"I'm a Baron, Sam"

Baron Helmut Zemo Marvel RP blog Final living member of the Zemo family, only living royalty of the rubble that is Sokovia Enemy of Super Soldiers

[officialbaron-zemo]

Introduction

My name is Baron Helmut Zemo, I am royalty of Sokovia, at least what was left of it.

I was a father, and a husband. My son and I loved watching the news seeing the Avengers save the day...but then the Avengers destroyed my country, my home and my life. Leaving everything I loved in the rubble while they went on to live their lives. People like Tony Stark who are given too much money and power, and Captain America and Bucky Barens who are given inhuman strength that ultimately causes harm, they will never be hero's in my eyes.

Not any more

I am known to work alongside Sam Wilson, or should I say, the new Captain America. And James Barnes but I would not call us friends. As Bucky said, they were a means to an end.

I know some of you might think I should be rotting in the raft where the Wakandan's left me...but I have my ways. Nothing can stop me if there is a job I need done.

Better do it myself than leave it to someone who will allow for errors.

I know more about you than you would probably care to admit to anyone you love, so just remember that before you cross me

[officialbaron-zemo]

Turkish delight anyone?

[officialbaron-zemo]

Turkish delight?

@officialbaron-zemo

I don't have any on me if that's what you are asking, but there is a single store in New York that still knows how to make it the right way

I do miss that smell

[officialbaron-zemo]

Have a Shima Enaga

Shima Enaga also known as the long tailed bush tit. Where exactly did you find one of these?

And how exactly did you get it here?

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable // Closed

@officialbaron-zemo

Divider by @cafekitsune <3

"My problem is my problem that I never am happy / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed,"

Taras sat by the rotting gravestone, leaning against it as he listened to the plugged-in headphones connecting to his phone. He wasn't completely sure why he was here... maybe it was because Fathers Day was not too long ago. Maybe he just missed this place in a twisted way.

He huffed and readjusted the familiar coat over his shoulders that he used to keep warm, letting his fingers run through the synthetic fur across the collar. The sky was dark as the clouds above darkened and warned him that it'd rain soon enough. Not like he quite cared, anyway. The rain brought a sort of comfort when it felt like he was at his lowest.

Taras brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, slowly shaking his head as his eyes fluttered closed.

"Я рад, что ты мертв, Юрий," he murmured.

A few minutes passed until Taras opened his eyes and looked up to see him. His face hardened as he looked away, forcing his gaze to shift somewhere else. He knew Zemo would be here, and yet the sight of him still ached.

"You came," he murmured, "I didn't expect you to." He shifted himself as he pulled the coat further over him, quietly wishing that it would swallow him whole.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Since meeting up with Taras again he had decided to keep tabs on his old love.

He approached Taras with no hesitation. He knew Taras would not want to see him, not here and not in this state. But that wasn't his problem

"Yes. I am"

He watched Taras hunch in on himself

"Кажется, ты застрял в прошлом" he says it neutrally although it's slightly patronizing

He looked Taras over, the earbuds in his ears, the jacket around his shoulders. The small sad look in his eyes. It was pitiful and a small part of him felt bad for Taras. But it was hardly anything it was so easy to smother.

"What is the point of you being here?"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras wasn't even sure himself.

"Не надо меня опекать," he responded as he reached up and took the earbuds off. As much as he'd love to drown out Zemo's voice, he knew that it would never work. That man was a parasite on his brain.

By the time Zemo got close, Taras huffed and dusted off his coat enough to properly stand. His attention temporarily diverted to the grave beside him, but soon enough, it went back to Zemo.

"Why are you here?" He questioned with the slight tilt of his head. He had his suspicions on why Zemo came, but as is, he had evidence for none of them.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Need. Want. Neither is correct but here we are"

He considers leaving Taras to his self inflicted suffering but something compels him to stay. Not to hurt Taras but maybe to provide company if not comfort...he knew he was no comfort

"Checking in on you" it's honest but the emotional intent is missing.

"Believe it or not I wanted to see you. You have made your way back into my life. And part of me seems persistent to keep you there"

He did miss Taras, when he let himself admit it. Their days they shared together did help him feel more human when he started to feel parts of him slip away. He hoped that Taras could help him now, to stop himself from slipping away.

Maybe his reasons were selfish, but it was a reason. Whether Taras liked or accepted it or not

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Despite the lack of emotional intent, Taras... well, the words were touching. Just knowing that Zemo wanted to keep him in his life in some way was enough to make Taras foolishly hopeful.

But at the same time, this was Zemo. Taras was around the man long enough to avoid falling for his words in an instant.

Taras let a bitter chuckle escape his throat. "I thought you'd like me as far away as possible," he admitted. The relationship the two had after Taras got out of the Raft was far less than stellar, and out of that, Taras merely assumed that whatever chances the two had were gone the moment Taras started working with the New Avengers.

But honestly? Part of him was glad that wasn’t the case.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closers" he says it, not specifying which one of those Taras was. He didn't quite know himself. He didn't think they were friends, it's not just something they could be. But he wouldn't consider Taras an enemy. Although his connection to the Avengers was less than pleasing.

"Why do you punish yourself like this" he knew how hard it was for Taras to be here but he knew no one was forcing him to do so. What was the purpose except to extrapolate his own suffering.

Taras had a habit of being self destructive, nothing Zemo could ever do about it. Their relationship is something that any respectable person would have called self destructive in it's own right he supposed.

But again he still cared for Taras in ways he didn't think he was capable and wanted to know

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras also wondered exactly which one of those he was. Trying to call the two friends was insane, but he knew they weren't enemies either: if they were, Taras would have had a few bruises from the first time they saw each other again.

"I—," Taras ended up cutting himself off before he spoke again. Being at this place was hell. The last time he was in his home country — let alone home town — was nearly a decade ago. And yet, here he was once more.

"Maybe I'm just nostalgic," he said before adjusting his coat once more. It was the closest thing Taras could think of that was even close to an explanation for being here.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"It would seem being stuck in the past is a defining trait of yours" it sounded harsh but he said it flatly. Almost softly.

He had seen Taras. His purpose for being here was complete and there was nothing he was going to do for him. But he didn't think Taras should stay here either.

"I think it's time I leave...I have a place on the jet if you wish to leave as well"

He turned around and began walking away

"it is up to you"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

The offer made was enough to catch Taras' attention. He sighed and nodded before following Zemo.

"Alright," he whispered under his breath as he followed the man. It's been a long while since they've been... well, anywhere together. It was nice to have the chance to be with him again.

As they walked, Taras couldn't help but steal small glances at Zemo. Were they on the best of terms? Oh, goodness no. But it was still interesting to see how his old lover was holding up. Just... just to make sure that he wasn't doing too badly. For whatever reason.

[officialbaron-zemo]

They scaled the small hill to where Oeznik was waiting by a white jet that was perched in the field over the rise. They boarded and Oeznik gave him a pointed look when he saw Taras trailing behind him.

They boarded the jet and Zemo sat in one of the plush reclinable chairs pouring himself a glass of champagne and offering one to Taras

"So I have heard you are working with the new Avengers..." he asks it like a question but waits for Taras to fill the gap

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras sat in the chair opposite of Zemo, and despite how plush it felt, he couldn't relax. It felt surreal to be back on this jet; the way Ozenik looked at him didn't help, either. Taras knew he wasn't welcome there, and yet, here he was.

When offered, he took the glass of champagne and took a small sip. The last thing he needed was to get drunk in Zemo's presence.

"I am," he answered as he swished the champagne around in its glass. "I hold nothing against them." He looked up at Zemo. "Just the old Avengers."

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo had to admit that the new Avengers had done nothing, but there was always a possibility for a mistake. Their presence is the reason that villains will incite challenges. No one human should have as much power as some of them did. But these Avengers they aren't gods, they are people. For the most part. The newest unknown addition was still an information-less box in his head.

"I am reserving any opinions I hold about them for now" it's about the nicest thing he can say about them.

Despite the tense air between them Zemo is genuinely curious about what has become of Taras and his life. He knows a little here and there but he want's Taras to tell him what has happened. That lingering affection rearing it's head inside of him

"Is that all your life entails. Heroing?"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable // Closed

@officialbaron-zemo

Divider by @cafekitsune <3

"My problem is my problem that I never am happy / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed,"

Taras sat by the rotting gravestone, leaning against it as he listened to the plugged-in headphones connecting to his phone. He wasn't completely sure why he was here... maybe it was because Fathers Day was not too long ago. Maybe he just missed this place in a twisted way.

He huffed and readjusted the familiar coat over his shoulders that he used to keep warm, letting his fingers run through the synthetic fur across the collar. The sky was dark as the clouds above darkened and warned him that it'd rain soon enough. Not like he quite cared, anyway. The rain brought a sort of comfort when it felt like he was at his lowest.

Taras brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, slowly shaking his head as his eyes fluttered closed.

"Я рад, что ты мертв, Юрий," he murmured.

A few minutes passed until Taras opened his eyes and looked up to see him. His face hardened as he looked away, forcing his gaze to shift somewhere else. He knew Zemo would be here, and yet the sight of him still ached.

"You came," he murmured, "I didn't expect you to." He shifted himself as he pulled the coat further over him, quietly wishing that it would swallow him whole.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Since meeting up with Taras again he had decided to keep tabs on his old love.

He approached Taras with no hesitation. He knew Taras would not want to see him, not here and not in this state. But that wasn't his problem

"Yes. I am"

He watched Taras hunch in on himself

"Кажется, ты застрял в прошлом" he says it neutrally although it's slightly patronizing

He looked Taras over, the earbuds in his ears, the jacket around his shoulders. The small sad look in his eyes. It was pitiful and a small part of him felt bad for Taras. But it was hardly anything it was so easy to smother.

"What is the point of you being here?"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras wasn't even sure himself.

"Не надо меня опекать," he responded as he reached up and took the earbuds off. As much as he'd love to drown out Zemo's voice, he knew that it would never work. That man was a parasite on his brain.

By the time Zemo got close, Taras huffed and dusted off his coat enough to properly stand. His attention temporarily diverted to the grave beside him, but soon enough, it went back to Zemo.

"Why are you here?" He questioned with the slight tilt of his head. He had his suspicions on why Zemo came, but as is, he had evidence for none of them.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Need. Want. Neither is correct but here we are"

He considers leaving Taras to his self inflicted suffering but something compels him to stay. Not to hurt Taras but maybe to provide company if not comfort...he knew he was no comfort

"Checking in on you" it's honest but the emotional intent is missing.

"Believe it or not I wanted to see you. You have made your way back into my life. And part of me seems persistent to keep you there"

He did miss Taras, when he let himself admit it. Their days they shared together did help him feel more human when he started to feel parts of him slip away. He hoped that Taras could help him now, to stop himself from slipping away.

Maybe his reasons were selfish, but it was a reason. Whether Taras liked or accepted it or not

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Despite the lack of emotional intent, Taras... well, the words were touching. Just knowing that Zemo wanted to keep him in his life in some way was enough to make Taras foolishly hopeful.

But at the same time, this was Zemo. Taras was around the man long enough to avoid falling for his words in an instant.

Taras let a bitter chuckle escape his throat. "I thought you'd like me as far away as possible," he admitted. The relationship the two had after Taras got out of the Raft was far less than stellar, and out of that, Taras merely assumed that whatever chances the two had were gone the moment Taras started working with the New Avengers.

But honestly? Part of him was glad that wasn’t the case.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closers" he says it, not specifying which one of those Taras was. He didn't quite know himself. He didn't think they were friends, it's not just something they could be. But he wouldn't consider Taras an enemy. Although his connection to the Avengers was less than pleasing.

"Why do you punish yourself like this" he knew how hard it was for Taras to be here but he knew no one was forcing him to do so. What was the purpose except to extrapolate his own suffering.

Taras had a habit of being self destructive, nothing Zemo could ever do about it. Their relationship is something that any respectable person would have called self destructive in it's own right he supposed.

