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Getting into it - MARVEL Rewrite Chapter Two

[MARVEL REWRITE-MASTERLIST] - [THE INFINITY SAGA]

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Summary: There was no turning back now. Steve and Frainn had been enlisted and sent to a military camp for training under the supervision of the Agent Carter. Colonel Phillips and Dr. Erskine were watching the whole process to determine which soldier would be the one to become the very first super soldier. Obviously, Dr. Erskine already knew perfectly who would become this super soldier... but he wouldn’t be left alone. Frainn, who didn’t really need any serum to be a super soldier was Steve’s teammate and they wouldn’t be teared apart to fight this war. It was the two of them or nothing, and if it Colonel Phillips didn’t get that, someone else would, and someone else did.

Words: 6.4k

Warnings: spoilers captain America 1, violence, action scenes, killing/murder, car chase, Frainn being awesome and cool lol, hint of jealousy, clues as to what earned Frainn a banishment (read closely eheh),Steve having a closer relationship with his buddy Frainn than with Peggy (I like the character but yaaa know, anyway), lots of dialogue

All the recruits were lined up, in uniforms, helmets on their heads, and waiting. It hadn’t even been three days since they arrived at the military training camp. A female voice reached their ears. Frainn didn't expect to see another woman here, until then she had only seen men and had already almost gotten herself into fights several times trying to defend Steve from the idiots who kept picking on him by mocking, but Steve had told her he didn't want her to get into trouble for him, and she had taken it upon herself, content to verbally reframe those who dared to laugh at him. Because of that, most of the other recruits were kind of afraid of her. She had made them understand multiple times that she could break every single bones in their body if she wanted to do so. She enjoyed being feared by them. They were all complete assholes. In the end, it seemed like the bullies got bullied.

"Recruits, attention !" said the woman. Everyone obeyed and stiffened as she approached. "Gentlemen, miss," She glanced at Frainn while walking in front of them. "I am Agent Carter. I supervize all operations for this division."

"What’s with the accent, Queen Victoria ?" one of the recruits said insolently. Frainn arched an eyebrow at him. She had understood that she had a distressing lack of knowledge regarding the history and geography of Midgard and therefore hadn’t quite understood why he called her that because of her accent. She had no idea who this Queen Victoria was. Agent Carter stopped and eyed him. "I thought I was signing up for the U.S. Army." He added.

"What’s your name, soldier ?" she asked, stopping in front of him.

"Gilmore Hodge, Your Majesty."

"Step forward, Hodge." He obeyed, looking at his friends as if he had just gained the upper hand, and walked towards her. "Put your right foot forward."

"Mmm… We gonna wrassle ?" A man who accompanied the young woman distributed papers to us. "Cause I’ve got a few moves I know you’ll like." Immediately she gave him a violent punch that sent him right to the ground. Frainn tilted her head slightly and glanced at Steve, pursuing her lips to suppress an amused smile. She knew that if she had punched like that, Hodge wouldn't just be stunned, his jaw would be cracked and dislocated. But this chick, despite being Midgardian, earned some of Frainn’s respect. She had a strong character herself and liked women like her. A male voice rose behind her.

"Agent Carter !"

"Colonel Phillips." she greeted, turning to the man who was approaching them.

"I can see that you are breaking in the candidates. That’s good !" He stood next to her and looked at the soldier still on the ground. "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in the line at attention ‘till somebody comes tell you what to do."

"Yes, sir !" Hodge answered, raising his head, swallowing his unwelcomed pride. There was a second of silence before the colonel began to walk back and forth in front of them.

"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 looked at the recruits and fixed his gaze on Steve and Frainn. “A stick man and a girl who can’t keep her punches for herself” he must have thought. Well, even if he thought something like that, Frainn must admit, they were one hell of a chaotic duo. Frainn saw his face turning slightly to Carter, and she recognized Doctor Erskine, standing just behind the young woman, answering the colonel's gaze. "And because they are going to get better." He continued. This little additional remark was implicitly addressed to Steve more than Frainn, and he perfectly understood that it was aimed at him. "Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve and Allied effort made up of the best minds in the 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."

