To put it simply, none of the soldiers were stupid enough to bring up that subject for the rest of Angie's military career. At least, not to her face. She knew that the upset man had all the right reasons to think she'd earned her spot immorally, it didn't take a rocket scientist to come to the same conclusion. Not that she was that kind of person, it just seemed like the most logical explanation due to her lack of training and her friendship with their sergeant. Especially now that Bucky wasn't trying too hard to hide his emotions towards her from the troops anymore.

What once gave her a feeling of pride and self-worth now brought a stabbing pain to her chest and a sour taste in her mouth. In less than an hour, the woman went from being at the top of her game to the bottom of the garbage dump. She'd never show it, though. Not in front of the men who'd be looking up to her, whether they liked it or not.

The day after her upgrade, what remained of the 107th was on the move, heading straight for their next target, a small village in the north-easternmost part of France, wedged right between the country and Germany itself. Though the border was kept under close watch by the Nazis, one tiny cluster of buildings known most commonly as Malheur was out of their radar. It had been abandoned towards the beginning of the war due to Hitler's invasion of France, but it wasn't a significant enough target to keep close tabs on. 

According to Colonel Phillips, one of their spies from the other side informed him of an important shipment of some sort that would make its way through a road a mile or two from Malheur. The 107th's goal was to stop the caravan moving through the countryside, then somehow sneak the cargo on the truck out and replace it with a new kind of explosive Dr.Abraham Erskine had invented a few months prior to this event. Though Colonel Phillips warned everyone to keep their hands off the glowing wooden crate of bombs, Angie and Bucky weren't too worried about it. 

Despite Bucky's protest, the 107th was split into three groups: one would stay at Malheur as backup if needed and keep an eye on German movement, one would be in charge of causing a distraction and catching the attention of the Nazi caravan, while the last cluster of soldiers were responsible for removing the German trucks' cargo and replacing it with the newly experimented explosives. Sergeant Barnes would be leading the distraction group, while Corporal Harris and her men were given the intimidating job of swapping whatever was in the Nazi trucks and the crate glowing with a red, yellow, and orange hue.

"I still think splitting up is a bad idea," the sergeant mumbled under his breath after they arrived in Malheur; a small pavilion surrounded by four stone houses, one of them half crumbled with a wall completely missing. After setting up camp, the soldiers were scattered around the area, loading up their guns and packing extra ammunition into whatever pockets on their clothes they could find. Angie was sliding bullets into her pants pocket when she subtly shook her head.

"Relax, Buck," She muttered. It wasn't that they didn't want to be seen talking to each other, it was the fact that everyone knew Bucky was getting closer to her than he'd been when they first got across the Atlantic, a little too close for protocol. And there was enough controversy around Evangeline getting her position that any more negative attention would've just made everything worse. Angie slid more gold cylinders into her opposite pocket. "You said I earned this title, right?"

He nodded.

"If you want these other guys to believe it, you've got to believe it yourself first," She shouldered her rifle before sending him a small smirk. "I'll see you at the rendezvous point when the mission's over." As she started walking away, Buck glanced around the camp to make sure no one was watching before casually walking by her and quickly pressing his lips against her cheek. 

"Is there a reward headed my way when we pull this off?" He whispered and bit his lower lip. Angie rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the rib cage at that comment, though she couldn't fight her smile and the crimson color slowing working up her neck to her face. Her reaction made him laugh; he tried to be a little quiet so they wouldn't attract too much attention. 

"Maybe, depends on how well you do as the distraction."

Knowing that any further talk on the matter would cause a scene, she jogged over to her guys just as the cheeky notion of how distracting Buck could be left his mouth and sent a shiver up her spine. Trying to keep her thoughts on the situation at hand and the mission about to take place, Angie couldn't help but wonder what would kill her first- the war with Germany or Bucky's shameless flirting.

**********

Night fell before the Nazi caravan was spotted along the countryside. Hidden within the darkness, the 107th began to turn their plan into action as the headlights of the trucks appeared in the distance, growing closer and closer with every passing minute. Team Distraction was hiding in the trees not too far off from the road, far enough not to be spotted by the enemy but close enough to know when to jump out of the foliage. Team Cargo-Switch was hidden in the ditches along side the worn ground, only a few feet away from where the caravan would be stopped, and Team Backup was watching the whole ordeal a mile or two away.

Angie could feel the earth vibrating beneath her feet as the trucks became near and could hear the squealing of the car's tires. She couldn't see completely from her spot through the grass and dirt they'd thrown onto each other to stay camouflaged, but well enough that she'd know when the time to switch the cargo was right. It had taken them forever to hide the glowing crate from sight, considering the fact that a little grass and moss wasn't going to keep the item hidden in the pitch black of night. But they managed to stifle the shining wooden box with a few coats from the men and some handfuls of mud slathered along the sides.

The vehicles continued to come closer and Evangeline could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She didn't understand why; it wasn't like this was her first mission leading a group of men into a fight. She'd done that plenty of times before. This should have been a piece of cake.

If she didn't have her reputation riding on whether or not she was qualified for her promotion.

Henry nudged her shoulder ever so slightly, just enough to bring her attention away from her worries and back to reality. The relief she'd felt when she found out Henry would be in her group was incredible. After all the hellish turns of events, having a familiar face that was pissed off at you around really did a number to ease her nerves. Angie knew she'd have to thank him later for the support. 

Henry wasn't much to look at, just a typical British boy who probably lied about his age to get into the army. He couldn't have been more than seventeen years old, maybe eighteen if she was being extremely generous. But despite his plainness, Angie still managed to decide that he was her new favorite soldier, besides Bucky of course.

Almost a split second later, the sound of vehicles thundering by rattled Evangeline's ears and Team Cargo-Switch looked up from the ditch just in time to see every single truck pass by without a care in the world, just doing their duty to the Fuhrer. Team Distraction had completely thrown away whatever chance they'd had to stop the caravan. Which meant someone was going to have to stop that parade of vehicles before they could get away.

Gesturing for her team to follow, the woman pulled herself from the pit beside the road, jumped to her feet, and started sprinting as fast as her legs could carry her.