Evil Author Day: The Sword He Draws Part 1 (MCU)
This was my Rough Trade project from July 2019, for The Reel End. I wasn't able to finish it before the challenge ended, and it's sat on my hard drive ever since. I think the reason I haven't gone back to it is that I really don't like the last thing I wrote for it. I hate going back and scrapping something I've written, but in this case, that's the best approach. Fortunately, it's only the beginning of Part 3 that I hate, and that part never saw the light of day on Rough Trade. So, I'm posting Parts 1 & 2 here in their entirety. I've tentatively penciled in this story for May, after the April Rough Trade challenge. I'm hoping to have it done by the time July rolls around. Once it's complete, it'll go up on AO3, so keep your eyes peeled.
~o~
The day of Tony Stark's funeral dawned clear and warm. The house, for so long a refuge for Tony and Pepper from the devastation and despair of the rest of the world, was full to overflowing with people who'd come to say goodbye. What had once been a place filled with joy and life now had sadness lurking in every corner.
The funeral itself was very Tony Stark: simple, heartfelt and above all, not flashy. It was who Stark had become in the years since the Snap, the Tony Stark that only those closest to him knew.
Steve Rogers hated every last second of it.
He'd hated it because they'd lost yet another person to Thanos, no matter that they'd finally beaten him at his own game. He hated that-after five years of seeing people-shaped holes everywhere he looked-he'd have to stare at the hole that losing Tony had left in the world, never mind in the life of his daughter.
He hated it because, every time he thought about Tony as he lay dying on the battlefield, having snapped Thanos into dust, he knew he'd failed. He'd failed to be strong enough, fast enough, smart enough. He'd failed to keep the promise he'd made when Tony had brought them the device that would make the time heist possible, that would allow them to undo all that Thanos had done.
He'd failed, and it was eating him up inside.
Still, he'd put on a brave face and stood with his friends to say goodbye. It had been the most difficult moment of his life, far surpassing even the pain of Project Rebirth.
Now that it was over, he had no idea what to do with himself. Oh, there was the wrapping up of loose ends, returning the Stones and setting history to rights, but after that? He just didn't know. He knew what he wanted to do, but he didn't know if he'd actually be able to do it, when the time came.
"Hey, Cap, you okay?"
Steve looked up, past the dancing flames in the firepit in Tony's back yard. Banner was looking at him, concern in his eyes. He glanced around at the circle and found other eyes on him, the same concern flickering in the light of the fire. Sam seemed to be the most worried, but they were all staring at him, as though someone had asked him a question and he'd simply missed it.
"Sorry," he said, slightly chagrined. "I was just woolgathering, I guess."
"S'okay, man," Scott said. "We're all kind of… overwhelmed. Tired. Maybe a little drunk, if I'm being honest."
"Some of us can't get drunk," Sam muttered, giving Bucky the side-eye.
Steve smiled as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips. He took a long sip and then leaned back in his chair, staring up at the stars. "I guess I just can't believe it's really over. Doesn't seem possible."
"At least until the next time, anyway," Bucky said.
"Hey, don't go jinxing it," Sam said. "Last thing we need right now is some alien race or supervillain deciding that now's a good time to set up shop here. We just finished a fight. I, for one, am looking forward to a fucking vacation. Haven't had one of those in a while."
"You think maybe they'd let us go to Hawai'i?" Scott asked. "Or Bora Bora? I'm not picky. I'd just like to see someplace that isn't… here."
Steve snorted as he glanced over at Scott. "You mean you don't like the massive crater where the Avenger's compound used to be?"
"You know, no one talks about what a snarky bastard you are," Scott shot back. "I feel like someone should have told me about that."
"It's what you get for being friends with Stark," Sam said.
They fell silent at the mention of their lost friend, their memories all they had left of him. Steve was the first one to break the silence.
"You're sure the Quantum Bridge will work?"
"It'll work," Banner said. "It's basically the same design as the one we built at the Avenger's compound. Just smaller, because we don't need the massive power output if we're just sending one person."
"And as long as I get all the Stones back to where they came from, the universe won't explode?"
"Time is showing some instability," Banner said. "That should be resolved as soon as you return each Stone to the moment it was taken. I mean, that's what the Ancient One said when I talked to her. As long as the Stones return to the moment they were taken, time should right itself."
"And if it doesn't?" Steve asked, looking intently at Banner. "What then?"
"Then we're all fucked," Banner said, so matter-of-factly that Steve laughed.
"Then I guess I'd better not fail."
"You're gonna have to go after Loki, though," Banner said.
"Yeah, I figured," Steve said.
"I could go instead," Banner said. "I promised the Ancient One I'd return the Time Stone to her. You don't have to do it."
"It's okay," Steve said, smiling at his friend. "Really. I'm fine being the one to do it. You're still hurting from the Snap. Besides, someone has to take Mjolnir back to Asgard."
He'd known for a while that he could lift Thor's hammer; he'd played coy because Thor's ego had been more fragile than the man had wanted to admit, and Steve hadn't wanted to damage it further. Though from the looks he got from Thor, he suspected his friend had known all along.
"You sure you don't want some company?" Sam asked. "You don't have to do this alone, you know."
Steve's smile was wane as he looked at his friend across the flames. "It's fine, Sam. I just have to catch him and bring back the Tesseract. How hard could it be?"
"Now you've gone and jinxed it for sure," Bucky said. "You know that, right?"
"It'll be fine, Buck," Steve said. "If I do it right, it shouldn’t take long and then it'll be done and we can all go back to the lives we should have lived."
Bucky huffed but didn't say more. Steve knew what he wanted to say, knew that Bucky wanted to call him out on his shit the way he'd done when they were young, but Steve didn't want to have that conversation. Not yet, and maybe not ever.
He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about the guilt weighing him down. Bucky would understand it, but that didn't mean Steve wanted him to have to shoulder that burden along with his own.
What Steve really wanted to do was the one thing he couldn’t do: he wanted to sit with Peggy and tell her all his troubles and have her tell him it would all work out. He wanted that dance with her they'd never gotten. He wanted his happy ending, the one he'd been cheated out of when he went down with the Valkyrie. He could do it; he could go back in time, pick up where he left off. Once he'd returned the Stones to their proper places he could go back and join Peggy, live the rest of his life with her. Have more than just one dance; more than just one kiss.
He thought maybe it wasn't fair that he got to have a happy ending when Tony didn't. The one guy who had everything to live for was the one who didn't make it out alive. He wasn't sure there was anything he could do about it, which broke his heart all the more.
He only hoped that returning the Stones to their rightful places in history would fix things. Then maybe he could consider his own happy ending. He owed it to Tony to at least try to live again.
~o~
Two days later, Steve watched as Banner adjusted the new Quantum Bridge. Sam was standing beside him, his quiet shadow over the past few days. He'd been grateful for someone to lean on, even if he did feel a bit selfish for monopolizing Sam's time.
"You sure you don't want some company?" Sam asked.
"Nah," Steve said, shaking his head. "I've got this."
"You know you don't have to," Sam said quietly. "Pym's back, so we've got enough particles for as many trips as we need. Don't feel like you have to carry this weight alone. It's not wrong to admit you need help."
"Ever the counselor," Steve said, smiling. He glanced at his friend. "I'd rather just go and get it done. No offense, but I can move faster on my own."
"None taken," Sam said. "I just don't like the idea of you out there without backup."
"I've been dressing myself since I was three, Sam," he said. "I think I can handle this."
"And Loki?" Sam asked. "Any idea how you're going to handle that?"
"Some," Steve said. "If I can't catch him at the Tower before all hell breaks loose, I'm not sure how I'll find him."
"I wonder what kind of universe-ending trouble you'll be in with three Captain America's in New York at the same time," Sam said.
"The world's not gonna end with more than one of us in the past," Banner said. "I think we proved that already."
"Still creepy as fuck," Sam muttered.
"I think we'll be ready in a few minutes, Cap," Banner said.
"How's it looking?" Steve asked as he walked over to the control panel.
Banner shrugged the shoulder not in a sling. "Things are still chaotic, but they should even out the more Stones you return to their proper time."
Just then, Bucky emerged from the house to join them. "You about ready?" he asked.
"You trying to get rid of me?" Steve asked, shooting his friend a smile.
"Nah," Bucky said. "I just know you. Job's not done, so you're not gonna let up until it is. Just do me a favor, huh? Be careful out there. I just got my best friend back. I don't wanna have to break in a new one just yet."
"I'm sure Sam would be more than happy to step in if you needed someone to lean on," Steve said. He reached out and pulled Bucky into a hug.
"You take care of yourself," Bucky said as he pulled back. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Steve laughed. "Well, that leaves it wide open."
"Okay, we're ready when you are," Banner said.
Steve closed the latch on the small case holding the Infinity Stones, tugged the gloves that matched his uniform over his hands and then settled the controller onto the back of his left hand.
"Just make sure to get the Stones back as close to the same moment they left as you can," Banner reminded him. "We don't need any universe-ending surprises."
Steve picked up Mjolnir and headed for the platform. "No surprises. Got it."
"We'll see you on the other side," Banner said.
Steve stepped up onto the platform as Bucky settled in at Sam's side. They looked like old friends, standing there beside each other, both with arms crossed and something near to a scowl on their faces.
"I'd feel better if one of us was going with him," Sam said.
Bucky nodded. "Stevie's always been the stubborn type. Even when he was a scrawny kid he never asked for help."
"I'll be fine, you two," Steve called out. "You won't even have time to miss me."
Neither had an answer for that, just stood scowling at him. He figured they knew something was up, but it wasn't like Steve even knew what he was going to do once he'd returned the Stones to their proper places.
"Okay, we're going in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1," Banner counted down.
