Captain Jaubert's Origin

The Afghanistan War was raging on. It was the first war to start in the twenty-first century, barely two years after the last one in Kosovo. Though, obviously, it was not the last. There was also the Iraq War, which didn't take too long to start— two years after the one in Afghanistan.

The Iraq War was the war in which she lost him.

The Iraq War was also part of the War on Terror. The War on Terror is the international military campaign that started after the eleventh of September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The United States led a coalition of other NATO and non-NATO nations in the campaign to destroy Al-Qaeda and other militant extremist organizations. This Global War on Terrorism had been going on for eleven years now.

Like any other war, it was meant to be fought cold-hearted. Ayden, however, couldn't exactly ignore the guilt she'd been feeling ever since she joined the army. The kind of guilt any soldier would have when it came down to having to take someone's life away, never mind that person being from a party opposing hers. Nevertheless, she always did her best and managed to stay on duty when and as asked to. In the beginning, her main goal had been to get into the army merely to join her eeighteen-year-old best friend, Leonard Dorian. At the time, she was only fifteen. And reckless. If anyone who knew Ayden were asked to describe her in one word, it would be that two-syllable word.

Reckless.

She had no ill intentions behind her being so, of course. Carmen Cornelia Ayden Juliana Jaubert, or simply Ayden as she preferred to be called, had spent a vast majority of her childhood like many other children have, unknowingly to the world, spent theirs:

She was bullied, and she got more and more tired of life being so cruel to her for no reason at all as the minutes, the hours, the days— the years went by.

She wasn't bad, malicious or even the slightest bit mischievous as a child. She wasn't spoilt, arrogant, or selfish, and she never asked for or demanded anything. She was the kind of girl who settled with what she had, thanked God for having it, and never asked for more. Still, in her mind, it was as if life was too blind to see that of her.

She wasn't given any extraordinary gift at birth, but mere diseases.

She was born an asthmatic, something she eventually managed to outgrow with time. She also suffered from a strange case of hypothermia, though fortunately for her, no one found out about it... well, that is, actually, until after she'd been in the army for about almost an entire year, when they found out they had drafted a fifteen-year-old who was, by then, sixteen. That had created quite a ruckus within the board of higher ranked officials. They knew the right thing to do would be to send her back home, but she was one of their best soldiers; she had been ranked up to Captain after her seventh month in the army after she had "borrowed" a plane and had gone on her own rescue mission with Elena.

Elena Shostakovitch had been the first person Ayden had trusted when she enrolled... or at least tried, only to be relieved when she got drafted. Both girls, having a lot of similarities, instantly clicked... well, it wasn't exactly instantaneous as Ayden was rather peeved for having to save a fellow female soldier who wasn't even capable of standing her own ground or shut up when need be from being beaten down by other hot-headed male soldiers. There were only a few female soldiers in that particular camp they had been settled in, so it was rather difficult to gain the respect they quite well deserved.

But Ayden earned it good from the start.

She woke up early in the morning, on the eleventh of November of 2011, to put her soon-to-be-regular routine into action when she suddenly stopped after hearing a chorus of laughter. If it were any other kind of laughter— joyous, friendly, joking— she would've continued on her way, but she recognized the laughter she heard.

It was the laughter of mockery.

She frowned as she began to make her way toward the commotion, which came from behind one of the newly inhabited cabins. As soon as she reached her destination, she stopped and hid in the shadows, listening more carefully and intently watching what was going on. She felt anger suddenly take over her as she saw a short and slightly scrawny-looking girl getting beaten up by some bullying soldiers. Knowing and not liking what the outcome would be, she grabbed a rogue baton that laid nearby and held it tight between her hands.

"Hey! Leave her alone," she called out, her brown eyes narrowing at the soldiers.

The men stopped, turned and looked around, but when they noticed who was trying to stop them, they laughed. Ayden almost shook with frustration as she knew exactly what they thought when they saw her; they thought she was weak just because she was a girl. She mentally scoffed; if she were as weak as they believed her to be, she wouldn't have gotten into the army in the first place. That girl on the ground wouldn't have been accepted either; Ayden knew that the only reason she was on the ground, to begin with, was because she was clearly a newbie like herself, but she was also ganged up on and weaponless. Yes, a soldier must know how to defend oneself without a weapon, but it was clear the girl hadn't anticipated being attacked by her comrades.

"Look, boys, it's another girl. What's a girl like you doing here? Huh?" They laughed. "Why don't you just leave us guys do our stuff and go play with your stupid little barbies?" said the man standing in front of the group.

Ayden rolled her eyes, guessing the guy probably thought of himself as the leader for being the biggest in the group. She tightened her grip on the baton, tensing even more as every second ticked by. She didn't know why, but she was suddenly afraid of what she could do to those boys if they made her any more furious than she already was. She felt herself somehow relax when she noticed the scrawny-looking girl looking up at her. Ayden was now slightly smiling inside, knowing the girl was only worried about her well being.

Ayden looked straight ahead and took a small step forward as the soldiers looked at each other. "I hope you do realize we're currently in a military base. And, even if I were a little girl... even then, I would probably prefer guns, bombs, and tanks over dolls." She shrugged to herself. "I always disliked dolls for some reason. Don't even know why, but I just always have," she replied quietly.

The boys rolled their eyes.

"Then what do you want?" one of them asked her.

"Me?" She gave them an innocent look, which made them slightly falter. "Oh, I don't want anything. I just came to see what was going on and... well, you know what I find slightly amusing... yet more bemusing than anything? How a bunch of idiotic, hot-headed soldiers are bullying a female soldier. No, actually, that's rather... sexist and really low of you."

She didn't need her glasses to see she had hit a spot there. That rather surprised her; her words weren't even that insulting.

"What do you want?" the 'leader' repeated. "Do you want to fight? Is that it?"

