Peggy quickly sized up the person strangling Howard. Though the tight-fitting black garb concealed everything from head to toe except the eyes and hands, the form was definitely an athletic female.
Unquestionably this woman was part of the attack against the museum. As to what the thief wanted, Peggy doubted it was the millionaire inventor who had just bumbled onto the scene of the crime. However, so as not to risk her friend's life should the woman suddenly become twitchy, Peggy decided she best have all their attention focused her way.
Standing with hands on her hips, Peggy admonished the woman, "That's not very polite."
The thief turned her cold brown eyes on Peggy and, by the cock of her head, seemed to assess the female agent for a moment. Immediately, she stopped choking Howard and shoved the gasping man at Peggy.
Peggy deftly sidestepped his stumbling form. With him out of danger, she launched herself at the woman. They quickly traded blows.
Wincing, Peggy was surprised by how hard the woman struck back.
When she blocked another punch, Peggy nearly cried out from the ferocity of the hit. Retreating back a step, she rubbed her stinging arms and studied the female assailant.
But there was no reprieve, for the woman instantly pressed her advantage. Soon Peggy's arms ached from defending the strikes aimed at her head and body.
Finally evading a blow, Peggy ducked behind the woman. Quickly she slammed her foot into her attacker's vulnerable back. The woman hardly budged. Instead, she spun around to face the determined SSR Agent.
Suddenly the thief lunged at Peggy. Besides being strong, she was also incredibly fast. Peggy barely dodged her reach in time.
Cursing, Peggy hoped she wasn't facing off against someone for the Red Room again.
Reevaluating the situation, it was time to change her fighting style. So, when the assailant threw the next roundhouse punch, instead of blocking it, Peggy leaned back. As the extended fist swung past her face, she grabbed it.
Twisting the arm just right gave Peggy the leverage she needed to pivot her attacker into a nearby miniature representation of Hamunaptra. Tripping over the half-buried paper mâché mockup of the City of the Dead, the woman stumbled forward and crashed onto the floor, crushing it.
Peggy smugly brushed imaginary dust from her hands. She turned and faced Howard, only to register the man's ashen features.
"Um, Peg—" she heard the caution in Howard's tone and instantly spun around, fists up and legs balanced to defend.
Though confident in her abilities, even Peggy gasped when she faced four more female assailants. Dressed from head to toe in matching black, these new adversaries stood menacingly before her. Only a small opening in the hood they wore revealed their cold brown eyes.
Peggy fleetingly wondered how so many had gotten in undetected. Then she recalled that the massive mockup of Anubis was under an open skylight. Still, to climb down the almost perpendicular surface without a rope must have taken quite some talent.
Curious about what they were up to, Peggy quickly looked past them. They were searching for something and had trashed half the exhibits in their haste to find it. Surprisingly, they ignored the few items from the Hamunaptra side of the room. Instead, they had concentrated only on the multitude of larger artifacts from Tanis.
Among those destroyed Alexandria artifacts was a massive granite sarcophagus. The beautiful silver coffin within was rendered apart, and the mummy inside had its wrappings torn to shreds.
Now it appeared that the thieves were in the process of ransacking the display cases. Broken glass and sand from the meticulously constructed dioramas littered the floor.
Enraged by the destruction, Peggy was not going to let them escape. The Egyptian dignitaries were promised that the exhibit would be well protected. These women were going to take responsibility for the damage, not her, especially since American diplomacy was on the line.
Peggy reached into her clutch purse and yanked out her gun and radio. Aiming the weapon at the group, she raised the miniature walkie-talkie to her lips.
But before she could call for backup, one of the women suddenly hurled herself at her. The thief's speed was lightning fast, and Peggy had no time to react.
Instantly in front of Peggy, the woman judo chopped the SSR agent's arms so hard that they both went numb.
Peggy helplessly watched as her tingling fingers dropped her weapon and radio. Hitting the floor, the assailant kicked them both away. The firearm skidded across the floor and disappeared under the ruined sarcophagus, while the radio became lost somewhere in the shadows.
Before she could dive after them, the thief swung. Peggy barely dodged the punch.
But this woman was just as relentless as the other one, and Peggy scarcely evaded the barrage of strikes. And then one lucky hit landed when she could not pull back fast enough from the attacker's fists.
