Hhhheeeyyyyy everybody!
Soooo, Loki huh? Pretty interesting stuff right there. Really enjoying it. I won't post any spoilers, but god damn, Marvel is smashing it with these shows.
Bit later getting this chapter up than I would have liked, but we are finally here!
Thanks to AliceCullen3, WiseGirlDivergence46, lizyeh2000 and tuckerjnp1 for the reviews.
And welcome to Shanarchy, lizyeh2000, jjrocker98, ONCE-boy-UPON-meet-A-girl, Lordequinox, Niamhcodi, sydneyraelee2005, v-maese1984, JessDowning86, IHEARTPADFOOT1981, Romanic, magicaedraconis and Zuzu136 for joining the adventure. As you can see I have a bad habit of travelling at my own speed ehe...
But, babble I shall no more.
Enjoy
xo
Bounty
Sharon led them outside to waiting SUVs, as the first rays of sun began to rise over Madripoor. They climbed in, Bucky and Lex climbing into an SUV with Zemo, while Sharon and Sam took the other and the cars drove them to the port of Madripoor.
Bucky could feel that some of the tension between them both was gone now, but he also didn't want to push the envelope with her either. He and Lex sat on either side of Zemo, watching as the SUV crossed the bridge on its way to the port.
"Would you look at that sunrise, stunning," Zemo said, peering across Lex.
"Sure, the pollution is a lovely touch," Lex commented, with a sardonic smirk as she looked back at Zemo. Bucky couldn't help but have a little chuckle at that, as Zemo also nodded unable to deny that the pollution was adding a little something to the skyline.
The cars pulled up at the edge of the port and Bucky stepped out of the car first, letting Zemo climb out, confident Zemo would not try and part ways with them just yet. Being this close to the new scientist behind Super Soldiers, Zemo would not give up this chance to destroy further chances of more of them. Lex moved to climb out after Zemo, and Bucky moved to help her, but Zemo was there first, offering her a hand.
"I'm good, thanks," she said flatly, ignoring his hand and stepping out of the SUV easily. Zemo shrugged, stepping towards Sam and Sharon as Lex shut the door. She straightened her jacket. She was still dressed in the black dress from the viewing, but Sharon had handed her a maroon jacket and some boots as they had been leaving the mansion in a hurry, which she now threw on quickly, pulling her long brown ponytail out from underneath the jacket so it fell over her shoulder.
"Madripoor could give New York a run for its money," Sam commented, as Sharon pulled out a mobile device from her pocket. Sharon began to lead them further into the port, weaving around shipping containers.
"They know how to party," Zemo added, raising an eyebrow.
"Now you know why this is my holiday destination of choice," Lex added with a smirk.
"No, really? I thought it was just the cuisine," Sam jeered, earning a quiet chuckle from Bucky. She had mentioned a few times now why she liked the place, and food wasn't one of them.
Lex shrugged. "The food is good, too."
Sharon peered at the mobile device in her hand. "With that bounty on your head, the longer you're in Madripoor, the less likely you're ever leaving." They followed her as she led them around the containers stacked in the port. Bucky checked corners, as did Lex, both paying close attention for any unwanted visitors. He was well aware of the type of people a bounty could bring out. He had faced many. And heck, you could consider him as one at some point of his Winter Soldier days.
"All right. He's in there. Container four-two-six-one. I'll watch while you guys talk to Nagel. But hurry. We're on borrowed time." Sharon handed them all earpieces, which they were all quick to insert, checking the sound.
"Want me to stay out?" Lex asked, looking between Sam and Sharon. Bucky frowned slightly, something about Lex's behaviour towards Sharon caught his attention. It was like she was testing Sharon, but he couldn't understand why.
Sam raised an eyebrow before looking expectantly at Sharon. "I got this," she answered, looking nonplussed.
"Well, okay," Lex replied, stretching her arms in front of her and cracking her knuckles.
Sam opened the container and walked in first, followed by Sam, Zemo, Bucky and then Lex. They looked around, finding only an empty container. "Hey, Sharon. You sure this is the right one? It's completely empty," Sam asked through the comms.
There was silence for a moment. "Positive. It has to be."
Bucky looked to Lex; her expression confused as her gaze met his. It was like there was an unspoken agreement between them and they both began moving along the walls of the container, looking closely at the panels for any discrepancy.
Bucky and Lex continued to move along the walls of the container, he couldn't see any flaws in the container. He heard Lex start tapping on the container, and suddenly there was a sound that stood out. Bucky spun around to look to Lex, who was now running her hand along the wall, squinting her eyes. She put pressure on the wall of the container, it gave to the pressure and popped open.
