Chapter 2
HYDRA BASE - ITALY
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH 1943
1955 (7:55PM)
Captain Steven Grant Rogers slowly crept down through the large factory portion of the HYDRA base he was infiltrating trying not to let anyone know of his presence till he absolutely had to. Around him he could tell the factory was assembling some part of a weapon or weapons but this was just one component not the full weapon. Watching as a pair of guards went about rounding up all the slave labor, that looked to be captured allied personnel from this side of the room he crept to a table he had seen a British soldier working at moments before.
As the group of guards started marching all the captives through a door Steve quickly grabbed a couple of the magazine clips for a pistol that instead of traditional bullets had bullets that glowed an eerie blue. Waiting for a few moments after the large group being herded by the guards disappeared Steve slowly followed, keeping to the shadows in the hallway as best as he could. He hadn’t seen or heard Bucky in the group in front of him but if he wasn’t in this group he might be in another wherever they were heading or those in front of him might know where he was.
“You know Fritz, one of these times I am going to have a stick of my own” came the voice of a man after being shoved into one of the large circular cages in the room. Steve watched as the guard slammed the door in the man’s face before joining a few of his fellows as they made their way out the main door to the room.
Crouching in the darkness Steve could see that there were only two guards up above walking along a metal gangway that connected the top of the cages around the room. Watching the two guards he knew he would have to move fast to take out both of them without letting one or the other have time to raise an alarm because they stayed on opposite sides of the large room as they continued to patrol.
Taking a knife out of his boot he held his breath as the guard slowly walked passed him before bursting from the shadows and stabbing the guard in the back where he had been taught to during his training before ripping out the knife and tossing it across the room catching the second guard in the throat before he could even raise an alarm. Steve hated taking lives but knew he had to get over that part of him because he was now in the middle of a war and if he spared these two guards only for them to later on kill someone else during their escape he’d never forgive himself.
“Who the bloody hell are you?” came an English voice from below him as Steve searched the dead guard at his feet for the keys and anything else they may need.
“I’m Captain America” he said before moving towards the other dead guard, finding another set of keys to the cages he needed and removing his knife from the dead man's throat.
“I beg your pardon” the Englishman asked incredulously and Steve could hear some of the men below him snicker before he dropped to the floor from the top of the cages. Unlocking the first door he gave an African American man with an American uniform the other set of keys.
“Unlock the other side” he ordered before moving to the next door on this side of the room. “Anyone seen Sergeant James Barnes of the 107th here?”
“No but he might have been taken straight to the other side of the base. Those that go to that side for Zola and Schmidt's experiments don’t come back” the Englishman said as Steve unlocked his cage.
“Okay there is a treeline south by southwest of the base it’s about a one hundred yards away. About three more miles in that direction is a clearing stop there for me for no more than two hours.If I don’t show up or anyone else doesn’t show up, keep moving in that direction. Allied lines are another thirty or so miles in that direction. Get out hard, get out fast and give them hell.” Steve ordered after placing his knife back in his boot after cleaning it on his pants leg.
“And what will you be doing?” asked the man he had heard getting lippy with the guard that locked him up. The man had a very old fashioned mustache and beard and wore a bowler hat like one of those cartoons of an old boxer.
“Getting anyone on the other side of the base that is alive out. Don’t forget to keep moving till that clearing and give them hell.” Steve ordered again before moving towards the only door in the room that led out the way they came in. Slowly he opened the door and seeing only one guard in the hallway with his back towards the door he quickly reached out covering the guards mouth and quickly snapped his neck before pulling him into the room. The now dead guard was quickly stripped of his weapons and anything else of use before Steve opened the door and took an immediate right into the hallway knowing that was the way to the other side of the base. Behind him he could hear as the men he just freed went to the left back towards the factory.
“Give them hell!” Steve thought.
HYDRA BASE - ITALY
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH 1943
2002 (8:02PM)
Athena woke to loud explosions that seemed to be coming from somewhere in the building by the way it sounded and the building shook with her strapped to the table she was on. Above her the mirrors shook as another explosion went off somewhere very close. Running footsteps in the corridor announced the arrival of Zola as he ran into the room to grab vials of blood that Athena knew were from Bucky and herself and placed them into a metal box that he shoved into his briefcase along with any notes he had.
“Well Fraulein this is goodbye, you have only minutes till the factory begins to go BOOM so enjoy it” he smirked at her before running out the door as an explosion closer to the room rocked the building. The latest explosion seemed to wake Bucky because he started to mumble his name, rank and serial number again.