The woman struck Peggy solidly in the face, and the agent fell to her knees, stunned. Unable to focus after such a hard punch, she touched her throbbing cheek tenderly.
Shaking her head to clear it, Peggy vaguely heard Howard struggling to escape his captor as he hollered, "Stop, please don't hurt her!"
With Peggy down, the last two thieves returned to searching among the Tanis artifacts.
Peggy winced at the grating noise that her jaw made when she tested it. Royally pissed, she spat out some blood and grounded out a very un-ladylike curse, "Bloody hell."
She looked up in time to see the woman pull back her fist. This one was going to hurt.
Forgoing thrashing about in her dress to free her backup gun, Peggy crossed her arms over her head and braced for the impending strike. But surprisingly, it never came.
Instead, everyone stopped when an unexpected visitor loudly careened into the room.
A drunken Professor Evelyn O'Connell stumbled past the group, oblivious to what was happening around her. Instead, she was grumbling about how "these things always seem to go bad for her."
The older woman almost dropped her nearly empty bottle of bubbly when she took in all the damage done to the Tanis side of the exhibit. "What in the world!" She shouted in anguish and staggered over to the brunt of the destruction.
Swaying over the smashed granite sarcophagus and the ruined remains within, Evelyn groaned, "Not the royal mummy. You know how hard these things are to keep from falling apart?!" She rounded on the seven people inside the room, her eyes flaring from outrage and drink.
Frowning, she finally comprehended the situation. Agent Carter was on the floor about to be violently pummeled. And Howard Stark was being restrained by another woman covered from head to toe in black.
Behind her, she heard the two thieves rummaging among the remaining Tanis artifacts. Evelyn was about to demand they stop when she noticed a fifth burglar getting up from the crushed paper mâché model of Hamunaptra.
Ignoring the bits of the pulp that still clung to her dark outfit, the woman stalked toward the befuddled Egyptologist.
Getting her wits about her, Evelyn hurried toward the exit. But, too late, the thief quickly blocked the Professor's only hope of escape.
"Get out of my way, or you will be sorry," Evelyn growled as she raised the champagne bottle to use as a cudgel. Both ignored the remaining liquid that spilled out of the opening.
Even threatened with being bludgeoned, the thief refused to budge, so Evelyn struck. She had an impressive swing, but the thief easily caught her wrist and pulled her in tight.
"Let go of me this instant," the Egyptologist demanded, struggling to be freed.
As the two women tussled, Peggy used this distraction to her advantage. She swept both her legs against the one who towered over her. Though it felt as if she had struck a tree trunk, Peggy knocked the thief off-balance enough. This result enabled her to roll awkwardly to her feet.
Peggy tried grabbing her backup piece, but the damn dress kept getting in the way. Frustrated, she would handle this the old fashion way, and she charged her attacker.
Launching herself, Peggy slammed her knee into the woman's chest at the last moment. Flexing her arms back just before impact helped maximize the effect.
The strategic hit sent the thief reeling, and she landed flat on her back. But just as fast, she scrambled to her feet and rushed at Peggy.
Gauging her attacker's speed, Peggy quickly grabbed a lone gilded post used to partition off the more significant artifacts. Hefting the heavy pole two-handed, she had barely enough time to get it in position.
As the woman reached her, Peggy swung the golden rod like a baseball bat into the thief's face. A very satisfying clang reverberated throughout the room.
Struck, the woman flew back and slammed into the giant statue of Anubis. She then sunk onto the floor, down for the count.
Stopping their search, the last two thieves focused on Peggy and determinedly began to march her way.
Peggy sneered at the women who now jogged toward her. As their speed increased, the SSR Agent deftly raised the metal pole over her head two-handed and chucked it at them. One of the women raised an arm and easily deflected the heavy rod.
Momentarily impressed, Peggy snatched up a discarded velvet-covered rope and flung it at their feet like a bola. The charging women effortlessly jumped the thick rope, their pace hardly slowing. They were almost upon her.
Desperate, Peggy shouldered the nearby detailed diorama display of Tanis over and right into their oncoming path. Though the thieves effortlessly leaped over the model, the sand within the exhibit cascaded across the floor.
The moment they came down, they landed on the fine grainy particles.