Steve felt the familiar tug behind his navel, and then the world went technicolor as he shrank down and entered the Quantum Realm.
~o~
Steve paused to lean against a brick wall in a nameless back alley in Manhattan. He'd lost track of how long he'd been gone, returning the Stones to their proper places in history. Catching Loki had been both harder and easier than he'd expected, but he'd saved it for last, knowing that would be his biggest challenge.
Seeing Schmidt again had been easily the most horrifying aspect of the job. He'd thought about just walking away, once he'd realized who was standing watch over the resting place of the Soul Stone, but ultimately, he knew the Stone had to return to its rightful place. If he never saw Schmidt again, it would be too soon.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the last remaining Stone, turning it over in his hand as he watched the faint sunlight catch the facets of the crystal structure. He kept his mind blank, having learned early on that stray thoughts could activate some of the Stones if he wasn't careful.
It was deceptively small and light for something so powerful, and yet it represented his heart's desire: the ability to rewind time to a period when he'd been happy. He was pretty sure he could do it-metaphorically, if not actually-without causing problems with the flow of time, but he needed to be sure.
He squeezed the Stone in his hand and set out for Bleaker Street and the Ancient One. If anyone could tell him whether what he wanted to do was possible, it would be her. According to Banner, she was the expert on time, so he figured he'd just ask her.
It didn't take long to reach the imposing brownstone that the Ancient One and the rest of her sorcerers called home. Before he could even knock on the door, it swung open, beckoning him inside. Steve crossed the threshold, frowning when he didn't see anyone in the foyer.
"Hello?" he called, glancing around the room. "Anyone here?"
The room itself was full of antiques and oddities, some he recognized and others that he didn't. Before he could get a good look at the room, he found himself in another room, presumably in a different part of the house. This room was larger, with huge windows letting in the fading light of the day. Again, lots of strange artifacts strewn across the room.
It was disorienting, moving around the house without actually taking a single step. He turned in a circle, taking it all in without really seeing it all. When he'd come full circle, he found himself face to face with a bald woman of indeterminate age. She was staring at him, studying him as if he were under a microscope.
"I was expecting Doctor Banner," she said.
"Well, you got me instead," Steve said. "I'm-"
"Steve Rogers, sometimes known as Captain America," she said. "I know who you are."
"And you're…" He waited for her to fill in the blank, but she stood still and just looked at him. "Banner called you the Ancient One."
"I am," she said, inclining her head slightly. "You have something for me."
Steve pulled the Time Stone out of his pocket. He stared at it for a long minute before holding it out to her. "The Time Stone. As promised."
Instead of picking up the Stone as he'd expected, she waved her hands through the air in front of the ornate golden pendant she was wearing. It opened like some crazy Chinese puzzle, and then the Stone just levitated off his hand and into the pendant. It spun closed, and when it was done, she seemed to relax.
"You have my gratitude, Captain," she said, bowing her head. When she looked back up at him, he got the sense that she was looking through him clear to his soul. "This was not your only purpose in coming here. What else do you wish of me?"
"I have… questions," he said.
"Of course you do," she said, a small smile on her lips. When he opened his mouth to start asking them, she held up a hand. "You need rest, and a meal. We will talk tomorrow."
Steve opened his mouth to protest, but instead he found himself in a well-appointed guest suite. On the table beside him was a tray, and when he lifted the lid, it revealed a plate full of warm food: a roast beef sandwich, a bowl of hearty soup, bread and water. His stomach growled, reminding him it had been a while since his last meal
He pulled up a chair and dove in to the food, polishing it off in short order. The tray disappeared, replaced by another that held a coffee pot and cup. Steve shook his head at the flashy display of power but poured himself a cup of coffee and wandered over to the windows.
The lights of New York were slowly blinking to life, gilding the city with a pale yellow glow. This wasn't the same city he remembered growing up, but it didn't look remarkably different than the New York City he knew in the future. At least, it looked a lot like the New York of a few years from now, before Thanos destroyed his world with the snap of his fingers.
And now he was in the past again, only not his own past. It honestly made his head hurt to think about all the time-hopping he'd done to get to this point. But instead of dwelling on the craziness of his life, he decided what he really needed was a good night's sleep.
Setting his cup on the tray, he crossed the room to the bed. He switched off the controller; immediately, his jeans and t-shirt faded away, to be replaced by his quantum suit. Another tap on the device and the suit folded itself away, leaving him in his uniform. He took off the controller and set it on the bedside table, then stripped efficiently, folding his clothes and setting them on the chair near the bed.
He crawled between cool sheets and lay back, tucking his hands behind his head. He wasn't really sure he could sleep. He had too many questions running through his mind to believe he could get any kind of rest, but his body had other ideas.
Between one breath and the next, he was sound asleep.
~o~
By the time Steve woke the next morning, the sun was already up. A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand told him he'd been asleep for more than ten hours. He was honestly surprised; since Rebirth, he hadn't slept more than six hours a night. His body simply didn't need as much sleep as it used to. That had been one of the hardest things to get used to, but since it had given him more time to study and plan, he hadn't really complained.
He climbed out of bed, stretching as he made his way to the attached bathroom. He found towels and toiletries waiting for him, along with a pile of fresh clothes. When he glanced back into the bedroom, he saw his uniform and the controller right where he'd left them last night.
Steve shook his head with a smile. The sorcerers were certainly not afraid of displaying their power. It was an odd feeling, having his needs and wants taken care of before he'd even fully formed the thought of them, but it wasn't like living with Stark had been much different.
Thoughts of Stark sobered him, as they had for… however long he'd been gone. It had felt like weeks, months even, though if he returned to 2023 it would be as if only seconds had passed. He dreaded the idea of returning to a world without Tony Stark. He missed the man like a phantom limb, even if they hadn't really been on speaking terms for most of the last eight years.
Stark was his last connection to his old life, and though it wasn't entirely fair, he depended on Stark as a sort of touchstone. He usually only understood about one word in three when the man got to talking about science, and his pop culture references tended to go right over Steve's head, but Stark had been loyal and generous, a brother in arms and the voice of reason in his ear, even when he didn't really want one.
Shaking off those maudlin thoughts, Steve moved through his morning routine on autopilot. Once he'd showered, shaved and dressed in the jeans and t-shirt someone had left for him, he headed back out to the bedroom. Breakfast was waiting for him on the table: eggs, bacon, toast, and plenty of orange juice and coffee. Again, he shook his head, but didn't hesitate to sit down and dig in.
It didn't take him long to plow through the meal. The food was plentiful and good; it had been a while since he'd had anything approaching regular meals, so the food had been much appreciated. Steve poured himself some more coffee and wandered over to the windows.
It was still early, but the city was already coming to life. There was a rhythm to life in New York that was familiar, no matter which decade you were living in. Birds, squirrels, cats and dogs were always the first to rise, along with the fleet of garbage trucks. Then the business men-and women these days-headed for their offices. This time of year, children weren't in school, so they were out on the streets playing and laughing.
It was all so… normal. Nothing like what the last five years had been for him. Even now that everyone had been brought back, life was still a messy jumble of the ones who'd been left behind-who'd lived the last five years seeing holes everywhere-and those who'd been snapped out of existence, for whom no time had passed.
Steve sighed. He was tired of dwelling on the past-tired of living in the past. He wanted to be able to move on, but it seemed like every time he tried, something happened to pull him back in. He'd begun to worry that his life would never be his own, no matter how hard he tried to carve out a little peace.
"You know, just once, I'd like things to be simple," he muttered. "Is that too much to ask?"
Suddenly, he was no longer in the guest room, but in a study, with rich wood paneling and floor to ceiling bookshelves. Large rugs covered the floor, anchored by a heavy wooden desk, and flanked by a leather couch and chairs. He turned to find the Ancient One waiting for him.
"More coffee?" she asked politely.
Steve looked down into his cup, finding it empty. He hadn't even noticed he'd finished it, and probably didn't really need more, but he held it out just the same. "Sure."
She filled his cup, then poured one for herself and settled into a corner of the couch. Steve took one of the chairs, sipping his coffee as he studied her. Bald lady with strange robes and power fairly radiating from her. She was… interesting. Her gaze was as penetrating as it had been the night before. She seemed like an old soul, no matter the age of her body.
When he didn't say anything, she raised an eyebrow. "You had questions?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "I do."
"I cannot promise I have answers for you," she said, still staring at him. "Or that there are even answers to be had. But I will do my best to answer what I can."
"Fair enough," he said. He leaned forward and set his cup on the coffee table. "First question: is the timeline stable, now that I've returned the Stones to their proper places?"
She hummed. "You don't pull your punches. Very well. Let's have a look, shall we?"
She set her cup down on the table beside her and waved a hand in the air. A streak of red-gold darted across the room, stretching out in both directions the length of the room. One end sparkled so brightly it was almost white. Steve followed the glowing streak across the room, until his eyes reached a point beyond where he was sitting.
Instead of a shining line representing the flow of time, the bright, beautiful red-gold faded into a muddy, chaotic mess.
"No branches," he said, relieved that he'd been able to set the timeline to rights. The grey chaotic mess at the other end bothered him, even though he didn't know why. He waved a hand at the other end of the timeline. "What's going on over there?"
"That is damage to the timeline," she said sternly. "I warned Doctor Banner that removing the Stones from their proper place in time would have consequences."
"But you also agreed with him that returning them to where they belong would fix the timeline," Steve said. "Which I've done. The Time Stone was the last one, so this all should be fixed, except clearly it isn't."
The Ancient One rose and walked over to the far end of the room, ducking under the gleaming streak of time, examining it from every angle. She turned to Steve, a contemplative look on her face.
"What happened after you retrieved the Stones?" she asked. "Did you use them?"
