James sits down and stares at the ground as Sam and I were laying down.
"You all right?" Sam asks him.
"Let's take the shield, Guys. Let's take the shield and do this ourselves."
"We can't just run up on the man, beat him up, and take it. Do you remember what happened the last time we stole it?" Sam asks.
"I could take it....mess with his mind." I shrug.
"I'll help you in case you forgot. Sharon was branded enemy of the state, and Steve and I were on the run for two years. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna live the rest of my life la vida loca. We just got our ass handed to us by Super Soldiers, and we got nothing." Sam says.
"Not entirely true. There is someone that you should meet."
We walk down a neighborhood in Baltimore, seeing two kids sitting down. "Hey, it's Black Falcon. What's up?" A kid yells.
"It's just Falcon, kid."
"No, no. My daddy told me it's Black Falcon." The kid smiles.
"Is it because I'm Black and I'm the Falcon?"
"Well, technically, I mean, yes." He nods.
"So are you, like, Black kid?" Sam laughs. "I got him, right?"
James leads us to a house and knocks, "we're here to see Isaiah." He says as a kid opens the door.
"Nobody named Isaiah live here."
"Look, we just want to talk to him." James nods.
"You must not hear what I just said. You ain't getting in this house. Y'all can leave now."
"Tell him the guy from the bar in Goyang is here. He's gonna know what that means." James whispers.
"All right, wait here."
"Nice kid. How do you know this guy?" I ask.
"I used to. We had a skirmish during the Korean War." James nods.
The boy opens the door, "Today's your lucky day. He said he wanna see for himself."
We walk inside to see a man staring coldly, "Isaiah?" James asks.
"Look at you."
"This is, uh, Sam and Y/N. Sam...Y/N, this is Isaiah. He was a hero. One of the ones that Hydra feared the most. Like Steve. We met in '51." James nods.
"If by met, you mean I whupped your ass, then, yeah. We heard whispers he was on the peninsula, but everyone they sent after him, never came back. So the U.S. military dropped me behind the line to go deal with him. I took half that metal arm in that fight in Goyang, but I see he's managed to grow it back. I just wanted to see if he got the arm back. Or if he'd come to kill me." Isaiah says.
"I'm not a killer anymore." James whispers.
"You think you can wake up one day and decide who you wanna be? It doesn't work like that. Well, maybe it does for folks like you."
"Isaiah, the reason we're here is because there's more of you and me out there." James nods.
"You and me." Isaiah chuckles to himself.
"And we need to know how."
"I'm not gonna talk about it anymore." Isaiah slams a metal tin box into the wall. My power swirls at my hands as I jump. "You know what they did to me for being a hero? They put my ass in jail for 30 years. People running tests, taking my blood, coming into my cell. Even your people weren't done with me."
"Isaiah..." Sam whispers.
"Get out of my house!" He yells.
"Let's go, man, let's go." The boy nods.
I stand still in sadness, "I'm so sorry, Sir." I wipe my tears and walk out with the two men.
"Sam..." James says.
"Why didn't you tell me about Isaiah? How could nobody bring him up? I asked you a question, Bucky." Sam says angrily.
"I know."
"Steve didn't know about him?" I ask.
"He didn't. I didn't tell him."
"So you're telling me that there was a black Super Soldier decades ago and nobody knew about it?" Sam stops and points angrily.
We look over as we hear a siren, "Hey." A officer gets out.
"What's up, man?" Sam asks angrily.
"Is there a problem here?" The officer asks.
"No, we're just talking." Sam says.
"We're fine." I nod.
"Can I see your ID?" The officer asks Sam.
"I don't have ID. Why?"
"Okay, sir, just calm down." The officer points.
"I am calm. What do you want? We're just talking."
"Give him your ID so we can leave." James says.
"No. I'm not giving him shot, We're just talking."
The officer recognizes me, "Miss. Stark, Is he bothering you?"
"No, he's not bothering me. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Do you know who this is?" James and I both say at the same time angrily. We turn to look at each other.
The other officer whispers to the other, "Hey, these guys are Avengers."
"Oh, God, I am so sorry, Mr. Wilson.I didn't recognize you without the goggles. I'm really, really sorry about this. The..."
