Chapter 10

Steve paced back and forth on Intrepid's flight deck. This habit of his was probably inherited from his father who often did the same. He remembered him doing the same when anxiously waiting for news, such as when he was called up to fight in the Great War.

Natasha looked at him from the side, casually sitting on a pile of debris. "You know Cap, walking that much isn't going to make the meeting end quicker."

He knew that, but it wasn't going to stop him from continuing his pace. It served as a much-welcome distraction. What were the two talking about? Steve trusted Fury, but even that trust went so far. He had an agenda, like himself, but he wasn't just talking to any random person, he was talking to Bianka, his cousin. His only family remaining. That question she asked still lingered in his mind actually, he still couldn't rightly tell her what she was to him.

The door on Intrepid's tower suddenly opened, revealing Bianka walking out of it with heavy steps. That was another quirk of hers that he noticed about her, whenever she was upset about something, her steps tended to be louder. It wasn't something that regular people noticed easily, but his enhanced hearing made him extra aware of these things. Whatever she and Fury talked about, it wasn't an outcome she liked.

"Bianka-"

"I am leaving. Come with me if you wish."

She didn't stop to greet him, instead walking past the two and heading straight for her tender. Natasha got up, before going over and patting him on the shoulder.

"Come on, we have a battleship to watch over. You wouldn't want naval shells to start landing on Stark Tower, right?"

Saying that nonchalantly, Natasha stretched and proceeded to follow Bianka off of Intrepid. What did Stark Tower have to do with it? Steve watched as Bianka gave another wave behind her, in the direction where no one was. Was she waving goodbye to Intrepid? Looking at where she waved, Steve decided to also do the same, awkwardly waving goodbye in that general direction before following the two off Intrepid.

Later on the tender, he swore that he heard a girl laughing as he reached the ramp, but Natasha just looked at him skeptically.

Sometime later, Bismarck saw that they were approaching her actual hull. The ride back had been another awkward affair, and at this point, she was getting sick of it. All progress with Steve had been completely lost, and to be honest it was the same for her. There wasn't anyone she could really confide to in any large extent, as the nature of her rigging had large consequences for this world.

Sighing, she remembered that Intrepid talked about warships from her time that have survived to this day and age. Most were museum ships that catered to the public. According to her at least, the best part was 'seeing people marvel at our hulls, even if I can't talk to them directly'. Kansen in her world did not have much interaction with the general public, most people only knew of them through propaganda. Obviously, that was not a good way of knowing what they were actually like.

Some Kansen were naturally better at talking to people, like Prinz Heinrich for instance, there were very few that couldn't get along with her. Deciding to try something else, she turned to Steve and Natasha."Excuse me? I don't normally do this but… I saw that you were interested in my hull, if you want, I can guide you through it in a tour…"

Her voice lost most of the confident tone that she was often used to. Instead reverting back to being her 'Bianka' self. Awkward and shy in most situations, instead of the confident leader of the Ironblood.

Steve looked at Bismarck surprisingly, he clearly didn't expect this to come from her. Agent Romanoff kicked his leg while giving him a signal with her eyes. What was that for?

Clearing his throat, Steve responded with a smile. "Sure, if you want to, of course. You don't have to if you don't-"

Natasha kicked his leg again, and he shut his mouth. Bismarck turned away from the odd scene and prepared the stairs to bring them up onto her deck. In the time that she had gone away, a small crowd had gathered on the shorelines of Manhattan and Brooklyn, taking pictures of her hull. There also appeared to be news crews stationed in small groups among the crowds.

Ah right, Kansen are not commonplace in this world. I suppose a battleship appearing from thin air would have caused some interest…
"Ooh, lotta cameras there. Maybe we should do this some other time?"

Natasha observed from a distance, but Bismarck did not see what the problem was. "Is there a concern?"

"Yep, my line of work isn't suited to be in the spotlight. That I usually leave to Stark and your uncle over here. But even he wears a mask, so…"

She could just simply move her vessel, right? Natasha and Steve's eyes looked confused as they watched Bismarck's anchors suddenly raise themselves. They looked at her simultaneously, their eyes demanding answers.

"I thought you didn't have a crew…" Said Steve,

"I don't, how did you think I operated my guns during the battle yesterday?"

Natasha kept her mouth shut after that. They watched as Bismarck's hull began moving, starting off at a slow five knots, then increasing in speed to fifteen knots. Once it was far enough out of New York harbour, Bismarck brought the tender to its new position. As the three climbed up onto its deck using the ship's retractable stairs, Bismarck felt a sense of nostalgia ping inside her.

When was the last time I had my hull out?

