✔𝚨 𝚸𝛐𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞 ➳ 𝚩𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝚩𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

Chapter 17

The idea to intercept a moving train in the snowy mountains was one of the worst ideas the Howling Commandos had gotten. The air was freezing. The snow was making visibility awfully unclear.

There were so many dangers, so many ways it could go wrong, and had it not been for the short notice, she would have changed forms. The powers of her dark form were hardly the ones most useful currently, but there was nothing to do about that now.

Morita was in the middle of tuning in to the right channels on the radio as Gabe tried to make out what they might be saying. He was the one able to speak the most languages out of all of them.

Bucky, Steve and Montgomery were looking over the tracks while Melora and Dugan were scouting out the surroundings in the other direction, seeing if they were able to spot any reinforcements or anything like it.

"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Cooney Island?" Bucky asked Steve, narrowing his eyes because of the biting frost.

"Yeah, and I threw up?" Steve asked, a wide smirk on Bucky's lips.

"This isn't payback, is it?" He grinned, looking down the cable they were supposed to ride down to get on top of the train.

"Now, why would I do that?" Steve asked, eyeing the places where Melora had secured it to the rocky walls of the mountains.

"We were right," Gabe spoke up, grabbing the attention of all of them. "Dr Zola's on the train. Hydra dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he's going, they must need him bad."

Melora slowly nodded, becoming braver as she ran her tongue along with her teeth and took a deep breath, walking over to the cable between the mountains. Steve put on his helmet while Bucky grabbed onto her arm.

"Are you sure running on top of that thing is a good idea?" He asked, a worried expression on his face as he eyed the bottom of the canyon.

"Is this the point where you stop trusting me?" She asked with a grin, and he jerked his head to the side.

"Nah, don't like the sound of that," he said, moving from her arm to cup her face instead as he leaned down and quickly kissed her.

"The rest of you will have more time as well," she smiled up at him while he shook his head at her.

"Let's get going because they're moving like the devil," Montgomery spoke up as Steve walked up to the cable and readied himself.

"We only got about a 10-second window," he spoke matter-of-factly. "You miss that window; we're bugs on a windshield."

"Mind the gap," Montgomery joked, making her smile as she cracked her neck, embracing the cold around her, and letting the full form take over her body.

"Better get moving, bugs!" Dugan called out. Melora looked over her shoulder and sent Bucky a smirk while he sent her a wink in return. She adored the way they spoke without saying a word. 

She jumped up, grabbing hold of the cable and easily swinging herself on top of it without even making it shake. The agility of this form was undefeated, and with a secure gracefulness, she placed one foot in front of the other, slightly crouching down and ready to run like the wind as soon as Steve set off.

Dernier let out a yell in French as their cue. Steve set off, and Melora did the same. Her feet moved like the gale as she ran forward on the cable. Her balance easily adjusted as she felt the powerful updraft from the canyon.

Steve was soon over the train, Melora right behind him, then Bucky, and then Gabe. There was no time for anyone else to get there, so the four of them would have to do. Steve let go, feet easily planted on top of the moving train.