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(Y/N) made it back to her apartment as quickly as she could, this time accompanied by Peggy. They were able to rig themselves out of Thompson's eyes without raising that much suspicions, and climbed up the steps of her building with the luck of not coming across any of the nosy neighbors from before.

She opened the door to her home and Peggy did her the favor of closing it behind her, and when she took two steps inside the apartment, she saw no sign of Howard anywhere.

"Howard? We found the — " she paused. "Howard?"

(Y/N) noticed that the door to her bedroom was closed, suspiciously so. When she walked up to the door and knocked on it, she was bracing herself to see a horrific sight in front of her, but was received by something she wasn't quite expecting. Howard was standing by the bed, fluffing the pillows and placing them in their rightful spot, smoothing the wrinkles on the duvet.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He jumped at the sudden noise but then smirked smugly when he saw her leaning over the doorframe. "What does it look like I'm doing? I changed the sheets."

(Y/N) eyed him up and down with a questioning look, not knowing why he even bothered to do something like this.

"I wanted to go out and buy food to fill that empty refrigerator of yours, but figured you'd have my head if I told you."

"You got that right."

Peggy, who had been watching the exchange with curious eyes, cleared her throat to focus on the task in hand. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, and Howard seemed to finally realize she was there.

"Ah! Peggy, what brings you here?"

"There's no time to waste," she said, gesturing for (Y/N) to take out the camera pen from her purse.

They didn't have the luxury of having a dark room, so they had to improvise. (Y/N) searched throughout her entire apartment until she found an old sheet of paper she could use to cover the light bulb and make the light turn red instead. She figured the best place to do this was in the bathroom, so she, Howard and Peggy all cramped together in the small room to reveal the pictures she had taken with the camera pen.

Peggy had a pair of tweezers in her hands, holding the strip of photos in between them. "She seems. . .uninhibited."

Howard immediately knew what she was looking at and ripped the strip from her hands. "The first 10 or so might not be suitable for your eyes."

(Y/N) and Peggy groaned in disgust. The latter presumed where she left off, grabbing another strip of photos and holding up to see each of them. It seemed like she had found what they were looking for, since a grin popped on her lips.

"Your inventions."

Before Howard could say anything, there was a knock on the door, startling all three of them.

"Who is that?" he immediately whispered toward the owner of the apartment.

"(Y/N)?"

Her entire demeanor stiffened at the voice on the other side of the door, and this made both Howard and Peggy eye her with questioning looks. She didn't know what to say or do as the person kept banging on the door with urgency.

"(Y/N)?" Louis's voice returned. "Are you in there?"

"He seems interested," Howard commented with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"He just moved here," she explained defensively. "He doesn't have many friends."

"And you've been a lovely friend, have you?" Peggy raised an eyebrow with a teasing look.

(Y/N) glared in their direction to silence them before raising her voice loud enough, "Uh, Louis, I'm feeling a little under the weather."

"No, (Y/N), go," Howard grabbed her shoulder to grab her attention. "I worry about you. You work too much. Peggy and I'll look through the rest of the photos."

(Y/N) wasn't at all convinced, but sighed nonetheless. "Coming," she yelled out.

She slipped away from the bathroom and closed the door behind her as fast as she could to not ruin the pictures. She checked her appearance before opening the door with a grin, coming face to face with Louis leaning over the doorframe, his frame towering over hers.

"What brings you here at this time of day?" she asked out of the blue.

"Just wanted to check how you were," he spoke in a calm voice. "I didn't see you at all yesterday."

"Had a busy day," she explained.

He nodded and silence filled over both of them. Then, he gasped, as if he was suddenly remembering why he knocked in the first place.

"Actually, I did come here for a reason," he laughed and scratched the back of his head with embarrassment. "Are you. . .busy right now?"

"Uh, depends. Why?"

"Well, I was making lunch when I realized I made more tomato soup than I should have," he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He smiled at her. "Would you, uh, like to come inside and eat with me?"

(Y/N) was stunned for the very first seconds. She didn't know how to react to an invitation like that. Part of her wanted to accept, but the rational side of her told her she didn't have time for stuff like this — there were more important tasks at this very moment.

