Hello friends! Sorry for the wait once again (I know you're all sick of hearing me say that, but regardless….) Anywhooo my last test was on Friday and I would've pumped this out over the weekend, but I felt I owed myself the break, it was my birthday weekend, and I still have final projects/papers left that I wanted to get some of a jump start on. By the time this comes out, it'll be my last week of school and then I'm freeeee and you'll get a more consistent upload schedule (maybe even two chapters a week :0) as long as my boss doesn't make me go full time over the summer (yuck!) but if that were to happen, I could probably still get one chapter out to you a week. I hope everyone's doing well, I know this is such a crazy time of the year, and I hope you liked the last chapter, things are really kicking into gear now in the world of our girl Florence! Talk to you soon, enjoy!

1943

I had been training for about a year with the SSR. It was grueling, difficult, and tiring. By the end of it, I was a perfect warrior, smart, calculating, physically perfect. Even though I was good, worked hard, and all that, I'd rather shoot myself then be a professional soldier. The agent stuff was where it was at. I became an "intern" on missions for five months, meaning I was able to finally get out and do things, albit supervised by an older officer, and was now able to get started on my own. I was 25, a Major, and now leading a mission with the SSR.

We had been trying to get a track into Hydra through the rift that my brother-in-laws leaving created, but all of our leads were dead ends. Even though I told myself I was doing this for my sister, to avenge her, I knew deep down that for me it wasn't even really about that anymore. Everything was so much bigger now, and I loved being a part of it. I had finally found meaning, working for the SSR, and finding out who killed my sister and laying it to them could wait, taking down the godless bastards in control of Hydra was first in level of importance.

We were stationed in an army barracks camp in Jersey. The Brooklyn in me still has a hard time with accepting the fact that I have to live and work in Jersey. Steve would have told me to look on the bright side, I could take down Jersey from the inside now that I was a superspy soldier, but I hadn't been able to contact him since I came here. I had to be my own Steve.

It wasn't that bad all in all, sure the food was a little gross and the men were disgusting (most of them incredibly misogynistic as well) but it was all nothing I hadn't dealt with before.

Besides, I was out on a mission right now anyways. Bye, bye Jersey.

It was my first mission and I was sent overseas with a small squad, who were under my command and authority. It was weird being in charge, I had to be there to watch all of their backs, answer all the questions, and make the important decisions. I still didn't know how I felt about leading, I was nervous with it being my first mission and all, I didn't want to fail, but I put on a brave face to my superiors- better to come off as too green than not ready.

We were staying in a safe house in France- risky place, I know, but we were tracking a man suspected to be an outsider who had deals with Hydra.

"Major, incoming call from Agent Carter."One of my soldiers came into my room at attention.

"At ease. Tell her I'll be there in a minute, thanks Captain."

"Sir, she said it's urgent."

"Alright Jonas don't get your panties in a twist."

Oh yeah… did I mention that Colonial Philips brought me into the SSR disguised as a man?

I went into the living room of the house, and took the receiver from another captain."Agent Carter?"

"Oh good you're there, I was beginning to worry."

"Jeez you people can't give me five seconds, can you?"

"I have more information on the man you're tracking."

"Wow Peg, you cant even tease me back?"

I could imagine the eyroll she was giving me for that. "Not on mission time, Major."

"Ok, what've you got for me?"

"Intel's pointing to a scheduled arms deal tonight, at a hotel on Rue de l'Église, seven blocks south of your location."

"Got it."

"Meeting's supposed to take place at seven, get there ahead of time and listen in."

"I know, I know-"

"You go in, you get out. Do not engage firepower. Swipe the dealer when you get a chance and then get out of there."

"Peggy, I know. We went through it a hundred times."

"I know. I just don't want you to get hurt. Or you know worse." Worse meant revealing myself. They'd call for my removal if my team found out, and if enemies found out… I shuddered to think about what they could do to me.

"I'll be careful. Promise."

"We'll catch up later. Come home quickly, I have gossip for you."

I laughed at that, "About Finnegan?"

"Roger, roger."

"Ok Peg, now I'm really motivated. I'll see you later."

We had a lot of time to kill before we had to move in on the target so I made sure all of my men ate and let them have some personal time to sleep or hang out until we had to go. Four of them sat around a tin wood table in the living room, playing some sort of card game. A few others were laying around the room sleeping, or attempting to at least. My two captains were in the kitchen cleaning things up from dinner. It wasn't their first mission, so they had a routine about them while we were waiting. Calm, cool, and collected my troops were a spitting image of the perfect soldiers before they went into battle.

I on the other hand was none of the above. I couldn't stop pacing around the tiny house. Upstairs circle around, check each room, downstairs circle around check each room, back and forth for what felt like my final hours on death row.

This was my chance to prove myself. I had one shot, and I couldn't mess it up. Colonial Philips was ok with having female officers, he just wanted the best people for the job, but many of his supervisors were already pissed about Peggy's involvement in the SSR that my joining was causing problems. If I messed up they wouldn't hesitate to remove me from service, and probably Peggy too. There was a lot riding on tonight.

