Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Arrowverse or Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Comics, Marvel Comics or any characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises or anything else you may recognize.
A.R.G.U.S.
"I can't talk for long. You and Barnes need to lay low. Me, Stark and the rest are trying to minimize the damage here but you gotta move fast." Lyla said before she hung up as General Glenn Talbot approached her.
"Director Michaels. Where's Captain Rogers and the Winter Soldier and John Steele?" Talbot demanded.
"AWOL. We've been searching for them." Lyla said.
"You have 96 hours to bring Barnes here or I will hold you responsible for the innocents he's—"
"General, with all due respect, we have valid reason to believe that Barnes has been framed. The security triple-checked the man posing as Dr. Broussard, he was an impostor. Dr. Broussard was just found dead in his hotel." Lyla said.
"Then who the hell was that guy interrogating Barnes?" Talbot demanded.
"We're working on it." Lyla said.
"I want either Barnes or that psychiatrist brought in ASAP or I swear to God, I'll make sure you're going to share a cell with Amanda Waller." Talbot growled and Lyla shivered as he walked away, not wanting to be anywhere near her former boss.
Washington, D.C.
In an abandoned warehouse, Bucky came to, his metal arm restrained to some kind of a machinery as Steve, Sam, Steele, Logan, Matt, Oliver, Sara and Barry approached him.
"Steve…" Bucky whispered.
"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve inquired.
Bucky seemed to try to remember as he spoke up. "Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." He smiled fondly at the memory as Steve chuckled.
"Can't read that in the museum." Steve said.
"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked skeptically.
"I think he's not a threat anymore." Logan said.
"What did I do?" Bucky whispered, dreading the thought.
"Enough." Steve said and Bucky groaned.
"God, I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there, all he had to do was say the goddamned words." Bucky said.
"How the hell did that guy even get past security without anyone double-checking him?" Steele questioned.
"The security sucks." Logan said.
"Who was he, anyway?" Oliver asked Bucky.
"I don't know." Bucky said.
"Think, Barnes. People are dead!" Matt snapped.
"The bombing, the setup, all that just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than 'I don't know.'." Steve insisted.
Bucky tried to think as he remembered. "He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."
"Why would he want to know that?" Steve asked.
"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier." Bucky explained grimly, to their shock.
"You gotta be shitting me." Logan groaned.
"I'm afraid he's not." Matt said, knowing Bucky was telling the truth.
Bucky explained to them that he had retrieved five samples of a duplicate of Super Soldier serum, which was injected to five Hydra operatives.
"Who were they?" Steve asked.
"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in Hydra history and that was before the serum." Bucky explained.
"They're all like you?" Oliver asked.
"Worse." Bucky said grimly.
"Could the doctor control them?" Barry asked.
"Enough." Bucky nodded.
"He said he wanted to see an empire fall." Steve noted.
"With these guys, he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming." Bucky summarized as Steve, Sam, Logan, Steele, Oliver, Sara, Matt and Barry went aside.
"What are we gonna do?" Oliver asked.
"We're gonna need Tony and the rest of the Avengers." Matt said.
"But Thor is gone and last I checked, Tony's retired too. If we're gonna face five guys who are just like Bucky, we're gonna need one hell of a backup. And make sure T'Challa is not gonna kill Bucky." Steve said.
"We've got 96 hours. That's not a lot of a window." Sara noted.
"I know a guy." Sam said, remembering someone.
Later, Leipzig, Germany
In a car park in Leipzig airport, Steve, Sam, Bucky, Oliver, Sara, Barry, Matt, Logan and Steele met with Clint, Natasha Pietro and Wanda as they shook hands.
"Hey." Natasha smiled.
"Hey." Matt said.
"Cap." Clint shook his hand with Steve.
"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice." Steve said.
"Hey, man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe them a debt." Clint said, turning to the Maximoff twins.
"Thanks for having our backs." Steve said.
"Well, nothing like saving the day, huh?" Pietro shrugged.
"How about our other recruit?" Steve asked as Clint opened the door to his van to reveal Scott Lang lying down and sleeping.
