Friday night is the right time for a new chapter!
Thanks to AliceCullen3, tuckerjnp1, winchesters1983 and 19irene96 for the reviews! For those that are new, I'm glad you're enjoying it.
And welcome to tyikamcalacai, xxxANIMExROCKSxxx, Kajakitty, Ncook0012, GraceTheFanGirl06, salvatoresister887 and HaileyHavoc to the adventure!
Enjoy
xo
*EDIT*
Sorry everyone, I saw I missed a breaker between two sections and it actually made me stay up late thinking about it, so I had to fix it this morning lol. If you've already read this chapter, relax, nothing in the story contents has actually changed.
Chapter 43
Couples Therapy
Bucky sat on a cargo crate in the back of the C-130 as it flew over the Atlantic Ocean, deep in thought. Everything that had happened in the last 48 hours, Sam could have probably fixed if he had just kept the shield. He could clear Lex's name, she could come back to the US with them. Walker wouldn't even be a thought on their radar, just some grunt on the ground.
All they needed was the shield back in Sam's hands. Everything would be right.
"You all right?" Sam asked from his position lying on one of the bench seats along the side of the fuselage of the aircraft.
"Let's take the shield, Sam," Bucky answered, not even looking at Sam. He knew what his answer would be anyway. That didn't change his current thoughts. "Let's take the shield and do this ourselves."
Sam sighed in annoyance, folding his arms across his chest. "We can't just run up on the man, beat him up, and take it. Do you remember what happened the last time we stole it?" he demanded in frustration.
Bucky looked down at his hands. He remembered very well what happened the last time they took the shield. "Maybe."
He remembered the cost to Lex, Sam, Wanda, Scott and eventually to Natasha too. He had even questioned Steve on the cost of what they did on their way to Siberia.
"I'll help you in case you forgot." He sat up. Sharon was branded enemy of the state, and Steve and I were on the run for two years," Sam said angrily. "I don't know about you, but I don't wanna live the rest of my life la vida loca. We just got our ass handed to us by Super Soldiers, and we got nothing."
Bucky was quiet for a moment, considering what Sam had just said.
The truth was he, Lex and Steve weren't always the only Super Soldiers getting around the states. There was one other at some stage, and he knew who that one other was.
"Not entirely true." He got up from the crate, walking and sitting next to Sam. He was still quiet for a moment, before swallowing thickly and speaking again. "There is someone that you should meet."
Sam and Bucky walked down the road in a small Baltimore suburb. It was your standard, unassuming Baltimore suburb. As they walked, a couple of kids watched them, one cocking his head sideways to take them in.
"Hey, it's Black Falcon. What's up?" he called, offering his hand to Sam.
Sam raised his eyebrows, accepting the kids hand. "It's just Falcon, kid."
The kid shook his head. "No, no. My daddy told me it's Black Falcon."
Sam glanced sideways at Bucky who raised his eyebrows with an amused look on his face. "Is it because I'm Black and I'm the Falcon?" he asked, looking back to the kid.
"Well, technically," the kid began to stammer. "I mean, yes."
Sam grinned. "So, are you, like, Black kid?"
The kid's friend laughed loudly, pointing at his friend as the kid dropped his head in defeat, before laughing himself. Bucky quietly chuckled too, keeping his hands in his pockets and looking down, like he often did when he didn't want people to see him laughing.
Sam chuckled, motioning to the kid as he looked at his friend. "I got him, right?"
The kid grimaced. "Whatever, man."
"Whatever," Sam teased as he kept walking, following Bucky as he approached a house across the street. It was grey, and as unassuming as the rest of the houses in the street, the only thing making it stand out was the 'No Trespassing' sign on the door. The paint was peeling in places, but all in all, it was a decent house for the neighbourhood. Sam looked at Bucky for confirmation, but he just grimaced, walking up the stairs to the front door.
Bucky banged on the screen door with his fist, looking at Sam as they waited for an answer. A boy, who looked to be about fifteen years old, opened the door and peered through the screen at them critically. "We're here to see Isaiah," Bucky said simply.
The boy's eyes went wide, but the rest of his expression stayed suspicious. "Nobody named Isaiah live here."
Sam frowned, glancing at Bucky. "Look, we just want to talk to him."
