-Two Days Later-
-Hydra Base-
Schmidt stared at the glowing object in front of him, he felt a call towards it, he slowly caressed the translucent container, that held it.
He knew better than to touch it. It had given him powerful weapons, the ability to free himself from Hitler's grasp. He could feel the guards staring at him, his red skeleton like head tended to draw attention, but he didn't care. In his mind, it only displayed how powerful and godlike he was. He was perfect, he was stronger than any man, even this 'Captain America'; what an obscene name.
He leaned back into his chair, he had learned and gain so much from the tesseract, but he wanted more, he could be strong enough to be a god if he could harness it's power...
-U.S. Camp-
Colonel Philips read from the information that had been handed to him.
"Senator Brandt, I regret to report that Captain Steven Rogers ventured behind enemy lines with a private Eddie Q. Kent and went missing on the third. Aerial reconnaissance has proven unfruitful. As a result, I must declare Captain Rogers..." Phillips hesitated, "Killed in action.".
He motioned for the man to stop writing; his anger was slowly rising. He glanced at Agent Carter. At first, he could have sworn he saw concern, but then her professional demeanor quickly returned.
She walked up to him and handed him the pictures their last plane had taken, "The last surveillance flight is back." Phillips took the photos and scanned them for any detail.
Agent Carter summarized them with four words, "No sign of activity."
The Colonel frowned, as he set the photos on his desk, "Go get a cup of coffee, corporal." The typewriter stood up and quickly walked away.
Agent Carter straightened up ready to defend her actions.
Phillips walked over to the edge of the tent surveying what was left of his camp, "I can't touch Stark, he's rich and he's the army's number one weapons contractor, you are neither one!" Agent Carter stood in the same spot; she wasn't meeting the Colonel's glare.
She replied in her usual professional tone, "With respect, sir, I don't regret my actions. I don't think Captain Rogers did either." Agent Carter spoke with complete honesty in her tone, she would have done the same thing again in a heartbeat.
Phillips was clearly not amused, as he turned around to face her, "Surprising how you didn't mention Private Kent." Agent Carter almost bit her tongue but kept her mouth closed.
"You know he was a civilian when you had Howard, fly the two over enemy lines."
"Sir, my understanding was that it was his last day in service." Carter replied crisply.
"Yes, his day ended at seventeen hundred hours, where he was to take a charter plane at eighteen hundred hours back to the states." Phillips turned toward Carter, "You killed a civilian and for what…a crush?"
The woman kept her cold professional gaze, but there was a tinge of pink in her cheeks, "It wasn't that. I had faith."
Suddenly a lot of the troops outside the Colonel's tent started running over to something, but he didn't seem to notice, "Well I hope that's a big comfort to you, when they shut this division down."
Then the chatter outside started getting louder, Phillips finally turned his attention outside and said, "What the hell's going on out there?"
He walked right past Agent Carter, and out of his tent, he was expecting another attack, hopefully this one would kill him so he wouldn't have to deal with getting the branch shut down.
Agent Carter sighed and after a moment followed the Colonel. The pair slowly walked over to the crowd of soldiers, who were huddled around a gate and looking at something that was coming up the road. As soon as the two got close enough, the soldiers parted revealing a large group of allied soldiers walking up the road, and right towards the gate, at the very front was Steve, and right at his side was Bucky.
The gate quickly opened as; the soldiers walked through with an aura of confidence surrounding them. They were followed by a lot more men, the prisoners they had rescued were slowly crossing into allied territory...
The soldiers that were staring in fascination started clapping, when a Hydra tank rolled through the gate carrying wounded soldiers.
Steve, Bucky and a few other soldiers walked up to the Colonel. Agent Carter was standing behind Phillips, smiling that the chance she took was paying off. Some of the soldiers started helping the rescued prisoners.
As soon as Steve was in front of the Colonel, he gave him a salute, "Some of these men need medical attention." The Colonel's expression was unreadable.
"I assume Kent is dead?" the colonel asked, Agent Carter flinched at the question.
"Right here Colonel" called Eddie as he was carried bridal styled by Dum Dum Dugan.
"What happened to you?" Agent Carter asked, the question and concern slipped out without a thought.
Dum Dum put Eddie down who put most of his weight on his left leg. Eddie looked at the colonel, "I got shot."
"You shot yourself." Corrected Dum Dum.
"I shot myself." Eddie admitted.
Which made the colonel rubbed his chin in exasperation. Eddie smiled sheepishly, it was an accident.
-A Few Hours Ago-
Eddie hates marching.
"What happened to the transponder." Eddie asks.
Steve looked sheepish, "It got shot."
Eddie sighs just his luck as his underwear began to give him a wedgie. Not wanting to be inconspicuous; he kept his eyes face forward as his right index finger went to slyly yank up his belt loop. His finger pulls on something cold and didn't feel anything like fabric.
BANG!
Eddie yells out in pain and collapses to the ground. The unwounded soldiers took aim at the surrounding areas, shouting directions.
