Cutting Off the Head

It still took everything Olivia had not to outright grimace or gag at the sight of Schmidt's very red skull as she and Steve were brought before Schmidt in his weapons lab, held between HYDRA soldiers. They had come straight to the base camp on the back of a motorcycle that Steve drove, Olivia his passenger, his shield on her back for cover. The plan was to make a small show of 'attacking' some HYDRA agents before 'needing to surrender.' It had been her idea to use herself as 'bait' so to speak, allowing herself to get captured because it would then 'force' Steve to surrender as well and, hopefully, make it a little more believable. He had not at all been pleased with it, but her logic that she would not actually be killed was sound with what they knew of Schmidt. She doubted Schmidt's ego would allow for him to order his men to kill them instead of doing it himself. She'd been right, what felt like moments after jumping off of the motorcycle once it entered the base she was grabbed by one of the HYDRA soldiers. She'd been dragged over to where Steve had gotten caught in the middle of flame throwers, a gun held to her head which pushed Steve to 'surrender.' A small part of her was a little concerned with how Schmidt would react now that they were actually there, whether he would guess that what they were doing was a trap or a ploy, or whether he would truly think he and his soldiers were enough to apprehend them.

Judging by the way the man began laughing, it was probably the latter.

"Arrogance is clearly not a uniquely American trait, I see," he smirked as he looked between Steve and Olivia, unknowing that it would be his own arrogance that would ultimately do him in, "But I must say you do it better than anyone. But there are limits to what even the two of you can accomplish. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"

"I'm quite sure he told both of us just how insane you are," Olivia offered.

"Ah," Schmidt didn't seem offended, "He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. But he gave you everything," he sneered at them, "So, what made you so special?"

"Nothing," Steve remarked with a shrug, "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn and she's just a dame from London."

"Ah, yes," the man observed Olivia as he approached them, "In most cases, I would say ladies first, but, for what I have in mind, well...never let it be said that Johann Schmidt was not a gentleman."

Olivia was pulled back by the guards, or allowed herself to be pulled back by the guards, when Schmidt, without any hesitation, began to beat into Steve, landing two blows and a deft kick, driving him to his knees. Olivia had to bite her lip quite painfully to keep herself from trying to put herself in the middle of it and stop man, consciously reminding herself not to use her full strength as she struggled between the guards though let them keep their hold on her. Steve was more than capable, she had seen him fight before, if he really wanted to he could take Schmidt on easily. But that wasn't the plan, the plan was to distract Schmidt as long as possible so the Commandos could get in place. But it would certainly not be believable if she didn't make some sort of show to try and go to his aid.

Steve panted as he looked up at the man, a bit of blood dripping from the corner of his lip, "I can do this all day."

Schmidt scoffed, "Oh, of course you can. Of course," he turned and pulled out a pistol that seemed to be powered by the same glowing blue energy as the other HYDRA weapons, "I wonder how much you will want to go on when you are yet another partner down?" he hummed as he turned the pistol to aim it at Olivia, "I would have given you the same treatment, my dear," Schmidt told her with a jerking nod towards Steve, "But unfortunately I am on a tight schedule..."

"So are we!" Steve shouted, drawing Schmidt's attention back just as the windows to the room shattered, the Commandos bursting in, but unfortunately Schmidt escaped in the chaos of bullets between the Commandos and the HYDRA agents that followed.

"Rogers!" Falsworth shouted, "You might need this!" he threw Steve his shield that an agent had dropped.

"Major!" Jones swung a pack off his shoulder and tossed it to Olivia, a medpack all set to tend to any wounds she or Steve might acquire when the mission was finished.

She was to go with Steve after Schmidt, the other soldiers could handle the HYDRA agents, they had ample experience with them, but Schmidt was dangerous and neither country in the war was willing to risk him getting away. Two super soldiers would be better than one in taking on a man as deranged as Red Skull. She didn't know how much help she could be, despite the war her combat training amounted to some tips the Commandos had given her over the last year. At least, she supposed, she could be a distraction.

"Thanks!" the two super soldiers called, before turning to rush off after Schmidt, hoping they could find him in the confusion that was the base being swarmed by more Allied Forces.

