Chapter 17: Cages

October 4, 1943

The fucking Nazis put honest-to-God shackles on them, giving the illusion that they were all now slaves. There were no trains waiting to take them to a concentration camp, nor prisoners' barracks on a military base. Instead they simply marched them, day and night, with just enough breaks to keep most of them alive. Those who were lucky enough to pass on during the trek had to be dragged along by their brothers until the slowness became noticeable and some fucker stopped them and set the man free. On the second morning a body appeared in the distance, and Bucky had to hold his breath until he could see who it was. He recognized it further away than he thought he would, and by the time he was standing next to Howard he couldn't stop himself from pausing. Another strike. He looked even younger in death, and Bucky was just about to call out to him (just to make sure he wasn't just asleep) when the guard spotted him and shoved him, pushing him along with the rest of the chain. He had to leave Howard behind with no rites, no burial, and no goodbye. There was no way to tell how many people were in that line, and the only instructions they got were to keep walking - barked at them in harsh German, with gun muzzles shoved into their backs.

He periodically looked back, trusting the boys in front of him to keep him on track. There were seventeen people between him and Lu; he knew this because every day he counted them. The defiant look that she'd had when the soldier pulled her from the trench was gone, and now even though she was still trying to be brave, he could see how afraid she was. His mind spun with plans, of ways that he could escape the shackles and break her out too. All he had to do was take out the nearest guard and confiscate his gun, then he could shoot their way out...and then what? Leave all the other men to march to their doom? No. He may not have been a squad leader to everyone in that group, but he still owed it to them to take care of them. They'd live together or die together. But he would not abandon them.

They were eventually led to a bunker, a thick concrete structure that sat in the middle of the forest. They went through the hangar doors, past the weird looking vehicles that were so unlike the others they'd seen, and past a plane that looked like something Howard Stark might have invented. Past the other soldiers in the same black uniforms, training and eating and watching the rough, dirty allies as they were paraded by. They packed them into an elevator like sheep, the stench of so many sweaty, unwashed bodies nearly overpowering. Bucky could hear people coughing, trying not to be sick as the elevator moved down, down, down underground. He scanned the faces fervently, trying to spot a blonde head or green eyes staring back at him. He finally spotted Lu again as the elevator screeched to a halt, jolting the lot of them. Any courage was gone from her now, her lips parted as she tried to catch her breath and panic alight in her eyes. He could see her trying to push her way out, trying to create space, but there was none to spare. He tried to call out to her, tried to tell her that it was alright, but his words were lost in the cacophony of hundreds of terrified soldiers. It was just as well; the look on her face, he wasn't sure she was seeing him anyways.

Gas started leaking into the elevator, leading to more panic and more shoving as people tried to find an exit that didn't exist. Bucky did his best to stay upright while the current pulled at him, and tried to keep his eyes on Lu. He yelled at the people around her to watch out for her, not to shove her or push her or hurt her. She was tough, yes, and strong, but there was nothing she could do about her size compared to the full grown men around her. But they didn't care. They were all too scared, thinking that the gas was going to kill them. Most didn't realize what Bucky already knew: they weren't going to march them all the way here just to kill them in an elevator. One by one the soldiers succumbed to the gas, their breathing deep and slow as their exhausted bodies gave in to the cocktail. After days of marching, the Nazis were finally giving them sleep.

Bucky awoke again to screaming. Sure, there was an undercurrent of moans and shouts, but one particularly high shriek called to him more than the others. It was close, closer than the other cries for help, and something about it pulled him from his unconsciousness. He didn't have time to take note of who was in the prison with him - though he did see Dugan's goddamn bowler hat - he was just trying to find the source of the screams. He realized he wasn't in a jail cell, but in fact a cage, and in the cage next to him there was quite the commotion as a familiar blonde shoved away the men in the cage with her. He immediately saw red, crawling to his feet as fast as he could. His vision blurred as his blood pressure dropped with the position change, which didn't help the situation.

"What the fuck are you doing? Let go of her!" he yelled, trying to make sense of what was going on. Not only did he have to worry about Lu, he had to figure out where they were, and how they were going to get out. Lu heard his voice and latched onto it, her green eyes wild as she tried to find him. "Back the fuck up!" he yelled again, this time towards the men that were trying to contain her.