She gave him a tight-lipped smile, shaking her head before tilting it to the side as she glanced down at the baton in her hands. "No. I actually don't like violence." She chuckled at the incredulous look on their faces. "I know. Weird, coming from a soldier. I don't like to fight," she repeated. "But, if you want to fight, by all means." She motioned toward her with a shrug.

"Fine then." The 'leader' chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Boys, let's show her why guys are stronger than girls."

She laughed, startling them all, along with a few other soldiers that were beginning to exit their cabins to see what all the commotion was about. "Wow! I said... rather clearly, how I don't like to fight. I know I gave you the initiative to fight me if you wanted, yet you bring in your whole group. That's cowardly for a soldier. I know there's the whole 'never leave a soldier behind,' but you're supposed to know how to stand your own ground on your own."

That seemed to have struck another nerve, however. As soon she finished speaking, the whole group ran towards her. Ayden's eyes narrowed as she tightened her hands around the baton. The second they reached her, she stepped forward and swung it on one of the boys' faces. She smiled in triumph but groaned when she was caught off guard by a hand grabbing her from behind and pushing her to the floor.

"Guys will always be stronger than little girls like you," a voice whispered in her ear before a foot was pressed onto her back as she tried her best to get free. She glared at him and spat on his face, smirking when he got angrier.

As she struggled to get free, the smaller girl stood up and grabbed the baton, but Ayden shook her head.

"Pause," she said, holding out a hand. She received a bunch of confused looks. She rolled her eyes. "I said 'pause,' but that doesn't mean 'keep your foot on my back.'"

She shoved the large foot from her back and stood up.

"Okay, we'll make a deal. I fight each and every one of you, one at a time. If you win, you can bother us all you want, but you have to keep certain... things to yourselves. When I win, you leave Snow White—" She pointed at the short girl. "— and I alone. Got it?"

The group seemed to consider before the 'leader' nodded in agreement.

She nodded in return. "May the feast begin!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

As soon as she said that, a big hand went to punch her face, though she quickly caught it, twisted it, leaped up and locked the head of her attacker between her thighs before bringing him down to the ground.

The scrawny girl gasped, along with many other soldiers that came to watch the 'show,' as Ayden jumped back onto her feet and smirked at her opponents who were clearly beginning to grow madder, not only at her but with themselves for underestimating her. One by one, they joined into the fight, each stepping in as soon as one was down. There were moments when Ayden had the lower hand, but she always picked herself back up and continued.

A few soldiers actually backed down when Ayden suddenly said, "Did I mention I used to take Karate lessons?" but the rest were too proud and stubborn to back down. In the end, she did win the battle, and to say she was proud of herself would be an understatement.

"Yay!" She threw her hands up in the air tiredly, looking down at the soldiers lying in pain on the ground. "Now leave us alone." She turned to walk away, motioning the other girl to follow her. "Come on, Snowy."

The girl was puzzled by the name but followed her either way. "Snowy?"

Ayden shrugged, taking the baton from her hand. "Skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as coal," she recited dramatically. "You're practically a live version of Snow White."

She was a pretty girl, in a rather subtle way, with big blue-green eyes, wavy black hair, a slender figure, a small chest and narrow hips. She was quite short, just a little over five feet tall, and had a few freckles on her face; she was pretty indeed— pretty enough to be compared with Snow White, hence Ayden voicing that thought.

The girl was silent as she looked at Ayden for a moment. "... that's a good thing, right?"

"It's good to be pretty, but when you're surrounded by men like them, it's better to tone it down a bit. Be plainer, but not too plain. One deserves to be and feel pretty no matter what, but you can't go around tempting them, or they might just end up doing nasty stuff."

"Okay." She paused. "I'm Elena, by the way. Elena Shostakovitch."

Ayden nodded. "Carmen Jaubert, but don't call me Carmen or anything remotely close to it for that matter; if you do: I will stab you."

"You really would?"

"Probably not. " Ayden shrugged admittedly. "I don't want to get in trouble for killing someone before even getting the chance to go onto the battlefield, but I will not hesitate to hurt you."

Elena frowned. "Then what would I call you?"

"Ayden."

"Why?"

"Because it's one of my middle names," Ayden replied in an obvious tone.

"Er... okay." She paused again. "What belt are you?"

Ayden stopped short and frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Back there," Elena motioned toward the direction they came from. "You said you took karate lessons."

Ayden laughed. "People shouldn't take me too seriously when I say that. I took lessons when I was seven and quit after a month because I didn't like the violence; I never got past white belt."

Elena's mouth fell open. "But you— back there— and the twist— how you—" She blinked. "What?!"

Ayden shrugged. "If it helps, most things I know I got them out of video games." Her jaw clenched slightly as she said that.

"But the jump and the twist-thingy you did in the beginning..."

"Oh, I saw that one in a movie once, when I was young. I don't think I was even supposed to watch it since I was like five, but, ever since I saw that move, I've been wanting to try it one day. I'm actually surprised I managed the jump— I've never been very agile or flexible."

Elena laughed in disbelief. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving me."

Ayden shook her head with a slight shrug. "Eh, that wasn't saving. That was getting them to back off for a while, so you could train enough to kick their asses yourself."

"What?! But I can't do what you did with the twist and the—"

"You don't have to do that to beat someone." Ayden sighed and offered a small smile. "You know what? Stick by me, and you'll learn in a jiff."

Elena gave her a curious look. "Why would you help me?"

Ayden shrugged. "Friends usually help each other out, and you, kid, look like you could use one."

Elena's eyes lit up. "You want to be my friend?"

"Sure, why not?" Ayden smiled thinly yet quite genuinely, then resumed her walk, Elena following close behind.

"Just a fair warning, I'm not a very fast learner when it comes to physical stuff."

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it."

"You really wanna help me?"

However thin it was, Ayden's smile never faltered, and that felt good; she hadn't smiled so genuinely in a long time. "Of course. When I'm in it from the start, I'm in it till the end, especially when it's something I'm doing for a friend."

