[ WWII AU ] Chantez, compagnons, dans la nuit la liberté

[from_the_outside]

There's nothing strange about Yvette Rheaume or the credentials she provides to Monsieur Lavigne when she arrives to replace Amelie. "Her mother is ill," Lavigne explains to the girl. "You will fill in for her duties until she returns, yes?"

Yes, of course. And it's a relief when the girl proves both capable and well-mannered; he simply cannot afford to force Herr Schneider to wait. If the facility were to cancel their monthly orders, he'd lose hundreds, thousands of francs in profit, money which assuages his guilt at assisting the enemy. He explains the process to the girl as they ride in a jeep towards the facility, and impresses on her the need for perfect discretion. "I will expect you to take clear and comprehensive notes," he reminds her. "We cannot miss any opportunity to re-supply."

"Yes, sir," she promises, and dutifully notes his instructions.

His ears are ringing by the time they reach the facility and Herr Schneider steps outside to greet them, his sharp eyes resting for a moment on Yvette. "Who is this lovely creature?" he asks, and Lavigne hastens to assure him of her loyalty and credentials. The German nods and politely ushers them inside. Lavigne is too relieved and too focused on the robust order to come to pay much mind to the way the man keeps half an eye on Yvette.

But she doesn't miss it. Not a single glance.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

"It's this way," Sharon tells them, nodding to a corridor off to the right before directing her steps towards it. "And, honestly, it might not be Schmidt or Zola, but this stuff's bad enough. You really don't want it getting out onto the battlefields."

[nerves_of_ice]

"No, we definitely don't want that," Steve says, firmly, as they walk with her toward the corridor.

"The squad'll have swept anything we can find on paper to bring back. Your supply list will be helpful too."

Bucky stops at the door of the first room, scanning it. "Well, that's a mess of poison," he says, flatly. "No wonder the smoke looked so hideous when the first round of charges went off."

"You're right," Steve notes. "We better make sure everyone's back further than usual before we send this one up."

[from_the_outside]

"It's nasty stuff," she agrees. "I wouldn't touch any of it, if I were you."

"Don't worry," Steve tells her. "By the time Dernier's done, even this will be ash."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky does a quick, careful walkthrough of the room itself, without touching anything, then calls it clear and follows them to the next one, where Steve's the one who walks through while he watches.

It's very, very evident that the two of them have an easy habit in the way they work together.

[from_the_outside]

There are a few other areas she points out to them as they do the final walkthrough, but the Howling Commandos have by and large been over the place with a fine-toothed comb. By the time trucks from the camp have arrived to pick up the HYDRA staff and ex-prisoners, she's made her way outside with Steve and Bucky and Dernier is almost cackling with anticipation as he unwinds a long fuse through the facility door.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Like I told you before, we've each got our specialty," Bucky says. "This's his. Prepare to be impressed."

[from_the_outside]

"I only wish I had popcorn," she teases. "How far away do you think this explosion will be visible?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"If I have anything to say about it, all the way to Berlin!" Dernier declares, fiercely. He studies the layout and turns to Steve.

"It's ready, Capitaine."

Steve nods. "Light it and fall back to the safe distance."

[from_the_outside]

Maybe unsurprisingly, Steve is the last to go, keeping a careful eye on the fuse, his shield at the ready. Sharon finds herself in the middle of a pack of Howling Commandos, Dugan at her back and Jim and Gabe to either side, once they've reached the safe point.

"Un... deux... trois..." counts Dernier, right before there's a shattering explosion, followed by a whump of air that goes rattling through the trees and an enormous billowing cloud of acrid black smoke where the facility used to stand.

[nerves_of_ice]

The cheer goes up seems almost as loud as the explosion. Dugan pounds Dernier on the back as the others offer their congratulations on a job well done.

Steve smiles and lets the exuberance go on for a few moments before he clears his throat. The rowdy squad - his squad, the tight-knit team that he sometimes still can't believe he's part of much less leading - simmers down pretty fast and turns back to him.

"Good work," he approves, and Dernier beams, echoed by a slew of grins. Even Bucky's smiling, small and quietly satisfied. "Now let's get back to base and see what we can learn from it for the next time."

[from_the_outside]

The mood during the trip back to base is celebratory, if not exactly giddy. They all know this facility wasn't one of the bigger fish, but to have helped more soldiers who had been in the same situation they themselves had once faced leaves the Howling Commandos cheerful and talkative.

Back at base, Phillips and Aunt Peggy meet them with a coterie of soldiers who take the HYDRA prisoners away for detention. The debrief takes up most of the rest of the day, until Phillips leaves to interrogate Schneider, who has regained consciousness and is stable.

