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June 20th, 1943- “You’re clear on the plan?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Peter Parker and Michelle ‘MJ’ Jones snuck down the hallway of the SSR base to an office, then knocked. “Enter!” a man’s voice barked.
Peter went in first, followed by MJ, who closed the door behind them. “Colonel Chester Phillips?” Peter asked politely.
“That’s me, now who are you two and how’d you get into this base?” Col. Phillips asked suspiciously.
“That’s a long story, but what you need to know now is that going through with turning Rogers into a super soldier with Abraham Erskine’s dumb serum is going to be a disaster with long-lasting consequences,” MJ said.
She reached into the messenger bag slung across her chest, and pulled out a file folder, then handed it to Col. Phillips, who lifted an eyebrow, but opened the file. “Rogers’s medical report?” he asked.
“The first one he used- all the others left out a key bit of information,” Peter said grimly. “Namely that he’s a carrier of tuberculosis.”
“HE’S WHAT!?” Col. Phillips shouted, and went back to the medical record. He quickly found the notation stating that Steve Rogers had had household contact to tuberculosis and was almost certainly a carrier. “Why show this to me?” he asked.
“We need you to stop Erskine and Howard Stark from injecting Rogers with the Serum,” MJ said. “Both Peter and I are from a future where that one event eventually caused the destruction of the universe. Rogers was responsible, directly or indirectly, for every catastrophe that led to that.”
“We’ve calculated the odds, and if we can stop Rogers from becoming a super soldier, and let him die in anonymity, most of the catastrophes and heartache we dealt with in our time can be avoided or at least mitigated,” Peter added.
“You’re saying you’re from the future?” Col. Phillips asked, skeptical.
“This is my learner’s permit,” MJ said, digging it out and handing it over.
“2024?” Col. Phillips read out.
“Yes,” MJ replied. “We had reliable information that you’d be the only person who would listen to our story, which is why we came to you.”
“Though honestly, you’d be better off scrapping Project Rebirth,” Peter said. “The serum messes with people’s brains, and you don’t currently have the knowledge or technology to ascertain whether or not a person is completely mentally sound.”
“In other words, what happened to Johann Schmidt wasn’t just a fluke?” Col. Phillips asked.
“The serum will slowly drive the recipient into dangerous behavior- they’ll become more violent, stop caring about others, and lose all empathy, eventually becoming certain that they are always right and using physical violence in lieu of talking things out,” MJ said grimly. “And with the enhanced strength and healing factor, they become one-man armies. The Romanian government in our time sent an entire team of highly-trained armed men to arrest Rogers over something he’d done, and he killed over half of them without any remorse or attempt to talk things out. They didn’t even have the chance to do more than say, “You’re under arrest.” Even if you find someone for the procedure who’s an honest-to-God saint, they’ll eventually develop severe mental issues.”
“Does Erskine know about this?” Col. Phillips asked, looking grim.
“I don’t know, but he was killed the day of the procedure that turned Rogers into a super soldier,” Peter said. “There’s been quite a bit of speculation over why he chose Rogers in particular, and one theory is something you might want to look into- that it was a revenge thing, not just poor judgment.”
“A revenge thing?” Col. Phillips repeated.
“Erskine is a German Jew who likely lost everyone he cared about to the Nazis,” MJ explained. “Rogers is Hitler’s ideal of a perfect human- blonde and blue-eyed. The theory Peter’s talking about is that Erskine wanted revenge on Hitler and thought sending a man who was his ‘Aryan Ideal’ at his forces- with the power to take them down- would be great revenge.”
“It’s also highly likely that Erskine is suffering from what I think you call ‘shell shock’ and isn’t thinking entirely clearly, which would explain why he didn’t notice the ‘carrier of tuberculosis’ thing in Rogers’s records,” Peter added.
“Well, maybe we should have a word with Erskine, Rogers, and Stark,” Col. Phillips said. “I never liked Rogers in the first place, I’ve got no issue throwing him out.”
“Good,” MJ said darkly. “Also, if Stark hits on me, I’m going to slap him.”
Col. Phillips chuckled. “Fair enough,” he said, and led them to the labs.
Peter blinked a bit when he saw Howard Stark, and muttered, “I didn’t realize he was that young.”
“He was fifty-three when Tony was born in 1970,” MJ pointed out quietly, then noticed Howard’s eyes were starting to move from her face to her chest, and glared. “I am TAKEN and my eyes are up here, not down on my chest,” she snapped.
