Steve watches the clock and his speedometer. He's been to this pier before, once, at the beginning of his career. He knows how long it will take him to get to the specific pier and on the ship.
So instead of arguing with Peggy and Bucky, which would essentially be useless, he plans.
—-
She and Barnes wait in relative silence for the better part of an hour.
They gear up, arming themselves with every weapon available and Peggy takes the time to braid her hair back and out of the way. She paces back and forth before pausing and taking another sip of water, trying to make sure her head is clear and that she's perfectly ready to go when Sam arrives.
"I'm going first."
She looks up to see Barnes standing there, his gaze tense.
"Excuse me?"
He looks at her, eyes deadly serious, "when Sam comes, I'm going to be his first transport."
"Fuck that." She spits out, "I'm going first—"
"No." He snaps, "you're not."
She pulls back, mouth open in disbelief before she crosses her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow, "I will shoot you before I let that happen."
He narrows his eyes at her, "I'll shoot you first."
The glares they trade are equally barbed.
"You are still recovering from oxygen deprivation." He says flatly, "and I'm a better shot than you. And I'm enhanced. So it's going to me."
Her shoulders bristle and she takes slow threatening steps towards him until their faces are inches apart, "I will tear every man to pieces on that bloody ship before I let anything happen to Steve. And when I find Pierce, I will shove my hand so far down his throat that I'll be cleaning his blood out from under my nails for a week—" Barnes' eyes are widening, "and then, when he's choking on his own shredded esophagus, I will smile at a man well killed." She stabs a finger into his chest, "so you can take your enhancements and your perceived sharp-shooting abilities and you can shove them up your own ass!" She pushes him back, "because I'm going first."
They stand there in silence as she watches him process her words. His eyes close and he sighs, looking ready to say something when they hear a car horn. They both look up to see a nondescript black sedan approaching them.
It slides to a stop and the passenger door opens quickly, little feet becoming visible.
Anthony Stark bounds into view and she watches as he looks at the both of them, "where's Steve?"
"He took off without us." Barnes, grinds out, "Sam, your wings?"
Peggy looks up to see Sam hauling something that looks like a metal backpack out of the trunk.
He nods, strapping it across his chest and clicking it into place. "Who's first?"
She turns to Barnes who looks ready to argue, but she glares at him so fiercely that he takes a deep breath and gestures to her, "Carter is going first, but then you're going to come right back and then I'm taking the wings from you and you're staying with Tony."
Sam doesn't argue, just nods, "let's get going."
Anthony steps forward and points at her, "Steve promised to save my dad. So you better save him."
Peggy nods, "I will."
The kid studies her face and then decides he believes her. "Good."
Sam steps in front of her and gives her a wry grin, "you're going to need to hold on tight."
Then she's in the air and the wind tears at her hair and clothes as they speed towards the ship.
—-
Steve had dove into the ocean and clung to the anchor until it was hauled up. Then he'd climbed it and slunk into the large room where it was held.
Now he steps softly and quietly, the only trail he leaves behind is the water that drips from him.
His first order of business to disable the helicopter that rests on the aft of the ship. He disengages the controls, tearing wires from behind the engine panel and crunching the steering shaft.
Then he heads down into the ship.
The first guard he comes across doesn't get a shot off, but the recognition in his eyes is there. The widening at the sight of Steve's shield makes the man reach for his radio. So Steve slings his shield and incapacitates him.
Three more guards are incapacitated and tied up before he finds someone he recognizes.
Jack Rollins walks past the corner he's hiding behind and he follows him. Slinking quietly around corners and behind huge machinery as they make their way up to the bridge.
When they reach the bridge, Steve closes his eyes and listens. He registers 12 heartbeats.
But he doesn't hear Howard's.
Cursing he slinks away, he has to make sure he's safe before he starts enacting his vengeance against Pierce.
So he slips back through the ship and begins searching.
27 guards later, three levels and 16 rooms later, Steve still hasn't found him.
He briefly wonders if Pierce had managed to trick them into thinking Howard was on this ship when he wasn't… but he can't know for sure either way. So he keeps searching.
—
It takes 20 minutes before the ship comes into sight. Thankfully Sam's wings are much faster than a huge ship.
But the ship isn't what catches their eye first.
It's the fact that it's on fire.
—
Steve feels the heat searing the air, sucking the oxygen out of it as another explosion rocks the gangplank he's running on. He's not sure if it was his bullet or one of the guards that had hit the tank of some chemical that had exploded on impact, but now the fire is spreading.
And he's worried about running out of time to find Howard before the ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
—-
Sam circles, finding a section of the ship that isn't burning. He and she stumble as they land, thunking onto the deck and rolling before scrambling back to their feet.
"Carter," Sam starts, looking at the fire that's covering half the ship, "I don't know about this, what's your exit strategy?"
She glares at him, "go get Barnes. Try to find another air transport, but I'm getting Steve even if we have to swim all the way back, you understand?"
Sam's eyes look full of concern, but he glances at the fire and her and then sighs, "don't get burned."
She nods and he takes off, disappearing into the fading afternoon sky.
Peggy doesn't wait a moment, her boots thudding against the metal as she searches, armed to the teeth and ready to make good on her promise to Barnes.
—
After finding one of the ammunition storages, Steve loads up on whatever he can grab. He hesitates only a second before grabbing grenades and clicking them to his belt. Better for him to have them out of the way than Pierce or any of his goons to use them against him.
Steve decides that Howard must be on the other side of the ship. But the way guards keep appearing and getting in his way means he can't make it more than one hallway without having to stop and fight.
He only has so much ammo so he resorts to using the explosives sooner than he prefers. He tamps down the concern about finding Howard and forces himself to fight. He will save Howard. It's not an if, it's a when.
—-
She's true to her word. She uses a knife to take out three guards, slicing at their faces and necks in up-close combat. Thankfully, their fighting skills are subpar and she doesn't hold back, throwing their lifeless bodies overboard as she tears through the sections of the ship looking for Steve.
Peggy grabs hold of the railing as another explosion rocks the ship. The heat is becoming suffocating. The billowing black smoke makes it difficult to breathe for her already oxygen starved lungs and effort she's exuding running around..
But she clings to the railing and pulls herself along, keeping her shirt pulled over her nose and mouth.
Another guard has the unlucky card of turning the corner and coming face to face with her. He's covered in smoke, but he still reaches for his radio. She flings her knife, slicing at his hand and as he cries out, then she runs forward, jumping and wrapping her legs around his neck, twisting and slamming him down on his back with her weight.
He lets out an oomph, and she kicks at his head, knocking him out. Then she's snatching up her knife and coughing, pushing herself to move faster.
—-
Steve bursts into a room scattering papers with the gust of air he brings with him.
A bunk and a chair and a cup of water sit in the room. He bends over snatching up the papers and sees Howard's handwriting.
