agent peggy carter

@xknowmyvalue

thor understood entirely too well that when he had reached for his axe it didn’t budge from the perch it had been placed upon. he knew exactly what it meant and knew that finally, after all these years of doubt and worry, that he had been proven to not be worthy. closing his eyes, he exhaled slowly and bowed his head, accepting the all-father’s wishes and turning to look at the planet he’d been banished to; earth.

this, however, was unlike the last time - this time he was placed in the era of his fellow teammate steve roger’s. furrowing his brows, the norse god made his way on foot to the city,. he was lost, penniless, and had only hoped that he’d be greeted with a familiar and kind face to at least show him where he could go, where he could apply for a job - anything.

he was no longer thor, god of thunder, king of new asgard, but he was thor, or as his alias once was, donald blake. bringing his gaze up, he spotted a woman doing some shopping in a nearby department store, recognizing her face, he rushed towards it, knocking on the front window - “peggy carter,” he whispered, recognizing her for the woman that steve had once loved greatly. entering the store, he followed her before attempting to gain her attention. “peggy? yes? have you seen steve rogers? it is urgent, i need him.”

Peggy turned to look at the man staring at her through the window. It wasn’t polite to address a lady so rudely in public -- part of Peggy very aggressively didn’t care, and could sense the panic coming off the man in waves, but those instincts were buried deep within her. The window become a door, and she pushed it open slowly, heels clicking against the concrete as she stepped outside.

Steve Rogers. Something long and forgotten blazed to life in Peggy’s chest for the briefest of seconds, but the recognition was gone, plastered over with pictures of a man in a silly outfit, dancing around the television screen. “Everybody knows Captain America,” she said, adjusting her grip on the shopping basket. In stark contrast to the sudden thundering fear and rage at the pit of her stomach, her eyes went wide and her voice got almost-- breathy. Dull. “Are you in trouble?”

Peggy blinked once, twice, three times, and felt a spark of recognition somewhere in the back of her mind. “I know you,” she intoned in a hollow voice. “Thor, God of thunder. That’s a silly name.”

Cut the chicken into serving portions, season with salt and pepper, brown in melted fat. Remove from pan. Stir flour into fat, cook until mixture browns and thickens. 

Peggy undertook each step of the recipe with slightly quivering fingers, and the Captain America radio show droned in the background. As much as she used her hands, wiped them on her frock, and smudged at her mouth and hair, not a curl came loose from her perfectly pinned together appearance. She kept cooking. Even as urgency strained against the front of her forehead, as panic welled up in her throat, she stirred the flour in steady, measured movements.

Someone appeared in her periphery. There was a young boy in her kitchen, sitting at the table. One of the children’s friends from school, perhaps.

“Do you know where soup stock is?” she asked, voice strange and panicked. The string of pearls around her throat seemed to tighten minutely, and she scratched at it with perfectly manicured fingernails. “I-... I need to finish the chicken before Michael gets home. I need to--” something else, she needed to do something else, “...to have dinner ready, or the children will be very cross with me.”

@xknowmyvalue​

Mantis had done what she could for the men that were set before her for healing purposes. She had much to learn but the most she could do for victims was make them more likely to survive transfers from what others were referring to as the ‘bomb site’ to the hospitals where they would be treated and hopefully saved.

Mantis was currently hovering a hand over one man with a chest wound, she was trying to easily remove some of the rubble that had embedded itself there and stop the major bleeding. The other was placed on his head to keep him from feeling the pain but also as a way for Mantis to keep track of his conscious mind. She would not know another way if he was still alive if she did not have any physical contact him. She could feel the pain in his body she was suppressing and was trying to make it as less so as possible for when the other medical workers would come for him and stabilize him further but there was just nothing more she could do from this point. There were too many things harming this man and while her job was nearly down she was still unsure if this would be enough to save him.

Mantis watched as the medical professionals took away the man she had been stabilizing several minutes ago and watched as more men and woman were brought into the emergency medical tent. She quickly went to work assessing the worst of the patients and tending to them as best as she could. There were others doing their job as well and the medical tent was one of the most bustling of the places around the compound. 