"Well, yeah," Steve said, standing up to join her. He stood facing her, the writhing mass of grey between them. "That was the whole point. Thanos used the Stones to destroy the Stones, so we had to grab them from earlier in time to fix what he'd done."
"He destroyed them?" she asked. "You're certain?"
"Yes, he did," he said, nodding his head. "We saw the burned out gauntlet, and the damage it did to his body. He said it almost killed him, but that he needed to do it so he wouldn't be tempted to use them again. That's why we needed to take the Stones from the past. We returned everyone that was dusted, and then Tony snapped Thanos and his armies out of existence." Steve paused as he looked at the timeline. "Is that why it looks this way? Should we not have erased Thanos?"
"Erasing Thanos would not have caused this kind of damage to the timeline," she said, shaking her head to emphasize the point. "But destroying the Stones might. They hold the universe together. Without them, it will fall apart. Not today, and not tomorrow, but someday."
"See, there's where you lost me," Steve said. "How do six Stones hold the universe together?"
The Ancient One swept her hand through the air, erasing the timeline she'd drawn. When she waved her hand again, one gleaming Stone was suspended in the air above them.
"The Time Stone," she said, indicating the glowing green gem slowly spinning in the low light of the room. "After the creation of the universe, the base elements that form the universe gathered and formed into the six Infinity Stones. This Stone-the Time Stone-governs the flow and perception of time."
"This Stone," she said as another Stone appeared, "is the Space Stone-what you know as the Tesseract. It forms the warp and weft of the fabric of the universe. The stars you see in the sky at night hang in the heavens because of the Space Stone."
A purple gem appeared next. "The Power Stone. The engine of the atom and the star. And the Mind Stone"-a familiar orange Stone appeared-"which gives form to the consciousness of all beings."
"The Reality Stone-what the Asgardians called The Aether-drives our perception of reality-the world around us. And the Soul Stone, creator of the beating heart of the individual."
All six Stones hung in the air, spinning gently in an arc in the air between them. They were honestly beautiful, as so many things of power were. It was no wonder they were so sought after.
"So, their power radiates out into the universe, from wherever they are," Steve said, watching as the Stones started creating ripples in the air, like the surface of water disturbed by a pebble. "And as the waves cross, they interact. Create life, give form and shape to…"
"Everything," she said. "Yes. And without their influence, the universe will fail."
"Like a house without a foundation," Steve said.
"Precisely," the Ancient One said, smiling at him like he was her star pupil.
"Let me guess, their power is diminished now that they've been reduced to dust."
"The power of the Stones is in the Stones themselves," she said. "The concentrated elements of each Stone is what gives it power."
"So if the actual physical crystal of the Stones has been shattered, the power that each one contains is dissipated, until it no longer has enough power to influence the universe," he said. The Ancient One inclined her head in a nod. Steve took a deep breath. "So eventually, without their influence, the universe will just… peter out."
"Or explode spectacularly," she said. "There's no knowing which. Either way, the universe as we know it will cease to exist."
"So how do we stop it?"
"Prevent the Stones from being destroyed," she said, as though that were the obvious answer.
Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "And how do you propose to do that? Going back to the past and changing anything creates a branching timeline. Banner said that would be bad, which is why I had to track down Loki and return the Tesseract to its proper place before the job was done."
"Ordinarily, branching timelines would indeed be bad," she said. "They have a destabilizing effect on time. However, in this case, were you to go back in time and alter events, the new branched timeline will become the primary timeline, and the damaged one will eventually fade away."
"Which would fix what Thanos broke, once and for all," Steve said.
"Quite so," she said. "The only choice you face is where in time you feel you can do the most good."
Steve sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. Was it ever going to end? Every time he thought he'd finally won the war, a new battle cropped up. He'd willingly signed up to be the hero, but he'd expected the job to have a finite life. To be asked, time and again, to save the world was exhausting.
Not that he'd ever even considered walking away, even in the darkest days after Ultron and the Sokovia Accords, when he and Tony had been on opposite sides of the fight and Steve had effectively become a fugitive. He'd still been doing what he could to save the world, just doing it more quietly than before.
But it looked like he was going to have to save the world one more time. Which meant that he'd have to put off his own happiness again. Letting go of the idea of going back to be with Peggy was surprisingly easy, which was actually a pretty big clue. Maybe he was more attached to the idea of being in love with her rather than actually being in love with her.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening his eyes to find the Ancient One watching him. "How far back can I go? And how much can I change when I get there?"
"You can go back as far as you need to, but I must caution you," she said. "Going too far back may see you in the wrong place to effect meaningful change. As for how much you can change, that is up to you. You will be creating a new timeline. Any changes will make it more difficult for you to predict where Thanos will be, if your goal is to stop him from acquiring the Stones at all."
"So, I need to go back to a place in time where I'll be in position to confront Thanos when he makes it to Earth," he said. Maybe he could even fix a few things along the way. "What about my younger self? How do I deal with him? I mean, I could work from the shadows, but it would be easier if I could just step into my own life, whenever I end up."
"That is something you will have to decide on your own," she said. "I cannot tell you how to accomplish what needs to be done."
"Right," Steve said. "How long do I have to decide? I mean, do I need to go now?"
She swept her hand through the air again; the Stones disappeared, and in their place, the timeline shot through the room again. A pulsing light appeared, some way away from the chaotic end of the timeline.
"This is when we are," she said. "Every day the damage goes unchecked, it will reach farther back in time. Eventually, all of history will unravel. For now, we are stable, but that will change eventually."
"So, I can take a few days to decide," he said, his shoulders sagging a bit in relief. He didn't want to be rash and just run off to take on this new task. He wanted to consider his options and make the best decision he could. A lot was riding on this.
"You are welcome to remain here while you consider your options," she said. "And should you have any questions, you only need ask."
Between one blink and the next, she was gone, and so was the timeline she'd shown him. Not that he needed to see it to know that time was eventually going to run out. He knew what he had to do; now he just needed to figure out how to do it.
~o~
In the end, Steve had stayed almost a week at Bleaker Street. He'd talked to the Ancient One a couple of times, but mostly he'd kept to himself. Deciding how far back to go, as it turned out, had been the easy part. Deciding what he could change and what had to remain the same had been infinitely harder.
He'd talked through all the possible ripples with the Ancient One, and she'd assured him that his plan was sound, though not even she could see what the future he was planning would hold. Ultimately, he'd have to take the leap and hope for the best.
Which was how he found himself standing on the street outside Stark Manor in the fall of 1948. He stared up at the stone façade, with its ornate cornices and the ostentatious gate keeping unwanted visitors out. Fortunately, Steve knew a way around the gate, courtesy of Tony Stark and a late-night conversation after the fall of SHIELD.
Steve walked along the fence until he came to a hidden gate on the back side of the property. He slipped through the gate and down the stairs into the tunnel that would connect him with the cellar and eventually the kitchen. Steve felt a small twinge of guilt for using the knowledge Tony had entrusted to him to break into his father's house, but that guilt was quickly subsumed by the need to speak to Howard and start the changes he needed to make to save Tony and the rest.
A quick five minutes after he'd stepped through the gate, he was pushing the kitchen door open only to be faced with the business end of a gun. He stopped short, put his hands up and took a good look at who was holding the gun.
"Howard," Steve said, relief flooding him at finding his friend at home, despite the fact that he was holding a gun on Steve.
"Steve?" Howard asked. The gun wavered a bit as confusion flitted across Howard's face. His resolve seemed to firm up as he was faced with the seemingly impossible sight of his friend alive and well. "Who the fuck are you? And why are you wearing Captain America's face?"
"I'm Steve Rogers, Howard," he said quietly. "I'm not a ghost, and I'm not an imposter."
"Bullshit," Howard said. "Steve Rogers is dead. He went down on a Hydra plane two years ago."
"Yeah, I did," Steve said.
"Then how the fuck are you in my kitchen?" Howard asked.
"That's a long story," Steve said. "One I came here to tell, but I'd rather not do it with a gun pointed at me."
"Sorry, but until I'm sure you're really him, I'm not putting the gun away," Howard said.
"Fair enough," Steve said. "How shall I prove I'm really me?"
"Tell me something only you would know," Howard said.
"Hmmm," Steve hummed, thinking back over the time they'd spent together after he'd joined the war effort in earnest. "Well, right before I rescued the Commandos, when we were in the plane, you were talking about fondue. I thought that was a euphemism for sex. You probably thought I was a hick or an idiot, but you just laughed and shrugged it off."
"Holy shit, Steve," Howard said, lowering the gun to stare at him in open shock. "It's really you, isn't it?"
"It's really me," Steve said.
"Jesus, c'mere," Howard said. He dumped the gun on the counter to his left and pulled Steve into a hug.
Steve held on far longer than he'd expected to. It was just so damned good to see someone he'd lost so long ago. When he pulled back, he could see the longing in Howard's eyes, too.
"You hungry at all?" Howard asked. "I can't cook much, but I can scramble eggs better than most."
"I'm good, thanks," Steve said. "I could use some coffee, though."
"Lucky for you, I just put a pot on," Howard said, giving him a winning smile. "Grab a seat and I'll bring you some."
Steve wandered over to the kitchen table and sat down, taking in the room for the first time. It was a spacious kitchen; warm and inviting. It was probably state of the art for the 1940s, but to Steve's eye, it was all so very… vintage. Tony had installed every conceivable modern convenience in the Tower, so that no one had to go far for anything they wanted.
Howard brought over a pot and two mugs, poured out the coffee and then sat across from him, staring at him as if he'd disappear if he blinked. He took a sip of his coffee, and Howard mirrored him, never taking his eyes off the other man. Steve would be creeped out by it, but considering he was presumed dead, he could understand the impulse.
