A hand grabs June's shoulder from behind. A dark and reassuring voice reaches her ear.
"You ready for this, lieutenant?"
She turns around, meeting the eyes of her higher officer.
"Yes, sir. It's a low-risk mission, I'm not worried."
June's voice is clear and confident. She's been ready for this since she first stepped into her first boot camp at 18. This was just another mission to overcome to get to the next one.
The captain nods approvingly.
"Take the crew to the south base, stay out of trouble and deliver the goods. I'm trusting you, lieutenant."
June salutes her captain and stepped into the vehicle before telling the driver to go.
She climbs out of the car, grabs her gun and unsecure it. Her heart is beating so loud she can hear opens her eyes and is met with the bright light of the sun making the snow even brighter. Bells are ringing in her ears and she feels a sharp pain in her head and side. The last thing she remembers is a loud bang and the car in front of her exploding, shooting parts and flames, making the car she's in roll over as well. A mine. There shouldn't be mines here, this area was cleared.
"John, are you ok?"
She screams shakily while looking around, seeking cover behind the car.
"I'm good."
A strained voice comes from the car she had just climbed out of. The driver, John, slowly climbs out, trying not to move his lower body too much. June scans through his body and realizes his leg is bloody through his uniform, most likely broken.
"Your leg."
She states while looking at him worried.
"I think the bone broke through the skin, but I'll be fine until we get the situation under control."
He answers, clearly in pain.
June stands up. If this was a direct attack they would have come to overpower them by now.
"You contact the Captain and I'll secure the other car."
She secures her gun and places it back in its place. The car in the front still has some burning pieces around it but the initial blow has seemed to pass. June swallows as she squats down to look inside the car. Blood is splattered inside it and she understands immediately that the driver and passenger could not have survived.
June steps back and can feel her pulse increase once more. The sight makes her want to vomit. She's never seen a dead person before, not even at a funeral. Her knees feel week, but she resists the urge to fall back and cry. She's prepared for this she tells herself. This is part of the job. Still, her eyes start to water.
"Report back and say we've got two injured and two dead!"
She yells with an unsteady voice.
As soon as she turns around she's met by something hard to the face and falls into unconsciousness.
She doesn't know how long she's been out or where she is. But what she does know, is that she's in trouble. She hasn't opened her eyes yet, but she can feel that her hands, legs and head is restrained. She wiggles her feet bit it's no use. The pain in her head and side is still pulsing and she assumes it's a strained rib and maybe a concussion. Finally, she opens her eyes to be met by another bright light. This time it's not the natural light from the sun, but a big lightbulb. She tries to look around, still with her head restrained. The room is covered in white tiles and there are several medical instruments by a table next to her.
'oh god, where am I?'
Her thoughts are raising. Who has taken her? This wasn't an enemy area. Her deployment was to an area on hold, only for reassurance should there break out any civil wars in the country. The goods she was transferring where food, electronics and a simple project report.
A door opened and her thoughts were interrupted.
"Ah, I see you've awoken. Oh, well, it does not matter."
A man dressed in a white suit, resembling a doctor, walks in, followed by a man in a suit with a round monocle over his right eye.
"Who are you, and why am I here?"
June tries to hide her fear but the shakiness of her voice reveals it all.
The suited man's face twists into an unsettling smirk.
"June Baker. 23 years old, second lieutenant in the US army by an early age. Impressive tests result both physical and mental. Am I right?"
June locks eyes with the suited man. How could he know all this about her? And why was that important. She was hardly anywhere near the special force. Yet.
"Why does that matter?"
The suited man slides his fingers over his bald head, again with the twisted smirk.
"Because, lieutenant, you are going to be my new little toy."
June don't know how to reply to this. What did he mean by that? But before she gets to ask the question the doctor picks up a syringe and shoots it into her neck.
She hisses in pain and clenches her fists.
"What is this? Let me go! Now!"
She cries out as she feels her neck starting to burn from the inside.
The doctor turns around to the suited man after finishing the injection.
"Do you want me to erase her memory, sir?"
"No, she's got information I want first. But we'll see how well she handles the serum."
The suited man turns around and walks towards the door, ignoring June's cries and curses. Soon enough she feels her conciseness slipping and the burning spreads to her whole body.
"I can see people, five or six guards I assume!"
Stark is flying over an unkept and seemingly abandoned building.
"I'm on it!"
Steve rushes through and is instantly met by bullets. He covers himself with his shield and runs straight for them, knocking down one by one.
"Ok, now down the hall and into the room on the left seems to be our missing beauty."
Starks directs.
"She's a lieutenant, Stark, show some respect."
Steve grunts as he follows the hallway.
He opens the door and find June lying on the table, in the same position the was left hours ago. She's still unconscious, covered in a feverish sweat. He looks around the room for any files but it's empty other than her and the medical kit. He unties her and pick her up carefully.
"I've got her, she's alive!"
He says through the earpiece as he's rushing back to the outside of the building.
"Good, Redhead's got the quinjet ready."
'I'm getting tired of this'
June wakes up yet again. But this time the groggy feeling of being beat unconscious isn't there. She can still feel a slight sting in her side, but it's not nearly as painful as it was earlier. Her arms are still tied down, but not her head or feet.
