Karli and I had run towards where I was picking up the boys signals. I was hopeful that with Karli and I at least on the same page that we could stop this before anything else could happen. I couldn't get ahold of any of the boys to get an idea of what was going on so I was worried the worst had already happened.
I ran into the warehouse and I could hear the fighting long before I saw it. Karli was right behind me as we came into a room full of people fighting each other like wild animals. Karli seemed caught off guard to see it all happening and I looked at her because she had to call off her men. If she wanted to starting working together she had to stop them. John and Lamar weren't going to listen to me if I told him to stop.
"Karli you have to stop them." I said looking to he because they weren't going to stop.
She stood there not saying a word just glossed over. She was freezing. She was completely freezing and from the looks of the fight things weren't going well. No one looked like they were winning and they were all caught in a nasty battle.
"Karli, please." I said lowly.
We heard the loud groan from one of her men. Lamar had let out a mean hit on to one of her followers clean across the face. She was breathing heavily and I could see her indecision. I shook my head knowing she was going to crack under pressure and this was her last shot.
"I can't." She said looking me right in the eyes and she ran forward to protect one of her men.
I rush forward and knew I needed to step in. Karli wasn't going to stop this the right way so we needed to end this our way. I grabbed the man who had been going for Bucky and he looked surprised to see me. They didn't know I was back yet but clearly they were about to.
"No luck?" He asked as we tried to handle the others.
"She's scared, she was on our side, but she's scared." I said throwing off one of her men.
"You can't reason with her." He said punching a man.
"I don't know." I said elbowing the man who grabbed me from behind.
I caught Karli running out of the corner of my eye and I turned to see he kicking Lamar straight into a pillar in the middle of the room. I heard the sounds of cracking bones before he even hit the solid surface. Everyone, even her men stood frozen because no one was expecting that. Everyone was throwing punches and kicks, but most of us were super soldiers. Most of us could take a hit like that, Lamar couldn't.
Lamar laid their against the pillar not moving and I felt Bucky's hand on my back. I watched as Karli backed up and away from the situation. John was being held by two of her men and they slowly let him go. He ran to Lamar's side and I saw him shake him desperately. He however, was limp.
My head turned to Karli and she look horrified of what she just did. She looked to her men and they started to retreat. They looked scared of what just happened. John looked completely shell shocked as he looked down at his best friend. I couldn't imagine what was going through his head.
The entire group of Flag Smashers fled the room, Karli included. Bucky pulled on my arm because we needed to catch them. They just killed one of us, whether I agreed with them or not they killed someone. I ran out after the people who tried to flee and they were already walking out into the streets below.
I chased a man into the courtyard where most people seemed to be shopping. There was too many people around here and we couldn't make a scene. A window crashed from inside the building and I flipped around to see John landing on a bus. He went after the man I was chasing and I knew he was beyond pissed. I went to go grab both of them and Bucky held me back, Sam now coming to my side.
"Don't." Bucky said.
John started to scream asking where Karli went. He went after the man and crowds started to form around the scene. He threw the shield at the man and it looked unnaturally hard. John was strong, but that didn't look normal. The man he was attacking wasn't even fighting back he was just crying out that he wasn't responsible. He was begging him to stop and John wasn't responding
I looked to Bucky and I knew he was thinking the same thing. John let out a scream as he rose the shield above his head and sent it slamming into the mans chest. A gasp left my mouth and my hand covered it. He repeatedly went at the man and he was long dead after the first hit. Bucky's jaw had dropped and I head Sam's sigh as we watched the horrible sight in front of us.
"Guys." I said looking at them as John kept going at the man despite him going limp dozens of hits ago.
I looked to all the cameras and people that were watching in horror. Surely the videos were already viral and he was making a huge mistake. This wasn't going to end well for him and despite my hate for him this couldn't be good.
John backed up as the steps he stood over were covered in blood. He held onto the shield that was spattered in blood tightly and just looked around at everyone that had been watching. His stone cold expression was one impossible to read, but after what he had done it wouldn't matter. The whole world was watching him.
That shield that had stood for so much over the last decade was dripping in unnecessary blood. Blood that didn't need to be shed like that. If Steve could be here now to see this mess I don't even know how he would react, but this was not what Captain America and that shield stood for.
John broke out into a run back where we all had been fighting before. We all started to run after him because I was done with this righteous man get up he tried to keep. He was never supposed to have that shield in the first place and after what he did I was going to get it back. I was done watching it get torn to shreds and defy everything it stood for.
•
"Walker." Sam said and Bucky held me back.
Bucky and I were fuming mad, but we both knew Sam needed to do the talking right now. If I spoke I was just going to turn it into fighting. I wanted to knock him out and send him down a flight of stairs but if we could get that shield back up by him just talking him down then so be it. No more blood needed to be shed if we could stop it.
"You guys should see a medic, you don't look so good." John said emptily.
