Hello, hello! After a long weekend, I'm back with another chapter! I am going to start off with a huge warning that this chapter contains strong themes of torture, so if that's a trigger for anyone, please be aware of that. Also, because I do not want to be sued by Disney, here's the other mandatory disclaimer that I do not own, nor claim rights to anything Marvel. With that being said, I hope you enjoy this next part, and if you do let me know! Xoxo-NickLynn
When Rose began to stir back into consciousness, the first thing she registered was the bright light filtering in through the cracks of her eyes. The second thing she was aware of was the painful throbbing emanating from the back of her head. She let out a groan as her head lolled to the side. The next, most startling, thing she noticed was that her arms were bound behind her, attaching her to the metal chair she was placed upon. She peeled her eyes the rest of the way open in alarm, memories coming back to her.
Her eyes snapped around the room, taking in the yellowing tiles and various machines lining the walls and could feel her breathing begin to go haywire. "Ah, you're awake…good." She heard a German-accented voice say from behind her. She whipped her head around over her shoulder to find a man walking towards her with a smile. He was older, his cropped brown hair beginning to gray on the sides, and he was dressed in a uniform that was not decorated in the German colors and badges, but instead held the symbol of a strange octopus. "Oh, no need to look so frightened, dear. So long as you give us what we seek, I have no reason to harm you." He told her, noticing her fear that spiked as he strode in front of her.
"I'm not telling you anything." She bit out, her voice coming our hoarse.
The man clicked his tongue at her, moving the hands that were folding behind his back to grab a chair for himself and dropped it in front of Rose. "Perhaps then you would permit me to tell you a story." He said, sitting down in the chair and looking at her intensely. "Years ago, I came to know a man. A remarkably brilliant man, by the name of Abraham Erskine. You see, this man was capable of creating something that was once only dreamt of. He helped create a serum capable of altering the human form, you see. And while it worked, there were certain….unwanted side effects." He told her.
Rose's mouth went dry, and she began to wonder if this was the man Abraham had told her about. "You're Johann Schmidt, aren't you." She questioned.
"Oh, how wonderful!" he exclaimed, confirming her suspicions. "So, you know this story! You know what happens next, then. Before Dr. Erskine could fix his formula, he was taken from us. Taken from us and used against us by the allied forces. With their aide and protection, he managed to replicate the serum, but this time, he had managed to work out the flaws of it's predecessor. You can see why this was so upsetting. Actions had to be taken. A Hydra operative was sent to ensure Erskine would not be able to continue his work with our enemies." He told her.
The pit of Rose's stomach began rolling as he spoke. She suspected it was Hydra who had Abraham killed, but hearing him confess to it, it renewed the fury burning within her. "While the operative succeeded in targeting the doctor, the mission itself was a failure as he failed in recovering the serum. You see, the best scientists of Germany have been working on it's replication, but...well, no one has been able to unlock it's secrets just yet. So, it seemed the formula was lost with the good doctor. But then, we hear tell." Schmidt continued, raising a finger up to his ear.
"We hear of a woman who aided Dr. Erskine in his creation of the improved formula. A nurse…..a nurse who had been sent to the war front. Imagine my delight when I find out she's been stationed only a few miles away here in Austria. It seems like fate has led you to me, Ms. Rogers." He said, a wide, wicked smile now adorning his face.
"Abraham never told me anything." She seethed. "I don't know the formula."
"This is what I said!" he said, motioning towards her. "There is no way Abraham Erskine would be foolish enough to share his most coveted possession with anyone, I thought to myself. But then I hear that perhaps he was foolish enough to pass along his secrets to her. Perhaps in the form of little black book." He said with a raise of his brow, leaning towards her.
The back of Rose's throat whet dry as his eyes stared into her own. She didn't know how….but he knew. "Even if he did, do you really think that nurse would be foolish enough to keep something so dangerous. Perhaps she burnt it, to keep it's contents from falling into the wrong hands…..hands like yours." She sneered at him.
Johann let out a sigh, leaning back into his chair. "Such a same." He said with a shake of his head. "But do you really expect me to believe that you would have something like that in your possession without being tempted to take at least a peek inside?" he said, smirking. Rose clenched her jaw, trying to look indifferent to his words and their implication. The smile slid back onto his face as he watched her. "Ms. Rogers, you are going to give me that formula." He told her, sternly.
