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

[actionishisreward]

Ohhh crap.

[Hey Bucky, remember that kid who webbed you to the ground and refused to shut up? He's here.]

Um, hi? Cap's sort of here, but, and please don't fteak out, he's not actually the same Captain America we know. He's from an alternate universe. Same guy, roughly similar history, but it's the differences that will trip you up.

[readytocomply]

[Ah, this kid. Mouth that ran a mile a minute and was strong enough to stop his arm.]

What does that mean? Either he's Steve Rogers or he isn't.

[Now Bucky will come to terms with this eventually but right now he's stuck in a headspace that leaves him thinking he's gone crazy.]

And hi.

[He's got some manners. He just forgets to use them.]

[actionishisreward]

That's kind of my point. He's a Steve Rogers, not our Steve Rogers. We're from one universe, he's from one that's similar but not entirely the same.

...it's kind of like Wizard of Oz. You know how all the people Dorothy came across in Oz looked and sort of acted like people she knew in Kansas? That's how alternate universes work. There are people you know, but not the same people you know.

Also, hi. I'd apologize for webbing you to the floor, but you kinda threw a metal sign at my head so I think that sort of makes us even.

[readytocomply]

Does he know me?

[Bucky doesn't want to panic, but he might. He also doesn't want to dig a hole and never come out, but if he's got nobody to verify that this is all real, he might. Maybe red spandex guy can help with that.

His movie reference is a good one. It makes sense even if it's a little unbelievable.]

Never apologize for protecting yourself.

[unrecovered]

[Hello, shameless curiosity]

Okay, that's a story I want to hear.

[unrecovered]

[Okay but why turn on video if you're going to basically hide from the feed? Someone does not look like they're doing okay.]

He's around, but Peter pretty much hit the nail on the head - between alternate dimensions and timeline bullshit, it's probably better to talk to him before you assume he's the one you know.

As for what's going on, did you get the briefing?

[Sure, this place is insane, but that doesn't mean Wash wants to explain the same thing twice.]

[smarterthandad]

[It's a small blond girl, perhaps three or four, but the intent expression on her face belies the possibility that someone's kid got hold of an unattended omnicomm.]

Oh, boy.

[Thanks Val, that was very helpful.]

[readytocomply]

It's really not.

[readytocomply]

Where around?
You say he's not my Steve but he's still Steve. I want to see him.

I did but it's a lot to accept from complete strangers.

[readytocomply]

I prefer Bucky.

[Haha.]

[actionishisreward]

It's a long story. I wasn't there for most of it, and a lot of it is stuff I had to work out after.

Basically, because of several very destructive incidents that the Avengers played a role in, even if they didn't exactly cause them, the UN decided they should set a up a panel to oversee the team. Mr. Stark was for it, Captain Rogers was against it, apparently because he felt it would limit there ability to help people? The other Avengers sort of took sides from there. It probably wouldn't have been a thing I ended up involved in, but then a guy whoo looked like Bucky here caused an explosion that killed the King of Wakanda during the signing of the Accords that created the oversight panel.

Cap went after Bucky, figuring he'd framed, which he was, which kind of violated the Accords. It turned into this whole huge mess, one half of the Avengers fighting the other half, and I ended up involved because Mr. Stark figured he needed some backup, and kinda-sorta blackmailed me into fighting by threatening to tell my aunt what I'd been doing.

[actionishisreward]

I think he does, yeah.

[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."]

[smarterthandad]

Huh.

[That is not how Civil War went down where she's from.]

private

[readytocomply]

And you know me?

[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.

Re: private

[actionishisreward]

Jame Buchanan Barnes, WWII veteran, best friend of Steve Rogers. Also formerly a brainwashed HYDRA assassin.

[actionishisreward]

Why huh?

[unrecovered]

Look, I've watched enough shitty entertainment in my life to know when there's an actual good story somewhere. "I webbed you to the floor after you threw a sign at my head" sounds like a good story, or at least a good highlight reel.

[smarterthandad]

Superhero oversight played out very differently where I'm from. T'Chaka died years before it ever came up, and Wakanda wasn't a major factor at all because Uncle T'Challa had the sense to stay out of it.

[Among so many other things, but that one's safe to discuss.]

...Well, right up until they tried to register his wife at a diplomatic function, anyway.

[unrecovered]

[...note to self, when asking for the story behind a brief fight recap, be clear that you want a recap of the fight itself and not the politics that went into it, because those tend to be heavy and unpleasant and ruin the fight recap.]

[Wash can be simple on occasion. Real life tends to ruin said occasions for him.]

[That said, after that summary, he's only got a few questions;]

Aren't you, like, fifteen? Maybe? Why did an adult blackmail a fifteen-year-old into fighting in a superpowered brawl?

[Who are the adults in your life and why are they terrible]

[unrecovered]

...your world is kind of a political black hole, isn't it.

[And he says that as someone whose politics are run by the UNSC.]

[actionishisreward]

Honestly, I don't really know why Mr. Stark does anything. From the way he acted around me later, I think he figured out it was a terrible idea afterwards? And I don't think he really thought it would get as insane as it ended up being? I mean, the Ant-Man turning into Giant-Man thing came completely out of left field. And that was sort of the tip of he iceberg when it came to how much of a mess it turned into.

[smarterthandad]

...Wakanda and Latveria are very competently run.

[So "yes," basically.]