Captain America Skins

Steve Rogers was a man out of time. A man out of space. And, perhaps for the first time ever, a man out of his depth.
What he had experienced over these last few weeks had made the epic adventures he’d lived through during World War II seem normal and mundane. Steve stood on a balcony, gazing out over the spaceport of the futuristic city in front of him, wondering why the universe had chosen to bring him back here and now after so many years away. He didn’t know the answer yet, but he knew deep down there had to be a reason. There always was.
“A penny for your thoughts, old man?” a voice said, approaching from behind. Steve turned to see Clint Barton, the archer known as Hawkeye, joining him.
Steve gazed past Clint and caught a glimpse of his old partner, James “Bucky” Barnes, lying deathly still inside of a high-tech medical scanner as scientists and physicians tended to his wounds. It was clear that Bucky was no longer the plucky teen sidekick who had never strayed from Captain America’s side during the war. He had grown into his own man… but far more than that. He was now a skilled assassin with a cybernetic arm and a tortured past, developments Steve had missed while he was frozen inside a chunk of ice for the last century or so. During that time, Bucky had become the Winter Soldier, and Steve wasn’t sure just how much of the boy he once knew still remained. Especially after what Hydra had just done to him…
“Just thinking about how much has changed,” Steve replied.
“I hear ya,” Clint agreed. “Speaking of which… When are you finally gonna tell me why you brought us to this crazy interstellar version of Wakanda? Or, you know, how you’re still alive? Because, as far as I remember, Captain America fell in the line of duty…”
“Now’s as good a time as any, I suppose,” Steve said, realizing that this was the first real downtime he’d had since he’d brought Clint and Bucky into his strange new world. Steve took a deep breath before he began to tell his tale.
He started by regaling Clint with the story of his final mission during the war, when the plane he was on crashed into the Arctic Ocean. As the plane filled with water, he could feel his muscles freezing, his heartbeat slowing, his vision blurring to white. And then… nothing… for what seemed like an eternity. He didn’t know if he was alive or dead until he found himself trapped inside of a glass tube, freshly thawed out of a chunk of ice by a beautiful redhead with the slightest hint of a Russian accent.
“Natasha?!” Clint exclaimed.
Steve could tell by his new friend’s reaction that he had history with this mystery woman. He wanted to ask Clint who she was, how he knew her, why she would have rescued him, and where she could be found now. But those questions would have to wait until after his story was done.
Steve continued, telling how he and Natasha had escaped from the Alchemax lab together, only to be caught in a massive explosion before they could reach safety. Steve protected Natasha from the detonation, but quickly realized that his continued presence would only put a target on her head. So he decided to disappear.
With the help of a tough-as-nails Resistance soldier named Logan, Steve found his way to the embassy of a nation whose king he had befriended during the war. If anyone could provide him a safe haven until he got his bearings, he imagined it would be the isolationist African nation of Wakanda. But when Steve and Logan arrived at the Wakandan Embassy, it looked as though it had been abandoned for years. All that remained were the silent statues of former Black Panthers guarding their nation’s proud legacy.
Examining the statue of Bashenga — the first Black Panther — Steve took note of the inscription on its base: Since the birth of this nation, our people have reached for the stars. At last, we have found them.
Steve didn’t know what that meant, but he would find out when Logan activated the high-tech Kimoyo bead given to them by their Resistance allies. A strange portal opened next to the sculpture of Bashenga, and Steve stepped through. In the blink of an eye, he arrived on the other side of the universe, finding himself in a city so advanced that it seemed like something straight from one of those science-fiction serials the boys at Camp Lehigh loved to watch on their nights off. This was the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. And its monarch was waiting for him.
King T’Challa and his sister Shuri welcomed Steve with open arms, offering him a safe place to stay and full access to their technology. T’Challa shared stories that his father had passed down to him about his trusted ally in star-spangled armor. Shuri even crafted a new shield forged from Vibranium alloy, just like the one Steve had carried during the war. With a few perks of course.