The emotions and devastation felt by the people working with her to save lives were all she could feel as they were clustered together, it was suffocating in a sense and it cast a shadow over them all. “How is this one?” She did not mean to be so… impersonal with someone or to sound that way it was a habit of her speech that she had not truly lost yet. The medical people did not seem to be too bothered with her use of words and simply took what help she could offer and offered their own in return. 

“There are so many…” She commented after some time going from bed to bed, exhausted and slightly out of breath from using so much energy to help heal the wounded. While doing her rounds to see if there was anyone else to help her exhaustion took hold of her and caused her to collide with another. “I am sorry.” She said resting a hand on the other feeling their emotions searching for if they were harmed. “Are you hurt as well? Is there something that I can do to help you?”

Peggy was nervous for Steve, nervous for the rest of the kind people she’d met since her arrival in the future, and angry about the teams of people apparently hunting enhanced individuals. The tac gear they’d been wearing was uncomfortably familiar, and Peggy was simply waiting for confirmation that they were involved with SHIELD. 

She felt a dim sort of frustration at the notion, but the organization had warped so much in the years since her apparent passing that she couldn’t even recognize it anymore. All that time ago, Dottie Underwood had been right. Her and Howard’s idealistic notions of preserving Steve’s legacy, doing the work he was meant to do, had promptly turned into something else entirely. 

Though Peggy’s immediate instinct to the physical contact was to judo-flip the person who’d touched her, this was more due to the adrenaline currently clenching her chest than the actual person.

The antenna, admittedly, did take a moment to adjust to. 

Peggy blinked for a second, then became startlingly aware that it was rude to stare, and quickly smothered her surprised expression with a smile. She gently supported the frame of the person who’d stumbled, though found the amount of weight relied to her slightly alarming. How could one person be so little?

Tony couldn’t help the grin at the thought of Stephen setting up a fortune telling booth. He already got mad enough when people thought he did children’s parties. “No, he’s actually a very powerful sorcerer and the keeper of the time stone.” He paused, then felt compelled to add, “And my partner.”

And speaking of relationships – he didn’t miss the way Peggy’s expression softened at the mention of Steve. And despite all the crap that had gone down between him and Cap, he genuinely wished the man some level of happiness. After all it hardly seemed fair - they’d faced the end of the universe together, and Cap was still pretty much rocking around looking for fight after fight, with nothing to come home to. 

He watched as Peggy thought it over, laughing a little at her jab at his father. God, she was brilliant - Tony could practically see the gears ticking over in her head, and the way she made the choice to give up everything she had known there for the sake of the people here…

“It’s not like we can zap you back right now,” he said, “And I imagine that even if we did find a way, it would take some time to carry out the necessary preparations.” He shrugged. “Anyway, I generally believe that rules are for other people, so if you want time, you have it.”

And there it was. He realised that he would do anything for her, even if she asked him to pluck the very stars from the sky. “But – personally? Selfishly? I’d love it if you stayed, even if it’s just for a bit.”

His mind raced ahead, plans already unfolding. “So, where are you staying, by the way? Do you need anyone to show you around? Steve had a hell of a time trying to adjust to this time - and technology advancements still aren’t his thing. Now you’re definitely not Steve, but I’d be more than happy to show you around. And if you need a place to stay, I have loads of room.”

Sorcerer. Christ. That did nothing to quell the ridiculous notions of capes and wands swimming around in her head, and she had the vague urge to laugh, a reaction which she successfully sublimated into a smile at Tony’s following confession. “Well done, then,” she teased gently, taking another sip of her now lukewarm tea. “I expect it’s not so easy, to enchant a sorcerer. I look forward to meeting him.”

Typically the ambiguity of the situation would grate Peggy’s nerves, but she found herself leaning into it. After all, she was no stranger to thinking on her feet, and she survived this long in a world of science, technology, and the things those fields deemed impossible.