But again he still cared for Taras in ways he didn't think he was capable and wanted to know

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras also wondered exactly which one of those he was. Trying to call the two friends was insane, but he knew they weren't enemies either: if they were, Taras would have had a few bruises from the first time they saw each other again.

"I—," Taras ended up cutting himself off before he spoke again. Being at this place was hell. The last time he was in his home country — let alone home town — was nearly a decade ago. And yet, here he was once more.

"Maybe I'm just nostalgic," he said before adjusting his coat once more. It was the closest thing Taras could think of that was even close to an explanation for being here.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"It would seem being stuck in the past is a defining trait of yours" it sounded harsh but he said it flatly. Almost softly.

He had seen Taras. His purpose for being here was complete and there was nothing he was going to do for him. But he didn't think Taras should stay here either.

"I think it's time I leave...I have a place on the jet if you wish to leave as well"

He turned around and began walking away

"it is up to you"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

The offer made was enough to catch Taras' attention. He sighed and nodded before following Zemo.

"Alright," he whispered under his breath as he followed the man. It's been a long while since they've been... well, anywhere together. It was nice to have the chance to be with him again.

As they walked, Taras couldn't help but steal small glances at Zemo. Were they on the best of terms? Oh, goodness no. But it was still interesting to see how his old lover was holding up. Just... just to make sure that he wasn't doing too badly. For whatever reason.

[officialbaron-zemo]

They scaled the small hill to where Oeznik was waiting by a white jet that was perched in the field over the rise. They boarded and Oeznik gave him a pointed look when he saw Taras trailing behind him.

They boarded the jet and Zemo sat in one of the plush reclinable chairs pouring himself a glass of champagne and offering one to Taras

"So I have heard you are working with the new Avengers..." he asks it like a question but waits for Taras to fill the gap

[officialbaron-zemo]

Ares had been running for a long time. He rarely ever sat still, always moving. He had to, or he'd be dead. No time to think, no time to breathe. A constant chase. He could've probably hidden himself away, but the idea of letting HYDRA get away with what they'd done to him killed that idea. He wanted revenge.

Which is why he's in the warehouse in the first place, fighting outnumbered and winning against some HYDRA agents lured here under the promise of a weapons deal. He initially was losing, but now is wiping the floor with them. The fighting is electrifying, each kill makes him feel unstoppable. So much so that he doesn't notice someone entering the warehouse through a side door.

As Ares drags his knife out of the last HYDRA agent, he takes a second to catch his breath. He thinks he's done, thinks he's safe, until he hears footsteps behind him and turns around, fully ready to kill whoever it is. His face is covered so the person can't recognize him, and he can't recognize them in the dark. He just stands there, waiting for them to identify themself.

– @to-takeon-theworld

"Mm impressive. It seems someone beat me to the job" he eyes the person before him skeptically

He's not above getting others to do his dirty work but he also doesn't know anything about this person. He likes having the Intel even if he isn't involved.

The person doesn't seem much older than a teenager. Possibly still is but they are masked. Cleaver

"What did you want with them" he tilts his head towards them. "Other than to paint the floor with their insides it seems" he smirks

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Stay back, don’t come closer” Ares snarls, taking a step back from the person he doesn’t recognise in the dark. He has a really strong accent, definitely Eastern European, and his English is broken.

Is he scared? Maybe. HYDRA members coming at him isn’t what scares him, he can kill them easily. It’s someone who doesn’t seem afraid that gets to him. A seemingly normal civilian laughing like this is funny.

“I kill them because they deserve it”

There's more to it than that, but that’s the general gist of it. He’s not about to spill his sob story to some stranger with a… very familiar voice.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo puts his hands up but doesn't drop his smirk. The tremble in this persons voice does nothing for them despite the knife still confidently held in their hand

He huffs a laugh "I won't argue with that. But what is your qualm with them exactly?"

He keeps his hands up, but he steps forward trying to keep this boy placated but get close enough to disarm and demask him.

If he wouldn't give him the answers he wanted, he would take them

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares could overpower this guy if he wanted to, easily. Not even a competition. But something about Zemo’s calmness, how he just casually walks towards an armed assassin, means he’s either very brave or very stupid

“Believe me, you do not want to know”

How do you explain over half a lifetime of torture? How do you explain a decade of experimentation and being used as a weapon. Short answer is you don’t. Not to strangers

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Mm but you see the thing is. I do" and with that he reached forward grabbing the knife with one hand pulling it from his grip, which is surprisingly strong and reaching for the mask which he doesn't quite get a good grip on and only half comes off in his hand

He half succeeded, he's just glad to be the one with the knife. Not that he couldn't have gone for the one in his coat pocket

"Now would you like to tell me who you are? Or let me cut that mask from your face?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares stumbles back. That isn’t his only weapon but it’s really the principle of it. He just got disarmed by some seemingly random person.

He can see Zemo’s face properly now, and Zemo can see the lower half of his face. Ares is trying to figure out where he may have seen Zemo before

“Do prdele, spodina!” He snaps, pulling another knife from his belt.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You speak Sokovian?" Zemo says a little taken aback. He hasn't met another Sokovian out in the rest of the world for a few decades. After the country was cannibalized by it's neighbours they were taken into the new boarders

"That's a little bit harsh don't you think Dieťa"

And he pulls out another knife, of course. He shouldn't have assumed someone who just took down half a dozen heavily armed HYDRA agents to be so unprepared

"Your choice. You take it off, or I take it from you"

[to-takeon-theworld]

How dare he call me a child

The comment just makes Ares seethe with rage, and makes it even less likely for him to listen

“I’m not a child, and you don’t tell me what to do”

He takes another few steps back. He can make it for the door if he runs. But something roots him to the spot, makes him not want to move. Curiosity? Anger? Probably

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo can see how the boy angers. How the rage seems to bleed from his skin at the very comment

"Fine" he says lunging for the mask again, narrowly avoiding the blade of his knife before ripping the mask of instead "I warned you-"

But his voice falters. The face underneath the mask is familiar to him, eerily familiar as if he is seeing the ghost of someone he once knew?

"Who are you, boy" it's his turn to take a step back now

[to-takeon-theworld]

Shit

Ares knows he looks exactly like his mother, he’s been told before by someone else who recognised him. So maybe this guy knew his parents. It would be too much of a coincidence if…

“Why would I tell you?”

He’s breathing heavier, chest rising and falling faster. He’s been caught he knows he has.

There's something in Ares’s eyes too, they look familiar to Zemo in the way something old you lost is. Recognisable, but broken. There’s so much pain behind those eyes it’s hard to see anything else

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo feels something rises in his chest, and he raised the knife in defense. As if its an external threat and not a feeling coming directly from inside

"Because I asked. Let me ask you another question instead...where were you when Sokovia fell?"

He seeing things. Whatever is familiar in the face of this body is something his mind is showing him. He's being ridiculous.

But he knows his eyes would never trick him life this. Those are the eyes of his wife, the eyes shared by his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

That's not what he expected to be asked. Ares is taken so off guard by the question he almost visibly relaxes

“I… I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything before age 7. I just remember waking up in a HYDRA cell”

If pressed, Ares couldn’t explain why that’s the moment he chooses to be honest. Maybe it’s the expression on the man in front of him, a mix of shock and disbelief that you don’t see on the face of someone looking at a random teenager.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Seven. Seven years old. A familiar shadow of a face. Who was this boy?

Zemo has questions, and he needs them answered and he realises that he isn't going to get any of them if he keeps threatening this boy. So he changes tactics. Goes for placating and disarming. Trying to bring the energy between them down. He needs cooperation here

He tucks the knife away, stealing it, for now.

"I have some things I need answered...are you willing to answer them. A- temporary truce if you will. You can attempt to stab me later"

He is desperate, something he hasn't felt in years, for answers, for something so simple to go his way

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares hesitates before putting his knife away too, still keeping one hand on it just I’m case. Not trusting anyone is what’s kept him alive, he’s not about to trust some random guy he just ran into.

“Fine. Truce.”

That sense of familiarly is almost choking, he feels like he’s seen Zemo before, just not sure where.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You said you were 7 when you woke up with HYDRA. But you speak fluent Sokovian. They don't teach that, I know. I did my research. So you must know how you know that language"

He keeps scanning the boy, up and down trying to get an idea on why he recognises this boy. What about him is so familiar, familiar like something you lost and didn't think you'd ever find again

He knows this child giving him any information is going to be difficult since HYDRA loves to mess with the mind and he doesn't seem in a sharing mood

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I always spoke it”

He says it as if it’s obvious, as if it’s a stupid question. He crosses his arms, still glaring at Zemo

Because Sokovian was already in his head when he woke up in HYDRA. He never forgot how to speak it

“I don’t remember learning it I just… know it. I know I’m Sokovian”

[officialbaron-zemo]

The longer he looks at this boy the more and more fragments start to come together, the texture of his hair, the colour of his eyes, the shape of them. With HYDRA since he was 7, speaking fluent Sokovian the blatant attitude even towards a stranger...it was too familiar and Zemo felt stupid to even hope

"Who was your favourite hero as a child...just answer this" he knows how ridiculous this must sound, but if he remembers then...this has to be him. It can't be. But it is

This boy might be his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares almost lets out a laugh. What kind of question is that?

“I mean, I can’t truly speak for myself before seven years old, but I believe it was Iron Man.”

To say that Ares remembers nothing from before his time at HYDRA would be a lie, he just can’t remember anything concrete. Nothing helpful, occasional flashes of a childhood he’d never get back. He had to learn his real name from one of his targets, who he did end up sparing. He does have a few blurry memories though, one of which was seeing Iron Man on the TV.

[officialbaron-zemo]

The pieces he was afraid to have connected in his head finally click

His eyes, his hair, his mannerisms, his favourite hero

Whatever he had seen in Sokovia, what ever had happened to his son on the outskirts of the city that day hadn't been real. They hadn't been permanent.

And HYDRA had a hand in it. Because some how right now he was sure that his son. Almost 11 years later was standing right in front of him

"Carl? Ako sa máš nažive?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

It takes a few seconds for the pieces to click in Ares’s head too. His first thought was ‘How could he know my old name?’, before the truth sets in and he realises why Zemo’s face is so familiar

“Papa?”

It almost comes swimming back into view, breaking through a decade of memory wipes and chemical subjugation. His father. His father

He feels like he can’t breathe. Like he got punched in the chest. He’s not alone… he’s not alone…

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He's not the man, the father he used to be.

When he lost his family he turned into a person he thought he was never capable of being. Doing things and using people.

And he doesn't regret most of it. But having his son standing before him again sends a spike of something cold and frigid through him that makes his life for the past decade seem like someone else's.

Like all of a sudden time never past and his son had been here all this time. But he hadn't. And that's why he no longer looked like the little boy he had left that day.

What was he supposed to do now?

"I- you were burried under that rubble" was all he could say

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares can’t speak, can barely breathe. What’s he supposed to say? Every since he found out who he used to be, he’d spent a long time researching his father, and if only 1 in 10 of the things said about him were true most would write him off as irredeemable. Considering Ares literally has blood on his hands, he can’t exactly judge.

Putting a face to the name helps too. Some idealised version of what his family might have been brought to reality with the man in front of him.

“You were supposed to think that. I almost was”

He pulls the hem of his shirt up a little. Deep scarring, the kind that takes years to heal, marrs his torso.

“I was supposed to die. Unfortunately I wasn’t found by rescue crew”

He drops it again, hands visibly shaking. He just stands there, frozen to the spot, moving seeming like insanity

He looks far older than 18, though he can’t be much older than that. His normally haunted eyes soften slightly

[officialbaron-zemo]

Something turns sour in Zemo and he remembered why he was here. And now he had even more reason to hate the people who worked under the control of HYDRA.

Their scientists had created super soldiers and heros that would have uprooted humanity.

But by some miracle. They had managed to save his son...who was standing before him. Alive. Scared but alive.

