A/N: Well, I failed to upload this part for months because uploading is a pain and no one seemed to care. Then I got a follow, so...here you go!

It should be noted that using the copy-paste method of making a new document for this chapter this chapter consistently errored out for no reason and I had to copy my reformatted story, put it in LibreOffice, save that, then upload that file before would accept it. Yeah, this is why I kept putting off uploading this.

They came out on a catwalk over a hangar filled with rushing workers. Ahead was a gigantic railroad tunnel, large enough for an entire convoy of trucks to drive alongside the train. On either side were large shutters, big enough for a couple trucks themselves. More catwalks crossed through the air, creating a network around the centre of the hangar. All over the place men were unloading crates, checking parts, carrying parts, shouting at each other, and frantically working on -

"I have to admit," Steve said, "I had the vague idea it was going to be a plane."

"I thought it might be a bomb, myself," The Joy responded.

In the centre of all the fuss and hurry was a gigantic rail cannon, at least 150 feet long and with a main gun that had to be at least 800mm. Machine guns dotted the sides above two odd, chunky extensions that didn't seem to belong on a train. Two huge columns extended from the rear, covered with the now-familiar glowing lines that bathed the area in ice-blue light. It had to be some sort of HYDRA technology, Steve reasoned, probably power for the engine. The entire thing was painted a plain green, as if it could possibly hide anywhere. Dr. Branstein stood balanced on top of it all, yelling directions at the men that swarmed over the cannon. As they watched a group of men set to welding a massive steel plate on top of the wheels.

"Well, that's two questions answered. The Eisenkafer is a rail cannon, and there's Dr. Branstein." Steve leaned in closer, trying to determine how far along they were to actually getting it moving. It certainly wasn't complete, but that didn't mean they couldn't do some damage.

"They must be trying to build the successor to Gustav and Dora," The Joy said. "I can't hear too clearly, but it sounds like they're almost ready to start the engine..." A man approached Branstein and told him something he apparently didn't like, judging by the slap Branstein delivered to his face. "It doesn't look like they're too confident about it."

"Those things in the rear look like the power or the battery. If we could take those out..." Steve frowned. With just a shield and a pistol there didn't seem to be much they could do to those. If only there was something around the hangar, some bazookas or mortars or something. Was that a crate of grenades there? Steve narrowed his eyes and tried to make it out.

"Best thing to do would be to wait for the rest of our teams to show up." The Joy settled back on her heels. "They're not going anywhere in a hurry, and we'd just be shot if we went out there right now. There's no use in a death like that."

She was right. Even if they had the proper equipment to take down the machine by themselves, down there were at least a few hundred men. Even if most of them were workers it still wasn't good odds. Still, with the advantage of surprise...it looked like they were transporting a lot of ammo to the cannon. Another truck came in while they were watching and pulled up next to crates of what looked like ammunition. When The Fury got here, his flamethrower could do a lot of damage there. There was a lot of spare plating still lying around, probably to reinforce the cannon, but it would make good cover. Lots of trucks to use too. But none of that solved the problem of being completely outnumbered. Another distraction attack to try and peel off some guards?

"Right now our main goal is to kill Branstein, destroy the Eisenkafer, and get out," The Joy said, her thoughts apparently following Steve's. He'd still like to capture Branstein and get more information on HYDRA, but barring a miracle that seemed to be off the table. "We'll need to hit them hard and fast. The End can take out Branstein, so that leaves the cannon."

"That one's my problem too. We've got some explosives, but not enough." Steve looked out over the hangar again. "I was thinking if we could set off some of theirs and steal the rest..."

"The Fury," The Joy said, matching Steve's thoughts perfectly. "Your men and The Pain can provide cover, while...Morita and The Fear gather the explosives. We'll back them up." She looked at the hangar again, deep in thought. "Now...oh!" She looked up with a mixture of surprise and vicious pleasure at the parrot that landed on at rail in front of them, whistling softly. "Where are they? Lead us to them."

The parrot squawked and took wing, with The Joy and Steve in hot pursuit.

They ran crouched over along the catwalks, slid down pipes in a shadowed corner, hid behind a truck until the frantic workers finished unloading and moved on, then dove behind a pile of crates to reunite with their teams.

"Steve! There you are!" Bucky grinned and clapped him on the back. "You look like you two got a little banged up in there."

"Another Nazi convinced he was the superman that was going to take over the world," Steve said with a shrug. "What about you?" The rest of the men looked whole and mostly uninjured, though Dum Dum was rubbing at bruised knuckles and The Sorrow looked particularly grey. The Joy patted him on the back and he gave her a slightly nervous smile in return. The Pain tapped her on the shoulder and passed over a tommy gun, which she gave a quick checking-over before accepting.

"Nothing much to tell. We were waiting around in the forest, knocking out patrols as they came along. Made an extra report to Agent Carter in there, they're still trying to get information out of the Russians but it sounds like that contact helped. But they're probably not going to be able to spare us any bombers for awhile." Steve had half been expecting that, but it was pretty vexing all the same. It seemed everything was on them, as usual. Bucky went on. "Then The Sorrow said you needed us, we found a truck going in, jumped on, threw out their cargo and shipped ourselves in instead." As if on cue, a desperate cry arose from the other side of the crates. When they peeked over the edge they saw a young worker panicking and pointing at the empty boxes that had presumably once held the Commandos and the Cobras. The man tore through the boxes before running off to drag a foreman over and let out what was presumably a torrent of apologies and 'it came like this I swear's. The foreman glared at the stubbornly empty boxes, mumbled curses under his breath, and shouted at the man and the workers that had gathered to see what the fuss was about while pointing to another area of the hangar. The workers saluted and hurried to their new assignment.

The foreman kicked at the boxes and pawed through the pile. The teams scrunched close to the ground when he climbed up and tried to look behind the pile, perhaps hoping that his supplies would magically appear there. Steve ended up half under Bucky with a discarded chunk of lumber cutting into his back, holding his breath and waiting for the foreman to finish casting his eyes around and climb back down, mumbling more curses as he did. Steve let out a shaky breath and sat up again, automatically glancing at Gabe. "Anything interesting?"

"He thinks those lazy bastards at the supply centre are completely incompetent. Some things are just universal."

"What's important is that he doesn't suspect infiltration or sabotage." The Joy frowned. "They must have seriously believed in that Rittersturm, but we can't rely on that forever. Listen up, all of you. The Captain and I have a plan." Quick and quiet Steve and The Joy outlined their plan to take out the massive rail cannon.

"It'll be dangerous, especially for you two," Steve said, looking directly at Jim and The Fear. He didn't doubt their courage, but he was never quite able to rid himself of that nervous feeling that he was sending good men, his friends, to their deaths.

Jim just grinned at him and elbowed The Fear in the side. "No problem, Cap. Between the two of us, they won't even have time to see us coming."

The Fear's smile was more like a baring of his teeth, but he looked no less eager. "We will fall upon them, and they will know true fear."

"Good." The Joy nodded, and if she was worried about the upcoming fight it didn't show in her face or her tone. "We'll be right beside you, so don't worry about fighting. Just concentrate on grabbing as many explosives as you can."

Steve shifted so he could just barely peek over the pile of crates. "Right then..." He watched the workers rush about, waiting until the flow of workers moved away from the pile of ammunition and explosives and towards reinforcing the behemoth of a cannon, for the men still working there to turn around, for -

Up on the catwalk, where he had been just a few minutes ago, a soldier started screaming. The noise didn't even sound like language anymore, but the fact he was dragging Rittersturm's body made the idea behind it clear. A few guards ran over to help him, while the activity in the hangar slowly fell to a halt as everyone stopped to look, whisper, and spread rumours. A murmuring turned into a roar, and within that a few words were clear. "Spione." "Amerikaner." "Captain America."

Steve's hand clenched on the crate in front of him, though through sheer force of will he kept his voice calm. "Well men, our luck was never going to hold forever. Up and over, now!" And with that, he lept from behind their shelter, ready for a fight.

Before any but The Fear could follow him a blazing lance of that distinct blue-white light hit the Eisenkafer head-on.

For a moment, everyone in the hangar stopped. They all turned to face the huge railway tunnel, and now, without the noise of hundreds of rushing, shouting men, they could hear it. The echoing grumble of rolling tanks, the high-pitched whine of power, and the shout from innumerable throats: "Hail HYDRA!"

From his perch above them all Branstein started screaming orders and the soldiers jumped to obey. The great cylindrical batteries of the Eisenkafer glowed even brighter, and the engine inside started to rumble. The guns on the sides rotated to face front, and with a massive grinding noise the main gun lowered until it was directly parallel to the ground. The soldiers closer to the tunnel rushed forward and took up positions behind plating, crates, the wheels of the cannon, any cover they could manage while workers ran for safety and more blasts of HYDRA fire fell upon them like rain.

"Well Captain? Do we sit back and let them destroy each other?" Montgomery asked, poking his head up from behind the pile.

"We're sticking with the plan! Go!" Steve yelled at the same time The Joy jumped over herself and cried out "They are both our enemy! Forward!"

And so they charged. Steve threw his shield into the group of soldiers that were taking up position by the crate of grenades they were aiming for, scattering them like marbles that were quickly cut down by The Joy running her tommy gun full speed. Somewhere behind him Steve heard The Fury shouting something in Russian and the roar of his flamethrower, followed by an explosion that nearly knocked him off his feet. He caught himself on the edge of the crate that was their goal, punched out the nearest soldier and looked around, assessing the situation.

Around them the Germans tried to deal with two unexpected attacks as the entire place descended into chaos. Hornets buzzed around, covering the area in a stinging blanket that parted and reformed around any shots. Any enemy trying to shoot at them would be stung, any that tried to avoid or take out the hornets was easy prey for the rest of the team. It was a surprisingly and brutally effective deterrent, and the only ones safe where the ones in range of The Fury's flamethrower. Gabe followed along behind him, ready with a quick hand and eye for anyone who could dodge the fire. Somewhere past all the smoke and flames he could see Dum Dum leading Jacques and Montgomery towards another equipment installation, ducking in and out of cover on the way. Bucky and The Sorrow had made it to the catwalks above the fray, and that splotch of green might have been The End with them.

