After the Iris Club
Peggy giggled as she stumbled a little into Bucky’s side. He chuckled warmly at her, adjusted his hold on her arm twined through his to better steady her, and with his other hand made a quick adjustment to the angle of his hat against the cool night air of London town. Peggy’s heels clicked on the cobblestones, the music from the dance hall behind them faded as the door closed behind them. That didn’t stop Bucky from continuing the tune by humming cheerfully as they made their slightly staggering way down the street and around the corner. There were a few other couples around the streets that night, some heading towards the dancehall, hair coiffed and whisping slightly out of artful curls, dress shirts well pressed and shoes well shined. An elderly couple strolled slowly past them, giving them a fond look. They continued on their way a little longer, all carefree and enjoying a night of fun amidst the warfare, then, when Bucky felt Peggy’s grip tighten on his arm and her perfectly painted nails dug into him through his jacket, he slowed a little, giving her hand a little understanding pat. Message received.
They walked on down the street, turned into the next, passing under pools of amber lamplight. The both of them making the perfect picture of a rather stylish couple out enjoying a night on the town, perhaps slightly tipsily making their way back to their rooms or the next dancehall. The next street was much quieter, just a couple of young lads in uniform out for the night. All nice and calm. Peggy leaned into Bucky’s side, wrapping her arm further around his and drawing his shoulder closer for her to lean on.
“Two men behind us,” she whispered softly. From behind, it would look as if she were leaning in for a kiss. “Next alleyway, Sergeant?”
“Sure thing, Mogs.” He replied, a little louder than a whisper, pulling his arm free of hers just in time to avoid the inevitable retaliation for the despised nickname. Instead, he slung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, grinning and pointedly ignoring the fuming glare inches from his jugular.
Rather than giving him what he rightly had coming to him, Peggy let her fury go in another giggle. She gave a little nervous looking glance around before they reached the next alleyway, careful not to actually look behind her fully. Bucky had stopped his humming but his grin was still in place, at least until they entered the narrow little alley. The instant they were off the street proper, Peggy ducked out from under his arm, her back going ramrod straight, her head tilted up defiantly and her hand already drawing a small but heavy item from her purse. Bucky rolled his eyes a little at her before settling his balance and listening carefully for the footsteps following after them.
Nearly fifteen seconds later two men with their hats pulled down low sprung rather too quickly around the corner into the alley. They had about half a second to choke on their surprise before they were quickly and efficiently knocked unconscious. One by a swift blow from a conveniently small but weighty cudgel, and the other from a neat, well-practised right hook.
Peggy took a step back, brushed down her skirt in a business-like manner and gave the men at their feet an appraising look.
“Pretty handy there, Mogs.” Bucky nodded to the cudgel in her hand still. The look Peggy gave him was about as sharp as edged steel.
“Call me ‘Mogs’ one more time and you’ll get to experience it first-hand.”
Bucky shrugged and crouched to rifle through the pockets of their would-be assailants.
“Didn’t you understand my signal?” Peggy asked curtly. “I thought I was being rather clear.”
“Yeah, I got yer message. M’surprised m’not bleeding.” He grumbled lightly. “You wanna think about cuttin’ those claws a’yours?”
Bucky was nonchalant on the outside, but he was also recalling Steve telling him about the time Peggy had shot at him in Howards lab. He didn’t doubt for a second Peggy would do it, but then she’d have to account for his black eye when they returned to the SSR. Maybe the thought of not wanting to actually brain Captain Roger’s best friend would be enough to give him a little leeway with this particular Agent.
“Not HYDRA goons. Got nuthin’ in particular on ‘em.” Bucky announced. Peggy kicked aside the now broken bottle that had fallen from the hands of the man she had knocked out.
“Simple thugs out for a night’s mugging.” She surmised, somewhat disappointed.
“Charming place, London.”
“About as charming as Brooklyn, actually.” Peggy drawled as Bucky rose to give her an assessing look.
“Hey, Brooklyn’s great.”
“I suppose it’s not without its charms. Pity you’re not one of them, Sergeant.”
“I don’t recall steppin’ on your toes earlier, Pegs, so if I did something to upset you that bad you’re gonna have to bring it to my attention.”
“Oh, you haven’t done a thing, Sergeant.” She said sweetly, flowing past him, pausing briefly at the mouth of the alley before stepping out onto the street again. She half turned towards Bucky, looking over her shoulder. “The warehouse we’re looking for is just this way, do keep up. And Sergeant? Don’t call me ‘Pegs’”
Bucky sighed and followed her, carefully scanning the streets in case there were any more professional looking men on their tails.
