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Something was wrong. Bucky could feel it even if he couldn’t put his finger on it. He’s felt that way for some time now, but he kept that to himself. Of course, everyone knew he was a 100% okay, but they still accepted him.
It wasn’t that easy at first. Especially with Stark, but then again, nothing was easy with him. Still, he was accepted in the group pretty fast. Natacha was the person he was closer to because of their shared history. Maybe that was the problem, he thought. Steve, he remembers Steve, and who he is to him. They sleep in the same apartment in the tower, in the same bedroom and yet, they didn’t touch each other. Bucky, truth be told, is still bothered by the constant use of suppressant that prevents him from smelling his mate completely. He wished Steve would break protocol and reveal that he was an omega. He would receive a lot of backlash, even more so when the people will learn of their bond, but they could be completely free.
And yet, Steve didn’t want to stop the suppressants. And he didn’t want to touch Bucky. Sometimes he looked at him like he wanted to, but he hesitated. Bucky wasn’t any better. I am a coward, he thought. Because he hesitated too, even though he really wanted to touch him. To hug him, to scent him, to bond him again. Steve was his, always and forever. The rare times he tried talking to Steve, he would find an excuse to go away or change the subject. Bucky was at his wits end.
****
The villain of the week was a wizard intent on taking over the world. Not very original really. That’s what they all wanted. The Avengers were immediately on it, hoping that this time New York would be more spared. Banner wasn’t here but the rest of them were, even Thor. Bucky and Hawkeye were up on buildings and shooting the villain’s minions. The rest of them were either flying around shooting at things or whatever that was that this wizard created and trying to get people to safety.
“I’ll destroy the Avengers, the villain said, and I’ll take over the world! You need me! PEOPLE OF NEW YORK, I AM YOUR SAVIOR!!”
“Cool story, bro, retorqued Clint.”
“Yeah Purple Rain, how about no? snarked Iron Man. You know, you could just clean out the streets if you want to save New York. God this place stinks!”
“Destroying the city is not helping anyone, said Steve in his Cap voice. Stop this now!”
But the guy didn’t stop. He kept firing spells at them, trying to hurt them. Clint got hit by one of his minions and couldn’t move his arm anymore.
“Damn, that’s like some Harry Potter bullshit, he raged. Look at that, it looks like a flappy noodle.”
“Not much change then, mocked Stark, you’re no super soldier.”
“Ah! That’s hilarious! He said”
Despite the banter between them, the Avengers were worried. Could they reverse that back? What kind of damages was this guy gonna do? And as often, there was always Stark, who had this inane talent for pissing off people. They were all on edge. Bucky even more so. He had moved and lost sight of Steve, who wasn’t saying anything. He shot a dozen minions and went closer to where the wizard was. Time stopped. Or it felt like it did. The wizard and Steve were fighting. Bucky shot at more minions in hope to get closer to Steve and finally incapacitate that asshole. He was close, so close, when the wizard, in a desperate move, seemed to throw a dangerous spell. The spell touched Steve right on his heart and time stopped. He stumbled back, seemingly out of breath and began to change. But whatever the wizard did chocked him, as he seemed to freeze too.
“I didn’t do it! He shrieked, that wasn’t me! That wasn’t me!”
Iron man got to him and cuffed him without a fight. Bucky had been running down with Sam to get to Steve.
The sight they got when they arrived was not what they expected. Steve had fallen to his knees and no one was moving, just gaping at him. Because Steve… was not Steve.
“What the hell? Whispered Stark, in complete shock.”
Bucky arrived and finally saw what was going on. He knew it! Something had been wrong.
“Who are you? He barked. Where is Steve? What did you do to him?”
The not-Steve alien looked around, scared and looking for an escape but he was surrounded.
“I-I didn’t do that! Said the wizard. I swear! I can’t do that!”