Rules are for other people. Again, the familiarity tugged at her heart. She’d certainly miss her friends, but she was equally certain she’d find new ones here. Besides, people seemed to need help, and Peggy never could turn her back on that.

“Well, that’s settled then. I’ll stay put. At least for a little bit.” She set her mug down with a decisive clink, slinging one leg over the other and leaning back in her chair. “I’m living-- well, here, as it were. I hope that’s alright, I didn’t really... ask anyone. Do I need to sign a rent agreement or are you just running a group home for all the dispossessed and misfit toys?” 

he was beginning to get TIRED of the constant attacks. he couldn’t catch a break. didn’t these people have anything better to do? upon waking up in the rubble, bucky had done his best to get himself and natalia – whom he’d been with at the time of the blast, and who he’d jumped in front of in an attempt to protect her. something he knew he’d get an earful for later. he didn’t care. it was worth it. and he’d do it again.

once out of the rubble, bucky quickly realizes that his arm – the normal one – was broken. just like he’d suspected. he sighs, and after a few minutes of mild discomfort, slight pinches of pain and general awkwardness of the task, he manages to get his shirt off. he rips it and does his best afterwards to fashion it into a makeshift sling. it takes him a few minutes, but he does it. with his broken arm in a sling, he starts to assess his surroundings.

he’s got his gun in hand. on edge. he doesn’t know if anyone else who had been in the compound was alive. well, he wasn’t sure who, if anyone, had been in the compound at the time of the blast. more importantly, he wasn’t sure if the people who had caused the blast were still around. when he notices a figure begin to approach him, he raises his weapon at them.

but then she speaks. he’s able to get a better look at her. a ghost from his past. sarge, she’d called him. no one had called him that in… years. the title was almost unfamiliar at this point. he lowers his gun and holsters it, but the bionic hand still hovers over it. just in case. seeing peggy only added to his confusion, considering he was fairly sure she had died. she seemed to have an explaination for it, which helped some, but it still left him speechless for a moment. “agent carter,” he replies, voice void of emotion as he gives her a small nod. “as okay as i can be.” he glances to his other arm. “you?” a brow raises.

his mind automatically goes to how different he must be now compared to sargent barnes from the 40′s. he wonders how long she’s been here. how much she knows, if she knows anything about what had happened in the years since the war. the years since her death. “does steve know you’re here?” 

Peggy’s eyes only catch on the metal arm for a fraction of a second before darting back to the horizon, quickly scanning the perimeter. The scarring around the joint tugs at her chest, but it’s not the kind of reaction she can fully process at the moment. “I’m fine,” she assures, fixing him with a small, grim smile. “Questioning the effectiveness of this team’s emergency protocols, but fine. And you can probably just call me Peggy, now. Based on the events of today, I might actually be unemployed.”

Peggy considers the question, grip tightening minutely on the handle of her gun. For a split second she yearned from the comforting grooves of her old pistol, but the nostalgia is there and gone in seconds. “If you mean here as in back from the dead, then yes. I don’t think he knows I’m in the compound.” The phone she’d been given had been crushed in the explosion, though she supposed, in any case, Steve probably wasn’t the phone-answering type. She felt an irritatingly sentimental twinge of worry and affection. “Have you seen him?”

He can hear footsteps before he sees who it is, and when she finally comes into his vision he breathes a sigh of relief. Seeing someone wearing something different from tac gear was good, but seeing her with a gun should have scared him.

Instead, at the mention of Steve, he calms down and approaches her, taking the piece of cloth from her hand and nodding. “This is pretty bad.” He tells her as he immediately ties up the area needed to be, thanking whatever knowledge he had left from training so long ago. Training alone was way worse than training everyday with the others.

“I’m Pietro. Uh, I’m pretty close to the team.” Another one of Tony’s adopted kids, he thinks, and he offers her a small smile despite everything. It was good to see a friendly face.

“Do you happen to know where the others are?”

Peggy dimly registered Pietro’s words, smoothing them over with a small smile, even as he tightened the bandage on her arm. “I’ve been impaled,” and not that long ago, to boot. The place on her him was occasionally sore. “So that sort of ruined other injuries for me.”