"Shit!" He curses, tossing the paper and bolting out of the room. They know he's here for him. And now they've taken him.
Steve slams the door and runs faster.
—-
It's by accident that Peggy finds Howard. She'd turned the corner and seen three guards carrying him up the stairways facing her.
She smiles. Leaping and crashing her boots into the chest of the first one, sending him tumbling backwards. Then she lashes out, the knife already in her hand and lodging into the back of the second's thigh, making him choke out in pain and drop Howard.
The third looks ready to bolt but she unholsters the first guard's pistol and drops him with a shot to the chest. Then she fires beneath her and beside her.
The area falls silent except for her breathing and she slumps a bit from effort before reaching and turning Howard over onto his back.
"Howard?" Peggy asks quietly, "Howard."
But Howard doesn't move.
She taps his cheek, crouching by the man's side to see bruises on his face. She feels for a pulse and finds one, relief at that fact fills her. He must have just been given something to knock him out.
She sighs. That's going to complicate things.
She hears a call over the loudspeaker to send guards to the engine bay.
And she wonders if that's where Steve is. But she has to focus.
Peggy grabs Howard, thankful he's not a large man, and drags one of his arms over her shoulder, she bears his weight and trudges up the stairs and then out the door to the deck. She needs to get him to safety before she runs after Steve.
—
Searching for Howard makes things complicated. While the heat hurts and blisters his own skin, he knows it will heal. But Howard does not have the same ability. Which means time is running out to get Howard off the ship safely if the fires continue to spread.
A man appears, pulling him from his train of thought as bullets lodge themselves near Steve's head. He yanks back around the corner to avoid the barrage. Then he tightens his shield and barrels around the corner, blocking the bullets and slamming into the man, sending him careening against the wall, who then slumps down to the ground.
He hasn't come across an innocent officer yet. Everyone has either openly tried to kill him, or shouted the alarm, informing Steve that they're all Hydra or working for Pierce.
Which works for Steve. Because that means he doesn't have to hold back or try to save anyone else but Howard.
He hears a commotion down another hallway and he pulls out a grenade just in case.
Then he's running.
—-
Howard starts to groan and shift and Peggy knows she won't be able to keep him safe in any sort of confrontation. So she uses her past knowledge of ships and aims to find the level with the lifeboat canisters.
Two guards sent over the railing later, she manages to locate the section, one deck below on the outside of the ship. Peggy sets Howard on the metal gangplank and quickly gets to work. She cuts at the thick canvas straps and shoves them, sending all but the last cascading into the ocean. Then she opens it up, grabs Howard, arranges him into it comfortable and says a silent prayer. Stay safe.
After he's settled and locked inside, she hooks it up to the crank that rests beside it and lowers it down as carefully as she can. Peggy waits one minute as it drifts away, no additional call over the comms or alarms about a lifeboat getting away, so she assumes no one has seen. Thankfully the ship chugs on, leaving Howard in its wake. Once she feels he's far enough away to be safe, she heads to the other side of the ship to repeat the process. She doesn't want Pierce to have any way to exit the ship besides a body bag.
Thankfully none of the canisters on the other side have been disturbed and she shakes her head at their stupidity. If they know Steve is on board, which they must, they would have called for air support. Which is foolish of them. While maybe less dignified, the lifeboats were an immediate escape. Thinking air support would be safer or faster to evacuate will be their undoing.
Once the last lifeboat is floating away in the ocean, she supposes there's just two things left for her to do.
Find Steve, and kill Alexander Pierce.
—-
Steve hears them calling after him, and he can hear that the alarms are blaring and someone is speaking over the comms but it's all so loud it just hurts his ears. And the lack of a sign of Howard is making his pulse race. Maybe he just needs to assume Pierce had him brought to the front of the boat where the fires are less…
He rams his shield into another guard's face and slams his boot onto another's knees, cracking it backwards and sending the man howling onto the ground. Two swift kicks renders the men unconscious and he continues his search.
—
She comes across bodies strewn about or unconscious and tied up. it makes her smile, Steve's handiwork clearly visible in the way they're so completely bowled over. She wipes at her eyes and tries to blink through the smoke as it seems to follow her.
Peggy feels a rumble and something deep in her gut tells her to run and run fast.
—-
Steve throws one of his last grenades deep into the engine bay, using more force and speed than maybe he ever has in his entire life to book it out of there. Jumping up and climbing up the metal gangplanks and railways to get to the higher levels. His sensitive hearing picks up the click and he pushes harder, scaling the metal railings upwards like a monkey, leaping and grasping the top railing and pulling himself over as he hears the grenade explode.
He doesn't look back, shrapnel and heat blazing across his back as he throws himself through the open Navsea door, slamming it behind him. But he knows that's not enough. Booms echo and metal shrieks so loud that he almost drops to his knees and covers his ears. He feels the ship start to lilt, meaning the explosions all over the ship have finally caused water to onboard, disrupting the buoyancy. That means Pierce will start to get desperate to get himself and Howard off the ship.
And he knows full well that desperate people make foolish decisions.
And he's counting on that.
—-
The ship roars. The metal creaking and squealing and filling the sky with vibrations that makes Peggy's nerves fire wildly.
She has no idea what Steve is doing but it seems to be incredibly effective.
Then she feels the ship tilt. Her feet sliding and her ribs slamming against the railing.
And her eyes widen in realization.
He's going to sink this ship.
She lets out a choked gasp.
He's going to fucking sink the entire ship.
And he doesn't know she's on it.
She takes off, using her shirt again to block the smoke and keeping a hand along on the rail as a guide.
Above the roar of the fire she hears shouts and panic. She races towards it, hoping to find Steve there or at least take out more men. She has to shift and stumble as the ship continues to lilt and sway in its struggle to stay afloat.
But then another blast throws her off her feet, slamming her against the metal railing and making her vision go blurry. Adrenaline courses through her, and she forces herself to stand. Blood drips from somewhere but she can't focus on that, she has to get to Steve. The ship levels out for a moment and she takes off, sliding around a corner and straight into another body.
They tangle as her forehead crashes into his jaw and they both get knocked back and off their feet.
She looks up to see the wide eyes of Sitwell staring at her.
Rage and cold revenge flood through her veins as he stares at her in shock. He's scrambling backwards, putting decent space between them as she lurches to gain her footing. He hasn't made it to his feet when she pulls out a pistol from her holster. But the ship tilts again, making her lose her balance and slide into the wall.
When she looks back at Sitwell, he has a gun in his grip. But it's not pointed at her. It's at the tank next to her.
Peggy only has a second to catch the chemical symbol emblazoned on the side before she hears the register of the pistol. She dives backwards, slamming around the corner
The resulting explosion makes her world tilt on its axis in more ways than one.
—
He makes it back up to the deck of the ship and he runs to the aft, checking to see if the helicopter is there. Thankfully his sabotage job must have been effective because it still resides on its pad. He can tell they tried it by the way the doors hang open.
