A/N: Turns out spending four nights camping is killer for my writing energy levels. I felt hung over from lack of sleep by the end. :p So here's a short chapter to tide you over while I finalize the rest of the story :)
Steve has been having a strange time in this new century.
He wishes he could say that he's liked most of what he's seen, but that would be a lie. It's all just so strange and alien. Things had been changing so fast in his time, but he'd never imagined it would be to this degree.
The strides made to technology he's confident he'll be able to wrap his head around eventually. It's the changes to the people that he is not so sure about.
They may claim that the country he woke up in was America, but it isn't the America Steve remembers. Sure, there are hints of it here and there: Buildings that have remained the same, accents that are similar enough to what he heard growing up, baseball.
The gym he's been going to has been a microcosm of this. The gym was brand new when he was a kid, and now all these decades later smells strongly of mold.
Sometimes Steve looks out at the world around him and wonders, if he'd been told that the Germans had won the war, and this was the new America, would he have been able to tell the difference? In this fast paced future, the war feels so far away and yet at the same time, like it was just yesterday.
Did Steve's fellow soldiers die for the right of men and women to dress and act indecently? Did they die so people could throw bags of perfectly good food into the garbage? So they could sing truly ear piercing music?
His file at SHIELD, that he'd snuck a look at, had claimed he would be experiencing culture shock. Steve had yet to look up what that was. Probably some fancy new name for something that already had a perfectly good term. Like shell shock.
He's being too harsh on the time he's woken up in. He can acknowledge that... sometimes. And he is often reminded about how wonderful things are now by the kind of technology he'd thought was the stuff of dime science fiction rags.
Sometimes he wishes it was Bucky who'd been defrosted from the ice. He'd have appreciated all the modern marvels that Steve was struggling with.
He'd been so relieved when Fury had called him in and given him something to do. He didn't know how to handle a world that claimed to be at peace. He'd thought about reenlisting and helping the US military with their peace keeping missions, but Fury and his people had convinced him to take some time for himself first.
It was hard, suddenly finding himself with no war to fight. And then it felt like war was practically thrown on his lap. He had to kinda wonder if Fury had suspected something like this alien invasion was going to happen, and had been keeping Steve in reserve.
Those suspicions had been proven correct when Fury gave them his speech about the Avengers Initiative. The people he expects Steve to lead into battle are nothing like his old pals the Howling Commandos.
He's not sure what to make of Agent Natasha Romanov. She kind of reminds him of Peggy. But only in the sense that she's not like other dames. That and she's real handy with a gun. But that's pretty much where the similarities end. It leaves him feeling off balance and uncertain how to treat her. Does he call her ma'am? Miss? Mrs.? Or… what's that weird new one? Ms.?
He settles on treating her with the same respect he gave to Peggy. Steve calls her 'Agent Romanov' and hopes for the best.
Doctor Banner is a bit more of a familiar character. He reminds Steve of the scientists that he'd been introduced to that were working on Project Rebirth. However, none of those men would turn into a giant green monster at the slightest provocation. After seeing the devastation the Hulk could bring in the dossier, Steve had been very uncomfortable with him onboard the ship. Stark of course hadn't helped.
Tony Stark. The son was nothing at all like the father. It was jaring, seeing an approximation of Howard's face on a cocky chatterbox. It made Steve pine for the past more than anything else he'd seen or experienced in this new time. To constantly have his expectations of how Stark would behave upended by the man himself had been extremely off putting and disappointing.
It wasn't fair to Stark, a part of Steve knew that. And even though the man gave the appearance of a braggart, he and Banner had ended up delivering on a method of tracking the Tesseract.
Thor was just odd. Steve hadn't been happy when Stark had unilaterally decided to allow him to join them in the jet. But Thor had at least provided them with valuable intel, even if it had felt like every nugget of information had to be pried from him. During the war, Steve had seen men lose themselves to drink, and it never ended well for them or for their platoon.
Steve had looked at Thor as a liability from the beginning and was not surprised to be proven correct.
Aliens from space was a bit beyond his pay grade, but stopping megalomaniacs who thought they were better than everyone else was his bread and butter.
Steve should have anticipated Stark running off to confront Loki and Thor alone. The file on him had essentially stated that the man didn't take direction well.
"I'm not sitting on my thumbs while the world is at stake." Stark had snapped at Steve when he tried to tell Howard's son to wait for Fury's orders.
What had followed was a mad scramble for a jet and Agent Romanov not so gently guiding Banner onto said jet.
Steve was not comfortable with the idea of letting the Hulk out over New York, and from the look of it, neither was Banner. But he'd assured the Doctor that they would only call on him if it was too late to stop the invasion from starting.
Thankfully, when New York is less than half an hour away, Stark calls them.
Steve is surprised and grateful the man thought to give them an update on the situation.
"Glowing cube is here. Right on the roof of my tower, the bastard. Lucky for all of you, the party hasn't started yet."
Steve leans into the mic Romanov is holding and asks, "what about Thor and Loki, are they there?"
