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It's late enough in the day that Peggy COULD have chosen to go home and no one would have faulted her, but Peggy's never been that sort. She's also worried about the office, and wants to bring the news, so a phone call about an hour ago and the director is now coming down through the stairs from the cover restaurant. She's got a single suitcase still in her hand and a garment bag across her arm, never one to stand on ceremony or demand someone do the menial work for her. It's just habit by now. Her high heels click across the tile floor of the office in sharp, cold snaps. She barely looks at anyone as she moves for the back area. Not the time to ask her how it went, it seems.
*
The hour's notice gave Sousa the time to clear the Director's desk of his own work and write a few notes so that Peggy can easily catch up if he forgets to tell her something. Not that they don't have ample time to catch up, but talking about work all the time isn't exactly the best thing for a relationship. Besides, Mickey would be bored.
His own files were put in a box and set on the floor to be carried back to his own office later and Sousa is standing by the door to open it and let the Director into her own office once the footsteps get close enough.
*
Brian is already there in the office waiting for Peggy and having used the time to make small talk with Daniel. There's a large pot of tea and enough dim sum for four people. Naturally, when Peggy entered the base, one of the guards/waiters called down so they're prepared for her arrival. "Welcome back." he says once she's at the door.
*
The sight of Daniel and Brian softens her, just a bit. She gives them both a brief nod and steps in the door, "Shut it, please." Not exactly a happy greeting, but her hands are full and Daniel is there. She steps over to the little sitting area beside her desk and rests her suit case down as well as her garment bag, trying not to look like a woman who took a redeye flight but, well, they are called red eyes for a reason. She lets out a single breath and then steps over to Daniel, doing the one thing they almost NEVER do in the office, show that they are married. She tugs him into a brief, warm, earnest kiss before letting go. "Sorry. I missed you." Then she looks over to Brian with a half smirk. "I missed him. Don't look at me that way. Besides, it was a shite trip. Who likes working with Nazis, hmm?" The sarcasm drips off her voice.
*
Sousa closes the door behind Peggy as she steps in and starts to move back towards the sitting area when he's pulled into a kiss. There's just a moment of surprise before he holds her tightly for just a second before also letting go. "I missed you too," is offered quietly before he gives Brian an apologetic look as well.
He clears his throat briefly before asking, "I guess we're stuck with them, huh?" There was a brief glimmer of hope, but her mood and her statement seems to indicate otherwise. He looks over at Brian again, "Were you able to try to talk to Captain Rogers?"
*
Brian just smiles and sits back down. "Perfectly understandable. Now do sit and have a spot of tea and something to eat. You must be famished." He's already got a cup himself and a selection of food on a plate. "So when are our house guests going to be arriving? And what conditions do they come with?" Sousas question gets a shake of his head in response. "Not yet. I've been waiting for the proper moment and then, when Peggy radioed that she'd be returning, I wanted to hear the outcome first so my information was current on what to tell him."
*
The question of food gets, almost immediately, a shake of her head and slight turn of her nose. While Peggy was never a picky eater, or much of a delicate one, it seems this entire mess has turned her stomach. "Tea would be lovely. No food. Just… want to figure out what messes have started here while I was gone. So… Steve doesn't even know, does he?" She asks, looking up to both of them as she steps around to her desk and just half collapses in the chair there. At least she was off her feet, she was stopping now. Getting up again might be difficult. "And…next week we'll be getting the first two. An 'honor guard' will be escorting them. They are to be treated as respected guests. And.. watched. But given free reign to develop aerospace projects for the United States."
*
Sousa looks a little concerned when Brian says that he hasn't talked to Rogers yet…and he looks even more concerned at Peggy's question about it. Or maybe it was her use of his first name. "He…knows. I told him that there was a possibility. Maybe it was too soon, but I didn't want him coming in only to find that we had former Nazi scientists now working here. I think that might have been even worse." Maybe. "I don't think he understood that SHIELD is International now. We're more than the SSR was…even though the SSR was also working fairly internationally," since they got Peggy.
"Next week? Respected guests, my ass." Sousa curses so rarely. "I'm not going to throw a parade in their honor."
*
Brian picks up the tea pot to pour Peggy a cup but then pauses with it still raised. "Excuse me? Aerospace projects for the United States? We are funded by NATO correct? So why is this project for the US and not for all its member countries?" Notably England.
*
A sigh crosses Peggy's lips as she leans forward, "Yes, we are funded by NATO, and NATO will have full access to any discoveries… and we're playing nannies to them, apparently, but there is some public concern this might look poor on NATO or SHIELD, so… publicly, this is a US project. It's a bloody f*cking mess, is what it is. And I can't tell who is shoving it down everyone's throats from on high, but I wasn't the only one against it. And there was nothing any of us could do about it." Peggy's frustration is only deepened by the fact that she, for once, doesn't entirely know what is going on. "And the Aerospace is for US Soil. When we get Zola in two weeks… his work is to be all SHIELD and more… Underground. Super Serums. Again."
