So sorry! I had a super embarrassing moment where I realized I attached the wrong document in the first chapter 'On the Run' - how confusing, so sorry about that! I changed it now!

Part 2

"Good job letting them escape."

Following their encounter with Karli, Bucky was urgent to have Sam meet someone back in the States, which gave Alex a chance to check in with the boss.

"I didn't - friends of yours showed up and the new Captain America and his partner also made an appearance."

"Oooo exciting. I was wondering about him. How'd Karli and her minions like that?"

"No so much."

"Oh, I can imagine. I can just imagine. And they're more acquaintances than friends. The one tried to kill me."

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't his fault."

"Who told you that? His wife? She'll do anything to protect him. And he still tried to kill me, and almost succeeded. But doesn't matter, not now. The main thing is that Karli got away. Are you still in Germany?"

"Ja."

Sharon chuckled at her snark. "We need to find those stolen vials - they could be anywhere."

"How can you be so sure she hasn't already given them to others?"

"Where are they?"

"True. She could still be keeping them out of the spotlight for now."

"She already has a personal little army. My bet is that she'll keep those vials close. Close, but not too close. Nagel's working on more so she might try stealing them again."

"I think it would be stupid of her to set foot back in the Power Broker's domain."

"It would be."

"And I think she knows that. Anyone would know that."

"Still, keep a sharp eye out."

"Copy that."

The line went dead.

Alex sighed and pocketed her phone, rubbing a hand over her face.

What had she gotten herself into?

She had checked herself into a Munich hostel when she heard from Sam again.

"Long time no talk, Angel."

He chuckled. "Are you still in Germany?"

"Yes."

"Any chance you could meet us in Berlin?"

"Of course. Where at?"

"The high-security prison."

"Okay... Do I want to know?"

"Not really..."

That was how, several hours later, she found herself in the German capital. Sam sent her the exact location to meet at.

"You picked a very interesting meeting place - very specific: 'the parking garage beneath the high-security prison.'"

"Trust me it wasn't my idea. Thanks for meeting us."

"Of course."

He and Bucky were joined this time by Bucky's wife, Carina, Alex's doppelganger - or rather the doppelganger of the woman Alex was a clone of (complicated, she knew. Oh, did she know) - who she had also met while Team Cap was on the run those years ago.

"And who's this guy?" she nodded to the unfamiliar man in a prison guard uniform.

"I am-" the man began, but Bucky interrupted.

"He's a means to an end."

"Okay... Hi means to an end."

"He's a criminal who this guy busted out of prison-" Sam gestured to Bucky.

"He did that himself," Bucky corrected.

"-Cause he knows all the secrets of the super soldier serum."

"Trust me, we're not happy about it," Carina told her.

"Helmut Zemo," the man introduced himself. His eyes flicked back and forth between her and Carina. "Curious... Ladies." He gave them a nod in greeting. "And as much as I would love to continue this conversation, I think it would be best to move ourselves along."

On the way, while Zemo gathered what he needed as a 'free' man, Sam filled Alex in on their history with the man.

"And Bucky's certain we need him?"

"Yup. I really hope he knows what he's doing..."

"We all do," added Carina.

"It's good to have you back, Sir," Zemo's butler told him as they settled on the private jet Zemo provided.

"So you've been rich this whole time?" Sam cried.

"I'm a Baron, Sam. My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country. Ah," Zemo sighed contentedly and sat back in his seat with his glass of champagne. "You don't know what it's like to be locked in a cell - oh, that's right, you do."

"Why don't you tell us about where we're going," Sam requested.

"I'm sorry, I was just fascinated by this. I don't know what to call it but this part seems to be important..." Zemo's attention was now on the little notebook he was flipping through. "Who is Nakajima-"

This stuck something with Bucky for he jumped across the aisle, metal hand around Zemo's throat, ripping the notebook out of his hands. "Touch that again and I'll kill you."

Zemo didn't seem all that shaken by Bucky's lashing out. Alex noticed Carina seemed rather tense sitting beside her.

"I'm sorry. I understand that list of names, people you've wronged as the Winter Soldier."

"Don't push it."

"I've seen that book. It was Steve's when he came out of the ice," said Sam. "I told him about Trouble Man, he wrote it in that book. Flip through, you'll see it. Did you hear it? What'd you think?"

"I like '40s music, so..." Bucky shrugged and tucked the notebook safely into his own pocket.

"You didn't like it?!" cried Sam.

"I liked it," Bucky insisted.

"It is a masterpiece, James," Zemo said. "Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience."

"He's out of line, but he's right," said Sam. "It's great. Everybody loves Marvin Gaye."

"I like Marvin Gaye," Bucky told him.

"I told Alex about it - did you listen to it?"

"I did, while you were gone."

"And, did you like it?"

"Yes, I loved it."

"See! You loved it, didn't you Carina?"

"I enjoyed it, yes."

"See? And Steve adored Marvin Gaye."

"You must have really looked up to Steve," Zemo stepped-in, conveniently shifting the topics of conversation. "But I realized something when I met him: the danger with people like him, America's Super Soldiers, is that we put them on pedestals..."

"Watch your step, Zemo," Sam warned.

"They become symbols, icons," Zemo continued. "And then we start to forget about their flaws. From there, cities fly, innocent people die, movements are formed, wars are fought. You remember that right?" He directed this question at Bucky. "As a young soldier sent to Germany to stop a mad icon. Do we want to live in a world full of people like the Red Skull?"

"That was different," cut in Carina. "He put himself up on a pedestal. Same with Hitler."

"True, but people still believed them, and you saw what happened from there. That is why we are going to Madripoor."

"What's up with Madripoor? You guys talk about it like it's Skull Island," said Sam.

"It's an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago. It was a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s," Bucky explained.

"Ooo," said Carina. "Pirates."

"Am I the only one here who hasn't been there?" asked Sam.

"I haven't." Carina raised her hand.

"Oh, good." He turned to Alex. "You too?"

"Let's just say Madripoor is no stranger to Black Widows."

"It's kept its lawless ways. To find what we're looking for, we will have to scale a ladder of lowlifes," said Zemo.

"Well join the party, we already started," Sam responded.

"First stop is a woman named Selby. Mid-level fence I still have a line on. From there, we climb. But to do this, we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we will have to remain in character. James, you must become someone who you claim is gone."

"I don't like where this is going," Carina said. Bucky shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"You need answers, and in order to get them, you will have to get your hands dirty," Zemo told them.

Alex sighed. "That's always the way, isn't it?"

Yes, there's lots of overlap with my Bucky story here, parallel stories!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)