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"Why can't Carter do this one alone?" Morris Vanessa's Boyfriend asked. "Because Chief Dooley assigned us both the job. He has already promised we would be there" Vanessa said, packing her suitcase "Besides it won't take too long." She added knowing he would be impatient for her to come back. "I don't even know what you are supposed to do there” he complained again. He had acted insulted ever since she had gotten an assignment at the army and he was not allowed to know what it entailed. “You can ask Dooley again, but I doubt he will tell you. It was a secret assignment for a reason” she said, closing her suitcase. “Jones are you up there” a familiar voice called out “That is Carter, we are driving together. I will see you when I get back, I promise to write to you when I know more about when that will be” Vanessa said, kissing Morris goodbye on the cheek. She went downstairs to Peggy Carter, her partner at this assignment, and her long-time friend. “Hi Peggy” she said, looking at the woman who was tapping her foot impatiently. “Hi Vee. I have phoned for a cab; it should be here any moment” she said shoving her out the door. As she said, the cap arrived just as they got out on the sidewalk. Peggy told the Cap driver where to go and paid him upfront. The two women talked quietly to each other about their new assignment. “It is quite exciting right? I mean we got chosen to oversee who gets to be the first super soldier” Vanessa said. “Yeah, or we were just the only ones Chief Dooley could spare since we don’t get to do anything other than get the coffee and write the reports” Peggy said rolling her eyes. “Why are you always so negative Peggy? I think it will be fine. I mean the soldiers have to respect us right? Remember we are also the only ones with previous military experience, well except Thompson” Vanessa countered “I am not negative. I am just realistic.” Peggy answered. “Was Morris still mad that you had to leave this morning?” Peggy asked “Yeah he has been mad about ever since I got the assignment. I don’t know why” Vanessa fixed her collar on the jacket she had on. “Maybe he is just mad you have to be around a bunch of good-looking men, and he is scared you will realize you can do much better than him” Peggy said smiling. “Morris is kind to me. At least he used to be. You know when we first got together he would bring me a flower every morning for work” She said remembering when she first started working at the SSR. She had met Morris on her first day, and the second day a flower with a note attached to it was lying on her desk. She still had the note somewhere at home. “Yeah I remember, when was the last time he got you flowers of any kind? Or took you out on a date? Or just bought you a gift?” Peggy said, she had never really liked Morris. She had described him as a cheap guy only looking for someone that looked good and do all the domestic chores. Vanessa did not answer because she knew Peggy was right. The last time Morris had done anything for her was when he was actively pursuing her. He had stopped when they became officially boyfriend and girlfriend.
When they arrived at the army base a man was standing outside waiting. He was in his uniform and by the eagle on his uniform the women knew he must have been a colonel. “Ladies, I am colonel Phillips. And you must be Agent Carter and Agent Jones from the SSR am I right?” He said The two women nodded. “Yes that is right sir” Vanessa said. “Good, I will show you to your room. Where you can lay your baggage, then I will show you around the base. You are lucky that we have a room available for you otherwise you would have to sleep at the barracks with the new soldiers.” He said walking over to one of the buildings closest to the training grounds. They got a little room together, with barely enough space for the two beds and lockers. “Well, this will be cozy” Vanessa said to Peggy as they laid their baggage’s and then got out to get the tour of the place. Colonel Phillips showed them where food got served, the bathroom, and the training grounds. The last thing he showed them was his office where they could go if they had any questions. “Good, now Erskine has requested your presence so I will walk you over to his office. You don’t start until tomorrow so if I were you I would get the best out of today. The new recruits arrive tomorrow at 800 hrs. their files have been brought to your room.” He said walking them to another office. He knocked on the door and yelled “Erskine, the SSR agents are here” and then left. The door was opened and a man in a brown suit with a matching hat and glasses opened the door. “Hi, I am Dr. Erskine” He