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[ The video turns on to a view of a man’s face, and those observant enough to notice nitpicky details might realize that this is a man who’s familiar with and comfortable using strange bits of technology. There’s no fear in his eyes, no outward confusion or panic. He looks calm and in control, and when he speaks, he sounds like it, too. ]

Hello. My name’s Steve Rogers and I just recently arrived from a city called New York. I was debriefed about the situation and I wanted to offer my help to anyone who needs it.

[ He pauses for a moment as he collects his thoughts. These days, it’s not often that he goes somewhere that people aren’t at least slightly familiar with who he is. Providing a brief resume is a somewhat novel experience. ]

I’ve been a soldier for a long time, but I’m also good with my hands. Construction, farming, hunting, good old-fashioned heavy lifting, I can help with that. I can speak a number of languages, too, if anyone needs translations done. I know I’m new, but I want to pull my weight. So if you know anyone who might need a hand with something, let me know.

[ Offering a faint smile, he gives the camera a short nod. ]

Thanks for your time.

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[The moment he sees Steve - and yeah, he'd know the big star-spangled lug anywhere - he's hopping down and taking off to meet him. Overeager, maybe, but it's been a few months for him, a few months after being in each other's constant company just about, and after the plane... Sometimes he still hears Steve yelling his name over the roar of the plane in his dreams.]

Steve! It's about time you showed up, pal! I was gonna have this whole turtle adventure without you.

[ It really is Bucky. No doubt about it. And maybe it should be stranger for Steve than it is, to see the man who'd once been the Winter Soldier and later took over as Captain America now so much younger. But they've been through too much together for something like a little temporal displacement to throw Steve. ]

Better late than never, eh, Buck? You're going to have to bring me up to speed so I'm not still lagging behind.

[Yeah, he still hasn't heard about the whole nasty Winter Soldier business. Carol pretty purposefully left it out. Bucky falls into step by Steve like nothing's changed, though, like no time at all has passed.]

Yeah, I guess I can do that. Next time I ain't bailin' you out when you show up late, though. [It's teasing, good-natured. He's in a lot better mood than he's been in for weeks, though as he crams his hands into his pockets and glances out toward the city, he sobers a little.] I haven't been here too long. Toro and me showed up at the same time, right when the rationing started. Guess the turtle's sick. The kedan started hating foreigners because of it. People keep recognizing me. Some big satellite thing crashed to the shell not too long ago, released a bunch of... ghosts, almost, but electrical. Been a long couple months.

[Hesitantly:] Also when I showed up... I met another version of you. [And quicker:] Obviously a fake one, he wasn't anything like you, he didn't even get the security question right.

[ To Steve, it sounds like he showed up at the right time. Maybe a little late, they probably could’ve used his help dealing with the electrical ghosts, but if the turtle’s sick and the natives are getting restless, then people are going to need all the help they can get. ]

Messed up the security question, huh?

[ Steve smiles, then drops his arm around Bucky’s shoulder and gives him a companionable, one-armed hug. ]

Don’t be too hard on him, okay? The things I’m hearing about these other universes are making me think our other selves have been through things we can’t even imagine. For all we know, maybe that other Steve never got his Bucky back. Maybe he died for real that day. Maybe he never had the good luck to meet you at all. But if his name’s Steve Rogers, you can count on him just like you can count on me. I guarantee it.

And from what you’re telling me, we’re going to need all hands on deck for this turtle business. If he’s sick, we have to save him.

[He'll never admit it, but he leans into that little hug, and returns it, one-armed but tight, because it's just... good to have him around. He won't admit this either, but he and Toro have been floundering a little in dealing with everything that's happened, at least judging from the sorts of trouble they're already gotten into.

His expression turns to a scowl and he looks up at Steve, giving him the most irritable, stern look he can manage.] He talked down to me like I was twelve. An' anyway, he can't have been through worse than us, so I don't care. You're my partner, there's no replacin' you. [Maybe he's projecting a little. He doesn't know for sure there's another Bucky on the turtle, but he knows there's one out there in the multiverse, and maybe it bothers him a little.]

Easier said than done. People have been all over this since it started an' I don't think it's gotten any better.

Nobody's replacing anybody. Not me, not you, not anybody.

[ It's with calm, matter-of-fact determination that he says this. Because to Steve, it's true and unfathomable that anyone could actually do this successfully. People aren't replaceable. Even if they're alternate universe versions of people he knows. ]

Is that why he's sick? Because of the number of people he's carrying on his back?

