Hello again my readers! I'm posting this chapter the same day as the previous one, so I'm hoping that doesn't mess with the alert system for you guys too much. I have a lot of studying to do over the next few days so I wanted to get this next part out for you before I got swamped again! This chapter kills me man. You'll have to let me know what you guy think of the turn of events that take place! As always, I admit I have no rights or ownership over Marvel! I own Rose and her alone….but by now I'm sure she hates me! Lol. Anywho! Onward! Enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
When Rose finally pulled herself out of her drug-induced slumber, it took her several minutes for her brain to start firing right. By the time she peeled her eyes open and stared up at the concrete ceiling, bits and fragments of everything began filtering back into her memory. Everything was still rather jumbled, however, as she tried to piece together the picture of what happened. She let out a groan as she rubbed her still heavy eyes. She slowly sat up from the small cot she had been laid out on, looking around the baren room in confusion. The wide room was nothing but four concrete walls and a thick metal door with one thin slot near the bottom. The only thing that occupied the cold room was the rickety bed she sat on and Rose herself.
She didn't recognize the room, and as she sorted through her memory, she began to grow more and more panicked. She shot up from the bed, stumbling in dizziness slightly as she shuffled across the hard floor to the thick metal door. There was no handle on the inside of the door, and no matter how much Rose pushed against it, it wouldn't so much as budge. She began slamming her fist against the metal, the sounds of her banging echoing around the room as she did. "HEY!" she yelled out. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" she yelled, slamming her fists down on the door repeatedly.
After no response of any kind, the frustration in Rose grew and she began bringing her fists down onto the metal harder. "SCHMIDT!" she screamed out, as her fists beat heavily on the steel, leaving indentations in their wake. Rose could feel a swirl of anger filling her gut, making her almost nauseous. It swirled faster and faster the more she slammed her fists into the door until suddenly a burst of energy shot out from her berating hands, the force of it sending her flying backwards a good ten feet. A burst of pain took over her bottom as she collided with the hard floor, but it held not one shred of her attention. The sole thing she was focused on were her glowing hands.
"What the hell?" she said shakily, looking down at her hands where the blue glow was slowly fading away. Her heart rate picked up as she started down at herself in shock. Her mind flitted back to her forced experimentation, and she couldn't help but compare the similarities between the glow her hands were emanating to the blue glow of the Tesseract. "What did you do to me?" she whispered as she stared down at herself.
After a moment of processing what had just occurred, Rose pushed herself up and stormed back over to the door, with renewed determination. She drew in a deep breath, steadying herself before she dug down inside of herself, searching for that same feeling she had felt swirling inside of her before. She found it and latched onto it. She let her anger and rage wash over her and felt the foreign feeling of the power flowing within her growing. She focused intently on it and let it fill her until she could feel her muscles tremble, as they worked at keeping the power at bay. She let out a ferocious yell, bringing her fists down onto the metal of the door again. Her fists, bathed in blue, swung down on the metal, pounding into it over and over again. Large indentations were left behind where she struck, but it seemed that the door was thicker and stronger than she imagined, as even now it refused to do more than groan under her assault.
With a roar of frustration, she screamed out, releasing the power that had been building inside her. A wave of blue washed out around her, moving through the room in a blinding wave. The blast sent the small cot hurdling through the air, slamming into the far wall and falling to the floor in a twisted heap. Rose was left exhausted, her breathing coming in and out raggedly. The room dimmed back down to it's normal brightness as the energy around her faded away. The tears tracked down her cheeks as she stood in the middle of the cold room, feeling both entirely overwhelmed and helpless at the same time. She dropped down to the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest as the tears fell silently.
Schmidt looked down at the monitor before him, a wide smile etched into his features. While he could have chosen to reinsert Rose into a cryochamber now that they were back at Hydra's main base, he instead opted to use the opportunity to see exactly what she was capable of, now that they had a safe location to hold her. The concrete cell she was housed in was built as an emergency bunker from fallout. The walls were ten feet thick of poured concrete, reinforced with steel rods. The door was also built to withstand the forces of a nuclear blast, so he figured this was the best place to test out the lengths of her newly acquired power. And as he stood there watching her from the camera tucked discreetly into the corner of her cell, he was thrilled.
