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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
mad scientists
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(episode three - power broker pt. 2)

DIANA KNEW THE voice of Sharon Carter. She knew Sharon's face. But the woman stepping out of the shadows now could've been a whole different person. This wasn't her spy next door, this wasn't the woman who got an electroshock collar off of her. She was dark, broken. It was clear to Diana that the past few years haven't been kind to the fellow blonde.

"Drop it, Zemo," was the first thing Sharon said. She stepped closer, pulling her hood off her head as the street light illuminated her deadly expression, her gun never straying its aim for Zemo.

Diana, who wanted to puke for doing it, stepped in the way, her hands raised. Sharon moved to shoot but Diana deactivated her Nano mask, pulling it off. She opened her mouth to plead, to apologize, she felt disgusted with herself for defending Zemo but unfortunately, they still needed him.

"Sharon?" Bucky asked.

Sharon drew closer, not even looking at Diana. Her eyes had a murderous glint, probably due to the fact that her life was ruined when she was trying to help them clear Bucky's name after Zemo trashed it even further.

"You cost me everything," Sharon spoke in a low voice, her anger laced with every word, sending a chill down Diana's spine.

"Sharon, wait," Diana spoke up, wincing as she did, because immediately after, the murderous glare was sat directly on her.

"Someone recreated the super soldier serum, and Zemo had a lead," Sam explained as he got closer, an arm out and in the way of Diana's middle in a protective stance.

"That explains why you guys are here," Sharon nodded, an eyebrow raised, "and why Selby's dead."

"So what are you doing here?" Bucky asked, a hint of suspicion was in his voice, though Diana chalked it up to curiosity, it was an odd place for Diana to see Sharon in.

"I stole Steve's shield, remember?" Sharon asked, she looked over at Diana and Sam, tilting her head, "I also took the wings and suit for your asses so that you could save his ass from his ass, unlike you, I didn't have the Avengers to back me up, so, I'm off the grid in Madripoor."

"Hey don't blow that smoke at us, we were on the run, too," Sam frowned.

"Was— is, big difference," Sharon retorted, "I don't speak to my family anymore, I can't, my own father doesn't know where I am."

Diana felt her heart clench at the words. Sure, she didn't have a father to rely on growing up, but she understood that others had great fathers who took care of them properly. She'll never get that experience, but it doesn't make her hurt any less from seeing Sharon's pain.

"Listen," Bucky said, "Sharon, we need your help."

Bucky's cautious tone didn't go unnoticed by Sharon, her low, sardonic chuckle seemed to rumble through her chest. She was seeing the irony in them asking for her help again.

"Please, Shar," Diana spoke up, using her old nickname for her friend, pleading for her to listen, "I'm sorry, I know it's a big ask but this is huge, they could escalate if we don't intervene."

Sharon's eyes bore into Diana's, she hoped her puppy dog eyes were working her over. It worked on Steve a lot and even Natasha a handful of times, she hoped that Sharon wouldn't be the exception to the expression.

"This isn't over," Sharon relented, looking the four of them over once more before she lowered the gun and relaxed her posture, "I have a place in High Town, you'll be safe there for a while."

"Thank god, these heels are killing me." Diana sighed as she shoved her Nano mask into Bucky's pocket, she looked over at Sam as he shoved Zemo along after Sharon's retreating figure, "Looks like we have friends in high places after all."

When they all piled into Sharon's car, the ride was far shorter to Diana than she liked, the ache was beginning to ebb away from her feet when they pulled up to a large fenced-in property. She sucked up the pain that would quickly return and when they got out of the car, Diana's jaw dropped at the house just past the gate. The astonishment increased as they went further inside. Diana felt like she wasn't allowed to blink or else she would miss something. When she bumped into Bucky, she felt her body flush for some odd reason, shaking her head with a small apology, she turned to see Sharon was far ahead of them with Sam and Zemo not straying too far.

Diana moved to catch up but a firm grip on her upper arm stopped her, she looked back at Bucky, her brows pinching together in confusion. He opened his mouth to say something but it was like the words were caught in his throat. She tilted her head forwards, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to speak. Bucky looked like he gave up for the moment, releasing her arm and allowing her to walk away.

"Looks like breaking all those laws is treating you well," Sam commented when Bucky and Diana caught up to them.

"Well at some point I thought if I had to hustle, might as well enjoy the life of a real hustler," Sharon shrugged, "You know how much I can get for a real Monet?"

"You could just call it girl-bossing," Diana chimed in, when Bucky and Sam gave her incredulous looks, she shrugged, "What, I heard one of my students say it in their training class."

"Easy," Sam said to Sharon, "Deactivate your hustle mode, you sell fake Monets—"

"No, she means real," Zemo interrupted, "this gallery is specialized in stolen artwork, Monet, Van Gogh, classics."

"It's true, you know half the artwork in museums like the Louvre is fake," Bucky was stopped in front of a painting that sat in a glass box, illuminated by lights in the creases of the tops, "real stuff sits in places like this."

Sam looks to Diana for some reassurance but she shrugged. Places in Madripoor weren't the only ones that had stolen art for people to buy. Diana unfortunately had the displeasure of turning random things into money. When her parents became insanely rich, they also became insanely bored, leaving Diana to witness as they bought the stupidest things. Things like stolen art. She hoped that they went bankrupt, but she doubts they did.

"Okay, guys," Sam chuckled, pulling up Google on his phone, "I see what you're doing, you're more worldly than good old Sam."

"Yeah," Bucky spoke in a lower tone in Sam's ear as he passed the man, "What's Google say?"

After a few silent seconds of reading on his phone, Sam's eyes widened as he looked over at Bucky and now Diana who was catching up to him. They were heading to the next room that Sharon was leading them to.

"No shit," Sam's shocked tone made Diana let out a small giggle as she walked back over to him and patted his arm.

"Come on," Sharon called out from the doorway, "You guys need to change, I'm hosting clients in an hour."

• • •

THE SATIN RED fabric of the v-cut dress was smooth on Diana's skin. Even though the plunge was threatening to expose Diana's sternum, she felt far more comfortable in it with the red converse that she made from rocks she pulled from Sam's pocket. The dress itself was knee length but the slit on her left thigh went up just a bit higher than her mid thigh. The thin straps held it all up for her. She wasn't able to get a proper bra, her and Sharon weren't the same size, plus, nothing would be right for the dress she wore. But she was able to put on better underwear. Thank any and every god above for that one.

Diana stepped out of the bathroom, noticing the drastic change in everyone's clothes. Diana, still holding onto her clothes from before, walked over to a table near Zemo and set it down, pushing it towards him.

"I don't really want to thank you for the clothes, I think some of my dignity is still in Selby's bar."

"That dress is very flattering on you, you can keep all of that, I have no use for it," Zemo shrugged. Diana pinched her eyebrows up as she held up the necklace.

"You mean to tell me, I can keep this?" Diana asked, "Zemo, this is more expensive than all of the money I've ever had in my life."

"I don't have a wife to give it to, and I don't plan on dating in the future," Zemo lowered her hand to the dress, allowing her to gently set the jewelry down on top of it. "My family may be gone but my happy ending will still be with them."

Diana wanted to argue further but she had no point anymore. She huffed, nodding before walking over, planning on sitting next to Bucky on the sofa. He was in all black, black jeans, black t-shirt, and a black suede blazer, with a leather look on the lapels that folded outward. There was a hardened gaze set in his eyes as he avoided looking at her and Zemo, he was far too interested in burning the wall with his blazing glare, the look was almost familiar to her. Diana averted her gaze from him after her eyes did its once over on her friend, she would need to talk to him soon. Sam was behind the couch Bucky and Diana now sat on, he was looking through a rack full of clothes, trying to find something that suited him.

Sharon had finally entered the room, now changed herself into something that was suitable for a host. Her eyes caught onto Sam and a smile grew on her face as she did a quick run over of his topless self. Diana had a small smirk of her own when she caught Sharon's eye, it was no secret that Sam was gorgeous.

"Much better," Sharon commented as she walked past, heading over to her drink cart.

Sam quickly found a shirt after that, his face pinched into a conflicted expression. Sharon got started on making some drinks, after that, she headed over to Diana and Bucky, offering the two glasses to them. Diana gave a nod and a smile to her in thanks.

"What's going on, Sharon?" Sam asked,  "You don't ever wanna come back home?"

"They'll lock me up if I step foot back into the States," Sharon answered, Diana took a swig of the drink, her mouth involuntarily puckering at the bitterness, "Madripoor doesn't allow extradition."

"I'm sorry I didn't call," Sam apologized. A pang in Diana's heart had her straightening up and looking over her shoulder, "But after the Blip and the chaos, I just–"

"Look, you know the whole hero thing is a joke, right?" Sharon asked, Diana frowned, confusion clouding over her as she jerked her head back a bit, what the hell did she just say? "The way you gave up that shield, deep down, you must know it's all hypocrisy."

"He knows," Zemo spoke up, pulling everyone's attention to the man who held a glass of whiskey in his still gloved hand, why was he wearing gloves inside? "And not so deep down."

"By the way, how is the new Cap?" Sharon asked.

"Don't get me started," Bucky spoke up, Diana gagged from next to him, partly from the alcohol, the other part was from the mention of John Walker.

"Please, you buy into all that stars and stripes bullshit," Sharon scoffed, and then she looked over at Diana, her eyes narrowing, "And before you were obsessed with this guy–" She gestured to her friend sitting next to her, Diana coughed on her drink, a noise of protest making its way out as she felt Bucky patting her back, trying to help the burning in her lungs, nose, and throat,"You were clearly involved with Steve, and you–" She directed her attention back onto Bucky, "Before you were his pet psychopath, you were Mr. America! Cap's best friend."

Sharon was now sitting on the other side of Diana, her body facing the two as her arm was propped on the back of the sofa.

"Excuse you!" Diana choked out when her lungs finally started working, "I was never involved with Steve like that and you would know since you listened to us like a stalker for two years, and on top of that, I dont remember kissing Steve under a bridge," Sharons smirk was pressed down into a thin line now, "No, girl that was all you, smacking lips with a man covered in fucking dust!"

"Wow," Bucky said, he looked like he just processed all of Sharons words, he glanced at Diana before looking over at Sam, "She's kind of awful now."

"Karli Morgenthau and at least seven others have taken the serum," Sam finally spoke up, probably tired of Sharons stalling from the whole reason why they were even here.

