agent rogers returns • j.thompson

champagne problems.

your heart was glass, i dropped it
champagne problems

C A L I F O R N I A
—
C H A R L O T T E

I ran in behind Daniel and Jack, who just pulled Peggy off of Vernon.

"What?" She asked, looking between the three of us with confusion.

"Are you insane?!"

"Yeah! What are you thinking, Carter?! We can't kill Vernon! He's an integral part of this operation."

She nodded and returned with us to the lab.

"This is ludicrous," she mumbled.

"Have a little faith. My man Samberly can patch this thing right up!" Jack said.

Peggy dismissed this, claiming to have full faith in Samberly's talent.

"What I'm speaking about is this man." We looked over to Vernon, who smiled sweetly at us. "I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of climbing into bed with snakes."

"I couldn't care less who you're climbing into bed with."

"Say we fix this device and then Vernon stops Whitney Frost with it. Then what? How do you think his priorities will change? He'll be after us the very next second!"

"I know you have a hard time believing this, Agent Carter, but I have no interest in you. I won't kill you... because I don't have to."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What he means is we all have dirt on one another," Daniel sighed.

"Bottom line is, if any one of you tries to take me down, I take you with me."

"What's it gonna be Carter?" Jack asked.

"Ah, she's a smart girl," Vernon smiled. "She's gonna play ball."

"What do I have to do?" She asked, turning to Daniel.

"You and I are backup. We keep our distance, help with extraction if needed," he explained.

"When the hell are we gonna do this? I got Frost breathing down my neck about this thing."

Samberly needed at least another hour, but time was running out.

"Can't you buy us some more time?" Daniel asked Vernon.

"She's gonna wanna hear that kind of news in person."

"I'll go," Jack said, making me snap my head toward him. "What? Wouldn't be the first time I sold a load of bull to a lady."

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. He looked over to me and winked.

I rolled my eyes and tried not to worry about Jack talking to Whitney. The things she could do terrified me, even if this was part of our plan.

.

"She bought it?!" Peggy exclaimed as the two of us approached Jack.

He sat in the front of the truck with his hat tipped down.

"She's not happy about it, but my blood's still on the inside, so, yes she bought it."

"Which is why I think you're up to something," Peggy said skeptically.

"Don't worry about what I'm up to," he replied. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You must have quite the silver tongue, Jack!" Vernon called out before I had the chance to ask questions. "I gotta be honest, I didn't think you'd get of there alive."

"Thought you learned not to underestimate me, Vernon."

Samberly and Daniel joined us with the gamma core, handing it off to Jack.

"Who's gonna do the honors?" Daniel asked.

"I will," Vernon volunteered. "Seems only right."

Samberly told Vernon to watch out while Peggy warned Jack to be careful.

"Alright, enough hand holding. Let's get this over with!"

Vernon walked around to the passenger side.

"You heard the man!" Jack yelled.

Before the door was shut, I walked up to him and grabbed his injured right hand. I looked him in the eyes, trying as hard as I could to show him how seriously I meant this.

"Don't make me regret praying for you to make it out alive, Jack."

I fell back with Peggy, who was worried about things going wrong.

We simultaneously sighed as we got in the car. Daniel started the car — or at least, tried to. He ran to the hood while Peggy tried to get ahold of Jack.

The fuel line was cut.

We scrambled back to Samberly and demanded for his car.

"What happened?"

"Vernon sabotaged us. He's setting up Chief Thompson."

I felt sick to my stomach. All I could do was try to focus on my breathing.

"Oh no... he's figured out our plan!"

"What plan?!" Daniel asked.

"You know, the plan?" He said.

Peggy grabbed him and asked what he was talking about.

"Turning the gamma cannon into a bomb," he said like it were obvious.

"A bomb?!" I exclaimed.

"Who told you to do that?!" Daniel asked.

"Chief Thompson! He said it was your idea, wasn't it?"

"I knew Jack was up to something!" Peggy exclaimed.

I felt my heart fall to my stomach.

"He's gonna kill them all," Daniel said.

"Including Dr. Wilkes."

"But that's okay, right? He's evil now," Samberly shrugged.

"When will the bomb go off?" Peggy asked, ignoring his dismissal.

"It's on remote trigger. Thompson will blow it once he's clear."

"What the hell is wrong with him? Why wouldn't he tell us this?!" Daniel yelled.

We sent Samberly to build a device to block the radio signal.

I sat in utter disbelief. I felt so angry with him and ashamed of myself. I was starting to believe I could trust him again, then he pulls this.