Howard pouted. “Stark, enough,” Col. Phillips said sternly. “These two came to me with some very concerning news.”
“About the procedure?” Howard asked.
“That and Rogers,” Col. Phillips said. “Dr. Erskine, were you aware that Rogers is a carrier of tuberculosis?”
Howard whipped around to look at Erskine, who looked a cross between stunned and mulish. “I am confident that the serum will wipe it out,” he said.
Col. Phillips looked at Peter and MJ, and Peter said, “It didn’t, but luckily for the world as a whole, it never went active. The Serum kept it dormant, but yes, it enhanced the TB as well as everything else. I don’t know if it would have gone active had Rogers not gotten frozen, but frankly I think it’s not worth the risk, even without taking the mental health issues into account.”
“So, Dr. Erskine, were Peter and I right that your choice of Rogers is a revenge kick and not because he’s a good man?” MJ asked mildly. “Because Rogers is about as far from ‘a good man’ as you can get.”
Erskine looked shocked. “How…” he trailed off.
“Rogers is Hitler’s ideal of a perfect human, and you’re a German Jew who lost everything due to him,” MJ said bluntly. “Sending his ideal human at his forces with the abilities the serum would give him would be very satisfying, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes,” Erskine bit out.
“I’m canceling this project,” Col. Phillips said flatly. “Given the information Miss Jones and Mr. Parker gave me, I think this is a terrible idea and I’m shutting it down. Now if you don’t mind, I need to go throw Rogers out. I’m not taking chances with that son of a-” he glanced at MJ, cut himself off, and nodded to the others before stalking out. MJ followed him.
“So… what do we do with the serum?” Howard asked.
“Isolate the healing agent and figure out a way to cure diseases with it?” Peter suggested. “I’m a biochemist myself. The serum did cure all Rogers’s physical health issues, but because the TB is dormant, it didn’t recognize it as a threat.”
“You said physical health issues,” Howard commented.
“It makes mental health issues worse, and creates them in people who didn’t previously have them,” Peter replied. “But if we took out the part of the serum that amplifies traits and just left the healing factor…”
“Then we could potentially cure diseases with it,” Howard said, becoming excited.
“This is MY serum,” Erskine said grouchily.
“So… you don’t want to make the world a better place?” Peter asked, arching an eyebrow.
Erskine sighed. “I suppose if I have to keep living, I might as well do something good,” he conceded grudgingly.
“We should probably dismantle the injection chamber first,” Howard said. “Carter’s sweet on Rogers from the looks of things, and he might be able to convince her to help him go through with stealing from us.”
“I think I can handle that,” Peter said. “Do you have a case where you keep the Serum?”
“Yeah,” Howard said.
Peter rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see if I can invent the biometric lock early,” he said with glee.
Meanwhile, MJ was watching in evil glee as Col. Phillips shouted at Rogers for being such a selfish idiot and endangering the Armed Forces just because he wanted to punch people.
“You should throw him in prison for treason,” MJ commented as Col. Phillips was turning on Peggy Carter.
“Treason?” Carter and Rogers demanded in unison.
“Well, if the Allies get decimated by a tuberculosis epidemic, that could turn the tide of the war in favor of the Axis, which, as I’m sure you’re aware, would be very bad,” MJ said. “And besides, Rogers has several health issues. Even without factoring the TB in, he’d get himself and anyone with him killed in short order. People with asthma are banned from enlisting in the military even in my time period.”
“Isn’t it a mental health disorder?” Col. Phillips asked.
“Um, no, it was discovered to be a chronic lung disease that can be affected by mental health problems but isn’t caused by them,” MJ said. “It’s also not contagious in any way, so at least Rogers can’t infect anyone with that. It’s still incurable though, and people generally need inhalers to deal with it.”
“Well, in any case, Rogers, you’re not getting into the military, and frankly I don’t want a walking contamination field in my base, so I’ll find someone to drive you home,” Col. Phillips said flatly.
Peggy started to speak, and Col. Phillips snapped, “Not you, Agent Carter. I’m not taking chances- I’ve seen the way you look at Rogers.”
“I can help though!” Rogers insisted.
“If you want to help the war effort, go draw posters,” MJ said flatly. “Your only noteworthy skill is drawing- use it. Or go die in a ditch, I really don’t care.” She grabbed Peggy’s arm, and dragged her away from Rogers, saying, “You’re going to show me how to get back to Stark’s lab, and we’re going to have a talk on the way.”
