1956.
Agent Peggy Carter walked into Howard Stark's lab, asking how he was doing. He didn't answer.
"…Howard?" Peggy called him gently.
"It's been 11 years. 11 years since… Captain Rogers disappeared into water," Howard said quietly.
Peggy did not say a thing. Of course she knew what today was. How could she forget? 11 years after his presumed death, she still loved him. She couldn't move on. There was a date he did not come to, after all. She didn't get a chance to dance with him.
"I know. I know, Howard…. I miss him," Peggy whispered.
When she first joined the army, Peggy didn't think she would meet someone to spend rest of her life with there. In fact, she didn't think she would marry someone at all. She was a bit different than the other women, whose goals were to find perfect husbands.
But then, she met Steve Rogers. He was this small guy—shorter than her even—who always tried to do the right thing, no matter what it takes. That's what turned him into Captain America. Sure, he did receive the Super Serum, but it wasn't for his kind heart, the soldier would have turned into something terrifying.
"This isn't the best time, but I have something to show you," Howard said, getting up from his chair.
That happened quite abruptly, pulling Peggy out from her memories.
"It is an invention of mine," Howard continued. "I've been working on it since the day Captain disappeared."
Howard never said he 'died.' Everyone just assumed he did. I mean, no normal person would survive the freezing temperature of the Arctic. But at the same time, Steve Rogers was no normal person.
"What is it?" Peggy asked, now more curious.
Without an answer, Howard walked further into his lab, stopping in front of a metal door. He motioned to Peggy for her to follow, and she did. She figured it must be an important invention, something he hasn't told public.
When Howard punched in the passcode for the door, it opened, and there was an elevator.
"Why do you have an elevator behind a door?" Peggy asked.
"Because, it's very important that no one knows about this except me," Howard answered.
"Then why are you showing this to me?"
"You deserve to know," Howard said.
They got into the elevator, and Howard punched in the passcode again. Then, he pressed the "B" button. The elevator started to go down.
"What does 'B' stand for?" Peggy asked.
"Basement," Howard answered with a shrug.
The elevator went down for several minutes then it stopped. When the doors opened, Peggy saw a huge machine standing in front of her.
"What is this?"
"This," Howard pointed to the machine. "is a time machine."
"TIME MACHINE? Are you out of your mind, Howard?' Peggy yelled at him.
"No, I am not. It's a prototype, but it works."
The time machine looked like a jet, almost like the one Captain put in the water 11 years ago. At first glance, it didn't look like a time machine at all, but as Peggy stepped inside the jet, she could tell it was special.
"Why does the time machine look like a jet?"
"You are asking too many questions, Peggy," Howard chuckled.
"Well, what do you expect, Howard? You created a damn time machine!"
"Guess that's fair. To answer your question, if somehow, someone broke into this place, he wouldn't know if this is the time machine. I know that wouldn't happen, but just in case."
Howard turned the machine on. It did make a loud sound, and Peggy freaked out once again.
"What are you doing, Howard?"
"I just wanted to turn it on. That's it. I never had a chance to do it before," Howard said, looking at Peggy.
But then, there was a loud explosion coming from the higher grounds.
"What was that?!"
"I don't know! Something happened up in the lab."
"Well, did you leave something unattended or something?"
Before Howard could answer, there was a loud burst, and a group of armed men came through it.
"Who the hell are they?!"
There were about 20 of them, and they all had the symbol on their left arm that Howard and Peggy knew well: a skull with six legs.
"HYDRA?!" Peggy yelled out. She couldn't believe they were still alive! She thought Steve took care of them once and for all.
"I thought they were all dead!" Howard shouted.
He quickly activated the time machine. He knew he had no choice. The men were coming toward them, and there was only one thing he can do at this moment.
"Howard! What are you doing?"
"Saving ourselves from getting killed!"
Without hesitation, Howard pressed the green button at the top of the control panel.
With a bright light and loud noise, time machine disappeared from the basement.
/
The time machine, or the jet, reappeared in some kind of basement, but this time, it looked more new, and had high technology all over it. As Peggy and Howard stepped out of the jet, they couldn't help but to be amazed by the technology the basement had.
"Wow…What is this place?" Peggy asked, looking around.
"I'm not sure…but what I know is we are in different time period and this might be the future," Howard said.
The technology and the room just looked so new and cool and this couldn't some time earlier than 1956. There was also a row of robots—it seemed—in the room.
"I hope we are not in a future HYDRA base," Peggy said.
.
Tony Stark was making a cup of coffee when JARVIS informed him something unnatural.
"Sir, there is an unknown presence in your basement."
"What happened?"
"All of a sudden, there was massive surge of energy, and some kind of machine appeared in your basement."
Tony blinked for a moment. What was this, Back To The Future? A machine can't just appear in a second. But then, he had A.I. that was intelligent enough to detect unnatural things around the Avengers Tower. Maybe, Tony thought, a machine appearing out of nowhere wasn't all that impossible.
"Call the rest of the team. I'm going down there right now."
"Yes, sir."
As Tony took the elevator down to the basement, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and Clint Barton joined.
"I got the call. Is there something wrong?" Steve asked, holding his shield in one hand.
"Not sure. JARVIS informed me that a machine suddenly appeared out of nowhere," Tony answered.
"A machine? In your basement?"
Steve gave Tony a shocked look and Tony rolled his eyes.
"Come on, you know more crazy things happened in my tower."
The elevator dinged. Four of them walked out, prepared for a battle if necessary.
.
"Peggy, what do we do now? Should we stay—"
Peggy cut Howard off and immediately pulled out her gun at the door.
"Hush, Howard. Someone's coming. I hear footsteps and I believe there are several of them."
Howard stopped talking. As the glass door opened, Peggy fired the gun without hesitation.
.
When the four Avengers walked into the basement, they heard a gunfire. Steve held up his shield, blocking the bullet. He looked up slowly, and his eyes grew wide. He couldn't believe his eyes. In front of him, there were two of his old friends: Agent Peggy Carter and Howard Stark.
"…Peggy? Howard?"
As soon as Peggy saw Captain America's shield, she dropped the gun. She hasn't seen that symbol for a long time. The shield had disappeared with its owner into the ice water. She never thought she would see the shield again. What shocked her more, however, was a voice. His voice. And there he was, looking shocked as she was. It was Steve Rogers, or Captain America, standing in front of her.
"Steve…?"
She called out his name, the name that she never thought would say aloud again.