Fourth in the Timeline series |
Clara Lewis never expected to be back in the 1940s and Howard Stark never expected to have to help her get back...again. But with Howard branded a traitor Clara knows of only one person who can help her: Peggy Carter...
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Clara was on edge for the rest of the afternoon. She had been through some pretty rough circumstances: accidentally being sent back to the past, the man she loves being brainwashed and not remembering her, her boss faking his own death, accidentally being sent back to the past again. But never had she been branded as a traitor. Well, except when she had sided with Steve but that doesn't count! Technically it hadn't happened yet.
Clara tensed and froze when the door bell finally rang. Peggy confidently strode across her apartment, casually peering through the peephole before opening the door. A long sigh escaped Clara's lips as a cheery raucous flooded the apartment, pursued by an angry looking old woman.
"Miss Carter!" She snapped in a shrill, splitting voice, "This is simply unacceptable! I made myself quite clear about the rules of this household, no men."
"Oh put a sock in it!" Dugan quipped, barging past her and squeezing himself into Peggy's apartment, "No way! Look who it is!" He chorused upon catching a sight of Clara.
"Back from the dead, are you Lewis?" Morita teased, cuffing her lightly on the arm. Clara smiled weakly and sighed contently. Then she smirked. 'Back from the dead', that would have been simpler.
"You good there, Clara? You look...horrible."
"Tense." Clara said bluntly, "It's not every day you're deemed a traitor and find a soviet spy tied to the headboard in the room next door."
"Ah. Staying at Howard's, eh? No delicate woman like yourself should have to see that!" Dugan laughed gruffly but Clara's stern stair quickly shut him up.
"Well, you clearly haven't seen what this 'delicate woman' is capable of doing." She smiled sweetly but the fierce look in her eyes offset everything. She swore she saw some of the men take a step backwards. "Are we going?" Clara prompted.
"Come on, ladies." Peggy teased, "It's not like you to shy away from a fight."
*
Accompanied by what remained of the Howling Commandos, Peggy and Clara made their way to Howard's. It was the dead of night, no one would be around to report a bunch of men and two women walking down the street, armed to the teeth with guns. Or so Clara hoped.
"Right, what's the plan here, Peg?" Dugan asked as the waited outside Howard's front door.
"Clara and I will go up, Dugan, you're with us. The others, I need you to guard the exits." Peggy began explaining expertly, "There's the one here, the back door and I'm pretty sure Howard's got a balcony somewhere, one of you will have to stand under that. Just in case. She can't get away. Understand?"
Everyone nodded.
"Great. I'll see you all when we've captured a Soviet spy." Peggy grinned and signalled to Dugan to open the door.
Peggy went up the stairs first, holding her gun up ready to fire. Just in case, as she'd put it. Clara followed her up and Dugan went last. Clara wasn't sure how the guys would feel about her tagging along. As far as they knew, she was just a nurse. She had no idea what was going through Dugan's mind as she expertly handled her own weapon.
They silently slid up the stairs, stopping on the landing and waiting for Peggy's signal. There was no sound at all coming from the house. If luck was on their side, Dottie would still be handcuffed to the bed. She'd be easy prey and they'd take her straight to the SSR. Clara's name would be dropped and from then on it would be easy to prove Howard was innocent. Freedom was within her grasp and boy did it feel good! She needed to get back. She'd been gone for far too long as it was. Steve and the boys would be hopeless without her.
Peggy raised a hand. This was it. Peggy pushed open the door and it swung open without making a sound. All three off them snuck in noiselessly but it was all for nothing.
"What the hell?" Peggy exclaimed, standing up right now there was no need to hide. "I thought you said she was here!" Peggy snapped at Clara as all three of them stared at an empty bed.
*
Dottie crouched, poised by the window of a local dentist's she'd managed to infiltrate. The dentist, lay dead on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Not that Dottie was phased. She had a job to do and no one was going to stop her from doing it.
She swiftly pulled out a handheld torch from her pocket and pointed out the window. Her hand flicked over the button, turning it on and off rapidly, rhythmically. Morse code. Directly across from the dentist's was the secret SSR headquarters, cleverly disguised as a telephone company. The window she was shining the torch into, held the doctor they'd 'rescued' from the Red Room Academy. Everything was falling into place. Once she'd conveyed the message, the doctor pulled the blind down in the room. That was his signal. He'd won over the SSR captain. He now had control. They had control over the SSR.
*
Clara gaped in disbelief.
"She was here. I swear by it!" Clara protested, "See! Look, here's the marks where the handcuffs were." Clara said, pointing at the bed frame where the wood had started to chip.
Peggy sighed and massaged her forehead with one hand.
"We have to leave, now." She ordered, "This could be a trap, for all we know."
The other look as confused as Clara felt when they saw, Peggy, Clara and Dugan come back out of the house as quickly as they'd entered.
"What are you playing at?" Morita hissed at Dugan as they passed.
"She's not there." Dugan replied, brushing him off.
"What do you mean she's not there?"
"He means," Peggy snapped, "She's gone. And we should leave in case this is a trap."
That shut him up.
Clara took two paces before she froze in place.
"Um, Peggy?"
"What is it, Clara?" She asked frustratedly.
"I'm not from around here so..."
"Get to the point."
"Are there usually this many people around at 3 in the morning?"
Peggy looked to where Clara had gestured. All across the street were smartly dressed men, poised to look natural. Some were talking on street corners, others were reading newspapers on benches. But they'd failed to take into account that none of this was natural at 3 in the morning.
"No." Peggy answered, "No there's not. No one make any sudden movements but keep walking." Peggy instructed. Clara wasn't going to argue. She was in enough trouble with the SSR and didn't want to do anything to make it any worse.
All of them cautiously stepped forward. For a while, no one moved. Until they'd walked far enough to actually be in the street, surrounded by SSR men. Then, from amongst the crowd of agents, a familiar face emerged.
"Come quietly now, Carter."
"Sousa," Peggy greeted curtly, "You know this is ridiculous, don't you?"
"I've got evidence, Peggy." Sousa explained.
"Circumstantial evidence, maybe, but not conclusive evidence. You know this, Daniel." Peggy pleaded, appealing to the hardworking, moral agent in him. But it wouldn't work this time.
