Baltic Sea, near the German coast, July 1946
She opens her eyes and sees she's in a house, spacious and tastefully decorated.
She sees a table in the dining room, stocked full of food. She smells the meat, the sauces, the potatoes.
She hears children run around the house, giggling, shouting at each other, before they cry out in a happy shrill.
Mommy! Daddy!
She turns her neck to the side, but suddenly finds out her vision is blurred, as if a thick fog blanketed her. She thinks she sees a silhouette to her right as she tries to touch it.
The shadow moves away, out of her grasp as she suddenly hears a low drone in the distance, growing louder and louder by the second. Soon, it becomes unbearable as she lifts her hands to cover her ears. It doesn't help as the sound pierces her ears, causing her temples to flare up in sharp pain. She opens her mouth to scream, but hears nothing as the sound seems to press her to her knees.
Suddenly she jerks forward, breathing heavily. The house is gone, substituted by an instrument panel of a plane. The drone of the engines is exactly the same as in the dream – an overwhelming, pulsing constant drilling itself into her conscious. She looks around, noticing the fully glass cockpit and other aircraft, to the sides, above and below the one she's sitting in right now. She blinks a few times, her vision regaining focus as she remembers why she is where she is now.
She's here to end the war. To defeat Schmidt once and for all. She knows that the objective is a stretch. She knows that if they don't succeed here, there is no more hope. The Nazis are more powerful now than they ever were before, their weapons far more advanced than the ones the Allies have in their arsenal. Peggy knows it first hand, her infiltration of Castle Wolfenstein, Paderborn or Isenstadt showing her what the Nazis are capable of.
Her mind races as she prepares herself for the upcoming fight. As she mentally goes through the assault plan she is sidetracked again by the memory of her dream. Ever since she returned from the assignment at Castle Wolfenstein, the images seemed to repeat themselves over and over again, every time she closes her eyes. It's only know, sitting in a cold cockpit of the transport plane that she finally understands.
What the dream shows her is a life she thought she wanted before the war, but now feels is forever out of her grasp. A peaceful home, with a loving family and someone to always stand on her side.
The right partner.
The three ominous words dart in and out, but they are enough. Up until this point, there was only one person she considered to fit that description. Steve Rogers, the American golden boy, the perfect and honest man she loved. She sniffles when she remembers her escape from Isenstadt, how she dug out graves for both him and Bucky, how she cried in the dark woods until she had no tears left to spill. She now feels a single tear flow down her cheek as she swipes it off and steels herself. Now is not the time to muse about what could have been, now it's time to actually make the sacrifices of Steve and Bucky meaningful.
"Captain Carter!" she hears a voice from the pilot's seat. It's Pilot Officer Michaels, a young chap from the RAF, the commander of her flight. She had seen faces such as his hundreds of times, young boys eager to impress, only to be led to an inevitable slaughter of the battlefield.
"What is it, pilot?" she responds loudly, trying to overpower the roar of the engines.
"We're closing in on Red Skull's compound, ETA is 5 minutes..." he speaks, before a loud explosion interrupts him. Peggy looks up, just to see another transport aircraft roll on it's back, its cockpit engulfed in flames before plunges into the sea below, disintegrating as it hits the water.
"Aw, shite!" she hears him shout. "We've got flak coming from the compound!"
"Then avoid it!" she shouts back, feeling the aircraft shake from the shells exploding next to it.
"Yes, ma'am, I'm trying!" he responds, gripping the control column so hard his knuckles go white. As they close in, the AA fire is so dense the sky goes black. Listening in on the radio, she hears panicked voices, screams of terror and panic, prayers and the last goodbyes from those that got hit. She can feel her stomach churning and her heart beat faster, when suddenly the air stills. She looks over the panel to see their target – a giant fortress of concrete and steel etched into the coast.
The compound.
"Captain Carter, we're one minute out!" Michaels says, focused more than ever.
"Roger that. Keep it steady!" she responds, already moving towards the cargo ramp, checking her parachute for the last time. She reaches the cargo hold, full of supply crates for the forces that will be lucky enough to land in one piece. She tunes her radio and checks her trusty submachine gun. Then, she hers Michaels on her radio headphones.
"30 seconds to drop!"
She grabs the handle on the wall as the cargo door opens slowly, letting in the chilly, moist air. The plane is flying steady as Peggy observes the sea. Suddenly, though, the airplane shakes violently as she feels it dip towards the ground.
"Michaels, what's going on?" she shouts into the radio microphone. All she hears in response is static. She felt the plane pick up speed as it dives shallow into the ground. She sprints to the jumpseat, buckling in frantically and then hiding her head between her knees. Just a few seconds later, she feels the impact, as the plane bounces up and glides for a moment before crashing down again, tearing itself apart as it skids to a stop on the beach.
