1501/Out of Time

Out of Time
Date of Scene:	16 July 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	1025, Peggy Carter

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Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
The WaveRider is virtually invisible to any passersby. The reflective technology makes it appear as the vessel isn't there at all, giving its occupants an air of anonymity. Those that know its location and what to look for, however, will always be able to find the ship.

Of course, finding the ship would require actually leaving the ship, and Captain Rip Hunter hasn't been off the ship in weeks. He leaves for supplies sometimes, but he's been painfully focused the last couple of weeks in particular. The repairs require attention, and his has been wholly devoted to the necessary work.

Underneath one of the many bulkheads in the engine room, Rip's legs poke out, leaving the rest of him to his work as a mechanic and engineer. "Blast it, Gideon! I asked the converter was fried -- couldn't you do that small task and give me an official report?!"

Evenly, the AI in the system replies, "Anger will not repair the power converter, Captain Hunter."

"But it bloody will remind you to actually check all systems when--OW! You did that on purpose!"

"That would require prescience of mind."

"--which we both know you have."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Luckily for Peggy Carter, she knows the WaveRider quite well. In fact, it's how she's here in the present day and not back in 1950. Unlike Rip, she has left the ship quite frequently. In fact, she's rarely there any more, having decided to help both present day SHIELD and generally find out more about 2025. She's a curious person, he should know by now. It's one of the reasons she is an excellent spy.

Up the ramp and through the door, Peggy enters the ship, closing the door behind her with a wince. There's an empty feeling to the ship now that its broken, though Gideon is always still there. "Hello?" she asks. She doesn't ask 'if anyone is there' as she knows Rip has been reluctant to venture outside. Making her way to the engine room - where she assumes the driven to fix his ship Rip will be - she puts a hand on the wall to steady herself for a moment and then continues forward.

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"Hello Ms. Carter," Gideon replies to the inquired greeting. "I trust your journey into 2025 was productive." Even has Peggy moves, the AI's tinny voice follows her, emitting from the very walls of the ship.

The engine room, however, has become a well of silence with little signals of Rip aside from his exposed legs peeking out form underneath the latest focus of his repairs. A quiet clang followed by a groan indicate displeasure as the Time Master slides out from underneath the bulkhead. His tousled hair, rumpled shirt, and grease-smudged pants all indicate a level of dedication and work that has consumed his attention and time.

His eyes narrow slightly as he leans against one of the workbenches in the room. "Director Carter," formality has always been his modus operandi. "I trust your touring inclinations haven't been too vexing for the timeline," the sarcasm in his voice is unmissable.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Good evening Gideon," Peggy replies, polite to the AI that follows behind her. "It was...bruising and confusing to be perfectly honest. However, yes, productive."

Leaning against the doorway in a manner that is more casual than injured, she glances about the room. The silence, the tools, the grease stained paints: it doesn't take a world class detective to deduct that the ship is still not working and that Rip is unhappy about that. "Should we simply put a cot in here for you, Mr. Hunter?" she asks. They're both British, so formality must be matched with formality. There's a raised eyebrow. Her tone, while generally pleasant is tinged with something else tonight.

"Of course not. As fond as I am of your lectures, I have no desire for the seventh on the subject. I was certainly low impact in my interactions with people today. Ate some lunch, filed a case with SHIELD, assassinated the president, the usual."

After a moment, a bit more seriously, she tells him, "I'm not the director of SHIELD here, you realize," she tells him. "Agent Carter is what they know me as."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"Captain Hunter," Rip corrects. His hand trails to the back of his neck as his eyes finally trail to the would-be Director. They remain trained on her, scrutinizing her speech and considerations. "Agent Carter then," he murmurs.

His eyes turn back towards the bulkhead. "I assume you're being facetious about the assassination, but that would be about five years too early," he states dryly. His fingers tap lightly on the back of his neck before his hand finally slides back down to his side. "Just remember, if you so much as step on a butterfly, history can be altered. It takes little to accidentally change the timeline, and even less to purposely do so."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Forgive me, Captain Hunter." Despite their traveling together she does not call him simply 'Captain'.