That was no excuse for the scum who created the world's pain and gave the Avengers reason to exist

But now he couldn't do anything but stare. Stare at the boy who had grown from his son into this young man he had no idea he would ever see. He lost all hope of ever seeing the man his son turned into...and yet here he was

And Zemo didn't catch himself when he stumbled forward taking his son into his arms

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares completely freezes in shock, apart from the continuing shake in his hands. He’d done his research, he knows his father’s built in ideals and morals, at least the ones he’s said out loud. He didn’t expect this kind of warmth, considering that he’s become everything his father hates

A super soldier. A weapon. A killer. One of HYDRA’s mindless drones.

So the hug is unexpected, a shock even. It takes Ares a second to reciprocate the hug, but when he does all his walls breaks down, and he starts crying for the first time in a decade. His tears are silent, controlled, but still there.

“Papa…” he whispers again, voice shaky as his hands.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Syn môj, syn môj, prečo som ťa vôbec nechal odísť" he can't help it

Despite his front, despite what the world thinks of him Zemo's has only ever and always will do what he does for family. For his family

And having his son back with him feels like a piece of him that was missing for so long has finally been found.

For the first time in years he feels some semblance of right. Some semblance of ok again with his son still living and breathing in his arms.

"Nemal si byť nikdy ponechaný tým spodine. Prosím, odpusť mi"

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Nie je to tvoja chyba, nevedel si.”

The realisation that he’s not alone, that part of his family is still here for him, is enough to break through Ares’s tough outer shell. The shield he’d built up for years crumbling all at once.

He feels like a little kid again, clinging desperately to his father as if worried he might vanish again if he lets go

“Nie som ten istý, aký som bol... sotva si na čo pamätám.”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I wished I had. I wished I had known" he knows it's not his choices that lead to this. But the choices of those damned Avengers.

He held onto his son harder doing what he should have done all those years ago. Kept him close. Kept him safe. He should have died with him and his mother that day.

Hearing his son speak about himself like he was broken broke something in Zemo and anything he had become faded away for the moment

"I've learnt about the experiments run at HYDRA we can reverse it. I will find a way" he says this like a promise. A deceleration

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares exhales, not exactly wanting to tell Zemo about how he doesn’t exactly want to lose his strength. That’s a conversation for another day.

It’s more the things he’d been forced to do. The lives he’s ruined and taken with his own hands, not for any greater good but just for HYDRA’s cruel ‘justice’.

“Okay… okay…” he wipes his eyes, smiling slightly. Things might turn out okay.

“I… I have so much to tell you”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I know. I'm sure you have seen...many things"

He lets go of his son finally before the feeling of never wanting to let him go consumes him and he actually doesn't let go of him

"I have a place, we can go. It's..." it's not home. Nothing else will be home the way their house in Sokovia was. But it was a roof over their head with food and drink and place he can be safe. A place they can talk and rest. One of the perks of still having all his money in his hand

"You can tell me everything" he knows whatever Carl tells him will make his blood boil and his veins pop but he wants to listen. He wants to be there in ways he wasn't before.

He wasn't the same man, the same father Carl been taken from. But Caleb was still his son, and somewhere inside of him were the flickering embers of the father he used to be

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares… Carl… Ares-Carl. Carl-Ares. Since finding out his real name he’s had no idea what to call himself, who he is. His whole identity was wrapped around his pain, but now he has something else and he doesn’t know what to do with it.

He nods at his father, the prospect of living somewhere other than in the abandoned building he calls home extremely enticing.

“Any place is good”

And he means it, he fucking means it. This is one of the very few times in his memory he can say he got lucky

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo brought his car so he walks with Carl out of the building leaving the dead soldiers behind. Rotting, where they belong.

They get in and he doesn't waste any time with things like road laws taking them back to one of the many places he has around the world. He was lucky he just so happened to have one in New York

They don't talk much on the car ride home but luckily it's short so the silence is useful for Zemo to clear his head. His son is back, really back. Right here. Not a ghost or a phantom or a shadow that haunts his dreams he's really here

When they get to his home he offers Carl a drink and grabs himself a glass of whiskey filling it more than he usually would

"What do you want to talk about first?" He isn't going to push Carl, but he is going to let him lead the conversation

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I…” He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know who he is, let alone what to even tell his father. What is there to say?

“I escaped HYDRA three years ago. Something changed, conditioning broke for only minutes, so I took chance.”

He hasn’t talked about this with anyone, not even with her…

“At first I was going to hide, vanish so they never find me. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave them and let them keep doing what they do. So I… I started hunting”

So many HYDRA agents had died at his hands, he’d lost count over a year ago

“They gave me everything I needed to hurt them. I even chose my own name. Ares”

The god of war, the spirit of battle. Fitting.

[officialbaron-zemo]

He listened; he sipped his drink and listened. Savoring it but also making sure the alcohol didn't flood his system too quickly. It was worth savoring in this moment.

"It can sometimes feel like a small victory to know that you can take what your oppressors gave you and use it against them..." a twisted comfort maybe

"You did well enough to survive. You have fought well...but much more than you should have had to"

His felt his ears prick up when Carl mentioned his change in names

"Ares...it is fitting. Your name defines your purpose and vice versa"

In this moment he'd forgotten what it was like to be a father. He felt more like... an old friend that was seeing the ghost of someone he once new more than a man who had once held this boy as a child. That child was gone

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I couldn’t remember my name. I learned it later from James Barnes. He was one of my targets for short while.”

Ares feels a little ashamed of that last part. But in his defence, the man did have a large bounty on his head at that point and Ares was struggling for food

“I didn’t believe at first. Thought it was too easy to just be… told”

After a decade of not knowing who he was, just finding out on a whim was jarring

“I didn’t believe until my… my girlfriend Natasha found my original HYDRA file”

[officialbaron-zemo]

He went after the ex Winter Soldier. The only successful and most intimidating one of them all...HYRDA knew no end to the suffering they would perpetuate onto anyone they knew, past, present or future.

"Information when given freely is often as such. Information is not a delicate thing but it is never handled with care"

He hesitated taking his next sip when Carl- uh Ares mentioned a girlfriend

"...you managed to find love..." it wasn't a question, more of a statement but...like he had just said information is delicate and that was quite an intense fact but his son had a life, even if it was not a "normal" one

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Yes…”

Ares smiles at the thought of Nana. He loves her, that much is obvious on his face. He’s crazy about her

“She found me on street. I was bleeding and dying. She saved me and healed me and… well the rest is the rest”

Ares was worried at first about telling his father, and is glad he’s gotten at least that normal teenage experience.

[officialbaron-zemo]

He remembered what love felt like. He could never love another since Ares mother died. He knew that feeling. He knew the bonds formed in desperation, in times of great distress and strife. It brought people together. And clearly Ares and this girl had found their love through their struggles. And right now it seemed to be the only silver lining in the life he couldn't save his son from

"I wish to meet this girl one day. If...if perhaps I am still in your life at that time"

Saying it out loud brought another question to his mind

"Actually, I want to ask you. Do you still wish for me to be in your life? I know I could not save you when you needed me. But I am willing to be here now"

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares smiles, dimples showing in his cheeks. A soft, genuine smile.

“Of course. Can’t blame you for what happened. Not your fault”

The thought of having his father in his life, of having some part of his family back, makes some giddy and previously repressed part of him excited.

“Natasha’s very… noticeable. She shines like sun. You will like her”

Ares really hopes he will

[officialbaron-zemo]

"As a father it is my job to do better... but in a way you are right" he doesn't know what he hates more. The fact that he wasn't there or that he couldn't have done anything even if he was.

He smiles into his glass as he can see his son light up mentioning his girlfriend, he's grateful his son has had something and someone even if it's for a short while

"You'll have to introduce us sometime. But for now I think it's best that you rest. You look tired. I have spare rooms, you can pick whichever one you would like...it's your home even if it hasn't been open to you until now"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable // Closed

@officialbaron-zemo

Divider by @cafekitsune <3

"My problem is my problem that I never am happy / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed,"

Taras sat by the rotting gravestone, leaning against it as he listened to the plugged-in headphones connecting to his phone. He wasn't completely sure why he was here... maybe it was because Fathers Day was not too long ago. Maybe he just missed this place in a twisted way.

He huffed and readjusted the familiar coat over his shoulders that he used to keep warm, letting his fingers run through the synthetic fur across the collar. The sky was dark as the clouds above darkened and warned him that it'd rain soon enough. Not like he quite cared, anyway. The rain brought a sort of comfort when it felt like he was at his lowest.

Taras brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, slowly shaking his head as his eyes fluttered closed.

"Я рад, что ты мертв, Юрий," he murmured.

A few minutes passed until Taras opened his eyes and looked up to see him. His face hardened as he looked away, forcing his gaze to shift somewhere else. He knew Zemo would be here, and yet the sight of him still ached.

"You came," he murmured, "I didn't expect you to." He shifted himself as he pulled the coat further over him, quietly wishing that it would swallow him whole.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Since meeting up with Taras again he had decided to keep tabs on his old love.

He approached Taras with no hesitation. He knew Taras would not want to see him, not here and not in this state. But that wasn't his problem

"Yes. I am"

He watched Taras hunch in on himself

"Кажется, ты застрял в прошлом" he says it neutrally although it's slightly patronizing

He looked Taras over, the earbuds in his ears, the jacket around his shoulders. The small sad look in his eyes. It was pitiful and a small part of him felt bad for Taras. But it was hardly anything it was so easy to smother.

"What is the point of you being here?"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras wasn't even sure himself.

"Не надо меня опекать," he responded as he reached up and took the earbuds off. As much as he'd love to drown out Zemo's voice, he knew that it would never work. That man was a parasite on his brain.

By the time Zemo got close, Taras huffed and dusted off his coat enough to properly stand. His attention temporarily diverted to the grave beside him, but soon enough, it went back to Zemo.

"Why are you here?" He questioned with the slight tilt of his head. He had his suspicions on why Zemo came, but as is, he had evidence for none of them.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Need. Want. Neither is correct but here we are"

He considers leaving Taras to his self inflicted suffering but something compels him to stay. Not to hurt Taras but maybe to provide company if not comfort...he knew he was no comfort

"Checking in on you" it's honest but the emotional intent is missing.

"Believe it or not I wanted to see you. You have made your way back into my life. And part of me seems persistent to keep you there"

He did miss Taras, when he let himself admit it. Their days they shared together did help him feel more human when he started to feel parts of him slip away. He hoped that Taras could help him now, to stop himself from slipping away.

Maybe his reasons were selfish, but it was a reason. Whether Taras liked or accepted it or not

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Despite the lack of emotional intent, Taras... well, the words were touching. Just knowing that Zemo wanted to keep him in his life in some way was enough to make Taras foolishly hopeful.

But at the same time, this was Zemo. Taras was around the man long enough to avoid falling for his words in an instant.

Taras let a bitter chuckle escape his throat. "I thought you'd like me as far away as possible," he admitted. The relationship the two had after Taras got out of the Raft was far less than stellar, and out of that, Taras merely assumed that whatever chances the two had were gone the moment Taras started working with the New Avengers.

But honestly? Part of him was glad that wasn’t the case.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closers" he says it, not specifying which one of those Taras was. He didn't quite know himself. He didn't think they were friends, it's not just something they could be. But he wouldn't consider Taras an enemy. Although his connection to the Avengers was less than pleasing.

"Why do you punish yourself like this" he knew how hard it was for Taras to be here but he knew no one was forcing him to do so. What was the purpose except to extrapolate his own suffering.

Taras had a habit of being self destructive, nothing Zemo could ever do about it. Their relationship is something that any respectable person would have called self destructive in it's own right he supposed.

But again he still cared for Taras in ways he didn't think he was capable and wanted to know

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras also wondered exactly which one of those he was. Trying to call the two friends was insane, but he knew they weren't enemies either: if they were, Taras would have had a few bruises from the first time they saw each other again.

