Marvel Avengers Fan Fiction ❯ A Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Avengers Fan Fic - The Constant ❯ Chapter 56 - The Winter Soldier & The Constant - December 1991 ( Chapter 56 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Winter Soldier & The Constant - December 1991

The 14th December 1991

They awaken him on the 14th of December. He is groggy at first, and doesn't know where he is; but then he recognises the woman sat next to him and the panic dies away. His mind is a blank, they are experts at what they take away and what they leave behind, more refined.

They leave him just the things he needs to function.

That and the knowledge that he is to wait for orders.

The doctors do their checks. The woman has left the room; he is trying to remember her name but he can't. She is important, but he doesn't know in what way. That feeling will only remain until his programming and then he will have no respect for her, no idea of her importance in his life.

The checks are completed and he is led away for programming.  This session is intense, longer than it should be. When he comes out he is more uncoordinated than usual. They are concerned. Why, this time, had it taken longer to impress the victim's name on his mind?

He is taken back to his quarters, and a six hour guard placed on the door. The woman is waiting for him and he tries to ignore her; she is unimportant, just there for his use, that is all. She feeds him and stays whilst he sleeps. She is tired herself, and when she knows he is definitely down for the night she crashes into her bed and is asleep in minutes.

Half way through the night he cries out in his sleep, which is unusual for his first night. It does not awaken him but it does disturb her, and switching on a lamp she goes over to him. He is sweating heavily, fists clenched and she knows he is having a nightmare.

She leans over and shakes his shoulder, knowing that if the dream is a deep one it will take a while to wake him, but he comes to straight away, taking hold of her hand and almost crushing it. He sees who it is and it sounds almost like a low growl coming from him.

“You were having a bad dream,” she says. She is used to this, used to pain from him - but she still winces and tries to take her hand away.

He looks at her and she recognises the sneer and it still hurts, after all these years. Still causes her pain.

He lets go of her hand. Literally pushes it away from him. She tries to smile and stands up. “Would you like some water?”

He nods, more to get her away from him than the fact he is thirsty.

He listens as she gets one from the kitchenette and when she returns he is rubbing his eyes. They are itching like mad.

“I saw a flying car,” he doesn't realise he has spoken out loud. She knows he will be disorientated. “A huge globe hung in the sky, and a flying car...”

“Just a dream,” she passes him the water and for a second he looks at her as if he was James and her eyes widen, but just as quickly his eyes become hooded and the look of disgust is back.

He takes the glass and drains it.

“Do you want me to leave the lamp on?” she asks, although it is never totally dark in their room.

He doesn't reply, just turns his back and pulls the covers over his shoulders. She puts a hand out to touch him but hesitates. It is too soon. She goes back to her bed and switches off the lamp. She can hear that his breathing is regular; he is asleep again, and she soon follows.

*

The 15th December 1991

You wake the next morning and prepare breakfast as he showers. When he comes into the kitchen you can smell the soap on him. His hair is wet and you would love to reach out and touch him but you know he will not allow it. Not yet.

Breakfast is quiet; he doesn't speak, just takes what you give him. Then half an hour later they come for him. There is a slight change in what is happening; they want to reinforce his programming. They have not told you this but you have seen it happen on rare occasions before. This will not leave a lot of time between training and sending him out on the mission. You know you will not see a lot of him this time. This means there will be no time for him to remember you, and the loss makes you ache inside.

The day goes slowly for you. You gather his clothes and anything they have said he will need. You have spoken to his team and know when he needs to leave; midday on the 16th. You are not required to function as an exit point so you will not be going with them but you know this already.

When he returns, he acts a lot like the day before but this time he is bleeding and impatient with you when you try to help. He is not over the extra programming yet and you are concerned for his health. Then they expect him for training; they need to check his skills before sending him out and when he comes back he is tired and grouchy. You can see he aches but he won't let you near him.

“What would I want from you, whore?” he snarls when you offer to help him.

He sleeps well that night.

*

The 16th December 1991

He knows he is ready for his mission.

He knows his target.

He knows where the assassination will take place.

He knows his work is important.

He knows it is to create order in this chaotic world, peace.

He does not know they have lied to him.

That they always lie to him.

