Chapter Text
This Hydra cell was really starting to give Steve a headache.
The team had been alerted to a weird energy source in France that they’d been keeping an eye on for a while. It could’ve just been a weapons factory built into the side of a mountain that had nothing to do with them, but something about it bothered Steve. Maybe it was the odd placement, maybe it was because Bucky was about 60% sure it was a potential Hydra base. Who knows.
Bruce, Bucky, and Sam sat out on this mission. Sam was visiting his sister down in Delacroix, and he wasn’t getting home until tomorrow. Bruce didn’t want to risk hulking out today, and Bucky had class.
Bucky was taking an engineering class at a college in upstate New York. It wasn’t the best drive, about an hour, but he only had to go in person once a week. The rest was just courses online. Tony kept telling Bucky to let him fly Bucky out to the school, and every time Bucky said he liked the drive and to ‘Shut up Tony, I have a drivers license for a reason’.
Steve slammed his shield into a door, which went flying into two Hydra guys scrambling for guns. They were out before they hit the ground. Steve quickly tied their hands behind their backs, and carried on to the main room.
There was a big waiting room type area that was their rendezvous point. Nat and Clint were running around in the other levels of the base, and Steve heard the occasional grunt over their comms as they fought. Tony was flying around outside, taking out deserters and keeping look out, occasionally giving them updates, or just giggling when someone made a funny fighting sound. At least, he found it funny. Steve was too focused on getting all the Hydra loyalists tied up.
He ran through to another room and stopped dead in his tracks, diving behind a steel table. There were about two dozen guards, all of whom started firing the second Steve busted down the door, only taking two out.
2 down, 22 more to go.
Steve was just about to heft his shield and start fighting, but the shooting stopped as the room suddenly brightened.
Steve risked a peak out from behind his table, and squinted his eyes against the split second shock of bright white light in the middle of the room.
“Who’s in the far left wing? Steve? Yeah, only you could produce that heat signature.” Tony said. “JARVIS is getting an irregular energy reading from over there.”
”Yeah,” Steve said, “I can see that.”
As suddenly as it appeared, the white light vanished, replaced by a figure falling from the ceiling.
The guards all resumed their shooting, not completely directed at him, so Steve assumed they didn’t know what the fuck that was about either.
He threw his shield, taking out 3 guards at the same time, then collapsing on the floor with nasty already forming bruises on their necks.
He rolled and caught his shield mid air, trying to get through the guard to check on the figure that had randomly appeared. Half of the guard started shooting at whoever that was, so Steve wanted to make sure the person hadn’t died.
He made his way through the guards, kicking one into another, taking them both down. He kicked both of their heads together, just to make sure they wouldn’t get up in the next few minutes, when another jabbed one of those lightning rods into his ribs. He gasped.
Suddenly, the body of another guard flew into the one holding the rod to Steve’s torso, and Steve had to blink to get his bearings. A dark, nimble figure was wreaking havoc on the guards. Steve realized it was the same guy that had fell from the ceiling. At least, Steve was pretty sure that was a man, broad shoulders, long legs and arms, pretty tall.
A gunshot brought Steve back to the present. He whirled and slammed his shield into the nearest guard, using that momentum to twist and throw his shield at two others, he caught his shield and turned to find another to take down, when he was slammed into a wall by someone’s knee, and goddamn it hurt. The air that was in his lungs was forced out in a sharp exhale.
A too strong hand held Steve’s right arm against the wall so he couldn’t use his shield, and the other was pressed up against his neck, cutting off his air supply. Steve struggled against his attacker, but he couldn’t get free.
He brought his left hand up against the hand on his neck and squeezed the wrist until he heard a small grunt over the roaring in his ears. The grip loosened just enough for Steve to throw the guy off of him, but he forgot about the iron grip on his arm, and he was tugged forward too.
They rolled on the ground, until they were a pile of limbs in a pile of nazi limbs. They get grappled, until Steve got somewhat of an upper hand and got a look at the guys face. He was about to press his hands against the guys shoulders to hold him down, when they locked eyes. Big blue ones that were wide in adrenaline turned wide in shock.
“Bucky?” Steve gasped as the same time Bucky said “What the hell?”.
Steve immediately untangled his body from Bucky’s, not really hearing Tony and Clint’s collective “Huh??”. Maybe-Bucky sprang to his feet.
”What are you doing here? You didn’t come with us.” Steve asked. Probably-Bucky’s eyebrows furrowed in a look of confusion somehow unique to only him.