"You guys should steer clear of all of this for your own safety," Sharon warned, like what Diana said didn't just get under her skin like it visibly did.

A twinge of guilt hit her, she knew that Steve was probably a tender spot for the woman for a while. Diana understood the hurt she felt by him leaving like he did. At least she got to say goodbye to him properly. Sharon got a stolen kiss under a bridge, never getting the chance to see it through like she knew they wanted at one point. Diana made a note to talk to Sharon about this when they got a chance to be alone, clearly, the two needed to talk about it soon.

"We know it's a risk, but we're not gonna leave until we find the person who cracked the code," Sam insisted, Diana, who really just wants to be home with her cat, begrudgingly agreed.

"We got a name," Bucky spoke up. Diana nodded as she looked over at Sharon again.

"Wilfred Nagel," She spoke softly.

Sharon had a small look over recognition in her eyes at the name, she definitely has heard it before. Of course she has, being a hustler like she is, she probably hears a lot more than the high-end criminals realize. Sharon got up from the couch now.

"Nagel works for the Power Broker," Sharon admitted. There it is again with that stupid name. Diana looked over at Bucky, a roll of her eyes at the mention of the mysterious criminal King. A silent chuckle jolted Bucly's body gently as a smirk rose on his face.

"We need your help Sharon," Sam pleaded, "I can get your name cleared."

Sharon, who was pouring herself a drink, paused, setting the glass container down. She had a calculating look on her face before she looked over at Sam.

"You haggling with my life?"

"It's not like that."

"I don't buy that." Sharon shook her head before finding a nearby seat, "You pretending like you can clear my name."

"Okay, maybe it is hypocrisy, maybe you're right, what happened to you," Sam got up from his seat and crossed the room to stand close to her, Diana turned her head, her eyes following him as she watched the two interact, "But I'm willing to try if you are–" He turned back to gesture towards Bucky, now speaking in a low voice, "They cleared the bionic staring machine, and he killed almost everybody he's met."

"I heard that," Bucky frowned.

Diana put an arm on Bucky's shoulder and rubbed it in an attempt to comfort him as she finished her glass. A sharp glare was sent Sam's way after that comment.

"I don't trust charity." Sharon said.

"Alright, a deal then: you help us out, and I get your name cleared." Sam had her hand out for Sharon, the offer officially on the table now. Sharon sighed, reluctantly taking it and shaking.

"Well I sell to some pretty connected people," Sharon shrugged, the beginnings of the plan already forming in her head, "Lay low, blend in, enjoy the party, try to stay out of trouble, I'll see what I can find."

"Trouble?" Zemo questioned.

Diana looked over at him from where he sat, the gloves now off and probably in the pocket of his coat. Why the hell is everyone in coats? They were inside, Diana felt an empathy sweat form at the base of her neck. She shook her head and stood up, looking back at Bucky, the anger she held for him a few hours ago was gone, she couldn't hold it in her heart after watching what he had to do in the bar. She stuck her hand out, an offering to help him up.

Bucky accepted the hand with a confused stare as he stood up.

"I need to talk to you," She stated, answering the question that was clearly on his mind, she glanced over at Sam who had a smirk on his face, suggestive thoughts clearly flooding his mind. Diana glared at Sam, "Alone."

She pulled the two of them away, trying to find a room that guests wouldn't walk in on and interrupt. She also didn't want Sam sneaking after them and eavesdropping, Diana loves her friend but he's only gonna ruin his delusions that the two like each other like that.

So now, she had Bucky in a closet full of miscellaneous objects. Clearly, a bunch of people dumped their junk drawers in here for storage. She was dead set on her mission to talk to him but now, after he also assessed the room, his full attention now on Diana, she was struggling to articulate what to say.

Frustration built up with her as all the emotions she wanted to express found themselves stuck on the tip of her tongue. Her hand balled into a fist and she sent it flying for his chest. Of course the only one who was hurt was her, Bucky didn't even tilt from the impact.

"Ow?" He asked, "did you pull me in here to fail at beating me up?"

"No," Diana frowned as she shook the shooting pain out of her knuckles, "that's for the past twelve hours, why did you think I would be okay with you making decisions like that without talking to me?"

"Because, we needed a lead and he had one!" Bucky answered.

"You didn't think to try databases we already had access to first? You think Nagel is going to be that well hidden?" Diana asked, "Nat released a fuck ton of information back when we were exposing HYDRA and you were breaking a third of my collective bones."

Bucky's expression turned sour at the mention of the memory. Diana immediately regretted the words as soon as they flew out of her mouth.

"If I could take that back—"

"No, Buck, don't even go there, I shouldn't have mentioned that part, but what I'm saying is, the Avengers and I busted literally every HYDRA hideout that was still out there and Tony made sure to get all their information before they deleted it," Diana explained, "one phone call and I could've had Pepper send me everything Tony obtained, we had options."

Bucky was stunned into silence now, his mouth open and gaping as he wracked his brain with what to say.

"I just– when I saw those soldiers on the trucks, and when I saw how careless they were with their strength, I saw too much of the soldier in his early days, and I didn't want to see a repeat," Bucky finally spoke, "I'm sorry I didn't let you guys in on what I was thinking, it's still hard for me to let's people in on my thoughts, it's still new to me to have thoughts of my own and to be able to take actions of my own."

Diana felt her heart clench and she could see her vision blurring with the tears. She pulled Bucky into a hug, her arms wrapping around his neck, holding him tight and close to her. He paused for a moment before his arms found themselves around her torso.

"The damage is done now," Diana relented as she spoke into his shoulder, "can you please start trusting me more with your thoughts though, Buck? It'll help me feel like I'm not going insane about what the hell is going through your mind."

There was silence between them, the hug never wavering, his super-soldier body heat cascading over her in a familiar wave like Steve's used to. He smelled like his body wash and clean laundry, it was good to know that Sharon didn't give them dirty clothes to change into. Eventually, Bucky pulled away, a cold draft washing down Diana's front where her body separated from his.

"I'll try," Bucky promised, a weak smile forcing its way onto his face.

A more genuine one was creeping up on Diana's.

"Good, now, I remember a certain, blonde dork telling me about his best friend who loved to take girls dancing," Diana raised her brow at her friend, wagging it suggestively.

"Only the pretty ones," Bucky teased.

Diana gasped, another punch sent his chest that did nothing and a follow up shove that also did nothing.

"Ass," Diana chuckled as she moved around him and opened the door. She was about to take a step out but Bucky grabbed her hand, calling her name to get her to stop. She did, turning back to look at where their skin touched before looking up at him.

"Is there something else?" Diana asked, genuinely concerned now that the lights from the party illuminated the troubled expression on his face.

"Nothing," he shook his head, "let's go dancing."

A smile spread on her face as they walked out to the floor, the music was now pounding as strobing lights flashed around on the crowd of people all dancing and jumping with the music. Diana wondered who would be leading who, she didn't think Bucky knew how to dance with any music that wasn't from the 1940's. His time.

Though when he pulled her around and put his hands on her waist, guiding her through the fast paced music, his movements matching the speed, Diana realized she got it all wrong— that Bucky had adapted, his birthday in 1917 didn't matter anymore. This was his time now. She wrapped an arm around his neck, keeping close to him as they danced. Other bodies would push and knock but it was like a bubble was around them, a bubble made by Diana's mind that kept them isolated from the world. That was until one person's face shattered it.

When Diana looked around, her face aching from how hard she was smiling from dancing with her friend, she locked eyes onto Sam. That smug look on his face had an insurmountable anger bubbling up as she looked back at Bucky. He sent a curious gaze over at Sam's direction and when he saw the familiar man, the confusion didn't leave.

"Why is he staring at us like that?" Bucky asked before looking back at Diana.

"He thinks we have a thing for each other," Diana sighed, "I swear I can somehow be friends with Sam and no one will think anything less of it but I stand next to you and all of a sudden, we're supposed to be shoving our tongues down each others throats!"

"It doesn't help that you ask me to buy you a drink when I held you over a bridge by the throat," Bucky had a pained expression on his face, as if he was waiting for an explosive reaction from Diana.

"You remember that?!" Diana yelled, "Oh my god!"

"It's kind of hard to forget!" Bucky exclaimed, "one minute I'm watching you die in my hand, the next you're asking me out it's kinda stuck in my head!"

"I said it so you would let go of me!" Diana spoke honestly, unable to look Bucky in the eye, "flirting with the Winter Soldier stopped me from asphyxiation!"

Diana felt shame creep up her chest and face with a damning blush. She looked back over at Sam and huffed. She didn't like Bucky like that. The flushing of her face was because the room was growing hot. She needed air, or water. Something to cool down. Bucky seemed to notice that and took a step back, allowing her to step away.

She stomped off, her hands shaking. She doesn't like Bucky, she doesn't. Diana is an adult, if she did have feelings for him, she would know. She needed to call someone, anyone that wasn't involved in this damn mission. She wished she still had Judith, her mother would know what to do, so all she gets is her next best option.

When Diana pulled her phone from Sam's pocket without a word, she made her way back to the closet she had her conversation with Bucky in. Tonya's contact was the first thing she saw. Diana hoped that it wasn't late in New York, she doesn't even know what time zone she's in now.

"Diana?" Tonya asked, "everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, nothing life threatening, is this a bad time?" Diana asked.

"Not when it's you, what's up?"

"I need reassurance, I guess, you don't think I like Bucky right? Like it's just a Sam and Sharon thing?" Diana asked. A loud, cackling laughter was all Diana heard, she had to pull her phone away from her ear, a frown settling on her face now.

"Diana, you are my favorite dumbass, god I love you," Tonya finally said, "I have never seen you look at someone the way you look at that man, how is it that you two are the only oblivious ones to this common knowledge?"

"Tonya, I don't look at him as anything other than a friend." Diana crossed her open arm over her chest to prop the other one up, "I swear!"

"Diana, you look at him like he puts the stars in the sky, I've seen the way you look at Sam and Steve and it's so wildly different from how you look at Bucky this conversation is just laughable."

"But—"

"No, listen to me, I'm gonna ask you something, okay?"

"Okay."

"How many times has Bucky crossed your mind in the past week?"

"That's different, you know I get worried about him—"

"Okay but why? He's a grown man, you didn't worry this much about Steve when he was transitioning to this century."

"Because," Diana started, racking her brain for any reason. It hit her like a sack of rocks, "Oh."

Oh.

Shit, Diana thought, Really?

"Yeah, 'oh', how many times have you hit your head with this job?" Tonya asked, "I swear, you and Bucky need to retire and get married so I can finally be your maid of honor."

"Tonya!" Diana protested as she looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head as her face grew warm, "I'm trying to deal with more super soldiers, I'll deal with the Bucky thing later."

"Hold on— more?"

"Yeah, they're an online group physically in Europe right now, and I plan on stopping them before they go international, but please be more careful in the next week or so, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah of course."

"Okay, thank you, send the guys my love and I'll see you all soon when it's taken care of."

"Alright, Di, and tell Sam he owes me a fifty."

"Jesus Christ."

Diana hung up the phone, shaking her head as she left the closet. She looked around to see the trio and Sharon approaching her quickly, making her eyebrows furrow with concern.

"We found him, it's time to go."

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THE SHIPYARD SMELLED of seawater and piss. It almost reminded Diana of Manhattan Beach. She hated it. She wished Sharon warned her of the smell, she would've prepared her nose, or gotten air fresheners to breath through, any fresher she would try to make and it wouldn't come out right.

Diana was unfortunately still in her dress, but everyone was still in their party clothes. There was no time for a quick change. Diana had to sacrifice a couple of her stones to make a coat. If it weren't for the fact that everyone was still in their clothes from the party, Diana would've demanded some pants, but as it stands, her chest piece was still in Zemos plane, abandoned for her role as Felicity.

Diana hated spy work.

"Madripoor could give New York a run for its money," Sam spoke up as they passed between shipping containers, stacked on top of each other, building tall walls that formed alleys.

"They know how to party," Zemo agreed with Sam. Diana furrowed her eyebrows as her nose scrunched.

"I thought you guys were talking about the smell, I've visited sewers better than this," Diana spoke with disgust as she looked around. The group had paused in their steps as Sharon continued to look for something.

"With that bounty on your head, the longer you're in Madripoor, the less likely you're ever leaving," Sharon said.

"Good to hear that you have faith in our abilities," Diana sent Sharon a sharp stare. The fellow blonde opened her mouth to say something, her arms gesturing by her side in a "what do you want me to say?" way.

Sharon's device beeped before the conversation couldn't continue. That would have to happen after this meeting with Nagel.

"All right," Sharon resigned to herself, "he's in there, container four-two-six-one. I'll keep an out out while you guys talk to Nagel but hurry, we're on borrowed time."

Sharon held out a small box. In it, contained earpieces for all of them to stay connected to her. Diana picked one out, shoving it in her ear, tapping it a couple times to make sure it stayed in. Sam had already gotten started on opening the crate.

"Hey, Sharon, you sure this is the right one?" Sam asked, "it's completely empty."

"Positive, it has to be," she answered.

Unease filled Diana's gut when she approached the doorway to see an empty shipping container, her eyes narrowed and she looked around, searching for any signs of life, making sure that this wasn't a trap and they weren't going to get shipped off somewhere.

There was no one out there, a tug on Diana's wrist pulled her attention back into the crate where behind Bucky, who had pulled on her, there was a second door being open. Diana gasped.

"Secret door," she whispered as she breezed past Bucky to admire it, "oh, Tony bragged for weeks that he found a secret door in Sokovia, take that, billionaire."

When they entered the corridor, faint music could be heard, Diana loved this song, she has it on a record back at her apartment. She got her gun ready, she never truly felt comfortable with them, but bullets aren't as explosive as her energy. They don't need explosive in a lab of chemicals.

The music got louder as the three of them swept the room, Zemo trailing behind without a gun for a number of reasons. They finally approached the back of the room where Nagel worked, humming along, singing half verses, more so focused on his work.

Sam pulled the needle off the record, stopping the music and making Nagel turn around to see Sam and Diana with their guns pointed at him. His arms slowly lifted.

"Doctor Nagel?" Sam asked, just in case they stumbled into someone else's secret chemical lab.

"Who are you, what do you want?" He asked, he seemed to be a jittery-nervous type.

"We know you created the super-soldier serum," Sam spoke up, his gun still trained on the scientist, Diana's was too.

"Get out of my lab," He was more firm with his words now, he began to try and breeze past them, but when he turned a corner, Bucky was there.

Diana's seen that killer gaze before, she didn't blame Nagel when she caught sight of his knees shaking in his brown dress pants.

"You know who he is, right?" Diana asked, a small smirk riding up her face as she approached the back of Nagel and pressed the tip of her gun against him, a finger pointed over at Zemo and a look of recognition fell over Nagels face, "this is Baron Helmut Zemo, you have to be living under a rock to not have heard of him."

Diana pushed Nagel forward with her gun as they approached Bucky.

"You seem like a pretty smart guy, so you better become conversational real quick," Sam spoke as he forced Nagel up against a link-fence wall.

"How about a counter-proposal," Nagel looked up with a smirk, "make me a better offer and I'll talk."

Diana opened her mouth to threaten his work around him, the words quickly died on her tongue.

"Guys," Sharon spoke, "we have company."

They were losing time, Sharon was capable of holding off mercenaries, but Diana didn't want the woman fighting for too long. Bucky stepped forward and silently grabbed Nagel by the shoulder of his lab coat and forced him to start walking. He pulled out a rolling chair and made Nagel sit.

Diana walked around behind him as Bucky held a gun to his head, she wanted to make sure that Nagel didn't try anything from any angle.

