The tension in the air was heavy, despite the ethereal sage and lavender scent that passed through the crack of the door. It was as if the hallway lights had darkened and the world before Kalina slowly began to collapse inside of her like a black hole. Her gaze was met with the rich brown eyes of a past life, as he stood uncomfortably in front of her with his hands behind his back. His expression was gentle but firm, with a glimmer of sorrow hidden behind the bold front he projected.

Looking down in disbelief, she shut the door quietly, and exhaled a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. Kalina unlatched the chain lock and opened the door fully, revealing her small body in the frame of the egress. She had expected the hall to be empty upon opening it a second time, as if this were all too surreal to be anything but a dream. Yet, the man in the long overcoat stood in front of her again, smiling softly through his evident hesitation.

"Helmut." She was unsure if the expression of his name was a question or a statement, convinced that she was hallucinating. It had been six years since she had seen him, and his face had aged in the correctional facility. He clearly had been spared by the Snap, and the years of solitary confinement illuminated in his features.

"Kalina." Unable to formulate how to speak to her, he simply replayed her tone with his voice. After all this time, he was close enough to reach out to her, and yet she wasn't his to caress. It was as if he had never met her before, but he still knew her so well. She was an angel in the dimly lit hall and her skin glowed bright and beautiful just like the first time he had ever seen her.

Kalina looked him up and down, slowly taking in the reality of the moment. She felt a choking in the back of her throat but managed to swallow her anxiety. With a light hearted chuckle, she awkwardly spit out, "You look... good."

Easing a little at her laughter, Helmut responded with a gentle smirk, stretching his hands out at his sides, displaying his coat with pride and putting on a slight show. He felt much more at home in his fine leather and designer textiles, as opposed to the cheaply made fabric and shoes of the prison-wear he found himself in daily. Kalina now laughed louder, entirely uncertain how to act in this moment, but feeling like a child meeting another on the playground.

Putting his hands down and warmly looking into her eyes, Helmut sighed. "It's good to see you."

He didn't want to over step her boundaries, knowing that this playful chatter was not enough to wash away the decades of emotion they had between them. Refusing to make Kalina uncomfortable or to put her in a situation she did not want, he respectfully kept his distance and tread on his next steps very lightly. She nodded at him, and the smile from her face slipped away into realization. Looking down the empty hallway, she quickly returned her gaze to him.

"What are you doing here?" Completely forgetting the fact that he had somehow bypassed the security downstairs, she hushed her tone regardless, wondering how he had managed to be standing in front of her door and not locked away in the Berlin Correctional Facility. Helmut himself looked down the hall toward the fire escape and pursed his lips.

"I think that is a conversation best taken in private." He nodded to the door insinuating that they speak inside. Kalina immediately understood and turned to allow him entry, but was stopped short by a startling call down the breezeway.

"Nuh-uh, that wasn't part of the deal, Zemo." A dark skinned man came charging toward Kalina and Helmut seemingly out of no where. He was followed by an angry looking individual wearing gloves. Helmut raised his hands in defense and stepped back as the man came at him wagging a finger. Kalina stood in the doorway, entirely unaware of what was occurring in front of her.

"I said in sight, man, what don't you understand about getting our permission?" He continued to shake his finger furiously, while the man with the gloves pulled him back by the shoulders like he was corralling children from a fight. Holding onto his partner, the gloved man rolled his eyes, clearly over the situation that had hardly even started.

"Sam, chill." The scruffy individual's blue eyes made contact with Kalina, and he shared a gentlemanly smile with her, as if to ask Sorry, ma'am, are these men bothering you?

The individual now identified as Sam stepped back and huffed at Helmut, shaking off his partners gloved hands, and turning to Kalina regaining his composure. "I'm sorry. I'm sure you have better things to do than listen to this."

Kalina laughed aloud now, pointing to the group of men arguing at her door making a circular motion. "I am not entirely sure what this is."

