Chapter Text
Peggy had barely placed her bag down on her desk when a scarlet light began flashing and a blaring alarm sounded. The agents in the bullpen reacted quickly, dropping whatever they were holding and marching purposefully towards the conference room.
"Agent Carter," the Brit turned to see Chief Dooley striding out of his office and past the front of her desk. "We just caught a redball out of D.C.. All hands on deck..."
In a quick manner with an air of dutifulness, she grabbed the clipboard in front of her and moved to hurry after him, stopping short at his interruption.
"...meaning, cover the phones."
Like hell she was just going to sit in here doing the dirty work, missing the action that was always left selfishly to the men; she was just as capable, if not more so, as all of the agents in there. With an indignant frown, she turned and curtly picked up the phone on her desk. "Rose, forward all calls to the briefing room." She slammed the handset back into its receiver pointedly and turned to find a disgruntled, but weary, Dooley glowering at her.
"Covered," she fought the urge to smirk as she marched past him. "Shall we?"
As she stepped into the room now filled with agents, he refused to even look at her, as if he could simply pretend she wasn't there, but he knew that she'd undoubtedly make her unwanted presence known at some point. He sighed and shook his head before following her into the room.
A fanfare played as the projection film started, flashing the words 'Millionaire... Playboy... Traitor?' onto the screen. Peggy rolled her eyes – scandals were always dramatically exaggerated for entertainment these days – was ordinary life really that boring that a series of white capital letters were needed to liven things up?
"Americans have long followed the career of inventor Howard Stark..."
Despite herself, Peggy smiled softly as images of her friend flashed onto the screen, bringing up memories of their exploits in the war with Erskine and Steve...
Her gentle memories ended abruptedly to allow her to roll her eyes as at least seven different women appeared in images and video recordings with Howard on several occasions. She did hope he'd settle down at some point, though admittedly, she couldn't envision it.
"...accused of selling weapons to the enemy, the founder of Stark Industries was recently called to Capitol Hill."
This had been in her mind already since that morning when she'd read the headline of the newspapers, and it still sounded as ridiculous as before. She knew Howard was careless and impulsive at best, but his deepest loyalties were unwavering; he'd never do something as irresponsible and treasonous as selling his inventions to the enemy, especially since he knew their extraordinary potential thanks to his high intelligence and boundless arrogance.
Her eyes rolled again as Howard made a witty comment in response to a question he'd been asked regarding the weapons. This entire ordeal would be so much easier for him if he took it seriously, but she knew that was something he was incapable of.
The clip continued.
"The much-loved actress and international celebrity icon, Miss Tonya Stark, is also suspected of being involved in Howard Stark's crimes..."
A few of the men shuffled uncomfortably. Peggy rolled her eyes; they always got like this when a woman was involved, especially one as beautiful as Tonya. She did feel a pang of fear though – she was as good friends with Tonya as she was Howard, and she knew that, despite her cheeky personality, the actress was practically a saint and clever enough to not get roped into such misdeeds. She only wished she could say the same for Howard.
"Hang on a minute, Chief..." one of the agents piped up in an attempt to voice what they were all thinking. None of them felt like going out and arresting one of the most famous women on the planet.
Chief Dooley held up his hand to silence the agent, though he looked reluctant to do so. Clearly his thoughts agreed with theirs.
They all turned back to the screen.
"After a show two nights ago, Miss Stark was swarmed by a crowd of fans and press, one of whom asked the question we've all been dying to know the answer to..."
The film flicked to a wobbly video of Tonya walking towards a long car in a stunning dress, probably her signature red colour, though it was impossible to tell on the black and white screen, with a soft fur coat on her shoulders. Faux fur, of course, Peggy knew, as Tonya was an animal rights activist and would never wear such an item if it originally belonged to another living creature, though none of the press cared about that side of her. They only wanted to capture and write about her appearance – that's all anybody seemed to be interested in when it came to women.
The Tonya in the video smiled widely, showing her perfect teeth as the cameras flashed and people shouted around her. She beamed for all the pictures and stopped to sign a few photos and programmes from the show that had just finished. She looked up at one particularly persistent journalist, who snatched his opportunity and cried:
"Tonya! Tonya! What do you have to say about your brother, Howard Stark, selling weapons to the U.S.S.R.?"