"I—," Taras ended up cutting himself off before he spoke again. Being at this place was hell. The last time he was in his home country — let alone home town — was nearly a decade ago. And yet, here he was once more.

"Maybe I'm just nostalgic," he said before adjusting his coat once more. It was the closest thing Taras could think of that was even close to an explanation for being here.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"It would seem being stuck in the past is a defining trait of yours" it sounded harsh but he said it flatly. Almost softly.

He had seen Taras. His purpose for being here was complete and there was nothing he was going to do for him. But he didn't think Taras should stay here either.

"I think it's time I leave...I have a place on the jet if you wish to leave as well"

He turned around and began walking away

"it is up to you"

[officialbaron-zemo]

Ares had been running for a long time. He rarely ever sat still, always moving. He had to, or he'd be dead. No time to think, no time to breathe. A constant chase. He could've probably hidden himself away, but the idea of letting HYDRA get away with what they'd done to him killed that idea. He wanted revenge.

Which is why he's in the warehouse in the first place, fighting outnumbered and winning against some HYDRA agents lured here under the promise of a weapons deal. He initially was losing, but now is wiping the floor with them. The fighting is electrifying, each kill makes him feel unstoppable. So much so that he doesn't notice someone entering the warehouse through a side door.

As Ares drags his knife out of the last HYDRA agent, he takes a second to catch his breath. He thinks he's done, thinks he's safe, until he hears footsteps behind him and turns around, fully ready to kill whoever it is. His face is covered so the person can't recognize him, and he can't recognize them in the dark. He just stands there, waiting for them to identify themself.

– @to-takeon-theworld

"Mm impressive. It seems someone beat me to the job" he eyes the person before him skeptically

He's not above getting others to do his dirty work but he also doesn't know anything about this person. He likes having the Intel even if he isn't involved.

The person doesn't seem much older than a teenager. Possibly still is but they are masked. Cleaver

"What did you want with them" he tilts his head towards them. "Other than to paint the floor with their insides it seems" he smirks

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Stay back, don’t come closer” Ares snarls, taking a step back from the person he doesn’t recognise in the dark. He has a really strong accent, definitely Eastern European, and his English is broken.

Is he scared? Maybe. HYDRA members coming at him isn’t what scares him, he can kill them easily. It’s someone who doesn’t seem afraid that gets to him. A seemingly normal civilian laughing like this is funny.

“I kill them because they deserve it”

There's more to it than that, but that’s the general gist of it. He’s not about to spill his sob story to some stranger with a… very familiar voice.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo puts his hands up but doesn't drop his smirk. The tremble in this persons voice does nothing for them despite the knife still confidently held in their hand

He huffs a laugh "I won't argue with that. But what is your qualm with them exactly?"

He keeps his hands up, but he steps forward trying to keep this boy placated but get close enough to disarm and demask him.

If he wouldn't give him the answers he wanted, he would take them

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares could overpower this guy if he wanted to, easily. Not even a competition. But something about Zemo’s calmness, how he just casually walks towards an armed assassin, means he’s either very brave or very stupid

“Believe me, you do not want to know”

How do you explain over half a lifetime of torture? How do you explain a decade of experimentation and being used as a weapon. Short answer is you don’t. Not to strangers

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Mm but you see the thing is. I do" and with that he reached forward grabbing the knife with one hand pulling it from his grip, which is surprisingly strong and reaching for the mask which he doesn't quite get a good grip on and only half comes off in his hand

He half succeeded, he's just glad to be the one with the knife. Not that he couldn't have gone for the one in his coat pocket

"Now would you like to tell me who you are? Or let me cut that mask from your face?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares stumbles back. That isn’t his only weapon but it’s really the principle of it. He just got disarmed by some seemingly random person.

He can see Zemo’s face properly now, and Zemo can see the lower half of his face. Ares is trying to figure out where he may have seen Zemo before

“Do prdele, spodina!” He snaps, pulling another knife from his belt.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You speak Sokovian?" Zemo says a little taken aback. He hasn't met another Sokovian out in the rest of the world for a few decades. After the country was cannibalized by it's neighbours they were taken into the new boarders

"That's a little bit harsh don't you think Dieťa"

And he pulls out another knife, of course. He shouldn't have assumed someone who just took down half a dozen heavily armed HYDRA agents to be so unprepared

"Your choice. You take it off, or I take it from you"

[to-takeon-theworld]

How dare he call me a child

The comment just makes Ares seethe with rage, and makes it even less likely for him to listen

“I’m not a child, and you don’t tell me what to do”

He takes another few steps back. He can make it for the door if he runs. But something roots him to the spot, makes him not want to move. Curiosity? Anger? Probably

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo can see how the boy angers. How the rage seems to bleed from his skin at the very comment

"Fine" he says lunging for the mask again, narrowly avoiding the blade of his knife before ripping the mask of instead "I warned you-"

But his voice falters. The face underneath the mask is familiar to him, eerily familiar as if he is seeing the ghost of someone he once knew?

"Who are you, boy" it's his turn to take a step back now

[to-takeon-theworld]

Shit

Ares knows he looks exactly like his mother, he’s been told before by someone else who recognised him. So maybe this guy knew his parents. It would be too much of a coincidence if…

“Why would I tell you?”

He’s breathing heavier, chest rising and falling faster. He’s been caught he knows he has.

There's something in Ares’s eyes too, they look familiar to Zemo in the way something old you lost is. Recognisable, but broken. There’s so much pain behind those eyes it’s hard to see anything else

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo feels something rises in his chest, and he raised the knife in defense. As if its an external threat and not a feeling coming directly from inside

"Because I asked. Let me ask you another question instead...where were you when Sokovia fell?"

He seeing things. Whatever is familiar in the face of this body is something his mind is showing him. He's being ridiculous.

But he knows his eyes would never trick him life this. Those are the eyes of his wife, the eyes shared by his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

That's not what he expected to be asked. Ares is taken so off guard by the question he almost visibly relaxes

“I… I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything before age 7. I just remember waking up in a HYDRA cell”

If pressed, Ares couldn’t explain why that’s the moment he chooses to be honest. Maybe it’s the expression on the man in front of him, a mix of shock and disbelief that you don’t see on the face of someone looking at a random teenager.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Seven. Seven years old. A familiar shadow of a face. Who was this boy?

Zemo has questions, and he needs them answered and he realises that he isn't going to get any of them if he keeps threatening this boy. So he changes tactics. Goes for placating and disarming. Trying to bring the energy between them down. He needs cooperation here

He tucks the knife away, stealing it, for now.

"I have some things I need answered...are you willing to answer them. A- temporary truce if you will. You can attempt to stab me later"

He is desperate, something he hasn't felt in years, for answers, for something so simple to go his way

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares hesitates before putting his knife away too, still keeping one hand on it just I’m case. Not trusting anyone is what’s kept him alive, he’s not about to trust some random guy he just ran into.

“Fine. Truce.”

That sense of familiarly is almost choking, he feels like he’s seen Zemo before, just not sure where.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You said you were 7 when you woke up with HYDRA. But you speak fluent Sokovian. They don't teach that, I know. I did my research. So you must know how you know that language"

He keeps scanning the boy, up and down trying to get an idea on why he recognises this boy. What about him is so familiar, familiar like something you lost and didn't think you'd ever find again

He knows this child giving him any information is going to be difficult since HYDRA loves to mess with the mind and he doesn't seem in a sharing mood

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I always spoke it”

He says it as if it’s obvious, as if it’s a stupid question. He crosses his arms, still glaring at Zemo

Because Sokovian was already in his head when he woke up in HYDRA. He never forgot how to speak it

“I don’t remember learning it I just… know it. I know I’m Sokovian”

[officialbaron-zemo]

The longer he looks at this boy the more and more fragments start to come together, the texture of his hair, the colour of his eyes, the shape of them. With HYDRA since he was 7, speaking fluent Sokovian the blatant attitude even towards a stranger...it was too familiar and Zemo felt stupid to even hope

"Who was your favourite hero as a child...just answer this" he knows how ridiculous this must sound, but if he remembers then...this has to be him. It can't be. But it is

This boy might be his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares almost lets out a laugh. What kind of question is that?

“I mean, I can’t truly speak for myself before seven years old, but I believe it was Iron Man.”

To say that Ares remembers nothing from before his time at HYDRA would be a lie, he just can’t remember anything concrete. Nothing helpful, occasional flashes of a childhood he’d never get back. He had to learn his real name from one of his targets, who he did end up sparing. He does have a few blurry memories though, one of which was seeing Iron Man on the TV.

[officialbaron-zemo]

The pieces he was afraid to have connected in his head finally click

His eyes, his hair, his mannerisms, his favourite hero

Whatever he had seen in Sokovia, what ever had happened to his son on the outskirts of the city that day hadn't been real. They hadn't been permanent.

And HYDRA had a hand in it. Because some how right now he was sure that his son. Almost 11 years later was standing right in front of him

"Carl? Ako sa máš nažive?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

It takes a few seconds for the pieces to click in Ares’s head too. His first thought was ‘How could he know my old name?’, before the truth sets in and he realises why Zemo’s face is so familiar

“Papa?”

It almost comes swimming back into view, breaking through a decade of memory wipes and chemical subjugation. His father. His father

He feels like he can’t breathe. Like he got punched in the chest. He’s not alone… he’s not alone…

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He's not the man, the father he used to be.

When he lost his family he turned into a person he thought he was never capable of being. Doing things and using people.

And he doesn't regret most of it. But having his son standing before him again sends a spike of something cold and frigid through him that makes his life for the past decade seem like someone else's.

Like all of a sudden time never past and his son had been here all this time. But he hadn't. And that's why he no longer looked like the little boy he had left that day.

What was he supposed to do now?

"I- you were burried under that rubble" was all he could say

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares can’t speak, can barely breathe. What’s he supposed to say? Every since he found out who he used to be, he’d spent a long time researching his father, and if only 1 in 10 of the things said about him were true most would write him off as irredeemable. Considering Ares literally has blood on his hands, he can’t exactly judge.

Putting a face to the name helps too. Some idealised version of what his family might have been brought to reality with the man in front of him.

“You were supposed to think that. I almost was”

He pulls the hem of his shirt up a little. Deep scarring, the kind that takes years to heal, marrs his torso.

“I was supposed to die. Unfortunately I wasn’t found by rescue crew”

He drops it again, hands visibly shaking. He just stands there, frozen to the spot, moving seeming like insanity

He looks far older than 18, though he can’t be much older than that. His normally haunted eyes soften slightly

[officialbaron-zemo]

Something turns sour in Zemo and he remembered why he was here. And now he had even more reason to hate the people who worked under the control of HYDRA.

Their scientists had created super soldiers and heros that would have uprooted humanity.

But by some miracle. They had managed to save his son...who was standing before him. Alive. Scared but alive.

That was no excuse for the scum who created the world's pain and gave the Avengers reason to exist

But now he couldn't do anything but stare. Stare at the boy who had grown from his son into this young man he had no idea he would ever see. He lost all hope of ever seeing the man his son turned into...and yet here he was

And Zemo didn't catch himself when he stumbled forward taking his son into his arms

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares completely freezes in shock, apart from the continuing shake in his hands. He’d done his research, he knows his father’s built in ideals and morals, at least the ones he’s said out loud. He didn’t expect this kind of warmth, considering that he’s become everything his father hates

A super soldier. A weapon. A killer. One of HYDRA’s mindless drones.

So the hug is unexpected, a shock even. It takes Ares a second to reciprocate the hug, but when he does all his walls breaks down, and he starts crying for the first time in a decade. His tears are silent, controlled, but still there.

“Papa…” he whispers again, voice shaky as his hands.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Syn môj, syn môj, prečo som ťa vôbec nechal odísť" he can't help it

Despite his front, despite what the world thinks of him Zemo's has only ever and always will do what he does for family. For his family

And having his son back with him feels like a piece of him that was missing for so long has finally been found.

