It was was January 1945 and they were in Russia.
While the rest of the team got ready for the next mission Bucky was sitting there in shock and silence of what he just found out after getting looked at earlier.
Then he closed his eyes and tried to process this when he heard something and opened them to see Steve.
"Hey Buck. You ready?" Steve asked smiling.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Let's go kick HYDRA's ass again!" Bucky said, got up, grabbed what he needed, gave Steve a kiss and they headed to work.
Later Steve and the invaders gathered on a high plateau. Morita crouched over the transceiver, Jones listened to the transmission, Falsworth wielded binoculars, Dugan and Dernier adjust a winch at the cliff's edge and Steve and Bucky stood in conversation.
"The engineer just radioed ahead. Hydra dispatch gave him permission to open the throttle." Jones said slipping off headphones. "Whatever's on this train, they must need it bad."
"Well, they're not going to get it." Morita said.
"I wouldn't be so sure..." Falsworth started.
In the distance, was a far-off, speeding train.
"Because they're moving like the devil." he said while Steve checked his rifle and Bucky looked over the cliff's edge.
"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?" Bucky asked.
"And I threw up?" Steve asked and Bucky looked over the edge again, leery.
"This isn't payback, is it?" Bucky asked and Steve looked up with a grin.
"Now why would I do a thing like that?"
"Punk."
"Jerk." Bucky said but Steve got closer.
"But I'm your punk." Steve whispered and Bucky smiled.
"And don't you forget it." Bucky whispered.
Then a train whistle shrieked through the pass and a futuristic HYDRA train approached.
"All aboard, gentlemen! Mind the gap!" Falsworth said.
Steve, Bucky and Jones attached T-bars to the cable.
"Okay, this is a very short, very fast train. We've got a ten-second window, tops. Mistime it and you're a bug on the windshield." Steve said to Bucky and Jones.
Dugan checked the speed of the train against his watch.
"Better move it, bugs." he said.
Steve, Bucky and Jones hooked to the cable stretching across the pass while Dernier raised his hand and dropped it.
Then Steve jumped, shooting away and Jones and Bucky followed.
On the HYDRA train, roof the train rocketed along.
Steve, Bucky and Jones dropped hard onto the slick roof and met eyes.
On the HYDRA train real car Steve kicked open the back door. He and Bucky rushed in, weapons ready, only to find nothing. They looked at each other and Steve headed for the next car.
On the roof, Jones crawled toward the engine.
In the Middle car Bucky and Steve bang into the next car and found it empty.
"I thought they were supposed to be hauling something." Bucky said and Steve unhooked his shield, wary.
"They were." he said and yanked open the next connecting door, stepping into another darkened car.
They crept forward then a steel plate dropped over the door sealing them in.
The lights brighten, revealing... a HYDRA trooper. Six and a half feet Tall and heavily armored, both of his arms sport huge cannons. Steve and Bucky open fire, but their machine gun bullets ping uselessly off the trooper's armor.
The trooper took aim at Steve and the blue pulse blowed the shield out of his hand and slammed him into the back wall.
The shield clanged to the floor. The trooper turned to Bucky and fired and Bucky dove. The blast ripped a hole in the wall behind them, outside, a jagged ravine whipped past the moonlight. A red light blinked from a camera on the ceiling.
At the engineer booth Zola watched on a monitor as the trooper pressed in on Bucky and leaned into a microphone.
"No. Finish the other one." Zola said.
At the forward car trooper turned back to Steve as he got to his feet. The trooper aimed at the star on Steve's chest. Bucky grabbed Steve's shield off the floor and leapt in front.
"Bucky, no!" Steve said and the cannon fired, hitting Bucky square in the shield blowing him through the hole in the wall.
With a last desperate effort, Bucky snagged the jagged edge. The trooper's weapon was momentarily spent by the blast. As it started to power back up Steve lunges, grabbing Bucky's slipping hand and started pulling him back in. Then The Trooper fired but Steve was able to get Bucky before vaporizing his arm Into a blue mist.
On the roof, Jones sighed in relief as he watched Steve holding Bucky close.
Back at the forward car Steve looked at Bucky.
"You OK?" Steve asked and Bucky winced but nodded.
