Soon he'll walk through the circumference of the Earth, if keeps at it - or the distance from Earth to the Moon. One small step for a man...
It was one of the first thing they showed him when he got fished out and brought back to life like a parody of a Messiah - the Moon Landing. One great leap for the humankind. Look at us, so much progress.
Look at them, still in the same bloody place as 80 years ago. This the Moon Landing landed - right where it came from. Progress was nothing but a shiny toy to wave in front of some Russians.
He snorted. Look at him, Captain America being bitter about the future. His biographers would be appalled.
Steve kept a number of secrets from his biographers.
He suspected he didn't need to; Propaganda Departament got scrapped, but with the days, weeks and months, now two years of watching the future, he got fewer and fewer doubts that it was little more than a name change. Too many slogans were flowing in the air. Best country in the world. Protecting freedom and democracy. Truth, justice and the American way. Shining city on the hill, Home of the brave, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States...
Steve read 1984 and he didn't like what he saw.
He closed his eyes. Earth's Migtest Heroes. Captain America.
"Have you ever been cynical, Buck?"
Have you ever wanted to just stay in your grave?
Bucky's empty grave didn't have an answer for him; it never did. Steve wondered if he could ask to be buried in it, anonymously.
Probably not. Too much freedom and democracy to squeeze out of his empty corpse. Truth and justice.
The American way.
"They put chemicals in a person again," he told the grave. "Did I tell you? That I wasn't the only one? It's a secret. I wasn't supposed to tell you."
He hadn't. He was loyal, and dedicated, and he had never revealed any national secrets. Any national crimes. Fighting the Nazis was more important. The Nazis that separated people by race, and performed human experiments and eugenics.
"I wasn't the only one," he said again.
He went on a neusating information search recently; internet was a wonderful thing, you could never hide what was once revealed anymore. Not even Shield could shield him from truths anymore - answers were out there, all it took was to know what questions to ask.
A lot of effort went into making people not ask. I pledge allegiance. Steve had pledged allegiance too. In a previous life.
"There were others like me in the program. Some died immediately. Some were mangled or crippled. Nobody survived; I don't know how many were merci-killed, and how many murdered just to keep them quiet."
The last batch, he remembered them well. There were only four of them, Steve, John, Harry and James. Those were the ones whose faces he got to see; his companions. Every one of them blond-haired and blue-eyed, young and happy and ready to be better.
Ubermenshen.
"Some got mangled or crippled," he repeated. It should be told more. "Some got sick, and the doctors didn't tell them. And there were other programs out there AFTER, too. Not even to make a better human to fight your wars; just to... see what happens. When you hurt a body. When you don't treat a disease."
The earlier batches, those weren't made out of white men.
"One... was called a Tuskegee Experiment. There were 400 men in that one. They were sick with syphilis, but nobody told them, and they just got false diagnosis and fake treatments. Doctors watched them slowly die for 40 years. It started when we were alive, do you know? Ended when we were long dead. We still do that. America still does that."
His voice was thick with tears now. "Remember the Smithson family, Bucky? Their boys were just our age. Why didn't we befriend them, Buck? Why did we take part in this?"
The Smithsons were different, of course. Separate. But equal.
He closed his eyes, renembering the faces of the little Smithson boys, who were darker and worse, and the face of an unnamed man hiding from America in a cave, who was pale and the same, and it didn't even matter in the end. His tears fell.
"I want to go back, Buck," he whispered. "I want to leave."
I'M ALIVE!!! :D Part 26 - Steve
Steve went on walks. More walks.
Soon he'll walk through the circumference of the Earth, if keeps at it - or the distance from Earth to the Moon. One small step for a man...
It was one of the first thing they showed him when he got fished out and brought back to life like a parody of a Messiah - the Moon Landing. One great leap for the humankind. Look at us, so much progress.
Look at them, still in the same bloody place as 80 years ago. This the Moon Landing landed - right where it came from. Progress was nothing but a shiny toy to wave in front of some Russians.
He snorted. Look at him, Captain America being bitter about the future. His biographers would be appalled.
Steve kept a number of secrets from his biographers.
He suspected he didn't need to; Propaganda Departament got scrapped, but with the days, weeks and months, now two years of watching the future, he got fewer and fewer doubts that it was little more than a name change. Too many slogans were flowing in the air. Best country in the world. Protecting freedom and democracy. Truth, justice and the American way. Shining city on the hill, Home of the brave, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States...
Steve read 1984 and he didn't like what he saw.
He closed his eyes. Earth's Migtest Heroes. Captain America.
"Have you ever been cynical, Buck?"
Have you ever wanted to just stay in your grave?
Bucky's empty grave didn't have an answer for him; it never did. Steve wondered if he could ask to be buried in it, anonymously.
Probably not. Too much freedom and democracy to squeeze out of his empty corpse. Truth and justice.
The American way.
"They put chemicals in a person again," he told the grave. "Did I tell you? That I wasn't the only one? It's a secret. I wasn't supposed to tell you."
He hadn't. He was loyal, and dedicated, and he had never revealed any national secrets. Any national crimes. Fighting the Nazis was more important. The Nazis that separated people by race, and performed human experiments and eugenics.
"I wasn't the only one," he said again.
He went on a neusating information search recently; internet was a wonderful thing, you could never hide what was once revealed anymore. Not even Shield could shield him from truths anymore - answers were out there, all it took was to know what questions to ask.
A lot of effort went into making people not ask. I pledge allegiance. Steve had pledged allegiance too. In a previous life.
"There were others like me in the program. Some died immediately. Some were mangled or crippled. Nobody survived; I don't know how many were merci-killed, and how many murdered just to keep them quiet."
The last batch, he remembered them well. There were only four of them, Steve, John, Harry and James. Those were the ones whose faces he got to see; his companions. Every one of them blond-haired and blue-eyed, young and happy and ready to be better.
Ubermenshen.
"Some got mangled or crippled," he repeated. It should be told more. "Some got sick, and the doctors didn't tell them. And there were other programs out there AFTER, too. Not even to make a better human to fight your wars; just to... see what happens. When you hurt a body. When you don't treat a disease."
The earlier batches, those weren't made out of white men.
"One... was called a Tuskegee Experiment. There were 400 men in that one. They were sick with syphilis, but nobody told them, and they just got false diagnosis and fake treatments. Doctors watched them slowly die for 40 years. It started when we were alive, do you know? Ended when we were long dead. We still do that. America still does that."
His voice was thick with tears now. "Remember the Smithson family, Bucky? Their boys were just our age. Why didn't we befriend them, Buck? Why did we take part in this?"
The Smithsons were different, of course. Separate. But equal.
He closed his eyes, renembering the faces of the little Smithson boys, who were darker and worse, and the face of an unnamed man hiding from America in a cave, who was pale and the same, and it didn't even matter in the end. His tears fell.
"I want to go back, Buck," he whispered. "I want to leave."