Chapter Seven: The Journey

After they made it out of the mall it became clear almost immediately that every street light in the city was red. She wasn't sure how S.H.I.E.L.D. had pulled this off, but it was clear they were going to pull everything resource in their mission to capture her.

Natasha just wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible, but Peggy insisted on one final stop. Upon Peggy's request Natasha entered The International Spy Museum, which now contained both cops and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in and around its gift shop, and she emerged unnoticed by anyone holding Peggy's shield.

They walked until they finally found the end of the radius with the area's traffic stopped, and Peggy hot-wired the first unattended vehicle she came across in under 20 seconds. As the sun was just beginning to get low, Washington D.C. was now far behind them.

For a long time Peggy drove in silence with Natasha sitting beside her. Her mind should be focused on the fact that the agency she had worked for and trusted for over a year was trying to capture her, but her mind actually kept focusing on the kiss she and Natasha had shared. Natasha had said it herself, it was just meant to divert Rumlow's attention, and obviously it wasn't meant to be romantic, but during the kiss feelings arose that Peggy had not felt in a very long time. Liking fellow women wasn't something she had ever heard about in the twenties, thirties, or forties, so she had never given it any conscious thought until-

"I have to admit I wasn't expecting you to hot-wire and steal this truck so quickly, I'm genuinely impressed Carter."

"First off we're borrowing this truck, and second you do remember that I was doing different espionage tasks for the SSR for twice as long as I have been a super soldier, right, or that I have a PhD. I know how to hot-wire a lot more than just a truck."

"Peggy, your PhD is in Modern and Medieval Languages, not Automotive Engineering," exclaimed Natasha. Peggy looked over at her for just a second and saw that she had an amused smile on her face. A brief smile crept onto Peggy's own face.

They continued to drive in silence for another few minutes before Peggy had to ask the question that was killing her.

"So it's legal now?" Natasha looked at her slightly confused. "Marriage between two women, I mean."

"And two men, well yes and no. It's 100% legal currently in 16 nations, and then here it is legal in sixteen states including New York and New Jersey, as well as where we just were."

Peggy nodded, when she and Natasha were no longer being chased she would have to add all of this to the top of her list of things to research about this modern world.

"Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"

"Spit it out Nat," said Peggy sarcastically, beginning to feel more relaxed.

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"

The truck swerved on the highway for a second, so much for starting to relax.

"You want the truth?"

"Only if you want to," said Nat, though it was clear she was now quite curious.

"That was actually my first kiss since 1940."

"Sheesh, not even that Private Steve Rogers you told me about?"

"We never got the chance, I must be quite out of practise."

"I wouldn't say that," said Natasha quietly.

"Well maybe I would," said Peggy, now a little frustrated.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I spent so many years fighting to be seen and heard on top of being a soldier that I never left even really moments for things I enjoy, and now I'm in a world were not only am I a soldier, but there isn't really anyone alive anymore who understands me."

There was silence once again and Peggy tried to focus on driving, however she then felt Natasha put one of her hands gently on Peggy's shoulder.

"You are not as alone as you think you are, Peggy."

Peggy didn't quite now what to say. Her thoughts were in relation to Natasha were all over the place now. She felt like she both still didn't fully trust her and wanted her to be her best friend or more both at the same time. Eventually Nat removed her hand and Peggy just simply said, "We've both been awake for nearly two full days, we've still got over 2 and a half hours to go. Try and get some sleep."

Natasha didn't argue and proceeded to put her feet up on the dash and close her eyes. Peggy was fairly certain she never actually fell asleep, but any rest at all would likely come in handy. With Natasha resting the rest of the journey was quieter than Peggy would have preferred.

The sun had long since set by the time Peggy pulled over and parked a mere 100 yards from their destination.

"We should change," said Natasha suddenly, already unzipping her sweater and proving she had never fallen into a true sleep, "we can't pass as civilians here so we might as well be prepared."

Peggy took her uniform out of her backpack, changed, and put back on her shield, while Natasha revealed she had her Black Widow uniform underneath her civilian outfit this entire time.

Ready as they'd ever be the two Avengers closed final short distance between the vehicle and their destination, the fenced off long abandoned Camp Lehigh.

