It was the night before the experiment, or to be precise it was the day of the experiment. It was ten minutes till one. We were moving Erskine at 1:47, we were taking him to New York to a secure location until morning. I was up and dressed in my uniform when I sneaked into Steve's room. He was lucky enough to have his own bunker for the night. They wanted him to get a good night's rest and to feel comfortable. I don't know how they thought anyone would be able to sleep before being subjected to this experiment. I wasn't even the subject, and yet I was nervous. I felt the anxious type of nervousness. I felt the drips of adrenaline throughout my body speeding up my heart rate every time I thought of the experiment.
I knew Steve would be up, because Steve as a worrier. Steve could worry with the best of them. He usually worried about everyone except for himself. I had a feeling he was up sitting on his bed with a oil light next to him sketching something or another. He had always found sketching to be relaxing and a good way to keep his mind off of something, it was his therapy.
"Steve?" I whispered opening the door of the bunker.
"Yeah?" He answered back weakly. He sat up a bit more when he saw me. And sure enough I was right, his sketch book is balanced on his leg and an oil lamp is placed right besides his bed.
"I just wanted to see you before I left."
"Why are you leaving so early?"
"Well, we're moving Dr. Erskine earlier, it's best if everyone comes in and leaves at different measurable times." Steve nodded understandingly, but he was quiet and looked down at his sketch book. He has drawn the skyline of Brooklyn, our home.
"How are you feeling?" I asked sitting at the end of his bed.
"Nervous, really nervous actually. I don't even know what to expect." He told me, he looked relaxed on the outside. Steve always seemed calm and controlled, even in the worse situations. I think it's a gift.
"I'm nervous too, I can't imagine how nervous you are if I feel awful. But everything will go fine. I know it, Dr. Erskine feels really good about this. I trust Erskine enough to know that if there was a chance of hurting you, he wouldn't go through with this experiment. You must be tired. Try to get some sleep."
"God, Anna there's no way I can do that." He looked over at me with his stupid puppy dog eyes that I hate. I couldn't quite pick up what he was feeling right now. He seemed glum but not quite sad. He just seemed melancholy.
"Look you have to be up at seven, it's about one o'clock. Here lay down on your back or how ever you want to." I told him getting up from his bed. As I blew out the oil lamp, I noticed the books at the end of his bed on his trunk. Blackness entered the room like an old friend.
"You brought my books with you,"
"You keep giving me recommendations and I'm trying to keep up." I could barely see Steve's outline, the only light was from outside which floated through the windows in the bunker. Steve looked over at me, the light catching his eyes making them lighter than possible.
"Hey, move over," I told him laying down next to him. I really shouldn't have done that because I could have fallen asleep and I had to leave in thirty minutes.
"Hey you said lay down how ever I wanted to, maybe I wanted to take up the whole bed." Steve joked. I laid on my back staring up at the darkness above us. Steve was doing the same.
"I'm trying to help you, you smart ass" I explained adjusting myself on the bed. I heard a low chuckle and a dramatic sigh from Steve. I turned to face him laying on my side.
"Tomorrow you'll be a brand new man. Peggy's going to take you to New York tomorrow."
"Oh, I like Peggy. She's real pretty, and really smart."
"She's sharp all right. She's a great person, you would love her."
"Hmm," He hummed, tiredly.
"Tell me a story" He mumbled making me laugh.
"Steve we haven't done that in forever. I thought that was a drinking game?" When Steve, Bucky and I would hang out, and drink a little too much we would tell each other stories, and we would see which one of us could make up the best one. Steve rolled over on his side to face me. I wanted to move his hair out of his face. I wanted to touch him, to be even closer than we already were on this twin bed.
"You tell me a story,"
"Aren't I supposed to be the one falling asleep?"
"Okay, fine. Once upon a time, there once was a superhero named George."
"Like George Washington?"
"Yeah, like George Washington. We are in America after all."
"That's probably the most American sounding name out there."
"Your name is Steve. You can't say anything."
"You got me there."
"Hey, listen you wanted a story here it is. It's about a superhero named Steve, I mean—I mean George! Steve stop laughing!"
"Anyway, George wasn't like most superheros, George wasn't born with his powers. They were given to him, so he understood the responsibility and privilege of his powers." I said continuing on. I was making this up as I went and I had to pause every now and then.
"Wow this George guy, sounds like a pretty stand up guy." Steve commented.
"Would you shut up? Steve I am trying to help you go to sleep. I don't remember you being a sleep talker."
