Disclaimers: All rights to Marvel. Characters, lines and movies context from Marvel movies Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers. Joanna Splendore is my original character.
Author's Note 9: You're the best! I can't thank you enough for each review, message, favorite and follow! I hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 9 - Reminiscences... of rebirth
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1943, June 14, EXPO
Actually, Steve was relieved - the girl didn't even look at him, no surprise. He was used to those kinds of Bucky's girls and their reactions. But since Joanna he couldn't care less. He left and none of them noticed.
He found herself in front of an Army enlistment center - again. The drive inside him was stronger than anything else. He needed to do it, to serve his country like every other man - like his father did. He needed to keep trying. I will always stand, mom.
Bucky found him and pulled him out of his thoughts. His friend was going to war - his best friend, his brother. Please be safe. Steve was proud of him; Bucky didn't have an easy time growing up, but he turned into a fine man. Steve understood Bucky's concerns – they always looked for each other, like family.
'There are already so many big men fighting this war. Maybe what we need now is a little guy, huh?'
Steve tried to enlist and thought he was going to jail for lying on the enlistment form. Instead he couldn't believe it that this German doctor was giving him a chance. Suddenly, his dream was coming true.
He came home beyond excited. He said Bucky was going to the war, and he would have an opportunity to go after him. He showed Joanna his approved enlistment form and she was shocked. She knew he would always be brave, so if he went to the war he wouldn't hide. She burst into tears telling him she didn't want him to be killed.
"No, no, don't cry, bella." He hugged her and sat on the couch with her on his lap, but she was sobbing. He told her he was going to the Army base Camp Lehigh in Virginia. In seven years they had never been apart from each other, so he knew it would be hard for her, "I'll miss you too, but I'll be back in a week, or ten days max, that's what they told me." He kissed her face and dried her tears. His touch was always enough to make her forget any pain or trouble, but that moment it wasn't that easy - her tears didn't seem to stop.
Steve laid her gently on the couch, "Just wait a minute, ok?" He got up and went to their room. When he returned he picked a small posy of flowers that was hidden under his coat. He knelt in front of her and said, "I'll never leave you." He kissed her hand, "I was waiting for the right moment." He held the flowers in front of her and smiled, "I wanted to be worthy of you." She looked at him stunned and he was shining and proud. "And now I'm in the Army." Between the red roses he was holding his mother's ring. "I love you. Please, marry me."
Joanna was crying even more and couldn't find words, "Si." She hugged him hard and kept weeping. He put the ring on her hand, "Now I know mom is proud of me." He had tears on his eyes too. He kissed and soothed her, until she calmed down.
She helped him pack all his war books – Steve had gathered a few good ones since he started to try to enlist. She cooked Ravioli, it was his favorite, and made a special dessert.
The night was magical. Steve was strong and bold - Joanna was hungry and passionate. They made love as if it was the last time.
In the morning, she woke up crying again and he tried to calm her, "You don't need to worry, I won't get hurt; it's just a training camp."
"It's war," she was desolated, "You won't come back".
He looked at her questioning, "Of course I'll. You're my home." He kissed her gently on the lips, "Don't you trust me?"
She nodded and kissed him, "Il mio amore," she trusted him her life. But in her heart there was that fear that she couldn't explain. Watching him leave was the hardest thing she had ever done in her entire life.
But the truth was that Steve would never come back - her Steve never did.
1943, June 15 to 21, Army base Camp Lehigh, Virginia
It wasn't a normal Boot camp, which takes at least 6 weeks. There was no reason to submit Steve's frail body to a full training when Dr. Erskine only wanted to know him a little better. Besides, the Army was in a hurry to have the super soldiers.
Even so, the one week Steve spent there was excruciating - the guys gave him hell. His body hurt everywhere and he was so tired that he didn't have time to think about anything else. Everybody was joking about him, except Agent Carter. She was beautiful and scary – he never met a woman like her. Worst of all, Colonel Phillips, the SSR commander, hated him - nothing would change that.
Steve ended up proud of himself because he won the flag challenge - no one had done it before in 17 years - he didn't have the muscles but always had the brains. And there was that scary test - the grenade. What was he thinking? He wasn't actually - that was pure instinct. He did what seemed to be the right thing to do, but the risks were so much higher. It wasn't about just proving himself, as Bucky said. Of course there was something about that too, he couldn't deny it, but it was more. The hero part that Joanna always told him - to be true to his heart, he couldn't accept it. Yet, he had a drive to do more, to do the good above all, to protect people. And now this gentle crazy doctor was telling him he could become stronger, to really have the power to do all he dreamed of - and maybe more.
