Amelia often wondered what went through the Baron's mind when she watched him at work. She knew that he was a fairly private man. Lukas had told her everything about him when the two of them had been dating for a few weeks. He said how he was like a brother to him, recalling all of the times when he had helped get him out of trouble in the past, whether it was covering for him when he didn't show up for a date or buying him time when he was late to an event.

She had been excited to meet him, but at the same time she had been completely nervous. Her first official meeting of all of Lukas's family and friends had been at a charity ball in Sokovia. Amelia didn't do balls. Her idea of a fancy event was at a restaurant where there was a maître'd. She didn't belong in the world of Sokovian royalty and she knew that, despite Lukas insisting otherwise.

But meeting his family and friends had been difficult. She had felt them stare at her like she didn't belong there. They humoured her as they would humour a child. She had answered their questions and showed an interest in what they did, but she never felt like it was enough, especially as she didn't speak Sokovian. Lukas had tried to teach her the basics in the time they had been dating, but she was hardly fluent. They answered her in English and spoke about her in Sokovian. She could tell that much from the way they occasionally laughed and threw glances in her direction.

And then she had met Helmut Zemo. She had hoped that he might be different. He had been polite and courteous, but slightly aloof with her. He had dragged Lukas off after a brief chat, leaving Amelia alone on the large ballroom floor, a glass of champagne in her hands and looking around like a lost and scared child. That was when Heike had swept in and saved her from the others.

"And it has been announced that the Avengers are currently looking for the weapon that has gone missing. Spotted in Cyprus just yesterday, Captain America appeared to take the lead while giving chase to an unidentified man through the country's capital city."

Helmut and Amelia both looked up and over to the television that was sat on a wooden stand, the news playing out as they worked on the documents. Amelia picked up the smoothie that she had made, sipping on the strawberry flavoured drink slowly as she looked at the faces of Captain America and the Falcon on her screen.

"Typical," she simply drawled when she saw a building being destroyed, Captain America running away from it. She turned her attention back to the laptop on her lap and went to print out another document.

Helmut had been teaching her what it was that she had to look for in them, but she struggled. Half of what she read appeared to be redacted or written in some kind of code. On the other, Helmut was quick with his observations compared to Amelia. But they both knew that it would take them a long time to get the information that they needed. They had to be clever if they were going to destroy the Avengers.

"You're bleeding."

Amelia looked over to Helmut who was sat in an armchair, his hands holding the papers as the printer buzzed in the background with the next load of documents to look through. He peered up from his work and moved a finger to his nose as Amelia mimicked his movements, finding a drop of blood there.

"Shit," she mumbled and stood up, moving to the coffee table and picking a tissue out of the box. "It's probably from where you elbowed me this morning."

"You should have been looking where you were going like I taught you," Helmut replied, pinching the bridge of his nose and moving to his own feet as Amelia looked in the mirror on the wall above her fireplace. "When we go out there and start our work then the people who we go after will not hold their punches."

"I know that, but I still didn't expect you actually to elbow me," Amelia retorted.

They trained every morning at the local health club. Amelia rented out a private exercise room and Helmut taught her how to defend herself. He had been relatively pleasant for the first few weeks as he taught her the basics and eventually he started becoming tougher, warning her that she had to learn quickly. She still hadn't been able to get the upper hand over him during combat, but she tried her best. Then again, it was going to take her a long time to catch up with his years of experience.

"Come here," Helmut spoke in a deep voice as she turned to look at him.

She saw that he had another tissue in his hands as he stood before her, moving his hand to reach around and guide her head downwards, his other hand moving the tissue to her nose.

"Always tip your head forwards when you have a nose bleed," he encouraged from her. "And just remember that you might have to get used to blood."

"Because the Avengers are going to beat us to a pulp if they discover our plan?" she asked from him and his lips arched upwards for a moment. Shaking his head, he waited until the bleeding had slowed and lifted her gaze back up to meet his, keeping a finger curled underneath her chin.

"They won't get near us," he said confidently. "What have I told you? If we want to see them fall then we need to find a way to destroy them from the inside. We need to be smart…what I am talking about is something else entirely and I would understand if you wanted no part of it."