After a second and a half, the name properly registered, and Peggy connected it with the flashcards she definitely hadn’t made to remember everyone’s names. “I met your sister,” Peggy recalled, mind conjuring up an image of the young girl with dark hair. “Very briefly, when I first arrived. It’s nice to meet you.”

Peggy’s ears were still ringing slightly from the explosion, and she thought she might be bleeding from her temple. Everything had happened so fast and she struggled to get her bits about her as she hunted for a part of the compound that wasn’t actively collapsing. Shutting her eyes briefly, she groped for the wall and attempted to turn (the remains of) a corner, only to find herself face to face with another person.

The first thing she noticed was that they weren’t wearing tac gear, which was a relief. After a moment’s hesitation, she noted that there was something distantly familiar in their face -- under dark, unkempt hair, a shadowy expression, haunting eyes -- she saw -- she recognized...

“Sarge?”

For a moment Peggy could only blink in shock, frozen in place as her mind worked to catch up with her mouth. She’d known he was alive, of course, she’d read the briefings and watched the footage, but hearing about it and seeing it were different matters entirely.

This was disconcerting. It reminded him - almost painfully - of Peggy’s bad days when dementia had set in, when she had mistaken him for Howard, or looked at him like he was a stranger. But it was also different. This Peggy’s gaze was clear and focused, her diction precise and heartachingly familiar. 

“Hang on,” he muttered, then pinched himself. Wait a beat and pinched himself again. When he still didn’t wake up, he glanced back at Peggy with a grin. “Okay, just checking.” 

His brain was already racing ahead, and he nodded along with her explanation of the possibilities. Reality stone or time stone made sense - he understood from Stephen that the reality stone was still missing, and all the stones had been cracked. God knew what that had done to the universe… what it was possibly still doing to the universe.

“Two possibilities,” he said, ticking the points off on his finger tips. “One, you’re from a parallel universe, which isn’t as bombastic as it sounds, and two, you’re time displaced - plucked from – what was the date where you were last at? – and brought to the future. However, given that you didn’t disappear from the timeline here and you’ve never so much as mentioned time travel when you were older, I’m leaning more towards the parallel universe theory. Of course, you could have travelled here, then travelled back, and just kept the whole thing a very closely guarded secret.” He shrugged. “Fortunately, I have someone who’s an expert in time ma– ah, time travel and parallel universes.” 

He paused. “Assuming you’d like to go back, of course.”

Was it selfish to hope that she’d stay, that he’d get to know her better, that –

Of course it was. Shame on him for even thinking that way. “I … should warn you – Steve Rogers is running around somewhere.”

Peggy watched Tony pinch himself with no small measure of amusement, quirking an eyebrow at the silliness even as her mouth tipped in a smile. She felt a strange surge of affection for this person she barely knew. 

“Hm. Both are plausible, I’m quite good at secrets.” Peggy did her best to take the whole ‘parallel universe’ bit in stride, figuring that if the Red Skull was possible, and if Whitney Frost was possible, there were few limits on what the universe could do. “I have questions, though, especially about your time traveling friend. Right now I’m picturing one of those Penny For A Fortune booths at the fair and I don’t think that’s quite right.”

The notion that she might go back was surprising, though the rest of the feelings it brought forth weren’t exactly easy to parse in the moment. At the mention of Steve, though, Peggy’s heart predictably thumped a little louder in her chest. She’d been mocked for this relationship before, but her gut said Tony was kind, that he was much better than that.

“Steve and I have been reacquainted,” Peggy assured with a faint smile.

“Howard has a hard time putting on his pants without me and Jarvis has undoubtedly worked himself into a full on panic, but I...” Peggy paused, contemplative, and took another sip of her tea. Staying with Steve was part of it, of course, but something about the plight of the people here was so much more dire than what she’d been up against in her... parallel universe? “I don’t know that I should go back. Things have gotten rather mucked up since I last hopped the twig. People around here seem to need all the help they can get.”

