24.
Brooklyn, New York City
June 30th, 1943
When Steve and Agent Carter return from chasing down the infiltrating Hydra assassin, Steve isn't even puffed. He walks in silence, astounded by his own stamina and strength. Agent Carter walks him through the halls, looking dishevelled from Steve tackling her out of the way of the looming car, her once perfect hair in a mess upon her head. She directs him to a private medical room of his own, telling him to wait on the bed while she finds Isabel, who she'll send in.
Steve waits patiently, looking at his own arms and hands in awe of their size and strength. He turns them over, wondering whether these stronger, more masculine hands will still be capable of producing his art. The permanent bumps from the pencil are gone from the insides of his fingers, and he doesn't quite know how to feel about that. Not to mention his torso. He holds his own abs and chest, runs a hand over them, amazed at their solidity and density. He grabs two handfuls of his own pecks, holding them in his hands and squeezing a bit, just experimental, frowning. Then, he grabs a handful of his own thigh, feeling pure muscle in his grip, and his eyes widen at their power. Never in his life did he imagine he'd own a body like this one.
After a few minutes the door opens and Isabel slips inside. Steve hurriedly lets go of his own jaw, which he'd been feeling and running his hands along, looking sheepish. Isabel looks both terrified and relieved at once, warily coming closer to Steve, taking small steps.
"Stevie. You're okay?"
"I'm fine," Steve reassures. "I'm good."
"What happened?" She asks quietly. "What happened to that man? Who was he?"
"He was a German spy. I chased him all the way to the docks. He stole a taxi but I ran after him on foot. He tried to escape in a submarine but I jumped in and pulled him out. Before I could question him, he bit this thing inside his tooth and he died. Peggy said it's called a cyanide pill."
"And the vial of the serum?"
"It smashed, it's gone," Steve says.
"Good. Would have been disastrous if it had fallen into the wrong hands."
Steve looks sadly at Isabel, who still stands a few feet from him, her eyes warily watching him as though she doesn't know him. "Belle, are you scared of me?"
"No, of course not," Isabel says hurriedly. She takes another step toward him, slowly getting closer. "It's just a lot to process."
"I know," Steve says, looking down at his own hands again. "I don't even know how this all works, but it's incredible. I could run as fast as a car, and I could swim without getting asthma, and I can see clearly further than a few meters. I–" Steve breaks off, unable to find the words.
Isabel nods. "Erskine said you would improve physically. You'd gain stamina, speed, sight, reflexivity, flexibility, strength. And that's just the physical. Do you feel different?"
"I feel… healthy. I feel like I can breathe without a crushing weight on my chest. I don't feel tired. I don't feel frail. I feel like a new person, but I'm still me. It's like I switched bodies with someone but I still look the same," Steve says in wonder.
"Good," Isabel says sincerely, coming slightly closer until her legs hit the bed. Her eyes well with tears and she sniffs. Steve notices her eyes are already red and a bit puffy; she must have been crying before, too. "I was so scared, Steve. When you were screaming in the chamber. I couldn't do anything. I felt so helpless."
"I know, I'm sorry. I tried to hold in my screams, but it felt like I was being ripped in half. For a while there I thought I was dying, that the last thing I was seeing was this overwhelming bright light. And then the chamber opened, and I was okay. I wasn't dead. Took me a second to process that. I'm so sorry," Steve whispers. He slowly reaches an arm out to grab her waist and easily pulls her toward him, but he isn't used to this new strength and he pulls her a little too hard because she practically flies into his chest with a muffled oof. "Oops, sorry. This will take a while to get used to," he apologises, slightly releasing his tight grip.
"It's okay," she laughs. She doesn't hesitate now to wrap her arms tightly around his now very broad shoulders. Now that she's in his arms, she realises he still feels the same, even though he also feels different. He still elicits feelings of comfort and safety and love, and he still even smells like Steve. She lets her chin rest on his shoulder for a moment, just enjoying being with him since for a few eternal moments when he was in the chamber she thought she'd never see him again alive.
She pulls away at some point, reluctantly, and just stares at him. He still looks like Steve – he has his eyes and eyebrows and lips and even the horrible bump in his nose that Danny put there all those months ago. His head is just bigger, his jaw more defined and his chin slightly more prominent. He looks older, but still young, which is easily because in comparison to now he used to look like a pre-teen with the voice of a twenty-five-year-old.
