Battle Cry // TFATWS

XVII

[Truth]

Bucky and Adalyn 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 towards 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!"

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

Bucky sighed. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well."

"I'm not like you or Ada."

Adalyn's tone was icy as she said, "Watch it, Walker."

Sam looked between the others 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 Adalyn exchanged a look before replying, "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 Adalyn away 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 and pushed Bucky against the lift before throwing him into a pole.

Bucky fell as electricity surged through his Vibranium arm and body. Adalyn ran up to Bucky to make sure he was all right and he gave her a weak 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.

Adalyn stood and shook her head. "Never." She punched John, causing him to stumble back. He kicked her back and she fell to the ground with an angry yell.

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.

Adalyn stumbled up and she, Bucky and Sam managed to get the shield away from John at the expense of his elbow.

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

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

"It's mine."

Adalyn pursed her lips and retorted, "No, it's not. If you need the shield to be Captain America, then you sure as hell don't deserve it."

Bucky sat up and stared at the shield. He picked it up and dropped it next to Sam.

---

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

Adalyn watched as police cars took escorted people away, walked 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 Adalyn. "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 Bucky. "Hey, you got your sleeve back."

Bucky shook his head and headed for the door. Adalyn looked between Bucky, Sam and Torres.

Sam nodded. "Go. I got this."

"You sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. You two need each other right now." Adalyn walked towards the door as Sam leaned on the table. "Are you off to take care of Zemo?"

Bucky turned back to Sam and Torres, remaining silent. He took Adalyn's hand before they left.

"All right, good to know you 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.