"I find it hard to believe the file came from here, it looks like it's been abandoned for at least three decades," said Natasha after Peggy snapped the feeble lock chaining the gate close.

"Looks can be deceiving, you know that, Black Widow," said Peggy sarcastically, referencing how one of Natasha's most effective intelligence gaining strategy was playing dumb and naive.

"Touché."

They began walking around, mostly sure they were alone they brought out their flashlights to help in their search.

"How long were you here?" Natasha eventually asked.

"Less than a year, it was Dr Erskine's idea that one good way to test the morality of the Project Rebirth candidates was to bring in a woman and see how well the men take orders from her. It was honestly fun because if any of them talked back or tried to make a pass at me I was given permission to push them around a little and recommend them for removal from the project. The camps whole purpose was to test the principles of the candidates, but I think it also helped me improve mine because every single candidate had been for one reason or another rejected to serve in the USA military and yet they all wanted to help the war effort against the Nazis and Hydra so bad that they found a program that might let them join, it was inspiring."

"They showed you that just because the government doesn't view you as valuable that you should still try and make a difference?"

"Exactly."

"No wonder in the end it was you who got be the only Super Soldier," said Natasha with a smile.

They continued to search around for about half an hour, Natasha was using a small Stark Tech device Peggy didn't recognize but assumed was some type of scanner. The old fashioned way was how Peggy investigated the camp, sadly it did appear to be long abandoned, but something was bothering her subconscious. It was obvious this place was truly abandoned, but according to her museum exhibit the camp closed very shortly after the war ended, however if Peggy was to make a guess from the amount of rust and plant growth that this place had only been abandoned for less than fifty years instead of around seventy years.

"This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

But Peggy wasn't so sure, just as Natasha finished her sentence Peggy finally spotted something that did not belong.

"What is it?" asked Natasha.

Peggy pointed towards an extremely fortified bunker that had not been there when she was stationed here during the war.

"Safety regulations state that ammunition bunkers have to be five hundred yards or more away from the barracks, that and why would an ammunition bunker be built at all at an abandoned base after a war was already over. This building should not be here."

They made their way to the bunker, and it became instantly clear someone truly didn't want any unauthorized people inside of it as unlike the simple lock and chain on the fence, this was sealed shut with a heavy duty pad lock that Peggy had to use her shield to break open. Inside was not what Peggy had expected. Instead of ammunition or something else the USA military had wished to store, the bunker appeared to be the home of a decently large office building. Rows upon rows of desks, file cabinets, and shelves filled the bunker. To Peggy's surprise Natasha managed to find a functioning light switch, and as the large room lite up they were able to notice on the side of the wall was a very faded S.H.I.E.L.D. logo.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.," said Natasha in awe.

"Quite possibly it's very first headquarters."

The two Avengers continued to make their way through the secret office looking for any answers to where the signal came from. As they got closer to the back there began to be larger private offices as well as large rooms with rows and rows of shelves for storage, they decided to enter one of them and continued looking around. Eventually Peggy came across a small gap in the shelving so reveal a small amount of wall space dedicated to a handful of old photos. Peggy froze in her tracks, causing Natasha to run into her.

"Oof, what's wrong Peggy?" said Nat, who then traced Peggy's vision too the wall of photos. It was dedicated to S.H.I.E.L.D.s founders, The sort of two-faced Colonel John Flynn, Peggy's dearly missed best friend Howard Stark, and... "Oh, so that is what Private Steve Rogers looked like."

"Er, yeah," managed Peggy. She usually felt both joy and sadness when thinking about Steve, but now she also felt guilt. Guilt because after years of still having romantic feelings for him even after he had long been dead she now was developing feelings for someone else, and for a woman no less. Was she betraying him? "That is Steve."

Unable to look at either Steve or Natasha, Peggy turned herself away, but as she did she noticed something odd. Every other shelf in this bunker still had at least one thing on it, most even still completely covered in boxes and books, but these three shelves were completely empty. Peggy approached them and quickly could hear some air flow from the shelves that really should not be there.

"What is it?" asked Natasha, noticing Peggy's deep thought.

Before Peggy answered she closed the rest of the distance and gripped both her hands onto the center shelf.

"If I really REALLY did not want my secret to be found..." she shoved the shelf out of the way, revealing an elevator that appeared to be about forty years old "...I'd hide it within another secret."