Steve's sure Pierce will have already called for air evacuation so Steve has to find him first.
He runs along the side of the ship. Blasting through fires and past searing hot metal. As he approaches the front of the ship he slows, pulling out his second to last grenade.
He stops, looking around the corner onto the bow. It's one of the last places not to be totally ablaze.
He can hear the shouts and the scrambling as he slowly moves forward, using machinery to hide as he gets closer, trying to locate Pierce in the maybe dozen people left on board.
"Get them on the damn radio and tell them the head of Shield is—"
Another echoing explosion cuts off his words and rocks the ship, making Steve grab something to steady himself. He wonders what fuel source the fire hit to create another blast. The heat continues to suffocate the air, making everything around him shimmer.
He checks his magazine, switches it out for a full one, tightens the strap on his shield and moves out from where he was hidden.
He aims and takes out three guards with well placed shots. They crumple to the ground and he moves swiftly, blocking the shots that come at him with his shield and returning fire when able. Steve takes out another two guards before he finally catches sight of Pierce.
The man's face is monstrous with rage as he shouts orders to the remaining guards who are scrambling around.
Then Steve steps into full view, immediately using his shield to block the gunfire and using his old trick to ricochet the bullets back to their shooters, taking out another three under their own barrage.
"Stop hitting the shield you fucking idiots!" He hears Pierce bellow.
And the fear in Pierce's voice makes him almost smile.
He moves swiftly, never letting a shot land, and returning fire with his few remaining bullets. He uses his second to last grenade to take out the two who try to come up behind him, and the blast makes everyone have to duck for cover, sending more heat and smoke through the air.
The area not on fire grows smaller and it pushes them closer to each other.
Pierce and another guard stand off to the side, a gun aimed in Steve's direction.
"Captain Rogers." Pierce says, his voice raspy with smirk, his eyes narrowing as they land on him, "you're going to prison for a long time. Destroying a naval ship, threatening the head of Shield."
Steve doesn't respond. He looks at the lat remaining guard and glares, "drop your gun."
The man frowns and Steve sees the muscle in his wrist twitch. He raises his own pistol and shoots him before he can even finish pulling the trigger. The man crumples and Pierce doesn't even react. As if he expected it.
The magazine is now empty so he tosses the pistol to the side, the metal thudding against the ground with a clunk.
He knows there's probably other guards somewhere, but his eyes are on Pierce, ready to put an end to his madness with his bare hands if he has too.
"All out of ammo?" Pierce asks, his face a sneer, "that's too bad." He says slowly. The shield on his arm hides the last grenade attached to his belt. Steve watches as Pierce pulls out a pistol, getting ready to point it at him. But Steve slings his shield, knocking the gun out of his hand before the shield hits the railing and sails back to him, reattaching to his forearm. Pierce looks stunned as Steve takes another step forward.
"You're going to pay for your crimes." Steve says darkly.
Pierce makes a face of annoyance and then shakes his head, "what, you think just because you rescued your little damsel in distress from that grave that you've won?"
That makes Steve pause. Pierce knows he saved Peggy?
The ship lilts, making them both outstretch their arms for balance.
"I have air support coming." Pierce says finally as he takes a step back, putting distance between them. "You'll be tried for your crimes." But Steve just steps closer and he watches Pierce tense, the heat making both of them drip with sweat. Steve raises his shield, ready to knock the man out when Pierce plays his last card.
"Howard's on the ship." Pierce snaps out, "probably burning alive. You could save him."
Steve's about to retort, or possibly beat Howard's location out of him when a sound crackles through the air.
Pierce! You were right! She's here too—
Both go still at the radio call. That was Sitwell's voice. Steve's mind races. She—- she who—
Pierce's eyes stay on Steve as he reaches down, snagging the radio off the dead guard.
Steve could kill him. Could sling the shield so hard that he would knock over, and one good fist to the face would crush his nose back into his brain.
But who is she?
Pierce's eyes never leave Steve's. He clicks the 'talk' button on the radio, "who's here?"
Carter!
Even with the ever increasing heat Steve's blood goes cold.
How the hell had Peggy gotten onto this ship!?
Pierce's smile is radiant. "You have her? Or is she loose?"
I have her. She's burnt, but alive.
"Bring her to the bow quickly. Air support should be here in 15 minutes. And Sitwell? Make sure you have a pistol against her head, and if I don't check in every 20 seconds, you blow her brains out, understood?"
Yes, sir.
Then Pierce smiles and looks at Steve, "it's funny how things change isn't it?"
"There is no scenario where I let you live."
"You know." Pierce says, waving the radio, "maybe I should not check in, that way he can blow her brains out and I can hear you two stop whining after each other." Pierce laughs, "so what if you kill me then? I'll die happily knowing you're going to be miserable the rest of your life." Steve's jaw tenses but he says nothing. Pierce smiles a nasty smirk and puts the radio to his lips, "first check in."
Copy that
"Drop the shield." Steve does. He lets his arm hang in front of the grenade, still hiding it. The shield clangs to the ground and rocks back and forth. "Kick it away."
He hesitates and Pierce narrows his eyes, he raises the radio to his lips and speaks, "on my order get ready to shoot Agent Carter in the leg." He unclicks the button.
Copy that
"If you don't want your precious Agent Carter riddled with holes, then I would suggest you try listening to the man in charge. Which is me. Kick away the shield."
Steve uses his boot to shove it away. He briefly thinks about grabbing the grenade, but if he kills Pierce then…
"Second check in."
Copy that, almost there.
"Where is my drawing?" Steve asks.
Pierce's head tilts at the question, then understanding dawns, "oh, you mean this?" He uses his free hand to dig into his front chest pocket.
A crumpled and folded piece of paper gets pulled out and Steve steps forward, rage filling him at the state of it.
"Ah, ah, ah," Pierce mocks, holding up the radio, shoving it back into his pocket, "Stay back." Steve grits his teeth, but he stays.
"Pierce!" A voice yells from behind Steve, "you there?"
"I'm here!" The man calls, "stay there with your gun at her head, I'm coming!"
Pierce circles slowly, keeping his eyes pointed at Steve and the radio at his lips. He walks backwards towards Sitwell's voice. "Sit." Pierce calls to him mockingly, "stay." Then he smiles as he steps far enough and must be able to see Sitwell, "good boy."
Steve's mind races with options. He has to get Peggy out of their grasp, or incapacitate them. He needs to get close enough to be able to be fast enough. And he still has to find Howard. He reaches for the grenade, his hand covering the metal and releasing it from his belt latch. He pulls his arms behind his back just in time, looking up to see Sitwell walking towards him, "hey there, captain. Long time no see."
"You buried Agent Carter." Steve's voice is like flint, emphasized by the fire crackling and glowing as the sun dips on the horizon, making the whole ocean seem on fire.
Sitwell swallows thickly and then pulls up whatever confidence he can muster, "yeah. And we're going to bury her again. But this time we're going to make sure she stays dead."