"Stop Walker." Sam said cautiously.
"What?" He asked. "You saw what happened. You know what I had to do. I killed him because I had to! He killed Lamar!"
"He didn't kill Lamar John." Bucky said clearly watching his tone. "Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well."
"I'm not like you." John said lowly.
"Listen it was the heat of the battle. Okay?" Sam said trying to cut in before anyone got upset. "If you explain what happened they may consider your record. We don't want anyone else to get hurt."
Johns eyes seemed to be empty again. He was constantly going in and out of this weird empty state. He just looked like no one was home. Obviously he had just gone through the trauma of losing Lamar, but I had no idea what was going on with him.
"John, you gotta give me the shield man." Sam said firmly.
"Oh, so that's what this is." He said. "You almost got me."
"You made a mistake." Sam said trying to be understanding, but even Sam couldn't relate to this.
"You don't wanna do this." He growled.
"Yeah we do." Bucky said and I just looked at him.
Bucky went after him and Sam and I didn't take long to follow suit. We went after him and no more than a few seconds of fighting I was well aware of what had happened. John had somehow gotten ahold of the serum. I didn't know when or how, but this was not just a lot of training, this was the serum. His hits were hitting extra hard since he was clearly upset.
He was in this blind rage, that was frankly concerning. Normally I'd laugh in the face of John, but right now this was bad. I tried to grab the shield, but he nearly snapped my arm to pull it back. He swung on Bucky and landed a hard hit to the jaw. Sam took a painful kick to the stomach.
John and I wrestled for a moment while Bucky and Sam got back up to their feet. I grunted in pain because his strength was actually a match for me. My shoulder seared in pain still from Madripoor even days later. Bucky kicked at him and his arm shoved me backwards. I scrambled to my feet and got back into the fight knowing this wasn't going to be easy.
I looked to see Sam's wings deployed and he was trying to knock John out. Bucky backed him into a poll and I saw them fighting for control. Bucky wound up and punched straight towards him, but he was able to get away. Bucky's hand then went straight through the metal pole behind where John had been. I was running towards him and John started to go for Sam.
John let out a loud yell and sent the shield flying into Bucky causing him to go flying backwards nearly 20 feet. Johns eyes met mine and he knew he fucked up. He went to go run towards Bucky and I followed right behind. He grabbed the shield and tried to push Bucky backwards.
"Why are you making me do this?" He cried out.
He threw Bucky across the storage facility and into some electrical component. He hit the floor and I was filled with a pit of rage in my stomach. Bucky wasn't moving and Sam was already on John as I stoped to look at Bucky. Sam was playing literal tug of war with John over the shield. He and Sam went flying into the ground as the two of them lost hold on the shield. Sam looked knocked out but I could see him slowly coming too.
I booked it to the shield and body slammed John as he went for it. I had a hold on the shield and he did as well. I sent punches right into his face and I saw his mouth filled with blood. He was no stranger either, I was taking punches to the face and stomach and I was getting tired. He looked beaten to shit too so I don't know how he still had this much energy.
I sent my knee right into his groin and sent my elbow into his head but that only cause him to pull me down with him. He was on top of me throwing punches relentlessly.
"I am Captain America!" He screamed and I jerked us to the side and I was on top of him.
I sent my fist right into his nose and it stuck to the side clearly broken. I stomped my knee right into his arm that tried to struggle away from me. I yanked them shield off his hand and I had to nearly pry it from his arm. If his arm hadn't of snapped right there it might have because he was holding on to tightly.
I let out a cry as my arm grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the concrete floor causing it to crack under his skull. He went limp after that and stopped resisting. I stood over him for a moment as his chest slowly rose and fall as he had been knocked out cold. Not killed, but he was going to wake up in a world of pain.
I fell off to the side out of breath and in searing pain. My arm was on fire and I could feel cool blood dripping down my face. I saw Sam looking at me and I grabbed the shield from the ground next to me. I struggled up to my feet and walked over to Sam. I threw the shield down by him as his laid there now with broken wings and at a loss of breath. I was nearly dry heaving as I stood up.
"Don't lose it again." I croaked out.
I limped over and went to Bucky who was knocked out cold. I could see him breathing so I was relieved at that. I made it to his side and dropped to my knees and cupped his face. I saw his eyebrows furrow and his eyes pinch. He eventually opened his eyes and I heard several groans and moans escape his mouth. He looked up at me and he tried to sit up, but I kept him laid down.
"The shield-"
"I know." I said softly.
I nudged my head towards Sam and we both watched as he picked it up cautiously. He didn't say a word, but he looked very unsure of himself but it didn't matter. We had the shield. He could figure it out. We watched as he tried to wipe off the blood from it. I felt Bucky grab my hand at his jaw and his head relaxed as he closed his eyes.
He had taken a mean hit, but it was all done for now. I had no idea what was to come, but I could relax even if just for the moment.