against time.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE || dora milaje

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE, dora milaje

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

THE GROUP HAD barely made it outside before they could hear John scolding them. Ivanna groaned internally and walked beside Sam as Bucky taunted John.

"Ah! How are you finding us now?"

"Come on man," Lemar spoke for his friend, "you think three avengers can walk around Latvia without drawing attention?"

"No more keeping us in the dark," John interjected before anyone could speak up. They all continued walking toward one another, "You can start by telling us why you broke him out of prison."

"He did that himself, technically," Bucky countered, the two parties coming to a stop in front of one another while John scoffed.

"This better be an unbelievable explain-"

Sam put his hand on John's chest as he approached Bucky, flailing his arms, "Hey. Take it easy before it gets weird."

"I know where Karli is," Zemo suddenly spoke up, nodding to reassure himself as much as everyone else.

"Let's go," Bucky muttered and began walking around John with Zemo following. John jumped in front of Zemo, stopping him.

"Well, where?"

"All we know is," Sam answered, "it's a memorial. So we're gonna intercept her there."

"That means civilians," Lemar pointed out as they began walking again. Ivanna paused and looked at him, "high risk of causalities."

"All right, good," John invited himself to walk with the group, "we'll move in fast. Take her by surprise."

"No," Sam shook his head, "I wanna talk to her alone."

"I'm not losing her again," John countered.

"Look, the person closest to her died. She's vulnerable," Sam explained, "If there's any time to reason with her, it's now."

John and Lemar ran in front of Bucky and Zemo, cutting them off and protesting the whole idea. Ivanna sighed and looked up at both men, "I think we're way past reasoning with her. Unless you forgot that she blew up a building with people still in it."

"Sam," Lemar was level and calm as he spoke up, and Ivanna slowly glanced at him, "you walk in there cold, she could kill you."

"And if I go in hot and the op goes wrong, more people will die,"

"You'll let him do this?" John asked Bucky and Ivanna. Ivanna lowered her eyes to the ground, "Are you gonna let your partner walk into a room with a Super Soldier alone?"

"He's dealt with worse," Ivanna defended.

"And he's not my partner," Bucky spoke up. Ivanna glared at him for being childish.

"I used to counsel soldiers dealing with trauma, okay?" Sam came up beside Ivanna, his sole focus on John, "this is right in my wheelhouse."

"I know," John admitted, "and I know those soldiers, which is why I know this is a bad idea."

Lemar began shaking his head, "Wait John. If he can talk her down, it might be worth a try."

John looked from his friend to the four standing in front of him. He scoffed, shaking his head and becoming torn on his decision. He looked at Zemo, "We'll deal with you later."