Alex and Jarvis announced themselves to the front desk, of course the narrative has changed greatly now that Alex had stepped in. On the way in Jarvis had explained his grand plan, which Alex told him was just terrible.
It consisted of marching right in, pulling out a briefcase and stating that Howard had signed a confession, which was really written by him, that explained how Peggy Carter was seduced by Howard into helping him clear his name.
Alex pointed out that you would have to be really stupid to believe that Peggy was so easily seduced. To which Jarvis explained just how little the agents at the SSR valued her. Next Jarvis explained how with this ruse, he hoped that Peggy would go free, and they then could go and find some evidence to prove her innocent.
Alex and Jarvis were waiting in the lobby for an agent of the SSR to come down and find them.
"So, your whole plan, was a hail-mary to whoever would listen?" Alex said.
"Pretty much, yes, look I realise that it wasn't the best plan, but it was the only one I could come up with." Jarvis said.
"Then thank your lucky stars, that I asked Ms. Bradley to keep an eye on you and Peggy once she came back from Russia." Alex said.
"That is something I'm curious about, did you know we were going to be in danger?" Jarvis said as he turned to look at Alex.
"Jarvis, I've know Peg's a long time, usually if she well supported she is an exceptional agent. Even better if you give her the resources she needs. But cut her off, and leave her alone with almost nothing and she starts to make moves with huge risks." Alex said as he spoke in a carefree way.
"What do you mean?" Jarvis said not having caught on.
"Peggy came to me for help, asking me for help, which sounded some alarms in my head so I took some precautions. Peggy knows what I'm capable of and the fact she came to me for my help means she found herself surrounded, by people she can't completely trust or she been excluded from the core of power. Our styles of doing things are very different, if I was to make a comparison then she is more like a scalpel quiet and to the point. Me, I'm the fucking bomb you drop when you want everything dead or destroyed." Alex said in an almost bored voice.
Jarvis stared at Alex for a few moments trying to process what he was told.
"I see." Jarvis said, suddenly he was wondering if he made a mistake in accepting his help.
An agent came down and got them, escorting them up to where the chief was waiting.
"What do you want Jarvis?" Dooley said as he was sitting in his office.
"Ah, well the release of Ms. Carter would do, but I'll leave it to Mr. Grey to negotiate on my and her behalf." Jarvis said as he motions to Alex to take the stage.
"Hello, chief Dooley if I'm not mistaken." Alex said as he extended his hand.
Dooley sat behind his desk making no motion in taking his hand.
"What does a lackey of Stark want with me." Dooley said, hostility in his voice.
"Hum, did you perhaps not receive a call from your superior? About me?" Alex said as he cocked his head a little.
"No, I got the call, didn't care for it much." Dooley said.
"Ho, I see, so you're going to pick the hard way." Alex said as a grin slowly made his way on his face.
Suddenly Dooley had a feeling that he'd just made a terrible mistake when he saw him grin like that a chill went up his spine as he stared. The man in front of him seemed to morph into a monster who just found a new toy to play with.
"This is perfect, you have made my day." Alex said with a smirk.
"I don't understand, why did I make your day." Dooley said, confusion and a little fear in his voice.
"Come now, Dooley, did you already forget the call you just had? My, my, such poor memory." Alex said with a creepy grin on his face.
The more this conversation continued, the more Dooley was losing his cool, there was something very disturbing about the man right in front of him. As he looked around in the office, he noticed that he wasn't the only one that was creeped out by him. Thompson had his hand on his gun as if he was about to pull his gun out and shoot him. Sousa had a death grip on his crutch, his face had a pale looked to it and his other hand was also on his gun. Jarvis was no better, the man was practically shaking, sweat was dripping down from his forehead. And him Dooley was sitting down his knees were like jello, as he looked to Grey his instinct was screaming him to run from him. Grey was grinning as if he was having a splendid time. Something about the way he carried himself right now, just screams predator.