Natacha rolled her eyes and called for SHIELD. Agents showed up pretty quickly. Steve, or not-Steve, was trying to stand up but no one was going to let him live. Fury arrived and gasped.
“How? He said. I thought Skrulls had never come to Earth before.”
The alien looked up in surprise.
“You know my people?”
“Yes, replied Fury, there was a war against the Kree and some alien on Earth was trying to save you. Why are you here? Where is Steve?”
The alien looked perplexed. Before he could say anything, Fury directed everyone to go to the Tower and away from the media. The shitstorm was going to be unprecedented. There were already pictures and videos of the Cap transformation. No one was ready to deal with that, and more importantly, they had questions that needed to be answered first.
****
Bucky was pacing. He couldn’t believe it. He knew! He knew god damn it! Steve was not his Steve. Where was he? That was the question. Was he alive? Bucky paused. Yes. Yes, he decided, it couldn’t be otherwise.
Everyone finally arrived. They had cuffed not-Steve, just to be sure. Fury came in last, a file in hand.
“About twenty years ago, when I was just an agent, he started, and Coulson was just a newbie, we got called to LA because something, someone we later learned, fell down from the sky into a store. And they got out of it minutes later. Dirty but uninjured.”
As he talked, he showed pictures from his file.
“Damn, said Clint, a blockbuster? God that’s old!”
“Bet you don’t even know what that is, Buckaroo!”
“I’m not that dumb, he said, I know what that is. I’m surprised you know though. Doesn’t look like something you would go to.”
“You’d be surprised, I once …”
Fury clapped his hands.
“Enough. Back to the matter. We got there with Coulson and found a woman in a strange attire. She could speak our language and looked human but not her outfit. She talked about aliens and how she needed to get them in, but at the time, well, didn’t believe her. She took off quickly as she had seen an enemy. I went in pursuit because I thought she was a criminal. I followed to the subway, Coulson in toe. Except that it wasn’t Coulson, he had been left at the parking-lot. I fought with the Skrull in the car and we ended up crashing the car. He died and we took him back to SHIELD for analysis. So I went to find her and accepted to help her, even tough all that was crazy. We went to a base to look at project PEGASUS and find Doctor Lawson. One of the Skrull, Talos, took my boss’ place and went after us. We found out that Dr Lawson was in fact a Kree and that Vers, was a human named Carol Danvers, who worked in that base as a pilot. Everyone thought the two women had died in an explosion in 1989. Dr Lawson was working on the Tesseract, to help the Skrull against the Kree domination. Somehow, part of the Tesseract ended up being transferred in Carole. She lost a bit of her memory and the Kree took that to their advantage and kidnapped her. She thought she was a Kree involved in a terrible accident against Skrulls. After that, we went to space and fought alongside the Skrulls. Thanks to the energy of the Tesseract, the Skrulls were able to go far away from the Kree and be free. Carol stayed in space after that, to help other planets against the Kree. I have told you what I know. Now it’s your turn to explain yourself. We need answers.”
The alien looked embarrassed. It was a little complicated and he knew he didn’t have all the answers. He had never heard of Talos, and he was aware the time difference was important.
“My name is Pagon. I am a Skrull. We have been at war against the Kree for a very long time. We heard of a super soldier here on Earth and thought he could help us win the war. I know now that it was not our best idea, but we were desperate. When Captain America crashed the Valkyrie, we went after him and took him with us. I was to stay in his place. We were hopeful, you see. We thought he could help. I just had to copy some of his traits and stay in the plane for some time. We weren’t to try and make anyone find him, but we thought we had time. He was taken to our ship and saved.”
He marked a pause.
“That’s all I know really. As I said, I took his place. I don’t know what happened. I knew there was a problem when I woke up in 2012. But by then I didn’t know how to find anyone. Your technology isn’t as good as ours, but clearly, a lot of things changed because I was unable to contact anyone.”
The room erupted in anger. Now more than ever, it was clear. Captain America was missing, lost in space or dead.