Gone was the tipsy stumbling and the giggles, gone the humming and the grinning. They may as well have been two different people than the ones who left The Iris Club a mere ten minutes ago.
They kept to the well-lit streets for only a little longer before necessity drove them to keeping in the shadows. As normal as it was for a giggling couple to slip into an alleyway for a little fun, it was a little less normal for a couple to be seen sneaking into a warehouse in the night.
Bucky kept his pace a little behind Agent Carter, keeping his eyes open for any sign of movement and his ears open for any sound of any more followers. The quiet should have been reassuring, but Bucky longed to feel the weight of his rifle in hand. Peggy’s little cudgel was great for coshing some mooks in an alley but would be much less useful against an enemy with a good long range weapon and a decent line of sight.
After another ten minutes of increasingly tense, silent walking they came to the collection of warehouses they were looking for. Two of them stood close to each other whilst a third and fourth made up a square around an open courtyard. There were a few parked lorries and plenty of shipping pallets and rather annoyingly a collection of workers apparently doing some overtime.
“Falsworth didn’t mention them.” Bucky groused quietly as they drew up behind a wall.
“If we’re careful we won’t need to worry about them. They’ll be off to the pub soon enough.” Peggy gestured to one of the warehouses. “Our one is there, on the left.”
“Huh, ohkay, so is there a way ‘round the back? Cus I don’t think it’s gonna matter how good you are at knocking guys out, there’s too many of ‘em to get away with doing it quickly and quietly.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Sergeant. No need for us to cause a fuss, Falsworth said there’s a way round the back.”
Some quiet sneaking about led to the two of them sizing up the chain link fence, some seven feet high, stretched between the walls of the two warehouses barring their way.
“I take it Falsworth didn’t mention this to you either. Got any wire cutters?” Bucky asked innocently.
“As a matter of fact, yes. I did come prepared, you know.” She ignored Barnes’ look of mild confusion as she pulled a slim pair of cutters from her purse.
“You got a lot of things in there?”
“Quite a number of things, none of which are currently your business.”
Bucky huffed and turned to keep watch.
“Is sarcasm the only form of communication you Brits know about? How does any of you know how to take each other seriously?”
“We manage. It’s just certain others we find it difficult to take seriously.”
“Uh-huh. Falsworth is just as bad, though he’s usually a little less mean, y’know?”
It was Peggy’s turn to sigh heavily this time as she paused and looked back at Bucky irritably.
“Honestly, for a sniper you really are chatty.”
“I get lonely perched at range. It’s nice to have some company.” He deadpanned.
“Good heavens! You’re picking up the local lingo rather quickly.”
Bucky tipped his hat at her.
“Just wonderin’ if all you Brits’ve gotta mean streak is all.” He mused with a slight edge to his voice.
Peggy bit her lip to stifle her immediate retort which would have indeed been a stinging reply. She was beginning to feel a little baited and wasn’t willing to give the Sergeant any more fuel to use against her. Let him stew in his own bitterness for a while. Instead she bent to her task and cut a neat line up through the links, peeling back the wire to create a gap just large enough for them both to squeeze through. Bucky pulled the thin metal back into place behind them, though it wouldn’t fool anyone on close inspection, it would hopefully look alright from a distance and stop anyone from having cause to investigate closer.
“Shall we?” Bucky gestured ahead as he turned to find Peggy waiting for him. She gave him a withering look and turned to lead the way carefully to a set of somewhat rickety looking stairs going up the outside of the building.
“See there?” she pointed up towards a small window above them. “That’s the office we need.”
At the top of the steps Bucky gave Peggy an expectant look, she resisted the urge to slap the smirk off his face and instead made quick work of picking the lock.
“Honestly, I’m not sure why you’re here at all, Barnes, if you’re not going to start pulling your weight I might have to insist you stay at the club next time.”
“Fine by me. I’m not the one who came with a tool kit that matches her outfit.”
“Precisely why you’re not really needed.” Peggy smiled sweetly at him.
Peggy had at first decided to brush off the Sergeant as just another cocky American soldier out for guts and glory. Her initial opinion had been tempered somewhat by the constant glowing reports of friendship and care from Steve and then the numerous good reports from not only the brass but Barnes’ peers. The fact that his easy grace and proud charm were not affected solely for the sake of attracting female company, but were genuine parts of his personality only irritated her all the more. He was intelligent as well as an able fighter and an apparent crack shot. Not to mention the devotion he clearly felt towards Steve and the endearing way in which Steve returned the mutual feeling. But all his intelligence did for her was make it clear that he knew how to make jabs of his words and she couldn’t help but wonder exactly how Steve had put up with this man for so long.
