Captain America: The Timeless Love
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Ch. 4 All Together
Peggy studied the map of the dropzone for the fifth time. The plane ride over to Moscow was a long one, she made best use of her time by being thorough with their location and surroundings. The meet up spot was just north of Moscow in a very dense part of the forest. Since it was April, the weather would be fair, but snow was still present on the ground. She half mindedly scanned the map while the other half was listening in on Steve and Howard's conversation.
They were in the cockpit of Howard's small plane, Stark had hooks in Steve talking about the interdimensional machine that he constructed last year during the Whitney Frost case. A delighted smile was both of their faces, it humbled Peggy to see her two men together again. Howard had missed Steve just as much as she did, but his absence had been harder on Howard. He wasn't just a successful experiment, he was his friend, one of Stark's very few friends.
"And so I'm holding on to Peggy as the Chief was being sucked into this black hole. The poor bastard was inches from death but he was still gunning to turn off the switch." Howard giggled. "So he was able to shut down the machine, and we didn't loose part of Hollywood."
"You didn't get any of that on footage, it would have been great for your movie." Steve joked.
Howard snapped his finger, "It would have been, see Peggy." He turned back towards her, "I told ya we need to have a camera on you. It would have made a great action film."
"I hope you are not suggesting reopening a black hole to risk our lives for the sake of making a film." Peggy folded her map.
Mr. Stark paused.
"Don't you dare." Peggy snapped at him. He laughed.
Steve moved out of copilot seat and took his spot next to Peggy. He pulled out his parachute bag and put on his helmet. "We are almost at the drop zone, gear up."
Peggy pulled her hair into a single ponytail in the back and buttoned up her thermal black army grade jacket and placed her map into her pant pocket. The two helped each strap into their travel bags and parachutes. Steve helped Peggy tighten up the straps around her legs, she winced.
"You ok?"
A blush crept up to her cheeks, "I'm fine, just a bit sore from…dancing yesterday."
Steve mouthed an 'oh' and gave her a shy smile, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, you and I just need more…practice." Peggy glanced over at Howard to see if he was listening. It was bad enough to be humiliated this morning by Mrs. Jarvis. She had stormed into her bedroom with a tray of breakfast, catching the two off guard and scaring the hell out of them. Peggy had instinctually grabbed for her gun under her lamp and pulled the covers over her nude body. Steve practically jumped out of bed with his fists.
Ana was of course startled, "My goodness, it's just breakfast. I figured since you too are headed to Russia I made you guys some eggs with Kolbasa and Syrniki."
Steve quickly grabbed for his pants that laid on the floor by his feet to cover up his indecency.
Ana placed the tray on Peggy's messy dresser and quickly glanced at Steve with a wink, "Oh don't be shy Mr. Rogers, there isn't anything I haven't seen before."
Peggy shot Ana a confused fiery look and then snapped back to Steve who looked helplessly cornered.
"Ms. Carter, it's alright. I caught him by surprise in the showers with a towel. I mostly saw his behind but his front is just as impressive." Ana poured two cups of coffee and presented them to the baffled bashful naked couple. Ana's amused smile never dropped, "Eat up now, you two nearly slept in. Mr. Jarvis has your bags already in the trunk. Have a safe trip, good luck." And she left her apartment without another word, just her cute little cheerful giggle of their embarrassment.
Peggy pulled on her helmet and tried to get her mind focused on jumping. But damn her cheeks were bright red after Ana had left her bedroom.
Preparing for their job, Steve and Peggy readied themselves in front of the hatched door. It was nightfall in Moscow, a faint glow of sun illuminated their path for their jump.
"Coming up on the dropzone in 30 seconds." Howard shouted over the rushing wind, "I'll be waiting to hear from you two over that radio, I placed it in Peggy's bag. I got a place in Moscow if you need me. Or if you two need a bed to share."
"Howard!" Peggy yelled at him.
"What, you don't think I know what goes on in my own Estate. You guys were so loud last night you shook the whole penthouse. How are you feeling Peggy? You sore?" Howard smiled the smug look that Peggy absolutely despised.
"HOWARD!" They both yelled at him.
"Ana's right, it is fun to tease you two." The mustached pilot flicked on the red light signaling it was time to drop.
