"He's never going to sign this."
Tony sighs, "We-"
"No. There is no we. You're given carte blanche and we're expected to hand over our controls like we're vehicles to be driven by bureaucrats. They want our blood samples and hair and lives. For you it's simply you have to ask for permission. This is not the same deal for you as it is us."
"There has to be accountability-"
"Says the man who created Ultron! Who told a psycho where he lived and basically invited him to come kill you. Tony, you've caused more issues than the rest of us, combined-"
"That's not fair-"
"But it's true. Many of us have been victims of our circumstances, or working towards fighting for the greater good. You've been poking bears your whole life. Now a couple have swiped back. Don't place the blame on our shoulders."
"But the damage-"
"We should just let the bad guys go on a rampage right? Citizens cars and buildings are too precious to stop the evil men? Let them kill and ravage the planet so that way we don't hurt the city?"
He's frowning at her.
"Ask them to fight in a field next time." She growls out, sliding the accords back to him, "I'm sure if you asked nicely, that Mandarin fellow would have gladly moved your fight to a location that was free of historical buildings and collateral damage."
"Innocent people died, Carter!"
She scoffs, sharp enough he winces, and she stabs a finger at him, "why do you think I've been fighting since before you were born!? Why do you think we fought Schmidt!? Innocent people were dying. That's the bloody reason I took the serum in the first place, in case you've well forgotten! But I didn't think the serum would suddenly stop any villain from being able to kill, that I would somehow be lucky enough to stop every death. As long as evil people exist, innocents will suffer. That's what we're here trying to stop. That's why we're still part of this team. We save as many as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody." They're glaring at each other. "He won't sign. And neither will I."
"It's not going to be a choice." Tony snaps at her retreating back.
Her voice is quiet as she steps into the elevator, but she knows he hears her, "it never is."
He stares at her in shock. His already pained eyes looking more confused, backed away in the corner from them like an animal about to be caged.
"Bucky-" Steve says softly, "it's alright. Do you know me?"
Barnes' eyes flicked between them, but landed back on Steve, "You're Steve-" then he catches himself, looking like he's worried remembering that will be punished, "I read about you in the museum."
Steve shakes his head, "I know you're nervous, but you're lying."
Sam's voice beeps through to them. They're quickly being surrounded.
"I wasn't in Vienna." Barnes says, voice grated and thin, like he was so very tired, "I don't do that anymore."
"We believe you." She states for good measure, although she wasn't sure it was the truth, but she can tell Steve instantly believes his friend.
The whir of the police pounding up the stairs makes Barnes tense back up. She hears Steve sigh. "This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck."
"It always ends in a fight." Then his voice shifts, "you're supposed to be old." Barnes' says to her quietly as he removes a glove and buckles his backpack strap across his chest.
Steve's heart stutters, and she avoids his eyes. "I'm actually not from here." Her voice is tired too, "And the woman you once knew has passed."
Just mere days ago. So recent. Too fresh. Steve was having a bear of a time grappling with the reality of losing the Peggy from this universe (he'd visited her often) and finding Barnes again all while Tony seemed to be going through some sort of latent pseudo-morality crisis, causing division in the team. She had watched Steve keep remarkable composure in front of everyone else all while she wanted to scream at them for being utter idiots.
She had not gone to her own funeral, sending Natasha later in her stead. Sam had been a blessed addition. Her niece…
The similar gripping pain hits again. In this universe her brother had been found, much much later. Had gotten married, had children. Had it been much the same in her own universe? She'll never know. Now she's lost her brother what feels like three times.
Steve and her were brittle about all in their own respective minds. And grateful for the support each other could offer.
She harbored no ill will for his suffering over his original Peggy's loss. And he did nothing but hold her lovingly and tightly when she cried about missing out on her brother's life.
And now all of this. Barnes being blamed for killing the king of Wakanda and others.
It was all a bit much.
The grenade blasts through the window and thinking is relegated behind fighting.
Her niece looks panicked, "Sub level Five, East Wing."
Steve is gone before she can blink and then she's chasing after him.
"How could you be on his side?" Peggy snaps out, hearing the jet streak out of the sky as Steve and Barnes make their escape. She hears Tony and Rhodey take off after them but there's nothing to be done now, she's stuck on the ground. But she glares at the young man lying there.
The teen looks up, "uh… what?"
"How can you, an enhanced individual who obviously values his privacy, agree with Tony Stark about the Accords?"
The boy furrows his brow, "What's the accords? Like the cars?"
