Chapter 33. The Last Stand

Content warning: Contains crude language, scenes of violence causing death.

There they were, two days before Christmas, 1945, the combined units of the Howling Commandos and Phantom Patrol perched on a ridge overlooking a mountain in the Balkans. The visual confirmation of the many overflights of the site finally revealed what they had suspected all along. It was a base, built into the side of a mountain, close to a small town in the Socialist Republic of Montenegro, part of what would become the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia within days. An analysis by Peggy Rogers of the photographs made on the overflights, along with reports from still friendly partisans who watched from hidden positions, determined it was HYDRA's last stand, at least in Europe. Many of their remaining forces, equipment, weapons, prisoners, and slaves were being consolidated there, but for what purpose was still unknown. Anyone sent there to infiltrate the base, didn't make it back out.

Two days before they found themselves on this ridge, both squads landed at an airfield near Titograd. With the republic officially declared by Marshal Tito, it was clear he wasn't planning to allow the Russians any input into how the country would be run. His forces were at the airfield, but completely ignored the arrival of the two squads under orders from Tito himself. A special team of former partisans met them with trucks to transport them to the ridge overlooking the base almost finished construction, a base that Tito wanted gone, as HYDRA was there on the invitation of the Soviets, whose relationship with the new leader of the Republic was already crumbling. In exchange for destroying the base and removing HYDRA's presence from Yugoslavia, the Commandos and the Patrol could take anything found back with them. The former partisans and their families were also to go with them, for if they stayed, they risked being arrested by the new regime. It wasn't the best of circumstances to organize a mission, but it was what they had to work with.

"How many men have you lost?" Raines asked the partisan's translator in Russian. He relayed it to the leader of their small group.

"Seven," was the answer. "These were seasoned men. All they were supposed to do was go in, map the interior, and get out. None have been seen since."

"So, you have no idea what the layout inside is. What about the complement of HYDRA soldiers?"

"Approximately 85, based on the numbers of arrivals. None of them have left, either. There were civilians as well, arriving in vehicles ... scientists, perhaps. We do think they had prisoners, but those trucks were covered, and they unloaded them inside the facility."

"How can you be sure they were prisoners?" Raines stared at the man, as he was sure there was something the leader wasn't telling them.

The leader handed Raines the binoculars and told the translator something who repeated it to Raines. As Steven Grant and Steve Rogers looked through their own binoculars Raines gave them instructions in English.

"Look to the left of the first door on the left," he began. "Now, shift your view down, over the rocks and tell me what you see." He looked through the binoculars then at the two officers. "Shit, it's army fatigues and helmets; American and English." He looked again. "I can see army helmets from both countries, just tossed into that spot as if they didn't want them anymore."

"Either they're dead or they were subject to experimentation," said the interpreter. "Why would they go to the trouble of bringing them here, just to kill them? If they're just prisoners to be used as slave labour, wouldn't they keep them in their own clothing? That leaves experimentation."

Raines relayed it, then added his own two cents worth for emphasis. "If they're slave labour HYDRA wouldn't take their clothing and throw them out. They wouldn't waste fuel bringing them here just to kill them so they must be the subjects of some new experiments."

"Does he know how long the prisoners have been here?" asked Grant.

Raines asked, then told them the answer. "A week ago, are when the covered trucks were first seen. One per day, although there haven't been any today, but it's not expected for another hour, at least."

Grant shifted his binoculars to look at the placement of the base in relationship to the town. It wasn't too close but if they weren't careful in setting the charges in the base there was a chance they could cause a landslide that could bury the town and its inhabitants. He mentioned that to Raines who passed it on to the interpreter. The leader frowned when he heard Grant's concerns. There was even an argument between him, his second in command and the interpreter, giving Raines the feeling that what must be done was causing problems amongst the partisans. Finally, after the interpreter told him what the issue was, he turned to Grant and Rogers.

"It's a sore point for them," he said. "Some of his men think the people in the village were forced to work for HYDRA and want to warn them to leave before we blow the base, but the leader and a couple of others are worried that someone there will pass that on to HYDRA. That's why he sent his men to map the interior to see how it was aligned and possibly place the charges in a way that if it does cause a landslide, it can be directed elsewhere."

"Then we make sure the charges destroy the equipment inside and that no one can get into the interior again." Grant slid back out of view before standing. "There were telephone lines between the village and the base. The mountains interfere with wireless communications, so we need to cut those and prevent anyone from warning the base physically. His people can keep the village isolated or even evacuate it while we tackle the base. We need to intercept today's truck and use it to get inside."

Raines passed it on, and the leader agreed to send some of his men to intercept the truck, with the understanding that if there were prisoners in that truck they were not to be harmed. Once the decision was made, everyone got to work on their assigned tasks. Several of the partisans quickly went to a place where they could intercept the truck without raising any alarms, taking advantage of the heavy snowfall to make it appear it was just late. Dernier, Rumlow, and one of the partisans got to work assembling the charges. The other squad members divided into two groups, super soldiers, and non-super soldiers. Once everyone was inside, they would help place the charges but would also search the interior of the base for prisoners and slaves. Hopefully, they would be well enough to fight alongside them but if they weren't the plan was to get them to any transports inside the facility and get them out of there when it was time to set the place off. Anyone in HYDRA was fair game, no surrender, no prisoners.

Christmas Eve

The truck that was intercepted was late, having to navigate a heavy snowfall on the treacherous roads. It didn't carry prisoners, but it did have supplies of food, weapons, and crates of uniforms of plain black with a HYDRA symbol sewn onto the chest. The driver and his guard were knocked out and tied up in the back of the truck. Any plan to interrogate them was stymied on their coming around when they bit into the false tooth that was filled with cyanide.

Slightly amending the plans, Raines and Antonov dressed in the dead men's uniforms, impersonating them as they drove the truck into the base. They crammed those men who weren't super soldiers into the back of the truck, wearing the new HYDRA uniforms over their own after switching the contents of most of the crates for the explosives. They left the food crates inside, thinking that was what was needed the most and would keep the HYDRA people busy. The super soldiers were to make their own way to the base, either sneaking or fighting their way in after the truck's arrival, hopefully trapping the majority of the HYDRA forces between the two groups. Once they were dealt with the prisoners would be located and released. A search for artifacts and files would go on as the charges were placed. Then they would set the charges off, finally relegating HYDRA to where it belonged, the rubble heap.

At the gate, Raines looked at the guard with what he hoped was enough arrogance to gain entry. He handed the papers to the man that he took from one of the dead men. With a quick nod of his head, the orders were returned, and the gate raised for him to proceed. Putting the truck into gear he drove on the road towards the doors into the mountain facility. As they were raised in front of him, he nodded at Antonov who knocked three times on the rear window of the truck cab, signalling the men in back that they were entering. Further inside the cavernous space he saw another man signalling him where to park for the truck to be unloaded. He backed into the dock and stepped out as the man who signalled him approached, his gun casually slung over his shoulder.

"Tell me you have fresh food," he said, in Russian. "We're eating the same slop that the prisoners get."

Raines noticed their men stealthily climbing out of the back of the truck, carrying the explosives crates with them.

"Yeah, I bring food," he answered. "Not sure you're going to like it. It's been sitting in Titograd for a week while the Marshal decided whether to let us bring it here or not. Word is he's ready to kick us all out."

The other man spat. "He can try. With the chair functioning, and our little army of soldiers ready to be turned he'll be lucky to live out the week."

"Hail HYDRA!" Raines grinned, getting a similar response from the other man. "We need to take a piss after that drive. Where?"

The other man pointed towards another doorway and waved them both away while he went to the back of the now cleared truck to look at the food delivery. Perhaps he could even liberate some for himself. Raines and Antonov approached the doorway he mentioned, pushing themselves through. They saw three doors, one of them signed as the men's room, and both went inside, positioning themselves at a urinal.

"What chair are dey talking about?" Antonov's voice was barely enough to be called a whisper.

"It wipes a man's memory and makes him open to suggestion," replied Raines. "It's what they use to create their enhanced soldiers. We need to find it and destroy it. But at least they haven't started turning the prisoners although it seems they've been given the serum."