The training gave none of the recruits any respite and seemed tiring for most but not for Frainn. By the end of each busy and gruelling day, she was still in great shape and was unaffected by the strain. She surprised her superiors with her physical abilities superior to those of any other recruit among the division, and she felt that she was earning the respect of the officers and the colonel, but also the jealousy and contempt of her peers who didn’t understand how she was doing so well. She never seemed tired. She was the best in the division, the most efficient, both physically and intellectually, and the strongest of course. Even Colonel Phillips, who had had doubts about admitting a woman, was more than satisfied with her and already considered her a "super-soldier". For him, it was obvious that the selected recruit would likely be her. Frainn often heard the Colonel talk about it but she also knew that the German doctor wanted Steve to be choosen. Precisely because she was already too much of a "super-soldier".

And she got the confirmation, the day before the end of the program. After a day of training, the recruits of her division -including her, of course- were working out on the field for half an hour already, when she overheard a conversation between the Colonel and the doctor, watching them. It had been a few minutes since it showed on her face that she was bored, and concentrating on their exchange was entertaining to her.

"You stick a needle in that kid’s arm, it’s gonna go right through him." Frainn glanced discreetly at Steve. "Look at that. He’s making me cry."

"I’m looking for qualities beyong the physical." Dr. Erskine thoughtfuly explained.

"Do you know how long it took to set up this project ?" He sounded rather annoyed. "All the groveling I had to do in front of Senator What’s-His-Name’s committees ?" He was talking about things and people Frainn didn't understand, and she let herself be distracted slightly from the exercise Carter had given. She picked up their conversation for a second, challenged by the voice of the Englishwoman.

"I know this is more than easy for you, but please focus." It didn’t sound like a reproach. Carter had esteem for Frainn, that the goddess had noticed, but she couldn't show any favoritism in front of the others recruits by saying nothing to her when her lack of concentration was noticeable by anyone who looked at her.

"Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am." She said mechanically, catching up on the conversation where the doctor and colonel were, more discreetly this time.

"... Hodge passed every test we gave. He’s big, he’s fast. He obeys orders. He’s a soldier." The Colonel said, looking at Hodge.

"He is a bully." replied the doctor immediately. The Colonel chuckled, crossing his arms.

"You don’t win wars with niceness, Doctor." Frainn felt his gaze fall on her. "Even Lockhart-"

"Lokadottir." The doctor corrected him as he also looked at her.

"Yes, Lokadottir." The Colonel nodded and resumed what he was saying. "For a woman, she’s tall, she’s strong, she’s efficient and she was the best in all our tests. Better than Hodge. The only flaws I found in her are her flippancy and impulsiveness. She agrees to team up with Rogers but otherwise, she prefers to go it alone or she might start a fight with someone." He looked at the doctor, waiting for a reaction, for an answer from him. It was obvious he wanted to know why he didn't want her either. He had shown him his two best recruits and still didn't understand why he stubbornly wanted Steve.

"She doesn’t start fights because she likes it, Colonel. Her and Rogers have common qualities. They both have heart, empathy and strong-minds, but she's already a super-soldier. She doesn't need to be enhanced in any areas." He shifted his gaze from Steve to Frainn. "And, her free-spirit is one of her main quality, Colonel."

"Again, we don’t win wars with niceness. Neither do we win wars with soldiers who don't follow orders, Doc'." Frainn followed the Colonel with her eyes as he grabbed something from one of the crates of military equipment in the back of a truck trailer. He pulled out a small oval object and casually pulled out something from it, leaning towards the doctor. "You win wars, with guts." He threw the object into the midst of the recruits.

"Grenade!" He yelled to get everyone triggered.

"Move ! Move !" exclaimed Hodge, catching the attention of all the other recruits, who hurried away in opposite directions. For a second, Frainn didn't know what to do because she had no idea what a grenade was but when she saw Steve throwing himself and curling up around the grenade to contain the explosion, she took a few steps towards him. She realized that Agent Carter had had the same reaction and they glanced at each other.

"Get away ! Get back !" said Steve, wincing, eyes closed.

"It’s a dummy grenade." declared an officer nearby. Steve straightened up and looked around, not really understanding what was going on.

"Is this a test ?" He asked. Frainn looked at Steve and then turned to the Colonel, to see his reaction.

"He’s still skinny." Declared the Colonel as he left. The goddess approached Steve and held out her hand to help him stand up. He turned his head to her and grabbed her wrist as she grabbed his. She pulled him up, and he was briefly unsettled by the force of her grip, though he kind of expected it. For his part, the doctor was smiling. Steve's reaction had proven his point to the Colonel and confirmed that his final choice was more than relevant.

