4898/Partners, On and Off the Field

Partners, On and Off the Field
Date of Scene:	27 January 2021
Location:	1951, SHIELD Facilities
Synopsis:	1951: Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa take a SHIELD recon mission for a new Leviathan site. Things go horribly wrong. But the reporters are happy at the end of the night.
Cast of Characters:	Daniel Sousa, Peggy Carter

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Daniel Sousa has posed:
Leviathan in New York. That was a familiar tune for both Peggy and Daniel. Indeed it was how they met. Though now the situation was different they weren't Chief Dooley's least favourite agents anymore they were the Director of SHIELD and one of it's newly minted Field Directors. Still the job remains the same, find where Leviathanand root them out before they cause serious damage.

Walking beides Peggy with the help of his cane, Sousa remarks, "You know, Peggy,I tried this trick when I was Chief, the meetings and paperwork don't go anywhere just because you're out of the office," he says with warm if slightly teasing smile as they approached the warehouse they were told the cell had made it's headquarters.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Her voice is nothing more than a whisper, not wanting to draw any attention to them, even if they are out on the town, under cover as some sort of couple going out for the evening, not a pair of agents ready to take down a cell if necessary. "Yes, well, we're just going to add to it. I'm going batty sitting behind a desk all this time. Besides, this is supposed to just be a stake out. Get some faces, confirm they are operating here, and then we go back and bring in a bigger team tomorrow to clean them up. Better than seeing a movie again, isn't it?" She asks him with a teasing smile and a little squeeze to his arm. She really was almost impossible to drag away from the work.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Sousa's voice was pitched low as well, like the couple out on the town they were pretending to be whispering sweet nothings to each other as they took a shortcut past the docks. "I don't know," Sousa says, falling into their easy banter. "I don't know I think I could stand to watch that new Bogart film again if you know who is here," he says, meaning Dottie of course, but he's still smiling as he says it, taking a moment to lean over and kiss Peggy's cheek, "That's the car in the report, right?" he whispers nodding faintly towards the green sedan parked at the edge of the light cast by the bulb above the warehouse door.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"On the weekend, once this is all wrapped, I'll take you to see Bogart again. Promise." Just to seal the deal on their cover (of course it's only about the cover), Peggy leans up and presses a reassuring, promise of a kiss to his mouth before they continueon their way. She slows down a bit more as they start reaching the outer edge of the street lights next to the car. Her eyes flicker up and down the street, trying to be certain no one is coming, before she makes her way over to the green sedan. "Watch my back."

After she gives that order, she pulls out something that looks like a very complicated hair pin from the side of her curls and starts a fast jimmy of the car lock. It takes her about 20 seconds to actually get into the thing, but then she's popping the door open with her white-glove clad hands and reaching inside to start a quick search.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Absolutely, just for the cover he returns that kiss letting it linger just a moment before he clears his throat and gets back to the business at hand saying "I'll hold you to that,," as he takes up a position just out of the light, hand in his coat pocket gripping his pistol.

No sooner is he in the shadows then the door opens and three men step out, one of them showing up in the same report as the car, Zori Balenskaya a suspected Leviathan agent. Souss starts walking towards them, "Hey you guys wouldn't happen to know where 6th Street is wouldja?" he asks trying to draw their attention to him and not the car giving Peggy a chance to make an exit.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Well shit. The moment Peggy hears his voice talking to someone, someone from the direction of the warehouse, she freezes. She's barely had two minutes to start going through the thing and no time to actually open the little case she found in the footwell of the passenger seat. Well, all she can hope is they won't notice that it's gone. She tugs it in against her chest and stands up, remaining crouched as she tries to pull backwards and into the shadows. The car door is still open but she's waiting to see how distracted they are before she silently tries to press it shut.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Shit indeed. The three men stare angrily at Sousa. "What are you doing lurking out there ya cripple?" asks Zori in a convincing American accent.