Above them all Branstein stood on top of his supposed superweapon and screamed fury and hate at all his enemies. He didn't flinch from the wave of fire HYDRA pouring down upon him, the bolts cutting and charring the heavy plate armour all around. Someone in the tank had realised that having the boss up there was perhaps not a good idea and was trying to drag him inside, a kindness Branstein repaid with struggles and more curses. One of his legs fell in suddenly, just in time for a bullet - from The End, most likely - to miss his head and hit his shoulder, making him jerk and clutch at it in pain. At that Branstein was dragged into the massive bulk of the train and disappeared.

"Bad luck! Branstein's alive and inside that thing!" Steve shouted to The Joy while blocking shots fired at Jim and The Fear, both working hard to open the crate. A few men had managed to figure out a way to work against the hornets by having half of them take off their jackets and wave them around while the rest lined up their shots. Steve threw his shield over their cover, aimed so it would bounce off the truck behind them and ricochet into their group.

"Damn!" The Joy responded, then charged at one of the remaining men around their position and threw him to the ground so hard he bounced twice and lay still. "Then we either get inside or blow it up entirely!" She fired at the men knocked around by Steve's shield, some of the bullets bouncing off the shield to wreak even more havoc.

Steve nodded, though either option felt remote. But they had no others, and so he caught his shield and threw it again. "Do you have enough ammo?" he asked The Joy as she was running her gun full speed constantly, the loud rattling almost reaching over the other sounds of fire, explosions, and screams.

She grinned at him, feral. "Don't worry about ammunition! I'll explain later!" So saying she continued to cut down enemy troops.

Jim finally cracked the crate open and threw the top spinning away. Steve thought he heard him mutter something about 'not quite as impressive as the Captain', but it was hard to hear over the noise of everything else. He quickly and efficiently started grabbing grenades, while The Fear threw up some sort of signal to the rest of the Cobras. Steve did what he did best, kept blocking shots, kept throwing his shield at anyone foolish enough to pop their heads up, kept moving.

Jim turned to him and called over the latest impact, "Captain, I've got 'em! Let's-"

That was when HYDRA finished their artillery assault and arrived in earnest. A pair of tanks rolled into view glowing with an eerie inner light, accompanied by dozens of men on the ground and - Steve squinted at what was flying towards them. They looked almost like men in medieval plate armour, their limbs bulky and rounded, and odd spikes on their right shoulders. From their backs extended stiff wings like those of an airplane that blasted that familiar light from the rear. They all carried heavy HYDRA rifles in their arms, and from the safety of the air began to ran down fire on the defenders.

Steve ran over to The Joy. "If we could get us one of those tanks, we'd have a better chance at taking out the Eisenkafer than just on our own," he shouted right into her ear. Though the problem with that plan, Steve thought, was getting the tank in the first place.

She jerked her head in acknowledgement. "Even one of those flying men would be an asset...if we can get them." She suddenly looked upward with a short gasp, then grabbed Steve and flung them both away just in time to avoid a blast from one of the HYDRA tanks. They landed in a heap, cracked and bruised but alive while the spot they had been standing in disappeared in smoke and flying concrete shards. Steve searched through the dust for Jim and The Fear, and thought he saw the latter jump off an enemy's head, then scramble up some loose cabling to the catwalks. Jim was nowhere to be seen, and Steve's heart twisted.

The Joy elbowed him in the stomach, bringing his attention back to the battle. "Listen, they'll probably be focusing on the Eisenkafer as soon as they break through the defense lines - which won't be long." She was right, already the tanks were easily rolling over the regular Germans' hasty defenses. "If we can get there first, we might be able to be in a better position to steal their technology. You ready?" Though she asked, the look on her face said it hadn't been an actual question.

Steve swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah I am. Be good if we could get some of the others for backup, though." He'd worry about what happened to Jim later, right now he had a superweapon to destroy. He cast his eyes around the room, trying to pierce through the smoke and dust and see if anyone was close enough to help them. The Pain and The Fury were too useful as anti-infantry - as HYDRA was now discovering - and Gabe seemed to have volunteered himself to cover them while they were handling the crowds. Bucky and The End were both too far away and more valuable acting as snipers. But Dum Dum and his little group had commandeered themselves a nice set of weapons, and they were close enough that getting to them would at least be possible. He tapped The Joy on the shoulder, pointed at them, the Eisenkafer, and didn't need to say anything.

HYDRA's flying men were zipping around like flies as they rushed to an overturned truck, and Steve held his shield above their heads like an umbrella against a deadly rain. As soon as they were under the half cover the truck's bulk offered The Joy was firing at them, but her bullets bounced off like she had been firing at a fully armoured tank. "Damn, no good! You ever seen these before? How do we beat them?" she asked Steve, as if he had been holding out on her.

Steve shook his head in reply. "Never seen them before in my life." He raised the shield against another blazing bolt, bouncing it off into another flier's wings, making him list and stall out for a moment, though he recovered. "Looks like taking them out is just a matter of heavier firepower."

"That can certainly-" The rest of The Joy's words were cut off when the machine guns on the Eisenkafer started to fire straight across, slicing into HYDRA's flying men, cracking their wings and piercing even their thick armour. One fell to the floor and skidded across it, landing in a tumble by a set of plating that turned out to be concealing a number of German troops, who took the opportunity to set upon him with concentrated fire. A few more fell to the floor while others swept and dodged through the air, faster than the steady machine guns could track and firing back all the while.

So those instalments were functional after all, Steve thought. He'd assumed they were as hasty as the rest of the Eisenkafer, but perhaps Branstein was circumspect enough to not want to fire into a crowd of his own soldiers. Or considering the man's temperament, it was more likely one of his underlings.

In the end, the falling flying men were just something else to watch out for as they made their way to the others. HYDRA troops were running through the hangar now, relying on their heavier armour and superior firepower to overcome any defenses. Steve calculated the pieces of cover between them and the others. A pile of crates, an abandoned chunk of steel, and then they'd be there. He looked up, saw the flying men and machine guns were still occupied with each other and the HYDRA infantry only going to get closer, and tapped The Joy on the shoulder in an unspoken signal.

They made it to the pile of crates all right, even with Steve tossing The Joy over his shoulder so she could fire with both hands while he got them to safety. It was halfway to the plating that a blast - HYDRA, Nazi, or even one of their own, it didn't matter - flung them apart.

Steve rolled along the floor, keeping himself loose. His shoulder was hurting again, not happy about taking that shot earlier and then getting landed on, but nothing seemed broken. He scrambled to his feet and looked around for cover, but all he saw were plumes of smoke and dust. Vague shapes moved around inside them, one coming his way. Steve tensed. There was a possibility they were friends...but it was damn unlikely.

The shape resolved itself into the iron mask and bulky armour of one of the flying men. On the ground, up close, he was a head and half taller than Steve, with a body to match. The mask looked like a sort of gas mask, with large empty glass goggles, an outcropping for a mouth, and a pair of tubes running from that outcropping to the pack on the back. He gave off a humming noise, a strange mechanical grinding just audible under the chaos around them.

The flying man raised his rifle, and Steve didn't give him the chance to fire. He jumped on the pile of armour and slammed his fist right into where his jaw should've been. The metal dented, but held as the man's face turned down towards Steve's, glass eyes glowing with an inner light.

The man shoved back against Steve, knocking him backwards. Steve stumbled, but threw himself forward again. His entire advantage was in melee, the man could keep him away for hours if he could bring his rifle to bear. He pounded on the hardened steel with fists and shield, to no more effect than the first time. Gaps appeared in the armour, but nothing Steve had the time or weapons to take advantage of. But it couldn't go his way forever, and in time the man forced him off and flung him to the ground. Steve looked up at the glowing rifle muzzle and brought his shield up -

- for a bolt that never came. A Nazi soldier hurtled through the smoke and ran straight into the HYDRA agent before he could fire, screaming at the top of his lungs. The HYDRA agent struggled, but the soldier managed to get his rifle's bayonet in the gap in the agent's armour between neck and jaw that Steve had been punching open with a wild stab that poured thick arterial blood out over the armour. The new soldier pressed in further with his bayonet, and the HYDRA agent's knees buckled before the rest of him fell to the floor. The soldier turned to Steve and grabbed his hand to haul him to his feet, babbling a stream of German at him too fast to catch while looking desperately from side to side. The stream of words slowed as Steve got up and the soldier could get a good look at him, then ground to a halt as his jaw dropped and a look of confused consternation overtook his face.

"Captain America?" was the last thing the soldier got out before Steve punched him right in the face. Not too hard - it seemed a bit, well, churlish to break the jaw of someone who'd been trying to help, even if it was a case of mistaken identity - but enough to put him to sleep. The soldier went down over the the wreck of the former flying man and Steve looked around. The smoke still hadn't cleared, but now from behind him and to the right he could hear someone shouting in English. In particular, it sounded like Dum Dum, though he couldn't quite make out the words. That was good enough, and Steve set off in the right direction with shield up and eyes open.

The others, minus the six who had other duties, were piled up behind a mess of former crates, sandbags and plating wedged between the wall and a flatbed truck. Steve made sure to hold his shield out before jumping over the barricade to see that The Joy had made it there before him and was assisting the Commandos in their fight. Montgomery punched him in the shoulder and asked where he had been, and added that they were ready at any time before Steve could answer.

"Right then," Steve said, glancing around and taking in the situation as best he could. If The Joy was there she'd probably already told everyone the score. "Everyone knows the plan?" There were nods all around, even from The Fear, who suddenly dropped in from the ceiling holding onto cables like a spider. "Then you all know what to do! Go!"