They both finished up, washed their hands, smirking at the posters that encouraged all good soldiers of HYDRA to practice safe hygiene. That had been the last thing they found on any of the bases. Seemed like the commander of this base might have a thing about germs. Opening the men's room door, Raines looked at the two doors at the other end of the hallway and gestured to Antonov to follow him. Turning the doorknob of one, he opened it slightly, then went through. There was another hallway with several doors, some of them open, some closed. Coming to the first open one, Raines looked in quickly seeing it was a break room with several men having a coffee. They walked past it as if they belonged and went to the next door. It was the dormitory, so they passed that without checking it. Another door was marked as Operations 1. Pulling their weapons out, Raines tested the doorknob and turned it, opening it. There were another three doors.

"What the hell is with the three doors?" He kept his voice low.

"Birth, life, death," answered Antonov. "Mind, body, soul. It's all connected like de Holy Trinity for Catholics. HYDRA believes dey are ordained by de ancient gods to rule so it's part of der beliefs."

The Russian pointed to the first door; Cell Block was written in Russian. They both looked at the second door, marked Treatment Room. The third door gave them a chill, as it said Mortuary. Cell Block should take them to the prisoners, so they approached that, and Raines listened. Not hearing anything out of the ordinary he opened it to a long line of cells that extended away from them. They had solid steel doors as the only openings. It smelled terrible, like piss and shit and both he and Antonov wrinkled their noses.

"YOU! What are you doing here? This section is off limits to you!"

A big man in black with a big gun in his hand was approaching them, swearing in Russian. Raines stood at attention.

"Hail HYDRA! Sorry, comrade. We got turned around in this part of the facility. Can you direct us to the loading dock?"

"Fools! Go back the way you came and out the door at the other end. Go before I have to shoot you."

Raines and Antonov backed up, then tried the doorknob, pretending it was locked. Raising his hands helplessly, Raines let the guard go past him to open it, pulled his gun out, and shot him in the head point blank. Antonov jumped at the sound of the gun, covering his ears, then leaned down and searched for keys, lifting them up when he found them. Raines handed him the gun then slid open the viewer on the first door. It was pitch black in there.

"Hello?" he asked. "I'm an American, here to rescue you. Please, don't attack me. We just killed the guard, and we have to hide the body."

A face appeared in the little bit of light that shone in. Automatically, Raines stepped back when he saw the red-rimmed eyes, long hair, and bearded face.

"American? Prove it." The man's voice was raspy as if he had lost it by yelling or screaming. "Who is Betty Grable married to?"

"Harry James," said Raines. "Rita Hayworth is married to Orson Welles and Jane Russell is married to Bob Waterfield. That's all I got off the top of my head."

There was a grin then the man nodded his head.

"Go ahead, I won't attack."

"We are wearing HYDRA uniforms because we kind of infiltrated our way in," said Raines, "but I'll show you my ID."

The man nodded and Raines looked at Antonov who lifted the gun and aimed it at the doorway, just in case. Carefully, the door was unlocked and opened, and the man came out, naked, shielding his eyes from the overhead lights. He looked at Raines, at his offered ID, then at Antonov, frowning, until he saw the dead man. A slow smile crept across his face.

"You did that?"

"Yeah," said Raines, then gestured to the man's body. "You okay with wearing a dead man's clothes?"

He nodded and went over stripping off the man's boots and pants, then pulling them up over his hips. His body was a mass of bruises and scars, but Raines could see they were in various stages of healing and although the man didn't have the musculature of any of their super soldiers, his lean body still exuded power and strength. He easily dragged the body into the cell, checking for any more weapons then he came out with the shirt, ripping off the HYDRA insignia before he put it on, and looked at Raines and Antonov again.

"Weston, John Arnold, Corporal, 101st Airborne," he said. "I was at another facility, but they moved me here after they filled me up with some blue shit that burned."

"Serum," said Raines. "Corporal Arthur Raines, Phantom Patrol. That's Leo Antonov. He was a forced HYDRA conscript we rescued, and he's come in pretty handy since then. How many others?"

