Chapter Text
The bright sun reflects on Bucky’s sunglasses, the sky is clear letting the buildings show themself, the cars are passing, honking. People going by, some in a hurry and others enjoying their walk. Berlin.
After a month of research Bucky finally found traces of Zemo which was difficult to say nonetheless. He does know how to cover his tracks, when he doesn’t want to be found, Bucky had to ask for help from the team to find him.
At first, he didn’t want to have them involved but when they found him on the verge of death with no idea of how it happened, Bucky had to explain. Well, he didn’t explain everything, just the gist of it. He told them what the mission was, but that he prefers to take care of it alone and because Zemo escaped on his watch he definitely wants to find him alone. However, he assured them that if he needed backup he would call them or at least keep them in the loop.
Bucky looks around, Berlin…The last time he came here was the first time he met Zemo. It feels like it comes to a full circle, maybe it will be the last time they see each other, for real this time. That’s what Bucky tells himself. Anyway, before deciding what Bucky will do with Zemo he needs to find him and he knows where he is. This last month he spent all his time looking for him, tracing his path, watching cameras and when in Berlin asking around.
After retracing his path, Bucky has to admit Zemo has kept himself busy. He seems to be looking for the person who directs the recreation of the super serum. Bucky isn’t surprised, he´s obsessed with it after all.
All those informations leads him to a shitty motel where Zemo is supposed to be. He internally smiles imagining Zemo’s disgust living in this kind of place.
As he walks, the streets transform from joyful and clean to shady people and badly maintained roads and sidewalks. It’s still the middle of the day so there is a chance Zemo is out looking for information, unless he already has them and he waits for the night.
Bucky looks at the building in front of him, the “Schäbiges Hotel”. He looks to the side and sees a fire exit, he enters. The hotel is quite small, only two floors and Bucky knows Zemo is on the second. He takes the stairs and quickly arrives on the upper floor leading to all the different rooms. Bucky discreetly walks until he sees room 22, he is informed that Zemo is there. After, checking if Zemo is in the room by hearing any noises, breathing or heartbeat and not hearing any of it, Bucky goes out and enters by the window.
Bucky stealthy close the window once inside and starts looking around. The place is surprisingly messy, with some clothes on the bed, sheets of paper scattered around the table and some unfinished glasses of rum. Bucky checks for weapons between the mattress and the bed, in the drawers or any kind of place where Zemo could hide them. He only finds one knife under his pillow but it doesn’t matter Zemo is surely armed anyway.
He takes a look at the papers on the table, pictures of different men and women most of them seems to be ex-Hydra members. There are some locations and phone numbers from different countries, Bucky can admit that Zemo really worked hard.
After filling his curiosity Bucky sits on a chair and waits. He waits as he did a hundred times before, in the home of his victims. Not wanting to remember those times Bucky thinks about something else.
Bucky feels a crashing weight on his torso as if an entire building had collapsed on him. He can feel his lungs struggling to expand, blocked by the ribs, cracking under the force of the organ trying to do his job.
Although, his torso screams in pain it’s his head that hurts the most. The veins in his temples are pulsing in a messy rhythm like they are trying to escape. His blood floods to his brain making it pulse too despite the restriction of the size of his cranium.
“Bucky ?” A thick Russian accent calls him out. “I know you’re awake.”
Bucky grunts. He recognizes the voice but the thumping in his head doesn’t make him want to answer. Unfortunately, the pain doesn’t allow him to go back to sleep either…
“Umh…” He tries to open his eyes and unlike what he imagined the room isn’t bright, his eyes slowly adjust themself and his gaze lands on the person sitting next to his bed ; Yelena.
“How’s the head ?” She looks at his forehead, as if she could see the veins ready to burst out.
“I’ve known worse.” He carefully adjusts his position, from lying down to being lightly seated.
He looks around and he knows this room. It’s one of the resting rooms they have in the Avengers tower, except it was rearranged with medical furniture like an electrocardiograph and other stuff.
“I’m back in the U.S ?”
She scoffs. “You almost died, of course we brought you back.”
“How much time did I sleep ?”
“One week.” She chuckles but with an inch of bitterness. “When I tell you, you almost die, I mean it.”
Fuck. Bucky can’t believe he slept this much, because of one explosion ? Well, to be fair in less than a week he lived through three explosions. Might be a little too much even for him, he can’t imagine in what state Zemo must be- Zemo !!
