Second Sphere

Aliens, androids, or wizards

"You can let go now." John looks up at me.

I let go of the back straps I was holding and he tumbles the last few feet to the ground. I land next to him as Lemar jogs up with the shield in hand.

"Thanks for the help Lene." John tells me.

"You can't call me that." I start walking back to where Bucky and Sam fell off the trucks.

"Why not? Sam called you that." Lemar points out keeping pace with me.

"Sam." I glance at him and John. "Knows me. You do not."

"Yeah well, we're kinda a big deal." John smirks pulling a playboy smile as he gestures between the two.

"Oh yes." My tone is dripping with sarcasm. "You're the governments new puppet. Toting around a shield that you haven't earned."

John opens his mouth in protest but I cut him off before he can say anything. "Look. Yes you have a service record but I fought next to Steve. I sat with him, talked with him, cried with him. I saw who he chose to pick up that mantle and you are not it. And I know this isn't going to stop you, but you need to at least realize that my team. The people I'm fighting along side, aren't just going to accept this either. If you want to carry that shield, you need to earn it. Show me, show all of us you deserve that. Or you won't have it very long." I continue walking.

"Wait so are you supporting us or against us?" John calls out.

"Neither." I respond lifting off before they annoy me anymore.

It takes me a minute to find Sam and Bucky as they walk along the road.

"Anything?" Sam asks me when I land next to them.

I shake my head, frustrated. "No I had to save John's ass."

"Oh so YOURE on a first name basis with him too now?" Bucky asks sarcastically.

I raise an eyebrow at him. "What do you want me to call him? Captain America?"

Bucky just grunts. "Sorry about redwing." He tells Sam changing the subject.

"No you're not." Sam says. "What's going on in that big cyborg brain of yours?" He asks Bucky.

"It's computing." Bucky retorts.

Sam laughs. "You know what? I can actually see it." He teases. "I can see the gears turning. Oh, they're malfunctioning, shutting down. Yep, they're on fire."

I let out a small chuckle.

Bucky ignores us, "We gotta figure out where the serum's coming from."

"Yeah. And how in the hell after 80 years are there eight Super Soldiers running loose?" Sam asks.

Bucky looks at me. "What? I'm just as lost as you guys are. When I hunted down Hydra I was tracking members not whatever projects they were running."

A car pulls up beside us honking.

John opens the back door of the jeep, "So that didn't go as planned, huh?"

We keep walking past.

"Okay. Let's keep going." John tells the driver and it keeps pace next to us. "Look, at least we know what we're up against now, huh? And e we're pretty sure it's one of the Big Three, so."

"Aliens, androids, or wizards?" Sam asks.

"How many people know the big three?" I ask Sam.

"Pretty sure." John talks over me.

"There's no such thing as wizards." Bucky butts in.

"We are not having this argument again." I stare Bucky down, but he just glares back.

"Then it's aliens or androids." John tells him.

"Or super soldiers." Sam butts in.

"Shit." Lamar says, "Super soldiers, for real?"

"Yeah." Sam tells him.

"Wow. All right, well, then we gotta work together." John says.

"That's not happening." Bucky says flatly.