Back at the S.S.R. base, Steve stood in a fresh Captain's uniform, leaning over a large map laid out on the table before him. Peggy stood next to him as he pointed out the locations of the Hydra bases that had been marked on one of the maps that had been pinned up at the now demolished warehouse. He had snuck a glance during his rescue mission and was relaying the information he had gathered over to Peggy and Phillips, knowing it was the break-through they had been waiting on. This would give them the edge over their fight with Hydra.
"The fifth one was here in Poland, right near the Baltic." He explained, with his finger pressed onto the parchment, doing his best to pinpoint the areas he had seen marked on Hydra's map. "And the sixth one was about…" he said, raking his brain as he compared the map below him to the one in his head. "about here. Thirty or forty miles west of the Maginot Line." He said, pointing it out as well. "That's all I can remember. I just got a quick look." He said, straightening back up.
"Well, nobody's perfect." Peggy commented, amazed that he was able to remember all the locations based on a 'quick look'.
"These are just the weapons factories we know about." Steve continued, crossing his arms. "Sergeant Barnes said he overheard them talking about moving Rose to another Hydra facility not on this map. Wherever they're keeping her, I can bet you that's where they've moved all the weapons, too." He surmised.
Phillips looked from the map up to Steve and then to Peggy. "Agent Carter, I want you to coordinate with MI6." He told her. "I want every Allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base."
"What about us?" she asked him.
"We are going to set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass." Phillips said, with the traces of a smile gracing his worn face. "What do you say Rogers? It's your map. You want to wipe Hydra off it?" he asked him.
A smirk lifted the corner of Steve's mouth. "Yes, sir." He replied, eager to do anything that could bring them closer to locating Rose. "But I'll need a team."
"We're already putting together the best men." Phillips told him.
"With all due respect sir, so am I." Steve replied with a smile, having a few men in mind.
So, Steve rallied his team of Howling Commandos, convincing five of the men he had helped liberate, along with Bucky, to join him in his fight against Hydra. Together they took down Hydra base after Hydra base, and every time Steve would be on the lookout for any new information that would lead them to the main base. But no matter how many bases they infiltrated through their months of seemingly endless missions; they were no closer to finding Rose than they had been at the beginning.
That all changed after their last mission. During their attack, one of the last Germans they had been facing willing surrendered to them and was more than willing to talk in exchange for his life. While he was only a low-raking soldier and didn't know much, one piece of information stuck out above the others. He told them of a train that was set to travel through the Austrian Alps. A train that held a mass of weapons being moved from the main Hydra base to an unspecified location. It seemed that Schmidt was getting nervous with them closing in around him and was in the process of moving locations, supposedly to a more defensive location in the mountains somewhere. While the news of the cargo train was revealing, in and of itself, the reason why the revelation was so altering was the fact that the train was also rumored to be transporting a different weapon. A weapon that came in the form of a woman….a woman with startling white hair.
Knowing that this was possibly their only chance at getting anywhere close to Rose, they set their plans into motion. After hours of standing around a map, debating back and forth over where the best place for interception was, they all agreed on a location and set out. They would try to intercept the train just before the Danube River. They would set out days in advance and set up a zip line above the tracks, planning on using it to slide across and drop themselves on the roof of the train as it passed through.
They moved forward with their carefully constructed plans and that was how Steve and Bucky found themselves standing on a small, snow-covered cliff, staring down at the tracks below them. The rest of the Howling Commandos were huddled together against the stone wall, using it to help block the cold gusts of wind that tore through the snowy mountain air.
Steve could feel the nerves building within him as the hours ticked by. In all honesty, he was more nervous than he had been the day he had infiltrated the Hydra base alone. That mission was drastically more dangerous, yet he couldn't feel that the risks were higher on this one. If they missed their chance at retrieving Rose again, he wasn't sure if they would get another. They had failed her once….Steve was determined not to fail her a second time.
Bucky strode up behind him, looking down at the canyon below. "Remember when me and Rose made you ride the Cyclone on Coney Island?" he asked as his mind had begun drifting to memories of better times.
"Yeah." Steve replied with a slight smile, the memory filling him. "And I threw up all over Rose's new shoes."
Bucky looked at Steve with a smile before looking down at the zipline and the ground far below. "This isn't pay back, is it?" he joked.
