the floor. There was a significant dent in the floor under the carpet. Everyone was silent. Everyone but Darcy.
“Cat, did you do that?” she said, looking at the lazy kitty on the table.
“Unheard of,” Thor bellowed. “No creature has ever been able to move my hammer! Not even the largest bilgesnipe!”
“What’s a bilgesnipe?” Steve asked, leaning into Darcy and breathing heavily in her ear.
“Oh, big, scaly, horns…I have one in Asgard. A baby, really, a runt. But he knows me. They let me feed him, until he then wants to eat me and Thor has to whisk me away.” Darcy smiled at the fond memories.
“You have a pet…bilgesnipe?” Steve asked. SCRAPE!
Meow-Meow had just pushed the hammer with her head about 3 or four inches. Everyone saw it, and no one could speak.
“OK, even the Hulk couldn’t lift Mew-Mew,” Darcy said. “I saw the footage. This is…”
Thor stood and walked to where Meow-Meow was curled around Mjolnir. Her eyes were closed, but her ears were perked, so she wasn’t sleeping. Her tail was flicking nervously.
“Did that…can she…how…wait,” Clint stumbled and Natasha just patted his shoulder.
“Well said, my friend,” she snarked.
“It’s a trick!” Clint shouted.
“I don’t get it,” Steve said, ignoring Clint. “I couldn’t move the hammer, no one could. How can this cat move it?”
“Mjolnir is a strange and wondrous being…” Thor stated.
“Being?” Tony shouted. “That thing is not alive. No way.”
“I don’t know. It could be. I have always felt drawn to it in a way I cannot explain.”
“Well, I think Mew-Mew is alive. And I think she likes me.” Darcy smiled widely. Darcy stood and knelt beside her lounging cat. “Mew-Mew, will you please let pick you up and show everyone that kindness is worthiness?”
Everyone waited a beat, like the hammer was going to answer. But nothing. Darcy reached out and took a good hold of the handle and then pulled with all her might. And nothing. The hammer didn’t move, didn’t budge, didn’t even wiggle the slightest bit.
“Oh well, I never said I was as good as a cat, did I?” Darcy smiled.
Said cat answered the question by stretching up and then settling on Mew-Mew around the handle and settled off to sleep.