A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

“Well- wait, how did you know I can’t have kids? That’s something I haven’t even told Bucky.” You said confused with a teary rage filling your stomach. “I just assumed, I’m sorry if I overstepped”. You had a gut feeling that Zemo wasn’t being honest, you didn’t know if it was the look in his eye or his face but something just wasn’t right. Remembering you had telekinetic powers you decided to put them to use, you reached into the surface of his mind, looking for answers, and it was apparent that he was not being honest. “Zemo, I know you're lying to me. This is my life we’re talking about, you need to tell me the truth. How did you possibly know that I can’t have kids?” You could feel your heartbeat quicken with anxiety as you waited for an answer, “It’s complicated Meine Liebe-“, “cut it with the fucking nicknames, the truth isn’t complicated Zemo, just explain it to me!” At this point, your nails had dug into your palms creating crescent-shaped cuts from squeezing so hard, your heart felt like it was gonna fly out of your chest.“Ok, but please know that nothing I did was by any means personal.” “Just get on with it Helmut”, this was the first time you had ever used his first name, and it took him by surprise, making him stumble over his response. He knew that he had just made one of the worst mistakes he had in a while.

“Well you obviously know about the mind stone and super-soldier experiments that HYDRA did in the 90s” “of course I was one of their test subjects, I was too weak for the mind stone so they gave me the serum, it’s how I got my mental and physical abilities. What about it?” you cut in. “Well before they started on either experiments they were looking for doctors and scientists, given the wide array of knowledge I had on the first set of super-soldiers, they recruited me.” “That makes no sense, you hate everything about super-soldiers or anyone with enhanced abilities for that matter.” At this point you could feel your body shake, this wasn’t making any sense. “That's true, I did, but I saw this as an opportunity to try and dismantle HYDRA, or at least the program from the inside out, so I accepted.” “Ok, but what does this have to do with me?” “Well after I found that I could not possibly dismantle this organization I went on to come up with ways to at least destroy the project's future, I came up with the idea to involuntarily castrate every experiment in the program. I presented the idea by explaining it would make you all more efficient, but really I was planning on destroying the lab and wiping out the soldiers one by one, and this way I could make sure that the soldiers themselves wouldn’t be able to make smaller soldiers.”

Listening to his explanation made you sick to your stomach. You could feel the contents of your breakfast rising and quickly ran to the sink, Zemo followed and held your hair back as you vomited into the sink, “Don’t you dare fucking touch me”. You rinse your mouth and whipped back around to face him, growing even angrier every second you glared at him. “God, and to think that I was starting to have feelings for you, I mean I was really about to let myself fully trust you.” You spat at him. “A truly unwise idea my dear” “Do you ever shut up?” You were past the point of civility and were fully yelling in the baron's face. “You are the reason I can’t have kids! You took away the only possibility of me having a biological family! Because of you, I can never have children with the love of my life Zemo, and you’re telling me you made this choice for me?” “Yes, but it was not about you it was-“ “ No I know exactly what this was about! This was another play in your vendetta against hero’s, and you know what part of me agreed with what you were fighting for, I understood. I know you lost your family Zemo, but in your need for revenge you took away the possibility of me being able to make one.” By this point, both Sam and Bucky had come into the room, not sure what the hell was going on. “You know, you love to pretend you’re the big bad wolf, surrounded with money, weapons, and power. You are no wolf Zemo, your teeth are not sharp, and you are not as strong or brave as you think you are. You’re just a sheep! A sheep that is so scared of its prey it hides amongst them wearing a wolf’s disguise. You’re a fucking sheep in wolf’s clothing you bastard!” You began to break down in tears as you slapped him across the face, leaving a stinging red handprint on his cheek.

Usually, you’d hold back some of your strength, but you were angry and too betrayed to care. You punched him, this time in the jaw, dislocating it. Your body took over as you hit him again, letting your fist hit his chest, cracking a rib. Zemo fell to the floor gasping for breath as his face went red. “Should we do something?” Asked Sam as the two watched you take down Zemo with a few punches, “I don’t know man, I’m kind of enjoying this” Bucky said resting a hand on Sam's shoulder, “She’s gonna take it too far man, you know it” “ugh fine”. You had just lifted your arm, about to throw another punch, when you felt two large arms, one cold and one warm, grab you from behind and pull you from the body on the ground. “NO STOP PUT ME DOWN!” “No. You don’t want his life on your hands” “YES I DO! HE STOLE MY FUTURE FROM ME!” You were screaming and kicking Bucky, begging him to let you go, but he just dragged you out of the room.

Sam took Zemo into the bathroom to clean him up and Bucky took you to his room to talk. He sat you down gently on the bed as your screams slowly turned to sobs. Bucky gently traced his hand over your back to try and keep you calm as hot tears fell down your cheeks. Your cries violently shook your body. You let your body collapse into the soldier next to you. As your crying slowly stopped you pulled yourself off of bucky. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” He asked pulling your still shaking body back to him. ”Not really, I do want to go back to beating him to a pulp though”. You chuckled as you wiped your wet cheeks and got up, walking to the bathroom. You ran the faucet and splashed some water on your face. You took the washcloth off the towel rack and dried your face. You could feel him behind you, his warm body and musky scent drawing you in; he smelt like the forest on a perfect spring day.

You felt his hand trace up your arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. He gently cupped your chin, turning your face to look up at him. “I don’t know what he did to you, but anyone who makes you cry deserves the most painful death imaginable”, your eyes widened as you looked at him, and you could’ve sworn your heart skipped a beat. But that makes no sense, sure he’s always been protective of you but you always just figured that was because of your past with Steve. Your breath hitched “I don’t know about that Buck, that seems a bit extreme.” Bucky looked at you with a thousand suns burning in his eyes, you watched as he stole a glance at your lips and averted his gaze back to your eyes. “I don’t think you understand doll so let me rephrase; I will make sure that anyone who makes you cry dies in the most painful way imaginable.” Your mouth hung slightly open at his proclamation; he took the opportunity to gently trace his thumb across your bottom lip as he leaned in and whispered, “And in case you didn’t know, I’ve got a pretty wild imagination”. You looked up at him with your breath caught in your throat as he stared down at you, his hand still cupping your chin. You couldn’t help but steal a glance at his lips as the thought of his mouth pressed against yours filled your mind.

“Bucky I-” before you could finish he leaned down, slamming his lips passionately into yours. Your gasp was muffled by his kiss, and you felt yourself melt into him.