Never Back Down // TFATWS

18

As they walked, Bucky asked, "Are you okay, Jessie?"

Jessie nodded. "My brother will get a stern talking to by both me and I'm sure the government, but yeah, I'm okay. Are you?"

"I'm okay."

The two made their way to the Sokovia Memorial and found Zemo standing in front of the statue.

"I thought you'd both be here sooner," Zemo told them, turning back to the statue and sniffed. "Don't worry. I've decided I'm not going to kill you."

Bucky shrugged. "Imagine my relief." A gun clicked and he pushed Jessie behind him.

"The girl has been radicalized beyond salvation. I warned Sam, but he didn't listen to me. He's as stubborn as Steve Rogers before him. But you... They literally programmed you to kill. James, do what needs to be done."

"Why do we have to kill her?" Jessie asked. "We shouldn't be killing anyone."

"Karli has people everywhere, and there's only one way to make sure she cannot continue her mission."

Bucky kept his eyes on Zemo. "I appreciate the advice, and I'm sure Jessie does too. But we're gonna do it our own way."

Zemo chuckled softly. "Yeah. I was afraid you'd say that."

Bucky pulled the gun from his pocket and turned off the safety. He raised the gun with his right hand and held to up to Zemo who looked down the barrel peacefully.

Bucky pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He pulled the trigger again, then lifted his left hand and let the bullets fall to the floor with a clank.

The Dora Milaje walked up behind Zemo. Two stood beside him and one behind him.

Zemo glanced around at the Dora before saying, "Ladies..." He took a deep breath and turned back to Bucky and Jessie, focusing on the former. "I took the liberty of crossing off my name in your list. I hold no grudges for what you thought you had to do. Goodbye, James. Goodbye, Jessie. You two continue take care of each other."

Two Dora Milaje escorted Zemo to the aircraft they'd come on. Ayo, who remained back with Bucky and Jessie, said, "We will take him back to the Raft... Where he will live out his days. It would be prudent to make yourself scarce in Wakanda for the time being, White Wolf. The same would be wise for you as well, Miss Walker."

"Fair enough," Bucky and Jessie agreed with a nod.

As Ayo began walking away, Bucky said, "Hey! I may have another favor to ask of you."

Jessie looked up at Bucky. "What favor would that be exactly?"

Bucky turned to her with a smile, but didn't answer.

---

Sam and Reya flew to Baltimore to see Isaiah. When they landed, it was dark outside.

Eli, Isaiah's grandson, tried to stop Sam and Reya. "Come on. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing, man, ma'am? Where you two goin'?"

"We're goin' to see your grandfather," Sam replied.

Eli paused, debating whether or not to tell them, then decided to say, "All right, he in the back."

"Thanks."

"I'll be back there."

"Yeah."

The boys continued their game.

Sam and Reya walked up to the Bradley home and his confident demeanor dissipated, leaving him nervous. Reya glanced at Sam and took his hand, giving it a light squeeze.

They walked up to the light in the back. Isaiah was watering plants, looking up at them.

"That what I think it is?" Isaiah asked. Sam began uncovering the shield, but Isaiah protested. "Mmm-mmm. Leave it covered. Them stars and stripes don't mean nothin' good to me." He went back to watering his plants.

Sam put the shield back at his side and said, "I need to understand."

Isaiah put the hose down. "You understand." He bent over and picked up a bag of soil. "Every black man does. Whether you wanna deny it or not..."

"Don't do that bitter, old man thing with us," Reya said.

"If you ain't bitter, you're blind."

"I don't get it, okay?" Sam admitted. "What went wrong?"

"I used to be like you, until I opened my eyes, until I saw men in the Red Tails, the famous 332 fight for this country, only to come home to find crosses burned on their lawn."

"I'm from the south. I get that. But you were a Super Soldier like Steve. You could've been the next..."

"The next? What? Huh? Blond hair, blue eyes, stars and stripes? The world's been chasing that great white hope since he first got dosed with that serum."

"Steve did not put you in jail."

They walked inside and Isaiah led Sam to the living room. Sam and Reya sat on the couch while Isaiah grabbed a picture off the shelf and sat in a chair across from Sam and Reya.

Isaiah handed Sam a photo of a woman and said, "She died while I was in jail. They, uh, never let a single one of her letters get to me." He put a hand on the box he'd grabbed and opened it. "They locked 'em in this box. They told her I was dead. Yeah, and after awhile, she was gone, and, uh..." He inhaled deeply. "Sorry."

After a moment, he continued. "You wanted to know what went wrong?" Sam nodded. "A handful of us got shot up with different versions of that serum, but they don't tell us what it is. They tell us it's tetanus. They sent us on missions, even though the others weren't stable. Some of us started dying off. Then a couple of the boys get captured on a mission. I heard the brass talkin' about blowing the POW camp to hell to hide the evidence. But those were my men. My brothers. Not evidence. So I bust out of the facility and I brought them boys back. Not that it made a damn bit of difference. It wasn't long before it was only me left. And what did I get for saving their lives? For the next 30 years, they experimented on me, trying to figure out why the serum worked." He lifted his shirt, showing a large scar on the right side of his torso. "There was a nurse. She took pity on me. Wrote up some fake reports, something. She had me declared dead. That's who gave me this. My God!" His breath trembled. "Sam, I loved her so much."

"Mr. Bradley, um..." He shook his head. "We gotta do something. We gotta tell somebody."

"No, leave me dead. My name is buried."

"But the world's different now. Rey and I know people."

Isaiah scoffed. "Man, that's why you're here? You think things are different? You think times are different? You think I wouldn't be dead in a day if you brought me out? You wanna believe jail was my fault because you got that white man's shield. They were worried my story might get out. So, they erased me. My history. But they've been doing that for 500 years." He chuckled. "Pledge allegiance to that, my brother. They will never let a black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting black man would ever wanna be."

Sam left the house, grabbed the shield and said into his phone, "Sarah, Rey and I are comin' home."