They rushed down the halls after Schmidt, Steve flinging his shield to bounce off the wall and hopefully get the man as he ran around a bend, unable to help his mind drifting to that pool game he'd had with Olivia so long ago, the application of angles in combat. It certainly was something he gave a good deal of thought to since he'd taken up the shield. They sped off, thinking they might have caught him, only for another HYDRA agent to come around the bend at them with a flamethrower. Olivia reacted instantly, pushing Steve to the side into an alcove to avoid the flames, the two ducking away...when gunfire sounded. They ran out, seeing the agent taken down, Peggy and a number of other men having fired from an adjoining hallway.

Olivia let out a breath when she saw her friend, "You're late," she repeated her words back at the woman.

Peggy took a single moment to look at her friend and Steve, seeing the results of Dr. Erskin's hopes blooming in front of her, this had been what it was all about. This was the man's greatest wish coming true, his work shifting the course of the war and stopping a threat to life.

"Go get him," Peggy urged, proud.

"Ma'am," Steve saluted, before turning to continue his chase, Olivia giving Peggy one very quick hug before she followed.

The shield had stuck right in the middle of two doors, holding them open. Olivia ducked under it to get to the other side before Steve yanked it free and leapt through after her, the doors shutting behind them. They raced into a hanger of sorts, but they were too late, Schmidt was already taking off in a large plane, speeding down a stretch of tarmac to gain enough lift to truly get off the ground.

Olivia looked around for anything that could help them, when the Colonel and Peggy drove up in a car, "Steve!" she shouted, grabbing his arm and rushing for the car. The two jumping into the back as the colonel floored it.

Steve looked over at Olivia as the car managed to catch up with the plane, getting them just under it as it started to lift off the ground. He reached out for her hand, squeezing it a moment and gesturing up at the plane with his other hand. She gave him a firm nod of understanding.

"Keep it steady!" Steve shouted to the colonel.

The two super soldiers took a breath, readying themselves, and jumped up, leaping for the plane and reaching the large wheels just as it escaped the hanger and began to fly up into the air.

~8~

Steve would have laughed to himself if the situation wasn't so serious. He and Olivia had had to climb their way up through the retracting wheels and into the Valkyrie, the large craft Schmidt had taken, and even with her medical pack on her back and in a uniform that was still a little too big for her, Olivia had managed to scurry up faster than he had. He was really starting to think she just might be faster than him. She reached out a hand to haul him up instead. And she did it with such ease that, for a single moment, his mind wandered to just how strong the serum had made them both, if there was any difference in their strengths at all as, more than once, he had been caught off guard by how strong she was despite how she looked. But he shook the thought off, refocusing as they came face to face with a small storage hanger of what looked like bombs with their own propellers and pilot seats, all with targets written on them for different cities. Boston, New York, Chicago and more.

"I'll take the pilots," Steve murmured to her, knowing that the men manning the bombs would likely be there any moment now to deploy them, "You got the planes?"

It was a wise strategy, Olivia could agree. She had not had any real training in combat, not compared to Steve who had at least basic training and, from stories he'd told her, some boxing lessons from Bucky. Granted his experience had been pre-Phase Two and then quite hands on afterwards, but he at least had more of an idea how to fight off an attacking soldier than she did. With all the attacks on HYDRA and times she was recalled to the lines, they hadn't had much time to train together in that sense. And, with her background as a Medic and with her being a woman on top of it, combat wasn't deemed an essential part in it.

Most Medics were designated non-combatants. Their armbands were meant to be a sign to the enemy that they were NOT to be attacked offensively as they were not there to attack the enemy in the first place. And Medics were not to attack offensively either. Most were encouraged to carry at least one weapon on them, even something as simple as a pistol, but they were forbidden to fire it offensively otherwise they forfeited their protection as non-combatants. In defense of the wounded, yes of course they could fire, but the enemy would clearly be of the mind that a medic firing any weapon for any reason made them a target. Not that HYDRA held to that rule of War, but her focus had been tending the wounded and getting them stabilized and to safety, not outright combat, her country hadn't allowed her THAT close to the lines. Even Steve, a time or two, seemed to follow that mentality and try to keep her as far back from the Commandos' main attack as possible. It did make sense though, if she was their medic and one of them got hurt, they would need her alive and well enough to tend to them. If she was attacking with them and got hurt, they could lose not just their medic but anyone else that was badly injured after her. That and she knew Steve protected the people he cared about and he cared for her very much. With how worried he was for each of his men, she hadn't wanted to add the extra strain of worrying about her too. Not that it made her very happy to be kept back at all.

