MEANWHILE OVER IN CLEVELAND, Vasily Karpov sits at a table, eating. He's in a cluttered house, everything dotted around the room. He suddenly hears the sound of something crashing outside and peers through drawn blinds. Outside, a man in a fur coat, Helmut Zemo, is standing by his car, the front end crumpled against Karpov's car. He looks concerned, fidgeting with his fingers. "Hello? Is this your car out front?" He calls, sounding worried. Zemo comes up the door, placing his hand against it. "I jumped the curb." Zemo told him. Karpov backs away slightly, eyeing his gun on the table. "Maybe we could take care of it ourselves. If you wanna call the cops, tha--that's okay too, I guess."
"No. No cops." Karpov answers quickly, walking over to the door.
"Thank you." Zemo sounding relieved. Karpov slides a heavy duty lock and opens the door slightly, allowing Zemo to come inside. Zemo's demeanour shifts completely and he punches him square in the face, knocking him out cold before he even hits the floor.
Zemo walks over to a section of the wall and is using a sledgehammer to smash a hole in the wall. He retrieves a large box from inside the hole and tips the contents onto a table, shuffling through the contents. Karpov is hanging upside down, tied to pipes in his basement. There are various documents and the red book with the star on the cover. He holds the red book for a moment then opens a file. Inside is a photo of Karpov in his military uniform and beret. He holds it up slightly. "You have kept your looks, Colonel. Congratulations." Zemo smiles, looking down at the man whose head is in the sink that is slowly filling up with water. "Mission report: December 16, 1991."
"Who are you?" Karpov asks.
"My name is Zemo." He replies in a Scandinavian accent. "I will repeat my question. Mission report. December 16, 1991."
"How did you find me?" Karpov asks.
"When SHIELD fell, Black Widow released HYDRA files to the public." He informs him. "Millions of pages, much of it encrypted, not easy to decipher. But…" He chuckled ever so slightly, bending down a bit to look at him. "I have experience. And patience. A man can do anything if he has those."
"What do you want?" Karpov asks him sternly.
"Mission report. December 16. 1991." He repeats.
"Go… to… hell." He spits at him in anger.
Zemo goes to lean on the sink as water continues to flow into it. He reaches his hand up, nod breaking eye contact and turns off the tap as he studies Karpov's upside down face. "HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap." Zemo admits to him. "So your death would not bother me. But I'd have to use this book…" He lifts up the red book, showing it to him. Karpov's eyes widened, knowing what it's for. "…and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don't look forward to that. You'd only be dying for.. your pride." Karpov doesn't answer, just staring at him with harsh eyes. Zemo stares at Karpov then nods resignedly. He turns the tap back on. The water is up to Karpov's eyes. Zemo watches the water level rise.
"Hail HYDRA." Karpov says before relaxing his body, the water covering his mouth and nose. He gurgles struggling in his binds as he tries to breath, his chest spasming before going still. Holding the red book Zemo walks away, ignoring what had just transpired.