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justinewt · 2 years

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Power Broker - MARVEL REWRITE Chapter Sixteen

[MARVEL REWRITE-MASTERLIST] - [THE MULTIVERSE SAGA]

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Summary: Things were speeding up in their search for Karli Morgenthau. The trio was off to Germany to see an old enemy of the Avengers in a high-security prison... allegedly high-security. But as always, the reunion wasn’t going to go as expected, especially by Sam.

Words: 11.3k

Warnings: Falcon & The Winter Soldier episode 3 “Power Broker” spoiler, Mcu phase 4 spoilers, angst, some violence, shootings, nostalgia, flashbacks (kind of) explosion, fights, stabbing, one slit throat and that’s about it I think

Berlin, Germany

Frainn walked down the hall of a prison facility along her two partners, Sam and Bucky, who made the three of them come here to see one of their inmates. The guard led them up to a certain point in the hallway and indicated a door a few feet away, leading on a smaller corridor.

“He’s just through that corridor.” He told them with a thick german accent, pointing ahead of them. Bucky nodded and as they stopped in their tracks, glanced at Frainn and Sam.

“All right, give us a sec.” The guard replied with a brief nod and walked away, leaving the three of them alone for a moment, as requested by the super soldier. “I’m gonna go in alone.”

“Oh, right.” Frainn scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn’t going to let him go in there on his own. She was coming along, just in case. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her lover, but she indeed didn’t trust Zemo very much and she had never seen his face before, so it was the occasion.

“Why?” Sam inquired; his hands stuffed into his jacket’s pocket.

“Cause you’re Avengers. You know how he feels about that.”

“It’s not like you two were known for frolickin’ in the sun together.” Sam argued.

“He was obsessed with HYDRA.” He retorted. “We have a history together. Trust me. I got it.”

“I’d like to meet this terrorist whom you share a “history” with, if you don’t mind.” She declared as he turned around, about to go through the corridor leading to his confined cell. He glanced at the stubborn goddess and as he rolled his eyes, she shot a smirk at Sam and followe him while the guard led them to the door of Zemo’s cell. He passed his badge and the door buzzed and opened to a narrower and quite darker corridor, plunged in a dim kind of dull light. Coming to the cell’s door, he made a call and spoke in german to the director of the facility for him to open the door of their prime inmate. The door buzzed and he opened it for them, closing it right after Frainn stepped in the room. She walked right behind Bucky as they walked in so Zemo was going to have a little surprise when she would step aside and reveal herself from the shadow, as he would as he sat on his bed on the other side of a thick glass in the miffle of the room, isolating him in his tiny cell. When Bucky stood near the glass, Zemo started reciting the russian words to activate the winter soldier. Frainn stood in the back and he if he did notice her, he didn’t acknowledge his presence for now as he tested the reactivity of Bucky to the words.

“Those days are over.” Bucky stated as Zemo stood up, emerging from the dark.

“I know.” He said softly, nodding, pursing his lips. He then slowly approached the glass to look at Bucky from upclose. “I just wanted to see how the new you reacts to the old words. Something is still in there. At least you were not conscious for most of your imprisonment.”

“That time wasn’t exactly a picnic.” He retorted bitterly, keeping on a straight face in front of the criminal. Frainn bit her lips, looking around. She thought about commenting on this, saying that she had went through centuries of emprisonment, far away from her people, her family, in a cold place, in an ice cell with her tyrannic grand father who abandoned her father, leaving him to die until he was found by Odin after the battle against Jotunheim. As much as she resented Odin for how he treated Loki, she was glad he lived, because he had Frainn to live through from now on.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. It was never personal.” He walked around his half of a cell and looked at Bucky. Frainn was fighting herself to stay silent and let them have this moment to talk, whatever Bucky wanted to talk to him about. It wasn’t her place to intervene unless one of the two addressed her. Right now, it wasn’t about her, as much as she wanted to say sarcastic things out loud. “You were simply a means to a necessary end. I also am sorry for not introducing myself properly to my other, very special guest of the day.”

“Oh, there’s no need. I know who you are, and I assume you know who I am as well.” She took a few steps and stood beside Bucky. The latter glanced at her as she came nearby.

“I indeed know who you are, Frainn. Norse Goddess of Ice and the Winter, daughter of Loki.”

“You want my résumé and complete family tree too?” She retorted, staring him down. He chuckled, glancing down for a second, his hand joined in his back.

“That would definitely be an interesting reading.” He answered and she shook her head, not stopping to look at him and he smirked, nodding as if he was observing her and trying to decipher the shades of very soft and cold green in her icey eyes. Bucky eventually spoke up again, getting on why they even came here in the first place.

“Someone recreated the super-soldier serum.” Zemo instantly looked at Bucky. “I need to find out who.”

“You are assuming HYDRA has something to do with this, which why you came to me, which means you are desperate. Even though you have a powerful and smart goddess under your arm. I do not doubt that she could get rid of this threat easily, but you know that just killing off the super-soldiers isn’t enough.” He declared as if he had everything figure out already. “Luckily for you, I know where to begin.”

“What are you talking about? You wanna break Zemo outta jail?” Sam asked, already expecting the worst of his dear partner in crimes. “Where the hell are we, Buck? Have you lost your mind?”

“Look we have no leads, no moves, nothing.”

“What we have is one of the most dangerous men in the world behind the bars.”

“And we also have eight Super Soldier that are loose.” Bucky argued. Frainn walked with the two guys, looking around with the flashlight in her hand. The place they had stepped in was completely dark, but it looked like some sort of old hangar with stuff all over the place, which they couldn’t see because of the lack of light. Frainn suddenly bumped into something and looked down. She had accidentally kicked a chair’s leg and now it was lying on the floor, so she just pushed it aside carelessly, listening to the two.

“Zemo’s gonna mess with our minds. Especially yours. No offense.” Bucky stayed silent for a second as he turned on the light in the room and he glanced at Sam, turning his flashlight off.

“He can’t mess with mine.” Frainn mumbled to herself.

“Offense.” They looked around them. What Frainn thought was a sort of hangar or shed or whatever, was actually a messy garage, storage along the walls and a car sitting in the center of it all, its trunk opened. “Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy but he still has a code.”

“If we follow his logic, my kind is as much against what he allegedly believes in.” Frainn swinged her flashlight in her hand and caught it back as it fell, shoting up her eyebrows, following the motion of the object she played with for an instant. “May I remind you that he wanted to wipe out super-heroes, targeting the Avengers, a team I was and still is a part of, and any powerful non-human whatever being, which defines… me.”

