Who: Steve Rogers kidfrombrooklyn & Death deathiskind What: During a night watch, a pulse is sent out When: Monday, May 4 - Nighttime Where: At the barrier surrounding the Marker Rating: Audience Discretion is Advised Warnings: Violence, Necromorphs, conversation, etc. Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
~*~
Steve was oddly glad for the distraction the Marker caused. It helped give him something to do that felt more productive than minding the General Store. There was a steady stream of business, and his friends tended to stop by to see how he was doing, but it was boring. He found himself running more and sparring with Natasha as often as they could manage it. It all felt so routine, and while that usually settled him, it was also mundane. War was all he’d known for so long. SHIELD had filled the void, but only barely. Being an Avenger, leading a team again, that had filled the emptiness. Having something to focus on and people to direct provided a purpose made him feel much more settled in his skin.
Steve had closed up the General Store at it’s usual time and took two sandwiches, a bag of pretzels, and two bottles of water before making his way to the corner of the barricade he’d told Death to meet him at for their first shift. She’d made an interesting claim, calling herself Death. Steve was intrigued, which served as the perfect way to pass the time and would allow him time to assess if what she said was true. She sounded as if she were a Super Soldier herself, were it not for the fact that Steve knew it to be nearly impossible.
“Hello,” he greeted warmly. “I’m Captain Rogers, though you can call me Steve. I brought us sandwiches, something to drink. Our shift will last until dawn.” Steve took a seat near her, leaving ample space between them if she wanted. “Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”
~*~
Death was confused by the job given to her. She worked with the sick as a nurse. Her! She wasn't sure that was a good idea. Those who were closer to death would know her face. It was an awful thought.
She arrived at the meeting place for their shifts. Then smiled as she looked over at Steve. "A pleasure to meet you, Steve. I'm Death. Thank you for the food and drink. I hadn't thought of it." Then a smile.
"Out side of time and space, actually. I am older than the universe, me and my siblings live outside of time." She ran her nails through her hair, then folded her hands on her lap.
"Tell me of yourself."
***
Steve sort of understood more of what she was after she explained where she was from. It could most easily be equated to Thor, though that was probably where the similarities ended. Whatever her purpose was, she didn’t appear to be killing anyone, or putting the residents in danger. Over the course of their conversation, Steve figured he’d be able to suss out some kind of explanation.
“Of course,” he replied to her thanks. “Food was a luxury in the trenches, when I was in the field. It’ll be nice to have a change of pace this time around.” Of course, watching the Marker wasn’t nearly as close to being in the middle of a battle. Hopefully, the others who lived in Test City would never need to know what that was like.
“I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1940s. Used to be a skinny little nothing, too,” Steve explained with a grin. “I volunteered for an experiment that ended up turning me into this. Got to save my best friend and a bunch of other prisoners, after that. I went after this organization called HYDRA, back in World War II. They were doing all kinds of bad things and someone had to stop them.” He shrugged. “Ended up getting frozen in the ice for seventy years, woke up in a place that’s not quite so crazy as this, but kind of.” It had certainly been just as eye opening.
“Have you been here long? In Test City?”
~*~
Death listened with a curious ear. She always liked hearing human's stories. They were nothing like what her family told. She found herself missing her siblings. But a smile curled her lips anyways.
"A skinny kid from Brooklyn." She mused over that for a moment. "Many heros stories start out in similar ways. Throughout the ages it's the most unlikely one that rises to the top." And often got them killed, but she didn't add that.
"I've always found human experiments to be particularly awful. I have a special place in my heart for humans, but I must say, you are more vicious than any other creature. I have escorted the souls of so many killed by other humans. Both on purpose, and on accident. I get a little sad each time." The World Wars were particularly horrible, but not the worst she's seen.
"Frozen for seventy years? Amazing. I didn't know that was possible." She seemed genuinely surprised and awestruck. "How wonderful!" Death loved people. They were such a vastly diverse creation. She felt honoured to meet those she escorted to death and those she breathed life into. She was, after all, dual purpose.
