Green Eyes

Ch. 12 - Broken

****TRIGGER WARNING*****
-mentions of non consensual acts.

When Sharon came in Bucky left. She had brought Eva a gorgeous 3/4 sleeve off shoulder sequined black dress that suited her tastes perfectly. Eva finally got her shower. She stood under the hot spray with her head leaning against the side wall. While watching the blood that stained her skin swirl down the drain her mind was otherwise occupied. The unique taste of Bucky lingered on her tongue and honestly it made her crave more. That feeling was completely new to her because the demons in her mind never let her feel anything close to that before. She tried to wash the struggle and confusion out of her mind through her hair and refocus on why she was there in the first place but those demons were hellish beasts for a reason.

By the time she blow dried her hair and got dressed she could feel the bass from the music downtairs pulse beneath her feet. When she exited the bedroom she had been using Zemo was walking down the hall towards her.
"Ah little lamb, there you are! How's your leg my dear?" He asked as he closed the distance between them. She lifted the hem of her dress and showed him the sealed wound. The two sides of the jagged cut were aligned perfectly with each stitch immaculate and evenly spaced.
"James insisted he be the one to tend to you, but I must admit his work is impeccable. How does it feel? She dropped the hem and answered. "Managable."
"Come little lamb walk with me." Zemo says and offered his arm to Eva which she took grateful for extra stability for her leg while wearing stilletto heels. Zemo switched to Sokovian and continued talking walking at a slow stroll.
"I've made some concerning observations in the short time we've been aligned with Miss Carter. I'm afraid James and Sam's judgement is too clouded by friendship to be able to see what I can which is why I've come to you."
She looked over at Zemo and thought for a moment and was able to follow his thought process easily.
"You think she's closely affilliated with the Power Broker, if not the Power Broker herself. Her opperation here seems too large for the Power Broker to not have his fingers in this. I see your point."
"Precisely, which brings me to you. I need your assistance."
She smiled widely. "Zemo, you cheeky devil! Are you asking me to scheme and do some sketchy shit with you?"
He shrugged. "Are you opposed to that?"
"Nope, I'm here for it when in Rome and all of that. What exactly are you thinking."
"I've looked around and it appears that the majority of her business is conducted either through her phone, face to face or by proxy."
Eva considered what he said for a moment before she knew what needed to be done.
"I need a burner smartphone with data capability, access to a secure cloud storage, and 15 minutes.
Zemo smiles and pulls a phone out of one of the pockets in his coat. "This should have all you require little lamb."

They ended up on a terrace and Eva went to work programming the phone. To expedite her task she went to the dark web and used bits of code already written by old hacking acquaintances she trusted. She added some safety measures including an IP address scrambling protocol to prevent reverse tracking and set it to send information to her secure cloud as well as his. When she finished she handed the phone back to Zemo.

"The program I put on that phone will turn it into a clone copy of her phone. Anything she does on her phone you will have access to on there. It will aslo work as a microphone as long as her phone is on and data is on. all audio around her will be recorded and sent directly to your secure cloud storage. I also added any firewall, anti tracking, malware and worm blockers I could to prevent it from being traced back to you. All we have to do is get the phone within 2 feet of her phone and press that icon on the home screen. It's gonna take about 2 minutes so you must stay in range the entire time. It's not very elegant but the functionality there."

Zemo slipped the phone back in his pocket. "Nonsense, you are truly remarkable Miss Sinclair."
Zemo said. "Now shall we join the others downstairs? I believe you have earned a drink, perhaps even a dance."
She laughed. "Drink.... definitely. Dance? We'll see."

They made their way back inside but just before they got to the staircase Eva stopped. She spoke in English just so she could be absolutly sure of what she was saying.
"Actually, I need someone to talk to about this." Eva confessed to Zemo. "Bucky and I kissed after he finished stitching me up, and while the kiss was... well incredible. The stuff you said earlier about me being in love with him, I'm all sorts of confused. I've never even looked at him that way before tonight. You broke my damn brain Zemo."
He smiled and a light chuckle escaped his lips.
"What's the harm in pointing out two people clearly have feelings for each other?"

She distanced herself from Zemo by leaning against the wall and wrapping her arms around herself as if the simple action would keep her from physically falling apart.
"The reason I don't date can't be found in any file you could read. When I was still in those HYDRA facilities some bad things happened to me."
Zemo leaned on the wall next to her close enough to hear but far enough away to give her the physical space she appeared to need in that moment. "What happened little lamb?"

With her eyes trained on the ground, her voice was quiet and unsteady as the words she had never spoken began to spill out.

"When HYDRA lost the Winter Soldier I was severly punished. They discovered the bit of programming code that I corrupted in his last wipe that made his escape more likely in combination with the interactions with Captain Rogers. I was a liability but they were unsure of just what to do with me so they put me in cryo, or so they thought. There were 4 nights in that short period of a couple of months that a group guards felt like they needed some.... entertainment. I was thawed, beaten, used, and put back before anyone knew the wiser. I fought as hard as I could but I was too weak with the effects of being frozen and thawed repeatedly that after the third incident I lost the will to fight. I was eventually sent to a genetics laboratory in Norway where they were going to harvest my eggs as to not waste my 'superior HYDRA DNA'. Luckilly the base was found by the U.S. Government before they began the process." She took a deep breath and the tears began to flow. "HYDRA tried to break me many times, hell The Winter Soldier stopped guards from trying to take advantage of me once before. Those men and that organization had their minds made up about me since the minute I was concieved." She took her face in her hands and kept crying before she was upright again.
"I'm broken, what if I'm too broken to be able to love?"

Zemo got closer to Eva and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Little lamb, it' not a question of IF you can love. It's a question if you can trust. Your heart is resoundingly strong and big. Your ability to love should never, ever be questioned. What you should ask yourself is do you trust James?" She had stopped crying at some point while Zemo talked but she didnt even have to think about how to answer his question.
"I trust him with my life."
"Then trust yourself to give in to your feelings. My dear a life without love is no life at all. there is not a day where I don't carry the love of my wife and my son with me. It gives me strength and hope for life in his world."

She looked at Zemo and felt the meaning behind his words. She leaned into him and hugged him tight. Words weren't needed at this time but they were bound together by their trust and respect for one another and would be for life.

Bucky stood around the corner with tears stinging his eyes and threatening to fall. He had heard every word Eva had said. He was looking for Zemo but he felt like an intruder on this intimate moment. His chest burned with guilt for forgetting her and leaving her there with those HYDRA monsters. He was here now though, and he was determined to stay by her side as to make sure she never suffered again. He wanted to protect her mind, body, heart, and soul.