It's been a week since I had arrived at the camp. I'd followed Colonel Phillips orders, stayed out of his way and close by to Peggy, keeping an eye on the candidates' progress. All of the men here are exceptionally athletic, and are able to clear courses in a quick enough time.
And then there's Steve.
Whenever Steve takes his turn on the courses, something always goes wrong for him. On the third day of training, Steve was climbing a huge net with some other men, when all of a sudden he dropped and was dangling by his foot upside down. You could clearly see his face beginning to turn bright pink as the blood rushed to his head. All of the other men were laughing, even Colonel Phillips. I giggled a little bit, but stopped immediately when I saw the hurt look on his face. Peggy had to go over to him and help him down again so that he could try again. But again, he went to try doing it in the middle of the netting, which everyone knows is the hardest part to climb, and that you should always go for one of the edges so that it is easier and quicker.
The other day, they were given rifles, and were told to crawl on their bellies under ten meters of barbed wire on the muddy ground. I had seen Steve struggle to keep up with the rest of the men. One of the men had turned over and kicked one of the wooden poles holding up the barbed wire, trapping my brother in a net of spikes. That time, Colonel Phillips had refused to let Peggy help him out, and Steve emerged covered in scratches and gashes, his uniform speckled with blood. The training officer had helped him out, but had screamed at and lectured him, which hurt everyone's ears, including my own.
Today, they were on a run around the camp; Peggy and I sat in a jeep with another officer beside her. She had been glancing down at all of the notes she had taken on the candidates: there were two more tasks for them to complete before a decision had to be made. "Pick up the pace, ladies! Let's go, let's go! Double time!" The training officer screamed at the tops of his lungs. I'm surprised that over the last week he hasn't screamed himself hoarse, given how much he has done. "Come on! Faster! Faster!" Eager to see my brother again, I turned around rapidly in my seat, my braided hair whipping around from my left shoulder, across the back of my neck, and onto my right. Peggy and the officer also did this, but slower, and in a bit more of a dignified manner.
The candidates quickly jogged along the path towards us, their feet stomping on the dirt and dust, kicking it up with each step. "Move! Move!" The training officer screeched, before appearing to have changed his mind. "Squad, halt!" Rounding a corner, they slowed to a stop, unknowingly allowing Steve an opportunity to catch up. To their right, stood a flagpole that reached 20 feet in the air, the fabric of the flag embellished with the training camp's logo, name, and some dates that I couldn't read. We remained on the troops's left, and as the training officer continued to scream at them, I noticed some of the candidates oggle at Peggy. I wrinkled my nose at them, feeling self conscious as they began darting their piggy eyes over at me as well.
"That flag" The officer shouted, pointing up at the worn, yet embellished flag that drifted in the light breeze, the candidates attention yanked back over to him. "Means we're only at the halfway point. First man to bring it to me gets a ride back with Agent Carter." Steve caught my attention again, as he stood wheezing, doubled-over. Clearly, no one was taking his asthma into account, and i swung back around to meet Peggy's gaze.
"Steve," I began, worry digging a toxic pit in my stomach. "His asthma, I think he's struggling to breathe." Peggy took my hand in hers as she placed her clipboard down on her lap, and rubbed it reassuringly with her thumb.
"I'm sure he's going to be ok. He's smarter than all of the other brutes over there." She smiled, as the officer next to her squinted into the sun. "He'll be the one to get the ride back to the camp, you'll see." Silently, I prayed to God that she'd be right, as I swivelled reluctantly back round to see what was happening over at the flagpole. Sure enough, Steve was beginning to straighten back up, grinning in disbelief as he looked at the height of the flag.
