❤️ @biblicallyaccuratemcu liked for a starter!
Steve had been observing this world for some weeks. After determining that it wouldn't be possible for him to return to his world the way he'd come--and he wasn't positive there was anyone in this world with the power to send him back--he'd been forced to accept he might be here for a while, potentially forever. Forever was a bitter pill, but if he was going to be stuck, he needed to be smart about it. He wasn't the sort of person to make rash decisions, a characteristic he'd never shared with the real Steve Rogers.
It had been a shock to learn this world's Rogers was gone, choosing to return to the past and live out a normal life. Steve had nothing but scorn for that decision. It was based in sentiment, which he loathed, but it was also irresponsible. He'd left this world unprotected. If Steve couldn't return to his own world, where HYDRA ruled with an iron fist, he supposed he would just have to recreate that world here. He couldn't hope to do that entirely from the shadows, so his first move would be stepping back into Steve Rogers' life.
For that, he needed to do research. He was an expert on the Captain Rogers of his world, and he'd impersonated him successfully a number of times, but that was only for the duration of a mission. This might be for years before he managed to restore HYDRA to its former glory. He'd pored over every file and piece of media about Rogers he could find to fill in the discrepancies between this world and his, particularly drawn to the connection between him and Barnes. They'd been childhood friends in his world, but where Rogers led the underground resistance, Sergeant Barnes was a loyal HYDRA agent.
He found it fascinating how differently things had gone for Barnes here, a loyal HYDRA asset but certainly not by choice. He'd only read about the Winter Soldier program at home. There was no need for it there, where HYDRA already ruled. It didn't seem to have done them any favors here, either. More interesting to him was the way so many of Rogers' decisions seemed based on Barnes. He'd become Captain America to save him once, gone against his own team and the governments of over a hundred countries to save him again, literally traveled through time to bring him back from the snap-- only to leave him here alone. It wasn't logical.
If he was going to be Steve Rogers, he'd decided, Bucky was the person he most needed to convince. It was a little like taking the exam before he learned the lesson, no way to practice without potentially giving himself away, but if he could fool Barnes, then the rest of the world would accept it. People were the same in pretty much every universe. They were just looking for someone to tell them what to think, how to behave, where to put their faith.
A baseball cap was pulled low to hide his face as he made his way to Barnes's door and knocked. He could have let himself in, but he preferred to be invited. What this world's HYDRA had failed to understand was that loyalty meant nothing if it had to be forced. It was far more effective if Barnes chose him.
