welgaia | Catch-All

Catch-All

Catch-all post for a What If...? season 3 episode 3-inspired Alexei, AKA Red Guardian.

In accordance with the episode, Alexei stopped the Winter Soldier from assassinating Howard Stark (and skipped the Ohio mission where he met Melina, Natasha and Yelena), then traveled with him to Las Vegas to find 'the Rook', a supposed Russian spy who could extract them from the country. A great friendship was formed along the way! Also, Bill Foster was punched in the face a few times. The Rook turned out to be Obediah Stane, who had made a deal with the Red Room to have Howard assassinated for his own capitalist gains. Alexei's trust in his employers was heavily shaken, Stane was killed by Bucky, the Red Room tried to take the Winter Soldier back but Alexei managed to escape. Bucky was brainwashed again, while Alexei was enlisted by Foster to join SHIELD and later the Avengers program.

So yes, the Red Guardian is an Avenger now, making him more physically fit and socially adjusted than his canon counterpart. (Hence the icons.) He fought in the battle for New York, he was there when the Winter Soldier showed up again (and helped shake the brainwashing a second time), he helped fight Ultron, and when Civil War rolled around he was firmly on Cap's side to protect Bucky. After Bucky was taken in by Wakanda, Alexei decided to stay there too, in part to keep watch over his bestie and in part to avoid being arrested for that whole... Sokovia Accords nonsense.

(Why Civil War even escalated the way it did in the end when Howard Stark was never killed- and how Tony still became Iron Man- depends on the PSL. It's very customizable and probably won't matter in most scenarios. Same for his relationship with Natasha and Yelena.)

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It's been a while now since Alexei and Bucky have taken refuge in Wakanda. It's a simple life out here. Quiet. Too quiet. Alexei's itching to go back out there, to don his suit and become the Red Guardian once again, but he can't. It's basically illegal now. Even if Stark hadn't turned on them the way he did, Alexei would refuse to go crawling back to him and sign those accords. He's done his time fighting for a controlling government, and he liked to believe America was better than this. Apparently not. If the Red Guardian can't exist freely, he won't exist at all, and the world is lesser for it.

At the very least, the simple Wakandan life seems to be better for Bucky.

No more stressing about brainwashing or being forced to kill. It's all fresh air, herding goats and milking cows. Alexei takes it upon himself to do the more manual chores; the sort that require both hands. Much as Bucky might insist the absence of his prosthetic arm doesn't hamper him, Alexei still won't allow him to go out of his way to prove it. What's the point? He's got two perfectly functional arms and an abundance of restless energy. The last thing he wants now is to grow complacent, fat and lazy. He stays on his toes so that at the very least, in one person's eyes, he can still be somebody.

The cows hate him, though. Khuy, do the cows hate him. He'll leave those to Bucky when he can.

At the moment, he's out back near the woods, chopping some wood. They'll need it to cook dinner later. His shirt's foregone for now. It's a hot day out, as it often is in Wakanda, so even a chore as trivial as this one is having him work up a sweat. The glaring sun overhead is not helping. If he were smart, he'd stick more to the shadows, but... You know. He's not the brightest super soldier in the bunch.

Edited 2024-12-26 19:23 (UTC)

Everything had been. A lot, to put it all mildly. The Accords and the use of his past against the Avengers weighed more heavily on his mind than he would want to admit. Despite the others telling him it wasn't his fault, that something would have been the breaking point even if it wasn't him...it was still him.

But here was safe enough. Wakanda wouldn't admit they were even here, never mind let them be extradited, and while Steve couldn't bring himself to stay still, to give up fighting the good fight around the world, he didn't want that. Bucky had never wanted that, not from the beginning when his card was pulled for WW2, not in anything that had followed. He'd felt a responsibility to do things, sure, but want? Absolutely not ever. And now his responsibility was instead, not to go out and do battles. He...could work with that.

Not that it wasn't nice to have company, regardless. Even if said company was currently boiling himself in the sun to build up a store of firewood that was barely depleted. Again.

"You know we can still get sunburn, right?" was all he said, wandering his way over, carrying the little holder that let him have two glasses in his remaining hand at a time, holding it up to show the two iced teas he'd put together. "I'd have brought you a beer but I haven't been to the market today, so you'll have to make do."

Edited 2024-12-26 19:57 (UTC)

How far along the firewood is at this moment doesn't really factor into Alexei's decisions to chop more. He wants to feel useful and there isn't much else he can do. Sometimes he'll go fishing, sometimes he'll head into Wakanda's capitol city for supplies, sometimes he'll try to mend whatever's broken (and fail)... It never feels like enough. Something deep inside him feels that he failed Bucky all those years ago, when HYDRA took him back. He should've fought harder to stop it. He should've searched harder. Now he's overcompensating, because if there's anyone who deserves the easy life after being put through hell, it's Bucky.

He stands up straight when he notices the man's approach, the axe becoming lodged into the chopping block with one easy swipe of the arm so that he can release it. There's a breathy chuckle, followed by a sheepish grin. "Is fiiine, comrade Bucky. I will live without my beer. The ice is a better gift in this heat, yes?" he says, reaching out to take one of the glasses.