"Move, move!" The officer ordered deafeningly, swinging his arm haphazardly in the metal pole's direction. All of the candidates, except Steve, sprinted over to it as though it were a three course meal and they were starving and homeless, attacking it like rabid wolves. "Come on! Get up there!" Hodges threw himself onto it, and began pulling himself up. The pole wobbled under his weight. Immediately he slipped to the ground, and I grinned at the thought of him having to run with the others. I didn't like him, especially after seeing how he treats people like Steve and Peggy. My eyes couldn't stop flicking over to Steve, and I wondered why he wasn't doing anything, why he was just standing there. He had obviously caught his breath again whilst the others fought one another and the flagpole.
"If that's all you got, this army's in trouble!" The training officer screamed abuse at them, ignoring my brother behind him. Peggy sighed, and the sound of furious scribbling on a wooden board scratched playfully at my ears. She had explained what the clipboard meant, the first night I was here, but I didn't fully understand, and I didn't want to ask her again.
I didn't want to seem thick.
So, instead, she'd taught me other things, fun things. Like how to do a backbend. I still struggle with that when I'm on my own, but she's helped me when she can, and when she can't, I've used a wall.
"Get up there Hodge!" The officer screamed, and I snapped out of my trance. I looked up to see Hodge further up the pole than he had been previously. A lump formed in my throat; I didn't want to be seated next to that bully on the ride back. Plus he smells like sweat and old, dirty cologne.
"Come on! Get up there!" As he wriggled, slithered, and squirmed higher up, clinging on for dear life. His efforts ended up being fruitless, as he slipped back down to the ground, the palms of his hands squeaking painfully against the cool metal. I winced as the sound scraped uncomfortably at my ears. The men screeched and shouted, swarming around it like wasps. I felt a bit sorry for the flagpole; it didn't deserve having men scrambling around at its base, scratching their way up before sliding back down.
"Nobody's got that flag in 17 years!" The training officer gloated, folding his arms tightly against his scrawny chest and smirked.
"17 years?!" I whispered to Peggy, and she nodded, a small piece of her coiled hair slipping down by her ear, drifting in the spring breeze. Despite the ruckus everyone was making mere metres away, you could still hear the birds chirping contentedly in the trees above our heads. That was something we never really got back home in Brooklyn, at least not to the extent we have here at the training camp.
The candidates, still scrambling to ascend the pole, didn't appear to have heard.
"Now fall back into line! Come on, fall in!" He ordered, and the group dispersed, leaving one man clinging onto the pole momentarily with his arms and legs, hugging it tightly to his torso before slipping back into the dirty track. Peggy turned back around, but I stayed facing the flag. They began to jogging away, although Steve didn't join them.
Instead, he walked up to it, tilting his head to look at where the flag gently tickled the sky, a wash of blue and wispy white clouds, antagonising and taunting everyone back down on the ground.
"Rogers! I said fall in!" The officer screamed, but he didn't take any notice. Instead, I watched Steve as he bent over towards the ground, his hand reaching for the base of the pole. His fingers wrapped around the pin holding it steady, jiggling it slightly with his wrist to ease it out, and straightening back up.
The pole fell like a timber, clanging as it bounced off the ground for a second. I jumped slightly at the sudden impact. Peggy turned back around as the pin fell from Steve's hand. Everyone had begun to watch him, and some murmurs from the candidates, dumbfounded and staring at him, tickled my ears. I turned to face Peggy, grinning from ear to ear, and she smirked at the officer. "See," She whispered to me, watching my brother as he knelt down to pick up the flag from the ground. "He was the only one who used his mind, and not his muscles."
"That's only because he doesn't have any." I giggled, my voice low so he wouldn't hear me as he walked over. Peggy let out a little snort, as the officer took the flag from my brothers hand; Steve climbed into the back next to me. Hodges turned around in disbelief at the other men around him, as they all looked at us.
"Thank you, sir." Steve wrapped his arm around my shoulders, giving me a tight squeeze, meeting Peggy's gaze. They smiled at one another for a brief moment, until she turned around. The jeep's engine meekly roared to life, and we soon left them in a cloud of dust.