“Yes. Exactly.” Sam pointed at the Goddess with his hand after he supported his point. Bucky gave a sidelong glance at Frainn and looked back at Sam. “And not to remind you that, I’ve been on the wrong side of that code and so have you. He blew up the UN, he killed king T’Chaka and framed you for it. Did you forget that? You think the Wakandans forgot about it? It’s a rhetorical question. They didn’t. I know why it matters to you, but it’s pushing you off the deep end.”

“We don’t know how they’re getting’ the serum.” Bucky kept arguing. “We don’t even know how many of them there are. Look, let me just walk you through a hypothetical. Can I?”

“What’d you do?” Sam asked softly and Frainn frowned, staring at her lover, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh, right.” Frainn chuckled, nodding, crossing her arms over her chest. He definitely did something, no matter how hard he tried to convince the both of them otherwise. She eventually shook her head and waved her hand around and he started.

“The weakest point in any system isn’t the software, the hardware, it’s the meatware. The human element. Now, in this lockup, it’s nine to one, prisoners to guards. And if two prisoners start fighting, then the protocol says four guards have to respond.”

“So why would prisoners randomly start fighting at that moment?” Sam inquired, shaking his head.

“Who knows? There could be any reasons… But the point is, these things escalate. Lockdown procedures would have to be initiated, and with all those bodies flying around left and right, wouldn’t be hard to slip down a hallway or two. And if the fire alarm got tripped while the prisoners were being separated… someone could use the chaos to their advantage.”

“I don’t like how casual you’re bein’ about this.” Sam smirked, feeling something was up. “That is unnatural. Are you— And where are we, man?” He then looked beyond the car as a door opened and a figure walked toward them, and there he was. Zemo pushed the plastic stripes hanging in the door frame, in a german guard’s uniform. “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Hye, what are you—”

“No, listen.” Bucky stepped in front of Sam and blocked him.

“What are you doin’ here?” He yelled anyway.

“I didn’t tell ‘cause I knew you wouldn’t let this happen.” Bucky rose his voice.

“What did you do?” Sam insisted on asking. He turned his face to Frainn as she was being quiet, standing nearby, looking at Zemo with a slight hint of contempt in her stormy blue eyes. “Did you know? You’re a deceiver, that was all an act back there?”

“Sam.” He rose his eyes in disbelief, shaking his head upon realizing that she helped Bucky in his little “breaking Zemo out of prison” plan.

“We need him.” Bucky said.

“You’re going back to prison!” Sam pointed his index finger at the former terrorist.

“If I may…”

“No!” All three of them turned their heads to him, frowning and yelled simultaneously at him.

“When Steve refused to sign the Sokovia Accords, you backed him. You broke the law, and you stuck your neck out for me.” Bucky went on to tell him. “I’m asking you to do it again.”

“I really think I’m invaluable…”

“Shut up.” Sam cut him off in a low voice. He glanced at Bucky, let his head fall over and slowly shook it before raising his face to the centenary standing in front of him. “Okay.” He turned his head to Zemo. “If we do this, you don’t make a move without our permission, or we let Frainn confirm why you think superheroes are dangerous, and it’ll go beyond what you ever thought.”

“Fair.” He nodded, glancing at the Goddess, staring at him, dead in the eyes.

“Okay, Zemo.” Sam paused. “Where do we start?”

“So our first move is Grand Theft Auto?” Frainn glanced at Sam, confused as to what he was referencing saying this. She had no idea what this Grand Theft Auto thing was.

“These are mine.” Zemo replied casually. “Collected by family over generations.”

“Yeah, to me it’s just a bunch of junk on wheels. I don’t see whatever beauty you see in it.”

“To ordinary mortals devoid of the power of teleportation, they are very precious.” Zemo explained in a drawling tone like he was some philosopher before he went back to his explanation to the three of them while Sam and Bucky checked out the cars here and there and Frainn just stood in the middle, waiting as she had no intered in those things. “I spent years hunting people HYDRA recruited to recreate the serum. Because once it’s out there, someone can create an army people… like the Avengers.”

“Not all of us have serum running through our veins in order to grant us strength and powers, Zemo.” Frainn spat, pacing her finger against her arm in boredom.

“That was just a pure factual metaphor.” He smiled before benting over and grabbing some things in the backseat of one of the cars. “I ended the Winter Soldier program once before. I have no intention to leave my work unfinished. To do this, we’ll have to scale a ladder of lowlives.”

“Well, join the party. We’ve already started.” Sam retorted.

“First stop is a woman named Shelby.” He spoke as he walked away, holding his bag and coat. “Mid-level fence I still have a line on. From there, we climb.”

“So all this time, you’ve been rich?” Sam wondered as they walked along a private jet parked on the tarmac, the engines roaring in the back.

“I’m a Baron, Sam. My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country.”

“I’m royalty too.” Frainn chimed in, looking around. “I was an Asgardian princess until my world was destroyed by a, uh, let’s say, a “end of the world” kind of prophecy and I should be queen of a realm of ice, but I can’t go back and it most likely went to ruins by now sooo....”

“Hearing these things coming to life when you spoke of it, is… fascinating.” He admitted. “Tell me more about it, any time.”

He then greeted the old butler standing by the stairs leading into the plane in russian and they exchanged a few words and kisses, and he then invited the three others to follow him inside. Frainn brought up the rear and she gave a smile to the man, greeting him in Russian as she spoke any Midgardian language. The old man was at first surprised, but he just smiled and climbed the steps after her as they all entered the jet. They sat down on four fancy beige leather seats in the aisle, facing each other. Sitting on the armchairs with his back to the cockpit, Bucky was seated facing Sam and Frainn facing Zemo. Arms and legs crossed, she was dangling her foot in boredom and looking out the porthole. She turned her head when she felt someone benting near her. It was the old man handing out a glass of champagne to Zemo.

“Apologies if that’s a little warm, the fridge is out. But I will see if there is some good food in the galley.”

“If it doesn’t pass the smell test… give it to them.” Zemo answered in Sokovian. Frainn stared him down while the butler chuckled at the comment and left.

“You’re decaying body won’t pass the smell test either, but I’ll be sure to feed it to the All-Father’s crows.” Frainn said in Sokovian, with a smirk on her face. He glanced at her and nodded as he took a sip of his drink like he understood why she would say this to him. Sam and Bucky were silently gazing at the both of them as the goddess death stared the Sokovian Baron.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be locked in a cell.” He then said, turning his head to Sam and Frainn frowned while Bucky looked away. “Oh. That’s right. You do.”

“Easy mistake.” Frainn retorted, giving him a fake reassuring smile. All four of them in this plane had known what it was like to be in a cell, some longer than others, in harsher conditions, but it all came down to the same memory of being in these four walls with no way to escape, except that they all did escape.

“Why don’t you tell us about where we’re going?” Sam inquired, annoyed.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to call it, but this part seems to be important. Who is Nakajima?.” His eyes down on a book he held in his hands, and he then revealed a smaller one he had hidden in the pages. When he pronounced the man’s name which Frainn recognized, Bucky jumped out of his seat and brought his gloved hand to Zemo’s throat and the latter let out a light gasp.

“You touch that again, I’ll kill you.” He threatened, grabbing the book and sitting back in his seat under Frainn gaze.

“I’m sorry. I understand that list of names. People you’ve wronged as the Winter Soldier.”

“Don’t push it.” He warned in a low voice, calm. He glanced over at Frainn when her spear’s blade suddenly came beneath Zemo’s chin. She knew about this little book of his. She knew it was important and what was important to Bucky would be protected with her life by Frainn.

“Next time, this spear won’t stop at your chin.” She spat, implying that the next time he tried to push Bucky around, she would let the spear pierce his throat and the blood would flow down his mortal body.

“I’ve seen that book.” Sam added as Frainn made her spear shrink back to the side of a mere pencil. No one would ever suspect this seemingly harmless object people saw everyday would hide a much more lethal weapon. He looked at Bucky as he spoke. “It was Steve’s when he came out of ice with Frainn. I told him about Trouble Man. He wrote it in that book. Did you hear it? What’d you think?”

“I like 40’s music, so…”

“You didn’t like it?” Sam was almost offended.

“I liked it.” Bucky replied.

“Before you come for me, Sam, I just want to say I haven’t had much time on Midgard since 2012.” The Goddess raised her hands, palms turned to Sam, in defense.

“Well, you should listen to it now that you live on our planet.” He chuckled.

“It is a masterpiece. Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience.” Zemo explained.

“He’s out of line, but he’s right.” Sam then declared. “It’s great. Everybody loves Marvin Gaye.”

“I like Marvin Gaye.” Bucky argued calmly.

“Steve adored Marvin Gaye.” Sam insisted.

“You must have really looked up to Steve. But I realized something when I met him. The danger with people like him,” He glanced at Frainn as he spoke before his eyes went on Bucky. “America’s Super Soldiers, is that we put them on pedestals.”

“Watch your step, Zemo.” Sam whispered but Zemo kept going, staring at Bucky.

“They become symbols. Icons. And then we start to forget their flaws. From there, cities fly, innocent people die. Movements are formed, wars are fought. You remember that, right?” Bucky was quick to look away after he glanced at the man with the glass of champagne. “As a young soldier sent to Germany to stop a mad icon. Do we want to live in a world full of people like the Red Skull?” He shook his head. “That is why we’re going to Madripoor.”

“What’s up with Madripoor? You talk about it like it’s Skull Island.” Sam wondered, looking at Zemo. Frainn was kind of confused. She didn’t know where was Madripoor or what was the deal about it and she didn’t know what was this Skull island thing Sam brought up but she hid her confusion behind a mask of ice.

“It’s an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago.” Bucky mumble an answer. “It was a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s.”

“It’s kept its lawless ways.” Zemo added. “But we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves. James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone.”

Madripoor, Indonesian Archipelago

“We have to do something about this.” Sam complained, glancing at his red and gold suit. “I’m the only one who looks like a pimp.”

“Only an American would assume a fashion-forward Black man looks like a pimp.” Zemo countered as they walked down an impressive bridge toward the city they landed for. “You look exactly like the man you’re supposed to be playing. The sophisticated, charming African rake named Conrad Mack, aka the Smiling Tiger.”

“He even has a bad nickname.” Sam argued after taking a phone Zemo handed to him with a picture on it. He then looked down on the screen and rose his eyebrows. “Hell, he does look like me, though.” He glanced at Frainn, walking next to Bucky. “Why are you not dressed up too?”

“I could, but I don’t need to.”

“What do you mean?” He questioned, as if he wasn’t aware of the extent of her powers by now.

“You said it yourself, I’m a deceiver. No one will see me but you three. They won’t even be able to know unless I show myself.” She then explained.

“It is truly an art. An unpredictable and dangerous one.” Zemo philosophized before frowning slightly. “You smell this?”

“Yeah, what is that? Acid?” Sam wondered.

“Madripoor.” The Baron simply stated. “No matter what happens, we have to stay in character. Our lives depend on it. There's no more margin for error than Frainn can cover us for with her illusions.”

“You won’t even see or feel it when I do so.” They approached a black car stationed in the middle of the empty road, waiting for them.

“High Town’s that way. Not a bad place if you wanna visit, but Low Town’s the other way.” Frainn stood by Bucky as he opened the door and she slipped in between him and Sam on the back seat, already hidden from anyone’s sight but her three partners in crime, that included the driver on that fancy car they got in. The latter drove off and after a couple minutes tops, rain started pouring outside and thunder rumbled. Frainn looked at the sky when she heard it, thinking of her uncle, wondering how and what he was doing while she was in this mess, hunting Super Soldiers. As if they knew who was in this car, a bunch of armed men riding bikes came around the vehicle and escored them. They got out of the car and walked down a bunch of stairs, surrounded by artificial light and LED paneld hanging on the building, plunging them in a blueish atmosphere with some hints of pink and yellow, the night sky over their heads. The streets were crowded. Shady people holding guns over thei shoulders all over the place. It wasn’t so high class like back on Asgard. She wasn’t scared but it wasn’t somewhere she wanted to stay for long. It kind of made her miss the cosyness of their small not so furnished apartment in New York.

“Here we are.” Zemo then led them into a bar, a crow thronging the room. Frainn glanced around and winced at the sight of a wall filled with monkeys’ skulls painted in gold, just hanging there in decoration. She didn’t like this place very much and couldn’t wait to be out of here, but she could feel it was only the beginning of a long night. They made their way through the crowd and as seconds passed, people noticed them and in no time, all the eyes were on Bucky, walking behind Zemo as he spoke in Russian to the Super Soldier. “Ready to comply… Winter Soldier?”

“Hello, gentlemen.” The barman greeted the three. “Wasn’t expecting you, Smiling Tiger.”

“His plans changed. We have business to do with Shelby.” Zemo declared.

“The usual?” The man frowned behind his glasses and looked at Sam. The latter nodded, and he watched him grab a snake into a jar and cut it open on a black cutting board below the counter.

“Ah. Smiling Tiger, your favorite.” Zemo smiled, as the barman made the drink, plunging something from the snake into ther liquor. Frainn saw the look on Sam’s face, so she took care of it, like she discussed with Zemo. To the man behind the bar, Sam was looking pretty confident and eager to drink whatever this was.

“I love these.” He said, calmly, grabbing the glass and looking at Zemo.

“Cheers, Conrad.” Their glasses clinked as they cheered, and he drank. Only them could see the wince of disgust on his face. A man then walked up to the Baron from behind and the latter turned around.

“I get word from on high. You ain’t welcome here.”

“I have no business with the Power Broker,” Frainn frowned, wondering who this person Zemo mentioned was, but what she got from the way he said it, was that whoever this was they were kind of the big deal here in Madripoor. “but if he insists he can either come and talk to me…” He showed Bucky beside him, keeping on a straight face, silent. “Or bring Selby for a chat.”

“A power broker? Really?” Bucky inquired once the man walked away.

“It’s a pretty lame nickname.” Frainn added.

“Every kingdom needs its king.”

“Stop Zemo, I’m this close to find you funny.” She taunted, making a small space between her fingers. He glanced at her without moving his head to not make it suspicious. She wasn’t there to anyone else in the bar, he couldn’t act like he was talking to a ghost.

“Let’s just pray we stay under his radar.”

“Do you know him?” Sam wondered, leaning his back against the counter.

“Only by reputation.” He turned to Sam. “In Madripoor he is judge, jury, and executioner.”

“Seems like a lot of power for just a man if you ask me.” Frainn appeared beside Sam and crossed her fingers on her chest. He nodded at her comment. They looked at Zemo when he turned around and started speaking Russian to Bcuky when a man walked up to him.

“Winter Soldier, attack.” The second the man put his hand on Zemo’s shoulder, Bucky grabbed him with his metal arm and twisted his wrist, pushing him away forcefully. He punched him in the stomach and made him fall over on the floor while everyone stepped away, watching, their phones out to film the scene. Another man rushed at Bucky, but he threw a punch and a couple of kicks at him and threw him away, dragging someone else in his fall. But really, this fight scene was much more complex than people could see. Bucky fighting as the Winter Soldier in the middle of a crowded bar was just the work of Frainn’s power. The persons he fought of were very much getting hurt and kicked and punched around and that was the whole thing about her illusions. She could make them so real you would actually mistake them for the reality. She could conceal herself from the sight of others and project illusions that would go to such a realistic level that no one could see through it. No mere mortals could notice the trick. The real Bucky was still standing near the bar and Frainn was squeezing his shoulder lightly.

“I didn’t want to let you do this.” She whispered, watching the fake but real-looking fight taking place in the bar. The damages in the room were real as they were cause by Bucky’s opponents upon falling around.

“This is very impressive, Frainn.” Zemo remarked, knowing that her illusion would make it look like he didn’t even talk at all, and he nodded, watching as well. Illusion Bucky then stood right where Bucky was, pinning a man down onto the bar and in a fraction of second, Bucky found himself actually holding him down. When Sam put his hand on Bucky’s metal arm, Frainn made it look like he didn’t move so they wouldn’t be suspicious. “Stay in character, or the whole bar turns on us. You are lucky Frainn is covering us.” He then switched to Russian. “Well done, Soldier.”

“Selby will see you now.” The barman exclaimed as Bucky let the man slip down the bar, groaning in pain. They were then led through a back door. Cells along the walls, tables covered in bundles of cash. They eventually reached a private lounge. They walked to a woman casually sitting on a couch.

“You should know Baron.” She started, tapping her fingers on the top of the back of the sofa. “People don’t just come into my bar and make demands.”

“Not a demand. An offer.” He replied, sitting on the other sofa.

“A lot has changed since you were here last.” She went on to say, following Bucky with her eyes. Frainn stood beside him and stared at the one named Selby as he positioned himself near the wall. The white-haired woman turned her head back to Zemo, frowning slightly. “By the way, I though you were rotting away in q German prison. How did you escape?”

“People like us always find a way, don’t we?” He shrugged, sketching a smirk. “I’m sure you’ve already figured out what I’m here for.”

“You’re taller than I’d heard, Smiling Tiger.” She stated, still looking at Zemo and pointing at Sam with her index finger and slowly turned her head to him. He simply looked down at her and nodded silently, with a straight face. She then purred softly, moving her fingers in the air and glanced at Zemo with a thrilled smile. “What’s the offer?”

“Tell us what you know about the super-soldier serum.” He stood up and walked over to Bucky, passing behind him like he was a prize and Frainn didn’t like that very much. She knew it was all part of the plan to get the information but knowing that Bucky must have been so uncomfortable in this position, she was upset. “And I give you him, along with the code words to control him, of course. He will do anything you want.”

“Now that’s the Zemo I remember. I’m glad I decided not to kill you immediately.” Her smile faded to a more serious facial expression, but one could see that she liked the idea of having the Winter Soldier under her thumb. As she continued, Zemo went back to the sofa. “Arrogant, but right. The Super-soldier serum is here in Madripoor. Dr. Wilfred Nagel is the man you wanna thank. Or… condemn, depending on what sied of this you’re on. The Power Broker had him working on the serum, but… things didn’t go as planned.”

“Is Nagel still in Madripoor?” Zemo asked. She slightly leaned forward, shaking her head.

“The bread crumbs you can have for free, but the bakery is gonna cost you, Baron.” She stood up. “And before you get all cute, don’t think you can find Nagel without me.” Suddenly Sam’s phone started to vibrate in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Frainn clenched her fist. Doing anything wouldn’t do them a favor because Selby had heard it and if there was magically no sound, it would be strange. He looked at the screen of his cellphone and glanced back at Selby who now stood right in front of him. “Answer it. On speaker.”

“Hello?” He eventually said, taking a deeper voice than usual, trying to keep it together for the act. A female voice rose.

“Hey, um, we need to talk about this situation. It’s been drivin” me nuts.”

“What situation exactly are you talking about?”

“Are you high?” The woman wondered, sensing something wasn’t right about the way Sam was talking to her over the phone which made Frainn think it was someone close to him, who would know his behavior was off. Whilst he was on the phone, Selby walked around the room. “You know what situation, it’s the only situation me and you have.”

“What situation, Sarah? Say it.” He sounded fakely bothered.

“The damn boat. And watch your tone. Okay? I let you slide at the bank.” Sam scoffed before replying.

“The bank. Yeah. Laundered so much…” He chuckled, shaking his head with a proud smile, trying to play this off. “Yeah, they’ll come around.”

“If that was the case, then why’d they dog you out, Big Time?”

“Yeah, you damn right I’m Big Time. You’ll see when I have that banker killed.”

“Cass! What’d I tell you about the Cheerios? I don’t have time for this!” She seemed to be addressing a kid, maybe hers even. Frainn grabbed the golden pen in her pocket and slowly extended it to its full size, her hand tightly holding onto the spear, feeling that it was about to go down rather quickly in the next seconds, and she sensed right, it did, the moment the woman articulated his real name for everyone to hear and the Goddess didn’t expect this so it wasn’t Conrad that Selby and her men heard. “Sam, I’m sorry. I’ll call you back.”

