Hi, me again. Guess what? I had about two pages of this done but then I had to do something else,
and I didn't save it T_T. I had to rewrite it and I don't think it's as good as the first try but oh well.
If I owned most of this content, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction would I?
Enjoy!
Camp Lehigh, summer 1942
In amongst the busy training camp, one group of people stood out as the only ones not moving. A
line of recruits stood, looking around at the camp. Then, from the direction of some buildings, a
woman strode towards them.
"Recruits, Attention!" it was the same woman Grace had met at the world fair, Agent Carter "My
name is Agent Carter. I will be supervising your induction today." She said, handing out some
clipboards "To begin with, I shall need you to complete this document."
Grace looked down and saw 'last will and testament' in bold. Some of the men beside her glanced at
each other nervously but one grumbled as he took the papers
"What's with the accent, Queen Victoria? I thought I was signing up for the U.S. Army"
Agent carter stared at him coolly "What's your name, soldier?"
"Gilmore Hodge, your majesty"
"step forwards Hodge" he did so "put your right leg forwards"
By now, Grace had seen the look in agent carter's eyes and guessed what was coming next
"we gonna rassle? 'cause I got a few moves I know you'll like" he winked at her and in an instant,
Carter had punched him hard in the face and Hodge was sent sprawling
"Agent Carter!" a voice called and the recruits jumped to attention as colonel Philips approached
followed by Dr. Erskine.
"Colonel Phillips." She replied, ignoring the groaning man on the floor behind her
"I see you're breaking in the candidates. That's good." He turned to Hodge "You. Get over there in
that line and stand at attention until somebody tells you what to do." Hodge scrambled away and
stood glowering. "General Patton has said that 'wars are fought with weapons and won by men'."
Philips continued, glancing at Grace "We're going to win this war because we have the best men..."
he reached Steve and paused for a second "And because they are going to get better. Much better"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The day passed in a blur of signing sheets, training and shouting, lots and lots of shouting. Hodge
seemed to have it in for the twins as he bullied Steve and flirted with Grace as often as he could.
Grace would have rather been bullied and Steve had to say he agreed. At least it wasn't anything
new for him. Once when they were climbing a vertical net, Hodge shoved Steve who was hung
upside down for about five minutes, blood rushing to his head, before Grace managed to help him
up. Grace swore revenge and Steve could see she meant it.
It was only when night had fallen and the men were headed to their cabin that Grace realised she
didn't know where she was sleeping; they had arrived late morning and got straight down to
business and in all the excitement, Grace hadn't found out where her quarters were. It seemed
nobody else knew either so with a resigned sigh and feeling not unlike a student sent to the
headmistress' office, Grace trudged towards the cabin she knew colonel Philips and Agent Carter
were meeting in. she knocked on the wooden screen that stood before the door and someone let
her in. Sat around a table in a fierce debate were colonel Philips, Dr. Erskine and Agent Carter.
Erskine noticed Grace immediately and gestured for her to join them. Like a deer caught in the
headlamps, she shuffled over to him.
Seeing that she was uncomfortable, Dr. Erskine chuckled slightly "come on, we don't bite" he
glanced at the other two and looked back to Grace "well, I don't. but I would like your opinion on
something. Theoretically, if you had a serum that could turn any body into, well, a super soldier, who
out of your group would be the best suited for it?"
Philips looked like he was about to protest but Erskine silenced him whilst agent carter was watching
Grace with the same unflinching gaze from earlier.
After a moment's thought, grace replied to Erskine "not because he's my brother, but I think Steve
would be the best for this hypothetical serum"
Philips shook his head and turned his head away, but Erskine was still focused on Grace "why?" he
asked her.
"well, this is based on the assumption that the serum will work on anyone and the end result will be
the same, yes?" Erskine nodded "then it wouldn't be about strength or illness, it would be about
what they were like inside. They would have to know the value of strength to wield it responsibly.
