Chapter Text
Steve vectored the quinjet; he was coming in to land in a grove of trees at the edge of the small town. He had been on route to check out the latest lead on Bucky's whereabouts, but Widow had contacted him and requested he stop here after she had detected some unusual activity. Since Sokovia they had been on the lookout for anything that might resemble an infinity stone, Hydra was surely on the same track, and they needed to be ahead of them, and Widow figured there were signs that this place might harbour some clues.
As he landed he decided that even for this little recce he wasn't going in cold, he donned his uniform and grabbed his shield. Putting the jet into stealth mode he stepped out into the warm morning air.
On his way in he had seen the most noticeable feature of this small town. It was a giant statue on the face of a hill facing the sea. It had eight arms, four were spread out, and the other four converged around the figure's navel. Of the four spread-out arms, only the top-right arm was intact, and oddly it had a washer and dryer perched on top. In front of the figure, there seemed to be a small beach house. It was so out of place it seemed as good as anywhere any to start.
It was still very early, and it didn’t take him long to work his way across the town. It was quiet as most everyone was still snug in their beds. He almost wished he was as well. Recently he had for some reason been finding it easier to sleep, his bed no longer feeling like a marshmallow as Sam had put it.
After crossing the town, he had to cover a large open area to climb that hill leading to a lighthouse. As he settled in at the top to observe he still found it hard to think that anything was amiss in this sleepy place. He looked back across the town it was a perfect beach town, it had a boardwalk, an amusement park, there was even a place with a giant doughnut on top. Remembering a story Fury had told them once he could almost imagine Tony lounging in the middle of the giant confection in his Iron Man suit.
He cosied himself into a nook where he could observe the beach house in front of the statue. It was an op, but he couldn’t help enjoying the sight of the sun coming up, relaxing while enjoying the ocean breeze. It was a few hours before he spotted activity down below; a young girl carrying a shoulder bag with what looked like a pink sword sticking out the top came up the steps. He thought to himself ‘Pink sword, well maybe not so sleepy after all’. Something told him that he was possibly on the right track.
The girl rapped on the door, and a boy about the same age came out to greet her. "Connie! Hi. Look come in; I'm sorry Pearl won't be able to help us with sword practice today. She and the others are off on a mission to captu..." but as the door closed the conversation was cut off.
Seriously he has seen some strange stuff, but she had a pink sword. He took a deep breath and relaxed himself, ‘Steve it’s probably a toy.’ He relaxed back into his nook. He ran the boy’s words around in his head… mission… sword practice… captu? Capture maybe? He still had the feeling that there was something here.
Suddenly there was a crystalline sound and a flash in his periphery. He jerked upright, it was on the hand of the statue, he watched in surprise as the boy and girl. Connie? They were suddenly standing atop the platform in the centre of the palm with a laundry basket.
“Give me a moment Connie I just gotta put on this load of laundry then we can see if we can find it.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the Gems to get back? It sounds kinda dangerous.”
“They said they would be away for a while and it shouldn’t be any worse than Slinker or the Northern Monsters.”
The two kids walked over to the platform and in a flash disappeared. Well, he had heard enough, it didn’t sound like a couple of kids playing, and well they did just appeared and vanished right before his eyes. Definitely not normal.
He reached into a pouch and pulled out one of Widows toys that he had borrowed, it was a small reel, using it he rappelled his way down to the deck on the front of the beach house. Steve dropped to a crouch, with a flick the grapple came loose, a tap of a button and it retracted so he could tuck it away.
He scooched over to the screen door and peeked in. The girl had changed and was now wearing a Kalari Steve instantly recognised it from the time he spent training in Kalarippayattu. It was amazing how much had changed in the world but how the little things seemed to fuse together.
His attention was sudden drawn to the sound of creaking stairs and the motion of… a postman?? Out here? Now? Where the heck was, he supposed to go? The postman walked up to him oblivious that Captain America was crouching on the deck of a beach house.
“Hey good morning! My names Jamie are you new around here?”
Steve put his finger to his lips “shhh.”
Jamie whispered back in a quiet tone. “Oh gem stuff. Okay, I understand. Would you take their mail in please?” and he handed him a stack of letters turned and walked off as if nothing was out of place. Steve was completely floored; typically if someone spotted him in uniform, they at least wanted an autograph. ‘What a strange place’ he thought to himself as he shook his head.
He turned back to the house, the two kids were walking towards the back of the house the girl had the pink sword sheathed on her back, and the boy had what looked like a cheeseburger backpack on. He had seen those on TV recently; they did look roomy on the inside. He shook his head ‘where the heck did that thought come from?’
He watched as they headed towards an odd door that slid open as they approached. He had a feeling if he didn’t get a move on he would lose them. Quietly opening the screen door, he made to follow them. Still, amazed at the postman he shook his head walked through the living room swinging by to drop the mail on the counter he then sprinted to dive through the door as it slid shut.