Kapitel 7: Chapter Seven: Dancing Monkey
PROCESSING DEATH ISN'T SOMETHING THAT DELPIA IS necessarily used to. On Asgard, her people are known for living extremely long lives, compared to Midgardians. Hell, Delphia is hundreds of years old and her brothers were even older than that. That's why they are considered gods. She's never had such a connection with a Midgardian as Abraham, and she knew that she would have to say goodbye to him sooner or later. She would live a far longer life than him but having him tragically ripped from her was far too much. He should have died a peaceful death, years later. Not now, after he just accomplished the one thing that he has spent most of his life trying to perfect.
She's known people who have died. Death is not something that you just can avoid, it's a part of life. Though there were so few that they barely even registered for her. Not only that but they were mainly when she was a child, a time that she doesn't remember completely. Her dreams and visions are also littered with the loss of life from time to time. Though they were short glimpses of people she did not know, and they were short, peaceful deaths. It wasn't until her… traumatic vision that brought her to Midgard that she was faced with seeing such horrid deaths. It was terrible having to see all of that. However, the guttural feeling of loss was overshadowing that at the moment.
Delphia currently sat on a bed, recovering from her wound. Thankfully the bullet had shot right through her shoulder and didn't hit any major arteries. So all that had to be done was to make sure that the bleeding stopped and to do a blood transfusion. Problem was, there was no way Delphia was going to let that happen. She's already had enough experience with people poking and prodding her in a lab. Not only that but if they were to try and transfuse blood into her or examine her own blood, they would find irregularities. The last thing she needed was for questions to be asked about her origin and the fact that she's not Midgardian.
So after keeping herself awake, she begged and pleaded with Peggy to keep them from treating her. As she was carted to the hospital, she tried to get her friend to just have them bandage her up and then let her rest. She's Asgardian, Delphia is able to regenerate and recover much faster than a Midgardian. So that's all she needed at the moment.
After arguing with Peggy over it, Delphia eventually got her way. All the nurses and Doctors at the SSR were allowed to do was clean her wound, stitch it up and bandage her. She was strictly told to stay in bed because they figured that she would be weak due to the blood loss and was monitored closely. Of course, she's used to having someone watch her every move so it didn't matter to her.
She was able to recover quick enough for her fair complexion to come back and for her healthy glow to appear. It baffled the doctors how she seemed to get better so fast, but they were more than happy to see it happen when they barely treated her. It certainly was against their advice to not go through with treatment, but they couldn't force it upon her if she vehemently denied it.
Peggy certainly wasn't happy with her though. Delphia had gotten a bit of a scolding from her for a bit. Much like a child would from their mother, which Delphia certainly felt like. Well, it didn't last long because Peggy knew that Delphia was drained, they all were. After that attack, and Abraham's death, everyone needed to recoup after it.
Delphia was quiet. She tried to keep herself together, but she was slowly starting to fall apart. After all, one of her closest friends on Midgard had just been murdered right in front of her. He died right next to her. Nobody was expecting her to keep herself together after all of this.
Whenever she did speak, her voice was even softer than normal as her eyes seemed to have permanent tears in them. It seemed like she was always on the verge of bursting out into sobs. Though no one would really blame her if she did all of a sudden. She was the closest person to the doctor. If anything, everyone believed the two to be father and daughter. Though that might not be true due to Abraham having a heavy German accent and Delphia having a light British one. Still the sentiment was there. They were close enough to act like a family. Delphia would certainly be the most broken up about his death.
It wasn't that much of a surprise that after his check up, Steve asked where he could find her. After being given directions to her recovery room he instantly headed over there. It was a bit strange to Steve to do just that. After all, he had suddenly grown a few good feet and was now a bit faster while walking. What the procedure had done to him was both amazing and terrifying. On one hand it was a miracle that the procedure even worked and showed a promising outlook for the future of the allied powers. Though it was a bit scary. Steve had gotten what he had wanted, the opportunity to be accepted into the army. Not only that but he also now had the proper ability to be something greater, to really make an impact with what had been done to him.
Though before he could focus on that, he was more worried about Delphia. Slowly, he entered the room where he saw his friend staring longly out the window. He admired her, even while depressed she still looked beautiful. Her long hair was cascading down and around her shoulders as her soulful hazel eyes stared out at the grey sky.
He swallowed thickly at the sorrow he could feel coming off of her. Steve softly knocked on the door leading into her room, though Delphia didn't really even turn her attention to him. Obviously, she is far too into her thoughts to really notice someone. Perhaps she believed it was another doctor instead of Steve. Peggy has already told him about the line of doctors that have been checking up on her because of her wound. Yeah, Steve wasn't exactly happy to hear about how badly she got hurt or that she refused treatment.