The grit made their footing slippery. With their momentum unimpeded, the women slid right past the waving Peggy and into a bunch of canopic jars. Their abrupt arrival shattered the burial urns, spilling the contents everywhere.
Wincing at the mess of mummified organs scattered across the floor, Peggy hoped they had been fabrications. Alas, by the sound of Professor O'Connell's loud groan of anguish, perhaps not.
Only two thieves were left, and they were still busy wrestling with Howard and Evelyn.
Eyeing the ones who were still a threat, Peggy unhooked another velvet-covered rope from a nearby post.
Nearing Evelyn and the woman who restrained her, Peggy spun the rope overhead, the heavy end making a subtle whooshing noise.
"Duck, Professor!" Peggy suddenly yelled.
Wide-eyed, Evelyn bobbed just at the right moment, and the hooked end slammed into the side of the thief's head. The hit caused the woman to loosen her grip on Evelyn.
Yanking her arms free, Evelyn dodged once more as the heavy hook swung around again, ramming into the attacker's nose. The blow had the thief dropping onto the floor, stunned.
Flushed from a sudden burst of adrenaline, Evelyn hefted the empty bottle of champagne in her hand, ready to knock the fallen woman out if she had to.
Grinning at the Egyptologist, Peggy faced Howard and his captor, the velvet rope swinging closer to her side. She growled to the squirming inventor, "Howard, you can hit her, you know."
Irritated, the struggling man replied, "She's stronger than she looks, pal."
Since Peggy was now the distraction this time, Evelyn snuck up behind the thief. Enthused, she chirped, "Well, I can help."
Before the thief could react, Evelyn smashed the heavy champagne bottle against the back of the woman's head with a resounding crash. The blow shattered the bottle and caused the assailant to sink to the floor.
Freed, Howard cheered and eyed Evelyn approvingly.
Peggy headed toward her friends but stopped when the two women by the destroyed canopic jars rose to their feet, blocking their path to freedom.
Uneasy, Peggy watched as the dust-covered women tilted their heads as they reassessed her. Then, decision made, they both stalked toward the stalwart SSR Agent.
Taking a step back, Peggy quickly looked to the shadows where she had last seen her radio, but there wasn't any sign of it.
Striding past Howard and Evelyn, the women's intense gaze stayed locked on their target. Agent Peggy Carter.
Never caring to be ignored (especially by women), Howard shouted incredulously at them, "Hey, what about me?"
With the women focused only on her, Peggy backpedaled as she ordered, "Howard, Professor O'Connell, go get help. I'll keep them busy."
"I'm not leaving you to face them all by yourself, Peg," Howard replied stubbornly.
"I neither. I could use a bit of a release after the night I had. Besides, someone has to pay for all this damage," Evelyn stated, her arms hanging loose and at the ready.
There was no more time to argue because the two deadly women were almost upon the retreating SSR Agent. Suddenly, Peggy found her escape cut off when her back pressed against the giant mockup of Anubis.
Deciding that modesty was no longer an option, Peggy ripped her dress's side seam open. Ignoring the distressing sounds that Howard made, she snatched her backup piece from the inner thigh holster. Instantly, she leveled it at the women and fired at the first one that lunged at her.
The bullets struck the attacker multiple times in the chest but it did not stop her. Instead, the woman easily closed the distance between them.
Before Peggy could readjust her aim, the woman deftly plucked the gun out of her hand. After tossing it far away, the woman raised her fist to strike Peggy down.
"They must be wearing a tactical vest," Howard murmured as he rushed to his friend's aide. He held a small device and tapped the extended electrical wand against the thief's exposed side.
An electrical current pulsed from the device and into the woman. Instantly, she began to twitch, and her eyes widened impossibly huge from the surge of power. She then slumped to the ground, unmoving.
Howard grinned wolfishly at Peggy's surprised but intrigued features and explained, "The Colonel just loves my new electronic mollifier invention."
"Glad you got it to work," Peggy huffed and then looked pointedly at the other thief that now threatened them.
"Um, it has to recharge," Howard admitted sheepishly.
That was what she had been afraid of. Once more, Peggy raised her arms to deflect the blow she knew was coming.
