THE FUTURE REBORN
1602
Behind him, Nicholas Fury can hear their words, even as the doorway is opened and the Universe screams around him:
"We can't leave Fury out there!"
"How else are we going to get Rojhaz through the gate? Carry him ourselves?"
"But it would mean Fury's death…"
"Weren't you listening? This is what he wants…Now, Sir Thor, channel the lightning."
Yes, Fury thinks. His life flashes before his eyes-the success he had in battle, the death of his beloved Queen, the betrayal of King James…yes, this is what I want…
"Just a few more steps," he mutters as he carried Rojhaz's body into the light. "Just…a…few more…steps…"
Then they are swallowed by the light, and they are gone…
2008
Steve Rogers tasted open air-but not the air that he had known for the last fifteen years. This air was rancid; the smell of pollution tainted everything. He opened his eyes.
He was lying on pavement. Not the rough, compacted dirt that he had known in London or even in Roanoke; this was asphalt. He looked up and saw a hazy sky framed by steel and glass towers.
"New York City," he said to himself, as memories of a different life came back. "Manhattan…the future…I'm back."
A crowd had gathered. Some were curious; others looked shocked. Rogers could hear their voices, in accents he had half-forgotten:
"That's him…"
"Can't be, he's dead…"
"Who else could it be? Look at the 'A' on his forehead!"
"But he was shot…"
Rogers heard Fury groaning beside him. He sat up to prepare Sir Nicholas for the rude awakening he was about to receive.
"I hear thunder…waves crashing," Fury muttered.
"It's the sound of a city-a place I once called home."
Fury struggled to sit up and opened his eyes. He looked up at the towers that rose around them. If he was shocked by them, he hid it well. "So we are in your time, then?"
"So it would appear…I've got to get you away from this crowd. Can you walk?"
"I…yes." Fury leaned on Rogers as he carried him across Times Square. Traffic had come to a standstill as astonished onlookers saw a man they believed had returned from the dead in their midst.
Fury's heart was pounding, and not just from exertion. This place was alien. Metal coaches stared at him with glass eyes. People in strange clothing gawked at them. The buildings dwarfed even the mountains he had seen on his journey to Doom's castle. But he let Rojhaz carry him to apparent safety.
"Where are we going?"
"To an old friend…if he still lives."
Tony Stark still couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd heard the rumors all day-Captain America had been seen in Times Square. Even now, Stark wasn't sure if hat he was seeing was a ghost or a Skrull clone. But the man's features were unmistakable.
For Nick Fury it was different. He was looking at himself and didn't like what he saw. What he saw was a man who had been broken; who seemed to feel that he had nothing left to live for. He'd been close to such moments in his own life but had never just…given up.
"OK, let me get this straight." Fury folded his arms. "You say you're Captain America, but not the Cap we knew, and that you're from the future, where apparently the Purple Man is President for Life of the United States." He fixed his gaze on the other Fury. "And you're supposed to be me, but from four hundred years ago. And you both just got back from the past with the help of other superheroes who also lived four hundred years ago. Did I get it right so far?"
"I know it sounds unbelievable…but it is the truth." Fury, although still weak, managed to stand up from the couch he'd been sitting on and bow. "Sir Nicholas Fury, formerly an agent of the Court of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of England and King James of Scotland, at your service."
Fury groaned. "Oh, for God's sake." He looked at Rogers. "And you're in on this with him? Er, I mean, me?" He shook his head. "Dinosaurs in the Seventeenth Century. I still don't believe it!"
"Like he said, it sounds crazy…but it's the truth." Rogers looked at Stark. "You're a scientist, like Reed Richards. You know this is possible."
Stark sighed. "I want to believe you…there's so much I've wanted to say to you about…everything. But I was at your…my Captain America's…funeral."
"But it did happen," Rogers insisted. "In the future, decades from now, I led a resistance movement against a corrupt regime. I was sent back so that no memory of me would remain…but they failed. Now I'm back…and I want to keep that future from happening."
"Now this is why time travel gives me a headache," Fury complained.
"I understand how you feel, friend," Sir Nicholas said. "I often had many discussions with Reed-the Reed of my world-on this subject. He believed that time was static but fluid. Surely my presence here is proof of that."
Fury shook his head again, but Stark said, "The two of you can stay here until we get this sorted out. I'll have to contact some of the other Avengers, and the X-Men. It won't be easy-there are still some hard feelings left over from the Civil War. But if you're telling the truth…it could be what the metahuman community needs to get back together."
Fury grunted. "What the hell-I could always use more help at S.H.I.E.L.D. But I've got a few more questions for you." He looked at his counterpart. "What happened? Why did you think you were going to die when you went through that-whatever it was?"
Sir Nicholas could feel the burden of shame on him as he spoke. "Where I come from, we put a high price on honor, duty, loyalty. I lost the first when I realized I could no longer serve my sovereign in good conscience, and I abandoned the other two when I was branded a traitor. I…had nothing left."
"What are you going to do now?"
Sir Nicholas walked over to the plate-glass windows of Tony Stark's headquarters. "I need to find my place in this world. Rojhaz-excuse me, Rogers-tells me that in this time America is a great nation, but also a deeply troubled one, and that America and England are strong allies. I need to find my place in this alliance-where I can serve both my native home and my adopted one."
"America has always been the story of immigration," Stark said. "From the first settlers like the ones you knew to the ones who still come here today to do the dirty work that no one else will. You could serve as a reminder of that part of the American dream-the promise of a new life, of starting over."
"It could be why you came here," Rogers added. "America has always been my country-not necessarily the government, but its people, its heritage that goes beyond loyalty to whoever's in charge. America is about finding your own voice, your own destiny-that's what, together, we can represent to the world-to remind them of what America really stands for."
Sir Nicholas nodded. From up here, the sea of towers that covered the island of Manhattan now no longer looked so alien. He realized that they had been built by those who had come to the New World for the same reason that the people of Roanoke had-to start over.
His old life was over. A new one was waiting for him.
"I accept," Sir Nicholas said.
THE END