"I would rather die!" she said in refusal.
"I think you'll come to find that we can be very persuasive." He said, coming to a stand. "No, Ms. Rogers, we will not kill you….you're far too valuable for that…..but you will soon wish we did." He said, motioning behind her at the guards stationed at the door. They moved forward, both of them gripping onto the arms bound behind her back, as they came to a stop on either side of her chair. They pulled her up onto her feet with enough force that sent her vision spinning with the sudden rush of blood through her still-healing head.
The two men pulled her along with them as they turned and left the room. Rose did her best to keep up with their fast footsteps, finding it hard to keep herself balanced between the dizziness and the uneven holds on her arms behind her. Her eyes swept around the musty corridors she was led through, trying to store everything into her memory, desperately trying to build a map in her mind should the opportunity to escape be presented to her. After about the sixth turn she found her nose crinkling up in disgust as the smell of urine became overwhelmingly pungent in the air. The lights above them were dim and far in between, leaving the whole passage dark and unwelcoming.
She was pushed into a room off to the right of the hall, and she found herself in a sort of shower room. There were three raised pillars in the middle of the room, each with several shower heads protruding around the top of them. The walls were covered in tiles, which were perhaps at one time white, but now were stained yellow. Several patches of mold and other growth clung around the kickboards, growing from the puddles of resting water that was left to fester along the floor. She was pulled over to the far side of the room where a row of large metal tubs sat, one of which was filled to brim with water that was so cloudy she could not see beyond a few inches' depth.
The guards came to a stop in front of the foul-smelling water, the one on her left retracting his hand and moving so that he faced her. He told her something in German that she couldn't understand, a smirk pulling up his lip. She went to question him, but before she could get a word out, she was thrust forward by the man who still had hold of her. He moved his left hand onto the back of her head and used it to push her forward into the tub. She was forced to bend at the waist and her hip bones smashed into the metal rim of the tub as her head was forced under the water. She fought off the instinct to draw in a sharp breath at the pain that erupted from her being pressed into the hard metal and sealed off her lungs to keep the liquid from filling them. She tried to pull herself up out of the water, but with her arms still trapped behind her back and the man holding her under with more force than she held, it was a futile effort. She held her breath and fought as much as she could, but as the minutes ticked by, her lungs burned fiercely with the need for oxygen.
Just when she thought she could take no more, she was pulled back up. She drew in a sharp breath as she broke the surface of the water, coughing violently, trying to expel the small amount of water that had managed to seep into her lungs. Without any warning, she was pushed forward again, and she fell back into the water. She tried desperately to stop the spasms raking through her chest and found it drastically harder to hold her breath while she fought off the urge to expel the water that had already penetrated her lungs. She fought harder than before to pull herself back out of the water, her hips grinding so harshly into the side that she was sure they were already colored a rich shade of purple. Once again, she was pulled from the water just when she thought she'd have to draw in a rush of water. The coughing shook through her as she tried to fill her lungs, before she was thrust under the surface once again.
The cycle continued for what felt like hours. She lost count of how many times she was plunged into the tub, as she lost the ability to fight her tormentor. When she was pulled from the water for the last time, the man's hand wrapping tightly into her hair and yanking back on her scalp harshly, her face was nearly as purple as her sore hips. She drew in deep gulps of air, like a fish fighting to breath, the water cascading down her body as she was turned back around and locked eyes with a satisfied Schmidt. Through blurry eyes and burning lungs, she glared back at him. Once she had managed to catch her breath enough, her lips fell open and she sneered at him. "You think…I'll give into you….just because you get me a little….wet?" she asked him between her rapid breathing.
A muscle in his jaw twitched as he looked her over. "You're strong." He said, stepping towards her soaked body. "I admire that." He told her, reaching forward to cup his hand around her jaw. "But even the strongest of men have their breaking point." He insisted. "Such beauty." He then said, his eyes roaming her face, still discolored from the continuous lack of oxygen. "Such a shame." He dropped his hand and the next instant, Rose was struck with an explosion of pain along her ribs that sent her sprawling onto the floor.
She looked up as she nursed her wounded side, to find the two guards standing over her, batons pulled out and at the ready. Schmidt said something to the two men, giving her one last glance before he turned and left the room once again. Her eyes watched his retreating back for a moment before movement from one of the guards drew her attention back to him. She watched helplessly as they stepped closer to her, batons raising up into the air. The last thing she saw before her eyes squeezed shut were the wicked smiles taking hold of their faces. Then, her world became nothing but an endless torrent of pain and agony and her screams echoed down the empty halls.
