Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, or any of its characters, including, but not limited to Howard Stark, Julie, Robert, and Phil Coulson.
Chapter One:
July 23, 1953
The army general across the desk stamped the paper and handed him the file to look at. He had officially been enlisted.
"Congratulations, soldier," he told Phil.
"Thank you, sir." Phil said. He left the file on the desk and headed to the door. The general stopped him.
"Tell me something, would you please?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why do you wan to join?"
"I wish to serve my country, sir. Jut as many other men do."
"That's all?"
Phil had always been uncomfortable talking about is father, but for some reason he answered the question.
"No, sir. My father was a military doctor. He died when I was nine. I went through some tough times after that. I thought that maybe I could keep others from having to go through the same thing."
"So you care about fellow soldiers more than the country?"
"I would think that without soldiers there would be no country."
"Very well put. Thank you." He paused. "Phil Coulson, is it? I have someone I think would like to meet you. Could you see him tomorrow morning at his office?"
Phil was confused. Why would someone want to see a skinny, newly recruited eighteen-year-old? But he agreed.
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I'll give you the address."
July 24, 1953
"I'm here to see a Dr. Christopher Stan," Phil told the receptionist at the office building.
"Yes, I see that here in the schedule. His laboratory's on a restricted level. I'll send you with a guard."
This puzzled Phil, but he had no time to think about it before a dark-haired security guard wearing sunglasses and a suit escorted him to an elevator.
The guard pulled out a key and slipped it into a lock below the regular numbered keypad. To his surprise, the elevator began to drop. Apparently the restricted level was belowground.
They went down for a full minute and a half before they reached the bottom. The doors opened, but the guard did not leave.
"I don't have clearance for this level," he told Phil. "Go on ahead, though. Dr. Stan should be in the laboratory on your left.
Phil nodded and stepped out of the elevator. It closed behind him.
There were only two doors in front of him. He knocked on the left.
"Come in!" A voice, presumably Dr. Stan's called.
He opened the door.
The lab was quite a sight: organized but cluttered at the same time. A glass case stood to one side, holding a least a dozen expensive-looking scientific instruments. Cabinets with heavy-duty locks covered one wall. A fridge-looking device even had a biometric lock on it. It seemed a little cautious for an already restricted level so deep underground.
What on earth does this guy do?, Phil thought.
He didn't have much time to wonder before Dr. Stan started talking. He was a middle-aged man with dark eyes and greying hair, around 6 foot tall, with no lack of muscle. Definitely not someone he would pick a fight with.
"You're wondering why you're here, no?" Dr. Stan asked. He spoke with a slight French accent. It seemed like a rhetorical question, so Phil didn't respond.
"Well, are you?"
"Oh, yes Dr. Stan, sir"
He laughed. "Please, call me Chris."
"Yes, sir… I mean, Chris, yes, I haven't a clue why I'm here."
"That is good, no? I couldn't have anyone knowing my work. I have brought you here to ask you a question." He paused before continuing, as if he was carefully considering his words.
"You have heard of Captain America?"
"Yes, sir, I mean Chris." It was throwing him off, talking to a superior like this.
"You know he was enhanced with a super-serum of sorts, then?"
"Yes, I did. I was actually quite a fan."
"Do you know why he was the only one of his kind?"
"The serum was taken, but destroyed, and the Captain died killing the leader of Hydra, the Nazi Science division."
"Very good, very good…. Well, I have been put in charge of recreating the serum." He took a moment to let it sink in.
"And I am on the brink of doing it. I am asking for volunteers for testing."
"And you want me?!" Phil was shocked.
"Yes, I would. Actually, I have already asked about two dozen other soldiers. Up until this point in the conversation they wanted to do it too. You do, no?"
"Yes." Phil replied quickly. All his life he had wanted to be like the Captain. He never thought he would get this close.
"Listen to this, then. I cannot promise success. If the experiment fails, there is a chance you will have to be locked up, or if you get out of control… terminated."
Phil took a sharp breath. Was it worth it?
"You still want to do this? There is only a 61% chance of success. You can back out now, with no harm done. You'll only have to sign a contract of silence. If you wish to continue in the army, you will have to go through a procedure to wipe all memory of my location."
Phil took a moment, but he already knew the answer.
"That won't be necessary, sir. I want to do this."
"One more question. Why?"
"Since I was a young boy, Captain America was my role model. After my father's death nearly nine years ago, he was the only one I had left, aside from my mother. I want to help my country. I don't like bullies, especially not those who take lives for no reason. I want to stop that." Phil didn't know how close he had been to what Steve had told a different scientist ten years before.
"Very well, then. How much do you weigh?"
Was this really a question? He was small, and he wasn't proud of it.
"110 pounds."
"Height?"
"5'6"."
"Ok, Mr. Coulson. Procedure tomorrow at nine am. I'll have someone give you a ride from your place, if that's alright with you."
"Yes, sir."
"Chris."
"Right, Chris. Sorry."
July 25, 1953
He was driven the next day via bulletproof SUV. It seemed a little excessive, but then again, Dr. Stan was currently carrying a vile of serum worth more than money could buy. The War was over, but that didn't mean there were no more enemies. There would always be other enemies. The Nazis were still in existence. Hydra still hadn't been wiped out. Even without their leader, they lived on.
They stopped in front of a plain, brick building. Honestly, to Phil it looked abandoned.
As soon as they got out, the SUV left. Two armed guards escorted the doctor and Phil inside the building, then took positions directly inside the door. Chis walked over to an elevator in the corner, and went inside. Phil followed. Chris held down the button for level four until he heard a click and then quickly tapped the three and then the five. The elevator dropped, heading to another underground lab, Phil figured.
However when they got out, they fund only a small room with a door on one end. It looked like a hospital room, only the bed was surrounded by metal equipment.
"Please, make yourself comfortable. Phil took off his shirt and lay in the bed. A few moments later, two men entered through the other door. One he recognized as Howard Stark, the same man who had helped with the process on Steve Rogers. The other was a nurse, carrying a stethoscope and a monitor which she quickly hooked up to a different machine.
"Alright, I need to put in a few I.V.s" The nurse told him after introducing herself as Megan Scuderi. While she was putting the needles in four different spots on his arms, Howard Stark explained that he and Dr. Stan were with a newly founded organization called S.H.I.E.L.D., and that he would become an agent by going through the procedure. Then he proceeded to explain the procedure to him. He would be injected with the serum through the I.V.s, then they would expose him to a certain type of radiation in a room next door. After that he would stay here for a few days to be monitored, if it was a success. If it failed, then different precautionary measures would be taken. Phil took a sharp breath at the last point.
"Are you ready? You still can back out now if you want. Once the serum's inside, it could possible be too late."
"No, sir. I'm ready."
"Very well, Dr. Stan, you may proceed."
The nurse hooked up the serum through the I.V. bags, and Dr. Stan pressed a button on one of the metal pieces of equipment. He placed an electrode on his forehead and another on his chest. Then he pressed another button, and the fluid began to enter is veins.
"Unlike with Steven Rogers, this should be somewhat painless."
The serum was now in his bloodstream. He had been taken into another room. It turned out there was a whole hallway of rooms down here, including a highly secure prison cell, which worried Phil.
In the new room, he lay on another bed, and was placed in what looked similar to an MRI scanner. Only, he was closed completely in once he was inside.
"You ready, Coulson?" Howard Stark asked through the arrangement of glass and metal.
He was not entirely sure at this point, but he told him he was anyway.
A few minutes later, after pretty severe pain, Coulson was removed from the case.
He didn't dare open his eyes. What if it had failed?
"Well, it looks like success, Doctor," he heard Howard say. He seemed distant.
"Phil, are you good?"
"Phil?"
Phil reluctantly opened his eyes. "Yeah," he said weakly.
"Let's check you out. Megan?"
"Yes, Mr. Stark."
Megan helped him to his feet, and Phil dared to look at himself. He definitely didn't look like Steve Rogers, but he had clearly changed. He was somewhat taller, weighed more, and was clearly more muscular
After full evaluation, he was found to be 5'9", three inches taller, and 158 pounds, adding nearly 50 pounds to his previous weight. He wasn't Captain America material, but he was enhanced, and exhausted.
"After observation for the next few days, we can test your more… interesting abilities."
"What do you mean?" He knew nothing of this.
"The super-serum does more than just add body mass."
Ok, so there's chapter one! Nothing in this chapter is contradicted by canon except of course, coulson's age, but they could have lied about that anyway, so I could say this totally follows canon.
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