Sam nodded in understanding, before returning his glare back to Helmut, who was completely embarrassed at this point. He knew the two goons would end up interjecting one way or another; that was what Avengers were good at. "I just meant it as... it would be better not to discuss how two Avengers aided the prison break of a criminal, in the middle of a residential building."

Helmut's hushed tone of urgency was just loud enough to make Sam uncomfortable, and he knew he was right. The Sokovian wanted nothing more than to ditch his entourage and speak with Kalina alone, but he knew that would never be possible with Sam and Bucky breathing down his neck. Rightfully so, they weren't actually considered friendly at this point. The Baron turned back to the woman, and relented his initial plan.

"As you can see, I am... under a probation of sorts." Helmut nodded to the two men on his right. Sam rolled his eyes, not entertaining the 'probationary' comment. Zemo was definitely going back to prison when this was over.

"Look, you got twenty-four hours until we move, so let's just get this over with." Sam scowled at Bucky, who shrugged in response, having been the one to agree to the terms of Helmut's partnership and inevitably putting them all in this situation.

Kalina nodded, still not certain of what was taking place. She looked to Sam briefly, before locking eyes with Helmut once more, understanding the plea of desperation from his expression. He refused to invite himself into her home, finding it incredibly disrespectful, but Kalina had already propped her door open and placed a hand down directing them inside. "Please, come in. Everyone."

She nodded to Sam and the other unknown man, ensuring she was including them in the insinuation. The two men graciously agreed and pushed through the door, leaving Kalina and Helmut in the doorway.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but I am sure there is a good reason for this, Helmut." Her voice was stern yet laced with a sweet warmth. She wasn't sure how she felt about the situation, but knew it was better discussed behind closed doors. Kalina wasn't unfamiliar with criminals or their underground business, but also understood that others wouldn't take too kindly to seeing the men argue with a would-be prisoner in their halls.

Helmut sighed and smiled at her once again in reassurance, wanting desperately to take her hand into his. "I will explain everything. I promise you this."

Stepping past her through the doorway, Kalina felt her heart skip a beat as his scent grazed her nose, taking her back to a place she had buried down deep in her heart. She let out a breath, feeling overwhelmed and yet also at peace. Something about the presence of the three men in her home felt refreshing, perhaps due to her inability to socially accept many of the other relationships offered to her now. Her reclusive behavior had made it difficult to entertain company, and she sought this as an opportunity to at least try.

She followed through the entrance behind the group, shutting and locking both the deadbolt and the chain latch. Turning to her guests, she directed a hand to the living area. "Gentlemen, have a seat. Would you like something to drink? To eat?"

Sam, who was politely skeptical of Kalina, sat on one of the single seat settees, while the man with the angry face sat across from him on a chaise sofa. Helmut found himself incredibly uncomfortable to make any moves in her space, as if every step he took would be a new brick wall laid between them. The two Avengers shook their head no, and she turned to the Baron.

"Please... sit down." Her tone was soft and gentle, as if a mother cooing her child. It calmed Helmut's tension and he nodded in acceptance, taking his overcoat off and sitting down on a nearby sofa next to the still open terrace door. Kalina felt disoriented and needed a moment to recover from the sudden shift in atmosphere. "I'm going to make some tea."

As she dismissed herself to the kitchen, Helmut eased into the seat and watched her walk away. He caught Sam's eye who was staring him down intensely. Leaning in, the Falcon rested his elbows on his knees, hushing his tone to the limits of the perimeter of the room. "Man, what are we doin' here? What does this have to do with the Flag Smashers?"

Helmut refused to let the vulnerability he was feeling seep through the cracks of his hard exterior, especially not to the Avengers sitting in front of him. "I simply asked for one thing when James approached me with this matter."

Sam looked at Bucky who returned no emotional response. Giving him another look of disappointment, having gotten little information on the flight over, the Falcon felt entirely in the dark. "And you okayed this?"

"Sam, come on, it's one day... and if that's all it takes..." Bucky slumped back in his seat, closing his eyes and resting his arms on the back of the sofa, as if all he really wanted in this moment was a nap.

