Seize the Day

17

[Truth]

Bucky ran to the warehouse while Sam, after dropping Helen off at the hospital, 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 Helen's still breathing. But if you hurt her or our child..."

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

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 two Avengers. "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 away, turning 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

"It's mine."

---

Bucky made his way to the hospital to find Helen in tears.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

Helen wiped an eye. "What I was afraid of. I... I shouldn't have gone. It's my fault."

Bucky sat next to her on the bed. "Helen, no. It's not your fault. It's Walker's. You were only trying to save an innocent man."

She looked at him, blinking back tears. "And I killed another in the process."

"Doll, sometimes these things happen. It could have happened some other way. I promise I'll be with you every step of the way. We'll get through it together. I promise."

She nodded slowly. "It was a girl. I was thinking of giving her either the first or middle name of Margaret and maybe calling her Peggy."

Bucky tucked her hair back. "It would've been perfect. I'm gonna check on Sam. Are you up for coming?"

She nodded and got dressed with some help from Bucky.

---

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

Helen watched as police cars took escorted people away. After a moment, she 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 Helen. "They've searched this camp, and just like the last camp, nothing. She's gone. We're never gonna find her. You okay, Helen?"

Helen pursed her lips and shrugged.

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

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

Sam nodded. "Go. I got this."

Helen nodded and walked towards her husband.

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

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

"All right, good to know you survived." He gave a little wave. "They seem sweet together. I wonder what happened. She seems pained or sad."

Sam nodded. "They are. Yeah, I'm not sure. 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.