Two Shots
He was dirty, exhausted, and grimy as he stepped back into the jet. He sunk into a chair and let his head rest back on the seat.
A hand rested on his shoulder, “you did well, today.” Steve dragged his eyes back open and looked at the equally grimy face that looked solemnly at him. The leader of 11, T’Challa, takes a deep breath and nods at him, “you did well.”
He doesn’t respond. The weight of the day weighs too heavily for him to speak.
—————
“The grain supply and fresh crops are now cut off from the capitol. Our food stores are filled and We should continue to be able to feed the troops as long as we keep up with the rebellion’s movement.”
Steve listened as the District leaders discussed the next step. District 8, 9, and 11 were in 13. Their Districts now either bombed to bits, or laying empty.
Districts 1-4 were still mostly under Capitol control and 5-7 were messes, but still pretending to function as normal.
More refugees poured in every week, and 13 was getting smaller and smaller. But those who came came ready to fight or to work. And the Steve watched as life experiences were shared and new bond were formed.
It gave him hope. This country could unite and heal. It could function without the capitol.
They just needed to get to Schmidt to prove it.
————-
District 5’s leader, a man named Thor, who towered over everyone, even Steve, led them through the factories that provided the power for the capitol and most city areas of every district.
“There are factories in the capitol.” He said in a deep tone, “but if we can cut off these here, then they will be powerless upon our arrival. The back up generators are strong, but not power the entire capitol strong for weeks on end.”
There’s silence. “Is that something we have to do?” Steve asked genuinely. “Is there a way just to cut off certain areas of power?”
“I’m afraid Captain that at this point it is all or it is nothing.” The man did not seem happy about cutting power to every citizen in the capitol. Most of them would not be able to function or survive without power. They’d only know luxury and ease their entire lives. The structural foundation of their homes and city was based off of the access to electricity.
Eyes turned to him, waiting for him to make a decision that would affect hundreds of thousands of people.
“We can’t do that now.” He stated firmly. “We still need to take District 1 and 2.” He looked at the leader. “I say let the power run until those are secured.”
“Then the capitol has more time to fight against us.” His second in command. A dark haired man who made Steve feel uneasy. “If we cut the power now, then they suffer and we can capture the other districts easier.”
Steve considered this. It might be true that they would be able to capture 1 and 2 easier if they didn’t have electrical power. But the hydro power would still be there and their weapons didn’t need power to run.
“What about this—“ Steve started, shifting his heavy vest and taking a deep breath. “I know why we’re trying to make this decision now. The Capitol is getting good at interrupting our communications. But if we plan our attacks now, then we can schedule your attacks on the power factories to coincide with each rebellion in the districts. Then each district we hit will lose power right before we get there, hopefully throwing them into chaos and us able to overtake the Capitol strongholds in each district. Then when we reach the Capitol, we will hopefully have taken down the Hydro dams and cut off their power and water, forcing them to surrender. We’ve already cut off their food supply. It has to be getting desperate there. But we don’t needlessly cause them to suffer before we’re even there or ready to overtake them.”
No one argued with him. So he took that as a yes.
“Alright.” He said firmly, “let’s coordinate dates.”
—————-
He stepped off the jet, just wanting a shower and to sleep when he stopped at the bottom of the gangplank.
A person was waiting for him.
Jones.
He didn’t step forward. He hadn’t seen him yet. Jones had been pretty reclusive and stayed away from Steve. Dugan had told him that he’d had similar treatment to Peggy.
A long jagged scar ran from the right side of his bottom lip down to where it disappeared into his shirt.
“Jones.” Steve said. But he didn’t say anything else. Not sure what the man wanted.
He could hear his team behind him. Silent as death.
“Hey Cap.” Jones said with an eyebrow raised, “miss me?”
“You know I did.”
“Sorry for slacking on all the missions.”
“No apology necessary. You’ve no obligation to—“
“I want Schmidt’s head on a platter. Preferably cut off by my own hands.”
That stunned Steve into silence. But… He could understand the sentiment.
Jones stared at him, “would you stop me?”
“I’m not the judge of your actions. You don’t need my permission.”
Jones stared at him for a long time. And no one moved.
“Okay.” Jones finally said. “When’s the next mission?”
Steve looked at him and gestured at the jet. “We’re set to leave in three days for District 7.”
Jones nodded and tilted his head. “I’ll be there.”
—————
“Steve.”
“What?”
“Be reasonable.”
“About what?”
There’s a heavy weighted silence. Something Steve noticed was getting more frequent.
“You know we all love and care for Jones.”
Oh.
Steve looked up, finding sad and determined eyes looking back at him.
“He can’t go.” Morita said.
“He shouldn’t go.” Monty corrected.
