The Right Place at the Right Time

CHAPTER ONE: WELCOME TO CAPRICA, STEVE ROGERS

STEVE ROGERS' EYES flickered open, finding himself in an unfamiliar wasteland. He was wearing his Captain America uniform, the one he had used from the battle with Hydra, switching back to the old fashioned uniform just in time to prevent Alexander Pierce from world domination. SHIELD was now a wreck, destroyed and torn apart by HYDRA that had manifested within.

"Natasha?" he tried the communication link in his ear, but was met with nothing but static. He was on a mission in England, tracking the last rumoured location of Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. His friend. Romanoff had been with him, determined to find the other man out of time just as much as he was, and of course, Nick Fury had been overseeing the mission, so once he knew that his line to the Black Widow was disabled, he tried to call the spymaster himself. "Fury?"

Nothing but static greeted his response, and it was then that Steve decided to observe his location. It was Earth-like, but there were notable differences about this planet that informed him immediately that it was not his homeworld. Alien worlds had been a strange concept to him but the encounter with Thor and Loki during the Battle of New York had helped ease that transaction, but the question was, how had he got there? And where in the Galaxy was he?

Steve heard the danger before he saw it, the loud clunking of machines... robots? Thankful that his shield had made the journey with him, alongside the small sidearm, a pistol – that he'd been assigned on this mission, he clutched his weapons as the robot walked into view. The robot, the machine, was almost twice his height and carried an arsenal that would make Tony Stark jealous. Although it didn't look anywhere near as well designed as the Iron Man suit, it didn't take a genius to know that it was built for only one purpose. To kill. Steve struggled to remember if he'd been told what the protocol for first contact with another species was, but quickly dismissed it when the machine opened fire.

His shield was ready for his defence within an instant, and the machine's weapons were deflected easily, with Steve relieved to see that it was able to stop unfamiliar threats. When the machine readied itself to reload, the Captain wasted no time in throwing his shield at the robot, knocking its head off its shoulders in one swift blow, and it collapsed, just in time as the shield returned to him.

"Okay..." Steve couldn't help but say, confused. Had he just stumbled across a planet of killing machines? Or, was this planet locked in a war, with the machines being used as tools to kill another life form? Were they human? Were they alien? He often wondered what aliens looked like, because after all – there were other aliens than the Chitauri out there. There had to be. And Thor and Loki were, even if alien in nature, carried the appearance of humans. "Where do we go from here?"

More clunking followed the sound of this one, and Steve ducked for cover behind a nearby rock, just large enough to shield the Captain from being detected on the road that he had found himself on. Whilst the setting resembled a wasteland, there were still evidence that there had in fact been life here, once. God knew how long ago. "Resistance fighters," a voice could be heard from where Steve was positioned, and to his confusion, he identified it as English? But how was that possible? Surely this was an alien planet, right? Then why were they speaking his native tone? Had he somehow time travelled into the future? Was he looking at a post-apocalyptic Earth? "They must be nearby still. This was the scout."

A female voice. Steve dared to glance over from his cover, and quickly detected three machines and two humans, both female, one who looked vaguely of Asian descent and another was a blonde haired woman, clad in white. The woman was the one who had spoken, and silence reigned for a moment, with Steve not risking a second glance in fear of being seen. He estimated that he could take on two machines with little difficulty, but the third, and two humans (or at least, those who looked human on the surface) would be more difficult. "Look," the other woman's voice could be heard. "It doesn't look a gun was used here, Six. No bullets."

Six? Was she referring to her name or rank? "You're right," observed the woman who had been called Six, and Steve could tell that she was looking around to see where the resistance members might have come from. "Too much precision to be a grenade launcher – the head is still intact."

"Have the resistance developed a new weapon?"

"Unlikely," said Six. "We have either occupied or destroyed all the colonials' weapons factories that we know of. Even if they were able to develop a new weapon they would not have the means to mass produce it."

Steve glanced at the treeline on the hill slightly further behind him, and debated making a run for it, before immediately pushing that choice aside. The hill would take him into sight of the machines and he would be noticed within seconds. He could see something hovering in the distance – a spaceship, maybe? A method of transport? If he took out these machines, who were, he concluded, hostile – surely he would be able to steal the ship if it landed? He would have to move quickly, however. He wasn't sure what the ship's weapons were capable of and it was still too far away to really get any indication of how large it was. Readying his shield and deciding to act on the initiative of surprise, Steve threw his shield at the robot and decapitated it in a clean equivalent of a headshot, taking it out with no questions asked.

Captain America leapt forward over the boulder, and the response from the remaining to machines and the accompanying humans was instantaneous, with bullet fire coming in his direction. Thankful for the super soldier serum, he acrobatically dodged the bullets headed in his direction and was able to regain control of his shield just in time to deflect fire from the other robot. He felt about making a quip, but figured that was more in Stark's territory and decided better to use his pistol. Aiming at the other machine rather than the two women, he was able to find his mark only to find out that the weapon was ineffective. 'So... Shield it is.'

