Chapter 22 my queen

glad that she got Steve to put her hair into a braid.

"Only if we're able to quickly swim back away, we'll be behind the German lines, remember?", Steve pointed out as Peggy nodded.

"I know, if things get to be too much for us, we can quickly make our way back to the waters... let the

Navy and Air Forces saturate where she is.", Peggy said.

Steve nodded as he emerged out of the water, grabbing his war outfit to wear over his swim shorts, putting it on, and glanced at

Bucky as he used his paddleboard to get back on shore, "Tell the CO that we're on the way to Rome.".

Bucky nodded, "You got it, Steve. And hey, take care of yourselves. You two are 50 ft tall while she is 100 ft tall.

Just think of her as a high school bully or something.".

Steve grinned, "Already are. Ready, Peggy?", as he went back into the water, his war outfit impervious to the water, and

Peggy smiled as she stepped back into the water, her war outfit same as well, waterproof, and winked to Bucky, "Set us off, Bucky.".

Bucky smirked, and called out, "On your mark, get set, go!"

, and he shouted in surprise as a wave soaked him immediately as Peggy and Steve stroked-swam, and saluted them, smiling to himself,

"Give that Eris what's what for.", before leaving the shore to inform the CO.

The two of them swam for a few hours, taking small breaks while making sure they were somewhat further away from the shore as not to attract any German attention once they swam past what they were sure was the solid front line.

It honestly was insane to see it, soaked in mud and further inland would be the snow-covered Apennines Mountain ranges; not to mention all the shell holes as the front line, being stalled, resembled the Western front of the last war. Sunny Italy had turned into the hell of Flanders in only a few weeks.

"Peggy...", Steve whispered as they kept swimming.

"It might be better if we pull ashore soon, at least somewhat closer to the front line. All the way to Rome and we'll be exhausted before the fight.".

Peggy nodded, whispering, "Alright. 5 more minutes, and then we pull up to shore, but carefully.", and

Steve smiled, agreeing with her, and so, after 5 more minutes of swimming, they carefully found a clear spot to get up into shore, crawling to the ridgeline, taking a peek over.

Seeing no town or any German signs, they recovered first for another 5 minutes before getting up, and with a nod of understanding between the two, they then went on a sprint on the shore, watching their pace.

"Still no sign of trouble...", Steve said in a low voice as they moved, wanting to wait as long as possible before they would probably attract undue attention.

"We might be able to make it all the way to Anzio at this rate. Maybe we could also see if the Germans are setting up defenses on the shoreline.".

"Think air recon can spot those too, but a closer look never hurts. Somehow, I get the feeling we might not make to there if the Germans spot us and Eris comes our way.", Peggy whispered.

"Might make it to some of the Pontine Marshes... might not be a bad place to fight her; fairly open space and not running the risk of tearing up a city.".

Steve nodded, "Good. I don't definitely wanna tear up a city by accident, especially Rome, if she has

bypassed it by now.

Anzio is smaller, but still a city by standards.", speaking quietly.

Peggy smiled, "At least we can destroy tanks and guns easily, and sweep normal Germans off where they will be hurt enough not to shoot our allies.".

"If they even think of defending the area; despite our naval dominance, they might just think it's not worth the time to defend every inch of coastline.",

Steve chuckled. "But we'll deal with that if it comes, right now, our focus is Eris.

Now the only question is how do we lead her out here?

", he wondered quietly as the two of them reached the small Rio Martino River.

Peggy frowned in thought before glancing at the few boats on the river,

and then blinked as

she remembered the tangled net earlier, and then grinned, "We make slingshots and tiplines.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

If we slingshot at her with tank balls,

she will be really annoyed, and she will come our way, and then bam, the tiplines, and she falls, and we attack, along with any plane guns who is seeing it.".

"Hopefully the USAAF and the RAF is flying by, might need heavy bombers to finish her off.", Steve said as the two of them went over to the boats to grab what they could use. "Either way, she'll be pretty mad.".

Peggy nodded, "Yes, she will, and we must not underestimate her.

If she gets too dangerous, we can get back to the ocean, and swim off like you said earlier.", as they got to combine the nets, working together to make slingshot ropes and rope tiplines.

"Hope the locals don't mind us taking this stuff...", Steve said. "I think they've got bigger things to worry about, considering German occupation.

Depending on where, it's either light order like Denmark or Norway, or brutality on an unimaginable scale compared to the east.", Peggy sighed as she tied a rope line.

Steve nodded, "I hope we get to do missions up there, or at least get supply trains to Dead Man's Land or something...

I can't stop remembering Erskine's story about the concentration camps...".

Peggy squeezed his shoulder, "Don't worry, Steve.

Small changes lead to big changes, and big changes lead to justice, and justice lead to victory, and victory lead to the end of the war, and the end of the war lead to freedom and peace for everyone including our nations and ourselves.".

Steve smiles to her, "You sound so sure, my queen.", and Peggy grins,

"Well, perhaps it's time for my turn to be optimistic instead, eh?".