“Sam? Who’s Sam? Kill them!” Right after she gave the order, a bullet pierced her throat and her body fell heavily on the floor. Frainn revealed herself and helped to get rid of Selby’s men. Bucky and Sam took the guns of the guards they knocked out and Zemo and Frainn followed them to a door in the lounge.

“They’re gonna pin this on us.” Sam looked at Zemo and the Baron sighed.

“We have a real problem now, so leave your weapons and follow my lead.” He instructed the Bucky and Sam. The two men let go of the guns and they all walked out of the bar through the back of the building and out onto the crowded streets. They heard cell phones chimed and people chattering as they walked briskly to get away before anyone identified them and, in any case, before Frainn could even hide them, people had seen them. Some guy suddenly fired at them and Frainn deflected the bullets with a violent gust of wind, and they went right back at the shooter but it was only the first of many who wanted the bounty on their heads for the murder of Selby. They all sped up and started running and Frainn took care of the guys after them all while running along them.

“I can’t run in these heels!” Sam complained.

“Just fucking run, Sam!” Frainn groaned and she looked behind when she heard bikes coming after them. “Where the fuck is Zemo?”

“What?” Sam looked back as she threw discs of ice under the motorcicles’ wheels, and it froze the whole machine along with the people driving them and they fell with a crash and broke into pieces, as if they were only made of ice. She turned around and looked up. Seeing a window half opened and a sniper posted right there, she didn’t think twice and the moment the person was closing the window after shooting someone on the street, she gathered the wind around her hands and thew a gust of it, shattering the glass towards the inside, and right at the sniper, whoever that was. Zemo then reappeared, shooting another.

“You seem to have a guardian angel.” Bucky and Sam looked at Frainn at Zemo’s comment and all she was thinking of after hearing him say this was how Bucky called her Steve’s guardian angel the day they met in this back alley, and he saw it in her eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking in this instant.

“Well, this is too perfect.” A woman’s voice rose from the shadows behind Zemo, and he turned around as she approached. Frainn frowned when she recognized Sharon beneath that hood, holding the Baron at gun point. “Drop it, Zemo.”

“Sharon?” Bucky was as surprise to see her.

“You cost me everything.” She ignored the super soldier, walking toward Zemo and he stepped back between Bucky and Sam. The latter stretched his hand out, palm to Sharon.

“Sharon, wait.” Frainn walked around, observing the woman’s face. She noticed cuts on her face. “Someone recreated the super-soldier serum and Zemo had a lead.”

“That explains why you guys are here. And Selby’s dead.”

“So what are you doing here?” Bucky wondered.

‘I stole Steve’s shield, remember? I also took the wings for your ass, so that you could save him from him.” She pointed Sam, Bucky and Zemo in order with her gun. “I didn’t have the Avengers to back me up. So, I’m off the grid in Madripoor.

“Had a little accident, Sharon?” Frainn asked in a softly threatening way, almost like hiss of a snake to the blond’s ear. She glanced at her but gave no response, shrugging it off.

“Don’t blow smoke. I was on the run, too.” Sam retorted.

“Was. Is. Big difference. I don’t speak to my family anymore. I can’t. My father doesn’t know where I am.”

“How sad, Sharon. I feel you.” Frainn overplayed being sad and nodded, then cracked a fake sympathetic smile. Her sarcasm was probably misplaced and a childish reaction in this moment, but she was bitter upon hearing her play the victim. Sure, she was. Unfair things happened to her, but the goddess could compete on who had it worse. “Mine doesn’t know where I am and I can’t talk to him or anyone of my family either,” She pressed heavily each of the words that followed, and it threw a cold. “because they’re all dead.”

“Hey. Listen…” Looking at Sharon, Bucky was the one to speak up, stepping beside the goddess, a hand on her shoulder. She swallowed harshly, maybe she needed to vent on someone, and she didn’t feel bad for it. Sharon wasn’t anyone to her. “Sharon, we need your help.” The blonde chuckled. “Please.”

“This isn’t over. I have a place in High Town. You’ll be safe there.” She then walked away, and Bucky motioned at the two others to follow as he placed his arm in Frainn’s back, leading her along with him. Sharon brought them to a car and they crossed Madripoor to the gate of a fancy building.

“Looks like breaking all those laws is treating you well.” Sam stated as they entered. It was a quite luxious indeed. Even with an Asgardian interpretation of the word luxury, she could see it was rather nice, but she preferred the gold and greatness of her homeworld’s architecture, which she could ever only see again in memories.

“I thought if I had to hustle, might as well enjoy the life of a real hustler. You know how much I’ll get for a real Monet?” Frainn frowned, not knowing who this Monet was and just listened to Sharon talking with Sam as they climbed a bunch of stairs.

“Deactivate your hustle mode. You sell fake Monets.”

“No.” Zemo spoke up and Sam turned to him. “She means real. This gallery is specialized in stolen artwork. Monet. Van Gogh. Classics.”

“It’s true.” Frainn nodded at Bucky’s affirmation, but she had no idea what and who they were talking about. She had only knowledge of the Nordic artworks, she wasn’t so informed about Midgardian’s art in general and those names meant nothing to her as she didn’t know the people. “You know, half the artwork in museums like the Louvre is fake. Real stuff sits in places like this.”

“I must admit, I’m lost.” Frainn whispered to Bucky as she looked at the painting of a lady in a white dress, holding an umbrella. He glanced at her and chuckled.

“Okay, guys, I see what you’re doing. You’re more wordly than good olf Sam.”

“Yeah. What’s Google say?” Bucky inquired as he and Frainn walked past Sam.

“Come on, you guys need to change.” Sharon called out to them. “I’m hosting clients in an hour.” She opened a double door and led them into a sitting room with a bar, a couple sofas and a rack full of nice clothing for the guys. She left them for a moment and came back after Bucky changed into a suit and Sam was going through the clothes on display, topless as she walked in, Zemo drinking at the bar. Frainn was sitting next to Bucky on the sofa, in a fancy green backless dress with a slit along her leg and a plunging neckline. She had her spear turned into a gold arm ring with Nodic runes associated with Loki engraved on it and her necklace with the wolf's head pendant that she had been given by Frigga centuries ago, and that her mother wanted to give her. Her dark hair were slicked back on her head, brought into a high ponytail, hair cascading down on her neck.

“What’s going on, Sharon? You don’t ever wanna come back home?” Sam wondered.

“They’ll lock me up if I step foot back in the States. Madripoor doesn’t allow extradition.”

