CHAPTER 21,
DORA MILAJE
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THE SMALL GROUP have returned back to their building after everything that had went down, deciding to call it a day for now. The friends had to escort Keela and Zemo through the streets due to the fact that they were barely awake from their unconsciousness. The brunette could've fought him if she wasn't taken so off-guard and fuelled with irritation from their little arguement, finding him a coward for doing that action while her back was turned away from him. Bucky wasn't happy either to say the least to the point where Sam had to hold him back from beating John Walker up — "I warned you not to touch my girl." he had snapped at the time.
Keela currently sits at a stool in the kitchen with a glass of alcohol placed in front of her on the counter, wanting to drown her troubles away despite the fact that she can't get drunk due to the serum. Zemo is laying on the couch nearby with a cold compress on his head to soothe the headache caused being unconscious, Sam monitoring beside him. She awoke several minutes before him and was able to recover fairly quickly.
"Were you ever offered the serum?" Zemo suddenly asks.
"No." Sam replies.
"If you hypothetically had been, would you have taken it?" Zemo continues.
"No." Sam repeats.
"No hesitation. That's impressive." Zemo comments, nodding in approval. "You can't hold out hope in 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."
"If that's how you feel, what about Keela and Bucky?" Sam asks.
A response isn't given to his question, Zemo only pulling the wet rag off of his head. Sam then glances over to where the brunette just sits quietly in the kitchen. She appears to be zoned out in a deep thought as her fingers subconsciously circle around the rim of the alcohol glass, meaning that she had not being paying attention to the conversation.
The sound of a door opening is then heard which causes all three of them to collectively look up towards the direction it came from. Bucky can be seen entering the room where he pulls his jacket off to reveal the tight black shirt he's wearing, it being a short sleeve so that it shows off his metal arm too. Keela's eyes only widen slightly at the sight of his muscles peaking through underneath it and drops her gaze back down to the glass.
Bucky rummages through the cupboard and pulls out his own glass cup before walking over to where Keela sits. His chest presses against her back slightly as he carefully leans over her body and grabs ahold the bottle of alcohol, pouring himself a glass. It doesn't slip past the brunette that the veins on his flesh arm is visible upon his muscles, as well as the black watch that rests around his wrist. She won't deny that he looks attractive, but she's always viewed him as that.
"Are you feeling any better?" Bucky asks as he looks down at the girl with concern.
As he says this, his hand unknowingly rests at her waist as a habit from the past. Keela doesn't say anything about it for deep down she doesn't want him to let go, only fighting back the feeling of her cheeks heating up at his mere touch. She shifts to look up at him where brown eyes lock onto blue.
"Yeah, I am." Keela replies, nodding with a small smile. "By the way, thank you for helping me."
"Anytime, Kee." Bucky replies, returning the same smile she gave him. "I just don't want you getting hurt anymore."
"You can't stop that from happening while we're the people we are, you know that, right?" Keela reminds.
"That won't stop me from trying to keep you away from harm." Bucky tells her.
Keela shakes her head as she lightly laughs at him, heart warming at the idea that he still wants to keep her as safe as possible. She turns around in her seat so that they're not face to face where his hand slips from her body at the movement. They stare at one another as she reaches out and cups his cheeks, thumb brushing against his skin gently.
"You really haven't changed, Buck." Keela whispers.
Bucky smiles. "Neither have you."
The pair don't say anything else. The brunette pulls her hand away and allows it to drop back into her lap with a pang shooting through her heart. Bucky just clears his throats awkwardly, unsure of what else to say after that little moment they just shared.
"Something's not right about Walker." Bucky states.
"You don't say." Sam speaks up as he lets out a light chuckle at this.
"Well, I know crazy when I see one because I am crazy." Bucky informs.
"I can't argue with that." Sam replies.
"You shouldn't have given him the shield." Bucky tells him.
"I didn't give him the shield." Sam fires back.
"Well, Steve definitely didn't." Bucky comments as he tags a swig of the alcohol he poured.
All of a sudden, the front doors burst open with a bang after being kicked upon from its locks. John Walker and Lemar Hoskins can then be seeing striding into the building with their heads held high as if they own the place. Keela and Bucky both rise to their feet in an instance as they slowly exit the kitchen, wanting to have their guards up just in case something happens. All pairs of eyes only turn onto the two to see what they want.
"Alright, that's it. I'm now ordering you to turn him over." John demands.
"Okay, let's be clear here." Sam begins. "Shield or no shield, the only thing you're running in here is your mouth. Now, I had Karli and you overstepped. Zemo's actually proven himself useful today. And we're going to need all hands on deck for whatever is coming next."
"How do you want the rest of this conversation to go, Sam?" John questions with a taunting chuckle. "Do you want to make it fair? Have me put down the shield?"
Keela rolls her eyes at his comment, so desperately wanting to run forwards and beat the crap out of him for knocking her unconscious. But what she didn't expect is to see John actually turn and lower his shield down onto the ground, just proving his challenge towards Sam. He allows it to remain propped up against the pillar closest to them so that it's still perfectly on show.
However, as he does this, a spear soars through the air before embedding itself into that same pillar. They all jump back in shock at the sudden sight of it, turning to look in the direction it came from to see multiple women standing there. They are dressed in a red uniform with metal body armour on their shoulders protection, hair completely shaven off as they wear neck/arm rings on their body with vibranium spears gripped at hand. There's no doubt that they are all warriors, more specifically the Dora Milaje from Wakanda.