Another cop car pulls up. "Guys, just wait here, okay? Just..."
He walks away.
"We're not finished here! I'm gonna be talking to your boss asshole!" I yell.
"It's okay Y/N." Sam nods.
"I didn't... I didn't tell anybody because he had already been through enough." James whispers.
"Mr. Barnes, there's a warrant out for your arrest." The cop comes back.
"Look, the president pardoned him for all that." Sam nods.
"Not for that. You missed your court-mandated therapy. It's like missing a check-in with your PO. I'm sorry, Mr. Barnes, you're under arrest."
I watch as they put him in cuffs and put him in the back of the car.
Sam and I both go down to the police station, a woman approaches us.
"Y/N...Sam. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Dr. Raynor. I'm James's therapist." She shakes our hands.
"So nice to meet you. Thank you for getting him out." Sam smiles.
"That was not me."
"Christina!" We turn to see John waving, "It's great to see you again."
"You gotta be kidding me. You know him?" I ask.
"Yeah, we did some field ops back in the day." She smiles.
"I heard you were working with Bucky, so I thought I'd step in. Bucky's not gonna be following a strict schedule any longer." John says.
"We haven't finished our work. Who authorized this?" She asks.
"Um..." he points to himself and cockily smiles.
"You better humble yourself." I point.
"He's too valuable of an asset to have tied up. Just do whatever you got to do with him, then send him off to me. Got some unfinished business, him and I. You too, Wilson and Stark. I'll be outside."
"James, condition of your release, session now. You too, Sam and Y/N." She walks away.
"That's okay. We'll be out here with..."
"That wasn't a request." She yells.
I join them in a small room, sitting uncomfortably between the two.
"So...Who would like to start?" She asks.
"All right, look, Dr. Raynor? I get it, why you want me to talk to Freaky Magoo over here. But I'm 100% fine." Sam nods.
"It is my job to make sure that you're okay. And so, yeah, this may be slightly unprofessional, but it's the only way that I can see if you're getting over whatever's eating at you."
"This is ridiculous." I sigh.
"Yeah. I agree." James nods.
"See? Making progress already. So, who wants to go first? No volunteers? Wow. How surprising. Okay. We're going to do an exercise. It's something I use with couples when they are trying to figure out what kind of life they wanna build together. Are you familiar with the miracle question?" She asks.
"Absolutely not." James says.
"Of course not."
"Okay, it goes like this. Suppose that while you're sleeping, a miracle occurs. When you wake up, what is something that you would like to see that would make your life better?" She asks.
"In my miracle, he would... he would talk less." James says.
"Exactly what I was gonna say. Isn't that ironic?" Sam nods.
"In my miracle, I would beat the shit out of both of them." I smile.
"You guys are leaving me with no choice. It's time for the soul-gazing exercise."
"I like this better."
"Oh, God. He's gonna love this." Sam smiles.
"Yeah, I'm ready."
"This is right up your alley." Sam nods.
"Turn around. Face each other."
"You should really enjoy this." Sam says.
"I'm going to."
"All right, good. All right, get close. Come on, a little closer."
"Which way you want to go?" James asks.
"Right or left? You know what? Fine. Here. You happy now?" There legs lock in. "We're locked in."
"That's a little close." Bucky chuckles.
"Very. What you wanted, right?"
"Let's start with Y/N. Im gonna do this a little different. Sit on their legs."
"What the fuck." I shake my head. "What kind of doctor are you?"
"Just do it." I sit on their thighs, facing James. "Sam hold her waist. Y/N, tell James how you feel."
Sam holds my waist, I sigh and shake my head. "This is so fucking weird." I sigh. "James....you've fucked my life up. I don't care if that's not you anymore....you and Strucker ruined me. I have nightmares about you. I still do. You haunt me, I'm even scared to be sitting on your legs. I still think your going to hurt me." I stare at him blankly. "You took my parents away....you've taken my happiness away. I didn't want to live because of you."