Then The trooper took another step and Steve got up and grabbed his shield and turned, enraged. The trooper fired but Steve held on, knocking the blast away with his shield advancing.
On the engineering booth Zola slammed his hand on the console.
"Again! Fire again!" Zola said.
On the forward car the trooper fired again and Steve deflected it and kept coming. The trooper re-aimed but Steve charged, redeye and threw his shield at the trooper while Bucky watched.
In the engineering booth Zola swallowed, frightened. He turned for the train controls. Then a .45 presses into his temple. Jones hung from the roof, gun arm extended into the window.
"Stop this goddamned train." Jones said.
At Allied HQ, Interrogation cell a tabletop and hear a scrape as something is pushed from bottom of frame comes a plate of steak, with potato and broccoli on the side. Tilt up to see Zola sitting, looking suspicious.
"What is this?" Zola asked and Phillips slid over some silverware.
"It's a steak." Phillips said.
"What's in it?"
"Cow? Doctor, do you have any idea how hard it is to get hold of a prime cut like this out here?"
"I don't eat meat."
"Ever?"
"It disagrees with me."
"How about cyanide? Does that give you a rumbly tummy too?" Phillips said and slid the plate to his side and cut into the meat himself, munching contentedly. "Every Hydra agent we've tried to take alive has cracked a little tablet before we could stop them. But not you. So here's my brilliant theory: you want to live."
"Are you trying to intimidate me, Colonel?"
"I bought you dinner!" Phillips said and slid a piece of paper over to Zola, who read aloud.
"Given the valuable information he has provided, and in exchange for his full cooperation, Doctor Zola is being remanded to Switzerland -"
"Sent that to DC this morning. Of course, it was encoded-say, you haven't broken those codes, have you? That'd be awkward..."
"Schmidt will know this is a lie." Zola said with no confidence.
"He's still gonna kill you. You're a liability, Doc. You know more about Schmidt than anyone." Phillips said. "Oh, and the last man you almost cost us was Captain Rogers' closest friend, so I wouldn't count on the very best in protection." he said and put down the utensils. "It's you or him. That's just what she dealt."
Zola knew he's right. Genuine fear tinged his response.
"By the time you act, it will be too late. Schmidt believes he walks in the footsteps of gods. Only the world itself will satisfy him." he said.
"Huh." Phillips said. "You do realize that's nuts, don't you?"
"The sanity of the plan is of little consequence."
"And why's that?"
"Because he can do it."
"What's his target?" Phillips said and Zola just looked at him, incredulously.
"Everywhere."
Later at The Whisp & Fiddle pub Peggy stepped through the make-shift door and Steve sipped from a beer at the bar with Bucky next to him.
She knew something wasn't right with those two. She knew they were closer than friends, she just didn't know how close.
"As soon as I finish this, I'm going after Johann Schmidt. I'm going to burn out every hole there is for him to hide in. And I'm not going to stop until he and all of Hydra are captured or dead." Steve said and Bucky looked at him.
"I'm right here Stevie." Bucky said, took Steve's beer and drank it down. "And you not going anywhere anytime soon. You and me till the end of the line." he said and they looked at each other smiling closer than friends.
"Let's go then." Steve whispered.
Later they were at Allied HQ briefing room and Phillips stood at the head of the table, grim with Steve, Bucky, Peggy, Howard and the Invaders surround him.
"Johann Schmidt belongs in the bughouse. He thinks he's a god and he's going to blow up half the world to prove it." Phillips said and stabbed his finger at a map of the United States. "Starting with the U.S.A."
"That's insane." Dugan said.
"That's more than insane Dum Dum." Bucky said with his arms crossed. "He's a nutcase and should be in a damn mental hospital or something!" he said and some of them couldn't help but snicker.
"So's Hitler, but he's gotten pretty far with less than Schmidt has." Peggy said.
"But Hydra would need millions of men, fleets of transport. They'd have to be fed, fueled." Falsworth said and Howard shook his head.
"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he'll wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour." Howard said while Steve stared at the map, eyes drawn inevitably to New York.
"Every able-bodied man we have is either here or in the Pacific. Our borders are wide open." Steve said.