"Peggy, what's the next course?" I asked, leaning forward slightly in my seat, wrinkling my nose as I inhaled his unsavoury body odour from his morning of hard exercise. At least he's not as bad as the others would have been.
"It's just a fitness test, although Doctor Erskine will be there as well to oversee things." She replied, resting her arm of the back of her seat as she turned around to face us again. I could feel my face lighting up a bit more than it already had been since Steve got in with us.
"And this is the last test?" Steve enquired, his eyes tired, looking worn out from enduring the past week. I'd feel the same if I were in his shoes. Having to get up each morning at the crack of dawn, running miles and miles throughout the day, not to mention endurance and army skills training. It surprises me that he hasn't collapsed yet thanks to all of his various medical problems.
"From what I've been told, yes." She reassured him, as I leaned back against my brother and the seat.
<><><><>
"Faster, ladies! Come on." Peggy called to the candidates as they did press-up after press-up on the golden, grassy floor of the camp. "My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul." A giggle escaped my pinkish lips as I sat cross-legged by the jeep, my fingers artfully weaving wilting daisies together to form a sad, little chain. My head lifted, and I could see Steve struggling, but even from where I was sitting, there was no denying the forceful glint in his baby blue eyes that pushed him up and down, despite the fact that his muscles were screaming out for a rest. "Move it!"
Not too far away, Doctor Erskine was walking with Colonel Phillips, and as they grew closer, I could begin to hear the conversation that was taking place as they approached us. "You're not really thinking about picking Rogers, are you?" The colonel spluttered in disbelief. The statement really made my blood boil. Steve had been working harder and smarter than anyone else here on the camp, even if it didn't appear that way. He has come a long way from the kid from Brooklyn that he always calls himself.
"I'm more than just thinking about it. He is the clear choice." Erskine argued calmly, reaching up to adjust the spectacles resting on his nose. I sat there, looking confused. What did he mean?
"When you brought a 90-pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I though, "What the hell." Maybe he'd be useful to you, like a gerbil. I never thought you'd pick him." Colonel Phillips continued, shaking his head. I had to force myself not to retaliate, throwing the sorry chain on the ground, and reaching into my skirt pocket for Bucky's dice, rolling it between my palm and my fingers.
"Up." Peggy ordered, and the men stood to attention as Phillips and Erskine finally approached us. My head whipped around to see them, before returning to the chipped wooden cube in my hands.
"You stick a needle in that kid's arm, it's gonna go right through him." Colonel Phillips muttered, squinting as we watched them perform jumping jacks over and over again.
"Come on, girls." Peggy called, pacing back and forth close by to me, brushing my braid with her fingertips reassuringly. She could see the fear the was creeping up on me, as I saw the dog tag around my brother's neck slap him repeatedly in the chest each time he landed on the ground, so close to winding him thanks to his poor lungs.
"Look at that." He pitied, as I bit my lip, although I instantly ceased as the pain kicked in. "He's making me cry." Sure enough, his eyes did appear wetter than before, the corners crinkling up with age.
"I am looking for qualities beyond the physical." Doctor Erskine pushed, and my eyebrows knitted in a frown of confusion. What had he meant by that? What was his goal here?
"Do you know how long it took to set up this project?" The colonel almost snarled, turning to face Erskine. An underlying note of frustration had evidently laced his tongue and his intentions were becoming as clear as crystal. "All the grovelling I had to do in front of Senator What's-His-Name's committees?"
"Brandt." Erskine answered for him, looking straight forward, watching my brother struggle with the fitness test. "Yes, I know. I am well aware of your efforts."
"Then throw me a bone." He exclaimed in annoyance. "Hodge passed every test we gave him."
"Not every one." I muttered quietly under my breath, praying to God that they heard me. But, unfortunately, that hadn't appeared to be the case here.
"He's big, he's fast. He obeys orders." Phillips praised, watching his prize candidate, smugly, as he performed his jumping jacks flawlessly. "He's a soldier."