So much was different, but this world was just familiar enough for her to love. She felt a sense of loyalty to it even if it wasn’t precisely her own.

Steve couldn’t help but to chuckle at Peggy’s response, her dry wit and sarcasm was something he dearly missed, even if it made him always feel like he was a bit slow on the ball. “Alright, yeah, glad to know your geography is still great – just trying to keep you on your toes,” he stumbled over his words for a moment, reaching up to place a hand on the back of his head and rub at his nape.

“At your service, ma’am,“ he deepened his voice for a moment, giving her a quick salute and a bow before straightening up and grinning. “Captain Geography though, I like the sound of that, it’s catchy.“ He teased, happy to be within the closeness and personal space of Peggy. Breathing her in was a treasure that he’d never thought he would be given again and he was going to take advantage of it for as long as he could.

Steve made a soft, happy sound into the kiss, practically melting at Peggy’s hands over his body. This is what he wanted, this is what he yearned for – to belong to someone, but not just someone, to Peggy. When their lips departed from each other, Steve kept his eyes closed, for he was afraid that if he’d open them, that she’d be gone. Still, when she spoke, when she said she loved him, his eyes shot open and immediately searched for hers.

“Peggy, I love you,“ he could have sworn he was shaking, the emotions bringing a high to his system that he wasn’t even sure he could have felt until this moment. Still, his smile stayed permanent on his lips as he continued to hold her and listen to her speak. “I think I can, because I feel the same about you.“

But something shifted and Steve found himself tilting his head just the slightest and his brows furrowing.

“Peg, I didn’t–“ he sighed, closing his eyes momentarily before nodding his head slowly to her words. Of course Peggy was correct, he had all but essentially died and been dead to her, it was natural, it was normal for her to feel it, to say it, but it still left a lurch in his gut as he clenched his jaw and then swallowed. “They found me, S.H.I.E.L.D., found me frozen in the ice.“ He spoke just above a whisper, bringing his gaze back up to meet her’s.

“Found a way to bring me back from it, and ever since then I’ve been… well, I’m… I was Captain America again, I help lead a group, or did, called the Avengers. Tony, Howard’s son, he’s the groups leader now…“ He was afraid to tell her the full outcome, the fight over the Accords, Ultron, Chitauri, Loki, but…. he had to wait for the right time. “What about you? How are you here?“

“We’ll have the costume drawn up for you pronto, then,” Peggy nodded, tipping her forehead against his. “I rather miss the little shorts and boots, don’t you?”

Her mother would probably call her conceited, but Peggy had always sort of suspected Steve loved her. The words weren’t a shock, but they filled her with a kind of warmth she hadn’t felt in painfully long while.

As Steve went on, however, Peggy drew back just slightly, though her arms stayed obstinately around his neck. Found? They’d found him? Did that mean-- the years Peggy had spent, trying to move on, Steve had been within reach? All the amusement vacated her features in one cold sweep. 

“You were alive?” Peggy asked, unable to mask her shock as her stomach gave a sickening drop. Steve had been alive. And all that time, he’d been -- drowning? He’d been drowning for years until somebody found him? She’d always privately thought Howard’s quest to recover the Valkyrie was pointless, though she let him keep it up out of her own ridiculous fantasies, even as they dimmed a little each year. 

Now, hearing Steve, her faithlessness felt like a sentencing. It wasn’t her own guilt that mattered, though. It was Steve. Steve who had been through so much, who had spent god knew how many years under the ice, just waiting for someone to find him.

“My darling, I’m so sorry,” Peggy exhaled, clearing the hair away from his temple. Christ, no wonder he looked this sad. “How long-- how long were you left like that? Frozen? Are you alright, has it changed anything about you, about the serum?” Her eyes flicked over him once more, trying to catalogue any difference or injury outside the typical wear and tear the might have years had done. “We should’ve looked harder,” she said, eyes briefly fluttering closed as she held him tighter. “Found you sooner.”