She flashed him a smile, "I'll love to, Louis. But like I said earlier, I'm not feeling very well at the moment."

His eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

She shook her head, flattered by his worry. "No, it's just, lady stuff, you know."

"Oh," he tensed, but didn't groan in disgust like any other man would've done. "I understand."

"Maybe next time," she flashed him another bashful smile, feeling bad for rejecting him.

"Yeah, don't worry," he pushed himself off the door frame. "Hope you feel better."

"Thank you."

Just as (Y/N) was about to close the door, Louis placed a hand over it to stop her movements. Startled by this, she opened her mouth to question his actions when Louis reached out a hand to grab hers, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it. It was all done in a matter of seconds that she didn't have as much time to react as she would've wanted, since Louis pulled back just as fast and went back to his apartment.

(Y/N) closed the door all the way and would've stayed there daydreaming about the interaction when she remembered the two other people inside her apartment. She composed herself and turned around, only to find Howard and Peggy sat by the dining table with the revealed photos displayed all over it.

"I suppose you're sitting here because you already went through all the photos, right?" she broke the silence.

"All of my inventions are in your lab," Howard nodded with a tensed posture.

"Then why is your mustache so sad?"

Peggy shook her head at him. "You won't believe what he's asking us to do."

Howard flickered his eyes from her to (Y/N), his voice hard. "I need you to steal one of them back."

(Y/N)'s eyes widened at his request. When she turned back to Peggy, she saw how she shook her head in disapproval to the entire idea.

"Every one of these inventions from my vault can cause large-scale destruction," Howard jumped to explain. "Thankfully, they're not all active, but this one. . .This one is."

He searched through the photos and pulled out one of a gray orb, which looked completely harmless.

"What does it do?" she asked.

"London was antsy about Germany dropping bombs on her, so I created the Blitzkrieg Button," he began. "You press the button, and you get an instant city-wide blackout. The bombers can't see where to unload."

"So, essentially, it's a glorified light switch?" Peggy questioned from her own seat.

"What's the problem with that?" (Y/N) looked between Peggy and Howard.

"I couldn't figure out how to turn the lights back on," Howard said, taking a drink from his cup of coffee. "They went out because the electrical grids were destroyed. If that thing is activated in New York, the whole tri-state area will be plunged into the dark ages for years to come."

"Nothing's ever easy," Peggy commented, eyes on the photo. "How do we defuse it?"

"Well, that's the whole reason I'm here," he confessed. "I'm the only one that can turn it off."

"I thought you were here because of a camera-pen," (Y/N) gave him a look.

He grabbed a sphere from the dining table, one she didn't notice was there. "This is a mock-up."

"You swap that round with the real thing, no one will be the wiser."

Peggy took the mock-up Button in her hands. "I'm sure we'll figure out a way of telling the technicians what the button does without having them touch it."

"Since when has the U.S. Military ever had a weapon that they didn't use?" Howard asked rhetorically. "Don't let anyone touch it."

"I'm already considered a traitor," he continued. His voice completely serious. "Don't let me be the guy who shut down the greatest city on the planet."

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When nighttime struck, Mr. Jarvis was already waiting for them on the other side of the street to (Y/N)'s building. She was still hesitant of leaving Howard by himself again, but there was no other choice. Anyway, he'd be long gone in less than two days.

Peggy leaned down to the driver's window, "Ready for another adventure, Mr. Jarvis?"

(Y/N) climbed into the passenger seat while Peggy rode in the back, a shift from the last time they were in a vehicle together. She figured it was a fair trade. The majority of the ride back to the SSR was fairly silent, enjoying the calm music that sounded through the radio.

When she realized they were getting closer to the Bell Company building, (Y/N) turned to Mr. Jarvis. "Park around the corner. When we get the real Blitzkrieg Button out, drive us directly back to my building."

"With my heaviest foot," he said without removing his eyes off the road.

"There's just the single switch on it, right?" Peggy questioned next.

Mr. Jarvis reached one hand to scratch the back of his ear, an action she hadn't seen the entire time since she's known him. "Yes, correct."

"Are you all right, Mr. Jarvis?"

"I'm simply nervous on your accounts."

