Chapter 7 - Experiment Day

I do not own anything!

June 1943

I glanced up from the equipment, wondering why everyone had gone suddenly so quiet. I followed their gaze and spotted Steve and Peggy standing at the top of the staircase. Well, I guess it was time then.

Once they made their way to the bottom of the stairs, I leaned back in my chair, waving at Steve. "Ready to get zapped?" I asked with a smirk. That sadly earned me a look from Peggy and a whack on the back of my head from Howard's clipboard. "What?" I asked.

Rogers gave me a weak smile as he approached Dr. Erskine. I turned towards Howard as he set the clipboard down and gave me a look. "Really, not you too."

"Try not to joke around too much today, Ed." I glanced around before leaning closer to me. "You know they're looking for any reason to send you packing."

I sighed, slouching in my seat. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'll just sit here and shut up. Does that sound better?"

Howard shook his head, rolling his eyes. "For now, yeah. But I need you back to your spunky self later. I want to go over some things with you."

I wasn't too sure what spunky meant but I nodded anyway, turning back towards the center of the room where Steve was now shirtless and climbing onto the machine flat's surface.

"Mr. Stark? How are your levels?" Asked Dr. Erskine.

Howard left my side, climbing onto the center platform. "We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn but we're ready. As ready as we'll ever be," I heard him explain as I swivelled in my chair.

I had been told to sit tight and, if need be, help Howard with the controls. So far, though, I've sat for the past hour and I've been itching to do… something!

"Edward."

I turned my chair towards the voice, looking up at Peggy. She briefly glanced back towards the center of the room before leaning closer. "Make sure it goes well?"

How she wanted me to do that was a bit beyond me but… "I'll do what I can," I replied. I didn't want to be the pessimist today.

She gave me a tight nod, continuing on her way back up the stairs.

My attention went back to the center of the room when a series of loud thumping noises rang out through the room. Dr. Erskine was standing in front of the metal table, some type of microphone in his hand.

"Do you hear me? Is this on?" he asked, his voice echoing. "Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace."

Did he prepare that or was he told to say that? I'm thinking he was told because those words seemed weird coming from him…

"We begin with a series of microinjections into the subject's major muscle groups. The serum infusion will create immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays."

Stimulate growth? Steve's going to grow? How is that possible? Is there an equivalence between what is injected into him and the reaction then created? The serum will need to work on everything inside Steve: as much his muscles, bones, and organs.

Or else…

Just trying to picture what would happen was enough to give me a shiver of disgust.

Dr. Erskine's voice drew me out of my imagination. "Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two," he placed a calming hand on Steve's soldier, "one."

The blue serum was injected into Steve as he groaned. Hopefully not in pain… Was this process supposed to hurt?

"Now, Mr. Stark," ordered Dr. Erskine.

Howard pulled a lever and the table began to lift, closing upon itself, trapping Steve inside. As scientists added tubes to the machine, Dr. Erskine stepped in front of it, knocking on the metal. "Steven? Can you hear me?"

"Probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" came Steve's voice from inside. Unbelievable…

The Doctor turned around, a small smile on his face. "We will proceed."

Howard nodded towards him, grabbing the controls for the vita-rays and slowly turning the valve. He called out the percentages as the light grew brighter and brighter in the machine.

It was at 70% that things started to go wrong…

Steve began screaming inside the machine, whatever the procedure was doing to him, it was painful.

Would – would it kill him?

I was standing at the same time as Dr. Erskine was banging at the machine, calling out Steve's name.

"Shut it down!" cried Peggy from upstairs. "Shut it down, Dr. Erskine!"

I was at the controls, trying to figure out which knob or lever it was to stop this thing. I couldn't let him die!

I could only watch as cracks in the metal had broken Al's seal. I wasn't going to sit back and watch today!

I faintly heard Dr. Erskine's panicked call. "Mr. Stark! Shut down the –"

"No! Don't! I can do this! Keep it going!" Rogers' voice rung out from the machine, stopping all of us.

I glanced up at Howard who, after a moment hesitation, nodded and went back to raising the energy levels. Moments later, the machines around us started short-circuiting, sparks flying around us but I kept my gaze locked on the machine that housed Rogers.