Athena growled as she knew she had to do something quickly before both her and Bucky were buried alive or possibly maybe not so alive under so much rubble. Twisting her right hand she groaned as she put her thumb against the locking mechanism and the table. She had only done this once before in a training exercise with her godmother and her husband and knew from memory it was going to hurt like hell if she was able to do it again.
With a quick movement and twist she felt it as her thumb dislocated and she whimpered through clenched teeth. Pulling her right hand out of the restraints she used the mirrors that shook with every explosion as she reached over and began to undo the locking mechanisms on her left hand as best as she could with her still dislocated thumb.
“Bucky! Oh shit! I’m sorry ma’am” yelled a new voice that was definitely american from somewhere behind her causing her to look away from what her right hand was doing and look up in the mirrors to see a tall well built man carrying a shield painted like an american flag. The tall well built man quickly turned around trying not to look at her and Athena realized her nudity that she had been so used to after so many months of being kept naked was causing the man to actually blush.
“Oh for heaven's sake turn around and start getting Bucky unstrapped. I’m guessing you are the cause of these explosions, Yank?” Athena asked, turning her attention back to undoing the locking mechanism on her left hand.
“Yes ma’am I came to find this idiot and anyone else I could help to bust out” the man said keeping his eyes down focusing on the locks holding Bucky down and blushing so red Athena was afraid the poor man was about to die of embarrassment.
“Stevie?! I thought you were smaller?” Bucky seemed to be confused by Steve's appearance apparently but Athena didn’t look over as she finally got her left hand finally free.
“I joined the army,'' Steve said as if it explained everything, while getting Bucky’s last hand free while moving towards his waist and feet to free his lower body of straps. It didn’t take much to figure out this must be the Captain America that Zola was so obsessed with and talked about non stop during the last twenty four hours she had been made to endure his droning nasally voice. Apparently the serum he had been ordered by his boss Johann Schmidt to recreate, was the serum that now coursed through this man’s veins.
Taking a deep breath she didn’t think of it as she quickly popped her right thumb back into place with an audible pop. “Damn it Doll, did you just pop your thumb back into place? Didn’t that hurt?” Bucky asked Athena with a confused look on his face that almost had her laughing at the absurdity of everything.
“Yes I did and yes it did. Captain we need to get out of here quick, there are demolition charges set to go off to bring this facility down on our heads” Athena said as she quickly moved to unlock her head as a now free Bucky started on her legs.
“About to be blown up? Well that sounds like fun,” Bucky snarked with a smirk as he freed her legs. “Are you good to run, Doll? I saw that last beating you took.”
“I’ll be fine. The real question you should be asking is, will you be able to keep up Sergeant?” Athena asked, giving a cheeky grin to the man as she was finally free and took his offered hand to help her off the table. They only had met hours before but the hell they watched each other go through even in that small bit of time had created a bond between the two of them.
“Bucky strip that one for yourself” Steve ordered as he came back into the room dragging the dead bodies of two guards by a leg each and began to strip one of the dead men, while Bucky moved to strip the other to clothe himself. “You’ll want to put these on Ma’am. It’s a bit cold outside and we have about thirty miles till we reach Allied lines.”
“Thank you Captain” Athena said, taking the offered clothes and quickly got dressed before taking the shock sticks and holsters from both of the dead guards and quickly adding them to the belt she had been given. Turning towards Steve she also took his offered jacket choosing not to argue with the man. “And who said chivalry is dead?” Athena quipped earning another blush and a laugh from Bucky.
“Oh that’s just Stevie here. I swear he should have been born in a time with knights and ladies-in-waiting” Bucky said just as another explosion rocked the building. Steve then also handed over even more weapons and ammo to her and Bucky.
“Oh where are my manners? Steve Rogers, this is well shit I’ve only been calling you Doll…” Bucky started before giving her a questioning look that caused her to laugh.
“Since we are escaping, my name is Athena” she said as she checked the pistol she had been handed. Steve nodded as he began to lead them down the corridor and hopefully out of the building before it exploded around them.
“Did it hurt?” Bucky asked as they stopped at an intersection and Athena took a moment to realize that Bucky was asking Steve the question.
“A little” Steve responded as he quickly checked the way they needed to go and motioned them to follow him again. Athena rolled her eyes because she doubted it hurt only just a little. What Zola had given them burned like fire throughout their body till they were consumed by it.
“Is it permanent?” Bucky asked and Athena was wondering the same thing but something told her the changes she had gone through because whatever Zola had given them were permanent.
“So far” Steve answered just as they came under fire at another intersection. Steve fired a few rounds but had to take cover. Athena saw an MP-40 and a grenade on a dead guard's body just on the other side of the corridor.