"How much time have we got?" Jones asked.
"According to my new best friend, under twenty-four hours." Phillips said and dread-filled silence fell over the room.
"Damn." Bucky said.
"Where is he now?" Steve asked and Phillips pointed to a spy photo of a mountain.
"Hydra's last base is here, in the Alps..." Phillips said. "Five hundred feet below the surface." he said dragging his finger down.
Morita got a closer look at the map.
"What are we supposed to do? It's not like we can just knock on the front door." Morita said and the room went silent then everyone turned to Steve.
Later Steve blast through the forest on his motorcycle. Trees whip by as he weaves through the woods. Unwittingly he tripped a wire across the road. A warning light blinked.
Flames shot out from his exhaust pipe, laying down several yards of fire behind him. The nearest Hydra rider is helpless as his uniform and saddlebags catch fire. He veers into the woods and flies off a cliff, exploding in midair.
One biker remains and caught Steve on a straightaway. He pulled alongside, grinning and reached into a side compartment and pulled a hand grenade but Steve snatched it from him and cracked the rider in the jaw. The rider's helmet dropped blinding him and wobbled. Steve bit down on the grenade pin and yanked it out. Then he tossed the grenade back in the rider's compartment. Steve throttled up and pulled away, as the rider recovered. He lift his helmet over his eyes and noticed the grenade burning beside him.
At the Hanger Red Skull stood beside a huge, mysterious wheel and toasts eight pilots.
"Tomorrow, Hydra will stand master on the world, borne to victory on the wings of the valkyrie. Our enemies' weapons will be powerless against us. If they shoot down one plane, hundreds more shall rain fire upon them. If they cut off one head..." Red Skull said raising his glass. "Two more shall rake its place!" he said and drink with his pilots.
"HAIL HYDRA!" Pilots said.
"HAIL HYDRA!" HYDRA soldiers said.
Skull turned and five hundred soldiers in formation salute in unison.
"HAIL HYDRA! HAIL HYDRA!" they said.
As Skull took in the devotion, he noticed a red light flashing on the wall and slowly turned.
On the mountaintop alarms sound at the surface entrance. Barbed wire tops an earthen walled compound. HYDRA soldiers race to take positions. One scrambled to look over the wall, only to see Steve shooting right at him. The bike ramped off a gun emplacement, launched through the barbed wire and crashed into the compound. Steve crushed one guard. Whipping wire slashed another. Guards open fire and Steve swerved, tossing a grenade. One guard leveled a bazooka. Steve raised his shield and deflected the blast back. Finally, a Hydra rifleman blew out Steve's tire. Steve's front fork dug into the ground, throwing him over the handlebars. He got to his feet, swinging, as dozens of guards move in pummeling him from all sides.
At Schmidt's office lab guards drag in Steve. He stared up at Skull's grotesque portrait then Skull stepped from the shadows. Steve struggled and the guards hold him tight.
"Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait... but I will say you do it better than anyone else." Skull said and leaned in, teeth gleaming in his crimson face. "There are limits to what even you can do, Captain. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"
"He told me you were insane. That seemed like enough." Steve said.
"He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. Yet he gave you everything." Red Skull said. "What made you so special?" he almost wounded.
"Nothing..." Steve said and slowly raised his head, staring into Skull's sunken eyes. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn." he said and Skull seethed and smashed Steve in the face.
The guards grip Steve's arms, holding him up as the Skull battered him again and again. After a long time, Skull stepped back. Steve panted, beaten, exhausted then finally smiled.
"I can do this all day." he continued.
"I believe you can. But I am on a schedule." Skull said, pulled pulled his Luger and Steve stares down the barrel.
"So am I."
Skull turned toward the window to see three specks in the distance, flying straight toward the glass. He spun back to Steve, pistol leveled. Steve swung a guard around, blocking the blast. The guard was incinerated as Dugan, Falsworth, and Jones smash through the window on zip lines. Jones landed on Skull's desk, blasting away with his .30 cal.
In a corridor the zip line extended from a powerful grappling gun. Dernier hooked to the wire and shot away while Morita barked into his radio.
"We're in. Go! Go! Go!" Morita said.
At the forest ridge.
