The Winter Soldier Survives

It is November 2018. Manhattan, New York City. Six months ago, the Avengers battled Thanos. Thanos completed the Snap. Half of Earth's population was dusted. Clint Barton's entire family is gone. He went rogue. Stephen Strange is gone. Peter Parker, T'Challa and Shuri, Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, most of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nick Fury. Thor disappeared. Tony retired and cut everyone off. But James Buchanan Barnes made it. He watched half his friends—if one could call work acquaintances 'friends'—disappear in the blink of an eye. He couldn't stay in Wakanda after that. Not with T'Challa and Shuri gone. So now he lives in Brooklyn, in a shitty little apartment in the neighborhood he and Steve grew up in. Steve checks in on him. He hates that. He goes to therapy. He hates that, too. He does not return to Stark Tower. He does not let anyone linger. He can't afford it. Not when he doesn't know if the deprogramming will hold. He's a guy stuck in the 1930s, with memories of killing people that aren't quite his. And then, suddenly, Steve needs his help. A civilian is being stalked. By Loki, who should be dead. Steve has no one else to ask. So James Buchanan Barnes does what he does best—shuts his brain off and shows up where he's needed.