She slowly lifts her head up when the unbelievable commotion stops. She sees that the tail separated from the rest of the plane, as evidenced by a large hole to her right. She quickly looks at herself, moving her limbs to check for damage. She's unharmed, which fills her with momentary relief, before she unbuckles the safety harness and lifts herself up from the seat. She quickly moves to the exit, not wanting to stay in the wreckage any longer than necessary. Right after she exits, she sprints forward, taking in the surroundings. The beach is littered with plane wreckage and destroyed crates, as well as scarred by the bombs and artillery shells. Looking towards the compound towering over it, she sees a destroyed bunker. She sets her sights to get in it – the plans she got from Castle Wolfenstein indicated that the bunkers are joined by tunnels that the lead straight into the concrete fortress. As she enters the wrecked structure, she sees her theory confirmed – an open, steel door leading further towards the compound. She moves in, checking every corner, gun ready. She feels a tingle in her spine, the familiar feeling of tension of an upcoming battle.
She stops abruptly, hearing a voice from the room to the right. She lowers her stance and slows down her walk, not wanting to be heard. She peeks her head in and sees the source – a lone, German officer, hunched over a map, barking orders into his earpiece. Peggy thinks quickly – she lets her gun hang from her neck as she moves her hand to her thigh, unbuckling the sheath and pulling out her trusty knife. Low on her knees, she sneaks up to the officer, twisting the knife in her hand so that the blade points forward. When she is close, she rises up, letting the muscle memory kick in. Her left hand grabs him forcefully by the chin, pulling it upwards as she thrusts her right hand forward, the blade of the knife sinking into the flesh and brain just below the base of the skull. He doesn't scream or wriggle – she feels his body tense up as he hisses through his teeth. As the blade sinks further, she twists the hand, finishing the job. She pulls the knife out, letting his lifeless body crash against the table. She holsters the knife, grabs his pistol and moves back to the corridor, not even sparing a secondary glance on the room. She then hears a commotion further down the tunnel. She moves quickly, again preparing herself for an encounter.
She reaches a bend in the tunnel, when suddenly a German soldier comes tumbling from the side, crashing against the wall. Peggy is quick – she pulls the trigger, the burst hitting the target as he slumps down against the wall, blood pouring out onto the floor.
"Don't shoot, friendlies!"
Her lips curve into a small smile as she hears a familiar voice.
"I'm coming out!" she responds, rounding the corner. She doesn't even register when she is pulled into a tight hug. After a second, she wriggles out. Right in front of her are the Howlers – although she sees that not all of them are here. She sees Falsworth and Dum Dum, as well as Morita, although one of his eyes is covered by a bandage.
"Where's the rest, Dugan? And what happened to Morita?" she asks, tone inquisitive.
"We got hit bad by flak, Dernier fell out of the plane over the sea. Morita got a piece of the plane in the eye, we patched him up though." he speaks, his tone morose. Peggy lowers her head and sighs.
A good man murdered, another mauled.
"Hurts like hell, but I'll manage, Cap." Morita spoke, gripping his gun harder.
"And Jones?" Peggy asked, whispering.
"We ran into some crazy dogs with metal jaws, they tore him apart before we could help." he spoke again.
Panzerhunds. Peggy thinks, remembering Castle Wolfenstein again. Another one of Schmidt's creations – dogs pumped with steroids, their jaws substituted by ones made of metal. Rabid, obedient, the perfect instrument of war.
She snaps out of her thoughts when she hears Falsworth cough.
"What now, Captain?" he asks.
"We're closer to Schmidt than we've been in years." Peggy speaks again, her voice finally returning to normal. "Let's get him, no time to waste."
All of the men nod in unison as Peggy takes the lead, taking them deeper into the complex. Soon, they find themselves in the fortress itself, fighting tooth and nail against the defenders. Even though the Germans have the numbers advantage, they do not have the experience. Peggy quickly loses count of the enemies she kills, her emotions shutting off, substituted by muscle memory and what the training and the missions at the SOE and the SSR taught her.
Be ruthless, show no mercy, take no prisoners.
Those three phrases have etched themselves deep into her brain and she subconsciously remembers them every time she sees someone die from her hands. While for a while she thought of those principles as barbaric, the repeated experiences of seeing her fellow comrades wounded, tortured, dying have erased any lingering doubts in her head.
Soon, they all reach a small room. The walls are covered by a maze of pipes that later sprawl under the glass floor before they connect to what look like barrels, placed in the spaces in the concrete. Peggy moves to a door to the side of the room, only to find it opens from the other side.
"Dead end, gents." she speaks, still inspecting the door. "We need to go back."
"What's all this, then?" Falsworth asks, pointing to the floor.
"I don't..." Peggy starts to speak, when suddenly one of the cylinders bursts open. She watches dumbstruck as a large creature rises from the floor, a roar shattering the calm of the room. It looks like a giant man, only it's fully covered in black armor It grabs Falsworth and throws him against the wall. She hears him groan from pain as he hits the wall and crashes down to the floor. The creature rises fully, huffing loudly as it stumbles. Peggy then notices a set of tubes rising from the armored neck and curving behind it's back. She squeezes the trigger, as she sees the bullets pierce the tubes, air escaping from them with a loud hiss. The behemoth falls down on it's knees, clutching at its neck before it collapses to the ground, motionless. Peggy looks at the lifeless body for a second, before remembering.
