Chapter 9

Pain twinges across his body as consciousness comes slowly. His left arm aches but the pain is numb and distant. As the haze lifts from his vision he sees a plain, clinical room. The last he could recall was ice, cold and agony. Agony that wasn't quarantined to physical pain.

The cold light's intensity began to sting his eyes as it stared down at him. It was then that he became aware of his surroundings outside of his limited line of sight. Bucky gathers that he is in a cold, reclined seat, the metal confines biting and uncomfortable.

Panic surged as he realised he should be dead. He fell hundreds of metres off an icy cliff, which would surely kill anyone. Something was wrong; he didn't feel right. His uncertain gaze fell on his arm where he kept getting an odd feeling that something was askew. His blue eyes widened and stared at the metal that now made up his left arm. He moved to touch the foreign limp but his hand was restricted by the metal clasp over his wrist.

All he could do was glare at the gleaming arm that mimicked the shape of his original but failed to replicate the weight. His eyes strained to train the red scarring flesh where the metal latched onto him skin. His attention was drawn to a thick door sorely moving on its hinges. The large door contrasted the slender man which entered from it. The man of wore a lab coat which had Bucky assuming he was a scientist or doctor.

The man didn't look at Bucky but simply stared examining the machine Bucky realised was connected to the chair he was strapped into. Terror shot through Bucky's thoughts at the unknown purpose of the device he was helplessly strapped to. He attempted to move the metal arm hoping it was strong enough to break the metal. And though the arm obeyed his commands it was unable to free itself from the confines. What the hell was this metal made of?

The man calmly spoke into a microphone when he finished his inspection, this seemed to signal for two other individuals to enter. They were younger than the first man but not youthful in any way. These two moved directly to Bucky, one forcing a mouth guard over his teeth whilst the other poked and prodded the wires that invaded his body before moving the evil looking device over Bucky's head. If Bucky wasn't confused and fearing for his life he would have made fun of how lame and stereotypically villainous the head gear looked.

"Ready?" the lanky man questioned the assistances more than Bucky, the two nodded and moved away to observe. The scientist's spindly hand pulled on a lever.

Mind numbing pain to bolt through Bucky, infesting every inch of his sanity. The pain was not the aching kind but tearing and ripping, violent in motion as it came in intolerable, rapid waves. Bucky could feel it gnawing at his mind, taking what it pleased. Groans and screams ripped through his throat and muffled against the mouthguard. Through the agony Bucky registered that it was shredding at his memories, experiences, and relationships. He knew something was being taken but just as he realised this was he couldn't recall what had been taken or if it had been important or not.

Bucky's face strained as he tried to fight the cruel theft of his memories. He felt himself losing more and more of his childhood, his memories of times spent with Steve thinning. Bucky desperately grasped onto what he deemed most precious, the group growing smaller as the device was harder to resist. As the pain grew and his memories diminished Bucky only held onto one thing. He squeezed his eyes shut as he recalled an image of Annie, her hair radiating its own light as the sun reflected of the chaotic tangles. Her eyes bright and clear as they stared at him. Her cheek in their constant rosy hue and her mouth frozen in mid-smile. The image remained clear and centred but Bucky was unsure how long he could hold onto it. He was uncertain of what had happened, why he was alive, where his new arm had gone and his future. The only certainty being in knowing that he will grasp that image as long as he can.

Light strained through his closed eye lids changing the normal pigment into an orange glow. He face crinkled as the light irritated the fragile surface of his eye. Giving in to the unwavering sunlight Steve opened his eye lids to reveal a painful burst of natural light. Steve's brow curved down as the 'natural' part of the sunlight was lacking. As his pupils adjusted to the new brightness he surveyed the room he found himself in. Pale yellow walls matched pastel green curtains that framed the Manhattan streets. He was in a bed wrapped in thin sheets. He noticed he was wearing a white SSR shirt and neutral pants. Soft jazz streamed through the radio that sat on a dresser.

