[movie canon: Peggy, Howard and Steve]

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Previously:

"Then you've got to let me go."

"I can do more than that."


Steve has no idea how Agent Carter has pulled this off. She's got intelligence, maps, gadgets that will get him and whoever he finds home safely; and she's somehow talked Mr. Stark into flying him thirty miles behind enemy lines.

It's too much to hope that he'll find Bucky. Funny thing about Steve, though--he's always had an excess of hope.


To be continued...

Comments

[thefirststark]

The plane handles like a dream. As usual. Even if Howard's never actually flown this far behind enemy lines. It should be fine. He knows what he's doing, right?

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

He'd better, if this is to work at all.

Peggy tells Steve as they pass over the Italian Alps, "The HYDRA camp is in Krausberg, tucked between these two mountain ranges. It's a factory of some kind."

Their intelligence has provided decent maps--but moreso, it's a good thing Steve's got such a sharp visual memory.

[thefirststark]

"We should be able to drop you right on the doorstep," Howard announced with confidence.

In himself. But not in this crazy idea. Training or not, ability or not, Rogers has never been in combat. And he's still wearing that absurd outfit.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

But with a helmet!

Steve calls to Howard, "Just get me as close as you can." He says to Peggy as he buckles on his parachute, "You two are going to be in a lot of trouble when you land."

"And you won't?"

"Where I'm going, if anyone yells at me I can just shoot them."

She almost looks amused. "They will undoubtedly shoot back."

"Well," says Steve, "let's hope it's good for something." He bangs on his shield, making the steel ring.

[thefirststark]

That shield won't last ten minutes. But Howard won't say that.

And this seems like a good time to shift the topic to one he's been wanting to shift to for a while.

"Agent Carter, if we're not in too much of a hurry I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late-night fondue." Two things he likes about Lucerne: it's in neutral territory; and the chocolate is amazing.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

There is a pause.

Peggy is more annoyed than anything--too focused on getting Steve safely into Austria and out again to even think about eating.

Steve ... doesn't know what to say.

Peggy says, to assure him, "Stark is the best civilian pilot I've ever seen. He's mad enough to brave this airspace. We're lucky to have him."

Okay, he can accept that. But... "So you two..." He waves his fingers to indicate the two of them. Peggy raises her eyebrows, so he does the finger thing again. "Do you...fondue?"

Because surely that's some slang he's never heard before. And Stark is powerful and good-looking, and they've been working in close quarters for months. If Stark wants to ask his girlfriend out, well, okay.

Would have been nice to know earlier, though.

Some questions are just not worth answering, though. Peggy hands him another instrument. "This is your transponder. Activate it when you're ready and the signal will lead us straight to you."

"Are you sure this thing works?" Steve shouts to Howard.

[thefirststark]

Oh, if only Steve knew just what he and Peggy have done. On occasion. And not recently. But that is between Peggy and himself, and he has no intention of embarrassing her. Or making her angry.

Besides, she just called him the best civilian pilot she's ever seen. He should be nice.

But Steve's utter naivete is shocking, isn't it?

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

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Perhaps it's a fortuitous thing that the anti-aircraft guns begin firing right then.

No more time to talk--the sooner he gets out of this plane, the sooner Peggy and Howard can go home. Steve picks up his shield and makes his way to the open door.

Peggy shouts, "Get back here! We're taking you all the way in!"

Steve replies, over the sound of flak and engines, "As soon as I'm clear, you turn this thing around and get the hell out of here!"

"You can't give me orders!" Peggy argues.

"The hell I can't! I'm a captain!" He grins at her and lowers his goggles, grabs the shield and jumps.

[thefirststark]

Howard says nothing. But he will have to admit later on that Rogers has balls, if nothing else. Even if the mission is a death run.