Howard Stark arrived the next day in the early hours. Peggy was waiting till the Colonel left his tent and then entered his own.

"Howard Anthony Walter Stark!" Peggy burst into the tent.

Howard looked up from his microscope, looking surprised.

"Peggy? It's nice to see you. Is anything wrong?" he frowned.

"Tell me that you have not signed any paper that would forbid you to testify about those microchips."

Howard's eyes widened.

"Howard!"

"Peg! Calm down, will you? You will wake up the whole camp. Now, tell me what is this all about?"

Peggy tried to calm down and took a few deep breaths. Her hands were moving up and down as she was calming her breathing. When she opened her mouth to speak, her voice cracked for the first time and she had to start over. The canvas of the tent opened again, and they both looked to the new visitor.

"Peggy? Are you al..." Steve stopped, "Howard! Good to have you here," Steve had to hear her and followed her. Howard nodded towards him, but then again focused on Peggy. So did Steve. It was not helping her to stay calm at all. She tried to talk calmly, but her voice was cracking.

"My father told me that my brother, who has implanted those … things and who was apparently working for Hydra, would be judged by the court. And if there is no evidence that he did not want to do those horrible things he had to…" she paused and took a few deep breaths again, "… that he will be convicted and, and… and then he will be awarded the death penalty." There was silence after her last sentence.

"Howard, I am just asking you to tell me that you can stand in front of the court and tell them that it was not him," she almost whispered.

Peggy Carter never begged. She got what she wanted and used the imperatives to get it. Since she entered the army, she has never let herself beg. Until this very moment, when Howard's answer was what stood between the life and death of her brother. "Tell me that I have not found him only to let him die, Howard."

Howard was standing there without moving. His eyes were wide and he could not find his voice. The silence was, however, omniscient.

"How could you!"

Steve closed the gap between him and Peggy and put his hand on her shoulder. "Peggy…" She shook his hand and went to Howard. "How could you do such a thing! You create those things that can hurt people around you and you can't even protect those people afterwards!"

Howard stepped back.

"Peggy, I had to sign it. It was that or nothing. They would never let me experiment if I had not promised…"

"You sold your soul to the devil!"

"That's what we all did! Look around Peggy, we are in the middle of the war. It is no good or evil. There is our and their side. We all do terrible things, Peggy. And you know it better than anyone!"

"And what do you mean by that? That I know better...?"

"You are a spy! I am constructing new inventions and yes, some of them could hurt people, but with the intention of saving others! What do you do as a spy? You lie to people's faces and then share their secrets! And now you are screaming at me for something that you did too! Government is controlling your moves as well as mine, Peg."

If Steve wasn't holding her hands, she would choke Howard. She struggled, but then she gave up. She yanked her hands away from him and marched towards the tent's exit. When she was one step close to the exit, she turned around and looked at Howard.

"The difference is, Howard, that I get the intel out of our enemies, and I do know who I hurt during that. You can congratulate yourself, Howard. You have just killed innocent men."

"Ok, guys, let's wake him up." Howard was bending over a sleeping Michael Carter. Michael's arms and legs were tied up to the stretcher he was laying on. Peggy was sitting next to him, holding his hand. In the tent, there were also Jarvis, Steve, and Colonel Phillips. General Carter refused to attend. Howard wanted to wake him and to try to find out whether he knows who he is before they put all those chips away from his head.

"Peggy, you should probably let him go, we do not know …" Howard started, but her look was so hard that he stopped in the middle of the sentence. "Ok, then," he said and then he administered a shot which was supposed to wake Michael up. There was silence.

"How long…" started Steve after a few minutes.

"Any minute, just wait," Howard was watching Michael carefully.

Ten more minutes without a movement.

"Should not he be awake, already?" Asked Phillips.

"He should…" said Howard nervously.

"Great, what did you screw up this time, Howard?" Asked Peggy harshly.

