Marvel Avengers Fan Fiction ❯ A Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Avengers Fan Fic - The Constant ❯ Chapter 49 - The Winter Soldier & Hydra - The Saving Of Elise ( Chapter 49 )

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

Chapter Forty-Nine: The Winter Soldier & Hydra - The Saving Of Elise

The pain makes the Winter Soldier scream until his throat is raw, and Peter slaps Elise's hand away from the control panel.

“For God's sake, he's had enough! And I've had enough!” He glances at Timur and then back at Elise, who looks at him coldly.

She walks away, opens one door, then a second, and they hear her talk to the guards. She is telling them that they will send the Winter Soldier out in fifteen minutes to be accompanied back to his quarters.

Timur takes the opportunity to talk to Peter quietly. “Peter, I swear to God if you don't tell Caldwell then I will.” His voice is low, but Peter knows he means it.

“All right, all right, just give me...give me a bit more time to figure it out.” But Peter knows that time isn't something he has the luxury of.

Elise comes back in as Peter is releasing the Winter Soldier from the chair. The first thing he does is to remove the tape that holds the Winter Soldier's eyes open so that he cannot shut out the images. Next he undoes the strap holding his head against the backrest. Then he releases the other straps that are holding his body hostage.

“Sit for a minute,” he instructs the soldier as he sits forward, rubbing his eyes. Timur brings him a cloth to wipe away the blood from where his nose has bled. The soldier will always obey them. He is in pain but he will not move from the chair until they tell him that he is allowed.

Earlier the men had watched as Elise had instructed the Winter Soldier about his Constant. Elise's accompanying ministrations are getting worse. Her instructions to him are nothing short of vile. And all the time she sits next to the soldier whilst he cries out in pain, telling him to listen to her, telling him about how his Constant is a whore. And whilst she does, she rubs him between his legs, makes him hard. Screws him up so tightly that his violence towards the woman he lives with is getting worse. Today he is so close to coming, his balls ache, his cock is so hard it hurts. She brought him right to the edge and then left him teetering and all the time her voice whispering in his ear. Telling him about the men Freya sleeps with, making him so very jealous he feels his head is going to burst. Yet once outside the Programming Suite all he will remember are her words but not what she did - and his body will remember its frustration without knowing why.

This has been a shorter session, four hours in total. Before they dismiss him, Timur gets the Winter Soldier to answer the basic questions so that they know the programming has taken. Peter then asks questions about the training he is to do - there is no mission. Caldwell has pulled him out of cryo for weapons training.

They are satisfied that all the programming has taken, they release him and watch as he staggers out to the door, his step unsteady, his co-ordination trying to right itself.

Tomorrow, his training will begin.

They tidy the suite in silence. Elise refuses to speak; she cannot see anything wrong with what she is doing. Peter keeps glancing at her but she does not look at him. After Timur leaves he tries to speak to her but she will not allow him to, just stares at him when he asks what is wrong. Stares at him as he tells her he cannot allow her to carry on performing the programming, and that he will need to discuss matters with the Director.

“Say something!” he ends up shouting, but she just looks at him. He cannot read what is going on in that mind of hers. Then she picks up her files and leaves and he knows what will happen now. She will return to her room, find a bottle and drink. He looks around the suite as if searching for an answer but there is nothing to help him and eventually he shuts of the lights, closes and locks the inside door, locks the outside one and makes his way to his room.

But he has run out of time.

The lights in the programming suite flicker back on. There is a one-way mirror set into the back wall, and there is a corresponding sound-proofed room the other side of it. It is believed to be accessible from the outside only. It was put in when the camp was first built but never used; there has never been any reason to until now. Over time the programmers have even forgotten it is there. Inset into the wall is a door flush with the panelling so its existence is not noticed. It can only be opened from the forgotten room and it now swings open.

Jackson Caldwell and Johann Fennhoff walk into the programming room. They have just sat and watched over four hours of programming without the programmers knowing they were there.