(Y/N) exchanged one look with Peggy in the backseat, both thinking it was a tell. There was no way to confirm it other than asking questions and see to which ones he did that action to.

"Howard came back to New York for only this invention, is that right?" (Y/N) asked.

"It was a risk he knew he had to take."

Peggy took this as an opportunity to ask her own question. "You don't think he's planning on using the device himself to wipe out a city's electricity, do you?"

"Of course not," he turned around for a second, as if the question merely offended him.

"At least the Blitzkrieg Button isn't like nitramene," (Y/N) added. "No one would get hurt if I was to accidentally activate it."

That seemed to do the trick. Mr. Jarvis did the same action as before, and he didn't seem to realize he was doing it. "Just bring the device back as fast as you can, Miss Dewitt, Miss Carter, and then we can all stop worrying."

The conversation died after that. Mr. Jarvis parked the car where he was told to do so and the ladies stepped outside with precaution. It was already late, so they figured not a lot of people would be walking in or out of the office at this time of day. It was easy to get past Rose in the lobby, who questioned why they were back and (Y/N) simply said they had forgotten their paperwork by their desks.

The hard part would be trying to sneak in without having Thompson spot either one of them, which was why they were on red alert when they entered the precinct. On their way to the lab, they had to pass through one of the interrogation rooms, and (Y/N) hoped that no one was inside them until she heard a familiar voice boom from the other side of the door.

" — Now we know Howard Stark likes to hang out with women," Sousa commented.

(Y/N) only managed to take a quick peek inside and saw Sousa standing over the table with Thompson by his side, eating what seemed to be a hamburger. She didn't inspect the scene any further and walked right through without getting spotted by Sousa or Thompson, Peggy following quick behind her with the same ease.

The door to the lab was unlocked and both snuck in, closing it behind them. (Y/N) searched through the entire lab until she spotted the sphere in a table far away from the door. Peggy grabbed the replacement out of her purse and quickly switched it with the real one, cradling it delicately in her hands.

(Y/N) thought Peggy would be heading straight to the door, but instead headed toward one that lead to another storage room inside the lab. When she followed in after her, she made sure the door was closed before speaking out.

"You're not planning on opening it, are you?" she asked in a whisper.

"You saw Mr. Jarvis, he was lying about what's inside it," Peggy stated.

(Y/N) marched in to stand face to face with Peggy, the Blitzkrieg Button between them. "Yes, but knowing Howard, there's still something inside it that can cause major damage."

"You believe that?"

(Y/N) stayed silent, not entirely sure how to answer that question.

Peggy flicked the small switch on it, turning the small green light over it to turn red. Luckily, none of the lights around them turned off, which meant that what Howard and Mr. Jarvis said about it was a lie after all. The orb opened its upper half and out poured a cloud of liquid nitrogen, as if it was keeping what was inside in a low temperature.

(Y/N) couldn't help but frown at the fact that nothing seemed to be inside the orb until a small vial was pushed forward. Peggy was too concentrated in holding the orb, so (Y/N) reached out to pull the vial out to take a closer look at what was inside. From what she could see, it contained a dark red substance, and (Y/N) couldn't comprehend why Howard was so adamant in getting back a vial.

Neither of them had the strength to speak after that. The air was filled with a mixture of confusion and anger at the fact that they were lied to. Still, Howard would be wanting the Blitzkrieg Button back as soon as possible, so they stepped out of the lab with just as much caution as before.

The corridor was empty, but as they were about to walk out of the precinct, the handle of a door wriggled behind them to indicate someone would be walking out. (Y/N) spotted the closest door she could find to her right and slid inside, careful to not get spotted by whomever was outside. Peggy opened the door to the room next to hers, and both hid in separate rooms to watch the person outside walk off. She was about to let out a sigh of relief at the thought of almost getting caught, when she felt a pair of eyes — which definitely weren't Peggy's — on her.

"(Y/N)," Thompson's voice boomed in her ears.

(Y/N) had to resist the urge to curse out loud. Out of all rooms she could've stumbled in, it had to be the one with Thompson inside. She couldn't believe her own bad luck.

"Didn't I say only the men have to work overtime?"