Dooley reviewed the phone call he had received not even an hour ago. His boss told him that an 'Alexandre Grey' was coming to his office, and that he was to give him whatever it was he wanted, no matter what it was. Of course, at first, he had no problem with it since he wasn't even sure who he was. But as soon as he saw him with Jarvis, he could make a good guess on what he wanted, so figured that he would give him a hard time and make him go running back to his boss. But what he didn't expect was this feeling he got, as soon as drop any pretence of a respected businessman. He found himself in the presence of a beast who only saw him as a toy, to be played with, and left alone once broken.
"Let me tell you, what's going to happen right now, I'm going to go visit Peggy, and you and the Scooby gang are going to stay here and call your bosses. To which you will tell him that I'm not happy at all, then he's going to tell you, why you need to do everything I say. And by the time I get back, we'll talk again. Jarvis, come, we're going to pay a visit to Peggy." Alex said as he turned and walked away.
For some reason no one tried to stop him or contradict him, a little voice was telling them all, not to get in his way at this moment. Jarvis stumbled out of the office almost like if he didn't do it fast enough he would get punished by Grey.
Alex was struggling from going into a song and dance routine, that would really push everyone over the edge. He found out something fascinating about the Marvel universe a few years ago. At first, he thought he discovered his mutant powers, but it ended up not being a power just something that anyone could access. It was odd since no one seemed to realize when they did it or it was done to them. He called it aura, yes the thing he saw in anime, comic or manga. The invisible bubble that would project emotion outside of a limited range. When he discovered it he thought that he was the only one, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't the case. By trial and error, he figured that this aura anyone could have access to, as long as their emotion was strong enough. Since he became aware of it, he found that he had a better control of it. In the room with Dooley and the others, he used a mix of fear and coercion. It wasn't a real mind control, if he pushes too far, like say tell them to kill themselves, the effect would stop. But if he influences their feeling of guilt and fear to call and confess, as long as the act had no permanent danger to them they would comply.
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Of course, as more time passed the memory of it would weaken, so the next time he would meet them they wouldn't fear him as much, but they would remain cautious. Also, something else he found out about it was that the more someone was exposed to it the more they built an immunity to it. So even if he uses different emotions, the result wouldn't change every time it was used it would affect them less and less. It like dipping your toe into a hot bath, at first it feels too hot, but the more you dip it slowly but surely you become used to the temperature the more you can stand the heat, until your in with your whole body and you find it very conformable.
So it was always best to use it only for special occasions, and the fact that you had no control over directing it, you could only choose to unleash it or not, there wasn't (at least for now) a way for him to limit it to one person.
Alex walked in the interrogation room. Peggy looked up and was surprised to see him, he could see no sign that they had started the 'beating the truth out of them' tactic. So it would seem they had only tried talking so far.
"Hey there Pegs, so how's your day going so far?" Alex said as he sat down and smiled.
Before she could answer Jarvis came in, you could see that already he had recovered a great deal from the aura blast. Alex felt a little guilty about it, but if you consider the fact about this weird thing then it might just save his life in the future.
"Feeling better Jarvis?" Alex said.
Jarvis still hadn't found his voice but he nodded.
"Good, now you young lady, have some explaining to do." Alex said as he turned back to Peggy.
"How are you here? No before that why are you here." Peggy said in a confused tone.
"I believe, I can answer that. When you didn't rendezvous back with me, I knew something bad must have happened, so I came here with a badly made plan to get you out. Once I got here, I ran into Mr. Grey who also came to get you out, so we took his plan since he had one and now were are here." Jarvis said, obviously he wanted to avoid talking about what happened in the office.
"That's it in a nutshell, now it's your turn to tell me how I can help. Oh and when this is over you owe me dinner and a movie for dragging me into all this." Alex said with a grin.
"Fine, but first tell me what you found at the orphanage." Peggy said.
"Well, you were right, the place was a Hydra base, it seems that they have manage to infiltrate the red room program. I have some documents that you or anyone in the SSR will find interesting. The place wasn't one of their training facilities, it was a dump site for all their broken toys. Where they fix them as best they could, then they would be sent to any place that needed living breathing lab rats." Alex said, he had a sad smile as he explained what he saw and found. He also gave detail about the damage that some of the teens had to live with. Also his plan on taking them all in, and trying to give them better chances, that they would've had if they stayed back in the orphanage.
Peggy and Jarvis were shocked and appalled, at the brutal treatment that all of these children we're subjugated to. They both released a sigh of relief when he revealed that he was planning a massive adoption. Of course, the Russian government would no doubt make a great deal of noise about it. However, Alex was confident he had enough political capital to weather the shit storm that was coming.
Peggy for the moment remained tight lip about answering any and all of their questions, only motioning toward the mirror.
"So let me get this straight, you're not going to really answer until your sure you can talk without putting yourself in a compromising position?" Alex said as he stared at Peggy.
"Yes, I need to get out so I can stop Dottie. She got me right outside my apartment, in a way, I was lucky that Sousa and Thompson caught me when they did. Or else I wouldn't be here now." Peggy said.
Sousa came in the room looking much better, but he still looked at Alex with caution.
"Chief Dooley wants you back in his office." Sousa said, his tone clear that it wasn't a request.
"Very well, Pegs give me a few minutes and I'll get you out soon." Alex said as he got up.
Sousa moved toward Peggy, unlocking her from the table.
"The chief wants to talk to all of you." Sousa said, as he motioned for all of them to move.
They all move back in the office of Dooley, who at the moment was speaking to an older man with a bald head. The man got up and excuse himself before leaving and waiting outside. Thompson walk in the office last and closed the door.
"I had a chat, with the senator." Dooley said, he was much calmer now, but there was a grimace on his face as if he was forced to swallow something that didn't agree with him.
"He said, and I quote, give him anything he wants, short of committing treason. So I thought about it, and I've come to the conclusion, that if you're here for her today. Then the only possible solution is either a hell of a coincidence or your in on it too. Dooley said.
Alex just sighed as he rolled his eyes. He then turned to look at Peggy. "Now I see why you came to find me. I would also despair if this was the crack team I had to work with." Alex said, as he simply sat there in almost a bored tone.
"What did you say." Thompson said as he jumped up, anger in his voice as he approached Alex.
Alex ignored him, as he didn't move his eyes away from Dooley.
"Their no need for this circus, what is it do you want?" Alex said.
"Well, for first, I want the files you got from your trip to Russia. As for Peggy, the best I will do for now, is uncuff her but she stays in a room until my agent has gone through those document with a fine-tooth comb." Dooley said, the stubborn look on his face said plenty on his stance.
It was too bad that all of them had recently been exposed to aura, since it wouldn't work again in such a short time, especially since right now their body would be able to fight it off easily.
Alex turned to Peggy, gave a nod. "Sorry Pegs, this is the best deal I'm going to get for now. If you got another card to play, now would the time to use it." Alex said, there was some regret in his voice. The fact that this was all he could manage for now was frustrating.
"It ok, just the fact that you're here, is good for now. But chief Dooley, please at the very least send a team to bring Dottie in. She was a part of the red room so...." Peggy said.
"Enough! Carter, you had your chances, I don't want to hear you and your blame shifting." Dooley said, in anger as he slammed his hands on his desk and propelled himself up.
After that, the room remained quiet. Finally, Dooley motioned to Sousa to take the cuffs from Peggy. Alex opened his case and handed over the document. Then the three were the escorted in an empty office to wait.
"Well, that went rather well?" Jarvis said as he tried to alleviate the atmosphere.
All three sat and looked around, they could see the whole room, most of the agent took a quick look up before avoiding eyes contact with them. As they waited Peggy started to explain more on her motives to Alex and as she came to the end she stopped.
Getting up and moving closer to the window she watched in horror, as she realised that maybe they had been mistaken all this time. She quickly took a pen and paper.
"What is it, Ms. Carter?" Jarvis said, as he approached, he also came to realise the same thing that Peggy had.
"So, by the looked you two have, I'm going to take a wild guess and say there is a mole and you two just figured it out." Alex said, with a smirk in a joking tone.
"Yes, there is a mole, and I now have to play that hidden card you spoke of earlier." Peggy said, as she finished writing the decoded message, she got up ready to walk right back out into the same fire she had just been pulled out of.
"Goddamn it." Alex said, as he looked up and wave his fist in the air.