" Behind every successful woman is a tribe of other successful women who have her back."

- Unknown

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Catherine had vied to take on this task alone, even though Hazel and Lizzie would be up in the front of the stage with her. The media was licking for any sort of information about this operation that had been hidden for years from the public, waiting for any ounce of worthy news.

But Catherine was determined to give them the straight, cold hard truth.

Catherine stood in the mirror, adjusting her Camp Athene medal on her jacket as she bit back her lip in concentration. All night she had lied awake, knowing exactly word for word what she wanted to say to these media members.

The truth.

Nothing but the truth and even if they still wouldn't believe it, she'd know in her heart that it'd be true. George watched her from the bed as she got ready, sitting back, as she adjusted everything on her uniform, from smoothing out her skirt, to the pristine Lieutenant bar on her collar and her cover, to the Jump Wings, that were straight at 180 horizontal degrees. Catherine stared at herself finally.

This is who the media would see, a woman who had been through war, 3 women who had been through war, 250 women who had been through war.

" What do you think they'll say?" George asked her. Catherine shrugged, adjusting her cap on her head, as she smoothed her hand around her perfect bun.

" I won't be surprised if it's dead quiet." she said honestly, before stepping back from the mirror and setting a soft smile on her lips as she walked over, sitting down next to where George currently sat up in the bed.

" You look nice," George said with a gentle smile and Catherine smiled at him. To even just hear that, made her heart warm, especially from George. It wasn't that she was smokin', or hot, or anything like that, just a simple comment that let her know, George appreciated her. It didn't take much, especially with George, when she knew they had each other's trust.

" I really hope this makes a change," Catherine said, " to show women, that we're powerful, we're strong, we're brave, courageous, full of fearlessness, we're leaders, with caring minds, and we know our emotions better than anyone, we don't need someone else to tell us for them. I'm just...I'm ready to show people that women, we can be strong, stronger than you think." George watched her softly, his gaze gentle, watching her own empowered one.

" I have no doubt you'll put each and every one of them in their place either," George said and Catherine smiled softly as George slowly slid in beside her, feet dangling off the bed.

" You know I'll support you through anything," George said softly, " truly." Catherine met his gaze and smiled softly at him.

" Thanks, George," she whispered back gently. George was truly a blessing, someone she loved more sometimes than herself, she just wanted him happy. And him expressing his quiet thoughts, made her heart pulse. Catherine softly kissed his cheek before giving a quiet smile up at him.

" Now," she said, " I'm going to go show the media what war really is like." George smirked. Slowly standing George saluted her. Catherine smirked back, accepting the respectful salute.

This could change the course of war forever.

Catherine met Hazel and Lizzie near the center square where a stage had been set up for a press conference of sorts. The two women stood behind the stage and banner, with Winters, Speirs and Sink. As Catherine walked up, she gave a firm salute and earned them right back.

" Now, I was just out there, and I'd recommend just telling those folks the truth," Sink said, just looking like he genuinely just wanted to keep them safe, " they oughta know of all the fine work you ladies have done for our regiment and the marks you've made." The three women smiled at Sink.

" Let them have it, really, I'm looking at you, Parker." Speirs said and Hazel laughed lightly as he smiled before looking at the group.

" I don't think any of them truly understand the horrors of war, or ever will, you let them know though, about it all, you're still soldiers, paratroopers, fighting, that doesn't change a thing." Speirs said and Catherine smiled softly.

" I've been with you three the longest, and I know whatever questions they throw, whatever they might say, you'll always be stronger than them, I've seen you in war, but you already know that." Dick said and the group smiled at their former CO. There were loud voices on the opposite side of the large banner. They knew they had to face the media, tell them the truth, which would be hard for them to fully accept - but it was reality.

" Gentlemen," Catherine said with a nod, before turning and looking at Hazel and Lizzie who nodded, determined.

The 3 women slowly stepped up the stars behind the banner and then turned the corner, to the stage, where on the downslope, it was crowded with media, microphones, cameras flashing, and men sitting scrawny with their notebooks.

It grew quiet almost immediately as the three women slowly walked across the stage, proudly, confidently, poised, their feet in time with one another. Their shoes made quiet clicks across the stage, as none of them even flinched at a camera flash or someone clearing their throat. They had been through war with shells raining upon them like a normal storm on a Sunday, and they'd survived it.

A comment would barely be a speck of dirt on the shoulder.

Catherine stopped and so did Hazel and Lizzie before they remained standing, at attention behind Catherine who walked to the podium. They didn't need to sit down and let the media gain any sense of satisfaction.