"So, you have a long story to tell," Howard said. He leaned back in his chair, watching Steve over the rim of his mug. "Spill. Start with how you survived the plane crash."
"I went down with the Valkyrie," Steve said quietly. "As the plane sank under the ice, I just… gave up, I guess. I laid down on the floor of the plane and went to sleep. I thought I was going to die; the plane went down in the Arctic, nowhere near civilization, so rescue was a pipe dream. I never expected to wake up, but I did. In 2012."
"Holy shit!" Howard exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. "The ice must have put you in some form of stasis. The serum ramped up your metabolism, so I could see how that might help save your life."
"That's what the doctors think," Steve said. "It's the only explanation that makes any sense, anyway."
"Wait, did you say you woke up in 2012?" At Steve's nod, Howard just stared at him, slack-jawed. "How are you even here? I mean, in case you haven't noticed, we're nowhere near 2012."
"That's part of the long story I need to tell you," Steve said.
Howard must have seen the pinched look in Steve's eyes. "That must have been a shock, waking up."
"It felt like I'd time traveled," Steve said, which was an irony not at all lost on him in that moment. "Everything was different. New York was still my home, but I barely recognized it. And I really didn't have much time to acclimate; we were hit with an alien invasion just a few months after I woke up."
"Aliens?" Howard asked weakly. "Jesus. We thought Hitler was bad enough."
"Yeah, there's some seriously fucked up shit waiting for us in the future," Steve said.
"You know, no one believed me when I told them you could out-swear a merchant marine," Howard pointed out casually.
Steve chuckled. "No one would believe it in the future, either. Whenever I'd swear in front of someone, they looked… scandalized. As if a Saint had just taken the Lord's name in vain right there in front of them."
"So, who found you? Me?" Howard asked.
"It was SHIELD," Steve said. "They didn't tell y-they didn't tell anyone at Stark Industries, despite the fact that SI had funded the expedition to find me every year since… well, now."
"Those fucking bastards," Howard muttered. "I don't trust 'em, especially not after they almost arrested me for stealing my own damned weapons."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't get much better in the future," Steve said, thinking back to the secrets that Fury kept, and the way he'd been manipulated repeatedly to suit Fury's agenda.
"So, you woke up in the future, and now you're back in the past," Howard said. "How the hell did you end up in the past, anyway?"
"That's a little harder to explain," Steve said. "Suffice it to say that the Tesseract isn't the only cosmic object out there. A being called Thanos decided to collect them and use them to destroy half of all life in the universe. I'm trying to stop that from ever happening."
"Fuck," Howard said. "He could actually do that? Just wave his hand and bam, half of all living beings just gone?"
"Snap his fingers, but yeah, he really could," Steve said. "Did, actually. Then he destroyed the Stones to prevent himself from being tempted to use them again. Problem is, destroying them as he did is destabilizing the universe. I've come back to the past to fix the timeline."
"Aren't you afraid you'll mess up the past?" Howard asked. "I mean, you could be going back to a future that's far different than the one you left if you make the wrong sort of changes."
"I've been reliably informed that time travel doesn't work like that," Steve said, giving a lopsided smile. "What I'm actually going to try to do is create a new timeline. One in which I end Thanos before he has the chance to snap his fingers and destroy the world as we know it."
"What exactly do you have in mind?" Howard asked, one eyebrow raised.
~o~
"You really sure this is what you want to do?" Howard asked.
Steve stood, staring out at the barren Arctic landscape. He'd asked himself the same question more times than he could count over the last several weeks. Truth was, he still wasn't sure this was the right way to do it, but he'd come to the conclusion that there really was no right way. He could only control what he could control; everything that happened away from Earth was going to happen, regardless of the changes he made here. He could only make the choices he thought had the best chances for a good outcome, and let the chips fall where they may.
"Yeah, I'm sure," he said. He glanced at Howard, seeing the tension in his frame. "I need to be there at the beginning. I didn't have a lot of control over the situation, but I have influence that I can use. Hopefully, I can make enough changes to the timeline that we can avoid The Decimation, and all the consequences of Thanos' actions."
"That's a tall order," Howard said. "You got anyone who can help you? Anyone you trust in the future?"
"I-" Steve had to swallow the lump in his throat. He'd trusted Tony, even when they were at odds. He was hoping that, by going back in time and starting over, they'd avoid losing their friendship, too. Not that he could tell Howard any of that. There were certain things he thought perhaps his friend didn't need to know. "Yeah, I'll have friends. At least, I hope they'll be my friends again. We'll see."
"You know I'll do everything I can to prepare the way for you," Howard said. "Just say the word and I'll make sure it gets done."
"I know," Steve said, smiling. "There are a few things I'm going to need you to do."
"We're probably going to need more coffee for this conversation," Howard said. "C'mon, let's go inside and we can talk through what needs to be done."
Steve followed Howard into the temporary structure they'd built to serve as a home base for the expedition to find the Valkyrie. Steve had the coordinates, but they were operating without GPS, so once they'd set up camp, Howard had sent a team out to try to locate the plane. Steve wasn't looking forward to seeing his younger self frozen in the ice, but it couldn't be helped.
They shed their coats, gloves and hats, and settled in at the table, facing each other with a pot of coffee between them.
"Alright, tell me what you need," Howard said.
Steve took a deep breath. "First, you need to make sure Zola doesn't get anywhere near SHIELD. He's corrupt down to his bones, and there are those within SHEILD who'll use that to rebuild Hydra inside SHIELD."
"Fuck me sideways," Howard said, staring at Steve in shock. "You're not kidding, are you?"
"I wish I was," Steve said. He took a sip of coffee as he gathered his thoughts. "It nearly broke me when I found out that Hydra had essentially infected SHIELD, all the way to the top. I had to tear it all down, Howard. Everything you and Peggy built, I had to destroy, and it almost destroyed me."
"Jesus," Howard said. "You're sure I'm going to be in a position to do anything about Zola? There are some pretty powerful people backing the German scientists we collected. Von Braun, Zola, and all their people. Their knowledge is invaluable; I can foresee some pushback if I try to put my foot in the middle of that."
"Zola was a Nazi," Steve said, voice gone hard. "Remind everyone of that fact, Repeatedly. At volume if necessary. He was a true believer. He'd have had to be to stick with Schmidt for as long as he did. He can't be trusted any farther than you can throw him, and I don't want him anywhere near you or Peggy."
Howard's expression softened. "I still don't get why you didn't want to see her before we left. She misses you. Even two years after we lost you, she's still mourning."
"I know," Steve said. "But I'm not the same man she knew two years ago. I'm… more weary. Jaded, I guess. I've seen and done too much to be the man she needs. It's better for her if I just stay away. Besides, he'll be the man she remembers, and he's gonna need her more than I do. It'll be fine."
"You say so," Howard said, but he clearly didn't understand Steve's reasons. Which was okay; there wasn't much about this situation that Steve knew for sure, but he knew without a doubt that he couldn't stay with Peggy. It wasn't his place anymore, and he wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done if he stopped to see her. "So, I've got to kick Zola out of the cool kids' club. What else?"
"I'm going to need you to go after something called the Winter Soldier Program," Steve said. He'd given this one a lot of thought. It felt selfish, sending Howard after Bucky, but it would also save Howard's life, so he thought the trade-off was fair.
"Whose project is that?" Howard asked with a frown. "Ours?"
"The Soviets, actually," Steve said. "They were infiltrated by Hydra as well. Zola gave them the research on the Super Soldier serum and started trying to create their own army of Super Soldiers. I don't know how far along the project is at this point, so there may not be much to go on, but you need to shut it down. Hydra and the Soviets used the Winter Soldier to kill anyone who got too close to discovering Hydra hiding within SHIELD. They killed a lot of innocent people, including the failed candidates."
"Hydra and the Soviets working together?" Howard asked. "It's no wonder you want to change the future. The world you woke up in is seriously fucked up, Steve."
Steve snorted. "Tell me about it. By the time I woke up, the Soviet Union had fallen, but that just left room for other, crazier nightmares to fill the vacuum. Honestly, some of the shit I've seen makes the Soviets look like a quilting bee."
"I'm not gonna like the future much, am I?" Howard asked.
"When we're done remaking the future, it'll be safe for you and yours," Steve said. "I refuse to lose any more friends to this mess."
"I'll do what I can to make that happen," Howard said. "You have my word."
"Thanks," Steve said.
"What about… him?" Howard asked, waving his hand in the general direction of the crash site. "You want me to tell him anything?"
"Tell him as much as you can," Steve said. "He's going to need to know, especially when he sees me on television."
"You planning on running for President or something?" Howard asked, his lips quirked up in a smile.
"No," Steve said. "But if we can't stop the alien invasion-and at this point I have to believe it'll happen, no matter what we do-I'm going to be right in the thick of it. It'll be covered extensively by the media, so my face will be all over the news."
"And Peg?" Howard asked. "She's gonna be madder than an old, wet hen if we tell him and not her. 'Cause she's going to see the same things on TV that he will."
"Yeah," Steve said with a sigh. "She won't take it well, but I don't think you can keep it from her. At least, not all of it. You're going to have to decide how much you can tell them and when. And he'll need a new identity. He can't go around calling himself Steve Rogers; there'll be too many questions you won't want to answer."
"Great," Howard said with a huff. "Leave me holding the bag."
"I wish things were different, Howard," Steve said. "I wish none of this was necessary, but I can't let Thanos destroy my world, and if history unfolds the same way it did the first time, that's exactly what will happen. I'm going to do better this time; hopefully I'll be able to stop him."
"Well, I wish you luck," Howard said. "It sounds like you're going to need it."
"Excuse me, sir," one of the team members said as he pushed the door open.
"What is it, Jones?" Howard asked.