"Assault team! Go!" he said on a combat radio.
Atop a ridge, Phillips stood.
"You heard him! Move out!" Phillips said.
Peggy and hundreds of allied troops slip out of hiding and Phillips looked at her and cocked a shotgun.
Up top, a mountaintop allied soldiers open fire, pouring into the compound.
In Schmidt's office lab Dugan landed a haymaker. Steve knocked out the other guard. Skull got off a few blasts as he back out the door. Down the hall, allied soldiers blow through the double doors. Falsworth cut down a guard, taking the shield from him and tossed it to Steve.
"Thanks." Steve said.
"Cheers." Falsworth said and Steve strapped on the shield and raced after Skull.
In a corridor four HYDRA troopers back up to the entrance, firing. One fell, shot, a second tried to lob a grenade but fell, dropping the grenade at the feet of the third. Trapped, the last one panicked, tongue fumbling in his mouth.
"Cut off one head, two more shall rise." the soldier said and fell dead."
Phillips stood there, shotgun smoking.
"Let's go find two more." he said and a dozen marines follow him inside.
In a corridor Skull ran down a corridor, jackboots pounding. Steve tore after him, racing around the corner, only to be met by a vicious barrage. Schmidt unloaded his Luger, blasting blue bolts and Steve barely got his shield up in time.
In a corridor Schmidt raced past an intersecting corridor. He dashed through a doorway and hit a button: Blast doors started closing.
Steve saw the closing doors. He calculated and hurled his shield. It whirled down the corridor and jammed between the doors, holding them open. He took off after Schmidt but a HYDRA flame trooper stomped out of the intersecting corridor, blocking his way. The flame trooper raised his twin guns. Steve raised his arm, only to realize his shield was stuck in the door. Blue fire flickers from the trooper's nozzles. Then the trooper staggered and the tank on his back exploded.
Peggy stepped out of the corridor, rifle in hand.
"You're late." Steve said.
"Tell me you're not complaining." Peggy said. "Weren't you about to...?" she said nodding at the door.
"Right." he said and sprinted for the door, sliding below the shield, grabbing it as he left and the doors slam behind him.
Peggy waved on a squad of SSR troops behind her.
Meanwhile Dernier and Falsworth fight along a corridor, outnumbered. Falsworth nodded to Dernier and they retreat around a bend. Surprised, the HYDRA troopers gave chase. After a moment the HYDRA troopers came running back. Dugan stepped out, firing a HYDRA cannon.
Inside the bomber, dim monitors line an impressive Cockpit. A high-tech cradle stood in the center. Skull approached, carrying the titanium box. He put it over the cradle and dispensed the Cube. Blue circuits flash. Lights and gauges flicker.
In another corridor Steve ran toward another door. Beyond, a huge hanger looms. Suddenly, a deep rumbling shakes the base. He gaped. Through the doorway, he saw a gigantic plane roll past.
Then he skid into the hanger. The massive plane taxies down the runway. In the shadows, five more bombers wait. Schmidt's plane picked up speed. Steve took off after it.
At suborbital bomber cockpit Skull throttled up and pressed a button.
At the far end of the hanger, a door opened, letting in the glare of daylight. Steve chased after the plane, but the huge bomber picked up speed and started pulling away. Suddenly, an engine revs and Schmidt's car came up alongside the still-running Steve, Phillips behind the wheel.
"Get in." Phillips said and Steve jumped in without the car ever slowing down. In the back, Peggy and Bucky chambered a round into Phillips' shotgun.
After what happened the other day Bucky was ordered to stay on the sidelines for now. He didn't like it but as a Sergeant had to follow a Captain's order, even though it's his best friend and lover's.
In the cockpit Skull accelerated and on his monitor, he spied his car.
At the Hanger Phillips gained on the plane. Just then, the bomber's rear propellers spun into a blur. The plane widened the gap and Phillips saw a toggle switch on the dash, "Compressor." He hit it and the car leapt forward, throwing them back. Steve climbed over the windshield and steadied himself.
"Closer!" Steve said and Phillips floors it.
The car surged toward the propellers. Steve dropped just as the propellers shave off the HYDRA hood ornament and shared a worried look with Peggy and Bucky.
