The sun gleaned over a chilly September day in 1953, during a special ops mission lead by Mary and three other soldiers. The mission would be to gather intel on Russian spies and to find out what Russian diplomats planned to do if the war went south--so to speak. It had been two years since Mary had been accidently injected with the super soldier serum. A young nurse stationed at the army base stationed outside New York, getting a routine physical done when the doctor mistook the vial he grabbed out of storage. Mary was supposed to be given a vitamin B boost, not superpowers. Once personnel discovered what happened, it created a whirlwind of drill tests, combat training, tactical strategy courses and more. She learned how to use her new strength and speed. She had to learn how to assemble and take apart a number of different weaponry blindfolded. Being a nurse she knew how to dress and care for field wounds, a strong advantage. Her captains were hard on her. After many, long months she became the perfect soldier since Captain America went into the Atlantic Ocean. She would be the best soldier the world would ever have, but never know about. She became a level 10 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent spy. If Russia got hold of the knowledge that the U.S. had a super soldier operating missions, it would propel the Cold War into something far worse. She ran classified missions with a small team on a need to know basis.

On this day in September, she lead a field mission into an undisclosed location with her team of three other soldiers. They had parachuted into the field and were to make their way into the compound of a Russian diplomat who had intel on some rogue American spies. Information that S.H.I.E.L.D. desperately needed. What Mary didn't know is she would never complete this mission.

The team had extensive knowledge of the security system surrounding the compound. Patrols, dogs, electric fence, cameras, sensory wires and more. They were to complete a 12 hour observation to confirm the information they had on the routines of the patrols and guards and even the movements of the cameras; information couldn't be trusted anymore. Mary made sure she always entered an unknown space before her team. The serum gave her advanced senses, healing ability and speed. After the 12 hour period, all four of them rose out of the cold snow bank, Mary in the lead, flanked by her three team members. Something didn't feel right to her, but she chalked it up to the cold air blowing in. She took another step, heard a small 'click' and felt her foot sink into the snow half an inch.

She froze on the spot, raising her right hand in a fist to signal the others to stop. When she saw them freeze out of her peripheral she pointed down and gave the signal to retreat back. "Follow your footsteps exactly the same way." she whispered to them. The soldier closest to her, Nathaniel started to object. She whipped her head around to face him. "Don't argue with me soldier." she hissed at him. "I might be able to survive this, the rest of you can't. Don't be a hero today. Get behind the hill. That's an order" Nathaniel nodded his head to her, looked down to his feet and started to retreat back to the banks they had camped behind. Mary started weighing the options in her mind, knowing there were few. She hoped that speed would be her advantage today. Slowly removing her pack, weaponry and anything else that weighed her down and keeping the same amount of pressure on the mine beneath her boot. She had roughly three seconds before the mine detonated. She had once covered 100 yards in five seconds during training, however under more favorable conditions. With a deep breath in and a deep breath out, she started to steady her mind, tightening her muscles and leaning low. On her next exhale she sprinted off the spot as fast as she could, not allowing herself to count the time that passed as she ran. She started clearing a great distance and thought maybe she had stepped on a dud when a loud 'boom' hit her ears, something smacked into her back really hard. She felt something scratch the back of her head and then the world went black.

The women lying in the hospital bed had a tangle of dark curls, her skin fair and her face dotted in freckles. The doctors explained to him she worked as level 10 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and had been in a coma from a field operation gone wrong. When she had stepped on a land mine the cold air created a delay in its detonation and she had been able to cover some ground when a piece of shrapnel had embedded in her skull. She had just woken up this morning agitated and distressed. They had sedated her and then called him to help explain to her what had happened. He sat in a chair by the bed, waiting for her to wake up out of the haze of the sedation. He studied her face, noticing the attraction he felt towards her and then pondered what her life had been like as a super soldier. He noticed her finger twitch and then her eyes started to slowly peel open out of sleep. She looked around the room, her eyes landing on him sitting in the chair. He leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees and asked her how she felt.

"Where am I?" she asked quietly. "You're in a S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital in New York."

"What year is it?" she replied, her voice shaking as reality crashed around her. The man was dressed in clothing she didn't recognize and the machinery around her appeared to be advanced technology. "It's 2015"

"And who are you?" she demanded. He took a deep breath, looked her in the eyes and said, "I'm Steve Rogers."