Unexpected Candidates
"Thank you for coming with me," Allie looked over to T'Challa who walked beside her.
"I see you decided against bringing Bucky?" T'Challa smirked.
"He's at his family's house today with the kids," she shrugged.
"I see," he grinned.
"Besides," she sighed as they walked along the metal and down corridors. "I don't think a reunion between the two is a wise idea right now."
"Were they on terrible terms last time?"
"You know what happened," Allie sent him an unamused glare. "But, I think it's best to have you as the person with me."
"I think there's more than just you who thinks that," T'Challa laughed. "Another Barnes wanting to bring him out of prison? Not exactly the best look for your family."
"That might be so, but at least I'm doing this with the support of a kingdom," she gave a small smile. "I'm not breaking him out. I'm holding that out over Bucky's head."
The two were stopped before the final corridor leading to the cells. In one of the cells behind the door was the man who'd caused setbacks in her life with Bucky. Yet, that same man helped her husband years later. Taking a breath as they waited for the guards to open the door, Allie leaned over to whisper to T'Challa.
"By the way, you and Bucky both seem to think I brought the kids to Wakanda for some manipulative reason," she began and then shrugged. "While I do have to say my kids are the cutest on this earth, that's not why I brought them."
"Is that so?" T'Challa grinned.
"They might as well have one nice memory from this time if most of their memories are of someone attacking their mom," she shrugged once more.
"They did seem to like his hut," T'Challa grinned.
"Yeah," Allie nodded with a smile. "They did."
They both took deep breaths as they watched the door open and one guard stepped inside as the other stood beside the doorway and allowed the two to walk in. Allie looked around at the familiar setting. She hated the memories of when and why she had had a brief stay of her own in one of the cells of the Raft. The two walked forward together before settling in front of a cell that was lined with books and had a radio that played soft music in the space.
"Ah, Allison," the accent could be heard before the face could be seen. "I don't believe we've met."
"Zemo," Allie greeted him. "No, we haven't."
"Then, what brings you here?"
"As much as I hate admitting it, we need your help," Allie frowned as she folded her arms across her chest.
"My help?" his voice had an edge of curiosity. If Allie hadn't known better, in the lighting of his cell, she could see a small smirk on his lips. "With what?"
"I know you hate super soldiers," she shrugged. "And before you go into any kind of speech, I've heard it passed along from Steve and Bucky."
Zemo seemed to relax against the mattress of his prison bed. Allie grimaced as she remembered the pain she'd been in when she was in one of these cells. Her hands had been covered in those awful gloves before being cuffed behind her back. She herself had tried to relax on her mattress while talking to her friends before Steve had broken them out.
She glanced over at T'Challa, silently asking him to stay where he was standing as she approached the bars in front of the cell. Zemo stood and made his way over, hands clasped together in front of him as he looked her in the eyes.
"Then you must have heard how nice it was to see an imperfection in your brother," he cocked his head a bit. "He had a bit of green in the blue of his eyes. You have an imperfection as well. You have a bit of grey in the blue of yours."
"How touching," Allie feigned as she looked at him. "I'm going to get straight to the point. I was supposed to be a new breed of super soldier."
"It isn't that hard to tell you'd chosen to be enhanced," he shrugged.
"I didn't choose to be enhanced," Allie sighed. "They ran experiments and I was blinded by a need for revenge. Does that latter part sound familiar?"
"Should it?" his smirk was just a ghost, almost a whisper of a challenge.
"Considering the first time I'd seen my husband after seventy years was when I tried to help him escape Romania when you framed him," her look was pointed. "Listen, I'm not here for a verbal sparring match, so you can drop the act right now."
"You haven't even told me what has happened," a frown settled in his lips. "What have you done?"
"I didn't do anything," she narrowed her eyes. "The Power Broker sold the formula that gave me my powers on the black market."
"And now someone has this formula?"
"Someone with a vendetta against me," Allie nodded. "You've helped my husband in the past. I'm asking you to help us once more."
"And why should I help? It's you," Zemo shrugged.
"I'll try not to take offense to that comment," she frowned. "You say it like I'm a part of Hydra. Remember that I fought against Hydra."
"This is a matter of international security," T'Challa offered from where he stood.
"The world doesn't need anymore enhanced people with these powers," Allie said. "They're dangerous enough in me, let alone in the hands of the wrong person."
Zemo seemed to settle with the thought for a moment. It was odd. She didn't think that she could truly read him. She knew the stories from Steve and Bucky. She knew about Siberia and Latvia. In this moment, she couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"Then there's just one question I have," Zemo shrugged.
"Which is?" her brow raised.
"When do we get started?"
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"Did you really know my grandpa?" Morgan Stark had popped another piece of fruit in her mouth as she watched Allie tighten her ponytail.
"Yes, I did," Allie glanced over to her.
"So you really are old," Morgan smirked.
"Hey! I resent that statement," Allie's mouth gaped open a tad. "It may be true, but I still resent it."
"Morgan, leave her alone," Peter rolled his eyes, walking over to the two as he looked to Allie. "Are you ready to practice with your powers?"
"Yes, I am," she nodded.
"You're not coming," Peter glared at Morgan as he and Allie left for the lab that had been converted into an observation area for Allie to safely practice using her powers, particularly her newest addition to the arsenal that she'd foolishly revealed before learning how to control properly.
"Why not?" Morgan frowned.
"I said so," Peter called back. "And I'll tell your mom."
"You're no fun," she frowned, but to her credit, she listened to Peter and stayed in the nearby lounge.
Peter lead Allie down the corridors that led to the lab, silence filling the space as she folded her arms across her chest. She didn't look up until Peter cleared his throat and pointed to an open door for her to go through. Nodding and walking through, she noticed Bruce sitting himself in a corner before greeting her with a warm smile.
She didn't bother to look at the clock while she was in the room with them. All she heard was the clicking of machines as they moved with cameras attached to them, capturing different angles of her so she could observe the footage later. From where they sat, Peter and Bruce were taking notes and speaking in hushed tones.
She didn't know how long they'd been in the room before Peter suggested that they stop for the day so that he and Bruce could discuss what was in the footage in order to help gauge what they needed to do to provide an efficient training room for the team once it was fully settled who would be joining them.
"I'm going to go down to the kitchen and tell Bucky to get the car," Peter stretched as he walked out of the lab.
"I'll go to the lounge," Allie called after him with a smile.
When she went to go and settle in a chair, Morgan had found her way back over and held something behind her. Allie looked over at her and gave a small laugh.
"You know, you have your grandpa's smirk," she told her, almost seeing a flash of Howard in Tony's daughter.
"I do?" she asked with widened eyes.
"You do," Allie nodded.
"Well, speaking of him," Morgan grinned. "My mom was looking through some of Dad's things the other day as she was moving some stuff around," she began. "We found this."
In Morgan's hand, she held a notebook. It was very clearly very old. The binding was torn just a bit, most likely from age. Allie took the notebook from Morgan's hand and opened it to the first page. She recognized the handwriting, and it certainly was not Tony's handwriting.
"Is this why you asked me if I actually knew your grandfather?" Allie raised her brow.
"Yup," Morgan nodded. "Mom thought you might like to see it. Might want to look at it with your brother."
"Well, uh," Allie looked down at what she had realized was a very old journal of Howard's. "Thank you. You'll have to tell your mom I say thank you as well."
"I will," Morgan smiled. "Although, the coolest thank you would be letting me watch you practice these powers while you're here."
"No," Allie pointed her finger at Morgan. "I don't like the idea of anyone younger than Peter being in the room with me when I work with those powers."
"If only he was younger than me," Morgan frowned. "Alright. Fine."
"Allie?" a voice called from behind and it was Bruce who looked over at her as he took his eyeglasses off. "Can we talk?"
"Of course," she nodded and looked to Morgan. "Get some rest," she told her. "And tell your mom I said hi when you tell her I say thank you."
"Bye," Morgan smiled.
Bruce gestured to the seats in the lounge with his good arm and Allie followed him to sit down. As she sat and waited for him to begin the conversation, he simply sighed. As he looked back up at her, he seemed to give an attempt at a weak smile.
"Sam and Peter both spoke to me about the team," he said with a sigh. "Allie, I don't know much I want to be on the front lines."
"I can understand that," Allie nodded.
"That doesn't mean that I don't want to help you," he continued. "Because I do."
"I appreciate that," she smiled softly.
"If there is any way that I can help you from this end, behind the scenes, just let me know, okay?"
"I will, she nodded once more.
A moment of silence passed as Allie fidgeted by messing with the corner of the journal. Bruce watched as she looked down at the edge of the binding and took in a deep breath.
"Have you two heard from him?"
"From who?" Allie feigned innocence despite knowing exactly who Bruce was talking about.
"Your brother," he looked at her pointedly.
"Oh," she pretended to be surprised by his question. "No, we haven't. None of us have."
"I see," he sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it."
"It's okay," she shrugged with a frown. "He'll talk to one of us eventually. It just might not be myself or Bucky."
"You never know," Bruce settled back into his seat.
"Hey, Allie?" Peter's voice chimed in as he walked over. "Bucky's back with the car."
"Alright," she nodded. "Bruce? I'll see you later?"
"Of course," he smiled. "Remember, call with any help you need."
"I will," she nodded. And she meant it.
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The journal didn't have daily entries. It seemed that Howard only wrote in it when he had a reason to. Many of the entries seemed to have taken place during the time that they'd known one another.
Bucky had decided to let Allie have the night off from putting the kids to bed, and took the duty on himself before he decided to take a shower. Allie simply sat in the living room with the only light coming from the lamp on the end table as she opened the journal and skimmed through entries before she settled on an entry from when she had first met and become friends with Howard.
Nov 6, 1943
That Allie Rogers is truly something else. Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes had told me that they needed to get her equipped for life with the new team that's forming. Sergeant Barnes went as far as to say that we needed to prep her with an arsenal of shoes.
It's odd to see two people like them. Allie and Sergeant Barnes. I'll admit it, I even did to her, she's a beautiful dame. Clearly independent, strong-willed, strong in general. Even reminds me a bit of Agent Carter in a way. It's clear that she's good at her job, I overheard comments as I passed by soldiers at the bar when I was there last night. But she is blind.
I don't think I'll admit it to either one of them, but their faces were familiar and I realized I'd seen them in the crowd at the Expo. Nothing quite like a group close enough to the stage that you can see their reactions. I'd seen it then, and I see it now. Sergeant Barnes doesn't just admire her. It's far past that whether he'll say it or not.
When I told her how he talks about her all the time, she admitted that I wasn't even the first to make mention about it. I'm almost tempted to start taking bets on when one of them will tell the other about this and on who tells who. Just based on meeting her today, my bet's on Allie telling him within the next three months.
She seems to be ready to be out on the field with her brother and the other men, if not just a tad hesitant. I overheard her and Sergeant Barnes leaving the range as she complained about how miserable she was at the firearms as he tried to tell her that she'd already made some improvement in the short time they'd been in there.
I have plenty of uniforms to start working on. They have good ideas for what they need. Allie seemed excited going through the designs her brother and best friend designed for her. I have to agree with her input. It'll be a useful uniform.
Allie smiled at the memory of Howard being completely forward and asking if she had been dating Bucky that first day they'd met. She never knew that he'd recognized the group of them from his presentation. To his credit, the triple date had found its way towards the front. Connie and Bonnie had both been quite enthusiastic to watch Howard give his presentation.
Part of her began to wish that Howard had told them that he'd recognized them. It wasn't a bad presentation, she'd only wished that Bucky hadn't made it a triple date. She wished that they could have pushed to the front of the crowd to be up close. After all, she along with her brother and best friend went on to be friends with the Howard Stark.
Continuing to flip through pages she stumbled upon an entry from Christmastime 1943.
Dec 23, 1943
I knew it would be Allie. Now I really wish I had placed bets with the others on it.
The Commandos took down the first facility like it was nothing earlier this month. Their reports regarding the mission were thrilling to read. I think Captain Rogers had it right with his idea of gathering those that were the unexpected candidates. I don't think a team of "top" soldiers would be able to do what these guys are doing.
Allie and I talked the other day when I was bringing in more ammunition and supplies. In addition to the news of her and Barnes, she was telling me her side of being out on the battleground. Her eyes kind of had this glint when she was telling me about it all.
I've come to learn that I like being around her. With the hell that the country is going through, I'll admit that I'm pleased to have a friend around.
Allie found that she didn't read the rest of the entry. She tried to continue, but she became stuck on what he'd said about Steve's idea of the "unexpected candidates" that had made up the Commandos. Thinking to herself, she realized that she had the same idea as her brother. She felt that involving a political figure was possibly an unexpected move. Recruiting a criminal that framed her husband for the murder of said political figure's father seemed even more so.
As Allie sat in her chair, she made a mental list of who she had confirmed for her side of the fight, whether on the battleground or behind the scenes. She knew she had Bucky, she always had him. There was Sam and Wanda, Peter, now T'Challa and Zemo. Bruce had agreed to be a behind the scenes presence for the team. She had a feeling that she could count on the additions of Rhodey and Scott. She felt Clint might be a supportive figure, but she almost felt as if she'd be surprised if he joined the physical fight.
Closing the journal and setting on her lap, she bit her thumb gently as she thought of possibilities. Was there anyone else she even knew of that she could find a way to connect with them? That she would even trust to take down a group like Annika and her followers? That would have abilities to take care of themselves and help fight effectively? And then her stomach dropped in horror.
There was one person that she could think of that would have useful abilities. Completely shocked by her own thoughts when it came to this, she put the journal on the end table and quickly made her way upstairs to the en suite where the water from Bucky's shower could still be heard. Making her way inside, she slammed the bathroom door open.
"Fucking shit!" she heard Bucky yell as he jumped behind the door of their shower.
"I have a possibly very bad idea of who to recruit," she quickly said.
"Can't this wait until I'm not about to jump and fall and then crack my head open on the shower floor?" he sighed.
"I don't really think I can wait," Allie confessed.
The warm steam of the room enveloped her as the strong scent from his body wash streamed in through her nostrils. At the very least, the comforting environment of her husband made the confession of her possibly terrible idea a bit easier. She heard his sigh from the shower, water continuing to hit the floor and slip through the drain.
"Alright, well, go ahead and tell me," he sighed. "I'm not opening this door right now though."
"I'd never ask you to," Allie said.
"That's a lie, but continue," she could hear the smirk on his lips.
"Okay, first of all, that wasn't what I meant. Second of all, that mouth of yours right there is why we have three kids. Third of all, I have an idea of who to recruit, but I really need your honest opinion. So please give me that, okay?"
"Okay," his voice was soft as his soft laugh could be heard bouncing against the shower wall and to her.
"John Walker," she spit out.
For a moment, Allie was startled when she didn't hear Bucky's voice reply. She looked to his figure through the door, and realized he'd stopped moving for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something when in a flash, he'd opened the door and was looking at her with a dropped jaw.
"Who?" his eyes had widened.
"John Walker," she repeated and bit her lip.
"Okay, hold on, now you've gotten me out of my nice shower," he sighed as he turned off the water and Allie handed him a towel. "You're going to have to explain this thought process to me."
"Easy," she sighed. "The unexpected."
"The unexpected?"
"The unexpected," she nodded. "I was reading Howard's journal, which I'd like to point out makes me kind of feel like we've got him with us a little bit," Bucky gave her a sad smile. "But more importantly, he made a remark about the Commandos being 'unexpected candidates'. I like that idea."
"It definitely worked for us," Bucky agreed. "But why John?"
"He's a super soldier," Allie shrugged. "And before the whole thing overseas he'd been a well beloved soldier. I might hate him, but he did help you guys at the GRC."
"Yes, he did do the right thing in the end," Bucky agreed.
"Which tells me that he has a moral compass. If I can confess him that this fight is worth fighting for, we'll have a true super soldier on our team," she said before realizing what she said. "One that's not related or married to me."
"Allie, my love," he said and she frowned as he held his towel in one hand and rubbed her arm with the other. "I'm a little worried of the combination of Zemo and John."
"I'll handle it," she shrugged. "I can work my way around a conversation or two."
"Are you sure?" he continued.
"You said you trust my judgement," she frowned.
"You just came up with this idea," he reminded her.
"This is intuition," she sighed. "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. That'll be on me. But I really think that the idea of the 'unexpected candidates' is worth it. None of us like him, but we'd be idiots to not acknowledge his skill set. We don't like Zemo and yet he's joining this team."
Bucky nodded and raised his hand to her cheek, leaned in, and kissed her.
"Is there anyone else you want on this team?" he simply looked at her.
"That's all for now," Allie assured him.
"Then let's figure out how to get John to join," he nodded.
Allie quickly threw her arms around him, not carrying that his skin was still slick with water from his shower. The water soaked through her shirt and her hands slipped a tad against his skin as she continued to hold on to him tightly.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"You should also thank Howard," Bucky kissed her temple. "'Unexpected candidates.'"
"But you were the one with the idea of who those men should be," Allie laughed. "So really I suppose I should thank you for recognizing Howard's idea who really recognized your idea."
Bucky simply shook his head and parted in the direction of his pajamas. Putting them on, he looked over at Allie and folded his arms across his chest.
"I'll start figuring that path out for you tomorrow," he nodded. "For now, go grab Howard's journal and bring it up here."
"Oh are you sure you'd like to hear what he wrote? He knew I'd be the one to tell you first," she smirked.
"Go get our friend's journal," Bucky rolled his eyes.
Allie did go and grab the journal before turning off the lights downstairs and walking back up to their room and reading entries made by their late friend. Glancing up at Bucky, she wondered if she really should have been the one that Howard had said was "something else". As she looked up at her husband when he'd laugh at memories in the journal, she realized something.
He was following her leadership. He trusted her. He believed in her. Those actions and feelings gave her comfort in her ideas that she may think seemed crazy.
The only wish she had as she continued to read through the entries for just a tad longer before Bucky had slumped against the headboard and began to snore was that Steve were there with them. She still hadn't heard from him, and the same could be said for the others in their group of friends.
As the thoughts took over her mind, she frowned and found herself unable to rest as easily as Bucky. Instead, she closed the journal, placed it on the nightstand as she turned off the lamp, and curled closer to him.
She found that recruiting another person for her team wasn't the only task she had on her mind.