In the cockpit Skull raced for the mouth of the tunnel.
At the Hanger Phillips came up alongside the plane's huge tire.
"Hold it steady this time." Steve said.
"Wait!" Peggy said, grabbed him by the neck and kissed him.
When they broke off, he looked at her, wide-eyed.
"Go get him." she said and he nodded stunned then looked to Phillips and Bucky.
"I'm not kissing you!" Phillips said.
Steve looked at Bucky and Bucky saw the words sorry in his eyes and nodded understanding.
At the cockpit Skull punched the throttle, the speedometer red-lining.
At the Hanger Steve braced himself on the hood. Phillips pulled to within inches of the spinning wheel.
On the cliff the plane burst out of the tunnel and Phillips saw the gorge ahead. He slammed on the brakes. At the last moment, Steve leapt, snagging the landing gear. The plane shot over the edge, sailing into the air. Phillips skid to a stop and Peggy and Bucky saw Steve hanging on.
'Be careful Steve.' Bucky thought with a hand on his stomach.
At Suborbital bomber, landing gear Steve locked his arm around a strut. The plane gained altitude and he looked for a way in. Just then the landing gear groaned and the wheels retract. Steve found himself riding the landing gear right into the flight deck. He stared, awestruck and realized the propellers are attached to eight fighters inside the wing. Each features a snub-nose cube bomb as its nosecone. A bullet ricochets off his shield and he spun as the eight pilots rush down a ramp from the bridge. He flipped into a flying spin kick, dropping two pilots where they stand. The others move in on him. He threw one across the flight deck and out of the plane then smashed another with his shield. A huge pilot faces off against Steve. He swung a chock, clocking Steve in the head. Steve staggered onto a fighter and the big pilot leapt on him.
Inside the fighter's cockpit, another pilot saw his chance.
Cf He pulled the release lever and the fighter dropped, with Steve and the pilot still aboard.
At the pod fighter Steve held on as the fighter shot through the air. The big pilot hung on to Steve's boot but Steve kicked. Once. Twice. The big pilot lost his grip, tumbling into the propeller.
Inside, the fighter pilot looked up, astounded to see Steve still hanging on.
He executed a barrel roll. Steve's eyes roll back, skin rippling form the G-force. The pilot jerked the stick but Steve hauled himself forward and grasped the edge of the c as aqaa ockpit and slid it open.
The pilot evaded Steve's grasping hand. Then Steve reached down and pulls red the ejector switch. The pilot blasts into the sky, smashing into the underside of the bomber's wing. Steve climbs in and hauls on the stick, righting the plane.
At the Suborbital bomber cockpit Skull checked an electronic map, showing the plane's progress toward America. Then he looked out the windshield and froze. Steve's ragged fighter came swooping up out of the clouds, propeller whirling.
On the Pod fighter Steve yanked the stick, flying shakily toward the flight deck.
His pod fighter skid across the flight deck finally coming to a stop in a shower of sparks and screeching metal. He pushed the canopy off and climbed from the wreck. Then he strapped on his shield and looked toward the cockpit.
He kicked open the door to find stillness and stepped warily toward the control platform. He saw the pilot's chair empty. Suddenly, he heard the whine of a HYDRA assault rifle powering up. His eyes dart to the window and saw a reflection of Skull aiming at his back. Steve whipped around, shield raised, deflecting Skull's shot. The blast ricocheted, blowing out a pane of the cockpit glass and the wind roared.
"You don't give up, do you?" Red Skill asked.
"Nope." Steve said and charged at Skull, who fired again.
Blue bolts ricochet around the cabin. Steve swings, bashing the rifle from Skull's hands. Skull swings. Steve puts Skull in a headlock. Skull throws Steve into a bulkhead.
Steve swings his shield, but Skull grabs it with both hands. The two super soldiers strain, eye to eye.
"You wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations? I have seen the future, Captain. There are no flags but Hydra's." Red Skull said.
"Keep the future. I'm looking for a little here and now." Steve said and slammed Skull in the jaw with the shield.
Skull staggers then Steve cocked back and hit Skull with an uppercut. The impact drove Skull up and into auto pilot controls and the autopilot disengaged and the plane lurched violently.
