ᴛʜᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ♡ ʙᴜᴄᴋʏ ʙᴀʀɴᴇꜱ.

✩ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴏɴᴇ: ᴅᴏʀᴀ ᴍɪʟᴀᴊᴇ

         "What happened?" Bucky questioned harshly as they made their way back into Zemo's home. The woman waved her hands with her eyes squeezed shut, wishing she could forget about the horrible image and feeling of that spider. It might not have been real, but it felt and seemed natural. She couldn't believe she had to deal with that. Bucky wasn't helping.

He was rightfully worried and suspected something wasn't up. Yet again, that stranger came for her and, yet again, used lethal force to attempt to do damage. Mawu had to know something.

"James—" Mawu sighed, spinning around to face him. "Please, drop it."

"Listen, we have a lot of shit we have to worry about now. Karli, and now this guy? Don't you think it's a little weird?" Bucky questioned.

"It is quite weird," Zemo says, going behind the bar as he narrows his gaze. He brought Dillon to Mawu for the first time, but his mission hadn't been achieved. And that did no good for the man. Also, Zemo couldn't reasonably support Dillon's ways of creating chaos. His power seemed too firm, and that worried him. If he did get to Mawu, there was no telling what he could do. And Zemo, believe it or not, cared for the children who roamed on this planet. "We should get away from this crazed man or kill him. Whatever works. But if you asked me, I'd choose the second option."

"What do you think he wants?" Bucky perched his hands on his hips.

"What we need to worry about is Karli!" Mawu adds, sitting herself down on the couch while Sam sat down at the bar to pull out his laptop. "Nothing else matters."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure about that—" Sam says over his shoulder, disliking the idea of Mawu attempting to push this whole thing underneath the rug. Karli might have been his primary mission, but this problem had to be dealt with, too. Zemo poured himself a scotch, eyeing Sam with some curiosity.

During the chase, Zemo had bumped into the real Karli and destroyed half of the Super Soldier Serum that was on her persons. While he attempted to stomp the last one, John unfortunately stopped Zemo.

"Have you ever been offered it?" Zemo raised his brows, pressing the brim of his glass against his lips. Sam looked at Zemo with annoyance.

"What?"

"The serum," Zemo says.

"No," Sam rolled his eyes.

"If you had been, hypothetically, that is, would you have taken it?" Zemo pressed before gulping down his glass. He starts to pour another one, curious about what Sam might say.

"No."

"No hesitation. That's impressive," Zemo smirked, placing the glass jar down. As soon as his lips curled, they flattened immediately after. His bright eyes searched Sam and a look of sympathy formed on his face. Something Sam hadn't seen from Zemo. "Sam, you can't hold out hope for Karli. No matter what you saw in her, she's gone. And we cannot allow that she and her acolytes to become yet another faction of gods amongst real people. Super Soldiers cannot be allowed to exist."

Sam pushed his laptop away from the edge of the bar, studying Zemo for only a moment. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Of course, the man understood what Zemo stood for; His family had died because of Super Soldiers and those alike, but to speak in such a way—Sam wasn't sure how to really process it.

"Isn't that how Gods talk?" Sam knitted his brows. "Because that's exactly how Thanos talked...."

Zemo rubbed the tip of his nose, gripping his glass with some thought.

"And if that's how you feel, what about Bucky?"

Placing his eyes onto Bucky who sat beside Mawu, checking for any wounds, Zemo thought about it. The trio had grown on him a bit. They were interesting characters who wanted to stop Karli. Their views varied and over all, they wanted to protect each other. He wasn't sure how to answer that question. Bucky wasn't bad which shattered his belief.