I'm BBBBBAAAAAAACKKKKK. ;)
Aww, you didn't think I'd stay away forever, did you? Not with Marvel officially throwing out so much new content again!
**STANDARD DISCLAIMER** This story is part of an ongoing AU known as The ChristyVerse. Put simply, Steve Rogers adopted a child (Christy) after the events of The Avengers (2012). Everything else sort of diverges from there. I have a full map of my AU vs. canon on my profile if you are curious. Unfortunately, this does mean some continuity lockout for readers. Basic deviations that feature in this story:
-Steve and Sharon Carter are married and have a biological son, Jamie. Christy is adopted.
-Bucky and Wanda are dating/engaged
-The Snap period was 3 years, not 5.
-STEVE was snapped away, but not Bucky or Sam.
(Any other confusion, check out my profile or message me.)
So, this is an AU take on Falcon and the Winter Soldier. From the outset, the main differences are that Bucky is a lot healthier mentally, and also that Steve is still around (but firmly retired). I wanted to see what I could do with that, plus a few other spanners in the works. I sincerely hope you enjoy.
Let America Be America Again
Chapter One: Let It Be the Dream It Used to Be
Six Months After The Blip
"Are we there yet?"
The question wasn't even whiny. But Christy Rogers thunked her head against the driver's seat headrest anyway.
"Watch it, you'll throw me off the road." Steve cautioned. "Besides, you chose to sit back there with him."
"Him" was Jamie. James Samuel Carter Rogers, if one wanted to get technical. For such an impressive name, Jamie was such a wiry, bone-and-muscle-only boy, that for a while, Steve and Sharon worried he had inherited some of Steve's pre-serum weakness. But at four (and a half!) years old, it was becoming clear that he was just a perfectly healthy beanpole.
Christy sighed. She was newly eighteen and still trying to navigate the uncertain gray area of Young Adulthood.
"Jamie, the GPS says we still have two hours to go. So no, we aren't there yet."
Jamie frowned. "But I wanna play with Cass an' AJ!"
"Yeah, but Cass and AJ are two hours that way." Christy pointed exaggeratedly out the window.
Steve sighed. "Christy...please."
Christy sighed back. "Dad...please."
"Oh, don't start that with me, kid. Please-I dunno. Find something for him to do!"
Christy looked longingly at her music playlist, but obediently took out her headphones.
"You wanna play twenty questions, Jamie?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, you first."
Jamie screwed up his little face in concentration, tongue poking out, before bursting his blue eyes open wide. "I got it!"
"Okay...is it a person?"
"Yeah."
"...do we know this person?"
"...yeah."
"...is it Uncle Bucky?"
"No!" Jamie cried, sounding mildly offended.
Steve bit his lip to hold back laughter.
"...is it Sam."
"N-no…"
"Was that a question or an answer?"
Jamie looked out the window, pouting. "No more game. I wanna count clouds."
Christy bit her own lip to keep from laughing now. Jamie's face looked exactly like her dad's when Uncle Bucky would have one over on him.
Or Uncle Tony…
She sighed again and let herself feel the sadness for a moment, acknowledging its worth, before letting it slowly recede like water down the seashore. She had practiced that in therapy a lot.
I miss you, Uncle Tony. But we're still okay.
Jamie was resolutely peering out the window now, so Christy allowed her own mind to drift as she turned back to her music.
I wonder how Sam and Uncle Bucky are doing?
"So, do you feel at all guilty for leaving Steve alone with his two children?" Sam asked, as his car sped across increasingly familiar roads.
"Nope." Bucky said, drawing out the 'o'. "He made 'em, he can have 'em. I've done enough watching."
"He made one of them, and we all know they're half yours, Bucky."
Bucky snorted. "Christy may be adopted, but Steve had the making of her as much as Jamie. Besides, it's not my fault Sharon had a work thing and couldn't come."
"You could have brought Wanda. She and Sarah could have a glaring contest."
