Owner	Pose
Peggy Carter	These are the reasons people aren't supposed to date in the agency. Why you shouldn't marry your soldiers. Because, one day, you send them off on a mission and they might not come back. It was supposed to be a routine recon, the only reason Daniel and Cortez went solo, without a team. A suspected HYDRA lab deep in nameless Queens, where all the docks blend together into industry and little else. But then Cortez made the call back, a choked, whimpering call to Peggy's private line... "They got him...come alone if you want him alive..." Before the line went dead. She has no clue if Cortez is dead too, or working for them, or just another prisoner. But she knows her fiance` is a prisoner and she has orders that mean his life. So, she set up a fail safe. If she wasn't back by end of the day, a pneumatic message would send straight to Rose's desk and a team could go recover their bodies. But she's still cocky enough to think she can do this alone. She's armed herself with two guns, a shock pistol from Howard, knockout lipstick, a few flash bangs, and a heavy coat with a bit of flack protection. But she needed to be able to move and go fast. So, with those few protections stolen from the armory, she rips towards Queens.
Lance Hunter	Cortez was dead, shot by their captors as soon as he'd made the call. Daniel wasn't doing much better, beaten and bloody and tied to a chair. "She's not going to come," he lies. "So if you're planning on shooting me you might as well do-" the gun slapped across his face cuts him short. "We need you alive," the blonde woman with the gun says. "But don't worry, hero, you'll join your friend soon enough, once we've used you to extract what we need from the Director." Daniel struggles against his bonds, but with his false leg sitting halfway across the room, even if he could get his hands free he was going to have a hard time making his escape from the factory basement they had him in, to say nothing of having no hope of putting up a fight.
Peggy Carter	To say she drove wrecklessly would be putting it mildly, but when she gets near to the site she does slow down. In a sleeper sedan she's also stolen without clearance to check it out, as she doesn't want her own car marked or recognized too early on. Though, does it count as stealing when one is director of the whole operation? Either way, she pulls in slow to the position where he was SUPPOSED to be. Abandoned car. A tiny bit of blood on the sidewalk. At least she knows she's at the right building. With that, she slips out of her car and hugs against the wall, trying to find some sort of back entrance. The blonde continues slowly pacing, staring at the injured man on the chair and considering how much she could get out of him while she waits. No reason to waste time. "Or... you could tell us how you knew this address... What your operations in the area are, and it will save her much pain. It is up to you how many pieces you both leave here in today... I'm not an unreasonable woman." She gives him a cruel smile, eyes flickering over his body as she seems to consider how she could take another part of him off without killing him.
Lance Hunter	Daniel lets his head sag to give himself a chance to look around on the floor for anything to use to get out of here, just because it was going to be hell for him didn't mean he wasn't going to try, he spots a bit of an old industrial saw blade laying on the floor he'd need to topple over to get it but it might be enough to cut him loose. The woman's words bring his head up and he spits blood in her direction. "You're with that relic HYDRA, sounds pretty damn unreasonable to me," he says. "I mean with a motto that boils down to 'we're replaceable' who even joins something like that?" he says pushing buttons trying to get her to strike him again to sell a fall to the floor. Upstairs, HYDRA agents patrol the factory, dressed as regular security guards, but with a bit heavier than normal weapons. One waits by the door, trying to light a cigarette hampered by the wind off the water.
Peggy Carter	The HYDRA agent by the door is a lucky hit, giving Peggy not just a chance to see their uniforms, but to steal one. Silent as humanly possible, especially with the wind off the water helping hide what small sounds of life she makes, she creeps up behind the guy and violently strikes him right in the temple, arm reaching out to catch his slumping body before he can make more noise. She drags him off into the alley, starting to quickly strip the uniform off of him and pull it on over her own clothing. Maybe she could get lucky and sneak into the whole facility. Within three minutes, she's pushing the door open, hair hidden beneath his hat and gun hidden at her side as she tries to make her way down the back stairs. The blonde's expression darkens and, sure enough, she reaches out with the back of her gun, striking Daniel hard across the face. Probably hard enough to break his nose, she doesn't care. She needs him conscious, not pretty. "Your leg was easy to remove. Other parts will be more bloody, but I am not scared of a bit of blood. How many parts should she find you in?"
