Peggy Carter (aspeggysays) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2019-02-03 14:04:00 |
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Her new year's resolution, if Peggy were to admit having any, was to get to know better some of the other people from her world, specifically those who worked for SHIELD or with Steve in his future. She didn't have any direction of how to start with this, so she went with the first person she could think of and asked Natasha Romanoff if she wanted to get a beer (or her drink of choice) one night.
They met at the Dive because Peggy wasn't looking for anything fancy. She ordered something that sounded vaguely familiar but once she tasted it, wasn't sure if she'd had it before or not. She wiped her mouth with the side of her hand and smiled at Natasha. "So, I imagine you have a lot of interesting stories to tell, hmn?" Natasha had heard about Peggy Carter ever since she had joined SHIELD. The woman was a legend after all and she knew how much she had meant to Steve. Peggy had been before but had never stayed very long and Natasha hoped that was about to change, not only because she knew it would make Steve happy but also because she wanted to actually get to know her. “I’ve got plenty of stories, I don’t know how interesting they are,” she laughed and took a sip of her beer. “I think yours are probably a lot more interesting than mine. It’s hard enough for me sometimes being a woman in what’s usually considered a man’s profession. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.” She wrapped her hands around her glass, the condensation cool and wet. "Oh I don't know. I'm on a steep learning curve here in this - century, world, whatever we ought to call it. I'm very interested in hearing about your and your story." “I’ve never been sure what to call this place either,” she admitted. “Those of us from Earth tend to go by our calendar and I think everyone else has kind of followed suit. As for the century, who knows? It took me a while to actually accept that wherever we are, it’s not Earth. The stars aren’t the same.” Natasha took a sip of her drink and tried to think exactly what to tell Peggy. There was a lot to tell but she chose the simplest version. “I was born in Russia. I don’t remember my family aside from my mother reading me fairy tales,” she gave a little smile. “The KGB took me when I was young and trained me in a program they called The Black Widows. We were all young girls, teenagers when we finished. Trained assassins, human weapons. I’m not proud of it but I didn’t have a choice, they would have killed me and my family wherever they were.” They had never been told that the people in charge knew where their families were but she had always assumed it. The KGB would need some leverage if someone decided to go rogue. “Eventually I ended up on SHIELD’s list, they sent one of their best after me, Clint Barton. He saw something in me and he took me in, didn’t kill me like he was supposed to. Between him, Phil Coulson and Nick Fury, they convinced SHiELD to train me and I defected, eventually became an American citizen. I’m not proud of the things that I did but i’m trying to make things right.” A prickle set up at the back of Peggy's neck, not a bad one, per se, but one nonetheless. How familiar to what she knew about Dottie Underwood. She didn't want to judge Natasha the same way she would judge Dottie. But it was hard not to at least inwardly wince about it, though she covered it with another sip of her beer. "I think it's good that you fell into SHIELD then," she said, "and found a way out of all of that. Eventually." “Me too. I’ve always been grateful that they saw something in me and I got out of that life.” she was an experienced enough spy that she could tell something about what she’d said had caused a reaction in Peggy. From what she knew about history, Peggy could very well have come from a time when Russians were considered the enemy. "Everyone deserves a second chance," Peggy said sincerely, because she really did believe that. "And I guess even more than that, seeing as we all ended up here. More chances here than anywhere else." Natasha nodded. “That’s so true. There are a number of people here who were taken from the moment of their deaths and now they have a whole new life. They’re helping in an important fight and they get a second chance. It’s really amazing.” She couldn’t help but think of Cassian whom she worked closely with and how because of Atlantis he got a second chance and was about to be married in a few weeks and begin a new life. “I’m happy here. Not as exciting as working for SHIELD maybe but we’re doing good things.” "I was trying to figure that out," Peggy said, picking up the thread that Natasha was laying down, "and while there's obviously no rhyme or reason to it, there does seem to be a large faction of people taken from that moment in their lives and brought here, as a saving situation. Makes a person wonder about second chances and why those of us not brought from our deaths are here." She had often wondered the same things. “I think in some cases it might not be that we were about to lose our lives but maybe there was something not so pleasant coming and this was a way of escaping that. The most popular theory is that whoever the Atlantians are, they’ve been watching us and they chose people with certain skills to fight COS. Which explains why a lot of the people who were brought here have military or espionage backgrounds. And magic. There are a great number of magic users here.” Peggy nodded. "Yes, I've noticed that too," she said. She wasn't certain she had anything not-so-pleasant coming up in her life - in her other life - but she also hadn't really been asking around so much about her own future. She could figure out enough of it, at least, from casual conversation and seeing the other people from her universe. But she also didn't think it mattered too much, since she was here, not there. "I suppose the two of us are similar in that way, with espionage training." Natasha nodded. “Yeah, we are. It must been really different for you, with not very many women in the field. I’ve always admired you for what you did. You paved the way for the rest of us. I’d always wished I could meet you although I felt like I knew you from Steve. I’m glad to have the chance.” She wasn’t someone who gushed over things or people but Peggy was a personal hero of hers even though Nat hadn’t started out on the right side. Of course there were people who didn’t thing SHIELD was the right side ether but she wasn’t bothered by that. It wasn't much different than other things that Peggy had heard since arriving, but it felt different, as though she had to work a little harder to hear that from someone like Natasha. "I'm glad to have the chance, too. I'm sure we can learn a lot from each other." “I think we can. I’ve learned a lot from some of the people I’ve met here. There are all kinds, even people who lived in space before they came here, from other galaxies. It’s a little hard to get used to at first but it’s really fascinating.” "Like something out of a science-fiction novel," Peggy murmured. "Though I suppose being here and all of its futuristic technologies and such, that's science-fiction enough for me." “Yeah, I’d say so,” Natasha smiled. “For what’s it worth, I’m really glad you’re here. We need people from all over time. Things that you’ve seen in the past, stuff that you worked on. I hope we get the chance to work together.” Peggy smiled. "I appreciate hearing that. I hope we get the chance to work together, too." |