Chapter 22. The Conversation

The Vibranium Universe

As his eyes opened it seemed that once more Bucky had been asleep. Why that was when he wasn't doing anything to make himself tired was beyond him. But with it being a different universe, things obviously worked differently. He sat up, and looked around, surprised to see the Steve being sitting near him.

"Were you watching me?"

"Not directly," he replied. "I had to communicate with The One about some things and it seemed easier to do it with you nearby, since you came up in conversation."

"Is it just me, or are your language skills getting better? You sounded almost human there."

"I will take that as a compliment," said the Steve being. "They are getting better. You have been unresponsive for an extended time to allow us more opportunities to observe your memories, as well as access what is happening in your universe through your connection to Winter and Noelle. It gave me more occasions to learn how humans speak. Perhaps having an actual physical form makes that easier."

He looked at his hands as he spoke, examining them as if they were something new and different. Bucky knew he should have been angry at what was really an invasion of his privacy, but he also knew there was no judgement from the being, it was just his way of learning more about humans in general and him in particular.

"Did you learn anything specific about my situation?"

"Yes, but before I tell you anything, you should know that I have decided to remain in this form and not return to The One. You called me Steve when I first appeared to you in this way. Do you wish to refer to me as that from now on?"

That was unexpected. "You don't have names?"

"No, we are all part of The One, although some of us are older and some younger. There are some as old as this universe, called The Ancient Ones. When they cease to exist, they become non-sentient, and wait until they reach sentience again. The newly sentient would be our equivalent of babies. Everything they knew before is gone and they learn to be part of The One once again." He grinned at Bucky. "You didn't answer whether Steve is acceptable to you."

"Steve is fine. What do you have to tell me?"

"The Ancient Ones wish for me to be truthful to you. Winter is undergoing some emotional distress." It was a blunt statement, said without emotion or inflection. Bucky looked at him with concern. "No one is in any danger. He is questioning his existence, wondering about his fate when you are reunited with your human form. He has learned something about himself that prompted this distress, and it is a valid concern."

"So, I can be reunited with my body," stated Bucky, suddenly filled with questions. "How is that possible? Can you even get me back? If you could, I assume you tried it already. Can they come here?"

"We tried shortly after we took you but there was an unseen barrier in place around your physical body. Our shadow form that took you in the first place did not have the ability to return you in those circumstances. As it turned out, the temperature differential between our universes would have made the process impossible on your planet, as it may have caused injury to you and those around you. Removing you from your body was easier than returning you to it." Bucky opened his mouth to speak but Steve put up his hand. "It can be done here, as long as the conditions are right. Your body must come here for us to restore you to it but there are complications."

"Like what?"

"After speaking with The One I considered many things about returning you to your human form. Even though your body must come here, it must be enclosed in a covering that is close to the temperature of our universe. Your people learned what that temperature is and are working on an environmental suit to serve that purpose. Once here, your form cannot generate any heat so any mode of transportation must be in a manner that will not detonate The One. Your colleagues have developed a probe to communicate directly with ... me, I guess, and you. It was tested successfully. Soon, they will deploy it here and we will be able to speak with them directly."

"Seriously?" Steve nodded. Bucky noted there seemed to be more he wanted to say. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Winter has achieved full individuality. He is his own person now, as different from you as you are from me. Before we took you from your body, he was limited and content to stay in the background of your mind, manifesting only when you needed him. During your captivity with HYDRA, those were the times when the Winter Soldier came forth. Since your freedom was achieved, he only came out during moments when you needed extra help in missions, providing an extra burst of energy or will to ensure success. He made your mission prerogatives, his." Bucky frowned, wondering where Steve was going with this. "He believes he cannot stay in the background anymore. In fact, he tried to find a way to be removed from your body once you were reinserted. Failing that he asked to be restored to his former state. In both instances, his request was refused, with the explanation given that with the highest level of technology humans have, there was a probability of damage to your brain if they attempted to remove or modify him."