The Joy threw out one last clearing blast of fire before they all scrambled over, heading straight for the Eisenkafer. From some armoury Dum Dum had gotten an entire anti-aircraft gun and ran it from the hip at the flying men, shouting with cheerful vigour just loud enough to be heard for them all to come down and get a taste of American-delivered hot lead. The Fear ran along the catwalks above, throwing down anything that could be converted into a weapon to clear their way. One flying man, caught between the Eisenkafer's machine guns and Dum Dum's mobile anti-air, crashed right in front of them, leaving his rifle free to be taken by Jacques.

Right next to the cannon's batteries they found group of German soldiers holed up and fighting against the wave of HYDRA soldiers running over them. Steve paused, trying to decide between avoiding them or just charging straight through. He looked at The Joy, who frowned and jerked her head to indicate that she, at least, was for going around.

"Get down, Captain!"

Steve was tackling people to the ground before he even really registered who had spoken. There was an explosion - a grenade - and when Steve lowered his shield there weren't any enemy soldiers in front of them anymore, but there was a faint buzzing overhead under the Eisenkafer's growls. He looked up, only to see Jim happily waving at him from inside a cloud of hornets. For a minute he just stood there, filled with a mixture of confusion and relief. Jim was alive, good. Jim was flying around in a hornet swarm...good? Could he even control them?

"Pretty handy, huh Captain? Don't worry, they're not stinging me! Now move, I'll keep you covered!" Jim shouted down at them as he took out his rifle. Steve nodded, still a little stunned, but he shook it off quickly. Jim was alive and supporting them. The rest could wait. Steve charged forward, heading for the wheels under the batteries that were right in front of them. A HYDRA soldier busy with his own destructive work turned to face them, but fell to a shot from the sky before he could do more than turn around.

Steve jumped the body and scrambled up the gigantic wheel and on top of the cover, just behind the massive protrusions he still couldn't work out the purpose of. The Joy quickly followed him, and he leaned in close to speak with her while reaching down to help the others up. "Remind me to buy The Pain a drink when this is over! Heck, all your men. We make a good team."

She grinned at him, looking for once cheerful without bloodlust. "Don't count your chickens yet, Captain...but remind me to buy some for your men too. You're not like I thought you'd be."

He shrugged back. She was right, they could all die bringing this thing down, but- "I like to stay optimistic," he said, and grabbed Jacques' hand in his own to haul him up. Just then, the Eisenkafer's slow rumbling rose to a roar like that of a caged beast, howling to be let free. The great wheels began to turn, slowly, and Jacques was only just able to get his feet off the rim before the batteries blazed with pure power and the entire behemoth burst forward in a huge, grinding leap.

Jacques hung for a moment in the air before being torn from Steve's grip by the wind blasting past them, and Steve couldn't do a damn thing without losing his own grip on the edge of the plating. He saw Jacques fall and get caught by Dum Dum, the HYDRA tank whip by, smoke and flames and battle, then they were in the darkness of the tunnel. His hands ached from holding to the edge, his arms from bracing against the plating. The Joy was still somehow holding on next to him, her bandanna whipping around in the wind. There was the horrible screech of metal on metal as the wheels and rails protested the treatment rising all around them, inescapable.

There was a crash and a metallic crunching noise ahead of them, followed by bangs. Steve raised his head and squinted into the darkness ahead, the battery's light not quite banishing it. There was something up ahead of them -

The Joy slammed his head down as one of the HYDRA tanks bounced along the side of the Eisenkafer towards them, tumbling over and over and passing so close by that Steve could feel the treads brush his arm. It tumbled over them and was gone into the distance, more crashing noises following its passage. Similar sounds came from the other side, and on the ground Steve could just make out HYDRA agents on the ground tossed about like broken tin soldiers before the tunnel ended and they were in the open air, being soaked by the rain.

The Eisenkafer's incredible speed was slackening, though not nearly as quickly as it had accelerated. But it was enough that Steve could look up without worrying about being blown away, and has he got his feet under him he looked into the night and took in his surroundings. The rain had started again and drove against them in furious sheets, stymieing clear vision more than a few feet away. Lights sparked in the darkness ahead of them, the moving lights of the flying men, the heavy ground lights of tanks, and in the sky a circling set of lights that could be an airplane.

There was the boom of tanks firing in the distance, and shells exploded against the front of the Eisenkafer. In response, the odd protrusions from the side slid out and unfolded, looking like nothing else but a pair of gigantic arms wielded to the side of a tank, reaching out for the sky.

Steve wiped the water from his eyes and shook his head. "Arms? Are they planning on punching the tanks?"

"Unknown. But I think we should get away from them," The Joy said, and no sooner than she had finished she crouch-walked to the side of the Eisenkafer and began searching around for handholds. Steve followed, low and careful on the slippery metal. The plating was smooth and solid, but this close to the batteries there were regular panels missing - probably open for work and intended to have been closed later. They were little more than indentations in the sheer vertical face before Steve and The Joy, but they still climbed. Digging their fingertips into every crevice and bowed under the driving rain they climbed as swiftly as they could.

They were about halfway up, and even Steve's fingers were going a bit numb from clinging like a tick to the back of a steel dog, when the cannon met the HYDRA tanks and they found out what the arms were for.

Massive blue-edged blades deployed from could be called the forearms, similar to the blade Rittersturm pulled out at the end but bigger, much much bigger. At least 100 feet long, they were large enough to carve new valleys into the earth. Large enough cut a swath through infantry. Large enough to throw tanks into the air, their armour sliced and crumpled.

Steve stared, forgetting his precarious position and the cold rain. "Holy-" Above him he could hear The Joy breathe a "My God..." Steve knew all about artillery bombardment and the destruction it wrecked, but seeing tanks tossed about like toys was something uniquely terrifying. That both could be combined into one machine... An airstrike could still take it out, but they didn't have an airstrike right now. Right now they had a shield and a tommygun.

Still, hanging off the side wouldn't solve anything. Steve tapped at The Joy's foot, and after a brief hesitation she started climbing up again. Soon they reached the top, bracing themselves against the wind and rain. Steve looked doubtfully at the batteries. "Don't think we'll be able to take these out with what we got!" he shouted. "We'll have to go inside!"

The Joy nodded and started moving towards the front, where Branstein had been standing when he was dragged inside. It was slow going, trying to keep balance on the rain-slick steel that rocked under every step. Around them the great blade-arms cut and sliced across ground and sky. The flying men had pulled back a bit to avoid them, but now they swept down in closely regimented flights.

Five men swept over them in a sharp V and Steve brought up his shield on instinct. They seemed to want to concentrate on the Eisenkafer, three firing a concentrated volley at the batteries, two aiming at the joints attaching the arms to the sides. The shots rattled the cannon, but not enough to stop it. Steve stumbled, but kept his balance and continued walking forward. If HYDRA wanted to take out the cannon, they could. As long as they didn't bother them, it was no skin off his back. He'd take care of them afterwards.

Which worked wonderfully until the next flight had three flying men peel off and land with a crash right in front of them, mechanics growling loudly. Steve didn't wait an instant to throw his shield directly at the rightmost one with enough force to make him tilt dangerously to the side - but not quite enough to make him fall. The leftmost fired at him and Steve threw himself backward in a tumble he'd practised hundreds of times - but this wasn't even a muddy battlefield or a burning building, this was wet, slippery metal and his hands slipped out from under him, turning the graceful backflip into a bellyflop.

"Oof!" All the air was pushed out of him by the impact and for a second Steve lay there, listening to the clang of metal on metal. The Joy shouted at him, her voice half concerned and half angry. Steve signalled to show he was all right, scrambled to his feet and caught his shield fast enough to block another shot. The flying men were converging on The Joy, Steve threw his shield to knock off their aim. It worked for two of them, their rifles discharging into the air. The Joy charged the last one and started grappling with him. She wasn't strong enough to do real damage against the armour, but she was agile enough to use him as a shield against his comrades. One of the flying men tried to shoot anyway, and his fire scorched armour enough to expose the wiring.

They couldn't break open the flying men's armour, Steve knew, not while fighting three of them at the same time. The next best thing was... Steve charged and flung himself at the one on the right, hitting him right in the chest and forcing him to stumble backwards with that odd whirring noise they made. Steve didn't let up, shoving and pushing him backward until the flying man stepped back and didn't find metal under his foot. He slipped, his arms waving in the air, and activated his wings, but not soon enough. Steve jumped back and gave him a good solid shoulder charge right to the middle, sending the flying man off the edge of the Eisenkafer and right into machinegun fire with a metallic screech. His wings were torn from his back and Steve couldn't see where he landed.

Steve spun around. The Joy was on the ground, maybe she'd slipped on the slick metal too, but still managing to keep from getting shot or overwhelmed - if barely. Steve ran forward to at least take out the last flying man standing when the flying man was knocked sideways by a bolt of power aimed right at his wings. Another shot hit his head, blowing away the armour there and dragging one last spasmodic jerk out of the man before he lay still. Steve, The Joy, and even the last flying man all looked up to see sweeping down on them another flying man - but this one had Bucky on his back.

On the other side of the Eisenkafer The Joy hauled herself to her feet, ready to resume her fight. Steve started running to help when the flying man followed, getting there before he could do much more than get up on his knees. Up above he saw Bucky and his flying man start to circle and fire, driving off any other HYDRA agents who wanted to interfere. The agent fighting The Joy got up and took a swing at her just as Steve got there, his mechanical buzzing sounding furious. She caught his arm and twisted, using his momentum as part of a shoulder throw. Steve grabbed the flying man's waist and helped throw him to the ground, then kicked him straight over the side. He flew up again, only to get sliced in half by the Eisenkafer's massive swinging blades.

There was a metallic squeal behind Steve, and he turned to see Bucky and his ride land. He stepped forward a little, not quite willing to approach closer. Sure, Bucky had helped, but HYDRA agents didn't just defect. He was going to keep his shield up until he knew what was going on. "Bucky..."

"Hey there, Steve!" Bucky grinned as he got off the flying man's back, though on seeing their faces he gave an awkward squawk and waved his hands defensively. "Don't shoot ma'am, it's just me! Remember? Sergeant Barnes?"

"I remember you," The Joy said coolly, and when Steve checked she was aiming her gun at the new pair. "But who's that with you?"

