CHAPTER FIVE —
( I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 times. )

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Evelyn asked Howard if he could fly a plane towards the HYDRA base and he immediately agreed, knowing that Evelyn would be able to look after herself with ease and that Steve would also be there to watch her back.   

"The HYDRA camp is in Krausberg, tucked between these two mountain ranges." Peggy pointed at the map in front of her. "It's a factory of some kind."

"We should be able to drop you two right on the doorstep," Howard informed them from the pilot seat.

"Just get us as close as you can," Steve told him.

"You know, you two are gonna be in a lot of trouble when you land," Evelyn told Peggy and Howard.

"Wouldn't be the first time, Evie," Howard said.

"And you won't?" Peggy asked.

"Where we're goin', if anybody yells at us, we can just shoot 'em," Steve told her.

"They will undoubtedly shoot back," Peggy said.

"Well, let's hope it's good for somethin'." Steve patted his shield.

Evelyn leaned over and placed two fingers onto the shield and then easily beat it. "I can bend it with two fingers, Steve," Evelyn told him.

"Don't break it yet. It may be useful," he bent it back.

"Evie, when you get back, I think we need to go out again in Lucerne for our monthly late-night fondue," Howard said.

"Sure thing, Howie," Evelyn rolled her eyes. She made sure that her holster held her two pistols and that a shotgun was strapped to her back.

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

"So are you two...?" Steve looked at Evelyn and gestured to Howard, "Do you...? Fondue?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, having no idea what he was talking about.

Peggy cut off the awkward tension. "This is your transponder. Activate it when you're ready and the signal will lead us straight to you two." Peggy gave Evelyn the device.

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

"It's been tested more than you, pal," Howard replied, causing Evelyn to chuckle.

Then suddenly, the plane was under attack. Bombs were being shot all around it, rocking the plane around. Steve and Evelyn quickly stood up and Steve hurried towards the exit of the plane. Evelyn made her way towards Howard and crouched down beside him.

"In case I don't come back," she said.

"You will," he smiled. "But stay safe."

"I always do." Evelyn kissed his cheek and then headed towards where Steve was at the door of the plane ready to jump out.

"We're taking you all the way in," Peggy told them.

"As soon as we're clear, you turn this thing around and get the hell outta here!" Steve ordered her.

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

"The hell I can't! I'm a captain!" Steve placed on his goggles and jumped out of the plane. Evelyn slid on her goggles as well and made sure her parachute was on properly.

"Make sure to come back," Peggy said.

Evelyn turned to look at her. "I promise." Then scooted to the edge of the plane and leapt out.

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Evelyn and Steve made it to the ground safely without any of the bombs hitting them. They then took their parachutes off and hurried through the forest, reaching a heavily guarded fence. Incoming trucks caused Evelyn to duck and pull Steve down with her. Cars and trucks approached the gate, and Evelyn quickly pointed towards the back of one of the trucks, signalling where they were going. Steve nodded and the two of them ran towards the back of the last truck.

Evelyn jumped in first and came face to face with two HYDRA men dressed in black suits and a helmet. She looked between the two before pulling on a smile. "Hi." Steve then jumped into the back beside her.

"Fellas," Steve nodded.

The two guards charged at them, but Evelyn quickly ducked under the man's punches and then elbowed him in the face, knocking him out. She then threw him out of the truck, and Steve did the same with his soldier.

"Do you have a plan?" Evelyn asked Steve.

He turned back around to her. "I thought you were the one with a plan."

"I don't have a plan! You're the one who decided it'd be a good idea to break into a HYDRA facility. I'm just here to make sure you don't die whilst doing it," Evelyn explained.

"You told me you know HYDRA more than I do. I thought you would have come up with the plan," Steve said in defence.

Evelyn let out an exasperated sigh. "How 'bout we just wing it?" The truck stopped moving and Evelyn could hear noises from outside the truck. "Steve, put your shield in front of us so we can hide behind it then hit the first soldier who opens up the flap."

Steve nodded his head, understanding what Evelyn just told him, and immediately after he did that, a HYDRA agent opened up the flap. Steve hit him with his shield and the man flew away, getting knocked unconscious.

