Chapter 45: Refuge In Audacity

A/N: An honest to god Steve POV! In which we get a peek into the mind of the Man Out Of Time.

-x-X-x-

Steve Rogers was lost. But to be fair, he'd been feeling lost a lot recently. He'd felt lost for months after losing Bucky back in the 1940s. When he'd had to sacrifice himself to put the Valkyrie in the water, that had almost been a relief.

The only thing that had given him pause about that was the extra Peggy who had suddenly shown up on the bomber with a British copy of his shield. But she'd helped him defeat the Red Skull, agreed with him on what had to be done once the situation was explained to her, and even stayed quiet while Steve had said goodbye to his Peggy.

Then, he'd been lost again when he'd woken up seventy years in the future, finding himself a man out of time. Only… Bucky was here and suddenly Steve didn't feel so lost anymore. Howard's son was also here and Tony Stark… he was a godsend, Steve had to admit. The way he'd helped Bucky, the way he'd cared for Steve's best friend even knowing that Bucky had killed his parents… Steve wasn't sure he could ever repay Howard's son. Not truly.

Of course, finding out HYDRA still existed was a punch to the gut. It sucked all the air out of Steve's lungs, finding out that not only was HYDRA still around, but they'd taken Bucky and turned him into their own personal assassin, torturing him into insanity, mind controlling him, and using liberal cryogenics to freeze him over and over again so he wouldn't age over the next seventy years.

By comparison, Steve almost felt like he'd gotten off lucky spending the past seventy or so years buried in the ice. At least he didn't have to do HYDRA's bidding like Bucky. At least Bucky had been saved now as well.

But HYDRA was still out there. Still fucking around. Tony had a plan though and Bucky trusted him… so Steve did too. After everything Tony had done for them, after everything Tony had done for Bucky, Steve had to believe that Howard's son had not just their best interests at heart, but also the best interests of the world.

Even watching the news reports coming out of Germany tonight, Bucky had placed a hand on Steve's arm and told him that everything was fine because Tony was on top of things. And watching as the woman calling herself Loki had terrorized those innocent people only to be taken down by the Iron Legion quite rapidly had… well, it'd filled Steve with a certain quiet confidence that Bucky was right.

After all, the Iron Legion were built by Tony himself. They were designed and maintained by Tony and JARVIS. So if they couldn't protect the world from alien invaders, who could? Steve? Heh, he might have fought the Red Skull and HYDRA seventy years ago, but that was a long, long time ago. If Bucky was alright with staying out of this fight, then so was Steve.

Except for one little snag with all of that. The other Peggy, the one who called herself Captain Carter and had helped him defeat the Red Skull aboard the Valkyrie… Tony had pulled her out of the ice too. She'd survived being resuscitated by Howard's son just as Steve had… and she wasn't nearly as ready to leave this in the hands of Tony as he and Bucky were.

… It was hard, because obviously she wasn't his Peggy. And he… he wasn't her Steve. She'd made that abundantly clear, albeit as gently as she could. She'd told him about her Steve. About how, even though he hadn't gotten the Super Soldier Serum, he'd made himself useful. How he'd fought in a period-appropriate armored suit that Howard Stark had built for him called the HYDRA Stomper. And how she and her Steve had something special that she would mourn for the rest of her life.

Meanwhile, he and his Peggy hadn't ever even gotten to go on that date. Steve blamed himself of course. To hear Captain Carter tell it, she'd decided to man-up herself and kissed her Steve, which had jumpstarted their relationship. As the Super Soldier in the equation, the alternate Peggy had taken matters into her own hands… just like Steve should have.

And sure, he knew that his Peggy was alive in this timeline. He also knew she was over ninety years old and had lived a full life without him. A life of service. And sure, his Peggy had messed up a bit with SHIELD. She hadn't known that HYDRA had crept in right under her nose and hollowed out the organization she'd spent her entire life building. Steve certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell her either.

That said, Captain Carter wasn't just a woman out of time like he was. She was a woman out of time and space, a woman who had lost everything, not just her time period.

Sitting there in the common room of their shared floor in Stark Tower, with Bucky sat in another chair right next to him, Steve watches Peggy pace back and forth across the floor. JARVIS had told them that Tony would be with them shortly, but if Peggy kept going for much longer, she was probably going to wear a hole in the carpet at this-!

"Alright! Sorry for the wait everyone, but you know how it is. A Goddess invades our world, what am I supposed to do, right? I've got some time before they miss me back on the Helicarrier, so let's get this figured out quickly, yeah?"

