Chapter 7
Steve held a tumbler of scotch in his hands, seated at a ruined table, listening quietly to the radio, listing bombing procedures and blackout updates. He pours more of the scotch into his tumbler, and takes a sip, letting it burn his throat, anything to combat the numbness that creeps in his limbs. He stared at the destroyed counter of the bar, where he laughed with Bucky and Lee, where he asked the Commandos to join him. He thought about Bucky, and he replayed his fall over and over in his mind, blaming himself. He downed the scotch, and got up from the table, leaving the London ruins of the bar that began their journey together as a team.
°°°
Lee sits in his bed, staring at nothing, feeling everything. He thinks about nothing but Bucky, and Steve. About the first time he saw Bucky, the happiness in his face, how moments before he was gone he was cracking jokes with Steve, and now it's all gone. Fucking gone. The door to their shared bedroom opens, and Steve walks in, looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders alone. Lee watched him, as he walked into the bathroom, shut the door. The quiet sound of water running, from the sink, then it stops. More silence, then the shower faucet starts. Steve showering, feeling like hours, when it was only a few minutes. Steve finally comes out, hair wet and a towel around his waist, and he grabs a shirt and pants out of the dresser in the corner. Lee still watches silently, until Steve comes back out of the bathroom, fully dressed for bed. Lee's on the bottom bunk this time, so Steve moved to climb to the top bunk. Lee stops him, hand on his arm, and says nothing, just stares. Steve stands there, hand gripping the railing, and stares back, an unspoken conversation between them.
He finally lets go of the railing, and maneuvers into the bottom bunk, crawling in with Lee. Lee's heart is hammering, because Steve's there , but he knows it's not for him. Steve wraps his arms around Lee's waist, and nestles his face into Lee's torso. Lee isn't sure what to do, so he decides comfort is best. He gently places his hand on Steve's shoulder, ghosting over his shoulder until he's rubbing circles into Steve's back, and he thinks fuck it and begins massaging Steve's scalp with the other hand, trailing his fingers through Steve's wet hair, until Steve lets go and slumps into a heap of sobs in Lee's torso. Lee stays quiet, his own tears falling, and just comforts him. They stay like that for a while, their tears soaking their clothes and their hearts, the pain of Bucky bringing them closer.
Steve lifted his head and stared right at Lee, red rimmed eyes and harsh red cheeks, and pulled him lower down the bed, until Lee was laying down, and they embraced, tangling their bodies together in comfort. They both nestled themselves together, in warm suffering, and stayed like that, until both fell asleep, tear stains drying on their shirts and the heaviness no longer a solo burden for each other.
°°°
The next day, Steve was gone from bed, and Lee was cold, and he decided not to say anything about their... moment last night. He gets ready, and joined the team in the main base. They were discussing battle plans when he arrives in his suit, and Steve nods at him in greeting, face guarded.
“Johann Schmidt belongs in a bug house. He thinks he’s a god. He’s willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA.” Phillips addressed the group.
Howard speaks up, pointing to schematics taken from Zola, who was being held in their custody after the Commando’s capture. “Schmidt’s working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour.”
Gabe looks disgusted. “How much time we got?”
“According to my new best friend, under twenty four hours,” Phillips says, meaning Zola.
Dernier peers at the map on the table in front of them. “Where is he now?”
“Hydra’s last base is here,” Phillips says, pointing to the base, “In the Alps. Five hundred feet below the surface.”
“So, what are we supposed to do. I mean, it’s not like we can just knock on the front door.” Morita says, discouraged. Steve thinks a moment, and then it dawns on him.
He turns to Morita. “Why not? That’s exactly what we’re gonna do.”
°°°
Steve somehow loses his shield, so he takes to fists alone, punching and pushing, kicking and flipping Hydra soldiers out of his way. Steve barrels through dozens and dozens of soldiers, until he bursts into the weapons lab of the Hydra base to find Schmidt waiting, preparing a cargo plane with explosives. Steve wasted no time, charging Schmidt and engaging in intense combat against him, nothing but fists and rage flying.
The windows to the weapons lab exploded, sending glass flying and the Howling Commandos in its wake. Falsworth has Steve's shield, and he tosses it to him.
“Hey Rogers, you might need this!” He shouts, and Steve catches it easily.
