001; video

[readytocomply]

[It had been the right thing to do. For everyone. He wasn't safe, couldn't trust himself, and while he hadn't wanted to do it, it had been the only choice. But he's been in and out of cryostasis enough to know when coming out this time isn't the same. It's not the same room. The same doctors. The cityscape outside is far from what he'd last seen. It's not just that that's off - it's how he wakes up. Relaxed, naturally, like he'd slept the whole night through, and there's nothing normal about that.

The telepathic earplugs don't bother him. The signing up to be a Legionnaire doesn't bother him. Not knowing where his best friend or anyone else is does. So when he's cleared by the medical team he uses the network to find answers. Bucky's face is half-hidden when the feed starts, voice low, and he wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't necessary.

He was on shaky ground and he needed something to steady him.]

Name's Bucky. I'm looking for someone. Steve Rogers.

[It's risky to put it out there like that. He doesn't know these people and he's been alive long enough to know that even the brightest smiles can be hiding the worst secrets. But he needs to find someone he remembers. Everything is muddled and this place looks like something his mind has made up.]

He might go by Captain America.

[Just in case he's alone here, he adds a little more.]

If someone could tell me what the hell's going on here, I'd appreciate it.

[There's a brief pause.]

I don't wanna talk in person. Here's fine.

[ooc: Bucky's new and sworn in - he may change his mind about that later. He tends to swap to text at random.]

Comments

[smarterthandad]

[No one can roll their eyes like a small child.]

Don't quit your day job.

[You know, of being a brainwashed killing machine.]

You sharing a universe with Spider-Man complicates things.

[She's too loyal to Steve to outright say "Cap is gonna be surprised and not in a good way."]

[readytocomply]

Why's that?

[Bucky doesn't know everything about the spider guy. Their meeting was brief and he didn't get the chance afterward to get filled in.]

He do something? Or do you know who I am?

[The latter was worse.]

[smarterthandad]

Let's take this backchannel.

[She takes a sip of her drink with one hand while reaching out to tap the controls with the other, the way anyone sitting at a desk might. The weird part is that instead of a coffee mug, it's a juice box with a cartoon rabbit on the side.]

[private]

The Steve Rogers here is from my universe, though he's back a few years from me. James Barnes exists for us, too.

[Yep, she knows who he is. Sorry, Bucky.]

Unfortunately, Uncle Steve [wat] is too upright for his own good, and refuses to hear any information from "the future." [Another eyeroll. Like that matters.] He doesn't know the Winter Soldier's actual identity.

private

[readytocomply]

[Bucky hasn't spoken, at length, to a child in a long time. He can tell already that this gal is smarter than any he has ever known, so he won't underestimate her, but he will monitor what he says.]

Uncle? Steve doesn't have any siblings.

[Alternate universe. Duh, Bucky.]

I won't tell him what he doesn't want to hear about.
Just need to see him.

private

[smarterthandad]

No relation. He's a family friend. My folks have been doing the costume thing since before he came out of the ice.

[Val pulls her legs up to her chest, hugging her knees. There's plenty of room for it in the adult-size chair. She doesn't really want to think about family right now...or more specifically their absence.]

It's just that he might not believe you without corroboration, which I can provide...but he doesn't want me to [air quotes] "affect the timeline." Like I haven't forgotten more about time travel than he knows.

[That's remarkably condescending coming from someone who can't see over the counter in the mess hall without a stool.]

[readytocomply]

Who are your parents?

Why wouldn't he believe me? You said there was a James Barnes in his world.
He knows me. Well, he knows him.

Doesn't he trust that I'd tell him the truth?

[smarterthandad]

Reed and Susan Richards. They don't exist in your universe, according to Spider-Man.

[No skin off her nose.]

As far as Uncle Steve's concerned, Bucky Barnes died in World War II, and he hasn't yet learned otherwise. Someone showing up claiming to be you wouldn't be the first time someone tried to mess with his head.

[She shrugs.]

It's a solvable problem. Your universe doesn't have a lot of alternate dimension experience, but it won't be Cap's first time. He'll be fine. I just didn't want to see bad blood over an honest misunderstanding.