He is geared up. He has stowed his weapons in the car, and his team are ready.

Just before they are due to leave though he gets a call to return to the main room. He does not know why but he complies, throwing his jacket into the car, tells the team he will be about an hour and then goes back into the building. From the main room, they lead him back into Programming.

He will always follow orders.

Jackson Caldwell has read the programming report and is concerned over the fact they had to reinforce this mission several times. He has ordered a barrage of tests in Programming which takes another hour. He wants to ensure the Winter Soldier knows his mission, knows what he must do.

His team wait for him.

If only Caldwell had left well enough alone, the mission would have been a success and only one person would have died, not two - but this is fate, and how fate works.

When The Winter Soldier hasn't reappeared after ninety minutes, Adam phones down to Programming.

The confused technician on the other end alarms him. “But...he left us about 20 minutes ago.”

*

You spent the morning filling in reports and gathering things together. When he returns on the 18th they will allow one day and then he is to go back into cryo, and you will follow 24 hours later.

When he left your room you told him to be careful. He did not say anything, just frowned at you. Then he was gone.

You go down to the cryo room to talk to them to make sure everything would be set up, you were tempted to watch him leave the base but you decided not to. Better this way.

You walk back to the lift and are surprised to see him waiting next to it. He seems to hear you and turns to face you. You notice his right eye is blood flecked, it wasn't like that earlier.

He turns away again, and you wait by his side until the lift arrives. You notice him rubbing the side of his temple and you know that can be a sign of migraine. “Are you all right?” you ask.

You are ignored, and so you continue to wait silently by his side for the lift.

His head is throbbing at the temple, as though there is a small hammer in there and it connects right through to the pain in his right eye. He doesn't hear the woman ask him if he is all right, he just wants to get going, he has his mission to fulfil and he is already late for the timetable set. They said they had moved it along an hour but even so, he must fulfil his mission.

The lift arrives and the two of you enter. He presses the button for the top floor without asking you where you are going. You were going just one floor up but instead you decide to go with him to the top because you feel uneasy. You do notice that he has at least stopped rubbing his temple.

You clear your throat as the lift ascends. “I thought you had already left.”

He turns to look down at you and you wish you hadn't said anything. “What business is it of yours?” he snaps.

You look at him and wonder why you bothered. Your own head hurts, courtesy of cryo freeze and lack of decent air. You feel tetchy. “You're right. Why should I want to know? Why should I care what happens to you?” you ask sarcastically.

“What?” he says.

“Nothing.”

You turn away and look at the doors ahead of you annoyed. This is supposed to be such an advanced base and the lift can't even get you to the surface without taking forever.

He looks at her, annoyed at her tone - not realising he is mirroring her own emotions. He is tempted to slap her but he keeps his arms down by his side and looks at the doors instead. There is silence, something he can deal with with no problem.

But she can't, she hates silence between them.

From somewhere outside the lift there comes a grinding and wrenching noise and before you know what is happening the lift seems to jump, knocking you off balance and straight into the Winter Soldier. He growls and throws you back onto your feet. He is about to say something when there is another metallic groan and the lift jumps again and comes to a halt.

You go to press a button but he gets there first and slams his fist onto the panel.

“Break it why don't you,” you say under your breath. He turns to face you but as he does so, the lift suddenly drops a foot and he is thrown into you. You both end up flattened against the back wall.

“What the hell did you do?” you say loudly as the lift settles.

He turns to look at you again. “I didn't do anything.” He looks you up and down.

Bloody woman, he thinks.

He goes to touch the panel again but his hand stops just short of the button as he hears a loud pinging noise. You hear it too and hold your breath when it is followed by several more. You both look up. The lift creaks and then there is a loud snapping and sounds of something whipping through the air above your head.

The lift plummets, knocking you both down onto the floor, winding you. It then comes to such a sudden halt that it flings you back against the wall again. The floor is at a slight angle beneath you.

You watch as he struggles to his feet, your eyes wide and frightened. You know that the lift has dropped quite a way down.

As he moves, the lift shifts too.

“Stop, don't move!” you say.

He doesn't listen to you, just carries on. The lift shifts again. He has both arms held out for counter balance and he moves to the control panel. You hear an ominous creaking overhead and the lights flicker off and on again. There is a smell of burning electrics.