Towards the end of the day, Frainn headed back to the dorms because she knew she would find Steve there. When she reached the door, which was already open, ajar, she heard the doctor's voice coming from inside. She stopped as she was about to walk into the room and stood behind the door, wondering what he was talking about with Steve.

"Can I ask you a question ?"

"Just one ?"

"Why me ?" There was a silence and Frainn ventured to glance around the room. The Doctor was sitting on the bed in front of Steve –Frainn’s bed–, holding a bottle in his hand.

"I suppose that is the only question that matters." He observed the bottle and showed it to Steve. "This is from Augsburg. My city. So many people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own. You know, after the last war, my people struggled." Frainn listened intently to Erskine's words. It was the first time that she had realized the liabilities of the Midgardians. Even though they were part of the nine realms, they were far removed from the rest and fought among themselves, like the fights and tension between Asgard and Jotunheim for example, but them, on the same planet, in the same place. Frainn would have thought they were one united people, like on Asgard, but they were a many divided people on one single planet.

She continued to wait until their conversation was over, listening to what the doctor was saying. All the information imprinted in her mind as Erskine spoke, until he came to the conclusion of his explanation.

"Good becomes great. Bad becomes worse." The doctor looked at Steve in the eyes. "This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strenght. And knows compassion."

"Thanks. I think." Steve answered. Frainn heard glass clashing and liquid being poured, and realized that the two men were now emptying the bottle the doctor was holding in his hand.

"Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing." She heard the sound of the bottle cork being reinserted into its neck. "That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man."

"To the little guys." Cheered Steve. The men chuckled and glasses clashed.

"No, no. Wait, wait. What am I doing ? No, you have procedure tomorrow. No fluids."

"All right. We’ll drink it after."

"No, I don’t have procedure tomorrow, nor your friend. Drink it after ? We’ll drink it now." Frainn frowned, and she could feel Steve doing the same.

"What about my friend?"

"Come on in, and join us, Miss Lokadottir. Don’t stay behind that door." Without moving, Frainn pushed the door open with her fingertips to open it wide before entering the room under the surprised gaze of Steve, who shifted to make room for her on his bed next to him. Erskine didn't dwell on the subject and handed her the glass he had originally served for Steve.

"You will join us tomorrow." The doctor told her.

"I can come ?" She asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"If I say so, you can accompany your friend." The doctor nodded.

"It's a blessing that I actually met you," Frainn looked at Steve. "I went to an exhibition, I joined the military, sort of, and I'm going to attend, uh, not sure what I'm going to attend, but I guess it's cool." Both men smiled at her optimism. Frainn emptied her glass very quickly and put it back on the metal shelf at the edge of Steve's bed, not planning on asking for another drink.

"You are someone special, Frainn. Very peculiar." It was the first time the scientist called her by her first name. She smiled. The doctor wasn’t aware of how right he was about it.

"You don’t worry about Steve, doctor. I’m his guardian angel." She joked. The doctor smiled again, and Frainn friendly nudged Steve. Even though she had met the young man not so long ago, it felt like they were friends since birth. Her banishment had taken away everything she had, and with good reason since Odin had to punish her for what she had done, and she had found in Steve, an ideal partner, and friend. She had found her ally and she understood by observing Steve a little that he wasn’t leaving anyone behind, especially not his friends.

Sitting in the backseat of the car with Steve, Frainn watched the passing buildings out the window. Peggy was there too. She was seated in the front passenger seat, next to the driver.

"I know this neighborhood." Steve pointed to a street they were passing by. "I got beat up in that alley. And in that parking lot. And behind that diner."

“Did you have something against running away ?" Peggy asked, looking at Steve via the interior mirror of the car.

"If you start running, they’ll never let you stop. You stand up, you push back. They can’t say no forever, right ?"

"I know a little of what that’s like, to have every door shut in your face." Frainn quietly listened to the conversation between Steve and Peggy. She didn't understand why the Midgardians discriminated against women so much. There were no such problems on Asgard. Everyone had and knew their place there and everything was fine. Not everyone liked each other obviously, but everyone was respectul of the rights of their peers.

