Point of View

by: Shadow Chaser

Part 4 – There But For the Grace of God

Howard was no stranger to war-time footage and reels of film shown, but he knew that most of them were propaganda and filmed only when the safety of the film crew was assured as well as through government approval. Most of the time, he was not allowed onto the field, being a civilian and also the United States government's biggest weapons contractor. Too valuable to be risked on front lines. So he had to content himself with after-action reports, listening into debriefs by the Howling Commandos, and even occasionally walking the fields of battle after the battle had been won. Finow was one such case Jarvis having obliquely mentioned it to him in an encrypted phone call after he had been picked up for interrogation by Chief Dooley and the SSR. What had happened in Finow...he did not know why Dooley wanted to know about that, but vowed to never let that horrific event see the light of day.

That said, he was not blind to what Captain Rogers and the Howling Commandos had done during their time in the war. He had read the reports, had even participated in some of the pre-mission briefings, giving the Commandos the necessary gear for certain missions. He had even picked them up occasionally from their extraction point under heavy fire after they had accomplished their goals, but he had never known what or had even seen how Steve Rogers operated in the field until now.

Until all 104-inches of plasma television was broadcasting live the grainy, shaky image of Captain America in action on the streets of the lower east side. It was one of the many images that was projecting what was happening at that very moment downtown. It was something Howard could not believe what he was seeing as well as all of the sheer information of it happening at the moment. How...how did people in this futuristic time comprehend such information overload nearly made him dizzied to think about it. He had quickly discovered that focusing on one source instead of the many sources shown on the screen was a lot easier than to take it all in at the same time.

"Stark, sit rep!" Steve's voice blared across the speakers that were cleverly hidden within the spacious room and Howard risked a quick look back to see the stern, but extraordinarily beautiful woman, move her hands in front of her. A smaller version of what was projected onto the 104-inch plasma encircled her, distorting her body a little, but she seemed not to pay attention to him and instead, was focused on the smaller version of the screens. She had abruptly introduced herself to him and Jarvis as Maria Hill, the apparent head of security for the tower and what was the New York branch of Stark Industries. He had taken a brief moment to comprehend the fact that Stark Industries had grown to have branches all over the world. It had left him reeling at how much his personal business had grown in seventy years.

The quip about her beauty and her competency had nearly fallen from his lips before she had brushed right past him and seemed more focused on introducing herself to Peggy. He instantly recognized the slight giddiness, pride, and awe in Maria's posture before she had re-introduced herself to Peggy as Agent Maria Hill before saying that Peggy had been an inspiration to her. They had been baffled and Howard had asked what she had meant by that before she only gave them a mysterious smile and said that she could not say anything because of what Tony had told her about destabilizing the stable time loop.

Howard had tried to wheedle a bit of information out of her, but she had ignored even his best attempts at flirting with her and had immediately waved her hands and fingers around, setting up what looked like a miniature command post and war room in the spacious common area that they had found themselves in just hours ago. He was still amazed at how Maria and even Tony had seemingly conjured the hard-light images out of thin air, even after Tony had tried to explain to him that it was motion sensor based as well as holographic projections and something about computerized chips embedded in something he had not quite comprehended – his mind mostly distracted by the sheer futursitic look of everything. It was as if he was reading more of Asimov's works, of pulp novels that people could only dream of in the books.

Maria had said that normally there was a war room dedicated to the Avengers' mission, but since Tony had talked to her about their appearance, she would have thought it more prudent for her to conduct her status as mission control with them present. Howard would have easily brought into that, having been in awe by the amount of video feeds and apparently real-time footage she had brought up onto the plasma television that he had been eyeing the last time he was in the room, except for Peggy. She had asked if it was because Tony was worried that they would escape like lab rats out of the maze and far from being offended, Maria had only nodded with the practicality of a person who had long dealt with secrets and all sorts of subterfuge.

She had plainly told them that Tony had quickly explained to her that he could not risk the world seeing them and potentially cause a time paradox. But instead of leaving it at that, she had further told them it was because in the future, in the day and age that they had landed in, all three were very well known, Howard more than Peggy and Jarvis, but by extension all three would bring Tony and Steve's enemies to their doorstep if they took one step outside of the tower.

