Chapter Text
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Peggy knew something was off the moment she set eyes on her targets. They were not as described at all, and the repetitive lapping of water against the stones below only increased her irritation at the situation.
She’d been prepped and trained for a mission in the Eastern Mountains, that’s what she had packed for and where she’d expected to be sent, but last minute, Stark had sent out an alarm to any agent in the area, that if they were close, this was priority.
She’d received the note and the tidy sum of gold, and it had been enough to squash her concerns initially, but now that she was here, wrapped in a too warm cloak, with a crew who was not as described, she was having second thoughts.
One of the men turned her direction, and even though she knew she was completely hidden from his sight, she still ducked further, hiding any traces of her presence. He turned back, laid a barrel on its side, and began rolling it up the gangplank.
The smell of roasting meat, stables, and seawater were not the most agreeable of smells, and she held a handkerchief up to her nose to stymie it.
She carefully pulled out the sheet of instructions she’d been given. Seeing the mark of the Red Skull on top made her stomach curl, but it was a necessary deception. If any guard caught her, then this paper would not incriminate her or her group.
She was one of the few gracelings fighting the regime of King Johann Schmidt. He’d come to power forcefully, using his grace. She’d never seen it in person but it had been described to her as formidable. No one could ever fully explain it to her. Some said he was impossibly strong, or impossibly fast, could read minds, or jump incredible heights, but even that might be overcome by an army, However, his second in command, graced with a knowledge of the sciences, had created a weapon that made people disappear in a bright flash of blue. Her brother had been killed by these weapons, and despite her parents pleading, she had joined the cause of The Reserve soon after. A world held in terror was no world to live in. She would fight to rid the kingdom of this menace, or she would die trying.
And so here she was, crouched behind a wooden barrier, eyeing the men moving back and forth on the deck and up and down the gangplank, loading the ship with supplies. The item she was looking for was supposedly already on board. She had to sneak on deck, find the artifact, and escape with it, undetected. The ship was scheduled to leave at dawn, so she hoped that would be enough time before the sailors awoke in the morning.
She studied the drawing Stark had included, it was a small seemingly innocuous cube that glowed blue. A group of soldiers had attempted to steal it from the King’s castle, but they were captured and placed in the dungeons. Peggy didn’t know the whole story, but some far-fetched version of the tale had a lone soldier knocking on King Schmidt’s gate, infiltrating his castle and releasing the hostages. She had always doubted this version, but true or not, the cube had disappeared during the ensuing battle and the soldiers had disappeared out of their cells and off the map entirely.
Gaining this artifact could change the tide of the war. It was rumored to be the source of power for the deadly weapons, and if so, Stark could use it to create either a protection against it, or weapons of their own. That’s why she’d been willing to volunteer at such short notice, this was not a mission that could fail.
The sound of boots clipping on the cobblestones nearby had her halting her breath. She closed her eyes, so they wouldn’t give her away if for some reason the person wanted to look through the cracks in the wooden fence. A graceling’s eyes were a dead give away, each iris colored differently set them apart from the ‘ungraced’.
The boots passed her and did not hesitate as they started up the gangplank.
“Welcome Aboard, Captain,” someone shouted. The commotion stopped and she couldn’t hear the response, but the flurry of activity restarted and increased in pace.
She risked peeking over the ledge, hoping to see them settling the ship in for the night but she froze. They weren’t settling in, they were shipping out.
She watched as moors were cast off and the anchor was being pulled up. She cursed her luck. Of course a ship with this rare of an artifact wouldn’t stay on schedule. She stood there, cataloging her choices. She could let it sail and try to catch up with it, she knew its next port, but there was no guarantee it would stay the course. She could run up and plead with them to take a poor helpless woman, running from some unfortunate circumstance. That usually worked in many cases, but one look at the dark brooding man who stood watch over the coming and going of the men on deck told her that that wouldn’t be the case this time. So stealth it would be.
She waited until they had opened the sails, and the ship had started to creep out of its port before she sprinted from her spot. She was grateful for the minimal moonlight that hid not only her eyes, but her form from sight. She ran along the edge, and with a daring leap, she vaulted herself, catching the top edge of the captain’s window, and hauling herself up, so her feet wouldn’t be in view. She clung to the narrow ledge and worked her way to the overhang where there was more room. She flung a rope up, threading it through the wooden slats of the deck and fastened a harness, tying it securely so she wouldn’t be in danger of falling to the sea below.
The thump she’d made upon landing was considerable, but hopefully the flurry of activity above deck, and the unlikelihood of the Captain being in his quarters when they were setting sail, would mask her arrival.
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It was several hours of sailing before she dared venture further. The deck above had gone quiet and she carefully pulled herself up, hand over hand until her eyes were just peering over onto the deck above her.
She waited, longer than she probably needed to, but she wanted to make sure there was only the one man she saw patrolling the deck. His huge burly frame passed by her every 10 minutes or so. When she was sure he was alone, and he’d just passed her, she untied the harness and silently pulled herself overboard.
On a normal mission she would knock the man out and complete her job, but now that they were at sea, she was at the mercy of the tides. She couldn’t commandeer a ship this big on her own, so her presence needed to go undetected until they made port and she was safely off the ship.
She crawled across the deck, using all her prowess to not make a single sound. She avoided the rocking light the lanterns created as they swung gently on their hooks. Somewhere in her mind she was grateful for the multiple points of access on the deck. Some ships had only one door down to the lower decks, but this ship had three. She mentally mapped out the ship and guessed which one would take her to the storage rooms.
A creak and the sound of door hinges sent her scrambling for cover. She slid in between three barrels and pulled her dark cloak over her. She dared not breathe as she heard another set of footsteps join the patrolman’s.
“You should rest, Captain.” A gruff, but amused voice said.
“You know I don’t need much.” The voice was deep, and melodic. “I always have trouble on the first night at sea.”
“I know, but with what we face, you need to rest. You never know when we will meet them face to face.”
A sigh whispered it’s way into Peggy’s ears and the Captain’s voice softened, she strained to hear it. “I don’t want to wake him.”
“Ah, I see. Well then we shall say no more about it.”
“I’ll take patrol, why don’t you head below decks and get some rest? I’ll let you make it up to me tomorrow.”
“Aye, Aye, Captain.”
The heavy footsteps thumped past her and the hatch leading below decks creaked open.
She shifted her cloak, pulling it just enough to let one eye peak out. She could only see the glint of blonde hair leaning over the railing as scanned her surroundings.
When it became apparent that the man didn’t intend to do any actual patrolling, she decided to settle in. She shifted, as quietly as she dared, lying on her side and pulling the cloak around her, falling into a half-sleep, prepared to rouse at a moments notice if the opportunity arose to steal below deck.
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