彡

❛ your hands are scarred from murder ❜

episode four, season one

( TW: mentions of su*cide )

Hestia was dozing off on the couch - in the really beautiful house that Zemo owned, may she add - when Bucky entered. She straightened up as she stood up on the couch and looked at him.

"Well, the Wakandans are here. They want Zemo." Bucky announced as he sat down on the couch next to her. "Bough us some more time."

"Were you followed?" Sam asked from the bar as Zemo sat next to him, pouring himself a drink. Hestia wondered how big his alcohol tolerance was since she saw him drink practically every minute of every day.

"No."

Zemo looked through the window. "How can you be so sure?"

Hestia smirked lazily. "He has this thing where he knows when he's being followed. I just like to call it paranoia."

Bucky rolled his eyes as he stretched his metal arm around the back of the couch, where she was sitting. "It's not paranoia."

"Oh yeah, now I remember." Hestia snorted. "It's like a third eye. Dr Strange approved and all that shit."

"It's not a third eye." Bucky grumbled, sending her a playful look. "It's a sense."

"Oh, you sense the person following you? Like an aura?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Hestia rolled her eyes as she patted his chest. "Whatever you say, grandpa."

He caught her hand to his chest before she could take it and raised his eyebrows. "What did I say about you calling me that, huh?"

"I don't recall you saying anything."

"I was going to thank you for defending me." Zemo sipped on his drink as he watched the two while Sam made a disgusted sound from where he stood. "But I'd rather not."

"No one was defending you, anyway." Sam shot back, looking at Zemo. "You killed Nagel."

Bucky looked through his phone while Hestia peaked over his shoulder as Zemo spoke. "Do we really have to litigate what may or may not have happened?"

"There's nothing to litigate. You straight shot the man."

"Sam." Bucky said from beside Hestia, standing up with the phone in his hand.

"What?"

Hestia sighed as she stood up after Bucky and sat on a chair at the bar. "Karli bombed a GRC supply depot."

"What?" Sam looked at her startled. "What's the damage?"

"Eleven injured. Three dead." Bucky's eyebrows furrowed. "They have a list of demands and are promising more attacks if those demands aren't met."

"She's getting worse." Zemo pointed out.

"Oh, really?" Hestia muttered in exhaustion.

Zemo continued after giving Hestia a glass of vodka. "I have a will to complete this mission. Do the three of you?"

"She's just a kid."

Zemo looked at Sam. "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."

"You're talking about our friends."

"The avengers." Hestia pointed at him as she downed her vodka in one go.

Bucky sighed. "Not the Nazis."

"So Karli is radicalized, but there has to be a peaceful way to stop her."

Zemo drank some more. "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."

"Maybe you're wrong, Zemo." Bucky leaned on the counter, his hands in his pockets. "The serum never corrupted Steve."

"Touché." Zemo pointed at him. "But there has never been another Steve Rogers, has there?" he looked pointedly at Sam before walking to the fridge.

Bucky walked and sat on the couch, Hestia not far behind. "Well, maybe we should just give him to the Wakandans now?"

"And give up your tour guide?"

"Yes!"

Hestia looked at Bucky. "He's rich, Buck. First we take his money, then we give him back." she raised an eyebrow.

Bucky snorted.

"From my understanding, Donya is like a pillar of the community, right?" Sam asked no one in particular. "So, when I was a kid, my Titi passed away."

Hestia choked on air. "Your what?"

"Yeah, my Titi."

Bucky looked at Sam weird. "Who is your Titi?"

"Fine." Sam rolled his eyes. "When I was a kid, my aunt passed away and the entire neighborhood got together for a ceremony. It was like a week long. Maybe they're doing the same thing for Donya."

"I knew there was a reason I remained friends with you." Hestia smirked as she pointed at Sam.

"I saved your ass." Sam scoffed.

Hestia stood up to get some water. "As if."

"You were weak as hell when- Ow, stop hitting me, you mean woman!" Sam yelped as she hit him over the head.

"Stop giving me a reason to hit you, Samantha."

Zemo threw some turkish delight at Sam. "Your... Titi would be proud."