Howard had been disturbed by the fact that his son had enemies and also that Steve had new enemies – he would have thought that as Captain America he would be beloved by the people, too kind-hearted, too good of a person to ever have enemies. He understood that he himself was not well-liked by many of his business rivals, but to find that his son, that Tony, was still a target...he did not like that one bit. He had silently vowed then that if and when he got back to his time period, he would personally make sure that Stark Industries would have no enemies, that his son would be able to grow up in peace.

But it had been Jarvis who had asked if the enemies Tony and Steve had were related to her status as mission control for the Avengers. Maria had answered frankly that it was partially that, that in this day and age, Steve was still Captain America, but that Tony Stark had taken up the public mantle of being Iron Man. She did not tell them why he had become Iron Man - a man dressed in an advance sophisticated battle armor that Howard could not even begin to comprehend how it worked - but rather told them that both men were part of a team called the Avengers – similar to the Commandos. Howard had been heartened to hear that even now, Steve had others, besides Tony, to relate to.

It had been one of the first things he had noticed, that Steve looked exhausted. It wasn't a physical exhaustion, but more of a mental one, almost as if he was alone and barely had any friends in the modern age they had been transported into. He suppose that wherever Steve had been found, it must have been jarring to wake up and find people like himself dead, or others like Peggy, very old. He must have also still have been hurting from his best friend Bucky's loss.

Howard had time to come to terms with Bucky's death, having not been as close to him as Steve, but he thought that for someone like Steve who had, now technically, died only a month after Bucky's fall from the train in the Alps; he still looked like he was still haunted by Bucky's ghost. Howard knew that look very well because it was the same one he saw every morning he got up and found himself in an unfamiliar place, reminding himself that he was on the run – that everything he had done was for naught. That Steve...if and when he returned to 1946 would still be frozen, still be thought of as dead.

And Howard silently vowed, as he focused on one of the grainy images on the plasma television screen, that he would find Steve at his last coordinates and wake him up before all of this happened. That he would not have to wake up like a stranger in a strange land. Even if he went back, had no memories, anything, he would find Steve Rogers. Steve would wake up surrounded by family and friends. Not by strangers who left him with a haunted look and memories that he could not relate to.

And just as fast as that thought occurred to him, he saw the bright red-white-blue shield of Captain America cross the screen, Steve clearly running through empty streets after stopping by a police barrier on Broome and Allen Streets. Howard realized he could not do that to Steve. Not for all his friend, his pal, stood for. Even if it did screw up the time loop, he could see the good that Steve was doing right in front of him, right on the screen projecting the real-time images in front of his eyes.

"I'm circling the area, scanning for any tachyon anomalies," Tony's voice blared right back to Steve's command and Howard glanced up to the corner of the screen to see what was clearly the display from the Iron Man suit giving them his perspective, flying around rather dizzily before multiple concentric circles popped up on the display.

"Anomalies detected, sir," the faint metallic humanly-tinged voice of JARVIS, the artificial intelligence named after his own butler Edwin Jarvis, spoke in a polite cadence. Howard squinted against the rather small projection around the giant television screen, and read the line of small text that said tachyon anomalies were spotted and their locations highlighted.

He focused back to the main footage to see the grainy image of both Steve and Tony who was flying around the edges, pull farther back, the helicopter carrying the media camera having been ordered to a safer distance. However, the other screens surrounding the enlarged media one had not changed perspective. "How..."

"Police footage. NYPD and Homeland Security has graciously allowed Stark Industries, or actually the Avengers to use their video feeds from both dashboard cameras, police-mounted cameras, and surveillance footage to ensure optimal success for any mission the Avengers are called upon to deal with. It's the first thing I negotiated when I was hired by Stark Industries after my previous employer imploded," Maria answered his unspoken question and he glanced back at her, flashing her a quick smile.

"Sounds like a story," he saw her take a quick look at him before shaking her head, a small crooked smile on her face before she turned back to her own feed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jarvis roll his eyes and heave a faint sigh before look back at Peggy who was only glaring at him. "What?"

