Chapter Nineteen – Army Training Grounds, 1302 hours
WAC is an acronym for Woman’s Army Corps FYI
Word count: 1916 words
Warnings: Phillips is a jerk >:(
Addie had no idea how busy the recruits were really before she got to Camp Lehigh where Erskine and Steve would be working together. Phillips was ticked, of course, but Erskine knew what he was doing. Addie soon learned that Phillips would have rather picked the largest and fastest man in the outfit before considering what he was made of. Idiot.
Before the first day of actual training, Addie was sent to the WAC’s side of the camp to stay with another lady. She didn’t mind, but it would be strange since she hadn’t lived with another female, let alone spoke to one in almost a year. Whatever. Besides, Lieutenant Carter was nice, strict and quite passionate. Plus she would take you anytime, anywhere. Scary wasn’t quite the word Addie would have used, but it was pretty darn close. “I hear you’ve already received the serum.” Agent Carter asked as she helped the other make out her bunk. “Long story short, yes.” Addie nodded, stuffing her pillow into the fabric pillowcase. “I really don’t know half the details.” “And you’ve never met Dr. Erskine before?” “Nope,” Addie shook her head. “At least, not that I remember. I was out of it for a long time.” “A whole year.” Carter informed. “The Colonel briefed me on your file before you arrived.” “Oh,” Addie wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. Anything involving Phillips couldn’t have been very pleasant. “Don’t be worried, hon. I’m not one to gossip. The little buggers.” Addie snickered as she tugged her dress off to change into her uniform. It was similar to Agent Carter’s but a different color and cut. “And this whole place is ours?” She turned to the English agent with a grin. “There’s a revolver in the drawer to keep any prying eyes away,” Carter winked. “Only a six shot though.” “Aw!” Addie made a mock pout. “C’mon, then—“ The other opened the door and shooed her out. “Supper’s not going to eat itself.” “Thank goodness, I’m starved.” “Erskine tells me the serum boosts your metabolism to four times faster than the normal person.” “Great, now that I know the numbers, then I can use an excuse to get fifths.” They shared a laugh as they passed the buildings and bungalows of the camp, the mess hall just a few hundred yards away. “So how did you meet Rogers?” “Oh, lets see…” Addie scrunched her brows. It felt like centuries ago. “The library. I was with another soldier and we kinda bumped into each other. No, it was Bucky first, then Steve.” “And who’s Bucky?” “Oh, Steve and mine’s best friend. He’s a hoot, to say the least.” “Hm, sounds contagious.” “Well, flattery gains you nothing, Lieutenant.” Addie tried to pull some of her wit from her fragmented memory, and to her delight, the words seemed to flow right and she actually made her other laugh. “Oh, please, call me Peggy.” She smiled sweetly as they entered the mess hall. “Besides, they’re going to bump you up to Commander from what the Colonel tells me.” “Oh—really?” Addie gave her new friend a strange look, genuinely surprised. “But…I don’t think commissions work that way.” “Not with the government behind it and a research unit, they do whatever the hell they feel like.” Peggy nearly deadpanned as she handed the super-soldier a tray. Addie shrugged and followed the Brit through the line. Erskine knew what he was doing. They’d be just fine…
The Next Morning, 1109 hours
Peggy and Addie walked to the training grounds where the lieutenant would greet her platoon and begin working with them. Turns out that platoon was selected for the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and it included one Steven Rogers. Looking almost like a boy among the much taller recruits, Addie couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him since he would have to keep up with competition like this. “Recruits, attention!” Peggy ordered as she walked in front of them, Addie hanging back behind and next to the truck. “Gentlemen, I am Agent Carter. I supervise all operations for this division.” The recruits looked a little uncomfortable at a woman would be in command of them. “What's with the accent, Queen Victoria?” One recruit smarted off, his tone unyielding. “I thought I was signing up for the U.S. Army.” Addie scrutinized his face, remembering he might be a trouble maker. She didn’t like bullies, same as Steve. Peggy simply stepped closer to him, her expression still. “What's your name, soldier?” “Gilmore Hodge, Your Majesty.” The recruit grinned. “Step forward, Hodge. Put your right foot forward.” Hodge obeyed with a face, his brow raised. “We gonna wrassle? 'Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like.” Peggy landed a punch right on his jaw, laying him sprawling on the dirt. “Agent Carter!” Phillips called from the jeep where he climbed out next to Addie. “Colonel Phillips.” The lieutenant spun around and faced her superior. “I can see that you are breaking in the candidates.” Phillips said as he approached Peggy. “That's good!” Then he turned the Hodge who hadn’t gotten off the ground. “Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention till somebody comes tells you what to do.” There was no argument in his tone. “Yes, sir!”
