Sunrise Serenade

17

[Truth]

Bucky, Phillip and Bea 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!"

Bea shook her head. "He didn't kill Lemar."

Phillip let out a sigh. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well."

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

Bea's tone was sharp as she snapped, "That's enough, 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, Bea and Phillip 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 Bea back and turned his attention to Bucky and Phillip.

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

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

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

Sam moved between the three 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.

Bea 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 with the shield and Bucky and Phillip lunged at him, knocking him away from Sam. The threw exchanged punches, with Bucky and Phillip ending up on the ground. Once again, John raised the shield.

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

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

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

"It's mine."

Bea shook her head. "No it's not. It's just a symbol. The name of Captain America lies within, and you certainly don't do justice to the name of Captain America."

---

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

Bea 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 Bea. "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 Phillip. "Hey, you got your sleeve back."

Phillip shook his head and headed for the door, followed by Bucky. Bea glanced between Bucky, Phillip, Sam and Torres.

Sam nodded. "Go. I got this."

"Okay," Bea replied as she walked towards her husband and brother-in-law.

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

Bucky and Phillip turned back to Sam and Torres, remaining silent. They left and Bea followed.

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

Sam nodded. "They are. 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.