Hello to all of you! Thanks to all who read this story! I was immensely glad for the reviews I got! I hope you like it :). I will be grateful for any comment of yours as it can only help me with the writing :). If you have any suggestions on what you are missing in the story or if my English is incomprehensible, please let me know, I will work on it.

Two important things you need to know before you read this chapter: MIA is an acronym for "Missing in action", and I started to use "HC" for Howling commandos (So I do not repeat it so often in the story).

Enjoy reading! :)

The first party spoke Russian. Their way into the headmaster's office without them spotting anyone which meant that everyone from the Howling Commandos was doing a great job in hiding themselves. Since they stayed in the office, they apparently did not find out that the office was searched in advance. Peggy could hear them, but what they were saying was not of much importance. They were talking about the weather, about their victories and losses which Peggy knew about, until…

"What are these folders doing there?"

"They were left there to check if anyone was in here."

"And what is in them?"

"Just a list of names of American soldiers who were captured, nothing important."

"You should have left there only empty folders, not with names…"

"And what would they do with them? Try to find them. They have no chance… the information about their whereabouts is in the cabinet… and they would not want to meet those who survived anyway."

Peggy's heart was pounding so hard that she was surprised they could not hear it. He was pale and she clenched her fists. Dugan was watching her but did not dare to speak. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she only shook her head, not looking at him. She hoped for any other information, but they changed the subject. Soon they heard the second truck. It drove slower and when it was near the school, the reflectors of the car enlightened the school for a while. Then they heard the engine stop. They heard footsteps, but they did not know how many people were in there. They needed to wait.

Very soon the new delegation arrived in the headmaster's office. She could count eight people. But they were not sure if they are alone or if anyone waits outside. The plan was to capture them as quickly and as quietly as possible. They could hear them speaking in Russian. It meant that Peggy was the only one who could understand them properly. She tried her best to focus, but she was still overwhelmed by the information about her brother. She was sure that her father told her that he died and that they could not bring his body home because when it was found, it was not in a shape for transferring. She was sure about that. Nobody told her that her brother was MIA.

"We have the weapons for you, do you have the money?" (Oh, great! Somebody betrayed his country for fortune…

"We have, but first things first… we want to see the weapons."

"They are outside in the truck."

"Do you have them listed?"

"Here it is."

They could hear only the rustling of paper.

"Do you want to see it?"

"We have our agent on the way. He understands these things… he will check whether they are what was promised to us."

"They are all from Howard Stark. They will never be what was promised… the man is a lunatic. Nobody really knows…"

"Let it to our agent."

Dugan jolted when he heard Howard's name. He knew the man even though she thought that they met only a few times and never have spoken.

"Somebody else is on the way. We need to let the others know that they must wait." She whispered.

"Ok, I am going outside. Let's hope that all of them are inside."

"Be quick. If we start the fight, the agent will not come… and he is supposed to be someone who understands Howard's technology, so it will be useful for us to catch him."

Dugan only nodded and disappeared. She stayed there alone, waiting if somebody from inside hears the noise of a soldier crossing the school. Luckily, they did not notice a thing.

"When is he coming?" The voice of the American sounded nervous.

"When he knows that it is safe to come."

And then there was a silence. Since nobody started shooting, Peggy thought that Dugan managed to tell the others to wait. It took longer than she thought and the adrenaline she was filled with started to fade. That was, however, dangerous, because she knew that it meant that her body would not react as quickly as she would like.

After another hour they could hear another engine. She could hear the opening of the car. Then there was a silence and then… shot.

According to the explosion noise, she assumed that somebody from HC shot the car's engine to make sure that the enemy would not be able to leave. Then there was another shot and another explosion. The men in the headmaster's office started to shout and they were leaving the office quickly. She could hear a few shots and run towards the doors of the classroom to see the corridor. When she opened the doors, she could see Bucky and Pinky standing in the middle of the corridor, aiming at the doors. Bucky was still aiming at the doors. "They ran inside again. Check outside."

She run outside, her legs so numb that she could not feel them, but luckily, they were able to run. Two members of howling commandos were tying the man who arrived. She could hear shooting from inside.

"It was easy, was not it?" Asked Morita, his head pointing to the truck which was full of weapons made by Howard stark. She agreed. It was easy… maybe too easy.

"Is not it weird… that they did not have any backup?"

"Maybe they just…" he did not finish the sentence, because suddenly they were almost blinded by reflectors of at least six cars. Peggy ducked and tried to run to Morita who was struggling with the man. She hit the man in the head. He was unconscious immediately.