"I don't remember you being there when I sleep to know whether I sleep talk or not." Steve joked and I could see the reflection of the sliver of light off the white of his eyes. He was having a fun time annoying me.
"You're such a punk."
"I've been told that before."
"George would be disappointed."
"George isn't even real."
"He could be! You could be George, I could be George. Your neighbor could be George. Names don't mean anything!" I defended. Steve rolled on his back and let out a low chuckle in amusement. I tried to see my watch in the dark. It was almost one thirty. I had to be leaving soon. I rolled over on my stomach and propped myself up by my elbows and watched Steve as he absently watched the ceiling and blinks.
"I have to go." I mentioned to him somberly. He looked over at me, but doesn't say a word. He appeared a little more serious now. He looked handsome in the light, his eyes piercing blue and his lips pouted almost. I place a hand on his chest, and his hand comes up to hold it. He squeezed it to his chest before taking a deep breath.
"It's going to be okay, I'll be there for you every step of the way, as always. Okay? Even if you become the biggest asshole in the world you'll still be my best friend." I wanted to tell him it didn't matter what he looked like because I'd always love him the same. But telling him that would be like telling a wall that. It didn't matter.
"Yeah, thank you Anna. End of the line right?" He said and squeezing my hand. I paused a bit at hearing those last words. I pressed a kiss to his cheek before getting up. His eyes follow me as I lean away.
"Forever and always."
"How does you George story end?" He asked before I left.
"George saves the day of course, he saves the world multiple times. He becomes a hero, and remains the good man he always was, powers or not."
"I guess that's a pretty good story." It was a good story, one that I never thought would become Steve's.
"Get some sleep Steve" I told him softly. I take one last look at the man with a heart bigger than he was before I left.
I arrived to Erskine's cabin a little early. I knocked on his door and he quickly let me in.
"Is everything ready?" I asked him, he looked around at all of his luggage and nodded. We were ready to go.
"Okay, I'm guessing you have the serum secured and ready for travel."
"Of course" He answered me. I helped him with his bags, and we piled them up into the Jeep I parked next to his cabin. We drove to the front gates of the base and we were let out. We got into the car that was waiting for us outside of the gates. It was a non-government regulated car. It looked like a normal civilian car. We had a driver who knew the location of the safe house. It only took us about two hours to get to Manhattan. The experiment took place as soon as Steve arrived which was around ten in the morning.
"How are you feeling?" I asked the Doctor searching for small talk.
"Nervous, I guess." He confessed touching the box on his lap. It held the serum. I studied him carefully, he was always a seemingly timid man, and now he fidgeted in seat, his palms were sweaty, he was a controled wreck.
"I'm sure everything will go fine. You know what you're doing, and so does Stark and his team." I reassured trying to give him some confidence. He looked at me and turned his head apprehensively, and I wished he wouldn't have. I wished he would have faked it, and seemed really confident. With each passing hour I felt a little more nervous and it was not helping that Erskine was nervous too. The whole situation seemed foreboding.
When it came time for the experiment, Steve walked into the room and it fell silent. They were one step closer to changing history. Everything suddenly became real, all the work, the time, money and effort was leading up to a moment minutes away from happening. They were really going to go through with this. Peggy caught his eye and led him down to the floor. I was staring at my clip board that didn't have any new or important information. I needed a distraction. I was supposed to watch for the press because Erskine didn't want them there. But it was too late, they had taken a picture of Steve and Erskine together.
"Please not now." Erskine said and I looked up. I apologized to Erskine and led the man away. When I came back, Steve was taking off his tie and hat.
"Did you get any sleep?" I asked him taking his things.
"Not as much as I would have liked." He answered quietly. He stared at his toes for awhile.
"Come here, you idiot." I told him bringing him into a much needed hug.
"I can do this Anna, I'll be fine." He whispered, but I'm not sure he was telling me that. I think he needed to hear it for himself.
"I know, I believe in you. Good luck, Steve." I told him stepping away. I walked up the metal stairs, distancing myself from the scene. God, what was going to happen to him? I don't know if miracles are real but it felt like we were trying to create one out of chemicals. I took my seat next to Peggy. I placed my clip board under my seat and looked at her.
"It'll be okay." She mouthed, I just nodded. We both turned our attention to Steve who was having penicillin injected into him. He said something to Dr. Erskine that made him wince a bit. And then they were ready. A count down began and it felt like they started at a million instead of starting at five. My heart was beating wildly out of my chest, and it felt like a thousand butterflies were throwing a party in my stomach. I didn't even want to watch as Steve's eyes slammed open and he was lifted up and closed off.