"Even the Wakandans? They're the ones who removed the HYDRA programming from my brain."

"Yes, even they were unwilling to perform the task, plus the one known as Shuri feels that Winter has much to contribute to society. She does not want to lose his uniqueness."

"He's really changed that much?" Bucky found that difficult to believe. "If he's a full personality, then that could cause issues for me. We would be competing for control of my body."

"Winter brought that up. Even though he intends to stay in the background, he is unsure how successful he can be."

"You must have a solution then," stated Bucky. "I mean, you just led me through a huge explanation of his concerns."

"We can make him a new body," said Steve. "Using newly sentient portions of The One, we can create a form for him, like the one I am currently in, but looking like you, since that is his perception of himself. It will be at a lower temperature than this body you currently inhabit so he will be able to physically interact with me."

"But that means he will be unable to live at the compound."

Steve nodded. "No, he won't be able to stay on your planet."

"So, he has to live here and be part of The One," clarified Bucky. "No offence but you don't have much going on here. Humans need more than just existing. He's still an individual, not part of a group consciousness."

"We understand that. There are other portions of The One who are interested in experiencing life as an individual. We could create a place for him to live, with us, make it look like your planet, and with your help, make it feel like a home."

"What if he rejects that? He may decide he wants to stay there." Steve was silent and Bucky realized the alternative. He jumped up and walked away a few steps before turning back. "So, I would have to stay. Is that what you are not saying?"

"Do you want to share your body with him? Have him present during moments with Noelle? He wants his own life just as you want yours back. You can have your own bodies, just not in the same universe. It is the only solution."

"Fuck you! We have a saying on Earth that possession is 9/10ths of the law. It means that because he already has my body, he's the one who decides who gets what." Bucky's emotions threatened to overwhelm him, and he struggled to maintain a calm demeanour. "He's not ... he's not going to want to live here with copies of people that you made for him. He's going to want the real thing. He'll choose what I would choose; to stay there with my wife and my daughter and my friends, while I am stuck here with ... with ..."

He let out a yell of rage and turned away to run. It didn't matter that there wasn't anywhere to run to; he just had to get away, to anywhere. Surprisingly, unlike the first time he ran in the grey, he wasn't sent in a circle to come back to Steve again. It wasn't until he ran into a barrier that gently bounced him backwards that he stopped. Like a mime, he placed his hands out and felt the barrier. It was firm enough to feel yet had a give to it that seemed odd. That eased him out of his anger, and he sat down, then tentatively leaned against it, with one leg bent at the knee so he could rest an arm on it. He was still sitting there when Steve approached and sat next to him, also leaning against the wall. It was so familiar a feeling to be sitting like this, almost as if they knew it had happened before, in Brooklyn, before the war.

"I'm sorry," said Steve. "It is a difficult situation. I wish there were other alternatives but there are none. We don't have to tell him about the new body."

"You want to lie to him?" Bucky glared at him. "Perfect."

"Not lying. Just don't say anything about a new body being made for him. We tell them that you can be returned to your body. Once here, then you can convince him to give your body back to you. You can tell him he will have full individual control of the body we will make for him, rather than live in the background of your shared body."

A sigh came out of Bucky, then he huffed a little, as he knew he wasn't breathing air. Despite feeling perturbed that they would deceive Winter into coming here, he knew there was little choice in the matter. The only way to get home was to be reunited with his body here, and only if Winter vacated it first.

"Steve, if you're able to show me visions from home, are they able to see and feel me?"

"They were able to but this barrier that we lean on, now keeps your thoughts and emotions here," he said. "You were excessively angry at times, and it was obvious that it affected Winter the most but even Winnie and Noelle felt it. Once the probe comes, we will not stop you from communicating with them."

"How long since I was last awake?" Bucky turned to look at Steve.

"Several weeks, I believe. It is now early-November on your planet, according to what we have learned."

"For almost three months, I've been here and they're only now able to send a probe?"