"What about a best friend?"

Ayden stopped walking, her body going stiff, both which didn't go unnoticed by Elena, who soon gave her a quizzical look.

Forcing a smile back onto her face, Ayden lifted a hand up and placed it on Elena's shoulder. "Sure. Best friends. So, from now on, when it comes to us, I'm in it for the long haul."

"Till the end?"

"Till the end."

Ayden had proven herself to be the most loyal and compassionate friend anyone could ask for when she led their duo rescue team to go aid the other half of the one-o-sixth; the unit Elena's brother was in. Though it wasn't as responsible as it sounds, at first, nor was it easy; the 'difficulties' for Ayden had begun a while earlier— difficulties she had to hide.

It was a Wednesday when it all began. Ayden had decided to wake up earlier than usual to finish her training earlier, that way she could spend the rest of the day in the labs with Carson.

Andrew Carson was a twenty-two-year-old industrial genius, inventor, and businessman. Ayden loved spending time with him because she always got to learn something new about technology. Elena usually tagged along, nicknaming Andrew 'Howard Stark Junior' for being such a genius, and Ayden 'Captain America' for her adorable reactions to every new thing. It was as if she was from a different century herself, but of course, Ayden being Ayden, she'd always get defensive on that matter.

"Hey, I don't exactly come from the richest family out there, so don't blame me for finding this stuff interesting," she'd say, childishly sticking her tongue out at Elena, who would instantly mimic the gesture.

That day, Elena didn't tag along. She stayed with a few other soldiers to keep training, while Ayden went ahead. Unfortunately, she got there at the worst of times. Andrew was making an experiment of some sort with Doctor Anton Marinescu, a Romanian scientist. She managed to get everyone out of the lab... except Doctor Marinescu himself.

When she went back inside, the entire laboratory exploded. Marinescu died in her arms. It pained her, not because she had lost a good friend and someone she could easily call a mentor, but also because it reminded her of the day she lost James Grenadier, or, as she called him, Jamie. He'd been the second and last boyfriend she'd had, and, after his death, she swore to herself she would never look for that kind of love, or even let it in if it ever came seeking for her again. Love is for children, and, well, it's not like she ever truly got to be a kid— so why should she let herself feel it?

After Doctor Marinescu's death, she would repeatedly have flashbacks of the moment he died, her eyes glazing over, her body freezing, muscles locking into place. Andrew would always have to snap her out of it by calling her by her first name, a name she dreaded very much.

"Carmen."

Her previously glazed over eyes would flutter, then blink owlishly before looking over to Andrew. "Two things. One: don't call me that. And two: what?"

"You didn't hear a word I said, did ya?"

"Nope."

"Repeating myself wouldn't help either of us, would it?"

"Nope."

Andrew sighed; it was always the same. "You're hopeless."

"I'm realistic," she muttered before nodding her head toward the vials of blood he extracted from her. "Think you got enough?" He flinched, this was new; her voice was bitter and a little cold, though he really couldn't blame her.

"Yes," he replied, extracting the needle from her vein.

He reached toward a metal table where the medical tools he'd borrowed were displayed, though, just as he was about to grab a band-aid, he froze, his eyes glued to the spot where he had just extracted the needle from; the tiny whole, along with the many cuts left from the explosion, faded into faint pink scars, within seconds, barely noticeable anymore.

Ayden, watching herself heal as well, blinked, watching the forming scars with a blank look on her face. "Well, that's new," she muttered.

Snapping out of his daze, Andrew cleared his throat. "Any hope of reproducing whatever... glitch was created in the explosion is locked in your genetic code."

"What does that even mean?" Ayden knew what he meant, but, knowing him, she knew he probably meant something else too.

"It means that, if your results show what I think it would show, his formula worked. And, then, if, or rather when, we try to reproduce it, it won't take years."

"Formula..." Ayden scoffed, permitting herself to feel a tad bit of disbelief. "You just said it's a glitch; why would you want to reproduce that? It may have changed me physically, but we never know what it changed inside of me. For all we know, it... it might've turned me into some kind of she-hulk."

"Well, we'll find out what it changed eventually."

Ayden sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It's not fair; he deserved more than this. So much more..."

Andrew looked at her and sighed; he hadn't known her for long, but he could already tell she would start blaming herself sooner or later.

"It wasn't your fault, Ayden. And, besides, if it could work, and only once, he would be proud to know it was with you," he said, placing a comforting hand on her arm, before turning to his equipment and beginning to put it all away.

Ayden couldn't tell if he genuinely meant that, or if he was merely trying to make her feel better, and that frustrated her. She was, usually, really good at reading people, but Andrew was just unpredictable. He would be his nerdy, geeky self at one moment, then extremely serious the next. And then he would be joking around, even going as far as flirting with her; even though he was extremely good-looking, both knew he didn't have a chance with her, Ayden mostly knowing because he was much older than her, and, the last time she was with someone older than herself... well, it didn't exactly end well.

After her conversation with Andrew that day, though, about the possibilities of what her results might be, she started to distance herself from Elena and her other comrades and began spending more of her time with him. No one knew that it was simply to check if there were any good or bad side effects.

On a Sunday, which was usually a day off for all the soldiers, Ayden finally got her results. If it hadn't been for her being there in the incident and surviving, she would've been more shocked than she should've been.

"So basically... what you're saying is that I'm... a super soldier," she said, staring down at the paper test results.

Andrew bit his lip. "Of some sort."

"So… I'm like Captain America or whatnot."

"Well... you're... you're not sick anymore."

Her head snapped up, and she stared at him. "Wha— how— why am I not surprised that you figured that out?"

"Because I'm a genius," he replied, playfully bumping his shoulder against hers. "Why didn't you tell me you were so... ill?"

"Yeah, because someone who wants to be a soldier would definitely want to tell the world that they're asthmatic," she replied sarcastically. "In case you didn't know, asthma is quite a downgrade in a soldier's file."