(Y/N) forced a smile into her face, which resembled a grimace. "I didn't mean to interrupt your promotion party."

Thompson switched the bottle of scotch from one  hand to the other. (Y/N) was ready to excuse herself and walk out of the door, but was caught off guard by his next words.

"Why do you work here?"

"To promote democracy," she answered immediately. "Why do you ask?"

"But the rest of us get to do more than take lunch orders."

"It gives me a sense of nostalgia, returns me back to my days as a waitress at a diner," she laughed drily, no humor behind it. "You'll never know the thrill of learning how many teaspoons of sugar Agent Yauch puts on his coffee."

"You're trying to hide something, (Y/N)," Thompson pointed an accusing finger at her, rounding the table. "And the only one you're fooling is you."

(Y/N) didn't move a muscle. She hoped it hadn't been too obvious this whole time, the risk of being a double agent finally taking its toll on her. She didn't say a word and waited for him to elaborate, praying that she was right about him finally knowing the truth.

"And what's that, Jack?" she tilted her head, urging him to continue. She called him by his first name since he was calling her by hers — figuring it was fair. She didn't see the way his whole body tensed at his name coming out of her mouth.

"The natural order of the universe," he said instead. She almost sighed in relief. "You're a woman."

He sat down on the table, his arms opening wide to elaborate his comment. "No man will ever consider you an equal. It's sad, but it doesn't make it any less true."

"Who knew you had such a way with words," she tried to laugh, but it wasn't possible. "Good night."

(Y/N) opened the door and walked outside without another word, pretending not to act hurt by the words Thompson had said. Ever since she met him, he had been nothing but cold toward her, but she hadn't expected him to cross the line like that. It was. . .disappointing, to say the least.

She didn't want to let this affect her, and instead held her head high and met Peggy after she walked out of the room she had hidden in, leaving the SSR office as soon as possible.

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Mr. Jarvis kept his part of the bargain and drove them back to the building where (Y/N) lived. The entire ride was filled with silence, none of them daring to say a word. It took every cell in (Y/N)'s body not to explode and ask a billion questions, some that she knew only Howard would be able to answer. She entered her apartment for the last time this evening and quickly slipped out of her uncomfortable shoes, leaving them by the door.

"Did you get it?" Howard jumped up from his chair at the noise of her and Peggy's arrival.

"What's in the vial?" (Y/N) asked, desperately.

"What vial?" Howard's shoulders tensed.

"You heard her, what is in the vial?" Peggy snapped, equally as mad as her.

"You opened it," he realized. "You know how dangerous that could be?"

"Howard, what is in that vial?"

"Okay, you're angry."

"I'm not angry," (Y/N) crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm curious."

Peggy placed the purse with the Blitzkrieg Button on the table. "What's in the vial?"

"You know," he swallowed the lump on his throat. "We all know."

"I don't," (Y/N) marched straight to him, standing close to him. "Tell me. Tell us."

"Steve Rogers's blood."

That was all (Y/N) needed to hear. She wanted to control all her urges to scream, throw an object at him, slap him, but that control lost the battle over her anger and she was able to throw a single punch square in his face. The gasp that escaped Peggy's mouth was loud enough to echo throughout the apartment, just like the sound of (Y/N)'s fist hitting Howard's face. She was the one in the right state of mind to walk up to the refrigerator and grab a bag of frozen peas and place it over Howard's eye, which was starting to bruise.

"You used us," (Y/N)'s anger was visible in her voice. "You lied to us. You lied to me."

"You hit me!"

"Don't use my reaction to your lies as the reason for it!"

"Yeah, I do," Howard bit back, matching her tone. "I knew how much Steve meant to you because I know how much he means to me. I was protecting you."

"Oh, don't pretend this is about me and my emotions," she shook her head in disbelief. "You were protecting yourself, as usual!"

"— Didn't want to see this turmoil that you're in," he yelled over her words. "Look at you."

"You lied to me, Howard!"

"Yeah, I know, and I was wrong," he finally gave in. "But you have to understand, a kid like me doesn't get to where I'm at by doing — "

"Wanted for treason?"

