Earth-717: Captain America Vol 1
Chapter 4: Camp Lehigh
Her hands still behind her back, Whitford stood at the side of the table as she listened to Peggy's story.
"What happened next?"
Peggy swallowed and groaned.
"Four months of training," answered Peggy. "Understandably, Rogers didn't have any previous combat experience. So while the serum worked in transforming him physically, he still needed to be taught how to fight . . . . how to move effectively with his new body."
"Hmmm."
Peggy blinked before continuing.
"He uh . . . . he learned fast. Was a remarkable student, even before the serum. Always surprised me how quickly he grew accustomed to new concepts. That ability to be versatile . . . . to adapt . . . . I think that was his greatest strength."
"And the Colonel?"
"Colonel Phillips was . . . . calmed, by the success. He was afraid that if Rogers didn't work out, the administrative board would shut us down. Still wasn't necessarily impressed. Rogers needed to go through combat training from scratch, and the fact that we needed to assess potential long term side-effects of the serum meant we couldn't test it on anyone else until his training was over."
Whitford narrowed her eyes, but was staring at the wall, not at Peggy.
"He was growing anxious," continued Peggy. "The Axis were making a big push in multiple theatres, and he wanted an army of super soldiers ready as soon as possible to help push back."
Whitford picked up a picture of Steve from the table. It showed him in his full costume, holding his painted shield. Printed at the bottom left of the picture was a label reading 'Taken at SSR Special Research Base, Camp Lehigh, England, June 1941.'
"And who designed all this?"
"Stark, mostly. The administrative board saw the opportunity for the first super soldier to become an icon. Rogers liked the idea. Hell, he loves baseball and his favourite food is bloody apple pie. How much more American can you get?"
"And the shield?"
"Vibranium. A portion of the small pool given as a gift to President Roosevelt by King Chanda of Wakanda. Rogers found that it fit well with how he was adapting to his personal fighting style. He's a prodigy with the damn thing."
"And you were there? For his whole training?"
"Every minute. Every day. It was my assignment."
"Never left his side?"
"It was my job to stay there."
Whitford turned her head to look at Peggy, raising an eyebrow.
"Three rules of being a bodyguard, huh?"
"Don't leave them alone. Don't let them get hurt."
"And?"
Peggy's eyes quivered.
"Don't get involved."
Whitford sighed and looked back at the wall. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again.
"After the training?"
Peggy took several seconds to respond.
"We were betrayed."
Unwrapping the last of his wrist wraps from his hands, Steve threw them in his training bag. As he walked towards the exit, he saw Carter standing in the corner of the gym room. She was wearing the same blue jacket as the day they had met. Her arms were folded and she was looking at him, but he couldn't tell if she was disinterested or actively staring.
"Miss Carter."
"Rogers."
Steve stopped walking and returned her gaze for a few seconds.
"What?" asked Carter.
"You know, I have been getting better at self-defense and combat."
"I've seen."
"No, what I, what I mean is . . . . heh, okay. Is this really necessary? You shadowing me every second of the day? I mean, sure, it's great that I don't have to strain my neck to look in your eyes anymore, but I'm still a bit surprised the whole bathroom thing wasn't a joke."
Carter sneered.
"I have an assignment, Rogers. You know that."
"No, I . . . . ugh, I mean . . . . if you don't really care, and I'm good at . . . . eh . . . ."
Carter raised an eyebrow and looked at him with her classic unimpressed face.
"That's it, right there," said Steve, pointing at her. "You give everyone that look, as if you couldn't possibly be less impressed. You give it to Stark, to me, hell, even the Colonel sometimes. Don't know why he lets it slide."
Carter didn't respond.
"And then you go silent," continued Steve, shaking his head. "You know, for a while there, at the beginning, I thought you were telling the truth with your whole 'I believe in you too' routine. But this is just another assignment for you, isn't it? Maybe you like it easy. Stay and protect the trainee on a secure base. But you don't really care."
"It's part of my job to be disinterested, Rogers. That's the point of a bodyguard. I protect you because it's my job, not because I care about your well being. You want to be a successful agent? Hmm? A good soldier? You need to learn to be disinterested, otherwise your judgement can get muddled."
"I can't do that," answered Steve. "That's exactly what Erskine wanted me not to do."
"What do you mean?"
"You let yourself become detached . . . . disinterested . . . . you take that too far and where does it leave you? No compassion. No remorse. A bully. Someone who doesn't care what they do as long as it gets the job done. Take that too far . . . . and you end up like the people we're trying to fight, rather than the ones we're trying to protect."
Carter moved her head back, but her face indicated that she was seriously considering what he had said. Steve gulped and then looked at the floor.
"I'm sorry, Miss Carter," he said. "I shouldn't have taken it that far. You're not . . . . you're not like that at all. I just . . . . ergh . . . ."