"Barnes! Barnes thank God!" she said, finally spotting him. She looked panicked and terrified in a way he never thought he would see, holding onto the bars so tight that her fingers were white. He'd seen that look before, in men that had shell-shock. They woke up in the barracks yelling orders, a wild look in their eyes as they searched for enemies that weren't there. "Barnes, we're stuck, we're gonna drown-"

"Lady, calm down!" one of the soldiers said, putting his hands on her shoulders. She screeched again, turning and forcing his hands away. Her head made a dull thunk on the bars as she ended up pushing her back against them.

"Don't touch her! Give her some goddamn room!" Bucky yelled. Half of the men heard him and moved away, giving Lu her space. But the other half kept reaching for her, probably making her feel even more trapped. "Hey! Make space! Make fucking space!" That finally got their attention, and with the help of the soldiers who got it, she finally got room to breathe. "Doc. Doc!"

"Barnes?" she seemed to already have forgotten that he was there. She turned quickly, nearly smacking her face on the iron bars, but the look of relief on her face was worth it. "Barnes, we're stuck! We can't - what are we gonna do?"

"Hey, hey just keep looking at me." he said, trying to prevent her eyes from wandering and seeing the rows of cages around them. He reached his hand out to her and she did the same, trying to wedge herself between the bars to reach further. But no matter how they shifted, there was just enough room between the cages so that they couldn't touch. "You're okay. We're not in a ship. We're gonna get out of here."

"But we can't - we can't-" she was starting to hyperventilate. He wasn't used to her being the unhinged one between them, but if he needed to step up for her, then he would.

"Don't think about that, okay? You're not in a ship. You're here with me, okay? /there's plenty of air. Look at me." he said. She kept breathing too fast but at least her eyes were locked on his, and he was able to mime taking slower breaths, in and out, until she finally started to calm down. Every time her eyes flicked to their surroundings he reminded her to look in his direction, making her slow her breathing and bring down her panic. "We may be stuck, but we're not dead, okay? We're not dead."

"We're not dead." she repeated, sounding more like herself. "Right, we're not dead."

"I'm gonna get us out of here, okay? Don't worry." he said. Logically he knew that he shouldn't promise that, that he couldn't promise that, but he did anyway. He was much too stubborn and cared way too much about the woman in front of him to even entertain the thought that this was their end. They were not going to meet their demise in some stupid underground bunker at the hands of some stupid Nazis.

"You okay now, baby?" one of the soldiers in her cage stepped forward again, putting a hand on her low back. She instantly startled, shifting away from him and banging into the bars of the cage. Bucky didn't consider himself a jealous man, but the soldier made such a burning anger rise in him that he thought he was going to pry open the bars with his bare hands.

"Mullens I swear to God you touch her one more fucking time, and you won't have to worry about the fucking Nazis cause I'm gonna fucking kill you myself!" he said, shaking the cage walls. Mullens held his hands up and stepped back, but there was something in his eyes that Bucky didn't like. He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, pulling him back from the bars. He fought against the hand, trying to keep his eyes on Mullens and Lu. The other soldiers in her cage took the hint, forcefully moving the guy into the opposite corner.

Dugan finally turned him around, immediately putting up a hand between his face and the raised, clenched fist that Bucky didn't realize he made. He paused before releasing his hand, shaking out his fingers. "Sorry." he croaked out, his throat tight and his body starting to shake as his adrenaline started to fade. Dugan nodded, patting his shoulders a couple times.

"You're good, I get it." he said. There was something discoloring a part of his mustache, but even at this close of a distance Bucky couldn't tell if it was blood or mud. "But now is not the time to be snapping at each other."

"No offense, Dugan, but this seems like the perfect time to be snapping at each other." another soldier - Morita, his nametag said - interjected, something in his voice alluding to a history between him and Dugan. Dugan shot a glare his way, leaving Bucky to round on the other man.

"Snapping isn't what's gonna get us outta here, unless the stick up your ass is actually wire cutters to take care of these bars." he said sharply, legitimately puffing his chest like some bird in the wild. Morita tried to raise himself up too, but unfortunately for him Dugan was a solid head taller than him.

"If you ask me," Falsworth cut in from where he was sitting in the corner, his back against the bars. Bucky let out a breath, glad he at least had the level-headed Brit here with him. "this is exactly what the Nazis want. Disorder. Discord."

