"This is a stupid idea," Howard muttered under his breath as he slid the Hydra uniform over top of his clothes. Evangeline just chuckled as she untied and slid off the dead Nazi soldier's boots. She was never a fan of killing. At least, not when it wasn't necessary. But she could feel her attitude start to shift the more she was attacked by Nazis with guns. Seeing Howard so uncomfortable seemed to put her in a good mood as well.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted in on the action," She shrugged and smiled as he rolled his eyes. Once the shoes were off, Angie dragged the body into the kitchen where they'd sneaked in through an open window on the first floor. After opening the giant freezer containing four other bodies, she set the body down on the floor beside his comrades.

If this had happened two months ago, she would've treated the bodies with care and crossed their arms over their chests, maybe would've said a small prayer as well for the fallen men and their families before closing the freezer behind her. But with time running against them and the number of temporary bullet-holes on her chest and abdomen increasing, all she could do was lay them down and shut the door.

"That's all of them," She whispered and tugged on her own loosely-fitted Hydra uniform before the duo made their way towards the mess-hall. A quick glance at a nearby clock showed the time was nearly two in the morning, which meant they only had a few hours left before sunrise. A few hours left to move an entire mountain.

The plan was simple: sneak from the kitchen to their main hangar. Though there wouldn't be as many planes as Hydra's main base would've had, all they needed was the biggest two they could find and stuff them with as many explosives as they could hold.

"Flying a plane is easy," Howard had said as they were putting their disguises on when Angie voiced her concern on the matter. "I'll just get it started up for you, hot-wire it to follow my plane's general flight-path, and bingo- you're up in the air."

Angie rolled her eyes, but felt a little better about the plan now that she knew Stark had everything figured out. Now all they had to do was execute it successfully.

The halls were barren for the most part; with it being so early in the morning, the majority of the base's workforce was still fast asleep. As the duo made their way through the building, only getting lost a handful of times in the process, about half an hour had passed since they first infiltrated the facility.

"If I had known we'd be sneaking around this much, I would've memorized the layout of this place," Howard muttered under his breath, then immediately shut up as two Hydra officers passed by. Angie gave them a relaxed but respectful nod, to which they responded with nods of their own and continued on their way while Howard did his best not to soil his stolen pants. It wasn't hard for her to notice his fear and she chuckled; of course he'd be out of his league and comfort zone when it came to this kind of danger. The man would've been a terrible spy. He didn't say anything else between then and when they finally stumbled upon the Hydra hangar.

Despite the intimidating aura the outside of the base brought with its massive drills and platoons of men, the hangar was a bit plain compared to others Angie had seen. It was concerning; with such a dangerous location you'd think their evacuation plans would've called for more air-crafts than the handful on site.

"Get one of these plains airborne," Angie whispered, her eyes scouting around the area.

"Christ, it's like they're trying to recreate that Titanic incident," Howard mumbled back. The duo needed to remind themselves that the people who would be sinking with this ship were not in fact people; they were monsters creating a weapon that would destroy the world as they knew it. There was no room for sympathy. If they didn't blow this place to high hell, hundreds if not thousands of people would suffer under experimentation just as she had. 

They managed to find a larger vessel near the back of the hangar, the name 'Mare' written on it's side in German. It might've been a bit too large; they'd definitely catch more attention from below than they would have in a fighter-plane. But that was the best they got. With a press of a button, the ramp began to descend and the duo stepped inside to scope out the space. 

"Holy shit, this thing is already loaded," Howard whistled. He wasn't wrong. Stacked along the walls were rows and rows of explosive missiles as long and thick around as Angie's thigh. A wave of nausea washed over the woman at the thought of where this plane may have been assigned to drop this payload.

"Can you get this thing up and running?" She hurried the mission along. The time to gawk was over and she quickly slid her hand to her holster, pulling Catastrophe out and scouting the rest of the cargo-hold to make sure they were truly alone. The last thing they needed right now was a stowaway. Howard scoffed at her question and disappeared up a flight of stairs, presumably leading to the cockpit. The woman rolled her eyes.

As much as she hated to admit it, having Howard do all the technical stuff like flying the plane made her job a lot easier. All she had to worry about now was making sure the explosives made it off the plane at the right moment in the air. But as she made her way back to the ramp to close the vessel-

"Halt! Erklaren sie sich!"

The German words caught her off guard and she whipped her head to the side. Standing at the base of the loading ramp was a scrawny young man, clad in a uniform that was much too large and carrying a gun that was much too big for his smaller frame. The woman let out a deep sigh and ran a stressed hand over her face. Every time she thought her job would be simple, something always made shit go sideways.

This was Steve.

It wasn't actually Steve, obviously. But those eyes...that tone in his voice... There was probably a mop of blond hair beneath his uniform cap too. Angie didn't need to understand a lick of German to know what was running through that boy's head. In some alternate universe, Angie could've been born in Berlin and this could've been her best friend. This young man was as much of a patriot, just on the wrong side of the lines.

She didn't like what she had to do next, even less than killing those people and stuffing them into the freezer earlier. At least with them, she could force herself to block out the idea of possible families being impacted. But this guy...he was her family. Standing there, shaking in his boots, unaware of the consequences of the actions of the people around him.

It was quick, faster than falling asleep. There was no suffering, no pain. Just one bullet, one moment in time where the light in his eyes was there and then it wasn't.

Howard shouted something from the front of the plane, but all Angie heard was a muffled yell as she sprinted down the ramp and caught the boy before his body could even hit the ground. He was so light. She had to hold back a sob as she thought of all the times Steve had gotten into fights, leaving her or Bucky to drag him to the nearest hospital or safe apartment to treat his wounds.

The plane engine whirred to life. The sound of the turbines echoed through the hangar, but Evangeline didn't notice; she was too busy laying the poor boy against the wall. Her hands were gentle as she shut his eyes and set his hands in his lap. From a distance, it looked as if he was only sleeping. Just a young man, tuckered out from his duties serving his country and doing what he thought was right.

Her mouth opened to speak, but no words came out and she couldn't decide if it was because she couldn't think of anything to say or because there was nothing she could to bring any sort of peace to a scene like this. No, there were no words. Only a quick kiss on the boy's forehead, knowing that a short death was the only kindness she could've offered to this innocent soul. In a different universe...

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Bullets zipped past her head and she ducked to avoid the incoming flurry of gunfire.

"Angie, I said it's time to go!"

Stark didn't need to say anything more; the woman retaliated with a couple shots of her own and ascended up the ramp once again. It had to have been that first shot that alerted the Hydra soldiers, but she wouldn't regret it if they made it out alive. She slammed her hand against the ramp's 'close' button and the door began to lift and slide shut behind her, hiding the view of the men sprinting into the hangar ahead.

The plane lurched and groaned, but Angie still climbed up to the cockpit and stood behind the millionaire as he piloted themselves out.

"What the hell happened back there? What happened to being stealthy?" Stark questioned from his seat, narrowly avoiding the ground as the nose of the vessel dipped downwards, then upwards before steadying itself once more. 

"What happened to you knowing how to fly a plane?" She retorted, though this time there was a slight joking attitude in her words. Maybe it was the sudden danger or the death of Steve's doppelganger, but for some reason she just wasn't in the mood to fight with Howard anymore. Crazy how death can give a person a sense of humor. Unsurprisingly, Howard remained focused on his job, but still managed a smirk.

"I'll handle this, you just drop those missiles when I tell you. Alright, doll-face?" He spoke as the plane exited the hangar and began to enter the atmosphere. "Hold on!" With a yank on the controls, the flying vehicle turned a near ninety-degree angle in the sky towards the heavens. Angie barely managed to grab hold of a handle on the wall as her feet lifted off the ground and her body became vertical with the rest of the room.

"The buttons on the left!" Howard shouted over the roaring engine the further up they got into the sky. She was glad she couldn't see out the window from her position; she was never a fan of heights. Her eyes quickly glanced around the cockpit and found two glowing buttons on a control panel left of the pilot's seat. "Blue releases the missiles and green opens the cargo hold! When I tell you to press them, do it!"

She didn't argue with him there, but as they got higher and higher above the earth below, she could feel her ears pop and her mind begin to go fuzzy. A couple seconds went by, then-

"NOW!" Stark shouted; he slammed the controls downward and Evangeline barely managed to skim the two buttons with her index and middle fingers before her own body slammed against the floor of the now-righted plane. The tink-tink-tink sound of metal bouncing against metal and the hum of the ramp opening once again rang in her ears.

It felt like a century, though it was only mere seconds before their escape was followed by a sonic blast that seemed to shake the entire planet and everything around them turned white.