Steve nearly fell over and had to grab a railing with just how suddenly violent things got as the craft rumbled. "Did we hit this thing good or is it speeding up?", he said to himself; really wishing now that he was either in contact with someone or that someone was with him: especially having the Commandos with him... hell, practically half the UK Commando and US Ranger forces.
In that case, they might as well as take control of this thing and keep it; but that wasn't how this had gone: either he dies or this whole thing goes down, plain and simple.
He rebalanced his stride as he sprinted, clobbering and shooting some Hydra goons including one of the few machine gunners in the window bay, and glanced to see that it's open sea approaching, with the distant landscape of England vanishing slowly with every rumble of the craft.
He muttered, "Yep, it's speeding up...", glancing to see that the major wing and the few minor wings he and the Royal Navy partially destroyed is hit good either way, so it's a combination of desperation and determination by Schmidt, in his orders, no doubt.
He kept steadily on his rampage, taking up a floor each in his cleanup and destroying any valuable thing in sight while stealing more ammo for his handguns, and grenades from the corpses, hoping that without the Hydra troops being obviously going into spots to guard the remaining rest of the Valkyrie, the beast would be limping metaphorically until he gets to the cockpit or the heart of the Valkyrie either way.
"How much more can this thing take?", Steve asked himself as he sabotaged another wing and then decided that the best way to finish this thing off is probably either finding wherever the heart of this thing is or the controls.
After thinking about it for a quick moment, Steve decided to find the heart of the Valkyrie, as if there's a powering asset, it would surely be in the heart, and since it is essentially found in the middle of a normal craft, like a car and such, and if he understood the few panicked shouts and such from the Hydra goons here and there which he does, grateful to be bilingual, he is getting close to the heart, and since the cockpit is high and front, that would be the next step after he gets rid of the powering asset which he has a feeling that it's the rumored Tesseract from the translated reports from his missions when he and the Howling Commandos took care of Nazis and Hydra squadrons and such throughout the east of France.
Still, Steve didn't have much of a clue what this Tesseract would hold other than maybe being something similar to the Heart of Atlantis. If that's the case... this might be very bad for him if it basically was the opposite to the Heart and with how long it was in Schmidt's possession.
Yet he knew he had to stop this Tesseract one way or another from powering the Valkyrie anymore, for if this is flying over open sea, he is now feeling urgent to put this down into crashing into the sea before it goes to America if he judged the direction right from the brief view that he had back in the window bay a floor down.
Steve fought his way through another wave of HYDRA Stormtroopers; clearly, Schmidt was tired of him being a pest before he finally found himself in a large chamber; something he never had truly seen before except for perhaps the Heart of Atlantis in a way that Milo described it to him. Except rather than a cavern of rocks, it was metal with pipes and lines running all along towards the center and a glowing blue aura that came from it.
Steve carefully and steadily walked, alert, keeping his shield on to the side, refilling his handguns once more, and as he got closer, he can see the center being some sort of containment tank, and his crystal is vibrating madly against his chest, getting warmer.
He is glad that he has gloves on, as if this Tesseract is dangerous, he's not in extreme danger yet, but he better be careful still, as he put the shield down, and yet kept one of his handguns poised at the ground while his other hand went to reach for the latch, and pulled it, opening it as it was heavy and strong, far more than a normal containment tank for vials and such, and there, in all its even brighter, glowing dark blue aura, is a box, a supernatural box that feels strange yet familiar, due to the energy he knew from the weapons and such in all the places he had been, very unassuming in its shape if nobody knew how dangerous it is, yet Steve knew it was.
He looked for the latching tubes to the Tesseract, and went to pull at one when the Tesseract buzzes out at him, lashing out with a white snake beam from the inside colors of almost white-blue essence in the center of the Tesseract, attempting to harm him when his crystal became brighter, with a light blue beam striking back at the white snake beam, and there came a duo of roars and a blast, startling Steve into a shout, stepping back instantly, letting go of the latch, with the Tesseract falling back into containment with a thud and thrumming with power even more, with a flick of a hiss as his crystal seemed to vibrate, pushing his chest back, almost like if the Great Kings is telling him to back off, with the Heart horrified to feel that its old friend has become corrupted and angry thanks to Schmidt.
"Right, right, no touching or going into its territory...But gotta still have to get the power off it...", Steve frowned before seeing the lines, "Maybe I don't have to strike at the head of it, but I can cut off the necks.", grabbing his shield, and slashed through one of the lines, and he heard a violet rumbling explosion in the back of the Valkyrie somewhere, and then he felt the floor slightly give under him, almost like the Valkyrie is starting to limp and sag, starting to drag its tail through the air, the surface of the water, dipping on and off as the Valkyrie tries to correct it over, thanks to the cockpit.
