01; the Soldier

"Recruits, attention!"

The ever not so friendly voice of Evelyn's colleague and friend, Peggy Carter sounded throughout the army base of the SSR. Evelyn stood not too far behind her, surveying the new recruits with cold calculating eyes. Now, she is not cold or calculating, far from it, she just liked to mess with the mens head, especially the ones that thought it was acceptable to hit on her, which has happened before.

"Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter, this is my associate Agent Mason. We supervise all operations for this division."

Evelyn couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride when she spoke this. Soon after her father's suicide Evelyn didn't want anyone to suffer like he did. So, when Adolf Hitler had his sights set on controlling the world, she knew many people would become like her father; good people who's sadness controlled them. She wanted people to be free. Free of a reign of terror and depression. That's why she joined the army, to get freedom for her country and the rest of the world.

As she handed clipboards to the men, outlining what they would be doing, a man spoke. "What's with the accent, Queen Victoria?" her grip tightened on the clipboard she handed to one soldier. "I thought I was signing up for the US Army."

Peggy was about to say something, but Evelyn held an arm out to signal she wanted to handle this. "You are, but everyone is entitled to join, show some respect to your superiors."

"Who died and made you queen?"

She flashed him a sickly sweet smile, standing before him. "I'm sorry, I don't think I got your name."

The man shifted into a cocky stance, one that made her blood boil. These were the kind of people she thought shouldn't join the army. "Gilmore Hodge, your Majesty."

She crooked her finger in a 'come hither' motion. He complied and chuckled with arrogance. "Hm. We gonna wrassle? 'Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Really, I've got a few too, wanna see them?" she didn't wait for a reply, instead her foot made contact with his groin, sending him to the ground in a pathetic pile. The line of men hissed, feeling the pain of Hodge. Only one man chuckled. Behind her, Peggy placed a hand on her shoulder, taking her away from the line once the Colonel had entered the base.

"Agent Mason, Carter." he greeted with a stern voice.

Both women saluted him. "Colonel Phillips." they said in unison. Evelyn fixed her hair, something Colonel Phillips noticed.

"I can see that you are breaking in the candidates." she expected to get berated, but she was wrong. "That's good!" he looked at Hodge who was scrambling to the ground. "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand on that line at attention till somebody comes and tells you what to do."

Hodge sniffed, squaring his shoulders. "Yes, sir!"

The Colonel began to walk, speaking in a tone that was both intimidating and inspirational. "General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men." he looked down the line. "We are going to win this war because we have the best men." the man hesitated for a moment, catching a glimpse of a very scrawny man. Evelyn frowned at him, he was no more than five foot four and he stood there like he was six feet tall, he didn't exactly scream soldier. "And because they are gonna get better, much better."

Some men smirked and Evelyn had to roll her eyes, they were so full of themselves, why couldn't men just serve their country because they wanted to. "The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history."

The small man eyes travelled to hers, making eye contact. She diverted her eyes to the floor, for that was very awkward. He was flushed red and immediately turned his attention to the Colonel once more. "At the end of this week, we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldier. And they will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of hell." he dismissed the recruits and left.

"It's like watching a bunch of monkeys learn how to fight." Peggy said, shaking her head.

Evelyn laughed at her remark. Peggy was a lovely woman and befriended her quite quickly when she first arrived. They constantly made fun of the men who claimed they were everything. Peggy was the first person to tell her about the super soldier experiment and in a few months the two were practically inseparable(probably partial to the fact they were two of about eight women on the base). Yet she had to disagree with her. "I don't know, Peggs." she turned to look at the scrawny guy again, failing miserably at climbing up the rope wall.

"Some aren't the worst."

-

The week went by quickly for it was already Thursday and Evelyn still had yet to know who was going to be the super soldier. She had already hazarded a few guesses, but every time she guessed, that person would prove her wrong. Throughout, one person seemed to stick in her mind even though she knew he would never be picked.

Steve Rogers.

Now, like she had said earlier, the puny boy didn't say soldier, he barely whispered it, but it was his heart she liked. He never gave up. Even when he was stuck under barbed wire or getting beaten to a pulp, he still had spirit. Evelyn had to give him credit, she probably would've lost her eagerness to do all these tasks after that. Not Steve, he never backed down.

It was only when the general gave his troop a task that she realised why Erskine would even think about picking him.

Peggy and herself had hopped into a car waiting to take them along with a group of soldier who were off doing the track. They took down the information needed and stopped at the halfway point. "What's the point of this again?" she asked as Peggy checked the last few tasks on her clipboard.

"Being in the army isn't all about brawn, they want to see who has brains also." she said, a little caught up in her work to face her. The blonde nodded, turning to see the flag pole, the brown flag swaying in the wind above it.

She was about to say something else except she heard the joint footsteps of the troops. She tapped Peggy on the shoulder who looked over also. The troops halted all at one save for Steve who was too busy trying to catch up and his breath. "That flag means we're only at the halfway point! First man to bring it to me gets a ride back with Agent Carter and Agent Mason!" the two woman exchanged amused glances as the men practically threw themselves at the poll.