The flying man spoke then, his voice tinny and muffled from the suit, but even then Steve thought he recognized The Sorrow's voice. He said something Steve didn't understand in Russian, but it definitely wasn't a HYDRA agent in there. Steve relaxed and lowered his shield. Beside him The Joy said something in Russian filled with amused relief back and lowered her weapon as well.

Bucky looked back and forth between them, then shrugged. "Well I didn't catch that, but yes, The Sorrow's in here." He tapped carefully at the flying suit's shoulders. "We managed to down one of these guys without damaging the suit too much, and then he summoned the corpse's spirit and got inside, quick as you please. Pretty amazing, huh?" It was a pretty good trick, Steve had to admit. He never would've thought talking to the dead was that much of a useful battlefield skill, but he hadn't thought controlling hornets would be that good either. Bucky went on. "That was right about when this damn thing took off, so we all got together to follow you. Dum Dum, Montgomery, and The Pain stole one of HYDRA's tanks and drove it out of there, while the rest found a truck and hauled tail. But they couldn't really catch up with this thing when it was moving like it was; last I checked they were cleaning up HYDRA by the base."

Steve looked backward out of habit, but couldn't see anything over the glare of the batteries. They were probably too far away anyway. Right now he needed to figure out how to stop the Eisenkafer. "Right now our best bet of stopping this thing is probably to get inside before HYDRA comes back. If we're not around to make targets maybe they'll go back to trying to blow it up."

"Sergeant Barnes, do you think your gun can break the lock on the hatch?" The Joy asked.

"Only one way to find out," Bucky replied, and headed towards the hatch. The rest followed.

When they got to the hatch, The Sorrow raised a hand and held still for a moment. Then he pointed at two points. "Fire there. Those, they are weakly welded and will trigger the emergency release. Not on the plans, but one of the engineers believed strongly in them." Steve gave him a curious look as Bucky got to work and The Sorrow tilted his head when he gave his reply. "The workers are perhaps getting a bit...disillusioned."

Steve supposed he couldn't blame them. Bucky carefully aimed his rifle at the indicated spots point-blank and fired, and dragged the hatch open when it popped up. From inside they could hear the rush of feet and shouted orders, along with what sounded like a spirited argument. Bucky looked at the other three and grinned wide. "Well then, who wants to go first?"

Steve and The Joy jumped in at the same time.

They landed in the midst of chaos. Soldiers lined the walls, looking out the narrow view-slits and calling reports to the operators who twisted controls and checked gauges. A table wedged into a corner held piles of ballistics tables and slide rules, along with a set of furiously calculating men. On both sides three strong men wrestled with a control bar like rowers on a Roman trireme, presumably running the arms. And in the centre of it all an officer with a particularly fancy uniform raged at a considerably dishevelled Branstein, who raged right back.

The Joy shouted an order to surrender as Bucky and The Sorrow dropped down behind them, which did have the effect of interrupting the argument. The fancy uniform officer spun around and immediately pulled a gun, a regular bullet-shooting pistol, which was easily knocked out of his hand with the shield. Steve followed it up with a quick rushing uppercut, but was foiled when the officer lightly jumped back and let loose with a picture-perfect flurry of jabs.

Steve pulled back himself, taking up a defensive posture and watched the officer jump into...a boxing stance? He went up on his toes, brought his fists up, and began swiftly feeling out Steve's defences with quick strikes. On his face was a wild grin, and he said with some pride, "I learned in school, yes? Now...let's see what you have, America!"

Around them The Joy cut down the three men controlling the Eisenkafer's arms on her side, sending operators and sentries scattering in panic. On the other side Bucky took out one for himself, then was rushed by the other two. He clubbed one upside the head with the heavy rifle, leaving the other to be blocked by The Sorrow. The calculators, somehow, kept up their work, though with noticeable extra speed and desperation. Branstein himself fell backward, frantically looking around and yelling for help, for support, for all those cowards to come back.

Steve blocked the officer's next few strikes with his shield, then lashed out with a left-handed punch aimed at the officer's torso. The officer danced away, of course, which left him neatly vulnerable to Steve sweeping his shield around in a wide swing aimed directly at his head. Somehow the officer managed to twist backward and slide under the strike like his back was made of rubber and giving him the opportunity for a sharp kick at Steve's knee before slipping away again.

"A kick? That's not in the standard boxing rules," Steve said as he tested out his knee. A little pain, but that would clear up. He could still walk on it and that was the important part. He dropped his shield to cover his body, then had to step back to avoid another low kick.

"Neither is a shield!" The officer dropped the offensive for a bit, settling back on his heels just a hair's breath out of range. "How about throwing it away and we fight like men?"

Steve grinned. "Sure, I'll throw it away." He pulled his arm back and flung the shield in a curving arc calculated to hit the officer right in his smug face. Standing still like he was, there was no way he could avoid it.

It would have worked perfectly if the entire train hadn't lurched suddenly to the right, making Steve stumble and the shield slice neatly behind the officer, who happily took the chance to rush forward and slam a haymaker right into Steve's ribcage. Steve lurched backward and landed hard on a control deck, cracking his head on the wall and lying there pressed against it by the force of the turn. The officer walked forward and started to pummel Steve's torso with a punishing barrage of blows.

Steve jerked and kicked out, missing by a mile. The bastard must've known a curve was coming...it made sense once he thought about it. They'd need a closed track for testing, and a long one for the kinds of speeds the Eisenkafer could put out or they'd go flying all over Germany. Of course there's be a curve, and right now they were probably headed straight back to Nichts Garten. At least meeting back up with the others would be easy. Steve snarled and blocked the officer's fist with his palm just as he went in for another blow. He was rewarded with a snapping sound from the fist and a bitter cry of pain from the officer. Steve grabbed onto the fist and pulled the officer forward, and this time his knee connected quite solidly with the officer's stomach. Steve followed it up by getting away from the wall and using his new-found leverage to throw the officer up against the wall, hard enough to knock him out.

Wincing slightly from the pain, Steve took another look around. Most of the remaining sentries and operators were lying dead on the floor or collapsed over their controls. The last one still standing just then took a short, quick flight into the calculator's table courtesy of The Joy, sending papers and slide rules flying. One of the calculators stumbled away from the broken table holding the paper he had just finished scribbling on and ran to a telephone on the wall. He grabbed off the hook and managed to yell a series of numbers into it before Bucky cut him down, leaving the handset to dangle in the air. The Sorrow was busy over a set of controls, throwing levers in various directions and snapping them off with a quick twist as the train came out of its swift curve.

Branstein himself was crouched right across from Steve, one hand clasped in front of him, the other handing limp at his side, and looking remarkably like a cornered animal. His formerly slick hair was wild and falling in his eyes, and his suit was torn in multiple places. His eyes met Steve's for a moment, and at once he burst forward in a desperate run for the ladder leading outside. Steve cried out, but just as he moved to intercept Branstein the entire rail cannon shook as a thunderously loud boom shook the air around them, loud enough to force everyone to cover their ears in a futile attempt to block out the endless noise. They must have fired the main cannon, Steve realised, barely able to think through the crushing pressure. That had to have been the calculator's message, the firing coordinates for - what? The only thing to aim at was their own fort!

Eventually the noise and pressure relented, leaving them all with painfully ringing ears. Steve winced and looked up to find Branstein shaking his head and rubbing blood away from his nose. He jerked away when he saw Steve looking at him and made another attempt for the ladder. Steve tried to go after him, but tripped over a fallen body and the precious few seconds spent righting himself gave Branstein just enough time to scrabble and claw his way up and into the storm still raging outside.

"Damn! Again!" The Joy said and ran after him, the others in hot pursuit.

"He's just a scientist and you're having this much trouble keeping an eye on him? Some supersoldier," Bucky said to Steve as he climbed up the ladder.

Steve cuffed him on the ankle. "I was taking out that officer. What were you up to?" Bucky coughed and declined to reply.

Outside it was still all howling wind and pouring rain. Black scorch marks on the hull stood out in the blue-white glare of the batteries, which had some noticeable cracks themselves - though they were still glowing hot and rumbling along. One of the massive arms was pointed to the sky like an athlete on a victory lap, the other dragged along the ground, tearing up everything as it went. As the group got out and stood on top of the Eisenkafer the entire cannon shuddered, then with the sound of tearing metal the dragging arm broke away and spun off into the night.

Branstein walked ahead of them, watching the sky, seemingly oblivious to how his precious superweapon was maimed. "Hahah, look! Look!" he cried, pointing to the heavens. "Look at those snakes get what they deserve!"

Steve looked up to where he was pointing and saw the lights of the HYDRA plane tilt and dip, then go into a sudden fall, trailing sparks as it went. "Wait...was that what you were firing at?" Hitting a moving plane, from a moving cannon, just after coming out from a curve...that was near impossible.

Beside him Bucky gave a low whistle. "We should've captured that calculator, if he could come up with the numbers for that."

Branstein spun around, grinning his mad grin. "Of course! The most accurate shelling! Machine guns to destroy the infantry! Blades to knock away tanks! I told you, this is the ultimate weapon!"

"That's why it has arms?" Steve asked. "But it's still a rail cannon, you're not going to be able to get it anywhere that doesn't have a railway." Like, for instance, England. Or America. That seemed like a bit of a flaw in the 'ultimate weapon' to Steve.

"Idiot!" Branstein sneered. "Would you give it legs? So it could walk around Europe?"

That hadn't been Steve's point at all, but there also didn't seem to be much point in arguing. Not when as they watched the HYDRA plane dipped lower, almost low enough to touch before racing ahead and smashing into the side of the mountain in a massive conflagration too bright to look at. Branstein laughed exultantly at the sight, cursing HYDRA and rejoicing in their fall. He seemed half dazed in triumph as he walked forward and shook his fist at the heavens.

Then the entire mountain exploded in blinding light.

Amid the cries of shock and roar of falling rock Steve shook his head and tried to make sense of the situation. "That couldn't have been us, we don't have the power for that. So-"

"HYDRA, right?" The Joy said, her face almost disturbingly calm. "That was their real purpose with the infantry, to get in and blow up the entire base while their heavy weapons took on the Eisenkafer outside. A very sensible plan."