Hands cupped together, the woman was about to bash them both down. But suddenly, the fabricated copy of the Imhotep bust crashed apart against her skull, compliments of the angry Evelyn.
"Never did like that man," she spat to no one in particular. They watched as the thief collapsed onto all fours, dazed.
With all their attackers incapacitated throughout the room, Peggy grinned at Howard and Evelyn. "I do believe it is time to go."
But just as she led her friends toward the exit, all the thieves throughout the room rose effortlessly to their feet.
In moments, their escape route was cut off. Flabbergasted, the trio eyed the dangerous women as they began to converge on their quarry. Surprisingly all appeared unaffected by the harm done to them.
Licking her lips from unease, Peggy wondered just what they were really up against.
Mouth gaping, Howard voiced her concern, "I can't believe they recovered so fast after all that damage. Are they super soldiers like Cap?"
"I hope not," Peggy replied worriedly. Her thoughts were similar to Howard's. They had little hope of surviving this encounter if they were anything like Steve. These women would never stop until they got what they wanted. And right now, it was their heads.
Slowly the women stalked closer, and Peggy knew they would soon be completely surrounded.
Suddenly, from the darkened shadows of the room, Peggy's radio crackled to life. Agent Thompson's muffled voice ordered, "All Agents stand down, repeat, stand down. The situation is under control."
Peggy grinned. It was time to call in the cavalry. The problem was that two of the deadly thieves were between her and the radio.
As the women closed in, a pragmatic Peggy kicked her heels free. After handing them to Howard, she hiked up her dress and chirped to her friends, "Well, it's no time like the present." And before Howard could stop her, she dashed toward the shadows.
Peggy hoped that the two assailants in her way would assume that her daring approach was an attack. She was relieved when the one directly in her path set her feet, readying to greet her.
Just before she could be grabbed, Peggy suddenly feigned in the opposite direction of where the radio was located. Caught off guard, the thief twisted around. But instead of being there, Peggy had continued her original trajectory. Trying to readjust caused the woman to lose her balance and tumble to the floor.
That just left the last attacker. And since she was further away, the woman could prepare to meet Peggy head-on.
She made a mad lunge for Peggy's passing form. Timing it perfectly, Peggy dipped as she slid forward on her stocking feet. She was just low enough that the thief barely missed nabbing her.
With all the assailants giving chase, Peggy continued to glide forward. Entering the shadows, she saw her radio and scooped it up as she skated past.
Barking into it, Peggy commanded, "All Agents to the new Egyptian exhibit! This is a code red!"
The small communicator squawked, and she heard Thompson yell, "We're just outside, Carter. Hold tight!"
Coming to a halt in front of the angry women, Peggy sneered cockily, "Alright, loves, your turn."
The closest woman charged at Peggy. Without a thought, Peggy threw her radio at the woman. It bounced off the thief's head without slowing her down.
Sneering, Peggy snatched the nearest discarded artifact from the floor. The oblong bronze Egyptian burial figurine felt light in her palm, but Peggy was desperate.
Figuring it was just another reproduction, she was about to chuck it at the nearing woman's feet to trip her up when Evelyn yelled out beseechingly, "Wait! That royal Shabti belonged to Pharaoh Psusennes 1 Dynasty! It is over 3000 years old!"
"Blast it!" Peggy stopped from hurling it barely in time.
Reaching Peggy, the assailant pounced.
Quickly getting past Peggy's defenses, the thief grabbed the SSR Agent by the throat. Effortlessly, she raised Peggy off the floor as she strangled her.
Peggy punched at the woman's arms, but they were iron tight. She had no choice but to use the artifact as an improvised weapon.
A determined Peggy tried to jab the pointed end into the assailant's eye, but the woman turned her head just at the last moment. Instead, the Shabti was rammed into the thief's ear!
The grip on her throat hardly slackened. Peggy quickly twisted the artifact deeper inside the attacker's ear canal. Finally, she hit something, for there was a loud screech of distress from the thief.
The woman violently wrenched her head away. Dropping Peggy to the floor, the injured woman staggered off, frantically trying to yank the effigy free. Her last desperate actions ripped it out, and the oblong statue tumbled from her seizing fingers. As she fell over unmoving, the priceless artifact hit the floor and cracked apart with a loud snap.