"You must not hear what I just said. You ain't getting in this house. Y'all can leave now."
Sam looked to Bucky pointedly, watching as he looked down to the ground for a second and wondering if perhaps Bucky was off the mark on this hunch. He sighed. "Tell him the guy from the bar in Goyang is here," Bucky said looking back up at the boy, Sam noting the tormented expression on his face. "He's gonna know what that means."
The boy looked at Bucky for a moment, considering his words. "All right, wait here." The boy shut the door, his footsteps retreating further into the house.
"Nice kid," Sam commented looking at Bucky as he turned to face him. "How do you know this guy?"
Bucky sighed. "I used to. We had a skirmish during the Korean War."
Sam stared incredulously at Bucky as he turned around to the boy's footsteps returning. He opened the door wide, offering them a tight smile for the first time since they'd arrived. He unlatched the screen door and stepped back, letting them in, before shutting the door and leading them further into the house.
"Today's your lucky day. He said he wanna see for himself."
There was the sound of something being dropped to the floor as Bucky walked into the room first. Sam followed behind Bucky to see an older, black man with greying hair on his face and head. He stared at Bucky in disbelief.
"Isaiah?" Bucky asked slowly, nodding towards the man.
"Look at you," Isaiah breathed, staring at Bucky as he stood straighter. Sam couldn't help but notice that he seemed conflicted in his emotions. If what Bucky had said was true, Bucky was this man's enemy at one point, and Sam knew from dealing with veterans at the VA, that sometimes it was hard to let that go.
Bucky motioned to Sam. "This is, uh, Sam. Sam, this is Isaiah. He was a hero. One of the ones that HYDRA feared the most. Like Steve. We met in '51."
"If by met, you mean I whupped your ass, then, yeah," Isaiah said with the slightest of smirks on his face and Sam swore he heard a hint of pride in his voice. "We heard whispers he was on the peninsula, but everyone they sent after him, never came back. So, the U.S. military dropped me behind the line to go deal with him. I took half that metal arm in that fight in Goyang, but I see he's managed to grow it back. I just wanted to see if he got the arm back. Or if he'd come to kill me."
"I'm not a killer anymore," Bucky replied quietly, looking sadly at Isaiah, an expression of regret passing over his face fleetingly.
Isaiah narrowed his eyes at Bucky, looking angrily at the other Super Soldier. "You think you can wake up one day and decide who you wanna be? It doesn't work like that." He considered Bucky for a moment. "Well, maybe it does for folks like you," he looked Bucky up and down with disdain, and Sam understood the undertone that Isaiah was hinting it.
Bucky was white. If he hadn't been, would that offer have even been there for him, considering how much damage he had done in the world? The lives he had taken. It was definitely something Sam wondered about.
Bucky sighed. "Isaiah, the reason we're here is because there's more of you and me out there."
"You and me?"
"And we need to know how."
Sam watched as Isaiah's expression changed to anger. "I'm not gonna talk about it anymore." He grabbed a tobacco tin that was on the table in front of him, throwing it to the side and to Sam's shock and awe, it embedded into the door frame.
Isaiah walked around the table, moving to stand in front of Bucky. "You know what they did to me for being a hero? They put my ass in jail for 30 years. People running tests, taking my blood, coming into my cell. Even your people weren't done with me," he sneered, getting emotional as he glared at Bucky. Sam narrowed his eyes, unsure if he was talking about HYDRA or SHIELD anymore.
"Isaiah…" Sam started, wanting to calm the scarred man.
"Get out of my house!" he shouted, shocking Sam. Bucky didn't hesitate to turn and begin to leave. The boy began walking them to the door.
"Let's go, man, let's go," he ushered, putting his hand on Sam's shoulder and gently moving him away from Isaiah. Sam couldn't take his eye off the tormented man, completely and utterly haunted by his past at the hands of the people who he trusted, and those he didn't.
Bucky and Sam hurried down the stairs of the house, walking out into the street. Bucky watched Sam as they walked for a moment, sensing the tension coming off Sam in waves. He knew that seeing Isaiah would affect Sam, and he knew he was going to get a berating about it too.
"Sam…" Bucky called after Sam as they reached the road.
