Allies
They were the 107th, or rather what was left of them. Cut off from command since Rogers had gone AWOL, they were haggard, dirty, frayed—and Peggy adored them. After it became clear that she was the ranking officer amongst them, they immediately and graciously deferred to her. They didn’t call her ma’am, they called her sir.
Even before it was known that she’d been the intelligence agent Rogers had been pumping information to as the Artist.
The only time the men had shown any signs of getting their hackles up with her was when Rogers' intentions came into question. They’d not been disrespectful in the slightest, but it was very clear that they idolized him.
“He’s not a traitor.” The large man in bowler cap Peggy would come to know as DumDum had said vehemently when she informed them of Rogers current status with command.
“I’m gathering,” Peggy said as she clutched Michael’s necklace. When Rogers had pinned the envelope to her voluminous underskirts, he’d also attached her treasured gift to the tulle as well. The only thing that had prevented Peggy from crying in relief at the sight of it had been the yet known soldiers blinking back at her when she’d found it in the mass of fabric.
It was still possible, of course, that Rogers was indeed a traitor. That he had his own nefarious end game and that Erskine’s serum had truly distorted a good man. But Peggy knew in her heart of hearts that wasn’t the case any longer.
Peggy’s own intuition was enough for her, but she also trusted Erskine’s judgment in that he’d selected the best candidate for the role, despite appearances. And she trusted these men, who admired and respected Rogers. During the time he’d gone AWOL, Rogers had freed the group now calling themselves the Howling Commandos from Hydra’s clutches. Cut off from command and trapped behind enemy lines, Rogers had led them briefly in guerilla warfare, before willingly been taken captive to make his devils bargain.
The Commandos had remained in field, relaying Rogers messages as the Artist back to command—back to her as Agent 13. They’d allowed their family and friends to believe they were KIA rather than risk Rogers’ cover.
“It’s nothing compared to what the Captain has sacrificed,” Peggy’s fellow Brit Falsworth had noted.
Peggy had nodded in agreement. She’d opened her mouth to add more of her own insights after seeing Rogers’ interactions with Johann Schmidt personally, but she her observations died on her tongue as a cool stare bore into her back.
It was Sgt. Barnes, as always tracking her every move with the eye of a snipper and the judgment of a gossip.
###
Peggy wasn’t sure what to make of Barnes. He hardly ever spoke, and he watched her like a damn hawk. She felt like he was assessing her, but not in the way she was used to her male compatriots judging her. He wasn’t either deciding if she was pretty enough to take to bed or just tolerable enough to be allowed to fetch his coffee. Barnes just kept a close, careful eye on her for some purpose that Peggy wasn’t privy too.
She raked her brain to try and recall if she’d seen Barnes during her encounter with Rogers at the World’s Fair. Peggy seldom forgot a face and was certain he’d not been there the evening that she and Rogers had danced. Yet, she still had the sensation that he knew her, and for some reason felt he had the right to evaluate her. It bothered her greatly that she was concerned that whatever he was looking for, he would find her lacking.
Stand-offish as he may be, Peggy certainly couldn’t fault Barnes with anything as a soldier. He followed every order she gave. Efficient and effective, he was also brave as hell.
Tortured and experimented on by Hydra for nearly a month, Barnes had lost his arm to them, but not his loyalty or belief in the cause. The Howling Commandos had found him nearly dead at a base they were raiding, and that was where Rogers had made his supposed defection. Barnes had gotten whatever non-physical and verbal signal that Rogers had relayed indicating that it was all a rouse.
Peggy might have kept with the 107th course of action: staying close enough to Rogers to relay messages, but far enough away to not be caught, but for the new letter the Captain had hidden under her skirts.
Hydra had a long-range carrier being prepared to drop a hydrogen bomb on the eastern seaboard of the United States. As Rogers had concluded in his note to Agent 13—to her-“Must be stopped at all cost. The war is over if it drops.”
###
If ever the men were going to question her, it would have been when she told then they were disbanding. They’d be breaking off into small groups. Each carrying a letter coded into a new cipher that Peggy knew the Allies should be able to easily translate, unlike the one she’d been using with Rogers.
