Lost and found
"And you expect me to take you behind enemy lines to rescue your cousin?" You've been trying to convince Howard to take you on his plane for the past 10 minutes. "Last time you took them on, it didn't go very well. Am I going to have to dig your ass out of some frozen basement again?" You glare at him "Last time I wasn't prepared, I didn't know what I was facing, this time it's different"
"I'm going to take care of her, she won’t be harmed" Steve intervenes. Howard looks at him not liking his protective attitude towards you "See Howard, Steve is my childhood friend, we grew up together, he's going to be with me" Howard reluctantly agrees and looks Steve straight in the eye "If something happens to Victoria, I'll hold you accountable" Steve looks at him amused and nods. Peggie insists on accompanying you so the four of you get on the plane.
It's pitch black and you're halfway there "Agent, can I tempt you for a late hour fondue once we drop them off?" Peggie looks at Steve uncomfortably. "So you two, fondue?" he tells her. Peggie is red up to her ears.
"Howard, behave yourself!" You threaten him, Howard laughs "Don't be jealous darling, you've never accepted any of my invitations" You roll your eyes unamused "You're lucky you're the only one who can ride this monstrosity or I'll give you a piece of my mind, AGAIN" Peggie and Steve laugh at the exchange between you "I told you they looked like an old married couple" says Peggie and they laugh harder. You watch them laugh with sad eyes.
At that very moment the projectiles start to fly around you.
"You'll have to jump. I can't get you any further" Howard yells as he tries to keep control of the plane "They can't jump, there's only one parachute" Peggie says worried "Victoria, take the parachute I'll jump right after you" He turns to look at Peggie "Once I've jumped, turn around we'll reach you once we're done"
You stand there doing nothing. Steve approaches you and puts on your parachute, when he approaches you to the door you react "Hey! You can't give me orders" He looks at you and smiles "Of course, I'm Captain I outrank you. Now jump!" You jump, the fall is incredible, almost like you can fly, if it wasn't for the enemy artillery trying their best to kill you, this would be the most exciting moment of your life.
During the fall a branch hits your shoulder and you curse under your breath "I have two shoulders and I'm so lucky that I hit the same one I have in recovery" You hear footsteps behind you, you take out the gun and slowly remove the safety, you crouch to the side of a bush and wait for whoever passes by. Once you have him a couple of steps away, you put the safety on the gun gently, stand up without making a sound and aim at his head "You make too much noise for someone who is trying to hide" You whisper.
Steve jumps back into a defensive stance behind the shield, when he realizes it's you, he breathes a sigh of relief. "Victoria, for heaven's sake" you stifle a laugh "You should have seen your face!" Steve snorts a little angrily "Where did you learn that?" You shrug "Tricks of the trade" You state flat. "I saw a car trail a little to the northeast, I think it would be a good idea to hide nearby to wait for a vehicle"
Steve nods and you start walking, Steve notices you're rubbing your shoulder "Did you hit yourself hard?" You shake your head "Not too hard, I was shot a few weeks ago and the doctor told me it's going to be a while before it fully heals" He stops dead in his tracks and looks at you, concern, anger, surprise are some of the the emotions you see in them. "Wait, you were shot? How? When? Why?"
You sigh and point to a bush near the path that looks like a good place to sit and wait. "I think now I can tell you about my real work." You sit with your back to the bush and motion for Steve to sit next to you, once he does you divide your attention between him and the road.
"After I completed my regular training, I applied to the Officer Candidate School, which is how I made it to Lieutenant and landed a pretty decent job as a secretary of the base’s Major. One night, returning to my barrack, I witnessed a rape. One of the Captains was forcing himself into one of the female privates" You strain to get rid of the lump in your throat "You know me, I don't like bullies and I couldn't stand there and watch, I pulled the guy away from her and he hit me, when I fell, I found a rock and I hit him with all my strength on the head" Steve looks at you without saying anything, a slight gleam of pride in his eyes is all you notice "I didn't kill him, but the guy is not going to be able to do nothing by himself anymore, I didn't mean to hurt him I just wanted him to leave her alone" Steve nods and puts a supportive hand on your shoulder "I was in jail awaiting court martial when Phillips and Peggie came to see me and offered me working for the SSR, that's how I met Erskine and the real reason we went to the fair was so he could recruit you and I could recruit Howard Stark."
You stop for a few minutes, partly because you think you've heard engine noise and partly because you need to compose yourself a bit before continuing. Steve’s always by your side giving you support.
