Helmut Zemo, who had been presumed long dead and gone up until approximately one minute before, simply grinned at Evaline, reveling in her shock and disgust. As he lifted his chin so his scar became even more prominent in the light, Evaline was brought back violently to images and memories pertaining to him that had been previously masked to her, ranging from how she had given him that scar with one of Clint's unused arrows in a desperate attempt to get away from him during a fight, to eyeing him warily through the double window of an interrogation room. Most notably, he had been the high-ranking villain that S.H.I.E.L.D had been arresting when they had infiltrated the old HYDRA base in Austria, the hidden figure that had made her memories look like a TV show with bad reception.
Another memory slipped past all of these, taking the forefront as the scene filled her mind. They had been hunting him for a while, as he was the last presumed head of HYDRA, and had committed many atrocities in coincidence with the former Nazi-based organization's beliefs and agenda. The Avengers had finally pinned down his location to one of the last HYDRA strongholds in a remote German province, where the remainder of his forces were putting on one last fight. It was, Evaline remembered, one of their most epic battles - mostly because all of the Avengers who had an association with S.H.I.E.L.D had shown up to play.
The battlefield lay in ruins, pock-marked with bodies, tanks, and craters from weapons fired from both sides of the conflict. Evaline was fighting back-to-back with Wanda, as they usually did when pairing up the more regular human beings with super-powered counterparts. The only reason that Evaline was not with Steve, as she usually was, was because Bucky and the Wakandans had joined the fight, allowing for the two Brooklyn boys to fight Nazis together once again.
When the numbers around them began to dwindle, Wanda looked off in the distance and said, "I think Nat and Tony need my help, since Bruce has run off to go destroy some tanks. Can you hold it down here?"
Shooting yet another member of HYDRA with her Stunner, which she saw was running low on charges, Evaline commented, "I think I can handle this motley crew. Go, do the assist."
Wanda grinned grimly at her before using her telekinetic powers to lift off into the air and fly across the battlefield to help their comrades, who, Evaline saw, certainly were drowning under a horde of HYDRA-clad cronies. As Evaline looked up, she saw Bucky and Steve going up against Zemo together, and she tried to move toward them as her heart demanded she do. She cursed under her breath as three new soldiers bum-rushed her; it certainly did feel like two more bodies appeared every time they cut down one.
When she took down one of the HYDRA agents directly in front of her, she threw a quick look over to where the boys were fighting Zemo to check in on them. Somehow and at some time, Bucky had turned and was now hitting Steve instead, and Evaline could see the detached look on his face even from her stance on the battlefield. Still pinned down by HYDRA members, she desperately said into her earpiece, "Steve needs an assist. I think Zemo just activated the Winter Soldier."
"We're pinned down… pretty much everywhere, Kaeser," Tony's strained voice came in through the comms. "Do you think you can get there?"
Gritting her teeth and taking down the last two HYDRA agents and launching herself over a third that had sprung for her, Evaline took off running across the battlefield. "I'm going, but I don't know if I can take down Bucky."
"I'm in. Prepare for pick up, Eva," Sam said just as a shadow overcame Evaline. She raised her arms as they had trained multiple times back at headquarters, and felt her joints click as Sam swooped down and lifted her off the ground, his hands underneath her shoulders. She swung in the air as he dodged bullets and cannons, keeping her body loose as she trusted Sam to maneuver both of their bodies through the air.
Sam's voice came through both of her ears now as he said, "Dropping in three… two… one."
He let go of her and Evaline dropped fast to the ground, landing firmly on Zemo's shoulders as he tried to run away from where Bucky and Steve were now battling. The surprise of her weight almost sent him to the floor, but Zemo was trained better; he planted his feet, took the weight for a moment, then adjusted within seconds.
Reaching up, he stabbed one of Evaline's thighs with a knife he had, causing her to lose the strength of her thigh grasp around his neck so she tumbled from his shoulders, hissing when her now gaping wound met the ground and filled with dirt. She rolled and kept rolling when she saw Zemo's shadow looming over her; he had leapt, bringing a knife down into the earth where Evaline's chest had been only moments before.
Using the small amount of extra time this move gave her, Evaline leapt up and unsheathed her own knife from her waist. Although Evaline was more comfortable using her guns, Stunners, and fists, she knew that having a sharp weapon would be her only advantage as Zemo started to bear down on her with his own.
