~~A Little After The Past, But Still Before The Present~~
I waited for Steve as he was getting his bloods taken. He hadn't talked when he came back, he only looked uncertain of his future. The colonel waltzed into the room, followed by various different men in uniform. "Colonel Philips, my committee is demanding answers!" The 'leader' told him.
"Great! Let's start with how a German spy got a car ride to my secret installation..." Colonel replied, not sparing a second to stop and face them, he just kept walking towards Mr. Stark who continued to investigate the HYDRA invention. "...in your car." Colonel finished. "What've we got here, Mr. Stark?" Colonel Philips turned his attention to Howard.
"Speaking quite modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country." Howard spoke up oh-so humbly. "But I don't know what's inside this thing, or how it works." He huffed, placing his hands on his hips. "We're not even close to this technology."
"Then who is?" The unidentified man who spoke to Philips, had asked.
"HYDRA." Colonel Philips informed him. "I'm certain you've read our briefings?" Colonel raised an eyebrow to the unidentified man who returned the look with a most displeased face.
"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel." The unidentified man scowled.
"Then I shall inform you." I spoke up from my spot, leaning against some railing. "HYDRA is the Nazi deep-science division. It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he's had much bigger ambitions than just HYDRA's regular tech." The unidentified man noticed my presence and took off his hat, but his frown remained as I finished explaining.
"Summing it up--HYDRA's a cult who worships Schmidt. They even think he's invincible." Colonel Philips explained.
"So what'll you do about it?" The unidentified man demanded to know.
"Well. I spoke to the President this morning." Colonel Philips told them as he turned and walked. I followed out of curiosity. "As of today, the SSR is being retasked." He turned back to me and Peggy who just joined my side. We looked at each other and then back at Colonel Philips.
"Colonel?" We asked confused.
"We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags, ladies." He told us, Steve listening in the background. "You too, Mr. Stark!" Colonel ordered. "We're flying to London tonight."
"Sir?" Steve spoke up from near us. "If you're going to be going after Schmidt, then I want in." Steve told him. Colonel looked to us and then back to Steve.
"You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo." The Colonel ordered.
"The serum worked." Steve protested.
"Look, son. I asked for an army and all I got was you. You. Are not enough." The Colonel bluntly stated. I looked down and then back up at a now taller Steve.
"I'm sorry, Steve. I can stay with you if you want--" I told him, but he cut me off with a smile.
"No, no. I want you to inform me about what's happening though, when you get back." He smirked. I grinned.
"Definitely, Stevie!" I hugged him tightly before running to pack my things for the trip.
~~~~~~~~
It'd been quite a long time. And by that I mean a LONG time since I'd last seen Steve or Bucky. I missed them both dearly, but finally we were back at the Army camp grounds (which I was officially not on) where we saw Steve as 'Captain America' in his get-up costume, trying to win-over the soldiers. The soldiers only wanted the girls, so Steve stepped off stage and the girls piled on. I shook my head from the sidelines and turned invisible, using my heat-vision to locate Steve. It took a few minutes, but I finally found him as it began to hammer down with rain.
He was drawing in a notebook under the only dry shelter there was. I turned visible and grinned, letting my fangs glisten in the light of the nearby lamps. "STEVIE!" I cheered. He quickly spun his head in my direction and grinned, putting his notebook and pencil aside and opening his arms up. I tackled him in a hug in an instant as he smirked.
"Lola! It's so good to see you, you have NO idea!" He laughed into my neck as my feet dangled from the ground, because damn he grew.
"I think I might have an idea." I grinned up at him once he put me back down.
"What're you doing here?" He questioned confused.
"Officially, I'm not supposed to be here, but I really wanted to see you. I haven't received any news from Bucky--and I'm starting to worry. But I knew seeing my best friend would help." I smiled. He returned the smile and hugged me again, but this time he didn't pick me up off the ground.
"I know what you mean. I hope Bucky's doing okay." He sighed into my hair as we rocked back and forth in a hug. Steve was like the big brother I never had. Once we had pulled away I tied my hair up into a pony-tail. Already it was starting to grow a little.
"That was quite the performance out there." I nervously chuckled as we sat back down and he resumed sketching a circus monkey on a unicycle with an umbrella in hand.
"Yeah...I had to improvise a little bit. The crowds I'm used to are usually more--uhh..." He trailed off.
"Young?" I joked. He smirked.
"Yeah."
"I've heard them calling you 'America's New Hope'." I teased.
"Yep. Bond sales take a 10% bump in every state I visit." I sighed, looking away from me and his sketch, looking out to the sky and the rain.
"Mmmm..." I blew a piece of hair out of my face. "That sounds like something Sentor Brandt would say." I leaned my head against Steve's shoulder as I watched the rain fall.
"Well at least I have something to do...Philips would've had me stuck in a lab." He sighed, looking at the ground.
"Those can't be your only options. A lab rat? Or a dancing monkey?" I tried to get him thinking for himself. "The doctor had meant for you to do more than this you know.." Steve looked at me and nodded a bit.
"Y'know...for the longest time I had dreamt about coming overseas and fighting on the front lines..." He remembered.
"Serving your country." I chuckled at the memory of how badly he wanted to 'serve his country'. He just nodded with a fond smile at how many times he ranted about that to Bucky and I.
"I'd finally got everything I wanted...and now I'm wearing tights." He grimaced. A car's beep stopped us mid-thought. It was a medic van. Soldiers rushed over to the vehicle and opened the back doors. The men carried stretches with wounded and took them inside. "They look like they've been through hell."
"More than most." Peggy suddenly appeared.
"Peggy?!" I gasped, running and hugging her. We had been apart for a long time as well--we were working in different departments. "What do you mean?"
"You never heard?"
"Heard what?" I questioned again.
"Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him...and less than fifty returned." She reluctantly told us with tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "That audience had contained what was left of the 107th." Steve and I let that sink in as we slowly progressed the information through our heads. "The rest were either captured or killed." She finished.
"THE 107TH!?" I cried as lightning flashed and thunder roared behind me, the wind picking up quite suddenly.
"Wh-What??" She questioned fearfully, stepping back.
"Steve!" I pleaded the only man who knew what I was thinking.
"Come on!" He cried as we ran to the main tent with Colonel Philips working. "Colonel Philips!" Steve called as we entered the tent.
"Well if it isn't the 'Star-Spangled Man With A Plan'. What is your plan today?"
"We need a casualty list from Azzano." I spoke up from beside him.
"You don't get to give me orders, and you--" He glared at me, "shouldn't even be here!"
"We just need one name." I began.
"Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th." Steve finished. Colonel Philips noticed Peggy beside us.
"You both and I are going to have a little conversation later that you both won't enjoy." The Colonel glared at us, pointing his finger warningly.
"Please tell us if he is alive, Sir." Steve pleaded. "B-A-R.." He was cut off.
"I can spell, son." The Colonel sighed and stood up with a file in hand, which he effectively put away. "I've signed far more condolence letters than I can count, just today. But the name sounds familiar...I'm sorry." He looked us in the eye as everything around me went red. I felt something in me break.
"W-What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?" Steve asked with hope.
"Yeah! It's called winning the war!" Philips told us, completely done with our bullshit.
"But if you know where they are--" Steve began before Philips cut him off.
"They're thirty miles behind the lines." Philips told us. "They're hidden through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save. But don't worry, I don't expect you to understand that, Chorus Girl." He glared at Steve who looked betrayed and hurt. My red vision darkened into a deeper red, but not from dehydration. It was from pain and anger.
"I think I understand just fine." Steve told him.
"Then understand it somewhere else." Philips ordered. "If I read the posters correctly, you've got someplace to be in thirty minutes." He walked past us with a scowl. My vision returned to normal as he went to leave the tent and Steve studied a nearby map.
"Yes, Sir. I do." Steve answered, waltzing out of the tent as I trotted behind, snapping a glare back to the Colonel who paid us no mind. Peggy looked like she was in a complicated position. I changed out of my outfit and into better stealth gear as Steve put on his spangled outfit and packed a bag. I grabbed a few things we might need for the trip as Peggy barged into the tent.
"What do you plan to do? Walk to Austria?" Peggy asked, trying to talk us out of this. I paid her little-to no attention.
"I called Mr. Stark, he's on his way with a plane and he'll be dropping us off near the building the 107th was captured in." I told her as Steve and I finished packing.
"You both heard the Colonel! Your friend is most likely dead!" She protested. I held up my right wrist which had no lines crossing through Bucky's definition.
"I argue not." I met her strong gaze with an even stronger stare.
"There's no stopping you two is there..?" She sighed in defeat, looking at her boots before meeting our gaze once again.
"Nope." We both replied as Steve pulled on his leather jacket and I clipped a belt around my waist, strapping various knives to it. We walked out the door, Steve had our bag slung around his shoulders.
"Steve, Lola!" She pleaded as we brushed past her. Steve and I pinched two of the female actresses helmets for ourselves for during the flight. "Let me come with you." She begged. Steve and I looked at each other as I strapped my helmet on. We nodded in agreement and looked back at her with smiles.
"Let's do this, then." I grinned.