CHAPTER NINE:

GOING UNDER THE WATER

THE WOODS WERE full of soldiers as they surrounded the Hydra base, waiting for the signal to leave past the trees and to attack the base after Captain America had gone in with a motorcycle with the rest chasing after him. Snow laid on the ground, the cold air invisible to the naked eye, yet they could still feel it.

Within the woods, Y/n wore a pair of boots comfortably with the pair of pants she was wearing as she glanced past the branches of the trees, hearing the sounds of the explosions all around, silently hoping that Steve was okay after he had purposely been caught and taken to Johann Schmidt himself.

The woman, along with her sister, was holding a gun in her arms that she had cocked and ready to shoot when it was time. Beside her and Peggy, Colonel Phillips was holding a walkie to his ear after they had all heard the explosions from inside, silently guessing that they'd be given the signal soon, as to why he was waiting.

"We're in! Assault team, go!" A voice shouts from the other side of the walkie.

"Move out!" Colonel Phillips exclaims.

Almost right after that, he was putting the walkie away and all the soldiers were rushing in the direction of the Hydra base. Clenching her jaw, Y/n checked her gun to make sure that it was fully loaded before she was following behind the soldiers, seeing Peggy just a bit in front of her as she joined the men.

The Hydra agents were shooting back almost right away and many of the soldiers had been able to dodged or jump out of the way of their shots. Y/n felt her grip tighten on her gun as she pulled on the trigger, nailing one of the Hydra agents in the face, killing him. Her legs were in a sprint as she ran along side some other men.

The rumbling of the explosions around had her stumbling a bit from how much the ground was shaking. When one of the explosions were right next to her, she felt her feet leave the ground as her body was flown back and collapsing on the rocks. The woman felt her ears ring as she opened her eyes, squinting while looking around.

She could hardly hear anything, the ringing so loud that it blocked everything out. Even though she couldn't hear, Y/n ignored the hair sticking to her face as she stumbled up until she was on her knees. Noticing a Hydra agent who noticed her, she quickly aimed her weapon at him and pulled the trigger, the bullet nailing him right in the neck.

Suddenly, the feeling of a hand grabbing her arm caused her to look up to see Peggy was there and had grabbed her arm, pulling her up to her feet. Their feet moved towards the base where a large hole could be seen, leading to the inside of the base itself where some of the Howling Commandos and Steve himself were in.

The ringing in her ears was slowly stopping as they were able to get inside with Colonel Phillips and lots of other soldiers. Shooting at some Hydra soldiers, Y/n reloaded her gun while she moved her feet down the hallway in search of more and also in search of Steve, hoping he had gotten free from Schmidt.

Just as she turned one corner, her eyes caught sight of a very tall Hydra agent with a large weapon, which happened to be a flamethrower. The flames were being shot in one certain direction, the large man having not noticed the woman. Rushing forward, she aimed her gun at the flamethrower itself and pulled the trigger.

The flamethrower machine blew up all over the large man when the bullets hit it, his loud cry of pain being heard before he collapsed to the floor, lifeless. Without hesitation, Y/n sprinted in the direction of the now dead man and just as she got to the end of the, she ran right into Steve, who's eyes instantly looked to her.

"You're late." Steve breathes out.

Y/n furrows her brows, one hand going to her ears. "Huh?"

This made him chuckle a bit as he stepped closer to her, their eyes staring at one another. It seemed as if the ringing had completely stopped when he showed up and his eyes only looked away for a moment when he noticed all the dust and debris all over her face from the explosion that sent her flying.

With one of his gloved hands, he brought a hand up and let it caress her cheek as he gently wiped a bit of it away. Soldiers were rushing past him, though neither of the two paid them any mind as they didn't look away from one another. When she noticed his blue eyes glance between her eyes and lips, the woman was quick to remember where they were.

"Weren't you about to..." Y/n begins, trailing off in a reminder.