"He is a bully." Erskine countered, although the colonel just brushed him off.
"You don't win wars with niceness, Doctor." He waddled across the space between me and Erskine towards the trunk of the jeep, and reached in amongst the boxes and crates that were scattered and piled inside. As he lifted his hand again, I turned around to see him pull out a hand grenade, and my heart shot up into my throat. "You win wars with guts." He pulled out the pin, flicked a switch and flung it amongst the crowd of candidates as they continued their fitness test. "Grenade!"
The world suddenly slowed down to a halt. All that filled my ears was the sound of my breath, haggard and frightened; the world gone silent. The only person in my sight was my brother, throwing himself on top of the tiny ticking bomb. A horrid, gut-wrenching scream ripped its way through my body, and I ran.
I ran, and I ran towards my brother.
Peggy's voice, although muffled, rang in my ears as she cried out my name, and her soft hand grasped my wrist forcefully. Memories flashed across my mind like picture film, shining light on my recollections of Steve, of him raising me on his own, looking out for me each and every day, but most importantly of him as my older brother. Making me laugh, taking care of me. Helping me come back after Mommy...
"Get away!" Steve yelled, as Peggy pulled me back. I fought against her grip, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Get back!" He threw his arms in our direction, before huddling on top of the grenade again. Peggy crouched down beside me, softening her grip, as Hodges peered out from behind an army vehicle, the rest of the soldiers coming further towards us. As soon as he had realised that the bomb wouldn't go off, Steve shot up, looking around, until his eyes fell on me, Peggy holding me close to her as I sniffled in my brother's direction.
"It was a dummy grenade." Phillips called, looking disappointed in all of the men around us looking at him in confusion. "All clear. Back in formation." A dull thud of a mass of combat boots consumed the air as they complied. Peggy held her gaze towards Steve, his eyes darting between her and I, panting as he stayed where he sat.
"Is this a test?" Steve wheezed, and I turned to look at Erskine and the Colonel, the colonel turning to Erskine with his eyebrows raised. All the doctor did was shrug, giving the commanding officer a small smile. Offering us no answer as to whether it was a test, or to show Phillips how wrong he has been about my brother.
"He's still skinny." Colonel Phillips muttered to the doctor, as he walked around him and away. Erskine watched him for a moment, before turning to Steve, who had begun to walk over to him, grenade in hand.
"What do you want me to do with this, Doctor?" He spoke, holding the little death trap in between them.
"I'll take it, Steven." His hands enclosed around it as he smiled, the outer corners of his eyes crinkling up as he smiled. "Go and join the others now."
"Yes sir." My brother replied, before turning around and walking towards me. "What up, Elle?" He asked, squatting down beside us, his head cocked to one side.
"Don't. DO. THAT!" I yelled, punching his arm as hard as I could to emphasis my point. Steve just looked at me, taken aback. He didn't get it. Why would he? As long as he gets to play the hero. It hasn't crossed his mind that if that grenade had gone off, then I would be left without a brother. Then I would be all alone in this big, wide world. No mother, no father, no brother.
All alone.
"Let's go and have a word, Steve." Peggy offered, completely loosening her grip on me, and although her voice was soft for my sake, there was a look in her eyes that I couldn't decipher. He nodded, and they both straightened up. "Elle, you stay here, ok? We won't be long." She turned her attention to me, and as I nodded, they began to walk off. As I sat back down on the ground, grass tickling my legs and hands, my head swivelled around to glance at them. My grip on Bucky's dice softened, and I turned it over and over in my hands again, and although they weren't too far away, Peggy and Steve were whispering too quietly for me to hear.
The soldiers on my other side all began whispering to one another like gossiping teenagers, glancing, glaring, and pointing their fingers at the unusual couple. "She can't be serious, can she?" Hodge muttered to one of his cronies, who sniggered in response. "I mean, he's so scrawny and tiny. Why can't she go for a bigger man, one with meat on his bones instead of little chicken wing over there?" Anger and fury heated my blood until it boiled. Throwing myself off the floor in a rage, I stormed over to him, my fist clenching once again around the dice.
