Chapter III
"Life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather, just can't get my poor self together"
-Stormy Weather, Ethel Waters, 1933
47°41′11″N, 15°4′31″E
Austrian Alps
October 1943
Bucky feels the fire burn into his lungs, air scratching it's way into his throat. The girl, Daniela, reaches forward and plants her hand on his shoulder. He's been attempting to sleep, but every time the silence begins to make him drowsy, Daniela strikes up the conversation. "Try to sleep. It will not ease the pain, but it will give you strength."
"If you keep talking maybe I can fall asleep..." His sarcasm passes without any remark. Bucky groans, his head tipping back along the cold stone, the air is warm, his skin sticky with sweat. Sleep definitely isn't an option with the new wave of heat pulsing through his veins. "...How did HYDRA take you prisoner?" Bucky frowns at the silence, she usually answers him quickly. The two haven't gone with much silence between them, Daniela likes to ask questions and likes the answers even more. "I'll tell you how I ended up here, Daniela. I was taken captive, then forced to work until I got sick. Mix illness with injury and I got put in here."
Daniela stays quiet, Bucky's frown deepens. Daniela releases a slow breath, "no questions about my past. I ask none about yours."
"Whatever you want, sweetheart." Bucky smiles, even as a prisoner of war he can't help but flirt. He's not very specific about the types of girls he flirts with, Steve once said that if Bucky saw a broom in a skirt and heels he would flirt with it. Daniela, seems unimpressed, no giggles or even a hand on his arm to approve of the action. She only seems to reach out to him when it sounds like Bucky is knocking on the gates of death. "How old are you?"
"How old are you?" Daniela has a teasing challenge in her voice, one Bucky is finding intriguing. Her mood swings from cold and callous to teasing and warm quickly. He can't really blame her though, they are trapped in a cell together. It would be unnerving if Daniela was stable right now.
"Twenty-six." He pulls on his dog tags, the cool metal reminding Bucky that he has to survive because there's a scrawny kid back in Brooklyn who needs a brother to watch his back. "The pain is letting up...maybe I'm startin' to feel better."
"Good, perhaps the worst is over then. You will be better tomorrow. I-" Her voice is drowned out by the scream of metal grinding against metal and a small stream of light pushes into the cell. Daniela stands tall covering her eyes, "it is Zola. Try to rest while I am gone. I do not wish to be trapped with a corpse." Her voice drops to a cold pitch, unwavering.
Bucky can barely see the outline of the girl, all he can tell is that she seems average in height. More light floods in as she blinks, Bucky can't really see much of her with the sudden light change. A guard yells to her, Daniela turns to glance at him one last time. All Bucky sees are the dark hazel of her eyes.
Bucky waits hours on Daniela's return, with each passing minute he gets more apprehensive. He managed to sleep for a while but woke up when blood curdling shrieks wake him. At first, he isn't sure if they're coming from him or from the girl he's spent the past day and a half with. Bucky can't decide which part of that thought is more disturbing.
Bucky doesn't really know her, but Daniela is a prisoner like him and he should care. They seem to have established some form of comradeship, he at least cares that she's not dead. Bucky might have had a much less pleasant time dealing with Zola's experiments. He's been sitting in the dark whistling to himself and counting how many threads have come loose on his shirt. It's quite time consuming considering Bucky can't see which threads he's already counted. Usually he has to start over after a minute or two.
The longer he waits the more his thoughts turn to home, to his folks waiting for any news of his welfare.
Everyone back home will be hoping for a letter from me. Maybe they've got one already, telling 'em I disappeared. Or that I'm dead.
And what about Steve? Steve is a great kid, one who has been underestimated all his life, one who doesn't deserve the whispers behind his back. Part of me hopes Steve proves everyone wrong in the army, turns out to be the best soldier any man could have asked for. However the more logical part of my head is saying that Steve has the heart of true soldier, but the rest of him hasn't quite caught up yet.
The cell door slides open forcing Bucky to cover his eyes from the light. Daniela stumbles in, collapses on the ground. Darkness once again consumes them as the door grinds shut. Bucky carefully moves his hand towards the labored breathing in front of him and feels the softness of hair. "Daniela. God, what'd they do to you?"