Dr. Erskine told him, "The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen," because Steve was a good man.
1943, June 22, Brooklyn Secret Installation
Steve arrived in New York and Agent Carter escorted him to Brooklyn. He was really nervous, and deep inside, afraid of not surviving through the whole thing. Dr. Erskine had explained the Project Rebirth but he didn't understand it all. Who would? Talking to Agent Carter was disconcerting and he was too embarrassed to be sure what he was babbling on about. He wasn't used to be receiving women's attention other than Joanna's. He was too close to home, but without a chance to see her first – maybe for the best. What if she asked him to not do it? He couldn't think about her right now, but he had wait for so long to marry her.
"The right partner." I wish I could call her.
They entered at the secret base - thousands of things passing through his mind, no one making sense. The last door opened and then he felt as if he was inside of a science fiction movie, maybe a horror one. Everybody was looking at him with doubt, pity, uncertainty. Lord, I ask for courage.
"Are you ready?" Dr. Erskine was talking to him but he couldn't find his voice to answer, and just nodded.
Everybody else was acting as if he wasn't really there. Agent Carter seemed to be worried. He recognized Mr. Stark from the EXPO. Lying on that stretcher, he heard the doctor talking to the audience.
"We begin with a series of microinjections into the subject's major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays."
That's when it all started. The needles pierced his body but didn't hurt as much as the serum penetrating into his muscles. He felt a little dizzy, almost numb with pain, but still manageable, so he kept still. The was capsule closed but he couldn't show weakness, "It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" Yes, I'm ok. He was, until he began to feel his whole body tingle. Shocks began smoothly but growing, until he felt like being ripped apart and exploding from the inside out. He couldn't contain himself and cried out. Someone shouted, "Kill the reactor!" Steve couldn't really know who, but he was able to endure the pain, always had been, he wouldn't give up now. Failure wasn't acceptable.
"No! Don't! I can do this!"
There light inside was too bright and the sound too loud. But after a while everything stopped, even the shocks and the machine wasn't shaking anymore. His body was on fire until the heat ceased and all pain vanished. The capsule was opened and everybody was around him. He moved for the first time and it was like being inside a huge costume, only it was all him - bigger, taller like never before. He could hear many voices and feel many hands supporting him, touching him. One thing came to his mouth, "I did it."
The buzz around Steve continued until he heard shots and saw Dr. Erskine felt in front of him. He hurried, but it was too late - the doctor pointed to Steve's heart exhaling his last breath and died. Stay who you are.
Nothing before had prepared Steve for that moment. His sense of justice yelled inside him, and he felt the adrenaline rush. His body response was simple unbelievable for him to even try to explain. He ran as if he was flying, jumping on cars, facing bullets, and he could stop a submarine without feeling any pain or fatigue.
The boy wasn't harm and he caught the killer - they were calling him a hero but he still couldn't save his mentor.
They took him to the infirmary and he was subjected to lots of medical tests. It was more than Steve could've ever imagined - all of his body natural abilities were enhanced to the peak of human potential - not in his most secret wishes he could have dreamed to be that powerful. He went from 5'7" and 110 pounds to 6'2" and 220 pounds, and they told him that he was cured of all his previous illness. They kept him overnight for observation - his mind was still trying to process all that happened, and he slept truly exhausted.
1943, June 23
"I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough."
Colonel Phillips' words were worse than any beating he had before in his whole life. Now that he was a super soldier, he could've never imagined that he would be rejected by the same Army that created him.
The SSR commander left to Europe with Howard Stark and Agent Carter. To avoid being treated as a lab experiment, Steve accepted Senator Brandt's offer to work as a propaganda tool.
Steve was finally able to go home. He couldn't wait to see Joanna – for her to see him.
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End Note 9: Thanks for reading!
Talking to Winterbeauti I realized I missed Steve's insights during these scenes. What do you think? Also it gave me an excuse to write another chapter before the next one. Yes, I'm a baby.
Many thanks to Winterbeauti, Polexia Aphrodite, and Dark Goddess 1487 who helped me to get this chapter ready!
Feedback is the best way to improve. So, please, review it!
xxoo Mari
Ref: Dates from the movie: Rejected Army Enlistment Form, June 14, 1943. Senator's paper, June 23, 1943.
