Coffee, Courage and a Captain

Chapter Twenty-One: A Very Dangerous Flight Path

Once Charlotte had changed out of her sodden clothes and into an outfit that Steve had loaned to her from the spares for the dancing girls on stage, she had hugged Steve tightly and looked him straight in the eye.

"You're going in, aren't you?" she asked softly.

He smiled. "It's that obvious?" he replied, seeing her grin in response.

"It's that obvious."

Peggy glanced over from where she and Howard had been catching up and noted the determination on his face as he began getting dressed quickly. "And what do you plan to do, walk to Austria?" she asked sardonically.

Howard chuckled as he saw Charlotte in the dancers dress, watching her clutch her jacket closely to her chest.

He knew she had been rotating the same two outfits after her suitcase had gone missing on the way to their camp- Phillips had said he was looking for it but Charlotte had given up the prior week when Phillips had threatened to make her wear a uniform if she asked him again. Every day she would wash one outfit and let it dry during the next day, but now she had two completely soaked outfits and no other option but to wear what was offered to her while she waited for her clothes to dry. The heavy boots were certainly a strange combination with the outfit.

"Howard, shut up, or I'll get Peggy to kick your ass," Charlotte hissed, which only caused Howard to laugh a little harder.

"I'll do whatever it takes," Steve told Peggy, his lips quirking up at Charlotte's antics.

"You heard the Colonel. Your friend is most likely dead," Peggy stated.

"Not dead, just missing," Charlotte said quickly.

"You don't know that," Steve said at the same time as Charlotte.

"Even so, he's devising a strategy. If he detects-" Peggy argued.

"By the time he's done that, it could be too late," Steve responded, shrugging on a tan leather jacket and picking up his packed bag and prop shield. There was a Jeep out the front of the tent- the rain had abated slightly. Steve threw his things into the back of it.

"You can't go," Peggy stated. "Not alone, Steve."

"Count me in then," Charlotte said, leaping into the passenger side of the jeep and earning a frustrated look from Peggy.

"Charlotte, get out of the car," Peggy reprimanded. "There has to be another way, we can't just let you go drive into hostile territory."

"We can do more than that," Howard stated, a smirk curling up the edges of his lips.

Charlotte grinned.

*********

No pilot was more terrifying than Howard Stark.

"Where did you get your licence again?" Charlotte yelled over the engines to her boss as the plane banked hard to the left again.

"I didn't!" Howard shouted back over his shoulder.

Charlotte turned to look at Steve and Peggy- who were clutching onto whatever solid thing they could find in the back of the plane- with wide eyes. A map lay across Peggy's lap as Steve strapped the helmet and parachute on correctly.

They had driven straight to the airstrip that Howard's plane had been kept at, and for a bottle of wine, the guard had let them in with no questions asked.

"The HYDRA camp is in Krausberg, tucked between those two mountain ranges," Peggy explained to Steve, pointing at the location on the map. "It's a factory of some kind."

"We should be able to drop you right on the doorstep," Howard called back.

"Just get me as close as you can," Steve said, steely resolve in his voice. "You three are going to be in a lot of trouble when you land."

Charlotte's eyes met his as she carefully looked him over as if memorising his features. He noticed she was holding on tightly to her pendant, the silver poking out of the buttoned jacket she was wearing, as she was trying her hardest not to freeze in her star-spangled outfit.

"And you won't?" Peggy retorted, hearing Charlotte snort.

"Where I'm going, if anybody yells at me I can just shoot them," Steve remarked. Charlotte snorted again.

"They will absolutely shoot back," she said, and he frowned.

"Well, let's hope it's good for something."

"Charlie? Agent Carter?" Howard called back. "If we're not in too much of a hurry, I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late-night fondue."

Peggy rolled her eyes as Charlotte slapped Howard's shoulder. "Your obsession with Swiss cheese is beginning to become a problem."

Steve stared at Peggy as if to ask why Howard was even there.

"Stark is the best civilian pilot I've ever seen," Peggy justified.

"Which isn't saying much," Charlotte muttered.

"Do you want me to land this plane? I will land this plane, Charlie, and you can show me how much better you can fly it."

"He's mad enough to brave this airspace- we're lucky to have him," Peggy continued, Charlotte nodding.

"You know- the mad thing? I can agree with that."

Peggy chuckled.

"So are you two... do you two-?" Steve began, gesturing between Peggy and Howard. "Fondue?"

Peggy stared at him.

"Charlie and I fondue all the time," Howard piped up, earning a slap to the back of the head from Charlotte.

"This is your transponder," Peggy said, handing him the device whilst ignoring the antics of the two technicians. "Activate it when you're ready and the signal will lead us straight to you."

"Are you sure this thing works?" Steve asked Howard as the plane tilted.

"It's been tested more than you, pal," Howard responded.

"I double-checked it too," Charlotte added softly.

The plane shook as gunfire exploded around them, Charlotte grasping hold of Steve's hand in shock.

He squeezed it gently- reassuringly- as she braced herself against the wall beside him.

Steve stood, picking up his shield and walking over to where the door of the plane would open.

"Get back here!" Peggy shouted. "We're taking you all the way in!"

Charlotte stood, realising Steve had dropped his transponder, and took hesitant steps towards him as he opened the door, staring out into the blackness of the night.

"As soon as I'm clear, you turn this thing around and get the hell out of here!" he shouted at Peggy.

"You can't give me orders!" she shouted in return as a hail of gunfire exploded around them.

"Steve!" Charlotte said, stumbling over to where he was and holding out his transponder.

He accepted it with a small smile, his hand lingering on hers for a moment longer.

"The hell I can't!" he yelled. "I'm a Captain!"

He lowered his goggles and launched himself out of the plane at the same time Howard banked too hard to the left.

Charlotte lost her footing and went tumbling out of the plane immediately after him.