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The L&L Automat was up to its full capacity when (Y/N) and Peggy returned from knocking door-to-door unsuccessfully on Ida Emke's building. She spotted Mr. Jarvis's tall figure a few feet away, all by himself as he picked up a tray and grabbed a plate from the sandwich section. Peggy and she approached him quite subtly, grabbing a tray each and pretended to search for a plate to not draw attention to themselves.

"Any luck?" Peggy initiated the conversation, lowering her volume enough for him to hear. The loud music blaring from the radio helped her disguise her voice from eavesdroppers.

"Miss Emke laid on time, always in cash, and left no forwarding address," Mr. Jarvis explained calmly. "I hope you were more successful."

"Unfortunately, no," Peggy huffed out a breath. She slid a nickel inside the coin slot and opened the small door that allowed her to grab the sandwich she wanted. "She was the perfect New York neighbor. No one saw or spoke to her. Half the people we talked to didn't even know the apartment was rented."

(Y/N) didn't find any of the sandwich choices to be appetizing, so she followed after Mr. Jarvis and Peggy when they slid their trays onto the next station. There, on separate shelves, were the glass cups in different sizes, along with cutlery on the corner. As her fingers reached to grab a cup out of the bunch, the cup strangely slipped out of her hands and nearly crashed against the floor if it weren't for her quick reflexes. She was about to let out a sound of relief, but what perked up her attention was that no one seemed to react to the commotion.

Mr. Jarvis had paused when he heard the noise. "So, what next?"

The music was still playing, but it wasn't being faded into the background like it had been a few seconds ago. (Y/N) turned around discreetly and the automat was surprisingly almost empty, the total opposite to when she first arrived. Her eyes flickered to the sides for a clue of what was happening until she noticed that the people to still inside were recognizable suited men, pacing through the area.

"Miss Dewitt?"

"Wait," (Y/N) silenced him with a look before glancing at Peggy.

"Procedure 791," the brunette explained in a hushed voice. "Isolate the suspect and remove civilians from harm before attempting arrest."

"I'm sorry. What's happening?"

"The man at the counter is Agent Messner from Washington, D.C."

(Y/N)'s fingers were turning white by gripping the counter. Her mind was immediately wondering what went wrong, not that naive to question why they were here. "And the man behind us is Agent Reese."

"SSR agents?" Mr. Jarvis frowned.

"I need you to find a way to block the front door so that no one else can come in," Peggy told him in an urgent tone. "We'll do the rest."

He seemed pleased to have been received with such a task. "I'd love to."

The three backed away from the machines, only to be stopped by an approaching Agent Reese. He silently walked up to them and Peggy took the initiative and met him halfway, an innocent smile adorning her lips to copy his.

"Ten cents for a cup of coffee, if you can believe it," she chuckled to ease the tension.

Agent Reese didn't have time to react before Peggy punched him square in the face. The impact made the man double-over, giving Peggy the perfect opportunity to knee him in the groin before pushing him against the floor.

The noise alerted the other agents and gave them the clear to compromise, running toward them as they yelled out, "Get them!"

Peggy climbed over the bar onto the booths just in time to knock Agent Messner out with a single punch. (Y/N), on the other hand, had been approached by the agent that was left, and before she allowed him to get too close, she delivered a roundhouse kick to his stomach.

Her attack wasn't enough to keep the agent down, since he stood back up after a few seconds. (Y/N) grabbed a hold of his raised arm as he tried to punch her again, and delivered three identical punches to the man's side before he doubled over. Before the man could get back up, she grabbed a hold of a spare plate in one of the tables and smashed it against his head, knocking him unconscious. At the same time, Peggy had fought back against Agent Messner and Mr. Jarvis made sure Agent Reese was down before blocking the door.

"I can't hold it forever!" he yelled out, stopping another agent from entering the automat.

Peggy, the closest to him and the door, pushed an empty chair in his direction. Mr. Jarvis grabbed a hold of it and laid it sideways against the revolving door, holding the agents by the door back.

"That way, ladies!" Mr. Jarvis exclaimed as he pointed toward the back door of the building.