Now, I know my brother better than anyone and all his life he has fought for what he believed was
right, puts in 100% effort and will never stand down. On the other hand, you have Hodge, who I
assume was your first thought?" she asked Philips who nodded, now interested in what she was
saying "well, this is most likely biased from what I've seen, but Hodge, quite frankly, is a jerk and a
bully who might pull his weight, but doesn't really try too hard about it. So, all things considered, yes
my brother might be scrawny and weak, but in terms of heart, he'd be the best choice"
there was silence as the three thought it over before the debate broke out again between Erskine
and Philips
"is there anything you need, Rogers?" Agent Carter asked
"oh! Yes, I wasn't sure where I was meant to be sleeping"
"you'll be with the nurses, for now at least, you'll get your own quarters when you leave I should
expect"
Grace smiled in thanks and left, hurrying towards the cabin. She reached it and found it full of
women, aged from eighteen to sixty, sitting on the beds or standing, chatting and doing their hair.
Compared to the relative quiet of the night, it was deafening. Above every bed was a piece of paper
with each woman's name printed neatly, apart from hers which had a hasty scribble and Lily Rogers
written messily above. With a sigh, she sat down and lay back on the firm mattress. One of the
women, a ginger haired lady with kindly brown eyes, next to her looked over
"And what're you supposed to be?" she asked curiously
"soldier" replied an exhausted Grace
"you can't be!"
"wanna bet?" grace replied, propping herself up and showing the stitching on her jacket
"well good for you. I would've signed up but" she tapped her knee and Grace was surprised to see
that the trouser leg sagged after that, indicating her leg had been amputated "and they wouldn't
take me in the factories, so I did the next best thing to help in this war and became a nurse. How
'bout you?"
"ah, it sounds like some story, but believe it or not, I applied about six times then I apprehended a
couple of assassins after Dr. Erskine's head and they decided that maybe I wouldn't do too
badly here"
The redhead's jaw dropped "I saw that on the news! At the world fair! That was you?" grace nodded
"Betty Jason" said the girl, holding out her hand
"Grace Rogers" grace replied, taking the proffered hand and shaking it firmly.
The two girls talked for a bit about their homes, friends and families before Grace yawned heavily
"I'd best get some sleep, busy day training tomorrow" she said, smiling at her new friend
"night" betty said
"night" grace replied.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
The weeks passed by, each similar to each other, brightened by her new friends, Betty, Nancy and
Bonnie and her brother. Soon it was autumn again and a new load of recruits would be there shortly.
It was a mild autumn night, and the last of the sun's rays filtered through the golden trees. Agent
Carter stood surveying the camp and basking in the momentary peace when all of a sudden, none
other than Gilmore Hodge stumbled out from behind a warehouse about twenty yards away,
quickly followed by an obviously fuming Rogers. If her smeared lipstick, untucked shirt and look-that-
could-melt-an-iceberg were anything to go by, Hodge had made a move on her and she had been
none too pleased. Carter watched as Grace smacked him round the head and began ranting, though
Peggy was too far away to hear it. Grace began to stalk off but Hodge yelled something at her
retreating back, and in a whirlwind of fury, she was attacking him once more with, if it was possible,
even more vehemence. By now, some of the other soldiers had run over and were spectating, some
cheering the fight on. Exhaling through her nose, Agent Carter strode briskly over in time to see
Grace, who seemed to have just bitten Hodge if the teeth marks in his forearm were anything to go
by, get doused in water by her brother who used the distraction to pull her away while a few of
Hodge's friends helped him to his shaky feet.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Agent Carter and Colonel Philips stood before Hodge and grace who were glaring at each other in
contempt.
"this is not a nursery, nor are you children. You are soldiers, training to fight a war in the same unit.
If you want to defeat the Nazis; you have to work together and have each other's back" Agent carter
said, glaring at them "dismissed"
"that's it?" Hodge cried "that woman's a psycho! She attacked me! She bit me!"