"Wanda's in Manhattan with Pepper an' Morgan this week, wedding planning." Bucky made a face.
"Are you that uninvested in your own wedding?" Sam asked.
"No, I just know when I'm way out of my league. When they asked me to decide between cobalt and French blue for napkins, I ducked out politely. Anything Wanda picks will be fine, she has Nat, Laura, Sharon, and Pepper to help her."
Sam laughed. "Suit yourself."
It had taken the Snap (as they all still called it, no matter what anyone else did) for Sam to finally get around to introducing his Avenger family to his actual family. His parents had both passed on, but Sarah and Bucky had gotten on like a house on very cool fire, and Christy and Wanda had bonded with her over cooking. She and Sharon had travailed over parenting boys together, and Jamie was just happy to have more friends. Cass and AJ were pretty patient with him, even though he was several years younger.
Currently, it was third week of August, and they were road tripping for one last hurrah before school started for Jamie-and college for Christy.
Steve was currently pretending he wasn't terrified, an act only matched by Christy's insistence she would be 'fine'.
Sam knew there would be a lot of tears when the actual moment came.
Finally, they pulled up to a familiar house, right on the dock.
He let out a sigh he didn't know he'd been holding in, as he parked the car and turned the keys out of the ignition.
I'm back.
"Christy, why is the air hugging me?"
Christy laughed. "It's humid, Jamie. That means the air has water in it. Lots of water."
"Oh." Jamie looked sad. "Does it ever stop?"
"Did it stop last time?"
"I don't remember! I was only three!"
"Well, you're four now, an' the answer is still 'no'."
"Four an'a half." Jamie reminded her. "It's important!"
"Okay, okay, four and a half."
"UNCLE SAM!"
The cry came from the throats of two pre-teen boys as they flung themselves on Sam. He was barely out of the car.
"Whoa, whoa! Cass, dude, stop playin' football, you're gettin' too good at tackling. AJ, ow, that's my spleen!"
Bucky quickly sidled away to take their suitcases out of the trunk.
Steve wordlessly did the same with his own car.
"Cass! AJ!" Jamie shrieked.
Cass remembered his hospitality duties first. Untangling himself from his uncle, he sauntered over to Jamie and Christy.
"What's up, little man?" he said. "You 'member the handshake?"
Jamie nodded eagerly, and the two of them launched into a complicated mess of flying wrists and fingers. Christy was ninety-eight percent sure that this was not, in fact, anywhere close to the handshake Cass and AJ had spent forty-five minutes teaching Jamie at Christmas. But she kept her mouth shut and moved to get her stuff from the car.
Sarah came out of the house and hugged Sam. "You've been away too long. Again."
Sam hugged back. "I'm here now. Brought some company."
"Mm-hm. Brought four extra mouths to feed is more like it."
"Mama wouldn't have complained."
"Mama wouldn't have complained about company if a house fell on her. But I ain't her."
Bucky gave a half-salute. "Sarah."
"Barnes. You gonna tire out my boys with wrestling again?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Sarah gave a satisfied smile. "He can stay."
"And I can't?" Steve said, lugging two suitcases and three pillows. "Have a heart, ma'am, my wife left me with the kids!"
Sarah folded her arms, unimpressed. "If they you're kids, you raisin' 'em, too. Sharon deserves a break."
"Well, it's for work, so I dunno how much of a break it is…"
"Can I at least stay?" Christy said. "I'll help with cooking! I know how big to make portions to feed everyone!"
Sarah laughed. "You're good, honey. It's your daddy that still has to make himself useful."
"I can, uh…" Steve glanced around desperately. "...I can help with the boat?"
Sarah's face grew slightly tight, a change that Sam didn't miss. But she nodded and pretended to concede. "Alright, army boy. Throw in doin' dishes an' you got yourself a deal."
"Deal!" Steve said, grinning.
