Thank you all so much for your support! Here is a shorter chapter but a fun one (because I felt like it and it will help with the later chapters ;P)

Enjoy!

Previously: Tony managed to get Ed across the country to visit Peggy Carter.

End of October 2009 – Washington, D.C.

"Ok, and what's that one supposed to be?" I asked, motioning with a tilt of my head.

"You really need to get up to date with pop culture references, Short Stuff," came Tony's slightly muffled response.

"It's been 30 minutes and you've said that at least 6 times already."

"Doesn't make it any less true. Just give the kids some candy, will ya?"

I forced myself not to roll my eyes as two kids walked up to us. "Bring the bowl closer, asshole," I mumbled in German, hoping he could still hear me even with the helmet.

"Not in front of the kids, Short Stuff," he replied as he held out the bowl. Good, he could hear me.

I grabbed some candy and chocolate and I dumped a handful in each of the kids' bags. They thanked us, turning heel and running back towards the street where their parents were waiting.

"Seriously, what were they?" I asked again, not understanding the matching jumpsuits and the weird backpacks with blinking lights.

"From the Ghostbusters movies. You'll need to start making a list or something," answered Tony and I could almost hear the smirk even though I couldn't see it under the white helmet.

I rolled my eyes, opening my mouth –

"The two of you better not be arguing now!"

Tony and I glanced to the left, on the porch where Peggy and Sousa were swinging in the hanging bench. Peggy sent us a look and I wasn't sure if the striped hat and round glasses she was wearing took away from her being intimidating or not.

I still hadn't understood why she had switched that hat and glasses with the large red hat and yellow scarf Sousa was wearing but they had looked amused about it. In fact, I believe they switched outfits completely for some reason.

Had I mentioned that we had stayed another two days in Washington D.C. and that it was Halloween night?

I had somewhat heard of this 'Halloween' back in the 1940s but had never gotten around to seeing what it actually was. Apparently, even if I had not been travelling around Europe with the Howling Commandos on missions, I wouldn't have seen much back in the United States, not with the sugar ration that had been going on.

Therefore, Sousa had thrown the idea out there that Tony and I needed to stay so that I could see what this 'Halloween' was like in this day and age.

"You could even dress up with us to hand out candy to the kids!" he had added with a large smile. Well, that hadn't seemed like a bad idea. Even though I had wanted to return to Tony's mansion so that he could continue to work on my arm… I didn't particularly want to leave Peggy and Sousa just yet. I had just found them…

"Short Stuff could be a hobbit," had then suggested Tony with a smirk.

I had blinked in confusion, not having heard that word before. Or… Had I? It felt like a distant memory… From a conversation I had had once upon a time. "A what?"

"Or a smurf!"

That word truly hadn't meant anything to me though. "Are you making words up? Trying to be funny?"

"I know!" He had even snapped his fingers at that. "A munchkin!"

"A WHAT?!" I had yelled out.

That had gotten the two men to laugh out in my expense as I had stood in front of them, breathing heavily, my fist clenching tightly. If Tony had compared me to a 'munchkin' from that movie Steve and I had seen of all things, I bet that the rest of those words he had said were… were…

I had just glared at Tony.

Thankfully all those ideas had been rejected quickly enough.

But the question remained: what would I dress up as?

Tony had figured something out for himself that revolved around him covering his face so that he wouldn't be recognized. Peggy and Sousa already had their costumes from previous years. And, for myself…?

At one point, it had seemed that Tony and Sousa had come up with an idea but they hadn't seemed willing to share it with me. They had almost seemed… hesitant about it.

Until Peggy had shown up.

"A zombie," she had stated without hesitation, glancing between the men and myself. As Tony and Sousa looked… almost panicked, I was confused once again.

"Is that something…?" I couldn't finish that question, hoping it didn't resemble something like what Tony had suggested.

"Some undead creature. Your missing arm would work wonders with the costume," she had explained and it had seemed to make the men even more uncomfortable.

I had glanced between the three of them, thinking it over. I… I may have understood why they were hesitant considering I had been – and probably still was – deemed 'dead' to the world. I had been 'dead' to Peggy for over sixty years.

Would it be… be in poor taste?

"If any of you think this will damage some supposed fragile constitution of mine," had begun Peggy sternly, frowning at the three of us, hands on her hips, "then –"

"Of course not," had cut in Tony quickly as Sousa had shaken his head.

"It's a perfect idea," had added the other man.

Peggy had sighed, eyeing the two of them for a moment longer before extending her hand in my direction. "Then the two of us are heading out. We shall see the two of you later for decorating."

And that was how I ended up with more makeup on my face than I had ever worn, looking like a decaying corpse in muddied and torn second hand clothes, handing out candy and chocolate alongside Tony who was wearing a mostly white armor with matching helmet.

They had mentioned he was disguised as something as something along the lines of… something with 'storm' in the name. Storm soldier? Storm warrior? Fighter storm?

I couldn't remember, not with the amount of 'pop culture' references that had been thrown at me tonight.

Even Peggy and Sousa's costumes… They were apparently characters with apparently – somewhat – normal names but those too had escaped me.

Something with a lady from… San… San Francisco maybe? No, that didn't sound right… And a guy with an alliterative name. Something with a 'W'. Where's… Some name with a 'W'. And a striped shirt and matching hat.

That Peggy was wearing.

I was growing more and more confused as the night progressed.

"What was that one?" I asked, watching a kid dressed all in black skip away from us with more candy in his pumpkin shaped basket. He had waved to Tony before that but… I couldn't say why. I couldn't even tell if the kid was happy or not because of the mask.

