A John Walker Fic
After he's disgraced as the "New" Captain America and replaced by Sam Wilson, Walker spends his days doing absolutely nothing but wallowing in regret. But when he gets a call from a woman named Valentina about a job, one last job, before he can spend his life alone and he reluctantly agrees. But this one is different...he's given borrowed equipment and told to hunt down a Shadow, a mutant human running rampage in Europe and he's only got two weeks. When John makes it to Berlin, her last known location he doesn't expect much and debates just dipping, running off and praying they don't find him. But when he stumbled quite literally into his target he realises he may be in over his head....both in this job and with her.
Alex Cross is a mutated experiment and was supposed to be Canada's answer to Captain America, or at least that's what her POS father was promised when he sold her for 200,000. But it was a lie, and Alex became Shadow, a mutant with the ability to trap people, not in life but in their mind among a couple other unique challenges. When she spots someone interesting and follows him, she finds John Walker, a disgraced and also replacement Captain America. She decides to spare him, telling him her life story and seeing if maybe she can change his mind. For the fake Hydra that kept her for 20 years in the Siberian wilderness isn't quite dead, she missed one, and he's on a rampage.
But if John and Alex can have any hope of working together they need to realise they're not so different...and quite possibly made for each other.
set in Pre-Thunderbolts*, Thunderbolts* and Beyond