"Oooohhh, secret door," Lex whispered looking back at them with a playful grin. Bucky stepped forward and pushed the door open wider, revealing stairs that lead up further into the container stack. Bucky and Lex both looked to Sam, who nodded. Bucky and Sam pulled out handguns from their back, while Lex pulled a knife from a thigh harness hidden under the skirt of her dress. She began to lead Sam and Zemo in, carefully scouting the secret compartment, while Bucky followed behind.
As they walked deeper into the container, they began to hear music playing ahead. Bucky moved up past Zemo and Sam, glancing to Lex, who met his gaze with a raised eyebrow. He put a hand to his lips, motioning for her to be quiet and to flank towards the far side of the container. She nodded, disappearing down a side corridor.
He looked back to Zemo and Sam, checking to see if they were ready to move forward. Sam nodded, and Bucky turned and continued to walk towards the sound of the music. They began to pass by lab equipment and computers, notes scrawled on discarded pieces of paper.
He turned a corner, spotting a man hunched over a bench at the far end of the container they were now in. He glanced back to Sam, who nodded once and Bucky moved away to the left, entering an adjacent corridor from the man and began to creep forward. He spotted movement through the shelves to the man's right, Lex was also closing in. She halted, her gaze moving towards Bucky, and he nodded. They both began to move forward, Lex reaching the man first.
Sam stopped the music as the man turned and saw her, gasping and standing upright quickly. He turned and looked at Sam, frowning when he saw the gun in his hand.
"Dr. Nagel?" Sam asked, his voice calm and clear as he watched the scientist carefully.
The man's eyes darted from Lex to Sam, his eyes wide with suspicion. "Who are you? What do you want?" This was Nagel.
He hadn't yet seen Bucky, so he moved further back as he couldn't make his way towards Nagel from his current position in the adjacent corridor.
"We know you created the super-soldier serum," Sam said, his gun still aimed towards the scientist.
The doctor's eyes looked annoyed from Lex to Sam. "Get out of my lab." He moved to stride past Sam.
"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, putting a hand on his arm, which Nagel threw off. Lex quickly stepped forward, grabbing his arm, and forcing him to stop. She glared at him coldly, before leading him towards Bucky, with Sam following closely behind.
She led Nagel straight towards Bucky. He stared coldly back at Nagel, keeping his face free of any emotion, ignoring the small smirk that appeared on Lex's face as she stopped Nagel a few feet away from Bucky.
"You know who he is, right?" Sam asked, stepping up beside Lex. Nagel didn't say anything, staring at Bucky in awe. Zemo shifted slightly, looking Nagel up and down.
Nagel's eyes locked onto Zemo, his eyes widening in surprise. "This is Baron Zemo. I know you've heard of him, too, right?" Lex shoved Nagel forward and pushed him into a chair roughly. "And this lovely lady, is Alexia Nikulkin, trained as a Black Widow who also happens to be a Super Soldier, you might have heard of her."
Nagel's eyes shifted to Lex and seemed to look her up and down in awe, but her cold expression didn't change.
"You seem like a pretty smart guy. So, you better become conversational real quick."
Nagel's eyes moved from Zemo, then to Bucky and Lex before settling back on Sam. "How about a counter proposal? Make me a better offer and I'll talk," Nagel offered, sounding much to calm for Bucky's liking.
Before anyone could respond, Sharon's voice came over their comms. "Guys, we have company."
"This is taking too long," Lex sneered, snatching the pistol from Sam, and pointing it at Nagel's head.
"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, looking at Lex indignantly, while Nagel looked fearfully at Lex. He trusted Lex, but this wasn't how he had planned to get the information out of Nagel.
"Every bounty hunter in the city is here. We gotta go!" Sharon warned through comms. They were hearing a lot of groaning through Sharon's comms, as well as gun shots and the sound of metal hitting metal.
"Look, if he's not gonna tell us what we want to know, then why waste all our time. My feet are killing me." She moved the pistol slightly to the right of his head and fired a shot, making him cringe away in fear. Sam clenched his jaw, letting Lex do it her way. Espionage and playing the bad guy was everyone else's forte, not his.
"Okay. Okay."
