Remember Me // TFATWS

17

[Truth]

Bucky and Madeleine 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 toward 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!"

Madeleine shook her head. "He didn't kill Lemar, John."

Bucky sighed. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well. You're lucky you didn't hurt Maddi. Because if you had, things wouldn't end well for you."

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

Madeleine's tone was cold as she replied, "That's enough, Walker. Don't call me Maddi."

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 and Madeleine 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 Madeleine back and turned his attention to Bucky.

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

John picked up the shield, pushing Madeleine, who had gone to defend her husband, against the lift before throwing him into a pole.

Madeleine fell and Bucky pulled her away just before electricity could surge through her Vibranium arm and body. He checked to make sure she was okay and she gave him a nod.

Sam moved between the couple 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.

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

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

Bucky and Madeleine walked toward Sam and heard John say behind them, "That's mine."

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

"It's mine."

Madeleine shook her head. "It's just a symbol. The name of Captain America lies inside, and you are not Captain America."

---

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

Madeleine 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 Madeleine. "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 Madeleine. "Hey, you got your sleeve back."

Madeleine shook her head and headed for the door. Bucky glanced between Madeleine, Sam and Torres.

Sam nodded. "Go. I got this."

"Okay," Bucky replied as he walked toward his wife.

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

Bucky and Madeleine turned back to Sam and Torres, remaining silent. The two left.

"All right, good to know you two survived." He gave a little wave. "They 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.