"I grew up on the lower East Side. My father sold fruit. My mother sewed shirtwaists for a factory. Let me tell you, you don't get to climb the American ladder without picking up some bad habits on the way."

"That is such bullshit!" she yelled out. "Don't you dare talk to me about climbing ladders — you have no idea what it's like to claw your way up from rock bottom with no one to catch you if you fall. I'll tell you what, there are people better than you who have lived through worse and didn't turn into the selfish, lying person that you are."

Howard wavered his response for a second before he continued, "There's a ceiling for certain types of people based on how much money your parents have, your social class, your religion, your sex. And the only way to break through that ceiling sometimes is to lie. So that's my natural instinct. To lie."

"I shouldn't have lied to you." His chest heaved from raising his voice. "For that, trust me, I am truly sorry."

"Why do you have Steve's blood in the first place?" (Y/N) then asked, her eyes red from fighting back the hot, angry tears.

"I was one of the lead scientists on Project Rebirth," he explained. "Eleven vials went to the government, one vial went to me. Does the SSR know they have the vial?"

Peggy, who had been pacing around the room through the screaming match, lifted her head.  "Why shouldn't they have it?"

"The government's almost through their supply," Howard said. "If they know they have mine, they'll never give it back, even if you clear my name."

(Y/N) could feel the anger rushing through her veins. "That still doesn't mean that you deserve to have Steve's blood."

"You know, I believe that sample SR-53, that blood, Captain America's blood, holds the key to vaccines, medications, possibly even a cure for the common cold," Howard explained with a hint of hope in his voice. "Steve Rogers may not still be with us, but he can still save millions of people."

"And how many millions of dollars will you make out of that?"

"What the hell do you think of me?"

"The worst," she snapped. "You're a man who only fights for himself. You're a man who says, 'I love you', whilst looking over a woman's shoulder into the mirror. You're not a man who makes the sacrifice play. You're not a man who would lay down on a wire and let the other crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire," he said.

She shook her head with a humorless laugh. "Steve gave his mind, his body, his life to the SSR and for this country, only for it to end up in your bank account."

Howard looked ready to argue on that statement.

"And don't you dare say to me that's what Steve would've wanted," she pointed a finger at him, shaking with her anger. "Because I knew him better than anyone else in this room, and I damn sure know he wouldn't have wanted this!"

"I let you use Peggy and I as your corporate spies for long enough," she lifted her head. "For all I know, you did steal your inventions."

"(Y/N). . ."

She ignored the call of her name and headed toward the door, not wanting to stare at him any longer or she'd punch him again. She unlocked and opened the door wide enough for a person to walk through, gesturing at him to come forward.

"Out."

"Where to?" he asked incredulously. "I'll get caught."

"You're the genius. You figure it out," she snapped. When she saw that he didn't move a muscle, she spoke once more. "I'm not asking you again, Howard. Out!"

He raised his hands in surrender and had no other option but to walk outside. (Y/N) didn't wait a single second before closing the door on his face.

Peggy was tapping her foot against the hardwood floor anxiously, and couldn't figure the right words to comfort her friend. She moved forward and hovered a hand over her shoulder, but (Y/N) shook her head.

"I'd rather be alone right now, Peg," she whispered, completely the opposite to her past tone.

She nodded. "Call me when you're ready."

With that, Peggy opened the door and slid out, leaving (Y/N) in complete silence.

She knew she had no one else to hide her true emotions from, but she still wasn't strong enough to remove the hand from her mouth that muffled her sobs. She slid down to the floor, her back pressed against the door. (Y/N)'s shoulders shook with her cries, the anger she once felt transforming into a wave of depression.

Her eyes lifted from staring at the ground into one of the pictures hanged on the wall, the very one Howard had spotted this morning. She wondered what they would think of her right now. Would they be okay with the fact that she was betraying everything she believed in for a man who wasn't even honest with her? Would they tell her to get up and move on with her day, telling her not to waste her tears on someone like him? She had no idea.

the angst !! i love it so much.

also, if anyone noticed the small quote back to the argument steve and tony had in avengers, i wanted to say i did it slightly on purpose to do a parallel between them.

- see you soon, bex <3