The remaining men were loaded into some transport trucks with armed guards watching over them and making sure that no words are muttered between them. It was a long journey and those that could do it while being under armed, enemy, forces managed to sleep while they still could while others kept watch on what the guards were doing, Bucky was one of those few, if he could learn their patterns then maybe, just maybe they might be able to get out of the situation they were currently stuck in.
Hours later the trucks slowed down before coming to a stop and the grating of steel could be heard before the trucks started to move again, it seemed that they had finally arrived at their 'prison'. They were all hauled out of the trucks and herded into what they could see was a factory that seemed to be running on all cylinders, as they walked they were shoved unceremoniously in to small round cells where they were locked in and left alone with only 3 armed guards watching them.
Day in and day out there were taken down to the manufacturing plant where they were put to work, hard labour and long hours started to wear down on the POW's, especially with so little rations that they were getting to keep them strong and healthy. Then there was the fact of being beaten on and off by the guards, Bucky was getting the worst of it from Colonel Lohmer.
Bucky walked over to the line where he was set up to work, he had been separated from Dugan and Gabe not long after they had arrived, obviously the guards thought they were planning something, which they were, so they were separated early on but that didn't stop them from talking once they were returned to their cages. Picking up the tools he started working on what was on his line, this piece slotting in to this one, another going into that one before moving it on to the other table for them to continue with building whatever it was they were building for them.
A sudden commotion broke Bucky out of his routine of slot A into slot B and he looked around to see what was happening and saw that a couple of guards were beating into Johnson for some reason or another, though they didn't really need a reason. Dropping what he was doing Bucky rushed over to where it was happening and started to fight the guards beating Johnson, Dugan and Gabe joining in to help when a shot sounded throughout the warehouse and everyone froze.
"What is going on here?" Lohmer questioned in his heavy accent as he stalked through the isle toward the group.
Bucky sneered and knowing that he shouldn't say anything but couldn't help it, "Maybe if your men would stop beating us willy nilly for only breathing then maybe we'd get the shit you want done on time, done." He snapped.
Lohmer looked at Bucky not saying a word and stalked over to where the group was, it seemed that his guards had taken more of a beating in those few minutes than the soldier they were beating did and this didn't bode well for the POW's, though it didn't bode well for his men either, getting taken down by three American's when there was 6 of them if just proved that the American's trained their men well.
With the movements of a snake and striking with the fierceness of one, Lohmer brought his baton down on Bucky's body with no remorse, strike after strike hitting him, bloody flowing down Bucky's face from the strike to his head, snapping of bone could be heard as the baton came down in his arm before there was darkness and a last thought of 'Star is going to kill me'.
When Bucky woke up he was in his cell with the others and all he could feel was pain radiating through his body as he tried to move from his prone position when hands appeared and gently held him down, "Don't move Jimmy." He could hear from a cell over.
"Don't call me Jimmy, Dum Dum." Bucky grumbled knowing that it was Dugan that had said his most hated name.
"Alright Buck, but don't move, Lohmer gave you one hell of a beat down while you were out of it, you're going to be in quite a bit of pain for a while there." Dugan explained, "We tried to clean your cuts up the best we could and one of the men with us in the cages is a medic so he set what bones he could as well but you're not going to be able to move them too much while they heal."
Bucky breathed out, "How bad is it?"
"Pretty bad man." Johnson spoke up, "You should have just let them wail on me."
"Nah kid, couldn't do that, it ain't my style." Bucky responded but ended up coughing a little bit and let out a yelp of pain as he did, "Broken ribs?" He questioned.
"Yeah Buck, they are going to be hell on you doing any work." Gabe told him with a small smile.
"This won't be the first time that I've had to work with a broken rib or two." Bucky commented, "Used to get in a lot of fights back in Brooklyn and I was a boxing champ so it's a given to be injured sometimes."
"I can see that happening." Dugan spoke up, "You look like the type."
Bucky gave a snort of laughter, "It actually wasn't me that got into the fights, it was my buddy Steve, he's a magnet for it. He's like 90 pounds soaking wet and 5 foot 2 inches, just a little guy but he hated bullies and made sure that they knew what he thought about it." He could hear the sounds of disbelief coming from the men he knew and had fought beside, "Seriously, I'm not kidding, if it wasn't for Starlyn things would have probably gotten worse than what they already were."
"She's going to kill you for this isn't she?" Gabe questioned.
"If I get through this, yeah she will."
"You got a girl?" Came the questioning British voice of Lt. Colonel James Falsworth.
"Nah, she's my best friend's sister and quite a woman but she isn't mine. She's a nurse." He explained but he, Dugan and Gabe knew it was something else.
"Yeah quite the woman alright." Dugan commented, "The day when Bucky got shot and we got him to the base hospital she was there and boy did she have something to say about Bucky getting shot, she hit him over the back of the head and said something like 'you really did take all the stupid with you' and then went back to the med tent to help out there before coming back out because the idiot over there didn't go in for surgery when he should of. If I was nurse Rogers I would have poked and prodded the bullet wound a few times for him being an idiot." He explained.
"If we ever get the chance to meet her, whatever you do, do NOT call her a dame Dugan made that mistake and ended up having to have a FULL physical." Gabe spoke up with a laugh.
"I'm still shaking off that physical." Dugan grumbled with an exaggerated shudder.
"Good thing sir, is that for the next couple of days you won't be working." Johnson chirped from his cell.
"Oh good." Bucky sighed.