You watch as he pushes the buttons one by one, but nothing happens. You struggle to get up but a sharp pain in your left ankle forces you to the floor again. You swear softly, bringing it close to you and moving your jeans leg up and your sock down you see a nasty bruise coming up. You don't think it is broken but it could be a fracture, just your luck.

“Try the phone,” you say.

“Of course I'm going to try the phone,” he snaps without turning to look in your direction. He is already opening the panel which houses an emergency phone for situations like this.

“It's dead...the whole panel is dead.” There is no panic in his tone. He turns and looks around the lift, then up at the ceiling.

You are in a freight elevator, used for both passengers and equipment. It is oblong, about eleven foot by nine foot; basic steel panelling with a service hatch in the top. There are lights at the back and on each side, these at present are flickering and you pray they do not go out just as one fizzles out, followed by another one. Two remain on.

You watch as he dismantles the control panel and then the telephone, the wiring behind is completely burnt out.

Next, he stands in front of the doors feeling the gap in the middle where they meet. Taking a deep breath, he starts to pull them apart. The whole lift creaks but the doors open about two feet onto solid cement. You are stuck between floors.

“So we're trapped...” you say needlessly. You just need to speak. He looks at you. “Together...” your sense of humour always comes out at the wrong moment, you just can't help yourself.

He doesn't reply.

“Looks like you might have to talk to me now, doesn't it?” you say this because despite your circumstances, you're still rankling from earlier.

“Great. Trapped with a talkative whore,” he mutters and turns away from you.

“What!?” you exclaim.

He ignores you again.

The only option then is to climb out, he thinks to himself. He looks back at the ceiling, which is over four foot above him. The woman is quiet now but he hasn't forgotten she is there. He looks around the lift again. There is nothing to help him climb up to the top.

“Hopefully someone has realised what's happened,” she says, and he notices she is still on the floor.

He still ignores her words, looking at the ceiling. He then starts to sound out the metal on the sides. He still has his knives on him, so he could...

“Did you hear me or have I suddenly turned invisible again?” the woman asks.

“What?”

“I said...”

“I heard what you said.”

“Then why didn't you answer me?”

He doesn't realise she needs him to tell her everything will be all right. He looks away and at the walls, running his fingers over them and then knocking on them.

“Why are you knocking? Are you hoping someone will hear you?  If so you'll need to knock louder,” she says.

He takes her seriously, but she was joking.

“Why don't you just shut up?” he suggests.

“I'm just trying to help, you know, lighten the...”

“When I need help from a whore, I'll be sure to ask you,” he looks back at the wall.

She struggles to stand up. He isn't watching her so doesn't notice the look of pain in her eyes.

“Don't call me that again.” He hears the anger in her voice and turns to face her. She is looking at him, holding herself against the back wall.

“You are what you are...” he says with a shrug.

He can see her hands are clenched now and for a moment he thinks she is going to hit him. He grins.

“...which is, a whore”, he finishes.

“I am not a whore!” she says through gritted teeth. She is so angry that he can see it in her eyes and the way she is holding herself.

He goes to turn away but she reaches out and puts her hand on his arm. He looks down at it and then at her. He is about to say something when she interrupts him.

“Lets get one thing straight: I am not a whore, I'm...I'm....” she can't finish and he can see she is struggling.

He feels little for her. It doesn't matter to him who or what she is, and she knows it.

She grips his arm tighter and limps closer.

“If you have to call me something, then my name is Freya, you call me that and nothing else. Understand?” He shakes her hand of his arm but she doesn't back off. “Understand?”

He shrugs.

Only then does she back away, and he notices for the first time she is favouring her ankle but it is of no importance. He needs to get out of here, he needs to complete his mission.

You watch as he takes out his knife and then, using his metal fist, he runs his hand over a spot in the steel wall and then pulls his fist back and hits it hard. The lift rocks a bit and the metal collapses inwards and he then uses the knife to fashion a foothold. He does this up the wall as far as he can go and then starts to climb using them.

You hobble up so you are stood under him but he doesn't say a word to you just continues to make the footholds until he can reach the service roof.

Just before he hits upwards, you call out.

