Project Pegasus was a key S.H.I.E.L.D. initiative in the nineties.
Its purpose was to study the Tesseract.
The project's greatest success: the creation of Captain Marvel.
Of course, although she's an Earthling, Captain Marvel clearly prefers gallivanting across the cosmos.
With her nowhere to be found on Earth, Pegasus was deemed a failure, and the Tesseract was locked away.
That is, until a few months ago, when Fury saw Dr. Erik Selvig's brilliance—his work in energy and spatial theory outstripped most S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists—and the itch returned.
Just as Fang Yuan had warned, Earth's threats were escalating; an outright planetary invasion had already happened.
The media spun the Frost Giant incident as mythological, but to Fury it was a full-scale alien incursion—no doubt about it.
He needed stronger planetary defenses. The Avengers were good, yet in his view, not enough.
Ever-cautious spymaster Nick Fury wanted power he could fully control; the Avengers answered to too many voices. He pinned his hopes on the Tesseract.
He'd seen Captain Marvel's might and knew the cube held untapped potential.
So he pulled strings, exhumed the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. storage, and allocated every resource required.
If they could unlock limitless energy, Earth could face whatever came next.
"Let him run with it—give him whatever he needs."
A Level-6 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent gave the order to the Director's own superior.
A good thing; it deserved backing.
Though for Fury it might not be—his plan was doomed from the start.
Inside the cube lay the Space Stone; Earth's present tech was centuries too early to tame it.
Hadn't Fang Yuan himself left it untouched?
Not from lack of interest.
On the contrary, Fang Yuan coveted the Infinity Stones—big-time.
As S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shadow emperor, he could have claimed the Tesseract any day.
But his ambitions ran larger.
One gem? Hardly. He meant to collect the whole set.
He might be the only being in the Universe who knew every stone's current address.
Time, Space, and Reality were all on Earth; Power waited on Morag, Soul on Vormir—low-hanging fruit.
Only the Mind Stone posed a snag: it sat with Thanos.
The Mind Stone Scepter in Loki's hand was Thanos's gift, meant to let Loki probe Earth's defenses.
Thanos knew the Planet stood under the Ancient One and Asgard's protection.
If Loki lost the scepter, no matter—Asgard never kept two stones under one roof; the Mind Stone would stay on Earth regardless.
Thanos would invade eventually; he could wait.
That was the Titan's confidence: in the end, victory would be his.
Yet during the original Battle of New York, the Ancient One stayed home, Asgard only sent Thor, and Earth's defenses proved tougher than expected; with the stones' locations murky, Thanos chose the long game.
Fang Yuan played the same angle.
Thanos dangled the Mind Stone Scepter as bait; Fang Yuan dangled the Tesseract to hook the Mind Stone.
Both were crafty old foxes, but the plot-armored Fang Yuan held the elder hand.
Word from Loki had already arrived: he'd secured the scepter and quietly nudged Professor Isaac.
Under that nudge, Isaac shifted the Tesseract research toward opening a gate to "the unknown."
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scientists saw nothing odd; they believed the portal would reveal an endless energy source.
In truth, it was a doorway to bring Loki back.
According to Loki, he'd easily sold Thanos on the tale of a deposed Asgardian prince seeking redemption.
Thanos bit, handed him a scepter, and ordered a probe of Earth.
The Chitauri horde was massing to accompany him.
Loki hid nothing from Fang Yuan; after seeing the Ancient One's might, he doubted the Chitauri could win—even Thanos's odds felt shaky.
Thanos himself would have trouble.
Fang Yuan had no intention of stopping the invasion; his Avengers—and Marvel's star employee, the Ancient One—were hungry for fame.
"Since New York's big fight is almost here, time to wake an old friend," Fang Yuan murmured, stroking his chin.
Two weeks later.
Siberia.
"What exactly are we looking for?"
A black-haired man asked; while the others wore heavy coats, his thin jacket looked flimsy against the snow.
Most striking was his left arm—gleaming chrome cybernetics.
"Your one true love," Fang Yuan replied casually.
Bucky's face darkened.
"Sixty-plus years, and you're still insufferable," the Winter Soldier sighed.
Howard popped up, scanner in hand, sweeping it over Bucky.
"Thirty-five-point-eight Celsius, vitals normal." Howard patted the Winter Soldier's solid chest. "When it comes to the Super-Soldier Serum, HYDRA actually outdid S.H.I.E.L.D."