As if summoned by Steve's very thoughts, Tony Stark suddenly walks into the room, a smile on his face and an infectious energy to him that always threatens to suck them all in. Bucky snorts and Steve can't help but crack a joke of his own as he grins.

"There's only one God, sir… and he doesn't dress like that."

Tony glances at Steve for a moment and chuckles good-naturedly, making him feel warm even as Bucky reaches over to lightly punch him in the shoulder for his joke. Captain Carter on the other hand…

"We can help, Stark. If aliens are invading the planet… you need to let us help."

Smile dropping, Tony sighs as he focuses his attention on Peggy.

"Not an invasion. Not yet anyways. More of an… incursion. Loki is literally the only alien who's shown up in the past thirty-six hours. She just so happens to have a weapon that lets her mind control people and turn them against us one at a time."

Steve frowns at that, glancing over at Bucky who has suddenly gone very still. Peggy, meanwhile, hisses at that knowledge, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If HYDRA got their hands on that…"

Tony shakes his head.

"I'm not going to let that happen, Captain Carter. That said, thank you for bringing up the elephant in the room. HYDRA is still out there, wearing SHIELD like a suit. Right now, HYDRA thinks I'm on their side. The uncorrupted agents in SHIELD think I'm nominally on their side as well. But if the three of you suddenly showed up, there would be questions. Obviously, HYDRA can't know I took Bucky from them. And they don't know I rescued you and Steve from the ice."

Peggy works her jaw for a few moments.

"… Give us sets of armor then. Say we're your private security force or something."

Tony hums, tilting his head to the side and smiling once more.

"Could do that. But first… Sergeant Barnes. Do you want to go fight aliens with me?"

Steve blinks and looks to Bucky, only to find that his best friend is suddenly far more relaxed, giving Tony a crooked grin.

"Rather not, actually."

Peggy makes a noise of disbelief in her throat, but Tony just gives Bucky a solid nod.

"Then you don't have to. Keep resting up, keep recovering. You don't owe anyone anything."

Bucky nods as Steve watches the byplay… only to freeze when Tony suddenly turns those knowing eyes onto him.

"Captain Rogers. Do you want to go fight aliens with me?"

Suddenly, its not just Tony looking at him. Its Bucky and Peggy as well. Except Bucky is his Bucky, but Peggy isn't his Peggy. Steve squirms under their gazes all the same, turning Tony's words over in his head. Until finally, Bucky rises from his chair and leans over to whisper in Steve's ear.

"It's okay Stevie. You don't gotta worry about me. Do what feels right."

Funnily enough, that's what cinches it for Steve Rogers. Because he knows Bucky is right. He doesn't have to worry about his best friend. Bucky has been with Tony and JARVIS for years now and they've helped him regain his mind. He and Bucky had talked about how hard it had all been at length, and his best friend had made it clear that without Tony and J, he would still be a mindless murder machine incapable of even stringing two sentences together.

So yes, Steve could leave Bucky in JARVIS' nonexistent hands and the other man would be alright. But…

"I'd rather stay here if it's all the same, sir. Think you've got everything under control out there and Bucky needs me."

Tony gives Steve a smile and a nod, showing that he doesn't mind one bit. But then, it's not Tony who Steve feels is judging him for his decision.

"Captain Carter. Do you-?"

"Yes! Of course I do! Give me a disguise if you have to. Supply me with a cover story. But I can't just… stay cooped up here for any longer! I want in."

Far from upset that Peggy had interrupted him, Tony's smile only grows.

"I'm happy to have you on board, Captain Carter. That said… you will need a cover story. More than that, I need to know you can follow my orders. No going off half-cocked, no doing your own thing. You follow my lead or HYDRA will have all of our heads on platters, alright?"

Steve winces at the descriptive imagery, but Peggy just huffs and rolls her eyes.

"I was a trained agent of the Strategic Scientific Reserve before I was ever dosed with the Super Soldier Serum, Stark. I know how to follow orders. And I understand the need for secrecy, obviously. Let me know what you need me to do and I'll get it done, no questions asked."

Tony laughs at that before shaking his head. With a hand gesture, he beckons her to follow him, which Peggy does without even one last glance back at Steve and Bucky.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Peggy. You're definitely going to have a lot of questions by the time we're done designing your… cover. See, I'm thinking something of a refuge in audacity will work best for us here-!"

As the elevator doors close and Tony's voice cuts off, Steve shares a look with Bucky who just shrugs and shakes his head.

"I think we're better off not knowing, Stevie."

… Yeah, fair enough.

-x-X-x-

"Alright everyone, just had to pop home for a moment to pick up a pair of ladies I think we'll want present for this!"

