Misplaced In Time

chapter 6

'tact red skull...americans...super soldier...capable...experiment...drain...limits...'

My whole world consists of impenetrable darkness, pain and the confounding snippets of sound my fuzzy mind manages to identify as words. I can't remember where I am or what I'm supposed to be doing, but I can't help but feel like I need to wake up. Like if I could just open my eyes everything would finally make sense.

But then there is a slight pain in my arm, and then even that simple thought is pulled away from my week grasp and I'm once again floating in the dark and emptiness of my own mind. Coherent thoughts are impossible and foriegn to me. The concept of time is a mystery, therefore I know not for how long I remained there, in that unknowable void.

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I run as fast as I can through the halls of the hydra base desperately searching for my best friend. The other soldiers said that he had been taken days ago and that none of the unfortunate ones had ever been seen again.

I stop as I see a figure enter the hallway from a room a little ways down from myself. Zola.

The fear only grows as the implications of his presence at this base are fully realized. What have they done to Bucky?

I hurry forward as Zola disappears into the shadows of the hall. Entering what appears to be a lab, I hear indiscernible mumblings coming from further in the room. I move swiftly across the room to stare down in horror at my best friend strapped down to a table.

"Bucky." My gaze sweeps up and down, scanning for injuries. "Oh my gosh." Wasting no time I grab the straps around his feet and rip them from the table before moving to the ones on his arms.

Then I grasp his shoulders bring his wandering focus to me. "Buck, it's me. It's Steve."

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"Steve?" I feel myself being pulled off the table and onto my feet with a strength far beyond what I remember Steve possessing. I try to ignore the pain and push down the nausea that comes with the movement. Since when was he so strong? And since when was he so big? He's taller than me now!

"I thought you were dead."

I find myself staring up at the taller man. "I thought you were smaller."

There's the sound of an explosion somewhere in the base and we both look in that direction before Steve appears to decide that we are not in any immediate danger and his gaze wanders the room. Apparently he finds something interesting behind me and I take the moment to try and clear my head.

I feel like there is something important that I should remember but my mind is not cooperating. What did they do to me? Why can't I think straight?

All these thoughts are shoved to the back of my mind as steve propels us both forward and towards the door.

"What happened to you?" I choose to ask a question instead of acknowledging the pain that is burning through my entire body. Every cell feels like it's on fire and movement only makes it worse.

"I joined the army."

We make it out into the hallway before my mind finally clears enough for me to remember my unit. I don't know if any more of them were captured or not. But I do remember what happened right before. I remember Percy getting shot, blood coating his side and my hands. Then I was hit in the head hard enough to knock me out.

By the time I woke up I was here, strapped to a table, unknown drugs being pumped into me.

"Percy. We have to find Percy." I stop in my tracks, forcing Steve to stop as well.

He looks at me with obvious concern in his eyes. "Whose Percy?"

"One of the men in my unit. He was shot right before we were captured. I don't know what happened to him, if he's even still alive." I know that if anyone would understand the need to make sure one of my men is ok, it would be Steve. Though he has always been too small to join the army he has always cared for his fellow man and wanted to do everything he can to protect them.

I'm not disappointed when he immediately starts scanning our surroundings for any signs of anyone else.

"Alright, lets start here." Steve motions to a room across the hall from where I was. The first few rooms we search are empty of anything living and I begin to accept that Percy probably didn't live through getting shot. Without  proper medical treatment and care he more than likely bled out.

I'm just about to give up and tell Steve that we aren't going to find him alive when we both hear something from the next room over. We move quickly to investigate and what we find makes my stomach roll sickeningly.

Percy lays strapped down to a table much like the one I had only recently been freed from. He is shirtless and most of his torso is covered in bandages. Several tubes filled with a mysterious golden liquid run from his arms to the machines on either side of the table. They appear to be draining the strange liquid out of Percy, making me wonder how it got in him to begin with.

"Oh my gosh, what have they done to him?" I'm snapped out of my stupor by Steve who then helps my forward to Percy's side. I grab ahold of the table to steady myself and I finally get a good look at Percy's face. There are dark circles under his eyes and his skin has taken on a pale and sickly hue. If it weren't for the shallow and labored rising and falling of his chest I would have thought him dead.

I find myself unable to speak as Steve moves away from my side to the machines that seem to be draining the life right out of my friend. Not even attempting to try and figure out which button to push to turn them off, Steve uses his shield to destroy them. Effectively silencing them for good.

I can do nothing but watch in amazement as Steve repeats his actions from earlier and ripps the restraints from the table with brute strength alone.

Percy doesn't even stir at the movement. I'm greatly concerned about his condition and I can feel the fear tighten its hold at the thought that I might still watch my friend die, without being able to do anything to help him.

"We need to get out of here. No telling how long we have before this whole place goes up." Steve carefully examines the tubes still in Percy's arms before gently pulling of the tape holding them in place then slowly removing them one at a time.

Then Steve lifts Percy up onto his shoulder where he hangs limply. Steve makes sure he'snot going to fall before turning to me with concern shinning in his eyes. "Can you walk on your own? Or do you need to lean on me?"

I shake my head with more confidence than I feel then motion toward the door. "I'll be alright, Steve. You don't need to worry about me. But we need to get Percy medical attention as soon as possible. I don't know what they were doing to him but he doesn't look good."

I can tell Steve doesn't believe me but after a moment of thought he nods once and moves across the room to the door. I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding as I follow painfully after him. I'm not in as much pain as when I first woke up but my muscles are stiff and sluggish. Making it hard to keep up with Steve as he leads the way through the maze that is the hydra base.

After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, we find ourselves on a wide catwalk in a very large room. But just as we enter the room there are explosions below us. Steve wasts no time and starts up the stairs with Percy still draped over his shoulder. We make it to the top and are just about to hurry on our way when a voice rings out above the sounds of the explosions below us.

"Captain America."

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-R.J.