"Like I said, looking for 6th street, any of you guys know where it is?" Daniel continues aiming to buy a bit more time for Peggy.

"Get out of here or we'll break your other leg," Zori replies nodding to two of his friends who come down from the warehouse door and advance towards Daniel. Sousa's eyes cut towards the car and the still open door, then go back to the men. "Hey. No need for that I just need some directions," he flinches inwardly having to play this card. "My leg hurts like hell and I don't want to be walking around all night. So can you help me out?"

Apparently they can't because as soon as the first of the two guys reach Daniel they sock him in the gut. Zori shouting from his perch at the top of the stairs by the door. "Told you to get lost."

Meanwhile in one of the windows by the car, another face appears watching the ruckus outside, their line of sight dangerously close to Peggy and the car.

Peggy Carter has posed:
In her older years, she might be able to stand by and watch while one of her people (much less the man she loves) takes a few good punches to the gut in name of the cover. But right now, Peggy's been itching for a fight anyway, the men *attacked* him, and the evidence of a hidden briefcase and that face is enough to tell her what she needs to know. They are Leviathan and she's not practicing patience any longer.

"Didn't your mothers teach you to be polite?" Peggy states in the middle of dramatically swinging that briefcase in their direction, using the meat of it like a blunt object straight into the temple of the man who dared punch Daniel. She's moving fast, in the shadows one second and then in the middle of the fight the next. SHe's already swinging into a high kick, aiming her high heel at the second man as the first stumbles back but reaches for a weapon to turn in Daniel's direction.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel should have known Peggy would react like that, despite all her rules and what was being taught new agents in the academy. Still, he recovers from his surprise in time to see the knife in the man who punched him's hand. He lashes out with his cane knocking the blade wide of burying itself in his gut before he smashes the man across the jaw with the heavy metal crook of his cane. Sending him crumpling to the street. The second man screams as the heel gets him in the eye, but still swings a wild haymaker in Peggy's direction,.

At the doorway, Zori, curses in Russian shouting, "We're blown!" to whoever is inside before drawing a pistol trying to get a bead on Peggy.

Peggy Carter has posed:
It's true. Peggy would absolutely be lecturing younger agents about handling a recon mission this way if it they did it. But these aren't young agents. Peggy has every confidence in their own abilities, and she really is looking for a fight. As she hears the man inside and sees the flash of metal, she tosses the briefcase behind her (hopefully to be claimed in a few minutes) and uses her now free arm to lock the one eyed, stumbling man's arm behind him, dragging him in front of her to be a human shield between her and that gun. She trusts Daniel to handle the other one completely, if he's not out cold already.

Peggy's pistol is smoothly pulled out of her thigh holster and she digs it into the man's side. "Call your people off, or losing an eye will be the best part of your night!" She hisses to him, kicking at the back of his calf to try and walk him closer to the warehouse. Yes, she plans on using him as a bargaining chip... If he doesn't just off himself first.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
The man gives a yelp of surprise as he's grabbed and turned into a human shield. "No, no, please no," he begs but it's not to Peggy, it's to Zori in the doorway. "Sorry Viktor," the Zori says before shooting the man in the head, drops of hot blood splattering on Peggy's face. Zori lifts the pistol to aim at Peggy next but Daniel draws his weapon and fires from the hip. The shot winging the man and forcing him inside. "We going after him?" Sousa asks making sure his other man is down. Recon mission or not his blood was up and like Peggy moments before he's ready for a fight.

Peggy Carter has posed:
It takes Peggy only one minute to look in his direction and confirm that he's not actually hurt. "No time like the present. Come on, old man. I know you can leg it when you need." Peggy's somewhat teasing, but also with full confidence in him that he can handle a fight just as good as she can. She kicks the briefcase beneath the car, so it's out of the light and they can hopefully claim it later on. Then she's dashing forward, her own gun out, and heading into the building.

The moment the door opens, she pushes through it, then shuts it again, as a few shots rain down in her direction. SHe knew that would happen. Then she ducks back in and shoots up the stairs after their attacker, clearing it enough that she can press onto the building. "i'm half tempted to tell you to go around back and catch anyone coming out but...splitting up might be unwise." But she is tempted.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Low blow," Daniel laughs at Peggy's tease before the get down to the business of chasing Zori. There's a smile for the trick with the door before Peggy runs Zori up the stairs. "When did we start doing the wise thing?" he asks Peggy with a smirk. "See you on the other side." As he hops down from the doorway and starts limping towards the back of the building. Inside, the stairs Zori ran up seem quiet save for a faint bubbling sound at the top. But then the report mentioned this might be some sort of lab.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Be safe." It's the last thing Peggy calls to him, an edge of concern at her voice, but she fully trusts him to be capable of handling the back while she breaks in the top of the building and cleans what house she can find. She continues dashing up the stairs, her gun in hand in case any of those doors fly open, but as she has an open hall she'll take it. She directly pours out into the main room, swinging her back into the wall next to the door and dropping low just in case someone opens fire on her the moment she entered.

As for the back door, it's two more men and a fairy heavy crate of SOMETHING they are trying to sneak out the back door and into a truck in that alleyway. That's probably just as important, if not more so, than what is upstairs.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"You too," Daniel says back, glancing at Peggy one more time before he heads off around the back.

The advantage of his slower pace is it gives him a few extra seconds to react, so instead of running headlong out behind the building he has a second to spot the two men and draw his gun. "Evening fellas," he says stepping into the light gun levelled in their direction. "How about we put that down and step away with your hands up."

No doors burst open but as soon as Peggy reaches the lab a shot goes off, a labcoated man clutching Zori's gun while the man himself crouches by some sort of crate working hurriedly to complete whatever he's about.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Bullet just barely catches the shoulder of her jacket, but nothing else. She'll be annoyed at the tailoring needed but that's why she was moving quite so fast. She jerks her own gun up and fires back just as fast, expert marksmanship putting that bullet into the meat of the man's chest and unless he's wearing some sort of flak vest, it'll probably end up being a fatal shot. Peggy's then moving her gun in the direction of Zori, "Hands off the case and move back. If you like breathing, you'll keep them behind your head and come with me. If not, we can handle this the way I did the rest of your men."

In the alleyway below, the two men turn towards Daniel, staring for a moment before laughing, "He thinks we're gonna take orders from a crip. Look, kid, you're out numbered. Move along and we won't have to shove that cane up your ass." One of the bigger ones says, trying to act tough though he's instinctively shifting to put the crate between his body and the agent with a gun. He's also moving a bit faster than before, his buddy climbing INTO the back of the covered truck instead of going around for the front seat.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
The man in the lab coat falls, his gun clattering to the ground as red stains the white of his coat. Zori for his part flicks one last switch, and if he's not shot on the spot raises his hands and turns saying, "Ya got me." While a countdown starts behind him. Otherwise his body crumples over that same timer as the seconds tick away.

Outback Daniel grinds his teeth at the jibes thrown his way, but when the men start to move he fires aiming at the man climbing into the back of the truck. "A cripple with a gun still trumps two jackasses without one, put down the box and you get to go to the Rat instead of the morgue."

Peggy Carter has posed:
The second man, the one not climbing in the truck, abruptly drops the box and turns on the ball of his foot, pulling a gun out from under his jacket and firing in Daniel's direction. Sure, his partner might be down, but he's not willing to go the same way and he IS armed, his hands were just a little busy trying to get things out of the place. Hopefully Daniel is a bit faster than they think and can manage to take cover, as the man shoots a second time as soon as he's recovered from the first kick back.