"Also, I would not assassinate someone," she reminds, just in case that needs to be stated. Despite her words on another lecture, he continues on with it and Peggy can't help but smirk at him. The smirk, though, fades into something a bit more somber at the butterfly effect consideration. "I know that this is not a possibility that you would like to entertain, but it is possible that we might be trapped here. Should the WaveRider not be able to be repaired, we are all but assuredly stranded in this time. If that is the case, then we are now part of this history."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
Rip emits a soft hum in response. It's quiet acknowledgment of Peggy's moral compass, yet the Captain doesn't offer matching sentiments. His nostrils flare at the thought of the last, but he offers no comment or consideration otherwise, just a simple break in his usually stoic features. "Possibly," he finally replies with the British stiff upper-lip that he's become so practiced with.

"Or we become removed from it." He pinches the bridge of his nose and allows his chin to drop to his chest -- the first sign of resignation to their fate that he's given since the two had become stranded in 2025. "It means that your timeline has been irrevocably changed unless I find a way to put you back where I found you." His head cants to the side and he inhales a slow long breath. "Which is still my intention."

Peggy Carter has posed:
It's a trait that Peggy knows quite well not only from him, but from many people she grew up around. It's one she exhibits herself, often enough. Still against that doorway, she straightens a bit at his statement that they become 'removed' from it. She winces a bit as she does so, but does not acknowledge the pain in any way. "Removed? How would that even be possible? You certainly can't expect to simply live as a hermit on this ship for the rest of your days should we not be able to get it working again."

As for her own timeline, she shrugs her shoulders. "I have already established SHIELD, much of my life seems to be classified. Perhaps this is why." There's a bit of a huff at his wording. "I am not some lost puppy. I need not be 'placed where I was found'. I know you wish to ensure the timeline remains intact, but some things are out of our control."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"There are strategies to ensure that I don't further break the timeline. Knowing what's coming is problematic," Rip replies lowly as his gaze follows her with that same consideration. There's something decidedly sharp in his expression, and it deepens with the wince. "You are -- " he begins only to be interrupted by the voice of the AI living in the WaveRider's mainframe.

"The Captain is referring to erasing himself from the timeline," Gideon deadpans towards Agent Carter.

"That's quite enough, Gideon," the evenness of his tone remains. "But yes, there are strategies to live out life as normally as possible without influencing everything else. As it stands, we're already living in an alternate timeline, and if I don't return you, it's entirely possible we create a paradox where I never become a Time Master and can, therefore, never bring you here in the first place. Aberrations are less than ideal." He pinches the bridge of his nose.

A few moments pass and he finds his train of thought again, "Tell me, Agent Carter, are you quite well?" His eyes narrow while he takes stock of each of the woman's faculties.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Erasing yourself from the timeline," Peggy repeats from Gideon, tone similar to Gideon's. "You're speaking of killing yourself, then?" That time, her voice is sharper, almost as sharp as the look he gives her after she winced. "Going down with your ship, as it were?" There's a narrowing of her eyes. It certainly sounds as if she will not entertain that notion, should that actually be what they are discussing.

"If we remain here, who is to say that this is not how it was meant to be planned out?" Peggy argues, as that is what she does, she will not take this sort of thing lying down. "If I can manage a life here without influencing the rest of time, it's also certainly possible for you as well."

As his question about her health is asked, she frowns slightly, though her expression remains neutral otherwise. She should have realized he would notice the wince. "I'm fine," she tells him. "I got into a bit of a tussle." As far as she's concerned, that's all the explanation needed.

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"A tussle doesn't exactly speak to laying low," Rip arches a single eyebrow. Peggy has now caught his true scrutiny. He treads to the doorway to get a better look. "The med bay has a solution for this, you know," and for basically anything shy of surgery.

His lips twist to the side before turning to a lopsided smirk, "It's not suicide if I'm an aberration. It's correcting a problem of my own making. That hardly fits the definition of suicide." The smirk spreads, "But there are other ways to remove oneself from the timeline. Amnesia has proven effective for other Time Masters. Created amnesia, of course." His lips purse. "You don't have to worry about influencing the rest of time. As I said, we're on a new stream. Me, on the other hand? I run the risk of tautological error, thereby erasing myself from the space-time continuum. Time jumping forward isn't generally problematic. Moving backward, however," his hand rocks uncertainly in the air.

"For you, this is the distant future. For me? A long reminiscent past."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I guess it does not exactly," Peggy responds with a bit of a shrug that also heralds a wince despite her attempts to keep it under wraps. "However, I don't believe I have done anything to change a time stream." And, despite his lectures, if she has it does not sound like she is entirely regretful about it.