Peggy, having half a mind to slap him across the face, just bolted out of the plane. She refused to be in the plane any longer or else she would be humiliated more. Steve fell closely behind her. The night air was frigid and there was a smell of snow. The city of Moscow glowed right in front of them in the far distance. As they rapidly approached the tree line, they popped their chutes. The sudden jerk of the parachute opening caused Peggy to groan out loud, her straps hit all the sore spots at once with that harsh thrust.
"You ok?" Steve called after her.
Peggy shot him a glare, "You're really going to ask me that now. Of course I'm not ok." She hissed.
Once landing firmly on the ground, the two bundled up their chutes and covered them up with dead foliage and snow.
"Let's just focus on the task at hand. Shall we?" Peggy kicked some snow on her chute and pulled out her map.
Steve, feeling guilty like her bitterness was his fault, stepped forward, "Peg, are you going to be alright?"
She didn't lift her head up from the map, "A little soreness won't slow me down. It's just my pride well….."
"Yeah, Howard hit a sour note for both of us. But he means well. He's just excited."
"Excited wouldn't be the best word."
"He's happy and he's happy to see us happy. We just started something new and we are all excited together. I'm excited. I'm thrilled to be here with you." Steve touched her forearm, he could feel her easing up.
"I am too," Peggy sighed, "It's been an overwhelming past couple of days. Last night I felt like I could catch my breath, but you ended up stealing it." She smiled at him. "When we get Bucky back, and I know we will, can you promise me something?"
"Of course."
Peggy bit her lip finding the right choice of words, "Can we just settle down for bit and take it all in? I've spent the last 5 years believing you were gone forever, and you…..God I can't even fathom what you believed in. To think I was still alive at 95, that's ridiculous. That must have been harder for you to see me like that. Its sounds worse than just believing I was dead."
Steve swallowed hard. He'd never forget the day when he woke up in 2010 and felt that crushing sense of loneliness. That literally everyone he knew was dead, but when he had found out that she was still alive, it broke his heart again. "Yeah, I think we need that. It has been an overwhelming last few days."
Without really thinking it, Steve's hand reached up to cup her face. He pulled her in close to see those warm brown eyes of hers. They were still as bright as they were that day he returned. Peggy's hand cupped his face as well. He could still feel that slap she gave him, that little bit of pain was the one feeling ground him to this reality. Even through the weirdness of time and space, this painful liquid fire burning in his face and chest was the one thing he knew was finite.
"I do have one question, should we tell the boys?"
Steve laughed, "You know them, they can read us pretty easy."
"That's true."
Suddenly a twig snapped in the distance, it made them both jump. Peggy swung the rifle around to her front and Steve pulled his shield off his back.
"Don't move. Donkey." Came a voice familiar voice thru the dark thick pine trees.
"It's Mom's Keys. Mom's Keys!" A hushed disgruntled voice answered him.
"I thought it was Money." Came another.
"That wouldn't make any bloody sense for a password." By the sound of it, the voices had them surrounding their right flank.
Steve and Peggy looked at each other and lowered their defense. They knew those voices, "The password was Monkey." Steve called to them.
There was a moment of silence as 5 men emerged from the pines. The famous men from the Howling Commandos: Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Falsworth, and Jacques Dernier. All 5 of them stared wide eyed in disbelief at the sight of their buddy Steve.
"My goodness you were able to get them all." Peggy couldn't believe James and Jacques were here. The Frenchmen were usually very hard to get a hold of.
Dum Dum Dugan stepped before Steve, "Well when we got the call from Captain America directly that he needed our help once more, we all wanted to see for ourselves." The man with the Bowler hat looked at Steve and then at Peggy. "And I'm surprised to see that it's my old friend Steve asking me to go on one more mission again." Dum Dum clasped Steve in for a tight hug and a pat on the back.
"Back from dead." Gabe came in and embraced Steve too. One by one, the Howling Commanders all got their happy reunion with their beloved leader and dear friend.
Peggy would never grow tired of these moments, these real moments of Steve reuniting with their world again. It was proof that he was really here, not just for her sake but for his friends and comrades. And for the entire world. Dum Dum surprised her with a big bear hug and lifted her off her feet. A big toothy grin on his face.
"He's back! You got him back! WE GOT HIM BACK! YAAAAAA HOOOOOO!"
