The bright blue sky shone overhead as the unlikely group walked down the streets of Riga, Latvia. The detailed, tiled path under her feet was much more stunning than any concrete path in America.
The beautiful, white buildings lined the streets on either side as people mulled around. Y/n walked hand in hand with Bucky as Zemo led them towards one of his holiday homes.
"I heard what became of Sokovia. Cannibalized by its neighbours before the land was cleared of rubble, erased from the map. I don't suppose any of you bothered visiting the memorial? Of course not. Why would you? We are here." Zemo said as they walked towards a metal door.
"I'm gonna go on a walk." Bucky suddenly said, he gently released y/n's hand. She looked up at him with concern in her eyes.
"You good?" Sam asked in concern
"Yeah, I'll see you guys in a bit." He said before he turned around and walked away from them. Y/n watched as he retreated from them, making a mental note to ask him what was going on later.
She then turned around and followed Sam and Zemo up the steps toward the front door of his apartment.
The three of them walked along the hallway of the first floor. Y/n walked slowly behind them as her mind was occupied, she was worried about Bucky and why he had gone off.
Zemo stopped in front of a large double door that was black with a large window on top of it.
"Here we are." Zemo said as he unlocked the front door and pushed it open.
Y/n had to remind herself that Zemo was a Baron as she walked into the front room of his apartment. The architect was quite beautiful, if she was being honest.
The flooring was made up of different coloured mosaics in brown and blue, there was a couple of blue and gold pillars that held up the ceiling and glass stained windows that looked down onto the streets.
There was a large L shaped sofa in the center of the room with a small brown coffee table and a kitchen directly next to it. Y/n glanced around the room as she spun in a circle on her heels.
"Feel free to make yourselves comfortable, I'm going to freshen up." Zemo said before he disappeared behind one of the doors.
"Damn." Sam muttered as he glanced around and took a seat at the kitchen island.
"It's nice." Y/n admitted as she took a seat on the large L shaped sofa. She sighed gently as she glanced around the room.
"Do you think Buck's okay?" Y/n asked him
"I'm sure he is." Sam replied, attempting to comfort her
Y/n nodded gently as she tilted her head back and stared up at the intricate ceiling. She hoped he was. She knew he could handle himself, but that didn't stop her from worrying about him. Especially with everything he's been through.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After what felt like an eternity of sitting in silence that was actually only 10 minutes, Zemo's front door gently swung open to reveal Bucky. Y/n felt her body physically relax as she saw him again.
At the same time that Bucky walked in, Zemo opened up the bathroom door and stepped out with a towel in his hand with a purple robe on.
"Well, the Wakandans are here. They want Zemo. Bought us some more time." Bucky said as he walked into the room and headed towards Sam
"I'm not surprised." Y/n sighed as she sat up on the sofa
"Were you followed?" Sam asked him
"No." Bucky said
"How can you be so sure?" Zemo asked
"Cause I know when I'm being followed." Bucky replied
"It was sweet of you to defend me at least." Zemo said
"Hey, you shut it. No one's defending you. You killed Nagel." Sam said
"Do we really have to litigate what may or may not have happened?" Zemo asked
"There's nothing to litigate. You straight shot the man." Sam said
"Exactly. We were there. We saw you. And if it comes down to fighting the Wakandans or giving you up. I know which one I'll choose." Y/n said as she pushed herself up off of the sofa and walked over to the kitchen island.
"Sam. Y/n." Bucky said
"What?" Sam and y/n asked at the same time as they both looked over at Bucky. Y/n walked over to him and stood next to him as he held his phone in his hand.
"Karli bombed a GRC supply depot." Bucky said
"What? What's the damage?" Sam asked him
"Eleven injured, three dead. They have a list of demands and are promising more attacks if those demands aren't met." Bucky replied
Sam signed heavily. Y/n glanced over Bucky's shoulder at his phone as he had the news article open.