"You leave my big brother alone!" I shouted, my voice projecting over the gossip, washing it away for a brief second. Hodge peered at me from under his big nose like I was a stink that wouldn't waft away. "He's twice the man you'll ever be, you big bully." Even though I couldn't see them, I could feel Peggy and Steve's eyes glued on me in astonishment. My stomach twisted and contorted with each word, but all I could see was red. Blood red.
"Oh yeah?" He taunted bending down, asserting dominance. "And what are you going to do about it, little doll?" Something inside me snapped. My mind left my body. And I found myself kicking him and punching him as hard as I could, my face scrunched up until it turned bright red. Soon my fist hit home, and as Hodge doubled over, two pairs of hands grabbed me before he could throw me to the ground.
"Isabelle! What on earth do you think you were doing?!" Steve yelled as he carried me away, Peggy right next to him. My legs kicked, and my body squirmed in his arms, but he held me too tightly for me to wriggle free. I opened my eyes, turning to see Peggy's furious face.
"You didn't hear what he was saying!" I shouted, as he finally put me down where they had been standing previously.
"That doesn't mean you can start attacking him. Mom taught you better." He argued, Peggy nodding beside him. Angry tears pushed and prodded their way towards the front of my peacock blue orbs.
"Colonel Phillips told you not to do things like that, remember?" She spoke softer than Steve, but her voice still remained firm. Frustrated, my head tilted to the ground, salty tears trickling down my cheeks. Why were they acting like this? If it had been the other way around, Steve would've acted in the exact same way that I had. Why should it be any different? It's all wrong! Why should Steve be the only one who is allowed to play some kind of a hero?
Soft, gentle fingers wiped away the droplets from my face. They felt like Mommy's. It was something I thought I'd forgotten, along with almost everything else about her. That just made me cry more.
Peggy sat on the ground, pulling me towards her. I didn't try to fight back, I didn't want to. Peggy looked to Steve, before he muttered. "Mom used to wipe away our tears like that." She hugged me tighter, stroking my plaited hair, the flyaways tickling at my nose and cheekbones. Steve's fingers began to unclenched my fists, and the dice fell to the dry grass. "Elle, what's this?" He asked, confused, holding the chipped wooden cube between his index and middle fingers. Pulling away from Peggy, slightly, I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand, not meeting his eyes.
"It's the dice from the snakes and ladders game." I sniffed, reaching out for it, needing the comfort it brung. He sighed as he handed it back to me.
"Why did you take it?" He queried, exhaling tiredly.
"It's all I have left of Bucky." I whispered, holding it to my chest as I leaned back into Peggy. Erskine walked back over to us, hands behind his back. I hadn't even noticed that he's left.
"I have made my decision," He directed to the candidates and Peggy, offering me a little reassuring wink. "On who will become the first in a new breed of super soldier." Scrambling towards their places, the candidates stood to attention, Hodge still nursing his aching groin. Steve stood up straight where we were, and I still clung to Peggy.
But Erskine didn't face the men who stood in ordered rows, looking solemnly into the air. He didn't address them further. Instead, he turned to us, looking Steve in the eyes.
"I wasn't looking for outstanding physicality. That was the least of my concerns." Steve's eyebrows knitting together in confusion as the doctor spoke. "I was looking for something beyond that. Bravery. Perseverance. Selflessness." Erskine stepped closer towards him, until there was only a metre between them. "And that is why Steven Rogers is my clear choice for the super soldier program." Everyone stared at him in shock, even my brother. And although I didn't understand most of what he had described Steve to be, I knew Erskine was right. Hodge looked like he was going to explode.
Steve stared at Doctor Erskine in disbelief, before suddenly having the urge to clear his throat. "Thank you, sir." He smiled and nodded, his spectacled eyes twinkling.
"For the little guy." Erskine whispered, and Steve nodded in return.
"The little guy."
<><><><>
The next day, Peggy, Steve and I sat in a cab, driving once again through the streets of New York City. The buildings going past, made of copper-red bricks and beige stone, stood tall at the edges of the dirty tarmac road. A group of boys were raucously playing catch with a grubby little ball covered in specks of dry mud and filth, and as we drove past, the eldest stood up and stared.
Wispy, white clouds danced in the periwinkle sky, the sun hiding behind a lofty apartment block nearby. "I know this neighbourhood." Steve spoke, looking around through the windows, dressed in a sandy coloured officer's uniform. "I got beat up in that alley." He pointed towards one coming up on our right, Peggy following his gaze. "And that parking lot. And behind that diner." He looked down at his lap; I winced at each recollection and although I didn't want them to, I knew that they were going to stick with me forever.
"Did you have something against running away?" Peggy asked, intrigued, although I just scoffed.
"Something like that." I muttered, my voice low enough that they could still hear me. Steve's elbow collided with my shoulder playfully, knocking me into Peggy.
"You start running, they'll never let you stop." He explained, all seriousness returning into the air around us. "You stand up, you push back. They can't say no forever, right?" And although his question went over my head, the rest I knew by heart.
"I know a little of what that's like," Peggy admitted with a nod of her head, looking straight ahead at the road in front of us. "To have every door shut in your face." My fingers nimbly fiddled with my gingham skirt, my eyes looking down at my lap. I remembered at school how the boys wouldn't let me join in with their games, how they said I couldn't play their fighting games with them because I was a girl. Steve grew silent, looking at his shoes, thinking.
"I guess I just don't know why you'd want to join the Army if you were a beautiful dame. Or a... A woman. An agent. Not a dame." He confessed, stumbling foolishly over his words. "You are beautiful, but..." Shot fired.
Shot missed.
Peggy just stared at him, her eyes narrowing in bemusement, and I facepalmed in second hand embarrassment. "You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" She queried in disbelief. I snorted hysterically, and my brother joined in with my laughter.
"I think this is the longest conversation I've had with one." He admitted, and as he did, Peggy returned her gaze to in front of us. "Women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on." Despite the smile plastered on his face, there were notes of sadness laced around his tongue and behind his azure eyes.
"You must have danced." Peggy almost whispered, her voice was so soft. Her eyes glanced down to me shaking my head sadly, before meeting Steve again.
"Well, asking a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying." My brother explained, his eyebrows furrowing. "And the past few years, it just didn't seem to matter that much. I figured I'd wait." That hit me like a ton of bricks. It had been my fault, in the end? I was the reason why he stopped trying to impress a girl? Shame flushed across my cheeks, and all that spread across my mind was "do not cry". Despite the fact that tears pushed their way in front of my eyes... they didn't spill.
"For what?" She smiled, gazing at him again. There was something I couldn't explain, I didn't know behind her eyes. It wasn't anything menacing, no, that wasn't Peggy. But I just couldn't put my finger on it.
"The right partner." He answered, looking out the window again. Peggy continued to gaze at him, even as I wriggled in my seat so that I could stand on my knees and whisper in her ear.
"You like him, don't you?" I teased, testing the waters and a thought that had emerged in my brain. Pulling away, I was met with her blushing face and wide eyes, before she leaned in towards my own.
"I'm not going to say anything." She whispered back, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smirk, which change to a genuine smile. We pulled into a parking space opposite a butchers that stood next to a shop called "Brooklyn Antiques", where the medium grey paint had begun to peel away from the window frames, the lettering across the signs above the windows and the alcoved door a pale, shimmering gold. As Steve opened the cab door for us to exit out of, the smell of cigarettes and fresh meat lingering on the streets, making its way up my nostrils. Holding my breath, I clambered out, jumping down from the leather seat onto the tarmac sidewalk.
