The Séance • Marvel

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier: Chapter 11

Vanessa walked along with Sam, Bucky, and Zemo to a refugee camp. "Shame what's become of this place. When I was young, we used to come here for fabulous dinners and parties. I knew nothing of the politics of the time, of course, but I remember it being beautiful" Zemo says looking around at the place. "I'm gonna take a look around upstairs. See what you can find out here. And keep an eye on him" Sam orders. "I'll stay out of your way," Zemo tells them.

Vanessa watched a little girl in the corner, playing with a torn-up rag doll. The little girl played away from the other children. Vanessa walked up to her and crouched down to look at her. "Hi," she tells her, "That's a very pretty doll you have there, what's her name?" "Lilybeth," the little girl says shyly. "That's a beautiful name. What about your name?" Vanessa asks her. "Rose," the little girl says again. "Well Rose, my name is Vanessa. It's very lovely to meet such a pretty girl. You see I was looking for a dear friend of mine, she passed away a few days ago. Her name was Donya Madani, did you know her?" Vanessa asked. 

The little girl nodded. "Do you know where her funeral will be, I just want to pay my respects" Vanessa says. The little girl shakes her head. "Ok, do you want to see a magic trick?" The little girl eagerly nods her head. Vanessa extends her hand out, with her palm facing the sky. She slowly closes it and runs her other hand over it. When she opens it, there is a small wrapped candy sitting in her palm. "For you," she tells the little girl. The little girl takes it and quickly runs away.

They walked back to Zemo's apartment in silence. "Well, I got nothin'. No one's talkin' about Donya" Bucky says as she takes a seat on the couch. "Yeah, it's because Karli is the only one fighting for them," Sam tells him, "And she's not wrong." "What do you mean?" "For five years, people have been welcomed into countries that have kept them out using barbwire. There were houses and jobs. Folks were happy to have people around to help them rebuild. It wasn't just one community coming together, it was the entire world coming together. And then, boom. Just like that, it goes right back to the way it used to be. To them, at least Karli's doin' somethin'" Sam explains.

Vanessa thinks back to the first few months after the blip. The chaos that surrounded them all. "You're not wrong," she says, "That first year was...hell. For the first few months, there was little to no food because there weren't any imports coming in. Gas stations were closed because they'd run out of gas. Electricity and water were off for a couple of weeks because there was no one to run the plants. Businesses were closed. It was like that for a while. Then people were welcomed into the country, no questions asked. They help rebuild. To build a new normal. Karli's not entirely wrong. I agree with her motives, just not her method of doing things." "You really think her ends justify her means? Then, she's no different than him or anybody else we've fought" Bucky says. Vanessa shakes her head, "That's not what I said."

"She's different. She's not motivated by the same things" Sam tells Bucky. "That little girl. What'd she tell you?" Bucky asks Zemo. Zemo approaches them with a tray of tea. "The funeral is this afternoon," he says. "You know the Dora's coming for you any minute. In fact, they're probably lurking outside right now. Keep talking" Bucky tells him. "Leaving you to turn on me once we get to Karli. Hmm. I prefer to keep my leverage" Zemo says.

Bucky stands up and walks over to where Zemo is. He takes the small teacup Zemo's holding and smashes in the wall behind him. "You wanna see what someone can do with leverage?" Bucky asks him. Sam quickly stands up and walks over to them both. "Take it easy. Don't engage him. He's just gonna extort you and do that stupid head tilt thing" he says, "Let me make a call." "You want some cherry blossom tea?" Zemo asks Bucky. "No, you go ahead." Zemo looks at Vanessa next "Would you like some cherry blossom tea?" "Sure, why not?"

Vanessa once again sat on the floor, meditating while Sam made his call. "You're not going to summon an army of the dead are you?" Bucky asked, sitting on the couch behind Vanessa. "No just meditating" she answers. "Why do you meditate so much?" He asked. Vanessa opened her eyes and shifted her body so that she was facing him. "There are loud voices inside my head. All the time. Screams of pain and anguish. When I was young I found that drugs silence them, but since I'm no longer doing any of that meditation is the next best thing. It doesn't silence them as drugs do, but it does quiet them enough to hear myself think" she explained. Bucky nodded his head in understanding, "I'll let you get back to it them." It wasn't too long before Sam exited the room and told them that they needed to go.