All Along - Steve Rogers {1}

Chapter 13: Don't Touch Her

Steve's eye lids fluttered as he became numbly aware that he was being dragged through a corridor, his knees were trailing along the floor, his arms pinned behind his back. He could hear the marching footsteps echoing off the walls of the tunnel they seemed to be travelling down, he could smell damp in the air, taste the metallic blood on his tongue. "Nellie." The word that left his lips was barely audible.

"Den Mund halten!" The soldier to his left snapped, his voice bouncing off the walls, the noise making Steve even more alert. He looked ahead and almost growled. Nellie was slung over the shoulder of one of the soldiers, her body hanging limply as he took in the electrified collar around her throat and one around her wrists binding them together.

They were brought to a room that had a large window overlooking the rest of the Bernese Alps, immediately Steve recognised the window as the one that the Colonel had shown them only the day before, the same window his team would sailing through any moment now... The room was cold, the walls made of granite, slate and limestone. Despite the size of the window the room was still eerily dark.

At the entrance, Steve was hauled to his feet and he watched on helplessly as Nellie was flung back over the soldier's shoulder and into a standing gurney. They were quick to strap her legs and arms to the bed and as soon as she was secure the gurney seemed to roar to life, the noise shocking Nellie out of her unconscious state.

She choked on the air she was holding in her lungs as the machine attached to the gurney sent the all too familiar electric pulses through her body, disabling movement of her limbs. Its happening all over again. The strangled scream left her throat as she fought to tear her body from the gurney but as soon as she opened her mouth the soldier shoved a rubber bite guard into her mouth.

Her muffled screams were tearing Steve apart. Was this what she had endured? Electrocuted over and over again? "Nellie! Nel, honey, I'm here." Steve called out to her, watching as her chest rose and fell in panic, her hands shaking. Her screams continued and Steve fought with all of his might and broke out of his restraints and ran for her. He touched his hand to her cheek and her eyes flew open and settled on him, her screams silenced, now replaced with whimpers. He was sure she tried to speak his name but the moment was short-lived as he was punched in the gut and hauled back to his original position a few feet away from her, now restrained by three men rather than two.

Nellie remained as silent as she could, the pain of the machine dulling as she kept her eyes focussed on Steve, tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to not make it harder for him.

"Touching, really." Nellie felt the bile rise in her throat at the accent that slithered around the room, oozing out of the shadows in the corner. She felt her bottom lip wobble as the fear intensified, her eyes darting from her beloved Steve to the sadistic Red Skull. "Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say you do it better than anyone. But there are limits to what even you two can do. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"

"He told us you were insane." Steve glared with intense hatred.

Schmidt pondered over this for a moment. "Ah." He sighed, disappointed. "He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine." His eyes flicked towards Nellie and she froze. "He gave you everything."

He made his way towards her, his eyes glowing with a brutal excitement that made Nellie shiver. He stopped mere inches away from her body, she wanted to tear her eyes away, to recoil but if she stopped looking at him she was afraid of what he would do next. She had to always keep her eyes on him.

Steve's blood was boiling. He felt the dormant taser against his neck, if he made a single move he could jeopardise Nellie or render himself unconscious. He hated feeling so powerless.