Winter's Soul (Part 2) 18+ Canon

Chapter 15

The next morning, James and Liv found Zemo and Belikov sitting at the breakfast table. Liv froze in mid track, causing James to stop behind her. Her gaze switched between the two men at the table, enjoying their company, even laughing at each other's jokes. Liv had a bad feeling about it. 

"Anastasia!" Belikov exclaimed when he noticed her and James at the door. "Come sit and eat." 

Liv walked over to the chair next to Belikov, which he pointed at. James followed her, taking the chair on her other side.

By the time dawn came around, her eyes were puffy from crying and her nose sore from constantly blowing her nose. She only managed to sleep for a few hours, and even then couldn't find rest, as nightmares mixed with what she had experienced in the past and what she had just done a few hours ago. Belikov gave her a long look but didn't comment on her appearance. Instead, his gaze wandered between her and James, catching up on their closeness and James's concern when he looked at Liv.

"You are strangely well behaved," Liv noted, sitting down and looking at Belikov and Zemo. 

"We have mutual interests, it appears," Zemo said, sipping his champaign. 

"I don't think I want to know what that means," Liv said, grabbing a bun and putting it on her plate. 

James sat in silence, watching the three of them interact. It didn't sit right with him. None of it. Those shouldn't be the people Liv interacted with. They brought her into constant danger. 

"Soldier, eat," Belikov ordered, which earned him a warning scowl from Liv. "Don't look at me like that, dear." 

"Then stop treating him like he works for you," Liv shot back. 

"He still has a debt to pay, Anna," Belikov replied. 

Before Liv could give him a piece of her mind on this, Zemo interrupted them. "So, what did you find out?"

"We've got a name: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine," James said. 

Belikov froze in mid-bite. 

"You know her?" Liv asked. 

"Who doesn't?" Belikov said, putting down his glass of champaign. "She works only for the most influential individuals and occasionally with the government." 

"And what does she do?" Liv asked. 

Belikov shrugged. "Consulting mostly."

"In what matters?" Liv asked again. When she saw the expression on Belikov's face change, she knew he was about to offer another deal. She held up a hand to stop him, and pulled out her phone. Kenjiro picked up before Liv heard the first ring. 

"Find out who Valentina Allegra de Fontaine approached in the last couple of months," she said, and hung up. 

Giving Belikov a thin-lipped smile, she began to nibble on her bun, not really having an appetite. Somehow, Belikov had also found out about the offer for Liv's company and made his own, promising to outbid any future offers. Liv's stomach had turned at this. Yes, Belikov was her mentor, and she was grateful for his help, but she didn't want him in her company. Even though Liv did terrible things, having Belikov as her partner, even as a silent one in the background, was unimaginable. He was a much higher risk than she was, a much higher threat. 

She knew Kenjiro worked on exonerating her company regarding the tax evasion. At least he had found out the name of the buyer. Her phone buzzed by the time they finished having a mostly quiet breakfast.

"Did you know she had recruited Walker?" Liv asked James, frowning at the screen. The short list contained four names and their abilities.

"No," James said, looking at her screen. "Who else is on the list?" 

"Abomination, also known as Emil Blonsky, Mac Gargan, aka Scorpion, Yelena Belova....," Liv paused. "What is this? A list of the worst super hero names?" 

"Belova was part of the Black Widow program," Zemo said, walking around the table to stand behind Liv and taking a look at the screen as well. 

"John used Nagel's super soldier serum on himself to be able to fulfill his role as Captain America," James said. 

"The abomination is a former marine. A monster, the same kind your green friend is," Zemo said. "I've met the Scorpion during my time in the raft. A very unstable fella." 

"When we destroyed their files in Bionics R&D, we set their plan back by a few years. They couldn't make their own army, so now they recruit instead?" Liv asked Zemo. 

Zemo appeared one day at her doorstep and tried to destroy the new formular that was used on her. But she had already taken care of that by the time she met Zemo. When they went through their files, they realized A.I.M. wanted to breed their own army of people with talents. 

"And how does Sam's framing fit into this?" Liv asked. "I get that they wouldn't approach him to join their little group of degenerates..." 

"Walker failed as Cap", Belikov said, for the first time after a while.

"And suddenly, Sam was discredited," she murmured. Looking back at the list, she took a closer look at the abilities. 

James tensed as Zemo placed a hand on Liv's shoulder and softly rubbed it with his thumb. It took him every ounce of willpower not to rip Zemo's hand off from her body. Noticing James's glare, Zemo winked at him before focusing on the list again. 

Liv was too distracted to notice any of it. She barely noticed Zemo comforting her by rubbing her shoulder. All her thoughts revolved around Valentina and her collection of talents. What was she up to? Why was she collecting all those people? 

"Being involved in human trafficking outweighs murdering a man in public," Zemo said, to no one in particular. 

"What is the point in approaching all those peop...?" She murmured, but suddenly it dawned on her. Recruiting all those people and discrediting Sam Wilson. "They are replacements." 

"We can't follow, dear," Belikov said, frowning. 

"From the original Avengers, who is still left?" She asked but didn't wait for a reply. "A god whose whereabouts are unknown. Professor Hulk, who quit. Clint has retired. The rest are dead." 

"The Avengers left a power gap," Belikov said. 

"Just imagine a group of super human beings under the control of an institution like A.I.M.", Zemo said. "Corruption and monetarization are always the results of privatizing those people under the false hope of peace." 

Liv ignored his tone when he said "those" people.

"She is building her own super hero team to replace the Avengers," James said. "Executing what the government had planned with the Sokovia accords a few years ago."

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Authors note

Thunderbolts was announced a few weeks ago and I'm super excited about it! When I wrote this story somewhere around December 2021 I had to decide whether everything was hinting towards the Thunderbolts or the Dark Avengers in the MCU. So I went with the Dark Avengers that's why the cast in this story is so similar to the announced Thunderbolts.

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