"Nice," Evelyn commented.

The two quickly jumped out of the truck and ran towards where the other trucks were parked. Evelyn and Steve walked quietly around the tanks, going unnoticed by the HYDRA men until they found a tank parked up against a building. Evelyn pointed it out to Steve, and then the two ran towards it. They jumped onto the tank and Steve was the first to jump onto the roof. He turned around and held his hand out to help hoist Evelyn up onto the roof but she surprised him by easily leaping onto the roof and landing beside him. Steve gave Evelyn a shocked look who only shrugged in return. They then ran across the roof, jumped off and went through a door that led into the facility.

Evelyn and Steve walked through some corridors and came upon a locked door. "What do we do now?" Steve asked.

"I know how to pick a lock," Evelyn suggested. "But that would take a couple of moments."

Steve stared at the door for a few seconds, before knocking on it.

Evelyn awkwardly stood in front of the door as an agent opened it. "Hi," she smiled before Steve slammed the door on his head and Evelyn punched him in the face. Evelyn dragged the man's body back into the room, then quietly walked out after Steve.

Steve and Evelyn ran towards a corner and peeked around it, seeing men with special sorts of guns with blue lights on them. Evelyn got her shotgun out from behind her back, just in case things turned ugly. She then ran towards some crates in front of them, Steve following closely behind her. They went through the room as quietly as possible without any HYDRA agent spotting the two.

They turned a corner and found a bunch of bags with a glowing blue substance in them. "I think this is what's powering their weapons. We should probably take some back to base."

"Not now. On our way out we'll grab some," Steve replied.

They continued through the factory and managed to get to where the 107th prisoners were being held. As a guard walked along, Evelyn quickly went up to him, kicked his knee and punched his face, knocking him unconscious. She then grabbed the keys from the man's belt before one of the prisoners spoke up.

"Who are you supposed to be?" One of the captured soldiers asked.

Steve walked beside Evelyn and looked down at him. "I'm Captain America," he told them.

Then they looked at Evelyn and she flashed them a grin. "And I'm Evelyn Parrish."

"Wait, Evelyn Parrish? One of the CEOs of Stark Industries?" Evelyn grinned at that. Usually, people don't know that it was both her and Howard who founded Stark Industries and that they just look over her. She nodded at the man and he grinned.

Evelyn made her way down the ladder and began to unlock everyone's cells and all of the men hurried out.

"What, are we taking everybody?" A man asked as Evelyn unlocked his cage. "I'm from Fresno, Ace."

"What's a beautiful doll like you doing here?" A man asked, walking up to Evelyn.

"Saving your ass," she replied.

"Is there anybody else? I'm looking for a Sergeant James Barnes," Steve called out.

"There's an isolation ward in the factory, but no one's ever come back from it," a man with a heavy accent told them as Steve and Evelyn led the men out.

"All right," Steve said. "The tree line is northwest, 80 yards past the gate. Get out fast and give 'em hell. We'll meet you in the clearing with anybody else we find."

"Wait. You know what you're doing?" A man asked.

Evelyn shrugged. "I'm just an Agent."

"Yeah, I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 times," Steve replied before the pair ran off down the hall, leaving everybody confused as hell.

Evelyn and Steve made their way to the isolation ward, with sirens beginning to blare overhead. They walked down a long and dirty corridor when a round, short man exited the room up ahead. Evelyn instantly recognised him as Zola, the head scientist working for Schmidt. She began to run after him with Steve following closely behind her until he suddenly stopped. Evelyn halted her running and turned around to see Steve walk into the room Zola had just come out from. She walked back towards the room and entered it, only to find a man lying down on what appeared to be an experiment table.

"Sergeant three-two-five-five-seven," he was mumbling to himself.

Steve ran up to him and Evelyn appeared at his other side. "Bucky?" Bucky's eyes opened up and he looked at Steve. "Oh, my god," Steve mumbled as he began untying the man's restraints. Bucky looked really out of it, and it broke Evelyn's heart slightly. How could Zola do this to people?

"Is that..." Bucky started.