Johann has taken off his glasses and is pinching the skin between his eyes. He is in his seventies now, and the last few years have not been kind to him.

He comes forward slowly and looks at the dials and the settings.

“Well?” Jackson asks, but he thinks he knows the answer already. There is no problem with the machinery, no problem with the programming.

“Your Winter Soldier is not just being programmed...” Fennhoff turns to look at Caldwell “he is being systematically and viciously tortured as well.”

Caldwell is no programmer, but he understands the basics. He is trying to keep his temper in check. After all, it is not Fennhoff's fault, it is he himself who took his eye off the ball on this one. “Help me understand what the difference is in layman's terms?”

Fennhoff sits in one of the chairs and gives him a very basic overview of the dials. Caldwell nods. Fennhoff does admit that the technology is getting old; there are already improvements that can be made that Fennhoff can see.

“The settings decide how much the brain takes in at any one time.” He turns to point at the large machinery overhead. It is a tripod configuration which holds a large cone shape, ending in a laser which sends a beam of energy straight out and into the Winter Soldier's brain. “This, in effect, opens up his mind to our ideas. We know that it is painful and so it is better to take the time and use it slowly on a low setting than faster on a higher setting. On a high setting the pain is immense which means that the brain is trying to cope with the pain it is in and may not take in all of the programming. Meanwhile, the screens are on...” he points to the screens “showing him information you want his brain to access through his eyes. All of this is being fed into him all at the same time.”

“In effect, my programmers are doing it all too quickly?”

Fennhoff looks at him and shakes his head.

“No, your programmers are taking the same amount of time it would take for slow programming, but they are using the settings at their maximum to cause as much pain as possible. Your programmers are torturing him...and they know it. It is no wonder you are having problems with the information being retained. They are doing it over and over again when in fact the information has already been taken in and digested.”

He looks up at the laser and then back at the chair they strap the soldier into.

“And, Jackson...” he looks back at Caldwell “what the hell is that young lady doing? I thought the script was to give him a mild idea that his...what do you call her, his Constant, was a lady of loose morals. Instead she is winding him up to such a pitch that I'm surprised he hasn't raped and killed his Constant by now! I think you will find much of the over programming is down to her, she wants it to hurt him. The others seem a little...wary of her, they cannot control her in any way.”

Fennhoff's disgust shows clearly on his face.

It is no good Caldwell saying he had no idea. He should have. The signs have all been there: the worsening of the programming, the sickening headaches, his treatment of his Constant, the loss of some of the programming itself.

“You need to sort this out.” Fennhoff says, and Caldwell nods.

“I know and I will. Believe me. I will.” But Caldwell doesn't realise he is out of time as well.

The borrowed time that Elise has been living on is very nearly up.

*

That evening, Peter calls in on Elise. He knows what he will find when he lets himself into her rooms. She is drunk, sat in the corner of her room, barely able to stand. He doesn't understand it. Doesn't know how this cool, cold creature allows herself to be laid so low by such a thing as alcohol. He doesn't know what haunts her. She always seems so in control.

She isn't. She is unravelling fast.

“Come on Elise. Let's get you into bed.” He knows that tomorrow he will have to make a decision one way or another. They cannot keep going on the way they are. The programming is working but not the way it should; just recently there have been errors, errors he has had to cover up and Timur will not allow it to go on any more. He can't blame the man.

But tonight as he tries to help Elise up she looks up at him and he sees a madness in her eyes that has never been there before.

“Do you like the way I touch him?” she asks, and Peter frowns. “Are you jealous?” Her voice is brittle, unnatural. She moves forward. He feels her punch him in the stomach and he looks down at her hand, looks at the way it grips something...something that is now buried deep inside him. Then the pain hits him and he looks back at her eyes and as he falls back, he realises he is too late.

Much too late.

*

The alcohol used to help.