"This way." Peggy directed, holding my hand in hers as she turned towards the antiques shop, Steve following from behind. Two men stood outside the shop, one with a black suit and dark, oily hair, clutching a grey homburg to his abdomen. The other wore a dirt coloured pinstripe piece, sporting a matching colour fedora which covered his short brown hair. They each turned to watch us as we approached the door.
"What are we doing here?" Steve questioned, raising an eyebrow at the peculiar exams.
"Follow me." Peggy replied, taking no notice of his question. We followed her towards the alcoved door, and my eyes watched her place her empty hand on the curved door knob and twist. A bell chimed loudly as the door swung open, announcing our entrance to the entire shop. The room was dimly lit by only a couple of shaded lamps, the only natural light being from the windows embedded in the door. The air was musty, and dust covered what little trinkets were on display like a grey shawl. Cobwebs wrapped shelves and lightbulbs in a piece of intricate lacework, resembling gothic doilies. Steve shut the door behind us as we crossed the threshold, filling the soundless void with an eerie creak. As Peggy walked towards the centre of the room, I hid behind her, our hands still held together. Looking around her legs, I watched an old woman with pinned up, greying hair, dressed in a terracotta arrangement, emerge from the shadows surrounding the edges of the room.
"Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?" She asked, and although she smiled at us as she spoke, there was a certain curtness that sliced across her tongue.
"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella." Peggy replied with a tilt of her head. My face contorted in a frown of confusion. We hadn't brought an umbrella, had we? The old woman walked across the shop towards the cash register, and as she bent down behind the countertop, Peggy gently pulled me towards the dark, musty curtains from where the woman had emerged from, Steve following us still.
Standing still, we faced a bookcase that covered the wall from one side to the other, from the floor to the ceiling. Other shelves of weapons and stacks of weathered books surrounded us, and empty painting frames were dotted across bare, olive coloured walls. A lock clicked from behind the wall of books, and surprisingly it opened, without a sound.
On the other side, were dimly lit corridors that resembled that of a hospital. I cowered behind Peggy as we walked on; Steve grabbed my hand. The men walking around dressed in stark white lab coats didn't help either. Fluorescent lights flickered above our heads as we walked through the corridor, almost drowning in the silence that circled us like a shark. The door at the other end, our destination, seemed miles away, as if we were crossing an entire ocean. Swinging my head around to Steve, I stared at him, my eyes wide in fear. He squeezed my hand reassuringly, but continued to look forwards at the iron doors. A lump formed in my throat, and I almost choked on it trying to swallow it back down.
Toxic sickness swirled in my stomach as the doors opened for us to enter, and we walked onto a metal balcony overlooking a huge room full of equipment I had never seen before in my young life. There were at least a dozen other people all dressed in the same white lab coats, who had turned to face the three of us as soon as the doors swung open, their inaudible chatter ceasing to match the sounds of the corridor. Peggy glance over at Steve, before leading us down the grated steps to our right, towards Dr Erskine who stood at the centre of the room.
My feet felt like lead as we crossed the round room, feeling pairs of eyes on the back of my head. I knew I shouldn't have been in there, but I had nowhere else to go. Steve's hand slipped from mine once again as we approached the German doctor fighting on the sidelines for us and the British.
"Good morning." Erskine greeted, shaking my brothers hand in his. A bright flash erupted from my left, and I turned and hid into Peggy's leg. "Please, not now." The Doctor turned to the source, a photographer holding a large camera and flashing light, who retreated slowly, embarrassed. "Are you ready?" He asked, and my head lifted so I could see them again. Steve looked apprehensively to his right, my eyes shifting to see what he was staring at and I gulped. It was the biggest piece of scientific machinery in the room, with a space shaped like a man for Steve to enter. But although he was petrified, he nodded, which didn't surprise me.
