บท 4: Chapter Four: Training
IN THE ISOLATED REACHES OF THE ALPS mountains, Hydra's base was filled with hundreds of soldiers running around trying to please their leader, Johann Schmit. The dreaded man who had made it his life's purpose to locate what he considered the end most powerful object that could end the war and ensure his victory. The Tesseract. Of course, he was able to find it eventually. After having to deal with an uncooperative princess and the betrayal of his last lead scientist, it made it even more satisfying to have the glowing cub within his possession.
He marched into one of the rooms that had many different machines decorating it. "Are you ready, Dr. Zola?"
"My machine requires the most delicate calibration." The stocky, balding scientist said to his superior while looking over his machine. The man, Dr. Arnim Zola, was the newest lead scientist for HYDRA. After Dr. Abraham Erskine had escaped with Princess Delphia, Johann had been furious. He instantly searched for the next best scientist who he could have complete control over. He certainly didn't want to have a repeat of his previous failure. "Forgive me if I seem overcautious."
Johann looked over some of the research that they had gathered about his most prized possession. He addressed the scientist with a drawl, "And are you certain that those conductors of yours can withstand the energy surge long enough for a transference?"
"With this artifact, I am certain of nothing." Dr. Zola turned to face his superior. "I fear it may not work at all."
Johann pulled out the box that he had acquired from Norway. He and Dr. Zola stared at it as he opened it up to allow the brilliant blue light of the Tesseract to pour out of it. The two were mesmerized by the cube and transfixed on it for a moment as Johann pick the cub up with a claw and placed it in the machine.
Dr. Zola turned the machine on, "Twenty percent. Forty. Sixty. Stabilizing at 70%."
Johann marched over to Zola and pushed him out of the way to take control. "I have not come all this way for safety, Doctor." Unlike Zola who had some restraint and common sense to make sure that the Tesseract was kept at a safe power level, Johann turned everything up to the maximum.
Bold blue lightning started to seep through the machine as well as the room which caused the two men to back up in slight fear. Something close to a distorted scream echoed in the room before the machine appeared to short circuit.
"What is that?" The short doctor asked in awe and slight fear once things became calm again.
Johann caught sight of the machine that his scientist was able to build and turned the man towards it. "I must congratulate you, Arnim." They had successfully collected the power from the Tesseract just like they wanted. "Your designs do not disappoint. Though they may require some slight reinforcement."
Excitement started to bubble up in the short man who stared at his creation. "The exchange is stable. Amazing! The energy we have just collected could power my design, all my designs. This will change the war."
Johann shook his head at his words. "Dr. Zola, this will change the world."
---
"Margret Carter?" A soft voice asked over the orders that were barked out around the army training camp.
The brunette woman who spoke elegantly glided through one of the offices of the camp. Each step she took in her flats drew the attention of every man who was trying to do their work. Her beauty was proving to be a large distraction to everyone, though it wasn't like they were complaining.
A different brunette woman turned around at the sound of her name. Agent Carter, a spit-fire of a woman, raised an eyebrow as she turned to the other woman. "Yes?"
Delphia smiled kindly, "I am Delphia, Dr. Erskine's assistant. He told me that I would be looking over the new cadets with you."
"Oh," her ruby lips pulled up in a small smile as they shook hands, "yes, I remember." The princess nodded her head and gestured behind her to head out. Peggy followed her as the two walked out of the office and into the hallway. "I'm glad that there's another woman around to deal with these men."
Delphia agreed, "Oh, yes. I am as well, I do not think I would be able to handle being one of the only ones."
The two of them chuckled together as they started to make their way out of the building. It was a good thing that another woman was around for each of them. There were a few women, but they were mainly the nurses who looked after the injured but even then there weren't even a dozen of them.
However, after Delphia was told that there was going to be another woman looking over the cadets, she was overjoyed. Not only has she been cooped up in her quarters for a while, but she hasn't had a woman to talk to in quite some time. She could already tell that she and Peggy were going to be the best of friends.
Delphia flashed her a dazzling smile, "Now, shall we go meet the boys?"
