Chapter IX

"Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds flyBirds fly over the rainbowWhy then, oh why can't I?"-

-Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Judy Garland, 1939

Coordinate UNKNOWN

Northern Italy

November 1943

"I'm Peggy, by the way."

"I am Daniela, but everyone calls me Danny."

Peggy lifts a brow, "well, Danny, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'll get you some clothes..." The red-head's eyes travel from Daniela's head to her toes, "I don't have many options available, I'm afraid."

"That is fine, I just ask for trousers. I do not think I would be very effective if I wear a skirt." Daniela raises her brows as she eyes the skirt Peggy stands in. How this woman is able to fight and serve in the army with the hassle of extra fabric and two wooden blocks under her heels is beyond Daniela's understanding. A skirt and heels simply will not do for a sniper, Daniela restrains from rolling her eyes at the thought of shimmying up a tree to get a better vantage point in those bright red heels.

"Well, I'll see what I can do." Peggy offers a small smile, running her palms over the fabric of her skirt, "although I can say that a skirt and heels are, in fact, manageable."

Daniela snorts, "not if I want to be free to climb a tree to get a good vantage point."

Peggy's smile stretches a bit wider, "you are truly determined to go onto the front lines as a sniper?"

"Did you doubt it?"

"The Colonel can still say no. He could change his mind."

Daniela stares at this fiery haired woman standing before her. The way she holds her chin up high and squares her shoulders, how Peggy looks like a woman who knows what she wants. Daniela raises her chin as well, rolling her shoulders and standing tall. "he can, but that will not stop me. You and I...perhaps we are similar. You just like to operate within the boundaries of the law."

"And you do not?" Peggy beams at her, eyes glinting with a mischief in the way Daniela is sure she also has. A sense of ease uncurls in Daniela's belly, some loose form of safety radiating from the woman standing in front of her.

"I believe that the law accomplishes much," a rueful smile spreads along Daniela's lips, "but sometimes the law takes too long. That's when it must look the other way so that those outside of it can get things done."

Carter's small smile grows into a large grin, "I believe we will make good friends, Danny."Peggy taps a manicured nail against her chin, Daniela looks at her own broken nails, caked in mud. How different they must seem to everyone, but Daniela was once manicured and clean and presentable like Peggy Carter, not as finely, they never did have much in terms of money. However, she finds herself missing the comforts of a good bath and clean shaped nails and pins to pull her hair back.

"I do as well. Thank you for your assistance in finding clothing...Perhaps, I could also get some pins for my hair." Daniela casts her eyes down and barely grazes the pads of her fingers along the tangled clumps against the back of her neck. Her voice drops to a whisper, "I've had only my fingers to come through my hair for a long time." All too suddenly, she's acutely aware of the state of her appearance, dirty underclothes, probably a stench to rival the latrines in the HYDRA base, hair matted to her head despite her efforts to braid it.

Peggy steps forward, slowly approaching her as though she would startle Daniela at any moment. Daniela keeps her eyes down at the tips of red heels creeping closer.

"Well, I do think we can do something about that...You must've been through much, Daniela." Peggy gently brushes hair out of Daniela's eyes and tips her chin up to meet her eyes. Something about Peggy's gentle tone reminds Daniela of her mother's soft voice and feathery touch, tears blur beneath her eyes and a rogue tear escapes. Peggy smiles, it's sad, the tips of her red lips barely tilting upwards and her eyes are shinning, too. "Consider me a friend, perhaps one day, a sister in arms."

Daniela mentally thanks the British woman before her for not acknowledging the tears and softer side she is letting seep through the cracks. So long has been spent surrounded by nothing but men, she forgot how wonderful it was to be around another woman. Specifically, a kind woman. It had been even longer since she had that, her last friends left her alone and discarded once it became a danger to even know her. "It has been so long, since I've had such kind words spoken to me."

Peggy's weak smile turns to a thin line, she rests her hands on Daniela's shoulders, "if Steve was so much as anything but cordial, I will-"

"Nothing of the sort," Daniela grabs Peggy's elbows, "it's just been so long since someone has been so kind to me that was not reeking of manliness."

Peggy laughs, its not as feminine as Daniela was expecting. Peggy purses her lips in a poor attempt not to laugh again, "oh, in that case, I am happy to be a friend of the feminine sort. Goodness, I know how it is to be surrounded by bumbling idiots all the time, Daniela."

"Just Danny, is fine."

"Right, Danny...If you'll just give me a moment, I will grab your clothes and my things and we'll get you back in working order.

"Thank you, truly."

Peggy waves her words away, "it's not a problem, I won't be gone long. Make yourself at home."

Home, there's that word again. Where was her home? This army base would suffice for now, one day though, if she survived, it wouldn't be anymore. Daniela sits on the cot and looks at her calloused hands. as Peggy disappears out the tent. Softly shaking the thought away, she begins to peel mud off her finger nails and bits of dried skin. The flap of the tent opens again and Peggy walks inside with a bundle of clothes under her arm and a bowl of water with a rag folded over the edge.

"You'll have to follow me to get to the showers, however the water is to be conserved. So, I figured we can get your hands and hair in a better state now, make the shower faster." Peggy opens her hands to Daniela, palms up. "Come on, give me your hands."

Blinking, Daniela slowly sets her rough hands into Peggy's equally calloused palms. Without warning, Peggy dunks her hands into the warm water and begins washing away dirt and grime. "You do not have to do this, Peggy."

"Yes, I do, Danny. I find myself quite taken with you. You remind me much of myself, and I know what I could've used when I first joined up." Peggy looks up, and lifts her brows, "besides, it's about time you got to relax."

"Thank you." Daniela watches the water turn into a murky brown color. "Where are Steve and Bucky?"