Here though, she had been ordered by her country to assist Captain America in taking down Schmidt, he was too great a treat to allow to escape another time. And she had been given the task of ensuring the man lived to face his crimes. She had been given the best antidote to cyanide poisoning the medical field could determine in case Schmidt tried to use one of his famous pills again. She was supposed to stop him, apprehend him, and help Steve return him to their people.

Right now though, the bombs were a great concern but Steve's plan was a good one. She could tear the plane engines out with more ease and surety than she could with facing down another soldier. It would be best to leave that to Steve, it didn't compromise either of them but played to their strengths and roles in the war just as Dr. Erskine had intended, divide and conquer. He would be drawing their attention to him, using his shield for more protection, and distracting them while she took out the planes.

"Ready?" she looked at him as he quickly glanced around, taking in the placements of the planes and the walls of the hanger.

He nodded, positioning himself in front of the only doorway into the hanger, ready for the pilots, "Go!"

She jumped over a railing and landed on the first and nearest plane, using her feet to kick the propellers in the back of it, destroying them. It wouldn't be able to fly at all without it, though she turned and pulled the small folded wings off the side of it with her bare hands too for good measure. She looked up when she heard footsteps stomping to see the pilots had arrived. But she couldn't afford to be distracted, quickly making her way to the next one, prying the windshield of the pilot's compartment open and pulling the steering stick out of it. There was a noise across the chamber and she hopped up back onto the small catwalk to see Steve had opened one of the bays for the plane, launching it prematurely without a pilot in it and letting it fall, useless, taking its pilot and another man Steve threw out of the hole after it. There was only one plane left to destroy so she jumped onto it, looking over her shoulder when she saw one of the other pilots had leapt for the plane she'd just destroyed, not seeming to have noticed she'd pulled its controls out till it was too late and Steve had reached him. Seeing he had the last man under control, she looked back at the plane she was on and did as she had to the first, kicking out the propeller and ripping the wings off.

She spun around at a sound behind her to see Steve smiling at her, holding out a hand to help her back onto the catwalk, the two of them taking off once more, managing to reach the cockpit with little trouble. They cautiously entered, the room far too calm to set them at ease. They made their way closer to the pilot's seat, passing a mechanism near it that appeared to be powered by the blue energy in the HYDRA guns.

Steve spun around quickly, hearing something, and lifted his shield as he pulled Olivia behind him, Schmidt had been hiding behind them, the plane on autopilot, and fired at them.

"You don't give up, do you?" the red skulled man glared at them.

"Nope!" Steve shouted, launching himself at the man instantly, implementing the same tactic as just before. He would handle Schmidt, giving Olivia a chance to get to the controls and try to shut down the ship.

The fight was brutal, both men dealing blow after blow, though Steve did all he could to keep Schmidt away from the front of the ship, not about to risk the man getting near Olivia as she seemed to be trying all she could to stop the ship, but it wasn't working.

"You could have the power of the gods!" Schmidt called as he fought against Steve, both men using every ounce of strength and skill they had to take the other out, "Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations! I have seen the future, Captain! There are no flags!"

"Not my future!" Steve kicked the man away from him and flung his shield at the Nazi, calling out "Liv!" to get her away from the controls when he realized the discus was sending Schmidt flying right for the console. But just as she dove out of the way, the man stumbled and fell onto the glowing contraption only a few feet before the controls instead.

"What have you done?" the man shouted, realizing he had knocked over the power supply, breaking the compartment it was kept in. It began to pulse energy and he quickly pulled out the glowing, blue cube from within, staring at it.

Olivia stumbled back, watching in horror as the energy of the cube starting to swirl and form some sort of vortex through which space could be seen along the ceiling.

