All Maria and Howard could do was call the police as Steve and Peggy chased down the shooter, but once Steve got to him, he bit down on a cyanide pill while saying, "Hail Hydra."

They had all gone back to the underground part of the antique shop. The ambulance had taken away Abraham's body and Maria decided to stay close to Howard, still freaking out about everything that had just happened. Peggy was inside the hospital portion of it with Steve as nurses took his blood. The woman pulled out the needle of his body and put it with the others as Steve rolled his sleeve back down. "I think you've got enough."

"Any hope of reproducing the serum lies in your genetic code. Dr. Erskine was the only one who knew the original formula. Rogers and Stark are just credited for adding the one thing to make it work better and getting it inside your body." Peggy sighed sadly while looking down. "Even that task to finding the original formula would take years."

Steve sighed as he looked out the window to see Maria and Howard standing side by side, working on the technology the shooter tried to escape with. "He deserved more than this."

"If it could work only once, he'd be glad it was you." Peggy looked behind her to see Steve's sight of Howard and Maria. "And I know your sister is proud of you."

He looked at Maria, who was working away, and sighed a little. "She's so young." He shook his head. "She's had so much bad fortune in her life."

Peggy looked up at Steve, admiring how much he cared for his little sister even if he wasn't able to protect her a few hours ago. "She's strong." Peggy vouched for her. "She can handle it."

She smiled and nodded. "I know she can handle it, but I don't want her to handle it anymore. I don't want her to have to deal with any more death."

Colonel Phillips was walking with Senator Brandt side by side, on their way to Howard and Maria. They looked up at each other and rolled their eyes simultaneously. "My committee is demanding answers!" Senator Brandt yelled at him.

"Great, why don't we start with how a German spy got into my secret instillation in your car?" He was about to defend himself when Colonel Phillips looked to Howard and Maria. "What do we got here?"

Howard looked up at them, handing his wrench to Maria who took over what he was doing. "Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country."

Maria looked up at Howard while rolling her eyes, shoving the wrench into his chest and looking up at Colonel Phillips. "Point is, we don't know what's inside this thing or how it works."

"We're not even close to this technology."

"Then who is?"

They both opened their mouths to answer, but Colonel Phillips beat them to it. "Hydra." Senator Brandt looked at him blankly. "I'm sure you've been reading our briefings."

"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel." He reasoned.

Peggy walked into the room followed by Steve, giving him the answer for what Hydra was. "Hydra is a Nazi Deep science division led by Johann Schmidt, but he has much bigger ambitions."

"Hydra's practically a cult." Maria told them as she adjusted her trousers and leaned up against the machine they had taken a break from working on. They worship Schmidt. They think he's invincible."

Colonel Phillips looked at her questioningly and Howard shrugged in response. "We read the briefings."

"What are you gonna do about it?" Senator Brandt asked Colonel Phillips with a bite of ferociousness.

Colonel Phillips just gave him an unamused smile and turned around to look at Agent Carter. "I spoke to the president this morning. As of today, the SSR is being retasked

"Colonel?"

"We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags, Agent Carter." He turned around to look at the two wiping their hands from the grease they collected from the submarine. "You too Rogers, Stark. We're flying to London tonight."

He turned around to walk off when Steve stopped him. "Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in."

"You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo."

Steve rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "The serum worked."

"I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough."

"He's more than an army." Maria argued as she got out from where she was working, frustrated with no one seeing Steve's potential. She was even mad at herself for it.

"Only in your eyes, Rogers." She sighed an angry breath as he turned away from her and Steve watched him walk off, feeling worse about himself than he had when he was a little guy.

Maria was about to walk up to him when Senator Brandt got in her way. "With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point. I've seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country's seen it." He snapped to someone who was next to him without turning away from Steve. "Paper." When the man brought him the paper, he unfolded it, bringing it right up to Steve. "The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstand." He gave the paper back to the man who brought it and looked back to Steve. "You don't take a soldier symbol like that and hide him in a lab." Maria and Peggy shared a worried look at the fact that he was getting to him. "Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"

"Sir," Steve spoke confidently. "That's all I want."

"Then congratulations." He shook his hand and studied him excitedly. "You just got promoted."

"Oh, Stevie," Maria whispered as she watched how interested he was. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

Bucky ran through the forest with his gun and Eddy Daniels by his side. They both were forced to hide behind a tree as enemy soldiers made their way out of the morning fog. Bucky looked over at the tree next to him where Dum Dum was hiding behind. He looked behind the tree and gave Bucky a nod.

Bucky and Eddy both hurried over to the tree where Dum Dum was hiding behind and let out deep breaths, feeling the adrenaline pump through them. "How many are there?" Bucky whispered, trapped in the middle of the two soldiers.

Dum Dum shook his head and tried to look behind a tree when bullets shot out, causing them all to squeeze together, all of them avoiding the bullets. "By the count of that," Dum Dum began. "At least a dozen."

Eddy looked over at Dum Dum, studying him worriedly. "How many of us are left?"

