apocalypsehowcomm | Log: A (dusty) new arrival

Entry tags:

Log: A (dusty) new arrival

Who: Steve Rogers and OTA (including roomies in apartment B4)
When: March 14th-ish, upon arrival
Where: ADI and ADI housing
Summary: Steve arrives at ADI, bangs around in an air duct and collects lots of dust, then gets briefed and takes a look around, ultimately making it to his new living quarters
Warnings: None yet, will update/warn in threads if needed.

Arrival via air duct
Steve Rogers is not a complete stranger to suddenly finding himself in places he hadn't expected to be.

But it's always unsettling, and this time maybe even more so than any others. He'd been in Asgard one minute, and the next — Well. It's a good thing he doesn't have asthma anymore. Because wherever he is, it's dark, cramped, and full of dust.

He also feels… kind of like shit. Weak. Disoriented. Actually, a lot like the old asthma attacks, just with (fortunately) less gasping and choking. Okay, some minor gasping and choking. It's really dusty in here.

Where he'd normally just consider breaking through the damn side of the duct — because yeah, okay, this is an air duct, he's pretty sure — he both feels unsteady enough not to try and unsure enough of where he is that he… probably shouldn't? Not until he knows more. Which has him crawling forward, Mjolnir's strap looped around one wrist, until he spots a vent up ahead. Plan A, then: Kick it in and get the hell out of here. And hope for the best.

(Hope he fits through the vent, in the first place.)

Looking around, settling in
Steve Rogers is also not unaccustomed to the idea of preventing the apocalypse. What he is unaccustomed to is the idea that using any of the abilities the serum grants him requires terrorizing and murdering people. That's just —

Well. He's lived more of his life without superhuman abilities than not. He'll just… not use them, for now.

It is frustrating. He was in the middle of mission. It was, you know, kind of important. But he's still got the soul stone tucked safely away, even if his quantum suit seems to have disappeared (collapsed into the watch, he has to assume, but he can't reactivate it), and if he's needed here, then he supposes he can afford the pit stop. Technically, he's got all the time in the world. Right?

So, he decides to take a look around ADI, still in his dusty Captain America uniform as he walks the halls and pokes his head into offices, the gym, the canteen, and the library. He maybe pokes around for something to eat in the canteen (he's... very hungry) and then stops to study the local maps and directories in the library, committing them to memory.

He finally makes it to the apartments. By the time he shows up at the right door — B4 — he's at least wearing jeans and a hoodie, although his hair is a still bit dusty and there's still that hefty warhammer in one hand. He figures he might as well knock instead of just walking in. It might be his place, now, but it seems like a little politeness is the safer option when meeting potentially apocalypse-averting teammates.

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Winter is well-used to people appearing in the air vents. He stops at the sound of someone clattering around in there, sighs, and prowls to the nearest grate to push it up and out of the way with the butt of his rifle. "This way," he says, loud enough to hopefully be heard over the coughing.

He might make sure all the vent grates are loose for just this purpose. You'd be surprised how often this is necessary, really.

When Steve gets to the grate and looks down, he'll... totally recognize that face. And that mask over the bottom half of it. There's more to his eyes than there was on the helicarrier, but it's clearly not the same man he left behind at the time travel platform.

Edited (wrong word somehow) 2022-03-15 04:10 (UTC)

There was at least a bit of warning from ADI that someone was coming to take the spare room, meaning Martin had a little time to tidy up the living room and remind himself how to act like a normal person after the exhausting events of last month. He's not really sure what to expect- all they told him was that his name was Steve, which seems fine- so he's got the kettle on and is already apprehensive by the time he hears the knock on the door. Martin straightens his button-up, takes a breath, and opens the door with a smile.

And standing in front of him is possibly the most handsome man he's ever seen.

For just a moment, Martin blinks, suddenly feeling like he's underdressed in his own home for being tall, round, and with his hair perpetually a little bit of a mess. The next few seconds are taken up by his brain trying to put words in order and failing, so nearly ten of them elapse before he actually speaks.

"Hi! Hello, you're-- Steve? Probably?"

➥ Looking around; ADI apartment hallway

[ It's the classic sitcom scenario: two guys with a lot of history who haven't seen each other in years and had parted under Really Not Great circumstances meet again in a completely random and mundane location, both in varying states of disarray, and stare stupidly at each other while the laugh track rolls.

Well, maybe mundane isn't the right word (considering they're in a town that spirals into supernatural insanity every other week), but it certainly feels that way; it's in the hallway of a fairly average-looking apartment complex, for one, and no one in the immediate vicinity is currently involved in any life-threatening scenarios, superhero-related or otherwise.

