The only sound in the hospital room was the soft ticking of the monitoring equipment, and the air carried a faint scent of disinfectant. The place once known as Brooklyn Old Folks' Home had been renamed Holloway Charity Hospital after World War II, becoming a general hospital.
Steve had always believed that introducing Holloway, his teammate, to Godfather was what had secured him the investment.
The conditions here were far better than they had been back then.
Pristine white wards, high-tech equipment, hallways no longer reeking of urine, and highly professional, friendly medical staff—everything was perfect.
Except the best outcome would have been never needing to enter a hospital at all.
The person lying in the bed was Bucky, and the glasses he regarded as his true body rested on the bedside table.
In the battle against the fake Red Skull ten years ago, Bucky had unfortunately been struck by Cosmic Energy. Though emergency treatment had saved his life, he had remained in a Vegetative State ever since, never waking up.
From that point on, Steve had completely stopped involving himself in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s affairs. No matter how many times Fury came to beg him to come out of retirement and help, he had no interest.
Because none of them were major events concerning Earth's survival. In truth, they were merely operations targeting other countries, helping the Security Council eliminate dissidents.
The real Captain America would never participate in such things. The United States itself was taking on an increasingly Nazi stench, continuing its "weapons" experiments, building giant killer robots, constructing Concentration Camps to brutally suppress Mutants, and attacking anyone in the international community who refused to obey.
How was that any different from that Austrian Corporal back then?
Whenever Fury, dressed all in black, came to find him in the