The off-white door clicked open lightly and a nurse hustled in. She seemed as odd as the room yet the reasons for both Steve couldn't place. The sense that something was off about all this poking in the back of his mind. The woman wore a typical nurse's uniform and held a clip board in her manicured hands.

"Mr Rogers you're awake," the nurse stated pleasantly with a wide smile.

Steve looked around still slightly disorientated, "What happened?"

The nurse offered a smile, "You were in a crash but you are safe now."

Steve froze at the mention of the crash, the event returned to him. He had directed the plane into the ice, with Annie on board. He immediately stood up out of bed startling the nurse. "Where's Annie?" he demanded in an agitated tone. He was sick of this place, he needed to find Annie.

The nurse fumbled, "um, Mr Rogers you should stay in bed, it isn't-"

Steve cut off the woman, "Where is Annie? His tone more severe.

The nurse searched for excuses, "You're still healing and-"

Steve knew he would get nothing out of the woman and moved her out of the way more roughly than he had intended in his desperation. She landed on the floor and whipped out a radio shouting, "He's escaping!"

Steve was stunned when he crashed through the wall of the room to find it was a ploy, with a video of Manhattan projected outside the window like a picture. It was all fake. Steve sprinted out of the strange space darting down the barren hallway. In his frenzied run he yelled, "Annie!" repeatedly not caring if it attracted the attention of his captures. He had one thought on his mind and that was finding his sister and getting them out of this place. She had to be alive.

Men covered in black suits and strapped with guns began to race after him but they couldn't match his speed. He continued shouting as he searched the building. He stopped dead in his tracks as a man with an eyepatch and a long black coat stood at the end of the hallway he was running down; the man calm and to Steve seemed, cold.

He leisurely walked towards Steve saying in a normal voice that projected well, "You know people are trying to sleep. One of them being your sister." Steve's heart shook in his chest at confirmation Annie was alive.

Steve neared the man at this demanding, "Where is she?"

Now closer Steve could see the eyepatch moved minutely as the man sighed, "Come with me."

Steve followed the man who appeared to know all of the hallways off by heart. It wasn't long before he stopped in front of a similar door to Steve's own. The man opened it for Steve as he felt frozen in place, afraid of what he'll see.

The door swung cleanly and silently to reveal a warm room much the same as the one Steve had awoken to. All the features matched and were frighteningly identical with the only difference being the individual laying in the bed and the medical equipment beside her. She was clearly unconscious with on only sound emanating through the room was the soft thrum of the heart monitor. Numerous tubes connected to various parts of her body, stuck down with medical tape. Annie laid still in the bed, neatly covered with blankets. Scratches and grazes marked the surface of her skin as he blonde waves tangled beside peaceful face.

Steve wasted no time in reaching Annie's side and examining her healing face. The cuts and dark marks were not mild but were on the process to reducing in size and severity. Steve took her bruised hand gently waiting for a sign of consciousness from his little sister. He was just happy to find it warm.

The man's voice spoke softly beside him, "it could have been a lot worse you know."

Steve looked curiously at the dark-skinned man who wore a knowing expression. "You saved her life, she'll take a while to heal but if you hadn't shielded her on impact there wouldn't have been much we could have done," He added.

"How do you know I protected her?" Steve questioned, a little shaken by how much this man knew.

He smiled that Steve's inquiry as if the answer was obvious, "When we found you two in the ice, you were huddled together. Almost didn't realise she was there."

Nick Fury did tell the truth, when he had visited the site of Captain America's frozen stasis he saw the curled form of the large man with a pained expression on his ice-marred features. Curious and with a hunch Nick crouched down to spot a glimmer of long blonde hair. Nick had suspected that Annie Rogers, the dear little sister of Captain America and talented military strategist might also be on board with reports stating that she disappeared onto the same HYDRA aircraft. What Nick hadn't been expecting was that she could be alive. It was a probability for Captain America due to his genetic strength and improved healing but Annie Rogers was only human. Even with Steve's strong form as a shield from the collision and temperatures she had a slim chance at making it. Nick Fury was pleased with this development, knowing that if justice wasn't enough of a motivator for Captain America, the assurance of his sister's safety would be all the leverage he needed. As heartless as it sounded Nick had to be the bad guy at times to guarantee the security of the world.

In that moment, hearing the steady and sure rhythm of Annie's heart on the monitor Steve was glad for his impulse, even if at first it had been a hopeless endeavour to save his sister from some pain in the crash. A weak smile broke out on his face as he watched the colouring face of his sister, it was not as rosy as it usually was but it certainly wasn't lifeless.

Annie's eyes remained heavy as she willed them to open. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness for what she felt like was quite a while. At this moment her awakened mind was willing her stubborn eyes to open so she could get on with her life. She focused all of her energy on the weight of her left eye it willing it up slowly. She immediately regretted the action as aggressive light flooded in, harsh on her sensitive eye. Begrudgingly knowing that closing her eyes forever wasn't an option she filtered the light through her eyelashes, her lids slowly becoming easier to manoeuvre. A curiously furnished room can into view and her brows dipped in confusion, wasn't she supposed to be dead? The plain furniture and beige walls didn't look like any afterlife. Annie noticed a weight on her hand. She moved her head to see the origin only to have pain shoot through her neck. She left out a yelp which caused the weight on her hand to abruptly pull away. An uncertain "Annie?" muffled into her ears. Even in her pained, dazed state, she recognised it as Steve's.

Her voice sounded unused and her lips were chapped as she mumbled, clumsily drifting through her words, "Yeah Steve?"

His voice grew embarrassingly excited as he shouts too loudly for her disorientated head, "Annie! You're awake! You're ok? Thank God."

Annie's face crinkles, the pain she is rewarded with convincing her it was not worth it, "I won't be for long if you keep shouting."

He quietens as his face comes into her line of sight. His eyes were darkened with bags and stubble had ravaged his chin and cheeks, "God Steve what happened to you? You look horrible!"

His joyful expression dropped, "Thank you Annie."

Her eyes widened realising that that sounded insulting, "No, ugh, I didn't mean that. I mean you just look… you know."

Steve rolled his eyes as she smiled endearingly. "What about me? How do I look?" she questioned, nervous of her appearance. Her pale skin tended to make all signs of tiredness horribly obvious.

Steve remained silent which was its own answer. She sighed, "Great."

Annie looked around the room as much as she could without moving her neck too much, Steve noticing the action informed, "I got you moved to a new room. They had us in some fake rooms that pretended to be… "

Annie watched her brother wearily as he searched for words to express the situation. Annie frowned, "Steve where are we?" He grew more and more tense fumbling over his words. "Steve, I can take it."

He exhaled nervously, "Annie do you remember what happened before you woke up?"

Annie nodded, "We crashed into the ice."

Steve turned his head to the side watching out the window. Annie could see his jaw tense as he continued vaguely, "We were in the ice for a while."

Annie grew annoyed at him tiptoeing over the truth and in a stern voice warned, "Steve, who long exactly."

"About 70 years. Annie, it's 2012." He carefully observed her reaction which was nothing but raised eyebrows and an agape mouth.

"2012," she breathed disbelievingly. She looked at the room again hoping it would offer some answers in the simplistic furniture and bare walls. Her gaze whipped to Steve, instant pain surging in her joints. She ignored it as she exhaled, "Peggy. Steve are you ok? I…"

Steve offered her a weak smile, "I'm fine Annie. I wasn't too happy when I woke up in an imitation of a 40s hospital room but right now, I'm just glad you made it through."

Annie's heart warmed, mutual in the feeling companionship. She was still griping the idea of being in the future but at least she had Steve with her, experiencing the same things she was.

Annie paused before suddenly asking, "Wait, did we win? Are we in America?"