As Steve searched for more answers about this new world — a world where it was no longer 1945, but instead, the year 2099 — what he found was more unsettling than he had originally realized. The future he had awoken in was just one of many — an endless collection of possible timelines that were currently in the process of collapsing on each other due to a phenomenon known as the Timestream Entanglement.
T’Challa and Shuri had already reached out to scientists and heroes from other realities in hopes of finding a way to repair the timelines, but the process was beginning to lead to conflicts between groups with disparate goals and methods. T’Challa knew that the time would eventually come where the heroes would have to confront not only the darkness that loomed on the horizon, but perhaps each other as well. And so he asked Steve a favor: To gather the very best soldiers from across time and space and bring them into their fold. When Steve agreed, there was no doubt whose name would be first on his list.
“And I’m flattered, Cap,” Clint said with his trademark smirk. “Really.”
“It was Bucky I was after,” Steve admitted, missing Clint’s sarcasm, “but I’m not complaining that you happened to come along for the ride. He says you’re one of the good ones.”
Truthfully, Hawkeye couldn’t even dream of being insulted that he wasn’t Cap’s first pick. After all, this clearly wasn’t the same version of Steve Rogers that he’d served alongside on the Avengers for so many years. That Steve had died trying to save the world. The Steve in front of him now didn’t even know that Hawkeye existed until a few days ago, when he jumped through time and space to save Clint and Bucky from certain death in the depths of a crumbling Hydra base before bringing them back to this bizarre future.
“You know who else is one of the good ones?” Hawkeye asked, growing a bit weary of the history lesson. “Nat. If she’s still around in this weird world of yours, we probably ought to track her down. I’m sure Bucky would tell you the same if he wasn’t currently out cold…”
As if on cue, Steve and Clint heard a commotion behind them. They turned to see Bucky, who was now standing next to the med-station that he’d been lying in moments earlier. Wakandan doctors scurried about, not sure how their patient could possibly be on his feet in his condition.
“Steve…” Bucky said, straining to form words as he leaned against the scanner to steady himself. Something was wrong.
“What is it, partner?” Steve asked with concern. Even though this wasn’t technically the Bucky he had known his whole life, Steve could still see as clear as day that his friend was struggling.
“Not feeling so good…” Bucky said. “It’s like… someone is whispering in my brain…”
“Oh, no,” Clint said. “Some sort of Hydra conditioning?”
“No… Not Hydra…” Bucky responded, every word dripping with pain. “It’s something older… Darker…”
Steve and Clint glanced over at a nearby statue of Bast, the panther goddess worshipped by the Wakandan people, and realized that its eyes had begun to radiate a deep red.
“That can’t be good,” Clint mused.
“Not at all,” Steve agreed.
As Bucky writhed in pain, his eyes began to glow the same red as the statue’s. A cluster of organic tentacles started to rapidly grow from the place where his brand new cybernetic arm met his shoulder. They intertwined with the technology of the artificial limb, seeming to integrate into it as they transformed the arm into something new entirely. Bucky let out a scream as the snake-like limbs extended from the end of the arm and flailed about wildly, striking towards Steve and Clint.
“I thought I cut those things off!” Clint yelled as he dodged out of the way.
“It didn’t take,” Steve said, blocking the whipping appendages with his shield to prevent them from striking a Wakandan scientist. “Innocents are in danger here. Let’s take this battle somewhere more open.”
Without another word, Steve and Clint both ran at full speed toward the edge of the balcony and leapt down several floors to the spaceport below. Landing safely, they looked up and saw that the Winter Soldier was in hot pursuit, just as they had hoped.
“We need to get to the palace and alert T’Challa and Shuri,” Steve said. “Clint, think you can you pilot a Wakandan starship?”
“I can pilot anything,” Clint said with a wide grin. He ran over to one of the Wakandan crafts and leapt into the cockpit with the grace and skill of a circus acrobat. With the flick of a few switches, the ship started to rise into the air. But before it could depart toward the Wakandan palace, it was ensnared by the tentacles extending from Bucky’s arm.
Clint hit the thrusters, but the tentacles held the ship in midair. Bucky didn’t even budge, somehow drawing an intense amount of superhuman strength from the dark force possessing him.
Suddenly, Captain America’s shield ricocheted through the spaceport, gaining momentum with each bounce before finally slicing the tentacles in twain and forcing Bucky to release his grip on the ship. As Clint jetted off toward safer skies, Steve heroically leapt up and caught his shield in midair.
