When: Morning of Day 1.
Where: Room 23.
Status: Complete.
Rating: Low.
Peggy Carter liked to think that she had gone through enough unexpected situations that nothing would phase her, but that wasn't entirely accurate. It was one thing to find herself in the frigid cold of the middle of nowhere Russia during a war and another walking into a pool party of scantily-clad partygoers at Howard Stark's Los Angeles mansion, and it was another to open the bathroom door expecting to see the toilet and instead stumbling out, waking up dream like, onto the parking lot of a - unique-looking - motel. But she was good at adapting, good at sussing out a situation and figuring out what to do. So instead of panicking, as she was sure others might do, she strode forward in search of the motel's office. Surely someone there might offer some information about why she was here.
The first door she came to turned out to be a housekeeping closet, and she bypassed that one and continued along. The office, she thought, must be around the other side, but an open room door caught her attention and she leaned in past the 23 on the door. "Hello?" she called out, hopeful. Even if it was the housekeeping staff, she might be able to get some answers.
Wanda had stepped through the door not knowing what to expect, but wanting answers. She had not trusted that the so-called exit truly was one, and even if she had, she knew Steve and Bucky well enough to know they would never take an easy way out. She couldn’t imagine leaving them to this, so she had gone through the door to the next room, hoping she was right and that she hadn’t just made a huge mistake.
Room, it seemed, was a misnomer, because she found herself in a quaint little town in front of a motel. Honestly, she was just glad for the fresh air. The house had been large but still stifling somehow. She could also feel her power under her skin, something that had been missing in the days in the house. She felt the sudden urge to just use them, just to feel them again, but pushed that down. It wouldn’t be safe or responsible.
Instead, she explored, finding herself in one of the rooms of the motel. She made a mental note to look for Steve and Bucky soon, to make sure that they were alright. She was still worried about Bucky after whatever had happened with the mirror. Still she figured they would be stuck here a bit and it was best to find a place to settle first.
She heard a voice behind her and turned sharply, startled, only to relax slightly at the sight of a woman a little older than her. Probably someone she just hadn’t met at the house. “Hello,” she responded. “Are you alright?”
Peggy smiled in greeting. "Hello," she repeated. She straightened and stepped in through the door. "I'm sorry to barge in like this," she said, realizing that the young woman wasn't dressed like a housekeeper. "I'm looking for management. Or - perhaps you might be able to answer a few questions for me?"
Peggy didn't want to admit to being confused or to show any weakness, however she also didn't want to be kept completely ignorant about what she had, quite literally, stumbled into. "I'm Peggy," she continued, offering her hand.
Wanda returned the woman’s smile with one of her own, hoping the expression was reassuring. “You do not need to apologize,” she told her. “You did not barge in at all.” She began to wonder if perhaps the woman hadn’t been in the previous room. People had the choice to leave, after all. It was certainly possible that others were brought in as they left. It made sense in a way. Whoever or whatever was doing this - and she was fairly certain it wasn’t Steve at this point - probably wanted to be sure they had a reasonably sized group of captives.
“I’m Wanda,” she said, taking Peggy’s hand in her own. “It is nice to meet you. Unfortunately I do not know where management would be. You are here with no idea how you came to be, yes? It is much the same for many of us.”
Peggy shook her hand and smiled in relief at her greeting and words. Relief only because that meant this wasn't unique to her, not because of the situation, which was still concerning. "It is?" she asked. She nodded once and considered what that meant thoughtfully. "How many others are in the same situation? And is there any sense of why we've been brought here?"
Wanda considered the question. It was hard to say how many of them there were. There had not exactly been a headcount in the last room, and she did not know who had chosen to take the room’s offer to leave. Still, there were certainly a fair number of them. “Quite a few,” she said. “And many of us were somewhere before this. I do not know why we were brought here, but it seems we will be taken from place to place until we figure out why and who is behind this.”
She gave Peggy a small smile. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more than that,” she said apologetically, “but it’s all a bit confusing. When we left the last place we were given a choice between going back and moving forward, so I imagine you were brought here in place of someone who chose to leave.”
