Hello my dears! Apologies for the delayed chapter, I think I'm going to scale updates back to once every two weeks. As always, please engage if you're enjoying! It fuels the writing bug :)
Reviews
DBZFAN45: So glad you're enjoying! I'm probably not going to tie in anything Kang related as idk where the MCU is going with that so it's hard to guess haha. Thank you for your enthusiastic reviews :)
shorttrooper: Thank you! I've been building towards those discussions between Maggie and Zemo, and your phrasing of it as the 'emotional upper hand' is just perfect - it's made me realise that I think Zemo's main struggle is actually control. He couldn't control his own grief or his life after Sokovia, so now he wants to control super serum, and also wants to be able to control the emotions of those he feels who have wronged him. Ugh, I could talk about him for ages. Enjoy his return this chapter ;) Hope you've had a lovely week, and happy holidays!
Leaning against a table in a bustling coffee shop, Captain John Walker asked his friend the question that had been burning in his mind for hours.
"If you had a chance to take the serum, would you?"
"Hells yeah," Lemar replied, unhesitating.
The vial in John's jacket pocket felt like it weighed a hundred tons. "You wouldn't be worried about how it might… how it might change you?" He looked to Lemar's face, as if for salvation.
"I mean… power just makes a person more of themselves, right?"
Maggie awoke with an inhale so sharp that it instantly set her off coughing. She fought upright, despite the concerned hands flapping at her, until she was sitting upright on the couch she'd been laid out on. Her head twisted, taking in her surroundings with wide eyes - Sam hovered over her, his hands now at a safe distance, and Bucky hurried over from the kitchen, his expression breaking with concern.
Maggie's hand slapped to her chest and she looked down, but the dart was gone. Her head thumped sluggishly, and she swallowed past the feeling of cotton-mouth.
"What happened?" she mumbled, wincing at new aches springing up. The back of her head where the Dora had hit her pounded painfully.
Bucky hurried to her side, checking her pupils as he pressed a glass of water into her hands.
"Zemo got away," Sam explained, while Bucky fussed. "Hit you with a high-dose tranquilizer, you've been out about an hour. Which I understand is a long time, for you super soldier types." He crossed his arms. "The Dora Milaje went after him, and Walker and Hoskins have retreated."
Maggie downed the water Bucky had given her, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Stupid," she muttered to herself.
"We all were," Bucky agreed, his hand squeezing hers. "At least you noticed Zemo trying to get away, the rest of us were…" he shook his head.
"There's no time for that," Sam frowned. "Zemo and Karli are still loose in the city, we need to get looking for them. You good?"
Maggie stood upright, blinking past the dizziness, with Bucky's supporting hand on her elbow. "Yeah. Let's go."
An hour later, the three of them were striding down one of the main streets in Old Town, no clear destination in mind but determined in their search, when Sam's phone rang.
He started off the call tense, clearly trying to get the caller - his sister Sarah - off the phone, but Maggie glanced over when he said: "What?" in a tone she'd never heard from him before.
His brows had drawn together and the look in his eyes unnerved her - he looked afraid. Maggie cast a glance at Bucky, and he frowned, clearly listening in to the call as well.
"She said what?" Sam said, pressing the phone closer to his ear, breathless. "Alright, hold on, hold on - I know, I know. Listen, pack an overnight bag and take the boys."
"What happened?" Bucky asked.
"Karli called Sarah," Sam replied grimly, his face twisting. "She threatened my nephews."
"The fuck." Maggie whipped out her own phone and started texting. Sam had returned the phone to his ear and was giving his sister frantic instructions. Before he could hang up, she grabbed his sleeve. "Wait." He looked at her. "Tell Sarah I'm sending someone to look after them, he'll meet them at the First Horizons motel just outside town."
He stared at her.
"It's Happy," she explained. "He'll protect them with his life, and he knows how to stay off the grid."
Sam nodded, still frowning. "Thanks." He passed the info on to his sister. "I know," he finished with. "Look, I love you. I'll never let anything happen to you and the boys, you know that. Okay. Right."
Maggie finished texting, assured in Happy's speedy response, and pocketed her phone at the same time as Sam. Bucky watched them; his face could have been carved from stone. She knew he hated not being able to help.
"Karli wants to meet," Sam said, once he'd hung up. "She left a contact number." His phone chimed, and he looked down. "She's sent a meeting place. She said come alone."
"I'm coming with you," Bucky replied easily. He looked to Maggie, for just a moment. "We're coming with you."
Maggie found herself perched, once more, on a tiled rooftop above the streets of Latvia. Only this time, rather than her jeans and coat, she wore the dark nanotech uniform that she'd not activated since her brother had been alive. It was the uniform she'd made for herself in her grief after they'd lost the battle in Wakanda, to keep her alive during her journeys through space with Rocket, Nebula, and Carol. The uniform had a sense of drama she no longer felt quite fit; she'd turned it entirely black, all hard lines and void of humanity. Theoretically she could change it to whatever she liked, thanks to the nanotech, but she didn't have the mental energy to think about uniforms anymore. The wings, of course, were not deployed.
"Karli!"
She looked down, watching as Sam and Bucky, each in their own more up-to-date uniforms, strode into the square of the North Plaza, a cobblestoned space closed off by a square of stately stone buildings. Maggie hunkered down on her roof, and checked the thermal-read view through her red slitted goggles; sure enough, Karli had not moved from where she'd been the last time Maggie checked, standing on the second level of one of the stone buildings.
"She's still here alone," Maggie whispered into the comms, her voice so low that she barely heard it. Sam and Bucky made no sound to acknowledge.
They were somewhat at Karli's whim, here; they didn't know quite what she planned, or where her friends were. The best they could do was meet up with her on her terms, and hope they could thwart whatever the Flagsmasher was up to. Sam had called in Sharon for help, but Maggie wasn't sure what she'd be able to do all the way from Madripoor.
Karli leaned out on the edge of the banister overlooking the square. Sam and Bucky noticed her, then ascended the stairs.
"You called my sister?" Sam snapped as soon as he was face to face with Karli. Maggie could only see them through her thermal vision, but she could hear everything clearly over the comms. "That's how we're going to play this?"
He and Karli exchanged tense words, while Bucky hung back, a silent watcher. Karli explained that she didn't want to kill Sam.
"You're just a tool in the regimes I want to destroy. You're not hiding behind a shield. If I were to kill you, it'd be meaningless."
A tense silence followed. Maggie didn't see Sam share a significant glance with Bucky, but she was having the same thought as them.
She's after Walker.
Maggie kept her eyes on their surroundings, but it was becoming clearer and clearer that none of the other Flagsmashers were coming. "This is a distraction," she murmured into the comms. Bucky hummed under his breath, almost below the level of super-soldier hearing. Agreement.
Moments later, Sharon's voice crackled over their comms, explaining that she had tracked Walker - just as he was arriving at a building full of Flagsmashers. "Looks like he found them. Or they found him."
Below Maggie's feet, Sam whirled to Bucky. "It's Walker."
The three glowing orange bodies in Maggie's goggles burst into action. Bucky first, leaping over the stone banister, only to be intercepted by the blur of Karli, pouncing to knock him straight down to the cobblestoned ground. They landed with a crack and rolled apart.
Maggie leaped off the rooftop. She saw the situation beneath her in an instant as she fell - Bucky sprawled on the ground, and Sam dropping down to face Karli, his fists raised.
He didn't need to bother. Maggie crashed down on Karli's shoulders like a shadow from above, cinching with her knees like the Red Room had taught her decades ago, wrenching Karli off-balance and sending her tumbling to the ground.
"You two go!" she snarled over her shoulder to Bucky and Sam as Karli cried out. They took off without a moment's hesitation, following the coordinates Sharon had sent through.
Maggie turned, just as Karli Morgenthau rose to her feet, placing a black mask with a red hand-print on it over her face.
John Walker strode down the corridors of the abandoned state building, his senses screaming and his body flashing hot, then cold. He flinched and twitched at times, unused to the new strength coursing through him like a drug. He heard so much, every slight creak of a door and every tap against stone, even if they were impossibly far.
His heart pounded, for more than just the serum; they'd taken Lemar. He'd found Lemar's gun in the last room, and he knew his friend would never have abandoned his weapon like that. His fists curled, the leather gloves creaking.
He heard the whistle of the knife in the air just in time to jerk his head back. The blade plunged into the wall by his head and he turned, shield rising, just as the Flagsmasher dove out of the shadows toward him.
Karli Morgenthau rose to her feet, grimacing at the pain in her shoulders and neck, and lifted her gaze to face the figure that stood before her.
The Wyvern.
Karli knew all about her, of course; she'd even known that Stark was here in Riga with Wilson and Barnes. It still didn't prepare Karli for the sight of her: she stood in a looming dark uniform, red goggles glowing like a permanent glare, her talon-tipped hands loose at her sides. Karli couldn't help but see her as some kind of unearthly horror, summoned by shadows.
Maggie watched Karli take in the sight of her, her eyes barely visible through the slits in her eye mask.
"This doesn't concern you," Karli finally snapped, in an unusual accent. "Stay out of it."
Maggie ignored her. "Do you really think the world would be better if we hadn't brought them back?"
Karli stiffened. But she didn't pretend she didn't know what Maggie meant. "It's not the bringing them back I have an issue with," she snarled. "It's the fact that all these governments and corporations have squeezed us out to make room for them."
"What if it wasn't like that?"
"That's the goal," Karli challenged. "You and yours failed. We're going to bring the solution." She hit her chest.
"We could work together," Maggie said, taking a step forward. "I won't abide killing, but I think we'd work well together. Your leadership, and my resources-"
The other woman scoffed. "You've spent your life killing."
Maggie retracted her goggles so the other woman could see her eyes. "And is that how you want your life to go, too? I can promise you, all blood ever brought me was nightmares."
Karli let out a snarl and dove forward. She swung, deadly and fast, but Maggie was ready for it. She ducked under the blow, twisted, and then rose up to crack her knuckles across Karli's jaw, exactly where she'd seen the bruise on Bucky's face a week ago. She wasn't much of a one for vengeance these days, but she couldn't resist it this time.
Karli reeled back, grunting, but didn't take the bait. She turned on her heel and took off running, in the direction Sam and Bucky had gone.
Damn. Maggie sprinted after her.
Wings burning, Sam crashed through the glass skylight of the abandoned state building Sharon had traced Walker to. He hovered down the centre space of the flights of winding stairs, retracting his wings, then flinched as a man in a Flagsmasher mask flew bodily across the ground level and collided with a wall. Sam's feet touched down and he tensed. Moments later Walker appeared, shield on his arm and his movements sure as he jogged down the stairs toward the Flagsmasher. The Flagsmasher rose, a metal pipe raised, and Walker caught the pipe in one hand and folded it in half.
"Oh, shit," muttered the Flagsmasher.
Walker hurled him aside, and the Flagsmasher scrambled away, running further into the building.
Sam looked from the man, and back to Walker. "What did you do?"
Walker strode past him, barely looking at him. "They've got Lemar."
Bucky kicked a Flagsmasher through a brick wall, sending up a cloud of dust and rubble. He peered through, satisfied that the man attacking him had finally fallen unconscious.
"Stay there," he muttered.
He'd plunged into the grand, abandoned building a minute ago, chasing after Sam who'd apparently found Walker, but he'd been ambushed by the Flagmasher halfway up the stairs.
He turned, again searching for the fastest route-
The window to his left exploded inward. He turned, fists raised and his centre of gravity lowering, only to relax again when he recognised the dark figure rising to her feet on the marble floor.
"Where's Karli?" he asked.
Meg shook her head, swiping shattered glass off her sleeve. "Lost her. She's fast." She jerked her head up the staircase. "But we know who she's after."
In tandem they raced to the staircase and took the stairs three at a time, not sparing a glance for the faded grandeur of the old building. At the top of the stairs they turned, hearing the distant sounds of fighting, and took a step forward-
Two shadows dropped down from above.
Bucky and Meg didn't take a second to look at each other as the two Flagsmashers ambushed them. Bucky went for the man on the left, a foot taller than him and growling behind his black mask, just as he knew Meg would go for the one on the right. He heard her hard punches and the deadly click of her heel spurs when she slashed for the Flagsmasher bearing down on her, as he blocked the downward punch of the one going after him. His arm shook a little under the super-powered force of it and he knew he'd bruise, but then he shoved the taller man back with his metal arm, pivoted, and kicked him square in the chest. The Flagsmasher crashed backward into the next room. A moment later he'd picked himself up, then bolted away into the next room, clearly planning another ambush.
Bucky looked back, fists clenched - just as Meg's Flagsmasher pulled a similar move on her. He reared back and kicked her, sending her toppling backward over the banister of the stairs.
Like a muscle-deep instinct, Bucky knew what Meg would do next: she'd flick out her wings, dark and sharp, and then swoop back up, charging into the Flagsmasher, like he'd seen her do dozens of times before.
But she didn't. Meg merely somersaulted in midair and fell three stories, landing on her feet and putting a crack in the tiles, before lifting both hands. Two energy bolts fired up from her wrist blasters and the Flagsmasher fell back, crying out.
"Keep going, Bucky!" she called, and he obeyed, turning on his heel and chasing after his Flagsmasher, but with a twist of discomfort in his gut. She'd surprised him. For so long fighting by her side had been instinct and muscle memory. She'd just gone against every instinct both of them had.
"What's with all the knives?" Walker exclaimed as he and Sam fought off the three supersoldiers who'd ambushed them. Sam, busy dodging a super soldier, did not reply.
Maggie quickly sprinted back up the stairs, knocking out the Flagsmasher who'd kicked her down them on the way, then raced after Bucky. She found him three rooms over, grappling with the same Flagsmasher who'd ambushed him before. She doubled her speed, wrist blasters lifting, but Bucky had it in hand. While the Flagsmasher might have been a super soldier, he was no Winter Soldier. Bucky twisted him into a grapple, kneed him in the side and then hurled him to the ground, disarming him of his knife in the process. Bucky reared back his arm and flung the knife - it plunged into the ground by the Flagsmasher's head.
Maggie bore down on the prone Flagsmasher and blasted him into unconsciousness.
With a breathless nod, she and Bucky ran on toward the sounds of metal clanging and engines burning - Sam using his wingpack in the fight, no doubt. They ran into the next room, a wide space with thin hospital beds against the walls, and had a second to process: there were a handful of Flagsmashers centered around Walker, whose shield rebounding lightning-fast off the walls, and Sam.
Sam had just kicked a Flagsmasher away from him, his wingpack engines alight, but there was another one racing toward him from behind, arms outstretched.
Bucky darted forward before Maggie could - he intercepted the Flagsmasher with a single punch, sending him crashing to the ground. Sam turned, eyebrows high, and Bucky merely said:
"You're welcome."
At the other end of the room a super soldier seized Walker from behind, grappling his arms while his shield clattered to the ground. Maggie looked up at the sound of Walker's grunt, and in the same moment spotted Karli as she ran in from an entrance in the far corner, a knife in her hand as she dove across a table toward Walker. Maggie's gut lurched - the tide had turned in less than a second.
Karli dove for Walker, knife raised, only for her cry to break off as Lemar Hoskins dove in from another doorway to tackle her away. The two of them tumbled and Maggie lifted her blasters toward the man grappling Walker instead, her heart skipping with a moment of relief. If she could just get a good angle…
But Hoskins and Karli weren't done. They both rose, and before Hoskins was fully on his feet Karli turned, roaring wordlessly, to punch him square in the chest. Hoskins flew across the room and smashed into a far stone pillar; the pillar broke, and Hoskins slumped.
Everyone stilled. No orders had been given, but with everyone's eyes on the motionless, half-sitting Hoskins, no one was able to fight. Even Karli's rage drained, and she removed her mask, staring. A strange silence fell.
Walker broke free of the grapple and staggered towards his friend. "Hey, hey," he breathed, dropping to his knees. "Hey," he reached out, patting Hoskins's shoulder, fingers fumbling for his neck. "Lemar. Lemar."
No one moved, as they all waited for Hoskins to move.
Maggie couldn't see Hoskins's face from where she stood at the other end of the room, her wrist blasters falling, but she saw the truth of it in the way Walker's shoulders seemed to tremble, then fall. She knew what it was like to kneel over a loved one's body.
Maggie blinked when the Flagsmashers started running; most of them back they way she'd come in, and Karli down an entranceway on the other side of the room.
Maggie was the first to run after them. She unstuck her numb feet from the floor and ran across the room toward Karli's exit, casting a desperate gaze back at Bucky and Sam. She didn't know whether she was asking them to follow, or to stay with Walker.
As she dashed out of the room she saw Walker sit back on his heels, his head hanging and a dead look in his eyes. Her heart twisted, but she didn't stop.
Seconds later, Lemar Hoskins's body sat, alone, in the vast empty space. The others had all split off in different directions. Walker had dived out the window and chased after the one Flagsmasher he'd been able to spot; not Karli, but her friend. The one who'd held him back while his friend died.
Walker chased him down the street, around the corner. Chased him out into a town square, to the steps of a statue.
"Where is she?" With two devastating strikes from the shield, he'd knocked the man to the ground.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" The man's eyes widened with terror.
Walker's heartbeat surged in his ears.
Racing down a back alley on the other side of the building, Maggie caught a glimpse of Karli's distinctive red hair.
"Karli!" she shouted.
The woman glanced back - she'd taken off her mask - eyes white and wild, but turned and kept running. She vanished around the next corner.
Maggie surged forward, her feet flying along the cobblestones, and burst around the corner - and was met with a savage kick to the chest. With her speed and the super-serum behind the kick, she felt a sickening crack in her chest and slammed backward to the ground, her breath crushed out of her lungs. She shuddered for breath, sensing more movement above her, and then felt a snap as someone stomped on her prosthetic leg, crumpling the metal.
She looked up, wincing, to see Karli and another Flagsmasher already backing away from her. Despite the fact they'd gotten the drop on her, they both looked terrified.
"Come on!" called the man, grabbing Karli's sleeve. He still wore his mask, but his voice shook with fear.
Karli glanced back, her eyes darting from Maggie and back to the building they'd both run from. "I - I didn't mean-"
"You knew exactly what you meant," Maggie gasped, fighting for breath. She pushed herself up on one elbow. "But you can come back from this, Karli, if you just stop running. Let me help you-"
She shook her head. "I've come too far now."
"No-"
But Karli and her friend turned on their heels and ran. Maggie let out a guttural groan, forcing her lungs to fill with air, then deflate again. Each breath was a lance of agony.
She pulled herself toward the nearest wall, put her shoulder to the surface, and then pushed herself upright, one legged. She could feel the creak and grind of her broken ribs and she clutched her side, weeping with the pain of it. She might be a super-soldier, but broken ribs were broken ribs. She forced herself to breathe. Forced herself to find the clarity in the pain. She searched about herself, spotted a wooden fence a few yards ahead, then hopped forward to break free a length of wood she could use as a makeshift crutch.
Grimacing, she limped back the way she'd come. She didn't come across Bucky or Sam. They must've gone a different way.
She found her way to the main square on the other side of the abandoned building. The closer she got, the more the frown on her sweaty brow deepened. The square was full of people, but they weren't behaving like a regular square of people should - no one was moving, lots of them had their phones up and filming, and they were all facing the same direction. And they were quiet. None of them took any notice as she limped amongst them, balancing on a length of wooden fencing.
She followed their gazes, and saw Walker. His chest rose and fell as he looked around at them all, his silent audience. He wasn't close enough to Maggie for her to really make out his face, but there was something in his stance that unnerved her. He turned, facing her section of the crowd, and she realized he was holding the shield-
Her stomach dropped. The bottom third of the Vibranium shield was splattered, drenched with scarlet blood. She stumbled forward, and spotted what she'd missed from her previous angle.
The body lay lim[ on the steps before the statue, head severed from its shoulders. She recognized the man from his clothes; one of the Flagsmashers, but she didn't know his name. Blood pooled on the cobblestones.
Maggie had seen all kinds of violence in her time, violence that ate the soul and haunted waking nightmares. The violence she saw in Walker's stance was not new to her. But the sight of the blood-soaked shield turned her stomach and sent her cold. This was something new.
She sensed a presence on the other side of the square and spotted Bucky and Sam, their open, horrified faces turned toward Walker as well. Sam bowed his head.
Maggie blinked, long and slow, and when she opened her eyes again Walker was gone; the crowd let out a low murmur as he ran away, back down a street and out of sight.
He left a trail of blood in his wake.
The footage of the attack hit the internet before Walker even left the square.
The world was watching.
Bucky had spotted Maggie on the other side of the square, and he and Sam had rushed over to her, helping her out of the square and to a nearby metal bench.
The three of them were speechless as they eased Maggie down onto the bench, clutching her ribs.
"No, stop," she finally said, batting away their hands and closing her eyes. She didn't want to look at the crushed and useless prosthetic dangling from her right leg. "We've got to go after him." Her breath shuddered on the word him. She saw the blood dripping from the shield, like an afterimage burned into her retinas.
She could hear distant sirens. The crowd in the square they'd left were still quiet, muttering amongst themselves.
"Yeah," Sam murmured, looking over his shoulder in the direction Walker had gone. His eyes were dazed. "Sharon tracked him here, she could probably… we've gotta go find him."
