III: The Soldier and the Fairy Queen: Red Eve

XXIV: I Have A Bad Feeling About This

Steve held onto the rim of the sink, staring at the silver drain. He'd lost Bucky. Again. Steve yelled something incomprehensible. He stared at himself in the mirror. Why couldn't he get it together for just one second?

Tony was right. He wasn't a leader. Everything good about him came out of a bottle. Steve Rogers was just a skinny kid from Brooklyn who couldn't win a fight for anything. Captain America was an experiment who couldn't keep his own friends safe.

Now Sunny had kidnapped Bucky and now they were going to turn him back into the Winter Soldier and Steve wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it because he hadn't listened to Bucky when he'd said something was wrong and he'd allowed him to go BY HIMSELF to get Sunny, who was probably planning her next murder spree right now with Bucky in tow. Now Bucky and Sunny were gone and it was all his fault. Steve searched for the shower knob through his tears. The shower turned on and drowned out the noise of his sobs.

He wasn't a leader. What kind of leader let his own friends get kidnapped? He bit his knuckles and screamed. The image of a helicopter lifting off with Bucky peering out of the window was branded in his mind. His knees buckled and he fell to the floor. He hiccuped between cries, letting his tears gather in a little puddle on the floor. Bucky had always been there for him, but Steve was never there when Bucky needed him. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he keep his own team together?

He should've just stayed in the ice. The world would've been much better off. So far all he'd managed to do was make people fight and mess everything up. He shoved his head between his knees. Last time he'd been like this, Sunny had come to the rescue. But now there was no Sunny. And no Bucky. They were both being tortured, with their own memories being ripped from them, and he couldn't save them because he couldn't think ahead to save anyone's life!

He was just a shield. Without it, he was a puny asthmatic kid hiding in a six foot three body. He should've died in some alley in Brooklyn. But he hadn't. Because Bucky was there. Steve hadn't been there when Bucky needed help.

He'd lied to Tony. Steve had said that if he saw a situation heading south, he couldn't ignore it. But he had. Bucky had even stated the unusualness of the situation and Steve, the great Captain America, had walked straight into the trap.

Steve stared at the grout in between the tiles. His entire life had been one of loss and mistakes.

He heard Wanda talking outside over the shower, "Nat, I wouldn't go in there. Steve's having a nervous breakdown."

"Has he broken anything yet?" Nat asked, disbelief in her voice.

Wanda answered, "I don't think so."

"Then he's fine," Nat said. A sharp knock sounded on the wooden door. "Rogers! I hope you're not taking a shower in there. I'm coming in!" The tarnished knob turned and Natasha's face appeared in the mirror. She closed the door behind her and squatted down next to him. She sighed, "I guess there's no point telling you that it's not your fault."

Steve stared at the pile of towels under the sink.

"Barnes wanted to go. And he was abducted because of that. You shouldn't be moping in the bathroom. You saved lives today when you decided to go to the explosion."

Steve clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, "What's the point of saving lives if I can't save the ones that matter most?"

Nat frowned, "I don't know. Saving lives isn't my area of expertise."

Steve wiped his eyes.

"But right now the priority is to haul a** in trying to find Sunny and Barnes, not your guilt. You need to suck it up and be the leader we all you know you are," Nat poked his shoulder.

Steve grimaced, "I'm not a leader."

Nat smirked, "Oh, yeah? That's why we followed your lead on the Accords? And we all accepted Wanda into the Avengers? And that's most definitely why Tony was always so p***** off that we followed you when he was funding us? That's why we all helped you with Barnes?" She stood and brushed off her pants. She extended her hand to Steve.

Steve stared at it for a second. He grabbed it and let her help him stand. "I have an idea."

Nat grinned, "Oh, no. Where are we going?"

"The Raft," Steve said. He looked her in the eye, "You up for it?"

Nat shrugged, "Breaking into an underwater prison that we visit way too often? Always. How are we going in this time?"

"We're gonna do what I used to do to destroy HYDRA bases." He let himself enjoy a small smile, even though his mind told him he didn't deserve to, "We're going to knock on the front door."

*****

Steve stood in front of Zemo's cell, his thumbs hanging on his bell loops. The man was lounging on his cot, reading a thick book. Steve wondered how he could focus with the alarm blaring and guards running past his cell.

Zemo glanced up at him, as if seeing him for the first time, "Hello, Captain. You are not who I was expecting."

"Who were you expecting?" Steve asked.

"That's not what you want to know, now is it?" He looked up at the ceiling and tapped his chin thoughtfully, laying the open book on his chest, "Let's see. The fact that James is not standing beside you leads me to believe that you've lost him again. And since I have not seen the Soldier in three weeks, I think you have lost her as well, is that not correct?" Zemo sat up and closed his book.

Steve frowned and looked down at the Sokovian colonel, "We're here to break you out."

Zemo opened his book again and held up a white card that shined in the white light, "I'll be out in five minutes."

Steve stared at the card, "Do anything without our permission and you'll be right back where you started, Zemo."

He eyed Steve and nodded, "Fair enough."

Nat's voice came over the comm in his ear, "Hey, Steve, we need to get out of here. Like, now!"

Steve tapped the comm, "Get to the Jet. Zemo and I will meet you there in five minutes." He watched Zemo collect an MP3 player and shove it in his pocket. "Take only what's necessary, Zemo."

"These are necessary," he said, clutching a book in one hand and the key card in the other. He walked to the other side of his little cell. He pressed the card to the reader. The reader beeped and flashed green.

Steve opened the door to the observatory side of the glass and jogged to meet Zemo. He half expected Zemo to not be there, but he there he was, standing in the hallway with his book. "How did you get that key card?"

"I would tell you to ask the Soldier, but, seeing as she isn't here, I will answer. She gave it to me," Zemo said, his hazel eyes unflinching.

Steve turned away, saving that information for later, "Come on."

For someone who had been rotting in prison for six months, Zemo was quick. He kept up with Steve as he dashed through the hallways to the hangar. Steve tapped his comm again, "Nat, start up the Jet, we're coming."

Sam answered before Nat, "Already on it. Hurry up, or were going to have more bullets than people in this thing!"

They entered the hangar to the sound of gunfire. Steve crouched down and continued toward the Jet, ignoring the bullets flying by. The Jet's door was open, and it was lifting off. The hangar was opening to the blue sky automatically. Steve jumped onto the door and rolled in.

"Where's Zemo?" Wanda yelled over the noise.

Steve looked onto the floor of the hangar. Zemo was sprinting after them, his face bright red. Wanda opened her palm and crimson energy surrounded Zemo, lifting him off the ground and throwing him into the Jet. He landed on his back, obviously winded. He groaned. He didn't have his book. Steve grabbed his arm and dragged him all the way in.

Zemo sighed when he'd gained mos of his breath back, "I knew I'd never get to finish War and Peace."

When the door had shut, Sam yelled back from the front, "I cannot believe I went along with breaking Zemo out of prison! I have a really bad feeling about this!"

"Good to see you too, Samuel," Zemo threw his arm over his eyes.