Complicated Love (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 21: Zola

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Peggy asks me, as I take the tray of high quality food, slightly wishing I could just devour it. I don't even know why the Colonel thinks that his plan is effective.

"The Colonel doesn't have the desire like I do to get answers from him. I'll be fine," I say. I give Peggy a smile of reassurance and walk into the cell of Dr. Zola. He was caught off guard when I walked in, and I closed, close to slamming the door behind me. There was a desk in the middle of the room, and two chairs that faced each other. The room was cold and bare, almost perfect for his crimes. I sit down in the seat, putting the tray of food on the desk. I see that he doesn't sit down, so I say, "Sit down."

In my tone of voice, he could tell it wasn't a question and sat in the chair across from me. "What is this?" he asks, and I can hear the fear in his voice. I keep the stern look on my face, though for a man who worked for Hydra, he's not that intimidating.

"Steak," I say plainly.

"What's in it?" he asks. I thought this guy was smart.

"Cow," I say. "Doctor, do you realize how rare it is to get a fine piece of prime cut like this out here?"

"I don't eat meat," he says.

"Why not?"

"It disagrees with me."

"Of course it does," I mumble under my breath, sliding the tray to the side, knowing that Colonel's plan of bribing him with food wouldn't work. "What about cyanide? Does that give you the rumbly tummy too? Every Hydra agent that we've tried to take alive has crunched a little pill before we can stop him. But not you. So, here's my brilliant theory." I take a good look at him, observing his state. He's nervous, not knowing whether I'm going to take a gun out of my pocket and shoot him or torture him. "You wanna live."

"You're trying to intimate me, Agent," he says, trying to gain some sort of control in this conversation.

"I brought you dinner, which you declined," I say, trying to prove that I'm not. But damn, I wish I could. If it wasn't for the Colonel's orders, I would be doing unlawful things to make him hurt and get answers. I take the paper out of my back pocket which is the agreement the Colonel signed with the President.

He reads the letter out loud, "Given the variable information he has provided, and in exchange for his full cooperation, Dr. Zola is being remanded to Switzerland."

"Colonel Phillips sent that message to Washington this morning. Of course it was encoded. You guys haven't broken those codes, have you? That would be awkward," I say, making sure Hydra doesn't know any of our other secrets we have been sending to the President.

"Schmidt will know this is a lie," he says, trying to make excuses.

"He's gonna kill you anyway, Doc. You're a liability. You know more about Schmidt than anyone. And the last guy you cost us was Captain Rogers' closest friend and my soon to be husband. So, I wouldn't count on the very best of protection. There's you or Schmidt. It's just the hand you've been dealt," I say, laying it flat out for him.

"Schmidt believes he walks in the footsteps of the Gods," Dr. Zola says. "Only the world itself will satisfy him."

"You realize he's crazy right? I mean have you seen him," I say, almost shuddering at the thought.

"But the sanity of the plan is of no consequence," Zola says.

"And why is that?" I ask, hoping for information.

"Because he can do it."

"What's his target?"

"His target...is everywhere."

"What do you mean, everywhere?" I ask. He's acting like I can read his mind.

"He's taking a plane that is filled with bombs, ready to be dropped on every major city in the world. Destroying everything, killing millions," he says, and I can see the slight smirk on his face.

"When?" I ask, but he doesn't answer right away. I pick up the sharp steak knife and stand up, holding it up to his neck. "I'm not here to play games. When is he dropping the bombs?"

He tenses up under the knife and says, "22 hours." I retract the knife from his neck, and he lets out a shaky breath. I walk to the door and he yells out, "Nothing is going to stop him. Not even Mr. Captain America, not anyone."

"We'll see," I say, and slam the door behind him. Peggy was waiting outside for me and I say, "Call in an emergency meeting with the Colonel and Howling Commandos."

"How bad is it?" she asks.

"World threatening," I say. "Do you know where Steve is?"

"London was just bombed. I think he's looking at the damage," she says, and I sigh. "I'll check on him."

"Okay, I'll go roundup everyone else," I say.

I rounded everyone up, while Peggy got Steve. He's been going through a hard time with Bucky gone, trying to drink it away, but it is not working. He says I'm drenching myself in work to avoid it, even though we are fighting a world war. He doesn't understand work needs to be done. We were all sitting down at a table in headquarters, some soldiers standing around us. This is our biggest Hydra base we need to take down, we will need all the help we can get. "Johann Schmidt belongs in a bug house. He thinks he's a God. He's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA," Colonel Phillips says.

"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour," Howard says as he walks around the table.

"How much time we got?" Gabe asks.

"According to my new best friend," I say, sarcastically. "Under twenty hours."

"Where is he now?" Jaques Dernier asks, a new recruit.

"Hydra's last base is here," the Colonel says, and holds up a picture of the base. "In the Alps. Five hundred feet below the surface." My stomach turns, remembering the last time I was in the Alps.

"So, what are we supposed to do? I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door," Morita says, and I can see the nervousness in him. In all the men in this room. The only calm one seems to be Steve, who broke his silence.

"Why not? That's exactly what we're gonna do."