"NO!" she cried, trying to launch herself at the man when the energy surrounded him and began to pull him towards the portal, needing to stop him from escaping. He needed to answer for his crimes, but he wouldn't if he made it through the portal.

But she was held back by Steve, who had made his way over to her, grabbing her arm and watching as Schmidt wasn't quite pulled into the portal but seemed to disintegrate, the power of the cube overwhelming him. Olivia might have ended up like that too if Steve hadn't stopped her. The cube Schmidt had been holding gave one final pulse of energy before it fell to the ground, the portal disappearing. It seemed to burn even hotter as it hit the floor, melting through it and right to the bottom of the ship, falling out of it and into the sea below.

Olivia shook her head, refocusing now that the immediate threat of Schmidt and his weapon source was gone, "We need to stop the ship," she told him, "It was heading for New York but the controls were locked."

He nodded and moved to the controls, reaching out to try the radio, if they could get any help from the SSR, maybe they could break through the lock, "Come in," he called into it, "This is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?"

Morita's voice came through a moment later, "Captain Rogers, what is your…"

Before Peggy's voice cut in, "Steve, is that you? Where's Liv? Are you alright?"

"I'm here," Olivia called, moving to Steve's side so they could both speak into the device, wedging themselves between the back of the captain's seat and the controls so they could stand together as close to the comm. as possible, "We're ok. Schmidt's…" she trailed off, not sure how to describe what happened.

"Schmidt's dead," Steve reported, the man had disintegrated before their eyes, no way he survived that.

"What about the plane?" Peggy asked.

"The controls are locked," Olivia explained. She had been trying to alter them, to break into the system and alter the destination, but Schmidt had pre-programmed it and encrypted the commands, she couldn't get it off autopilot.

"Give me your coordinates, I'll find you a safe landing site."

"Peggy, you don't understand," Olivia argued gently, "We can't change the destination. Whatever technology Schmidt was using, he's encrypted the commands. There's not enough time to break the code."

If she had more time, she was sure she could do it. Peggy had gotten into codebreaking due to HER, to her love of puzzles and maths and the codes they would use as children. If she had time she was sure she could break this system too. But with the speed the plane was flying and how far New York was from where they were…she wouldn't have time. The technology Schmidt had been using? They'd reach New York faster than ever.

There was no time.

"Could we try and force it down?" Steve asked her, trusting her examination of the situation, she'd had more than enough time to look at the controls while he'd been dealing with Schmidt. If they couldn't change the destination in the computers, maybe they could manually force it.

"WE might," Olivia told him quietly, looking at him meaningfully.

He took a deep breath at the implication. The controls were locked, but between their amplified strength, they might be able to override that and drive the ship into the ground. There was no way they'd be able to have any sort of smooth landing, the controls would fight them and they wouldn't be able to use enough strength and exercise enough control to maneuver them either. They wouldn't be able to turn the plane or lower it gently enough to land, but if they forced it straight down? It might work. But they wouldn't be able to let up on the controls until the ship was truly destroyed and unable to fly again.

The chances of surviving that sort of destruction…

And even if one of them tried to flee the ship, there was nowhere to land but the frigid waters below, the rate of their fall would break through the ice and they would freeze to death or the shock of the cold could kill them before any help could reach them. He could read it in Olivia's words, in her eyes, she was not going to leave him and he knew he couldn't leave her either. It was death to jump from the ship into the ice, or it was death to crash it. There was no choice, neither of them would abandon the other to die alone, they were both going to crash this ship together.

Peggy seemed to realize the same thing as she was back, calling out to them, "I'll get Howard on the line, he'll know what to do…"

Olivia looked at Steve even as she shook her head and spoke to Peggy, "We're moving too fast," she stated, "And without Schmidt here to control the landing if it reaches New York…"

It would destroy the city, Steve realized. It would plow through it at the rate it was gong, crashing into buildings, endangering innocent people, until it finally crashed and destroyed itself. And them with it.

There really was no winning here.

Either they crashed in New York and risked all those lives, or they crashed now and only ended their own.

Steve held her gaze as he returned her nod even with the regret obvious on his face, "We gotta put her in the water."