Stark kept turning the dial and light came from Steve's module. And pretty soon the sound of pain came from Steve. I wanted to throw up, but I glued myself to my seat. I sank one hand into the arm of the chair and the other over my eyes. I drove my feet into the floor and was completely stiff. Peggy was already out the door yelling for them to shut it down. But it wasn't over yet, Steve said he could do it. He told me could, and I had no reason to believe he wasn't stronger than that. Pretty soon Steve told Erskine that he could do this, and the experiment continued. I took a deep breath and watched as the light got brighter and the sound of electricity running through the building was heard. There was no way that the amount of electricity being used was stable, the module was going to give, something had to. And something did. There was a small electrical explosion around the room and then the module opened slowly.
And oh my god.
The experiment worked, in fact by just looking at Steve it was a success. A ginormous one. I made my way down to the experiment floor. I grabbed Steve a shirt and handed it to Peggy who was already before him. Peggy looked at Steve in a way that made me raise my eyebrow.
"How do you feel?" She asked him. Men crowded around Steve celebrating and wanting to hear from him.
"Taller."
"You look taller."
And then there was an explosion. The balcony where we were once sitting just a few minutes ago was in flames. Glass fell down like rain. I looked around to see who did it. A man stood out among the crowd. He had on a grey suit and black glasses. He lifted his gun. Before I could do anything, he shot Dr. Erskine. I was up trying to get to the Doctor.
"You'll be alright sir. Just hang on!" I yelled putting pressure on his chest wound. His blood turned my skin red. I was trying to get help, but chaos had taken over. Steve quickly appeared next to me. The last thing Dr. Erskine did was point to Steve's heart. At the time I didn't know the significance really, other than it meant a lot to Steve. He later told me that all Dr. Erskine asked of him was to stay a good man, to be a good man, not a perfect soldier. Dr. Erskine closed his eyes and died that morning. He and his serum.
Steve ran after the man who took the serum and killed Dr. Erskine. I got up and rushed out of the room. Peggy was already out trying to a clear shot of the man. When I made it out onto the streets, the car was already shot up, glass was all over the inside. I ignored the shards of glass and moved them away before I jammed the key into the ignition. The car roared as I slammed it into drive and hit the pedal.
I followed the path of wreckage and finally caught up to Steve and the man. I drove next to the man, hoping to corner him in some way. I was drifting from the left pushing him in the very right lane. From the review mirror I saw Steve jump onto the car he was driving. They took a hard right. I lost them. I had to go around the block if I wanted to take that right. Damn it! By the time I got to the scene, the car door was ripped off and the car was a mess. I grabbed the gun from the glove department and followed to where people were pointing at me to go. When I got to the dock no one was there except for a little boy. I helped him out of the water and his mom can running for him. Then all the sudden a man was thrown on to the dock, he was quickly followed by Steve. I've never seen Steve this mad. He took the man by the collar of the shirt. I was about to interrupt Steve before something got out of hand, but the man committed suicide. He ate a cyanide pill.
Later back at base they wanted to take some of Steve's blood to see if they could fine some trace of the serum. Everything on it was pretty much gone. The clip board that I had with all the chemicals was a causality in the explosion. Erskine cleaned up his lab and got rid of any traces of work before he left. They were going to search for records of the chemicals Erskine requested. But it was dead end.
"If it could only work once, he would be proud it was you." Peggy told Steve, she was trying to comfort him. I stayed silent and tried to look like I was spaced out. It should have been a day of triumph, but it wasn't anymore. They weren't going to accept Steve. He wasn't the army of Super Soldiers promised. He was just one man. Steve himself was clearly upset. He didn't want to be comforted. He wanted action. He desired justice.
"So now that you took yourself out of a test run, how do you feel?" I inquired trying to lighten the mood. He gave his signature side smile.
"It feels very weird. It feels like I just have so much more power, I guess. I feel stronger, faster, healthier for sure."
"You look good." I told him standing next to him. He flashed me one of his stupidly charming smiles. I think I just told the understatement of the year. Steve looked good, Steve looked amazing. I think every women there is drooling a bit when they see him. But even as I try to see him for his new appearance, I still see him as his smaller form.
"Look we're leaving for England soon, so I have to do some house keeping items for Colonel Phillips. I'm sure you'll get your orders soon. Good luck." I told him, setting a hand on his shoulder. His hand reached for mine. Peggy and I had just gotten our orders. We were moving out to London soon. I felt Steve's eyes on me as I left the room. That was one of the last times I saw him before he became "Captain America".