(Y/N) and Peggy didn't hesitate in that direction, Mr. Jarvis far behind them. (Y/N) could easily remember the way toward the alley from the last time she had taken this shortcut, almost out of breath by the time she found the door. She barely had time to catch her breath as she and Peggy walked outside, only to be received by the barrel of Thompson's gun.

"Stop!" he cried out, not moving a muscle. "Right there, Dewitt, Carter. No sudden movements."

Mr. Jarvis walked out the back door with panic, only to halt in his steps when he realized the situation. (Y/N) had no choice but to lift her hands up, even though she didn't want and couldn't surrender.

"Those idiots from D.C. didn't believe me when I said you'd be hard to grab."

Peggy raised her hands in the air as well. "What's happening, Jack?"

"Witness placed you two with Brannis the night he died, there's a photo of you in the club the night Spider Raymond was killed, and here you are with your best friend, Howard Stark's butler."

Mr. Jarvis swallowed his nerves down. "I think there's been a terrible misunderstanding — "

"Stuff it."

"You don't understand," (Y/N) spoke in a slow voice to not make the situation escalate. "You have it all wrong."

"Then turn yourselves in," he sneered, his gun held tightly in his hand. He pushed himself off his spot and walked closer to them, to her. "Come to the office and tell me all about it."

"You and I both know we can't do that."

"Sweetheart. Look around," Thompson raised his voice. "You don't have a choice."

(Y/N) let out a defeated sigh. "You're right."

She grabbed a hold of Thompson's wrist before he could blink and twisted it, making him drop the gun. She flipped him over her shoulder and forcefully pushed him down into the concrete ground. Just as he regained his senses and raised himself to counterattack, she delivered a punch directly to his face, knocking him unconscious.

(Y/N) stepped back from Thompson's unconscious form with a pant, looking down at him almost apologetically. She knew he was only doing his job, but didn't know the whole story. Then, just as she removed her eyes from her colleague, another thought popped in her head.

"The Dublin House, 79th Street," she turned to Mr. Jarvis. "Meet me there."

"Meet you there? Where you going?"

"There's something I need to get from home," she panicked, feeling like she was losing valuable time in explaining this.

"That's a horrible idea," Mr. Jarvis argued harshly. "It's the first place they'll look for you."

"He's right, (Y/N)," Peggy added in the same desperate tone. "What could you possibly need?"

"Steve's blood."

She received uncertain looks by both of them, and she couldn't possibly know how to plead her case when time was running out.

"I don't need you to come with me," she told Peggy. "If we split up, it'll make it harder for them to find us. And, if I'm arrested, the two of you can still find a way to fix this."

Peggy's lips were pressed in a thin line, trying to stop herself from voicing her opinion on this. But, she knew better than to argue with her, and also knew how valuable that vial was.

"Fine," she huffed. "I'll stop by the Griffith too, in the meantime. Gather everything I can find."

With that, she and Peggy ran in the same direction, meanwhile Mr. Jarvis bolted the opposite way down the alley. Just as they were about to run the corner, Agent Sousa came into their view with a raised gun.

"Margaret Carter, (Y/N) Dewitt, you're under arrest for treason, espionage, and aiding and abetting public enemy number one, Howard Stark."

"There's more to this, Daniel," Peggy tried to reason. "More than you can understand."

His eyes fell on Thompson's unconscious figure behind them. "From where I'm standing, it's looking pretty cut and dry."

"You're not going to shoot either of us."

When Sousa didn't say a word nor did he fire a single bullet, Peggy took this as a sign to keep walking. (Y/N) followed after her, too absorbed in her own thoughts to meet Sousa's eyes.

"Peggy. . .Don't run," Sousa lowered the gun as his voice returned, making the woman halt. "If you run, I'll know it's true."

"I'm sorry, Daniel."

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(Y/N) didn't know how she got back to her apartment building without having nothing to slow her down, but she wasn't complaining. She quickly slipped inside with eyes on red alert, searching every corner of the lobby for any sign of SSR agents anywhere. Luckily, she didn't spot anybody and headed toward the stairs, even though the 'Out of Order' sign was finally off the elevator doors.

She was relieved to see that there was nobody outside in her floor, making it much quicker to slip inside her apartment without being seen. Part of her wanted to knock on Louis's door and see him, since the last time they had talked was to rain check their date before she left for Belarus.

