War Torn || Civil War

Chapter Twenty-Four: Abolition

Music is "The Star-Spangled Banner (Minor Key)" by Chase Holfelder.

Picture is Tatiana Maslany as Emma Barnes.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Abolition

{January 5, 2016 -- Present Day}

S I B E R I A

The six glass chambers glow from within, a yellow light illuminating the inside. From here, I can barely make out the contents, but I can tell they're human. All except for one has a person inside.

The chambers hiss and steam to life, the little computers outside each one showing a single line. It doesn't take me long to figure out what this line means.

It's a heart beat. Or rather, it was.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep."

Zemo's voice echoes throughout the room from a speaker above us, reverberating off the dark metal walls. We walk further into the room, moving towards the nearest glass container. Once I focus past the precipitation fogging the glass, I see a man inside.

He has a bullet hole between his eyes.

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

Bucky grips his weapon anxiously, looking around as he mutters, "What the hell?"

My eyes are still glued on the man in the glass. I run my fingers over the tiny hole where Zemo fired the bullet that killed him. Another Winter Soldier, murdered in his sleep. That could've been Bucky.

But that's not what catches my eye. What actually causes my skin to crawl is the familiarity of the man in the glass container. I've seen him before. I know his face. I turn quickly to the next container, seeing a blonde woman inside. I recognize her, too.

My breath catches in my throat when I realize why they look so familiar. I have seen them before. They were the soldiers in stasis when I went looking for Bucky. Zelma told me they were transporting soldiers that fell into the Alps, that the Soviets were taking them somewhere else. There were three trucks. I stowed away in the back of one filled with children. The other two had four passengers between them: three men and one woman.

A blonde woman.

"I saw these soldiers in the early 60s," I say aloud. "I saw the Soviets transporting them. I tried to save them, but there were children in another shipment. I had to save the children."

"So it seems you did," Zemo states. "I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here."

Another light flickers on, one from a sealed bunker inside the mountain. Through the tiny window, we spot Zemo. Tony aims his gauntlet, and Steve swings his shield. Neither does any good.

"Please, Captain," Zemo chastises, his voice clearer now that we can see his face. The lights above us flicker on, bringing the entire space out of darkness. "The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony replies, walking around the set-up in the center of the chamber.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mister Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."

Steve marches closer, standing eye-to-eye with Zemo. Tony stands back, and Bucky keeps his weapon aimed at Zemo. I stand behind Bucky, still staring up at the soldiers in the glass containers. "You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?"