Running in and out of Time

Chapter 2

Peggy woke up in an alleyway, the sounds of a strange bustling New York ringing in her ears. She stood up, brushing the muck off of her dress and looked at the device she found in her hands.

It was a round thin disk, looking like part of the cylinder that Peggy had grabbed just before her world went black. She flipped it back and forth in her palm, examining it.

Peggy sighed, deciding it was best for her to find out where and when exactly is it that she was. Although she remembered New York being loud, she didn't remember it being this loud....

She decided to leave the dirty place, venturing to out of the alleyway. She noticed how strangely people were dressed, and how advanced the things they were using were. Peggy noted someone staring at a small rectangular device in their palms, and someone tapping away at a strange looking typewriter with a screen attached.

  She then glanced over at a newspaper someone was reading. It read April 20th, 2020. (A/N there's no COVID-19 in this AU)

But that was impossible. That means it's been roughly seventy years since she last remembered being at Howard's party.

  Peggy frowned, looking around. Where was Daniel, and Mr. Jarvis, and Ana, and Howard? Where was Willow and all of the other party guests? Were they not taken either? Was it because she touched the cylinder that she was here?

  Questions racing in and out of Peggy's brain, flooding her thoughts and almost making her head buzz. She pocketed the device for safe keeping and marched down the street to...... somewhere.

The Jarvises along with Daniel and Howard woke up in a similar alley unbeknownst to them across the city from where Peggy was now. Jarvis hopped up, helping Ana up, then Howard, and finally along with Ana assisted Daniel.

"Where the hell are we?" Howard question aloud, wiping off his cheek with bright pink lipstick on it with the back of his hand.

  Jarvis sighed, handing him a handkerchief before replying "I do not know Mr. Stark, but it does not appear to be Los Angelos."

"I'd say it's New York, but it so..... different then when we last came here," Daniel commented, looking out of the alleyway.

"Agreed," Ana nodded, frowning.

  "I propose we go to the SSR headquarters and sort this thing out, maybe find out with happened in the first place?" Jarvis proposed. Daniel, Ana, and Howard all nodded in agreement, walking out of the alleyway together before turning down the sidewalk into the bustling New York...

   "Are you sure it was here?" Ana questioned confused as they stood in front of what used to be the SSR headquarters in disguise but was now an apartment building.

"Positive," Jarvis nodded, looking back at Daniel. "This was where SSR headquarters used to be was it not?"

"No it was," Daniel nodded in agreement, steadying himself with his crutch as he gazed around the building. "And I'm sure if they were going to change something about it that I would be in the loop."

   "Maybe not," Howard frowned, picking up a dirty newspaper abandoned on the ground. He held it up for the other three to see, tapping his finger on the "Look at the date."

"April the twenty-first, Two thousand and twenty," Jarvis read aloud with a gasp. "It appears we are no longer in our time period!"

  "Yes Mr. Jarvis. I bet neither is Peggy or anybody else from that party," The Stark continued with a nod, frowning when he felt something in his pocket. He fished it out with his hand, gasping when a small advanced device was now in his palm. "Hey..... what's this.....?"

"I think I have one too actually...." Daniel paused and drew one out of his pocket. The Jarvises pulled out their own disks, puzzled as to how they got the devises in the first place.

  "What one earth.....?" Jarvis questioned, looking at each face them in the face before glancing back at the devices. "But what does it mean?"

"I have an idea. Turn all of the disks on the side so that they stand vertically, then line our hands up so that they are close to one another. Let's see what happens," Howard proposed. Having no other ideas and nothing better to do they complied, standing near each other so that the devices were only inches apart.

  With a small whoosh the disks pulled towards each other like magnets, colliding and forming a cylinder.

  "Hey this is sort of like the cylinder that Peggy touched before we disappeared, except that one was longer," Daniel noted, examining the cylinder in their hands.

"Well maybe she and any others who are here as well have the other disks to complete the cylinder," Jarvis theorized. "If of course they are here at all."

"Yes. I suggest that we keep our disks safe individually for now, at least until we know more about what they are and what they do," Howard stated, looking at the other three for conformation.

  "Yeah."

  "Yes."

  "Why not?"

   "If Peggy and the others are here though, shouldn't we go look for them?" Daniel asked, sounding concerned. "They might be in trouble."

"Maybe. But Chief Sousa if you know Peggy then you know that she can handle herself," Ana grinned, linking arms with Jarvis.

  Peggy was, in fact, able to handle her current situation herself. Only a day in this new century and Peggy was already beating up the bad guys who were trying to kill her.

  She exhaled, firing her last shot from a gun taken from one of her attackers at his ally. Peggy scanned the team of five one more time, brushing the dust off her clothing. She placed the pistol in her purse and left that alleyway.

During her visit she had encountered at least three kidnapping attempts, by exactly who she didn't know. Her interrogations only resulted in the commuting suicides of those she was questioning.

  "Peggy?!?" A familiar voice close to her position asked. Peggy whipped around, finding Daniel, the Jarvises, and Howard walking up the sidewalk.

  "Daniel!" She exclaimed out of relief and excitement, running up and hugging him tightly. She then awkwardly stepped back, hugging the Jarvises and Howard as well. "What on earth are you all doing here?"

  "I don't know, we just woke up here," Howard shrugged.

"Ahh I see. I've been here for about a day, do you know that the year is two thousand and twenty—"

"Yeah, we got that."

"— and I've recovered from three kidnapping attempts, poorly done I must say. This was indeed not a coincidence."

"Well what's next?" Daniel asked.

"We go get a place to stay and figure out our next move," Howard replied. The rest nodded in agreement, Peggy leading them to a hotel she had been staying at.

  
  
  A figure with a long, dark trenchcoat as black as midnight and a hat of the same color grinned from his position down the street. He saw the people from the 1940s stroll down the street in search of a place to stay.

  "My my my," he thought. "This is going to get interesting."