Steven G. Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thekidfrombrooklyn) wrote2012-08-05 05:02 pm
thekidfrombrooklyn) wrote2012-08-05 05:02 pm
Entry tags:
[movie canon: the rescue]
Previously:
"You can't give me orders!"
"The hell I can't! I'm a captain."
It occurs to Steve as he makes his way through the woods outside Krausberg that this is the first time he's really been tested. Stark was right about that. The day he was given the serum and chased down the HYDRA agent was only a dry run. This matters more than all the dancing and all the shilling for war bonds. This is about saving his fellow soldiers, possibly even his friend, and he hasn't given a thought to what will happen after.
The woods are dark and foggy, thick with old growth. Steve doesn't know the countryside, but he's got the map Agent Carter showed him memorized, and gets his bearings without much trouble. The factory is hard to miss--it's ablaze with light and activity despite the late hour. It's more like a fortress than any factory Steve knows.
The simplest way to get into the factory is to hitch a ride in one of its trucks. The two HYDRA agents in the back are easily disposed of, as is the guard when the truck stops. The guard inside the first door he tries lets him in at a knock, and Steve takes him out quickly, too.
Inside, the place is full of bombs, tanks the size of houses, and tubes of a substance that glows with an eerie blue light. He grabs a gadget for analysis later--maybe it'll help his case if they decide to court-martial him once he returns--and then focuses on his real goal: finding the prisoners.
Finding Bucky.
To be continued...
"You can't give me orders!"
"The hell I can't! I'm a captain."
It occurs to Steve as he makes his way through the woods outside Krausberg that this is the first time he's really been tested. Stark was right about that. The day he was given the serum and chased down the HYDRA agent was only a dry run. This matters more than all the dancing and all the shilling for war bonds. This is about saving his fellow soldiers, possibly even his friend, and he hasn't given a thought to what will happen after.
The woods are dark and foggy, thick with old growth. Steve doesn't know the countryside, but he's got the map Agent Carter showed him memorized, and gets his bearings without much trouble. The factory is hard to miss--it's ablaze with light and activity despite the late hour. It's more like a fortress than any factory Steve knows.
The simplest way to get into the factory is to hitch a ride in one of its trucks. The two HYDRA agents in the back are easily disposed of, as is the guard when the truck stops. The guard inside the first door he tries lets him in at a knock, and Steve takes him out quickly, too.
Inside, the place is full of bombs, tanks the size of houses, and tubes of a substance that glows with an eerie blue light. He grabs a gadget for analysis later--maybe it'll help his case if they decide to court-martial him once he returns--and then focuses on his real goal: finding the prisoners.
Finding Bucky.
To be continued...
no subject
It's not the dreams that bother him. Some of them are pretty good. It's just that it makes it hurt all the more to wake up back in this room, strapped to this goddamn metal table, waiting for the next jab of the knife or the needle or whatever stupid thing that weaselly-looking doctor decides to poke him with next.
Some of them have been pretty horrible, but Bucky's not going to let himself think about that. Not if he can help it.
God, what he wouldn't give to have that bastard in his sights.
His eyelids grow heavy and flutter closed as he imagines it, and his unknowing smile is as sweet and innocent as a kid's.
no subject
"Who are you supposed to be?" says one of the men from the cage below.
"Um, Captain America." He grabs the guard's keys and climbs down to start unlocking the doors, as another man says, "I beg your pardon?"
There are dozens of men still alive, largely unharmed. He unlocks every door, asking about Bucky--"I'm looking for a Sergeant James Barnes."
The news he gets is chilling: "There's an isolation ward in the factory but nobody's ever come back from it."
No time to dwell on it. He orders the men to meet him in the clearing outside the factory, and takes off to find Bucky.
One of the men calls after him, "Wait. You know what you're doing?"
"Yeah," Steve replies. "I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times."
He takes off for the factory at a run, and can hear the men fighting their way out behind him. It's not long before the explosions and gunfire begin.
no subject
"He struggles."
