GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART

{Author's Note: I'm so sorry, this should of been posted up yesterday; but I haven't been well lately :(. I promise that the next chapter will be Bucky's reaction to Steve/Rosie ;). That'll be posted up later. Thank you so much to Lily, Guest & RockaRosalie for the kind reviews *hugs*. Any guesses on what HYDRA have done to Rosie? Please read & review x}

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character(s) you don't recognise.

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~+~
{HYDRA WEAPONS FACILITY| KREISCHBERG, AUSTRIA| A DAY LATER}

ROSIE'S P.O.V.

"It appears that the procedure has been a success Herr Schmidt! This one will shape the future of HYDRA and its influence on the world!"
A female voice was speaking with an excited, rushed tone as she moved around the room.

My eyes still felt too heavy to be opened fully, but I could hear everything that was being said around me.
I still felt numb and cold as my whole body was suddenly heavier feeling and alien to me.
Something was very wrong.

"Hmm…we shall see. Who is she?"

"Agent Marilyn Barnes; a relative of Sergeant Barnes I believe. We also found her plane not far from here…"

Schmidt grunted in acknowledgement, "What are you planning to do with her Doctor Weismann?"

She had moved to stand by my side as I could hear her reply back with, "Tell me Herr Schmidt, does it worry you about the outcome of the war?"

"I do not understand why that should matter in regards to HYDRA."

"It matters much! The Fuehrer is becoming desperate Herr Schmidt; that is obvious! So, this girl shall become one of our most powerful weapons against the inevitable!"

He scoffed, "And what would that be?"

"The rise of this supposed 'Captain America'."

It went deathly silent as I tensed, trying to strain my ears for any indication that they are going to start talking again.
Then a loud crash could be heard as I finally managed to open my eyes to witness Schmidt holding Doctor Weismann to the wall by her throat.
I remained still and quiet; eavesdropping to their conversation.

"Captain America is not worthy of our time! You will be wise to remember that Doctor! I am sure that I can find others who can do your job…"

She had glared at him in pure hatred, "My apologies Herr Schmidt."

He nodded with a smirk before throwing her to the floor, "I have much more pressing matters to attend to than observing your lab rat…"
With the latter words still fresh from his lips, he had then turned to march out with an air of arrogance that only he could pull off.

Quickly I closed my eyes as I could feel her start to get up and clamber over to me as her mouth was by my ear.
"Herr Schmidt is no longer giving me orders! I will have need of you when the war is over Ms. Barnes, until then you shall remain as you are…"
Pulling back, she had then addressed another who was at the doorway.
"Doctor Zola? You need to start making preparations…"

A Swiss accent asked back, "For what?"

"The second phase for HYDRA."

~+~
{SSR BASE CAMP| ITALY| MEANWHILE…}

STEVE'S P.O.V.

The pen hovered just above the small sheet of paper that I had propped up against one of my books on my lap.
I was supposed to be writing a letter to Rosie to tell her about how my tour is going, but it feels so hollow and…phoney.
Dancing around in tights and declaring that we can all do our part by buying war bonds, soon grows old.
That was made obvious by how the soldiers reacted to my presence during my time here.
I can't really blame them though; I have no right to call myself a Captain when I haven't fought in any wars.

"Steve?"

Lifting my head up from the blank sheet of paper, I looked shocked at seeing Peggy standing before me with an alarmed expression on her face.
"Peggy-"

"Steve, I need to talk to you. It is urgent and I fear that I must break my promise to Marilyn-"

"Rosie? Is she okay?!" I stood up in worry as everything that had been resting on my lap now clattered to the floor.

The expression on Peggy's face said it all before she had even replied back with, "We received an SOS from her plane…"

I tried to understand what was happening, "Where is she?"

"Steve…you have to understand that this is top secret-"

"Where is she, Peggy?!" I was becoming desperate as I saw her look into the distance briefly to steady her thoughts.

"I believe that she is currently behind enemy lines, perhaps even being held by HYDRA."

My blood ran cold as I ran a hand over my face, "Why do I feel that you aren't telling me everything?"

She sighed, "She went to try and rescue her brother, the entire one-o-seventh had been captured by HYDRA and we could not spare enough man power to initiate a rescue attempt."

"Both of them…" I shook my head before saying to her, "Where is this place? I can't stand back and let anything happen to Rosie and Bucky!"

"Steve, you can't be serious?! We have already lost-"

"Peggy, with all due respect, my best friend and the woman I love are in danger."

