Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
The training for the past four months had been brutal on Steve's small body, the running, the crawling and the climbing had slowly chipped away at his body. The others had laughed and ridiculed him for being small and generally a few steps behind everybody else. Colonel Philips had told him several times to give up and go back to Brooklyn but Steve refused to quit. Erksine had been cheering him on ever since the training started in July about a month after Steve was accepted into the program. They had been playing film reels showing the carnage going on overseas and Steve wanted desperately to help in any way that he could. The alarm sounded signaling that it was time to start the morning workout. He entered into the main area of the camp and started doing his morning exercises.
Philips made his way out to the main area to oversee the recruits working out. He spotted Erksine watching as well and joined him. "How are they looking?" he asked.
"The same as they always do, I already told you that these exercises mean nothing in the long run" explained Erksine.
Philips knew where Erksine was coming from but Philips needed a success and the best chance for success was to pick the absolute best he could choose. All the men he chose were in their physical peak, while Erksine had chosen the meek and miniature Rogers. He had spent the last four months trying to break Rogers, to get him to go home but all his attempts had failed. He would even admit to himself that the boy was starting to impress him with his tenacity and determination. A jeep pulled up behind the duo prompting them to turn and spot them. Philips smiled when he spotted Peggy Carter sitting in the passenger seat. Peggy was his handpicked second in command, he had met her shortly after being put in charge of the SSR, she was one of the best field agents he had ever seen and beautiful to top it all off. She was average height for a woman and had shoulder length black hair with somewhat pale skin that gave away her origins within Britain.
She approached and saluted Philips "Sir." He saluted back and turned back to the men working out. She turned and saw Erksine who acknowledged her presence with a nod. The three of them looked on "Anyone stand out yet?" she asked. Both men said yes and looked at each other which made Peggy think they both had very different ideas over who should be chosen for the program. Peggy hadn't been back in the states for several months since she was investigating Hydra activities in Europe "Sir my information in Europe says that Hydra found something in Norway but they have been redirected to help on the Soviet front."
"What did they find?" asked Philips.
"Nobody knows but Schmitt was pretty upset about heading into the Soviet Union from what I hear" she explained turning back to look over the recruits. Erksine flinched at the mention of Schmitt. Peggy had never gotten the full story about Schmitt and Erksine just that Erksine left shortly before Schmitt was put in control of Hydra.
Philips stepped forward "Everyone lineup" he ordered as Steve and the other recruits moved quickly to line up. Philips approached them and paced the length of the line a few times "Today I will be introducing you to my second command Miss Peggy Carter" he said motioning for Peggy to join him.
She walked up and stood next to Philips and then started walking the length of line similar to how Philips had just moments before. She looked over them closely stopping much longer when she spotted Rogers, she couldn't believe that someone that small was allowed to enter the program but even still be around after four months. She moved on and heard a snicker from the far side of the line, she turned and spotted the culprit fairly easily. She merely smiled "Everyone report to the obstacle course" she ordered prompting all the recruits to go jogging to the obstacle course. Philips looked at her with a knowing look as he motioned Erksine to join him in the jeep.
They had been running the obstacle course as usual until they arrived at the rope climb over the wall. Steve had fallen behind like he usually did but he could see the wall up ahead, normally the entire group of recruits would be over the wall and already moving on but this time Steve could see the man who had been snickering during the meeting with Carter just before, he was climbing the wall and he succeeded in getting to the other side only to have to come back and do it again. Steve was confused as he arrived at the wall until he spotted the jeep carrying Philips, Erksine, and Carter "Again" he heard her call out as the man started again. Steve didn't know the names of most of the recruits since they usually ignored him, but he knew that this was punishment for snickering at her earlier. He was sweating heavily and Steve went before he could start again. Steve had managed to get the hang of the wall over the course of the last four months and he managed to get to the other side with a fair amount of speed. He turned and spotted the other recruit following him over and landing next to him. "Again" came Carter's voice obviously trying to make a point about how to act around her. He recruit turned and went back to the other side of the wall and Steve started to run but something in his gut told him to stay.
Erksine was the first to notice that Steve had stopped dead in his tracks and nudged Philips and pointed at Steve "Keep going Rogers" said Philips. This prompted Carter to turn her attention to Rogers as the other man once again descended the wall.
"Again" she ordered and she was surprised when Rogers came back and joined his fellow recruit and started climbing the wall again. As the duo climbed over she stopped Rogers "What are you doing soldier?" she asked.
"No man left behind" said Rogers as he waited to see if they would have to climb the wall again. She looked at the recruit as he huffed and puffed from climbing the wall more times than she could count. "Finish the course" she ordered as the duo began to jog along the course.
She sat in the back seat as Philips started the car and they drove back towards the camp "Never seen that before" said Philips with a stunned voice. Peggy had to agree the little man had certain level of honor and comradery about him that she had never encountered before.
Erksine was beaming on the inside, Rogers had once again shown why he was the perfect candidate for the experiment, he knew in his heart of hearts that Steve Rogers would be his super soldier, now he just needed to convince Philips to okay the choice.