The Winter Soldiers 2.0 (Bucky Barnes X Reader)

Chapter 24 - Zemo

Bucky still wouldn't let me go with him to see Zemo...but he told me his plan. He takes Sam and I to a garage, something Zemo owned so he could meet us here.

"What are you talking about? You wanna break Zemo outta jail? Where are we, Buck? Have you both lost your minds?"

"We have no leads, no moves, nothing." I say.

"What we have is one of the most dangerous men in the world behind bars."

"We also have eight Super Soldiers that are loose." Bucky nods.

"Zemo's gonna mess with our minds. Especially both of yours. No offense."

"Offense. Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in. He is crazy, but he still has a code." I nod.

"I've been on the wrong side of that code and so have you two. He blew up the UN, he killed King T'Chaka and framed you both for it. Did you forget that? You think the Wakandans forgot about it? It's a rhetorical question. They didn't. I know why this matters to you, but it's pushing you both off the deep end." Sam says.

"We don't know how they're gettin' the serum. We don't even know how many of them there are." I sigh.

"Let me just walk you through a hypothetical. Can I?" Bucky asks.

"What did you do?" Sam frowns.

"I didn't do anything......The weakest point in any system isn't the software, the hardware, it's the meatware. The human element. 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? Who knows? There could be many reasons...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. And if the fire alarm got tripped while the prisoners were being separated... someone could use the chaos to their advantage."

"I don't like how casual you're bein' about this. This is unnatural. Are you... And where are we, man?" Sam asks, he turns as a door opens and Zemo walks in. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa."

"No, listen." I push Sam back.

"What are you doin' here?"

"We didn't tell 'cause we knew you wouldn't let this happen." Bucky nods.

"What did you do?"

"We need him." I say.

"You're going back to prison!" Sam points.

"If I may..."

"No!" The three of us yell at him.

"Apologies." Zemo nods.

"When Steve refused to sign the Sokovia Accords, you backed him. You broke the law, and you stuck your neck out for us. We're asking you to do it again." I say.

"I really think I'm invaluable..."

"Shut up." Sam points to Zemo and sighs. "Okay. If we do this, you don't make a move without our permission."

"Fair."

"Okay, Zemo, where do we start?" Sam asks. Zemo smiles and walks past up, opening another door to reveal a garage with lots of cars. "So our first move is grand theft auto?"

"These are mine. Collected by family over the generations. I spent years hunting people Hydra recruited to recreate the serum. Because once it's out there, someone can create an army of people... like the Avengers." He opens a car and grabs a bag. "I ended the Winter Soldier program once before. I have no intention to leave my work unfinished. To do this, we'll have to scale a ladder of lowlifes."

"Well, join the party. We've already started." Sam says.

"First stop is a woman named Selby. Mid-level fence I still have a line on. From there, we climb."

Zemo takes us to a private Jet, "So all this time you've been rich?" Sam asks.

"I'm a Baron, Sam. My family was royalty until your friends destroyed my country." He hugs an older man and leads us up into the plane. I sit across from Zemo rolling my eyes as he drinks champagne. "You don't know what it's like to be locked in a cell....Oh. That's right. You do." He smirks.

"Why don't you tell us about where we're going?"

"I'm sorry. I was just fascinated by this. I don't know what to call it, but this part seems to be important. Who is Nakajima?" He pulls out Bucky's small notebook.

Bucky leaps over and grabs his neck, "If you touch that again, I'll kill you." He snatches the notebook and sits back.

"I'm sorry. I understand that list of names. People you've wronged as the Winter Soldier."

"Don't push it." I point.

"I've seen that book. It was Steve's when he came out of the ice. I told him about Trouble Man. He wrote it in that book. Did you hear it? What'd you think?"

"I like '40s music, so..." Bucky nods.

"You didn't like it?"

"I liked it." I smile.

"It is a masterpiece, James. Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience." Zemo says.

"He's out of line, but he's right. It's great. Everybody loves Marvin Gaye."

"I like Marvin Gaye." Bucky nods.

"Steve adored Marvin Gaye."

"You must have really looked up to Steve. But I realized something when I met him. The danger with people like him, America's Super Soldiers, is that we put them on pedestals." Zemo says.

"Watch your step, Zemo. He's my brother." I point.

"They become symbols. Icons. And then we start to forget about their flaws. From there, cities fly, innocent people die. Movements are formed, wars are fought. You remember that, right? As a young soldier sent to Germany to stop a mad icon. Do we want to live in a world full of people like the Red Skull? That is why we're going to Madripoor."

"What's up with Madripoor? You talk about it like it's Skull Island." Sam says.

"It's an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago. It was a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s." I nod.

"It's kept its lawless ways. But we cannot exactly walk in as ourselves. Y/N....James, you both will have to become someone you claim is gone."