"We've found the plane, sir," Jones said. He glanced nervously at Steve, who figured he knew why. "It's just like you said. The C-Captain is inside; he's frozen, so we don't know what kind of condition he's in."
"Thanks, Jones," Howard said. He looked at Steve. "Ready?"
Steve drained his coffee cup. "As I'll ever be. Let's go."
~o~
~o~
The day of Tony Stark's funeral dawned clear and warm. The house, for so long a refuge for Tony and Pepper from the devastation and despair of the rest of the world, was full to overflowing with people who'd come to say goodbye. What had once been a place filled with joy and life now had sadness lurking in every corner.
The funeral itself was very Tony Stark: simple, heartfelt and above all, not flashy. It was who Stark had become in the years since the Snap, the Tony Stark that only those closest to him knew.
Steve Rogers hated every last second of it.
He'd hated it because they'd lost yet another person to Thanos, no matter that they'd finally beaten him at his own game. He hated that-after five years of seeing people-shaped holes everywhere he looked-he'd have to stare at the hole that losing Tony had left in the world, never mind in the life of his daughter.
He hated it because, every time he thought about Tony as he lay dying on the battlefield, having snapped Thanos into dust, he knew he'd failed. He'd failed to be strong enough, fast enough, smart enough. He'd failed to keep the promise he'd made when Tony had brought them the device that would make the time heist possible, that would allow them to undo all that Thanos had done.
He'd failed, and it was eating him up inside.
Still, he'd put on a brave face and stood with his friends to say goodbye. It had been the most difficult moment of his life, far surpassing even the pain of Project Rebirth.
Now that it was over, he had no idea what to do with himself. Oh, there was the wrapping up of loose ends, returning the Stones and setting history to rights, but after that? He just didn't know. He knew what he wanted to do, but he didn't know if he'd actually be able to do it, when the time came.
"Hey, Cap, you okay?"
Steve looked up, past the dancing flames in the firepit in Tony's back yard. Banner was looking at him, concern in his eyes. He glanced around at the circle and found other eyes on him, the same concern flickering in the light of the fire. Sam seemed to be the most worried, but they were all staring at him, as though someone had asked him a question and he'd simply missed it.
"Sorry," he said, slightly chagrined. "I was just woolgathering, I guess."
"S'okay, man," Scott said. "We're all kind of… overwhelmed. Tired. Maybe a little drunk, if I'm being honest."
"Some of us can't get drunk," Sam muttered, giving Bucky the side-eye.
Steve smiled as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips. He took a long sip and then leaned back in his chair, staring up at the stars. "I guess I just can't believe it's really over. Doesn't seem possible."
"At least until the next time, anyway," Bucky said.
"Hey, don't go jinxing it," Sam said. "Last thing we need right now is some alien race or supervillain deciding that now's a good time to set up shop here. We just finished a fight. I, for one, am looking forward to a fucking vacation. Haven't had one of those in a while."
"You think maybe they'd let us go to Hawai'i?" Scott asked. "Or Bora Bora? I'm not picky. I'd just like to see someplace that isn't… here."
Steve snorted as he glanced over at Scott. "You mean you don't like the massive crater where the Avenger's compound used to be?"
"You know, no one talks about what a snarky bastard you are," Scott shot back. "I feel like someone should have told me about that."
"It's what you get for being friends with Stark," Sam said.
They fell silent at the mention of their lost friend, their memories all they had left of him. Steve was the first one to break the silence.
"You're sure the Quantum Bridge will work?"
"It'll work," Banner said. "It's basically the same design as the one we built at the Avenger's compound. Just smaller, because we don't need the massive power output if we're just sending one person."
"And as long as I get all the Stones back to where they came from, the universe won't explode?"
"Time is showing some instability," Banner said. "That should be resolved as soon as you return each Stone to the moment it was taken. I mean, that's what the Ancient One said when I talked to her. As long as the Stones return to the moment they were taken, time should right itself."
"And if it doesn't?" Steve asked, looking intently at Banner. "What then?"
"Then we're all fucked," Banner said, so matter-of-factly that Steve laughed.
"Then I guess I'd better not fail."
"You're gonna have to go after Loki, though," Banner said.
"Yeah, I figured," Steve said.
"I could go instead," Banner said. "I promised the Ancient One I'd return the Time Stone to her. You don't have to do it."
"It's okay," Steve said, smiling at his friend. "Really. I'm fine being the one to do it. You're still hurting from the Snap. Besides, someone has to take Mjolnir back to Asgard."
He'd known for a while that he could lift Thor's hammer; he'd played coy because Thor's ego had been more fragile than the man had wanted to admit, and Steve hadn't wanted to damage it further. Though from the looks he got from Thor, he suspected his friend had known all along.
"You sure you don't want some company?" Sam asked. "You don't have to do this alone, you know."
Steve's smile was wane as he looked at his friend across the flames. "It's fine, Sam. I just have to catch him and bring back the Tesseract. How hard could it be?"
"Now you've gone and jinxed it for sure," Bucky said. "You know that, right?"
"It'll be fine, Buck," Steve said. "If I do it right, it shouldn’t take long and then it'll be done and we can all go back to the lives we should have lived."
Bucky huffed but didn't say more. Steve knew what he wanted to say, knew that Bucky wanted to call him out on his shit the way he'd done when they were young, but Steve didn't want to have that conversation. Not yet, and maybe not ever.
He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about the guilt weighing him down. Bucky would understand it, but that didn't mean Steve wanted him to have to shoulder that burden along with his own.
What Steve really wanted to do was the one thing he couldn’t do: he wanted to sit with Peggy and tell her all his troubles and have her tell him it would all work out. He wanted that dance with her they'd never gotten. He wanted his happy ending, the one he'd been cheated out of when he went down with the Valkyrie. He could do it; he could go back in time, pick up where he left off. Once he'd returned the Stones to their proper places he could go back and join Peggy, live the rest of his life with her. Have more than just one dance; more than just one kiss.
He thought maybe it wasn't fair that he got to have a happy ending when Tony didn't. The one guy who had everything to live for was the one who didn't make it out alive. He wasn't sure there was anything he could do about it, which broke his heart all the more.
He only hoped that returning the Stones to their rightful places in history would fix things. Then maybe he could consider his own happy ending. He owed it to Tony to at least try to live again.
~o~
Two days later, Steve watched as Banner adjusted the new Quantum Bridge. Sam was standing beside him, his quiet shadow over the past few days. He'd been grateful for someone to lean on, even if he did feel a bit selfish for monopolizing Sam's time.
"You sure you don't want some company?" Sam asked.
"Nah," Steve said, shaking his head. "I've got this."
"You know you don't have to," Sam said quietly. "Pym's back, so we've got enough particles for as many trips as we need. Don't feel like you have to carry this weight alone. It's not wrong to admit you need help."
"Ever the counselor," Steve said, smiling. He glanced at his friend. "I'd rather just go and get it done. No offense, but I can move faster on my own."
"None taken," Sam said. "I just don't like the idea of you out there without backup."
"I've been dressing myself since I was three, Sam," he said. "I think I can handle this."
"And Loki?" Sam asked. "Any idea how you're going to handle that?"
"Some," Steve said. "If I can't catch him at the Tower before all hell breaks loose, I'm not sure how I'll find him."
"I wonder what kind of universe-ending trouble you'll be in with three Captain America's in New York at the same time," Sam said.
"The world's not gonna end with more than one of us in the past," Banner said. "I think we proved that already."
"Still creepy as fuck," Sam muttered.
"I think we'll be ready in a few minutes, Cap," Banner said.
"How's it looking?" Steve asked as he walked over to the control panel.
Banner shrugged the shoulder not in a sling. "Things are still chaotic, but they should even out the more Stones you return to their proper time."
Just then, Bucky emerged from the house to join them. "You about ready?" he asked.
"You trying to get rid of me?" Steve asked, shooting his friend a smile.
"Nah," Bucky said. "I just know you. Job's not done, so you're not gonna let up until it is. Just do me a favor, huh? Be careful out there. I just got my best friend back. I don't wanna have to break in a new one just yet."
"I'm sure Sam would be more than happy to step in if you needed someone to lean on," Steve said. He reached out and pulled Bucky into a hug.
"You take care of yourself," Bucky said as he pulled back. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Steve laughed. "Well, that leaves it wide open."
"Okay, we're ready when you are," Banner said.
Steve closed the latch on the small case holding the Infinity Stones, tugged the gloves that matched his uniform over his hands and then settled the controller onto the back of his left hand.
"Just make sure to get the Stones back as close to the same moment they left as you can," Banner reminded him. "We don't need any universe-ending surprises."
Steve picked up Mjolnir and headed for the platform. "No surprises. Got it."
"We'll see you on the other side," Banner said.
Steve stepped up onto the platform as Bucky settled in at Sam's side. They looked like old friends, standing there beside each other, both with arms crossed and something near to a scowl on their faces.
"I'd feel better if one of us was going with him," Sam said.
Bucky nodded. "Stevie's always been the stubborn type. Even when he was a scrawny kid he never asked for help."
"I'll be fine, you two," Steve called out. "You won't even have time to miss me."
Neither had an answer for that, just stood scowling at him. He figured they knew something was up, but it wasn't like Steve even knew what he was going to do once he'd returned the Stones to their proper places.
"Okay, we're going in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1," Banner counted down.
Steve felt the familiar tug behind his navel, and then the world went technicolor as he shrank down and entered the Quantum Realm.
~o~
Steve paused to lean against a brick wall in a nameless back alley in Manhattan. He'd lost track of how long he'd been gone, returning the Stones to their proper places in history. Catching Loki had been both harder and easier than he'd expected, but he'd saved it for last, knowing that would be his biggest challenge.