For the first time in years he feels some semblance of right. Some semblance of ok again with his son still living and breathing in his arms.

"Nemal si byť nikdy ponechaný tým spodine. Prosím, odpusť mi"

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Nie je to tvoja chyba, nevedel si.”

The realisation that he’s not alone, that part of his family is still here for him, is enough to break through Ares’s tough outer shell. The shield he’d built up for years crumbling all at once.

He feels like a little kid again, clinging desperately to his father as if worried he might vanish again if he lets go

“Nie som ten istý, aký som bol... sotva si na čo pamätám.”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I wished I had. I wished I had known" he knows it's not his choices that lead to this. But the choices of those damned Avengers.

He held onto his son harder doing what he should have done all those years ago. Kept him close. Kept him safe. He should have died with him and his mother that day.

Hearing his son speak about himself like he was broken broke something in Zemo and anything he had become faded away for the moment

"I've learnt about the experiments run at HYDRA we can reverse it. I will find a way" he says this like a promise. A deceleration

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares exhales, not exactly wanting to tell Zemo about how he doesn’t exactly want to lose his strength. That’s a conversation for another day.

It’s more the things he’d been forced to do. The lives he’s ruined and taken with his own hands, not for any greater good but just for HYDRA’s cruel ‘justice’.

“Okay… okay…” he wipes his eyes, smiling slightly. Things might turn out okay.

“I… I have so much to tell you”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I know. I'm sure you have seen...many things"

He lets go of his son finally before the feeling of never wanting to let him go consumes him and he actually doesn't let go of him

"I have a place, we can go. It's..." it's not home. Nothing else will be home the way their house in Sokovia was. But it was a roof over their head with food and drink and place he can be safe. A place they can talk and rest. One of the perks of still having all his money in his hand

"You can tell me everything" he knows whatever Carl tells him will make his blood boil and his veins pop but he wants to listen. He wants to be there in ways he wasn't before.

He wasn't the same man, the same father Carl been taken from. But Caleb was still his son, and somewhere inside of him were the flickering embers of the father he used to be

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares… Carl… Ares-Carl. Carl-Ares. Since finding out his real name he’s had no idea what to call himself, who he is. His whole identity was wrapped around his pain, but now he has something else and he doesn’t know what to do with it.

He nods at his father, the prospect of living somewhere other than in the abandoned building he calls home extremely enticing.

“Any place is good”

And he means it, he fucking means it. This is one of the very few times in his memory he can say he got lucky

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo brought his car so he walks with Carl out of the building leaving the dead soldiers behind. Rotting, where they belong.

They get in and he doesn't waste any time with things like road laws taking them back to one of the many places he has around the world. He was lucky he just so happened to have one in New York

They don't talk much on the car ride home but luckily it's short so the silence is useful for Zemo to clear his head. His son is back, really back. Right here. Not a ghost or a phantom or a shadow that haunts his dreams he's really here

When they get to his home he offers Carl a drink and grabs himself a glass of whiskey filling it more than he usually would

"What do you want to talk about first?" He isn't going to push Carl, but he is going to let him lead the conversation

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I…” He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know who he is, let alone what to even tell his father. What is there to say?

“I escaped HYDRA three years ago. Something changed, conditioning broke for only minutes, so I took chance.”

He hasn’t talked about this with anyone, not even with her…

“At first I was going to hide, vanish so they never find me. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave them and let them keep doing what they do. So I… I started hunting”

So many HYDRA agents had died at his hands, he’d lost count over a year ago

“They gave me everything I needed to hurt them. I even chose my own name. Ares”

The god of war, the spirit of battle. Fitting.

[officialbaron-zemo]

He listened; he sipped his drink and listened. Savoring it but also making sure the alcohol didn't flood his system too quickly. It was worth savoring in this moment.

"It can sometimes feel like a small victory to know that you can take what your oppressors gave you and use it against them..." a twisted comfort maybe

"You did well enough to survive. You have fought well...but much more than you should have had to"

His felt his ears prick up when Carl mentioned his change in names

"Ares...it is fitting. Your name defines your purpose and vice versa"

In this moment he'd forgotten what it was like to be a father. He felt more like... an old friend that was seeing the ghost of someone he once new more than a man who had once held this boy as a child. That child was gone

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I couldn’t remember my name. I learned it later from James Barnes. He was one of my targets for short while.”

Ares feels a little ashamed of that last part. But in his defence, the man did have a large bounty on his head at that point and Ares was struggling for food

“I didn’t believe at first. Thought it was too easy to just be… told”

After a decade of not knowing who he was, just finding out on a whim was jarring

“I didn’t believe until my… my girlfriend Natasha found my original HYDRA file”

[officialbaron-zemo]

He went after the ex Winter Soldier. The only successful and most intimidating one of them all...HYRDA knew no end to the suffering they would perpetuate onto anyone they knew, past, present or future.

"Information when given freely is often as such. Information is not a delicate thing but it is never handled with care"

He hesitated taking his next sip when Carl- uh Ares mentioned a girlfriend

"...you managed to find love..." it wasn't a question, more of a statement but...like he had just said information is delicate and that was quite an intense fact but his son had a life, even if it was not a "normal" one

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Yes…”

Ares smiles at the thought of Nana. He loves her, that much is obvious on his face. He’s crazy about her

“She found me on street. I was bleeding and dying. She saved me and healed me and… well the rest is the rest”

Ares was worried at first about telling his father, and is glad he’s gotten at least that normal teenage experience.

[officialbaron-zemo]

He remembered what love felt like. He could never love another since Ares mother died. He knew that feeling. He knew the bonds formed in desperation, in times of great distress and strife. It brought people together. And clearly Ares and this girl had found their love through their struggles. And right now it seemed to be the only silver lining in the life he couldn't save his son from

"I wish to meet this girl one day. If...if perhaps I am still in your life at that time"

Saying it out loud brought another question to his mind

"Actually, I want to ask you. Do you still wish for me to be in your life? I know I could not save you when you needed me. But I am willing to be here now"

[officialbaron-zemo]

im more of a bunny, but bunnies don’t exactly make noises, so, meow

-🐰🍓

*he stares* Are you some form of hydra experiment perchance?

[officialbaron-zemo]

Ares had been running for a long time. He rarely ever sat still, always moving. He had to, or he'd be dead. No time to think, no time to breathe. A constant chase. He could've probably hidden himself away, but the idea of letting HYDRA get away with what they'd done to him killed that idea. He wanted revenge.

Which is why he's in the warehouse in the first place, fighting outnumbered and winning against some HYDRA agents lured here under the promise of a weapons deal. He initially was losing, but now is wiping the floor with them. The fighting is electrifying, each kill makes him feel unstoppable. So much so that he doesn't notice someone entering the warehouse through a side door.

As Ares drags his knife out of the last HYDRA agent, he takes a second to catch his breath. He thinks he's done, thinks he's safe, until he hears footsteps behind him and turns around, fully ready to kill whoever it is. His face is covered so the person can't recognize him, and he can't recognize them in the dark. He just stands there, waiting for them to identify themself.

– @to-takeon-theworld

"Mm impressive. It seems someone beat me to the job" he eyes the person before him skeptically

He's not above getting others to do his dirty work but he also doesn't know anything about this person. He likes having the Intel even if he isn't involved.

The person doesn't seem much older than a teenager. Possibly still is but they are masked. Cleaver

"What did you want with them" he tilts his head towards them. "Other than to paint the floor with their insides it seems" he smirks

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Stay back, don’t come closer” Ares snarls, taking a step back from the person he doesn’t recognise in the dark. He has a really strong accent, definitely Eastern European, and his English is broken.

Is he scared? Maybe. HYDRA members coming at him isn’t what scares him, he can kill them easily. It’s someone who doesn’t seem afraid that gets to him. A seemingly normal civilian laughing like this is funny.

“I kill them because they deserve it”

There's more to it than that, but that’s the general gist of it. He’s not about to spill his sob story to some stranger with a… very familiar voice.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo puts his hands up but doesn't drop his smirk. The tremble in this persons voice does nothing for them despite the knife still confidently held in their hand

He huffs a laugh "I won't argue with that. But what is your qualm with them exactly?"

He keeps his hands up, but he steps forward trying to keep this boy placated but get close enough to disarm and demask him.

If he wouldn't give him the answers he wanted, he would take them

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares could overpower this guy if he wanted to, easily. Not even a competition. But something about Zemo’s calmness, how he just casually walks towards an armed assassin, means he’s either very brave or very stupid

“Believe me, you do not want to know”

How do you explain over half a lifetime of torture? How do you explain a decade of experimentation and being used as a weapon. Short answer is you don’t. Not to strangers

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Mm but you see the thing is. I do" and with that he reached forward grabbing the knife with one hand pulling it from his grip, which is surprisingly strong and reaching for the mask which he doesn't quite get a good grip on and only half comes off in his hand

He half succeeded, he's just glad to be the one with the knife. Not that he couldn't have gone for the one in his coat pocket

"Now would you like to tell me who you are? Or let me cut that mask from your face?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares stumbles back. That isn’t his only weapon but it’s really the principle of it. He just got disarmed by some seemingly random person.

He can see Zemo’s face properly now, and Zemo can see the lower half of his face. Ares is trying to figure out where he may have seen Zemo before

“Do prdele, spodina!” He snaps, pulling another knife from his belt.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You speak Sokovian?" Zemo says a little taken aback. He hasn't met another Sokovian out in the rest of the world for a few decades. After the country was cannibalized by it's neighbours they were taken into the new boarders

"That's a little bit harsh don't you think Dieťa"

And he pulls out another knife, of course. He shouldn't have assumed someone who just took down half a dozen heavily armed HYDRA agents to be so unprepared

"Your choice. You take it off, or I take it from you"

[to-takeon-theworld]

How dare he call me a child

The comment just makes Ares seethe with rage, and makes it even less likely for him to listen

“I’m not a child, and you don’t tell me what to do”

He takes another few steps back. He can make it for the door if he runs. But something roots him to the spot, makes him not want to move. Curiosity? Anger? Probably

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo can see how the boy angers. How the rage seems to bleed from his skin at the very comment

"Fine" he says lunging for the mask again, narrowly avoiding the blade of his knife before ripping the mask of instead "I warned you-"

But his voice falters. The face underneath the mask is familiar to him, eerily familiar as if he is seeing the ghost of someone he once knew?

"Who are you, boy" it's his turn to take a step back now

[to-takeon-theworld]

Shit

Ares knows he looks exactly like his mother, he’s been told before by someone else who recognised him. So maybe this guy knew his parents. It would be too much of a coincidence if…

“Why would I tell you?”

He’s breathing heavier, chest rising and falling faster. He’s been caught he knows he has.

There's something in Ares’s eyes too, they look familiar to Zemo in the way something old you lost is. Recognisable, but broken. There’s so much pain behind those eyes it’s hard to see anything else

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo feels something rises in his chest, and he raised the knife in defense. As if its an external threat and not a feeling coming directly from inside

"Because I asked. Let me ask you another question instead...where were you when Sokovia fell?"

He seeing things. Whatever is familiar in the face of this body is something his mind is showing him. He's being ridiculous.

But he knows his eyes would never trick him life this. Those are the eyes of his wife, the eyes shared by his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

That's not what he expected to be asked. Ares is taken so off guard by the question he almost visibly relaxes

“I… I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything before age 7. I just remember waking up in a HYDRA cell”

If pressed, Ares couldn’t explain why that’s the moment he chooses to be honest. Maybe it’s the expression on the man in front of him, a mix of shock and disbelief that you don’t see on the face of someone looking at a random teenager.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Seven. Seven years old. A familiar shadow of a face. Who was this boy?

Zemo has questions, and he needs them answered and he realises that he isn't going to get any of them if he keeps threatening this boy. So he changes tactics. Goes for placating and disarming. Trying to bring the energy between them down. He needs cooperation here

He tucks the knife away, stealing it, for now.