At Suborbital bomber the massive plane spun into a barrel roll. Through the cockpit window Steve and Skull tumbled to the ceiling.
They crash across the whirling cockpit. Steve grasped for a handhold. The plane jerked again, throwing them together. They battle in chaotic ZERO-G. Steve powered Skull into the ceiling and Skull elbowed him into the wall then tried to reach the autopilot but Steve used his momentum to swing around a strut and slammed his shield into Skull's head. Skull based against the wall, but adeptly bounced back. He grabbed a strut and kicked Steve toward the back bulkhead. Skull flew at the autopilot controls and Steve slammed hard into the steel wall. Skull found a handhold and hit the autopilot button.
At the bomber the giant plane pulled out of its dive.
At the cockpit gravity returned with sudden violence. Steve smashed to the floor, his shield rolling away. He lied momentarily dazed with his eyes flutter.
"You could have the power of the gods..." someone said and Steve looked up to see Skull advancing, luger drawn. "And you will not admit you want it?"
Standing in front of the cube housing, Skull took dead aim at the star on Steve's chest.
"I want what every soldier on every battlefield wants..." Steve said and eyed the shield at his feet. "I want to go home." he said and slammed his heel onto the shield, flipping it into the air.
Skull fired but Steve jumped to his feet, grabbing the shield, blocking the blast and whirled and hurled his shield.
The spinning disc hit Skull in the ribs with a sickening crunch, knocking him off his feet smashing him into the cube console. Blue energy arcs and crackles from the damaged machinery. The energy gauge pins at overload.
Skull pulled himself to his feet, staring in alarm as the cube rise from the machine, glowing with a violent intensity. He stared, reached out and extracted the cube. Steve gaped as the cube burn the glove off Skull's hand, exposing the scarred flesh.
The plane seemed to vanish around him. Visions of the nine realms dance in the light and a rainbow portal stretched past an observatory and into space.
"Valhalla..." Red Skull said and the visions sped up until they blur when the cube vibrated violently and he looked worried. "No." he said and Steve whipped up his shield as energy shot from the cub. "NO!" he said and energy bolt ricochet off the ceiling and strike the skull, vaporizing him as the cube went NOVA.
At the bomber a massive column of energy shot toward space, growing in intensity until it explodes outwards, evaporating the clouds.
Light glared through the cockpit windows. Then faded and the plane whipped past.
In the crockpot Steve stood, woozy. When his vision returned, he saw the inert cube and took a step toward it. Suddenly, the plane banks violently, its engines roaring. He raced for the controls and the forgotten cube tumbled across the flight deck. Tink... tink... tink... and flew out a hole in the fuselage.
Steve climbed into the chair as the control stick steered automatically. He wrestled it, trying to override the plane but it won't alter course. He stared at the monitor and the green map of Manhattan.
In the Control Tower the radio squawked in the empty control room.
"Sergeant Barnes, come in..." Steve said on the radio and Bucky ran in grabbing the radio, frantic and relieved while everyone else was shocked and confused why he called Bucky, a sergeant, and not Peggy or Phillips.
"Steve, is that you? Are you okay?" Bucky asked.
"I'm fine."
Through the window, the invaders were rounding up the surrendered HYDRA men.
"Where's Schmidt?" Bucky asked.
"Schmidt's dead." Steve said on the radio.
"Jesus." Bucky said but shook his head. "What about the plane?"
"That's a little bit harder to explain."
On the suborbital bomber Steve stared at the New York map, radio in hand. His compass lied open on the control board.
"What did you do?"
"Like I said. It's uh, a little hard to explain." Steve said and Bucky groaned rubbing his forehead.
"Just give me your coordinates. I'll find a landing site-"
"There isn't going to be a landing. Schmidt's locked the navigation system." Steve said and eyed the relined engine gauges in front of him.
"Excuse me?" Bucky said and winced a little feeling a cramp in his stomach.
"And there's more than enough power to reach the East Coast." Steve said and Bucky looked grave then waved Phillips down.
"We'll get Stark on the line. He'll know what to do."