"Why didn't you tell me about Isaiah?" Sam exclaimed, looking at him as he continued to stomp down the street, furious about this latest revelation. "How could nobody bring him up?" Bucky was quiet, unable to answer straight away. "I asked you a question, Bucky."
"I know." The truth was, Bucky never said anything firstly because for a long time he wasn't certain about his memories. Secondly, he did it for Isaiah.
"Steve didn't know about him?" Sam demanded. Honestly, it even surprised Bucky that Isaiah wasn't even mentioned once in the information dump Natasha Romanoff had performed back when HYDRA launched their counter offensive from within SHIELD. Obviously, someone within HYDRA and SHIELD knew about Isaiah, from what the former American Super Soldier had said.
"He didn't. I didn't tell him," Bucky replied quietly.
They continued walking down the street. "So, you're telling me that there was a black Super Soldier decades ago and nobody knew about it?" Sam demanded.
It had taken Bucky a few months after Shuri had de-programmed him for him to adjust to what were his true memories, but he recalled the incident with Isaiah. As the former Captain America equivalent had said, Isaiah had taken half his titanium arm in Korea while he was running interference for HYDRA during the Korean War. Bucky didn't know about the rest of the information about Isaiah's treatment by the US, or HYDRA. Although, it was hardly surprising to him.
He heard a car approaching, looking to the intersection ahead of them and noticing the police car. The police officer driving motioned to his partner and activated the siren on the car as they turned into the street. Bucky groaned as the car came to a stop in front of them and the police officers climbed out.
"Hey." Bucky looked sideways at the officers, noting they kept their hands close to the handguns at their hips.
"What's up, man?" Sam said, sounding casual. Bucky was impressed. He couldn't address these officers as casually as he did right now. Their body language was screaming caution at him, and he didn't blame them. If he were them, he would approach the notorious Winter Soldier with his weapon in hand.
"Is there a problem here?" one of the police officers asked, looking at Sam with distrust as he spoke.
"No, we're just talking," Sam answered, sounding exasperated.
"We're fine," Bucky added, trying to defuse the situation.
The officer ignored Bucky, looking to Sam and the pair circled him. "Can I see your ID?"
Sam turned to look at the officer in confusion. "I don't have ID. Why?"
Bucky glared at the officers circling indignantly. "Man, seriously?" Were they seriously more concerned about Sam than him? Surely not.
The officer put his hand onto his weapon at his hip, holding his hand other hand out at Sam. "Okay, sir, just calm down."
Sam frowned and looked at the officer in disbelief. "I am calm. What do you want? We're just talking," he said pointedly, motioning to Bucky.
"Give him your ID so we can leave," Bucky muttered, rolling his eyes at the officers. He noted the second officer was backing off, eyeing Sam curiously, but not as if he was a threat.
"No," Sam retorted incredulously. "I'm not giving him shit, we're just talking."
The police officer doing all the talking looked to Bucky then. "Is he bothering you?" he asked.
Bucky frowned and looked at the officer in disdain. "No, he's not bothering me. Do you know who this is?"
Suddenly, the other officer hurried forward, whispering into his colleague's ear. "Hey, these guys are Avengers."
The officer harassing Sam looked between the two, stopping his gaze on Sam for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Oh, God, I am so sorry, Mr. Wilson." Bucky and Sam looked at the officer with disgusted looks. Bucky stared at the officer in disbelief, shaking his head, the officer chuckled nervously. "I didn't recognize you without the goggles. I'm really, really sorry about this. The…"
There was the sound of another car approaching and a siren activating again.
"Guys," the officer looked behind them as the other police vehicle pulled up. "Just wait here, okay? Just…"The officer held a finger up as he began to move towards the other car. Bucky and Sam glanced at each other, Sam's expression annoyed.
Bucky moved closer to Sam. "I didn't… I didn't tell anybody because he had already been through enough." He knew what it was like, being one of them. Being constantly tested and used, locked away. When he found out where Isaiah was, he kept it to himself.
They turned as the police officer returned to them, with his colleagues in tow. He looked sympathetically at Bucky. "Mr. Barnes, there's a warrant out for your arrest."
Sam shook his head, trying to wave them off of Bucky. "Look, the president pardoned him for all that."
