In Another Life | Sergeant James 'Bucky' Barnes / The Winter Soldier + Ikaris

Chapter 2

The wind tore noisily through the snow-capped mountain range under the pale sky, a large sturdy window in one of the rock faces.

On the interior, Schmidt strode across the space. "Are you ready, Dr. Zola?" He asked Dr. Zola.

Tables of equipment were arranged covered in wiring, intricate devices, and monitors as a round display showed an upturned nose and eyes behind round glasses. "My machine requires the most delicate calibration," he replied, the view that of the lens the scientist was examining with donned grey lab coat and gloves. "Forgive me if I seem overcautious."

"And are you certain that those conductors of yours can withstand the energy surge long enough for transference?" Johan interrogated, briefly glancing over with a gesture of the photograph he had picked up from the work surface in front of him. Sculptures of the Tesseract were displayed in the images he laid over a large tome, presenting another picture of the Cube.

"With this artifact... I am certain of nothing," Zola answered, turning towards him. "I fear it may not work at all."

Schmidt stepped deliberately over to the surface between them, the box between his hands showing the carving of a serpent. He set it down to Zola's rapt and wary stare, then lifted the lid with his gloved hands to a bright azure light shining into the dim space. Zola scrambled to remove his glasses and replace them with tinted protective lenses as Schmidt lifted a metal handle from which four long rods shot downward, sliding it into the container's confines.

The appliance lifted the blindingly bright Tesseract as Schmidt raised his arm and moved to the readied device, lowering the Cube into the central hub and twisting the handle to lock it in place beneath. The blue glowed through the spaces of the mechanism as it hummed.

"Twenty percent." Zola announced the energy captured as it read on the console before him.
"Forty," he amended as he twisted the knob so to increase managing input. "Sixty ... Stabilising at seventy percent."

Schmidt covered the few steps between them to Zola moving from the controls. "I have not come all this way for safety, Doctor," the man announced as he turned the regulators to maximum.

The gaps in the machine pulsed with azure as sparks of the energy darted over the thick wires before coalescing through and over the cables running along the floor with a snap. The table of controls was overwhelmed with the power to echoing whines and cracks, the Cube's force skirting over the floors, up the walls, across the windows, along the ceiling, vibrating in the air before shorting out to sparking equipment.

After a second of silence, Zola broke the silence. "What was that?" He questioned quietly.

Schmidt turned him by the shoulders. "I must congratulate you, Arnim," he said as he pointed. The energy of the Tesseract hummed in a rectangular prism that the man approached gingerly. "Your designs do not disappoint – though they may require some slight reinforcement."

"The exchange is stable," Zola stated in awe. "Amazing. The energy we have just collected could power my designs - all my designs." The inspiring apparatus containing the Cube flashed as he removed his glasses to gaze in its direction. "This will change the war."

"Dr. Zola, this will change the world."

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On the grounds of the training camp, soldiers stood loosely in a line donning their green field uniforms with hard helmets strapped under their chins, an officer leading a group behind. "Ready, exercise!" The officer commanded.

As others looked at their surroundings and dithered, Steve gazed forward patiently as he waited. "Recruits, attention!" A sharp female voice called abruptly, the line of arrivals straightening their backs and lifting their chins. Scarlet smirked - finally another female was here!