Plot

To find the source of the Super Soldier Serum, Sam and Bucky must scale a ladder of low-lifes starting in Madripoor with Zemo.

Bucky and Sam help Zemo escape prison, so that he can help them track the Super Soldier serum in Madripoor. There, they meet an old friend who is an uncertain ally now, and she helps them find the creator of the new serum. Captain America and Battlestar track the Flag Smashers, and realize that they need help.—Gislef

An ad for the Global Repatriation Council runs, saying that the GRC is there people coming back from The Blip that the organization is there to help them come back.

Captain America and Battlestar arrive in Munich with a squad of GRC police. They break into the office run by Rudy and demand to know where Kelli is. When Rudy says that he doesn't know, Captain America doesn't believe him. Rudy spits in Captain America's face, and Captain America beats him. The owner says that he knows who Captain America is, and doesn't care.

As they go out, Battlestar tells Captain America that Kelli giving displaced people shelter and medicine, and that gets her loyalty. That loyalty is keeping them from finding Kelly, and Captain America figures that they need to get help someone with a "better hand".

Sam and Bucky go to the prison in Berlin where Zemo is being held. Bucky tells Sam that he's going in alone, and he has a history with Zemo and Hydra. In the cell, Zemo recites the activation code to trigger Bucky. It doesn't work, and Bucky tells him that those days are over.

Zemo admits that he just wanted to see how the "new" Bucky reacts to the old words, and insists that what he did to Bucky was never personal. Bucky tells him that someone recreated the Super Soldier, serum, and he needs to find out who. Zemo figures that Bucky came to him because it involves Hydra, meaning Bucky is desperate, and says that he knows where to begin.

After leaving and going to a garage, Bucky tells Sam that he wants to break Zemo out of jail. Sam isn't happy with the idea, warning that Zemo will play mind games with them. Bucky walks Sam through a hypothetical of how they can break Zemo out by inciting a fight between two prisoners. Zemo escapes in the confusion, disguising him as a guard.

While Sam wonders where they are in the plan, Zemo comes in wearing a guard's uniform and Sam realizes that Bucky's hypothetical is anything but. Bucky asks Sam to back him like he backed Steve after Steve refused to back the Sokovia accords. Sam reluctantly agrees, but tells Zemo that he doesn't do anything without their permission. Zemo agrees, and Sam asks where they start.

Zemo takes them to a garage full of antique cars that belong to him. He says that they'll have to work through a number of lowlifes, starting with Selby, a mid-level fence that he still has a line on. After getting some things out of one of the cars, Zemo leaves and Sam and Bucky follow him. The trio take Zemo's private jet to the country of Madripoor, an island nation in the Indonesia archipelago. Zemo has taken Bucky's list of names of people he wronged as the Winter Soldier, and Bucky tells him not to follow the matter any further. They talk about Steve, and Zemo says that Steve became an icon and they forget about icons, and then borders are lost and wars are fought. Red Skull was such an icon. Bucky explains that Madripoor was a pirate nation in the 1800s, and Zemo warns that they will need cover identities.

At a GRC resettlement camp in Riga, Latveria, Karli is called to the bedside of a dying older woman, cries, and says that she's story.

In Madripoor, Sam takes on the identity of Conrad Make, an African rake also known as the "Smiling Tiger". Zemo tells them to stay in character no matter what, and they take a car to Lowtown. Six motorcyclists surround and escort them to a bar. After identifying themselves to the bartender, the bartender makes the Smiling Tiger's favorite drink, including snake guts, for Sam. Sam has no choice but to play along and drink it, and a man comes over and says that he has word from Power Broker on high" that they're not welcome there. Zemo tells the man that either Power Broker can tell them himself, or send Selby.

Zemo warns Sam and Bucky that in Madripoor, Power Broke is judge, jury, and executioner. A man comes over and grabs Zemo, and Zemo tells Bucky to attack. Bucky grabs the man by the arm, dislocates his shoulders, and throws him to the floor. More men attack Bucky, and he takes them down as well.

More men in the bar draw guns, and Zemo congratulates Bucky on a job well done. The bartender tells them that Selby will see them now. Sam asks Bucky if he's good, and Bucky grunts in agreement. Selby is waiting for them in a back room, and wonders why Zemo isn't in prison. He ducks the question, and tells her to tell them what she knows about the serum. In return Zemo will give her the Winter Soldier, along with the code words to control him.

Selby agrees and tells them that the serum is in Madripoor, and Dr. Wilfred Nagel was the one who has it. Power Broker had Nagel working on the serum. When Zemo asks if Nagel is still in Madripoor, Selby tells him that information will cost him more, and he can't find Nagel without her.

Sarah calls Sam, and Selby has him answer it on speaker. Sam does so, and Sarah tells him that they need to talk about the situation. Sam has her say it's about the boat, and tells her the bank will come around. He tells her that he'll have the banker killed if he doesn't cooperate, and Sarah yells to her son and calls Sam by name, saying she'll call him back. Selby wonders who "Sam" is and tells her men to kill the trio.

Someone shoots through the wall, killing Selby, and Sam and Bucky take out the fence's guards. Zemo warns that they have a problem, and tells them to give him their weapons and follow his lead. They go out and down the street, and men get text about Selby's death and the bounty on the trio. The men open fire, and the trio run down an alley.

Two motorcyclists close in on the trio, and the shooter takes out the motorcyclists. The two men run and more motorcyclists chase them. Sharon Carter, the shooter, steps out and trains her gun on Zemo. Sam tells her that someone recreated the serum, and Zemo is helping them find it. Sharon says that she didn't have the Avengers to back her up after she went against the Accords, so she's in Madripoor off the grid. She can't talk to her family anymore, but agrees to help the trio and takes them to her safehouse in Hightown.

Sharon takes them to her art gallery, and Sam asks Sharon if she wants to come back to the U.S. Sharon says that Madripoor doesn't have extradition with the U.S. so she's safe there. She figures that Sam gave up the shield because he knows heroism is hypocrisy. She asks about Walker, and when Bucky disdainfully tells her not to get him started, she points out that Bucky used to work with Steve.

Sam explains that Karli and seven others have taken the serum, and Sharon tells them to stay clear of the situation for their own safety. When Bucky tells her that Nagel is involved, Sharon informs them that Nagel works for Power Broker. Sam offers to clear her name if she helps them, and says that he's willing to try if she will. Sharon agrees and tells them stay low, while she sees what she can find.

After Sharon leaves, the trio goes down to the party that Sharon is hosting. Coming back, Sharon tells them that she found Nagel. The next morning, they go to the shipping yard and Sharon directs them to a cargo container. She gives them earbuds so she can stay in contact with them as she keeps watch on the area, and they open the container but find it empty. They go inside to check it out, and Zemo finds a hidden stairway in the back.

The trio go up to Nagel's laboratory, and find Nagel working. Sam introduces Bucky and Zemo, and Nagel tells them that if they make him a better offer, he'll talk. Sharon warns them that they have company, and attacks the three men approaching. She takes them down and two more men attack her.

Bucky fires his gun near Nagel's had, and the scientist breaks and tells them that he was brought in to pick up Hydra's work on the serum after the test in Siberia failed. The CIA then recruited Nagel, who had blood samples from an American test subject, Bradley, with semi-stable elements of the serum in his system. Nagel eventually isolated the compounds and duplicated them. When he was eradicated by The Blip and returned five years later, the project had been ended so Nagel came to Madripoor and Power Broker funded his work.

Nagel confirms that he created 20 vials, and Karli stole them so Power Broker is seeking revenge on her. Karli called Nagel a few days ago and asked if he could help a Donya Nodani from the replacement camp, who has tuberculosis. Meanwhile, Zemo finds a gun beneath a workbench and secretly pockets it.

Sharon attacks more men as they enter the shipping yard.

Nagel says that there's no serum in the lab. Sharon runs in and tells them that they're out of time. Zemo shoots Nagel dead, just as one of the men in the shipping yard fires a rocket launcher at the container. The explosion knocks everyone down, and Zemo runs out in the confusion. Bucky, Sam, and Sharon get out as the chemicals explode from the heat and flames, and the intruders open fire on them once they're out.

Sam, Bucky, and Sharon return fire, while Zemo goes to the top of a nearby container, puts on his mask, and shoots at a gas pipe near the attackers. It explodes and Zemo takes advantage of the distraction to jump down and attack the attackers. Taking advantage of Zemo's distraction, Bucky grabs a pipe and throws it into one of the intruders. The trio hide in a container and Zemo drives up to the container. When they come out, he offers them a ride to his jet. Sharon says that she can't come back with them because of the outstanding warrants, and tells Sam to get her the pardon she promised him.

Sharon meets her bodyguard at her waiting car.

Karli goes to a GRC supply depot in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Dovich joins her. He tells her that she could take some time off, because they don't need to do it right now. Karli says that the world is theirs, and should have been Mama Donya's, and they're going to use all of their strength to give it to the kids in the camps. Dovich warns that Power Broker will still come after them, and Karli tells her comrade that now that Nagel is dead, Power Broker will have to negotiate with them to get the serum.

Captain America and Battlestar confirm that Sam and Bucky were in Munich when Zemo escaped. The two men leave, and Captain America tells his partner that they're going to run with it because they don't have evidence that the two men were involved. Battlestar figures what they're going to do next isn't on the books, and Captain America points out that their superiors won't care how they get results, as long as they get results.

As the trio head to Europe, Sam calls Joaquin and has him locate Mama Donya. Once he hangs up, Sam tells Bucky that he's wondering how many people have to get steamrolled. He says that maybe he should have destroyed the shield rather than put it in a museum, and Bucky tells him that the shield means a lot of things to a lot of people... Bucky promises that he's going to take the shield from Walker himself.

Joaquin calls Sam back and tells him that Mama Donya died in Riga. Zemo, overhearing, says that he has a place they can go and he's looking forward to facing Karli.

The Flag Smashers have found a cache of supplies and drive off with them. They tie up the GRC guards, and Karli tells the leaders that they were just sitting on the supplies when people needed them. She gets into Dovich's car, and her car nearby blows up. It takes the depot with it, and Karli tells Dovich that violence is the only language that the GRC understands.

In Riga, Zemo tells Sam and Bucky that Sokovia was wiped from the map. They go to the GRC resettlement camp, and Bucky tells them that he's going to scout the area. He finds a small metal sphere on the ground, notices a car nearby, and goes over. Bucky finds another metal sphere planted on the base of a building and takes it, then goes into an alley and calls that "they" dropped something as he holds one of the spheres up.

Ayo, one of the Dora Milaje, steps out. Bucky has recognized the Wakandan technology, and wondered when she would show up. Ayo says that she's there for Zemo.