Steve didn't like to admit to being smoked by HYDRA, but that looked like it was the case. While they'd been running around trying to take out the Eisenkafer, HYDRA had ruined any chance the Nazis had of using their technology in the war. "Hope none of ours got caught in that."

"More importantly, sir, is that the crash is right in front of us and I destroyed the brakes," The Sorrow interjected, sounding strangely happy about it. "I also told the engine crew to increase speed without limit. We perhaps have...five minutes."

Steve gulped, then shook the surprise out of his head. "Capture Dr. Branstein and get out of here! Now!" he barked, and ran forward after the scientist with The Joy alongside him. Behind him he could hear Bucky saying "you could've told us!" and The Sorrow's "But I did!" reply.

A shot stopped the forward charge. Steve skidded on the metal, holding his shield up against any bullets. From somewhere - it must've been the officer, that's what he had been clutching - Branstein had found a pistol, and was pointing it right at them. He spoke, and his voice now held no triumph, just a furious determination. "I won't allow it."

"Allow what?" Steve asked as he edged forward, stopped by another bullet aimed at his feet.

"I won't allow it. I won't allow myself to be used by the enemy!" He screamed out the last and the pistol shook in his hand as he did. "I used my mind to benefit my country! I joined with Schmidt to create weapons that would place the entire world at our feet! But he, he betrayed us! He would burn Germany to the ground and rule over the ashes! I would not allow it! I ran, and began work to defeat him and fulfil the dream I had seen! We will be great!"

"Commendable loyalty," The Joy said dryly. "But we have our own mission, and we will not abandon it now."

"It's not loyalty, it's madness!" Steve shouted. "Your own leaders are ruining your country! Look around at what your war has done!" He'd been across Europe, he'd seen the burned villages, the masses of the dead, the lines of refugees, the starving children. Dr. Erskine had been driven out of his own country by men like Branstein, and who knew how many people hadn't been able to pull the money or connections to get out. "A truly great country wouldn't need to drag all the world to hell just so they can make themselves bigger! You could make sure everyone, everyone, got a roof over their heads and enough to eat! You could use your precious mind to make machines that help people! That would be great! You're just a bunch of bullies who like hurting people!" He thought he heard The Joy murmur something about how even twisted loyalty was still loyalty, but couldn't hear it over the storm inside and out.

"Thee minutes!" Called The Sorrow. The mountain was getting close now, looming up like a mass of great burning teeth, ready to devour them whole.

Branstein sneered at him. "All countries struggle amongst each other for dominance. It's the rules of nature! Why should we not seek to overcome the weak? War is inevitable, so all that matters is to win!"

"And now you're going to lose," said The Joy as she walked forward. "Enough of this. You're coming with us." Branstein raised the pistol and Steve got ready to throw his shield.

Instead Branstein brought the gun to his own head. "I won't allow it," he said one last time, and fired.

The Joy's mouth twisted in bitter regret as Branstein fell backward, his body lost under his superweapon's unstoppable charge. "Mission failure. Damn." She turned back to the group with one last shake of her head. "We don't have much time. The Sorrow, can you carry all of us?"

"I can get us to the ground. Anything else is luck." He paused for a moment. "Two minutes."

The distinctive wail of an emergency siren floated out of the still-open hatch. "Someone must've noticed that 'full speed ahead' is pretty dumb when you're heading back to base," Bucky said and he moved next to Steve. "Bit late, though."

"Hurry up or it will be too late for us too," Steve said as he grabbed Bucky around the waist and hauled him over to The Sorrow, ignoring Bucky's protests about not being the one who got into an argument here. The Sorrow wrapped one arm around Steve and one around The Joy, holding them all tight against his chest. He paused for a second, just on the edge, then lept into the air and flew away in a blaze of light.

Behind them the Eisenkafer collided with the burning wreck of the HYDRA plane, tumbling off the tracks and skidding into the side of the mountain with a horrible, tearing crash that sent sparks and shrapnel flying into the air high enough to brush the ruined mountain peaks. The batteries ripped apart with a sound almost like glass and spewed cold lightning over the wreckage, dancing between the burning twin burning hulks of metal and scarring all it touched. The flames grew to the sky, defying all of nature's attempts to lay them to rest and casting their hellish flickering over the countryside.

The flight away from the wreck was wet, cold, and terrifying. The flying suit's wings were shorting out, sending pops and sparks into the night as they lurched and rolled through the air. The curved metal of the suit's arm dug into Steve's stomach and his hands cramped from trying to hold Bucky up. The trees and rocks ahead of them were only intermittently illuminated by the flash and fire from the wreck of the Eisenkafer, just glimpses of massive branches and boulders and then they were gone into the darkness.

Bucky shouted "Get ready, we're about to hit the trees!" just before a flash showed a massive branch right in front of them. The Sorrow listed hard to the right to avoid it, there was a terrible crack, and the rest was a bone-shaking fall over, under, and through the foliage until they slammed straight into the ground.

Steve caught up against a rock with an impact he'd be lucky to walk away from with just bruises. He lay there panting, still holding on to Bucky and waited for the world to stop whirling around like a Coney Island rollercoaster. Slowly the forest settled down around him and the pain in his sides and back subsided. Steve pushed himself up on one arm, spat out his mouthful of mud, and looked around. On the ground the forest looked a lot like it did from the air: dark and wet. He prodded at Bucky with a knee. "You still alive?"

"Almost wish I wasn't, after that fall," Bucky replied with a groan. "Don't think anything's broken, at least, your shield took most of the impact. You see the others around anywhere?"

Steve swung his head around, searching for anything that looked like a human figure in the dark and rain. "Don't see them...but they can't be too far away." He levered himself upright enough to sit against the rock after wiggling his shield arm out from under Bucky. Bucky kept lying there, apparently too tired to move just yet. That was fine. It didn't look like anyone was coming after them, probably everyone that cared was either back at the wreck or getting as far away as possible. He took another look around and started calling. "Joy! Sorrow! Can you hear me? Respond! Joy! Sorrow!"

"Here!" A clear, feminine voice called from a short distance ahead of them. "The flying suit was damaged and The Sorrow is currently immobile! Your status?"

"Nothing broken!" Steve shouted back and dropped his voice to talk with Bucky again. "How about it, Bucky? Think you can walk?"

"Yeah, just gimme a minute," he said and dragged himself more or less upright. He sat like that for a moment, then shook his head and pushed himself to his slightly wobbly feet.

"Hold your position! We're coming!" Steve shouted in The Joy's direction. He scrambled up himself, caught Bucky when it looked like he might fall over, and together they stumbled off into the dark. A small blue light blinked into existence ahead of them and they went for it, tripping over falling branches and sliding in the mud, but never taking their eyes off the tiny guiding star.

The Joy was kneeling next to The Sorrow working on getting one of the arms off the flying suit. The small light turned out to be part of the pack on the suit's back, the only part of it that seemed to still have power. Steve and Bucky joined her, and in the dim light cracked open the entire front of the flying suit to drag The Sorrow out.

"My thanks," he said, soothing back his hair and adjusting his glasses. "It was considerably easier to get in than out." He looked ruefully at the broken scraps of steel and pipe that had almost become a coffin. He sat up a little straighter, seemingly struck by a thought, and began to dig through the remains of the suit before coming up with the trackless radio. "I am not sure if it will work...but perhaps we should try and make our report."

"I'm impressed it's still mostly in one piece." Steve took the radio and tapped at it. Nothing was obviously broken, but if anything on the inside was busted no one besides Howard would ever get it working again. He squinted and fiddled with the knobs, and got a loud burst of static that made him drop the radio in shock.

The Sorrow picked it up and started playing with the knobs himself, only getting more static. He said something spirited at it in Russian and twisted the knobs again, to no avail. Steve banged on the back of it in the ever-present hope that hitting something would make it work better.

Amazingly, the static dropped to a mild buzzing. Bucky clapped Steve on the shoulder while The Sorrow spoke into the radio. "Hello? This is The Sorrow of the Cobra Unit. Please respond."

The radio popped and whistled, but those soon resolved into Peggy's voice speaking at a rapid clip. "Hello, this is Agent Peggy Carter of the SSR. Do you read me? Respond."

"Peggy!" Steve said, then caught himself. "I mean, Agent Carter. This is Captain America, we read you."

"Steve? Thank god!" There was a break in the transmission as the signal descended into static again. When it cleared Peggy said "Captain, what is your situation?"

"Dr. Branstein is dead. The superweapon Eisenkafer and the base Nichts Garten are destroyed. Myself, The Joy, Sergeant Barnes, and The Sorrow are all alive and unwounded. Status of other team members is unknown. We got separated in the battle."

"We received a report from them a few minutes ago. They're all confirmed alive." Steve breathed a small sigh of relief at Peggy's words. He hadn't really thought that they'd all die, but it was good to have confirmation.

"This is The Joy. We're currently in the Dunklenwald forest. Specific position is unknown. At first light we will meet with the rest of our teams and move towards your position. Is this acceptable?"

"Acknowledged. I have no orders to counteract that course of action. Haste is encouraged. Get out before the enemy finds you." Peggy paused for a bit, then continued, now less clipped and military. "I'm sure you'll hear this as soon as you get back to base, but let me be the first to say it: Good work, everyone. You've struck a considerable blow for the Allies today, and I thank you for it. Not capturing Branstein is regrettable, but I'm sure it couldn't be helped, and at least now he won't be making any more weapons for Hitler."

Steve grinned, unable to help a surge of pride at her words. "Thank you, Agent. We'll be seeing you soon. Over."

"Over." The radio crackled with more static until The Sorrow turned it off.

"Well, that's that." Bucky leaned back and stretched, his back popping with a few loud cracks. "Nothing left to do but wait for dawn so we can get out of here."

"Shouldn't be too long," Steve said. It was dark when he and The Joy had gone into Nichts Garten, and they couldn't have been there for more than six hours or so. Pretty soon the sky would start lightening. "But you're welcome to take a nap...if you think you need one."

