Revelations
They lay you on a makeshift stretcher, jump into a truck and speed to a nearby field where a plane was guarded by a dozen soldiers dressed in regular clothes. They rush you in and Howard quickly orders to start the plane and take off.
Once in the air you start to shift and turn until you’re finally able to open your eyes, Howard is sitting at your side “Hey you! Welcome back” He speaks softly and has a tiny smile on his face, but his eyes show concern. “Water, please” you mutter and he quickly hands you a canteen and two pills, you put the pills in your mouth and gulp the liquid greedily “Easy girl! How do you feel?”
You try to sit but your body doesn’t respond “Like I’ve been hit by a ton of bricks” Your whole body aches, the shoulder wound beats like a second heart, but the memories are the worst. The smell of scorched meat is embedded in your nose, the cries of your companions sound in your ears like a permanent echo and the image of those monstrous machines destroying everything in their path etched in your eyes.
Howard leans toward you and with his thumb wipes away the single tear that runs down your cheek. "What happened dear?" You choke back a sob and put your hand over your mouth as you shake your head. When you can finally speak your voice is a barely audible whisper "They were waiting for us, there was no scientist, there were twice as many soldiers as Intelligence predicted and those horrible machines. They wiped out half my men in less than two minutes" Your tears run free on your cheeks, Howard looks at you surprised "How did you escape?"
"We ran, some of the boys and I, but they were caught one by one and I just kept running" Guilt suffocates you, you should have stayed and if it was your time to die you would have faced it head on, but you fled cowardly, you left them . "It's not your fault" Howard seems to read your thoughts, when you look at him in disbelief his expression hardens and he frowns "You survived, that's not wrong, we are at war and surviving is all we can do. Survive to fight one more day until this is all over"
You sigh, you know he's right but you're not ready to accept it yet. "Get some rest, we still have a few hours until we land." You nod your head and pull the blanket up to your chin.
When you open your eyes again you are in a hospital room. A rubber tube attached to your arm administers a clear liquid that hangs from a bottle next to you. The wound is clean and no longer throbbing and your arms are dotted with bandages on each wound, you imagine that the rest of your body is the same. You sit up in bed until your back is against the backrest, the effort is considerable due to how weak you are and the shoulder injury, so you end up exhausted and out of breath.
You keep turning the matter over in your head, someone had to plan everything for your group to fall so cleanly into the trap. It was calculated to the last detail, that you survived was a mere chance. They weren't looking for information, the plan wasn't to catch them and interrogate you, just annihilation.
The door to the room opens and you see Peggie walk in, she looks at you, breathes a sigh of relief and closes the door. "You gave me quite a scare, Victoria. We thought we lost you." You give her a small smile and reach over to grab her hand. "Well, as you can see I'm a tough nut to crack." They both laugh until the jolt makes you remember the wound on your shoulder.
You pull yourself together and look at her seriously "This was a trap Peggie, they were waiting for us. Intel was wrong and all of them are dead because of it. Someone knew we were going" Peggie nods confirming your fears and touches the back of her neck indecisively. You sense that there is something more behind what she lets you see and you want to know what it is. "Peggie...is there something you're not telling me?"
She takes a chair, places it near your bed, sits down and with a resigned sigh begins "Something happened when we performed the Project Rebirth procedure. After the subject left the chamber and we realized that it had been a success, a man who was among the attendees stole the remaining vials with the serum, shot Erskine and fled, detonating a bomb in the process.
You look at her, unable to believe what you're hearing. The location of the Project Rebirth testing site was an absolute secret, not even you were aware of it as it was extremely sensitive information and the less you knew in case you were captured and interrogated the better. "How did that happen? How did he get in? Where's Erskine? Is he okay? Did they catch the guy?" The words come out of your mouth like a whirlwind, you're shaking with shock, and Peggie holds up a hand to stop you.
"Victoria, Victoria calm down, the attacker came with Senator Brandt's group, it seems that he has been working with the Senator's team for years, leaking information to the enemy, he passed all the checks, he seemed clean" Peggie sighs and continues "Steve caught him, but before we could get him into custody he killed himself with a cyanide capsule. Sadly Erskine died."
You are terribly sorry about the doctor's death, he was a good person. You remember the late-night talks you had, exchanging stories, memories, and knowledge over a bottle of Schnapps. You mourn the person who managed to become a friend in such a short time. Peggie looks at you sympathetically, she knows you were close and she respects your silence and tears.
After a few minutes you wipe away your tears, that's war and there isn't much time to grieve for the fallen, you have to pull yourself together and keep fighting. Howard was right, but it's something you're never going to admit to him.
Something Peggie said resonates with you again. "Peggie, you said Steve caught the killer? Who is he?" You can almost guess Peggie's answer, after all it was you who gave the doctor the tip about him, but at the same time you are terrified of the answer.
"Captain Steven Grant Rogers, was Erskine's chosen test subject." The words hit you like a bucket of ice water and a shiver runs down your spine. After what you've been through, it no longer seems like a good idea for Steve to be on the front fighting, you're afraid to ask the next question: "And where was he assigned to?"
"Since the vials with the remaining serum were lost, Phillips canceled the project. They're running tests on Rogers' blood to see if they can salvage any of the formula. Senator Brandt had Steve sell war bonds across the country, he’s become quite popular I'll tell you" With a giggle he hands you a Captain America pamphlet.
You can't help but laugh at the sight of Steve in a tight bodysuit and helmet saluting as he holds up a shield with the stars and stripes painted on it. "Who for God's sake came up with this? He looks more...well...more" You think that finally the outside really reflects the inside of Steve, big and strong, but at the same time that kindness and warmth that you know so well is still there.
