**I do not own any of the characters, except for Beth. Shes mine.**
Chapter 10
Adam paces back and forth.
"Why is this taking so long?" Finally, a tall man walks in. "Finally! What was taking so long?" The older man sighs.
"Patience…"
"My patience is running out. You said we were doing the exchange today! Well, I don't see anything happening!"
"This takes time, Adam." Just then, another man walks in.
"Its ready, sir." The older man looks at Adam and gestures towards the other man.
"See? Patience is a virtue."
"Whatever. Just drug her and let's get on with it." The older man rolls his eyes. Adam walks out and goes into Beth's holding room. He shuts the door and walks over to her. "Beth? Beth." No response. "BARNES!" Beth jolts awake.
"What the hell?" Suddenly, she feels something being stabbed into her arm. "OW! Would you quit doing that?" Adam steps back and lets the drugs take effect. Soon enough, the drugs enter her system and knocks her completely unconscious. Adam pulls out a remote-like device from his pocket and presses a button, releasing her restraints. She slumps forward, Adam quickly reaching out to hold her up. The older man walks in and Adam looks at him.
"Um… a little help, please?!" The older man turns and nods to someone outside the doorway. Two men with a rolling bed come in and lift her onto it and roll her away.
"Come on now, Adam. Wouldn't want to keep you waiting any longer." Adam walks out the door and the older man follows.
Steve takes Bucky to his apartment in the Avengers tower to go over plans to get Beth back.
"You sure about this?"
"Of course I am. She's my sister."
"I know but, is this the way you really want to get her back?"
"It's the only way, Steve."
"Not exactly." Bucky looks up. "We could just storm the place."
"No, Steve. It's too risky."
"More risky than basically sacrificing yourself?" Steve sighs. "Look, I know you want her back. I do too. But imagine her reaction when she finds out you were alive all this time and got killed again trying to save her. Just trust me on this. We can help each other out better if we stick together." Bucky sighs.
"Yeah. I guess you're right. Fine. But I get to kill that son of a bitch that took her." Steve nods.
"Deal."
Soon, Steve and Bucky head out to find Beth.
"Where did you say you thought it was at?"
"Shh!" They duck down to see a uniformed man walking down a wooded path, probably a guard checking the perimeter. Steve watches for a bit.
"What now?" Steve whispers. He turns to look at Bucky, but doesn't see him. "Buck?" He whispers again. Suddenly, he hears gunfire. He looks up to see Bucky standing over the man, who was lying on the ground. Steve runs up to him. "Nice." In the distance, they hear shouts coming from the other Hydra agents.
"C'mon." Bucky leads Steve through the woods to a big building. They see a group of agents running out of one of the doors. Steve turns to Bucky.
"You ready for this?"
"Oh yeah. Bucky responds with a smirk. Steve removes his shield and prepares to fight. They run towards the group of agents as they start firing at them. Steve blocks a round of bullets and smashes a few of the agents in the head with his shield, knocking them unconscious. As soon as he finishes off the group, he looks over as Bucky's finishing his. Once he knocks out the last man, he looks at Steve and the both head for the entrance. Once they're inside, Steve stops Bucky in front of a fork of two hallways.
"Which one first?" Steve asks. Bucky starts to go to the right.
"I'll go this way, you go that way. If you find her and don't find me, leave. No matter what."
"But…"
"I'll be fine, Steve. Just get her out of here." Steve pauses.
"Then the same goes for you." Bucky sighs.
"Deal." They both split up down the two hallways. Steve runs down and checks every door for some sort of sign of Beth. He rounds a corner to find another Hydra agent guarding a room. The agent looks at him and fires his gun, but Steve blocks the bullets with his shield. Steve kicks the gun out of the man's hand and whips the shield at his head. He ducks and kicks Steve in the jaw. He doubles back and tries again, this time smashing the agents head with his shield. Steve grabs the gun from off the ground to arm himself and checks the room the man was guarding. He slowly and quietly opens the door and looks inside, checking for anymore agents. He doesn't see any, so he walks further in. He hears faint moaning and rounds the corner. There, strapped to a big, metal chair in the middle of the room, is Beth.
*A few hours ago*
The men bring her into a small room with a metal chair in the middle of it and start preparing. Adam and the older man walk in behind them. The men unstrap Beth from the bed, lift her up, and sit her in the chair. They strap her down and make sure everything's secure. Adam walks up to her.
"When is it going to start wearing off?"
