||Safe House||

I'm woken up to the sound of a car door closing.

Shit! When did I fall asleep?!

I shift in my seat quickly as my door is opened.

"Good, you're awake," Zemo says, "I don't have to carry you then."

He starts walking away and towards a cabin.

I unbuckle and get out, quickly checking that my phone is still in my sports bra, before I close the door and follow him.

We're surrounded by trees, the chirping of crickets, frogs, and other night creatures awake and lively.

He opens the door, flicking on the lights as he waits for me to enter. He quickly closes and locks the door once I do.

It's small and quaint, almost like some of the cabins I used to stay at in Gatlinburg, Tennessee with my family when I was a kid. A decent sized kitchen is to my left, a small circle dining table to my right, a love seat and arm chair sit past the dining table, with a tv mounted to the wall. There's a stair case to the left of the living room leading up to what I assume to be bedrooms.

"There's a half restroom there," Zemo points to a door just past the kitchen, "the one with the shower is upstairs in the master bedroom."

He walks around me and to the kitchen where he pulls out a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. He pours two glasses and slides one across the counter to me before taking a sip of his own.

"Not even gonna ask how old I am?" I take a sip of the alcohol, loving the burn on the way down.

"Doesn't really matter," he shrugs, setting his glass down, "you definitely seem like you need it after the day you've had."

"Fair enough," I take another drink.

"But just out of curiosity," he continues, "how old are you, Darling?"

Heart don't even think about it.

"I'm twenty-two," I say setting down the now empty glass.

"Care for another?" He fills up is own glass as I slide mine to him.

"Why the fuck not," I sigh leaning against the counter.

"Hmm, such a foul word, coming from a pretty mouth," he hand me back my glass, now full again.

"Trust me, it could be a lot worse," I take a sip and set down the glass as a stare at the counter.

"I'm sure it could," he take another sip and I can feel his eyes burning holes into me.

I recall the last time I went out for drinks. A man kept staring at me then tried to get me to go home with him. He wasn't too happy when I said no and tried to man handle me. I knees him in the balls and slammed his face into the bar.
Good times.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Huh?" I look up at him.

"You started smiling," he gestures to me, "so what were you thinking about?"

I chuckle and look back down at my glass.

"Just the marvelous time I had last time I went for drinks," I down the rest of the drink, "and you know it's never a good time until you've broken someone's nose."

"Is that so?"

"Yep," I pop the 'p', "especially when it comes to grabby assholes that think women only ever go to a bar to get laid."

I walk to the restroom and shut the door, leaving Zemo to simmer over what I said.

I don't completely trust what he said about not raping women. I want him to know that I'm not just gonna let that happen either. I don't care if I've had fantasies of him fucking me senseless, this Zemo isn't that Zemo. This is the Zemo that was willing to shoot me without second thought.











I sit on the love seat watching RED on TV. Zemo is upstairs showering. I nearly went up there at one point to ask if I could join but thought better of it.

He comes down not long after in only a robe that exposes a decent amount of his chest. I quickly look away as his eyes find me sitting on the couch with my knees to my chest.

"So what exactly is this place?" I ask as he sits in the arm chair.

"It's a safe house I had built years ago in case I needed it," he says his eyes trained on the TV.

"Oh," Im not sure what else to say, "why were they trying to kill you?"

He's silent for a while.

"Do you know who I am?" He asks instead of answering me, "you have yet to ask me my name."

"You're Baron Helmut Zemo, you were from Sekovia until the Avengers destroyed it," I say, "you lost your wife and daughter when they did. You split the team apart and had them fighting one another as you used them like puppets as you killed the other super soldiers HYDRA made."

He nods, still not looking at me.

"Indeed," he confirms.

"Good work with that by the way," I look back at the tv as his eyes find me.

"What?"

"Killing the other super soldiers," I shrug, "good work. And the lengths you went to, to tear the Avengers apart was impressive. I don't think I could ever plan something that well to save my life."

He stares at me as if he's trying to piece something together.

"You are very confusing," he finally says, "you beg for me to let you go, you don't want me near you, you make a indirect threat to me, but then you commend me for what I've done."

"I didn't beg."

"You were crying."

"Cuz you had a gun to my neck."

"Still begging."

"Listen here you little shit," I look at him sternly, "I don't beg."

"Sure looked like begging to me," he turns back to the tv.

"You never answered my question," I say turning off the tv.

"I was watching that," he turns to me annoyed.

"And I asked a question," I bring my feet to the floor and lean forward a bit, "why were they trying to kill you?"

He sighs.

"I'm not sure," he says with a shrug.

"Bull shit."

"I truly don't know," he presses, "I was living peacefully for a year after I was released from prison and then they showed up today accusing me of something I didn't do."

"Which was?"

"According to the journal I once had to control the Winter Soldier, HYDRA was developing a way to open portals to other dimensions or realities," he explains, "they said that they were receiving warnings of some sort of energy spike the last few weeks somewhere near where I was living. The believed I was attempting to create what HYDRA failed to."

"So they just assumed the worst and tried to arrest you."

He nods, though it wasn't a question.

"So why did you threaten to kill me if you're innocent?"

"Better to look like the monster the believe you to be, than to appear weak."

That I can understand.

"Would you have actually shot me?"

"If I had needed to, yes," he says plainly, "luckily that need did not come."

I nod and turn the tv back on.

Maybe I can trust him.



~~~~~~~~
I hope you guys like this so far!! I'm actually having a lot of fun writing it!! Tell me what you think!!

~Milo💜


© ~0ptical_Illusion