After the incident with Clemson, we returned to the base and Steve was getting his blood drawn in an attempt to collect any remnant of the serum. The nurse took the I.V out of Steve's arm and he rolled down his sleeve. 

"Think you got enough?" He looked to me and Peggy. 

"Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code. But without Dr. Erskine, it would take years." Peggy answered. 

"Even if we reproduce it, we don't know who or what we'd use it on," I said. 

"He deserved more than this." Said Steve. 

"If it could work only once, he'd be proud it was you," Peggy said.

Down below, the submarine that Clemson tried to get away in was being examined by Howard. Colonel Phillips was talking with Senator Brandt and another man about the technology in the submarine when we walked down and entered the room. 

"We're not even close to this technology." Said Howard. 

"Then who is?" Brandt asked. 

"HYDRA." Said Phillips. "I'm sure you've been reading our briefings." 

"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel." Said Brandt.

"HYDRA is the Nazi deep-science division." Peggy cut in and we walked over. "It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions." 

"You could say he's another Hilter, they have the same beliefs, but Schmidt wanted to take Hilter's actions to the next level," I added on. 

"HYDRA is basically a cult. They worship Schmidt. They think he's invincible." Said Phillips.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Brandt asked. 

"I spoke to the President this morning." Colonel Phillips turned and began walking towards us. "As of today, the SSR is being re-tasked." 

"Colonel?" Peggy asked, unaware of these plans. 

"We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags, Agent Carter and Corporal Flint. You, too, Stark." Phillips turned to Howard, who looked shocked but almost not surprised. "We're flying to London tonight." 

"Sir?" Steve turned to Phillips. "If you're going after Schmidt, I want in." 

"You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo." Colonel replied. 

"The serum worked." Said Steve.

"I asked for an army and all I got was you." Said the Colonel. "You are not enough." 

"What about Ellie?" Steve looked at me.

"Flint is also an experiment and will be in training with us in London, back up," Phillips answered. 

I furrowed my brow in response to him calling me an experiment. This is not what Steve and I were meant for. We came here to fight, but I was not about to argue with the Colonel. It seemed like things were suddenly changing with Dr. Erskine being gone. Phillips turned and left, then Brandt walked up to me and Steve. 

"With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point." He said. 

"What is the point, Senator?" I asked. 

"I've seen you two in action. More importantly, the country's seen it." Brandt replied. "Paper." He snapped his finger at the man who was with him, he held up a newspaper, and the front headline read: 'Nazis In New York Mystery Man and Ice Woman Save Child.' Below was a picture of Steve holding the car door in front of him, and me skating down the street.  "The enlistment lines have been around the block since your pictures hit the newsstands." Said Brandt. "You don't take soldiers, symbols like that, and hide them in labs." 

I looked at Peggy, she had an unsure expression that mirrored mine. 

"Steve, Eleanor, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?" Brandt asked. 

"Sir, that's all I want," Steve answered. I remained silent. 

"Senator, Ellie will be coming with me to London, there is training that she needs to finish." Peggy stepped forward and put her hand on my shoulder. 

"Then, Steve, congratulations. You just got promoted." Senator Brandt and Steve shook hands.

~~~~

"Still have training?" I asked when we were walking out of the building. "What are you talking about? I thought I was done. You even taught me how to shoot a gun." 

"I didn't want to say what you are actually doing in front of Steve, because then he'd get even more frustrated with the Colonel," Peggy replied. 

"Wait, what do you mean?" I stopped walking. Peggy stopped as well, turned and whispered. 

"The Colonel is sending you to Austria with another unit, out there, some soldiers have been taken as POWs under HYDRA." 

I stared at Peggy in shock. "Really?" I asked.

"Yes, really. We're leaving tomorrow at 4 am, the flight is eight hours. You'll meet the unit at the airport." Said Peggy.

~~~~~

We drove off to the airport the next morning, it took me a while to really wake up and when we arrived, Peggy handed me two suitcases. "One is casual military wear, khaki shirt, and green pants, one is your uniform." 

"Thank you," I said. 

"Your unit will be at the terminal," Peggy said and we walked into the airport.

When we got to the terminal, a big smile spread across my face. Wes and his unit stood to wait for us. Wes had a smile on his face and waved. I quickly walked over and gave him a hug. 