Yeah, nobody's replacin' anybody so I ain't replacin' you with some Steve that treats me like a little kid. [His tone is pretty final on that matter, at least. Bucky laces his hands together on the back of his head, trying to look casual, but then his voice quiets a little.] ...Nita and Carol and Tony said you were runnin' around the future with a new team. But it's still you and me, right? Like it always was with the Invaders?

[Bucky just shrugs.] I don't know. I don't think so, but people are really, y'know- [He makes a motion like zipping his mouth shut.] -with their information. Mr. Banner might know.

I’m working with a new team there because the situation requires it. Not because I’ve forgotten my old one. Don’t worry. It’s still you and me. [ He gives his shoulders another reassuring squeeze. ] It’s even still you and me in the future, too. We don’t work together all the time, but we do it a lot. Even got a turn as Captain America there for a while.

[ For the moment, Steve’s going to leave off the fact that he was kind of dead at the time. What he doesn’t conceal is how proud he was, and is, of Bucky, for that and for a host of other unvoiced reasons. ]

We’ll get it out of them somehow. Starting with Banner, I guess. How is he? Here, I mean.

[ He doesn't mention the Hulk directly, but he figures that if there have been any episodes, Bucky will know. ]

[It's a small relief to hear that, not that he really expects Steve to say anything else. But Toro's already told him about the replacement Bucky, and that on top of alternate universes and multiple versions of people here... It can be a little worrying, that your four years of proving yourself is going to go down the drain just like that if someone better comes along.] So it's true? I really didn't die? [And this is the first time he's believed it.] How- Wait, I got a turn as- Why?

[He scoffs slightly at Steve's recognition, though.] Of course you know him too. You know everybody, don'tcha? Mr. Banner's been... I dunno, we're not too close. He wasn't doin' so great when I saw him last after the satellite crash, though.

[ He has to take a moment to decide what to address first. No doubt the question about becoming Captain America is more important to Bucky than talking about a man he hardly knows. But determining what's wrong with Bruce Banner is perhaps more important to the city as a whole. Still... ]

Red Skull took me out of commission and the world needed Captain America. You stepped in to help out until I was ready to take it on again.

[ That's the least alarming way to explain it. ]

Do you have any idea what's wrong with Bruce? Was he sick or injured?

[ Not that Steve thinks he can be either, but the most disturbing disturbing prospect is that he's possessed and the last thing they need is a possessed Hulk loose on the turtle. ]

[The least alarming way, but still mildly alarming, because-] What could take you out so bad I'd have to step in as Cap? And how's he still around anyway, don't tell me Skull got frozen too. This is startin' to either sound really implausible, or like the worst trend in the world. [He believes Steve, he knows his partner wouldn't lie to him, but it all just sounds so... strange. He can't imagine ever putting on the stars and stripes and trying to be what Steve is. He's never been that good a person.

But he exhales quietly at the mention of Bruce again, going quiet for a bit, mentally debating how much to say without breaking his confidence with the man. Sure, it's Steve, but... He and Bruce almost have an understanding of sorts.] Nah. I don't know how much he'd be okay with me sayin', but it wasn't anything like that. And I don't think he'd want you mother-henning at him anyway.

[ Bucky’s reticence gets a sideways glance, but he doesn’t inquire further. Perhaps Bruce told him of the Hulk and swore him to secrecy. Perhaps it’s something else. Either way, Steve won’t try to pry it out of him. Secrets have a way of coming back to haunt their keepers in the worst possible ways, and maybe that ought to be proof enough that none of them should keep them, but some lessons never truly sink in.

Not even with Steve, who decides to say no more about the future and what it holds for Bucky. ]

Can you tell me then of the efforts being made to get home?

[ Assuming anyone’s making them. ]

[He notices the glance, and just shrugs in response before offering a slightly guilty-sounding explanation, because he usually tells Steve everything and he usually never has a problem with it.] Ask him yourself. He'll tell you if he wants to, but he's practically the only person here besides you and Toro that I actually like. ['Besides you guys, he's the only one I can trust.'

But then he sighs, glancing up at the sky for a minute.] Hell if I really know. Nobody tells me much, I don't think I've made enough connections yet. Toro and I kinda had to lay low. Some people have been trying to get the turtle better, science types, but I don't think it's done a whole lot. It swam into some nicer waters once, and seemed to get a little better; everyone was really relaxed and the kedan threw a big party. But after that it sorta declined again, though they haven't been as hostile toward us as they were. Then the satellite crashed to the shell.

