29.

London, United Kingdom

November 20th, 1943

"Miss Barnes, if you have a minute would you be of assistance? I have something to show you," Howard asks politely from the doorway to Isabel, whom he finds sitting in the mess hall for an early morning breakfast with the members of Steve's new team. They're yet to come up with a name, which they're currently debating over.

"Sure," Isabel says, leaving the rest of her breakfast for the other men. "See you fellas later."

Isabel follows Howard through the base to his laboratory. "Rogers will be here soon to check out the prototype weaponry, but while we have a few minutes, I wanted you to see this," he explains, leading her into a room with a glass chamber in the middle. "I've been examining the Hydra cartridge. Put these on."

Howard hands Isabel a lab coat and a pair of safety glasses, which she hastily throws on. "Why do you want me to see? I don't know anything about this stuff."

"Yes, you do," Howard counters. "Your brother told you what he saw these weapons do."

"All he said was that the blue lightning shot out of Hydra's guns and canons and that it disintegrated people into thin air."

"I guess the question is where does it disintegrate them to?" Howard says cryptically.

"What do you mean? I just assumed it turned people into ash and then they float away on the wind," Isabel replies, thoroughly confused.

"This is Hydra we're talking about," Howard reminds her. "And I think your theory may be incorrect."

"Well there's a reason why you're the scientist," Isabel laughs.

"Let's see if this is the same material," Howard says, putting his hands into two gloves that reach inside the glass chamber. "I need you to write down what I say in that book on the counter. Don't worry too much about spelling, I just don't want to forget anything important."

Isabel picks up the book and a pencil, flicking to a blank page. Hydra cartridge, 11-20-43, she scrawls at the top.

Stark moves the gloves around, using intricate tools to pick apart the cartridge carefully. He removes a front section, then holds various machinery up to it, measuring certain levels. "Emission signature is unusual. Alpha and beta ray neutral, though I doubt Rogers picked up on that. Seems harmless enough. Hard to see what all the fuss is about. Though, that's only until you realise exactly what this stuff is derived from."

"What is it derived from?"

"It's an extract of cosmic energy from the Tesseract that Schmidt got his hands on from Tønsberg back in 1942. He's been using its energy to power and enhance his weaponry," Howard explains, removing another section of the metal casing very carefully.

"Tesser- what?"

"Tesseract," Stark corrects. "It's a stone from Norse Mythology. Schmidt has it in his possession."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. It's from an ancient story?" Isabel asks, confused.

Howard removes his hands from the gloves, coming closer to Isabel in order to explain the background of the mysterious Tesseract. "That's what we thought. Turns out those tales may actually be more fact than fiction. Hydra seems to have a fascination with mythologies, hence their name. The whole Hydra "cut off one head and two more shall take its place" motto is based off of the story of the Hydra monster."

"I knew that, but they got it wrong," Isabel tells him. "If they're going to identify with mythology, they'd better brush up on their understanding. A Hydra is a serpent-like monster with one tail and multiple heads. Hydra's icon is an octopus? One head, many legs. They couldn't have gotten it more wrong."

Howard laughs. "It goes a bit further than that. It's highly symbolic. The head is a skull, symbolising the Nazi party which Hydra began as a division of. Considering Schmidt became an actual "Red Skull" seems a case of becoming on the outside what he already was on the inside, just like what Erskine warned Rogers about. It's emblematic if you think of it like that, evil shining through. As for the tentacles, it represents their far-reaching influence with a sinister overtone. They're a nefarious and corrupt organisation and they have a reach that we can't even measure as yet. The tentacles are their modern "heads", a compartmental structure, there's always backup for them somewhere." Howard stops, seeing the expression on Isabel's face. "It's pretty out there stuff, but it's also pretty smart."

Isabel hums in agreement. "Well when you think of it like that…" Isabel trails off, just a bit impressed by Hydra's reasoning. She stomps on that thought very quickly.