"Good to see you, Ellie," Wes said. 

"It's good to see you too, Wes." I pulled away and looked at his unit. Wes began to introduce each of them. 

"This is Dan, he specializes in engineering. You've met Robert before, he is the best gunman in this squad, I'd trust him to shoot an apple off my head. William has been one of my good friends since I first enlisted, we went up ranks together. And John speaks five languages, English, Spanish, German, French, and Italian. He's also a spy."

"Pleasure to meet all of you." I shook each of their hands. 

"We should get going, the plane is ready." Said Peggy.

We walked out to the runway and climbed up the stairs to an Army Jet. We put our cases in the back and sat down on the seats that lined the walls. We were silent when the plane took off, just exchanges of friendly smiles. When we were in the air, Wes broke the silence.

"So how has the military life been treating you? We saw your pictures in the newspaper with the Rogers kid." He said. "We barely recognized him." He then laughed. 

"I've been treated well, they're feeding me, people know my real name now," I replied. "And I barely recognized Steve when he got out of that vessel."

"So what is the plan, Agent Carter?" William asked Peggy. 

"This is a rescue mission, we're going to drop you off just outside the HYDRA base, you will all be hooked up to radios that are connected to each of you for communication. Your mission is to save as many men as you possibly can, if not all." Said Peggy. "John, you've been keeping up with some information, what can we expect from HYDRA?" 

"They have some new weapons they've been working on. I haven't seen them put to use, but I was able to get my eye on some papers, it seems pretty big. I do know that some of their POWs get put to work on the base, but if they can't work, they get taken away," John said. 

"Taken away to...?" I asked. 

"I'm not sure." John shook his head. 

"We'll be there in maybe 7 hours, this jet is fast," Peggy said. "The seats double as beds if you reach underneath and pull out some cots if you need to rest, in fact, I highly recommend it."

Within two hours, we took Peggy's advice and pulled out the cots from underneath the seats. Everyone slept for maybe another two hours before we all woke up, one after another. Peggy announced that we were getting close to the HYDRA base and we began to put on our uniforms. Peggy put up a curtain to separate me from the men and I changed. It was a bodysuit that was padded on the inside with bulletproof material. Accompanied by it were the ice boots that Howard had designed and a belt with a gun holster. When I came back out, John had a map spread out of the HYDRA base. 

"This is the main entrance. As you can guess, it will be heavily guarded. There is a back entrance, but that is also heavily guarded." Said John, pointing at different places around the map. "There's a garage right there, where trucks come and go, you can enter the base through there. It isn't as heavily guarded, still a risky move, but it's our best chance." 

"We could cause a distraction to pull most of the attention away from the garage," I suggested. 

"That's not a bad idea. Two of us could stay outside and keep watch, as well as distract guards, four of us go inside and rescue as many men as we can." Said Wes. 

"It'll be dark enough so it will be easy enough not to see too much movement," said William. 

"So who will be inside, who will be outside?" Dan asked. 

"Dan and Robert, you two stay outside. Robert you will be able to take out as many HYDRA members as you can with your marksmanship." Said Wes. 

"Dan, they keep a lot of high tech machines in the garage. Check it out as much as you can to get information," John said. 

"William, John, Ellie, and I will go inside." Said Wes. "John you know the base better than any of us. William your sight and sound senses are phenomenal, so if anyone is following us, you'll know. Ellie, your abilities could be put to some good use." 

"Alright, sounds like a plan," I said.

When we got close to the base, we attached radios to our uniforms that were connected to each other and Peggy, then we put on parachutes. The side door had opened and we all stood in a line, waiting to jump. 

"Jumping in three... Two... Jump!" Wes shouted and we all jumped off the plane into the trees surrounding the base.

I pulled the cord and was jolted up by the air catching the parachute and I landed on the ground right after Wes. Once everyone landed, we quickly folded up the parachutes and put them back in their packs. 

"Let's move." John pointed towards the base. He and Wes took the lead, behind them were William and I, then Dan and Robert.

We stopped when we reached the tree line, in front of us was the HYDRA base's garage. Army trucks were parked outside, men were moving boxes from the back of the trucks and into the garage. About ten of them were dressed in black uniforms, wearing helmets and red eyewear, on their left shoulder they bore the HYDRA symbol. Some men were armed with guns and had metal boxes attached to the back of them. 

