A/N: Alright kids, here's hoping this upload actually works correctly :D
Someone asked if we'll get some lighter chapters soon. The answer is: Not for a while. Steve and Bucky are both basically walking wounded at the moment, and they've got some heavy stuff to address. I'll try to keep it from getting too heavy though :) (Probably want to keep those puppies around for hugging...)
2012 - Brooklyn, NY
The Smithsonian exhibit is undergoing a very thorough renovation when Colonel Fury, the leader of the new SSR, (S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently - he's almost flattered,) finds him.
Steve is still seething with the undirected misery - that deep, smoldering anger that he just can't root out of himself. He's doing what he always does at awful hours of the morning when he can't get any rest - bludgeoning a series of punching bags to death, as if each one were personally responsible for all the horrible memories that just won't. get. out of. his. fucking. head. The latest unfortunate bag flies across the room after one brutal punch too many, split open and trailing sand like blood. The pent up rage that boils low in Steve's chest hasn't abated, though.
It never does.
Directory Fury has a job for him.
Steve respects Fury. He does. He would just really like him and everyone else to fuck the hell off right about now, so Steve can wallow in his misery in peace. It doesn't seem like such an unreasonable thing to ask.
He doesn't speak his thoughts, but the colonel seems to know exactly what he's thinking anyway. It doesn't really matter if Steve wants to go. They need him in the field, and no matter how it's phrased, this is not a request. He understands how orders work quite well enough by now.
Besides, no matter how much he'd like to politely tell S.H.I.E.L.D. to go get fucked, this isn't something he can really turn his back on. Even if he could, he's just too damned wrung out right now to out-stubborn someone as persistent as Fury has proven to be.
Steve's going to save the world. Again.
He's going to have to, because somebody pulled the fucking Tesseract out of the ocean, where it should've been left to rot, and thought that'd be a good idea. And then, predictably, someone else stole it.
Because obviously that stupid damned glow-box hasn't ruined enough lives yet, let's unleash it on a few more. What a fan-fucking-tastic idea.
Steve might be just the tiniest bit bitter, that the thing that indirectly murdered his best friend and destroyed everything it ever came in contact with, - the thing he fucking died (or at least tried to) to keep out of the wrong hands- …that thing is now trying to destroy the future too.
Because of course it fucking is.
It's not like his life is worth anything. Why did he think laying it down would solve the problem?