Rise Above

17

[Truth]

Bucky and Žofia ran to the warehouse while Sam flew.

They found John kneeling in the warehouse, shield and hands bloody. The Avengers stopped and John stood and said, "Time to go to work."

John marched towards them and Sam called, "Walker..."

"You guys should see a medic, you don't look so good."

"Stop, Walker."

John looked at Sam. "What? You saw what happened. You know what I had to do. I killed him because I had to! He killed Lemar!"

Bucky sighed. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well. You're lucky you didn't hurt Žofia any more than you did. Because if you had, it wouldn't end well for you."

"I'm not like you or Žofia," John said.

Žofia's tone was cold as she replied, "Thank God for that. You've had your time, Walker."

Sam looked between the group before saying, "Listen, it was the heat of the battle. Okay? If you explain what happened, they may consider your record. We don't want anyone else to get hurt. John... You gotta give me the shield, man."

"Oh, so that's what this is," John said, looking up before staring at the three Avengers. "You almost got me."

"You made a mistake."

"You don't wanna do this."

Bucky and Žofia exchanged a look before saying, "Yeah, we do."

They ran at John at the same time, but he managed to fight them off. He dodged kicks and punches before kicking Sam away, then shoved Žofia back and turned his attention to Bucky.

Bucky swung at John, breaking one of the metal supports when he hit it. John dodged it and threw the shield at Bucky, sending him back into a forklift. "Why are you making me do this?" John yelled.

John picked up the shield, pushing Bucky against the lift before throwing him into a pole.

Bucky fell as electricity surged through his Vibranium arm and body. Žofia rushed to Bucky to make sure he was okay and he gave her a weak nod.

Sam moved between the couple and John before saying, "This isn't you, John."

John panted and said, "We could've been a team." He and Sam fought, Sam in the air and John on the ground.

Žofia stood and shook her head. "That was never going to happen." She punched John, causing him to stumble back. He kicked her back and she fell to the ground with a pained groan. "I really hate super soldiers."

John went to stab Sam with the shield and Bucky lunged at him, knocking him away from Sam. The two exchanged punches, with Bucky ending up on the ground. Once again, John raised the shield.

Žofia stood and she, Bucky and Sam managed to get the shield away from John at the expense of his elbow.

Bucky and Žofia walked towards Sam and heard John say behind them, "That's mine."

Sam panted and said, "It's over, John."

"It's mine."

"It never was," Žofia spat.

---

The three regrouped and changed before making their way to a refugee camp. Sam got word that Torres had arrived.

Žofia watched as police cars took escorted people away before walking up to Sam and Torres and asked, "What's going on?"

"The GRC is conducting raids to try and find Karli, but so far they've only found her followers," Sam replied, glancing at Žofia. "They've searched this camp, and just like the last camp, nothing. She's gone. We're never gonna find her."

Torres chuckled before turning to Bucky. "Hey, you got your sleeve back."

Bucky shook his head and headed for the door. Žofia glanced between Bucky, Sam and Torres.

Sam nodded. "Go. I got this."

Žofia said nothing as she left the room, passing Bucky on her way out.

Sam leaned on the table. "Are you off to take care of Zemo?"

Bucky turned back to Sam and Torres, remaining silent. He left, following Žofia.

"All right, good to know you survived." He gave a little wave.

Sam nodded. "What's our next steps, Torres?"

"Captain America killing a foreign national in public, it's kinda like a big deal. Like incident big. Folks, uh, higher up on the payroll are all over it now. So, unfortunately..."

"They're taking jurisdiction."

"Yeah." He nodded, noticing the wings Sam had broke. "What happened to these?" He grunted, picking them up.

"So is there anything we can do?"

"Not really. As you can see, they've cordoned off the whole camp, and Karli's a ghost. After what went down, she is laying extra low. Like, under-underground."

"And that's why it makes sense for us to get involved. The longer we let her regroup, the harder it's gonna be to find her."

"She's got people helping her from all over the world, on all platforms. She's really, really good at this thing."

"Yeah."

Torres put a hand on the wings he'd been unpacking. "How'd these break?" Sam let out a sigh. "Anyway, all we can do now is sit tight and just chill. Sometimes, there's nothing to do until there's something to do."

"That's bizarrely wise."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm a bizarrely wise man, Sam."

"Yeah, all right." He chuckled. "Thanks, Torres."

"For sure." He walked to the door.

"Wait, yo, you forgot the wings."

"Keep 'em." He left the room Torres was in.