5. Saving the 107th

Steve, Jessie, and Peggy were riding in a plane that was piloted by Howard. Peggy was showing the Captain and Sergeant a marked map.

"Hydra camp is in Krausberg. It's up between these two mountain ranges. It's a factory of some kind."

"We should be able to drop you around the doorstep," Howard remarked. 

"Just get us as close as you can," Steve replied. "You know you two are going to be in a lot of trouble when you land."

"And you won't?" Peggy questioned.

"Where we're going, if anybody yells at us, I can just shoot them," Jessie said, showing Peggy the rifle.

"And they will undoubtedly shoot back."

"Well, let's hope this is good for something," Steve replied, knocking his knuckles on his shield.

"Sergeant Evans," Howard spoke. "If you're not in too much of a hurry after this, I thought we could fly and stop off in Lucerne for a late night Fondue." He smirked. The three in the back of the plane were silent, Peggy and Steve looking at Jessie. She took a deep breath.

"Stark is the best civilian pilot I've ever seen," she said, breaking the silence. "He's mad enough to brave this air space. We're lucky to have him."

"So you two?" Steve asked Jessie, referring to her and Howard. "Do you? Fondue?"

"Stark, I thought you always said that work was more important than women," Jessie yelled to Howard.

"This is your transponder," Peggy said handing Steve a remote looking box. "Activate it when you're ready, and the signal will lead us straight to you."

"Are you sure this thing works?"

"It tested more than you, pal," Howard replied. Shots were fired at the plane from below. Steve and Jessie stood up heading to the door, parachutes on their backs.

"Get back here, we're taking you all the way," Peggy said.

"As soon as we jump, turn this thing around and get the hell out of here," Steve replied, opening the door.

"You can't give me orders."

"The hell I can't. I'm a Captain." Steve jumped out of the plane and was soon followed by Jessie. Both of them released their parachutes and landed on the ground a few feet from the entrance of the base. They heard trucks and motorcycles heading their way on the road. They hid behind bushes and waited till the last truck drove by. When it did, they ran after it, jumping into the back. Two Hydra guards sat there staring at the two.

"Fellas," Jessie said. The two guards got up to attack Steve and Jessie, but they beat the guards up, throwing them out the back of the truck. Once the truck was parked inside the Hydra base, a guard came walked to the back of it and lifted up the fabric. Steve was hiding behind his shield and hit the guard in the face, making him fly back. Steve got out of the back, and helped Jessie. They began to run trying to make their way to the prison block. They hid behind tanks when guards walked by. They got to the main factory room, hiding behind missiles and capsules. They found a Tesseract powered device. Steve picked up a small device, putting it in his pocket. The two made their way to the Prison block. On the skywalk was a lone guard. Jessie walked in sniping the guard in cold blood. The prisoners from the 107th were down below and saw the guard fall. Jessie ran over to him and took the keys.

"Jessica?" an African American prisoner asked. Jessie knew the men in the cell to be her trainees and friends. She recognized the voice to be Gabe's.

"Hey fellas," Jessie replied.

"And who are you?" he asked Steve as he walked to the door of the cell. Jessie tossed him the keys through the bars and began to head to their level.

"Uh, Captain America," Steve answered.

"Pardon, me?" James asked. Steve unlocked the cells and prisoners began to walk out.

"What, are we taking everybody?" Gabe asked.

"I'm from Fresno, ace," Jim said to Dum Dum.

"There anybody else?" Steve asked.

"Is there anyone else? We're looking for Bucky," Jessie said to James and Gabe.

"There's an isolation ward in the factory," the James replied. "No one's ever come back from it."

"Alright," Jessie replied. "The tree line is Northwest, it's eighty yards past the gate. Get out fast, and give them hell. We'll meet you guys in the clearing with anyone else we find."

"Wait," Gabe stopped her as she began to walk away.

"We aren't taking orders from a female, Jess," Jim said.

"I was going to ask her if she knew what they were doing."

"Yeah," Jessie replied pointing to Steve. "He's knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 hundred times." Steve began to run. Jessie looked at the prisoners before following him. Along the way to the isolation ward, Steve and Jessie were fighting guards. Jessie shot two guards that were about to attack Steve. They kept running. An alarm went off.

"Everyone is evacuating the factory," Jessie said while running. They ran down a dark hall, finding an open door with a dim light. A man walked out as if in a rush. He was carrying a briefcase that overflowed with papers. He noticed the two soldiers and began to run away. Steve ran up to the door and walked in. He could hear a male talking.

"Sergeant... 32557..."

"Bucky," Steve said, looking at the male. He saw that he was strapped to the table he was laying on in some sort of trance. "Oh my god." He began to rip the straps off as Bucky turned his head to look at his savior. Jessie walked in and looked at a map which was hung on the wall with marked locations. She quickly grabbed a piece of paper and began to write the location down.

"It's me, Steve," Steve began saying to Bucky.

"Steve?" he questioned, at first confused until he recognized his friend. "Steve... Steve." He smiled.

"I thought you were dead." Jessie walked over to the two after writing down the locations.

