𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐘 & 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 | 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝟎𝟐. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃. Correction. It was freezing. Lorene shuddered and finally accepted the thick brown coat that her sister had offered to her half-a-dozen times already. Howard had dropped her off just a few hours ago, and it hadn't taken long to rendezvous with the Commandos and Charlotte. Now all they waited for was Agent Carter and her team.

"Emu," Dugan released a harsh whisper from the bushes.

Lorene raised an eyebrow in confusion and turned to look toward her sister. Charlotte refused to open her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Her older sister released a sighed as her boyfriend continued to make a fool of himself.

"Emu."

Juniper shook his head and knocked Dugan on the shoulder, "Ostrich, man. It's Ostrich."

"Shut up," Dugan stubbornly retorted as he called out again, "Emu."

"Carter," Juniper loudly complained as he finally stepped out of his hiding place and approached Peggy and her small squad as they emerged from the tree line. "Dugan forgot the password again."

"Password is 'eagle,' you apes." Peggy quickly rolled her eyes as she corrected the mishap, but there was still a fondness present in her smile.

"Oh, hi, Peggy." Dugan's carefree grin was plastered to his face as he stepped out beside Juniper, soon followed by the other Commandos. "Fellas."

"Thompson." One of the men that Peggy had brought along nudged his superior with a look of awe on his face. "That's Dum-Dum Dugan."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, still concealed in the shadows with her sister, annoyed by the smug look that crossed Dugan's face. Peggy elected to ignore the unspoken comment as she introduced the two teams to one another.

"Jack Thompson, Mike Li, Rick Ramirez, this is 'Junior' Juniper, 'Skippy' Barnes, 'Ramrod' Rambeau, you seem to know Dum-Dum Dugan..." She briefly paused, checking her shoulder to ensure she didn't miss anyone. "The 107th, our tactical team."

Li's jaw dropped. "You guys are the Howling Commandos."

Rambeau sighed and shook his head with chagrin. "Yeah, I hate that name."

Juniper looked a bit hurt at the comment. "I came up with that name."

David knocked his shoulder playfully. "That you did."

"Dugan, you fought side-by-side with Captain America, didn't you?" Ramirez eagerly asked.

"Yeah." Dugan chuckled but nodded his head toward Peggy. "But not as long as she did."

David sighed and muttered under his breath, "Always forgotten are we."

Rambeau again rolled his eyes, probably for the third time in the five minutes if anyone was bothering to keep track; however, he kept his own comments silent as he observed the Rogers sisters sneaking up on the group from behind.

"Agent Jack Thompson." The lieutenant stepped forward, reintroducing himself as if Peggy hadn't done a good enough job. "I'm running point for the SSR. We head due east till we hit the border."

"We'll hit a wall of Reds before we reach the border," Charlotte contradicted, joining the group with her sister in tow. She paused for a brief moment before offering an alternate suggestion, "Let's head up into Lithuania, cross over into Russia at Ashmyany."

Thompson raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking between the two who hadn't been present before. Lorene almost believed they'd stumped him out of words, but concealed her frown when proven wrong. "You planning on walking halfway across Lithuania?"