CHAPTER 244: SUBTLE CHANGE

"Where are you from?" Reid asked softly.

The old man beside him calmly took off his flat cap, revealing an aged but unmistakable face.

It was the older Steve, or more accurately, the Steve who had traveled back from the future and spent a lifetime with Peggy Carter.

In the MCU, after the final battle against Thanos, Steve had returned the Space Stone to the timeline right after World War II. But instead of coming back, he chose to stay in the past, replacing his younger self who was still frozen in the Arctic, marrying Peggy and living out a quiet life with her.

However, Reid knew that was the future of the movie universe. In this world where he lived, things were different. His presence alone guaranteed that something like the Endgame would never happen.

He had started preparing back in 1991. With the vast power of the DC universe behind him, if he couldn’t deal with someone like Thanos, then he might as well kill himself now and restart everything.

"I can’t tell you that."

Unlike the usual time-travel stories, this older Steve refused to answer that question.

"So... it was my decision?"

Steve smiled slightly at that. "You know yourself well, Reid."

Not telling the past version about the future was a choice made by Reid himself. And the present-day one could already guess the reason why.

There was simply no need. Having knowledge ahead of time could give his past self a huge advantage, but doing so wouldn’t bring any real benefit to his future self.

Instead, he would have to bear the risk of that information altering the future in ways he couldn’t control. After his past self learned about what was coming, his future self would be forced to make increasingly complex calculations just to predict how the past version might act.

Because once time travel became real, they were no longer two separate timelines without any ties. As long as the past version changed even slightly, the future one would inevitably be dragged into analyzing all the new possibilities and threats that could come from that shift.

So, the future Reid gave Steve only a single instruction before he traveled back: don’t tell the past me anything.

Reid didn’t mind. He understood the logic perfectly.

Even if he could go back to 1991 right now, he wouldn’t tell his younger self just how far he would rise. Even though it was still him, the past and the future were already two separate worlds.

Letting the issue go, Reid continued, "So it seems... the future you don’t see me as that much of an enemy?"

It was something he had always expected, that Steve would eventually take a stand against LexCorp. He had even planned for it. The moment the man stepped out of the spotlight, Reid intended to tear down the image of Captain America in the minds of the American people and replace him with heroes of his own design.

But judging by what he was seeing now, this Steve from the future didn’t seem all that hostile toward him.

That remark brought back memories for the older Steve.

In his own timeline, that had indeed been the case. After finally choosing to oppose LexCorp, he was utterly defeated by their schemes. His reputation was ruined, and his place as a symbol was taken by newer heroes. All he could do was become part of a resistance, fighting the company from the shadows.

But it was all meaningless. The heroes who followed him were gradually defeated or swayed by LexCorp. The number of people standing with him kept shrinking. In the end, only Bucky remained at his side, the one person he had insisted on protecting despite Tony’s objections.

What truly broke their spirits, though, was the public’s condemnation.

LexCorp hadn’t fallen into corruption as Steve had feared. On the contrary, under their leadership, the world had entered a period of rapid development. His actions slowly began to look less like revolution and more like terrorism.

He and Bucky had no choice but to roam the world like fugitives. When the Thanos crisis came, they had no place left and could only return to the battlefield as volunteer soldiers.

"The me you know today doesn’t understand you," Steve said quietly. "Just like you’ll never fully trust the man I was. He fears your power... afraid that it will one day be used to oppress the people. But what he doesn’t realize is that the public never had enough value for you to bother oppressing them."

That’s right. What changed Steve’s view of Reid wasn’t any sense of moral nobility; he didn’t have any of that.

It was his overwhelming power.

A man who controlled the world’s authority, possessed most of its wealth, wielded tremendous might, and was effectively immortal—what reason would someone like that have to harm the ordinary people who could only live peacefully under his shadow?

The Steve of today still saw LexCorp, saw Lex Luthor and Reid, as dangerous men with grand ambitions, and he based all his concerns on that assumption.

But Steve from the future knew: Why would a god-like being, one who wasn’t even cruel, senselessly destroy a world of his own creation?

"Looks like the future you really figured a lot out. That must be a world where I’ve stopped hiding entirely," Reid said with a laugh.

The fact that Steve had reached such a realization meant only one thing: in the future, he had truly taken control of everything on Earth and fulfilled his goals.

"But this time... things are going to change." The older Steve also let out a chuckle.

The misconceptions his younger self had about Reid didn’t just destroy him, but hurt others too. That was what he wanted to fix, and it was the sole thing Reid in the future allowed him to change.

"He’ll reach out to Tony. The two of them will investigate Bucky together. That’ll be enough."

Reid narrowed his eyes and quickly grasped the shift in direction.

If the Steve of the present still insisted on protecting Bucky at all costs, it would inevitably lead to a complete fallout with Tony. And because of his involvement, there would be no hope for peace between them.

But if Steve chose to respect Tony’s perspective, then, under the man’s influence, he would slowly begin to lean toward LexCorp.

Now that he found out everything about the future, Reid stood up. There was no longer any reason for him to stay.

"Go on and enjoy the life you dreamed of. But... you’ll always be with Carter, won’t you?"

Steve understood what that meant. Future him knew exactly when Peggy would pass.

"Yes," he muttered. "Even if it’s hell... this time, I’m never leaving her side again."

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