Second Sphere

Snake

*bucky pov*

"Magdalene!" I yell out as I watch her collapse.

Zemo catches her, keeping her from hitting her head against the metal stairs.

Zemo pulls his hand away from her waist and looks at the blood covering it.

I take her from Zemo cradling her in my arms and brush past him onto the plane. "Where is the first aid kit?"

"Oeznik." Zemo calls for the butler and comes back with the kit.

I lay her down gently in the back of the plane, bunching up my jacket to lay under her head. "Hang in there birdy." I whisper, moving hair out of her face. I lift her shirt to see blood soaked bandages, unwrapping them only shows a deep gun wound that needs to be stitched up.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance." Zemo says from behind me.

"No! I got this." I say through gritted teeth, digging around in the first aid kit.

"And you know how to suture a wound?" Zemo asks.

I don't answer. I don't know how. "And you do?" I retort.

"Yes. I do actually." Zemo replies calmly.

"Fine." I back away and let Zemo through, hovering over his shoulder.

Zemo sets down the tools. "James, I can't work if you continue to hover like that. Go bother Sam or something."

After a while I walk back to where they are at. Zemo has Magdalene's head in his lap and he is tracing her feathers with one hand the other cradling her head. He looks up at me and smiles evilly.

"She is quite beautiful isn't she? Despite the terrible nature that she was created to fulfill." His eyes are on me as he continues to caress her wings, his hands moving from her wings to her shoulders and neck, tilting her head gently. It reminds me of a snake wrapping around its prey. "She is something else entirely, not a super soldier like yourself. Something more...divine."

"Choose your next words carefully Zemo." I warn, growling out the words.

Zemo's smirk deepens, "I think I'll keep this little pet birdy for myself."

My hand is around his throat in an instant. "If you ever call her birdy again I will rip your tongue out."

Zemo gasps for air when I let him go. "Did I touch a soft spot James?" He watches my expression, "I did. So she really is your handler then isn't she."

"She's not. Neither of us are under Hydra anymore." I go to lift her away from Zemo but he stops me.

"Ah ah ah. You can't move her yet. The stitching is still too fresh." He runs his hand over her waist and side where the new sutures are.  "No you're not under Hydra anymore, James. You were able to escape that influence. But she is still trapped there." Zemo says, thoroughly enjoying the fact I can't take Magdalene away.

I bite. "What do you mean?"

"All those years you were gone during the blip, she turned right to me. She yearned to be subservient to someone. She was so eager to kill she never even questioned the information I fed her." Zemo takes a strand of her hair between his fingers and twirls it, "She talked about you often, about hydra often. All she knows is Hydra, you're the only memory she had remaining before that. She did not remember her past like you did." He pauses, "The only attachment making her so utterly human was you. Without you she could have reached her true potential, we were close before the Avengers interfered again. But even now. After experiencing the freedom I offered her, she goes back to being your shield so easily. So willingly. She is still programmed to protect you, to die for you. Why else would she not tell anyone she was hurting James? She stopped the bullet that would have hit you."

I can feel panic rising in my throat. "You're wrong. You can't know that."

"Can't I?" Zemo muses.

"No. You can't." I gently take Magdalene from Zemo despite his protests and carry her back into the main area. I won't leave him alone with her again.