At Last (Sequel to "Cosmic Reunions")
DJ Dubois
December 2011
Notes: The characters here are the property of Marvel Comics. Please send comments to .
Prologue [Brooklyn, NY—St. Augustine's Cemetery—mid-November 1942]
As with the rest of America, New York hunkered down for its war effort. Young men enlisted through the recruitment centers to swell Uncle Sam's ranks. Others did their part by working in munitions plants, in collecting scrap metal or in buying war bonds.
Eager troops boarded planes out of busy airports heading for adventure and reality in the bloody fields in which Death's scythe blazed its daily crop. Some would come back. All would do their duty and bear their scars in this life and the next.
But some didn't come back. Those would be the ones idolized and recalled. Children would sing songs. Chroniclers would record their achievements. Comrades would toast them in pubs present and future.
For those left behind though, sadness and grief burdened their hearts. They'd carry on to honor their fallen but it would be difficult.
A rather long motorcade came to a stop on St. Peter's Street in the necropolis' center. After starting at Grant's Tomb, it had wound its way through barricaded roads and streets to St. Teresa's for an emotionally charged service. Then it has resumed its somber trek through the old neighborhoods…past Ebbetts' Field, the old alleys and storefronts.
At least in spirit, it was a good bye tour of sorts for a special fallen soldier. A gift from a grateful city to its fallen son for saving it from a madman's bomb. A recognition of a boy turned man who'd given body, mind and spirit for God, family and country without hesitation.
Three plots in from the road, a sizeable entourage had already assembled. Some neighbors waited there. A few of the friends and few school chums who had secretly admired a scrawny teen's heart and tenacity watched the activity with interest. Senator Graham stood a few rows back in the crowd. President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor sat by the freshly dug grave.
Colonel Philips climbed out of the rear car and sniffed the air. His nose twitched ever so slightly at the few stray flurries drifting out of the sky. He strained to keep his military demeanor about himself. Maybe he'd hated the departed when he first appeared on his base but the latter had earned his respect. He'd learned to admire and care for the man who should be there with them.
"Excuse me, Colonel?"
Philips turned to find Dum Dum Dugan watching him intently. "Yes, Captain?"
"Permission to assume honor guard positions, sir?" Dugan requested. As with Philips, the red haired burly man wasn't much for cemeteries or pleasantries but this case was different for him.
"Granted, Captain. Tell Stark to get his ass in gear," Philips agreed. "Again thanks for doing this on short notice."
Dugan arched an eyebrow. "This is for theCaptain, Philips. Nuff said." He saluted his superior before returning to where a slender Frenchman, an African American, a slender Californian and a man with movie star quality looks awaited him.
"Ready, Dugan?" Howard Stark inquired somberly. He objected to this burial since he hadn't found the body yet. Of course he wasn't about to give up the search in any case. He straightened his trench coat as much out of anxiousness as his usual suave demeanor.
"Of course he is." Peggy Carter marched over with what seemed to be her usual strong demeanor. As on the battlefield or bunker, she maintained her mask for the outside world. She was well acquainted with loss as an orphan herself. She'd been alone for the previous four years in so many ways with only her military career to sustain herself. And gained many privileges belying rank in the process….
…such as leading the honor guard and potentially ordering superiors around on that day….
Of course it was a lie and everyone around her knew it. Even if they didn't speak of it, they knew her heart lay broken over the day's loss. Love cut short before its time….
But she would do her duty. She would do her Captain proud in seeing him off. Then she'd resume the search with Howard later.
She cleared her throat. "Captain Dugan, we are ready."
"Yes, Agent Carter. Lead on," Dugan concurred while grasping the casket's head handle.
She glanced toward Philips who'd already waited by the grave's edge. Getting a nod, she called, "Honor guard! Positions! March!" She led the others toward the waiting hole. She watched as they set the coffin down. "Ready!"
Stark stepped back as the Howling Commandos mustered the waiting rifles. He watched as Philips took his place in the procession. For the first and only time, he wished he was an officer eligible to take up the charge here.
"AIM! FIRE!" Peggy ordered.
Shots rang into the air.
"FIRE!" she reiterated.
A second volley flew heavenward.
Five more times she bellowed the command.
Five more times the honor guard fired skyward.
"DISMOUNT!" she ordered. "My thanks, Gentlemen! DISMISSED!"
The Commandos and Philips set their guns down and marched to their positions in the crowd. They'd done their duty. Now they could mourn.
Peggy folded an American flag expertly into the triangular shape. She considered its weight almost feeling the burden of duty, responsibility and sacrifice.
Then she felt the familiar warm rush. She could almost touch his hair. She recalled the taste of his lips on hers before he jumped onto the wheel of the Skull's jetcraft. His eyes sparkled at her with determination and affection.
She couldn't allow herself to waver now. Steve was counting on her.
She handed the folded flag to Joseph Rogers somberly. "You have my sympathies, Sir. Please accept my thanks and that of a grateful nation for Captain Rogers' sacrifice."
"We appreciate that, Agent Carter. The companionship of everyone around him meant a lot to Steven. You certainly inspired that as well," Mr. Rogers accepted as he took the flag and set it on his wife's lap. He smiled at the woman who should have been his daughter-in-law.
"He earned that, Mr. Rogers," she agreed while patting his shoulder gently. Then she turned to watch them lowering the empty casket into the ground.
With each inch, her heart dropped a little more. The mask became more difficult to maintain.
Mr. Rogers stood and assured her, "Please sit, Agent Carter. It's all right. He would've wanted you to take it."
Peggy nodded and took her seat beside the grieving parents. She allowed his mother, Katherine, to embrace her in consolation. She felt Joseph's acceptance. While she wished that Steve and she could have had more, at least she was accepted into the family.
"You've done your duty, Margaret. Now mourn as family," Joseph advised.
And with that, a few stray tears fell. She'd let most of them go later in private but for family, she let them see.
And so it would remain…her love buried with her Captain in the Arctic ice….A few flurries falling along with the dirt onto the casket.
Inside her heart was breaking…and would continue to do so…..