"Anyway, back to this beauty," Howard says, gesturing to the cartridge. "It took a bit of digging to get started, since I didn't know what mythology they were using. Hydra pulls stories from all sorts of ancient civilisations, not just Greek or Roman or Egyptian. Once I found the civilisation, I found the myth easily, since it's a major portion of Norse mythology, along with their gods. The myth states that there are six 'Infinity Stones' with unlimited power that predate the universe and that the Tesseract is one of them. The Tesseract itself isn't the stone, but a containment vessel for it to protect it from damage. The stone is supposed to represent the fabric of space. The gods in Norse mythology use it to open gateways to any other part of the universe and provide inter-dimensional travel. If it's true, which is debatable, we are assuming that Schmidt doesn't know how to do this, since neither do we, but he has invented a way to harness its unlimited power. I have to give him credit, it's rather amazing."

"So it may disintegrate them to another dimension?" Isabel guesses. "Or it may just... blow them up?"

"Exactly."

"It sounds whacky," Isabel notes. "All of it. I- are you sure Schmidt isn't cutting out paper dolls? Norse mythology is real?" Isabel asks sceptically.

"Your awfully sceptical for someone who watched their friend go into a pod and emerge as a super-soldier," Howard remarks, raising an eyebrow at Isabel.

"Point taken, nothing makes sense anymore and everything is possible," Isabel agrees with widened eyes. She looks carefully at the vial again. "Are you sure it's that powerful? It doesn't seem so dangerous."

"That's what you'd think," Stark mutters.

He puts his hands back into the machine and moves the robotic hands. When he makes contact with the glowing blue pellet, a blast explodes through the glass chamber, sending glass shards everywhere and throwing Stark and Isabel backward into the brick wall behind them. Isabel hits it hard and slumps onto the floor, but her mind isn't focused on the pain. She stares in shock at the cartridge, still standing on the table in the shattered glass chamber, the robotic hands gone.

Stark sits up, removing his safety glasses. "We'll write that down."

"It exploded the hands," Isabel gasps, pointing in awe toward the chamber, her jaw still slack.

"Just as I thought, it's energy drawn from the Tesseract, definitely. The energy disintegrated them. It leaves no trace of what was there. It's like it sends things to a different dimension. Maybe Schmidt accidentally harnessed the true inter-dimensional power of the Tesseract after all," Howard mutters.

Both of them stare at the vial. "If that little bit of liquid can do that much damage, what can the actual stone do?" Isabel asks.

"I hate to think."

Steve walks around the underground base, looking for any sign of the genius billionaire who's awaiting his arrival. He left the mess hall and got down to the base five minutes earlier than Agent Carter had instructed last night, though he can't find Stark. He went first to Stark's lab, only finding half of it blown to smithereens, and decided not to ask questions. Isabel is no where to be seen either, considering she went off with Stark over thirty minutes prior. Steve wonders whether they've gone to speak to someone in particular.

Steve leaves Stark's mangled lab, spotting a woman sitting at one of the desks outside the labs. She's one of Stark's receptionists, the name plaque on her desk referring to her as Private Lorraine.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Mr. Stark," Steve says politely, loitering by the doors.

"He's quickly had to speak to Colonel Phillips about a breakthrough with his data," the woman says in a bored tone. She looks up from where she's shaping her finger nails with a nail file, her eyes widening when she sees she's talking to Captain America. "Of course, you're quite welcome to wait," she assures quickly, sickly sweet.

Steve nods and awkwardly perches on the edge of a nearby desk, tapping his finger against his leg as he waits.

"I read about what you did," Lorraine says, holding up the morning's newspaper showing the details of his rescue mission of the one-oh-seventh.

"Oh! The… yeah. Well, that's, you know? Just doin' what needed to be done," Steve stammers, smiling awkwardly at her.

"Sounded like more than that. You saved nearly four hundred men."

"Really, it's not a big deal," Steve waves her off, looking uncomfortable. He checks around the wall of bookcases to see if Stark will arrive anytime soon to save him.

"Tell that to their wives," Lorraine mutters.

She gets up from her desk and walks toward Steve slowly, in a purposeful prowl that makes Steve shift and gulp nervously. He wishes she'd stay at her desk.

