The question itself seemed absurd at first, but Peggy found herself unable to dismiss it. Sheâd had that experience not once but twice before. Disappear into the Tesseract one minute, then appear somewhere - and somewhen - else entirely the next, having missed decades.
And she had just appeared through another portal that had appeared before her as if by magic. Having seen the battle beyond, sheâd come through.
At that moment, Dr. Strange decided to share his insight. âShe wasnât part of my vision. She isnât from here. Youâre not of this Earth, are you?â
Peggy snorted indelicately. âDo you mean to tell me you think Iâm not human?â
âNo,â he admitted, âBut I do think youâre out of place. Youâve come from the Multiverse, havenât you?â
That question startled her, because no one was supposed to know about all that business. The last portal sheâd passed before this day was when The Watcher had pulled her out of time and space only to deposit her back where sheâd left to take a blow from Batroc.
âI⌠Iâm not sure,â she admitted.Â
It was all so confusing. This building, even, was not as she remembered it, and Tony seemed different. He seemed merely a man in a metal suit rather than a hybrid of flesh and advanced robotics. Dr. Banner was⌠not as sheâd remembered. He seemed.. neither one nor the other, and yet both. When last sheâd laid eyes on him he seemed ambivalent to have been unable to call upon The Hulk.
âI vanished. Like the others, I think, but Iâm not sure. Parts of my body seemed to simply fall away in tiny pieces on the wind. Do you mean to tell me that Iâve been placed somewhere other than 2018?â
Dr. Strange managed to summon some measure of pity for the woman, though that small measure was well masked. âAssuming having you here hasnât played havoc with destiny, it should be 2023. But your being here at all is a danger to this entire universe.â
Peggy bristled at that. âOh, please. You have no idea what youâre talking about, or of the Multiverse itself. Iâve seen it. I know what it is, likely far better than you. I just undid the mess that Thanos had caused, so donât presume to tell me that *I* of all people am a danger!â
âYouâre not from here.â Strange had a memory of a woman who was allied with SHIELD who had died a few years before the first snap, and noted the likeness of the obituary photograph to that of the woman in front of him.
âShe is Margaret Carter of another world. Sheâs been through space and time. And evidently managed to get hold of the super-soldier serum on her world.â
Peggy cut off further comment. âYou make it seem as though I set it all up. That Specialist Rogers would not receive it. I was merely the only available option after heâd been shot and Howard refused to step into the pod.â
âNo,â the wizard argued. âMaybe you didnât, but something went sideways in your world, and it took a different trajectory. One that gave you the serum. What happened at the end of the war? How did it end for you? In an ice floe in the high Arctic?â
Peggy looked over at the man whoâd introduced himself as Steve Rogers and wondered if this was what had happened to him. Heâd gotten the serum. He was Steve Rogers. Only, he wasnât the small man whoâd piloted the Stomper rig.
âNo.â Her voice seemed weaker, cracking with the strong emotion which now threatened to overtake her.Â
âTheyâd called a monster through the Tesseract. HYDRAâs champion, or so the Red Skull had called it before it murdered him, too. I pushed it back, with some help. Specialist Rogers⌠without him, I would not have lived to do what I had to do. To push that creature back into the recesses of space, only to be spat out decades later.â
She bowed her head as her eyes filled with tears. âIâm truly glad that, at least in one world, you were the one to receive the serum.â
Peggy was left with a maelstrom of emotions she wasnât ready to address, and with her body compromised there was little resolve left to keep to her usual stoicism. She wasnât sure whether to laugh, sigh with relief that Steve Rogers was alive somewhere in the multiverse, or to cry for the loss of the little guy sheâd never, ever dance with.
Her hand found the hilt of the sword sheâd stolen from Germany and squeezed it. If it had not been enchanted, it might have broken under the power of her grip.
âCan we have the room?â Steve spoke up. He looked toward Dr. Strange and received an affirmative nod. He looked at Tony and they held each otherâs gaze for a while.
âIâll let you two Cap-sicles catch up. Maybe exchange stories about personal time travel,â Tony said before acquiescing, âFriday, cut the mics until the room is empty.â
âEnjoy the peace and quiet.â
When the door shut they were truly alone together. The Thunderous noise of the epic battle theyâd just won seemed years away at this point. Now it was just Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, but not like either of them had known. Steve felt heâd been robbed of his dance with the SSR agent whom he had help bury almost a decade ago. The Peggy he now looked at had lost a Specialist Rogers in her home dimension...Universe.
âIt took guts,â Steve started, âPutting that gauntlet on for people you didnât know. this isnât even your...home and you put it on without hesitation.â
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