"Tch. Maybe I will. Get some rest after being next to you all night." Bucky said, but made no move to lie down. They all kept awake, watching the forest until dawn.

Finally the sun came up and cast its weak, watery light over the landscape. The storm had mostly blown over, leaving a few clouds and the smell of wet earth in its wake. A few birds chirped their songs to the first light, apparently undisturbed by the previous night's destruction. The trees dripped onto the ground, splashing the humans with cold water.

Steve pushed himself onto his feet and stretched, cracking his back and trying to work the kinks out after another night on a forest floor. Beside him Bucky groaned, and The Sorrow patted him on the shoulder in commiseration. No one had signalled them during the night, and they had been undisturbed by the enemy. Not really surprising, Steve figured anyone that could walk would be in retreat back to anywhere that hadn't exploded.

The Joy dislodged The Sorrow from her shoulder and stood up too, looking around for the nearest path out. It wasn't hard to see, a banner of smoke flew over the horizon, marking exactly where they wanted to go. Steve gathered up the remains of the flying suit and carried them out. Howard would probably be pretty interested in it, once they got back. None of them said much. It didn't seem like there was that much to say. The mission was complete, and now all they had to do was get home in one piece. Steve did ask The Sorrow if he could tell anything about the situation from where they were; he got a shrug and a soft "many died" in return.

Following the path of wreckage they had left last night brought them to a set of train tracks, following those got them to the battlefield. There the ravens were already enjoying their morning feast and the smell of blood and smoke overwhelmed everything else. The sun rose higher and showed tanks laying scattered about and bent at odd angles, many caught in newly made gouges in the earth too deep to see the bottom. All there was to hear was the distant clangs of settling metal and the ravens' caws. And a blood-curdling scream.

Steve burst into a run and quickly left the rest behind. Chances were, it wasn't one of his men. Chances were, it wasn't one of the Cobras either. But there was that tiny, infinitesimal chance...

The scream faded into pained yelping and quieted, but now that he was closer to whoever it was Steve could hear arguing in mixed German and English, combined with the kind of soft cries you only heard out of the badly wounded. He jumped over a fallen HYDRA soldier, hopped his way up the treads of a tank, and came over the new ridge just in time to see Dum Dum punch a Nazi soldier right in the mouth.

The soldier fell back on his rear, spitting out blood and teeth. The three men behind him with guns didn't move, either to go to his aid or fire their rifles, though there was a certain nervousness in their sidelong looks that said they were close to trying something, be it violence or surrender. Behind them was a pair of soldiers leaning on each other just to stand, and behind them four men were on the ground being attended to by a medic covered in blood up to his elbows. It must have been one of those who screamed.

Steve slid down the pile of mud and dirt, careful not to drop any parts of the flying suit, and trotted over to listen to Dum Dum rant. "...you pin-headed, ninny-brained wack-a-loons! Do you see the guns we have? Do you see the man over there with the flamethrower? Do you see the guns you don't have? Don't think I can't see how half of those lights are completely dead, you can't fool me with your puffed up chests and pretend courage! Now me and my friends here, we want to get out of this stinkin' mud just as much as you do, so unless you want to be finely roasted sides of lead tenderized steak, you'll get your pointy heads out of your farting asses and lay down your arms!"

Steve trotted up the the group and Gabe gave him a quick nod before he started what was probably a fairly loose translation. Dum Dum didn't notice him, still panting and glaring at the Germans, who did seem pretty cowed after all that fire. The one Dum Dum had punched, probably the leader, pushed himself up off the ground and glared right back, wiping blood off his mouth. Steve didn't like that look, and dropped the flying suit on the ground in order to get his shield ready. Maybe the rest of the men would be more inclined to give up once their leader was out - or maybe one of the men would start an argument with his leader, complete with lots of pointing back at the groaning and whimpering wounded and shaking his rifle. The leader grimaced but a look at the wounded made him drop his head, and at a gesture the three men tossed their rifles at the Commandos feet.

The leader stepped forward, and Steve absently noted that under all the filth and grime he seemed to have the same rank insignias as the man whose uniform Steve had stolen earlier. He stood in front of Steve with almost painful stiffness, only letting his eyes move left and right. But all that didn't hide the look of contempt in his eyes when he looked at Gabe, and that dropped any thoughts Steve had about making this easy on him. The HYDRA agents usually accepted it - when they could be captured instead of swallowing their cyanide pills, at least - but the Nazis just couldn't seem to get it through their heads that their best chance for good communication was the black man and that maybe, just maybe that accorded a measure of respect.

"Captain!"

Steve shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to see The Joy sliding down the same ridge he'd used to come marching over. "What's the situation? Prisoners?"

Steve looked back at the prisoner's leader, who seemed more than a bit startled by The Joy's sudden appearance, and remembered some of the propaganda about women he'd seen around occupied Europe. "Yes, we were just taking their surrender." Steve paused and made a show of looking up into the air, like he'd just remembered something. "Actually...you know, all this time and I never actually asked your rank. It's got to be at least Captain, right?"

The Joy looked at him with narrowed eyes, clearly suspicious about this sudden line of questioning. "Yes, and?"

"And from what you said about being part of the SAS, you've probably been at this longer than I have." Steve gave her his best innocent all-American boy smile combined with a subtle head movement to the prisoner and Gabe. "Really, as the highest-ranking officer, shouldn't you be taking the surrender here?"

She blinked at him, then took another look at the prisoner, who now looking a good deal more confused and annoyed. She looked back at Steve, not quite smiling, but with a faint hint of amusement in her eyes. "That does sound correct. But," she turned to Gabe, "I'm afraid I don't speak a word of German. I'll be relying on you to give a full and accurate translation, Private Jones."

Gabe threw out a picture-perfect salute and a sharp "Yes, ma'am!" It was hard to tell, but the tight lines around his mouth betrayed a hidden grin.

Steve barely bit back his protest that yes, she did speak German, as he realised what game she was playing and then had to resist breaking out into laughter and giving the whole thing away. He never would've expected a woman who gave such a stern and straight-laced impression would have this sort of devil in her. He shook his head and said "While you're both taking care of that, I'll handle everything else." The Joy nodded acknowledgement, then turned her attention back to the prisoners.

Steve gestured at Dum Dum and walked them far enough away to not disturb the others. "What's the situation, Corporal?"

Dum Dum scratched at his chin for a bit before replying. "Well, we lost the tank we stole last night, but kept the truck. Jim and Jacques, and that weird bee guy, are working on it over there," he gestured off to the right where Steve could see The Pain helping prop up a truck that had a pair of legs, presumably Jim's, sticking out from under it, then Dum Dum continued. "It's taken some wear and tear, but with a bit of luck we can drive it out of here. The Fear and The End are off looking for more survivors. And as you can see, myself, Gabe, Montgomery and The Fury were all taking care of that lot over there."

"Excellent work. Anyone injured?"

"Nothing worth complaining about. Scrapes and bruises, Jacques got winged but we managed to tie it up. Was figuring I'd try and...persuade that medic to take a look once he gave up on performing miracles."

Steve glanced back at the medic, who was wrapping a bandage around a stump of a leg. The man with the stump jerked and let out another sharp scream before falling back limp. "We'll see. I'll go over and see how they're doing with the truck."

"Aye aye, you do that now." Dum Dum sketched a salute and went back to watching the prisoners. Steve jogged over to the truck, with a quick wave for Bucky and The Sorrow who had just caught up with all the rest of them. Bucky waved back, then said something to The Sorrow. All Steve could catch was something like 'feel out-?', which made The Sorrow look surprised and answer 'no?'

The closer Steve got to the truck, the louder the banging and cursing got. By the time he was there and helping be a human jack himself it sounded like Jim was about to just start hitting things and seeing if it worked. "Wrench!" he yelled from underneath, and a swarm of hornets flew it to him. "Thanks! Damn, wish I..." The rest was lost under more banging and a few creaking noises, then Jim yelled again. "Try it now!"

The engine rumbled, then cut out in a series of gutted croaks. "No good!" Jacques called from inside the cab.

"Motherfucking piece of shit! German engineering my ass, this is fucking..." The stream of curses was temporarily lost under a set of squeaking, screwing noises that eventually faded away. "Okay, how about now?"

This time the engine turned over and coughed to life. "Perfect!"

"Fucking finally! Okay, lemme get out and lay her down nice and gentle," Jim said while wiggling his way out. Steve set the truck down and walked over to where Jim was failing to wipe off the grease and mud.

"So, we've got reliable transportation?" He said with a gesture at the truck.

"Huh? Captain! Yeah, the truck's working as well as it's gonna. Wouldn't call it reliable, but I did what I could," Jim said. He gave up on getting clean and stood up, stretching out his arms. "Good to see you again, by the way. We saw you heading off on that thing, but couldn't catch up."

"But with our strength, we defeated the enemy!" The Pain stomped into the conversation, every limb radiating intensity. "I didn't fear for your safety, as you are clearly worthy of standing with The Joy." He shoved his hand at Steve and gave him a firm handshake. Steve gave as good as he got, and was pretty sure he managed to keep his smile loose and natural to boot. Well, it wasn't like The Pain was bad, just...very forceful.

"Good work, all of you. Now, we can start loading up the truck and-"

"Captain!" The Fury interrupted, leaving his post by the prisoners and coming over to talk, his words short and careful. "We have enemy's surrender at last. Stubborn fuckers!" The last was probably the most comfortable The Fury had ever sounded in English, and he spat on the ground before continuing. "One says there are supplies still in base. There is a room outside with food and medicine." He gestured a little to the left of the mechanical wrecks. "Medic wishes to have them, The Joy approves. Is truck working?"

"Yes, we just got it running." Steve rubbed at his forehead and shrugged. They could use the supplies, actually, and it would be less for anyone that can scavenging later. He couldn't say he wasn't worried about Jacques, and some medical alcohol and bandages would be a benefit even without the medic's help. "Jim, what do you say to taking this thing out for a test run?"

