"This place? Really?" The five of them were following Sharon in some kind of cargo maze. Large cargo containers were stacked at least a six boxes up and were everywhere. We were across from the city, and Clara hoped they never had to go back there.
"Hey, I'm just following the directions given to me." Sharon looked left and right before deciding to turn right.
"Where does he even hide his lab? Unless it's underground or something like that?" Sharon just shrugged, and they continued to speed walk past the metal containers.
"Madripoor...they really know how to party," Zemo brought up the party from lasts night. "Why not stay a little longer? Have a little more fun while we can?" Both Sam and Bucky looked at Zemo, who shrugged. "Just a suggestion."
"Yeah, we'll, the longer you're in Madripoor, the less likely you're ever leaving." Sharon stopped in front of one of the containers, stacked three high. "Alright. He's in there. Container 4261." Sharon put her phone in her pocket, and she reached in her other pocket, pulling out earpieces for all of them to wear. "I'll buy you guys some time while you talk to Nagel," Sharon explained as they put on their earpieces.
"Are you sure you don't need help out here?" Clara offered her assistance, but Sharon declined.
"I can handle these guys, don't worry about me. But do hurry, we are on borrowed time." Sharon looked at them all and dipped her head. "Hope you find the information you're looking for." She put her hands in her pockets and she sped off to go keep watch. They all stared at each other, and they Sam went over to an orange container, opening the door.
The door creaked loudly, and Clara was scared that their cover was going to be blown right then and there. But when they stepped inside, it was completely pitch black. Not just that, but it was also completely empty.
"Hey Sharon, are you sure this is the right one? It's completely empty." They all stood still at the entrance, confused and waiting for an answer.
"Positive," Sharon's voice rang in her ear. "It has to be." Sam looked back at us, and he threw his hands in the air, unsure. Clara stepped into the container slowly, and right away, she picked up a scent. It was faint, but she got something. It wasn't a scent she recognized, but it was a human scent. She looked back at the guys.
"Sharon's right. Someone's been in here." They all looked at each other, and one by one, they stepped into the container. Bucky hung out by the door of the place, and Zemo turned on his flashlight. Clara watched as he shined the light around the room. She watched, curious as he paced over to the far corner of container. She pointed the flashlight up, then looked as if he was outlining some kind of shape. Did he find something? He did. A seconds later, he pushed on the wall of the container, and a loud click echoed throughout the empty container. Zemo pushed the rectangular shape, revealing a doorway. Clara, Sam, and Bucky all looked at each other. Sam and Bucky took out their guns, and Clara got ready to fight whoever would fight them.
Sam went up the stairs first, followed by
Zemo went right behind them, holding the flashlight. Bucky went right behind Zemo's and Clara was the last to go. Bucky looked back at Clara, then looked behind her at the opened door. Clara looked back as well, just out of curiosity, then made her way up the stairs. As soon as she hit the first step, she could hear music blasting from the very top of the staircase. As Clara went up the stairs, the man's scent became stronger and stronger. But she also started to smell other things as well: chemicals mostly.
They made it to the top of the stairs, and Clara kept her guard up. She was aware of any corner, in case someone was hiding behind it. She tried to listen for anyone as well, but the music was very loud. Bucky and Sam had sped ahead, making sure the coast was clear before confronting Nagel. Zemo was just exploring. Clara looked around at the secret lab as well. She saw lots and lots of test tubes as well as chemicals and elements stacked neatly behind glass boxes. A lot of the test tubes had blue liquids in it, some of them had red. There were microscopes, flasks, basically everything you see in a high school chemistry class. Clara eventually met back up with Sam, who made his rounds. Bucky hung back to guard the exit.
When they turned the corner, there Nagel was. The scent that she smelled in the container at the bottom was his scent. He was leaning over his desk, singing along to the song playing on a record player not far away. She couldn't see what he was doing, but she had a feeling he was still making more serums.
When she first saw Nagel, even though it was only from the back, he did not look like an intimidating person. Clara imagined some great mad scientist with black rubber gloves and a stained white lab coat, but he was just wearing a pair of jeans, a plaid button up shirt, and dark brown cardigan.
