Chapter 8
She should have taken a quinjet.
Peggy had made the drive to Stark’s house before, up the narrow strip of road that snaked up the coast from Santa Monica to Malibu, hugging the cliffs and overlooking the sparkling expanse of the Pacific Ocean. If one didn’t have an urgent need to be anywhere, it was a lovely drive. Today, after Tony’s rather spectacular announcement, the line of cars winding its way around the curve of Santa Monica Bay was a hassle, and one that Peggy found she had no patience for. And sadly, because she had chosen to drive, she had no way around it either.
In frustration she dialed JARVIS once more.
“Miss Carter,” the cool and collected voice sounded through the loudspeakers of the SHIELD vehicle. “I have spoken with Miss Potts, and she is currently endeavoring to get Mr. Stark from the house, but they seem to have hit something of a snag.”
“Snag? What snag?”
“A Doctor Maya Hansen is at the door, she wished to speak with Mr. Stark.”
“A Doctor Maya…who is she and what did she want?”
“I am not sure I know what she wanted, but I do know that she is genetic biologist who works with Advanced Idea Mechanics, and that she has some past acquaintance with Mr. Stark, at least according to their mutual recollection. I am pulling up files on her for Mr. Stark as we speak. Would you like access?”
Peggy normally didn’t particularly like to pry into Stark’s work, and in fact JARVIS likely never would have let her, as by default it was programed to protect Stark's life and work first. It was a statement that the AI was offering now. “Yes,” she murmured without hesitation. “But we should perhaps tell Tony that you are doing that for me.”
“Of course,” the AI agreed, with perhaps a tinge of guilt. It was hard to say if a computer program felt emotions or not.
“Did Mr. Stark find out anything further on the bombing itself?”
“We were working on it before Miss Hansen’s arrival. There were three particular sites in the continental United States that he was interested in, as all three had displayed heat signatures as great as the one in Hollywood, but…”
The AI went silent mid sentence.
“Mr. Jarvis?” Peggy spared a glance to frown down at the phone in the consul. She may still be rather new to modern technology in the grand scheme of things, but even she was well aware how phone signal worked in modern telecommunication, and knew all too well that signals in Malibu could be dodgy at best. “Mr. Jarvis?”
The light of her phone was on, but the AI was not responding. The thought of that left her inexplicably terrified. JARVIS was its own independent entity, a computer intelligence housed in a bay of servers far removed from either of Stark’s homes and any of his offices. It was kept somewhere Stark hadn’t even told her about, precisely so it couldn’t be found and broken into. Too much of Stark’s life, from his home, to his company, to the suits he wore, were tied to the intelligence. Even Peggy’s home was tied to it. She, a woman who had grown up in a time when the idea of “robots” was a thing for cinema and pulp science fiction, now relied on a computerized intelligence that was created by a regular - if mad genius - human being. And now the idea that something had happened to it, that some terrorist who could sneak into media satellites and broadcast videos into live feeds had somehow found JARVIS left her unsettled and worried.
“Mr. Jarvis,” she found herself asking, feeling small and somewhat panicked. “Mr. Jarvis?”
For several long, breathless moments, there was silence, then a crackle. Finally, its voice returned, sounding both concerned and urgent. “Miss Carter, Mr. Stark’s home is under attack.”
That…had not been what she was expecting. “I’m sorry…what?”
“There is an attack coming from several helicopters over the ocean masquerading as being a part of the local news. A ballistic missile was launched into the front living area, and a strategic missile attack is compromising the structural integrity of the house. Mr. Stark has gotten Miss Potts and Doctor Hansen out, but I fear he doesn’t have much time to get out of the house himself.”
On instinct, Peggy looked to the far distant point, just where the bay ended and the coastline curved back in its northern trajectory once more. She was too far away to see anything of note, certainly not a missile attack.
“Mother of…how far out am I?”
“Given current traffic conditions, you may not be there for another hour, more once emergency personnel arrive. I’ve already sent for them.”
“Damn it,” she cursed. “What about SHIELD? Military personnel?”
“The Coast Guard and National Guard have been informed, given that this is a direct attack, and I’ve alerted Mr. Rhodes, but he is in Asia at the moment.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask the AI to contact Cassandra, but she could see her phone calls already lighting up, trying to get through. “I will need to call the team in, Mr. Jarvis.”
Whether the AI heard or understood, she didn’t know, as he rather frantically said “I’m afraid I need to focus my processing on Mr. Stark’s predicament, Miss Carter. I will give you updates when I am able.”