“Why?”
“Other than he was screaming and threatening to kill you for the first month he was here?”
Steve frowned, “Peggy did that too.”
“And you don’t see us trying to bring her on missions do you?”
“He’s better.”
“So he says.” Morita insisted, “but we have no idea what Schmidt put in his head.”
“He wants Schmidt dead—“
“Which is the perfect thing to tell him to say to get us to trust him.”
“Guys—“
“No, Cap.” Dugan said firmly, “He’s not going.”
Steve stood. “Jones suffered through torture we can’t even imagine. He has the right to come. To fight.”
“What if he hurts you?”
“He won’t—“
“You can’t know that!”
Denier said something Steve didn’t understand and the man sighs. “Non.”
“Steve,” Monty said, “he may not even mean to. You said yourself Peggy didn’t mean to hurt you the second time. The Capital controls them.”
“He’s allowed to make his own choice.” Steve insisted, his voice cutting low, “I’m not taking away his opportunity to fight back.”
—————
As they prepared to sleep on the ground in District 7, Steve couldn’t help but notice the way Jones’ name was not on the watchlist.
Dugan’s name is on there twice.
Steve crossed Dugan’s name out and wrote his own.
————-
He and Dugan sat and glared at each other the entire shift.
————
Jones said very little, but he stared at each district 7 refugee like they were ghosts. Watching as they either fought alongside him, fighting the Hydra Guards, or as they sat starving and dehydrated. What they did not lack was firewood to keep themselves warm.
Steve would watch his hands clench and unclench around the weapon he held. While he may have fought to have Jones with them, he would not allow Jones to harm anyone.
But the man stayed calm and helped as they loaded refugees into the train to carry them to 6.
When they set back down in 13, Steve looked to see the rest of the team sharing glances. But he did not want to hear whatever they were going to say.
They disembarked and he walked to his quarters. He showered and used the slightly warm water to scrub out the grime and blood. He scrubbed at his palms. Scratches and splinters filled them. They’d utilized 7’s ability to fight in the trees to overcome the guards. But they hadn’t had supplies for everyone, so Steve had volunteered to go gloveless.
Now he looked at his marred and splintered hands and grimaced. He would have to go to medical to get these all out.
He finished showering and wrapped a towel around his waist. He scrubbed at his hair with his hand towel and stepped out into his room.
He stopped dead.
Peggy sat on his bed, Rebecca sat against the door.
“Steve!” Rebecca admonished. “You’re not dressed!”
He let out a disbelieving scoff, “you’re in my room, Becca! I was in the shower! Couldn’t you hear me?”
She laughed and covered her eyes even though only his top half was on display. He swallowed thickly and his eyes slid back to Peggy.
“You’re here.”
“You’re bigger.”
He blinked, “what?”
“Than in the arena. You’re bigger now.”
He looked down, his arms and chest still a bit damp, “I am?”
She nodded softly and then he felt himself blush as she eyed him before dragging her eyes back up to his. “How are you?” She asked softly.
“I’m—“ he swallowed again, feeling exposed, “I’m okay. How are you?”
“Distracted. Please get dressed.”
He grabbed clothes and retreated to the bathroom. Staring at himself in the mirror, eyes wide and neck flushed.
He exited again, soft pants and a shirt clinging to his still damp skin. Rebecca uncovered her eyes and nodded. “Better. Creepy seeing my brother without a shirt on.”
Steve smiled at her use of the word brother for him.
He stood and looked around at both of them awkwardly.
“You can sit,” Peggy raised an eyebrow at him, “it’s your room.”
He went to pull the chair from his desk, but the contact with the chair made him wince. He sucked in a sharp breath of air and yanked his hand away.
“What was that?” Rebecca asked.
He sighed, “just some splinters, I need to get them pulled out.”
“Let me see.” He looked at Peggy who was holding her hand out for him to give her his.
He blinked in surprise and then looked at Rebecca who nodded. He slowly walked over and sat beside her on the bed, placing his palms face up.
She made a ‘tsk tsk’ sound and gently ran her finger over all the splinters. “Rebecca, would you go grab a pair of tweezers?”
The younger girl looked up, but her expression was guarded. Peggy sighed.
“I promise not to hurt Steve while you’re gone.”
The girl still did not leave.
“I can take care of myself, Becca.” Steve said softly.
The girl looked even less impressed at that.
Peggy sighed and looked at Steve, “I’m afraid I don’t have a great track record of taking care of you.”
Steve didn’t think, he reached out and clasped her tiny wrists in between his own fingers, holding them tightly. Then he looked at Rebecca, “I’ve got her. I promise. You can go get them.”
Rebecca eyed them seriously and dashed out the room.
