Ever since you heard about Karli's plan you tried to talk her out of it, knowing it would end up in a bit more than a few casualties. You understood her intentions but you thought she was fighting it the wrong way. You blatantly refused to help her with her plan, which resulted in many arguments.
"Why not?" She crossed her arms leaning her weight onto one of her hips.
“Karli you bombed a Global Repatriation Council facility with people still in it! How do you want them to listen when your killing their men and I'm sure as hell they won't listen to you're in jail." Your voice rose, now unable to keep calm.
“It's the only language these people speak," She shrugged, voice monotone but shaky as if she was about to cry. "Walker killed Nico-"
"Karli," You sighed, placing your head in your hands and rubbing your eyes from their exhaustion.
“How do I know they won't kill you?" You gave up with shouting and relaxed your voice as you dropped your hands to the side. Your chest felt heavy, carrying all the worry and stress for the past week. You couldn't bare losing Karli, after all, she took you in as her own when your mother died. She took care of you, made you feel loved again.
Her eyes now brimmed with tears, throat tight as she tried to supress sobs. Her head dropped to look at the ground, no longer able to look you straight in the eyes.
“Look at me," You demanded in a soft tone. "I can't sit around and pretend I'm not worried that you've potentially been shot or stabbed, bleeding to death somewhere where nobody will find you,"
A tear ran down your cheek despite you hardest effort to contain them.
“Don't let me lose another person I love 'cause I won't be able to handle it," She stared at you for a bit, taking in every bit of your body as tears of her own flooded her cheeks. She walked closer to you quickly, enveloping her hands around your neck and sniffling quietly into your shoulder. You wrapped your arms around her waist, pulling her closer to you as your chin trembled.
She pulled away eventually, looking deep into her eyes.
“I promise I won't die," She whispered. You felt her breath on your face as she leaned in, gently connecting your lips with hers. The kiss was short but full of passion. A kiss that begged for forgiveness.
“Swear?" You breathed. Your arms were still around her waist and her hands caressed your cheeks, wiping tears that had previously fallen. Cold air hit your skin sending shivers down your spine as the two of you stood embraced in an abandoned building. She nodded her head, sending a small but sincere smile as she continuously rubbed her thumbs onto your face. You sighed and nodded, momentarily looking down then back up at your girlfriend's sad expression.
“I can't join you, you know?," You whispered tears threatening to fall again.
“I know," She sniffled but smiled nonetheless. "At least I'll know you'll be safe."
You reached up to interlock one of your hands with hers and pulling her out of the crumbling building.
“Why'd you have to be so stubborn?" You chuckled as the two of you walked through the alleyways towards the shelter.
“You love me really," She squeezed your hand playfully making you smile wide at her.
“You know I do,"
***
“Kar please don't," Streams of tears travelled out of your eyes as you saw Karli pointing her gun at Sam. He stood defenceless before her and you stood too far to do anything, only thing you could do is plead for her not to shoot. Just as she was about to, another round of shots was fired but not from Karli's gun. You snapped your head to where the three shots sounded.
Sharon.
You looked back at where Karli stood 2 seconds prior but she was laying on the floor, gasping for air and clutching onto her stomach.
"NO!" You screamed, lunging towards your girlfriend on the floor. "Hey hey hey," You sniffled gently, cradling her head in your lap.
"Baby stay with me," Her body was shivering from pain, trying her best to look up at you through her eyelashes.
"I'm sorry (Y/N)," She wheezed.
“It's okay. Stay with me please." You whispered attempting to smile.
“You promised me you wouldn't die, remember?" You caressed her cheek with she did previously at the abandoned building. Replaying and cherishing small memories that you once experienced with Karli.
“I love y- you so much,"
“No Kar don't you dare, please." Sobs involuntarily escaping your mouth and Sam was suddenly by your side.
“Please Karli," You begged stroking her skin gently. You could physically see the life draining out of her, her face losing it's colour as blood escaped her system through the three bullet holes in her stomach.
Both of you knew she wouldn't make it even if Sam attempted to get help. You held your girlfriends body as close as you could to your own, protecting her last moments alive with your entire being, whispering sweet nothings into her ears gently to make sure she felt safe.
“I love you so much," You cried, putting your nose into her hair sniffing in her scent in for the last time.