"No!" Peggy shouted, her voice starting to crack as she heard their plan, "Please, Liv, don't do this. We have time. We can work it out!"

Olivia's face scrunched at the absolute pain and fear in Peggy's voice, tears filling her own eyes as she thought about the pain she would be subjecting her best mate to if she did this. Peggy had lost her brother and now…now she might lose her sister to this war too. But…it was something they both knew was possible when they got involved in the war in general.

A commitment to war was a commitment to give anything, even your life, to see it end.

Steve reached up to touch her cheek with a gloved hand, her own coming up to press his hand more to her skin, seeing the beginnings of tears in his own eyes as he looked at HER. He had lost his best friend to this war. She was all he had left, and now they were going to lose each other.

They'd only just started and they were going to end.

But it was best to do it now, so it was just them and not all those people.

"We're in the middle of nowhere," Steve spoke, seeing that Olivia couldn't at the moment, couldn't say what they were going to do to Peggy, "If we wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die."

"I'm sorry, Peggy," Olivia managed, letting out just a single sobbing breath as she tried to keep strong, "I'm so sorry. You did this to save me and now…" she took a deep breath, "It was MY choice. It was my choice to undergo Phase One. Remember that, Peg, please remember that. It was MY choice. And so is this."

"Livvy, please…" Peggy was on the cusp of begging her friend not to do it.

Steve leaned in and kissed her quickly, pressing his forehead to Olivia's as the tears spilled over, the two of them closing their eyes, just taking one final moment together. He nodded against her head and pulled away, determination in his gaze as he gave her another nod, his eyes shining with emotion.

And it was like she could read exactly what he was trying to say in just his eyes.

To say goodbye, to give Peggy at least that closure, something he hadn't gotten with Bucky.

She squeezed his hand as she slowly lowered it from her face, still looking at Steve as she spoke, neither of them seeming able to look away from the other in their final moments. The two of them leaned to the side, using their other un-linked hands to push down on the controls with all their might, driving the ship down.

"Peg?" Olivia called, knowing she had to be quick now.

"I'm here," Peggy replied.

"Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Be happy. Please. Find a way to be happy again. Find something that makes you smile. Find someone who makes you laugh. Someone to have all those adventures we read about with. Promise me. That's all I've ever wanted for you, to be happy."

"Liv…" Peggy's voice broke.

"If it wasn't for you, Peggy, I wouldn't have met Steve," Olivia tried to offer Steve a smile, the man struggling to return it to her, both their arms shaking with the exertion of forcing the controls down, knowing it would be easier to use their other arms but neither willing to release their grip on the other's hand, "This is me, returning the favor. Be happy Peggy, promise me."

"I promise."

"Goodbye, Peg."

"Goodbye, Livvy."

Olivia let go of the controls for just a moment to cut the comms., not wanting Peggy to hear what was coming next.

"I love you," Steve spoke beside her, squeezing her hand tightly.

She looked at him, "I love you too."

Olivia and Steve looked out the window, watching the icy layer of water speeding towards them and braced themselves for impact, never letting go of the other's hand even as they hit the water…

~8~

Slowly but surely, Olivia came to, her eyes fluttering open, the room hazy for just a moment before it cleared. She sat up on the bed cautiously, a frown growing on her face as she looked around, taking in the 1940s style room she was in. A moment later she gasped and turned on her side, her eyes searching for Steve and letting out a relieved breath when she saw him resting on a bed on the other side of the room.

"Steve?" she called gently, her voice hoarse.

Steve seemed to jerk awake much more quickly at the sound of her voice. He looked around, searching for her before he let out a breath of relief, "Liv," he quickly got off his bed and hurried over to her, hugging her tightly as she stood from her bed too, "Where are we?" he asked her quietly.

He pulled away to look around, a deep frown growing on his face too. Though while her attention was focused on the room itself, Steve's was drawn to a radio near the wall that was quietly broadcasting.