”What the hell are you talking about?” Most-definitely-Bucky looked him up and down, then asked, “Are you even real?”
What? “Of course, Buck.” Steve blinked and looked at Bucky again. Really looked at him. His hair was short. Bucky. With short hair. And he had a little more stubble than usual. He was wearing a navy blue leather jacket that showed off his metal arm-
That was not the same metal arm.
Bucky- normal Bucky- had an arm that was a darker silver than his first with a blue star. Tony and him had designed it a few years ago, once Bucky had recovered from Hydra enough to not freak out if he had surgery, and enough to make the choice himself.
This Bucky had a black arm with gold accents and a lot more plates. The thing was so intricate it looked unreal. It’d also been inhumanly strong a few moments ago.
Bucky looked at Steve again and swore. “Shit. I get it now.”
”Get what?” Steve asked.
”Look, this is all gonna sound really fuckin’ weird, and I’m not exactly an expert, but- oh my god would you just tell the guy in your comms to shut up?” Bucky said. He stepped closer to Steve, but still looked pretty defensive.
Steve had to suppress both a grimace and a smirk, and paid attention to his comms.
”-gers if you don’t stop ignoring me I’ll call the school and tell them to let Robocop out early to come get you!” Tony was saying.
”Tony.” Steve said sternly. “It’s fine. Just give me a minute.”
”No, you’re gonna give me the details-“ Steve cut Tony off by muting his comm.
He brought his attention back to the room in front of him and panicked slightly when he didn’t see Bucky in front of him anymore. He was about to call out, freaking out that he didn’t even see Bucky move, when his gaze landed on him.
He’d moved across the room, with his ear up against the doors leading out of it. Steve focused, and now that he didn’t have Tony’s annoying questions in his ear, he could hear pounding footsteps. They were still a little too far to hear, but if he had to guess, he’d say there were about a dozen.
Steve and Bucky locked eyes. No matter how weird the situation was, there was an understanding there. They needed to get the hell out of there.
Steve handed a handful of zip ties to Bucky. “Tie all these guys up. Quickly.”
Bucky nodded and got to work. It didn’t take long until they got them all arranged in somewhat of a circle. Steve only had to kick one of them in the head while they were waking up.
By the time they were done, Steve could make out the amount of guards rushing towards them. He was right about his estimate of a dozen.
“So you have a decent moral code in this universe, too?” Bucky asked as he stationed himself behind the doors with a loaded gun he stole from the one of the guards.
Steve blinked. “Universe?”
“Yup.” Bucky said shortly. Steve couldn’t respond, because the door burst open and the first guard was met with a vibranium shield to the face. The next few were met with shots to the knee caps as Steve crept forward, blocking the guards’ bullets with his shield, Bucky aiming over his shoulder. Wherever this Bucky was from, it was clear that he knew all of Steve’s moves. When only two were left, Steve threw his shield at them. Bucky and him sprinted past them before they even hit the ground. There was no time to tie them up.
They continued this down a few more halls until they arrived at the door leading to the rendezvous point. Steve threw himself into it, sending both steel doors flying into two groups of Hydra guards as they gunned at Tony, Nay and Clint.
Steve and Bucky joined the fray, taking out guards left and right. Steve paused in awe as Bucky pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere and started chopping at guards. Two guards fell every second if they were anywhere near him.
Steve kept throwing his shield around, trying to focus on the fight, when a click sounded in his ear piece.
”Mrs. Americana, nice of you to join the fight. Care to explain who that is?” Tony asked, as he flew around in his suit, slapping little mechanical handcuff on Hydra agents’ feet and hands, using his sonic blasters instead of his normal fry you to death ones.
”Look- I don’t know. He said something about a universe-“ Steve started, but Nat interrupted him.
”Oh. I was gonna tell you- I found reports on something called the ‘multiverse’. I looked into it.” She only sounded slightly out of breath as she used a girls hair to strangle a guy.
”And that is..?” Clint asked. An arrow whizzed by Steve’s ear as he vaulted over a group of guys, slamming his shield down on another groups heads.
”Just alternate universes where different stuff happened. I mean- a very reliable source told me our universe is a branch off of another. Remember how you found out about Hydra?” Nat said.
Steve definitely remembered. After the Chitauri attacked New York City, JARVIS found footage of another Steve that definitely wasn’t him or Loki, another Tony, and another Hulk. A calm Hulk. Yeah, weird.
