Washington.
After retiring, Peggy Carter had been living here quietly for years.
Steve had known this for a long time, but the fact that she had gotten married was like a needle pierced into his heart. It stopped him from ever mustering the resolve to come here.
Even though, to him, it felt like he'd only fallen asleep for a short while, he understood that for Peggy, it had been an entire lifetime. There was no way she could have waited for him forever without hope. Still, he couldn't help the ache in his chest.
This time, however, Fury gave him a reason. A reason to put that pain aside.
* * *
"This is the place."
In front of a three-story villa, Fury stopped walking and didn't go any further.
"Ms. Carter already knows you're coming. From here on, Captain, it's up to you."
"Alright." Steve gave a nod, then approached Peggy's house alone and rang the doorbell.
"Steve? The door's unlocked, come in."
He had assumed someone like Peggy, living in a place like this, would surely have a caretaker around. But the moment he went inside, he realized the large villa felt… strangely empty.
"I'm in the reception room upstairs. Come on up."
Following the sound of her voice, Steve walked slowly toward the second floor.
Along the way, he carefully took in every detail of the house: the sofa, the television, the ornaments on the table, and a few scattered pictures with Peggy in them. But no matter how hard he looked, he still couldn't find what he had truly come to see. It was as if that person had never existed.
That's right. What Steve wanted was to see who had stepped into Peggy's life after he disappeared; who it was that had taken his place.
It wasn't out of jealousy. He simply wanted to thank the man who stood by her side in the life that he couldn't return to, so that when he woke up, what he felt was only regret, not remorse.
But Steve couldn't find him. He couldn't find a single trace of that man anywhere in the house.
Even when he'd asked Fury earlier, he had said Peggy's husband was very mysterious. It seemed she had gone to great lengths to protect her family, intentionally hiding her husband's identity. As a result, he had never once appeared in public.
Still without answers, Steve reached the second floor. Just as he was about to push open the reception room door, it suddenly opened on its own.
A girl, no more than ten or so, with beautiful blonde hair, ran out and almost bumped into him.
She looked so much like her. The instant Steve saw the girl's face, he saw a reflection of the Peggy he once knew.
"Sharon, slow down. Don't trip."
It wasn't until he heard a voice from inside that Steve snapped back to reality, and stepped into the room.
There, he saw his old lover, Peggy Carter. Her hair now completely white, features aged.
"Peggy…"
He had so many things he wanted to say, but when his eyes fell on the ring on her finger, all those thoughts melted into a single sentence.
"I'm sorry I'm late. Looks like there's no party left for me to attend, is there?"
The "party" referred to the promise Steve had made before his final mission. He had promised her he would come back, that he would be her dance partner at the celebration after defeating Hydra. But clearly, he hadn't made it back in time.
"Steve, it's been so long since I've seen you like this. Still as handsome as ever."
Unlike Steve's reserved demeanor, Peggy remained calm. After he sat down, she spoke first.
"You have more important things to worry about right now. As for the rest… this isn't the time. Steve, what do you want to know from me?"
"Huh?"
What she said left Steve a little confused.
"Wasn't it you… who asked to see me?"
"If I wanted to see you, I wouldn't have waited this long. I had hoped you'd come see me on your own. Sadly, it still ended up being S.H.I.E.L.D. that brought you here."
Her response was completely unexpected.
"Steve, don't let me Influence your judgment. I'm just me. I don't represent S.H.I.E.L.D. The moment I retired, everything about that organization, aside from the dream of protecting the world, had nothing to do with me anymore."
Outside the villa, Fury had no idea that the Peggy Carter he had worked so hard to convince never actually intended to speak for the agency in the first place.
But it made sense. Not only had Howard survived his initial assassination attempt, he had even lived a few more years. Under these circumstances, as one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., how could Peggy not have realized that the organization had already been corrupted?
She had only agreed to this meeting because she truly wanted to see Steve again.
"I see. Then, what do you believe really happened? Was it really Bucky... who attacked Howard?"
At that question, Peggy sighed. "At first, I didn't want to believe it either. I know what kind of person Bucky was, at least through your stories. I even doubted Gotham's intel at one point. But I didn't have the means to investigate it myself. Fortunately, Howard had a good son."
She then pulled out a folder containing information provided by Tony.
In this world, he had successfully inherited everything from Howard, including his connection to Carter.
Over the years, while Tony investigated Hydra, he had also kept in close contact with her. Among the things they shared were the results of his long, independent search.
Together with Howard's own judgment and the evidence given by Alfred, all of it proved one thing; Hydra had never disappeared. It was still active across the world, secretly gathering strength, even within S.H.I.E.L.D.
"This is the truth. And now that you know it, Steve, do you have any more questions?"
Peggy's words gave a definitive answer about Hydra's presence and Bucky's involvement. The matter was now clear. But despite that, doubt still lingered in Steve's mind.
"Peggy, are you okay… with the way LexCorp is growing?"
With the Bucky issue finally laid to rest, his greatest concern was now the rise of LexCorp.
The way the company operated, its ambition to control America, was no secret. Everyone knew what it was trying to do.
But somehow, no one was able to step forward and stop it.
**
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