“Where is Zemo ?!” Bucky sits up straight overlooking his pain.
“I knew this was coming.” She sighs. “We found no traces of him. We kind of tried to search for him but…I don’t think he’s a threat for now.”
It’s more likely they just don’t care about him but Bucky can’t blame them. He can only blame himself, what a shitshow…
“Fuck.”
“You never told us about your side mission with him.” She smiles. “Must have been fun.”
Bucky laughs, at least what his rib cage lets him. “Fun ?” Fun ? He’s so mad at himself. How could he be so stupid ! Thinking Zemo could change or something like that but no he betrayed him. Nothing new…He should have seen it coming.
“Don’t be too harsh on yourself.” She takes out her phone and shows the screen to Bucky. “Or to Zemo…”
Bucky squints his eyes and reads the text.
“James needs help.” And the address of the airport.
Bucky opens his eyes wide. “Zemo sent you this ?”
“Well, I assumed. There aren’t a lot of people who call you James.” Yelena puts her phone back in her pocket.”Moreover, when the emergency services found you, you had already received first aid from someone else.” She stands up.“I wonder who it could have been.” She gets closer to the door, ready to leave, as if she said all she had to say for now.
Bucky doesn’t say a word, taken aback. Zemo helped him ? Why ? Bucky attacked him, almost…killed him.
“The thing bothering me…” Bucky puts his focus on her again. “…is how did he get my number ?”
Bucky snaps out of it when he hears footsteps in the corridors, not any footsteps, Zemo’s. He’s surprised he can recognize them but most surprisingly, he feels tense, not the stress before a battle or a fight but something else.
The sound of the keys entering the lock makes him clench his fist and questions flows his mind. How will Zemo react ? Will he attack ? Will he run ? In what state is Zemo? Does he have scars from the explosion ? Was he badly hurt ?
The door opens and Bucky feels Zemo’s heart skipping a beat, like he knows something is off. A faint sound of clothes brushing against each other indicates to Bucky that Zemo took out his gun. His breath becoming more controlled, steady, ready to aim, to kill. One step, two, three, four-
Zemo and Bucky lock eyes. At this moment, everything Bucky prepared to say was whipped out of his memories. Not even a “you were difficult to find.” or “go back to the raft.” can come out. Nothing.
Zemo squints his eyes and takes this long silence for Bucky’s little Winter Soldier gig.
“So ?” A raspy voice breaks the silence. “Here to bring me back on the raft ?” Zemo’s grip tightens on his gun. ”Or to kill me ?”
Now, everything that Bucky prepared to say comes back to him in an instant. Harsh sentences, meant to hurt, meant to make Bucky forget what he felt with Zemo. Yet, Bucky manages to only blurb out a rushed ;
“You promised Zemo.”
Zemo goes to answer but he’s interrupted by talking noises in the corridor, making them realize the door was still open.
No one moves for a few seconds, tension’s sharp. Until Zemo sighs and closes the door.
He puts his gun on the bed and goes on with his sentence. “Yes, but the mission is not over.”
“I will finish it. Without you.” Bucky articulates, as if something in his throat is blocking him.
Zemo takes off his coat, making himself comfortable, at home. “Do you even have the right to be here, James ?” What could have been a mocking tone in the past, is now filled with tiredness. “You are an Avenger now, don’t you have a jurisdiction?”
Bucky acts like someone following the rules, really. Being at congress, shaking hands, smiling but when something needs to be done, he’s not afraid to take action.
“It’s personal, now.” Bucky doesn’t move an inch, still. “No need for jurisdiction.”
Zemo chuckles, even Bucky, as dense as he can see the laugh is forced.
“Personal, huh.”
Silence fills the room again. Both of them know there is a lot to say about their last meeting but no one dares to start…
“Was it personal when you tried to choke me to death ?”
…maybe not.
“Don’t start.” Bucky warns.
“Or maybe it was just your instinct ? You know, you identified a nuisance and tried to get rid of it ? As you were trained to do ?”
Bucky knows Zemo is pissed off and he’s just venting at this point. Still, it hurts.
“I don’t want to argue with you, Zemo. I am sick of it, I am taking you back on the raft.”
“It’s not about arguing, James.” Zemo looks almost offended, as if he were just being difficult, like a child. “You never gave me the chance to explain myself ! You put all your rage of past treasons on me and then you come back here when I am this close to finishing this case for what ? Because you can’t deal with your anger ?”