"Curve ball, high and outside for ball one," a sports reporter was announcing, "So the Dodgers are tied, 4-4. And the crowd well knows that with one swing of his bat, this fellow's capable of making it a brand-new game again. Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbets Field. The Phillies have managed to tie up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on. Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn't the youngster like a hit here to return the favor? Pete leans in. Here's the pitch. Swung on. A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score. Reiser heads to third. Durocher's going to wave him in. Here comes the relay, but they won't get him…"

"This is wrong," Steve murmured.

"Very," Olivia agreed.

They both tensed when the door to the room opened and a woman walked in.

Instantly they were both on edge, taking in the woman in question. Her hair was curled, but nowhere near a style appropriate for 1945, her shirt was of far too fine a material. Her tie was all wrong, Olivia would know, she'd spent more than enough time learning how to get hers right. And the skirt and shoes were just…wrong.

All of it was so, so wrong.

"Good morning," the woman greeted, smiling at them pleasantly, before she checked her watch, "Or should I say, afternoon?"

Steve took a step forward, just slightly putting himself in front of Olivia, not trusting that the woman before them was not a threat given she was clearly a part of something trying to fool them both. Key word being 'trying,' "Where are we?"

"You're in a recovery room in New York City."

"No," Olivia shook her head, "We're not."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," the woman spoke, as though genuinely confused as to why Olivia would be so insistent that they weren't where she said they were.

"THIS is not a recovery room," Olivia explained, gesturing around, "There's no medical equipment," she pointed out, something that would most certainly have been there if it was a recovery room for someone who had experienced a trauma like they had, "We weren't attached to any monitoring devices, you left us fully clothed in non-hospital sanctioned clothing on top of the bed sheets," she noted how she was wearing a button up shirt and her brown skirt again while Steve still had his shoes on, the two of them hadn't been under the sheets but more just dumped on the beds, "And this…this is hardly sterile."

"And that," Steve nodded at the radio, noting how the woman was tensing at the things Olivia pointed out.

"The Dodgers take the lead, 8-4!" the announcer was still going on, "Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet. What a game we have here today, folks. What a game indeed."

"The game, it's from May, 1941," Steve stated, last he recalled it had been 1945 not 1941, but what's more, "I know, cause I was there," he took a careful step towards the woman, "Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Where are we?"

"Captain Rogers…" the woman began.

"What are you doing?" Olivia called, seeing the woman pushing a button of something in her other hand.

"Who are you?" Steve demanded, when two soldiers in black uniforms burst into the room. Steve leapt into action, quickly knocking the two through a wall and jumping through it after them, Olivia quick behind.

It didn't take much to work out they had been brought to some sort of set, some stage that had been set up to make them think they were in a hospital shortly after they had gone into the ice.

"This way!" Olivia shouted, grabbing Steve's hand and leading him to a set of doors.

"Major Williams stop!" the woman called from behind them.

Olivia didn't pause to wonder how these people knew who they were, for all they knew it could be an elaborate trap by what was left of HYDRA, some sort of twisted revenge for stopping Schmidt.

They ran through the doors and into a hall filled with people dressed in black just wandering about, when the woman's voice came over the comms., calling something about a Code 13. Instantly all the people in black turned on them and ran for them. So they raced for the sunlight they could see through a set of glass doors, bursting out and onto the street, running down it only to nearly stopped dead.

It was New York, Steve would recognize it anywhere…but it was NOT the New York he remembered. It was too high-tech, too large, too crowded, with people walking around in odd clothing and carrying strange devices. Even Olivia, who was not a native New Yorker, could tell this was not the world they had come from.

In the middle of their shock, a number of black vehicles swarmed them and surrounded them, trapping them in a circle.

A moment later a tall black man with an eye patch and dressed all in black stepped out of one, approaching them cautiously, "At ease, soldiers!" he called out, "Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but…we thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?" Olivia turned to them, Steve turning with her so that she was standing in front of him but a bit to the side, her back to his chest.

"You've been asleep," the man told them, "For almost seventy years."

"Seventy…" Olivia blinked rapidly at that, "What…what year is this?"

"2011," the man eyed them, seeing the girl was in a state of shock, though Steve just appeared lost, "You gonna be ok?"

"Um…" Steve shook his head, trying to get his bearings, "Yeah. Yeah. I just…" he could only keep shaking his head, not sure how to put words to what he was feeling.