Steve smirked, and went to do the same to the other lines, slashing off two more with his shield, seeing that there are still 15 more lines to go, and he moved to keep rolling on when he shouted in pain, sliced in the hip side, recognizing the feel of a bullet, but it wasn't somehow a normal bullet that grazed him, but he actually can feel it.
"I see you managed to figure out the secret to HYDRA's power...", Schmidt's voice echoed; though not over the PA system but rather in person as Steve tried to find cover and check the wound he sustained. "Foolish of you to come here, Captain America; it might have been smarter for you to just continue what you were doing beforehand. You actually were making quicker progress than I would've liked.".
Steve took a deep breath, and tore a part of bandages from his belt, and covered the wound within the graze spot of his pants by tucking in, knowing that he can't risk his crystal with Schmidt around by taking it off and healing his wound, and narrowed his eyes, clocking his handgun, and peered over one of the overcast pipes he was taking cover behind, and saw Schmidt, replied, "Better to slow this monster down by taking down the lifelines, Schmidt!", before shooting at him, while keeping his shield up in his other hand.
Schmidt took cover, dodging narrowly, yet grazed slightly by the elbow, firing back with his Tesseract-powered rifle, "It's very ironic, isn't it? Two super-soldiers created by Abraham Erskine, fighting over a great power, which I am determined to use it to raze everything you hold dear, Captain America, while you are determined to stop it to save the world I'm dominating over!".
"It's you who are the fool, Schmidt! You realize that the people in the places you attacked earlier including London, they will be having vengeance to protect, avenging their families, their homes!", Steve shouted, shooting back, as the gunfight became fierce as they slowly ran out of ammo.
Schmidt mused with a narrowed set of eyes, "Pah, they will not stand to Hydra as long as it stands. One head's cut, another one grows in its place! And I presume you are one of the avengers, then?".
"That's right, you better believe it, Schmidt! As long as I am Captain America, I will always avenge this world, for I'm not just a super soldier, but someone who believes in the people, and if I am the First Avenger, I will be gladly so, to stop you and Hydra, and all evil that follows to harm this world, all the innocent people, and everything I love!", Steve retorted as he shot one last time from his smoking handgun, landing a grazing hit into Schmidt's temple and ear, unknowingly tearing a mask, a skin mask.
Schmidt groaned as he checked the wound before he sighed, "Nice shot... but this isn't blood that you think you see... did Erskine tell you how the experiment went with me? That I'm apparently the failure while you're the success? Let me show you exactly why I am called the Red Skull...", as Schmidt began to tear away at his face.
Steve almost wanted to vomit at the sight for a moment before he realized that the face wasn't actually real... it was a fake... but what lied beneath wasn't anything less horrifying as Schmidt ripped it off... to reveal practically what looked like a skull just barely covered with red flesh. Suddenly, the Red Skull moniker clicked into place.
Steve exhaled, "Red Skull...There was talk in the reports and by the goons...Must have been extremely excruciating then.", and Schmidt chuckled bitterly, "Looks like you know the pain then. Of course, my hair and handsome skin was a minor loss to the power I have. Pity that you lost your ability to be normal as you must wish for it back, eh? After all, the super strength, the speed, everything, why, you would break a woman in half which would put gossip so fast for any woman to hear, and pardon their natural frailness of being like glass, you wouldn't have a woman in bed!", with a malicious smirk.
"That's where you are wrong. You use your powers to intimidate and put fear into people, me, I use my powers to protect, and put motivation into people, Schmidt!", Steve retorted, inwardly slightly smug and proud that he stayed true to himself, and fell in love with a strong, beautiful woman who isn't even remotely fragile.
Schmidt narrowed his eyes, "The name is Red Skull! If you must be a pest and get in my way then, it's time to even the odds.", dropping off the smoking rifle, "Unless, that is, you're afraid to face me like a man, Captain America?", keeping secret of his handgun tucked in his belt behind him, determined to cheat if he must.
"Huh... I'd ask you the same, Red Skull...", Steve said as he broke from cover while holding his shield. "Not much of a man to hide behind that patriotic shield of yours...", Red Skull scoffed as Steve smirked, "I just like to keep the odds a bit more in my favor; not like you're one above cheating as Erskine said.".
Obviously, that got under Red Skull's skin as he charged forward towards Steve; the American arrogance was needing to be quashed and he was the man to do it. Despite Erskine's faith, Steve's humility and compassion was only a detriment to him as the Red Skull thought to himself. Something he was not burdened with and thus made him the superior specimen, not Steve.
