Chapter VIII

"Captain Rogers!" Zemo's eyes widened in surprised. "And Miss Romanoff! Welcome to my humble chambers!"

Natasha followed Steve into Zemo's apartment, both ignoring Zemo's greeting. She looked around and she had to hand it to him- the man had taste. Steve's eyes immediately searched for Barnes and they seemed to have some silent conversation. Natasha nodded a hello at Sam who looked both tired and annoyed which she could understand.

"So, where are Karli and her friends?" She wanted to know from Zemo.

"I don't know." He answered and took a sip from his tea.

"What?" Barnes barked. "You said you knew where they are!"

"I don't know, but my associate does. Do not worry, James." Zemo said calmly and Natasha didn't like how he seemed solely focused on Barnes. Did he have a plan for him?

"Sharon's also got eyes on Karli, at least she's trying to find her." Sam informed her. Sharon? Natasha hadn't heard that name in years.

"Sharon? How is she?" Steve looked worried and Natasha felt a pang of jealousy even though she knew that she had no reason to. But she couldn't help it. She knew that Steve had never truly had any real feelings for Sharon, they'd talked about her when they'd been on the run, but still, Sharon was someone that her Steve had kissed. Did Steve feel the same way about her ex-lovers?

"Stuck in Madripoor. She's still a fugitive. I promised I helped her get a pardon. Did you know that she's still in exile?"

"No, Sam. I didn't." Steve shook his head. "I...I just assumed she'd get one like we did."

Natasha didn't know why, but something felt fishy to her. Sharon should have been offered a pardon, especially with her connections and famous aunt. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark, but she would have to look into that later.

Barnes raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Nothing. So, what's your plan?" She looked at Sam, trying to get them back on track.

"I want to talk to Karli, try to build a connection with her. I think I can get her to stop killing people. She wants the right thing, she's just doing it wrong."

Steve agreed to join Sam in his plan to try talking her out of her plans. Zemo was completely against it (not that he had any say), Barnes seemed hesitant but willing to trust Sam, and Natasha knew that if anyone could get Karli to listen then it were Sam and Steve.

Zemo looked at the Rolex on his wrist. "It's time to meet my associate. It's rude to be late."

They walked up a street in Riga and Natasha had forgotten how beautiful the Baltic states were. They turned around a corner and Natasha couldn't stop her groan.

Walker and his partner Hoskins were walking towards them. "Hey!"

"Ha, how did you find us now?!" Barnes asked, clearly annoyed.

"Did you really think two-" Hoskins did a double take. "Four Avengers could walk around Riga without anyone noticing?" He smiled at her and Steve. "Hello, I'm Lemar Hoskins. Nice to meet you."

"Yes, hello." Steve answered politely and Natasha forced herself to nod at him in greeting. She took him in, he was different than Walker.

"Are you guys completely insane or why did you break Zemo out of prison?!" Walker asked through gritted teeth.

"He broke himself out. Technically." Barnes replied and Zemo was so helpful to nod.

"And breaking yourself out of prison is not a crime in Germany." Natasha quipped. Steve chuckled next to her while Walker narrowed his eyes at her. Not that she cared. She didn't need him to like her. Walker needed to relax. It wasn't like Zemo was a free man, the minute he wasn't useful anymore, he was going back to prison. The Dora Milaje would see to that. Everyone knew it, including Zemo.

"Your ass is going back to prison!" Walker pointed at Zemo.

Yeah, duh.

"But before that, my associate wants to talk to me." Zemo nodded at a girl standing a few feet away from them. He walked towards her, handed her a few hundred Euros and she motioned for them to follow her.

Sam and Barnes exchanged looks and Steve was looking at her. She shrugged her shoulders and went ahead. The boys were behind her, and unfortunately Walker and Hoskins were also hot on her heels.

The little girl led them to an abandoned factory where apparently the funeral of a important member of their community was held. Natasha didn't feel comfortable with them crashing a funeral, so she agreed when Sam said that he wanted to talk alone with Karli. Well, he and Steve were going to talk to her.

