2397/End of the Line

End of the Line
Date of Scene:	10 September 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Captain America, Peggy Carter

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Captain America has posed:
The last couple of days have seen Steve Rogers haunted by something he hasn't given a voice to. He's come into SHIELD, sat in mission briefings, and even attempted to write a report, but pen won't move on paper (he refuses to type--it's slow and cumbersome and the free computer class he's taking at the library assumes he understands way more about technology than he does).

After hours of training would-be agents on basic tactical procedure, he collapses in one of the few quiet corners of the Triskelion. He'd always done this thing after a chaotic mission. Even more so when it ended in some version of loss.

Old habits die hard.

But then, they'd won this one, hadn't they? He's not sure. Even with the mission ends coming to fruition, the deep sense of loss he feels isn't easily ignored. Today he doesn't look like Captain America or an agent for that matter. In his white t-shirt and khaki pants, he looks like Steve Rogers, the kid from Brooklyn, and he certainly feels like it.

His blue eyes hone in on the world outside the window of the building. This corner of the building isn't used much. Someone once remarked about putting desks here like some odd cubicle--a picture that still makes Steve smirk. The notion of Melinda May with a desk remains one of the funniest he can imagine.

His hands tuck deeply into his pockets and he whistles softly as he slowly settles at the table--a strange work space in this area. A piece of paper is extracted and Steve Rogers begins to sketch.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A quiet corner of the Triskelion. It's hard to find one with all the agents that hustle and bustle about, busy in their work of saving the world. It's a machine of people who want to make the world a better place as well as those who mistrust, who want to do the right thing. It leaves much of the space filled with do-gooders and busybodies.

That all goes to say, perhaps that is why Steve's quiet space is eventually invaded by Peggy Carter.

There are not many private spaces for a breather and it's entirely possible that this is the only one that Peggy could find. Or perhaps it's something harder to define, a force a little more like fate.

A little whiles into that sketch, Steve Rogers' quiet refuge is interrupted as the door opens and a woman enters.

The woman standing there is dressed in modern clothes: a dark navy blue pantsuit, in fact that has echoes to the vintage standard in cut and pinstripes. The brunette hair is not in their pin curled victory rolls, but is - instead - straight. The bright red lipstick, however, looks exactly the shade that Peggy Carter wore during the war.

The woman takes a step inside and shuts the door, only to find someone else already in here, occupying one of the desks. "Pardon," she apologizes immediately, about to open the door again to leave when the connections actually align and she realizes just who it is sitting at that desk. Unable to help herself, she freezes for a moment. "Oh."

Captain America has posed:
Steve's lips pull into an awkward grin when the door opens, but his eyes don't trail from the page. "It's--" his head turns and his face pales. The pencil he'd been holding breaks on the page; an ongoing problem since he'd received the serum so long ago.

His mouth gapes and he stares at Peggy as a little girl's voice echoes in his brain. Each word of the King's English begs her to pick her up. He visibly shudders.

While his brain reboots, his expression freezes, and for several moments he outright stares at her, the one that should be long-gone. And a single phrase echoes over his mind once again: //Doesn't anyone die anymore?//

Peggy Carter has posed:
Peggy stands there, hand on the doorknob, about to leave again. However, she finds herself unable. Dark brown eyes take in the snapping of the pencil on the page as well as the mouth gape and the shiver after she speaks. She is an international spy, a war hero and a founder of SHIELD, however, she finds that she has no words at the moment, no cover up.

For long moments, the pair stand there and stare at each other in silence.

Finally, Peggy manages to clear her throat. She has a story, a reason for being here, one that does not involve her being Peggy Carter of SHIELD, one that she has stated outright to others who do not know the truth of her arrival. However, she finds it impossible to lie to Steve in this moment, to try and tell him that she is not who she is.

Instead, all she can say is, "...Steve..." There's another long pause and then, she clears her throat again. "Hello. It's...It's good to see you."

Captain America has posed:
The silence continues until Peggy breaks it. And only his name draws Steve away from his continuing shock. His blue eyes narrow and his jaw tightens. His lips move to speak, but no words come out. Nothing can help him find words.

Susie's face flickers over his memory. The girl that wasn't has him frowning slightly. "What. How... I..." his cheeks flush and the paleness dissipates. "How?" he finally lands on. Because that's a more important question than anything else.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The silence stretches and Peggy watches as Steve works through shock and then some emotion to proper questions. Her hand on the doorknob falls away from it and she folds her hands in front of her as she attempts to figure out a way to explain this.

"It's...I wish to say it's difficult to explain - and it is - but it is also deceptively simple." When faced with something as awkward as this, she can't help but fall back into her SSR type of persona: professional and as if she is mission debriefing. "I know this will sound a lot as if I am telling you to believe in H.G. Wells, however I am here due to time travel. It is, apparently, not so exact science at times and for the moment it seems as if I may be here for a little awhile." There's a pause here for questions, which she seems to be sure that Steve might have.

"I know it all sounds rather like I am attempting to tell you to believe in science fiction, but that is the truth of the matter."

Captain America has posed:
A long silence follows the information about time travel and Steve studies the details of Peggy's face. As an artist he's used to taking in the minutia of faces. The curve of her jaw. The pertness of her nose. The exact colour of her hair. His notice lingers on the details. Even the sound of her voice: the crispness of her accent. The way the sounds come out sharp with just a hint of warmth when she says his name.

But his eyebrows draw together as the information rolls over his mind. He reaches for his bag and finds the shield tucked inside. He stares at it a moment, studying the red, white, and blue and finding a sense of near-relief.