James doesn't respond, he looks down sadly, I turn around, taking James hands and putting them at my waist. I take a deep breath and stare at Sam. "You piss me off. I used to think you were cool until you gave away the shield. Steve meant everything to me....I knew how much that shield meant to him. He trusted you. I'm disappointed Sam. Hell if you didn't want it, you should of at least givin it to James. He was Steve's best friend. Your just Selfish." I suddenly get off and sit back in my seat. "Done." I wipe my eyes.
"Good." She nods. "Now James and Sam....look at each other. You need to look at each other in the eyes. There, you see? That wasn't so hard. Wait, what are you doing? Are you having a staring contest? Just blink." she naps her fingers, "Sweet Jesus. All right, James, why does Sam aggravate you? And don't say something childish."
"Why did you give up that shield?" James asks.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of something that has nothing to do with you?" Both if you!" He yells.
"Steve believed in you. He trusted you. He gave you that shield for a reason. That shield, that is... that is everything he stood for. That is his legacy. He gave you that shield, and you threw it away like it was nothing."
"Shut up." Sam sighs.
"So maybe he was wrong about you. And if he was wrong about you, then he was wrong about me." Jame's voice breaks. I stare at him in shock as I witness a new side of him.
"You finished?" Sam asks.
"Yeah."
"All right, good. Maybe this is something you or Steve will never understand. But can you accept that I did what I thought was right?" Sam scoffs, "You know what, Doc? I don't have time for this. We have some real serious shit going on. So how about this? I will squash it right now. We go deal with that, and when we're done, we all can go on separate, long vacations and never see each other again."
"I like that." James nods.
"Great. Well, let's get to work. Thanks, Doc, for making it weird. I feel much better. I'll see you both outside." Sam stands and walks out.
"Thank you. That was really great." She nods.
I stand and stare down at James, "I won't beat the shit out of you...or kill you. But that doesn't mean I forgive you." I wipe my eyes. "That part of you may be gone....but I still don't trust you." I walk out.
James meets up with Sam and I. "Well, I feel better." Sam nods.
"I feel awful." James whispers, looking over at me.
I look over as a siren goes off "lady and gentlemen. Good to see you again. Look, if we divide ourselves, we don't stand a chance, you guys know that." John says.
"So what do you got?" Sam asks.
"Well, the leader's name's Karli Morgenthau. We've been targeting civilians who've been helping Karli move from place to place."
"They geotagged a location, then scrambled the signal. But our satellites have found their symbol popping up in various displaced communities all across Central and Eastern Europe." Lemar nods.
"We think she's taking the medicine she just stole to one of these camps." John says.
"Well, there are hundreds of those all over the planet since The Blip. So I guess you'll have to look real hard." James nods.
"Good thing I have 20/20 vision, huh?"
"Where is she now, Walker? Do you know?" I raise my voice.
"No, we don't know, Y/N. It's only a matter of time before we find out." He raises his voice at me.
"Things are really intense for you, aren't they, Walker?" James asks.
"Take it easy. Look, Walker's right. It is imperative that we find them and stop them. But you guys have rules of engagement and all kind of authorizations you have to get. We're free agents. We're more flexible. So it wouldn't make sense for us to work with you." Sam says.
"A word of advice, then. Stay the hell out of my way." He growls.
I try to lunge at him but James grabs me and holds me up against him, "Your a cunt, Walker. You'll never be as good as Steve." I hiss. I push James off of me. "Get off!"
The heels to my suit click against the ground roughly as I walk faster down the sidewalk. "Y/N, wait!" Sam calls out.
"I just want to blast his face." I turn sharply. "Take that goddamn shield and use it against him."
Sam wraps an arm around me to comfort me as we walk. "I know." He turns to Bucky, "So what are you thinking?"
"Well, I know what we have to do. When Isaiah said my people..." James nods.
"Oh, don't take that to heart. That's not what he meant." Sam says.
"No, he meant Hydra. Hydra used to be my people."
Sam scoffs, "Not a chance."
"Walker doesn't have any leads." James says.
"I know where you're going with this, no." I nod.
"He knows all of Hydra's secrets. Don't you remember Siberia?" James asks Sam.
"So you're just gonna go sit in a room with this guy?" I ask.
James hesitates, "Yes."
"Okay, then. We're gonna go see Zemo."