“New hairstyle?”
The question was asked sarcastically as Dottie slammed Peggy’s head straight into the table. How she had the breath to start a conversation mid-fight was beyond Peggy, then again she was a deadly Russian spy who had been training to do this since birth so whilst Peggy may have been a damn good fighter, it was clear which girl had the upper hand.
Peggy thrust her body back, knocking Dottie’s balance and allowing both women an equal stance before the fierce fight resumed. Dottie was determined to leave with what she came for but Peggy was absolutely not about to let her get away with it.
Not after what she had done. Not after the death and destruction she had caused. Not after what she did to Chief Dooley.
With a burst of adrenaline, the Brit used a sharp elbow jab to knock the wind out of her followed swiftly by an unforgiving punch to push her back. The blasted fight was beginning to drag on for just a little too long and Peggy was running out of energy far too quickly.
It wasn’t exactly easy taking on a trained Russian killer by herself and whilst she didn’t exactly enjoy being “saved” by the men, would it have killed them to send a little bit of backup? It would be nice to not have to do everything by herself once in a while but that was men for you – not sparing a thought for her. They’d probably forgot she was even down here.
Taking just a moment too long to get her breath back, Peggy was hit by the full force of a bloody high heel to the stomach, sending her flying backwards into the back wall of the vault and smacking her head straight into the stone.
The pain was unbearable and immense, enough to send her sinking to the floor, but this was one fight that Peggy could simply not afford to lose. They had been tracking Dottie for weeks, to let her slip away now would be a mortal blow for the investigation and they might never be able to track her down again. She had to pay for what she did and Peggy’s decision was final.
It would end here tonight. Here in this cold vault would be Dottie Underwood’s final hour and they would finally get the closure the whole SSR had been desperate for.
Fighting through the pain with her will of iron, Peggy stood just as Dottie reached for the gun and the Brit scrambled for the nearest thing she could use as a weapon. Before the Russian spy could even turn around to face her, a heavy bag of coins was Smashed over her head and she was out cold on the floor.
Lying motionless on the vault's stone floor surrounded by hundreds of silver coins, Peggy kicked her arm half-heartedly to check she really was unconscious.
Seconds later, pairs of feet descended into the vault headed by Agent Jack Thompson brandishing a gun. Of course they only show up when the fight was done and dusted, typical SSR.
With the adrenaline beginning to fade and the arrival of the agents to secure Miss Underwood, the full extent of her injuries made themselves known and Peggy collapsed into the shelves of the vault, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
God everything hurt.
Her head was pounding, knuckles bruised, chest aching fighting for air, back sore, but above all her stomach killed from that sharp shoe kick.
Not only did heels hurt your feet but they caused some serious damage when brandished as a weapon.
Peggy tried to slow her breathing almost wishing the pain away as the agents handcuffed Dottie and they prepared to transport her back for interrogation.
“Let’s move out.” Thompson commanded in a voice that left no room for argument once Dottie was dealt with. Why did it always have to be so bloody fast paced, Peggy just needed a minute to catch her breath back. She had just single-handedly taken down one of the deadliest women on Earth thank you very much.
She tried to stand upright but couldn’t hide the hiss of pain at her movement.
“You okay Marge?” Jack asked as he faced her for the first time since he entered the room in a way that suggested only just now had he actually remembered she was there even though it was thanks to her they’d finally caught Dottie.
Peggy simply nodded in reply, not trusting her voice, but even then Jack didn’t seem convinced. She could hardly wait down here forever or the others would simply leave without her and she was clearly not in any fit state to walk halfway across town to get back to the SSR and there was no Jarvis she could rely on to take her there so she didn’t really have much choice.
Whether she was okay or not was irrelevant, if she didn’t start walking everyone else would start leaving.
Peggy tried to walk forwards towards the exit and follow the other agents upstairs to the vans waiting for them but she stumbled and had to catch herself on the table. God it hurt like Hell on Earth.
“Watch yourself Carter.” Jack said with a hint of sympathy in his voice as he moved to assist her in case she stumbled again. God it was embarrassing to have to be saved by Jack Kelly of all people. She needed these men to know she was capable of defending herself and she didn’t need anyone else to come to her rescue. The last thing Peggy wanted people to see her as was a damsel in distress.
That was something which Sousa understood and on days like this she really seemed to miss him. He was respectful in a way that Jack was not. He would have allowed Peggy a moment to compose herself without drawing attention to her, but Kelly wasn’t exactly that good at thinking about others – especially her.
Whilst it had got better after the whole Dooley incident, she was still a woman in a man’s world and most of them had very little respect for her. If she couldn’t keep up then it was her problem not theirs.
Peggy steadied herself to start walking again, even though the thought of her having to walk up all those bloody stairs made her feel physically sick, when Jack held out his arm to stop her.
“Just take a breather Carter. You look like you took a real beating down here and we’re not in a rush.”
Maybe he wasn’t so tactless after all. Maybe things really were changing.
Even though all the other agents had left, Kelly sat down on the table in the middle and patted the space beside him for Peggy to sit and rest. She sat down gracefully, trying to keep her back straight so as not to disrupt her aching lungs too badly and breathed a comfortable sigh knowing that everyone else was hardly going to leave without their team leader.
“Well done today Carter by the way.” He began after a brief period of silence. “I know I don’t say it a lot but,” there was a brief pause in which Jack seemed almost at a loss of what to say, “you did good.”
With that he hopped of the table and offered Peggy a hand down which she declined – she may have been injured but she was far from useless – and began to head out of the vault making sure Peggy was okay following behind.
She may still have been aching and bruised and in a lot of pain but if was manageable. In fact, she had felt a lot better after her talk with Jack. Sure, his opinions about her worth didn’t really matter and she far from wanted or needed his approval, but just once in a while it was nice to know that she was appreciated.
A little bit of encouragement certainly helped with the pain and whilst it would hurt like Hell for a while, it hurt a lot less knowing people had her back – even if they didn’t often show it.