Chapter Eighteen - Bad Blood
'Sharon?' Bucky asked, taking a step closer to her, appearing to not quite believe his eyes. Clara stayed put, unsure of how this was going to pan out, and wanting to be ready if Sharon decided to take action against someone other than Zemo. She recognised her name from an earlier conversation with Sam and Bucky; Sharon Carter had been mentioned on the jet on the way to Baltimore.
'You cost me everything,' Sharon sneered the words at Zemo, closing the gap between her and the group.
'Sharon, wait.' Sam held up a placating hand. 'Someone recreated the Super Soldier serum and Zemo had a lead.'
Sharon tilted her head to the side as she heard their excuse. 'That explains why you guys are here and Selby's dead.'
'So, what are you doing here?' Bucky asked her as she kicked away Zemo's discarded gun.
'I stole Steve's shield, remember?' Sharon scoffed, narrowing her eyes at him. 'I also took the wings for your ass,' she gestured with the gun to Sam. 'So that you could save his ass,' she pointed to Bucky. 'From his ass,' she finished, aiming at Zemo once again. '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 me, I was on the run, too,' Sam reminded her.
'Was. Is. Big difference.' Sharon glared. 'I don't speak to my family any more. I can't. My own father doesn't know where I am.'
'Listen,' Bucky tried. 'Sharon, we need your help, please.'
Sharon chuckled lightly, shaking her head. 'This isn't over.' She turned away from them, looking down the road. 'I have a place in High Town. You'll be safe there.'
They began heading down the road towards Clara, and she could see Sam and Bucky looking around, but whether it was in search of her or keeping an eye out for more danger, she didn't know. Nonetheless, she took quick but quiet steps around the corner at the junction and delved a little further into the shadows to obscure her reappearance.
Stepping out in front of the group as they reached her, Sharon went to raise her weapon. Sam stopped her, letting the woman know Clara was with them and wasn't another Bounty Hunter trying to score. 'I see you've made another friend,' Clara nodded towards Sharon, who she had definitely, absolutely not seen or heard talking to them moments before.
'Clara, this is Sharon Carter. Sharon, Clara Wilson,' Sam gave the introductions, keeping them short.
'Wilson?' Sharon raised an eyebrow, looking between Sam and Clara.
'No relation,' he told her as they continued down the road. Sam dropped back, walking beside Clara as Sharon led the group, Zemo in tow with Bucky just a step ahead of them. 'You good?'
'Hm?' Clara looked up at him, wondering why he asked it as though she had been the one getting chased through the streets. 'Yeah, I'm fine, just getting a little tired. Are you guys okay?'
'We're good,' Sam nodded. 'Thanks for the help back there. What was that? Some kind of forcefield?'
Bucky peered over his shoulder at them, a scowl on his expression. '"Help"? I wouldn't call launching bikes at us "help",' he muttered. 'Not that we asked for it, anyway.'
'Seriously? ' Clara scoffed, a slight grin tugging at the corners of her lips at the absurdity of his statement. Then, when Bucky held his expression, she held up her hands in mock-defence. 'No, no, you're right, sorry. Next time I'll just let them shoot at you until you figure out your own plan.'
'Please do,' he smiled sarcastically, turning back to the path ahead of him.
Just ahead of them, Sharon dropped down into a black car similar to the one that had brought them onto the island. 'Nope,' Sharon told Sam as he went to lower himself into the front passenger seat. Bucky and Clara looked over from one of the back doors, having been glaring at each other. 'Clara's sitting up front.'
Sam frowned, struggling to see why she'd want that. 'How come?'
'Because, out of the four of you, she's the only who I don't have a problem with right now,' Sharon scowled.
Sam looked to Clara, who folded her arms over her torso, lightly shrugging as if to say that it made sense, but she wasn't exactly comfortable with it. Then again, it did mean she'd have all that leg room to herself. She grinned at Bucky, seeing this as a win, and she moved past him.
Lowering herself into the front passenger seat, she settled into the comfy chair. Sighing contently, she let her head sit against the rest, and felt her muscles relaxing already. The others got into the car, too, each taking their seats with Bucky squeezing in between Zemo and Sam, a disgruntled look on his face.
Throughout the journey to the other end of the island, driving in silence, Clara's head dropped every now and then as sleep threatened to pull her down. Each time, she jolted awake again, refusing to be anything but primed and ready for anything that could go wrong. 'So,' Sharon said, starting a conversation with Clara. 'How'd you wind up with them?'
'Just... Crossed paths, I guess,' Clara told her. 'Working towards the same goal and bumped into each other.'
'Right, the Flag Smashers,' Sharon nodded. 'Someone send you after them, or is this some kind of personal vendetta?'
'Is "both" an option?' Clara glanced towards Sharon, seeing an amused smile flitter across her lips. 'I work for S.H.I.E.L.D.. You used to as well, right? Sharon Carter? Your Aunt was one of the founders?'
'That's me, yeah,' Sharon confirmed, not showing much of a reaction to Clara's probing question. Of course Clara knew of Agent Peggy Carter - her photo was all over S.H.I.E.L.D. bases, and obviously she knew they were related, she just wanted to see just how far her bad blood went with the agency. 'You just start out?'
'Yeah, not long ago,' Clara said, keeping her answers vague, and her cards close to her chest because although she knew of Sharon, she didn't know her. 'You've been in Madripoor for, what? The Sokovian accords were signed in 2016, so nearly eight years?'
This, unusually, seemed to strike a nerve in Sharon, a slight hesitation on her part. 'Technically three,' she corrected.
'Oh, you Blipped?'
'Yep, and let me tell you, Madripoor was not a great place to be when everyone came back.' Sharon steered the car around a corner, the city streets beginning to open up now and the lights doing a better job at keeping the shadows at bay. 'Everyone was so used to it being a certain way, when they came back and there was a new face in charge, they weren't sure what to make of it. Fell in line pretty quick though.'
Clara lifted an eyebrow. 'What about you? You said "they" fell in line,' she pointed out, picking up on the subtle use of the word. 'Not a fan of the Power Broker?'
'I think they're keeping a handle on Madripoor,' she said. 'Had a chance to make the most of a bad situation.'
'Right.' Clara's lips turned downwards at the corners as she nodded. 'But you didn't exactly answer my question.'
'You're quick,' Sharon chuckled lightly. 'That's good, S.H.I.E.L.D. did well finding you... Or did you find them?'
Clara looked over at her, folding her arms as she waited for an answer. In the corner of her eye, she saw Bucky in the middle seat, looking between her and Sharon as he listened in.
'The Power Broker's keeping the city from destroying itself,' she finally said. 'I'm not saying everything they're doing is necessarily good, but it is necessary.'
Clara was about to ask a follow-up question, but as they pulled in front of an apartment building in a glamourous part of town, Sharon spoke again. 'This is it,' she told them, taking the keys from the ignition and rising from the drivers seat. Sam, Bucky, Clara, and Zemo followed after her.
On the way to the front gates of the building, Sharon tossed the keys to a smartly dressed valet, hardly even looking his way as she did. 'Looks like breaking all those laws is treating you well,' Sam commented.
Sharon led them through the building, which appeared to be less of a set of apartments, and more of an art gallery. 'Well, at some point I thought if I had to hustle, might as well enjoy the life of a real hustler. You know how much I can get for a real Monet?'
'Deactivate your hustle mode. You sell fake Monets,' Sam said, walking beside her. He looked over to see a knowing grin tugging at her lips.
'No, she means real. This gallery is specialized in stolen artwork,' Zemo stated. 'Monet, Van Gogh. Classics.'
'It's true,' Bucky nodded. 'You know, half the artwork in museums like the Louvre is fake. Real stuff sits in the places like this.'
Clara looked around the room as Sam tugged his phone from his pocket. She didn't bother looking too closely at the paintings, it's not like she'd be able to tell whether they were being truthful in their claims. 'You collected all this in three years?'
'And more,' Sharon stopped, letting them look around for a moment. 'I had some criminal connections here from my S.H.I.E.L.D. days, it didn't take too much convincing for them to let me in on their deals.'
Clara frowned at this, still not seeing how it had been so easy over the course of three years for her to gather this many pieces. 'You didn't lose it all in the five years you weren't here?'
'Come on,' Sharon gestured towards a doorway. 'You guys need to change. I'm hosting clients in an hour.'
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