The Curse of Dr. Zola
Chapter 10
"Peggy? I gotta put her in the water. This is my choice."
On the other end of the line, sobs came thru. "I can get Howard, he'll know what to do."
"There's no time. I have to do it now while I still can or a whole lotta people will die."
"Steve? Steve?"
Crackles were all that Peggy Carter heard. Steve was gone.
Bucky and she were eating dinner the next evening, when a guard came in and whispered something in her ear. Instantly, her expression changed. The guard left.
"What is it?" Bucky asked.
"Johann Schmidt is dead, your friend, the one you always talk about, killed him."
"Steve? What are you talking about? Steve is back at home working."
"I'm afraid not."
"What? That can't be. Steve is 90 pounds soaking wet. The military rejected him 5 times. I saw the papers myself."
"And on the sixth try, he was accepted into the science division of the Army. He was selected for a special project which was successful. Your friends that were here with you have fulfilled their destiny. As I said, they were critical to the war, and now you must hear the rest."
"The rest?"
"Yes. I'm sorry but your friend went down with his plane."
"WHAT? NO!" Bucky stood up. "You're lying! I know you're lying, Steve couldn't….he can't be…"
Bucky walked around a bit, and then went after her in his grief. "He can't be dead, he can't be dead! This is all YOUR FAULT!" He was stopped by her guards, and as they hauled him downstairs, he kept screaming at her. "If you hadn't kept me here, Steve would be alive. He'd be alive. THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"
The rest was lost to great cries of anguish.
He was brought down to the small room where he'd taken up residence since the rest of the men had been released. He banged on the door and tried to get out, kicking and screaming until he had no strength left. He curled up on the bed, and cried, mumbling to himself. "It should have been me."
Bucky woke up hours later more clear-headed, and thinking of how she had to have lied to him. There was no way Steve would have been accepted into the Army! He made up his mind there and then that he wouldn't believe her. She was playing games with his mind. Yes, that was it! She was playing games with his mind to cause him deliberate pain.
He was also determined now to escape, no matter what he'd promised. She'd said it herself that the men she freed had done what they were supposed to do. Or was that another lie? It didn't matter. He was going to escape.
Over the course of the next few weeks, he kept a constant vigil. He made secret notations on the guards, the times he was in the gym, and the showers, meals, and anything else he could think of. Each night he reviewed it and plotted the best time of day to escape.
He managed to pocket some small items he thought would be of use and hid them in his small room. He hoped no one got it in their heads to search his room. He knew once he started collecting things, he wouldn't have much time.
One afternoon, after he'd been escorted to the showers, he managed to squish a wadded up piece of paper into the door jamb, and when he thought he'd waited enough time, he slipped out and back to his room. He gathered up all his things, and quietly got up the stairs.
He got out the door and made a break for it. Knowing he had a slim chance, he bolted anyway, trying to get a jeep hot-wired before anyone knew he was missing.
He got a 10 minute head start before the alarm sounded. She was royally pissed and sent men out looking for him. He kept to the roads for speed, but luck was not on his side. The fuel was low; the tank had not been re-filled. He ran the vehicle out of gas and began running.
Damn snow! It left a trail right to him. He looked for troops behind him. They couldn't be too far away. He didn't care, he just kept running. All the training had built up his stamina, and now he was using it to his advantage.
In the distance, he heard the unmistakable sound of a German jeep. Damn, he should have disabled the rest of the vehicles. But it was too late to worry now. He picked up speed.
He could hear the jeep getting closer and closer, until they were nearly on him. They swerved and darted, causing him to expend extra energy he couldn't afford. They ran him down until he was exhausted. He was chained up and forced to walk all the way back.
He was forced to his knees in front of her, hands cuffed behind his back. He expected her to strike him. But she did not. She just stood there, looking down at him. He was a mess; dirty, sweaty, and tired.
She grabbed his chin, tilted his head from one side to the other. "Look at you, you're a mess!"
He pulled his head away from her grip. He was tired, but he still had to show her he would fight her to the end.
"Yes, I can see why Zola wanted you so badly. You have a lot of spirit, and he likes to break the will of men such as you."
"He wouldn't have been able to."
She bent down and right to his face told him otherwise. "You think what you have endured is the worst? Your body would have succumbed to his torture very quickly and betrayed your mind."
"I don't think so."