- i feel no sympathy for john walker, maybe if he didn't kill a man he wouldn't be in this situation
- i laughed out loud "you dont wanna do this" SIR YOURE SPEAKING TO THE WINTER SOLDIER AND THE FALCON THEYVE LITRERALLY FOUGHT THANOS TWICE anyways
- he just through bucky so hard his hand got electrocuted i- im very concerned and also mad
- HE JUST TRIED TO DECAPITATE SAM AFTER FEELING BAD AB DECAPITATING ANOTHER GUY WHAT
- walker saying that he's captain america enraged me. steve never once said anything like that. he always introduced himself as steve never as captain america
- buck tossing the shield to sam yup yup
- sam rubbing the blood on the shield hurt
- this is not a drill torres is gonna be the next falcon
- are you kidding they're just giving him a slap on the wrist for murdering a man and causing an international crisis? i hate it here
- NO HOW DARE HE "they dont know what it takes to be captain america" THEN WHY DID STEVE NEVER MURDER SOMEONE IN COLD BLOOD YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A HUMAN
- random ass contessa? hello? i very much don't trust her
- great. karli is gonna blow something up probably
- IM SO PROUD OF BUCKY LOOK AT HIM plus ayo called him white wolf again this is good
- why do i feel bad for zemo?
- this part absolutely crushed me. first i wanna say that im super happy that marvel is fully leaning into the themes of racism. but isiah's story is horrible, and i fully understand why he's so cynical about sam being captain america. the fact that isiah got put in jail for the same thing steve was hailed a hero for is disgusting.
- i love sam with his family the domesticness of it is absolutely amazing
- bucky just lifting the thing i love it and i love him
- god i love sam and bucky's friendship, and seeing them work together on the boat absolutely warmed my heart
- 1940s bucky really came out when he flirted with sarah lmao
- the way bucky just casually lifts heavy things is sending me
- LMAO PLEASE "i dont always think of it immediately... im right handed" i love bucky why is he so awkward
- walker just straight up lied to lamar's family?? like he knows nico didn't kill lamar, and karli killed him and he lied?? screw him
- i feel so awful for lamar's family
- sharon is incredibly suspicious why tf is she talking to batroc
- bucky's face when he sees the kids im so soft
- sam's lil "she's a very mean person" PLEASE
- bucky and sam training together is giving me life, i love the little triangle they're making with the shield also it's incredibly hot when either of the catch the shield
- bucky apologizing i think was much needed. it wasn't that he was bigotted or racist in any way, but he was just unaware, and that apology was necessary for both sam and character development
- SAM TRAINING MONTAGE THIS IS NOT A DRILL
- anyone else notice how sam consistently runs on the left
- you know i very much enjoy watching government officials get what they deserve
- now that tony is dead the wakandans just decided to outfit everyone with cool tech and im loving it
- END CREDIT SCENE I NEARLY MISSED IT
- walker really said five minute crafts huh
warnings: fluff, kidnapping, torture (reader gets punched a bit and stabbed once, but that’s really the worst of it)
word count: 3.1k
a/n: holy cow!! the words really flew out of my brain so fast i surprised/scared myself lmao. i don’t think i should’ve had that much fun writing a torture scene as i should have but here we are. anon, you deserve everything great in the world, ty, ilysm
(ps— i brought back some love in the dark characters, sorry not sorry 😁)
//////
No one ever said anything, but you were sure the secret was out from the way people gave you side-eyes at the GRC camp.
You and Karli had always been close, okay, she always came to you first whenever she was considering a big move, and you were good at keeping secrets, you thought this one would be easy to keep when you’d blearily shared your first kiss on New Year’s Day, your head ringing from the explosions you’d created to close out 2023 with a bang. But, evidently you’d gotten too frisky. Maybe it was the way Karli always made sure you were the first one in the mess hall, or the first to drink out of a bottle that became a Molotov cocktail, or the way you always seemed to get your rations first whenever Karli was in charge of distributing them. One world, one people, you believed in that firmly, and a part of you knew she wasn’t supposed to pick favorites, but still…living in a world where you couldn’t get a shower or eat everyday, you fed off her silver spoon without remorse.
“Dee-Dee,” you called, making the girl at the chess board glance up in surprise, “Where’s Karli?”
She shrugged, but her eyes seared into you— just another uncomfortable sentiment that made you think everyone knew. “I dunno. By the vans was the last time I saw her.”
You nodded and made your way into the street, narrowly dodging a soccer ball kicked by one of the kids as you went.
Dee-Dee was right, Karli was having a hurried, whispered conversation with Dovich while she strapped away boxes of stuff into the van you’d managed to steal along the Estonia-Russia border, she looked worried.
She stopped once she saw you coming, though.
“Hey,” you said cautiously, shoving your hands in your pockets and bouncing on the balls of your feet, trying to appear natural, “Everything alright?”
Karli cracked a nervous smile. “Yeah. We were just talking about how we’re gonna feed everyone during the trip.”
“Ah, yeah. Yeah. I get you.” Estonia hadn’t been kind to you so far.
She raised an eyebrow almost teasingly and pushed in a last cardboard box labelled ammunition before closing the trunk of the van. “Is everything alright with you?”
You nodded. “Uh, yeah, totally. Can’t wait to travel again, that’s all.”
Between the Flag Smashers on the cusp of finding out your relationship with Karli and the creepy text messages you’d been getting ever since you’d arrived in Eastern Europe, you were less than fine, but of course you would never tell her that.
Karli turned to Dovich. “You can leave us.”
He complied instantly.
As soon as he’d turned the corner of the alleyway leading into the GRC camp, Karli reached out and grabbed your hand. “Look, you can tell me anything, alright?”
Your lips kicked up into a sheepish smile. “What makes you think I don’t already tell you everything?”
“When you’re underground, people tend to tell you only the stuff you need to know,” she said. “But we’re different, I just wanna make sure you know that.”
You couldn’t stop grinning now. “I’m perfectly aware, thanks.”
Even though it was broad daylight, Karli reached over for a chaste kiss, and you allowed her to touch you, ignoring the happy little spiral of feeling that came whenever she did that. One of the reasons why you loved her so much was that feeling— you had to force yourself away before you got carried away.
“Alright,” said Matthew, hurrying into the street, apparently not noticing what had just happened, “We can leave by dusk if we start feeding everyone now.”
You couldn’t help but grin at him. “I’m kinda getting a craving for McDonalds, are there any around here?”
You knew the answer. In basically every country you’d been in, you could find a McDonalds.
Matthew cocked his head to the side. “I can see, let’s get a move on!”
Karli grinned at you once again and started for the camp.
//////
John Walker had morals.
Morals and strategies. That was what got you three medals of honour, the ability to keep your head on straight in a fight, pick a target, and roll with it. Sometimes you had to pick a target for leverage, it happened all of the time in Afghanistan, there was that happy medium between justice and a war crime that John liked to linger in. So why was he experiencing such a heavy mental pushback when he suggested to himself that he kidnap one of Karli’s girls?
He wouldn’t even have to hurt her. Just scare her a bit, that’s all. He had known Lemar, known that he wouldn’t have wanted to be murdered without justice— when you were a soldier, you talked about the prospect of being murdered a lot, either because you thought life couldn’t get any worse on the battlefield, or in John’s case, because you were such a good soldier it would be surprising if you didn’t have a target on your head already. Sometimes it was a little bit of both.
He just needed her location. Her location, nothing else. Loyalty tended to run short when people were put on the spot. Just scare her, that’s all.
John rubbed his temples again, sighing. Ever since the serum, it felt like he was experiencing this constant migraine. God, when he got injected with the serum, it felt like his veins were on fire, now everything had been lit on fire since Lemar’s death.
Lemar would have wanted this.
Right. Yeah, he would have. That was a good enough explanation.
He turned over to look at the Captain America shield resting on the other side of the room. Since he wasn’t able to sleep, he kept picking it up and putting it down. It felt so good in his hands— right, even. John had known that he would never truly live up to Steve Rogers since day one, which was exactly why he said he wouldn’t be the new Steve Rogers when he was interviewed by Good Morning America, but he felt like Steve would’ve been proud of him. America needed someone in charge after the Blip, someone to deal with the Flag Smashers.
If he couldn’t find Karli, one of her lieutenants was the next best thing. Yeah. This was the start of another glorious American story. They’d tell it in museums for decades.
//////
As it turns out, there had indeed been a McDonalds in Estonia, so you ordered nearly two hundred dollars worth of burgers and let dinner run a little later than expected. By the time everyone was loading themselves into inconspicuous vans, you realized too late you needed to pee, so you told Karli you were going to find a bathroom and set off.
The way everything worked out, you were a short way from the GRC camp, so you kept your hands in your pockets and your head down as you walked. You were sure Aminah had told you about a shortcut on one of these streets, you just couldn’t remember which o—
BANG!
Something heavy hit the back of your head, and the last thing you saw was your face making contact with the ground before the dark.
