Giving Your Assassin an Existential Crisis: A How-To Guide
Summary:
Time, space, and reality. It’s more than a linear path. It’s a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know.
What if the Winter Soldier remembered Howard Stark?
Giving Your Assassin an Existential Crisis: A How-To Guide
The Soldier was patient but alert as he waited for his target. The headlights on his bike were off, despite the dark surrounding him. A car came around the bend—his target. He gave chase, and shot at the car using a handgun, causing it to veer off the road and crash into a nearby tree. He spotted a CCTV camera and shot it out immediately. There was to be no record of this.
The Soldier momentarily ignored the injured driver and passenger as he moved towards the trunk, yanking it open with his metal arm. After retrieving and securing the package, he turned his attention to the witnesses. The woman in the passenger’s seat was unconscious, but the driver had managed to crawl away from the car wreck. As the Soldier approached the man pleaded with him, begging him for help.
Ignoring the man’s pleas, the Soldier grabbed him with the metal arm, prepared to bash the man’s head in. Before he was able to do so, however, the man gasped in shock, recognizing him.
“Sergent Barnes?”
The Soldier paused. There was a memory, something at the edge of his brain. He took a moment to look at his victim, Howard Stark. The man’s face was familiar, though older than he had subconsciously suspected. He glared at the man, wondering why he had not killed him yet, had not completed the mission.
“Bucky, what happened to you?” Howard asked, wondering if he was hallucinating this all.
“Who the hell is Bucky?” The Soldier growled, tightening his grip.
“You are, or, I thought…” The Soldier tossed Howard to the ground again.
“I am the Asset, and you are my mission,” the Soldier’s voice sounded foreign even to his own ears.
“Only five people knew we were taking this route, who sent you? Who are you working for?” Howard asked, his thoughts clearing.
“My handlers give me missions, I comply. You should be dead.”
“And yet you haven’t killed me, why?” Howard asked.
The Soldier scowled. “Do you want me to kill you?”
“I didn’t say that. But you know I’m a man of science, don’t you James?”
“If I fail my handlers will send someone again. You will be hunted until you die.”
“So I should just give in, then?” Howard struggled to his feet.
“I did not say that. But you should disappear. Trust no one. Someone told my handlers you would be on this road.”
Before he could change his mind, the Soldier turned away from Howard and strode back to the motorcycle, making sure that the package was secure before he drove into the night.
Howard watched him go, and only once he was out of sight did he rush to Maria’s side of the car, wrenching the door open. He held a shaking hand to her neck, where her pulse was thankfully strong. There was a small cut on her forehead but it did not look particularly serious. He stroked her face, and her eyelids fluttered open.
“Howard? What happened?” She asked in a bleary whisper.
“I’m not quite sure yet. I need to call Peggy, do you still have the prototype I gave you? The phone?”
“Of course. But why Peggy?” Maria asked in confusion.
“Someone tried to have us killed tonight Maria, someone who knew we would be where we are. Everyone who knew we were taking this route had my complete trust, but of them Peggy is the only one who has both nothing to gain from my death and the ability to hide the fact that the assassination attempt failed.” Howard replied seriously.
Maria swallowed nervously before digging the phone out of her purse. Howard dialed the number he knew by heart.
“Director Carter speaking.”
“Peggy, this is Harry. We’ve been compromised. Are you alone?”
“If you would please excuse me, I need to take this.” Howard heard shuffling as Peggy made her excuses. “I am now, what’s the situation Harry?”
“Howard and Maria Stark need to be dead by dawn, code Winter,” he replied curtly.
Peggy let out a slow breath. “I see. And the serum?”
“Gone. I’m sending you my coordinates for extraction.”
“Well that’s unfortunate.”
“To say the least. How will this affect our timeline?”
“Things will be tight, but we’ll be able to make do.” Peggy sighed. “Only you would manage to narrowly escape an assassination attempt two days before had planned to fake your own death.”
Notes:
Listen, I’ve been up for too long on too little sleep and hastily drafted this on my lunch break during a 10 hour day and perfected it in the uber home after too many drinks and too few shrimp at a work event I’m surprised how well this came out tbh.
This is the first fic in what is ultimately gonna be a larger series that contains a lot of canon divergence including a Black Widow AU where Alexei and Melina defect and continue to raise Natasha and Yelena in the US + Bucky defecting and falling in love with Circus!Clint.
Anyway, I gotta go take my meds and hopefully sleep well enough to wake up for work at 5am, I hope y’all enjoyed this!