Capítulo 8: Chapter Eight: Rescue Mission
PEGGY'S PLAN WAS TO FIND A PILOT to fly a plane over enemy lines. That pilot just so happened to be Howard Stark, who was more than happy to hop on a plane and help the star-spangled man across enemy lines. Really he jumped at the idea when the trio came to him. So now they were soaring through the night sky, intended to help Steve on his secret rescue mission.
"The HYDRA camp is in Krausberg, tucked between these two mountain ranges," Peggy explained as she, Delphia, and Steve sat in the plane as it started to approach enemy air. "It's a factory of some kind."
At the front of the plane, Howard smirked with his dashing white teeth, "We should be able to drop you right on the doorstep."
"Just get me as close as you can," Steve told him while getting himself ready. "You know, you three are gonna be in a lot of trouble at the lab."
"And you won't?" Peggy chuckled lightly.
"Where I'm goin', if anybody yells at me I can just shoot 'em."
"They will undoubtedly shoot back."
"Well, let's hope it's good for somethin'," he knocked on his red, white, and blue shield.
"Agent Carter," Howard called from his pilot seat, "if we're not in too much of a hurry I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late-night fondue. Delphia, I would love it if you joined too." An awkward moment of silence washed over the trio in the back as Delphia shared a look with the other woman in a bit of confusion. What did he mean by that? She had no idea.
Peggy cleared her throat, "Stark is the best civilian pilot I've ever seen. He's mad enough to brave this airspace, we're lucky to have him."
Despite the fact that Peggy obviously wanted to move on from Howard's proposition, her friend appeared confused. Delphia's delicate eyebrows furrowed as she looked between her friends, "What does "Fondue" mean?"
Peggy shook her head and ignored the question while handing Steve something. "This is your transponder. Activate it when you're ready and the signal will lead us straight to you."
Seeing that Peggy wanted to move on, and he did as well, Steve held the transponder up, "Are you sure this thing works?
"It's been tested more than you, pal," Howard called.
Suddenly, explosions started to shake their plane. Undoubtedly, they had been spotted by Hydra and they were attacking. The quartet in the plane braced themselves as they continued to rock from side to side due to the explosions and Howard trying to avoid them. Steve got up and hastily pulled open the door to the plane.
"Get back here!" Peggy exclaimed, "We're taking you all the way in."
"As soon as I'm free, you turn this thing around and get the hell outta here!"
"That will not happen, Steven!" Delphia exclaimed over the deafening sounds of the explosions. "You are not in charge of us!"
"The hell I can't! I'm a Captain!" Steve cheekily replied before jumping out of the plan and falling through the sky.
"His status means nothing to me," Delphia muttered to herself as she stood up in the rocking plane.
Peggy found that a determined expression overcame Delphia's delicate features. It appeared that she was also strapping on a parachute as well. That certainly alarmed her as she tried to stop her friend from continuing, "What are you doing, Delphia?!"
"If you believe I will let him go in alone," She said firmly, "you are mistaken."
"You'll be killed down there!" Peggy exclaimed, trying to keep Delphia away from the open hatch. She was just about to close it when Delphia smirked as she finished putting on the parachute. There was no way that she was going to let her friend out there. As far as she knew, Delphia has no training in fighting or anything of the sort. She'll be going in completely unprepared and would just be a liability.
"I am not just a weak maiden, Peggy," Delphia explained as she straightened out her dark outfit. She stood completely straight up as confidence started to swell in her chest, "I know how to fight." With that said, she disregarded the pleas from Peggy to stay put and jumped right out the door. As she flew through the air, Delphia kept an eye out for Steve. Dodging the missiles being shot in her direction was somewhat easy. After all, she could just use her magic to either redirect her own trajectory or the missiles. As she navigated through the air, pulled her parachute, and started her slow descent into the forest. Delphia may have never been on a battlefield before, however, she feels as though she's somewhat prepared for it.
