-U.S. Camp-

-April 1943-

Eddie wanted to rub his eyes but resisted the urge knowing that it would burn his eyes. It was really nice of the farmer to lend the army, a crate of jalapenos. But it sucked when Colonel Phillips made Eddie assist the cooks in prepping them.

Finally the urge overtook him, and he had to rub his eye.

'Oh not so bad' he thought as the relief of rubbing his eye overtook him which was instantly followed by a growing heat on his eyelids. He yelped in pain and darted to the nearest person.

"Can I have some water." Eddie pleaded when ran up to the person who had a canteen dangling off their belt loop. The person turned around noticing Eddie's twitching eye.

"Sure." They responded, unhooking the canteen, and handing it over. Eddie was about to grab it and stopped to think.

"Can you open it for me and pour it on my hands and then my right eye?" Eddie asked, as he scooped down to rub some mud on his hands. The person stared at him confused but decided to agree, by untwisting the cap and pouring the water first over his hands. He scrubbed the dirt like soap, hoping it assist in removing the burn.

"Alright my right eye." Eddie said turning around and then bending backwards. This made the person laugh as they drenched his right eye.

"I think that might be enough now." Said the person helping Eddie stand straight. Eddie groaned as he rubbed his back, before grabbing the hem of his green button up shirt to wipe at his eye.

"Thanks." He said.

"What was that all about?" The person asked.

Eddie continued to rub at his eye using a different part of his shirt. "A nice farmer gave us jalapenos, and there wasn't any clean water left…". Eddie removed the cloth from his eyes and recognized who he was talking to.

"Oh I didn't realize it was you agent Carter." Eddie said.

"You didn't realize it was me." She said teasingly.

Eddie smiled, "yep…uh…you looked like just another soldier from my burning vision."

"Well I can't wait to write home to my mum, and let her know I did it, I am officially one of the guys." They both laughed. This was the first real conversation he had with Agent Carter since, well actually ever.

"So what was going on with the jalapenos?" Carter asked the smile still on her face.

"Since we're running low on cheese rations, we mixed slices of jalapenos in there."

"oh." Said Carter with a weary look on her face.

"Fernando says it's something his mom would make back home to add some spice to the food." Eddie explained, as he recalled how Fernando spent the two hours of melting the cheese as Eddie was cutting the Jalapenos, to tell his family's epic history of leaving Mexico to live in California for the past 80 years.

"How much of it is cheese and how much of it is Jalapenos?" Carter clarified. Eddie sighed, the farmer was being kind, but it was also done out of self-interest since the jalapenos he delivered were already starting to wrinkle, and a few had grown mold. Eddie spent hours to separating the usable jalapenos to the throw away, before cutting them into thick slices.

"Probably seventy five percent of the cheese is Jalapeno." Eddie said sheepishly, "but on the bright-side it'll only be a day or two and then we'll be right back on the cheese ration schedule."

"Alright." Laughed Carter as she put her canteen back onto her belt loop, "I'll make the sacrifice." With that she walked off. Eddie stared after her smiling, there was a bit of lightning stumbling around his stomach. She disappeared into the command tent.

Eddie carried that smile all the way back to the soldiers tent.

"Kent!" yelled Rick Jones tossing a manila envelope at Eddie, "Mail!". Eddie caught the large envelope and found his cot, which he began to tear out the contents. Eddie had written a letter to his parents about two months ago but didn't divulge the same information he gave Steve. The look of shame that his Father would have if he knew Eddie was only doing menial labor instead of fighting, had crossed his mind every time Eddie thought of admitting the truth and caused his pen to tell his fellow soldier's experiences instead.

Eddie was surprised to find a captain America comic inside. Eddie looked around but most everyone in the tent were playing cards, catching up on sleep, or checking their own mail. It wouldn't be too much of an odd activity to read a comic book, few other soldiers were reading comics sent to them by family or friends.

Eddie popped open the comic and began reading. He laughed and grimaced as he read. Part of him wondered whether the tales being told were somewhat true, but none of the stories of Eddie's fellow soldiers ever mentioned giant chimera like creatures, or robots; yes, Hydra had fantastical looking armor, and an uncanny weapon or two but nothing to the extremes displayed in the comic. Also as far as Eddie knew, which wasn't much, the SSR were the only ones focusing on taking down Hydra, most of the allied forces priorities were of reaching Germany and Japan.

