by Alex Irvine
Hearing footsteps, the man spoke up, his voice scratchy. “Barnes, James Buchanan. Sergeant,” he said.
Steve paused in midstep. It couldn’t be…
“Bucky?” he said softly.
Steve raced over and crouched down in front of the cage. Bucky was inside! He was beaten and grizzled, but he was alive. With one mighty swing, Steve smashed the lock. Then he held out his hand. “It’s me, Buck.”
“Steve?” Bucky said, taking in his old friend’s new look.
“I thought you were dead,” Steve said.
“I thought you were smaller,” Bucky replied as Steve hauled him to his feet and helped him out of the cage. When they were both standing, Bucky stared up at his friend, his eyes disbelieving. This wasn’t the Steve he knew. This Steve was bigger, faster, and stronger than the scrawny kid Bucky grew up with in Brooklyn. And now, in a startling turn of events, Steve was about to save Bucky.
“What happened to you?” Bucky finally asked.
“I joined the army,” Steve answered matter-of-factly.
Suddenly, a blast rocked the room. One of the machines on the factory floor was triggered to explode, and it sent Steve and Bucky hurtling. They would have to catch up later. Right now, they had to get out of there.
Putting an arm around Bucky, Steve began to lead him from the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Steve spotted a map on one of the walls. He paused, noticing that it was covered in Hydra symbols that spread all across Europe. He took a mental picture of the map and then, as another explosion rocked the building, moved back into the hall with Bucky.
All around them, bombs continued to go off, shaking the foundation of the factory and making it hard to move quickly. As they made their way down the corridor, Bucky continued trying to get answers. He figured Steve must have undergone some kind of treatment or been in an experiment. There was no way he could have naturally changed into the man who stood next to him. “Did it hurt?” he asked.
“Little bit,” Steve answered, dodging a piece of ceiling as it crashed to the ground.
“Is it permanent?”
“So far,” Steve said.
They had reached a stairwell that led either up to a catwalk or down, back toward the factory floor. Steve started to lead them down when another series of explosions ripped through the building. A huge chunk of wall fell onto the stairs, blocking their way. It looked as if they were going to have to head up.
Dragging the still-weak Bucky, Steve got them up onto the catwalk. Outside, he heard shouts as the escaping prisoners fought against the Hydra soldiers. More bombs went off, making Steve’s ears ring. When the smoke cleared, he noticed that someone was blocking their way.
“Captain America. How exciting,” Johann Schmidt said, a sneer on his face. In his hand he held what looked like a titanium box. “I’m a great fan of your films,” he went on. He handed the box to the man in the lab coat Steve had seen earlier. Then Schmidt moved forward. Steve took a step forward as well.
“So, Dr. Erskine managed it after all,” Schmidt continued. “Not exactly an improvement, but still. Impressive.”
Anger filled Steve as Schmidt spoke. With a cry of rage, he pulled back his arm and punched Schmidt as hard as he could. The Hydra leader went stumbling backward. “You’ve got no idea,” Steve said.
A smile played over Schmidt’s face and he looked almost pleased by Steve’s reaction. “Haven’t I?” he asked. Then he swung. Thinking quickly, Steve threw up his mighty shield, blocking the punch. When he lowered the shield, there was a fist-size dent in it. Steve looked up, confused. A moment later, Schmidt hit him, knocking him to the ground.
“Erskine said your experiment was a failure,” Steve said, trying to catch his breath. He kicked his legs, driving his feet hard into Schmidt’s jaw.
Seeing his leader on the ground, the Hydra scientist raced over to the catwalk controls. His name popped into Steve’s head from an intelligence file. Arnim Zola. Zola flipped a switch and the catwalk split in two, each side retracting into the walls. Steve and Schmidt were separated from each other as both men got to their feet.
When Steve looked over at the Hydra leader, his jaw dropped. It looked like Schmidt’s face was on crooked. Red muscle seemed to bulge out of torn seams in Schmidt’s head, as if his sinister self could no longer be contained by human skin.
