Agent Carter: The Better Man: The RIght Partner 8

Daniel and Peggy made their way back to SSR headquarters at the phone company facade, while Steve headed back to the USO offices. On the way back in the cab, Peggy sitting between Steve and Daniel, they looked at each other with a palpable uneasiness. Nobody spoke. By the time they'd dropped Steve off, and were the only ones left in the backseat, they could barely look at each other.
“It's – troubling” Peggy finally spoke, not looking at Daniel.
“Yeah” he agreed, glancing furtively at her momentarily.
Inside, Peggy was awash with questions. The concept of a double agent was nothing new, and had been part of her SOE training as well as later training in the SSR. A myriad of questions loomed in her head, among them were some that repeated,
“Did anyone turn up out of nowhere, and get on famously with members  within hours of joining?”
“Did any agent speak of a wife or girlfriend at first, but suddenly leave her from conversations?”
“Is someone  real keen for our cause, but can't explain why? Or rather, overzealous, even urging other agents to do more?”

She glanced over to where Daniel sat as he worked on past cases. Her mind drifted to how Steve was different now. A memory washed over her, that time in the small airplane, flying over Hydra occupied Germany, with Steve ready to leap out though they hadn't reached their landing destination. He simply wasn't listening to her
She's yelled at him, “You can't give me orders”
“The hell I can't” he'd yelled back, “I'm a Captain”
The statement had been with a smile on his face, but the sentiment had been all wrong. In truth, he was no more a Captain than she was the Queen of England, as Gilmore Hodge had joked with a smirk on his face. The memory brought a smile to her face, and she choked back the bitterness that tinged the thought.
Daniel on the other hand, oh he was so different. Not simply to her, but to every other agent, and from every other agent who walked the halls of the SSR building. He wasn't cocky like Thompson, or a Lothario like Krzeminski, and he didn't look at her like she was some lost kitten, the way Dooley, her commanding officer here, often did.
“Sooner or later, word of this double agent suspicion will be rampant through out the office” she glanced furtively at the other agents who milled about, working on their cases, or collaborating fraternally. Questions sprang into Peggy's mind,
“Was there any agent who ever accused others of being double agents as a way to divert attention from themselves?” she looked at Agent Yauch and Agent Wallace, seemingly model agents, at least inconspicuous, and even more queries flashed in her mind, “Were there any agents  who were excessively helpful – offering to ferry people to protests, take them home afterwards, or any who had a vehicle, in which he'd offer to make available to transport fellow agents to and from?”
She looked up from her thoughts to Daniel. He seemed rather helpful. What if he was too helpful? Would he volunteer for tedious tasks which, while doing the rest of the team a favor, allow him access to data? “God, the whole thing could be wholly detrimental” she shuddered as she realized the enormity of everything.
Just then, Chief Dooley shouted from his office
“Flynn, get in here” he bellowed, “now!”
The bespectacled man rushed in. Peggy shook her head in dismay as she saw this. Flynn was, as far as she was concerned, one step above a lap dog. If Agent Thompson was Dooley's golden boy, then Flynn was Dooley's walking boot-lick, always currying favor.
The door closed behind them.
Peggy pursed her lips. If anyone might be a double agent, Flynn was a suitable contender.
“How about that?” Daniel whistled.
“How about what?” Peggy inquired.
“This” Daniel swiveled around in his desk chair, “seems like Project Rebirth was a highly-classified United States government project, the goal of which was the creation of Super-Soldiers to be deployed in the war against the Axis Powers”
“You do understand how well versed I am with that?” Peggy sighed
“Yeah” Daniel was curt, but continued, “blood samples were taken by scientists, from Rogers, in hopes of replicating the serum after Dr. Erskine's death”
“Do go on” Peggy had lived this. She didn't want to hear it again
“No” Daniel stood up, with some effort, plugged his arm into his crutch and tossed the folder of papers on her desk, “You know everything about this, right? Then you can read it yourself” he turned and stalked off as best he could.
Peggy looked at the folder with dismay. She'd been so focused on her own point of view, she hadn't stopped to think about Daniel. Everyone cracked jokes about Steve and her, often within earshot. She knew fully well why people thought she was an agent, and their feelings had nothing to do with her sharpshooting skills. She sighed and opened the folder. There was no use going after Daniel now. Silently, she read,
“After Erskine's death, the shooter, Heinz Kruger ultimately committed suicide with a cyanide pill. Erskine's serum was lost, as the vial Kruger had was destroyed in his flight from Rogers; the project was disbanded. Blood samples were taken from Rogers by scientists and Peggy Carter in hopes of recovering the serum; of the twelve samples taken, one was given to Howard Stark.”
“That was why everyone was looking through Howard's work” she realized, “they're searching for that vial.” she closed the folder, “There might be no double agent at all!”
Peggy stood to refile the folder back where it belonged. She walked the length of the bullpen over to the file room. She overheard a few fellow agents in the break room, listening to the radio. She frowned in anger as she heard what they were listening to,
“And now it's time for "The Captain America Adventure Program," brought to you by Roxxon motor oil. Tonight's thrilling tale takes us deep into the heart of the Ardennes Forest, where Hitler's Nazi guard have ambushed the 107th Infantry and taken Betty Carver, the battalion's beautiful triage nurse as their hostage."
Peggy kept walking, not looking back. She shoved the file into its proper slot in the alphabetical lineup, and left the storage room.
No sooner had she reached her desk than the phone rang. She picked it up within two rings and smiled at the response,
“Steve, do you have any time off?”
“I really can't do anything now” his voice sounded tinny over the phone line, “but, I couldn't leave my best girl.”
Peggy's smile faded. She'd heard that phrase, except it hadn't come from him.
It had come on the Captain America Adventure Program.
Steve continued,
“I thought we could go out tonight” he paused, “Maybe see a movie?”
“Are you sure you wouldn't rather go out with Betty Carver?” she scowled and hung up the phone.
“Agent Carter” Chief Dooley called out, “A word, please?”