“Wait!”

He looks back down at you. You know you can't climb with your damaged ankle. And he knows it too.

You bite your lip. You don't want him to leave but you know he has to.

“You won't....” your voice dries up and you clear your throat. “You won't forget to tell them I'm still in here, will you?”

He frowns at you.

“Why would I forget to tell them?” he asks.

She tries to smile. “Because I'm not worth anything to you,” she says, and for the first time it disturbs him.

He studies her. She is sweating lightly and he looks back at the ceiling hatch. He pushes on the hatch and it swings upwards and opens showing the cavernous shaft they are trapped in. Because the lift has stopped between floors, there is nothing but solid granite walls around them.

He looks back at her.

“Sit down and I'll send someone to help you.”

She is biting her lip again. She looks at him and then nods and limps back over to the floor and sits down in the corner.

He can see she doesn't know whether to believe him or not.

He hoists himself up, feeling the lift shift slightly under him. When he is on the top he looks back down inside. She is sat in the corner, hugging herself.

He looks up and sees a couple of cables he could use to climb until he can reach an exit.

He kneels back on the top and goes to say something to her but then he stops. An image of her huddled in a different corner comes to his mind: a flashback. A sickening feeling comes over him. He closes his eyes for a second.

He looks down at her. “Freya,” he says quietly.

She looks up.

“I will send help.” That is all he says, but he can see that she believes him this time and it makes him feel better. He doesn't understand why.

Then his mission details swim back to the front of his mind.

He makes the mistake of straightening up too quickly and the lift rocks suddenly to one side as one of the cables snaps. The lift plummets down another five feet. He reaches up without thinking and grasps the first thing to hand.

And you hear him cry out.

An awful sizzling noise follows and the whole lift seems to crackle and hiss.

Then, silence.

Getting up, you call out but there is no reply.

You limp to the hatch to look up but before you can quite get there, there is a loud thud and the Winter Soldier tumbles back through it. The lift rocks and you hear another cable snap above, but your attention is on him and only him.

“Oh no...no...please no...” you cry.

He is lying on his front. You crouch down and turn him over; he is a dead weight and you can smell an awful scent of burning metal and flesh. Smoke drifts up from his clothes and his metal arm is so hot it will burn you if you touch it.

The left side of his neck and chin is burnt. He has on a tee shirt and combat trousers, and they are smouldering. There is a nasty burn on his chest and part of his right arm. Part of the material of his trousers on the left leg has been burnt through and you can almost still hear the sizzling of his flesh.

“No...no...no!” You can't see him breathing. You use the hole in the tee shirt to tear the material and you put your ear to his chest.

Nothing.

You are a nurse, and you are on automatic pilot. You open his mouth, making sure it is clear, and then pinch his nose. You take a deep breath and breathe into his mouth leaving one hand on his chest, you do this several times, then move and put both hands over his chest and push down.

No change.

You repeat it, then you repeat it all over again. This time when you push down on his chest you hit really hard and finally he seems to take a deep breath and is then coughing and trying to breathe on his own. He murmurs something and although he keeps breathing, he remains unconscious.

He is breathing though, and that is the first step.

You look at the burns caused by the electrocution. There is nothing you can do at the moment for those but then you look at his metal arm, cooling and lying by his side. It is dead but for a blue glow deep within. You use the bottom of your shirt to move it so you can see the hand. It is melted, twisted, and blackened. Some of the top rings of metal on the arm are melted into the next layer down and you can smell fried circuitry. You gingerly tear away his tee shirt so you can see the entire arm and what you see frightens you. The blue glow isn't just contained in the deep recesses of the arm now, there are lines of it running out from his shoulder into his flesh towards his chest. If those lines reach his heart you do not know what will happen. You have never known what the source of power is and you don't understand the circuity at all.

You look back up at the hatch and at first you cannot see anything but then something sparks and you see a thick electric cable swinging to and fro, sparks jumping from the ragged end of it. The cable is hanging directly above the hatch and there is no way anyone could make their way past it.

Surely by now someone must have realised what has happened, heard the noise of the lift falling?

You look back down at the Winter Soldier. You have to remain calm, you mustn't lose it otherwise you are of no use to him.

You have nothing of help with you, no water, no dressings. You try to think frantically what you need to do. There is a strong chance that each burn you can see is a entry wound and will have an exit wound, you need to see how many burns there are and how bad they are.

You tear the remaining tee shirt away and the pant leg where the lower burn is. The back of his leg has a larger burn and on his body the burn on his chest has no exit point. This is not good; it means there will be more damage inside. You know that Zola's serum will start its work immediately, and with the Winter Soldier's body holding so much heat it will give it a head start.

Before you can do any more you hear a clang from above, followed by several more and a rope comes falling through the hatch. It makes you jump but it is tied to a sealed tube.

Someone knows you are trapped thank God.

You grab the tube and open it. Inside is a piece of paper with writing and a pen.

'Please advise us of your position. Are you injured? Report. Pull twice on the rope when reply ready.'

You hastily scribble a reply to say there are two of you, that the Winter Soldier is down, electrocuted, his arm is disabled. He is unconscious but breathing. The power source in his arm is leaking into his body, you need advice. There is a live electrical cable hanging just outside the hatch preventing any escape.

You then put it back in the tube seal it and pull twice. A few seconds elapse and then the rope is pulled back up.

It seems an eternity until the next message reaches you.

'Freya is that you? We understand. Working on getting you out. Maybe some time. Working on shutting down cable. Do you need anything for WS? Getting advice on power source. Will get a walkie-talkie down to you.'

You confirm it is you, nice to know they realised I was missing as well, you think sarcastically. You ask for sterile bandages for burns, pain killers and water to drink.

Whilst you wait for the next reply you sit next to the Winter Soldier. After a while, you see him try to raise his right hand and his legs move.

“Whoa, don't try to move! Just lie still for a moment.” You gently lay your hand on his shoulder. He stops trying to move and opens his eyes.

And all he can see is a blurry image of someone above him, but he recognises her voice. He knows he is hurt and he is trying to assess the damage. He cannot feel his left arm at all but deep in the left shoulder is a burning sensation, severe pain. His chest hurts and his head is splitting; the left side of his neck feels like acid has been poured over it.

He tries to blink, to clear his eyes, and things swim into view. She is knelt next to him, her eyes wide.

“Help is coming but it may be a while, you need to try and stay still,” she is speaking, but he feels as if he is under water and his ears are blocked.

“My mission...” his voice is harsh, he has spoken loudly and tries again to sit up but his body hurts all over and he feels nauseous. He tries to feel the left side of his face, but she stays his hand.

“What happened?” he asks as she folds up what is left of his tee shirt and puts it under his head.

“We are in the lift at the facility and it's no longer working. It fell and has jammed between floors. You were electrocuted when you tried to climb out.”

In his mind he sees himself about to fall, reaching out for something. He grasped a cable and then a tremendous pain then nothing. Again he tries to get up, and again she tries to hold him down.

“You're injured. You shouldn't move, your team know you're down here and we have to wait for help.”

“My mission...” he growls, and this time pushes her away and goes to stand. He cannot use his left arm as it is totally dead. He uses his right hand and arm to push himself up.

The decision of what to do next is taken away from him as he crashes back down to his knees. He clutches his chest: he doesn't know what hurts the most, his head or his body. He feels her hands on him but before he can say anything he vomits all over the floor.

You shuffle up next to him. You can see the pain he is in; it is written all over his face and the way his hand is clutching his chest.

“My legs. I can't feel my legs,” he allows her to lay him back down. She wipes away the mess on his face and pulls him away from where he has been sick. It is no mean feat for a woman her size against his dead weight and it takes her a while.

She sits for a moment with her eyes closed. Her skin is grey and for the first time he realises she may be hurt but before he can ask her she opens her eyes and leans over, looking straight into his eyes.

“Listen to me. You are hurt badly, you were electrocuted, your arm is down and the power source is leaking into your body, you have burns and the numbness in your legs is probably to do with the jolt of electricity you took. You stopped breathing.” She makes sure he is taking in what she is saying. “They are sending help but I don't know how long it will take. You need urgent medical attention. You need to stay still. You need to trust me on this.” He goes to speak, but she interrupts him. “And don't say you can't take orders from a whore. I'm a fully trained nurse and I know what I'm talking about.”