Lance Hunter	That broken nose hurts like hell but Daniel pushes up with his good leg "The question is, lady how many pieces are you-" it's as far as he gets as he topples over and falls to the floor, wirthing angrily like he was trying to find some way back to his feet, while his hands make a grab for that bit of saw blade on the floor, hoping the blonde doesn't get wise to the game and just sees a cripple writhing uselessly on the floor. When Peggy steps inside, she finds the factory being taken apart guards and workmen moving quickly to dismantle things and load them into trucks. One of the guards, whistles and beckons to Peggy. "Hey give us a hand here, this guy's heavy," they say as they haul Cortez's dead body from the stairs to the basement. "Get that truck open for us," he says, nodding to a fake delivery van, parked a few feet from where Peggy is standing.
Peggy Carter	The sight of Cortez dead makes her stomach turn. He was one of HER agents, someone she sent in there, who she said goodbye to this morning and joked over coffee. She keeps her head down, trying to make certain her face isn't well seen, even as her temper starts to boil over in her throat. This wasn't the time, she knows that. There were a few too many people around and Daniel was no where to be seen. But she's livid and it's all she can do to keep herself together as they move the man's body into the truck. The woman hasn't noticed the saw blade, fortunately. But she's also not willing to let him just lay there. She kneels down next to him, fingertips white knuckled grabbing the bloodied front of his shirt. "...Last chance to give me an easy answer, or I start cutting." She hisses, a wicked knife drawn out of the side of her belt. She looks almost eager to start the cutting.
Lance Hunter	The two men load Cortez's body into the truck, and once he's been unceremoniously tossed into the back, they let out a sigh and wipe their brows. "Can't believe we set all this up and we're taking it down again just for two lousy SHIELD agents." The other guard says, "Boss lady says their director's going to come, that's what this is about." The other guard brays a laugh "I know their director's a broad but she ain't that dumb, right buddy?" he says with a glance in Peggy's direction. Downstairs Daniel catches the mad glint in the woman's eyes and says, "What do you want to know again?" hoping to buy a little time and space to work on his escape.
Peggy Carter	Later in her career, Peggy's temper might be a bit more rounded and her control more honed. Now, however, she's still young. She's almost manic with anger and worry over Daniel, and her patience is worn beyond thin. Dark eyes flicker across the room, counting just how many she's against if she takes out these two immediately. Four visible. She's fought worst odds before. So, before anyone knows what is happening, her .38 comes up and she's shooting one man in the temple, the other in the neck, and staring to make her way through the room at a full tilt run to keep dodging other's bullets while she uses the pulled apart furniture around her as weapons. Her goal? Take them out as quickly as possible, messy or not. In the lower level, the woman doesn't yet hear the chaos above. Her grip tightens on Daniel's collar, enough to start squeezing air without choking him so hard he cannot speak. She draws that knife slowly across the back of his hand, pulling blood as she goes but not actually sawing at body parts. Yet. Just the promise done with the lighter damage. "How did you find out about this building? What are your next attacks planned on HYDRA?"
Lance Hunter	Daniel bites back a cry of pain as the blade slices along the back of his hand. "Don't know, they didn't say where the info came from just that a high level source said it was here," he says. "Could be anyone really." It was a plausible enough story but they'd really found it through old fashioned detective work. He begins to work the blade on his bindings as he speak, small slow movements to avoid detection. "And there aren't any more planned attacks." That was true enough only because they lacked targets. Upstairs all hell breaks loose when the two men are killed, for a moment there's silence as the men in the room try to process what just happened, then guns start being drawn and shots ring out, from pistols for the most part but the guy by the door has an MP40 left over from the war, the submachine gun spraying rounds in Peggy's direction as the man sends a wild burst of fire clattering through the old factory.
Peggy Carter	Peg knew it would be chaos, and that she was still outnumbered. As the SMG comes up, she swears and drops down behind a heavy desk to protect herself from the spray. She dodges around it, snapping off two rounds in the direction of the man firing that weapon because it was, by far, the most dangerous. A few other guards are pouring in from the outside and stair cases. She knows he's not on this level, so she's got to find the stairs again. She shoots herself a pathway clear, dashing for the door and knocking over a stack of pallets in front of it once she's through. The sounds of chaos are slowly filtering into the stair cases and back hallways. The woman looks up, a pleased, dark sort of smile across her features. She draws the knife away from his hand. "Useless. It's fine. It sounds like your boss is here anyway. I'll be back to handle you both..." She then stalks for the door, switching her knife out for her gun...
Lance Hunter	The man with the machinegun falls even as another guard nearly hits Peggy as she ducks behind the desk, By the time she makes the stairs kicking he pallets over to block the door more guards start taking aim, into the door as it closes behind her, and the stairway lays ahead of her. Down below Daniel almost drops the blade hearing the commotion up top. Did she really come? He steadies his grip and keeps working, "Peggy!" he shouts. "Get out of here! It's a trap!"
Peggy Carter	"I bloody well KNOW that!" Peggy hisses down the hallway, but she's not hearing the other woman with him -- only him. That's her near fatal mistake. Thinking she's bought herself a few minutes and they have him locked up alone, she runs full tilt towards the locked, cell-like room where they are holding him. She sees the finish line in front of her. And he's alive, breathing, strong enough to yell at her. It's all a ray of hope. Then that door swings open, the blonde swinging out into the hall and firing as she goes. The only thing that doesn't make it immediately near fatal is the fact that Peggy sees the door and starts shifting to the side and down, the initial chest shot sailing right across her shoulder. She snaps her weapon up, opening fire at her enemy just as quickly, but the woman is more skilled than she is. And a distraction from the two other HYDRA agents coming in the far door. Inside the cell, Daniel will hear another volley of fire. A familiar curse of pain. And the drop of a body on concrete.
Lance Hunter	"Peggy!" Daniel calls as the sounds from the corridor reaches him hoping for any kind of response. He works the bit of saw blade through the last bit of his bindings and frees his hands. Not that it leaves him in too great of a position, still on the floor and a leg short. He works his way over to his cane, leaving his leg where the Blonde and her people had left it as he tries to get to his feet using the cane and the wall to prop him up.
Peggy Carter	The fight in the hall is fast, messy, and brutal. There's at least two more exchanges of gunfire, which suggests Peggy is still conscious if not necessarily on her feet, but she's out numbered. Still, she's done a lot of damage in the little bit of fight she's had left in her. However, it's over. The door to the room that has been Daniel's cell abruptly opens and Peggy's body is tossed in on the concrete. She's still dressed in that HYDRA security uniform, but there's at least two areas of red startint to blossom through every layer of clothing she's wearing. The blonde is pissed. Beyond pissed. Her eyes are flashing hot and she follows Pegggy in a second later, leaning down to start ripping through her clothing and pulling every hidden weapon off of her she can find. Her touch is not gentle or caring. "Don't move or I'll shoot you too." She hisses to Daniel, not here for questioning them yet. She has now too much mess to clean up in the hall and upstairs.
Lance Hunter	Daniel's jaw clenches at the threat judging distances but in the end only gives a small nod in response. "Fine, but you need to give her medical attention, she doesn't do you any good if she bleeds out on the floor." His eyes flick to Peggy and her wounds before going back to the woman. "Well?" he demands, impatient.
Peggy Carter	"If she bleeds out on the floor, there's always more of you. If she survives, then we'll all have a conversation." The woman spits those words, practically. She then finishes grabbing the last few weapons she can find from Peggy before jerking back up to her feet. The gun is leveled at Daniel one last moment, waiting to see if the man dares question her. Then she's heading for the door, slipping through, the heavy thing slammed behind her. There's the sound of solid locks sliding into the place from the other wise and then uncomfortable silence. It's only slightly broken by a shaking, uncertain moan from Peggy's lips.
Lance Hunter	Pure hatred radiates from Daniel's eyes as the woman levels the gun at him but he doesn't make a move to stop her, "There's only one director, if you want to chance missing out on questioning her on my skills as a medic that's on you, but from what I hear your bosses aren't the understanding type, at least leave me a med kit."
Peggy Carter	The one crack the woman shows him is that, a moment after the door locks, it reopens and a crappy old first aid kit is thrown inside. When she's finished cleaning up the mess of half her people being down and the mutterings of a complete overturn at the HYDRA compound, then she can worry about questioning the SHIELD agents they have. But she does need them alive. So, that little med kit is given and then the locks replaced before she storms down the hall to keep control of what people she has left. After the initial shock of two shots and being tossed onto a cold floor wears off, Peggy's fighting to keep mostly conscious. Her eyes flutter back open, head turning in his direction as she frantically, if a bit drowsily, starts looking over his body. "God, Daniel... god...are...how... How bad... are you...? W-what...did they do?"
Lance Hunter	"At least we got something," Sosua half-mutters to himself as he makes his way over to the kit and is able to knock it with his cane next to Peggy, before he collapses down by her side. "Cut up my hand," he says holding it up for Peggy to see. "And my false leg is over there," he nods in its direction. "But otherwise I'm okay, except for worrying about you. Hold on, let me get you patched up, then I'll chew you out for coming to rescue me," he says trying to get a bit of a rise out of her to keep her conscious and with her mind off the pain.
