The Winter Soldier's Lost Love

Chapter 4

Sam's not sure how he let Bucky talk him into this. They were supposed to question Zemo. Find out what information the man had on how the super solider serum ended up on the streets and that was supposed to be it. He knew he shouldn't have let Bucky go in alone. Their plan went completely out the window the moment Bucky decided to help Zemo escape.

Sam was supposed to be ok with this. Zemo hated super soldiers so he was the perfect ally. He just couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to bite them in the ass at some point.

Currently they were sitting on Zemo's private plane.

"Why don't you tell us about where we're going?" Sam asked glaring over to Zemo who seemed to be enjoying his freedom too much.

"I'm sorry," Zemo said, his eyes down to the book in his lap. "I was just fascinated by this. I don't know what to call it, but it seems important." Zemo suddenly lifted Bucky's journal. "Who is Nakajima?"

Bucky was out of his seat, his hand wrapped around Zemo's throat before the man could say another word.

"You touch that again, I'll kill you."

Zemo nods, before Bucky releases his grasp, takes his journal and returns to his seat.

"I understand. That list of names. People you've wrong as the Winter Soldier."

Bucky clenched his jaw before glancing back over to the man, "Don't push it."

"I've seen that book before." Sam said Bucky glanced over to him. "It was Steve's when he came out of the ice. I told him about Trouble Man. He wrote it in the book. Did you hear it? What did you think?"

"I like 40s music, so..." Bucky shrugged as he turned away.

"You didn't like it?" Sam looked over to the man in disbelief. He shook his head.

"It's a masterpiece, James." Zemo said and Bucky glared over to him. "Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the African American experience."

Sam looked over to Zemo with a shake of his head before turning back to Bucky. "He's out of line, but he's not wrong. It's Marvin Gaye, everyone loves Marvin Gaye. You can't tell me Grace didn't listen to Marvin."

"I like Marvin Gaye, and Grace's musical preferences are all over the place, which is not a good thing."

"Grace." When Zemo said her name, Bucky cut his eyes to the man. "I saw her name written in your book, but the way you talk about her. She's not someone you've wronged as the Winter Soldier."

"Hey," Sam looked over to the man with a look of warning. "Just don't." he turned back to Bucky whose mood changed the moment Zemo said Grace's name and so he decided to change the subject. "And for the record, Steve loved Marvin Gaye."

"You must've looked up to Steve." Zemo said and both Sam and Bucky turned to him. " But I realized something when I met him. The danger with people like him, America's Super Soldiers, is that we put them on pedestals." he glanced down to the drink in his hand. "They become symbols. Icons. And then we start to forget about their flaws. From there, cities fly, innocent people die. Movements are formed, wars are fought." Zemo lifted his eyes to Bucky. "You remember that, right? As a young soldier sent to Germany to stop a mad icon. Do we want to live in a world full of people like the Red Skull?" he glanced over to Sam. "That is why we're going to Madripoor."

"What's up with Madripoor? You talk about it like it's Skull island." Sam said looking between Zemo and Bucky.

"It's an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago." Bucky said. "It was a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s."