When Sparks Fly

Zemo

Bucky meets Sam and I outside, telling us about an address he had gotten from Zemo about a possible lead. We end up looking around the warehouse with flashlights. "Okay, what are we doing here?" Bucky doesn't answer me. "Buck?"

"I wanna break Zemo out of jail."

"What?"

Sam shakes his head, just as shocked as I am, "what do you mean you wanna break Zemo outta jail? Where the hell are we?"

"Have you lost your mind?"

"We have no leads, no moves, nothing," Bucky looks around with his flashlight trying to find a light switch.

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

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

"Zemo is gonna mess with our minds, especially yours. No offense," Sam protests.

"Offense," Bucky glares over to Sam after turning on the lights and turning off his flashlight.

"Are you willing to let Zemo mess with Phoebe's mind the way he messed with yours?"

"Super Soldiers go against everything he believes in and he's crazy but he still has a code."

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

I sigh, "I think we should go with Bucky's idea."

"You can't be serious."

"Zemo had good intentions when he started. They may have gotten out of hand and once this is all over he deserves to go to jail for the rest of his life, but we need help."

"Yeah, should I remind you that you're one of those Super Soldiers he was trying to get rid of."

"We don't know how they're getting the serum, we don't even know how many of them there are."

Sam turns away from me, shaking his head. Bucky looks around for a moment, "let me just walk you through a hypothetical. Can I?"

I turn to Bucky, now positive that letting him talk to Zemo alone was a mistake, "what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

"If you didn't do anything then yes, go ahead with your hypothetical."

"The weakest point in a system isn't the software, the hardware, it's the meatware. The human element. Now, in this lock up, it's nine to one, prisoners to guards. And if two prisoners start fighting, then the protocol says four guards have to respond."

"Uh huh," I nod, crossing my arms, "would you have anything to do with the reason two prisoners started fighting at that moment?"

"No," Bucky shakes his head.

"I know when you're lying to me Barnes."

"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," Sam shakes his head.

"I don't either," I suck on my teeth for a moment.

"This is unnatural, are you?... And where are we, man?" Then we hear a door open and someone walks in, from the silhouette their shadow is casting on some plastic curtains, I can tell it's a man. As he gets closer I can tell it's Zemo, Sam notices it too, "whoa whoa whoa."

Sam tries to go after Zemo but Bucky stops him, "no, listen."

"What are you doin' here?"

"I didn't wanna tell either of you 'cause I knew you wouldn't let it happen."

"So you broke him out of jail without talking to anyone," I gesture to Zemo.

"We need him."

"You're going back to prison," Sam points at Zemo.

"If I may..." Zemo begins.

"No!" The boys and I shout in unison.

Zemo nods, "apologies."

Bucky turns back to Sam and I, "when Steve refused to sign the Sokovia Accords, you backed him. You broke the law, and you stuck your neck out for me. I'm asking you to do it again." Bucky then looks to me, "and you always told me you would have backed Steve during the accords, so I'm asking you to back me now."

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

"Shut up," I turn to Zemo, "or I will cook your tongue and make it so you can never talk again."

Sam and I look between each other, before I nod. Sam turns back to Bucky and leans the flashlight he has in his hands against Bucky's shoulder, "okay." He looks from Bucky to Zemo, "if we do this, you don't make a move without our permission or Phoebe gets to fry whatever bit of you she likes."

Zemo nods, "fair."

"Okay, Zemo, where do we start?"