Her dark eyes flicker up towards Sousa then, processing the fact that he already told Steve. She winces just a touch, "…No, probably not… He was dubbed Captain *America*, you know… he's rather still married to the idea, I suspect. I'll try speaking with him."
*
Sousa nods to Brian's point…they're not just the US now. But he then looks between the two, "So…this isn't something where we're the only naysayers?" That just sounds odd. "How are we supposed to hide these people then from others? If they're working for the 'US' and wandering into this building…won't that blow our cover wide open?" If they can't get rid of these scientists, at least they can poke holes in NATO's supposed logic.
"I think he -is- still married to the idea. I don't know that we'll be able to change that. Or should we even try?" He moves to lean against one of the chairs in the seating area and looks to Brian before looking back, "What do you need us to do." It's said as if he regrets having to speak those words…to his wife…who has been working her tail off.
*
"Ah." Brian resumes pouring the tea. "So to avoid the tarnish of cooperating with Nazis, the Yanks get to take the blame while the other countries reap the benefits. Clever. Do you want to have a go at him first, Peggy or should I still take the opportunity when it presents itself? I did let him know I wished to speak with him." Setting the pot down, he choose an eggroll to dip in some sauce. "We put them in the back of a truck and drive them into the warehouse with none the wiser, of course. And here they will stay. Nothing was said about giving them the run of the city was it?"
*
As Brian responds to the NATO logic, Peggy tilts her head in agreement to what he's saying, hoping that answers Sousa's questions better than she can otherwise. "Yes, rather." She mutters to her fellow British compatriot. She then sighs, dark eyes turning back to Sousa, "…Well… did we get the other facility set up? If we have the new space for them… that's all we really need. We get them ready to go there, make certain we have people assigned to them, and they never touch the space in here. End of story." Her eyes are half begging him to say they did actually get the other building set up.
Finally, she turns bck to Brian and sighs, "I guess whomever sees him first… Leave me a note if you do, and vice versa. I am not hunting him down tonight. I just want to clean up any fires here and go home." It's been a long time since she looked this bone deep tired, but over night flights do that to a girl.
*
Sousa looks to Brian, "So…honored 'prisoners'? That's a little more like it." He can accept that. He then grimaces some at Brian's observation about NATO, "Figures. That's just what we need right now." He just wants to hold Peggy and let her finally relax, but this isn't the time or the place. He's doing all that he can to keep distance after that initial kiss.
"Coulson was on it. I haven't had a chance to check up on him, but I haven't heard of any issues. I left notes on what I got to and what was left unfinished. Howard isn't exactly on board with helping us keep these guys under surveillance."
*
"As it turns out, Steve's not in the city at the moment in any case." Brian notes. "This was one reason I've yet to speak with him. He's off on some quest to track down Doctor Banner." Aka the Hulk. "He's not checked back in." He takes a sip of tea and shakes his head. "No, no Daniel. Honored guests. We are merely making sure of their safety as Nazis - even former Nazis - are not looked upon kindly. Should word of their presence here leak to the public, we're likely to have the Israelis here demanding they be turned over to them. Our benefactors in NATO would surely want us to take steps to see that did not happen."
*
"Then what the hell *is* Howard doing since he's been back?" Peggy asks, no patience left in her voice. This would NOT be the night to piss the director off, that much is clear. She exchanges one, single understanding look with Daniel. The look that says she just wants to go home too, but they both know what they've signed on for, so she remains behind her desk.
Brian's commentary about the honored guests actually draws a half smile across her lips and a small tilt of her head. "Exactly… we're simply taking every precaution to ensure that they can do their work. WE monitor what goes in and out of the building, keep a constant guard there. They don't get to leave with any tools or anything… WE can't keep them full prisoner, but we can ensure the only trouble they make is under our control."
*
Sousa gives a sigh in regards to Howard, "I have no idea. He's been frighteningly silent. Like when Mickey's quiet for a stretch of time." Any parent might recognize the lack of sound equals trouble. Usually the quieter they are, the bigger trouble they're getting in. He then gives Brian a 'Are you so sure about that?' glance before he looks back to Peggy. "So are they leaving at all or merely going from their one facility to their…boarding house facility? That's my real question. Are they going to the grocery store and restaurants and we have to provide bodyguards so that they don't get attacked?"
*
Brian would certainly hope that's not the case and looks to Peggy for an answer.