Daniela's skin is feverish and sticky. She shudders under his touch and her head lolls back against his hand, "I passed out right after the injection. They woke me up an hour ago and walked me back here." Bucky frowns at the screams. They're the same shrieks he heard that woke him.
Bucky pulls her head onto his lap and tries to remember what his mom did whenever he and Steve got sick.
I don't have any broth or soup, not even a cool rag to bring down the fever. Maybe when they open hatch on the door and slide in the food and water, I can use that with some torn fabric from his shirt. That seems like a good idea.
Bucky turns his attention to the woman in his grasp. "You're going to be alright, just don't focus on the pain...That's what you told me right?"
"Yes," she groans and twists her head against his hand, "if they bring food and water, wake me."
"You're going to sleep? How?" Bucky's voice is incredulous at the idea that she could sleep in this much pain.
Daniela sighs, "you boys are so weak. I've had monthly pains worse than this." She screams and Bucky swallows thickly at the sound. "Perhaps not this painful, but...I will be strong." Daniela rests her head against his hand and slows her breaths.
Ma would slap me against the head not only for my scuffed up boots, but for not being able to help Daniela.
Bucky leans against the wall and memories flash of he and Steve bundled up on the couch with warm steaming cups of tea and his mother's soft voice telling them the story of two princes who went off to fight and save a princess. Steve thought it was noble and honorable to save the woman, Bucky just wanted to know if she was cute. "I can't offer much, but I can...I can tell you a story." Bucky can feel her head nod against his hand and he pats her head, awkwardly, like she's a little kid.
Bucky sits for a moment, thinking of all the fairy tales his mom used to tell him. A different story pops into his head and forces the tales of princesses and dragons out. It's one that Bucky remembers fondly. "So, I'm from Brooklyn, and our neighbor had a son about my age. He was a small kid and I never paid him much attention until I was heading home from school one day. My sister was running ahead of me and I was chasing after her when I heard a trash can fall over. At first, you know, I'm thinking its a rat or somethin', but then I look into the alley and there's this kid. My neighbor's son, standing up to this guy who's twice his size. This little punk has his scrawny fists up and a black eye and a bleeding lip. I was going to walk past, I'm no fool, that kid could have beat me too. But for some reason I stay. I watch this kid get knocked onto the ground and I'm thinking, this is it. The fights over, the kid is on the ground, the bully won. But then, and I won't forget this til the day I die, this kid picks himself off the ground and puts his fists up again. And this kid, Steve is his name, Steve looks the bully dead in the eye and says, 'I could do this all day.'
'And I just stood there, in awe at this pint sized blonde standing up after being knocked down. And the bully, he's ragin' now, most kids don't get back up. And the bully clenches his fist and I see the hit coming and I don't know what came over me, I ran right into the fight. I ran right next to this kid who came up to my shoulder and I put my fists up and I punch the bully square in the jaw. Just like my pops taught me. The bully gave me one nice hit to the face and I was down.'
'Steve, he helped me up and the bully was ready for another hit when he decided we weren't worth it, bully just ran off. So I dust myself off and rub my eye and look at this kid. The first thing out of my mouth is, 'why'd you get back up?'
'You can't let guys like him keep you down.' Is what Steve says to me.
So I offer my hand, tell him my name. Steve does the same. I asked him if he wanted to come over and watch some baseball. I love baseball and I figured he did too. And Steve, Steve just smiles, bleeding lip and black eye aside, says 'yeah, Buck, I sure would.' Both of us were bloody and bruised, but we couldn't wipe that smile off our faces. Steve's my best friend. Wouldn't trade that kid for anything."
Bucky smiles at the memory, he and Steve had been close ever since. They looked out for each other, always. And now Bucky was fighting a war alone. Daniela's breathing seems regular now, "he sounds like a good man."
"He is, best guy I know. What about you? Got a best friend?"
"No," Daniela groans again and Bucky frowns. "All my friends turned against me when Hitler decided having Jewish blood was a crime."
"You're Jewish?"