"Every bounty hunter in the city is here," Sharon said again, "we gotta go!"

Bucky moved the gun half an inch behind Nagels head and fired, the bullet lodged into the desk next to Nagel.

"Okay, okay," Nagel was shaking in his seat, "I was brought into HYDRA's Winter Soldier program to pick up their work, after the five failed test subjects in Siberia. When HYDRA fell, I was recruited by the CIA, they had blood samples from an American test subject with semi stable traces of serum in his system."

Diana looked up at Bucky and Sam, was he talking about Isaiah? With such carelessness to what that man was forced to sacrifice because of it?

"After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood," Nagel nodded to his own words, like he was answering the questions inside Diana's mind, "I was a god, I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do, but mine was going to be different, no clunky machines, or jacked up body's."

Diana spared a glance over at Bucky, an eyebrow raised as she tried to discreetly look him over once before looking back at Nagel.

"Mine, was going to be subtle, optimized," Nagel almost lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke of his work, "perfect."

"How have we never heard about this?" Sam asked.

"Because before I was able to complete my work, I turned to dust," Nagel admitted, "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 find the recreation of my work."

"How many vials did you make?" Sam asked.

"Twenty."

Diana felt a hand go to her chest, checking to see if her heart stopped beating. Twenty? Diana had to potentially fight twenty super soldiers, even with Sam and Bucky's help they were outnumbered. She was seriously thinking of calling Wong up for some magical mystic arts help.

"Karli Morgenthau stole those, so..." Nagel shook his head, "I can only imagine what the Power Broker has planned for that poor girl."

"Where's Karli now?"

"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, poor woman has tuberculosis typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that."

"Well what happened to her?" Sam asked.

"Not my pig, not my farm," Nagel shrugged. Disgust was rising up Diana's throat as she narrowed her eyes on Nagel. Donya must have been close to Karli for her to risk her neck and reach out to a disgusting creature like Nagel.

"Is there any serum in this lab?" Bucky asked. Nagel looked over at Bucky who was still at his side. He didn't answer, and when he didn't answer fast enough, Bucky pressed the gun into Nagel temple.

"No," Nagel admitted now.

"Now what?" Bucky asked as he looked over at Sam.

"Guys we're seriously out of time here!" Sharon spoke up as she entered the room.

It was so fast, Diana didn't understand what had happened. A familiar warm spray splashed across her front and her heart stopped. Zemo was pushed up against the wall, being disarmed by Sam's and Sharon. Diana looked down wide eyed as the blood that began to drip down her. Nagels body fell to the floor in front of her feet.

It had been years, a lifetime ago even, when Pietro died. The reminder of the gaping hole where the connection to him used to live throbbed at the forefront of her mind. Her mouth opened to say something as tears welled in her eyes, she looked up at Bucky who stared at her with wide eyes.

She couldn't say anything before the explosion knocked her back. She felt her energy surround her as she gasped for air on her back. The wind was fully knocked out of her, her earpiece was missing, disconnecting her from her friends. She moved to get up but a metal wall stopped her. She rubbed her eyes from the smoke, squinting through the darkness and her faint glow to see that it was a storage crate. She only had a foot of space to move around in.

She still couldn't catch her breath as she heard yelling overhead. Fading footsteps and screaming was all that she could focus on before the crackling of fire consumed her hearing.

Diana groaned as she looked around. There was nothing for her to grab onto and get this thing off of her. She maneuvered around to get onto her stomach, pressing her back into the container. She had to think quickly before the smoke became too thick to breathe through. She thought of the time she cheated at arm wrestling with Steve by using her powers and when she kept up with high-speed super soldiers by enhancing her legs. She's only ever focused the energy on certain limbs to enhance them, but never her whole body.

That would have to change today. She looked down at what she could see of her body, focusing on the energy that encased her protectively to go beneath the skin. She felt her muscles getting stronger, her bones getting sturdier, and she was getting shakier because of it.

She groaned as she pushed her palms up into the container and began to stand. She was only on the edge of being out from under the container, so if she was able to dive out of the way, she'll be able to get out. The container groaned with Diana's effort as she slowly lifted. Her muscles screamed at her, as if they were being ripped apart on a cellular level from the strain. Her knees buckled, forcing her to slam down on them once, but she regained her footing. She wasn't going to burn to death in a laboratory.

Tears were streaming down her face, images of Sam, Bucky, and Sharon being somewhere under the flames burned in her mind. She hoped the footsteps were them leaving. She couldn't bear to go on with this fight without them.

When Diana stood up fully, a cry escaped her lungs as she pushed the container in the air, giving her those few crucial seconds to dive out of the way and stumble to the corridor. Her legs were weak and she tripped a couple of times, scraping her hands. They matched her knees now as she got back up. A cough shook her whole body as she inhaled even more smoke, this would probably bite her in the ass in the future.

Her lungs burned as she scrambled for the light that was slowly getting brighter and soon, she was outside, breathing slightly fresher air. Salty air and piss greeted her with a slap to the face and her senses. It was better than breathing in smoke.

Her foggy brain had cleared enough for her to realize that she had stumbled into a firefight. She heard the familiar yelling of Sam and Bucky and found herself hobbling over, her arms dead at her side like she was a zombie.

"It's in every action movie!" She heard Sam yelling.

"What is?" Diana yelled over their voices and gunfire.

Sharon, Sam, and Bucky all snapped their gaze over to her. She probably looked like shit considering her dress was ruined, she was covered in blood and definitely had explosion hair.

Sam and Sharon looked like Diana grew three heads. Bucky looked at Diana like she was an Angel that came down from the heavens to help get them out of this mess. Zemo was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, where's—"

Bucky had grabbed onto Diana's hand, pulling her towards him. He stared at her for only a moment before his lips smashed down upon hers in a heated kiss. A jolt of surprise ran through Diana as she felt her eyes shut.

His lips pressed against hers over and over like he was trying to fit years' worth of missed opportunities in a single moment, she felt a hint of his tongue that felt like a promise for what might happen later when they didn't have to focus on not dying. He was about to pull away again and Diana wasn't going to have it. Her one hand squeezed his, her open hand went for his face. She held him there, pulling him closer to her so that she can return his message, feelings that she didn't even know she was holding onto.

Another explosion had Diana and Bucky jumping away from each other as the heat from the flames washed over them, the mercenaries that had been firing away at them had been blown apart. Only a few remained and Diana watched through the heat-distorted air as a masked figure dived in, expertly taking out the surviving stragglers so no more of them would come after them.

The masked figure paused, he wore Zemo's jacket, was that... Zemo?

Bucky's hand was around Diana's arm as he pulled them away. They had an opening now. More gunfire alerted Diana that not everyone died in the explosion and Zemo had more than just a few stragglers. Why couldn't they just give up and leave them alone?

Diana reached into her jacket pocket as they ran, grabbing a stone to turn into her Chitauri spear, another thing she had to leave behind for Zemos stupid spy-games.

Felicity Mack should've gotten herself a Chitauri spear. They were literally all over the streets of New York for days. They ran and ran, gunfire over their heads had them ducking for bullets that didn't even come close to them.

Until two mercenaries found them, one on their flank and one cutting them off. A storage container door opened up and Diana was shoved inside, Bucky who had done the shoving, had taken her spear and punted it at the mercenary who cut them off. A scream had alerted Diana that the shooter wasn't coming back from that.

Bucky was pulled in by Sam and when the crate closed they were encased in darkness. Diana held up a fist, allowing her energy to make it glow. Everyone was illuminated in her yellow light, their heavy breathing in tune with their pounding hearts.

"Are you guys okay?" Diana asked as they waited.

"Are you?" Sam asked, "we thought you died."

A hand in hers had Diana looking over to see Sharon, her eyes were wide with concern.

"We saw the container go down and you weren't moving, we didn't think that you would be out cold." Sharon admitted, "we should've dragged you out."

"No, no," Diana shook her head, "it just made me learn there's a lot more I can do with my powers. Now, we gotta go find Zemo before he does anything else that's stupid as fuck."

The three of them nodded and Bucky kicked the door open. When they stepped out, the squealing of tires had pulled their attention to their left where Zemo had pulled around in a classic-modeled convertible. A gleeful smirk was on his face, surprise didn't even grace his features when he looked at Diana.

"Supercharged," Zemo said proudly, it was a nice car.

"You're going back to jail," Sam glared at the man.

"Do you want to find Karli or not?" Zemo asked.

Diana sighed as she crawled into the back of the convertible. Memories of Sokovia hit her again. For a moment, Clint and Natasha were in the front seat again. She blinked, and it was Zemo in the driver's seat and Bucky getting into the passenger as Sam got in next to Diana.

"He's right, we need him," Bucky admitted as he opened the door, "there's three of us and at least twenty of them, come on."

"Fine," Sam reluctantly said to Bucky, turning to Zemo with an accusatory finger, "but if you try that shit again..."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Zemo nodded.

"Well that was one hell of a reunion," Sharon spoke as she shut Sam's door on him after he got in.

"Come back to the states with us," Sam frowned, Diana leaned forward as her muscles started to ache. The adrenaline was leaving her shaking body now that they were about to leave this dangerous place.

"I told you I can't, just get me that pardon you promised me," Sharon replied before walking off.

"Thanks for everything," Sam quickly spoke to her retreating figure.

"Love you, Sharon!" Diana called out to her before settling in her seat behind Zemo, reaching into her jacket to turn one of her stones into a rag, she didn't want Nagels blood drying on her body.

Sam was getting settled in his seat behind Bucky when he paused for a moment.

"You're not gonna move your seat up, are you?" He asked.

"No," Bucky answered, before looking back at Diana with a hint of amusement in his glance. Petty, Diana snorted at that as she went back to wiping the blood off.

The ride to the plane was short considering they were outside the city and near the airport where they had first arrived. The cool, clean air of the private jet was Diana's saving grace as she reclined in her chair across from Bucky. Oeznik, Zemo's kind butler, had gotten her a wet rag and some ice for her to help her clean up.

Sam was still on the phone with Torres as Diana now tried getting the soot out of her hair. She was going to need a proper shower when they finally touched land, but at least Nagels blood blended in with her dress, otherwise she would have to wear the monstrosity that was her disguise.

"Okay, call me if you get a hit," Sam spoke as he made his way to a seat, "thanks, Torres."