━━━━━━━

"How is it that he's always in the lead?"

Bucky shrugged at her question as the four of them walked in the building where Donya died.

"Shame what's become of this place." Zemo noted as they watched kids play around. "When I was young, we used to come here for fabulous dinners and parties. I knew nothing of politics at the time, of course, but I remember it being beautiful."

"I'm gonna take a look around upstairs." Sam announced. "See what you can find out here. And keep an eye on him." Sam gestured towards Zemo.

Hestia sighed as she made eye contact with Bucky. She gave him a mock salute as she went to look around, only to find nothing. People were leaving the rooms that she was entering, they were avoiding her eyes and some stared at her hands in horror, probably because of her powers. Hestia kept them in her pockets from then on.

She eventually met up with Sam and Bucky. "Anything?" she asked curiously. They both shook their heads and then the three turned and watched Zemo talk to a little girl before gesturing to them. Hestia narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.

"The hell is he doing?"

Hestia watched as Zemo gave the children turkish delight while looking back at them a little.

Not long after, Zemo walked back towards them, a smile on his face. "Cute kids."

━━━━━━━

"I got nothin'. No one's talking about Donya."

Hestia trudged back in the house, adjusting her leather jacket around her. She plopped on the couch and Bucky and Sam joined her.

"Yeah, it's because Karli is the only one fighting for them. And she's not wrong."

Bucky sighed, putting his arm back around the couch where Hestia was sitting. "What do you mean?"

Hestia refrained from making a Justin Bieber refrence.

"For five years, people have been welcomed into countries that have kept them out using barbwire. 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 the boom, just like that, it goes right back to the way it used to be. To them, at least Karli's doing something." Sam explained then pointed at Hestia. "You know better, you tell him."

Hestia looked at him as three pairs of eyes snapped to her - one of them being Zemo's who was pouring himself some tea. "I mean, people were nicer and stuff during the Blip, but um... I usually had jobs and stuff, y'know like um - Clint. There was this list of HYDRA people and I needed a distraction so..." she trailed off.

Bucky put his metal hand around her shoulder as he brought her closer. "We're here now, don't worry." he kissed her temple lightly before he looked at Sam. "You really think her ends justify her means. Then, she's no different than him or anybody else we've fought."

Hestia was silently grateful that he changed the subject. She didn't want to talk about those five years, not with everybody there, especially Zemo.

"She's different."

"You say that now." Hestia muttered quietly as her head settled on Bucky's shoulder, his arm slightly tightening around her.

Sam grumbled. "She's not motivated by the same things."

Zemo walked towards them with a plate full of food while Bucky looked at him. "That little girl, what'd she tell you?"

Zemo hesitated. "The funeral is this afternoon."

"You know the Dora's coming for you any minute. In fact, they're probably lurking outside right now. Keep talking."

"Leaving you to turn on me once we get to Karli." Zemo sipped on his tea. "I prefer to keep my leverage."

Bucky stood up as he walked towards Zemo and threw his glass filled with tea into a wall, shattering it. "You wanna see what someone can do with leverage?" he asked.

Sam stood up quickly as he stopped him while Hestia leaned back on the couch, honestly just enjoying the show. A mad Bucky equaled a very hot and bothered Bucky and she was definitely not complaining.

"Don't engage him." Sam was saying to Bucky. "He's just gonna extort you and do that stupid head tilt thing. Let me make a call."

Sam took one last look at Bucky then sent Hestia a look that basically said 'don't let him do anything stupid'. He went in another room to talk to someone.

"You want some cherry blossom tea?" Zemo asked.

Bucky pursed his lips as he raised his eyebrows. "No, you go ahead." he looked at Hestia who stood up and cracked her back slightly before she followed after him in another room - coincidentally a living room of sorts.

Bucky slumped on the couch and Hestia sat down next to him. "You can't take your anger out on Zemo, we need him."

Bucky snorted. "Him or his money?" he sent her a look.

Hestia hit his chest. "Asshole."

Bucky chuckled lowly, his gaze still on her. "Can you tell me? What it was like in those years?"

