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“Tell me again, how did you get my name?” Darcy asked, sipping loudly from her bubble tea in that fine morning when a stressed short-haired blonde guy and a taller one with sunglasses found her in the most remote café in Brooklyn.“Thor left it for emergencies,” the stressed one said.“Thor who?” She pushed, raising an eyebrow. She hadn't seen the god since he left Jane.“Thor, from the Avengers? I'm Clint Barton, the funny one with the bow and arrow.”“I see. So cute, quiet guy and you are looking for Scott Lang, did I get that right?”
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Clint Barton and Sam Wilson had sat down with her for a while, and explained exactly what kind of help they were seeking from her.
Bow guy got a call and excused himself. Darcy got to see the Avenger’s image on his screen before he flew away.
“So, do you like traveling?” Darcy shock the bottom of her drink, the part she was unable to sip, from side to side.
“Why are you asking?”
“Because Lang lives in California,” she showed him an article displayed on her phone.
Of course she knew how and where to find Wilson's new nightmare.
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Darcy had gotten Sam to take off his sunglasses, finally meeting his eyes only when they got inside the plane. It had been harder than convincing him to travel to the West coast that same evening. Liaisons with old SHIELD got them last-hour tickets, and they got to talk a bit there before falling asleep.
“How is Lang's costume?” She asked, used to Thor's ropes.
“A suit,” he corrected. “It was some kind of suit. He only had to click something to go small, then back to his regular human size.”
“One that played with his cells,” Darcy hummed, amused.
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A nap was needed with the six hours trip and the rush of the day. Sam was tall enough for his shoulder to be at Darcy's head’s level to reach and rest, so she had to use it. Around the last hour of the flight, she got out her laptop and showed him the articles she had downloaded while preparing her bag.
“I've found his records. He clearly wasn't in for the money,” she informed about Lang's criminal past. “So, how dangerous is he? Ultron kind of threat?”
“I wasn't there to see that,” Sam chuckled. “A lower level, maybe?”
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They rented a car and asked around, trying to find Lang's whereabouts or at least some acquaintances. Having found which they thought was the neighborhood he lived in, they waited inside and watched, waiting for the night to fall.“Tell me about the nickname. Ant-Man?” She asked when Sam handed her bubble tea, saving the dinner takeaway for later. “Was he bitten by an ant or something?”“That’s how he introduced himself. Wait, what do you mean bitten?” He frowned.“You know, like Spider-Man.”“Spider—who?”“Shoot,” Darcy closed her eyes. “You aren't supposed to know about that, damn it.”
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How he had managed to, not only get back to the burglary business that quickly, but also sneaking in a federal facility like the new Avengers’ uptown compound, was something they would like to ask him. And the best way to get to Lang was through his friends.Darcy did some research, and identified who was his roommate, former cell partner of this mysterious Ant-Man, who had taken him in his tiny apartment after he got released from prison only a few months back. Lang had had more help than just his pal Luis: they were clearly after a team. With no sight of Lang that second day in San Francisco, they called it a night and looked for a hotel. After a relaxing shower, Darcy was ready to go back to work, and with two more clicks they ended up reading about the incident in Pym Technologies, home of the particles that helped Lang’s suit to change his cells, and which could have been related or not to an incident at his ex-wife’s house that same night. Then, she only had to ditch a few questions Sam made about that Spider-Man she got online to find two more names. Dave and Kurt were connected to the Ant-Man for their non-legal experience thanks to Luis. However, were they all the kind to train ants and risk their freedom with a forceful entry in an Avengers’ building? Darcy didn’t think so, even though they knew their way around an elegant, non-lethal heist.Sam explained that they were more interested in finding Scott himself, than in finding everything out and doing the FBI’s work for free. They could always share that with them when they had talked to Lang.He didn’t appear around in three days, so they kept searching for names.
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They found Hope Van Dyne, daughter of Hank Pym and now manager of her father’s company. With those names, they found everything that SHIELD had about the Ant-Man suit and Pym’s missions during his time as an agent, that ended up on his wife’s vanishing and being kicked out of the headquarters.
Darcy guessed that if they were going to find him, it’d had to be in the family mansion, a place where Lang had been arrested after allegedly returning something he had stolen.
Sam was an interesting surveillance partner, talkative and patient until his target appeared. Darcy liked him.
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A week later, Darcy was in her café with her regular tea and a dark coffee for Sam. Like nothing had happened.“You know, if SHIELD was still a thing, I believe you’d made a great agent,” he pointed out with a genuine smile.“If,” she echoed, returning the smile. “So ... this is it? I mean, we’re not going to see each other again unless someone else kicks your ass?”“This is it,” he chuckled. “Unless you want to take my number.”Darcy handed him her phone. She would have to tell him the truth about Fury sooner or later.