"What the hell happened out there?" Phillips asked once she had gone into his office and Peggy right beside her. "I had an assassin in the same room with all of us. Why didn't you protect Erskine? That was your one mission."
"Colonel, my main priority was to protect everyone from the bomb, in case it was bigger than anticipated. And Dr. Erskine had asked me to watch out for the others than himself. Had I protected him, everyone might have gotten more injured than what some are." She heard a couple of Senators had gotten hit by the glass, but all of them were not hurt far beyond that. That was when his next question came up, "Did you remember the serum?"
"No." she said, and the face Phillips gave her, it was comical, but she knew better than to laugh at him, "After spending months by his side, you didn't figure out the serum?" Natalie wanted to make sure no one had a reason to go after her. She stood at her own defense, "Erskine's work was all in another language, so I wasn't going to ask for a translation, and even then. He was glad I hadn't tried to memorize it all. Said it was a blessing for me so then HYDRA wouldn't send an assassin after me."
"Fine, but you will be going to the front lines." Natalie felt her heart drop, the front line? It was what she wanted, but with the things happening in New York after this, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to the Front anymore. "Are you having second thoughts, Natalie?"
"Of course I am." she noted, it was what she wanted to do when she first heard of Pearl Harbor. Now with all of Erskine's hard work spent on one man, she said, "I might wish to stay and watch over Mr. Rogers."
"He's a big boy, Corporal. You are going to the Front Lines. The 107th. That's an order." Nat wanted to shout at him, but Phillips was right, Steve had really gotten a better deal that she would have, if Erskine hadn't found someone to his liking. She was not at all upset about that. It was how Phillips has been treating her since she allowed the man to kill Erskine. Heading to the infirmary, she saw Steve throwing his shirt back on and Peggy stating that Erskine would not have regretted if the serum only had to work once.
"And it made some improvements, it seems," she joked, Peggy glancing behind her and then Carter had left. "You don't seem so happy," Steve noted to Natalie who looked probably better than she felt. "I head out on new orders. Corporal for the 107th."
"That's where Bucky is." He said and she nodded, "I know. I am not sure when I go, but I head out soon. Let's go see Mr. Stark and see how he has progressed in the submarine." She noted, if she headed out that night, she would rather do it with spending time around those who mattered.
Seeing Stark, she asked, "Still no news?"
"No, this is a lot more advanced, and I am the best scientist out here." He said, Nat feared that was the case. Hearing the stories of Schmidt, she had only once had a nightmare about him and after that, she had asked Erskine not to speak about it. Or at least about the Red Skull. When Steve saw Phillips, it was an entirely different story. "Sir, let me go after Schmidt."
"Son, Erskine promised me an army, you are not enough." He said and Nat had to stand up, "You tell me to go because I failed in my main mission, in which I was instructed by the man I was to protect to worry about others and not him during that time, and with someone who wants to go, you're telling him to stay here and be a lab rat?"
"McGregor, stand down." Phillips said, Nat wanted to say more and Steve placed a hand on her shoulder, only making her realize she was now a lot shorter than he was, her standing at five foot four. "No need to fight on my account."
"Steve-" she was going to tell him her own mind when Senator Brandt came over and started to speak to Steve about wanting to serve his country on another front. Nat took that as her leave as she went to work onto packing her bags to leave for the Front Lines.
A knock at her door an hour later and when she opened it, she was surprised he was there. "Mr. Rogers. What a surprise." She said as he came in, her closing the door behind him as he saw her bags ready to head out. "When do you head out?"
"0600 at the airport." she said, "I won't be able to sleep at all."
"Do you have any family left?"
"No, I have the Robertson family who had taken me in after the bar fire in '39 to write to. Why?" She asked, and he shrugged, not sure how to put it. "If you get stuck there and I am here, how about you write me?"
"You know what? Sure," she said after a few, "I will write you and hopefully nothing bad happens in between now and then." She asked him afterwards, "I will keep an eye on your friend, too, Barnes, was it?"
"Yes, Sergeant. Which reminds me," he said as he looked at her, "I got promoted to Captain."
"You see," Nat smirked, "You get a higher ranking than me, Captain." after a few minutes of them exchanging information so that they could write, she closed the door behind him, closing her eyes, before she sat on her bed, making a fire show while increasing the size of the flames she can control.
~~~~~
"For fuck sake," she growled at the medic, who was sewing her shoulder as she had gotten hit by a bullet, but it hadn't gone far into the shoulder. While running the men out of the Hydra encampment when they got ambushed, she had lost sight of Bucky and wasn't sure if they were alive or not.
"Corporal, language," the medic stated as she heard the sounds of the men shouting at someone. It had been a couple of months since she was last in America, and from reading the paper they had the luxury to send to the men on the front lines, she saw Steve was getting good reviews from the media there. "It still bloody hurts. Give me something to say instead and I will use that word." When she was done, she saw Steve coming towards her off the stage. "Rogers?" she asked, she had traded the woman's uniform for the man's, feeling a hell of a lot better without worrying someone could see her underwear.