"One sec... Yep. I see them. Hurry your pretty asses up, or there won't be any party favours left."
Steve barely holds back a retort about taking things seriously.
"Wait," Agent Romanov snaps. "Stark, don't engage the Asgardians alone."
Steve stares at her. "He wouldn't," he says aghast. No way would Stark be that stupid. Right?
"Weren't you listening? It's Aesir. God why am I the only one…" Stark's voice fades out.
"Did he just get out of the suit?" Steve asks, voice strained. Hoping to be wrong.
Agent Romanov just sighs, "yes. Yes he did."
Steve spends the rest of their approach to New York pacing the ship, desperate to just be able to do something. He hates feeling helpless like this.
"Huh. That's strange," Agent Romanov says from where she is standing just behind the cockpit.
"What?" Steve asks, walking over to stand next to her.
"The Tesseract isn't behaving like it did in New Mexico."
Steve peers out the front window to where New York sits heavy along the skyline. On the tallest building, of course Stark had to build the tallest one, he can just make out a light so blue it's almost white.
"What did it do last time?" Steve asks.
"When it destabilized, the blue was so dark it was almost black," she says.
"Doctor Banner?" Steve looks back to see if the resident expert has an opinion.
"What?" the Doctor blinks owlishly at him. "How am I supposed to know?"
"Aren't you an expert on…." Steve makes a vague motion with his hand.
"Gamma radiation," Banner fills in, "not…" the Doctor doesn't bother to explain further and waves Steve away dismissively.
Steve frowns but doesn't comment. He doesn't want to cause any conflicts, not when they are so close to the battlefield. Even if he does hate people assuming he wouldn't understand something.
The jet does a circle of the building when they get closer, looking for a safe spot to land and for the location of Loki, Thor and Stark.
"Can you see anything?" Agent Romanov asks him.
The light emanating from whatever machine Loki has set up is almost blinding, but if he squints, Steve can just make out a small shape nearby.
"There's someone on the roof," he reports, "can't tell who."
"Is it Barton?" she asks.
"I…" Steve hesitates, then decides, no, he can't tell, it's too bright to make a call.
He tells her so. She doesn't seem too upset by the news, just nods stoically. It's strange and very cold, weren't they friends?
"Bring us down to the balcony there." She points the pilot to the bigger, lower balcony on Stark's ostentatious tower.
"Alright, Loki packs a punch," Steve reiterates the plan he'd gone over with them earlier. "And I assume Thor must as well. Agent Romanov, you and I-"
"Actually Captain, change of plans," She interrupts him. "My orders are to secure the Tesseract."
Steve blinks, he doesn't remember Fury giving those orders. And why didn't she say anything earlier?
"You two distract Loki and Thor," she continues, "if we're lucky, I can shut this whole thing down before the invasion can even begin."
"In that case, shouldn't Doctor Banner go with you?" Steve asks. As the closest to what they have as an expert it just makes sense.
"What he said," Doctor Banner agrees.
"Loki is afraid of you, remember?" she says to Dr. Banner. Steve looks at the unassuming Banner with surprise, this is news to him. Why doesn he feel like he's being kept out of the loop? In fact, it's felt like this since the beginning.
"Yeah, but that was Thor saying it." Dr. Banner wrings his hands.
"I think the Hulk also makes Thor nervous," she states confidently. "They might not try anything with you there."
"That's a big might," Dr. Banner grimaces.
"She's right Doctor." Steve agrees with Agent Romanov. "Our objective is to secure Loki and the Sceptre."
"Ugh this is such a bad idea," Dr. Banner mutters, head in his hands.
Steve holds back a grimace. This is why he hated working with civilians during the war. Why did Fury decide to put two of them on the team?
As soon as the jet is level with the balcony, Steve jumps out, vibranium shield in hand. Dr. Banner follows at a slower pace with Agent Romanov helping him out. Steve glances back at her to nod, and the jet pulls away.
It's difficult to see through the glass into the room, at first all he can see are three dark shapes moving around. Why Stark decided to get frosted glass when he was this high up Steve has no idea. Wouldn't he want the glass to be clear to enjoy the view?
Having never been so high, Steve is surprised that he can see his breath in the air. The extra height sure makes a difference.
"Holy shit it's cold," Dr. Banner swears behind him.
Before he can say or do anything, one of the shapes moves towards them and becomes clear. Steve sees Thor standing with his back to them. Through a hole in the glass, he can just barely make out Stark, still out of his armour and helpless.
His breath catches in his throat when he sees Thor summon his axe.
Assuming the worst, Steve throws his shield at the god.
A/N: This started as a short bit from Steve's perspective to transition into what happens next. But then I got distracted by him thinking about his new teammates and his perspective on them and the future and it got longer than anticipated. Plus I realized he was the only one who hadn't had a chance to go 'wtf is up with these Norse guys?' So this chapter is a brief interlude from Steve before we get back into the action!
Next update should be in two weeks! (and I feel confident saying that given I've been able to keep this schedule for the past 10ish chapters.)