Adeline paced in front of her candidates, watching as they panted and sweated, doing push-ups on the ground.
She felt ill-at-ease in the clothes she had borrowed from Peggy, the pants slightly too tight, and the white blouse too loose everywhere but her shoulders, biceps and bust. She had tucked it into the pants, not wanting to look like a child playing dress-up. Her boots were her own – German made, black, leather combat boots, soft and supple.
She grunted at the men, who had started slowing down. "Faster, damen, come on!" Ladies. She snorted, "I've seen corpses with more life in them, ruhe in frieden." Rest in peace. Her eyes couldn't help but fall upon Steve, and she fought a smile at the grimace on his face as he pushed himself up, almost screaming with the effort. "MOVE IT!" she bellowed.
"You're not really thinking about picking Rogers, are you?" Peggy said to Doctor Erskine. From his grunt, Colonel Phillips seemed to agree with her.
"I'm more than just thinking about it. He is the clear choice." Abraham replied calmly.
Phillips sighed. "When you brought a 90-pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, 'what the hell,'" Phillips gave Abraham an annoyed look. "Maybe he'd be useful to you. Like a gerbil. I never thought you'd pick him."
Peggy pursed her lips, not wanting to completely agree with Phillip's harsh words, but it was almost what she was thinking herself. Unfortunately, she and Philips were outnumbered. For some reason, Adeline had decided that Rogers was the rights choice – and because she had said so, Howard had agreed.
She smiled at Adeline as they approached, and the woman quirked her lips in response. Peggy's smile grew. She knew that was essentially like a friendly smile and wave for Adeline – the woman was so removed.
Adeline turned back to the candidates. "UP." she barked, and the candidates leapt up at her command. For all the protests – both from her, and those under her command – Adeline had proved herself to be a remarkable leader, despite the occasional language barrier, and the massive divide of nationality and background. Peggy felt a stab of pity – and guilt.
The truth was, they had received word that her mother had been killed months and months before. The blackmail that Hydra had over the woman was a lie. Her mother was long dead.
None of them had any idea of how to breach the subject to her, and although she was sure that Adeline hadn't forgotten, she hadn't brought it up – she had been focussed on the candidates.
She watched, tuned out of the conversation between the two men beside her, as Adeline called out more instructions.
"GRENADE!"
Adeline's whole body moved on instinct – training kicking in. Just as she had been instructed to do, she ran for the grenade, knowing she was the only one who could survive the blast – whilst shielding others from it.
But someone had already gotten there. She skidded to a halt, confused. Then she realized that the roaring in her ears was her heart – and the far away yelling was Steve, huddled around the grenade.
"Get away! Get back!"
She didn't move.
It didn't go off.
It was a dummy grenade.
She couldn't move.
Her body was still humming with adrenaline, that part of her mind that was still in SSA, with the rest of those monsters, wanting to destroy all the Americans around her. The enemy. She was in the enemy's camp.
They wouldn't expect it.
"No! Please!"
Adeline didn't close her eyes as the spray of the black haired man's blood hit her in the face. It stung slightly as she blinked, getting rid of the scarlet film on her eyes. She dropped his body, looking to the other two, cowering behind an overturned machine gun. They were begging, accents grating on her ears.
Damn Americans.
She reached for the closest, stabbing her knife through his eye, letting it go and pushing him to the ground. The other one started crying, and she gently wiped the tears from his cheeks, placing her hands on the sides of his head, hushing him.
"Alles ist in ordnung." everything's alright now.
With a quick jerk, she snapped his neck, and stood, looking out across the field of men. Some were still fighting her teammates, and screams punctuated the air every now and then.
Damn Americans.
A hand touched her arm, and she moved quickly, grasping the wrist. With a twisting movement, she pulled the person closer, ignoring their cry of pain.
"Adeline! Genug!" Enough!
The command froze her again.
The person ripped their wrist from her slack grip, stifling a gasp of pain.
Her vision cleared.
The candidates, as well as many other men, were staring. Three men lay on the ground, and for a sickening moment she thought they were dead. But a closer look assured her they were still breathing, although one of them had a broken arm and another a bloody nose and lip.
Peggy was standing in front of her, clutching her wrist to her chest. The Colonel was watching her, a hand on his pistol. Abraham's gaze was as sharp as his command.
As it often did, her gaze fell upon Steve.
He was watching her, and for the first time, he looked uncertain… and scared.
She swallowed, suddenly feeling exposed.
She looked at Peggy. "I am sorry."
With that, she turned on her heels, and ran.
Steve hadn't seen anyone move so fast in his life.
One moment, she had been standing still, eyes glazed over, fingers twitching – and then she had been approached by three of her trainees, and she had lashed out, moving so fast he hadn't quite seen how she did it.
Then they were on the ground, and Agent Carter had stepped forwards, and then Adeline had nearly broken her wrist.
And then she was gone, after muttering out an apology.
Steve had known enough soldiers to know what a flashback was.
He wondered what she had seen. It had to have been something bad. Steve couldn't help but feel like it was partially the Colonel's fault. Something about the grenade had triggered he, he had seen it when he looked up at her frozen form.
Without realizing it, he had walked a few paces after her.
A hand clapped down on his shoulder, and he turned to doctor Erskine. "Congratulations, Stephen. You have been chosen."
Steve nodded absently. Then he froze, eyes widening comically. "I- what?"
Abraham smiled gently at the boy. "You are dismissed for the day. The procedure is tomorrow. Rest well, I will send a car to collect you tomorrow."
Steve felt a massive surge of both fear and happiness.
What would Bucky say if he knew?
What would Commander Wolfe say?