"and I'd gladly do it again." Grace growled "you assaulted me"
"enough!" said Philips sharply "it seems the two of you can't work together"
"Rogers! Pack your bags" Carter said quickly and even Philips looked surprised "you leave for
England in three months to join the 107th for landing training"
Grace's expression quickly morphed from anger to shock to glee
"and as for Hodge, I suggest you stay behind until you have learnt some respect"
Hodge's mouth dropped open and he stood there spluttering and gawping like a fish.
"dismissed" said Philips and Grace hardly waited a second before running to where her brother and
friends stood in a group nervously, whooping and laughing. They probably thought she was
deranged until she told them the good news, grinning wildly.
"107th in England…" Steve said slowly "that's the division Bucky's in. maybe you'll see him!"
"ooh I hope so, it's been so long!"
"come on, lets get some food and celebrate" Nancy said, hugging grace and the five of them went to
the cafeteria, bombarded with questions from the soldiers that had seen the fight
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
It had been a nearly three months since they first arrived at the camp, but Grace was still wondering
about the question Dr. Erskine had asked her on the first night, about a hypothetical super soldier.
She doubted that he was just asking for the sake of it and him and Philips had been in a fierce debate
about it. Could they really have found a way to make super soldiers? As it turned out, she wouldn't
have to wait too long for the answer.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
It was a crisp morning that had faded into a cool noon and now, at two o'clock, the bluebell sky was
cold and clear, though the sun's light gave a meagre warmth. The recruits with Steve and grace were
doing star jumps, surveyed by Agent carter. Unknown to them, Dr. Erskine and colonel Philips were
also watching. Out of nowhere, colonel Philips threw a grenade into their midst
"grenade" he yelled
In the rush that followed, Hodge -accidentally of course- shoved Grace to the ground, just in time for
her to see Steve jump on the grenade and hold it beneath him. Grace scrambled up and ran towards
him and it seemed that Agent Carter had had the same idea, however their steps were faltered by
Steve's cry for them to get back. After a moment when it was clear the grenade was not going to go
off, Steve uncurled and sat up. Agent carter placed her hands on her hips, an unreadable expression
on her face. Grace however, sprinted over to her brother
"Steven Grant Rogers! You gave me a bloody heart attack" she said, punching him in the arm before
helping him up.
"you were about to do the same" he challenged "how come you get to put yourself in immediate
danger but when I do it, I get an earful?"
"because" she said, wrapping her arm around him "I am older than you" she spoke with an air of
wisdom before laughing and ruffling his hair.
He pouted "what are you? Seven?"
She did the ladylike thing and poked her tongue out at him.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Steve and Grace sat next to each other, warming themselves by the fire. Grace sighed and rested her
head on her brother's shoulder
"you're really gonna go through with it?" she asked softly
"yep" he replied
"but it's super dangerous! And untested" she warned him
"This could help us win the war. It's the right thing to do lils, I'll be fine"
"you don't know that" Grace whispered, swatting his arm "there's nothing I can do to stop you is
there?"
"nope" he said, gazing into the fire
She sighed before standing up and pulling him to his feet. She began humming a familiar tune and
pulling him along with her, she began dancing. At some point, she began singing and Steve let
himself relax in the safety of his sister's arms. She was the only one he could dance with, any other
girl and he would trip over his own feet, but he danced wonderfully with her.
"don't die on me" she whispered so that he could barely hear "you're the only one I have left"
"I promise I will always come back to you, Lily-Grace Rogers"
He felt rather than saw her smile, and the two of them waltzed around the fire to Grace's humming.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
There you go, I know it's not that long, but I intend to change the writing to a couple of Grace's
diary entries. Hopefully that shouldn't take too long as I find first person mostly easier.
Please review, I'd love to have some feedback on anything I can do to improve
Until next time, DragonOfErebor