Back to You [An Endgame Continuation]

Catching Up

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p.o.v: Peggy

"So it was like this: either we sent our own troops to Japan and risked their entire extermination, or kept our men here and sent over the bombs, so. Truman came to us and saw what we'd done on the Project, and decided to go for it when they didn't surrender."

"How many did you send?"

"Just two," Howard stated simply as he poured himself yet another glass of water. "And then, August 14th, the war finally came to an end for us. Everyone else was cut loose when Germany surrendered that previous May but," he swallowed down another drink. "everyone forgets we were fighting two damn wars."

Steve sat at the table of the interrogation room, his hand perched in front of his face as he appeared to be processing all of the information. A glass of water stood next to him untouched.

"After that, we sent troops to help with search and rescue," I continued for Howard, standing in the stifling interrogation room along with many other SHIELD agents that had joined for documentation services. It was too many people for one room, and the warm air and tight walls made small beads of sweat appear on my neck. "Everything was in ruin, Steve. Towns completely torn to pieces. Our POW's nearly starved to death." My eyes darkened as I recollected those first few months overseas. Some of those images were even worse than what I'd seen during the war. "And Roosevelt died before he could see us make any amends."

"Yeah," he muttered as his hand covered his mouth. "Brain hemorrhage, you said right?"

I pressed my lips together, my eyes dancing over him in sympathy. "That's right."

"And look, you take all the time you need to process all this Steve, alright?" Howard offered as he took the chair on the other side of the table and turned it around to sit. "I get this can all be a lot." Howard reached for the full glass of water on the desk and took another drink, making me look at him in mock annoyance. He set the glass down. "But now we're gonna need you to fill in some of the gaps for us, okay?"

Steve nodded grimly, and I moved away the hair that had stuck to my neck. I was reaching for the now near empty vase of water when I heard him say, "Just you guys, though."

I stopped pouring and looked back at him, seeing something different looming behind his eyes in the reflection of the false mirror.

"Okay," Howard nodded. "Okay, sure." He gestured to the heavy men and their notepads. "Fellas, could you give us a—"

"We need it for the record, sir," one of them explained gruffly.

"Well we'll get the record later. Could you just give the man some space please? Thank you." The agents filed out and Howard looked after them hotly. "Good Lord, Peg. You work with those people?"

"Yes, and evidently it wasn't easy getting past working for them," I answered.

Howard rubbed his temples, then shook himself awake. "Okay. Let's just start with the earliest thing you remember after crashing the plane."

Steve shook his head. "That's the thing, Howard. I barely remember anything, I-" he ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair, "I don't know where I was, but when I escaped I was in the middle of these snowy woods. Washington maybe?"

"Washington?" Howard echoed, dumbfounded. "How the hell did you get all the way over there?"

"I had to have been captured..." Steve exclaimed darkly. "And I think I know who did it, but you're not going to like it."

Howard's lips pressed into a line and I stepped closer to the table in anticipation, looking down at Steve. "Who do you think it was?"

He looked hurt as the answer appeared in his mind. He finally looked at me for the first time since we walked into the room, and the overhead light illuminated his bright blue eyes. "It was HYDRA. They were all wearing the symbol."