March fifteenth, nineteen forty-five, beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea.
"An electric submarine..." Bucky mused. "Never thought I'd live to see it."
"If you live long enough, you will see wonders and horrors beyond your wildest dreams and nightmares, Sergeant Barnes." Diana replied.
"Excusez moi mademoiselle," Dernier said. "I have been meaning to ask... You speak ze most perfect French at all times, but ze ozers have no trouble understanding what you say." Diana's eyes grew wide. "Ow do you do zis?"
Diana's mouth opened and closed as she sputtered for a response. "Uh."
Steve looked puzzled. He'd never heard her say anything in anything but perfect English. Then again, it was strange that members of an ancient Greek society would speak English at all.
"Um." Diana continued. "It's a trait... Passed down from Zeus, the king of Olympus, to his descendants. Some call it the gift of tongues, others The Allspeech. There are as many names as there are languages in the world of men."
"So you're descended from a king, huh?" Logan asked as he took a seat against a cramped wall. "Wouldn't that make you a princess?"
"Technically, yes."
"Approaching deployment zone, Captain." Howard Stark said, interrupting their conversation.
Steve nodded. "Roger that." He said. "Final equipment check, people. We're heading out in five."
The Commandos lined up in front of the deployment hatch, and waited for the light to turn green. The klaxon sounded, a red light turned off, and the green light turned on. The hatch opened, and one by one, they dove into the water.
They swum up, away from the submarine, toward the shoreline. Steve was the first one out of the water, and dropped his breathing gear in the water. He snuck up to the door of a nearby hangar, and knocked on the door. Nobody opened it. Nobody even looked out of the window. Steve slowly eased the door open, and crept in. He cased the area, then pressed a button on a a transmitter. The signal went to Bucky in the water below, who led the rest of the team out of the water, into the building one by one.
"So where's the stealth plane?" Logan asked as he stripped out of his wetsuit.
"In the next hangar." Steve said as he donned his dark blue helmet. His entire outfit was colored a dark blue, deep dark red, and dark grey instead of the typical red white and blue.
"Then let's get on with it." Diana said. "We're burning moonlight." She disappeared behind an office partition, and stripped off her wetsuit.
The Commandos, save for Steve, made quiet "ooo!"ing noises under their breaths.
In a short minute, Diana emerged from the office wearing a dulled version of her armor, and her sword and shield on her blue, dark red, and a full dark yellow where the gold usually was.
"Hot damn." Bucky said as soon as Diana was out of earshot. He clapped Steve on the shoulder, and leaned in to whisper. "Steve, don't let this one get away."
The group snuck into the wing-shaped stealth plane, and stowed themselves away in any hiding place they could find.
The minutes ticked by. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Then, the cargo bay door opened with a hiss of hydraulics. A group of black-clad German soldiers loaded a worn-looking wooden box into the cargo bay, and strapped it down to the floor of the plane.
From their hiding places, Steve and Logan heard footsteps. A lot of footsteps.
"Call me crazy, cap," Logan whispered. "But that sounds like a hell of a lot more than five guys."
Steve nodded in agreement. "Too late to back out now." He replied.
Patiently, they waited. The engines started up with a low hum, and the plane taxied down the runway. They felt the plane pull up, and away from the ground.
Steve counted down. One minute. Two. Three. Four. Five. Steve busted out of his hiding spot, followed by Logan. Be took a quick look around, and the cargo bay was packed to the brim with heavily-armed soldiers. At least thirty.
Logan let out a howl, and the others made their moves.
Steve punched the nearest soldier in the face, and he went down immediately. A kick to the chin of the next as he jumped out of his seat, and another crumpled to the floor. He threw his shield into the neck of another one, and three were down. Steve caught his shield as it returned.
From his hiding spot near the roof of the plane, Bucky pulled the trigger on his rifle five times, and the heads of five German soldiers exploded in turn.
Logan jumped onto the back of another, wrapped his legs around the man's neck, and rammed his claws into the soldier's neck. Then, he flipped backward and drove the man head-first into the deck of the plane.
Diana rammed her shield into the first of a line of soldiers as they jumped from their seats, knocking them down like dominos.
Dugan just fired his shotgun, racked the slide and fired again. One by one, the soldiers fell.
Gradually, the cargo bay became a sea of carnage as the Commandos cut down one German soldier after another. Then, suddenly, the cargo bay opened in mid-flight, and wind filled the bay.
Steve whipped around toward the cockpit as two heavy troopers exited the cockpit. Steve ducked one shot from them, but the other hit his shield head-on.
The blackout paint shattered off of the disc, and Steve rocketed backward into the crate. The wood cracked as he landed, and Steve had the wind knocked out of him. One of the heavy troopers laid down suppressive fire, and the Commandos scattered for cover. The blasts weren't set to full power, since they didn't punch right through the sides of the plane, but they still cut through the German soldiers like tissue paper, or sent them flying out the cargo bay door. One of the heavy soldiers set his sights on Steve, and leveled his arm-cannon at the captain.
