"Gone?" Amelia screeched at Colonel Phillips. "What do you mean? Where did he go?"
"Captain Rogers somehow managed to convince Agent Carter and Mr. Stark to fly him almost 30 miles behind enemy lines," the man said flatly, straightening a pile of condolence letters.
"And you let him go?!"
"I did not let him do anything," the Colonel said. He stood and looked Amelia square in the eye. "Captain Rogers went against direct orders. I told him to go with you to your next destination, and it is not my fault that instead he took two of my best people and nearly got them killed. Those men are as good as dead and he knew that."
"Men?"
"A troop went up against enemy forces, and most were captured. That's all I can tell you."
"So, Steve went to rescue them she you wouldn't," Amelia said, fixing him with a steely glare.
"Sometimes being the one in charge means making the hard call," Phillips said, glaring back. "If there was a way to get those boys back without losing even more in the process, we would have done it already. There is no 'right' solution to this situation, and I made the decision I felt was the best."
"And so did Steve," she said. "There has to be something we can do to help him."
"Except there isn't," Phillips said, sitting back down. "That kid signed his own death certificate by parachuting into enemy territory alone. And I don't take orders from show girls."
"That may be so," Mr. Fallon said, stepping to Amelia's rescue, "but we are under strict orders to escort Mr. Rogers to our next destination. We will be staying until we have confirmed news on Captain America's whereabouts, and if you have a problem with that I'm sure Senator Brandt would love to have a conversation with you."
Colonel Phillips looked like he was torn between strangling Mr. Fallon and strangling Amelia, and she took far more pleasure in seeing his face turn red than she should have. She silently thanked Heaven that Mr. Fallon had taken her side and she made a mental note to be much nicer to the man from now on.
"Fine," Phillips ground out. "Miss Fowler, you can share a tent with Agent Carter for now. I'll have a tent set up for you, Mr. Fallon." They were dismissed and Amelia followed Agent Carter to her tent silently. She didn't have anything to sleep in with her, so Peggy generously loaned her some clothes.
"That was very brave of you," she said when she handed the clothes to Amelia. "I've seen grown men soil themselves at the mere thought of standing up to Phillips."
"I guess it's a good thing I don't have to answer to him then," she laughed shakily.
Peggy laughed as well. "Yes, I suppose that does help," she agreed. "I'll give you some privacy to change." Once alone, Amelia immediately took her show costume off and slipped into the borrowed clothes. It was a loose fitting army uniform that didn't quite fit, but she was thankful to get out of the showy outfit she performed in. She'd felt many of the men's eyes on her as she walked past and it had made her extremely uncomfortable. She was just tying her hair up when she heard what sounded like thunder and the ground shook violently beneath her.
Amelia threw her arms out to the side and managed to steady herself. There was another boom seconds later, and soldier outside the tent started shouting. She poked her head out and saw the men gripping their guns and running to the front of the camp. Phillips was shouting orders over the commotion and then Agent Carter was in front of her.
"Stay in the tent!" she barked at Amelia. "Don't come out until I say it's safe!"
"What's going on?" she shouted back, but her question went unanswered as Agent Carter ran past.
She heard shouts of "We're under attack!" and "Keep your eyes peeled, boys!" and she paced the length of the tent with her hands clasped. She prayed for Steve's safety as well as her own as she began to tremble, and she could feel tears pooling in her eyes.
After a while, though, she realized there were no other explosions or gunfire. She chanced another glance outside; the soldier held their positions, but they glanced at each other with uncertainty. If they were under attack, wouldn't the enemy force have at least shot at them by now? What were they waiting for? Amelia strode out of the tent and over to the main tent she had been in before. Phillips was in the middle of an argument with Peggy and two other men.
"There's a chance Captain Rogers was successful," Peggy was saying. "We should send out a surveillance flight to see if we can find him or anyone else."
"That's a terrible idea," one man said, throwing up his hands. "Even if Rogers was successful, there may still be other enemy camps in the area. They'll shoot the damned thing right out of the sky!"
"What if we sent men out on foot?" the other man said.
"What, and have Hydra foot soldiers kill them on the ground instead of in the air?" the first man said.
"They'd never find him anyway, with that big a territory to cover," Phillips said.
"Sir, air surveillance is the only option that makes sense."
"And also the one that makes the least sense!"
"Didn't I tell you to wait in the tent?" Peggy said to Amelia.
"None of you ladies are making any sense," Phillips roared above everyone else. "Sending men out at all only mean more men dead. We cannot rule out enemy attack as of right now, so we might as well be marching out boys to their graves if we send them out on foot. We also cannot confirm that there are no other enemy camps in the area, so I am not comfortable with sending out a surveillance flight. And you're just being an annoyance." The first man turned red and clenched his fists.
"Sir," Amelia began, but the look on Colonel Phillips' face shut her up.
"Do not even get me started on you, Miss Fowler," Phillips growled. "You have zero military training and therefore should not even be here right now." Amelia felt her cheeks heat up in humiliation.
Howard Stark wandered in, a pilot's helmet tucked securely under his arm. Amelia was initially star struck and a little bewildered that the Howard Stark was ten feet away. Everyone had turned to him and Phillips' scowl turned even harsher.
"And where the hell have you been?" he barked at the genius, who simply smirked and threw the helmet on the table.
"You all talk too much," the man smiled at them.
"Stark, you nit wit, don't tell me you took a plane out."
"In fact I did."
Phillips ran a hand over his face.
"And?" Peggy prompted. Amelia stared at him intently.
"We're not under attack," Stark announced, and everyone in the tent relaxed.
"Oh thank God," on of the men murmured.