"The SSR is a secret agency, so my work is classified and undercover that's why I couldn't tell you guys anything. Two and a half months ago Intelligence informed us that Hydra had kidnapped an English scientist and that they had him in a facility in the Netherlands" You know you're approaching the worst part of your story so you take a deep breath and continue "I was assigned a team. Soldiers from various countries, good men. We hit it off right away, no one had a problem with having a woman as superior, we outlined the plan and we thought it was going to be an easy mission. Get in, get out easy peasy” You shrug and grab Steve's hand on your shoulder "But it all went south pretty fast. They were waiting for us, within minutes they wiped out most of the team, me and two others were the only ones to escape. They caught them and I kept running Steve, I couldn't stop running, I couldn't save them." At this point the tears are uncontrollable and there is no point in hiding them, not with Steve. He has seen you cry countless times "I was shot and fell, everything is a blur, but I found a family who took care of me the best they could under the circumstances. I was with them for a week cold, hungry, feverish and without medication until Howard got me. I would be dead otherwise"
Steve puts his arm around your shoulders and stays that way until you stop crying "I think I have a lot to thank Howard for when I see him" You smile and your heart pounds "You know he asked me three times to marry him? " You laugh, but soon the laughter dies down as you hear the roar of several engines approaching.
They are cargo trucks and have an open back. You signal to Steve that you should jump onto the last truck in the convoy. He nods and you prepare to jump. As the last one approaches, Steve grabs you under the arm and together you pull yourself into the back of the truck.
Unfortunately there are several Hydra soldiers in the truck "You've got to be s..." "Language!" he admonishes you. You roll your eyes and quickly face the nearest soldier. You kick him across the legs and hit him in the stomach and head with the butt of the rifle, knocking him unconscious. When you turn to face the next one, you see that there are none, Steve approaches, grabs the soldier and throws him from the truck. "Well that was quick" He shrugs with a smile "Super serum" Is all he says.
The journey to the facilities is short and luckily nobody detects you when you get off the truck. Steve takes the lead and peeks out from behind a truck towards the building, he signals to you that he saw an entrance and to follow him, nod and do as he said. Slowly and always under cover you arrive at the entrance door, suddenly it opens and a soldier comes out, you take advantage of the moment to take him by the neck with your arm and cut off his air until he is unconscious. Steve holds the door open and nods in shock as they both enter the building.
You walk down a corridor until you reach a room that has a floor covered with bars and a soldier guarding it. Steve knocks out the soldier with a punch as you crouch down to see the people they're holding prisoner down there "James, James Barnes are you there?" With a whispered cry "Victoria, is that you?" You hear them answer "Monty? Are you in there? I can't believe I found you, wait" Steve opens the bars of the cell and you hang down inside the cell Monty goes to meet you "I knew if there was someone crazy enough to come to rescue us it was going to be you"
You put a hand on his shoulder and smile relieved to see him as Steve opens that cell and all the others urging the soldiers out "I'm looking for Sergeant James Barnes, have you seen him?" Monty nods "Yeah, but they took him away a few days ago, we think they're doing experiments on some of us" Steve walks over and listens to what Monty says "Do you have any idea where he could be" He shakes his head "No, sorry "
"Victoria, go out with them and I'll look for Bucky'' You sigh angrily "Of course not, I'll go with you" You look at him defiantly "Victoria..." Steve's voice is almost a plea "Don't Victoria...me Bucky is my cousin and I have as much right as you to go looking for him, this is not my first rodeo" You turn and speak to the soldiers "Run to the door, grab any weapons you can find and show them what you're made of" A scream is heard from behind "And who put you in charge gorgeous?" Steve stands in front of you "I did!" And the same voice answers "And who are you man?"
"I'm Captain America and I've knocked out Hitler over 200 times." You two turn around and start running through the halls looking for Bucky.
After a turn you see Zola coming out of a one room holding a briefcase and a bunch of papers. He stands looking scared like a deer in front of a headlight, but it's only for a moment because he comes to his senses and starts running desperately away from you. You go after him yelling "Zola, you bastard! What did you do with my cousin?" Steve yells for you to come back "Victoria I found him!"
You quickly retrace your steps and enter the room Zola came out of. Bucky is lying on a hospital bed connected to tubes and muttering his name incoherently. Steve takes out all the tubes and you shake him "James! Come on, it's us Steve and Victoria, wake up!" Bucky's eyes slowly regain focus until they settle on you "Victoria, is that really you? Steve, are you here?" You both help Bucky to sit up and get out of bed, he is a bit weak so each one puts one of his arms on his shoulder and you start to leave the room. Bucky looks at Steve confused "Steve, you're taller. What happened to you?"
"I joined the army"