top secret hydra weapons facility.
austrian alps.
october 1943.

     HOPE seemed bleak as the days went on. The only thing that made their situation bearable was hearing Diane's voice every night in the cells. It helped drown out the sound of Bucky's beatings that resonated in their heads after their noon shift. Colonel Lohmer took pleasure in inflicting pain on others, but he seemed to enjoy Bucky's pain more than the others'. He would hover over him, waiting for Bucky to do something wrong. When it didn't happen fast enough, he would fabricate a flaw in his work that only he could see. It became increasingly difficult for Diane to refrain from intervening in Bucky's almost daily punishments.

     A loud crash made Diane flinch from her spot at the gunpowder line. She looked around and spotted empty shells rolling across the dirty floor. At the source of the mess was Bucky who was hunched over using his cart as a crutch. He seemed to have lost control of his cart again in a bout of harsh coughs.

     "Hey. Di." Gabe guided her attention back to her work before someone decided to hit her. It took a lot of restraint for her to resume her job, but she managed. She prayed for Bucky to get the shells up before Lohmer saw. Please, please, hurry-

     "Dummkopf!"

     "Sorry about that, Fritz," Bucky started having another coughing fit, "can't quite shake this damn cough... You wouldn't happen to have a doctor... in this dump..."

     "We do. I am him."

     Another loud crash rang out as Lohmer began to savagely beat Bucky with one of the shells.

     "JIMMY! You dirty-" Dugan tried to stop him, but two guards grabbed him before he could get far. The guards tried to stop Diane, but she slipped easily between their arms and ran straight for Bucky.

     "STOP!" she shrieked, running over and grabbing Lohmer's arm before the shell came back down on Bucky's head. Rage overcame her as she shoved the brute to the ground, knocking the metal tube from his grip and shocking the spectators around them.

     She stood defensively between Lohmer and Bucky. Chest heaving and fists clenched tightly at her sides, she shot daggers at the vile man.

     Bucky felt a new type of terror paralyze him. His heart dropped to his stomach and waves of nausea rolled over him, weakening him more. "Diane..."

     "Stay away from him," she snapped vehemently, her voice quivering slightly with fury and fear. Fresh rage overcame her and a shockwave of adrenaline pulsed through her. She took a bold step forward, "I'll be damned if I let you hurt him again and damned again if I continue to stand by and watch!" Lohmer, stunned by the sudden appearance of this girl, sat still for a few seconds before recomposing himself. Realizing the gravity of what she'd done, the bravado began to dissipate leaving terror in it's wake. But she maintained her ground. He rose to his full height with fury etched into every feature. She trembled slightly in his shadow.

     "You wretched Hüdin," he growled in a low voice so menacing that it made Diane shiver. Suddenly, his hand was wrapped around her throat eliciting a cry from Diane. His grip on her increased, slowly constricting her airway. She gasped for air and clawed at his hand.

"Stop!" Bucky rasped. He fruitlessly tried to pull himself off the filthy factory floor, but his arms wouldn't hold him. Illness and fear rendered him unstable and shaky.

     Lohmer's gaze fell to the broken man on the floor behind her. Something had caught his attention. Bucky's dog tags had fallen out of his shirt during the commotion and were swinging in full view. Along with the diamond ring strung on the chain alongside them.

     The corners of his mouth twisted up into a malicious grin. He turned his attention back to Diane who was feeling the suffocating tendrils of fear snake around her heart. He removed his hand and she tried to get away from him, but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. He took hold of the chain around her neck and pulled it up out of her blouse to reveal Bucky's wedding band glinting beside her tags. She closed her eyes.

     "Please. Please, don't hurt her." Bucky begged as he attempted to stand up again.

     "Touching sentiment. Wearing each other's rings," he tightened his grip on her arm making her groan in pain, "How tragic this must be. Perhaps you should have kept her at home. A woman does not belong on the battlefield," he cackled, abruptly taking her face in his hand.

     "Get your goddamn hands off of her, you sonuvabitch!" shouted Bucky. Guards rushed forward and seized his arms as he tried to lunge at him.

     "Now you can watch as your wife is beaten within an inch of her life." he taunted with a frightening grin before throwing her to the ground.

     "NO!" Bucky's attempts to break free from the guards' iron grip were in vain.