“Cover me” Athena ordered hearing both men curse at her as she backed up and took a running start before diving and rolling to the other side. Grabbing the grenade she pulled it and quickly lobbed it towards their opponents and took cover as it exploded.
Standing up again she quickly searched the nearby dead guard's body for any other weapons or ammo while she saw Bucky disappear up the corridor where the grenade had just taken out their opponents, probably to strip the bodies as well of anything useful. Athena stood up and received a weighing look from Steve before he just nodded for her to follow Bucky.
As they got out of the building Athena spotted Zola running towards a fancy car and quickly threw a knife and while she had been aiming for something more vital she was more than fine with it now embedded in the man's arm upper arm causing him to drop his briefcase with a girly high pitch shrill. He went to try to grab it but Bucky then started shooting at him with his rifle.
“We need him alive if possible” Athena quickly yelled as they began to take fire from some guards that were alerted to their presence by Zola’s scream of pain.
“Aww Doll you’re taking away my fun!” Bucky whined while Athena helped Steve to take on the guards.
“Really you two?” Steve exasperatedly asked as he shot a guard before kicking the knee of another causing a loud snap. The guard whose knee was just smashed dropped to the ground and Athena quickly snapped his neck while Steve bashed another guard in the head with his shield.
Athena took out the two shock sticks and started to fight with another set of guards, dodging bullets from one and shocking the other one and then reversing roles. This went on for a minute or so before one of the guards shot the other in a lovely case of friendly fire. The guard was momentarily shocked into stillness long enough for Athena to use one shock stick to electrocute the man just over his heart while the other one smacked the man in the head knocking him down.
“Fuck he’s getting away” Athena saw as she turned around towards where Zola was now climbing inside the fancy car. Swinging her MP-40 she quickly decided she’d rather have the bastard dead than alive if it meant he was going to get away and unloaded a clip at the now moving car. Athena cursed again when she realized the bullets were only leaving so many dents meaning the car was armored.
Out of her peripheral vision she saw as Bucky must have realized the change in her thinking when he pulled the pin and tossed a German grenade as hard as he could. Unfortunately the blast only caught the back side of the car causing it to skid but it still continued driving away into the night.
“Again, I ask, was that really necessary?” Steve asked again, looking between Bucky and herself with an odd look as if he was trying to understand what it was about the man that set them off.
“Yes” both Bucky and herself answered, sharing a look that Athena knew was confusing Steve even more by the look on his face. But they didn’t have any time to explain anything to Steve at the moment as they began to take fire from a different direction and quickly took cover behind a truck. Athena rolled into a crouched position and looked around the front of the truck and saw the group of soldiers behind some crates.
“Grenades?” Athena asked the two men. Steve shook his head no.
“I got two left” Bucky answered as he pulled them out of his pockets and tossed one towards Athena who caught it while Steve gave them both a dirty look as if they were playing with the explosives.
“Ten yards to our one o’clock” Athena said as she pulled a pin with a quick glance to Bucky to see him do the same as they both stood and tossed the grenades in-sync. Seconds later twin explosions were accompanied by the sound of men screaming but she didn’t wait till it stopped because Athena was on her feet MP-40 in her hands charging the position and shooting those that survived, though survived wasn’t quite the right word for the carnage left by the twin grenades.
“Clear” Bucky and Steve called out at the same time from behind her, almost making her jump because she didn’t hear them follow her. Athena moved to where she had last seen Zola and his briefcase and breathed a sigh of relief as she found it. Crouching down into the mud she quickly opened it and found that though the briefcase had taken some damage, the metal square holding the vials she had seen Zola take was still intact. Opening it up she glared at the vials not sure if she was wanting them to be destroyed or not.
“Is that?” Bucky started to ask from behind her but didn’t finish.
“Yeah it is. If there is any hope of figuring out what Zola and Schmidt gave us and what it might have done to us we will need the samples” Athena answered, closing the lid.
“Here use this” Bucky said, dropping a pack down next to her in the mud already full of supplies. Athena quickly put the samples inside and pulled out whatever notes inside the briefcase and stuffed them in the pack as well. A hand entered her field of vision and Athena sighed before taking it and being helped back to her feet.
“Thanks” Athena told Bucky as Steve came up to them holding another two packs and handing one to Bucky.
“No problem. We found supplies, intelligence and keys on those soldiers. Steve said the explosions we heard earlier were from the escaping captured Allied personnel Hydra was using as slave labor to build weapons” Bucky said as he took the other pack.
“How many are we guessing? And I’m assuming they are with the rest of your unit?” Athena questioned Steve.