By the time they were done with her, she knew not how long later, she couldn't even muster the strength to stand. Her feet drug along the filth covered floors, as she hung limply between the two torturers. She didn't know how far or how long she was drug along for before she finally succumbed to the numbing darkness.
Bucky sat in his cell, his back pressed up against the uncomfortable bars behind him, twisting his hands together as his fear-laced thoughts continued to hound him. He had woken up in his cell hours ago and found he was not alone. He was stuffed together with several other men, some of which he recognized from his infantry, others being total strangers. Some of the men whom he didn't recognize looked far too skinny and haggard. When he had asked them how long they had been in there for, they had told him that they lost track after about the third month. They told the newcomers of how they were forced to work as laborers, working tirelessly building some sort of aircraft for the Germans.
As Bucky sat in that cold, damp cell, listening to the sounds of coughing and moaning around him, his thoughts drifted to Rose. She wasn't anywhere, in any of the other cells, as far as Bucky could see, and according to the men who had been stuck there, they had never come across any woman during their entire time being captured. His insides were being torn apart by all the fear and guilt that ate away at him. He had failed to protect her, and now, he had no idea where she was, or what happened to her. He sat in silence as the hours ticked by, falling deeper into despair the longer he sat.
He barely lifted his head when the sound of shuffling feet outside his cell drew his attention away from his anxiety-ridden thoughts. When his eyes did happen to glance over at the guards, his breathing stopped. He didn't care about the two guards quickly moving past him, what had caught his eye was the mess of long, black hair that hung between the two. He jolted forward, grabbing onto, and pressing his face closer into the bars as he tried to catch a better look at the form they were dragging along.
"Rose?!" he shouted, catching a glimpse of the tell-tale white outfit of a nurse. Now, however, instead of being white it was covered in patches of drying blood, staining the fabric with ugly shades of red and brown. One of the men opened up an empty cell across from and down three from Bucky's own cell. The hinges creaked loudly in protest as it swung open, before the body that hung from their grasp was thrown inside, unceremoniously. The body fell to the cement floor with a thud and lay motionless. Though the long hair covered her face in a thick shield, Bucky knew it was Rose. And from the state she was in….his fear exploded into rage.
"HEY!" he shouted as the guards slammed her cell shut with a loud bang. They seemed to ignore him as they turned back around, laughing as they went. "HEY ASSHOLES!" he shouted louder. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" he demanded.
One of the Germans came to a stop in front of his cell, raising an eyebrow at his outburst. "You know this woman?" he asked, motioning behind him.
Bucky's grip on the metal bars tightened as he was filled with the urge to reach out and attack the man. "What did you do to her?" he asked again, this time his voice came out low and cold.
The other soldier had caught interest and spoke to the one who had addressed Bucky, speaking quietly in German. A few words were spoken back and forth before the man turned back to Bucky with a grin. He said nothing before turning, once again, and the pair walked away.
"HEY!" Bucky shouted again. "ANSWER ME DAMN IT!" he yelled, slamming his hands against the steel bars, causing them to shake. The men refused to answer him, and instead chose to keep walking as if he had been saying nothing at all. Bucky slammed his hands against the bars one more time before giving up on getting answers from them. He turned his attention back down towards Rose's cell, having to press against the metal again as he tried to get a good look at her prone form.
"Rose!" he called again, only to be met with silence. He watched her still form for a moment, making sure he could see the rise and fall of her breathing before he turned and let his shoulder slide down the cage's wall, dropping back down onto the floor. His eyes refused to leave her unconscious form and that was how he sat for the next fours hours until she began to stir with signs of life.
When Rose slipped back into consciousness, the first thing she was aware of was the sheer amount of pain that pulsed throughout her body. She let out a groan as her eyes fluttered open-or at least as open as they could go, being as they were so swollen from the damage wrecked upon them. A particularly sharp pain ebbed in her right side as she tried drawing in a deep breath and she knew she had suffered at least one broken rib, likely more. Hey eyes took in the new surroundings, looking from the dirt-covered concrete to the bars surrounding her, and surmised she had been dumped in a holding cell. She mustered all the strength inside herself before pushing herself up onto her forearms with a yelp of pain.
The tears burned in her eyes as she looked around at the other cells surrounding her, all of them filled with captives. Most of the cells had a dozen men or more crammed inside each one, she being the only one who had the entire enclosure to herself. She heard someone call her name and she whipped her head around to the source of the sound. "Rose!" she heard again. She knew that voice. Her eyes searched the cells until they fell upon the face she was searching for. Barely within sight, she could see the side of Bucky's face, pressed out from between the bars that encaged him.
She tried calling his name in return, only to find that her voice came out as nothing but a scratchy rasp. It seemed all the coughing and screaming she had been doing had left her throat raw and sore. She tried swallowing, but found that she couldn't even produce enough saliva for that basic function. She let out a groan as she pushed herself all the way up until she was sitting. She carefully pulled herself over to the cell door, using it to prop her back up against. She let her head fall against the metal bars as she screwed her eyes shut tight, trying to control her breathing, as to not agitate her injured ribs any more than she had to, as the wave of pain passed.
When she opened her eyes again, she let her head fall to the side and found Bucky again, watching her like a hawk. She tried clearing her throat again, licking at her dry lips as she did. "B-buck." She managed to rasp out.
"You okay?" he called down to her, seeing her obvious distress. "What did those assholes do to you?!"
She reached a hand over her stomach, holding onto her side which burned like an iron spike was being driven into her and grimaced. The tears began running down her dirty cheeks as everything settled in around her, leaving steaks as they washed down her face. "They want the formula." She told him, hoping her quiet voice would reach his ears. "I'm so sorry Bucky." She sobbed. "This is all my fault."
They left Rose in her cell for a long stretch of time. As there were no windows to illuminate their constant darkness, so it was impossible to tell the passing of time. They had no way of knowing if it was day or night…..all they knew was minutes down in those cells felt like hours…..and the hours felt like days. Rose stayed in the same position with her back propped up against the bars, afraid to move again as she had finally managed to get the pain quelled down to a bearable throb. She drifted in and out of consciousness, her body needing all the energy it could produce in order to begin healing itself. Bucky's voice broke through the sounds of misery around them every so often, bringing with it a semblance of comfort which Rose was thankful for, if anything.
"We're gonna get out of here, Rosie." Bucky's voice called down to her, causing Rose to open her eyes again and look down at where he sat with his back to the call bars, much like she had been sitting. "I promise."
Rose let her eyes fall back to the crumbling wall in front of her. While she knew his words were meant to bring her comfort and hope, she could find none. She didn't honestly think that she would make it out of this hell. She wouldn't give them what they wanted, and she knew there was only one possible end to this story. She had begun to accept her fate, satisfied in knowing that the sacrifice of her life would mean saving the lives of countless men, should the Germans succeed in creating a super-soldier army. Though, she found herself still holding out hope for Bucky. Just because she wouldn't survive, didn't mean he wouldn't either. She let her eyes slide shut again and prayed to God. She prayed not for herself, but for Bucky. She prayed for his protection over Bucky. She prayed for it harder than anything she had ever prayed for before.
The sound of marching boots echoed down the passage and Rose's eyes snapped open. She turned her head to find a group of soldiers marching down, focus set entirely on her. Her heart began to pound within her chest as they came to a stop in front of her cell, and she knew her torment was not over.
With a stifled cry she stood back up, turning to face them with as much opposition as she could manage. She stared them down as the one of them inserted a key into the lock mechanism and it unlatched with a clank. The door swung open and two of the men filed into her cell, coming to either side of her, taking her within their grasp. A third man moved into the cell, a smile on his face. He said something to the other men that she didn't understand, but judging by the laughter that ensued and the leery look he was giving her, she knew it was nothing kind. He took another step towards her, towering over her. When he reached forward to caress her cheek, she drew her head back and brought it back forward with a quick thrust, slamming her forehead into the man's nose.
Pain blossomed in the center of her head as the man went stumbling back, a hand covering his now bleeding nose. He let out what she assumed was a curse and a small smile tugged at her lips. Small victories, and all that. Her victory was short-lived, however, as his arm struck out at her, and the back of his hand connected with the side of her face in a loud smack. Her head was thrown to the side by the force of it and she could taste blood. She could hear Bucky shouting at the men as she slowly brought her face back up, refusing to let the men see an ounce of pain on her face. He shouted something to the other men, and she was pushed forward, being guided out of the cell by the bruising grips on her arms. Her head swiveled around as she was led past Bucky's cell, and her eyes connected with his alarmed ones.
