Steve Rogers was lost. But to be fair, he'd been feeling lost a lot recently. He'd felt lost for months after losing Bucky back in the 1940s. When he'd had to sacrifice himself to put the Valkyrie in the water, that had almost been a relief.
The only thing that had given him pause about that was the extra Peggy who had suddenly shown up on the bomber with a British copy of his shield. But she'd helped him defeat the Red Skull, agreed with him on what had to be done once the situation was explained to her, and even stayed quiet while Steve had said goodbye to his Peggy.
Then, he'd been lost again when he'd woken up seventy years in the future, finding himself a man out of time. Only… Bucky was here and suddenly Steve didn ' t feel so lost anymore. Howard's son was also here and Tony Stark… he was a godsend, Steve had to admit. The way he'd helped Bucky, the way he'd cared for Steve's best friend even knowing that Bucky had killed his parents… Steve wasn't sure he could ever repay Howard's son. Not truly.
Of course, finding out HYDRA still existed was a punch to the gut. It sucked all the air out of Steve's lungs, finding out that not only was HYDRA still around, but they'd taken Bucky and turned him into their own personal assassin, torturing him into insanity, mind controlling him, and using liberal cryogenics to freeze him over and over again so he wouldn't age over the next seventy years. By comparison, Steve almost felt like he'd gotten off lucky spending the past seventy or so years buried in the ice. At least he didn't have to do HYDRA's bidding like Bucky. At least Bucky had been saved now as well.
But HYDRA was still out there. Still fucking around. Tony had a plan though and Bucky trusted him… so Steve did too. After everything Tony had done for them, after everything Tony had done for Bucky, Steve had to believe that Howard's son had not just their best interests at heart, but also the best interests of the world.
Even watching the news reports coming out of Germany tonight, Bucky had placed a hand on Steve's arm and told him that everything was fine because Tony was on top of things. And watching as the woman calling herself Loki had terrorized those innocent people only to be taken down by the Iron Legion quite rapidly had… well, it' d filled Steve with a certain quiet confidence that Bucky was right.
After all, the Iron Legion were built by Tony himself. They were designed and maintained by Tony and JARVIS. So if they couldn't protect the world from alien invaders, who could? Steve? Heh, he might have fought the Red Skull and HYDRA seventy years ago, but that was a long, long time ago. If Bucky was alright with staying out of this fight, then so was Steve.
Except for one little snag with all of that. The other Peggy, the one who called herself Captain Carter and had helped him defeat the Red Skull aboard the Valkyrie… Tony had pulled her out of the ice too. She'd survived being resuscitated by Howard's son just as Steve had… and she wasn't nearly as ready to leave this in the hands of Tony as he and Bucky were.
… It was hard, because obviously she wasn't his Peggy. And he… he wasn't her Steve. She'd made that abundantly clear, albeit as gently as she could. She'd told him about her Steve. About how, even though he hadn't gotten the Super Soldier Serum, he'd made himself useful. How he'd fought in a period-appropriate armored suit that Howard Stark had built for him called the HYDRA Stomper. And how she and her Steve had something special that she would mourn for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, he and his Peggy hadn't ever even gotten to go on that date. Steve blamed himself of course. To hear Captain Carter tell it, she'd decided to man-up herself and kissed her Steve, which had jumpstarted their relationship. As the Super Soldier in the equation, the alternate Peggy had taken matters into her own hands… just like Steve should have.
And sure, he knew that his Peggy was alive in this timeline. He also knew she was over ninety years old and had lived a full life without him. A life of service. And sure, his Peggy had messed up a bit with SHIELD. She hadn't known that HYDRA had crept in right under her nose and hollowed out the organization she ' d spent her entire life building. Steve certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell her either.
That said, Captain Carter wasn't just a woman out of time like he was. She was a woman out of time and space, a woman who had lost everything, not just her time period. Sitting there in the common room of their shared floor in Stark Tower, with Bucky sat in another chair right next to him, Steve watches Peggy pace back and forth across the floor. JARVIS had told them that Tony would be with them shortly, but if Peggy kept going for much longer, she was probably going to wear a hole in the carpet at this-!
