Love Field Airport, Dallas, Texas, 11:45 AM November 22nd, 1963
"Welcome to Dallas, Captain. You ever had a chance to visit before?"
Steve shook his head as he followed President Kennedy down the steps from Air Force One, towards the waiting motorcade on the tarmac, Jackie Kennedy walking between them. "Afraid not sir, I didn't have the time to stop here before I decided to cut my sabbatical short. To be honest, I only ever got as far as Detroit before I returned to New York"
"What, you didn't even make it through the Midwestern states? Oh no Captain, that just won't do. After this campaign trail, I'll have to take you out to my lakehouse in Cape Cod, let you unwind a bit, Massachusetts is gorgeous this time of year."
"That's really not necessary, Mr President-"
"Now now, I insist, after all your hard work it's the least I can do. Both me and Jackie would love to have you over. And I've told you before, call me John."
"John, don't badger the poor Captain" Jackie said, wrapping her arm around her husbands "And let's get through today before we start making vacation plans, hmm?"
"You're right, dear, of course. Business before fun after all. Well Captain, you ready to follow us into the breach?" Kennedy said with a smile as they walked across the tarmac.
Steve nodded, subtly checking the straps for his shield as he watched the Presidential couple step into the limousine waiting for them. "Always, Mr. President..."
.....
"This is Joe Long, reporting for KLIF 1190 Fort Worth And Dallas Radio, live from Love Field. President Kennedy has just entered his vehicle alongside the First Lady and his security team, Captain America alongside them, Governor John Conally is already waiting for them inside. The motorcade is preparing to depart, so those of you who are hoping to greet the President for his visit to our fair city better get a hurry on! The President is expected to arrive at the Trade Mart for his speech at around 12:30 PM..."
.....
Texas School Book Depository, Dallas, Texas, 12:27 PM, 1963
Part of me wish I had gotten this wrong. That I had misremembered some detail so I'd be in the wrong building or atleast the wrong floor, just something that would mean this responsibility wasn't on me.
But I wasn't wrong. And the harried-looking man squatting by the window and clutching a rifle is proof enough.
Lee Harvey Oswald is kneeling by the window, his arm wrapped around a rifle with a telescope sight on top, as he tries to get a good look to the street outside without making himself visible. From outside, I can hear the crowd lining the route the President is supposed to take murmuring in excitemen, the noise drowning out pretty much everything inside the building, which is the reason for why I could even get inside the room without Oswald noticing me.
My powers might let me be invisible, but I can't really do anything about my footsteps.
Getting inside the depository wasn't a problem, the majority of the staff having left to watch the procession, leaving a skeleton crew of workers milling around the building, and of course, the man I'm currently watching. I'd never thought of it before, but turns out the reason why Oswald is even in here is because he actually works in the building, if the curt conversation he had with the receptionist downstairs is any indication.
There's a roar outside, followed by the sound of several cars moving down the street, and Oswald moves closer to the window. A quick glance towards the clock on the wall confirms it. 12:30 PM. This is it.
The same apprehension I've felt for the past several days wells up again, the fear of what kind of changes I'm about to set in motion if I go ahead with my plan. I know I've already changed the future a great deal just by being here, but this is it, this is the big one. There's no going back if I do this. Am I going to make a better future for the world, or am I going to create something much worse? I could just wash my hands of the whole thing, just leave right now and let things unfold as they may. Cap is down there in the motorcade after all, if I don't do anything, I'm sure he could still save Kennedy. I don't have to shoulder any more than I already have.
In the end, there's really no choice at all.
Oswald gasps in surprise as an invisible force yanks the rifle out of his hand before he can try to aim it out the window, and his eyes widen when I release the focus on my powers, and I become visible once again. With a burst of energy, I fuse the firing mechanism of the rifle solid, making sure it will never fire again.
"Lee Harvey Oswald, I might not have the offical legal authority to arrest you for what you just tried to pull, but under the circumstances, I think they'll probably cut me some slack. I'm sure the Dallas Police Department will have a lot of questions for you, so let's go!"
That's when I hear the screams coming from the crowd outside, followed by a loud, grinding sound, like stone being torn apart. And I rush to the window just in time to see the street erupt beneath the motorcade, overturning several of the cars and sending them flying into the onlookers. And a familiar mass of sand flows through the cracks in the asphalt.
No. No no no no no.