said with a thick German accent. “I am agent Carter and this is Agent Jones” Peggy said pointing to herself then Vanessa, “But you can call us Peggy and Vanessa” Vanessa said with a smile. “Come in please” Dr. Erskine said. “So, you are here to help oversee ze project rebirth right?” he asked sitting down at a table and pointing to the two chairs on the other side. “Yes we are” Peggy said as they sat down. “Vell I already have a man in mind” “Well that is fine Dr. Erskine, we are also here to train the new recruits. What man did you have in mind?” Vanessa said. “I met ziss man before his name is Steve Rogers. Now Ven you look at him, he might not seem like a vorzy candidate, but keep in mind I am not looking at ze physical, zat vill change after ze serum has been kiven” “What are you looking at if it is not the physical then?” Peggy asked “Vell my serum vill enhance everyzing, not just ze physical, but ze behavior zoo. So, a good man vill become a great man, put a pat man vill pecome a vorse man. Zis is vhy it is so important to choose the pest man.” “And you think you have already found that man?” Peggy asked “Vell yes, put I am villing to see if anyone vill pe petter zan him.” “And you are working with Stark too right?” Vanessa asked. “Stark? Yes he is puilding ze machine to administer ze serum” Dr. Erskine said. “Okay well if that was all we will go unpack. I am looking forward to work with you Dr.” Vanessa said standing up. “You too” Erskine said as they left the room. “I did not know he was German” Vanessa said to Peggy when they walked to their room. “Me neither, but I think the military must have vetted him right? I mean a German scientist they must have been suspicious” “Yeah they probably have.” They unpacked, which was easy they had only packed the necessities. “So, what do you want to do today?” Peggy asked Vanessa. “We should probably read up on the files of the new recruits” “yeah you are right” Peggy said splitting the files in half. “You take this pile I will take that” She said. Vanessa took her pile and started reading. The first 3 files was nothing special all men in their early 20’s. The only thing in their files was their department of selective certificate of acceptance, a photo, and a background check. The fourth file was that of Steve Rogers “Hey Peggy I got the one Erskine thinks is going to be the first super soldier” she said, looking at the file. “He is really short and skinny” she showed Peggy the photo “How did he get accepted?” She asked “Well Erskine has signed it so he must have talked to him and decided to give him a shot at his project” “Maybe he will grow with the training” Vanessa added. She continued reading the next files. There wasn’t really anyone with any content, so when they had both read their piles they decided to go to bed. They had to get up early tomorrow morning.
The next morning the new recruits had arrived at 700 and got the tour, and now was the first training session. They all stood ready, as Peggy called out “Recruits attention” all of them clicked their heels and stood up straight. “Gentlemen I am agent Carter, and this is agent Jones” “We supervise all operations in this division” Vanessa continued “What is with the accent queen Victoria. Thought I was signing up for the US army” One of the recruits said to Peggy. She looked at him, then stopped directly in front of him. Vanessa already knew what was about to happen and stepped to the side to give Peggy space for her hit. “What is your name soldier?” She asked, and he relied with another stupid comment “Gilmore Hodge, Your majesty” “Step forward Hodge” he did as she commanded, with a smile and attitude that told Vanessa he thought he was better than her. “Put your right foot forward” again he did as he was told, but could not contain his stupid little comments “What are we going to wrestle?” Vanessa rolled her eyes, and she saw Erskine’s pick. He looked so little in the unform, next to the other men. He was at least a head shorter than both the men next to him. “Because I got a few moves I know you’ll like” Peggy did not answer she just punched him in the face. He fell down. Vanessa smiled and saw Steve smiling too. Just at that Colonel Phillips came over. “Agent Carter, Agent Jones” he said getting down from the truck he was riding on “I can see that you are breaking in the candidates. That is good.” He walked over to the man who was still sitting on the ground. “Get your ass up out of that dirt stand in that line of attention until somebody comes and tells you what to do” Yes sir” the recruit said, standing with his nose bleeding, but not daring to say anything else. “General Patton has said, wars are fought with