"Twenty at least, American and British," said Weston. "We've tried to stay in contact using Morse code, but these bastards are nasty. They beat us for the smallest reason. What's the plan?"

"We let all of you out and we fight the HYDRA soldiers, except some of them are our guys in disguise. We'll need clothes for you if you're all naked in your cells." Weston shrugged. "Once we get control, we're going to blow the place to kingdom come."

"Fucking affirmative," grinned Weston. "Give me the keys and I'll let the others out while you round up some more clothes. Take that fucking octopus off them, though. We ain't wearing that shit."

"Stay here until we come back, although if you do want to take care of some business there's a treatment room next door. If there's an evil looking chair in there, you'll want to pull it apart. That serum you got? It will let you do it with your bare hands."

Weston looked at his hands, then at Raines.

"Are you shittin' me?"

Both Raines and Antonov shook their heads. Weston looked at a conduit on the wall, and tugged on it, easily pulling it away from its fasteners. Then he went to the next cell door, at the keys in his hand, then at the door handle and pulled on it. The handle came off, so he kicked it instead and broke the lock, pulling the door open.

"Petaski, come on out man, we're bein' rescued."

Another naked man, squinting at the lights, with long straggly hair and a beard stumbled out of the cell. He reacted to the sight of Raines and Antonov, but Weston told him they were good guys. Leaving them to let the others out, Raines and Antonov left and returned the way they came, only this time using the big gun to take out anyone they saw which wasn't as many as they saw on their way in. Stripping them of boots, pants and shirts, Raines sent Antonov back with the uniforms for the others to wear, telling him to come back for the weapons with the prisoners. Then he opened the door to the loading dock where there was a fight going on as it appeared their super soldiers had arrived and fought their way in. Keeping under cover, Raines made his way back to the loading dock and found Grant conferring with Morita. They both put up their weapons when they first saw Raines then lowered them.

"You better get out of that uniform," said Grant, "before one of us shoots you."

"We found prisoners," answered Raines. "According to the guard here they have a small army that already received serum and were scheduled for the chair. They were planning to take over the country." He pointed to the door he came out of. "Operations 1 is through that door and so was the cell block and a treatment room. Figure there's a chair in there. There're about twenty prisoners but they're all naked. So, we're stripping the HYDRA soldiers of their clothes. The insignia will be ripped off, if you want to do that for me, as I don't have my usual clothes on underneath."

Grant obliged him then sent Morita with him, to assess where to place the charges in that part of the facility. He also promised to find more clothing and send someone with it. The two men made their way through the battle to the door, then opened it carefully. Once again, Raines wasn't taking any chances and checked every door this time, shooting two men in lab coats who were coming out of the mortuary room. The door to the cell block opened and Weston came out with several of the other prisoners. The door that Raines came through opened, and they all tensed until Bucky entered, carrying an armful of clothing.

"Jesus, Sarge, I just about pissed myself," said Weston, recognizing the insignia. "You didn't make a sound."

"It's what I do," said Bucky, coming closer with the clothing. "Here's more for your guys to wear. They're all out?"

Weston nodded, gesturing to one of the others to take the clothing back. Then he moved towards the treatment room door. Bucky nodded and took point, stopping at the door, then placing his ear against it. There was a hum inside that increased in intensity and then they heard a man screaming. Kicking the door open Bucky went in and fired off several shots, hitting four men within seconds. Raines went over to the console and quickly turned it off. A naked man in the chair was experiencing a convulsion while Weston looked over him with worry.

"Parry? Hey, man, it's me, Weston. You're going to be okay." He looked back at Bucky. "He's going to be okay, right?"

"It's going to take him some time to remember who he is and get over it," said Bucky, sympathetically. "I've been through it. It hurts like hell."

"You're like...?"

Weston gestured to himself and the others. Bucky nodded.

"1943 was when they got me, took me to a factory in Austria, injected me with serum and put me in the chair. Cap rescued me."

"Shit, I remember reading about that in Stars & Stripes. You were there."