Everyone saddled up and began hiking north of the city. Peggy offered to lead the way as the men dragged behind her. Steve was chatting up the whole way, telling his story to his comrades. The five of them were in awe as he explained that he was never dead but capsuled in ice for 70 years. He told them about the difficulty of adjusting to the new era and moving on from the passage of time. Peggy noted that Steve didn't linger too much on the sad part of his adjustment, nor did he tell them about her still being alive in 2010s. He skipped straight on thru to his team up with the Avengers and his many strange and awesome missions with them. The boys started laughing at the oddity of his tales. But they weren't laughing at the strange Gama experiment raging green monster that was the Hulk. They were not laughing at the interdimensional mythical warrior with a mighty hammer that was Thor. They laughed at the fact that Howard Stark had a son and took over the Stark company.
"I'd never pinned that man for the settling down type." Gabe shook his head with a laugh.
"I've never seen him with the same woman twice. It's hard to picture him married to one." Falsworth scoffed.
Dum Dum nudged Steve, "Oh wait, hold the horse here. We got so busy talking about how you were a human popsicle and freakin' time traveled, that we got some news for you. Falsworth got himself engaged!"
"Wow," Steve clasped James's shoulder, "Congratulations. When did this happen?"
Falsworth proudly pulled out a photograph from his breast pocket, on it was a beautiful French woman in a flowery lacy dress. He stared at it with admiration, "Ma fleur de soleil dans le ciel. It was the end of the summer of last year. We hope to marry when I get back as the flowers take full bloom. My Alice." All the men started patting James on the back and giving him playful jokes about settling down.
"We'll get you back to her." Steve promised.
James looked around at his friends, "Well I guess I could consider this my bachelor party. But it's missing the scotch."
Peggy turned around and halted the men, "We should turn in for the night, we are about 5 miles out from Dr. Zola's lab."
Everyone went to work on making camp. Jacques got a fire going, Gabe and Jim provided the firewood. James and Dum Dum dug out some rations for dinner. The group finally together again like old times, it made the night seem peaceful.
The five began exchanging stories that Steve hadn't heard yet, Peggy smiled as the men continued to catch up. This time Steve was listening. She watched him adjacently from the fire.
Dum Dum let out a contented sigh, "Well this almost feels right, but we're missing one."
They all silently nodded.
"Perhaps he's waiting for us." Gabe said.
Peggy pulled out a brown paper bag from her army bag, "Well hopefully this can be the start of things feeling right and for James's bachelor party." She revealed a bottle of American bourbon, the men hooted at her.
Dum Dum grabbed for the bottle, "Peg, you are my girl!" He took a swig and sighed with content.
James grabbed it from him, "Nope, she's our girl. Thank you Peggy."
"To our girl." Gabe toasted. The men all raised their cans or canteens.
Peggy bashfully smiled at them. "I'm flattered boys, I really am. But if I'm anyone's girl, I'm his." She stared longingly at Steve. Well, time to let the cat out of the bag since the bourbon was out.
The five boys all looked at Steve and then at Peggy with knowing smiles on their faces. Like they knew this day would come.
Jacque took the bottle, "Are you two getting married too?!"
Steve and Peggy almost bursted out laughing. Steve waved his hand, "No no. I took Peggy out on our first date last night."
"And you didn't propose to her on your first date? Hell I would have." Jim kidded as he took a swig of the bourbon and passed it on. All the men laughed.
"He took me out dancing, like he promised." Peggy took a swig.
"And I didn't step on your toes." Steve stared at her lovingly thru the flames.
"But you waited to tell me about this mission until a slow song played." Peggy teased.
"I thought that was the best time to tell you." He teased back.
Dum Dum groaned, "Oh am I glad to have you two back together again. Why don't we end the torment, Gabe you have a bible right why don't we just marry them now."
James protested, "Excuse me, I thought we were celebrating my marriage first." He chuckled.
The whole group laughed until the bottle was a quarter gone. It was just the right amount to drift off to sleep in the chilled night air but without regretting in the morning. Everyone tucked themselves into their sleeping bags and fell asleep.
Just as the sun was peaking up on a new day, the Howling Commandos had cleared their camp and loaded up with weapons. It was time to get serious, it was time to get Bucky back.
The hike towards their coordinates didn't take long. They reached the lab a little after sunrise. The dew had frosted over, in casing the old winter's snow in a crisp iciness. Stealth would be different as their footprints crunched towards the lab.