weapons but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men” Colonel Phillips said, looking down the line of men. As he said the last line his glance fell on Steve and added “And because they are going to get better. Much better.” “The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world” Colonel Phillips continued his well-rehearsed speech. Peggy leaned into Doctor Erskine. “You are sure he is the best candidate?” She whispered, “Come on Peggy if he gets chosen it has nothing to do with the physical” Vanessa whispered back “Vanessa is right Agent Carter” Dr. Erskine said. When Colonel Phillips was done with his speech. He pointed to Vanessa and Peggy “These two lovely ladies will oversee all of your work and is the persons evaluating you at every step of this training. You would do good to remember that from now on” He said looking at Hodge, who looked a bit embarrassed. Colonel Phillips turned around to walk away, and Vanessa blew the whistle “Good, now that the introduction is over, we start every morning at 0700 hrs. sharp. At 7 your barracks are inspected, then breakfast is at 0730 hrs. and training start at 0800 hrs. I hope you have all had a good breakfast today seeing as we are going straight to training at 1200 hrs. lunch is served.” Vanessa said and Peggy continued “at 1300 shooting drills are run. At 1500 you have some free time I advise you to use this either getting rested or doing drills you are lagging behind at. At 1800 hrs. dinner is served, and the rest of the night is your own. You will be evaluated every day at every training session, should you be late you are to do 10 push-ups for every second you are late. If you are feeling sick go to the nurse office and get a note. If you do not have a note and are not at training you will get a disciplinary” Peggy continued the introduction as Vanessa looked at the recruits. None of them seemed fazed at her words. “Got it?” “Yes mam” they all chanted “Good. Now the first drill is a simple one” Vanessa pointed to the training course. “Complete this training course as fast as possible. We start the time now” She blew the whistle and all the men started running to go through the obstacles. The obstacle course had low jumps in between every obstacle. The first obstacle was a high bar that they had to get over. Hodge was over it in 3 seconds, Steve had trouble getting to it as he was not very high. Peggy gave Vanessa a look, and Vanessa went over to give Steve a horseshoe so he could reach “thank you mam” He said as he got over the bar. Hodge was already done with the next two obstacles when Steve had finished the first. Hodge was at the wall, as Steve approached the Combination obstacle, where he had to climb up, do a monkey bar across and then walk over a rolling log. A few of the soldiers had fallen of that one. Steve had to try more than once to get over the wall but in the end he did it. Hodge had finished the obstacle at a time of 7 minutes and 35 seconds. A fine time but he was boasting about being the best. Another soldier got there about 2 seconds after Hodge. They all finished in a span of a minute, except Steve who had trouble with most of the obstacles. So, they all stood waiting for him to finish. As he climbed the rope, the watched him struggle. “How the hell did he get in” Hodge said. “What was that soldier?” Peggy asked, Vanessa was focusing on Steve. “Nothing mam” He quickly said, not wanting a repeat of earlier. Steve finally got down, as he was wheezing trying to catch his breath Vanessa blew her whistle. And everyone stood in place. “So, some of you were not terrible, others were. But worst of all you all left a fellow soldier behind. At the very first obstacle all of you could see private Rogers could not reach the bar and you all just left him there. If this was a real mission he would have died and you would all be responsible. In the military you have to have each other’s backs no matter if you get a worse time because of it.” Vanessa said and the soldiers did not meet her eye. They moved on to the next obstacle, the rest of the day went like you would expect. Hodge trying to show he was the best by all means necessary, and Steve lagging behind in all the obstacles. “Right, that was it for today, go get some food” Vanessa said as she dismissed the recruits. She walked over to Peggy to look at the evaluation. “It is clear Hodge has the best time and the best shot of all of them. Rodgers has the worst. I don’t know why Erskine is so keen on him” “let’s just keep training and see if he gets better” Vanessa said walking with Peggy “Good thing we are not responsible for the tasks from tomorrow the Sergeant will do that, and we can just evaluate”