"Darth Vader. Same story as my costume," he replied.

"That explains why it looked familiar and why he waved at you," I said with a nod. "The one is space, right?" I may be bad with the names of the characters but the idea of humanity having been to space and having travelled through it had caught my interest.

"Star Wars, yes the one with space."

Oh… "Not… Star Trek."

"Don't let any nerd hear you," he mumbled.

True, even Peggy and Sousa had mentioned there was a difference between the two 'Star'… stories even though both took place in space, with advanced technology, and 'aliens' from different planets and…

"I guess the creators of both stories were creative in their own ways," I remarked as more kids came up and I handed out some candy, "that they just came up with those whole worlds."

"Well, some people are more imaginative than others."

"Do you think it'll be possible some day?" I asked. Honestly, with how fast science has been advancing… Anything could possible.

Tony shrugged. "Science needs to keep up. But also, some things in those worlds are somewhat farfetched."

"What?"

"Implausible. Not possible in this world."

I watched the kids run off and blurted out the next words without thinking. "But it could be possible in another world? A parallel one?"

There was a pause from Tony. "Didn't take you for a parallel world conspiracy theorist," he finally stated.

I sent him a look at those words. "Then you're not going to like the rest of this conversation."

I couldn't read Tony's expression because of the helmet but I was sure it must be at least a little bit questioning. "You aren't serious, Short Stuff."

"Well, I don't know anything about advanced technology that allows for space travel but a parallel world, one where physics didn't advance as much as here, that I do know about."

A group of girls clambered up to us, cheering about 'Trick or Treat' or something and I handed out some more candy and chocolate to each of them. They chorused 'Thank you' before running off in giggles.

"And you decided to casually mention this now because…?"

"For conversation. What else did you want to do while we gave out candy? I could go back to asking about the costumes. Were those girls anything specific?"

"Conversation…? Short Stuff –"

"Costumes, what were they?"

"Honestly I wasn't paying attention. Maybe some Disney princesses. But –"

"I got dropped in Dr. Erskine's basement same as I had in yours. But in early 1943."

I heard Tony sputter but he didn't say anything, not when two other children waddled up to us in a cat and dog costume. They almost looked scared of me but I smiled down at them, grabbing more handfuls of candy and dropping them into their bags.

"I'm just disappointed that I can't see your flabbergasted expression right now," I remarked as the kids sprinted away and I glanced towards Tony.

"And why are you telling me now?"

I turned towards where Peggy and Sousa were watching us and I smiled towards them. "As a thanks, I guess. For bringing me here."

Tony nodded and I heard him take a deep breath. "I have MANY questions about this."

"And I do as well. About these costumes. Who are they?"

I was sure Tony rolled his eyes as he replied, "Power Rangers."

When we ran out of candy and chocolates, the four of returned inside the house and Tony finally took off his helmet, fixing me with an intense stare. Even though we had bounced back and forth between the costumes and my being from a different world for the last hour, I didn't know how much he actually believed of my explanations.

Once again, I wondered why the Gate hadn't shown him anything like it had with Dr. Erskine. Things would have been so much simpler!

"Follow me, Short Stuff," said Tony suddenly, turning heel and heading towards the stairs.

I glanced towards Peggy who offered me a smile before motioning for me to follow. Did she know what this was about?

Because I surely didn't!

Once upstairs, I saw Tony exit his bedroom and head towards mine, sending me an impatient look as he did. I rolled my eyes but made my way over anyway.

He had taken a seat on my bed and I approached, eyeing the plastic bags near my rucksack. Tony had asked what they were when I had returned with Peggy from our shopping and I had told him a partial truth: some of the items in the bags were for the costume and some were for everyday.

I had failed to mention that it contained other items such as a very pretty auburn wig along with some more feminine clothes.

One shocking secret at a time.

"What is it?" I asked as I approached Tony.

He didn't look up from fiddling with his tablet, not until he lifted it and turned it towards me. Then his gaze was fixed on me.

But I was studying what he was showing me. That was an image of Tony's workshop and…

Oh... It was the video of when I had arrived. Weird. I had already seen it. Multiple times too.

The Gate appearing, the doors opening and the tendrils dropping me on the floor of the workshop. All of these images were familiar. So, why…?

Wait. The video usually cut here, after the tendrils receded, leaving me on the floor.

That… that eye turned towards Tony.

I had never seen this.

"They failed once. They cannot fail again. This is their last chance."

My eyes widened and my breath caught. The – the Gate had spoken to Tony?! And – and…

It vanished from the screen and the workshop.

What. The. Fuck?!

I had failed? Failed what? What had…? I was supposed to do?!

"From your perplexed face, I imagine you don't have a clue as to what that cryptic message meant?" stated Tony slowly.

I took a deep breath, my mind still reeling. What had I…? Was that why the Gate pulled me off the airplane? Because I needed to do something? But… why drop me in 2009? What could possibly still need to be done over sixty years in the future?

I flopped onto the bed next to Tony, unable to wrap my head around those words. "I… I didn't even know I had to do something… It had just… dumped me with Dr. Erskine. It hadn't spoken to me… I thought that being here was the price I had paid, to be taken away from… everyone."

Tony nodded slowly, fiddling with the tablet in his hands. "Well, one thing is for sure, Short Stuff."

I glanced towards him, tilting my head. "And what's that?"

"You are a trouble magnet."

I scoffed at the accurate description. "You're going to have to get used to it."

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Be safe everyone!