Sam plopped down into the chair across the aisle from Bucky, resting his head back into the seat,

"You okay?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah," Sam admitted, "just think about all the shit Sharon had to go through, and Nagel referring to the American test subject like Isaiah wasn't even a real person. Just makes me wonder how many people have to get steamrolled to make way for this hunk of metal."

"Well, it depends on who you ask," Bucky responded, "that hunk of metal saved a lot of lives."

"Yeah, I get that, all right," Sam nodded, "maybe I made a mistake."

"You did."

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have put it in a museum, maybe I should have destroyed it," Sam frowned.

Diana straightened up in her seat with this words.

"Sam," she spoke, disappointed with his trail of thought.

"What? I should have, then nobody has to give a shit about it anymore and move on," Sam defended himself.

Bucky looked over at Sam now, his eyes narrowing now. He straightened in his seat now too, leaning a little closer to Sam menacingly.

"Look, that shield means a lotta things to a lotta people," Bucky spoke up, "including me. The world is upside down and we need a new Cap and it ain't gonna be Walker, so before you go and destroy it, I'll take it from him and do it myself."

A buzz from Sam's phone and he instantly made himself occupied with a different conversation. Zemo had come out now with a bowl of food. Three bowls were set down, one in front of each of them. Diana looked up at Zemo with a grateful nod, despite seeing all that she did today, she was starving now.

Now cleaner than she was when she got into the jet, Diana felt comfortable enough to eat something as they flew to wherever their next destination may be. Diana had nearly cleared half her bowl, not caring what it looked like to the guys she shared the space with. Sam had finished up his phone call, a somber look on his face.

"They found Madani," Sam didn't seem happy about it, "Dead. She died in Riga, a city near the Baltic Sea."

Diana's food turned sour in her mouth, a hardened swallow and her stomach dropped, no longer interested in the Sokovian dish Zemo had brought out for her. Diana had it once long ago when Wanda tried showing her how to make the recipe, it never came out right when Diana tried it on her own.

"I have a place we can go to," Zemo spoke up, once again, making himself useful so Diana didn't drop kick him back into his cell, "I, for one, am looking forward to coming face to face with Karli. Oeznik, we're changing the course."

• • •

"I HEARD WHAT became of Sokovia," Zemo spoke up, bringing them back to the conversation they had about his country days before when they first got on the plane, "cannibalized by its neighbors before the land was even cleared of rubble, erased from the map, I don't suppose any of you bother visiting the memorial?"

They were in Latvia, walking down quiet streets, this place was beautiful. Diana felt out of place in her dirty clothes, but soon she'll be able to blend in. She ignored more stares as they crossed a street and turned a corner, the road getting even quieter.

"I actually did, with Wanda," Diana answered him, he looked back at her with surprise, "she was supporting me when my mother died, I felt it was right to go back to the country with her to support her, we buried Pietro and then stopped at the memorial to pay our respects, we weren't public about it because it wasn't something that needed to be announced."

"I see, and how is the last Maximoff these days?" Zemo asked.

"Uh, she's working some stuff out," Diana frowned as Zemo began to slow down at a series of doors.

"We are here," Zemo announced. Bucky slowed down even more than the rest. Diana furrowed her eyebrows as she looked back to look at him.

There was a hardened expression on his mind as he looked around, avoiding her gaze. Something was troubling him. He met her eyes, his mouth pressed into a thin line.

"I'm gonna go on a walk." Bucky announced.

"You good?" Sam asked.

Diana moved to step forward, but he stepped back, though the look she gave her was as if he was trying to assure her they were okay.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys in a bit," Bucky spoke. He patted Diana's arm before turning around and walking away.

A huff and Diana turned back to get off the cold street and into Zemo's safe house.

"You guys think we should be worried about him?" Diana asked as she shrugged off her coat, shuddering at the clear line that went down her chest where the blood and soot was stopped by the jacket.

"He'll be fine, you need to shower though," Zemo spoke, he practically appeared infront of her with a change of clothes and a towel. Diana assumed that it was his wife's clothing now, which sent a pang to her chest.

He would really let her wear that?

Diana didn't give him a chance to second guess the gesture and walked to the door he pointed her to. Bucky's pained expression clouded her mind before it jumped to that kiss.

When she was in the privacy of the bathroom, Diana looked into the mirror, her wild hair was dirty and streaked with ashy gray from the smoke and dust of the shipping container. When she thought back to how Bucky kissed her, her mouth burned. She reached up, her fingertips grazing her lips as she pictured the memory at the forefront of her mind.

God, how the hell is she going to manage this on top of her mission?

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OH MY GOD???? THEY FINALLY FREAKING KISSED!!!

I have been waiting on this since I was writing the first half of Never the Same. IM SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS TO FINISH THIS BOOK!!! I'm excited to finish it myself BECAUSE SO MUCH MORE IS COMING!!!! AHHH!!!

Also, I realized that my dumb self never showed you guys the dresses she wore so this is the fit from her undercover work.

And then here's the dress she wore for Sharon's party

This is satin, right? lmfao

also, as some of you know, I got into a car accident on 11/15 this year (2022 for future readers) and while I still have soreness and a nasty start belt bruise, I've finally got some inspo to finish this chapter (learning about adrenaline the hard way helps) so hopefully I can pick up the pace with my writing before I finally get a new car and get back on the road.

thank you all for your support and I hope to see you st the next update!

— greta