With that, the call with JARVIS ended. Peggy stabbed at her phone to take Cassandra’s call.
“Peggy, Stark’s house…”
“I know,” she barked, half angry at Stark for daring a terrorist, half in fear for his life. “JARVIS said it was a missile strike. What do you have for me?”
“That’s what it appeared to be on television. Three military style attack helicopters dressed up to look like local news crews, coming up to the house from the south and attacking over the water. It was all caught on the news, as the local channels kept rolling.”
The idea that Stark’s potential death could be caught on live camera for the world to see left her feeling sick. “No warning, they just fired?”
“That was precisely what happened. I was watching the feed as it happened. The minute I saw the first missile fire, I made the calls.”
Thank God for Cassandra. “What do we have?”
“Thor is on it. He will meet me at the tower. Bruce is already there, holding down the fort. Steve and Romanoff are harder to pull in, I had to put a call into Fury’s office to request that they be pulled off whatever op they were on as soon as possible and recalled. I got no promises, but they said they would let me know. In the meantime, I’m heading over to the tower. What do you want us doing?”
“For now, keep monitoring the situation. I am blind here, and I’m stuck in traffic between here and there.”
“Traffic? I’ve been to LA once and even I know you should have taken the quinjet.”
“I know,” Peggy snapped, irritably. “I didn’t think about it.”
“Is it a SHIELD vehicle with sirens?”
Peggy glanced behind her, uncertain. “I don’t think so.”
“Was worth a shot,” Cassandra offered, apologetically.
“Do you still have eyes on Stark’s house.”
“Yeah,” she replied, silent for long moments, before losing a sharp gasp. “Shit!”
“Cassandra?”
“Oh my God!” Her voice was breathy with shock and disbelief.
Peggy’s knuckles whitened as they gripped the steering wheel in panic. “Cassandra!”
“His house,” she choked in a whisper. “Stark…Peggy, his house is gone.”
Thank God she was stopped in traffic. Her heart stopped and bile rose to her throat. It took her long seconds to find a word or a thought. “What do you mean?”
“Like…half of his house fell into the ocean…like…all of the living area, the patio and pool, all of it. Everywhere where we were sitting just a few days ago, it’s gone.”
It all sounded unreal to Peggy’s ears. “That…that can’t be possible.”
“I just saw it happen!”
She should stop, pull over, and catch her breath, but…it would delay her further getting to the scene. She had seen worse, had lived through worse; bombings in London, in Europe, cities ravaged by the Nazis and HYDRA, even watched the Roxxon factory implore into nothingness. She could pull this together, she always could, stiff upper lip and all.
“Peggy?” Cassandra’s voice was worried on the other end of the line.
“Did Stark get out?” It was all Peggy could think about at the moment.
“I don’t…I don’t know, I didn’t see. I didn’t see him flying around.”
It didn’t mean he didn’t get out. “JARVIS said Pepper and one other got out of the house earlier. All we can do is hope that Stark got out and no one noticed.”
“If he did, it was super secret. He took out three of the helicopters, but a fourth was still there. They turned away. There are news choppers in pursuit, but they are no match for that thing.
The quinjet could have managed, Peggy thought darkly, regretting not bringing it once more.
“What do you want me to do?”
Peggy shook herself. “Stick to the plan. Get to the tower, meet with Thor and Banner. Have SHIELD put in calls and get what they can on this helicopter, if anything, who does it belong to. Any information on that, you forward to Sharon. Meanwhile, let me get to the site and Pepper.”
“You got it, Peggy.” She hesitated a long moment. “I know you two have become friends. I hope he’s all right.”
“Me too,” Peggy murmured, a horrible feeling writhing within her. Why did he have to say anything? Why did he have to shoot his mouth off? So much like his father, never stopping to think or use the common sense that a man of his genius should have been blessed with and rarely ever was. His blasted temper and bravado might have just gotten him killed.
No…not killed…he wasn’t dead. Peggy wasn’t about to think like that. If Steve didn’t die in the frozen Arctic waters of Northern Canada, then Stark wasn’t going to die in Santa Monica Bay.
That was the thought she clung to as she crept her way around Santa Monica Bay and through Malibu. The closer she got around the curve, the more visible the destruction became. It wasn’t as devastating, at least not from this distance, as the bombing in Hollywood. Thin trails of smoke writhed into the air. Helicopters still hovered, though now, Peggy surmised, there were probably law enforcement and Coast Guard aircraft over the area. Every so often, sirens blared and ran past traffic along the narrow shoulders of the road and anywhere else they could work their vehicles through.