Dum Dum looked around and shrugged. "Just the three of us that I know of."

Bucky turned to look at Eddy with a deep sigh. "I promised my girl I would be home for our wedding." Bucky told Dum Dum.

"And you will." He assured him as he looked around the place. "We just have to make sure we can get out of here with all of us."

"How are we gonna-" There was the sound of a bang and all of them turned to see Eddy on the floor unconscious.

Before any of them could react, Dum Dum was hit in the back of the head and Bucky put his gun up to the one person who knocked out Dum Dum. He was a tall man, wearing a high officially Nazi uniform. Bucky was about to shoot when the gun was ripped from his hands by someone else and he was punched in the face, but not hard enough to knock him out. "Hello, Sargent Barnes." The man spoke in a thick German accent. "I am Dr. Johann Schmidt."

Bucky shook his head while looking at him, the other man holding on to him tight, making sure he couldn't go anywhere. "What are you gonna do, you cock-eyed bastard?" Bucky asked in an overly confident tone.

Johann laughed as he looked Bucky up and down. "The only thing I like about you Americans is how overly confident you all are." His face then got serious, scaring Bucky, but forcing himself to hold his ground. "It gives me more enjoyment when I kill you." He looked to the man who was holding on to him. "Take the others in the cells and take him into the lab." Bucky began to protest and kick, but the man was stronger than him.

When he was brought to their facility, the man who took him into the lab told him to take everything out of his pockets, but Bucky stood there defiantly. He wasn't going to cooperate with these men at all. That just frustrated the solider, so he decided to beat Bucky senseless, emptying his pockets for him. He found the picture of Maria in thigh highs and garters and smiled when he saw it. "Give me that!" Bucky yelled angrily, trying to get up from the floor.

The soldier simply punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious and slipped the photo into his pocket as he walked out of the door. That photo could be of use to them.

The star spangled man with a plan was captivating audiences of kids all over America. Though the people who were actually fighting the war didn't take amusement in him. He stood in front of a group of grown men after the girls had danced, but none of them were smiling. "How many of you are ready to help me sock ol' Adolph in the jaw." It was a dark day and rain was expected which was not helping the soldier's attitudes. They were just standing there, watching him. "Okay." Steve spoke, obviously disappointed, but keeping his smile. "I need a volunteer."

"We already volunteered!" One soldier in the crowd shouted out. "How do you think I got here?"

Everyone laughed when someone else yelled out, "Bring back the girls!"

Everyone cheered as Steve looked around, feeling himself getting flustered. "I think they only know the one song, but, um, I'll see what I can do."

Peggy and Maria were standing in the back of the crowd, watching on while biting their lips, hating to see Steve suffer like this. "You do that, sweetheart!"

"Nice boots, Tinkerbell!"

The two women rolled their eyes at their immaturity and wanted to help Steve more than ever at the look of his embarrassed face. "Come on, guys." He spoke in a tired voice. "We're all on the same team here."

"Hey, Captain!" One man from the audience spoke as he stood up. "Sign this!" He pulled his pants down, sending both Maria and Peggy's heads the other way since they weren't getting his butt like Steve was.

After he picked his pants up, someone threw some food at Steve who blocked it with his shield. Others began throwing it and he just sighed and hurried off the stage. It was breaking Maria's heart to see it. She loved her brother and he deserved so much more than this. He was meant for so much more. She turned to Peggy and took a deep breath, her hand on her hurting heart. "I'm going to check on Bucky's status and then I'll see Steve."

She nodded, giving her a slight smile. The two had gotten close with all the time they had been spending together. They were the only girls surrounded by Colonel Phillips and Howard Stark. Yes, Peggy had Colonel Phillips to talk to and Maria had Howard, but it was nice when they got to talk as girls. They had grown use to their girl time and wouldn't trade it out for anything. "I'll be with Steve, waiting for you."

She put a hand on Peggy's shoulder, smiling at her, appreciating that they had this friendship. "Thank you." Peggy nodded and Maria walked off to find Colonel Phillips.

Peggy wanted a time to talk to Steve. She felt bad for him and she still felt this connection with him. She didn't want that to go away. She found him sitting in the rain while sketching a dancing monkey with a shield like his in a notebook. She felt bad for him and all she wanted to do was talk to him about what he was going through. "Hello, Steve."

Steve looked up at her, shocked that she was actually there. The one girl he had been thinking about the entire time was finally there. "Hi." He spoke incredulously.

"Hi." She spoke again nervously while moving to sit next to them on the steps.

"What are you doing here?"

"Officially, I'm not here at all." She looked to him as she finally sat down, getting a good look at his face which she hadn't seen in months. "That was quite a performance."

"Yeah." He spoke, trying not to look at her from embarrassment. "I had to improvise a little bit." He looked back to her as he sighed. "The crowds I'm used to are a little more…twelve."

She wanted to make him feel better about what he was doing so with a slight smile she said, "I understand you're America's new hope."

