The Old Man's Lost It
“What are you talking about? You wanna break Zemo outta jail? Where the hell are we, Buck? Have you lost your mind?” Sam shouts as both men make their way into the room with torches in their hands. Sam has no idea where they are, and the calmness that Bucky is exuding is kinda pissing him off.
“We have no leads, no moves, nothing. Sam,” Bucky shouts back.
“What we have is one of the most dangerous men in the world behind bars,” Sam’s trying his best to reason with the geezer but he’s failing.
“And we also have eight Super Soldiers that are loose,” Bucky counters.
“Zemo’s gonna mess with our minds,” He reasons, “Especially yours. No offense.”
Bucky walks over to a lever and pulls it, lighting up the abandoned workshop. Cars and equipment scattered around. “Offense” He chides, turning off his flashlight. Sam copies the motion as Bucky steps towards him, saying, “Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy, but he still has a code.” The old man walks away.
“I’ve been on the wrong side of that code, Buck and so have you.” Sam urges. “He blew up the UN, he killed King T'Chaka and framed you for it. Did you forget that? You think the Wakandans forgot about it? It’s a rhetorical question. They didn’t.” And Sam is terrified of the idea of having to deal with Wakandans as enemies.
Bucky finally stands in front of him, shifting his weight from one foot to another once, and then stilling.
“I know why this matters to you, but it’s pushing you off the deep end.” Sam’s voice is calmer now, softer. He really does empathize. He does. But he’d rather do it any other way.
“Sam, we don’t know how they’re gettin’ the serum. We don’t even know how many of them there are.” Bucky counters, arms wide open. Sam has to look away and take a few steps forward because Grumpy is grinding his last nerve. But then Bucky says, “Look, let me just walk you through a hypothetical. Can I walk you through a hypothetical?”
Sam’s brain stills for a second.
He cocks his head back, “What did you do?” he asks.
“I didn’t do anything,” Bucky replies with painful innocence and Sam knows he is painfully fucked. “The weakest point in any system isn’t the software, the hardware, it’s the meatware. The human element.” Bucky points to his head. “Now, in this lockup, it’s nine to one, prisoners to guards. And if two prisoners start fighting, then the protocol says four guards have to respond.”
“So why would two prisoners randomly start fighting at that moment?” Sam interrupts.
“Who knows? There could be many reasons…” Bucky responds, feigning more ignorance. Sam’s sixth sense, which he likes to call his Barnes Bullshit Detector, is sounding alarms already. Bucky continues, “But the point is, these things escalate. Lockdown procedures would have to be initiated, and with all those bodies flying around left and right, wouldn’t be hard to slip down a hallway or two.” Oh yeah, the sirens are blaring, they’re fucking ringing in Sam’s here so loud he can barely hear the man in front of him as adds, “And if the fire alarm got tripped while the prisoners were being separated… someone could use the chaos to their advantage.”
Bucky is being far too casual about this whole thing for Sam’s liking, so he says as much, “I don’t like how casual you’re bein’ about this. This is unnatural.” He’s wearing a snide smile, he hopes conveys his disagreement. “Are you— And where are we, man?” His smile is all gone. He’s fucking pissed. And then there’s a sound of a car door opening outside.
And from the shadow walks out, none other than, Baron Helmut Zemo, wearing a fucking guard uniform? Sam’s gonna kill the old man, super soldier or not.
“Whoa. Whoa, whoa.” Sam shouts out, walking over to Zemo.
Bucky cuts in his way, trying to hold him back. He says, “No, listen.”
Sam doesn’t want to fucking listen, “What are you doin’ here?” He exclaims pointing at Zemo.
“I didn’t wanna tell you ‘cause I knew you wouldn’t let this happen,” Bucky reasons as if he were talking about buying a damn puppy instead of breaking out a criminal mastermind from high-security prison while being on probation by the government.
“What did you do?” Sam asks exasperated.
“We need him, Sam,” Bucky replies.
“You’re going back to prison!” Sam states pointing towards Zemo.
“If I may—” Zemo begins to speak, taking off his hat.
“No!” Both men scream at Zemo in unison, cutting him off.
“Apologies,” Zemo says simply.
“When Steve refused to sign the Sokovia Accords, you backed him. You broke the law, and you stuck your neck out for me. I’m asking you to do it again,” Bucky’s voice is soft, almost pleading. The tinge of desperation in it makes Sam’s skin crawl because he wants to help the guy. He really does. But Zemo is one of his least favorite people in the world. And that’s saying something when you’ve just fought an alien who took out half the universe with a snap of his finger.
“I really think I’m invaluable—” Zemo tries.
“Shut up,” Sam throws back with finality.
“Okay,” Zemo responds.
Sam takes a breath, a moment. And fuck if the old man isn’t right. He really thought the recklessness would end in Steve’s absence. Oh to be so naive, he thinks. So he relents. “If we do this, you don’t make a move without our permission,” Sam tells Zemo, leaving no room for argument.
“Fair,” Is Zemo’s only response.
“And,” Sam adds, looking back at Bucky, “We call in help.”
“Help?” Bucky asks, confused.
“Yeah, you know, the leash.” Sam’s wearing a smirk. If Bucky’s gonna make him hang out with Zemo, Sam’s gonna enjoy every second of it.
“No,” Bucky refuses, backing away.
Ah, there it is, the enjoyment. “Oh come on! We need a freaking leash and you know it” Sam knows Bucky cannot really refuse him, but he adds regardless, “Someone needs to keep you in check, and him,” he points to Zemo. “And especially both of you together. Who’d be better at that than her?”
“Come on, Sam. You’re here, aren’t you?” Bucky sounds desperate. He’s pacing around, moving his weight from one foot to another. Sam knows he shouldn’t enjoy it as much as he does.
“Yeah, but I can’t kick your ass nearly as well as she can.” Sam retorts, smiling.
“She hates me,” Bucky says, finally looking at Sam.
“No, she doesn’t,” Sam replies easily.
“I killed her best friend… I—I—The things I’ve done…” He breaks himself off, head falling down. “She hates me.” He declares with finality.
“Hey, look.” Sam urges gently and he does look up. Then Sam adds, “She doesn’t hate you, man. She never has. Trust me.”
“How do you know that?” Bucky asks helplessly.
Sam’s face breaks into a smile, “You’d already be dead if she did.”