Hello Soldier

[alwaysdramatic]

There is a man in the Nexus. Standing tall, he is cut like a champion athlete or a Greek god. The uniform he wears proclaims him to be proudly American - a star emblazoned across his chest - and the shield that hangs on his back should leave no doubt as to who he is. He pores meticulously over one of the brochures, brows furrowed as he reads the strange information it provides. Having finished it, he shakes his head in disbelief before sliding it into a pocket and looking up to pay more attention to his surroundings.

"First a robot tries to take over the world and now this," he mumbles to himself. Passing a hand across his eyes he lets out a quiet sigh before straightening his shoulders and turning to the the Nexus at large. The instructions are to ask a question, and he seems to wrestle for a moment with his thoughts. Captain America has no room for doubt, but Steve Rogers? Well, he could use a fresh viewpoint, and if he's lucky this will all be some strange dream and he'll at least wake up with a little clarity.

"Duty entails sacrifice. That's a pretty cut and dried concept. How do you know if you're sacrificing too much? Is there a too much?"

((And we'll just keep this spoiler free!))

Comments

[alwaysdramatic]

It was a safe bet that, had he been around, the 'Star-Spangled Man' would have taken great offense at the behaviour of her peers. It was one thing to be a bigot, it was another to be coward, and had he not gone into the ice, it was almost certain that none of them would have dared to treat her in such a manner. Luckily for them, he hadn't been around.

For his part, just seeing her again the way he remembered her was enough to push his heart up into his throat.

"So I noticed. His son's the same way. A little wiser though. Just a little." He smiled, letting out a quiet laugh and shaking his head at her jibe. She always knew just how to bleed the tension out of a situation. Not that it was tense, but what were you supposed to say to someone you'd abandoned, someone who thought they'd never see you again? "They didn't make me to be dangerous, they made me to be a symbol. Just got a little more than they bargained for, I guess."

His smile never faded, lighting his eyes as it always did, yet somehow not touching at all the gravity that they carried. "World's changed, Peg. I'm a relic now. Changing too slowly for the times." Not an ounce of self pity lined his voice, simply cold fact. He almost talked about her, the her he knew, laying in a hospital bed slowly dying, her mind disappearing a little more each day. But he held his tongue. Now wasn't the time for that.

His gaze followed her fingers down to where she touched him, before rising to her face again, taking her in, trying to brand every detail in his memory as best he could. "That could get to be a long story." He smiled again.

[therightpartner]

"His son?" That particular idea startled her more than the possibility of being able to see Steve again. Hope had always lingered even after she'd said goodbye and destroyed the last blood sample but Howard having a child? The thought seemed impossible... and slightly terrifying. "I hope Jarvis is there to take care of the boy." Any child of Howard's would need that sort of steadying influence.

Arching an eyebrow, her expression was a mixture of humor and disbelief. "Of course the SSR wanted their new super soldiers to just be symbols. I'm sure that Phillips hoped for every one of them to be as harmless as newborn kittens." It was an odd subject now that Peggy had done her best to destroy the last possibility of recreating the project. She hoped that he would approve of her decisions. "You were exactly what Erskine and I hoped for and don't you dare discount that or yourself because of all that silly propaganda that was released after the war.

"I do not believe that you're a relic. No more than I was after the war." Although she didn't know what exactly he was facing, she had the feeling that change would always be difficult for those with his ideals. The world kept trying to rely on simple solutions that were based in strength and fear when that wasn't the only answer. "The idea of you changing simply to fit in... That is not who you are. If it was, you would have stayed on the home front drawing recruitment posters instead of trying to enlist."

For a moment, Peggy froze when she noted that he was watching her. Perhaps she had been too familiar despite how much she had wanted to reassure herself that he truly was alive and well. "From what I've heard, time isn't a problem here."