"To be honest..."
Evenson sat across from the bound woman, fingers laced together beneath his nose.
"You were never part of my plan."
His gaze remained fixed on her.
"So tell me, Ms. Dottie Underwood..."
"What exactly am I supposed to do with you?"
Rather than answer, Dottie smiled.
"You’ve heard of me?"
Her tone was smooth, effortlessly buying time by steering the conversation elsewhere.
"I’m flattered."
"I have."
Evenson didn’t mind the diversion. Sarah still needed time to complete Peggy’s ritual, and there was no harm in talking.
"You’re... reasonably well known."
He chuckled.
"Actually, if I hadn’t studied Peggy Carter’s history, your name probably wouldn’t have meant much to me."
Dottie rolled her eyes dramatically.
"I knew it."
"I’m nowhere near as famous as my successor."
She shrugged.
"Though, for people in our profession, fame usually means something has gone terribly wrong."
"Fair point."
Evenson nodded.
"Natasha Romanoff has become famous enough that she’s barely a secret agent anymore."
He leaned forward.
"But Natasha earned that reputation because she succeeds."
"You..."
He smiled.
"I’m honestly struggling to remember one operation that ended well."
"Hypnotized."
"Knocked unconscious."
"Captured."
"Repeat."
He tilted his head.
"Tell me."
"Did any of your missions actually succeed?"
"Maybe you were simply better suited to running the Red Room than serving as a field operative."
"The girls under your supervision certainly suffered enough."
"Perhaps."
Dottie answered with a graceful smile that neither confirmed nor denied the criticism.
While they spoke, Evenson noticed something peculiar.
From the moment he’d sat down, Dottie had been trying to seduce him with every glance and every smile.
Yet every few seconds...
Her eyes drifted past him.
Toward Peggy.
There was anxiety hidden beneath the flirtation.
"You’re worried about her."
It wasn’t a question.
"Peggy told me that after she retired, you moved into the apartment across the street."
"You’d stop by like an ordinary neighbor."
"And every now and then..."
"You quietly dealt with people who came looking to settle old scores."
Dottie answered with nothing more than a dignified, almost enchanting smile.
It was as good as a confession.
"So that’s why you approached us today."
Evenson folded his arms.
"You weren’t trying to kill me."
"You simply wanted to find out whether taking Peggy away meant her harm."
"Our line of work isn’t exactly safe."
For the first time, Dottie stopped pretending otherwise.
She looked openly toward Peggy’s unconscious form.
"Retirement doesn’t erase old enemies."
"Peggy made plenty during her career."
"Some petty people spend decades nursing grudges."
"They wait until age catches up..."
"...then come looking for revenge."
"I understand that."
Evenson spread his hands.
"What I don’t understand is why you’re protecting her."
"As far as I know, she defeated you more than once."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Stockholm syndrome?"
Dottie laughed softly.
"We both retired."
"The war ended."
"The missions stopped."
"So did the reasons for hating each other."
She looked almost nostalgic.
"When duty disappeared..."
"We realized we understood one another better than anyone else."
"Is that really all?"
Evenson’s eyes narrowed.
"I don’t think so."
He stared directly into hers.
"I think you’re a spy whose country abandoned her."
"An assassin who lost the only purpose she’d ever known."
His voice remained calm.
"You endured unimaginable training."
"The day you graduated, you ceased to exist as a person."
"No past."
"No future."
"No identity."
"Only missions."
"Then the nation you served disappeared."
"No orders."
"No purpose."
"No reason to wake up each morning."
He paused.
"And the genetic enhancements that preserved your youth..."
"...became the cruelest curse imaginable."
"Because they guaranteed you’d spend an unnaturally long life with nothing to live for."
Silence.
"The only way to escape becoming a walking corpse..."
"...was to find something new worth living for."
He leaned forward until only inches separated them.
"And that became Peggy Carter."
"The woman who defeated you."
"The woman who kept letting you live."
"You’ve built your entire life around her."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"She isn’t merely important to you."