Peggy Carter	The fact that it doesn't hurt near so much as it should tells Peggy much of what she needs to know -- it's bad. So, concentrating on his voice and staying awake becomes the main priority, because that's how she knows she's still alive. A weak smile flickers across her now somewhat bloodless lips, dark eyes flickering drowsily over him as if to double confirm his hand was the worst of it all. "I should have killed her... Wasn't... quite expecting you had company in your cell. The bitch." Peggy hisses, turning pain and embarrassment into quiet, rumbling anger in her chest. "And...I'd always come for you. You know that. Something about wearing a ring..." That last bit is whispered rather softer. The two bullets that hit her both hit near center mass. If she wasn't wearing a jacket lined for flack? She'd be dead. As is, they've not gone the whole way through and fast blood is blossoming all across her torso from just below her heart and her upper left stomach.
Lance Hunter	That second look shows Peggy, Daniel's developing a nice bruise on his jaw and a few minor cuts and bruises else where but so far the hand does look like it's the worst he's got. Which causes a bit of cursing as he struggles to open the med kit. "I should have warned you she was in here, instead of yelling 'it's a trap'," he admonishes himself. Though her words have him flick to her with a mix of appreciation and concern. "I know," he says, stopping with the kit to squeeze her hand. Then adding with a wry smile, "So you know that makes me right, don't you? About you and your rules." He says still trying to keep her mind on other things. He starts getting out supplies a little quicker now seeing the blood spreading across her chest and abdomen.
Peggy Carter	A faint smirk crosses her pale lips, head turning so she can easier look at him. She reaches one, slightly bloodied hand out, brushing against the outside of his thighs as she just wants to touch him -- especially if she doesn't manage to remain conscious. Or alive. But feeling the warmth of his leg beneath her touch helps. "...I rather...figured it was a trap. When they call...and say come...Alone, it's always a trap." She states as deadpan as possible in her rasped voice. "mm...How does that...make you *right*? They are...my rules...so that would make me right...for having made them." Yes, she's trying to keep up the witty banter, to engage in things that aren't talking about just how deep those bullets went, or how she can't get lucky forever.
Lance Hunter	Daniel begins opening Peggy's borrowed uniform top and flack vest underneath to get a better look at the wounds, reaching for the sulfa powder, and beginning to apply it. If she didn't have all the other clues to go off about her condition the ashen cast to Daniel's face tells that tale very well. Remembering to speak again, "Yeah it was boneheaded on my part not to assume you knew. And I'm right because your rules only apply when you're in danger, not when it's someone else, if it's someone else, suddenly cutting losses isn't in your vocabulary and there you are rushing to the rescue risking it all for one life," he says. "Dangerous habit for the director of SHIELD."
Peggy Carter	Her smile, still faint but earnest, grows just a bit as he rambles off about how she's violating her own rules. "Yes, well... I am the director, so I get to be in charge and I get to break the rules when I want. Benefits... of the position..." She gives the smallest squeeze to the side of his knee, as if reassuring him that she's here, alive, and hanging on just fine. Even if the gray color and clammy-cool sweat on her face spoke otherwise. At least she was still breathing evenly. "It's...dangerous to be the Director of SHIELD, overall... we both know the... danger in this business." Still, Peggy's voice is getting a bit softer. Sometimes the fight is just a bit too much, though the sulfa powder is at least going to start doing its job.
Lance Hunter	"Well I'd say I can't argue with that logic, but you know damn well I will," he replies to Peggy as he gets out the bandages and gets them ready. "Benefits of my position," he counters. There's a smile though at the squeeze and his hand diverts for a moment to rest on hers before he's back to getting the bandages in place wrapping them tight to apply as much pressure as he can. "Hey, no falling asleep on me Peggy," he says as her voice starts to get softer. "You rushed all the way over here, are you going to just nod off and leave me alone? Kinda rude for a 'proper girl from a proper family," he needles. "Besides this might be the first real time we've had to actually sit around and plan out this wedding of ours."
Peggy Carter	A little groan of protest escapes Peggy's lips as he's putting pressure on those wounds. Especially that stomach wound. The pain is beginning to settle in through the shock there, but it means she's still conscious to feel it. It's a fight to keep her eyes open, but she instinctively curls to the side, a little closer against him. Everything feels cold right now and he's warm and real. "...sod...proper. I haven't been proper for... a decade... you know that. And... what, do you want a big... church wedding? Proper reception?...how many people might...try to kill us at that...alone?" Peggy asks with a breathless little laugh, which turns into a wet half cough.
