Return | Bucky Barnes x OC | (4)

Chapter 15- Double Threat

1946- New York

Howard had gone too far this time. He had stepped on Peggy's last nerve and snapped it under his heel. His shenanigans were bad enough, smuggling himself into America then refusing to pay. After his antics, Peggy was even more of a target to the SSR and Clara's life was possibly in danger.

Now, after Peggy had graciously welcomed him into her home and agreed to harbour a wanted criminal, he had the audacity to disappear off into another woman's room and reappear covered in lipstick marks, putting Peggy in risk of discovery of having a wanted man stay with her.

Enough was enough. Peggy relished the split second in which she lost control of her composure and sent a sharp slap to collide with Howard's smug face. Howard staggered backwards, clutching his throbbing cheek and staring bewildered at Peggy who glared back at him in disgusted contempt.

She didn't say another word to him. She crossed her room, going straight for the phone.

"It's me." She said bluntly.

"It's Peggy." She confirmed, "And you most certainly do not get lots of calls." She snapped. 

Howard sighed, knowing now he wasn't going to get a second chance to explain himself, slumped down at Peggy's small kitchen table and gently massaged his cheek. Neither of them noticed- although why should they?- that all of Peggy's neighbours were crowded around her door to catch a glimpse of her cousin, who looked surprisingly like Howard stark. All but one, who wasn't there for Howard...

*

"What's going on?" She asked, in a bubbly and sickeningly feminine voice. A large crowd of excited girls had formed around Peggy's door.

"Peggy's got a boy in there." Someone answered her.

"That's against house rules." She protested, a faint smile on her lips.

"I know." Someone else replied, "But there's a lot of things Miss Miriam doesn't know about. Just last week my Freddy scaled the wall to sneak in."

"Who is it?" She asked sweetly.

"Says it's her cousin but none of us believe that. Looks an awful lot like Howard Stark. But our Peggy's too proper to go for a guy like that, right girls?" A lot of the girls giggled and whispered to each other.

"Hey Dottie?" One girl asked as she began to turn away from the group. "Don't you want a peak?"

She stalked away, back to her own room, not bothering to dignify answer. Those American girls were only concerned with one thing it seemed, and that was men. Dottie firmly shut the door behind her and locked it from the inside.

Her room was the one right next to Peggy's, not out of luck but by design. Her trip to New York had been meticulously planned from the very beginning down to every little detail. It was imperative she keep as close to Peggy Carter as she could.

But now, it seemed there was someone else she needed to keep close to. Her orders had been clear but no one told her they were sending another Soviet spy. Whoever this, 'Leia' was. It hadn't been hard for Dottie to get her hands on the SSR's information. Truth be told, they didn't have a lot. Just a photograph of her at La Martinique and a name they got from a bouncer.

She certainly didn't look like a spy. Then again, neither did Dottie. That was the beauty of it all, who would ever suspect a bubbly blonde of being a mass murderer? Even the SSR had got the wrong girl. But something at the back of Dottie's mind told her to pursue this 'Leia' woman further.

Dottie crossed her room and pulled a large case out from under her bed. She clicked it's silver locks open and rifled through its contents. It was mostly weapons and a view documents, some letters with her orders on. The thing she was looking for looked harmless. It was just a black box, small enough to fit securely in the palm of her hand.

She clicked the box to the wall between hers and Peggy's room. A red light flashed on the front of the box and Peggy's voice ran through the speakers. Dottie smiled, she was just in time to hear Peggy hang up the phone.

"You arse." She snapped at Howard. Peggy sighed deeply and continued speaking. "Clara's still at the house. She knows about the SSR and is laying low."

Dottie's smile widened as she picked up a pad and pencil and began scribbling notes down in a foreign language.

"When will they get their heads in gear and realise she's not a foreign spy?" Peggy exclaimed in exhaustion.

Dottie clicked the button on the side of the box and it clicked off the wall and fell neatly into her palm. She packed it back into the case, locked it and slid it elegantly back under the bed.

Dottie crossed to her vanity mirror and looked back at the strange reflection. She wasn't used to having pretty blonde curls and sweet smile. She was used to not remember what colour her hair was for being caked in crimson blood. That smile was usually a cruelly fixed line. 

She certainly wasn't used to not being the only spy the Soviet's sent on missions. If this, 'Clara' of whom Peggy spoke was even a Soviet spy. Regardless, Dottie knew she was important. She was her way to Peggy, after all.