𝔹𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕋𝕠 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕝𝕪𝕟 | Bucky Barnes⁽¹⁾

13 | Power of Gods

February 1943 - Austria: Nazi Territory

Ella's head felt heavy, as did her eyelids.

Everything in her body ached and hurt. Her muscles were burning, coursing with a fire that no amount of water could extinguish. Thick layers of sweat glistened on her exposed skin, the lightbulb above her causing a reflection, a glaring sheen across her weak body.

When she finally managed to get her eyes to open, they immediately slammed shut again, and her head lolled to the side. Her hair stuck to her face as the sweat on her forehead acted like an adhesive. The metal table she lay on no longer felt cool against her back, but more like it was burning her, cauterising the person she was.

She didn't know if anything was even real. The pain had been so intense, so torturous, she didn't know if the silence in the room was true, or if she had gone deaf by her own screams. Maybe she was dead - the thought crossed her mind. After all, she didn't remember passing out. Maybe this agony was eternal.

Her eyes opened again, and everything was blurred. The lightbulb hanging over her swung a little as it dangled from the thick black wire, and Ella forced herself to look away from it, feeling herself go into a daze as she watched the glass swing back, and forth, and back again.

There was nobody in the room, which was the first thing she noticed. Maybe they'd got what they needed from her and were now leaving her for dead. Odds are though, they were coming back.

Her breaths were coming in and out as sharp gasps, and she felt the weight of the restraint across her stomach still pushing down on her, as well as the cuffs on her wrists and ankles. Her fists clenched, and she fought through any pain as she desperately tried to escape. It felt like the room was closing in on her, like the air was becoming thick. If she stayed too long, she feared breathing would fail her completely, and she'd drown under these restraints.

A whimper escaped her parted lips, the heavy metal of the cuffs digging into her skin like ice-cold razor blades. She couldn't give up though. Even if it was a lost cause, she had to at least try to get out.

But then, she gasped as she felt a sudden surge of energy blast through her body. the muscles of her arms no longer ached, just for that split second before relaxing almost immediately. A flash of bright blue interrupted her vision, her eyes squinting shut.

When she opened them again, her arms felt weightless, flying upwards with the force she'd been pushing with. She had no idea how she'd done it, but she'd broken the restraints. The metal cuffs snapped and fell. They clanked against the concrete ground, the echo bouncing off the damp walls.

Hastily, she reached for the band that went across her stomach, fumbling with the buckle that attached to the side of the table. She ripped it off, the leather tearing like paper. And she felt her lungs expand in her chest, finally being able to take a full deep breath.

Wincing as she sat up on the table, she reached down to her feet to try and pry off the restraints on her ankles. These ones were similar to what had been on her wrists - a heavy metal that seemed to be fused to the surface of the table.

"Come on," she grunted, her voice raspy and broken. She glanced over to the door, worried someone was going to come in at any moment. She struggled with removing the cuffs, and just when she thought it was a lost cause, something completely unfathomable happened. 

Around her hands, appeared a bright, sapphire blue light.

A glow, emitting from her fingertips.