Steve narrowed his eyes as he set his feet, and then threw the shield at him, and Red Skull dodged, sliding and tackling him, as the shield slashed through another line while the two super soldiers fought on equal grounds.
They grunted as they traded punches with one another, before Steve managed to toss him off of him, freeing him up before quickly getting back on his feet as he tried to go back for his shield while Red Skull made sure that wasn't going to happen as he charged him once more, throwing another fist that Steve quickly ducked down to dodge before he hit him with a one-two right to the solar plexus.
Red Skull choked down from the punch, and he narrowed his eyes as he jabbed his leg out at Steve's chest, and hit him, and Steve staggered back, yet set his feet back as he tackled Red Skull by the legs, causing him to hit one of the pipes hard.
"GAHHH!", Red Skull yelled from the pain as Steve went right ahead with the counterattack; landing multiple hits against the head. He landed several before Red Skull blocked and threw Steve off once more, "Erskine was right to choose you, it seems... but you're still weaker compared to me...".
Steve retorted, "Perhaps, but I'm younger and faster than you!", before throwing a grenade at the busted pipe near him, pin already pulled in a second, and then the grenade exploded, with the flickering Tesseract energy that was running through the pipe creating a crater into the floor and wall of the room, the shrapnel hitting Red Skull as he shouted in pain and anger.
"I'll kill you, American bastard!", Red Skull roared as he staggered, and Steve shouted, "Not if I do it first, Hydra scum!", taking a note from his wife with a twist and flying kick, hitting Red Skull in the chest hard, causing him to fall through the crater, crashing through two floors, rendering him unconscious, but not out permanently yet, as he had crashed into the motor of a wing on the third floor, where the motor would have killed someone normal instantly with the props and such, but it was enough to burn Red Skull, disfiguring him somewhat.
Steve panted heavily, gritting his teeth, feeling the bruises and bleeding cuts, but ignored them as he grabbed his shield, and went to slash about more of the first half of the feeding lines from the Tesseract, feeling the Valkyrie sag more and more, and as he felt the Valkyrie trying to keep up with rising speed, he knew if he made it to the controls of the cockpit, he would possibly get a overreach into the power output, putting it into the red, and then the engines wouldn't keep up with the losing power of the Tesseract, and yes, it's possible that the Valkyrie would then be in for the biggest catastrophic failure, causing it to go out in a great explosion.
Determined, still feeling that he can still do this all day, he left the power room of the Tesseract, struggling and trying to keep up the remaining half of the lines and pipes leading from it, heading for the cockpit, and maybe, just maybe after taking care of the Hydra drivers and such, he can configure the radio into the army channel to his base if he wasn't too far off, unknowing of Red Skull's slowly gained consciousness, and of course, burning desire for revenge.
Steve barged right into the cockpit and started making quick work of the HYDRA pilots who had little defense against him since none of them were ever expected to fight while flying the craft. It only took a minute before it was cleared out. "Man... Phillips and the SSR would've loved taking this thing apart if I could keep it...", he sighed as he tried to look for where the overall command stick was for the craft.
He looked at the advanced Hydra technology of the cockpit, seeing the mapping out route and to solidify his horrifying theory, the Valkyrie was truly on the way to America, and he narrowed his eyes as he took the front seat, trying to understand the controls, trying to disarray the lock in command off the route while reaching for the radio, clicking the channel outputs as he repeated, "Mayday, Mayday, this is Captain America of the Howling Commandos, US Army!".
There was no response as Steve growled as he tried to turn the frequency again. "Come on... there's got to be someone listening for something...", he said to himself.
He repeated, "If there's somebody, damn pick it up! Mayday, Captain America calling, over!", as there was no response again, and if he can't move the route, then he will have to overturn the command by putting a power overload. He went to the power crank on another console, and punched buttons as he calculated fast, and then pushed the crank lever steadily into the red zone when he heard Phillips' voice, "Rogers! Locking into your frequency, over! Pick up, over!".
He faintly heard one of the minor wing engines pop-explode, like popcorn, and realized that his plan is working slowly, but successfully, as he ran to the seat again, shouting, "General, don't change the frequency! I'm here, over!", jabbing the speaker button, seeing on the panel that the locked route to America is dipping slightly off course, deciding to push the speed controls up to power overload, feeling the craft pop-explode more and shake and such, knowing that if he is going to put this craft into a course to crash into somewhere there's no civilization, it's either open sea somewhere, away from the isles of Great Britain and the Azores, or perhaps the Arctic.