Great. It's this guy again, the arrogant S.O.B. with the sharp accent. Bucky refuses to look at him, concentrating on not letting the groan escape through his clenched teeth. What the hell did they hit him with this last time, lightning?
"Yes, but--"
"May I remind you, doctor, that I will not countenance failure?"
"Of course! Of course. Not to worry."
Bucky'd laugh in their faces if he could. Instead, he only manages a harsh, rasping breath as the doctor continues,
"There is something about this one... he is stubborn."
Stubborn? Ha. You should see Steve.
Steve. He fixes his friend's memory in mind like a beacon, holding on to the image of the last time he'd seen him, there at the Exposition. Steve wouldn't give up; he wouldn't give them anything. Nothing but name, rank, and--
"-- 32557," he mutters. "Sergeant 32557. Barnes, James Buchanan."
no subject
Or a lab.
At the end of a long corridor, he sees a man run out of a room. He's got a briefcase under his arm, stuffed with papers.
They stare at each other.
The man takes off running--if the henchmen can't stand up to Steve, he can't expect one of the scientists here to do so--and Steve runs to the end of the corridor. If he was important enough to warrant an office, he may have left some clues behind.
(Why all this equipment? What are they building here? Where is Bucky?)
Steve creeps into the office--more like another work room, lined with shelves and boxes, with one high-set window. And that's when he hears a voice.
Sergeant 32557. Just like all soldiers are trained to do--give them nothing but name, rank and serial number.
He's not broken. Whatever they did to him in this horrible place, he's not broken.
"Bucky."
no subject
Something jars him, sending up a storm of aches as his body moves without him willing it to. He opens his eyes and blinks blearily up at the figure standing by the table.
This one's different. In fact, this one doesn't look like one of them at all. This one looks like--
It can't be. I'm seeing things.
"Is." He moistens his cracked lips with his tongue, and tries again.
"Is that..."
no subject
"It's me. It's Steve."
no subject
A disbelieving grin splits his face.
"Steve. How...?"
He starts trying to sit up. It's harder than it should be, but there's no way he's staying on that table.
No way in hell.
no subject
"I thought you were dead."
no subject
As many times as he's helped Steve up after another knock-down go-round, it's weirdly familiar -- but it's all backwards, somehow. Bucky stares at him, trying to fathom the changes in his friend.
"I thought you were smaller."
no subject
More factories. Dear God, there are more.
No time for that now. More henchmen could be along any second, if the continuing gunfire is any indication. He found what he came here for--time to get the hell out.
"Come on," he says to Bucky again, tucking his arm around him. He could probably carry Bucky out with ease but he'd never humiliate his friend that way.
Bucky can lean on him all he needs.
no subject
Bucky shoves one foot at the ground, then the other, limping along with Steve's support as he grimly sets about finding his balance.
Battle or not, he's got to ask.
"What happened to you?"
no subject
Steve, as has been noted elsewhere, enjoys understatement.
"I joined the army."
He takes Bucky out of the ward, toward the doors and freedom.
no subject
They round the corner into another hallway as eerie blue light from outside flashes through the high windows, accompanied by another explosion. Bucky grits his teeth with the effort and pushes himself the rest of the way upright so that he's walking on his own two feet, starting to move faster as he gets his balance back.
He's not going to slow them down. They can't afford it.
"Did it hurt?"
Dim memories of things that happened on that damn table flicker. He shoves them away; they can't afford any time for that crap, either.
no subject
He says simply, "A little."
no subject
Yeah, still the same old Steve - except for how he's taller than Bucky, and built like some kind of weightlifter, and it's all impossible - or should be.
"Is it permanent?"
Maybe he's still dreaming. It doesn't feel like it, though.
no subject
He looks back to make sure they're not being followed.
They're not, but they've been spotted anyway, because that's when the explosions begin.
Okay. They'll just have to find another way out.
no subject
Evidently Steve agrees, since he looks around fast and runs up a flight of stairs toward the metal catwalk above. Bucky dashes after him, hard on his heels, and they barrel down the walkway toward the bridge crossing.
