Steve's view
The car was catching up more and more. Then the Cornel pressed a button and we were almost flying towards the plane. When we were almost at the plane I turned and gave Jack a pleading look "Jack if I don't make it......."
"I'll find him." he promised me " Go get that son of a bitch!"
I nodded gratefully at him and set about shimmying my way to the engines. I grabbed the landing gear and pulled myself up by it. Just in time, barely had I found a firm grip, the plane shot out of the hangar and went over a precipice. I stood on the front wheel of the landing gear and waited for Schmidt to retract it. I glanced back and saw Jack and the Cornel looking after me. Jack's black hair was fluttering in the wind. A jolt went through my whole body as the chassis began to pull me upwards. I clung on tightly and waited until the hatches were closed, only then did I venture down from the frame. What I saw did not please me at all. In front of me I saw huge bombs on which names had been carefully painted. Chicago, Boston, New York. All the big cities of the East Coast and the plane was flying at such a speed that we had already reached the open sea. We had flown over Belgium and England in less than five minutes. That meant it wouldn't take another hour for Schmidt to reach his first destination. New York, my home. I crept along a bridge towards the cockpit. Suddenly my ears registered a minimal noise behind me, which was enough to warn me. I wheeled around and blocked the Hydra soldier's shot with my shield, I threw the shield at his head and he collapsed unconscious. The next one pulled out a knife "If he feels safer with that..." I thought with amusement. I dodged him, snatched the knife from him and flung him over the railing of the bridge. I threw the knife at one of the soldiers who was running away and hit him in the neck, he fell to the ground dead. I then hit a button and the bomb that had been meant for Boston sailed into the Ozan, along with two Hydra soldiers.
I worked my way to the cockpit without any further obstacles. It was so much more advanced than anything I had ever seen, I was already thinking about how to get the thing down safely, but an annoyed voice sounded behind me "You never give up!"
I looked into the Red Skull's noseless face "Not really my style!" I shouted and threw my shield at him. He just knocked it away and gave me a hook to the chin that knocked me off my feet, after which he kicked me in the stomach. "You could be a god, yet you walk around in a clown costume protecting the people who are going to crush you sooner or later. I have seen the future Capitan, I know what awaits you!"
I grabbed his foot and yanked him to the ground. "I choose my own future!"
I gave him two punches in the face before he just threw me off him and I landed with a thud on the cockpit. I was too busy to think of what the consequences might be as Red Skull came at me, pummeling me with my own shield. I was sandwiched between a wall and my own shield. My bullet wound was throbbing and I could feel blood running from the corner of my mouth. I just ripped off a piece of metal and tried to hit him with it, but he just swept it aside.
But he didn't seem to like where it landed. For the metal piece landed in the bright blue engine of the plane and tore a hole in it from which jagged threads of light emerged.
"What have you done!" Schmidt seemed honestly dismayed. He opened a container and hollowed out a cube. It glowed brilliant blue. This had to be the Hydra's secret weapon, what they used to power their weapons. Schmidt stared mesmerised at the cube, the ceiling of the plane turned into stars and now looked like outer space. But what happened next I could not have imagined even in my wildest dreams. It looked like the leader of the Hydra was being swallowed by a beam, he screamed until he disappeared. The universe disappeared, as did the stars, and the cube fell to the ground. After what that thing had done to Schmidt, I certainly wouldn't touch it. So I left it there. It chewed through all the metal and crashed into the Atlantic. I ran to the cockpit and searched feverishly for the radio message, after a short time I found it and radioed the Hydra headquarters in Switzerland, where I was sure my people were already sitting.
"Hello, this is Capitan Rogers, can anyone hear me?"
There was a short crackle but then came a reply "Hey buddy what's up?" I heard Jack's distorted voice.
I had to smile slightly, had somehow been clear that he would be on the other side of the line "Schmidt is dead but the plane is damaged and still hurtling towards New York."
"Give me your coordinates and I'll find you a safe place to land."
I gave a short laugh "Jack the only other thing I could try with this piece of junk is a crash landing."
There was silence for a moment then Jack's angry voice rang out from the speaker "Steve Rogers you're not going to do that, I'm going to pass you on to Howard he can guide you how to......"
I didn't let him finish "I'm over deserted territory right now, if I wait any longer a lot of people will get hurt." I looked down and saw a huge ice floe floating over the water. Determined, I pressed down on the controls. I clutched the back of my seat as the plane shot down. "Jack?"
"I'm still here mate!" he replied.
"Your promise, keep it. Tell him that...." I swallowed hard and pulled out Bucky's photo "Tell him I'm sorry."
" I promise."
I exhaled in relief because I was almost certainly going to die and could never forgive myself if Bucky was a prisoner at Hydra for the rest of his life. I clutched Bucky's photo like it was a life preserver " I' m sorry Buck." I muttered.
The ice was getting closer. When I hit it was like breaking every bone in my body, I was thrown against a wall and slammed to the ground. For a moment I thought I had survived after all, but then I heard the creaking of ice. The heat of the plane melted the ice and icy water flooded what was left of the plane. I could do nothing. I couldn't move because every fibre of my body was screaming in pain. I could only look at the photo of Bucky, for his face was the last thing I wanted to see when I left this world. The metal beneath me cracked and gave way. I fell out of the plane into the icy water, into my icy cold, wet grave. Or so I thought.