I'm vaguely aware of Oswald trying to scrabble towards the door as I watch the chaos unfold beneath me, and before I speed out through the window, I lock a pair of light bonds around his torso and legs, making sure he stays in place before I burst towards the wrecks.
.....
Houston Street, Dallas, Texas, 12:33 PM, 1963
"Jackie?! For gods sake Captain, is Jackie okay?!"
Steve unfurled himself from around his two charges, having pulled both of them down with him when the road had suddenly begun to lurch underneath them, just in time for the entire limousine to suddenly flip over, sending the vehicle crashing into the ground. Steve ignored the throb in his arm where he had slammed against the asphalt while trying to shield both the President and his wife from harm.
"It's okay! It's okay John, I'm fine! Captain Rogers got me too!" Jackie said as she looked over Steve's arm, her hair disleveled and her hat gone, but otherwise unharmed. President Kennedy grasped her hand tightly, his suit jacket in shreds, but no injuries that Steve could see.
"Oh thank God. Captain, you-you saved us!" Kennedy sighed in relief "Are you alright? That was a hell of a crash. What the hell just happened?"
"I'm fine, sir. Nothing I won't survive. And I don't know what that was, it almost felt like an earthquake..."
"An earthquake? In Texas? Is that even possible?"
"Nevermind that, what about everyone else?" Jackie said, looking around the overturned car, before gasping in horror. "Oh-oh god!"
Steve looked over to her, and saw what had caught her attention. A man's body lay crushed where the limousine's side had landed on him when the car slammed into the ground, a pool of blood leaking out from under the remains of his upper body.
"W-who?"
"That's... that's Connally" The President said with a horrified voice "I recognize his clothes. He must've gotten thrown out of his seat in the crash..."
"We can't do anything for him now, sir." Steve said as he tried to shift himself loose "We have to get the two of you out of here, before anything else happens!"
Before he could move any further, there was a sudden grinding noise, and a blast of daylight almost blinded him as the car was hoisted up and thrown aside with a crash. Steve tried to shield his eyes from the glare, immediatly moving himself to cover the presidential couple with his body. Two figures stood above him, slowly coming into focus as the light faded. A large man in a striped shirt Steve didn't recognize, and... and...
Steve's eyes widened in shock.
"You!"
Baron Zemo smirked coldly as he stared down at his old nemesis. "Mein Kapitän, it truly has been a long time, hasn't it? Not the surroundings I would normally have chosen for our reunion, but it does serve it's purpose..." He glanced towards the President with a scornful look "Herr President, you and your wife are merely unfortunate victims of circumstance. I'd offer my apologies, but it would be a lie."
"Zemo, I don't know how you're here, but-"
"The slow path, Kapitän! I did not have the luxury of a cold sleep to keep me young and virile after the war, what kept me alive was the thought of you consigned to a watery grave! And you stole that comfort from me! So I will steal EVERYTHING from you!"
.....
Houston Street is an absolute trainwreck. Most of the crowd seems to have wisely fled, but I still see a few unmoving bodies littering the sidewalks, and the remains of the motorcade... I can barely tell what happened here, and I watched it happen! Some of the cars are overturned, some of them are crushed... the cars in the back and most of the motorbikes the police were riding on look like they've MELTED somehow!
I push it all to the back of my mind. Right now, the only important thing is the two figures I see huddled behind the familiar form of Captain America, looking disleveled and shaken, but thankfully alive. These two have to be taken to safety before I even think about anything else.
Good thing I've been practicing what I'm about to do next.
Kennedy and the woman next to him jump backwards as I suddenly flash into view in front of them.
"What the-"
I don't bother introducing myself, instead grabbing the two around their waists and in another burst of light, all three of us disappear. I catch a glimpse of surprise on Steve's masked face just before we vanish, and then we're gone, leaving Dallas behind.
.....
White House Lawn, Washington D.C, 12:36 PM, 1963
The next thing I'm aware of is dropping the presidential couple a little rougher than I had hoped on the lawn in front of the White House, stumbling a bit as I land.
"Ugh! Damnit, sorry! I wasn't expecting to have to do this today, Mr. President!"
President Kennedy helps his wife back to his feet, looking around in a daze "What in the... we're back in Washington?! What the hell just happened?! Who did..." He turns back towards me, blinking in recognition "You!"
"Sorry, I can't stick around and explain, I left the Captain with a bit of a mess back there! It was an honour meeting you, sir!"
I focus again and dart back towards Dallas, leaving Kennedy standing on the lawn just as security rushes out to meet them.622