Delphia isn't that good at magic when it comes to illusions. Those are her brother's forte. She would consider herself more of a specialist in what Midgardians would consider telekinesis. After all, most of her studies of magic were pertaining to her sight into the future. Really she only ever exercised her magic in a telekinetic ability when she was with Loki. Her mother focused on her sight, Thor usually liked to treat her like a fragile doll, Sif and the Warrior Three taught her how to physically fight, and her father just wanted to keep her in the palace. This time, she can prove that she is more than capable of fighting like the rest of her friends and family.
After landing on the ground and discarding the parachute, Delphia started following after Steve. It's a good thing that she changed out of the other clothes that she was wearing. After all, a dress wouldn't be the best attire for a mission like this. Instead, she had changed into some dark pants, a shirt, and a jacket to keep herself concealed in the dark. So she was quite hidden as she approached where Steve was.
He was too invested in his mission to get onto the trucks to really think that anyone might have followed him through the dark woods. Eventually, he found the Hydra camp. Though it was obviously heavily guarded with a wired fence around it that seemed nearly impenetrable. He'd have to find a way in.
"May I suggest something?"
The sudden voice made Steve jump as he spun around with his shield at the ready. Though it wasn't a Hydra soldier or anything that had found it. To his horror, it was Delphia.
"What are you doing?!" He whisper-shouted at her. Concern, anger, and frustration now swarming in his eyes at the sight of her being in this situation now.
Delphia raised a delicate eyebrow at him, "Helping you. I was not going to let you do this alone, Steven."
He was completely horrified with how she was here with him, "You could be killed."
"We do not have time to debate this." She stated firmly, one of the first times that he had heard such a tone from her. "I propose we climb into one of those trucks to get inside the base."
Steve knew that he couldn't argue with her about this. Telling her to wait here was not the greatest idea since she could be discovered by the soldiers. Keeping her with him was most likely the best play since he could make sure that she was safe with his own eyes. Though after this, he certainly was going to talk to her about this. He just nodded his head, more focused on the mission at hand, "Alright."
Delphia, tying up her hair in a tight bun, smirked, "then we should go."
After the trucks passed by them, the pair followed behind the last truck, and Steve made sure that he was the first one to jump up into the truck. Delphia followed after and now they were facing a couple of Hydra soldiers who seemed more than baffled to see them.
"Fellas," Steve greeted them before fighting them in the truck and throwing the unconscious men out the back.
Delphia nodded her head in approval. Steve certainly knew how to fight and she found it quite impressive. The two rode in the back of the truck as it pulled further into the Hydra base. Eventually, the truck came to a stop and Steve quickly used his shield to knock out a soldier who was going to discover them. Steve ushered Delphia out behind him and he navigated the two between the rows upon rows of Hydra tanks. They kept as hidden as they could, hoping the darkness would keep them from being seen. Steve made sure to keep Delphia close but also made sure that she was quick enough not to be noticed.
He then led her towards a collection of boxes that they could use to sneak up top. Steve wanted to help her up, but she easily maneuvered over them like a pro, much to his surprise. The super soldier shook it off and followed after her as they continued to find their way to the prisoners.
Once they made it to an entrance into the building, Steve lured a soldier over to them by knocking on the door and then knocking him out when he opened the door. They dragged him out of view and quickly entered the building. Weaving in between the crates, the two did a good job of keeping themselves out of the light and hidden from the soldiers. They eventually came across something peculiar. Weapons that were seemingly made from the tesseract itself. As Delphia grabbed one of them, she could feel the power buzzing from them. This was not good.
The two shared a glance with each other, both their eyes filled with worry as Steve pocketed one of the glowing ammunition. Sneaking around some more, Delphia and Steve finally found where the POWs were being held. There were many, many men being held prisoner, and Delphia hated to see it. Any sort of suffering hurt her to witness. Sneaking up behind the guard, Steve punched the soldier, drawing all of the prisoners' attention to them. Delphia grabbed the keys from the fallen man and smiled happily now knowing that they could free these men.
