A/N: Early update to make up for the unforgivable lack of Alice!
Excerpt from article 'A Year After Project Rebirth Files Became Public, More Archived SSR Documents to be Declassified' in the New York Times, July 1 1974:
… government division administering Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) files today released a cache of documents to the National Archives and Records Administration, which will be available for viewing by the public within a matter of days. It's unclear as yet what the documents contain.
After the explosive release of Project Rebirth files last year, which brought many details of Steve Rogers' transformation into Captain America to light, the SSR's work during World War II has come to the forefront of historical research.
"Harry O'Leary, Washington Post."
"Alright Mr O'Leary," said the beleaguered Archives administrator, her eyes flicking over her list. "I can see you've called ahead… RG 340.5.14, I assume?"
Harry's lips curved at the identification number. "Yep, me and everyone else, I guess."
The administrator huffed a laugh. "Yes, we've gone ahead and made copies of the files, so you'll all get to read at the same time."
Harry offered a winning smile. "Wouldn't care to tell me what's in them, would you?"
The administrator arched an eyebrow. "No, I would not." Harry nodded. He'd expected as much. "Here's your researcher identification card. Go on and head through, you'll all be let in in a minute."
Harry smiled his thanks and went through into the waiting area she'd indicated. He knew right away he wouldn't get a seat; the waiting area was packed. Harry nodded to a few other reporters he recognised, and cast his eyes over the rest - historians, he assumed. They certainly looked like historians, with their professorial suits and studied air. You had to have some kind of credentials to view the declassified records today, to keep out hordes of the nosy public.
"Hey Harry," came a voice to his right, and he looked over to see a friend he once worked with at the Post, who'd gone over to the Wall Street Journal a few years ago.
"Laurie," Harry smiled as he shook his friend's hand. "You're here too? Bit of a drive up from Manhattan. You could've saved yourself the drive and read all about it in the Post," he winked.
"Ha," Laurie rolled his eyes. "We got caught out with the Captain America files last year, my editor's not letting anything go to chance."
"For sure. The SSR's always good for a story, they were up to some wild stuff in the war."
Laurie laughed. "They sure were. I mean, granted, we're not going to get another Rebirth-sized scoop any time soon, but I figured reading a few old records in the Archives for a couple hours is as good a reason as any to make the drive - I miss DC from time to time."
"Well it doesn't miss you," Harry teased. He leaned in a little closer. "Do you have any idea what this declassification might be?"
Laurie shrugged. "Nope. I overheard one of the archivists say something about a 'Project Odyssey', but who knows, really."
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment a door on the other side of the room opened and the low murmur of conversation died. A tired-looking archivist held the door open.
"Anyone here for the files under RG 340.5.14, they're ready."
Everyone in the waiting area stood up and filed into the next room.
Harry had been into the reading rooms here a few times, so he knew the drill. The room was long, with sandstone walls and an artistic wooden ceiling, and dark tables stretched the length of the space. Grey archival boxes were spaced out along the tables, with each researcher's identification number on the side. Harry whispered good luck to Laurie, then found his box and took a seat.
He opened the box and slid out the first file. Here goes.
It took Harry approximately three minutes to parse what he was reading, and freeze in his seat. He opened the box again and flipped through the pages, skimming, his eyes wide. He realized that a low murmuring had filled the normally silent reading room.
He looked up and found Laurie looking across the room at him. They shared a wide-eyed glance.
Then a journalist a few seats down from Harry physically picked up a piece of paper, staring at it. Harry wondered if they were looking at the same Project Brief Report that he was.
The journalist's mouth slowly opened. "Wait. What?"
Excerpt from NPR broadcast July 4 1974:
"Good afternoon America, this is your 1PM news bulletin. Historian Bill Worth reports that declassified SSR Documents released today have revealed that Austrian Nazi singer 'The Siren', was, in fact, an undercover American operative working for the Strategic Scientific Reserve. More details still to come, but if true, this will be a big shock to our understanding of World War II, and how the Siren herself has come to be remembered."
Washington Post Front-Page Headline, July 5 1974:
NAZI SINGER REVEALED TO BE AN ALLIED SPY
Peggy made sure they did it right. They'd finally gotten clearance to declassify the files, but she knew after almost thirty years as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. that every story needed to be handled.
They couldn't release everything, of course, since much of it remained sensitive, and Alice's file had been so secretive to begin with that many of her actions and communications hadn't ever been written down. There were a few missions that needed to stay secret, perhaps forever.
In reviewing the documents, Peggy realised that Alice's connection with the Howling Commandos appeared tangential on paper: a few instances of her intelligence being passed on to them, the transfer of POWs in France, nothing really to prove that they had ever met face to face. She'd turned this over in her mind the past few days, but had decided to let it rest. Alice's work with the Howling Commandos had been a minor part of her war effort, and it only seemed so significant in Peggy's mind due to Alice's connection with Steve, she supposed.
It was quite a chunk of information to put out at one time anyway: Alice's initial training reports, many of her communications, reports on her missions in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the many other countries she worked in. Intelligence packets she'd prepared on HYDRA and the Nazis alike, and most of the details of Jilí's exhaustive investigation.
Peggy needed to make sure the story was handled.
So, a day before the records were due to go public, she brought a few documents with her and sat down with a reporter she'd come to trust.
Excerpts from article 'Former SSR Agent Peggy Carter, the Siren's former handler, speaks out' in the New York Times, by William Burrough, July 5 1974:
In a sit-down meeting on Wednesday, former SSR Agent Margaret Carter opened up for the first time in thirty years about one of the closest-kept secrets of the SSR: Agent Homer.
The notably reclusive intelligence agent spoke to me for several hours, in a conversation which will be the subject of a five-part article series about the Project Odyssey declassification. This series will cover the Siren's training in Brooklyn, her background in Austria, the lives she saved both as an agent and before she joined the SSR, her handler Otto Klein, her character, and the circumstances of her disappearance in 1945.
…
In addressing the length of time Agent Homer's identity remained a secret, Carter said "Alice was involved in some of the most secretive and sensitive missions of the war, and even after she'd disappeared, there were many people connected with her who could be put in danger by the truth coming out. Believe me, I have not enjoyed how Alice has been remembered these last thirty years. I'm just glad we can remember the real her now."
...