So yeah, it's a little bit funny.

Or rather, Tony will probably find it funny later (a lot later), long after he settles down from his initial reaction to seeing Steve Rogers in the flesh again. Said initial reaction is, as stated earlier, to stare stupidly at him for a moment--and then to run the full gamut of emotions once his brain stops lagging and gets with the program. Internally, anyway. Steve knows Tony; first comes snark, then comes everything else. ]

Well well well, look what the cat dragged in and rolled around in the dirt. [ He eyes Steve's dusty uniform up and down. ] Hope that's not dry-clean-only.

Edited 2022-03-15 13:05 (UTC)

The first clue is the voice - granted, he is coughing over the words, but something in the back of his mind just pings the sound even more than the words as safe and he crawls toward it.

And then he gets a look down through the empty opening, and -

And okay, maybe panics a little. Internally, mostly. (He's a professional, after all.)

Shit, he's in the wrong time. In the wrong place. And he'd let down his guard because he's feeling off and now he's going to -

It's then that the actual look in the eyes he can see above the mask finally registers. And then the actual fact that Bucky had spoken actual words registers. Steve's still in deep shit, probably, and yet history is definitely repeating itself (ha) as the only word that comes out of his mouth is, "Bucky?"

Given that Steve is, you know, showing up at the door pretty much unannounced (except for any advanced warning ADI may have sent) and still a bit covered in dust, he certainly cannot judge appearances. Not that he's inclined to, anyway, after all. The guy looks anything but displeased or put out to see him, so that's a major win, considering how he knows what it's like to be the guy showing up to the barracks late to the party and taking up the empty bunk everyone was enjoying having empty.

Despite everything, he finds himself smiling, too, ten-second lapse or not. "Probably," he confirms, a little playfully, "but I have dog tags to prove it if we need."

And then, "Thanks for having me. I guess roommates tend to just show up out of the blue, around here?"

[Steve is definitely playing his part in this scenario: staring for a long, silent moment, somehow still caught off guard when maybe he shouldn't be.

But there is something to be said for feeling like the ground has dropped out from under you when you run into a guy that you thought was dead. Steve can vouch for that, okay. Apparently it happens to him a lot.

Then Tony opens his mouth and then - then, what comes out of it is actually this side of comforting. Because despite everything else, it's normal, and that's - nice, in a sea of things that have not been normal for quite some time now.]

I guess we're gonna find out, [is apparently the first thing he's capable of saying.

Then,] You look - like you could use a sandwich.

[ Okay, Tony has to kind of laugh at that one, though it's more like a quick half-smile and a sharp exhale, a tiny fleeting thing that's heavily tinged with bitterness. Not bitterness towards Steve, per se, but-- Look, how is this his life right now? How is it both their lives? No...it's better entirely if Tony stops asking that question of the universe, sooner rather than later. ]

You been by the canteen? What they're hawking down there can scarcely be called food at all, let alone a proper sandwich. No pastrami on rye to be found. You're a New Yorker, you get it.

[ What is this conversation? Is he stalling? If so, stalling for what? His anxiety grows, and Tony fits his arms around himself to stave it off. It's a tell Steve is probably familiar with by now. ]

I assume they gave you the rundown. About this place. ADI, I mean.

Winter stops short at the sight of that fucking face. He's staring. Not quite making eye contact, but closer than usual, at somewhere between Steve's eyebrows.

He's so startled, alarmed, and disturbed that he can't even manage to stop himself from the reflexive snap, "Don't call me that."

But that does make him snap out of the stare, too, and he yanks the mask off. "You. You are not supposed to be here," he says, pointing one metal finger at him and scowling.

[What even is my life? is a thing that... yeah. Steve has just had to stop wondering. He'd probably drive himself crazy, because they're the only five words he would ever think, otherwise.]

I have, actually, [he admits, because he'd poked around all of ADI that he could before making his way here.] It was a little lacking.

[And, look. He gets stalling. He really, really gets stalling. Especially when things are this uncomfortable. This weird. They're really weird.]

Yeah, [he confirms. They had. He doesn't like a lot of it. Some of it he's not surprised by. And honestly, above all else, here is another source he can trust. So he does, asking,] Is it the truth? What's your take?

That's - not quite what he expected Bucky to say. But, upon a microsecond's reflection, it's not not quite what he expected, either. So he doesn't argue the point - just at the moment - and he absolutely cannot argue that, "No," he admits, still thinking he's somehow been blown into the wrong point in the timeline. Somehow. "I don't think I am. I - sorry?"

