The Flu

"Maria's putting Romanov on to searching for Peggy." Coulson called as he joined the group downstairs. "And please tell me that there haven't been any breaking news reports about what she's up to."

"The lack of breaking news reports is making me more worried." Melinda muttered With Peggy Carter, especially Peggy Carter with her mother happily serving as an accomplice, no news was definitely not good news. She frowned down at her phone and hit her mother's number for what felt like the millionth time, knowing all too well that she wasn't going to respond but not sure what else she could do.

"Romanov." John said. "He, Phil, speaking of Romanov, has anyone thought to check with her grandmother and see if she has a clue where Peggy's got off to? This kind of mess, it seems like it's the kind of thing that Underwood would love."

"Did you have to remind me of her?" Phil groaned. Okay, Maria had mentioned Dottie, but he had been trying to block out the thought of her and how much worse things could get if she was added to the current chaos.

"Wait, Nat has a grandmother? Why am I just hearing about this?" Steve asked with a puzzled look.

"She sort of has a grandmother. It's complicated" Coulson said. And wasn't saying that Dottie Underwood was complicated putting the entire thing mildly to say the least? But now that he had been reminded of it…. "I need to call Maria back." The trouble that Peggy could cause with Melinda's mother as her accomplice was alarming, but if Dottie was tossed into that mix….

"Does Shield know where Underwood is?" John asked. "The last I heard she was off the grid. What are the odds that she's close enough to join Peggy's merry bunch?"

"No, Shield doesn't have a clue where she is." Phil muttered. "But Peggy definitely does. And as long as it's some place with television access so she can see the fun she's missing, I don't think distance is going to keep her from popping up." He definitely had to call Maria and talk to her about this. Dottie Underwood. Between her and Peggy he wasn't sure who they needed to set Romanov on hunting down first.

"She really has a grandmother? What's she like?" Steve asked. Really, what else was Shield keeping from him that sounded like it was totally hilarious?

"The senior citizen lesbian version of Romanov." John told him. "Only possibly a bit more murdery."

"A lot more murdery, you mean. Peggy dealt with her during the forties" Coulson said. "And she figured out a way to manage her eventually." A way to manage Dottie which conveniently no one else at Shield had a clue about, not even Romanov, the last that he had heard. If Dottie got involved in this, and Peggy was the only person who had the vaguest ability to manage her…. "I definitely need to call Maria." And, he thought as he spotted Stark coming down the hall, he needed to remind Stark to stay far away from all windows.

"Hey, Tony, did Nat tell you she had a grandmother?" Steve called to him.

"No. How's her grandmother involved in this mess?" Tony asked. Romanov had a grandmother? And why did the mention of Romanov's grandmother cause a sudden odd wave of fear to wash over him?

"We hope she isn't. But stay away from all the windows just in case." Coulson told him. "What's the situation with the power? I thought you were going to reroute something to fix the lights?" The lights which, while they weren't blinking as badly, were definitely still blinking.

"We did. We took all but the central elevator off line, which doesn't seem to have fixed it as much as I was hoping." Stark said with a frown up at the lights. "Fitz is still taking a look to see what else we can reroute. We'll figure out something else to reroute. I'm thinking the labs if there isn't anything cutting the power there could disrupt. We might be able to consolidate things temporarily to make it work, though. That's what Fitz is checking. And Pepper's still looking for that part, but as of now, the only one she can find is trapped on the eleventh floor with Quintin Beck."

"Beck finally lost it?" Banner asked.

"Oh, yes. Before taking over the eleventh floor he raided Ms. Hathaway from accounting's office and took her goldfish bowl, which he is now wearing as a helmet. And Fluffy the goldfish is current living in my bathtub until Happy can make it to the fish store for a replacement. On the up side, Pepper did manage to cut the water to the eleventh floor, but unfortunately, Beck pillaged all of the vending machines, all twenty seven of them, so it doesn't seem like thirst or hunger will force him out any time soon. And Evangeline Whedon's flames from the stairway door don't seem to be making a dent either. Who knew there could be a downside to reenforced fireproofing?"

"What about coming in through a window?" Banner suggested. "Couldn't that get access back?"

Stark shook his head. "They already thought of that. He's got that holographic system all over the place, if Evangeline could get in that way she'd get caught in it which even I know is hideously unsafe, and anyway, she says dropping shards of glass, or molten glass down on the heads of passersby is some sort of legal liability. Hey, Fitz!" He called as he spotted the him coming down the hall towards them. "Does it look like we can kill the power to the labs for now?"

"There are a couple of experiments that were running that I want to take a look at before we cut the power." Fitz told him. "They seem sort of portable, though, if we have to consolidate things to one lab."

"Sort of portable?" Stark asked.

"We might need Captain Rogers' help with one or two of them." Fitz said with a nod, but there are just the two of them that I'm concerned about. If we can move them, rerouting the power from all but one of the labs shouldn't be a problem and hopefully will stabilize the lights."

"Okay, so that's what we'll have to do until either my dragon of a lawyer gets Beck out or Pepper can source another part. The lights will be fixed soon." Stark said.

"Do whatever you have to do. Move whatever you have to move. Just get things fixed!" Coulson ordered, before turning his glaze on his phone. He really needed to call Maria. He just hoped the suggestion that Dottie Underwood could be popping into this crazy mess soon didn't give HER a heart attack. How could this situation possibly get worse?