Carter brought with her a collection of papers from the recently declassified packet. "I'd like to draw your attention to this mission report, which I wrote myself after meeting with Alice in Switzerland in 1943. Here I've written 'Homer confided in me that the past month has been a struggle - both in regards to upholding her cover amongst her 'friends' in Berlin, and in dealing with the sacrifices she's been forced to make in her personal life, such as being unable to grieve her dead friends.'" Carter cleared her throat. "It wasn't often I wrote this sort of thing down, because I wanted to respect Alice's privacy. We were friends."
"But I wanted to acknowledge… how much of a burden this was for Alice. We are lucky that she was strong enough to bear it - she had to espouse hate to destroy it from within. That's a difficult line to walk, but I always admired Alice's steadfastness and firm moral compass. She never lost sight of her true goal: protecting the people who needed it most."
"You know, they called her Siren. They had no idea just how right they were; she clouded their minds with the sweetness of her voice, and led them to ruin. The world is lucky she had that gift."
Excerpt from article 'SSR Agent Known as Nazi Propagandist for Thirty Years' in Bild, by Charlotte Schwarz, July 5 1974 [Translated from German]:
… the documents show that Austrian singer 'the Siren', Alice Moser, who for years has been known as a Nazi sympathiser, was actually on an undercover posting with the SSR from 1942 to 1945, when she went missing. The declassified packet describes Moser's hundreds of missions while in Nazi territory, from gathering information on the Nazi science division HYDRA to assisting in assassinations in Poland.
For thirty years, the Siren has been an example of a 'morally corrupt Nazi sympathiser', a woman who rubbed shoulders with perpetrators of genocide in order to seek out fame and fortune. This discovery has turned the public's perception of the Siren on its head, and sent shockwaves through the historical community. A woman the world believed to be singing Nazi songs to entertain Nazis was actually spying on them for the Allies.
Some historians and members of the public have denied the revelation, most notably historian James Edlington, who wrote a series of articles titled 'Despicable Women of Nazi Germany' featuring the Siren.
However, historian Kate Nicolson has responded to doubters. "I don't understand how you can deny these new facts. The SSR have dozens of files on the Siren - or rather, Agent Homer, as they called her. In fact the only reason I think these people have for doubting this new information is that the documents make them look stupid. I understand that feeling - I wrote a thesis about the Siren's moral culpability while I was in university - but what we need to understand is that this was a purposeful, curated effort to maintain Alice Moser's cover as a Nazi. The fact that it has held up so well for thirty years is, I think, I credit to her memory."
New York Post Headline July 6 1974:
THE SIREN'S BACKGROUND REVEALED
HALF BROTHER THOMAS JOHNSON: "YES, SHE'S MY SISTER. AND I'M UNBELIEVABLY PROUD OF HER."
July 7 1974
Peggy had been worried it would rain. That would be just her luck. But no, when she arrived at Brooklyn Bridge Park that Sunday with her husband Daniel and their youngest daughter Catherine (who'd just turned seventeen), the sun shone bright and warm over the green grass.
Peggy had also been worried about finding everyone. But the hodge-podge group milling at the far end of the park were impossible to miss. Peggy recognised Tom first: he'd come back from the Korean war a tall, self-assured young man, and now that he was in his forties he exuded a certain sense of leadership that Peggy recognised from years of picking and training new agents. He stood with his wife Ruth and their three adult children, across from Jilí and most of her family, and a woman about Peggy's age who stood slightly apart. Behind Jilí's brood, Peggy spotted three figures who made her smile: Dugan, Morita, and Gabe, relaxed in civilian clothes and with more lines on their faces than the last time she'd seen them. Falsworth and Dernier hadn't been able to make it as they were overseas, but they'd sent their love.
A shout of greeting rose up from the group, and Peggy hurried over with a smile. The introductions were a mess: mostly everyone had met already, save for the children, so there was a hubbub of talking and laughing and hugging, picnic baskets banging in to each other and exhilarated brandishing of newspapers.
The park was full of families taking advantage of the sunshine, especially since this was the 4th of July weekend, so the strange crowd nearest the river didn't stick out too much. Peggy allowed herself to turn off her agent instincts for a few moments to enjoy the riotous mess.
She found herself standing across from Tom as Daniel shook hands with Jilí's eldest son Danior, a copper-haired young man of twenty. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tom's daughter Alice (the oldest 'child' at twenty eight) smiling at Jilí's daughter Alice, who was not yet fifteen.
The two Alices couldn't have looked more different: Alice the elder had skin a shade darker than her father's, with beautiful thick dark hair and intelligent eyes. Alice the younger was fair, with her father's copper hair and her mother's sharp dark eyes. She seemed shy, but watchful. Both Alices seemed a little overwhelmed; they'd both only found out the truth about the Siren a few days ago, after all.
Alice Johnson and Alice Garcia shook hands knowingly.
"She took it much better than I'd expected, after all these years," came a low voice to her left, and Peggy looked over to meet Tom's eyes.
"Tom," she smiled, and they reached out simultaneously to shake hands. Peggy leaned in to kiss him on both cheeks. "You look well." It was true: He had a few sprinkles of silver in his dark hair, and lines around his eyes, but he looked whole, and happy.
"I feel like a new man," Tom laughed. He looked at the collection of people around them, and then beyond to the buildings of Brooklyn. "Back when you told me the truth, I didn't realize how hard a journey was ahead of me. But today…" he smiled. "Today makes it all worth it."
Peggy felt tears prick her eyes at the look on his face. Tom had remained relatively untouched by Alice's infamy over the years, but Peggy knew there were people who had shunned him, spat at him, for more than the color of his skin. Someone had once graffitied his house with the words NAZI LOVER.
She couldn't imagine how helpless he had felt, having people shout in his face that his sister was evil, and being unable to refute them. It certainly seemed as if a weight had been removed from his shoulders today, though.
"I've had dozens of requests for interviews," Tom went on, catching a glimpse of the newspaper in Peggy's daughter's hand. "It's all a bit overwhelming, but Alice has been helping me out."
At the sound of her name, Tom's eldest daughter slipped over to his side, smiling. It seemed like a million years since the first time Peggy had seen her as a baby, back in Brooklyn in the raw months after the end of the war.
"Hello, Alice," Peggy said warmly.
"Mrs Carter," Alice replied. "Although, I suppose it's Director Carter, isn't it?" She glanced at her father. "Dad told me about… well, all of it, I think."
"I'm glad," Peggy said truthfully. "I'm sorry to have been part of the cause for the secrecy." She'd last seen this Alice a few years ago, in one of her periodic visits to Tom's home. After returning from Korea, Tom had become something of a cultural leader in Brooklyn: he'd sponsored the arts scene for a while (though he never sang much himself anymore), and become a foundational member of the Civil Rights movement. Alice herself had joined the movement at fifteen. Things had gotten a little dicey for them - Alice had been arrested a few times at protests, and Tom had been threatened by a corrupt police officer. Little did that officer know that Tom had the might of a secret federal intelligence division behind him.
