ROGERS TWINS • b. barnes

IX

As the days progressed, so did the work outs. Currently the trainees were doing push-ups, while Steve was struggling everyone else was not. Stella did stop every once in a while and stayed in a high plank waiting for Steve to do a few to catch up, however.

"Faster, ladies! Come on. My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul. Move it!" Peggy Carter encouraged.

"You're not really thinking about picking the Rogers, are you?" Colonel Phillips asked, walking beside Dr. Erskine.

"I am more than just thinking about it. They are the clear choice." The doctor insisted.

"When you brought a ninety-pound asthmatic and a girl onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe they'll be useful to you, like gerbils. I never thought you'd pick 'em." The Colonel said. "You stick a needle in those kids' arms and it's gonna go right through." He continued on, referring to the twins as he watched Steve struggling.
"Look at that. He's making me cry." He finished.

"I am looking for qualities beyond the physical." Erskine informed the Colonel.

"Do you know how long it took to set up this project?" Phillips asks.

"Yeah, I know" Erskine replies.

"All the groveling I had to do in front of Senator What's-His-Name's committees?" He continues.

"Brandt. Yes, I know. I am well aware of your efforts." The doctor once again replies.

"Then throw me a bone. Hodge passed every test we gave him. He's big, he's fast, he obeys orders. He's a soldier." The younger man argues.

"He's a bully."

"You don't win wars with niceness, doctor." Phillips continues to argue as he takes a hand grenade "You win war with guts." he throws the grenade at where the new recruits are training, "Grenade!" He yells, all the soldiers move away quickly but Peggy and Stella both run towards it only for Steve to jump on top of it covering it with his body.

"Get away! Get back!" He waits for the grenade to go off but nothing happens.

"It was a dummy grenade. All clear. Back in formation." An officer calls from a distance.

"Is this is a test?" Steve asks, looking at Phillips and Erskine. The doctor looks at the colonel as to confirm his point about choosing the twins.

"They're still skinny." He says before walking off.

***

Later that night, Steve sits on his bunk reading while Stella laid with her feet on Steve's legs and her head on his pillow. Erskine knocks on the door causing them to look up.

"May I?" The scientist asks the two.

"Yeah." Steve replies the same time Stella nods her head.

"Can't sleep?" He asks.

"I got the jitters, I guess." Steve replies.

"Me, too." Erskine laughs before training his eyes on the girl laying in the bed.

"Just thinking about what it's gonna be like when I'm taller." She tells them, keeping her gaze on the ceiling.

"Can I ask you a question?" Steve asks.

"Just one?" The older man asks taking a seat facing the twins.

"Why us?"

"I suppose that is the only question that matters." Erskine says looking down at the bottle of schnapps he brought with him. "This is from Augsburg. My city. So many people forget that the first country that the Nazi's invaded was their own." He starts, gaining Stella's attention enough for her to sit up, "You know, after the last war the, my people struggled. They, they felt weak. They felt small. And then Hitler comes along with the marching and the big show and the flags and the, and the," he trails off waving his hand, "And he, he hears of me, my work and he finds me. And he says, 'You' He says, 'You will make us strong.' Well, I am not interested. So he sends the head of HYDRA, his research division. A brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt. Now, Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he's ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers. But for Schmidt, it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power hidden in the earth, left here by the Gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man. So when he hears about my formula and what it can do, he cannot resist." He tells the twins, "Schmidt must become that superior man."