"It's me. It's Steve," Steve said.

"Steve?" Bucky asked confused, being brought out of a daze.

"Come on," Steve helped him off of the table. "I thought you were dead," he sighed in relief.

Bucky frowned at his comment, looking his best friend up and down. "I thought you were smaller," he commented lightly. Evelyn went to the other side of Bucky, but Bucky pulled away from Steve to look at her. "You're Evelyn Parrish."

Evelyn chuckled. "And you're Bucky Barnes. Steve has talked an awful lot about you."

"He has?" Bucky asked quietly, looking at his best friend.

"Oh yeah. Now we better get goin' before this building explodes." Bucky nodded in agreement and the three quickly hurried out of the room, passing a map showcasing where all of the HYDRA bases were.

"What happened to you?" Bucky asked Steve as they hurried down the corridor.

"I joined the army," he replied.

"Did it hurt?" Bucky asked.

"A little," He replied.

"Is it permanent?"

"So far."

"It should be," Evelyn said. They made it back to the factory as the floor below began to blow up and ran up a flight of stairs to get away from the incoming fire when someone yelled out.

"Captain America!" Evelyn turned her head and saw Schmidt standing on the other side of the factory with Zola beside him. "How exciting! I am a great fan of your films! So, Dr Erskine managed it after all." Steve and Schmidt began to walk across the platform towards each other. "Not exactly an improvement but still, impressive. All with the help of little Evelina Parrish here."

Evelyn raised her eyebrows, surprised he knew her name. "If you call me little again, I will knock you out."

Schmidt chuckled. "I couldn't possibly fight you. Not when I should be praising you."

Evelyn frowned. "What?"

Steve then suddenly held his hand back and punched Schmidt right in the face. Schmidt stood upright in a second and punched Steve's shield, denting it. Schmidt punched Steve again, knocking him onto the floor and dropping his pistol in the process. Steve used both of his legs to kick Schmidt away from him. Zola pulled a lever and the bridge began to close.

"No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, I was his greatest success!" Schmidt then began to pull his face off, only to find that it wasn't his real face, but a mask. A naked, bony, red face appeared before their very eyes.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky asked Steve.

"You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality, you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind." Schmidt threw his face mask into the fire below. "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!"

"I would scare myself every day just looking into the mirror if I looked like that," Evelyn mumbled.

"Same," Bucky said back.

"Then how come you're running?" Steve yelled out to him but to no reply. Schmidt and Zola disappeared behind a set of doors. The explosions down below caused Evelyn to cover her eyes.

Evelyn looked around the room for a way out and saw one across the railing overhead. "Come on, up we go!" She pushed the two men towards the stairs.

They ran up a few flights of stairs until they stood in front of the railing that was connecting the two sides. Bucky stepped to the side. "Ladies first." Evelyn rolled her eyes before stepping up onto the platform.

Evelyn slowly made her way across it and then jumped over the railing at the end without a bump. "That was fun," she mumbled.

Bucky then began to get onto the beam and slowly started to make his way across to Evelyn. Explosions shook the beam and caused it to fall slightly. "Bucky! Hurry!" Evelyn exclaimed. He moved faster towards the end, and just when the beam fell, he jumped. Evelyn grabbed onto his hands so he wouldn't fall and pulled him up to where she was.

"You're strong," he breathed out.

"Thank you," she replied.

They looked over towards Steve. "There's gotta be a rope or somethin'!" Evelyn called out to him.

"Just go! Get out of here!" Steve called back.

"No! Not without you!" Bucky yelled back, the two staying firmly in their spots.

Steve moved back from where he was and Evelyn quickly broke the railing in front of her.

"Is he gonna make it?" Bucky asked.

Evelyn winced. "Maybe."

Steve ran forward and leapt into the air. He jumped so high that even though explosions went on from below him, it didn't faze him and he landed perfectly on the platform in front of Bucky and Evelyn.

"You alright?" Bucky asked Steve.

Steve nodded, trying to catch his breath. "Now, we better catch up to the soldiers quickly before this place blows up and head back to camp," Evelyn told them.

Steve and Bucky nodded. "Roger that!"