PEOPLE THOUGHT VIDA HAD DIED ON THAT HOSPITAL BED AFTER GETTING THE SERUM DOSE AND HER BODY LAID FOR TWENTY MINUTES WITHOUT ANY MOVEMENT.

But Dr. Erksine had hope, he knew the serum might take his time to activate in someone's body, so he waited, he called out the scientists and medics who wanted to call it on Vida.

A loud gasp was exhaled. Vida took in the oxygen she needed, it burnt her lungs with every inhale she did, she sat up quickly, trying to take every single needle off her body, she tried to speak, ask for help, but she wasn't able to form a proper word.

"Vida, calm down, you are okay." Dr. Erksine walked over to her, he placed his hand carefully on her forearms, massaging them slowly to give her the feeling of safety. "You are okay."

"Orchestra. Locker." The loud words bounced in her head, a strong pain started to tingle all over her body, and she shut down.

Opening her eyes, Vida looked at the gruesome image of a man bleeding, a knife on her hand that matched perfectly with the wound of the innocent.

"Perfect, take her back." An order she heard and the next thing arms around her. Vida screamed, kicked, and even bit the ones who were holding her back.

She was thrown into a room, shivers running down her spine when the cold breeze hit her skin, the walls were wet and the room had no sign of light, the metal door was locked and the only small window she had was shut.

"Let me out, please." Vida screamed like a child, she cried and begged them to open the door, but she was alone, the wet texture of blood in her hands only accompanied her.

The mask covering her eyes itched, she tried taking it off even if meant digging her nails into her skin to do so, but she just couldn't, this mask wasn't made to take off easily, her uniform had no zipper and she had no idea on how to take it off, but she wanted it off.

It probably had been minutes only when someone came in to take Vida out of the room, but those minutes felt like hours in the desperation of the woman. She saw everything behind the mask, the shady corridor and its lack of lighting too, she could see feet around her, her body was being dragged, she couldn't walk, even if she wanted to, she didn't have the energy to even put some pressure on one of her feet.

Vida knew where she was being taken, panic surged over her, the beating of her heart picked up every second, and the screams began again.

"Diamond, Homecoming, Wing, Orchestra, Locker." The voice repeated the words Vida had memorized too many times and were carved in her skin, or at least that is what she felt every time they said it. "Hail Hydra." And just like a switch, Vida was gone.

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"It is terrifying, isn't it?" Dr. Erksine's sat beside Vida, the young woman was looking down at her hands, just a few minutes ago she was about to be pronounced dead, but here she was, breathing, healthier, stronger.

"It feels good but it is scary." Vida answered back, her eyes shot up when she heard a distant noise. Gunshots. "Am I going to stop the war?" A sigh escaped the lips of the older man, he looked away from Vida to focus on the view in front of them, burned trees and distant war machines from dethroned soldiers who had lost their lives.

"That is what we hope for, it isn't going to be an easy job Vida, you'll become a soldier, you know that right?" Vida just nodded. "I'll promise to go easy on you, don't overwork you and get you exhausted."

"There's no need to go easy on me Doctor, train me to know how real is out there, don't sugarcoat it, I've seen so many things that now a normal being would've shot themselves to forget those memories." Vida talked so calmly about it, she talked about death as it were her friend.

"Alright then, I'll give you today to rest a little, tomorrow, early morning you'll be up and training hand to hand combat, you'll learn how to use guns and other weapons, while we work out on your uniform." Turning his heel, Dr. Erksine walked away, leaving Vida to watch the burned trees alone.

Vida took that day to study her surroundings, meet the new soldiers and get to know the way of their fights, she watched how they trained and how their bodies gave out at the end of the bright light. She helped around, she stood next to the cooks and served the soldiers food, Vida walked around and handed out blankets and if she could, she gave some time of compassion to those who were being treated for their wounds.

Morning couldn't come any sooner but the feeling of excitement did, she could already feel the ecstasy of knowing she was doing something good, she was doing this to end this pain, end the war and hopefully end death from occurring to others.

Vida hugged her arms as she watched the sunrise behind the horizon, she heard the few birds sing as they flew above their orange sky, and she saw the soldiers waking up ready to continue their battles, waving them goodbye and wishing them the best, Vida walked to Erksine's office. Her black boots covered by dust already stopped at the front of his door, two knocks and silence, waiting for the older man to open the door.

"Vida, morning." Appearing around the corner, the man wore his white coat, his hand was getting cleaned by a cloth and Vida picked up a blue liquid that had stained it, the blue liquid that was in her veins already. "Follow me."

Vida quicken her steps to join besides Erksine, her eyes in front, ignoring the few catcalls from soldiers who watched her, of course, they acted like animals, but Vida wasn't one to give them the attention, they didn't deserve it from her. She imagined that would happen, but she also imagined that the hatred of the male presence would occur at some point, as she was the first and only female soldier in this area and now she had power from a serum that gave her strength to crush them.

"You know what I see in you Vida, that I admire." Vida turned to look at him, her head tilted just a little bit as she listened. "That you are willing to do things even if they could harm you. And I barely know you, but that first encounter where you protected the child even though she was there to harm you and the group of boys, you put up a fight, and this time with the serum, you didn't know if it was going work, but you were willing to do it to save people, and you are going to save people, I can see it already."

Vida couldn't help but smile at the words of Erksine, at that feeling of greatness, of doing something good. Vida Richter felt like she had a goal in life for the first time in a long time. She stopped walking when she saw a soldier in his uniform, hands behind his back and a serious look on his face that could intimidate anyone easily, but Vida didn't feel intimidated, at least not yet.

"Welcome to your first training day Vida, here we won't be easy on you, you will be treated just like any other soldier in this war, Dr. Erksine will be here to supervise your powers and how your body reacts to them, follow me." He said walking over to a table where guns were in display, knives and some other accessories Vida didn't recognize. "You will learn how to use them, and how to protect yourself in hand-to-hand combat, if you fall, you stand up, there is no time to cry in my station." Vida mimicked his body posture, her hands gripped tightly with each other she could feel an ache in her knuckles.

"When do we start?" Vida asked, looking up at the soldier who tried to hide a smirk from his lips at the devotion of the woman.

author's note

as you saw I did a bit of a time jump, whatever is in italics those are the memories of Vida, but from this chapter to the next, everything is set before Captain America until chapter five I think