While looking up at the two new people in confusion, one of the men asked in confusion. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm…" Steve shared a look with Delphia who just shrugged her shoulders. He answered, "Captain America."
One of the men raised a confused eyebrow, "I beg your pardon?"
Delphia and Steve found their way down and made quick work of freeing all of the men. They were graciously thanked by most of the men. Some of them even eyed Delphia up despite the circumstances since they most likely hadn't seen a lady in quite some time. Though that's beside the point as they now had to focus on escaping.
A ginger-haired man with a bowler hat looked around at all of the prisoners, staring at a few in particular, "What, are we taking everybody?"
The man he had been looking at pulled out his dog tags, "I'm from Fresno, Ace."
"Is there anybody else?" Steve asked the group of now freed prisoners, not seeing who they came for, "I'm looking for a Sergeant James Barnes."
"There's an isolation ward in the factory, but no one's ever come back from it," A man told them.
Steve nodded his head, "All right. The tree line is northwest, 80 yards past the gate. Get out fast and give 'em hell. I'll meet you guys in the clearing with anybody else I find." Steve then turned to Delphia. "Any way I can convince you to go too."
"Not at all." Delphia shook her head firmly. There was no arguing with her, in Steve's opinion. "I am not leaving you," Steve smirked lightly at that. If there was one thing that he's learned about Delphia, it's that she can be quite stubborn about some things. So the two of them turned to run off and find Bucky.
"Wait!" Someone called out to them, "You know what you're doin'?"
"Yeah." Steve shrugged his shoulders, "I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times." That certainly left all the men confused as Steve and Delphia jogged off.
---
Navigating through the halls of the Hydra base gave Delphia a sense of nostalgia. While this wasn't the base that she had been held hostage in, it still had the same eerie air around the halls that felt like suffocating her. Though she pushed through it, there was no need to think about that. She had to focus on helping Steve search for his best friend. The last thing she wants is for someone close to her good friend to be stuck in a place like this.
Just as they were coming down an empty hallway, the pair came across a short man scurrying around like a rat. At the sight of them, he took off as fast as his stubby little legs could take him. Delphia felt just about ready to go running after that sick scientist. After all, she's stronger now, she's not weak and drugged like she was when she was held captive here. She would gladly like to repay Dr. Zola for the torment he put her through. However, as Steve and Delphia were coming up to the room that he had left, they found exactly who they were looking for.
Bucky was laying on an examination table, one that seemed far too familiar to Delphia. He seemed disoriented as he repeated, "Sergeant. 32557…"
"Bucky?" Steve gasped as he and Delphia rushed in to unstrap Bucky, "Oh, my God."
Seeing the man strapped down like this made Delphia sick. Knowing that there are so many other people who went through this, possibly some of the same torture that she did while she was held captive is disturbing.
Through his foggy eyes, Bucky stared at the blurry figure of his best friend, "Is that…"
Steve nodded as the relief of finding his friend alive spread across his face, "It's me. It's Steve."
Bucky blinked in confusion, "Steve?"
"Come on." The super-soldier started to help pull his friend off of the table.
"Steve," He repeated in a hazy tone.
Getting him to sit up, Steve stared at Bucky for a moment, "I thought you were dead."
Bucky just looked him up and down, "I thought you were smaller."
"We should go," Delphia spoke up softly, earning Bucky's attention. She just smiled at him and helped Steve get him to his feet. He was confused as to why a woman was in such a dangerous situation, though right now he was more focused on getting out. Bucky will question who she is later.
"What happened to you?" Bucky asked in a dazed voice as he took in his friend's new appearance.
"I joined the Army." Steve joked, making light of the situation at the moment.
They got into the hallway and thankfully, Bucky was strong enough to walk on his own, though he was a bit slower than usual. Bucky asked, "Did it hurt?"