From the distance there was no signings of activity. No smoke, no moving vehicles, there weren't even any fresh footprints outside. Following protocol, the crew proceeded with caution, weapons drawn and as silent as possible. The building wasn't much larger than a warehouse, it would be an easy sweep.
Steve motioned his team to head in thru the back door of the warehouse. The Howling Commandos rushed all in, guns ready for any kind of surprise. There wasn't another soul in site. The warehouse looked dark and abandoned. Papers tossed carelessly around, chairs knocked over, tools and machines spilled everywhere. It was like a tornado blew thru this lab.
At the center of the warehouse was a strange circular locking mechanism, like some kind of machine use to be connected to it. There were many cables and tubes laying around next to where this missing machine use to be. Steve and Peggy cautiously stepped towards it.
"These are intravenous needles," Peggy noted, "The tubes and cables are connected to some kind of life support."
"Hey Cap!" Gabe shouted from a cubicle, he had a file in hand. "He was here. There's files with his picture in almost all of these, his name is everywhere."
Dugan lowered his weapon to look as some surgical tools, "Well if he ain't here, where did he go?"
Steve didn't want to think about what kind of crazy experiments were done to his best friend, "Word about Hydra's unveiling must have reached this physicality and they all scrambled before we could get to them. But we have the upper hand. The Winter Solider was a very strict covert project, I doubt anyone of our Hydra friends back in America knew of this except Zola. It's possible that these guys didn't cover their tracks because they didn't have to fear being followed. Spread out and look for a paper trail."
Everyone went to work reading, decrypting, and interrupting nearly all the files that were scattered around the warehouse.
Peggy grabbed one piece of paper off the floor, it had been handwritten in Russian. A familiar word popped up in the letter, "Oh boy, this may lead to a bigger problem but I think this is the start of a good lead." The boys gathered around her, "This is a letter from a leading member of the covert Russian organization named Leviathan."
"Oh shit." Dugan rubbed his handlebar mustache.
"Leviathan?" Steve looked around confused.
This time it was Peggy's turn to inform Steve of some new information, "Leviathan is just as sneaky and crafty as Hydra. They were founded under order of Joseph Stalin as a deep science and espionage agency. So far they haven't been as bold as Hydra. They've keep a lot of their agents hidden in the shadows. Although last year they stole Mr. Stark's most deadliest weapons and hypnotize him to nearly wiping out the entire city of Manhattan with a harmful gas."
"Well then."
Peggy scanned the rest of the writing, "This letter is in response to Hydra asking them for help. It seems Hydra was in a desperate attempt to reach out to Leviathan. They are using The Winter Soldier as a bargaining chip."
Steve gritted his teeth, "The Winter Soldier was sent to take out the head of SHIELD Nick Fury by an unknown Russian enemy who had ties with Hydra. I think we are now discovering the small strings that bounded their connection."
"So Bucky is now in the hands of Leviathan?" Gabe asked.
Peggy shook her head, "This letter is brief, the last thing that is mentioned is a showing of the Winter Soldier project at some kind of opening. 'We await to see your progress of this project at the opening.'" Peggy recited.
"Well that's very vague." Jim rubbed the back of his head.
Steve casted his eyes down in thought, a wheel was beginning to turn in his head, "Does the letter have a return address?"
"No, but it was addressed directly to a Wilhelm Braunein."
Steve furrowed his brow, "I know that name." Where had he heard that name?
Gabe, Jim, James, Jacques and Dugan all looked at their papers. Dugan shook his head, "No good on names. Apparently this lab didn't use names, each employee was assigned a number. Much like various Hydra labs we've seen before. Hence the covert project."
Peggy placed her hands on her hips, "Then why would Leviathan address this Hydra agent by name rather than by number?"
"It could be that Hydra doesn't want to give Leviathan their numbers, probably not even their base location. They are meeting somewhere else with this project. Perhaps a less covert location than a Hydra science base." James added in.
Peggy tapped her finger to her chin. "So that means Project Winter Soldier is the one string of trust these two very dangerous agencies have of reuniting. Once we rescue Bucky, we eliminate the threat of these two ever becoming friends."
Steve began pacing about. He knew that name, it was on the tip of tongue.
"So this Wilhelm Braunein guy," Dugan scratched his scruff, "He must be the main head of operations if he was the one asking for help. So much so that he used a real name to Leviathan."