"Uh… I don't think they were all married," Steve tries to divert conversation from the situation, leaning away from her as she corners him on the desk.

"You're a hero," Lorraine tells him sincerely, raising her eyebrows to emphasise the point.

"Well, that… you know? That… that depends on the definition of it really," Steve stammers, looking away and scratching his forehead as he searches for a way to reject Lorraine's obvious advances.

She suddenly grabs hold of his tie before he can think to protest, dragging him backward into the office behind a bookcase that blocks them from view of the rest of the open base. "The women of America, they owe you their thanks. And seeing as they're not here…"

Lorraine pulls him in for an unwanted kiss just as Isabel and Peggy round the corner. They've both been in the meeting with Colonel Phillips about the information they gained from the cartridge, and Stark has now sent them to collect Steve and bring him to another lab they'll be using, since Stark blew up his usual abode. The two women come around the bookcase, confronted with the sight of Steve and Private Lorraine locking lips in the darkness of the temporary office. Isabel's jaw drops at the sight, anger and sadness flickering across her features before she's storming away from the office. As soon as she turns around, Steve brings his arms up to push Private Lorraine off of him, having been shocked at her actions and frozen to the spot.

"What are you doing?" Steve hisses, stepping away from the woman and wiping his mouth, frowning ferociously at her.

Peggy glares at Lorraine, who looks entirely unapologetic of her actions, before she looks down the hall toward Isabel's retreating form, seeing her brush her hand over her eyes. Isabel had only come back to their room last night telling Peggy that she and Steve had talked about going dancing and that they'd found the right partner in each other. She'd been so excited and infatuated, and now Steve is going to throw it away by allowing another woman to make advances on him. Peggy turns a sour look on Steve, putting her hands on her hips.

Steve starts to stutter, stepping further away from the blonde woman until he bumps into the desk he'd perched on earlier. "I-I have a girlf–"

"Captain!" Peggy barks, making the two jolt further away from each other in surprise, Steve's body making the desk slam loudly up against the wall. "We're ready for you, if you're not otherwise occupied," Peggy says sourly, frowning dangerously at Private Lorraine, who cowers away slightly.

Annoyed, Peggy turns and walks ahead, Steve running to catch up to her.

"Agent Carter, wait!" Steve pleads, following her down the hallway.

"Looks like finding a partner wasn't that hard after all," Peggy says evenly, keeping her expression neutral.

"Peggy, that's not what you thought it was," Steve argues, tucking his tie back into his jacket after Lorraine pulled it part way out and skewed it.

"I don't think anything, Captain. Not one thing. You'll have to do a bit more explaining to Miss Barnes, though," Peggy replies. She decides to only hint to Steve that Isabel had seen the encounter, allowing her friend the dignity of confronting him herself if she choses to. She sees Steve's face fall over her shoulder, his shoulders slumping, and she knows that he's realised he's truly in for it now. "You always wanted to be a soldier and now you are. Just like all the rest," Peggy adds bitterly.

"Well, what about you and Stark?" Steve counters, defensively. "You can't say anything when you two are… fonduing, but you'll still flirt with Buck."

Peggy stops and turns around, just looking at Steve. He looks both proud and a little unsure of his retort, waiting patiently for her answer. Peggy rolls her eyes, walking away.

"You still don't know a bloody thing about women," she mutters, escaping the room and leaving Steve standing alone.

Steve runs a hand through his hair in embarrassment and stress. He looks around for sight of Isabel, but doesn't see her anywhere. Just as he's about to walk toward the elevator to go find her and skip his meeting with Stark, Howard appears from the lab. He beckons Steve inside, having heard their conversation.

"Rogers, you need some serious education," Stark laughs, ushering Steve inside.

"Why?" Steve asks defensively.

"Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend."

"Really?" Steve asks, his eyebrows rising. "I didn't think…"

"Nor should you, pal. The moment you think you know what's goin' on in a woman's head is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked." Stark stops walking and turns back to Steve. "Isabel was supposed to be here too, since she's been helping me with designing these things while you soldiers are busy planning your missions; but I saw her run from the base, so I assume she's not coming. I also assume you and Agent Carter's conversation had something to do with that. Whatever you did pal, whether it was your fault or not, you'd better apologise. That's how it works with women. The sooner you work that out, the better off you'll be."

