Letters to Peggy (Audio File Set)

**Letters to Peggy (Audio File Set)** is a collectible Intelligence series. It consists of four files.

## Files

### Third Chance

Dear Peggy,

By the time they actually let me send you this letter, I imagine you'll already know. The reports of my death, as they say, well... have been greatly exaggerated. Do they still say that? I assume Twain never goes out of fashion, but I once thought that about high-wasted men's slacks.

I am alive. It doesn't feel... fair. I was given a second chance once, and I swore to make the most of it. If I'm being charitable, I think I did, most days. I knew I was living on borrowed time, and I was grateful for every second.

It feels different this time, coming back. The first time, I woke up to see a new world we created with our sacrifice. Now, I see what we've created with our hubris. I don't believe any man deserves a third chance at life. Especially when I think about all the people who had their first lives cut short.

But here I am, I can't change that fact. All I can do is make the most of it, and make as many things right as I can.

Till we meet again,

Steve

### The Moment Again

Dear Peggy,

They've still got tests for me after my time up there. It's given me an opportunity to process, as Bruce says. My memory feels like someone shot it full of holes, gaps I can't fill. But those last few seconds feel like yesterday.

I saw what was coming underneath the bay. Something deep beneath, hot enough to light up every one of the Chimera's scopes, pulsing in time to our overloading reactor. The seismograph screamed that the big one was coming, imminent.

It was so clear to me then - I was there to earn my second chance. I didn't hesitate. I destroyed the reactor. I know I wasn't coming out alive. But I could save millions.

After that it's all a fog. Monica was there. Maybe. I thought perhaps she was administering medicine, to me, and then to George, but the syringe was filling, and I was slipping away, into the dark.

I know I'd do it again, in a heartbeat. It was the right call in that moment, to save the most lives.

So now, I need to think about the long run of bad calls that led us all to that point. Because there's a lot we have to answer for.

Steve

### Carry The Weight

Dear Peggy,

When the Avengers grew, I always felt like I was struggling to grow with it, to be the best man I could be. Now I worry I won't be able to live up to their expectations.

It's not just the Avengers. There's what's left of SHIELD, rising out of the ashes thanks to Maria Hill. And now the Inhumans, and Pym's Resistance. All of us under the same roof, so to speak. All of them looking at me.

Tony used to like to say that I was "the best of us". But that was never true. I try! But I could never be as good as the world needs me to be. No one could.

But I can be a mirror, for them to see the best of themselves. That's the secret. I only ever reflected what they had inside.

I laid awake last night, wondering if I could still be that mirror. In the morning, Nat looked right at my bloodshot eyes and punched me in the arm. Gave me that little smirk.

She believes in me. They all do. And I'm not in the business of letting people down.

Steve

### Silver and Gold

Dear Peggy,

I feel like a fool. I've spent these hours fretting about how much everyone needs me, and whether I'm still up to the task.

They don't need me. We were broken and scattered, but it wasn't me that pulled the Avengers back together. It was a teenaged girl. Someone who grew up idolizing us. Someone who saw herself in our mirror.

She got Bruce and Tony talking again. She got them all back together. By the time I was up from my beauty rest, the Avengers were whole again. I had nothing to do with it. You should see them right now. Avengers new and old. Just back from a mission, giddy with success. They earned every minute of it, and I couldn't be more proud.

If I walked off this ship right now and vanished forever, they'd still go on and save the whole world, again and again. I don't doubt that for a second. It makes my chest want to burst with the glory of it.

I'm not, of course. Wouldn't dream of it. Just because they don't need me, that doesn't mean I don't need all of them.

And you. Till we meet again.

Steve