"Alright! Sorry for the wait everyone, but you know how it is. A Goddess invades our world, what am I supposed to do, right? I ' ve got some time before they miss me back on the Helicarrier, so let's get this figured out quickly, yeah?"
As if summoned by Steve ' s very thoughts, Tony Stark suddenly walks into the room, a smile on his face and an infectious energy to him that always threatens to suck them all in. Bucky snorts and Steve can't help but crack a joke of his own as he grins.
"There's only one God, sir… and he doesn't dress like that."
Tony glances at Steve for a moment and chuckles good-naturedly, making him feel warm even as Bucky reaches over to lightly punch him in the shoulder for his joke. Captain Carter on the other hand…
"We can help, Stark. If aliens are invading the planet… you need to let us help."
Smile dropping, Tony sighs as he focuses his attention on Peggy.
"Not an invasion. Not yet anyways. More of an… incursion. Loki is literally the only alien who's shown up in the past thirty-six hours. She just so happens to have a weapon that lets her mind control people and turn them against us one at a time." Steve frowns at that, glancing over at Bucky who has suddenly gone very still. Peggy, meanwhile, hisses at that knowledge, crossing her arms over her chest.
"If HYDRA got their hands on that…"
Tony shakes his head.
"I'm not going to let that happen, Captain Carter. That said, thank you for bringing up the elephant in the room. HYDRA is still out there, wearing SHIELD like a suit. Right now, HYDRA thinks I'm on their side. The uncorrupted agents in SHIELD think I'm nominally on their side as well. But if the three of you suddenly showed up, there would be questions. Obviously, HYDRA can't know I took Bucky from them. And they don't know I rescued you and Steve from the ice."
Peggy works her jaw for a few moments. "… Give us sets of armor then. Say we're your private security force or something."
Tony hums, tilting his head to the side and smiling once more.
"Could do that. But first… Sergeant Barnes. Do you want to go fight aliens with me?"
Steve blinks and looks to Bucky, only to find that his best friend is suddenly far more relaxed, giving Tony a crooked grin.
"Rather not, actually."
Peggy makes a noise of disbelief in her throat, but Tony just gives Bucky a solid nod.Steve Rogers was lost. But to be fair, he'd been feeling lost a lot recently. He'd felt lost for months after losing Bucky back in the 1940s. When he'd had to sacrifice himself to put the Valkyrie in the water, that had almost been a relief.
The only thing that had given him pause about that was the extra Peggy who had suddenly shown up on the bomber with a British copy of his shield. But she'd helped him defeat the Red Skull, agreed with him on what had to be done once the situation was explained to her, and even stayed quiet while Steve had said goodbye to his Peggy.
Then, he'd been lost again when he'd woken up seventy years in the future, finding himself a man out of time. Only… Bucky was here and suddenly Steve didn ' t feel so lost anymore. Howard's son was also here and Tony Stark… he was a godsend, Steve had to admit. The way he'd helped Bucky, the way he'd cared for Steve's best friend even knowing that Bucky had killed his parents… Steve wasn't sure he could ever repay Howard's son. Not truly.
Of course, finding out HYDRA still existed was a punch to the gut. It sucked all the air out of Steve's lungs, finding out that not only was HYDRA still around, but they'd taken Bucky and turned him into their own personal assassin, torturing him into insanity, mind controlling him, and using liberal cryogenics to freeze him over and over again so he wouldn't age over the next seventy years. By comparison, Steve almost felt like he'd gotten off lucky spending the past seventy or so years buried in the ice. At least he didn't have to do HYDRA's bidding like Bucky. At least Bucky had been saved now as well.
But HYDRA was still out there. Still fucking around. Tony had a plan though and Bucky trusted him… so Steve did too. After everything Tony had done for them, after everything Tony had done for Bucky, Steve had to believe that Howard's son had not just their best interests at heart, but also the best interests of the world.
Even watching the news reports coming out of Germany tonight, Bucky had placed a hand on Steve's arm and told him that everything was fine because Tony was on top of things. And watching as the woman calling herself Loki had terrorized those innocent people only to be taken down by the Iron Legion quite rapidly had… well, it' d filled Steve with a certain quiet confidence that Bucky was right.