Upstairs, Peggy is muttering a curse beneath her breath. She didn't even have the satisfaction of killing Zori, and now there's clearly a bomb set to go off. She scrambles over to it, looking at the timer and the few cords in the back. She's not a professional but she'd had some training in demolitions, so she will take a handful of seconds to figure out of she can silence this one. But only a few. Then she's up and moving, trying to grab anything that looks semi-important before booking it for the stairs.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Seeing the man turn Daniel just let's his body do what it wants to do naturally, fall, dropping to the ground as the bullet wizzes overhead, when he lands his gun is coming up squeezing off a return shot at the man.

Upstairs, Zori bleeds as the timer counts down, a quick scan of the bomb shows its Russian make but one SHIELD hasn't gotten the specs for. Disarming her will be chancy at best, especially with Leviathan's love of booby traps and fail safes, though there is a notebook left open on the desk, some sort of chemical formula spelled out on its pages, as well as perhaps other information that elsewhere in the book.

Peggy Carter has posed:
After a few seconds of looking, Peggy decides the book and any other samples that were in the room are the best choice to get out of there. She's giving herself 10 seconds to get down the stairs, but spends the rest of the time of the ticking bomb scraping up ANY evidence she can manage, including very quickly going over Zori's body for anything hidden on his personage. With hands and pockets probably rather full, she then dashes for the door just as the timer hits 9 seconds. Hopefully it's accurate.

Down in the alley, the meaty man who thought he'd be fast enough to get a man on crutches was, well... Wrong. His second shot goes down, trying to follow the fallen Daniel's body, but he's taken the bullet to his upper chest and is stumbling back now. A third shot coughs off in Daniel's direction before the man is sliding down the wall.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
A quick search of Zori comes up with nothing more than a book of matches from LePavillion, one of the fancy joints downtown where Howard has a reserved table and a number of high level defense department people are due to be wined and dined tonight. As for the sample there's a corked vial of something yellow near the notebook while the printing on the label is horrible there's no mistaking the poison warning symbol on its side.

The countdown seems to be accurate as the timer hits 9 seconds just as Peggy pushes through the door.

That final shot grazes Daniel as he struggles to stand back up, he grunts in pain and pushes himself up against the wall teeth gritted. He makes his way over towards the crate, trying get a better look.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Inside the crate is a fairly heavy looking machine in a whole bunch of packing peanuts, so it's apparently a little delicate. Digging through those peanuts will reveal some sort of motor, many electrodes, and a metal cap that looks like it might go over someone's skull. It's incredibly heavy, and there's probably more tech below it, but that's the best of what Daniel can see.

Meanwhile, Peggy is booking it as quickly as possible out the building, forgetting it's sometimes harder to go down stairs than up in high heels, but she has hopes of getting out into the alley before the thing goes. She'll be a few floors away, at least. "HEAD DOWN, FIRE IN THE HOLE!" She calls, though it's really fire in the windows above, but Daniel should get the idea if he's anywhere near.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel clears out the peanuts and gazes down at the tech. "What in the hell is this thing?" he wonders aloud but before he can dig deeper when Peggy bursts into the alley shouting a warning. "Peggy over here!" he shouts before he hits the ground for the second time tonight rolling towards the cover of the truck.

Upstairs the bomb explodes sending glass and debris raining into the alley and leaving nothing but a ruin of the top floor of the hideout.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Peggy's hitting the ground too, having known what was about to come. So, the glass rains down on them and there might be a few other cuts to tend towards after, but everything important is protected. She's curled around that yellow vial she's stolen and the note book, determined to protect their information. Once the smoke has started to clear and they can hear sirens in the distance, she slowly starts to sit up, dusting glass off herself as she looks over to him.

"Are...are you alright? Oh god, you're bleed..." She looks to where the bullet grazed him. "We'll get Dugan on this clean up and get you to a medic. The evidence can be gone through in the morning. None of it is going to die on us and they are all gone already..." But she's reaching worried hands for his wound, that being her biggest concern right now.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
The rubble adds a few more cuts and bruises to both of their collections but the information and the sample are safe and they're both still breathing.

