Chapter 41: Rescue Plan

At the Allied Camp in Italy.

Steve Rogers is sitting alone in a shed backstage, drawing a monkey on star-spangled tight suit. He is also depicted it riding a unicycle and holding an umbrella, resembling a circus monkey.

Steve is feeling a bit down and confused about what he should do next. He has just experienced humiliation from his fellow soldiers while performing on stage, and they didn't seem to treat him like they were on the same team.

"Hello, Steve."

Suddenly, a voice interrupts his thoughts. He looks back and sees Andy holding an umbrella with Peggy hugging his left arm.

"Oh, hi Andy and Peggy... What brings you here?" Steve asked in surprised.

Andy folded the umbrella and sat beside Steve, while Peggy also sat down and noticed Steve's drawing.

"Nothing much, we just decided to visit," Andy replied and hugged Peggy on the shoulder.

"Hmph, you're here because you wanted to check on your maids' situation," Peggy said, pinching Andy on the leg.

"Ouch, please don't pinch me," Andy winced and raised his hand in surrender. Peggy was right, he was checking on his maids and getting to know their situations, especially the newly added ones. Their numbers went from 19 to 45 maids. And this will be the last time they are performing.

Steve stared at them awkwardly, not sure what was going on.

"What? You don't know? Your dancers are his maids," Peggy explained.

"What???" Steve was surprised about this news, he really had no idea since he is busy dating his girlfriend and has no time to get to know them.

"That's right... By the way, that was quite a performance earlier," Peggy teased Steve.

"Uhhm, you saw?" Steve was a bit embarrassed about the scene earlier.

"Kinda," Peggy nodded.

"Yeah," Steve responded in a low voice. He was still feeling down since the soldier made fun of him. He was thinking of improvising his performance for the later show since his audience was usually kids.

"Don't feel down. At least you're helping the country with the military bonds," Andy said jokingly, patting Steve's shoulder to comfort him.

"Hehe," Steve just laughed in a helpless tone. Andy was right, the bond sales had bumped up to 10% in every state he visited.

"I heard that Senator Brandt is behind this show," Peggy said.

"Well, yeah.... At least he's got me doing this, and Colonel Philips would have had me stuck in the lab," Steve replied in a self-mocking manner.

Seeing that Steve was mocking himself, Peggy tried to ask him, "Is that really the only option? Being a lab rat or dancing monkey... You could also go to Andy for help, right dear?"

"Sigh, Peggy... You don't know much about Steve, and even if I extended a helping hand, the government would not allow it," Andy shrugged helplessly. Although he could really help Steve, this was a necessary experience to hone his spirit and will and make him a better Captain America.

"Well, yeah... Even if I wanted to become a soldier, the government would be the first to disagree," Steve said bitterly and continued, "Even though I finally got what I wanted to become a qualified soldier to serve my country, but look at me, I'm just a soldier wearing tights."

"Unless you show them what you are capable of other than knocking Adolf Hitler 200 times on the stage," Andy motivated him.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked in doubt.

"His meaning is that you were meant for more than this. Maybe showing them that you are not just a simple soldier, but a Super Soldier." Peggy answered his doubt.

"Really?" Steve was uncertain about this.

"That's right, so don't lose your hope," Andy affirmed.

Steve looked at them and smiled. At least he was feeling a bit better with their comfort.

Their talk was interrupted by the sound of a beeping ambulance.

"They look like they've been through hell," Steve sighed, looking at the soldiers on stretchers being carried out of the jeep.

Peggy answered him and talked about the war and Schmidt and how the 107th Infantry Regiment was defeated in the Battle of Azzano, leaving less than 50 soldiers escaped and the rest were either killed or captured.

Steve took a second before reacting, "What? You mean the 107th Infantry?"

"What?" Peggy raised her eyebrow, surprised at his reaction.

Steve looked at Andy and asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"Huh? I also don't know about this either. I'm a bit busy with my company," Andy also acted surprised and glanced at Peggy staring at them in doubt and said, "Apparently, our friend is a member of the 107th Infantry."

Steve quickly got up from his seat. The two of them followed him and walked through the rain towards the command tent where Colonel Philips is.

Inside the tent, Colonel Philips was writing letters when he looked up to see Steve Rogers barging in. He said in sarcasm, "Well, if it isn't the star-spangled man with a plan. What's your plan today?"

Steve impatiently asked about the casualty list on the Battle of Azzano, and the Colonel didn't like the tone of being ordered and reprimanded him. He still held a grudge that Steve ditch him for Senator Brandt to become a stage monkey.

Then he looked at Peggy to scold her, but seeing Andy beside her, he swallowed back the words he was going to say.

Colonel Philips and Steve argued, and the Colonel taunted him, "I don't expect you to understand that because you're a chorus girl."

Steve seriously replied, "I think I understand just fine."

"Well, then understand it somewhere else... Aren't you going to have a performance in 30 minutes?" Colonel Philips meant that Steve should leave now.

"Yes, sir. I do." Steve replied while staring at the map.

The three of them walked out of the tent and headed back to the props room.

After arriving, Steve quickly packed his things, when he knows that there was no rescue plan, he was upset and decided to do it himself.

Despite Peggy's discouragement that maybe his friend was already dead, he still insisted on going to the Hydra base to confirm it.

