January, 1940
Ada shared a room on the ship with a girl named Nanette, a nineteen year old from Virginia. She was soft spoken and had a sweet disposition, something Ada noticed the second the girl shyly introduced herself as "but you can call me Nan".
Their travel time was expected to be a week and a half which was perfect time for Ada to fall back into her old mindset. Gone was the soft spoken wife of a Brooklyn boy. Every day, more of her mask slipped further and further off. It wasn't until Nan opened one of Ada's dressers on accident instead of her own that the long held secret peaked out.
"You're not a nurse, are you?" Nan asked gently.
The blonde paused in the doorway, her jade eyes flickering between the girl and the open dresser in front of her. She was getting rusty if it was that easy to tell.
"No," Ada answered. "I'm not."
"And you're going to Britain to…" Nan trailed off, her big brown eyes staring up at her with unblinking curiosity and a hint of horror.
"I think you know why."
The girl nodded and even though she was the same age as Ada, she looked far younger than the imposing woman standing in the doorframe. Nan shut the dresser drawer and sat on the end of her bed, her skin looking a little more pale than usual.
"I won't tell anyone."
"I know you won't."
"Are you scared? I'm a bit scared."
"Stay scared. It'll keep you alive."
"But are you...scared?"
Ada chuckled, revealing a line of perfectly white and aligned teeth. "I used to be scared. I don't think it's possible for me to feel that anymore."
They arrived in England on the 21st, finding a country that was completely at ease despite the war snapping at their heels. Ada packed up her drawers and filled her suitcase methodically, placing her blouses next to the object that Nan eyed with contempt. Ada ran her fingers down the item and shut her eyes, inhaling deeply. The phantom scent of blood and gunpowder lingered in her nose and she exhaled a soft sigh.
"Where will you be stationed?" Nan asked.
"If I knew, I wouldn't be able to tell you."
"I'll pray for you. You and your safety."
Ada stared at her for a beat and then nodded tersely. "Thank you."
Nan and Ada followed the other nurses down the ramp to the dock where they would be transported to local hospitals to start their aid. Ada, however, hung back. She set her suitcase down next to the road and waited for her transport when someone called her name.
Nan wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and hugged her. "Be safe out there, Ada. Maybe when this is all over, we can meet again in New York."
Ada didn't know how to tell her that the chances of her return to New York were slim to none but she accepted the hug nonetheless. The mousy brunette stepped back and then turned away to join the other nurses.
A car pulled up alongside Ada and the blonde grimaced before opening the door and stepping into the back. She settled in the seat, laying her suitcase across her lap and staring the driver down.
"Back to home, Peter, thank you," the prim British accent floated out from the person next to Ada. "Agent Kennedy must be eager to get started."
"Agent Carter. A pleasure to see you again."
"I wish it was under better circumstances."
"When I left for America, we both knew this was coming," Ada hummed. "Abraham is well. I assume you are taking my place now that I've been called back?"
"You assume correctly. How did you find New York?"
"...it was agreeable."
Peggy noticed the hesitation and the hitch in her voice, but decided not to ask about it.
Six hours. It took six hours from her touching down in England to being shipped out with her orders. Paris, France. Apparently, the Nazis were closing in on the French border and British intelligence were growing worried about a potential surrender. That left Ada in charge of creating an operating ring in Paris capable of alerting the SSR under the cover of darkness.
The Strategic Science Reserve, or better known as the government organization that kept her on a leash. After fleeing them and finding Erskine as he left Germany, the SSR recruited both of them. At first it was just as scientists but then when they learned of who she was and what she had been trained to do...well now she was their secret weapon.
"Simple mission. You drop me into Paris, I'll give you the signal to extract me when I'm ready," Ada hummed as she inspected the pistol in her hand. The blonde unloaded it and tossed it into her bag next to a few knives.
"Erskine and you were making good efforts," Peggy assured her. "We wouldn't have called you back into the field unless it was vital."
"When the SSR succeeds in this pursuit, and I know with Abraham you will succeed, you will not save the world. You will ruin it."
The blonde swung her pack onto her shoulder and headed for the door where she would meet the pilot transporting her to France. She hesitated and looked back at Peggy.
"We both know that no matter how long this war lasts, I will not be making it back to New York. I ask of one thing from you. There is a man in Brooklyn by the name Steve Rogers. He is my husband. Lie to him. Tell him that I died in a bombing. Do not tell him the truth. Please."
Peggy stared at her for a beat and then nodded. "Of course."
Ada straightened her shoulders and faced forwards once more. Her hand wrenched open the door and she swiftly disappeared into the hall, the door slamming shut behind her.