“Fine,” Peggy said reluctantly. “What was that about your time?”
“I’m from the future,” MJ said bluntly. “Specifically, the future where Rogers gets so full of himself and convinced that he’s always right and everyone else is wrong that he destroyed the universe using technology he was explicitly told how to use, and decided that he knew better. Him getting the Serum is the turning point that led the universe to be destroyed. And honestly? He was a horrible person before the Serum. It just made things worse.”
Peggy sighed. “He seemed so sweet,” she said. “And he was actually polite to me.”
“Isn’t that how most men who are interested in a woman start out?” MJ asked pointedly. “They act all sweet and use the ‘aw, shucks’ routine, and then they turn out to be abusive jerks.”
“I guess you’re right,” Peggy said. “Though Howard isn’t like that.”
“He’s a playboy,” MJ said bluntly. “I doubt he’s looking for a long-term relationship or even more than a one-night stand. He’s probably allergic to commitment, given the way he was ogling me until I told him I was taken.”
Peggy snickered a bit. “Allergic to commitment- I’ll have to remember that phrase,” she said.
They reached the lab at that point, and found Howard dismantling the machinery while Peter and Erskine were talking a mile a minute about the Serum. “Peter?” MJ called.
Peter looked over. “Oh, you found Agent Carter?” he asked. “Did you explain things?”
“Of course,” MJ said. “And Col. Phillips is shipping Rogers back to his neighborhood. Hopefully one of his neighbors will end him.”
Col. Phillips came in at that point, and said without preamble, “Well, Rogers is headed to the nearest jail in handcuffs, so hopefully we’ve seen the last of him. Mr. Parker, Miss Jones, what are your plans now?”
Peter looked at MJ, who tilted her head like she was listening. “Oh, fine,” she said finally. Looking back at Col. Phillips, she said, “We have one more time jump to make before going back to our own time period. We may or may not say hi before heading back to our own time period.”
“May or may not?” Howard repeated.
“Depends on whether or not Col. Phillips is in Azzano this October,” Peter said. “We’ll come say hi if he is.” He got up, and held out a hand to Erskine. “Dr. Erskine, it was nice to meet you, and please remember what we talked about,” he said.
“I’ll do so, Mr. Parker,” Erskine said, nodding.
Peter shook hands with Howard, Col. Phillips, and Peggy as well, then took the hand MJ held out. She took a necklace out of her shirt- a small bottle with a glowing green stone in it. She whispered something, and both she and Peter vanished from the room.
They reappeared in a HYDRA base, and MJ reached into her messenger bag, pulling out a ray gun that she’d ‘borrowed’ from Peter Quill before they left their own time. “Do you still have the antidote?” Peter whispered.
MJ checked, then nodded and made sure it was secure before closing up the bag. “Remember, our first priority is the soldiers,” she said.
Peter nodded- then lashed out, punching someone behind MJ. They looked, and saw a guy in a HYDRA uniform. MJ searched him, and found a set of keys. Then she divested him of his weapons and slapped him awake. The guy reached for his weapons, and MJ asked as he started to look nervous, “Where are the prisoners?” in German.
“I’ll never-” the guy squeaked when MJ pointed a gun in his face, and said meekly, “Take a right at the next hallway, the cells are down there.”
“Thanks,” MJ said, and without looking away, she said, “Spider, knock him out again.”
Peter obeyed, and looked at her in query. “He said take a right at the next hallway,” MJ said.
Peter nodded, and they quickly headed down that way with the keys MJ had liberated. There were a bunch of guards in between them and the prisoners, and Peter activated a repulsor, then helped MJ take them all down. MJ took out the keys, and started opening cells, calling, “Spider, not seeing Sgt. Barnes, go find him.”
“Got it Queen,” Peter said, and ran off as MJ started organizing the men and handing out weapons.
Peter got to the room he’d heard screaming coming from earlier, and found Bucky strapped to a table. He quickly went over and freed him, then poked him in the shoulder until he got swatted. “Up and at ‘em, we need to get out of here,” Peter said.
He helped Bucky up, and let the clearly dazed man lean on him as they made their way back to the cell block. “...Who are you again?” Bucky asked finally.
“Spider,” Peter said. “Did you get injected with anything in there?”
“Yeah, it felt like fire,” Bucky said.
Peter shot down a HYDRA goon before saying, “Once we get you back to base, my girlfriend has something that can help.”
“My regiment-” Bucky started.
“Queen’s setting them loose and handing out weapons,” Peter assured him.
