The Right Partner
By rockofmarduk
Chapter 20: Rescue Mission
000
"Fucking rain, go bother somebody else would ya."
Bucky sighed and grumbled to himself as he twirled an empty bullet casing on the wooden lunch table he was sitting at. It had almost been a week since Steven had been taken by Hydra and yet he still sat here at their S.H.E.R. base still waiting for information on Steven's whereabouts. Not to mention the buckets of rain that had been dumping on him and keeping the Howlers from their Hydra hunting.
"What the hell is taking so damn long?" Bucky muttered to himself. "I thought Philips said he had somebody on the inside giving him intel. He promised that his spy would help us find Steve, but we haven't heard a thing from the guy. Goddammit!"
Bucky slammed his hand on the table and stood up. He couldn't take it anymore. He didn't care if he got court -martial and sent to the barracks. He didn't care that a criminal record would follow him for the rest of his life. This wasn't a game to him, Steve's life was at stake and he was going to find him hell or high water.
Grabbing his gun and pack from the ground and making sure no one was looking, he started making his way slowly towards the trees, when a noise caught his attention. It sounded like somebody just swore, but it was a bit garbled and hard to make out. Getting a bit closer, Bucky heard the muttering again, only this time he could make out what he was hearing. It was swearing but it wasn't in English. It was German!
Aiming his gun towards the treeline Bucky shouted "Alright buddy! If you value your life you'd better come out right now!" and waited for a response.
For a moment there was silence, but then the bushes rustled and parted to reveal a young man about early to mid twenty's, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing the standard Hydra uniform, except he wasn't carrying a weapon but a pack on his back, and the way he looked so innocently at Bucky reminded him of Steven almost.
"Please don't shoot." the young man with his hands raised said in perfect English with only a hint of a German accent to it.
"Who the hell are you?" Bucky demanded. It was strange to see a Hydra soldier wandering about alone in the woods, let alone unarmed.
"My name is Eric Koenig and I'm here to see Colonel Philips."
"Oh really. And why would you want to see the Colonel?"
"Because he is expecting me. I have information about Captain America."
Bucky's eyes widen and he lowered the gun a bit. This was it. This was the news he had been waiting to hear. "Is Steve he alright? Is he alive?" Bucky began shooting Eric questions like there was no tomorrow and only stopped when Eric interrupted him.
"Yes, yes and yes to all your questions, but I really need to see Colonel Philips. Please it's important."
Even though he was still a little weary of Eric, Bucky nodded and lead Koenig into camp, keeping his gun trained on the Hydra soldier at all times. As they made their way towards the tent where Colonel Philips and the rest of the higher ups were having their daily meeting, other members of the S.H.E.R. and the Howling Commandos came out of their tents and began following Bucky demanding answers to their unexpected guest. By the time they had arrived at the Colonel's tent, Philips himself stormed outside to find out what the hell was going on followed closely by Peggy and the others.
"Dammit, can't you people see that were in a meeting! What the hell are you.." Philips stopped talking when he saw Koenig standing in-front of him with Bucky at his side. Before Bucky could explain Colonel Philips laughed and grabbed the hand of the Hydra soldier and shook it, much to the surprise of everyone present.
"Eric! Ya finally got yourself out of there I see. Did you get everything we needed?"
"Yes sir and then some. But please Colonel, my sister Ilsa, is she alright?"
"She's just fine soldier, just fine." Philips said as his voice got serious, "I'm glad your here. We were all starting to worry about you son, thought you got caught or worse."
Erik shook his head. "No sir, it just wasn't possible to send you any messages. Security just got too tight for me to sneak one through."
"Umm, sir?"
Colonel Philips and Erik were interrupted by Bucky's voice and found that they were being stared at by almost the entire camp, eagerly waiting for news about their strange new arrival.
"Sorry fellas. Forgot my manners for a sec." Philips said as he put an arm around the young man and showed him off to the rest of his men. "Boys, I'd like you to meet one of the bravest guys I know. Sargent Eric Koenig, one hell of a sharp shooter and top spy of the S.H.E.R.'
Everybody's mouth dropped as the news hit them. This was the spy that the Colonel had been talking about? The one they have been waiting for? Bucky was the first to come out of his shock.
"So your telling me your not a soldier of Hydra?" he asked Koenig who looked a little embarrassed at all the attention he was receiving.
"Um, actually I was once a soldier of Hydra. A very good one. But after seeing the atrocities that Schmidt and his men committed, I couldn't bare to be apart of it no longer. So I managed to contact Colonel Philips here and he helped me escape without anybody noticing I was gone. He even helped get my younger sister into America, just in-case Hydra came looking for me and found her instead."
"And when Hydra started making their presence know to everyone I convinced Koenig to go back and go undercover." Philips continued for Eric, "Those Hydra idiots. Didn't even notice that Koenig had been gone for so long. He's the one who's been sending us all the intel for the last two years..."
"Do you know if Steven's all right?" Peggy surprised everyone and herself as well by interrupting the Colonel and drawing attention to the most important thing on everyone's minds.
Seeing the worry on the young woman's face, Eric nodded. "He is fine at the moment. Schmidt is keeping him under lock and key in his private quarters. He has been working on Cap pretty hard though trying to turn Captain America to his side, but last time I checked he wasn't having any luck."
"Of course not!" Dugan bellowed above everyone's heads. "Cap would never turn his back on us or America!"
Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement including Philips. "Alright that settles it. Eric, start doodling on the map and plot us a coarse to Rogers. I ain't leaving him in the hands of that maniac a minute longer."
"But Colonel, there's allot more things I have to tell you about. Like what Dr. Zola is doing."
"Don't worry son, you can fill us in as we start packing." turning to Carter as she waited for orders, "Agent Carter, tell Stark we need him, his brain and those gadgets of his. Were sure as hell going to need them going up against Schmidt."
"I'll go tell Howard right away." Peggy said excitedly as she ran off. Colonel Philips smiled noticing the smile on her face, something he hadn't seen since she first heard about Steven's capture. Turning back to face the rest of his soldier's he noticed the same eager grin on their own faces, as they waited for the orders that they have been waiting to hear for a week now.
"Gentlemen, grab your guns and your gear! Were rescuing Captain Rogers now!"
000
As cheering roared outside, Peggy found Howard Stark exactly where he had been for the last few weeks, in his tent bent over his work table with a welder in one hand and a wrench in the other. He had been working non-stop on a secret project that he refused to tell anyone about, that included Colonel Philips which annoyed the Colonel greatly.
Hearing the noise from outside, Howard lifted his head and saw Peggy standing inside his tent with a huge smile on her face. Turning off his torch and pulling off his welding mask he returned the smile with his own flirtatious one.
"Miss Peggy Carter, your in my tent. It's a dream come true."
"No time for jokes now Howard", she said her voice turning serious, "Colonel Philips told me to tell you to get your things together. Were going to rescue Steven right now."
Howard almost dropped the metal object he had been working on as the news hit him. "You guys found out were Steven is being held?"
Peggy nodded "Colonel Philips spy finally came through for us. Now get your things ready. Were leaving as soon as we can."
Howard nodded as Peggy left his tent and ran back to get her own things. Quickly Stark began putting certain things into certain bags, things he knew he would need if he was going to go against Hydra. Stopping for a moment, Howard picked up and studied the metal mask that he had just finished making before Peggy came in and smiled.
"Hang on Steve old buddy, cause here we come."