Acquaintances
Helmut stood in the doorframe to your bedroom. “My family is leaving to spend the week at our place in Riga” he said. He started moving closer to where you were sitting on the bed. You moved over so he could sit next to you. He sat down right next to you and placed his hand on your thigh. You could literally feel your heart jump out of your chest and felt your cheeks redden. “I was just coming to say goodbye” he continued.
“Have a good time” you told him as you looked down at his hand resting on your leg.
After a few seconds he moved his hand and placed it into the pocket of his jacket. He pulled something out of the pocket and handed it to you. You took the item from his hand and looked down at it.
“Turkish delight?” You asked.
“Orange, your favorite” Zemo said with a small smirk on his face.
“I thought the store you go to stopped selling the orange flavor?”
“They did. I found them at a different store across the street from the house in Sokovia. I bought them last week when we were there.”
You smiled slightly. You weren’t sure when you started to catch feelings for Helmut. You have been best friends for almost 8 years now. It probably started when Baroness Zemo offered to pay for you to attend the same school as Helmut and he became very protective of you. You were bullied a lot because of your social status. Just a poor girl in a school full of the wealthy and basically royalty. If anyone said anything to you, Helmut was always there to protect you and back you up. He insisted you weren’t nobody but part of the Zemo family. Ever since that, you couldn’t deny the feelings you had for him anymore.
“So I’ll see you in a week then?” you asked Helmut.
“Yes, probably the longest week of the summer” he replied with the same small smirk as earlier.
You wanted to tell him. You wanted to tell him more than anything right now that you liked him. Probably more than like. You loved him. You wanted to fling your arms around his neck and hug him and tell him all your feelings. But you didn’t. You stayed still as he got up and walked towards the door. As he got to the door, he turned around and smiled, “what are you going to do this week?” he asked you.
“I’ll wait for you to get back” you answered with a laugh.
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Panic started settling in as you stared at the garage. What if it’s a trap? What if Helmut isn’t really here?, you thought.
You started walking towards the door on the side of the building. When you walked in everything was pitch black. You went looking for the light switch when you stopped dead in your tracks as you heard the voices of two men and saw a pair of flashlights approaching.
Shit.
You quickly hid behind a car on the opposite side of the room as the two men. Suddenly the lights flickered on. One of them must have found the light switch. They obviously were unaware of your presence and continued talking to each other as if no one was there.
“What are you talking about? You wanna break Zemo outta jail? Where the hell are we, Buck? Have you lost your mind?” one of the men said.
So they were the ones that broke Zemo out of jail. These must be the acquaintances Zemo talked about in the letter.
“Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy, but he still has a code.” the other man continued.
Super Soldiers? Is that what this is all about? You knew how Zemo felt about Super Soldiers. He told you a lot about HYDRA and the Winter Soldier program. He told you about how he wanted to end the program and get rid of Super Soldiers all together.
“Sam, we don't know how they're getting the serum. We don't even know how many of them there are.” the man said to his friend, obviously named Sam.
If someone is creating Super Soldier serum, no doubt Zemo will want to know who is creating it. You then listen in as Sam’s friend described ‘hypothetically’ how he would break Zemo out of jail. Just as Sam asked his friend where they were, a door opened. Your heart dropped. You stared at the door as you saw Zemo walk through the plastic covering the entrance to the door. You could hardly believe your eyes. There he was, one of your oldest friends, and the man you loved most in this world, standing less than 10 feet from where you were hiding.
You continued hiding behind the car as you stared at Zemo. He wasn’t much different than you remember from the last time you saw him. He still had the same haircut and the same handsome facial features. Although it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days and was wearing a police uniform, no doubt part of the plan to break him out of prison.
While you were admiring Zemo, you could hear the men arguing amongst themselves. Something about how they needed Zemo and how he wasn’t allowed to do anything unless they told him he could. You weren’t paying attention until they all started walking into the bigger part of the garage where all the cars were kept. You moved from your hiding space so they wouldn’t see you and you watched them walk into the bigger room.
Your panic grew even more. You would eventually have to present yourself to Zemo and his companions. You didn’t think you would ever be ready. You leaned against the wall by the door leading into the bigger room. You could barely hear the boys talking about the Super Soldier serum and the plan they were making.
“First stop is a woman named Selby. Mid-level fence I still have a line on. From there, we climb.” Zemo said to the other men, and started walking back to the room you were in.
You could feel the anxiety growing with every step Zemo made in your direction. You decided it was now or never. You glanced around the corner to see Zemo about half way across the room. You took a deep breath and straightened out your clothes. You acted like you just arrived at the building and walked through the door into the bigger room and made eye contact with Zemo.
“Draga” Zemo said as he saw you. You saw the familiar small smirk on his face.
“Helmut” you said, returning his smile. You felt the blush on your cheeks over the sweet nickname he gave you.
“Hold on. Who is this?” Sam asked.
Zemo turned around to Sam and said, “my apologies, I have not introduced everyone.”
Zemo told the two men your name and you gave them a small nod. He then introduced you to Sam (who you already knew the name of).
“And this is James-”Zemo was cut off by the man he was introducing.
“Please, call me Bucky” he said. You smiled slightly at him.
You didn’t know why, but these two men were very familiar. You obviously didn’t know them personally, but you feel like you do know them.“You still haven’t told us why she’s here Zemo” Sam said, annoyed.
“She is a dear friend of mine and we are going to need her in Madripoor when we visit Selby” Zemo responded.
The name Selby was familiar to you as well. You might have actually met her. You’ve met some of Zemo’s connections before. He would occasionally ask you to come with him on trips or if they came to the estate you were forced to meet them.
The men argued for a little longer and Zemo excused himself to get changed in the bathroom at the garage. He came out wearing a purple turtleneck and a fur collar jacket. You recognized that jacket. It was his favorite. He wore it a lot before he was sent to prison.
“Do you like it draga?” Zemo asked you in Sokovian as he walked by.
“Of course, I know it’s your favorite” you responded.
“Hey! You guys better not be planning anything over there” Sam yelled at you guys from across the garage. He was standing looking at a few of the cars in the collection. Bucky was leaning against the wall closest to the door with his arms crossed impatiently.
“Listen I don’t mean to break up the happy reunion, but we should probably get a move on. The police are probably on their way here” Bucky said.
“Do not worry James. Oeznik has the plane ready. We only have a short drive to the airfield” Zemo responded.
“Wait, did you say plane?” Sam said, looking up from the car he was admiring.