Happy Sunday, people!
If you haven't already, please read the update note in the third chapter. I apologize for the short length of this chapter, but I plan on posting something in the middle of the week as well as next Sunday. Another note: If you guys want a different "regular update day" than Sunday, please tell me. And finally, I only plan on three-ish more chapters before Steve is in the ice. I think I know who she is going to wind up with next but I would like to hear what you guys think.
-Stax
Disclaimer- Marvel owns everything except for my OC.
Chapter 6
Things were going very, very badly for Dani. Mainly, she was having the crappiest of times trying to keep up with this training. Secondly, Bucky was being a butt to her because he outranked her and she just KNEW he was trying to get her to admit she was a girl. He hadn't confronted her about it yet, but there was no doubt in her mind that he had wised up.
The first week was absolute crap. She remembered it well...
(Flashback)
"Danny, why the hell are you here?" Bucky asked, his mouth still hanging open slightly in shock. She wordlessly handed him her enlistment paper. "How... how did you..."he began, but was cut off.
"Everyone board the train! We need to go, they won't wait for us!" Hollered an imposing looking man in a suit. Bucky gave Dani another look as they climbed on board, and handed her the papers back.
Things did not improve from there on. Dani, having the weak stomach that she did, tossed her cookies two hours into the train ride. Only Bucky would sit next to her after that. Once they reached the training grounds shortly afterwards, everyone was assigned to tiny bunks and told to get outside to start training. After tripping over a very buff, angry soldier, she lost a very short fight and then was given pushups for lining up late.
And they trained. Did they ever train. Dani was exhausted constantly. She contemplated running off, but every time she did, she got the visions. People dying. So she stayed, her misson wasn't over yet.
Apparently the "get the flag from the top of the flagpole" exercise was something practiced at ALL boot camps, because on the fourth day as they were on a jog they stopped at a flagpole.
"Whoever gets that flag down from up there gets to sleep in past moring roll call" the general in charge of this camp, a short and friendly man, announced. Dani took Steve's idea. Once everyone had fallen back in line, she took a page from Steve's book and pulled out the pin.
Or, at least, she TRIED to.
And then a larger guy with larger muscles shoved her aside and pulled the rusted pin out of its hole. Dani cursed internally. She reaallly needed that extra sleep too...
She was shocked that nobody had figured out that she was a girl. She had to redo her chest bindings regularly but had not been caught doing so. And there was something else that really, really helped her stay hidden, but it weirded her out.
Nobody had to use the bathroom.
Seriously.
That had bugged her when she watched movies. How everyone used the bathroom in certain scenes had been a mystery back when she was a nerdy couch potato, but now she had her answer. Honestly, she wasn't complaining, but it was really wierd going half a week without having to... you know.
The nerds back home would love to hear this, she thought sarcastically as she stood in role call.
"Daniel White" came her name. She was lost too deep in thought to notice. "White. Daniel White." Bucky came up behind her.
"WHITE! GIVE ME TWENTY!" He yelled, snapping her out of her trance. She immediately complied. He took being a sergeant very, very seriously. As the rest of the names were called, he stared at her from the side. She could feel sweat dripping down her back. How much longer can you take the pressure until you cave, she wondered. You could just tell him...
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"And my name is Danielle and I am from an alternate world where it is the year 2016 and I have a magic bag and a glowing ball told me I have to save people and-" Bucky cut her off:
"Danny what the hell are you talking about" he said, looking kind of concerned.
"Lemme start from the begining" she said, opening her mouth to rant again.
"No, no, I knew you were a girl. I mean what is this talk about another earth... are you drunk?" He started pulling her over to a cot to sit down.
"Dammit no, I have proof. Lemme start from the begining, just let me talk and then you can do what you want" she insisted, and proceeded to launch into a lengthy description of how she had gotten here and how her world was different. "Look- this is a phone. A phone from MY time. It is portable, they have towers that send the sound invisibly. And they have a... a library that you can get to on the phone. It has a screen, like a movie screen, but tiny, and you can read the words on the screen and watch movies too. Look" handing him the phone "swipe your finger like this to move the screen-" Bucky was dumbfounded. Phone still in hand, he backed up looking very afraid.
"Who are you."
"I told you. I know you don't believe me... I don't know what to do, I just want to go home ar this point..." she wiped a hand over her face. "Look-"
"No, I believe you" he said. "You... your face changes when you lie. I know you aren't lying... and this phone shows that you arent crazy...I hope..." Dani stepped forward.
"I can't let you keep that, you could know your future and bad things could happen." Bucky looked a bit surprised.
"But... I thought that you said your world and my world are different..."
"They are but... God, Bucky, its hard to explain... they made a movie about everything that is happening here and now, and if you watched that movie then you could change things. More people could die." Bucky gave her a strange look.
"Less people could also die. You dont know-"
"Yes, yes I do. The sphere, it shows me what happens if certain events change. Usually we loose the war or millions die in the future..." a shocked expression crossed his face. He quickly handed off the phone to her. Then he gave her a look-
"Wait... so you are saying that we will win the war?" Dani gave him a stricken look.
"Um... yes... don't go telling anyone. It could change things. Just don't." Bucky got the biggest grin on his face.
"Ok. But now... I have to figure out what to do with you." Dani facepalmed.
"Turn me in. I can't risk you loosing your rank or being discharged. Tell them that you didn't know." Bucky shook his head.
"No, I mean I have to make sure that you don't get caught. If you really can tell the future... well, I want you around to fix things if we mess up." Dani was shocked.
"You still trust me...?"
"Well... not entirely, but I can tell that you aren't lying to me so... I suppose I ought to give you a chance. Steve won't take it this well, though. Were you planning on telling him...?" Dani shook her head.
"No, I planned on going home." Bucky nodded.
"Is... is there anything about the future that I should know...?" Bucky asked, looking almost afraid to find out.
"Uh..." Steve getting drugged up, you becoming the Winter Soldier, Steve getting popsicled, both of you waking up in my time... "there is stuff that you SHOULDN'T know. You knowing will make tons of people die. Please, please don't ask." Bucky agreed.
"So... now that you openly admit that you are a girl... are you single?" He grinned flirtatiously. Dani made a face.
"I like a guy back home. You are gonna have to find someone else to hit on." Bucky still smiled. "Seriously. Like, maybe that wall over there" she pointed. "You will have better luck with the wall." Bucky made a noise implying that he disbelieved that. She shook her head and together they walked back to the camp.
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Dani swore to herself. How could she be so stupid, how could she have forgotten about this-
It was November. Ten months she had been in this dimension, half of that in an army camp. Today was the day the one-o-seventh went up against Schmidt's army and lost. As of yet, she had hid her nerves from Bucky. Word had gotten to the camp that Schmid's forces were at Rosiano, and the men were gearing up to confront them.
She was about ready to shit her pants.
By some strange stroke of luck, she had been promoted to Corporal. Not because of physical strength, which was still nonexistent, but because she had a knack for planning out attacks. Three or four times, the visions told her that Bucky would die and the troops would be lost if she didn't alter the battle plans. It really wasn't HER doing anything but she couldn't darn well tell the General that. She was going to use her rank to try to fix this.
She hadn't been able to change anything.
Battle was one of the worst things Dani had ever been through. It never got any better. Her stomach surged at the sight of the blood and the unnecessary deaths made her want to cry. She couldn't end a life. Her aim was great, she had discovered, so she found a way around killing people. First shoot the gun out of a soldier's hand, then shoot out a leg or a knee. Then move on to the next one. It helped her sleep at night.
But there were too many people surrounding them now for that to work. Most of the men she had trained with, the people she now considered friends, lay dead around her. Bucky was standing, thank God. Blood everywhere... so much blood. She could feel herself getting light headed. More people were falling around her.
And then she felt a jolt in her abdomen. Looking down revealed a gushing wound. Bucky saw and stopped what he was doing to staunch the flow with his hand and force her to sit down.
"Behind you" Dani warned in a slurred voice, as she felt herself loosing consciousness. The nazi behind Bucky knocked him out with the butt of his rifle. She looked around dazedly to see the few still standing putting their guns down and their hands up. As the world faded to blackness, she felt herself being lifted. Her last conscious thought was that she might never see Steve again...