A Super-Soldier for the Modern World

Chapter Eight

Peggy Carter had been gone for about ten minutes when she finally returned to her tent. Amanda had been positive that with military personnel to have them hauled off, but she returned alone. She was also grateful for her aunt's return because being in a room with two Captain Americas was almost too trippy to handle.

"I left a message for Howard Stark to join us as soon as possible," she told them.

Amanda nodded and the four of them sat in silence.

"Knock, knock," a man's voice called in a sing-song way from outside the ten. "You know, Margret, I almost didn't come here," he said as he opened the door. "You know, with everything between you and Rogers…" he trailed off as he walked in with a bottle of wine and two glasses in his hands. He stopped, frozen in his step, as he looked around the tent.

"Get in here, Stark," Peggy hissed. She tugged on his arm and pulled him into the room of the tent. The door fell closed behind him and he stood in the center of the assembled group. Peggy took the wine from his hand before he dropped it or chugged it.

"What the hell is going on here?" Howard asked. "Who are you?" he pointed to the 2013 Steve.

"Captain Steve Rogers," the modern Steve replied. He did not elaborate any further.

Howard turned to the other Steve. "So, who are you?"

40s Steve straightened his posture to match his counterpart. "Captain Steve Rogers."

"Right," Howard nodded. "So, are you Margret Carter, too?" he asked Amanda.

She shook her head. "Sorry, nope."

"Then, who are you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Doctor Amanda Carter," she decided. She didn't feel like explaining SHIELD to the man who was a co-founder later on in life.

"Oh," he said. "I don't know if I've ever said this before, but I don't know what's going on here. Now, I'm a genius and everything, but…"

"Sounds so much like Tony," Amanda muttered to no one in particular.

"Someone needs to explain to me what's happening right now," Howard told them all.

"You should sit down, Stark," Peggy told him, motioning to the chair behind him.

"Um, okay…" he said, backing up to it slowly. He was a little afraid of turning his back to the group in the tent.

Once he was seated, Peggy began to speak.

"As you can see, there are two men who are both Captain Rogers," Peggy said.

Stark nodded that yes, he could see both identical men.

"The Captain Rogers on the left is our Captain Rogers," Peggy explained.

"Technically speaking, both of them are your Captain Rogers," Amanda said.

"Does this have something to do with the serum? None of the research that Doctor Erskine and I have done showed any evidence that the DNA could split…"

"No, no," 2013 Steve said to them. "Amanda and I are from a different time. We were somehow sent back in time."

"I'm supposed to believe that you look the same in 70 years?" Howard asked.

"Well, that's partially due to his new DNA that is enhanced with the serum. The cells in his body don't deteriorate like ours do," Amanda said. "And the other part is likely due to the simple, yet undeniable fact that Steve was frozen in a block of ice until last year."

"What?" Howard asked, looking to each of their faces for an answer.

2013 Steve answered him. "It's really not important now. You'll understand some time later. But we think you can get us back to our time."

"I highly doubt that," Stark said. "I am capable of a lot of things, but time travel?" he said. "No, no, no" He said as he stood up from the chair to pace. "I'm not even sure I believe this."

"Listen!" Amanda shouted to get his attention. "Besides your son, you're probably the only other genius I'm ever going to meet in my lifetime. And since both Tony and his Iron Man are back in 2013, I'm going to need you to figure out how to send us back."

"She's related to you, isn't she? It isn't a mere coincidence that she looks like you with the same last name, is it?" he said to Peggy.

"Guilty," Amanda answered. "Peg Carter is my great aunt."

"What were you saying about a son?" Howard asked.

Amanda had had mentally told herself to not say anything about Tony to Howard. Things did not end well for Howard and his wife, Maria. The both of them were assassinated and while no one had been officially charged for it, Amanda knew Tony had some ideas as to who was really behind it.

"Your son, Tony Stark, is a good friend of mine. He's actually my godfather."

"And he's partially responsible for saving New York from being blown up," 2013 Steve said.

"Among other things," Amanda said.

"Apparently I'm your son's godmother," Peggy added.

"So, I don't win out over Rogers over there?"

"I guess not," Peggy shrugged uncomfortably.

"Nope," Amanda added. "But you do meet a very nice lady and marry her," Amanda told him.

"Will you please help us?" 2013 Steve asked, bringing the discussion back around.

"I wouldn't even know where to begin," Howard shook his head. "No, I just don't even know."

Amanda sighed loudly. "She was frustrated. More than anything , she wanted to slap the man in front of her. In fact, slapping him so hard that his son could feel it in 2013 was sounding like a fantastic idea.

"Agent Carter?" a gruff voice called from outside the tent.

Four faces of the five recognized the voice's owner.

"Who is that?" Amanda whispered.

"Colonel Philips," the other four people answered in unison.