Seeing Schmidt again had been easily the most horrifying aspect of the job. He'd thought about just walking away, once he'd realized who was standing watch over the resting place of the Soul Stone, but ultimately, he knew the Stone had to return to its rightful place. If he never saw Schmidt again, it would be too soon.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the last remaining Stone, turning it over in his hand as he watched the faint sunlight catch the facets of the crystal structure. He kept his mind blank, having learned early on that stray thoughts could activate some of the Stones if he wasn't careful.
It was deceptively small and light for something so powerful, and yet it represented his heart's desire: the ability to rewind time to a period when he'd been happy. He was pretty sure he could do it-metaphorically, if not actually-without causing problems with the flow of time, but he needed to be sure.
He squeezed the Stone in his hand and set out for Bleaker Street and the Ancient One. If anyone could tell him whether what he wanted to do was possible, it would be her. According to Banner, she was the expert on time, so he figured he'd just ask her.
It didn't take long to reach the imposing brownstone that the Ancient One and the rest of her sorcerers called home. Before he could even knock on the door, it swung open, beckoning him inside. Steve crossed the threshold, frowning when he didn't see anyone in the foyer.
"Hello?" he called, glancing around the room. "Anyone here?"
The room itself was full of antiques and oddities, some he recognized and others that he didn't. Before he could get a good look at the room, he found himself in another room, presumably in a different part of the house. This room was larger, with huge windows letting in the fading light of the day. Again, lots of strange artifacts strewn across the room.
It was disorienting, moving around the house without actually taking a single step. He turned in a circle, taking it all in without really seeing it all. When he'd come full circle, he found himself face to face with a bald woman of indeterminate age. She was staring at him, studying him as if he were under a microscope.
"I was expecting Doctor Banner," she said.
"Well, you got me instead," Steve said. "I'm-"
"Steve Rogers, sometimes known as Captain America," she said. "I know who you are."
"And you're…" He waited for her to fill in the blank, but she stood still and just looked at him. "Banner called you the Ancient One."
"I am," she said, inclining her head slightly. "You have something for me."
Steve pulled the Time Stone out of his pocket. He stared at it for a long minute before holding it out to her. "The Time Stone. As promised."
Instead of picking up the Stone as he'd expected, she waved her hands through the air in front of the ornate golden pendant she was wearing. It opened like some crazy Chinese puzzle, and then the Stone just levitated off his hand and into the pendant. It spun closed, and when it was done, she seemed to relax.
"You have my gratitude, Captain," she said, bowing her head. When she looked back up at him, he got the sense that she was looking through him clear to his soul. "This was not your only purpose in coming here. What else do you wish of me?"
"I have… questions," he said.
"Of course you do," she said, a small smile on her lips. When he opened his mouth to start asking them, she held up a hand. "You need rest, and a meal. We will talk tomorrow."
Steve opened his mouth to protest, but instead he found himself in a well-appointed guest suite. On the table beside him was a tray, and when he lifted the lid, it revealed a plate full of warm food: a roast beef sandwich, a bowl of hearty soup, bread and water. His stomach growled, reminding him it had been a while since his last meal
He pulled up a chair and dove in to the food, polishing it off in short order. The tray disappeared, replaced by another that held a coffee pot and cup. Steve shook his head at the flashy display of power but poured himself a cup of coffee and wandered over to the windows.
The lights of New York were slowly blinking to life, gilding the city with a pale yellow glow. This wasn't the same city he remembered growing up, but it didn't look remarkably different than the New York City he knew in the future. At least, it looked a lot like the New York of a few years from now, before Thanos destroyed his world with the snap of his fingers.
And now he was in the past again, only not his own past. It honestly made his head hurt to think about all the time-hopping he'd done to get to this point. But instead of dwelling on the craziness of his life, he decided what he really needed was a good night's sleep.
Setting his cup on the tray, he crossed the room to the bed. He switched off the controller; immediately, his jeans and t-shirt faded away, to be replaced by his quantum suit. Another tap on the device and the suit folded itself away, leaving him in his uniform. He took off the controller and set it on the bedside table, then stripped efficiently, folding his clothes and setting them on the chair near the bed.
He crawled between cool sheets and lay back, tucking his hands behind his head. He wasn't really sure he could sleep. He had too many questions running through his mind to believe he could get any kind of rest, but his body had other ideas.
Between one breath and the next, he was sound asleep.
~o~
By the time Steve woke the next morning, the sun was already up. A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand told him he'd been asleep for more than ten hours. He was honestly surprised; since Rebirth, he hadn't slept more than six hours a night. His body simply didn't need as much sleep as it used to. That had been one of the hardest things to get used to, but since it had given him more time to study and plan, he hadn't really complained.
He climbed out of bed, stretching as he made his way to the attached bathroom. He found towels and toiletries waiting for him, along with a pile of fresh clothes. When he glanced back into the bedroom, he saw his uniform and the controller right where he'd left them last night.
Steve shook his head with a smile. The sorcerers were certainly not afraid of displaying their power. It was an odd feeling, having his needs and wants taken care of before he'd even fully formed the thought of them, but it wasn't like living with Stark had been much different.
Thoughts of Stark sobered him, as they had for… however long he'd been gone. It had felt like weeks, months even, though if he returned to 2023 it would be as if only seconds had passed. He dreaded the idea of returning to a world without Tony Stark. He missed the man like a phantom limb, even if they hadn't really been on speaking terms for most of the last eight years.
Stark was his last connection to his old life, and though it wasn't entirely fair, he depended on Stark as a sort of touchstone. He usually only understood about one word in three when the man got to talking about science, and his pop culture references tended to go right over Steve's head, but Stark had been loyal and generous, a brother in arms and the voice of reason in his ear, even when he didn't really want one.
Shaking off those maudlin thoughts, Steve moved through his morning routine on autopilot. Once he'd showered, shaved and dressed in the jeans and t-shirt someone had left for him, he headed back out to the bedroom. Breakfast was waiting for him on the table: eggs, bacon, toast, and plenty of orange juice and coffee. Again, he shook his head, but didn't hesitate to sit down and dig in.
It didn't take him long to plow through the meal. The food was plentiful and good; it had been a while since he'd had anything approaching regular meals, so the food had been much appreciated. Steve poured himself some more coffee and wandered over to the windows.
It was still early, but the city was already coming to life. There was a rhythm to life in New York that was familiar, no matter which decade you were living in. Birds, squirrels, cats and dogs were always the first to rise, along with the fleet of garbage trucks. Then the business men-and women these days-headed for their offices. This time of year, children weren't in school, so they were out on the streets playing and laughing.
It was all so… normal. Nothing like what the last five years had been for him. Even now that everyone had been brought back, life was still a messy jumble of the ones who'd been left behind-who'd lived the last five years seeing holes everywhere-and those who'd been snapped out of existence, for whom no time had passed.
Steve sighed. He was tired of dwelling on the past-tired of living in the past. He wanted to be able to move on, but it seemed like every time he tried, something happened to pull him back in. He'd begun to worry that his life would never be his own, no matter how hard he tried to carve out a little peace.
"You know, just once, I'd like things to be simple," he muttered. "Is that too much to ask?"
Suddenly, he was no longer in the guest room, but in a study, with rich wood paneling and floor to ceiling bookshelves. Large rugs covered the floor, anchored by a heavy wooden desk, and flanked by a leather couch and chairs. He turned to find the Ancient One waiting for him.
"More coffee?" she asked politely.
Steve looked down into his cup, finding it empty. He hadn't even noticed he'd finished it, and probably didn't really need more, but he held it out just the same. "Sure."
She filled his cup, then poured one for herself and settled into a corner of the couch. Steve took one of the chairs, sipping his coffee as he studied her. Bald lady with strange robes and power fairly radiating from her. She was… interesting. Her gaze was as penetrating as it had been the night before. She seemed like an old soul, no matter the age of her body.
When he didn't say anything, she raised an eyebrow. "You had questions?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "I do."
"I cannot promise I have answers for you," she said, still staring at him. "Or that there are even answers to be had. But I will do my best to answer what I can."
"Fair enough," he said. He leaned forward and set his cup on the coffee table. "First question: is the timeline stable, now that I've returned the Stones to their proper places?"
She hummed. "You don't pull your punches. Very well. Let's have a look, shall we?"
She set her cup down on the table beside her and waved a hand in the air. A streak of red-gold darted across the room, stretching out in both directions the length of the room. One end sparkled so brightly it was almost white. Steve followed the glowing streak across the room, until his eyes reached a point beyond where he was sitting.
Instead of a shining line representing the flow of time, the bright, beautiful red-gold faded into a muddy, chaotic mess.
"No branches," he said, relieved that he'd been able to set the timeline to rights. The grey chaotic mess at the other end bothered him, even though he didn't know why. He waved a hand at the other end of the timeline. "What's going on over there?"
"That is damage to the timeline," she said sternly. "I warned Doctor Banner that removing the Stones from their proper place in time would have consequences."
"But you also agreed with him that returning them to where they belong would fix the timeline," Steve said. "Which I've done. The Time Stone was the last one, so this all should be fixed, except clearly it isn't."
The Ancient One rose and walked over to the far end of the room, ducking under the gleaming streak of time, examining it from every angle. She turned to Steve, a contemplative look on her face.
"What happened after you retrieved the Stones?" she asked. "Did you use them?"
"Well, yeah," Steve said, standing up to join her. He stood facing her, the writhing mass of grey between them. "That was the whole point. Thanos used the Stones to destroy the Stones, so we had to grab them from earlier in time to fix what he'd done."
"He destroyed them?" she asked. "You're certain?"