     Lohmer picked up one of the stray shells as he advanced on Diane who hastily backed away from him. He pretended he couldn't hear the protests and threats from the other prisoners as he prowled toward her. Lohmer's eyes glinted with a malevolence that was all too familiar to Diane.

     Bucky's labored pleas and her comrades' shouts faded into the background. All she could hear was Willie's voice. Diane, go! Run!

     But she couldn't leave him. Not again.

     Then she felt pain. On her head. On her arm. On her side. On her back. Her whole body screamed and throbbed as he viciously struck her with the metal cylinder. Every blow sent a harsh shock through her whole body that made her yell out in pain.

     Bucky fell limp in the guards' arms, "Please. Please, stop!" he begged. A thud then a whimper. "Let her go, please!" Another thud and a scream. "STOP!" Thud and then a strangled gasp. Then crying. "DIANE!"

     "Someone stop the bastard! He's gonna kill her!"

     It felt like hours to Diane, before he finally stopped. She could feel warmth trickling down her forehead and every breath she took sent sharp, stabbing pains through her chest.

     "Get up," he commanded.

     "You've just beaten the hell out of her and now you expect her to stand?" she recognized Dugan's voice.

     "Get up, Fraü," he repeated with more malice. Slowly, Diane tried to sit up, pain racing across every nerve. A hard pain struck her in the chest and she fell back to the ground with a wail. The guards finally let go of Bucky and he was at Diane's side in a second. She winced at every movement as he tenderly pulled her trembling form into his lap.

    "Hey, there. I got you. I got you, beautiful." he whispered, running his hands gently through her hair as she cried quietly into his shirt.

     One of the generals addressed the brutish man, "Herr Lohmer, the negra girl can't work like this or she'll die. Herr Schmidt said not to kill any of the prisoners if they can still be used for experimentation."

     "Fine. I'll leave her for Zola. Her screams will be more satisfying. Take her back to the cells." The guards came over and plucked Diane out of Bucky's embrace disregarding his protests. "The rest of you: get back to work! And you," he took Bucky by the front of his shirt and hissed in his ear, "If I see another shell on this floor, I won't hesitate to kill her. And I'll make sure she suffers until the end."

      He let go of his shirt and left Bucky to ponder that he just witnessed his worst nightmare.

☆

     "Looks like a couple of broken ribs and a lot of contusions. If Lohmer makes her work tomorrow, she won't make it through her shift. Honestly, with that walking pneumonia, you really shouldn't be working either, Bucky." Gabe diagnosed solemnly.

     "I'll be fine," he whispered, his gaze drifted back to the woman he held close in his lap. He could feel her shudder every now and again in his arms.

     "That bastard won't think twice about puttin' 'em out on the floor! He gives slave drivers a bad name!" raged Dugan.

     "He's cruel and sadistic." whispered a small voice. Everyone looked over at her, surprised that she was awake. She tried to sit up which only sent more pain running through her body. She screwed up her face and hissed.

     "Hey, don't try to move too much," Bucky .

     "Oui, c'est le diable, but at least Kleiber is partly human. He has morning shift-" Dernier stopped as Dum Dum interrupted him in his hate-fueled rage.

     "But Lohmer comes on the floor at noon! He'll drag Jimmy and Di outta here and they'll be done for!"

     "Hold on," Falsworth interjected, "Dernier, you were an explosives expert with the Partisans, right?"

     "Oui," he nodded.

     "And you're on shell duty again tomorrow, right, Dugan? Can you knick some of that gunpowder?"

     "Five-finger discount's what landed me in juvenile hall, Limey."

     "Good. And you have the power cells, yes, Jones?"

     "So?" Gabe peeled his attention away from Diane to the Englishman.

     "My specialty in the brigade was strategy. I think we can take care of Lohmer once and for all... but it will require us working in tandem."

     "Why, Lord Falsworth, what took you so long to ask?"

     "Look at my boys working together," Diane mumbled with a soft smile.

     The four of them spent the next hour planning Lohmer's demise. After they finally had a solid plan down, they all decided to get some rest. All except Bucky and Diane who couldn't sleep for their own reasons.