The new super-soldier slowly walked into the room and cleared his throat, trying to alert her to his presence which ended up getting her to glance away from the window. Delphia smiled slightly once she saw it was her good friend and turned fully to face him. Despite her smile, he could see the sadness in her eyes that shone through her tears. That expression on her face, it was one that he did not like at all.
Slowly, Steve walked over to her and sat down in the chair next to her bed. He didn't really know what to do now. After all, he himself was still processing the death of their good friend as well.
"I'm glad that you're okay," was the first thing that he said, really the only thing that he could think of saying.
"And I you, Steven." Her softer than normal voice said, "The experiment worked. Abraham was so proud, I could just tell from how elated he looked." Delphia's voice cracked slightly, but she tried to pass it off as a clearing of her throat.
Steve nodded his head, "He put a lot of work into the serum."
"Yes," She agreed, "Not only that, but that the man he chose was a good man. He would be so proud of you, Steven."
Steve swallowed at that and looked away from her soft, sorrowful expression. "Abraham was a good man."
"One of the best men I have had the pleasure of knowing."
He then cleared his throat, "Are you sure that you're okay? Peggy told me you were shot, and refused treatment." Steve pinned her with a bit of a disapproving stare. If she had been as hurt as Peggy had described to him, then she should be in surgery or recovering from being shot. After finding out that she had been shot, he thought the worst, even more so when she said Delphia didn't want help from the doctors.
"I am fine," she tried to brush it off, "it was not that bad. I healed quite fast after all." She certainly wasn't going to tell him that she just heals from trivial wounds like that fast because she's not human. That would be stupid on her part.
"If I knew-"
Delphia chuckled a bit, though it did sound quite watery thanks to her sadness, "You most likely would have forced me to be checked over by the doctors."
"Of course!" There was no question in his mind that he would have done that.
Delphia shook her head, "You are not my father, you know." Though if Odin did know that she was hurt, the man who shot her would have suffered a horrible death at his own hand. Odin is protective over his youngest daughter after all. Hopefully Heimdall didn't report anything to her family about it. Considering the bifrost hadn't been activated and an Asgardian army wasn't on Midgard now, she had a feeling that he hadn't done that.
The two dissolved into some more light hearted conversation topics. While they were still in mourning over Abraham, they both knew he would hate for them to be so depressed for too long. Though leave it to Steve to help brighten Delphia's mood even a little bit. While for a bit Steve did chastise her for not getting treatment, he figured that she knew what she was doing.
Still it was nice to have just the two of them talking with each other. For just a moment, a small moment, they could talk calmly with each other and pretend that things weren't as chaotic as they were. Or think about how things were most likely going to change now with their friend gone.
---
In the SSR lab, Senator Brandt was following Colonel Phillips around the room. Meanwhile, in the middle of the room the Hydra submarine that had been recovered from the spy who had committed suicide was hanging up for examination.
"Colonel Phillips," Senator Brandt huffed, "my committee is demanding answers."
"Great. Why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret installation in your car?" He then turned to Tony Stark, who stood besides the submarine examining it thoroughly,"What have we got here?"
The genius shook his head, "Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country." He knocked on the metal of the machinery, "But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology."
"Then who is?" Senator Brandt asked.
"HYDRA," Phillips explained, "I'm sure you've been reading our briefings."
"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel."
"HYDRA is the Nazi deep science division," Peggy explained as she walked up to the group. She came to stand next to Delphia and tried to give her some sort of silent support. Support that was much appreciated by the goddess. "It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions."
Phillips continued, "HYDRA's practically a cult. They worship Schmidt, they think he's invincible."
The senator shrugged his shoulders, not really understanding where this was going, "So what are you gonna do about it?"
"Spoke to the president this morning. As of today the SSR is being retasked," He walked up to Peggy.
She stared at him in confusion, "Colonel?"
"We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags Agent Carter. You too, Stark. You're flying to London tonight."
Steve then stepped up to him before the colonel could walk off. "Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in."
"You're an experiment." He said shortly, "You're going to Alamogordo."
"The serum worked," He said firmly, a tad bit of confusion in his tone. Why would he be kept away from the fighting when the whole point of his existence was to fight on the front lines?
The older man shook his head and gruffly said, "I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough."
