2012, New York City
The young woman tried to look casual as she made her way through SHIELD headquarters, her arm pressed to the side of her black leather jacket. She greeted other agents as they passed, hoping her smile looked normal, and breathed a sigh of relief when she finally stepped out onto the sidewalk. She glanced around, her long black ponytail flipping around her shoulders, and then set off down the street. The possibility of repercussions for what she'd done hardly crossed her mind. Her history with Director Fury allowed her quite a bit of leeway when it came to following the rules. He'd forgiven her a lot worse in the past.
Not that Fury had even been around much lately. He was busy at one of the top-secret SHIELD locations, keeping track of the Tesseract project. Something seemed to be off, and he'd been pretty hush-hush about it. Or more than usual, anyway.
She entered a nondescript apartment building, a squat stack of bricks somewhere in Brooklyn, and jogged up four flights of stairs, arriving at the top just slightly out of breath. A short walk down the hallway, and then she stopped in front of a door, smoothing the flyaway hairs around her face before she knocked. Footsteps sounded inside, and then the door swung open.
The man who stood in the doorway dwarfed her, his blue plaid button-up shirt tight around his muscular arms. He looked around the same age as her, thirtyish maybe, and very clean-cut. He smiled down at her.
"Agent Mancini. I didn't expect you this early in the morning." He stepped back to let her in, closing the door behind her.
"I apologize for dropping by without calling, Captain Rogers." She reached into her jacket, pulling out the file folder she had liberated from the SHIELD office. "But I have something for you." She held it out toward him, but he hesitated, frowning slightly. "I think you'll be interested in this. It's Agent Carter's file."
He stepped forward then, taking the file from her. Still, he didn't open it, only stared at the SHIELD emblem on the cover before glancing back up. "I don't want you getting in trouble for this. If it's going to cause problems..."
She shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Fury will...get over it." She shrugged. "Besides, everyone deserves the chance to say goodbye." His face softening, he glanced away again. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyway, I should go. See you at the gym later?" He nodded, and she moved past him toward the door, her hand on the knob before he spoke again.
"Agent Mancini?" She glanced back at him over her shoulder and he smiled, holding up the file in one hand. "Thank you."
"Captain, I've told you a hundred times." She smiled. "Call me Rona."