The next week, in London, Steve and Lucy had become good friends with five of the members of the 107th. They introduced themselves as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan, Gabriel "Gabe" Jones, both serving for America along with Jim Morita, British soldier James Montgomery Falsworth, and French soldier Jacques Dernier. Lucy sat at the table with them in a blue dress waiting for Steve to join the bunch after speaking with Colonel Phillips. When he did, he sat next to her and mentioned an idea of forming a group.
"So let me get this straight," Dum Dum said after placing his beer mug down.
"We barely got out of there alive and you want us to go back?" Gabe asked.
"Pretty much," Steve replied.
"Sounds rather, fun actually," James said. Jim burped before putting the glass of beer on the table.
"I'm in," he said. Jacques and Gabe started talking to each other in French. Everyone looked at them.
"We're in," Gabe said pointing to him and Jacques.
"What about you, Lady Liberty?" James asked.
"I'm making myself the promise to stay by Steve's side, so, I'll always be in," Lucy replied. The Captain looked to Dum Dum to answer.
"Hell, I'll always fight," Dum Dum said. "But you gotta do one thing for me?"
"What's that?" Steve asked.
"Open a tab." Everyone started laughing. Steve got up grabbing the beer mugs with Lucy's help as she followed behind him.
"Told you they were idiots," Bucky said as Steve and Lucy walked over and sat on the barstools next to the Sergeant.
"What about you?" Steve asked. "You ready to follow Captain America and Lady Liberty into the jaws of death?"
"Hell no. That little guy from Brooklyn that was too dumb enough to run away from a fight... I'm following him." Bucky looked to Steve. "But you're keeping your outfits, right?"
"You know what?" Steve looked back at the poster of him what had a sign saying show canceled on it. "It's kinda growing on me."
"Dito," Lucy said after taking a sip of the glass of whiskey placed in front of her. The guys at the table began singing a song. Lucy listened to the song, knowing it sounded joyous, but in reality was written for a different reason.
"And remember that the best of friends must part," the men sang, but slowly came to a stop. Bucky, Steve and Lucy all looked to see the cause of the singing to cease and saw Peggy walk into the room wearing a knee length red evening gown. The trio stared at her, all three standing up.
"Captain," Peggy said.
"Agent Carter," Steve replied.
"Ma'am," Lucy and Bucky said.
"Howard has some equipment for you to try," Peggy said. "Lucy will be there with him. Tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good," Steve replied. The men began singing again. There was a silence between the four.
"I see your top squad is prepping for duty," Peggy said, breaking the silence.
"You don't like music?" Bucky asked.
"I do, actually." Peggy kept looking at Steve, ignoring the fact Bucky was the one saying stuff and that he and Lucy were there. "I might even, when this is all over, go dancing."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"The right partner. 0800, Captain." Peggy walked away.
"Yes, Ma'am," Steve called. "I'll be there."
"I'm invisible," Bucky said looking to Steve. "I'm turning into you. It's a horrible dream."
"Don't take it so hard," Lucy said. "Maybe she's got a friend.. I should go." Lucy began to walk away causing Steve to reach for her hand to stop her and tell her to stay, but Bucky stopped him and told him 'no' and to just let her go. She walked by the group of men singing. "Nice singing boys!" They cheered. The next day Lucy was in the lab with Howard who was looking at the device Steve picked up at the Hydra factory. She stood next to him wearing a lab coat over her S.S.R. uniform as he spoke.
"Emission signature is unusual," he spoke. "Alpha and beta ray neutral."
"I doubt Rogers picked up on that," Lucy spoke causing Howard to smirk.
"Seems harmless enough.. Hard to see what all the fuss is about." He brought the other metal arm over to the Tesseract energy ball causing a spark to run through it, making it explode causing Howard to be blown back while Lucy move to the side, getting a small cut on her eyebrow from the glass. "Write that down." After taking care of the cuts both of them earned, the cousins moved to the weapons and equipment room. Peggy was in the room with the two.
"Do you mind getting Steve?" Peggy asked Lucy who left the room with a 'sure.' She found Steve kissing a blonde Agent causing her to clear her throat making the Captain quickly pull away from the other woman.
"Captain, we're ready to see you now," she said walking away. Steve followed her.
"Lucy, wait," Steve said.
"Guess you finding a partner wasn't so hard after all."
"Hey, that's not what you thought it was."
"I don't think anything, Steve. Not one thing. You always wanted to be a soldier, and now you are. Just like the rest of us. I'm sure Peggy won't be happy when she finds out." She muttered the last part to herself.
"Well, what about Peggy and Stark? How do I know that those two haven't been... fondueing?"
"You still don't know a damn thing about women." Lucy walked through the door, Steve following her.
"Howard, tell Spangles what fondue is."
The scientist glanced at the Soldier, "Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend."
"Really? I didn't think..."
"Nor should you, pal. The moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head, is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked." Howard walked over to a table with cloth on it for a suit. Lucy informed Peggy about what happened before joining her cousin and friend. "...I concentrate on work. Which at the moment, is about making sure you and your men, plus woman, do not get killed. Carbon polymer. Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although, Hydra's not going to attack you with a pocket knife... I hear from Lucy you're kind of attached." Howard motioned to Steve's shield before walking over to stand another table with Lucy. "And to more than this." Steve walked over to the table of shields.
"It's handier than you might think," Steve replied.
"I took the liberty of coming up with some options. This one's fun. She's being fitted with electrical relays that will allow you to-"
"What about this one?" Steve was now holding a circular shield that was underneath the table.
"No, no. That's just a prototype."
"What's it made of?"
"Vibranium," Lucy replied. "It's stronger than steel, and a third of the weight."
"It's completely vibration absorbent," Stark finished.
"How come it's not a standard issue?"
"That's the rarest metal on Earth," Lucy replied. "What you're holding there, that's all we got." Peggy walked over to the three.
"Are you quite finished, Mr. Stark? I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business," she said bluntly, slightly glaring at Steve.
"What do you think?" Steve asked holding up the shield showing Peggy. Peggy looked at the table next to her and picked up a pistol. She held it up and began shooting at the shield causing Steve to hold it up, and Howard and Lucy to move away. When she was out of bullets, she pulled the gun down. Everyone in the room was silent.
"Yes, I think it works." Peggy walked away. Steve turned and watched her in shock, Howard walking up next to him, Lucy clinging to his arm with wide eyes.
"I had some ideas about the uniform," Steve spoke in shock, handing a piece of paper to Howard. Howard took the paper.
"Whatever you want pal."
For the next year, Steve, Lucy and Bucky had been working as a team attacking Hydra camps with a team they formed called the Howling Commandos. They took the Hydra camps and bases off the map one by one. Lucy and Bucky were noted as the snipers of the Commandos. Everything was going fine for Steve and the team. Now in 1944, they were on a mission to hijack the train of Doctor Arnim Zola, the scientist who works with Schmidt. James was watching for the train through binoculars. Lucy and Steve stood toward the edge of the cliff the crew were on. Bucky walked up to the left of Lucy.
"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone on Coney Island?" Bucky asked Steve, keeping his gaze on the railroad.
"Yeah, and I threw up," he replied. They heard Lucy laugh at the memory.
"This isn't pay back, is it?"
"Now why would I do that?"
"You were right," Gabe said. The three turned to look at him. "Doctor Zola is on the train. Hydra dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he's going, they must need him bad."
"Let's get going because they're moving like the devil," James said as a train began to make its way around the corner. Steve, Lucy, Bucky, and Gabe began to grab zip-lines. Steve hooked his onto the line above.
"We only got about a ten-second window," Steve said. "You miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield."
"Mind the gap."
"Gotta get moving, bugs," Dum Dum said.
"Maintenant (Now.)," Jacques said. Steve was the first to go. Then Lucy followed by Bucky and Gabe. They all landed on the top of the train one after another walking as carefully as they could to reach a ladder to the door of the train. Steve let Lucy go first. She climbed down the ladder, carefully, opening the door. Steve and Bucky followed her. Gabe stayed at the top of the train on guard. Once the three boarded the train, Bucky closed the door.
Steve had a pistol while Lucy held a rifle, Bucky with a machine gun. Steve kept walking while Bucky and Lucy stayed in the car they entered in. When Steve reached the next car, the doors shut. Hydra soldiers walked into the car Lucy and Bucky were in. Bucky quickly ran out of ammo as he shot at the soldiers, leaving Lucy to shoot them. Steve got to the closed door. He opened the door, tossing the pistol to Bucky. He ran in and pushed one of the boxes toward the guard that was left making him move, allowing Bucky to shoot him.