'I've been moved'
She thinks as she opens her eyes. This room looks nothing near the one she was in before she fell unconscious. She's in an actual bed and not an operating table. There are monitors to her chest that goes to a heart monitor and fluids through her arm.
"Hello?"
June calls out, hoping that the suited man or doctor are gone.
Another man in a suit comes in. This man doesn't look nearly as intimidating as the other.
"Hello, I'm agent Phil Coulson. You're lieutenant June Baker."
He states as he smiles carefully and extends his hand. Seconds after he realizes that June is tied down and awkwardly pulls his hand back.
"You're at the S.H.I.E.L.D base back in the US. You're safe."
June stares at him with puzzled eyes. She's having a tough time understanding what has happened and why.
"What happened?"
Agent Coulson stiffens as he prepares to tell her.
"You were taken by HYDRA, an enemy. But we saved you and brought you here. We've noticed your higher officers and we will take care of you."
Silence fills the room as June thinks.
"If I'm safe, then why am I restrained?"
She narrows her eyes, not fully believing him. Why should she?
The agent shrugs slightly looking more uncomfortable.
"We had to make sure you were yourself. We're running tests to understand exactly what HYDRA did to you."
"I feel fine. I want to be let go."
June states calmly. On the inside she's still scared, but she refuses to show it.
"I'm afraid I can't do that until I get a clearance. I can however put the TV on for you. If you want me to?"
He points to the TV on the wall with a slight smile.
"No thank you."
"Are you hungry?"
He seems nice and she does feel safer here. But the feeling of being trapped does not go well with her.
"No."
Agent Coulson sighs quietly before he turns the TV on and switches to something uninteresting.
"If you want anything, just call, I'll be here."
He turns around and walks to the door before turning around again.
"You are safe here."
As he leaves June lets go of a shaky sigh herself. She wanted to go home. Home to her flat, or her parents. This didn't feel good. Her adrenaline levels were still spiked and she was still in survival mood. She could cry when she got out.
"Tony, you have to look at this!"
Bruce exclaims from the lab.
"Found anything?"
Tony comes in, anxious to figure out what had been injected to the lieutenant.
"Her cells, they aren't as of a regular person."
Bruce explains as he turns away from the samples.
"They seem to regenerate when I put stress on them."
"Strange."
Tony mumbles as he examines the results.
"Do you think it's possible she's a super human like Steve now?"
Bruce asks and takes his glasses off to rub his eyes.
"It's possible. But I don't know if I can deal with another one."
Tony says, sipping whiskey from his glass.
It's been a couple of hours since June woke up. She's staring at the TV but her mind is somewhere far away. She's taken back to the present time as a woman walks into the room.
"How are you feeling lieutenant? I'm Mariah. I'm just going to change your bandages."
The nurse smiles and gets out a bandage roll and some other medical cleaning supply.
"I'm ok, thank you."
June answers flatly.
The nurse smiles as she starts removing the bandage from June's side, apparently, she did get a bit more hurt than she thought she had.
"You had a nasty cut in your side, but it's very usual not to notice it at first if you're in a stressful situation as you- "
The nurse stops talking as the bandages is removed and stares at June's stomach.
"If you'll just excuse me for a bit, I just need to get a doctor to look at you."
She smiles nervously and hurries out of the room.
June sits up and looks at her side. It was bruised and did have a large cut on her side, but it looked more like she had gotten it weeks ago, not the other day. Her heart begins racing again and she can fell her breathing become more and more shallow. What was happening to her? Her heart monitor starts beeping loudly and panic starts spreading through her body. Something is very wrong.
Steve enters the meeting room. Nick Fury is standing at the end of the table where Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Tony, Thor and agent Hill and Coulson is sitting around.
"Glad to see you could finally come Captain."
Fury nods for him to sit down.
"So, what's up with the girl?"
Clint questions.
"Good, question. We don't know yet. But so far she seems to recover from her injuries faster than any normal person would."
Fury answers, crossing his arms.
"So, we've got another super human?"
Steve frowns.
"Well, the samples we took shows a very speedy recovery."
Bruce chimes in as he looks towards Fury.
"But why did HYDRA want her?"
Steve asks again.
Hill hands out papers to the others.
"June Baker, 22 years old from New York. She joined the army at the age of 18 and has done exceptional progress since then. Excelling in shooting, combat and strategy gained her the title as a second lieutenant at an early age. Several low-risk missions behind her. She's on her way towards the top in full speed. HYDRA might be looking for well-trained, intelligent and young people to build a team of super humans. But more than that we don't know."
Fury explains.
"Damn, that's a good score"
Clint mumbles as he looks at her shooting scores.
"Yes. And combine that with fast healing she would be a dangerous threat."
Bruce adds.
"What will happen to her then? HYDRA will be after her."
Natasha states as she puts June's files down.
"We'll offer her training at S.H.I.E.L.D. Keep a track on her powers. After seeing her determination and work in the army, I assume she won't turn down the offer."
Fury decides confidently.
Tony snorts.
"Are we adding another to the team? Don't you have to apply for that?"
Fury frowns.
"It's the best we can do for her."