The Chronicles of Captain Carter - The First Avenger

28.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight - A Blast From The Past

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Peggy and Nat drove into New Jersey, using a truck that Peggy hotwired. "Where did Captain Carter learn how to steal a car?" Nat asked curiously.

"Oh you'd be surprised what other little tricks I have up my sleeve."

"Alright, I have a question for you, 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?"

"What is it?"

"Have you kissed someone? Since you came out the portal in 2012?"

"No, "

"Why not?"

"What with all the missions, me catching up with everything I've missed... I'm not in a position where I could get in a relationship and be expected to share parts of myself when I'm still trying to find them myself."

"Seriously? Nobody special though?"

"Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience. And the only person I'd want to consider is currently missing. You know, I left my whole life behind. Everyone I knew, everyone that I cared about, all for the sake of the world. And finding out that Steve's alive... I'm not sure how to cope with that."

"Well that's alright, you just make something up."

"What, like you?"

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstance, it's not all things to all people, all the time. Neither am I."

"That's a tough way to live."

"It's a good way not to die, though."

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone, when you don't know who that someone really is."

"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?"

"Yourself."

The women shared a smile, before coming to a padlocked set of gates. "This is it. The file came from these coordinates."

"So did something else." Peggy said, swallowing hard as she saw the familiar sign, which read:

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𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙿 𝙻𝙴𝙷𝙸𝙶𝙷

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They searched the base, trying to find anything that was even from the modern day period.  "This camp is where Steve was trained, and where I finally got some respect for my skills. "

"Change much?"

"A little."

Peggy stopped where she was walking as she laid eyes on the flagpole, which was bare and rusted, much like everything else in this base. She was taken back to a certain day, when Steve Rogers showed he was more than met the eye. She could picture him perfectly, as if he were standing in front of her. She could only wish wherever he was, that he was safe.

Natasha, oblivious to her friend's internal turmoil, sighed in frustration. "This is a dead end. Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Peggy turned to face her and frowned, noticing something. Nat saw her face and asked. "What is it?"