Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Twenty-Four: Hydra & The Nurse - Finding The Constant

Hydra & The Nurse - Finding The Constant

It has taken a long time but you have finally gotten everyone to take you for granted. Even Lehmann to a certain degree. When you are in the room, no-one holds back when they discuss The Winter Soldier Project. That is what they call the patient. The Winter Soldier.

Zola is well aware that two different personalities have set themselves up inside the patient's mind. The first personality is quiet, unassuming, docile, needy; he is the one who didn't want the metal arm, the one who tried to destroy it. Whilst they think of him as being afraid, they also know he is no coward. He doesn't remember anything, is easily confused, doesn't know why he is here. They can trust this one to the ends of the earth.

Then there is the second. He is cruel, vicious. His temper is nasty, and he is violent. What scares them the most though is his cunning. He is not stupid. They cannot trust this one at all; he is too unpredictable.

It has taken a while to perfect the cryogenic freezing but it now works and they have been running tests on the patient.

The tests are not going smoothly.

There is nothing wrong with the process, but there is something wrong with the patient.

They have tried the cryo-freeze several times and each time the patient has come out of it as violent, unhinged. They are unable to control him and need to sedate him straight away. This throws off their readings; they cannot progress any further. They need to be able to control him. They are closer than ever to perfecting the technology they will use to wipe his mind, and the fact there are two personalities is causing more problems than initially thought.

They cannot even say for definite that it is the second personality in charge when he awakens because what he says is unintelligible. He is a man possessed, and anything or anyone in the vicinity is in serious danger. Lehmann tries to explain it to Zola: you cannot talk with him, there is no reasoning with him. This one is totally insane. Eventually, each time with heavy sedation the first personality comes around and is all that is left.

The problem is this can take hours to happen.

Zola cannot understand it. What is so wrong with his work? He knows the Americans had never had this problem with Rogers. He has checked and rechecked his findings, the machinery, his calculations. He feels that they need something in place for when he is awakened: something constant, something that will ground him, calm him, make him theirs. Once they have that out of the way they can then work on bringing the two personalities together.

Zola turns his back on the arguing doctors and looks through the glass panel, into the main room. The patient is in the master chair. It is important that they use the chair as much as possible as it has been designed specifically with him in mind – or, Zola thinks, specifically for his mind.

The patient is strapped in. Sedation has been used but Zola can see even now the patient is testing the bindings on his wrists. He was awoken two hours ago, and still isn't calm enough to be allowed to return to his room. They need the other personality for that; the quiet pliable one.

Zola knows they cannot go any further until he can solve this problem. How can he join both the personalities together so that they work as one? What could bind them together to make the perfect soldier? More importantly, how can they regain control of him when he is first out of cryo-freeze?

It is just one problem after another.

He is missing something.

They run tests daily. They have put him in cryo-freeze seven times, each time for longer and then brought him back out with success for his physical form. But his mind is different. Crazed and such anger. So dangerous that they cannot allow him to remain awake, so dangerous he has caused such serious damage to both personnel and equipment.