Steve Rogers (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} do_this_all_day) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} chances_rpg,@ 2022-11-15 11:44:00 |
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Where: Merced Lake Park
When: Saturday November 12, 2024
What: Reconnecting with a Ghost
Rating/Warnings: Canon typical violence (mild)
Status: Completed via GDocs
James didn’t really know what he was getting into, and he tucked his shield gauntlet into his hoodie, just in case.He didn’t want to fight his dad… but if Steve had gone under something serious and wasn’t himself.. Then James knew that he’d have to protect himself.
He knew that his father was somewhere watching, as he got to the location early. The park was nice, and it was a saturday, so it was full of other people. Perhaps his father had indeed intended peace. He was nervous. He was not having a good time. He found out that his mishap back home had lead to a version of Tony being killed. His father was missing. His sister didn’t know who he was.
James stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked along the lake, using its reflection to see if his father was coming up behind him.
The shadows weren't the only things the Asset could slip in and out of. In some circles, they called him a spook, a phantom. Nothing supernatural about it, he was just that good. It shouldn't have been possible for a man his size to become utterly unremarkable, but he did so with practiced and sometimes ruthless efficiency.
One minute, the child was alone, the next he wasn't as the loyal soldier fell into step beside him. Everything about him was nondescript: jeans, jacket over a polo shirt, a ball cap from a local sports team, and sunglasses—all taken from the thrift store he'd broken into the night he left the unfamiliar apartment building. (He left a commensurate donation in the box before he left.) "You came alone." An observation, nothing more, his tone light, conversational. "What did you want to talk about?"
James would have almost been startled, but he was already on edge. He took a deep breath as his father's voice fell over him, it was different than how it should have been, more gravely maybe? He tilted his head, looking at him.
"I did." James said with a shrug, maybe someone might have thought it was a dumb idea, but he knew that somewhere inside of him his dad was there. "Wanted to make sure you were okay. You don't seem like you want to know how you got there. Or about how you used to be Captain America."
His mouth twisted for half a second before turning neutral again. That flicker of familiarity, like when Tony had called him Steve. It got swept aside by years of training, years of missions, years of frozen nightmares filled with blood and doubt hiding in his subconscious. "That's not me." A hard, cold fact. "That's a relic of a world that no longer exists. He died in the Atlantic before Comrade Schmidt's plane went down. I should know. I pulled the trigger myself. Whoever S.H.I.E.L.D. trotted out after was nothing more than a theatrical performance for the sheep in desperate need for some patriotic propaganda."
He let his gaze linger on the lake to one side of them for a moment before glancing at the boy again. There was a faint resemblance, but nothing that sparked anything inside him. "This isn't the first time I've been dropped in an unfamiliar place. I know how to survive."
What the Soldier didn't say was that he'd spent the last few days waiting for contact, for instructions to pop up in his field of vision. HYDRA existed in the world, but he'd quickly realized it wasn't his HYDRA.
James didn't know a lot about all of the events between Bucky and Steve, or how exactly his father had come to be frozen in ice, but that had to be what he was talking about, right?
His hands pulled out his phone and he pulled up a few pictures. "You, as Captain America, after you spent a good deal in ice after the plane crash." James said simply. "In the normal timeline. But I think, I think we just have to keep you safe until you return to normal." Because, fuck, he hoped that Steve would be back. He couldn't deal with two parents being so close and barely acknowledging his existence. He wished Winter Soldier Bucky was around, because of whatever Steve had used to get the regular Bucky back. Timelines were complicated.
Again, the Soldier's mouth moved, this time quirking in wry amusement. "Pretty presumptuous to assume the timeline you're talking about was the 'normal' one. Not to mention the implication that you'd rather have another version of me around, and that's the only thing motivating you now. I can stay safe all on my own. As I said, I have plenty of experience." As much as he knew he shouldn't indulge in it, he was still curious. "Is the 'normal' timeline your own? What's it like?"
"I say normal, because we know of more timelines where you are Captain America than where you are not," James said with a glare. "At least… at least four?" James said as he ticked them off.
"Clint and Kate 2's timeline. Mine and Tony's. The one where most of the other Avengers are from. The one Dee's from. Oh, and this one, so five, I guess. So yeah, the normal one where you are Captain America." He crossed his arms over his body like a petulant child. "And regardless of what you think, it's not wrong to want my father back."
He took a big breath and let it out with a sigh, shrugging. "In my timeline, you died when I was a baby. I was raised by Tony, the one in our apartment. Here, you've just moved in with us. You are dating Tony. It's been nice to have two parents."
A universe in which he wore an absurd red white and blue costume. Several, if this kid was to be believed. Alternate timelines were a new one on him. Would be to anyone, probably. This "Clint" could have been anyone, but the Soldier idly wondered if it might have been Barton, who he'd taken out in Budapest along with the traitor Widow. Not so much here, though. A few hours in the library and a couple of key phrases told him just enough. "I don't remember mine," he admitted, "but I haven't needed a past. Just orders."
“But,” James argued, “You aren’t from here. There is no one to give you orders. What do you do then?” he challenged.
Unease crawled up his spine. It was the same question he'd been asking himself. He'd gone weeks without contact from his handlers before, but he'd always had a mission, a purpose. Personal freedom wasn't something he knew what to do with. The Asset looked back at the lake and the people around it. Where was the order? The clarity? His spine stiffened in an effort not to shudder, and his lips thinned. "I don't know."
“We can figure it out.” James said lightly, and without thinking, he put his hand on the other man’s shoulder, a familiar action that he might have done with his dad more than a million times. “To be honest, I’ve been here a year, and sometimes I still feel lost about what I’m doing.”
At the very least, the Soldier waited until the boy stopped speaking before he took the hand on his shoulder and removed it none to gently. His grip wasn't even a quarter of his strength, but he still knew it would hurt, especially because he could feel the creak of the bones in James' fingers.
That hurt. He wasn't sure if it was broken, but it hurt. James sucked in a breath, and reacted out of instinct. He pulled his sleeve over his gauntlet, and summoned an electromagnetic shield. He didn't throw it at him, just used it to hold space between them.
He raised his eyebrows. "You aren't the only super soldier," he said pointedly, even if he wasn't at the skill of his father or the others. "Do not do that again."
"Don't touch people without asking." Mild interest at the sudden appearance of the shield flickered through the Asset's gaze, but that was all. Otherwise, he remained unmoved by the display. "This was a mistake. Go home. I'll find my own way."
Part of James wanted to argue. There was a piece of him that wanted to keep his dad safe, when his dad was clearly not in his right mind, but the throbbing in his hand and the adrenaline in his veins was telling him that pressing the issue might not be a great idea. Still, he hesitated.
“If you do something dumb, I’ll come after you again.” James swore before turning and walking away.
As the Soldier melted back into the sun and shadow and crowd, he could only chuckle dryly to himself and murmured, "Wouldn't that be a sight to see."