Second Sphere

Don't patronize me

Sam breaks it down for Walker, "Look, the person closest to her died, she's vulnerable. If there's any time to reason with her it's now."

"What? No. Wait, no! No! Stop. Hold on. Stop okay?" Walker rushes ahead of the group. "I think we're way past reasoning with her; unless you forgot she blew up a building with people still in it."

"Sam you walk in there cold, she could kill you man." Lemar adds.

"And if I go in hot and the op goes wrong, more people will die." Sam tells him.

Not getting anywhere with Sam Walker turns to Bucky. "You're going to let him do this? You're going to let your partner walk into a room with a super soldier alone?"

Bucky is quick to answer. "He's dealt with worse. And he's not my partner."

"I used to counsel soldiers dealing with trauma, okay? This is right in my wheelhouse." Sam steps forward.

"Yeah I know. And I know those soldiers, which is why I know this is a bad idea." Walker is stopped by Lemar.

"Wait, John. If he can talk her down, it might be worth a try." Lemar at least seems to be open to us, even if Walker is too stubborn to compromise.

John looks between us all. He scoffs, "We'll deal with you later." He looks at Zemo.

Zemo's sarcasm is not lost on me, "I'm sure it will all come to an agreeable conclusion. My associate is just up ahead."

We all turn to see a small blonde girl, the same one from the displacement camp that whispered something to Zemo.

Zemo leads the way, "Hello my friend. This is for your family." He hands her some money as we linger behind him. "Can you show us the way?"

She gestures and we follow quickly.

"What the hell?" Walker asks.

"Zemo knows what he's doing. Just come on." I mutter to Walker as we hurry down the small street.

She leads us up back alleys and side streets opening a back door and pointing inside before disappearing.

"Karli is in there." Zemo says.

"All right." Sam walks forward.

Walker roughly grabs Zeno turning him around and handcuffing him to the side of what looks like old burners. "Hey you got ten minutes." He calls out to Sam. "Then we're doing things my way."

"Really?" Zemo mutters. He pulls on the handcuffs. "Aggressive. But I get it."

The minutes tick by slowly. Bucky leans up against the hand rail, putting himself between Walker and the doorway inside. Walker paces back and forth unable to stay calm and wait like Bucky and I are doing.

"Be patient Walker, you need to trust Sam." I say watching as he makes another lap of the small corridor.

"I don't think he's listening." Zemo responds sarcastically messing with the handcuff on his wrist.

Walker sits down after a couple minutes but his breathing is heavy. The rest of us are quiet as we watch the clock.

Walker finally cracks he stands up again pacing in front of the door, "Uh-uh. No. No. No. This is a bad idea."

"It hasn't been ten minutes, John. Just sit tight." Bucky tells him.

"Don't do that. Don't patronize me." Walker spits.

"He knows what he's doing." Bucky says simply.

Walker stared at the clock and then turns to Bucky. "I'm going in."

Bucky steps in front of the door putting a hand to John's chest, stopping him without a word.

I stand up straight from where I was leaned against the wall, preparing myself for a fight.