“Snap out of it, Bucky,” Steve said as he landed back on the ground, shield at the ready.
“No,” Bucky replied. As he instinctively retracted the wounded tentacles back into his body, they once again seemed to merge with the technology of his cybernetic arm.
Knowing that there was no other option, Steve raced toward Bucky, ready to face the unexpected threat head on. Bucky matched Steve’s sprint and rushed at his former partner, leaping into the air and raising his bionic fist, ready to strike. Steve hoisted his shield, blocking the blow. The impact of Vibranium on Vibranium sent a shockwave through the spaceport that shattered every window in a 100 meter radius.
The clash that followed felt longer than World War II, at least to Steve. The two soldiers knew each other so well that neither could get a hit in that wasn’t instantly blocked and countered. Despite their effort, they were getting nowhere. And while Steve Rogers knew he could do this all day, he wasn’t sure how much longer Bucky could survive the dark forces that had taken control of him.
“Looks like you could use the cavalry, Cap,” Clint yelled out as he landed his spacecraft on the nearby launch pad. As he exited the cockpit, Steve realized that his new friend hadn’t come alone. With him was Princess Shuri, one of Wakanda’s most brilliant scientists and the designer of Bucky’s new cybernetic arm.
“I have good news and bad, Captain,” Shuri said, extending her arm to reveal her bracelet made of high-tech Kimoyo beads. As she touched one of the beads, a hologram of Bucky’s arm appeared in the air. “The cybernetic limb I created for your friend is made from a number of bleeding-edge materials, including Vibranium, nanotech, and Unstable Molecules.”
“Is that the good news or the bad?” Steve asked, unfamiliar with anything other than Vibranium.
“It is both,” Shuri responded. “These technologies are all extremely adaptable, which may be the reason the limb has so easily accepted the unexpected additions to your friend’s physiology.”
“That all sounds like bad news to me,” Steve said.
“Ah, but those technologies also have a memory,” Shuri continued. “They work in unison to sync to the host’s unique internal energy signature. When that energy becomes corrupted, the limb can be used to recalibrate the internal systems of the person wearing it.”
“In other words, we can restore Bucky to factory settings,” Clint added.
“How do we do that?” asked Steve.
“The procedure requires a manual reset,” Shuri responded. “However, the likelihood that Bucky will allow you to get close enough to perform one seems slim.”
“I don’t need to get close,” Clint said. “Just keep him busy, Cap, and I’ll show you why you made me an Avenger.”
Steve called out to Bucky, getting his partner’s full attention. This time, instead of engaging his opponent directly, Steve kept his distance, dodging and weaving along the edge of the spaceport. Bucky frantically lashed out at him, narrowly missing with every strike.
Meanwhile, Shuri attached a Kimoyo bead to the head of one of Hawkeye’s arrows. The bead, programmed with a kill code that would initiate a forced reboot of the arm’s operating systems, would have to hit a one millimeter target located on the back of Bucky’s shoulder. Clint would only have one shot. Luckily, that’s all he ever needed.
Clint nocked his arrow and watched carefully as Bucky swung at Steve, over and over. He waited patiently until his target was in the perfect position. Then he released the arrow, letting it soar toward Bucky’s shoulder — a perfect hit!
The cybernetic arm instantly shut down and the tentacles, which had been flailing madly, dropped limp to Bucky’s side. Bucky staggered for a moment and then fell to his knees. Steve and Clint both raced to their friend’s side.
“Sorry… about that…” Bucky said, regaining his composure. “Don’t know… what came over me…”
“Neither do I,” Shuri said, joining the trio of heroes, “but I think it would be worth running some tests. I already have some ideas as to how we can get your newfound talents under control and repurpose the strange energy flowing through you…”
“Great…” Bucky said. “More experiments…”
“Don’t worry, partner,” Steve said, leading Bucky toward the spacecraft so that he could be transported back to Shuri’s lab. “Whatever this is, you’re not going through it alone. Not ever again.”
“I’m glad to have you back, Steve,” Bucky said, offering a faint smile as his strength started to return.
Steve proudly looked at his new allies, the brave soldiers he had gathered. Even after the chaos that had just occurred, there still wasn’t anyone else he’d rather have by his side to face the unexpected challenges ahead.
“I’m glad to be back,” Steve Rogers said. And for the first time since he had awoken in this strange new world, he truly meant it.