Steve stopped in front of a cork board with various fliers on it, some of restaurants, bars, and ski lodges in the surrounding area. Suddenly it hit him. With a confident smile, he pulled off a particular flier of a ski lodge and presented it to the crew, "You guys would never know of this connection. In fact it would be a dead end for you, but that name is familiar to me because there was a Dr. Braunein who ran Project Last Hope."
"The project that brought Red Skull back from the dead?"
Steve gave the flier to Peggy, "And transported me thru time. In Dr. Braunein's file when all Hydra's secrets were leaked in 2014, it revealed where he grew up and his parent's family business."
Peggy read the flier, "Kovoland Ski Resort. Grand Re-Opening." The flier looked brand new.
Steve smiled, "The Braunein family owned that ski resort for 50 years until Hydra agents stormed in and killed all of the members of the family except the son. Dr. Wilhelm Braunein was a young genius who was handpicked by Red Skull to work in their science department. His name became erased from all files during the war and didn't reappear til much later when he took over projects Winter Solider and Last Hope. It would have been like chasing a ghost."
Peggy smirked, "Well, Leviathan and Hydra didn't count on our time traveling solider. We got the upper hand. We know where they are meeting and when. Wednesday at 18 oclock in Vorkuta, Russia. Ill contact Howard and let him know what we found." Peggy pulled out her radio and called it in.
James pulled out a map and located their desired location, "Well Howard better provide us with a ride and fast. It would take more than a day to travel there by car."
Dugan looked at the terrain, "Well there ain't no roads from Moscow to that tundra region, we'd need a hell of a ride to make that trek."
"Monsieurs! What about an all-terrain vehicle!" Jacques called out from the other side of the warehouse. There had been a tarp over a vehicle. The French man had ripped it off to reveal a hunky storage truck with 4 wheel, all weather drive.
The men all smiled and nodded.
"That will do." Steve said.
The crew saddled up into the truck and took off. The boys sat comfortably in the truck's storage while Steve drove and Peggy navigated. The truck drove quiet well in the muddy rocky forest, and performed even better once they hit the snowy region further up north.
"At this pace, we should be able to hit Vorkuta by midnight. Giving us roughly 36 hours to prepare before the opening event." Peggy shouted over the roar of the engine. That was one down side to this truck, the beast had a very loud engine. Stealthing would be impossible in this thing. The entire city would know that a group of Americans and two French men were bargaining in doing some 'off the records military work'.
"Did you hear back from Howard?" Steve shouted back.
"He said he knows a way to get us into the ski lodge. He's booked us a hotel just on the out skirts of the city." Peggy placed down the map and let out a sigh. It was a contented sigh that she just couldn't help but let out. "How does it feel to back in action like this?"
Steve smirked, "It's a lot simpler. Back with the Avengers, there was so much advanced technology. Hydra weapons were more dangerous. Media coverage would capture your movements and all of your mistakes. Security over the next few decades gets a lot smarter than just leaving the back door unlocked."
"Well don't tell Howard, he'll come at you with a pen and paper."
"He keeps asking me about my damn cellphone. About how a phone can be cordless and behave like a radio. I think it's unwise to tell him about the future. We gotta keep him focused on our future, SHIELD's future. I don't wanna see SHIELD fail, not again. And not in the way I saw it fall."
Peggy admired his devotion, "SHIELD means that much to you. Even if it was corrupted by Hydra, Im sure you still saw a reason to join SHIELD back then…in the future?"
"After waking up I joined SHIELD because you wanted me to. The future you. I could see your work in many others at that agency. Your directory was still be recited and respected. Being in SHIELD was the closest I could get to working with you again." Steve's voice grew softer.
"Good lord, I wasn't still directing SHIELD at the age of 95 was I?"
They both laughed, "No. You retired after 60 years of service."
"That's a long time."
"However it doesn't beat my record of being devoted to that ice capsule for 70 years." He teased.
"Well I hope you can devote another 70 years to SHIELD." She teased. "Of course I would need to rewrite a few rules."
"What rules?"
"Well the contract that you signed the other night states that you can't have a relationship with any of the board of directors of SHIELD."
Steve paused for a second, calling her bluff, "Wait are you serious?"
"I'm sure I could write a clause in there." She grinned.