Other men didn't seem to be HYDRA members at all. They looked weak and dirty, some of them wore dog tags around their neck.

"Are those prisoners?" I asked John. 

"Yeah, Americans, British, French, any one part of the Allies," John answered. "All being put to work until they can't work anymore."

"They look awful." I looked at the weary prisoners. 

"Let's hope they don't stay like that for long, we don't have a lot of time." Said Wes. "William, John, Ellie, let's move to the right so that when Robert makes the distraction we aren't caught."

The four of us moved down the tree line so that we were diagonal to the garage. We had told Robert to count two minutes before making his distraction, giving us time to get away and evaluate the break-in. 

There was a gunshot, everyone at the garage stopped what they were doing and looked in Dan and Robert's direction. We looked too and saw Robert with his gun pointed at the sky, then they moved in the opposite direction of us. We looked back at the garage, one of the soldiers shouted in German, and then again in a slurred, rough English. 

"Prisoners inside!" 

The prisoners stopped what they were doing and filed into the base, while the HYDRA members stayed outside, watching the tree line. Two men went forward to our previous spot, then another gunshot was heard. The two soldiers stayed where they were, and two others followed the sound of the second gunshot, leaving six men still at the base. Once again there was another gunshot. 

"That was Dan's pistol, they split up." Said Wes.

Dan's gunshot sent two more soldiers to investigate, and four men stood outside the garage to keep guard.  

"Can we make it?" I asked. 

"Maybe. If we can just get one more man off guard then we c-" Wes was cut off by another gunshot, and a soldier came running out of the tree line. 

"Where's his partner?" William asked. 

"Did he get shot?" John asked. 

"That's where Robert was, he probably got him," Wes answered.

The soldier pointed at the tree line and began to speak, but there was another gunshot. The man stopped dead in his tracks and put his hand to his chest. He crumpled to the ground and the four men ran to his side. Two of them went into the woods to retrieve the first fallen soldier. 

"Go!" Wes said and we ran forward out of the tree line and into the base. Inside there were more army trucks, and a door leading to a hallway. Wes clicked his radio and whispered into it. "We're inside Rob, over." 

"Good, we're bringing these guys deeper into the woods, over." Robert sounded out of breath and there was white noise in the background like the wind. "They're so dumb they keep following us, haha!" 

"Stay safe Rob, we're going further in, over and out." Said Wes. 

Before we could get into the hallway, a HYDRA member walked by and we ran to the side for cover. 

"Okay, four people aren't going to run around this base unseen." Said Wes. 

"John, you and Will go to where they're keeping the POWs, radio me when you get there, Ellie and I are going to scavenge around for blueprints and any HYDRA plans we can get our hands on." 

John nodded and he and Will looked out the doorway and left. Wes and I waited for one minute then checked out the door. It was clear. We went opposite John and Will and began walking. Every doorway we came across we'd press up against and check our surroundings, then check the door window to see if there was anyone or anything in there. If we couldn't get into the room, we'd move on. 

There was one room we got into, it was unlocked and the lights were out. Wes and I quietly crept in. It seemed to be an office, there were multiple desks with drawers, it was almost like a classroom. We checked in each of the drawers, as we were doing so, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. 

"Wes, someone is coming," I whispered. 

Wes looked at me and softly closed a drawer as to not make a sound. He motioned for me to stand next to him and I did. We faced the door and Wes held up his gun and we waited. A shadow appeared on the floor and I held my breath as the figure appeared in the doorway, hands held up in surrender. 

"Are you Americans?" He asked, his voice was kept low and calm as if he had rehearsed that single question, he also did not have an accent. Though he had the same sound in his voice as someone from Brooklyn. 

"What?" Wes asked, keeping his guard. 

"Are you Americans? It's a simple question, yes or no." He asked again. I couldn't see his face from the darkness of the room. 

"Well, are you an American?" Wes asked. 

"Yes." The man answered. "Are you?" 

"Yes," Wes replied. "Are you a prisoner?" 

"Been one for a while now, unfortunately." The man answered. "Could you lower your gun, it's giving me the jitters." 

Wes slowly lowered his gun. "What's your name?" 

"Sergeant Barnes." He replied. "Yours?" 

