Jesus. He's got a family. [Carved one out of the tragedy of the snap, and Clint hadn't even been around when the guy got rescued from space.] Is Pepper okay? What about the kid?
[ For a good few seconds, Steve just stares at his noodles. They don't seem to be as appetizing with the topic in hand, but he's also just trying to remember how fucked up everything was. How he wished they did more for Tony. ]
She's grieving. [ As she should, obviously. ] I wanna be there for his kid in any capacity I can. We're not gonna let them go through this alone.
[ Clearly, though, this doesn't happen in canon, but! Right now, this is where Steve's at. ] Thing is, I ended up in this planet instead.
[ Another sharp intake of breath he lets out in a soft sigh. ] Makes me almost miss tracking down Hydra bases. [ You know, when it was easier. Fighting alien armies who are after some magic space rocks are so out of left field that he feels as if heβs out of his depth sometimes, even when he had promised to take down bullies whoever they are. Now he's in a whole different planet constantly assailed by cosmic storms. He's relentless and stubborn, sure, and could take on whatever's thrown at him, but he's also just a kid from Brooklyn. ]
[Yeah, it takes Clint a hot second of staring past the noodles into nothing before he makes himself dig in. Shawarma after New York style. Have to make yourself eat even through how awful things are, or you'll never fucking eat.
Maybe joining the god damn Punisher and the Ronin to track down raiders and take care of business makes a hell of a lot more sense than anything else he could be doing. It's simpler, that's for sure.]
Did you get- [He clears his throat, rethinks his question, slurps up noodles and just seems to let all that hang there like he's going to forget about it. Let him come back around to it.] You were at his funeral. [And--Natasha would not have wanted a funeral, but she should've gotten one anyway. Maybe he could've finally met Yelena...] So the dust's been settling a couple days at least. You, um. Get to see Laura? The kids...?
[ Yeah, it also takes a moment before Steve starts eating his own noodles. They don't taste as good when they're talking about Horrible Events back home, but it's food. Better than most in this city.
Steve only stops when Clint asks his question. A brief, albeit small, smile graces his lips as he nods. He can understand the need for reassurance and he'll gladly provide it. ]
I did. They're all fine, Clint. You were with them.
[ He lets that settle for a bit before going back to his noodles, watching his friend's reaction to the good news. ]
[It washes over him in the same kind of way learning from Frank. It's one thing to know it worked and that they're all safe. Somehow it's another to know he was there. That he gets to see it for himself. That he gets to be with them.
He ducks his head, not seeing, and tries to imagine it. The relief after five long years. To hold them again. He doesn't get to have them here, but it's still important that they're real, somewhere out there.]
Means we go back. [That's what he ends up coming around to.] If I'm there and I don't know about it, means I have to go back and be there, else this is just some doomed timeline, right?
[ That's the elephant in the room, though. Going back. So far, ever since his arrival, Steve has been trying to find ways on how they can all get out of this planet. No leads yet, and the stories of natives he had talked to here don't really bode well.
His stubborness always prevails, though, so Steve hasn't really stopped finding exit plans. Maybe a spaceship of some kind? He doesn't know. All he knows is that they need to go back. All of them. ]
We won't leave anyone behind when we go back. Any luck finding a way out?
[Right. To business. The getting out business. Everything from the get go has screamed 'you're stuck here forever, better get used to it', and, honestly? That didn't seem like the worst thing. He's been through the worst. He's been through the worst in all sorts of ways.]
Y'know, I thought I was dead. After I got here. Last I knew, explosions all around, nice long fall, figured that was that, this was the afterlife.
Doesn't mean I didn't go poking around. Haven't turned up anything. Can't say I've got even half of Stark's brain to try and engineer a solution out of this yet either.
[ Ominous, sure, but he won't expand on it. Better not to give away more of what happens in the future, even if Steve has already given him the basics. They succeed. Tony dies. He won't go into what Bucky apparently experienced years into Steve's. That's something Bucky himself would have to tell. ]
Poked around myself. Spent my first few days here exploring, talking to natives, see if I can find something useful. Nothing so far, too. Been having this sinking feeling that, with every story I've heard that they've been here for generations, we'd be here for... a while.