"Soon." The older man says. Soon enough, just as he had said, Beth slowly starts to regain consciousness. She starts to groan and Adam taps his foot impatiently. He slaps her hard in the face and watches as her eyes finally open. Adam sneers at her.
"Well it's about time." Beth looks up at him with confusion written on her face.
"Wh-where am I?" Adam smirks.
"You're in the extraction room." Beth raises an eyebrow.
"Extraction… what are you…" Reality dawns on her. "No…" She looks around. "No!" She starts to struggle.
"Stop." She struggles harder and starts screaming. "Stop."
"No… no!"
"STOP!" Adam screams and Beth stops. "Don't make me sedate you again. Then we'll just have to do this all over again."
"You can't do this! Please!"
"Adam. It's ready." The older man says. Adam looks at Beth.
"It's already done." He looks over his shoulder. "Start it up!" The machines hum to life. Beth tries to break her restraints.
"No! Stop! Please!" Arms come out from the side of the chair and rest on her forearms. She winces as needles stick into her arms and she feels dizzy. Her muscles weaken and her palms feel like they're on fire. She screams and screams until she blacks out.
*Present*
"Bethany!" Steve runs over to her. "Oh, god. Bethany." He grabs her face and lightly taps it. "Bethany. Stay with me. I'm gonna get you out of here." He sees her arms strapped down, breaks the straps, and lifts her up. She lays her head against his chest and looks up.
"S-Steve?" He smiles.
"Yeah. Yeah, it's me."
"They took my powers…"
"Never mind that. Let's get you out of here." He walks out the door and looks around before taking off in the same direction he came. He rounds a corner and hears a commotion coming from the other side of the hallway. He looks back and sees a man coming towards them.
"Well, well, well. Look whose come to the rescue. Captain America himself."
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing really. Just took back something that belonged to us."
"You did a lot more than that. Look at her!" Beth looks up at him.
"Steve, I'm fine."
"See, she's fine. Now, before we start I'm willing to make you a deal. You leave now and no harm will come to either of you. If you don't, I can't promise you'll be safe." Steve puts Beth down.
"I want you to get out of here."
"Steve, I'm not…"
"I'm not asking you, Bethany. I'm telling you, you need to leave. Now." Beth looks at him.
"No."
"Bethany…" The man laughs.
"So loyal. It's touching, really. But I'm afraid your time is up." He looks around the corner and gestures for someone. Adam walks around the corner and smiles at them.
"Hello again, Beth. So glad to see you're okay." Beth glares at him. Steve straightens up.
"You…"
"Hello. So nice to finally meet you!" Adam says. "I see the costume still fits."
"You better watch it, little punk."
"Oh, wow. Touchy.
"Adam, behave yourself."
"But, Dad…"
"Wait… Dad?!" Beth asks. Adam faces her.
"That's right. Not how you thought you two would meet, huh?"
"So what else have you been lying about, huh?!" Beth lunges at Adam, but Steve holds her back.
"Not now, Bethany." Adam laughs.
"So feisty. Just how I like them." Beth wrinkles her nose.
"You're disgusting."
"Thank you."
"If you don't leave now, I'm afraid you'll have to face the consequences." The older man, Adams father, says.
"Bethany, you have to leave. Now!"
"I'm not going anywhere!"
"So be it." The man looks at Adam. "Kill them." Adam smirks and walks towards them.
"Him? Kill us? Ha!" Beth snarls.
"I thought you might say that. But look again." He flicks his arm to the left of him and shoots fire from his palms to the wall. Beth's eyes widen.
"You…"
"Uh huh! I took your powers. Ooo and look what else I can do." He pushes his arm forwards and Beth goes flying backwards. She lands with a thud on the ground and groans.
"Bethany!" Steve turns to face Adam and glares at him.
"Let's begin." Adam taunts. Steve yells and runs towards him, only to find himself in mid-air. "Ooo! It even works on Super Soldiers!" Suddenly, Beth tackles him from behind. "Hey!" They both land on the ground as Steve drops too. Beth, still on top of Adam, turns him over and punches him in the face, over and over again until Adam flings her off of him. Adam coughs and spits out blood onto the floor. "You shouldn't have done that…" As he gets up, Steve grabs him by the collar and lifts him up to eye level.
"Not so fast…" Adam chokes in Steve's grip when Beth screams. Steve looks over to see the older man holding her against him with a knife to her neck. The older man looks at Steve.
"Drop him." Steve looks back and forth between Beth and Adam. "I mean it. Drop him or I kill her." Steve obeys and drops Adam. He coughs and grabs his neck, wincing in pain. The older man still has Beth hostage.
