I still don't own anything, as much as I want to own a certain wintry soldier that will most definitely be in the sequel to this story...

Chapter Two – Alfred Does Something Stupid

Alfred's first course of action was trying to get accepted into the military for about the thousandth time. It almost didn't work, he'd almost left in defeat, but somehow someone talked some sense into the recruiter. The man, who told Alfred his name was Dr. Erskine, had pulled him aside after speaking with the recruiter, saying some gibberish about him being special and having potential. Al didn't quite remember honestly, he was so excited that he was finally able to join the fight that he'd completely forgotten. He was readily shipped over to Camp Lehigh for training, entirely giddy all the way there. Dr. Erskine had chuckled at the scrawny man's excitement, saying that perhaps when he got there, there'd be something special waiting for him. This only furthered Alfred's excitement, truly.

Upon arriving, he was immediately scrutinized by his Colonel. "This is what you brought home, Erskine?" He'd told the doctor when he thought Alfred wasn't looking. "Some little kid from Brooklyn?" Alfred couldn't have heard the rest of the conversation, for he'd slunk away when he thought someone had seen him eavesdropping.

On the first morning, Colonel Philips had the recruits all lined up, and Alfred was ever shorter when compared to the rest of them. He was given glances that told him no one really liked him, but they couldn't bully him lest they be kicked out. On morning runs he'd lag behind the others, though his wit in taking down the flag had caught the attention of a certain Peggy Carter. Al still wasn't sure how he felt about her (though she was rather hot, you know). Anyways, there was a time in his training where he knew deep down inside that Ivan would deem the stupidest thing he'd ever done so far.

It was during one of the morning line ups, just at the end of it actually, when their Colonel suddenly tosses a grenade into the group. Everyone runs away, except for Alfred; he realizes the danger of the grenade exploding in the middle of camp and jumps on it. He braces himself for certain death, but it never came. When he looked up the Colonel was squatting above him, frowning dearly. He snatched the dummy grenade from Alfred's hands, passing by Dr. Erskine and telling him that Al was still skinny. All Alfred really cared about at that moment was how relieved he was that he didn't die; Ivan would surely have killed him for dying on him, as ridiculous as that sounded. Later the doctor treated Alfred to a drink and told him about this amazing sounding serum that could amplify the good in a person and eliminate the bad, theoretically. He also told Al about his earlier failed attempt at the serum, how it had left the test subject with an eerie red skeletal look. While this was rather spooky for Alfred, he was still excited about the serum. Just the chance that he could become better than he was, well, it was awesome. Maybe then the Colonel would let him go fight in the actual war.

oWoWoWoWo

The car ride to the lab was awkward, to say the least. Alfred had hopped into the car readily enough, and was surprised to find the Carter lady to be his chauffeur. They'd been winding through the streets of Brooklyn for a while now, and Alfred couldn't help but note all the alleyways he'd been beat up in, all the hidden corners where Ivan had saved him. He had noted a few to Peggy by the time she said anything.

"If you got beat up so many times, why didn't you ever run?" She asked British-ly, watching Alfred from the mirror. Al shrugged, continuing to stare out the window.

"It would have only brought more pain, I think," he turned to Peggy, grinning. "And if I ran I wouldn't have been able to watch Ivan beat people up. That was always cool." He didn't mention the rather terrifying aura that seemed to surround Ivan when he fought with those that dared to harm Alfred, nor the very serious expression that formed on his face, any emotion draining out of his pale eyes.

"What happened if this Ivan never showed up?"

"He always showed up." That silenced any conversation that Peggy could have created, her thoughts seemingly chased away by the sudden seriousness of Alfred's face. Al realized that maybe Ivan was a little too overprotective, but at least after the procedure he may have been able to take care of himself more; anything to ease the Russian's struggles. Speaking of procedure, "Hey, are we there yet?"

Peggy shot him a curious glance for a moment, before abruptly stopping in front of an antiques shop. "Yes we are, actually."

After entering the shop and being led down to a secret bunker, Alfred was strapped up to a theoretic 'medical capsule', that happened to be much too big for him. The doctor was there to reassure him that all would go fine, and to prepare the serum he'd created. The Colonel was there too, and Howard Kirkland, and a bunch of other important people that Alfred couldn't name. His cowlick bounced in anticipation as Dr. Erskine explained the procedure, eventually patting Al on the shoulder and leaving him to join the other scientists.