They were soldiers, they would stand as them.

Catherine slowly approached the podium and then stood behind it, a firm, emotionless face sprawled across her features. It was quiet, as if she were a queen standing and watching her citizens as if they were bowing down. But they would never bow down she felt, and she'd have to accept it.

" I suppose you all have questions, but all I know is I don't have to answer them." Catherine said and some eyes widened as other people looked each other. Catherine didn't even flinch or move a muscle from her stance, awaiting their voices.

" Please, do enlighten me." she said again watching them. It was quiet. Catherine would stand there all day, refusing to bow down to them, and watch them win at their own little game.

" If no one's willing to bother asking a question, I will gladly go back to my officer's quarters and continue working on my geographical location reports," Catherine said scanning the crowd, " this doesn't even affect or change my life in the slightest."

" Say what you want about the Viragos, but you will never understand what war is, never." Catherine said, " You sat home as you watched your citizens die. Writing bogus reports over and over without fail. So please, do enlighten me and tell me your reasons for doing so, I'm curious." Catherine watched as eyes fell and she watched some peoples' souls disappear from their bodies.

Oh they were not ready for Lieutenant Catherine McCown.

" I have a question, Private-"

" Lieutenant." Catherine said, stopping him in his sentence. The man watched her from where he stood a few rows back.

" I'm sorry, excuse me for-"

" Lieutenant, I'm a Lieutenant. Lieutenant Catherine McCown." Catherine said, clearly fed up just in her simple tone, " And if you want to hear more, I suggest you write that name down." Hazel and Lizzie slowly glanced towards each other with smirks on their faces. They were in for a ride.

" Lieutenant McCown," the man repeated, a slight bit of distaste it sounded in his voice, " why would a woman want to fight in a war?" Catherine stared at him.

" Why would a human want to fight in a war? An American citizen you mean?" she said, her bit rather nasty it seemed. But she had every right to be this way.

Equality was what they deserved, and Catherine would fight tooth and nail for it.

Catherine was met with silence.

" I've been in this war since the end of 1941, since we were first brought into this conflict. Fighting for 4 years, just to preserve the freedom of this country, the democracy, freedom of speech, or what you want to wear, listen to, watch, your ability to sit behind your desk and write what you write. Your freedom. That's what I fought for and it seems you can't even respect me for fighting for that." Catherine said coldly, holding the man's gaze with a stealthy glare, " I saw what human beings were capable of doing to other human beings. And the world is a cruel, cruel place. Crueler than that apartment you have in New York City, watching the sunset, not worrying about the Germans dropping bombs on your head as you wonder if you'll see tomorrow, if you'll wake up and find one of your comrades dead. I saw things that would make you all shit your pants." Catherine watched people frantically writing, or watching horrified, of what this female Lieutenant was capable of.

" I came to fight this war, wage it, make waves in this war, to hopefully end it so we don't lose anymore men, money, anything for our country," Catherine said," fighting a war in a world this cruel is something many humans will never ever be prepared to fight. So you can not compare me to anyone except who I am. I am Lieutenant Catherine McCown, I am a Virago, a woman of Operation Virago, as well as an Easy Company member and paratrooper of the Regiment, with my Camp Athene medal, Purple Heart, Jump Wings, plus multiple other medals on my uniform for what I did for my country. You can only compare me to myself and even then it may hardly be even considered a comparison."

" I am a soldier. A paratrooper. And yes, I am also a woman. I am all three of those things. But what does it matter? If I fought the enemy? If I got myself nearly killed on D-Day because of my shoulder? If I got injured like the rest of these men? What makes it a difference? And saying you're a woman does not." Catherine's question was met with a quiet whisper of the wind as the news reporters stared.

" A woman can be strong, mentally, physically and emotionally and fight a war while still being her vulnerable self. She can still be a woman and a soldier. 250 of us went in! And we lost many to the perils of the war waged by men. We went to try and save something, do something. We went to make a difference no matter what was thought of us. We Viragos? We don't give a damn if you think it's not proper. It is 1945! There's still prejudice against being human - so what woman now would care - I will fight until my dying breath until we are equal to all of you. I risked my life too many times to be asked these dumb and rather demeaning questions by men who sat safely back in America and knew they would not be bombed each and every night in below freezing weather. So don't ever tell me it is because I am a woman. I am just as capable as a man. We lost women out there. Women I trained with, ones who wanted to make a difference. And now all you do is dismiss it like any other. You're wrong. We are brave and powerful and commanding and we've seen them move up to Captains and Majors. You watch one day when women are treated equally and alongside you in the military, your boss, your CEO." It was quiet.