Maggie pushed back off the bench, swallowing a groan. Bucky reached for her, but she pushed his hand away. She tested the prosthetic leg, but it buckled under her weight. The metal had been thoroughly crushed.
"You can't come with us," Sam put his hand on her shoulder. "You've taken too many hits."
"I've been in worse shape for worse fights, Sam," she snapped, shaking his hand off her shoulder, despite the burst of pain in her ribs.
Bucky watched her, his jaw tight. "Sam and I can take Walker, Meg, super serum or no. He's not thinking clearly."
"That makes him more dangerous," she urged, her breath tight. "You saw what he did," she whispered. There were more people rushing down the street to the square now, casting odd glances at the three of them in their uniforms.
Bucky took both of her arms, forcing her to face him, and he drew a deep breath. "You know I'd never tell you what to do, doll. That's not how we work. But…" he looked into her eyes. "Please. Wait here, and heal. Maybe if this fight was tomorrow, when I know you'll be pretty much whole again, but…" he squeezed his eyes shut. "Would you be able to think straight in a fight if it were me, fighting hurt beside you?"
His words cut through her anger and her horror and took the wind out of her sails. She looked down, swallowing hard. Two police cars and an ambulance raced down the street now, headed for the square.
When she looked up, she knew Bucky saw the fire in her eyes. "You bring him back," she whispered. "And you get that shield."
His eyes warmed with relief. "Yes ma'am." He kissed her, then pulled back. "Stay safe. Find Karli or Zemo, if you can."
"Right, that other problem." She glanced to Sam, who was fidgeting, clearly anxious to be after Walker. "Take care of each other."
With another grave nod, Bucky and Sam took off running. They turned the corner, and Maggie heard the flare of engines as Sam deployed his wingpack.
Maggie sank back onto the metal bench, barely noticing as all sorts of emergency services vehicles flooded past, wailing and flashing. She shivered with adrenaline and pain and something else, staring down at the cobblestones. But she wasn't seeing them.
Bucky and Sam found him in an empty factory, on the outskirts of town.
He'd been crouched on the ground, head hanging low over the bloody shield when they arrived - still in his full uniform. He'd been muttering to himself.
But then he rolled his shoulders and stood up. He noticed them and told them to see a medic for the bruises and cuts they'd sustained in the chase, as if they were just catching up at the end of a fight. The forced normality felt like nails on a chalkboard.
The act soon broke, though, and Bucky saw something else behind the facade of a tired soldier.
"You saw what happened," Walker snapped, his voice rising. "You know what I had to do - I killed him because I had to! He killed Lemar!"
"He didn't kill Lemar, John," Bucky cut in, keeping his voice low. He and Sam stepped purposefully, tactically. "Don't go down that road, believe me. It doesn't end well."
"I'm not like you," Walker hissed at him. Bucky looked down.
Sam began reasoning with Walker, his voice low and soothing. But Bucky had already seen in Walker's eyes that this wasn't going to end with them talking him down. He'd gone too far.
Bucky's arm let out a low whir.
Maggie had convinced a police car to take her back to the safehouse, where she'd stashed her laptop. They had wanted to take her to hospital, but she'd waved them off. She knew all too well that the best medicine for her broken ribs would be time. So she eased herself down on the bed of the spare room in the empty and trashed safehouse, her body aching and her heart thrumming with… so much. She felt as if someone had poured her full of pain and frustration and horror, and she was leaking at the seams.
She opened the laptop, getting grime and blood on the case. She couldn't bring herself to care. Her usual F.R.I.D.A.Y.-enabled desktop greeted her, notifications of a few ever-running programs pinging to her attention. Her fingers hovered over the keys.
Find Karli or Zemo, if you can.
Tears stung at her eyes, and she reached up to swipe them away. I wonder if you are capable of anything anymore, she heard, in Zemo's voice. She grit her teeth, shook her head, and set about searching.
Bucky will be okay, she told herself. He'd be better in a fight without her like this, she knew it. I've got a mission.
Bucky's instincts had been right.
You don't want to do this, Walker had said, low and menacing.
Yeah, we do, Bucky had replied.
And then the violence had erupted from Walker once more.
Bucky and Sam fought together, trading off for Walker's attention and grabbing for the shield whenever they could. Sam was good, using the mechanics of his wings to his advantage. And Bucky knew how to fight with a winged partner at his side.
Walker fought like a berserker; he swung without care for what he hit, his eyes glinting with something more than grief. The super serum coursing through his veins was no joke either, making each swing of the shield a crushing arc of death. Each blow struck against Bucky lit up with pain, but he forced himself to take them - Sam wouldn't stand up to many of those. He was glad Meg had stayed behind, not because she couldn't take Walker, but because he did not want to see Walker's mad rage and grief unleashed on her, too.
Walker slammed Bucky up against a large piece of machinery with the shield, relentless in his power. Bucky cried out, then again when Walker slammed once more.
"Why are you making me do this?" Walker growled, crushing the Vibranium against Bucky's chest. Bucky pushed back against his strength with a groan, gripping the shield, and Walker roared in his face: "Why are you making me do this!"
He seized Bucky and hurled, and Bucky's gut swooped at the weightless feeling before he collided with something; power lines, he thought, a moment before the live electricity arced up his arm and into his torso, blacking out his vision.
Maggie ignored the headlines popping up across the world about Walker. There was nothing they could say that she didn't know, and she didn't want to see the footage. Being there had been enough.