After all, the Iron Legion were built by Tony himself. They were designed and maintained by Tony and JARVIS. So if they couldn't protect the world from alien invaders, who could? Steve? Heh, he might have fought the Red Skull and HYDRA seventy years ago, but that was a long, long time ago. If Bucky was alright with staying out of this fight, then so was Steve.
Except for one little snag with all of that. The other Peggy, the one who called herself Captain Carter and had helped him defeat the Red Skull aboard the Valkyrie… Tony had pulled her out of the ice too. She'd survived being resuscitated by Howard's son just as Steve had… and she wasn't nearly as ready to leave this in the hands of Tony as he and Bucky were.
… It was hard, because obviously she wasn't his Peggy. And he… he wasn't her Steve. She'd made that abundantly clear, albeit as gently as she could. She'd told him about her Steve. About how, even though he hadn't gotten the Super Soldier Serum, he'd made himself useful. How he'd fought in a period-appropriate armored suit that Howard Stark had built for him called the HYDRA Stomper. And how she and her Steve had something special that she would mourn for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, he and his Peggy hadn't ever even gotten to go on that date. Steve blamed himself of course. To hear Captain Carter tell it, she'd decided to man-up herself and kissed her Steve, which had jumpstarted their relationship. As the Super Soldier in the equation, the alternate Peggy had taken matters into her own hands… just like Steve should have.
And sure, he knew that his Peggy was alive in this timeline. He also knew she was over ninety years old and had lived a full life without him. A life of service. And sure, his Peggy had messed up a bit with SHIELD. She hadn't known that HYDRA had crept in right under her nose and hollowed out the organization she ' d spent her entire life building. Steve certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell her either.
That said, Captain Carter wasn't just a woman out of time like he was. She was a woman out of time and space, a woman who had lost everything, not just her time period. Sitting there in the common room of their shared floor in Stark Tower, with Bucky sat in another chair right next to him, Steve watches Peggy pace back and forth across the floor. JARVIS had told them that Tony would be with them shortly, but if Peggy kept going for much longer, she was probably going to wear a hole in the carpet at this-!
"Alright! Sorry for the wait everyone, but you know how it is. A Goddess invades our world, what am I supposed to do, right? I ' ve got some time before they miss me back on the Helicarrier, so let's get this figured out quickly, yeah?"
As if summoned by Steve ' s very thoughts, Tony Stark suddenly walks into the room, a smile on his face and an infectious energy to him that always threatens to suck them all in. Bucky snorts and Steve can't help but crack a joke of his own as he grins.
"There's only one God, sir… and he doesn't dress like that."
Tony glances at Steve for a moment and chuckles good-naturedly, making him feel warm even as Bucky reaches over to lightly punch him in the shoulder for his joke. Captain Carter on the other hand…
"We can help, Stark. If aliens are invading the planet… you need to let us help."
Smile dropping, Tony sighs as he focuses his attention on Peggy.
"Not an invasion. Not yet anyways. More of an… incursion. Loki is literally the only alien who's shown up in the past thirty-six hours. She just so happens to have a weapon that lets her mind control people and turn them against us one at a time." Steve frowns at that, glancing over at Bucky who has suddenly gone very still. Peggy, meanwhile, hisses at that knowledge, crossing her arms over her chest.
"If HYDRA got their hands on that…"
Tony shakes his head.
"I'm not going to let that happen, Captain Carter. That said, thank you for bringing up the elephant in the room. HYDRA is still out there, wearing SHIELD like a suit. Right now, HYDRA thinks I'm on their side. The uncorrupted agents in SHIELD think I'm nominally on their side as well. But if the three of you suddenly showed up, there would be questions. Obviously, HYDRA can't know I took Bucky from them. And they don't know I rescued you and Steve from the ice."
Peggy works her jaw for a few moments. "… Give us sets of armor then. Say we're your private security force or something."
Tony hums, tilting his head to the side and smiling once more.
"Could do that. But first… Sergeant Barnes. Do you want to go fight aliens with me?"
Steve blinks and looks to Bucky, only to find that his best friend is suddenly far more relaxed, giving Tony a crooked grin.
"Rather not, actually."
Peggy makes a noise of disbelief in her throat, but Tony just gives Bucky a solid nod.
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