“I was going to ask if you had any water...” he says quietly, and she blushes.

“Oh...sorry...um, no I don't have any. They're sending some down.” She looks away, embarrassed.

“I didn't know you were a nurse.”

She looks back at him and tries to smile. “There's a lot about me you don't remember yet.”

There is a clunking noise of something hitting the metal overhead and you scramble up onto your feet.

They have sent down a bucket but it has caught up on the lip. You look up trying to see what you can do but your ankle reminds you it is injured. “Goddamn it!”

You see movement out of the corner of your eye and turn as the Winter Soldier tries again to get up.

“No don't! Stop!”

“My mission...” the confusion is back in his eyes, his programming is trying to break through.

 “Sod the mission.” You kneel back down, fighting him. “Will you just listen to me?!” you shout. He is pale, grey his eyes are full of pain.

“My mission....” he says weakly, lying back down. You can see his chest, the blue tentacles are extending causing a blue glow under the skin.

“Your mission is cancelled, do you understand? Listen to me...”

But he is murmuring under his breath, “...my mission, my mission, I have to....”

He looks so broken. You smooth his hair back from his face, taking care with the left side. Then you place your hand next to his temple and speak softly.

“Listen to me. It's important. Your mission has been cancelled, you are hurt, you need to reserve your strength. Please listen to what I am telling you.”

There is another thunk. They have realised you do not have the supplies and they are trying to get them to you again and this time the rope and bucket come through. The bucket hits the floor and things tumble out, a walkie talkie with a voice asking if you are there, medication, bandages, and, thankfully, water.

You pick up the walkie talkie. Thank God you know how to work one. The static is bad but they ask you about the condition of the Winter Soldier and you tell them it is serious.

In the bucket are not just pain killers but a liquid you need to get him to take which should keep the power source at bay. You tell them you understand, but that you need to speak to Adam and he comes on.

“We are doing all we can. The top of the shaft up here has collapsed so we can't send anyone down but we're working on it.”

“I understand. He is awake but only just. I need you to code him,” you say.

To code the Winter Soldier is to stand him down from a mission, and until that is done he will not stop. There are only two people who are able to do this: one is his handler, Jackson Caldwell, and the other is Adam Morton. The code is different each time, and you are never told what it is.

There is a moment's silence. Adam knows what you are telling him; there is no way that even when they get you out the Winter Soldier is going to be able to complete the mission.

“All right. Put him on.”

You shuffle over to the Winter Soldier who is still murmuring under his breath. You hold his head and make him look at you.

“Look at me. You need to listen carefully, there is a call for you and you need to pay attention to it, it is part of your mission, look at me...” You hold up the walkie talkie and recognition comes into his face. He is burning up, though, sweat running down his face. You need to get some water into him quickly. “Okay,” you say.

You hold the walkie talkie to him. He is looking at you and you see him swallow. He is trying to organise his thoughts.

You hear Adam's voice. When he starts to talk you see the Winter Soldiers eyes become hooded. It is an eerie sight, disturbing. “Soldier, you need to stand down. The code is World Fair. I repeat, you need to stand down, the code is World Fair...you need to tell me you have understood and you are standing down.”

The Winter Soldier's voice is cracked when he replies.

“Understood, standing down.” You see his body relax, the tension holding him together drains out of him. He is like an automaton that has been switched off, you have never seen it happen before and you feel a chill.

“Freya?” the box squawks. It is your turn to swallow and you bring the walkie talkie to your mouth. “Yes.”

“We will get you out of there. We have an idea. You need to keep him going, you need to keep him focused.”

You nod as if he can see you. The box goes off.

Liquid. You need to get this liquid into him. Can you give him water as well or will that dilute it? You don't know. You look helplessly at the bottle, he needs both things.

You sit next to him. He is still conscious but only just, sweat covering his whole body.

“Can you hear me? You need to drink this.” He opens his eyes and looks at you, you can see they are clouded and he is struggling to understand you. “Right,” you say and you put your arm under him and with all your strength push him so he is almost sat up. You shuffle behind and do your best to pull him over to the corner, almost trapping yourself behind him.

