Steve, Bucky and Sam arrived outside the chamber. Alpine had been left in another room with food, water and litter. Red emergency lights flashed all around. There were numerous agents slumped on the floor. All of them were out cold.
"Help me," Zemo begged. "Help."
Steve and Bucky found Zemo in a heap inside the chamber and ordered, "Get up." Steve grabbed Zemo and shoved him against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"To see an empire fall."
As Sam entered, Flora swung her fist which smashed through the wall and he ducked. She grabbed him by the jaw and threw him at the open pod. Steve and Bucky lurched into the fight and the former landed two punches which Flora barely felt. Flora kicked and punched Steve out of the chamber, then kicked Bucky in the gut. A punch from Flora went through the elevator door. Steve blocked the next one, but the power of Flora's fist sent Steve tumbling into the darkened elevator shaft.
Sam came around and spotted Zemo looking down the elevator shaft.
A Man on PA #1 said, "Der Ostflügel ist kompromittiert. Ich wiederhole: Der Ostflügel ist kompromittiert."
(The east wing is compromised. I repeat: the east wing is compromised.)
"Hey," Sam called.
Zemo bolted and Sam rose. At the bottom of the shaft, Steve pushed himself off the floor.
CONTROL ROOM
"Evac all citizens," Secretary Ross ordered. "Get me a perimeter around the building and gunships in the air."
"Please tell me you brought a suit," Natasha said.
"Sure did," Tony replied. "It's a lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two-button. I'm an active-duty non-combatant."
"Follow me," Sharon instructed, running past Tony and Natasha.
Sam and Bucky chased Zemo up a stairwell.
Steve started climbing the elevator shaft.
Flora stalked through the building's ground floor. She battered two guards. With tech-glasses, Tony took cover behind a pillar.
Natasha said over the radio, "We're in position."
Tony tapped a wrist-control which became his Iron Man-glove. He zapped Flora with a stun-burst before she could shoot a guard. Tony rushed her, firing again. Flora ducked the blast, then traded blows with Tony, firing the gun. Tony had the Iron Man-glove over the barrel, blocking the bullet. He pulled the gun barrel loose then Flora smacked him backwards. Sharon rushed Flora, then Natasha rushed Flora. They each landed kicks and punches, then Flora flipped Sharon head over heels. She smashed onto a table and Natasha leapt on Flora, legs around her neck. She slammed Flora onto another table and grabbed her throat.
"You could at least recognize me," Natasha managed to say.
T'Challa came from nowhere and kicked Flora off Natasha who gasped for air. He fought with Flora, landing lightning fast kicks and some punches. Flora got a counter punch in and T'Challa fell, but quickly recovered. Flora hurried up some stairs. T'Challa leapt the levels and vaulted a railing, landing in front of Flora. Limber T'Challa spin-kicked and grabbed her metal arm which he tried to twist then looked worried as he realized it wasn't going to work. He threw Flora backwards and kept hold as they both tumbled down the stairs. They resumed fighting on the small landing and a leg sweep sent Flora over the railing. T'Challa leapt down after her, but found the wide reception empty. He scanned around.
Outside, staff fled the building en masse. Sam and Bucky were among them and quickly spotted something on the ground. Sam picked it up.
"Damn it," Sam and Bucky muttered as they looked around the wide courtyard and scowled.
Bucky ran off to find Flora.
---
Flora was heading up to the rooftop helipad. She marched up to a blue chopper and pulled the lock off the door. She got in the pilot seat. Steve rushed outside and sprinted toward the rising chopper, soon joined by Bucky. He leapt and grabbed the landing gear. Muscles bulging, Steve pulled hard and the chopper struggled to gain height. Steve's feet kicked for traction, then he got them flat on the helipad. The chopper dragged him onto the weak-looking mesh framing the helipad. Steve grabbed the railing with one hand and clung to the landing gear with the other.
Steve gritted his teeth and his neck strained with the incredible effort. Flora glowered from inside the chopper, then threw the joystick left and the chopper's nose slammed into the edge of the helipad. The rotor-blades were smashed to pieces and Steve and Bucky ducked as the tail swung around. The chopper laid twisted on the mesh at the edge of the pad. Steve and Bucky rose beside the canopy. Flora's arm smashed through the glass and growling, she grabbed Steve and Bucky's throats. The chopper started to list over the edge. The tail broke off and fell into the river below. Flora kept hold of Steve and Bucky as the whole helicopter dropped and slammed into the river. The impact knocked Flora out cold and she let go of Steve and Bucky. The body of the chopper sunk quickly to the riverbed along with other debris. Steve and Bucky surfaced, the latter with Flora in his arms.
AIRPORT
Zemo listened to a message from his wife. "He asked me again if you were going to be there. I said that I wasn't sure. You should've seen his little face. Just try, okay? I'm going to bed. I love you."
Frowning, Zemo ended the call. A TV news report was playing nearby.
A reporter said, "Flora Stewart, der mit dem Bombenanschlag auf die UN in Wien in Verbindung gebracht wird, ist heute aus der Haft entflohen. Ebenfalls vermisst werden die Avengers Captain Steve Rogers, Sergeant James Barnes und Sam Wilson."
(Flora Stewart, the suspect in the UN Vienna bombing, escaped custody today. Also missing Avengers Captain Steve Rogers, Sergeant James Barnes and Sam Wilson.)
Zemo eyed the TV screen. He stood in line at a departure gate. The screen above the gate read: 'Gate 06 / Berling Flughafen / AEM2103 / Moskau/Moscow'.
HUGE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE
Flora came to with her metallic left arm clamped in a huge industrial vice. Steve and Bucky peered through a gap at a chopper flying overhead. Sam was over by Flora.
"Hey, Cap! Sarge!" Sam called.
Steve and Bucky went over to join Sam by Flora who sat with her arm in the vice. They stared at her.
"Steve. Bucky," Flora said.
"Which Flora are Bucky and I talking to?" Steve asked.
"Your mom's name was Sarah... You used to wear newspapers in your shoes," Flora said with soft chuckle. She turned to Bucky. "I was the only girl who made you nervous. Where's my cat?"
"Can't read that in a museum," Steve said.
"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked.
Bucky walked closer to her and handed her Alpine. She instantly began petting the cat.
"What did I do?" Flora asked.
"Enough," Steve replied.
"Oh, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the freaking words."
"Who was he?" Bucky wondered.
"I don't know."
"People are dead," Steve told her. "The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than "I don't know.""
"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."
"Why would he need to know that?"
"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."
1991
At night, Flora rode alongside the car and somehow caused the car to crash. She circled back, pulled up and climbed off the motorbike. She was filmed on CCTV as she approached the car's trunk. She janked it open, breaking the lock. Inside, she opened a metal case which contained five clear drip bags filled with bright blue fluid.
---
Four young men and a young woman sat up in hospital beds. The blue fluid was fed intravenously into their arms. The drip bags hung on stands beside them. They were all fit and muscular. One man, Josef, flexed a huge bicep. Josef was screaming, dragged into a cell and left on a bed.
Josef/Super Soldier #1, said, "It hurts!" He struggled in leather bindings. A viewing slot was closed.
Karpov was sitting at a desk in a corridor, making notes and listening. Karpov opened the door to a lab and switched on the light. Josef was sitting on a bed. He looked up at Karpov.
Flora and Josef fought each other in a barred chamber. The four others who were given the blue liquid were there. Josef kicked with enormous power, sending Flora flying. Watching, Karpov folded his arms.
"Очень хорошо, Иосиф," Karpov said.
(Good work.)
A medic took Josef's pulse and Josef slammed him onto the floor. A soldier clubbed Josef onto the back with no effect. Karpov got behind Flora and aimed a gun.
Солдат, вытащи меня отсюда!"
(Soldier, get me out of here!)
Josef and the other four Winter Soldiers effortlessly dispatched a squad of soldiers. Flora escorted Karpov, covering from him from the barred chamber, while batting guards aside.
PRESENT
"Who were they?" Steve asked.
"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history," Flora replied. "And that was before the serum."
"They all turn out like you?" Sam questioned.
"Worse."
"The doctor, could he control them?" Bucky inquired.
"Enough."
"Said he wanted to see an empire fall," Steve remembered.
"With these guys he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize, They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming."
Sam stepped up to Steve and Bucky and stated, "This would have been a lot easier a week ago."
"If we call Tony..." Steve began.
"No, he won't believe us."
"Even if he did..." Bucky trailed.
"Who knows if the Accords would let him help."
"We're on our own," Steve and Bucky said.
"Maybe not. I know a guy."
---
"I don't suppose you have any idea where they are?" Secretary Ross asked.
"We will," Tony replied. "GSG-9's got the borders covered. Recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it."
"You don't get it, Stark. It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective. I'm putting Special Ops on this."
"What happens when the shooting starts?" Natasha asked. "What, do you kill Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes?"
"If we're provoked. Stewart would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers and Barnes. There are dead people who would be alive now. Feel free to check my math."
"All due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys in bullets, Ross," Tony said. "You gotta let us bring them in."
"How would that end any differently from the last time?"
"Because this time, I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt. 72 hours, guaranteed."
"36 hours. Barnes. Rogers. Wilson. Stewart. We'll figure out what to do about her cat."
"Thank you, sir." He slumped, exhaling. "My left arm is numb. Is that normal?"
Natasha patted him on the shoulder and asked, "You all right?"
"Always." He had a massive black eye and a cut on his brow. "36 hours, jeez."
"We're seriously understaffed."
"Oh, yeah. It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now. Any shot?"
"No. You really think he'd be on our side?"
"No."
"I have an idea."
"Me too. Where's yours?"
"Downstairs. Where's yours?" Tony smiled slightly.