"So was Raines but they didn't get to him," said Bucky. "We've come a long way since then. You're going to be like this forever, but now you're strong enough to fight these guys and hurt them. You'll have a place with us, if you want it."

"Hell, yeah," said Weston. "I want to take them all out."

"First things first," said Bucky. "Tear it apart. Morita, figure out the best places for the charges. I'm checking the mortuary. You don't usually see white coated scientists walking out of a room called the mortuary."

Weston looked at him, with determination. Then he followed Bucky, who gestured at him with a degree of exasperation to return to the treatment room but the man shook his head. With a sigh, Bucky carefully opened the door and wished he hadn't. Both he and Weston stood there, seeing several dark grey, almost black statues. At least, that's what they appeared to be at first, then Weston stepped forward and examined their faces.

"Peers, Hall, and Chester," he said, in a choked voice. "What did they do to them?"

"I don't know," replied Bucky. "I have to tell Special Agent Grant."

They both left, closing the door behind them. Morita went to go inside but Bucky shook his head, and he accepted the look on both men's faces that he didn't want to see what was in there. The others had taken the chair apart and had stripped the clothing from one of the dead HYDRA soldiers for the man, Parry, who had been in the chair. He was still dazed but took instructions from the others. Leading them out towards the loading dock they could hear the sounds of a full-on firefight. Bucky opened the door a crack and swore, as they were behind the HYDRA line of defence. Closing the door he looked back at the others.

"Was there another way out of here?"

"I go look," offered Antonov. "Okay, Sarge?"

"Go ahead, Leo. You got a gun?"

The Russian nodded and he backtracked checking the rooms in that hallway. Before he could go through the final door, it burst open, and a HYDRA squad came streaming in. The men without guns dropped to the floor as everyone else fired at will. When the smoke cleared all of the HYDRA soldiers were dead, as were three of the rescued prisoners. A moaning sound from Morita drew Bucky's attention and he dropped to the floor, quickly assessing his friend.

"Shit, Bucky, it hurts," swore Morita. He grabbed Bucky's uniform. "Don't leave me here to die."

"Not gonna happen." He pulled out a dressing from his pocket and searched Morita's pants pockets for one of his dressings, then found a syrette of morphine, jabbing it into the man's thigh, watching carefully as his face relaxed. "Someone look for a first aid kit."

Antonov, still closest to the door where the HYDRA soldiers came through picked himself up and ran through it, coming back moments later with one.

"It was in de treatment room," he gasped, handing it to Raines, then looked at the injured soldier. "You be okay, Jimmy."

As far as Bucky could tell, Morita was hit in three places, his shoulder, his leg, and his abdomen. That one was barely bleeding which could mean nothing important was hit, or it could mean he was bleeding internally. Regardless, they had to get him out of there as soon as possible. Bucky looked up at the others, who had already taken the weapons and ammunition from the HYDRA soldiers.

"We're going to have to take them by surprise," he said. "As soon as you go through that door, fire at anyone in a HYDRA uniform. Our guys should have taken theirs off by now. Shoot to kill. I'll carry Morita. Get to the other side of the loading dock. With your long hair and beards our guys should know not to fire at you. Remember, you're fast enough to dodge bullets and your reflexes should be better. Leo, you stay with me."

"Okay, Sarge," said the Russian. "I bring medic kit, yeah?"

"Yeah."

He picked Morita up in the fireman's carry, shifting him slightly. Three of the released prisoners picked up their dead, insistent that they weren't leaving them behind. Nodding at Raines to lead the others out, Bucky waited until they were clear, then he and Antonov began running to the other side. They made it as did Raines and the others, leaving a swath of black-clad bodies in their wake. Running through their line, Bucky took Morita to a quiet spot and laid him on the floor there, then checked the wounds. Realizing he would have to put a tourniquet on Morita's leg, Bucky asked Antonov to open the medic kit to see if there was one there. He took it out, placing it above the wound on the leg, then tightening it. The shoulder was still bleeding but not profusely, so he checked the abdominal injury and swore as the dressing was soaked with blood.

"Hey!" He yelled at Grant, who scuttled over to him. "We have to get Morita out of here pronto. Are there any aircraft here?"

Turning towards the others, Grant whistled loudly, getting the attention of Murphy, and waving him over.

"You said you found aircraft. Can you fly one to take Bucky and Morita out of here?"

"Yeah, but we have to get up there," replied the pilot. He looked at the others. "There's one big enough to take more people but I'll need Costello as co-pilot. You sure you can do without us?"

"We'll manage." He looked back at Bucky. "Go straight to Rome. You know the codes. Take Leo and any of the released prisoners who want to go."

"Wait!" Bucky grabbed Grant's arm. "There's a room marked as the mortuary. All that was in there were three statues of men. According to that guy they were once prisoners. It's like they were turned to stone as they stood there."

Grant looked in the direction where Bucky pointed. Shit, it meant they had the Obelisk. They likely had the body, as well. He patted the sergeant on the shoulder and sent him on his way. Only two of the released prisoners went with him, supporting the one who was still dazed. Grant realized that he was going to have to see this mortuary himself. Taking several of the explosive charges with him in a knapsack, he raced towards the doorway and went through the hallways until he found the mortuary. As he opened it, he startled a man in a black HYDRA commanding officer's uniform, holding a silver shaped device on the top lid of a small wooden crate. There was a bigger crate on the floor behind the statues. Grant recognized it as the Obelisk, from the files he brought back with him. The three statues of the prisoners stood like sentinels.

"Hold it!" He pointed his gun at the man, who slowly turned around with a grin. "Wilfred Malick. This place is your doing."

"You know of me?" The man chuckled. "Captain America knows who I am. I'm honoured." He looked at the Obelisk then back at Grant. "These fools didn't know what they were doing when they exposed these prisoners to this. It is the source of great power but only to those who are worthy. Are you worthy?"

"You don't want to open it," said Grant. "It's not what you think."

The door behind him opened and Steve Rogers walked in, making Malick's eyes open wide.

"What is this? Two Captain Americas? How can this be?" He looked closer at Grant. "You're older than the other. Explain."

Grant shook his head then glanced at Rogers who leaned close and spoke in a low voice.

"Everything is in place, five-minute timer once Dernier and Rumlow press the control panel."

"Go, get everyone out. I won't be long. If I'm not out in three minutes set it off. That is an order." He nodded encouragingly at Rogers then turned his attention back to Malick. "I don't have time to explain. My orders were to bring that and the body in but I'm willing to bury them under a mountain to keep them out of everyone's hands."

He took the charges out of his knapsack, and set them for two minutes, keeping his eye on Malick, who was enthralled by the Obelisk. Backing up to the door, he looked at the man one more time.

"You're willing to die to keep that, aren't you?"

"There is no death with this," said the man, his mania evident on his face. "Only life for those who are worth the gods' favour."

Suddenly, Malick grasped it with his bare hand and grinned at Grant. As his hand began to turn black and hard his face changed, and he looked up at Grant in a panic. Grant left the room, running through the various hallways towards the exit. He heard the muffled sound of the explosion behind him, knowing he had only a few minutes to get clear of the blast radius. As he ran into the loading dock area he grinned when he saw a motorcycle, knowing it hadn't been there before. Mounting it, he started it up and gunned it towards the open doors, racing away from the facility. He kept going even when he heard the mountain explode and felt the pelting of rocks and debris raining down around him. It wasn't until he saw several trucks waiting outside the debris field that he pulled up and joined the others. The mountain was covered in a cloud of snow and smoke. When it cleared, there was only rubble, as it had fallen in on itself but the village at its base was mostly untouched.

"Did Bucky get away okay with Morita?" he asked.

"I saw them take off," said Raines. "They're halfway across the Adriatic Sea by now."

"Let's get the partisans and their families and get out of here," he said.

"Malick?" asked Rogers. Grant shook his head. "You bringing the bike?"

A grin was his answer and he mounted it, then led the trucks to the village, picking up the partisans there, then stopping at another village where their families waited. It was crowded going back to Titograd but no one minded. Europe was cleared of HYDRA and that's what counted.

Author's notes: Just two more chapters (but they'll be long ones unless I split them).