"I'm sitting on a hundred tons of explosives. Hot wiring this thing's not an option." Steve said and looked out the window at the vast, blue expanse of ocean. "I've got to put her in the water."
Bucky shut his eyes tight from a mixture of pain and fighting tears.
'You're a soldier and soldiers don't cry.' he repeatedly thought.
"I thought you said you couldn't steer it." Bucky said.
Steve scanned the control panel and saw a thick cable running from the ignition to the engines.
"I can't. But I think I can crash it." Steve said and yanked the cable out.
Blue sparks flare then all the lights die. The engines stop and the plane went quiet.
"Crash- have you lost your damn mind?! You've done plenty of crazy things over the years but this is mad!" Bucky said. "I've called you a punk since we met but I think I might start calling you crazy or insane and have you put in a damn mental hospital after this!" he said and winced at strong cramp and took a deep breath through his nose.
Steve eyed the navigation charts.
"I already did. Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are going to get hurt." Steve said. "Bucky, this is my choice."
Peggy and Phillips looked at each other, slowly accepting what's happening and looked at Bucky seeing him close to a mental breakdown but taking a shaky deep breath.
"We'll send out rescue ships. We'll find you." Bucky said.
"I don't think there's going to be much left to find." Steve said and leaned on the stick with all his might and the plane started a screaming dive. "Bucky?"
"I'm here," Bucky started, looked at Peggy and Phillips and saw they figured out their relationship and nodded. "Love. Peggy and Colonel Phillips figured it out."
Steve's compass spun wildly and he just stares at Bucky's picture.
"I'm going to need a rain check on that dinner."
"A week Saturday. The park." Bucky said holding back tears.
"Okay. You got it."
"7:00 as usual. If you're late I'll be looking to see who beat you up that time OK?"
"You know I don't need that anymore." Steve said and Bucky closed his eyes.
"You'll always be that scrawny little kid from Brooklyn to me. Besides, even though you're Captain America you were only really trained for a few days while I was trained for three years. So in my mind, you're nothing but a Private that has to listen to a Sergeant." Bucky said smiling a little with tears going down but blinked them away. "Just be there."
Clouds whip past the windows as the plane plummets. Steve pocketed the compass and slid his mask over his face. Arctic ice rushed up at the cockpit window.
"I love you Bu-" Steve started but the radio in Bucky's hand went silent and Bucky sat there in silence fighting tears while Phillips put a hand on Peggy's shoulder.
Peggy just stared out the hanger at the blue sky beyond.
Then Bucky got up but stopped and grabbed the table for support for a second while looking down with his eyes closed tight.
"Sergeant Barnes? Are you alright?" Phillips asked but got no answer until they saw something red going down and saw him shaking his head.
"No." Bucky muttered. "No, not this to." he said and tried not to cry.
"Sergeant Barnes?" Peggy said gently and he looked at her. "Are you alright?"
"Steve wasn't the only Super Soldier. Zola created his own version of Erskine's and when he got the 107th they killed the first in command and with me being second in command experimented on me by giving me his serum." he said feeling a huge relief come off his chest while they looked at him in shock and horror. "The only difference is I can reproduce, still have my peanut allergy and don't physically look strong. But I have everything Steve did. Enhanced healing, strength, metabolism, you name it, I have it. I only hid it all except the healing because I had no control over that. When Steve found me I had bruises all over me, weak and was limping but after about five minutes I was physically fine and didn't need his support anymore." he said, shut his eyes and took a shaky breath. "Right before the Russia mission I found out I was pregnant and with all the stress and just losing Steve I just had a miscarriage."
Peggy covered her mouth in shock while Phillips stood there in shock that one of his soldiers was pregnant and still went to save them.
'This kid deserves a damn promotion!' he thought making a mental note to bring that up to the others later.
"I'm so sorry Sergeant." Peggy said gently and Bucky chuckled bitterly.
"Doesn't it figure? I lose the love of my life and now our child on the same day?" he said and looked at Phillips. "Permission to leave sir?"
"Granted. Go get some rest. But I do need to talk to you about something but that can wait a few days." Phillips said and Bucky nodded, saluted them and left.
Then Peggy looked at Phillips.
"What do you want to do with him?" she asked.
