The Flu

"Maria's going to get eyes on the British embassy." Coulson called as he came back down the hall. "We might have another little problem, though."

Before he could say more, there was a loud booming noise, and the lights started to flicker wildly.

"A problem besides whatever that is?" John asked.

"Probably. I don't think they would have had time to get here from Washington. It's probably not the problem Maria told me about." At least Coulson dearly hoped it wasn't the problem Maria had alerted him to. Jemma had said they needed to keep Victoria calm and avoid any more shocks right now. Letting Peggy Carter and possibly Pete Wisdom loose in her building would not help with that. Especially not Pete Wisdom, after that little incident with her desk. Surely they wouldn't have had time to get here yet, though.

"Fitz found something else that Tuttle broke!" Ward called as he came down the hall. "When he got in one of the new parts it looks like it overloaded something." And apparently it was an important something with how the lights were still blinking wildly.

"I'll go take a look." Stark said. "I hope it didn't blow out too many of the circuit relays. I might need to call and get Pepper to send more parts."

"Just get it fixed, whatever you have to do." Coulson ordered. Hopefully Jemma had Victoria sedated enough that she wouldn't notice, but just in case he wanted the problem fixed as fast as possible.

"So what's the problem that Maria told you about?" John asked as Stark hurried off.

"It turns out that Pete Wisdom somehow got drafted for escort duty for those granddaughters of Peggy's friend the queen." Coulson told him.

"Wisdom? How did they con him into that?" John said with a laugh. "Or was he just wanting to make sure that Vic was actually dead after how she exploded when he set her desk on fire?"

"Excuse me, but who's Pete Wisdom?" Steve asked. Probably someone he should know, and the name did should vaguely familiar but he couldn't put a face to it.

"MI-13." Coulson said. "You don't seem to have a fascination with fire, so you might not have heard of him. He's a gifted. He can generate hot plasma, usually in some sort of knife form. Which is why Maria's a bit concerned. He's with those granddaughters, and if Peggy contacts them or their grandmother…."

"Wait. What's going on?" Ward asked. "Is Director Carter on the loose again?"

"On the loose again?" Steve said with a puzzled expression. "Has Peggy done something like this before? Well, I mean, she did it all the time during the War and it was fine but has she done it recently?"

"She's done it enough that we have the code Red Fedora for it. And there are insurance clauses." Melinda said with a frown. Pete Wisdom might end up involved in this? She glared at her phone and punched in her mother's number again. Andrew was looking for them, and if Pete Wisdom got involved, anywhere in the area was the last place she wanted him to be. "Mother, where are you?!" She growled as she got voice mail again.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Steve said. "Peggy's really good with fires and explosives. She handled them all the time in the War and it worked out fine. There was this one time in France when she…." Maybe he shouldn't give them the details on that, though. The explosion had been a tiny bit big. "Anyway, it worked out fine in the end. And Red Fedora's about Peggy? I've heard them call that code 97 times this year and the last time they announced it Agent Rumlow demanded to be sent to Antarctica."

"Yeah, she hasn't gotten up to as much lately." John said with a shake of his head. "We probably should have figured that something big was coming."

"Okay, Director Carter's on the loose again and she might be hooking up with Pete Wisdom? What happened?" Ward asked.

"Fury went to try to break up Vic's unnecessary funeral and somehow got himself thrown in the funny farm. Peggy and Melinda's mom decided to break him out at gun point and now they're who knows where with Fury, Sharon and some poor woman who picked the wrong time to cross the street along for the ride in the back of a stolen car. Phil, that's pretty much it, right?" John asked.

"Isn't that enough?" Coulson said with a shake of his head.

"Okay." Ward said slowly. "Do I need to call my brother and let him know that he might not want to go to work for awhile? Didn't the British burn down Congress too the last time they were on the loose in Washington? He might want a heads up if he's about to end up unemployed. It's not like we really talk, but I'm pretty sure he likes his job."

"I'm sure it will be fine." Steve told him. "I can't imagine why Peggy would do something like that. Some of the news stations maybe, if they keep thinking she isn't capable of kidnapping Fury, but what could she have against Congress?"

"A few budgets." John suggested. "And… Hey, Phil, is that annoying congressman still there, the one that the rumor was that she decked for…."

"Peggy Carter might have a few grudges against Congress." Coulson said. "Probably more against individuals than the actual building, though. Ward, tell your brother to keep a fire extinguisher handy, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"He always has one of those." Ward said with a bit of relief. "I'll just call and tell him to carry it for now." Or maybe he should have his sister call. That might be slightly less awkward.

"Okay, I've alerted Maria." Coulson said as Ward hurried down the hallway to rejoin Fitz and Stark on building repair duty, dialing a number on his phone as he went. "She's doing what she can about hopefully limiting Peggy's ability to reenact the War of 1812. Has anyone came up with any other ideas for finding her?" From the expression on Melinda's face, he could tell exactly how much luck she was having in locating her mother.

"Is there any chance she could have somehow gotten into the Triskellion?" Steve asked. "Or some other Shield building? Peggy did that once during the War, hiding in plain sight and it worked out great. Or maybe Sharon's apartment? Has anyone checked there?"

"Plain sight. That actually might work." Melinda muttered. "A couple of senior citizens, who would look twice at them? They've already missed them kidnapping three people and committing Grand Theft Auto."

"I'll let Maria know to start checking those places too, and then I better go update Jemma and Skye on what's going on." Coulson looked up at the lights that were still flickering. "Or maybe I ought to go update them first." And make sure that Victoria was still safely sedated and missing all of this.