March 16th, 1956
When she first catches sight of the sniper, for a split second she thinks it's Dottie, finally returned to finish them off once and for all. But then there's a glint of metal, light reflecting off cold steel, and she knows it isn't her; she'd never allow herself to be spotted so easily.
Then time is suddenly moving far too quickly; she turns, inhaling sharply in preparation to yell, to scream, to warn everyone that someone is going to die if we don't move-
-then the window shatters, and Thompson is sent sprawling to the ground, red already trailing from the hole in his chest, right where his heart was-
-and the meeting dissolves into chaos, agents of both the S.S.R. and S.H.I.E.L.D. leaping to their feet as one of the organization's leaders bleeds sluggishly onto the tiled floor, already gone even as his subordinates surged forward to help him, try to get him back up-
-she feels Howard's hand on her shoulder, trying to steer her away from the windows, but she breaks free of his hold, ignoring his cry of "Peggy!" in favor of sprinting to the stairwell, kicking her heels off and speeding down them as fast as her stocking-clad feet will take her.
The dash through the lobby and to the building across the street is a blur – she's sure an accident happened, because there was a loud screech from behind her; but she couldn't be bothered – she couldn't let the assassin get away, not this time.
She finds the right floor and bursts out of the stairwell, gasping harshly for breath, only to catch sight of a flicker of movement disappearing from view out the window, a dark shadow melting out of sight on a roof two buildings over.
She can only stand, gasp, heave for air, and stare dumbly at where the person who had just killed one of the few agents who actually respected her now had slipped away.
There's no doubt in her mind; that had been a Red Room assassin. No one else in the world could perform such intense stunts as to jump from a window onto a roof or two after disassembling a sniper rifle so quickly.
She walks forward, passing the window the assassin had escaped out of, entering the room she'd seen them in.
Nothing. Some covered furniture and a broken window, but nothing of real importance.
She goes to the opening, looks out, and watches the building that had once been her workplace for several years, sees the agents falling into some sort of controlled mayhem as they get all of the higher-ups to safety.
Numbly, she turns away, knowing the mess she was going to be pulled into once she returned, knows a man she had once respected was now dead.
Then she stops, and stares, because the handle to the door is badly misshapen, practically mangled, as if the one who had grabbed it had not been able to resist crushing it with their hand.
She thinks of the flash she'd seen, metal glinting at her like a death omen. That hadn't been the gun. But then what had…?
Distantly she recalls Howard saying, years ago, that his designs for a new prosthetic arm had been stolen.
'Could that be…?' she thought, before shaking her head.
Theories could come later, though she filed that one away to look at when investigations started.
Right now, she needed to make sure no one else had been taken out when she'd taken off.
"Будь ты проклят! Вы не должны были увидеть!"
"…"
"Если этот проклятый Картер увидел вас..."
"…"
"…Кажется, ваша тренировка только начался , солдат. Я ожидаю, что вы для выполнения на ваш самый лучший , когда мы сделали , да?"
"Да."
"Тогда давайте начнем еще раз."
A/N: I fucking hate HYDRA. And I don't think I wrote this right. And Thompson really didn't deserve to die. But IDGAF. And yes, that last bit was HYDRA being bitches to Bucky even though it isn't his fucking fault. *grumbles for eternity*
~Persephone
Russian translations (used google translate, probably not accurate):
Будь ты проклят! Вы не должны были увидеть! = Damn you! You were not supposed to be seen!
Если этот проклятый Картер увидел вас... = If that damned Carter had caught sight of you…
Кажется, ваша тренировка только начался , солдат. Я ожидаю, что вы для выполнения на ваш самый лучший , когда мы сделали , да? = It seems your training has only just begun, Soldier. I expect you to perform at your very best when we are done, yes?
Да. = Yes.
Тогда давайте начнем еще раз. = The let us begin once more.