worthallthis | The Last Voyages: IC Inbox

[Her eyebrow arches, and she takes a long sip of her cocoa before answering, really taking in how complicated and confusing and, honestly, kind of messed up that sounds to her.]

You guys got your own little soap opera going on, huh.

I know, it's pretty wild.

[He grins, lop-sided.]

I'm my own evil twin. Or he was the evil twin, I don't know. I'm not glad he lost his first guy, but. I'm glad I have him now, you know?

It doesn't feel kinda weird?

[B laughs, but it's an amiable, slightly self-depricating sound rather than a mocking one.]

It absolutely feels weird, Sameen. Absolutely.

It feels less weird than it did at the start, though. I guess human beings can get used to a lot of weird shit. But after seeing him fake his death in his own timeline, so he could come back to a place he hates just to be with me... I know he means it.

There's another... him... still alive in yours, though, right?

[Are you going to kill the other Steve y/n]

Ah. Well. That's one reason I'm here, actually.

[He sighs down at his cocoa, half-gone and cooling.]

The Steve in my universe went off to live in the past with his girlfriend from the war. Time travel was a thing for a while, so it was possible for him. He aged and had his life with her and, well, once he got around to my time again he was old. We buried him a couple months before I left my world to come back here.

Are you... bringing him back to life?

[B shakes his head.]

He made his choice. If that's what he wanted, if he was finally happy, then I'll let him have that life. I'm not going back to my timeline after the Barge. There's nobody there who needs me around.

So you guys are going to another universe entirely?

With any luck, a bunch of universes. The goal is to get some kind of mini-Barge, a small spaceship with the ability to go between universes. There's, uh, a lot of people who want to see Steve once he's done here.

[And himself, of course, but Steve is the real excuse here.]

And trying to pick between them is hard. So we thought, why try?

You gonna do that forever?

Dunno. Long enough to maybe decide where to stay, at least.

Maybe we do, though. I know Lark's got this grand plan for us to go scooping up mistreated supersoldiers across the multiverse and rehome them. Wouldn't be a bad job.

[She pauses, glancing over at him.]

If any of them want to keep fighting instead of retiring, and don't mind a high potential for dying sooner rather than later... that's kinda what my team's ended up doing.

[B nods.]

We're pretty sure at least some of 'em will. Hell, even I don't mind a good fight now and then, even if I've got no taste for killing.

We've got a handful of places we could put 'em. Including my old warden's world, where there's zombies to take out. I can add yours to the list, if you want.

I probably shouldn't be recruiting without consulting... uh, anybody.

[Finch especially would probably be kind of pissed about her making the offer without letting him vet first. Oops!]

But yeah. Put me on your list of potentials, at least.

Will do. Though I never did ask exactly what it is you do. Figured it was some kinda government thing.

[It's an invitation to explain further, but also not a direct question, in case she's not comfortable sharing details.]

It's complicated.

[And she suppresses the urge to indulge in too much suspicion; there are plenty of valid reasons for someone to ask, beyond them being a fake simulated person fishing for information. Knowing that doesn't mean she's going to give away anything that her enemies don't already know, but it does mean she'll force her shoulders to relax when she realizes that they've automatically tensed up at the question. ]

I used to be with the ISA, but I'm kinda freelance now. A couple of people here have said we sound like vigilantes, and they're not wrong, I guess. We save people. Or did. Things are weird right now.

[B wracks his brain for a moment, then has to admit,]

I don't know if we had an ISA in our world. I'm coming up blank and I at least know all the alphabet agencies in the USA. What exactly... is that?

Probably a timing thing, more like; it's had a few names. But, uh... Intelligence Support Activity. We call it The Activity.

[She pauses, glancing over at him.]

There are different roles within the agency. Mine was targeted assassinations.

Cheers. So was mine.

[He mimes clinking their mugs together with a droll expression, though he doesn't actually do it.]

I have no idea what HYDRA stands for, though I'm sure it stands for something. Can I ask what the criteria was for your assassinations?

Bad people who were a threat to national security. Turns out it was good people who were a threat to national security sometimes too, though.

Yeah. Not surprised. I don't really trust governments to ever do the right thing, at this point.

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