Coffee, Courage and a Captain

Chapter Fifteen: An Unexpected Meeting

The trio were sitting by the control panels- Howard reading aloud from the newspaper to annoy Charlotte and amuse Erskine- when a flurry of noise and people at the doors to the lab made them all stand quickly.

Phillips strode into the lab first, seeing Charlotte's plants in the corner- essentially out of sight- and nodded in approval at her. She gave him a terse smile, sipping on her fourth coffee as she watched the dozen men in suits stride into the room as well, taking in the bank of switches. Howard had remained true to his word about getting coffee into Charlotte and as they went through their final checks for the past two hours, she had to admit that she had definitely perked up once she reached coffee number three.

The group of men walked over the clunky metal landing that led them to the shielded glass observation room for the laboratory below.

A man wearing a charcoal grey suit with a red and gold tie paused before stepping away from the door and looked at Phillips. "This had better be worth it," he said, Charlotte tilting her head as she observed him.

"Of course, Senator," Phillips said hurriedly, and Charlotte turned to Howard- who was still reading his paper.

"Who is that?" she whispered to Howard, who glanced up from his paper to see who she was asking him about.

"That's Senator Brandt. He's a patron," he informed her boredly, returning to his paper.

Charlotte looked worriedly at the booth. Erskine noticed her expression, and patted her shoulder gently.

"It will all be fine, Charlotte," he said, looking down at the notebook she had carried with her every day since they had started working at the lab. "Do you want me to hold onto your notebook until we are done?"

She smiled. "Thanks," she said, handing it over and watching him store it in his jacket pocket.

Phillips descended the metal staircase and walked over to them, his expression grim. From what Erskine had told Charlotte, the candidate he had chosen was somebody Erskine thought showed great promise, but was not Phillips's choice.

"This had better work," he gritted out.

Howard frowned, lowering his paper and folding it. "When have I ever let you down?" he asked.

Phillips stared at him. "I don't want to have to fill out a tonne of paperwork and explain to our patrons why I vaporised a soldier in front of them. That's something they're not supposed to see."

Charlotte looked up at the observation room- in particular one of the men in a light grey suit who was busy berating one of the lab techs he had forced to wipe down his seat. "Yes, how will they cope, indeed?" she mused aloud, earning a look from Phillips.

"And I don't want to hear you run your mouth, Red," Phillips said. "These people support our work. Without their support, the contract Stark has with us would be null and void."

He stomped off angrily to join the men in the observation room upstairs, and Howard stared at the somewhat happy expression on Charlotte's face.

"Ah, Charlie? I think that was a mean thing he just said to you. Your reaction looks like he just gave you an un-kicked puppy."

Erskine was smiling at Charlotte's expression. "He treats her like he does us," he informed Howard softly. "Like an equal."

Howard stared after Phillips. "Didn't know the man had it in him. Up until now, I was almost certain he was a robot."

Charlotte laughed and slapped Howard's arm lightly as the doors to the lab opened. Peggy stepped through, her heels clanking on the metal of the landing as she waved to the men in the observation booth, the subject for their trials standing next to her.