The gentle waves of the spring season reminded her of Ironblood's spring as well. How she stood on the bow of her ship and looked at the port of Kiel, its activity buzzing with not only Naval ships but also civilian ones. It reminded her of why she fought, so that those who could not, can continue living their lives in peace.

"Hey there! Iron Man to Bismarck! Requesting boarding permission, you still haven't told me how your tech works!"

A voice came through her internal radio, and her mood instantly plummeted again.

Steve noticed that her cousin's face turned from serene to scowling in a near instant. Watching her turn around and face the sky, he understood why. Tony was hovering right above them, but why hadn't he just come down yet?

Wrrrrrrrrrr

Suddenly, he noticed that one of the battleship's secondary guns started rotating, it appeared to be aiming directly at…

"Wait! Bianka, he's Iron Man! Friendly, friendly!"

Despite waving frantically at her to stop, the turret continued to rotate, taking no heed of his words.

"I know."

What the hell did Stark do?!

Snapping his head to Natasha, he pleaded with her using his eyes. But she simply shrugged, much to his horror. "His suit can tank that shot. Besides, he kinda deserves it. I'm not going in between them, you go."

"What did Stark even do? It's only been a day since-"

"Stark said in a press conference that she was part of the Avengers. Fury must have let her know during the meeting."

Ah. That would do it probably…

Shaking his head, he still had to go and stop her regardless. As far as they were off the coast of New York City, those Anti-Aircraft rounds were bound to raise some questions.

"Bianka, wait, you don't have to do this. Can't you just talk it out with him? Get him to…retract that statement?"

She looked at him inquisitively, before letting out a large sigh. "You are cleared to land. I reserve the right to kick you off my ship at any time."

Seconds later, Tony landed close to where they were, before opening his face visor. "Hey, what's with all the hostility? Is it because of that press conference? C'mon, I was doing you a favour! All those online messages about a Nazi being a superhero needed to be cleared up! You don't want the Avengers to be associated with them right?"

Bianka maintained her scowl, before calmly speaking. She was probably one of those 'silent fury' types when they got angry if Steve had to guess.

"I did not agree to it. Why did you think you could make that decision for me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly not expecting that answer. "Huh, thought you and Fury agreed on that meeting just now…"

Natasha found it prudent to cut in at this moment. "How did you know about the meeting-oh, you hacked into SHIELD comms again didn't you?"

"Bingo." Tony flashed a grin to Natasha, before turning back to Bianka. "Okay, so you're not joining Fury's official scout group, but statements like that are kind of hard to retract… So you mind just pretending you're in it? Might have to do some public appearances here and there, but it's not so bad. Besides, I've got a great opportunity lined up for merchandising opportunities. We're the hottest thing since Beyonce right now, and you bet we're going to capitalize on that."

"We?" Natasha asked skeptically.

"Exactly. Obviously, with your whole thing about being a spy we aren't gonna have your face. But you two actually are really popular among girls right now. Bismarck is the strong and prideful one, while you're the sly spy type, something for everyone basically."

This wasn't anything new to Steve, he also started out his career making propaganda for the war effort. Bonds were just as important as punching a Hydra soldier in the face. Since it meant another soldier had enough rounds to keep a Banzai charge at bay, so he didn't find anything too wrong with it.

"You…want me to help you sell war bonds?" Bianka also got the same idea, but she asked it with much more skepticism.

"Funds to help the Avengers, but I guess you could call it that. Looking at your uh…ship, you seem like you could use that money for repairs."

Tony was referring to the battle damage that Bianka had received from yesterday's battle. While she was still very much operational, her superstructure was littered with scorch marks and impacts from the Chitauri plasma bolts. It didn't cripple her in any way, but Steve guessed that Tony had a point, based on how she was staring at the damage intently.

"Fine." After some time, she spoke again. "Nothing more than public appearances. Your battles are your own."

Natasha wanted to say something, but Steve stopped her before she could say anything. Tony, however, looked damn near elated. "Great! You'll probably have to talk with our PR team, but once we get that whole Nazi thing cleared up you will be a damn fine Avenger, even if you aren't officially in the group. Sorta like how Thor is actually…"

Speaking of, didn't they have to send Thor back later today? He seemed intent on getting back to Asgard soon with Loki. Deciding to ask that later, Tony took a good look around, they were currently on the aft end of the ship.

"Oh right, finally remembered what I also came here for. You and I have to talk about that tech of yours, Stark Industries is ready to license and pay you for whatever-"

"No."

Bianka turned her heels and started walking to the bow of her ship, leaving behind a stunned Tony. Steve chuckled for a while, before patting Tony's shoulder and heading off to join Bianka. Natasha followed him, not before calling out to the suit of armour behind them.