Steve chuckled lightly, "Yes Annie, the allies won."

"I would hug you if it didn't hurt to move my arms and neck," Annie grinned. They'd done it, HYDRA was gone. Annie caught Steve's worried look shifting to her cast covered arm and bruised neck. "Can you stop with the fretting? I'm fine Steve" she rolled her eyes.

The single door on the opposite side of the room flung open as numerous people in white filed through. Steve was quickly pushed aside as the medical staff examined Annie's state of health. Through the examination Annie shot Steve childish faces to reassure him she was fine. Steve's anxious look would briefly crack into a small smile. The doctors and nurses angrily lecturing her not to move when they were working.

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Steve remained beside her bed no matter how many times she insisted she would be fine long enough for Steve to clean himself up; continually joking about how he looked awful. Thick stubble covered his lower face and his hair started to stick out in all directions.

"So when the plane went down we were frozen in ice and then 70 years later we were found by some international intelligence agency called SHIELD and defrosted?" Annie summarised for clarity of their situation.

"I wouldn't put it that way but yeah," Steve confirmed.

Annie's eyebrows furrowed as she took in her state of existence, flexing her good hand curiously, "… I feel different. Do you feel different?"

"Not any more than after Project Rebirth but from what I have seen of the outside world, it's very different", Steve replied.

"You know if you spent more time learning about the world than sitting with a healing elder you would have better descriptions of the future to bring me," Annie teased still getting accustomed to technically being in her 90s.

Steve shook his head happily, arguing lightly, "I thought you liked my company?"

"Steve both you and I know that has never been the case. I just stuck around because you'd be dead without me," Annie teased her older brother.

Steve rolled his eyes, "At least your sense of humour is still the same."

Annie raised her hand to rub Steve's sleeved arm, "When you get homesick I'll always be here to make fun of you."

"I was afraid of that."

"Come on Steve. Tell our bedridden sister tales of the future. Do they ride on rocket ships?" Annie mocked.

"I didn't see any flying cars but from what I can see they use technology for everything. But it's all so small and it seems simple until I tried to use it," Steve answered despite Annie's over-dramatic tone.

"Well, that's disappointing, Stark lied to us. I remember how excited Bu-" Annie's voice broke away as her lungs ran cold. Steve had only given her a recall of events but she could tell he was avoiding talking about the more difficult things. They both were. Revealing that they had woken up in the future was easy compared to addressing the ice, Peggy, and Bucky. But it left an uncomfortable unspokeness that was rare between the siblings.

She finally sighed, "Do you remember anything from the crash…being frozen there?"

Steve's gaze jumped to hers, not expecting the question. "I uh- the last thing I remembered was grabbing you and the impact and then nothing until I woke up here a week ago. I was… confused and terrified when I woke up."

Annie frowned and Steve noted her silence, "What is it?"

Her experience in the ice was so different. Her mind replayed it every time she slept. "I remember light while we were under. It wasn't nothingness. And I had a glimpse of a dream while I was in there Steve... Not anything substantial but he was there" Steve knew, the name hung on the air. "It was vague and distant, like he stood behind fogged glass. I pressed my hand up against it," Her hand lifted with an echo of the dreamy feeling. "His hand rested against mine on the other side and I could feel-"

Annie quickly pulled her hand back and rubbed it with her other hand, trying to sooth the uncomfortably real sensation out of her fingertips. Her lungs shook as her breath seemed to rattle inside her. It was harder to ignore how empty she felt when she talked about him. "I don't know how I'm going to live without him Steve. The anger at HYDRA was keeping me going but now that they're gone, everything's gone. I don't know what to do or what to feel."

Steve scooped up the hand she was anxiously rubbing, pulling her frazzled attention. "I don't know but you have me and I have you. I'll make that enough, whatever it takes."

A weak smile smuggled its way onto her lips, "From anyone else I'd be dubious about promises like that but you were always as stubborn as a mule."

She had nothing but Steve. But maybe that would be enough.