"Can I stay?" Jamie asked, looking up innocently from Cass's shoulders.
Anyone else would have cracked immediately, but Sarah was immune to puppy eyes. "Mm. Boys, you gonna watch him?"
"Yeah, mom, we got him." AJ assured. "He's our mascot. America Jr."
All four grown adults turned away to hide their faces.
"Never heard that before…" Christy muttered.
Sarah shook her head. "Come inside. Might as well get this invasion over with."
Later that night, Sarah and Christy were putting the finishing touches on dinner. The men had been helpful with cutting and chopping things earlier, and were now in the living room nursing beers-rewards for their service.
Steve narrowed his eyes slightly. "It's too quiet."
Sam, who knew his nephews well, nodded. "Way too quiet. Sarah!" he called, "the boys go on the dock?"
"I didn't hear the door open!" Sarah called back. "Go check Cass's room."
Christy looked up from the roux she was making for mac-n-cheese. "I think I know what happened."
"Oh?" Sarah asked.
"Sam brought the Shield."
Sarah did a double-take. "The Shield? The Shield-Shield? The hell did he do that for?"
Christy shrugged. "Uncle Bucky said something about practicing with it, 'just in case'. In case of what, I dunno."
Sarah frowned. "The boys better not touch it, if they know what's good for them. That thing is not a toy."
Christy nodded, determined to never speak of the first Christmas after the Snap, when Pietro had insisted they ride the Shield down the hill outside of the Mansion like a sled.
"Yeah, not a toy. It's too important."
"But Uncle Saaaaaaam!" Cass protested.
"No, Cass."
"It was Jamie's idea!" AJ added. "He said we could throw it!"
Even Cass glared at AJ after that one.
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're ten, AJ. You're gonna blame the four-year-old?"
"Four an'a…" Jamie trailed off, as he was met with Sam's own version of a Dad Glare.
"Jamie, why did you tell them they could throw it?" Steve asked, looking equally exasperated.
"B'cause...b'cause Pietro did…"
"...Pietro did what, now?"
"The important thing," Sam cut in, "is that this thing is not a toy. An' you can't just go chuckin' it around like a frisbee."
"And Jamie should never have tried to get you boys to break a rule that he knew was in place." Steve added.
Jamie looked down. "S-sorry…"
"Why don't you guys go out back and throw an actual frisbee around?" Sam suggested.
Cass and AJ nodded quickly. Anything to get them out of this before Mom got involved.
"Okay, Uncle Sam. Don't worry, we got Jamie for real this time."
Before Sam or Steve could say another word, the three boys raced out of the house like it was on fire.
Steve re-zipped the Shield back in its case. "Pietro did what with my Shield?"
"It was right after the Snap, we were all stressed as hell and needed something happy. He an' Bucky were tossing it like a frisbee to cheer Christy an' Nathaniel and the other kids up."
Steve's annoyed look fluttered away. Sam vowed even harder that they would never speak of the Sledding Incident.
"I guess that's alright. But how did Jamie know about it?"
"Oh, Wanda took pictures." Sam glanced aside at Steve as they went back to the living room. "Besides, I thought you said it was my shield now."
Steve actually blushed. "Sorry. Of course, it's yours now. I guess...old habits die hard."
"...do you regret retiring?"
"No." Steve said, emphatically. "It's the best thing I ever did. I have enough money to live on, and even if I didn't, Sharon makes plenty. I get to be with Jamie more. And people pay for my art. I'm fine."
Sam laughed. "Alright, alright."
"Why...are you having doubts?"
They settled down in their chairs again. Sam waited a long moment before speaking.
"You know I've been working with the Air Force lately-running some missions. Sorta like what you did with the STRIKE team, back in the day."
"Yeah. Go on."
"Well, I hear stuff. And Rhodey does, too. Seems like some of the top brass an' government guys are making noise about Captain America 'not being a dynasty'. Saying that you didn't have the call to pick your own successor."
