BRAINWASHED ─ marvel

II. Captain America

Chapter Two:
Bucky

This is either the best idea I've ever had or the worst.

I'm inside the Smithsonian museum, following the signs that direct me and a crowd of several other people towards the Captain America exhibit, all the while trying to shield my identity from those around me. The hat I found vacated on a table outside a Starbucks, as well as my other stolen clothes, help in disguising me, but I grow more paranoid every time someone's wondering gaze lands on me. It's hard to blend in when you're tall and broad like I am, or when you have a metal arm, which is mostly hidden by my shirt, except for my hand. I have it placed firmly in my pocket, and I make a mental note to myself to buy gloves. I also stick out because my demeanor is all wrong. Everyone around me is pleasant and filled with wonder as they look around at the many exhibits, while I walk stiffly with a scowl on my face. I need to loosen up, I need to relax.

This is a horrible idea...but I'm already here so might as well go through with it.

It feels like an eternity has passed, but I finally make it to the Captain America exhibit. It's not what I expected. Honestly I don't know what I expected, but I know I didn't think it would be so...big. This exhibit seems never ending, like it could be a museum all by itself. Looks like if I want answers this is the perfect place to find them, there must be an abundance of information about Rogers. And there just might be some about me as well.

Only one way to find out.

The first thing that sticks out to me in this exhibit is the giant mural painted on the northern most wall. In the center of this mural is Steve Rogers, his expression stoic and heroic as ever, and by his sides are the faces of several equally stoic looking men.

My face is one of them.

The face looks a little younger, has shorter hair, no facial hair, but there's no question that it's my face. In fact, my face is everywhere. I see it flash in videos playing on monitors, in pictures attached to boards and plaques, and in a couple more murals throughout the exhibit.

I really did know him.

I didn't doubt that before...but seeing it for myself makes the truth of it feel more real.

I spend hours walking around the exhibit, reading about Rogers, learning about his past. He was born in 1918 to Sarah and Joseph Rogers. They both died before he went off to fight in WWII. He had enlisted for the military several times but was denied every time, that is until a scientist from the SSR recruited him. After a successful experiment with the super soldier serum, he went on to become Captain America, the legendary hero who fought against the Nazi's and HYDRA for a few years before sacrificing his life to save innocent lives from dying.

And I was at his side through all of it.

According to one of the museum plaques, were 'inseparable on both school yard and battlefield'. We met as children, were friends throughout school, we both enlisted in the army together, though I was the only one excepted. He apparently saved my life after I was captured by HYDRA in 1942 and I fought by his side until 1944 when I 'fell to my death in an Austrian ravine during a mission to capture HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola'.

There is an entire section of this exhibit dedicated to my death, my 'heroic sacrifice for my country'. It details the mission, the object of our mission, Arnim Zola, and the aftermath of my 'death'. A funeral was held for me when the war was won, in attendance was my 'fellow Howling Commandos', several high ranking American government officials, including President Truman, and my family.