As for the medbay, she nods. "Yes, that was where I was headed next." Luckily, she does not need surgery. For now, though, she focuses on what she believes is the more serious task at hand: Rip Hunter's thoughts about what he will do should they be stuck here without a way forward or back. "If we're on another time stream, I don't see why you could effect it, either. Were you to make a mistake here, wouldn't that simply ripple forward from this new stream and leave everything else untouched? The Captain Rip Hunter from the previous time stream would remain to make it here."

The one thing she cannot argue about is that this is a distant future for her and the past for him. That's simply an undeniable fact. "Created amnesia." The term sounds wrong in her mouth as she says it. "That sounds horrid."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"Sometimes forgetting the life you should've lived makes it easier to accept the life you have," the dryness in his tone hinges on callous. "And the things I know? Well. When the future is your history, it rather complicates things and creates targets where they were never intended to be in the first place." Rip's eyes gleam with something and for a moment it seems as if he means to say something else, but instead switches thoughts, "I've always thought I could have a knack for mass media. 2025 does have a burgeoning enterprise for media personalities. And I could convince myself an American," his eyebrows rise comically, wholly expecting some easy jab at the yankees.

He swallows hard at the mention of Captain Hunter making it here, but he offers no commentary in turn. Facts remain.

His fingers rise to graze her cheek, expectantly. His tongue clucks, "Please tell me I should at least see the other guy. Come on, Agent Carter, surely you can still hold your own in a fight," the easy mischief in his voice is unmissable.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The gleam in Rip's eyes as well as the way he says that catches something in Peggy's attention. The callous tone, the way he talks about targets becoming targets despite his wishes? Well, those are all tells that a spy like Peggy tends to pick up on. By the way she gives him a bit of a look, it seems as if she has done exactly that. However, she does not comment on that at the moment. It seems...personal. And it's clear he is shifting the subject to something less so. And so, in this moment, she allows the subject to shift, while a mental pin remains placed. "The American accent is harder than it may sound," she tells him with a smile. Though he may think her primed to make a yankee joke, she does not. "Are you quite prepared for a life of unfathomable optimism?"

As for 'the other guy', this time Peggy gives another wince - this one having nothing to do with pain and has nothing to do with the finger that grazes across her cheek. "I hate to disappoint you, but I barely got a scratch on him," she tells him. "The fact that I came back with only bruises is a testament, though. He was superhumanly strong." There's a pause. "He had a metal arm."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"I believe the 2030s were marked by undeniable cynicism, even from the yanks," Rip replies.. "Besides, it's not as if I've decided to become Canadian." His lips turn up higher on one side, giving way to the playfulness he so often keeps hidden. "And an American accent isn't that difficult. Getting the different dialects of New York though?" his head shakes. "That's nearly impossible."

Rip actually frowns at the mention of the other guy. "...I see." He swallows the growing lump in his throat. "Well, I'll take it as a positive sign that you still have breath in your lungs." There's a pause, and the Captain sees fit to add, "Getting yourself killed would probably qualify as an interruption in the timeline." He taps the edge of his nose, a universal indication that such an action would be a hard no.

"Just bruising then?" if sought, the note of concern can be heard in his tone, yet he aims to keep things easy enough. "I'm fairly certain I'm reasonably responsible for your wellbeing. Taking someone to the future seems to imply you should protect them, but I'm fairly certain the Time Masters don't have a rule for this." Probably because borking the timeline isn't allowed.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Surprising," Peggy tells Rip about the 2030s being marked by cynicism, she gives a laugh about the Canadians being even more optimistic. "The New York accents were a bit easier for me." Possibly from knowing a few of the Howling Commandos from that area and being someone who is able to pick up accents that she's heard before easier.

"He.." she frowns and then shakes her head. "Yes. I believe him a trained assassin. The Winter Soldier." As for getting herself killed, she raises an eyebrow, wryly adding, "Yes, I imagine that would be damned awkward to explain to the Time Masters. I have no plans on getting myself killed."

The tone of concern that touches his voice as he asks about her wounds is met with a small, short smile. "Just bruising. The ship medbay should easily take care of it easily enough." Then, there is bristling at him being 'responsible' for her. "Perhaps you are responsible for the timeline, but I can certainly keep care of myself. I managed to survive a war and multiple deadly assignments before ever time traveling."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
Managed to survive in a time you are familiar with," Rip's eyes turn up towards the ceiling, "with technology you could personally match. I would say that's a very different situation." Despite himself, his lips turn upwards at the edges. It's a silent challenge--easily seen and not at all hidden.