Naturally Walker wasn't a fan of a plan that he hadn't come up with. "No, absolutely not." He shouted, handcuffing Zemo to a metal bar. "You're not going in alone! We'll-"

"He can handle himself!" Barnes interjected. "And he's not alone."

"You let your partner walk in there without you as backup?"

"He's not my partner! And he's dealt with worse. And he's got Steve. They can handle themselves."

Natasha didn't miss the hurt quickly flickering over Sam's face. "It won't come to a fight. I know what I'm doing."

It looked like Steve had enough. "If anyone can get through Karli, then it's Sam. If, and that's a big if, if things escalate Sam and I can handle it." His voice did not allow for any talk back.

Walker didn't look happy, but he nodded. "Fine, you got ten minutes. Then we'll go in."

Sam walked up the stairs with Steve behind him. Barnes sat down on the stairs, most likely to block Walker from following them. Natasha leaned against a wall, getting her phone out of her jacket. She wanted to know how little Chloe was doing. Pepper had sent her a text, telling her that Chloe was doing fine. She'd even sent a photo of her and Morgan. God, she missed her sweet girl so much. She just wanted to get her and cuddle with her, breathe in her sweet scent.

She had to look up from her phone because Walker's nervous pacing was impossible to ignore. Everyone beside him was calm. His partner Hoskins watched him with a worried look on his face, but he didn't do anything. Walker looked at the old clock on the wall and ran his fingers over the shield. He put it back on his back and stormed towards the staircase. Natasha moved away from the wall.

Barnes shot up and blocked the entrance. "Nope!"

"I'm going in."

"No, you're not." Natasha said at the same time as Barnes.

"You're gonna leave your partner all alone in there? You want his blood on your hands? Don't you have enough of that already on your hands?" Walker hissed and Barnes clenched his jaw. She hated that Walker was trying to get into his head. It was a dick move, especially considering Barnes's past. Even Natasha wouldn't sink that low.

"You hit yourself too often in the head with the shield?" She brushed past by him to block the entrance along with Barnes. Walker was really testing her patience. "He's not alone. He and Rogers have the situation handled."

"They can't go up against five or six super soldiers!"

"But you can?" Barnes snorted and woah, looked like he'd hit Walker's Achilles heel. Interesting.

"Life must be so easy with all that serum running through your veins." He spat out. "It's two against five." He moved so fast that Natasha didn't see it coming and he managed to push her to the ground and ran upstairs.

"You okay?" Barnes asked her and helped her up.

"Yeah." Only her ego was hurt.

He ran after Walker, and her and Hoskins followed them. Shit, shit, shit. Walker was only going to make everything worse. He would be the reason there could be a fight. She hoped that at least Karli or one of her friends were going to land a good hit on him, since Natasha couldn't do it herself.

"Something's not right with Walker." She told Steve. They were scouting the streets of Riga for Karli and the rest of the Flag Smashers. Steve and mostly Sam had almost gotten through to her until Walker had marched in, destroying any chance of Karli trusting them. She and her friends had vanished, and Natasha and Steve were trying to track them down while Sam and Barnes had taken Zemo back to his apartment. Zemo had destroyed the last vials of the new serum so at least Karli couldn't make any more super soldiers.

"I know, Nat."

"He shouldn't carry the shield. He's not worthy of it."

"That's Thor's thing..." He chuckled sadly. "I know. I shouldn't have given up the shield. I should have carried it until Sam's ready. But I..."

Natasha gave Steve's hand a squeeze. "They would have reconsidered Bucky's pardon. I know why you did it, and I get it. But we have to take it back. Walker is a ticking time bomb. He's...He's unstable. It's only a matter of time until he snaps and he can't do that while he's Captain America."

"Yeah." Steve ran a hand over his beard. He looked exhausted. God, she wanted so badly to take him back to her apartment so he could snuggle with their baby.

"We won't let Bucky get thrown into the Raft. I won't let that happen. They won't revoke the pardon. They can't. The public outcry would be a disaster for them." Steve wouldn't lose his best friend. Not on her watch.

"That's the first time you called him Bucky." Steve smiled and she smiled back.

"I still think it's a dog's name." She sassed and Steve shook his head in amusement.