Sighing, Steve rubbed the back of his neck. Carter tilted her head to the side. Glancing at the ground for a moment, she then looked back up at him.
"It's Peggy."
Steve perked his head back up.
"What?"
"My nickname. It's Peggy. It's what my friends call me."
"Peggy."
"Yeah. Margaret has too many syllables for the average person, and Miss Carter is too formal. So . . . . you can call me Peggy."
Steve couldn't help but smile.
"You consider me a friend?"
Peggy playfully raised an eyebrow.
"Slow down, Rogers. Don't get too ahead of yourself. In time."
"In time? Is that a promise?"
Peggy shook her head.
"I don't like to make promises."
Steve and Peggy maintained silent eye contact for several more seconds until the whole room rumbled at the sound of an explosion. Steve darted his head around in confusion. Peggy immediately pulled out her pistol, looking at the door. An alarm then sounded.
"What's happening?" asked Steve.
"Nothing good."
Morita's eyes widened as he watched a missile strike the guard tower. It was engulfed in a ball of fire, with the metal instantaneously melting into heaps of slag. Instinctively lowering his head and clutching his rifle with a firm grip, he turned his head to where the missile came from.
Three green helicopters were approaching the base. Each one had a red logo painted on the side. It was composed of a skull with six tentacles protruding from it. The helicopters began firing more missiles into the base, some striking the ground and others striking the infrastructure. Within moments the troops on the ground began scattering in disarray, and the alarm sounded.
As Morita backpedalled away from the incoming aerial assault, he also noticed multiple tanks moving in from the road. They were at least six metres tall, and had a turret section with two frontal cannons. They had the same colour scheme as the helicopters, with the same logo. The tank closest to the base began firing cannon blasts into the camp, blowing apart one of the convoy trucks. Several guards who tried to stand their ground were cut down by machine gun fire from the tanks.
Moving back and getting behind a set of supply crates, Morita crouched and placed his assault rifle atop a crate to stabilize it. He watched as troops began to march into the camp, as well as some rappelling from the helicopters. They wore dark green combat suits and battle helmets, but were distinguished from German soldiers he had seen before by their use of what looked to be stylized gas masks. Most of them were carrying assault rifles, shotguns or sniper rifles; one of the soldiers was wielding a flamethrower, which she used to spray down another truck with a stream of fire.
Taking close aim through his iron sights, Morita closed one eye as he place his cross-hairs on her fuel pack. Firing a three shot burst, he grinned as he saw a puncture in the tank lead to it exploding, blowing her and several nearby enemy soldiers to smithereens.
"Defensive positions! Push them back!"
The shock having worn off, dozens of defending soldiers began their counterattack. A violent firefight stormed across the main courtyard of the camp, with the aggressors slowly but persistently taking ground. Morita was providing covering fire for a nearby squad when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, an enemy soldier flanking him from the other side.
He quickly tried to turn to face him, but the soldier, wielding a stun baton latched to his wrist, knocked Morita's rifle out of his hands. The soldier then pulled his baton back for a thrust strike.
"Hail Hydra!"
Morita tried to anticipate where his foe was going to strike so that he could dodge, but it was unnecessary when the Hydra soldier was bashed over the side of the head with the back of a shotgun. He crumpled against the crates as the man who attacked him spit on the ground and looked at Morita.
"Always saving your ass, huh?" asked Gabe.
"It's an ass worth saving," retorted Morita.
"Hah!"
Morita picked his rifle off the ground as Gabe covered him. After tapping him on the shoulder, Gabe led Morita back towards the main complex.
"Hey! Where we going? The fight's here!"
"Science facility," responded Gabe. "They're hitting from both sides."
"Grenade!"
An explosion sent the shredded body of a soldier against the wall as Steve and Peggy rushed into the room. Some of the soldier's blood splattered on Steve's white shirt and beige cargo pants. Despite him holding his shield, Peggy still held him at bay with her left arm while she aimed her pistol with her right.
"Get back!"
After she fired a shot, Steve looked around the corner to see a bloodied soldier falling to the ground. Peggy walked up to the downed soldier and fired two more rounds into his chest.
"Hydra," said Peggy. "Wonderful."
Another explosion was heard, and Steve and Peggy saw more Hydra soldiers entering into the facility through the windows near the balcony. Multiple guards were cut down by surprise attacks, before one of them took a Hydra soldier down with a shot through the neck. Peggy exhaled as Steve placed his shield in the holster on his back.
"We're getting to the exit, fast and quiet. Stay behind me and try not to get shot."
"Leaving? We need to help!"
Peggy sternly shook her head.
"No. Colonel's orders. My priority is you. Everyone else here is not my concern."
Peggy turned away but was stopped by Steve grabbing her by the shoulder.
"Are you crazy?! These are our allies you're talking about!"
Peggy violently shrugged his hand off of her shoulder before giving him a surly glare.
"Mind your tone, Rogers, or you might just find out . . . ."
