"How do you spell the surname?" asked Tony, unconcerned by her behaviour. She spelt it for him, but she was simultaneously shaking her head.
"I do not believe that Daniel was Hydra."
"Did you know him?" asked Steve gently. She nodded.
"Wow, did you really know him? Like, I mean… were you two...?" Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"We… well, yes, we knew each other," she stammered. "And he could not have been Hydra. He was the kindest person in the whole SSR."
"You do not know what happened to him after you disappeared," said Tony matter-of-factly.
"JARVIS? Can you check if those people are still alive and where they live?"
"Yes, sir. According to the records, agents Burns, Albey, Turner, and Ramirez are dead. All of them were killed in the line of duty."
Peggy exhaled sharply. Does it mean that Daniel and Jack are still alive?
"Can you find the addresses of those who are still alive? I think we will need to talk with them."
"Those addresses were sent to your email, sir, with a copy for Captain Rogers. The only address I could not find was Mr. Sousa's."
"Thanks, JARVIS. Keep searching. We have a lot of work to do even without one address." Tony turned back to the computer.
"So, now we need to check all the people who are still alive and then find out who they recruited. Then we must move to them..."
"You do not seem to be surprised that SHIELD was infiltrated," said Peggy dryly.
"I knew they were. I just did not know who infiltrated it… so, finally, we have a lead. Are you OK? You seem to lose all the color."
"Oh, I am perfectly fine," Peggy retorted, trying to keep her stiff upper lip. "Can you just… can you turn off the heating? It's too hot in here."
"The heating is off; it's actually pretty cold here."
Steve put his hand on Peggy's forehead.
"You are burning! How do you feel?"
"I'm okay, it's just really hot, and I feel dizzy," she said uncertainly. She vaguely sensed that Steve was talking to her, but his voice seemed distant. For a moment, everything went dark before her eyes. She reached out for Steve's hand and refused to let go. It was the only stable point she could hold onto at that moment. She vaguely felt herself shifting from a vertical to a horizontal position. Her ears started ringing, which frightened her. She felt something cold on her forehead; she wanted to push it away, to resist, but she wasn't strong enough. She started breathing rapidly... and then suddenly, darkness engulfed her.
Steve caught her before she collapsed on the ground.
"What's with her?"
"I have no idea, she is burning up. Can you contact Helen Cho? She might know…"
"I have a better idea. Helen's lab is only an hour away. We can get her there."
"And how would you do that? Everyone is after us, Tony."
"I have a plan… we will slip in there with supplies. We will meet them halfway. I am calling Helen, follow me." Before they left, Tony shut down all the computers, Taking the chip and hiding it into his mobile phone.
"This will be safer with me. They are after you, not me, after all." She tried to sound nonchalant, hiding the guilt that was growing inside him since the disintegration of the Avengers.
Steve looked at Peggy in his arms. She was still unconscious. He knew that he must do everything to get her to Helen Cho, even under the threat of arrest. He took a deep breath and followed Tony.
When Peggy woke up, she was in a white-painted room full of medical devices. Some wires were leading under her shirt, and she could feel the places where they touched her skin. An IV drip was leading straight to her veins. She could hear a woman's voice talking. When she looked around herself, she could also see the blurry silhouettes of the doctor and a man she recognized – Steve. He was standing there, hunched over listening intently to the doctor.
"… she has an infection in her body, but I am able to stop it. However, she will need time to rest, and I will need to run some extra tests to examine her immune system."
"I do not remember her being ill at all; she was always tough. I do not remember her even losing consciousness."
"Well, nowadays, she is exposed to new illnesses. It must be a shock to her system. It was the best you could do – to bring her here."
"It was also reckless," Steve said heavily. "SHIELD and the government are after us; we put you in danger."
"I do not see any reason why they should find out about your stay here."
Someone entered the room and coughed.
"Yes, Mr. Stark?" asked Helen Cho politely.
"We were careful, yet they found out about you. They are on their way here."