Then a slow shake of her head. "No not long. A month perhaps? It is the longest time I've ever been in the human world at one time. It's been... Different."
***
“That’s what my mom always said,” Steve replied with a grin. “I volunteered for mine, and I probably wouldn’t have gotten selected if not for Doctor Erskine. His formula, it made the subject more. Good became great, bad became evil. When he was working for the Germans, Johann Schmidt took the formula and became a monster. The Red Skull. He started out working for Hitler, but decided that he was better off on his own. He was looking for alien technology, and that got passed down from leader to leader, for all of the leaders of HYDRA.”
Talking about his past was getting easier, but he was also starting to approach it merely as a sit-rep, and not on a more personal level.
“My team was called the Howling Commandos, and I got nicknamed Captain America. It was a fluke, I guess, that I got frozen instead of dying. It felt like I was dying, at the time, and when I woke up, it was like I’d just been in a really deep sleep. That’s an experience I’ll be glad to not have ever again.” It was still bothersome to think that Bucky went through that experience every time he was put into or taken out of cryofreeze.
“I’ve only been here for a little over a month, too. Where do you usually pass the time? On another world?”
~*~
“Isn’t that what mother’s are for?” she grinned a bit. Not that she knew what it was like but details, details. “Did you then? How interesting.” she tucked a strand of black out of her eyes and smiled warmly. “Ah. I have seen the aftermath of such things, where they do not succeed or in the eyes of those who become evil because of it, succeed too much.” she frowned a touch. “I try not to take sides in the conflicts of man. I try not to have opinions on them because I see everyone. Every single living thing.” she sighed a bit. “But I must admit, Hitler was one I was happy to escort over and be left to his Fate.” she shook her head and smiled again, a bright smile to wash away the ill talk.
“I cannot imagine. I’ve never experienced such a thing. It must have been disorientating.” she spoke carefully, as if searching for the right words. When she found them she was confident in her speech. “Me? Oh. Me and my siblings have our own little homes outside of time and space.” she smiled softly. “I have goldfish, actually.” she smiled a little more.
“It’s a lovely place of my own making. We each designed our own homes - my siblings and I. I find myself missing them. It is a strange feeling.” a slight frown.
~*~
“That’s what my ma was for, at least,” he countered, knowing full well that not everyone had it as well as he did, when it came to their mothers. Steve hadn’t known his father, but his mother more than made up for it. Losing her had been a hard blow, but he was also weirdly grateful that he’d had to bury her instead of the other way around. Bucky had stepped up and helped him, more than Steve probably deserved.
She seemed pretty interesting though, seeing everything as it unfolded and meeting every person. Steve knew he wouldn’t have been able to do her job. He’d never been able to not stand up against bullies. “Your job must be hard,” he commented, before taking a bite of his sandwich. “I can’t stand bullies of any kind. Even when I was a scrawny, sick kid, I always stood up for folks. Fella said bad things about a dame, I’d tell him to shut it. Same for if they went after anyone who wasn’t like them, a white guy. That’s one thing I like about the world these days. The gap is a lot less now, between men and women, whites and minorities. Even the other religions. Always seems to surprise folks that Captain America isn’t horrified by the idea of a mosque by the Ground Zero or gay marriage being legal.” Steve chuckled, recalling an interview he’d done that ended up getting passed around the news outlets.
“I know what you mean about missing your family, though my family isn’t related by blood. Waking up from the ice, the worst part was knowing that most of my family had passed on. I’m glad they got to live full lives, but it just made me feel more alone and out of place.” He offered her a warm, friendly smile. “Tell me about your siblings? Might make you miss them less, and I’ll trade you stories of my family, too.” That seemed like a reasonable way to pass the hours.
