Howard Stark stepped into his lab slowly. "I tried you at home, but you were not there."
Valery looked up from her work. "I'm sorry, I found the silence hard to work in."
He shook his head. "Valery, something has happened."
"With the procedure? We coordinated everything down to the second. He should be fine."
"He – Rogers is. It's not about the procedure."
She closed her journal and set down her pen. "Has something else happened?"
"Hydra infiltrated the procedure, Valery. Abraham was killed."
Her shoulders shrank a fraction of an inch before retracting. If he had blinked when it happened, he would have missed the action.
"And the subject?" She asked, looking back at her work. "Were you successful?"
"Yes, we were."
"Then his death was not in vain."
He stepped closer to her. "Are you alright?"
She nodded.
"I understand that these are less than ideal circumstances, -"
"Howard, please do not attempt to console me. I am aware of the shortness of human life. Abraham achieved his mission, and it will make all the difference moving forward."
Howard set his blazer across a chair.
Valery got off the chair and walked over to him. "I would like to see what happened."
He nodded, looking up from his notes.
Her eyes flashed a violet color as her hand cupped his cheek. "The serum." She pulled her hand back. "He wants the serum."
"He didn't get it."
"Not this time." She sighed.