Needles were pushed into his minimal muscles as the procedure started. Something was injected into him, the serum he presumed, and goddamn did it hurt-! Then everything went white as he was hit with freaking lasers and everything hurt more, but he still yelled for the procedure to continue, that he could pull through. Alfred lost his senses momentarily, before awaking with a start and heavy breathing. His body felt hot and odd, steam sizzling when the capsule was opened, and sweat trickling down his new form. The first thing he noticed was everyone ogling him.

"What- What's up?" Alfred tried to go for a nonchalant tone, and then everyone began cheering and celebrating. Peggy Carter ran up to him and stared with wide eyes, putting her hands to his chest; Alfred looked down, and saw that the ground was a lot farther away. He stumbled out of the capsule, inspecting his new body with excited fervor. He was much stronger now, he felt like he could take on the world. Al was swept up in the celebration, some part of him wishing Ivan was there to see the success that was the procedure. But the stop to the party was much too sudden.

BOOM

An explosion erupted out of nowhere, leaving everyone cowering and running in panic. Two gunshots can be heard, and suddenly Dr. Erskine tumbled to the ground bleeding. "DOCTOR!" Alfred yells, swiftly stepping over debris and hovering over the fallen doctor. He's in grave condition, and only manages to say this before passing:

"Don't forget w-who you are inside…" Alfred clenched his jaw, staring at his fallen comrade, then snapping his head up to the escaping culprit. Before anyone can stop him, he begins his chase.

oWoWoWoWo

After an intense chase scene, Alfred captures the spy and yanks him out of the submarine he was about to escape in. Realizing that he was about to be captured, the spy killed himself with a final utter of "Heil HYDRA!"

Now, don't expect Alfred to know what Hydra is, we'll get to that later.

Peggy eventually managed to catch up to the newly enhanced Alfred, and they both return to the lab the next day to pick up the scraps that were left behind. Unfortunately none of the serum is left behind, so no more super soldiers could be created.

Overnight, Alfred had become a bit of a celebrity in Brooklyn, though the ever strict Colonel Philips wouldn't let him leave to go fight in the war. Of course Alfred found this obnoxious, but eventually worked out a plan to get himself to the European theatre. Through a series of USO shows and propaganda, Alfred, dubbed Captain America, entertained the masses and gave them hope. Soon all the children with fathers that were drafted knew Alfred's trademark smile and cowlick, soon Alfred was given a show in Europe so he could give hope to the soldiers as well.

When he arrived at the American base in Italy, Alfred was rather surprised to find everyone looking dismal and nearly ignoring him. Al tried to find someone familiar in this dark place, and found himself meeting with Colonel Philips and Miss Carter in a closed tent. "Hey guys, what's with everyone here? They all look depressed…"

Peggy huffed at him, "What did you expect? Happiness and rainbows?" The Colonel gave her a look as she sipped a cup of tea.

"Well," the Colonel began. "Most of these men's division has been wiped out. About 5,000-ish men of the 107th are either dead, missing, or have been taken prisoner." Alfred suddenly startled; the 107th, wasn't that Ivan's division?

"Wait, wait, do you have a list of casualties that you know of?" Al asked quickly. The Colonel cocked his head to the side, nodding. Peggy peered at Al suspiciously over her cup. "Okay, okay, of all those is there a, uh, Ivan Braginsky around there?"

Philips muttered the name to himself as he looked through the list. "Mm, I don't see him here, but I sign papers all the time and the name does sound familiar. They may have not put him on the list yet." Alfred's face fell about 200 percent. He sighed, nodding solemnly and stepping out of the tent for fresh air.

Peggy followed after a moment, leaning into Alfred's ear and whispering, "There's an enemy base about 40 miles from here, and there may be a ton of POWs there, if you want to chase after him. Also HYDRA, you know, important bad guys." Alfred's eyes widened, and after about a second his mind was already made up.

"Th-Thank you," he said sincerely, looking off into the horizon with a plan already formulating inside.

Note: Chapter title in reference to Bucky telling Steve explicitly to not do stupid stuff. Dammit Steve/Alfred. Anyways, I tried to like, fast forward this chapter to get to the Ivan parts faster lolololol.

~Epicfroggz