Peggy looked like she was about to say something, but held her tongue and instead, turned her attention back to the television screen. Not everything that came out of his mouth was what either Jarvis or Peggy thought it was – he was interested in what Maria had said. It also helped that he thought that she was extremely gorgeous, dressed in the business outfit that certainly accentuated her curves. Women's fashion sure changed in this day and age if she was allowed to wear something like that in an office setting. A brief extraneous thought occurred to him; maybe the reason why Peggy was looking at him like that was because this Maria Hill was Tony's dame, girl or something? But that did not make sense based on the way Tony had addressed her when she called – more of a mother hen-like or in a business matter. Or it could have been that Tony was completely professional outside of an intimate context...Howard blinked his eyes rapidly to clear away the thoughts. He did not need to speculate on his future son's love life, or if there even was one, considering the fact that he still was trying to come to terms that Tony Stark was his son.

"I'm getting strong readings on Henry and Grand-"

"Sergeant Sousa's team is on the corner of East Broadway and Grand-"

"Scouting the area," Tony's voice ended on an abrupt click that Howard knew was either him turning off his radio or changing to a more private line. Not even a second later, he saw the television camera zoom towards the rather ostentatious looking red-gold armor of Iron Man flying to what looked like the corner of Henry Street and Grand Street. The area had not changed much, though there was a little more green than the dusty soot color Howard remembered. It somehow gave him a measure of comfort, to know that his beloved city had aged well in the course of nearly seventy years.

"Hill, status on Falcon and War Machine?" Steve's comm. line was still open and Howard thought he spotted his red-white-blue form crossing the streets and blocks with rapid ease, making his way towards where Tony, or rather, Iron Man had flown towards.

"War Machine's overseas, looks like he won't make it back in time. Falcon is on his way, but his pack isn't designed for atmospheric flight," Hill said, "should I hail Coulson and his team for any ground ops here?"

"Not until we know what we're dealing with," Steve replied just as the camera abruptly tilted a little as flashes of lights started to dance around Iron Man.

"-whoa, whoa! I found them Cap!" Tony's voice suddenly blasted across the comm. lines followed by the muffled sounds of things exploding and impacting near him. "Hostile forces, definitely dressed like black-clad HYDRA soldiers- Shit!" There was the definite sound of a hollow thonk and Howard felt his heart seize a little.

"Stark!" Steve's voice was calm, but with a note of urgency and Howard watched as the red-white-blue form that had been running at a steady pace towards Henry and Grand suddenly blur into an outright sprint. More must have been said on some other radio frequency, or perhaps even shouted, because the grainy footage suddenly showed a bunch of smaller black-clad people with the word SWAT and NYPD branded on their chests, holding sophisticated machine guns pour out of the corner of East Broadway and Grand, forming a circular perimeter as Steve rushed past them.

"I'm fine! Just a bit...cooked, yep, they've got weapons! They're not...they're not like the Item 34 the Chitauri left behind, but they certainly look like them!"

Howard had no idea what Tony meant by his words, but he suspected that maybe it was some technological wonder that had given the Avengers trouble the last time they had faced these...Chitauri. He was more disturbed that whatever was attacking wore HYDRA uniforms, from his time. Surely HYDRA did not exist seventy years in the future? Steve had ensured that with the downing of the Valkyrie and Schmidt's supposed death. Though when Steve had said that he did not exactly kill Schmidt, more like saw him disappear with the powerful cuboid that had created HYDRA's advance weaponry, he supposed that there was a chance that Schmidt was still alive. The possibility was very remote, but Steve was living proof that he somehow survived, that Project Rebirth gave him the ability to survive all the way to the future. What was to say that Dr. Erskine's first creation, Johann Schmidt could not do the same.

But Steve did not seem concerned about Schmidt, so he supposed there was some comfort in that – Schmidt did not exist in this day and age. But still, there was the real concern about the black-clad HYDRA soldiers.

"Sir, I'm picking up readings of tachyon anomalies located within the building," JARVIS's voice piped through and Howard blinked, automatically glancing up at the ceiling. Tony's computerized artificial intelligence was able to somehow detect anomalies with that kind of precision?