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call, but after The Blip and the chaos, I just…”

“Look, you know the whole hero thing is a joke, right?” They listened the two in silence, Frainn let her head fall on the back of the sofa and stared at the ceiling, fidgeting with the pendant of her necklace. “The way you gave up that shield, deep down, you must know that it’s all hypocrisy.”

“He knows. And not so deep down.” Zemo chimed in, a glass in his hand.

“By the way, how is the new Cap?” Frainn clenched her jaw and sighed at Sharon’s question. All the Goddess wanted was to see that jackass drop dead on the ground.

“Don’t get me started.” Bucky said in a low voice, hands joined on his laps. Sharon scoffed.

“Please. You buy into all that stars and stripes bullshit. Before you were his pet psychopath,” She walked around the sofa and sat down on Frainn’s right ands the latter straightened up her head and stared at her. “you were Mr. America! Cap’s best friend, and you, Frainn, you were Eagle, his sidekick.”

“I’m no one sidekick. I was his friend.” She spat, bitter.

“Wow. She’s kind of awful now.” Bucky stated and exchanged a glance with Frainn.

“Karli Morgenthau and at least seven others have taken the serum.” Sam approached, adjusting the high collar of his top.

“You guys really should steer clear of all this for your own safety.”

“We know it’s a risk, but we’re not gonna leave until we find the one who cracked the code.” Sam insisted and Sharon frowned, worried.

“We got a name. Wilfred Nagel.” Bucky added. Sharon then stood up and took a few steps away towards a plate with alcool bottles near which Zemo was seating.

“Nagel works for the Power Broker.”

“We need your help, Sharon. I can get your name cleared.” Sam tried to convince her.

“You haggling with my life?”

“Not like that.”

“I don’t buy that.” She retorted, a glass in her hand and sat down. “You pretending like you can clear my name.”

“Okay, maybe it is hypocrisy. Maybe you’re right. What happened to you.” He stood up and walked toward her. “But I’m willing to try if you are.” He motioned to Bucky and Frainn with his hand. “They cleared the bionic machine, and he killed almost everybody he’s met.”

“I heard that.” Bucky declared, staring at the floor.

“They even gave US and Norwegian citizenship to his alien— Goddess of a girlfriend, and she killed almost everybody she’s met too.”

“I heard that too.” Frainn sighed.

“I don’t trust charity.” Sharon shook her head.

“All right, a deal then. You help us out, and I get your name cleared.” Sam crossed his arms and then held out a hand to her, which she took before taking a sip of her drink with a sigh and stood up.

“Well, I sell to some pretty connected people. Lay low, blend in, enjoy the party.” She walked away towards some stairs. “Try to stay outta trouble. I’ll see what I can find.”

“Trouble.” Zemo looked at the three others in the room and shrugged, his glass in between his hand.

“I don’t like Midgardian parties.” Frainn stood up and walked toward one of the French windows opening onto the balcony, her heels making her even taller than she was already, slamming on the floor with every step she took. She went to the balustrade and looked down on the city, plunged in the dark of the night with blue LED panels all over the place, giving to the place that was Madripoor a peculiar aura. “I’d rather have an Asgardian feast.”

“What’s it like?” She turned her head upon hearing Bucky’s voice behind her as he came next to her to the balustrade. She turned her head to him before looking back down at the streets.

“I went to a few of them before I was cast out. It was always so cheerful. People were eating and drinking, seated at the longest table I had ever seen or chatting here and there, laughing. Oh, and the food. The food was divine.” She chuckled at the use of this word as she was herself pretty much a Goddess, and it felt a bit funny to use it. But in any case, her smile faded rather quickly as nostalgia got the upper hand and the joy that the memory brought her turned into sadness of never being able to relive this moment.

“It sounds fun. Care to show me, honey?” He put his hand over hers and she raised her eyes to him. Frainn knew he meant showing him by using her illusions casting power and she grabbed his other hand, turning to him and in the blink of an eye, their surroundings changed, and she saw wonders in Bucky’s eyes. The golden palace of Asgard, candles hanging on the walls, their flames dancing to the breeze, laughs and people eating and drinking everywhere. At first, he must have thought it was just some projection to show him but when they looked around, they saw her younger self, sitting next to Loki in a corner, swinging her leg in the air. “Is that you?”

“Yes. My father didn’t like these feasts much, but I managed to get him to come sometimes.” He held on to her hands as she walked to her and Loki and stood a couple feet away from them. They could hear the conversation the two were having.

“You’re so not fun, Loki.”

“Those celebrations are a waste of my time.”

“No, they’re not.” Young Frainn argued.

“Did you know he was your dad, at that time?” Bucky wondered, watching her and the God of Mischief chatting. Frainn glanced at the floor for a second.

“No. The moment I found out, I went berserk and caused a massacre.” The settings switched. They were in the mountains on the other side of the realm, far from the palace, their feet were sinking in the snow and there she was. She saw herself sitting in the snow, her skin blue and eyes red just staring ahead with this downcast look. There was also anger in her eyes. Bucky was probably silent because he didn’t know what to say upon seeing this. She was showing him things she never really talked about that much. She thought that he must have wondered if she told Steve or anyone else the whole story about her banishement. But even if she did talk about it, it wasn’t the same as letting people dive into her own memories. As the guards came and dragged her back to the palace, she shut down the illusion and they were back on the balcony, facing the balustrade, holding their hands.

“Hey,” They turned around and saw Sam holdig the French doors opened ajar. “What’s taking you so long to talk about?”

“We’re coming.” Bucky simply replied and Sam nodded and went back inside with Zemo. The latter was looking right at Frainn with this strange fascination he had when she spoke of her past, which were stories coming right from mythology books. He eventually got up and stopped looking so she turned to Bucky.

“Let’s go to that party.” Frainn declared but her words were met by Bucky’s lips softly connecting with hers. She kissed him back. His lips tasted sweet and the comforting kiss, as good as it was, ended when they went on their way to the party going on downstairs. A loud upbeat music was playing in the now crowded show room, arms up in the air, drinks in hands, everyone was dancing in rhythm to the music, cheering. Frainn found a party like this quite grotesque. The music and vibe of the party wasn’t to her liking, and she just followed, Zemo, Sam and Bucky to the bar with a straight face. A moment ago, she was opening her heart to Bucky, sharing a sweet moment with him and now she was here, already bored. As Zemo and Sam went their separate ways, Bucky brought his hand to Frainn’s waist, standing next to her.

“I know you don’t like it. Just stay at the bar and get yourself some drinks.”

“That sounds like a plan. I hold alcohol very well.” She joked, still stone-faced as she watched the people partying all around the room.