Steve Rogers sat alone in a prison cell deep within the superhuman detention facility known as the Vault. For the first time in ages, he wasn’t armored up. He wasn’t carrying his shield. He wasn’t leading a team of cross-dimensional heroes. But even so, Captain America was still locked in battle. This time, for the soul of a fellow prisoner.

“You still there, Captain?” a voice asked from the cell next to his.

“I’m here,” Steve replied calmly. “I requested this cell, until you’re ready to talk.”

Not long ago, in response to Mayor Fisk's Super Hero Ban, Captain America had voluntarily surrendered to New York City authorities, an unexpected move that took everyone by surprise. For Steve, however, the decision was clear: a joint warning from S.H.I.E.L.D., Tiger Division, and other intelligence agencies worldwide had made him realize that only by cooperating with the government could he mitigate the damage being caused to reality by heroes frequently traveling between timelines. Steve hadn’t come back from the year 2099 to accidentally destroy the past, after all.

But New York Mayor Wilson Fisk had other plans for the legendary hero, locking him away in the Vault with no trial and no contact with the outside world, as if he were nothing more than a common criminal. Unfortunately, the Vault also happened to be full of those. And Captain America — or at least this timeline’s version of him — had put many of them behind these bars.

One inmate in particular, a young man named Parker Robbins, showed his disdain by assaulting Steve in the prison cafeteria. So Parker was more than a little surprised when, later that night, he discovered that the star-spangled Super-Soldier had been transferred into the cell next to his.

“Tell me how you get it,” Parker said.

“What?” Steve asked.

“The power, Cap,” Parker replied. “Tell me how you get the power.”

“I… I’m not sure what you —”

“Powerless,” Parker continued. “That’s how most people see themselves. But it isn’t true. That’s what you said. That’s what you told me. Not... you. But the ‘you’ from this world.”

Steve began to realize that words spoken by his counterpart from this reality — a Captain America who had fallen in battle long ago — must have rung true with Parker at one point in the young man’s life. And maybe, he thought, his own words could do the same now.

“And I was right,” Steve replied.

“But you only want us to have the right kind of power,” Parker snapped back. “The power to vote. To organize. Not the power to fight. Not the power to take. Not the power to destroy the system and build a new one in its place.”

“I don’t think any individual should have that kind of power,” Steve said, disturbed by the growing anger in Parker’s voice.

Parker couldn’t help but laugh at the hero’s response.

“What’s so funny, son?” Steve asked.

“My father once told me that your America isn’t our America,” Parker replied. “He died in prison because the system was stacked against him. And the people with the real power — people like you — didn’t care. That’s what makes your America different. The power ‘no individual should have.’”

Captain America listened intently to the young man’s impassioned speech, trying to understand.

“You have it, Cap,” Parker said. “You superheroes — you could do anything. Take down any corrupt CEO. Overthrow the government. Change the whole system. Give us some of your power. But you don’t. Because the system serves you. So, you make us wait... you make us wait to be saved. But I don’t want to be saved by Captain America’s power and might. I want my own.”

The fire in the young man’s voice instantly seemed familiar to Steve. It reminded him of Bucky, back during the war. Steve had witnessed how passion that strong could be twisted by the wrong influence, leading a good soldier down a dark path. He didn’t want to see that happen to Parker. After a long moment of reflection, Captain America finally spoke again. And what he said were the last words Parker Robbins would have expected.

“You’re right, Parker,” Steve said.

“...what?” Parker replied, genuinely surprised.

“I said you’re right,” Steve continued. “I do have powers that no one individual should wield. I think about that every day. And I could change things by force. I could have released your father from prison. Compelled the state to put your mother in a better eldercare facility.”

“You know about —” a shocked Parker interjected.

“Yeah. Well... being slammed in the face with a cafeteria tray is pretty good motivation to ask a kind-hearted guard for a background check,” Steve explained. “We... those of us with extraordinary powers... we can knock down any man-made wall. Crash through any barrier. I could change things by force. I could create what some people would call a better world. I’ve seen people try that before. And I didn’t like the results.”

Steve stood up, placing his hand against the wall separating his cell from Parker’s.

“Besides, son...” he added, “…there are different kinds of power. Restraint is a power. The power to not lash out, to not force your will upon others. Empathy is a power. Kindness is a power. Resolve is perhaps the greatest power I know. The willingness to stand up for what you believe in. Regardless of the consequences.”