" Watch me be right, standing here on this stage in 1945, where we can not even be paid the same as men, watch as you just might regret your decision this day in 1945. I won't stand for it. Any of it. I fought in this war; is that not enough for any of you?"

It was silent in the Austrian Alps.

So silent.

Catherine continued her cold and hard stare.

" Someone tell me," Catherine said walking out from behind the podium to stand out by the side of it," why you all seem to believe women in the military is such a bad thing?" Catherine surveyed the crowd with almost a cold look settling into her icy gaze.

" Anyone?" she asked again. Catherine waited - she wanted to know.

What was their viable reason?

Or had she scared them enough.

" All of you sitting here now have most likely already been backlogging a report on the bullshit idea that is called Operation Virago," Catherine said, " we've heard it all, we've all almost died. A few of your words will barely puncture skin." They were quiet. Catherine gritted her teeth.

" D-Day, June 6th, 1944." Catherine said softly, " If it weren't for one of the most trusted combat medics of the company, I possibly could've been dead."

" September 18th, 1944." Catherine said glancing back at Lizzie, " Doc Elizabeth Elliot had been hiding from Germans in Holland with Sergeant Randleman all night with a leg wound, that could've made her bleed out and lose her life if it weren't for her quick thinking and the skills she had from her training."

" January 11th, 1945," Catherine said glancing over towards Hazel who stood with a firm smile, " Sergeant Hazel Parker was hit by shellings from the Germans and it almost killed her, all the impact her abdomen took, and she healed up quick than anyone, going AWOL from the hospital, just to fight with and be with the company." Catherine watched the group.

" And we are still alive - there are many others, too many others, who risked their lives in Virago Company, and lost them." Catherine said, " Too many have died for this putrid war."

" So please, tell me why a woman in war made your opinion so ungodly upsetting to even listen to." Catherine said looking at the group.

" Ma'am," a voice said, as a younger reporter stood up in the crowd, arms crossed, a smug look across his express. Catherine barely even let her mouth twitch. She nodded.

" There are plenty of other regiments in this war, that lost plenty of men," he stated and she nodded, " so why are you centering it all around you right now?" Catherine watched him.

" Because you respect those regiments, for what they do, because they're America's boys. And plus, you're here for the Viragos if I'm correct." Catherine stated as the man watched her, slightly speechless.

" Look, I'm sorry if you came here expecting one thing with the Viragos, but we have trained just as hard as the men of the regiments of the military. And we have worked our asses off for equality and even if this conference does absolutely nothing, at least I'll know that we have made our mark together and our truths are not out. Do what you want with the information, whatever you please. But in our hearts, we'll always be Viragos, we'll always be members of these special groups we've bonded with through this war. You can't take that from us, you can changed history from what it has become. You can't take being a Virago from us." Catherine said. Catherine looked up toward the warm sunshine that bathed the Viragos on the stage in light.

" It would be truly such a pity to ignore the people that fight for your country, for your safety, your rights, for things many other countries in this day and age are not allowed to have." Catherine said softly," I respect the people that fight for my freedom, I would start doing the same."

No one asked anymore questions after that, and there was no more talking needed as the girls retreated back down the podium, firing brimming in each of their souls.

Viragos, even when separated, were all Virago company members, and they'd defend each other until each and every last breath of their own.

" They can't be serious," Lizzie said as the three women walked away from the center square, hearing the flashing and clicks of the cameras behind them going off and voices," I mean staring at us for half an hour, no questions? Practically obliterating their entire purpose for being there!"

" And now they're going to go and write the same reports that we've seen on every American newspaper over here, it's nothing new," Catherine said as Hazel bit back her lip, " and don't even get started on the one guy, who started mouthing off about women in general, he can go back in his hole."

" That was absolute bullshit, the entire thing," Lizzie grumbled. Hazel glanced back over her shoulder towards where the press remained like hungry vultures sitting there watching them the entire time, but not quite attacking.

It was uncomfortable.

And the news about it spread as if it had been something like wildfire. Everyone knew about it, everyone, and by the time it reached mess halls and dining halls and barracks, people were talking about it all the time. The press that insulted the Viragos, and for many reasons, the press who stared like hawks but didn't quite attack, the press this, the press that. It was dumb, and it was lethargic and it was stupid.