---
A line of uniform-clad men mingled together as they waited to be addressed by a superior. Among them, Steve Rogers waited patiently and silently. He was not like the other men who were large, buff, and tall, obviously. He was dwarfed by them due to his
"Recruits, attention!" The British woman shouted which certainly got all of the men's attention effectively. Peggy and Delphia approached the line of men and surveyed them with critical eyes. However, Delphia was a tad bit more curious than Peggy was. After all, this was one of the first times that she was actually seeing what a Midgardian army really looked like. She has seen what the Asgardian army is like along with how the warriors fought. That was mainly due to her friendship with Sif and the warrior three along with Thor's insistence about teaching her some fighting tactics. "Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter. This is Delphia. We supervise all operations for this division."
"What's with the accent, Queen Victoria?" One of the soldiers decided to ask. "Thought I was signing up for the U.S. Army."
Peggy and Delphia shared a glance with each other and seemed to have a silent conversation. "What is your name?" Delphia asked him sweetly.
He faltered for a second at her striking beauty before his smirk consumed his entire face. "Gilmore Hodge, your Majesty."
Peggy walked towards the line and nearly scowled at him, "Step forward, Hodge." He did as told with a smug smile. As she stood a few feet behind Peggy, Delphia knew that she did not like this man at all. "Put your right foot forward."
"Mmm…" He hummed smugly, "We gonna wrassle? Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."
He didn't get to even get to chuckle at his innuendo before Peggy punched him in the face. The other men snickered at Hodge's unluckiness. It wasn't every day that you met a woman as feisty as Peggy Carter, and she was certainly going to make it known to all that she wouldn't be messed with. Delphia snickered from behind her hand. She didn't usually like violence but she was certainly amused by the scene in front of her.
"Agent Carter." A man called as he climbed out of a truck and approached the collection of soldiers.
"Colonel Phillips." The two women chimed and turned to their superior.
"I see you're breaking in the candidates. That's good!" He nodded his head at the other woman who returned the gesture. "Delphia." He then looked down at the soldier who had been punched. "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention 'til somebody comes tells you what to do."
Gilmore sniffed as blood started to come out of his nose. With his pride wounded and after being put in his place, he nodded his head, "Yes, sir."
The Colonel started as he walked up the line of fresh meat and assessed them with a critical eye. "General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men…" He paused when he came to the scrawny Steve Rogers. He shared a look with Abraham who just raised an eyebrow. The colonel swallowed thickly and continued, "And because they're gonna get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they, will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell."
---
Weeks started to go by. Days blurred together as the new cadets continued with their training. The cadets went through their basic training which included a few different obstacle courses. Though throughout this time, some of the soldiers decided to pick on Steve as much as they wanted. Laughing at him when he failed certain tasks or making sure that he was trapped underneath some barbed wire, which he currently was.
"Rogers!" Sergeant Duffy shouted in frustration as she stormed over to the course, "Get that rifle out of the mud!"
Delphia watched from the sideline as the scrawny man was reprimanded and pulled out from underneath the wire. She sighed heavily and put her journal down. The way they treated Steve was dishonorable, she thought. Every man deserved a chance to prove himself, and she believed Steve has done that plenty of times. Despite being smaller and a sickly, he still tried to keep up with the others. Didn't that deserve at least a little bit of respect?
Yet the others still looked down on him for his small stature and obvious physical disabilities. She hated that. Delphia hasn't seen this before, most likely due to her not being around armies that much besides with her brothers and friends. The princess knew that there were people like this, bullies, but she hoped that these men would be better than this.
She turned to Peggy, "I am going to check on Steven." Peggy gave her a knowing smirk and nodded her head as Delphia walked off without barely giving her a second look. If the agent didn't know any better, she would say that her new friend was more attached to the man than she might believe. However, Peggy would keep her mouth shut for now.
Delphia walked over to Steve as he tried to readjust his uniform and check if he had gotten cut. He found that he did have minor scratches on the side of his face and hands. Steve would need to get those cleaned up soon.
"Steven," the angelic voice that he had come to love spoke. The soldier turned to find Delphia walking over to him. Despite having to wear a similar outfit to Peggy, a standard uniform for the woman, he still thought that she was breathtaking. Honestly, she would look beautiful in anything. "I think I should take you to get your injuries looked at, yes?"
Steve spared Sargent Duffy a glance who nodded his head begrudgingly to the agreement. With a toothy-white smile likes hers, it was hard to say no to her. Delphia then leads Steve away from the muddy obstacle course as they tried to get back to either the infirmary or the barracks. The soldier shook his head, "y-you don't have to-"
Delphia pursed her lips, "nonsense. It is my duty to look after you, after all." This was included in her job, yes? Making sure that Steve was looked after and cared for. After all, they couldn't have their test subject hurt before the actual experiment, that's what she justified her actions with. Steve could have gone to get checked up on his own, or even continued on with his training, but Delphia knew she had to step in. Not only to get Steve as far away from those bullies but also to ensure that he was alright.