She thought of Lemar. She had been the one to tell the police where to find his body. He had seemed like a good man. Trust that we're here to do the right thing.
She frowned, shook her head, and turned back to her work.
She didn't even need to read the reactions of the politicians back home. She knew how they'd all turn on Walker after this, even the staunchest war profiteers amongst them. She couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him.
She kept up her hunt, breathing through her pain.
Bucky stirred a few moments later, his head thumping, to a grimacing, groaning sound, and Walker's voice:
"I am Captain America!"
Bucky twisted, looking over just as Walker, pinning Sam to the ground, ripped Sam's wings free in a screech of metal and sparks. Walker roared, seizing the shield and raising it, his eyes wild -
Bucky dove, tackling Walker away from Sam. And despite the throbbing pain in his very bones, he was ready for Walker's strength this time. He took a few hits which made stars burst behind his eyes, but he gave it back as good as he got. He struck for every weak spot he could see: Walker's elbows, his knees, his ribs, striking past the defense of the blood-spattered shield. He cracked his elbow across Walker's jaw, making him roar.
Walker's hand closed around the back of his neck and he used the hold to slam Bucky's head forward, into the edge of the shield. Bucky felt his nose break and he thudded to the ground when Walker dropped him. He rolled, blinking, and just managed to catch the shield in his left hand as it slammed down toward his head again. Vibranium clashed against Vibranium. He gripped the bottom of the blood-soaked shield, determined not to let go again.
He could hear Meg: Get that shield.
Sam dove in, punching down at Walker and seizing the top of the shield. Bucky heard the whine of engines as Sam added their strength to the now tug-of-war.
They were all shouting wordlessly, pulling at the shield, and Bucky found himself face to face with Walker, who was somehow absent and frighteningly present all at once.
There was a snap - Walker's arm, as the shield came off it all at once and jerked it out of place. He screamed, and Bucky felt the force of it against his face as he fell back.
Maggie ignored another call from Pepper, pushing down the guilt she felt. The Flagsmashers had vanished, but she thought she might have found a lead on Zemo - not directly, but now she knew he was from an aristocratic European family, so she'd had a few ideas for things she could try. Things that no one else would think of. She leaned forward, wary of Zemo's intellect in vanishing from the grid, and kept digging.
The fight ended with all three of them flat on their backs, groaning. It had been a vicious, bloody, messy end. Walker lay stunned and senseless, though still conscious.
Bucky was up first - he forced himself to his knees, sitting back on his heels. His breath felt like a hot knife dragging down his throat. His limbs hardly obeyed him. He blinked past the blood and sweat in his eyes, and found that the shield rested just in front of him, gleaming in the dim afternoon light filtering into the workshop.
He fumbled for it and dragged it up, his metal fingers sliding in the blood. His body shook with pain as he forced himself to his feet. He had to lean on the edge of the shield to stand fully upright.
He looked down at the shield, recalling all the moments of his life the disc of metal had seen. He'd seen it unpainted and plain in Howard's workshop in 1944, had seen it handled for the first time in Steve's artist's fingers. He'd charged behind it and Steve into countless battles, bullets and snow flying through the air. He'd wielded it clumsily, defending Steve, and had been knocked out the side of a train as a result. He hadn't touched it for seventy years, until he caught it in his silver hand as the Winter Soldier on a dark rooftop, his mind scoured by lightning. He'd fought against this shield and with it, until he'd watched his dear friend, aged by decades, hand it to Sam. And he'd thought this is right.
This shield had saved his life, been used by him, been used against him.
He limped over to where Sam still lay on his back, groaning. Without a word, he dropped the shield with a clang by his shoulder. Sam looked up at him, and Bucky was in too much pain to read the look he gave him.
He turned and walked away.
Behind him, Sam tried to wipe the blood from the shield.
Bucky returned to the safehouse just as night was falling.
Maggie heard the slow creak of the door opening and struggled to stand, one hand balancing against the tiled wall as she shuffled into the main room, activating her wrist blaster just in case. When she emerged, Bucky turned from the shadows of the threshold to face her.
She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her. The skin of his nose had split, meaning his whole face was smeared with blood, and the nose looked broken. His face was littered with bruises, and one eye was swelling shut. She'd hardly ever seen him so badly hurt; their bodies weren't meant to break like this, except under the violence of other super soldiers.
For a moment, her heart stopped. "Sam-"
"Hurt, but fine," Bucky grunted. "Stayed to make sure Walker was arrested. He's got the shield."
She let out a breath. She took stock of the two of them; bruised and beaten, bleeding, broken bones, hurting from so much more than their injuries. They'd retrieved the shield, but… Maggie couldn't help the crushing feeling of failure.
Bucky swayed a little on his feet. Maggie opened her arms wordlessly, and with a hiccuping breath Bucky limped forward, into her arms, careful not to squeeze or unbalance her. His arms wrapped around her, taking her weight, and his face dropped to the crook of her neck. He smelled like smoke, blood, and sweat.
It was only when she felt his chest convulse under her hands that she realized he was crying. She held him close, running her fingers gently through his hair - careful with a few swelling welts she found. She didn't speak, but occasionally hummed under her breath, so he could feel the vibration of it from her chest into his.
Their bones would mend, and their bruises would fade, far sooner than humanly possible. But Maggie knew that today would stay with them far longer.