Peggy grimaces, "speaking with the Colonel. I don't want to know how that meeting is going. Now, enough about them. I want to learn about you, the prisoner of HYDRA who escaped and decided she is going to be a sniper."

Daniela stiffens, she doesn't really enjoy interrogation. Bucky's probing questions flock to her mind, it took him weeks to get her to speak of her past.

Peggy squeezes Daniela's hands, "only tell me what you feel comfortable with." Peggy dries Daniela's clean hands and grabs a brush from the bundle of clothes. Peggy turns Daniela's back to her she feels her hair begin to lightly untangle the mass pressed to her neck.

Releasing a breath, Daniela decides it's safe to speak of what has happened since she met Bucky. "That is a very long story."

Peggy chuckles, "well, we have a whole head of hair to brush out and plenty of time."

Daniela tugs on the trousers, a frown settles along her lips. "Well, I had hoped that these would fit better, but I suppose they'll need to be sewn to fit."

"You look nice, Danny." Steve's voice is ever caring and the kindness in his eyes makes her smile. Steve elbows Bucky who's staring at her with an unreadable look on his face.

Bucky grunts and blinks at her, "uh yeah, you clean up nice, Princess."

Daniela rolls her eyes, while lightly touching the soft waves that Peggy helped her set once she got back from the coldest shower Daniela has ever taken. "Thank you, I think. You two aren't too bad yourselves." While Steve just looks a bit less dirty, Bucky looks like a whole new man, his hair is neatly laid back and there's no dirt and blood staining his nose and lips. Although he seems to have yet to shave, while it seem Steve found the time.

A cool breeze blows hair into Bucky's eyes, she tucks the locks back up, "thanks, doll, took me forever to fix this hair back. I spoke with the Colonel and he's havin' us work with Steve on some more covert missions, there will be some other guys on the team and Peggy will join on some, too." Bucky pauses, "do you think you'd like to join us?"

"We'll all be together," Steve leans his shoulder against a pole, "we can look out for each other. We won't be on the front lines, but we'll be taking down HYDRA, not exactly Hitler."

"Of course, idiot." Daniela lands a soft punch to Steve's arm, she smiles at the flinch from Bucky as she turns his way. "As if I'd let you boys go and get yourselves killed without me."

Daniela appraises the man before her. "You should let it grow out."

Bucky grins, stubble stretching along his jaw. "While it's easier, I don't think it'll win over any ladies anytime soon." An odd prick of something, Daniela isn't sure what stings her back and she stretches her arms hoping to ease the discomfort. Bucky nods towards a building, "let's meet with team, apparently our first mission is raiding a recently abandoned HYDRA base for information. From the looks of it, they left pretty swiftly."

"Perfect, perhaps they will have information about what they did to Bucky and me." Daniela shoves her hands into her pockets and looks back towards the blanket of trees at the entrance of the camp. The idea of what lies beyond thrills her.

Coordinate UNKNOWN

UKNOWN HYDRA Base

Northern Italy

November 1943

Waltz, Waltz, Waltz.

Daniela has to be in here somewhere. The room is cast in shadows, a lone lamp in the far corner of the room offering just enough light to see the neatly typed names along the edges of each file. She bites at her thumb, she's been at this for almost ten minutes and still has found nothing. She hadn't anticipated HYDRA's list of victims to run so long.

Reiner, H. Richter, A...

"Find anything, doll?" Bucky's breath is hot along her ear and cheek, she rolls her eyes at the tingling sensation it sends down her side.

"I didn't find your name, Charming." Daniela swats his face away, "and don't you Americans understand personal space?"

"Oh we do, Bucky's just stupid." Steve laughs and opens a cabinet beside her, setting the contents next to her dwindling pile of files. The journey here was easier than she was anticipating, it took only a few days to arrive and there were only a few straggling HYDRA soldiers protecting the building, Bucky and Steve decided to just take them on head on, which irks Daniela just a bit. She was hoping to use her skills as a sniper for the mission, however the hand to hand fighting was a good rush for her, too.

Shaking the thoughts away, her gaze falls back to the files, where was she?

Richter, A. Schmidt, J...

Schmidt? Daniela pulls the file free and looks at the name hovering at the top.

Johann Schmidt.

"Bucky, Steve? I found Schmidt's file." Daniela flips her nail under the tab and-

Bucky plucks the file out of her hands before she can look to see what it says. Steve and Bucky's voices meld together behind her, Daniela refocuses her attention to finding her file.

Voigt, D. Walter, O. Waltz, H.

A frown drops onto her lips, this probably isn't hers. Daniela pulls the file anyway, maybe someone mislabeled it. She flips open the file, a thick stack of papers coming loose. Bending down, grabbing the pages, she focuses on the information searching for her name. Blinking rapidly, the edges of her vision gets blurry.

Helene Marie Waltz

The edge of her nail traces the clip holding a picture placed face down. Swallowing nerves, Daniela pulls the photo free to see the face of her mother. She flips through the first few paragraphs, treatments and tests, numbers and graphs. Her breathing picks up, ragged and irregular. This is her mother's file, they injected her mother with whatever they used on her. Hungry for information, her chest heaves as her eyes roam over the words.

She furiously starts tearing pages from the file until she reaches the last one, she scans the page and bile pushes up her throat.

She's dead.

She falls to her knees, hunched over, vomit pulsing up her throat, her arms shake against the weight of her body. Distantly she hears her name, and the ghost of familiar hands pulls her ponytail from her face and rubs slow circles into her back. Daniela convulses forward and heaves onto the ground again. Then it all goes black.

I am not neglecting this story, long story short, my laptop came to an unfortunate end. PSA don't use your laptop on the counter while half of your family is cooking for Sunday dinner. It doesn't end well.