"I have some things I need answered...are you willing to answer them. A- temporary truce if you will. You can attempt to stab me later"

He is desperate, something he hasn't felt in years, for answers, for something so simple to go his way

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares hesitates before putting his knife away too, still keeping one hand on it just I’m case. Not trusting anyone is what’s kept him alive, he’s not about to trust some random guy he just ran into.

“Fine. Truce.”

That sense of familiarly is almost choking, he feels like he’s seen Zemo before, just not sure where.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You said you were 7 when you woke up with HYDRA. But you speak fluent Sokovian. They don't teach that, I know. I did my research. So you must know how you know that language"

He keeps scanning the boy, up and down trying to get an idea on why he recognises this boy. What about him is so familiar, familiar like something you lost and didn't think you'd ever find again

He knows this child giving him any information is going to be difficult since HYDRA loves to mess with the mind and he doesn't seem in a sharing mood

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I always spoke it”

He says it as if it’s obvious, as if it’s a stupid question. He crosses his arms, still glaring at Zemo

Because Sokovian was already in his head when he woke up in HYDRA. He never forgot how to speak it

“I don’t remember learning it I just… know it. I know I’m Sokovian”

[officialbaron-zemo]

The longer he looks at this boy the more and more fragments start to come together, the texture of his hair, the colour of his eyes, the shape of them. With HYDRA since he was 7, speaking fluent Sokovian the blatant attitude even towards a stranger...it was too familiar and Zemo felt stupid to even hope

"Who was your favourite hero as a child...just answer this" he knows how ridiculous this must sound, but if he remembers then...this has to be him. It can't be. But it is

This boy might be his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares almost lets out a laugh. What kind of question is that?

“I mean, I can’t truly speak for myself before seven years old, but I believe it was Iron Man.”

To say that Ares remembers nothing from before his time at HYDRA would be a lie, he just can’t remember anything concrete. Nothing helpful, occasional flashes of a childhood he’d never get back. He had to learn his real name from one of his targets, who he did end up sparing. He does have a few blurry memories though, one of which was seeing Iron Man on the TV.

[officialbaron-zemo]

The pieces he was afraid to have connected in his head finally click

His eyes, his hair, his mannerisms, his favourite hero

Whatever he had seen in Sokovia, what ever had happened to his son on the outskirts of the city that day hadn't been real. They hadn't been permanent.

And HYDRA had a hand in it. Because some how right now he was sure that his son. Almost 11 years later was standing right in front of him

"Carl? Ako sa máš nažive?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

It takes a few seconds for the pieces to click in Ares’s head too. His first thought was ‘How could he know my old name?’, before the truth sets in and he realises why Zemo’s face is so familiar

“Papa?”

It almost comes swimming back into view, breaking through a decade of memory wipes and chemical subjugation. His father. His father

He feels like he can’t breathe. Like he got punched in the chest. He’s not alone… he’s not alone…

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He's not the man, the father he used to be.

When he lost his family he turned into a person he thought he was never capable of being. Doing things and using people.

And he doesn't regret most of it. But having his son standing before him again sends a spike of something cold and frigid through him that makes his life for the past decade seem like someone else's.

Like all of a sudden time never past and his son had been here all this time. But he hadn't. And that's why he no longer looked like the little boy he had left that day.

What was he supposed to do now?

"I- you were burried under that rubble" was all he could say

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares can’t speak, can barely breathe. What’s he supposed to say? Every since he found out who he used to be, he’d spent a long time researching his father, and if only 1 in 10 of the things said about him were true most would write him off as irredeemable. Considering Ares literally has blood on his hands, he can’t exactly judge.

Putting a face to the name helps too. Some idealised version of what his family might have been brought to reality with the man in front of him.

“You were supposed to think that. I almost was”

He pulls the hem of his shirt up a little. Deep scarring, the kind that takes years to heal, marrs his torso.

“I was supposed to die. Unfortunately I wasn’t found by rescue crew”

He drops it again, hands visibly shaking. He just stands there, frozen to the spot, moving seeming like insanity

He looks far older than 18, though he can’t be much older than that. His normally haunted eyes soften slightly

[officialbaron-zemo]

Something turns sour in Zemo and he remembered why he was here. And now he had even more reason to hate the people who worked under the control of HYDRA.

Their scientists had created super soldiers and heros that would have uprooted humanity.

But by some miracle. They had managed to save his son...who was standing before him. Alive. Scared but alive.

That was no excuse for the scum who created the world's pain and gave the Avengers reason to exist

But now he couldn't do anything but stare. Stare at the boy who had grown from his son into this young man he had no idea he would ever see. He lost all hope of ever seeing the man his son turned into...and yet here he was

And Zemo didn't catch himself when he stumbled forward taking his son into his arms

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares completely freezes in shock, apart from the continuing shake in his hands. He’d done his research, he knows his father’s built in ideals and morals, at least the ones he’s said out loud. He didn’t expect this kind of warmth, considering that he’s become everything his father hates

A super soldier. A weapon. A killer. One of HYDRA’s mindless drones.

So the hug is unexpected, a shock even. It takes Ares a second to reciprocate the hug, but when he does all his walls breaks down, and he starts crying for the first time in a decade. His tears are silent, controlled, but still there.

“Papa…” he whispers again, voice shaky as his hands.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Syn môj, syn môj, prečo som ťa vôbec nechal odísť" he can't help it

Despite his front, despite what the world thinks of him Zemo's has only ever and always will do what he does for family. For his family

And having his son back with him feels like a piece of him that was missing for so long has finally been found.

For the first time in years he feels some semblance of right. Some semblance of ok again with his son still living and breathing in his arms.

"Nemal si byť nikdy ponechaný tým spodine. Prosím, odpusť mi"

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Nie je to tvoja chyba, nevedel si.”

The realisation that he’s not alone, that part of his family is still here for him, is enough to break through Ares’s tough outer shell. The shield he’d built up for years crumbling all at once.

He feels like a little kid again, clinging desperately to his father as if worried he might vanish again if he lets go

“Nie som ten istý, aký som bol... sotva si na čo pamätám.”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I wished I had. I wished I had known" he knows it's not his choices that lead to this. But the choices of those damned Avengers.

He held onto his son harder doing what he should have done all those years ago. Kept him close. Kept him safe. He should have died with him and his mother that day.

Hearing his son speak about himself like he was broken broke something in Zemo and anything he had become faded away for the moment

"I've learnt about the experiments run at HYDRA we can reverse it. I will find a way" he says this like a promise. A deceleration

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares exhales, not exactly wanting to tell Zemo about how he doesn’t exactly want to lose his strength. That’s a conversation for another day.

It’s more the things he’d been forced to do. The lives he’s ruined and taken with his own hands, not for any greater good but just for HYDRA’s cruel ‘justice’.

“Okay… okay…” he wipes his eyes, smiling slightly. Things might turn out okay.

“I… I have so much to tell you”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I know. I'm sure you have seen...many things"

He lets go of his son finally before the feeling of never wanting to let him go consumes him and he actually doesn't let go of him

"I have a place, we can go. It's..." it's not home. Nothing else will be home the way their house in Sokovia was. But it was a roof over their head with food and drink and place he can be safe. A place they can talk and rest. One of the perks of still having all his money in his hand

"You can tell me everything" he knows whatever Carl tells him will make his blood boil and his veins pop but he wants to listen. He wants to be there in ways he wasn't before.

He wasn't the same man, the same father Carl been taken from. But Caleb was still his son, and somewhere inside of him were the flickering embers of the father he used to be

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares… Carl… Ares-Carl. Carl-Ares. Since finding out his real name he’s had no idea what to call himself, who he is. His whole identity was wrapped around his pain, but now he has something else and he doesn’t know what to do with it.

He nods at his father, the prospect of living somewhere other than in the abandoned building he calls home extremely enticing.

“Any place is good”

And he means it, he fucking means it. This is one of the very few times in his memory he can say he got lucky

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo brought his car so he walks with Carl out of the building leaving the dead soldiers behind. Rotting, where they belong.

They get in and he doesn't waste any time with things like road laws taking them back to one of the many places he has around the world. He was lucky he just so happened to have one in New York

They don't talk much on the car ride home but luckily it's short so the silence is useful for Zemo to clear his head. His son is back, really back. Right here. Not a ghost or a phantom or a shadow that haunts his dreams he's really here

When they get to his home he offers Carl a drink and grabs himself a glass of whiskey filling it more than he usually would

"What do you want to talk about first?" He isn't going to push Carl, but he is going to let him lead the conversation

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I…” He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know who he is, let alone what to even tell his father. What is there to say?

“I escaped HYDRA three years ago. Something changed, conditioning broke for only minutes, so I took chance.”

He hasn’t talked about this with anyone, not even with her…

“At first I was going to hide, vanish so they never find me. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave them and let them keep doing what they do. So I… I started hunting”

So many HYDRA agents had died at his hands, he’d lost count over a year ago

“They gave me everything I needed to hurt them. I even chose my own name. Ares”

The god of war, the spirit of battle. Fitting.

[officialbaron-zemo]

He listened; he sipped his drink and listened. Savoring it but also making sure the alcohol didn't flood his system too quickly. It was worth savoring in this moment.

"It can sometimes feel like a small victory to know that you can take what your oppressors gave you and use it against them..." a twisted comfort maybe

"You did well enough to survive. You have fought well...but much more than you should have had to"

His felt his ears prick up when Carl mentioned his change in names

"Ares...it is fitting. Your name defines your purpose and vice versa"

In this moment he'd forgotten what it was like to be a father. He felt more like... an old friend that was seeing the ghost of someone he once new more than a man who had once held this boy as a child. That child was gone

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I couldn’t remember my name. I learned it later from James Barnes. He was one of my targets for short while.”

Ares feels a little ashamed of that last part. But in his defence, the man did have a large bounty on his head at that point and Ares was struggling for food

“I didn’t believe at first. Thought it was too easy to just be… told”

After a decade of not knowing who he was, just finding out on a whim was jarring

“I didn’t believe until my… my girlfriend Natasha found my original HYDRA file”

[officialbaron-zemo]

He went after the ex Winter Soldier. The only successful and most intimidating one of them all...HYRDA knew no end to the suffering they would perpetuate onto anyone they knew, past, present or future.

"Information when given freely is often as such. Information is not a delicate thing but it is never handled with care"

He hesitated taking his next sip when Carl- uh Ares mentioned a girlfriend

"...you managed to find love..." it wasn't a question, more of a statement but...like he had just said information is delicate and that was quite an intense fact but his son had a life, even if it was not a "normal" one

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable // Closed

@officialbaron-zemo

Divider by @cafekitsune <3

"My problem is my problem that I never am happy / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed,"

Taras sat by the rotting gravestone, leaning against it as he listened to the plugged-in headphones connecting to his phone. He wasn't completely sure why he was here... maybe it was because Fathers Day was not too long ago. Maybe he just missed this place in a twisted way.

He huffed and readjusted the familiar coat over his shoulders that he used to keep warm, letting his fingers run through the synthetic fur across the collar. The sky was dark as the clouds above darkened and warned him that it'd rain soon enough. Not like he quite cared, anyway. The rain brought a sort of comfort when it felt like he was at his lowest.

Taras brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, slowly shaking his head as his eyes fluttered closed.

"Я рад, что ты мертв, Юрий," he murmured.

A few minutes passed until Taras opened his eyes and looked up to see him. His face hardened as he looked away, forcing his gaze to shift somewhere else. He knew Zemo would be here, and yet the sight of him still ached.

"You came," he murmured, "I didn't expect you to." He shifted himself as he pulled the coat further over him, quietly wishing that it would swallow him whole.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Since meeting up with Taras again he had decided to keep tabs on his old love.

He approached Taras with no hesitation. He knew Taras would not want to see him, not here and not in this state. But that wasn't his problem

"Yes. I am"

He watched Taras hunch in on himself

"Кажется, ты застрял в прошлом" he says it neutrally although it's slightly patronizing

He looked Taras over, the earbuds in his ears, the jacket around his shoulders. The small sad look in his eyes. It was pitiful and a small part of him felt bad for Taras. But it was hardly anything it was so easy to smother.

"What is the point of you being here?"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras wasn't even sure himself.

"Не надо меня опекать," he responded as he reached up and took the earbuds off. As much as he'd love to drown out Zemo's voice, he knew that it would never work. That man was a parasite on his brain.

By the time Zemo got close, Taras huffed and dusted off his coat enough to properly stand. His attention temporarily diverted to the grave beside him, but soon enough, it went back to Zemo.

"Why are you here?" He questioned with the slight tilt of his head. He had his suspicions on why Zemo came, but as is, he had evidence for none of them.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Need. Want. Neither is correct but here we are"

He considers leaving Taras to his self inflicted suffering but something compels him to stay. Not to hurt Taras but maybe to provide company if not comfort...he knew he was no comfort

"Checking in on you" it's honest but the emotional intent is missing.

"Believe it or not I wanted to see you. You have made your way back into my life. And part of me seems persistent to keep you there"

He did miss Taras, when he let himself admit it. Their days they shared together did help him feel more human when he started to feel parts of him slip away. He hoped that Taras could help him now, to stop himself from slipping away.

Maybe his reasons were selfish, but it was a reason. Whether Taras liked or accepted it or not

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Despite the lack of emotional intent, Taras... well, the words were touching. Just knowing that Zemo wanted to keep him in his life in some way was enough to make Taras foolishly hopeful.

But at the same time, this was Zemo. Taras was around the man long enough to avoid falling for his words in an instant.

Taras let a bitter chuckle escape his throat. "I thought you'd like me as far away as possible," he admitted. The relationship the two had after Taras got out of the Raft was far less than stellar, and out of that, Taras merely assumed that whatever chances the two had were gone the moment Taras started working with the New Avengers.

But honestly? Part of him was glad that wasn’t the case.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closers" he says it, not specifying which one of those Taras was. He didn't quite know himself. He didn't think they were friends, it's not just something they could be. But he wouldn't consider Taras an enemy. Although his connection to the Avengers was less than pleasing.

"Why do you punish yourself like this" he knew how hard it was for Taras to be here but he knew no one was forcing him to do so. What was the purpose except to extrapolate his own suffering.

Taras had a habit of being self destructive, nothing Zemo could ever do about it. Their relationship is something that any respectable person would have called self destructive in it's own right he supposed.

But again he still cared for Taras in ways he didn't think he was capable and wanted to know

[officialbaron-zemo]

meow （╹◡╹）

-🐰🍓

...?

Si mačka? Why are so many of you cats?

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable // Closed

@officialbaron-zemo

Divider by @cafekitsune <3

"My problem is my problem that I never am happy / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed,"

Taras sat by the rotting gravestone, leaning against it as he listened to the plugged-in headphones connecting to his phone. He wasn't completely sure why he was here... maybe it was because Fathers Day was not too long ago. Maybe he just missed this place in a twisted way.

He huffed and readjusted the familiar coat over his shoulders that he used to keep warm, letting his fingers run through the synthetic fur across the collar. The sky was dark as the clouds above darkened and warned him that it'd rain soon enough. Not like he quite cared, anyway. The rain brought a sort of comfort when it felt like he was at his lowest.

Taras brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, slowly shaking his head as his eyes fluttered closed.

"Я рад, что ты мертв, Юрий," he murmured.

A few minutes passed until Taras opened his eyes and looked up to see him. His face hardened as he looked away, forcing his gaze to shift somewhere else. He knew Zemo would be here, and yet the sight of him still ached.

"You came," he murmured, "I didn't expect you to." He shifted himself as he pulled the coat further over him, quietly wishing that it would swallow him whole.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Since meeting up with Taras again he had decided to keep tabs on his old love.

He approached Taras with no hesitation. He knew Taras would not want to see him, not here and not in this state. But that wasn't his problem

"Yes. I am"

He watched Taras hunch in on himself

"Кажется, ты застрял в прошлом" he says it neutrally although it's slightly patronizing

He looked Taras over, the earbuds in his ears, the jacket around his shoulders. The small sad look in his eyes. It was pitiful and a small part of him felt bad for Taras. But it was hardly anything it was so easy to smother.

"What is the point of you being here?"

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Taras wasn't even sure himself.

"Не надо меня опекать," he responded as he reached up and took the earbuds off. As much as he'd love to drown out Zemo's voice, he knew that it would never work. That man was a parasite on his brain.

By the time Zemo got close, Taras huffed and dusted off his coat enough to properly stand. His attention temporarily diverted to the grave beside him, but soon enough, it went back to Zemo.

"Why are you here?" He questioned with the slight tilt of his head. He had his suspicions on why Zemo came, but as is, he had evidence for none of them.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Need. Want. Neither is correct but here we are"

He considers leaving Taras to his self inflicted suffering but something compels him to stay. Not to hurt Taras but maybe to provide company if not comfort...he knew he was no comfort

"Checking in on you" it's honest but the emotional intent is missing.

"Believe it or not I wanted to see you. You have made your way back into my life. And part of me seems persistent to keep you there"

He did miss Taras, when he let himself admit it. Their days they shared together did help him feel more human when he started to feel parts of him slip away. He hoped that Taras could help him now, to stop himself from slipping away.

Maybe his reasons were selfish, but it was a reason. Whether Taras liked or accepted it or not

[officialbaron-zemo]

Ares had been running for a long time. He rarely ever sat still, always moving. He had to, or he'd be dead. No time to think, no time to breathe. A constant chase. He could've probably hidden himself away, but the idea of letting HYDRA get away with what they'd done to him killed that idea. He wanted revenge.

Which is why he's in the warehouse in the first place, fighting outnumbered and winning against some HYDRA agents lured here under the promise of a weapons deal. He initially was losing, but now is wiping the floor with them. The fighting is electrifying, each kill makes him feel unstoppable. So much so that he doesn't notice someone entering the warehouse through a side door.

As Ares drags his knife out of the last HYDRA agent, he takes a second to catch his breath. He thinks he's done, thinks he's safe, until he hears footsteps behind him and turns around, fully ready to kill whoever it is. His face is covered so the person can't recognize him, and he can't recognize them in the dark. He just stands there, waiting for them to identify themself.

– @to-takeon-theworld

"Mm impressive. It seems someone beat me to the job" he eyes the person before him skeptically

He's not above getting others to do his dirty work but he also doesn't know anything about this person. He likes having the Intel even if he isn't involved.

The person doesn't seem much older than a teenager. Possibly still is but they are masked. Cleaver

"What did you want with them" he tilts his head towards them. "Other than to paint the floor with their insides it seems" he smirks

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Stay back, don’t come closer” Ares snarls, taking a step back from the person he doesn’t recognise in the dark. He has a really strong accent, definitely Eastern European, and his English is broken.

Is he scared? Maybe. HYDRA members coming at him isn’t what scares him, he can kill them easily. It’s someone who doesn’t seem afraid that gets to him. A seemingly normal civilian laughing like this is funny.

“I kill them because they deserve it”

There's more to it than that, but that’s the general gist of it. He’s not about to spill his sob story to some stranger with a… very familiar voice.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo puts his hands up but doesn't drop his smirk. The tremble in this persons voice does nothing for them despite the knife still confidently held in their hand

He huffs a laugh "I won't argue with that. But what is your qualm with them exactly?"

He keeps his hands up, but he steps forward trying to keep this boy placated but get close enough to disarm and demask him.

If he wouldn't give him the answers he wanted, he would take them

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares could overpower this guy if he wanted to, easily. Not even a competition. But something about Zemo’s calmness, how he just casually walks towards an armed assassin, means he’s either very brave or very stupid

“Believe me, you do not want to know”

How do you explain over half a lifetime of torture? How do you explain a decade of experimentation and being used as a weapon. Short answer is you don’t. Not to strangers

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Mm but you see the thing is. I do" and with that he reached forward grabbing the knife with one hand pulling it from his grip, which is surprisingly strong and reaching for the mask which he doesn't quite get a good grip on and only half comes off in his hand

He half succeeded, he's just glad to be the one with the knife. Not that he couldn't have gone for the one in his coat pocket

"Now would you like to tell me who you are? Or let me cut that mask from your face?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares stumbles back. That isn’t his only weapon but it’s really the principle of it. He just got disarmed by some seemingly random person.

He can see Zemo’s face properly now, and Zemo can see the lower half of his face. Ares is trying to figure out where he may have seen Zemo before

“Do prdele, spodina!” He snaps, pulling another knife from his belt.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You speak Sokovian?" Zemo says a little taken aback. He hasn't met another Sokovian out in the rest of the world for a few decades. After the country was cannibalized by it's neighbours they were taken into the new boarders

"That's a little bit harsh don't you think Dieťa"

And he pulls out another knife, of course. He shouldn't have assumed someone who just took down half a dozen heavily armed HYDRA agents to be so unprepared

"Your choice. You take it off, or I take it from you"

[to-takeon-theworld]

How dare he call me a child

The comment just makes Ares seethe with rage, and makes it even less likely for him to listen

“I’m not a child, and you don’t tell me what to do”

He takes another few steps back. He can make it for the door if he runs. But something roots him to the spot, makes him not want to move. Curiosity? Anger? Probably

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo can see how the boy angers. How the rage seems to bleed from his skin at the very comment

"Fine" he says lunging for the mask again, narrowly avoiding the blade of his knife before ripping the mask of instead "I warned you-"

But his voice falters. The face underneath the mask is familiar to him, eerily familiar as if he is seeing the ghost of someone he once knew?

"Who are you, boy" it's his turn to take a step back now

[to-takeon-theworld]

Shit

Ares knows he looks exactly like his mother, he’s been told before by someone else who recognised him. So maybe this guy knew his parents. It would be too much of a coincidence if…

“Why would I tell you?”

He’s breathing heavier, chest rising and falling faster. He’s been caught he knows he has.

There's something in Ares’s eyes too, they look familiar to Zemo in the way something old you lost is. Recognisable, but broken. There’s so much pain behind those eyes it’s hard to see anything else

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo feels something rises in his chest, and he raised the knife in defense. As if its an external threat and not a feeling coming directly from inside

"Because I asked. Let me ask you another question instead...where were you when Sokovia fell?"

He seeing things. Whatever is familiar in the face of this body is something his mind is showing him. He's being ridiculous.

But he knows his eyes would never trick him life this. Those are the eyes of his wife, the eyes shared by his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

That's not what he expected to be asked. Ares is taken so off guard by the question he almost visibly relaxes

“I… I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything before age 7. I just remember waking up in a HYDRA cell”

If pressed, Ares couldn’t explain why that’s the moment he chooses to be honest. Maybe it’s the expression on the man in front of him, a mix of shock and disbelief that you don’t see on the face of someone looking at a random teenager.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Seven. Seven years old. A familiar shadow of a face. Who was this boy?

Zemo has questions, and he needs them answered and he realises that he isn't going to get any of them if he keeps threatening this boy. So he changes tactics. Goes for placating and disarming. Trying to bring the energy between them down. He needs cooperation here

He tucks the knife away, stealing it, for now.

"I have some things I need answered...are you willing to answer them. A- temporary truce if you will. You can attempt to stab me later"

He is desperate, something he hasn't felt in years, for answers, for something so simple to go his way

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares hesitates before putting his knife away too, still keeping one hand on it just I’m case. Not trusting anyone is what’s kept him alive, he’s not about to trust some random guy he just ran into.

“Fine. Truce.”

