nerves_of_ice | [Leipzig AU] a means to a necessary end

He keeps himself from running across the room to her cryo chamber with a ragged effort of will, and promises himself that Zemo will pay for this. Bucky moves slowly into the room, looking for the man, scanning the other chambers and noting as he does that each Soldier's been executed with a single shot to the head.

"What the hell?" he mutters, fingers flexing on his gun as Zemo continues.

"But I'm grateful to them," the man offers, like that makes this horror any better. "They brought you here."

A second switch clicks, and another yellow light illuminates Zemo's face where he stands in blackness across the room.

He and Tony turn as one as the light flicks on; in another heartbeat, he's sent the shield winging its way directly at the man's face.

It ricochets off the thick wall of steel he's hiding behind, and as Steve catches it and slips it back onto his arm, Zemo smiles, a little indulgently. "Please, Captain," he says.

"The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"Bettin' I could beat that," calls Tony, as he and Steve flank the silo Zemo's hiding in, Bucky pacing slowly towards the other side.

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

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here," Steve says. Bucky can hear the anger in his voice.

He himself holds his silence and continues circling across from Steve and Tony, moving down the line of cryo chambers and towards the one Sharon's in while Steve approaches the wall where Zemo's standing on the other side of the blast chamber window.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year."

The need for vengeance rises through him again like righteous fire, giving each word a rage-fueled intensity. They're here. They're here, all three of them, after all his patience and grueling work. Below the sightline of the window, his hands are clenched into tight, bloodless fists.

"I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized... there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes."

Zemo smiles, sharp as a blade. "How nice to find a flaw."

Steve moves, step by slow step, until he's finally face to face with the man who has done so much, killed so many and hurt so many more, just to have this moment.

Zemo watches him back through the shatterproofed glass, that small, triumphant smile still playing about his lips. There's nothing of the madman's haze in his eyes; they're as clear as water. "You're Sokovian," Steve says, ignoring the attempt at prodding him.

"Is that what this is about?"

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No."

His fingernails etch red half-moons into his palms, but he keeps his voice calm and quiet, even as the grief and rage spills cold through him, as his eyes, so steady, begin to gloss with the tears he won't shed.

("You should have seen his little face. Just try, okay? I'm going to bed. I love you.")

"I'm here because I made a promise."

Only a little more, he tells himself, tells her. A little more, and this will all be over.

Rogers considers him for a long moment, and he wants to sneer at it, the fabled Steve Rogers empathy. His compassion. "We know you lost someone," Rogers says, and there's a long moment as he struggles with himself, a battle that plays out in minute flickers across his face and in his flat stare.

"I lost... " Each word is ripped from him; each word is ruthlessly dragged down into his quiet, level tone. "Everyone. And so will you."

With that promise, he finally looks away, then flicks another switch.

Edited 2022-02-28 01:02 (UTC)

He's aware of Tony moving out slightly, covering space between himself and Steve as Steve tries to engage with Zemo. Bucky keeps a sharp awareness out for other threats as he reaches the base of Sharon's cryo chamber.

A quick glance across the console and readouts tells him that she's stable, and he has to fight the surge of relief that threatens to weaken his knees. Although everything in him screams for him to unlock the chamber, he holds off for now, bitterly aware that this isn't anywhere near over.

Zemo does something, and Bucky jerks his weapon toward a screen nearby as it flickers to life. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again," the man tells them, as Bucky stares in sick realization at the date stamp on the screen.

16 Декабрь 1991.

"But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever."

Tony was right, Bucky realizes, numbly. All of this was to set them against each other, to set Steve and Tony against each other, using him as the weapon to shatter them apart.

A monitor flickers to life, and Tony slowly paces to see the screen, the stark white date already reflecting in Steve's wary eyes.

December 16, 1991.

"I know that road," he hears himself say, his eyes locked on the grainy security footage. He knows that road. He knows this date. He knows what comes next, and indeed a car comes hurtling off the road, out of control, and smashes so hard against a tree that it bounces back again, hood crumpled and engine steaming.

He feels it in his chest, but he can't stop watching. Not as the motorcycle pulls up nearby. Not as the uncaring tall figure in black comes around to the driver's side door, his metal left arm glimmering in the glow of the single streetlight.

Tony doesn't look away, his chest and shoulders rising and falling with his rapid, shallow breaths as the Winter Soldier drags his father from the car. He can hear his mother calling for him, hears Howard's confused voice saying Sergeant Barnes?

Each hit feels like it hits him. Slam. Slam. As if in a dream, he hears his mother weeping, sees the Soldier carefully put Howard's body back into the car before he comes around the car.

After another moment, there's no sound but that of his own harsh breathing, and the gunshot that ends the video.

They're standing on the edge of disaster. He watches Tony's face as Tony watches his parents die, sees the way he winds tighter and tighter.

