Whumptober 2023 ~ Marvel Edition

'No One Will Find You.' - Steve

Day 11:

"All the lights going dark and my hope's destroyed."
Animal Trap | Captivity | "No one will find you."

~~~

Steve's heartbeat was so loud in his ears, a part of him worried that the sound would give away his position. Of course that was impossible, but to him it was so loud, he wondered how others could not hear it.

Freedom was so close he could taste it. Two months of captivity with no rescue in sight had been making Steve's hope dwindle, but he was so close to the Hydra camp's borders that he couldn't help but get excited. He was sad, disappointed in himself even, for not being able to find Bucky, but he silently vowed that he would return for him and his regimen. Steve would return home, regain his strength, and then try again. Despite his heart telling him to go back for them, his head was telling him that he was in no shape to help his fellow soldiers. For the first time in ages, he decided to listen to his head. He couldn't help Bucky if he was dead.

Steve could see the border. A mere two-hundred feet or so and he would be free. Without a Hydra agent in sight, it was now or never. Gathering up all of the strength he could muster, Steve broke out into a sprint as he darted for the clearing, and the closer he got to his target, the faster his heart beated in anticipation.

One-hundred feet. Seventy-five feet. Fifty feet. Twenty-

Before Steve had time to process the feeling of something metal underneath his foot and the clanking sound it made, he felt an intense pressure, followed by a white hot pain surrounding his leg, and he fell to the ground, the movement and tugging only increasing the pain. The scream that left his throat made his throat raw, and he was sure he had alerted someone to his position. Though in the moment, the pain was so intense and mind-numbing that he almost didn't care.

Steve's vision narrowed, his breath hitched, and the only thoughts in his mind were consumed by the pain in his leg. When he looked down to his leg, his eyes widened at the sight. He appeared to have stepped inside of some sort of bear trap, the metal jaws of the device having sunk into his leg, ripping the pants below it and coating his leg in blood. Steve cried out again, but this time, he bit his cheek in an attempt to keep his volume lower.

He needed to calm down and breathe through the pain, or there would be no way he could get himself out before someone found him. Steve looked up at the sky with wide eyes and took in quick, deep, panting breaths in order to try regulating his pain. It took everything in the supersoldier not to pass out, but his determination to leave this place helped him ignore the black spots in his vision and keep going.

Now was the hard part; now he had to get himself free. He knew he had the strength to pull apart the metal, but did he have the willpower to push past the pain it would surely bring? He supposed he didn't have a choice. It was that, or get recaptured. Or maybe he'd bleed out or die from an infection before anyone found him. Either way, it seemed like breaking himself free was his only chance at survival and escape.

With shaky hands, Steve wrapped his fingers around different portions of the device on either side of his leg and mentally prepared himself for what was to come. He closed his eyes and took in some deep breaths, before taking three quick ones, opening his eyes back up, and pulling as hard as he could.

As he pulled, he felt the metal jaw move inside his skin, and the white hot pain returned. A low growl escaped his throat and he was sure he was about to pop a blood vessel in his forehead, but he knew he needed to keep going. After one, final pull, he heard the metal snap and felt the device give way. When he looked down at his leg, he saw that it was free, but blood began oozing out of the wounds in his leg. As much as the sight made him queasy and he knew it needed to be treated, he also knew he did have a lot of time.

In fact, it seemed he was out of time, because when Steve shifted his weight to get up, he heard a few twigs crack a few feet away and his heart sank into his feet.

"I'm impressed," he heard the anger inducing voice of Johann Shmidt. Suddenly, Steve felt his arms be forced behind his back and something began to bind his wrists together. When Steve's head turned to look behind him, he noticed three men surrounding him. "You got further than I would have given you credit for."

Shmidt stepped closer to the supersoldier, his hands clasped behind his own back, and he wore a smug smirk on his face that made Steve want to punch it right off.

"Screw you," Steve said, his voice soft and airy from the intense pain still radiating through his leg. "It doesn't matter that I didn't get out, because they'll find me eventually. And when they do, I'm going to make sure you get brought to justice."

Shmidt laughed. "No one will find you. Not here. Besides, they are not looking. In fact, they never were. They wrote you off as 'mission in action' the moment they heard you had not come back."

"You're lying."

"They would not send their men here to save the regimen they lost; what makes you think that they would change their minds for you?" Shmidt asked.

Steve narrowed his eyes at Shmidt with hatred.

"Come," Shmidt said. "Let us get you back so that we may continue our work. And also have someone take a look at that leg. That looks like it hurts."