~*~ Death smiled at him as she listened to his words and shrugged gently. “I was created for my job. There isn’t much to it, beyond that is what I do. I do not have a choice, nor do I want one. I am what I am.” she said after a moment and smiled. “It’s not hard, I just escort the souls to their next destination or hand them to whoever holds their Fate, it could be worse.” she smiled a bit more.
She passed the hours telling him of her siblings - and how she was closest to Dream, and how Destiny was the most aloof of them all. And how Desire was the hardest to handle sometimes because he/she is ruled by her nature. And how she loved Delirium, and that love had influenced her. She had a floppy hat collection and two goldfish! Death smiled more than she thought she would, exchanging stories like this. It was a nice way to pass the time.
Her head came up, brows furrowed. “What’s that?” she asked as she felt something off. As if something was about to happen. She couldn’t put her finger on it, she couldn’t quite get the feeling and give it a name. But she felt uneasy all of a sudden.The cheerful smile was long gone as she tried to figure it all out. “Do you feel that?”
~*~
It was altogether too easy, conversing with Death about the people closest to them. Steve regaled her with stories of the Howling Commandos, both in battle and during the lulls. He told her about Peggy, about his Ma, about Doctor Erskine, and about Bucky. He talked longest about Bucky, always anecdotes about their childhood or their adventures as Commandos. Bucky was such a huge part of his life that it was impossible to not talk about him.
Hours passed companionably, until some kind of wave pushed out around them. It felt like what a sonic wave looked like; some invisible force that washed over them and out through the city. Steve turned toward the direction the energy had come from, spying the Marker. The source. His expression turned grim.
“I think it’s some kind of energy discharge from that thing there,” Steve replied, sounding as though he’d half expected it as inevitable. He pushed himself up, wishing once again for his shield to better protect everyone, and surveyed the structure that had appeared the other day. “Nothing good ever comes from this,” he added, glancing at her before offering a hand to help her up. “Might be time to see just how well you can handle yourself.” Steve heard his mobile device ping, notifying him of a new message, and he read it aloud for the both of them.
“Warning: Test City has detected hostile lifeforms. Please be advised these lifeforms are dangerous, and will kill on sight. The only known way to incapacitate them is by dismemberment and killing them requires the body to be completed ripped apart. If you or someone you know is acting strange, please lock them away for the safety of themselves and others. We are working quickly on a solution to this problem, and we thank you for your patience. Be safe, Test City.”
Steve set his jaw, frustrated with the city and it’s ineffective warnings. “Looks like we’ve got trouble.” Though they were still a ways out, Steve could spot creatures moving toward them with ill intent. “Are you ready for this?” If she said no, he would get her to safety. If she was okay to fight, he’d keep an eye on her anyway and get her to safety if she needed it.
~*~
Death sighed a bit. “Well what a way to ruin a lovely night.” she had enjoyed the conversation with Steve. It was enlightening and wonderful to connect with people again. This was nice. and new. and felt great. But now this felt off and she didn’t like it much. She looked over at him as he spoke then nodded. “That’s what it felt like.” she took the offered hand and got to her feet. “Thank you.”
She gave him a wry smile. “I think you’ll be surprised, then.” she had magic, and all kinds of abilities. She didn’t use them much (there was no need!) but she could manage just fine. She sighed a bit at the warning. “How utterly useless sounding.” she mused. “I have found that those who promise solutions often find them too late to be of any use.” she shook her head a bit and smiled.
“Trouble. I’m getting used to that word.” she looked out towards the structure and could see the things moving towards them. She was touched by his concern, it was nice to have someone looking out for her, but she only smiled a bit. “Let’s go and see how many we can prevent from getting to the general population.” she was ready to fight and capable of doing so.
Without another word she started off towards the problem trusting that Steve would be at her side in a moment, he didn’t seem the kind to let her go on ahead. She liked that in a person, it was helpful to know you could trust someone to help fight. They’d get a head start on this mess. It was the least they could do. ~*~