“Thanks!” He shouts back, and Lee joins his side, gauntlets buzzing.
“Sorry I'm late,” he says, punching a soldier and sending him flying, “I got caught up in some errands.”
“Excuses, excuses,” teased Steve, and they dove through even more soldiers, Schmidt already gone with the plane. “Let's go get that bastard and save the country!” The two leave the lab with the Commandos, and they sprint down the tarmac where the cargo plane is beginning to leave the terminal.The plane is already too fast, and even Steve’s abnormal speeds can’t catch up to it. They slow down, but hear the roar of an engine behind them. Lee turns, and a car is speeding down the tarmac, Phillips and Peggy in the front seat.
They hop into the car behind Peggy and Phillips, and off they go. They easily catch up with the plane from there, and Lee prepares to jump onto the place's wheel, when Peggy stops Steve, and kisses him. Lee feels a stab of jealousy and hurt, but says nothing, and jumps onto the wheel, Steve following.
Inside the cargo plane, there are multiple smaller figher planes with their targets written on them: Boston, Chicago, New York. Lee runs to one and begins trying to disable the fighter planes, and he takes out the pilots inside, one by one. Steve advances into the cockpit where Schmidt is waiting.
Lee disables all the explosives and runs to the cockpit, where he sees just in time Schmidt being thrown into a sort of portal being emitted from a blue cube, and then the cube being thrown out of the plane to the water below, with Steve trying to gain control of the plane.
“How the fuck do we get into these situations?” Lee said, joining Steve at the copilot's seat.
“Good question,” Steve replied, “now let's get out of it."
As Steve tries to take over the plane’s controls, Lee reads "Ziel New York City" (target New York City) on a screen showing targets, and tries the radio which is picked up by the Hydra control tower occupied by Peggy, Phillips and Morita.
“Come in. This is Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Leigh. Do you read me?”
Morita answers, but is cut off immediately by Peggy.
“Lee, is that you? Are you alright?”
Lee answered. “It's me, Schmidt’s dead.”
Peggy sounded relieved. “What about the plane?”
Steve grabbed the receiver from Lee. “That’s a little bit tougher to explain.”
“Give me your coordinates, I’ll find you a safe landing site.”
Steve was stubborn and defiant, but he sounded so sure of himself that Lee didn't process what he said. “There’s not going to be a safe landing. But I can try and force it down.”
Peggy sounded frantic. “I’ll get Howard on the line, he’ll know what to do.”
“There’s not enough time. This thing’s moving too fast and it’s heading for New York.” Steve paused. He spoke again after a moment, voice wavering. “I gotta put her in the water.” Lee's head snapped up back to Steve.
Peggy’s voice was strained. “Please, don’t do this. We have time. We can work it out.”
“Right now I’m in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die. Peggy, this is my choice.” He turns to Lee, and flips the autopilot switch back on. “I'm sorry.” Quick as lightning, before Lee could react, Steve punched him in the face, hard, and picked up his unconscious body, running into the cargo area, and throwing a life jacket and an emergency pack on Lee. Lee woke up, confused, right before Steve threw him unceremoniously out of the fucking plane.
Lee was wide awake now, head pounding, flying through the air, before he landed hard into the water. He broke the surface, sputtering.
He screamed in anguish, floating in the waves. “Steve you FUCKING BASTARD! STEVE!”
He watched the plane fade into the distance, the sound of the waves roaring in his ears. It took all he could to stay upright, and he heard a distant crash, almost faint enough that he couldn't tell where it came from. The water was freezing, and his teeth chattered. He opened the biggest pocket in the pack Steve gave him, and yanked a cord. A life raft exploded into inflation, and he crawled in. Rummaging through the pack, he found a waterproof container with a radio inside.
He switched between channels, trying to find a working channel, from anyone. “Mayday! Mayday, I don't know what to fucking say, ANYONE! Emergency! SOS! SOMEONE!” He yelled into the radio, and Peggy answered.
“Is Steve there?! Please tell me he’s there with you,” she demanded frantically. Lee’s voice was hoarse and numb.
“I'm sorry Peggy. He threw me out of the plane.” Lee couldn't do anything but stare at the radio as the sounds of anguish filled his ears.
I'm sorry.