Previously in Don't Be Late:
"I finally get to say it: We attack at Dawn." He smiled but went back to business. "See you here."
She checked her watch, "We'll be there no later than 2200 I imagine." that gave them plenty of time to assemble and prepare to leave. They both signed off and Peggy immediately started to prepare herself for battle. She was going to get Angie back, and hopefully she'd kick the legs from under Hydra as she succeeded. (chapter 21)
Peggy walked up the stairs of "The Bus" with Steve close behind her his shield strapped onto his back and wearing his newest version of his battle suit. The second Coulson's call was over back at the Tower he suited up. She still hadn't gotten a chance to change into whatever battle gear that was packed away for her. She shouldn't be going anyway. It would be like Churchill riding up to the front lines during the War. It was not the smart thing to be doing, but she didn't care.
When she looked at the space around the halo table she couldn't believe it. There were so many people getting ready for this fight. So many people willing to put their lives on the line to take down Hydra and to save an innocent woman. "Alright, I think we're all accounted for." She called around.
"Wait-" one more pair of footsteps walked up the stairs. Bucky sliding the enhanced rifle over his shoulder so he didn't have to hold it.
Steve was the first to protest, "Buck, you can't-"
"I'm not going to wait at SHIELD while you all fight a battle that concerns me too." He wasn't budging.
Steve looked at Peggy for some support, "What if-"
"He should come Steve. We need all the help we can get." Natasha interrupted.
"It's going to be too personal." Steve didn't want to see Bucky get hurt again. He'd just gotten him back after a year of searching.
Peggy scoffed, "If we're cutting out every member of the team that is going to be too personal about this mission than we might as well not go. Bobbi was tortured by Ward, Fitz and Simmons were left to die on the bottom of the ocean, their team was lied to. Bucky was used by them for decades, they kidnapped and tortured Angie… the list is endless. A personal mission is only dangerous when an Agent doesn't do what is needed of them."
Steve clenched his jaw, "I guess I'm out voted."
"I'm sorry darling." Peggy put a hand on his arm, "This is our choice."
"Fine." He walked over to the holotable, "I still don't like it."
Hunter was standing with his arms crossed, "You don't have to, mate."
Coulson started to explain the mission. The Hydra base was in an abandoned warehouse in a run down neighborhood. The possible collateral damage was a huge concern; schools, churches, families, could be caught in the cross hairs. They couldn't evacuate the area since it would cause too much attention, being careful was the only option, until the fighting started Tony, Clint, Sam and Natasha would set a perimeter around the building to keep the damage from spreading out then work on evacuation. Once the outside was secure the perimeter team would stay put unless there was an emergency. The second team would go in, Bucky, Wanda, Hunter, Bobbi, Daisy, May, and Peggy, lead of course by Steve they would comb the place apart until Ward and Angie were in custody.
"We should be in positions in a few hours, sit tight and rest up in the meantime." Coulson ended the meeting leaving the room taught with the tension of what was happening around them.
Steve pulled Peggy aside once they were all free to go. She looked up and saw the way he looked before their last mission together during the war. He looked nervous and slightly scared, not for himself but for others, "How are you going to take this if it doesn't go like you hoped?"
She took his hand, "I'll figure it out when I have to."
He didn't pull away, "Peg, please don't put yourself too much at risk. I don't think I could-"
Peggy used her free hand to cup his cheek, running her thumb over his freshly shaven jaw, "You don't have to. I'm not going anywhere."
Steve moved his hand and wrapped around her waist, "I love you."
"I love you too." She rested her head against his chest, "No matter what happens," He started swaying back and forth just slightly enough to maybe be considered dancing.
Their moment was cut off by Tony working his way through the crowd, "Hey love birds. Follow me." He lead them down to the armory without looking back. "So I figured as your christening to The Avengers you can't walk out there in whatever arts and crafts project Coulson's got going on." Tony held his arms out to the table where a new suit was laying flat.
Peggy couldn't tell what it was supposed to be to be honest, it wasn't until she saw the SHIELD logo on the chest that she could really understand. Tony had made her a Super Suit. The fabric and design was similar to Steve's some adjustments for obvious differences in the chest, hips and general build. It was sleek without being revealing, and wasn't an exact rip off of Steve's-which was her biggest fear getting into this territory. "Tony.." She walked closer to the table and felt the sturdy fabric, "This is amazing."
He scratched his scalp with a pencil, "Well… it's a rough draft but let's face it. I made it so it'll do the job better than another guy."
"You sound like your father." Peggy looked up from the suit to Tony.
Tony rolled his eyes, "You literally ruin everything, just go try it on."
Several minutes later Peggy came out in the suit. "Now I understand why you always walk the way you do Steve." She had an extra drop of swagger, "I feel rather untouchable right now… What do you think?" The question was for Steve.
He cleared his throat, "It's… ugh… well…" Steve went bright red, "You look great."
Tony slapped Steve's shoulder, "Happy Honeymoon old man."
"Everything's all clear from up here." Sam announced from his side of the perimeter.
"Same." Tony looked down at the neighborhoods, "We can start an evacuation once everyone is inside."
"Perfect." Steve ran with half the team around the building to make sure everything was clear. Bobbi and Hunter were close behind him, her gun ready to shoot at the first thing that moved that didn't have a SHIELD logo on them. "Everyone still good back there."
"Sure thing Cap." Hunter said with an extra hint of sarcasm.
Steve looked back, "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"Play nice Hunter." Peggy ordered, "He just doesn't understand the complex nature of British wit."