Bucky clenches his fist, more by frustration than anger. In a way, Zemo’s right but it pisses him off to even conceive that. Bucky is always led by his deepest emotions with Zemo and he doesn’t understand why.
“Let me show you what I found.”
Bucky may have trust issues, even more with Zemo, truthfully so but maybe Zemo has an explanation that makes sense. Maybe.
“Show me.” Bucky sighs, what is he thinking for fuck’s sake.
Zemo goes to the table and starts looking through the different papers.
“I discovered that it’s more than just a crazy scientist recreating the serum. He was paid to do so.” As he speaks he hands different documents supporting his claims. “I heard that he was employed by a man, called the German. He is called that even in Germany and precisely in Berlin. This man is working on some of Hydra's abandoned projects or experiments. For profit more than ideology.”
Bucky looks into his hands, documents, pictures, some bank statements, arrests of people working for him…Everything Zemo’s saying seems to be true and he did a thorough job nothing surprising but something’s bothering him. It has been bothering him since their last meeting.
“Why did you kill her Zemo ?” Bucky’s voice is low but firm.
Zemo freezes. He has expected this question but not now…At this moment Zemo realizes the real issue, what it’s all about. Her, the one he killed back at the airport. In a way her story was a reflection of Bucky’s, kidnapped, injected with the serum, trained to protect or to kill. With that in mind, Zemo chose his next words carefully.
“In the beginning of my research on Hydra, to destroy the Avengers. I encountered documents on experiments they did, a lot of which were unsuccessful and discontinued and not interesting for reaching my goal so I forgot about them. Yet, I remember a few that marked me, and one of them is this one.” Zemo grabs an umpteenth document and hands it to Bucky. “I only found this document mentioning its existence but I am sure of it.” Zemo clarifies.
Bucky studies it and almost wants to laugh. This document shows nothing except a fucking brief mention of a nanobomb inside people’s heads.
“Saying a stupid lie, is low. Even for you.” Bucky's eyes stay focused on the paper, aware that if he looks at Zemo he would surely punch him.
“Why would I lie about it, James ?”
“To protect your ass ! You would do anything to reach whatever goal you have !” Bucky snaps.
“James.” Zemo comes closer to him and it’s the last straw. Bucky grabs him by the collar and pushes him to the wall, only a few centimeters away from each other.
“You’re-“ Bucky cuts himself noticing a muffled sound, barely audible but fast as if it was going to burst. He looks down, at Zemo's chest, is it…it’s heartbeat ? Bucky raises his head and locks eye contact with Zemo who’s not showing anything but Bucky is not easily deceived. He notices a singular drop of sweat on Zemo’s temple, his heartbeat is this close to explode and him not moving an inch. Is he…scared ? Of him ?
Bucky sees himself a month ago, hands on Zemo’s neck, choking him. This vision makes him slowly release Zemo from his grip.
“You’re going back on the raft tomorrow.” Bucky looks away knowing that if he looks at Zemo again he will see his eyes, wide open quietly begging to let him go. “I am making a call.”
Bucky leaves the room and goes to the stairwell, he stays quiet for a moment. Thinking. What the fuck is wrong with him ? Zemo brings out the worst in him, every time. Why is he so angry at him ? Because of their past ? Bucky made peace with it, while making amends. Because Zemo’s a little shit ? Bucky basically works with dickheads and he considers them family. Because of what happened this time, when they jerked each other off ? As embarrassing as it is Bucky feels he was angry at him way before. The only answer Bucky can come up with right now is that Zemo is the one knowing him the most and it’s…irritating to say the least.
Bucky takes out his phone and makes a call.
“Hey, Yelena.” Bucky thinks for a few seconds, deciding whether or not he should ask about what Zemo said, or if he even wants to... “Could you…” He sighs. ”…look for Hydra documents mentioning a bomb implanted in people ? Anything related to mind control, brainwashing and exploding people with a nano bomb.”
“…Did you find Zemo ?” Yelena asks. “What did he tell you ?”
“Yes.” Looking for his next words, an itching sensation builds up in his neck, he scratches it. He’s not used to hesitating this much, when it comes to Zemo everything becomes confusing. “Zemo said some stuff…and if he’s right it means I made a big mistake.”
“He may not be the one in the wrong ?”
“Yes…”
“So you, may have attacked him for no reason?”
“…Yes.”