"And German. However, my German half is not pure enough for the Nazis. One drop of non-Aryan blood and they all turn against me. Against my mother..." Daniela's voice lowers and Bucky wonders if she wants him to hear what is coming out of her mouth. "Father says I am lucky. Because he is important to Zola, I have a chance to live."
"Why?" Bucky winces, afraid she might be upset that he so openly listens to what Daniela says for only herself to hear.
Daniela groans, "you are very nosy, American."
"I'm sorry." Bucky makes a note to not ask questions about whatever she mumbles to herself. "It wasn't my place to ask."
She lays silent for a few minutes before piping up her voice again, "I will tell you about my father. If I am to escape this place I will need your help, you should know about what brought me here."
"Escape?" Bucky raises his brows, "you want me to help you escape?"
"You are a soldier, yes? It is your job to fight, you will teach me to fight."
"I don't think you're in any place to be fighting, you can't even stand up."
Daniela scoffs, "I am strong. Besides I cannot ask you to escort me out, I am not some...some princess. I can fight my own battles, you teach me to fight and I will give you all the information I have about the others."
"You know about the other prisoners?" Bucky's heart races, maybe Dum Dum is up to another scheme to break them free.
"I do. They are keeping a tight hold on things, but I have noticed during my visits to the latrine that the prisoners are communicating through notes hidden inside."
Bucky's mind is already flipping through possibilities now that he can communicate with the others. "Tell me what you've found."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Daniela groans and Bucky feels the pressure of her hand gripping his arm. "I will tell you what each note says each time you teach me how to fight."
Bucky frowns, that could take days, even weeks with how sick she is right now. "Look, it's going to be hard considering we are sitting in a small space in the dark. We're both weak and starving. What can I possibly teach you?"
"Teach me how to escape someone's grip, teach me how to kick and punch...and how to shoot a gun."
"A gun?" Bucky laughs, "yeah I can just walk up to a guard and ask, huh? While I'm at it, I'll also ask for a light too."
"Don't be a fool, that will never work."
Bucky laughs, it hurts his ribs, but he can't help it. "Daniela, it's sarcasm."
"Do not laugh, American. You want your information, you find a way to teach me how to shoot a gun."
Bucky groans, "I can't get my hands on a gun, Daniela. Even if I did, we couldn't practice in here, the sound of firing a gun is too loud."
"Find. A. Way. You have until Zola takes me again to make a way." Daniela takes a slow breath, "now. I will tell you about my father. My father told me today, when I was alone with him, why this is happening." Daniela struggles for a moment Bucky assumes with the pain, "he is good at what he does. He is a scientist who Zola worked with before the war started, he and my father saw a future different from Hitler. Many men did, and those men found the right people, like my father, to support their cause...when things became more dangerous my father tried to leave. Only now do I know that he aligned himself with HYDRA...It was too late when he decided to end his ties, my father's beliefs and the future he envisioned were already coming. Zola and Schmidt forced my father to work on this experiment. He has to perfect whatever they are creating and administer it to me...they think of me as insurance."
Bucky clenches his fists, Daniela's father was a part of them. The men who were forcing them to be strapped to tables and injected with God knows what. He is using his own daughter for his twisted experiments, "what kind of parent would do that?"
Daniela yelps, Bucky can feel her shift her head in his hands, "it was the only way in his eyes. My father would not try to alter his work if I was the patient. He would do everything in his power to keep me alive. My father was never a wise man, he often found himself aligned with the wrong kinds of people. I grew up with men coming to the door demanding their money, threatening me on my way to school. My father is a selfish man. He does not know how to make sacrifices for the greater good...to suffer the consequences for his mistakes. Loyalty is greatly valued in my family. He promised to keep me alive, that will keep him here. It may be misguided loyalty, but he will not see that. He never has. Everything he's ever done was to make our lives better. But my father has never thought about how it actually affects our family. "
Bucky pushes down the resentment, instead focuses on the woman barely holding onto consciousness. Daniela might be a stubborn, hard headed woman, but she didn't deserve this. No one does. Bucky's thoughts shift toward the precious information Daniela has, a way for Bucky to communicate with the men. Bucky turns his attention to the girl, if he's going to teach her to fight she will need strength. "Try to sleep, Daniela."
"I'll do my best, American."