"Yes, he did," he said, nodding his head. "We saw the burned out gauntlet, and the damage it did to his body. He said it almost killed him, but that he needed to do it so he wouldn't be tempted to use them again. That's why we needed to take the Stones from the past. We returned everyone that was dusted, and then Tony snapped Thanos and his armies out of existence." Steve paused as he looked at the timeline. "Is that why it looks this way? Should we not have erased Thanos?"
"Erasing Thanos would not have caused this kind of damage to the timeline," she said, shaking her head to emphasize the point. "But destroying the Stones might. They hold the universe together. Without them, it will fall apart. Not today, and not tomorrow, but someday."
"See, there's where you lost me," Steve said. "How do six Stones hold the universe together?"
The Ancient One swept her hand through the air, erasing the timeline she'd drawn. When she waved her hand again, one gleaming Stone was suspended in the air above them.
"The Time Stone," she said, indicating the glowing green gem slowly spinning in the low light of the room. "After the creation of the universe, the base elements that form the universe gathered and formed into the six Infinity Stones. This Stone-the Time Stone-governs the flow and perception of time."
"This Stone," she said as another Stone appeared, "is the Space Stone-what you know as the Tesseract. It forms the warp and weft of the fabric of the universe. The stars you see in the sky at night hang in the heavens because of the Space Stone."
A purple gem appeared next. "The Power Stone. The engine of the atom and the star. And the Mind Stone"-a familiar orange Stone appeared-"which gives form to the consciousness of all beings."
"The Reality Stone-what the Asgardians called The Aether-drives our perception of reality-the world around us. And the Soul Stone, creator of the beating heart of the individual."
All six Stones hung in the air, spinning gently in an arc in the air between them. They were honestly beautiful, as so many things of power were. It was no wonder they were so sought after.
"So, their power radiates out into the universe, from wherever they are," Steve said, watching as the Stones started creating ripples in the air, like the surface of water disturbed by a pebble. "And as the waves cross, they interact. Create life, give form and shape to…"
"Everything," she said. "Yes. And without their influence, the universe will fail."
"Like a house without a foundation," Steve said.
"Precisely," the Ancient One said, smiling at him like he was her star pupil.
"Let me guess, their power is diminished now that they've been reduced to dust."
"The power of the Stones is in the Stones themselves," she said. "The concentrated elements of each Stone is what gives it power."
"So if the actual physical crystal of the Stones has been shattered, the power that each one contains is dissipated, until it no longer has enough power to influence the universe," he said. The Ancient One inclined her head in a nod. Steve took a deep breath. "So eventually, without their influence, the universe will just… peter out."
"Or explode spectacularly," she said. "There's no knowing which. Either way, the universe as we know it will cease to exist."
"So how do we stop it?"
"Prevent the Stones from being destroyed," she said, as though that were the obvious answer.
Steve crossed his arms over his chest. "And how do you propose to do that? Going back to the past and changing anything creates a branching timeline. Banner said that would be bad, which is why I had to track down Loki and return the Tesseract to its proper place before the job was done."
"Ordinarily, branching timelines would indeed be bad," she said. "They have a destabilizing effect on time. However, in this case, were you to go back in time and alter events, the new branched timeline will become the primary timeline, and the damaged one will eventually fade away."
"Which would fix what Thanos broke, once and for all," Steve said.
"Quite so," she said. "The only choice you face is where in time you feel you can do the most good."
Steve sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. Was it ever going to end? Every time he thought he'd finally won the war, a new battle cropped up. He'd willingly signed up to be the hero, but he'd expected the job to have a finite life. To be asked, time and again, to save the world was exhausting.
Not that he'd ever even considered walking away, even in the darkest days after Ultron and the Sokovia Accords, when he and Tony had been on opposite sides of the fight and Steve had effectively become a fugitive. He'd still been doing what he could to save the world, just doing it more quietly than before.
But it looked like he was going to have to save the world one more time. Which meant that he'd have to put off his own happiness again. Letting go of the idea of going back to be with Peggy was surprisingly easy, which was actually a pretty big clue. Maybe he was more attached to the idea of being in love with her rather than actually being in love with her.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening his eyes to find the Ancient One watching him. "How far back can I go? And how much can I change when I get there?"
"You can go back as far as you need to, but I must caution you," she said. "Going too far back may see you in the wrong place to effect meaningful change. As for how much you can change, that is up to you. You will be creating a new timeline. Any changes will make it more difficult for you to predict where Thanos will be, if your goal is to stop him from acquiring the Stones at all."
"So, I need to go back to a place in time where I'll be in position to confront Thanos when he makes it to Earth," he said. Maybe he could even fix a few things along the way. "What about my younger self? How do I deal with him? I mean, I could work from the shadows, but it would be easier if I could just step into my own life, whenever I end up."
"That is something you will have to decide on your own," she said. "I cannot tell you how to accomplish what needs to be done."
"Right," Steve said. "How long do I have to decide? I mean, do I need to go now?"
She swept her hand through the air again; the Stones disappeared, and in their place, the timeline shot through the room again. A pulsing light appeared, some way away from the chaotic end of the timeline.
"This is when we are," she said. "Every day the damage goes unchecked, it will reach farther back in time. Eventually, all of history will unravel. For now, we are stable, but that will change eventually."
"So, I can take a few days to decide," he said, his shoulders sagging a bit in relief. He didn't want to be rash and just run off to take on this new task. He wanted to consider his options and make the best decision he could. A lot was riding on this.
"You are welcome to remain here while you consider your options," she said. "And should you have any questions, you only need ask."
Between one blink and the next, she was gone, and so was the timeline she'd shown him. Not that he needed to see it to know that time was eventually going to run out. He knew what he had to do; now he just needed to figure out how to do it.
~o~
In the end, Steve had stayed almost a week at Bleaker Street. He'd talked to the Ancient One a couple of times, but mostly he'd kept to himself. Deciding how far back to go, as it turned out, had been the easy part. Deciding what he could change and what had to remain the same had been infinitely harder.
He'd talked through all the possible ripples with the Ancient One, and she'd assured him that his plan was sound, though not even she could see what the future he was planning would hold. Ultimately, he'd have to take the leap and hope for the best.
Which was how he found himself standing on the street outside Stark Manor in the fall of 1948. He stared up at the stone façade, with its ornate cornices and the ostentatious gate keeping unwanted visitors out. Fortunately, Steve knew a way around the gate, courtesy of Tony Stark and a late-night conversation after the fall of SHIELD.
Steve walked along the fence until he came to a hidden gate on the back side of the property. He slipped through the gate and down the stairs into the tunnel that would connect him with the cellar and eventually the kitchen. Steve felt a small twinge of guilt for using the knowledge Tony had entrusted to him to break into his father's house, but that guilt was quickly subsumed by the need to speak to Howard and start the changes he needed to make to save Tony and the rest.
A quick five minutes after he'd stepped through the gate, he was pushing the kitchen door open only to be faced with the business end of a gun. He stopped short, put his hands up and took a good look at who was holding the gun.
"Howard," Steve said, relief flooding him at finding his friend at home, despite the fact that he was holding a gun on Steve.
"Steve?" Howard asked. The gun wavered a bit as confusion flitted across Howard's face. His resolve seemed to firm up as he was faced with the seemingly impossible sight of his friend alive and well. "Who the fuck are you? And why are you wearing Captain America's face?"
"I'm Steve Rogers, Howard," he said quietly. "I'm not a ghost, and I'm not an imposter."
"Bullshit," Howard said. "Steve Rogers is dead. He went down on a Hydra plane two years ago."
"Yeah, I did," Steve said.
"Then how the fuck are you in my kitchen?" Howard asked.
"That's a long story," Steve said. "One I came here to tell, but I'd rather not do it with a gun pointed at me."
"Sorry, but until I'm sure you're really him, I'm not putting the gun away," Howard said.
"Fair enough," Steve said. "How shall I prove I'm really me?"
"Tell me something only you would know," Howard said.
"Hmmm," Steve hummed, thinking back over the time they'd spent together after he'd joined the war effort in earnest. "Well, right before I rescued the Commandos, when we were in the plane, you were talking about fondue. I thought that was a euphemism for sex. You probably thought I was a hick or an idiot, but you just laughed and shrugged it off."
"Holy shit, Steve," Howard said, lowering the gun to stare at him in open shock. "It's really you, isn't it?"
"It's really me," Steve said.
"Jesus, c'mere," Howard said. He dumped the gun on the counter to his left and pulled Steve into a hug.
Steve held on far longer than he'd expected to. It was just so damned good to see someone he'd lost so long ago. When he pulled back, he could see the longing in Howard's eyes, too.
"You hungry at all?" Howard asked. "I can't cook much, but I can scramble eggs better than most."
"I'm good, thanks," Steve said. "I could use some coffee, though."
"Lucky for you, I just put a pot on," Howard said, giving him a winning smile. "Grab a seat and I'll bring you some."
Steve wandered over to the kitchen table and sat down, taking in the room for the first time. It was a spacious kitchen; warm and inviting. It was probably state of the art for the 1940s, but to Steve's eye, it was all so very… vintage. Tony had installed every conceivable modern convenience in the Tower, so that no one had to go far for anything they wanted.
Howard brought over a pot and two mugs, poured out the coffee and then sat across from him, staring at him as if he'd disappear if he blinked. He took a sip of his coffee, and Howard mirrored him, never taking his eyes off the other man. Steve would be creeped out by it, but considering he was presumed dead, he could understand the impulse.
"So, you have a long story to tell," Howard said. He leaned back in his chair, watching Steve over the rim of his mug. "Spill. Start with how you survived the plane crash."
"I went down with the Valkyrie," Steve said quietly. "As the plane sank under the ice, I just… gave up, I guess. I laid down on the floor of the plane and went to sleep. I thought I was going to die; the plane went down in the Arctic, nowhere near civilization, so rescue was a pipe dream. I never expected to wake up, but I did. In 2012."