”A reliable source on the most unreliable topic I’ve ever heard?” Tony asked. “Nice try Little Red, could’a fooled me.”
”That actually makes sense.” Steve said. There weren’t many guards left now. They were almost done.
”You can’t seriously agree with her, Steve!” Tony retorted.
Bucky passed by Steve, and Steve held his shield out. Bucky ran up to it, and as he jumped and landed on it, he said, “She’s right.”, then flew up into the air and back down onto a few Hydra snipers sitting on the bars going across the ceiling. It reminded Steve of the time Nat vaulted off his shield when the Chitauri attacked.
”So that’s actually Bucky?” Clint asked.
“In the flesh.” Nat said. She took out the last few guards around her.
”And metal.” Tony said. Steve could hear the grin in his voice.
After last few guards were disposed of, and the 4- now 5- of them collected in the quinjet, after alerting French authorities to the place and making sure they arrived.
Clint and Nat spoke quietly in the piloting seats, and Tony sat behind them, grumbling to JARVIS about the intel he’d collected in the base. Steve settled next to Bucky, who looked so casual he was obviously completely freaking out. He noticed the way Bucky’s shoulders tensed minutely when he sat next to him.
“So… how’s your universe?” Steve asked.
“How’s yours?” Bucky asked quickly. He obviously didn’t want to talk about his world, or whatever. Steve wanted to keep prying, but the guy just got here.
”Well, our main goal for the past 3 years has been eradicating Hydra for good.” Steve assumed this Bucky also had Hydra, considering he also had a metal arm. “Well- that, and movie nights, team dinners, whatever the fuck Tony managed to get himself into, and lots of therapy.”
Bucky’s expression sours at the mention of therapy. Steve frowned. Bucky himself was the one who said he should go. Yeah, it was hard on him sometimes, and there have been a few periods where he wanted to just stop going, but he might just be the biggest advocate for it now that wasn’t Sam. Maybe Steve.
Bucky nodded as he turned that information over, the furrow in his brow growing deeper with every thought. Steve didn’t really see where the issue was with what he said. Everything was true. Usually Peter would pick the movie, since he had a whole list Steve was pretty sure both the kid and Tony set up at 3 am one time, and they’d watch it together on Fridays. And he had to understand the desperate struggle to get rid of Hydra, if he also had it. As much as Steve hated it, their motto was true.
Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.
”You all live together?” Bucky asked. It caught Steve off guard like Bucky had just yanked the pin off of a grenade in the jet.
”You don’t?”
Bucky shook his head. He glanced past Steve at Tony. “I think he always wanted you to, but y’know..”
Steve frowned. “No, I don’t know. What? Did something happen?”
Bucky stayed silent, his gaze trained on the floor. Steve had a bad feeling, like he knew exactly what happened but also had no idea.
”What year is it?” Bucky asked, trying to change the subject.
”Buck.” Steve said sternly. “What happened?”
Bucky wouldn’t look at him. He just sat perfectly still, still looking at the floor. His gaze was so intense Steve looked down, almost expecting to se the most interesting sports game ever playing on a little tv on the floorboard.
“Bucky, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? I mean, I’m not your Steve, but… You’re still Bucky Barnes, and I’m still Steve Rogers.” Steve said.
”Yeah.” Bucky said, a strange bitterness Steve hadn’t heard in a long time in his voice. “Thanks, Steve.” He got up and crossed the jet, crossing his arms and staring at the back door for the rest of the 6 hour long flight.
“So you’re saying the multiverse is real, and the time travelers back in 2012 were from your timeline?” Stark asked skeptically, after him and his team had finished going over the normal stuff about their mission. “Why weren’t you with them?”
Bucky forced himself to look at Stark for the millionth time. He succeeded in avoiding the guy on the ride back to the tower- yeah, they all live in what’s apparently Avengers tower together and manage to not rip each other’s throats out. Can you imagine?- but was dragged to a meeting room with everyone to debrief after their mission.
The only other person that wasn’t on the mission in this room was Banner, who Bucky never really talked to. He might be the easiest to talk to, though, out of everyone here.
“It’s real.” Bucky said, though he was seriously doubting it. How can the Avengers get along this well? Bucky didn’t know much, but he knew from Sam that they never really had a chance to become friends.
“Why were you time traveling? How the hell did you even invent it-“ Stark would have gone on and on but Steve stopped him in a surprisingly gentle voice.
”Tony. He just got here, you can ask that later.”