" It was horrible, Joe, really, it felt like we were being humiliated." Hazel whispered by his side as the two sat at the nearby dock with the sun slowly setting nearby. Hazel gently swung her feet like she were a child, eyes sad, but her heart tainted. That had upset her, to see that even if they were fighting for their country, people couldn't respect them. People were cruel sometimes, they fought for freedom, but now they were just belittled.

" It pisses me off," Joe muttered, as Hazel watched him fiddling with his fingers, something he had always done when she saw him getting angry about something, it was like a way to hold himself so he wouldn't explode and race away like a balloon.

" And they just stared, whenever Catherine said anything, they just stared at her like she was insane, I mean, what else are we supposed to do?" Hazel said, " I'm proud that I'm a Virago member, and for the rest of my life I'll be proud and if someone wants to bash what a US citizen did for their country, let them, but I won't let what they tell me bother me, Joe. Yes, I am a woman, yes I am a Virago and yes I am a paratrooper, with a pair of Jump WIngs by her bed, but that doesn't make me any less human than anyone else on this planet." Joe watched her, he had never seen his this riled up, this angry, so unlike the Hazel Parker he remembered.

He liked it.

A smirk twitched on his face.

" And you know what," Hazel said as she stood, chucking a pebble that was in her grasp straight into the water, sending ripples across the water, as she sneered at it, nearly seething, eyes aflame, " war is war, Joe, you know that. And all they do is sit on their butts back in New York City, in a warm office with that stupid complimentary breakfast and coffee each morning. They didn't have bombs dropping over their heads like rain, or the bullets whizzing past their heads, they didn't have to whisper a prayer every time they met someone else's eye through a scope, did they?" Joe looked up at her as Hazel huffed and crossed her arms.

" How am I supposed to even want to listen to their opinion when they haven't experienced what a war is like?" she snapped angrily to no one, her eyes narrowed like they always did when she was in hind sight of whatever she was zeroing in on, " I'm not going to sit around and listen to some excuse they're going to give about women in the military. I'm a US citizen, I'm a member of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, I come from the United States and I'm fighting for their country. It's childish to even think you can't support someone because of their gender." Hazel scoffed kicking her foot against the wood of the dock.

" I mean the only reason they're here is because a woman managed to birth them. Without a woman they wouldn't even exist." Hazel muttered, eyes narrowed, " I don't get it, why people can be so ungodly rude towards a woman." Hazel met Joe's eyes, a fire burning beneath her own.

" I am a woman, aren't I?" Hazel said, and didn't even wait for Joe to answer or nod his head, " And I may be a woman fighting this war, letting it break me down to the bare bones only to build me up again, but I am still a woman, who cares about herself, who she is, who can speak her mind when she wants, create opinions, and ideas, and have bravery and courage, and strength and the power to do what she wants. Never for once in this war did I wish that against me, and this war has taught me those things, many of those things, but most importantly how to continue being strong on my own." Hazel met his eyes again as Joe watched her.

" The fact people can't respect the fact that we made this decision all on our own makes me sick to my stomach. It wasn't their kid going off to fight a war, it wasn't their daughter risking her life - they didn't give a damn about it. My mother sent off her only daughter to war, leaving her alone at her house to take up the duties that the man that is my father left her to do. She was the one that sent me off. She could've easily said no, but she did it anyway. She believed in me. She believed I could, because she went through too much crap in her life, to see her own daughter have to continue to struggle. She knew in many ways that this experience, could help change my entire future. And you know what, It did. It changed everything. If I had stayed home, I would've been stuck in a crappy little library, sitting at a desk, writing reviews on books or stocking shelves at a store. Absolutely ridiculous." Hazel stood seething, eyes narrowed angrily out towards what was in front of her, the rippling water, the warm, mountain air. She shook her head.

" I'm sick and tired of it, Joe, all of it," she said and met his eyes again as he watched her with a firm gaze, listening to each word she said, " I'm at my boiling point."

Joe slowly felt a proud smirk creep across his face as he slowly stood and looked down towards her.

" So what are you gonna do about it?" Joe asked her, " Need a large, sharp, weapon?" Hazel felt a smirk on her features and laughed lightly.

" No, I just need a pencil and paper and a lot of coherent thoughts on it."

Joe smiled.

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Operation Virago - out. Catherine - peeved. Lizzie - passionately angry. Hazel - loosing her MIND. And this here, lovely humans, is where we see these women and their character arc, where operation virago comes out, and most importantly the continuation of the fight for womens' rights, something i am living for with these 3 women, and i hope you are to :) thank you so so much for reading, you will LOVE the next update <3