"You have no idea how glad I am that your nose is still the same," she finds herself saying, laughing to herself.
"Oh, great. That was the one thing I was hoping the serum would fix," Steve jokes.
"No, I love it," she argues. To punctuate, she bops his nose. "I have to take blood samples," Isabel tells him, remembering the fact that this is her new job, her new reality. Steve nods, presenting his arm, and Isabel gets to work, taking ten full vials as Stark asked. Steve doesn't even wince when she inserts the needle.
A few minutes later, Agent Carter walks into the room, finding Steve with his shirt sleeve rolled up so Isabel can take vials of his blood.
"Think you got enough?" Steve jokes after a while, watching his blood leave his body.
Isabel looks up and smiles at him. "Watch your cheek or I might decide I need another batch."
Peggy walks closer to them. "Now that the remains of the serum have been destroyed, any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code. Without Erskine, it will take years to re-unlock it, but Howard Stark isn't going to give up," Peggy says.
"He deserved more than this," Steve notes of Erskine.
"If it could only work once, he'd be proud it was you. I think we can safely say you were his greatest success," Peggy tells Steve. He smiles at her thankfully, but the doubt in his eyes is still present.
They emerge from the medical room together, Isabel carrying the vials of Steve's blood in a clear plastic box. Amidst the glass shards and the blown control panels of the open experiment room stands Howard Stark, Colonel Phillips, and Senator Brandt, all of them positioned around the Hydra submarine that was extracted from the water, having sunk after Steve smashed in its window. Agent Carter joins them while Isabel hands the blood vials over to Stark, who thanks her with a dazzling smile.
"Colonel Phillips, my committee is demanding answers," Senator Brandt addresses the gruff old man who'd spoken to Isabel earlier, finally putting a name to the face.
"Great, why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret installation in your car?" Phillips asks Brandt gruffly. "What do we got here?" He asks, pointing to the sub.
"Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country," Stark tells them, winking at Isabel and Peggy and making Phillips roll his eyes. "But I don't know what's inside this thing, or how it works. We're not even close to this kind of technology."
"Then who is?"
"Hydra. I'm sure you've been reading our briefing," Phillips says.
"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel," Brandt reminds him.
"Hydra is the Nazi deep science division. It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions," Agent Carter explains patiently.
"Hydra's practically a cult," Phillips adds. "They worship Schmidt, they think he's invincible."
Isabel and Steve share a confused look, not entirely sure if they were meant to hear this conversation. But once they'd begun discussions, no one seemed to notice their presence in the room.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Brandt asks.
"I spoke to the president this morning. As of today, the SSR is being re-tasked. We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags, Agent Carter. You too, Stark. You're flying to London tonight."
"Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in," Steve says determinedly. Isabel gives him a look trying to silence him.
"You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo," Phillips tells him.
"But the serum worked."
"I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough." Isabel feels her blood boil when Steve noticeably deflates. She is about to give Phillips a piece of her mind when Senator Brandt interrupts, stepping closer to Steve with a sympathetic expression.
"With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point. I've seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country's seen it." Brandt's aid hands him a newspaper, which he shows to Steve and Isabel. It headlines, "Nazis in New York – mystery man saves child". "The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands. You don't take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"
Isabel gets a bad vibe from Senator Brandt, that he's saying just the right things to mould Steve the way he wants him. "Sir, that's all I want," Steve replies, looking hopeful despite Brandt's clear ability to market an idea.
"Then congratulations. You just got promoted."
Manhattan, New York City
July 2nd, 1943
Steve stands in his change room backstage, shuffling his arms and legs around in the costume. He looks absolutely ridiculous, standing in front of the full-view mirror in a navy blue, red and white skintight ensemble that leaves nothing to the imagination, red boots and a cloth cowl with wings on it to wear over his face.
He feels pretty regretful right about now about his choice to take up Brandt's offer. In fact, he'd felt regret as soon as Brandt had showed Steve a concept drawing of "Captain America", the star-spangled American hero they'd created with his face and body to promote war bonds and American participation in the war. They've got a whole show planned out for him to perform across the nation, with female dancers in skimpy spangled costumes, fireworks, patriotic music and even a fake Adolf Hitler for him to "knockout". It's way over the top and Steve knows it, so he's dreading his first performance on the stage.