But then he looks up and Peggy is still standing there. Looking like... Peggy.

"...right," he finally answers. Ever eloquent. He slides his chair from the desk and sucks on the inside of his cheek. "Look." There's a pointed quality to his tone. "I don't know what you're playing at, but Margaret Carter died. Dum Dum Dugan died. Jim Morita died. Gabe Jones, Dernier, Falsworth, Juniper, Pinkerton, Sawyer... all dead. So don't do this again," his voice actually flattens. "I don't know how you people are still in my head, but you need to get out."

Peggy Carter has posed:
This conversation seems to be mostly silence punctuated by a few sentences here and there. Peggy does not know what he has been through, nor what he is thinking. While she's expecting some sort of questions and possibly some disbelief about time travel, his reaction is certainly not what she thought was going to happen.

As Steve stands up, Peggy tracks his movements. Then, though, she blinks and watches him with a mix of disbelief and a bit of hurt. The accusations and the proclamations that she should be dead is met with a surprised stare. 'You people' what is he talking about? Who got into Steve's head?

For the moment, though, she stays right where she is - blocking the door. "I didn't die, Steve," she tells him firmly. Unable to let something simply lie there, she asks, "Do what again?" Now her own suspicion raised. What happened to him?

Captain America has posed:
Nervously Steve tugs the bag from the floor and flings it over his shoulder. He turns back on his heel and eyes the door. He inhales a long breath as she blocks the door. Blue eyes haunted by a past that never happened sharpen with resolve as Steve's weight shifts from one foot to the other. And while he struggles to make it happen, his expression turns distinctly //Captain America//--bidding Steve Rogers to some other place in his mind.

The nervousness fades, but if Peggy pays attention, she may still see a trace of him: the broken Steve Rogers who solely wore the blame for Bucky's death. It wasn't a look anyone had been subjected to often, but it's there, glimmering behind eyes too old to be here.

"Get your scientists out of my head," it's not angry, but bland, simple, and direct. "Or HYDRA will more than wish they'd never crossed me." It's not bravado, it's not angry. It's a promise. A simple promise. "Already they should be afraid. What they did to Bucky?" his eyes narrow. His voice remains quiet but crisp, "I know you millennial types think that you understand more than other generations, but you know nothing if you think it'll stand. We're coming for you. All of you."

If she's not real he should be able to walk through her, yet he prevents himself from moving.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Perhaps not everyone would be able to see the differences between Captain America and Steve Rogers, however Peggy does. She can see the shift, but can also see something else there.

Peggy remains stubbornly in front of the door for a few moments. The threats are taken in stride, though there still remains a bit of hurt at them. He thinks she's - "Hydra?" That certainly raises more than a few red flags. "What did Hydra do?" Her shoulders raise when he mentions Bucky. "You saw him?" Her eyes widen, remembering the fight that she had with a man who looked exactly like Bucky Barnes a month or so ago. "What did they do to him?"

There's a sigh and a shake her head. "I'm not a millennial. I was born in 1921. I don't know what you think I am or what happened, but I /am/ Peggy Carter."

There seems to be a making of a stand off. However, she steps to the side, allowing him to leave.

Captain America has posed:
When Peggy steps out of the way, Steve's eyes follow hers. He seeks out her gaze and watches her. The alternate had been heartbreakingly sweet. He'd played with a daughter. Their daughter. He saw Bucky as Bucky. The world was different.

But the reality of this one perplexes him. He's at SHIELD in 2025. And Peggy is here. He can't make sense of what's going on. Yet his resolve falters at the mention of Barnes.

The crack in his expression starts slowly. His eyes mirror some unspeakable horror, his mouth purses into a tight frown, and his hands ball into tight fists. "They used him. Changed him. Erased his memory." He sniffs and his eyebrows knit together tightly. "I lost him and they found him."

She doesn't know this because she's not real. She's not here. She's a figment of his imagination and he needs to wake up. His head turns towards the window a moment trying to bring into view what he was doing last, but this //is// what he was doing last. Confusion wears on his shoulders. "Peggy, you're not real," he finally settles on. "No more mind games."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Hearing about what happened to Bucky, Peggy frowns. There is sympathy and anger in her expression as she hears about it. While she certainly was never closed to Barnes as well as Steve was, the thought of him being used and brainwashed by Hydra is certainly not what she would want for anyone. That would, also, explain their fight before. It explains why the assassin she stalked turned out to Bucky Barnes.

She's about to say that she's sorry, however that's about when he tells her that she isn't real. There's surprise in her expression. And, strangely, no words or anything she can think of saying in response to that. Hurt radiates from her, plain on her face. Then, though, she shuts it down. She's straight to professional. "I see."

She's not sure why he thinks she's fake or why she may be involved with Hydra, but staying here isn't doing anyone any good. "I will leave you be, then." For a moment, she stays there and looks at the back of Steve Rogers as he looks out the window. Then, she turns to go.

Captain America has posed:
Susie begs to be picked up. Peggy hurts from the revelation she doesn't exist. And Steve aches deep in his chest. Both situations, real or not, //feel// real. His lips quirk down into a deep frown and his eyes train on the ground. "I'm sorry, Peg. I can't live here. Not like this. Not when Buck needs me. I need to get back to help him."

He rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head before turning on his heel to return to his drawing while willing himself awake.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Get back? To where? Peggy wonders where it is that Steve needs to go and why that means he thinks she is not real. However, she does understand his need to help Bucky. She stands for a moment with her hand on the door again. She has no response this time, not even understanding.

Instead, the only answer Steve receives is the door quietly opening and then shutting after she leaves with a click.