Eunoia [Bucky Barnes]

chapter 5

Camp ended up being nothing like what Ava had expected. The men here were rude and would call out her name constantly when she happened to walk past. When Ava told Peggy about this, Peggy explained that some of these men had been here longer than others and it was rare that they would even see a woman never mind be near enough to grab her attention. This just made her laugh a little at the thought of how pathetic these boys truly were. It was a brighter morning than most, and Ava followed Peggy as they approached a line of soldiers that were either laughing with others or slouched forward in a daze.

"Recruits, attention!" Peggy shouted out as the two girls stood in front of the line. Almost like a switch, the men stopped in their place and stood up to look straight ahead, expressions blank. "Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter. I supervise all organisations for this division." Suddenly, to her right, Ava saw a man shuffle a little before speaking.

"What's with the accent, Queen Victoria? Thought I was signing up for the US army." The recruit questioned sarcastically, eyeing up Peggy as she walked past.

"What's your name, soldier?" Peggy asked the man, not breaking eye contact while still standing as strong as before.

"Gilmore Hodge, your majesty." He answered, now leaning slightly so that he stood out from the others.

"Step forward, Hodge." Peggy said calmly as the recruit steps forward smirking at the others beside him. "Put your right foot forward."

"Mmm.. we gonna wrassle? Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like." Hodge informed, smirking down at Peggy. He reminded Ava of the man from the alleyway when she and Steve had gone to see the film. Only this time, she felt like she was in charge of the situation. She knew what Peggy's plan was, but she also wanted to have some of the fun. Before Peggy could do anything, Ava stepped forward and punched the guy hard in the face. He let out a groan as he collapsed back to the floor while Ava stood with a proud smile on her face.

"Agent Carter!" She heard a rough voice from behind them as she turned to see an older man climbing out of a car.

"Colonel Phillips." Peggy acknowledged the man as Ava mentally put yet another name to a face. She'd met many people over the last couple of days, and it was getting hard to remember who was who.

"I can see that you are breaking in the candidates, that's good!" Phillips said to Peggy as he began walking over to meet them.

"I wish I could take the credit, sir, but that was all Miss Wiley." Peggy smiled proudly at her assistant as Ava winked back. The colonel looked to meet her eye before giving an approving nod in her direction.

"Good job. You know, when Agent Carter said she was bringing along an assistant I wondered what assistance she would need, but my god it seems she was right!" He placed a hand on her shoulder before taking a step to talk to the recruit on the floor. "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention until somebody comes tells you what to do." He spoke sternly to the recruit.

"Yes, sir!" The recruit scrambled back to his feet before standing up tall, a small trickle of blood falling from his nose. Ava smiled at her feet. Peggy was right, this really was fun.

Ava was snapped out of her joyous thoughts as she noticed the Colonel pause in his speech. She looked up to see him take a quick glance at a smaller boy in the line. She frowned at the man before taking a small step back to see who he was talking to. She almost stumbled when she saw it was none other than Steve. 'What is he doing here?' Ava thought before turning her attention back to Phillips.

"The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers."