Blades & Ballet | Bucky x Reader

Nineteen

Wakanda. Six years ago.

The small campfire illuminates the jungle around us, embers lifting into the clear night sky. Ayo stands over me, keeping a watchful eye on my huddled form.

"It is time," she states.

"You sure about this?" I ask, my gaze still on the rising flames ahead of me.

"I won't let you hurt anyone," Ayo assures me. She begins pacing around the clearing, speaking the Russian trigger words to activate the Winter Soldier. "Longing. Rusted. Seventeen."

"It's not gonna work," I breathe, my heart pounding in my chest.

She continues listing the words as I stare into the flames, breathing heavily as I try to control my emotions. Finally, Ayo says the last word. "Freight car."

Nothing happens, and tears of relief escape from my eyes.

"You are free," Ayo states.

Slowly, I shift my gaze to her, hoping for confirmation that I heard her correctly.

Ayo nods, gently smiling at me. "You are free."

I sob tears of joy as realization clicks into place. The Winter Solder is gone. I am finally free.

Slowly, Ayo approaches me. "How could you free him?"

"We need his help," I answer.

Ayo paces around me. "With time, will, and the resources, the Winter Soldier programming was removed from you like a rotten fur."

"And I'm grateful for that," I declare. "I'm grateful for everything you and Shuri have done..."

"Zemo murdered our King T'Chaka at the UN. The man who chose us, who chose me to protect him."

"I understand."

"Very little, if anything, of our loss and our shame."

I take a breath, switching to Wakandan. "He's a means to an end."

Ayo stops in front of me. "Sixteen hours, White Wolf. Then we come for him."

She holds out her hand, waiting for me to return her kimoyo beads. I place them in her palm, and after another second, she turns around, making her way up the alley.

"Well, the Wakandans are here," I state as I enter Zemo's townhouse. "They want Zemo... I bought us some more time."

"Were you followed?" Sam asks.

"No," I answer.

"How can you be so sure?" Zemo questions.

"'Cause I know when I'm being followed," I remark.

"It was sweet of you to defend me at least," Zemo replies.

"Hey, you shut it," Sam orders. "No one's defending you. You killed Nagel."

"Do we really have to litigate what may or may not have happened?" Zemo quips.

"There's nothing to litigate," Sam states. "You straight shot the man."

"Guys," Y/n interrupts, looking up from her phone. "Karli bombed a GRC supply depot."

"What?" Sam demands. "What's the damage?"

"Eleven injured, three dead," she declares. "They have a list of demands and are promising more attacks if those demands aren't met in full."

"She's getting worse," Zemo comments. "I have the will to complete this mission. Do the three of you?"

"She's just a kid," Sam reminds him.

"You're seeing something in her that isn't there," Zemo tells him. "You're clouded by it. She's a supremacist. The very concept of a Super Soldier will always trouble people. It's that warped aspiration that led to Nazis, to Ultron, to the Avengers."

"Hey, those are our friends you're talking about," Sam warns.

"The Avengers," I clarify. "Not the Nazis."

I catch a hint of a smile on Y/n's lips before it disappears.

"So, Karli is radicalized," Sam continues. "But there has to be a peaceful way to stop her."

"The desire to become a superhuman cannot be separated from supremacist ideas," Zemo explains. "Anyone with that serum is inherently on that path. She will not stop. She will escalate until you kill her... or she kills you."

"Maybe you're wrong, Zemo," I argue. "The serum never corrupted Steve."

"Touche," Zemo admits. "But there has never been another Steve Rogers, has there?"

I wander over to the sofa, collapsing into the cushions as I turn to Sam. "Well, maybe we should give him to the Wakandans right now."

"And you'll give up your tour guide?" Zemo asks.

"Yes," I retort.

"Either way, it's too late to do anything now," Y/n declares. "We should pack it in for the night and figure out what we're going to do in the morning."

"Excellent idea," Zemo agrees, gesturing to a door along the far wall. "There is a bedroom there and three more upstairs."

Claiming the bedroom on the ground floor, I grab a pillow and pull the blanket from the bed, finding a comfortable spot on the floor to sleep.