Racing after the man who shot Eskrine, Freya raced outside. Seeing her following him, the man shot at her and was shocked as the bullets just bounced right off of her. Realizing he wasn't doing any damage he quickly hopped in the passenger seat of the car as the driver stepped on the gas.
Freya huffed as she took off after them. Gripping her sword, she flung her arm back before throwing the sword with perfect aim. It flew through the back windshield, lodging itself in the driver's head, killing him instantly.
The car swerved and crashed into a car parked on the side of the road. Freya smirked as she began walking towards them. The man in the passenger seat quickly got out before carjacking a taxi.
Holding out her hand, the sword flew right back to her like a boomerang. The man, now driving a bright yellow taxi, was headed straight for her. Freya stood her guard and knew the car was of no danger to her.
As the taxi got only a few feet away, Steve came running out of the antique store, pushing Freya out of the way.
"Steve!" she shouted as they landed roughly on the ground. "What are you doing?!"
"Sorry!" he exclaimed as he stood up and began running after the taxi. With a huff, Freya made sure her cloak was securely strapped around her, made out of falcon feathers it was a gift from her father. With its power, she lept into the air quickly flying above the streets.
Soaring past Steve he looked up in shock. "You can fly?!" he shouted.
"It's the cloak" she shouted as they both followed the taxi. Steve, still getting used to his newfound strength and speed, crashed into a building as they rounded a corner.
Seeing that he was fine, Freya couldn't help but let out a laugh. "You're not very good at this" she teased.
Steve rolled his eyes, doing his best to not only keep up with the taxi but with Freya flying overhead too.
Freya watched as Steve ran over another car and used the momentum to jump and land on top of the taxi. The man swerved as they came near the docks, narrowly avoiding crashing into the water.
As he began shooting through the roof of the car, trying to shake Steve off, Freya threw down her sword, impaling the car right through the engine. It caused the car to come to a quick stop and Steve barely had time to jump off before the car continued to roll over until it was a crumpled mess.
Miraculously the man was still alive as he rolled out of the car. Landing next to Steve, the man pushed himself up and pointed his gun at them. But Freya held out her hand, her sword flying to her.
As it did, it sliced through the man's hand and he screamed in pain as he dropped the gun. Steve raced up to him and roughly grabbed him by the collar of his suit.
"Who the hell are you?!" he shouted.
"The first of many. Cut off one head" the man said, crushing something in between his teeth. "Two more shall take its place."
Freya watched as the man began foaming at the mouth, whatever poison he ingested acting quickly. "Hail Hydra" were the man's final words.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎
"Think you got enough?" Steve sighed, as a nurse took another of his blood.
"Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code. But without Dr.Erskine, it would take years" Agent Carter told him.
"He deserved more than this" Steve said.
"Steve" Freya said, her voice soft as she walked over to him, gently placing her hand on his arm. "I spent many hours with Eskrine, talking with him about my home. About his serum. I know it might not be much of a comfort now, but you should know, this was his life's work. And he was more than thrilled that it had been you who received the serum."
Steve looked up at her, a hint of a smile on his face. Her words were more of a comfort than she realized.
Both of them turned around, hearing Senator Brandt and Colonel Phillips arguing just outside.
"Colonel Phillips, my committee is demanding answers," Brandt said.
"Great. Why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret installation in your car?" Philips said.
Making their way out to where they were talking, Steve, Freya, and Agent Carter heard the tail end of their conversation.
"Hydra is the Nazi deep science division. It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions. Freya here has given us intel that he has his hands on something very powerful" Agent Carter said.
"Hydra is practically a cult. They worship Schmidt. They think he's invincible" Philips said.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Brandt asked.
"We're going to go find Schmidt and kill him. And I will be taking the relic back to Asgard with me" Freya said but Colonel Philips ignored her as he turned to Agent Carter.
"As of today, the SSR is being retasked. We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags, Agent Carter. You, too, Stark. We're flying to London tonight" he said.
"Sir? If you're going after Schmidt, I want it" Steve said.
"You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo" Philips told him.
"The serum worked," Steve said.
"I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough" Philips said.
"Well what about Freya?" he asked.
"As far as I'm concerned, she was another experiment Erskine kept like a pet who belongs in an asylum," Philips said before he walked away.
Freya rolled her eyes, done trying to prove herself to people who didn't want her help. She had a mission, one she was going to do with or without their help.
"With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point," Brandt said as he walked up to Steve. "I've seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country's seen it. The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands. You don't take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"
"Sir, that's all I want," Steve said.
"Then, congratulations," Brandt said, shaking his head. "You just got promoted."
As the senior left the room, Freya walked up to Steve.
"Steve. I don't have time for your people to decide to trust me or to do this on their own. I have to find Schmidt" she told him.
"Alone?" he asked.
"I was sent here alone, remember?" she smiled. "Our time is running out. If he manages to harness the power of Tesseract, I'm afraid things in your realm are only going to get worse."
Steve nodded as he looked at her. "I'll come with you. We can find him together."
"You just got promoted," she said with a sad smile. "Besides, this was my mission. It's something that I have to do alone to prove myself back home."
"So...so this is goodbye? You're leaving?" he asked, sadness lacing his tone.
"Well, for now at least. But who knows? Maybe I'll see you out there again" she said.
"Yeah. Maybe" he mumbled.
Wrapping her arms around him, Freya pulled him into a hug. "I'm really glad I met you, Steven Grant Rogers. Maybe when this is all over, you can give me that dance lesson."