He's stopped trying to crawl out of the air duct, too, so this is probably made even awkward by the fact that they're having this conversation through the window created by the lack of a vent. "I can leave," he says, glancing down at his watch - and clocking the fact, now that he's got some light to work with, that he's not wearing the quantum suit. That's weird - well. No weirder than time traveling without meaning to, maybe.

And certainly no weirder than having an actual semi-normal conversation with Bucky - the Winter Soldier - at... some point before 2016, he has to assume. Maybe wherever this is, it's where Bucky fled after the helicarriers. "You remember me," he tries to confirm, mind still whirling in circles.

"No. No, you can't." That's the thing, isn't it. Nobody leaves, unless they-- well, nobody knows what happens to the disappeared, do they? But they're all pretty sure nobody goes home.

He makes a frustrated kind of noise, almost a growl, doesn't answer the question, and says instead, "Get down from there. I've got to. I've got to take you to the people in charge. You'll need to get. Get. Filled in."

He pauses, scrubs at his face with the flesh hand, and adds, "This isn't your world anymore. Our world. If we even come from the same--" He breaks off with another frustrated noise. He wants to yell and maybe hit something. The stupid former target-- Steve-- Captain-- Steve-- should not be here.

"I can," Steve argues - he at least thinks he can - but then he's distracted away from that argument by the command. Maybe there's a part of his brain that's just hardwired to at least consider things that Bucky says, when issued in that tone of voice.

If nothing else, it's probably a lot of fun ("fun") to watch him drop a hammer down first, carefully aiming for not where Bucky is standing, then wiggle and worm and work his way out of the duct through the open vent, possibly bringing half the dust that had been in there with him.

By the time he's out, he glances up and says, unhelpfully, "What do you mean? Not Earth? How did you get here?"

[ Anxiety tells...so many anxiety tells. Tony's hugging himself more tightly, shuffling his feet now and then, occasionally chewing on his lip for lack of something else he can stick in his mouth...all those little things he does when he's loathe to show people how panicked he is even though it ends up being totally obvious to anyone who knows him well enough. There's nothing he can do about it, though; nor is there anything he can do about the long-burnt-out embers of anger in his heart that he desperately wishes he could ignite again, but only end up mustering a faint and near-negligible glow as soon as he tries.

Annoying. ]

Come on, Rogers. You know how this shakes out. The guys in charge end up wrong and you end up saying 'I-told-you-so', right? [ It could have come out sounding mean, but Tony's voice actually has a hint of satisfaction in it, a 'that's our Cap' mentality that he never managed to get rid of. He could never stop respecting Steve even if he wanted to. ]

In other words, keep your guard up. You know, figuratively, since...yeah. [ Shield gone. Trust gone. Okay, maybe there is a hint of fire left in there. It burns unpleasantly under his irregular, steadily increasing heartbeat. ]

"Different Earth," Winter grunts at him. "And same way you did. Which means, nobody fucking knows. I didn't appear in an air vent, though."

No, he appeared in a maintenance closet, which may or may not be why he tends to duck into them for his panic attacks. One of which he is not having right now, dammit, he doesn't have that kind of time. He also doesn't try to pick up the hammer; it's Steve's. He's not going to touch Steve's stuff. That might make this more real, somehow.

"When are you from?" is the next thing he asks. "Later than 2014?" He's going to guess so, since everyone else has been.

By the mid-afternoon Peter has at least gotten a change of clothes out of his own dirty uniform he's arrived in. Loose casual clothes that kind of cover up the array of bruises he's got. The harder to hide ones are the bruises taking shape on his face. The worst being a shiner forming over one of his eyes. Without his healing, he's out of luck.

Peter is still figuring out the layout of the building, wandering the halls to get a feel for the place. He doesn't want to rely on Mr. Stark too much. He wants to just stay close to the man, but... he shouldn't be clingy or weird. Mr. Stark would probably get tired of him.

A dusty Steve Rogers throws him for a loop when the two pass in the hallway. Peter double takes visibly and immediately runs into a wall. The thud is audible, followed by the embarrassed groan on Peter's part.

"Why." He just takes a step back, covering his face with his hands.

Steve, for better or worse, does not know Peter by face. He might know him by voice, although one word from beneath a pair of hands is not really a lot to go off of.

So he will, instead, stick with frowning a little, because did you just walk into a wall? Also: "Why?" he repeats, carefully - and then, yeah, there's the requisite: "Are you okay?"

That kid had a heck of a shiner. He... might have just given himself another. Jesus. "Should we get you some ice?"

Steve is no stranger to bruised faces - or anything else.