Bucky shook his head. "But S.H.I.E.L.D.'s methods are a lot more humane than HYDRA's."
"Right—sending you to kill your old friend; HYDRA really is full of bastards." Howard heartily agreed.
In the normal timeline, Howard and his wife had been assassinated by the Winter Soldier, and at the moment of the hit Howard had recognized Bucky.
So when Fang Yuan mentioned in the Avengers that there was an abandoned HYDRA Base in Siberia that might once have run super-soldier experiments, Howard immediately thought of Bucky and volunteered for the mission.
And in that Siberian Base they did indeed find Sergeant Barnes, who had been missing for decades.
Because every mission had ended with a memory wipe—and the last time the Winter Soldier had been activated was twenty years ago to kill Howard—Bucky knew nothing about HYDRA, and they weren't worried he would sell out the fact that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nor did Howard hold the assassination attempt against the Winter Soldier; after all, back then Bucky had been under the Mental Brand Fang Yuan had provided, and he'd waited until the Ancient One had collected the soul before making his move.
So Howard was genuinely happy—he was seeing a friend from decades ago.
Thanks to his body being young again, Howard's personality was sliding closer to the way he'd been at forty.
"My sweetheart? You'd have to go back to 1945 to find her," Bucky quipped.
1945?
Bucky's words sparked an idea; Howard's brows suddenly knit together.
"Hold on—Fang, you're not looking for Steve, are you?" Howard yelled.
"Steve?"
Alerted, Bucky snapped to attention.
"Seriously?" he asked eagerly.
Fang Yuan smiled. "Of course—the gang of four isn't complete without him."
He gestured at the solid permafrost. "With luck, the cold here froze Steve just like it did you, and we'll just have to build him a giant microwave to thaw him out."
"And if our luck's bad?" Bucky wasn't so optimistic; achieving lab-grade cryo in this wilderness sounded like a fairy tale.
"Luck bad? At worst we'll find Steve's corpse," Fang Yuan shrugged, "and snap a big reunion selfie with his mummy in seventy years!"
"…"
Bucky and Howard's mouths twitched in unison.
Whether being Fang Yuan's friend was Steve's good fortune or doom was anyone's guess.
Bucky quickly changed the subject. "There's snow everywhere—how do we search?"
Fang Yuan pulled out a stack of papers and a lighter.
When Howard saw what the papers were, his eyes bulged. "What are those?"
"Hell Money," Fang Yuan said righteously.
"If Steve's dead, he can use it; if he's alive, the money won't burn and we'll know where he is," Fang Yuan explained confidently. "Trust the Spell!"
"I'm pretty sure that's not the Kamar-Taj school of magic," Howard deadpanned.
"Minor details—ignore them."
Fang Yuan ignited the paper money, cast a Tracking Charm on the flames, and with the Ancient One Template the trick was child's play.
The fire sprang to life and shot across the snow; the trio hurried after. Moments later the blaze hovered above a patch of frozen Earth.
Fang Yuan swept his arm; the fireball expanded, dancing over the ground and melting several meters of ice.
Then a rather flamboyant giant aircraft hull appeared.
"The Valkyrie!"
Howard shouted in delight. Seeing Bucky's confusion, he added, "Steve's inside!"
Without a word Bucky sprinted, smashed the long-frozen hatch open with his metal arm, and dove in.
Fang Yuan had been right—he really did look like a man rushing to meet his sweetheart.
"He's here!"
Moments later Bucky's shout drew them together; all three stared at the frozen Steve.
"Knock-knock-knock!"
Fang Yuan rapped on the ice.
"Rock solid."
"Click!"
He raised a camera and snapped several shots with the Steve-sicle.
"Is he alive?" That was Bucky's only concern.
"Have faith in Fang Yuan!" Fang Yuan waved, then started roasting Steve with magical fire, leaving Bucky and Howard in cold sweats.
Still, the Ancient One's spellcraft was solid; soon Steve's core temperature rose, and minutes later his eyes finally opened.
"Fantastic!"
"He's awake!"
Overjoyed, Bucky and Howard hugged each other, dancing on the spot.
Steve, however, was bewildered; he felt as if he'd simply had a long nap.
"Bucky? You're alive?" he cried in delight.
"Told you—first thing he'd look at would be Bucky," Fang Yuan pouted.
Howard nodded in agreement.
Steve beamed, grateful that both he and his best friend had cheated death.
"Not that I'm ungrateful you came for me," he said, "so—how long was I out? A week?"
"I've got a dance date next Saturday…"
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