Once he is against the wall you fetch the bottle of water and the liquid.

His eyes are closing again and you shake his shoulder.

“Oh no you don't Soldier, you need to take this...” he lifts his hand but you are not sure if it is to swat you away or help you, his lack of strength and co-ordination is worrying. You give him a small amount of water, enough to help him swallow the medicine.

You don't know how you get it down him but you do. Well, most of it - some has spilt down onto his chest and you wipe this away. You try again and get most of what is left into him, he splutters but you don't let him spit it out.

“Swallow. You need to swallow.” And he does. The smell of the stuff is disgusting; God knows what it tastes like.

You give him some more water but by the time you have finished he is wheezing. Your heart drops to your stomach.

“Don't stop breathing, don't stop...” you murmur as you try your best to reposition him to help unblock his airways. This seems to help.

The burns are taking on a nasty tinge and you need to cover them as best you can but first he asks for more water and so you encourage him to drink. He only takes a little but it is better than nothing.

At the end of half an hour you are exhausted, your foot is aching and so is your head. You take some pain killers and bandage your ankle. You sit next to the Winter Soldier. He is awake but doesn't really know where he is. He has no strength and you pray the liquid they sent has stopped the power source leaking any further.

There is a cold wind coming down the shaft and into the lift and it is helping keep you both cool. You close your eyes. You wanted to spend more time with him but not like this and you pray for the first time in a long time.

“Please help us. Please. Someone.”

A voice on the walkie talkie checks in with you every quarter of an hour, but it is another four hours before they tell you what it is they plan to do. They do not tell you though that your chance of survival will be much lower than the Winter Soldier's.

Nobody can get down to the lift and it cannot be moved up so the lift itself has to go down. They give you just the basics. You are 80 feet away from the bottom of the shaft and a doorway.

They are sending down two large magnetic clamps which should give them some way of controlling the rate of descent. When the clamps are in place they are going to cut the remaining lines and let the lift fall. They should be able to guide it using the lines attached to the clamps.

Then they ask you a stupid question. “Is there anything you can secure the Winter Soldier with? You know, put around him to protect him whilst we do it?”

You look at the walkie talkie.

“Of all the stupid...what makes you think there is anything like that in a lift?” you ask in disbelief.

The walkie talkie is quiet for a moment and then Adam comes back on.

“Freya, just do what you can,” his voice is apologetic, sympathetic.

You look around, the lift is a mess and stinks of vomit and sweat.

There is nothing you can use.

*

Twenty minutes later, they cut the remaining cables and the  lift creaks ominously as it is now being  held by just the two magnetic clamps attached to thick wire ending on the back of a truck.

This works for the first fifty feet until one of the cables attached to a clamp breaks under the strain, and is followed by the other. The lift falls the remaining thirty feet.

When the doors are finally opened they find them both unconscious. The Winter Soldier is laying on his left side, curled and facing against the back wall of the lift and Freya is curled around him. She has one arm around his neck so his head is pillowed on her shoulder and her other arm is around his waist. Her body is stretched out along his spine, her legs intertwined with his. Using her body was the the only protection she could give him.

*

The 18th December 1991

It is early evening, two days since the Winter Soldier was injured. Caldwell reads the report, and is angry. He has already heard the news but he wanted to read the documentation for himself.

Goddamn it. He slams the paperwork down and goes to stand at the window.

They had to call in someone else to do the mission.

Kill one man. That is all they had to do. Just one man. The Winter Soldier could have done it standing on his head.

But they missed the shot. They had the chance and they missed. The target was totally unaware how close to death he was. Didn't even know someone had shot at him.

So what did they do?

They followed him, then ran his car off the road instead. Great, job done? No - they killed both him and his wife and the story is splattered all over the news - especially on Long Island, the scene of their death.

Great. Proof though that an assassin of the Winter Soldier's calibre is needed.

He goes back to his desk and shreds the report, lifts up his jacket and puts it on. A double funeral that he will have to attend. It was only supposed to be Howard that died. Damn it, he liked Maria and of course she would have been easier to manipulate but it now means in the future he will be dealing with their brat of a son, Tony.

Goddamn it!

 

(Authors note: For image see http://i.imgur.com/ZqGK3TT.jpg )