"I thought you were smaller." Bucky looked to the young female, a smile on his face. "Jessie.." She gave him a quick hug before being startled by the close gun shots.

"Come on, Soldiers," she said helping Steve pull Bucky along.

"What happened to you?" Bucky asked Steve.

"I joined the army," the male Super Soldier replied bluntly. The three got out into the hall where Bucky began to walk on his own. Jessie stayed by her friends side in case he needed help standing up.

"Did it hurt?" he asked.

"A little," Steve replied.

"Is it permanent like Jessie?"

"So far."

"Is that permanent, Jess?" Bucky looked to the female referring to the silver metal covering her left hand.

"No," Jessie replied. They got to the skywalk in the main factory room. When they ran to the rail, they saw explosions going off. Steve began to run up the stairs to the next level skywalk. Jessie grabbed Bucky's hand and pulled him along, following Steve.

"Captain America and Winter Patriot," a German accented voice spoke. The three stopped where they were on the skywalk. Jessie ran into Steve as she stopped, Bucky running into her as well. They looked to see Johann Schmidt and the same man from before. "How exciting. I am a great fan of your films." Schmidt and Steve began walking towards each other. Bucky tried to hold Steve back, but Jessie pulled his arm back letting their friend go. "So, Doctor Erskine managed it after all. Again. Not exactly an improvement, but, still. Impressive." Steve punched Schmidt, sending him back a little.

"You've got no idea." Schmidt stood up and walked back over to Steve.

"Haven't I?" He threw a punch towards Steve, who blocked it with his shield. He took out his gun only to be punched back and having the gun knocked out of his hand. He kicked Schmidt back, sending him flying. The man from earlier pulled a lever, separating the bridge between the two catwalks. Steve and Schmidt stood up. Bucky began pulling the bridge back while holding it for balance.

"No matter what lies Erskine told you," Schmidt began saying. "You see I was his greatest success." He began to pull the skin off of his face as if it were a mask revealing a red skull underneath. He threw the skin over the railing into the explosions below. Jessie and Bucky stared in shock and disgust. Jessie thought she was going to pass out.

"You don't have one of those do you?" Bucky asked both his friends.

"You are deluded, Captain and Sergeant," Schmidt said. "You both pretend to be simple soldiers. But in reality, you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind." He began to walk toward the other man and continued talking. "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!"

"Then how come you're running?" Jessie asked. He didn't answer. He and the other man stepped into an elevator. Jessie looked to Steve who was standing next to her. Another explosion went off shaking the catwalk slightly. Jessie held Bucky's arm close as Steve looked up, seeing an exit door. He began running up the stairs pulling Jessie and Bucky along with him. When they got to the top skywalk, Steve was staring at the beam that went across. Steve looked to the two Sergeants who were now at the railing with him.

"Let's go," he said helping Jessie and Bucky climb over the rail. "One at a time." Jessie slowly began to walk on the beam. She reached the other side and climbed over the rail. Bucky did the same as she did when he began walking along the beam. Steve held onto his arm giving him support. He walked slowly, keeping his balance. The beam began to slide down, making Bucky stumble. He quickly walked to the middle and reached the other side of the beam. It began to slip again under his weight and started to fall, making him jump. He grabbed onto the railing and climbed over it, Jessie helping him. Bucky held Jessie in a tight grip as they looked back to Steve worriedly.

"W-We gotta get a rope or something," Bucky yelled to Steve.

"Just go, get out of here," Steve said, fearing more for his friends life than his own.

"No, not without you!" Jessie yelled back at the Super Soldier. Steve looked at Jessie sadly. He looked to the broken rail and pushed it out, allowing room for someone to walk. He backed up. Bucky and Jessie realized what he was doing. Steve began to run, and when he got to the edge of the skywalk, he jumped. Luckly, he made it to the other skywalk. Holding onto the rail for dear life, Bucky and Jessie helped pull him up. When he was on the other side of the railing, Steve pulled his friends into a quick group hug. They began walking her to the door where they left the building. The men from the 107th were outside of the camp with all of the soldiers that escaped.

"Do we have everyone? Where's Jess, Bucky and the Cap?" Dum Dum asked his comrades.

"Here!" a voice yelled. The men turned to see Bucky and Steve walking closer to them, Bucky carrying Jessie with a gun, along with hers, strapped to his back.

"What happened?" They ran over to the two men and looked at Jessie. There was a gash on her head that was bleeding. Half of her jacket sleeve was ripped off, and there was a hole on the stomach of the shirt.

"A beam fell and hit her," Bucky replied.

"We're lucky she's still alive," Steve said.

"Well without the serum a hit to the head like that would kill her... I wouldn't bare the thought of that happening."

"I know you care about her, Buck."

"We should get back to the camp. She needs to be taken to a doctor." The troops followed Steve back to the camp. Bucky tore the left sleeve off of the female Sergeants shirt and wrapped it around her head. The journey back to the camp was long, but the trip to the factory was worth it.

A/n: So Bucky cares for Jessie more than a friend it seems. The only question is, does she feel the same?