Chapter 2: Minerva and Adonis
"Impressed, Sergeant?"
Sergeant Kern looked up from his meal to see Howard Stark's mustachioed face smiling at him.
"Food's decent enough. Then again, after having little else to eat besides Army food, anything else'd be food for the gods- if you catch my drift."
Just then, a bearded man in a lab coat entered the restaurant.
"Good evening, Mister Stark. And you too, Sergeant."
"Evenin' to you too, Doctor Erskine."
Erskine took his seat.
"So, we have someone for the project?" he asked.
"You could say that. Scrawny kid by the name of Steven G. Rogers. 5'11", got a bit of wheeze when he breathes, runty in general. But he's a good kid and sharp as a tack."
The sergeant handed Erskine a manilla file folder.
"You want this guy, Doc? I mean, we've got heartier boys in my unit-"
"With all due respect, Sergeant, I'll take the runt."
"Excuse me, but I am interrupting something at the boy's club?" a woman's voice asked.
Stark, Erskine, and Kern swiveled around to see a woman in British combat fatigues standing behind them.
"Agent Carter! What a surprise to see you here!"
"Spare the formalities, Stark. If you're done faffing about, we need to get on with it. SSR's orders."
"Margaret, what's the rush?"
"Schmidt's found the Cube in Orkney. Falsworth got wounded-"
"Fine. We'll get moving. Give us a few weeks."
"Depending on how fast HYDRA's capable of tapping into the Cube, we may not have a few weeks."