"Good. Take off your shirt, your tie, and your hat." Erskine requested, his voice softly spoken and reassuring. Steve complied, after darting his gaze around to see who would be looking. Peggy kindly averted her gaze, and I copied her, reaching into my skirt pocket for the dice again, turning it repeatedly over in my hand.
"Senator Brandt, glad you could make it." A familiar, gruff voice spoke from the balconies above. My head shot up to locate it, and to my surprise, there stood Colonel Phillips, and a man I did not recognise.
"Why exactly am I in Brooklyn?" The man asked impatiently.
"We needed access to the city's power grid." Phillips explained, looking at the reason why they needed it. His eyes fell on to me, and I gave a little wave, smiling a little to be polite. He just frowned at me. "Of course, if you'd given me the generators I requisitioned..."
"A lot of people are asking for funds, Colonel." The Senator interrupted. "Oh, this is..." He turned to a man in a pebble grey suit and glasses who offered his hand out to the commanding officer.
"Fred Clemson, State Department." The man introduced himself. "If this project of yours comes through, we'd like to see it used for something other than headlines."
"Jesus. Somebody get that kid a sandwich." Senator Brandt tutted pitifully as his eyes fell on Steve, as he began to climb into the huge piece of machinery. My eyebrows knitted into a frown; it's not Steve's fault that his body is the way it is. He lay onto a flat board inside it, allowing his half naked body to get accustomed to the cold material.
"Comfortable?" Erskine asked, leaning over to inspect him. Steve lifted his head to look down his body to the other end of the giant piece of equipment.
"It's a little big." He admitted timidly, nerves really beginning to get the better of him. Erskine chuckled as Steve offered a nervous smile. "You save me any of that schnapps?"
"Not as much as I should have." The Doctor replied embarrassed, nodding his head to the side. "Sorry. Next time."
"Mr. Stark, how are your levels?" Erskine called to the room. Steve's eyes darted to the side in a mixture of complicated emotions.
"Levels at 100%." A man with slicked back brown black hair and a pencil moustache responded, walking over to us. It was him. Steve and Bucky had gone to his expo a week ago, to celebrate Bucky's last night before going off and joining the army.
"Good." Erskine replied, before turning to his work station right by Steve.
"We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn, but we are ready as we'll ever be." Mr Stark replied almost gleefully.
"Agent Carter?" Erskine asked, turning towards Peggy and I. "Don't you think you both would be more comfortable in the booth?" He pointed up to the metal balconies up above us.
"Yes, of course. Sorry." She replied, turning away.
"Good."
"Good luck Steve!" I called, as we walked towards the steps. Steve looked over at us, silent, and Peggy glanced over her shoulder at him before we began our ascent. Erskine flicked a microphone he had in his hand, gathering the attention of everyone around him. Mindless chatter ceased from a windowed room high up, looking down at the events that were about to take place.
"Do you hear me? Is this on?" Erskine asked, as Colonel Phillips turned to him in annoyance and fear. "Ladies and Gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace." My heart banged painfully against my rib cage as I turned to watch Steve being strapped into the machine by metal arms. "We begin with a series of micro injections into the subject's major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change." Peggy sat down, gesturing me to sit beside her, but instead I clung to her body in fright, my given seat now vacant. "And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays." Erskine lowered the microphone, and walked over to Steve as a nurse injected something into his arm. Although I could see his lips moving, his voice couldn't reach my ears.
"Serum infusion beginning in five," Erskine shouted, his voice almost muffled through the thick glass window. "Four," I held my breath, burying my face into Peggy as she held me tight. "Three, two, one."
꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂꧁𒊹︎꧂
Hey guys! Apologies this update has taken so long, all I have to say is that exams suck, and I'm only half way through them. However, I am really glad that I have been able to update this book sooner than expected.
I hope you guys enjoyed this part, let me know what you think will happen, and don't forget to vote and comment on your favourite chapter or parts, that would be really awesome. Also, feel free to share it with other people, because I would absolutely love that.
Right, love you all 3000! Xxx