May 9th, 2024
The following morning found Maggie and Bucky, with faded bruises and scabbed-over wounds, standing side by side in the old GRC resettlement camp. Only today, the camp was surrounded by GRC forces, who'd raided the camp and arrested dozens of people on suspicion of harboring fugitives.
Bucky was back in his dark clothes, leaning against a metal railing toward the back of the room, and Maggie was in jeans and a coat again, balancing precariously on a makeshift prosthetic - she'd got it from a nearby hospital, and it couldn't do much more than walk.
Sam stood a few yards away, by a table which had the shield resting on its surface, and his broken wings lying underneath it. When she'd walked in, Maggie had instantly spotted the shredded metal.
"I'm sorry, Sam," she'd murmured.
Sam had followed her gaze, but said nothing about it, instead choosing to explain the situation so far. He'd been with the authorities since yesterday, and had texted them both to meet him here. As he explained, Maggie's brow furrowed. The GRC was raiding resettlement camps all across Europe looking for Karli, to no avail.
"She's gone," Sam finished, frustration biting in his voice. "We'll never find her."
"I've been hunting for her and Zemo since yesterday," Maggie sighed. "No trace of the Flagsmashers, they're good at disappearing."
Sam's eyebrow lifted. "But you found a trace of Zemo?"
Maggie pressed her lips shut. She had, indeed, found a few trace pieces of evidence about old Zemo family money moving - she hadn't found the exact money, or a precise location, but she'd found enough to tell her it had moved. Like a footprint in the sand, fading fast. It had given her enough to be able to guess where Zemo was headed.
Sam's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but then a new figure entered, wearing an Air Force uniform.
"Hey, you got your sleeve back!" The young man called to Bucky, his voice shockingly bright after the day they'd had. Maggie guessed that this was Torres, Sam's colleague.
Bucky stiffened at the casual comment, pushed off the railing he'd been leaning against and turned to leave without a word.
"And hey," Torres said, his gaze switching to her. He didn't seem too perturbed by Bucky's rudeness. "It's uh… it's Ms Stark, right?"
"Nice to meet you," she murmured lowly, and turned to follow Bucky.
Sam crossed his arms and called after them: "You off to take care of Zemo?"
Bucky looked back for a moment, his eyes on Sam and his jaw clenched. He gave Sam the briefest of nods. Maggie waited for him, and then they walked out together.
"Alright, good to know you survived!" Torres called after them.
Outside, Bucky and Maggie shared a glance. She nodded, and he straightened his shoulders.
"Okay. Let's get this done."
Back in the camp, Torres explained that the GRC had taken over jurisdiction in hunting for Karli, and asked Sam how the wings had broken. Sam didn't reply.
"Anyway, all we can do now is sit tight and just chill," Torres said, matter-of-factly. "Sometimes, there's nothing to do until there's something to do."
Sam cocked an eyebrow as he glanced at the younger man. "That's bizarrely wise."
Torres laughed. "Well, I'm a bizarrely wise man, Sam."
A few moments later, Sam picked up the shield - clean now, thank god - and turned to go. He left the wings behind.
Washington D.C.
"Senator, I am Captain America-" Walker's chest was heaving after his outburst in the hearing room, and every subtle sound at the edge of his senses made him twitch.
The entire committee hearing room was silent. Their eyes felt like brands.
"Not anymore." The Senator's eyes held no pity. "And if you continue to demean and denigrate the priorities and dignity of this council, you will spend the rest of your life in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks." Walker turned to leave. "Consider yourself extremely fortunate, and return the shield to us with expedience."
GRC Resettlement Camp, Latvia
Karli looked around at the emptied-out camp, the abandoned furniture and possessions, and rage boiled inside of her.
"How many times do we have to pay with our lives just to be citizens of this god damn planet?"
Memorial to Sokovia, Former Sokovian Territory
The memorial was beautiful - a large stone statue of a traditional Sokovian family; mother, father, two children, carved with the crest of Sokovia. The memorial was ringed by a lake, sunlight glinting on the water. For miles around, there was nothing but forest.
Maggie and Bucky paced soundlessly across the cobblestones toward the memorial, six feet apart. Maggie could feel her heartbeat in her ears, and her skin prickled. They'd planned this moment all the way here, and there was nothing more terrifying than a plan coming into action.
Baron Helmut Zemo had his back to them, his head bowed before the memorial. He wore the same fur-lined coat, cutting an imposing figure. When Bucky and Maggie approached, taking less care with the sound of their footsteps now they were in range, he didn't react beyond the slightest of head tilts when Bucky came up on his right. Maggie stayed a few yards away, behind him.
"I thought you'd be here sooner," he murmured. Of course he left those traces, knowing I'd find them. "Don't worry," he continued, with a brief glance at them both. "I've decided I'm not going to kill you."
"Imagine our relief," Bucky replied, and tapped the gun he held against his thigh, drawing Zemo's attention to it.
Zemo noticed, blinked, then turned and took a few steps forward, keeping an equal distance between them. "The girl has been radicalized beyond salvation," he said in that low, knowing voice. "I warned Sam, but he didn't listen to me. He's as stubborn as Steve Rogers before him. But you… they literally programmed both of you to kill." He looked between them with dark, intelligent eyes. "Maggie. James. Do what needs to be done. Karli has people everywhere, and there's only one way to make sure she cannot continue her mission."
Maggie's fingers twitched.
"We appreciate the advice," Bucky said, in a low monotone. "But we're gonna do it our own way."