His petulant voice enrages Steve, making him step forward, his hand reaching for Sitwell's collar.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
He freezes, looking past Sitwell to see Pierce holding Peggy by her hair, the muzzle of the pistol pressed at the base of her skull. She's on her own two feet but her eyes are half-lidded and her clothes are burnt. He can see red skin covering her left arm, but the burns don't look too bad. It's the blood dripping from her forehead that worries him the most.
"If you kill her." Steve growls out, "I will—"
"Kill me," Pierce sighs, "yes, yes, I've heard that spiel before. But I'm not going to kill her, am I?" He motions to Sitwell to move forward.
Steve allows Sitwell to tug him backwards, further away from the fire to a section on the bow where the railing is lower. Sitwell shoves his back against it. "Try anything funny and I'll shove you overboard." Then Sitwell looks down and Steve curses as he makes a choked surprised sound, "Pierce!"
Steve looks up to see the gun pointed at Peggy's skull and knows he doesn't have an option, even if he pulled the pin Pierce could get a shot off into Peggy's head before it exploded and the blast would hurt all of them, not just Pierce and Sitwell.
"What?"
"He has a grenade in his hands."
Pierce's eyes widen and he lowers the muzzle, shooting straight through Peggy's shoulder, the bullet embedding in the metal deck in front of them. She cries out and Steve lurches forward, but Pierce once again points the muzzle at her head. "I'm getting tired of warning you captain. I know if I kill her, it will mean my death as well." He smiles tightly at Steve, "is my death worth hers?" When Steve remains silent, Pierce glares at Sitwell, "take the grenade from him, make sure the pin is intact."
Steve allows the grenade to be plucked from his palm. He swallows thickly at the blood pouring from her shoulder, "Peggy?" He calls out to her, "Peggy, are you alright?"
Her eyes open and find him. "Steve—" she starts, her voice dry and cracked. It makes him want to rip them to shreds.
"I told you to stay safe." He snaps, but even to his own ears he can hear the fear in his statement.
She blinks and then seems to regain some of her wits, wiping at her face, "I came to get you. I told you not to be reckless."
Peggy gets pushed forward by Pierce. "Here's what's going to happen." Pierce starts. He pulls Peggy's head back using her hair, making a sound of pain escape her lips. Steve steps forward but Pierce sees, slamming the butt of his pistol against her wounded shoulder, making her cry out again, louder this time. Then the muzzle is back pressed against her skull and he glares at Steve, "one more attempt to save her and it will all be our last breath. Got it?" Steve's eyes are on Peggy, but he can hear the way Pierce speaks. He means it. The psychopath would kill Peggy even if he knew it would sign his death warrant. So he nods. Pierce huffs and continues, "like I was saying, I'm going to take this little nuisance with me as collateral. And once we're up and away, feel free to find Howard and burn on this ship together or drown, I don't care anymore."
"She's not going anywhere with you—" Steve snaps, "over my dead body!"
Pierce smiles, "precisely."
—
Peggy remembers the blast knocking her sideways and her head slamming against something that had made her instantly woozy. She had tried to get up quick enough, but Sitwell had beaten her to it, a gun was pointed at her before she could find her footing.
Then he is radioing Pierce and dragging her somewhere.
It isn't until a voice calls her name that she fully feels her mind slip back to reality.
Pierce is slamming the pistol against her and her brain fires, the pain making her adrenaline course and the haziness of her brain from the smoke, head wound, and the burns start to clear.
"—precisely." Is what she hears Pierce say.
"Steve—" she tries again, only for her hair to get yanked, pulling painfully. She has to tell him Howard is safe.
"Not a word from you." Pierce hisses in her ear, "unless you want me to shoot him dead right in front of you."
She falls silent and looks at Steve.
"Where is air evac?" Pierce asks.
Sitwell looks at his watch, "I don't know, the comms went down."
Pierce steps forward, pushing Peggy with him, but still using her body as a shield between him and Steve. "I don't appreciate you ruining all my hard work over the years." He says to Steve, mocking humor in his tone, "so just think of this as your comeuppance."
Peggy waits for a response, but his eyes are glazed, unfocused.
His head tilts just marginally as if listening to something.
Pierce must sense something too because he steps forward, pushing the muzzle even harder, bruising her skull. "There is no way out of this Captain. Your death is inevitable." Then he must get nervous. Because she hears the hammer pull back.
The muzzle is a heavy presence against her skull but her eyes are on Steve, whose throat is tight and his eyes are closed. The ship groans and she hears the metal as it creaks and fights to stay above water, making all of them shuffle a bit for balance.
"Sitwell," Pierce orders, "get the cuffs." Pierce points at the dead guard and Sitwell nods. "Put him in both pairs."
"Steve," she calls out, "Steve—?"
He finally opens his eyes, and they pass over Pierce to find hers. "There's something I've never explained before—" he says quickly, his eyes locked onto hers with a burning intensity. "About me, that I found out after the plane." his hand reaches up, three fingers resting on his chest, right over his sternum.
Peggy looks at him, her eyes full of confusion. "Plane?" She asks, unsure what he's referring to.
"It's going to be okay." Steve reassures her.
Pierce growls, and yanks Peggy's head back, "I said shut up!" Then he snaps, "Sitwell! Hurry up!"
And Peggy cannot fathom why, but Steve looks down at her shoulder, as if studying her wound, then he smiles, his hand shifting to lower on his chest.
Sitwell scurries back into her line of sight and then disappears behind Steve, tugging the hand that was resting on his chest behind him. She hears the clank of the first set of cuffs being locked and Steve looks at her, his face calm and soft. "I love you." Pierce huffs, about to say something angry when Steve's eyes flit up, past Pierce, somewhere behind him and he sucks in a sharp breath, closing his eyes, "Now!"
Six ear splitting shots ring out. Pain tears through her shoulder and she gasps.
Pierce goes rigid behind her, but her eyes are on Steve, who looks down at the gaping hole that is now blooming red on his gray shirt. He looks up at her, and smiles, "tell him to find Howard—" then he pauses, looking like he's about to say something when his eyes flag shut.
She watches in horror as Steve's body begins to tip backwards, bending at the waist as if being pulled.
It only takes a millisecond for her to comprehend what is happening as she watches Sitwell's body tumble backwards over the shorter railing, his rigid hand still clasped onto one side of the handcuffs that's locked around Steve's wrist.
Steve's body is following the momentum of where Sitwell's weight is dragging it.
"Steve—!" She chokes out, trying to get to her feet. But Pierce's body slumps forward, knocking her facedown to the deck, slamming her head against the metal, and trapping her under his dead weight. She cries out, one of her hands outstretching as if she could catch him.
Her anguished cry echoes in her own ears as Steve slips over the railing and down out of sight.