Although Andy knew that Bucky was still not dead and even visited him in prison, he would not act like a magic stick and say this to Steve.

Seeing that Peggy was still trying to prevent Steve, he stepped up and held Peggy's hand and said, "We should have more faith in Steve. Just like we said, he's meant for more than this."

Steve cast a grateful look at Andy for believing him and said, "Maybe you're right. This is the time to show them that I can do more."

------

In the night sky inside the Nazi's airspace, a plane was flying through the clouds.

Inside the plane were Andy, Steve, Peggy, and the pilot Howard Stark. Even though Andy knew how to fly a plane, he would not show it because it was a bit suspicious since he didn't receive any training. So they still invited Howard to escort Steve.

Steve was listening to Peggy explaining the location of the Hydra Camp. While Andy was sitting in the co-pilot seat talking with Howard.

"How about going to a restaurant later?" Howard invited Andy to eat and drink.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't...." Andy declined with a smile, then he shrugged his shoulders and looked at Peggy.

Howard followed his eyes and realized then stared at him with a look that only men can understand, "Oh, I see... hehe."

"What are you looking at?" Peggy stared at them fiercely. Even though she didn't know what they were talking about, from their creepy smiles, she already knew that it was not a good thing.

"Nothing, Ma'am." Andy and Howard shrunk and said in unison.

Peggy then turned her attention to Steve again and showed a small device in her hand and said, "This is a transponder. Activate it when you're ready, and the signal will lead us straight to you."

"Are you sure this thing works?" Steve asked suspiciously.

"It's tested more than you, pal." Howard replied confidently.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom."

Suddenly, the sound of anti-aircraft fire filled the air and the plane shook violently.

"Everyone hold on tight." Howard shouted and manuever the plane through the barrage of the bullets.

Andy just smile and relaxed. After the plane took off, he changed the armor plate to Westeros alloy temporarily in case of an accident.

Steve stands up and heads to the hatch to jump down early. Peggy quickly persuades him to dismiss the idea, but he has already decided. Otherwise, all of them would be in danger if they still proceed to fly through and drop him at the doorstep of the Hydra camp.

"Good luck, Rogers."

Andy and Peggy stares as Steve jumped out of the plane.

"I guess, it's time to turn back." Howard said and control the plane to flyback.

-----

After landing, Steve quickly walks through the woods and arrives at the vicinity of the Austrian Hydra Weapon Facility.

After some twists and turns, he successfully infiltrates the facility and collects a Tesseract Battery.

Later, he comes to the prison cells and knocks down a Hydra soldier. When he looks down, he sees the people who are locked up.

Inside the prison cell are the four future members of the Howling Commandos: James Montgomery Falsworth, Jacques Dernier, Gabe Jones, and Dum Dum Dugan.

Steve Rogers quickly comes down to the prison cell and frees the captured soldiers.

He asks James, "Is there anybody else? I'm looking for Sergeant Bucky Barnes."

James just looks at him and stays silent. Gabe Jones is the one who answers his question, "Don't mind him. There's an isolation ward in the factory, but no one's ever come back from it. Including James' son."

"Sorry," Steve quickly apologizes to James.

"It's okay," James replies. He is a British officer with the rank of Major and a member of the Parachute Brigade. He risked the lives of his soldiers just to save his son Brian Falsworth who is a supporter of Nazi's Ideology and was unfortunately captured by the HYDRA to be a coolie.

After some talking with them, Steve quickly separates from them to look for Bucky. The liberated captured soldiers also move and launch an attack on the factory.

Meanwhile, inside the monitoring room, Red Skull and Arnim Zola are surprised that the whole factory is overwhelmed by the rioting prisoners and sound the alarm.

Red Skull also sees Steve Rogers fighting, seeing that the factory is already doomed, he activates the self-destruct sequence.

"Let's go, Doctor." Red Skull said to Arnim Zola and walked out of the monitoring to retrieved the Tesseract, while Zola heads back to his lab to pack his documents.

He has already thought of abandoning this base since he decided to cut off his ties with the Nazis. He has already moved the important parts of the Valkyrie and the three surviving super soldier subjects to the Hydra Headquarters on the Swiss Alps.

Julia Koening, Wilhelm Lohmer, and Brian Falsworth still need further experimentation to tap their potential and transform them into HYDRA's Weapon with the help of the hypnosis ability of Susan Scarob and Melvin Scarob.

It's worth mentioning that John Falsworth or Baron Blood and other vampires became the focus of Arnim Zola because of their healing factor, making them the best experimental subject and the reason why they were hunted down.

Doctor Zola performed painful experiments on the captured vampires which would enabled them to avoid their vulnerability to sunlight. They were injected with the new formula of SSS contaminated by the Tesseract's energy.

Baron Blood is the only surviving vampire subject so far, and he has only gained one ability: resistance to common weakness of vampires such as sunlight, garlic, religious symbol, and silver. The side effect is, he is much weaker during the day.

In particular, it's better than his comic counterpart, who could only be exposed to sunlight for half an hour. Although he didn't gained his other ability like 'weather manipulation' and 'knocked out gas'.

With this succesful experiment, he decided to become loyal to Red Skull and Hydra.

He is now responsible with hunting other vampire for HYDRA, hoping that they could create a serum that could give him a complete immunity to vampire's weaknes and become a "Daywalker".

...