Boredom.
Yes, that's how Steve would describe the last few hours.
After his fairly ungraceful performance while scrubbing blood and brains out of the tank interior, the rest of the day was mainly filled with waiting. Of course, there was dinner (although Steve wondered whether anyone besides his new friends would use the word "dinner" to describe the meal) and Jarvis did, in fact, teach him how to use both the machine gun and his personal weapon, but outside of that the hours were mainly filled with tense preparations for the upcoming assault.
Just 10 minutes before the projected time of moving out, they were all back inside the tank. Peggy sat in her seat, finishing up the debriefing.
"The objective…" Peggy said that, in her no-nonsense tone while pointing at the map "… is Carentan. The 101st have captured it recently, but we know that the Germans are preparing a counterattack. The enemy forces are the rests of the 6th Parachute Regiment and the 17th SS Division, so expect heavy resistance."
Steve gulped loudly.
"You OK there, fella?" Howard asked.
"Yeah… It's just my close friend is with the 101st. Haven't heard of him since England, so…"
"He might be there." Peggy answered for him. "Although if I were you I wouldn't get my hopes up too much. The whole division got scattered badly, from what I have heard we're still finding some lone groups wandering around the whole front."
"What's his name, actually?" Dugan asked. "It would be useful when we ran into them, you know."
"James Barnes." Steve answered. "Although he hates it. For me, it's just Bucky."
"Bucky it is, then." Peggy surmised. Suddenly, the wireless sprung into life.
"Platoon, move out!"
"You heard it, chaps!" Peggy said, peeking her head out the hatch. "Let's go, Stark, I don't want to stay in this shitehole of a base any longer than I have to!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Howard said, cheerfully, as he started the engine. It roared loudly as Howard released the brake and the machine lurched forward. Soon, they left the base behind them, driving into the night. They weren't leading the column – it was Thompson's tank that did that – but Peggy didn't really mind. She had enough experience to know that being the leader simply made you an easier target.
Soon, Steve settled into the cruise as he scanned the surroundings. He could hear the roar of aircraft engines above and a distant thunder of explosions that lit up the night's sky.
"Seems like the flyboys are having some fun down there." Howard broke the silence.
"I would imagine so." Peggy answered.
The next few hours passed remarkably peacefully. Their tempo was slow, mainly because of the bad roads and the amount of destroyed and abandoned equipment littering the countryside. As morning dawned, Steve was already feeling exhausted by the long night. He felt his head slowly slump down and he might have fallen asleep right there and then, had it not been for an explosion coming from the front of the column. The sound was so loud and unexpected his head jolted upwards and to the right, hitting the open hatch. Steve winced – even though, as all of them, he had a tanker's helmet and goggles on his head, the hit was still fairly painful. The tank then halted, rocking forwards.
"What the hell was that?" Steve asked, perplexed and slightly scared.
"I'm trying to find out." Peggy answered, slightly annoyed, fumbling with the wireless.
"I think…" Howard started, before yawning and continuing "…someone has hit a mine."
"Bollocks!" Peggy exclaimed loudly, before letting out a groan.
"What has happened, Ms. Carter?" Jarvis asked, curious.
"Lieutenant's tank has hit a mine. They're OK, but the track has been blown off and they are blocking the way." she explained, annoyance even more pronounced.
"Told ya." Howard said to Steve, with a wink. "And let me guess now, Peggy, we're going to sit here like targets on a shooting range because Thompson will try to repair all that and won't agree to a bit of a push to the side?"
"Knowing that twat, sure, he will." Peggy answered.
The predictions of Peggy and Howard were mostly correct. While Thompson did, in fact, try to convince the rest that the damage was minor, Peggy knew his tank wouldn't go anywhere without the help of the Engineers. After some deliberation, Thompson begrudgingly agreed and let his tank be pushed to the side to make way for the rest. Now Peggy's tank moved up to the second spot in the column, right behind Sergeant Ramirez. The unit moved on, leaving the stricken machine behind.
"I still can't believe how stubborn that prick Thompson is." Peggy said, taking a sip from her flask. "One third of his left suspension is gone and he has the audacity to say it's just a minor dent. What a cunt." The last sentence was punctuated by a spit.
Steve smirked. While he only knew Peggy Carter for less than a day, he was starting to like her no-nonsense demeanor and her blatant disregard for any conventions.
"As they say, you can lead a horse to water…" Howard started, but then stopped talking. Steve looked forward, but most of his view was obscured by the leading tank in the column. He noted, however, that the distant sounds of gunfire and explosions were growing louder and louder by the second. Suddenly, he heard Peggy through the intercom.
"Howard, hard left. We have contacts up front."
"Yes, ma'am" he responded. Steve immediately felt the tank turn from the road onto the field. Soon, the column dispersed onto a wide front, with infantry halftracks following behind.