The officer shook his head ruefully. "Not for that. You missed your court-mandated therapy," he began to explain as Bucky sighed. He forgot about his appointment with Doctor Raynor. "It's like missing a check-in with your PO. I'm sorry, Mr. Barnes, you're under arrest." The officer's asked him to turn around and cuffed his wrists together, while Sam stared on in disbelief.
Sam sat in the waiting room of the station. He'd managed to track down the therapist Bucky had been seeing and was just waiting on her to arrive in the hopes it would be enough to let Bucky out. He felt partially to blame for Bucky missing his appointment, since he had let him come to Munich with him, although this was the first he was hearing about it too.
"Sam." He looked up to see a woman in the fifties standing nearby, looking at him expectantly. "I've heard a lot about you. I'm Dr. Raynor. I'm James's therapist."
Sam stood up quickly, moving to shake her hand. "So nice to meet you. Thank you for getting him out."
She raised her eyebrows. "That was not me," she replied matter-of-factly.
He frowned in confusion. They both turned in surprise as someone called from across the waiting area. "Christina." It was Walker. "It's great to see you again."
Sam groaned, looking at Walker with disdain. "You gotta be kidding me." He looked back at the doctor who waved at Walker, a look of recognition on her face as she offered a tight smile in his direction. "You know him?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," she replied with a smile. "We did some field ops back in the day." He looked at the doctor, mildly impressed, not realizing she was a veteran herself. Sam looked back to Walker, seeing him approaching and he looked away to roll his eyes.
"I heard you were working with Bucky," Walker said approaching the doctor. "So, I thought I'd step in. Bucky's not gonna be following a strict schedule any longer."
The doctor frowned, looking at Walker with concern. "We haven't finished our work. Who authorized this?"
Walker grinned. "Um…" He motioned to himself. Sam looked away, seeing Bucky being led out from the corridor that led to the cells. "He's too valuable of an asset to have tied up. Just do whatever you got to do with him, then send him off to me. Got some unfinished business, him and I." He began to walk away, pointing at Sam. "You too, Wilson. I'll be outside." He waved to the people standing around before leaving the building.
Sam and Dr Raynor watched as Walker left the building. Sam couldn't help that even the doctor seemed to stare at Walker with disdain.
They finally turned back to see Bucky standing beside the sign-in desk looking at them expectantly. Dr Raynor began walking towards Bucky. "James, condition of your release, session now." She began walking past Bucky, before looking back to Sam. "You too, Sam."
Sam frowned, processing what the doctor had just said. He didn't like speaking to therapists. He'd done a few sessions after his last tour of the Middle East when he lost his wingman on a rescue mission. He looked back at the doctor with a chuckle. "That's okay. I'll be out here with…"
"That wasn't a request," she retorted, only looking back with a pointed look. Sam grimaced, before sighing and walking after the doctor and Bucky.
Bucky and Sam sat side by side in an interrogation room that the doctor had borrowed from the precinct. She pulled out a notebook and opened it up. Bucky rolled his eyes, seeing the notebook. She was starting early.
"So…" she began, leaning against the table and looking between the pair. "Who would like to start?"
"All right, look, Dr. Raynor?" Sam started to talk to the doctor, Bucky remaining quiet. "I get it, why you want me to talk to Freaky Magoo over here." Bucky grimaced, glancing sideways at Sam but stayed quiet. "But I'm 100% fine."
The Doctor offered a wry smile to Sam, but when she spoke, she was looking at Bucky. "It is my job to make sure that you're okay," she said, and he glanced up at her. "And so, yeah, this may be slightly unprofessional, but it's the only way that I can see if you're getting over whatever's eating at you."
"This is ridiculous," Sam muttered, fidgeting in his seat.
"Yeah. I agree," Bucky sighed.
"See? Making progress already," she commented adamantly looking at them both. "So, who wants to go first?"
Sam moved his hands to his lap, while Bucky remained motionless.
"No volunteers? Wow. How surprising," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Okay. We're going to do an exercise. It's something I use with couples when they are trying to figure out what kind of life they wanna build together." Bucky cringed and he saw Sam do the same. This sounded like a really dumb idea. "Are you familiar with the miracle question?"
"Absolutely not."
"Of course not."
The doctor flipped a page in her notebook. "Okay, it goes like this. Suppose that while you're sleeping, a miracle occurs. When you wake up, what is something that you would like to see that would make your life better?"
