Chapter 12: The Conversation
How could I have been so naive?
I check the guest registry and his room is under the name Eugene van der Merwe. If that is not an alias, then I don't know what is. I have no former S.H.I.E.L.D. resources without Peggy. I cannot call anyone and if I do no one would believe I am who I say I am.
The other younger version of myself is currently training the new members of the Avengers right now in their new upstate New York compound. I could take a commercial flight to Sokovia, Flight 349 which would be a 19-hour flight including an 8-hour layover in Dubai. With the time change, I can almost make it back here in time. I go to Google to make the arrangements. What other options do I have?
Steve is deep in concentration on his cell phone making the flight arrangements as Howard Stark appears in front of him nursing an old-fashioned. Howard looks out the window of the hotel room.
The room feels empty without her.
"I'm sorry Kid."
I don't have time for this.
"I am not a priest Howard, find a church if that's what's on your mind."
Ignoring him Howard continues, "the world is a cold place and I had to make some grey decisions."
"Is this when you say 'times were different back then, you wouldn't understand Kid?' What does that say about that shield, its legacy...what does it say about the man carrying it? What will history say about that?"
"I don't know if I have to tell you this, but we were in the middle of something, it is called a world war, so it was all hands on deck, Kid. Some patriots died to get that vibranium to us, some would say that changed the tide of the war. So yeah I didn't go into Sears, but if that is my worse crime, that I helped America win the war, then I would gladly do it again in a heartbeat."
Chapter 13: Twenty-Four Hours Later
The marketplace in Moroto is painted in orange and clay red. The rain is coming down so hard it feels like the city is under a waterfall. Under sunglasses Steve watches people pass by.
Steve called Eugene half an hour ago for the exchange.
As an elderly man in Uganda, the natives stand aside for Steve, something they never did in his home country.
In the states, Peggy and I are invisible. People cut in front of us in lines in the grocery store, at the movies, and at the gym. Don't even get me started about walking into a Starbucks.
Eugene's silver mini coupe appears alongside a white Mercedes Benz. Two large men with beards get out of the Benz carrying large black Heckler & Koch G36s. They accompany Eugene out of the car toward Steve.
Eugene raises his head and arms to the sky allowing the rain to hit him as if he was in a '90s music video with Amy Grant. "Beautiful day, no?"
"Where is she," Steve asks as Eugene's men pat him down.
"It has been months since it rained like this, at least since what March?"
"February," the larger guard replies.
"I stand corrected."
Steve does not see Peggy amongst them. "We're not doing this without her."
"Don't worry Grandpa, if you did your homework correctly then all her lil' piggies will run all the way back home with you. Scouts honor."
Eugene is amused with himself, Steve does not react.
Eugene stands there waiting for Steve to start the show.
"It's okay, really…I have all the time in the world," Eugene says.
The rain pounds the ground as the sound of flowing water weaves along nearby streets from overflowing sewers.
Steve puts the black duffle bag down and steps away, giving Eugene space to examine it.
Eugene unzips it and looks inside. Eugene rubs his tongue along his canine tooth. "Honestly, I can never tell if this shit is real or not. That is why I always come with an expert." He snaps his fingers and the passenger side of his mini coupe opens.
The little girl, who stole Peggy's wallet on the bus, gets out of the car with a whole new demeanor. In a black floral print dress and hair in a bow, she looks far from homeless. Inspecting the bag's contents she responds with a single nod. Eugene rolls his lower lip at Steve, impressed.
"You will not tell me even if I ask," Eugene asks Steve in regards to how he obtained the score.
Steve remains stoic in the rain with his sunglasses.
"Your sunglasses equal a lack of sleep. Air Sokovia will do that to you."
Steve does not take the bait.
"We must find a way to do this again, Grandpa." Eugene lets out a high-pitched chirp and a rusted maroon 1994 Toyota Starlet hops the curb and screeches to a halt, nearly hitting Steve. A young kid, far too young to drive, with pitted skin and red hair, gets out and throws the car keys into a mud puddle.
"You better hurry there is only about an hour's worth of oxygen in the trunk," Eugene says to Steve, "and she's been in there" he starts counting on his hands, "all night."
As Eugene and his crew head into their respective cars, Steve gets on his hands and knees in the mud looking for the keys. Eugene takes a few photos on his Android as they drive off. The cars screech and honk their way through the nearby intersection, soon becoming just two more cars in the city's morning traffic.
Steve fumbling with the keys, cuts his hand on the trunk but manages to get it open.
At first glance, he does not recognize the passed-out person in the trunk with soiled clothes. Her skin has become wax paper. As he pats her down and scans the trunk for explosives Peggy murmurs "are you okay," as if miles away. Ignoring the question, Steve does not find anything suspicious. The few years Steve thought he had with Peggy have been converted to mere minutes, as he finds himself trying to mask his shaking voice, "you're going to be okay."
Going into his phone, he taps a series of buttons. An explosion can be heard in the distance followed by a mushrooming fireball creeping into the horizon. I cold realization comes across Peggy's face. She murmurs something Steve cannot discern.
Assuming they were words of affection Steve asks her to repeat herself.
"I am not 'going to be okay' Steve." She goes into a coughing fit, giving Steve a chance to process what he is hearing.
"Hey, Peggy…."
Finding a reservoir of inner strength, "don't patronize me. One of them was just a child."
Sirens are heard making their way towards the explosion's epicenter off on the horizon.
"They…they kidnapped you."
Peggy searches his eyes for something he is refusing to let go of.
"Who are you?"
He recoils his head back until his chin nearly disappears. The saliva around her mouth tears down to her chin as she goes limp and her head collapses back. His thoughts scatter, struggling to stay present: this is not how this should happen. I should be serene and she should be in her bed at home when we say 'goodbye.' That's how it happened last time.
This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.
Her chest fails to rise. Rain tumbles down, sirens wail, traffic has ground to a halt, as a black smoke cloud rises where the white Benz used to be.
No more second chances. He feels an empty hole develop inside of him. The hole is filled with his failure as a husband and being unable to provide peace to Peggy in the end. A feeling pulses through him that he will later label as self-hatred.