"She's getting worse. I have the will to complete this mission. Do the three of you?" Zemo asked them
"She's just a kid." Sam argued
"You're seeing something in her that isn't there. You're clouded by it. She's a supremacist. The very concept of a super soldier will always trouble people. It's that warped aspiration that led to Nazis, to Ultron, to the Avengers." Zemo said
"Those are our friends you're talking about." Sam said
"The avengers, not the Nazis." Bucky spoke up from beside y/n
"So Karli is radicalised, but there has to be a peaceful way to stop her." Sam said
"The desire to become a superhuman cannot be separated from supremacist ideals. Anyone with that serum is inherently on that path. She will not stop. She will escalate until you kill her. Or she kills you." Zemo stated
"Maybe you're wrong, Zemo. The serum never corrupted Steve." Bucky said
Y/n nodded along with his comment. "Or you." She added, it was HYDRA that corrupted him, not the serum.
"Touché. But there has never been another Steve Rogers, has there?" Zemo asked, he had a round biscuit attached to the end of his finger as he pointed it in the air.
"And you. Your assassin boyfriend wasn't corrupted?" Zemo asked rhetorically
"HYDRA did that. Not the serum." Y/n stated firmly with narrowed eyes.
Bucky walked away from the kitchen island and began to make his way towards the sofa. "Well, maybe we should give him to the Wakandans right now."
"And you'll give up your tour guide?" Zemo asked
"Yes." Bucky replied
"From my understanding, Donya is like a pillar of the community, right?" Sam asked. "So, when I was a kid, my titi passed away."
"Your titi?" Bucky hesitatently asked in confusion from the couch.
"Yeah, my titi, yeah." Sam nodded
"Who is your titi?" Bucky asked
"Fine. When I was a kid, my aunt passed away and the entire neighbourhood got together for a ceremony. It was like a week long. Maybe they're doing the same thing for Donya." Sam elaborated
"Worth a shot." Bucky said
"Your titi would be proud of you." Zemo said, he then held up a white packet and shook it in the air. "Turkish delight." He threw one over to Sam who caught it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y/n walked slowly through the front gate of the displacement camp where Donya had died, they wanted to see if they were holding a large funeral for her so they would be able to track down Karli. She didn't want to have to hunt down the girl at a funeral, but it's the only place they can guarantee she will be at.
Bucky has his arm wrapped around her waist as they walked into the courtyard.
"Shame what's become of this place. When I was young, We used to come here for fabulous dinners and parties. I know nothing of the politics of the time, of course, but I remember it being beautiful." Zemo said
Y/n glanced around as they stepped into the courtyard and stopped just outside it. There were several people in the courtyard who were doing different tasks and keeping to themselves. There was a wrinkled poster stuck to the wall that read "Reset. Restore. Rebuild." By the GRC.
"I'm gonna take a look around upstairs. See what you can find out here. And keep an eye on him." Sam said to Bucky and Y/n. He then turned on his heels and walked away from them.
Zemo held his hands up. "I'll stay out of your way."
Y/n rolled her eyes as she and Bucky began to walk through the courtyard with Zemo trailing after them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y/n sighed gently as she walked over to Bucky and stood by his side again. She gently placed her head on his shoulder as she looked out at the courtyard.
"Any luck?" Bucky asked her
"Nope. You?" She asked him in return. She had been walking around this place asking people if they had any information about Donya or a funeral, but no one would tell her anything.
"No." Bucky said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close to his side.
"Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?" Zemo's voice suddenly rang out around the courtyard.
Y/n glanced over at the man and furrowed her brows in confusion. "What is he doing?" She whispered to Bucky.
"Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full one for the master, one for the dame, one for the little girl who lives down the lane." Zemo continued to sing as he picked up a brown stool and sat it down in front of him.
He then opened up a brown paper bag and emptied it onto the stool in front of him, several wrapped sweets fell out of the bag and onto the seat.
A couple of children had come up to him to see what he was doing, his strange antics had caught their attention.
"Turkish delight. It was always my son's favorite." Zemo Said to a Young Girl who hesitatingly reached out and grabbed one of the sweets from the stool.
"My old friend, Donya, passed away. Did you know her?" Zemo asked the girl
"Yes." She nodded
"I would like to pay my last respects. Do you know where her funeral will be?" Zemo asked her. The girl nodded quickly and Zemo gestured for her to tell him by pointing to his ear.
She scurried over and lent down to whisper to Zemo. Y/n went to listen in to what the girl was saying, but the sound of footsteps distracted her and caused her to shoot her head around.
Sam had come back down from upstairs and had come to stand next to y/n and Bucky. Y/n gave him a small smile and turned back to look at Zemo and the young girl.
"It's starting to feel like a dead end." Sam said to the both of them
"The hell is he doing?" Bucky asked. Referring to Zemo and the girl.
The young girl then stepped away from Zemo and Zemo stood up from his chair. He walked over to the young girl and began to speak to her again.
"Do you see these men and that woman there? They're very bad. Not to be trusted. Donya is our little secret, okay?" He asked her as he held out a handful of Turkish delight. Zemo and the girl mimicked zipping their lips before he handed her the sweets.
"Asshole." Y/n muttered quietly at Zemo
"What did he say?" Bucky asked her.
"That we Are Bad and not to be trusted. But I think he has information on Donya, can't be sure though." Y/n said quietly to him as Zemo approached them again.
"Cute kids." He said as he walked past them and out of the courtyard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, I got nothin' no one's talkin' about Donya." Bucky announced as they entered Zemo's apartment once again.
"Yeah, it's because Karli is the only one fighting for them." Sam said
Bucky took a seat on the L shaped sofa and Y/n took a seat next to him. Bucky automatically placed his right hand on her thigh. Sam sat down on the other side of the sofa.
"And she's not wrong." Sam added
"What do you mean?" Bucky asked
"For five years, people have been welcomed into countries that have kept them out using barbed wire. There were houses and Jobs. Folks were happy to have people around to help them rebuild. It wasn't just one community coming together, it was the entire world coming together. And then, boom. Just like that, it goes right back to the way it used to be. To them, at least Karli's doing something." Sam said
"You really think her ends justify her means?" Bucky asked him. "Then, she's no different than him or anybody else we've fought."
"She's different. She's not motivated by the same things." Sam said
Zemo walked up to them with a tray of drinks in his hands that he had been preparing in the kitchen.
"That little girl, what'd she tell you?" Bucky asked him
"The funeral is this afternoon." Zemo said as he lowered down and placed the tray onto the table in front of them.
"You know the Dora's coming for you any minute. In fact, they're probably lurking outside right now. Keep talking." Bucky said
"Leaving you go turn on me once we get to Karli, hmm. I prefer to keep my leverage." Zemo answered
Bucky suddenly let go of Y/n and stood up from the sofa. He sauntered over to Zemo and suddenly grabbed the glass that was in his hand and threw it aggressively at the wall.
"You wanna see what someone can do with leverage?" Bucky asked him threateningly.
Sam stood up from his seat and put his hand between the two of them. "Take it Easy. Don't engage him." Sam warned
"He's just gonna extort you and do that stupid head tilt thing." Sam said
Y/n almost laughed when Zemo froze and quickly lifted his head up straight.
"Let me make a call." Sam said. Sam walked away from them but Bucky did not shit. He continued to stare angrily at Zemo. If Looks could kill, Zemo would drop dead.
Y/n stood up from her seat and walked over to the two of them. She gently placed her hand on Bucky's shoulder.
"You want some cherry blossom tea?" Zemo asked Bucky
"No, you go ahead." Bucky stated before he turned and walked towards the bedrooms.
Y/n glanced at Zemo over her shoulder as she started to follow after Bucky. "You're lucky Sams here. I wouldn't stop him." She turned away from him and followed Bucky.