Bucky was quick to answer. "In my miracle, he would…um… he would talk less."
Sam looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Exactly what I was gonna say. Isn't that ironic?" he said flatly, making Bucky smirk.
The Doctor looked at the pair in exasperation. "You guys are leaving me with no choice. It's time for the soul-gazing exercise."
Bucky sat up, his interest picqued. "I like this better."
Sam groaned, looking from the doctor to Bucky. "Oh, God. He's gonna love this."
Bucky looked back at Sam, smirking. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"This is right up your alley."
She motioned to the pair. "Turn around. Face each other." Bucky began to move his chair sideways straight away.
"You should really enjoy this," Sam jeered, as Bucky eagerly began to prepare for the doctor's exercise.
"I'm going to," he said pointedly. They may joke about it, but Bucky really enjoyed the reaction he got from people when he stared at them. Except for Lex, she could really outstare him, and she definitely out crazied him. Thinking about her sent a jolt of pain through his chest.
"I know you are."
"Yeah." Bucky grinned, thoroughly enjoying an opportunity to make Sam uncomfortable. It was life's little pleasures.
"Sam. Face each other," the doctor ordered. Sam sighed and shifted his chair to face Bucky.
"Let's do it. Let's stare," Bucky said, getting himself comfortable.
"Get close," the doctor ordered, motioning for them to move their chairs closer.
Bucky looked to Dr Raynor. "This is a good exercise. Thanks, Doc."
"All right, good. All right, get close." They shifted their chairs closer, the chairs making screeching noises as they moved against the tiles. "Come on, a little closer," the doctor urged again.
"Which way you want to go?" Sam asked, motioning to their legs.
"Right or left?" Bucky demanded, also motioning.
"Why do you have your legs open?" Sam demanded. Bucky began to move, slipping his leg between Sam's.
"You know what? Fine." Sam grabbed Bucky's legs, adjusting his position so they were now closer together as requested by the doctor. "Here. You happy now?"
"All right," they said in unison.
"Good," Dr Raynor commented. "That's fine."
"We're locked in," Sam said, looking down and motioning. It was slightly uncomfortable being that close to Sam, but he was in it for the long haul. He loved a good staring contest.
"That's a little close," Bucky commented lightly, but still didn't move.
"Very. That's what you wanted, right?" Sam queried pointedly. Bucky shook his head, pressing his lips together into a thin line, giving a short shake of his head.
"Guys!" Dr Raynor raised her voice, ceasing their argument before it could begin. "Good. Now look at each other. You need to look at each other in the eyes." Bucky looked up from his knees into Sam's eyes, not even blinking as Sam looked back at him. "There, you see? That wasn't so hard."
The pair continued staring at each other, Bucky didn't even change his facial expression. He had one hundred years of experience at staring contests, there was no way he was losing this game to Sam, of all people.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Dr Raynor asked, looking at the pair critically. "Are you having a staring contest?"
They both ignored her, although Bucky could see Sam's eyes were beginning to strain.
"Just blink!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers between the two. "Sweet Jesus. All right, James, why does Sam aggravate you?" Bucky looked to the doctor with a grin, licking his lips. "And don't say something childish." He paused at her last words, knowing he'd been called out before he could say what he was thinking.
He was thoughtful for a moment. There was a lot he could say to Sam. He could thank him, for helping Steve when he could have turned his back on him. He could have thanked him for sticking with Steve when he wanted to find Bucky after the fall of SHIELD. He even could have thanked Sam for having to go on the run for helping him after they dropped him and Lex off to Wakanda. But that wasn't what came out.
He looked back to Sam. "Why did you give up that shield?" he asked quietly. It was a sincere question this time.
Sam rolled his eyes, looking away from Bucky with an irritated look. "Why are you making such a big deal out of something that has nothing to do with you?"
Bucky looked Sam in the eye as he answered. "Steve believed in you. He trusted you. He gave you that shield for a reason. That shield, that is… that is everything he stood for. That is his legacy. He gave you that shield, and you threw it away like it was nothing."
"Shut up," Sam tried to interrupt, sounding irritated. And Bucky knew he should shut up. He knew he might put his foot in it and really mess this up, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out.