Andrew gave her a sympathetic smile. "I guess... and that wasn't the only thing."

"... look, if it's got anything to do with my age—"

"Fifteen? Really?"

Ayden let out a huff. "Sixteen."

Andrew snorted and shook his head. "All the same, you enlisted while being underage. If they find out, you're out."

"After this? I don't think they'll want to let me go in fear of me going berserk or something."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I wasn't talking about your age when I said your asthma wasn't the only thing."

"You were still talkin' about my health?"

"Pretty much," Andrew replied with a simple shrug before taking on a rather scolding tone. "How could you be so careless about it? You know how dangerous that is? What if you died before you even got to hold a gun."

Ayden groaned. "Look, I know, okay? I know I'd gotten sick enough to be bedridden."

"And you should've been."

"But I was stronger than what'd been written down in ink, Andrew. I've been underestimated my whole life; this may have been the most reckless decision I've ever made, but I... I have to prove that all those assumptions about me were wrong."

Andrew sent her a small smile. "I know. You fought it, and you proved it so far by staying strong, you got here and now you're even stronger... like a million times stronger than you were."

"This doesn't change anything, though."

"What do you mean?" he asked, brows furrowing.

"They find out about this? That's it; I'm done for; they won't care that I'm a kid. They'll probably find some way to legally hold custody over me and turn me into their lab rat or something, but if there's one thing I'm sure of is that they'll never even consider putting me in a backup unit, even less the front line." She sighed. "Might as well become a showgirl at this point," she muttered.

Andrew frowned. "So that's it. You're not going to put your new abilities to use? You're not even gonna try?"

Ayden's shoulders slumped, discouraged. "What good will that do?"

"Plenty!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in a rather theatrical way before letting them fall to his sides. "You can actually change the world and considering the fact that it's you we're talking about, it'll be for the better."

"I'm a... young girl, Andrew. There is no way they're gonna spare me a glance, even less look at me wholly. I was lucky enough to get drafted after giving my name, but luck has never really been kind enough to me."

Andrew sighed. "Come on, Ayden," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and lightly squeezing them. "Don't back down now. What happened to proving yourself? Huh? I know the current position you have pretty much sucks... I mean, you're lower than a soldier—" he cut himself short at the glare she sent his way. "What I mean is: at least try. You're meant for more than this, Den."

Ayden snorted. "Yeah? Well, I'm beginning to wonder," she muttered. She then bit her lip, hesitant for a moment before shaking her head. "Forget it."

That night she felt overwhelmingly sad as she sat on her cot, reading the last letter Leonard had written to her. Elena soon entered their cabin and leaned against the door frame, watching her friend with sympathetic eyes. She didn't know what it felt like to lose someone dear, but she knew she'd be just as devastated if she lost her brother or Ayden, who had, throughout their time together in the army, become her best friend.

Pushing herself from the doorway, she walked over to the sad girl, gently snatched the letter from her hands while ignoring the perplexed look she sent her way, grabbed her hand and dragged her over to her own cot, where she brought her portable DVD player out of her duffel bag.

"What are you doing?" Ayden asked, voice so soft it was barely audible.

"We are going to watch a movie," Elena replied with a grin, putting in the DVD in the player.

Ayden blinked. "Movie?"

"Yeah, you know... a story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images—"

"I know what a movie is!" Ayden snapped.

"Okay, sheesh, sorry," Elena mumbled as the main menu appeared on the screen.

"Really, Captain America?" the brunette said, raising an eyebrow.

"You said you never watched it, so I'm gonna blow your mind away with it. Chips?" the raven-haired girl offered, bag of chips in hand.

"How did you manage to sneak this stuff into camp?"

Elena shrugged. "I'm awesome like that, though not as much as you with those sneak-attacks you're a master at. You gotta show me those moves, Captain Shades."

"I thought I was Captain America."

"You still are," Elena replied with another shrug. "And fifteen? Really?"

Ayden groaned. "Sixteen, goddammit," she grumbled.

"Okay, geez, calm down, no need to go all Wolverine on me."

"Really, Elena? Wolverine?" Ayden sighed. "Shouldn't even wonder how you found out..."

Elena gave another nonchalant shrug. "Drink?" she offered, though she passed her friend the bottle of coke before even getting an answer.

"God, you're like a female version of that actor that plays Tony Stark— hiding food everywhere," Ayden muttered, uncapping the bottle and taking a sip.

Elena giggled. "Anyway... it's gonna start, so hush."

And with that, they began watching in silence, and though the Russian girl had already seen it, she couldn't help but get more and more excited at every new scene. Ayden, on the other hand, was too distracted to watch it entirely, though she did pay attention to the fighting sequences. As the ending neared, Ayden began to feel tired; she watched but could barely make sense of what was happening in the movie anymore. She'd even fallen asleep a few times.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!" Elena mumbled, clutching a pillow to her chest.

"What?" Ayden asked, shifting her glance from the movie going on to her best friend.

"This is the saddest part of the movie!"

"I thought the saddest part was when Bucky fell off the train," Ayden said, raising an eyebrow.

"The second saddest," Elena corrected herself. "Steve's gonna sacrifice himself soon— wait! Forget I said that!"

Ayden chuckled. "Can't really do that now, can I?"

Elena groaned. "Just watch, and don't you dare fall asleep again."

Ayden raised her hands up in mock-surrender. "Okay, okay." Sadly, she was too tired, to oblige to her friend's command. When she woke up again, she found Elena balling her eyes out.

"I can't believe you fell asleep through that part!" Elena cried out, sobbing at the sad scene her friend had just slept through.

Ayden rolled her eyes as she tried to rub the sleep away from them while stifling a yawn with her arm. "Ugh... just tell me what happened."

Sniffling, Elena nodded. "Well, he got a kiss, jumped onto the plane to find ugly-ass Skull and fought him. There was this big flash thingy, which I still don't get, then Red face disappeared into the cube and Captain was left to have to crash the ship to save the whole world!" she sobbed even louder.