There was silence for several heartbeats until Dr. Erskine turned around. "Mr. Stark."

Howard nodded quickly and pressed a button. The machine opened and I had to do a double take at who stood in it. No. Fucking. Way. That – that was not possible. I turned around, breathing deeply, wanting to calm the blush that rose up my neck. He – Steve, was...

What the hell was wrong with me? Armstrong stood shirtless half the time I've seen him! Heck, the last time I saw him, he was shirtless! But… Jeez.

I shook my head and turned around, pushing my way towards where Dr. Erskine and Howard were helping Steve down from the machine. Peggy joined me and I had to hold in my chuckle at how flustered she looked. Yeah, I wasn't one to talk but I was holding it in much better than her.

"How – how do you feel?" she managed to ask, handing him a shirt.

Steve glanced around, breathing deeply. "Taller."

I felt a tinge of jealousy, thinking that if I had said yes to this, people would finally stop teasing me about my height. But that feeling was quickly pushed down. I did NOT want to be roped up in a military again just because they could make me taller!

Instead, I lightly smacked his now muscled arms catching his attention. "So, liked getting zapped?"

He chuckled, pulling the shirt over his head. "I've had better experiences."

"Training?" I tried. "Training seemed better, didn't it?"

He looked ready to answer when an explosion broke out from above us. I ducked down, whirling around at the same time to see the observation balcony in flames. What the fuck was going on?

I straightened quickly, looking to see if anyone had caused that. The first thing I saw was Dr. Erskine, standing close by, his back to me.

I then saw the man with the gun.

"NO!"

I dashed towards Dr. Erskine but the man shot. I saw the Doctor jerk once before I tackled him out of the way just as another shot rang out. I looked up, seeing the gun still poised towards us and shoved the Doctor away. I had enough time to roll away as the third shot was fired.

Or so I thought. The moment I tried to stand, pain flared up from my right calf, making me cry out and fall back to the ground.

Thankfully, the man was too busy running to try to take another shot at myself or Dr. Erskine.

The Doctor!

I turned around and spotted Steve hovering over the man. Dr. Erskine didn't say anything, just lifted his hand and pointed towards Steve's chest, over his heart.

And that was it. His hand dropped and his body sagged. Nothing. There was nothing else, not even his chest moved.

No…

He – he can't be…

I pounded the metal landing with my right fist, yelling out angrily. Why!? Why the hell does this keep happening!? Dr. Erskine didn't deserve to die like that!

"Ed…"

I turned around to see Howard hovering near me, trying not to look behind me – trying not to look at Dr. Erskine's body. He reached down, offering me his hand to help me stand. However, the moment I put a slight pressure on my right leg, pain erupted from my calf, reminding me all too well of the bullet lodged there. I stumbled onto Howard who thankfully caught me, grasping my arm instead.

"Come on, we need to get you to a doctor," he explained, letting me hop next to him as he led the way down from the platform.

I glanced around for a moment, noticing how much damage had been caused from not only the explosion but the experiment as well. Wait.

"Where's Steve?" I asked quickly, not spotting the now-tall soldier anywhere. He wasn't the only one missing though. "And Agent Carter?"

"They ran after the shooter. Hopefully they catch him," mumbled Howard as we reached the stairs. "Can you manage climbing these?"

I nodded, getting him to let go and grasped both rails tightly, pushing myself up, landing on my left foot. I continued like this until I reached the top. It was then that I finally decided to take a look at the wound.

"Damn it…"

I slid to the ground, grasping the end of my jacket and easily tearing a piece off. Howard had joined me and was watching with wide eyes as I quickly bound the wound, not wanting anymore blood to spill through it. I don't need to add blood loss to my condition.

And I really didn't need to lose consciousness at any point either, especially when the only person who had known about my real gender was gone. I really didn't know how the US government and its soldiers were going to react to the revelation.

I didn't know how Peggy, Howard and Steve were going to react if I ever told them…

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you think!

I'm following the movie quite a bit but, in two chapters, you'll get a lot of new story that wasn't necessarily shown in the movie!