And We Go On

Sweater Weather

Sharon leads us to the shipping container she states he is hiding in. We are all given communicator pieces so that we can keep in contact. She ensures that she will keep watch while we go in. The container is empty, but Zemo seems suspicious of it. Then suddenly he pushes open a hidden door at the back and as soon as it is open, we hear music coming from up a staircase.
Bucky and Sam go first, guns drawn, while I come last behind Zemo. Thank goodness to Sharon for the pain killers cause I needed it with all these darn stairs. The man doesn’t even notice us until Sam turns off the music.
Bucky and Zemo are both doing the staring move as Sam threatens him to start talking. I stand a little ways away so that I am still present, but not being used as a piece of it. I’m honestly not that threatening, so it’s best to leave it up to these guys. I hear Sharon comment that we have company. With that, Bucky grabs Nigel and sits him into a chair, holding a gun to his head.
I bite the inside of my cheek because this bothers me. He’s not a killer anymore. I know we need information. But it’s still hard to see this darker side of him.
We’re running out of time, and they know it. Suddenly Bucky fires just past Nigel’s ear and it makes me flinch and jump.
“Okay. Okay.” He finally says.
“I was brought into Hydra’s winter soldier program to pick up after the five failed test subjects in Siberia. When HYDRA fell, I was recruited by the CIA. They had blood samples from an American test subject with semi stable traces of serum in his system. After much labor, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood. I was a god.”
I can’t help but make a face of disgust. People like this were just, I don’t even know the right words for it.
“I did what no other scientist since Erksine was able to do. But mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies. Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect.”
I see Sam shaking his head.
“How have we never heard about this?” he questioned.
“Because, before I was able to complete my work, I turned to dust. Then when I returned, five years later, the program had been abandoned. So I came here. The Power Broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work.”
“How many vials did you make?” Sam asks
“Twenty.” Nigel says and I can tell he’s getting aggravated by what he’s about to say next. “Karli Morgenthau stole those so, I can only imagine what the power broken has planned for them now.”
As he talks, I look away for a moment to see Zemo slowly walking around the counter. I begin to wonder what he’s doing so I slowly attempt to make my way over towards him.
“Where’s Karli now?” Sam continues
“I don’t know where she is. But a couple of days ago she called and asked if I could help someone named Donya Madani. Poor woman has tuberculosis. Typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that.”
As I creep closer, I see Zemo slowly pulling his hand away from the counter and grabbing something. Then he puts his arm behind his back and walks back towards the guys. I slowly continue my way around the way he just walked so that I come behind him.
“Is there any serum in this lab?” Bucky asks. When Nigel initially doesn’t answer, he puts the gun against his head.
“No.” He finally answers.
“Now what?” Bucky looks at us, questioning. Just as he says that, I finally see what Zemo is holding. A gun. I go to say something but then Sharon storms in saying, “Guys we’re seriously out of time here.”
And just like that, Zemo pulls out the gun and shoots Nigel. My jaw drops as I stand within arms reach of him. I wasn’t fast enough. I didn’t notice it and couldn’t get to him in time to stop him.
Sharon and Sam quickly grab Zemo and push him against a cabinet and hold him there, questioning what he just did. I look at Bucky and then the whole room explodes.
We are all knocked down and my ears start ringing so loud I can’t hear anything else. I feel the others close to me, but it’s hard to tell with the alarm going off and the fire blazing everywhere. I cough a little as I attempt to get to my feet, having inhaled some smoke already. I’m not able to get all the way up but enough to crawl towards Sharon and Sam. I don’t know where Bucky is, but in a few moments I feel him helping us up and ushering us towards the exit. And just in time too as the whole container explodes and falls apart.
“Okay, wait for my signal.” Bucky yells as the three of them pull out their guns. Finally, a chance to do something. I pull out my bow, click it together and create an arrow. I hold both and wait to draw it. Then the guns start firing and so do we. I stand in the middle area, under where the container fell and I start shooting arrows as fast as I can make them. I hear Bucky’s gun click out, he must be out of ammo, and walk over towards the other side.
Typical of them, Bucky and Sam start arguing back and forth about what way to go.
“Guys, not the time.” Both Sharon and I yell. Then her gun is out of bullets too. I keep making the arrows but I’m getting tired, and one person is not enough against all of these guys. Then there is another massive explosion in front of us by a pipe and Bucky grabs me and tries to cover me from the flames as much as he can quickly.
When the sound of the explosion stops we look and see Zemo jump down from another carrier and start fighting the few gunmen that are left. We stare shocked for a moment, then Bucky ushers us to go, get moving.