//////
Your head was throbbing with pain and your wrists hurt from how tightly they were bound over your head, the rope moving harshly against your skin every time you fidgeted, and whoever had taken you hostage had stuffed a wad of fabric in your mouth so you couldn’t scream.
What the hell was happening?
You blinked the room back into focus and turned your head, trying to figure out where you were. It looked like some kind of warehouse, maybe a factory, there were a bunch of dusty metal mechanisms in the corner of your eye you didn’t recognize. You weren’t even sure if you were in Estonia anymore, but it definitely wasn’t a nightmare, you could see your very real hoodie lying on the floor in front of you.
“Hey.”
You jumped just hearing the voice, and if looks could kill, John Walker would’ve been dead long ago as he strode into view and knelt down in front of you.
“Look, I only need one thing from you, and then I’ll let you go. But if you don’t cooperate with me, I’m gonna have to resort to bloodier methods I don’t wanna use.”
He gestured around the room, then reached for the fabric in your mouth. “Don’t scream.”
You glared at him but allowed the piece of fabric to come out of your mouth, and for a moment you only gasped and gasped and gasped— you hadn’t gotten a good breath of air in hours, it felt like.
In, out. In, out.
Maybe there was a way this could be resolved safely.
John cocked his head to the side, almost smiling at you. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
You met his gaze. “Go to hell.”
He chewed on his lip, and you couldn’t help but follow his gaze as he took out a thick-handled knife and dragged it absentmindedly up your arm. You were wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so it didn’t touch your bare skin, but you tensed nonetheless.
“Where is Karli Morgenthau?” he asked after a beat.
Silence.
It killed you to do it, but you put on your best confused expression and let your eyes fall onto his face again. “I’m sorry, who?”
John grabbed your face at that, you shrieked at the surprise touch.
“Where is Karli Morgenthau?”
“I don’t know!” you cried. “I swear!”
“You’re lying!”
“Why would I lie when I’m tied up?” you exclaimed exasperatedly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, just let me go.”
John brought his phone out of his pocket to show you a picture of a security cam dated 03/09/24– your face was clearly in view even though you had your hood up, you were following Karli out to the van.
It hit you like a slap to the face: this was just after Dovich had robbed that bank.
Shit.
“You could end up in prison for that,” John said matter-of-factly, like you didn’t already know.
You grimaced. “I was aware of that when I robbed the bank.”
POW!
He struck you across the face so hard you would’ve fallen to your knees had you not been tied up, and your head swung to the side.
You let out a melodramatic “ow” and spat hair out of your mouth, trying to absorb the sting as fast as possible.
“Where is Karli Morgenthau?” John repeated.
“I already told you,” you replied evenly. “I don’t know where she is.”
“Oh, so robbing the bank was just a one time thing, huh?” he replied sarcastically. “I have more photos of you two, y’know.”
He scrolled through his phone and showed you a video of Karli pushing you against an alleyway wall to kiss you— this time your blood ran cold. You’d responded enthusiastically, you remembered, had snaked your hands up to touch her face as she wedged a knee in between your legs. The video was dated 03/12/24.
“Unless, y’know, you platonically make out with wanted terrorists for the fun of it,” John put in slyly.
You bit your lip. “Yeah, happens all the time.”
POW!
He struck you straight in the mouth this time: you shrieked with pain as the metallic taste of blood pooled on your tongue.
“Where is she?” John roared.
“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know!”
He hit you again and you choked as stars burst in your vision.
“Don’t make me do this,” he said, his voice shaking as he took out the knife again and ran it down your other arm, “I don’t wanna do this.”
It sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
“I don’t know where she is, we went our separate ways!” you yelled at him.
John looked at you, and for a second it was almost like he believed you—
—until he plunged the knife into your abdomen.
You screamed and thrashed against your binds. It was a sting unlike anything else, you couldn’t breathe—
You gasped desperately for air, trying to force it down into your lungs, but were only rewarded with a deeper burn. Because of the super serum, the knife had actually gone most of the way through, you could feel it.
“Fuck,” you panted, “Shit…fuck…”
John still hadn’t taken his grip off the knife, he looked like he could force it even deeper if he wanted. “Just tell me where she is, that’s all you have to do.”
You were losing a lot of blood now, the first wave of nausea wreaked your head as he threatened to tilt the blade upwards. It would take just one flick upwards for him to hit one of your organs— you were tied up, you couldn’t fight back— and then it might be game over for you.