She explodes into a laugh, a mocking one. Even if he feels like shit, he’s a little relieved to hear her laugh. The past few months had been rough.
“Yelena.” He scowls nonetheless.
“Sorry, but it’s really funny.” She tries to calm her laughter, more or less succeeding. “It’s just, you usually do that”
“What ?”
“Act then ask questions later.” Bucky can feel her smile. Oh, she’s enjoying this, Bucky will hear about it for a long time. She will probably tell the team, if she hasn’t already. Fuck.
“Could you do what I asked or not ?”
“Yes, Bucky.” He hears her laugh one last time before she hangs up.
That’s…done, now he needs to go back to…Zemo. Bucky sighs, even thinking about going back in this room makes his head hurt. He grips the handrail, waiting for Yelena’s text. A sound makes him jump, his phone. He quickly grabs it and starts reading the few documents she managed to find.
There is the document Zemo showed him and a few more supporting Zemo’s theory, those documents have the Hydra’s seal on them. They talk about experiments, like implementing devices into people’s brains to control, putting a camera into their eyes or even an emergency system that makes those people explode.
Bucky raises his head from his phone, Zemo was right. Of course, he was, fuck.
As unappealing as it is, he goes back to the room. He opens the door and Zemo is sitting on the chair, with a drink of whisky in his hand.
“You made some calls ? You believe me now ?” Zemo doesn’t look at him, weirdly focusing on his drink.
Bucky feels bad. He should have asked questions before pushing Zemo, before strangling him…He was so angry, rethinking what Hydra did to him, he saw himself in this woman.
“You were right, Zemo.” Zemo gives him an indifferent look. “I’m sorry.” Now, he looks back at his drink and smiles.
“It’s not like you to apologize James, especially towards me.”
“Yes, and it shouldn’t.”
Zemo looks surprised, only for a moment then he recomposes himself.
“Are you letting me finish this mission or not ?” He asks.
“Let’s finish this.”
“Perfect, because I have a lead.” Zemo stands and goes to the table. “I know where to find him. It’s the same as usual.”
Bucky joins him. “What do you mean ?”
“We are going undercover at a rich party in a palace.” Bucky frowns, firstly because he will have to wear another fucking mask changing his face and secondly because he will have to socialize with stupid fancy rich people. “I see you making this face, don’t worry it’s a masked ball.” And now he has to disguise himself. Awesome.
“How did you get an invitation ?”
“I had to socialize with important people.” Bucky frowns at his vague answer but doesn’t press it. They say nothing for a while, an awkward feeling bearing over them , how can they go back to normal after what happened ? Well, they never had a normal relationship to begin with…
“You know, you really made my job more difficult, James.” Bucky raises an eyebrow. “It’s hard to ask questions when you can’t speak.” Zemo lowers his collar, showing some bruises all around his throat. “Strangulation can have this effect on people.”
Bucky tense. He never realized he squeezed this hard. Bucky was pondering if Zemo was hurt but he only thought about the explosion not his actions.
“Zemo, I didn’t think…I’m so-“
“Don’t be, James.” Zemo stands up and takes out a suit from the closet. “Wear this.” He puts it on the bed and throws white gloves on Bucky. Bucky takes a look at the tuxedo, it seems to be perfectly tailored to fit him.
“Did you know I was coming ?”
“Of course, you are not the type to quit. You would do anything to take revenge. You are an avenger, it’s in the title, isn’t it?” Zemo says it in a guileless manner. “I just wasn’t sure when you would find me.” He finishes raising his shoulders.
Bucky is at a loss of word, for once it’s not Zemo who fucked up and did him dirty. He feels like he deserves every snarky comment Zemo may say, surely Zemo knows that.
“The final touch.” He says as he reaches into a drawer, taking out a black mask, reassembling the one in masquerade balls. It’s pretty but simple, there’s an intricate lace pattern but nothing too fancy. Zemo comes closer to him and puts the mask in place seeing if it fits. Bucky wonders if Zemo thought about him while choosing it.
While he ties it, their faces naturally come closer, only a few centimeters away. They lock eyes, their heartbeats install a strange rhythm in the room. Bucky dives into this memory, a month ago on Zemo’s couch…
“Please shave for tonight.” Zemo breaks the proximity.
Bucky lingers on the warm feeling Zemo left, before processing what he just said. “The party is tonight ?”
“Yes, let’s not waste time.” He says as he takes out his own mask, similar’s to Bucky but burgundy. Of course.