[complete!]
"𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈, 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐈, 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐕𝐈"
(latin)
𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: I came, I saw, I loved
Rebecca Cooper had never fallen in love before. She knew what it would feel like, of course, but no one had ever made her feel that way. She'd lost...
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"JOHANN SCHMIDT BELONGS IN A BUGHOUSE. He thinks he's a god, and he's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA." Colonel Phillips pointed to the United States on the map behind him as he briefed the rest of the SSR on the plan.
"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities," added Howard Stark, taking his seat at the table on the other side of Steve. All heads turned to face him. He leaned into the group sitting at the table. "He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour."
Everyone was silent for a moment at the realization of Schmidt's drastic measures. "How much time we got?" Gabe Jones asked the Colonel.
"According to my new best friend, under 24 hours," he replied, referring to Zola, who he'd interrogated earlier that week.
"And where is he now?" Bex chimed in.
"Hydra's last base is here," said Phillips, turning one of the photos in his hand to face the rest of the people at the table. It was a picture of the vast Swiss Alps. He pointed to a valley in between two of the taller mountains. "In the Alps, 500 feet below the surface." He tossed the photo on the table for the team to pass around and take a closer look.
"So what are we supposed to do?" asked Jim Morita grimly, who picked up the photograph first. "I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door."
"Why not?" said Steve's voice from the other end of the table, finally looking up from the reports he had been staring at for almost the entire meeting. All heads turned to face him. "That's exactly what we're gonna do."
— ☆ —
The plan was to use Steve as somewhat of a diversion— to make him come in so suddenly and so confidently that the Red Skull would think that they had sent him and him only. But just as the worst was to happen, the first team would swing in and surprise Red Skull and his soldiers once Steve was captured and brought to him. Once they were in, it would be time for the largest team— the assault team— led by Colonel Phillips, to go in and begin fire. The goal was to get Steve on Red Skull's aircraft, which was set to depart for the U.S. very soon.
Once ready, Rebecca slung her rifle around her back and rushed around the base to find any blank piece of paper. She wrote a note, partially to herself, partially to anyone in the future that would find it after she was long gone. Mostly to Steve. Really to Steve. Like on all missions, she felt afraid that something would happen. But this one more than most. They really were going into the belly of the beast.
"What are you doing?" asked a voice behind her. Rebecca stood up immediately and turned to find Agent Carter standing there.
"God, Peggy, you scared me," said Rebecca.
"Sorry," she said. "But, um, what are you writing?" She seemed to already know the answer.
"Nothing," said Rebecca, folding up the paper.
"Rebecca," said Peggy, taking a step closer, "nothing is going to happen to either of you. Trust me. I've seen how much you two care for each other. If you go down, he's coming with you." So she had known what she was doing.
"He's stronger than me. He has the serum."
"Yes, and if you're in danger, he's going to use it for the sole purpose of helping you."
Bex sighed, looking back up at her friend once again.
"When you get back, you and me can burn that thing and you can let all your worries go," said Peggy. "Then you tell Steve all the stuff you wrote yourself. He'd rather hear it from you."
"Okay," she said, a small smile on her face. "That's a deal I can agree to." She looked down at the paper in her hands, then put it into her pocket.
"Good," said Peggy. "Let's go, then. They're waiting." The two girls walked toward the elevator, then left the base and boarded the transports waiting to take them to the Hydra base.
— ☆ —
Rebecca stood next to Agent Carter, crouched down in the woods near the Hydra base Steve was currently inside of. Behind and around her sat hundreds of men, all completely silent as Colonel Phillips waited for a call on the walkie from the first team, signaling that the coast was clear and that they could head in.
"We're in! Assault team, go!" yelled Morita's voice from the radio that Phillips had been holding up to his ear for nearly an hour.
"Move out!" commanded the Colonel loudly to his troops. He started their stride toward the Hydra base. Everyone pulled their rifles around from their backs and began running toward the building set into the side of the mountain. Bex and Peggy glanced at each other, then began their run after the Colonel.
As they emerged from the forest, Hydra guards clad in all-black with their large, pulsating guns were waiting for them. Of course, the fact that Steve had cleared most of the outside guards had reduced the numbers of the ones waiting for them greatly. When hit by one of the guards' blue pulses, their soldiers would dissipate into thin air, left as nothing. Rebecca stumbled backward when she first saw this. Though she had seen these blue pulses before, she'd never watched their destructive actions so... closely. And suddenly.
Rebecca fired multiple times toward a larger group of the Hydra guards. It wasn't very hard to hit these targets— though their large guns were scarily effective in destroying their opponent, it made the wielder slower and more susceptible to open fire.
Rebecca ran alongside Peggy into a larger courtyard area, where more guards were waiting for them and the soldiers. Another thing about Hydra's large pulses was that they were rather random, and though their large blasts usually did hit a target, you would never know who they were aiming for. Sometimes that was advantage— but sometimes, it was not.
They needed to get through this group of soldiers to get inside of the facility. Rebecca found it most effective to focus on one guard at a time— however, sometimes, watching her back was difficult this way. Thank God for Peggy Carter, Rebecca thought.
They got through this wave of soldiers easily, blasting the doors to get inside only to be welcomed by the firing of blue pulses that seemed to be only coming from one source. Once the firing stopped, the group headed inside, stepping over the bodies of some already-dead Hydra guards, and the silhouette of one person rounding the hall and leaving that corner.
Finally, they were inside— here they were, at the front door.