"I guess I just don’t know why you’d want to join the Army if you were a beautiful dame. Or a… A woman. An agent. Not a dame." With her back straight, Peggy twisted in her seat to turn to face Steve and look him in the eyes. He stammered. Frainn leaned against the car door to bring her hand closer to her face to hide the amused smile on her face. "You are beautiful, but..."

"You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you ?" She glanced at Frainn. "I’m starting to wonder how a conversation between you two is like."

"I think this is the longest conversation I’ve had with one. Frainn and I talk like mates." Frainn chuckled and gave him a light hit on the shoulder. Peggy gave them a look, suppressing a smile.

"I'm not saying you're masculine, or a man..." Steve continued, not knowing she didn’t really care if he was considering her a man anyway. "Anyway, women aren’t exactly lining up to dance or talk with a guy they might step on. Frainn is an exeption. That’s what I’m trying to say."

"You must have danced then." Peggy added.

"Well, asking a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying. And the past few years, it just didn’t seem to matter that much. I figured I’d wait."

"For what ?"

"The right partner." He nodded, more to convince himself. Peggy smiled and sat back normally in her seat. Just a minute later, the car pulled up, and they got out.

"This way." Peggy motioned for them to follow her. She walked to the front of an antique shop in which old objects were displayed.

"What are we doing here ?" Steve asked.

"Follow me." Steve gave Frainn a curious look, which she sent back to him as Peggy entered the store before them. The two friends immediately followed her, intrigued. A bell ringed when the agent opened the door for the three of them. She walked further into the room without saying anything, while Steve closed the door. The room wasn’t very bright, filled with wooden shelves and various items, and the only sources of light were yellowish lamps on the ceiling. An old lady stepped out from behind curtains in a door frame and spoke to Peggy.

"Wonderful weather this morning, isn’t it ?"

"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella." The old woman went behind a counter and put her hand on the ledge, sliding her fingers under the board. Peggy walked over to the curtains behind which the woman had came out from and Frainn and Steve followed her. They arrived in a small room, one wall of which was covered with a crammed bookcase. Something unlocked and the shelves in the center of the bookcase opened on either side to create an entrance, revealing armored doors.

There was a whole facility hidden in there. Frainn and Steve looked around curiously and followed Peggy down the long, cold hallway with black and white walls. There were a few soldiers in white helmets standing guard. When they finally reached the double metal door at the end of the hallway, two of these soldiers in helmets opened the door synchronously. They overlooked a large room filled with electronics that went beyond Frainn and Steve understanding, but Peggy, even though Frainn doubted she understood everything there, didn't seem more impressed than that. Frainn and Steve walked over to the railing and the scientists present down there stopped talking. Everyone looked up at the new arrivals. Peggy gave Steve and Frainn a look and walked down the stairs to their right. Frainn understood, without the agent having to say anything, that she had to remain silent and behind. It was not about her today. It was all about Steve, and they didn't need to waste time with anything else.

Frainn, Peggy and Steve joined doctor Erskine who was there among the scientists. He turned to the three of them, a slight smile on his face as he looked at Steve. Frainn and the agent stayed behind the soldier. He and the doctor shook hands, exchanging a couple words before a sudden bright flash interrupted them. Frainn narrowed her eyes, momentarily blinded by the powerful light, and stared at the strange square machine in the hands of the man standing next to them. Whatever he did, it didn't seem to please the doctor at all. Doctor Erskine shook his head, sighing and dismissed the man. The latter left without saying anything. The goddess frowned, not understanding what had just happened. She shrugged and turned her head to Steve and the doctor.

“Are you ready ?” Steve nodded at the doctor, looking at the long metallic machine to his right. It was long and large enough to make someone lie down inside of it, and Frainn assumed it was for Steve, though she didn't quite understand why they were going to use it. “Good. Take off your shirt, your tie, and your hat.” Steve glanced at the two women behind him while slowly doing so. Peggy looked down and Frainn imitated her. Once he was done, he gave his stuff to someone who put it all away as he took place on the machine. Everyone started to get ready and Erskine turned to Peggy and Frainn.

“Agent Carter. Lokadottir. Don’t you think you would be more comfortable in the booth ?”