“A failure?” Schmidt said. “Oh, no, Captain. I was his greatest success.” Then, with an evil grin, Schmidt reached up—and pulled off his face! It had only been a mask… and underneath was a gruesome bony skull, with bloodred skin stretched tightly over it. Schmidt’s eyes blazed under the heavy ridges of his eyebrows.
As Steve and Bucky gaped at the horrific sight, Schmidt let out a diabolical laugh. Then, turning, he slipped into the nearby elevator, where Arnim Zola waited. A moment later, the doors slammed shut. Schmidt had escaped, but Steve and Bucky were trapped.
Another series of explosions rocked the building, and the catwalk shuddered beneath Steve and Bucky. There was no time to worry about the Hydra leader now. They had to get out of there, or they were going to end up falling to their deaths. Before Bucky could protest, Steve picked him up and threw him across the gap between the two sides of the catwalk. He was about to follow him when—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! More explosions caused the catwalk to split even wider. Steve was left stranded on one side while Bucky waited for him on the other.
“Just get out!” Steve shouted to his friend.
“Not without you!” Bucky shouted back as the roof began to collapse.
Steve looked around. The only way out was on the other side of the catwalk. He raced back as far as he could to give himself a running start and then took off. He was going to jump! He ran faster and faster. When he reached the edge, he gave himself one last push and leaped—just as the biggest bomb went off.
Bucky watched in horror as Steve disappeared into the flames.
CHAPTER 9
Colonel Phillips sat in front of his typewriter, his fingers hesitating over the keys. Taking a deep breath, he continued his note: Senator Brandt. Regret to report Cpt. Steven Rogers KIA. He stopped typing as Peggy Carter came to the door. She looked tired and sad. In her hand, she held aerial photographs of the destroyed Hydra camp. “No sign of activity,” she reported.
Phillips stared at her, his expression cold. She had disobeyed direct orders and helped Steve on his ill-fated mission. While Phillips had never really liked Steve, he didn’t think the kid should have been put in a situation like that. He wasn’t equipped to handle it—even if he had a “captain” before his name.
“We can’t touch Stark,” Phillips said after a tense moment of silence. “He’s rich, and he’s the army’s number one weapons contractor. You are neither.”
Peggy nodded. She had expected that reaction. And frankly, she didn’t care. Not anymore. Not with Steve dead. “You’ll have my resignation in the morning,” she said. She paused, as if not sure whether to go on. “With respect, sir, I don’t regret my actions. And I doubt Captain Rogers did, either.”
“What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions? I took a chance on you, Agent Carter,” Phillips said, untouched by her words. “Now America’s golden boy—and a lot of other men—are dead. Because you had a crush.”
“It wasn’t that,” she said. “It was faith.” But Colonel Phillips didn’t hear her because of a rising commotion outside. Soldiers were running by, shouting to one another excitedly. Walking to the window, Peggy and Phillips looked out. The gates to the camp were opening. And beyond them—battered and bruised but very much alive—was Captain America.
Steve and Bucky walked slowly up the road, leading the squad of rescued soldiers back to their Italian home. A ragtag group of vehicles followed farther behind, carrying the wounded and weak.
Once inside the base, Steve pushed through the growing crowd and made his way over to Phillips and Peggy. “Colonel,” he said, his tone weary, “some of these men need medical attention.” Phillips nodded a
nd Steve went on. “I’d like to surrender myself for disciplinary action.”
The colonel looked at Steve, then at the soldiers stumbling into the camp, and then back at Steve. Despite the bruises and scratches all over his body, Steve’s eyes were alert. The events at the factory had changed him. He wasn’t the same man who had gone beyond enemy lines. He had faced real danger—and survived.
“That won’t be necessary,” Phillips finally said.
“Yes, sir,” Steve said.
Phillips turned to Peggy. “Faith, huh?”
Then he walked away, leaving Steve openmouthed with shock. He had finally proven himself to the toughest man he knew. Turning, his eyes met Peggy’s. There was a jolt of electricity, and Steve felt his heart begin to race. There was so much he wanted to say to her. But she beat him to it. “You’re late,” she stated.