Delphia's eyebrows furrowed. She certainly didn't like Steve being kept out of combat. After all, it's what Steve had been training to do. It's what Abraham had wanted his work to go towards. So it didn't sit right with her that he wanted to just keep Steve on the sidelines. All that work that her good friend had put into the serum, all that research he did, all that training that Steve went through, and Phillips just wanted to let it go to waste.
She sighed heavily and approached the colonel, "And what of me?"
The colonel looked down at the woman and scoffed, "What about you?"
"Where am I to go, Colonel?" Delphia questioned.
"Back home, ma'am." He stiffly stated. "We know that you were the Doctor's assistant, but besides that you don't have any other credentials. You're lucky that you were allowed to stick around so much. Unless you know how to remake the serum, you can't help much, can you?" Delphia deflated hearing that. Phillips seemed to notice the way she slumped down slightly. In a rare moment of humility, the colonel bowed his head to her and softly said, "I'm sorry." He then marched off to leave her to ponder her options.
"Home?" She couldn't go home, not yet. Firstly, she had to see that this war is finished as quickly as possible. Her good friend was taken from her by the enemy and she wants to see them defeated. Delphia isn't the type of person for revenge, but these monsters need to be stopped. Secondly, the visions that she saw have to be played out.
Whenever Delphia has a vision, they're set in stone. There's no arguing with anyone about how or when these visions must happen. They will happen no matter what and Delphia has to see them through, especially since she saw her own involvement in them. So it's not a question as to whether or not she's going home. Delphia must stay and see it through. Then after she'll return home...
Senator Brandt then stepped forward, "With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point." The senator stepped up to Steve with his large political smile plastered on his wrinkled face, "I've seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country's seen it. Paper." His aide then gave them a newspaper with Steve's heroic action delayed on it. The senator seemed to be more than ecstatic to talk about this. "The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands. You don't take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"
The new super-soldier puffed out his chest, "Sir, that's all I want."
"Then, congratulations," he shook Steve's hand, "You just got promoted."
---
The promotion that Steve got wasn't exactly what he was expecting. Instead of going out to war like he had wanted, he was used as a propaganda tool. Used to try and sell war bonds to the country. While it wasn't what he had wanted to do, it's still technically helping out the war, right? At least, that's what his new manager had been telling him repeatedly.
However, there is one upside to this. Since the SSR didn't really want nor need Delphia around anymore, Steve was able to get her to join him on his tour. So while they traveled across the country, him performing the same routine over and over again, she was there. No, she wasn't a dancer, to the manager's dismay(He really thought that she could certainly sell a few war bonds with how she could use her beauty to their advantage. Though both she and Steve disagreed with that idea.). She just travels with them. Really, that was the only way that Steve had agreed to this, to allow Delphia to come along with them. Really the last thing he wanted was to see Delphia go home.
He knows that she didn't necessarily have anything else tying her to the United States. Since she didn't have Abraham to help any longer, there wasn't really much else for her to stay for. He would hope that given the opportunity, she would want to stay for him, so he offered it to her. Of course, she said yes to it. Something that certainly made Steve more than ecstatic.
On the sidelines of the repetitive song and dance, Delphia was supportive of her good friend. She's more than aware that he didn't want to do something like this. Delphia also knows that Abraham's work has far more potential than just being a mascot for some war.
During all this time, the two grew closer together. They joked and laughed with each other after Steve's silly show, had heartfelt conversations about their lives before they met(Delphia left out the part about her being from Asgard, obviously), and they
The fact that Steve had become an American icon wasn't all that bad. If Steve had to be honest, he quite liked some of the attention that he received. The way that children looked up to him and saw him as this big hero, was quite exciting. No one knew who he was only a few months ago, and now he was a household name. The fame didn't necessarily go to his head. Steve is a humble man. He's just doing his duty for the war, at least what he could. Though there was nothing wrong with being proud of your work a bit.
However, after performing all of those shows around the United States, it was a bit jarring to be basically booed off the stage by the soldiers that Steve had to perform for. He had been brought to Italy for a show much like he had been for the last few months. Though this time he was performing for soldiers and not just a crowd of civilians. So his presence wasn't exactly that well received by them.
After having tomatoes thrown at him and mooned by one of the guys, Steve now sat on the edge of the stage. Rain fell down from the sky as he drew a cartoon in his sketchbook. It was of a monkey dressed up as him riding a unicycle. Obviously, he saw himself as nothing more than a dancing monkey, not a soldier. Though why wouldn't he. He hadn't actually gotten to see any combat since he had been left on the sidelines. So why wouldn't he see himself as that. Just a monkey told to dance and sell bonds for the war that he couldn't get to fight in.