Later? Bucky thought. He’d made up his mind the second he got here that he wasn’t going to be talking to Stark. How could he? He killed the guys parents. Yeah, Bucky knew he technically didn’t know any better, but it was still him.
“So… two Bucky’s.” Clint said. “How do we differentiate the two?”
Two Bucky’s?
“Our Bucky is Bucky.” Stark said. “You’re Barnes. That work.”
Bucky nodded, but he only half heard that. This universe’s Bucky lived in the tower with Stark? Without anyone trying to kill him? Bucky decided right then and there this was a dream.
”Clint and I have a spare room across the hall from both of ours.” Romanoff said. “You can stay in there while we figure this out.”
Bucky nodded, but he still felt pretty confused. “Yeah, okay.”
Steve gave him a concerned look. Bucky hated that look. What little time he had with Steve after the Helicarriers were spent enduring concerned looks from Steve.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” Bucky said, thinking his acting is spot on. “Fine.”
”Okay.” Stark announced. “Council dismissed. Brucey, we’re figuring out how time travel works, right now.”
Steve led Bucky to his temporary room after everyone cleared out of the meeting room, and goddamn it was huge.
”This is a temporary bedroom?” Bucky asked incredulously. The place was as big as the Wilson family’s house in Delacroix flattened out.
Steve chuckled, each breath out felt like a jab to one of Bucky’s ribs. It’s been a while since he heard Steve laugh. “Yeah, it’s unnecessary.” Steve’s eyes swept across the room. “It’s actually supposed to be a full time apartment, but we don’t have anyone living in here right now. Occasionally Rhodey uses it, or Scott.”
It took Bucky a second to remember Rhodey was a nickname for James Rhodes. Bucky couldn’t say he knew the man very well, so his opinions about him were good and bad. Good, because he was Sam’s friend, and they got along really well, and bad because the guy had arrested him in 2016, which, okay, Bucky didn’t exactly blame him for that, but the day replayed in his head every time he saw the man.
Bucky nodded and stepped further into the room.
“Good afternoon, Sergeant Barnes.”
Bucky’s head whipped around, doing a perimeter sweep, then back towards Steve, and finally up at the ceiling.
“Oh- That’s JARVIS.” Steve said, grinning sheepishly. “He has access to all parts of the tower, an AI assistant.” Steve must’ve seen the confused look on Bucky’s face, because he said “AI is-“
”I know what AI is, Steve.” Bucky said, feeling weirdly offended about that assumption. “I’m not stupid.”
Steve raised his hands. “Sorry, sorry.”
Bucky looked away, tapping his flesh fingers against his thigh.
”Um, JARVIS can’t give away any private information without consent, and audio and video recordings are deleted within 3 days.” Steve said. “If that was bothering you.”
Bucky actually did feel better knowing that. “Thanks.”
”No problem.”
Steve lingered in the doorway awkwardly, fiddling with his pockets. Bucky couldn’t look at him for very long, only remembering how Steve had up and left him and Sam. Bucky really wasn’t mad at Steve, not at all. Bucky didn’t think he could ever be properly mad at Steve. He was just sad. During that battle before the Blip, Steve hadn’t looked at him with that concerned look for the first time, and it reminded Bucky how he really didn’t mind having Steve around. He still remembered the way Steve ran up to him during the final battle, embracing him. There had been a war going on around them, but in that moment the only thing that mattered to them was each other. Bucky had a stupid thought in that moment that he wanted to have Steve in his life again, something he had been doubting before then.
Then Steve left, and threw a wrench in that hope. Bucky hasn’t had any thoughts like that since, even though he knows he has a home with the Wilson’s.
”You can go now Steve.” Bucky said, not wanting to be reminded of his shitty luck anymore.
”Uh, yeah, right.” Steve said. He backed out of the open door, pausing with his hand on the handle. “Tell me if you need anything?”
Bucky nodded. “Yeah, Steve.” He wouldn’t ask Steve for anything, and Bucky is sure they both knew that.
”Okay, see you later, Buck.”
The door shut, but Bucky couldn’t hear it. Buck. The name was too sweet to his ears. Sam called him Buck all the time, but he didn’t say it like Steve did. The accent almost making it sound like he’s saying ‘Bock’, like a fuckin’ chicken. He hadn’t heard that in far too long.
Stop. He told his brain. He couldn’t think like this, it’s just a recipe for disaster.
He needed a distraction. He set off to find the bathroom in this damn warehouse sized apartment.