"You coming, Stark? You might get to see how her ship actually works, she's taking us on a tour right now."

Shaking himself out of his stupor, he quickly jogged forwards, catching up to the three in no time.

Bismarck and Steve stood on her bridge, Natasha had gracefully offered to watch over Tony to make sure he didn't touch anything he wasn't supposed to. She really didn't have to, since Bismarck was aware of all their movements, but it was nice seeing her slap his hand when he was about to touch an electrical unit.

"This does feel… nostalgic. It felt like a lifetime ago now that I stood on my bridge. I thought I would never get the chance to do so again, let alone on Eagle Union-American shores."

He hummed for a second, before asking her a question. "How was it like?"

"How was what like?"

"Your world."

How did it compare? Aside from the technological regression, the one she was currently in was definitely much more peaceful. Even the various factions in her old world had fought against each other, and that was considering the Siren threat being bigger than ever before. Seeing humanity at least somewhat united gave her a sense of…forlorn hope? Yes, that was correct. It was hoped that her original world could accomplish the same as well.

"Similar, but yours is much more peaceful. War…is a constant affair for mine. The seas…reek of gunpowder, yours do not. That alone makes this world much better."

Steve looked at Bismarck, with an expression she couldn't quite piece together. "You really think so?"

"I would have liked to have existed in this world, perhaps not in the same year, but in this era definitely. Maybe then my schwester…"

"Tirpitz, right?"

Bismarck raised an eyebrow at him, how did he know-

"Back in the war Peggy and I talked about the operation to…sink her. It took a lot of bombs to do it."

In this world, her title as 'Lone Queen of the North' also existed, and it seemed that both worlds were similar in many regards to their alternate counterparts. Both worlds had their Bismarcks abandon their Tirpitz, and if she guessed correctly, her counterpart in this world also thought the same as she sank in the Atlantic.

"I see. But regrets are regrets. And I have had more than a decade to think on it."

"But have you moved past it?"

Truthfully? "Nein. A large part of me is still stuck in the past."

"Then we're the same."

Huh? What is he talking about?

"You're stuck in the forties of your world. And I'm stuck in the forties of this one. We have a lot more in common, now that both our uh, 'secrets' are out of the bag."

Taking a deep breath, he continued. "So, how about this? We continue helping each other out, we were doing fine before I left, so why can't we keep going?"

That was true, Steve opened up a lot more compared to their first awkward meeting… But their 'secrets' were now known to each other… Maybe she could take a page out of Eugen's book? She still missed their conversations, despite her eccentric personality.

"I…guess you having a battleship for a cousin also makes up for me having a super-soldier for an uncle then?"

Bismarck made a joke. Why did she do that? That completely ruined the atmosphere-

"Hah! You actually made a joke! I knew it, you weren't a complete stone face under there!" Steve could barely hold back his laughter, despite him trying to reign it in. Bismarck felt indignant, but for the first time, it wasn't embarrassing, it was…funny to her as well.

"I make a joke and this is how you repay me?!" Bismarck joked again, finding the feeling to be somewhat liberating.

"Sorry, sorry. You should do that more often. Just like how I'm not Captain America all the time, you don't need to be Bismarck, leader of the Ironblood all the time either. We both could use some time just being ourselves, and not our personas."

She was Bismarck though, that part wasn't a persona. But Steve had a point, there was no Ironblood in this world, nor were there any expectations of her being its leader. Bismarck…was free. Free to do whatever she wanted. Humanity was not under any Siren threat, nor was the fate of her country dependent on another convoy making it through the seas safely. She could well and truly just be Bismarck, with no titles, no responsibilities, nothing.

"Fine then. I suppose we should reintroduce ourselves again. I am Bismarck, the lead ship of its class. It is nice to meet you."

Bismarck held out her hand for Steve to shake, and he took it with a smile. "Steve Rogers. Former U.S. Army Captain. Nice to meet you too, Bismarck."

Their moment was cut short by heavy footsteps rapidly coming up to the bridge. Looking back, Bismarck and Steve saw Tony had slammed his armoured hand on the door frame into the bridge, his face demanded answers.

"How?! How do you function without fuel?! It doesn't make any sense! My suit isn't scanning anything from it, so how the hell do you do it?!"

He was last in the engine compartment before Steve and I began talking. Ah, he must have seen my engines running, really, the lack of smoke in my smokestacks should have clued him into this. So why was he surprised?

Bismarck could only smugly smile as he kept demanding answers from her, while Natasha and Steve looked on with amused expressions.

AN:Be civil in the comments below.