The Broken Soliders

Part twenty

"Y/n, listen—"

"No, you listen, Sam," I spat, cutting him off. "How could you? Steve gave you that shield, and you turned around and gave it to the government? The government? Seriously? How could you do that? How could you think for even a second that you could trust those people? I can't believe you."

"I know! I just..."

"Didn't want the responsibility? I asked coldly. "The pressure? Were you scared? Steve thought you could handle all that."
There was a pause.

I sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, you did. I'm not Steve. No one can replace him. That's why I didn't think it would be appropriate for anyone other than him to hold the shield."

"But he chose you."

"That doesn't make me him."

"Sam—"

"I don't feel like having this conversation right now," he cut me off. "I'll talk to you later." Then he abruptly hung up on me.

Honestly, it didn't really matter to me whether or not Sam felt like having that conversation or not. We were gonna have it. And luckily for me, I knew where he worked.

I had to ask someone for help, and after they took me where Sam was going to be, I saw Barnes. I knew he was there for the same reason I was.

"Hey, Barnes," I said awkwardly once we were left alone.

"Y/l/n," he nodded politely.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, we finally saw Sam heading down the stairs towards us, and we both rushed over to meet him. He had another man next to him, who trailed behind when Sam saw us.

"Shouldn't have given up the shield," Barnes said.

"Good to see you too, Buck," Sam replied with a roll of his eyes.

I scoffed as Sam walked right past us. "Seriously?"

We followed him.

"This is wrong," Barnes said.

"That shield doesn't belong to him. Steve wanted you to have it," I added.

"Hey, hey, look, I'm working, all right?" Sam told us.

"We know," I said. "And don't worry. We are perfectly comfortable with disturbing you."

"You didn't know that that was going to happen?" Barnes asked him.

"No, of course I didn't know that was gonna happen!"

"You should have known the government would do something stupid with it," I said.

"You think it didn't break my heart to see them march him out there and call him the new Captain America?" Sam asked harshly.
"Steve didn't want this," Barnes said.

"Well obviously," I mumbled.

Barnes glared at me. "Who's side are you on here?"

"Steve's," I answered. "Don't mistake that for being yours."

"We're all on Steve's side," Sam said exasperatedly. "As much as I don't like it, that makes it the same side!"

"How are you on Steve's side?" I asked.

"I didn't want this to happen!" Sam exclaimed.

"Why couldn't you just use the shield like Steve wanted?" I asked. "I get it. You're not Steve. What a shocking revelation! But Steve didn't give you the shield because he wanted you to be him. He gave it to you because he knows that you're you."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Wow. That's some real deep shit there."

I clenched my jaw. "I don't mean to be corny, but come on. Steve was always corny. And I'm telling you what he was thinking."

"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked, annoyed. "Call America and tell 'em I changed my mind? Huh?" He chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah, right." He slapped Barnes on the back. "It's a great reunion, guys, be well."

"You can't just ignore this, Sam," Barnes said.

"Look you two. I've got bigger things to deal with right now, alright?"

Barnes glared at him. "What could be bigger than this?"

Sam pulled out his phone. "This guy," he said, showing a picture of a man in a black mask with a red hand painted on it. "His connections with rebel organisations all over Eastern and Central Europe, and he's strong. Too strong."

"And?" Barnes asked.

"Well, he's been connected to this online group called the Flag Smashers."

I snorted, and they both looked at me. "What? That's a dumb name."

"Anyway," Sam said with a roll of his eyes. "Redwing traced them to a building somewhere outside of Munich. So that's where I'm going."

"Well, I don't trust Redwing," Barnes said.

"You can't trust a robot to do your job for you," I said.

"You guys don't have to trust Redwing," Sam told us. "But I'm gonna go see if he's right. 'Cause I have a feeling they might be a part of the Big Three."

"The what?" I asked.

"What big three?" Barnes asked.

"The Big Three," Sam answered, as if that clarified something.

"What Big Three?" Barnes asked again.

"Andrios, aliens, wizards," Sam said.

I blinked at him. "You— You're not joking."

"No I'm not joking! It's the Big Three!"

"That's not a thing," Barnes told him.

"That's definitely a thing."

"No, it's not," we said.

"Every time we fight, it's one of the three."

"So who you fighting now? Gandalf?" Barnes asked.

"How do you know about Gandalf?" Sam asked.

"I read The Hobbit in 1937 when it first came out," Barnes informed him.

I chuckled.

"What?" Barnes asked, looking at me with an annoyed expression on his face.

"You read The Hobbit?"

"Yeah, I did. Is there something wrong with that?"
"No, no. It's just a little nerdy," I grinned.

"Well I'm glad you think so," he smirked. "'Cause it so happens that you read it too."

I frowned. "No I didn't."

"Yeah, you did. You probably don't remember because we sort of read it together."

"Oh..." I said, feeling a bit awkward.

"Alright," Sam said with a raised eyebrow. "Now that... whatever that was is over, we can get back to the point."

"Right," Barnes said, turning back to Sam. "And there are no wizards."

"Doctor Strange," Sam stated.

"Is a sorcerer," Barnes finished.

"Aah! Haha, ha!" Sam yelped with a finger pointed in Barnes's face. "A sorcerer is a wizard without a hat. Think about it. Right? But that's not the point. These guys aren't magical, alright? They use brute force, just like you two. The incredibly annoying guy with the staring problem, and the irritatingly stubborn girl who won't leave me alone." He started walking away.

"I'm coming with you," Barnes called, catching up with him.

"So am I!"

"No, you're not," Sam called back.

We did.