Chapter Twenty-Eight - An Explanation

Zemo led them through the streets of Riga, eventually moving into an enclosed courtyard. It was eerie being in the square; people moving quietly and keeping to themselves where they could. 'It's a shame, what has happened to this place,' Zemo reminisced. 'When I was young, we used to come here for fabulous dinners and parties. I knew nothing of the politics of the time, of course, but I remember it being beautiful.' 

'I'm gonna take a look around upstairs,' Sam told them. 'See what you can find out here. Clara, you coming?' 

Clara followed him through the building, and up a set of stairs. 'I just want to apologise for yesterday again,' Clara said, using their time alone to talk. 'I really didn't mean to... you know.'

Sam glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. 'Why'd it happen?' 

'I was scared,' she said, her voice small. 'But I'm okay now. Last time it was just a hiccup, I didn't think it was a thing, I-'

'Last time? That's happened before?' Sam gaped. 'Damn, Kid, you need to be put on the no fly list.' 

Clara tried to hide a grin at Sam's jibe. 'That's not funny.'

After a few seconds of walking, Sam continued. 'What scared you?'

'It doesn't matter,' she shrugged. 'Not at the moment, at least.' 

'Matters to me,' Sam stopped walking down the hall, turning to face her. He folded his arms across his chest. 'Was it Zemo? He say something to you?' 

'No,' Clara shook her head. 'It wasn't Zemo.' 

'Then what had you so rattled?' 

'You remember what we were talking about?' She asked, looking down to the dusty floor as she did. 

'The Aether?'

'Yeah...' Clara trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Should she just tell him what she had found out? Or were her parents right for hiding it? Should she do the same? Clara suspected that it would all be on the Index by now, and all of S.H.I.E.L.D. probably knew about it, so it wouldn't be long until the Avengers did too. 

'That's what scared you? You know it was destroyed right?' 

Clara looked back up at Sam, seeing the concern he held for her. The expression confused Clara. She barely knew the man, and yet everything he had done since they met, everything he had said to her, had been in her best interest. 'Not all of it.'

'What are you talking about?' He asked cautiously. 

'When I spoke to Agent Simmons, she said she saw something in my DNA - how I got my powers,' she explained. 'The Aether? It's sort of a part of me.'

Sam narrowed his eyes, as if unsure whether or not she was playing some kind of joke on him. 'You said your powers came from your parents.'

'That's where I thought they had,' she offered a small smile, Sam's brow lifting just a fraction. 'Turns out that wasn't entirely true. Not true at all, actually.'

'Jesus, Clara. And Simmons told you that over the phone?' Sam muttered. 'No wonder you freaked.'

'Actually, no. She just told me about the Aether being in my DNA,' she winced. 

'Oh, so you panicked because Bucky said anyone who comes into contact with it is destroyed? Makes sense.'

Clara narrowed her eyes, folding her arms as she cocked her head to the side. 'I'm pretty sure that was you.'

'We should keep moving, there's gotta be someone here we can speak to,' Sam said, moving off. Clara watched him walk away, waiting for what she had said to play on his mind for just a moment longer. He stopped walking, and turned back. 'So, you've just got some Infinity Stone juice in you?' 

'Ew, don't say it like that!' Clara looked at him, disgust written in her expression. 

'That's a pretty big thing to find out,' he went on, ignoring her comment. 'And you just came back here?'

'Yeah?' She frowned.

'You just found out you got your powers from an Infinity Stone, and that you are kinda made up a little bit from said Infinity Stone, and you still just thought you'd come back here?' 

'Yeah, why not?' 

'Because, Clara, that's a pretty big thing to find out,' he repeated. 

'I know?' She said, still a bit puzzled. 'Why wouldn't I still help find Karli?'

'Because-'

'Are you gonna keep saying the same thing?' Clara asked, interrupting him. 'I came back because I know that I can handle this. Handling the stuff at home? That's another matter. I need to focus on this to keep my head clear of that.' 

'So, you're here to avoid your problems?' 

'Pretty much,' she nodded, fully aware that was what she was doing. 'But also because Karli still needs to pay for what she's done, and I'm not going to be able to rest until she has.'

'Okay, well, at least you're still determined as ever,' Sam acknowledged before once again moving off down the hall. 'Come on.'

'Sam.' Clara nodded to a little boy as they turned the hallway to see the child run into a room.

'Hey, Kid,' he called after him. Entering the room, they saw two women sat at work benches, sewing what was presumably clothing for the other residents. 'Excuse me,' Sam tried, but the women both rose from their chairs and headed out of the room. Before one of them could leave, he pressed the question. 'Have you heard of Donya Madani?'

'No,' she answered, her gaze flicking to and from the exit nearest to her, and she began walking that way. 'Sorry, no.' 

'Hey, check this out,' Clara tilted a plastic sewing box, a small red handprint on the side. 

'Well, they've definitely heard of the Flag Smashers, at least,' he said. Walking into the adjoining room, Sam called out to another woman. 'Hey! Donya Madani?'

The woman quickly left to another room, closing and locking the door behind her. 'I sure hope Bucky's having more luck than us,' Clara muttered. 'I don't have much faith in his social skills though.'

'You know any Jedi mind tricks?' Sam asked conversationally, earning a look from Clara. He shrugged in response. 'The only other person I knew who got their powers from an Infinity Stone... Never mind.' 

Stepping into another room, Clara and Sam looked over what seemed to be a make-shift school for the children in the displacement camp. 'Excuse me,' Sam said to a man kneeling next to a desk. 'Do you know of a woman by the name of Donya Madani? She was a refugee here.'

'We're not refugees, for we have nothing to seek refuge from,' the man told them. 'We're internationally-displaced persons, for what it's worth, and we don't trust outsiders.'

'I understand,' Sam said as the man dismissed the children in the room. 'We're not from here, but we have a pretty good track record of helping out.' 

'I know what happens when people say they're going to help out; nothing. The Global Repatriation Council promised to send more teachers, more supplies. That was six months ago.'

'What's your name?' Sam asked. 'Maybe I can make a call.' 

'I know who you are. But I can't trust you,' the man said, his decision seeming final. 'I'm sorry.'

He walked from the room, leaving Sam and Clara back in the eerie silence. 'So, let me get this right; Zemo, arguably a murderous psychopath, and Bucky, an ex-murderous psychopath, are our last hopes at talking calmly to some very nervous people in order to get a new lead?'

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