Blue || Bucky Barnes

8. Sober Soldier

Narrator

The sun rises over Colonel Phillips' base camp and a group of soldiers who had accidentally deferred from Captain Rogers' troops arrive back.
"We have several injuries that need tending to immediately." The first man says helping two other men towards the hospital tent.
"Right away." Colonel Phillips says. He marches his way over to Leia's tent expecting to experience the same kind of reaction as the day prior. But she isn't there. Instead a small envelope lays on her bed. The Colonel walks over to it warily. He picks it up and walks outside with it just in case. He turns the paper between his fingers to open it but his stomach does a triple flip when he sees the seal. There's a wax seal closing the envelope in the shape of Hydra's logo. Worry and anger courses through him as he tears it open. It's contents is a single piece of paper covered in dried blood and writing. Code, of course it's in code.
"Decode this immediately. And run analytical testing on the blood." He slams the paper down in front of the corporal.
"Yes sir." He says and the Colonel walks off.

"Tend to them." Colonel Phillips directs the nurses as he walks into the tent. All the men jump up and tend to the soldiers wounds manually as he paces the grounds.
"Colonel Phillips." The corporal runs out handing him a piece of paper not five minutes later. "It was strangely easy to decode sir. Nothing like we've ever seen from Hydra before. It's almost like they wanted us to know."

Colonel Phillips snatches the decoded note from the man before him.
It reads:

Erskine's greatest mistake somehow benefited in ways unimaginable. It's such a shame that she's been terminated. It seems as if your luck has run out. Don't try to look for her, she's long gone. No more miraculous healing. No more Leia Callahan. Better luck next time.

Colonel Phillips tucks the letter away and hands it back to the corporal. "And the blood?" Dare he ask.
"Belongs to that of Ms Leia Callahan sir." The Colonel turns to see a tall stack of boxes full of medical and ammunition supplies. He raises his boot quickly and kicks through one, sending it flying, yelling at the top of his lungs. Boots crunch on the gravel and Steve runs out.
"What's going on? There are troops in need of attention, where's Leia?" He asks. Colonel Phillips stares at Steve blankly, unsure of how to break the news to him. He's just lost his closest friend and now he must know about his project partners disappearance and death. "Colonel." Steve says again. Chester Phillips grabs the note back and hands it to Steve. He looks elsewhere while the super soldier reads over it.

"That was left in her tent, found it this morning. We ran analytics on the blood too and it's a match." Colonel Phillips says. Steve doesn't mutter a single word. "I'm sorry, Captain Rogers."
Steve looks up at the man before him finally. His eyes hold so much sorrow as he hands the letter back slowly.

-

Days later Peggy walks through the ruined streets of London towards what's left of the Whip & Fiddle. The sound of a response radio can be heard in the distance. Peggy steps over the rubble and into the decimated pub where she finally finds Steve, sitting at a single table surrounded by destruction. He hears her footsteps and turns around to see her. The Captain looks away quickly wiping his nose with a sniff doing his best to disguise his sorrow but she sees straight thought it.
"Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn't just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which means I um.. can't get drunk. Did you know that?" He asks her.
Peggy grabs a fallen chair, standing it up to sit on while saying, "Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person. He thought it could be one of the side effects." Steve's focus stays fixated on the table. His eyes are bloodshot and skin blotchy. "It wasn't your fault." Peggy says.
"Did you read the report?"
"Yes."
"Then you know that's not true." Steve sniffs.
"You did everything you could." Peggy tries to console him and Steve just stays silent, jaw clenched trying not to cry.
"Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him?... Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought you were worth it." Peggy looks at the broken man before her.
"And Leia. She tried to comfort me and all I did was push her away even though I knew she was hurting too. And now she's gone as well." Steve mutters.
"She didn't die without humility. She helped so many people Steve and we owe a lot to her. She wouldn't want to see you like this." Peggy does her best.
"I'm going after Schmidt." Steve starts still not meeting Peggy's eyes. "I'm not gonna stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured."
"You won't be alone." Peggy's face holds a small comforting smile.