And suddenly her anger at Tony Stark grows fiery, "You don't even know why you're here do you? You've simply been bamboozled by Tony's tech and his quick tongue. You do not understand what is happening here."
The kid sort of reacts, not liking being called ignorant. "Mr. Stark said that Captain America is wrong."
Peggy breathes out a sigh, "and you believed him? Straight off? No evidence?"
"Well…" The boy shrugs, wincing and holding at his side.
"Only a fool does what he's told without questioning why."
Then she hears a strange burst, sounding like Vision. She turns to see him blast Rhodey out of the sky. She gasps, eyes widening as he starts to fall, plummeting towards the earth too fast. She takes off running, watching as both Sam and Tony turn, trying to catch him.
None of them make it in time.
"I just knocked the A out of their AV."
She rolls her eyes but allows Sam to speak to Tony.
He knows he was in the wrong. That Ross played him like a fiddle. Not that he would admit that.
Then he's taking off and Peggy calls out to him as he's exiting the door, "don't think I won't hunt you down if something happens to them."
He turns, looking affronted, "me? The person who helped you acclimate to this universe, time, and place? The person who fed you and gave you a place to sleep?"
She laughs, "you know, just like your father. Nothing with a Stark is ever free. Always a price, hmm? We used your offered hospitality. Not knowing it came with strings." her glare is icy, "did the boy know that too? That you used him as a puppet in this little game?" His annoyance is clear but she doesn't stop, "except you've fooled yourself. How does it feel to have Ross pull your strings? Did you know you were to be the puppet in this so-called "balanced" system you agreed to?"
His feathers are ruffled. "You're just like Cap. Ignorant of how the world works now. Not your idealized expectations."
Her laughter is bitter, "Run along little pinocchio. Your nose is growing as you tell yourself lies."
He doesn't respond. The door clangs shut behind him.
"I've seen your picture." She turns to see Scott looking at her.
"Excuse me?"
"You and Hank Pym in this universe worked together. Pym made my suit and tech. He said you were cool, but also hotheated. I see it." Then he grimaces, "I mean that totally complementarily."
"I'm trying to nap!" Clint calls out, sounding like an exhausted dad, "so shush."
They shush.
"I'll kill him."
"He was in shock, Pegs."
"He ripped off Barnes' arm! You have broken bones!"
"He wasn't thinking straight."
"Yes, the bloody well he was! He would have killed him if you'd let him!"
"He needs time."
"You think with time he'll move on? Ross isn't going to let that happen."
He ignores the question, grimacing as he holds his ribs, "we called Vision and told him where he could pick him up. His suit was probably too damaged to fly."
"Why not Natasha?"
Steve grimaces, "She sent me a message. She let me and Bucky go. Ross would lock her up. She's switching sides. Coming here to join us." Clever. Natasha always found a way to roll with the tides.
"And your shield?"
Steve's face showed grief, like he'd lost something precious. But then he took a deep breath, "Tony told me his dad made it. That it didn't belong to me. So I left it." She's about to stomp all the way back to America from Wakanda this very instant, but he grips her arm, facial expression cracked, "don't."
"He's acting like a child!"
"He is a child." Steve says, but he doesn't say it as an insult. "He looked 20 years old. Watching his parents die. All his bravado, all his…" Steve shrugs, "none of that mattered. I realized he's just like me. Two scared kids, who both lost their parents way too young, pretending to have it all under control only for it to spiral out of our grips." he rests his head in his hands, "I was so scared he'd actually kill him."
"He was wrong to attack Barnes." Steve nods, "Barnes didn't kill his parents. The Winter Soldier did."
"I agree." his voice is tired. "But Tony couldn't seem to see the difference. His grief and anger clouded that."
"You did the right thing." She says softly, "stopping him from attacking Barnes. Barnes didn't deserve that."
"I know." Steve's voice is gravelly, tight with emotion, "but… Tony looked at me in fear, pure fear." His eyes look up to meet hers, filled with disbelief, "He actually thought I was going to kill him. As I brought the shield down to damage his suit so he couldn't fight, I saw it… I saw the real fear." His expression cracks with grief, "how could he think I would do that? That I would kill him?"
"Because he was planning to kill Barnes. He thought you'd kill him to stop that."
Steve hung his head. "Does he not know me at all?"
To that she has no answer. She just sits beside him.
She reads Steve's letter to Tony when he's with Barnes and the Wakandan doctors, discussing how to clear Barnes' mind.
-the Avengers are your family. Maybe more so than mine-
She wants to rip that letter up and burn it. How incorrect Steve is. How blessedly merciful he's being Tony.