At the question, the dazzling smile immediately dropped from her face as her eyebrows knitted together.
"Well if I had to say something, I'd say that that's a lie. Howard has never done anything of the sort and never will," she raised an eyebrow, as if challenging the man to follow up her curt statement.
He didn't have to, because now that the door had been opened, another man leapt over the threshold.
"Miss Stark! Do you know that Mr Stark didn't turn up to his last court hearing earlier today and is therefore now considered a guilty man and a fugitive from justice?"
Her frown only grew deeper. "Technically he's not guilty. Nothing was explicitly proven and, according to law, he's innocent until proven guilty. But of course I knew about that – he's my brother," She shrugged and hugged the coat around her tighter. She turned back to the rest of the crowd, who were quieter than they had been before as they were listening intently to what she had to say. Her smile returned and she said: "Thank you, that will be all," before quickly ducking into the car, as the crowd clamoured noisily again.
The clip ended and Dooley rolled the screen up. He sighed and turned to the men and Peggy around the table.
"So far, six pieces of Stark's technology have turned up either on the black market or in the arsenals of enemy states."
Peggy frowned subtly, in order to avoid being unnecessarily called about by Dooley or another of the agents. There was solid evidence that Stark's weapons had ended up in the wrong hands and fingers were being pointed at the rich inventor, but it simply did not add up for her.
"Two days ago, it was the final day of hearings: Stark didn't show. After her little statement she gave the press that same night," Dooley gestured behind him to where the screen had been. "Miss Stark was taken in for questioning. She answered all the basic stuff, but when they got to asking about Stark and where he was, she refused to even speak. They kept her in custody for the night, planning to continue the interrogation in the morning, but she escaped. Guards sedated, no Tonya and a great dirty hole in the wall was all they found the next day. Some of the press have already heard about it and conspirators are saying that it was Stark who helped her get out. They checked their half a dozen houses and their half a dozen offices: nothing. So, as of this moment, Howard Stark is not only in contempt of Congress, he's a fugitive from justice. Now I don't wanna accuse Little Miss National Treasure of being involved in this scandal, but all the recent information seems to be adding up to her complicity, so she is to be regarded as an unlawful associate to the said fugitive from justice."
There was a tense silence as Dooley allowed the room to process this barrel of information.
"Find Stark. Squeeze him until he loses his sense of humour," he gestured to the blond agent sat at the front of the table. "Thompson, you lead."
Without hesitation the agent placed his pen down and sat up straighter. "I'll ground their planes and freeze both their bank accounts," he shrugged with a smirk. "There's a girl at First Federal who wants to owe me a favour."
Peggy sent a glare to Thompson and took this opportunity to interject; she'd rather not hear any more about Thompson's First Federal girl. "Sir, I really must object–" she looked to Dooley, who interrupted before she could even finish.
"Why am I not surprised?" he gestured to her, rolling his eyes and staring at her in indignant disbelief.
She continued, regardless. "I knew Howard and Tonya during the war. Their help was invaluable. Howard may be a great many things, but he's not a traitor."
"We all know Tonya's a great many things too, don't we?" Krzeminski muttered, earning crude chuckles and quiet whistles from the agents around the table. "I'm sure she was an invaluable source help to many of the soldiers."
Peggy was tempted to hit the obnoxious man over the head with her clipboard, and Dooley must have seen the look in her eye, because he waved a dismissive hand at the agent, though not without a smirk of his own.
"We're all aware of your record, Agent," he returned to Peggy. "I'm sure being Captain America's... liaison brought you into contact with all sorts of interesting people," Dooley raised an eyebrow suggestively and Peggy's face hardened. Krzeminski looked up at her from his seat with a smug grin plastered on his infuriating face. "But the war's over. Let the professionals decide who's worth going after."
With that, he left the room, which the other agents took as an indication to return to whatever they had been doing previously.
Krzeminski couldn't resist getting a final dig, as he leaned over to the agent sat beside him before they left. "Sounds like Carter knew a lot of guys during the war. Lucky to know Tonya too... what I wouldn't give to–"
Peggy glanced at the agent, about to make a remark before Sousa interrupted him first.