The super soldier looked at where he had thrown his shield, seeing it was still nudged between the two doors that kept them from closing. His eyes widened in realization as he mumbled a quiet 'right' before rushing off in the direction Schmidt had ran to. Y/n took a couple steps forward as she kept her eyes on him.

Her gaze watched as he grabbed his shield before squeezing through the doors just as they closed behind him, blocking him from her view. Hearing her sister's voice call out to her, the young woman turns around and sprints off to where the rest of the army had gone, catching up with them to see Peggy had waited.

It didn't take too long till they were all outside in a large garage where a large plane was being readied up with Schmidt inside of it. Y/n dodged any of the shots being shot near her, shooting back when she caught sight of Steve using the effects of the serum and sprinting after the plane in hopes of catching up with it.

Colonel Phillips also seemed to notice when he saw a nice, fancy looking car. The older man was quick to hop into the driver's seat, yelling at the sister's to quickly join him. Y/n trailed behind Peggy as they got into the backseat and just as they sat down, Colonel Phillips was pressing his foot onto the gas after getting the car ready and speeding off.

Y/n could see Steve in the distance as he tried to go faster in his sprint, though when the plane was moving faster, he slowly came to a stop as he stared at it. However, just as he did so, the colonel pulled the vehicle up beside him, shouting at him to get in. Without any reluctance, Steve was quick to hop into the passenger's seat.

When both his feet were in, the colonel didn't care about if he was sitting as he sped off and after the plane before it'd be going up into the air. Y/n gripped the back of the front seats as her hair flew around while she sat beside Peggy. Just then, they had caught sight of large doors opening, revealing the outside and they realized just how close they were.

Noticing a red button beside the wheel, Colonel Phillips took a second glance down as he used his finger to press it, only making the car go even faster than it already had been. It only took a few seconds till they were able to get close enough to the plane where Steve was moving to stand up on the seat.

"Keep it steady!" Steve yells out.

Y/n's eyes widen. "Wait!"

Hearing her voice, Steve snaps his head in her direction as she leans up and grabbed part of his suit, softly pulling him down towards her. Next thing the super soldier knew, their lips met halfway and unlike the last kiss he had with the woman he didn't know, he kissed back after a couple of seconds before she pulled away, their eyes staring at each other.

"Go get him." Y/n tells him.

Colonel Phillips shakes his head when Steve looked at him. "I'm not kissing you!"

Realizing how close they were to the plane, Steve quickly got over his shock as he put his shield over his back, stepping completely out of the vehicle and holding onto the side. He frantically ducked when one of the propellers almost hit him, only hitting his shield, which caused a bit of sparks to unite.

Those propellers began hitting the ends of the vehicle, causing it to swerve a bit. Just as they were exiting the tunnel, Steve had been able to jump up and grab onto the wheel of the plane before Colonel Phillips frantically swerved before they'd be falling off of the cliff. The road was slippery as he turned at the wheel.

Luckily, the vehicle was able to stop with just the back end of it hanging over the edge. Y/n didn't seem to care about that as she looked over her shoulder, standing up a bit as her eyes watched the plane take off with Steve and Johann Schmidt inside. Both Peggy and Colonel Phillips followed her gaze, all of them hoping the super soldier would be able to stop him.

After about a minute of staring at the plane, Colonel Phillips was driving back into the tunnel where the rest of the soldiers were, who had all been able to capture or kill Schmidt's agents. Bodies laid all around, though they didn't pay them any mind as Y/n hopped out of the vehicle with the other two and headed in the direction of the control room.

When they reached it, some of the Howling Commandos were already in there and Jim was sitting at the radio, clearly waiting for some signal from their captain. Only a small bit of time passed for the group of soldiers in the control room as Y/n could be seen pacing back and forth, arms crossed and teeth biting at her thumb while she waited.

"Come in. This is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?" Steve's voice comes through the radio, causing her to freeze.

"Captain Rogers, what is your--" Jim begins.

"Steve, is that you? Are you alright?" Y/n quickly interrupts him, leaning to the mic.