Lance Hunter	Daniel pauses his efforts with the bandages, to take off his coat as Peggy worms her way next to him, placing the woolen suit jacket over where he can so he can still work, the cream coloured garment already stained red in places from both of their blood. "Feel any better," he asks about the jacket, before he smiles, "Oh yeah, huge wedding, just can't decide if we should do it in Idaho or England," he says to keep the conversation going. "I figure at least a hundred people, and I've already thought of the killing thing, you just need to make Rose and Chen bridesmaids and I don't think even Dottie would give it a go." With the bandages in place he gives things a final check, before snuggling down beside her on the cold basement floor. "No syrettes in the kit of course, so you're going to have to tough it out and listen to me yap without the help of some decent drugs."
Peggy Carter	The woman's near to fully asleep when he mentions a hundred people. She blinks, forcing eyes back open so she can try to figure out if he's being serious or not. Peggy gives a little grunt at the thought of Rose and Chen as bridesmaids, "...they would...kill us, if they weren't invited. But... 100?? And when are...we going to...find time to get to Idaho? Much less *England*..." Peggy breathes out faintly, a small shake of her head following. Then he's settling down with her, curled into her side and he's warm enough to feel like a drug. Hands try to clutch against him, but it's mainly just a faint twitch of her fingertips now. "...I... I'll listen...any time... you know. I... love you." Those last words have the weight behind them of a woman who knows she might be saying good bye.
Lance Hunter	There's a tiny bit of levity mixed in with the worry on Daniel's face even if it's forced as she looks to see if he's serious, "You said it yourself, you're the director, the rules are what you say, we can go anywhere we want," he says. "And definitely a hundred if not more, I mean I've got a really big family. And they'd definitely kill us Rose has been humming the wedding march at me since we came back from the hotel to clean up the site in the desert," he says as he's laying down beside her, but those words and the weak twitch of her fingers have him looking frantically at her face, "Peggy!" he says reaching out to gently slap her cheek to try and bring her back to the moment. "Hey, no sleeping. That's the rule, you get to cuddle up but you don;t get to sleep," he says. "You promise me that, and when we get out of here, and we /are/ getting out of here and going home, you can sleep all you want, I'lll join you, but you have to keep your eyes open, that's the deal and I'm not taking no for an answer Carter, you hearing me?"
Peggy Carter	A little groan escapes her lips as he says over 100. Peggy will be worrying about this a lot more later, if she remembers it all. Right now, letting her eyes shut really seems like the nicest thing in the world and it's not until that gentle smack across her cheek that her gaze reopens, dark eyes trying to focus on him. No matter how tired or distant she feels, Peggy knows that tone of his voice. Knows when he's serious and scared, that he's not going to let her go. Her eyes flutter slightly, trying hard to focus on him, "...yes...Field Director. I'm...hearing you. But... just... I love you... Just want you to... to know that. Every day is... worth it." The bloodless smile she gives him through half lidded eyes is faint, but there. Then, in the distance there is a faint but rather remarkable sound of an explosion. It's on a different floor, but it's there and neither of their doing.
Lance Hunter	Daniel looks her in the eyes when they flutter open, giving her something to fix on, "I love you too Peggy, and every day is worth it but we're going to have a lot more of them to come if we you can just hold on a little longer, okay, I know it sucks but I've been there, and we are going home." He reaches for her hand and squeezes it to give her something else to remind her that he was there, he lifts his head then to call for their captors, and beg for aid when the explosion echoes from above. "Hey," he says. "Something's going on upstairs, Peggy, I think the cavalry's coming," either that or one of the Hydra goons screwed up big either way, he shouts voice desperate and raw with held back tears, "Down here! The Director is dying!" figuring if he's right or wrong /someone/ is going to care about that. "Just hold on Peggy," Daniel says, lifting her hand to his lips to kiss it. "Help is coming soon."
Peggy Carter	The sound of the explosion dimly echoes in the back of her head. Another smile floats to her lips, head turning drowsily towards the door. "I... left a note..." Peggy admits to him. Granted, it was found faster than she expected it, but she's certainly not complaining now. His over dramatic yell down the hall gets the faintest of winces, "I am ...*not*... dying..." Peggy hisses out. But then her head lulls back, eyes fully shutting, probably for good this time. Her hand goes loose in his palm as he kisses at her knuckles. There's the sound of boots rushing down the hall. The calvary indeed. Within a few minutes, they'll be out of the awful situation.