Helmut Zemo was a man of many things, perhaps he had not been good even before what had happened in Sokovia. Perhaps it had just made his decision easy. That did not matter to him now - it hadn’t mattered since he had been locked up, Ross berating him as he stood there unable to react. But he had soon woken up here, not even on Earth. The Colonel had been awakened on some moon of Saturn. It had taken a long while for that idea to settle in, but eventually - after many months - it had. He had not been allowed access to things that allowed him to realize that he was not that only person that had been awakened for quite some time. He had just been BNU’s first. They paid well. They showed that there were those who he would wish to take down in this universe. Zemo wasn’t here to make friends, he wasn’t here to make enemies.
He was here because he could not go home and they had paid him well, so if he was to be here. And if he had the opportunity to strike back at those who had affected his life? He was going to take it. Barnes may not have been here. But Rogers was. Romanoff was. Their friends were. They had lives here. He could disrupt that. He intended to disrupt that.
Of course, he was handed an easy objective in this as Jaina Solo and Marcus Cole were away from the rest of the group and his own team circled in around them. Jaina seemed aware, almost paranoid about the situation - but it was too late by the time she began to be visible about her feelings.
“It is irony seeing you here, Marcus Cole.” He chuckled, knowing the other man likely wouldn’t have seen him that day he’d helped drop Gareth on his face on Mars.
She knew something wasn’t right immediately. Someone was here, she could sense their Force signature and it wasn’t one that she recognized. She could also sense the darkness in whoever it belonged to. Sooner or later, they’d find the person but instead, he found them first. Along with several other people who had them surrounded.
Jaina was surprised when she heard the man call Marcus by name. If he knew Marcus, there was a chance that he knew her as well but he hadn’t spoken to her. “You know this guy?” she asked Marcus, never taking her eyes off him.
Marcus narrowed his eyes. "Not to speak to," he answered Jaina, although he also kept an eye on the man. "By reputation, slightly." A little more than slightly, since Marcus had been studying the intelligence gleaned on Zemo since he appeared on Sadtech's radar several weeks ago. Clearly, Zemo had been doing his own research, as well.
He took in the enemies circling around, trying to gauge numbers and strengths, before addressing their leader. "And how would you define irony?" Marcus finally asked.
“I could lie to you, Mr. Cole, but I would see little point.” At the current junction there was something far more tactical in just ripping the metaphorical bandaid off. Helmut was here to investigate a few things in the wake of Merlyn’s capture and his idiotic behaviour surrounding his daughter. But if he could turn that investigation into the creation of a little chaos for SadTech, he would. “Irony for it to be you of all people here, only more if it had been the brunette, since I am here to acquire some evidence from the incident involving Gareth. Poor boy.” He chuckled, he had very little sympathy for someone who had been such a doormat. Gareth had been a convenient distraction for what Zemo had wanted out of Mars. He had achieved his goals, even if BNU had lost territory. He didn’t really give a damn about that, or Atticus’ motives for holding back on acquiring what he had been sent for.
“Well you’re stuck with me,” Jaina said. “You got the wrong brunette I guess because I’m pretty sure I’d remember you if we’d met.” She would recognize his Force signature for sure and she didn’t so they hadn’t met and he wasn’t Force sensitive or he would have sensed her. Which told her a lot.
Lexa. Marcus did not say the name aloud, and he did not have the telepathic ability to actively project it or the memory of Gareth's death while attempting to escape interrogation, but for all he knew it was possible for Jaina to pick them up (Jedi were a breed rather different from the telepaths of his own world, and Marcus's knowledge was incomplete in either case). He certainly did not need to hand Zemo any more information than he clearly already possessed.
Outwardly calm, Marcus raised his eyebrows. "Evidence of his flight?" The official story, after all, was still that Gareth had run for it as Omegasys collapsed in the wake of the Mars revolution. That BNU and Gareth's father knew better and simply profited by their silence, Marcus had never doubted. "Are you planning to follow him?" There was enough steel in the mild inquiry to imply a threat to someone who obviously knew as much as Zemo.
Surrounded as they were, the words could be called reckless. However, Marcus knew that much about Jedi - and about Jaina herself - that they were no slouches in a fight. He also knew his own skill. Provided the rest of their team found them soon, they could hold off superior numbers for long enough.
Flight, the idea almost made him chuckle. Of course, Zemo had done a very good job (very good, rivaling his stunt in Berlin even) of making sure no one would know he had involvement. On the other hand, he had been very present and even given the command to grab the Scotsman and the blonde when things had seemed as if they were going poorly. And oh had they gone poorly. Of course, not poorly for him - poorly for Gareth and just about Gareth only. Omegasys had already been falling apart and it was clear Atticus had no love for any of his children (at least not love in a traditional way, he loved them like one loved a favourite gun or your most efficient car). It made it easy for Zemo to set any number of traps.
After a moment he smirked, giving Marcus a little sarcastic wave of his hand. “I have no intentions of following him six feet under.” That much was true, and while it wasn’t an outright admission it wasn’t exactly subtle. “Though I also imagine it may not be difficult for any of you to end up there, once that result gets out.” Zemo cared about keeping BNU (let alone SadTech) intact just about as much as Atticus cared for his children. That was to say… only as far as they remained useful.
There was a certain - not pleasure or satisfaction, but a grim rightness to the verbal squaring off that preceded a physical confrontation. It was a place where things fit, where the demons could be fought. Although, yes, Marcus imagined a fair amount of satisfaction could come from disturbing that smirk. "More difficult than you might think." He'd never gone down easily, after all - not to mention death's seeming disinclination to have him. With that sort of track record, a person could grow reckless. Zemo's real threat was not physical, however.
It had made sense to team up with Jaina while here on Mars, especially considering they'd been among the last to leave last summer. Marcus was beginning to wonder if it might have been a mistake. Zemo was hinting around things that only a few refugees, even among the veterans of the Mars conflict, knew of. If he planned to reveal his knowledge, he could do serious damage not only to SadTech, but to individuals Marcus valued rather highly. That was a danger worth preventing by violence, if necessary.
Or, at very least, getting a warning to the others.
Zeno took a step back as he began to speak again, the soldiers and mercenaries around him and behind the two operatives he was squaring off with moved in to tighten ranks as he did so. “I do not have a misguided belief that this is simple. If I did, your two friends would not have been left alive.” No, it benefited him to leave witnesses, to leave people scared about what he may or may not do next. It left people guessing, which was what he needed to continue. His goal, after all, was to destabilize and so far - that was working. Malcolm had almost put a hink in that plan, but he at least seemed to have done his job of creating fear in the East and he would at least give the other man credit for that, outside of his idiocies. “I have no intentions of letting anything out yet, but I will let you enjoy the trouble of dealing with my compatriots here. Consider it a kindness and outlet for the burden of information.” He chuckled and took one more step back, now behind the people he’d brought with him.
“Don’t kill them.” Helmut added flippantly before he disappeared as a scuffle broke out.