"Yea no shit, Falsworth, that's the whole point of this goddamn war." Morita said. Bucky knew he didn't mean to sound so petulant, and any other day he'd be a little more understanding, but this was a high stress situation and the last thing he needed was grown men arguing like children. He met Falsworth's eyes and the other man shrugged; whatever was going on between Dugan and Morita, they didn't want to get into the middle of it.

He moved to the corner of the cage closest to Lu's, turning his attention back to her. She was down on the floor, her knees pulled up and her arms around her legs; she was no longer panicking, but she was definitely still on alert. Her green eyes pierced into him, holding onto him as he matched her pose.

"You okay, Doc?" he asked, just loud enough for her to hear him over the commotion around them. She was definitely back to herself now, giving him a completely unamused look.

"Dandy." she said sarcastically, her voice still shaking slightly. He wanted to freak out too, but with everything else going on around them, he had to keep it together. Once they were all asleep, then he could have his moment.

"Let me rephrase that, then." he said, his mind whirring for something, anything, to bring some positivity to this situation. "You alive?"

"Yea, Barnes." she said, actually managing half a smile. "I'm alive. You?"

"Yep, still alive." he said, finally taking a moment to look around them. It was impossible to tell how many cages were in the room, and there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for which or how many soldiers were in them. They could hear arguments breaking out now, drowning the sounds of pain and confusion. Bucky knew he should get up and do something about it, but the idea of trying to create some sort of order in this infinite amount of chaos exhausted him more than the after effects of whatever they'd been gassed with in the elevator.

A heavy door across the way opened, and for a moment the whole room fell silent. Two people in black hazmat suits came, toting a massive cart that required both of them to move. The doors shut, but a moment later opened again to reveal another team with a cart. In total, four teams started moving between the cages, the soldiers holding their breath and waiting to see what was in store for them. The first man in a suit pulled out a big, black plastic bag, tossing it up onto the top of the nearest cage. The men scattered to the edges, and when a piece of metal on the roof slid back and let the bag drop into the cage before closing again, they all turned away and covered their heads, as if that would save them if something was going to blow. No one moved, just watching as bag after bag was thrown into the different cages. Some of the bolder men yelled at the hazmat suits, asking questions in English and broken German and receiving no answers. They delivered their goods and exited the way they came - eerily quiet and without any regard for the hundreds (thousands?) of men in the cages.

There was a low murmur as everyone figured out what to do with the bag in their cage. Was it an animal, there to eat them? Was it poison, meant to kill them? The murmur grew to a dull roar, and soon the message was relayed down the rows of cages - it was food. The men in his cage eyed the bag warily before Dugan finally decided to be the brave one and tear the bag open. Stale bread and some sort of dried fish tumbled onto the metal floor, easily the most unappetizing thing they'd ever seen - and they all jumped on it immediately. Bucky got his portion and sat back against his corner, still as close to Lu as he could get. She was eyeing her bread and fish with vague disgust, as if she was wondering if it was worth it to eat it.

"Just like bagels and lax, Doc." he said, taking a bite of the dry, chewy mess that was definitely not near as good as the Jewish deli two blocks from his apartment back in Brooklyn. Lu gave him an unamused look, but took a tentative bite anyways. Now she definitely looked disgusted, but chewed and swallowed anyway.

"Why do you keep insisting I'm from New York?" she said. She'd never, in fact, had bagels and lax before, and figured that it was something that was more routine in his place of origin.

"Because you won't tell me where you're actually from." he said simply. It was a stupid conversation to be having, especially given their circumstances. But it was something to focus on besides the terrible food and their impending doom.

"I guarantee you've never heard of it." she said, taking another tiny bite. This one seemed to go down a little easier. She looked back towards the door. "What do you think they're gonna do to us?"

"Uh uh," he said, taking a huge chunk of bread that required way more chewing than he originally anticipated. She watched with a perked eyebrow, waiting for him to swallow. "You've got nowhere to hide. You gotta tell me now."

"And you're not at all worried about the crazy people behind the door?" she said, still barely picking at her food. He wanted to tell her to eat, that she was going to need to keep her strength up. But he didn't want to draw attention to it.

"Of course I am. But they're back there, and we're in here, and you can't pretend that you have to go see a patient when I ask you a personal question." he said with a smile.