They went toe-to-toe for a few rounds, until Zemo managed to knock Evaline's knife out of her hand and send it over the edge of the ravine cliff they were dangerously close to. He brought her down with an uppercut, and lifted his knife arm again to bring the killing blow.
A streak of red, white, and blue hit Zemo in the ribs, pushing him away from Evaline and surprising him enough that he stumbled on a rock a few inches from the edge of the cliff. Evaline watched in shock as the momentum shoved Zemo into the ravine, but not before Steve's shield rebounded off of his body and flew back to its owner.
Zemo fell without even a scream, or at least not one audible to Evaline as she pulled herself up and quickly moved to the cliff's edge. Steve sided up right next to her as both of them looked over toward the ravine below, searching for a while until they found it.
Zemo's broken body was lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of it.
Brought back to the present, Evaline simply could only say, "I saw your body at the bottom of that ravine. There is no way you survived that."
"Ah, typical S.H.I.E.L.D agent, misjudging and underestimating the genius of HYDRA and all its creations," Zemo said with a forlorn sigh before he began smirking again. "You act as if you've never heard of or dealt with Werner Reinhardt. Don't you think if we came up with that effective of an anti-aging serum, we'd have made something to protect us against certain levels of traumatic death as well?"
What little of the moisture that was still in Evaline's mouth turned acidic as she thought of Werner Reinhardt, who had been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D shortly after WWII, only to be released by HYDRA sleeper agents in the 80s and allowed to create an anti-aging serum so effective that it kept his appearance a middle-aged man for several decades. He, along with Zemo's father, had been one of the most infamous HYDRA scientists and experimenters, as well as one of the most infamous Nazi scientists and experimenters. It didn't surprise Evaline that Zemo had found inspiration in the works of his father's old comrade.
"You say that as if Steve's the evil one in this story," Evaline said, focusing again as she narrowed her eyes at Zemo. "You say that as if your father didn't create projects and weapons that killed thousands of people for anything more than the color of their skin, or who they loved, or what god they believed in, or what their last name was."
"How is that any worse than creating projects and weapons that kill indiscriminately, that kill innocent people without purpose? That's what your government, what your precious S.H.I.E.L.D did in response," Zemo argued, no longer smiling. "You're blind if you don't think that you and Captain Rogers are anything more than exactly that - things to be used by S.H.I.E.L.D to advance their own agenda. At least I know who my leaders are, and what my purpose is."
Evaline pulled against her restraints again, snarling, "We know our purpose well enough, and it is far more meaningful than yours. It's to stop dangerous people with egos like yours from pretending to lead the world when you're so caught up in your own fantasies, you don't even understand reality."
"You're far more delusional than I thought if you truly think that is what S.H.I.E.L.D stands for," Zemo said, giving Evaline what was almost a sympathetic smile. "And you're far more delusional if you think every person you fight is evil."
"They're not evil," Evaline admitted, shaking her head. "They're usually just wrong."
"And who's to say that? Who's to be the judge of that?" Zemo asked, getting fired up again as his Eastern European accent began to slip out into his consonants more heavily than before. The scar Evaline had given him pulled as he grimaced, asking, "S.H.I.E.L.D? The oh-so infallible Nicholas J. Fury, whose lengthy ledger is second probably only to Agent Romanoff's? The Captain, whose righteousness and loyalty blind him to the possibilities of other viewpoints other than his own?"
As she heard the venom in Zemo's voice as he spoke about Steve, the connections finally clicked in Evaline's mind as she laughed lowly. Zemo stopped his rant and looked at her curiously, his eyebrows furrowing in questioning.
As a way of answering, Evaline commented, "All of this… it's not about S.H.I.E.L.D, and it's most certainly not about me. It's all about your hatred for Steve, and all of this is some weird vengeance you think you owe to take out on him. You thought you'd take away his girl and… infect her with the same messed up brain cells as his best friend. But why? Why not just kill him and be done with it all?"
"Because he killed my my father, and then set out to ruin his legacy, and my future, by destroying HYDRA," Zemo said, malice and anger and vengeance filling his eyes and voice so suddenly, Evaline flinched a small bit. "Captain America was not only the destruction of my family, and of their name, but also of all the greatness that HYDRA could have been. I am not a fool to think he will not continue this trend if I do not destroy him… but this has become too personal after the murder of my father. So, I decided just killing him would have been too simple."