Twenty four years of living in America, most if it under SHIELD's wing, and he still speaks with a thick Russian accent. He can get rid of it if he wants to, he just chooses not to. No matter what, Russia is home.

"I can head to market tomorrow. What do you need?"

Bucky snorted a little, setting down the carrier and taking the other glass. "Maybe I wanted to go to the market, did you consider that?"

It's teasing though, Bucky doesn't particularly care who goes to the market. He does turn a mildly incredulous eye to the pile of chopped wood, taking a long drink from his tea before speaking again.

"Well, if any of the other villagers need to borrow any for their stoves, we'll certainly have some to spare. Probably should see about getting a few more seedlings put down to regrow later."

Then, with a light, barely-there tap of his foot against Alexei's leg, not even a kick, just the easiest way to nudge when his only hand was currently involved in holding a drink. "I've got lunch on. You need a break anyway, you've been running all day. Made those sausages that Sam sent us from Germany."

The one-arm thing takes some navigating sometimes. Making do with what they can. The tap of the foot is one of those improvised gestures that Alexei's becoming more and more familiar with as time goes on. He gets what it means, and it's returned with a pat of the hand on Bucky's shoulder.

"Smart move. Better to eat those fast before big predators find out we have them."

It's a joke for the most part, since they can keep their food in a safe enough crate, but there's still a nugget of truth in there since they don't have a proper door in their little shack. It wouldn't be the first time an animal wanders in, be it a wild one or one of their goats.

His own drink goes down with more of a gulp, which turns out to be a very bad idea. Super soldiers can still get brain freeze. The glass is immediately lowered again as his eyes scrunch up. "Aiyee, that's cold."

Bucky couldn't stop a snort at the reaction, shifting to set his glass down on the ground before reaching out to press the back of his hand to Alexei's forehead where the pain would be. "Warm it up. Tongue to the roof of your mouth. Maybe I need to go a little easier on your ice when you've been out here in the hot too much."

There's the faintest smile on his face at the interaction, clearly amused at the nonsense. "I wonder what your life would have been like without having supersoldier abilities because even with them, you just. Manage to do things like this."

Oh no he's being mothered. As soon as the hand touches his forehead, he backs himself out of Bucky's touch, flapping a hand at him as an additional measure. "I know, I know. I know the brain freeze only too well," he protests, and he means that in the most literal way possible. This isn't the first time he's made this mistake, and it won't be his last. The tongue to the roof of his mouth trick is one he knows how to apply.

"Even without super soldier serum, I would still be resourceful, strapping man who fights through the pain," he continues once he's regained himself a little more. If there's a small pout on him... No there isn't. "It's all about spirit, not super muscle."

That got a more genuine chuckle, even as Bucky reached down to pick his own glass back up, setting it in the carrier and straightening back up. "You'd be dangerous if we had a freezer. I'd have to always have hot soup on hand to make sure you could defrost yourself after you took out the whole gallon of ice cream on your own, yelling the whole while that you could handle it."

"I could handle it. Don't forget, winters in Russia are worse than your puny American winters. When I was young, it was minus thirty degrees Celsius for weeks on end. Ice... as far as the eye could see."

Mercifully, he's not going to share that frostbite anecdote again. Instead, to prove his point, he downs the rest of his glass in one go like an absolute buffoon. Brain freeze hits a second time, and he's determined to poker-face his way through it, with mixed results. His eyes twitch and his fingers grip the glass tighter, but that's the extent of it.

Bucky just watched him do it, not even trying to repress the grin at the man's expression. "You know, just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to do it, Alexei. We had a whole team wide fight about it and everything."

Joking about the scenario that got them here was the same as coping with it, right? Close enough, anyway. It was clear enough his own joke didn't quite land even for Bucky, but he seemed to want to make the effort, regardless.

Even Alexei's not stupid enough to miss that grin on Bucky's face. It's nice. It validates him. His own mouth curls into another smile of his own and he sets the empty glass down in the carrier tray, beside Bucky's.

"No no, I did have to do it. Because it made you smile, yes? More proof that the Winter Soldier is gone," he points out. He's proud of his friend's progress, and he's proud of himself for helping it along. Those days when Bucky couldn't remember much more than Coney Island are so far behind them now.

Bucky couldn't quite put away his smile, but he did duck his head and look away, as though trying to hide it anyway.

"We were both there that night. You saw that he's gone," Bucky said, shaking his head a bit to toss loose hair back out of his face. "You don't need to keep proving it."

He was definitely still happy at saying it though, the smile still on his face as he started to lead the walk back towards their hut.

Bucky can look away all he wants, but Alexei knows that smile's still there. He knows. Not a second is wasted with following after Bucky, heading towards the hut with a leisurely trot. "I like to keep proving it. It takes more muscles to scowl than it does to smile, did you know? Easier on your face."

"Because you're so concerned about the quality of my face," Bucky teased right back. "When you're the one who spends thirty minutes with the mirror every morning."

He glanced over to the other man, smile going a bit softer, before turning his gaze back to the ground, scuffing the soil beneath just a bit.

"You heard anything from the outside world lately? Haven't gotten a message from Steve and the others in a couple days, which usually means they're elbow deep in shit again."

For @buckybbarnes

i cannot believe i am doing this

Yes you can

i blame you

:3

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For @heyunderoos

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I went for the dumbest option possible

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