Sharon doesn't even bother changing before she heads over to the pub after a dinner and much less formal debrief with Aunt Peggy; if she goes back to her tent right now she thinks she might just go straight to sleep.

[nerves_of_ice]

Most of the guys are already there by the time Bucky and Steve make their way over to the pub to blow off some team. As they head over to the table, Gabe's earnest protest carries loud and clear.

"I'm telling you the truth! She drove up with Cap and the Sarge and had four prisoners that she'd taken all on her own!"

[from_the_outside]

The pub is as busy as it always is right after a mission, and it takes her a little while to make her way over to the table where the Howling Commandos are clustered around several pitchers of beer. On her way, she spots Steve and Bucky and lifts her hand in a wave, then has to laugh at the conversation she overhears.

"Four?" Falsworth is saying. "I know what we saw the other day, but that can't be right."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Seriously, four," Gabe insists. "Cap, you were there, you tell -- Agent Carter!"

Bucky stands and pulls out a chair for her between him and Gabe.

[from_the_outside]

She takes the seat and the glass of beer that Dugan pours and pushes her way, then turns an amused glance on them.

"Hey," she says, teasing. "Whatcha talkin' about?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"I was just telling them about how you came driving up," Gabe starts, but Bucky interrupts him.

"No, you've got to go back further than that to get all of it." He leans forward over the table, drawing their attention, while Steve hides a smile in his glass.

"There I was, up on the ridge, watching as she comes out with Schneider and Lavigne. Cool as a cucumber, I swear, not even a flicker of nerves when she pulled out her little compact and flashed us the warning while fixing her lipstick. They didn't see it. I'm sure of that."

[from_the_outside]

She settles back into her chair, holding back a laugh as Bucky starts his story. "I didn't get the sense they did, either," she points out. "Schneider was a little suspicious of having a new face around, but by the end he'd mostly forgotten about me."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Of course he had," Bucky agrees. "Meek as Mary's little lamb you were, following them around with your notebook and pen like the perfect secretary."

Jim shakes his head. "Boy, she really had them fooled." Knowing the unwritten rules, he pours Bucky a refill. "So what happened?"

"Well, something put the wind up," Bucky sighs, with a nod of thanks for Jim. "Nothing I could see, so maybe Schneider was suspicious for some other reason. Anyway, no sooner had they taken off in the car, Lavigne and Sharon and his driver, than Schneider was signaling a team of thugs to go after them."

[from_the_outside]

"Lavigne had been asking a few questions," Sharon muses, lifting her own drink. "Could be Schneider thought he was getting too curious."

She takes a swallow, then looks over at Bucky. "A team? How many?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Four," Bucky tells her, and something dark passes through his glance for a second before he turns a bright grin back on the rest of them. "As you guys might figure, I was pretty well stuck. Luckily, Dernier chose that second to set off the explosion, which covered my shots pretty well. I got the loading dock door jammed and knocked down two of the retrieval team, but that left two more speeding after them, weapons hot and ready and no kind of fun at all on their mind."

"Merde," Dernier mutters, and Bucky nods to him. "Exactly. So as you can guess, Steve and I were pretty worried when we went after them. And what do you think we found?"

[from_the_outside]

Jim glances over at her as she sets an elbow on the table and rests her cheek in her hand, thoroughly enjoying Bucky's retelling of what happened. "I bet Agent Carter can tell us," he points out, and she shakes her head, laughing.

"Absolutely not. I want to hear this, too."

[nerves_of_ice]

"A surprise," Steve says, dryly, and Bucky gestures at him with an exaggerated wave. "Exactly!"

He shakes his head, looking around at the others. "We come around a curve at top speed, pushing hard to make up the distance, and what do we see but Lavigne's car, shot full of bullet holes, two wrecked motorbikes, four prisoners tied up in a big heap -- and Agent Carter sunning herself on the hood of the car while she waved a sidearm at them to keep them in line."

[from_the_outside]

"To be fair, I'd already taken out the first two when the others showed up," Sharon says, amused. "I don't think any of them were happy about it, though."

[nerves_of_ice]

Dugan's loud laugh rings through the room as he raises his glass to her. "To Agent Carter!" he calls, and everyone else joins in without hesitation, glasses clinking and beer sloshing with the enthusiasm of the toast.

"Agent Carter!"

[from_the_outside]

She can feel the warmth of a blush in her cheeks, and lifts her own glass back to them, her eyes dancing. "To the Howling Commandos," she suggests.

"And another successful mission."