Sam turned back to the criminal, spreading his hands out in question. He always had to be the reasonable one in the group, and was growing weary of having to maintain the high level of maturity. "Okay. So what is so important, Zemo?"

Without hesitation, Helmut nodded toward the kitchen. "Clemency."

Before Sam could respond, the tinkling of dishes echoed around the room. Kalina returned to the room with a plate of biscuits in one hand and looping two tea cup handles in the fingers of her other. Setting the plate in front of the Avengers on a decorative table, she pointed to the biscuits and then to the men. "Help yourselves, I made them today."

She quietly handed one of the tea cups to Helmut, who had not asked for a drink. Surprised, he looked up at her, and she returned a gaze filled with patience. Smiling, she released the cup into his hands as he reached up. "Lemon balm. I'm sorry, I don't have cherry blossom here."

Stepping away from the man, she took a seat on the sofa next to Bucky, whose name she still did not know. Kalina sipped from her cup as she watched him eye the biscuits on the table, finally giving in and reaching for the plate. He hadn't eaten in quite some time, and the sweets looked too tempting to pass on. Sam, however, was still unconvinced. Any friend of Helmut Zemo's was not an ally to him, and he was very cautious in her home.

"So, can someone please explain why three strange men are in my home?" Kalina looked around the room, the awkward silence filling the air. Helmut internally cringed at her notion of them all being strange men, but he couldn't fault her for feeling that way. It had been nearly sixteen years since they sat face to face without a wall of emotions or glass between them.

"Kalina. This is Sam Wilson," Helmut nodded to the man in the settee, and then pointed to the gloved individual on the sofa. Sam did not share much emotion, but was now eying the plate of biscuits on the table, hearing his stomach growl as they had not been offered anything edible on the flight over. "That man next to you is James Barnes."

The White Wolf, thoroughly enamored by the biscuit in his hand, turned to Kalina and swallowed. He awkwardly smirked at her and raised the treat in a hello. "It's Bucky."

The Sokovian woman swirled the hot beverage in her cup and smiled at both of them. "Kalina. Konopka."

The Falcon, having an existential debate in his mind over eating this criminal associate's cookies, was broken from his trance. "Konopka? Yeah, I've heard of that name. Aren't you some sort of... designer?"

Kalina laughed, sipping her tea again. "Something like that."

The man finally cracked a smile in her direction, awkwardly sharing in the laugh, still not wanting to relent his hard exterior. "Yeah... my sister Sarah, she's into that kind of stuff... Cosmopolitan or whatever."

It appeared that Sam was starting to ease into the atmosphere. He glared at Bucky for reaching for another biscuit, before giving in and taking one for himself. Helmut took a drink from his tea, watching the silent argument between the two men over the baked sweets. He looked around the otherwise quiet penthouse, noticing that they were the only ones there, with no wait staff lingering in the halls.

"Kalina." Helmut set his cup down on a decorative doily placed on the table. "I shouldn't be here."

Sam nodded in agreeance with a mouth full of biscuit, finally thankful that someone had said it. He wished they didn't need Zemo's help, but quite frankly they were at their last line of effort. As uncomfortable as it was to be sitting in this stranger's Parisian home, not finding a way to take down the Flag Smashers, the Falcon could tell that there was some underlying animosity between the host and the criminal that seemed incredibly deep and uncomfortable.

"Obviously, the last time we saw each other was long ago. I haven't been released from my penitentiary obligation." The Baron awkwardly danced around the subject, as if Kalina hadn't already known about all his crimes in the name of Sokovia. "There is... a lot to tell you."

He began to describe the fallout of the Blip, which many ramifications she already knew. She understood the pain of the nationless, a feeling she had once succumbed to, but Helmut's focus was on the vigilantes using the super soldier serum to excel their cause. Kalina could tell that his passion for stopping the enhanced renegades stemmed heavily from his disturbance of the Avengers' effects on Sokovia, and yet he sat with two of them in her home in alliance in this particular situation.