"Falsworth!" she cries out, running up to him. He manages to sit up against the wall breathing heavily and wincing.
"I'm fine, Peggy. Just a scratch." he responds, before he coughs loudly, spitting out blood.
"Doesn't look like it." she responds. "Can you stand up?"
He nods as he slowly pulls himself up, leaning against the wall.
"We need to get out of here, now!" Dugan says, looking panicked – something Peggy hasn't seen from him ever.
"I concur." she replies, moving back to the door she checked before. As she reaches it, the panel on the height of her head snaps open. When she looks through the glass, she feels her blood go cold.
It's Schmidt, just like she remembers from the photos she saw before the landing. He tilts his head while he looks at her, a smile on his face growing wider and wider. Peggy moves quickly, banging the butt of the gun against the glass. It doesn't do anything, but she hits it again and again, roaring. He smirks back, when suddenly she hears a loud rumble. She turns her head and notices, in horror, that the whole wall is moving towards her and the Howlers.
"Ah, fuck!" Dugan swears. "What now, Peggy?"
Peggy doesn't answer, as she stops hitting the glass. She realizes this is the end – there is no escape. She turns around to look at the rest, their faces scrunched with pain and anguish. She widens her arms as she pulls them into a hug.
"It's been an honor to serve with you, Peggy." Dugan says as they hug.
"Head up high. Let him see we won't falter." she speaks, her tone determined, as she looks back at Schmidt, challenging him silently. Soon, the wall is squeezing them, sucking the air out of their lungs as they claw at it, desperate for oxygen.
"What are you people doing in here?" Schmidt asks, mockingly.
Peggy wants to respond, sass him back, but her vision blurs as she feels her body give out when her eyelids flutter shut.
My people murdered.
So many times.
I lost count.
Peggy's thoughts materialize before she opens her eyes. She does that just in time to feel her arms being twisted behind her back and her wrists being cuffed together. She look up and behind and sees another creature, just like the one they killed in the room, hold her down against the ground. She then notices she has been stripped down to her underwear, her weapon and uniform gone. She looks around and sees Dum Dum, Morita and Falsworth, all in the same state as she is in.
"It's been long since I practiced my English." she hears a voice to the side, the words spoken with a heavy German accent. "It's a dying tongue. I give it 5 years now before it goes extinct."
She cranes her neck upwards and sees Schmidt. He is dressed in his black SS uniform, pristine clean and pressed. His eyes dart around the room, filled with glee as a smirk decorates his face.
"So we meet again, Captain Carter." he speaks again, putting emphasis on the last two words. "I quite admire your resilience. Shame it will be all in vain."
She tries to wriggle out, to wipe that smirk off his face. The only response is more force from the armored creature above her, as it now plants a knee at her lower back.
"I take you have met my Übersoldaten already." he gestures to the black giants. "Marvelous, aren't they. And performing so well when it's just their combat debut."
"We killed one, so I wouldn't gloat so much, Herr Schmidt." Peggy answers, her voice strained.
"What is one in an army of thousands?" the German continues. "A bullet point in a long list."
Peggy does not have an answer to that.
"Now, I wish I could stay here for longer, but I'm afraid I don't have the time. I will, however, make sure you are properly punished for your resistance against the Reich." he speaks as he fiddles with a control panel of the wall. Then, Peggy hears a rumble coming from the ceiling, as Schmidt gestures for the creatures to walk out. As the last beast leaves the room, he turns around and waves at them, still smiling.
"Auf Wiedersehen!" he exclaims before the door shuts.
"Bollocks, where are we?" Falsworth shouts out as he rolls on his back.
Peggy takes in the surroundings – high walls and windows, a maze of pipes decorating the ceiling, metal slabs with drain canals, nozzles with a faint pilot light...
"It's an incinerator." she speaks, stressed "He wants to burn us alive!"
"Like hell he will!" Morita shouts as he manages to pull his legs through the gap in his arms, so that his hands are in the front. As Peggy and the rest mimic his actions, he throws a pipe at her legs.
"Grab that pipe and smash the nozzles! It will delay the fire!"
She complies as she swings, cuffs limiting her moves but not as badly as she thought. She then sprints to the window, only to find it blocked by a steel shutter. She glances around and sees an electrical box to the side. Before she can open it, Dugan takes a swing at her cuffs with the pipe, breaking them open.
"Thanks." she responds before opening the box. She quickly hotwires the shutter and it opens, as the rumble in the pipes becomes unbearable.
"All right, gents, we have to jump. On three.."
"One."
"Two."
"THREE." she screams as they all jump out. She feels the explosion behind her, as it propels her forward, when suddenly she feels something hit her in the back of her head. Her eyes flutter shut as she loses consciousness, before she hits the water. Her body surfaces, a wooden plank behind her back holding her afloat the current carries her away from the compound.