Nagel looked around at them before beginning to speak again. "I was brought into HYDRA's Winter Soldier program to pick up their work after the five failed test subjects in Siberia." Lex looked up at Sam expectantly. He nodded once and she lowered the gun from his head, moving away and leaning against a cabinet to listen. "When HYDRA fell, I was recruited by the CIA. They had blood samples from an American test subject with semi-stable traces of serum in his system." Sam and Lex looked at each other in surprise, while Bucky didn't seem phased by the information. Surely the samples were from Steve. He really hoped they were, but his gut told him he knew where they really came from.
Nagel continued, sounding more malevolent the longer he went on. "After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood. I was a god. I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do. But mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect."
Zemo walked away, obviously not wanting to listen anymore to this maniac's drivel, but Sam felt compelled to. He needed more information. He needed to know who had done this.
"How have we never heard about this?"
Nagel hesitated for a moment. "Because… Before I was able to complete my work, I turned to dust. Then when I returned, it was five years later, program had been abandoned, so I came here. The Power Broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work."
Sam frowned. "How many vials did you make?"
"Twenty. Karli Morgenthau stole those, so… I can only imagine what the Power Broker has planned for that poor girl."
"Where's Karli now?" Sam pressed. This was the closest they had gotten to finding her, they had to take the chance.
"I don't know where she is. But a couple of days ago, she called and asked if I could help someone named Donya Madani. Poor woman has tuberculosis. Typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that."
"Well, what happened to her?" Sam asked.
Nagel shrugged, shaking his head. "Not my pig. Not my farm." Sam ground his teeth together at the tone of Nagel's voice. He really was a narcissistic dick.
"Is there any serum in this lab?" Bucky asked, speaking up finally.
Nagel looked to him, seeming to analyse Bucky for a moment as if thinking whether he would answer. Bucky raised his own pistol, pushing it into the side of Nagel's head pointedly. "No," he answered, looking back at Bucky in fear.
Bucky looked from Sam to Lex. "Now what?"
They heard footsteps running through the lab, Sam turned towards the noise in alarm and Lex was quick to raise the gun. Sharon came sprinting in, breathless. "Guys, we're seriously outta time here."
Before there was any chance for anyone to react, Zemo raised a gun, pointing it at Nagel and pulling the trigger. Nagel fell back, hitting the ground and lying still while Sam and Sharon both tackled Zemo.
"No!" Sam shouted, pinning him against a wall.
"What did you do?" Sharon exclaimed, staring back at the motionless body of Nagel, while Lex and Bucky moved to check his vitals.
Bucky knelt beside Nagel's body while Lex reached down and touched her fingers to his pulse. "He's gone," Lex said, shaking her head and looking up at Bucky.
Bucky clenched his teeth together, turning to look back at Sam and Sharon who were still holding Zemo, when there was an explosion, and the back of the container blew in. Bucky and Lex were closest to the explosion and were thrown back a few feet, while Sam, Sharon and Zemo were thrown to the ground where they were.
An alarm sounded in the lab as they slowly began to recover. Bucky moved to his knees, trying to shake the cloudiness from his head and ringing from his ears. He saw Lex start moving too, a bloody gash open on the side of her forehead as she sat up, the blood seeping down to her chin as she looked over to him.
The lab was filled with thick smoke, flames and the sound of exploding glass while the alarm continued to blare shrilly all around them. He crawled towards Lex as she kneeled and blinked a few times, before raising a hand and trying to wipe the blood that was dripping into one of her eyes.
"There's gas in here, we need to move," she said as he stood up, grabbing her by the arm and hoisting her to her feet easily. He pushed her off into the direction of the other three, but soon noticed that Zemo wasn't there.
"Anybody see Zemo?" Sam called, his voice sounding pained as he struggled to sit up. Lex quickly grabbed him and pulled him to his feet earning a groan as she did so, while Bucky did the same to Sharon.
"Let's go." Bucky forced Sharon ahead of him, while Lex dragged Sam by the arm. He could hear the tell-tale sign of a gas bottle overheating. "Get down the stairs, now!" He pushed Lex and Sam in front of him as they jumped several steps to reach the bottom container before an explosion sounded behind them. The container lurched and shifted, causing all four to dive onto the ground, Bucky covering Sharon and Sam.
Lex was the first to her feet, looking over as Bucky pushed himself up, checking if Sharon and Sam were alright. He looked up at Lex. She raised an eyebrow at his position over their friends. She felt a sharp pain in her left wrist and her right ankle. She was definitely going to need a new holiday destination after this visit to Madripoor.
"What? You're a super soldier, you can take care of yourself," he retorted to her silent jeer, making her smirk. She moved to the end of the container, pulling out the handgun she had procured from inside the lab. The container they had been in had been knocked forward slightly and the end was now damaged and stuck open. Through the billowing smoke outside the container, she could spot the bounty hunters now approaching them, armed to the teeth with an assortment of weapons.
She was soon joined by Sam and Bucky, with Sharon following up the rear.
Sam pushed past her, moving to the right, while Bucky moved to her left.
"All right! Wait for my signal!" Bucky shouted, but no sooner had he finished when Sam fired a shot, and the bounty hunters began returning fire. Lex ducked as a bullet struck the container to above her head, and she also began returning fire, giving a satisfied grin when the bounty hunter who had shot at her dropped to the ground with an agonized scream of pain.
Sam suddenly dashed off further to the right, disappearing around the side of the container.
"Damn it!" Bucky shouted in exasperation and moved to his left, firing at some bounty hunters who were trying to flank them. Sharon looked to Lex in confusion.
"Don't ask me, I don't follow orders," Lex shouted over the noise, before continuing to return fire. Sharon sighed and rolled her eyes, before moving to follow Bucky. Lex moved closer to a container that laid across in front of her, using it for cover, and watching as Bucky and Sharon soon returned, as did Sam. "I see that worked out for you?"
Sharon moved to take cover by Lex and returned fire with her own handgun.
"And you like living here?" Sam shouted towards Sharon in astonishment.
Sharon stood from cover, returning fire, before ducking back down behind cover. "It's not terrible."
"I'm telling you, the food is excellent," Lex shouted, before also standing from cover and returning fire.
Bucky stood and fired at another bounty hunter trying to approach the cover. He suddenly took cover again, checking his weapon.
"Ah!" He moved back to join them. "I thought we were going left?" he shouted at Sam.
"You went the wrong way!" Sam rebuked in annoyance.
"I was clearing the way!" Bucky shouted.
"I came out first. You supposed to follow me."
"And where are we now?"
"Guys, not the time!" Sharon interrupted, glaring between them in disbelief.
"And just to clarify," Lex also interceded. "I was actually out first!" She stood again, firing her weapon three more times, before her weapon clicked. Empty.
"I'm out!" Sharon also announced as they both ducked below cover.
"This is a barricade."
"It's in every action movie!"
They were still arguing as Lex analyzed their situation. She ducked as another bullet whizzed past her face, before ripping a pipe from its already crippled base, throwing it like a spear at an approaching bounty hunter. It impaled them through the leg, causing them to cry out. She smirked slightly, ducking as gun fire was aimed in her direction.
She carefully peered over the collapsed container they were using as their barricade while the boys continued to argue, counting the bounty hunters that were still actively making their way towards them. Through the smoke from the previous explosion, she spotted someone walking along the top of one of the furthest containers. And she would recognize that walk anyway.
"Boys…" she called, narrowing her eyes as she watched him pull a mask over his head. Bucky and Sam's argument didn't abate, and Sharon was now trying to shout over them to get them to stop. She watched as the figure raised their arm, a handgun aimed ahead of them. "Hey! Get your asses down!" she shouted, running from her cover and leaping at Sharon, who was closest to her, and dragging her to the ground.
There was an explosion, the heat washing over the top of them as they all ducked for cover, while they heard the screams of bounty hunters being incinerated or blown away in the explosion.
Sam looked up first, seeing Lex roll off Sharon, wincing in pain. He was aware that perhaps he and Bucky had been acting like jackasses and been ignoring her warning. He glanced over their makeshift barricade, spotting a man jumping down from a container in the distance. He wore a dark trench coat with a purple balaclava over his face, however, there was no mistake who it was. Zemo. He ran towards bounty hunters, disarming them and firing on them.
The other three clambered to their feet, watching him for a moment, as he took on three bounty hunters, shooting them all. Zemo looked back to them.
"Come on. Let's go." Bucky grabbed at Sharon. "Go." He pushed her onwards before helping Lex as she limped after Sharon, Sam was quick to follow. They began sprinting through the containers, occasionally ducking under a hail of bullets as their pursuers spotted them.
Sam made his way to the front, weaving through the containers, carefully picking his path in the hopes he could lead the others to safety without any further injuries. Lex's limp was progressively getting worse, and with Bucky trying to help her, it basically meant they were now two super soldiers' down.
They finally found some quiet, slowing their pace and carefully peering around corners. Sam stepped out and turned, heading towards the far side of the dock, when he spotted bounty hunters in their path. And they spotted him.
