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He scrubbed the paint from around his eyes until his skin was raw and red.
He burned the mask, watching as the flames curled around the ashen fabric.
He disappeared from everything. HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D., Stark, Carter. Everyone who’d seen him.
He needed to find Steve.
[]
The media coverage featured all of the others prominently. He supposed he was part of their team as well, but there was no mention of his name in the celebratory footage.
Good.
He needed to lay low. Couldn’t be a person quite yet.
Eventually.
First he needed to find Steve.
[]
His memories clashed with one another. He was never supposed to be a person, except that he was. Previously.
It had been 44 years since he’d last been a person. He’d barely aged. He’d been frozen most of the time, he figured. It was procedure for weapons. Only kept awake when they were useful.
He traveled by night, hiding during the day. Sleep didn’t come easily but he could force himself to rest if he was close to collapsing. He didn’t remember sleeping at all after HYDRA found him, but there were a lot of things he didn’t remember.
[]
He didn’t know where to look for Steve, but he started in Brooklyn. He remembered it, so Steve probably remembered it as well.
Captain America was supposed to be a celebrity, so maybe he’d be hiding away in a mansion in the wilderness to get away from the crowds. That’s what he would do if he was Captain America. That’s what he would do if he was anyone.
He wondered if Steve was old and grey now, or if the serum kept him young. Maybe it turned him into some deranged creature, a monster. Maybe that’s why there was no sign of him; maybe he’d been locked away somewhere. But that wouldn’t matter. They might both be monsters.
As the days dragged on and turned into weeks, the dread started to increase. Why hadn’t there been a single sign of Steve? He must be looking in the wrong places. He needs to head to a different city.
[]
He does a double take when he sees it. There’s a Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian. Do they make exhibits for people who are still alive? He doesn’t want to think about the alternative.
He sees himself, his face etched into glass. Dead in 1944. It hasn’t been updated. Bucky Barnes is still dead.
He walks into an adjacent room and stops at the sight, heart dropping to his stomach and skin freezing over.
Steven Grant Rogers
July 4, 1918 - March 1, 1945
The rest of the text is meaningless.
Steve is dead.