Daniel sits up blood soaking through the sleeve of his coat, plus a few more scrapes on his forehead. He shakes his head a little to clear it and says, "Peggy, I'm fine," he says before smiling with wry humour adding. "I've had worse," with a glance towards his leg. He focuses back on the task at hand, glancing at the crate, "We might want to call Stark about that one," he says. "But all the guys are down on my end, what happened upstairs?" he says, making no effort to stop Peggy from looking at his wound.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Now that SHIELD is official and they've both got a badge, Peggy isn't quite so worried about the sounds of sirens in their direction. A good medic and the police to put in a call to her people? That'd be really helpful right now. While she waits for them to arrive, however, she gently starts guiding his jacket off of his shoulder so she can look at the arm a bit better. "...this was ruined anyway..." She mutters to the shot through jacket and then starts ripping the sleeve off with her teeth, so she can tie it around his arm like a tourniquet.

"They were setting a bomb by the time I got up there. I shot his guard, he shot at me... Zori killed himself. It's not bomb tech we've identified before so I didn't want to muck with it. I grabbed what evidence I could and ran. What about down here? Just the two? I take it they didn't care to surrender either?" She asks gently, as she's now putting some heavier pressure on the bleeding at his arm, sitting in the alley of debris and glass.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Flinching as the jacket is guided off his shoulder, Daniel glances at his wound breathing a little easier to see his earlier claims were not exaggerated, and it wasn't deep, just bloody. Still the bandage made of his suit jacket answers that latter part, stopping the bleeding. He nods, "Yeah just the two, they figured I couldn't take them out for the usual reasons," he says, the leg as always. "I guess they didn't realize you don't need two legs to shoot straight." He sighs looking at the bodies and listening to Peggy tell her story. "Your guys didn't give up either, really starting to wish we fought a few people who surrendered and came along quietly," he says of the mounting waste of life between Leviathan and HYDRA."You make it okay?" he asks noticing the hole in her jacket now and looking for signs of deeper wounds.

Peggy Carter has posed:
There's a hole but, for once, no sign of anything deeper. It just caught fabric, this time. She's carrying a few scratches from glass and debris, but nothing a quick shower won't clean up. She sighs out a tired almost laugh at his words, "I don't quite know how they brainwash them that death is better than prison but maybe we'll get lucky some day... for now..." Peggy leans over, as she can hear the sirens coming down the street, and steals a brief kiss to his lips before anyone else joins them.

"I'll start on clean up. You see a medic. And then we'll hand this over to someone who *isn't* us and maybe get a few hours sleep. That movie is sounding like a better idea with every passing minute..." She smiles to him, trying to hide her worry behind that expression, but it always sinks home a bit deeper when one of them is hurt. She's not used to seeing him bleeding and she doesn't like it. Carefully, she gets up to her feet and offers him a hand before brushing glass off her skirt and going to wave down that police car, SHIELD badge in hand.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
The concern on Peggy's face is the only thing that keeps Daniel from making a remark about their roles being reversed, instead he reaches for her hand and squeezes it, "Thanks," he says for bandaging him up, and to let her know he was going to be fine. He smiles about the movie, "Well if we're not neck deep in after action reports I'm free tomorrow," he says with a smile.

He takes the offered hand grabbing his cane with his other hand as he gets to his feet. As the sirens draw near he makes his way to Peggy's side badge in hand the building still smoldering behind them.

Peggy Carter has posed:
When the cops swing out of the car, it's not until they lay eyes on Daniel that they actually seem to take things seriously. The pair smirk at Peggy but, essentialy, ignore her as they move to talk to the man and take the report. And then, not even a moment later, there's two flash bulbs. Siren chaser reporters swooping in as quickly as the cops did. It's the usual song and dance, but Peggy lets him shine for the night. It means she can work on getting him a medic a bit faster and scour the debris for any other evidence. After she's told the reporters off, that is.