"She’s your only reason for existing."
Dottie’s seductive smile disappeared.
First came calm acceptance.
Then...
Pain.
"You’re right."
Her voice had become almost inaudible.
"Peggy means everything to me."
"I used to dream about becoming someone like her."
"Walking the way she walked."
"Speaking the way she spoke."
She smiled bitterly.
"My missions kept failing."
"My country abandoned me."
"The cruelest joke..."
She shook her head.
"I’m still alive."
"But the country I gave my life to no longer exists."
She looked toward Peggy.
"When I finally looked back on my life..."
"I realized every important moment involved her."
"She ruined my plans."
"Captured me."
"Released me."
"Captured me again."
She laughed quietly.
"My whole life feels as though it existed only to make her shine."
"That must have been unbearable."
Evenson’s voice carried genuine sympathy.
"No."
Dottie lifted her head.
The sorrow vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Spy training ran deep.
"Once I understood that..."
"Everything became simple."
"If fate insists on tying my life to hers..."
"Why fight it?"
"I’ll stay with her until the very end."
Evenson could only stare.
That... is an alarmingly unhealthy level of emotional attachment.
Then Dottie smiled again.
This time there was nothing seductive about it.
Only happiness.
"I’m her only one now."
"SHIELD doesn’t need her anymore."
"Her old friends are gone."
"I’m the only person left."
"I’m the one who’ll stay beside her until the end."
"I hate to ruin the moment."
Evenson’s smile suggested he didn’t hate it at all.
"But after tonight..."
"You may not be nearly as important."
Dottie frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you think we’re doing here?"
He pointed toward Peggy.
"I’m restoring her youth."
"In a few hours..."
"She’ll look exactly as she did when the two of you first met."
Dottie blinked.
"Then..."
"Thank you."
"That just means she’ll stay with me longer."
The flirtatious mask returned.
Evenson grinned.
"There’s one detail you don’t know."
"Steve Rogers never died."
"SHIELD pulled him out of the ice not long ago."
"Once Peggy is young again..."
"They’ll probably pick up where they left off."
He shrugged.
"If they get married, maybe you’ll even receive an invitation."
The smile vanished from Dottie’s face.
"He wouldn’t dare."
The fury in her voice was immediate.
"He abandoned her for over sixty years!"
"When she was grieving..."
"I was there."
"When she was lonely..."
"I stayed."
"When everyone else left..."
"I remained!"
She threw herself violently against the ropes.
Sarah’s craftsmanship proved flawless.
The only result of Dottie’s struggle was making the restraints creak while Evenson quietly appreciated just how impossible they were to escape.
"He doesn’t get to come back without warning..."
"...and steal Peggy away from me!"
"She’s all I have!"
"She’s my whole world!"
With a casual wave of his hand, Evenson drained the strength from her body.
She slumped back into the chair, breathing hard.
"Relax."
"It gets worse."
He spoke almost conversationally.
"Peggy won’t just be young again."
"She’ll become powerful."
"Strong enough to fight beside Captain America."
"SHIELD will welcome her back."
"She may even return to its leadership."
"The world will know her as a hero again."
He gently brushed a lock of blonde hair away from Dottie’s face.
"When that happens..."
"Do you think she’ll still spend every day with you?"
"Will she still remember the little stray cat that only came to her whenever it was wounded?"
He smiled.
"You may not even get that wedding invitation."
Panic consumed Dottie.
The composure forged through years of brutal spy training shattered completely.
She had survived torture.
Interrogation.
Abandonment.
But the thought of losing the only meaning left in her life...
That broke her.
"What do I do?"
Her voice trembled.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Evenson smiled like a patient teacher.
"I might have a suggestion."
He let the silence linger.
"There may be a way..."
"...to ensure Peggy continues to need you."
His grin widened.
"I might even be able to make you..."
He pretended to search for the proper term.
"...the third wheel in Captain America and Peggy Carter’s love story."
...
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