“I’m guessing a couple hundred if most of them got out. And no one else came here with me. I jumped in with the help of…” Steve paused for only a split second but Athena could see he was trying to fight back a blush. “Of two friends against orders to come rescue this guy. Figured I owed Bucky, for a few times back when we were kids in Brooklyn.” Steve said shoulder checking Bucky.
“A few times? You wouldn’t believe it now but this punk was the scrawniest little shit who never backed down from a fight” Bucky laughed, reaching over and knocking Steve’s helmet off his head trying to give him a noogie.
“Wait, you came in alone?” Athena asked, looking around at all the damage done around them.
“Don’t be surprised Doll. Steve is his own one man wrecking crew. Doesn’t matter if you tell him it’s impossible the asshole will always figure out a way” Bucky said causing Steve to blush.
Steve cleared out his throat and looked around them before saying “As I said earlier, we are currently a little under thirty miles from Allied lines.”
“And we have at least a hundred or so allied personnel we need to escort back to allied lines unless you have a way of calling a ride?” Athena asked as she began looking around for ideas. It was nighttime and the darkness was only alleviated by the occasional fires that still burned around them from the battle but Athena was more than sure she could see a whole hell of a lot better than she used to be able to see in the limited light.
“Unfortunately not,” Steve said, showing Athena a transponder that looked familiar but it had a piece of flack embedded into it.
“Okay so we are a little over 48 kilometres away from allied lines and we probably have weak and wounded men. We need to get at least three trucks then and as many weapons and ammo we can steal to try to arm everyone that can fight in case we come across any enemy units” Athena said as she made her way over towards a group of trucks against a loading dock that didn’t look to have taken too much damage in the fight that just happened. Beside the trucks were some crates that while they were damaged didn’t look to be in too bad of shape either.
Looking around Athena found a crowbar in a dead dock guard's hand and began to use it to open crates. As she opened the crates Steve and Bucky checked the three trucks to make sure they could turn on and were driveable. Athena kept opening crates and after the boys checked the trucks they began to load them up with the crates of supplies they would need, they also checked any dead guards body for intelligence, maps or more supplies.
“You’re not a civilian are you?” Steve asked her as they gathered at the back of the trucks before they would each begin to drive them to meet the group of escapees.
“No, I'm not. I’m an Agent for British Intelligence. I need to get the intelligence I gathered before I was captured and then what I gathered after I was captured back to my bosses.”
“Well I don’t know if we had any British units at the camp we are heading for though there is a” again Steve paused and blushed making Athena curious who was it that was making the man blush so much “friend of mine, Peggy Carter there she might be able to help you get in touch with your bosses.”
“Peggy is here?” Athena asked softly, trying not to let her emotions take over now that she knew Peggy, her baby sister, was so close.
“Yes ma’am. Know each other?” Steve asked, smiling softly and Athena rolled her eyes because she could tell the young Captain was smitten with her sister by the blush he was fighting so hard to hide.
“You can say that Captain, Either way we better not keep Peggy waiting. She gets a bit pissy when that happens and I have a feeling she is going to be quite cross with me” Athena said as she stood up tossing the supplies into the back of one of the trucks. “Come on boys, let's go home.”
ALLIED S.S.R. BASE - ITALY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH 1943
1015 (10:15AM)
“How much further Steve?” Athena asked as she walked back up towards the front with Bucky just behind her. They had fallen back a while ago to make sure all the stragglers at the end of their little makeshift convoy were still keeping up. She had used that time again to quietly warn Bucky not to say anything about being experimented on by Zola and only to say they had been interrogated and tortured if pushed.
A brief argument had sparked up again between the two of them but Athena was going to do her damnedest not to end up as a lab rat again, even for a SWORD scientist. Athena convinced Bucky she knew someone who could help them and she did, quite a few someones. She had to get them back to England somehow and over to SWORD headquarters. She just didn’t know quite how much of SWORD’s true purpose their American allies had been made aware of by this time in the war but she wasn’t going to be the one to spill the secret without checking in with at least Peggy first.
It didn’t take much more reassurance for Bucky to agree with her on keeping up their status as two of Zola experiments mainly to themselves but Bucky had wanted them to tell Steve about their status because he might be able to help them understand what was going on. After a few moments Athena agreed only if she was able to tell Peggy saying that she was someone she knew that could help them and Bucky agreed.
“Should be just around another bend or two.” Steve answered as both her and Bucky took flanking positions on either side of him. “The men?”
“Keeping up but they are tired and hungry. The medics are doing what they can for those that are wounded and sick but we lost another one this morning” Athena reported and caught the grim look on both men’s faces.
They continued to walk in silence till they crested a small hill and could see an allied guard post just ahead and below them. All three of them shared a small grin as those also behind them started to pass the word back that they finally arrived.
They walked into the base to the cheers of the men greeting them and the relieved laughter of those behind them and Athena couldn’t fault them for that reaction. Athena watched as men came running towards them but in the middle of all the running, cheering and laughing was a Colonel and Peggy walking calmly towards them.
Steve stopped and saluted the Colonel before saying “Colonel Phillips, some of these men need medical attention and I’d like to surrender myself for disciplinary action.”
“That won’t be necessary” Colonel Phillips told Steve before realizing Athena was just on the side of the man and looked at her in shock that a woman was in the group of returning men.
“Agent 99 of…” Athena started but stopped once Peggy pulled her weapon and had it pointed to her head.
“AGENT CARTER!” “Peggy!” yelled Colonel Phillips and Steve at the same time but Athena stayed perfectly still so as not to provoke Peggy into shooting her accidentally.
“Gladium esse pro rege et patria” Peggy challenged. To be the Sword for King and Country.
“Nulla deditionem nisi in facie mortis immolant!” Athena finished with a smirk before adding the last bit “Ad familiam honorandem parva soror.”
No surrender, only sacrifice in the face of death. For the honor of the family, little sister. When Athena finished the last bit Peggy put her sidearm away and quickly hugged Athena.
“Missed you too Peg” Athena whispered, tightening her hold on her little sister and placing her cheek on the top of Peggy’s head. Taking a deep breath Athena took in the smell of her sister and had to fight back the tears that threatened to escape. Even in the middle of this damn war that had already taken so much from them Peggy still smelt like home. Right now Athena knew Peggy was in shock that Athena was there and still alive but once that shock wore off she would have the fun of dealing with her sister’s temper.
“Athena Maria Mary Carter how the hell are you in Italy?!” demanded her sister punching her shoulder after breaking off the hug. Ahh there was her sister’s fiery temper.
“Oh you know how it goes sometimes. I was captured in Norway by the SS; they couldn’t break me. I was given over to Hydra and they tried to break me. Mainly ended up just pissing them off” Athena said, smirking, earning her a slight uptick of Peggy’s lips and a chuckle from Bucky on the other side of Steve.
“Mother and Father are going to kill you” Peggy said finally with a full on smile as she pulled Athena in again for another hug.
“Will someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Colonel Phillips demanded and Athena let Peggy go as she slowly broke the hug and tugged at her uniform.
“Colonel Phillips, you will want to let England know that Agent Athena Carter, my sister, also known as Agent 99 has returned alive” Peggy answered.
“Great another Carter to give me paperwork to fill out” groused Colonel Philips giving her a look.
“I’d like to say I’m not as bad as Peggy here but I’d be totally lying Colonel. So I apologize ahead of time. When you pass the word of my return back home I need you to add Zulu 99 to the message” Athena said, seeing Peggy try to hide her reaction to the code Athena was wanting to send back home. It was a code to be used only in the most dire of circumstances.
“I want a full debrief tomorrow, 0800 hours. Agent Carter get that crazy sister of yours set up with you and make damn sure she gets actual medical attention” Colonel Philips ordered before giving the two of them a soft smile that was a blink and you’d miss it before turning away back towards his command tent.
“Athena Maria Mary Carter don’t you dare do that to me again!” Peggy scolded her as she punched Athena in the shoulder hard enough again to make Athena need to take a step back.
“Ow! Come on Peg, it’s not like I did it on purpose!” Athena said as she fake rubbed her arm with a pout before smirking and pulling Peggy into another hug.
“Sisters?” Steve asked, looking back and forth between Peggy and Athena trying to find the resemblance.
“Yes and you’re late” Peggy said, breaking away from the hug with Athena and went to go stand in front of Steve giving him a look that Athena meant trouble for the Captain but then she saw something in Peggy’s eyes and knew she was just as smitten with the Captain as he was.
Athena and Bucky shared a look and she realized he had come to the same conclusion. Another shared look had both of them rolling their eyes at the oblivious two in front of them who had most likely forgotten everyone else around them.
“Couldn’t call my ride” Steve said, pulling out the damaged transponder from his pocket earning him another dual eye roll from both Bucky and herself as Peggy only slightly smirked at the man. Athena watched as Bucky got a smirk on his face that something told her meant only trouble. Athena only knew what it meant because it was the same smirk she’d get in the mirror the morning of an epic prank.
“Hey! Let’s hear it for Captain America!” Bucky shouted out to the men gathered around and instantly a loud cheer went up causing Steve to surprisingly blush a bit before glaring at Bucky.