"I had him on the ropes," he said as Steve walked over to him.
"I know you did," Steve replied.
Lucy saw a bigger soldier walking through the door behind Steve and Bucky. The two males turned around at the sound. Steve got in front of Bucky, blocking both of them with his shield. The soldier shot at them causing them to fly back and leaving a hole in the side of the train. Bucky stood up grabbing the shield, holding it in his left hand while the hand gun was in his right hand. The soldier walked forward and shot at Bucky, making him fly back. Bucky grabbed a rail on the side of the train that had the hole, hanging on so he wouldn't fall. Lucy's skills from her training kicked in as she snuck up behind the soldier when he took a step forward, and stabbed him once in the neck and once in the back. Steve got up from where he fell and ran to where Bucky was, climbing on the broken part of the car wall. Bucky was still hanging onto the railing as Steve held out his hand to him. Lucy ran over when she made sure the Hydra soldier was dead.
"Bucky, hang on," Steve yelled. "Grab my hand!" Bucky reached forward only to have the rail he was hanging onto break, making him fall. "No!" Lucy pulled Steve back into the train from the railing as tears began to form in both their eyes. Steve stayed sitting on the floor, noticing the Hydra soldier lying dead on the floor. He looked to Lucy who was sitting next to him, her legs pulled up to her chest traumatized at the loss of their friend. He pulled her into a tight hug while she began to sob into his chest. The Commandos finished their mission, capturing Doctor Zola, and bringing him back to the S.S.R. base. Lucy had gone to her room when they got back to London and laid on her bed staring at her dog-tags as she held them in front of her face. She heard a knock at the door. Steve walked in gently closing the door behind him as he carefully sat down on the bed next to Lucy.
"How are you doing?" he questioned. Lucy didn't answer causing Steve to sigh. "I miss him too, Lucy, don't worry... We all have to go someday..."
"But for Bucky it was too early," Lucy whispered as she sat up looking at her hands as they laid in her lap. She felt a hand under her chin as it lifted her head. Her eyes met with Steve's baby blues.
"How about we make a promise. We defeat Hydra for Bucky."
"We swear to defeat Hydra for Bucky. People can't keep promises." Steve pulled Lucy into a hug and rested his head on hers.
"We swear... I swear." The next day Peggy couldn't find Steve. She found Lucy in the lab with Howard and asked the female where Steve was. Lucy brought Peggy to the location of a bar which had been destroyed in the Blitzkrieg air raid. The bar had been the same one they had been in after saving the 107th. A radio announcement could be heard indicating Steve was still there.
"Black-out is still in effect in the London area. Please wait for the all-clear. Your attention please. All citizens shall remain indoors until further notice." Peggy and Lucy walked into another room after hearing a glass be placed on a table. Steve turned when he heard the two walk in before he grabbed the glass and bottle of alcohol. Lucy noticed his eyes were slightly red indicating he had been crying.
"Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn't just affect my muscles, but it would affect my cells," Steve said pouring himself another drink. "Which would create a protective system of regeneration and healing which means... I can't get drunk. Did you know that?"
"Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person," Lucy spoke as Peggy knelt down grabbing a chair to sit in. "He thought it could be one of the side effects." Peggy watched as Lucy moved over to Steve and place her hands on his shoulders in a relaxing way.
"It wasn't your fault," Peggy spoke.
"Did you read the report?" Steve questioned.
"Yes."
"Then you know that's not true."
"You did everything you could. Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him? Then stop blaming yourself. Both of you. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must've thought you were worth it."
"I'm going after Schmidt. I'm not going to stop until all of Hydra's dead or captured."
"You won't be alone." The three went back to the base to attend a meeting Colonel Phillips held for the Commandos, Howard, and Peggy.
"Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse," the Colonel spoke as he looked at a map before turning. "He thinks he's a god. And he's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA."
"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities," Howard said as he walked in and sat next to his cousin. "He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in less than an hour."
"How much time we got?" Gabe questioned.
"According to my new best friend, less than 24 hours," Phillips said.
"Where is he now?" Lucy asked.
"Hydra's last base is here." Phillips showed the group a picture. "In the Alps. 500 feet below the surface."
"So what are we supposed to do? It's not like we can just knock on the front door," Jim spoke.
"Why not?" Steve asked, more like said. Everyone looked at him as he looked up. "That's exactly what we're gonna do."