I missed Steve so much right now. I just wish I would've been able to at least tell him I was working with the military, even if I couldn't talk about SSR or where I was or Hydra. He deserved an answer as to why his best friend left especially after trying to sleep with him days before. Carl too, even though we weren't close anymore, it would've been nice to at least be able to tell him I was making something of my life and I was ok, instead of just packing bags and leaving one day without any information.

"Sir?" I didn't hear the Captain come in until he cleared his throat. Being lost in thought is not good for my reputation.

"Yes Captain?"

"We should probably head out…" I felt my cheeks redden, how could I have left the time slip by me like this? At least Jonas was being good about this, he could tell I was nervous and didn't want to embarrass me. Pros of being a "man."

"Yes of course, ready the troops!"

We were dressed in civilian clothes, me, Jonas, the other captain, Nickolas, and two other lower-ranking officers, Harrison and Trevor, since we were going in. Everyone else would be stationed outside in secretive locations with guns. We had to be careful with them, we didn't know where the Hydra operatives would be stationed either, so building blueprints were the only thing we had to go off of to try and put our men in secure locations. I noted the two men in position on top of the building and checked for the others. Everyone was in position, it was time to move in.

Our cover story was simple, probably the same as what the Hydra rats' cover would be. We were just five men working on figuring out the logistics of a business deal over dinner at a nice hotel. Presenting as a man sort of helped in this situation- a woman in a business meeting would call for a few stares, even if it was becoming more common.

The hotel itself was probably a nice place at one time, but the last few years of the Depression and aftermath of the Great War had been the cause for the degradation of lots of buildings and businesses, large and small. Vines covered the exterior walls, some of the windows had boards across them, and the paint was peeling off the sign. I'm sure it was a real great place at one time, but that time was not now. It was inconspicuous though, not the obvious choice for a meeting of a Nazi organization bent on the destruction of the world, which is why it was the perfect choice.

We sat at a table near the bar, I had eyes on both entrances and exits and could see a majority of the patrons from my seat. There was a family in one corner, quiet and not looking to draw attention to themselves, and three other groups of men that sounded like they were here on business too at the bar, the table next to us, and a table off to the other side of the bar. No sign of our target. We had a few blurry pictures of him and a name, Andres Dubois, but it was still early, I wasn't worried yet.

We ordered drinks, and sat shooting the breeze for a bit. I wasn't too involved in the small talk but every once in a while I remembered to nod or say something to pretend like I was paying attention. These were all smart men, I knew that they knew I wasn't paying attention.

Twenty minutes later a group of six men came in. To the untrained eye, it didn't seem that unusual, it was just like the other groups already in there. But thanks to my expertise, I noticed the hand on the one man's back, guiding (forcing) him along, his briefcase being carried by another man, a man of that size would have no need for a briefcase, and the look of fear under the man's hat and glasses.

"Target just walked in, he's got five on him," I whispered to my men, just faint enough for them to hear. "Dubois is up front, being herded, now he's sitting with his back to the south entrance."

Jonas and I got up to smoke a cigarette, he blocked my hand from view as I tossed a small device under the Hydra table. It was a recording "bug," as I was told it was called, invented by some guy in military technology, I think his name was Stark. Once we were out of the building Captain and I put small listening apparatuses in our ears, which allowed us to hear what the bug was recording. On our way out later on I could pick the bug up again and we'd have their whole conversation on tape once we brought it back.

The men were mostly speaking German, Jonas nor I could understand what was going on but we listened nevertheless in case some English popped in there. Like I said, we'd translate it once we got home and hopefully there'd be useful intel in there somewhere. We could only stay out here for a minute more before we had to go back in or someone might notice our absence.

"Mick we gotta go."

"I know Jonas just one more minute maybe we'll hear something-"
"No Major we need to go." He gestured his head forward to someone behind me. Probably a Hydra lookout, we were going to be caught.

I stomped out the cigarette, and turned to continue back inside. If we were going to need to do an emergency extraction, I'd have to contact the rest of the team. We returned to our seats, not long before the man from outside came in and whispered something to the man who was talking to Andres. He turned to our direction.

"So, I hear our presence has been graced by ze great men of the SSR?" His German accent was thick and hard to understand at first. Shit. We had to get our bug and get out, if we engage there's risk of civilians getting hurt.

"Everyone out!" The family in the corner and the bartender were the first to go, but the men lingered. "Did you not hear me? Get your asses out of here!" I pointed to the doors in case they couldn't understand, but they only got out when the Hydra men pulled out their guns.

"What do you want?"

"Ve cannot allow you to take zis back to the States, now can ve?" He went under the table, and it was a minute before he reappeared with what he was looking for- our bug. He held it out, examining it, before he dropped it to the floor and stepped on it with his heel. Shit.

