CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
IS HE ALIVE?

BEING DRAGGED AWAY FROM BUCKY was heartbreaking to her. Their medicine hadn't worked all that well, because she woke almost as soon as it had entered her body. No matter how hard she tugged, pushed, pulled away, they managed to get her back into their tight grasps and pin her down. Celeste let the tears fall, a clear stream breaking through the dirt that covered her face. She just wanted a shower. Was that too much to ask? Her silence was deafening, her heavy breaths were broken every once and a while as hiccups racked her body. She could've died right then and there, a part of her wished that she had, but she never got what she wanted.

Celeste gave up. She laid there on the bed, wrists and ankles trapped by the brown leather restraints that surrounded them. She didn't understand what was happening, but what she did understand was that she had failed her mission. She couldn't━︎and she didn't want to━︎imagine what they were doing to Bucky. What had happened to his arm? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? How had he survived that fall from the train? Who had saved him when she couldn't?

The questions were shooting through her brain one after the other. She couldn't stop them because the more she thought the more questions arose, all of which usually ended with being unanswered. She wondered if her father could see her, if he was watching her and keeping her there because she had failed her duties as an Angel. Apart of her knee that she couldn't leave yet, not until she had made a plan to get Bucky out of here alive. Could she get him out of here alive? She shook the thought off and instead try to come up with a way to rescue him.

Her body was exhausted, her powers were still drained from her system, her mind was running on fumes, she was so tired. Celeste just wanted to breathe. It seemed like one thing after another was happening. A part of her wished she had stayed upstairs and never come down to earth, but another part of her knew that she would've regretted not coming down here. She got to meet so many people, including the man that she would fall in love with along with the Rogers siblings and her best friend Peggy Carter.

Celeste turned her head when the sound of footsteps approached her. She slowly turned her head, trying to clear her foggy vision as a man―︎a short one at that―︎made his way towards her. Glasses perched on his nose, Arnim Zola stood before the Angel, a wide smile on his face. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She recognized his face. She was running through her memories, trying her best to rack her brain for his face. Why did she know him? Who was he? And then she remembered. Anger coursed it's way through her body as she clenched her jaw.

"You." She whispered, struggling in her restraints. "I remember you. We captured you. You were supposed to die. So why are you still here? How did you escape?" She narrowed her eyes dangerously at the man, her next words dripping with so much venom it almost made the scientist want to take a step away from her. "What did you do to Bucky?" She didn't give him time to answer as she allowed for another question to escape her parched lips. "Where is he?" She hesitated on her next question, not wanting to know the answer. "Is he alive?"

Arnim stared at the Angel, hands placed dutifully behind his back as he stared at her. He only smiled. "Yes, James is very much alive. We would never want to waste such amazing potential." He sighed loudly, walking around to the other side of the room. Celeste followed him with her eyes. She watched as he made it over to a metal table, a case sitting on top of it. He glanced over his shoulder. "I assume you're wondering where you are. Celeste, isn't it? The Angel. God's perfect little creatures. Only a handful of people have ever met one, and that's usually the person the Angel is protecting."

He flipped open the case, steam sprouting from it as a set of vials appeared from inside. He carefully picked up the tray, pulling it away from the case and setting it down on the metal table. He closed the case, pushing it aside and then turning around to face her. "Admittedly, I didn't believe it at first. But, having spies on the inside, I believe what they tell me, and I'm proud to say that I was not disappointed. You're supposed to keep yourself a secret, are you not? But the first thing you did when you met Agent Carter was expose yourself. And just like that, you gained multiple enemies that wanted to get their hands on you. But I beat them all to it."

Celeste watched as he turned back towards the vial, carefully picking them up and carrying them over to where Celeste lay. He sat them down on a smaller metal table that was placed beside of her. He interlaced his fingers proudly. She clenched her teeth. "What do you want from us?" She asked, trying her best to hide the fear that wanted to make its way into her voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" Arnim Zola questioned. "I want to make you better. You're already such a wonderful and astounding creature. I want to make you even better. This is the start of something wonderful, Celestial. And you get to be a big part of it."

She frowned, swallowing thickly. "What if I don't want to be a part of it?"

Arnim shrugged his shoulders. "I'll make sure you're happy you were." And then he turned away from her and went back towards his secretive vials.