"Now why would I do that?" Steve said, shaking his head as Bucky let out a small chuckle.
"We were right," one of the men said from behind them, a dark-skinned man named Gabe Jones. He was sitting and listening to the chatter coming through the radio, translating the words that came across. "Dr. Zola's on that train. Hydra dispatcher just gave him permission to open up the throttle." He informed the others. "Wherever they're going….they're in a hurry."
Steve looked over at Bucky, the previous reminiscent mood suddenly shifting to a serious one. "If Zola's on that train, then there's a high possibility that Rose is too." He said.
"Well let's go get our girl back." Bucky said with a nod. Steve strapped his helmet back onto his head before turning back to face the tracks, Bucky following suit.
"Let's get moving." The Frenchman, Jacques Dernier, said as he looked through his binoculars at the approaching train. "Because they're moving like the devil." He told them, dropping the magnifying tools and looking back at the others. The group all moved into action, ready to get their mission started as the train steamed towards them.
Steve reached up and hooked his handle onto the thick metal rope of the zipline. "We miss that window," he began, shifting his hold on the metal bar nervously. "We're bugs on the windshield." He finished.
"Mind the gap." Jacques called back to him, amused.
"Better get moving bugs!" Dugan shouted as the train pushed closer to them.
Steve took a breath before pushing off from the cliff and began sliding down the line, hanging from the metal handles above him. Bucky followed shortly after, sliding down the metal line behind Steve as the train rounded the corner and began moving along the tracks they were headed towards. They flew through the air as the train roared just underneath their suspended forms. Once they were in a good position, they dropped down onto the roof of the speeding train.
They began running down the length of it, ducking down low to fight against the strong wind rushing by them, threatening to throw them off the train. They ran along the train until they came across a ladder that was built into the side of one of the cars. Steve stepped down the ladder, pulling the door to the cabin open before stepping in, followed by Bucky. Bucky slide the door shut behind them as Steve looked down at the rows of weapons filling the space. They began making their way down the inside of the train, guns raised and ready.
As they neared the next carriage, doors connecting the two already open, they could see the outline of a large chamber, strapped against the far wall. A chamber that was large enough to house a person. The two men exchanged a look before Steve continued moving forward. As he stepped through the doorway, it snapped shut behind him, causing him to spin around in alarm. He was now effectively cut off from Bucky who had his back facing Steve as he fired his gun at a man advancing towards him from the back of the train.
Footsteps caught Steve's attention and he, too, spun around to find a man with strange Hydra weapons strapped to him and aiming them at Steve. He only had a moment to duck behind a row of shelves before the blue blasts shot through the cabin. He poked his head around the corner, taking a couple shots at the man before running out and grabbing hold of a sliding hook that was built into the ceiling. He used it to careen himself towards the man, bringing his leg up and driving into the man's covered chest, sending him flying back. Steve dropped back down onto the floor before stepping over to the man and bringing his shield down onto his head with a strong thrust. With him adequately subdued, Steve rushed back to the opposite end of the cabin, looking through the window to find Bucky hiding behind a row of weapons as his own adversary fired down at him in an endless torrent of bullets.
He caught Bucky's eye, holding up a pistol to him before using his elbow to press the button to open the door again. Once it slid open, Steve tossed the weapon over to Bucky before running forward with his shield raised. He slammed into the row of weapons the man was hiding behind, sending one of them shooting towards the man, forcing him out of his hiding spot. Once he was back in the open, Bucky fired upon him until he dropped to the floor.
"I had him on the ropes." Bucky said, out of breath as Steve made his way back towards him.
"I know you did." Steve replied. "Now, come on." They both moved into the cabin Steve had just left, quickly making their way over to the large chamber at the end. As they got closer, they could see a small window near the top, which Steve stepped up to, using it to look inside. His breathing stopped. Inside, Rose stood, eyes closed and face frozen. "It's Rose!" he breathed in relief, looking back at Bucky. "It must be some sort of cryochamber." He explained, looking back at the metal box.
"Well, let's get her out of there, yeah?" Bucky said.