They heard shooting, and broke into a run, Bucky scooping up a fallen guard’s weapon on the way.
Peter was a little amazed when they made it out alive, with Bucky and about fifty others mostly intact. MJ was looking very pleased, and smirked a bit when one of the men said, “I see why your codename’s Queen.”
“I came up with it,” Peter said. “Hey, is Col. Chester Phillips at the base you guys came from?”
“He’s our CO, why?” Bucky asked.
“We said we’d stop in to say hi if he was,” MJ said, shrugging.
“Wait, didn’t you guys come from the base?” a man MJ vaguely recognized as Gabe Jones from the history books asked.
“No, we were just in the area,” MJ said.
“We’re not a part of any military, either,” Peter added.
“What’s with the codenames then?” Bucky asked, confused.
“It’s a thing,” MJ said cryptically.
“How has that bag of yours survived this long?” one of the men asked in a British accent. “And how do you fight so easily with it bouncing around?”
“Practice,” MJ replied. “And the bag is indestructible. It’s also bigger on the inside, and when it’s closed, nothing can fall out.”
“You have a magic bag?” someone asked in French.
“Yes,” MJ replied in the same language, smirking.
“You speak French?” Jones asked.
“French, Italian, and German, though honestly my German isn’t that great,” MJ said.
“Here’s a question- why were you looking for me specifically?” Bucky asked. “Spider already knew who I was, and was clearly looking for me specifically.”
“Queen’s sentient rock thinks you’re very important to historical events,” Peter said cheerfully.
“Though since we got Rogers arrested, I have no idea why,” MJ said.
“Did you say Rogers? As in Steve Rogers?” Bucky asked sharply.
“Yeah, he tried to enter a government program that was trying to make super soldiers, and we got him arrested because he’s a carrier of tuberculosis, which is why the Army rejected him in the first place,” Peter said. “Hopefully he’s either in jail or dead by now. If he’s not when you get back, though, I’d recommend you stop enabling his frankly despicable behavior, Sgt. Barnes. Just because he’s sickly doesn’t mean you should protect him from all the consequences of his actions.”
Bucky groaned. “I shoulda known that punk would do something stupid if I left him alone,” he said grouchily.
“Why are you even friends with the idiot?” MJ asked. “I mean, he’s a horrible person, and it can’t be very fun dragging him out of fights all the time.”
“At first it was because my ma and his were best friends, and my ma was worried that his behavior would land him and Mrs. Rogers on the streets,” Bucky said. “So I befriended him to keep him under control. Looking back though… you’re right. I enabled him. We all did, because no one wanted to make Mrs. Rogers’s life any worse than it already was. So Stevie wasn’t punished as harshly as the other kids, and due to that… he got a big head, I guess.”
He sighed. “If I get out of this war alive, I’m going to stop,” he said. “He needs a dose of reality.”
“Probably more than one, but that’s good,” Peter said. “I think you’d probably be happier without having to run around babysitting the idiot.”
They reached the base an hour of walking later, and Bucky quickly vouched for both Peter and MJ after confirming his identity with the soldiers on guard duty. “They’re the ones who got us out,” he said.
The three of them were taken to Col. Phillips, who lifted an eyebrow when he saw them. “So this was your next mission?” he asked. “Impressive.”
“Thanks,” MJ said.
“Sgt. Barnes was experimented on, and they used a knock-off of Erskine’s serum on him according to what we know,” Peter said. “We have an antidote to the serum, but we’d prefer to let a doctor inject him, since neither of us are trained to inject people with stuff.”
Bucky blinked a bit. “How’d you know that?” he asked.
“We’re from the future,” MJ said bluntly. “A future where Rogers getting the Super Soldier Serum ended with him destroying the universe because he thought he knew better than anyone else.”
“We were originally only going to stop Rogers from getting the Serum, but MJ’s sentient rock was pretty adamant that we had to rescue you and your regiment as well,” Peter added. “In the original timeline, you were injected with Zola’s knock-off serum, and eventually captured by HYDRA, who tortured and brainwashed you, and then forced you to spend the next 70 years carrying out assassinations. In our time, you were the longest-held POW in recorded history, and the serum you got made you pretty much immortal.”
Bucky looked horrified.
“Why didn’t anyone try to rescue him?” Col. Phillips asked. “I would expect the Army to at least make an effort.”
