Visiting Old 'Friends'
Bucky, Sam, Zemo and I stand in a short line outside of the Brass Monkey, waiting for the bouncers to let people in. Zemo’s hand rests on the small of my back and once again I notice that Bucky is glancing between the Baron and I.
“Is something the matter, Barnes?” I hiss out low enough so the people surrounding us won’t pick up on what I’m saying, he shakes his head and his gaze drops to the sidewalk. Zemo pulls my attention to him, he gives me a look that says ‘everything good?’ I nod curtly. We step in front of the bouncers, they try to separate me from Zemo but he doesn’t let that happen. The bouncers look both of us over once and let our group through.
“Remember to play your part. If one of us misses a beat then the whole plan falls apart.” Zemo says quietly as he leads us through the club, he props himself on a barstool. My mind flashes back to 9 years ago,
Zemo is watching me from his seat at the bar, I lock eyes with him and smirk. Swinging my hips a little more than usual as I make my way towards the Baron, I notice that his jaw is clenched. My hands part his legs and I step in between them,
“Loosen up, daddy.” I flash a toothy smile. He snakes his hand around my waist and pulls me closer to his body. “You need to relax before we visit Selby.” He twirls his finger in the air and the bartender serves us a round of shots.
“Drink up, Kätzchen. We have a big night ahead of us and I need you to be relaxed.” He winks at me before downing one of the shots. I take one of the glasses and quickly down the shot, cringing at the way vodka tastes. I look up at Zemo, puffing out my bottom lip in pout. “What’s wrong, mein engel?”
“You know I don’t like vodka.” He strokes my hair, bringing my head close to his chest.
“I do know that, and forgive me. But it relaxes your nerves and you know that.” He hands me another shot, I drink it and glare at the man that holds me.
“Toby?” Sam’s voice drags me back to reality,
“Yes Smiling Tiger?” Out of the corner of my eye I notice that Bucky is biting back his laughter. I step in between Zemo’s open legs, I drop my voice so our two compatriots don’t hear our conversation. “What do you say we have some fun while we wait?” Zemo cocks his head at me, I run my hand up his inner thigh causing him to tense up. “You have 8 years to make up for. Why not start to make up for it now?”
“As much as I would love to do that Kätzchen, we can’t. We have to stay focused so we don’t blow our cover.” I pout at his words. Zemo suddenly stands from his seat and leans close to Bucky, he whispers out words that I can’t make out. Bucky turns and punches one of the patrons from the bar, within minutes the bar is in chaos. I cover my ears to shelter myself from the loud noises, Zemo seems to notice, he steps close to me and puts his hands over mine while still giving Bucky orders. As soon as it has started the chaos stops, Zemo removes his hands from my ears and takes me in his arms. The bartender leads us into the back to see Selby.
“Helmut, long time no see.” Selby’s voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, “Ah, I see you brought the sugar baby with you.” I don’t look up at anyone in the room deciding it would be best for me not to make eye contact. I zone out as Zemo moves away from me,
“What do you have to offer, Baron Zemo?” Selby glances at me before looking back at Zemo who is sitting next to me on the couch.
“Tobias Stark,” He strokes my cheek, “he’s just like his brother, a genius.” the alcohol in my system makes me not realize the situation that I am in. “I’ll let you take him into your business for a few months. He won't need payment, he's all yours if you can give me-”
“Tobias.” Zemo pulls me onto his lap as he sits down on the couch, Selby glares at me. I smirk slyly as I remember how much Selby despises me for my relationship with the Baron. Bucky is standing stoic near the door and Sam is shifting on his feet as one of the guards stares him down.
“You should know, Baron. People don't just come into my bar and make demands.”
“Not a demand. An offer. “
“A lot has changed since you were here last. By the way, I thought you were rotting away in a German prison. How did you escape?” I feel Zemo tense up a little underneath me, I gently rub his chest in hopes of relaxing him.
“People like us always find a way, don't we? I'm sure you've already figured out what I'm here for.”
“You're taller than I'd heard, Smiling Tiger. What's the offer?”
“Tell us what you know about the super-soldier serum. And I give you him, along with the code words to control him, of course. He will do anything you want.”
“Now that's the Zemo I remember.” I bite my tongue so I don’t mouth off our only hopes of a lead. “I'm glad I decided not to kill you immediately. Yeah, you were right to come to me. Arrogant, but right. The super-soldier serum is here in Madripoor. Dr. Wilfred Nagel is the man you wanna thank. Or... condemn, depending on what side of this you're on. The Power Broker had him working on the serum, but... things didn't go as planned.”
“Is Nagel still in Madripoor?”
“Oh. The bread crumbs you can have for free, but the bakery is gonna cost you, Baron. And before you get all cute, don't think you can find Nagel without me.” Selby gets cut off when a vibrating sound comes from Sam’s direction. “Answer it. On speaker.” Sam visibly gulps before pulling out his vibrating phone and answering it and putting it on speaker, a voice that I don’t recognize comes through the other line.
“Hello? Hey, um, we need to talk about this situation. It's been drivin' me nuts.”
“What situation exactly are you talkin' about?”
“Are you high?” I bite back my laughter, Zemo seems to notice because he sets his hand on my thigh squeezing it gently. “You know what situation, it's the only situation me and you have.”
“What situation, Sarah? Say it.”
“The damn boat. And watch your tone. Okay? I let you slide at the bank.” Sam scoffs at the woman on the other end of the line,
“The bank. Yeah. Laundered so much…” he chuckles, trying to sell the whole ‘Smiling Tiger’ thing. “Yeah, they'll come around.”
“If that was the case, then why'd they dog you out, Big Time?”
“Yeah, you damn right I'm Big Time. You'll see when I have that banker killed.”
“Cass! What'd I tell you about the Cheerios? I don't have time for this! Sam, I'm sorry. I'll call you back.” Knowing our cover is blown big time I try to subtly get off of Zemo’s lap in the event that everything falls apart,
“‘Sam’? Who's Sam? Kill them!” and at that everything falls apart. The guard surges towards Sam, Bucky moves towards his friend to help, Zemo pulls me behind him… protecting me from a possible threat. If we weren’t in the middle of getting compromised my heart would have fluttered knowing that Zemo would protect me. ‘ He’s only protecting you because of your contract. He wouldn’t do it if you didn’t have that contract.’ My thoughts take me off guard, I clench my jaw trying to clear my head so I can be all the way present right now.
Zemo leads the way, holding my hand as we try to discreetly walk quickly down the bustling streets of Madripoor. As we separate from the crowd Bucky urges us to run,
“I can’t run in these heels.” I chuckle at Sam’s statement but I understand the pain that he is going through, running in heels is dangerous and it takes a lot to get good at running in them. Gunshots ring out through the street. I gulp, Zemo stops jogging and gently grasps my chin,
“Are you okay, Schmetterling?” I nod but my eyes dart everywhere except to the man in front of me. “You’re lying.”
“We don’t have time for this. Come on.” Bucky’s tone is harsh, Zemo goes to retort but I place my hand on his chest. He understands my signal and starts after Bucky. Suddenly someone comes from one of the side alleys, he aims a gun at Sam when another gunshot rings out through the alley and the man drops dead.
“You seem to have a guardian angel.”
“Well, this is too perfect. Drop it, Zemo.” A woman steps out of the building next to us, she double takes on me. “Stark?” My insides churn at the sound of a last name that I thought I left 10 years ago.
“Sharon?” Sam turns from the woman to me, “What did she mean when she said Stark?” I shake my head not wanting to explain everything.
“You cost me everything.” She turns to leave us but Bucky stops her,
“Sharon, wait. Someone recreated the super-soldier serum and Zemo had a lead.”
“That explains why you guys are here. And Selby's dead.”
“So what are you doing here?” I finally speak up, Sharon’s head snaps to me.
“I stole Steve's shield, I also took the wings for your ass, so that they could save his ass from his ass. Unlike them, I didn't have the Avengers to back me up. So I'm off the grid in Madripoor.”
“Hey, don't blow that smoke at us. I was on the run on too." Bucky puts his input in the conversation.
“Was. Is. Big difference. I don't speak to my family anymore. I can't. My own father doesn't know where I am.”
“Listen... Sharon, we need your help.” Sharon nods and calls us to follow her with her hand, Bucky follows her eagerly, Sam sighs but follows, Zemo glances between the group in front of us and I.
“Don’t worry about me, let’s go.” He looks at me with eyes full of understanding before placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me after the others.