We duck in between more storage containers then finally run into an empty one. Bucky holds off the two bad guys that try to follow us and then breaks through to the other side. As we look around at the empty area, we hear tires screeching and Zemo drives over. Sam wants to take him back to jail, but Bucky insists that we need him.
“There’s only 3 of us and 20 of them.” Bucky adds as he gets into the front of the car.
“Fine. But if you try that shit again…” Sam starts, climbing into the back.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Zemo agrees, then looks at me getting into the car and smiles.
We say our goodbyes to Sharon and then we’re off.

We find the plane we were brought here on and board it quickly, taking off soon after.
Bucky is sitting farther away this time, and I can partially see him cleaning his metal arm. Sam is on the phone with Torres looking for help to find this woman refugee who might be our next clue.
“You okay?” Bucky asks. I’m not really sure who he’s referring to.
“Yeah. Just thinking about all the crap Sharon had to go through. And Nagel referring to the American test subject like Isaiah wasn’t even a person.”
Bucky says nothing but looks back down at his arm. I can only assume Isaiah is the person they went to go meet when it was just the two of them. A super soldier long before Bucky and Steve. And no one knew anything about him.
As Bucky and Sam discuss Steve’s shield, I am distracted by Zemo standing next to me, offering me a small plate of food.
“Thank you.” I say with a sincere smile, and he returns it. No one notices it which makes me feel a little strange, but it’s good to just be around someone who is nice. Someone who knows nothing about me but is just earnest.
Okay, I get it. He wasn’t always like that. But he’s acting like it now. Just how Bucky is better now. I try not to prejudge if I can help it. Zemo offers Bucky and Sam something as well, then sits down in the chair closest to them.
Sam gets a phone call from Torres and he confirms that the woman we are looking for has died. He tells us the location and then Zemo states that he has a place that we can stay.
“I for one am very interested in meeting Karli face to face. Oeznik, we’re changing course.” Zemo  yells through the cabin as he lends back in his chair. Bucky looks at each of us separately, then finally looks down at the ground.

We walk through the streets of Riga as Zemo comments about Sokovia. This was before I had met any of the team, but I knew everything that had happened.
“I don’t suppose any of you bothered to visit the memorial?” Zemo questions. “Of course not.” He quickly answers himself. Suddenly Bucky stops and we all turn to him.
“I’m gonna go on a walk.” He says.
“You good?” Sam asks.
“Yeah. I’ll see you guys in a bit.” He doesn’t look at any of us while he says that, he just walks away. I turn back to him and see him look back this way. I almost stop and turn around, but then change my mind and continue inside the building.
As we reached the area we were staying in, I looked around in awe. It was beautiful, especially the glass on the windows.
“Wow.” I breathed out.
“I’m glad you approve.” Zemo commended. Sam didn’t say anything but took it all in too.
“Well, since we may be here some time, I offer the lady the facilities first if she wishes.” Zemo turns around and motions to the bathroom. Yeah, I could definitely use a good shower, I felt gross.
“Thank you.” I smile and make my way there.
I try not to take too long but man it feels so good to get all the grime off of me. I finally feel refreshed and am able to clean a lot of the dirt off of my clothes too. As I am in there, I find a bottle of some sort of perfume. Now listen, I’m not a perfume person. But this smelled lovely. I didn’t want to be overly indulgent, so I put just a little bit on. I was a little OCD about smelling good, okay?
I finally exit the bathroom and see Sam sitting on a bar stool, going through his phone. I assume reviewing information. Zemo is in the kitchen and turns to me and smiles. He gestures his hands out and says, “Lovely, as always.”
I blush a little bit and he walks right up to me. “If you don’t mind, I will go now.” He states and he starts to walk away. Then he stops, turns just enough to say quietly, “What a lovely choice.” Now my face turns beat red as I realize he's talking about perfume.
Man, I was starting to get a little over my head here. I grab some water from the kitchen and then sit on the couch looking at the door, settling into the cushions a little.