That sense of familiarly is almost choking, he feels like he’s seen Zemo before, just not sure where.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"You said you were 7 when you woke up with HYDRA. But you speak fluent Sokovian. They don't teach that, I know. I did my research. So you must know how you know that language"

He keeps scanning the boy, up and down trying to get an idea on why he recognises this boy. What about him is so familiar, familiar like something you lost and didn't think you'd ever find again

He knows this child giving him any information is going to be difficult since HYDRA loves to mess with the mind and he doesn't seem in a sharing mood

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I always spoke it”

He says it as if it’s obvious, as if it’s a stupid question. He crosses his arms, still glaring at Zemo

Because Sokovian was already in his head when he woke up in HYDRA. He never forgot how to speak it

“I don’t remember learning it I just… know it. I know I’m Sokovian”

[officialbaron-zemo]

The longer he looks at this boy the more and more fragments start to come together, the texture of his hair, the colour of his eyes, the shape of them. With HYDRA since he was 7, speaking fluent Sokovian the blatant attitude even towards a stranger...it was too familiar and Zemo felt stupid to even hope

"Who was your favourite hero as a child...just answer this" he knows how ridiculous this must sound, but if he remembers then...this has to be him. It can't be. But it is

This boy might be his son

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares almost lets out a laugh. What kind of question is that?

“I mean, I can’t truly speak for myself before seven years old, but I believe it was Iron Man.”

To say that Ares remembers nothing from before his time at HYDRA would be a lie, he just can’t remember anything concrete. Nothing helpful, occasional flashes of a childhood he’d never get back. He had to learn his real name from one of his targets, who he did end up sparing. He does have a few blurry memories though, one of which was seeing Iron Man on the TV.

[officialbaron-zemo]

The pieces he was afraid to have connected in his head finally click

His eyes, his hair, his mannerisms, his favourite hero

Whatever he had seen in Sokovia, what ever had happened to his son on the outskirts of the city that day hadn't been real. They hadn't been permanent.

And HYDRA had a hand in it. Because some how right now he was sure that his son. Almost 11 years later was standing right in front of him

"Carl? Ako sa máš nažive?"

[to-takeon-theworld]

It takes a few seconds for the pieces to click in Ares’s head too. His first thought was ‘How could he know my old name?’, before the truth sets in and he realises why Zemo’s face is so familiar

“Papa?”

It almost comes swimming back into view, breaking through a decade of memory wipes and chemical subjugation. His father. His father

He feels like he can’t breathe. Like he got punched in the chest. He’s not alone… he’s not alone…

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo doesn't know what he's supposed to do now. He's not the man, the father he used to be.

When he lost his family he turned into a person he thought he was never capable of being. Doing things and using people.

And he doesn't regret most of it. But having his son standing before him again sends a spike of something cold and frigid through him that makes his life for the past decade seem like someone else's.

Like all of a sudden time never past and his son had been here all this time. But he hadn't. And that's why he no longer looked like the little boy he had left that day.

What was he supposed to do now?

"I- you were burried under that rubble" was all he could say

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares can’t speak, can barely breathe. What’s he supposed to say? Every since he found out who he used to be, he’d spent a long time researching his father, and if only 1 in 10 of the things said about him were true most would write him off as irredeemable. Considering Ares literally has blood on his hands, he can’t exactly judge.

Putting a face to the name helps too. Some idealised version of what his family might have been brought to reality with the man in front of him.

“You were supposed to think that. I almost was”

He pulls the hem of his shirt up a little. Deep scarring, the kind that takes years to heal, marrs his torso.

“I was supposed to die. Unfortunately I wasn’t found by rescue crew”

He drops it again, hands visibly shaking. He just stands there, frozen to the spot, moving seeming like insanity

He looks far older than 18, though he can’t be much older than that. His normally haunted eyes soften slightly

[officialbaron-zemo]

Something turns sour in Zemo and he remembered why he was here. And now he had even more reason to hate the people who worked under the control of HYDRA.

Their scientists had created super soldiers and heros that would have uprooted humanity.

But by some miracle. They had managed to save his son...who was standing before him. Alive. Scared but alive.

That was no excuse for the scum who created the world's pain and gave the Avengers reason to exist

But now he couldn't do anything but stare. Stare at the boy who had grown from his son into this young man he had no idea he would ever see. He lost all hope of ever seeing the man his son turned into...and yet here he was

And Zemo didn't catch himself when he stumbled forward taking his son into his arms

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares completely freezes in shock, apart from the continuing shake in his hands. He’d done his research, he knows his father’s built in ideals and morals, at least the ones he’s said out loud. He didn’t expect this kind of warmth, considering that he’s become everything his father hates

A super soldier. A weapon. A killer. One of HYDRA’s mindless drones.

So the hug is unexpected, a shock even. It takes Ares a second to reciprocate the hug, but when he does all his walls breaks down, and he starts crying for the first time in a decade. His tears are silent, controlled, but still there.

“Papa…” he whispers again, voice shaky as his hands.

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Syn môj, syn môj, prečo som ťa vôbec nechal odísť" he can't help it

Despite his front, despite what the world thinks of him Zemo's has only ever and always will do what he does for family. For his family

And having his son back with him feels like a piece of him that was missing for so long has finally been found.

For the first time in years he feels some semblance of right. Some semblance of ok again with his son still living and breathing in his arms.

"Nemal si byť nikdy ponechaný tým spodine. Prosím, odpusť mi"

[to-takeon-theworld]

“Nie je to tvoja chyba, nevedel si.”

The realisation that he’s not alone, that part of his family is still here for him, is enough to break through Ares’s tough outer shell. The shield he’d built up for years crumbling all at once.

He feels like a little kid again, clinging desperately to his father as if worried he might vanish again if he lets go

“Nie som ten istý, aký som bol... sotva si na čo pamätám.”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I wished I had. I wished I had known" he knows it's not his choices that lead to this. But the choices of those damned Avengers.

He held onto his son harder doing what he should have done all those years ago. Kept him close. Kept him safe. He should have died with him and his mother that day.

Hearing his son speak about himself like he was broken broke something in Zemo and anything he had become faded away for the moment

"I've learnt about the experiments run at HYDRA we can reverse it. I will find a way" he says this like a promise. A deceleration

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares exhales, not exactly wanting to tell Zemo about how he doesn’t exactly want to lose his strength. That’s a conversation for another day.

It’s more the things he’d been forced to do. The lives he’s ruined and taken with his own hands, not for any greater good but just for HYDRA’s cruel ‘justice’.

“Okay… okay…” he wipes his eyes, smiling slightly. Things might turn out okay.

“I… I have so much to tell you”

[officialbaron-zemo]

"I know. I'm sure you have seen...many things"

He lets go of his son finally before the feeling of never wanting to let him go consumes him and he actually doesn't let go of him

"I have a place, we can go. It's..." it's not home. Nothing else will be home the way their house in Sokovia was. But it was a roof over their head with food and drink and place he can be safe. A place they can talk and rest. One of the perks of still having all his money in his hand

"You can tell me everything" he knows whatever Carl tells him will make his blood boil and his veins pop but he wants to listen. He wants to be there in ways he wasn't before.

He wasn't the same man, the same father Carl been taken from. But Caleb was still his son, and somewhere inside of him were the flickering embers of the father he used to be

[to-takeon-theworld]

Ares… Carl… Ares-Carl. Carl-Ares. Since finding out his real name he’s had no idea what to call himself, who he is. His whole identity was wrapped around his pain, but now he has something else and he doesn’t know what to do with it.

He nods at his father, the prospect of living somewhere other than in the abandoned building he calls home extremely enticing.

“Any place is good”

And he means it, he fucking means it. This is one of the very few times in his memory he can say he got lucky

[officialbaron-zemo]

Zemo brought his car so he walks with Carl out of the building leaving the dead soldiers behind. Rotting, where they belong.

They get in and he doesn't waste any time with things like road laws taking them back to one of the many places he has around the world. He was lucky he just so happened to have one in New York

They don't talk much on the car ride home but luckily it's short so the silence is useful for Zemo to clear his head. His son is back, really back. Right here. Not a ghost or a phantom or a shadow that haunts his dreams he's really here

When they get to his home he offers Carl a drink and grabs himself a glass of whiskey filling it more than he usually would

"What do you want to talk about first?" He isn't going to push Carl, but he is going to let him lead the conversation

[to-takeon-theworld]

“I…” He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even know who he is, let alone what to even tell his father. What is there to say?

“I escaped HYDRA three years ago. Something changed, conditioning broke for only minutes, so I took chance.”

He hasn’t talked about this with anyone, not even with her…

“At first I was going to hide, vanish so they never find me. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave them and let them keep doing what they do. So I… I started hunting”

So many HYDRA agents had died at his hands, he’d lost count over a year ago

“They gave me everything I needed to hurt them. I even chose my own name. Ares”

The god of war, the spirit of battle. Fitting.

[officialbaron-zemo]

He listened; he sipped his drink and listened. Savoring it but also making sure the alcohol didn't flood his system too quickly. It was worth savoring in this moment.

"It can sometimes feel like a small victory to know that you can take what your oppressors gave you and use it against them..." a twisted comfort maybe

"You did well enough to survive. You have fought well...but much more than you should have had to"

His felt his ears prick up when Carl mentioned his change in names

"Ares...it is fitting. Your name defines your purpose and vice versa"

In this moment he'd forgotten what it was like to be a father. He felt more like... an old friend that was seeing the ghost of someone he once new more than a man who had once held this boy as a child. That child was gone

[thunderbolts-taras-kravets]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable // Closed

@officialbaron-zemo

Divider by @cafekitsune <3

"My problem is my problem that I never am happy / It's my problem, it's my problem on how fast I will succeed,"

Taras sat by the rotting gravestone, leaning against it as he listened to the plugged-in headphones connecting to his phone. He wasn't completely sure why he was here... maybe it was because Fathers Day was not too long ago. Maybe he just missed this place in a twisted way.

He huffed and readjusted the familiar coat over his shoulders that he used to keep warm, letting his fingers run through the synthetic fur across the collar. The sky was dark as the clouds above darkened and warned him that it'd rain soon enough. Not like he quite cared, anyway. The rain brought a sort of comfort when it felt like he was at his lowest.

Taras brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, slowly shaking his head as his eyes fluttered closed.

"Я рад, что ты мертв, Юрий," he murmured.

A few minutes passed until Taras opened his eyes and looked up to see him. His face hardened as he looked away, forcing his gaze to shift somewhere else. He knew Zemo would be here, and yet the sight of him still ached.

"You came," he murmured, "I didn't expect you to." He shifted himself as he pulled the coat further over him, quietly wishing that it would swallow him whole.

[officialbaron-zemo]

Since meeting up with Taras again he had decided to keep tabs on his old love.

He approached Taras with no hesitation. He knew Taras would not want to see him, not here and not in this state. But that wasn't his problem

"Yes. I am"

He watched Taras hunch in on himself

"Кажется, ты застрял в прошлом" he says it neutrally although it's slightly patronizing

He looked Taras over, the earbuds in his ears, the jacket around his shoulders. The small sad look in his eyes. It was pitiful and a small part of him felt bad for Taras. But it was hardly anything it was so easy to smother.

"What is the point of you being here?"

[officialbaron-zemo]

"Hello, I've come to cause chaos"

- @kyle-th3-sh4rk

And who exactly are you?

[kyle-th3-sh4rk]

"Nice to make your acquaintance. My name is Kyle. I know yours, of course, as a fellow chaos causer"

[officialbaron-zemo]

Chaos is never my intention. However, I do admit it may seem that way to those who do not understand my motives

I would say it's nice to meet you but I am unsure what your motives are

[kyle-th3-sh4rk]

"My motive is that I'm bored, and when bored, I like to pay random mortals visits. Whether to be a nuisance or for fun depends on the person"

[officialbaron-zemo]

Mortals...such a demeaning word. I don't trust gods

...you are strange

[kyle-th3-sh4rk]

"Wise to be distrusting of the gods, though if it is any comfort, I am a demigod."

"Yes? You say this like it's a shocking revelation"

[officialbaron-zemo]

It is not

So it is your intention to be perceived as something...other