Everly || Steve Rogers

6. In the Army Now

Over the course of a month, Dr. Erskine's team of scientists taught Everly everything she would need to know about the upcoming special project. Though none of them seemed too pleased having to practically babysit her. With every passing day, she felt increasingly out of place surrounded by self proclaimed geniuses. Their subtle glares and rude comments didn't help her to feel welcome either.

She was basically given the minimum amount of information possible whilst still enabling her to do what needed to be done. One could say she was planted firmly at the bottom of the food chain. No matter how hard she tried seeing things from Dr. Erskine's perspective, she still couldn't understand why he invited her on board in the first place. It seemed reckless on his part.

Through an excess amount of eavesdropping, Everly learned that this 'project' was known to all as Project Rebirth. The purpose was to create a stronger, faster, super soldier. At first, the idea seemed absurd. However, provided the scientific reasoning behind the experiment, she was surprised to accept that this could actually work.

Now, she sat alongside Dr. Erskine in the back of a truck as they looked out at a line of soldiers. Erskine leaned forward slightly, chatting away with a burly man by the name of Colonel Phillips. Everly let her eyes wander the military base, though they locked onto a woman in uniform who approached the lineup. On her lips was a bright shade of red lipstick, her brown hair was pulled back into a nest of bouncing curls. She walked with unshakable confidence and radiated a sense of purpose that Everly found herself slightly jealous of.

"Recruits, attention!" The woman stood tall and slowly made her way down the lineup. Everly watched curiously, but her heart skipped a beat at the sight of a familiar face. There stood the one and only Steve Rogers. She had hardly recognized the frail man. His blonde hair was covered by a helmet too big for him, and his bright blue eyes were hidden below the shadow it cast. But it was him all right. He almost looked like a child in a costume.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Of all the places he could've ended up, there he was, standing just before her. A smile played at her lips and her fingers softly brushed the metal of her locket. From the corner of her eye, she saw Erskine take a quick glance in her direction with the smallest of grins on his face.

"Gentlemen, I'm agent Carter. I supervise all operations for this division." The woman spoke in a British accent, which admittedly had caught Everly slightly off guard.

"What's with the accent Queen Victoria? I thought I was signing up for the US army." One of the soldiers quipped.

Agent Carter stopped before him. "What's your name, soldier?"

"Gilmore Hodge, your majesty." He answered proudly.

"Step forward, Hodge." The soldier did as instructed and looked back to the others with a smirk. "Put your right foot forward."

"We gonna wrassle?" Hodge asked mockingly. "Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."

Everly winced as Agent Carter threw her fist into his face. He immediately dropped to the ground like a ton of bricks, clearly caught off guard. The rest of the soldiers peaked around one another to see Hodge laying on the ground.

"Agent Carter," Colonel Phillips hopped out of the truck, Erskine and Everly following closely behind.

"Colonel Phillips." She quickly turned around to face him.

"I can see that you are breaking in the candidates, that's good." He made his way over to Hodge and looked down at him disapprovingly. "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention till somebody comes tells you what to do." He added.