He smiled. That was probably the closest he was going to get to a “welcome home” from Peggy. But he’d take it. “Couldn’t call my ride,” he said, teasing her.
Before he could say more, soldiers crowded around him, clapping him on the back and congratulating him. Peggy stayed right with him. Steve couldn’t keep the smile from his face. For the first time since he’d donned the Captain America costume, he truly felt like a hero. And it felt good.
A few days later, Steve attended a briefing at the London headquarters of the SSR. A newspaper lay on one of the tables. Its headline read: CAPTAIN AMERICA TO RECEIVE MEDAL OF VALOR.
However, Steve had no interest in attending the ceremony. Medals didn’t matter to him. What mattered was winning the war. As Peggy and Stark looked on, Steve sketched out the locations of the Hydra bases he had seen back in Schmidt’s office.
“One here in Poland, one on the Baltic, and the sixth one was… about… thirty, forty miles west of the Maginot Line,” he said, adding the last three. Then, looking over at Peggy and Stark, he added, “I just got a quick look.”
Peggy smiled. Since he had returned from the Hydra camp, things had changed between them. They both felt a spark lying just below the surface, ready to ignite. “Nobody’s perfect,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
Just then, Colonel Phillips entered. Walking over, he glanced at the map on the table and then at the blue cartridge Steve had taken from the Hydra factory. “You figure out what this is yet?” Phillips asked.
Howard Stark had suffered through Steve and Peggy’s flirting for far too long. Eager for a diversion, he answered, “The most powerful explosive known to man, according to Rogers.” There was a hint of bitterness in Stark’s voice. He prided himself on inventing the most powerful things. He didn’t like it that he’d been beaten to the punch. Taking out a pair of tweezers, he gingerly picked up the cartridge.
“Either Schmidt’s darn near rewritten the laws of physics,” he went on, “or this isn’t from—” He couldn’t say it out loud. It seemed impossible that Schmidt’s delusional belief in gods and other worlds could have any basis in fact. He shook his head. “I can say that if they’ve got enough of it, this war isn’t going the way anyone thinks it is.”
The room fell silent as Stark’s words sank in. They were at a critical point in the war. If this cartridge was just one of many, then the results would be worldwide annihilation—and Hydra domination.
Walking over to the map, Phillips began tracing the various x’s that marked the Hydra camps. “Then we’d better take it away from them,” he finally said. “These are the weapons factories we’re talking about?”
Steve put down his pencil and shook his head. “Not all of them,” he answered. “Bucky—I mean Sergeant Barnes—said Hydra shipped all the parts to another facility that isn’t on this map.”
Bucky overheard a lot while he’d been kept in the cage in Hydra’s science lab. He filled Steve in on as much as he could remember during the trek back from the factory. This piece of information was the most important of all.
The room fell silent again as they all processed the news that there were more bombs out there. Bombs of otherworldly power. They needed to get their hands on them before Schmidt had the chance to use them. And while they didn’t know where the majority of the bombs were being shipped, thanks to Steve’s map they did know where the other Hydra bases were. Maybe destroying them would put Schmidt on edge and give SSR the advantage.
“Agent Carter,” Colonel Phillips said. “Coordinate with MI6. I want every Allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base.”
“What about us?”
“We are going to light a fire under Johann Schmidt’s ass,” Colonel Phillips said. Turning to face Steve, he smiled. “What do you say, Rogers? It’s your map. Think you can wipe Hydra off of it?”
Steve returned the smile. There was nothing he would like to do more. And he had the perfect team in mind to help him.…
The Whip and Fiddle was a local London pub that served cold drinks, warm food, and good cheer. That night, it was full of the soldiers Steve had helped rescue from the Hydra factory. Making his way through the crowd, Steve found Bucky in the back, leaning against a barstool. Five other men—Falsworth, Jones, Dernier, Morita, and Dugan—stood a bit to the side. Since rescuing them, these men had become Steve’s friends and, he hoped, they’d now become his teammates.