"Um, yes, Colonel?" Peggy called, motioning for everyone else to stay silent.

"I am looking for Rogers. Is he…uh…" he paused to awkwardly clear his throat. "Is he in there with you?"

"Yes. Stark and I are in here taking with Agent Carter," 40s Steve said.

"May I come in then?"

Peggy hesitated and looked at Amanda, who shook her head violently. They should definitely not bring Colonel Philips in on this.

"Well, now isn't…" Peggy started.

"It's my camp, I'm coming in," he said as he opened the tent's flap. His eyes went wide when he saw the assembled group in front of him.

"I want an explanation. Now!" he bellowed.

"Colonel Philips…" 40s Steve began.

"It's just something I'm working on. With the blood samples and test that we ran on Rogers, we tried to create a second super-soldier…" Stark told him.

"And you didn't feel like this was information that I needed to know?" Colonel Philips asked.

"I was trying to keep it as quiet as possible. In case it didn't work, you know," Stark told the Colonel. "And it's still just a prototype. He's mechanical," Stark said.

"Mechanical? Like a robot?" Philips asked, looking at the modern Steve Rogers a little more closely.

"Precisely," Stark answered. "He looked exactly like Captain Rogers; thinks and speaks just like Rogers and even exhibits strength like Rogers."

"Can you shoot it? What happens if you shoot it?"

"Well, he'll die, of course," Amanda chimed in, faking an accent to match her aunt's.

"And who are you?"

"My cousin," Peggy told him. "Amanda Carter," she introduced her.

"And what are you doing here? In my camp? Without my consent?" he asked.

"I requested her specifically, Colonel Philips. She's a nurse and she's studying to be a doctor. I thought it would beneficial to have her here. I can keep an eye on her this way. I promised our grandmother, you see," Peggy told him.

Philips was silent for a moment, considering her words.

"Don't keep secrets from me. Do you understand?" he asked them all.

All five of them nodded.

"What did you need me for, sir?" 40s Steve asked once the colonel was silent.

"You will be leading the next campaign. You need to put a group together."

"I have a few ideas already, sir," he told the colonel.

"Stark, why did you put him in that suit? It's distracting and ridiculous," Colonel Philips asked.

"I like it," both Steve's replied together.

"Oh, I don't like that," Philips replied. "I don't like that at all," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going to take an aspirin."

He exited the tent and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"A robot?" both Steves asked together.

"You're going to have to stop that, or I'm going to have to go take an aspirin, too," Stark said.

"Well?" 40s Steve said, waiting for an answer from Stark.

Stark held his hands up. "I didn't know what else to say. I tried to decide if he'd be more receptive to a robot or a time-travel story. I think we'd all be getting locked up if we'd gone with the time travel," he explained. "Can I have some of the wine I brought?" he asked, pointing at the bottle of wine that was forgotten on top of one of Peggy's chests.

"No, you're going to need a clear head," Amanda told him. "Nice work with the cousin story," she said to Peggy.

"Unfortunately, it isn't the first time I've had to tell Philips a lie," Peggy said.

"All right, if I'm not allowed to drink, we should just go get to work," Howard said. "I need to go back to my laboratory," he finished. "Well, we need to go."

"Okay, we'll go out and see if the coast is clear, and you two can wait here," Peggy said.

Amanda and Steve nodded. They were going to have to play along; they had no other choice. They were just lucky that these folks believed them; because it all could have turned out very differently than it was right now.

Peggy, Steve, and Howard left the tent, leaving Amanda and the modern Steve alone.

"How's your hip?" he asked, moving in front of his girlfriend.

"It hurts, but it'll probably be okay," Amanda said. "Well, maybe when we get back to our time and I get it cleaned out properly it'll be okay. How are you doing?" she asked, looking up into his eyes. She couldn't quite gauge what he was thinking, but she definitely wanted to know.

"For a long time after I was unfrozen, all I wanted was to go back in time, be back with these folks, but now, I just want to go back to 2013. This isn't going to do any of us any good."

"I wish I had more faith that we were going to get to go back home," Amanda said.

Steve wrapped his arms around her and held Amanda close. He didn't know how to even begin to comfort her.

"I'm going to do what I can to help Stark," he said.

He leaned down and kissed her, hard. Steve's hands slid down her sides and Amanda's own hands fisted in his hair at the back of his neck. It wasn't going to fix anything, but at least it was a temporary stress-reliever.

"The coast is clear," Peggy said, opening the tent flap. "Oh," she said upon seeing the both of them. Peggy was a slight shade of red, but was thoroughly surprised that Steve didn't seem embarrassed in the slightest.

Amanda and Steve stepped apart from one another, but Steve still held Amanda's hand.

"Let's go," he said.

…

To be continued…

…

What did you think of this chapter? I know it's rough having two Steves, but I hope I did a good enough job of labeling them…

Thanks!