"Buck!" he shouted, quickly pulling open the nearest container as they opened fire, the bullets ricocheting off the door. He pulled Sharon inside the container, while Bucky broke the locking pin on the container and turned to take on bounty hunters who had suddenly appeared behind them. Lex dove forward, rolling and kicking out at the bounty hunters who had appeared in front of them.
Sam poked his head out as Bucky knocked one bounty hunter out, hitting him over the head with the pole in his hands, before turning as Lex was grabbed by the second of the two bounty hunters who had appeared in front of them. She knocked the bounty hunter's hand from her arm, followed by a quick jab to her throat. The bounty hunter gasped, but still moved to pull her gun from her hip, aiming it at Lex. Bucky spun the pole in his hand, before throwing the spear with brute force. The pole speared through the bounty hunter's shoulder, impaling into the container behind her.
"Damn…did the Dora teach you that?" Lex asked, raising her eyebrows, and looking down at the bounty hunter before limping back towards the container.
Sam threw open the container door, while Bucky ran forward to grab Lex, helping her into the container.
"Let's go!"
Once everyone was inside the container, they took a moment to catch their breath. Sharon was breathing heavily, holding her side and bleeding from her lip and forehead.
Sam checked her over quickly. "You good?"
Sharon sucked in a deep breath, placing her hands on top of her head. "Sure, piece of cake." She offered him a pained smile, before leaning forward to catch her breath again.
Sam looked over to Lex. She didn't look so good. She had a much larger gash going along her forehead, obviously from being closest to the blast in the lab, and her legs were covered in scratches and cuts, not to mention her right ankle looked slightly swollen. Bucky was trying to tend to her, but it looked like she might punch him soon. She looked annoyed.
"We should keep moving," Sharon interrupted Sam's internal musings. "It won't take them long to pick up the trail of destruction."
"Right." Sam motioned to Bucky, who quickly moved to the opposite end of the container they had entered, using his vibranium arm to smash open the container doors. They stepped out, sucking in the acrid Madripoor air. Sam coughed. It really was a terrible smelling place.
They were soon on their guard again as they heard a vehicle speeding towards them. They all turned towards the sound, on their guard, as a 70s model Pontiac coupe sped towards them, before pulling up to a stop in front of them. Zemo at the wheel.
He looked up at them with a grin from the driver's seat. "Supercharged."
Sam stormed over to the car, livid to see him looking so relaxed about their situation. "You're going back to jail."
Zemo sighed and looked ahead. "Do you want to find Karli or not?" He looked back at Bucky and Lex, before stopping on Sam, and he felt himself getting more annoyed at Zemo.
"He's right. We need him," Bucky interrupted before Sam could speak again, opening the passenger door and motioning to Lex, who grimaced back at him before limping to the other side of the car and jumped into the back seat behind Zemo. "And there's three of us, and at least 20 of them." Bucky climbed into the front passenger, looking back up at Sam pointedly.
Sam looked from Bucky to Zemo, still annoyed at the criminal in front of him, and starting to get annoyed at Bucky and Lex. They seemed too easy to trust him, even though at one point their lives were on the line because of Zemo. "Fine." He squeezed into the back past Bucky's seat, glaring at Zemo. "But if you try that shit again…"
Zemo smirked slightly, irking Sam even more. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Sharon stepped forward, closing the passenger door. "Well, that was one hell of a reunion."
Sam looked at Sharon with confusion, before realizing she wasn't coming with them. "Come back to the States with us."
She shook her head ruefully. "I can't. Just get me that pardon you promised me."
He looked apologetically back at her. Of course, he couldn't expect her to risk what little freedom she had left to come back to the US, just yet. He nodded at her gratefully. "Thanks for everything."
She nodded back at him and looked past him to Lex. "Hey, make sure you take care of that dress. It's my favourite."
Lex's eyes widened and she grimaced. "Uhhh… should have told me that before, you know, bullet holes and explosions." Sharon laughed before stepping back.
Sam looked into the footwell of the car where he was sitting. It was cramped. He wasn't a very tall man, maybe just a centimetre or two shorter than Lex, who looked rather comfortable in her seat, but Bucky was also a lot larger in size than Zemo. Sam looked forward to the back of Bucky's head. "You're not gonna move your seat up, are you?"
"No." Sam could practically hear the smirk in Bucky's voice, or maybe it was the sound of Lex trying to stifle a giggle beside him. He shook his head, rolling his eyes as Zemo drove away.
xo
Krayzee