"Nobody's got that flag in 17 years!" said the general again with a snide smile. Many men tried to get up but try after try, they could not. "Now fall back into line." the troops did as he said in defeat but one didn't. He stayed exactly where he was. He got close to the flag, ignoring the general's order to fall in once more. Everything went quiet for a moment once Steve kneeled down, took hold of the screw in the ground, pulled it out and watched the pole fall to the ground. He collected the fabric in his fist and walked towards the car, handing the general the flag. He sat beside Evelyn who was suppressing the want to smile like an idiot.

"Thank you, sir." Steve said.

Evelyn let the smile come out fully at that. She laughed fondly, Steve turning to face her at the noise and giving her a genuine smile. Peggy looked at them with a raised eyebrow but was amused nonetheless, she turned around in her seat, twirling her pen in her hand as the car drove off.

-

Friday rolled by and here Evelyn spent her day yelling at men, ordering them to do work outs. She was a little irritable today, for it was supposed to be her day off but Erskine wanted her to be on duty. She still had no idea as to why.

"Faster, ladies come on!" She cried, pacing up and down, watching the men intently. Peggy had her day off, she could do whatever she pleased, that was making her more annoyed too. She felt bad for the men she was barking orders to, but she's sure she'll get over it.

"Agent Mason," She turned her head towards the Colonel, who was beckoning her over with the crook of his finger. She huffed slightly, ordering the men to do jumping jacks until she got back.

"And whoever doesn't complete those jumping jacks is running the track twice!" she yelled back at the troop of men. As she walked towards the Colonel she thought she could hear a slight cry of 'I'm gonna die' from one of the men but she couldn't tell who it was. She reached the Colonel who had Dr. Erskine beside him. "Colonel." she saluted.

He nodded. "Agent, I believe you've met Dr. Erskine before." she nodded, eyes flitting towards the German man in question. She had met him before for a short time. The Colonel had only wanted to introduce him and told the base that if anyone had a problem with a German on their base they should take it somewhere else. Truly, she knew nothing about his work on the serum, she did know he created it and well, that was all she knew. "Now, can you please explain to him that picking Rogers is a bad idea."

"Rogers?" she questioned, facing the direction the other men were facing. Phillips was pointing at the man, who was struggling to hold himself up as he did jumping jack after jumping jack. "Why is it a bad idea?"

Erskine spoke in a quiet voice. "I wasn't just thinking about it. No, it's not a bad idea. He is the clear choice."

Evelyn furrowed her brow at that. She tried to see what Phillips saw, a small medically inept man brought to the army for reasons unknown. She thought back on the trials he was put through and well, he wasn't good. He practically failed at all of them. Maybe picking Rogers was a bad idea.

"When you brought a 90 pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe he'd be useful to you, like a gerbil." he shook his head, sighing. "I never thought you'd pick him." Evelyn watched as Steve barely composed himself as they took a break. "Stick a needle in that kid's arm, it's gonna go through him."

The blonde agent gave her superior a look. "That's a bit harsh."

The doctor set his briefcase down, sighing. "I'm looking for qualities beyond the physical."

Now, she tried to look at Steve the way Erskine looked at him. He was smart, smarter than most of the men put together and his spirit was as high as a kite. As she observed him, even after he almost collapsed, he wanted to keep going. It was like he was trying to prove himself to everyone that he could do it. She tilted her head for a moment, deep in thought as her mind battled with itself. One side wanted Steve to be picked, the other didn't.

"Do you know how long it took to set up this project?"

"Yeah, I know."

"All the grovelling I had to do in front of Senator What's-His-Name's committee? Brandt."

She could tell the doctor was a little irritated by the Colonel's persistence to pick someone else, but he did not voice it. "Yes, I know. I am well aware of your efforts."

"Then throw me a bone." the Colonel added. "Hodge passed every test we gave him." her eyes darted to Hodge was barely breaking a sweat. "He's big, he's fast, he obeys orders. He's a soldier."

Something inside of her made her think about a world where Hodge was a bigger, better version of himself and realised that no man that didn't meet his standards would be punished, and Steve was probably one of them. "He's a bully." she murmured, not tearing her eyes away from Hodge or the group.

"Come on, Mason. You don't win wars with kindness." the Colonel pulled out a grenade from the truck they had stood by. "You win wars with guts." he opened the pin and the the bomb into the middle of the group of soldiers. "Grenade!" he cried.

The whole group scattered into the wind to hide. Some hide behind cars while others found crates or trucks to hide under. Evelyn ran over to the group, to pick up the grenade and tell them it was fake but something stopped her.

Or rather someone.

Steve had run onto the grenade, covering it with his body and waiting for it to explode. All the while saying. "Get away! Get back!" Evelyn stood there in shock for a moment, frozen in place. He was willingly to sacrifice himself for his troop, even when they bullied him to no end.

She looked back at Erskine, who wasn't looking at the fleeting figure of Colonel Phillips. Instead his eyes were trained to her, silently asking for her answer.

"Is this a test?"

Evelyn nodded, she wanted Steve Rogers to be the super-soldier.