"Holy shit!" Howard exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. "The ice must have put you in some form of stasis. The serum ramped up your metabolism, so I could see how that might help save your life."
"That's what the doctors think," Steve said. "It's the only explanation that makes any sense, anyway."
"Wait, did you say you woke up in 2012?" At Steve's nod, Howard just stared at him, slack-jawed. "How are you even here? I mean, in case you haven't noticed, we're nowhere near 2012."
"That's part of the long story I need to tell you," Steve said.
Howard must have seen the pinched look in Steve's eyes. "That must have been a shock, waking up."
"It felt like I'd time traveled," Steve said, which was an irony not at all lost on him in that moment. "Everything was different. New York was still my home, but I barely recognized it. And I really didn't have much time to acclimate; we were hit with an alien invasion just a few months after I woke up."
"Aliens?" Howard asked weakly. "Jesus. We thought Hitler was bad enough."
"Yeah, there's some seriously fucked up shit waiting for us in the future," Steve said.
"You know, no one believed me when I told them you could out-swear a merchant marine," Howard pointed out casually.
Steve chuckled. "No one would believe it in the future, either. Whenever I'd swear in front of someone, they looked… scandalized. As if a Saint had just taken the Lord's name in vain right there in front of them."
"So, who found you? Me?" Howard asked.
"It was SHIELD," Steve said. "They didn't tell y-they didn't tell anyone at Stark Industries, despite the fact that SI had funded the expedition to find me every year since… well, now."
"Those fucking bastards," Howard muttered. "I don't trust 'em, especially not after they almost arrested me for stealing my own damned weapons."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't get much better in the future," Steve said, thinking back to the secrets that Fury kept, and the way he'd been manipulated repeatedly to suit Fury's agenda.
"So, you woke up in the future, and now you're back in the past," Howard said. "How the hell did you end up in the past, anyway?"
"That's a little harder to explain," Steve said. "Suffice it to say that the Tesseract isn't the only cosmic object out there. A being called Thanos decided to collect them and use them to destroy half of all life in the universe. I'm trying to stop that from ever happening."
"Fuck," Howard said. "He could actually do that? Just wave his hand and bam, half of all living beings just gone?"
"Snap his fingers, but yeah, he really could," Steve said. "Did, actually. Then he destroyed the Stones to prevent himself from being tempted to use them again. Problem is, destroying them as he did is destabilizing the universe. I've come back to the past to fix the timeline."
"Aren't you afraid you'll mess up the past?" Howard asked. "I mean, you could be going back to a future that's far different than the one you left if you make the wrong sort of changes."
"I've been reliably informed that time travel doesn't work like that," Steve said, giving a lopsided smile. "What I'm actually going to try to do is create a new timeline. One in which I end Thanos before he has the chance to snap his fingers and destroy the world as we know it."
"What exactly do you have in mind?" Howard asked, one eyebrow raised.
~o~
"You really sure this is what you want to do?" Howard asked.
Steve stood, staring out at the barren Arctic landscape. He'd asked himself the same question more times than he could count over the last several weeks. Truth was, he still wasn't sure this was the right way to do it, but he'd come to the conclusion that there really was no right way. He could only control what he could control; everything that happened away from Earth was going to happen, regardless of the changes he made here. He could only make the choices he thought had the best chances for a good outcome, and let the chips fall where they may.
"Yeah, I'm sure," he said. He glanced at Howard, seeing the tension in his frame. "I need to be there at the beginning. I didn't have a lot of control over the situation, but I have influence that I can use. Hopefully, I can make enough changes to the timeline that we can avoid The Decimation, and all the consequences of Thanos' actions."
"That's a tall order," Howard said. "You got anyone who can help you? Anyone you trust in the future?"
"I-" Steve had to swallow the lump in his throat. He'd trusted Tony, even when they were at odds. He was hoping that, by going back in time and starting over, they'd avoid losing their friendship, too. Not that he could tell Howard any of that. There were certain things he thought perhaps his friend didn't need to know. "Yeah, I'll have friends. At least, I hope they'll be my friends again. We'll see."
"You know I'll do everything I can to prepare the way for you," Howard said. "Just say the word and I'll make sure it gets done."
"I know," Steve said, smiling. "There are a few things I'm going to need you to do."
"We're probably going to need more coffee for this conversation," Howard said. "C'mon, let's go inside and we can talk through what needs to be done."
Steve followed Howard into the temporary structure they'd built to serve as a home base for the expedition to find the Valkyrie. Steve had the coordinates, but they were operating without GPS, so once they'd set up camp, Howard had sent a team out to try to locate the plane. Steve wasn't looking forward to seeing his younger self frozen in the ice, but it couldn't be helped.
They shed their coats, gloves and hats, and settled in at the table, facing each other with a pot of coffee between them.
"Alright, tell me what you need," Howard said.
Steve took a deep breath. "First, you need to make sure Zola doesn't get anywhere near SHIELD. He's corrupt down to his bones, and there are those within SHEILD who'll use that to rebuild Hydra inside SHIELD."
"Fuck me sideways," Howard said, staring at Steve in shock. "You're not kidding, are you?"
"I wish I was," Steve said. He took a sip of coffee as he gathered his thoughts. "It nearly broke me when I found out that Hydra had essentially infected SHIELD, all the way to the top. I had to tear it all down, Howard. Everything you and Peggy built, I had to destroy, and it almost destroyed me."
"Jesus," Howard said. "You're sure I'm going to be in a position to do anything about Zola? There are some pretty powerful people backing the German scientists we collected. Von Braun, Zola, and all their people. Their knowledge is invaluable; I can foresee some pushback if I try to put my foot in the middle of that."
"Zola was a Nazi," Steve said, voice gone hard. "Remind everyone of that fact, Repeatedly. At volume if necessary. He was a true believer. He'd have had to be to stick with Schmidt for as long as he did. He can't be trusted any farther than you can throw him, and I don't want him anywhere near you or Peggy."
Howard's expression softened. "I still don't get why you didn't want to see her before we left. She misses you. Even two years after we lost you, she's still mourning."
"I know," Steve said. "But I'm not the same man she knew two years ago. I'm… more weary. Jaded, I guess. I've seen and done too much to be the man she needs. It's better for her if I just stay away. Besides, he'll be the man she remembers, and he's gonna need her more than I do. It'll be fine."
"You say so," Howard said, but he clearly didn't understand Steve's reasons. Which was okay; there wasn't much about this situation that Steve knew for sure, but he knew without a doubt that he couldn't stay with Peggy. It wasn't his place anymore, and he wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done if he stopped to see her. "So, I've got to kick Zola out of the cool kids' club. What else?"
"I'm going to need you to go after something called the Winter Soldier Program," Steve said. He'd given this one a lot of thought. It felt selfish, sending Howard after Bucky, but it would also save Howard's life, so he thought the trade-off was fair.
"Whose project is that?" Howard asked with a frown. "Ours?"
"The Soviets, actually," Steve said. "They were infiltrated by Hydra as well. Zola gave them the research on the Super Soldier serum and started trying to create their own army of Super Soldiers. I don't know how far along the project is at this point, so there may not be much to go on, but you need to shut it down. Hydra and the Soviets used the Winter Soldier to kill anyone who got too close to discovering Hydra hiding within SHIELD. They killed a lot of innocent people, including the failed candidates."
"Hydra and the Soviets working together?" Howard asked. "It's no wonder you want to change the future. The world you woke up in is seriously fucked up, Steve."
Steve snorted. "Tell me about it. By the time I woke up, the Soviet Union had fallen, but that just left room for other, crazier nightmares to fill the vacuum. Honestly, some of the shit I've seen makes the Soviets look like a quilting bee."
"I'm not gonna like the future much, am I?" Howard asked.
"When we're done remaking the future, it'll be safe for you and yours," Steve said. "I refuse to lose any more friends to this mess."
"I'll do what I can to make that happen," Howard said. "You have my word."
"Thanks," Steve said.
"What about… him?" Howard asked, waving his hand in the general direction of the crash site. "You want me to tell him anything?"
"Tell him as much as you can," Steve said. "He's going to need to know, especially when he sees me on television."
"You planning on running for President or something?" Howard asked, his lips quirked up in a smile.
"No," Steve said. "But if we can't stop the alien invasion-and at this point I have to believe it'll happen, no matter what we do-I'm going to be right in the thick of it. It'll be covered extensively by the media, so my face will be all over the news."
"And Peg?" Howard asked. "She's gonna be madder than an old, wet hen if we tell him and not her. 'Cause she's going to see the same things on TV that he will."
"Yeah," Steve said with a sigh. "She won't take it well, but I don't think you can keep it from her. At least, not all of it. You're going to have to decide how much you can tell them and when. And he'll need a new identity. He can't go around calling himself Steve Rogers; there'll be too many questions you won't want to answer."
"Great," Howard said with a huff. "Leave me holding the bag."
"I wish things were different, Howard," Steve said. "I wish none of this was necessary, but I can't let Thanos destroy my world, and if history unfolds the same way it did the first time, that's exactly what will happen. I'm going to do better this time; hopefully I'll be able to stop him."
"Well, I wish you luck," Howard said. "It sounds like you're going to need it."
"Excuse me, sir," one of the team members said as he pushed the door open.
"What is it, Jones?" Howard asked.
"We've found the plane, sir," Jones said. He glanced nervously at Steve, who figured he knew why. "It's just like you said. The C-Captain is inside; he's frozen, so we don't know what kind of condition he's in."
"Thanks, Jones," Howard said. He looked at Steve. "Ready?"
Steve drained his coffee cup. "As I'll ever be. Let's go."
~o~