Onak Sha Kree Shel Goa’uld (Which God Do You Serve?)
Bucky Barnes didn’t like remembering his past; seventy years of chaos and torture had exacted a heavy toll on his subconscious. It wasn’t like he couldn’t remember anything, unfortunately, his memory was about the only thing he had left of his old life, but he longed for a sense of knowing what was real and what he’d dreamt up to ease his aching heart.
He saw glimpses of days long past. Images of people he once knew danced through his head and for a moment, all was right with the world. Then the carnage set in. Those happy images dissolved into nightmarish mayhem and Bucky was left scrounging around in the dark for a glimpse of his fractured sanity.
Hydra had done many things to him, but as Bucky would come to learn, there was only one reason his life had turned out this way. Her name was Khione.
To the untrained observer, a name like would make it sound like a scorned lover had left him high and dry.
If only.
The truth was far darker, and Bucky wished that it had only been a bad date that ruined his life.
When Bucky fell off the train trying to help Steve stop Hydra in 1945, the last thing he imagined was that he’d survive the fall. As he lay bleeding in the snow, he felt cursed.
The experiments he’d suffered through at the hands of Hydra no doubt had spared him, at the cost of his left arm. He’d never been a quitter, but as he felt the cold seep into his bones, he just wished someone would put him out of his misery.
If only fate had been so kind.
★
It takes him years to remember what had happened after the fall, but the next thing he does remember is a hot, searing pain tearing through his shoulder. Someone had found him after all and was butchering what had been left of his injured arm.
He tried to scream out in protest but slipped into an unyielding darkness. When he awoke several hours later, he was surrounded by several men in white coats adorned with red insignia.
Doctors?
He glanced around the room, seeing stark green walls and surgical instruments strewn around and the brief spark of hope he’d had faded away. He tried to reach out to the men, to get someone to tell him what had happened, but the words died in his throat as he saw what they’d done to him.
His left arm was gone. In its place was a sleek silver limb that flexed and moved as though it were the real thing. If he weren’t so horrified, he'd be impressed. The technology was unlike anything he’d ever seen.
Could they really make artificial limbs that worked this way? He didn’t think so.
The prosthetics he’d seen as a boy were wooden and clunky, merely used for a sense of normality, not function. The doctors moved closer to him now, and he seized one of them by the throat.
He had an overwhelming strength behind him now, whether it was from the new arm or his serum, he wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter though.
He needed to get out of there, fast.
He leapt to his feet, a little unsteadily, with fists raised to defend himself. He punched out at two of the men in the room, knocking them into medical cabinets, but someone had jumped on top of him now. He tried to wrestle them off.
He ran into the cabinets on the other side of the room to get them to stop, but it was no use. The last thing he felt before passing out was the sting of a needle being rammed into his neck.
He isn’t sure exactly how long he’s been out this time, but he wakes from a deathly cold. He’d recognised it now, but at the time he’d not been sure what the octopus insignia had been on the doctor’s coats.
Hydra.
They swarmed around him now, like a colony of bees. As he glanced around the room, he took in his surroundings. They’d taken him out of a large metal chamber that had a small frosty window on the front. It did feel as if he’d been in a freezer.
★
The doctors marched him into a chamber now, soldiers escorting them down a long and dingy corridor. He tried to fight back, but the soldiers were more equipped. They rammed their rifles into his ribs, and he’d collapsed in agony. They pulled him to his feet and continued to march him forward. As they reached a large set of iron doors, Bucky noticed something strange.
If Hydra’s symbol was an octopus, why did these doors have a large snowflake on them?
The doors open to reveal what Bucky can only assume is a throne room. Who was this for?
The large room was adorned in shades of gold and red and decorated by a large throne sporting the same snowflake as the doors that sat at its centre. He noticed large symbols on the walls, Hieroglyphics, if he wasn’t mistaken.
Though the room was unfamiliar, he could tell it was fit for royalty. He was utterly perplexed at the thought. These were Nazis. What use did they have for a throne?
Did they have their own sick and twisted form of the monarchy? He thought, but he couldn’t have known at the time that he was right.
“KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GODDESS.” One of the soldiers booms before him. Bucky doesn’t quite know what he means.
“I don’t-” He stammers but the soldier strikes him sharply in the back of the legs, forcing him to his knees.
A figure soon emerges from an antechamber attached to the room. Even though Bucky can’t see her face through the veil she wears, he sees her clothes are unlike those of anyone he’s ever met. The woman is clad in rich blue robes adorned with the same snowflake symbol prominent in the room.
He glances up at her face, noticing a large golden tattoo in the middle of her forehead, but he’s soon sick to his stomach. She’s parted her robes to expose her stomach now, where Bucky can see a large slit in her abdomen. He can only look on in sick fascination.
How could she still be alive with a wound like that?
His confusion soon turns to pure terror as a white serpent-like creature pokes its head out of the slit. Its pincers snap towards him, and he felt the bile rise in his throat, but the woman continues to step closer to him. He shrinks back in fear.
“Does this vessel please you, my goddess? I am sorry, we were unable to procure a female Tau’ri. This one is exceptionally strong, I am sure he will suffice.” The woman says to the creature.
Bucky is horrified. What was that thing? Why were they talking about him like he wasn’t there?
He tries to run. He tries to scream but the soldiers hold him tighter, pushing him to the floor.
“Jaffa, Kree!” The woman says, and the soldiers stand at attention. “It is a momentous day. We finally have found a vessel for our beloved goddess, Khione.”
With a nod of her head, the soldiers drag Bucky onto a large slab of concrete in the middle of the room.
Was this some sick devotion to Egypt? Oh, god. Were they about to sacrifice him in some barbaric ritual?
He knew he needed to get out of there. He struggled under the soldiers’ grip, trying in sheer desperation to free himself. The strange woman gave an order, and the soldiers flipped him onto his stomach. He thrashes around as best he can, trying to break free but it's not working.
He strains his neck to look upon his captors. The creature is in the woman’s hand now, and she’s bringing it closer. He screams as the creature squeals and burrows its way into the back of his neck.
Pain flashes throughout his entire body, and he feels the creature grasp hold inside his head. He feels himself sit up, but he isn’t in control of his own body. He sees himself looking at the woman now, her name on his lips.
“Kya. I thank you for your service. You may now acquire a new prim’ta.” He hears himself say in a demonic tone much lower than his normal voice. He isn’t saying those words. He doesn’t know what they mean, but their meaning begins to unfold inside his head.
Kya nods at him, before removing a large dagger from its sheath. In one quick motion, she’s killed a guard and removed his own small creature. She feeds it into the pocket in her stomach, and Bucky is overcome with a sick feeling.
What was this madness?
Images and feelings flood into his head now, those of large space battles and slaughter that completely overwhelm him. This thing in his head is controlling his body, he realizes. He tries to move towards Kya. To take her dagger and cut this thing out of him, but he can’t move.
You can try all you like, James. This body is no longer yours to control. The creature says to him.
I sure as hell won’t let you do this to me. He yells back.
I admire your courage, Tau’ri. But the Goa’uld are stronger. It says, and he realizes for the first time that the voice is female. He can feel himself being pushed aside as the creature takes control of him.
“It is good to see you before me again, my Goddess.” Kya says, bowing her head.
“It is good to be back, Kya.”