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Philips was pacing back and forth between Stark and Carter as he waited word on Rogers and his ill-conceived rescue plan. The French bombers had taken off and returned several hours ago but due to the wooded area around the Hydra base they could not spot anything on the trip back. Philips had a plan to hit Hydra throughout the countryside forcing them to come out of the base to fight them but Rogers had other ideas and now he could be dead, his heart sank at the thought the kid had grown on him since the start of basic training. He looked out the window and could see people in the streets running towards the road that came into town, one of the technicians that SSR had brought along slammed through the door with a smile "It's him" he shouted turning and running down the stairs to go see the returning prisoners. Carter and Stark stood and followed the man as Philips grabbed a cigar and followed behind them.
The trek back from the Hydra base had taken much longer than they had expected since they had to slow down to reduce the pain on the injured. Steve looked back and saw that everyone who got out had survived the trip and he could see the French medics approaching "Stop here let the medics take care of the wounded" he ordered Bucky who put the truck in park and turned it off. Steve jumped out and started walking the rest of the way to the village knowing that Philips would be somewhere between angry and furious at him. As he walked he looked back to find Bucky, Dugan, Howlett, Creed, Morita, Jones, Falsworth and Dernier following close behind him.

"Where you go we go" said Bucky after Steve looked at them all questioningly. Steve chuckled and continued walking towards the village spotting Peggy and Howard as they jogged towards him with smiles.

Peggy hugged him bringing a slight state of shock to Steve as Howard smiled and nodded as he went to meet Bucky and the others. "After everything that you all have been through I present to you the local bar" stated Howard pointing them towards the building prompting them to start walking there. "They have showers on the second floor by the way" he called out right before they entered the building.

Peggy and Steve ended the hug and simply looked at each other as an awkward silence fell over the air around them "Happy to see that you made it" she said looking back and seeing that Philips was approaching them.

Philips walked up as Stark joined Peggy and Steve, "So you disobeyed a direct order, risked not only your life but also the life of agent Carter and Stark" he said as Steve dropped his gaze, "But you rescued POW's and managed to destroy an important Hydra base and have given the French resistance and our forces a chance to drive Hydra and the Nazi's back. So we can just call this a misunderstanding between the two of us" explained Philips with a slight smile. The four of them walked back to where they were making their HQ, "Ok now what did you see in there?"

Rogers sat down at a table as Philips and the others joined him, "Weapons, advanced weapons" explained Steve prompting a look from Howard.

"How advanced?" Stark asked as the curiosity took hold of him.

"Advanced enough that they don't use ammo they fire some kind of energy that I have never seen or heard of before" explained Steve as Howard began writing notes down most likely theorizing on possible ways that Hydra could be capable of such technology.

"Any ideas about the experiments?" asked Philips who lit up a cigar which he liked to do when he liked how things turned out.

"Bucky was inside Zola's lab when I found him, we can ask him about what happened up there I couldn't make much of what was going on when I was getting Bucky out" explained Steve. "The tower where the lab was collapsed under the French bombardment as we were pulling away in the truck." Philips sighed knowing that they had lost a valuable source of intelligence with the tower gone. "Also I met the Red Skull."

Philip's cigar nearly fell out of his mouth as Peggy and Stark both stared at Steve for several seconds. Philips sat down "What happened?"

"Bucky and I were getting the trucks when I looked across and spotted him escaping with Zola. We fought for a minute" explained Steve. "He demolished me, I've never seen anyone move that fast with that much strength. Ever since I took the serum I have never felt overmatched but the Red Skull made me feel small again" explained Steve with a deathly look on his face.

Philips could sense how dejected Steve was, "Don't worry about it, Red Skull has received the serum as well and has had is abilities for years. He knows what he is capable of, you are still learning the extent of your abilities. Together we will hunt the Red Skull down and stop him and Hydra. The question now is how do we do that?" Philips questioned turning to look at a map of Europe.

"Sir we have intelligence that provides three strongholds similar to the one that was here. If Zola still needs to experiment than I would assume that these facilities would be where Skull would be heading" explained Peggy marking two spots on the map. "Our intelligence has not yet been able to find the final base but they are working on it."

Philips nodded "We need to lure the Red Skull out into the open where we can hit him with everything that we got."

Steve shook his head "No, that won't work Skull will be prepared for that kind of plan, his weapons are too advanced for us to take on in the open field. We have to whittle his power base away and corner him somewhere, cutoff the flow of his weapons and leave him nowhere to run" said Steve moving to stand in front of Philips and looking him in the eyes.

Philips nodded and looked at the map "One problem with your plan is that we would have to take out not only transportation routes but also these base which I'm sure will be guarded just as heavily as this last one was and now they know we are coming and what we are capable of" explained Philips.

Peggy, Stark and Philips began to talk about strategies when Steve came up with an idea "Sir, I just took down this base with the help of a small squad of men, Hydra was not ready for such a small force and even seemed confused when they were fighting. What if I could take a squad of men and attack Hydra in key positions until the Red Skull is weak and we can take him down."

"Where are we going to find a team that quickly?" asked Philips as Steve smiled.

"I got just the guys in mind" replied Steve as he turned and headed out of the house.

Bucky and the others were getting their drinking in before cleaning themselves up in the rooms that were now being provided by the French resistance. They had been toasting off and on for almost half an hour when Steve came in and headed right to them. Victor stood up and started walking towards a few of the woman that had been celebrating the return of the POW's from the Hydra base. Dugan went to pour Steve a drink when Bucky grabbed the bottle "Don't bother Steve never has been a drinker" he said as Dugan lowered the bottle back to the table.

Steve sat down with a serious look on his face, prompting everyone at the table to immediately sober up, "You guys have been through a lot in the last few months, and I hate to ask you to do this but...we are going after the Red Skull and I need a group of men to help me do it. You are the best men I have ever served with and I think we can bring Hydra down together." Steve looked at the seven men sitting in front of him and seeing them contemplate what he was asking them to do. Steve moved to speak again but was cut off.

"I'm in" said Bucky standing up "Not like I could let you go off on your own anyway. I mean you've clearly barely made it this far" joked Bucky.

Dugan smiled and looked at Gabe who nodded to him "If he is going so are we" he said as he stood up with Bucky and Gabe who quickly followed him in the action. One by one Morita, Falsworth, and Dernier stood up showing that they were joining up as well.

Howlett stood up "Sorry but no thanks" he said as he finished his drink and walked out of the bar.

Steve stood up and followed behind him "Hey James" he called out as Howlett stopped and looked at him. James was prepared to explain to him why he wasn't going along for the ride when Steve stuck his hand out "I just wanted to wish you luck" Steve said with honesty ringing through his words.

James nodded and shook his hand "Thanks for the rescue but I have things I need to take care of and usually when I end up in team situations things go bad."

Steve nodded "Where you headed?"

"Stark mentioned something about picking our next spot while he was showing us to the bar, Victor will pry stay in Europe but I'm heading to Japan at least until this war is over" explained James turning to walk away. "Oh and don't ask Victor to join up with you, he's uncontrollable and he can't be trusted."

"You think your brother is untrustworthy?" Steve asked a little taken aback by Howlett's honesty.

"I've spent a lot of years trying to contain Victor, I realize now that I'm wasting my time, it's time for me to settle down, Victor will have to make his own choices now" James looked back at the bar and could see Victor through a window. "So long bub" James said as he turned and walked off to the building where his room was waiting.

Steve nodded and went back to the bar to find Bucky and the others drinking up a storm "Hey Steve" called out Bucky, "We thought that we should come up with a name for our little team" he said clearing his throat showing that the alcohol was finally taking hold of him. "We are the Howling Commandos" he shouted for everyone to hear "And we are under the command of Captain America."

Steve got a confused look on his face "Captain America?" he asked Bucky who had sat down next to him as the others resumed telling jokes and drinking.

"Oh c'mon it's a good name, it just sort of rolls off of the tongue besides your outfit already fits into the name. It's a name people can get behind, you can inspire the people to fight for the freedom that you so desperately strive for" explained Bucky slurring his words not meaning a word that he was saying.

Steve thought for a moment and realized that the name pretty much summed him up "I like it" he said as he turned and looked at his Howling Commandos "I'm Captain America."