Steve just nods, looking ashamed. Howard doesn't push.

"Me, I only have time for the occasional woman. Instead, I concentrate on my work. Which at the moment, is about making sure you and your men do not get killed." Howard jumps right into his plan for their meeting. "Carbon polymer," Stark says in a rush, referring to a piece of cloth lying on one of the tables. "Should withstand your average German bayonet, although, Hydra's not going to attack you with a pocket knife."

Steve pushes the previous incident from his mind for the moment and makes himself concentrate. What Howard informs him about how the weapons work could be the difference between life and death for him and the men.

Howard keeps walking down the table, where the next item is Steve's battered prop shield that he took to find the one-oh-seventh. "I hear you're uh… kind of attached?" He asks, patting the metal with a clang.

"It's handier than you might think," Steve says, smiling at it reminiscently.

"Good. I took the liberty of coming up with some options for a new shield," Howard says, showing Steve a range of shields he's designed, all of them odd shapes with added accessories and very heavy-looking, not that it would be a problem for a super-soldier. Stark picks one up to show off, a thick rectangular shaped shield with a glass panel for looking through. "This one's fun. She's been fitted with electrical relays. It'll allow you to–"

Steve spots a circular, shiny shield on a shelf hidden below, sliding out of the shelf and holding it up carefully. "What about this one?" He asks, cutting off Howard's explanation.

"No! No! That's just a prototype," Howard says quickly, putting down the shield he holds.

"What's it made of?" Steve asks in awe, holding the circular shield experimentally.

"Vibranium," Stark says, watching Steve carefully. Steve flips the shield in his hands, the metal making a whirring sound. "It's stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent."

Steve threads his arm through the leather straps, testing the weight of it on his arms. "Who designed it? It's easy to wield."

"Isabel, actually."

"Isabel?" Steve asks, his jaw dropping open.

"Yeah, pal. Not that she meant to. She doodled the basic design in one of Erskine's diaries while you were on the USO Tour. Must have seen you with the fake shield and thought she could one up Brandt on the design front. I saw it when we were looking through the notes and decided to give it a shot. We came up with the size of it based off the measurements taken of you after the experiment. It should fit perfectly in your hands and in a holster on your back for when you need your hands free. Of course, she didn't intend it to be made of vibranium, I was the one who chose the metal alloy and then made it."

Steve stares at the shield, unable to imagine Isabel sitting in one of the auditorium chairs drawing a shield for Steve. "How come it's not standard issue?" He runs a finger over the rim of the shield.

"That's the rarest metal on earth. What you're holding there? That's all we've got."

Seconds later, they hear heels clicking on the concrete floor and Peggy Carter makes a grand entrance into the laboratories. "Are you quite finished, Mister Stark? I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business," Peggy says evenly, glaring at Steve.

Steve holds the vibranium shield up against him. "What do you think? Isabel designed it," he asks proudly, seemingly forgetting their conversation only a few minutes ago.

Peggy stares at him with hard eyes before picking up a gun from one of the tables and shooting at Steve. He quickly holds up the shield to protect himself, four bullets hitting the metal, leaving small dents in the clear paint layer. Steve slowly pulls the shield down, staring in fear at Peggy from the behind it's offered protection.

Peggy sighs, then smiles brightly. "Yes, I think it works. Isabel is rather special, isn't she?" She puts the gun down and leaves the lab past Steve, glaring at him again in warning.

Howard comes to stand beside Steve, who lowers the shield, staring stunned at Peggy's retreating form. Steve reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper, handing it to Stark. "I had some ideas about the uniform."

"Whatever you want, pal."

No one sees Isabel for the remainder of the day. She hasn't been seen in the infirmary or the laboratories, or in the basement at all, for that matter. Peggy doesn't let herself worry for her friend, knowing the girl can take care of herself. She had no work commitments today beside her meeting with Howard that morning, though she'd missed that.

Peggy goes up to her room late that night, long after dinner and everyone else seems to have evacuated the base. She's exhausted, but she's also fully expecting that Isabel will be in their room waiting to talk about what happened that morning.

Peggy steps into the elevator and presses the button for her floor, the doors sliding closed in front of her. She looks up just in time to see a large hand slam into the small gap between the doors as they close, attempting to stop the elevator car so that the person can step inside. The doors close fully on the hand and there's a male shout, before the doors register the presence and slide open again, freeing the hand. A panicked-looking Steve Rogers squeezes himself inside the elevator car, holding his squashed hand.

"Captain," Peggy greets with amusement, cocking her mouth in a small smile.

"That probably wasn't my best idea," Steve mulls, holding his hand. "Agent Carter."

"What brings you into this particular elevator car so hurriedly this evening?" Peggy asks, unable to keep the smile off her features.

"I was hoping you could tell me where Isabel is? I've been meaning to look for her all day but I couldn't get a minute free until now."

Peggy looks at Steve will sympathy. "I haven't seen her, but I'm guessing she's in our room. She was quite upset about what happened this morning."

Steve sighs loudly and runs a hand through his blonde hair, making it stick up. "I need to talk to her."

"Well it's much too late now, she might be asleep," Peggy argues. "But yes, you probably do."

"I need to tell her what happened, that I didn't initiate that, that I pushed Lorraine away–" Steve stumbles over his words, looking more stressed by the second. Peggy feels a little bad for him, frowning in thought on how to deal with the situation.

"Now probably isn't the time, Steve," Peggy tells him. She reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Give her until tomorrow or so to calm down. She's probably disappointed. If she's awake, I'll talk to her tonight so that when you see her, she's on the same page and knows what happened."

"Thank you, Peggy," Steve says sincerely, smiling at his friend.

The doors to the elevator open at Peggy's floor and she steps out, leaving Steve inside. "Try not to worry, Steve. She'll be fine. But in the meantime, I suggest you have a chat to Barnes about dealing with women. I feel you could use a few pointers."

The doors close again, hiding Steve's gobsmacked expression. Peggy smirks at her retort before making her way to her room and opening the door. She finds Isabel sitting on her bed with a mountain of books around her, Erskine's notes by the looks of them. She's writing in a newer-looking book, most likely one of her own notes. Her eyes flick up when Peggy comes inside and she starts packing away her books into her trunk.

"Hello, Isabel," Peggy greets.

"Hello," Isabel replies quietly, her voice a little dejected.

"Where were you today? You've been missing in action," Peggy notes, taking off her shoes by the door, sighing in relief from the pain of wearing heels for hours on end.

"I've been hauled up here all day," Isabel admits. "Working on the notes."

"Or sulking?"

"I'm not sulking," Isabel defends, looking up from her books.

"Okay," Peggy agrees, holding up her palms defensively. The Brit slowly comes around and takes a seat beside Isabel on her bed where she's been hiding for a few hours. "Steve's been looking for you all day. He wants to talk to you."

"Well I don't want to talk to him," Isabel says stubbornly, feeling a little childish.

"I think you two have lots you need to get out into the open."

"It'll just have to wait then," Isabel retorts.

"Would you be willing to talk to me? There's some things I need to tell you."

Isabel hesitates. "Depends on what it is."

"Why are you so angry at Steve?" Peggy asks immediately.

"He kissed Lorraine, Peggy," Isabel replies quietly, raising her eyebrows at Peggy as though she'd missed the memo.

"Actually, Lorraine kissed him. There's a difference, a big difference," Peggy tells Isabel.

"But he didn't even push her off. He wanted her to kiss him, obviously. Everything we said last night, everything we've done together the last few months, even years… Did it all mean nothing? Did–"

Peggy quickly puts a hand on Isabel's arm and silences her. "Isabel Barnes, you need to get a hold of yourself. You locked yourself up here all day ignoring everyone and sulking, but you are assuming things and you don't know the full story. I think you're even blatantly disregarding who Steve is."

