Reed POV, Ikeq Island, Earth 616150, next day
"Are you ready for a little history class, Captain?" I teased him with a smirk. He looked at me, curious, eyes wide.
"Sure, hit me with all you got, Doc," he said, smirking back. I'm kind of jealous of his teeth—they're so white, most likely because of the Super-Soldier Serum.
"So, after you became Icecube-Captain America..." I teased him again.
"But not by choice!" He looked a bit embarrassed and annoyed.
"Not by choice," I corrected myself. "The US government decided to find someone to be the new Captain America, so the morale of the soldiers would stay up."
"Re...ally?" He looked disappointed, maybe because he felt they didn't appreciate his sacrifice. I should cheer him up a bit.
"Yeah, but don't worry, they were heartbroken after they heard of your supposed death," I said to comfort him.
"Who was the second Captain America?" I could hear a bit of curiosity and anticipation in his voice.
"The first was called William Nasland. He finished what you started. He fought in Nuremberg and Würzburg, and even stood at the table during the Potsdam Conference. He nearly came to blows with the Red Guardian there because of his communist beliefs. At that conference, they split Germany and all of Europe into East and West. The East went to communism and the West to democracy." I felt like I was narrating a History documentary. You could see in Captain America's eyes that he was intrigued by William.
"What happened to him after the war?" asked Captain America, intrigued to know more about William.
"He died, he got burned to death by a fire robot," I answered nonchalantly.
He looked at me like I'd just told a terrible joke.
"Seriously, he got killed by a robot whose body was made of fire. His creator, Phineas Horton, named it the Human Torch. They fought because Mr. Horton got his project rejected and wanted to show theUS-Army that his creation was stronger than Captain America. I'd say he's a goofball."
Captain America looked at me, confused.
"There are now robots that could spit fire?! The world has changed too much." I may have broken Captain America's mind with all this information. But meh, he'll get his mind broken again when Galactus arrives.
"Then they chose another one to be Captain America."
"They're changing Captain America faster than Howard Stark changes girlfriends."
We both laughed. I didn't know Captain America had it in him to joke around.
"The other Captain America is called Jeffrey Mace. He lives here in New York, in Queens, and he's a grandparent now. He lives happily." I saw Cap look a bit sad after he heard that.
"I wish Peggy and I were like that," I heard him murmur. Don't worry, Cap. I'll make your love life work!
"He didn't do much compared to the others before him. He fought street-level thugs, battled the Red Guardian, and was part of the All-Winners Squad," I explained briefly. There was no need for him to know that he fought a time traveler, someone impersonating Red Skull, or even aliens.
"So now you know how Germany lost the war and that there were other Captain Americas. But I didn't tell you how Japan lost." He looked at me again with curious eyes, so I continued. "We bombed and destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs." I looked at Cap, and he looked confused, most likely because he didn't know the term, so I continued. "Captain, you may not know what an atomic bomb is, so I'll try to explain it simply so you don't get confused." He looked grateful. "So, the atomic bomb is a man-made bomb that uses nuclear fission to create a strong explosion that can destroy cities." Now Captain looked at me in horror.
"How... many people did... die?" he asked, stammering, shocked by what I said.
"Two hundred thousand to two hundred fifty thousand," I stated. He looked completely devastated and saddened to hear this.
"Don't be too sad. Now we have anime and manga because of Japan," I tried to cheer him up a bit.
"What are anime and manga?" I smiled at him, but not the good kind, the creepy kind. Subarashii, Captain. You will become a weeb.
"Let Sensei Richards explain it to you: those are like the Detective Comics of your time, but better drawn. And anime are just the animated films of those comics. Then, when we arrive in New York, you'll fall in love with them. We'll immediately watch Dragon Ball!" I saw I had Captain America's attention now. I hope he becomes a weeb—it would be pretty awesome.
"So now that you know about World War II, I'll tell you a bit about the Cold War," I told Steve, and he immediately began to ask:
"Who fought in that one?"
"Here's the thing—on paper, nobody declared war against each other. But they used proxy wars to fight. One of the most brutal and well-known proxy wars was Vietnam, where the US Army faced defeat because of internal instability and guerrilla warfare. But there were many more, like the Korean War, the Greek Civil War, and many others. The US backed anyone who wasn't a communist regime. We even allied ourselves with fascist Spain."
Captain America looked lost in thought.
"So you're telling me we threw our values of freedom and democracy away in order to defeat communism? We even allied ourselves with fascists?" He looked disappointed and angry—likely because of his hatred for Nazis and totalitarian regimes. "The presidents are lucky I was in cryo-sleep, or else I would've slapped every last one of them," he began to rant. "I get that communism is as bad as fascism, but it just feels wrong—to wake up and learn that the enemy you fought became a friend later on. I could have helped the weak gain their freedom from any of those regimes. I wish I just didn't become Icecube-Captain America..." he sighed.
I should tell him that there aren't many dictatorships left or he might become too depressed.