He realized he must have voiced his question out loud as JARVIS's voice piped down, a louder modulation than what he was hearing from the comm. "I am installed in both the Iron Man suits of Sir and within the Tower, Mr. Stark." As the artificial intelligence was speaking, a window of sorts, projected by the hard-light system that he had spent the last few hours playing with down in Tony's workshop, popped up in front of him, giving him what looked like readings from what Tony's suit had apparently picked up. The marvel and wonder of having a suit that did all of these things without actually holding gadgets aside, Howard tentatively reached out and touched the reading, a frown on his face.

"They're...um, JARVIS, can you bring up the ones that brought us here?"

"Uh, sir-"

"Sorry, I meant, the computer JARVIS," Howard shot a quick grin at his butler who looked mildly miffed, but seemed to accept the slip. He did not quite know how to feel about Tony – it was still a little weird to think of the man that was older than him as his son – naming his artificial intelligence butler after Edwin Jarvis. He could tell that Jarvis was immensely touched, but Howard himself felt a little guiltily crushed.

He had gathered in the brief spate of conversation he had with Tony before Steve had arrived with Peggy and Jarvis in tow, that Tony had a very hard family life and that was something that ate at him. When Tony had first arrived in the workshop, he had been rather giddy about showing him various technological wonders and even enthusiastically sharing his knowledge, as if he was trying to impress him. However, something had happened in the middle of that conversation and Howard could not help but think that it had been something he said. Tony had abruptly turned cold and told him in so many words that he had been a really bad father when he had been growing up.

That was something Howard could never see himself doing. He knew of his own reputation, but he had been thinking lately about what his legacy would be – especially since the SSR was now on his tail and accusing him of selling weapons on the black market. What would the Stark legacy be? Project Rebirth was his crowning achievement and Steve's death – though now he was very well alive – had struck something within him. He wanted to live up to Steve's legacy...and the fact that Tony had all but said he was a terrible father...it hurt to hear that. But Tony had not been finished and had gone on a short rant about how cold and calculating he was, how he never told him that he loved him – something Howard could never seen himself doing, especially to a child of his own – that he sent him to boarding school and it was the happiest day of his life to get Anthony E. Stark out of his hair and go back to running the ruthless company he created.

Howard had tried to apologize, but at the same time, had begun to feel a little angry for all of the slights that Tony had threw at him when he himself had not even begun to do any of that. He did not even know who Tony's mother was and tried to defend himself. It had ended in a tense silence between the two of them before Steve, Peggy, and Jarvis had arrived.

Then before Maria had called, Tony had told him, still furiously hurt and seething with resentment, that he and Jarvis were unceremoniously dead in this day and age. When that had happened, something in Howard twisted in pain. He realized that if he went back to 1946, he would not live to see Steve alive again. That he would probably die before he ever saw Steve again. It had stung then and still did now...

Howard shook his head as a flash of color and light in the television screen beyond the projection he was seeing snapped him out of his dark thoughts. It was something he needed to talk to Tony about later, again, even if it came to blows or if he had to physically restrain Tony and tell him that he was not this man, this father that Tony had grown up with. Not yet, nor not ever. If he went back, he would raise his future son like a loving parent. No boarding school, no calculating stares, nothing that would make Tony feel like he had to be compared to someone greater.

"Sir, the readings have a ninety-eight percent match," JARVIS spoke up, "it would seem that this is the same anomaly that have transported you, Agent Carter, and Mr. Jarvis here."

"Another 0-8-4?" Steve asked, his breath huffing a little before the distinctive thwang sound of his shield hitting something echoed across the comm. Howard looked up in time to see a red-white-blue blur hit several black-clad looking things. He glanced over to Tony's display, but could not really see a good glimpse of what those creatures looked like Tony's targeting reticule flashing green and red as he fired what looked like bright powerful bolts of light from his gloves.

"Steve, two behind, trying to flank you-"

"See them, thanks, Peg," Howard looked back to the main camera feed in time to see Steve spin and leap over a parked car before lashing out with a strong kick to one before grabbing the other in a headlock and slamming him to the ground, his arms twisting a little to break the creature's neck.

He glanced over to see Peggy staring at the feeds with a critical eye, her gaze roaming all over the place and smiled a little. Trust Peggy to have her head completely on straight- He frowned as he saw her rub her temples absently. "Peg, you okay?"

"The headache's back-"

"The last time you had one you went into that entropic cascade failure-" no sooner did Howard speak, Peggy suddenly collapsed to the floor, her body shaking violently, her face ghosting with silent horrifying screams. "Peggy!" he took two steps over to her before Jarvis suddenly pulled at him.

"Sir, no! Remember what happened last time?!" Jarvis blocked him from moving any further, but Howard was having none of it.

"Peggy?! What's happening?"

"Is she having an entropic cascade failure- More incoming!"

The sounds of the fight in Steve and Tony's comms, were seemingly drowned out as Howard stared at Peggy, shaking like a leaf on the carpeted ground. He made to move forward again, trying to brush Jarvis off of him.

"I can't just leave her like that-"

"Sir-"

Just as suddenly the shaking stop, leaving Peggy breathlessly gasping on the ground, her hands clenched into fists, her hair pooled in a messy halo around her head. Howard did not even hesitate to push Jarvis' arm off of his own and rushed to her side. He knelt down next to her and tentatively reached out to touch her hand. A grimace appeared on his face as he braced himself to be thrown clear across the room, but after a few seconds, nothing happened and he cracked open an eye. "Peggy?"

"I-I'm...f-fine-" Peggy started, but was cut off by a panicked shout from Tony across the comms.

"Holy shit, Steve! Watch out!" Howard looked up in time to see the red-white-blue blur that was Steve Rogers suddenly stumble backwards, an unmistakable spray of red flying from his chest. His heart caught in his throat as Peggy grip stiffened in his hand, the two of them seeing the same thing. Did they just see Steve die?

The workshop was devoid of any movement save for the occasional chirp of the robotic arms that served Tony Stark. One of the arms, Dummy who had been assigned to sweep the lab, peered up from his work with a curious chirrup of his clamps. At the same time he accidentally dropping his broom, watching as the lonely object on the table in the farthest corner suddenly started to shake and whine. He knew his creator had been tinkering with it earlier and that three people had appeared, but they seemed friendly enough that time. He tilted his head a little as the object glowed blue before just as suddenly, a person materialized next to the object.

He was dressed in a black tactical vest, a black balaclava covering the lower half of his mouth, but the robotic arm deigned to ignore the person, recognizing his features as a friendly in the tower as he lowered his head to pick up the broom once more. Dummy did not really make more note of the blond-hair blue-eyed soldier that took one calculated tactical look around the workshop before stalking forward.

The soft whine of his metallic right arm clenched into a fist as he brushed past the robotic arms, intent on hunting down his targets. Director Peggy Carter and Dr. Howard Stark were enemies in Herr Zola's HYDRA Empire, their false-Captain America, Captain Barnes, already dead by his hand just before he had touched the object. They would perish by his hand, already betrayed by the traitor in their midst the butler Edwin Jarvis after Dr. Stark refused to help him rescue his wife Anna. All he needed to do was to finish the job, their escape route bringing them here to this bright foreign workshop.

They were his mission and he would not fail.

Steve gritted his teeth as the knife drew a line of blood across his chest, the blade seemingly able to penetrate the layers of kevlar he had in his armor. He had barely dodged the blow, but the cut still sent a spray of blood into the air and he automatically reached up to stem it, rolling and dodging the next attack from his knife-wielding assailant. He blocked again, his shield clanging against the knife blow. This...alien HYDRA creature was not like the others, even though it was dressed in the same black armor with the HYDRA logo on it. He was fast and strong, and the blade of his knife definitely had special properties that had not been introduced in the nineteen forties.

The others that had come pouring out of the building that Tony had identified with markers similar to whatever particles that apparently had surrounded the 0-8-4 that brought the three time travelers here. He had no idea what Tony was saying regarding that, but he definitely understood that these were hostile forces and that they certainly did not belong in this time stream. He got that these hostile alien-soldiers were displaced in time, much like Peggy, Howard, and Jarvis, but instead of being benevolent and willing to listen to reason, they had immediately attacked Sergeant Sousa's men, driving them one block back before he and Tony had arrived to contain the situation.

