Sergeant Higgins/ Iron Man Lovestory

Hayward

Lenna stood in the midst of an airport. She picked up her burner phone and raised it to her ear. It rang a few times.

This is Hannah Lewis's phone. I can't come to the phone right now so please leave a message after peep.

"Hey, Han. It's your big sis. I'm sorry that I'm leaving you again but my life is a mess right now and... And... Well I'm going away and I don't know when I'll return but know that I lo-"

The message cut Lenna off mid word. She sighed and dumped her phone in the nearest trash can.

"Flight SLH-420 to Sokovia is ready for boarding in gate 3."

---

"Thanks... Bucky." Lenna mumbled. The soldier stared into Lenna's hazel eyes. He nodded once before he took off on his motorcycle.

Lenna got into her apartment. She found all her manly clothes and threw them in her bag. She then changed out of Dum Dum Dugan's clothes and folded them neatly placing them on her bed and wrote a quick note saying where the hat was and that she was leaving. But she didn't mention where.

She then went to the bathroom. A quick look and a short pep talk to herself she took the scissors from the sink and made the first cut. Then the second and after ten minutes her long hair was in the sink and on the floor not on her head. "Oh my god." Lenna gasped when she rethought her actions. But it was too late now. She took out the hair clippers and gave herself a usual buzz cut. "Say hello to Leonid Hayward."

---

Lenna was dropped off to a house on a small open field in the middle of the forest by a local hunter. It was abandoned and had stood empty for the last ten years if Lenna had understood him correctly. Everywhere was snowy but she only had a sweater to keep herself warm. She used her new alias the second she got off the plain. The only technology that she really had was her laptop that she had bought before going to the airport along with a fake but convincing beard and some parts to build a voice changer at home.

"Home, sweet home." she sighed when she opened the front door. The electricity was gone but she found a generator from the basement. It was easy enough for her to figure it out since she had used several of them in different army bases. With a few buttons and pulling the string three times with as much force as she had the generator started working and made quite a lot of noise. "Well that's a bummer." she pouted and marched back upstairs with a loud slam of the door to shut out as much of the noise she could. She found a fireplace and some wood and quickly lit up a fire to get as much warmth as she could.

Lenna searched around the house, tidying up while on it. She finally made it to the bedroom on the second floor. It wasn't anything fancy but it was cozy. She threw herself on the bed and a cloud of dust rose from there. She sneezed thrice before opening the window and a cold breeze entered the room. She found some old but not dusty bedding from a closet where she placed her own clothes.

Lenna set up a small station to her kitchen. Her laptop searched for the voice changer's blueprints while she searched the basement for tools and any parts that could be useful to her. "There's nothing here!" she shouted before throwing a glass jar against the wall. The glass shards flew everywhere but she went upstairs cursing under her breath.

Lenna went outside and found a shed from behind the house. There were no lights so she found her flashlight from her pocket. Lenna walked straight into a spider web. "Yuck! Get out of my face!" she mumbled while grabbing it frantically to get off her face. When she was ready to move on she saw that there was a lot of trash there. After some time of digging around she found a tool box, an old TV, an old radio station and a huge thing covered with plastic. When she pulled it away it revealed a vintage motorcycle. Lenna smirked at the sight and decided to come back to it later.

It was after midnight and Lenna was growing tired with building the voice changer. She needed to appear more convincing with the whole 'hiding as a man in a foreign country' thing. "Let's give it a try." Lenna mumbled to herself quietly with a long yawn. She placed the small piece of technology under her tongue securing it so she wouldn't swallow it. "Alright." Lenna's voice changed to a different tone mid word. "Fuck yeah! Finally!" Lenna cheered that she was capable of building something so complicated. "Now, lets download a suitable male voice and we should be ready to go." Lenna mumbled to herself before she heard some sample voices and decided which one she liked the most.

---

Private Walters, do you copy?
Where is Private Walters?
Lenna saw her partner laying on the ground with blood around him.
"You left me!"
A shot rang and when Lenna looked behind her she saw Roger dying.
Lenna's feet felt like they were clued to the floor and she only could hear a maniacal laughter.

---

Lenna's eyes flew open. She practically jumped up but remembered at the last moment that she didn't have her prothesis on and grabbed the edge of the blanket to not fall down. She gently lifted herself up balancing on one foot and stared out the window, it was snowing.

Lenna walked quietly downstairs and and went outside. She found her cigarette pack, that she had bought from the airport, and put one cigarette between her lips before liting it up. It was an old habit that she had quit after she went back to the USA. But now it felt like it would be a good characteristic for Leonid.

---

The next morning Lenna was ready to pick up her new identity as Leonid Hayward. She flattened her chest with bandages and tuck tape. She made her brows seem thicker and put on her fake beard. She then put on the male clothes that covered her prothesis and put on her combat boots. She placed the voice changer under her tongue and turned towards the mirror. "Oh, wow. That's so weird. I'm a man... I'm a hot man!"

Lenna went to the shed and pushed the motorcycle out. She checked for gasoline and found a half full canister under some trash. She filled the motorcycle up and tried to start the engine. It made some noise that sounded hopeful but it wasn't enough. Lenna brought out the tool box and reminded herself about all the mechanic classes she had taken almost 6 years ago.

"Please work" Lenna pleaded after she had done everything she could. She sat on the motorcycle and tried to start it. With the second try the engine started and she could ride it actually. "Fuck yea! Who's the best? I'm the best!"

---

Lenna was at Novi Grad. It wasn't the nicest place and she went from one store to another as fast as she could but still trying to blend in with the mass. She had practiced her 'man-walk' a bit and eyed secretly passing guys while trying to adjust her walking style.

When she got everything she needed and was on her way back to her motorcycle a group of men surrounded her. They shouted something in a questioning way but Lenna didn't understand them. "Calm down, alright! I don't understand you!"

The man who looked like a leader summoned someone by his side and they whispered between themselves. "He asked who is this outsider." the black-haired woman said in fluent English with just a hint of an accent. "Leonid Hayward. I just moved here." Lenna wiped her hand clean into her pants before handing it to the leader. The translator woman said something to the leader and after a moment of thought he accepted Lenna's hand. He said something to her while wrapping his hand around the woman. "You are most welcome Leonid if you don't cause any trouble and don't get in our way."

---

Lenna was back home but she still didn't drop her false identity. She was in constant danger of someone finding out about her and if she had to she would stay as a man for the rest of her life.