They scouted what felt like the entire city of Riga, but they couldn't find Karli. She really had the home advantage here. They decided to get back to Zemo's place.

Maybe Sharon had tracked her own. It didn't sit well with Natasha that Sharon had access to satellites. There was something that Sharon wasn't honest about. She was hiding something, but Natasha wasn't going to say anything about it to Steve until she had proof. Sharon was Peggy's niece and she didn't want to upset Steve if it turned out that her jealousy was messing with her instincts.

Sam and Bucky were coming out of the apartment building and it was obvious something was wrong. Shit. Where was Zemo?

"Zemo escaped." Sam confirmed her suspicion. Fuck.

"We have to find him." Steve said. "We can't let him get away. He'll kill Karli and the others."

"He might even try to kill you and Bucky." Natasha warned. She knew that they were hard to kill, but Zemo was smart.

Bucky smiled a little that she called him by her nickname. "I think I know where's he headed. But I think-"

Sam's phone started to ring. "Unknown number." He told them and went to answer it. "Hello?...Karli, what a surprise..." The three of them watched Sam talk with Karli. He ended the phone call rather quickly. "She wants to meet me. Alone. She wants to talk again."

"I'm coming with you!" Bucky said immediately and Natasha turned her head so he wouldn't see her grin. Aw, looked like they were becoming bffs after all.

"We're all going with you." Steve decided. "But we're going to stay in the background. She's starting to trust you. Not us."

It all went well until fucking Walker showed up again and ruined everything. His partner got taken and they had to look for him while taking on the Flag Smashers. It wasn't an easy fight. They lacked fighting experience, but had brutal strength on their side. But it did seem like they were mostly focused on Walker than the rest of them. Well, Natasha couldn't say that she blamed them.

Walker suddenly threw the shield with so much strength that it got stuck in the wall after it missed its original goal- the head of a Flag Smasher. Oh no.

"What the fuck?" Sam shouted. "What have you done?"

"You found a vial of the serum, didn't you? You goddamn idiot!" Natasha was furious. He was already on the brink of snapping and now he was so much more dangerous!

Karli used everyone being distracted to get the shield out of the wall and attacked Walker with it. The other Flag Smashers joined her example and attacked Natasha and the others again.

Karli was suddenly jumping on her back and Natasha was trying to fight her off. "Please keep her safe." She whispered into her ear and Natasha stopped moving. What? "Yelena said that we can trust you with her. Keep her safe and only trust your three men and Yelena, no one else!"

Karli jumped off of her and Natasha blinked her eyes in confusion, looking around for her. Had she been talking about her sweet Chloe? About her baby? She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the knife coming towards her until Bucky's hand was in front of her face catching it. Did Yelena know Karli?! What the fuck was going on?

"You okay?" Bucky asked her and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Steve looked over to her, fighting off one of Karli's friends.

"I-" She never got to finish her sentence. Lemar Hoskins took a hit from Karli that was actually meant for Walker and crashed against a concrete post. Natasha could hear his spine cracking. He was dead.

"Lemar!" Walker screamed. "Lemar!" He ran over to his friend, kneeling down and trying to get him to wake up.

Natasha knew it was pointless. She looked over to Karli whose face had gone completely pale. She hadn't meant to do this. Her eyes met Natasha's and she could see the girl's shock before Karli ran way, the other Flag Smashers following her.

"John-" Steve walked over to him, but Walker was already back on his feet. He looked around the room, screamed and then ran after the Flag Smashers.

"We have to stop him!" Natasha screamed and followed Walker. "He snapped!"

The time bomb had gone off. She knew that he was going to kill someone if they weren't fast enough to stop him. Steve and Bucky passed by her, if anyone was fast enough to stop a new super soldier it were these two.

But they were too late. All four of them were too late. Walker had managed to catch one of the Flag Smashers and he'd killed the man in day broad light in the middle of a town square. With Steve's shield. He'd almost completely beheaded the man. Blood was dripping from the shield onto the floor.

Walker turned around and just stared at Steve before he ran away. Steve immediately took up pursuit. Bucky wanted to follow him, but Natasha struck out her arm to stop him.

"No, this is Steve's fight. He's going to take back the shield."