Zemo chuckled softly. "Yeah. I was afraid you would say that." He looked to Maggie, as if she might see sense, but she kept her flat stare on him. Like she'd said to Bucky on the way here: this needs to be your moment.
Zemo looked down.
Bucky clicked off the safety of the gun, his face carved of stone. The dark collar of his cloak was popped up, casting shadows about his form. This was not the Winter Soldier, but Bucky, with ice in his eyes. The levity dropped from Zemo's face, and a tense moment passed.
Bucky raised the gun and aimed it squarely between Zemo's eyes. He cocked it. Zemo didn't stare at the gun but at Bucky's face, almost fascinated. A chill wind whispered through the air. Zemo's eyes darted to Maggie, but again he found nothing but her stare.
His gaze returned to Bucky, and the ghost of a smile pulled at his mouth. The gun trembled ever so slightly in Bucky's hand, but his face was resolute. Zemo inclined his head in a nod.
Bucky clenched his jaw and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked, making Zemo flinch.
Maggie let out a breath.
For the half-second that Bucky kept the gun trained on Zemo, Bucky was now the one half-smiling. Zemo looked almost disappointed.
Bucky lowered the gun and lifted his metal hand. He opened his fingers, and bullets rained down from his grip. Zemo watched them clatter to the stone below.
In that moment, the Dora Milaje emerged from the forest. They strode up to the memorial, their footsteps in time on the cobblestones. Zemo glanced over at them and let out an almost disappointed sigh. His eyes fell on Maggie.
"And you're certain you won't need my help again in the future?"
Maggie finally let her flat stare break. She shook her head. "I've been treating you as a problem I need to figure out for a while now."
"Oh?" he said, head tilted. "Back to deconstructing human nature, are we?"
"Yes. But it's… it's not as complicated as I thought it was. Because you perplexed me. And granted, you've made some good points about power and supremacy that I will consider. But at your heart, you're still grappling with a problem I overcame years ago." Seeing Walker yesterday had helped her figure it out.
"Oh?"
"Vengeance." She tilted her head at him. "You don't know how to let it go. It's ruling your life, this desire to eradicate and control all those who caused your suffering, and all those who might cause similar suffering. And granted, you're a more precise weapon than I was when I sought vengeance, but you've turned yourself into a weapon all the same." She fixed him with her gaze. "You said that people didn't deserve to be turned into weapons. But here you are, a missile trained on super soldiers and enhanced individuals. And you did it to yourself." She sighed. "And I know that what I say won't make a difference. But I wanted to let you know I figured it out anyway. And that I hope one day you find the strength and the kindness to let yourself be a person again."
Zemo's dark eyes did not leave hers.
The Dora had surrounded them by now. Zemo dragged his gaze off Maggie to look at them. "Ladies." His gaze skimmed Maggie again, torn between fascination and severity, then turned back to Bucky. "I took the liberty of crossing off my name in your book. I hold no grudges for what you thought you had to do."
Bucky nodded, his hands in his pockets.
"Goodbye, James." His gaze turned back to her, and he inclined his head. And it was not sarcasm, but respect, that she saw in his eyes. "Maggie."
She said nothing. And then Zemo strode away, guided by the Dora toward their airship.
Ayo remained behind, her spear glinting in the sunlight. "We will take him to the Raft," she explained. Maggie shivered at the memory of the place. "Where he will live out his days. It would be prudent to make yourself scarce in Wakanda for the time being, White Wolf," she said with a significant glance at Bucky.
"Fair enough," he nodded.
Ayo began to stride away, but then Bucky called:
"Hey!" She looked back. "I may have another favor to ask you." He explained briefly, and Maggie's face cracked into a smile as he did.
With another incline of her head, Ayo left. The airship took off, shimmering into invisibility once it hit the cloud layer, and it was just the two of them left, standing at the foot of the memorial. Wind sifted through the trees.
Bucky's hand slid out of his pocket, and took hers. His skin was cold from holding the gun. Maggie squeezed his hand and looked up at his face.
"I love you, Bucky Barnes."
His serious look cracked into a smile. "And I love you, Meg Stark."
She glanced back at the memorial to Sokovia, then at him. "We're not done yet."
"Nowhere close." His sea-grey eyes met hers. "I feel like your to-do list is longer than mine, though."
"For the first time in a while, I think so too."
"Fixing the world?"
"Something like it. I've got some ideas cooking up here." She tapped the side of her head. "It's not going to be easy."
"The right thing never is," he murmured. Her eyebrows lifted, and he ducked his head. "Something Steve used to say."
"It sounded like him," she smiled. She nodded in the direction the Dora had taken Zemo. "He'd also say that that was the right thing to do."
Bucky sighed. "He'd have handled all this a lot better."
"I don't know," she murmured, pressing her arm against his. "Steve never really experienced the world how it is now. There are new challenges, and so there need to be new solutions. Don't get me wrong, he was good at coming up with a plan, but… I don't think anyone would have found this easy." She looked into his face. "You know what he would do next, though."
Bucky tipped his head back, squinting in the sunlight. "I know."
She smiled at the annoyed look on his face. "We can go home first, check on Artemis. Pick up a new leg for me."
"Yeah. Yes, that."
"But then…"
"I know, I know." He rubbed his face with his metal hand, wincing as he passed over the previously-broken nose. "Why do you think I asked Ayo for that favor, anyway?"
"I think it'll be good for you."
"Come on." He let go of her hand to put his arm around her shoulders. Together, they walked away from the memorial on the first leg of their journey back home.