Colonel Phillips glanced at Addie as she came to stand next to Peggy, her eyes wandering to Steve as the Colonel spoke. “General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men.” He paced up and down the line, still unimpressed with Steve’s scrawny appearance. “And because they are going to get better. Much better.” He looked to Addie again, pointing to her. “This is what you’re going to go up against at the end of the week. She may look small but she has been enhanced in ways I doubt you could imagine.” Wait—Phillips said nothing of this…! “If you can beat her, you’ll be considered one of the best.” Addie felt her heart drop. This wasn’t supposed to happen! Was this a test for her?? Was it a plot by Phillips to get his man and kick Steve out?? But she kept her unmoving demeanor as Phillips continued. “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. But every army starts with one man. 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.” “With her too??” One of the recruits pointed at Addie, her blood was boiling. It was not Hodge, unfortunately… “Unless you want to conduct your own test right here and now??” Phillips offered, like Addie was his personal toy to flaunt. “I wouldn’t mind.” The recruit dared. Addie rolled her eyes as Phillips motioned for her to step forward. She didn’t want to fight the guy, but he did deserve a kick in the pants. “If you can keep her down, I’ll be impressed.” Phillips said before he let them begin to spar, stepping back. By now they were drawing the inquisitive looks of the other recruits and even some of the instructors. The girl freak was going to fight a man right there. “Now don’t go easy on me, sweetheart.” The recruit taunted, his hands reaching for her middle and lowering his center to knock her to the ground. She retaliated with a firm knee to the shoulder knocking him off his balance. They both hit the dirt, Addie on top as her hand came down and clutched his neck, pressing those arteries before she felt smaller hands try to yank her off the recruit. “Adds, don’t!” It was Steve, thankfully. She might have seriously hurt the other… “Rogers!” Phillips barked. “Get back in line before I put you in next!” “Yes’sir..” Steve looked at the Colonel before reluctantly stepping back into formation. Addie frowned but reached down and offered her hand to the very surprised recruit. He took it, but his expression was evident that they weren’t done here. “I think you’ve made your point, Colonel.” Addie turned to Phillips. “Oh, shes speaks.” Phillips sneered, barely even registering her comment. “Last time I checked, you volunteered for this project, girl.” “And that means I can leave any time I wish.” She shot back, struggling not to show the bite in her words. “I’m still your superior officer, Barnes.” This made her go quiet, not because he had made the winning goal, but what he had called her. True, she never gave a last name when she first showed up in 1939, but hearing Bucky’s last name used to address her was…frightening as well as euphoric, all at the same time. “Carry on, Lieutenant.” Phillips said with little hinderance as he stalked back to his jeep as Addison stood watching him. So far she had made two enemies in less than an hour. Lovely.
Thursday Night, 1728 hours
Addie was impressed that Steve had kept up decently as the week seemed to get harder in their training. She’d tagged along with Peggy and even participated in some of the marches or runs they did in the afternoons. She wasn’t free to choose which ones she would do, but she did join the WAC’s drills on the other side of camp when she wasn’t with Erskine or Peggy. She’d been…welcomed to say the least by the other men. Catcalls and hollers were normal procedure when she passed the recruits on her way to Erskine’s building. Some of them even had the gall to ask her on a date. All declined. Only Steve was allowed to take her out. And then there was the incident. She and Steve were coming back from a pass and were just about to split to go to their separate parts of the camp, when two men jumped the smaller man, tackling him to the ground with three other larger ones holding Addie back before she could attack any of them. “Let him go!!” She shrieked, trying to kick the knees of her withholders. She made contact with someone, a yelp of shock and pain sounded. “Get her!” Someone barked, awful familiar, but Addie didn’t pay attention, she was too busy yanking off the man who was pining Steve to the dirt. Something in her mind called back to her time with HYDRA, being shoved to the dirt for punishment, the air rushing from her lungs as dust filled them. A cough refusing to come from lack of oxygen— “You animal!” She howled, barreling into the man and grasping his neck. “Addie, don’t-!” She barely heard Steve wail. “You’ll kill him!” She felt hands pry at her wrists, the hands of her victim. He couldn’t pull her vice-like grip away, she felt red cloud her vision. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt Steve…-- “Addison!!” Steve shouted, grasping her shoulders and calling her name to snap her out it. “Not your mission!” She felt the air snap back to the chilly New York air, not the freezing Siberian terrain, she was choking a man to death, someone was calling her name and another was calling for the sargent of the guard— She was in deep trouble…
Thank you for reading! Dividers by @strangergraphics
Original prompt by @the-superoriginal ~ written by yours truly, all relation to actual people are purely coincidental
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