"I'm Lieutenant Mattinson," Wes answered. "This is Corporal Flint. We're here on a rescue mission." 

"Were you the ones who made the gunshot?" Sergeant Barnes asked. 

"Another member of our squad did," Wes answered.

"Does she talk?" Barnes asked and I suppressed a laugh.

"I do," I answered. Barnes gazed at me for a while before Wes spoke again. 

"Where are the prisoners held?" Wes asked. 

"They're-" Barnes was cut off when Will's voice came on Wes' radio. 

"Wes, we found the prisoners, where are you and Ellie?" 

"We're talking to a prisoner, we'll be on our way, over," Wes replied. "Could you take us to the prisoners?" 

"Yes, follow me." Said Barnes. 

We walked back to the doorway, Barnes checked for any soldiers and then turned right, the way we had just come. In the dim light of the hallway, I could make out Sergeant Barnes' short, brown hair and green-blue eyes. He kept an attentive face but you could tell that he was tired.

"Wes, we got all the soldiers in the woods." Robert's voice came on the radio. 

"Good, keep watch outside the base and have John scope out the garage." Said Wes. "Ellie and I are making our way to the prisoners." 

"Where are you from, Flint?" I asked Barnes, trying to find a way to ease the tension I could sense on him. 

"Brooklyn." He answered. "What about you?" 

"Manhattan," I said. 

"New York, huh?" Barnes asked. "We're almost neighbors."

"Yeah." I nodded. "What's your full name?" 

"James Buchanan Barnes, everyone calls me Bucky." He answered. 

"Everyone calls me Ellie." 

"What brought you to the war, Ellie?" He asked. 

"A scientist," I said. 

"What? Was that supposed to be a joke?" Barnes looked at me, a small smile on his lips. "Is that why you're wearing that get-up?" 

"No, it's true, I-" I was cut off by Will's voice on the radio.

"Wes, wherever you and Ellie are turn around and find somewhere to hide, now." 

All three of us stopped, Barnes and I turned to look at Wes. My heart sunk to my stomach as I began to assume the worst. 

"What? What's going on Will? Where are you?" Wes asked. 

"They know we're here. Quick, get out of here, now!" Will said. 

"William, what happened?" Wes asked. 

"We were trying to find some keys, but the guards found us first. John and I are making our way to the garage, meet us there-" There was a gunshot heard from the radio and in the base, then white noise. 

"Will! Wi-" Wes stopped shouting when he remembered that any loud noise could be the death of us, if not already Will. 

I put my hands over my mouth. Multiple footsteps were heard coming our way. Doors opened and closed. They were searching the rooms. 

"Barnes, where do we go?" Wes asked. 

"Back the way we came is our best chance." He answered quickly. 

"Then let's go." Wes turned and we started down the hallway at a fast pace. Wes clicked his radio. "John, are you there?" There was static. "John, are you there?" 

My heart began pounding. Cold air filled my lungs and white vapor came from my mouth as I exhaled.

"What the hell..." Bucky looked at me. Now was not the time to explain my special abilities. 

"Wes, this is John." Wes breathed out when the radio sounded back. "William is down, I dragged him to an empty room and barricaded the door, over." 

"Is he breathing?" Wes asked. 

"Yes, but he got shot right below his right rib, it won't be long before he starts coughing up blood," John replied. 

"Okay, where are you?" Wes asked. 

"North of the cells, is that prisoner still with you?" John said. 

"Yeah," Wes replied. 

"Have him take you, I have to stay quiet, over," John said. 

"Ellie, radio Dan," Wes said to me. 

I clicked my radio and spoke. "Dan, they know we're here." 

"Goddammit, is everyone okay?" Dan replied. 

"William is down, John is hiding with him in a room, we're trying to get there right now," I said. 

"Oh God, listen, I'll radio Rob. Should I stay here?" Dan asked. I looked at Wes for confirmation.

"Yes, Dan, stay where you are," Wes said. 

"Okay, be careful." Dan radioed out and we continued walking.

We heard running footsteps coming our way, we ran to a doorway and pressed up against the wall. 

"Ellie, I gotta tell you something," Wes whispered. I looked at him and he glanced at Bucky, they shared a knowing look that I didn't yet understand. "We're in a really bad situation here. Listen, if anything happens to me, if I go down, don't try to help me. Don't try and take me with you, run, defend yourself, do whatever you can. Make a snowstorm for God's sake, just get out alive." 