Ayden chuckled softly and pulled her friend into an embrace which she instantly returned. "I hope that that, or anything remotely close to that never happens to us," she mumbled.

"You're telling me," Elena muttered against her shoulder, before looking up to slightly glare at her. "I know you told me you love planes and all, but, if you ever get to actually fly one, don't you ever dare pull a Captain America on me, you hear me?"

Ayden laughed softly. "I promise, Lena..."

It was four weeks later, on a regular rainy day... well, regular for them, that things began to rile up. Ayden and Elena had just finished training for the hour and were getting some refreshments near the main cabin, under a tent, chatting about. The soldiers who passed by would've thought they were talking about tactics and, well, basically military stuff, by the serious look on the faces of both young woman; they were really just in a deep discussion regarding comic books and movies.

Ayden was about to say something when, suddenly, the screeching of a medical van was heard, bringing back the wounded from the front line. Both of them shared a look before turning their attention back towards the commotion; nurses started to reel out victims, their feet splashing in the mud.

"They look like they've been through hell," Elena commented.

"These men more than most," said Marvin Jones, one of their comrades who had just joined them, plainly as he helped himself to a water bottle. He was one of the few soldiers who got along well with the pair, but also one of the many who had become completely smitten with Ayden.

"A force was sent out to counter ours," he continued. "Near Bagram, for Al-Qaeda... again."

Ayden frowned, puzzled. "Bagram? But Al-Qaeda's Iraqi, not Afghan. And I thought they got grounded when the Iraq War ended since it ended after the military intervention in Libya."

Marvin shrugged, a sign of agreement from his part before he continued what he was saying. "I'm guessing they've had backup camps this whole time; two hundred men went up against 'em, and less than fifty returned. The guys you met earlier are what was left of the one-o-sixth. The rest were killed or captured..." he trailed off.

"The one-o-sixth?" Elena suddenly asked, back jerking straight.

Ayden noticed the change in her friend and got worried. "What? What is it?"

"Damian!" she cried out, throwing her Styrofoam cup aside and getting up on her feet. "Damian's in the one-o-sixth!"

"Damian? Your brother?"

Elena ran her fingers through her black hair, ignoring Ayden's question. Then, without warning, Elena took Ayden by the hand, and they ran out into the rain and towards the other side of the camp.

Ayden was still confused. "Elena!"

"Come on!" Elena urged as they ran.

They reached their Colonel's tent, where he was writing condolence letters. He looked like he had been up all night signing them.

"Colonel," Elena said.

"Shosta... what?" he said, slightly irritated for being interrupted. "What's so important that has to interrupt me from my work?"

"I need the latter casualty list from the Al-Qaeda operation, near Bagram."

Ayden's eyes widened at her request. There was a slim chance that their Colonel, a man in his golden years, who always wore grimace that suited his gruff attitude, would actually comply with her.

"You don't get to give me orders, kid," he snapped at her.

See? The man was such a hard ass— he could be impossible to break through at times.

"I just need one name, Sergeant Grayson Damian Shostakovitch from the one-o-sixth," Elena said to him straightforwardly.

The Colonel glowered at Ayden, and she knew she was in for it. But what for, she did not know.

"You and I are gonna have a conversation that you won't enjoy," he said sharply, brandishing his pen at her.

She was confused for a moment before she started panicking. What if they found out? She didn't really care if they found out about the incident that occurred not so long ago in Andrew's lab. All she was worried about was them finding out about her little stunt she pulled to get into the army.

She'd be in deep shit...

"Please tell me if he's alive, Sir. S-H-O-S-T-A-K—"

"I can spell it," he intercepted.

Oh, please, you can't even say it, Ayden thought, fighting back an eye roll.

There was a silence as he looked at Ayden and then at Elena again. This meant bad news. He stood up and began shuffling through a thick stack of yellow papers.

"I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."

Ayden pursed her lips and stepped forward. "What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?" she asked.

"Yes, it's called 'winning the war,'" he said.

She scowled. "Where have I heard that before?" she muttered sarcastically, earning herself a glare from her superior, but she ignored it.

Elena frowned at the man. "If you know where they are, why not at least—"

"They're over fifty miles behind the lines through some of the most heavily fortified territories around. We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that."

His remark earned a frown from both girls. Ayden felt the need to say something, but like anything, she was already going to be grilled by him later on for whatever trouble she was in now.

"I think I understand just fine," Elena retorted plainly.

"Well, then understand it somewhere else," he said sharply. "If I remember correctly, you are scheduled for another training round in thirty minutes."

Elena's eye twitched, but she did not insist any further. "Yes, Sir. I am."

Just as she and Ayden were about to turn to leave, the Colonel spoke again, and this time he didn't sound irritated. No, he was furious.

"Jaubert, stay."

Ayden bit her lip, knowing she was in for it now. Whatever it was she was in for. She nodded at Elena, who reluctantly nodded back and walked off. She turned to face the Colonel, who was giving her a cold look that sent shivers down her spine.

"Can you tell me why, exactly, was I told that you were actually fifteen years old and not nineteen as your file so clearly states?"

Ayden froze.

Shit.

"... I'm sixteen?" she tried, but it came out more like a question.

"You think that makes it any better?" he snapped.

Ayden sighed in defeat. "What do you want me to say? I'm sorry? I'm sorry for wanting to be in the army so badly that I... modified my file as best as I could? That I'm sorry I'm talking to you this way right now, because I am really sorry about that," she added quickly before going back on track. "But I'm not sorry for the rest. I'm not sorry I faked my age. I'm not sorry about a lot of things in my life that may have been reckless and stupid because, in all honesty, most of them got me where I wanted to be."

His cold look turned a tad bit soft as he looked down at the girl whom he had spent the past few months believing she was as old as she looked when, in reality, she was just a child. "Why would you want to be in the army?"

She didn't answer at first, but when she did, she was deadly serious, a side of herself she barely ever showed except when she'd be training, though, even then, she would never be as serious as she was at that moment.

"I've never had a friend— a real friend before. One I could trust, tell everything about anything to. A friend to understand me, to not just hear me, but listen to me." She wrapped her arms around herself as if hugging herself. "Until I met Leonard. Leonard Dorian."

She saw something flash in her Colonel's eyes— recognition, though she dismissed it.

"He was a lot like me in some ways. He hated violence, and though he had people around him, he felt alone... like me."

She took a deep breath and looked out at the rain. "I used to be very close to my brother. He'd protect me from everything and anything. He'd look after me, care for me— heck! He taught me my first word... which wasn't exactly something I should even know until either of us was at least past fourteen." She chuckled slightly. "But then he started high school. I was left to fend for myself in my third year of elementary school."

She looked down at the now muddy ground. "I'm the suffer-in-silence type of person," she admitted. "My mom was sick, my brother and I were sick; I didn't want to have them always on my back, worrying. It was already bad enough my mom was ready to rush me to the hospital for a simple paper cut... I didn't want to worry her any more."

She sighed. "I was a kid with a lot of issues. Afraid of losing someone while not even knowing what death is... asthma, bad eyesight, learning disabilities... I wanted to prove that I wasn't just a dumb, sick kid. Yes, I may have become majorly depressed at some point in my life while trying to do so, but I really didn't care! I just wanted to prove to the world that I can be smart if I pushed myself hard enough, that I could run a freakin' cross country without having an asthma attack!"

She let her arms fall to her sides as she balled her hands up into fists. "Leo was the only one to understand that. He knew me like the back of his hand. At first, it was out of selfishness. I didn't want to lose the only person who knew and understood me so well... but then I remembered how his life wasn't so great either."

She closed her eyes. "His brothers hated him. They're the reason he was drafted— they got him put into the army when he didn't even want to be in it, but he couldn't really say no. He left, and all I could think about was how alone he was going to be... how alone he was going to feel. I didn't want him to be alone, to feel alone like I was and felt, so I did what I did."

The Colonel frowned. "Did you not think of your family?"

Ayden opened her eyes and chuckled dryly.

"What family?" Her voice was strong, yet it cracked a bit. She shook her head. "The family I once had deserted my mom, my brother and I the second my father's funeral was over. My mom? Her room is right in front of mine, but we barely ever shared four sentences every day as she can barely look me in the face without thinking of my dad."

Ayden's heart clenched as she subconsciously gripped the hem of her shirt. "My brother? He's caught up with work and, if I'm correct, now university as well."

At that precise moment, Andrew walked in but she, nor the Colonel, paid him any attention.

"Yes, I may have had a few... friends here and there, but none of them ever really cared about me enough to at least ask me how I was feeling— to even get to know the real me. And if they did care properly, well, they never showed it, except... except for Leonard. He's the reason I came out here in the first place. And now he's gone, but now there's also Elena. She may not know about my falsified file... well, actually, she does, now, but that's not the point. The point is, she gets me. She knows the real me, almost as much as he did, and if you think for one second that I'm gonna back down from something that I want, something that I believe in just because I was ordered to... well, I'm sorry to tell you this, Colonel, but you're wrong."

She turned toward the Colonel and looked him dead in the eyes. "I may be a soldier, but in no way will I ever let there be strings on me to hold me back. I'm not invincible, but I sure as hell can try to be."

And with that said, Ayden stormed out of the tent without looking back.

Silence lapsed between the inventor and the Colonel. Andrew, who had been staring wide-eyed at the spot where the young soldier had previously been standing, looked toward the elder man with a full-blown grin on his tanned face.

"Don't start with me, Carson." He sighed. "Just go after her already."

With that, Andrew ran out after the young girl.

"What do you plan to do, exactly?" he asked as he fell into pace with her. "Walk to Bagram, then swim to God knows where the heck they are?"

"If that's what it takes," Ayden replied as they both neared the inventor's laboratory.

"You heard the Colonel; your friend is most likely dead."

"He's not my friend; he's Elena's brother," Ayden said. "And you don't know if that's true."

"Even so, he's devising a strategy to take."

"By the time he's done that, it could be too late!" Ayden spun on her heels to face him, face full of determination. "You told me you believed I was meant for more than this. Did you mean that?"

Andrew stared back into her eyes. "Every word," he replied, voice and face full of sincerity.

"Then you gotta let me go, Andrew."

Her face was full of determination, and her eyes showed hope, hope that the world would be more empathetic and let her prove herself. She hated breaking the rules. That was probably the only thing she hated, but, when she had to, she wished there would be at least someone who'd have faith in her.

"I can do more than that."

Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her off toward the new temporary laboratory, as the old one was still in the middle of being rebuilt. He handed her a regular soldier's coverall, along with a rather unusual black ensemble to wear under it. After putting on the black attire in a more private area, she grabbed the coverall and made her way back to Andrew, placing the piece of clothing on a nearby chair.

"You know, you're gonna be in a lot of trouble, later, at the lab... well, technically here," Ayden said as she buckled up her black tactical vest.

She then slipped on the dutch-tank coverall, followed by a camouflage-colored tactical vest, so she was doubly protected. She felt like a stuffed doll, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Andrew scoffed. "And you won't?"

"Well, where I'm goin', if anybody yells at me I can just..." She raised her hands and brought them together, tucking both of her little, third, and middle fingers into her palms, mimicking one's self when holding a gun. "Bang! You know?"

"And they will undeniably shoot back."

"Not if they're dead," Ayden deadpanned in a slightly nonchalant tone.

Andrew looked at her for a moment, a small frown creasing onto his face. "You seem a lot less bothered by the idea of having to kill," he observed.

Ayden looked back up at him. "Me?" She laughed and shook her head. "Oh, no. The idea still terrifies me, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"You can not go," Andrew said in a 'duh' voice.

The girl's face went hard. "But then the rest of the one-o-sixth would die." She looked down at the shoe she was tying, brows furrowing. "There's a reason they say that with great power comes great responsibility. "

"Spider-man says that. "

"Uncle Ben says that, " Ayden corrected him. "But really though, I can't not do anything; I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I found out there was so much I could've done to save them but did nothing."

She began to tie her other shoe, in silence, when Andrew suddenly said, "Those are for men."

She rolled her eyes and, once done, straightened up. "Gadgets."

"Oh, right." He reached for a metal table, but then paused at the last second. "By the way, you'd look awesome wearing spandex."

Ayden gave him a weird look. "You do realize you're six years older than me, right?"

"Age didn't stop Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart. And they're twenty-three years apart."

"Andrew, you're making this moment very uncomfortable."

"It only becomes so when you mention it."

"Well, I said it because it was, now gear and gadgets."

"Fine," said Andrew, holding the word out, as he finally rolled over a metal table, where many gadgets and weapons were on display. "Okay, so you've got your usual military tactical gear. That's 101, you've always got that." Ayden nodded as she put the gear aside and they both focused on the new gadgets. "Now, for the gadgets. They're new."

"Are these prototypes?"

"... maybe." He noticed the worried expression she sent him and quickly added, "But I've tested them enough to know they'll work just fine."

Ayden knew better than to doubt him. She nodded. "Okay, deets?"

"Right." Andrew picked up the first item. He proceeded by handing her a grappling gun, a submachine gun, a sniper rifle, two handguns, throwing knives, a digital smart-watch, a black iron face mask that was adjustable and flexible and also worked with goggles.

He put everything in a—

"Is that a Timbuk 2 Harlow backpack?" Ayden asked, staring at it in disbelief as the man put every gadget in it. How could a sniper rifle and many other guns and weapons fit in that?

"It's very efficient and comfortable for carrying gear."

"Yeah, gym gear, not rifles and... definitely not military gear."

Andrew shrugged. "Made some adjustments— added a bit of tech here and there..."

"Yeah, I can see that," Ayden mumbled, grabbing the bag and looking at it in awe.

"Oh! And I added a reusable parachute in it." He reached a finger to one of the straps and pointed at a slightly camouflaged button.

"Now this," he held a tactile device up to her, "is an iPhone 5S— a tactile cell—"

"I know what an iPhone is!" she snapped. "Just because I never had a cell phone, doesn't mean I've never seen one before. Geez! I'm not from another time, dude."

He chuckled. "Sometimes it seems like it. Anyway, I created an app you'll surely need to get back. You just press it, and it'll send me a signal that'll lead me to you." He then handed her a small device that looked like semi-transparent colored monocle that was meant to cover her left eye. "This is a scouter. It has an all-purpose computer installed in it."

"Does it have a main feature?"

"I'm glad you asked that, and, yes, it does. It's a sensor of some sort; it can detect people standing miles away from you," he told her.

She hooked it to her left ear and let out a surprised breath; it wasn't as uncomfortable as she thought it would be. Activating it, she watched with interest as tiny numbers began to appear on the screen-like transparent monocle-readings.

"It can measure their power levels, or strength if you will and compare it to your own, so you have an idea of who you're facing. Oh! And the monocle is retractable."

Ayden found herself grinning as she deactivated the device and took it off. "It's awesome."

Andrew gave out quite a 'modest' shrug. "Well, I did create it." He then held out a pair of goggles. "Now, these are night goggles. They're an optoelectronic device that allows images to be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. They're usable when under night and daylight."

"Is it, basically, like in video games? With the whole x-ray feature?"

"Somewhat. The scouter does a bit of the same, but, as I said, it's more of a sensor. These goggles are specially made for the night; they light the night with stealth beams for secret overnight ops. The built into the eye-gear will permit you to see up to twenty-five feet in the dark..." He looked at her, brows furrowing. "You are going to take off those glasses when you go, right?" he asked, eying her large and bold black wayframe with classic details and curved edges.

"The explosion might've enhanced a lot, but nothing changed in my eyesight."

He grabbed a tiny metal case and held it out to her. "Then wear these contact lenses; we don't want you to become blind from having broken glass in your eyes."

"But I don't like contacts," Ayden protested in a slightly childish tone.

"Sometimes I forget you're a kid," Andrew mumbled, sighing at the pout on the young girl's face.

Her pout turned into a glare. "Duly noted," she replied, referring to his earlier flirting.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Just put them on. If your glasses survive whatever crash you're planning, then, you can wear them, after you land."

"Land where?"

The pair turned to see Elena standing at the entrance of the laboratory, a puzzled look on her face as she looked from the two of them to the weapons, then back up at them.

"And when were you going to tell me you became a freakin' female Captain America?" she asked Ayden, who only bit her lip in response.

Andrew rolled his eyes at the somewhat bossy girl and only sighed when Ayden sent him a helpless look.

"Land where, Andrew?" Elena repeated, more demanding. "What's going on? Where are you going, Carmen?"

Ayden groaned; she hated being called by her first name. "Elena..."

"This crazy girl is planning to go ambush whatever place the one-o-sixth is being held at," Andrew blurted out.

"Andrew!"

"What? You know I can't keep secrets for shit!"

Elena blinked in surprise; she was not expecting that. "... one-o-sixth."

Ayden hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Pretty much. Yeah."

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?!"

"Maybe, but the decision's already been made," Ayden replied.

Elena huffed, cheeks starting to flush red as she glared at her friend. "Would you stop acting rogue for a second? Stop being freakin' suicidal."

Ayden sighed. "Lena, my goal, when I came here, was to be put on the field as soon as possible to start soldiering. It's been, what? Half a year since I've been here? Where have I been? Stuck in this stupid camp. I came here to fight, and if the Colonel won't let me... well, then I guess I'll just let myself."

"But why this, Ayden? This isn't your job."