"So, maybe he was wrong about you. And if he was wrong about you, then he was wrong about Lex, and if he was wrong about Lex, then maybe he was wrong about me." Bucky's voice wavered as he said his last words, leaning forward to really peer into Sam's face, hoping he might see the answer to his question, since he was so sure he wouldn't hear the answer from Sam's mouth.
Sam was quiet, and Bucky sat back. Although a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he felt guilty for having said the words out loud.
Sam looked at him, his expression deadpan. "You finished?" he asked expectantly.
Bucky nodded, looking at the doctor and then back to Sam. "Yeah."
"All right, good. Maybe this is something you or Lex, or Steve will never understand. But can you accept that I did what I thought was right?"
Bucky looked down at his hands on his lap, disappointed to hear Sam's response. He knew that would be Sam's answer. Sam always thought of the benefit of others. He hadn't known Sam long, but he knew Sam always considered others before himself. He'd seen it for himself several times now.
"You know what, Doc? Maybe, I should go back to Europe and get Lex, drag her back here for a couples therapy session with him." Bucky's eyes shot up to look at Sam, wide eyed and pleading. The last thing he needed was for the doctor to know that he had finally made contact with Lex.
"What?"
"I don't have time for this. We have some real serious shit going on," Sam said looking at the doctor pointedly.
"Wait, back up a minute," the doctor said holding her hand up to Sam and leaning forwards. "You said you know where Lex is?"
Sam nodded, furrowing his brow as he looked at the doctor. "Well, yeah, we just left her in Muni-" he glanced back at Bucky, only now noticing the expression on his face. "Ohhh…"
Dr Raynor looked to Bucky. "Did you speak with her about your feelings?" she demanded.
Bucky grimaced, clenching his jaw and looking at Sam with aggravation building. "We were kind of…preoccupied."
Sam nodded quickly. "Yeah, he was busy getting his ass handed to him by a little girl," Sam agreed, nodding fervently.
The doctor furrowed her brow, looking between the two of them skeptically. "Look, Bucky, while this session here was okay, you really need to speak to Lex about what happened between you two."
"Wait, what happened between you two? Something happened between you two?" Sam asked, looking from the doctor to Bucky.
"Uh, excuse me doc, Patient confidentiality," Bucky muttered, coughing slightly to try and get her to stop talking.
"Yeah, yeah," Dr Raynor said with a wave of her hand. "Back to you two."
Sam narrowed his eyes, looking between Bucky and Doctor Raynor, but sat back, looking between them pointedly. "Alright, so how about this? I will squash it right now. We go deal with that, and when we're done, we both can go on separate, long vacations and never see each other again," Sam said firmly, looking Bucky straight in the eye.
Bucky nodded. "I like that." Right now, he just wanted to be out of that room.
"Great. Well, let's get to work." Sam looked to Dr Raynor. "Thanks, Doc, for making it weird. I feel much better." He looked back to Bucky. "I'll see you outside." He leaned forward, patting Bucky on the arm firmly in what was clearly not supposed to be a supportive or friendly gesture.
Dr Raynor sighed as Sam got up. "Thank you. That was really great," she replied sarcastically as Sam left the room.
Bucky sat still for a moment, taking in the whole conversation with Sam, before finally looking back to the doctor and giving a small nod of the head, before getting to his feet and moving to leave the room too.
"I know that look," she called out, stopping him in his tracks. "What's wrong?"
He looked back to the doctor, considering his words carefully. "What was rule number two again?"
"Don't hurt anyone."
He looked at the Doctor for a moment, nodding. "Goodbye, Doc." He moved to leave again.
"Bucky." He looked back. She looked at him encouragingly. "You need to speak with her, about everything between you two." He licked his lips anxiously, before turning and leaving the room.
Sam and Bucky walked out from the station slowly. The session with the doctor weighed on Sam's mind. Hearing Bucky say exactly why him giving up the shield bothered him, well, it bothered him too, now. He hadn't thought about the effects giving up the shield would have on his friends. But on the same grounds, he had tried to at least contact Bucky about it.
"Well, I feel better," Sam said lightly, in an effort to break the tension between them after the session with Dr Raynor.
"I feel awful," Bucky mumbled.