"McGregor?" He asked and after the two hugged, she hissed and he asked, "Did I squeeze too tightly?"
"No, my shoulder. Rogue bullet." she noted, "you barely squeezed." was he aware that this was the 107th? She wasn't sure as it started to rain and Peggy came into the area, staring at the drawing of a performing monkey. "You know you were meant more than this." Peggy stated and Nat went to walk away when he heard that the crowd was all that was left of the 107th Infantry.
"Natalie, is Phillips here?" he asked, she shrugged, "How can I be certain? I was in the infirmary getting stitched up." She wasn't aware the SSR was there, but she knew something was up when he ran to Phillips and asked for Bucky, to know if he was alive or dead. Phillips had looked at Peggy to say, "You and I are going to have a long talk about this." Then he saw Nat behind Agent Carter. "Let me guess, you want to help Golden Boy."
"When is the rescue mission taking place?" Steve asked and when Phillips said he wasn't going to do one knowing it was dangerous and the men would be saved- when the war was won, Natalie pipped up. "I can go. It's too dangerous? I can go save them."
"You took a gunshot wound to the shoulder. You're lucky we aren't deciding to send you home." Phillips stated and while Nat wasn't going to take no for an answer. She had stormed out of the tent, ready to launch her own rescue mission for the men, this time, she was going to use her abilities, to hell if the men accepted her or not.
Taking a bike, she drove it out of camp, not to desert, but to mount her own rescue mission. Men littered the ground as she went through, most of them dead HYDRA men as she looked at the uniforms and then the weapons they had. Testing a theory, she tried to make the guns implode on themselves, but realizing that was probably more work than just getting there and making her attempt to save the men, she started to run, ditching parts of her uniform as she continued, but when she got there, she saw familiar men walking past her, a tank top and a bandage wrapped around her chest as she ran into the encampment of a factory, when she asked, "Who's doing the rescue mission?"
"A man who was looking for Sergeant Barnes," the man with red hair and burly beard said as he walked beside a tank and she quicken herself, only getting there as the factory started to implode on itself. Looking up, she saw Steve and Bucky, but the man whom Steve was fighting took off some sort of mask as she tried to control some of the fire from the explosions, but it was getting overwhelming on her. When she saw the beam that had been hosting Barnes' weight falling towards her, she threw herself out of the way, a fire then licking at her exposed flesh, while she felt it, it didn't hurt. Looking up, she saw Steve jump almost 10 feet into the air to get to the exit as she closed her eyes and allowed the Phoenix to take over.
~~~~
High above the clouds, a bird emerged from the remains of the HYDRA factory, but knowing she couldn't get into the damn plane Schmidt had taken off in, the fire bird flew over the men. All in awe, and seeing it head back for the camp, they wondered what summoned it. It was a bit bigger than the military planes that had graced the sky a few days before, and as it made its descent, the firebird got smaller, and smaller, and it was then that Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter saw the bird as it came closer to camp, and as they both rushed to get to it, in its place, a naked woman shivered and Colonel Phillip called, "Get a medic! Now!" Peggy had gotten a blanket and putting it on the girl, they realized it was Natalie, now knowing more about her abilities, Phillips was going to speak to her about deserting. A medic had came and putting her on a stretcher, brought her to the infirmary.
~~~~
It was a day after she had landed back in camp, Natalie had woken up, dazed, but Peggy was sitting at her bedside, "We saw. Why didn't you tell us you could do that?"
Natalie groaned as she sat up, keeping the blanket close as she looked for a cup of water, and seeing none, she dryly swallowed before answering. "I had only done it once, and wasn't sure how to control that part of me."
"Phillips isn't happy with you," Peggy said and Natalie looked at her, "And I guess you got Rogers close enough? I left long before you two did and he still beat me there. I think I saw them coming back." She was still foggy on everything, but she was starting to get better at recollecting memories when she blacked out.
"And Captain Rogers?"
"Fine, I think, he got out before I changed into the fire bird." She said and asked, "is there any clothes I can wear?" Peggy nodded and then leaving the tent, Nat changed into the SSR uniform, and going to Colonel Phillips' tent, he glared at her, "I can't do anything to Mr. Stark, because he is a weapons contractor and a civilian. But you two, it's a different story."
"I don't regret my choices, and I am sure Captain Rogers doesn't either." Peggy stated, he looked at Natalie before she said, "I don't regret my choices, and would do so again if it meant saving men, good men." He looked a lot more upset, when he said, "I should have you arrested for desertion and send you back home, Mc-"
Hearing a few men shouting of incoming people, everyone left the tent and seeing Steve with Sergeant Barnes and close to 400 men in behind the two, he said, "Some of these men require medical attention. And I would like to surrender myself for disciplinary action." Nat rose an eyebrow at Phillips as he said, "That won't be necessary." then as Peggy got close, Barnes shouted, "Three cheers for Captain America!" The men started to cheer as Nat squeezed herself out of the area and heading to her tent, she waited until she had more of a head on her before seeing the others out there. She would be needing a stiff drink.