"Deals a deal. I let him go, now you let her go." The man looks like he's contemplating.
"Hm. I don't think I will." He starts backing away, Beth in tow.
"We had a deal! Now let her go!" The older man smiles. Out of nowhere, the sound of gunfire makes Steve stop. The older man screams and falls to the floor.
"Dad!" Adam yells and runs over to him. Beth falls to the ground, gasping for air. Bucky comes around the corner.
"God, he was annoying." Steve smiles. Beth stops and slowly turns around. Her eyes widen. As she scoots away quickly.
"It's true…" Bucky looks down at her.
"Bethany…" He reaches out for her, but she backs away.
"You-you're… alive." Bucky kneels down.
"Yeah, Bunny. It's me."
*Flashback*
1943 Bethany – 16 years; Bucky – 18 years.
Bethany lays on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. In her hand, she held her doll, Annie. Bucky had just gotten his assignment. Sargent James Barnes of the 107th was shipping out for England tomorrow and she was not happy. A light knock on her door breaks her out of her trance.
"Come in." Her door opens to reveal a uniformed Bucky.
"Whaddya think?" He asks, gesturing to his uniform.
"I think you look stupid." She says, eyes still not leaving the spot on the ceiling.
"Oh, c'mon. You didn't even look."
"Don't need to." Bucky sighs and walks into the room, shutting the door behind him.
"Still mad, huh?" He asks sitting down on the edge of her bed.
"What do you think?" He sighs again.
"I had no choice, Bunny. You know I didn't."
"Yes you did!" She yells suddenly. She looks up at him. "There are a lot of other men who can fight. You did have a choice, Bucky! Don't try and convince me otherwise."
"You think I wanted to do this?" He raises his voice. "Do you think I wanted to leave you and mom? I didn't. It's my duty to go and help, you know that." He lowers his voice. "I'm sorry if it upsets you. But this is something I have to do." He watches Bethany for a reaction and sees a tear run down her face, gaze back at the ceiling. "Oh, Bunny. Don't cry. Come 'ere." He holds out his arm and Bethany doesn't hesitate to jump into his arms. He holds her and hushes her softly as she cries in his arms.
"I'm gonna miss you, Buck." She says in-between sobs. His grip on her tightens as he holds back his own tears.
"I'll miss you too, Bunny." They stay like that for a while as he lets Bethany calm herself down. After a while, her breathing returns to normal. Bucky has a thought and chuckles quietly to himself. Bethany looks up at him, red eyed and confused.
"What's so funny?"
"I wonder how Steve's gonna take it." Bethany sighs.
"Oh yeah." She thinks about the lanky man who so badly wanted to serve, but wasn't qualified because of his many health issues. Bucky looks down at Bethany.
"I love you, Bunny. You know that, right." Bethany smiles at his use of her nickname he gave her.
"I know. I love you too." They hug each other tighter and Bucky gives Bethany a small kiss on the top of her head.
"Good." He smiles to himself. Bethany breaks herself away from him and wipes her eyes.
"I suppose you're gonna have to leave now. Don't wanna be late for your date with Connie." She puts emphasis on the name 'Connie'. He nudges her with his shoulder.
"I thought you liked her?" Bethany looks incredulously at Bucky.
"It's called acting. Duh." She smiles. Bucky smiles back and ruffles her hair."
"Stinker."
"Butthead." He stands up, faking shock.
"Now, is that any way to speak to me, young lady?"
"Sorry, Sargent Butthead."
"Better." Bethany giggles and Bucky grabs her face in his hands and kisses her forehead. "Be good. I'll be back before you know it." He walks towards her door and opens it. He looks back and sees her smiling at him. He gives her a little wave. She waves back as he turns around and shuts the door behind him.
*End Flashback*
"Bucky." She gets up and runs to him, tackling him in a giant hug. Steve watches the reunion as brother and sister hug each other for the first time in 70 years. Tears run down their faces as Bucky kisses Bethany on the cheek. "Never leave me again, okay?" Bucky pushes her away and grabs her face.
"Never again."
"Promise?" Bucky smiles.
"I promise." They smile and continue hugging when Steve makes a realization.
"Hey, where'd Adam go?"
Yay another update! How'd you guys like this one? Took me a while to finish cause it was so long. Plus, i got a bad case of writers block and didnt know how to end the story or where. So i just ended it here. Hope its not too abrupt. I will be continuing into Part 2 here soon though.
Remember to review! I love hearing from you guys! :)