The man's shrug was so human-like that Bucky couldn't really believe that he wasn't really human.

"The attacks on the compound interfered with their research," he explained. "Then Winnie briefly went missing."

"What?"

Bucky turned to him, trying to remain calm. A sigh came from Steve, again something so human.

"Winter was finding it difficult to keep his feelings for Noelle to himself. He has been attracted to her from the moment he woke up in your body." He put his hands up as he felt the turmoil that Bucky was feeling at that moment. "They have not done anything that would endanger your bond. But he withdrew his attentions from Noelle and Winnie, to keep himself from interfering with that. Winnie didn't understand why, and she missed him, almost as much as she misses you. She took her tracker bracelet off and went to the far end of the compound where the old quarry was."

"There are sinkholes and caves there," stated Bucky. "Did she fall into one?"

"No, she deliberately went inside to look for faeries," said Steve, smiling. "What is a faerie?"

Bucky smiled back. "They are small beings, written about in stories. They can be mischievous and have their own magic." Steve looked confused. "The ability to make things happen out of thin air. We read a book to Winnie called Peter Pan and there is a faerie called Tinkerbell in it. We watched the movie so many times that I think Winnie memorized the whole thing. I'm not surprised she went there. She's so independent and strong minded. Obviously, they found her."

"They all went looking for her, but it was Winter who found her. He told her about loving someone who was married, without telling her who. She was surprisingly understanding of his predicament, but he still kept his distance for some time. It was shortly after that he expressed his desire to have more out of life or to be reduced to what he was."

"Did he talk to anyone?"

"Yes, me included," said Steve. "I communicated directly with him; except he thought it was his own conscience that spoke to him. It was valuable insight that makes me hope that he will agree to having the body we will create for him."

"Wow, an existential crisis. Didn't see that coming but considering I went through one more than once I shouldn't be surprised." Once again, Steve stared at him, not understanding the reference. "He questioned his own existence. Is that all there is to life? I guess when he was limited it was enough to wake up, perform his mission, then fade back into the background but now that he has experienced all it has to offer he's realized he won't have those freedoms anymore and he's doubting himself." They were silent then Bucky looked at him again. "You communicated directly? Why can't I?"

"Do you want to talk to him directly? We can try."

He opened his mouth to answer then shook his head. "No, not yet. I still don't quite believe that he has changed, even with what you've shown and told me. I'll wait for the probe."

It was decided and Steve stood up, waiting for Bucky. They walked together back into the grey as Steve questioned him about the compound. In the grey, where time didn't exist the way it did on Earth, Steve used the vibranium to fashion aspects of Bucky's home, starting with grass. It was a trial-and-error process as they accessed Bucky's memories to create the basic structure of the compound. At least, it kept them both busy.

Mid November (Earth time)

Bucky sat near the grass; his face turned up to the sun that didn't give any actual warmth but at least it looked very real. A shadow appeared over him, and he focused on Steve smiling down at him.

"I have something to show you," he said, offering his hand to help Bucky up then withdrawing it with a smile.

They walked out of the sunny area and back into the grey where a vision showed a tiny probe entering the universe through a small portal, shedding a cover as it crossed the threshold. What was left was barely visible, even though the Steve person waved his hand over the image making it magnify in size. When the portal closed the probe unfolded but it looked like a holographic circle emerged from the tiny square projection unit. It kept going deeper into the grey then it stopped.

"Come," said Steve. "It waits at the barrier. It will stay there for now, but we can communicate with it."

They walked through the grey and this time Bucky had the sense that it parted in front of him. Like the other times he walked he had no sense of space or distance but then he saw something slowly appear and become visible, even as small as it was. Without realizing it he sped up, anxious to get to it. The probe didn't seem to be working until he stepped closer to it, then lights flashed, and a crackling like static, appeared inside the circular holograph.

"We have contact," said a voice, coming from an unknown source, that he recognized as Tony Stark. "No visual. Wait a moment. Bucky, can you hear me?"