"Bullshit." Bucky muttered.
Steve started to mouth 'language' before realizing that all the kids were outside, and letting it drop.
"Yeah, well, tell that to them."
"I will." Bucky said, rolling his eyes. "Steve chose you, that ought to be enough. Besides, the public loves you."
"Not all the public. Besides, I'm still technically going by 'Falcon'. I'm not...I haven't made too many public appearances as Cap, since that one interview. Didn't seem like it was needed. But now it's like they all want to forget about it, an' just have me go back to being the wingman. Literally."
Steve frowned. As he did, the News station on the TV switched to a live broadcast of a bank robbery in Switzerland, courtesy of the Flag Smashers.
"Oh, these lunatics!" Bucky snarled. "Life was better during the Snap-like hell it was!"
"I think their actual thing is more One World Government." Steve said quietly. "I researched them, and Nat did some digging. They think borders and sovereign states were proven useless after the Snap, when things got bad."
Sam nodded. "Everyone started migrating to the cities, and the coast. Some places got more populated, some didn't. Clint basically turned the Farm into the house in A Quiet Place." he snorted, "That movie was prophetic. But now everything is a mess and people are displaced. Those GRC camps are underfunded. They want people to 'go home', but some of 'em don't even have a home to go to." he shook his head.
Bucky sighed. "Okay, I sympathize. But blowin' up things isn't the way you go about it."
Sarah leaned out of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready. Sam, can I talk to you for a second?"
Sam stood up. "Yeah, sure. Somethin' wrong?"
Sarah pulled him into the kitchen. Christy wisely vacated it, and went to get the boys from outside.
"It's about the boat." Sarah said.
"...what about the boat?"
"I'm selling it."
Sam froze. A thousand different memories assaulted his brain all at once.
"S-sell?" he sputtered.
"Yes, Sam-sell. It's getting too old. The repairs are costing too much. Every time I try to sink money into it, another problem opens up. An' now the motor is busted."
"But what about the money I sent…?"
Sarah shook her head. "It's not worth it, Sam. It's too old."
"Sarah, that's mama and daddy's boat! You can't just make that call…!"
Sarah pressed her lips into a tight line. "I didn't wanna bring this up now, but I didn't know when we'd get another second alone. We don't have many of those."
"Sarah, I…"
"I don't mind your friends comin' 'round, really, I don't. They're good guests. But it does eat up our time together, so I wanted to say this now. If you can come up with some miracle plan, good luck. But at this point…"
"MOM!"
Cass's scream came from the living room. Sarah and Sam instantly dropped the conversation and hurried there.
"What is it, baby…?" Sarah started to ask, but the question died on her lips. The answer flashed before her in living color.
"Today, the Department of Defense has announced that Major John Walker will be taking on the role of US Agent! A spokesperson says that Walker's role will consist of…"
It wasn't the words that shocked them so much, as what the smiling, blonde man on the screen was carrying.
It was a shield. Red and white stripes surrounded a shining blue star, and the metal gleamed in the sunlight.
They could call him US Agent if they wanted to. But it was glaringly obvious that they had just re-made Captain America in their own image.
It was Jamie, in his innocence, who summed it up best:
"Who's that, Dad?"
When the newly-christened US Agent made his first televised interview, from his old high school no less, Steve, Bucky, and Sam all tuned in to watch.
Steve couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. He radiated earnest frankness and truly seemed to want to be an agent of patriotism and goodwill. Maybe it was all an act. But he knew what it was like to be thrust into a position, with the eyes of the whole world on you, and orders to live up to everyone's expectations-or else.
Sam sat quietly, a sorrowful look on his face.
Bucky just scowled.
"John, I think the first thing everyone wants to know is-what is it like being US Agent? Do eagles fly overhead wherever you go?"
Walker laughed, "Oh, yeah, right after fireworks celebrate my arrival in every city. No, no, it's...it's the greatest honor of my life, to be a symbol for my country. To fight for it again, in a new way."