"Brandt did that. I was present when he left the chamber and well... the changes were remarkable" You notice her cheeks turn slightly pink and you feel a twinge of jealousy, Peggie is a beautiful, intelligent and strong woman, is not given to blushing at the first little soldier who crosses her path. "...Then we went for coffee, unfortunately I had to come to London to check that a certain friend hadn't ended up killed in action"
"Sorry Peggie, I got lost for a minute, who did you go for coffee with?"
"With Steve, Victoria. I didn't know he's your childhood friend."
"Ah...yes, him, Bucky and I have known each other for a long time" Peggie keeps talking, but everything is spinning. Steve never dated a girl unless Bucky forced him to go on one of those awful double dates he set up. Your heart breaks a little when you realize what that means...Steve is really interested in Peggie and it seems that she is interested in him too.
You are about to ask Peggie to leave, claiming that you're tired and need to sleep when the door to the room opens again and several men carrying various types of flower arrangements enter and deposit them throughout the room. When the last one finally leaves, Howard makes his entrance with a bunch of roses in his hand and a cigar in his mouth.
"Did you miss me dear?" he tells you with a grin from ear to ear. "I have come to make your life more fun"
"Stark, no, absolutely not. Why did you turn my room into a damn greenhouse? Besides, the doctor said I have to rest, so leave." You hold up your hand to stop him and gesture for him to get out.
He ignores your request and enters the room closing the door "Nonsense dear, with the treatment of the hansom Dr Stark you will be foxtrotting by the end of the day"
"Hansom? Who told you that? Your mom?" You roll your eyes and look at him with annoyance.
He puts a hand on his chest, acting offended, "Honey, women line up to be with me."
"Don't keep them waiting then, if there is someone willing to put up with you she will have my deepest condolences for her poor soul" Peggie stands up slowly and gestures indicating that she is leaving "No Peggie, please don't leave me with this guy. Or at least leave me your gun "
Howard looks at you offended. "Do you want to kill me?"
"No, I'm afraid your ghost will come to haunt me at night, I'd rather kill myself" You give her a sardonic smile and Peggie looks at you rolling her eyes "You guys look like an old married couple" She smiles at you.
"Take that back Peggie! Take that back!" It's too late, she already came out laughing.
"Now that she mentions it, could I ask you to reconsider being Mrs. Stark? You may have fun" Howard gestures at you with raised eyebrows.
"Howard, you asked me to marry you the day I recruited you, my answer was no. You asked me again three days later, my answer again was, no. My answer is no today, not tomorrow, not next century. Please stop asking me!"
Howard walks over, takes your hand and places a kiss on the back of it. He looks up, winks and replies "You're too good of a catch to let go without a fight." He straightens up, places the flowers on the nightstand and with a smile and a bow leaves the room.
"I don't like flowers!" You yell at him as he leaves. But you smile and shake your head anyway. "Crazy man"
You know your mother would love to see you married to someone like him.
A week later you walk into the base, arm in a sling, a few pounds off and a few hits on, but alive and determined to find out exactly who is behind it. You have some suspicions, somehow the attack during the experiment and the ambush on your team are connected. And there is a name that comes to mind, Arnim Zola.
"Lieutenant, how nice of you to join us" Phillips greets you with his usual dryness. He hands you a file. "Carter tells me that you think what happened in Norway was an ambush." He gives you a questioning look.
"An ambush or a carefully crafted trap. Nothing that Intelligence reported was true, the contact never showed up, I was lucky to find a family that hid me and assisted me"
"In your report you mention some machines that killed your companions in minutes"
"Seconds" You correct him "Yes, they looked like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz but bigger and they had rifles that shot a blue light, when that light touched someone it incinerated them until there were barely recognizable" You try to keep your tone professional and confident, but those images keep haunting you.
Phillips nods and turns to everybody "There is something that Davidson does not know, we did a scan of the area after the operation failed. The charred bodies we found were not only of his team, there were Nazi soldiers killed in the same way, and I must add that we did not find them to everyone, there are three who are still missing. We also foun a charred truck about ten miles from the site with a body inside, could have been your contact"
"Who? Who disappeared?" Your anxiety spikes, maybe all is not lost, maybe you can rescue part of your team.
"Falsworth, Morales and Smith, they're MIA. The psycho that attacked Erskine didn't tell us much, but he gave us a clue. Before he died the bastard said 'Cut off one head and two more shall take its place. Hail Hydra'"
The words resonate in your mind like an ominous omen, after all you were right "Zola, he is behind all this" Anger runs through your body like an electric current, you can almost jump from the chair.
"Zola is nothing more than a henchman, the real mastermind behind all this is Johann Schmidt" Peggie chimes in as she hands you another file. You read it carefully, absorbing every detail that seems important to you. "Here it says that Dr. Erskine administered her serum. How is that possible?" He never told you that
"Schmidt forced him to do it, apparently the serum was not ready and the results were not quite what he expected"
You look at Phillips with determination "Sir, permission to track down Schmidt and stop him"
He sighs, "Good luck with that. Besides, Davidson, you're still in recovery, the doctor hasn't released you."
"Sir, with all due respect, it's something I owe to my fallen comrades. I can't sit around and do nothing."
"I am giving you a direct order Lieutenant and as your superior officer you are going to stay where you are until the doctor says you are okay to go out into the field" Phillips says angrily.
Tears of helplessness threaten to fall but you blink quickly to push them away. Phillps sighs and his gaze softens "Victoria, you are one of the best recruits I have, I can't send you on a near suicide mission, alone, without resources and still hurt. You have to wait"
Without further ado, you get up, straigth up, give him a salute and leave the room. You have a lot to investigate.