Thematically, this one starts serious but kind of veers a little into comedy/drama along the way.

The "courtroom" language in this chapter is just my idea of an alien approximation of same - please don't haul me over the coals if it's nowhere near the real thing.

Pairings: None - just friendship and possibly a bit of bromance down the line.

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just enjoying writing for fun.

Chapter One

"Steven Rogers, you have been summoned before the Governing Council of Khronos arraigned on the charge of deliberately abusing Time for your own personal gain in direct contravention of Rule 4, Subsection B2 governing use of time travel on under-developed planets and worlds not currently signatories to the Galactic Treaty."

Steve stood, bewildered, in what closely resembled a blurry courtroom, flanked by shadowy and ill-defined figures and wondering how in hell he had got there.

The voice droned on:

"Since this investigation concerns a member of a primitive race we will not ask Steven Rogers, henceforth known as the Defendant, to enter a plea at this time. This is a preliminary hearing to determine the immediate course of action to be undertaken while the precise facts of the matter are ascertained."

Steve tried to speak but found he was unable to. The mist cleared a little around the large body directly in front of him and he was directly addressed:

"The Defendant is hereby advised that his presence is purely for his own information during the initial proceedings. A member of the Council will be assigned to advise him in his defence and to make representation to the Court. Council for the Prosecution, do you have anything to say at this time?"

"Thank you Your Honour." One of the taller shadowy outlines moved to the foreground of Steve's vision. "We intend to show that the Accused has abused Earth's Timeline in order to impose himself on two battlefields some 67 years apart, an unnatural gap for a species amongst which the average life expectancy for a male is only 75 Earth years. The Defendant has achieved an age, according to his date of birth, of 94 years, and yet represents a physical age of only 26. May it please the Court, we petition such an anomaly can only have been achieved through means designed to impugn the very fibre of the purity of Time which we strive to uphold and demand that, despite the lack of previous offences among Humans, this matter and offence is dealt with in the severest terms possible for such an infraction."

"Quite, quite…" the Judge (Steve applied the term cautiously) seemed more than a little bored by the bluster, or possibly the case itself. "Council for the Defence….has one been appointed?"

"Er…me, Your Honour," the figure closest to Steve stepped forward. He (well it sounded male) was a little smaller than the others and, this close, Steve could see he was vaguely humanoid although his head, arms and legs appeared oddly elongated and he had an opaque, silvery skin which seemed a little…well….stretched over an angular bone structure. Steve shuddered as his only protection from this bizarre court seemed nervous and ill-prepared for his task.

"Er…" the character hadn't even looked in Steve's direction but he continued anyway, "I've only just been assigned to the case Your Honour and, as such, am not fully familiar with all the facts but…" he glanced round then appeared to gather himself a bit more fully "I would like it recorded that the Council for the Prosecution's remarks appear to be attempting to pre-judge the case against my client when the precise circumstances of the alleged offence are far from clear and, as such, I would like to request they be struck from the record."

Steve could have sworn he heard a loud "tut" from the Judge. He clung feverishly to the belief this was all a really weird dream and decided he'd rather not think about what part of his brain had come up with the whole idea if it was.

Fortunately, his Defence Council appeared to be getting warmed up now and was starting to sound like he might have some clue what he was doing as he continued.

"I would like to remind my colleagues that this is merely a preliminary hearing to decide on the initial course of action while ALL facts pertaining to the alleged incident are fully investigated and I would like to request a recess so that I can discuss matters with my client and gain a more complete understanding of his case."

"Agreed in principle," the Judge all but sighed. "However, since it is the Defendant's time in the Earth 21st Century that is under scrutiny, we cannot return him to continue polluting what may be an erroneous timeline, nor is it possible for us to detain him here whilst investigations are ongoing."

"The Prosecution suggests that we remove the Defendant from the time period under contention: A little over three Earth months. It is unlikely that he has affected anything greatly during that time and he can easily be re-integrated should my colleague be successful in his Defence." The last few words were laced with what Steve could only describe as derision.