Hestia stilled as she looked at her hands.

"You don't have to-"

"No," she shook her head. "I can't just keep things bottled up forever." They were silent for a moment and Bucky brought her closer to him, knowing that she was comfortable when certain people held her. "I tried to kill myself."

Bucky froze.

He looked down at her but she didn't look up at him, only playing with her fingers. "I was um... on the roof at the Avengers Compound and I was just so tired, so over it all. I couldn't - I didn't want to live anymore. And um-" the paused. "And then I got a notification from my phone - from Snapchat." she chuckled. "Fucking Snapchat. It was telling me too look at a memory from two years ago and I clicked it and it was you..." she sniffled.

"It was your stupid face and everything and you were shouting about how you stole my phone and how Shuri taught you how to use Snapchat. And then I heard me yelling after you and you were laughing and saying how you were freaking terrified of me-" she laughed. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't jump."

He didn't say anything in that moment, only hugged her tight to him. Hestia buried her face in his neck, her hands going through his hair as he held her tight against him. "I'm glad you didn't jump." Bucky murmured gently.

She chuckled slightly. "Yeah, me too. I got to see baby Morgan more often, I got to kiss Natasha once-" she laughed. "God, she's such a good kisser. I miss her." Hestia sighed against him. "I got to see you and Sam again. I'm grateful for Snapchat, can you believe it. Snapchat fucking saved me, what a story."

Bucky chuckled slightly as he pulled back, kissing both of her cheeks before wiping away any tears. "Now, no more crying, okay pretty girl? You're so strong and I'm so proud of you, you have no idea."

"Pretty girl?" Hestia smiled at him.

Bucky shook his head with a small grin. "Is that the only thing you payed attention to?"

"Obviously."

━━━━━━━

"Karli Morgenthau is too dangerous for you guys to be pulling this shit."

Hestia exhaled in annoyance as they turned to see John and Lemar walking towards them.

"Ah! How'd you find us now?" Bucky asked, bored.

"Creep." Hestia added

"Come on. You think three Avengers can walk around Latvia without drawing attention?" Lemar asked as John smirked.

"No more keeping us in the dark." John demanded as Hestia shared a look with Bucky and Sam. "You could start by telling us why you broke him out of prison."

"He did that himself, technically." Bucky pointed out.

Hestia snorted as John glared at Bucky. "Oh, this better be an unbelievable explanation-"

When he advanced towards Bucky, Hestia used her powers to hold him in his place before Sam could stop him. "Take it easy, stripes."

"I know where Karli is." Zemo told John.

He stopped Zemo. "Well, where?"

Sam sighed. "All we know is, it's a memorial. So we're gonna intercept her there."

They walked past John as Lemar started talking. "That means civilians. High risk of casualties."

"All right, good, we'll move in fast. Take her by suprise."

"No, I wanna talk to her alone." Sam shook his head.

"I'm not losing her again."

"Look, the person closest to her died, she's vulnerable. Now is the best time to reason with her."

"What? No, no,no-" John rambled while standing in front of them, now that Hestia stopped using her powers to hold him in place. "Stop. I think we're way past reasoning with her, unless you forgot that she blew up a building with people still in it."

"Jesus fuck, do you ever shut up?" Hestia crossed her arms. "Listen, copycat, you can either come with us and let us deal with Karli or you can go cry to your superiors about how you were too much of an asshole too listen too us."

John clenched his jaw while Bucky suppressed a proud grin.

"Fine."

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It was safe to say that their little mission went to shit.

After Zemo asked a little girl to guide them to Donya's funeral, Sam told them to wait outside while he talked to Karli.

Hestia and Bucky had no problem waiting since she dared him to tell her pickup lines to see if she blushed. She didn't and Bucky was exhausted. Zemo was also just there, casually snorting at Bucky's bad pickup lines.

Then there was John. Biggest asshole ever. He had to interrupt Sam's meeting with Karli and attack her. Greatest decision ever - sarcasm intended.

Hestia used her powers endlessly and she would lie if she said she didn't use them on John once or twice.

After successfully losing Karli through the 'maze' that they were walking through, they accepted their defeat and found John with bottles of serum crushed at his feet and a passed out Zemo next to him.

"I just want pizza." Hestia grumbled to herself. "But no, Hestia has to go help save the world. Again."

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"Were you ever offered it?"

Hestia glanced up from her book to look at Zemo then at Sam who was typing away on his laptop.

"What?" Sam asked.

"The serum."

"No."

Zemo took a sip of his alcohol. "If you had been, hypothetically, that is, would you have taken it?"

"No."

"No hesitation. That's impressive." Zemo pointed out. "Sam, you can't hold out hope for Karli. No matter what you saw in her, she's gone. And we cannot allow that she and her acolytes become yet another faction of gods amongst real people. Super Soldiers cannot be allowed to exist."

"Isn't that how gods talk?" Sam wondered and Hestia snorted quietly then focused on reading the same page she was on for the last ten minutes. "And if that's how you feel, what about Bucky? Blood isn't always the solution.

The doors opened as Bucky walked in, taking his jacket off - leaving him only in a T-shirt - and throwing it on the counter. "Something's not right about Walker."

"You don't say." Hestia and Sam said simultaneously.

"Well, I know crazy when I see one. Because I am crazy."

Hestia sighed in amusment as she set her book down. "He finally admits it to himself."

Bucky glanced up at her from where he was making his drink, half a smirk on his face. "Shut up, brat."

The doors opened again as John and Lemar walked in. "All right. That's it. Let's go. I'm now ordering you to turn him over." John pointed to Zemo.

"He's - he's ordering us!" Hestia laughed, tears gathering in her eyes. She stood up as she wiped her tears of laughter as she stood next to Bucky. "Order us. What an idiot."

"Slow your roll, man. Shield or no shield, the only thing you're runnin' here is your mouth." Sam rolled his eyes slightly. "Now, I had Karli and you overstepped. He's actually proven himself useful today." Sam pointed at Zemo who was, of course, holding alcohol. "We'll need all hands on deck for whatever's coming next."

"How do you want the rest of this conversation to go, huh?" John asked. "Yeah. Should I put down the shield? Make it fair?"

John put down the shield just as a spear buried itself in the wall next to him.

Hestia watched Dora Milaje entered the building as they talked to Bucky in wakandan. "Release him to us now."

"Hi. John Walker. Captain America." John smiled as he extended a hand. No one shook it. "Well, let's, uh, put down the pointy sticks and we can talk this through, huh?"

Sam chuckled lightly. "Hey, John, take it easy. You might wanna fight Bucky before you tangle with the Dora Milaje."

"They don't have jurisdiction here-" John started.

"The Dora Milaje have jurisdiction wherever the Dora Milaje find themselves to be."

"Damn right." Hestia whispered to herself. "God, I love Wakanda."

"Okay. Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot." John chuckled. He put a hand on Ayo's shoulder only to be whacked in the face with a spear and brought to the ground in under a minute.

Hestia watched in pure amusement as John got his ass handed to himself. "Women, am I right?" she chuckled to herself.

Bucky stood next to her, his arms crossed as he watched the fight. Hestia turned towards the bar and without a word, Zemo gave her a spare drink. "What a day." she smiled at him sarcastically before turning back to Bucky and sipping on her vodka.

"Looking strong, John!" Bucky called out.

Hestia pouted in disappointment when Bucky stopped Ayo from putting a spear through John.

It wasn't that Hestia didn't want to fight, of course she didn't want to let Bucky and Sam do it all. But at this point, she just wanted a drink and she considered that Sam needed someone else to beat him up rather than her all the time.

And Bucky, well, she thought Bucky could handle himself until she saw his metal arm fall off. He stopped fighting and looked at Ayo in disbelief, and Hestia put her drink down as she rushed towards him.

She barely acknowledged the fact that Zemo was missing until Ayo mentioned it.

"Did you know they could do that?" Sam asked Bucky as he picked up his metal arm.

Bucky put his arm back as he twisted it and set it back in place. "No."