Amelia's brows pinched together as she listened to him and wondered what he was talking about. He threw the blooded tissue into the bin next to him and watched as confusion etched across Amelia's face, seeing the usual pinch of her nose she made whenever she was perplexed.

"What are you talking about?" she asked in a whisper.

"There's more of them," he informed her. "There are more Winter Soldiers."

….

Amelia had gone up to the bar to order another round of drinks. It was Saturday night and after Helmut's discovery, she had been trying to get around to understanding what this meant for them. They had finished work early and gone on a walk, ending up wandering for miles and miles before going to the bar on the way home, Amelia complaining that she needed a strong drink and Helmut not being opposed to a whiskey.

He was at a table in the corner on a bar stool, hands laced together in his lap. His eyes were settled on Amelia's back as she stood there, legs crossed and a hand moving through her hair as she tried to fight the crowd to be served. He noted how she tugged on the mini skirt she had on her legs, the checked green material sat beneath her black jumper and over her thick black tights.

She finally came back to him, moving through the small crowd and setting the two glasses down on the table and jumping back up and onto the bar stool.

"If I did come with you then I'd need to be better at defending myself, wouldn't I?" Amelia asked from him, foregoing any discussion about how busy the bar was or how expensive the drinks were. She could be quite blunt and to the point when she wanted to be.

Folding one leg over the other, she took hold of the gin and tonic in her hands, holding the straw and swirling it around the liquid.

"You would need to be better than whoever we come up against," he agreed with her on that point. "However, perhaps this is something that I should do on my own. I have the experience. I have the ability."

"And you think that I would let you do this alone?"

"I think it might be for the best."

"Absolutely not," she replied firmly. "What happens if you find something that helps us with what we have planned? I'm not sitting back on this one. I can train harder…and besides…not everything ends in a fight all of the time."

"In my experience, it usually does."

"You've been wrong before," Amelia told him.

"And if you come with me then you will make this even harder for me. I will have to look out for you as well as try to find the scientists who are recreating the serum. What do you think Lukas would say to me-"

"-He's dead," Amelia interrupted Helmut, her voice harsh as she gripped tightly onto the glass. "Lukas is dead and you've been training me how to fight anyway. I'm not sitting back because I know how dangerous that super soldier serum could be, just like you do. You know what it could create in the wrong hands."

"I do," Helmut agreed.

And they had debated that the entire afternoon on their walk. They had feared what a world with super soldiers could look like, especially in HYDRA's hands. Helmut knew that it would take him some time to work out who some of the scientists were, but with the files that had been leaked, courtesy of Black Widow, he knew that he would be able to find them.

"So there is no argument," Amelia said to him. "We agreed to do this together and I'm not backing out of that now."

Helmut nodded once, remembering the promise he had made her when he had found her in Sokovia. He picked up the small tumbler of whiskey and pressed it to his lips before taking a sip of the liquid, feeling it warm his throat as he tipped it back.

"If we are doing this then I think it might be prudent that you learn how to shoot," Helmut said and Amelia looked around, hoping that no one could hear them.

But the buzz of the music helped to drown out conversation. She was thankful for that. The bar was a new establishment in the seaside town, mainly occupied by tourists and locals who were tired of their traditional pubs. A bar sat in the middle of it in a circle, shelves of bottles in the centre of it as bartenders grabbed at them to make cocktails for the baying crowd. The floor was becoming sticky from where people had spilt some of their drinks while carrying them back to the booths and bar stools. The dance floor sat on the other side of the room, but no one really danced, preferring to stand and chat on it instead.

"I know how to shoot."

Helmut's eyes widened at that and Amelia took another sip of her drink. She looked at the clean-shaven Baron across from her, drinking in the shocked expression from his brow eyes. She smiled despite herself and shrugged.

"When I was younger, I used to enjoy shooting in the countryside…not animals or anything like that…but skeet shooting," Amelia commented. "My dad would take me and when Lukas found out, he insisted on seeing it himself."

"Impressive," Helmut said to her. "However, there is quite the difference between holding a rifle and using a handgun to kill someone."

"I imagine," Amelia agreed, "but I know the basics, Helmut."

Helmut nodded his head once more. "If everything goes to plan, you will not be killing anyone," he informed her. "I made a promise to Lukas that I would take care of you and I do not intend on going back on that promise to him."

He could still remember the phone call from his friend, listening to the voicemail. Lukas knew what was happening. He knew that Sokovia was under attack and, despite doing what he could to get out, he was aware that there was a chance he might not make it. He had been right in the end. He had called Amelia first, but she hadn't been picking up. She had been on some corporate retreat where phones had to be handed in at reception. And then he had called Helmut and left his own voicemail.

"Listen, Helmut, you know as well as I that there is a chance I might not make it out of here. I'm doing my dammed best and I know Heike has told me to join her at your father's, but things aren't looking good here…and I've got Amelia's parents with me too…so if…if things don't work out, and I hope that this voicemail is pointless, I really do, I need you to promise me that you'll look out for Amelia. I know she's able to handle herself, but she's not as strong as she makes out to be and I need to know that you'll be there for her. Just promise me that much."

"So we need to start planning things?" Amelia asked from him, well aware of what he had promised Lukas. He had watched her return to Norfolk while he laid low in Riga in the apartment for a while before he had checked up on her.

He had found her in the apartment, surrounded by unopened mail. There were condolences cards scattered around and her phone was full of messages that she hadn't responded to. He discovered that she had ignored her friends in London and hadn't bothered to give them permission to visit. She had become a recluse, consumed with grief and guilt. Helmut had tried to help her, but all she could think about was how unfair it had been whenever she saw the Avengers on the news. How could they be hailed as heroes when she had lost everything? And so Helmut told her of his plan. He knew it was foolish. He was supposed to be a lone wolf, but he saw the same thing inside of Amelia that he saw in himself. He saw the pain she felt at the unfairness.

"And we will," Helmut told her. "But we have time on our hands."

"I guess so," she agreed with him on that point. "But how many of them do you think there are?"

"From what I can decipher already, there are five prominent scientists who know how to recreate the serum."

"And HYDRA has links to all of them?"

"Unfortunately so," Helmut concurred. "It is a case of finding them and stopping them before they can recreate that serum. We know how dangerous it can be. Look at the Winter Soldier."

Amelia shuddered and nodded her head. "So this mission has changed then, hasn't it? It's gone from us to destroying the Avengers to us now stopping anyone from recreating the super soldier serum."

Helmut sipped on his whiskey. "The end goal is still the same," he promised her. "And on the way we might find what we need to help us achieve it. Besides, we know there is one weakness for one of the Avengers, don't we?"

"He's too righteous to kill his friend, even if his friend is no longer the man he once knew," Amelia said to Helmut. "So you might have a point. Looking into the Winter Soldier programme might be the ticket we need."

Helmut nodded in agreement as Amelia finished her gin and tonic with one big gulp. She slipped off the stool once more and grabbed her bag from the back of the chair, pushing it over her shoulder. "Another?" she asked from him.

"We should train tomorrow," he said to her.

Rolling her eyes, she picked up her empty glass. "You said we had time," she reminded him. "Besides, one more won't hurt. It's only nine and we haven't exactly had much so far."

He relented then, downing his drink and moving from the stool. "I believe this is my round," he said to her.

"Don't worry about it," she said, waving a nonchalant hand and grabbing his glass. Before he could even reach for the wallet in the back pocket of his dark jeans, she had gone. He sat back down, adjusting the grey jumper he wore over a plain white top. He tapped the heel of his boot against the metal bar of the footrest and watched Amelia fight her way to the bar once more.

He remained sat where he was, reaching for his phone from his jacket pocket and looking down at the texts he hadn't had the heart to delete yet. He picked his gaze up occasionally, ensuring Amelia was still there as he wondered just what he was doing. He knew he was looking out for Amelia because of Lukas, but he knew that he had been foolish to drag her into his plans, despite her saying that she didn't let him drag her in. She wanted to help him.

He spotted her finally reach the bar, her curly locks swaying as she looked up and down the length of the bar, trying to get served. It was then when he saw that she was talking to the man next to her. He was looking down onto her as she said something and gave him a polite smile before looking the other way. The man was persistent however, even when Amelia waved her left hand in his direction, flashing the engagement ring she wore on her finger.

Standing up then, Helmut pushed his phone into his jean pocket and moved forwards, stalking through the crowd slowly.

"I can pay for my own drinks, thanks."

"You sure? Because you look pretty bored over there with that guy?"

"I'm sure," Amelia drawled in a low tone, longing for the bartender to hurry up with her drink. "Besides, I told you that I'm engaged."

"It's just a drink."

"And I said I'm fine," Amelia reiterated, noting how the man was slurring his words next to her and she ground her teeth together, wanting to get her drinks and leave as quickly as possible.

"You've been gone for a while, darling."

Amelia startled when she felt a hand on the small of her back and she turned her head over her shoulder to see Helmut stood there behind her. He looked to her with a knowing stare and she played along with him.

"It's taking a while to get served," she replied and he nodded his head at her.

Keeping his hand on her back, he let her lean forward against the bar as the man who had been bothering her eyed him up, almost as though he was judging him. Helmut met his gaze, not once bothered about him watching him back. He nodded his head curtly once and the man simply grunted and turned to look the other way. Helmut remained stood with Amelia at the bar as she ordered the drinks and paid for them.

Handing him the whiskey, Amelia held her gin and tonic in her hands as they turned to leave, not paying the pestering man any attention. Helmut kept his hand on her back as they headed to their table once more.

"I think he got the message," Amelia said to him and he instantly removed his hand from her.

"Apologies," he commented.

"No, it's fine," Amelia said, knowing that she shouldn't snap at him. All he ever tried to do was help her and she knew that. He had seen her at her lowest and had stuck by her, but she knew he only did because of his loyalty to Lukas. She never knew if he truly liked her or simply tolerated her.

"It might have been a good idea for you to have tried out your combat skills on him," he informed her and saw her smile at hearing him say that, nodding her head at hearing him and smirking. She spotted his own lips arch and she wondered how many times he had smiled since what had happened in Sokovia.

"That might have gotten us kicked out of here and there are limited places to drink," she said to him. "But the thought did cross my mind, especially after I showed him my engagement ring and he still didn't get the message."

"You still wear it," Helmut commented and he saw her look down onto it as they both sat at the table and he watched her turn it around her finger.

"You still wear your wedding ring," she told him and he nodded.

He guessed that she had a point. "I do," he said to her, agreeing with that point exactly. "I was married to Heike for over ten years and had known her since I was only eighteen and at military school."

"She told me that it took you years to propose," Amelia said. "She began wondering if you would ever pop the question apparently."

Helmut chuckled, imagining his wife gossiping with Amelia over her favourite bottle of wine, but only after she had heard Amelia tell her everything about how she had met Lukas and how she felt about him. Heike always put other people first.

"It took me a while to gather the courage," he confessed. "And I wanted to be certain that things would work out considering I was in the military. I didn't want Heike to spend her years waiting for me to come home and resenting me for working away."

"I don't think she would have done that," Amelia said. "She loved you so much…I could see that."

Helmut nodded his head. He knew that she did. He knew that his wife and son adored him just as he adored them. He watched Amelia spin the ring on her engagement finger numerous times, the blue rock glimmering in the light as she made the movement. Helmut picked up his whiskey and sipped on it once more before his face turned stern. Amelia picked up on the pinch of his lips.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Your friend is coming back."

"What?" Amelia asked from him.

"You know, I spotted something."

Amelia looked to the side as the man stood there. He had clearly had too much to drink from the way he was struggling to stand upright. His blonde hair was short and cropped, but tousled from where he had tugged his hands through it. He was wearing jeans and a black shirt. His muscled peaked out from the short sleeves, but Helmut knew that he could easily take him if he had to. He had to confess that he had no desire to return to the bar considering the whiskey was too warm and there was an odd smell coming from the toilets.

"Can you not take the hint?" Amelia questioned from him.

"He's wearing a wedding ring…but you only have an engagement ring," the man said, pointing down to her hand. "So you're not married to him…"

"Very astute," Amelia said in a harsh voice, sipping on her gin and tonic.

"So what is it?" he asked, chuckling as Helmut spotted his friends behind him in a gaggle. They had clearly egged him on to come over here and, considering his level of intoxication, he had agreed to it. "You two having some kind of affair?"

Helmut looked amused then as Amelia snorted a laugh, covering her hand with her mouth. She exchanged a glance with Helmut, both of them clearly entertained by the man next to her.

"I suggest you leave the lady alone," Helmut said.