"He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him but… he should be good." Clint said.
Scott got up and groaned. "What time zone is this?"
"Come on." Clint ordered as Scott shook his hand with Steve, enthusiastic.
"Captain America!" Scott said.
"Mr. Lang." Steve said.
"It's an honor." Scott said before realizing something. "I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow, this is awesome! Captain America!" He turned to Wanda. "I know you too, you're great!" Scott then turned to Oliver, Sara, Matt and Barry. "And you are supposed to be who?"
"Meet the Green Arrow, the Canary, Daredevil and the Flash." Steve said.
"If you tell this to someone else, we're gonna kill you." Sara said and Scott paled, as Sara reminded him of pissed off Hope.
"Noted." Scott nodded quickly as they chuckled before Scott turned to Sam. "Hey, man."
"What's up, Tic-Tac?" Sam chuckled.
"Uh, good to see you." Scott said nervously. "Look, what happened last time, when…"
"It was a great audition but it'll never happen again." Sam said.
"They tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked
"Something about some psycho-assassins?" Scott asked.
"Nat. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Matt asked as he and Natasha went aside, talking in private. "Back in Washington, you told Barnes 'You could at least recognize me.' The way you said it…" He remembered how emotional Natasha was as he heard her fastened heartbeat, knowing her emotions were going wild as she sighed.
"It's a long story, Matt. I used to know him, you know? It was a long time ago. When I was trained in the Red Room, Barnes was one of the people I trained with." Natasha said, remembering as Matt noticed how much in pain she was from reliving it.
"But you two were… very close, weren't you?" Matt asked.
"I fell for him. Yeah. Slept with him a few times." Natasha nodded. "But it was very brief, he disappeared before whatever we had would become something more. I hadn't seen him until Hydra uprising and it wasn't until much later, when I realized who he really was. I mean, the Winter Soldier, not Barnes. I didn't know until two years ago about Bucky."
"And… do you still…" Matt paused, not sure if he wanted to know.
"Like I said, it was a long time ago. And besides, we've become very different people since then. Even if he would've remembered and wanted to… I've moved on a long time ago. I want you with me. Wherever it may take us." Natasha said as she held Matt's hand as they both smiled. Suddenly, an explosion went off as they turned to the runway. "What the hell…"
"That's impossible…" Oliver whispered as they saw a group of mercenaries led by a man wearing Deathstroke suit and another man in white cloak and a skull mask and blue armor, with a sword and a shield, while civilians scattered around in panic as the mercenaries were shooting at them, alongside with three people, one of them was a tall man with a beard and a shield with blades and a spike in its center, another one was a Caucasian brunette in red with wrist guns and a dark-skinned woman with a silver jacket.
"Didn't you kill him?" Steve asked, eying Deathstroke as he then turned to Oliver.
"That's not Slade Wilson." Matt said, sensing that his heartbeat was different.
"Wait, who's that woman that looks like China White?" Sara asked.
Logan took a closer look and groaned upon recognizing her. "You gotta be shitting me."
"And the Longbow Hunters." Oliver said, recognizing the assassins.
Oliver, Sara, Matt, Barry, Steve, Logan, Tony, Sam, Scott, Steele, Natasha, Rhodey, Clint, Vision, Wanda, Pietro, Peter and Bucky appeared as Pietro and Barry quickly knocked down some of the mercenaries.
"Leave them alone." Steve said.
"We can't let you go." Lady Deathstrike said.
"We have some unfinished business, Arrow." The man in Deathstroke suit said, talking with an Australian accent.
"Who are you? Why are you dressed like Slade?" The Green Arrow demanded as the man put down his mask.
"I came to collect the debt you owe my father." The man sneered and Oliver immediately realized who it was.
"Joe…"
"The name's 'Kane', now." Joe sneered.
"Enough talk. Let's dance." The man in the skull mask said.
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
Scott enlarged, flipping back and knocking Joe down.
Logan roared, rushing at Deathstrike as their claws crossed. Deathstrike stabbed Logan in the back but Logan threw her away before lunging at her.