A siren sounded down the street from where they stood, and they both looked up to see Walker and Hoskins standing against a police vehicle, waving to them.
"Gentlemen." Sam and Bucky shared a look, before slowly ambling their way to the pair of replacements. "Good to see you again." As they drew closer, Walker began to talk. "Look, if we divide ourselves, we don't stand a chance, you guys know that."
Sam gave a resigned sigh. In a way, he knew that Walker was right. That didn't mean he had to agree to it. "So, what do you got?"
"Well, the leader's name's Karli Morgenthau. We've been targeting civilians who've been helping Karli move from place to place," Walker explained.
"They geotagged a location, then scrambled the signal. But our satellites have found their symbol popping up in various displaced communities all across Central and Eastern Europe," Hoskins explained.
"We think she's taking the medicine she just stole to one of these camps."
Sam looked to Bucky who looked agitated. "Well, there are hundreds of those all over the planet since The Blip. So, I guess you'll have to look real hard."
"Good thing I have 20/20 vision, huh?" Walker replied.
"Where is she now, Walker? Do you know?" Bucky demanded, no longer trying to keep his voice civil.
"No, we don't know, Bucky," Walker retorted in indignantly. "It's only a matter of time before we find out."
Sam smirked when he saw Bucky's demeanor change as he began to stare intensely at Walker. "Things are really intense for you, aren't they, Walker?" Walker looked back at Bucky with a look of disbelief, taking note of the underlying tone Bucky was insinuating.
Sam stepped forward. "Take it easy. Look, Walker's right. It is imperative that we find them and stop them," he said to Bucky, earning him raised eyebrows from the Super Soldier. Sam then looked back to Walker and Hoskins. "But you guys have rules of engagement and all kind of authorizations you have to get. We're free agents. We're more flexible. So, it wouldn't make sense for us to work with you." Sam thought his reasoning was sound.
He and Bucky began to walk away from Walker and Hoskins, heading across the street.
"A word of advice, then," Walker called out, drawing their attention back to him. "Stay the hell out of my way. And tell your little Super Soldier girlfriend that the next time I see her, I'm bringing her in," he said menacingly. "Yeah, I found out about her, Alexia Nikulkin. There are several people here in the US who would like to speak to her about her historic crimes in Leipzig and Bucharest against the security council back then."
Sam looked to Bucky, seeing his jaw clenched and his hand vibranium hand balled into a fist as they watched Walker smirk and walk away.
"Cool it, Bucky, our girl can handle him."
"That doesn't make it okay," Bucky hissed in reply.
"We can warn her. Come on, let's get out of here." They both turned and hurried down the street, wanting to put as much distance between them and the new Captain America.
Bucky and Sam walked down the street, Bucky considering their current situation and what they knew.
Sam broke the silence between them. "So, what are you thinking?"
"Well, I know what we have to do," Bucky answered, looking sideways at Sam. He'd been thinking on it a lot since that afternoon. He'd certainly had a lot of time to think while locked in the cells at the police station. "When Isaiah said "my people"…"
"Oh, don't take that to heart," Sam interrupted. "That's not what he meant."
Bucky shook his head, knowing Sam misinterpreted what he meant. "No, he meant HYDRA. HYDRA used to be my people."
Sam scoffed, shaking his head. "Not a chance."
Bucky raised looked at Sam pointedly. "Walker doesn't have any leads."
Sam looked at Bucky warningly. "I know where you're going with this, no."
"He knows all of HYDRA's secrets. Don't you remember Siberia?" While Sam hadn't gone with them to Siberia, he knew all about the facility, because it was Bucky who had told him after he, Lex and Steve had managed to subdue him after his reactivation as the Winter Soldier. Bucky looked back at Sam to see him still staring at him.
"So, you're just gonna go sit in a room with this guy?" Sam demanded incredulously.
Bucky hesitated for a moment. Was he really going to do that? Was that actually what he was considering. "Yes."
Sam sighed, looking away and remaining silent for a moment. "Okay, then." He slowed to a stop, Bucky stopping beside him and looking back at him expectantly. "We're gonna go see Zemo."
They looked at each other, nodding once more before they started walking again.
"So, do you wanna call Lex, or are you gonna chicken out and make me do it?" Sam asked.
"Sam, just shut up."
xo
Krayzee