Delphia approached his slumped over form and sighed heavily. She gracefully placed herself to sit next to him and didn't say anything. She knew that he was upset about today, even just a little bit. She's spent so much time with him now that she just seemed to know what he was feeling at times. Delphia noticed little things now, the twitch of his eyebrow or the small down turn of his lips that indicated he was sad. They had just gotten that close it seemed. Though she couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
They didn't say anything for a while as Delphia just watched him sketch. Eventually, Steve sighed as he paused his drawing, "That didn't really go as planned."
Delphia nodded her head, "Well, they are soldiers already, there is no need for propaganda to be fed to them about the war when they themselves are already living it."
"I guess you're right," he understood that. He didn't need to convince them of anything. They were already volunteers for the war, already putting themselves on the line to fight. So what would they care about Captain America? Especially if he wasn't an actual soldier who had seen combat.
Delphia, seeing the dull look in his eyes, leaned against his side trying to give him some sort of comfort. "I know at the moment things are not that bright, however, I have no doubt that the future shall become better."
"You think so?" Steve asked her and glanced down at her. He seemed to be searching her face for something as he asked her, "Do you think I'll be a... hero?"
Delphia stared at him in disbelief at the question. She didn't know why he was questioning it. Sure he wasn't fighting like the other soldiers, however, she knew that he had become a hero in his own right. She softly placed a hand on his bicep, "A hero is not someone who has just brute strength and agility but also a smart mind, expansive knowledge, and a kind heart." She gave Steve a meaningful look with a soft smile, "I believe that you have all of those qualities." He may not be a soldier like he had planned, but he's doing what he can. "You are meant for great things, Steven. I know it."
The man flushed slightly at her compliment and couldn't help himself but smile. Her words certainly gave him courage and uplifted him. Since the performance he had been thinking that he wasn't much of a hero since he's not fighting like plenty of the other men on the front lines and such. Though if she saw him as a hero, then he'd at least believe it.
"Hello, Steve, Delphia." A voice said from behind them.
The two turned at the voice and looked up in surprise to see that it was Peggy who had approached them. It was quite the surprise considering she wasn't supposed to be in Italy, at all.
"Hi," Steve greeted her with quite a bit of shock.
Delphia stood up and approached her good friend for a hug. She hadn't seen Peggy in quite some time since the agent had still been with the SSR while Delphia had been with Steve all this time. They had tried to keep in some form of contact, but that was somewhat hard with both of them traveling so much.
Peggy laughed at the delicate hug Delphia gave her, "I miss you, Delphia."
"It is wonderful to see you, Peggy." Delphia said happily, the smile growing on her face quite large and blinding the other woman.
Steve smiled at the interaction, happy to see Delphia more than excited to see Peggy. He questioned her, "What are you doin' here?"
The agent laughed, "Officially I'm not here at all. That was quite a performance."
The propaganda tool looked away, "Yeah. Uh… I had to improvise a little bit. Crowds I'm used to are usually more uh… twelve."
"I understand you're "America's New Hope"?"
"Bond sales take a ten percent bump in every state I visit," Steve said as if reciting a script, which he most likely was.
"Is that Senator Brandt I hear?" Peggy raised an eyebrow.
"At least he's got me doin' this." Steve sighed out, "Phillips would have had me stuck in lab."
"And these are your only two options? A lab rat or a dancing monkey? You were meant for more than this, you know?" Delphia nodded her head along with that, basically having said the same thing not even two minutes ago. It looked as though Steve was about to say something but he hesitated, "What?"
Steve shook his head, "You know for the longest time I dreamed about coming overseas and being on the front lines. Serving my country. I finally get everything I wanted, and I'm wearing tights." They then heard a car horn which was an ambulance dropping off some injured soldiers. "They look like they've been through hell."
Peggy sighed, "These men more than most. Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him and less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the one-oh-seventh." Both Steve and Delphia perked up at that, recognizing the unit number instantly. "The rest were killed or captured."
"The one-oh-seventh?" Steve asked urgently.
Peggy looked at the two in a bit of confusion, "What?"
Without saying much, Steve and Delphia quickly got up and started to run through the rain. Of course, Steve made sure to give Delphia his jacket to use as cover from the downpour of rain. "Come on!" The trio ran through the rain into a tent. Sitting at the desk signing some letters, which were all condolence letters for the men lost during the war. "Colonel Phillips."
The colonel looked up with a sigh, "Well, if it isn't the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan. And what is your plan today?"
"I need the casualty list from Azzano," Steve got right to business.
