╔═━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━═╗
CHAPTER TWELVE
swallowed by a snake
╚═━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━═╝

━━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━━

THE COLD AIR of the cathedral was filled with the vibrations of the organ paired with the somber singing of children. Diana was standing next to Sam with a large empty space next to her, Steve's spot. He was helping Peggy's family carry in her casket. She watched helplessly as she saw the faint shed of a tear. Her grip on the package of the to-go tissues she held tightened until he finally made it to his place next to her. A tissue was instantly offered to him and he gently took it, a soft squeeze on her hand as a silent way of saying thank you.

Diana couldn't keep her eyes away from the photo of Peggy that they had, she had a ghost of a smile as she looked up at something, a wreath of white flowers laid against the photo. She was beautiful. The priest went on with the ceremony as they sat down, then came the time for people to speak.

"And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words." Sharon. Diana furrowed her eyebrows and looked up to see her old "Spy Next Door" at the podium, she glanced down at the three of them, a hesitant look on her face before she looked out at the crowd. Diana glanced at Steve who wasn't paying attention. She nudged him, pulling his attention to her as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Diana gestured her head at Sharon and she watched his confused expression melt into shocked recognition. Like he was slapped in the face with something that he should've seen coming from a mile away. Diana felt the same way, though she wasn't sure what her face looked like at the moment. She looked back up at Sharon, waiting to see what the fellow blonde had to say.

"Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy. She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related." Sharon looked directly at Steve, like those last few words were dirty meant for him, Diana had to admit that she hadn't seen the woman since the fall of SHIELD, she regretted it, but Diana found that she was a bit busy looking for Bucky, "I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say ''No, you move."

Diana spared a glance at Steve after she said that, once again, it looked like she was talking directly to Steve. Did she know about his stance on the Accords? Maybe she did because Diana recognized the look on his face. He wasn't going to go along with the UN, not by a long shot.

And maybe he shouldn't. Diana found herself lost in her thoughts for the rest of the funeral, she put up her best somber face, not wanting people to think she was bored. She couldn't help but think about the accords. There had to be a better option. Ross was right, they can't go on as they have before. But was the UN really capable of making decisions like the ones they do? Diana didn't like this situation, but all she could think of were the dust-coated bodies that she had seen in New York, the ones she saw in Sokovia, in Lagos. So much death, at the hands of the mistakes that her team has made.

It was Sam's hand on hers that pulled her to the present. They were standing up, getting ready to leave. People greeted and said goodbye to each other. She plastered on a smile and shook hands until Sam was able to get her away from the crowd. Steve had wanted some time to himself. Diana realized that she might have been overbearing on the man and he might have wanted time to himself to grieve. She made a note to apologize to him for it later, but now, Sam had wanted to take her to the restaurant in the hotel that he had been eyeing since they checked in.

They might have looked out of place considering the funeral dress next to his suit and tie, but neither of them cared. The food was too good. After a while, they made their way to the bar, goofing off, Diana would talk about her easier scouting missions from the previous years, and Sam would talk about Riley. They placed bets on Steve and Sharon when they watched the two walk into the hotel and made their way to the elevators.

Diana's laugh died in her throat when her eye caught the tv the image of what looked like Bucky on the tv with the headliner "UN Bombed" underneath it made Diana feel like ice was shot directly into her veins. She blanched and she felt Sam pull her away from the seat, pulling her to Steve and Sharon.

"Steve!" Sam pulled their attention to the two, Diana was still looking at the bar, unable to process anything properly, "There's something you got to see."

Everyone piled into the elevator, Sam had his phone out, showing the two articles after articles about the bombing. It didn't make sense. None of it. Diana had a hard time finding her words. She relied on her motor functions to take over and lead the group to her room, letting everyone in, Steve turned on the TV and changed it to the first news channel they saw, the news anchor spoke calmly with the devastating words falling off their lips like it was every other Tuesday that this happened.

"A bomb hidden in a news van ripped through a building in Vienna," The news anchor went on.

"Good. They're solid. Forensics?" Sharon was already on the phone with someone, Diana remembered hearing from someone that Sharon was with the CIA after SHIELD fell, so Diana assumed that's who she was on the phone with now.

"More than seventy people have been injured. At least twelve are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier." That same photo of Bucky from before came up but it didn't look right, like it didn't look quite like him, "The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations."

