Till the End of the Line Vol. 5

Chapter 12 - Nagel/ Riga

It is peaceful so far in the day. Bucky, Becca, Sofia, Loki, Sam, Sharon, and Zemo walk alongside the canisters. Sam comments, "Madripoor could give New York a run for its money."

"They know how to party," Zemo added.

"That's true," Becca comments.

"With that bounty on your head, the longer you're in Madripoor, the less likely you're ever leaving," said Sharon. She gives everyone a comm. "All right. He's in there—container four-two-six-one. I'll keep an eye out while you guys talk to Nagel. But hurry. We're on borrowed time." They all put comms in their ears.

A couple minutes later, Becca, Loki, Sam, Bucky, Sofia, and Zemo find the container and head inside. But they find that the container is empty. "Hey, Sharon," says Sam. "You sure this is the right one? It's completely empty."

Sharon keeps an eye out not too far away and says, "Positive. It has to be."

In the container, Sofia notices something and says, "Wait, I found something." They approach it and see a crack with light peeking. Sam opens the door. Once he does, they take a few steps to go inside. However, as they enter, Sofia stops them and whispers, "Do you hear that?"

Becca nods and whispers, "Yeah." They all head inside.

In Dr. Nagel's lab, a song is playing indistinctly. The girls get behind Bucky, Sam, and Loki when they enter. Zemo is between them. The music gets louder. As they look for the Doctor, they notice the lab is organized. They surround the Doctor as he continues to practice. Once Sam turns off the music, Dr. Nagel stops, turns, and gasps as he sees Sam has his gun pointed at him. "Dr. Nagel?" asks Dr. Nagel.

Dr. Nagel asks, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"We know you created the super-soldier serum."

"Get out of my lab."

"Hey!" says Sam as he turns to look at the Doctor as he walks away. However, Nagel stops as he sees Zemo, Becca, Sofia, and Bucky standing before him. "You know who they are, right?" Sam then grabs the Doctor and pulls him to face everyone. Nagel looks at Zemo and is silent. "This is Baron Zemo. I know you've heard of him, too, right?" Sam then takes the Doctor and forces him to sit down. "You seem like a pretty smart guy. So you better become conversational real quick."

"How about a counter proposal? Make me a better offer, and I'll talk."

"We don't have time for this crap," Becca groaned.

"Guys, we have company," informs Sharon through the comms.

Outside the storage container, several bad guys are looking for the group when Sharon attacks them.

Sharon informs them in the Doctor's lab through her comms, "Every bounty hunter in the city is here. We gotta go!"

Becca and Sofia walk up to Dr. Nagel and grab his arms. Becca threatens him, "Start talking, or else Sofia will, and I will rip off your arms, and you will never continue your work."

Bucky takes a step forward, pulls out a gun, and says, "Or I ..." He shoots close but not far. It spooked Nagel.

"Start talking NOW!!!" shouts Sofia.

Dr. Nagel nervously agrees, "Okay! Okay." The girls back off, and they watch the Doctor. "I was brought into HYDRA's Winter Soldier program to pick up their work after the five failed test subjects in Siberia. When HYDRA fell, I was recruited by the CIA. They had blood samples from an American test subject with semi-stable traces of serum in his system." Becca, Sofia, and Bucky glance at each other and then back at Dr. Nagel. "After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood. I was a god. I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do. But mine was going to be different." Sofia and Becca glare at him as they realize what the purpose is. Zemo looks around the room. "No clunky machines or jacked-up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect."