Amelia groaned in pain underneath Steve who was blocking the rain of glass from falling on her. Although she wasn't cut, his heavy body didn't exactly save her from a graceful fall.
"What's happening?" Amelia asked, lifting her head to look over Steve's broad shoulders.
She can faintly hear Dr. Erskine shouting at someone before gunshots rang through the air. One of the nurses started screaming which prompted Amelia to discover why. She pushed Steve off of her with all her strength just in time to catch Dr. Erskine from collapsing onto the glass-infested floor.
"Oh no," Her voice cracked when she noticed the two gunshot wounds targeted around his heart region.
Dr. Erskine gasped for air, his hands desperately trying to take a hold of something. Amelia pressed her hand down to apply pressure to the wound but deep down inside, she already knew it was too late. Steve rushed over and kneeled beside Amelia, staring at the fallen scientist in horror. Everyone else was too busy trying to shield themselves from the range of fire while Agent Carter went after the man who shot Dr. Erskine and was now in possession of the last vial of the serum.
"You go get him, I'll take care of him," Amelia stammered, trying to pushing Steve away.
Steve shook his head stubbornly and remained at her side. Dr. Erskine stopped fidgeting and reached over to point at Steve's chest. The scientist tried to say something but before the words can become coherent, he breathed his last breath and closed his eyes.
"No, no, no, no," The words didn't sound like words anymore. Everything felt surreal. Maybe if she pinched herself, she would wake up and she would be at home and Dr. Erskine would be okay.
Amelia pressed down even harder on the injury but only blood seeped through the spaces in between her fingers. Steve was breathing heavily; not from fatigue but anger. Before Amelia can utter a word, Steve picked himself up and sprinted up the staircase.
"I'm sorry," Amelia whispered, a single tear dripping down her cheek and onto Dr. Erskine's blood-stained shirt. Howard appeared behind her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hugging her to him. It felt like older times, Amelia thought as she clung to Howard's body. She missed those simple times.
"Where's Peggy? Steve?" Amelia asked Howard as two men carried Dr. Erskine's body off. The test center was completely empty besides the presences of Colonel Phillips, Senator Brandt, a few police officers, Howard, and Amelia.
"They went after the guy that did this. Steve's getting blood drawn right now. The doctors are hoping they can replicate the serum through his DNA," Howard answered. His grip around her body remained secure even when the doctors tested her for shock and other injuries. "They're alright, don't worry." Howard assured when he noticed Amelia violently shivering.
"He didn't deserve this," Amelia tried speaking calmly but couldn't avoid the weak sob that came out. Howard nodded silently, his chin resting on the top of her head.
Believe or not, Howard and Amelia have been good friends since childhood. He was the school genius and she was the shy kid in class. They were complete opposites like the sun and the moon, fire and water. Even after 10 years, Howard was still the popular, loud-mouthed nerd of the school who Amelia strangely trusted with her life. He was like the annoying older brother Amelia never had.
"C'mon. Let's get you home," Howard stood her up and guided her out of the laboratory. Amelia gripped Howard's shirt and pulled him back before they could make it out of the double doors.
"No, I want to see Steve and Peggy. I want to know if they're okay." Amelia pleaded but Howard sighed deeply.
"Ams. Right now, the only thing you should be worrying about is yourself. You'll be able to visit them later." Howard tried to reason. Amelia was about to shake her head but Howard sent her a look that sent her back into silence.
"They're okay. I promise. And Howard Stark never lies." He smiled cheekily at her but even Amelia could see that it was a bit forced.
She kept her head down as Howard led her outside and into his car. They drove off to her apartment without speaking a single word. To others, it was strange to see Howard so quiet, but Amelia experienced his silence too many times. When they reached her front door, Amelia spun around and wrapped her arms around Howard's neck.
"Thanks, Howie." Howard was about to roll his eyes but realized that this wasn't a time and place for that; especially not after everything that had happened earlier.
"Anything for you, Ams." Howard rubbed her arms with his hands. "Just remember: you'll never be alone. Not as long as you've got me around."
Amelia sniffled but mustered up the courage to produce a smile. "I'll remember that." She turned around and unlocked her door, shutting it behind her without another glance back.
Amelia was allowed two weeks off after the whole incident at the lab. Colonel Phillips allowed her that much time to recuperate and recover from what she witnessed with Dr. Erskine. Amelia knew she would have to deal with the deaths of colleagues sooner or later, but she preferred later rather than sooner. She spent most of her time reading books, eating food, and catching up on sleep. Peggy had come over multiple times with bottles of wine and stories to share. The only thing new happening was that Steve was given his big break at becoming the super soldier he was meant to be. The only problem was that it involves tights and lots of screaming children.
After draining her glass of wine, Amelia heard a knock at the door. Retying her bathrobe, she shuffled to the front door and looked through the peephole. She felt her heart tinge with guilt once she recognized the familiar blond man outside her door. She hadn't seen Steve since Dr. Erskine's death, and she didn't even realize it.
She slowly opened the door and pushed herself out of the darkness. Steve looked especially handsome, wearing a brown leather jacket over a plain light blue button-up, black trousers, and regular shoes. Amelia had to admit that he was fairly attractive before the serum but now, all of his best qualities were amplified in the best way possible. He had his arms behind his back and when Amelia came into view, he moved his hands around to reveal a bouquet of yellow daisies.
"Peggy told me that they were your favorite flowers and that yellow was your favorite color so…" He trailed off, feeling the back of his neck heat up from embarrassment. At least he was still the same Steve as before. Amelia reached for the flowers and for the first time in a while, she grinned from ear to ear.
"Thank you, Steve. They're beautiful," Amelia rested them in the crook of one arm and opened the door wider to let Steve in. Steve silently observed her apartment from the living room while Amelia was looking for a vase to put the flowers in.
Amelia's apartment was small but nonetheless, it was home to her. All of the walls were painted a light blue color and Steve noticed some walls had unfinished decorations such as white flowers and trees painted on them. Steve silently wondered if Amelia was an artist like himself. He took a seat on her small leather couch and waited patiently as Amelia placed the flowers on the table in the front hallway.
"So how've you been?" Steve asked once she settled herself on the chair next to him. Amelia glanced down at the floor for a moment and chuckled humorlessly.
"Slightly better than before but I'm still getting there." Steve furrowed his eyebrows.
Amelia sniffled a little bit before picking up a newspaper on the coffee table. "So Captain America, huh? Sounds like a pretty big deal."
She lifted the newspaper to show Steve the front cover. It was of him in the Captain America costume, encouraging people to come to the shows and help contribute to the war. So far, everything was going great. The first show was difficult considering the fact that Steve had never done something like that before. But after the third performance, he felt more confident in himself. Women were drooling over him, and men looked at him with jealously as well as admiration. Kids idolized Steve, and Senator Brandt even mentioned a Captain America comic book was being made. But there was something missing and Steve couldn't help but know exactly what it was.
"Oh yeah…" He rested his elbows on his knees and stared down at his folded hands. "That." Amelia noticed the disheartened tone of his voice and got up to sit down beside him.
"What's wrong?" Steve tried to say something but the words weren't forming. Amelia lifted her hand and rested it on his shoulder.
"Talk to me," Amelia watched as Steve took in a deep breath and brought his hands up to the sides of his face in a frustrated manner.
"It's just that…" Steve sighed before continuing, feeling Amelia's gaze on his face.
"All I wanted to do was help people. But for most of my life, I never had the opportunity. You know, I wanted to go out on the front lines and actually help people. But I'm here, performing in front of all these people."
Steve lifted his head to look at Amelia. He tried to smile but it came out like a grimace. "I guess it's just not what I hoped it would be."
"Then do it." Steve stared at her in confusion. "Help people. You know why Dr. Erskine chose you?" It slightly hurt when she mentioned his name but Steve nodded.
"Because I have strength of heart, not just physical strength." Steve replied, thinking back to what Amelia said about him.
"You have so much potential, Steve. I believe that you'll make the right choices." Steve unconsciously squeezed their interlocked hands.
"Thank you, Ams." Steve whispered, his thumb brushing over the top of her hand. The corners of Amelia's eyes crinkled as she smiled at the sound at Steve using Howard's nickname for him albeit he didn't know that.
"Now go out there and show the world what Steve Rogers is capable of,"
It wasn't long until Amelia was back at work. Colonel Phillips was more than happy when he noticed Amelia up on her feet and willing to fill in for the lost time she had missed. Although, the type of work she was stuck doing wasn't exactly the most exciting job. She had to file paperwork and report back to Colonel Phillips with the completed documents. To recap, paperwork isn't fun.
A few months had passed, and Amelia was yearning to tag along on one of the SSR trips. Life behind a desk was extremely tedious, and the young agent was longing for an adventure of some sorts. When Peggy informed her about traveling to Italy in a few days, Amelia was happy to join. Not just because she was given the opportunity to visit another country and do something other than a desk job, but because she heard that Steve was performing there.
When she reached the camp in Italy with Peggy, she noticed a stage set up near the center of the grounds. She noticed a banner hung at the top that read "Captain America" and a trio of women dressed in red, white, and blue dancing and singing a cheesy song about Steve's persona. The audience of men were hooting and hollering at the girls as they performed, shouting out sexual comments and wolf-whistling. Peggy just rolled her eyes and headed off to one of the tents, presumably to meet with the colonel and the other agents.
Amelia scrunched her nose in disgust as she walked past the stage. She squinted her eyes as she walked around, trying to locate Steve without getting caught by Colonel Phillips. She technically wasn't given permission to be on camp grounds in the first place, but this was possibly her only chance to talk with Steve before he's sent off to another city for another performance.
It took a while but Amelia finally spotted Steve sitting underneath a tarp, slouched over on the floor with his sketchbook in his hand. He was preoccupied with drawing a picture of a monkey on a unicycle wearing the Captain America costume. Amelia only assumed something bad happened today considering Steve's deflated expression.
"Steve." Amelia called out. Steve swiveled around in surprise at the sound of her voice.
"Hi," Amelia positioned herself next to him on the wooden platform, swinging her legs back and forth as if she were on a swing. It started to rain profusely and Amelia made the dumb decision of not bring a raincoat with her.
All of the sudden, she felt a heavy jacket fall onto her shoulders. Steve sent her a sideways smile before turning back to look at his finished drawing.
"Things still not going the way you planned?" Amelia asked quietly. Her heart sank to her stomach when he nodded, a sad expression replacing his smile.
"Today wasn't exactly a good day for me." Steve motioned towards the stage where the showgirls were performing an encore of the Captain America theme song. "They think I'm a joke." Steve admitted. He felt her head lean against his shoulder, warmth and comfort radiating from her body.
"They're been through a lot so don't blame yourself. It'll get better in time." Amelia promised. She found herself in a daydream and she could no longer hear the music playing or the cars zooming past. She focused in on the sound of Steve's deep breathing and the musky cologne of Steve's jacket.
Suddenly, yelling broke out in the air, and both Steve and Amelia looked behind them to find out what the commotion was about. A van pulled up next to the infirmary and like lightning, the soldiers pulled out a man and rushed him inside the tent on a gurney.
"They look like they've been through hell." Steve said out loud, his eyes not leaving the medical tent. Amelia nodded in agreement.
"Those men more than most," A feminine British accent resonated in their ears. Amelia felt relieved when she noticed it was Peggy. The other agent walked over to stand underneath the tarp to avoid the rain.
"Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. 200 men went up against him…less than 50 returned." Peggy sighed deeply when she revealed the terrible news. Amelia felt sick to her stomach. What was going on out there?
"Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were either killed or captured." This time, Steve's head shot up and he jumped off the edge of the platform.
"The 107th?" He questioned Peggy who just nodded with a confused expression.
"Steve?" Amelia and Peggy both called out as Steve ran towards Colonel Phillips' tent.
"Colonel Phillips," Steve said. Colonel Phillips looked up from his documents and took one glance at Steve before looking back down.
"Well if it isn't the Star Spangled Man with a Plan. What is your plan today?" Colonel Phillips questioned in a bored tone.
"I need the casualty list from Azzano," Steve commanded.
"You don't get to give me orders, son," Colonel Phillips bluntly said. Amelia and Peggy both shared a glance and looked at Steve expectantly.
"I just need one name, sir. Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th." Amelia took in a sharp intake of breath when she realized Steve was talking about Bucky.
"I'm gonna have a conversation with the both of you later that you won't enjoy," Colonel Phillips pointed right at Amelia and Peggy but he glared even harder at Amelia. The latter stared down at her feet to avoid all eye contact with the colonel.
"Please, sir. I just need to know if he's alive. It's B-A-R," Before Steve can finish, Colonel Phillips interrupted him.
"I can spell." Steve grit his teeth as the colonel got up from his seat.
Amelia fidgeted underneath Steve's jacket, attempting to cover her entire upper body. Apart from that, she was extremely nervous about Bucky. She was desperately hoping that Bucky was just one of the people that were captured instead of killed. At least they would have a shot at rescuing him and the rest. Steve didn't deserve having his friend killed without saying goodbye.
"That name does sound familiar." Amelia felt deflated and turned to glance at Steve who donned a similar faltering expression. "I'm sorry."
"What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?" Steve asked. Amelia looked at the colonel anxiously but got an answer she wasn't too happy with.
"Yeah, it's called winning the war." Steve shared a look of disappointment with Amelia before looking back at the colonel.
"But if you know where they are…" Amelia spoke out but the colonel raised a hand to stop her from completing her sentence.
"They are 30 miles behind enemy lines through some of the most fortified territory in Europe," Colonel Phillips observed a map behind him and motioned to the area where Bucky and the rest were most likely kept.
"We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that because you're a chorus girl" He pointed at Steve before moving over to Amelia. "And you're not supposed to be here at all," Amelia held back a snarky comment but instead resorted to gritting her teeth and clenching her fists.
"I think we understand just fine, sir." Steve answered stiffly, a hard look plastered on his face. Amelia didn't even try to mask the annoyance on her face when the colonel passed them.
"If I read the posters correctly, you've got someplace to be in 30 minutes." Steve was busy scanning the map on the board, his eyes skillfully tracing the lines and memorizing the geography. Amelia looked at him curiously as she pushed her arms through the jacket sleeves.
"Yes sir, I do." Steve said before stalking out of the tent, determination clear in his hardened eyes. Amelia found herself trailing after him, struggling to keep up with his fast pace.
"Oh I know that look," Amelia pointed out. "You're going to do something stupid and reckless." Steve was busy throwing a different jacket on and slipping a pair of pants over his costume. He replaced the red costume boots with dark brown military boots.
"It depends on your definition of stupid and reckless." Steve said back, grabbing the shield he uses in performances and grabbing a duffel bag filled with clothes and other items.
"I mean, I know I said to go out and help people but at least let's have a strategy first." Amelia tried to reason but Steve continued to walk out of the tent and over to an unoccupied jeep.
"If we do that, we might be too late." Steve snapped as he dumped his belongings into the trunk. Amelia ignored the harshness of his tone and reached her arm out to prevent Steve from slipping into the driver's seat.
"Well if you're planning on saving Bucky and the rest, you're not going to do it alone," Amelia said with finality.
"I'll be fine. I don't want you to get into more trouble than you already are," Steve shook his head and pushed past her arm to sit in the driver's seat, shoving the key into the ignition.
"Like hell you are. Trust me, you need our help." Amelia declared, nodding towards Peggy who was now walking towards the car.
"I heard someone needs a plane ride to Austria, is that correct?" Peggy smirked. After seeing he was outnumbered, Steve gave in and gestured for the agents to hop into the car. Amelia took the passenger seat while Peggy made herself comfortable in the back.
"So you're willing to risk your whole career to help me?" Steve said teasingly but also with a tone of surprise.
"Eh, I'd like to think Colonel Phillips has a soft spot for me and Pegs here."