Mirror, Mirror ↠ Steve Rogers

Chapter Three

In 1943, when Steve Rogers liberated the 107th from the Hydra compound, he met one of the few female active combat soldiers of the war. While most countries had not yet decided to allow women into active combat roles, the USSR had allowed it since the first World War, paving the way for Galina Kovaleva--known as Kova to her compatriots--to become the only female member of Captain Rogers' Howling Commandos, and one of the most well-known wartime snipers in modern history.

Click.

Leila turns off the documentary as she's getting dressed. She'd turned it on to see if it would be enlightening in any way re: project recruit Steve Rogers, but it turns out she's seen it too many times to glean anything new out of it.

She chooses her outfit carefully for the barbeque. Usually, she wears whatever the hell she feels like on that particular day (it's always black; the variable depends on whether there's other color involved and how much skin is exposed), but this is a performance. Steve's going to be looking for any sign that he's being manipulated, even if he doesn't notice himself doing it.

Which means she can't look too hot, but she can't look too reserved, either. Steve knows how she dresses, and if he notices her diverge from what he's come to expect, he might put two and two together and know that she's trying to be seen as innocuous. Which is something people only do when they aren't.

(Assuming he notices what she's wearing at all. Straight men aren't known for their attention to detail when it comes to clothing, but given her objective, she can't be too careful. Besides which, given the rumors about Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, she's not entirely convinced he's straight, anyway.)

The weather is supposed to be moderate, so she chooses a black turtleneck tucked into a plaid skirt, leggings, and knee-high boots. Simple enough to look like something she just threw together for the look, involved enough to indicate that she cares about the look to begin with. (Which is true under the best of circumstances. She's always been a slave to aesthetics.)

She expects Steve to call her from the car when he arrives. Instead, she hears a knock at the door. Old-fashioned. Kind of charming.

"If I'd known you lived in Manhattan, I wouldn't have invited you," Steve deadpans by way of greeting, and she smirks.

"Well, you're locked into it now," she says. "You ready to introduce me to all your cool friends?"

***

Leila had considered suggesting they ride motorcycles up to the park--it's something they have in common, another potential advantage--but had decided against it just for the practicality of it. Instead, she lets him drive (it's his event, after all, even if she doesn't particularly like being driven places). His car is like his knocking, a charmingly old-fashioned thing, small, but noticeably different. He opens the passenger door for her.

She finds herself intrigued by the car, and wonders what the engine looks like. "I'm driving home," she tells (not asks) him as he gets behind the wheel, and he smiles.

"We'll see, Manhattan," he says, glancing up at her apartment, and she smirks.

"I guess we will, Brooklyn."

***

Off the top of her head, Leila knows of two Howling Commando legacies who currently work for SHIELD. A further background check indicates that those are the only two likely to be in attendance.

One of them is Vira Kovaleva, one of the few people Leila remembers from the academy. Leila never really connected with anyone there, so she doesn't remember most of them, and Vira wasn't even in the same school as Leila (she was in Communications, while Leila was in Operations), but she managed to make an impression via her bubbly disposition, anyway. Leila might be biased, but she feels like it should be illegal to like hugs that much at spy school.