"No I'm n–"

"Yes, you are. You're upset and you're not thinking straight," Peggy interrupts, sitting a little taller on the bed to assert her dominance. "Listen to me. Steve, would he ever just kiss a dame? Just 'cause?"

"No," Isabel says. "That was usually more Buck's domain."

"Exactly. So he didn't kiss Lorraine because he wanted to. And we've already established she kissed him. Now, has Steve had a lot of attention from the fairer sex?"

"Not really," Isabel admits.

"So how would he know to react when someone advances on him like that? First of all, isn't he going to be just a little bit amazed because he's never had that attention before? And how would he know how to deflect a woman? He's never done it, and I'm sure he's never seen Bucky reject a woman."

Isabel laughs at that. "I suppose you're right," she admits. "You say he pushed her off?"

"Not even a second after your departure. He pushed her away, wiped his mouth like she'd poisoned him, asked what she was doing and then was proceeding to tell her something else, presumably about you, before I cut him off," Peggy reassures her. "He really did nothing wrong."

Isabel sighs loudly, sinking back onto the bed. Peggy lays back too beside her, watching her friend carefully as Isabel runs a hand down her face. "I know. I overreacted. As soon as I got up to my room I regretted it, but I was too embarrassed to go back down. If I'd just stayed one second longer and not stormed off in a huff… I feel like a right crumb."

"Don't, you're only human. It's only natural you'd be upset seeing that. And don't be mad at him, Is. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah, I know they do," Isabel says quietly with a meaning behind her words. Peggy doesn't ask what she means. "I'm not mad at him. Well I am a little, but not for that. I think it's because I'm sour he didn't let me onto the team. I do understand why he said no to me joining, I do, but it just feels like I'm being denied what I want. I thought I accepted it and I was just going to get over it, but then I see that and I just… I was disappointed and I think I used this as an excuse to be angry at him for not letting me join the team."

"I understand about the team, I would most likely be sour as well. But you need to think of it from their point of view. Would you like it if you were putting Steve or Bucky in danger? Probably not. As for the kiss, it isn't Steve you need to be disappointed in. It's Lorraine. But don't worry about her. Her and I, we had a little chat."

"You didn't threaten her, did you?" Isabel asks with a small cringe.

"Of course not," Peggy laughs. "I just calmly reminded her that I knew people in higher places who I could convince to have her moved to a less savoury operations centre and that you wouldn't be happy to see her either. She promised to stay away."

Isabel laughs then, shimmying over to lay her head near Peggy's shoulder. "What would I do without you, Peg?"

"Not sure, love. I'm not even entirely certain how you made it this far without me."

"Mm," Isabel says, in somewhat agreement. She lets her eyes shut, and takes a deep breath. "Why'd I have to fall in love with such a dunce?"

"Don't be mean. But if he's a dunce, he's your dunce," Peggy laughs.

"Well, not really. Steve's not even mine, you know. We're not together. I don't have any say over what he does and who he talks to, or who he does or doesn't kiss."

"But you could," Peggy points out. "You could just tell him how you feel."

"I can't," Isabel argues. "I can't because if he doesn't feel the same way it might ruin the friendship we have. I couldn't let that happen. I'd rather just have him as a friend than risk losing him."

Peggy takes a deep sigh. No matter what she says, Isabel will never believe her that the feelings are so clearly reciprocated. So clearly. And to her understanding, Sergeant Barnes has been working for a long time to get them both to see it to no avail. Peggy decides she'll just have to see how it all plays out, and if it doesn't seem to go anywhere, perhaps there's a way she can give them both the push that'll make Isabel or Steve see. Though, she thinks Bucky may be currently working on Steve.

Peggy nods to herself. She pats her friend's hand and sits up, going to her own bed. She quickly changes out of her uniform and into her nightgown, setting her hair so that it's ready for the next morning. She climbs into her bed under the covers, and Isabel still hasn't moved, fully dressed lying on top of her sheets.

"You can't ignore him or your feelings forever," is Peggy's final remark before she switches off the light on the nightstand and plunges the two into darkness.

Isabel doesn't offer her a reply, but Peggy assumes she's mulling it over well into the early hours of the morning.