Sipping the last of the tea in her cup, she looked down at the ceramic, saddened by the emptiness. As she set it down on the table, Kalina noticed the now empty plate of biscuits and chuckled internally. The company of the men seemed to be good for her, and for the first time in awhile she was actually enjoying having guests.

Looking back at Helmut, nodding in feigned understanding, she still didn't truly grasp the situation. Of course, she understood politics to an extent and knew there was heavy opposition to the GRC redistribution of those who had found new homes during the years of borderless world, but the darker side of things was well past Kalina's experience.

Occasionally Sam would shake his head and interject Helmut's comments, determined to not misconstrue any information, while Bucky simply sat quietly beside her. The men would begin to bicker about something related to the current situation or to the criminal's discretions in the past, and Bucky would perk up and add a frustrated comment, attempting to defuse the tension in the room. The three individuals seemed to be more interested in arguing about how's and the why's of what Helmut was trying to explain, that it sometimes seemed as though Kalina was the stranger in the home.

Despite the constant back and forth, it soothed Kalina to be in their presence. They were all clearly on different wavelengths when it came to handling the group they called the Flag Smashers, yet they shared the same goal which she found admirable. The chatter and the energy they brought into the environment was cathartic to her.

Helmut turned back to her, huffing at Sam who was no longer relaxed in the settee. "You see, there is much to unpack."

Kalina leaned in, uncertain if the bickering had truly culminated. All the information was fascinating, but it didn't explain why the ghost of her past had tracked her down and was seated in her home now. Her gentle voice became slightly strained. "So, what does any of that have to do with me?"

Having nearly forgotten about the reason he had pulled Kalina into the situation, a circuit recharged in Helmut's mind, and he wanted to fade into his own skin. The scenario had nothing to do with her, but he would not deny himself the opportunity to see her once again if he was breathing fresh air out of the correctional facility. His heart ached looking into her eyes. The time apart had aged her so beautifully, and Helmut now regretted every minute of life he had not gotten to experience with her.

The pain of losing Carl, his father, and Heike was now clouded by the immediate desire that rested in Helmut's soul. It was as if the past sixteen years had disappeared from his life and Kalina now filled the gap. He struggled to come up with an explanation that didn't reveal how vulnerable he was in front of her, noticing Sam and Bucky eying him in impatience.

He sat upright, refuting the awkwardness he felt inside, and exuded a very cool demeanor. He gave Kalina a look, nodding toward the empty plate which had held the biscuits. Understanding the body language, she looked to Sam and Bucky and smiled. "It is getting late in the afternoon. Will you stay for supper?"

Sam shifted in his seat, unwilling to spend any more time with the criminal and his associates than he needed. "No, uh, that's okay, we aren't-"

Bucky sighed, unable to contain his hunger any longer. He reached over to slap Sam on the arm with his gloved hand as he noticed Kalina's well intentioned smile. The former Winter Soldier felt a bit of guilt being in the woman's home, as she continued to entertain them humbly, and didn't intend to disrespect her as she offered the meal.

"-yes, thank you," he cut in, exchanging a glare with Sam, who was now outnumbered and pouted like a child. Bucky shrugged at him and raised his eyebrows as if giving him a silent Come on, man!

Kalina smiled and nodded to Helmut. "Make yourselves at home, the terrace is out those doors. I really don't have anything here that will bite."

Laughing to lighten the mood of the two Avengers, she stood and stepped away from the seating area, taking the plate and her tea cup with her. "Just because I associate with trouble, does not mean I am trouble, gentlemen."

Sam, now uncomfortably aware how he was coming off to the woman, groaned as she walked to the kitchen. Helmut rose to his feet, adjusting his shirt and grabbing his own tea cup. The Falcon eyed him carefully, slumping back into his seat. "Don't you leave this place, Zemo."

Feeling like a babysat child, Helmut cocked his head at the man, impatiently trying to keep from retorting