agent rogers returns • j.thompson

hoax.

your faithless love's the only hoax
i believe in

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

"What happened to you?" Daniel and I asked each other in unison upon walking into the office.

"I was jumped," he groaned lightly. "You?"

"Let's just say it involved one of Howard's machines and leave it at that."

"Is Peggy okay?" He asked quickly as I walked with him to his office.

Before I could get a word out, other guys in the office began to ask Daniel what happened.

He brushed them off, but startled me with an abrupt stop once he'd passed them. I looked up to meet Vernon Master's menacing glare.

In a hushed tone, I told Daniel that I should leave and shot him a look of pity before I walked away.

Since I didn't stay at the hospital with Edwin and Ana last night, I thought it best for me to stay with them today while Peggy continued to work with Daniel.

"Mr. Jarvis, honey, how are you doing?" I said gently as I embraced him. He trembled in my arms.

I felt terrible for him. I knew how it felt to lose someone, yet I also knew that the fear and the grief is never the same.

He didn't answer, but he didn't need to. I understood, and just held him tight.

.

"Alright, let's get to it!" We overheard Peggy say.

Mr. Jarvis walked in before me, demanding, "To what?"

She looked at us with surprise. Walking up to Jarvis, she asked what he was doing back and asked about Ana.

I knew Peggy could tell how distressed and angry Mr. Jarvis was. She gave me a worried look, but tried to remain as calm as possible for him.

She pulled him aside so the two of them could talk privately. I was engaged in small talk with Daniel, when Peggy and Jarvis emerged again with some kind of code.

Samberly was able to determine that it was directions to build a gamma radiation cannon from Howard that could eliminate zero matter.

I stayed back in the lab for a few moments with Samberly as Peggy, Jarvis, and Daniel walked up the stairs and through the living room.

I ran into Peggy once I made my way up. It took me a moment to realize that she was walking away from Jack Thompson.

"Wait — what's going on? What happened?"

"Why don't you ask Vernon's puppet yourself?" She piped.

I turned my glare to Jack.

"What are you doing here?" I grumbled.

Jack rolled his eyes at the initial sight of me and scoffed.

"I'm just doing my job."

"Since when does being Chief of the SSR entail threatening one of your colleagues with a redacted file?" I scoffed back as I looked through the file I grabbed from his hands before he could react.

"None of this concerns you, Your Highness."

"God, you're a real asshole sometimes."

"Only sometimes? That's an improvement!"

"Can you please just take off the Chief hat for one damn moment and listen to me?"

As he sighed, I noticed his demeanor soften.

"Power is a dangerous thing, Jack. Unlike Whitney Frost or Dr. Wilkes, there is not much in the way between you and great power as long as you are willing to sacrifice your morals -- that is, if you have them. I know in my heart that you do, but in your blinding ambition and hellbent need to please 'The Man,' you seem to be ready and willing to step on everyone else without stopping to care who you might hurt."

I stopped for a moment to take some deep breaths. The last thing I wanted was to break down crying in front of him right now. The only thing I truly did want in that moment was for him to say something.

"The worst part is that I'm being just as blind. I've been trying so hard to hold onto the you I fell in love with that I've been ignoring who you're becoming. Now I fear all I have left is to give up and move on."

Again, he remained silent.

"I have to go, I sighed."

.

Mr. Jarvis and I sat in the front of the truck, waiting impatiently as Peggy and Daniel made the exchange for Dr. Wilkes.

Things were mostly quiet, until we heard Peggy yelling "Move!"

More yelling and gunshots rang out behind us as the back doors slammed shut and Jarvis stepped on the gas.

We could hear the bullets ricocheting off of the truck.

He communicated with Peggy, everything seeming fine. That was, until she yelled "stop the truck" into the walkie talkie.

I ran out back as soon as I could, only to find that Dr. Wilkes was gone.

"What happened?!"

"Dr. Wilkes knows where the uranium rods are, and he's gone back to Whitney Frost!"