"But-" I started. 

"No, get out, find Dan and Robert, radio Peggy. Your life is worth a lot more than mine." Said Wes. I did not like to hear those words come out of his mouth. 

"Wes," I began. 

"That's an order." The footsteps got closer and Wes held out his gun. "Get your ice ready, Frostbite." 

I shook my hands and let the cold feeling circulate. I handed Barnes my pistol and he seemed too confused by the fact that I had left frost on the handle of the gun to pay attention to the soldiers rounding the corner. 

As the two men passed us, Wes knocked one out with the butt of his gun, and as the other turned, a shard of ice shot from my hand and into his chest. 

"Let's go." Wes looked back at us and we turned down the hallway. Barnes stared at the man with the shard of ice in his chest before catching up with us.

"How- how did you do that?" He asked. 

"I don't know how, but I know that I can do it," I replied. "Are we close to the cells?"  

"Y-yeah, we'll be there soon, then we can get your unit," Barnes answered.

Ahead of us were double doors, and four soldiers walked through them. Wes began shooting and I pressed my hands together and pulled them apart revealing a blade of ice. I threw it and impaled a soldier and Barnes shot the last one. 

"This isn't as fun as my sniper." He looked at the pistol in his hand.

We went through the double doors, inside there were rows of jail cells full of prisoners. The room was dark, and the only light came from above, where metal bars allowed light to seep through from the floor above. 

"Just across the way through that door is a hallway, your friends should be in there, I'll stay here on guard." Said Bucky. 

Wes went ahead of me and walked forward, as we got to the door a soldier slipped out of the shadows in front of me and behind Wes. I quickly reached around his head, placed one hand on his mouth and one hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. Frost spread from my fingertips and across his face, and down his arm. He fell to the ground and I looked at his face which had become blistered and purple. A symptom of frostbite. 

"Thank you, Ellie," Wes said as he pushed open the door. 

The hallway was empty, all the doors were opened, except one. We went straight to that door, and I went forward while Wes stood to watch with his gun. 

"John? Are you in there?" I pressed my ear up to the door. Nothing. 

"Radio him," Wes said. 

I clicked my radio on and spoke. "John?" There was silence. "John?" 

The radio beeped and John shouted, "It's a trap!"  

There was a gunshot from inside the room and Wes pulled me away from the doorway and to the side as machine guns fired bullets through the door. I closed my eyes, covered my ears, and screamed. Wes grabbed my hand and we ran through the doors again back into the cell room.

"Wes, your hand!" I pulled away from his grip as frost spread up his hand. He quickly wiped his hand on his pants and blew hot air. 

"I'm fine." He said. 

I looked behind him through the open door, three soldiers were leaving the room. One caught sight of us and he raised his pistol. 

"No!" I shouted and three shots rang out. 

Wes's eyes widened and he took a step forward with one foot. He dropped his gun and fell forward. I backed up without thinking and his body crumpled to the floor. Three shots came from behind me, Bucky had killed the soldiers. I dropped to my knees, turned Wes over onto his back, and grabbed the radio from my belt. My hands were shaking as I clicked the button on the side of the box. 

"D-Dan, Wes is... Wes is down," I said. There was static. Wes's chest slowly rose and fell as he struggled for breath. I reached down and gripped his hand, ignoring the frost that slowly began trailing up his arm like vines. "Dan," I said again, tears welled up in my eyes and I blinked, allowing them to run down my face. "Wes, I'm sorry." 

I looked at the man who made me feel welcome in the world, a man who became my family. His eyes flicked up to mine, unblinking but still holding his bright spirit. His lips slowly pulled into a faint smile to show me that he was okay and his hand lightly squeezed my fingers before falling limp. His chest stopped moving. 

"No... no, Wes-" I squeezed his hand again. "Wes, please don't leave me... Don't leave us..." 

"Ellie, you gotta go, there are more soldiers coming," Barnes said, there was anxiety in his voice. 

"Dan, Wes is down, so is John," I said into the radio. There was more static. 

"Ellie, come on." Bucky put his hand on my shoulder, the gesture was somewhat comforting at this moment. "You gotta get out of here." 

I clicked the radio. "Robert. Do you read me?" Static. "Robert, Wes is down, John is down, Will is down. Dan isn't answering, do you read me?" 

The radio beeped. "Ellie this is Robert, Peggy is on her way, Dan is with me he dropped his radio, we are at the tree line, over." 

I breathed out, white vapor clouded around me. 

"I'll be out as soon as I can, over," I said, putting the radio on my belt. "Bucky, help me pick him up and get the prisoners out." 

"Ellie, he said that if anything ever happened to him you leave him," Bucky said. When I didn't answer, he reached down and put his hands under my arms and lifted me off the ground. I stood and looked at the prisoners in their cells. 

"At least help me get them out," I said. "Otherwise I'm here for nothing." 

"Quickly," Barnes replied.

I walked to the nearest cell and pressed my hand against the lock until it froze. Bucky then took Wes's gun and knocked the lock off the gate. We did this with two other cell doors before we heard running footsteps coming from two doors. 

"Ellie, go." Barnes snapped, authority suddenly taking over his voice.  

"What?" I looked at him. 

"Get out of here, we'll hold them off." Bucky handed me Wes's gun. 

"Don't you want to get out of here?" I asked. 

"Another day." Said a prisoner. 

"Go." Bucky lightly pushed my shoulder. "Out that door is a straight shot to the garage. You get out there, and you run like hell."  

"Are you sure?" I asked. 

"Yes, I'm sure," Bucky said right before soldiers came to one of the doors. "Now run!" 

I walked a few paces backward, watching the prisoners slowly form around the doors making barricades, then I turned and ran for the door. I sprinted down the hallway and made it to the garage. It seemed that all the soldiers were focused on the escaping prisoners. I made it out of the garage and to the tree line. Robert and Dan were standing a little ways away, but they ran up to me. 

"Let's get out of here," Robert said. 

We ran deeper into the woods until we came to a clearing. It was dark, and the crickets were chirping, but we still weren't far away enough. I dropped Wes's gun, bent over, and rested my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. A lump in my throat formed, and my shoulders started shaking. 

Dan came to my side and put his hand on my back. "Here, let's sit you down." I sat down in the grass, Dan squatted down next to me with his hand still on my back.

"Robert, do you read me?" Peggy's voice came on Robert's radio. 

"I read you, Agent. Ellie is with us, are you close?" Robert replied. 

"A bit too close for comfort," Peggy replied. "We're in a helicopter, do you have a flare gun?" 

"Yes, should I shoot it? I don't want to give our location away." Robert said. 

"We're close enough to get to you on time." Said Peggy. 

"Alright." Robert reached into his backpack and pulled out a flare gun. He pointed it up at the sky and fired. There was a red flash like a mini firework. In almost a minute, the whirr of a helicopter came to our ears, then the aircraft was in sight. 

Robert's radio beeped. "We're going to get as close as we can to the ground and throw down a ladder," Peggy shouted over the loud blades. 

The helicopter came closer and closer, blowing leaves everywhere and making the trees bend.
Once it was almost twenty feet above us, a ladder was dropped down. Dan helped me up, grabbed Wes's gun, and put it in his backpack. Robert was first to climb up, going as fast as he could, then I climbed up, and once I got to the helicopter, I didn't even bother to stand up. I crawled across the floor and rested my back against a seat. Dan reached the top and pulled the ladder up after him.

Robert closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head. Dan sat down and put his head in his hands. Peggy walked over to where I sat and kneeled down in front of me. 

"Don't feel guilty-" she began. 

"Guilty doesn't even describe how I feel right now. Not only did we leave Wes, but we left John and William and all those prisoners," I said. "We came here to rescue people, we rescued no one but ourselves and it was pathetic. I can't return knowing that we failed." 

Peggy gave me a sympathizing look.

"When we get back, I'll give you Wesley's papers, those carry his contact information, you can contact his wife, and tell her." Peggy stood up and went to the front of the helicopter.

I stood up off the ground and took the seat next to Dan, Robert joined us and he pulled a flask from his jacket. 

"To our fallen." He took a swig, then handed the flask to Dan, who also took a swig. He then held out the flask towards me, I looked at it hesitantly, then sighed.

"Oh, what the hell." I took the flask and took a swig of the drink inside. It was strong, and I didn't like the taste, but I didn't care.