As for Bucky, he followed Peggy down the walkway above the main body of the warehouse, eyeing the back of her head intently as if hoping to read her thoughts and intentions as plainly as a book. A lost cause if there ever was one, even if reading-minds was possible he doubted he’d be able get through the walls she threw up to stop anybody getting in. Here was this amazing bombshell of a dame, capable of not only holding her own, but outclassing pretty much everyone from the greenest private to the roughest Drill Sergeant. She was more than capable of standing up for herself and others and she looked like a million bucks whilst she was at it.
At first he’d been stunned when she’d waltzed into the room. She had been the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a long while, standing there in that red number like a fire in the room drawing everyone’s attention. But then she’d only had eyes for Steve. And, while he couldn’t really blame her for that, he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d ever looked at Steve that way before the serum. Before the stars and stripes got plastered on him and before he picked up that shield and become Captain damn America. It wasn’t that he envied Steve the attention. Well…maybe a little, it was new being overlooked for Steve, but that was alright, really, because it was about damn time the world started seeing Steve the way Bucky always had. If they were all only just now catching on to what a great thing Steven Grant Rogers was then they had better get in line to appreciate it because Bucky had been there the whole time telling the world just that. So if this dame was just after Steve for the thrill of it, for the status or the fame or the whatever…. if she was leading Steve on or planning on just getting her thrills and leaving Steve heartbroken, well then, Bucky would have a few things to say about that. He might not need to fight off guys in an alley to protect Steve anymore, the thought was laughable now, but for all the points in Steve’s favour he didn’t really know a damn thing about women. And so, Bucky vowed that if this or any other dame had designs on Steve, well they’d need to pass his muster first.
The door to the office soon yielded before Peggy’s nimble fingers and lock-picks. They found themselves in a neat little room with large windows overlooking the warehouse floor. From the office they could look down over the crates and boxes and shelves stacked there. There was a desk in the back middle of the room and filing cabinets filled in the corners. Some papers were stacked under a weight on the desk and an umbrella had been left in a bucket by the door.
“Falsworth’s information should be in one of these cabinets.” Peggy announced.
“I’m gonna give him hell later for his vague as anything instructions.” Bucky groaned.
It took them about an hour of increasingly frustrating searching through the files till Bucky laid his hands on the one they needed, an encoded message hidden away by the SSR informant and cousin of the warehouse owner.
Peggy quickly scanned through the message enough to know that it was definitely what they’d come for, before handing it back to Bucky who carefully folded it and placed it into the inner pocket of his jacket.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had quite enough of this assignment. Let’s get back to H.Q, shall we?” Peggy asked, checking the room was as they’d found it.
“Yes, ma’ am.” Bucky replied dryly and Peggy realised with a stab of sheer frustration that it was the only time that evening he’d bothered to address her with any particular formality with respect to her rank. She was about to point this out to him when a loud cry went up in the distance and an unfortunately familiar wailing siren started up, followed by another, and another, until a chorus of air raid sirens split the so far quiet night accompanied by the distant rumbling of the planes. She cut off her retort as both she and Bucky snapped quickly into action.
“We need to get out of here and into the nearest shelter, now!” she hissed.
Bucky just nodded and shoved her through the doorway and out onto the warehouse walkway.
“There’s a community shelter nearby for the workers.” Peggy called over her shoulder, “It’s a couple of streets away though we’ll have to hurry.”
Bucky was glad of her local knowledge now more so than at any other time that evening. True she’d been the one able to find the right warehouse but he had no idea where the local shelters were. He clamped his jaw shut on the rising panic and did his best to ignore how the warehouse walkway suddenly felt a lot like the top of the walkway in the HYDRA factory Steve had pulled him out of.
There was noise everywhere, air raid sirens, loud bombers and people yelling.
They were just about to clatter through the door and out down the back stairs the way they’d come in when the roaring noise of the planes was suddenly and eerily drowned out by the wailing of the sirens and the piercing whine of something falling too close by. Battlefield instinct kicked in and Bucky lunged, grabbing Peggy around the waist. He’d planned on pulling her back from the door and windows when there was an almighty crash followed instantaneously by the ground beneath the warehouse seeming to buck up under them, a shockwave blew out the windows and something smashed into the wall. The walkway gave out and something hard and unyielding slammed into Bucky’s back. His legs gave out as the breath was knocked out of him and the walkway was groaning and falling and something was throwing him and Peggy backwards. Splintering wood, smashing glass, crumbling brickwork, deafening noise, rush of hot air and cold wind and flash of bright light and sharp pain and darkness.