But there wasn't enough time for that. By the time (Y/N) shut her door and pulled out the Blitzkrieg Button out of the hidden compartment in her closet, she could already hear familiar stumps down the hall. Her hands shook as she carefully placed the recipient with the vial inside her purse and opened the closest window to her.

"What's going on?" she could hear a voice outside, specifically, Mrs. Rudolph's.

"Ma'am, I need you to step back," Thompson's voice yelled in response. "There, boys. Right down the hall."

(Y/N) barely closed the window behind her before she heard someone kicking the door open. She held her breath even though she was outside, but was afraid any sort of noise might give out her hiding spot.

"Search everywhere, bag everything," she could still hear Thompson's voice bark out orders. "It all comes with us."

Part of her winced at the thought of them looking through her personal belongings, but there was nothing she could do to stop them.

"She's here somewhere," Thompson even told Sousa as they walked inside her bedroom and found nothing. "I know it."

"Okay," Sousa responded, his voice muffled by the glass. "But where?"

(Y/N)'s hands were gripping onto nothing as she stood back against the building's brick wall. Her breath was shaky after she did the mistake of looking downward, seeing how far she was from the ground. The sound of honking cars and chirping birds did nothing but amping up her nerves, scared that someone might notice her and blow her cover. It wasn't like she was a stranger to these types of situations — she found herself in this position a lot when she was younger — but she had seemingly forgotten how to move. Her brain screamed at her body to do something, which resulted in her moving sideways toward the next window she could find.

Before (Y/N) could take another slow movement toward the window, she was startled by the person inside sliding it open. She prayed that they would just leave it like that and walk away, but the person peeked their head outside with the initial thought of admiring the view.

"(Y/N), my dear!" Mrs. Rudolph's voice was laced with panic and her eyes widened in surprise. She clutched a hand to her chest out of the shock. "What do you think you're doing?"

A knock on the door echoed through the entire apartment, startling the elderly couple inside.

"Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph!" Thompson boomed against the other side of the door. "Federal agents! We have some questions for you."

Mrs. Rudolph frowned and turned to (Y/N) for an explanation.

"They're here for me," she explained with a desperate look in her eyes.

Mrs. Rudolph warmly smiled at her before pushing herself off the windowsill. The knocks hadn't wavered, and just as Mr. Rudolph was exiting the bathroom to answer the door himself, his wife stopped him and opened the door to welcome the agents with a curious frown.

"Federal agents?" she reached out for her glasses to get a better look at them. "Whatever for?"

"Ma'am. We're with the Strategic Scientific Reserve," Sousa walked inside the apartment without waiting for permission. "We want to ask you and your husband some questions about (Y/N) Dewitt."

"What about her?" Mr. Rudolph joined his wife's side in an instant.

Thompson crossed his arms. "People on this floor say you're friendly with (Y/N) Dewitt."

"Yes, she is such a nice young woman," Mrs. Rudolph spoke in a tone full of awe. "Did she do something wrong?"

"Let's just say Miss Dewitt is not who she appears to be."

"She ever tell you about her work?"

"The phone company, yes," Mrs. Rudolph answered Sousa's question with a nod. "Poor thing, always seemed so tired. I used to tell her that she should quit if it was such a demanding job."

"How so?" Thompson perked up at this. "She keep weird hours, stay out late, bring guys over?"

Mrs. Rudolph pressed her lips together before responding. "No. She was close to the man on the apartment across from hers, but nothing more."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"Um. . ." the elderly woman then pressed a hand against her forehead. "God, I'm so forgetful nowadays! I can't seem to remember, dears. But I do remember she was on her way out, wasn't she, Roy?"

Mr. Rudolph frowned at his wife, but slowly nodded after she gave him a look. "Yes. Said that she wasn't going to be around for a while."

"Did she say anything else, like where she was going?"

"No," Mrs. Rudolph shook her head with a frown. Her bony hands were gripping tightly to her husband's arm.

"Thank you," Sousa nodded with lips pressed in a thin line. "If you can remember something else, we'll be with the rest of the neighbors."