"How are you doing, private?" asked Mike Li, as he came over to Eddie's cot. Eddie looked up from the comic book he was reading and gave his friend a smile.

"Reading some literature." Eddie responded.

"I didn't know you could read, Kent." Teased Mike as he took the comic from Eddie.

"Captain America?" Mike read.

"Yeah, I knew the guy."

"Bullshit, he's just a propaganda piece." Mike Li said returning the comic book to Eddie.

Eddie waved him off, "Why you are bothering me?"

Mike Li's face became serious as he sat down in the cot across from Eddie, "I'm joining the 107th on a raid of a hydra base."

"You mean we finally found one?" Eddie asked surprised. The SSR ran into some Hydra battalions, but their real goal was to find the Hydra base in the hopes of stopping the Nazi's from gaining superior weaponry.

"Oh." Eddie replied the jovial nature dropping from his voice as he saw the look on Mike Li's face.

"I'd feel great if my best pal...would mail this to my parents…" Mike li said and held up a finger to silence Eddie's questions. "If…if something were to happen to me." Eddie attempted to swallow the burn in his throat. Eddie place the comic on the muddy ground as Mike Li handed over a thick envelope to him.

Eddie didn't know what to say or do, so he cast his eyes down on the heavy envelope in his hands. Mike Li nodded his head and got up to pat Eddie on his shoulder before walking out of the tent.

Eddie sighed and picked up his comic and glared at the comic's cover. Of captain America's courageous face in the face of the dangers displayed on the cover. "You're a super soldier." Eddie hisses, "What the hell can I do?"

-Two Days Later-

The camp had become eerily quiet, which Eddie thought would allow a reprieve from his menial labor, but the colonel made a point that the underbrush surrounding the camps perimeter had grown too high and wild making it easy for enemy soldiers to use for cover and attack.

Much to Eddie's internal dismay, the colonel was right, so Eddie spent thirteen hours clearing and mowing the underbrush.

He had just finish the northside when he heard the distinct sound of a motor car incoming. Eddie ran toward the camp yelling up to the watch tower, "someone's coming." The guards above heard him and trained their rifles in the direction Eddie was pointing. By the time he reached the camp, a small platoon of soldiers were forming a firing line, even colonel Phillip, and agent carter were there with weapons drawn. Eddie began to wish he had a gun.

Out from the trees came one military truck with a jeep leading the group.

"Stand down!" yelled Colonel Phillips as one of the soldiers in the gate guard house ran up to the jeep and trucks. After a couple of minutes of waiting the lead guard signaled it was all good.

One hundred and fifty casualties, thirty-two in critical conditions, and eighteen wounded. Eddie had seen the SSR suffer terrible losses during ambushes or skirmishes with a Hydra camp but nothing as bad as this. A fear spider its way up his ribs, what if there were more Hydra bases. Of course there would be, but…It be better if there was only one.

Eddie assisted the doctors and nurses on camp to deal with the wounded, he wish he hadn't, as he held down a soldier, who most definitely lied about his age or his parents consented to his joining, shake as the doctor tried to remove his fragmented arm from the rest of his body.

Eddie felt the young soldier stop struggling, "They're beautiful." Eddie refused his attention to the man below.

"He's dead." Sighs the Doctor wiping his gloves on his shirt before moving to a nearby patient. Eddie stared at the young man who had gone still underneath him. The young soldier had died looking at something he thought beautiful.

Eddie rushed out of the tent as a nurse yelled out at him, "Hey come back!"

"Leave him." Grunted a doctor sewing a soldier's stab wound, "we don't have time to coddle him, when we can save someone's life."

"Eddie?" said a female voice from a while away. Eddie ignored the voice, his thoughts on constant repeat; 'Mike is dead, and I know it, Mike is dead, and I can feel it.' His stomach and heart traded places and were tossing a ball of electricity between the two. Eddie marched forward, tears burned away his vision, he didn't know where he was heading but…

"Hey." Demanded the female voice as it grabbed his shoulder and made him turn to face her.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" asked Carter. Eddie felt if he opened his mouth, he would start crying like a child. "We need your help." She said.

An anger, jealousy, fear, hope, and regret that had been stirred and compressed in his chest for the past god knows how many years, cracked. Agent Carter took a step back as Eddie's eyes seem to dilate expanding the bright blue of his eyes.

"Please, I-I can't sit by anymore I could've…why is everyone keeping me here?"

Carter snapped back, "No one is keeping you here you did that yourself with your behavior at Camp Lehigh." Eddie grinded his teeth and then spun on his heels and walked away. Carter turned on her own heels and returned to the medical camp where she could hopefully make a difference.

Eddie found the colonel tent without any guards. Probably ordered them away so he could be alone with his guilt, Eddie assumed. He stomped to the entrance flap.

"I think that would be a good idea, Stark, can you make the call?" Eddie heard the colonel's voice.

"I'll get right on it." Replied Howard as he lift the flap and took a step out. Howard jumped at the sight of Eddie. Howard offered a wistful smile, but Eddie didn't acknowledge it as he headed inside.

The colonel looked up from his writing to see Eddie. "Now what the hell do you want?" demanded the Colonel as he took off his reading glasses.

Eddie gritted his teeth but his anger and fear was gone. There was void, and he couldn't help but stare into it.

"What?" asked the colonel begging the young man to do or say something stupid.

"Why won't you let me fight? Or better yet why haven't you kicked me out of the army?" Eddie finally asked.

The colonel seemed disappointed in Eddie's question and leaned back in his chair. "Did you know Drill Sergeant Howler, Agent Carter, and I were allowed to pick two recommendations to Dr. Erskine to undergo his super soldier procedure, and that the good doctor had one candidate already in mind."

"What?" Eddie said in surprise of the sharp diversion of the conversation.

"Drill Sergeant Howler picked Hodge and Ezekiel." Started the colonel which wasn't much a surprise to Eddie as the two were the best soldiers in their group. "Carter, recommended Ezekiel and Steve." Eddie almost grimaced that Carter picked Steve over him. The colonel made no indication if he notice the grimace.

The colonel walked around his desk headed straight at Eddie in a leisurely pace, "Dr. Erskine thought Steve was the best choice, but I 'Suggested' Steve be chosen if he made it through the four weeks of bootcamp." Eddie felt a pit in his stomach, Steve Rogers that scrawny idiot from Brooklyn.

Eddie was shocked by his vehemence toward Steve. "If Steve didn't make it then he would pour over our suggestions."

The colonel was rounding around Eddie as he continued, "I thought Hodge would be a good super soldier and if not him." The colonel returned to behind his desk. "Then you." He said that part as he sat down.

Eddie was almost blown off his feet at that revelation. He yearned to be chosen throughout basic but always assumed it would go to Hodge or Ezekiel...

Eddie mouth was agape as he tried to utter a question of why. Why the colonel thought he was worthy for the super soldier procedure.

"Hodge was a perfect soldier; he reached his peak." The colonel began, "but you…it was always expected that soldiers would be better fighting machines after training, but…" there was a wistful look, and a distant smile.

"You just kept getting better, I saw potential, a potential that would take you past Hodge and Ezekiel." Eddie's heart had marched into a trap; that lay in his throat and pounded harder and louder to break through.

"Carter saw it, Howler saw it, even Erskine saw it, and you let us down." Colonel said the last part as anger grew, "One day you were filled with self-confidence and patriotism then the next you were a sullen Pitbull ready to bite anyone's head off. We weren't going to wait for you to pick who you were gonna be."

Eddie wanted to respond back but the colonel's anger grew, "You're just blind, deaf, and mute to the world. Too afraid to make the difficult choice so others have to do it for ya."

The colonel whipped open one of his desk drawers and pulled out a piece of paper, "Well here's another choice done for you, in two weeks you're discharged from the army." Eddie felt numb as he took the paper and looked at it. He couldn't read it.

"Get out, now." The colonel ordered.