The Shadow

⭐️2⭐️

TW: Sexist remarks

June 1941

It had been a year since I left home for New York. I had taken two tours so far. Shipping supplies to our men in bases in London and New York. Especially during the Blitz. 

Flying a plane over Europe during the Blitz...was the scariest thing I have done in my entire life. Now since my tour was over, I was back in my shared house in Brooklyn with three single women. All they want to do is dance and party. 

They always made fun of me, seeing as I wasn't like them. They wore dresses, too much perfume and lipstick. I wore my leather boots and baggy trousers, along with my leather jacket and faux fur collar. I loved my helmet as well. 

My company were going out tonight and I was hesitant to join. I was one of the highest ranking among them at nineteen but the only woman. Howard and Jones I was close to. 

Some of the men cheered in the bar when we walked in, saluting us. Some of them just stared at me. I felt a little uncomfortable as the odd one out. "Who we got here?" some of the men came over. "We have Scott 'Crash' Howard," Jones introduced our table "I'm Richie 'Golden Boy' Jones and this is Clarissa "Prodigy' Carter." 

"Clarissa's a girl's name," one of the guys snidely pointed out. "Come to that conclusion all by yourself?" I grumbled. 

"Excuse me, your Majesty," one of them insulted me. "One of you boys better put her in her place." 

"She gives the orders, not us," Jones stood up for me. "She's our Squad Leader." 

"Squad Leader?! The only place she should be is at home, cooking me dinner," the man laughed, his friends laughed too. 

"How about you show the lady some respect?!" another voice yelled. I looked over to see a short and thin blond haired boy. "The reason she's fighting is so bigoted asses like you can have your sexist and offensive opinions." 

My eyes widened once I saw how brave he was.

"Mind your business," the man hissed at him. "I will when you leave her alone," the boy said. "You want to take this outside?!" 

The man dragged the poor boy out. I rushed up to help him. I ran outside and I tapped the man on his shoulder before delivering a right hook to his jaw. 

"I may be a woman but I'm lot a braver than you are....scram!" 

The guy finally gave up and ran off. I fidgeted nervously before walking over to the boy, lying down. I offered my hand to help him up. "You didn't have to do that." 

"He was being disrespectful," the boy told me. "Hey, I'm used to it, a woman leading a bunch of guys in the Air Force isn't a common thing but I'm doing my duty. For king and country," I said.

"You're British," he pointed out. "Accent's a big giveaway," I chuckled. "I'm Clary." 

"Steve," he introduced himself. "Let me patch up that split lip, least I could do," I offered. 

***

I had brought Steve back to my house where I patched him up of his injuries he obtained while defending me. "That guy was twice your size, I'm surprised he didn't kill you." 

"Not the first time I've taken a beating, certainly won't be a last," Steve told me. "Did you enlist?"

"My brother was a captain in the Armed Forces and I always wanted to fly, not fight, just fly," I told Steve. "Two years ago I was just shipping supplies to our men with my group captain. I flew all the way to London, fighting Germans." 

"Was it terrifying?" Steve asked me. "Yeah," I nodded. "They're still dropping bombs on my home, every night the air raid came. My parents and my sister hid in bomb shelters just waiting for the Germans to leave. But flying over London when it was burning...I can't get those images out of my head." 

I had finished tending to Steve's black eye. "Right, now I think I should probably take you home, you live near?" 

"Yeah, I live with my friend," he told me. "Bucky." 

"Ooh, look at those two, wouldn't they make a lovely couple," one of my housemates noted as she walked past. "Pipe down," I rolled my eyes. "Come on Steve, let's go. Janice, I'm taking your car." 

Janice had a royal blue car that was her baby. She'd only let me drive it, no one else. Steve gave me directions back to his house and I stopped the car outside. 

A young man opened the door. He was very handsome, he had dark hair and blue eyes. "So this is the famous Bucky?" I smiled. "Wondering where you were, punk, trying to enlist again? Did one of the boys from the Air Force bring you home?" 

I hopped out of the car and took my helmet off, letting him know I was not a man. Bucky's eyes widened once he laid eyes on me. "Whoa..." 

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said cheekily. "Stevie here got himself beaten up defending me." 

"I'd say you're pretty good at defending yourself," Bucky said to me, looking me up and down. "Right, I'd better come back but Steve, you should come by Fort Hamilton some time, I'd love to show you my plane." 

"Sounds good Prodigy," Steve smiled at me, saying my call sign. "There's a dance at the hall tomorrow and I was wondering...." he was a little awkward a bit. "If you'd want to come." 

"I'd love to," I said, which the boys seemed surprised me. "What time?" 

"Seven." 

"See you there, I'll be the girl in the best dress," I grinned, getting back into the car. Before I left I heard Bucky telling Steve "Oh man, she is way out of your league." 

Steve POV

It was now fifteen minutes after seven and there was still no sign of Clary. "Maybe she got called by her captain or something..." 

"Or she's just screwing with you," Bucky sighed. "Look Steve, Clary is a very pretty girl who obviously is fearless..." 

"You gathered that from a two minute encounter?" I sighed. "Clary's not like that, she's not like other girls."

"Okay, I'm just looking out for you," Bucky murmured. "I don't want you to get your heart..." 

"SORRY! SORRY!" I turned to see Clary rushing to us in a red dress. "I completely lost track of time, am I that late?" 

"Not that late," I reassured her, feeling relief wash through me. A part of me was scared that Bucky was right but I'm glad Clary proved him wrong. 

"Sorry, I couldn't get the car to start, Janice has hers," she sighed. "You look..." I struggled to come up with the words and I could just feel Clary's emerald eyes burning holes into me. "What he means to say is it's nice to see you out of that uniform," Bucky said for me. 

"Hey, I like my uniform," she said. "You look nice," I finally said. "Forgive Steve, he's not used to talking to women," Bucky joked. "Especially pretty ones." 

So first he said she's not gonna show up, now he starts flirting with her. Don't get me wrong, Clary is a beautiful woman but this is the first time a girl had shown even the slightest interest in me. Bucky always got the girls. 

The music had started and Bucky had gone off to find a girl to dance with. "I must admit, I've never danced," I admitted to Clary. "Neither have I," she told me. "But let's just have some fun, eh? Who cares what everyone else thinks." 

She held out her hand and I took it and she led me onto the dance floor.