"I no fool, Major Blanney, I know you vere listening to us, so now you too must be crushed."

Four of the men came over and grabbed us, two on me and two on Jonas, while more guns marched into the run and aimed at the rest of my team. Nickolas and the others pulled their guns up too, but a Hydra man fired two warning shots that whizzed by my ear.

"Guns down!" I ordered and they instinctively followed my command.

"But Sir…"

"We'll get out of this Nickolas, but not if you get my head blown off!"

I was dragged over to the man who had been speaking before. He was rather skinny with large glasses that made his eyes look like a bug's. His face was a blank canvas, as if he had never smiled or squinted his eyes before.

"Ah, unfortunately zere vill be no 'getting out of zis.'" He studied my face for a moment and then quickly drew back. "Very interesting. Do zey know?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're little secret? Do zese men know?"

I felt the color drain from my face and my knees go weak. "I don't know what you're talking about," I said blankly, staring into those bug-eyes, trying my absolute hardest to craft a look of defiance.

"Know what," I heard Jonas from slightly behind me.

"Ah, vell I suppose I shall be kind and let them see who zeir leader truly is before I kill you, yes?" He sneered and grabbed my hat, pulling off my wig and showing my braided hair pinned to my head. He gestured to the men restraining me, who then ripped off my shirt, revealing my binded chest.

"Men of ze SSR, meet your true Major. Vhat is your name sveetheart?"

They turned me around to face the men. I wish I could erase the image of their faces from my mind, it was horrible. Looks of shock, anger, disgust. I felt a gun against my head.

"I ASKED YOUR NAME!"

"Florence. Florence Blanney." I felt a tear roll down my check and I closed my eyes.

I really didn't think that this mission was going to be the end for me. It was supposed to be easy. Peggy was going to be pissed at me, she warned me to be careful and look at what happened. I never thought I'd be waiting for death, I always imagined I'd stare it in the face and go out guns blazing, and yet here I was. Naked, emotionally bruised, and on display to my troop.

"Captain," the man said, and I heard a shot to my left.

"NO!" I saw Jonas fall to the ground, his shirt growing red as the blood branched out from his chest. We leaped into action. My snipers had moved in and got the Hydra support before they even knew what was coming. Nickolas and the others engaged the ones who had been holding Jonas and the stranglers that our snipers couldn't reach. I jumped up and kicked out, hitting the man on my right in the crotch, and then using that momentum to hit the back of the knee of the other man. They stumbled a bit, and I used the movement to swing my arms around and flip my body backwards, pushing off their arms as I did so, breaking elbows. I pulled my gun from my boot and they were done. I ran to where Jonas lay.

"Hey, stay with me, you can't go yet."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me, I thought we were friends."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't allowed. I wanted to- really I did but-"

"I understand, it's ok." His face was strained, and his breathing was turning raspy and wheezy. I was pushing down as hard as I could to pressurize the wound and slow the bleeding, using the torn scraps of my shirt. "Hey," he put his bloodied hand up to my cheek. "This is good, I thought I liked you even though you were a guy."

My eyes widened. "You…?"

He offered a faint smile, "Yeah. I think part of me always knew you were a girl, I've been meaning to get around to asking you about it."

I gave a quick look around, made sure nobody was watching us, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "For the record, I like you too. We're going to get you out of this and we'll run away together." He laughed, and spit up some blood.

"You did good, Major. They might take this all away from you, but you were still…"

"Jonas? Jonas?" I gently shook him, trying to get him to wake up, but he was gone. I gently laid his head down, and pulled out the handheld transceiver and called for the plane.

Everyone was down except for Dubois and the skinny man with the glasses. I grabbed the man and walked outside with him, while one of my men took Dubois. We sat out there waiting for the plane. "Someone needs to get Jonas."

"Why should we listen to you? You lied to us."

"And Jonas should have to pay for that? He died an honorable death and deserves a hero's burial no matter who's in charge. Besides, they haven't stripped me of my title yet, so you're still a subordinate."

We climbed up the ladder to the plane, all of us strapping ourselves in. It was a quiet ride home.

My disciplinary hearing was quick.

"In response to your actions on your recent mission to France, you are being demoted. Your title and all that comes with it will be stripped from you. You are no longer a member of the SSR. You are being reassigned to the 107th Infantry, holding the title of Technician Fifth Grade, as compensation for the good you have done for the SSR, prior to the event."

"And if I don't want to be a soldier?"
"We send you back to the real world, where you cannot speak of your time here in any capacity. If you do, and we will know, the consequences will not be as lenient."

I was now exactly where I didnt want to be. Wonderful. "When do I ship out?"

You didn't seriously think Florence in the SSR was going to go well did you? Hehehe, sorry! It seems I have misplaced Bucky and Steve, and they're both tagged as major characters in this. Weird! Silly me I guess… Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review with any questions, comments, concerns, etc. and PM's are open yall!