"May it please Your Honour, I would move that we should first extrapolate the most likely alternate timeline to occur should my client's presence in the Earth 21st Century be deleted. As I have already stated, the case is far from clear and it would be wrong to be seen to react in an unfairly harsh manner simply because we are dealing with a primitive culture." Steve's Defence Council seemed quite pleased with that last bit.

"Oh well, if we must…" Steve was most definitely getting the impression that the Judge really just wanted to get this all over with as quickly as possible. "Run the calculations."

There was some mumbling and grumbling from a dark mass that Steve had previously assumed to be some kind of wall in the murky fog of his surroundings but, now called into action, appeared to be a group of beings who were manipulating strands of the fog into coherent structures. They worked feverishly for a few minutes before one of them advised the Judge that they were ready.

"Show us." The command was given.

One area of the mist resolved itself into an image of the newly rebuilt Stark Tower. New York around the tower was its usual busy, vibrant self; the skies were clear and blue and the streets teemed with people and cars.

"We have based our calculations on the geographical location where the Defendant spends the highest proportion of his time during the period under scrutiny. This is how it appears in the existing timeline." The voice emanated from the mass of beings. A second area of mist started to form another image. "Initial indications are that this alternate timeline is a 97% probability should the Defendant be deleted from the contested time period."

There was an audible gasp from the courtroom participants. Stark Tower stood…barely: A mangled ruin among a devastated cityscape; the skies in the distance were red from flames and, more closely, plumes of smoke rose from those few buildings not completely destroyed already; not a soul stirred on the wreckage strewn streets. At the top of what remained of the tower, a light gleamed – the Tesseract – and, the only sign of movement, above it the portal was blown wide open with Chitauri flying in and out unchecked.

Steve stared at the scene, an overwhelming feeling of dread filling him at the sight: The Earth had fallen.

The Council for the Defence broke the shocked silence that had descended on the courtroom as he spoke slowly and cautiously.

"May I urge that the court considers its next action with care. This is clearly a more complicated case than previously anticipated. We are here to ascertain whether whatever influence the Defendant may have had on events was obtained through illegal means, if it was then obviously we should take steps to ensure that the future is restored to what it should have been but we should not be overly keen to inflict such a future on a race of primitives whilst it is still possible that no illegal act has taken place."

"What do you suggest Council?"

"We are aware that humans are not sophisticated and, as such, are more than likely to simply dismiss any minor anomalies they may observe. Therefore I believe a continuance of the low-level existence suppression we put in place when the Defendant was summoned should be sufficient at this time with no need to change the timeline itself. The Defendant can be restrained within his normal place of residence and I can visit him there to keep him updated and develop the case for the Defence."

"Given the extreme nature of the change to the Earth's timeline should we do otherwise, I concur that seems a reasonable course of action in the circumstances. Any objection from the Prosecution?"

The previously arrogant and combative Council for the Prosecution appeared to have been genuinely shocked by the level of influence one human had had in such a short time, either that or he realised going against the Judge's proclamation wouldn't win him any favours in the long run.

"I believe Your Honour that my colleague's suggestion is appropriate given the situation, at least until the case against the Defendant is proven. I therefore agree with the proposed course of action for the time being."

The Judge addressed Steve again.

"The Defendant is hereby advised that he is to be returned to his normal place of abode where he will remain, subject to suitable restrictions to be advised. Memory and knowledge of his existence and participation in events during the contested period will be suppressed as will corporeal form and all physical interaction with his surroundings until this matter is resolved and judgement on the alleged offence has been passed. All communication between this court and the Defendant will be made via the Council for the Defence. Court adjourned."

Steve found himself standing in the middle of his room back in Stark Tower…his completely empty room in Stark Tower. No furniture, no pictures…no shield….no evidence this room had ever been his.

"Jarvis?" he called hopefully. No answer.

Moving over to the door, he reached for the handle and watched as his hand passed straight through it.

"I'm a ghost?"

"Not exactly." The voice came from behind him, turning he recognised the strange-looking alien who'd acted as his Defence Council earlier.

"Can you please tell me what's going on," Steve implored him, "who are you all anyway?"

