May 1st 1944
"Plan has changed sweetheart," Michael burst into his office with his shirt partially untucked and his tie swinging from his back pocket, "You're not going to the Airborne," Evelyn was sat reclined in a leather chair, fanning herself with an envelope and attempting to cross her ankles. It was a sweltering day, so hot that it seemed that the tarmac covering the ground was melting as the two hurried out of the building. Evelyn was wearing a light blue overcoat and was receiving many strange looks by passers-by, who were sweating in their thin cotton dresses or linen shirts. Michael was struggling to knot his tie with his purple fingers, swollen from the heat and simply gave up as they approached his car.
"Where are we going?" Evelyn was nervous as the car turned in the opposite direction to home and Michael sped along the road she knew led eventually to the War Offices, "What is wrong?"
"There is something coming up soon and General Eisenhower has asked to see you again," Michael swore at another driver, "I think he has something big planned for you,"
Evelyn wondered what America wanted her to do, making up scenarios in her head all the way to the offices. It was the same drab building she has been taken to on her first afternoon in America, when she had been interrogated by Finley and by General Eisenhower himself before being signed off as 'fit for duty'. The walls were still grey, the people were still easy to read as they pushed passed in green, brown and grey uniforms, and the corridors still reminded her of the Facility back in Austria. Michael led her to a new part of the building, so new that the bricks hadn't been plastered yet so the walls were bare and rough as she brushed against them. The doors were wide and brown instead of small, dirty and white which relaxed her for a little while, and there were huge windows on one side of the corridor that gave a wonderful view of the green that surrounded the offices; recruits were jogging around in tight formations, young women were chattering together in groups of three, men in glittering uniforms were sat smoking on benches and every so often a rabbit would streak across from one patch of woods to another. The sky was a deep blue and the sun cast brownish shadows on to the closely shaven grass, dotted with daisies and crocuses. Evelyn only got a few seconds to look outside before she was ushered into a bright room filled with shouting men and obedient women. The carpet was the same pattern as the wall paper, a rich green with golden Fleur De Lis lined vertically down towards the floor and up towards the ceiling which was a simple cream colour. On one wall there was a huge map of Europe with several colourful arrows pinned to it, and on all the other walls were frosted windows, none of which were open so the room was painfully hot amidst all the shouting an raging. Towards the board, was a high table around which four women were sat with delicately curled hair and smart green uniforms on, holding long sticks and pushing miniature boats and planes around an identical map to the one on the wall; these women seemed to be constantly changing their actions due to the all the different commands being thrown at them from all manner of direction. From where Evelyn was standing, the table with the women was directly in front of her and to her right was a second table, this one a deep polished oak and was very long with many chairs surrounding it, all of which were empty. The men who were supposed to be seated were jumping around, pointing angrily, fanning themselves with confidential war plans and hassling each other. Evelyn spotted General Eisenhower towards the front of the room, telling a blonde woman to add more boats and then changing his mind, thumping the table angrily when a second old man with a greying beard pushed forwards to correct the mistake himself.
"And you thought you were chaos," Michael whispered to her with a smirk and strode forwards, leaving Evelyn to the mercy of the door clerk who turned out to be a very sweet, very friendly young man with large glasses and long front teeth. She tried to pay attention to him asking about her work and what she was doing in the war room, but Michael was attempting to get the General's attention and that to her was far more entertaining that a door clerk.
"MR DWIGHT!" the room silenced as Michael bellowed into the General's ear, "Sir," he added shakily and gestured behind to Evelyn, "I brought her along, like you asked sir," she thought that General Eisenhower was going to laugh and turn her away menacingly because his forehead was slowly turning purple and his eyes were popping out of his skull,
"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes Miss Evelyn," he opened his arms to her and she walked forwards, "You've grown more sweeter than the last I saw you," Evelyn blushed furiously as the entire room turned to watch,
"Thank you sir," she replied quietly,
"And your English has improved too! You sound just like a native!" he bellowed, turning a shade darker to her horror and Michael chose to intervene,
"She is from Dover sir, in the South of Britain," he commented slyly and Eisenhower dropped his enthusiasm immediately,
"Well Mr Fitz, let's see if I can convince this 'unconvincible' War Cabinet to use her, shall we?" Eisenhower's voice dropped very low, so only Michael could hear before straightening out his jacket and smoothing his hair, "This woman here my fine gentlemen, was brought to me about a year ago now by this young fellow," he clapped Michael roughly on the shoulder and he turned pink, "she is the result of illegal human experimentation at the hands of HYDRA,"
There was an uproar, louder than before and Evelyn shrunk away from the screwed up faces and bristling moustaches, finding herself being drawn into Eisenhower's side with his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders,
"Now, now gentlemen – hear me out!" his voice was sharper than the rest and the volume diminished slightly, "She escaped a Facility, ran from Germany to Belgium and has been training under our watch for the last ten months. Her abilities are nothing like anyone has ever seen before, enough to win us the war I fear,"
"You've brought us a circus freak!" the accent was British and Evelyn perked up a little, trying to search for the source, "I do not want a – a HYDRA mutant fighting for me when there is the risk that she could turn against us,"
"Major, you do realise that this room is full of the most influential people of the war and she has not moved from General Eisenhower's side," a second voice put in, "I want to hear this plan, see what she can do,"
"Mr Fitz, if you would," Michael was gestured forward and he delved into his briefcase – which Evelyn had not noticed beforehand – bringing out several sheets of paper with hand drawn diagrams on them. He held up the first, an outline of her body with several notes around it,
"She was subject to a process called 'Immunisation' which involved passing chemicals around her body and inflicting brutal pain upon her until she felt nothing, and could heal any wound in a matter of seconds. She has scars from the needles – look," he wrenched Evelyn forward and rolled up her shirt sleeve, revealing the skin of the inside of her elbow which was only purple now, but still horribly disfigured. Several people in the room gasped and made noises of shock, "Because of this, she is almost invincible,"
"So I could shoot her and she would simply heal the wound, no harm done?" the same British major spoke up and Michael grinned brightly at him,
"The bullet would have to get past her shields first," he said smugly and the entire room seemed to splutter in shock at the same time, "Evelyn, if you would be so kind,"
She nodded with a frown and raised one hand, a shield appearing in front of her and Eisenhower. It was like a thin glass film that moved like water did, rippling and dipping and swirling in the light, blue wisps travelling across it like shadows. Someone remarked quietly that it was beautiful and someone else spat out an insult in pure disgust,
"Go on, touch it," Michael urged one of the woman sat around the table and she leaned forward in wonder, reaching out a thin finger and pressing it up against the shield. The connection of skin to shield made a small fizzing sound, and a haze of blue erupted from the tip of her finger, growing bigger when the woman pushed against the shield more firmly,
"It feels funny – cold almost but not uncomfortable – like very smooth metal," the woman peered up at Evelyn in wonder as the shield dropped, fading away into nothing.
"This shield can withstand anything you throw at it, trust me we've tried everything we know," Michael tried to joke but upon seeing that the men in the room were still in a state of shock, he refrained from humour, "It can also expand to great lengths and she can destroy buildings with it – using it almost as a shock wave or earthquake,"
"So what are you proposing?" one man asked, wearing a navy uniform with gold tags and lots of shining medals upon his right breast, "What do you want to do with her General?"
Eisenhower let go of Evelyn and moved back to the board on the wall, using a long thin pole to point at four red arrows on the map,
"I want to use her to invade Europe my friends,"
Evelyn was escorted out of the room after that, being told by the door clerk to wait on the bench and she was given a glass of sweetened tea to pass the time. She could hear Michael shouting and different men arguing for her and against her, all of them raising their voices unnecessarily which meant that anyone passing the door could hear what was going on inside. She knew that they were just debating her use and position in the war, not the actual war itself and she wondered why Eisenhower was planning to invade Europe. Evelyn had been told about the Fuhrer, but HYDRA has said that he was a wronged man and Michael had said that he was an evil man – and she didn't know who to believe.
It was well into the evening before the door clerk beckoned her back into the room and Evelyn could not believe that people were still arguing, though much quieter, about her. Michael was slumped in a seat by a window and Eisenhower was leaning in front of a young man with thick, curly black hair. Almost everyone in the room, even the women, had taken off their woollen jackets and hung them on the backs of chairs or simply slung them onto the table. Evelyn had loosened the fastening on her skirt and rolled her shirt sleeves up to keep the act up that she was 'normal' when in fact her bodily temperature made sure that she was quite cool.
"I still don't think it is safe for her to go out into the field," the curly haired officer sighed, "There is still the possibility that HYDRA will look for her, and their weapons are far too advanced to counter,"
"As I have already said John," Michael rubbed his face and took a sip from the glass he held, "HYDRA was destroyed back in 1943 by SHIELD and their 'special recruit'; there is nothing to be scared of,"
"Still – I think it's dangerous to let a woman go out into the midst of battle and fight," Eisenhower groaned and stalked away from the man, only just noticing Evelyn in the room and he began towards her but she side stepped him, sitting gently into the seat next to the blonde woman who touched her shield earlier.
"With all due respect sir," she started, "Let me fight – it is all I have been doing for the last five years and I know nothing else. I was torn apart and put back together again, just for the purpose of war and I was programmed to fight for their ideals – for the enemy as you would call it,"
"My God, she doesn't even know who her enemy is and who her ally is," the British major threw his hands up in despair but someone shushed him,
"I am on the side of life – I fight for the freedom of man and if that means fighting for you then let me. Let me do good for a change, for once," Evelyn toyed with a miniature plane, "Allow me this one battle and let it decide what you want me to do – either you can let me continue to fight or you leave me to live to watch your people suffer through a war you would not let me aid,"
Evelyn was shipped off to England the very next morning, adorned in green fatigues and shiny brown boots that only paratroopers were allowed to wear.