Nodding in understanding, she said, "I can help get you to where the base is located…"

~+~
{HYDRA WEAPONS FACILITY| KREISCHBERG, AUSTRIA| TWENTY MINUTES LATER}

STEVE'S P.O.V.

I dropped down in the shadowy confinement of the woodlands surrounding the facility.
Even if Peggy had not of told me that this is where HYDRA were; I would of found it.
The whole place screamed 'evil'.

Running through the barren wasteland, I turned my attention to the trucks which were slowly moving into the huge facility before me.
Hastily, I jumped into the back on the nearest truck, looking shocked at seeing a handful of HYDRA guards staring back at me.
"Fellas…" I hit my fist up at the first one, knocking him out of the moving vehicle before easily dispatching the other three, as I sat back and waited for the right moment.

As soon as I could feel the truck grinding to a halt, I leapt out and stayed close to the shadows, navigating my way through the maze-like rooms.
The facility was sterile and unwelcoming, with HYDRA guards patrolling every corner that I turned to.
Climbing up onto a railing, I saw a lone guard strolling just a few feet away from me, as I reached out and knocked him unconscious, my eyes then drifting to where underneath his body, men were staring open mouthed at me.

One of the men who were still staring asked, "Who are you supposed to be?"

Pausing, I then smiled, "I'm Captain America."
Pulling open the cell door, I tried to see if Bucky was with them.
"Sergeant James Barnes, you seen him?"

"There's an isolation ward in the factory. No-one's ever come back from it…"

I sighed but nodded as I made a move to go and find Bucky, only stopping for a moment for say to the men, "All right. The tree line is northwest; it's eighty yards past the gate. Get out fast and give them hell! I'll meet you guys in the clearing with anybody else I find."
'Hopefully Rosie…' My head added.

Another of the men had quickly called out, "Wait! You know what you're doing?"

Nodding, I smiled slightly, "Yeah, I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times."
Running off, I left them looking shocked and confused after me.
I needed to find Bucky and Rosie before something happened.

Rounding a corner, I froze at seeing a tall, slim woman come out of a room with a suitcase in her hand and her eyes staring in acknowledgement as she saw me.
"Stop!"

The woman didn't bother to answer me, as she ran off quickly, leaving me to try and follow after her, but get sidetracked by the room in which she had come out from.
The second I entered, I saw him; my best friend strapped to a table and looking as though he had been through hell.
"Bucky! Oh my God…"

I rushed over to him and tried to get my best friend to recognise me, but he was repeating his name and information over and over again.
It worried me.

Trying again, I said, "It's me. It's Steve!"
Grunting, I pulled hard on the bonds that held him in place, freeing him.

Finally a look of recognition passed on Bucky's face as he smiled in relief, "Steve!"

Smiling back lightly, I grabbed onto his arm to wrap it around my shoulder, "Come on, we've got to find Rosie!"

"Steve…" He repeated again as his eyebrows furrowed, "Rosie…w-where's Rosie?"

I flinched at his question before answering, "I don't know…but we are going to find her. I thought you were dead Buck…" I trailed off brokenly as I helped him to his feet.

Bucky replied, "I thought you were smaller…"

~+~
{HYDRA WEAPONS FACILITY| KREISCHBERG, AUSTRIA| MEANWHILE…}

ROSIE'S P.O.V.

I had my eyes firmly shut for what felt like hours.
Nerves were starting to tear me up inside over what might have been done to me.
Did they turn me into a monster?
Will I even resemble the person I used to be?

Trying not to cry, I opened my eyes and managed to sit up on the cold operating table.
I felt weirdly numb all over, as though I had been pumped full of anaesthetic so that I couldn't feel the immense pain that I should be in.
As I swung my legs off the table, I noticed another operating table in the corner with a body-shaped bundle hidden under a white blanket.
Stumbling over to it, I reached out with a shaky hand to hastily lift up the blanket, curiosity telling me that I needed to see whatever was underneath it.

"Oh my God!" I gasped out in horror as I threw the blanket down almost immediately after seeing exactly what had been hidden.
Whimpering, I threw my hand to my mouth to stop the bile that was rising in my throat as I staggered to the open door, trying to figure out where to go to next.
I had to get out of there!

It was then that I saw Steve coming towards me with my brother half-clinging onto him in order to be able to stand up.

"ROSIE!" Steve came towards me swiftly, as he started to check me over for any signs of injury.
"You're not hurt?"

"Thank God you're here! James…" I hugged my brother tightly before using my arm to wrap around his waist and help him upright.

Steve looked worried at me not answering his question as he gave us both a firm look, "We need to get you both to some medics. Rosie, can you help him?"