"I hear you," he replied, his voice hitching for a moment. "No visual here. Tony?"

"Yep, give me a moment. We're just making some adjustments. It's a virtual device attached to a micro projector that we cooled down to 5 Kelvin so it wouldn't set off the sentient vibranium in your universe but could still function. It's face activated so we downloaded all the images we have of you in it. Although the camera portion appears to have recognized you it's not transmitting. I guess we haven't worked out all the bugs yet now that it's actually there."

Bucky looked at the Steve. He smiled, seeming impressed.

"You understood what he's talking about, right?" Steve nodded his head at the question.

"Who are you talking to?" asked Tony. Bucky heard indistinct sounds on Tony's end.

"I'm talking to The One, or its emissary, I guess," said Bucky. "They figured out a way to make a body for some of The One that can speak. He looks like Steve, before the serum."

"Your people did well," said his companion. "Once we are sure the device won't detonate The One it will be allowed further in.

"Did you pick that up, Tony?"

"Roger that," said his voice. "The display isn't cooperating so we're going to have to go with voice only. Hold on, someone needs to speak with you."

"Bucky?" It was Noelle and even though he knew he wasn't actually breathing he lost the sensation of it, and his lips started to tremble. "Honey, are you there?"

"I'm here, baby," he replied. "I'm alive. Are you okay?"

"We're fine," she said, the emotion coming out of her palpable even over the voice interface. "Winnie and I and the baby are just fine."

"You've been safe? Even with ... him there? I know about him."

"Yeah, Winter has been great," she replied. "He misses you. You're kind of his reason for living and without you he's had to learn to be on his own. Winnie loves him but she knows he's not you, so don't worry about that. She knows you're somewhere else. In fact, they made contact with her and that's when we first knew you were still alive. Then, when you were able to communicate with them, Winter and I felt it when you realized you were alive and that we knew you were. That was a big day for us. But we haven't heard you for a long time."

"Was that the day you kept telling me you were safe?"

"You heard that?" He could just imagine her smiling at that moment. "Yeah, some things happened since then, but we got through it and that's all been resolved now. No one is going to interfere with this mission, Operation Retrieve Bucky."

"I had visions of being there. I don't quite understand how they did it. I got too emotional, and it interfered with their access to my memories so they put me to sleep for a while but I'm awake now and I can talk to you anytime with this probe."

"Shuri thinks it's something to do with quantum entanglement reinforced by emotions, even between two universes," replied Noelle. "They're still working out a way to come safely into that universe and reunite you and Winter in your body. Even though he's grown as a person, he knows it's your body and your life. He's willing to return back to the shadows and only be there when you need him. I'm giving it back to Tony now, but we can talk again using the probe. I love you."

"I love you, too. Kiss Winnie for me and tell her Papa misses her and you a lot."

Unconsciously, he pressed his hand against his heart, then noticed Steve watching him closely. A little embarrassed he smiled, then waited as Tony rattled off some technical jargon to someone at his end before returning to Bucky.

"Well, I'm pleased that the probe works," he said. "We've been kind of stumbling around in the dark here, in between attacks and technical setbacks but now that we can communicate directly with that universe, I hope we quickly come up with a way to get you back."

"They told me about some of the attacks, but we still had communication issues then." Bucky frowned. "Tony, I need to know everything that's happened there since I first woke up here."

"Fury here," said another voice. "I would rather wait for a debrief here as your presence there is still classified, as is what happened here. Rest assured the threat to your family was dealt with and there are no longer any threats against them. We also still don't know for sure the intentions of the single consciousness there."

"They're not hostile," said Bucky. "They had their reasons for doing what they did."

"It's alright," said Steve. "Consider this the first official contact between two species. You don't discuss your secrets with the other side, not until you establish a relationship of trust with them. You personally trust us, but they still have to accept us before they trust us."