“Not everyone knows that.” He retorted with a smirk as he let his hand slip down her back and walked away, making his way through the crowd of people dancing, jumping on the spot. The Goddess sketched a slight smile and went to sit at one of the barstools along the bar, her side to it to keep an eye on the party going on, not turning her back to anyone. She ordered the strongest drink the barman had and casually drank it like there was no alcohol in it. She felt it, but it didn’t have effect on her body. It would take a lot more than whatever she was served to get drunk. After a moment that seemed awfully long and she was already at her fourth drink, she noticed Bucky motioning for her to come to him and Sam with his hand, so she just got up and walked over to them. “You’ll be happy.”

“Why is that?”

“Sharon found Nagel.” Sam told her.

It was very early in the morning when all four of them left the party and went with Sharon to the docks of Madripoor where were stacked hundreds of huge containers. It was apparently in the area that this Wilfred Nagel they were looking for, was hiding, working on the serum.

“Madripoor could give New York a run for its money.” Sam said as they walked after Sharon as she led them around the place.

“They know how to party.” Zemo retorted.

“I beg to differ.” Frainn argued, glancing at Zemo behind her. She always felt that her royal titles were just that, titles but the more she experienced new things, she saw that there was a gap between her and her upbringing and everyone else. That kid of party or gathering would never have had its place on Asgard, or Jotunheim for that matter. There wasn’t any party in that ice kingdom anyway but on Asgard, the parties were like she showed Bucky through her memories. Gold, drinks, good food, fruits, meat, laughs and chatter with a breath-taking view from the palace’s balcony. It was something else.

“With that bounty on your head, Zemo, the longer you’re in Madripoor, the less likely you’re ever leaving.” Sharon spoke up, glancing up and down at her phone. She then stopped in front of a containers’ double doors. “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.”

She handed them earpieces for each of them, before leaving them on their own. They walked to the container and Sam opened the door which creaked briefly. They glanced inside but it was empty.

“Hey, Sharon. You sure this is the right one?” He inquired. “It’s latelytely empty.”

“Positive. It has to be.” She replied and they stepped inside. Frainn looked around and went to the back of the container. Zemo came along with his flashlight, and he passed his gloved fingers on the sheet metal and they glanced at each other, thinking there was a door right there. She pushed the panel with both hand and it moved under the pressure so he and Frainn looked at Sam and Bucky. There was a flight of stairs with music coming from above. Bucky and Sam pulled out their guns and walked up the stairs first, Zemo bringing up the rear. Silently, they walked into a lab with music blasting from a record player. And there he was, Wilfred Nagel, oblivious to their intrusion, his back to them as they approached, focused on whatever he was doing. Frainn, Sam and Bucky exchanged a look and she pulled out her spear, concealing the noise Sam stopped the music. The scientist turned around, already on the defensive and stared at Sam.

“Dr Nagel?”

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“We know you created the super-soldier serum.” Sam insisted.

“Get out my lab.” He walked past him and was met by two rather threatening people, Frainn and who he knew as the Winter Soldier. His confidence dropped very quickly when he saw the two and when he noticed the sharp blade of the spear she held in her hand.

“You know who he is, right?” Sam grabbed the scientist’s arm and showed him Frainn and Zemo in turn. “This is Frainn Lokadottir, the Avenger and this is Baron Zemo, I know you’ve heard of them too, right?” He pushed him toward Bucky, still holding his arm and cornered him. “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.”

“People on this planet have such an audacity.” She casually walked to him and put her hand to his neck. She wasn’t squeezing. She didn’t need to choke him to hurt him. Her hand slowly turned blue, and he started to wince, trying to repress and conceal the pain that he began to feel.

“Guys, we have company.” Sharon said over the coms. Frainn glanced at the others and brought the coldness to another level and the scientist breathed in and out rather loudly still trying to contain himself. She dragged him to a chair and forcefully sat him down as he started to groan in pain

“Here’s this “better offer” that you want.” She was crouched in front of him, her hand still holding onto his neck, looking at him dead in the eyes. “If you don’t want to die, you talk. If speak, I take off my hand and your neck will heal from this just fine but the longer you take to decide… you either get your throat slit or he shoots you in the head. Simple.” On that note, Bucky fired a warning shot behind him and brought the barrel of the gun to his temple.

“Okay. Okay.” He eventually gave in, and she nodded, letting go off him and standing back up. He took a deep breath in, bringing his hands up to his neck but not daring touching the burn she caused on his skin. Bucky then lowered his gun. “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. After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood. I was a god.” Frainn’s jaw clenched. “I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do. But mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect.”

“How have we never heard about this?” Sam was in disbelief in front of how insane the man sounded.

“Because… Before I was able to complete my work, I turned to dust. Then when I returned, it was five years later, program had been abandoned, so I came here. The Power Broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work.”

“How many vials did you make?” Wilson asked.

“Twenty.” He looked away for a second. “Karli Morgenthay stole those, so… I can only imagine what the Power Broker has planned for that poor girl.”

“Where’s Karli now?” Sam went on with the questions.

“I don’t know where she is but a couple days ago, she called and asked if I could help someone named Donya Madani. Poor woman has tuberculosis. Typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that.”

“Well, what happened to her?” The scientist shrugged.

“Not my pig. Not my farm.”

“Is there any serum in this lab?” Bucky inquired and as Nagel kept quiet, he brought his gun to his head once again.

“No.” He finally said.

“Now what?” Bucky turned his head to his peers and suddenly, Sharon bursted in the lab.

“Guys, we’re seriously outta time here.” Out of nowhere, Zemo pulled out a gun and shot Nagel in the chest. The latter fell over on the floor, dead, in a pool of his own blood. Sharon and Sam jumped at Zemo and blocked him against a wall, but they had no time doing anything, an explosion occured in the lab and they all were projected to the floor. Frainn was lying there, having a hard time breathing after the heat of the blast of fire that entered the lab upon the explosion. She gasped for air and winced as an alarm blared fluriously in the room, ringing her ears. The ringing was bearable. What was much harder to deal with for her was the heat that filled the whole room all of a sudden. She turned her head when she heard a muffled voice coming from her right and before she could understand what was happening, she felt Bucky’s hands grab her sides and help her on her feet, passing her arm around his shoulders.

“Frainn—” Bucky said her name but as they climbed down the stairs, another explosion sounded loud, causing the container above them collapse in front of the one they were in. Bucky ducked over Frainn to shield her just in case. Sam and Sharon were the first one to step outside while Bucky brought the palm of his hand to Frainn's forehead and he immidietaly took his hand off of her skin. “You’re burning up.”

“I gathered that.” She articulated, swallowing harshly. With the outside breeze entering the container, she regained her senses, but she still felt very weakened. “Leave me just a sec, join the others… I just need a minute.”