Leia

"Hello Leia." A tall bald man walks into the room and sits down in front of me.
"Who are you?" I demand.
"My name is Andre Köler." He says, wearing a long black coat and his face holds a psychotic smile.
"What do you want from me?" I ask pulling against the restraints.
"Trying is a lost cause Ms Callahan. Besides you are meant to be here." He says.
"They'll come and get me, any day now." I spit.
The man before me just laughs. "Oh Ms Callahan. They're not looking for you."
"How are you so sure?"
"Because they know you to be dead." He smiles devilishly making my stomach drop. I can't muster a word. Köler stands up and begins to pace the room. "See when you were captured we needed to make sure no one would come for you. So we took the measures necessary."
"They're looking for me I know it." I mutter beneath my breath.
"If in fact they were looking for you they would've stopped months ago." He says.
"Months ago?"
"Oh yes, I believe I forgot to mention that small detail. You've been in cryostasis." I just look at him as if he's got two heads. "As soon as you were commandeered we placed you into cryostasis. Freezing the body to absolute zero, preserving ones self. A person with abilities such as yours must be maintained. That is of course until we figure out how to replicate it." Köler says sending shivers down my spine.
"How long was I under?" I quiz.
"Five months." He says and my eyes grow wide and he laughs again. "Well I may as well fill you in on what's happened then. The Americans did in fact win the war. Johann Schmidt died along with your friend Captain America. Took his life to save his country. Stupid man."
"S-Steve's dead?" I repeat.
"That would be the correct statement Ms Callahan." His face holds a smug smile. I feel like my heart gets ripped right out of my chest. First Bucky and now Steve. My head slumps forward and I feel the tears drop from my eyes. "Oh please, get a grip girl." Köler grunts.
"What do you want from me?" I cry the tears falling.
"Everything!" He crashes his hands down onto the steel table and it makes a tremendous bang. I jump in my seat, heart thumping in my chest. "Here's the deal. You're going to give us what we want. You will follow directions and complete the tasks that are instructed to you. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Am I clear?" Andre Köler's eyes bore into mine.
"Go. to. hell." I mutter enunciating.

"Right, I see you would prefer the hard way." He stalks around to my side of the table while two other men enter the small room. He rips at the restraints and opens them setting me free. But before I can get up to run two sets of large hands clasp around my arms and shoulders.
"Let me go!" I demand trying to wriggle free but their grip only gets tighter.
"Like I said, trying is a lost cause Ms Callahan." Köler repeats his prior words as he walks towards the door with the other men dragging me behind.

They pull me out of the room and into a dim hallway. The floors are made of concrete and the walls and ceilings are constructed using hard steel like metals. Strip lights run along the length of the ceiling providing the only light. There's no windows or anything of the sort. We must be underground. I try my best to memorize the corridors but every turn we make I'm faced with yet another identical scene.
"Dr. Köler." Another man approaches us. "Dispatch located something a couple months ago, it's finally here for you to see. One of Zola's experiments." I see Köler's eyes widen with anticipation and anger.
"And you are only just telling me now!!" He booms and the man cowers.
"I'm sorry. This way." He says quickly to the men holding me, following the additional man.

The men stalk down the long corridor, weaving their way through. As we get closer and closer to wherever we're going I hear groans mixed with twisted screams. Where are they taking me? My heart thumps in my throat as fear courses through my veins. We round the corner and I finally see a room. There's a glass window that looks in and an open door just next to it. My vision is blocked due to the angle of the hallway but I can hear the agonising groans more clearly. Instinct is telling me to squeeze my eyes shut and not look into the room in fear of what I might see but I just can't seem to tear my eyes away.

As we advance further finally coming across the window I'm able to see in the room. It's stark white with some machinery lining the walls and a large chair in the middle. Some more men crowd whoever's sitting there yelling in pain. My eyes stay glued to the scene in front of me. As the men dressed in white lab coats move out of the way I finally see the person in the chair. His pants covering his legs are torn up along with his blue jacket. Majority of his left arm is missing, his face is bruised and battered and his brown hair is disheveled and parts are matted with blood.
"He's just come out of cryo, watch the wound." One of the men says and my heart jumps to my throat, goosebumps raise on my skin like I've just seen a ghost.