But she reads on. Sighing as Steve offers their assistance, any time or place.
Steve's sincerity rings through like a clanging bell and she knows Tony will keep the old cellphone.
Steve's right. He needs time. But she hopes that time is sooner rather than later.
"Bucky?"
Peggy turns, hearing a strange quality in Steve's voice as the chitauri in front of her dies from her sword.
Then she turns, catching his eyes as they land on her. He looks down at his hands and then back up. And an expression crosses it, one of concern, of knowing.
She can see Barnes dispatch the Chitauri he was fighting and turn.
But Steve takes a stumbling step forward and catches himself. Then he looks at her, arm reaching out, "Peggy-"
And the inflection. The sound echoes through the small wooded area. She's heard him say her name like that just once before.
But it wasn't to her.
It was to the other her. It was the same way he said it on that damn plane.
When he knew he was going to die.
And just like that she watches him crumple to ash.
She and Barnes stare out the large windows of the compound.
Tony had come back from space after fighting Thanos- even just saying that gives her gooseflesh- and he'd been days from death, gaunt and fragile. When he'd come 'round, Natasha informed them that he'd started yelling, asking where the hell Steve was and was Steve really going to be a coward and hide when he'd promised him he'd be there when Tony called.
Natasha was the one to tell him to shut the hell up. Only then had it clicked for Tony that maybe… just maybe Steve wasn't so invincible after all. Natasha had bitingly informed Tony that Steve had indeed "been there for him". Fighting tooth and nail on this side of the galaxy when they'd lost to Thanos. The only one of the original team to disintegrate.
Natasha had relayed that Tony had grown quiet, broken down, and then been taken back to his room shortly after.
At that point, she and Barnes had still been in Wakanda, unsure if they would be wanted at the compound. It was just them two. Sam was gone. Wanda was gone. T'Challa was gone.
Steve… gone.
Natasha informed them that they'd gone after Thanos and that Thor had killed him.
And it had changed absolutely nothing.
She and Barnes moved like ghosts among the Wakandans.
Two weeks later, Okoye had announced there was someone to see them.
Tony Stark stood there at the bottom of a jet gangway, still looking skinny. Still looking frail, but with a calm expression and at ease.
Barnes stayed ten feet back.
She glared at him from five feet away.
It was silent for a very long time.
"Barnes." Tony had said, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to really get over what happened. But I-" he huffed and sighed and crossed his arms, "understand that you didn't have a choice. And I promise I won't- won't attack you."
"But you'll blame him." Peggy snapped out, "that's not better."
"No-" Tony relented. "No. I want to. But no. I don't blame him either. I want you guys to come back to the compound."
"What?" She had asked, shocked.
"The world has gone to shit. Half of everyone is missing. Ross, the accords, it doesn't mean shit now. Come back to the compound. Come home."
"Home?" She asked, "the place where strings are attached?"
He frowned, "I'm sorry." He swallowed and shoved his hands in his pockets, "losing half the universe really puts it all into perspective." His expression shifted, "I lost the kid."
"Kid?"
"Peter." He cleared his throat, looking off towards the wild forest beyond the city's borders, "The kid I brought to the airport. He snuck aboard the spaceship and helped us fight Thanos. He disappeared." His voice grew raspy, "just like Steve."
"I'm sorry." She offered.
"I'm sorry about Steve."
Her voice was wavering, "me too."
"Let me take care of you guys. For him." He offered again. "If I could apologize to him I would. But I can't. So please…" he cleared his throat again, "in lieu of that, please come home."
So they did.
Now they live and work from there.
Occasionally having missions. Occasionally helping other planets or galaxies when Carol or Rocket alert them to a need.
She lies in an empty bed and cries.
Barnes is quiet most of the time.
Natasha tries to keep life as normal, but Clint is on the lam, wreaking havoc in ways that make even Natasha gasp.
But his whole family had disappeared. Peggy knows he's not handling it well. But she can't find it in her heart to blame him. She wants to tear the universe apart limb from limb too. For taking yet another Steve from her.
She sends a congratulatory card to Pepper and Tony when Morgan is born.
Tony visits the compound less and less.
Peggy visits Sam's sister Sarah. Barnes works as a mechanic on all of the jets, cars, and planes.
They eat breakfast together when they're at the compound.
They, by mutual silent agreement, do not bring up Steve.
She does not touch a single thing of his.
Barnes goes to the funeral of his sister. He does not tell any of his surviving family members that he is there.
Somehow the world keeps turning. She fights idiots and brilliant villains alike. And all the time she's wondering why they continue to act like the world didn't end three years ago.
On the 3rd anniversary of everyone's deaths, they attend the ceremony for the New York stones. Huge monoliths rise out of the ground, names engraved in them. Somehow it makes her feel better that his name is listed alphabetically under the R's on the Brooklyn stones.
The only thing setting his name apart is the small symbol beside it, a small star encircled.
Rogers, Steven Grant ⍟
Two days later she finds his shield on the bed.
A note from Tony saying:
In a moment of scared stupidity I told him this wasn't his. I knew I was wrong then but was too prideful to say it. I know it's too little too late. But it belongs with the person who stood by him. So… here it is.
Sorry for the crayon and stickers. Morgan found it.
-T.S.
Peggy bursts into tears and holds it close to her chest.
Barnes knocks, asking what's wrong. When she can't find the breath to answer, he opens the door, worry on his face.
He sees the shield and his expression freezes. She hands him the note.
Barnes sits beside her on the bed and reads it and then stares out the window.
She looks at the crayon markings and the stickers of some sort of magical rainbows and fairies and she starts crying again.
Scott appears out of nowhere and sets her, Natasha, and Barnes' hopes on fire. They drive to Tony's cabin with renewed vigor that maybe something can change.
"I've got my second chance right here." Tony says with a reserved wariness, carrying Morgan in his arms.
She wants to slap sense into him. He was lucky enough to keep his partner. To have plenty of money and resources to live a relatively normal life. He's gotten to move on.
Everyone else was in limbo.
But she doesn't slap him. She doesn't fight him.
She just walks away, the rest in tow.
Tony ends up coming through for them.
She weeps over the loss of Clint. Barnes comforts Natasha.
And then they're ready, gauntlet formed and stones collected.
The anticipation grates at her until Bruce snaps and the birds start singing.
Louder than she's heard in five years.
Which is, of course, when their plan goes to hell.
She hears the Wakandan chants reverberating and she turns, wide eyed and bleeding to see T'Challa walking out, Shuri at his side. Elation fills her, and she searches- there.
Shields on his arms as if he's on;y been gone for a moment instead of five years. She vaults herself over the rubble, slamming into him and sending them toppling.
He holds her and she kisses him quickly before hauling him up.
TIme to celebrate later.
They face Thanos a second time. Hand in hand.
She hears him clear his throat.
"Avengers!" he calls out, a cheer rising up at the sound of his voice. She sees the kid in a metallic spider suit land off to her left and she is happy for it. "Assemble." He finishes, the mass of warriors around them rumbling.
Thor bellows out a war cry and the battle commences.
She watches Steve wield Mjolnir with wide eyes. He calls lightning down, looking like Zeus himself.
They fight to the very end.
And Tony lays down on the wire.
"You could go back, you know."
He turns to her, a quizzical expression, "back where?"
"When you return the stones. You could go back to her. Your Peggy."
He frowns. "You're my Peggy."
She smiles, "I'm not saying this to rile you up. I'm saying it because it's true. It is an option."
He takes a deep breath and sighs. "I know." There's a long pause and he tips his head back, watching the sun as it falls towards the horizon. "Do you want me to be honest?"
"Always."
"I think that if you weren't here…"
"You'd go." His nose wrinkles like he's apologetic. "I understand."
His eyes widen in surprise and he turns to her, "you do?"
She nods. "If you weren't here. Let's say the snap had been permanent, and you were gone. If Tony had presented me a way to go home, to my universe… I would have taken it. I would go back to the Steve there even if his years were few. I would wait for my brother to be found or find him myself."
His shoulders relax, like he's relieved she understands. "Bucky is here. Nat is here. Sam is here." he looks at her, "and i love them… but the real true reason I don't want to go back is because you're here." His expression gets very serious, "Bucky and Sam and Nat, they're going to keep fighting. And that's wonderful, I will too. But they can't fight forever. And the truth is… What are we fighting for, really? Aren't we fighting so that they each can make a life here? A meaningful one? One that is fulfilling and purposeful?" He rests a hand on her cheek, "I couldn't do that if you weren't here. I would be fighting, I would have friends, but I would have nothing for me." He looks worried, "is that selfish?"
She cups his face in her hands, "Selfish? To want love and a life? No, my darling. It's not selfish at all. It's what we've been fighting for all this time. A world at peace so we can live. So we can go home."
His eyes are soft, looking at her so endearingly, "you are my home."
"And you are mine."
*Again, another story that's not finished but updates will be sporadic