Captain America’s speech was beginning to stir something in Parker Robbins. Something Parker hadn’t felt since he was a boy. Since before everything fell apart.

Hope.

“And if all my other powers fell away...” Steve concluded, “…my strength and my influence and my place in society... I would still have empathy. I would still have kindness. I would still have resolve.”

For a moment, Parker felt as if he had returned to the days of listening to Captain's speeches on campus. But then he remembered the grim reality of where he was, how he got there, and what he lost along the way…

“Yeah, well...” Parker said, “...my Dad had all of those things, too. And he’s still dead. So I’ll take strength. And I’ll take might.”

Captain America took a deep breath, unsure of how to respond to Parker’s words. The boy didn’t need more inspirational speeches. He needed to feel seen. Understood. But before Steve could speak, an explosion unexpectedly rocked the Vault.

“Prison break!” A guard yelled, as alarms began to blare.

As the power grid in the prison failed, Steve felt the inhibitor collar around his neck — the device keeping his super-strength in check — suddenly power down. He tested his cell door to see if the electronic locking mechanism was still online. It wasn’t, so all it took was one strong tug to rip the cell door off its hinges. He stepped out into the smoky corridor, getting a good look at the chaos erupting all around him. He knew he had to try to calm things down before they got completely out of control. Before someone got hurt.

But there was something else Captain America needed to do first. He turned to the door of the cell adjacent to his own and pulled it open. Inside, Parker Robbins looked at the hero in astonishment. Clearly, he had not anticipated this. Steve grabbed the young man gently by the arm and started to lead him down the smoky corridor.

“Come on, Parker!” Steve said.

“You’re escaping?” Parker asked, surprised that an obedient soldier like Captain America could possibly be bending the rules.

“We’re surviving,” Steve replied. “And we’re helping everyone else survive.”

As they turned the corner, they could see a fellow inmate assaulting an unconscious guard. Steve grabbed hold of the prisoner’s makeshift weapon.

“I can’t let you do that,” he said, disapprovingly.

As the prisoner fled, Parker watched in disgust as Captain America helped the defenseless guard.

“Knew you were on our side, Cap…” the relieved guard said. “Glad you turned yourself in.”

The guard's words sent Parker over the edge.

“You came here willingly? You can’t even let him kill a guard?” he snapped. “A guard who would throw you in a dark hole and then laugh about it while he’s kissing his girl? The guy's in Kingpin's pocket!”

Parker shook his head and started to walk away.

“So weak,” Parker muttered. “How did I ever not see just how weak you —”

Before he could finish his sentence, the floor beneath Parker suddenly collapsed, pulling him downward along with a cascade of rubble.

“Parker!” Steve yelled, watching as the young man disappeared, swallowed by the darkness below.

Captain America instinctively leapt down after Parker, locating him half-buried in a pile of concrete.

“Parker!” Steve yelled again. “Parker, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you, Cap,” Parker replied as Steve helped him remove the heavy chunks of debris covering his lower body. Once he was free and on his feet again, the wounded prisoner began to limp away from his heroic companion. “And I’m walking away.”

Captain America wanted to try to talk some sense into his young companion, but it was too late. Parker had already wandered down another hallway leading further into the depths of the prison. And there were others who needed his help just as much. Steve turned his attention to a group of guards and prisoners gathered nearby, helping to guide them safely through a hole in the wall that led outside.

Much to his surprise, when Captain America emerged from the prison, he saw who was behind the escape attempt. His ally, Spider-Man, was inside a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport vehicle, leaning out the passenger side window and waving excitedly.

“Cap! Buddy!” Spider-Man yelled, thrilled to see his friend. “You don’t call, you don’t write, you don’t leave the prison when we punch a couple of holes in the wall for you!”

“You shouldn’t have done this, Spider-Man,” Steve said, clearly frustrated by the webslinger’s reckless actions.

“Well...” Spider-Man said with a shrug. “I did!”

Spider-Man and his fellow heroes quickly ushered Captain America inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. transport so they could make their escape. As they drove away, Steve couldn’t help but look back and think of Parker.

“I’m sorry,” he said under his breath. “I’m sorry I failed you, son.”

But little did Captain America realize that, deep inside the Vault, Parker Robbins had finally found the power that he had been searching for…