"Jarvis, Steve, be ready and eyes peeled, there are friendlies out there. Dugan, standby on the ammo. Button up."
Steve quickly reached up and closed the hatch, sinking inside the tank. He quickly adjusted the periscope so he could have a better view of what was ahead. He quickly glanced around and saw that everyone's faces were beaming with concentration and determination. He must have been looking for too long, because suddenly he felt a nudge on the shoulder.
"Look ahead, for fuck's sake, concentrate!" It was Howard, his voice full of annoyance.
Steve quickly composed himself, reloading the machine gun and gripping it tightly to still his shaking hands. He was sweating profusely and felt his heart would beat out of his chest soon. Just as he was thinking about all the bad scenarios, the tank crested a small hill.
What Steve saw could only be described as chaos. To the right, he saw several vehicles, the black crosses identifying them as German. These were mostly halftracks, with soldiers bunched around them, firing at the Americans to the left. Suddenly, he saw a German tank move up from behind the trucks. Fortunately for them, the Germans haven't spotted them yet. The intercom suddenly burst into life.
"Jarvis, StuG, 550 meters, 2 o'clock!" Peggy shouted.
"Roger, eyes on." Jarvis answered calmly.
"Dugan, load AP, Howard, halt!" The tank stopped abruptly.
"Clear!" Dugan shouted, completing the loading.
"Fire!" Peggy exclaimed. The sound of the main gun firing and the jolt of recoil felt as one for Steve. He saw the shell hit the enemy tank flush on the side, a pillar of flame rising upwards. He watched in trance as a German tanker managed to exit, his whole body on fire. The German fell down to the ground, rolling around in the grass. His trance was broken by a swift kick to the back.
"Rogers, fire your fucking gun! Do your job!" Peggy shouted.
Steve quickly composed himself and pulled the trigger. The first burst went nowhere near the enemy, but the next few ones were right on target. The Germans began a hasty retreat, but soon they were dropping like flies from the concentrated fire. Steve kept pressing the trigger as the tank started moving again, the bursts from the machine gun mauling the escaping enemies. Peggy also joined in on the action, firing long bursts over the ditch where some of the Germans were hiding in with the machine gun mounted on the rim of her hatch. The cannon fired again, the shell hitting one of the halftracks, setting it on fire. Suddenly Steve heard a scream through the gunfire, followed by a crunching noise and the feeling of the tank rising up slightly, as if it had hit a bump. Soon, Steve spotted some of the survivors that didn't manage to get away leave the ditch by the road with their hands held high up.
"Don't shoot, they might be useful, even though they are SS." Peggy said.
The gunfire died down and was replaced by loud cheers coming from the paratroopers. The tank stopped and the hatches were quickly opened, to let fresh air in. It was then that Steve spotted how badly his hands were shaking. His breaths became ragged as he suddenly found himself in a middle of a coughing fit, his heart hammering against his ribs. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Steve, are you alright?" Peggy asked, her voice filled with worry.
He coughed up a few times before turning his head to face Peggy.
"Yeah." he answered, his voice ragged. "It's just… I never…"
"I understand." Peggy answered, her voice reassuring. "It's never easy. And I'm sorry for kicking you earlier on."
"No offense taken, Peggy." Steve responded. "I froze up, you kickstarted me back. Nothing wrong with that."
"Well, I didn't have much time to think and a boot to the back works most of the time."
"I'd assume it does." That statement earned him a chuckle from Peggy.
"Holy shit!"
The loud shout caused both Steve and Peggy to turn their heads. What Steve saw immediately filled him with relief. In front of him was Bucky Barnes himself – with a beard and slightly dirty, but it really was him in the flesh. Steve quickly jumped out of the tank and sprinted a few meters, hugging Bucky.
"God damn it, Buck, you're alive." he said, breaking the hug.
"You ever doubted that?" he answered, with a smirk on his face.
"Not really, but the lack of letters was disconcerting enough."
"I was too busy looking for my unit and then killing Nazis, plus, the postal services here are a bit primitive." Steve chuckled as Bucky finishes the sentence.
"OK, enough about me, how the hell did you end up here in a tank with such a lady?"
"I got reassigned." Steve answered, truthfully. "And the lady here is my commander."
"Look at you, from a pencil pusher to a true American warrior!"
Steve chuckled but didn't respond. An awkward moment of silence later he heard Howard.
"Steve, mount up, we're moving on!"
"I gotta go Buck, duty calls." he said, his voice tainted with regret.
"Just don't get yourself killed." Bucky responded, his voice serious.
"You too.". They hugged again and parted ways – Bucky turned back to his paratrooper comrades, while Steve went back into the tank. Inside, he relaxed against the seat, listening into the hum of the engine, as sleepiness overwhelmed him.
"So he's alive after all." he heard Peggy say as his eyelids slowly closed.
"He certainly is." Steve responded, before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.