[ That's something he hasn't properly made peace with, stubborn as he is. ] Doesn't mean we don't go back. [ Because there have been mysterious disappearances, too. ]
[He gives Steve a dubious look.] Yeah, I'm from that time. Guess you'd know all about that time. [He doesn't ask. But it's kind of his way of asking. Steve clearly knows more than him, and it's good, that's a good thing, because it's confirmation from a source he can trust beyond anything else.
Doesn't mean it's not a little annoying.]
Without knowing how we even got here, it's hard to know how to get back. If it's magic, well, we're shit out of luck until Doc Strange falls into the scrapyard.
[ Yeah, Steve can tell that answer annoyed Clint a little bit. ] Guess I do, but I've already told you the important stuff. I'm not that far ahead. [ Would be Steve's way of trying a compromise. A kind of trust me on this answer that won't give away too much. Then again, "too much" is just him apparently going back in time and staying there, much to his surprise and frustration.
But that's another can of worms for another day, if it ever comes up. He doesn't think Bucky would announce it to everyone, but he'd cross the bridge when he gets there, if ever. ]
Magic, though, that's- [ He sighs. ] Not a lot of that going around here. [ Oddities, sure. Magic? Not really. ] Wish we have a scientist we can talk to.
[It feels to Clint like if he isn't that far ahead, he doesn't have to be cagey about the specifics, but what does he know? Not as much as Steve--
Okay. Take a breath. Wanda's not pissy because he tries not to tell her too much about the future, but that's because the future sucks.] Banner shows up, I'm sure we'll be the first to know. As it is, it's just a lot of comparing notes on the forum, and that's not exactly helpful. I did not miss the 90's for technology level.
[ Since, well, he missed all of the 90's. Picking at his noodles again, Steve takes another slurp of it, chews, swallows, before he continues speaking. ]
But you're right. It's hard to keep track of people with this kind of technology. [ Which just means they have to do it the old-fashioned way. ] Took me a week to find any of you. [ A beat. ] You, Wanda, and Bucky.
[That last bit catches Clint's attention, the way his eyes snap up, and then his head raising slowly after.] Barnes is here? [More and more merry crew...]
We've gotta get some kind of comms up. Can't very well have you getting on the forum to cry Avengers assemble and hope the couple of us here are looking. Guess a group text will have to do.
Not really knowledgeable about setting up group texts like that, but we could use one.
[ It's a good option to have, of course. Clint's right. They can't always trust the Forum for these things, and while he has experience tracking people, it's not always fool proof.
Nodding to confirm Bucky's here, Steve leans forward a little, elbows on the table, fingers interlinked. His brow visibly draws together while his jaw tightens a bit. ]
Bucky's from further ahead of me by years. The future gets even more... [ He pauses, trying to find an appropriate adjective for this that doesn't sound too ominous, too negative. ] ...complicated according to him.
[ Which is probably putting it lightly, to be honest, knowing what he knows of his future and someone else's. When Steve stated a while ago that Natasha and Tony are the only two, he meant the only two from his time. And the only two who died while they're fighting Thanos and his armies. Bucky mentioned another one who doesn't make it a year or so ahead of Steve, and she's here.
The thing is, Steve will leave it to Clint if he wants to know more. ]
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americassed) wrote2025-10-06 03:31 am
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She's grieving. [ As she should, obviously. ] I wanna be there for his kid in any capacity I can. We're not gonna let them go through this alone.
[ Clearly, though, this doesn't happen in canon, but! Right now, this is where Steve's at. ] Thing is, I ended up in this planet instead.
[ Another sharp intake of breath he lets out in a soft sigh. ] Makes me almost miss tracking down Hydra bases. [ You know, when it was easier. Fighting alien armies who are after some magic space rocks are so out of left field that he feels as if heβs out of his depth sometimes, even when he had promised to take down bullies whoever they are. Now he's in a whole different planet constantly assailed by cosmic storms. He's relentless and stubborn, sure, and could take on whatever's thrown at him, but he's also just a kid from Brooklyn. ]
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Maybe joining the god damn Punisher and the Ronin to track down raiders and take care of business makes a hell of a lot more sense than anything else he could be doing. It's simpler, that's for sure.]
Did you get- [He clears his throat, rethinks his question, slurps up noodles and just seems to let all that hang there like he's going to forget about it. Let him come back around to it.] You were at his funeral. [And--Natasha would not have wanted a funeral, but she should've gotten one anyway. Maybe he could've finally met Yelena...] So the dust's been settling a couple days at least. You, um. Get to see Laura? The kids...?