His gal turns downwards an he hums quietly. "We're all responsible for the timeline and making sure the world doesn't implode or become troubling because of any intervention we make." He shrugs. It's just his life.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I'm rather adaptable," Peggy responds dryly. She can read that upward tick of his lips in a challenge. "There were quite a few advanced weapons Hydra managed to cook up while I was in the field in that time I am familiar with, as I am sure you are aware. And Howard Stark invented something dangerous practically every Tuesday. I don't see how pocket phones and more advanced weaponry are any more of a danger to me. As I said previously, I am not some wayward lost stray you picked up. I came with you to help and I am a member of your team."

As for them all being responsible for the time stream, Peggy nods. "Yes, I'm quite aware. I will do my best to ensure that Nazis did not actually win the war." That is not actually said flippantly, it's a nightmare that she's had since joining Rip's team.

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"I am likely aware of more than most," Rip replies with a sharp cluck of his tongue. "And we're all wayward strays in our own right." His lips twitch into a tight, very strained smile. He rubs his temples and releases a slow long breath. There's a guardedness in each nuance of his expression and posture. Something, noteworthy enough for a keen eye like Peggy.

"Well, when you left your timeline, the Nazis hadn't won, and thus far, in 2025, things continue in that vein." His chin lifts and he looks towards the ceiling of the vessel. "Gideon, do we have any future or statistical future where the Nazis win?"

"Well Captain, based on the last statistics, there is a thirty-three percent chance of the Nazis arising to power in the year - "

"?no years, please."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Despite her training, there certainly are parts of Rip's demeanor that remain quite a mystery to Peggy. It's possibly why she prods him every once in awhile: to provoke a response. A man generally as guarded as Rip has reasons for being so. Or, he came from the aristocracy and simply cannot help. himself. For now, though, her explanation is not heated or pointed, it's measured. "What I mean is that I do not need to be guarded. I will look out for you as you will for me as members of this team. You need not feel responsible for me beyond that." The thought that she needs to be protected seems to chafe at her very core.

As Gideon gives a percentage to the possibility of the Nazis winning, Peggy raises an eyebrow. "Thirty-three percent isn't terrible, though higher than I'd like. I'd prefer a zero percent chance, of course." Though, knowing that it's - hopefully - not an eminent change that she should worry about all the time actually relaxes her for a moment. "That's nice to know, at least."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
Rip shrugs at the notion. His chin drops into a slow nod. "Glad that gives some sense of reassurance. As far as we can tell, the Nazis, even in this alternate timeline we've created, aren't likely to gain momentum. That said, it's not impossible -- demonstrating the need to always be vigilant. Which we will be." His tongue rolls over his lips.

"I don't anticipate guarding you either, Director Carter." He sucks on the inside of his cheek and hums softly. "But in order to make the timeline work, eventually, returning you to your time is imperative. As is returning to my time."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Surprisingly, it does, still, give her some sense of reassurance. Even after the added suggestion that they must always be vigilant in ensuring that possibility. "Yes, I know," she replies, actually giving a soft laugh at his reminder.

"Agent," Peggy reminds him after he calls her Director again, tone amused. "And that's good. I don't do well under guard, it gives me the unshakeable urge to break out." Then, her expression becomes a little more neutral at the other reminder that they must return to their own times. "Yes, of course." After a short pause, she gestures behind. "I believe I will make my way down to the Medbay."

Rip Hunter (1025) has posed:
"Decorum suggests a person should always be considered by their highest rank. I'll aim to have everyone else call you Director as well," Rip states as his arms cross over his chest somewhat defiantly. A finger runs over his eyebrow, smoothing each of the hairs as he emits a soft laugh. "And yes, head to the medbay. The WaveRider may not be fully operational, but she's still capable."

Peggy Carter has posed:
There's a bit of a smirk at being told that she should be called by her highest rank. Peggy raises an eyebrow, "We shall see about that, Captain Hunter," she tells him, taking that as a bit of a challenge as well. Then, she nods and smiles, turning from the engine room and heading toward the medical bay to take care of her injuries.