"No problem," Jim said with a cocky grin. "Hey Jacques, out of the driver's seat! We're going on a supply run and I'm driving! The Fury, you come too. Sounds like you know where it is." He ran off and scrambled into the cap, The Fury following along and taking shotgun. Steve and The Pain loaded themselves into the back, ready to help with carrying.

The ride was bumpy and Steve had to get out and push the truck over more than one suspicious, dirty heap, but the the information proved good and they did find a little supply cache nestled into the side of the mountain, miraculously unblocked by the remains of either the plane or the Eisenkafer. "Must've been where they dumped anything that wasn't going straight onto the Eisenkafer, just before the end," Steve mused as they sorted through the small room, and everyone else agreed. Half the room was collapsed, the supplies buried under tons of rock and concrete, but the few intact crates proved to have the promised rations and medical supplies. Further back there was also a bunch of blankets and even a box of neatly pressed uniforms. Steve grabbed a couple on the rationale that someone needed to drive them out of there, and that someone would need a disguise. Just as long as it wasn't him again.

They headed back after loading up the most valuable crates in the truck, leaving behind the toilet paper and lightbulbs. Steve cleaned out and wrapped up the long, bloody streak in Jacques' side as they drove back, trying to hold them both steady over the lurching ups and downs. He got called every name under the sun for it, but when he was done the wound was more-or-less neatly wrapped and would at least hold until they could get back to a real doctor. Jacques was stiffly putting his jacket back on when the truck ground to a halt and they all piled out.

The rest were waiting for them, including The Fear and The End, who didn't seem to have found anyone to bring back. Steve met with the Joy and confirmed that they had found the supplies and taken the useful ones with them, she told him that they were playing host to a Sergeant Schneider and his men and a combination of interrogation and scouting had revealed what seemed to be a good road back to allied territory.

"Which just leaves the problem of who gets to drive," Steve said. "Is there anyone besides you in the Cobras that speaks decent German?"

The Joy raised an eyebrow at the 'besides you', but she didn't protest. "Just The Fear. The Sorrow can try, but his accent is worse than in English."

"And the Germans aren't exactly recruiting from the Soviet Union," Steve said. Gabe was always out of the question, and Steve really wanted to avoid a repeat of getting caught out by Branstein. "I got a few uniforms from the supply cache, let's see if any fit The Fear. Anything else we need to do here?"

There wasn't, besides clearing a path for the truck as best they could. One of the larger uniforms did fit The Fear, and even if his wrists and ankles stuck out no one would probably notice. Quickly everyone turned to the necessary work for getting the hell out.

Pretty soon they finished loading everyone into the truck, laying the injured prisoners on the floor with folded jackets under their heads and pressing anyone that could at least sit up against the sides. They were packed in tight, 'arse to elbows' as Montgomery would say, and there was a lot of pushing and shoving to get everyone settled in. Steve ended up between Bucky and The Joy, Bucky's chin digging into his shoulder and The Joy regularly elbowing him as she cleaned her gun. Sometimes Steve almost wished he was smaller. He wiggled himself down a bit and sighed.

The medic - Muller, Steve thought, vaguely recalling Gabe calling him that - sat in the middle of the injured, wrapping bandages, adjusting bloodsoaked gauze pads, wiping away filth, doing whatever he could before they started moving. Gabe sat against the wall nearest to him, ready to translate if he needed something. This meant he was right next to Sergeant Schneider, who didn't look happy about the arrangement at all. He edged away from Gabe as much as the press of bodies would allow and glared when it barely bought him a half a foot of space. Gabe just gave him a nice big smile in return. Steve kept an eye on them. If Schneider made a wrong move...but he seemed to have shifted his strategy to checking up on his men and pointedly ignoring every non-German in the truck.

Dum Dum broke open one of the cases of rations they'd lifted from the ruins of Nichts Garten as the truck jolted into movement, with The Sorrow and Montgomery helping pass them around. The rations were passed from hand to hand, and the occupants of the truck settled down to eating, napping, or staring quietly at the opposing wall. Muller finished his grim work and took the one open space against the walls, flopping into the tiny gap between Gabe and Schneider with a sigh that was less a conscious exhalation and more air forced out by the impact. He was asleep in seconds, slumped over and drooling on Schneider's shoulder while he and Gabe tried to work their way out from under him. It didn't work that well.

The Joy finished cleaning her gun and rested it on her knees. Now they were out of battle, Steve took a careful look at it. It looked like just an ordinary tommygun, exactly like the ones the army handed out to everyone. There was nothing unusual about it at all. But he could swear she hadn't reloaded once during the entire battle and for the life of him Steve couldn't figure it out.

She must have noticed his staring and looked up at him. "Something wrong, Captain?"

"Just wondering. You said not to worry about ammo in the fight and you'd explain later." He shrugged as best he could without making Bucky bite his tongue off. "Well, it's later."

She smiled at him, a trace of smug pride in her expression. "It's simple. The internal feed mechanism is in the shape of an infinity symbol. Therefore, I have unlimited ammo." There was absolutely no trace of irony or humour in her voice.

Steve considered this, decided that it made about as much sense as anything else that had happened since he met the Cobras, and nodded solemnly. "That's pretty handy, all right. Does his," he gestured over at The Pain, who was sleeping a bit further down, "have the same modification?"

"Of course not." The Joy looked at him like she was a teacher with a bright child who had just asked if the sky was green. "His is made of bees."

"Of...course."

"Your turn," she said and brushed her fingers along the edge of his shield. "When I blocked that missile I didn't feel the impact at all, like nothing had happened. How'd they manage that?"

"It's made of vibranium." Steve could never keep the pride out of his voice when he described his shield, and why should he? Howard had outdone himself with it. "It's a rare metal that completely absorbs all vibrations, so I can take any blow and never even feel it. And because of that, it's completely indestructible." He held it up for inspection.

The Joy frowned and tapped at it. "Completely indestructible? Does such a thing even exist? Anything can be broken, given the time and means."

Steve held his tongue and did not point out that his shield was based on solid scientific principles and those scientific principles said it was indestructible. It was completely unlike twisting a feed mechanism to magically spit out unlimited ammo. Instead he said, "That's what Howard said, and he hasn't been proven wrong yet."

She didn't look like she completely accepted that explanation, but she didn't question further about it. She settled back down next to The Sorrow, who took a curious look at Steve's shield himself.

They rode along in silence after that, save for a few whispered conversations and the choked moans of the wounded. Steve closed his eyes and listened, half-dreaming in a daze, when Bucky spoke up. "So...what are you planning on doing after the war?"

Steve blinked and opened his eyes to see Bucky leaning over him and talking to The Joy and The Sorrow. He pulled his head down from the wall and rubbed at his neck while waiting for the reply.

"Not just be a politician's daughter, if you were wondering." The Joy's tone was heavily sardonic, and Bucky winced a bit and mumbled an apology in response. The Joy shrugged and added, "My father's dead anyway."

After that she paused and stared at the floor before continuing, lips pressed into a thin line. "Once the war is over...I've barely thought about it. I can't just stop being a soldier. My duty, my mission, my loyalty - it's all I am."

Steve nodded along, knowing exactly how she felt. 'What will you do when this is all over' was a common topic among the Commandos, and one he never knew how to answer. He hadn't really had a life before the army, not one he could go back to now in any case. He'd never wish for the war to be continued, he just couldn't quite picture a life beyond it. He had vague visions of going back to Brooklyn, eating real food and strolling down the streets with Bucky and Peggy, but nothing like a career. "Yeah, I understand. At least the army won't disappear once the war is over. We'll find something to do," he said. It would probably be a lot harder for a woman to stay in the army in peacetime, but Steve was pretty sure The Joy could manage it.

"That's true enough. It seems there will always be another war to fight." It was hard to tell how The Joy felt about this, her voice was so flat and even.

"I hope not. Another war like this...Europe, no, the world couldn't take it." Steve was reminded of what The Sorrow had told him earlier, about how everyone had to face all the people they had killed in life after death and how he had pictured endless rivers of souls that should've gone to peaceful rest swirling around, consumed by vengeance. It was a horrific vision, and the idea of it just happening, over and over... Steve shuddered. His eyes met The Sorrow's, and he could see the same thoughts reflected there.

"Well, how about this," Bucky said, shifting a little so he could better face them. "This time we do it. 'The war to end all wars' sticks, and we never have to fight another one. True peace, forever. What do you do?"

There was a chorus of "Good luck" and "Would be nice" replies from the rest of the truck, with Montgomery adding dryly, "only the dead have seen the end of war". He looked around at the other's blank faces and added, "Plato, don't you know? Come on, I know some of you went to university."

"Look, none of that is the point!" Bucky shouted over everyone else. "What if we do manage it? What then?"

Everyone went quiet for a bit. It was, honestly, an unimaginable idea. The end of the current war was distant enough, the end of all war, forever...

Eventually The Sorrow broke the silence. "The same as I want to do after the end of this war. I would like to teach people, to be...someone children may look up to." He laughed a dry little laugh. "I, for one, would not mind leaving this all behind."

There was a chorus of general agreement to that sentiment, one Steve and The Joy didn't join in. The look The Joy gave Steve was a bit rueful, as if she was ashamed of being unable to think of anything to do besides be a solider. Steve gave her his best grin in return, though it had more than a bit of empathetic embarrassment behind it as well. "Well, you know. A world without war would be heaven, right? I'm sure we could figure out something to do, even there." He could build homes, or go back to art, or even just run around in his monkey suit entertaining children. He'd figure something out.

The Joy gave a small 'heh' that might've just been a breath of air. "I...I'm afraid I'd be outside that heaven." She must've seen the look on Steve's face, because her eye turned hard and determined before she continued. "Don't misunderstand, I'd die to see it realised. But." She looked down at her gun, stroking it absently. "I could settle down. Become a wife, become a mother...but I'd always be a soldier first and foremost." The Sorrow laid a hand on her shoulder, looking concerned, and she turned to him for a moment, placing her hand over his. They stayed like that for a moment, then The Joy turned back to Steve, her eyes filled with sad resignation. "If I put down my gun, I'd die. It's as simple as that."