"I bet it is." Bucky snarked.
"Buck, honestly, the guy looks clean even if this situation is dirty." Steve protested.
"You chose Sam." Bucky said, voice stiff. "They ought to let you have the honor of your choice. After all you've done, all he's done…"
"Guys." Sam said. His voice was hollow and vague.
It shut them up immediately.
"A guy like me…"
"Oh, a guy like you? I think someone's being a little too modest. For those of you who aren't familiar with John's resume: "John Walker, first person in American history to receive three medals of honor, ran RS-One missions in counterterrorism and hostage rescue. The government did a study of your body at MIT, and you tested off the charts in every measurable category. Speed, endurance, intelligence…"
"Look, here's the thing." Walker cut in. "I'm not Tony Stark, I'm not Dr. Banner…"
"You sure as hell ain't." Bucky muttered.
"I don't have the flashiest gadgets. I don't have super strength. But what I do have is guts. And that's something that is necessary to represent this country of ours. That's something Steve Rogers himself always had."
The reporter cleared her throat. "Now, rumors have been going around that your role is...intended to be a replacement of Captain America, and a usurpation of Sam Wilson-also known as Falcon-from the role."
Walker shook his head earnestly. "I'm not out to take anyone's place. I'm my own man. If Sam Wilson is watching this, I want him to know that."
Sam sucked in air through his teeth.
"We've had a tough three, almost four years now. People have died and come back to life. Through it all, America has managed to stand as a beacon of freedom in the world, a place of safety. And my role is to protect that image and that beacon of freedom wherever I'm needed. Think of me as...the little guy's Captain America. Superheroes have been so isolated lately. And who can blame them? Those guys saved the world, and paid for it. But it's a new age, now. Time for new heroes."
"And you've always wanted to be a hero?"
"...I liked that what I was doing would make people feel safe. That's the kind of thing Steve Rogers seemed to do. Even though I've never met him...he feels like a brother."
Bucky looked two seconds away from tossing a beer can at the screen. Steve grabbed his arm.
Sam got up and went outside. His feet kept him moving until he reached his old thinking spot on the boat-the Captain's seat. How ironic.
Distantly, he could hear the kids playing. Sarah was at work. He hoped that Steve and Bucky would have the good sense to leave him be for a moment.
"Even though I've never met him...he feels like a brother."
"Yeah?" Sam whispered bitterly. "Well, I have met him. Fought with him. Saved his kid from losin' her head a time or two. Saved him from losin' his head a time or two."
He sighed, feeling the thick Louisiana air enter his lungs.
Steve was right. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with this guy, specifically. And there was no denying that he looked the part.
Maybe it was better to fade quietly into the shadows. To stay the Falcon and not make a fuss about this.
As it was, there was probably no harm in letting this John Walker guy get paraded around. It would mean that he and Bucky could focus on other things.
Like the Flag Smashers.
Steve didn't know, but Natasha had been keeping him and Bucky appraised of the group for the last two months, since they first started to gain real traction.
With everyone distracted watching Discount Captain America, they could slip around unnoticed and track them down.
Somehow, that didn't exactly take care of the bitterness in his heart.
His dad had been a minister in Harlem before an almost-fatal gunshot wound had made the Wilson family relocate to Louisiana, to take over the family seafood business. But even if he had 'retired', he had remained a minister in spirit. Sam could practically hear him now.
"Don't you swallow that root of bitterness, boy. It's gonna choke you if you do."
Sam balled his fist. "They just...they didn't even ask me, Dad. Steve was tryin' to honor me, an' they stole that. They stole it all! Just like they steal everything else!"
"Don't let the sun go down on your anger…"
He pounded his fist into the seat of the Captain's chair and growled in frustration.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, so shall he reap…"
That one hit hard enough to make him still.