Bucky moved slowly around his work station, his body protesting quite a bit from the activity of his job, and to top it off he was starting to get sick and without the proper care it was just going to get worse and he knew that from his time with looking after Steve.
Lohmer was walking through the floor of the factory watching everyone, all the POW's made sure that they weren't talking or even humming as they worked lest they get the same treatment that Bucky had gotten but there were a couple that were doing something at the other end of the factory.
Dernier with the help of Falsworth had calmly coated one of the machines with a corrosion agent and it was slowly working its way through the metal and hopefully in enough time for when Lohmer got down to their section. Dernier and Falsworth continued on with their work, watching as Lohmer kept coming down to their section and then over at the metal that was corroding.
Bucky was breathing heavily as he worked on his station, he could feel the heat of a fever starting and he could feel beads of sweat that wasn't from heat but he wasn't going to let that hold him back from working because as soon as they stopped working they go through the mysterious door at the end of the cell block and never come back out.
"You doing alright there bub?" A rough voice questioned from across the work bench.
Bucky looked over at the man who stood at about 5 foot 5 inches if that, his hair looked like an owl and he was quite scruffy looking, more so then the rest of the men, it was like it was always his natural look, "Yeah, I'll be fine." Bucky lied as he went back to work but had to hold himself up before the tipped over.
Bucky looked up in time to see the man's nose twitch and him release a breath, "Nah bub, ya ain't goin' ta be fine. Yer sick as a dog."
"Well I'm just going to have to be okay, if not then I won't be coming back from behind those doors." Bucky grumbled as he went about his work, "What's your name?" He questioned.
"Ya can call me Howlett."
"Bucky." The man now known as Howlett nodded and went back to his work before any of the guards could catch them talking and give Bucky another beat down causing his injuries to get worse or for them to try and beat down Howlett and find out about how different he really was from everyone else.
A sudden nails on a chalk board sound echoed throughout the warehouse, yells of the guards and a sudden sound of something heavy hitting the ground Bucky and Howlett turn to see that some machinery had fallen and right on top of Lohmer, squashing the man into a bloody puddle.
"Guess we won't have to worry about him anymore." Howlett muttered as the guards rushed around rounding up the POW's and herding them back to their cells so that they could investigate and clean up the mess so that the men could get back to work.
Arnim Zola walked the platform above the assembly factory at the progress that had been made by the POW's that they had and it wasn't as much progress as he had been hoping that they would be further ahead than what they were and now Lohmer was dead putting things even further behind than they already were. Herr Schmidt would not be pleased at all, the Valkyrie should have been close to finished by now and his progress with Erskine's serum was also behind as he hadn't found the right subject.
Zola watched as one of the man collapsed at his work bench, leaning over the railing to get a better look he could see that it was the man that Lohmer had beaten over 2 months ago before his 'death', HYDRA soldiers hurried over and kicked the man to get him up again, the other man using the station with him growled something at the men but they took the butt of their gun to his head as well.
"Enough." Zola called down and watched as the men stopped what it was they were doing and looked up at the scientist, "Bring him to my lab." He said and walked toward his lab so that he could see the man and what he was going to be working with.
Zola pulled out some blank papers from his draw and grabbed a pen so that he could write down everything that he was going to do to the man that was being brought to him, but first he would need to do a full physical before he could go on with his experiments.
"Herr Doctor?" One of the soldiers said getting the little man's attention, the POW was prone hanging between them.
"Put him down over there." Zola said pointing over at his 'O.R' where they could put the man and then leave, "You may leave." He says once the POW is strapped down to the table.
Zola moved about quickly, taking the man's blood pressure, checking reflexes the best he could with him strapped down, doing some x-rays and documenting everything about the man he was going to be experimenting with. At that moment he had 'walking' pneumonia and a couple of healing bones that were aligned properly with only one slightly out of place. Zola put all of the papers in a manila folder before moving onto the first of many injections that he was going to be doing to the man now that he knew the possible measurements of the serum and exposer of the cubes energy for the serum to be activated. But first he had to give the man some antibiotics to get rid of the pneumonia so that the experiment could begin.
Bucky's eyes fluttered open, only for them to close quickly at the bright light that appeared above him and let out a groan and tried to roll over but couldn't, his eyes snapped open and he groggily looked down at himself and saw that he was strapped down to an operating table. Bucky could feel himself start to panic, he was captured and made to work and now, God knew what was going to happen to him now.
"Ah, good, you are awake." Came an accented voice from behind him.
Bucky cranes his head around to try and see where the voice was coming from but couldn't really see much of the man until he walked over to where Bucky could see him, "Who are you and where am I?" He questioned, his voice hoarse.
The man raised an eyebrow at the questioning, "I am Doctor Arnim Zola and you are in my lab." He explained as he came over to Bucky, causing him to flinch away was Zola neared to check on him, "Now that you are well we can begin."
"Begin? Begin what?" Bucky questioned, "How long have I been here?"
"You have been here for two weeks getting over pneumonia and as to what I am beginning, well it's going to be HYDRA's greatest accomplishment." Zola explained, he was quite giddy, he just had a feeling that his man would be the one that would survive where the others didn't.
"HYDRA can go to hell." Bucky spat at Zola as he watched the man fiddle with some instruments that were looming over his prone form.
"HYDRA will never die." Zola informed him with a proud smile as a multi needle gun started it's decent into Bucky's chest and Bucky's scream echoed throughout the halls.