"The original mission still stands, but in accordance to new developments we are changing the exit procedure. Naked Snake has been dispatched to kill you. Let him."

The Boss finished decoding her orders and set the pen down with a soft clink. It was inevitable, really. Volgin had fired an American nuclear warhead onto a Russian base, and she had been the one to deliver it to him. Of course the Kremlin was looking for someone to blame, and of course the only person the US could offer up as a sacrifice to prevent nuclear war was her. And of course the only person they'd trust with the mission...would be Jack.

She encoded and sent back a short "Understood", then burned both the orders and the encryption pad. The ashes danced and swirled away, scattering all over the room. Like petals, or perhaps casings. Her final mission. She'd been expecting it, ever since the Mercury flight, when it was proven once and for all her superiors cared more about their own personal pride than their country. That it was Jack who would kill her...perhaps that was also inevitable. The boy she'd raised to be a true soldier, her personal apprentice, would now be the one to take her life.

The paper was completely consumed in the flames, and The Boss went to rejoin her comrades. At last, the Cobras were reunited - just in time for one final mission. They idled around the blank, ill-furnished room in Grozny Grad, The Pain on the worn couch with The Fear perched behind him, The End in his wheelchair, The Fury coming in, carrying a bundle. He tossed it at her, adding in Russian "That arrogant sonovabitch Volgin told me to give you this, Boss. Says it's a new uniform now that you've joined us here in the Soviet Union."

The bundle turned out to be a white suit and a black cape, sturdy without too much loss of movement. It would suit her well, and it was disgusting to think of Volgin preparing it just for her. But this was also part of her mission. She tucked it under her arm, then addressed the Cobras.

"Listen, my friends," The Boss announced. "This will be our final mission. The US government has ordered me to die for the sake of peace, and I will not disobey orders. If you follow me, we will all perish at Jack's hands. Most of us will be remembered as traitors, our names and deeds erased from history." The Fury, at least, would be spared that and be remembered as a hero who died for his homeland. "Follow me, and I will lead you straight to hell."

"We have walked into this darkness, we will not walk out of it now," The Pain said, and the rest agreed with him.

"You are all my comrades. I will not abandon you now, not here," The Fury added, his voice oddly muffled through the cosmonaut suit.

The Boss bowed her head with quiet thanks. She hadn't expected anything else. They had followed her into every hell in war, they would follow in this freezing peace. This peace of twisting words, politician's pride, constant threat of armageddon, endless bickering over money - it was almost enough to wish for the days of war, when loyalty was simple, the Philosophers acted with one purpose, The Sorrow was by her side and it was still a joy to serve her country.

War and loyalty...it reminded her of that Captain America, with his shield and never-flagging idealism. What would he do in this new kind of war? Would he still follow the stars and stripes into this filthy world where the deepest bonds were ruined at a whim? He had been so pure, like Jack was now, and had no emotion to carry into battle. He might've ended up The Calm, or perhaps The Shield. But instead he had died a hero.

Someone tapped her elbow, and The Boss shook herself out of her thoughts to see The End awake and looking at her. "What are you thinking of? This is not the time to be lost in dreams," he said, though not unkindly.

"I was thinking of heroes, and dying at the right time," she answered. "Do you remember Captain America?"

"Naive bastard who picked the right moment to die," The Fury said, then considered for a moment. "Good arm, though, and had no fear of flames. Hope he and The Sorrow are looking out for each other on the other side."

"He had honour." The Fear cocked his head to the side. "And was noble, certainly. If circumstances were better, you both would be remembered as the legendary soldiers that won the Second World War."

"But the time of heroes and legends is over," The End said. "It died in that war and left us here to slowly fade into the future. We have already outlived our usefulness. It is for the best that this be our final mission, one final battle before the darkness." He looked up at The Boss again, and she could see how tired he was, with just enough barely strength left for the last battle and hoping it would be worthy of the title.

"...I trained him myself. Jack won't disappoint us there," The Boss said, absolute in her conviction. Jack would take her legacy, what she had seen in the Mercury capsule so high above the Earth. That world with no countries, no borders, and he would make it reality. A heaven.

All she would be able to do was watch from the outside with all the heroes and legends from the past.

"...anyway, we made it back to base safely. One of those poor guys with his chest full of shrapnel and a leg blown off even managed to survive. That was pretty close to a miracle, back then." Steve paused and took another sip of his Coke. "We did get caught by a patrol, but The Fear spun a tale about how he had just gotten lost in a panic trying to get this truck full of wounded to a hospital while avoiding the scary Allied special forces and managed to send them all off on a wild goose chase while we cruised straight on to safety. Surprisingly good liar, that man." It had been a tense few moments sitting there in the dark with guns out, trying to keep the prisoners quiet and sure the cloth in the back was going to be nudged away the very next second. Eventually they'd heard the sound of trucks driving away and relaxed, but slowly.

"And after that?" Natasha tilted her head, looking actually curious.

Steve blinked, then shrugged. "What do you mean, 'after that'? We made it back to base, debriefed, handed everything interesting we got over to Howard and went to bed. A few days after that we got sent off on another mission. We ran across the Cobras a few more times and helped each other out, but pretty soon we had our hands full just fighting HYDRA." He shook his head, feeling a little tired. "Wonder what happened to all of them. They weren't the type to just roll over and die." He'd tried to look up their fates, after he'd gotten some free time. It felt less immediate than the fate of his comrades, less painful to think they were all dead. He'd read about The Joy changing her codename and developing CQC, and been amused she'd managed to turn throwing people into other people into an entire martial art still used today. There were fewer details on the other Cobras, obviously none on The Fury or The Sorrow, but they all seemed to have gotten along in their lives, at least for awhile. Then everything after 1960 was so classified not even he could read it.

Clint and Natasha gave each other a sideways glance they probably didn't think Steve noticed. Clint looked away first, covering it up with a long stretch. "Eh, all I know is what I read in history books. But man, I can't believe you got to fight alongside The Boss." He took a long swig of his beer and shook his head. "You could make a movie out of it: the two legendary soldiers teaming up to fight evil. Even after what-" He cut himself off suddenly, as if he'd said something he didn't mean to.

Well, that was nice and obvious. Something had happened to The Joy afterwards, something SHIELD apparently didn't want him to know about. A mission gone wrong? A betrayal? Clint didn't look directly guilty, but his face had that odd stiffness of someone trying too hard to maintain a poker face. Steve made a quiet note to corner him about it later.

Natasha didn't bother looking at Clint, but just took a deliberately casual sip of her water. "I used to look up to her a lot, you know," she said, her voice quiet with old memories. "I would read about the exploits of the Cobra Unit in the history books. I would wonder what it would be like if she had lived long enough for us to meet, if she'd think I was good enough to fight with."

"I'm sure you two would've gotten along great," Steve said, trying to picture what that meeting would be like. Not explosive, but neither of them would be able to resist testing the other. Or it could just end in an icy stare-off.

"The oldest of my trainers, he fought in Stalingrad. The surest way to distract him was just to ask him to tell the story of how he met Voyevoda and she saved his life."

"Some real US-Soviet cooperation, there. Wonder how much detante that was worth later?" Clint leaned forward again, resting his head on his hand. Natasha just shrugged in reply.

Steve frowned. He couldn't say he was surprised by the Cold War, when they told him about it, but it was sad. He couldn't imagine what it was like for The Joy to have two of her men become enemies, just like that. He'd tried to picture if the US had decided Britain and France were the enemy after WWII and he'd had to accept the idea that if he ever met Jacques and Montgomery again they'd likely have to kill each other. In that case, Steve honestly couldn't say what he'd do. He wasn't sure he'd pick his country over his friends, not if it was for some stupid political reason. He sighed and shook his head. "That entire mess...war really does never disappear, does it."

"Hey, we managed to avoid World War III. I'd call that a win in any book." Clint finished off his beer and tossed the can over him shoulder without looking. It landed perfectly in the recycling bin. "Sure, there's still conflicts around, but that's just people being people. You can't have 7 billion monkeys on the planet without some problems."

"SHIELD's doing a lot to manage the level of regional conflicts around the globe," Natasha added. "We can't control everything, but we can try to keep a lid on things. We're already spread around a system for user ID on guns using nanomachines, so random groups can't scavenge or hijack a shipment of guns. It cuts down on unauthorized weapon use by a huge factor."

"But lemme guess. The ones that do explode go because someone's making a lot of money on the deal," Clint said.

Natasha smiled sweetly at him. "That sounds very disloyal, Clint." Clint raised his hands in mock-surrender, and Natasha's face slipped back to cool neutral. "A lot of people see war as a business now, and we can't put that genie back in the bottle. But we're doing what we can."

Of course they couldn't fix stubborn, idiotic politicians who cared more about their kickbacks than human lives, but that didn't mean Steve had to like it. Knowing they'd always been around didn't help the rush of furious anger he felt when he read about that one senator from Colorado - Armstrong, he was pretty sure - getting caught in bed with one of those new bands of mercenary thugs, dismissing all concerns about it, and cruising straight to Congress with a healthy majority of the vote anyway. It was like the people cared more about hearing pretty things about how special America was while ignoring the mound of skeletons behind the curtain than actually doing the hard work of making America great. It was infuriating, especially when there was no way Captain America could make a statement against any politician. All he could do was watch the speeches with gritted teeth and make quiet, anonymous donations to anti-PMC groups. Steve knocked back another drink of Coke and sourly thought about how much better alcohol would fit his mood.

Still, Natasha was right, they were doing what they could. War might be a business now, but businesses could be fought. And it was true they hadn't had any major wars since the end of WWII. It might be because of deterrence, but at least the human race wasn't stupid enough to push the button that ended the world. And now he could work to prevent anything from getting to that level ever again.

Steve raised his glass. "Well, then. To shields, and what they protect."

Natasha raised hers, tapping it against Steve's with a soft clink. "To true Patriots, and the world they made."

They drank.