Steve reaches it first-- and stops, staring at something. Bucky catches up and grabs for the railing as the sudden stop threatens to knock him off balance again.
"Captain America! How exciting!"
Bucky's head jerks up, and he stares across at the smug Nazi bastard and the doctor who trails him.
Somehow, he doesn't know how, that bastard recognizes Steve.
no subject
He did not imagine, "I am a great fan of your films!"
Steve walks across the catwalk to meet his forebearer, his nemesis.
Johann Schmidt.
no subject
It doesn't seem to bother Steve, who's squared off to confront the Nazi in the middle of the bridge. He's too far away to hear what they're saying, so Bucky keeps a weather eye on the doctor, as much as he can, and watches.
Steve throws the first punch; the Nazi rocks back a step, slams his fist against that flag-painted shield Steve's been carrying, and then the fight's on in earnest.
Bucky doesn't have the chance to figure out what he can do to help, though; Steve kicks the arrogant S.O.B. backward several feet, and the doctor scurries forward and slaps a lever in panic. The bridge splits in the middle and begins to draw back on each side. He does what he can to help it, pulling at the railing as it slides along, bringing Steve back to precarious safety.
The Nazi shouts something else -- "I was his greatest success!" -- and begins to claw at his own face. Standing beside Steve, Bucky stares in horror as the man peels off his own skin, revealing the hideous visage beneath.
Maddened eyes glare at them from a blood-red skull, and Bucky swallows hard.
"You don't have one of those, do you?"
no subject
This is the fate that he avoided. Schmidt thinks it's made him superhuman, the next step in evolution--but Steve can only remember Dr. Erskine pointing at his heart and saying Stay who you are. A good man.
That's something Schmidt, for all his plots and plans and strength and speechifying, will never have.
"Unlike you," says Schmidt as he and the little doctor get into an elevator, "I embrace it proudly! Without fear!"
"Then how come you're running!" Steve shouts back.
In response the elevator doors slide closed.
The explosions are only growing more intense. The air is thick with smoke and ashes. Enough time has been wasted with Schmidt--it's time to go. There's a beam overhead that stretches to the other side of the factory--it looks like that's their way out.
"Come on," Steve tells Bucky, "up." They make for the nearest stairs.
no subject
"Thought we joined the army, not the circus," Bucky mutters.
no subject
no subject
The beam's just barely wider than his shoe. Bucky holds his arms out a little, one to each side, and starts cat-footing his way across. He keeps his eyes fixed on his goal, only looking down in brief glimpses to check his footing -- just enough to see the explosion blooming beneath him like the pits of hell.
Metal groans, and the beam shivers; he sways with it but catches himself, and starts moving faster.
no subject
Not that there's any way to help him from here.
Just let him get out, Steve prays. Let him reach the end and get out.
no subject
Steel shrieks as the beam ratchets downward and begins to tear free of its anchor on the far side. He abandons caution and breaks into a mad dash, then leaps for the far railing as the whole thing gives way beneath his feet.
Bucky pulls himself up and rolls over the top of the rail to the dubious safety of the catwalk, then stares back across the abyss at Steve.
"There's got to be a rope or something!" he shouts.
no subject
Steve waves him on. "Just go! Get out of here!"
Bucky's on the other side and that's all that matters.
no subject
"NO!"
Bucky's yell is harsh and raw - and there's no room in it for argument.
"Not without you!"
no subject
"Hell," says Steve.
He looks around to get an idea of how to manage this. He bends back the railing to give himself more room, and takes several steps away from the chasm. The explosions grow only more intense--it won't be long until the building comes down around them.
There's a moment--just a moment--of doubt. I don't expect you to understand this because you're just a chorus girl. He knows he can run fast and far. He knows he can leap high.
He doesn't know if he can do this.
He runs, and at the edge, he jumps.
It's truly a leap of faith.