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Steve only stops when Clint asks his question. A brief, albeit small, smile graces his lips as he nods. He can understand the need for reassurance and he'll gladly provide it. ]
I did. They're all fine, Clint. You were with them.
[ He lets that settle for a bit before going back to his noodles, watching his friend's reaction to the good news. ]
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He ducks his head, not seeing, and tries to imagine it. The relief after five long years. To hold them again. He doesn't get to have them here, but it's still important that they're real, somewhere out there.]
Means we go back. [That's what he ends up coming around to.] If I'm there and I don't know about it, means I have to go back and be there, else this is just some doomed timeline, right?
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[ That's the elephant in the room, though. Going back. So far, ever since his arrival, Steve has been trying to find ways on how they can all get out of this planet. No leads yet, and the stories of natives he had talked to here don't really bode well.
His stubborness always prevails, though, so Steve hasn't really stopped finding exit plans. Maybe a spaceship of some kind? He doesn't know. All he knows is that they need to go back. All of them. ]
We won't leave anyone behind when we go back. Any luck finding a way out?
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Y'know, I thought I was dead. After I got here. Last I knew, explosions all around, nice long fall, figured that was that, this was the afterlife.
Doesn't mean I didn't go poking around. Haven't turned up anything. Can't say I've got even half of Stark's brain to try and engineer a solution out of this yet either.
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[ Ominous, sure, but he won't expand on it. Better not to give away more of what happens in the future, even if Steve has already given him the basics. They succeed. Tony dies. He won't go into what Bucky apparently experienced years into Steve's. That's something Bucky himself would have to tell. ]
Poked around myself. Spent my first few days here exploring, talking to natives, see if I can find something useful. Nothing so far, too. Been having this sinking feeling that, with every story I've heard that they've been here for generations, we'd be here for... a while.
[ That's something he hasn't properly made peace with, stubborn as he is. ] Doesn't mean we don't go back. [ Because there have been mysterious disappearances, too. ]
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Doesn't mean it's not a little annoying.]
Without knowing how we even got here, it's hard to know how to get back. If it's magic, well, we're shit out of luck until Doc Strange falls into the scrapyard.
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But that's another can of worms for another day, if it ever comes up. He doesn't think Bucky would announce it to everyone, but he'd cross the bridge when he gets there, if ever. ]
Magic, though, that's- [ He sighs. ] Not a lot of that going around here. [ Oddities, sure. Magic? Not really. ] Wish we have a scientist we can talk to.
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Okay. Take a breath. Wanda's not pissy because he tries not to tell her too much about the future, but that's because the future sucks.] Banner shows up, I'm sure we'll be the first to know. As it is, it's just a lot of comparing notes on the forum, and that's not exactly helpful. I did not miss the 90's for technology level.
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[ Since, well, he missed all of the 90's. Picking at his noodles again, Steve takes another slurp of it, chews, swallows, before he continues speaking. ]
But you're right. It's hard to keep track of people with this kind of technology. [ Which just means they have to do it the old-fashioned way. ] Took me a week to find any of you. [ A beat. ] You, Wanda, and Bucky.
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We've gotta get some kind of comms up. Can't very well have you getting on the forum to cry Avengers assemble and hope the couple of us here are looking. Guess a group text will have to do.
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[ It's a good option to have, of course. Clint's right. They can't always trust the Forum for these things, and while he has experience tracking people, it's not always fool proof.
Nodding to confirm Bucky's here, Steve leans forward a little, elbows on the table, fingers interlinked. His brow visibly draws together while his jaw tightens a bit. ]
Bucky's from further ahead of me by years. The future gets even more... [ He pauses, trying to find an appropriate adjective for this that doesn't sound too ominous, too negative. ] ...complicated according to him.
[ Which is probably putting it lightly, to be honest, knowing what he knows of his future and someone else's. When Steve stated a while ago that Natasha and Tony are the only two, he meant the only two from his time. And the only two who died while they're fighting Thanos and his armies. Bucky mentioned another one who doesn't make it a year or so ahead of Steve, and she's here.
The thing is, Steve will leave it to Clint if he wants to know more. ]