Peggy hoped, prayed, that one of their groups would be able to make it past Hydra’s very fortified lines. Bad weather was coming in on top of everything else. It was freezing, and Peggy could smell snow in the air.
“For your safety, I can’t and won’t tell you the contents of these letters,” Peggy told the men as they gathered round her, “but know this, lives…countless lives…depend on one of our groups making it through. Travel by the cover of darkness when you can. Know that the front line is constantly moving and further back into Allied territory. Be safe. Be smart. And remember the importance of your efforts. I don’t say this lightly, but the entire war effort depends on at least one of us getting this information to command. I wish you all luck and hope to see you on the other side.”
Peggy was ready to dismiss them to make their final preparations for departure when Barnes raised his metal arm. She granted him leave to speak.
“Respectfully, sir, I think I should be a part of your team.”
Peggy had made him a leader of his own squad and saw no reason to make a change. He was more than capable of holding his own and she was about to tell him so, when her eyes fluttered to a move that DumDum made to her left. Something in his expression made her think agreeing to Barnes request was prudent.
So, when the time came, Peggy, DumDum, Barnes, and Pinky left together. They were one of four small groups of people who may well be the Allies last hope.
###
“He won’t talk about it,” DumDum said, settling down next to Peggy. They’d been traveling for just over a week, and it was Peggy’s turn on watch. Dugan was supposed to relieve her in a few hours, but instead, he’d seemed to have waited for the others to fall asleep before stalking over to chat. He produced a bottle with less than two fingers of whiskey splashing about in it. Peggy knew it was the last of it.
“Not uncommon for a POW,” she noted in a neutral tone.
“I’m not referring to what Hydra did to him.”
Peggy took a pull on the bottle, probably more than her share of what was left.
“Rogers supposed defection?”
Dugan nodded.
“The tarnish to his image? Or concern for his friend’s mental well-being?”
“Both, I’d imagine. All of its heavy and it weighs on him.”
Peggy nodded. “Childhood friends, I believe. It’s why Rogers went AWOL to look from him in the first place. At least, that’s what I was told.”
“Brothers,” DumDum said. The word was an affirmation, an oath.
Peggy didn’t hint to Dugan that the whispers assumed it was much more than a familial relationship between the two. Sight unseen and with Barnes a silent but surveying presence around her, Peggy could hardly inform an opinion of her own.
“Ya know, I don’t need to know what it is we are transporting to understand what’s on the line here. I knew it the second Steve accepted the Schmidt 's offer that it was the difference between us winning and losing this thing.”
“I hear a ‘but’ coming.”
“But he’s one man. Granted a special one, and I’m not talking about the enhancements. But he’s not an island. Can’t do it alone, although I suspect he’ll try to.”
Peggy suspected that too.
“Bucky’s had his six since they were kids, and we’ve got him to, but,” his voice caught with emotion, “I’m glad you’re here, Agent Carter.”
Peggy was so flushed by the compliment, it took her a moment to realize that DumDum wasn’t looking at her. She followed his line of sight to Barnes, who should have been asleep. Peggy could see the gleam in his eyes as he blinked. His gaze ever watching, ever accessing.
###
The snow started early the next morning. It was driving, damp and heavy. As vital as their mission was, they couldn’t complete it if they were dead. Shelter quickly became the most pressing concern. Their best hope was to find a cave that they could huddle in, but the white out would make finding one a near impossible task.
Visibility was so bad that Peggy head the guns before she could make out who was firing. It all happened very quickly once the Hydra opts team became visible. Shots were fired and there was screaming in German and English.
She was pushed to the ground with weight and force that knocked the air out of her lungs. Someone had to drag the body crushing hers off of her before she got sight of what happened. DumDum and Pinky were nowhere in sight. Not that Peggy could see more than a few feet in front of her.
But she had plain view of Rogers, who was laying just to her left. Barnes was pressing his hands into his side, trying to stop the bleeding. She didn’t need to be told that he’d taken the bullet intended for her.