Chapter 539

"This is the place. Let’s hope we’re not too late."

The two people stepping out of the taxi were Captain America and Peggy Carter.

They hadn’t found anything particularly useful at Tony’s house, so Peggy had decided to contact Pepper and get the full story directly from her.

Peggy had already decided Pepper was going to be her future niece-in-law, so she’d saved Pepper’s phone number long ago. Every now and then, she’d call just to ask how things were progressing between her and Tony, when they planned to get married, when they intended to have children...

Normal questions from a woman who had apparently appointed herself Tony’s relationship manager.

This time, Peggy had arranged to meet Pepper at the hotel where she was staying.

She and Steve had rushed there by taxi.

When they stepped onto the sidewalk, the hotel appeared perfectly peaceful. No explosions. No gunfire. No screaming.

Peggy relaxed slightly.

Then a furious voice came from behind them.

"Hey! What are you two doing standing around?"

Steve and Peggy turned.

Their taxi driver had stuck his head out the window.

"What, you think a taxi ride is free?!"

Peggy gave Steve a little nudge.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Steve walked back to the cab, checked the meter, and handed over a handful of bills and coins.

"Here you go."

The driver stuffed the money into his pocket.

Steve waited.

Then frowned.

"You’re supposed to give me thirty cents back."

"Fuel prices gone up and you don’t know it?" the driver barked. "And I’ve been sitting here waiting for you two forever!"

He snorted, slammed the accelerator, and disappeared down the street.

Steve stood there in stunned silence as the taxi turned a corner.

Seriously?

After everything he’d survived, this was how he was going to die?

He almost wished the Chitauri invasion had taken that driver with them.

With that bizarre little encounter behind them, Steve and Peggy entered the hotel.

They had barely reached the second floor when Peggy suddenly stopped.

"Something’s wrong."

She sprinted down the hallway.

Steve followed.

They reached Pepper’s room.

The door wasn’t locked.

It stood slightly ajar.

Peggy pushed it open.

A hotel employee lay sprawled across the floor, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle.

Peggy’s eyes swept across the room.

"There’s no one here."

Steve stepped inside.

The overturned sofa caught his attention.

"There was a fight."

He crouched and touched a coffee cup sitting on the table.

Still warm.

"They haven’t been gone long."

"Son of a bitch," Peggy muttered.

Someone had bombed Tony’s home and kidnapped the woman Peggy had already mentally adopted as her future niece-in-law.

That was a level of hostility Peggy was going to remember.

Pepper was gone, but there was no body.

That meant she was alive.

At least for now.

Peggy and Steve immediately hurried to the front desk and demanded access to the hotel’s security footage.

The manager listened politely before shaking his head.

"I’m terribly sorry, but unless you’re police officers with a search warrant approved by a judge, I can’t release a guest’s private information."

Steve stared at him.

"I don’t have a warrant."

He pulled his shield from his back and placed it firmly on the counter.

"But I have this. Does that count?"

The manager looked down at the shield.

Then back at Steve.

"No."

Steve inhaled sharply.

What did a man have to do around here?

He was Captain America.

Did that name mean absolutely nothing anymore?

The manager glanced at the shield again, then gave an awkward little smile.

"I’ve seen plenty of people carrying those."

He shrugged.

"Unless you’re actually Captain America?"

Captain America had been a national icon for nearly sixty years.

He’d been a household name since World War II. His disappearance had dimmed his legend somewhat, but government propaganda had ensured that America never completely forgot him.

Then came the Battle of New York.

The Avengers had fought the Chitauri, and Captain America’s name had once again become famous.

Naturally, businesses saw an opportunity.

New Captain America posters appeared.

His face ended up on collectible cards.

Merchandise flooded the market.

And replicas of his iconic shield became especially popular.

Steel shields.

Aluminum shields.

Stainless-steel shields.

If it could be manufactured, someone was selling it as a Captain America shield.

So these days, seeing someone carrying a shield proved absolutely nothing.

Plenty of Captain America fans carried them.

Steve looked like he was about to develop a headache.

Peggy, however, had had enough.

She stepped forward and lowered her sunglasses slightly.

Her eyes burned with demonic fire.

"Perhaps you’ve seen plenty of shields like that."

She stared directly at the manager.

"But have you seen eyes like these?"

The manager froze.

His face went pale.

Not many people could stare into the eyes of a demon hunter and remain completely calm.

"Oh."

Recognition finally dawned.

"It really is you!"

The manager grabbed Steve’s hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"I am so sorry! I didn’t realize! You two are heroes who saved the world!"

Steve and Peggy couldn’t have cared less about the misunderstanding.

"The security footage," Peggy said.

"Of course! Absolutely!"

Now that he’d confirmed they were the real thing, the manager was suddenly very cooperative.

Although he did have one small request.

"If I could just get your autographs..."

Steve didn’t hesitate.

He grabbed a sheet of paper from the front desk and signed his name.

The manager practically glowed.

"Please, follow me to the security room."

He carefully tucked Steve’s autograph away.

This was a gold mine.

He’d frame that signature, hang it on the wall, and tell every future customer that Captain America and his wife had stayed at his hotel.

Business would explode.

Inside the security room, Peggy and Steve reviewed the footage.

There he was.

Aldrich Killian.

He was the man who had entered the room and abducted Pepper.

The problem was that neither of them knew who he was.

"Easy enough to fix."

Peggy took out her phone and photographed Killian’s face from the monitor.

Then she sent the image by email.

Steve nodded, but something still bothered him.

"You said SHIELD was avoiding this situation. Are they really going to help us?"

"They might not."

Peggy’s expression hardened.

She’d contacted Nick Fury earlier, but his response had been strangely evasive.

Just like Evenson, Fury seemed determined to keep his distance from this particular matter.

It was suspicious.

Peggy intended to ask him about it later.

For now, though, SHIELD couldn’t be counted on.

Fortunately, she had other resources.

"SHIELD isn’t my only option."

Peggy Carter had been in the intelligence business for a very long time.

Most of the people from her generation were already dead, with Dottie being one of the few exceptions.

But Peggy had trained plenty of agents over the years.

Those who were still alive had grown into senior operatives themselves, and they weren’t all working for SHIELD.

Peggy had spent decades building connections.

Now it was time to use them.