"Then what is my job? Huh? Why am I here— to play with a Nutcracker?" she asked, a hint of sarcasm near the end. Andrew snickered at that, but both girls chose to ignore him. "If fighting to defend and save peoples' lives isn't my job, then I don't know what is."

Elena looked at her friend who looked back at her with desperate eyes. "He's devising a strategy..."

"To take, I know; billionaire over there already told me that." Ayden pointed a finger at Andrew, who playfully raised his hand, as if he were a schoolboy, to indicate he was the billionaire she was talking about. "But, just like I told Andrew, by the time the Colonel comes up with a plan, it could be too late!"

"I get that you wanna be a hero— "

Ayden's hands balled up into fists. "I don't. And I'm not. And I'm fuckin' glad about it, but still."

"Still what, Ayden? You could die out there, never mind you being like Captain Stars and Stripes!" Elena inhaled deeply, then exhaled before saying, "We may have trained a lot, but we haven't trained for this."

"I'm not gonna just sit back and watch as the world gets torn apart!" Ayden pounded her fists on the metal table, denting it.

Elena looked at her for a moment before calmly asking, "This isn't even about the world, is it?"

Ayden stared down at the dent under her hands. "I don't... we lose people every day, Elena... but nothing hurts more than losing someone so dear to you, knowing there was something you could've done to avoid losing them."

It was silent between the three for a moment. It was heavy and heart aching, mostly for Ayden as she grieved her loss again.

"You blame yourself for Leonard's death, don't you?" Andrew said, realization finally hitting him. Elena looked at him, then looked over at Ayden again, only to realize that Andrew was right.

If she heard him, she didn't show it; her hands unclenched and slid till they reached the edge of the table and gripped it as if to keep herself from falling. She blinked rapidly, eyes never leaving the dent her bare hands had made on the iron table. Elena recognized that she was on the verge of collapse, so she moved behind Ayden, putting her arms around her waist and resting her head comfortingly on her back.

"Carmi, you weren't there, and, even if you were, there's nothing you could've done." Elena squeezed her a bit tighter. "You can't save everybody; you're not all-powerful." Ayden stiffened at her words and pulled away from her suddenly and angrily, Elena realized.

"But I should be!" Ayden growled, and then she looked at Andrew and Elena, her face a mask of grim determination.

"Carmen, don't say that," Elena replied, but Ayden didn't even seem to hear her.

"But I should be!" she railed on. "And someday, I will be. I promise you! I will even learn to stop people from dying!"

"Ayden, you know that's impossi—"

"It's all their fault!" She stormed across the room and slammed her fist onto a metal workbench, nearly dislodging the contents displayed upon it as she dented it as well. "They always stop me from— they always bring me down."

"To protect you," Andrew said quietly.

Ayden looked at him and laughed dryly. "I should have been out with him! I'd have had his back— we would've made it out together, and he would've been here alive!"

"You can't know—"

"They're so selfish," Ayden rambled on, paying no attention to either of them at all. At this point, she wasn't talking to them, they realized, but was just playing it all out verbally for herself. They could hardly believe what they were hearing. "They put me out of the way because they know that I can achieve what they never could. But why? They don't even care! They never did! UGH! Na' mas me jalan pa' tras! Como si no puedo vivir bien con ellos, pero tampoco sin ellos... que tanto me odian?! No hice nada!"

She finished by picking up a random tool and throwing it across the laboratory, where it smashed against a far wall and clattered down. Andrew was about to complain about that but decided against it when he noticed the glare Elena sent his way.

"Ayden, what's wrong?" she cried at her.

Her volume and tone finally got Ayden's attention. "I just told you!"

"No!" Elena yelled back at her. "No. What's really wrong?" Ayden just stared at her. "I know it hurts, Ayden. But this is more than that. What's really wrong?" She just stared at her.

Frowning, Elena tried again. "Ayden?"

Ayden blinked as if being snapped out of a trance. She looked around herself, her face taking on a puzzled look as her eyes glazed over the dented metal movables and a random tool laying on the floor before the far wall. She looked back at Elena and Andrew, who were looking at her worriedly, and suddenly remembered. She looked at Elena, eyes full of hurt the latter had only seen in them when she'd read the last letter she'd gotten from Leonard.

"When you lose someone... that loss... it stays with you." She paused for a moment, then went on. "You can love someone so much... but you can never love people as much as you can miss them." Ayden sighed, looking down at the ground. "I know what it's like, okay? It's painful as hell— I don't want you going through that, Lena."

The silence returned, lasting a bit longer this time... that is until Elena spoke up.

"You're not strong enough to do this on your own," said Elena, her voice soft as her gaze fell to the floor.

Ayden gave her a look that clearly displayed how offended she felt. "Your lack of confidence in me is a little insulting," she deadpanned.

"It's not lack of confidence, Ayden— I trust your capability to the fullest, but you just can't do this on your own."

Ayden scoffed, rolling her eyes; telling her she couldn't do this on her own was a clear indication that she lacked confidence in how able-bodied Ayden really was now. "Right, there's no lack of confidence there," she retorted sarcastically, snorting in slight disbelief as she tore her gaze away from her friend. "Then what would you suggest?"

Elena raised a brow at her. "I thought the implication was clear— I'm coming with you."

Ayden looked back at her, eyes wide in surprise at her statement. "What? No!"

"I'm coming, whether you like it or not."

Andrew chose that moment to bring out a backpack, twin to the one Ayden was going to take.

"You had this planned out already, didn't you?" she asked flatly.

Andrew shrugged. "I figured that if she found out, knowing how stubborn you both are, she would go for plan B, which is going with you."

Ayden looked at them for a moment, then groaned. "You guys are hopeless."

Elena grinned smugly. "'Till the end of the line, pal.'"

"Oh, shut up," replied the Canadian.

"You love me."

"I would love to stab you."

"I still think you'd look great in spandex."

"Andrew, just take us to the stupid airfield."