"Tony," Steve says, low, and Tony glances at him, his eyes burning and furious, then lunges toward Bucky as Steve grabs him by the shoulders. "Tony, no!"

He can feel Tony trembling even through the alloy of the Iron Man suit, but the other man turns to face Steve once more, his face distraught, every line in it carved deep. For a long moment, they stare at each other.

"I know," Tony says, finally. It looks like it costs him. Steve's fingers relax, very slightly, as Tony breathes deep. "Watch your eyes, Cap," he says, low and intent, and his helmet and faceplate snap back into place as he wheels, lifting both palms to the silo window and firing both repulsers at their highest intensity.

Edited 2022-02-28 01:38 (UTC)

He watches himself on the monitor, although he doesn't need to. He can see it clear in his own mind's eye at any time, by just thinking about it, every detail, every nuance, and is horribly aware of the tension thrumming through Tony Stark as he watches his nightmare unfold in front of him.

Bucky jerks to the side away from Sharon as Tony spins to face him, his weapon half-rising by reflex before he gets himself under control. If Tony tries to kill him, at least the shock won't hit her, not if she's out of the direct line. He can draw the fire away from her. If Tony succeeds, Steve can get her out. If--

Steve grabs Tony by the shoulders and calls his name, and Bucky remains frozen still and silent as the two of them stare at each other in silent communication. He's dimly aware of Zemo edging closer to the window, watching.

And then Tony spins and fires at Zemo, lighting up the missile silo with the force of his repulsers as they whine with increasing intensity, and Bucky makes a break for the corridor that leads to the access door for the control chamber.

Zemo can't escape. He won't let it happen.

Edited 2022-02-28 01:49 (UTC)

No.

He steps back from the window, reflexive, even as his logical mind tells him the blast will not get through.

This shouldn't be possible. Everything he's learned about them both says his plan should have worked. Steve Rogers, faced with losing his best friend all over again, should be leaping to his defense. Tony Stark, emotional hotbed of anxiety and grief and strain, should be trying to kill Barnes for the murder of his parents.

But none of it is working as he thought it would, even with the girl. Steve Rogers, who so famously loved and lost Peggy Carter, ought to have run to his beloved to ensure her safety. Her presence should be pushing the strain of the situation even further, make them even easier to break.

Was he mistaken? Was he mistaken in all of this?

The light in the window dies down, and Zemo snarls at Tony Stark's implacable faceplate, then jams a finger on the intercom button once more.

This plan may not have succeeded, but he is by no means finished. "Zilánie," he shouts, the word echoing in the nearly empty cavern of the facility core.

"NO! DON'T!"

His scream is full-throated with agony and the bone-chilling terror that Tony's gift won't work, that Zemo will claim him and own him and turn the Winter Soldier against them.

He skids to a stop before leaving the chamber, his left hand throwing up sparks from the metal rail that he grabs on to in order to slow his momentum. Steve and Tony have to be able to see him, need to be able to stop him if -- if --

With a shaking hand, he slings his weapon from him and kicks it across the floor, just in case, then frantically scrabbles to tap the end of the earpiece and waits, breathless.

Edited 2022-02-28 02:12 (UTC)

"Bucky!"

But as he lunges for his best friend, Tony's armored hand slams against his chest. Steve looks at him, desperate, and sees the same horror in Tony's eyes. "Don't," Tony warns. "Don't get too close."

It means Steve's thrumming with tension, like a racehorse at the starting gate, every cell in him begging him to run, to get to Bucky now.

Zemo's voice echoes as he snarls each word into the air, and Steve can't take his eyes off Bucky, hoping desperately that Tony's earplugs will work.

They will, they have to, Tony's work is solid –

"Gruzavój vagón!" The words echo a moment, then everything dies into silence. Steve can't hear anything but the rasp of his breath and the thunder of his heart as he strains against himself. "Bucky?" he asks, unable to contain it.

"Soldat," says Zemo, grimly triumphant.

He can't hear anything. He can't hear anything, except for the panicked drumming of his own heart inside his ears. It worked. They're safe. Only--

He knows down to his bones how long it takes to go through the sequence, knows what he'd look like and feel if it did. The idea springs full-formed into his mind and he runs with it, slowly straightening to stand perfectly still. He sees his best friend's lips form a familiar word, his name, and knows what Zemo must be doing now.

Slowly, he turns to face the man behind the window, keeping his gaze expressionless and empty. As he does, he holds his hand low against his leg, slightly behind his thigh, out of Zemo's sight, and gives one of the hand signals the Howling Commandos had used all those years ago. Don't worry. Disregard.

"готовность к выполнению," he tells Zemo, and watches the man's lips carefully.

"Fuck – " hisses Tony, and Steve feels the repulser in the armored palm begin to vibrate, warming up.

"Wait," he says, immediate, his eyes locked on Bucky's hand, not his face. Don't worry. Disregard.

Tony slants a glance at him, but does as he's asked. "You better be right about this, Cap," he mutters, sotto voce.