"I get it," Alice said with a shake of her head. "Right now it's just nice to be outside the house - we've had the journalists camped out on our lawn for days, we only got here by sneaking out the back."
"Let us know if you need any help," Peggy urged. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has plenty of contacts in the media."
"We might take you up on that," Tom smiled.
"Well if it isn't the most powerful woman in the country," came a wry, accented voice, and Peggy looked over to see Jilí approaching with a smile on her face. She'd lost much of the suspicious sharpness she'd had when Peggy had first met her; it had faded, like the tattooed numbers on her arm. Peggy would never call Jilí warm, but she'd filled her life with love and it showed in her whole bearing.
"Jilí, it's been too long!" They embraced, and then Jilí began asking Tom all about his children. She and Tom had met once or twice after Jilí moved to the west coast with James. Peggy joined in the conversation while also greeting the rest of the children and the Howlies, her cheeks beginning to hurt from smiling.
Eventually, Dugan rallied the milling group of people long enough to call "Alright, alright, let's sit down!" and they all laid down their picnic blankets and brought out their food, laughing when they realized that no one had thought to bring any cutlery. Peggy sat with her shoulder pressed to Daniel's and her daughter laughing riotously with one of Jilí's sons. They chatted about the weather and how the media had gone mad, and eventually their talk turned to Alice.
"I wonder what she'd think of all this," said Alice the elder, gesturing at the stack of papers they had all collected on the blankets. Headlines glared up at them, along with old photographs of Alice in her 'Siren' attire. "I mean… I never really knew much about her, since we…" Alice looked at her father, and laid her hand on his. "Since we never talked about it. But these last few days I've learned so much about her. My aunt." She smiled. "She sounds like an incredible woman."
"She was," said about five different people at the same time, and they all laughed.
"I think she'd be overwhelmed by the attention," Peggy ventured. "She was used to fame in the war, of course, but this?" She held up a newspaper which proclaimed: UNSUNG HERO. Morita, in a sharp suit with a US flag pin, rubbed his jaw. "She wouldn't know what to do with it all." Daniel took her hand.
"She'd be annoyed that everyone knew her secrets," Jilí suggested.
Dugan laughed. "But they don't! That declassification had the big stuff, sure, but I don't think I'll know every secret Al had. Hell, no one's even put it together that she even ever met the Howling Commandos." Peggy smiled behind her hand. Alice had never even heard the name 'Howling Commandos'.
There was a small silence after that. Tom's wife Ruth offered Peggy some tea from their thermos, and she accepted with a smile.
Eventually, Jilí cleared her throat. "I… I just wanted to say, because I think this is what we're here for… Alice Moser was my friend." The air seemed to still as everyone turned their complete attention on Jilí. "She was the person I leaned on in one of the worst parts of my life. She helped me to save dozens of my friends and family, and when I was gone, she went on to save hundreds more. I couldn't be prouder of her and I" - her voice cracked as she looked over to Tom - "one of the greatest regrets of my life is that I couldn't find her."
Tom unconsciously shook his head, his eyes gleaming. The sun still shone down but the air had turned sombre around them.
Jilí went on. "I'm glad that Alice can finally be known for who she was, rather than who she pretended to be." She fixed her eyes on Tom. "I want you to know… in Vienna, Alice missed you so much." Peggy watched a tear spill down Tom's cheek. "She talked about you all the time. She wanted to be there to see you turn into a man. She'd be so proud of you." She looked over his wife, his daughter, his two sons. "All of you."
"Thank you," Tom rasped, and the picnic blanket creased up as he leaned over to wrap an arm around Jilí. Peggy watched them embrace: these two from completely different worlds, brought together because they loved Alice.
Tom pulled away, settling beside his wife again, and cleared his throat. Everyone's attention shifted to him. "I've spent the last few days talking non stop about my sister, mostly to my family." He looked at them all, and they smiled back at him. "And to a few reporters. I… in looking back, I'm realizing how little I remember about Alice. I was very young when she left - when she was forced to leave - the first time around. But… I remember her strength." He lifted his chin. "We lived in a mixed-race household in the 1930s. I was a child, and I have very clear memories of how difficult things got." His eyes darkened. "Alice and my father once got beat by a pack of racist drunks in the street. She was defending him. She was fifteen."
Peggy felt a low burn in her chest. I never knew that. But then, it wasn't exactly the sort of story Alice would have been likely to share.
Tom's darkened eyes lifted. "I think that's how Alice ended up…" he paused, mulling over his words, "how she ended up so impenetrable. You could come at her with anything, and it'd all roll off her. I take things so easily to heart, so I really admired that about her." He shook his head. "And when she came back when I was a teenager, those were some of the best weeks of my childhood. She'd take me out and treat me to milkshakes" - everyone smiled - "and we sang together, and learned everything we could about each other. Though apparently she was also learning how to be a spy at the same time," he cast a wry glance at Peggy, and she just shrugged.
Tom drew in a deep breath. "Mostly, Steve and Bucky were around with us too. I hardly have a memory of Alice without them in it. They were inseparable as kids. And… boy, those two really brought me into their families. I'm still in touch with the Barneses." At that he smiled over at Rebecca, Bucky's youngest sister, whom Peggy had invited a few days ago. Rebecca hadn't left New York since the war, and though Peggy hadn't been in touch with her as often, it felt right to have her here.
Rebecca beamed at Tom.
Tom looked upward, as if searching for the words. "I… never knew the Siren. I never knew about all she was up to until after she was gone. For a few years I thought I'd lost her in the worst way possible, but when I learned that it was all to keep me safe…" he shook his head, overwhelmed. "So I can't speak for her war years except to say that… I will never be able to fully describe just how proud of her I am." His eyes gleamed again, and his voice went rough. "I try to live up to her every day. I see her in my kids," he smiled at them. "And I know that she would just adore them." He cleared his throat and wiped his damp cheeks. "Anyway, that's what I have to say about that."
There was a soft round of laughter. Ruth offered Tom a tissue, and then opened her mouth to speak.
For the better part of an hour they each spoke a little about the Alice they had known. Dugan, Morita, and Gabe reminisced about the missions she'd joined them on, and about the Christmas of 1944 when she'd cooked them turkey and laughed with them late into the night. They spoke about how much they admired her.