The odd hollow sound that the royal Shabti made as it broke open had the remaining thieves focusing on it. With a determined gait, the four women strode toward the ancient miniature figurine.
Suddenly, the attackers stopped advancing when they heard stampeding feet racing down the hall toward them.
The women quizzically tilted their heads when Peggy's reinforcements rushed into the room, guns drawn. Thompson led the charge inside but then stopped short. As the other agents crowded around him, all stared, shocked at the amount of damage done within the room.
Reassessing their situation, the women turned and darted back to the giant clay replica of Anubis. Along the way, two of them grabbed their unconscious sister.
Refusing to let the thieves escape, Peggy rushed after them. Skidding to a halt at the base of the massive statue, a shocked Peggy watched as the four women effortlessly scrambled up the vertical side of the huge statue.
From the ease of ascent, their movements were almost spider-like in agility. Even more astonishing, two of the thieves carried their unconscious compatriot between them while they climbed.
In no time, they made it onto the jackal's fabricated head. Perched on the ancient Gods snout, the women hissed down at our heroes below. Then, after one last scowl aimed solely at Peggy, they all leaped easily out of the open skylight with their wounded friend and disappeared into the night.
Thompson whistled, impressed, while the other agents stared agog.
Evelyn was the only one not focused on any of this. Instead, she dejectedly grasped the two broken pieces of the Shabti figurine.
Snapping out of her dismay, Peggy looked to the SSR Agents behind Thompson and snapped, "Don't just stand there gaping. Get after them!"
Before Jack could lead them out, Peggy ordered, "Not you, Thompson."
He motioned to Rose, who led the charge out of the room. The other agents then scurried out the door in hot pursuit behind her.
An abashed Jack hurried over to stand next to his boss.
Glaring at the open skylight, Peggy growled, "Report, agent."
All business, Thompson stated, "We spotted five males all dressed in similar black garb shooting at the museum from the adjacent gardens. They did not seem to have a target—"
Peggy nodded thoughtfully, "No, it was just to get everyone away from this exhibit so their friends could rifle through it undisturbed. So I take it they all got away."
Glumly he nodded. "Rose and I managed to shoot one, but it hardly slowed him down. He must have been wearing some sort of tactical vest."
"Yes, same with those women. And since they were fast and agile, I imagine their male counterparts were also. They'll probably be long gone now," Peggy exhaled, resigned. She asked, "I am curious how CIA Agent Jones and his group faired?" She noticed that none of Smith's agents had been present with her team.
Thompson grinned amused, "I am afraid they are not used to so much running. We easily lapped them. I think they collapsed near the new National Air and Space Museum."
Peggy nearly snorted, but it would be too unladylike and bad form to find humor at another's expense, even if it was Gilmore Hodge. Suddenly exhausted, she absently rubbed her sore arms and stated, "Alright, we need to proceed without them."
Jack studied her disheveled appearance and ruined attire, "Rough night?"
Touched by his concern, she smiled wearily and replied, "Yes, and I have a feeling it will not get any easier. And you?" She pointedly looked at the spot where he had been shot months ago. Unlike her other agents, her worry for him was almost that of a sibling. At times Thompson reminded her of her deceased brother, Michael.
"I'm fine," he grumbled, but she could tell that the exertion had bothered him by how he winced whenever he took too deep a breath.
But knowing his pride, she stated, "Thank you for your timely rescue, Jack."
She then looked at all the carnage in the room, "Maybe the thieves were kind enough to leave us a clue as to who they were."
Understanding her unspoken order, Thompson volunteered, "I'll have a quick look around." And he began poking about the exhibit. After a moment, he stood, a gun dangling from a pencil, "Here's something."
"Oh, that's mine," Peggy said contritely, and a smirking Thompson handed it to her.
Jack then went back to his task. Tentatively, he touched a few items throughout the room while looking for clues. He recoiled when he mistakenly handled the mummified entrails scattered near the broken canopic jars.
The grimace on his face had Peggy chuckling. "Why don't you go assemble a team to do that, Thompson," she suggested.
Grinning gratefully, Jack then excused himself and quickly left the room.
Peggy stared at the half-buried giant statue of the God Anubis absently. Then, tracking the near-impossible climb the thieves had taken, she wondered if this night could get any stranger.
Notes: