7/17/22-7/24/22
The jerk from the movie theater hammered Steve in the jaw, knocking him into a line of garbage cans. Steve groaned and got back up. Steve's a natural fighter, bobbing and scoring a kidney punch, but the guy barely felt it. The jerk swung and Steve tried to block with a trash can lid. The jerk yanked away the lid and pounded him again. Steve's feet lift off the ground and he hit the cement hard. For a moment, Steve layed still. The jerk hovered, panting. Then Steve got to his feet again. The jerk shook his head.
"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" the loud jerk said.
"I can do this all day." Steve said wiping his bloody mouth and the jerk knocked him back into a pile of garbage.
Then he moved on to hit him but someone grabbed his arm.
"What's with all the fighting?" someone asked and the jerk spun to see James "Bucky" Barnes. "Don't you know there's a war on?" he asked and the jerk took a swing.
Bucky slugged him, spun him around, and planted an army boot in the ass. The jerk ran away and Bucky looked down at Steve, getting up from a pile of garbage.
"Sometimes I think you like getting punched." he said.
"I hade him on the ropes." Steve said.
As he got up, a folded enlistment form fell from his pocket and Bucky picked it up and read.
"How many times is this?" he asked and read. "And you're from Paramus now? It's still illegal to lie on an enlistment form, and seriously, Jersey?"
Steve frowned, taking in Bucky's uniform.
"Looks like you got your orders." he said.
"107th ships to England first thing tomorrow." Bucky said. "This is my last night."
"So, what's the first stop. Church?" Steve said and Bucky grinned.
"Yeah... maybe second stop." he said and they started walking out of the alley.
"Where are we going?"
Then Bucky whipped out a newspaper and handed it to Steve.
"The future." he said and Steve opened the paper.
An ad reads, "WORLD EXHIBITION OF TOMORROW." Monorails rACE aROUND fUTURISTIC bUILDINGS.
Later they were in Midway at World Exposition of Tomorrow.
A monorail sped over an epic fair and Steve and Bucky walked down the busy midway.
"I don't see what the problem is. You're about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know there're three and a half million women here?" Bucky asked.
"I'd settle for just one." Steve said and Bucky waved at somebody in the distance.
"Good thing I've taken care of that."
Across the midway, two girls waved back in front of the modern marvels pavilion.
"What'd you tell her about me?" Steve asked and Bucky grinned still waving.
"Only the good stuff." Bucky said.
Later at Marvels Pavilion exhibits line the hall and a glass box held a red-suited android.
Dr. Phineas Horton presented the synthetic man. A fire extinguisher rest at the base. Bucky and the two girls hurried past the exhibit and Steve tagged after, ignored.
"Oh my God, there he is!" Connie said and the girls squeal, urging Bucky towards a crowd gathered by a stage: "STARK INDUSTRIES PRESENTS..."
Steve bought peanuts as Bucky and the girls got in close. On stage, a dashing Howard Stark stood with a 1942 Cadillac.
The girls giggled, smitten.
"Ladies, you know how hard it can be putting on makeup in a car that's bouncing like a kangaroo on a trampoline." Howard said and Steve offered Bonnie a peanut and she looked at them with scorn. "What if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile wouldn't touch the ground at all?" he said and hit a button.
The Cadillac raised, leaving it's tire on the ground, bulky devices where the wheels should be. The crowd gasped and Bucky and Steve gaped, impressed.
"Ho-ly cow." Bucky said.
"With Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology (patent pending), you'll be able to do just tha-" Howard started but was cut oof by a pop and an explosion getting the car to slam to the stage. "I did say a few years, didn't I?" he said and the audience applauded.
As Bonnie swooned over Howard, Steve looked around, sheepish then saw something in the distance.
Bucky wrapped his arm around Connie.
"Hey, Steve. What do you say we treat these ladies." he said but Steve was gone.
In his place, a little girl dug eagerly into his bag of peanuts.
At the recruitment center Steve stared at a mirrored booth in front of the recruiting pavilion: "YOU DUTY: TRY IT ON FOR SIZE!"
A burly man stood in front of the mirror looking big and heroic in uniform. Then Steve stepped up and in the mirror, he now wore a G.I. uniform. His disappointed eyes barely saw over the collar. Just then, Bucky clamped a hand on his shoulder.