"Hey, I've answered plenty of your personal questions." she said, gesturing at him with her dried fish as if she could hurt him with it. To be fair, if she was motivated enough, she probably could.

"Come on, Doc. We may die tomorrow, let me die knowing." he said. He meant it in jest, but could tell immediately that it was the wrong thing to say. Lu shifted quickly so that she was looking right at him, practically glowing with anger.

"Don't say that." she said. He wanted to feel bad, but he was honestly kind of happy to see that fire back in her. That was the woman he knew, and the one that he...cared about. Deeply. "Don't you dare say that, Barnes."

"Atta girl." he said, lifting one corner of his mouth in a smirk. "That was a test and you passed."

"No, you're an asshole with a quick wit." she said, sitting back and crossing her arms over her chest. "You told me we're getting out of here. Don't change your story just when I was beginning to believe you."

"You're right. I'm sorry." he said, realizing very quickly that humor was not going to help this right now. Maybe once they were settled, once they started getting some answers, he could disguise his pain with humor like he always did. But for right now, he needed to be sincere. "We are getting out of here. But I have the feeling we're gonna have to be really tough. You up for it?"

For a brief moment, Lu looked like she wanted to say no. But she took a breath and nodded before taking a huge bite out of the fish. "Fuck these Nazis." she said, getting a hoot and holler from the men nearby that could hear her.

"And fuck Hitler!" Dugan said, raising his bread in cheers. His sentiment was relayed through the whole room, each of the soldiers catching on and passing it down like the wave at a Brooklyn Dodger's game. A moment of solidarity among the thousands of voices there.

No more men in hazmat suits came after their meager dinner, leaving them thirsty and irate. And then, just when the irritability reached its peak, they cut the lights off. Bucky didn't know if they were trying to simulate night or just throw off their Circadian rhythms, but either way it was working. There was kicking of bars and snide remarks. From across the massive basement they could hear sounds of people crying, or getting sick, or arguing with their cage mates. They did have to line up like sardines in a tin in order to all lay down, the exhaustion from the day (night?) catching up to them. A couple guys wanted to fight Bucky for the edge, but he refused to move from his spot. Instead, he laid with his arm through the bars, stretched towards Lu, and even if they couldn't actually reach each other she had her hand reaching for him too.

They thought that would be it for the first night. But they were wrong.

Just as they got as comfortable as they were going to get, the elevator nearest to them clanged, telling of the arriving car. It landed with an ominous boom, the doors squeaking open to reveal four men in hazmat suits. This time, the cart they had was empty, and instead of bags they had some sort of canister that looked like a bee smoker. Bucky pushed himself to his feet, hating the limited visibility they had; all the light they had came from the open elevator doors. He put himself at the front of his cage, wanting to be the first one to try and take them down. But they didn't come towards him. Instead he was forced to watch in horror as he moved towards Lu's.

"No." he said, his voice a hoarse whisper from a dry throat. The men in her cage shoved her towards the back, but that didn't matter. They gassed them with the smoke canister, each of them dropping one by one as it hit them. "No no no!"

"Barnes-" Falsworth tried to pull him back, but he didn't let himself be led this time. The men opened the cage, picking through and deciding which men to load onto the cart.

"No, stop!" he said as they stood too long over Lu's unconscious body. "Leave her alone! Leave her!"

"Barnes!" Falsworth tugged him again, and Bucky just shoved him back. His heart was in his throat as two of the men picked her up, stepping over the other bodies to load her onto the cart.

"Leave her!" he said. They glanced his way, just barely. A chance. He switched to German. "Leave her! Take me instead!"

The men in his cage definitely understood, as did the men in the suits. His brothers stepped back, putting space between them and Bucky. The men in the suits looked at each other and shrugged, unceremoniously tossing Lu back into the cage with the other bodies that didn't fit onto the cart. He tried to stand up straight and look into their masks as they moved toward him, pretending to be brave as they put the gasser in his face and pressed the trigger.

The last thought he had was at least they didn't take her.


Well who's stressed out? I am! If you can't tell, things are about to get pretty bad for our friends during the 40's, so be ready for that. But there will be a bunch of love moments too so...it's ok, right?

I seriously can't thank y'all enough for your reviews. They seriously keep me going and I'm obsessed with hearing all your reactions to this story. I hope y'all are liking it, cause I'm having a lot of fun writing it.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know your thoughts!

-XM