"We can deal with him later, run inside!" She grabbed Morita's vest and dragged him up. They ran as fast as they could, followed by gunshots from cars. Inside of the school was almost complete darkness. She aimed to the place where Bucky was last seen. The doors of the headmaster's office were open, and Bucky, Pinky and Steve were aiming at eight men who were standing in front of them, their guns on the floor.

"What is going on, Carter?"

"They had a backup." She looked at the men. Four of them were in a US uniform. They used it probably to be able to pass all control points. Her eyes stayed longer at one of them. She knew him. Suddenly she had a flashback of that man standing in front of the flagpole, listening to Colonel Phillips. She was there when he was a recruit. He did not look at her, still watching the gun that was pointing at his head.

"We have to get out."

"What do we do with them?"

Suddenly one of the men in the US uniform started running towards Steve. Before he realized what happened, a bullet was put in his chest. There was no time for the fight, they had to act quickly. But before they had any chance to decide what next, the glass of windows started to fly everywhere as somebody was shooting in it. All of them ducked, covering their heads. In the chaos, the soldiers started to run out of the school. Because the Russian soldiers were closer to the doors, they managed to run out. Peggy jumped at the one American who wanted to follow them, capturing his legs and pulling him down with herself. He kicked and it hit her shoulder, but she did not let go. One of them run away and one was knocked down by Steve.

There was chaos. There were men shooting and shouting outside. She knew that the rest of Commando that was hidden before his eyes were shooting at them too and they did not know how to shield themselves. She managed to hold his arms behind his back long enough for Morita to tie him and then they were just lowering themselves trying to dodge all the bullets which were flying above their heads.

"We must get outside!" Steve put his captive on his shoulder and ran outside the office to the corridor where there we no windows. Peggy and Morita followed his lead and dragged their captive with them. They could hear people outside shouting.

"We have the weapons! Let's get out with them!"

"The truck is broken!"

"What do you mean, broken?"

"It will not start! They did something to the engine!"

"How many men are inside?"

"At least four!" A new voice joined them.

"They surprised us, but we ran!"

"Let's get them to join us in here!"

Peggy, Steve, Morita, Pinky, Bucky and their two prisoners were at the end of the corridor when the office exploded. It threw all of them towards the wall they were facing. Peggy was in shock and her head was throbbing, when she felt somebody lifting her to her knees. She could not see properly where the person was dragging her, she just focused on her legs trying to put one before the other.

"Come on, the fire is approaching!" It was Bucky. He dragged her outside the school and then he eased his grip. She could inhale the chilly air and look around. Even though her vision was blurred, she could see that they used the back doors, so there was no one of their enemies, but they knew it was only a matter of time. The fire in the school was spreading quickly.

"That could not have been only a grenade!" Shouted Pinky outside.

"The weapons were made by Howard Stark, so I think they are enhanced." She said, her voice shaking. She was looking at the school, not knowing why but she knew that she had left something important there. Somebody else joined them and she could hear another shooting. She was still looking at the school, unable to move.

"Peggy! Peggy, do you hear me? CARTER!"

It made the magic… she realized that the information about Michael is still in the office. And before she knew it, she ran towards the school. She made only a few steps before there was another explosion from inside and somebody pulled her to the ground.

"What the hell! What are you doing? Do you wanna burn?" It was Bucky again, lying on the ground with her, her hand went around her waist as he was covering her body, pressing her front to his chest. She was trying to take a breath, but the hit took her breath away. Her head was pounding, and she could feel something sticky on her forehead. When she looked around, her vision was partly blurred, and she could see only black spots somewhere in her field of vision. She was dragged into the sitting position. She felt panicked and shocked, her body was shivering, and she could not speak, only looked around confused. She knew exactly what had happened, and she knew that there is no worse place and time not to have control of her own body, but you do not decide when these things happen to you. She was leaning towards something wooden. Maybe the swings? And somebody was keeping her in the sitting position.

"Stay here with her, we go to check what is going on." Dugan went into her view.

"It's gonna be ok, Peg, just try not to faint, ok? They can manage without us." He stayed above her, and she could see him shoot someone who was approaching them. She was not moving, only trying to concentrate on her breathing.

After a while, a group of men approach them. Because Dugan did not shoot, she thought that it was part of HC.

"What happened?" Asked Dugan.

"They ran with the weapons and managed to start the car. Steve and Bucky are after them. We must get out of here. Let's take the hostages and aim for our trucks. Quickly."

Dugan helped her to her knees. She was still shivering, but she was able to go by herself. Dugan insisted on supporting her, so he held her by her upper arm and lead her into the darkness. She turned around to see the burning building which was once a school. Dugan stopped with her, taking in the picture of the catastrophe they were leaving behind themselves.

"Michael," she whispered and let herself be dragged towards their trucks.