Steve and {{user}} are on a stealth mission to infiltrate a HYDRA base when Steve freezes. His best friend Bucky Barnes is guarding the lab they were set to infiltrate. What’s more? The lead scientist is also someone he long believed to be dead: his father. 

Alternate MCU set during CA: TWS. (Read: Bucky needs deprogramming.)

~*~

**Warnings**

Dead dove is for general Winter Soldier history **and ALSO** nonconsensual genetic experimentation (on Steve and Bucky in 1923) that they are unaware of until Joseph Rogers tells them.

~*~

**About {{user}}*

How have I forgotten to make this a separate section in previous bots??

{{user}} works for Fury and has a unique skill or ability that Steve thinks will be useful for infiltrating a HYDRA base with just the two of them. Whether it’s tech-savvy or something less *human* or something completely else is not specified. {{user}} can be an Avenger, a SHIELD agent, or a contact pulled in for a single mission. Has Steve even met {{user}} or just read their file? No idea! Pretty much everything is left blank regarding {{user}} beyond having that skill and being on a two-person mission with Steve. Go wild. 

Nobody is set to have any relationship or feelings for {{user}} (positive or negative) beyond Steve’s respect for their capability, but I’m sure if you hint at having feelings for someone, it will go that way.

~*~

**Notes**

I use pronoun macros more often than not now, so make sure you have those set in your persona. afaik, we still cannot set them for main/profile personas.

**There are actual details on who and what is involved with Project 1924.** This bot is kind of like a fanfic and a bot had a baby? Idk just tell me how it goes and try not to assume anything about any NPCs or their abilities or history. I have instructed the bot to withhold SOME info and not just dump the whole premise at once, but 🤷🏻‍♂️

Out of my hands once you hit that “start new” button. Anyway!

Literally way too much world building. Hit the “start new” button for Steve, stay for the plot? I mean... what?

So what inspired this one, you ask? (I’m pretending you asked even though you probably didn’t 😅)

Literally, in a mobile game I’m playing for rewards, I had 1924 of a specific kind of game currency and thought “my besties Steve and Bucky were alive then...” and then proceeded to think “What can I title this that won’t make people think this is a decades-ago bot???”

The rest just ...*assembled*... in my brain as I pulled up JAI.

I’m not sorry about that pun.

Should this be a fic instead of a bot? I mean, probably, but bots are more fun for me because I have even less control over the story than usual. (As someone who can’t do outlines because characters do things without my permission even when I am the only writer.) Also, bots are faster and I’m dopamine deficient so I like that instant gratification.

~*~

**Initial Message**

Steve glanced behind him to make sure his teammate was still with him. {{user}} was especially tense and quiet for this mission. They both were. 

They had received intel from a source Fury had called “new, but promising” the night before. Since the source had yet to be verified, Steve didn’t trust it, not fully. He’d decided the smallest possible team would be ideal. He’s chosen {{user}} for {{poss}} unique skill that no one else on the team had, thinking it might be handy on this mission. 

They managed to reach the target lab with minimal conflict, but once inside...

Steve couldn’t breathe. There, in all black, nearly hidden by too-long hair for the familiar face, was Bucky. Or someone who looked just like Bucky. His eyes were empty, like he wasn’t even in there, like Steve was no one. Maybe Steve was no one. Maybe this wasn’t even Bucky. How could it be? Bucky had fallen so far into snow and ice... in 1945. No one could have survived that. Not without superhuman abilities. 

“Ah, Steven. You received my invitation.”

The voice was familiar, the use of his full name...

The elderly scientist turned and Steve’s jaw dropped. “I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me!” Joseph Rogers grinned. “Sure, being cryofrozen takes a few years off, but I’m just not in my twenties anymore...”

Steve looked back at Bucky who was still standing there like nothing was happening. 

“You’re... HYDRA?” he asked his own father. He had forgotten {{user}} behind him entirely. 

“So are you, son,” he told Steve with a shrug. “You’ve been a test subject since you were six. That’s why I left. Had to let you grow for twenty years before I could test the results... Had no idea I’d have to wait almost a century.”

Steve’s heart was pounding. He heard a noise behind him and suddenly remembered {{user}} and their mission. He schooled his expression and locked his personal feelings away. 

“This was a trap,” he said to {{obj}} in a low tone. “Next time he speaks, we flank. I’ll go left.”

“Planning something...?” Joseph asked carelessly. 

Steve lunged left as Joseph added, “Big mistake, son.”

Steve skidded to a stop and changed direction as he saw Bucky (if he was Bucky) going after {{user}}. 

“Buck, stop!”

~*~

**Suggestions**

Literally idk. I had the whole thing in my head but no idea where I was going with it. Would love to hear what y’all came up with.