And suddenly they were alone. No one around. For the first time since the train when she’d first kissed him.
“How are you,” he asked, “really?”
“I’m better I think. Howard has been figuring things out and helping a lot.”
“That’s good.”
“Steve?”
“Hmm?”
“Would you kiss me?”
He looked at her in surpirse. Her hair was past her chin now, just barely, and she was back to a healthy weight. She’d probably always have the scars, but she looked magnificent to him in every way.
“I probably shouldn’t.”
She frowned at him, “because you don’t trust me?”
He laughed, “no. I do trust you. Always have. But I don’t want our first kiss back together to be when you’re not sure if you love or want to kill me.”
“I definitely don’t want to kill you.” She said, and her hands pulled upward, bringing his hand with them. She gently traced the fading scars along his face. They were almost gone but they’d taken way longer than anyone expected to heal.
“I’m so sorry about this.” She whispered in a hurt voice, “I can’t believe I almost killed you.”
He closed his eyes at her touch and shook his head. “You weren’t yourself. And I never blamed you.”
Her fingers ran softly over his bottom lip and he looked at her. She reached down a nd grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer. He knew he should pull away, but her brown eyes would not let him.
Peggy pressed her lips to his and he melted, letting go of her wrists and wrapping his arms around her. Her hand around the back of his neck and she clung to him.
Long seconds passed as he felt whirlwinds of emotions pass through her.
“Stop.” She pulled back, her face contorted. “Hold my wrists.” He did as instructed and her eyes were scrunched tightly closed as if in pain.
“Peggy?”
“Shh!” She snapped, pulling away from him, but not trying to yank her wrists away. “Damn.” She sighed, sagging from effort and letting her head hang down. “Damn.”
“What is it?”
But Rebecca chose that moment to reappear. She looked relieved to see Steve unharmed and Peggy still in his grasp.
Peggy accepted the tweezers slowly and then turned one of Steve’s hands over. She gently began picking out the splinters, whispering “sorry” anytime he winced.
“It’s fine,” he assured her, “it wouldn’t be painless at medical either.”
She finished one hand and was working on the other when she went rigid. He felt the pressure from the tweezers increase and he looked down only to see her dropping them like they were on fire and scrambling back.
“Peggy?”
“I—“ she rasped hoarsely, “I need to stop.”
Rebecca was up and between them in seconds, “you did really well. It was amazing. You’ve made so much progress.”
Peggy’s eyes were on the ground, on the tweezers.
Steve’s brow furrowed, “was this a test?”
Peggy looked up at him, looking guilty, but Rebecca turned to him and smiled, “yes! We wanted to see if Howard’s machine had helped.” She turned back to Peggy, “it really did, you were able to stop yourself. That’s wonderful!”
Steve wouldn’t admit that he felt hurt. Was the kissing a test too?
“I need to go.” He said suddenly. “I have a meeting in command soon. He was up and out of the room before he could register the look of guilt on Peggy’s face.
————-
They were finally making headway in District 2, where they hoped to cut off the last of the Capital’s supplies.
It was a disaster of a mission from the start. The Capitol’s highest concentration of weapons and guards were. They’d figured out a way to smoke out the District since they couldn’t enter the giant mountain that Howard described as an almost impenetrable fortress.
But as the train barreled out into the station, smoke buffeting around them and making it hard to see, the gunfire started.
He felt a hand grab the back of his vest and yank him down. Dugan’s face appeared, “stay down!” The man shouted.
But after only a minute of that, Steve knew he couldn’t just stay in the dark as they rest fought. He crouched, readying his weapons. He swept low, taking out any guard he saw before reaching a wall. Then he retraced his footsteps. The smoke became so thick that even he couldn’t see or breathe through it. He crouched low, walking until he felt the air begin to clear.
He walked into a standoff. Hydra guards with their weapons pointed at his team, whose weapons were pointed right back.
Steve stepped forward, his boots making loud thuds against the stone.
“STOP!” He commanded, “why are we fighting each other!” His voice echoed deeply through the cavern and reverberated. “We want you guys to live in safety, but so do we! We have families and friends and needs just like you guys, why should the Capital dictate that you’re taken care of, but we’re not?” He stepped closer and he heard muttering from his side. His head turned that way and he saw the cameras on him. “We don’t want to kill anyone. We want peace, we want everyone to be able to live with enough food in their stomachs, and a roof over their head. Not separated like cattle for the Capital to decide which of us to die each year!” He turned, facing the Hydra guards, “you’re not our enemy.” He pointed in the direction of the Capitol “the citizens of the Capitol are not our enemy either! We just want justice and equality! We want equal opportunity to thrive and live—“
He heard the crack of the rifle just moments before he heard the bone shattering thud of two bullets entering his body.
————