Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 12

And now, a bittersweet reflection on how things have unfolded so far.

X

Chapter 12

"And she has suffered no ill effects?" Peggy asked.

"Apparently," Steve said. "Banner gave her a clean bill of health."

He paused, unable to put into words that vague sense of unease he had whenever he looked into Natasha's eyes. He hadn't lived in this century long enough to get to know Black Widow or her discreet lover Hawkeye all that well. Even at the best of times, Agent Romanov was aloof. Untouchable. The only time she ever displayed any warmth was when she was under cover and friendliness was part of the role. But still…

"What bothers you, old friend?" Peggy asked. She'd taken his hand to draw him back from whatever dark path his mind had travelled down.

"I fear she will never be the same," Steve said, shrugging it off. "Whatever they did to her, it traumatized her. Banner thinks there may be some residual brain damage."

"Do you trust her to watch your back?" Peggy asked.

Steve paused, that vague feeling clamoring for attention even though he couldn't put his unease into words.

"Perhaps that's what's making me so uneasy?" Steve said. "Loki was able to use the tesseract cube to seize control of Hawkeye and Erik Selvig. Who's to say they haven't done something like that to Natasha? Only gotten more subtle about it so we would not know?"

Peggy raised her oxygen mask to her face, breathing in the nourishing air as she contemplated his concerns. Despite disappearing out of Howard Stark's life and taking time to rear a family, Peggy had never completely abandoned the spy business, remaining on Office of Strategic Services payroll long after it had become the CIA. Separate from the politics of the top-secret entity which eventually became S.H.I.E.L.D., and yet never completely away from the machinations of governments.

"Your instincts were always pretty good," Peggy said. "Even when you didn't have enough experience to put what you were feeling into words. What does your gut tell you?"

"Grounding her will alienate her," Steve said. "If nothing is wrong with her, I'll be squandering my most reliable agent. If, on the other hand, she's suffering from brain damage, she could get somebody killed."

"Are they certain it wasn't the tesseract cube?" Peggy asked.

"Thor took the cube back to Asgard when he extradited Loki," Steve said. "The All Father has assured him every gate key has been accounted for. And besides, Banner took instrument readings when they recaptured Hawkeye before the effects wore off. They could find no sign of that energy signature. Whatever made Natasha's brain flatline had nothing to do with the tesseract cube."

The mask rose to Peggy's face once more, her skin bluer than he'd ever seen it. She was leaving him, this woman he loved. She was leaving him and there was not a damned thing he could do about it. And now Natasha had been compromised. Or so he feared. For all the venom carried by the black widow, at least he'd always felt he could rely upon her to complete the mission.

"It is an old dance," Peggy said, her eyes turning to a past that didn't include him. "One we played many times in the OSS. Is someone a double agent? Or are they still on your side? Can you trust them? Or not? Will they sell you out to the Soviets the first chance they get? Or will they lay down their life to defend their country?"

She looked back at Steve, for a moment appearing as though she didn't recognize him. She reached out with a trembling hand, impaled by an IV they'd jabbed into her vein to force fluids, and placed it upon Steve's cheek.