"You're kind of missing the point of a "double date." Come on, we're gonna get a chocolate soda." Bucky said.
"You go ahead." Steve said.
Nearby Dr. Erskine was listening in on the argument.
Bucky eyed the recruitment signs.
"You're really gonna do this now?" he said.
"It's a fair. I'm gonna try my luck." Steve said.
"As who? "Steve from Ohio"? They'll catch you. Or worse, they'll actually take you." Bucky said and Steve looked at him with a grim smile of disappointment.
"You don't think I can do it."
"This isn't some back alley, Steve. It's a war. Why are you so keen to fight? There're lots of other important jobs."
"You want me to sit in a factory? Collect scrap metal in my little red wagon while the men are laying down their lives? I can do as well as them and I got no right to do any less." Steve said. "That's the thing you don't get, Bucky. It's not about me."
"Right. 'Cause you've got nothing to prove."
"Hey Sarge, we gettin' sodas?" Connie asked.
"Yeah. We are." he said and walked toward Connie annoyed.
Then, he stopped torn.
Finally, he turned back to Steve and held out his hand. Steve saw his friend's genuine worry and shook his hand.
"Promise me you won't do anything too stupid before I get back."
"Remember, when you attack, you run toward the enemy. ALT. I can't. You're taking all the stupid with you." Steve said.
"You're a punk." Bucky said affectionately.
"You're a jerk." Steve said affectionately and Bucky turned to go and spun as he went, for a last little wave. "Don't win the war till I get there."
And Bucky went, swooping up Connie under his arm and Steve turned to the tent.
HYDRA guards filled the Compound, taking on P.O.W.'S. Morris threw a grenade, blowing the guards away.
At Zola's experiment room Zola rifled through a filing cabinet in the corner of a tiled room gathering a sheaf of documents. There was a sketch of a TV-cheated robotic suit. Beyond him, a shadowy figure lied in a cage.
Meanwhile Steve reached the corridor. At the far end, Zola scurried out of his room, files pressed to his chest. Then he saw Steve who advanced and Zola ran the other way.
Then Steve stalked inside, wary. Past the scattered files and specimen jars, then he saw the large cage atop a rusty drain. A prisoner lied slumped against the bars. On hearing his footfalls, he called out wearily.
"Barnes, James Buchanan. Sergeant. 32557038." a prisoner said and Steve gaped, stunned.
"Bucky?" he said but the prisoner didn't respond.
"Who... who is that?" Bucky asked and Steve raced to the cage. "Is that..."
Steve smashed off the lock and held out his hand, grinning.
"It's me, Buck." he said and Bucky studied his face.
"Steve?"
"I thought you were dead."
"I thought you were smaller." Bucky said and Steve gently helped him down from the cage. "What happened to you?"
"I joined the Army."
At the control room the first of the timers reached zero and beeped.
Meanwhile one of the machines on the factory floor exploded.
At Zola's experiment room Steve and Bucky staggered as the blast shook the room. As they headed out, Steve saw a big map, featuring a series of HYDRA symbols spreading across Europe.
Then Steve helped Bucky limp down the corridor as more bombs went off.
"Did it hurt?" Bucky asked.
"Little bit." Steve said.
"Is it permanent?"
"So far."
"You are going to get so many girls."
Soon they reached the stairs and headed down but another explosion blocked their way. They headed back up, spotting a catwalk high above.
At the Compound Morita lead a group of P.O.W.'s toward the main gate. Then he heard something roaring up behind them and looked.
"DOWN!" Morita said and tackled a P.O.W. to the ground.
A blue blast just cleared their heads, blowing away the main gate. Behind the Cannon, Dernier and Falsworth whoop, politely and P.O.W.'S swarm the gate.
Meanwhile Steve and Bucky reached the catwalk only to find Schmidt on the other side. Zola waited behind him at the elevator.
"Captain America. How exciting." (smiles) "I'm a fan of your films." Schmidt said and handed the titanium box to Zola while he and Steve slowly walked forward, studying each other. "So the old man managed it after all. Not quite an improvement, but impressive." he said and Steve hit him in the jaw, sending him reeling.
