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

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Nurse & the Patient - Cryogenic Freeze

The Nurse & the Patient - Cryogenic Freeze

Director Lehmann has been busy reorganising things. He doesn't want you with idle time on your hands. Stefan has been given new responsibilities, few of them still tie in with yours. He is now working on the Cryogenic Freeze Team and also in conjunction with Doctor Jakobs on other smaller projects.

Stefan is a fast learner.

Lehmann has given you the responsibility of not only the wellbeing of their patient, but also his language education: you are teaching him all of the Russian and the basic French and German that you know. You point out that you are not a qualified teacher, but Lehmann doesn't seem to be worried. He is honest with you for once. When the project nears the end, when the patient will fully become the Winter Soldier, he will begin more intensive training. But, for now, it will not hurt for him to learn the basics.

The first personality was so shy the first night you shared his bed, but he also seemed pleased that you would always be there. You have not seen anything more of the second personality yet. It is surprising how quickly the human mind can learn to cope with new things. When you look back at how your life keeps changing, you wonder how you are coping with it at all. You barely think of your previous life, of your parents, and that makes you feel guilty.

All that matters to you is this man now, and you wonder what that makes you.

You and Stefan are now required to attend the cryogenic freeze meetings. At first you were not sure what cryogenic freezing even was, but Doctor Jakobs was allowed to give you an overview. He took you to see the rooms where the freezing would take place. You were stunned. You didn't know things like this were possible.

"No, nor did I at first," Jakobs said when you told him.

He also gives you a basic idea of the whole Winter Soldier project. The patient will become a killer, an assassin. No-one will know where he comes from, who he works for. In between missions, he will be kept in cryogenic freeze, and thus will never age. He will become a ghost, a legend, a nightmare. You ask if there are going to be more soldiers on the project and Jakobs shakes his head. Zola's idea for the future was one person to change the world - one person in the right place at the right time can change the future with just a small action here and there. It is the first time anyone has painted you the whole picture and you find it daunting.

Dear God, what would James have thought if he had known.

The cryo-freezing is working, and all the equipment is up and running. Now it just needs to be tested on the patient. They have to make sure that the Winter Soldier's body and genetic make-up is compatible. They have discovered through tests that not everyone survives, not everyone's body can cope with it. There are drugs that have to be introduced to the patient, drugs that will affect him and will take him a while to get over but they are necessary for the freezing to work.

The cryo-suite consists of two separate rooms. The first room is about half the size of the main room, but seems to consist of just as many panels and work stations. This is where the process will be controlled from.

Then there is a hatchway in one of the walls, similar to the hatchway in a submarine. This takes you through to the second room. Standing in that room makes you shiver, and not just because it is so cold in there. The walls are made of some type of metal, wet to the touch and already rust is showing in the seams of the panelling. The floor is bare and slippery, the technician apologises and says it is one of the things they need to address.

But it is the two pods that have your attention. That is what they call them, but to you they look like metal coffins with a window in the lid so you can see the corpse. One of the pods they will use, the other one is a back up.