I nodded, using my strength to get my brother on his feet so that he could walk with both of us down the long corridor.

"This way!" Steve turned to the left as we entered a large area which below where we were on the platform, fires raged as what I thought were gas cylinders, blew up.

All of our eyes then drifted over to where a short man with glasses and a slight hunch was hurrying along the side of a taller man who had an air of arrogance.
Ah, Johann Schmidt in the flesh.

At noticing all of us, he had smirked but addressed Steve first.
"Captain America!" His heavy accent danced over words as he continued, "How Exciting! I'm a great fan of your films. So, Dr. Erskine managed it after all? Not exactly an improvement, but still impressive."

Steve was edging closer all the while Schmidt was talking, as I held onto my brother to help him stay upright.

"Then again, you are not the only one I am impressed by…or shall be, perhaps. Ja…you may think that you have won here Captain, but that is not the case!"

Angrily, Steve punched him, sending Schmidt a few steps back as we all watched.
"You have no idea!"

"Haven't I?" Schmidt raised his fist as he tried to bring it crashing down on Steve, but his fist collided with the shield instead, as I could see the anger behind both of their eyes.

Schmidt held his head up high and spoke in an authoritative voice, "No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see I was his greatest success!"
Nothing prepared us for what he did next.
Swiftly, he raised his right hand to his face and began to peel off his skin to expose a red coloured second layer of skin that looked as though it was his skull.

"Oh my God…" I gasped out as I could feel James stiffen next to me.

"You don't have one of them, do you?" He briefly glanced at Steve in shock.

Schmidt smirked, "You are deluded, Captain! You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind!"

"Steve is nothing like you!" I glared at him in disgust.

He laughed coldly at me, "Ah, is that so? What do you think happened to you Agent Barnes? Do you know, yet?"

James looked at me, "What the hell is he on about?"

"Nothing…" I gritted out between clenched teeth, "He's trying to get under our skin."

Schmidt looked at Steve again, "Unlike you both, I embrace it proudly; without fear!"

"Then how come you're running?" Steve retorted, looking frustrated as the bridge was already retracting and we were becoming stranded.
Instead of answering his question, Schmidt and the short man-whom I guessed was Arnim Zola-made their way to the elevator and left.

I didn't have any time to dwell on what had just happened, or how Steve and James looked as though they were both struggling to comprehend events.
"We need to get across!"

Steve nodded as he then indicated to where scaffolding was that could take us both to the other side of the platform.

"Let's go! One at a time…"

James pushed me forward, "Rosie-"

"No! You need to go James."

He sighed, "Don't argue with me Marilyn! Just go across!"

Giving him and Steve a concerned look, I made a grimace but started to climb across the scaffolding, praying to God that I wouldn't fall to my death.
It was getting unbearably hot as flames built up below us, giving me encouragement to make it to the other side quickly.

Steve had then helped James over the railing so that he could walk across.
I watched my brother with fearful eyes, as I noticed how the scaffolding was starting to shake and come apart.
"JAMES!" I screamed out and leant against the railings, holding out my hand for him to take.

Every step that he took made my heart sink deeper, as I then noticed that he needed to jump.
"JUMP!"
He made a flying leap the second his footing was lost, as I managed to grab him, and strangely, with one tug I had pulled him over the railings and landed him by my feet.

Both of us stared at each other in pure shock, before I shook my head to indicate that now wasn't the time to discuss these matters.
Now, we turned our attention to Steve who had no way to get across.
Tears built up in my eyes, as I shouted to him, "Steve!"

James looked desperate, "There's got to be a rope or something…"

Steve shook his head and tried to wave us off, "JUST GO! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"WE WON'T GO WITHOUT YOU!" The determination and fierce loyalty behind my brother's eyes was so strong that it broke my heart.

"Steve, you have to jump! We'll catch your hand on the other side! I promise…" I looked at him brokenly as I leant my hand out.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before bending the sticking out bit of railing to his left inwards, and getting ready to take a running leap.
Both James and I looked terrified as we watched in hope that he would make it.

As he got closer to the edge, he jumped.
Fire raged below him as one last explosion took place, momentarily blinding us both, but still I kept my hand out.
I expected to feel the scorching pain from being burnt…but I didn't.
Fear over what HYDRA might have done to me didn't even cross my mind, as suddenly a weight was felt on my hand as I smiled in relief.

"STEVE!"
I didn't have to even break a sweat, as I pulled him up easily, smiling in relief.
"Are you okay?"

"I'm more worried about you and Bucky, come on! Let's get out of here…"