Unfortunately, he also remembers that Brandt had said something off-handedly about a comic book series. He groans and puts his head in his hands. This was not how he imagined he'd be serving his country.
The door to his dressing room opens slowly and Isabel peers around. She smiles when she sees him, visibly holding in her laughter.
"Laugh all you want. I know it's terrible," Steve tells her, looking away back to the mirror.
Isabel walks up behind him, peering around his shoulder. "It really isn't that bad," she says truthfully. "It suits you." She reaches up and properly zips the costume up at his neck where he'd missed, brushing down the back of any fluff. "You nervous?"
"Embarrassed more so, but yes, still nervous," he replies, sighing heavily.
"Steve, you'll be great," Isabel says sincerely, coming around to face him. "Just remember why you're doing this."
"This really isn't what I imagined."
"I know, but it's a starting step forward in the right direction," she argues. "Here, I wrote out your lines for you so you could stick them on the inside of your shield to read off of," she tells him, pulling a folded-up piece of paper from the pocket of her dress.
"I didn't even think of that," Steve admits.
"That's why I'm the smart one in this friendship. As soon as you get on stage in front of all those people, you'll forget your lines. I know I would, I don't envy you going out there. The first few times will be tough, but you'll get the hang of it," she promises, sticking the paper to the inside of the shield with some costume tape.
"I wish you could go out there with me," he admits, looking visibly nervous.
"Yeah, well, I'm not an up and coming national icon. I doubt they'd want me anyway."
Brandt's aid appears at the door then, ushering Steve out for his cue. Isabel follows, planning to watch the show from the side of the stage.
Steve peeks out the curtains at the side, seeing the half-full auditorium outside, mainly parents with their younger children. "I don't know if I can do this," Steve admits, turning nervously to Brandt's aid.
"Nothing to it," the aid says casually. "Sell off a few bonds, bonds buy bullets, bullets kill Nazis. Bing bang boom. You're an American hero."
"It's just not how I picture getting there."
"The senator's got a lot of pull up on the hill. You play ball with us, you'll be leading your own platoon in no time. Don't forget the shield and the mask."
"Good luck!" Isabel calls as Steve pulls up his cowl and is pushed through the curtain onto the stage, the music starting up immediately.
"Who's strong and brave, here to save the American way?"
"Not all of us can storm a beach or drive a tank. But there's still a way all of us can fight," Steve reads in a stammering voice as the women sing and dance in the background.
"Who vows to fight like a man, for what's right, night and day?"
"Series E Defence Bonds. Each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy's gun."
"Who will campaign door-to-door for America? Carry the flag shore to shore for America? From Hoboken to Spokane, the star-spangled man with a plan. We can't ignore there's a threat and a war we must win."
"Each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy's gun."
"Who'll hang a noose on the goose-stepping goons from Berlin? Who will redeem, heed the call for America? Who'll rise or fall, give his all for America? Who's here to prove that we can? The star-spangled man with a plan."
"We all know this is about trying to win the war. We can't do that without bullets and bandages, tanks and tents. That's where you come in. Every bond you buy will help protect someone you love." Behind Steve, a man dressed as Hitler sneaks behind the line of women toward him. Children in the audience yell for Captain America to turn around. "Keep our boys armed and ready, and the Germans will think twice about trying to get the drop on us." Just as Hitler reaches Steve, he turns around and fake-punches him, knocking him backward into the curtains to the roar of the crowd.
"Stalwart and steady and true, forceful and ready to defend, the red, white, and blue. Who'll give the Axis the sack and is smart as a fox? Far as an eagle will soar. Who's making Adolf afraid to step out of his box? He knows what we're fighting for. Who waked the giant that napped in America? We know it's no one but Captain America. Who'll finish what they began? Who'll kick the Krauts to Japan? The star-spangled man with a plan!"
A/N: Thank you everyone for the follows, favourites and lovely reviews! I appreciate every one of you more than words can say! Please continue to review so I know how you're liking the story so far. Enjoy the chapter! :)