The Procedure
As a vintage Volkswagen travels down the streets of Brooklyn, New York, the passengers inside see a few kids in the street playing baseball.
"I know this neighborhood," Steve says from the backseat of the car as he looks around. The neighborhood looks run down, it's not the best streets in New York, but it's also not the worst of them. "I got beat up in that alley," he continues, pointing at an alleyway as they drive past it. Bucky smiles from the front passenger seat, remembering when he saved Steve from getting beaten to death from a guy much bigger than him. "And that parking lot." Peggy makes a face of exasperation from where she sits beside Steve in that back. "And behind that diner."
"Did you have something against running away?" She asks, when he looks down at his lap, but she doesn't make eye contact with him as she speaks.
Steve shakes his head a couple of times, before answering, "you start running, they'll never let you stop. You stand up, you push back. They can't say no forever, right?"
"I know a little of what that's like, to have every door shut in your face," Peggy says. The job she has now, is the only job she could get in her desired field. She just thanks Colonel Phillips for giving her a shot and taking a chance on her.
"I guess I just don't know why you'd want to join the Army if you were a beautiful dame," Steve says, but immediately regrets it. "Or a…A woman. An agent. Not a dame," he stutters. Peggy gives him a look, silently telling him to just stop talking, especially when she hears Bucky chuckle. He tries to cover it up, but Steve is so bad with women, he can't control his laughter. "You are beautiful, but…"
"You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" Peggy asks, interrupting Steve.
"I think this is the longest conversation I've had with one," Steve says, with a slight smile and shake of his head.
"It is," Bucky says from the front seat.
Steve glares at the back of his head, but doesn't respond to him, instead saying, "women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on."
"You must have danced," Peggy says, looking over at Steve, to see him looking down at his lap.
"Well, asking a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying. And the past few years, it just didn't seem to matter that much. I figured I'd wait."
"For what?"
"The right partner." Peggy smiles when Steve says this, they don't see Bucky smiling from the front seat though. He can tell Steve's interested in her, he shows signs when he does like a woman, and he can just tell Peggy feels the same. It reminds him of how Ava acted before they became a couple, she told him that she liked him long before he asked her on their first date. At this thought, he frowns, clutching the ring that's between his hands, hoping and praying that Ava's safe and sound, and hopefully thinking of him at this moment as well. It's not long before the car comes to a stop in front of a little shop called 'Brooklyn Antiques.' All three of them get out of the car, but Bucky and Steve stand in place, waiting for Peggy to give them instructions on where to go.
"This way," she says as she walks towards the door of the shop.
"What are we doing here?" Bucky asks. He thought him and Steve were receiving a serum that will make them a super soldier, not going to buy antiques.
"Follow me," is all Peggy says as she walks through the doorway. Steve puts on his army hat as he follows Peggy, Bucky having already put his on. The bell rings from inside as Peggy opens the door to the small, dark shop. An old lady comes out from the curtain, that's separating the front of the shop from the back area. She looks too proper to work in a place where they are.
"Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?" She asks, seeing that they're dressed in military clothes. She hopes that they'll respond with the correct phrase, but part of her wishes they won't, meaning they are just ordinary people in to buy antiques.
"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella," Peggy says, earning a strange look from Bucky, seeing as she doesn't have an umbrella on her. What him and Steve don't know is that that's the phrase the lady was looking for. The lady goes over to the desk and presses a button that's on the underside of the piece of furniture. When she presses it a buzzing sound rings through the air. What the three don't know is that there's a machine gun next to the button. Peggy walks back behind the curtain, Steve and Bucky following. The bookshelf they stand in front of ends up opening towards them, revealing a hallway that looks like a hospital hallway. The doors close immediately behind them. When they get to the end of the hallway, the double doors open immediately, and it reveals a floor below them that has a whole computer panel that goes around the room in a circular shape. There is one pod in the middle, big enough to fit a person. The scientists around the room all stop talking at the same time, almost like it was rehearsed, when they see Steve and Bucky. The two examine the room, looking at everything, trying to figure out how it all works, and what they have to do here. They look at Peggy, who looks back at them. She takes a sharp breath in before walking down the staircase to the right of them. The two follow, hesitantly.
"Good morning," Dr. Erskine says, once they reach the platform that has the pod on it. He shakes both of their hands. Steve has a worried and nervous look on his face as he shakes Erskine's hand. When they shake hands, there's a flash, meaning someone has taken a picture. "Please, not now," Erskine instructs. The photographer backs down immediately. "Are you ready?" Erskine asks as he sees Bucky staring at the pod with worry. Now he sees the human shaped indent in the center of the padding, meaning it is made for a person. Bucky nods, so does Steve. "Good. Take off your shirts, your ties, and your hats." Bucky doesn't hesitate to do as Erskine instructs, but Steve glances at Peggy who looks away from him. The difference between Steve and Bucky, physically, is that Bucky has a very noticeable six pack, while you can see Steve's ribs.
"Senator Brandt, glad you could make it," Colonel Phillips says as he walks up to the Senator.
"Why exactly am I in Brooklyn?" The Senator asks.
"We needed access to the city's power grid. Of course, if you'd given me the generators I requisitioned…" the Colonel explains bitterly.
"A lot of people are asking for funds, Colonel," he says, before a person catches his eye. "Oh, this is Clem, uh…" the Senator trails off, not knowing the guy's name.
"Fred Clemson, State Department," the man introduces himself. "If this project of yours comes through, we'd like to see it used for something other than headlines." The man has a weird accent, it's almost American, but it has something else mixed in, and the Colonel can't quite tell what it is.