There's more goin' on than I know, Steve. A lot more. The kedan don't really know anything, I've been listening, and the Emperor ain't talkin', far as I know.

[ He lets the subject of Bruce drop, unwilling to get too tangled up in sorting out what's known about him by the population here and what's not. The last thing Steve wants is to out him as the Hulk if he's trying to keep a low profile. ]

Then it sounds like that's the plan. Find out what nobody wants to say and figure out how to heal the turtle.

[ Unless it's dying and can't be saved. He doesn't want to say that yet, wants to at least try to approach this with some optimism. ]

Does anyone know how it decides where to go? If those waters made it feel better, why doesn't it go back?

[It's a little late for that, sadly. None of them have really been able to keep secrets about themselves here, and Bucky and Bruce are both a bit bitter about that.]

Somethin' like that. Easier said than done. They say we were brought here to fight something, maybe that's it. Or maybe it's just a symptom of whatever it is getting stronger.

Far as I know, it goes where it wants to. I don't think it actually got any better then, I think it was just a... a bandage. The kedan were a little nicer after but in the long run that's all that changed. And I don't know why the Emperor's not gettin' help from other settlements. It stopped by this city a while back, Atam, for supplies, and they didn't seem to like anybody but... I dunno. I was never good at mysteries.

I can't say I am either. I'd rather be a soldier than a detective.

[ But he's had some experience being one. Not enough to make him great at it, he'll never been at Fury's caliber as far as solving mysteries is concerned. Still, he can give it a try. ]

The other settlements. Are they on turtles too? Or is there actually land in this world?

[ He pauses as another thought forms. It's a little crazy, but so is everything else going on here. ]

Has anyone tried communicating with the turtle?

You and me both, buddy. [Too bad Nick isn't around. Apparently he's gotten good at the whole information thing.]

No. I think this one's the last one of its kind. I guess the mainland is just... made up of dead ones or something. [A shrug.] One person made a post about it way before I got here. I don't think he could really talk to it because it was way too old or something. And then people a while later were saying stuff about having weird, peaceful dreams, but I never got any nighttime visitors personally.

Dreams?

[ That almost sounds like psychic projections. Of course, he’s not an expert on psychics, but he’s been around them often enough. ]

Maybe it’s possible that the turtle communicates through telepathy. Maybe we just need to find a powerful telepath. Xavier, maybe. He’s here. He’s younger than I remember, but he was the strongest telepath in the world in the future. Have you met him?

Could be. But talking to it normal-like, normal for telepathy or whatever the hell it was, didn't seem to work out too good for the first guy. Maybe it has to be through dreams. [He just shrugs and shakes his head once.] Nope. Never heard of him. Might have seen him on the network once but I didn't bother to reply.

He's a good man. One of the greatest.

[ And he was cut down in front of Steve by his own student. By a man that might have been Xavier's own son, for how close they'd once been. Steve doesn't think that he will ever forget the sudden silence as he fell. Or the heat of the flames that helped to bring him down. ]

Dreams, then. We can start there. There are so many people here, there's got to be someone who can navigate the dreams of others.

I'll take your word for it, then. [Anybody Steve thinks is good has to be alright, and though he says it casually, he means it; that's really no surprise, though, considering he'd follow Steve through the gates of hell if he had to.

He just chuckles, shoving his hands into his pockets.] Day one and you're already comin' up with a plan. Same old Steve.

[ That makes him laugh. It's a low chuckle under his breath, but it's genuinely amused. ]

You expected someone different? Don't worry. Seventy years doesn't change a man that much.

[ And in Steve's case, it hasn't really changed him at all. ]

I dunno what I expected, honestly. [He gives him a sideways glance.] Seventy years is a long damn time, and you've got all these new people hangin' around, a new team, a new world with stuff like the "internet" and you can't say dame anymore...

You can say it, you just have to ready for the looks of people who either don't know what it means or think you're old-fashioned.

[ Which is what everyone thinks of Steve, so he's gotten used to it. ]

It takes a lot of adjusting, pal. I'm not going to deny it. But it can be done. And weird as it is at first, the internet's not so hard to figure out.

Really? 'Cause I got a lecture and got told I was sexist. You don't know embarrassing until you get treated like somebody's grandpa. [It comes out an irritable grumble, because it still rankles a little, that somebody thought him that close-minded.]

Doesn't really matter for me, I figure. I'm not gettin' outta here, and if I do I'm just gettin' frozen and I probably won't remember this turtle adventure anyway.

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