for a while about Donya, I rejoined Bucky at the entrance we'd walked through. He watched as Zemo approached some kids with a bag of Turkish delights, which was a bit creepy and off but it was Zemo.

He poured the sweets onto a wooden stool, inviting the kids over to take some. He was talking to one girl in particular, the first one to take a sweet.

"It's starting to feel like a dead end." Sam said as he joined us, standing the other side of Bucky.

"The hell is he doing?" Bucky asked.

"No idea, but it doesn't look particularly legal." I responded, pulling a face as I kept watching the man.

Zemo handed the rest of the Turkish delights to the children before making his way back to us.

"Cute kids." He said, doing a quick head tilt.

꧁꧂

"Well I got nothing." Bucky said as we arrived back at Zemo's. "No ones talking about Donya."

"Yeah, it's because Karli is the only one fighting for them. And she's not wrong." Sam said as him, Bucky and I took a seat on the sofa.

"What do you mean?" I asked Sam.

"For five years, people have been welcomed into countries that have kept them out using barbwire. There were houses and jobs."

"Folks were happy to have people around to help them rebuild. It wasn't just one community coming together, it was the entire world coming together. And then, boom."

"Just like that, it goes right back to the way it used to be. To them, at least Karli's doing something." Sam explained, looking at Bucky and I the entire time.

"You really think her ends justify her means?" Bucky questioned, "then, she's no different than him or anybody else we've fought." Bucky gestured to Zemo who was pouring himself some tea.

"She's different." Sam assured, "she's not motivated by the same things."

Zemo walked over, holding a wooden tray of tea for us.

"That little girl, what'd she tell you?" Bucky asked, looking up at Baron Zemo.

Zemo hesitated before carefully placing the tray before us, "the funeral is this afternoon."

"You know the Dora's coming for you any minute." Buck reminded him, "in fact, they're probably lurking outside right now. Keep talking."

"Leaving you to turn on me once we get to Karli. Hmm. I prefer to keep my leverage."

Bucky stood up, using his hands to push himself off the sofa. Standing in front of Zemo, he rapidly took the cup of tea from his hand and threw it at the wal behind him, making the pottery shatter as he got up in Zemo's face.

"You wanna see what someone can do with leverage?" Bucky threatened.

"Take it easy. Don't engage him. He's just gonna extort you and do that stupid head tilt thing." Sam stood, joining the two men to try and stop them brawling. As Sam said those words, Zemo put his head back up straight.

I leant forward, picking up one of the cups of tea and sipped it, crossing one leg over the other as I leaned back into the sofa. "Don't break it up, Sam. Things might get interesting." I commented, a hint of excitement in my eyes.

"You," Sam said, pointing at me, "now is not the time to become the Goddess of Strife again. Let me make a call." He then left the room, leaving a heated Bucky, a fairly calm Zemo and an interested me in the room alone together.

"You want some cherry blossom tea?" Zemo asked Bucky.

"No, you go ahead." Bucky responded before making his way over to the kitchen.

I sighed, standing up with my cup of tea in hand and began making my way over to Bucky. Once I was in the kitchen, I leant against the island counter top, looking up at Bucky who drank from a glass of water.

I smiled slightly, rolling my eyes.

"What?" He asked, putting the glass down.

"You should try the tea. It's surprisingly nice." I said, following up with another sip of tea.

He was quiet for a moment, the two of us just looking at each other. "I'm not in the mood for tea."

꧁꧂

The four of us walked through the city of Latvia, passing houses and people. The houses were nice, two or three floors high and multiple windows on the front of the buildings. The people passing would either shoot us a brief smile as we crossed paths or keep their heads low and watch us in the corner of their eyes.

"Karli Morgenthau is too dangerous for you guys to be pulling this shit." John Walker. Great.

Him and Lemar skipped down some steps, heading towards us. "Ah! How'd you find us now?" Bucky called up to them as the four of us continued walking.

"Come on. You think three Avengers can walk around Latvia without drawing attention?" Lemar remarked.

"No more keeping us in the dark." John instructed, "you could start by telling us why you broke him out of prison."

"He did that himself, technically." Bucky responded, all of us now standing just opposite each other.

"Oh this better be an unbelievable explana..." John raised his voice, heading straight towards Bucky and Zemo.

"Hey! Calm down, alright." I snapped at him, stepping forward and holding a hand in front of me.

"I know where Karli is." Zemo spoke up from his spot between Sam and Bucky.

"Well where?" John pushed.

"All we know is, it's a memorial. So, we're gonna intercept her there." Sam answered as Zemo continued to walk past Walker with his long coat flowing behind him.

"That means civilians. High risk of casualties." Lemar said, the rest of us walking with Zemo.

"Alright good. We'll move in fast. Take her by surprise." John said, looking down at his feet as he walked.

"We?" I queried. "Since when was there a 'we' that involved either of you." My fingers pointed at both John and Lemar, looking at them with furrowed brows and squinted eyes.

"I wanna talk to her alone." Sam cut in, placing a hand on my shoulder to keep me calm.

"I'm not losing her again." John said.

"Look, the person closest to her died, she's vulnerable. If there's anytime to reason with her, it's now."

"What? No. Wait. No! No! Stop. Hold on. Stop, okay?" John jogged to the front, Lemar following behind quickly and the two stopped in front of Bucky and Zemo. "I think we're way past reasoning with her unless you forgot that she blew up a building with people still in it. "

"Sam, you walk in there cold, she could kill you." Lemar noted, looking at Sam.

"And if I go in hot and the op goes wrong, more people will die." Sam retorted.

"You gonna let him do this?" John asked Bucky. "Are you gonna let your partner walk into a room with a Super Soldier alone?"

Bucky titled his head and looked confused by the question for a moment. "He's dealt with worse. And he's not my partner."

John sighed, turning to me. "What about you? From what I've heard he's one of your best friends." He asked, gesturing to Sam with one hand.

"Like Bucky said, he's dealt with worse. And I trust him so, if he says this is a good idea, I'll stand by it." I answered, looking to Sam for a brief moment before my brown eyes turned back to John.

"I used to counsel soldiers dealing with trauma, okay? This is my wheelhouse." Sam walked forward so he was stood further then Bucky.

"Yeah, I know." John said, "and I know those soldiers, which is why I know this is a bad idea."

"Wait, John." Lemar jumped in, "if he can talk her down, it might be worth a try." He suggested.

John scoffed, shaking his head lightly. He looked and pointed at Zemo, "we'll deal with you later."

"I'm sure it will all come to an agreeable conclusion. My associate is just up ahead." Zemo assured, gesturing further up the way at the little girl he was talking to earlier.

Bucky, Sam, Zemo and I walked first, Lemar and John following quickly after. The little girl approached slowly, Zemo going further ahead to greet her.

"Hello my friend. This is for your family." He handed the girl some money, which she quickly took from his hand and put in the pocket of her coat. "Can you show us the way?"