It took about forty-five minutes to scout the area to double check there weren't any hydra forces attacking.
It took another five minutes for Eddie to whine about the pain until Dum Dum broke down and carried Eddie the rest of the way.
No soldier dared to tease the irish man for bridal carrying the teenager, all except Gabe.
-Now-
"I'd like to point out." Eddie said taking advantage of the disappointing silence, "Since Steve is a captain, he outranks you Colonel so you can't get mad."
Steve whispered as if trying to share the correct answer, "That's not true."
Colonel sighs again wanting this to end, "Captain America isn't in trouble." The Colonel glances at all the saved soldiers, and then smirks at Steve, then glances at Eddie and the smile dies, "I need to see you in my tent in two hours." Eddie nods in acceptance.
Phillips turns to leave but casts a glance at Peggy Carter, "Faith, huh?"
Agent Carter walks up to the two heroes, she spoke to them in a very matter of fact tone, "You're late."
Eddie was about to reply when he saw that Agent Carter, was looking at Steve. Eddie slowly steps away from Steve, and scratches the back of his neck, it would only make sense the hero got the girl.
Steve dazzles a smile and pulls out the transponder, showing a hole blown through it, "Couldn't call my ride." Agent Carter kept smiling at him.
Suddenly, Bucky yells out, "Hey! Let's hear it for Captain America, and his blue-eyed side kick."
Eddie's attention snaps to Bucky, as the entire crowd starts to cheer.
Eddie glares at Bucky "That better not stick!"
Eddie enters the Colonel's tent exactly two hours later. Colonel Phillip was behind his desk pouring himself a drink.
"Can I have one?" Eddie asks.
"I'm taking this because of you." The colonel said before he gulps the entire content down.
"You know as a civilian you're in a heap ton of trouble for involving yourself in a military operation."
Eddie balks at colonel Phillip, "Well you see when I…"
"You became a civilian that Friday at five P.M." Eddie shuts his mouth, realizing that Howard flew Steve and Eddie over enemy lines well past five p.m.
"Civilians outrank military." Eddie said hopefully. 'Of course the Kent luck' Eddie thinks to himself, 'I finally do something and instead of being praised as a hero like Cap I'm gonna be court martialed.'
The colonel shook his head, "How do you not know what the chain of command is?" Eddie shrugs.
The colonel quickly poured himself another drink. Part of him was excited that the man was finally doing something, he just wish it wasn't to give him an anxiety attack.
"Do you still have your discharge papers." Eddie pulls a crumpled, and bloodied letter from one of the many pockets that assembled his pants.
The colonel took it, and then pulls out a lighter to burn it. Eddie gapes but the colonel gives him a look 'Shut up!'
Once the paper was nothing but ash, the colonel sweeps it off his desk. "Well it looks like you got promoted, Kent."
"What am I a sergeant, lieutenant, a captain?" Eddie asks hopefully.
"Nope, you went from civilian back to private."
"But I was a private before." Eddie whimpers.
"Congratulations." The colonel said.
-Allied Headquarters-
-April 1943-
Eddie polishes one of the few medals that adorns his new jacket. He couldn't help but smirk.
He was so self-absorbed with his own accomplishments; he wasn't really paying attention as Steve started drawing out where they could find more Hydra bases. Apparently, he had seen a map at the base they had infiltrated, which didn't surprise anyone, Hydra was bigger than one factory. Before he headed to the secret military base, Eddie had enjoyed a very long conversation with his father, over the telephone. Frank just kept going on about how proud he was of his son distinguishing himself in service. His mother had cried in concern to learn Eddie had been shot; he wasn't sure if she would have stopped crying or cried harder if he told her, it was an accident. The less information the better, right?
Right as Steve finished drawing the locations of the bases, Eddie frowned, seven bases, "Well we certainly got our work cut out for us."
Steve shrugged, as he stood across the table, "Well there's still the problem of finding them, I just got a quick look at the map."
Agent Carter almost chuckled, "Well, nobody's perfect." Another man walked up and took the map off the table and went to set up a model, Agent Carter smirked at Steve and walked after the map. Eddie and Steve were ushered into a meeting with Colonel Phillips.
"These are the seven factories we know about, Sergeant Barnes said that Hydra shipped all the weapons parts to a factory that isn't on this map. So we need to find that one as well."
The Colonel looked to Carter, "Agent Carter, coordinate with MI6. I want every Allied eyeball looking for that main Hydra base."
Steve asked, "what about us?". The Colonel took the papers from his assistant.
The Colonel spoke with a passionate fire in his voice, "We are gonna set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass." Eddie turned to Steve and saw he was smiling boldly.
The Colonel looked at Steve, "What do you say Rogers? It's your map. You think you can wipe Hydra off it?"
Steve's smile grew, he was ready to take the fight to Hydra, "Yes, sir. I'll need a team."
The Colonel didn't meet their gaze, as he kept reading, "We're already putting together our best men."
Eddie chuckles, "With all due respect sir, I already have some ideas."