Sam had his arms extended, guns pointed directly at Nagel. Clara looked over at Zemo, and she could see how infuriated he was that there were so many vials of the super soldier serum that were created, and how he is still creating more. Clara looked over at the record player, and she lifted up the needle, causing the audio to scratch a bit before stopping completely. Nagel, completely surprised, put his vials down slowly and looked over his shoulder. He looked at all them, scared, but at the same time, a bit defensive.
"Dr. Nagel?" Sam asked. He took his hands out of the box with gloves attached to it, and turned around. His face didn't even look threatening. His hair was brown and thinning, his hair line receding. His eyes looked sunken from exhaustion. He definitely looked like a Wilfred Nagel.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Even his voice wasn't threatening. To Clara, he just seemed like a guy trying to work. Unfortunately for him, it was work that some of them didn't agree with.
"We know you recreated the super soldier serum." Sam said calmly, his gun still raised. But Nagel wasn't even paused by the fact he had a gun pointed at him...not yet. He left his spot by his workplace and she sped walked past them.
"Get out of my lab." He ordered Sam. He seemed like he was in such a rush, he didn't even bother to look at her or Zemo. But then he walked right into Bucky's path, and that's when he finally looked afraid. His jaw moved, speechless, as Bucky stared him down. Sam herded Nagel slowly towards Bucky, keeping his head down the entire time.
"Your know who he is, right?" Sam asked. Nagel was finally afraid. Clara watched, leaning against he wall, and Sam took his arm and angled Nagel's body to where he was facing Zemo. "This is Baron Zemo. I know you've heard of him too, right?" Finally, Sam faced Nagel towards her. Nagel looked like he was about to shit his pants. "Recognize her too, huh?" Nagel just kept his head down and his arms at his sides. Sam pushed him forward, in the direction of Bucky. Zemo and Clara followed behind, and Sam threw Nagel against the gate, cornering him.
"You seem like a pretty smart guy, so you better become pretty conversational real quick."
"How about a counter-proposal?" Nagel proposed. Those few moments of fear were gone now. He looked Sam straight in the eyes. "Make me a better offer, and I'll talk." Nagel looked at each of them individually, and suddenly that nerdy aspect of him was gone, revealing the darker, more sinister side of him.
"Guys..." Sharon's voice rang through Clara's ear, followed by a lot of grunts. "We've got company." Clara and Bucky looked at each other, then to Sam. There was a chair nearby, so Sam grabbed Nagel and thew his ass onto the chair. Clara saw a rope on a nearby shelf. She grabbed it and tossed it to Sam, who tied him up. Bucky pointed his gun to Nagel's head. But he still wouldn't talk. He dared Bucky to shoot. "Every bounty hunter in the city is here." Sharon's voice came again, out of breath. "We gotta go." Clara cracked her neck, and she aggressively shook her hands, her claws extending. She made sure that Nagel saw, because he swallowed hard and shook his head. At the same time, Bucky shot a bullet at him, just missing Nagel's head, really causing him to freak.
"Okay, okay..." he was breathing heavily, his breath shaking a bit. "I was brought into HYDRA's Winter Soldier program to pick up their work after the five failed test subjects in Siberia back in 1991. I've been trying to figure out the elements of the serum, and that's when I was able to create just one..." he looked directly at Clara, and she realized that was the serum that was given to her. "Replica of the serum, but more subtle, with Dr. Peters. That's when you're mother took, gave it to you, then died." Clara clenched her jaw, hearing how this guys was involved with HYDRA for all these years.
"When HYDRA fell, the information to create your serum along with everything else was lost. That's when I was recruited by the CIA. Turns out, they had blood samples from an American test subject with semi-stable traces of serum in his system. After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood. I was a god. I did what no other scientist since Erskine and Peters were able to do. But mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect." He had this devilish glint in his eyes.
"How have we never heard about this?" Sam asked asked Nagel.
"Because... Before I was able to complete my work, I turned to dust. I'm sure you are familiar with that. Then when I returned, it was five years later, program had been abandoned, so I came here. The Power Broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work."
