Chapter 8
“Sergeant James Barnes… 107th… Barnes…” She lolled the words out of her mouth. She had been strapped to an operating table for a little over a day now. There was nothing left in her but to repeat her name and rank. Why had she thought it was a good idea to enlist in the army? She really hadn’t had to. She was a girl, for Christ’s sake, it had taken so much effort to get into the army. That’s right, she’d done it because of Stevie. She’d somehow made it into the army… and then she’d been captured. Just like that. Lying on an operating table, reciting her name and rank. What a sad way to end her life.
“Bucky?!” Came a voice from her left. She tried to see the figure that was rushing toward her table, but she couldn’t quite make it out. “Oh my god…” The person muttered. Bucky stopped speaking to try to get a closer look at whoever was undoing her restraints. It was a woman, how shocking. A tall, muscular woman, clad in a leather jacket and a helmet that barely covered a strange, spangly outfit of red white and blue. “It’s me,” The woman spoke to Bucky as she finished undoing the straps of the operating table, “It’s Stevie.” Starting to sit up, Bucky took a closer look at her rescuer.
“Stevie…” Bucky said, completely flabbergasted, but glad to see her best friend.
“C’mon.” Stevie breathed, pulling Bucky into a standing position, supporting her weight as she was not able to hold herself up just yet. “I thought you were dead.” Stevie spoke, looking at her companion. She gripped Bucky’s shoulders just to make sure that she was real.
“I thought you were smaller.” Was all Bucky could say, because Stevie’s physique had changed quite drastically. The tall, heavily muscled woman standing before her was nothing like the thin, weak, somewhat sickly girl that Bucky knew. And yet her voice was the same. General facial structure was the same. Her eyes were the same and she still cared about Bucky immensely.
“C’mon.” Stevie said hurriedly, practically carrying Bucky out of the room.
“What happened to you?” Bucky asked, feeling like it was a dream. She was being saved, and Steve was… well like that. Maybe she’d finally died.
“I joined the army.” Stevie said. Huh. Somehow that didn’t seem plausible to Bucky, but she was too distressed in that moment to question it too much.
“Did it hurt?” Bucky asked. She was curious as to what happened that caused Stevie to go through such a transformation, but mostly she just really wanted Stevie to be alright.
“A little.” Stevie Rogers admitted. Bucky knew that was Stevie-talk for “It was the most excruciatingly painful thing you could ever imagine.” but she said nothing of it.
“Is it permanent?” Bucky asked as they rushed down an empty corridor.
“So far.” Stevie answered, though there was no doubt in her voice. As they rushed out of the hallway towards a series of catwalks, sudden explosions shook the whole building. Their world was plunged into a fiery, hellish landscape. Stevie turned and began to climb a set of stairs. Bucky followed her, because she seemed to know where she was going.
“Captain America!” Came a German accented voice from their left. Both women stopped and turned to look at another woman standing by an elevator. She stood there in a long, black, leather trench coat that was buttoned all the way up to her neck, with black leather gloves, and black leather boots. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her head. Her eyes were sunken back slightly from her head, but, despite this, she was incredibly handsome. Ominous, yet beautiful. It was as if she knew she was evil and embraced it. The terrifying vibes this woman gave off sent chills up Bucky’s spine. “How exciting!” the woman continued, handing a black briefcase to a bespectacled man to her right, “I am a great fan of your films.” The woman began to walk across the platform she was standing on. As she turned, the red emblem on her trench coat was revealed to the Americans: a skull with six tentacles protruding from it, surrounded by a red circle. The symbol of HYDRA. It definitely added to the destructive air that this woman gave off.
The woman stepped forward onto a catwalk, and Stephanie followed suit on the other end of the platform. “So,” Began the lady, her German accent strong, though she enunciated her english perfectly, “Dr. Erskine managed it after all. Not exactly an improvement, but, still, impressive.” As they neared each other, Stevie didn’t hesitate. She just slammed her fist into the right side of this woman’s clearly defined jaw. She stumbled back.
“You’ve got no idea.” Stephanie told her.
“Haven’t I?” The woman threw a punch Stevie’s way. She held up her prop shield to defend herself. The punch left a thick, fist-shaped dent in the metal. No normal human could have done that. Stevie looked frantically from her shield to the leather-clad lady standing before her. Stevie reached into her holster to draw her gun, but was knocked off her feet by the other woman’s powerful blow. As the German advanced, Stevie thought quickly, kicking her foe in the chest with both feet so that she tumbled backward.
The man with the glasses standing on the other side of the catwalk pulled a lever, and the catwalk split in two, bring Captain Rogers and the German back to where they started their advances from. Both women regained their stature, standing at their full and staring each other down. “No matter what lies Erskine told you,” The German shouted across the space, “You see, I was his greatest success!” With that she proceeded to reach her hand around to the base of her neck, gripping her skin tightly. Bucky Stevie watched in horror as the German woman peeled her face off before their eyes, revealing a hideous red skull shape underneath.
“You don’t have one of those, do you?” Bucky asked Stevie, still staring, shell-shocked, at the beast in front of her.
“You are deluded, Captain.” The red skull told Stephanie, “You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality, you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind.” She began to walk back in the direction of the elevator. “Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!” She stepped into the open doors of the elevator, pressing a button on the elevator.
“Then how come you’re running?” Stevie countered, fearless. The scarlet beast simply allowed the elevator to close as she smiled back at Stevie. Suddenly, Stevie and Bucky remembered that they were trying to escape an exploding building. Rushing up a flight of stairs, Stevie leading the way, the two searched for a way out. All they found was an unstable support beam between two catwalks.
“Go, one at a time.” Stevie said, helping Bucky over the railing. Carefully, Bucky moved across, looking down at the fiery depths beneath her. She took a deep breath just as the beam beneath her shook, starting to give way. She ran a couple of steps and leapt onto the platform on the other side just as the beam broke and fell down into the blazing landscape. Bucky turned back toward Stevie.
“There’s gotta be a rope, or something!” Bucky yelled to her best friend across the glowing reds and oranges of flame, her soprano voice breaking as she screamed.
“Just go! Get outta here!” Stevie yelled back, waving her onward. She refused to let Bucky die.
“No! Not without you!” Bucky screamed back, knowing she couldn’t handle losing Stevie. She was on the verge of tears, but willed herself not to cry. She was not leaving without Stephanie Grace Rogers. Stevie could see that in her best friend’s eyes. Shrugging slightly, she stepped leaned down and bent the broken railing to make way for herself. She took a few steps back, making Bucky’s eyes widen as she realized what Stevie was about to attempt. Not sure if she could make it, Stephanie dashed forward and leaped across the distance with all her might. As she flung herself through the air, and explosion set off beneath her, sending her rocketing onto the platform, burnt but alive.
“What the hell, Stevie? That’s not what I meant!” Bucky screamed as she helped Stevie to a standing position. She can’t believe her best friend had actually done that risky move.
“C’mon, we’ve gotta get out of here!” Stevie just called back, ignoring Bucky’s concern. Together, the two girls managed to get out of the collapsing building with their lives.
“God,” Bucky said, inhaling huge gasps of breath as she and Stevie walked away from the carnage arm in arm, holding each other upright, “I love you.” Bucky wasn’t entirely sure what she was saying. She was slightly delusional, and adrenaline continued to pump through her veins, though she no longer needed it.
“Really?” Stevie asked, grin slipping from her face. Bucky turned her head, looking up at Stevie and seeing her as she was: fearless, strong, brave, kind.
“Yeah. I do.” Bucky whispered, leaning into Captain America as they walked away from the flaming mess together.