"Even if he is a means to your end, time's up." Ayo announces to Bucky in Wakandan. "Release him to us immediately."
"Hi. I'm John Walker, Captain America." The man greets.
He had turned towards Ayo with his hand held out for her to shake, only to get nothing in response. She merely stares up at him with narrow eyes and a blank look on her face. John falters at the sight of this, lowering his hand awkwardly.
"Well, let's put down the pointy sticks and we can talk this through." John suggests.
"John, take it easy." Sam says. "You might want to fight Keela and Bucky at the same time before you tangle with the Dora Milaje."
"The Dora Milaje don't have jurisdiction here." John states.
"The Dora Milaje have jurisdiction whenever the Dora Milaje find themselves to be." Ayo informs through gritted teeth.
"Okay." John quietly replies, unsure of what else to say. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot."
John reaches out to rest a hand on Ayo's shoulder only to get hit around the face by her spear, showing that she does not wish for him to lay a single finger on her. This is only followed by a bit in the back of the knee so that he stumbles slightly to only get smacked in the face once again. She then proceeds to kick him backwards so that he collides into the spear stuck in the wall before falling onto the floor with a thud.
John uses the fall to his advantage and reaches out to grab his shield as protection, and just in time too for the Dora Milaje have all begun their attack after witnessing Ayo's. Lemar even gets himself involved into the fight in an attempt to back up his friend. However, little does he know what he's getting himself into as he does not have anything vibranium to use as a weapon of defence/attack.
The other four just stand there in the same room as them while watching the fight unfold; Zemo continuing to sip on his drink, Keela and Bucky just finding amusement in the fact that John is so cocky but is not getting his ass kicked, and Sam being the only one to be uncertain about this.
"Looking strong, John!" Bucky comments as he watches the man get hit across the face.
"Bucky." Sam sternly says, almost scolding him like a parent would to their child.
"You're doing amazing, keep going." Keela encourages, clapping in a taunting manner.
"Keela, don't join in." Sam warns.
Just as Ayo has John knocked down onto the ground in front of her with the sharp end of the spear pointed down at his face, Bucky steps in and intervenes. His metal arm grabs ahold of the spear and stops her from doing any harm to the man. However, Ayo only turns her fight onto him instead for he involved himself into this.
Nearby, Lemar gets thrown across the coffee table where he hits the ground with a thud as two spears get pointed in his direction. Sam reaches out and takes on one of the Dora Milaje's, while Keela takes on the other — reluctantly since they know how powerful the warriors are, but knowing that they need to stop before something bad happens.
The three that threw themselves into the fight struggle against the grip of the weapon being used because it's made of vibranium (the worlds strongest metal). They try their best to deflect any hits being made their way from it, which means they need to have speedy reflexes due to the fact that the Dora Milaje are fast with their movements. This is because they have received a large amount of training in order to serve their King/Black Panther.
Keela then slides over the top of the nearest table before dropping back down to the ground on both of her feet. However, as she does so, she makes sure to grab ahold of the wood and flip it down to fall with her. This is so that it can be used as a barrier/shield and to prevent her actions from being copied so that the warrior cannot cross the table. She does not wish to attack for she doesn't want to get onto their bad side, but rather is trying to defend herself and them.
Clang! Heavy metal falls to the hard ground and ripples through the tense air as a silence falls over them, the Dora Milaje putting a stop in the fights. Keela turns towards the sound to see Bucky now standing there with one of his arms missing, the vibranium one resting on the floor beside his feet. It's clear that Ayo had used the knowledge of his failsafe to her advantage, which is something that he doesn't seem to have known about as he too looks shocked at the action.
"Bast damn you, James." Ayo says.
Ayo then walks away from him and checks the other rooms in search for the man they came to get; Zemo. John breaths heavily as he gasps for air while yanking his arm out of the shield that's been attached to the table by the spear. Yama then walks forwards and retrieves the weapon back into her possession, allowing the shield to fall to the floor with a loud bang. The warrior proceeds to kick the side of it and causes it to fly up into her grip where she then holds it like Captain America would.
"He's gone. Leave it." Ayo orders.
Yama glances down at the man sitting weakly on the ground nearby, gently lowering the shield down where he then takes it from her hands. Neither of them say anything to one another. The Dora Milaje all glance at the person they were once fighting before turning on their heel and following Ayo out of the room. The exact person they are in search for managed to slip past their fingers, meaning that there is no reason for them to stick around and continue a meaningless fight.
Keela rises to her feet as she appears from around the table where she notices Sam lying on the floor nearby. She makes her way over to the man and holds her hand out for him to take, helping him back up to his feet. The two then turn around to see Bucky still looking both shocked and confused at the fact Ayo removed his arm with one simple touch. He crouches down and picks it up from its place on the floor.
"Did you know they could do that?" Sam asks.
"No." Bucky simply replies.
Purple lights then switch on from both the metal arm and where the socket should be as smaller objects protrude out of it to latch onto one another. Bucky reattaches it back onto himself where the golden scaling of the metal then close and lock into place to avoid it from falling once again — unless the failsafe is pressed, of course. He flexes the fingers to make sure that it's working just as well as it did before, a sigh leaving his mouth. He then proceeds to swing his arm back over his shoulder where the metal whirs before clanging into place.
"Are you okay though?" Keela asks, concerned for him and about what happened.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." Bucky assures with a small smile.
"I can't believe Zemo pulled an El Chapo." Sam comments.
Bucky sighs. "I can."