"Don't worry, Captain. You've done much for this world. Maybe without you, Hydra would've taken over. And about two years ago, the Soviet Union fell, so there aren't many dictatorships left in this world. You shouldn't hate yourself for things you can't control. You should be proud of what you've achieved. You are Captain America—the Hero of Heroes. The personification of Freedom, Democracy, and Justice. You are the greatest person who ever lived. So stand proud!"
Oh One Above All, it's so embarrassing that I just gave Captain America a motivational speech. But I hope it worked. I saw Captain America giving me a smile.
"I thank you, kid," he said softly, smiling. "It helps a lot talking to you. And I didn't know you were that passionate."
Now I was even more embarrassed. Luckily I'm not in an anime world, or my whole face would be red like a tomato.
"Ye-ah… I hope it helped, or else believe me—I'm gonna go behind your back and give Peggy the Super-Soldier Serum so she can beat your ass." He first chuckled, then laughed fully.
Once the laughter subsided, I continued: "So not only were there political changes, but also cultural and technological advances. For example, the Jim Crow era ended in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act that ended the segregation of Black people. There were also many new laws for the emancipation of women. As a result, women are by law equal to men."
I saw Captain America genuinely happy to hear this.
"That's perfect. I always wondered how to fight the blatant racism against Black people. It was stupid—other countries didn't even have to do those things that America did. Or how American soldiers, just because they were Black, got disrespected! I'm truly happy to hear this." His depressed phase immediately vanished. "And it's great for the women. In my days they got the right to vote—that they got other laws protecting them is great!"
"Technologically, Howard Stark changed many…" I began to talk about the technological changes only to be cut off by a scream from Ben.
"REED!"
I shouted back, "WHAT?"
"COME TO THE LIVING ROOM!"
"I'M COMING!"
Captain America and I made our way to the living room. We heard the television at high volume. Ben and Jake were sitting on the sofa, both concentrating on the screen, looking scared. I looked at the TV and what I saw and heard made me speechless.
"IF YOU JUST SWITCHED TO THIS CHANNEL, I REPEAT AGAIN! I, EMILY CARTER, AM LIVE FILMING *THWUP-THWUP-THWUP-THWUP* FROM FORT BENNING WHERE SELF-PROCLAIMED *THWUP-THWUP-THWUP-THWUP* HOMO SUPERIOR—A MUTANT—CALLED MAGNETO IS ATTACKING!"
On the screen, I saw a reporter in a helicopter. Those helicopter noises were annoying, but behind her there was destruction, some buildings were ripped in half, some tanks overturned.
I also saw Magneto flying with a blue and purple armor. His purple cape fluttered, because of the wind, he is truly aura farming.
"THE US ARMY SEEMS OVERWHELMED! THEY ARE SHOOTING WITH *THWUP-THWUP-THWUP-THWUP*EVERY AMMUNITION THEY HAVE, BUT THEY JUST STAY STILL—NOTHING CAN TOUCH THE MIGHTY MAGNETO! *THWUP-THWUP-THWUP-THWUP* AS IF HE CAN CONTROL METAL! TRULY TERRIFYING!" the reporter said, trembling with fear.
BOOMBOOM
They started to shoot from tanks, but their ammunition also stayed floating in front of Magneto. It's kind of scary what he's capable of. He could kill them all with just a thought.
"IT'S USELESS, HUMANS!" Magneto taunted the soldiers, now truly shaken by his power—some even trembling in fear. "I'M A HOMO SUPERIOR! YOU CAN'T DEFEAT ME! YOUR WEAPONS ARE USELESS AGAINST ME!"Damn, Magneto truly has an aura. He turned all the ammunition back toward the soldiers. On live feed, you could see how much control he had over his powers. He didn't outright kill them—the bullets only hit arms or legs, non-lethal areas. The tank ammunition was shot into the ground, away from people. Luckily for them, Magneto didn't come to kill—just to scare.
"NOW TREMBLE BEFORE MAGNETO," he ordered with such authority.
"THIS IS THE LAST TIME A HOMO SUPERIOR IS HURT BY HUMANS! I WILL NOW STAND AGAINST EVERY ONE OF YOU! I'M THEIR PROTECTOR! LET MY NAME—MAGNETO—HAUNT YOU ALL TO HELL!" He looked directly at the camera—and the live feed cut out.
'Scary,' I thought, shivering at how terrifying Magneto truly could be.
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Author's Note:I hope you liked the interaction between Cap and Reed. I also introduced Magneto into this world, I hope you enjoyed that too.You may ask why I chose Fort Benning, it's the only military base I know aside from Area 51, and Fort Benning is perfectly near a city, so there shouldn't be any problem for a reporter to arrive early and film Magneto's shenanigans. And that is also why Magneto chose it.I also hope you liked this chapter.
But now to a serious topic: I'll be on hiatus until maybe the end of August because of exams and vacation. So there will be no chapters until then. But don't worry, I will not drop this fanfic. I hate it when other authors do that.
Would you guys like me to do an auxiliary chapter where I write backstories of characters and what kind of changes there are between this universe and Universe 616? It will only be posted after my hiatus.