Steve Rogers went back to the past to reconnect with his true love, Peggy Carter. That's what everyone in 2023 thought. The truth is he went back to right a wrong, several of them in fact. He went back to save his friend, James Buchanan "Bucky" B...
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That was it, the last stone had been returned, Mjolnir returned to its proper time and Steve Rogers was ready to make his final and permanent stop in 1945, just after VJ Day. By his calculations that would be before Peggy met her husband, the man she supposedly married, although she never took his name. Then he stopped before pressing the control and thought for a moment, wondering if he had always returned to that year. It was after Bucky fell, after HYDRA took him back into their clutches, and he would be well into his indoctrination and torture.
"Shit," he muttered, realizing something. "What was that saying? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
It hit him that he had likely been playing a rigged game. If he kept going back after Bucky's fall, he was, at best, always going to be playing catchup. Even with all the information he had about SHIELD, HYDRA, and Bucky, he was getting into the game too late to make a difference. Perhaps, he hadn't been thinking big enough. Maybe there was someone he had to save first, before he could think of saving Bucky. The more he thought about it the more he realized the truth of it. He would have to go back to before June 22, 1943, the date he received his serum. A feeling of certainty filled him, and he knew this was the right decision. Resetting the control for June 14, 1943, New York City, he pressed it and felt his body transport between the two locations.
In a blink he was suddenly in New York, fortunately in a spot where he wouldn't be seen mysteriously appearing, plus it was evening. Good thing he wore normal clothes under the suit, although they were normal for 2023, not 80 years earlier. Still, they were plain enough that he should be able to get from here to the Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village unhindered. Dr. Strange had told him that there would be a package for him there, with time appropriate clothing, new identification, and money. Everything after that was up to him as the sorcerers apparently wouldn't help much in any other way. Peeling his uniform off he rolled it up and carried it under his arm then began to run in the direction of Bleecker Street. When he arrived at the Sanctum he stood on the steps, looking up at the building, thinking that it hadn't changed much since the last time he spoke to Dr. Strange in 2023. Just as he raised his hand to ring the bell the door opened, and a sorcerer looked at him.
"Come with me," he said and waited for Steve to enter the building. "You're early but the Ancient One said that might happen. She wishes to speak with you before you leave."
"You know who I am?" asked Steve.
"Yes, you're the one who returns," said the man, as if it was obvious.
Steve followed him into a reception room and sat on a chair. He had never been in this part of the Sanctum before and had noticed that the parts he came through were different from the future. Just as it seemed he waited all night he was aware of a presence, and he turned around then stood up at the sight of the Ancient One.
"Hello Steven," she said in her slightly accented voice. "We weren't expecting you for two more years."
"I was ready to make the trip, but I thought of something that Dr. Strange said, about all the times I failed. It made me wonder if I've been playing a rigged game."