"Get down!" Bucky shouted as he jumped from his hiding spot, and kicked the trooper square in the back of the head. The trooper went ahead over heels towards the bay door, but barely managed to catch himself on the edge of the door.
Diana jumped out from cover and slashed at the remaining trooper's neck. The trooper blocked the slash with his gauntlet, and kicked her in the chest.
"Hey!" Steve shouted to the trooper, and flung his shield into the powered backpack. The steel crumpled and broke, and the pack sparked as the shield dug into the batteries and circuits inside.
The trooper scrambled to unbuckle his backpack, but Diana kicked him square in the chest toward the open cargo bay door. The trooper tumbled out the door, knocked the other heavy trooper away from his handhold, and exploded as he fell through a cloud.
Before anyone could catch their breath, the pilot rolled into view with a heavy Hydra-enhanced rifle. It whined as he pointed it right at Steve's back.
Bucky saw him before anyone else did. "Look out!" He shouted, and immediately tackled Steve to the deck. The pilot pulled the trigger, and unleashed the shot. As Bucky collided with Steve, the energy bolt hit his left arm just below the shoulder. It cut through the flesh and bone, severing the arm cleanly.
As they hit the deck, Bucky's head collided with the crate, knocking him out cold. Suddenly, a burst of turbulence rocked the plane, and Bucky tumbled down the cargo bay. Every single member of the Commandos reached for Bucky to save him, but it was too late. Almost in slow motion, Steve watched his best friend's limp body drop out of the open door, and through the clouds.
Diana roared, cut through the pilot's rifle with a single slice of her sword, stomped on the man's chest and drove her sword through his heart and into the deck below.
Someone closed the cargo bay door. Someone took the helm. Someone flew them into Allied territory and landed the plane. Steve just slumped down beside the box, pulled off his helmet, and cast it aside. He spent the entire rest of the flight with his head in his hands, his suit and face covered in blood and soot.
When they landed, he grabbed his helmet and retired to his quarters. There, he stripped off his gear and showered for as long as he could, letting the water wash his friend's blood off his skin, out of his hair, and down the drain.
Later that evening, Steve took up residence at a table in the bombed-out husk of The Whip & Fiddle pub, with one of the few remaining intact bottles of the strongest whiskey he could find.
Diana walked into the pub, careful not to make much noise or shift the debris. In the dining area beyond the foyer, she heard Steve talking with Logan.
"Hey, kid. You doin' alright?" She heard Logan ask.
"Leave me alone, Logan." Steve responded tersely.
"Kid, we didn't know they were armed for bear. It ain't your fault."
"Stop it. You weren't in charge of the operation, I was. Now get the hell out!" Diana heard him gulp down a cupful of liquid and slam the glass down to the table.
"Alright." Logan said as he got up from the table.
Logan shook his head, and stuck a cigar in his mouth as he left. "He ain't takin' too well to logic right now, princess. Maybe you can talk some sense into him."
Diana wound her way through the bar to where Steve sat at a table, glass in one hand, bottle in the other.
"Steve?" She asked, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Abraham Erskine," Steve said as he drew an unsteady breath. "The doctor who gave me my powers, he said that the serum, wouldn't just work on my muscles and my reflexes - he said it would work in my cells, create a protective system of healing, of regenerating. Which means..." He pointed at the top of the bottle, and traced down to the line at the bottom. "I can't get drunk. No matter how hard I try."
Diana pulled up a seat next to him, and gently draped an arm across his shoulders. "It wasn't your fault, Steve."
He slowly turned his head to face her, but avoided her eyes. "Diana, you were there." He sighed, and turned away. "You know that's not true."
She pulled him as tight as she dared. "You did everything you could-"
Steve cut her off. "I got in over my head. Bucky waded in, and pulled me out, just like he always did." He took a last, futile swig from the bottle. "And when he needed me to return the favor, I couldn't."
Diana shook her head, put two fingers on Steve's chin, and gently turned his head to face her. "Steve, it's not that simple. Bucky did what he felt he had to. He made his sacrifice because he thought you were worth it. Now prove him right."
Steve looked deep into her eyes, and melted. She was right.
Suddenly, he felt a spark, a desire he'd never encountered before. He pulled her in for a kiss. The warmth of her lips chased away the ice that had claimed his soul in the past day. She pulled him in tighter, then they broke apart.
"The moment we step out that door, we're going after Adolf Hitler." Steve said, fire ablaze in his eyes. "We're going to burn out every hole there is for him to hide in. And we're not going to stop until he and every single Nazi in the world is either captured, or dead "
Diana smiled. "And what do we do after that?" She asked.
Steve stood up, and took her hand. "I don't know." He said with a smile of his own. "We'll have to wing it."