“He’s not dead, murmured Bucky. I would know. He’s not dead.”
“You didn’t know it wasn’t really him, said Tony, how could you know?” He looked in disbelief. The trust between them was still not complete.
“I believe you, stated Natacha. You knew something was awry. You just couldn’t put your finger on it.”
“And how could you know? Asked Banner. There was no way to know.”
“Had he stopped the suppressants, or I guess you don’t need any and that’s why, I would have known sooner.”
“I told him it would be beneficial for you, said Bruce, but yeah, in insight, I know understand why he wouldn’t.”
“I am sorry, said Pagon, I did not mean to take away your mate. But at the time we thought you were dead.”
“Well, that doesn’t really help us, snarked Tony.”
“We can do something, said Thor. I will send my best agents to try and find him.”
“Before that, started Fury, we will talk with The Skrulls. Talos will hopefully have more information. I already sent a message. Hopefully they won’t be long to answer.”
****
They didn’t have to wait for long. It was a relief; the media was harassing them to know where Captain America was. Fury wanted to be alone at first, but the Avengers weren’t having it. They did agree to step back at first to let Fury speak and also to hide their prisoner. Talos was there, with some of his companions. They seemed happy to see their friend.
“Fury, to what do I own you the pleasure?”
“I have a problem that I hope you can answer to. We will be having problems if you cannot I’m afraid.”
Talos looked surprised. There really was a problem.
“We have… one of your friends here. He’s been here for seventy years, pretending to be someone. A very important someone.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“These people being me are the Avengers. They are a group of people dedicated to preserving and saving people from danger. The leader is called Captain America. He died in action a long time ago. Until we found him that is. He is a super soldier. A superhuman. We thought we had found him but turns out it’s not him. Imagine our surprise.”
The Avengers approached the screen so they could be seen. Pagon was with them, still handcuffed. It was not out of cruelty, but they didn’t want him to disappear. And it would be terrible for their public image. Talos seemed unhappy at seeing the other Skrull handcuffed.
“Why have you handcuffed him?”
“He tried to escape at first, replied Fury. He is a criminal. Taking someone’s place like that is illegal. The public and the government will never allow him to be free.”
“Yes, that is troubling, said Talos.” Then he turned to Pagon. “How did you get here?”
“I was sent to replace a super soldier so he could help us with the Kree.”
“When was this?”
Pagon looked surprised. “Did it not help? Have you not met him? Where is Noohr?”
Talos and his companions looked at each other.
“The war has lasted a long time. We have been separated in multiple groups because of the Kree. We lost a lot of people and a lot of information. I’m afraid I don’t know what you are referring to.”
Pagon looked shocked. A sense of dread invaded the others. Was Steve alive? Bucky was sure, but he was still scared. Now more than ever, he wanted to hold his omega in his arms. To have him safe with him.
“Can I show them what he looks like.”
Fury nodded and Pagon morphed into Steve Rogers. Talos and the others didn’t seem to recognize him.
“So you really don’t know who that is, huh? Asked Fury.”
“No. sorry.”
“We do have a problem then, said Fury. We do need to find out if Steve Rogers is alive and where. Can you do that?”
“I’ll go look for him, said Thor. And I’ll send my most trusted allies to look for him.”
“Can you get in touch with Carol? Asked Fury. She might be able to help. You have an idea of what he looks like. Or looked like.”
“Yeah, we’ll look for him. What about Pagon? What are you going to do to him?”
“I’m afraid we’ll have to keep him here, Talos. The government will never let us let him go with no answer. But we’ll keep him here, alive.”
“I hope so, Fury. He deserves to see his people again, even if no one he knew is alive.”
They talked some more and worked out where to send everyone before signing off. They send Pagon to a cell as he had nothing new to tell them. While this situation was worrying for everyone, they decided to have a night off and enjoy each other. Thor would be going off world and they weren’t sure when they’d see him again.