“Oh, yes,” Peggy looked embarrassed to have been standing there and motioned for Frainn to follow her as she left. “Sorry.” Frainn followed her immediately, frowning slightly in incomprehension. She glanced at Steve who was watching them walk away, and walked up the stairs to follow Carter into the cabin where other people were already gathered. From up there, they could see down the whole room through a large window. A weird crackle spread in the booth and the room full of scientists below, and Frainn looked around, not understanding where the sound was coming from. The voice of Doctor Erskine then rose, replacing the crackle. He could be heard from any where around them.

“Do you hear me ? Is this on ?” He looked at the grey device in his hand, which looked like the one the guy on the stage back at the exhibition had, and started talking. “Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We will begin with a series of microinjections into the subject’s major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays.” He stopped talking and approached Steve, settled down in the machine. Their mouths moved but no sound was heard from where Frainn and Peggy were, in the booth. The doctor’s voice was for a short moment, no longer displayed all over the place, then his voice came back as he was counting down before the injections started. The vials on the sides of the machine emptied and the latter raised vertically, and closed itself. Steve was like in some kind of big hull. Frainn didn’t really know what was happening, even though Erskine had explained earlier, actually, she didn’t have even understand what he had explained so right now, she was lost but tried to keep up with whatever was happening to her friend down there.

“That’s 10%.” Stated another male’s voice, who would activate and turn stuff on a control panel. Frainn narrowed her eyes and recognized the man from the exhibition. She internally sighed at the fact she hadn’t even seen him when she was down there as he seemed to have been there the whole time. She just never paid attention to anyone else but the doctor, Peggy and Steve. 10 percent quickly became 20, 30, 40… Howard Stark was stating the percentages everytime he increased it. And as he increased it, a radiant light began to emanate from the iron shell inside which Steve was. 50 percent, 60, 70… finally, Steve started screaming loudly. Erskine rushed over to the metal shell and Peggy stood up and left the booth, Frainn followed her with her eyes before eventually following her out. The agent stepped out onto the stairwell that led to the room where the scientists were.

“Shut it down !” She yelled but no one listened to her at first. “Shut it down!”

“Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark !” Erskine had finally heard her and turned to the man near the control panel. “Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!”

“No !” Steve grunted. “Don’t! I can do this !” And then, Stark increased again the percentage of rays Steve was taking. 80 percent, 90, and he finally reached the maximum, 100 percent. A loud electric humming noise filled the room and Frainn winced. It was a quite disagreeable noise. The lights jumped in small bursts of sparks, one by one across the room and the machine powered down. The radiation emanating from it stopped as well. No one dared to make a move. Peggy and Frainn were looking at whatever was happening now, very closely.

“Mr. Stark ?” Erskine turned to the latter and he re-opened the machine. Frainn’s eyes widened when she saw the man inside. Steve was no longer the small skinny man she had met in that back alley, he was now a tall, muscular man, and he was sweating from what he had put himself through. A wide and proud smile grew across the goddess’ face. She felt proud of what her friend had achieved. Erskine approached the machine and helped Steve to get down. He looked exhausted. Stark came to their aid and together with Erskine, the two men supported Steve and kept him from falling.

“I did it.” Steve was out of breath. He couldn’t believe he made it.

“I think we did it.” Corrected Doctor Erskine with tight-lipped smile.

“You actually did it.” Even Stark seemed like he didn’t believe it. Peggy ran down the stairs and came to stand in front of Steve. Frainn crossed her arms, with that sincerely proud smile plastered on her face. She stayed back slightly and watched them. Peggy let her eyes wandered, not knowing where to put them.

“How do you feel ?” Steve looked around, catching his breath.

“Taller.” Frainn chuckled as she approached to stand closer to Peggy and him.

“Barely taller than me though, tough guy.” She teased. Steve looked at her and despite his breathing being difficult and jerky, he smirked in amusement at her remark.

“You look taller.” Peggy handed him some clothes that a nurse had given her. She seemed a little confused in front of this mountain of muscles and didn't know how to act. Seeing this, Frainn mentally praised the platonic male-female relationship she had with Rogers. As Frainn kept teasing Steve to relax him after the procedure he went through, the booth everyone had descended from suddenly exploded. Everyone exclaimed in surprise as they leaned down and turned their backs to the booth to avoid the shattering glass which fell on them into thousands of scattered pieces.