"Bond sales take a ten percent bump on every state I visit." He spoke dully.

"That's Senator Brandt's idea." She told him with a knowing nod.

"At least he's got me doing this." He spoke as he put his pencil down and turned to her. "Phillips would have had me stuck in a lab."

"And these are your only two options?" She asked like she didn't believe that he would just give in so easily. "A lab rat or a dancing monkey?" They both looked down at the journal and Peggy sighed sadly at what he had become. "You were meant for more than this, you know?" Steve looked down, more sad than ever which was hurting Peggy. She had never seen him look like this before. He had absolutely no hope. He wasn't like the boy she first met. "What?"

"You know, for the longest time I dreamed about coming overseas and being on the front line serving my country. I finally got everything I wanted and I'm wearing tights." Ahead of them, there was an ambulance and people rushed to get the hurt soldiers out. "They look like they've been through hell."

"These men move the most." She told him as she looked back to him. "Schmidt sent out a force to a zone. Less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th."

Steve turned to her with wide eyes. "The 107th?!"

"Steve!" Steve turned around to see his sister soaking wet with a hysterically crying face. He didn't know if the water on her face was from the rain or the tears. "The 107th was taken."

He stood up and put his arm around her as they ran through the rain with Peggy following. They got to the tent where Colonel Phillips was sitting at a desk with papers in front of him. "Colonel Phillips." Maria yelled desperately with Steve still right by her.

"Well," He spoke with an unimpressed voice while looking at Steve. "If it isn't the star spangled man with a plan. What is your plan today?"

"I need the casualty list from Bolzano." He told him quickly as Maria was bouncing with nerves.

"You don't give me orders, son."

Maria rolled her eyes and looked to Steve who wasn't going to back down from Colonel Phillips. "I just need one name. Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th."

Peggy's eyes grew wide, now knowing why they were so desperate to find out more information. Maria's fiancé and Steve's best friend was in the 107th. Colonel Phillips looked to Peggy, giving her an annoyed sigh. "You and I are going to have a conversation later that you won't enjoy."

"Please," Maria cut in, feeling her breath quicken. "Just tell me he's alive, sir. B-A-R-"

"I can spell." He cut her off. He really didn't want to give her this information, but he knew it was essential. She had to know. That was her fiancé. "I've signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count, but…the name does sound familiar."

Maria closed her eyes and let a few tears fall down her face. Peggy moved to her, wrapping her arms around her neck as she cried on Peggy. Steve looked to her, sadly, feeling not only her heartbreak, but his own at his best friend possibly being dead. "What about the others?" He asked as he turned back to Colonel Phillips. "Are you planning a rescue mission?"

"Yeah," He told him with a shrug. "It's called winning a war."

Maria pulled away and looked to Colonel Phillips with her eyes wide at the fact that he wasn't going to do anything about her fiancé possibly being captured with other great men, Peggy also sharing her shock. "But if you know where they are, why not-"

"They're thirty miles behind the lines." Colonel Phillips told Steve obviously as he turned to the map behind him. "Through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we would save." Maria was about to protest, but he turned to look at Steve. "I don't expect you to understand that because you're a chorus girl."

Steve looked to him, fuming with rage at this man, but keeping it all inside. "I think I understand just fine."

"Well then understand it somewhere else. If I read the posters correctly, you've got someplace to be in thirty minutes." He turned around and began walking around behind them.

Maria walked up to Steve and saw that he was looking at the map. They both looked at each other and nodded, knowing what they had to do. "Yes, sir, I do."

The two of them walked out of the tent and Peggy watched them, having an internal debate with herself as if to go with them or to tell Colonel Phillips. "If you have something to say, right now is the perfect time to keep it to yourself." She looked to him and sighed. She was going to follow them.

She finally caught up to them back stage, packing up some of the stuff for the Captain America show to use on their trip. "What do you two plan to do? Walk to Austria?"

"I'm finding Howard." Maria told her while putting on a rain jacket. "He'll help me no matter what."

"You heard the Colonel." She told her as she moved closer to her friend. "He's most likely dead."

"You don't know that." Steve protested.

"Even so, he's devising a strategy, it takes time."

"By the time he's done that, it'll be too late!" Maria yelled at her.

Peggy turned to Steve with a sigh, hoping that he could help her get some sense into Maria's head. "Steve."

He turned to her with a sigh and that's when Peggy knew that there was no way she was talking either of them out of it. "You told me that you thought I was meant for more than this. Did you mean that?"

"Every word." She told him confidently with a nod.

Maria turned to her with a sigh. "Then you've gotta let us go." She pleaded.

Peggy nodded again, knowing this was something they had to do. She wanted to help her friend find her fiancé and she wanted to help the guy she was falling for find his friend. "I can do more than that."

So, I just had my wisdom teeth taken out so I'm kind of high on pain meds right now. So, sorry if there's a few mistakes in this chapter. I have a reasonable excuse. I hope you all enjoyed!