Evaline couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow in disbelief. "Really? Would it have? Because there's many villains out there who might disagree with you."
"Those villains, as you so call them, and I do not have the same… proclivity for creativity, shall we call it," Zemo said, the malice in his eyes still there but an acidic smile creeping back onto his face. "They lack the IQ to think beyond punching or stabbing or shooting, to think about how else they can harm and destroy their foes. I have no such limitations."
Keeping up the sardonic bit, Evaline commented, "Lucky you."
Zemo chuckled, shaking his head before clicking his tongue in disappointment. "Now, now, Evaline. I thought we were having a most civil discussion, but if you keep being so rude, I might have to do something about it."
Evaline felt herself relax a little bit as she realized the moment had come for Zemo to finally begin whatever he wanted to do to her. She wasn't fearful of whatever was about to come, but hated the anticipation and the waiting game.
Firming her resolve, she demanded, "Then, do it. Do what you brought me here to do, what you prepared me to do."
Giving her an appraising look that turned Evaline's stomach more than anything else he had done, Zemo grinned his mad scientist's smile and said, "I told you that after a while, you'd become a little more compliant."
"You mistake my boredom for compliancy," Evaline said, trying to keep her voice as even as possible while Zemo began prowling in front of her like the predator he was. "I'm just trying to move this all along because I'm tired of the sound of your voice, and I know where this is headed, anyway. You could've triggered me the moment I woke up, but you wanted to play with your food for a little bit. Well, I refuse to participate in this game any longer."
Evaline didn't miss the glimmer of appreciation and almost respect she saw in Zemo's eyes as she firmed her jaw and looked away from him. His voice still echoed clearly through the room as he spoke, saying, "But we were having so much fun, weren't we? Getting to know each other, discussing our deepest desires and our darkest secrets."
"You're a fool if you think I'll ever tell you something real about myself freely," Evaline commented lazily, rolling her eyes back to him and meeting his stare. They simply blinked at each other for a few silent, tense moments, and Evaline could feel her heart bumping against her ribcage with the anticipation of whatever was going to come next.
Finally, Zemo grinned, tipping his head to side as if she were just a curious sight. His voice was eerily calm as he said, "Fine. Let's see what is possible with you fully under my control, then."
He slipped his hands behind his back like a commanding officer's, locking his knees like he was about to give orders, before he said simply, "One. Nine. Eighty-Five."
Evaline felt the nerves in her brain line with fire, but she remained in control as she grimaced. She tried to fight against the tendrils of Zemo's words, thinking of anything besides the words he had spoken, trying to flood her brain with positive memories: Wanda receiving her American citizenship, going onto the Guardians' spaceship for the first time, a Thanksgiving feast at the Tower, Tony and Pepper announcing they were finally engaged, her first kiss with Steve.
Zemo, unaware of where her mind was headed, kept talking, pulling her away from these memories as he spoke the same words that she had been triggered by in Wakanda, both at the dinner with the Queen Mother and by the infidel Asani, who she had no trouble believing probably worked for him.
"Believing. Hero. Injection. Detonation."
Evaline started panting, trying to grasp for any words than the ones Zemo was speaking, as she felt her control beginning to slip away and her muscles begin to loosen involuntarily. The sensation only worsened, shoving her conscious further and further backward as Zemo continued speaking, saying two words that Evaline had not been triggered by before.
"Crushed. Depth."
These words were what hit her the hardest, and even though her body was almost entirely relaxed now and her subconscience almost gone, she could tell as Zemo lowered his face in front of hers that he saw a flicker of her still in there.
His surprisingly minty breath wafting across her face, he whispered, almost like a prayer, "Assemble."
If Evaline had thought that being under Asani's control before had been bad, it was nothing compared to what she currently felt as her real self, her real conscious, was shoved into the deepest, darkest hole of her mind. She was simply an observer now, watching Zemo's words take control over every other cell of her body.
Although at first her body did not move, Zemo seemed to be waiting for some indeterminate amount of time to pass before he asked, "Agent Kaeser, report."
Her head had been folded into her chest, her body contracted against the pain as Zemo took over, but it relaxed as he spoke her name. She lifted her head and looked directly into his eyes, her mouth moving next as she spoke the words he commanded her to and he took entire control of her body and mind.
"Ready to comply."