"Do you want a taste of what he would have done to you?" She gestured to the guards. "This gives me no pleasure to hurt you. I had hoped you would stay with me."
She pulled her pistol from its holster, as did the guards.
Bucky's breath came faster, as he eyed the weapon levelled at him. He knew what was coming and tried to brace himself for it. But he could not have anticipated the level of pain.
They shot him in rapid succession, and Bucky's body convulsed violently. Scream after scream erupted from his throat as the level of electricity increased exponentially with each shot until the guns spent their charges. Bucky slumped to the floor; his body still twitching from the aftereffects.
"I saved you for a purpose; to make this world a better place. I just want my daughter to grow up being safe. She is not safe! No one is safe from HYDRA. Zola wanted to make you into their weapon, to kill for them. I want you to stop them, that is why I have been training you so hard. Your friends and your Steve have crushed their bases, but it is not over yet. I know what the future brings, and I need you to be there when it happens, and it will. I wish I could tell you everything, but the future is always in motion. I know I cannot be there. I have only enough for one and it has to be you. You are a good man, James Barnes. Please look after my daughter."
She knelt down and caressed his face. His breath was returning to normal, but his body was still trembling. He looked up at her in confusion.
"By taking you away from Zola, I have doomed another man in your place. My heart….hurts. Their operatives hunted you, targeted you, and captured you. Their plan would have succeeded, had it not been for my interference, but I have something they do not know of."
She pulled a chain from around her neck, from underneath her uniform; dangling on it was an oval orange colored stone.
His mouth moved as if to ask her a question, but he was still shaking too bad.
She sighed sadly one last time, and then stood.
"Bring him, and follow me."
She led them to the showers where she ordered him stripped. Altho exhausted, Bucky made every attempt to resist, but his futile efforts only gained him a beating. They held his head to the tiled floor and they got his clothes off quickly. He was scrubbed harshly until she deemed him clean. His skin was rubbed pink and raw by then. He was taken, naked, back to his room.
She sent in guards to remove all the linens and items until just the bed and pillow remained. She ordered him in. "I will deal with you more tomorrow. In the meantime, you have until then to think about the consequences of your actions."
The door sounded with a resolute bang, and Bucky sank to the bed and lay down. Damn!
The next morning he was rousted out of bed and brought to the infirmary. He was punched in the stomach a few times to dominate his will and strapped down onto a gurney completely naked. He groaned when she came in.
"And this is where I found you." She looked down at him. "I'm very sorry about this, Sergeant James Barnes, but it is time."
She had her doctor fix up an IV line and a needle was inserted into his arm. "I'm afraid this will hurt."
He endured the needle and the IV, until the burning started. "What are you doing to me? What are you doing? Oh my God, it burns!"
When the fluid bag was empty, a syringe filled with saline was pushed thru to clean the line out. Bucky was in a lot of pain now and his body was shaking and sweating.
"OHGOD! OHGOD! OHGOD!"
The gurney shook with the ferocity of his body in convulsions. He couldn't feel anything but the burning sensations. Sweat beaded up all over his body, then cold as he became feverish. His muscles ached from the tenseness, his fists clenched involuntarily.
He was delirious, enduring the pain and then the fever for days, muttering threats, alternating with memories. He didn't know which was which any longer; he was having hallucinations, talking to people who weren't there.
When the fever broke he was cleaned up and given a lot of saline by IV to hydrate his body for the procedure. Still reeling, he was put into the cryostasis capsule and the last thing he saw was his reflection on the glass…and then it all went black.
"Be careful with that! If you damage that tube you'll not have to worry about who wins the war."
The soldiers heaved it up onto the truck, and the portable generator followed.
"I will drive the truck myself. Come, I will speak with each of you individually and reward you as promised."
As each soldier exited the room after visiting with her, they went back to the war as if nothing had ever happened…
She climbed into the drivers' seat of the truck, took one look back at the building now engulfed in flames, and closed the door. One breath was all she spared before starting the truck and driving away. Underneath her shirt the warm oval orange stone lay against her chest, cradled by its' metal nest, and suspended on a golden chain. Unconsciously, her hand went to it, to reassure her mind that it was still there.
"Please forgive me for what I have done, James."
She looked down at the small composition book lying open on the seat next to her.I hope you make a good life for yourself…goodbye James Barnes…