He grips the edge of the desk nearby hard enough it feels as though his fingers will snap, but the triumphant wave that rushes through him when the Soldier straightens and replies, dead-eyed and still, is worth it all.

Every drop of blood. Every wound. Every sleepless night.

Zemo smiles. "Kill them," he orders.

Edited 2022-02-28 02:39 (UTC)

He spins to face the two of them where they stand together, turning his back to his 'handler' as he would without thought if he were truly under Zemo's control, and gives a deliberate wink.

"Run," he mouths, his face hidden from the man behind him. "Get Zemo." With no more time for warnings or for anything else, the Winter Soldier leaps forward into a flat run, charging at the two of them.

Steve hears Tony's disbelieving huff of breath that's almost a laugh as relief rushes through him.

"Tony, go!" he shouts, setting the shield in front of himself. "I'll hold him!"

It's the last thing he can say before there's a clash of metal fist on vibranium shield, and he grunts as he braces against the attack. "Let's make it look good, pal," he mutters, and springs backward to fling the shield directly at Bucky's face.

His actions are minutely slower than usual, but the only other person who might be able to notice is the one he's currently pretending to fight.

Repulsers whine as Tony kicks off into the air, dodging the attack as it comes and fleeing for what looks like another corridor off to the side.

"FRIDAY," he snaps. "Get me into that silo."

He twists as if he's going to follow Tony and lets himself take the blow Steve gives him, using the momentum to throw himself into a shoulder roll that conceals when he deactivates the earpiece so he can hear again. He has to be able to hear, in case of any other commands, any threat to Sharon, anything else that he'll need to react to.

It's not unlike running one of the training exercises the two of them had done, just a fraction slower than deadly, a scaled down version of their battles in D.C. Bucky snatches the shield from the air as Steve flings it at him and holds it in front of himself, then sweeps it back in a blow that bounces off the floor to catch him in the gut and follows up with another kick.

They have to make it look good, this murderous show for a murderous man. They have to buy Tony time.

He barrels into the silo control room with a scream of his repulsers, every nerve on alert as data dances across his HUD.

It's empty. "FRIDAY?!" he demands, fear rising in his throat. "Where the hell is he?"

Working on it, boss, FRIDAY says, and lights up his HUD with a real-time tracker on Zemo's heat signature.

Tony studies it, the path he's taking, and swears viciously. "All right," he mutters. "Hold on. Things are about to get as fast as my freshman year girlfriend."

He'd evaded Stark easily enough, and now he slips through the bowels of the facility, quickly making his way to the center chamber where the battle still rages.

His plan will still succeed. If Stark kills the Soldier, Rogers will never forgive him. If the Soldier manages to kill either, the Avengers lose one of their greatest captains.

And if Steve Rogers insists on not playing the game, well –

There are ways he can force his hand.

Zemo slips into the main chamber and takes up position before whistling, sharp and loud. "Soldat," he calls. "That is enough. Stop."

Edited 2022-02-28 03:30 (UTC)

He rolls free of Steve and across the chamber floor for as far as he thinks he can get away with before climbing to his feet and standing still to await further orders. Bucky keeps his deliberately-empty gaze fixed on Zemo while he waits.

Where the hell is Tony? Fear rages through him, but he doesn't let it show. He can't afford to let anything show.

Edited 2022-02-28 03:35 (UTC)

"You know, Captain," Zemo says, his tone conversational as he lifts the handgun from the back of his waist band, "I've learned so much about you over this past year. Your past, your present, your abilities."

Idly, he checks the magazine, then clicks it home and thumbs off the safety. "I know how strong you are, how quickly you heal. And I know how fast you are. For example –"

In the blink of an eye, he has the gun up and aimed directly at the forehead of the sleeping Sharon Carter, unknowing in the cryo chamber. "You might be able to stop one or save the other," he finishes. "But not both. Choose, Captain."

Lifting his voice, he calls to the Soldier. "Tony Stark is in the silo control room. Kill him."

Edited 2022-02-28 03:48 (UTC)

Terror rips through him, chilling his blood. Zemo may claim to know Steve's abilities, but Bucky does, just as well as he knows his own, and two things are immediately evident:

Steve's in range to put himself between Sharon and a bullet. He himself is not.

Everything in him howls for him to try anyway. But he can't. He can't. It's not that he'd blow the illusion of control. It's that Zemo's too good a shot. The bodies of the five Soldiers are silent testimony to that. Every single wound is right in the center of the forehead, perfectly placed. Steve's fast enough to stop one shot and strong enough to take it, but Bucky knows all too well that too many bullets will leave him vulnerable - which will give Zemo the opportunity to kill him and Sharon both.

He trusts Steve. He trusts him absolutely, and that trust has never been misplaced. Bucky makes the conscious choice to trust him again now, and turns toward the silo control room.

Edited 2022-02-28 03:59 (UTC)

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