Chapter Text
Bucky stood in the elevator, watching the numbers on the little screen above the door go up. The light in the elevator kept flickering, dimming out at odd moments. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, looking over at the hooded figure beside him.
This wasn’t the best of ideas, not by a longshot, but Sam suggested it. Plus, the kid had nowhere to go. No family, no relatives, only one remaining Flag Smasher left besides her who was halfway across the country, Bucky pitied her, almost. She kept her hood up, covering her face, quiet since the drive there.
The elevator dinged. The metal doors opened, bathing sunlight into the cramped space, like it was trying to force them out.
“You ready?” Asked Bucky, digging his hands into his pockets and gesturing with his head forward.
Karli chewed on the inside of her cheek. She wanted to say no, wanted to just slam the ground floor button and run away from all of this, but she promised Sam she’d do this. With a curt nod, she responded.
“Yeah.”
They stepped out of the elevator into Thunderbolts HQ. The team was scattered around, Ava at the mission table, professional and awaiting Bucky since he had announced something important to come. Alexei was near the communal kitchen eating a bagel, Antonia was… God knows where. Bob and Yelena were sitting at the mission table eating In-n-out. Walker was pacing near the table on his phone. When Bucky called for everyone to get to HQ, he asked specifically for everyone to come in civilian clothing so Karli wouldn’t be intimidated or anything.
He stepped forward, Karli a few steps behind like a shadow, tugging on the drawstrings of her hoodie as she felt the room’s eyes fall on her.
“So,” Bucky started. “As you can see, I brought someone with me.” He casted a sideways glance at Karli, then Alexei across the room. “Alexei, get over here, this is important.”
Alexei sat down, bagel still in hand. By that point, Antonia had materialised, and just like Walker, opted to stand, arms crossed over her chest, sharp eyes locking on the foreign figure.
“Team, I’d like you all to meet Karli. Sam asked me to bring her along, see if she’d be a fit.” He nudged Karli forward. John’s eyes widened with alarm.
The girl slowly, hesitantly lowered her hood, revealing her curly red hair, and her scarred, freckled face. Her heart thumped in her chest as everyone in the room started staring at her. And then, her eyes locked on him. John.
“Woah, woah, woah, what the hell is she doing here?!” John shouted from across the room, eyebrows pressed tightly together, already taking livid strides around the table to where the pair were standing.
Karli clenched her fists, eyes flooding with rage and alarm. “What am I doing here?! What are you?! Since when did people start putting goddamn psychos like you on superhero teams?!” She shoved John by the shoulders, unintentionally sending him tumbling onto the floor.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Bucky shouted, having to restrain Karli by this point, as she was about to start throwing punches.
Both Alexei and Ava held back John, as he had already gotten up and was a second away from charging at her. They had started shouting obscenities at each other, the whole room going into commotion. Bucky, Ava, Alexei and Yelena were shouting things too, what were supposed to be deescalating words, but they did nothing except add on to the cacophony. Bob just sat there in his chair, wide-eyed. Antonia stood there, eyes narrowed, unaffected and unamused by the altercation.
*———— 🛡️ ————*
It took around ten minutes to get them to calm down. So much for first impressions.
Karli sat in the meeting room, tucked into the chair at the far-end corner of the table, leg bouncing. She watched through the wide gaps in the blinds as Bucky gave, supposedly, a speech to everyone. Probably trying to convince everyone she’s not an unstable, anger-issue filled teenager. God, she just wanted to go home.
She took out her phone, trying to distract herself with it. At the top of her screen sat two unread texts from her friend, the only Flag Smasher left alive, Dovich.
‘How was the meeting?’
‘Am I going to start seeing you on TV soon?’
That last message almost made her smile. She had told him about Sam coaxing her into meeting the Thunderbolts, not even to try and join or anything, just to meet them, see what a potential future as a hero could be like. Using her powers for good and all.
‘Hopefully not. Walker’s here, Barnes just conveniently forgot to mention it.’ She texted back.
It didn’t take long before Dovich replied, three little dots appearing at the bottom of the screen as he typed. They disappeared for a moment, like he was hesitating about what to say. Eventually, he replied with; ‘Oh shit’ and ‘Are you alright?’
‘Yeah, I guess.’ She answered, leg bouncing a bit faster now. ‘God, I wanted to beat him up so bad.’
‘Don’t beat him up’ Dovich started, followed up by; ‘If you do you might get house arrest again and I won’t be able to see you for even longer’
‘Fair. Promise I won’t beat him up. Just for your sake, though.’ And for the first time in an hour, she smiled.
She turned off her phone, and when she looked up, Karli nearly jumped. At the end of the conference table, was Antonia, staring into her soul. She hadn’t heard her come in or even sit down. How long had she been sitting there?
The two had a type of staring contest for a moment, neither one blinking. Karli noticed Antonia’s scars. Burn scars, covering her entire face, snaking down her jaw, one eye milky white. Her black turtleneck was covering her neck, but Karli figured there were probably scars there too. Karli’s scars, although not as severe as Antonia’s, were similar. Stiff, burnt skin on her hands, running up her arms, coating the side of her face and a bit down her neck. In some odd way, she felt a kind of connection with the older woman across the table. They both suffered through the pain of fire coated against their skin, went through the awful healing process, and probably, the same humiliating stares out in public.
Neither side said anything for a few seconds. When the silence broke, surprisingly, it was Antonia that spoke.
“Good on you for pushing Walker. I wanted to do that for a while.” She commented dryly in her Russian accent.
“You hate him too?” Karli asked.
“Hate is a strong word. But yes.”
“We have something in common, then.” The redhead added.
“Besides the scars?” Commented the brunette.
Silence fell over the room. Karli’s leg bounced faster, heel of her boot thudding softly against the carpeted floor.
“That too.” Karli ended up whispering. “How did you get yours?”
“Explosion. You?”
“Me too. Someone in my team put a bomb in a building without telling me, and I was in it when it blew up.” The younger woman looked down at her scarred hands.
Things went quiet again, and when Karli looked up, those piercing eyes seemed less intimidating to her.