The creatures were definitely alien, and not of this world, but they were not Chitauri. Instead of the purple-grey skin of the Chitauri, they had blue skin, looked humanoid enough with five-fingers, but also chattered in a language with gestures that Steve had immediately identified as highly sophisticated and definitely tactical considering he had been jumped by five of them at the same time. The oddest part was that they were dressed in the familiar black uniforms and body armor of HYDRA from World War II. He had been fighting several of them off when their apparent leader had ambushed him, his knife scoring a mildly deep cut across his kevlar and chest.

"Steve!" he heard Tony's shout across the comm, but could not answer him as he dodged another blow and kicked, his boot crunching against the creature's armor. However, instead of flying back like the others who came before him, the creature only staggered back a little before charging forward once more, knife held in a backwards grip.

Steve blocked the first blow by shuffling forward, catching the creature's forearm across his own and lashed out with his other hand, gripping the knife arm in a solid grip. He could feel the pull and bulge of muscle underneath the grip before he twisted, sending the creature to the ground. At the same time, he rolled with the grip, stepping in instep and disarmed the knife from the man's grip with a twist of his own wrists. He did not get time to catch his breath as he grimaced at the blow to his kidneys before scrabbling to roll into a crouch and stared at the other man whose helmet had gotten twisted from his move.

Steve charged forward with his shield and threw it, his surprise mounting at the sudden flick of the man's arm and watched as his shield went flying to the side. There was two other people he knew that could easily block his shield like that without a second thought, and one of them was at the tower while the other was disintegrated by the cube known as the Tesseract. Who was this creature? A second later, he met the alien with a flying knee to the chest, sending him staggering back before he punched him in the face, disorienting the helmet some more before he blocked two blows and twisted to the side, as the creature lashed out. He caught a blow to his chest and winced as it came in contact with his wound, but gritted his teeth and pushed past the pain, blocking two more, one high one low- Steve felt the breath leave him at the sudden kick to his stomach, the blow almost as solid as the one he had given earlier and staggered back. He looked up to see the man rip his helmet off and he felt his jaw drop in sheer shock.

He...looked like him.

Except for the haircut that Steve recognized as his own which was still in the nineteen-forties, and the utterly malevolent and cruel smile on his face, the man looked exactly like him. Until he spoke, that is.

"Well, well," the sound was definitely his own, but the manner of speech and cadence, it sounded oddly familiar, almost...Germanic if he could get past the accent. "It seems the world we were promised comes with its own defender. Tell me, Captain, how would you like to die this time around?"

Steve never knew the face that was his own could ever produce a leering, sinister smile such as the one he was seeing. It looked utterly foreign, but he knew he had seen it somewhere...some time... It hit him then as he stared back into the blue eyes he had seen in the mirror a thousand times before. He could see it...could see the hate, the insanity, the death-like skull.

"...Red Skull..." he whispered and saw the smile grow a hair wider in confirmation of who the man wearing his face really was. Somehow, the Red Skull had possessed his body in whatever time warp he had gone through to get here. And judging by the other man's words, he had killed him by possessing his body.

"Ah...the boy gets it," it was easier now, to hear the familiar Germanic cadence of the Red Skull's voice in his own, the accented English, the smile and malevolence that had been exuded in the man's voice. "My body was failing due to the serum's rejection, so Herr Doktor Zola devised a plan to transfer my consciousness into your healthy body and you into my failing one. It was glorious watching you die by the hands of your comrades as they sought to rescue you and instead shot you."

"...Steve...he's...he's got your body...what the hell...?" Steve barely heard the whine of repulsors hovering above him along with Tony's strangled voice as he continued to stare at the darker version of himself. He could almost see it, the Commandos rushing into whatever sick lab HYDRA had, finding him and Schmidt hooked up to wires as they automatically gunned down the Red Skull's body, himself pleading for them to shoot the other one. He could see the Red Skull using his body to then kill his friends in the aftermath, their shock and horror at what they had done paralyzing them to the spot. He could almost see it-

It was only years of instinct and timed by several cries over the comm in his ear that he managed to dodge the Red Skull's surprise attack and picked his discarded shield up. The blade scored a line across his side as he pivoted and grabbed the Red Skull's arm, disarming the knife with a quick twist of his wrists before he slammed his shield as a whole into the rest of the Skull's body, knocking him several feet back as he tumbled head-over-heels and landed in a crouch. Steve flicked his shield forward, knocking the Skull back several more feet as he charged towards him, grabbing his shield out of the air as it rebounded.