"I did not… his breathing has changed, just… wait." He approached him with a flashlight. He opened one of his eyes. A blue eye was watching him intently. It took him a few seconds to realize what was going on.

"He's awake!" he almost shouted. In an instance, Michael's fist clenched around Peggy's hand. She tried to yank it free, but his strength was bigger than she expected. He looked confusedly at her. Their eyes met and the second they did, his eyes opened wide and he increased the pressure of his hand. He shouted but could not articulate. They could see that he was in pain when his eyes welled up with tears. He squeezed Peggy's hand even tighter as he was watching her. Something cracked in her hand so loudly that everyone in the tent heard it. She cried out in pain.

"Howard! Narcotize him again!" Steve shouted and jumped next to Peggy. He grasped Michael's hand and tried to open his fist. His nails scratched Peggy's hand, but that was the smallest of problems they had to face right now. Howard gave Michael a shot which should have narcotize him immediately, but he was fighting it, so he had to administer another shot. It was not the safest option for an average man, but they needed to calm him down quickly. Michel began to lose consciousness and let Peggy's hand go. She had tears in her eyes, mostly for the pain, but also because what she had feared the most happened. She was shivering so violently that Steve threw caution to the wind and hugged her close to him as he held her hand carefully. Phillips did not say a word to that.

"Ok, so… that was wild. Let's get these things out of his head and we will see whether we will be able to… get him back."

Phillips nodded and left the tent. Steve led Peggy to the medical tent (the one she visited more often than the mess hall, as he thought). He waited until she starts talking, but she did not. She could not. Her brain fixed her inner eye on the face of her brother who was in such pain that he could not control himself.

Her hand was dressed, the broken finger was bandaged, and she was under painkillers which were also supposed to calm her down a little bit. She did not say a word since Michael "woke up". She was sitting in front of the medical tent where Howard was doing his "magic". It took him hours to finish the surgery and she was sitting there the whole time. When he finished and left the tent, she straightened herself up. He sat heavily next to her. They were not on speaking terms yet, but he needed to talk to her.

"Ok, Peg, so, here is what I found." He stretched his hand with a chip in his hand.

"Those are not mine … I mean… they were, but they changed their settings a little bit. They are giving electroshocks. And from what I found out… They set that so when he saw your face, he obtained a shock. That's why he reacted as he did when he saw you… I removed them all. Now, when he sees your face, he should not react… well… as he did. Maybe he will remember you, but maybe he will not. You need to… try out." He paused. There was an uncomfortable silence between them. She was watching her toes and refused to look at him.

"I am sorry, Peg. I will do what I can to help him out. He will not be awarded the death penalty if I can help it. Trust me, Peg." He sounded convincing. She only nodded. That was enough for him. He was tired of the surgery, he was tired of the situation they were in, and he was tired of himself. He stood up and left her. She took a deep breath and entered the tent.

Michael was still unconscious; his head was bandaged, and he seemed somehow vulnerable. She sat next to him and waited.

She fell asleep during the waiting. A movement in the tent woke her up. She opened her eyes. Her brother was staring at her, looking panicked. His mouth was opened, but he said nothing. He looked surprised.

"Hi, Michael," she said cautiously.

"Peg?" he whispered. There was silence. He did not react. He did not go into spasms and he did not show any signs of pain.

"Peg… Peggy… I am so sorry," he whispered brokenly.

And that was when she broke down. She started to cry. She stood up to go to him, but her knees gave up on her and she landed heavily on her knees in the middle of the tent, crying her heart out. She could not compose herself any longer. Her brother was here. He was alive, he was safe. And he recognized her.

And he was about to be found guilty.

And she knew that she would lose him again.

Ok, I did not want Peggy to be seen as "always the target", or "always wounded", but it just... comes with the story. I am just thinking about her injuries as something that she overcomes and deals with more poignant problems.

I hope you enjoy this story :) There are just a few chapters left :)

I will be immensely grateful for any feedback you can give me! Thanks to all of you who left me comments, it helps me to continue! :)