*
The woman is silent for a few moments, "…they aren't prisoners here. That is part of the deal. Once they leave the offices, they are… Free to go about as they please. We have no obligation to provide 'body guards' and, frankly, if some overzealous patriot kills one… I might smuggle the shooter out of the country myself and give him a gold medal." That's exhaustion talking, normally Peggy wouldn't be nearly so loose lipped about such things. She sighs after, "But… if we are worried they may end up falling into old habits… we might need to put tails on them. That's a question of man power. ANd yes, it's a complete mess."
*
Sousa lifts a hand to press at his forehead, "So there's nothing to stop them from taking their notes and transferring them elsewhere once they leave here. From taking their findings and sending them to cohorts. Nothing to stop them from talking to each other about ways to blow up the building or sabotage our resources." He was afraid of this. "We're already using manpower to watch them when they're here." He presses his knuckles to his lips before he shakes his head and looks to Peggy and Brian, "No. If they get killed while under our charge, we'll be blamed for not providing proper protection."
*
"So they are to have free rein to go where they please?" This does not make Brian at all happy. "There is no way we can allow them to go where they wish without escort. We need to assign watchers to them around the clock and be damned with the personnel issue. We no longer have a choice."
*
Peg is quiet for several heartbeats, watching them both as she tries to consider the implications. The other cases that will lose people, the danger to her men and women. But there was no other choice. She just breathes out slowly and nods, "…at least we're just starting with two. Before you leave the office, we need to make up a schedule of… babysitting duty for our new friends. Don't pull anyone more than two days a week for it, transfer it around, so no one is losing a lot of time on their cases. I'll see if Howard can make… lojacks, or something, that we can install on them. In them. Somehow." Peggy presses a deep line to her lips, picking up her tea but not quite drinking.
*
"Howard was unwilling when I asked him. Maybe he'll agree for you, but he refused to help for me." But then again, the two aren't the best of friends. Sousa looks to Brian and nods, agreeing with him. Peggy, though, gets, "So…everything is basicallu tabled so that we can babysit Nazis. I'll tell Fury." Even though he knew the man would help with his own department's onjective, he would be needed to help watch the scientists. "These men are geniuses. You don't think they'll figure out a way to disable anything we try to put on or near them?"
*
"And so no one can be suborned." Brian adds to what Peggy says. "Not that I doubt the loyalties of our men but the Nazis are geniuses and it does not pay to underestimate them. Nor should we assign anyone who has been an agent for less than a year." No rookies. No sleepers. "Tell Howard to make a lot of small tracking devices. And a few more obvious ones. We'll give each Nazi a watch or some such with one of the obvious one then put the others in the soles of all the shoes they own. We'll need a very good cobbler to make it undetectable."
*
At the comment about Howard, Peggy's eyes roll in a moment of genuine anger. "Well, Howard Stark can either get off his ass and actually do work for SHIELD or he doesn't get to be a part of SHIELD at all. The rest of us don't get to pick and choose assignments, neither does he. I'll talk to him." Oh, he's gotten Peggy's wrath now. But, to be fair, a stiff wind could kick her dander up at the moment. She nods towards Brian's comment about the tracking devices, a slight smile tempering her expression again at his suggestion of the double blind on the devices. "…that's excellent. I'll make certain he's working on it. We have one week. If… if there is nothing else, gentlemen, you are dismissed to finish the schedules then get home. We'll all be doing lots of overtime soon."
*
"I was already going to suggest such a thing to Coulson for their apartments. Put obvious bugs around and then hide others as inconspicuously as we can," Sousa admits with a nod. "So we're going to steal their shoes to re-cobble them? What if they go out and buy new ones?" His head turns quickly at Peggy's tone but he gives her a nod then as well. He will happily leave Stark to her.
"I agree with you on the agents," Sousa offers but then looks to Peggy. "So is the Alpha One Initiative on hold?"
*
"We steal them too." Brian says simply. "I assumed they'd be going to buy thing early on. The first time they leave their rooms, we install the tracking devices. If one wears the same pair day after day, we'll need to be more careful about that pair."
*
"It's a good start. I need to get the bugs from Howard first AND hope they work. If they can actually be effective, we can cut down the babysitters to less numbers and someone in a room monitoring the feeds. Too much to do in a week. But we'll get it done. We always do." Peggy sighs and pushes one hand back through her head, her mind catching up to the other questions flying in her direction… "Alpha One? Howard… wanted to go forward. I told him he had to work with you on it. If he hasn't been… Bloody hell, I need to talk to that man."
*
"Won't we need to make sure that they haven't installed bugs of their own?" Sousa points out. "This…this is a logistical nightmare. I honestly don't understand why NATO is doing this unless they want to suck all of our resources and bleed the entire organization dry." What good can actually come of it?