@xknowmyvalue

By nature, the girls didn’t inherently look mutant on their own. The only physical mutation they possessed was the blue glow of their eyes when they used their telepathy, after all. In theory, they should be able to walk the streets of New York without garnering much attention. When the girls were together, though, they seemed to get another reaction. Not only did they appear identical to every detail, but they were dressed identically, and their movements were coordinated to the point of impossibility. The illusion that they were normal triplet sisters faded.

They didn’t seem too concerned as they sat around a table in a small coffee shop, sipping away at their drinks as the eyes of others seemed to linger at the way they moved in unison. The three of them knew they’d been garnering attention, but with the tensions in the world being what they were, they were daring someone to test their reaction. It didn’t take long. Someone in the cafe must have phoned a friend because some guy in his friends of humanity hat waltzed into the shop with a rifle in tow.

“You’re making a mistake.”

The three spoke in unison, removing the sunglasses that had previously been covering their eyes. Sophie stepped forward today, knowing if she left it to Phoebe the guy would be shooting himself in public and they didn’t need that much attention. “Drop the gun and go walk until the soles of your shoes are gone.” Her head tilted slightly, eyes glowing a bright shade of blue, and the man obeyed. Turning to the crowd, Sophie glanced around. “Does anyone else have any objections?”

Peggy watched the man enter the coffee shop, and thought ‘Crikey O’Reilly, the one time I’m not actually looking for trouble’.

Not that that would make a difference, when she later recounted the incident to her over-agitated handler at SHIELD, but she’d like the record to reflect it anyways. She managed to send him a quick text before taking action - Getting in fight at coffee shop? Think it will be fine. See you later.

Peggy couldn’t help but roll her eyes, even as she rose out of her seat to take care of it. Friends of humanity. Christ. People never changed, did they?

As the girls fired back with a command, Peggy’s focus remained on neutralizing the gun, which could cause far more damage than it was worth. She approached the group with measured confidence, offered the girls a cursory smile, and promptly punched the assailant in the temple. She caught hold of his shoulders as he went down, lowering him to the floor to avoid further damage to his head. She then abruptly reached for the gun and unloaded the magazine, tucking the offending object into the pocket of her pants and exhaling a small, resigned sigh. 

“That was rather abrupt, so please excuse the intrusion,” she said, voice edged with caution as she addressed the girls. Though their words had been alarming, it’s not as if she’d have responded peaceably to someone pointing a rifle at her. “I just didn’t think he ought to have this anymore.” Luckily enough, even if the girls were hostile, people seemed to be taking this opportunity to rapidly vacate the shop. 

“I’m sorry you had to put up with this. He deserves to be locked up. And I can promise you he will be, if you let me handle this.”

Though the handlers at SHIELD had strongly suggested Peggy take a babysitter on her first mission out, she had spent the better part of the week talking them out of it. After she’d managed to have one coherent conversation with an intern about Twitter, she decided she was ready. After all, the assignment was mind numbingly simple - Peggy could coerce information out of potential arms dealers in her sleep. 

And she thought she’d been adjusting to the relocation remarkably well, considering she’d managed to jump through both space and time. She hadn’t even batted her eye at the rather alarmingly tight and scantily-cut cocktail dress she’d been supplied for the evening. The shoes had taken a little getting used to, but Peggy did like being tall. 

Weaving through the clusters of donors gathered in the banquet hall, she glanced over her shoulder to check if the persistent man from the bar remained in pursuit. At the realization he was, she let out a soft noise of frustration and smoothly settled into the closest and emptiest table in her vicinity, crossing her ankles and straightening her spine as if she belonged there. 

She leaned towards the only other woman at the table, fixing her with a small, hopefully charming smile. 

“You see that man behind me?” Peggy asked, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper as she inclined her head just slightly in Mr. Aberdeen’s direction. “I’m hoping that if we look absolutely enthralled in conversation he will muster up the ounce of social intelligence necessary to finally stop hounding me for a dance. I swear I wouldn’t typically resort to haranguing strangers like this, it’s just that I don’t think my boss would look too kindly on my dumping a drink down his suit.” 

