Revenge Turned Sweet

Chapter 16: The Shield

•Chapter Warnings: Mentions of blood and death.•

My leg continues to bounce under the glass table as my eyes wander up and down Bucky's vibranium arm. Trying to figure out how the Dora was able to just take it off, just like that. His black t-shirt is stretched over the silver and gild increments of the arm. I hear Sam droning on about something in the back of my mind, but I'm too engrossed in my mind-puzzle. He looked very distressed after the fact, like his face was painted with betrayal.

"Take a picture it'll last longer." My eyes wander up to Bucky's face to see him staring right back at me, my eyes widen and I feel my cheeks heat up.

"Sorry," I mumble and turn to Sam who's now pacing the room, trying to come up with any sort of explanation of where Zemo could have gone. "Sam, there's nothing we can do about it right now. He's gone," I interject to try and calm his pacing. I pull the sleeves of my sweater over my hands, feeling an argument begin to brew.

He glares at me. "Couldn't you have warned us that he was planning to leave?" He snaps and my head jolts back at the fact that this is now somehow my fault.

"What? What do you mean by that?" My leg stops shaking under the table and I rub my hand on my forehead.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, looking monumentally irritated. "You're telling me, you heard nothing about his plans to escape? No thoughts at all?" He gestures heavily, like he's speaking to a child.

I shake my head at him. "No. I've been trying to avoid all of your thoughts, which is a lot of work by the way. And don't you think I would have told you if I knew he was going to leave?" My chest shrinks at the thought that they may actually not trust me after everything that's happened.

"I don't know, Nadya," he grits out and I look back down to the table. "You could've listened to Zemo's," he adds and my eyes dart up to his.

"When?" I ask. "When I was trying to keep Lemar from being killed? Or when I was dodging a spear of my own?" I rhetorically ask, tilting my head to the side.

He shakes his head. "Don't act like there aren't things you haven't told us," he insinuates and I roll my eyes, sinking back into my seat.

"Leave her alone, Sam." I hear Bucky say. "She would've told us if she knew."

"So, what? Now you guys are what? Friends?" He retorts, glaring at the both of us.

I remain silent, hoping Bucky would answer his question. When nothing sounds but silence, I decide to speak up. "I would have told you guys if I knew," I mumble, feeling like a scolded child, ignoring Sam's question.

He lets a breath out and puts his hands on his hips with his head lowered. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here." He grimaces as he walks past the both of us, snatching his bag off of the floor and leaving the building.

I sigh when the door slams shut behind him, staying glued to my seat. "He doesn't trust me," I mutter before standing and grabbing the two bags I had stuffed under one of the seats in the living room.

"He trusts you," Bucky mumbles, still sitting at the table.

I slap my hands to my legs. "And how do you know that?" I exclaim.

His face doesn't change, it remains frozen in his stare. "Because I do."

⩔ ⩔ ⩔ ⩔

My pace is noticeably slower than Sam and Bucky's, feeling out of pace with them ever since Sam essentially told me he doesn't trust me. I haven't asked where we plan to go now, I just walk in silence behind them with Bucky sparing glances back my way and offering me reassuring smiles. My brows pull together hearing Sam's conversation on the phone, he's speaking with his sister but it sounds urgent. "Pack an overnight bag and take the boys," Sam says into the phone, making me look up at him.