"I realise this must all be rather overwhelming," the individual's tone was not unkind. "I can't stay here long. I have a lot to do and I must admit I'm finding some of the circumstances surrounding this case more than a little disconcerting…"

"Disconcerting? In what way?"

"Let's just say the way in which this hearing has come about is…er…unusual. I just wanted to make sure you understand your situation for the moment and to get your side of the story."

"My story? Well I didn't time-travel or anything like that. I crashed a plane into ice in 1945 and was frozen, they found me and thawed me out a little over 3 months ago."

"Really…and is surviving such an event usual for a human?"

"Er…no. I was injected with a serum that enhanced me physically and made me a kind of super-soldier in 1942. The scientists think it was the serum allowed me to survive."

"…and is there anyway this was a planned effect of the serum?"

"Not that I'm aware of. As I said its purpose was to make me stronger and faster to fight, not to survive being frozen."

"Good…good. So you maintain your presence in the 21st Century is accidental and there was no deliberate attempt to defraud or alter Time. We may need some more information on this serum since this seems to be the crux of the matter but I need to investigate further what information the Prosecution have. My colleague seemed particularly well-informed in comparison to myself."

"He did," Steve agreed thinking back to the other Council's strident statement. "Is that what you mean by 'unusual'?"

"In part, yes," Steve took small comfort from the fact his representative did, at least, seem to have some interest in helping him. "As guardians of the universal timelines we are habitually in what you would probably call a form of hibernation. Usually, when there is an infraction against Time we are all woken by the resonance of the timelines reshaping themselves but, on this occasion we were woken by one of our own number – the Prosecutor. This can only have happened if a direct complaint was issued from one of the Treaty members – I need to know who and what the specific nature of their complaint was."

"Someone made a complaint?"

"That's what I need to go and find out."

"What about me?"

"All you can do is wait for the moment. You will be limited to the residential floors of this building. You have no physical presence here and no-one is aware of your existence. We have arranged it so you will not sink through the floors as that would be very disorienting…"

**Steve almost laughed out loud at his accusers being concerned about that being disorienting when they were perfectly happy to discuss deleting him from existence as if it was an everyday thing**

"….but you can pass through all the internal walls to move around as you wish. Obviously not the external walls though. As a non-existent being you will not need sustenance of any kind so I suggest you just occupy yourself as best you can and I'll be back when I have more information on your case."

"Is that it? Is that all I can do?"

"Give some thought to any more information you might be able to give me on that serum, we're going to need to prove that your survival was completely unintentional beyond all doubt if we're to stand any chance."

"Thanks for your help," Steve said with sad sincerity as his Council turned to leave. "Do you have a name? What can I call you?"

"Call me Yustis, Steven Rogers." He seemed genuinely surprised and a little bit pleased by the question.

"Call me Steve and thanks again Yustis." He received what might have been an attempt at a smile as Yustis faded from sight and Steve was left alone.

Steve realised he was shaking. He wondered as to how it was he was accepting this situation so well before it occurred to him he was just numbed by the fact there simply wasn't any evidence to refute what was happening to him. Walking over to the door again, he marched straight at it and felt a pall of cold comprehension set in as he passed through it and found himself in the corridor.

It was clearly the early hours of the morning and the tower was silent. Steve often roamed the building at this time, unable to sleep and adrift in the alien landscape of the time in which he'd woken. Had he not seen the image of the alternate timeline, the one where he hadn't woken, he may have even considered his entire time in the 21st Century being deleted something of a merciful release; he'd never felt he belonged; he felt isolated and detached from those around him by knowledge and experience; he often felt the team he'd been pushed to lead at the least didn't actually need him and, at worst, probably resented him; he wasn't even sure that being erased from everyone's memories would make a great deal of difference to him if the truth were told, they largely ignored him most of the time anyway...

….Except….something he'd done since he'd woken up had prevented the horror he had witnessed. He didn't know what it was but something he'd done had made a difference. Yes, there was a 3% chance that wasn't how things would have turned out without him but Steve didn't like those odds much.

Now, whatever happened, and however much he was struggling to live in this new century and move on from what he'd lost, that alternate timeline could not be allowed to come about: He had to win his case!