When Cali Falls In Love | 1940s Bucky Barnes

Prologue

The greatest battles we'll ever fight are the ones against ourselves.

━ THE WORKSHOP SMELLED LIKE OIL AND SCORCHED METAL. Odette Stark had been awake for thirty-six hours, and it showed. Bags beneath her eyes are now imminent and the three stacked cups of mugs on her desk speaks for themselves.

Her brother, Howard Stark, was pacing the length of the lab in a restless manner "If Colonel Phillips thinks he can rush us on this, he's out of his mind. You don't rush science, you fund science. Big difference." He fussed.

"Maybe try telling him that when you're not holding  that wrench like a sword," Cali muttered, tightening the last bolt on a palm-sized injector. "You wave tools around like that and he'll think we're planning to stab the candidates, not enhance them."

Howard shot her a look,  "You know, for a kid sister, you're bossier than the Army." Cali rolled her eyes at her brother.

On the table in front of her sat a device no bigger than her palm. It was a sleek, glass-and-steel injector that was the Super Soldier Serum project. 

"Well, don't you look smug for someone who hasn't slept in two days," Howard's voice was annoying as ever.

"Two and a half," Cali corrected. "And I'd sleep if someone wasn't convinced we needed a revolutionary delivery system for the serum and a flashy demonstration to make the old man happy. Guess which one of us decided to volunteer me for the both of us?"

Howard smirked, perching on the edge of the table next to her feet. "You volunteered by being too good. Don't act like you don't live for this. Besides, if we're going to convince the Army to trust us with Erskine's serum, we need more than just results. We need a show."

Cali arched an eyebrow. "Ah yes, nothing says 'trust us with rewriting human biology' like a magic trick."

"Exactly." Howard flashed said grin.

Despite herself, Cali snorted, shaking her head. "You're impossible."

"And yet, you'd be bored out of your brilliant mind without me," Howard shot back, effortlessly.

The truth was, he wasn't entirely wrong. For all their jabs and verbal sparring, they were two halves of the same coin. Howard, the showman inventor, and Cali, the mind who saw the problems in every equation and made sure their creations actually worked. Without him, she might never leave the lab. Without her, half his ideas would explode. Literally.

Howard peered at the injector. "So this is it? The final prototype?"

"Unless you want it to double as a grenade, yes," Cali said, handing it over carefully. "Low-pressure dispersion, titanium valve locking, adjustable gauge. It'll deliver the serum exactly how Erskine needs it. Minimal risk of spontaneous combustion."

Howard blinked. "Minimal?"

"Everything explodes if you're stupid enough," she said sweetly.

He snorted. "Then we're doomed, I'm surrounded by the government."

"God, you're insufferable."

"And you love me for it."

"Guess I'll cancel the floor show, then." He set it back down, his expression sobering just slightly. "This thing is big, Cali. Bigger than anything we've ever done. Are you ready for that?"

Cali met his gaze, her usual smirk softening. "I was ready the moment I realized this could end the war faster. If one man can do what an army can't..." She trailed off, her fingers brushing the injector. "Maybe fewer brothers, husbands, and sweethearts come home in coffins. That's worth every sleepless night."

Howard studied her for a moment. Despite his aloofness, he understood. Maybe more than he liked to admit. "Just remember, genius or not, you're still my kid sister. Try not to get yourself killed proving a point."

"You're one plasma misfire away from being a cautionary tale," Cali shot back, twisting the injector's stabilizer into place. Howard was now the one rolling eyes towards the other.

That was the thing about Howard. He wore confidence like armor, sarcasm like a shield. People mistook him for arrogant, and he was, but it wasn't just ego. Howard knew what he was. A genius, a visionary, a man perpetually two steps ahead of everyone in the room. Even when it made him unbearably smug.

The lab doors slammed open.

"Stark. Stark."

Howard lifted a hand lazily. "Agent Carter. To what we owe the pleasure?"

Peggy Carter's voice sliced through the room like a blade, her heels clicking against the concrete floor. Impeccably pressed uniform, hair perfectly pinned, and crimson lipstick.

Peggy turned to her. "Miss Stark, the Colonel has reviewed your designs. He's approved phase two."

Cali straightened. "You're serious?"

"We're mobilizing tomorrow. Zero six hundred. You're both coming with me to the front. Candidates are being screened as we speak. The serum trials begin within the week."

Howard blinked. "You're dragging both Starks into a war zone? Bold move. I thought the Army liked their inventors alive."

"The Colonel is willing to risk your presence," Peggy said, deadpan. "Though he did request I sedate you if you try to flirt with anyone wearing a badge."

Howard sighed theatrically. "A man smiles once in a uniformed woman's direction, and suddenly he's a menace."

"You are a menace," Cali said, slinging her satchel onto the workbench. "But fine, war zone it is."

Peggy gave a slight nod of approval. "Good. Then I'll see you both on the tarmac. Zero six hundred. And don't be late, Mr. Stark. You're not charming enough to excuse it twice."

Howard smirked. "You wound me, Carter."

She gave them one last sharp look and turned on her heel, her departure just as swift as her entrance.

As the lab door closed behind her, Cali let out a slow breath. "So that's it. We're doing it."

Howard watched the injector glint under the lights. "Looks like it."

"Are you nervous?"

He shrugged. "No. You?"

Cali hesitated, then smiled faintly. "Not yet."

She stared at the prototype they were building in silver and fire.

War was coming. Bigger than anything they'd touched before. But so has changed.

Somewhere out there, among the candidates they hadn't met yet, one of them was going to step into something no human had ever survived before. And Cali and Howard would be there, watching and shaping history with their own hands.

They were ones of the many people who will help build a legend.

And she's looking forward to it.