03; female warrior

The atmosphere back in the base the next day was horrible. The Colonel was mad, the senators were bitching about the lack of security but the one thing that people could feel the most was Steve's sadness. Everyone had a new outlook on him, people either saw him as a medical marvel or a lab rat gone wrong. Evelyn felt pity for him, all he wanted to do was serve his country, and this was what he got dealt with. A shitty hand that was supposed to help him.

So, she waited with him as a nurse took more of his blood. She waited as he sat there, stewing in his own anger. She sat on the desk nearest the window, keeping both eyes on the super soldier and Howard dissecting the submarine Steve had so lovingly broken. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Think you got enough?" Steve grumbled, walking towards her.

"I don't think so," she admitted truthfully. "You're the key to getting Erskine's serum recreated. But without the man himself, blood might not cut it."

Steve sighed, gaze locked onto the scene below. "He deserved more than this."

"Yes, but sometimes the universe doesn't care." she could see the war inside his head as he struggled to come to terms with all of this. Her hand twitched, her body wanting to comfort Steve the only way she knew how. Physical contact was the only way she let people know that she was there for them. When her father died, the only person she really had to comfort was her mother and at most times she was inconsolable so all she could do was hug her and pour every once of love into it. "If it could work only once, he'd be proud it was you."

The side of his lips quirked upwards. "Thanks."

She took a deep breath, trying to lighten the mood in the room. "Hey, I just want to apologise for my stupid behaviour back when you became...." she gestured at him. "Taller. I was out of line saying that you were handsome just because of the serum."

"Don't mention it." he waved her off, although he was happy that she was saying this. Most of the nurses who had even batted an eyelash at him before the serum were now practically falling over each other to talk to him.

The agent grinned, glad he forgave her. "That being said," she continued as she walked out the room. "I did say you were always handsome, didn't I?" Evelyn smirked, knowing full well that he was hot on her tail. She wasn't always so obvious when she flirted, but when she did, she made sure she left her mark.

Meanwhile, down at the submarine the Colonel and Senator Brandt were having a bit of a tiff. "Colonel Phillips, my committee is demanding answers."

"Great. Why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret installation in your car?" he snapped. When the senator failed to elicit a response, the Colonel turned to Howard. "What do we got here?"

Howard was in defeat. "Well, speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country. But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology."

"Then who is?"

Phillips answered calm and cooly. "Hydra. I'm sure you've been reading our briefings."

Brandt laughed snidely. "I'm on a number of committees, Colonel."

Peggy appeared from discussing files with a soldier, meeting Evelyn and Steve in the middle of the room. "Hydra is the Nazi deep-science division. It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions."

"Hydra is practically a cult." Evelyn piped up. "They worship him. They think he's invincible. Something tells me they didn't come up that notion on their own."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" Senator Brandt demanded.

Phillips turned to him. "Spoke to the president this morning. As of today, the SSR is being retasked."

Both agents searched their superiors body language for an answer. "Colonel?" Peggy questioned at the same time Evelyn asked. "Sorry?"

"We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags, Agent Carter, Mason. You too, Stark." that didn't sit very well with Evelyn. "We're flying to London tonight." but she had to suck it up, things were different now.

"Sir?" Steve called, following after the Colonel. "If you're going after Schmidt, I want in."

Evelyn knew that the Colonel would say no, and that he did. "You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo."

Steve gave him a pleading look. "The serum worked-"

"I asked for an army and all I got was you." Evelyn's heart sank as Steve began to deflate. "You are not enough." and with that, the Colonel walked away, leaving the super soldier in the dust.

Howard had hopped out of the bunker holding the submarine and came to Evelyn's side. "So, England huh? Didn't think that's where I'd be spending my summer."

"What are they talking about?" Evelyn's asked herself more than Stark, her green eyes sparking with curiosity as the Senator took Steve to one side, speaking to him with a wide, greedy smile.

With a scoff, Howard watched as Evelyn completely ignored him. "I could be spending my summer working for Hydra, I did get a job offer there." he said, just to see her reaction.