"What I should've done at least a year ago. Give that damn kid a promotion!" Phillips said. "He's saved the whole team's ass with one shot to many times to count." he said shaking his head. "He just might be the best sniper I've seen in decades. Maybe my whole career."
"I know. It's a gift he's got. If he keeps that up, I can see him as a general in the future." she said smiling and nodding then sighed. "I can't believe he was given his own serum like Steve."
"I know." he said and looked at her. "Do you think we should tell Howard?"
"I don't know. Maybe we should check with Sergeant Barnes about that first." she said and he nodded.
A few days later.
At Trafalgar Square people lean from balconies, holding the V for Victory sign. A paper on a newsstand read, "WAR OVER!"
At The Whip & Fiddle Pub amidst the revelry, Morita, Jones, Dernier, Falsworth, Dugan and Bucky stood at attention with their bags resting against the wall, solemnly raising their glasses.
'At least I can have beer now.' Bucky thought.
Underwater a plane sank slowly in the icy water.
At Stark search boat a trawler bobs on the ocean's surface, at anchor. All sorts of antennae sprout from the wheelhouse.
At Stark search boat, Wheelhouse Howard hunched over a monitor on a high-tech bridge.
His assistants eye SONAR and Radiation detectors. One featured a steady green blip.
On Howard's screen: grainy video footage of the sea bottom.
Sand and fish roll past as the camera explores the terrain.
Howard peers. He stops the camera sub, adjusts the monitor, bringing into focus...
The cracked inert cosmic cube.
He operated a pair of joysticks and two robotic claws extend. They reach out and clasp the cube and he exhaled and looked to his assistants.
"Move us to the next grid point." he said.
"But there's no trace of wreckage, sir. And the energy signature stops here." his assistant said and Stark pushed back from the monitor, spent, grim.
"Just keep looking."
At the Arctic Ocean the plane's wingtip slipped below the ice.
Underwater Steve's shadow went thorough the cockpit window. He slumped, strapped in his chair.
Later at allied headquarters, briefing room Phillips signed and official report. "CLASSIFIED-CAPTAIN AMERICA." He stamped it: "INACTIVE" and slid it into a red box marked "TO BE DESTROYED." He looked up as Peggy and Bucky walked in and regards them, stoic, suppressing his emotion.
"No one said we have to forget the man, Agent, Sergeant." Phillips said and they nodded.
Then Peggy picked up the box and put it with others on a table near the door. For a moment, she just stood there, overwhelmed.
She opened the box, taking out A photo of pre-rebirth Steve and smiled, tucked it in her pocket, closed the box and left while Bucky stood there waiting.
"You wanted to see me sir?" Bucky said.
"Yes. Two things actually. First, me Agent Carter and the rest of the military have decided that you were ready to become something higher than Sergeant. You should've become higher a while ago."
"Sir?"
"We would like to offer you the position of Lieutenant James Buchanan Barnes." Phillips said and Bucky looked at him in shock.
"Uh…" Bucky said and Phillips watched him amused.
"I felt the same way. And I was older than you for this." Phillips said. "Just say yes. You deserve it. You've saved so many lives over the last few years. You took the step up when the 107th lost the first in command, saved Rogers' life too many times to count, your fellow Commandos plenty of times and more."
Then Bucky snapped back and nodded.
"Yes sir. I, I'll take it."
"Good." Phillips said smiling and took out a hand. "Congratulations, lieutenant." he said, shook hands and Bucky couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you sir." Bucky said. "You said you had two?"
"The second is we were wondering how you would feel about Howard knowing about your serum since he knows about Rogers."
Bucky stood there and thought for a minute and sighed.
"Fine. As long as he doesn't want to take any of my blood or anything." Bucky said. "I've had my share of that when HYDRA had the 107th." he said and shuttered a little.
"Understood."
"Good."
For the next few years the Commandos would still work together.
Bucky took the leadership and in their opinion, was better than Steve and had more and better strategies.
He never told them about him and Steve, the pregnancy, the miscarriage, being a Super Soldier, held back as much of his power as he could and more.
Only Peggy, Howard and Colonel Phillips knew, and they swore to keep all that quiet until he was ready.
