Respect | S. Rogers [1]

31 | LOVE IS IN THE AIR

August 1955
SHIELD Compound, New Jersey

"Newark, New Jersey."

The words came out of her mouth automatically after she let go of the item in her hands.

"New Jersey," the agent repeated incredulously.

"Yes."

"So, he's not at the other side of the world he's...here," he mused.

"Uhm. It's smart— if you think about it. He's been hiding right under our noses."

"Right, I'll prep a team. Thank you, Agent Thompson."

She nodded and walked out of the room into the hall filled with the cacophony of agents talking and walking.

"A-A-gent T-Thompson..." Rosemary turned around to greet the scared first-year trainee, rumours of her at Hydra had only gone down slightly.

"Yes?"

"There's some p-people w-waiting for you in meeting r-room number 1," he spoke quickly, stammering over a few words.

"Okay, do you know whom?"

"Some g-govern-" he coughed, "some government people ma'am," he said firmly, getting a grip on his emotions.

She tilted her head in confusion but didn't ponder further on the matter. "Alright, thank you, Agent Maisel," she replied to him receiving a nod in return. She watched him go before going to the meeting room to greet whoever had come.

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Agent Thompson scoffed half-humoured, half-offended. "No."

Behind her, Peggy spoke. "We already had this conversation, Senator."

The man ignored her, speaking to Rosemary. "We have given you the benefit of the doubt. It's been five years, if you don't agree to this then SHIELD can no longer continue," he directed that last part to the rest of the people in the room.

"Gentlemen, we've been having this conversation for years now," Howard's nonchalant tone made it seem like he was bored, but that was just a way of keeping his anger and annoyance in check. "The answer is no."

Rosemary hid her surprise at the new information.

Years ago when SHIELD was in making, there had been an issue regarding Rosemary's participation in the project. She had been pardoned, but people were still wary of allowing a new organization with an ex-Hydra assassin to be formed. Someone had proposed the idea of Rosemary offering herself to experiments and providing samples of her blood, so they could study her physiology to have a shot of creating someone that could defend the country. 

Without Captain America's blood, there was no chance of recreating the super-soldier serum, but they had Rosemary now.

Of course, she refused profusely. They still managed to move forward with SHIELD despite the reluctance of the Senate and other bodies of the government.