"And no one knows who is doing the bringing, or how?" It wasn't that Peggy had never seen surprising occurrences, though most of the time there was a logical explanation. She was certain there must be one in this case as well, and she would need to figure out what that was. Perhaps Wanda didn't know, but someone else might. "No need to apologize," she continued. "You've already given me more information than I had previously, and I'm glad for that, thank you."
She glanced over her shoulder back out of the room. "I don't suppose you know how to find a place to stay?"
“Not really,” Wanda said, not really wanting to explain that they had - however briefly - thought Steve might be the cause of this. That his desire to use the Infinity Stones to fix what had happened to Natasha and Tony could have caused this. She no longer believed it and she did not want a stranger judging her friend off something that was likely not even true. “The last place was a bit less...calm than this. We did not have much time to discuss it. We were there just about a week. Hopefully, if this place is as normal as it seems, we will be able to figure some things out.”
Peggy seemed nice enough, and Wanda knew what it was to be alone. Having friends, or at the very least people to rely on seemed to be important here. “This is a place to stay,” she pointed out. “And I believe it is where we are meant to be, for now. There is a second bed. You are welcome to it if you like.”
Peggy had questions about the last place, and the people who had been involved, but she realized she likely had a lot of time during which to ask them. "It seems quiet here, at least. I was in Los Angeles before this, which is, really, the complete opposite."
At Wanda's offer, Peggy's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh, if you don't mind, that would be lovely, thank you. I had planned on looking for other accommodations but -" The room was nice enough, and her interaction with Wanda didn't send up any red flags, and Peggy had learned a lot over the years how to determine who she could trust and who she couldn't. She had a feeling that she could trust this woman. "Thank you."
“It does seem quiet,” Wanda agreed. “Certainly more so than the last place. It was very...dark. There were ghosts and...it was not such a pleasant place. I am glad to be out of it.” She thought of Bucky and Steve. “Though I will need to find my friends soon. To make sure that they are alright. If they stayed.” Maybe they hadn’t.
“If I minded,” she assured Peggy, “I would not have offered. We are all stuck in this and we should help one another when we can. Besides, I do not really want to be by myself, and who knows who else might come along if you don’t take me up on the offer.” Not everyone who had been brought into this seemed quite so nice as Peggy did. Wanda liked to think she had good instincts about people and Peggy seemed like someone she could trust. “You’re welcome.”
She looked around the room. “I guess we should get settled and then we can take a look around,” she said. “See if there’s anyone you would know. Is there anyone you should be looking for?”
Ghosts were one of the things Peggy hadn't really encountered over the years, surprisingly. She was immediately thankful that she had emerged here and not earlier. This place felt better, though she supposed she ought to be prepared for anything, given Wanda's words about what she went through previously. "Very well, then," she said. "I'll take the bed closer to the bathroom, unless you have a preference." She thought she'd give Wanda the one by the window, which was usually a person's preference. "And perhaps we can leave and explore together. I'd be glad to meet anyone else who's around."
She thought about who she might want to see here. Daniel, certainly. Perhaps Howard, though she couldn't imagine him in this place at all. It might be amusing, however. "I wouldn't know who to look for," she admitted.
Even if Wanda had an objection, she wouldn’t have voiced it. She wasn’t one for confrontation over little things. She’d seen enough in her life to know that which of two beds she slept it did not really matter. That she had a bed at all was more than enough. To complain about something so small was not in her nature. But as it happened, she was perfectly content to sleep closer to the window. “That is fine to me,” she said with a nod. “And yes. I think exploring together would be good.”
She nodded her head as Peggy spoke. She knew how that felt. She hadn’t known who to look for when she had arrived in the first room. She wouldn’t have thought to look for Natasha or Tony before she saw them. Even now she wasn’t sure who would actually be around. “Well,” she said, “if you think of anyone, let me know and I will help you to see if they are here.”
"Thank you," Peggy said. "Why don't we find your friends and go from there?"