The Mission (Part-1)

Steve POV.

Steve came into the mission briefing room with Hope and looked at all the faces that were suddenly looking at him. Everyone knew they would meet the ground leader today but this is too much attention. Hope started to introduce him.

"Good morning everyone. This is the knight commander. He will be your on-ground leader and will lead you in the first mission. Our first mission is very simple and yet it will test all of you. You all knew the day you came here that you are not being trained for a security guards position and you will be fighting on the front lines. But today you will know your first enemy - 'HYDRA'. Their target is Howard and Maria Stark. Your mission is to protect these people. Find and neutralise any HYDRA operatives on the ground and the commander will be here leading the team to fight HYDRA assassin 'Winter Soldier'.

Steve looked at the crowd. No panic. It seems these people were not rookies at least. Now was his time for speech.

"Ahem. You will call me Knight Commander from now on. For a long time, many of you may have heard about this Winter Soldier. He is a whisper, a rumour and the most deadly assassin ever-present. But our mission is not to kill him but control and contain him. He is nothing more than a soldier being remote controlled. I knew this guy before when I was in the army and he was one of my unit. He was declared dead during a mission but we never found his body. Now, we know why.

So, I will be tackling him alone. The ground team will cover the HYDRA operatives and when you are given go-ahead you can use lethal force to put them down. Icarus and Valkyrie will be on standby mode and will do evac or jump in the field depending upon our enemy firepower. We will stay in the shadows and I expect no casualties in the first mission." Steve made a very short speech and provided a short action plan.

"Now, go to the training room and practise for this mission. Our mission will start at 17:00 hours and we still have 7 hours to prepare for it. Also, Icarus and Valkyrie, I need you to have one on one battle simulations with me and I need to know how good you are with your wings," Steve said before Icarus and Valkyrie can go with the rest of the team. This 'invitation' did peaked their interest.

Icarus and Valkyrie looked at each other, smiled and then went towards the training room. They were very confident about their abilities and with these amazing wingsuits, they were sure they could beat this guy anytime. Well, they thought wrong.

"Are you ready Icarus?" asked Rogers in the training room. He and Icarus were on their position and all others were also doing some simulation training. But all eyes were focused on this battle.

"Yes, Commander," replied Icarus confidently.

Steve saw this guy. He looked serious from his posture and his hand to feet coordination is very good. Definitely military trained and Taekwondo expert. Icarus ran towards him maintaining a standard battle posture and instinctively used wings to give himself some lift and landed a front kick on roger's chest but Steve was already waiting for him. Steve sidestepped and used a simple tackle and pushed him back destroying whatever balance Icarus was maintaining.

"Boom!"

A loud noise and Icarus was literally thrown 10 feet in the air before he realised. Icarus used his wings and then stabilised himself in the air. After a minute of feeling like he was hit by a truck, he took a deep breath and then landed back on the ground. Now, he knew why this guy was the commander. He maintained some distance was looking for an opening.

"Well since you are not coming, let me!" shouted Steve and ran towards Icarus.

Steve was full of openings but this was his advantage. His body was literally enhanced with super serum and his strength and speed were beyond a normal human. After spending time in Ice, his battle sense needed some sharpening and these two guys are perfect before the mission. He knew the rest of the guys had stopped whatever they were doing and watching this battle. After all, a new guy needs to establish himself before he becomes a leader and it is always easy after taking down the big guy or in this case the big bird.

Icarus suddenly smiled and ran towards Steve and then suddenly one of his wings popped from back and like a huge sword it attacked Steve in a spinning mode.

Steve's eyes widened and then without thinking anything he slides underneath the wings and then kicked on the right leg of Icarus & before Icarus could even register the pain coming from his legs, steve had a punch pointed towards his chin.

"Got you. Remember, never be arrogant to think you are undefeatable and our weapons and suits may make us stronger but it is still the body and mind that counts," Steve said holding the punch in the position. This was a valuable lesson for any soldier and sometimes sudden power or tools do take away the sharpness or vigilance we have without them.

Icarus had already raised his hands in the air. He knew that if that punched ever-connected, he will definitely be having more than a simple concussion. On the side, Valkyrie could not believe her eyes. She had fought with Icarus many times and both have developed a strong dependency on the wings. It gave them many new ideas in their fighting style. But Icarus hardly lasted more than 10 minutes with this new guy.

"Ok. Val, your turn," steve invited Valkyrie to the ground.

"Sure commander," valkyrie replied and took a deep breath and then came in front of the commander. Took her position and made sure she is not attacking rashly.

Valkyrie/Val was more careful than Icarus after seeing their battle but she lasted less than 5 minutes on the training ground. Why? Well she hardly had any proper fighting style and she grew up in the streets. So, most of the techniques she picked from the military were all textbook for Steve and he just grabbed one of her hands during a punch and flipped her over like she weighed nothing.

"BAM!"

A full-grown woman, with wings on her back and heavy armour, was thrown down like a sack of potatoes.

"Damn that hurts," cursed Val laying down on the floor.

"Are you alright soldier? Don't want anything to happen to you before the mission," Steve said while extending his hand to pull up Valkyrie from the ground. Val grabbed the hands and got up.

"Naah Commander I can do this all day!" replied Val with a slight smile

"Are you from Brooklyn?" blurted Steve

"No, Harlem commander. Why?" Val got confused and asked Commander.

"Well, then you definitely got beaten up a lot in streets growing up, right?"

"How do you know that commander?"

"Well, I was. And only those who have taken a beating can fight all day."

After Val looked at the commander for a few minutes, she started laughing. And then Steve laughed too. It was this feeling he missed. Feeling of home and feeling of team.

Now, he was more than ever missing Bucky. Knowing that he is out there and was treated like this by HYDRA, he needs to bring his brother back home. Well, anyway time to practice some skills with the rest of the ground troops.