He gestured for Thompson to follow his lead and exited the apartment with the rest of the agents that had searched every inch of their home. Mrs. Rudolph closed the door after the last agent walked out into the hall and locked it to make sure they wouldn't barge in. Then, she made her way back to the window and slid it open once again, making (Y/N) know the coast was clear.

(Y/N) gripped tightly onto the windowsill to make sure she didn't fall as she slipped inside. Mrs. Rudolph had offered a hand of her own, but (Y/N) had kindly rejected it since she didn't want to somehow injure the woman, not after she put herself at risk for her.

(Y/N)'s feet touched the ground and she immediately turned toward the woman. "Mrs. Rudolph, I couldn't possibly thank you enough."

"I knew your job was too demanding for it to be the phone company," Mrs. Rudolph placed her hands on her hips. "Now, why don't you — "

"Phyllis!" Mr. Rudolph's voice rang through the entire apartment, astonished to what he was witnessing in front of his eyes. "Did you not hear what the agents just said?"

"Hush, honey," Mrs. Rudolph silenced her husband. "I'm sure (Y/N) has an explanation for this, don't you, dear?"

(Y/N) wordlessly nodded, her hands toying with the ends of her blazer. "It's a long story."

She obviously didn't go into detail, but what she did specify was the urgency to get to Dublin House as soon as possible. Mrs. Rudolph was keen on helping her the best way she could, although her husband was weary to this entire situation. But with a single bat of the eyelashes from his wife, Mr. Rudolph accepted and even suggested an idea of his own. After all, he had warmed up to (Y/N) ever since she got here.

"Our son lives on 78th. He's gonna drop a car off at the Dublin House for you and your friend," Mr. Rudolph said after hanging up the phone. "Should at least get you out of town for a while."

"Thank you again, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph," (Y/N) offered them a genuine smile. "If there's anything I can do to repay you for your kindness, name it."

"Oh, it's no worry, dear," Mrs. Rudolph shrugged her off with a hand. "We're just glad to help."

"But you better come back to tell us what's going on," Mr. Rudolph added in.

"Someday," (Y/N) nodded to his words. "I will."

(Y/N) was about to turn on her heel and head toward the door, but Mrs. Rudolph had other plans. She grabbed a hold of her shoulders before pulling her into a warm embrace, her fingers caressing through her hair soothingly. (Y/N) was too stunned to react, but she returned the hug because that's what the elder woman wanted.

Mrs. Rudolph waited until (Y/N) pulled back to do so herself, only to hold her at arms length and cradle her cheek with her hand.

"Take care of yourself out there."

(Y/N) didn't know what to say to that. Everyone else would've brushed the words off like it was nothing, but she could feel how the corners of her eyes watered at that simple phrase. It reminded her of the gentle care she had lost a long time ago. But the rational part of (Y/N)'s head snapped back into place to remind her of what was at stake.

She offered another string of 'thank you's to the Rudolph's before she peeked out into the hallway to check if it was empty. Luckily, there was nobody around and (Y/N) could easily make her escape undetected. She quietly and carefully walked down the hall, eyeing every door in case it suddenly opened, but then a familiar voice made her halt all together.

"(Y/N)?" the tension in her shoulders dropped when she realized it was Louis. It had been a while since she'd seen him and she hadn't realized how much she had missed him until he was right in front of her.

"Oh, my God, (Y/N)," he took several steps forward until he met her halfway through the hall. "I was looking everywhere for you."

He opened his arms to hug her and she gladly accepted the gesture with a relaxed smile. It felt so good to be back in his embrace, growing flustered at the sweet nothings he was whispering into her ear about how much he missed her and how the smell of his cologne was intoxicating to her senses.

"There's this group of men looking for you," he pulled away but still held onto her. His large hands cradled her face to make her look up at him. "What's going on?"

"It's hard to explain," she told him with a tone filled with guilt, feeling bad for lying to him. "I was on my way out right now."

"What?" he frowned and his thumbs rubbed up and down her cheeks. "I thought maybe tonight was the night we could finally have our date."

"I know, but there's a lot of stuff going on," (Y/N) flashed him an apologetic smile. "We can reschedule for another time, yeah?"

"Of course."

