Chapter 1
Peggy's heels clicked down the dimly lit S.H.I.E.L.D. hallway. People parted before her purposeful strides like the Red Sea, guards with helmets marked M.P. nodding reverently as she passed.
Peggy Carter was not happy.
In her right hand she held a manila envelope, given to her by Agent Coulson with a massive red CLASSIFIED stamp smack in the middle. As a woman in 1945, Peggy was used to having doors slammed in her face, but not here. She replayed the conversation in her head:
"I need this to get to Mr. Stark," he said.
"What is it?" she asked as she started to lift the edge covering the documents inside.
His fingers gently pressed down, keeping it shut. "It's uh…classified, Agent Carter."
Peggy quirked an eyebrow. "And?"
"Classified even for you."
"Phil-"
"I know, I know, I'm sorry. Look, I don't know why-"
"Yes, you do."
Phil Coulson paused; angering the notorious Peggy Carter had to be approached carefully. Gently, he began, "since the war is over, the situation has…changed."
Peggy pulled out the chair opposite Phil's desk and sat down. He sighed, "it's really just until something new comes up. Think of it as a break! You could go home, see your family,
you-"
"-are a glorified secretary," Peggy finished tersely.
Agent Coulson didn't answer.
Peggy sighed, "alright, to Howard it goes."
She opened the door labeled DR. HOWARD STARK without knocking. "Howard, I have a gift for you!"
Howard turned the corner, dark hair askew, sleeves rolled up above the elbows. "Hey, Peg! Why the thunder-y face?"
She pulled herself up delicately onto a metal table. "I'd rather not discuss. Here, from Phil Coulson."
The scientist flipped open the packet, eyes darting about as he scanned the page. "You read it?" he asked without looking up.
"No."
"So they're keeping you out of this?" Howard flicked the top shut again, tossing it towards Peggy.
"They're keeping me out of everything until something else opens up. I've been told to take a vacation, among other things."
Howard clicked his tongue. "Well, I've never been one for rules. C'mon, I'll show you what I've been up to." Sliding off the table, Peggy followed Howard through another set of doors and down another flight of stairs into a room that looked rather like the one where Dr. Erskine displayed his serum on Steve a few years ago. She glanced about the room, eyes settling on the rows of little glass tubes housing the remains of Steve's blood. Her heart seized, masked easily after years of careful practice.
"Basically, we've been isolating Dr. Erskine's work from Steve's DNA, trying to work backwards to find what we need to make more serum."
"He didn't tell you?"
Howard shook his head. "I was the power source, not much more. Dr. Erskine was a careful man, if anyone was going to go down with the ship it was going to be him."
Peggy took a sharp breath and pressed her ruby red lips together.
"Jesus, Peggy I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking, I-I didn't mean it like that."
"I know," she responded, offering a small smile to calm the interns that were looking their way.
"I really tried, you know. I looked everywhere."
"I know." She changed the subject quickly, not sure much more of the topic she could take. "Why make more serum, though? The war's over."
Howard Stark passed a hand over his face. "Not really. Remember my last project? Fat Man?" Peggy nodded. "I think we've created more harm than good. Similarly to us working backwards with the serum, people are going to work backwards with the atomic bomb. Soon, more countries will have the technology, and then what?" His face was turning red, a vein in his neck bulging. He turned from her, leaning heavily on the table, causing the glass vials to rattle. "Have you seen the pictures? Of Hiroshima, Nagasaki?"
Peggy nodded again, unsuccessfully trying to suppress a shudder. She didn't bother responding; an upset Howard was a talkative Howard, and it was best for her to remain silent. Howard looked older suddenly, the light lines around his eyes and across his forehead deepening. His mustache twitched with agitation.
"I can't sleep, Peg. I haven't in days." He shook his head like a dog trying to rid itself of water. "I feel like I've hit a wall. I get offers all the time to create more weapons-what do you think was in that folder you brought? More plans, more ideas."
A light was flashing on the control board, the interns glancing nervously at the test tubes full of what Peggy could only assume was an early batch of serum. "Howard-" she started.
"Don't, I know what you're going to say. That the bomb was necessary, more Americans would have died if we hadn't dropped it-"
She took a step closer to the test tubes.
"Agent Carter, you need to-" an intern began.
"Howard!" Peggy stressed, grabbing his arm and pointing. The dials had launched beyond 100% capacity, glass began to crack, the ground rattled.
Dr. Stark threw a switch, a high pitched whine splitting the air, red light spinning throughout the room. "Evacuate! Shut it off! Peggy-"
He was too late. Before Howard could finish, an explosion sounded, throwing the room's occupants back ten feet at least. Peggy landed hard, vision blurry and shaky. She heard her name-maybe?-from far away. Her arm hurt. It hurt worse. It burned, her arm was burning, her body was on fire, everything hurt and everything was burning, air was sucked from her lungs and-