—-
Peggy feels Pierce's hot blood through her shirt and she snarls like a feral animal trapped in a cage. She claws wildly at the deck until she gets enough leverage to use her legs to shove Pierce's body off her. She doesn't hold back at all when her boot connects with his face. When she's free, she scrambles forward, getting to her feet and lurching towards the lower section of railing.
Peggy looks over into the dark waters and hears a panicked, "Steve!" escape her lips.
She's about to dive the very far distance into the water when hands grab her waist, "hey, woah! Woah!"
Peggy kicks back, trying to get the attacker off so she can jump.
"Carter! Hey— Carter, stop!"
She turns, her vision blurry, shoving against whoever is there, "Let me go!"
Her voice is shaking and she suddenly registers that she's crying.
"Peggy, it's me, Bucky!"
She freezes, looking up to see the man standing there, wide eyes and soot covered face. "Barnes?"
He sighs in relief, "yeah, it's me."
She clutches at his shirt, her mind feeling fuzzy, "they shot him!" She shouts, "they shot Steve!" Barnes winces, "I have to get him!" At that she turns back around, ready to attempt to dive, when hands grab her again.
"What, hey, no— hey, stop!" Barnes' strong arms drag her back from the railing.
"What are you doing!" She snaps at him, "let me go! Steve is drowning!"
"I'll go get him," Barnes says, still holding her tightly while she struggles to get out of his grasp, "Carter, stop struggling! You can't dive that far, you're bleeding! You'll drown!"
"Steve is drowning!" She rages, using whatever might she has to pull out of his grasp, "I have to save him!"
Then Barnes yanks on her arm, forcing her to stumble backwards and she sits on the deck, hard. "Stop! I'll go get him!" He points at her, "stay!"
She hears a shing and watches as wings sprout from his sides. Her head throbs in confusion at that and she only has time to blink before he takes off, disappearing into the air and over the edge.
She crawls forward, grasping the rail and looking over.
She watches as Barnes hovers over the water, searching. She doesn't know what he sees, but suddenly the wings are retracting and he's cutting into the water.
Her heart thumps wildly in her chest as she waits, tears tracking down her cheeks.
Not even a minute later, she gasps as water bursts into the air, wings gleaming with the reflection of the fire.
Barnes soars overhead and then thumps to the deck, dropping heavily under the weight of the extra body.
Peggy pushes herself up on shaky arms, getting her feet under her before she stumbles over to where he's landed.
He gently sets Steve's body down and Peggy crashes to her knees beside him.
The handcuff still rings around one wrist and blood still seeps from his chest.
With shaking terrified fingers, she feels for a pulse.
Her heart cracks and aches like someone is crushing it when there is none.
She sobs out loud, feeling the air wrenched from her lungs as she shakes and searches again, pressing her fingers against his neck harder. She clutches at Steve, resting her forehead on his wet shirt.
Barnes is trying to speak to her, pressing at her shoulder, but she can't process what he's saying. She shoves him away and uses shaky hands to try to drag Steve's soaking wet body into her arms, but he's too heavy, she can't lift him. Pain rips through her shoulder as she growls out of frustration, anguish coloring her voice as she tries to lift him again.
"Peggy—" Barnes is still trying to talk to her. She ignores him. Shoving him away harder before, attempting to slide her wobbling arms under Steve's shoulders to try again. But he's too heavy, and she's too weak from blood loss, she can't even lift him enough to get her arms underneath him.
Another vicious snarl of frustration escapes her lips and she's about to try again when suddenly Barnes is there, lifting Steve off the ground and holding him in his arms too far away for her to grab. "Move." He commands, pointing her towards the furthest point on the ship away from the fire.
She stands, reaching for him, when Barnes steps backwards, pulling Steve's body further from her. "No." He gestures again, to the very point of the bow. She goes to protest, not understanding, but his face gets deadly serious and he points, "move to the railing and sit there, now."
Peggy finally listens, her mind slugging through as she makes the 30 foot journey. She slides down to the ground, resting her back against the railing. Once she looks up, she watches as Barnes approaches, carrying Steve like he weighs nothing. "Open your arms." He says in a softer voice.
Peggy obeys, opening her arms as if to receive a hug. Barnes gently sets Steve down, settling him into her arms, his back pressed against her chest and his head tipped back onto her shoulder. Without thought her arms wrap around him, one hand against his forehead and the other clutching at his bloody and ocean water soaked shirt. She presses her face against the side of his hair and she cries.
"Peggy." Barnes says, grabbing her chin, "Peggy, I need you to listen to me."
She rips her chin away and shoves it back against Steve's neck.
"Peggy fucking Carter, would you listen!?" Barnes grabs her hand, ripping it away from Steve's shirt, shoving a pistol into it. "I need you to stay here, and protect him. Do you understand?"
That gets her attention, "what?"
"I already set off some of the fire extinguishers on the ship." He says in a huffy voice, "so hopefully the fires won't be burning anywhere closer than they are right now. But Sam got the notification that Pierce called for airsupport. I have no idea how many agents are coming, but I'm going to have to fight them and take their aircraft because I can't fly the both of you with these wings. So, I need you to stay here and shoot anyone who comes close. Do you understand?"
His eyes bore into hers and he waits, expecting an answer.
She straightens the gun in her grip and pushes off the safety. Numb grief echoing through her rattled brain.
He nods, "good. Now, I know you're losing blood but I need you to stay alert and stay with him, okay?"
She nods, knowing that nothing could tear Steve's body from her grasp. "Howard's in a lifeboat." She whispers out, "I sent him off maybe 30 minutes ago."
He nods, seeming relieved, "okay. Good. That's good. I'll be right back." He straightens and takes off, the wings lifting him higher as he disappears into the smoke and fading afternoon light.
—
She hears the whump whump whump of rotary blades and her adrenaline's courses again, making her sit straighter. Her hand holding the pistol gets raised as her other hand clutches Steve's chest to her.
Her eyes search, but she's barely able to see anything with the fire raging so brightly in front of her. But she feels the way that whatever aircraft is hovering over her displaces the smoke. So she raises the pistol, ready to take down anyone who might approach.
A thump of someone landing on the deck makes her jolt and grip her pistol tighter, a large looming figure steps into her line of sight, but the fire burning behind them makes her unable to see their face.
Peggy shoots to the side of their body, making them pause, "come any closer and I won't miss!"
She watches the shadow of hands going up in surrender, "easy there, Carter. It's me."
She shoots again, "identify yourself!"
Something slides her way on the deck and she pauses her mind trying to comprehend.
It's a hat.
A bowler hat.
Her hand starts to shake from the adrenaline and relief, "Dugan? Is that you?"
The man steps forward, close enough that she can make out his features and trademark mustache. He smiles at her, "it's me." He steps closer, closing the distance and that's when his eyes flick downwards to Steve. His face falls and his voice gets low, "oh, Cap…"
Just that show of grief makes hers return tenfold and it almost chokes her.
