Green Eyes

Ch. 7 - Guilt will eat you alive.

They made it to the prison and as they walked through Eva was mentally picking the place apart. The prison itself was nothing special and could easily be escaped, so why was Zemo still here? Naturally Bucky went in to see Zemo alone which made Eva all sorts of uncomfortable. Sam watched her chew on her thumbnail nervously and if he weren't feeling the same way he would have mocked her for it.

"Hey." Sam said to get Eva's attention. She snapped her head up and put her hand down. "He's got this."

"I know it's stupid," she said. "I shouldn't be this worried."

"It's not stupid at all. We've both seen the effects of the brainwashing first hand and it's a rough thing to deal with." He said. " You really care about him don't you?" Sam asked sincerely.
Eva crossed her arms and stared at the floor for a moment before speaking.

"You know, I've known about the Winter Soldier program since I was 5 years old?" She looked up at Sam finally. "It was one of my parent's 'this will all be yours someday' trips. I watched as they invaded his mind with the machines. I heard his screams. I saw the light dim from his eyes. I experienced all of that and learned that my parents were evil. That's when I gave him the nickname Tin Man because unlike my parents, he had a heart. I would have traded places with him in an instant to stop his suffering. That man is the walking embodiment of the sins of my family, his screams, the agony in his face, his sad blue eyes haunted my nightmares for years." She looked away and wiped a tear away.

"I'm sure you've gone to the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian right?"

Sam laughed, "Many times."

"I went for the first time in college, a group of us took a train down from Cambridge for the weekend. So I'm there walking around and I see my Tin Man everywhere. It was overwhelming because I didn't know his true identity until then. I get to this one spot where a news reel is playing on a loop. It was Steve and Bucky standing there smiling and laughing. I stood there and tears were just falling down my face. I knew where he was, I knew he was still alive, and I knew he hadn't smiled or laughed in years. It just broke me." Tears were streaming down her face again. "That smile was the most godawful beautiful thing I had ever seen. It.... Just hurt to know he was deprived of life, love, and joy for so long." She broke down. "My family did that, and I helped do that."

Sam grabbed her in a tight hug and rubbed her back until her sobs began to subside.
"Eva what happened to Bucky is not your fault and he doesn't blame you for anything. You are one of the reasons he's here today. All that guilt will eat you alive until you learn to let it go. You're with us now and we're happy you are, hell I never saw Steve make him laugh the way you have;" Sam released Eva and lifted her chin to look at him. "Even if it was at my expense." Eva gave a weak laugh and dried her eyes.

She took a deep breath and composed herself almost instantly. Anyone wouldn't have suspected she had been crying if it weren't for the red rimming her eyes.

"Thanks Sam." She gave him another hug. "You know that was all in good fun right chicken chow mein?"

"Yeah yeah, just so you know payback is a bitch. "

"Yeah, ok." She rolled her eyes and Bucky was coming out.

"Let's go." He said briskly.

"You good man?" Sam asked .

"Yeah, we just have somewhere else to be now." Bucky answered as he ushered them along taking up the rear as they exited the prison. He directed a cab to some warehouse on the outskirts of Berlin. He led them to a rolling door locked with a padlock that he wasted no time crumbling in his metal hand. Bucky opened the door allowing Sam and Eva to enter before dropping the door back down. The air was stale and it was sparcely lit with emergency lighting. Bucky found the switch and the lights flickered on revealing a garage of sorts.

"Okay that's enough Bucky, what the hell are we doing?" Sam demanded.

"Yeah Buck, you've barely said two words since we left the prison, what are we doing?" Eva asked.

Bucky stopped and looked Sam dead in the eyes. "We need to break Zemo out."

"What do you mean you want to break Zemo out?" Sam seethed.

"Let me run you through a hypothetical." Bucky started and went through a detailed scenario on just how easy a prison break would be which Eva herself already figured.

Eva took a chance to chime in. "We need him Sam. Security in that prison is a joke. The way I see it, Zemo is in there only because he wants to be."

"She's absolutely right." Bucky said as a shadow moving caught their eyes and a man emerged from between the plastic fringe curtain in a doorway. He seemed rather unassuming except for the prison guard uniform.

"Oh no, you're going back to prison." Sam exclaimed. Eva stood back and watched Zemo; as she now knew him to be, as Sam and Bucky bickered like an old married couple but Zemo tried to interrupt.
"If I may..."

"NO!" The three of them said at the same time. Bucky and Sam continued their squabbling but Eva watched Zemo like a hawk. There was something vaguely familiar about the man and he met her gaze with equal curiosity.

"Okay." Sam finally said. "If we do this, you don't make a move without our permission."

Zemo shrugged. "Fair."

"Okay, Zemo where do we start?" Sam asked.

Zemo answered with a sly smirk that Eva would come to be really annoyed with.