The Ultimates

Arc 1: Super Soldiers

Part 1: The ultimate soldier

Excerpts from the Dr. Bruce Banner's Research Journal

I have been working on the super soldier research program for 10 years now, I am afraid we are running out of options for poor Captain America. We want to unlock the secrets to the only successful super soldier subject, but we can't do so until we discover what has happened to his body. He has been in cryogenic sleep for over sixty years now and we still haven't found out what has made him shut down. I have my own suspicions, but I have only received laughter when I voice them. I hope that I can figure this out before the ever tightening budget because of the war shuts us down.

I feel that over the time that I have researched the Captain and the super soldier program that I have come to know the nation's greatest hero, even though he hasn't actually been awake since WWII. I have a sort of kinship with him, though I think that truly it's just the nerd in me wishing I could know and be friends with someone as great as Captain America.

Dr. Bruce Banner hung up his lab coat that he was required to wear inside the cryogenics room and stuck his id tag to his shirt pocket. He looked regretfully over to the main cryogenics tube. Though he couldn't currently see inside he knew that inside lay the greatest hero that America had ever known. He wished the man could be awake now, with the war going on and the nation in an uproar. They needed a man of standards like the Captain now more than ever.

He glanced about to make sure no one could see him then opened his small personal locker. Inside were several tubes of blood and another couple of cloudy white serum. He took out one blood sample and both of the syringe adapter tubes of the serum and put them into some syringes that were waiting on a nearby shelf.

Dr. Banner took a small glass plate and carefully placed a small drop of blood on its surface. He laid the syringe of blood down and repeated the process with a syringe of the cloudy serum onto the same glass plate. He looked at the plate and took a deep breath, and placed it under a microscope. He peered into the eye pieces of the microscope and turned the dials until everything came into focus. Then he smiled, showing his large white teeth and quickly removed the plate.

"Just one last test!" he told himself, a large grin still spread across his thin face.

"Hey Bruce," a voice suddenly interrupted his self-praise. He jumped, spinning around to see who had come in the lab.

"Hey Betty," the smile returned to his face, this one a bit more nervous. He made an attempt at straightening his mousy brown hair. "What are you doing here so early today?"

"You know the rumor is that their going to shut us down," Betty reminded him. "Well, I figured that showing a little more enthusiasm for the project might help them change their mind. What are you doing here so early?"

"Same thing," Bruce told her after a slight pause. He gathered up the materials he had been using and headed back to his personal locker.

"What are those?" Betty asked as she sat down in front of the main computer in the lab.

"Just some samples for the project, but they're not going well either," Bruce told her.

"I wish we knew what the key was," Betty frowned as she logged into the system on the computer. "Why was Steve Rogers the only one that took to the serum? Why did all the other test subjects die?"

"If we knew the answer then we would have had this solved long ago," Bruce stuffed his personal stash back into his locker.

Later that day . . .

"I've tapped into the building's security cameras," Betty Ross told the scientists. It was now noon and everyone had arrived. There were about eighteen scientists assigned to the project, sixteen were currently active. One was on maternal leave and Doctor Scott Lang was on vacation.

"Let me see," Bruce came and peered over Betty's shoulder at the large computer screen. "That's more guards than usual."

"Do you think it's going to happen today?"

"I'm not sure," Bruce responded, still staring at the computer monitor. "Keep an eye out for any changes."

"Alright"

Bruce went to his personal locker and palmed a syringe of the cloudy serum he had been experimenting with that morning. "I'm headed out for lunch."

"I'll let you know if anything changes when you get back," Betty told him, turning back to her computer.

Bruce put on his lab coat and went to his larger personal locker near the men's bathroom. He extracted a paper bag and then looked around to see if anyone was nearby, there was no one. He reached into the paper bag and removed a rubber band that he stretched up onto his arm and then he took the syringe and inserted it into his forearm. He winced for a second then finished injected the serum into his veins. Removing the syringe, he threw it in a nearby trash can.

"Back from lunch already?" Betty asked Bruce when he walked in.

"Yeah, I didn't really feel like eating much," he told her.

"You don't look well," Betty agreed with him.

"So, what's the status?" Dr. Banner changed the subject.

"They've brought in more soldiers," Betty turned back to the monitor. "Some of them were armed to the teeth!"

"That's it," Bruce Banner grimaced, leaning in to take a look at the soldiers that were now in the lobby. "They're ending the Super Soldier program tonight."

"What will they do with Captain America?" Betty Ross turned from her monitor and looked over to the cryogenic tube containing the hero.

"Soon he won't be able to reawaken, the technology back then was new and inefficient," Banner frowned deeply.

"What can we do?"

"I'm trying to think," Banner told her. "Just promise to do whatever it is I ask of you."

"Sure."

It was only a couple hours later when the announcement came, "Attention S.H.I.E.L.D. employees," it came over the loud speakers. "We have to do some updates on the computers and certain equipment, we'd like for all of you working on the Super Soldier Program to take the rest of the day off, paid."

"Oh no," Bruce hit his clenched fist on the counter.

"What do you want me to do?" Betty quickly rushed to his side, her question nearly drowned out by the cries of happiness coming from the other scientists.

"Here," Dr. Banner removed the clip holding his id. "Make sure you scan this on your way out so they think I've gone for the day."

"What are you going to do?" Betty asked again.

"I think I have a plan, just go so they don't suspect anything."

Betty Ross spared one last glance at her co-worker before donning her lab coat and leaving the room.

Bruce went to the computer and shut off the status alert. He then looked at the security cameras that Betty had left up for him to see. Some of the first scientists were leaving the main exit now, obviously confused by the presence of so many armed men in their sector of the triskelion compound.

He then ran over to Captain America's tube and opened it up, then began the "thawing" process. With that done he raced over to his own personal locker and opened it up, grabbing the remaining syringes and slamming the locker doors close. He raced to the computer screen and saw Betty leaving hesitantly. Leaving her good looks to distract the normal guard and scan his card as well. Then she quickly glanced at the camera and made a cutting gesture with her hand. There were no more scientists.

"Oh boy," was all Bruce could manage as he saw the soldiers heading through the security gate. He tore his eyes away from the computer and raced back over to Captain America's inert body. Without any hesitation he took the remaining syringe filled with the cloudy serum and stuck it into his hero's veins. He emptied the syringe and tossed it aside, no time to be anal now.

Surprising himself with his own strength he lifted Captain America in his scrawny arms. He drug the half-thawed man out of the tube and into the hallway. He knew of a closet where he had access to the ducts. Captain America was very heavy but Banner had an easier time of it with every second that passed. He figured all the adrenaline pumping through his veins from fear was to blame. Then suddenly he stopped. There were about eight rapid fire gun barrels pointed at him.

"Put the Captain down," a serious looking soldier growled at him.

"Why? So you can 'dispose' of him? He was the greatest American hero and we are just going to quit trying to save him in favor of Bush's private oil war!"

"I won't repeat myself again," the soldier sneered at him. "Put Captain America down!"

But Banner didn't feel like putting Steve Rogers down, the longer the men pointed guns at him the angrier he became. "No! You people mindlessly follow orders from a corrupt government that only truly cares for expanding its power!"

"What the," one of the soldiers began, looking up at Banner.

Why were all of them looking up at him now? Why was the hall getting so small? That was the last coherent thought that Bruce Banner remembered thinking that day. He roared at the guards and leapt forward, holding Captain America with one arm. The scared guards fired off several rounds, but all it did was make him angrier. As he grabbed one soldier by the face all conscious thought fled his mind and he became someone else entirely.