"You've go no idea." Steve said and Schmidt straightened up.
"Don't I?" he asked and swung but Steve blocked it with his shield.
Schmidt's fist left a dent in the steel. Steve gaped, surprised. When he looked up, Schmidt hammered him down. Schmidt loomed over him.
"Erskine said your experiment was a failure." Steve said stunned but kicked up, driving his feet into Schmidt's jaw and Schmidt tumbled to the floor.
Zola scrambled to the catwalk controls. A gap appeared between Schmidt and Steve as both sides retract. Schmidt shot a withering look at Zola who paled. When Schmidt turned back to Steve his face was askew. Red skin bulged from torn seamed.
"A failure? Oh, no, Captain." Schmidt said and got to his feet. "I was his greatest success." he said then pulled, peeling his face from the bone, revealing Red Skull underneath.
He grind, hideous and Steve stared in disbelief.
"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky asked and gaped, then looked at Steve worriedly.
Red Skull tossed his mask away and Schmidt's face wafted into the flames, staring at us as it fell.
"You're a liar, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier. But in reality you're just afraid to admit we've left humanity behind." Red Skull said and another explosion rocked the floor below. "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without the masquerade...without fear."
"Then how come you're running?" Steve asked and scowled from the end of the catwalk, helpless.
Then Zola hands Skull back his titanium box. Then the two of them step into the elevator and disappear. Steve pulled Bucky away as explosions rocked the catwalk. They saw a gantry above.
On the roof Zola eyed Skull's exposed head, queasy. Finally, he looked away and noticed the floor Indicator.
"Sir? We're going to the roof?" Zola said and Red Skull remained silent.
Then the doors open, revealing a catwalk leading to a waiting triebflugel built for one.
"But...what about me?" he continued and Red Skull handed him a set of car keys.
"Not a scratch, Doctor." Red Skull said and left the elevator.
Zola stared at the keys as the doors close.
Meanwhile Steve and Bucky reach the gantry and Bucky ran on and it creaked.
Steve stepped on.
"Hurry." he said and Bucky carefully limped across the gantry but rivets fell.
Meanwhile Morita leaded the injured P.O.W.'s toward the woods. Just then, something roared overhead. He looked up at the triebflulugel, its rotating engines whirling into a blur.
At the Triebflulugel Skull glanced out the cockpit. Below, his factory burned. He could make out a car speeding down a lonely road.
On Schmidt's car files slid on the seat as Zola sped away. His feet barely reached the pedals.
Meanwhile Bucky jumped form the end of the gantry to the other side. Just then , another bomb exploded and the gantry collapsed. Steve stood alone, trapped. Bucky looked around, frantic.
"There's got to be a rope or something." Bucky said.
"JUST GET OUT!" Steve said and the explosions came faster now.
"Not without you." Bucky said and the roof around Steve fell in and eyed the impossible gap.
"Aw, hell." Steve said, backed up and raced for the edge.
Bucky's eyes went wide as Steve leapt, sailing over the blazing chaos. Just as the biggest bomb yet went off.
At camp Phillips stared out his window, stoic.
"Senator Brandt, I regret to report that Captain Steven G. Rogers went missing behind enemy lines on the 3rd of last week." Phillips said and looked down to read the rough draft on his notepad. "Aerial reconnaissance has proven unfruitful. As a result, I must declare Captain Rogers killed in action."
The corporal stopped typing and he turned to see Peggy standing in the door, red-eyed and tired.
"The last surveillance flight is back." Peggy said, entered and laid down aerial pictures of the disintegrated HYDRA camp. "No sign of activity." she said and he gazed at the photos then looked ti the corporal
"Corporal. Why don't you go get a cup of coffee?" he asked and the corporal nodded and left the room. "I can't touch Stark. He's a civilian...and the Army's number one weapons contractor. You're neither."
"You'll have my resignation in the morning."
"I can probably make it so that you'll avoid a court martial."
"With respect, sir, I don't regret my actions. And I doubt Captain Rogers did, either."
"What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions?" he asked and she went cold while he stepped forward. "I took a chance on you, Agent Carter. Now that boy-and a lot of other men-are dead, because you had a crush."
"It wasn't that." she said. "I had faith." she said quietly.