Feeling her hand rest on his arm, Jim looks towards her before he moves out of the seat he had been sitting in, letting her take over. Not paying much mind to him, Y/n grabs the handles of the seat as she leans closer to the counter while she sits down.

"Y/n, Schmidt's dead!" Steve informs.

"What about the plane?" Y/n questions.

"That's a little bit tougher to explain." Steve replies after a moment of silence.

"Give me your coordinates." Y/n demands, panic coursing through her as Colonel Phillips and Peggy moved to stand with Jim right behind her. "I'll find you a safe landing site."

"There's not gonna be a safe landing. But I can try and force it down." Steve tells her.

While he was speaking, Colonel Phillips had turned to Jim and Peggy as he silently motioned for them to leave the room, giving them a nod. Hesitating a bit as she glanced at her sister, Peggy slowly walked off. Y/n was opening and closing her mouth as she tried to figure out something.

"I'll get Howard on the line. He'll know what to do." Y/n insists, blinking back the tears in her eyes.

"There's not enough time." Steve protests. "This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York. I gotta put her in the water."

Y/n frantically shakes her head. "Please, don't do this. W-We have time. We can work it out."

"Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are gonna die." Steve states. "Y/n, this is my choice."

Y/n blinked as a tear fell down her cheek, a deep frown on her lips. From his side, Steve took his eyes away from the window for a second as he dug into his pocket. He opened up his compass to reveal the picture he had of her on it and placed it on the board right in front of him, his eyes staring at it.

Tearing his eyes away from it, his hands gripped the handles of the plane and with a clench of his jaw, he was pushing it down, causing the plane to begin to move down and in the direction of the ocean. His short blonde hair moved with the wind from one of the opened slots in the plane where the tesseract had fallen into.

Meanwhile, from her side of the radio, back at the Hydra base, Y/n had both arms leaning against the counter as she freely let the tears fall now, her mind panicking as she tried to think of ways as to prevent this from happening where both Steve and the people in New York wouldn't die. However, nothing came to her mind and it scared her.

"Y/n?" Steve calls from his side.

Y/n sniffles, wiping a tear away. "I'm here."

"I'm gonna need a raincheck on that dance." Steve comments just as the ice came into his view.

"Alright. A week, next Saturday, at the Stork Club. I'll be performing there." Y/n informs.

"You got it." Steve replies. "I'll watch you sing and then I'll take you to the dance floor."

Y/n quietly chuckles through her tears, sniffling. "Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't be late. Understood?"

"You know, I still don't know how to dance." Steve admits.

Y/n smiles sadly. "That's alright. I don't know either. We'll learn together. Just be there."

"We'll have the band play something slow. Maybe your new song. My favourite." Steve suggests, only making her cry more. "I'd hate to step on your--"

Her bottom lip had been quivering as she waited for him to finish when the sound of static could be heard from the other end, his voice completely cutting off. Taking a shaky deep breath in, Y/n murmured his name in a shaky tone in hopes of getting a reply. Unfortunately, there was nothing. That didn't stop her, though.

Her voice continued to be shaky as she hoped he'd hear her and respond. The tears were freely falling as she mumbled his name a couple of more times. From the entrance of the room, Peggy and Colonel Phillips could be seen with frowns on their faces as they stared at her from afar. Not wanting to her the despair in her little sister's voice, Peggy slowly walked off with a frown.

When the realization came to her that he wasn't going to respond, Y/n rested her elbows on the counter as she hid her face in her hands, the quiet sobs escaping past her mouth. Meanwhile, in the plane, Steve Rogers was completely unconscious as the ice formed around him. He didn't feel anything.

He didn't even register the plane beginning to fall into the water.

And for their plans, Y/n would silently still plan to go to the club and perform as if he was there and watching her before he'd take her hand and guide her to the dancefloor. And for the days coming up, she'd be in absolute despair as he never escaped her mind.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't even make it to the club on Saturday when she's suddenly go missing without any trace of what happened to her behind.