Apparently, the end of half of the universe generated massive amounts of paperwork. Even with FRIDAY sorting through his emails, and even with the fact that Pepper was facing the brunt of the administrative nightmare that was Stark Industries, there were just so many things that Tony needed to attend to personally. The rebuilding projects that he had started after the Snap were a mess now that everything had been undone. The entire system needed to not only be deactivated, it needed to be reversed to deal with the opposite problem of there being too many people instead of too few. 

He was deep in a report on how healthcare services were struggling to cope with all of those who had returned from the Stone when he heard footsteps down the corridor. 

“Boss,” FRIDAY said. “We have company. It’s–”

But Tony needed no head’s up from his AI. Peggy’s voice was instantly recognisable to him despite the sheer impossibility of it. Of all the people he’d expected to return from the Stone – she had not been one of them.

“Aunt Peggy,” he said, eyes wide in surprise as he glanced – no, stared at her. Not only was she back, she was young again. How?

It took a moment for his brain to register the words she’d said - the formal address, the ‘really wanted to meet you’, and various things clicked into place. She hadn’t died and returned - or if she had, she’d been reverted, apparently, to - whatever timeline she’d been pulled from. Whatever the case, she wasn’t exactly the Aunt Peggy he knew, the almost godmother, the force of reckoning that even his father had listened to.  

He stood automatically (thank you, Jarvis, for lessons in etiquette from long ago), waving her over to one of the chairs in front of his desk and taking one of the mugs. 

“It’s not silly at all,” he said, remembering to turn on the charm and giving her a wide smile. “If you hadn’t dropped by to see me, I would have been charging over to look for you the moment I found out about your return. How did you return, anyway? Was it part of the whole Soul Stone fiasco?”

Had she already met with Steve?

He had so many questions, and it was an effort not to blurt them all out at once. Patience had never been one of his virtues. “Oh, and – please call me Tony.” He smiled again and held out his hand. 

Aunt Peggy. 

The label was disorienting, even though she’d done enough research to somewhat anticipate it. Though most of her things had been shipped back to England, a few boxes remained at SHIELD HQ, the remnants of her old office packaged up into neat folds of cardboard. Amongst them had been a framed photo of herself and, apparently, a young Anthony Stark, standing in front of an absurdly large birthday cake, seemingly mid high five. 

She’d wondered for a while if she ought to greet him with a high five today, though ultimately resolved that they’d have to build up to that.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea,” she admitted, taking a measured sip of her tea and stepping further into his office. She settled into the chair on the opposite side of the desk, forgoing invitation entirely though Jarvis’ voice still chimed something obnoxious about manners at the back her mind. “I’ve been briefed on the stones, but as I understand it they’re all a bit volatile right now. The field team at SHIELD tell me it could’ve been the reality stone, the time stone, or a combination of both. I confess this visit isn’t just social - I would like a second opinion, and word around here is that you’re a genius.” 

Peggy personally missed when the only stone they had to deal with was the Tesseract, and her favorite idiot in the world sunk it to the bottom of the ocean the second he got his hands on it. Simpler times. 

wanda stared at her openly, mouth opened slightly in awe. “how did you find us?” she asked, stunned at the fact that, of all people, peggy carter managed to find avengers headquarters – stumble upon it, even, if wanda was reading her face correctly. she could feel excitement and nerves rising in her chest, the trepidation of meeting someone you look up to and the fear of being a disappointment. or worse – the fear of being hated or feared. the red magic circling around her hands might as well have been a big, flashing sign that said MUTANT, and she could never tell how anyone would react to that anymore. she slowly lowered her hands, her pulse energy fading to nothing.

“most people know your name. you made history,” wanda said. “not the kind of history they taught us in sokovia, but… i learned about you the same day i joined the avengers. the same day.” her voice quieted at the end as she took in peggy’s appearance – so put together, strong, young… nothing like the woman who’d passed the year of the accords. wanda swallowed. “agent carter, you died.” it came out less sensitive than wanda had intended – but the woman standing in front of her was hardly the woman who’d been buried in london.

