Never Back Down // TFATWS

17

[Truth]

Bucky, Jessie and Reya ran to the warehouse while Sam flew.

They found John kneeling in the warehouse, shield and hands bloody. The Avengers and Jessie 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!"

Jessie shook her head. "He didn't kill Lemar, John."

Bucky sighed. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well."

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

Jessie's tone was cold as she replied, "That's enough, Jonathan."

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 and Jessie. "You almost got me."

"You made a mistake."

"You don't wanna do this."

Bucky said, "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 and Reya away, then shoved Jessie 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. Jessie rushed to Bucky to make sure he was okay and he gave her a weak nod.

Sam and Reya moved between the two and John before the former said, "This isn't you, John."

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

Jessie 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 grunt.

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

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

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

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

"It's mine."

Jessie shook her head. "It's just a symbol. You don't do Steve justice. What the hell happened to you?"

Bucky glanced at Jessie. "He's got the super soldier serum."

Jessie stared at her brother and nodded slowly. "That makes sense." She turned and walked away, wiping tears away.

Bucky followed her and asked, "You okay?"

She shook her head and pocketed her hands, looking at the ground.

---

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

Jessie and Reya 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 Reya and Jessie. "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. Jessie glanced between Reya, Bucky, Sam and Torres.

Sam nodded. "Go. Rey and I got this."

"Okay," Jessie replied as she walked towards Bucky. "You sure? Military operations are-"

"Jessie, go. I think he could offer some sort of comfort." Sam leaned on the table. "Are you off to take care of Zemo?"

Bucky turned back to Sam, Reya and Torres, remaining silent. He left and Jessie followed.

"All right, good to know you survived." He gave a little wave. "They seem sweet together."

Sam nodded. "They surprisingly do. 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," Reya said.

"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?" Sam asked.

"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. Reya gave Torres a wave and followed Sam.