"Well, I hope that's a great comfort to you when they shut this division down." he said and a commotion built outside. "What the hell's going on out there?" he asked and saw soldiers running by his window so they moved closer.
Then they stepped outside to see dozens of soldiers hurrying toward the camp entrance. The soldiers part, revealing Steve and Bucky walking up the road, leading a squad of P.O.W.'S. Ragtag vehicles follow, carrying the rest.
Steve's uniform hung filthy and torn. His shield was battered
and bent. But his head was high. G.I.'s cheer, more come running.
Hodge stepped out of the barracks, drying his hair and stopped stunned.
"Rogers?" he said.
Amazed, Phillips looked to Peggy, who wiped away tears and the stunned crowd parted. Steve saluted Phillips.
"Colonel, some of these men need medical attention." Steve said so Phillips looked at the gaunt faces of the men, nodded and Medics rushed in to help the P.O.W.'s. "I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action." he said and Phillips looked at his battered, burnt shield.
"That won't be necessary." Phillips said.
"Sir, I78."
"Just how many orders do you plan on disobeying, Captain?" Phillips asked and they lock eyed and Steve smiled.
"Yes, sir."
Phillips turned to Peggy, smiling wryly.
"Faith, huh?" he said and walked away as Steve turned to Peggy.
She stopped herself from hugging him.
"You're late." she said and he pulled out the Stark transponder in pieces.
"Sorry, couldn't call my ride." he said.
They stared at each other a long, lingering minute. Then soldiers, including those who booed him at the USO show, crowd around slapping Bucky on the back. They waved his comic book, yelling for Captain America. Then flashbulbs pop.
Steve smiled despite himself, finally accepted and a nurse approached Bucky.
"Where do you hurt, soldier." a nurse asked and a slow smile creeped across his face.
At The Whip and Fiddle Pub.
"Let me get this straight." Dugan said.
Falsworth, Jones, Dernier, Morita, and Dugan leaned on stools and Steve lined up at a dart board.
"We barely got out of there alive and you want us to go back?" Jones asked and Steve weighed a dart, then casually tossed a bullseye.
"Pretty much." Steve said and they look at each other for a minute.
"I'm in." Morita said and Steve saw Dernier, questioning but nodded.
"Je combattrai jusqu'a ce que le dernier de ces batards soit mort, echaine ou bien qu'il pleure comme un nouveau-ne!" he said.
"J'espere touts les trois!" Jones said laughing.
Dernier laughed, clapping Jones on the shoulder. When they
looked up, they saw the others not understanding a word.
"Oh, uh, we're in." Janes continued.
Then Dugan finished a beer, mustache covered in foam.
"I'll fight. Well, I'll always fight. But you gotta do one thing for me." he said.
"What's that?" Steve asked and handed over his empty pint glass.
"Open a tab."
The others laughed and hand Steve theirs. Steve grinned and took the glasses back to the bar where Bucky waited.
Then Steve slid over the empties.
"Another round?" Steve asked and the bartender looked impressed.
"You drink all these yourself? ALT. Where are they putting all this? ALT. It is possible to run out you know." the bartender said and Steve shrugged and turned to Bucky.
"That was the easiest battle of the war." Bucky said.
"What about you? You gonna follow Captain America into the jaws of death?" Steve asked.
"Hell no. That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run away from a fight? I'm following him." Bucky said and nodded at a tour poster of Captain America: "PERFORMANCE CANCELLED - NOT TO BE RESCHEDULED." "But you're keeping this outfit, right?"
"Don't get your hopes up. It's not exactly regulation."
"I dunno. You saw those guys in Italy when you came back." Bucky said. "I don't think they were cheering just for you."
The invaders sang, arms wrapped drunkenly around one another.
One by one, they stopped as they notice Peggy entering the bar.
Steve was the last to see her.
"Captain." Peggy said.
"Agent Carter." Steve said standing.
"Ma'am." Bucky said.
"Howard's got some equipment for you to try. Tomorrow morning?" Peggy said.
"That sounds fine." Steve said and the Invaders started singing terribly again.
"I see your crack squad is prepping for duty."
"You don't like music?" Bucky said.