(Y/N) lifted her head up at him and got a good look at him, noticing the strange hue of red in his lips. She frowned at this. "Are you wearing — "

Louis cut her off by pressing his lips against hers, way too aggressively from the other times he'd done it. When he pulled back, (Y/N) stared at him in stunned silence, ready to question his abrupt move when her head began spinning.

"Oh, you're. . .you're wearing my brand."

Louis flashed her one of his charming smiles, but this time there was a disturbing element to it. (Y/N)'s eyes grew heavy and she blinked to remain awake, even though every bone in her body was begging her to rest. She stumbled from side to side, gripping onto the nearest wall beside her for balance and even held onto Louis's arm to keep herself afloat. But the effect was too strong — she should know that by now — and her knees gave up beneath her. Her grip on Louis never wavered though, tugging his arm downward just in time to notice the scarring in his wrist.

You, she thought to herself. That doesn't make sense. . .

The rest of her body stopped fighting the effect and this made her collapse against the hardwood floor with a quiet thud. (Y/N)'s eyes rolled to the back of her head and shut close, leaving her completely vulnerable to the next part of Louis's plan.

"Hey!" a booming voice halted Louis's movements. He turned around to see Thompson holding his gun up at him. "Is that (Y/N) Dewitt?!"

"Sir, for your own safety, stand back!" Sousa joined his colleague's side in an instant.

Louis removed his gaze from the unconscious woman on the floor and faced the men with a look full of distress. "Agent, can you help me?"

He dropped down on the floor besides (Y/N)'s figure and hovered his hands over her body. Sousa limped his way over, with Thompson on his side and another agent behind him, both with raised guns.

"I think my girlfriend (Y/N) must have fainted."

Sousa knelt down beside (Y/N), hearing Thompson's warning loud and clear. "Careful."

"Help her!"

Sousa raised a hand to calm Louis's frantic voice and used the same one to shake (Y/N) awake in hopes that she was just pulling off another stunt. But instead, he was received by nothing more than silence from her part, eyes shut in a peaceful slumber, which added credibility to the man's story of her fainting.

"She's out."

Thompson's eyes worriedly flickered from the unconscious body to the man. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Louis shook his head as he got up to his full height. "I found her like this."

"Jack, a little help?"

Thompson put his gun back in its holster and pulled out a hair of handcuffs from his coat. He knelt down on (Y/N)'s other side and grabbed a hold of her arm, having Sousa copy his movements.

"Sit her up."

They tugged on her arms at the same time, a muffled grunt leaving her lips despite the fact that she was unconscious. Thompson didn't bat an eye as he moved her arms onto her back and was preparing to place the handcuffs on her.

"She's unconscious," Sousa tried to reason. "Do we really need those?"

"Trust me," Thompson gave him a stern look. "We need them."

"I hope she's okay," Louis voiced his concern over the agents' voices. "She's always talking about how tired she is. Should I call an ambulance?"

"Thank you, sir," Sousa gave him a look. "We'll take care of it from here."

(Y/N) made a sound in the back of her throat as she began to stir, though it didn't pause the men's actions at all. Thompson held her from the shoulders and turned back to Sousa.

"Grab her purse."

In a swift move, he jolted her up. "Come on, Dewitt."

(Y/N) could barely see her surroundings, let alone walk, but that was no problem for Thompson. He roughly dragged her to the functional elevator and out into the lobby, where she could make up the faces of people she'd seen ever since she started living there, all whispering and pointing fingers at her. She blinked several times to fight back her disoriented state, but the effect still remained on her body. There was nothing she could do other than let Thompson and Sousa drag her outside into the street, where the back of a police car was already waiting for her.

Thompson shoved her inside and shut the door behind her with a rough movement, making her jump at this. Her head was turned toward the window facing her apartment building, where people were lining up to see what was going on. In between those faces, she recognized the Rudolph's, worriedly staring at her across the street. But there, in the midst of all the whispering, easily blending in with the rest of the crowd, stood Louis, proudly grinning at the scene in front of her before blowing her a kiss.

All (Y/N) could do was stare, her body not yet in the full capacity to grasp what was going on, eyes never leaving Louis's form.

SURPRISE !! LMAO were you guys expecting that?? please tell me you weren't so i can feel better about myself jk

we're almost at the end of act two !! can't believe it !!

- see you soon, bex <3