[Steve has known Tony a long time. And he's not stupid. He's not dense. There's - a lot going on, here. More than just standing in the same hallway as a man who's supposed to be dead. This man... it's like looking back in time. (Hah. That's getting to be a familiar feeling, isn't it.)

Steve feels like they're not on the same page. Which maybe shouldn't be a surprise, given what he has learned, so far. But mostly what he's learned is that he's out of the loop, scrambling to catch up, and that's a familiar feeling, too.]

I'm not even sure who's right or wrong yet, Tony, [he says, and his voice is calm, but maybe there's the tiniest hint of pleading in his tone. He's trying to offer an olive branch, because the man he's staring at seems like one he remembers who needed it.

So,] It's good to see you, [is what he says next, quieter, but it's very, very genuine.]

Good call specifying - Steve might have been about to ask if it had literally been in the air vent. Now, he'll just nod and try to get some of that air vent off his uniform. It maybe works. A little.

The answers help as much as they don't - they at least tell him something, which is that he's probably not going to mess up some timeline, if that's what he would have chosen to care about, by saying, "Uh. 2023. Technically."

He'd actually just been in 2013, but he doesn't think that answer is going to help the situation any. So instead he asks, "Who are the people in charge?"

Bucky had mentioned getting him filled in, after all.

Just like Strange, Wanda, and Yelena, then. "It's 2022 here," Winter comments. "I'm from 2014. I walked away from you on the bank. Collapsed somewhere to recover. Woke up in a closet with brooms."

He steps back, giving Steve more room, and maybe subtly suggest Steve get moving. "Apocalypse Disruption Initiative. That's where we are. That's who I work for now." He pauses, then adds, "They're better than HYDRA. I'm pretty sure."

"Uh-" Peter covers his nose awkwardly, wondering why this is his luck. He didn't break anything, but he's fairly embarrassed.

"I'm- I'm good." He says a bit too quickly, "Perfectly fine!" He looks like he lost a fight with a previous wall.

He manages to not run into the wall, looking a bit too awkward and mildly alarmed for a normal interaction like this. Peter has never been good under pressure outside of the mask.

Edited 2022-03-16 02:37 (UTC)

Steve's lips maybe kind of twitch up. Just a little. "Okay," he confirms, still a little concerned because, recent collisions with the wall aside, it looks like the guy might have had some previous encounters, too.

Then again, who is Steve to judge? He used to walk around with his face looking just as bad.

Plus, bruises aren't life-threatening, and the kid looks awkward enough that Steve maybe wants to take pity on him a little. "I'm Steve. I'm - new here. Sorry if I startled you."

Maybe they can come back around to why he looks like he lost a fight with a rock tumbler in a bit.

"Huh," is the sound Steve makes, but he's taking that all in. Filing it away. Trying to make sense of it, really, but there's only so much sense he can make.

Including, "They're bringing people here. To work for them?"

Admittedly, for better or for worse, Bucky being at least pretty sure they're better than HYDRA is a mark in favor of them in Steve's book.

"To... disrupt an apocalypse?" he guesses. Jesus. How many apocalypses is one guy supposed to be able to take, one after another.

"They're not doing it." They've verified that with truth magic now, however that works. "They don't know who is doing it, but it's probably the entities who want the apocalypse. Or their avatars."

Winter eyes Steve's broad chest and well-muscled arms and decides to warn him, "Your strength won't work like it does at home. Unless you scare people. And you shouldn't scare people."

"Oh, uh, you're good." Peter rubs at his face a little absently.

Okay, so there is no recognition there. Peter was going to take that as a good thing. The last thing he needs is people figuring out he's Spider-Man.

Not that he could use his powers right now. The thought of how he could do that is quickly shoved aside. He does not want to deal with that right now.

"I'm new too, I got here last night. Its kind of... a lot to adjust to."

That's... interesting. "If they want the apocalypse, they should've avoided kidnapping me," Steve points out wryly.

But any hint of humor disappears a second later. "What?" What does Bucky mean - "I don't want to scare people. What do you mean?"

The problem is, even as he's asking - he has a bad feeling that whatever it is, it's why he feels... off. Because he definitely feels off. And then some.

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Log: A (dusty) new arrival

Arrival, because he finds a lot of new arrivals...

hello new roomie! :>

I hope you don't mind brackets!

Good with goats, good with new arrivals!

helloooooo martin you are the cutest omg

I absolutely don't mind! 8D

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mostly he just patrols those halls a lot XD

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A useful pastime!

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cw: anxiety, again he comes with a blanket one lol.

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B

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poor guy, that sounds about right :x

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