Eyes turn towards Tony as he saunters back onto the bridge of the Helicarrier like he owns the place. Then, eyes widen as they see the two women he's brought with him. Only Bruce doesn't seem to have much of a reaction to the two women, other than to clock their presence and quietly note the similarities between Sif and Thor now that Sif has armored back up.

In Thor's case, his eyes widen because Lady Sif is on Tony's left and looking rather pissed at her Prince. Probably because the All-Father was willing to spare the energy to send Thor to Earth in order to stop Loki but couldn't be bothered to bring her home.

In Rumlow's case, his eyes widen because Sif and the other woman Tony has with him are total hotties, and it's obvious that the STRIKE Team Commander, who's only here because he's the leader of the Iron Legion, is enjoying the view immensely.

In Natasha's case, she's gone wide eyed because she doesn't recognize the other woman besides Sif that Tony has brought with him. He'd trusted Nat with a lot of things over the years, but while she was aware he had the Winter Soldier stuffed away somewhere, she was not aware of Steve Rogers or Peggy Carter.

Finally, in Nick Fury's case, his one working eye widens because he DOES recognize the other woman that Tony has brought with him. Nobody on this bridge had known Peggy Carter back in the SSR days, but Fury HAD known Peggy Carter as SHIELD's Director and his predecessor's predecessor. And even if the first time Fury had met Carter would have been when she was in her fifties at the earliest, it didn't mean he wouldn't be able to recognize a younger version of the same woman.

And sure, Tony could have given Peggy a disguise that would keep her face hidden from all interested parties. But why do that when he could do something really, really funny instead?

"What the fuck, Stark?"

Still grinning, Tony gestures to his left and then his right.

"You're familiar with Lady Sif, of course. And this here is Penny Carter. My new Personal Assistant."

On his right, Peggy steps forward and comes into Tony's field of view. Very much rocking the modern attire of a twenty-first century secretary right now, the female Super Soldier, hidden in plain sight, walks up to Fury at a clipped pace and holds out a hand with mechanical, exacting precision.

"Greetings Director Fury. I am Tony Stark's Personal Assistant and Bodyguard, Penny Carter."

Fury stares for a moment before hesitantly reaching out and taking the woman's hand. Which is when he proceeds to yelp as 'Penny' grips down with a bit more force than necessary while shaking the SHIELD Director's hand up and down quite… vigorously.

When he's finally able to extract his hand from Peggy's, Fury looks at Tony bewildered and more than a little outraged. And for what might be the first time Tony thinks, Fury actually gives his completely unvarnished and entirely honest thoughts, not holding even a single thing back in his confusion and bafflement.

"Did you seriously build a lifelike robot replica of Peggy Carter from her SSR days, Stark?"

It takes every fiber of Tony's willpower not to bust a gut right then and there. When he'd first explained the 'Life-Model Decoy' ploy to Peggy, she hadn't been entirely convinced by the plan. But eventually she'd come around to the idea, since it allowed her to rather brazenly be out in the open without having to spend all of her time stuck in one of his suits. Not to mention, it would also explain the capabilities granted to her by the Super Soldier Serum without tipping anyone off that she might actually be a Super Soldier.

After all, what was more likely? That Tony had built a Life-Model Decoy of Peggy Carter to act as his PA and Bodyguard, or that he'd somehow stumbled across an alternate universe version of Peggy Carter who'd been injected with the Super Soldier Serum in Steve Roger's place?

In the end, he just gives Fury a shit-eating grin as he saunters over to the table.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Nicky. That's Penny Carter, not Peggy Carter. They're two entirely different people."

Fury growls at that, even as Peggy uses the physical self-control granted by the serum to move with mechanical efficiency and precision over to his side, coming to stand slightly behind and to the right of him.

"We don't have time for your games, Stark."

"I could say the same to you, Nicky. We've got a Goddess in lock up and a Cube to find, and you're interrogating me about my PA for fuck's sake! Get your head in the game, Fury!"

The SHIELD Director's eye twitches as the vein on his forehead pulses in a very worrying way. Finally though, he lets it slide. Just as planned.

Tony grins wider as the matter of his new 'Personal Assistant' is dropped for the time being, and they get down to brass tacks. He was probably having a little too much fun with all of this. But they had some time to kill before Loki instituted the next stage of her little plan. So he might as well have some fun until then.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Refuge in Audacity! Sure, Tony could have disguised Peggy somehow, either by stuffing her in a suit or even just using technology to make her look like someone else.

But that ran the risk of her true identity being discovered! Now everyone will think she's a robot!

The perfect plan.

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