Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Twenty-Four: Hydra & The Nurse - Finding The Constant

Zola turns back and ask them to run the tapes again.

He is thinking about Doctor Lehmann, and the idea Lehmann broached with him about moving the young nurse into the same room as the patient. He doesn't know that Lehmann has already gone ahead and authorised it; he doesn't know there is only one bed. Zola is not totally convinced as to why it has been requested, but then he was not attacked by the patient...and Lehmann has no wish to share the experience with anyone.

A movement catches his eye, and he sees the nurse entering the room. Lehmann only allows her in for short periods of time; Zola doesn't understand Lehmann's reluctance to use her on the project. He had only returned to base this morning and had noticed the bruise on her cheek, the paleness of her skin, the slight tremble in her hands. He had asked her about it. Her hand had immediately flown to her cheek and she told him she had walked into one of the heavy lamps in the main room.

He has his doubts.

He knows how violent the second personality can be, and doesn't understand why the nurse would lie to him. He realises he is losing sight of parts of the project...but then that is what he wanted, wasn't it? For someone else to take on the full responsibility, to be the Winter Soldier's handler so Zola could turn his mind to other projects, to their other plans for a better future.

And he had thought that someone else should be Lehmann.

In front of Zola is the report of one of the first awakenings, when the patient killed the doctor as he was coming around. Before they knew what to expect. The patient had been insane with anger, and it had taken five guards to take him down. The night before that, another dead body had been reported: a guard was found early in the morning. He had been the one who had been guarding the patient's room. Strangled, windpipe squashed flat. They had gone into the room, expecting the patient to be missing - but no, he was there, fast asleep. He was groggy when they woke him. He didn't seem to know what they were talking about when they questioned him about the guard. Zola thinks about getting cameras installed in the corridors. He remembers grudgingly that this is yet another thing Lehmann has requested and is right about.

He looks at Lehmann, now arguing with Jakobs. Zola realises again he isn't being kept in the loop. There are too many inconsistencies. He really is losing sight of the project. Again he wonders why the young nurse is being moved into the same room as the patient. A thought, an idea buzzes through his mind, but he is tired and doesn't quite catch it. Then the tapes are rolling. He cleans his glasses and settles down to see if they can see where they are going wrong.

Each tape shows the same scene. The patient is placed into the master chair after being brought out of cryo-freeze. He is unconscious. They always strap him down now and the straps are strong, not even he can break them. They do not want a repeat of the first incident. They administer the drug to bring him around, and Zola notices how everyone steps back and how the soldiers grip their guns.

It takes a few minutes and the patient comes around and tries to rise up and get out of the chair. He is looking around the room, teeth bared, his eyes wild and cunning, and he reminds Zola of a captured animal. Most of what he says is lost but his whole body shows what he means: he will kill them all if he gets the chance. The look in the patient's eyes makes Zola's blood run cold. Pure and utter madness. If he gets free he won't just kill, he will tear them apart. There is no reasoning with him, no way of getting through to him.

Then, on this tape, Zola notices something for the first time and he leans forward. "Wait, wait, run that again." They rewind the tape by two minutes and he watches it again, then again, slowed down.

"There... there..." They stop the tape.

The patient has caught sight of something and Zola can see his eyes have widened, and he watches the patient slowly sit back in the chair. He is still angry, still dangerous, but there is a difference coming over him. Zola gets them to play each tape and on most of the tapes they see it. Something happens and starts to trigger a reaction. It is there each time constantly, consistently. Up until now it was assumed it was the sedation taking effect but now it seems to be more than that. They can see that he sees something but not what it is.