Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

Going in

Steve's POV

I'd talked to Sarah briefly before we boarded the Quinjet, she'd called to say they were headed back to the States, but wouldn't be in DC until later tonight because they needed to drop off part of their team first before heading home. If all went as planned, we'd be back around the same time as Clint and Sarah - maybe even a little before.

"We're 10 minutes out, Steve. Switching to secure channel 7," Natasha informed me over my com, waking me from my reverie.

I'd been mentally examining the plan, making sure we had all the gates covered. We needed to take this base today to prevent widespread distribution of those highly dangerous weapons. It would have been nice to have the whole team here, but sometimes it just wasn't feasible; we couldn't postpone this strike even one day to get Bruce, Clint and Sarah here.

"What's Tony's ETA?"

"I'm already at the landing point, Capsicle. Nat, you're clear here. No heat signatures detected."

"Thanks, Tony. Good luck out there today and watch your six."

"You too, Cap. See you in a few."   

"Over." I muted my com so I wouldn't shout in Nat's ear by addressing the men. "Pilot says were at t-minus 10 til landing. Com check on channel 7." I gave them a moment to switch over before starting the countoff. All coms worked, so I went live again and gave my instructions over them. "We're going to be cutting it close by the time we get into position, so is everyone clear on our job today?" I asked, looking around the Quinjet at the men. Most of them were nodding, this was something we had been doing a lot lately, infiltrating Hydra bases. "Any questions?"

"We're good, Cap. You've got the fun job today," Mike said, leaning back in his seat.

"First in, last out isn't exactly what I'd call fun, Mike," I said as I pulled on my leather gauntlets.

"Cap, you gunna leave a couple for us this time or you gunna hog 'em all again?" Jerry asked, flashing a wide grin as the guys next to him elbowed him and whacked him on the back.

"I'm sure there'll be plenty to go around at this place. As I recall, you guys got the lion's share the other day while I was stuck doing IT work," I replied, grinning at the younger man.

"Yeah, that was a great day," Jerry said. "Too bad you missed out, Johnny."

"I'm guessing today will be a little more work than the last one," Johnny said, rolling his eyes at his buddy.

"Expect heavy resistance this time," I said. "They aren't going to just hand over those weapons and file into holding cells."

"A guy can dream, Cap!" Mike said as the others groaned, stopping him before he could get started.

"Check your gear, make sure you're ready to move when we touch down. Keep the line clear until Agent Romanoff gives the go-ahead," I ordered, mentally rolling my eyes at his enthusiasm. He was a good kid, but he tended to get carried away if I didn't refocus his energies.

"Yes, sir!" they all chorused, becoming more serious.

Every man had his own pre-fight routine, including me. I double checked my weapons, making sure they were secure and latched into their holsters before closing my eyes and clearing my mind, walking through the plan in my mind one more time to be sure I didn't miss anything.

We were going in just after dawn when the sun would be shining directly into half of the surveillance cameras and the guards would be changing shifts. We were splitting our forces to use a pincer attack against the base to eliminate any possibility of Hydra escaping with the weapons. There were only two gates, so that made our job easier.