The Hurt And The Healing: Bucky X OC

Chapter Fifty Eight: If There's A Good Man In You

"All I'm saying is that Zemo is about to go back into a small box for the rest of his life. He's going to be snippy," Sam warned as he and Bucky loaded their bags onto the plane.

"And all I'm saying is that the man is always snippy," Bucky retorted with an eye roll. "It's like his thing. Being a snippy little shit."

"No, his thing is fucking with people's heads because it gives him a sense of control. We all do things to feel stable when our environment is unstable," he lectured. "You do it. Don't you remember how much of an ass you were when we first started working together?"

Bucky actually had to pause and turn to face Sam, squinting at him as if he wondered whether he'd just hallucinated.

"You mean when I was on the run from the entire world and half the Avengers were trying to kill me?" he asked dryly.

"No, I mean last year," Sam explained, shouldering past Bucky to make sure the bags were secured. "When the whole Walker thing started. You were an ass."

"Did I hurt your feelings?" Bucky replied sarcastically.

"You're doing it right now!" Sam laughed as he turned to face him. "Any time people start to get too close to you or your feelings, you deflect with humor or try to change the subject to something that makes the other person uncomfortable. It gives you a sense of control." Bucky crossed his arms but waited, knowing that Sam had to burn himself out before he'd shut the hell up. "Zemo does the same thing, except for him pissing people off makes him feel like he's in control. He knows that he's a little shit, Buck. And he knows that you could kill him without breaking a sweat. So he tries to control your anger at him, getting you to let off steam in little spurts so that you don't blow up."

Bucky scoffed and rocked back on his heels.

"So what, last night was him trying to make me relax?"

"Not relax, per se. I think he was worried that you would realize that you just killed Movoniv for trying to do what Zemo technically did back in Berlin and make him pay," Sam explained. "He's been awful for as long as we've known him, and I honestly think he's always been a bad man. But losing his family the way that he did-" Sam whistled and shook his head. "Even a good man would go a little crazy."

"I had nothing to do with his family dying," Bucky muttered. Zemo was one of the few people who hated him that he hadn't personally hurt. Hell, Nonna had more of a reason to hate Bucky than Zemo did.

"And he doesn't hate you for that," Sam said solemnly. "He hates you because he had to feel powerless once and instead of using that pain to help others he turned it into rage against anyone stronger than him. And super soldiers are a killable target."

"That's reassuring."

"Well, it's the truth. Know thine enemy, right?"

Bucky scowled and shifted his weight. Four hours. He just had to survive Zemo for four hours and then he would be in Wakanda and he'd never have to see the rat-faced bastard again. But every minute that Sam talked just added time to the clock, and he was growing impatient.

"I'm not excusing his behavior, Buck," Sam sighed. "I'm just explaining it. A super soldier and an Avenger are escorting him back to the Raft. The only way he is leaving that box in something other than a casket is if we let him. He's powerless and terrified and honestly?" He arched a single brow and Bucky braced himself for whatever Sam was about to say. "I think he'd rather you kill him than send him back to a cell."

"And I shouldn't do that because?"

"Well I could try to argue ethics and morals with you, but let's settle for a: he'd die feeling like he beat you, and b: you promised Shuri to bring him back alive," Sam reminded him.