"The Senator has no say in who joins the army,"

"Evie?"

"Steve can't seriously be taking up his offer, is he crazy?"

"Earth to Evelyn?"

This snapped her out of her trance. "What, Howard?" she snapped, irritated.

He breathed a laugh, pointing his rag to Steve who was shaking hands with the Senator. "You seem to be concerned for you not so little friend over there, is there something you're not telling me, or more importantly, him?"

Evelyn suddenly became very rigid, she straightened up, narrowing her eyes at her friend. "No, I just think there are better ways to join the army."

Howard gave her a look. "Evie, the man would never leave a lab. He has to take any chance he gets."

She sighed in defeat. "I know, I'm not his mother, he's got to make his own choices." she raked a hand through her hair before walking out of the facility, hoping Steve had made the right one. As she took one last glance at the blue eyed man, she left with a heavy heart.

Her emotions didn't matter, though. She had to pack for England.

-

The first thing she noticed when she got to England was the rain.

The weather was abysmal. When it wasn't raining, it was overcast, and when it wasn't overcast it was cold. Evelyn would never moan about it though, there were bigger things to worry about. Though, when she wasn't on duty she would spend most her her time inside, reading books or doing paperwork, anything to not let her feel even more worse about the situation she was in.

She tried to think about back home, where the Senator was more than likely lifting his feet up, sitting by the fire and enjoying his life while men laid down there lives just so he could live that luxury. She doesn't know why she has a grudge against the Senator, maybe it was the fact that he had lied to Steve. He had told him he was going to join the army and instead he was a poster boy for the war. They called him Captain America, the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan. All he ever wanted to do was serve his country, and now he had to do it in tights.

"Agent Mason," she rose from her cot, saluting Colonel Phillips. He was with someone. "This is sergeant James Barnes, your commander for the battle in Azzano, he's here to give you the plan of attack tomorrow."

She nodded at James who gave her a smirk. Oh god, she thought, not another one. "Sergeant, when are we going?"

"Tomorrow, agent." and then he began to lay down the plan.

Little did she know that this battle would change her life forever.

-

The battle went south pretty fast, 200 men went up against the force sent out by Schmidt but they were no match for the advanced weapons and tactics Hydra had. Many men were killed, and if they weren't killed they were captured. Evelyn was on the front line, getting beaten to a pulp. James was beside her, firing the last of his bullets. She cried out for him, seeing someone behind him, when her wold went black also.

The next time she came back to the land of the living, she was in a room with a white light shining in her face. She was lying down, that much she knew, but she couldn't move. Evelyn scanned the apparatus around her. Surgical tools were scattered on a table, and beside that was her arm restrained in a tight hold. She was dressed in a hospital gown. Her eyes widened once the door opened. Surgical paraphernalia meant that she might not make it out of this alive.

"Hello, Frauline." the German voice spoke softly, with a hint of venom that made her blood curdle.

She didn't respond to him, only glared at him with such intensity to kill. "I am Doctor Zola, and I can see you are getting acquainted with your surroundings." he hummed a laugh which turned her stomach ill. She was going to die, and in the most painful way possible.

Dr. Zola was holding something in his hand, something that looked similar to a syringe. "What is that?" she hissed, not daring to raise her voice for fear of it failing her.

"Ah, I was beginning to wonder when you would ask that." he filled the syringe with a glowing blue liquid. Evelyn was starting to get frightened now, she had no idea what concoctions Hydra was coming up with. "You see, since you Americans have the advantage with your new super soldier, we had to make up for it in weapons that I designed. But then I thought, why use guns, when we could use people." he began to reach for her arm, but she struggled in her restraints, breathing going haywire.

"No, no get away! Help!" she screamed, hoping anyone would come and rescue her. Where was James, where was everyone?

The doctor gave an irritated look. "Halten ihren Mund!" he called to a man across the room. The man had a sort of mask in his hand. She tried everything in her power to evade his hands. The man went one way, she went the other, he held her down, she shook from his hold. It took him many tries before he eventually clamped the mask down on her mouth, silencing any of her protests.