She hears another thump, and another. More figures step out of the shadows and she can see whatever they've used to slide down from the aircraft swinging back and forth in the smoke.
Monty and Gabe step into her line of sight. "Where's Barnes?" She rasps out.
Dugan kneels beside her, reaching towards Steve. She pulls him back, pressing further against the rail, clutching at him tighter.
Dugan's hands freeze, and he studies her, "Barnes intercepted us in air, almost took us outta the sky. Now he's searching for Howard's life canister."
"Pierce sent for airsupport." She rattles off, trying to prioritize information in her mind even as it rails against the knowledge of what lies in her arms. "They'll be here soon—"
Dugan smiles, cutting into her thoughts, "you're looking at it," he grins, "that airsupport call came to Shield HQ where Carol intercepted it. Took us a bit to round up with how Pierce was messing with our clearances, but we were all close enough when the call came in, and she used that as a way to get us into the air. Jet is back on the pier, and we have the copter here." He points up. "So, we need to get going—" He reaches forward but Peggy glares at him.
"Don't touch him." Her voice is brittle and broken and weak. But in that moment she can't find it in herself to care.
Dugan's face softens, "I need to—"
She feels her chin quiver, "please," she says softly, "don't take him yet." She presses her face against the soft skin at his neck, "not yet."
"You're bleeding too." Dugan states, his eyes searching for other injuries. And as if to punctuate his point, the ship creaks and she feels the way the metal is being sucked under water. "We need to get off the ship."
Monty and Gabe are beside her, "come now, Carter." Monty says softly, "we'll put him back in your arms when we're in the air, alright?"
Suddenly Steve's being taken from her and she reaches, trying to grasp at him.
"Hold on." Gabe says, pressing a firm palm to her shoulder, "you've probably lost a good amount of blood, stay still."
The pain from the pressure makes her gasp, but her eyes stay on Dugan who grabs something hanging out of the smoke and rests Steve's body on it. Suddenly Steve's being pulled into the air and she stands, ignoring Gabe's protests.
She doesn't remember much, just that they attach something to her and Monty holds her steady as she raises into the air, her eyes on the glowing fire beneath her feet.
When she's situated into the copter, they lay Steve's body across the seats, placing his head in her lap. She places a hand on his cheek and leans over, resting her forehead against his. And it all fully hits her. He's gone. Pierce may be dead but he got what he wanted.
She feels the rage and grief expanding and swelling through her chest. She can't imagine not being able to see him or hold him again. All the things they had promised for the future. Now ripped away. "I'm so sorry." She whispers, remembering his words to her after he pulled her out from certain death. Guilt and anguish that she can't do the same thing for him floods her veins, making her cry harder.
"Hey," a voice says, "hey, Carter, it's okay, it's going to be okay—" She looks up to find Dugan kneeling beside her, a kind look on his face.
"Steve is dead." She snaps, all her emotions boiling at the surface, the pain in her shoulder, making her grit through her teeth, "nothing will ever be okay again."
She rests her forehead against his and closes her eyes.
For the rest of her life she'll regret this day. Mourn this loss.
And suddenly a bit of why Steve always chose to stay separate and removed from those he loved makes sense.
Her thumb ghosts over his cheek.
"Um…"
The hesitation makes her look up. Dugan is still kneeling there, looking at her.
She glares at him, "what, Dugan?"
His brow furrows, and he opens his mouth to speak, but then it closes and he looks perplexed for a long moment before he turns to look at Monty and Gabe who sit on the seats across from her, wearing equally wary expressions. Even Morita, who's flying the copter, glances back.
"He—" Dugan starts, titling his head, "he's…" he rubs at the bottom half of his face and then looks at her as if she's not making sense, "he didn't tell you?"
Peggy huffs at him, "tell me what?"
Monty's voice joins the fray, "about his…" he frowns, "about the plane?"
Something in Peggy's mind sparks, "plane?" She looks up at the men, "he was trying to say something about a plane, right before someone shot him." Her hand rests over the hole in his chest.
Dugan grimaces, "oh…"
Peggy's head is pounding. Her shoulder throbs, and her lungs ache. Everything she's been through in the past less than 48 hours wears heavily on her, "what about a plane?"
"He's…" Dugan reaches out and presses two fingers against Steve's neck, sighing and wrinkling his nose, "he died…"
Her eyes snap shut and she grips Steve's cold body harder, "I know he's dead, Dugan—" her voice cracks, grief coursing through her.
"No." Dugan says firmly, "he died in the plane."
She glances up, "what?"
"In the fight with Schmidt, the plane got away from us and was filled with bombs. Steve didn't know how to fly it or turn off the navigation and so he had to crash it into the arctic."
—you crashed a plane?—
She remembers Barnes speaking those exact words all those months ago.
She stays silent, keeping her eyes on Dugan as he speaks. "It took us a while to find him. And we thought…" he frowns, looking at Steve, "we thought when we found him it would be for a funeral." Dugan gently pushes her hand away revealing the wound, "Instead…" Dugan stares at her meaningfully, "he started breathing again when we warmed him up. Fury about had a conniption. It took a while for him to recover, but next thing we knew he was up and fighting again. Like nothing." Dugan grins wryly at her, "he's a tough one to kill."
—like the cockroach he is—
The words of Pierce echo in her mind. She realizes not even Pierce had been told of his Lazarus act.
But her grief won't allow what he's trying to say to process. "He's dead." She says sharply. "No pulse."
Dugan is nodding, "yes." Then he rests a hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezes it. "For now."
Peggy feels her throat light on fire, like someone is holding a lit match inside of it. "This is not a joke I appreciate."
Gabe unstraps his seatbelt and kneels next to Dugan, "Carter, we're not joking. He's going to be okay."
"This is nonsense." She protests, anger and disbelief warring against the fact that she wants so desperately what they're saying to be true. "Stop playing around."
A hand rests gently on her shoulder and she looks up to see Monty standing there looking at her with a very stoic face. "We would never joke about this."
"That's impossible." She rasps out, trying to hold onto sanity, "what you're saying isn't possible."
Dugan grins, "Steve can bench press a truck and run faster than a cheetah and you think healing from a bullet is impossible?"
Her mind thinks about the way his skin healed over from all those scars. The way his face had to be re-injured because it healed too fast.
"I can't—" she whispers, "don't—" she sucks in a sharp breath, "it's not possible."
And Dugan grins wider, "you sound like Fury." He laughs softly and then rests one of his large warm hands over hers, "just you wait. We'll make a believer out of you yet."
Monty shares a rare smile, "Steve would never stand you up. He's too much of a gentleman."
Doubt and disbelief and hope and desire rage equally strong through her chest. So instead of refuting them again, she rests her ear against Steve's chest. They could say anything they'd like. But until she had proof, she would refuse to let herself believe it could be true.
The rotating blades are all she hears for a while. And before she knows it, she falls asleep.