Peggy broke off her sentence to take aim and fire at another incoming Hydra soldier, putting a bullet through his knee. She then tapped Steve's shoulder with her fist, beckoning him to follow her.
"Come on! You can give me your damn lecture when we survive this mess!"
After stalling for a moment, Steve began following her. He glanced back at the fighting on the balcony before sighing and following her into another hallway. As she kept marching forward, he looked to the left, which led to the laboratory. Stopping and looking back and forth for a moment, he then tore into a sprint down the left hallway.
"Rogers? Rogers!"
Shoulder ramming down a set of double doors, Steve continued to barrel down the hallway to the lab. After bursting inside, he saw that almost all of the equipment was on fire, and pieces of furniture were torn apart and littered around the room.
"Professor?!" called Steve. "Professor!"
Steve heard coughing and hacking coming from within the room, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. He kicked a cabinet out of his way as he darted his eyes around the room.
"Professor?"
"Get . . . . back . . . ."
"Professor!"
His hands in front of his face as he walked, Steve then saw Erskine huddled on the floor, with one hand clinging to a doorknob. He was on his knees, and was coughing into his coat. Steve's eyes widened upon seeing the figure of a woman calmly approaching him. She was wearing a stylized SS uniform and a gas mask, with all the pieces of her outfit being tinted various shades of green.
She whipped her emerald hair around before looking down at Erskine, pulling a blade from her belt. Steve groaned as he tried to move towards them. Peggy ran into the room, but was stunned by a waft of dust and ash, momentarily impeding her movement.
"Doctor," said Ophelia.
She reached down and seized Erskine by the throat, pulling him to his feet. She then placed her head on his shoulder.
"The Red Skull sends his regards," she whispered into his ear.
Ophelia violently plunged her knife into Erskine's chest, and Steve yelled. Tearing the knife out, she then looked over at Steve with her vibrant, viridian eyes. For a few seconds, they stared at each other, and Steve felt her piercing, contemptuous gaze send shivers crawling along his skin.
"And you must be Erskine's pet. Rogers."
"Who are you?"
"The messenger, Herr Rogers. And my message is . . . . stay out of this. You cannot stop the power of Hydra. No one can."
Ophelia reached for her belt again.
"Steve! Get down!"
Steve ducked upon hearing Peggy's words. Pulling a grenade from her belt, Ophelia then tossed it behind her with a sinister grin, blowing apart a large section of the far wall. Peggy fired at her, but Ophelia laughed and performed an acrobatic cartwheel to dodge the shot before breaking into a run out of the new exit.
"Dammit!"
Steve ran to Erskine, who was bleeding out on the floor. Kneeling beside him and cradling his body in his arms, Steve saw that Erskine's chest and arms were drenched in blood.
"Professor . . . ."
"Listen . . . . to me . . . ."
Erskine coughed again.
"It was . . . . H-Horton . . . . betrayed us . . . . stop him . . . ."
"Stay with me!"
"Go, Steve . . . . I . . . . I'm d-done . . . ."
Steve found himself frozen, unable to do anything but shake his head.
"Re . . . . Remem . . . . ber . . . . who . . . . b-bel . . . . ieved . . . . in you . . . ."
Erskine let out a soft sigh and fell still. Peggy approached Steve and put her hand on his shoulder as a handful of tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Steve . . . ."
He didn't reply.
"We've got to go."
A loud crashing noise was heard, startling both Steve and Peggy. Several flaming pieces of debris fell from the ceiling, blocking the route to Ophelia's exit. Peggy helped Steve to his feet before hearing a familiar voice.
"Hey! Hey! Anyone in there?"
"Gabe?" asked Peggy.
"Hello?!"
"Gabe! It's Peggy! We're here!"
"Peggy?"
One of the wooden columns shattered, exposing the hole in the wall. Both Gabe and Morita were standing on the other side.
"Come on!" yelled Morita, waving an arm.
Steve and Peggy ran out of the building as the fire continued to spread. Gabe smiled at Peggy.
"Damn good to see you alive, Peg."
"Almost wasn't," retorted Peggy, as she reloaded her pistol.
"What the hell's going on?!" asked Morita. "How'd they do this?"
Steve was staring at the ground with a scowl on his face when he answered.
"It was Horton."
Everyone looked at Steve with raised eyebrows.
"What?" asked Peggy.
"It was Horton," repeated Steve. "Erskine told me before he died. He betrayed us. Helped Hydra."
"He defect?" asked Gabe.
"Must have."
"Slimy bastard," said Morita.
Peggy then looked up, and pointed into the sky.
"There!"
Everyone looked up to see one of the Hydra helicopters flying out of the compound. The side hatch was open, and both Ophelia and Horton were standing there, flanked by multiple Hydra soldiers. The hatch then closed shut, and it was only a few moments before the helicopter flew over the treeline and out of sight.