"You are, aren't you?" the man continued pushing her. "Come on, sweetheart, if you're two-timing your man already then just let me buy you a drink."

"I said, you should leave," Helmut reiterated, his gaze harsh and unwavering.

"Or what, man? She's hardly looked like she's been having a good time all night," the man said, shrugging his shoulders. "So you must be boring her and all I want is to show her a good time."

"Trust me, I don't need you to show me a good time," Amelia said to him. "So, go away and leave us alone."

"Fine, be like that, darling," he said to her and she felt him tug on a strand of her hair. She was shocked at his audacity even to touch her as he stumbled backwards, muttering as he went. "Boring slut."

Helmut moved to his feet then, but Amelia was quicker. She had jumped up and had tapped his shoulder. He turned around to face her and she used the heel of her palm to thrust upwards into his nose. He grunted in pain and instantly reached for his face as he fell backwards, losing his balance in his drunken state. Amelia watched as his friends gathered around him and helped him up.

Picking his coat up, Helmut carried it in his arms before adding Amelia's to the pile with her bag and grabbing hold of her by the arm. He dragged her away as she followed his lead and he moved his hand down her arm until his fingers were engulfing hers, giving him more leverage to tug her behind him.

"It was that stupid bitch!"

One of his friends yelled and Amelia turned to see three of them moving towards them. Coming to the outside of the bar, Amelia felt the cold air of the night as Helmut looked around. He was doing everything in his power not to attract attention to them as others stood outside the bar, some waiting for taxis and others smoking.

"This way," Helmut said.

He moved down an alleyway and took Amelia with him as they heard the men question which way she had gone. No one seemed to respond to their drunken yells as Helmut stood on the other side of a large dumpster, wrinkling his nose at the smell as he pushed Amelia behind him and peered around it to see the drunkards across the street, looking around. He slipped back to hiding, his hand still holding Amelia's tightly.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Amelia said to him and he turned to look down to her as the yells grew louder.

"Why are you apologising? I was about to punch him myself," he said to her.

"Because we're not supposed to be attracting attention," she replied. "And if he goes to the police…they'll know it was me…"

"Believe me, I've seen men like him before. He won't go to the police because he will be too embarrassed that he was floored by a woman, despite the fact that you handled yourself admirably in there," he said to her. "But I would rather prefer avoiding having to deal with his three more sober friends out there."

"Got it," Amelia agreed with him on that point.

They waited behind the dumpster for quite some time before Helmut was convinced the men had given up. He helped Amelia shrug into her coat, handing her bag to her. She shrugged it onto her shoulder as she slipped into his jacket.

"Ready?" he questioned.

"Yeah, let's just go home," Amelia agreed with him on that point.

He offered her his arm and she wondered what he was doing. He wondered if he had overstepped some kind of boundary, but she soon moved her hand to sit in the crook of his arm and they walked forwards. Helmut kept an observant eye out as they moved along the quiet streets towards the costal path to lead them back to the apartment block. The streetlights soon became infrequent, bathing them mostly in darkness on the walk back.

"Are you alright?" Helmut suddenly asked her as he heard the waves lapping at the wall, the ocean dark in the night and only illuminated by the occasional light from the lighthouse miles along the coast.

"Me?" she checked. "I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, just that…you practically punched a man and what he called you was hardly pleasant."

Amelia shrugged. "I got used to dealing with creeps when I went out in London," she confessed to him. "Usually it was my friends who had to push them away, but I always helped. Got to say, I've never made one's nose bleed before then."

Helmut almost wondered if she sounded entertained by that fact when she spoke. Shaking his head, he kept his pace at the same speed of hers, her fingers still curled around his jacket-clad arm. "I was raised to treat women with more respect than that," he said.

"I like to think that most men are," Amelia said. "But don't worry about it. Besides, it felt rather cathartic just to punch him and not let him get away with talking to me like crap."

Helmut chuckled at that. "Lukas always did say that you had a vengeful streak inside of you."

"Yeah, but he usually saw it when we were playing board games, not in acts of physical violence."

He chuckled once more. "Remind me never to play Monopoly with you then," he said and he looked down to see her lips arch upwards at his comment. He said nothing further as he wondered if she was tougher than he thought she was.

A/N: So I don't know if anyone is interested in me continuing this, but do let me know and I'll keep going!