"Wise words," said Fury, sounding a little less paranoid than his earlier comments. "The probe also has some monitoring functions that we're going to activate so we have better data for the development of the environmental suit and transport unit." Steve looked smug, as it was exactly what he told Bucky. "What I really need to know from that emissary before we go any further is if Sergeant Barnes can be restored to his body if we send it there."

"Yes, it can be done here without risking his life, or the life of any of your people there," said Steve, acknowledging the comment was directed at him. "Once that has been accomplished, Barnes will be free to return home."

"Do you speak for your entire single consciousness?" asked Fury. "There are no rogue elements who will be hostile against us?"

"We are called The One," said Steve. "Although I am now in an individual form I am still connected to the main body. Decisions are made by consensus, and just as humans do, we are sometimes swayed by the circumstances. Cerberus opening the portal between our universes exposed us to death and destruction. We responded defensively against them. It was our intention to take Winter as we saw evidence of the predecessor of Cerberus, HYDRA, in his mind. At the time we took the only essence we detected which was Barnes. It was done by mistake, but we learned so much from that mistake."

"Did you even try to return him?" Steven frowned at Fury's tone.

"Don't take it personally," said Bucky. "He is responsible for so much that he speaks bluntly to make sure he is understood the first time."

"We tried but there was a barrier placed over the original body that was unlike anything we had ever experienced. Our shadow form also realized the environment was too warm in your universe and any attempt at a transfer would end up causing injury or even death. We quickly created a form here for Barnes, and he is still using it."

"Do you intend to come after the vibranium here? You already took that which was in Cerberus's possession."

Steve turned his face towards Bucky with an expression that almost made him laugh, if the situation wasn't so serious. It was the equivalent of "Is this guy for real?"

"Yes, we took it as it was ours in the beginning of everything, but it was too warm, and we lost portions of The One in the process." Bucky looked at Steve with concern, as he detected an element of anger in his voice. It wasn't something that he had told Bucky about, either. "We wanted to reunite the rest that still is on your world with The One, but it is not possible. We know and accept that now. The sentient part of The One that is in the place called Wakanda has made it known they have evolved to exist and serve a function there. As long as we can maintain contact with them, we will respect their decision to stay. Extraction could also destroy your planet and we would never commit genocide of another species to benefit ours."

Fury didn't respond for some time. They both watched as the probe stayed active, the lights and virtual display staying on.

"The cover of this probe was made from Wakandan vibranium," said Fury, finally in a more conciliatory tone. "Our team thought that it would help you maintain communication with the sentient form that is here."

"Thank you. It has already been absorbed by The One. The link is noticeably stronger. Now, do your people who are working on the suit wish to ask questions about the process of reuniting Barnes with his body? I am here to help you with that and with the transport device."

"Yes, thank you. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated."

Fury's voice was replaced by Tony's and a conversation between Steve and him began about the suit. As they talked, Bucky realized that there was little he could do at this point, and he returned to the grassy area. When a shadow came over him later, he thought it was Steve and opened his eyes. Instead, he looked into the brown eyes of Noelle, and he stood up as she stepped back. He extended his hand for a moment to touch her then withdrew it. This part of The One had captured her likeness so well.

"Hello," he said.

"Hello," she answered in a voice that wasn't quite right. She gestured to her body then spoke hesitantly. "This is, okay?"

"Yeah, you look just like her. Your voice needs work. Do you need to practice speaking?"

She nodded.

"Can you make things out here? You know, for the space where you'll stay?" She seemed puzzled at first then her face lit up and nodded. "Good. Let's work on making some things as I describe them to you. We can talk while we're doing this, and you'll get used to speaking.

He began describing a park bench to her and together they created one that both could sit on. It was a start and as they sat there, he described other things that would be outside, like flowers, trees, or water. When Steve returned and found them working together he let them be. Interaction between Barnes and the Noelle figure was necessary for her to learn about the bond between the originals. That relationship would be extremely important in keeping Winter happy and they wanted him to be happy, more than anything.