“No,” you snarled, and you felt his hand tense around the knife inside of you.
“Hands off!” someone shouted.
BANG!
You barely saw Dovich before he charged at John, and then they were fighting, metallic and flesh-sounding thuds filling the air as they flew into a corner.
All of a sudden a crowd of Flag Smashers had flooded the room, everyone was yelling, and a much kinder face knelt in front of you.
“Are you alright?” Karli hissed, then she saw the knife. “Shit-“
“Medic!” she screamed over her shoulder before turning to you again. “Can you move?”
“No,” you bit out shakily, “I - I can try-“
“No, don’t,” she said hurriedly, fumbling in her pack for a knife, “Here, here, stay still—“
RIIIP!
She’d cut through the ropes, and with a grateful sting, your arms were free.
“Matthew, help me lift her,” Karli ordered, cursing senselessly under her breath as she tried to put her knife back in the pack, and Matthew dove forward to oblige.
“Where is that God forsaken medic?” she screamed over her shoulder.
You couldn’t care less, you were completely focused on Matthew helping you up now: he was clearly trying to be gentle, but rushing because of the predicament you were in.
As you started moving towards the door, you couldn’t help but look back at the scene. John had a busted lip and Dovich had a black eye, but they were still fighting, their heightened stamina clearly the only thing keeping them going.
“Go!” Karli yelled from behind you, pushing you forward, and you half-waddled, half-scurried out of there.
//////
The next few hours were a blur. You were overloaded with stolen anaesthesia as one of the Flag Smasher medics operated on you and successfully got the knife out of your abdomen, resulting in some pretty ugly neon-blue stitches down your side, and apparently the entire road trip had been paused to search for you after you hadn’t come back, so after you had been found, business resumed as usual.
This meant your reality was staring up at the ceiling of a dingy van, so in pain you were in and out of consciousness, wondering what the future would be like. There was a bright side though: when you were finally able to stay in the world of the living, you were on the Belarusian border.
There was some hold up getting into Poland for some reason, so you were staying in yet another safehouse for the night. Karli insisted on being the only person to help you in, and then, throwing all caution to the wind about subtlety, requested she stay with you.
It would be just the two of you and no one else for the entire night. You had this room to yourselves— it felt illegal, like a secret sleepover you would’ve gotten invited to in middle school had you had a normal childhood.
Yeah, you definitely saw Aminah’s raised eyebrow as she went off to find another room.
“Are you alright?” Karli asked for the millionth time as she tried to settle herself onto the uncomfortable piece of floor she was calling her bed. The room was completely devoid of furniture, so you and her had made the best of what you had: despite your protests, she’d given you all the limp pillows she could find, now you were attempting to find the best way to lie on them without disturbing your new injury.
To be fair, it only stung when you ate, slept, walked, and breathed.
(It stung all the time.)
“I’ll be fine,” you replied. “Really, K, you don’t need to be worried. The medic said it’ll only take a few months to heal, and if I keep my mind off it, time’ll go faster. It’ll work out, I promise.”
Karli pressed her lips together. “I won’t apologize for caring about you.”
Even though your abdomen gave another hiss of pain, you poked her knee with your own in what was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. “I never said you have to.”
Karli couldn’t help but kiss you again, disastrously sweet, and she’d already gone far enough to ensure you had a room alone together, so you let her indulge in you. You indulged in her was probably the more correct term: you stayed like that for a while, on the floor, your mouths lazily roving together, her hand on your face and your hand on her leg, never daring to go any further.
“I love you,” Karli murmured against your lips. “You’re stupidly brave, you know that?”
“I went through all that for you,” you quipped dryly, and kissed her deeper this time.
“I’m gonna make sure Walker never hurts you again,” she breathed back, and even though you were sure she meant it, you also didn’t know if she really knew what she was saying when you were both neck-deep in this glorious feeling, so you said nothing. You sat up on your elbows and dared to move your hand up her leg— then you winced.
Karli felt it too, and her eyes flew open, she stopped kissing you. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” you tried to say, but the injury had started stinging again, you bit your lip to keep from wincing more.
“Take this,” she replied, and shifted a pillow that had somehow ended up on her side to cushion your injury.
You opened your mouth to protest once again, but Karli shushed you. “I won’t apologize for caring about you.”
You tried to smile up at her. “It’s gonna be a long night.”
Her lips were already on yours again. “I know how to speed it up.”
