Clara stared up at the ceiling, hearing Bucky and Sam's attempt at a hushed conversation, picking her name from the words every now and then. 

She felt strange. She felt as though she wasn't feeling how she was supposed to. 

She was calm, her mind settled, everything working the way it should, and yet she didn't feel right. 

Karli had gotten away, and in that sense she had failed in what she had set out to do. But because of that, she felt relief. She should be angry, shouldn't she? Angry that she hadn't done what she had promised to do, angry at Bucky for letting Karli walk out of that room alive, but she wasn't.

Bucky was right, she would have regretted it, and would never have let the guilt of it all go, just as she never let the grief of losing her mother pass. 

Clara rolled onto her side, feeling an aching across her entirely body. She knew better than to channel her emotions into her power; it made her stronger, but the aftereffects were always the same. She was exhausted, and after doing was she did to Karli, she would be very surprised if the aching didn't last a few days at the least. 

'Sam, stop,' she heard Bucky say from across the room. 'I know you're angry, but-'

'Angry? I am way past angry,' Sam bit.

'Sam...' Bucky sighed. 'She's just a kid, she's just lost one of her parents. You keep saying you can see good in Karli and you're acting like this about Clara, I don't get it.'

'Because I expected better of her,' he snapped at Bucky. 'God, Bucky, you look at Karli and you see what you're getting going up against her. I had no clue Clara was gonna try that. No clue.'

'I know.' 

'First the Aether, now this? Shit,' he mumbled. 'This kid's just getting one truckload of bad luck after the next.'

'What?' Bucky asked, wondering what he was talking about.

'What?' Sam raised an eyebrow.

'Nice one, Sam,' Clara muttered, peering across the room from the couch to the dining table. Bucky and Sam both looked over, only just hearing her from where they sat. 

'I thought you'd have told him.'

Clara shrugged as she sat up, then yawned with a stretch. 

'What are you guys talking about? What we said on the jet?' 

'I got my powers from the Aether,' Clara said, cluing him in. She said it almost nonchalantly at this point, feeling as though she had repeated the fact in her head so many times that it felt as though she had known for way longer than she had. 'It's part of my DNA. So, it's part of me, basically.'

'You have Infinity Stone juice in you?' Bucky narrowed his eyes at her, thinking her unpredictability sort of made sense with that in mind.

'God, what is wrong with you two?' Clara frowned, glancing between him and Sam. 'You sure you haven't spoken about this already? You know what, never mind. I just want to say now, before you even start yelling at me for it, that I'm sorry.'

'Clara,' Bucky started, but she interrupted him. 

'There were a lot of things I could have - should have done differently, and telling you guys the truth about why I was looking for Karli would've been a good start,' Clara looked down at her hands resting in her lap, and she began fiddling with the cuffs of her jacket. 

'Yeah, you should have just told us,' Sam agreed. 'You don't think either of us have gone lookin' for someone on some kind of vendetta?'

Clara lifted an eyebrow. 'No, I don't. Well, maybe Bucky, but not you.' 

'Yeah, she's right, you're too level headed for that,' Bucky agreed, taking no offense to the statement. 

'Uh-uh,' Sam shook his head. 'Don't you two go switching it up and being all neighbourly - not after putting me through all that arguing.'

'Oh,' Clara frowned. 'You want us to keep on arguing? I can make that work.' Sam sighed, dropping his head into his hands. 'But not now; too tired.'

'Thank God for that,' he muttered. 'Look, Clara, I need you to promise me, that if you carry on with us, you're not gonna try that shit again.'

Clara hesitated. It was a big promise to make when that was all she had been striving for over the last month. 

Bucky met her sights, nodding once. He had said everything there was to say back in that apartment, he just hoped she had taken heed of it. 

Clara had taken in every word he had said. She heard him, and she had listened, but Clara's brow became knotted, some kind of trouble picking at her. 'I don't think I can promise that.' 

'What are you-' Bucky scowled, almost angrily. Sam shook his head at Bucky, stopping him in his tracks. 

'Good,' Sam told Clara. 'Because if you had, I would have known you were still lying to us.' 

She smiled tightly. 'How did it go with Walker?'

'Kept him and Lemar distracted long enough for the Flag Smashers to bug out.' Sam lent back in his chair, folding his arms. 

'Huh?' Clara stood from the couch, feeling her legs shaking under her weight. 'On purpose?' 

'Like Bucky said, somethings not right with him,' Sam grimaced. 'He's losing it.'

'He's passionate, I'll give him that,' Bucky grumbled, pulling out a chair for Clara as she made her way over to them. 'I'd say the two of you were about the same level of crazy.' 

'That's real nice,' Clara said, patting him on his metal arm before letting her hand linger on his shoulder for a moment, feeling the currents of energy moving through the joint. 'Keep calling me crazy and you'll have one more disadvantage going up against Walker.'

Bucky didn't say anything back about that, instead simply glowering at Sam who did his best to suppress a chuckle. 

Clara sat down between the two of them. 'I can't say I'm not gonna have some more choice words and, you know, more choice actions, too, but I can say I'm wanting to get her behind bars just as much as I wanted to... well, I don't think I need to say it.'

 'I think you can understand if we keep a closer eye on you from now on,' Sam said, Clara nodding in response. 'Which means no more Hollow Man-'

'Whoa, hold on-' Clara started, not understanding the reference, but figuring out what he was getting at quick enough.

'No arguing over this one, Clara,' Bucky warned her. 

'But-'

'No,' Sam stopped her. Clara tipping her head back and groaning in frustration. 'If you're invisible we can't keep track of you. No more disappearing.'

'But, I can-'

'No,' they both said in unison. 

'Fine,' Clara huffed. 

A soft chime rang out, and Clara looked around as Sam pulled his phone from his pocket. 'It's Sarah, she hadn't heard anything since this morning.' 

Clara pat down her pockets, still looking around the room. 'Anyone seen my phone?' She sighed as both Sam and Bucky shook their heads no. 'I told my, err... friend that I'd call.'

'Well, it's got to be around here somewhere.' Sam was about to rise from the chair to help her look around when his phone chimed again, this time a call coming through. 'Sharon?' He asked, lifting it to his ear. 'Already? Okay, we're on it.'

'What's that?' Clara called over, walking to back to the couch to check for her phone. 

'Walker. He's back on the move.'

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