"2011," Olivia repeated, her mind racing, "February…1945…" she stepped away from Steve, more like stumbled, "66 years…1921…oh…"

"Liv?" Steve moved to her side as she stumbled again, the woman starting to pant, tears in her eyes, "Liv."

"90 years…" Olivia murmured, a terrible realization dawning on her, making her feel like all the breath had been stolen from her. It reminded her, for a moment, of that terrible time when she had been a child and running about with Peggy only to collapse when she couldn't get enough air. And all that served to do was make it harder to breathe with the reminder of Peggy.

"Liv," Steve quickly reached out to pull her closer, seeing the start of an attack of some sort taking hold, feeling her trembling in his arms, "What's wrong?"

Olivia shook her head, "Peggy…" was all she could get out, "66 years."

Peggy would be 90 years old. Peggy would have had to go decades without her friend, decades thinking she was dead. Peggy would be an old woman while SHE still looked like the 23 year old she had been when she went into the ice.

She had missed decades of her best mate's life. She hadn't been there. She had thought, going into the ice, that she would die in the crash. She honestly wished she had, to come back now and realize she'd missed so much. She and Peggy had always promised to be there for each other, it was one thing to think that she had been unable to due to Death, that she'd died for a good cause. She'd hoped Peggy would be proud of her.

But now she was back, and it was all hitting her that Peggy, her best friend, might not even be alive, but she had JUST been talking to her, only moments ago...this...this couldn't be...this wasn't happening...it couldn't be 66 years!

"Steve…" she reached out to him, looking up at him with tears falling from her eyes, "I can't breathe…"

Steve pulled her closer, winding one arm around her waist and burying the other into her hair to cradle her more to him, "It's alright," he whispered to her, not even noticing the agents surrounding him or people stopping to stare, too focused on Olivia needing him right now. He'd experienced attacks like this before, he wasn't going to let her go through it alone. He moved his head so his mouth was by her ear, "Breathe with me," he began to murmur to her, taking more exaggerated breaths so she could feel it and match with him.

He needed to give her something else to focus on until the attack passed. He needed to make sure that she was getting enough air and getting her breathing under control first.

It took a minute or two of him whispering to her, comforting her and encouraging her before she was able to breathe without staggered inhales or too fast exhales.

He felt her press her face into his chest a moment later, turning her head so her ear was resting over his heart, something he could remember doing when he was small and his mother would help him through his own attacks. Something to ground you. But almost instantly the sobs began as Olivia's knees gave out and he sank to the ground with her, holding her close.

He could feel tears in his own eyes not just at the sound of her breaking but as the full magnitude of everything that had happened hit him. It wasn't just Peggy, he knew, it was what Peggy represented and what she was a reminder of, it was hitting him too. Everything they had ever known, all the people they worked beside, the homes they'd had, the places they used to live and frequent, their entire world...gone.

Let the agents stare, let them think what they wanted about seeing Captain America and Major Britannia breaking down.

They had lost everything except each other in an instant.

To be continued...in...United We Stand!

A/N: I felt like that was an appropriate title for the Avengers assembling, they really had to learn how to stand together in order to stop the enemy :) I know there was an after credit scene involving Steve and Fury meant to lead into the Avengers, but since the Avengers movie expanded on that scene, I thought it best to leave it for that story ;) I know there's some debate about when Steve woke up in 2011, whether it was June-ish or October-ish, but it looked like a somewhat rainy day in New York in the movie and people were wearing light jackets, so I feel like it's more nearer the end of 2011, but it also didn't give off a very 'fall' vibe to me so I'm going to shoot for September :) I also felt like, with how much time Olivia's spent in hospitals, as a patient and studying to be a medic, she would certainly have noticed it wasn't the right structure/room they woke up in. No medical equipment? After the fall they took and trauma their bodies endured? :)

Tiny little change to the movie in this chapter. Schmidt manually put autopilot on about halfway through his fight with Steve and that made no sense to me, like wouldn't he have had autopilot on already because the plane was flying and he was not piloting it? And if it was a result of when Steve and Schmidt hit the controls, well Olivia was there so Steve was more keen to keep the man away from it and they never hit the controls so autopilot would have still been on ;) Also with the mini-bombs, with another person there to help disable them, I couldn't see the whole mid-air fight going on, not that it wasn't awesome in the movie, but Olivia was able to take them down while Steve handled the pilots.

