Cold as Ice - WinterWidow One-Shots

wrong words and worries

Summary: After the events in Madripoor, Bucky needs to take a walk to clear his head. When he returns to their hideout, though, Zemo is at gunpoint, Sam is nowhere in sight, and Natasha looks murderous.

In which Zemo says the wrong thing, Sam makes a call, and Natasha protects what's hers.

A/N: I am accepting requests, so please comment or DM me your ideas!

They're stuck in Madripoor. After the stunt Zemo made them pull―Winter Soldier and all―there's no way they'll be leaving anytime soon. Unfortunately for Zemo, Bucky is absolutely seething after his previous words and he's not sure staying in close quarters will be good for the other man's health.

"Fell back in line a little too easily, didn't he?"

It's only been a handful of hours since the words were uttered, and they haven't left his mind since. Sam, thankfully, doesn't push him to talk or even stick around.

He goes on a long walk to cool down once they find safety and doesn't return for hours. The walk does him good and after several laps around the city, he decides to go back to their hideout and confront Zemo. When he does, however, he finds Natalia with her gun pointed at Zemo's head and a sneer so vicious that even Zemo is cowering.

"Last chance," she snarls, pressing her gun to his forehead. "Tell me what you did to him or I swear to fucking god, I'll make you suffer."

"Natalia?"

Sam is nowhere in sight which is... suspicious. Natalia, though, looks ready to kill Zemo which is a much bigger problem at the moment, so he makes that his first focus.

At his voice, Natalia turns her head to look at him. Her gun doesn't waver from Zemo's head and Zemo doesn't look any more relaxed now that her eyes aren't on him.

He's seen her kill people before and he's seen her defend her own, but he's never seen her look so angry. Even halfway across the room, he can feel it rolling off of her in waves. As soon as her eyes land on him, though, her shoulders drop and she lowers the gun just a bit.

"You're okay," she breathes in relief.

He nods and is at her side in a flash, taking the gun from her hands. Predictably, she fights him and her grip on the gun only tightens.

"Natalia, give me the gun," he tells her. His metal arm wraps around her waist and his flesh hand wrangles the gun from her. "What are you doing here?"

Last he knew, she was tucked away safely at Clint's farm. She had promised she would stay put until he returned, but if she could be in Madripoor in the time he took to finish his walk, she clearly hadn't kept that promise. He's not honestly surprised.

"Sam called," she explains vaguely. "He said Zemo took advantage of you and you were gone."

"If I may―"

Natalia raises a second gun at Zemo's head before he can get any further and snarls, "Shut your fucking mouth."

"Natalia, hey, breathe," Bucky says. He doesn't try to take the second gun from her. "We need him, like it or not."

"No, you don't."

He knows she doesn't mean to be so sharp with him so he doesn't get offended by her tone.

"Whatever it is you need from him, James, I'll take care of it," she promises. Her eyes never leave Zemo's. "He's manipulated you for the last time."

She still looks ready to kill Zemo, but James manages to draw her attention back to him and explain what he and Sam are up to. As he promises her that Zemo is only there to serve a purpose, he snags the second gun from her hand. She notices but lets him take it which tips him off to the fact that she must be armed up to the teeth. She wouldn't have let him take her last weapon that simply.