No matter where the Skull came from, even if he was possessing his body, there was no way that he would allow the madman to roam free in his timeline. Not after what he had just said and not ever. He heard Tony's repulsors whine and blast apart several of the HYDRA soldiers that had apparently come to their leader's aid as he focused on the Skull. Tony would be able to cover his back, he thought as he blocked the first blow, pushing aside another before he caught a kick in his ribs, grunting from the impact. He made to grab at the Skull's outstretched leg, but the man apparently had time to get used to his new body as he nimbly twisted out of the way before hammering him with an elbow.

Steve brought his shield up, deflecting it and felt the Skull grab at his shield, but he kept his grip tight on its inner handles and as soon as he felt the tell-tale tug on his shield, he rammed forward, throwing him off balance. He lashed out with a snap kick, sending him into the brick wall of the building that had been identified with the anomalous readings, ducking a second later as the hairs on the back of his neck tickled in warning. The bolt passed harmlessly over his head and hit the Skull square in the stomach as he doubled over in pain. Steve took advantage of his wounded state and rammed his knee into the man's chest, driving him further into the concrete bricks and through them, the two of them landing in a flurry of metallic mailboxes and scraps of envelopes, magazine papers, and ripped up electronic wires.

He rolled with the impact, grimacing as he came in contact with several pieces of sharp debris, and got to his feet, turning in time to see stars flash across his vision at the same time pain exploded across his temples. He managed to weakly block a blow he saw coming out of the corner of his eye as the Skull dropped a metal folding chair he had used to hammer at his face, the metal twisted and bent from the force of the blow. Steve backed away, raising his shield to block the next one, shaking his head as the momentary disorientation passed.

He saw the Skull take a small step back, staring at him, face bloodied and breath coming in gasps. His wound was bleeding a dark red stain that was even visible underneath the blackened armor and Steve could feel drips of sweat, mingled with the sting of open wounds and blood dripping down his own uniform.

"You are far faster than I remembered, Captain," the Skull said with a red-stained grin.

"And that's not yours," he shot back, gesturing with his chin to the Skull's body. Whatever timeline, whatever time period or even alternate reality – if what Tony said about entropic cascade failure was true – the Skull had come from, he knew what he had to do. If he truly was dead in the time period and reality the madman had come through, then he needed to end this, if not for his friends who all died by his hand, but so that no one would have to deal with the Skull in their time period. Planning to bomb the United States of America was crazy enough; hijacking his body was a whole new level of insanity.

The Skull chuckled darkly before charging forward, swinging wide. Steve braced himself and caught the glint of a knife in the man's other hand just as the punch careened towards him. He let it hit his arm as he half-twisted towards the Skull, and slammed his shoulder into the man's chest. At the same time, he pulled the elbow holding his shield back, driving the edge of it into his exposed left ribs. With his freed hands, he reached down to grab the knife and disarmed him again with a snap of bones. He continued his momentum, dropping the knife as he swung his right arm around and finished with a choke hold around the Skull's neck. He could feel the immediate bulge of muscle as the Skull automatically grabbed at his arm, but Steve quickly finished it with a quick snap of the man's neck, breaking it before letting the body fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.

He stood there for a few seconds, staring at the crumpled body of himself, feeling the hitch of his breath coming in slight gasps. The adrenaline was slowly wearing away as the distant sounds of repulsors followed by cries of the invading Chitauri-like soldiers died. It was eerie seeing his own body on the ground, eyes closed, head turned just so that it looked like he was only peacefully sleeping instead of dead. He absently touched his ear, "Stark, sit rep."

"Cap, that you?" Tony's voice sounded almost as breathless as he did over the comm, before the clomp of his boots touched down behind him. He turned to see Stark warily approach, repulsors still glowing, but not quite raised at him. He understood the caution, suppressing the hurt that came with it, as he stepped to the side to allow Tony to see the body of the Red Skull wearing his face.

"Yeah, still getting trace amounts of tachyon fields off of this guy," Tony murmured before looking at him. "You okay Steve?"

"I will be," he replied, surprised at his own honesty when he knew he normally would just shrug it off. He realized the fact that the Red Skull had possessed his body had shaken him a lot more than he had thought. He was a soldier first and foremost. The safety and security of his friends was far more paramount than his own needs.

"JARVIS is reporting that most of the invading aliens have been dealt with, Sousa's team sweeping the perimeter right now," Tony said almost conversationally after a few seconds of silence as he crouched down and held up a glowing hand towards the dead body. "I can definitely trace the source from this guy and it's in this building."

Steve knelt down next to Tony, pursing his lips as he stared at the body. He could not see any visible difference, no ripple field or anything that he had expected from the pulp novels Bucky loved to the various time-travel movies he remembered watching since he had woken up from the ice. Someone at SHIELD had once thought it would be relevant for him to understand how others sometimes felt waking up in different time periods even when he had clearly known it was Hollywood's attempt to commercialize and maybe romanticize time travel or have people lost in different time periods. Still, he had brought into the concept a little bit, enjoying the mindless romantic image for what it had been.

He absently reached out, not knowing what made him do so, but something told him that he needed to reach out-

"Wait- Steve-"

That was when he...no, when they both saw it...

He met Tony's gaze as he stepped out of the police car, hands cuffed in front of him. The sheer number of flashes from photographers' bulbs nearly blinded him as microphones were shoved into his face. The cacophony of question and general noise was so great, but Steve only had his eyes on Tony who stood in the middle of the press mob, stoic, silent, and staring right back. He did not look like the man who had won a victory, but rather looked crushed, a Pyrrhic victory for him and Steve could only stare back. He knew he could easily blame Tony for what had happened, the Superhero Registration Act, the fight between the two of them, the destruction that had followed the two of them as they embroiled the world in their fight. But Steve did not blame his friend, he only blamed the fact that he got so many innocents were caught up in this.

"Steve-"

Steve gently shook his head against Sam's protest behind him, Natasha standing right next to him as he felt the gentle touch of Sharon's arm on his own.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Sharon had been assigned as part of his security detail, still working for the CIA, but silent on where she stood in the whole of the civil war that had been between him and Tony.

He did not see where Clint or T'Challa were, but knew that they were somewhere in the crowd. He thought he could feel the distant eyes of Bucky on him, watching from somewhere above, forever guarding his back. Everyone had come to see Captain Steven G. Rogers, Captain America, be brought to justice, arrested for his actions against the Superhero Registration Act.

He turned back to see Tony still standing stoically among the sea of reporters, ignoring all questions and microphones shoved against him, reporters demanding a statement regarding what had happened. Steve's gaze softened a little as he silently communicated to Tony that he forgave him-

And that was when he felt the agonizing rip of a bullet tear through him, making him stumble, his breath leaving him. The coppery-metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as he choked and tried to draw a breath- And suddenly found himself staring up at a blinding white light-

Steve jerked back, and nearly fell to the ground as he reached out to steady himself, his breaths coming in gasps as he met Tony's gaze, noting the equally shocked look on the other man's face. Did he and Tony see him die in that...flash forward, alternate reality, alternate time line? Some future event because it certainly was not in the past.

"What-"

Tony did not get to finish whatever he was saying as the comm line suddenly fizzled with a hiss of static followed by Maria's frantic voice, "-need you back! -inter Soldier! He's- -attacking-"

Static filled the line after and Steve blinked once; his shock at seeing his future death, past death, maybe a death from another time and place, shoved to the side by the immediacy of what Maria's frantic transmission was about. The Winter Soldier was attacking Maria and the others in the tower.

Author's Notes:

I'm on vacation and will not be answering any emails or comments until after March 22nd, 2015. Thank you again for your support, kudos, and reviews – I'm really touched by all of it. Also, for readers wondering, this story is set to be completed in 8 parts/chapters. I've already outlined all of it, so the story and plot is pretty much set at this point.