     They sat in silence before she finally broke it with her voice, only this time she wasn't singing. In a low whisper that he could barely hear, she said, "I never told you this, but I get this nightmare. It's just like that god awful night only it's you instead of him. Momma told us about how that would happen if they caught a black man with a white woman. I wish she hadn't. Been paranoid ever since I met you." She finally made eye contact with him. "I won't let these bastards hurt you like that again, James. I'd die before I let that happen."

     "It's alright, Diane. I'm okay. We're gonna be okay." he held her shaking form close to him.

     "Can you promise me something?"

     "Anything, beautiful."

     "Promise when you guys make your escape that you'll leave... with or without me."

     "What? You know I can't do that, Diane. You know I won't-"

     "You may not have a choice, James. I can't fight like this. I'd slow everyone down," she placed a tender hand on his cheek.

     He laid his hand on top of hers. "I'll carry you out."

     She smiled sadly, her thumb swiped across his lip. "Oh, lamour. I wish it were that sim–"

     A shift in the atmosphere made them both tense. The hairs on the back of Bucky's neck stood on end. Diane closed her eyes and whispered a prayer under her breath. The sound of footfall echoed across the grimy concrete floors.

     When she opened her eyes, he was standing at their cell with three other guards with him. She felt her eyes sting and she curled into Bucky's embrace. The odor of dirt, gunpowder and sweat that permeated his shirt was suffocating, but she could hardly care.

     "Hand over das Mädchen," boomed Lohmer's voice. The other men around them began to stir at the disturbance.

     Bucky's grip on Diane unconsciously tightened. She winced but held onto his shirt tighter. "Over my dead body," he growled without hesitation.

     The demented man cackled sadistically. "It would be my pleasure," he pulled out his baton.

     "No! Please, I'll go." Diane pleaded.

     Shaky hands lifted her tags from her neck and over her head. "Diane, no. Stop," Bucky insisted.

     She pushed the metal necklace into his hand and pressed her forehead against his, "Tell Geri she's the best sister anyone could ever have."

     "I'm not leaving here without you, Diane."

     "You'll have to. That's an order, Barnes." she pressed a kiss to his chapped lips. "I love you," she whispered. He shook his head, tears rolling silently down his face.

     "What's going on?" Gabe mumbled, slowly rising from his sleep. Bucky tried his best to keep her from standing up, but he didn't want to hurt her.

     She stumbled in the direction of Lohmer and the guards, but Bucky stepped in front of her, blocking her path. She looked up in shock. "Don't. Please, I'll do anything–"

     "James..." Diane tried to stop him. Lohmer's eyes glinted with the same malice she had witnessed earlier that day. He reached out and took hold of Bucky and threw him to the ground. "JAMES!" she cried, going to him. Lohmer grabbed her as well before she got to Bucky and shoved her in the direction of the open cell door.

     "DIANE!" he tried to go to her, but the guards held him back. Dum Dum and the others looked on in stunned silence.

     She found Bucky's eyes and the dread swimming in them knocked the wind out of her. "James, you're gonna be alright, remember?" she sought to console him.

     He was no longer battling against the HYDRA men, but he looked broken. "I'm sorry. I love you."

     "Walk!" he shoved her forward. She nearly tumbled over, but she managed to balance herself. Her heart was beating violently against her chest. As they walked, she spared as many glances as she could at the men who had become her friends. And her James. She pictured every detail of his face in her mind. His eyes the color of a clear day down to the way his light brown hair felt running through her hands. She feared it may be the last time she saw him.

     The men watched as she disappeared out of their sight. Bucky turned and spotted her tags on the ground.

     "Where are they taking her?" Falsworth asked what they were all thinking.

     "I don't know," he kneeled down and picked them up. FREEMAN, DIANE A.

     "Gabe, will Diane make it through the night?" Dernier inquired.

     "It depends on what he does to her. She needs her rest. Those broken ribs could..." he sighed, "I don't know."

     Bucky screwed his eyes shut, forcing more tears to stream down his cheeks. He squeezed the tags in his hand. "I was supposed to bring her home."

☆

     They ushered her down many hallways and left her in a room, closing the door behind her. She looked up and met a pair of small, beady eyes behind wired spectacles.

     He gave her a mousy smile. "Hello, Ms. Freeman. My name is Dr. Arnim Zola."