“Stop him !” Erskine pointed a man who took a vial of the serum. He had to be the one who had set the explosion on. Frainn stood near the doctor and the man tried to shoot her and since her skin was bulletproof, she didn’t even flinched, but it wasn’t the same for the German scientist, who received a couple of bullets into his chest. Frainn gasped and caught him as he fell onto the floor. Steve rushed over to them and kneeled near the doctor. He couldn’t talk and simply pressed several times his index fingers against Steve’s chest and a second later, he closed his eyes, dead. Steve looked up and Frainn and him crossed gazes. They both got up and ran up the stairs and outside the facility and the antique shop. Peggy was already onto the road, shooting at a yellow car driving right towards her. Steve took Peggy in his arms and pushed her away, falling onto the tar as Frainn followed close by.

“I had him !” Sure thing, agent. You were more close to get run over by that car than anything else, but sure.

“Sorry !” Steve got up and ran as fast as possible to catch up with Frainn, already sprinting behind the car.

Growling and annoyed at having to run after a stupid car, she eventually jumped onto it and punched a hole in the roof of the car with her left hand, to avoid falling from it. She managed to hang on, but the man driving tried to shoot her several times, causing the car to make dangerous zigzags on the road. Steve called Frainn out when he heard the gunshots and she briefly turned her head at him, too busy trying to stop the man to smile at him to reassure him. An expression of incomprehension mixed with surprise took place on his face when he realized that she had taken absolutely none of the bullets the man had fired at her. He looked down as he continued to run at full speed and noticed some metal balls rolling down the tar. She punched another hole in the roof of the car with her free hand and grabbed the man by his hair, lifting him from his seat to against the roof. He kept trying to shoot her while driving the car more and more hazardously. She turned her head when she saw Steve join her on the roof to help her. The man turned the car sharply and Steve, who was not as well hooked to the vehicle as Frainn slid to the side and caught up with the door so as not to fall any lower.

Frainn let go of the man's hair to cling tighter onto the roof when the man tried to shoot Steve and looked out of the road, bumping into a truck. She suddenly let go of all her holds and fall heavily as the car rolled over several times on the road. Steve helped her up and grabbed a door of the car that had come loose and used it as a shield when the man tried to shoot them again. People nearby screamed. The man was now holding a little ginger boy in his arms, aiming his gun at Steve and Frainn. She hesitated to use any of her powers. She didn’t want to risk the boy’s life. The two soldiers followed the man over to the docks. The latter suddenly aimed his gun at the boy’s head.

“Wait, don’t! Don’t!” Steve raised his hand in front of him, in defense, to prevent the man from shooting the boy. The latter then tried to shoot at Steve or Frainn, neither of them could really tell, but his gun clicked, meaning there was no bullet left inside. “No! Don’t!” The man threw the boy into the water, to get rid of him, before running away. Steve and Frainn rushed over the edge to see if the boy was alright.

“Go get him ! I can swim.” Frainn then nudged Steve to run into the direction the man had taken. She followed him with her eyes before looking back down at the boy, still swimming. The goddess jumped into the water and motioned for the little boy to hold onto her. She grabbed a chain hanging down the wall and pulled herself up. She wrapped the chain around her arm so that her hands would be free, and she took the boy by the waist and helped him up, before getting back onto the docks in her turn. She smiled back at him before she ran in the direction she had indicated to Steve a moment before. She found him standing still. She came close to him and put a hand on his shoulder to stop herself in her run without slipping. He stood there, as drenched as she was, facing the man who was now lying on the ground, inert, a white foam filling his mouth, making his face looks all puffy. Looking around her, she noticed some people, gathered a few feet away from them, looking at what was happening. Steve looked down at his muscular arms. He still needed a little time to fully get used to his new enhanced body. Frainn squeezed Steve's shoulder. The super soldier turned his head towards her, his gaze confused by what had happened.

“Think you got enough ?” Sitting on a chair in the nursery, he rolled down his sleeve when the nurse finally got the needle out of his arm. Frainn was there, leaning against a furniture, arms crossed on her chest. After the two of them had taken a dip back at the docks, they had been given dry clothes.

“Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code.” Peggy was leaning against the same furniture as Frainn, to her left. Steve stood up and approached them, slightly frowning. “But without Dr. Erskine, it would take years.”

“He deserved more than this.” Steve stared straight ahead of him.

“If it could work only once, he’d be proud it was you.” Peggy added, glancing at the file in her hand. It was obvious to Frainn that Steve doubted he was the right choide for all this. She could feel it. Peggy got out of the nursery, motioning for them to follow her out.

“How did you do that ?”

“What ?” Frainn was caught off guard by Steve’s question.

“I don’t know. Everything. How did you run so fast ? How did you jump onto the car ? How did you avoid all those bullets?” She suddenly pulled his wrist, making him slow down his steps so that the two of them would walk a little further behind Peggy but they ended up stopping instead. She locked her cold blue eyes into his own.

“Stop talking so loud.”

“Why ?” He frowned. “Frainn. What are you not telling me ?” She opened her mouth to answer to him but Peggy’s voice cut her off.

“You’ll talk later. Come on.” She noticed Frainn holding Steve’s wrist in her hand but didn’t say anything. Frainn couldn’t tell what was that strange glimpse that went through Peggy’s eyes but the agent started walking away again. Frainn glanced at Steve, letting go off of his wrist and following Peggy fast enough to catch up with her. The agent brought them into some sort of garage where they found Colonel Philips, Stark and a few other men, probably other high ranked soldiers or some shit like that. Frainn hadn’t been paying as much attention as she should have but in any case, Peggy did the talking apparently. “Hydra is the Nazi deep-science division. It’s led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions.”

“Hydra is practically a cult.” What Colonel Philips added got Frainn’s curiosity and she started to actually listen to what all of them were talking about. “They worship Schmidt. They think he’s invincible.”

“So, what are you gonna do about it ?”

“I spoke to the President this morning.” He and the man he was talking to walked over Carter, Frainn and Steve. “As of today, the SSR is being retasked. We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags, Agent Carter. You, too, Stark. We’re flying to London tonight.”

“Sir ?” Steve spoke up. “If you’re going after Schmidt, I want in. We want in.” The fact that he included Frainn without having to even look at her or speak to her confirmed to everyone including Frainn herself, that they had become a real duo. Real partners, despite the fact that he began to wonder about his new friend. It was the both or them or nothing.

“You’re an experiment. You’re going to Alamogordo. However, I want to take my soldier with me to London.” He pointed at Frainn with his chin. So it was going to be nothing Colonel.

“The serum worked.” Steve sounded disappointed.

“I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough.” He shook his head, groaning lightly. “Lockart, uh, Lokadottir… whatever. You stay with Rogers. I need soldiers who follow the orders, in order to win this war.” She nodded. She liked it better. She didn’t want to fight a war that wasn’t even hers to fight, if she had to team up with people other than Steve. He was already about to find out the truth about her and she would tell him, at some point, but she couldn’t risk everyone else to find out. She didnt want to be locked up by them or worse, being experimented on. Of course, even if they tried, it wouldn’t happen, because she was stronger and powerful even without her godly powers but, she didn’t want to cause another slaughter. The man that had taken his hat off stopped in front of Frainn and Steve and both of them raised their eyes at him when he talked to them.

“With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point. I’ve seen you in action, Steve, and Frainn as well. More importantly, the country’s seen it. Paper.” He motioned his hand to another man to his right. The latter brought them one of those newspaper like the one Frainn had seen before she went to the exhibition with Steve and Bucky. “The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands.” Frainn looked at the page the other man was showing to them. There was indeed a picture of Steve and Frainn, when he had picked up the door of the car and used it as a shield to protect both of them. “You don’t take two soldiers, symbols like that, and hide them away, keeping one of them in a lab.” He took the two friends by their soulders. “Do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war ?”

“Sir, that’s all we want.” Frainn nodded at Steve’s words. She was being patriotic only by imitating Steve so that she would be able to fit in more in this world. She had said before that she was Steve’s guardian angel, but they were each a little the guardian angel of the other. The bond that had been created and continued to strengthen implicitly between them remained inexplicable, even to Frainn.

“Then, congratulations. You just got promoted.” He shook hands with Steve and then Frainn, shivering at her touch even though she had tried to make their handshake as quick as possible. The Colonel had choosen nothing, none of them, but this man chose both. It was the best decision because it was really either both of them or none of them. You don’t split a team that works well together.

[To be continued...]

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Published (05/12/2021) by Andrea

Tag: @cathrin2405 <3

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