Two hours later, she made the turn off towards Malibu Point. The road itself was blocked off, predictably, by California Highway Patrol, though clearly that didn’t stop scores of news vans from parking on either side of the already narrow highway. Peggy turned into the lane and up to the blockade, her badge at the ready.
“I need to get up there,” she demanded to the officer, her window already down.
He was a young man, fresh faced, with a name tag that read “Jacinto” on it. He blinked first at it, then at her, uncertainty on his face. “I’m sorry, man, but we are only letting…”
“Do you know who Tony Stark is?”
He nodded. “Err, yes ma’am, but…”
“He is an Avenger, I am his boss, and that is one of my team member’s homes. Beyond the damage done, are you aware of the many suits and the armory he kept there?”
The young man’s warm brown skin blanched several shades. “Errr…are they dangerous?”
“Possibly, and Mr. Stark has developed weapons for decades. Do you think anyone working emergency on that house would have the slightest idea of what they were looking at if a weapon was staring them in the face?”
“No,” he drawled, shaking his head and allowing her to pass without any further comment.
Peggy made her way up the winding drive, her heart in her throat. The Stark property wasn’t the only one on the long stretch of road, as several other grand as well as more modest properties dotted the way, but his was the last one, right on the tip of what was Point Dume, a rather unfortunate sounding name now, given the circumstances. Peggy made her way through other cars and emergency vehicles, as here and there she saw neighbors in their front yard watching with vague horror and interest.
Stark’s property was filled with all manner of emergency crews, lights flashing, choking her ability to get to the house proper. Eventually, she simply found a place to park where she wouldn’t be terribly in the way, grabbing her phone and climbing out to make her way to where the front drive should be. That was still there, cut off by various cars, as was the entire front part of the house. The back half was…
Peggy swallowed, blinking hard. She had to find Pepper in all of this.
“Excuse me! Eh!” Someone in yellow emergency gear barked at her, gaining Peggy’s attention. “Emergency personnel only!”
Peggy numbly held up her badge. “I head up the Avengers, this was an attack on my team. Where is Pepper Potts?”
Whatever the man was expecting, it wasn’t that. He frowned at her badge, then at her, waving a hand towards the far side of the driveway where an ambulance sat. “Getting checked out.”
“Thank you,” Peggy muttered, but her feet were already moving across the bricks to where Pepper sat with another young woman, sitting in silent shock. “Pepper?”
The shaken and beleaguered woman looked up then, her quietly stunned expression shifting between surprise, relief, and sorrow all at once. “Peggy! I tried to get him out, I did!”
“Shhh,” Peggy hissed, wrapping the blonde haired woman in a fierce embrace, as Pepper broke into tears. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“No,” she choked, snuffling as she pulled away, wiping at streaming eyes. “He…his new suit, he got it on me when the explosion happened. I was fine, but Maya…”
She waved back to the other woman who sat in the back of the ambulance, looking woozy and worse for wear. Her forehead was deeply scratched and bloodied, as were her knees, and her thick, knit jacket and skirt were covered in what looked to be dust. But she was alert with the ice pack to her forehead, waving rather forlornly. “I will survive.”
For that, at least, Peggy was grateful. “And Tony?”
Pepper’s mouth wobbled as fresh tears streaked down her face. All she managed to do was shake her head.
“Don’t give up hope yet,” Peggy murmured, gently, taking Pepper’s hand and squeezing it tightly. “He’s got his suits, he’s a genius, and he’s survived this far.”
She nodded, but didn’t look as if she quite believed Peggy’s words.
“Hey,” Peggy tugged her hand gently. “If my soldier could survive seventy years frozen in a glacier in Canada, Tony will survive too.”
“How can you be certain?”
Peggy wasn’t, if she were honest. All she knew was that once upon a time, Scott Lang told her an alien named Thanos would invade and Tony Stark was there for that. She had to hold onto that.
“Tony is too brilliant to let some terrorist attack kill him.” It wasn’t a good answer, but it was what Peggy had. “Wherever he is, we will have to wait till he gets a hold of us.”
Pepper wiped at her streaming eyes with the back of her hand. “I just…they attacked our home!”
“I know,” Peggy soothed, unsure of what else she could say. She didn’t want to bring up how Tony had invited this Mandarin to do so, not at this moment. Right now she was grappling with just how unsafe everything in her life was. “There is literally every agency we could think of on this at the moment. I’ve called the team in. Perhaps, if Tony is smart, he will go to the tower and we can regroup there.”
