The Winter Soldier
The car ride to the jet wasn’t long. Everyone sat in silence on the drive over. Once you all arrived at the airfield, you started walking to the jet where Oeznik was standing. Bucky and Sam had put on sunglasses as the sun was fully out now.
“Wait so all this time you’ve been rich?” Sam asked.
“I’m a Baron, Sam. My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country” Zemo replied.
Zemo walked up to Oeznik and they greeted each other. The guys then climbed the stairs into the plane. You walked up to Oeznik and hugged him. You knew Oeznik very well and grew close to him, but you haven't seen him since Zemo was arrested. Ozenik was the only other person who still worked for Zemo, so he was in charge of taking care of the rest of Zemo’s property.
“Good to see you, little one” Oeznik said in Sokovian as he hugged you back.
“It’s been too long. I’ve missed you” you said.
“I have missed you too, I’m sure you are glad to see Zemo again”
“Always'' you smiled at Oeznik as you climbed the stairs up to the jet. You walk towards the back and see that Sam and Bucky are sitting facing each other on the right side and Zemo is sitting facing you on the left side. He was smiling at you as you walked towards him. The seat facing him was open and he motioned for you to sit there.
“I am so glad you are here, draga” Zemo said in Sokovian to you.
“I’m glad to be here with you” you said as you smiled at him.
Oeznik walked up carrying a plate of champagne flukes. He offered the tray to Zemo and you. As Zemo was picking up a fluke he apologized, “Apologies if that's a little warm, the fridge is out. But I will see if there is some good food in the galley.”
Zemo responded in Sokovian, “If it doesn't pass the smell test, give it to them” and he motioned to Sam and Bucky.
Oeznik chuckled, “it’s good to have you back sir”
Zemo smiled and raised his glass and had a drink of the champagne. You giggled and had a sip of your own champagne. Zemo set down his glass and picked up a book and looked at it.
“Why don’t you tell us about where we’re going?” Sam asked.
“I'm sorry. I was just fascinated by this. I don't know what to call it, but this part seems to be important.” Zemo said as he raised a smaller book out, “Who is Nakajima?”
Bucky rushed across towards Zemo and grabbed his neck to choke him. Sam sat up in his seat and you had shrunk back into yours in shock. Whoever Nakajima is or whatever is in that book was obviously not meant to be seen.
“If you touch that again, I’ll kill you” Bucky said as he grabbed the book from Zemo and slowly let go of his neck. You let out the breath you had been holding and you noticed Sam sit back in his chair.
“I'm sorry. I understand that list of names. People you've wronged as the Winter Soldier.” Zemo said as Bucky returned to his seat.
“Don’t push it,” Bucky said.
You sat back as the boys started talking about music and a man named Steve and looked out the window of the plane. You never made the connection earlier. Zemo had talked about the Winter Soldier before and you’ve heard the stories of what the Winter Soldier had done. Zemo had told you the Winter Soldier had a metal arm. You never noticed if Bucky had one or not because he was wearing a jacket and gloves covering both of his hands. Clearly by what just happened, this was a sensitive subject for him. You began to focus your attention back on the conversation when Sam asked about Madripoor.
“ It's kept its lawless ways. But we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves. James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone.” Zemo said. Bucky looked at him and he shifted in his seat a little. His face was expressionless but you could tell he wasn’t looking forward to acting like the Winter Soldier anymore. It was something he was trying to get rid of. You felt a surge of sorrow for him. You couldn’t imagine what Bucky has been through.
Zemo explained who Sam was going to be portraying, a man nicknamed the Smiling Tiger. He stated that he was going to be himself and then he turned to you.
“And you, draga, will be my arm candy, one could say” he told you.
“Excuse me?’ you said, unsure what that means.
“I could not come up with anything else. If you are uncomfortable with it-”
You cut him off, “no, no that’s not what I was trying to say. I just didn’t know why you would need me…” you lose your train of thought as Zemo smiles at you. He laughs as he says in Sokovian, “we didn’t really need you for this plan, I just wanted to see you again.”
You laugh and smile back at him. After all these years you never would have thought he’d still make you feel the same way as when you were teenagers. Everything he said to you made your heart do back flips.
“I’m going to sit in the back on the couch,” Zemo said as he stood up, “care to join me?” he added in Sokovian as he looked at you.
You smiled at him and followed him to the back of the plane and you both sat down on the sofa. You sat down facing towards the front and you could easily see Bucky’s blank face.
“Is he really the Winter Soldier? He really did all that stuff?” you asked Zemo in Sokovian so the others wouldn’t understand.
Zemo sat and stared out the window on the opposite side of the plane and took a long sip of his champagne before he finally looked at you and answered, “yes. He is. He was brainwashed by HYDRA.”
You didn’t know how else to respond, so you took a sip from your champagne.
“So, Sam. He’s familiar to me and I can’t exactly pinpoint why” you told Zemo.
He chuckled and said, “he’s an Avenger. I’m sure you’ve seen him all over the news. He is the Falcon, the guy with the bird costume.”
You laughed at that, which made Sam turn his chair to look at you.
“I swear, I feel like every time they speak Sokovian to each other, they’re planning how to betray us the second we land,” Sam said. He turned back to face Bucky and continued the conversation they were having.
Zemo smiled and looked back at you. “Do you remember in secondary school, when that one boy tried cat calling you during lunch?”
“How could I forget? That’s the day you almost got suspended for punching the poor fellow” you replied.
“He was one of the most disrespectful scumbags I have ever met.”
“You know, he was the only person at that school that ever showed any interest in me. Even if it was degrading” you said as you turned to look Zemo in the eyes.
“That is a huge lie, my darling” Zemo said as he looked back into your eyes.
“It is not! I was bullied everyday I went to that school, and you were always the one sticking up for me.”
“You are my family, draga. In fact, you’re my only family left. After all those years, after everything I have done, you are still here. I don’t deserve someone like you.”
“Helmut, I don’t deserve you. You stuck up for me and always had my back. You didn’t need to. You are the reason why I am who I am. You were the one that taught me to fight back and stand up for myself” you confessed to him as you reached towards his hand and grabbed it.
He looked down at your intertwined hands and sighed, “You have always been a fighter, you just never showed it. You were shy. An easy target for bullies and bad people. I showed you that you are strong. I only taught you how to properly fight.”
You looked down just as he started rubbing this thumb over your fingers lovingly. He suddenly stopped and let go of your hand. He cleared his throat and said, “you had a long night and drive you must be extremely tired. I’ll let you get some rest in the cabin.”
“No, I'm fine, really. You can take it” you argued.
“Draga, I have been resting in prison for ages. You can have it.”
Realizing he won’t take no for an answer you got up and smiled at Zemo. He smiled back at you as you walked towards the back of the plane where the cabin was. There was only one small bed in there and you lay down in it to try and get some sleep. No more than one minute after laying down you were fast asleep.