When Sparks Fly

Streets

We don't do anything until it is time to head out for the funeral, where, hopefully, we will be able to find and talk to Karli. When we start walking to the funeral we hear an ever so familiar and annoying voice, "Kari Morgenthau is too dangerous for you guys to be pulling this shit," as I look up the street I see John and Lamar coming down some stairs.

Bucky marches ahead of us a bit, "ah! How'd you find us now?"

"Come on, man," Lamar shakes his head, while he and John continue down the very large street staircase. "You really think three Avengers can walk around Latvia without drawing attention?"

John doesn't give anyone a chance to answer Lamar's question, even though it was rhetorical, before he starts to lay into us again, "no more keeping us in the dark. You can start by telling us why you broke him out of prison."

Bucky shrugs as we slowly walk up to the bottom of the stairs, "he did that himself, technically."

"This better be an unbelievable explanation!"

I step up to John, placing a hand on his chest, gently pushing him back, "hey, back your stripes up right now. Or I will deal with you."

Sam nods, "seriously, man, stop before things get weird."

"I know where Karli is," Zemo smirks before the four of us start to walk around John and Lamar.

John grabs Zemo's shoulder, "well, where?"

"All we know is, it's a memorial," Sam sighs, getting just as annoyed at John as we all are. "So we're gonna intercept her there."

"That means civilians," Lamar looks around our little group, "high risk of casualties."

I shake my head, "these are Karli's people, she won't endanger them, not unless she has to."

We continue down the street, "alright, good," John joins us, unaware that we didn't extend an invitation, "we'll move in fast, take her by surprise."

"No, I'm gonna talk to her alone."

"I'm not losing her again."

"Yeah, and if you go in there guns blazing they're going to freak out and it's gonna get more people killed. The person closest to her, the closest thing she had to a mother, just died, she's vulnerable. If there's any time to reason with her and at least get her to stop the bombings, it's now."

"What? No. Wait, no!" John stops me by grabbing my arm, "no! stop. hold on."

I look down to his hand then up to him, "you have three seconds to remove it, if you would like to keep it."

John removes his hand, "just stop, I think we're way past reasoning with her."

"Really? Have you tried talking to her? Have you considered the fact that she's just a kid."

"Have you forgot she blew up a building with people still in it."

"If the GRC would remember that it has other people to help, then it wouldn't have happened."

"Phoebe," I look over to Lamar, who is giving me a much more respectful tone then John ever has, "if you walk in there cold, she could kill you."

"And if we go in hot and it goes sideways, more people die. You said it yourself, Lamar, there's more civilians."

John looks over to Bucky, "you gonna let her do this? You're gonna let your trophy wife walk into a room with a Super Soldier alone?"

"Okay, one, she's not my trophy wife, two, she's dealt with worse, and, three, if you'd bother to learn anything about her, you'd know she's a Super Soldier too," Bucky shakes his head, probably shocked that John is still standing on his own two feet after that comment. "Believe me, shes hard headed enough to take on all five of us."

"Five?"

"Yeah, she'll try to kick your ass, the three of us and obviously Lamar will try to stop her. You know, if she hasn't fried your ass already."

Sam nods, "and probably get our asses kicked in the process."

"Look," I sigh, "I help counsel PTSD patients while working in the CIA, I had a couple degrees, both in Psychology and Trauma Response. So it's either me or Sam, now I'm thinking the woman with the lightening hands may be the better option. No offense," I glance over to Sam.

Sam doesn't take his eyes off of John, "none taken."

"I know those people and those soldiers," John looks to me, "which is why I know this is a bad idea."

I cross my arms, "you wanna talk about bad ideas. You just tried to use my boyfriend to talk me out of something. I think you should be worrying about yourself, not us."

"John, she's right," Lamar nods, turning to his partner, "if she can talk her down, it might be worth a try."

John scoffs, shocked that he is in this fight alone. He looks over to Zemo, pointing at him, "we'll deal with you later."

Zemo nods, "I'm sure it will all come to an agreeable conclusion. My associate is just up ahead," Zemo gestures up the path, when I turn I see one of the children from earlier. We walk up the path, Zemo leading the way, stopping when he gets to the young girl, "hello, my friend." He hands her something, although I can't see what, "this is for your family. Can you show us the way?" The little girl nods, gesturing for us to follow her.

John has a look of disbelief on his face, probably shocked that we are making headway without being assholes, "what the hell?"