"A little."
"Is it permanent?"
Steve shrugged his shoulders, "So far."
"We should probably focus on escaping a little bit more," Delphia said, a bit edge to her words. After all, she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. The building then started to shake as explosions started to go off all around them. Apparently, Johann had a plan to try and keep them from escaping, which included destroying his facility.
The trio continued to try and navigate out of the HYDRA facility. Just as they were coming up on the bridge to head towards the exit, they came to a roadblock. In their way were Johann Schmidt and his head scientist Dr. Arnim Zola. At the sight of them, Delphia almost had the urge to run in the other direction and away from them. They're the men who had caused her quite a lot of pain for such a long time, so she had the right to run away from them. Though she wouldn't do that.
The German man smiled widely at the sight of them. The sick, familiar smile sent chills down Delphia's spine. It seemed like even from far away he was able to notice that even in his presence the princess was uncomfortable. "Captain America! How exciting!" He exclaimed in sick glee, "I'm a great fan of your films. So Dr. Erskine managed it after all. Not exactly an improvement, but still impressive." He then turned his gaze to the princess whose expression seemed to be between fear and anger. "And the princess has come back to me! We missed you, my dear!"
Steve punched Johann in the face before he could say anything further. Obviously, the hatred that he had for this man had bubbled over. From the tales that he has heard from Erskine and Delphia, Steve was given good reason to punch him. Not only that, but he wanted to keep Johann's attention off of Delphia. "You've got no idea."
"Haven't I?" Johann then returned the favor and went to punch Steve. Steve was able to use his shield to protect himself, though the punch certainly had a lot of strength behind it since he left an indent on the shield. He then kicked Steve down causing his gun to fly out of his hands. Steve returned the kick and Johann went flying. Though the catwalk then separated thanks to Zola pulling the lever. "No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see I was his greatest success!" He then started to pull at the bottom of his face, which the group sickenly found out was nothing but a mask. He peeled off his faux skin to reveal his Skull which was a bright hue of red.
Bucky stared at the grotesque Red Skull in horror and turned to his long-time friend, "You don't have one of those, do you?" Steve shook his head slowly, too shocked to speak. Delphia was also quite disgusted with the display since he didn't have that when she had been held captive. It seemed like Johann had experimented on himself, with some undesirable consequences. Though the made man seemed to bear it proudly.
Johann smiled deviously, "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." He and Zola turned and walked into an elevator, obviously not willing to continue this confrontation with their enemies. "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!"
"Then how come you're running?" The two just continued to escape, not rising to the bait that Steve laid out for them. Soon enough, the trio was left by themselves and they should probably just focus on escaping. The building shook again as more machinery exploded and fire started to climb up towards the trio. "Come on, let's go. Up."
They quickly rushed up the stairs to the top level of the warehouse where a small beam gave them a good enough escape across. "Let's go. One at a time." Both Bucky and Steve pushed for Delpia to be the first one over. She figured there was no arguing with them so she complied and swiftly rushed across. Bucky was next though with every step he took, the building shook more and more. He was a bit slower than Delphia, but he safely made it as well. Only because he was able to get across at the last moment before the beam collapsed. The fire had melted the metal and now left Steve with no way across. Delphia and Bucky both stared in fear now that their friend didn't have a way to safety.
"Gotta be a rope or something!" Bucky exclaimed as he looked for some way to save his friend.
Steve shook his head, "Just go! Get out of here!"
"No! Not without you!"
Delphia nodded her head desperately, "We are not leaving you, Steven!" At this point, Delphia was more than content with the idea of using her magic to save him. While she would reveal herself as an otherworldly being, if it meant Steve was safe she would do it.
Though Steve moved to bend the railing off with his strength and make a larger gap. He readied himself and stared across the chasm to see his friends staring at him in worry. With a few more shakes of the explosions, Steve backed up and jumped over the fiery ravine below him.
Estado de energía semanal
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