The Séance • Marvel

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier: Chapter 12

EP 4:

Back in Zemo's apartment, Sam is sending a message to Sharon. Vanessa laid down on the couch with her eyes closed, trying and failing to take a nap. "Were you ever offered it?" She heard Zemo ask. "What?" "The serum," Zemo says. "No." "If you had been, hypothetically, that is, would you have taken it?" Zemo asks. With no hesitation, Sam answers, "No." "No hesitation. That's impressive" Zemo says.

Zemo waits for a minute before he continues, "Sam, you can't hold out hope for Karli. No matter what you saw in her, she's gone. And we cannot allow that she and her acolytes become yet another faction of gods amongst real people. Super Soldiers cannot be allowed to exist." "Isn't that how gods talk? And if that's how you feel, what about Bucky? Blood isn't always the solution" Sam argues back.

Vanessa waits for a response but gets none as the door opens and closes. "Something's not right about Walker," Bucky says. "What gave that away?" Vanessa asked surprising everyone with the fact she was awake. "Well, I know a crazy when I see one. Because I am crazy" Bucky said. Vanessa nodded in agreement as she too had been labeled as insane. "Can't argue with that" Sam says.

"Shouldn't have given him the shield" Bucky says, while pouring himself a drink. 'Not this again' Vanessa says to herself and lays back down. "I didn't give him the shield," Sam says, standing up from his seat. "Well, Steve definitely didn't," Bucky says.

Once again the door burst open, much louder than last time. Vanessa quickly stands up and as John Walker walks in. "All right. That's it. Let's go. I'm now ordering you to turn him over" Walker orders. "Hey, slow your roll. And let's be clear, shield or no shield, the only thing you're runnin' in here is your mouth. Now, I had Karli and you overstepped. He's actually proven himself useful today. We're gonna need all hands on deck for whatever's comin' next" Sam says. "How do you want the rest of this conversation to go, Sam, huh? Yeah," Walker said with a chuckle, "Should I put down the shield? Make it fair?" Vanessa's hand makes its way to one of her throwing knives. She grabs a hold of it as Walker puts down the shield. A slight whistle alerts Vanessa of something being thrown.

A sharp spear is thrown and lands on the column where Walker is was just standing. Vanessa looks behind her and notices a woman standing there. In the front door, two more women appear, all of them wearing their Dora Milaje gear. One of the women says something to Bucky in a foreign language. "Release him to us now," she says in English. "Hi. John Walker. Captain America" Walker says extending his hand for Ayo to shake. She barely spares him a glance. "Well, let's, uh, put down the pointy sticks and we can talk this through, huh?"

Vanessa shook her head at the disrespectful tone Walker had taken with them. "Hey, John, take it easy. You might wanna fight Bucky before you tangle with the Dora Milaje" Sam tells him. Walker doesn't believe Sam and gives him a mocking smile. "The Dora Milaje don't have jurisdiction here..." Walker tries to say.

"The Dora Milaje have jurisdiction wherever the Dora Milaje find themselves to be," says Ayo. "Okay," Walker says with a chuckle, "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot." Walker puts his hand on Ayo's shoulder and she hits him in the face with her spear. The three members of the Dora Milaje find themselves fighting against Walker and Lemar. Vanessa stands next to Sam, out of the Dora Milaje's way.

"We should do something," Sam says. Vanessa shakes her head, rather enjoying Walker and Lemar lose the fight. "Looking strong, John" Bucky yells. "Ten bucks, she makes him cry," Vanessa says, remembering the time she tried to spar with Okoye only to have her ass on the floor within a minute. "Bucky..." Sam said, knowing Vanessa wouldn't do anything to stop the fight.

Ayo is about to impale Walker with her spear when Bucky suddenly stops her. "Ayo," Bucky says, trying to pull the spear from her grip, "Ayo, let's talk about this." On the other end of the room, one of the other warriors was about to impale Lemar. Sam runs up to her and tries to pull the spear from her.

The final warrior looks at Vanessa and places the tip of her spear on Vanessa's chest, to stop her from intervening. The spear digs in slightly deeper into Vanessa's chest as she winces in pain. Vanessa raises her hands to show that she has no intention of getting involved. This is a fight that Vanessa knows she will always lose.

As the fight continues nobody notices how Zemo slips past them all and into the bathroom. The warrior that was fighting Sam, grabs her spear and throws it at Walker when she notices him about to get up. Vanessa still standing with a spear pointed at her chest, hears a thud as something fell to the floor. Then she hears Ayo speak in Wakandan finishing off with, "James."

The warrior who threw the spear at Walker goes to retrieve it. She pulls it out of the table and the shield falls to the ground. She then stomps on the edge of the shield so it flies up and into her arm. "He is gone. Leave it" Ayo orders. The warrior holding the shield gives it back to Walker, and the one holding a spear to Vanessa's chest lowers it.

Vanessa rubs the spot where the point of the spear was digging in, noticing that there is a small cut. "Did you know they could do that?" She hears Sam ask. When Vanessa turns around she sees Bucky's Vibranium arm on the floor. The arm clanks as Bucky places it back in place, "No."

Vanessa walks past Walker and Lemar, not even sparing them a glance. She walks over to the bathroom and leans against the door. Sam and Bucky stand and look at where Zemo escaped from. "El Chapo would be proud," Vanessa says recalling how the Mexican Drug Lord escaped a maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel. "Come on," Bucky says.