"What a shame." Hunter sighed.
"Can we focus?" May requested as she brought up the rear of Cap's group.
"Readings show a large number of bodies inside the first room. The sensors can't get any farther than that though." Fitz reported from The Bus.
Steve rounded the corner and saw Peggy doing the same on the other side. For a minute he forgot what they were going to do, and only focused on how amazing she was and how good she looked in that suit. Her hair was pinned back like it used to be during the war, and of course red lipstick. The women practically wore it to bed. "Ready?" He gave her a hand sign.
She flashed held her hands up and flashed them twice, which was the sign for the teams to hold back while Steve kicked down the door. Once the door opened there would be a rather large number of bullets flying at them before the dust could settle. Steve walked up to the center and took a few steps back before running at full speed at the door. After the second try the doors crashed down leaving dust swirling around giving him a few moments of cover. Bullets pinged off the shield while Peggy and the rest of the team filtered in, firing shots of their own.
The lights were dim but they could see that they were vastly outnumbered, but not for long.
"Send in the Drones to find a way to Angie. We'll take care of the rest." Daisy signaled Fitz. Someone ran up behind her, ready to swing a pipe directly at her head. She turned around and with a flick of her wrist sent him back into the wall. "Typical," She muttered.
Steve was hiding behind a wall of cargo that didn't seem to be aligned with anything devious. They were still outnumbered but not by many. Peggy ran through the cross hairs trying to get to some kind of cover, she collapsed by Steve in the cover "There's too many of them."
He shrugged, "I don't know, we've fought more nazi's than this."
"It looks like there's a route to a basement of some sort to the doors on the left." Fitz called, "I can't get any reading underneath this level though."
"Then I guess we should go down a level." Steve got up and fired a few more shots at the Hydra agents currently shooting at them.
Wanda walked by holding her hands together, with a large wispy red shield in front of her that stopped the bullets. Once she was closer she reached forward with one hand which seemed to affect their enemies by pulling them apart. "You two follow lead," Her accent got thicker under stress.
"The neighborhood is being moved a few blocks down. Team B is moving in."
The fire subsided for a few moments until they realized that the attackers were all at least disarmed. "Alright team B secure this level, Team A we're going down." Steve ordered.
Quickly and efficiently as they got into the building they walked to the doors on their left, following a set of stairs underground. Peggy kicked the door in, and shot straight down the hallway at the women standing at the end of the hall. Bobbi, who was on her left, quickly shot down the two guards that were down the hallway on their right. "Split up?" Peggy looked at Steve who nodded. Bobbi, Hunter and Wanda went down the left. May, Daisy, and Natasha went down the right hallway. Peggy and Steve went down the middle. Everything was going too well to feel good about what was happening. They walked down the middle with the Shield ready to cover them at all directions. When they got to the first door, Steve kicked it in, only to find nothing inside. One down five to go. Two down four to go. Three down T-
As Steve kicked in the third door they were met by gunfire. The first two shots ricocheted off the SHIELD but the third hit Peggy in the shoulder. She let out a howl of pain and shot three times in the direction of the bullet. "I see you found us." Ward called from the other corner of the room.
"You have to be better than an abandoned warehouse son."
"Your Nazi roots are showing." Peggy bit back.
Ward walked closer to them holding someone in front of him, "Let me guess you're here for this?" When Peggy looked closer at the face she could see that it was no one other than Angie, and she didn't look like she was in very good condition. Her bright eyes were dull, her soft cheeks were sunken in. Angie was in there somewhere but it too a bit of imagination to see where. "Let me guess, my SHIELD buddies are waiting for me upstairs… your little vengeance plan is working out great."
Steve reloaded his gun aiming straight at Ward, "So far so good." Both of them made small steps forward to close the distance.
He spoke too soon. Ward let Angie out of his grip and she sprinted to Peggy, and not in a good way. She pulled a knife from the holster on her side and swung her arm twice. Peggy kicked Angie in the stomach, sending her back a few paces, "Angie, it's me!"
She didn't say anything. The only thing she could process was more rage and energy to come back at Peggy with. "As much as I'd love to have an epic duel to the death-" Ward took advantage of Angie's distraction and fired two shots at Steve. Both hit.
Steve fell back and grabbed his stomach. "Steve!" She opened the communications up to everyone, Peggy looked over and felt Angie tackle her like a train going at full speed. Angie pinned Peggy down and started wailing into her jaw. Even with all the strength Howard's serum gifted her, Angie was still stronger. Peggy's weapon was ripped out of her own hand and then pressed against her temple, "Angie, Please! Remember me." Angie's face didn't falter, Peggy had read Bucky's file enough time to know what snapped him out of the programming, "I'm Peggy Carter… you and I-"
"You left me to die." The gun was pressed harder into her head, "That's what they said. I know who I am. Angie Martinelli, you left me to die there in Russia. You had me and you left."
Ward walked over to a panel on the wall and pressed a few buttons nonchalantly. Would you like to initiate program 11? "Yes." You have 5 minutes to leave the building.
Steve tried getting up again without success, "What's program 11?"
He chuckled and threw a metal disk closer to where the three of them were fighting, "Here's a preview." Ward made his escape out a back door. Once he was safely away the metal disk started flashing red light, faster and faster until they were both sure of what Wards plan was. The disk was a bomb.
Peggy managed to roll Angie over a few feet- which still wasn't enough. "Major explosive on-" Peggy's warning to the team came too late as Steve lurched forward trying to cover the bomb with the Shield. The bomb gave off a bright flash, before causing the room around them to crumble.