"Everything will be alright, Frauline, you will be our Kriegerin." without any hesitation, he stuck the needle in her vein, sending the unknown substance into her bloodstream. If the mask wasn't on her, her shrieks of pain would've been ear piercing. Instead they were muffled, the tears seeping down her face hit the mask, her body convulsed and contorted in pain.

If she wasn't in so much white hot pain, she would noticed that Kriegerin means female warrior.

-

For days Evelyn was locked up in her cell, strapped to the chair as her body reacted to the blue liquid. Usually, she slept, for her body was so tired she couldn't even move a finger without feeling like she'd run a marathon. But when she was awake, the world was deranged. Everywhere she looked was so vivid it made her eyes hurt and any sound would send her into hysterics. Sweat had begun to drip down her face, her hair becoming drenched with it. Every time she slept she would have lucid fever dreams and when she would wake, her face would be wet and she would have no idea why.

Sometimes, if she focused long enough, she could hear the screams of other man from the troop she was with. She didn't know who they were, or what Hydra had done to them but she knew they wouldn't last much longer, but she wasn't sure how long she'd last either.

Never in her entire life did she want to die as much as she did now. She was in too much pain, if she didn't get out of here soon, she would beg the doctor to end her life. It made her feel pathetic, weak, but there was no other way out.

"You are weak," the voice of Johann Schmidt sounded throughout the room. He had appeared from no where, stalking towards her like an animal after it's prey. "You are a petty creature that only I can put down." she couldn't say anything back, the mask was still digging into her skin. Only the suppressed noise of hers broke the tension.

Schmidt got close to her face. A snarl plastered on his face. "No one will come and save you, no one will rescue you. Your little Captain America is no where to be found." Evelyn shook her head furtively, stop, she wanted to plead.

"Evelyn!"

"You are alone,"

"Evelyn, wake up!"

"You have no place in this world."

"Evelyn!"

"You are Hydra."

With a start, she woke, tugging against her restrains as her strangled cries echoed off the walls. Two pairs of strong arms tried to calm her down but she was thrashing. "Hey, hey Evelyn." a soothing voice started. "It's me, it's Steve."

And suddenly, she calmed. The hurricane of limbs had ceased and her mind cleared enough to see Steve and James at her sides. "Oh my god, Bucky why is her mouth-"

"She kept screaming every time they took it off her. They had to keep it on." he said grimly, watching as Evelyn's eyes flitted between Steve and himself, they were pleading to get her out of here. Steve ever so gently tore the mask off of her lips as well as her restraints, revealing dry, cracked lips.

But those chapped lips didn't tug down with sadness or rage, instead they twitched upward ever so slightly. "Steve?" she rasped, her throat dry and sore. He nodded, resulting in two arms wrapping around his neck. "It's you, you did it."

He embraced her. "Yeah, it's me. Now, let's get you out of here." he took hold of her hand, guiding her off of the chair. In doing so, the moment her feet touched the ground her knees buckled, sending her to the floor. She felt ill, like she was going to get sick at any moment.

"Buck, you got her?"

He slung her arm around his shoulder, keeping her upright. She felt as light as a feather. "Yeah, got her."

The three soldiers ran to get out of the factory which Schmidt had decided to explode. They had managed to catch up with the man in question who was about to escape. "Captain America! How exciting! I am a great fan of your films!" He made his way toward the super soldier on the bridge connecting the two parties. "So Dr. Erskine managed it after all." he looked Steve up and down, sizing him up. "Not exactly an improvement but, still... impressive."

There was a sickly crunch of Steve's fist colliding into his nose. "You got no idea."

Steve was playing a dangerous game, if Schmidt was anything like his counterpart Dr. Zola, he was out of his mind. "Haven't I?" the scientist roared, punching his shield with so much force it dented it. Steve looked at him, shocked, before reaching for his gun. But Schmidt knocked it out of his hand and off the bridge. They fought for a few more minutes, with James and Evelyn on the sidelines, helpless to do anything. The two would've gone further if Dr. Zola hadn't flicked a switch, separating the bridge.

"No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, I was his greatest success!" Schmidt declared, bringing his hand up to his face, peeling back his skin. Evelyn's face screwed up in disgust as a red interior was behind the skin. Once the face was removed, they saw a bald man stand before them, with no nose and red skin.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky questioned, casting his eyes up to his best friend. Evelyn wanted to smile but couldn't, she was too busy trying to stay awake.

Schmidt had taken to walking to the elevator. "You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality, you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind!" he entered the elevator. "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly! Without fear!"

Evelyn had summoned up enough strength(and courage) to speak up. "Yeah, seems very courageous to run away."

The Red Skull just gave her a smirk, a knowing one before the door shut. Captain America(to Evelyn, he deserved that title now) quickly scanned his surroundings before leading the two up the stairs nearest them. "Come on, let's go. Up." they all scurried up the steps, finding themselves at a beam.

"Let's go. One at a time, Evelyn you first." she did as she was told, gingerly taking a step on the beam. It wobbled ever so slightly but she continued her trek. Deep breaths were taken as she inhaled through her nose and out her mouth. She was seconds away from the edge and held onto the rail like it was a lifeline. She climbed over it, signalling James to walk over.

His journey was a little tougher, for the beam was already stating to loosen from the moment he stepped foot on it. He tiptoed his way across, the beam shaking under his feet. The bolts came out when he was nearly at the ledge. Evelyn backed away, to give James space to jump. And jump he did because as soon as his weight left the beam, it collapsed. Falling into the abyss of flames. James looked around for something to keep is friend from incinerating. "There's got to be a rope or something!"

Steve waved his arm. "Just go, get out of here!"

Evelyn laughed incredulously. "Not going to happen!"

"I'm a Captain now, you take orders from me!"

"We aren't going!" Bucky yelled. "Not without you!"

Seeing that his friends were telling the truth, that they weren't moving a muscle, Steve bent the rail out so he could get a good opening. He took a running start, leaping just as an explosion went off below them.

-

Eventually, they escaped the facility. Steve had managed to make it to the other side and they rendezvoused with the rest of the troop. Together they all made their way back to camp. Since she was hopped up on adrenaline back at the factory, Evelyn hadn't realised how sick or tired she felt. Making her way back to base was a hard experience for her considering it was extremely long journey. James(Bucky, he had told her, James is my dad) had offered to carry her but she had resisted. She needed something to take her mind off the fact that she could still feel the substance flow inside her.

The camp was in her sights and she couldn't help but feel a swell of pride for Steve as the men crowded around to see Captain America save the day. She was two steps behind him, Steve already dreading what Colonel Phillips had planned for him. A Hydra gun shifted to her other hand, she threw caution to the wind and took his hand in hers for a moment. He seemed to tense at the action and his head whipped down to see two green eyes sparkling up at him. Evelyn was grinning at him, beaming almost. Steve felt rude if he didn't smile back. His hand, on it's own accord, squeezed her hand back, telling her it was okay.

As the bar opened for them, the whole camp erupted in applause. They encircled the group. Colonel Phillips and Peggy were amongst the crowd. Peggy, who abandoned all professional stature, ran to her friend and encased her in a bone crushing hug. Or at least, what felt like a bone crushing hug, Evelyn still hurt all over.

"Faith, huh?" the Colonel remarked to Peggy after talking to Steve.

"Hey!" Bucky cried. "Let's hear it for Captain America!" the whole base shouted and whistled but Evelyn wasn't paying attention to that. Right now all she was paying attention to was the sick feeling rising in her stomach, the world becoming fuzzy around her.

Peggy noticed this and tried to get her attention. "Eve?" she asked, watching in worry as the blonde started to trudge to the hospital tent, sights set on something. Steve noticed this also and called out her name but she couldn't hear it.

When she finally arrived at the tent, a nurse asked her what was wrong. She looked the nurse in the eye and what the nurse saw wasn't Evelyn's normal green eyes, but shimmering blue ones. "I don't feel so..."

She couldn't finish her sentence, because she was on her hands and knees in a second, puking up the same blue coloured liquid onto the floor.