Lieutenant - Daughter of the Captain

Chapter 8.0 - Lieutenant

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked after a few moments of awkward silence. The blonde girl across from him sat straight in her chair, her hands resting in her lap.

"I feel fine," she said, but after a short pause she spoke up again, "Actually, I feel great. Whatever they were pumping me with really hyped my immune system," She added honestly, trying to show some form of transparency.

Steve looked at her, but she didn't look back. She continued inspecting the room all through her sentence, and when she had nothing else to look at, she inspected her hands.

Steve sighed, "That's good, is that... normal? For you, I mean?" He asked, unsure of how to word his questions.

She raised a brow, "Actually, no. Hydra kept me on a pretty strict diet," Steve flinched slightly at her casual reference to the people who made her, "They uh, they wanted to make sure I could perform my best in the worst of conditions," she finished.

She tried to offer as much as she could but found it hard to avoid blurting out information with no rhyme or reason to it. Being alone in a room with the super-soldier she had heard about her entire life was...effecting her. She wasn't sure how to counteract it.

Steve just nodded in response. He wasn't sure what they were supposed to talk about, now that they were actually faced to face.

"I wanted to meet you..." she blurted, shocking both of them. Steve recovered first.

"What did they tell you about me?" He asked, genuinely curious.

She sighed, "They told me everything, the serum, the drastic physical changes, the war...the fall of Hydra back in the '40s..." she trailed off, meeting his eyes.

"What is it?" He said softly, noticing her sudden hesitation.

She stared at him, subconsciously she was nervous. She was created to bring Hydra back to life, back to its former glory. Now she was sat in front of the man who had taken it down in the first place.

She felt her nerves, her hesitation, almost like she was afraid of this man knowing what she was meant to be...

She subconsciously sought his approval.

And she hated it.

"I was titled The Phoenix project. That's how they referred to me. I was meant to rise out of the ashes of my predecessors' failure, and build a new Hydra. A better one, a Stronger one..." She fell back into her cold facade. She stared straight into his eyes, "...one that couldn't be destroyed by one man,"

Steve felt her attempt at intimidation. The dark look in her eyes was enough to make anyone uneasy. But he could tell it wasn't sincere. It was forced, surface-level. Her mannerisms had changed so abruptly, it made it difficult for him to believe her. 

"But you left?" He prodded, steering the conversation in a different direction. She noticed, sensing his skepticism. 

Allowing the subject change, she nodded, "I learned about the world, and what they want to do to it..." She paused, choosing her words, "I realized it was in my best interest to not be a part of their plot,"

Steve felt a strange sense of pride for the girl. She had been given life by these people, yet she found the courage to disagree with them, and then do something about it. 

"Why S.HE.I.L.D.? Why come here?" He asked, earning a look from the girl. She stared at him like he was crazy, before scoffing. 

"What other choice did I have?" She started, "I need S.H.E.I.L.D.'s resources, without them I'm left surviving on scraps and running from one of the most deadly organizations ever known," The girl's eyes trailed away, suddenly remembering the kind Grecian woman she met in her travels.