we'd hold on tight for our lives to each other

[pursuitofcappiness]

Who Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Peggy Carter, Phil Coulson, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark (somehow these ended up both alphabetical by first AND last name wtf)
What Synergyyyyyyy, shitting on Deborah's desk... j/k, they're just having a little get-together.
Where Somewhere inside, by the cornucopia
When Sometime week 1
Warnings/Notes None I can think of.

Steve takes a good look around before going into the room and shutting the door behind him, grabbing a piece of furniture and handing one to Peggy as well, in case they need it for defense. His plan? Wait for the others to arrive, hope no one crashes the party.

He makes sure to stand in front, in case there's a miscommunication. Yeah, not a solid plan, but it'll be better once everyone arrives.

Comments

[pursuitofcappiness]

Steve decides to keep his weapon on the defensive instead of offensive. Guy fights with a shield, so... But anyway, he's on high adrenaline and overly-cautious. "I know, but we needed for everyone to get together. We need a plan, because we didn't last time and it ended up in three of us dying at once."

[onthedot]

"This could end with us all dying at once." Peggy leans against a dilapidated glass counter and taps her fingers against the underside of the rim. "I'm not saying we don't need a plan, but if we stay here too long and someone has an actual weapon and the desire to win. How many would be out of their way from a well placed shot?"

She wasn't entirely sure how many were coming, or entirely what to expect beyond what little Steve had felt was his place to share as they made their way here, but depowered and weaponless in one contained location seemed...unreasonably risky to her.

She had been taken out of an active war zone. Offense wasn't the only thing on her mind, even if she was the one holding the only real weapon between them.

[pursuitofcappiness]

"It could, and then we'd all end up back at the Capitol together." He frowns. "You haven't even seen it, have you?" he asks, and he decides there's no way in hell he's letting her die first out of the two of them. She'd hate it, all the wastefulness. It's the same way he hates it, but he wasn't alone when he was dumped in.

[onthedot]

"The Capitol? On the outside? No." Peggy shakes her head and eases closer to his side. It isn't hard to imagine. The excess of the people simply 'cleaning' her was enough to make her teeth hurt. "I'm not exactly looking forward to it if this is what they produce."

[pursuitofcappiness]

"It's worse," he claims. "This is entertainment for them. We're just... playthings. They've got just about all the money in the world, and then... I guess this is what they wanted to do with it." But he says this quietly, against her ear. "They record every second we're here. They... play it back for everyone, like re-releases at the movie theater. Especially the deaths."

[onthedot]

"There must be a deeper purpose than entertainment." It was a question of what. Something this elaborate and well thought out didn't just happen. Not with a government sanctioning it. "Even gladiator fights served a higher purpose beyond the willful entertainment of the people."

[pursuitofcappiness]

"They told me it was for something else," he says. "But I don't believe it." He frowns, because he'd heard it as a rumor and he'd accepted it but only because at the time, he wanted to believe anything but the reality of playing for entertainment.

[onthedot]

"And we have no way of knowing in here." She frowned. It was frustrating. There were too many unknowns here to ever be less than on edge. "Do we know who we're waiting for?"

[pursuitofcappiness]

"Hopefully Bruce, Tony, Clint and anyone who showed up like you did, just now."

A pause.

"Tony is Howard's son." Hopefully Peggy's imagining a baby, because uh, this is going to go over well.

[onthedot]

"Howard had a son?" Someone managed to tether Howard Stark long enough to raise a child? Peggy didn't doubt Steve knew what he was talking about, but it was incredibly hard to imagine Howard marrying, let alone having a child and raising it.

[pursuitofcappiness]

"A couple of the others had kids, too," he replies, smiling like he's proud of them. "But I hadn't met any of them. Hadn't had the chance."

[onthedot]

"Yes, but they I would have expected it from."

Which begged the question. "Did he marry as well?"

What else did they have to talk about while waiting? Everything else was far too depressing. This was simple by comparison.

[pursuitofcappiness]

"Howard? Yeah, married a woman named Maria. They both died in '91, I think," he says, because he only saw it briefly off of Tony's paper. "December 17th, real close to Christmas." He sounds a little sad about it. "I never... asked Tony about him. And I... I wanted to call you. I wanted to fly out, see you in person. But I didn't know if I could just... drop into your life, like that."

[onthedot]

"Steve, I'd be in my nineties." God that was a harrowing thought.
"I wouldn't have minded seeing you."

She didn't know what to say about Howard. She truly didn't.

[pursuitofcappiness]

"I couldn't call," he confesses. "I didn't think I'd be able to hear your voice," he says. Not without breaking down, not without thinking how unfair it is from hearing the age in it.