Even the children had a turn. Most to say something like "I didn't know about all this until a few days ago, but I'm proud to be related to her", or "she sounds like someone I would have loved to get to know". Rebecca Barnes shared what she remembered of Alice, Steve, and Bucky running around the streets of Brooklyn as children. Daniel, who'd never met Alice, talked about the legacy she'd left amongst her friends.
Peggy found her heart swelling. Steve and Barnes had had hundreds of memorials since they passed, but Alice had never had anything like this. Peggy suspected that Alice would start to get her own public memorials from now on but this… this felt thirty years overdue.
When it came to her turn, Peggy let out a heavy sigh. Her daughter's hand settled on her shoulder. "The first time I met Alice," she began, "she'd sought me out. I didn't trust her at all - she was an Austrian citizen who'd traveled illegally to the States and had somehow organized a meeting with the SSR - but she eventually convinced me." Her lips quirked. "She told me that she was there because her mother had taught her that if she saw a man being kicked and she did nothing, she may as well throw another boot into his side."
Peggy saw Tom lift a hand to his mouth.
"She said that she didn't think Germany was full of villains, or America full of heroes, but that she couldn't stand by any longer." Peggy took a moment to let that sink in. She felt the weight of everyone's eyes on her. "It took me a good long while after that to trust her; it was some point after she helped me beat up a gang of awful men in an alleyway" - her attentive audience laughed - "but she became my friend. Like you said, Tom," she looked his way, "Alice was impenetrable. She wore a dozen different faces, with a layer of platinum under it all. But I think everyone here who knew her also knew how it felt when she let you beneath that layer. When she shared her real self: the Alice who was kind to a fault, the Alice who…" her voice caught. "The Alice who gave her whole life in order to protect those who couldn't protect themselves."
The sunshine was warm on Peggy's face but for a moment she felt cold, and tired. "I miss her. I think of her when I face a difficult decision, or when I face moral quandaries. Because Alice might have been mired deep in a situation of moral ambiguity, but she always knew what was right."
They talked some more after that, about Alice and the uproar the declassification had caused, nibbling on their food and squinting out over the river. After some time they broke off in groups. Peggy waited until all the children were off in their own groups, walking by the riverside, and the 'adults' were alone on the picnic blankets, before gathering her courage.
"Tom," she began, in a low tone. "There's something… I've been keeping something back, and I'm not sure I should have."
Tom paused while eating a sandwich, looking wary.
Peggy drew in a breath. "What did you know about your sister's relationship with Steve?"
Dugan, Morita, and Gabe looked up. Jilí pressed a handkerchief to her mouth, looking curious, and Rebecca propped her chin on her hand.
Tom cleared his throat. "They… I knew they were close. More than friends. When she was back in Brooklyn they were pretty much exclusive. And these lot" - he gestured at the Howlies - "told me much more than I wanted to know about what they got up to on missions in Europe."
Gabe laughed under his breath, and Dugan nodded. "They were definitely more than friends. Couldn't keep their hands off-"
Morita elbowed him and he cut off with a grin. Tom laughed.
Jilí cocked her head. "Alice never said that she and Steve were more than friends, but I could tell she loved him."
But Peggy was stuck on what Dugan had said. "I'm sorry, they were doing what on missions?"
Gabe chuckled. "You remember that mission together in Italy, when we first met Alice? Well when we all said goodbye, Cap ran right up and laid one on her. Right in front of all of us, in the middle of an airfield." They were all chuckling at the memory now.
"And they thought they were being so sneaky, all those times they snuck off together on missions," Morita shook his head.
Tom smiled. "I'm glad they had each other."
"Not that any of that made its way into the papers," Dugan winked.
Peggy cleared her throat. "Well, er… speaking of sneaky…" she had their attention now, and she glanced down for a moment. She thought of Steve's scratchy voice over the radio. She wondered, as she often had: Would you want them to know? She thought that he and Alice probably would. All she was left with was their memory for judgement. She looked up and met Tom's eyes. "Tom, I think you should know. Before they died, Alice and Steve… well, they got married."
Tom's mouth dropped. Dugan let out the foulest string of swear words Peggy had heard since the war, and Jilí's eyes went round. Rebecca let out a delighted gasp. After the relative quiet of their conversation the sudden burst of noise from all of them had others in the park looking over in alarm.
Peggy felt a little sheepish. Even Daniel was staring at her, though he knew she had secrets she might never tell him.
There were a lot of loud questions and exclamations flying Peggy's way, but she waited for Tom to compose himself.
"Um, when?" he asked in a croaky voice.
"Steve only told me about this when… when he was on the Valkyrie." She swallowed. "He said it was on a mission south of Montluçon, which is when I believe they liberated the town of Soives from HYDRA. The mission notes say that he and 'a résistant', who must have been Alice, traveled to the next village over to rescue a Jewish family in hiding. I did some research and it seems there is a small church with a pastor there. I suppose they… took advantage." She reached into her handbag and gently pulled out the piece of paper she'd been keeping secret all these years: their marriage certificate. "This was amongst Steve's things."
Everyone went still at the sight of it. Peggy handed the paper over to Tom. "It's in French," she said as he unfolded it, "but you can see - they've signed their names."
Tom stared down at the certificate for a long, silent moment. The paper had gone yellow with age, the edges frayed, and Alice and Steve's signatures had faded from the stark clarity they'd had when Peggy first found the document. But their names were still clear.
Dugan, Morita, and Gabe glanced at each other. "I remember the mission," Dugan said, "I remember them heading off for a few hours…" he scratched his head. "We had to start a distraction with the Maquis to clear the roads for their journey back."
Gabe suddenly laughed. "No, I remember now! Remember Sarge was spitting mad on the flight back? I thought it must've been because he didn't like them going off without backup like that, but they must've told him!"
Morita shook his head slowly. "Why d'you think they never told us?"
Peggy sighed. "Steve told me they wanted to have another wedding after the war. I suppose they would have told you then."
Tom handed the certificate over to Jilí and leaned back, his face written with awe and sadness. "Married."
Jilí smiled down at the paper. "And she gave me such a talking to when I announced I was getting married with almost no notice, the hypocrite." She looked to Peggy. "And you've kept this all to yourself all these years?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, just a little sombre. She handed the certificate to Dugan.