"I do, actually." she said. "I may even, when this is all over, go dancing." she said eying Steve and Bucky grinned and nodded at the dance floor.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"The right partner." she said, smiled at Steve and headed out. "08:00, Captain."
"Yes ma'am. I'll be there." Steve said and Bucky stared, puzzled and Steve pated him on the shoulder. "Maybe she's got a friend."
At the alpine pass the captured HYDRA code transceiver.
TITLE: "RUSSIA, JANUARY 1945."
Steve and the invaders gathered on a high plateau. Morita crouched over the transceiver, Jones listened to the transmission, Falsworth wielded binoculars, Dugan and Dernier adjust a winch at the cliff's edge and Steve and Bucky stood in conversation.
"The engineer just radioed ahead. Hydra dispatch gave him permission to open the throttle." Jones said slipping off headphones. "Whatever's on this train, they must need it bad."
"Well, they're not going to get it." Morita said.
"I wouldn't be so sure..." Falsworth started.
In the distance, was a far-off,
speeding train.
"Because they're moving like the
devil." he said.
Steve checked his rifle and Bucky looked over the cliff's edge.
"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?" Bucky asked.
"And I threw up?" Steve asked and Bucky looked over the edge again, leery.
"This isn't payback, is it?" Bucky asked and Steve looked up with a grin.
"Now why would I do a thing like that?"
"Jerk."
"Punk."
Then a train whistle shrieked through the pass and a futuristic HYDRA train approached.
"All aboard, gentlemen! Mind the gap!" Falsworth said.
Steve, Bucky and Jones attached T-bars to the cable.
"Okay, this is a very short, very fast train. We've got a ten-second window, tops. Mistime it and you're a bug on the windshield." Steve said to Bucky and Jones.
Dugan checked the speed of the train against his watch.
"Better move it, bugs." he said.
Steve, Bucky and Jones hooked to the cable stretching across the pass. Dernier raised his hand and dropped it.
Then Steve jumped, shooting away and Jones and Bucky followed.
On the HYDRA train, roof the train rocketed along.
Steve, Bucky and Jones dropped hard onto the slick roof and met eyes.
On the HYDRA train real car Steve kicked open the back door. He and Bucky rushed in, weapons ready, only to find nothing. They looked at each other and Steve headed for the next car.
On the roof, Jones crawled toward the engine.
In the Middle car Bucky and Steve bang into the next car and found it empty.
"I thought they were supposed to be hauling something." Bucky said and Steve unhooked his shield, wary.
"They were." he said and yanked open the next connecting door, stepping into another darkened car.
They crept forward then a steel plate dropped over the door sealing them in.
The lights brighten, revealing... a HYDRA trooper. Six and a half feet Tall and heavily armored, both of his arms sport huge cannons. Steve and Bucky open fire, but their machine gun bullets ping uselessly off the trooper's armor.
The trooper took aim at Steve. The blue pulse blew the shield out of his hand and slammed him into the back wall.
The shield clanged to the floor. The trooper turned to Bucky and fired and Bucky dove. The blast ripped a hole in the wall behind them, outside, a jagged ravine whipped past the moonlight. A red light blinked from a camera on the ceiling.
At the engineer booth Zola watched on a monitor as the trooper pressed in on Bucky and leaned into a microphone.
"No. Finish the other one." Zola said.
At the forward car trooper turned back to Steve as he got to his feet. The trooper aimed at the star on Steve's chest. Bucky grabbed Steve's shield off the floor and leapt in front.
"Bucky, no!" Steve said.
The cannon fired, hitting Bucky square in the shield blowing him through the hole in the wall. With a last desperate effort, Buck snagged the jagged edge. The trooper's weapon was momentarily spent by the blast. As it started to power back up. Steve lunges, grabbing Bucky's slipping hand. Steve started pulling him back in. Then The Trooper fired, vaporizing Bucky's arm Into a blue mist.
On the roof, Jones stared in horror as Bucky's body whipped away, tumbling into a bottomless gorge.
Back at the forward car Steve reached out in anguish.
"BUCKY!" he said but the only response was wind and the clatter of train wheels.
The trooper took another step and Steve grabbed his shield and turned, enraged. The trooper fired. This time, Steve held on, knocking the blast away with his shield.