“He was in his lab before all of this,” Pepper hiccuped. “He…he was so upset after seeing Happy. He was trying to figure out what happened in the bomb blast.”
“Well, maybe he has something and will take it to everyone. Bruce is at the tower now, maybe they are working on it.” Peggy didn’t mention that if Tony was already at Stark Tower, they would have let her know by now. “Chin up, Pepper. We will know something when we do.”
It was the sort of practical mindset that all of her generation had learned during the war. Honestly, she didn’t think one made it through the war in Britain without learning it, but it seemed to calm Pepper down, as she nodded, reaching for a tissue being held by the mysterious Maya Hansen, pulling away to discreetly wipe her eyes and blow her nose. Peggy turned her attention to the new woman. “And who are you again?”
“Doctor Maya Hansen,” she held out her right hand to shake Peggy’s, as her left continued to hold up the ice pack to her wounded head. “I...err, was caught here when the bomb went off.”
“You were here to see Stark?”
“Yeah,” she murmured, woozy eyes flickering between Peggy and Pepper. “You are…”
“Peggy Carter, I head up the Avengers for SHIELD.”
“Ahh,” she vocalized, attempting to nod, then winced, painfully.
Peggy wasn’t totally without sympathy. “How badly are you injured?”
“Mmm, the cut isn’t horrible. They don’t think it needs stitches. The concussion is the tricky thing.”
“It’s mild,” Pepper cut in, helpfully. “Thankfully, she was just tossed to the side of the blast. It took out the center of the house. The Giacometti is gone, though.”
It took Peggy a long moment to remember that was the statue that had stood by the staircase. Steve had gravitated to it, and he and Pepper had spent over an hour discussing the artwork she had collected and placed in the house. The idea that it had only been days ago seemed so unreal. She turned her attention back to the injured woman at hand. “Why were here to see Stark?”
Maya took a deep breath, gathering scattered thoughts. “I was already heading out here before he made his announcement, I guess. I was in town with my boss, and…well, long story short, I think I found out something about the company I work for and the Mandarin, and I had to tell someone, and Stark has a history with my boss…and he’s an Avenger, so I thought he would be safe to tell.”
Her long spill of words stopped, leaving both Peggy and Pepper blinking at her in mild confusion.
“That didn’t make a ton of sense, did it,” Maya asked, sheepishly.
“I know you work for Advanced Idea Mechanics,” Peggy supplied, hoping to bring order to the explanation. She brushed off the other woman’s surprise. “I had JARVIS run a profile on you on my way over here, at least till he got preoccupied by the house.”
“Advanced Idea Mechanics?” Pepper frowned, white as a sheet. “You work for Killian?”
Maya lifted her chin by way of the smallest affirmation, clearly not eager to move her head. “Aldrich Killian is the man funding my research. I’ve suspected for a while, but given the timing of us being in town and the Hollywood bombing, I put the pieces together. I knew he’d been to see you, and so I thought if I warned Stark, he could do something about it. I didn’t know he was going to taunt the beast.”
“But…why?” Pepper was too aghast at the idea to comprehend it. Frankly, Peggy was too confused. Who was this man and why would he be involved?
“It’s a long story,” Maya side, looking to Peggy. “But before I talk, I need protection. If Killian knows it is me who went to the Avengers, he will stop at nothing to kill me.”
“You will have it,” she said, without hesitation. “If you are willing to not only cooperate with my team, but with SHIELD authorities.”
Maya hesitated only a second. “Sure! I mean, it’s not like I haven’t burnt all my career bridges anyway.”
“Right,” Peggy looked to Pepper. “I will need to have some conversations with the authorities here and then put a call into Sharon. Doctor Hansen, you will be coming with me to SHIELD headquarters for the time being as soon as I am done.”
“Okay,” the woman replied, quietly, seemingly content to sit there and perhaps waiting for the pain she was obviously in to subside somewhat.
“Pepper…”
“I am staying,” she said, firmly. “You can take Maya and go, but I’m staying until we find out what happened to Tony.”
Peggy could see she wasn’t going to be swayed. “Fine, but if anything happens or if you need me, you call me. I’ll steal a quinjet if I have to.”
Pepper nodded, reaching out to hug Peggy once again. “Thank you, I’ll let you know where I end up tonight.”
Peggy held her tightly for a long moment. “It will be okay.”
At least, she silently sent up into the universe, she hoped it would be okay.