And speaking of that, I know Olivia hasn't exactly had much physical action in terms of fighting. In such a strict 'war' setting and given the mentality of medics at the time as well as the limitations on women even in the army, from what I understand, it would have been very clear cut that she was a non-combatant and not allowed to attack the enemy offensively because her duty was to help the wounded, nor would she have been allowed THAT close to the front lines to even have the chance to attack or need to defend herself. We're going to see it slowly change in the next few stories. Without a real 'war' going on but just fighting/battles, Olivia is going to be able to take more of an offensive role, but how far she'll take that and what her own morals/beliefs are about it, we'll have to wait and see ;)

But as for this story, I'm so sad it's over :'( I really wanted to end it on that last scene/note because I felt like it paralleled the start of the story nicely. We open with a little girl who has some sort of health attack, can't breathe, and has a friend there who doesn't know what's going on and can't really help. Here we have her grown up, healthy, and she still has a similar attack, though caused by a different situation, but has a (more than) friend there who DOES know what's going on and can help. I wanted to show that, even with the serum improving them, we saw how Steve can still be harmed/bleed, I wanted to show that they are still susceptible to internal vulnerabilities too. They can still be overwhelmed at times, they can still be vulnerable, but they have each other to help them out :') Steve's train of thoughts, once things process, is more thinking about everything they've now lost due to time, but it's Olivia and her thoughts on Peggy that sort of trigger it. She was JUST talking to her best friend and within the blink of an eye, not only might her friend be dead, but she's missed YEARS of her life and caused her enormous pain by being 'dead' when she wasn't :'(

Going forward, we'll be getting the next Thor/Athena story, Cunning, in about a week (hopefully not longer than that), which will be a revision of Infinity War with Athena. After that is posted, we'll be moving into the Avengers with Olivia :) Now, keep in mind, this series is going to follow the MOVIE the story is based on, so the next Olivia story will be found in the AVENGERS category, NOT Captain America. But we have a little more than 3 weeks to go before we get there though ;)

Also, I'll be taking suggestions for the pairing name until the next Olivia story, so thank you all to the names suggested so far! I'll be adding any suggestions to a list to have ready for the Avengers :)

Timeline for this chapter:
Steve and Olivia go after Schmidt - February 5th 1945
Steve and Olivia wake up in 2011 - September-ish 2011.

And, just to end...I really have to say thank you guys SO much! Really, I give each and every reader/reviewer/favoriter/follower/ko-fi giver/anythinger a virtual hug because you guys are amazing :) I write for all of you guys and I'm just so touched that you all liked the story and am truly thankful that you're enjoying Olivia :) I'll do my very best to keep it up in the future, because you guys most definitely deserve it. I love you all :')

Some notes on reviews...

Very true, I don't think there's any end to what the Serum could do for the two super soldiers, in this case, she did end up frozen with him. By trying to team up to handle Schmidt, and eventually dividing and conquering with Steve handling him while Olivia took the controls, there was no way for her to get off the ship and, to her mind, survive. There was always a chance, due to the serum, she or Steve could have survived the jump from the ship and into the waters, but there was also every chance that the shock would have killed them or the cold kill them if they escaped the water :( But, again, that was as far as they knew, they hadn't exactly tested what they could survive in terms of extremes so they both very much thought they'd die either way so it was better to go together :'(

I did consider a Peggy/OC at one point, but when I read that Peggy did end up married and the significance of Steve's efforts as Captain America having saved her future-husband's life, I felt like the potential OC just sort of fizzled away to wait for a different story lol :)

Do not EVER apologize for singing Greatest Showman! My mom and I saw it on Christmas and we have the soundtrack and I think I listen to "Come Alive" literally every time I get in my car :) As for Bucky, oh yes :D I'm actually really excited to get to his OC, she sort of is going to blend two worlds together and give us a sort of background to some events that we didn't get to see on screen :)