"Definitely. I'm glad I met you too."
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎
Turns out Loki was onto something when he suggested coming along and being her guide. Midgard was a lot bigger than she knew and she had more ground to cover than any other realm she'd been to.
She waited for that feeling Heimdall said she'd get, where'd she be able to feel the tesseract near but so far she hadn't sensed anything. In fact, the only feeling she'd had the entire time she'd been in this realm was the feeling she got while she was with Steve.
One would think that as the Goddess of Love and War, someone who's been responsible for the feeling of butterflies fluttering in their stomachs, and aching and longing to be near their person that Freya would be used to the feeling herself.
But between spreading love between others and countless battles through the centuries, she never thought about those feelings herself.
While she searched for Schmidt, she did her best to forget about Steve. To focus on her mission. Find the tesseract and get back home. But seeing him printed on newspapers and flyers didn't make that very easy.
When she saw children reading comic books about him she smiled. Paying him a visit wouldn't be that bad. It's not like she was any closer to finding Schmidt anyway.
And with him on tour as Captain America, she knew exactly where he'd be. Italy.
Hidden near the trees in the back of the camp, Freya watched as Steve put on his performance for the troops who seemed less than amused by the whole thing.
"How many of you are ready to help me sock old Adolf on the jaw?" he asked, met with an awkward silence that made Freya feel horrible for him.
"Okay, um, I need a volunteer," he said.
"I already volunteered! How do you think I got here?" a soldier shouted from the crowd as they all started laughing.
"Bring back the girls!" another shouted causing the crowd to cheer.
Steve looked backstage, unsure of what to do. "I think they only know the one song, but um, I'll see what I can do."
"You do that, sweetheart!" they shouted.
"Nice boots, Tinkerbell!"
"Come on, guys, we're all on the same team this" Steve sighed.
"Hey, Captain! Sign this!" one yelled as he turned around, pulling down his pants.
"Midgardians" Freya scoffed from her spot near the trees. Seeing Steve leaving the stage, Freya snuck through the trees and made her way behind one of the small buildings.
She found Steve sitting on steps, behind the stage. Walking up behind him she glanced down at the sketchbook he was drawing on. Shocked by how good they were, she gasped.
"You didn't tell me you could draw!" she exclaimed, letting out a small laugh when he jumped. "Sorry."
"It's okay. Um, hi. Hey. What are you doing here?" he asked as she sat next to him.
"Well, I saw one of these," she said, pulling out one of the flyers they'd been passing around, highlighting his performances. "I knew I couldn't miss the great Captain America."
"Yeah, well. I had to improvise a little bit. The crowds I'm used to are usually more, uh, twelve" he sighed.
"Well, I thought you were brilliant," she said, trying to make him feel better but it obviously wasn't working. "What is it?" she asked.
"You know, for the longest time, I dreamed about coming overseas and being on the front lines, serving my country. I finally got everything I wanted...and I'm wearing tights" he said.
"If it's any consolation. I think you look great in them" she said, smiling when he let out a small laugh.
"Any updates on Schmidt?" he asked.
"No. I'm afraid you're not the only one who doesn't feel like they're living up to their potential. I'm afraid I won't even be welcome back home without the tesseract in hand" she sighed.
"You'll find it. He can't hide forever" Steve said.
"No. I suppose not. And they can't make you sing and dance forever either" she told him.
"Freya. What on earth are you doing here?"
Steve and Freya turned to see Agent Carter standing behind them.
"Oh. Well, I, um-"
Freya was cut off as a truck honked behind them, a red cross painted on the back. The back doors opened as men gathered around to help pull out someone lying on a stretcher.
"They look like they've been through hell," Steve said.
"These men more than most. Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him, and less than 50 returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured" Agent Carter told them.
"The 107th?" Steve asked before he stood up and raced through the camp.
"What was that about?" Agent Carter asked and Freya shrugged as they followed after him.
"Colonel Phillips" Steve called out as he made his way to the tent the Colonel was sitting under.
"Well if it isn't the Star-Spangled Man with A Plan and the crazy alien girl" Philips sighed.
"I need the casualty list from Azzano," Steve said.
"You don't get to give me orders, son," Philips said.
"I just need one name, Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th" Steve said.
"You and I are gonna have a conversation later that you won't enjoy," Philips said, pointing at Agent Carter.
"Please tell me if he's alive, sir. B-A-R-"
"I can spell," Philips said, going through a stack of papers on his desk. "I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."
Freya looked at Steve, a look of sorrow taking over his expression. But as soon as it was there it was gone.
"What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?" Steve asked.
"Yes, it's called winning the war," Philips said.
"But if you know where they are, why not at least-"
"They're 30 miles behind the lines through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save" Philips said.
Staring at the map that Colonel Philips pointed to, Freya committed the map to memory. Knowing where she had to go she quickly turned and marched out of the tent.
"Freya! Hey, where are you going!" Steve shouted, following after her, Agent Carter following suit.
"I know where he is now. I can find him. Save everyone else while I'm there" she told him.
"I'm coming with you," Steve said.
"Wait, what are you planning to do? Walk to Austria?" Agent Carter said.
"Of course not. That'd be ridiculous. I can fly" Freya said.
"Correct if I'm wrong but I don't think that's a skill Steve has mastered," Agent Carter said.
"Well...I can, um-"
Agent Carter shook her head, gesturing for the two to follow her. "I think I can you two a plane."