The two walked over to the infirmary building and idly chatted with each other. Over the course of the few weeks that they've known each other, the two had become relatively good friends. Then again, Delphia was friends with just about everyone she met. Though there was no doubt that she was closest to Abraham, Peggy, and Steve. Though she seemed to be Steve's only friend at the base, seeing as most people looked down on him. Honestly, he was grateful for Delphia... and Abraham of course, he couldn't forget about him. They were the reason that he was given this change, after all.
"Ah, there you two are!" A bubbly woman dressed in a nurse's outfit said as they came into the infirmary. A small number of soldiers with sprains and small cuts sat on some beds that were around the room. The nurse who approached them smiled widely at the two. Her wavy red hair swayed around her shoulders like a river as she ushered them over to one of the beds with enthusiasm. Her eyes, which were a swirling shade of hazel, gleamed in a knowing way as she maneuvered Steve onto one of the beds and started to look him over. "Now, then, a few cuts will be easy to fix!"
The princess stared at the nurse in confusion. She had never seen this woman before, and Delphia was certain that she knew just about every woman in the camp. Then again she could be someone new and just started working here recently. However, there was something in the way that the red-haired woman stared at both her and Steve with that was... strange. "What is your name, miss?"
The woman's smile seemed to grow even wider as she stared at Delphia with a spark of admiration in her eyes. "Jennifer, ma'am. But that's not important! I suspect you want to look over Mr. Rogers." Delphia nodded her head slowly with a raised eyebrow. Wasn't the nurse suppose to be the one to do this? "Awesome! You do that, you know, take care of him, 'cause that's what you do, what you always do. Nice to meet you two!" The nurse rambled out without taking a breath before grabbing some supplies and handing them to Delphia. The redhead then hopped away and left Steve and Delphia by themselves.
Steve watched the weird woman go with furrowed eyebrows, "that was a little..."
"Odd?" Delphia giggled as she started to use the supplies that Jennifer had given her to fix up the cuts on Steve's cheek. The man hissed slightly when she pressed a cotton ball covered in alcohol to a cut, which she quickly apologized for. She made quick work with cleaning up Steve and making sure that the cuts that were worse than the others were bandaged up. Her movements were graceful and it was quite obvious that she was used to having to do this.
"You're pretty good at this, huh?" Steve asked as she put the supplies down.
"Yes," Delphia nodded her head, "my brothers and friends have a tendency to get injuries, you see. It only makes scenes that I learned how to heal them when they got hurt."
She reminisced for a minute as she remembered the many times that she has had to heal either Thor or Loki(Mostly Thor) after a battle or stitch up Sif or the warrior three. Though Delphia was quite certain that the only reason Fandral wanted to be healed by her was to try and charm her in some way. That man could not just give up, no matter how much she persisted she was not interested. A bittersweet smile came to her lips. She missed them, she missed them all terribly.
She longed to see her home again after so long. Delphia wanted to see her glittering palace once again, wanted to laugh with her friends, and stop any fights that may come between Thor and Loki. After nearly over two years, Delphia was thoroughly homesick.
Steve frowned slightly as he saw the look in her eyes. With quite a bit of hesitation, he placed a hand on her arm to try and comfort her. He didn't know much about her life, admittedly. They have grown close, yes. However, Delphia was, surprisingly, a secretive woman. She kept to herself most of the time and hadn't divulged much of her past to him. Though it's not like he needed to know about her home, and it was obviously a bit painful for her to talk about. So he left it alone, for now.
Delphia cleared her throat, "shall we head back to your training, Steven?"
The soldier nodded his head before jumping off of the bed, "yeah, I guess." They walked out of the infirmary building and didn't even notice the hazel eyes following after them as Jennifer started to scribble in a small black journal she held in her hands. An enthusiastic smile on her lips as she watched the pair leave.