"How many vials did you make?"
"Twenty." He answered. He paused a moment, then looked directly as Sam. "Karli Morgenthau stole those, so...I can only imagine what the Power Broker has planned for that poor girl." Clara looked at Zemo, who was roaming around the he room, observing all the scientific tools. But also, actively listening. Bucky had backed up against the wall.
"Where is Karli now?" Sam continued asking the questions. Nagel scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I don't know where she is. But a couple of days ago, she called and asked if I could help someone named Donya Madani."
"Why would she ask you to help her?" Clara spoke for the first time. She was expecting an answer like "Karli wanted him to make another serum" or something like that. But instead, he said "Poor woman has tuberculosis. Typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that." Displacement camps. Clara had seen a few ads on TV, advertising donating to these camps. Also, when she would hear a glimpse of the news, this was a major issue that reporters and newscasters and political figures would always be arguing about. Karli was trying to help these camps? Clara didn't know much about Karli, she always thought she was just a menace with the serum. But hearing that she called the man she stole his most valuable work from to help a random woman in a camp, she had guts for doing that.
"Well, what happened to the woman?" Sam asked. Nagel shrugged.
"Not my pig. Not my farm." They all looked at each other. Clara, her claws gone now, crossed her arms, frustrated. This whole Karli problem is gonna be a whole lot harder now.
"Are there any serums in this lab?" Bucky asked from the side of the lab. Nagel looked at him, and said nothing. Bucky stepped away from the wall and raised his gun again, this time, the head of the gun pressing into Nagel's head.
"N...n...no." Nagel managed to say. Bucky dropped his gun to his side and looked at her and Sam.
"Now what?" He mumbled. Clara heard a loud bang from the hallway that led to the stairs, and she heard footsteps. She could smell Sharon's scent as well as a bit of blood. The footsteps ran up the stairs, and Sharon was seen through the gaps in the shelves.
"Guys, we are way outta time here." As soon as she came into view, Clara saw Zemo raise a gun directly at Zemo and he fired. Nagel, who was tied up in the chair, was thrown backwards and landed on the ground. He was dead, blood oozing on the cold cement floor.Clara looked back at Zemo, who was held against the wall the Sam and disarmed by Sharon.
"What did you do?" Sam shouted at Zemo, who kept his eyes on Nagel.
"Where the hell did he get the gun?" Clara started to run over to look at Nagel, but she stopped and looked up at the wall in front of her. She waited a moment, and then her heart started to race. She looked back at everyone. "Everyone get down!" However, she didn't say it in enough time. A loud blast from outside the lab exploded as it made contact with the building. The force of the missile threw them all backwards. Clara felt the heat of the flames on her skin as she was blasted into the corner of a shelf and collapsed on the ground.
Clara moaned, rolling around on the ground in pain. She could feel the heat getting closer, the flames cracking and the metal started to melt. Her back ached and the smoke filled her nose and lungs, causing her to cough. There was a loud siren ringing in her ears as well. She waited a few moments for the pain to go away, and finally she opened her eyes. All she could see was gray and orange and flashing red. Then a figure appeared over her.
"Clara!" Bucky held out his hand. "We gotta get out of here before the place collapses." Clara waved his hand away as she got up herself.
"I'm fine! Go help the others!" He nodded and left. She rolled from her butt onto knees. The first time she tried to get up, she got lightheaded from the amount of smoke she breathed in and she fell back to her knees. The second time she was able to get up, using the fallen shelf to support herself. She moaned and stretched her back before looking around the room.
"Has anyone seen Zemo?" Sam asked as Bucky helped him up. Clara looked around, but her eyes and nose stung.
"I can't see or smell a damn thing! Just smoke!"
"Everyone get out! This place is gonna blow!" They all followed Sharon, and behind Clara, she could hear a whistle getting louder and louder, the lab shaking and vibrating until finally, it burst. Al Clara could see was smoke in front and behind her.
"Guys!" Clara swatted the smoke away. "Gu..." she let felt something cold grab her wrist. A hand; Bucky's hand. She was blindly dragged out of the smoke, until finally she was able to see light from outside.