Steve, not sure what he was doing, reached forward and began twisting the handle on the front of the door, which he assumed sealed the door shut. As he twisted it open, it let out a loud hiss and cold smoke began drifting through the edges of the door. He pulled it open all the way, the freezing air, cooling down the air around them drastically. Not seeing any tubing or anything else attached to her, he stepped forward and began trying to rouse her back into consciousness. "Hey, come on, Rose. Wake up." He told her, smacking against her cold cheek. Her eyes remained closed no matter how hard he tried to wake up.
"Just grab her and let's get out of here!" Bucky told him, looking up and down the train nervously. Knowing there was no other option, Steve holstered his gun and took hold of Rose, pulling her out of the chamber and lifting her into his arms.
"Let's go." He said, shifting her in his grasp. They began making their way back down the train, but before they could make it back out of the second cabin, Rose's eyes snapped open and things went to hell. One second they were walking down the train, feeling victory was close at hand, and then the next, a blast of blue energy shot through the small room, sending both Steve and Bucky falling to the ground, and ripping a gaping hole into the side of the train. Steve's grip on Rose was broken and he looked up to find her standing over them, her glowing blue eyes burning down onto them like a wild animal's.
Rose brought her hands up again and Steve watched, horrified, as they began glowing the same blue as all the Hydra weapons they had come across and realized that she had been the one who created the blast. "ROSE, WAIT!" he yelled before she sent out another blast of energy. The brunt of the blast was directed towards Bucky and when it hit him, as he tried to get back onto his feet, it sent him flying through the air and right out the side of the train. "BUCKY!" Steve shouted as he disappeared through the wide hole. Steve shot up, throwing his shield at Rose. It hit her and sent her crashing into the wall, where her head struck the metal with a loud smack that sent her falling to the floor in a heap.
Steve rushed over to the opening to find Bucky frantically holding onto the metal wall that had been bent outwards. He clung to it for dear life as the wind blew by him. His heart rate exploded as he looked down at the ground far below him. They had been traveling along a bridge and below him was hundreds of feet of open air above a winding river. Steve took hold of the warped metal and began pulling himself down the side of it, towards Bucky. "Hang on!" he shouted as he carefully found his footing and inched closer to him. Once he was close enough, he reached out his hand. "Grab my hand!" he shouted. Bucky desperately reached out for him, but the railing he had been clinging to broke free from the side of the train and he was sent falling through the air below. "NO!" Steve screamed as he reached helplessly out to his best friend. Bucky screamed and he fell through the air and into the ravine below.
Steve watched Bucky fall, his heart breaking as he listened to his screams until they could no longer be heard over the rush of the wind, and he lost sight of him. He could feel the tears burning in his eyes as he stared at the water below. After a moment, he forced himself back into action. He moved back into the train, looking over to find his sister pushing herself back up. Steve pulled out his pistol, aiming it at her cautiously. "Damn it Rose! Whatever's going on in that head of yours, you've got to push through it!" he yelled at her.
Rose looked over at Steve, her eyebrows drawn down in confusion. Her mind was a swirling mess of thoughts and emotions. Her months in captivity had been nothing but endless stretches of Schmidt trying to brainwash her with his torturous machine, followed by her being thrown back into her isolating cell. When the endless sessions of brainwashing had failed to work, he had decided to put her back into cryo-sleep, as they worked on better techniques. When Rose had first woken up on the train, it was only her instincts driving her. The only thing filling her head was fear and she had lashed out in sheer defense. Now that her mind began to piece itself together bit-by-bit, she looked over at the man standing with his gun aimed at her and she paused. She knew this man. She knew this man and she knew she didn't fear him. She stood back up, watching him in confusion, as she forced her mind to dig through everything she could remember.
"Rose?" Steve asked, slowly lowering his gun as he watched her process her thoughts.
Hearing her name fall from his lips triggered memories within her that she couldn't believe she had forgotten. All at once, everything crashed back into her like a tidal wave. "S-steve?" she said in disbelief. She looked from him to the hole behind him and it struck her what had just occurred…..what she had done. "Oh God." She breathed, bringing her hand up to her mouth. The tears began falling from her wide eyes as she was stuck staring at the gaping hole she had made, her mind filled with the image of the man she had sent falling through it. "NO!" she sobbed, falling to her knees. "What did I do?!" she bellowed, finally looking back up to Steve. "I'm sorry!" She yelled out, feeling like she had woken up in the middle of some terrible nightmare. "Oh God, I'm so sorry!" she sobbed.