But now they do what they can and try to go on with their jobs. "He talked to me about it but I don't think he liked that I told him he couldn't run the entire operation. I'm not sure if he's gone ahead, but Agent Fury knew about it and wanted in…so someone had to tell him and it wasn't me."
*
"The trackers will tell us where they are not what they do or who they talk to." Brian points out. "They'll still need escorts." Sitting back, he listens to the other discuss the Initiative. "I haven't spoken to him."
*
A grimace crosses Peggy's face, "Well, Howard doesn't get to do it without you and Fury. That is not his pet project. So… I'll talk to him. He'll play ball or he won't. Because lecturing Howard Stark is exactly what I needed to do with all this going on." Peggy looks half tempted to throw something, but she manages to keep control. She just sips her tea instead and sighs…"Any other ideas, you can put on my desk. I'll be in bright and early tomorrow."
*
"Until they disable them. I'm telling you, Brian, we need to have backup plans to our backup plans. If we can get Howard to help that would be best, but if we don't…we need to think like he would. Because these men do." It takes one to know one? Sousa knows he's not a genius like these other men, but he can recognize patterns.
He turns quickly to Peggy when she mentions being in 'bright and early' tomorrow and frowns. They may need to discuss that later.
*
"That's why they need escorts as well." Brian points out. "As for Howard… As Peggy said, he can follow orders or he can leave the agency. We need to find another scientist to threaten him with. Someone nearly as intelligent as he is. So we can let him know that if he's not willing to work for SHIELD, we'll just ask… whoever it is. A rival by preference."
*
"…what about his son?" Peggy offers to the room with a slightly cool smile, knowing it's cruel. Knowing it's a bit foolish, but right now she has no patience for messing about. She tilts her head, turning dark eyes between the pair to see if either think that's a totally crazy idea.
*
"Why do we need to threaten him with another scientist? We've got two Nazi ones coming in," Sousa points out. Is he joking? Hard to tell. His eyes widen when Peggy mentions an alternative, "Are you kidding me? Replace one Stark with another? We'll need to add more babysitters for that one…who is supposedly one of the good guys!" Obviously, he's not a fan of the idea. "Just remind Stark that this is no longer his sandbox. He can take his toys and go home, but we're bigger than that. If he doesn't want to share, then he gets escorted out." He pauses a moment before, "And if he puches you, punch him back."
*
Brian chuckles at Peggy's suggestion. "Threaten to replace the father with the son? And imply he's a better scientist as well? He is likely to do what he is told after that, Daniel. Though being blunt is an option." he agrees.
*
"…I'll think on it when I'm more awake and have decided just how pissed I am at him." Peggy admits with a quiet grumble. The wrath of a woman already quite scorned and all. She takes one last drink of her tea and sits forward in her seat, dragging herself into standing. "Alright. There is a game plan, at least. I'm going home. I'm going to be useless here and… well,if that's all the information you both needed. Brian…" She's quiet for a long moment, a look on her face that is almost uncertain, but then she takes the dive. "…Can you hold down the fort for the next little while if I actually kidnap my husband out of the office?" She can't remember the last time she and Daniel left work at the same time.
*
Sousa just shakes his head, "I wouldn't threaten unless you're willing to go through with it and you're confident that the younger Stark would come in. It won't do any good if he leaves and we're left without anyone." But the Nazis. That would be a pickle. "I wouldn't count on any Stark doing what they're told."
His trail of thought is wrenched quite off the tracks at Peggy's question to Brian and he lifts his eyebrows, "How long of a while?" Just the afternoon/night? A weekend? They're supremely overdue for a family vacation.
*
Brian makes a shooing motion with a hand. "Go. Should anyone ask for you, I'll inform them you've taken your husband home for a romantic reunion and to solve their little problem themselves for a change."
*
It almost breaks Peggy's heart to realize the hopeful look on Daniel's face as he asks how long, "I was thinking just this afternoon… Daniel. Shouldn't be doing it but… sod it. I haven't been home in two weeks." Peggy steps around her desk, leaning over to scoop up her things again. She gives Brian a bit of a smirk at his teasing, but there is gratitude behind her eyes. "We'll be back to help sort out the mess in the morning. I promise." She shifts her bags all into one hand so she can slip the other against her husband's back. "Take me home, handsome."
*
Sousa tries his best to hide any disappointment. He'll drag her away for a vacation sooner rather than later, but at least he understands that now isn't the best time for it.
Damn those Nazis…they're ruining his vacation plans!
"Thanks, Brian. I owe you one." He offers the other a bit of a smile before he looks to his box of files. He'll get those in the morning too. Peggy gets another bit of a smile when he's told to take her home, "I'll do my best. I hope you like taxicabs." His hand slips into the frame of his crutch then; obviously he didn't drive in.
*