It used to banish the soldier's faces, her parents' words. Used to banish the memories.

Not any more. Elise can no longer think rationally. Each time the Winter Soldier is brought out of cryo, the memories return and she punishes him for what happened. She hates him, is terrified of him, hates to hear the American drawl in his voice, hates to see the way he loves his Constant when her American soldier never loved her in that way.

No-one has ever truly loved her.

It is late at night. She has had a drink, but she is not as drunk as she usually is. In her hand is a knife, bloodied. In her room Peter lays dead on the floor. Her mind has given way.

She is out of time.

As she walks along the corridor images invade her fragile mind, images of when her innocence had been brutally taken away from her, images of her mother telling her how worthless she is now, how sullied she has become. Images of the night the soldiers took her to the cornfield, the cold wind, the sound as it rustled almost whispering through the fields, the smell of their hands when they laid them over her mouth.

She wants it to end. She wants it all to end.

She passes a technician in the corridor who looks at her strangely. He stops and asks her if she is all right. He should have carried on walking.

She puts her finger to her lips and tells him to be quiet as she pushes the knife blade into his belly and then leaves him to suffer on his own. And he is quiet. He sits up against the wall, his hand on his stomach, trying to hold his guts in, and he cries softly. He cannot call for help, the shock of what has happened has silenced him. Soon he will slowly slide down the wall and all he can do is pray that someone will find him in time.

She approaches the door she has been heading to without encountering anyone else. She knows where she is and she knows what she wants to do. Without knocking she opens it and walks in catching the occupants unaware. For a moment she stares at the scene. It's looks so domestic.

The Winter Soldier and his Constant are in the small kitchen. He is sat eating soup; she is moving around, putting things away, when she looks up and sees Elise.

Elise can see puzzlement and surprise in her gaze.

Elise closes the door behind her, making sure the knife is hidden behind her back. She doesn't realise that there is blood on her blouse. Her hair is a mess. She is barefoot. Her eyes are black and shining with an intensity that is frightening and yet she is smiling.

“Elise?” Freya steps forward.

The Winter Soldier has stood up and moved forward and is now watching the two of them, taking in the unnatural brightness of the woman's eyes, the way her hand is hidden behind her back, the blood on her clothing.

“You're bleeding,” Freya's voice is concerned. She does not know Elise well, is not used to someone just walking into their rooms unannounced - but she is concerned by the blood. She holds her hand out.

“They hurt me,” Elise blurts out, her smile faltering. She has always hated the woman in front of her...but now she just wants Freya to hold her, to tell her everything will be all right. All the hatred she has built up over the years threatens to overwhelm her.

Freya walks further forwards. “Who hurt you? What happened?” she asks.

“Freya, I want you to step away from her.” The Winter Soldier's voice is low, commanding.

Freya falters and looks back at him. Can he not see the woman is hurt? She is about to speak but Elise's voice captures her attention again.

“Please help me. I need you to help me.” Although she is speaking to Freya, her words are for the Winter Soldier. He knows something is wrong. He knows the woman is dangerous.

Freya turns back to her. Elise is just a few feet away and without thinking Freya walks forward and brings her arms up around the woman. She cannot help it; she is a nurse, she has always cared for people. There is something so needy in Elise's voice, in her eyes and she cannot refuse it.

Elise places her arms around Freya and rests her head on Freya's shoulder and Freya feels her body relax against hers. She brings her hand up to stroke Elise's hair, but as she is doing so the Winter Soldier is reaching behind him to pull out the gun he carries and Elise looks at him over Freya's shoulder.

She knows exactly what he will do. Her fractured mind is planning on it.

In Elise's right hand is the knife. It rests on Freya's hip, and Freya has no idea of the danger she is in. She is talking gently to Elise, telling her everything is all right. She feels Elise move slightly.

The Winter Soldier is watching carefully. He sees that Elise's eyes are on him; sees her slowly raise the knife. She is going to plunge it into Freya's back and for one second he is so frightened he feels sick. He can't talk and instead shakes his head at her, but she smiles as he brings up the gun and before she can do any more he fires.

The shot knocks Elise backwards and shocks Freya into letting her go.

Freya looks around and sees the Winter Soldier stood, gun in hand. She turns back to see Elise lying on the floor, her legs folded under her, blood dribbling from her mouth, her eyes half shut. A bullet wound to her head. She sees the knife that fell from her hand and she puts her hand to her mouth. All this seems in slow motion and she drops to her knees realising Elise is still alive and trying to speak.

“Elise,” the Winter Soldier hears Freya whisper. He moves forward, the gun still trained on the prone woman. He will not risk his Constant's safety even though he can see the woman is of no harm to anyone now.

“I'm so sorry,” Elise is clutching Freya's hand and Freya doesn't know what to say, doesn't know why any of this is happening. Doesn't know why Elise is sorry.

“Call for help!” she says frantically to the Winter Soldier, but he doesn't move.

“It's too late,” he says quietly.

Elise's voice is so very faint but she is smiling now, and still clutches Freya's hand as she bends over the stricken woman. "Il m'a aidé, il m'a sauvé."  - 'He has helped me, he has saved me,'  she murmurs in her native French.

And then she is in a different place and it is her mother who is holding her hand, who is looking at her with such pity and sadness.

"Maman, s'il vous plaît dis-moi que tu m'aimes. " - 'Mama, please tell me you love me,'  Elise begs and Freya starts to cry; she doesn't know what is going through this strange woman's mind but she has held enough soldiers' hands when they are dying to know what she needs. She releases one of her hands from Elise's and smooths back Elise's hair, strokes her face.

 "Je t'aime, mon bel enfant." - 'I love you my beautiful child,'  she says, and leans forward and kisses Elise's forehead.

The Winter Soldier puts his gun away and hits one of the buttons in their quarters, knowing it will summon the guards. He walks up to the dying woman and his Constant. Freya's tears are silent. She looks at him and he kneels down next to her and takes her other hand out of Elise's.

“She's gone,” he says quietly and helps Freya to stand. He holds her tight and neither of them understand what has just happened.

Neither of them will ever know what brought the woman to them but it is obvious she knew the Winter Soldier would kill her rather than let her harm the woman he loves. She wanted to die and he obliged her. He would not feel any remorse and she knew that.

Her time was finally at an end. She did not want to suffer any more.

*

Jackson Caldwell has finished reading the report on what had happened the night Elise murdered Peter. He nods at Marinov. There is nothing else he can say and the matter is now finished, the lessons learnt.

Timur has been let go, sent to another posting. The technician from the corridor lived, but he will have medical problems for the rest of this life. Both the Winter Soldier and Freya are back in cryo. The Winter Soldier did not question what had happened but Freya had and Jackson was truthful with her.

They just did not know.

A new team of programmers has been selected and are being trained. There will be four people, and they will work in pairs. There will also be numerous fail-safes. One team will police the other each time a programme is set.

Jackson will draw up a new basic script to be used each time. It will still cover the ticking clock, but they will ensure that the Winter Soldier is not so violent towards his Constant – she will find him more cold and aloof than disgusted and paranoid. But they have not taken into consideration the long term effects of programming, some things once done, cannot be undone. The Winter Soldier will always be jealous and paranoid when it comes to those he loves. There will always be that doubt lodged in the back of his mind. There are some things they just cannot change.

When the programmers are trained and are up and running they will take the Winter Soldier out of cryo under the pretence of weapons training to ensure that the new way of working does what it should do. Meanwhile, for the use of testing, undesirables to Hydra will be used; prisoners of theirs who no longer serve a purpose will do this one last thing for them.

It will take a while to recalibrate the machines as some new suggestions from Fennhoff need to be incorporated but within two months the new section should be up and running.

And then things can go back to the new normal.