“He fell off a train in the Alps, and everyone assumed he was dead, because the odds of him surviving a fall from that height were miniscule, and no one actually realized he’d been given the serum,” MJ said. “However, he fell into a river that was deep enough to save his life, and while he lost an arm, HYDRA replaced it with a metal prosthetic. Unfortunately, they were the ones who found him, and made sure to keep his survival a secret even after they succeeded in turning him into a mindless weapon by making him wear a mask.”
Col. Phillips looked grim. “Well, that’s not going to happen here if I have anything to say about it,” he said. “Sgt. Barnes, what would you say to an honorable discharge?”
“ Yes,” Bucky said emphatically. “I never wanted to be a soldier in the first place. Is there a way to reverse the serum?”
“Yes,” Peter said. “MJ’s got it in her bag.”
MJ pulled out a vial filled with pale green liquid, and said, “I need a syringe and preferably someone trained in injections.”
“Let’s go to the medical tent,” Col. Phillips said, getting to his feet.
They headed out, and once they were in the medical tent, Col. Phillips had one of the nurses come over. Peter explained what she needed to do, and MJ handed her the counter serum.
Ten minutes later, the serum had worked its way out of Bucky’s system, and he thanked both Peter and MJ profusely. “It was the least we could do, really,” Peter said. “But we should probably get back.”
“I’ll get the paperwork ready, Sgt. Barnes,” Col. Phillips said, and motioned to MJ and Peter, who followed him out and back to the tent that served as his office. “I take it you’re going back to your time?” he asked.
“Yeah, those were the two major events we needed to change,” MJ said. “Thank you for your help, Col. Phillips.”
“My pleasure,” Col. Phillips said. “I assume that your sentient rock is that green thing around your neck?”
“Yup,” MJ said, pulling out the bottle again. Peter took her hand, and the two of them vanished from 1943.
They reappeared, much to their confusion, in what looked like a throne room. MJ gave the Time Stone a look and asked, “Where are we?”
“Helheim.”
They looked up as a woman who looked an awful lot like Loki glided over to them. “I am Queen Hela,” she said. “I was the one who sent you the Time Stone and the letter explaining what you needed to know. Mistress Death may be forced to remain neutral, but there are loopholes, such as allowing her minions to meddle.”
“So… are we dead then?” Peter asked cautiously.
“No, I merely wanted to explain what’s going to happen now,” Queen Hela replied. “I will be sending you back to Earth, and due to the changes you made, it’s a better- and very different- world.”
“Does Tony still…” Peter trailed off.
“No, he does not die, because without Rogers or the invention of SHIELD, there was no one who did not listen when he told the world that Thanos was coming, and his preparations, along with those of several others, paid off,” Queen Hela said. “You are still his intern, and Morgan Stark still exists as well. Without Rogers overshadowing everything, Tony had a much happier childhood, and a better relationship with his father, who due to your intervention, never became the bitter, angry drunkard he was in the original timeline. However, most of the changes made didn’t affect you personally, Peter. The main changes to your personal timelines affected MJ far more.”
“How so?” MJ asked.
“You and Peter met much earlier, and fell in love much earlier,” Queen Hela said. “Due to that, when Peter became a part of Tony Stark’s life, so did you, and upon discovering that your parents were neglectful, Pepper Potts convinced them to sign over your custody to her and Tony. You now have parents who love you, a little sister, and a rather large extended family, on top of your relationship with Peter and your friendship with Ned Leeds. However, you’ll get the memories back on your own when I send you back. Both of you will be unconscious until the memories of your previous lives are gone and have been replaced with the memories of the timeline you created. I will also explain what happened to your families, so they will not worry too much. You both did amazingly well at the tasks I set out, and I am very proud of both of you.”
“Thanks,” Peter said, MJ echoing him.
“Now, let’s get you two home,” Queen Hela said, and snapped her fingers. Peter and MJ both blacked out.
June 20th, 2024… MJ woke up in Peter’s arms, and briefly felt like she was forgetting something.
“MJ?”
The feeling went away, and MJ blinked at Tony sleepily. “Hi Dad,” she said. “Why are you in my room?”
Tony looked amused. “You’re not in your room, kiddo,” he said. Sobering a bit, he added, “You and Peter have been unconscious for three days. We got a vague explanation from the woman who brought you here, but she said you probably wouldn’t remember anything.”
“Weird,” MJ said, a little freaked out. She poked Peter awake, and Tony repeated the explanation, then called the rest of their family in.
MJ smiled happily as she and Peter were dragged into a group hug. She could worry about things later- right now she was just happy to have her family there.