"In fact," Stark continued, "it's quite the opposite. The explosions came from 30 miles behind the line. The Hydra base there has been completely obliterated. Seems Captain Rogers managed to get inside." Peggy pursed her lips in an attempt to hide her smile, but Amelia's stomach felt full of lead.
"Was there any sign of him?" she asked Stark.
"I thought I told you to get out of here," Phillips said, turning to her.
"All due respect, sir," Amelia said, a hard edge in her voice, "I don't care about that right now. What I do care about is Steve Rogers, one of the best friends I've had since childhood. So, please, I just want to know if there was any sign of him. I'll leave you alone after that."
Colonel Phillips smirked slightly and nodded while Peggy positively beamed at her. Stark, however, twisted his features halfway between a grimace and a frown.
"I didn't see any movement at the site or in the surrounding forest during my flight," he said softly. "But it was also dark and smoky, and I may have missed something."
"We'll send out another flight," Phillips said after a few moments. "Agent Carter, get a team together, have them ready to go out in fifteen minutes. We'll send out another team at daybreak; Stark, you'll lead that one."
"Yes, sir."
"Get some rest," he ordered the remaining people in the tent before exiting to tell the soldiers they weren't under attack. Amelia walked back to Peggy's tent in silence, far too worried about Steve to bid anyone a good night. She wrung her hands and wished she at least had Bucky there with her to calm her down and tell her she was worried over nothing and that the surveillance teams would find him.
She fell into a fitful sleep, waking briefly when Peggy's team got back only to learn that they didn't find anything. Both women tossed and turned on their cots until the sun rose again. They watched Stark and a few other soldiers take off in search of Steve, and Amelia held onto the hope that they didn't see anything the night before because it was too dark. Everyone in the camp seemed anxious and on edge, and Amelia found she couldn't sit still for longer than a few minutes.
"There has to be something I can do to help," she ranted to Peggy as they waited. "I hate sitting around and doing nothing."
"Colonel Phillips is doing everything he can," Peggy said, but the words felt empty and false to both of them. "All we can do for now is wait to hear from Howard."
As if on cue, the man pushed aside the tent flap and peeked inside. Amelia and peggy both rose to their feet,looking at him expectantly. Amelia tried to read his expression, but it was unreadable, his features perfectly smooth.
"Well?"
"We didn't find any sign of Rogers or anyone else," he said. "We flew over the site five times and covered a ten mile radius around the factory. I'm sorry. I figured the two of you would want to know first."
Amelia sank to her knees, unable to process the words. Howard left them to attend to the planes and Peggy muttered something about informing Phillips. Alone, Amelia covered her face with her hands and struggled to contain the sobs that were threatening to escape. Steve couldn't be dead, she kept telling herself, not after all he'd survived.
What were she and Bucky supposed to do without him? How was she even supposed to tell Bucky, who had practically been his brother since they met? How was she supposed to tell Bucky that their best friend wasn't coming home after the war?
After a few minutes she managed to pull herself together and strode over to where she saw Peggy talking with Phillips.
"-and now America's golden boy and a lot of other good men are dead, because you had a crush," she heard Phillips say harshly to Peggy.
"It wasn't that," Peggy shot back, and Phillips raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "I had faith." The colonel simply scoffed at her.
"Colonel Phillips," Amelia began to say, but the shouts from the soldiers distracted all three of them.
"What in the hell is going on now?" Phillips grunted as more soldiers ran past, pointing and shouting. The three of them followed quickly, interest piqued. Amelia heard the soldiers start applauding and cheering as the gate lifted. She climbed onto the hood of a nearby car, much to Colonel Phillips' protest, and nearly fell off. She couldn't believe her eyes as the soldiers parted, clearing a path. Hundreds of men were marching into the camp. Some were riding on dangerous looking vehicles and some were injured, but they were all very much alive and Steve was leading them in. Some of the soldiers began clapping Steve on the back as he passed, and Amelia saw the man walking next to him elbow him and smirk.
She did fall off the car when she recognized him.
"Bucky!" she cried in a strangled voice, pulling herself to her feet and running for him. "Bucky!"
He turned his head in her direction. "Amelia?"
"Bucky!" she called again, unable to stop herself.
"Mia!" He dropped his gun to the side and took a step toward her, stumbling a bit.
She ran straight into him, making him stumble back a few steps, but neither of them cared. His arms circled her body, one hand on the back of her head, and held her close. He kept repeating her name in her ear and it sounded like the most beautiful music she had ever heard. After spending more than a year apart she could hardly believe that it was actually him and that they were actually together.
"What are you doing here, Mia?" Bucky asked, holding her at an arm's length. His eyes roamed over her, checking for any signs that she'd been injured. "And what are you wearing?"
"Are you okay?" she asked. She could explain later. "What happened to you?" Unbelievable guilt flooded through her when she realized she hadn't even known he was missing or a prisoner.
"Hydra," he spat out. "They captured us. Steve got us out and lead us back, the idiot." She turned and found Steve smiling behind her, and she punched him firmly in the gut before throwing her arms around his neck in a hug.
"Ow! You're welcome, Amelia!"
"Steven Rogers, you stupid, wonderful man," she growled. "I thought you were dead."
"Yeah, well just wait till Charles gets his hands on me," he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'd rather wrestle an angry grizzly bear than face him right now."
"Who's Charles?" Bucky asked, throwing his arm around Amelia.
"The manager of our show."
"Our show?"
"Yeah I'm a dancer in the Captain America tour. You'd know that if you actually read my letters," she beamed at him, and he grinned and kissed her as Steve faced Phillips and Peggy.
"See? You're already on the path to becoming a famous dancer! I told you our dreams would come true." Amelia laughed and rolled her eyes, kissing him again.
"Hey!" Bucky bellowed over the rest of the men. "Let's hear it for Captain America!"