—
When she wakes, she's in a bed, not a hospital bed, although there does seem to be monitoring equipment attached to her. It takes a few minutes for her to work up the strength but then she sits up, looking around. A beautiful room surrounds her, large windows that open up to a large backyard and part of a pool is visible. The room is quiet, but she can hear movement outside her door.
Once she feels strong enough, she removes the IV and the other monitors and slips out of the bed. She's in a soft shirt and sweatpants and her shoulder aches something fierce, but she doesn't let that stop her. Her hand turns the knob and she opens the door to a hallway, dark paneled wood runs the length with a chair rail cutting it in half, and light paint on the walls and ceiling.
A figure sits in a chair beside her door and she is on alert for a moment before she realizes it's Barnes. She gently rests a hand on his shoulder and he's instantly awake, looking up at her. "Carter."
"Barnes."
"I'm sorry." He says immediately.
Her brow furrows, "for what?"
The man winces and stands, "I didn't know he hadn't told you. Or I would have been way more specific."
Her mouth feels dry, "specific about what?" Then her mind processes the words, 'he hadn't told you' and it jolts her memory of Dugan's words. "Where is he? Where's Steve's body?"
Barnes sags at the shoulders and shakes his head, "it's not a body, Carter. It's Steve." She stays silent. Unwilling to accept that until she had proof. Barnes looks at her, as if understanding her silence, he looks ready to say something else, his facial expression still reads apologetic, but he just sighs and motions for her to follow him, "come on, this way."
—-
He leads her through a few other hallways and then to an elevator. She furrows her brow, "where the hell are we?"
"One of Howard's compounds in upstate New York."
Peggy blanches, "how long have I been out?"
"Just since yesterday."
Then they're stepping off the elevator into a more sterile environment. Linoleum floors lead to a lab and then he's opening a door to what looks like a small hospital room.
Her eyes land on Howard first, sitting in a chair with Anthony tucked up into his arms and held tightly to his chest. Relief at the sight fills her. At least she was able to help Steve keep that part of his promise. They're asleep and she stays quiet. Barnes points and her eyes slowly trail to the bed, where Steve lays, silent and still on the bed.
Her eyes glance to the monitors where no heartbeat is registering. Despair fills her as she steps forward. A hand clasps hers, "Carter, wait—" she pulls her hand from his grasp and steps beside the bed, setting her hand over the bandage that is taped over where he was shot. His chest is bare and he's clean of smoke and soot. She wonders who cleaned his body. Probably Barnes or Howard.
Water drops appear on his skin and she scrubs at her eyes, trying to stay quiet as to not wake Howard or Anthony.
"Carter." Barnes whispers, "he's going to be okay."
She turns to him, shoving a hand to his chest, "how can you say that! He's here, dead, and you're pretending he's just asleep!"
"I've watched it happen."
That pulls her up short, "what?"
Barnes wrinkles his nose, "I've seen it."
"But…" she starts, "the plane was after you were MIA."
The small shake of his head has her looking at him in worry. "No… No this was before and… we never really talked about it. We thought it was a fluke…"
Her heart drops, "explain."
"Steve and I were on a duo mission. Just us two, and somehow we got stuck in this storm and had to call into Shield that they would need to alert our informant that we would be late." He grabs two chairs and pulls them quietly over, settling her in one before sitting in one himself, "I remember now that it was Pierce we talked to. And what you said, he said? About messing with our missions? I think that happened. Steve had asked them to send a nearby Shield agent with supplies because we were too worried about being made so close to a Hydra cell." He lowers his voice and leans towards her. "The agent showed up relatively soon after with what we requested and even had food in his hands too." He frowns, "I wanted to shower and sleep first, but Steve was hungry, so he ate." Then Barnes voice turns very quiet and his eyes glaze over. "I woke up to Steve not breathing and stiff on the bathroom floor. The tub was filled with blood and bile and when I felt for a pulse…" his face grays, "there was none." His eyes flick up to Steve's face, "I lost my mind, I called the number Steve had used to contact Pierce but there was no answer. Then I ran out to get medical help, but I couldn't find a hospital anywhere close. We were in a city in who knows were Belarus and I was freaking out." He blinks slowly and then turns to her, "when I ran back to the apartment, Steve was shifting and groaning and waking up."
Peggy stares at him, then to Steve and back, "you could have been mistaken—"
"I know." Barnes says, "I know. That's what I thought. For years I thought that. I must have been too panicked, I must have not felt for his pulse carefully enough or maybe I overreacted and imagined how stiff and cold he was." He reaches up and rests a hand on Steve's. "But no. That day haunted me for years. I remember the way his eyes were dead and how stiff his body was. I remember that his neck and wrists had no pulse. When he came too, he was confused and just thought he'd had a really bad case of food poisoning. So I chalked it up to that too. Just unlucky that he ate it and I chose to wait." He leans back and his eyes close softly, "but no. Once Denier and Morita explained that Steve had risen from the dead after the plane… I knew." He breathes out, "I knew."
"Even if those stories are true." She whispers, "that doesn't mean it will work this time."
"It will work." Barnes says sharply.
But she feels desperate. Her grief warring with her confusion and hope. "You don't know that." She whispers harshly.
He turns to her, "it has to be." And the way he says that makes her fall silent.
She looks up to see little eyes looking at them. "Anthony?"
Barnes looks up and sees that the kid is awake.
It's silent for a moment before the kid wriggles out of his dad's arms and down onto the floor. He crosses it quietly and climbs up onto Steve's bed. "My dad said he'll heal." He glares at Peggy, settling down cross legged by Steve's legs, "so you better not be doubting him."
And for some reason Anthony's partial accusation gives her the most reason to believe. So she does.
—
They're in the room for a while before the door opens again.
"There she is."
Peggy turns to see Natasha standing in the doorway, "You're okay? How are the kids?"
Natasha smiles, "the whole clan's upstairs."
Barnes speaks quietly, "we thought Steve might not want the kids to know." Peggy looks at Anthony, and Barnes follows her line of sight, "he was there with Sam when the chopper landed. He saw Steve and you being offloaded. Only once the jet airlifted Howard's canister to us, with a very confused Howard inside, did he leave Steve's side." Those words make Peggy's heart ache. Anthony had refused to leave Steve's side.
"He promised to save my dad." Anthony states. "And he did."
"Actually," a new sleepy voice joins the fray, "Carter's the one who placed me in that tube. Wasn't it?" They all look up to see Howard smiling sleepily at them, "thought I remembered being dragged around by a beautiful lady."
Peggy lets out a soft laugh, partially brittle by the entire situation. "I did indeed."
She feels Anthony's eyes on her, and she turns to him, "Steve was rather busy taking on an entire ship of madmen, I just decided to help him out."
He nods, "thanks."
Something about his simple and direct manner makes her smile. "Of course."
Natasha looks over at her, "you want to come upstairs and say hi?"