---
"Pick up the pace, ladies!" Sergeant Duffy shouted as he jogged alongside the cadets. At the back of the pack, Steve did his best to try and keep up with them. Though he certainly wouldn't give up during this training exercise. He had to prove to everyone that he was just as capable as the other men. Just because he was a scrawnier man didn't mean he was much less of a soldier. "Let's go! Double time! Come on! Faster! Faster! Move! Move!" He shouted at them as they approached a flagpole. "Squad, halt!" They all came to a stop as Steve was grateful for the small break. He leaned against his knees and tried to catch his breath. Seargent Duffy pointed at the flagpole. "That flag means we're only at the halfway point. First man to bring it to me gets a ride back with Agent Carter. Move, move!"
All of the men, sans Steve, jumped towards the pole and started to fight each other to get to it. "Come on! Get up there!" They fought and pushed against each other to be the one to get it. After all, who wouldn't like to take a break from all this running and get to take a ride with a pair of lovely ladies?
"If that's all you got, this army's in trouble! Get up there, Hodge! Come on! Get up there! Nobody's got that flag in 17 years! Now fall back into line! Come on, fall in! Let's go! Get back into formation!" In defeat, all of the men listened and fell back into their previous formation, except for scrawny Steve. "Rogers! I said fall in!" Steve still ignored him and leaned down to pull the pin out from the bottom of the pole. To everyone's astonishment, the pole tilted and fell to the ground.
Without gloating or boasting about his out of the box thinking, Steve simply walked up to the fallen flag and unclipped it. He picked it up and rolled it into his hands before handing it to Sergeant Duffy. "Thank you, sir." He climbed into the car next to Delphia and smiled tiredly at her which was reciprocated. The brunette woman turned down to her small leather-bound book to write something in her neat handwriting as the jeep drove off.
---
Later on, the group of cadets was doing push-ups as Peggy shouted at them. They all panted heavily as they did their best to keep up with her commands. "Faster, ladies! Come on. My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul. Move it!" The only one who was unable to keep up was Steve. Though he didn't give up, not at all.
Chester Phillips walked alongside Abraham as they approached the group of cadets. "You're not really thinking about picking Rogers, are you?"
He had been going on and on about allowing Steve into the army. The skinny kid couldn't do what the other could. With no strength to speak for, the Colonel thought that he wasn't the right pick for the program.
Abraham sighed, "I am more than just thinking about it. He is the clear choice."
"When you brought a ninety-pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe he'll be useful to you, like a gerbil. I never thought you'd pick him."
The two of them came to stand next to Delphia as she wrote down some observations in her small journal. She smiled at the two in greeting.
"Up," Peggy ordered the men as they began to do jumping jacks.
"You stick a needle in that kid's arm and it's gonna go right through him."
"Come on, girls," Peggy said as the men continued their exercises which drew their attention to a struggling Steve.
"Look at that." Chester pointed at the small man, "He's making me cry."
Abraham shook his head at the colonel's words, "I am looking for qualities beyond the physical."
Chester was obviously frustrated with the situation and sighed heavily, "Do you know how long it took to set up this project?"
"Yeah, I know."
"All the groveling I had to do in front of Senator What's-His-Name's committees?"
"Brandt. Yes, I know." He nodded his head, "I am well aware of your efforts."
"Then throw me a bone." The Colonel begged and gestured to one of the men who were far bigger than Steve, "Hodge passed every test we gave him. He's big, he's fast, he obeys orders. He's a soldier."
"He's a bully." Delphia turned from her writing and chimed in with her nose scrunched up in distaste.
"You don't win wars with niceness, ma'am." He sneered before turning to the boxes behind them. He pulled out a dummy grenade which caused Delphia to flinch slightly. "You win war with guts." He pulled the pin and threw it into the group of training soldiers, "Grenade!"
Everyone jumped away from the weapon in fear. They ducked and ran for cover to try and keep themselves alive. Though one man did not run. Instead, skinny, little Steve Rogers jumped into action and places himself right on top of the explosive.
"Get away!" The brave man shouted and waved away everyone else, "Get back!"
A few more seconds of tense silence passed before everyone let out a sigh of relief once they realized that there wasn't any real threat. "It was a dummy grenade." An officer called, "All clear. Back in formation."
Steve looked up stunned at Colonel Phillips, Delphia, and Abraham with wide eyes. "Is this is a test?"
The doctor smugly looked at Phillips who sulked. Delphia couldn't help herself but giggle at the colonel's failed attempt to prove them wrong. Steve was the right choice, not Hodge. She smiled sweetly at the stunned soldier which caused him to become flustered.
"He's still skinny," Phillips scowled before stomping off.
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