Helen was in a lab, looking at her computer. Steve was sitting at a microscope, not looking up, pretending to be writing some figures into a tablet. He was wearing a white coat and thick glasses that he had borrowed from Helen. He had studied himself in a mirror a few minutes ago, not recognizing himself. He hoped that SHIELD would not recognize him either, but they would be looking for him. If they found him, it wouldn't just be him in trouble; Helen and Tony would be as well.
He was thinking about who SHIELD would send after him. His answer came through the door of the lab within a few seconds. Rumlow entered the room, glancing around. Helen Cho met him with raised eyebrows and stood up.
"How can I help you?" she asked.
"We are looking for Tony Stark. I need to speak with him," Rumlow said with a rough voice.
"And why are you looking for Mr. Stark in here?" Helen inquired.
"Do not play games with us, Miss Cho. We know that he was here. We tracked him, and his last known location was here."
Helen Cho didn't even need to pretend surprise. Nobody had considered that Tony might be the one who was tracked.
"I have not met Mr. Stark today, sir. If he was here, he wasn't in my lab. Maybe you can ask in the office; perhaps he wanted to discuss some payments or maybe he wanted to ask some of my nurses out. He's done that a few times already," Helen said, sounding annoyed. She played her part well, or perhaps she wasn't even playing at all.
Steve was trembling, seeing red. He knew he needed to play his role to avoid drawing attention, but he didn't know how to avoid looking into Rumlow's eyes and accusing him of all the things he had done in the name of SHIELD. He took a deep breath, picked up some papers with the latest results, and approached Helen, his vision blurred due to the glasses he was wearing.
"Miss Cho, can you please check these results?" Steve asked.
Helen looked annoyed. "Bernard, didn't I tell you that I can't check everything after you?"
Steve bashfully bent his head and stared at his toes. Rumlow looked at Steve with a smirk, not considering men working in a lab to be real men.
"Do we have to be interrupted by your employees?" Rumlow asked Helen.
"Well, since this is my job, and these results are obviously weird, we must be. Bernard, give her calcium and wait for me. I'll be there in a sec," Steve took the papers from her and pretended to search for calcium.
"Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Rumlow? As you can see, I have a lot of work to do," Helen retorted.
"I just want to tell you, Miss, that if Stark is acting weird, it's in your best interest to be on our side. If he is proven to be cooperating with any of the Avengers who are on the loose, he will be charged with treason, and it may happen that your lab will lose all financial support."
"I do not see a reason why you are trying to threaten me. I have told you everything I know about Mr. Stark's whereabouts. And I must stress that the outcomes of my lab are very interesting for Mr. President. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check on my patient," her voice trembled, but it could be attributed to her anger.
Rumlow looked around for a moment, then waved to his men, and they all disappeared.
...
Steve's hands were trembling when Helen approached him. He was standing by Peggy's bed, trying hard not to touch her, still playing his role.
"They are gone," Helen whispered. "And Peggy is getting better. She only needs sleep now. And so do you," she added when she saw his tortured face.
"You look as if you haven't slept for weeks, Mr. Rogers. You need to rest as well."
"I... I need to stay awake in case there is another..."
"Now, we will only wait for Mr. Stark. He will come back tomorrow. And until then, you can relax. They were not after you; they were after Mr. Stark. But I do not understand why."
"Because they want everyone under their control," Steve whispered. "They are behaving strangely. If they were following SHIELD protocol, they would have called Tony and arranged a meeting with him. They know that Tony is on their side, so why are they acting so hastily? Unless they suspect what we have discovered and want to prevent this information from getting out. But why would they want to cover up SHIELD agents who are working for HYDRA? Unless... Unless Rumlow is a part of HYDRA and didn't act on SHIELD's orders. We need to talk to Tony, Helen. Because if what I said is true, he is in danger."