Blades & Ballet | Bucky x Reader

Fifteen

The bartender leads us into the back room, leaving us with a woman with short, blonde hair. She lounges on a couch, multiple men with guns standing guard around her.

"You should know, Baron," Selby says. "People don't just come into my bar and make demands."

"Not a demand," Zemo tells her. "An offer."

"A lot has changed since you were here last," Selby states. Her eyes quickly glancing between me and Y/n. "By the way, I thought you were rotting away in a German prison. How did you escape?"

"People like us always find a way, don't we?" Zemo muses.

"That, we do," Selby agrees. Her gaze finds Y/n once again. "I see you brought Y/n back. How is my favourite Widow?"

Y/n remains expressionless as she stares Selby down. "Still alive."

"That you are," Selby smiles. "It's about time you got back. Work's been piling up."

Y/n smirks. "I'm not your errand girl anymore, Selby."

"Is that so?" Selby taunts.

Zemo cuts in. "I'm sure you've already figured out what I'm here for."

Selby points a finger at Sam. "You're taller than I'd heard, Smiling Tiger."

Sam stays silent, only nodding to her.

Selby purrs at him before turning back to Zemo. "What's the offer?"

"Tell us what you know about the Super Soldier serum," Zemo requests, getting up from his seat and walking over to me. "And I'll give you him, along with the code words to control him, of course. He will do anything you want."

Selby smiles as Zemo returns to his seat. "Now that's the Zemo I remember. I'm glad I decided not to kill you immediately. Yeah, you were right to come to me. Arrogant, but right. The Super Solder serum is here in Madripoor. Dr. Wilfred Nagel is the man you wanna thank. Or... condemn, depending on what side of this you're on. The Power Broker had him working on the serum, but... things didn't go as planned."

"Is Nagel still in Madripoor?" Zemo presses.

"Oh," Selby replies, getting up from her seat to circle the room. "The bread crumbs you can have for free, but the bakery is gonna cost you, Baron. And before you get all cute, don't think you can find Nagel without me."

Suddenly, Sam's phone begins to vibrate, and he pulls it from his pocket to turn it off.

"Answer it," Selby orders. "On speaker."

Two guards approach Sam, who reluctantly obeys. "Hello?"

"Hey, um, we need to talk about this situation," a female voice replies on the other end of the line. "It's been driving me nuts."

"What situation exactly are you talkin' about?" Sam asks, trying to stay in character.

"Are you high?" the woman asks. "You know what situation. It's the only situation me and you have."

"What situation, Sarah?" Sam demands. "Say it."

"The damn boat," Sarah replies. "And watch your tone. Okay? I let you slide at the bank."

Sam scoffs. "The bank. Yeah. Laundered so much... Yeah, they'll come around."

"If that was the case, then why'd they dog you out bigtime?"

"Yeah, you're damn right I'm Big Time. You'll see when I have that banker killed."

"Cass! What'd I tell you about the Cheerios? I don't Have time for this!" Sarah yells to someone in the distance before turning back to the phone. "Sam, I'm sorry. I'll call you back."

"Sam?" Selby asks. "Who's Sam? Kill them!"

Before anyone can react, Y/n throws two daggers. The first hits Selby in the throat. The second hits a nearby guard in the chest. They drop, and Y/n dives for the guard's rifle, shooting the other two guards before they can get their own guns up.

"Shit!" I shout as we grab the dropped weapons, hustling toward the back door. "They're going to pin this on us!"

"Would you have rather died?!" Y/n quips back, her gaze shifting to Sam. "And who leaves their phone on during a covert operation?!"

Zemo sighs. "We have a real problem now. Leave your weapons and follow my lead."

We follow Zemo from the room, hurrying down the crowded streets. We only make it a few blocks before phones begin chiming all around us.

"This is not good," Zemo states.

At that moment, the lights above us go dark and gunfire rings out. We scramble out of the way of the bullets, propelling ourselves into a sprint.

"I can't run in these heels!" Sam shouts.

"You're one to talk!" Y/n shouts back, kicking off her shoes mid-stride.

I lead the way as we sprint up the street, motorcycles chasing us. We duck into an alleyway, only to be cut off by a brick wall. A shot rings out from above and hits the man closest to us. He falls to the ground as two more shots ring out, the men on the motorcycles slumping to the ground as well.

"You seem to have a guardian angel," Zemo remarks.

"Well, this is too perfect," a woman states, stepping into the alley with her gun aimed at us. She pulls down her hood to reveal blonde hair and brown eyes. "Drop it, Zemo."

Slowly, Zemo drops his gun as I step toward the woman. "Sharon?"

"You cost me everything," she states, eyes still on Zemo.

"Sharon, wait," Sam requests, moving toward her with his hand out. "Someone recreated the Super Soldier serum and Zemo had a lead."

"That explains why you guys are here," Sharon replies. "And Selby's dead."

"That one's on me," Y/n states. "It was the only way out of there alive."

Sharon's gaze shifts to her. "Who's this?"

"Y/n," Sam answers. "She's a friend."

Sharon glances between the two of them.

"So, what are you doing here?" I ask.

"I stole Steve's shield, remember?" Sharon remarks. "I also took the wings for your ass," she points her gun to Sam, "so you could save his ass," to me, "from his ass," to Zemo. "And unlike you, I didn't have the Avengers to back me up. So, I'm off the grid in Madripoor."

"Hey, don't blow that smoke at me," Sam warns. "I was on the run, too."

"Was. Is. Big difference," Sharon retorts. "I don't speak to my family anymore... I can't. My own father doesn't know where I am."

"Listen..." I cut in. "Sharon, we need your help. Please."

Sharon chuckles before heaving a sigh, lowering her weapon. "This isn't over... I have a place in High Town. You'll be safe there for a while."