"We're all accountable to someone, Sam. And all of us are accountable to God. Some people are gonna have a real hard time facing that, someday."
The Department of Defense, the Army, whoever else. They would have to face the fact that they had cheated him and usurped his role-for no matter what John Walker claimed or believed, that was what they had done.
Maybe they wouldn't face it right now. Maybe not even in this life. But face it, they would.
"How long…" Sam muttered. "How long are they gonna keep doing crap like this to us?"
But he squared his shoulders and walked off the boat with a glint in his eye.
They had terrorists to stop, after all.
Back in New York, Christy lay on her bed and tried to drown out worries about Sam with the distraction of new textbooks.
She had pre-ordered this one, because it looked interesting. It was for a Criminal Justice course that she would take this Fall
One section of the book made her read closer. It had to do with unethical medical experimentation.
"What the heck…" she muttered, reading over information on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. She had started to read because she recognized "Tuskegee" from the Tuskegee Airmen. "How did this go on for forty years?!"
But it was a footnote at the bottom that gave her true pause.
"After the development of Serum SR17, commonly called Super Soldier Serum, by Dr. Abraham Erskine, it was injected into Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America. After Roger's untimely death, variations of the serum were used for unethical human experimentation within the military and within government organizations."
The words "used for unethical human experimentation" seemed to swim on the page, swirling in her brain until her stomach felt ready to puke up everything she had eaten within the last day.
What...what did they do with it? Did they try to make another Super Soldier? I know the Russians and HYDRA experimented on Uncle Bucky, but I didn't think the American government…"
She groaned, burying her head in her pillow. She wasn't stupid. She knew American history about as well as anyone, and probably better than most. She knew about the racism. She knew about the injustices. But the thought of someone using serum that Dr. Erskine had designed to fight Nazis as part of hateful, racism-fueled experimentation-
Abruptly, she opened her window and crawled out on the landing that led to the fire escape. She needed to make a call.
She grabbed an old, brick-like burner phone off her desk. It was the one way to contact the person she was calling.
It only took three rings for him to pick up this time.
"Fury."
"Uncle Nick?"
"...Christy."
"Who else calls you Uncle Nick?"
"...what d'you need, kid?"
Christy sighed. "I, um...how much can you get into classified US Military stuff? Especially if it's stuff that probably isn't supposed to be found."
There was a long pause. Christy was afraid the connection had cut. But Fury finally answered.
"I can call in a few favors. What exactly are you looking into, kid?"
Christy swallowed. "A-anything about human experimentation using the Super Soldier Serum. SR17. Specifically experimentation carried out by the US military or government."
"Any particular reason?"
"I, um...I was reading. For a class. I read something...disturbing. And I...I have to know if anyone mis-used the serum besides HYDRA. Because that should be known. It shouldn't be a secret, if they did something wrong with it."
She could almost hear the smile in Fury's voice, as he replied. "Okay, kid. I'll look into it. Give me three weeks."
"Got it. Thanks, Uncle Nick. Uh...where are you, anyway?"
"That's classified, and you know it. Now get back to studying, kid."
"Fine, fine. 'Bye."
" 'Bye kid."
The call ended before she could end it. Like always.
Christy took a deep breath and tried to slow her heart rate.
There was probably nothing to find. Maybe even Uncle Nick wouldn't be able to get ahold of anything. But what if there was?
And what would change, if there was something to find?
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was tragedy that should NEVER have gone on for FORTY YEARS. Look it up, and you'll see what I'm talking about.
So, yes, this fic is rated T for a reason. The other reason is Bucky's mouth, lol. I'm not going to shy away from the questions that FaWS asked. But I'll do it in a way that makes sense for this AU I've made.
Chapter titles and story title is taken from "Let America Be America Again," by Langston Hughes. It is a poem that sums up this story and the spirit in which it is written
Next Chapter: "It Never Was America To Me"-our favorite Falcon and ex-assassin hunt some terrorists and Steve does battle with the past.