As she passed, Bucky was able to get the first good look at her since she had been brought down into the cells and he was startled by just how God-awful she looked. If he didn't know it was her, he wasn't sure he would have been able to recognize her. The sockets around her eyes were black and swollen so bad, he could hardly see her eyes peeking out from behind them. She limped past him, and he knew by the sheer amount of concentration set into the lines of her face, that she was intently focusing on keeping the pain from showing. Weather that was for his own benefit or the soldiers, he didn't know. She was forced past him much too fast and before he knew it, she was out of his sight, being taken from him once again.
Rose was led back through the corridors until she was brought back into the same room she had first woken up in. As she was ushered into the center of the room, she watched as Johann Schmidt turned to face her. He took in her appearance with a shake of his head, coming to stand in front of her. He tutted at her with a purse of his lips. "All of this pain could have been avoided, if you had just done as asked, my dear." He told her.
"Do what you want with me." She bit out defiantly. "Drown me. Beat me. Do whatever you must, but I will gladly die before I let Abraham's formula fall into your hands." She told him, feeling a strength she had never felt before fill her.
"Your courage is admirable. Those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the lives of others are rare indeed. I have a feeling no matter what we did to you, you would not waver in your obstinance." He said, circling around her. "But I wonder if that acceptance of death extends beyond yourself." He said, coming to a stop in front of her once again.
She furrowed her brow at him, confused by his words. She watched as he lifted a hand and the door behind her swung open again. She watched in horror as Bucky was led through the door, his hands folded on the back of his head as two Germans held him at gunpoint. He was ushered into the room, stopping several feet away behind her and Schmidt. She swung her head back around to Schmidt, refusing to let any of her emotions known.
"What? You think threatening some random soldier is going to break me?" she asked him with a face devoid of emotion, hoping she could somehow wiggle Bucky out of this situation.
"Oh? You do not know this man?" he asked, surprised, motioning over to Bucky. "The guards seemed quite sure that you did. They said he made quite a ruckus when they brought you down to the cells." He said, searching her face for any signs of wavering. "AH, well." He said, with a shrug of his shoulder. He then reached into his holster and pulled out his pistol in one swift motion, aiming it straight at Bucky's head. "Then we have no use for him, I suppose."
Rose tried to keep her face neutral, hoping to call Schmidt on his bluff as he tried to call her, but she folded as he cocked back the hammer of the gun. "Wait!" she said, wide eyes going from the barrel of the gun to Bucky's stoic face.
"AH, so you do know him." Schmidt said satisfactorily, dropping the aim of his gun from Bucky, yet keeping it at his side.
"Don't Rose." Came Bucky's voice, before one of the guards jammed the barrel of his gun into the back of his skull in a warning. "Don't give them what they want." He continued, ignoring the guard behind him. "It's okay." He told her, giving her a small nod.
Rose locked eyes with him, and she knew that he had accepted his fate, the same as she. He wouldn't blame her for it and with that one simple nod she knew she had both his permission and his forgiveness. She looked back at Schmidt, angry tears burning in her eyes.
"No?" Schmidt asked, looking down at her. He raised his pistol in Bucky's direction once again. "So be it." He said, pulling the hammer back. The milliseconds that passed in that moment extended out and felt like an eternity to Rose. She looked from Schmidt to Bucky, and his look of sorrow tore her heart apart. It was like he was passing a silent apology onto her. How he could possibly think she was the one who deserved an apology in that moment, was beyond her. But it didn't matter. As she locked eyes with him, she knew that she couldn't do it. She couldn't watch him die. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't let him suffer the consequences for her mistakes.
"I'll do it!" she nearly screamed as Schmidt's finger began pulling pressure down on the trigger. His eyes slide over to hers. "I'll recreate the serum!" she told him. "But Bucky lives! I'll do whatever you ask of me, as long as he lives!" she said, her voice shaking.
"Rose, no!" Bucky shouted in protest. "I'm not worth it!"
She looked over at him as Schmidt loaded his pistol back into his holster, a smile of victory adorning his face. "I'm sorry." She told him. No matter how hard so tried, she just couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough to let him go. She just hoped him, God, and everyone else would be able to forgive her.