"Jesus. Somebody get that kid a sandwich," the Senator says once he notices Steve, from where he's standing in the observation deck. Bucky's the first one in the pod, next is Steve. They do it this way, so they can sort of do a trial on Bucky, since it most likely won't affect his physical muscle, but enhance his abilities, hearing, fighting, strength. Then they will do Steve next, now this, it will affect his muscle, it will make him more beefy, be the perfect soldier to fight. Bucky lays down in the pod, situating himself comfortably.
….
Bucky steps out of the pod, once it's opened. He's sweaty, he has a thin layer of sweat, covering his chest and forehead. He stumbles, just a little bit, when he walks out, being caught by one of the scientists.
"I think it worked," Bucky says. He feels differently, like there's something running through his veins, almost like electricity.
"Here, punch this with all you got," Howard Stark says as he holds up a piece of metal for Bucky to punch. Bucky takes a step back, finding his footing before giving it his all and punching the metal with one swing. He dents the metal, and there's a fist print now in the object.
"I think it was very successful," Erskine says, motioning for Steve to come over next. "Your turn." Steve nods and he jumps a little to sit on the pod and lays down comfortably.
"Comfortable?" Bucky asks. He is a little worried for Steve, seeing as how he doesn't have that much muscle, like he does, so he doesn't know what will happen to Steve. Erskine comes up next to Bucky.
"It's a little big," Steve says, making Bucky and Erskine chuckle.
"You save me any of that schnapps?" Bucky asks Erskine.
"Not as much as I should have. Sorry," Erskine replies, muttering the sorry. "Next time." Bucky nods, causing Erskine to call out, "Mr. Stark, how are your levels?"
"Levels at 100%," Stark answers.
"Good."
"Agent Carter?" Erskine asks, seeing as how she came down to see Bucky once he was done with everything. "Don't you think you would be more comfortable in the booth?"
"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry," she stutters, before making her way up to the observation deck. She glances back one more time, meeting Steve's eyes. Bucky goes up there also.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Erskine starts, speaking over the PA system, so the people on the observation deck can hear him. "Today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. 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." Once Erskine's done talking, he makes his way over to Steve, who's receiving a shot into the arm, like you would a flu vaccine. Steve tightly shuts his eyes and breaths out when the shot is administered.
"That wasn't so bad," he says, once the nurse is done.
"That was penicillin," Erskine replies. Steve gives him a look of worry, but Erskine shrugs it off. "Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two, one." Once he's done counting, he puts a hand on Steve's shoulder. Stark pulls a lever on the control panel causing the blue liquid that's in the containers to release into Steve's body, or more particularly, his veins and muscles. Steve grunts a little bit as this happens. "Now, Mr. Stark," Erskine says. Stark pulls another lever, causing the pod to be turned upright, and it closes, leaving a tiny window near the top, so Steve can see out of it. Erskine knocks on the container. "Steven? Can you hear me?"
"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" Steve's muffled response comes out. Once Erskine hears this, he knows that Steve's joking, maybe.
"We will proceed," he says, turning around to look at Stark. Stark, and everyone in the room puts on goggles, that are going to block the light from their eyes. Stark starts to turn a wheel on the control panel.
"That's 10%," he says, reading the screen, that says Vita-Rays. "Twenty percent. Thirty. That's 40%."
"Vital signs are normal," a man says, reading Steve's vitals. Bucky breathes nervously from the observation deck, with his elbows on his knees and his hands supporting his head.
"That's 50%. Sixty. Seventy," when Stark says this, a screaming erupts from inside the pod. Bucky gets up immediately, running for the door to the level below.
"Steven!" Erskine calls out, running up to the pod, trying to keep his eyes away from the harsh light that's pouring out of the window. "Steven!"
"Shut it down!" Bucky yells as Erskine pounds on the pod. "Shut it down!"
"Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark," Erskine says, pointing at Howard. "Turn it off! Kill it!"
As soon as Howard is by the switch, Steve yells from the pod. "No! Don't! I can do this!" Taking that, Stark moves back to the wheel, continuing to turn it, as Bucky stares at the pod with nervousness. If this doesn't kill Steve, Ava sure will when she finds out that he went through this, but she will probably do that same to Bucky too.
"Eighty," Stark says. "Ninety. That's 100%." After a couple of seconds the control panel starts to spark and everything shuts off, the lights included. Bucky stares at the pod, wondering if Steve's okay, since he's not making any noise. He doesn't even notice that Peggy has come up next to him as well.
"Mr. Stark?" Erskine says. The pod opens and it reveals Steve, but not as he normally would be. He's more muscular now. He has humongous muscles now. Everyone can see the thin layer of sweat on his chest and neck. His face is still the same, probably more fitting for him now though. "Steven. Steven," Erskine mutters as he helps Steve down from the pod. Everyone in the observation deck gets excited and rushes down to the floor below.
"The son of a bitch did it," Colonel Phillips mutters, proud of his new friend, Erskine. Fred Clemson, the man that arrived with the Senator stands up, leaving behind something that looks like a metal wallet, but it is going to be the start of Steve and Bucky's adventure.
"I did it," Steve mutters. He can't believe he actually did that, that he actually survived it, unharmed as well.
"Yeah, yeah. I think we did it," Erskine says, glancing at Howard he is holding the other side of Steve up, so he doesn't fall over. Bucky runs over to Steve, staring at how huge he is now.
"I can't believe you did that," he says, shaking his head at Steve.
"I can't believe you did that," Steve retorts, still trying to catch his breath. Peggy then runs over to Steve, trying to keep her eyes off of Steve's chest.
"How do you feel?" She asks.
Steve takes a minute, looking around, before answering, "taller." Peggy takes the shirt quickly from the woman who's holding it.
"You look taller," she says.
"How do you like Brooklyn now, Senator?" Phillips asks.
"I can think of some folks in Berlin who are about to get very nervous," the Senator responds, but Phillips can't hear him, seeing as he has already walked off.