You Must Remember This

Chapter 5 - Let's get down to business

Camp Lehigh, July 6th, 1945

It was early morning when they arrived at Camp Lehigh. Evelyn gazed at the training grounds and the barracks with mixed feelings. She still remembered the first time she walked through those big gates. Though Lehigh hadn't been an official Medical Replacement Training Center during the war, it had been one of the best RTCs in the state (hence also why the SSR had decided to set the first phase of Erskine's super-soldier program up there). The Medical Corp and Special Ops boot camp all happened within just twenty feet of each other. Often the first got to practice on the latter, which is how Evelyn got to know most of the guys personally.
All those strapping fellas going off to war, boasting about how many Nazis they would kill. Half of them would never see home again. And the half that did came back broken from all the horrors they had seen or from the injuries they had sustained. How many of them had lain in the medical tent not ten miles from the frontlines, crying for their mothers, as Evelyn tried to just get them through the night, drenched in their blood? Enlisting and fighting for one's country all seemed very appealing down at the recruitment office, but in reality, it was the most horrendous nightmare one could ever live through.

Evelyn followed Stark and Peggy in and tried to imagine Steve here before becoming the big and strong Captain America. The skinny kid from Brooklyn must have been a ridiculous sight for the other soldiers. But it was another perfect example that just because one didn't look the part, it didn't mean one couldn't have the same heart and fighting spirit.

"Did you say anything to Sergeant Barnes' family?" inquired Peggy as she lingered back to talk to Evelyn.

"No, I didn't want to raise their hopes. I said you had a possible lead on Steve, so you resumed the search, and I was coming along to make sure you kept your word this time."

"I see. I realize this must be difficult for you, Evelyn, but..."

"No, you don't," said Evelyn bluntly, keeping her gaze ahead of her. "We may have fought the same war, Peggy, but that doesn't mean you went through the same agony I did. So I would appreciate it if we just kept our conversations strictly professional. Because I have no interest in becoming your friend and bonding over the loss you think we both suffered. Steve was mine long before he was yours."

She saw Peggy's startled expression from the corner of her eye. The English woman wisely kept her mouth shut. If she could, Evelyn would march right back out of Lehigh and return to her clinic and never look back again. But she had already committed to doing this. And just talking about Steve strengthened her resolve. Her twin would never forgive her if the man in the mask really did turn out to be James Barnes. He would never forgive her for turning her back on someone who had never done that to either of them.

The three of them walked in uncomfortable silence, descending to the (not so) secret offices of the SSR below the camp. The war might have ended, but the offices were still the busy hive Evelyn knew them to be. She'd only been down a couple of times before, but it hadn't changed that much. Every few seconds, a phone rang somewhere, people walked wildly from one desk to the other, documents were being typed up and handed over like they were hot buns...
A few people glanced up when the trio passed them. Evelyn heard soft murmurs around her. She recognized some of them from her last visit here when Stark told her they would stop looking for her brother. The destruction HYDRA caused had been nothing compared to Evelyn's rampage that day.

They entered a command room in the back of the hall. Several maps and photographs were pinned to a corkboard. The first thing Evelyn saw was the blurry images of the man in the mask and other soldiers. Peggy hadn't been kidding when she said the photo they had was the only clear one. You couldn't determine a single thing from the others. It was almost as if the photographer had been taking the shots while also running for his life. Considering he was found murdered, it was the most likely scenario.