Phillips stared at him in annoyance, "You don't get to give me orders, son."
"Please, colonel. Just one name," Delphia pleaded, earning his attention. After all, her alluringly soft voice damn near warranted his attention, well just about anyone's attention.
"Sergeant James Barnes from the hundred and seventh." Steve said.
Phillips disregarded them again and turned to Peggy with a stern finger pointed at her. "You and I are gonna have a conversation later that you won't enjoy."
"Please tell me if he's alive, sir." Steve tried again, growing a bit fed up that he wasn't just doing as he asked, "B-A-R…"
"I can spell." He gruffly said and took a moment. He then got up from his seat, his demeanor changing just a bit as he thought back to all those missing men. "I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."
Delphia squeezed Steve's arm in comfort. She has heard plenty of stories about his best friend, Bucky. About all the times that Steve would get himself into trouble and Bucky would have to fight his bullies for him. All the fun they would have while living in New York. She found their friendship so endearing and heartwarming. Hearing how Bucky is so much like a brother to Steve was quite lovely to hear from him. So to hear that Bucky was missing and possibly dead… It's just horrible.
Steve swallowed thickly at that and took a moment to collect himself. He looked up, "What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?"
"Yeah!" Phillips said, "It's called winning the war."
"But if you know where they are, why not at least…?"
He was cut off by the colonel, "They're thirty miles behind the lines. Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that, because you're a chorus girl."
Steve's expression hardened, "I think I understand just fine."
"Well then understand it somewhere else." Phillips said snarkily, "If I read the posters correctly, you got some place to be in thirty minutes."
Delphia bit her lip to keep herself from saying something that might end up with her being reprimanded. Though the way that Phillips just dismissed Steve so easily certainly set a fire in her belly. After all, he wasn't just some civilian who didn't understand how war worked. He's trained for quite some time to be a soldier. Even though he hasn't seen combat doesn't mean he understands. Besides, it's Phillips' fault that Steve hasn't been on the front lines.
Phillips turned away, obviously having other more important matters to focus on than talking to a propaganda tool. Steve stood there with a stoic expression on his face, "Yes, sir." He finally said, "I do." With that, he stomped out of the tent, a determined expression on his face which could only mean one thing. He was going to take things into his own hands.
"If you two have something to say," The colonel then said, directing it to Peggy and Delphia, "right now is the perfect time to keep it to yourself.
Oh, how Delphia had quite a few words for him. She may not be a soldier in this war or hasn't been one in any war, but she knows strategy. She knows war tactics and she knows never to dismiss something or someone that may be an advantage. She's grown up with Thor's brunt force approach and Loki's thought out plans. Delphia likes to think that she has picked up a few things when it comes to wars. Though being on Midgard, she knows that they wouldn't really value the opinion of a woman like they might on Asgard. Especially since she was princess. Though it's not like anyone on Midgard knows, besides the people she certainly doesn't want to know about her true identity.
So she just kept her mouth shut, as instructed, and stormed out of the tent after her friend. She already knew that he was going to go on a solo mission, and she certainly wasn't going to let that happen.
The two women found Steve quickly packing up a bag in a tent. "What do you plan to do?" Peggy asked him, "Walk to Austria?"
"If that's what it takes," he said firmly, obviously nothing was going to persuade him to do anything else.
"You heard the Colonel, your friend is most likely dead."
"We do not know for sure, Peggy," Delphia defended. "Like you said, some were captured, James may be among those men."
Peggy shook her head, now seeing that Delphia was agreeing with him. Though she still found it absurd for them to think this. "Even so, he's devising a strategy. If he detects…"
"By the time he's done that, it could be too late!" He exclaimed before marching out towards a jeep and hoping into it.
"While I agree with you, Steven," Delphia started to say, "you need a plan of attack. There is no plausible way that you can get across enemy lines without some sort of help."
She certainly thinks that Steve is in the right here. Leaving those men on their own isn't right in her mind. If there is even a small amount of belief that those men are still alive, then they should at least try to ensure their safety. However, she doesn't want Steve to go without thinking something through.
He turned to her with a desperate gleam in his eyes, "You told me you thought I was meant for greatness. Did you mean that?"
She nodded her head firmly, "Of course!"
"Then you gotta let me go."
Delphia smirked, "I have no qualms with you going, though I would rather you did not go alone."
Seeing the determined expression in Steve's eyes and the fact that Delphia wasn't going to back down either, she knew there was no way to persuade them otherwise. She nodded her head firmly, already having an idea on what to do next, "I can also help you a bit."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein