Imagining Steve

Elsie Moore: East Wind

This is the first time that I've done a one shot with a Hydra girl/enemy falling for Steve. This series will be 3 or 4 parts, and I'm excited to have some fun with this idea. Originally I wrote Elsie's last name as Barnes, but she isn't related to Bucky so I didn't want to do it. Even though I love that last name.

The sound of decompressed air being forced out of my chamber was what woke me from cyro sleep. I blinked a few times and looked around wildly. I didn't know where I was, or what was going on. Everything around me looked sterile, white, clean.

Too clean.

The bright lights threatened to blind me, and I stumbled out of the small cylinder into waiting strong arms. I struggled away from them wildly, who were these people? What were they doing?

And then I remembered where I was. I stopped struggling. Department X, they were just waking me up to help.

My body relaxed dramatically and I let the scientists move me to a nearby chair. I closed my eyes, leaning back, breathing heavily from the shock. Once I'd gained control I opened my eyes, looking about wildly.

"Take it easy, you've been asleep for a decade." Some nurse said quietly, as she strapped a few bizarre pieces of medical equipment onto my arm and head. I wanted to pull away, something about the machines frightened me.

"It's July, 1964." This time the voice was harsher, and I looked forward to see an imposing man. He was tall, and just like the doctors and scientists around me he wore a lab coat. I could easily tell that he was packing heat, and his body was similar to that of a tree trunk. He wasn't fat, but this man was hired muscle. The man stepped aside to reveal a much more disturbing figure.

I knew instantly that this was the man who'd spoken. He was short and creepy looking, I could feel my skin crawl when I looked at him. Almost like I remembered him from another life...

"The Wars are over," he stated quietly, watching me with a fascinated expression that I found disturbing.

"What wars?" I asked with a stonewall expression. I don't know why, but displaying no emotion felt proper. It felt routine. Normal.

"Why, the world wars." He was clinical, and self amused. I found that... Mildly annoying.

"I... Don't remember," I said uneasily, why didn't I have any memories? It wasn't just these random wars that the man was talking about, I literally didn't remember anything. Who was I? I vaguely remembered my previous handlers, the people who woke me up the first time. But that was it, I remembered nothing before that.

I only had one name for myself; the East Wind.

"There's a reason for that. See, we need you to help us, and your time in the wars showed you horrors that your mind couldn't accept. We removed your memories to help you, but now we need you to help us. The wars didn't get rid of all the criminals who started it. This department's job is to help push history in the right direction. Unfortunately we have to eliminate some road blocks on the drive to progress, and if you're willing, we need you to be the policeman. We need you to apprehend these dangerous criminals, and you might even need to put some down. But everything Department X does is for the greater good."

While the staring scientist spoke the nurses treated me and performed a few more exams. A doctor was also present and she checked me too. All the staff that attended to me were woman, minus the thug and the short man.

I looked up at the short man once he finished talking. Everything he said made sense, but it felt almost wrong.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I spoke loudly enough so I knew he would here, but quiet enough to sound reserved. My tone was still deadpan. I didn't know who I was, and these people were offering me a purpose, a chance to do good. Who knew what atrocities I'd committed, and who knew what kind of monster I had been. I would take this opportunity, even if I knew that it didn't matter why I did it.