Chapter 92: A twist at the end -90
With a plan of action, Steve spent the next few days sticking to it. He was left mostly on his own. The soldiers were probably too busy with the war going on to pay him many visits.
He would be visited by a nurse three times a day. During those visits, there would be two armed guards keeping a watch over him. He had learned from listening to the footsteps that those guards left with the nurse, leaving him mostly unguarded.
This was likely how they had missed many of his outbursts so far. He also pretended not to have noticed who was in the bed beside him. Hoping that they wouldn't realize how close his relationship with Bucky was.
They would surely try to use Bucky against him if they learned that.
With the freedom he had, he was able to continue his attempts and weaken the chains holding him down, as well as learn more about Bucky's situation from the treatment he was getting.
He, too, was getting a nurse looking at him three times a day, at the same time as himself. He had also figured out that they seemed to use some drugs to keep him in his coma.
Meaning that he wouldn't be able to wake him up; in fact, it meant that he would probably have to wheel out his bed, maybe even some of the machines as well.
Overall it looked like getting Bucky out safely would be many times more difficult than getting out himself. He figured that was why they kept him there; even if they didn't know of his personal relationship with him, they would still know that Steve wasn't the kind of man to leave anyone behind.
Well, they weren't wrong; he wasn't about to leave someone else behind, more so as he figured the only reason they kept them alive was to use them against him. So even if it hadn't been Bucky, he would have tried to save them.
While the lack of guards and torture was good, it also meant that he wasn't able to gather all that much information at all.
…
Days quickly turned to weeks, and Steve learned a few more things about his imprisonment. For one, he would get tortured once a week. Either with Hitler himself being there or just some of his Nazi goons.
This was pretty much his sole source of information, with the exception of a few times when he managed to hear the radio. His German being as bad as it was meant he didn't pick up all that much from that.
Which just left the words of the nazi soldiers and Hitler as his own useful source of information. Steve had to take their words with a pinch of salt as they might be lying or boasting. Both to potentially deceive him and to please their leader.
However, through the combination of overheard snippets of conversations and his own observations, Steve began piecing together a clearer picture of the strategic situation. It seemed the war was not going as favorably for the Axis powers as they liked to claim.
Comments about supply issues and unexpected resistance on various fronts suggested that the Allies were putting up a fiercer fight than the Nazis had anticipated.
Not that everything was good news for Steve; he knew that with the fall of the Eastern front, it was entirely possible that the war, which had once seemed to be close to its end, would be able to continue for many more years.
He had, after all, had access to quite a bit of information about the war and was keenly aware of how much of the Nazi's powers were spent trying to deal with the East.
With that manpower now freed up, they could take back the lost territory and start defending themselves again.
One of the only things he had picked up from that radio sounded like propaganda. From what he could piece together, the Germans were trying to make the Allies think that they had more of those bombs from Hydra and only currently lacked the ability to properly deliver them.
If true, this bluff could significantly alter the Allies' strategy, making them more cautious and potentially slowing down their advances. Steve understood the psychological warfare at play; fear could be as powerful a weapon as any bomb.
Steve didn't believe they had more bombs, not from what he had heard around here. They just wanted to buy time and make the Allies pay more attention to ensuring their own defense was up to par.
Which would slow down the offense, giving the Nazis the time they needed to research his blood. Not to mention research all the other things they might have inherited from Hydra.
Steve knew that he needed to escape from here, not just to save Bucky, but to bring the information he had back to the Allies so they could help end this war as quickly as possible.
From what he had picked up, Hitler believed that he would be able to finish his own superweapon before whatever it was America was working on. Steve believed in his friend Howard, but he had to admit that the Nazis did have an advantage in the form of the Hydra stuff they had.
Steve understood very well that time wasn't on his side. Therefore, he hadn't been wasting it. While he might not have been able to collect that much information, he had been doing good work on the heavy-duty chains holding him down.
Clearly, they hadn't taken any chances; these things felt about as strong as his shield did. Yet they clearly weren't quite so indestructible, and he was getting close to the point he could easily snap them at any moment.
So now he was mostly just waiting for the perfect moment. That and still hoping that he would be rescued would make things far easier for Bucky that way.
…
Then, suddenly, on an otherwise normal day, Steve heard the sound of boots stomping heavily in the hallway leading up to his room.
Quickly hiding away the damaged parts of the chains from view, Steve waited.
The door was roughly kicked open, and in came a furious-looking Hitler. More importantly for Steve, he came in on his own.
Hitler wasted no time, his words spilling out in a furious torrent, a stark contrast to the controlled demeanor he often presented to the world. "Himmler, that coward, dares to whisper of peace!" he raged, pacing back and forth like a tempest personified. "Peace, when we are on the cusp of annihilating our enemies once and for all!"
Steve remained silent, an observer to Hitler's unraveling. He had seen the man's speeches, the calculated charisma that could sway masses, but this—this was the face of desperation.
"Destroy them!" Hitler shouted, slamming a fist against the wall. "We must destroy the Allies, crush them under the might of the Reich, not grovel at their feet for scraps of mercy!"
The irony of Hitler's words was not lost on Steve. Here was a man who had orchestrated untold suffering, now undone by the prospect of peace, of an end to the conflict he had fueled.
"We have the means, the will, the right to rule this world!" Hitler continued, his voice reaching a fever pitch. "And yet Himmler, with his delusions of diplomacy, seeks to undermine everything we have fought for. He is a traitor to the cause, a blight upon our glorious vision!"
Steve could feel the dictator's eyes on him, as if seeking an echo of his own fervor in the captive soldier. "You, Rogers," Hitler said, his tone momentarily softening, laced with a venomous kind of curiosity. "The mighty captain America, you shall be my means to ensure my 1000-year Reich! Or rather, the serum flowing through your blood!"
Steve listened eagerly to the trouble of the mad dictator. The information spread through his rant invaluable. Clearly, the war, while not yet completely lost, was still not looking good. Making elements inside Germany wish for a quick end of the war.
Using the fear the Allies might have of their Hydra bombs to make them agree to some kind of ceasefire.
"You really think you will be able to succeed? You are every bit as delusional as I have heard." Steve's voice was steady, despite the churn of emotions within. A plan quickly formed in his mind, and the first step was to make Hitler even angrier.
Hitler's face reddened with fury at Steve's words, a testament to the captain's success in provoking him. "Delusional?" Hitler spat out, his composure slipping further with each syllable. "I have had enough of you, American scum!" He roared and pulled out a gun.
And with that Steve knew his plan had worked out perfectly. Hitler might have been a soldier in the First World War, but now? He was far from that and went far too close to Steve.
Close enough that if Steve weren't bound, he would be able to reach him, take the gun from his hands, and capture the German madman.
So as the moment he had waited for finally came, Steve didn't hesitate to take it. With a powerful flex of his enhanced muscles, he broke free of the restraints, and before Hitler even had a chance to as much as yep. Steve took the gun from him and took him hostage.
The room immediately fell quiet as the Führer froze completely as he realized what had just happened.
While Hitler was no doubt terrified, Steve, on the other hand, was ecstatic. This was far better than he could have hoped for. With Hitler as his hostage he would be able to easily get out of here, and taking Bucky with him would also no longer be a problem.
Not to mention that he might be able to end this once and for all and bring Hitler to justice for all the evils he had done.
"Bet you didn't expect that did you?" Steve mocked as he freed his legs and sat up. Freed from the bed for the first time in weeks.
The gravity of the situation wasn't lost on Steve as he took a moment to gauge his surroundings, Hitler's wide eyes following his every move. The dictator's earlier bluster had evaporated, replaced by a palpable fear of the unknown.
"Listen carefully," Steve began, his tone commanding and clear. "You're going to walk me out of here, and you're going to make sure no one stops us. Understand?"
Hitler, though clearly shaken, nodded reluctantly, but then, in a moment of defiance or perhaps delusion, he hissed, "You think you can just walk out of here with me? The Reich will never fall to the likes of you."
"The Reich is already falling," Steve retorted, pushing the gun slightly for emphasis. "And you're going to help me accelerate that process."
Steve then ordered Hitler to load up the medical devices hooked up to Bucky onto his bed. Then, once that was done, he had Hitler push the bed in front of him while he stood behind the much smaller man, using him as a shield as they went out into the hallway.
As they encountered guards, Hitler was forced to bark orders, each word laced with reluctance and dread. "To the exit, schnell! Do not interfere; this is an order!" Hitler's voice was a mixture of anger and defeat, an odd tone that made the soldiers freeze, torn between obedience and confusion.
With each step, the tension rose, and freedom loomed closer. Steve still had no idea about the layout, so all he could do was hope that Hitler feared the risk of death too much to try anything.
Moving quickly through the hallways of what seemed to be the Reich Chancellery, a building he had seen depicted in his own comics.
Before long, they reached a large pair of double doors. Upon going past them, Steve knew he had walked into a trap. The room he found himself in was massive. The doors behind him swung closed, and a small army of soldiers stood with guns turned towards him.
Steve's heart raced, but his grip on Hitler did not waver. The situation had shifted drastically, but his resolve remained unbroken.
"Drop the weapon, Rogers," a voice commanded from the sea of soldiers. The room, draped in shadows, made it impossible to see who had spoken, but the authority in the command was clear.
Steve held the gun steady, his gaze flicking across the soldiers, assessing his options rapidly. "Not a chance," he retorted, the edge of his voice sharp. "This man is my ticket out of here."
Hitler, visibly trembling with fear, finally spoke, his voice a mix of desperation and a feeble attempt at command. "Do as he says," he pleaded to the soldiers, then to Steve, "You do not understand the forces you are meddling with."
Steve chuckled, humorless. "I understand perfectly. You, a dictator fearing for his life, and me, a soldier fighting for freedom. Seems clear enough."
No sooner had his words left his lips before the bang of a gun being fired and the wetness of blood splattered onto his face.
Steve gaped in shock as the German soldiers had just shot Adolf Hitler in the head with zero hesitation and, in doing so, took away his only advantage.
A/N
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