Steele opened fire at Joe but Joe's armor protected him. Joe rushed at them as Steve threw his shield but the man in the skull mask caught and threw it at Steve, who caught it just in time as he noticed that the man in the skull mask used the same move Steve was using.
Bucky, Natasha, Sara, Oliver, Clint and Matt dodged the gunfire from the Jackals as Tony and Rhodey flew around, trying to shoot down the Jackals. Most of them were taken down before Nylander fired a device from some bazooka that hit Rhodey's suit, incapacitating him and disabling it as he fell down before Tony and Vision shot them down.
"Rhodey, are you OK?" Tony asked.
"No. Systems are down." Rhodey said.
Logan groaned as Deathstrike stabbed him in the back before Wanda grabbed Deathstrike telekinetically and threw her away before she had to block Red's darts.
Steve engaged Bear, their shields crossed and Steve dodged the blade coming out from Bear's shield before Steele pushed him back. Steele and Bear exchanged blows before Steele punched Bear in the face, staggering him back.
Oliver, Sara, Matt, Bucky, Clint and Natasha engaged the man in the skull mask. The man in the skull mask dodged Matt's punch and blocked Sara's kick as he jumped and kicked Oliver and Bucky back and spun around with his sword, as they dodged. Clint attempted to hit the man with his bow but the man dodged and wrapped his legs around Clint before knocking him down.
Clint groaned as he got up. "Is it just me or…"
"…he's copying our moves." Oliver realized.
"What the hell are you?" Sara demanded.
"Call me Taskmaster." The man in the skull mask said as he pulled out a pair of escrima sticks.
Sara, Matt and Natasha engaged Taskmaster with their batons but Taskmaster effortlessly blocked their attacks before knocking them back.
Suddenly, all sounds were drowned out and Matt was unable to hear anything. He sensed a knife behind him and barely dodged, when Silencer attempted to stab him but without his hearing, he was useless as she cut him in the shoulder before she had to dodge as Rhodey fired at her and the sounds were heard again.
Oliver dodged, when Joe tried to slice him and blocked his sword before hitting him in the face, staggering him back. Oliver and Joe traded blows before Joe dodged Oliver's kick and cut him in the leg as Oliver fell down. Before Joe could finish him off, Barry rushed at him and restrained him with some cables.
Tony flew around, dodging the shots from the Jackals as Spider-Man webbed them up.
"They're just trying to distract us and keep us busy!" Tony realized.
"This isn't the real fight, Steve!" Sam said. "We need a diversion. Something big."
"I got something big." Scott said. "But I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."
"He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky asked.
"You sure about this, Scott?" Steve questioned.
"I do it all the time. I mean, once. In a lab. Then I passed out." Scott said as he jumped down from the stairwell and enlarged himself into Giant-Man as he laughed.
"What the…" Oliver whispered.
"Way to go, Tic Tac!" Sam cheered.
"That wasn't part of the plan." Deathstrike said.
"Fall back!" Joe ordered as he, the Jackals, Taskmaster, Deathstrike and the Longbow Hunters were retreating as Scott was smashing the AFVs. Red fired a flashbang dart on the ground as the Avengers started to chase them.
"We'll take care of them!" Natasha said.
"She's right. We gotta go, the guy's probably in Siberia by now." Bucky said.
"Let's go." Oliver said as he, Matt, Barry, Steve, Steele and Bucky entered the jet.
"I'll catch up with you as soon as I figure out who that guy is." Tony said as he flew away. Unknowing to them, T'Challa was following them in his plane in stealth mode.
Forgot to mention this in the previous chapter but one thing that has always bugged me was Zemo getting past security, while posing as Broussard, the guy, who was supposed to psych eval Bucky but then again, Civil War was from most part plot over logic.
Hope you liked the reference to Bucky/Natasha relationship in comic books.
Not proud of how the airport fight was done, given it had to be different from the actual film but hope you liked it. To sum up the villains, they were Joe Wilson (Kane Wolfman), the Jackals, Lady Deathstrike and Taskmaster and the Longbow Hunters. And they all escaped because I have plans for some of them in the sequel.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.