“Let me get this straight,” Dum Dum Dugan said after Steve explained the mission. “We barely got out of there alive, and you want us to go back?”
“Pretty much,” Steve answered, nodding.
Dugan shrugged. “Sounds rather… fun, actually,” he said. The other four nodded in agreement, and Steve tried not to laugh. That had been easier than he expected. Now he had the rest of the night to have a good time before they set out in the morning.
Turning, he joined Bucky at the bar. “What about you?” Steve asked when they were alone. “You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?”
To Steve’s surprise, Bucky shook his head. “No,” he answered, and Steve’s mouth dropped open. Then Bucky added, “That little guy from Brooklyn—the kid in the alley who couldn’t stay down, and wouldn’t take no for an answer? I’m following him.”
Steve smiled at his old friend.
“You’re keeping the outfit, right?” Bucky asked.
Steve nodded. “It’s kind of growing on me.”
They were still talking about strategy and the mission when Steve looked up and saw Peggy making her way through the crowd. She had traded her usual uniform for a red dress and looked beautiful. Noticing that his friend was distracted, Bucky turned and saw Peggy. He smiled. Not bad.
“Captain,” she said.
“Agent Carter.”
Bucky stood. “Ma’am.”
Joining them, Peggy informed Steve that he had an early morning meeting with Stark. Apparently, the inventor had been working day and night to create some new equipment and needed Steve to come by and try it out. Then she noticed Falsworth and Jones were standing in the middle of the room, singing at the top of their lungs. Dernier and Morita looked on, laughing as the two men tried to pull a couple of girls in for a dance.
“I see your crack top squad is prepping for duty,” she observed.
Bucky gave Peggy one of his trademark grins. The one that had caused plenty of Brooklyn girls to go weak at the knees. “You don’t like music?” he asked playfully.
“I do, actually,” Peggy answered, looking not at Bucky but at Steve. “I may even, when this is all over, go dancing.”
The music grew louder, but it seemed that Peggy and Steve couldn’t hear it. They just continued to look at each other, as though having a silent conversation. Growing tired of it, Bucky held out a hand and said, “Then what are you waiting for?”
Never looking away from Steve, Peggy said, “The right partner.” Then she executed a turn in her stunning dress and left them there with Dugan’s band of drunken maniacs.
Bucky groaned. “I’m invisible!” he cried. Then a realization struck him and he laughed. “I’m turning into you. It’s a horrible dre
am.”
Steve gave him a wicked smile. “Don’t take it so hard,” he said teasingly. “Maybe she’s got a friend.”
As Bucky stormed off, Steve just stood there with a smile on his face. True, he was about to go on a dangerous mission. But things suddenly felt really good. He had his best friend back, a great team to rely on, and maybe, just maybe, a future with Peggy. For the first time in a long while, things were beginning to look up.
CHAPTER 10
The next morning, Steve reported to Stark’s office as requested. But when he got there, Stark had not yet arrived. A young blond woman sitting behind a desk informed Steve that the inventor would be there in a minute. Then she introduced herself as Private Lorraine.
“The women of America owe you their thanks,” she said, getting up and walking over to Steve. “And seeing as they’re not here…” Before Steve knew what was happening, Private Lorraine leaned in, and they were kissing.
Just then, Peggy entered the office, and the look on her face could have turned a man to stone. “Captain,” she said in a voice that froze him where he stood. “We’re ready for you. If you’re not otherwise occupied.”
Turning, she stalked out the door. Steve followed, hot on her heels.
“Agent Carter!” he called. “Peggy! Wait a second!”
“Looks like finding a partner wasn’t that hard after all,” she said.
“That’s not what you thought it was,” Steve said.
“I don’t think anything, Captain,” she said. “Not one thing. Always wanted to be a soldier, and now you are. Just like all the rest.”
It wasn’t right! But he couldn’t convince her. “Well, what about you and Stark?” he said. “How do I know you two haven’t been… fondue-ing?”
She looked at him, still angry, but now with something like pity in her expression, too. “You still don’t know a bloody thing about women,” she said.