"Who are you?" Six asked, regaining her composure.

"Captain America," Steve responded, deciding it best not to use his real name. Earning a look of more confusion from Six and the other woman, he thought, 'Well, that rules out the far future...' "I will give you one chance and one chance only. Where am I?"

"Captain America? Well, that is certainly interesting..." Six observed, a hint of a smile replacing her confusion. "You are near Delphi, the Capital of Caprica."

"Oh," Steve observed. "Well, I'm kind of in a hurry, so I was wondering if you could take me to the nearest space station? I have a therapy appointment tomorrow morning, and I'd rather not miss it."

"Trying to be funny, are we?" Six asked, and Steve couldn't help noticing that the other woman remained silent. "Where do you come from, Captain? Because it's obviously not from Caprica."

"Brooklyn," Steve responded, knowing that the name would be useless to them, but it would be better than revealing the whole truth. For all he knew, they might target his planet next after they were done with this one. Seeing the confusion of both women, he noted that the remaining machines hadn't fired yet. "M'am."

"Brooklyn? I do not believe I've heard of that planet," observed Six, pushing him for answers. Steve couldn't help notice that the ship was getting closer, and realised that she was stalling for time.

"That's because it's not a planet," Steve replied, with a smirk, and hoisting his shield. He noticed that the plane was flying closer and closer to ground now, giving him a new plan of action. There was something underneath, and predicting that they wouldn't risk getting their own ship destroyed... a plan was formulating in his head. He just had to stall a little longer. "My turn. What do you call your machines?"

"My my, you really aren't from around here," Six said, smiling. "I will have to investigate this, Brooklyn further. Mind telling me what planet it's on? Is there a world in the Twelve Colonies that we forgot to nuke? Maybe a secret thirteenth?"

Nuke... Steve's face displayed shock. They were the invaders, then. Twelve colonies... twelve worlds? They had the firepower to destroy twelve planets? "Ask the question."

"We are Cylons," informed Six, causing Steve to nod in return. "Now, tell me. What planet are you from?"

"Sorry," Steve replied, as the plane started descending to ground level. The more he looked at it, the more he could see it resembled a fighter plane – or some equivalent. How many Cylons were on board? One? Three? Two? Or none at all? Either way, it didn't matter; there was only one way to find out. "You're just out of time."

Steve leapt up onto the plane, and was able to, thanks to his superhuman strength, grab hold of the section beneath the aircraft itself, and hang on as he attempted to haul himself up. As predicted, he wasn't blasted into oblivion there and then, with the Cylons not wanting to damage their ship. He couldn't help feeling that they were judging him, seeing what he could do. 'Well... Time to impress.'

Smashing his way into the cockpit, Steve could feel the machine trying to shake him off. He was met with what he found to be a disgusting interior, but was able to figure out how it operated fairly easily. The super soldier serum made him a quick learner, and it didn't take long to figure out how to operate the ship. It was complex and boasted actual organs in the ship's interior, but once he had experimented with it enough, he was quickly able to get it to work. 'Alright... hang on in there,' he thought, looking through the sections in the ship to allow him to get a better view of the planet's exterior. "Okay," Steve breathed, observing the landscape before his eyes. In the distance, he could see what resembled an abandoned city – maybe clear of Cylon occupation? Maybe not? Either way, the ship would give him basic cover with the Cylons hopefully not being able to recognise when their own was being manoeuvred by the enemy, and from there he could find a way to link up with the resistance that Six had inadvertently informed him about. "Let's do this."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Well, this was an idea that's been cropping up in my head after reading a bunch of Halo/BSG crossovers where Master Chief finds himself in the BSG verse, and as I was getting the Winter Soldier DVD today, I wondered what would happen if Steve Rogers of all people found himself in Caprica. A man out of time on a world that isn't his own? And I know that the Raiders don't have anything beneath them that would allow Steve to jump on board, like wheels – I just figured to apply some creative licensing in order to make him escape in a dramatic way to start the series.

I'm going away on holiday for a couple of weeks from tomorrow so will not be able to get up any new chapters during that period, but when I return I should be able to start updating this, A Study in Red (Sherlock/HP) and Intervention (Supernatural/HP) more frequently.

NEXT TIME: Chapter Two: The Arrow of Apollo

Steve's ship is shot down as he enters Delphi, and he's forced to run, seeking sanctuary in a place called Delphi Museum, a certain building which carries the Arrow of Apollo. His sanctuary is disturbed however by the arrival of another Cylon craft. However, this craft doesn't carry Steve's enemy. It carries a certain fighter pilot, with the callsign "Starbuck", who has come for the Arrow.