“All right, Frainn.” He was a little worried to leave her there but he reluctantly obliged, helping her to sit against a wall and he stepped outside. She breathed out and tensed her fingers. Her sking turned blue and she had some kind of relief. She didn’t know what skin-color she was born, she only ever saw herself with her white skin until she found out about her ancestry but then, she mostly kept this white skin and it felt effortless all the time until she got herself into situations like this one, which didn’t happen very often, and then she would feel a difference. It actually required some magic to keep her skin-color white but so little that it wasn’t a bother, she was more used to this one anyway. Less than a minute later, she stood up and walked outside. Shots rang out here and there, hitting the sheet metal containers around them. She stepped in the middle of the shooting, out in the open, her skin blue and her eyes red. It was definitely something to see given she was still in her dress because she had been too lazy to change into something else, and it wasn’t harder to move in it as it wasn’t really tight.

“Frainn.” She heard Bucky call out her name, but she didn’t look at him as bullets started hitting her in bursts and yet, she didn’t flinch. She wasn’t moving an inch as if the bullets weren’t doing anything to her, which was actually the case. As funny as it sounded, her skin was so thick due to her being Asgardian and Jotun. One shooter got confused and it gave an opening for Bucky to shoot him down. She generated an ice pick along her hand and threw it at another that was standing above the containers. He had no time to dodge it and it pierced through him, and he fell heavily on his back. A second later, a pipe exploded, and another fire briefly sprung from it. Frainn crouched and put her arms and hands in front of her face, swirling a wind around her which she then sent on the black smoke that succeeded the fire and cleared the area. She slowly stood up and watched a figure jumped off a container, figure that she recognized to be Zemo given the coat he wore was the exact same and she watched him take down the last opponents standing, and she shook her head, sighing.

“Great fucking show.” She groaned. Bucky came by her when he, Sam and Sharon took the opportunity to run, and she followed the three of them without a word. Sam suddenly opened a container’s door as someone shot at them and he snatched a bar from it and knocked down another coming from behind him and Frainn. He then threw it at the woman that fired at them, pining her against a container. Frainn stared at her as she groaned and winced in pain and threw a thin disc of glass to slit the side of her throat. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out of it and less than a second later, there was no life left in her eyes. Frainn was pulled into the container Sam opened by the man himself and the door locked itself behind her. Frainn was a little disturbed to see how easy it still was for her to take the life of others but what was she to do if they were attacking her? For once, she had a legitimate reason of attacking back and killing. The deaths she caused back on Asgard because of Odin’s lies was the only thing she had ever done that couldn’t be excused, even though the blood of these Asgardians was on Odin’s as well. Would he not have lied to her, this would have certainly not happened. They walked across the container and Bucky punched the double door to the other side with his metal arm and they stepped out to the sound of tires creeching on the ground and here was Zemo, in a vintage car, pulling up to them.

“Supercharged.” The Sokovian stated. Frainn stared at him as her skin turned back to her Asgardian light complexion and she sighed silently.

“You’re going back to jail.” Sam reminded him.

“Do you want to find Karli or not?”

“He’s right. We need him.” Bucky added before getting in the passenger seat beside Zemo, leaving the backseat to Sam and Frainn. As her lover spoke, the Goddess walked around the car to get to the other side and get in. “And there’s three of us, and at least 20 of them. Come on.”

“Fine. But if you try that shit again…” He threateningly pointed his finger at Zemo before getting in in turn.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Well, that was one hell of a reunion.” Sharon sighed in relief, shutting the door of Bucky and Sam’s side of the car.

“Come back to the States with us.” Sam insisted.

“I told you I can’t. Just get me that pardon you promised me.”

“Thanks for everything.” Sam told her as she walked away. He slipped in his seat and looked at Bucky with annoyance. “You’re not gonna move your seat up, are you?”

“No.” The former soldier simply replied and Frainn chuckled. It was the same setting as back in 2016 when all three of them were waiting for Steve as he talked with Sharon outside of the car. Their places were reversed this time around and it was to Sam to struggle with little space for his legs.

“Donya Madani. She’s a refugee, yeah.” Sitting on a couch behind the four chairs facing each other on which all four sat on the outward journey to Madripoor, Frainn watched Sam step around while on the phone with Torres. Next to her was Bucky, cleaning his metal hand with a small towel. “Okay. Call me if you get a hit. Thanks, Torres.”

“You okay?” Bucky asked him after he let himself fall in one seat with a sigh.

“Yeah.” He replied in a deep voice. “Just thinking about all the shit Sharon had to go through. And Nagel referring to the American test subject like Isaiah wasn’t even a real person.” He straightened up and turned the seat to face Bucky. “Just makes me wonder how many people have to get steamrolled to make way for this hunk of metal.”

“Well, it depends on who you ask.” Bucky replied, looking down at his hand before switching his focus to Sam. Frainn had let her head fall on the back of the sofa and, her arms folded across her chest, she was staring into space listening to them. “That hunk of metal saved a lot of lives.”

“Yeah, I get that. All right. Maybe I made a mistake.”

“You did.”

“Yeah. Maybe I shouldn’t have put it in a museum. I should have destroyed it.” Frainn suddenly lifted her head and stared at Sam.

“Look, that shield represents a lotta things to a lotta people, including me, and Frainn.” He leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees. “The world is upside down, and we need a new Cap, and it ain’t gonna be Walker. So before you go and destroy it, I’ll take it from him myself.”

“Yeah.” Sam’s phone vibrated and he picked it up. Zemo arrived at the same time, small dishes in his hands and handed it over to Bucky, Sam and Frainn so they could eat, and he then sat down on the seat with its back to Bucky on the sofa. “They found Madani… dead. She died in Riga, a city near the Baltic Sea.”

“I have a place we can go.” Zemo spoke up. “I, for one, am looking forward to coming face to face with Karli. Oeznik, we’re changing the course.”

Riga, Latvia

“I heard what become of Sokovia.” Zemo said as they walked down the street towards the place Zemo owned in the city. “Cannibalized by its neighbors before the land was cleared of rubble, erased from the map. I don’t suppose any of you bothered visiting the memorial?” As his question was met by silence, he pursued. “Of course not. Why would you? We are here.”

“I’m gonna go on a walk.” Bucky then randomly declared, and everyone stopped in their tracks in front of the building and turned to him.

“You good?” Sam inquired.

“Yeah. See you guys in a bit.” He replied as he turned around and walked away. Frainn watched him going the other way, wondering what was going on but she didn’t say anything and followed Sam and Zemo inside. She needed some rest after all that happened in just the past couple days.

[To be continued…]

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Published (05/25/2022) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64

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