“i’m sorry,” wanda said quickly, wanting to search for an excuse for her bluntness, knowing she’d never been the best at first impressions anyway. and she wanted to impress margaret carter, the woman who’d started it all. a woman who had shaped the world against all odds, despite what everyone thought of her just because of her sex. she was a hero in an age before heroes – the type of person wanda aspired to be when she joined the avengers. 

“english isn’t my first language.” a lame excuse. surely peggy would see right through it. “my name is wanda maximoff. most people call me other…” she almost said things; it would’ve been true, but peggy had not exactly been around during a time where mutants were a world-spread problem – “names. but i’d… really like it if you called me wanda. i’ve heard a lot about you, agent carter, and it’s an honor to meet you.”

Peggy stood, unmoving, unblinking, for several long moments. As Wanda lowered her hands, Peggy lowered her gun in kind, the anxiety in her chest dramatically ratcheting down. 

She processed Wanda’s words as reasonably as she could manage. As improbable as her self-drawn conclusion seemed to be, it was what logically followed from the evidence presented. She carefully counted her breaths, and reasoned that science had made the impossible possible many times before. There was an explanation for this. She just had to-- to find Howard-- to find someone who might explain.

“Wanda, then,” Peggy’s mouth twitched into a weak smile, and she offered a hand in introduction. “I suppose you might as well call me Peggy. I don’t think -- I don’t think I’m quite the Agent Carter you’re familiar with. At least not yet.”

“You said-- earlier, you said, ‘you found us’. Well, as it were, I don’t actually know who you are.” Peggy glanced at her surroundings once more, struggling to keep her back straight, to keep her posture confident. “And I’m not entirely certain how I ended up here.”

“fair enough. i can’t exactly sit here and say i haven’t done the same, just… not with a gun. i usually go for the bow and arrow.” kate shrugged her shoulders, giving the other a small smile. “can i ask what kind of agent?” she raises a brow curiously. “like, the first thing that comes to mind is shield, but i also know there’s tons of other agents of other things.” 

when agent carter says she’s not familiar with the alias, kate would be lying if she said she weren’t a little taken back. she hadn’t met anyone who hadn’t at least known of the other hawkeye – clint barton. 

“oh, really? most people i meet usually know of clint, at the very least. he’s the other hawkeye. the first. as for the avengers, i guess i kinda am? it’s… a long story. i’m not exactly from this timeline. and i know how crazy that sounds, but it’s the truth. where i come from i’m apart of this group called the young avengers, but we don’t exist here. not yet, anyway. confusing, i know.”

she laughs softly, running her fingers through her hair. “anyway, since i’m kinda stuck here, i’ve been staying here – at the avengers compound. this guy named steve’s been really helpful. maybe you’ve heard of his code name thing? it’s captain america. i feel like most people know who he is nowadays. i guess he’s sorta taken me under his wing. he’s pretty nice. wait – do you not know who the avengers are?”

“I am an agent of SHIELD, yes,” Peggy conceded, a confused sort of smile tipping her mouth. Kate was so young, her familiarity with organization was befuddling, to say the least. “Have you crossed paths with other agents? Professionally?”

Peggy understood about every third word Kate was saying, but she maintained a polite smile through it all. At another time Peggy might wonder if the bumbling innocence was an act, but there was something so genuine about the excitement in Kate’s voice. Peggy’s gut told her she was trustworthy, and she trusted her gut above all else. “Sounds like you’ve had quite the journey. I think I’m most interested in the bit about the alternate timelines - how exactly did you manage to find yourself here?”

At the mention of Steve, Peggy’s pulse jumped a beat and a light flush bloomed across her cheeks. It took her a noticeably long time to respond, and when she did, her voice came out fainter than she’d meant it to. “I’m familiar with Captain America, yes. He’s... is he...” Peggy briefly glanced at the building behind Kate, gaze once again snagging on the A. “Is he here, right now?”