Peggy sighed again. "Steve told me moments before he… before he died. I didn't know… if it was something he wanted spread about. I couldn't be sure. In the end, I think I convinced myself that it wasn't a huge change. They shared such a bond, after all. I didn't understand it until I saw them together. They…"
"They fit," Tom said, with a quirked mouth. "They'd been like that since they were kids. Inseparable. I was kind of jealous, I think. One jumped, and the other was there to catch them." His face darkened. "Not that last time, I suppose."
"Steve did everything he could to protect Alice," Peggy said, because she was still loyal to him and she didn't like the idea of his name being tarnished.
Tom waved a hand. "I know. But I wish… I wish they'd been together, in the end. I think they would've liked that."
"Me too. Maybe…" Peggy swallowed. She'd never been particularly religious or particularly sentimental, but she'd lost so many friends. "Maybe they're together now."
Tom huffed a laugh. "I sure hope so. Sending each other coded messages and beating up bullies in heaven."
Ruth laughed. "Bullies in heaven?"
He shrugged. "You never know."
"So," Peggy said, eyeing the group around her. "My question to you all now is… Alice's real self is out there now. Ought we to…" she hesitated. Saying it all out loud after decades of lonesome pondering felt strange. "I don't know, publicise their relationship?"
They all looked to Tom. He still seemed to be processing. He scratched his jaw and looked to his wife. Ruth shrugged. Tom turned back to the Howlies and Peggy. "I… I don't know. I think you all knew them best in those last years. What do you think?"
After a few moments of silence, Dugan was first to speak. "My two cents? It ain't our place to tell their secrets. If they'd made it, I know they would've wanted to live together in the open, but mostly I think they just wanted rest. We shouldn't bring what they had out for the world to tear apart in their absence."
A silence followed. Peggy breathed slow and deep. She was glad she hadn't been completely off-base in keeping to secrecy these last thirty years.
Tom cleared his throat. "I think you're right. And if I'm being honest… I want Alice to be remembered as Alice, for once. Not just…" he looked embarrassed. "Not just Captain America's wife. Does that… make sense?"
"I completely understand," said Peggy, and Jilí nodded firmly.
Daniel, with one hand resting over Peggy's, looked over his shoulder. "The kids are on their way back."
Peggy followed his gaze and saw the lot of them: teenagers and adults from three sets of families, their shoes dangling from their hands and the cuffs of their trousers damp, laughing at a shared joke. Peggy smiled.
"Well then," said Jilí.
"Thank you for telling me, Peggy," Tom said earnestly.
Peggy turned back to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." The faded marriage certificate had made its way back to her, so she handed it to Tom. "I think this ought to stay with you."
He took it with a sad smile, looking down at Alice's elegant signature. "I'll take good care of it."
"And now we've gotta get through the next few months," said Morita wryly. "After the Rebirth files went public I was fielding interview requests every damn day. Look forward to that."
Tom's lips curved up into a smile. "After not being able to say anything about Alice for thirty years," he said, "I find I don't mind the idea of that at all."
That afternoon, Peggy farewelled Daniel and Catherine and drove back to Camp Lehigh. She didn't strictly have to be back that day - but there was something she wanted to oversee.
After the usual rigmarole of getting into the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility via the secret elevator, Peggy found herself in the foyer area with the large S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle to greet her on the far wall. The foyer was relatively quiet - S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't really keep standard business hours, but it did tend to die down a little on Sunday afternoons.
Peggy strode through into the main office space, and spotted someone hard at work up the back: a man in navy overalls halfway up a stepladder, looking down at a work bag by his side. Peggy approached, making sure her heels clicked on the floor so she didn't scare the man to death by sneaking up on him.
"How is it coming?" she asked.
"Just finished, Director Carter," the man said, gesturing up at the wall.
Peggy looked up and her heart stilled in her chest. The Wall of Valor had gone through many changes since S.H.I.E.L.D. had been founded, each added name tugging at her heart, but this felt more bittersweet than tragic. There, to the right of Steve's name, a long-unlabeled SSR symbol now read 'Agent A. Moser.'
The order to add the name had also gone out to all the other Walls of Valor in all the other S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities. They were currently planning a new headquarters in DC, where another wall would feature prominently. Peggy also planned to put up a photo of Alice somewhere before they moved headquarters.
The engraver packed up his tools and left, murmuring a goodbye.
Peggy looked across at the neatly engraved name and for the first time today, a tear spilled down her cheek. She was a middle aged woman now, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., tougher than she'd been even as a young woman, and yet she allowed herself this vulnerable moment.
She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing before the wall when a clatter to her right made her blink and turn.
"Howard," she said, her voice raspy. Howard had clearly just come up from the labs: his shirt was untucked and his tie and hair askew, as it usually was after he spent too long on his projects, and there was a scorch mark on his shoulder. He and Pym must have been playing around again. She spotted what he carried in his hands, and she almost rolled her eyes. "Champagne? Really?"
He smiled as he came to stand beside her in front of the Wall of Valor. His eyes flicked over Steve's name, then Alice's. "C'mon, Peg, these are the few hours of the day when I don't have a four year old getting under my feet. And this deserves a celebration." He nodded at the name on the wall.
Peggy sighed, thinking of all the children Steve and Alice never got to meet.
As she wallowed, Howard skilfully popped the cork and poured two glasses, before handing her one. She half expected him to say something dry and witty, but to her surprise he lifted his glass with a grave look on his face.
"To Alice," he said solemnly.
Peggy raised her glass as well. "To Alice," she echoed.
Together, they drank the bubbly champagne in silence, their eyes on the names of their friends who had vanished. And again, Peggy felt a sense of rightness settle in her gut: finally, after all these years, Alice had her memorial.
Excerpt from CBS television newcast 30 July 1974:
"Yes, for years the Siren has been an example of the 'head in the sand Nazi sympathiser', a floozy who used the war to get famous and get in favour with powerful men. There have been satirical comics drawn about her, for decades she has been the butt of jokes and ridicule. A short-lived memorial built for her in Berlin was torn out of the ground and destroyed ten years ago. But as we learned just a few short weeks ago, everything we thought we knew was not the truth at all."
Excerpt from article 'New York Adopts Another War Hero' by Graham Ingram, 22 August 1974:
… declassified documents highlighted Moser's connection to Brooklyn, as she lived there for some years as a child (her half brother Thomas Johnson remains a local), and also trained with the SSR there. Most of her old connections to the area are deceased or have moved on, but that hasn't stopped Brooklyn (and New York as a whole) from claiming the famous Siren as a part of their cultural heritage. New York was also home to several other war heroes including Medal of Honor winner George Peterson, and of course Captain America.
The city's proud war heritage has combined with its love of the arts, and the Siren's music has seen a recent upsurge in popularity.
Excerpt from article 'Second Wave Feminists Adopt "The Siren" as an Icon' by Laura Swyndon, 4 November 1974:
After her sudden, enormous switch from complicit criminal to war hero, Alice Moser ("The Siren") has become somewhat of an icon amongst feminists across the world, but more specifically in the US and in Europe.
Feminist thinker Kate Carroway wrote last Wednesday: "The Siren's real character was misunderstood for years because of secrecy reasons, but we also need to understand that this is a story about what women are capable of, and what they deserve. Thirty years after her disappearance the Siren has shown us all that she could fool the most dangerous men in the world for years, and protect hundreds of people, all with her own skills and smarts. And she deserves our respect and celebration. Just as women around the world today are capable of so much more than the pre-written traditional roles, and are deserving of respect and celebration".
Excerpt from NBC primetime interview, 1 February 1975:
"I have with me here the half-brother of the Siren, Mr Thomas Johnson of Brooklyn. Mr Johnson, what was it like spending your childhood with the Siren?"
"Well David, she wasn't known as the Siren back then. Just Alice, or as my father called her, Allie. And she was… you know, a big sister. We loved each other, we had the occasional scrap or two, but at the end of the day she'd do anything she could to protect me. But don't get me wrong, even when she was a kid, Alice was one of the bravest people I've ever known."
"That's a big statement, coming from a veteran."
"Yes sir. I fought for three years in Korea, and my fellow soldiers were brave and bold men. But I'm not afraid to say that my sister Alice was braver than us all. She wasn't just fighting a war - she was living it. Having dinner with the enemy, smiling at them, singing for 'em, hoping they wouldn't notice that she was listening in on their secrets and working with their enemies. Some people call double agents cowards, or snakes, but Alice was none of that. She knew right from wrong, and she fought for what was right."
…
"So did you believe her to be a Nazi all these years, like the rest of us?"
"I thought she was a Nazi during the war. But I was informed of the truth after VE day, thankfully, though I had to keep it to myself even in my family until the documents were declassified."
"My goodness. That must have been a heavy burden to bear."
"Sure, it was. But the biggest one is still… still not knowing what happened to her. I still hold out hope, but logic tells me she must be long dead by now. I just wish I knew… anyway. It has been a relief to be able to finally share in the truth with everyone, especially my family. My children have done a lot to honor their aunt, keep her story alive, and they keep fighting for those same ideals that Alice fought for."
"What ideals are those?"
"Well we might've beat the Nazis, David. But people in this world - and this country - still live in fear of violence and prejudice just because of their ethnicity, or religion. That's what my children and I are trying to overcome. And I know Alice would've been with us 100% of the way."
Excerpt from article 'The Siren recognized in Vienna' in Kronen Zeitung, 11 November 1975 [Translated]:
… on Wednesday a ceremony was held to unveil a statue of the Siren (Alice Moser) outside the Steinkauz Haus in central Vienna. Speakers included her allies and friends from during the war, and President Kirchschläger. Moser's name has also been added to the Wall of the Fallen at the War Memorial, as it has been added to similar displays around the world...
S.H.I.E.L.D. internal memo, JK to MC, 1975:
Peggy,
I've attached an article about the 'new wave of citizen detectives'. Apparently Alice's disappearance has attracted a whole bunch of young conspiracy theorists and nosy parkers who've taken the notes on my investigation and have started digging into every nook and cranny. I know a few people in Berlin are getting sick of all the questions, but I'm all for it. If all of that lot can't find anything, then no one can.
Jilí
PS: take a vacation.
Excerpts from Pulitzer Prize for Journalism winning article 'The Quiet Austrians' by Mary Venner, New York Times, 1976:
… as a wealthy, native-born Austrian, Moser had little to fear from the Anschluss (the forced incorporation of Austria into the Third Reich). But as the world now knows, Alice Moser went on to become one of the most notorious spies of the entire war, an agent of the SSR.
But before the SSR, there was Austria. The SSR did not turn Moser into a spy - they merely refined what Moser had been all along.
…
Moser and her Romani friend Jilí Kreisky, somewhat unwittingly, began to form a network. Resistance in Austria was never as overt as it became in occupied France or Poland, as Austria was more culturally similar to Germany, but that is not to say that there was no resistance.
"From 1938 until I was arrested in 1941," says Kreisky in her home in San Francisco, "Alice and I built connections and friendships not just in Vienna, but throughout Austria. Our connections even stretched abroad, through friends of friends, and when Alice went on tour. One of those connections would end up putting her in touch with the SSR."
…
Since the declassification, many war survivors have realized that Alice Moser was responsible for getting them to safety. Some have known her identity for years, but have been sworn to secrecy in the interests of protecting other agents and resistance members. Moser went on to work in at least nine different European countries but she began her work in Austria, and her identity was most known in Vienna, where Moser hid and fed her friends and neighbors, and got them out of Austria and to safety. Kreisky estimates that in Vienna alone, Moser saved at least two dozen lives.
"We just started off getting people food," Kreisky says. "But it turned into so much more. We hid people in houses and basements and sheds, Alice passed on everything she learned from her uncle's friends so we had some advance notice about raids and crackdowns, we formed political alliances, helped disseminate anti-Nazi reading material, and figured out routes out of the country so we could begin getting people out. Alice once drove a whole family to the border in her uncle's car.
"It was tough. We lost friends. She lost me, or thought she did. She never knew I was still alive in a concentration camp." Kreisky shows me the tattoos on her forearm.
"She really saved the skin of those boys in the Swingjugend, too. All those hot headed young boys who'd wriggled their way out of the Hitler Youth, she had a way with them. She encouraged their resistance but redirected it, so they weren't throwing themselves into the lion's jaws. She showed them how to tear the Nazis apart from the inside."
Many of these survivors have come forward to tell their stories, or to re-tell them, now able to name their faceless rescuer.
…
This network was not given a name by its members. Hugo Gruber, who went from the counterculture Swinjugend youth group to running Moser's network in her stead, said that the network never had formal organisation. "We only survived under the utmost secrecy. Alice taught me that if we had a name for ourselves, then they had a name for us, but if we remained nameless we didn't exist. No one knew everyone's names since we used codenames, no one knew how far the network stretched, and that's how we went under the radar. The Gestapo figured something was going on, of course, but they didn't have any real way of tracing it."
When asked about these codenames, Hugo smiles. "I was Strauß - Ostrich," he tells me, "Because I'm so tall. Vano [his co-leader in the later years of the war] was Schloss [Castle]."
Vano, sitting beside Hugo, nods sagely. "The Gestapo figured out some of these names," he tells me, "not that it helped them much. If you look into their files from that time, you'll see the name 'Steinkauz' a lot."
Hugo sees me perk up at the name, and he nods. "That's right. A Steinkauz is a kind of small owl here in Austria. But in the war, the Steinkauz was Alice." Hugo shows me a photo of Alice which he keeps in his house in downtown Vienna, which is busy with children and friends. The photo is of a younger Moser than I am used to seeing, perhaps taken before the outbreak of the war. "We never would have been able to do so much without Alice, and we wouldn't have survived like we did. She knew so much about codes and how to keep things secret, and this was before she went to America."
I ask how she knew so much.
Hugo shrugs. "She was interested in that sort of stuff - she was mathematically inclined, had a good head for patterns. And she'd been hiding most of her life from her uncle for so long, I think hiding from the Nazis came naturally."
I go back to the codenames, and query the name of the jazz club and community centre near the heart of Vienna, which Hugo and Vano co-run. The centre is called 'Steinkauz Haus'.
"Yes," Hugo smiles, "we named it after her. It's her uncle's old house, you know. We got it after the war, and we knew we had to honor her in some way. The centre is full of her spirit - it's a place for music, and healing, and safety. I know Alice would have loved it."
…
Though the network, under Moser's direction, never bore a formal name during the war, after VE day it made its way into popular legend. The network which had for years existed without existing, which had kept its silence about its co-founder and leader for years, has finally gained a name: Die stillen Österreicher.
The Quiet Austrians.
Now, for the first time in decades, those who have kept their silence are able to speak out in memory and in celebration.
Excerpt from article 'Alice Moser recognized as Righteous Among the Nations' in The Guardian, 10 February 1976:
… at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, a ceremony was hosted honoring Alice Moser, 'The Siren', for her efforts in rescuing Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Several survivors spoke at the ceremony, including Lavan Alperstein, whom Moser smuggled out of Austria in 1938 as part of her musical tour, and the Zimmerman family, who fled from Vienna to Palestine in 1941 with money and direction from Moser and her network.
In addition to these anecdotal accounts of rescues, Hugo Gruber of the Quiet Austrians spoke about how the Siren contributed to the protection and rescue of Jewish people on an organisational and continental level.
In attendance were many survivors and diplomats including the Austrian President, and German Chancellor.
Moser's medal and certificate of honor were accepted by her half-brother Thomas Johnson.
"I am humbled and honored to accept this on behalf of my sister," Johnson said. "Alice was a very special person - she didn't crave the limelight, but when she had it she knew just how to use it. I know that if she were here to accept this honor herself she would thank her friends and allies who supported her in her drive to protect everyone she could, and recognize all those who gave their lives to the cause. I've been told that she often told survivors: 'be safe, and live well'. I hope that all of us here will be able to live in safety and prosperity, and remember Alice and what she fought for."
Excerpt from 'Pulling Away the Curtain: Project Odyssey' by Louis Bates, 1978:
… upon the declassification of the Project Odyssey files, many of those involved in resistance fighting and activities during the war were shocked to learn that the 'Al' they had liased with, fought beside, even befriended, was none other than Alice Moser. Many have been surprised at how easily Moser seems to have gone undercover as a 'man', questioning how none she worked with realized the deception for what it was.
But it's important to remember that Moser was not only a spy well-trained in disguises, but often worked in low light, avoiding face-to-face interaction. Also, she worked under the premise of 'you see what you expect to see'. The Siren was a glamorous icon across Europe: a blonde, beautiful, dolled-up woman in a sweeping white dress, illuminated by stage lights. So the Siren would have looked different from Alice Moser in her day-to-day life, and so then the jump from Alice to 'Al' would have been even more drastic. One did not look at a thin boy in a cap and expect to see an international celebrity.
So while this revelation came as a shock to many, particularly in the French Resistance, for the most part none are overly put out by the deception.
"We were all keeping secrets to keep ourselves safe," said Bertie Somme, a former Maquisard. "So, Al was a woman. And so, that woman was the Siren. The way I see it, that means she had bigger balls than half the men on my team."
Excerpt from article 'New Historical Biography "Queer Hero" celebrates the Siren's double-agent producer, Otto Klein' in The New York Times, 1980:
… author Michael Goriana says "one thing people like to ignore is that contemporaries of the Siren often highlight her bond with her handler and producer - they were assigned to each other, but it's clear they formed a relationship deeper than that of fellow agents. And I think a lot of that wilful ignorance comes out of his queer identity. Klein was outed posthumously by those seeking to destroy his reputation, and the waters have been very muddied.
"This book seeks to clarify the true Otto Klein. Yes, he lived his public life as a Nazi, just like the Siren did. He was an SSR agent. He was a Resistance member. He organised resistance activities, uncovered crucial information about the Nazis and HYDRA, and arranged rescues of refugees. He was also a gay man."
Book published 1981: 'Spycraft and Songs: Alice Moser's Network of Widerstandsmitglieder (Resistance Members)'
Excerpt from 'The Need to Revisit Female Spies in WWII' by Wendy Alora in History Today, 1981:
… after the declassification, Moser became a dramatic moment in war history. Her story has started a conversation about other female spies, many of whom also laid down their lives. As a result, historians are looking closer at spies and the underbelly of the war. Many books and articles, of varying quality, have been written about Moser's contributions. Academics and the public alike are curious about this sharply-intelligent woman who fooled the Nazis (and the wider public consciousness) for so long.
It's important that we acknowledge the work she and many other dedicated women were doing for years, under the yoke of extremism, and open up new lines of academic enquiry.
Excerpt from article 'Siren Monument Unveiled in Brooklyn' in the New York Post, 1982:
… the bronze statue, pictured right, is a full-length figure of the Siren in performance dress. Artist Laura Hardwood has been commended for her work, particularly for her skill in mimicking the movement of wind across the figure, and her 3D rendering based on several archived photographs.
… large ceremony to celebrate the unveiling in Brooklyn Bridge Park, attended by the Mayor and several of Moser's contemporaries.
The etching at the base of the statue reads:
The Siren
Alice Moser, who sang so beautifully that they never heard her chipping away at the foundation beneath their feet.
S.H.I.E.L.D. internal memo, April 1984:
Harding,
I hope to come by sometime in the next month to welcome our new junior recruits, though the business in Croatia may delay me. In the meantime, I want to stress that Alice Johnson should under no circumstances be shown any special treatment or censure. We are all aware of her notable relations, which I will admit hold special significance in S.H.I.E.L.D. particularly, but Agent Johnson deserves to make her own mark in the division. I trust you to handle it.
- Director Carter.
1992
S.H.I.E.L.D. had come a long way since Peggy had sat down with Howard and Phillips in a back-room office all those years ago.
Peggy stood in the main atrium of the Triskelion, dwarfed by the soaring ceiling and arching windows. The large metallic S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle sculpture cast a shadow over her as she walked past it in the dawn light.
Peggy was the last one left. Phillips had died years ago, surrounded by his family, and just months ago… she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she thought of Howard. In some ways, his death had helped her realize that it was time for her to resign. Partly out of the knowledge that it was time to let S.H.I.E.L.D. grow beyond what she could offer, and partly because… well, she was tired. Jilí (and Daniel) had been nagging her to retire for years.
The Triskelion atrium was, unusually, empty. She'd chosen her hour well.
She walked the length of the atrium, finally coming to a halt in front of the Wall of Valor.
This Wall of Valor display was sleek and metallic, set in a stone wall. It had grown exponentially since they hung up the first one in Camp Lehigh: hundreds of agents had fallen over the years. Peggy knew each individual name; she didn't need them written on a wall to remember them. But on her final day as Director she'd found herself drawn here all the same.
Peggy drew in a breath, feeling every bit of her seventy one years. Old bullet wounds and scars ached, years after they'd been inflicted, and when she reached up to brush her white hair back from her face, her fingers ran over the lines around her eyes.
Peggy drew her shoulders straight, and began to say goodbye.
She went backwards through the years, her fingers sliding over each name as she silently thanked each agent for their service and their sacrifice. As the S.H.I.E.L.D. symbols began to turn into SSR symbols, the pinching feeling in her chest grew stronger.
She reached the very first line of names, and closed her eyes.
Moments or minutes later, she heard footsteps approaching. "Director Carter," came a low, familiar voice. "I was hoping I'd catch you before you headed out."
Peggy smiled, drew her fingers away from Alice's name, and brushed away a stray tear. "You never leave anything up to hope, Nick." She turned to see Agent Fury standing a few paces away in a neat suit, his intelligent dark eyes warm. Fury was steadily rising through the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D., not quite near the top yet, but near enough that he'd caught Peggy's notice.
"I might've known you'd be here," he admitted with a shrug. He looked from Peggy to the Wall of Valor, specifically the name she'd been touching when he arrived. "You knew her well, huh?"
"She was my friend," Peggy said. She let out a breath. "I'm glad I was able to finally put her name up here, though it was long after she deserved it."
Nick eyed her, almost bewildered. "Not much room for making friends in our line of work."
"No." Peggy turned and set a hand on his shoulder. "But there is a little room for finding people you trust, Nick." She saw his skeptical look, and almost smiled.
After today, she'd be relinquishing all control over the agency she'd spent forty years building. She'd had her discussions with Pierce, and the World Security Council, but Peggy also looked to the more junior members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Peggy knew better than to hope for a replacement exactly like herself. S.H.I.E.L.D. needed leaders who could foresee things that she no longer could, who could help the agency grow into the future.
"I know you don't believe me," she smiled at Nick. "But I'm right."
She squeezed his shoulder, then turned back to the Wall of Valor for one last look at that first line. She smiled.
And with that, Peggy Carter, civilian, turned on her heel and walked out of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Excerpt from article 'Die Erinnerung an die Sirene' [The Memory of the Siren] by Hans Schruben (1995) [Translated]:
Thirty years ago I wrote the article 'The Mystery of the Siren'. I'd been ensnared by her story: the intrigue, the moral ambiguity, the tantalizing unknown. I concluded that "we must accept life without all the answers".
Since then the world has learned much about the Siren, much more than I ever hoped to learn, and it all made sense. Finally, all those nagging questions I had about her character had an answer. She was not a glamorous celebrity with an unusual private life. She was an undercover agent doing her best to cover up her actions with glamour and scandal. She orchestrated a deception so complete that even I, an objectively highly-skilled investigative journalist, could not see through it even twenty years later.
Alice Moser has become an admirable part of our history, a hidden martyr. She knew what the world thought of her, how the world would remember her for years, and she persisted. The Siren knew there were more important things than image.
Since her re-emergence as a war hero, the Siren has inspired whole movements in academia, music, social justice, and wider culture. I have consumed each piece of media created about her since then, marvelling in just how wrong I was in 1965.
But now that the shock has faded, the Siren has once more faded to historical fact: Alice Moser is admirable, but static. Gone.
The last mystery of the Siren is the question of her death. And I, at least, am at peace with it now.
The Nazis were notorious for having destroyed many records before the Red Army took Berlin. And I am sure, somewhere in those burned records where not even the most determined investigator could find them, is the story of a songstress who fooled them up until the last moment, a songstress who died at the hands of her enemy. Still, we must accept life without all the answers.
We may not know where Alice Moser's body lies, but now, finally, we can celebrate her spirit.
~ Isn't this place sweeter than heaven? ~
I admit I've been playing a bit of a long con here - throughout the story, every time an 'article' refers to Alice as a Nazi or her achievements aren't recognized, I've made sure the article is dated before 1974. So don't worry, my loves, she's sure as heck getting recognized now! Though her connection with Steve and the Howlies is still on the DL.
(Also I just want to reiterate, this story isn'tgoing to overlap with 'The Wyvern' unfortunately, I'm intending to change some things with the MCU a little more than I did in that story.)
And thus marks the end of Part Three!
Reviews
Teaanddoctorwho: Sorry my dear! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter ;)
GuestPrime: I'm so glad you like Jilí and her journey so much! She is indeed living a life that Alice and Steve should have had. Hopefully this chapter satisfied your need for Alice to get statues and plaques! And sorry for tricking you into thinking that it would all be classified for 65 years! I also knew I was stretching things with that Nazi song ban haha, I didn't get into specifics but I was thinking it could be a ban for at schools/workplaces, so not necessarily a public ban. Countries like Germany and Austria banned Nazi songs etc so I guess I was going off that.
As for where Alice is… we'll have to wait and see.
Guest: Your wish is my command - hope you liked the Tom + Jilí scene! And don't worry, we'll be up to modern times very soon ;) I can't wait to show you what happens next! Thanks so much for your lovely review, I hope you've had a good week :)