Peggy's eyes trail back to Steve. "I do, but…" she reaches over and grabs one of his cold hands in hers, "I'm going to wait down here a little bit more."
Natasha nods and smiles, "we'll all be waiting."
Once she's gone and Howard has collected Tony and practically dragged him from the room, Barnes stands and clears his throat, "I need to tell you something."
She looks up and sees guilt riddled across his expression. "What is it, Barnes?"
He winces and then turns his back to her, and she watches from behind as he scrubs at his face. Then he turns to her and he clears his throat, swallowing heavily, do you remember, back in Malibu with Grigory?"
Her eyes narrow, "I have a brief recollection."
"Do you remember when we were down at his house and he was testing on Steve's skills?"
"Yes…?"
His eyes close as if he's a man waiting for the gallows, "and you remember the shooting range?"
The memory flits through her mind, "yes…?"
His eyes open slowly, and he's staring at her as if waiting for her to understand something.
She runs through her memory of that night, unsure of what he's trying to tell her.
—"how are you with long range?"
"I'm worse." Steve admits with a smile, "but Rory is better."—-
Better with the long range rifles.
Where Barnes had proved he could fire 6 shots through the same hole.
The six shots on the ship. The pain through her shoulder. The way Pierce, her, Steve, and Sitwell had been shot all at once.
Without thought she's standing and eyes widening, "you shot us!" Her voice reaches a pitch she didn't know it could reach, "you shot him!"
Barnes doesn't argue, just stares at her with a guilty expression.
"You shot him." She accuses, stabbing a finger in his chest and then wincing at the pain it causes her shoulder, "you killed him!"
That's when his voice breaks and his face falls, 'I know, I'm so sorry."
And those words. Now said by all three of them, in relation to death, break her anger. "How?" She asks, "how could you do that?"
"I was behind you guys, up on the bridge with the rifle Sam brought me, and I was trying to take the shot, but either you or Steve were in the way and then he saw me and… Steve told me where to shoot."
"He what?"
"He pointed," Barnes explains, gesturing at his chest with his fingers, just like Steve had, "and when Pierce moved you guys he adjusted and told me to take 6 shots—"
"He only had up three fingers—"
"No," Barnes interrupts, "Steve holds up threes like this—" he holds up a thumb, his forefinger, and his middle." Then Barnes connects his pinky to his thumb, holding up the three middle fingers, "he was using a sign language 6, it was backwards to me but I knew what it meant."
"You shot Pierce, and then through the same hole you shot me, Steve, and Sitwell?"
Barnes nods, "Steve didn't want to injure you anymore, so he angled it so it used the same wound Pierce had already caused in your shoulder—"
"How can you know that?"
"Howard had the doctor check when he was cleaning the wound."
She shakes her head, "how is that even possible—"
"Remember, our eyesight, hearing, mental calculations, they're all enhanced, and my metal arm can hold everything completely steady, so once I knew where I had to hit Steve by where he pointed, then the rest was easy. Pierce had his gun on you and I knew Sitwell had a grenade, which meant I needed to take out both of them at once. Couldn't risk either having time."
"You're so sure he can't die that you shot him."
Barnes looks at Steve. "I'm sure."
"If you're wrong—"
He glares at her and some of the fire is back in his eyes, "I'm not wrong."
—-
Eventually Sam manages to convince her to shower and sleep and eat. Each time she feels more and more human.
On the first day, she'd gone up to check in with the kids. Wanda had lit up at the sight of her. "Jess!"
Peggy laughs, "It's Peggy, remember?"
Wanda blushes and then laughs, "oh yeah." Then she grins, "you told the truth, you're back."
A softness enters her chest for the girl, knowing how close both of them came to being unable to do so. "Of course, we're back."
Wanda looks around her, "where's Steve?"
"He's still healing" Peggy says, with no knowledge of that being the truth, "he'll be out soon."
Wanda smiles, "good. Me and Pietro miss him. And we missed you too."
Peggy pulls the girl forward and hugs her, "I missed you both too."
—
It's day three when something is placed in front of her face.
She blinks and her eyes focus, taking in the word search booklet. Barnes holds it up with a questioning eyebrow raise and she sighs, taking the booklet and the offered pen.
They play game after game after game. Usually tieing.
—-
The team stops by often, whenever the clean up from the fallout at Shield allows.
After Pierce had been confirmed dead, body dragged from the ocean, Shield had started the process of sifting through the evidence Tony, Howard, and the rest of the team could dig up.
Barnes keeps her up to date.
"They've found a lot of moles and bad data. Pierce has been planting rotten seeds for a long time. And Sam says without Pierce's permissions, they're going to have a hell of a time unlocking the roots of the problem."
Peggy looks up and realization hits her. "I wrote them down in my letter—"
"What letter?"
"The one he made me write to Steve. The one he was going to give to Steve if he ever got too close to finding out I was dead. It was meant to throw him off the trail, but I'd actually encoded Pierce's login and password encryptions into the letter. I used a code only he and I used while we were both undercover all those years ago." She looks at Steve's still form, "I wanted him to be the one to take Pierce down if I couldn't. Pierce thought I would take any information to the grave. He was not being careful around me. I don't remember it now off the top of my head, it wasn't words or anything, it was just his encrypted codes, but I write them down."
Barnes leans down and kisses her cheek, "you're the best little sister a brother could ask for—" then he bolts from the room.
She looks up at the space he's just vacated and scoffs. "Who says I'm the younger sibling?" She rolls her eyes and then leans forward, resting her head on Steve's thigh, "I suppose I don't mind," she whispers out, a small smile playing on her lips. "Michael would be pleased."
—
It's in the middle of the night, and a storm rattles her windows, waking her. Something about it makes the hairs on her neck stand up. She throws on a robe and runs out her door, racing down the stairs, ignoring the elevator and bursting into the lab. Howard startles awake from where he'd fallen asleep at his lab table, but she pays him no mind. Rushing past him and into Steve's room.
Anthony is asleep, curled up beside Steve's chest, his little hand gripping Steve's shirt.
Peggy stands there for a moment, watching the two in silence. Her eyes flick to the monitors but they remain silent.
"What is it?" Howard whispers, peering over her shoulder.
"I don't know…" she whispers back, "I just thought—" The room is silent for another minute and she sighs, "nothing I suppose."
She turns back, about to exit the door when she hears a—
Beep
She goes rigid. Howard's eyes growing cominically wide and when she turns, Anthony is sitting up, rubbing at his eyes.
They stare for another minute until—
Beep
She's at his side in an instant, leaning over his body and touching his cheek.
Beep
Another heartbeat slides across the monitor and she doesn't know she's crying until a soft little hand is wiping her tears away.
She looks up to see Anthony staring at her, "told you so."
His little face lights up with a grin and she chokes out a cracked laugh of relief. "Yes, you did." She says, resting her face on Steve's chest, feeling the next one as it comes,
Beep
"Yes, you did."