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If (Y/N) thought she had a rough night after staying awake for hours, she surely didn't think so after hearing what happened to Peggy. Apparently, the mysterious man they had passed on the club had followed her home and killed her roomate Colleen in the process. Peggy was obviously shook to the core after the attack, mostly consumed with guilt after the loss of a friend she had known for a long time.

"I'm sorry to appear callous," Mr. Jarvis began. He was sat alone in one of the booths at the L&L Automat. "But is there any way it can be traced back to you?"

"My name wasn't on the lease," Peggy answered in a monotonous voice, sitting back to back with Mr. Jarvis. "No one knew me except — "

"Did she have any family?"

"She lost a brother at Guadalcanal." Peggy answered the question, her eyes glued to the table. "I'd only known her a few months. I needed a place to stay. I didn't know anyone in. . ."

"I should've let you stay with me," (Y/N) spoke up with remorse on her voice. She placed a hand on top of hers. "This wouldn't have happened."

Peggy accepted the gesture although her face didn't soften. "I seem to have a habit of losing people closest to me. . .Perhaps 'losing' is too nice a word. I get them killed."

"Miss Carter. . ."

"When Howard came, I was damn happy to see him," she admitted. "I'd been wallowing in it since the war, wondering why no one would give Agent Peggy Carter a shot. So I grabbed the chance. But I mucked it up. And now Colleen is dead. . .because of me."

Mr. Jarvis handed her his handkerchief to dry her tears.

"Miss Carter, I've read your war record," Mr. Jarvis turned his head sideways so she could hear him properly. "You are a credit to your profession. If the men in your office can't see that, then they're fools. You were trying to do something good, and I believe you accomplished it."

"But was it worth it?"

"I don't think we'll know that until the job is truly done."

Peggy made sure her volume was loud enough for Mr. Jarvis to hear, but quiet enough for no one else. She was begging to change the subject. "Where does your wife think you are?"

"One of Mr. Stark's more. . .amorous admirers has refused to vacate his penthouse," he explained slowly. "I am presently supervising her extraction."

"I imagine that's quite believable."

He coughed after drinking from his beverage. "You have no idea."

"We need to know where this came from," (Y/N) stared down at the burnt out nitramene bomb from yesterday inside her purse. "But we can't just bring it inside SSR Headquarters."

"I may know a gentleman."

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Mr. Jarvis took them to one of Stark Industries's many buildings for the specific man they were looking for. Despite having hundreds of offices and laboratories inside the building, it was majorly empty.

"Dr. Vanko, what do we have here?"

"A lanthanum carbon alloy," Dr. Anton Vanko replied in his Russian accent. He stood up to his full height after staring down at the microscope. "Rather clever. I might add, rather unstable."

"So it couldn't have come from very far away," Peggy concluded.

She walked away from her companions and set down her own purse at the table feet away. She pulled out a large map of the island and stretched it out with (Y/N)'s help since Mr. Jarvis was too preoccupied in adjusting his glasses.

"Well, before the war, there were only three refineries capable of something like this," Dr. Vanko continued. "Um, the Navy tire down Franklin Chemical, and Eaglestar converted to Diesel, so that only leaves — "

"Roxxon."

"Right."

"This has to be 200 acres," Peggy stared down at the map, shaking her head. "It would take weeks to search."

Mr. Jarvis saw the doctor carrying the remains of the nitramene in his hands. "Dr. Vanko, please tell me that isn't still, um. . .volatile."

"Oh, volatile. No, no," he shook his head with a laugh. He stared down at the material in awe. "Active? Heh. Oh, yes."

"The nitramene still emits low levels of vita-radiation."

(Y/N) felt a lightbulb turn on inside her head. She perfectly remembered the last time she had heard that exact word. "Vita-rays?"

"Yeah, we occasionally use them in our experiments to stabilize the — "

Peggy caught onto what she had in mind. Immediately, she did her best to fold her map back down in urgency.

"We know what they do."

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(Y/N) didn't know how they got back to the SSR as quickly as they did. She didn't know if it was the urgency about the whole task in hand or the fact that she had an excuse to search through the files of her deceased best friend. Either way, they had to be careful enough not to be spotted by anyone else in the reserve.

Peggy searched through one isle and (Y/N) through the other. There were three different boxes containing information about Project Rebirth, so (Y/N) had to read through the contents of each one. They were labeled with different things, such as medical files, photographs and most importantly, Steve's personal file. It wasn't until (Y/N) read the phrase 'Vita-Ray research' did she find what they were looking for.

She pulled the box out and Peggy reached her side, pulling the lid off since (Y/N) was hesitant to do so. Inside was a file with the red stamp that spelled out 'Inactive' on it, something that felt like harsh reminder of her reality. Peggy opened it with delicacy and in the front page was the official picture they had taken Steve when he first entered Camp Lehigh.

(Y/N) couldn't find it in herself to tear her eyes away from the picture, feeling the tears well up in her eyes. It brought her back to that day where she spoke with him for the last time, remembering her last words to him. She recalled how harshly she beat herself up after not reassuring him or not being there in his last moments of consciousness. It told her that no matter how hard she tried, she'd never be able to get rid of the guilt consuming her. She had requested Steve to Dr. Erskine in the first place, and that led up to what got him killed in the end.

She had to remind herself that she wasn't alone in the room and teared herself out of her gaze, finding already Peggy stuffing the photo back in the file. She was about to speak up when a sudden noise behind them got their attention.

Sousa offered an embarrassed smile as if he walked in on something he wasn't supposed to. "Sorry. I still haven't quite got the hang of — "

"It's all right," (Y/N) told him. "I can assure you, we don't find ourselves here often."

"You know, after I got hit. . ." he began, taking a small step forward holding tightly to his crutch. "At the field hospital, the chaplain asked me was there anybody I wanted to send my effects to, should, you know, the worst happen."

"I told him I didn't think my dad has much use for two pairs of green socks and an old paperback. Let him remember my life, you know?" He spoke with a tender tone, as if this was his first time sharing this anecdote. "Of course, I didn't die, which was inconvenient, because the chaplain had already trashed my footlocker. Still missing half my stuff. Can't find my leg anywhere."

(Y/N) couldn't help but chuckle. She even saw Peggy crack a smile too. Sousa took this an a success and turned around, ready to walk away.

"Daniel," Peggy called him by his first name. "You're one of the lucky ones."

Sousa offered a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes at that. He turned around and walked away, the sound of his crutch hitting the ground fainting away as he got farther off.

(Y/N) cleared her throat as if to say, 'what were we here for', which knocked Peggy out of her daze. She moved the files inside the box to the side and revealed exactly what they were looking for: the Vita-Ray Calibrator. There, in a small plaque underneath the scale, could be read out the phrase 'Property if A. Erskine'.

It seemed they now had a second location added to the list of their rocky adventure waiting for them.

short chapter, especially considering last one, but i wanted to leave what's next in its own chapter :)
ooh! and y/n meeting the father of someone who will hurt her *** in the future — I MEAN WHAT

- see you soon, bex <3