Chapter 27- Found Alive and Remembering
A/N: Slight torture, but only what we saw in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Maria Hill took them to what looked like a dam 15 miles outside the city. Steve helped Natasha out of the van that Maria had and they went into what looked like one of the bunkers Steve would have used in the 40's. "GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Hill said as she led them down a bare looking corridor and some man started running to them.
"Maybe two," Sam said.
"Let me take her," the man said. He looked like a doctor in a suit with glasses.
"She'll want to see him first," Hill said as they walked without breaking a stride.
Hill pushed aside a plastic curtain and, to Steve's shock, he saw Fury on a hospital bed. Fury raised up slightly. "About darn time," Fury said, sounding slightly grumpy.
"Nick," Natasha said, sounding slightly sluggish from blood loss.
"Where's Markova?" Fury asked as he looked at each of them.
"HYDRA has her. She's with her father, but you knew her father was the Winter Soldier and before that that he was my friend Bucky," Steve said in an accusing voice.
"I knew she used to be a part of HYDRA and I suspected that her father was the Winter Soldier and that HYDRA wanted to breed a Winter Soldier like him and that was why they kidnapped her mother. But I didn't know that your friend Bucky Barnes was the Soldier," Fury said.
"Steve doesn't think he'll hurt her," Natasha said.
"No. HYDRA wants her alive and they think maybe her father and mother can control her," Fury said.
"Are you all right?" Sam asked as the doctor got Natasha to sit and he cleaned the spot where Bucky had shot her.
"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one heck of a headache," Nick said, laying back against his pillows.
"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor interjected.
"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good," Fury said.
"They cut you open. Your heart stopped," Natasha said.
"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner and his son developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it," Fury said.
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked.
"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," Hill said.
"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, other than you and Markova, I wasn't sure who to trust. And I believe Markova won't betray anyone. She may have been raised to be a killer, but she has been trying to break away from that and use her skills for good," Fury said.
"I hope you are right. Bucky would never allow his daughter to do the things HYDRA made him do. I hope there's enough of my friend in there to protect his daughter," Steve said.
The Soldier sat in the chair as the technician fixed his arm. From the fear in Diana's eyes, he understood why she was terrified. So far he had remembered her after every wipe, but even he had to agree that one time he might not. A nearly-forgotten memory then surfaced. A short-looking man with glasses and thinning hair was there. "Sergeant Barnes," he said in a voice that sounded wispy. The Soldier moved his head as if to clear it and then saw a train moving through snowy terrain. The man on the bridge was standing by a hole in the car, his hand outstretched as if to grab him, but was too late.
"Bucky, no!" The man screamed and the Soldier heard himself scream as he fell.
The Soldier then saw himself being dragged across the snowy landscape, his arm mutilated and covered in blood. "The Procedure has already started," he heard the short man say and saw someone in a doctor's coat and a medical saw being started. The Soldier breathed hard and moved his head as if to remove the images. "You are to be the new fist of HYDRA," the man said as the Soldier lifted his new metal arm with his flesh arm and looked at them. He grabbed one of the doctors by the neck and someone injected him with a sedative. "Put him on ice," the man said and the Soldier saw himself looking out a glass door as he felt himself freeze. In anger the Soldier then threw one of the techs treating his arm across the floor and he heard the clicks of the guns pointing at him.
"Elizabeth. Diana," he whispered softly his wife and daughter's names as he breathed hard. He remembered that his girl was here and he had left her with Diana. Diana would keep their daughter safe. She had always done what he said with no questions. This time was no different.
"Sir. He's...he's unstable. Erratic. He keeps mentioning his wife and someone named Elizabeth," the Soldier heard one of the techs say awhile later. Out of the corner of his eye the Soldier saw Pierce come in and motion to the men holding guns to put them down.
"Mission report," Pierce said grimly.
"Diana, Elizabeth," the Soldier said softly.
"Mission report now," Pierce repeated with a slight steel in his voice.
"Diana, Elizabeth," the Soldier said again. The Soldier grunted in pain as Pierce backhanded him across the face.
The Soldier turned to look at him, his confusion troubling him. "The man on the bridge. Who was he?" The Soldier asked as he went back to the fight and the man called him Bucky.
"You met him earlier this week with Agent Markova on another assignment," Pierce said, apparently still holding onto the lie that Elizabeth wasn't the Soldier's daughter.
"I knew him and the girl is my little girl. Elizabeth," the Soldier said as he thought again of the man he just fought and his daughter.
Pierce sat down. "Your work and your wife's has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century when you had the girl. And I need you and your family to do it one more time. Society's at a tipping point between order and chaos. And tomorrow morning, we're gonna give it a push. But if you and your family don't do your part, I can't do mine. And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves," Pierce said.
"But I knew him and Elizabeth," the Soldier said with bittersweet smile. Pierce was silent for a long moment.
"Prep him and I want his brat prepped as well," Pierce said the words that the Soldier had been fearing since he had discovered his Elizabeth was still alive.
"He's been out of cryo freeze too long and Agent Markova is still asleep from the sedatives," one of the techs protested.
"Then wipe him and start over and I want the girl wiped as well. I don't care if she's asleep. When she wakes up, she'll do whatever we say. Rumlow, bring the girl in here," Pierce ordered. The techs pushed him back in the chair and the Soldier felt anger inside him for the first time since Elizabeth had been taken form him. They were going to wipe his daughter after all and he couldn't stop it. He despaired as he opened his mouth and they put the wedge between his teeth. The metal face shields came down, his arms were locked in place with restraints, and he screamed in agony as the electricity went through him.
Diana gently cleaned her daughter's neck and pumped the sedative into her as the door opened and a rough-looking man entered. "Take the kid, Rollins," he ordered to a man that was next to him.
"Yes, Sir," the man said as he pushed Diana roughly away from Elizabeth and picked Elizabeth up by her arm, dragging her across the floor.
"No! Elizabeth!" Diana ran to the man and tried to pry his fingers off Elizabeth's wrist. The man dropped her and Diana wrapped her arms around Elizabeth in a tight hug. "Don't you ever touch my daughter again!" Diana said fiercely. Just as quickly as he and his men entered, they left the room. Diana gave a shuddering sob as she dragged her daughter back to the pallet. Diana gently smoothed strands of dark hair out of Elizabeth's closed eyes. "I love you, baby," Diana whispered as she kissed her daughter's forehead. Diana laid down, feeling proud that she had followed James's orders. Nothing would happen to their girl on her watch.