"I have to go to work," Sharon spoke up, her phone was clenched in her hand that rested at her side.

"It just doesn't make sense," Diana finally said, "Bucky- he..."

Steve seemed to understand, it was hard to imagine that Bucky would bomb the meeting. He would only do this if he was under orders, which means that if HYDRA was still present, then everyone was in more danger than they realized. Bucky seemed to regret his actions from what Diana saw at the river, but the Winter Soldier was dangerous and ruthless.

Diana felt her fingers graze over her collarbone, the one that he broke, the faint throb of her face and jaw hit her and she clenched at the memory of the way the knife sliced open her leg. The end of the scar was visible just under the edge of the skirt of her dress.

They were all reminders of that fateful day in the helicarrier. And they were all reminders that she needed to help him. Give him that second chance that he deserves. Because she may be scarred from it but he was still a victim.

━━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━━

THE SMELL OF coffee beans and mocha seemed to have a psychological effect on Diana, she almost didn't even need the coffee in her hands. The smell of coffee brought new energy into her body. She was halfway through her cup when Sam cleared his throat pulling her attention to him, eyebrows raised in anticipation for what he had to say.

"How are you holding up with, you know, him?" Sam asked. Diana averted her gaze away from him even though both had baseball caps and sunglasses on.

"It's hard to believe that he did this on his own, after the years of mind control, there's no way he's doing this, and if it's HYDRA controlling him," Diana's eyebrows furrowed in her confusion, "why would HYDRA bomb something that would hinder the one thing that could actually pose a threat to them? And why would Bucky be so sloppy as to get caught on camera if that was him?"

Diana felt a bit of relief when she finally spoke, finishing the coffee with shaky hands. Sam's expression was hidden from her behind the sunglasses, but after knowing him for so long, she can imagine what it looks like.

"Well when we find him, you can ask him yourself," Sam replied, stirring more sugar into his coffee.

"Oh, I can't wait to talk to him," Diana smirked. Sam groaned at her words almost instantly, she just knew that he was rolling his eyes.

She had to ignore it when Steve came in from inside, he was on the phone with Natasha, checking in on her. Diana was still texting the woman. Worry for Natasha had flooded Diana after the shock of the bombing ebbed away, panic mode had kicked in immediately after when she remembered where her friend was spending her day, but thankfully Natasha was far enough away from the blast that she only had a few cuts and bruises.

"She tell you to stay out of it?" Sam asked, "Might have a point."

"He'd do it for me." Steve frowned. He glanced at Diana's shaky hands as she fumbled with the mug.

"Nineteen-forty-five, maybe. I just want to make sure we considered all our options." Sam shrugged, "The people that shoot at you usually wind up shooting at us." He gestured to Diana when he said that last part and Diana shrugged, remembering how she got shot three times by Bucky just by being near his targets.

Before Steve could respond to Sam, Sharon had come up to the counter a foot or two away from Steve, never looking at them, her eyes trained on the tv. They had to be as discreet as possible, if the CIA knew that Sharon was talking to them right now, she would be fired and they would all be arrested, Diana was sure of that. People have gotten arrested for less.

"Tips have been pouring in since that footage went public. Everybody thinks the Winter soldier goes to their gym. Most of its noise. Except for this." She slid Steve a file. The giant angry CLASSIFIED was stamped on top, bringing memories of Diana's recruitment back to the front of her mind, she gave her head a slight shake to focus on the task at hand, "My boss expects a briefing, pretty much now so that's all the head start you're gonna get."

"Thank you." Steve gave her as he tried to open the file and read without everyone in the shop seeing the suspicious way they all hung around each other.

"And you're gonna have to hurry. We have orders to shoot on sight."

Sharon had quickly left the shop. Diana's heart skipped a beat with the warning, they would have to act fast. Hopefully, the file had an address for her to put into google maps, she was nervous, meeting Bucky, it wouldn't be like before. At least Diana hoped.

━━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━━

2k words

i originally had this chapter at 6.5k words but so much was going on that I split it up into two, and since I was late for updates I'm going to update today and then immediately update tomorrow since y'all deserve that at least.

but!!! y'all know what's about to happen!!! I'm so excited for criminal!diana and what her new status will do to her mental state lol.

i can't believe I gave her a therapist just to to take away her freedom later, I really am evil. muah hahah

anyways thank you all for sticking with me on this book and I can't wait for you to read the next update!

love u all!
-greta