[complete!]
"𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈, 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐈, 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐕𝐈"
(latin)
𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: I came, I saw, I loved
Rebecca Cooper had never fallen in love before. She knew what it would feel like, of course, but no one had ever made her feel that way. She'd lost...
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"KILL THE REACTOR, Mr. Stark!" Erskine scrambled off the platform and pointed at the controls, panicked. Howard ran from control to control, turning down dials and slamming buttons from green to red. "Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!"
"No!" interrupted a voice. Rebecca drew a sharp breath just as Erskine jerked around to face the machine Steve was inside. His voice was small above the noise, barely audible. "Don't!" Steve yelled. "I can do this!"
Rebecca could feel her breath still shaking for him as the urgency to shut off the Vita-Rays calmed down.
"Eighty," said Howard. The light from the machine's window became still brighter, emitting a blue-white light. "Ninety." He paused. "That's 100 percent!"
The electricity hummed and echoed throughout the room. It was an eerie, suspenseful noise. Now at 100%, all they could do was wait to see what the Vita-Rays would really do. If they would work. Or if perhaps they would do something worse. Rebecca wasn't sure if she could stand them doing something worse.
Something sparked by Howard, jerking him afraid. Still he stared at the machine, making sure to keep the controls steady. Things then began popping everywhere. Rebecca had to step a little way's up the stairs to avoid the sparks. All the scientists throughout the room stepped away from the controls they were near. Erskine put his hand over his forehead, attempting to shield his eyes.
Soon the sparking stopped, and the electrical hum coming from the machine died down. The controls around the room all went dark. The lights slightly dimmed. They had used an extreme amount of power. Rebecca watched the platform area intensely. The light at the window of the machine was gone. She tried to peer inside, but she couldn't see much from where she was standing. Everyone in the room slowly got accustomed to the lack of panic and slowly took their sunglasses off or peered through the glass. Rebecca took a couple steps closer.
"Mr. Stark!" yelled Erskine, signaling him to open the machine and breaking the scary silence.
All three of the panels on the machine opened, letting out fog and revealing a muscular man lying back against the headrest. Steve.
Rebecca's eyes widened as the machine opened completely. Steve tilted his head forward as Dr. Erskine scrambled over and held his arm. "Steven. Steven," he said. Exited chattering began upstairs as well, and people started standing up to get a closer look at the once-scrawny boy. Rebecca rushed to the platform to be ahead of all of them.
Erskine and Howard helped Steve out of the machine, his arms around their shoulders.
"I did it," he said.
"I think we did it," commented the doctor, a smile on his face.
Howard stared up at Steve. "You actually did it," he said, his voice low in surprise.
"Steve," said Rebecca, rushing up to meet him. He was still out of breath, but could finally hold himself up on his own. The blonde let go of Howard and Erskine's shoulders. "Wow, um," she began to put her arms out to hug him, but it looked as if it were a reach to touch his bicep, so she awkwardly pulled her hand away. "I— are you okay? How are you feeling?"
Steve took a couple deep breaths before answering—the Vita-Rays had taken quite an amount of energy and oxygen from his immediately growing body. He looked around and took in the surroundings before finally looking down into her eyes. "Taller," he said finally, his voice raspy.
Rebecca smiled. "You are," she said. "Definitely taller." A nurse in a white dress and hat came over and handed Steve an SSR shirt. Rebecca personally would have rathered he keep his shirt off, but she kept that desire to herself.
Before, she had liked him quite a lot, even after knowing him for only a week. She had seen his bravery, his loyalty, and his persevering personality. She loved the awkward little things about him. But now... well, now she had all of it amplified. All the things she liked about him before, better. Plus, there was the added bonus of his beautiful new body.
People talked and praised the work. They stared at Steve and remembered what he used to look like only a couple minutes ago. They congratulated Dr. Erskine and talked to the other army and government officials, boasting things like, "I know some folks in Berlin that are about to become very nervous."
But over the chatter and the bustling crowd, Rebecca saw Erskine squinting at a man in the distance. She tried to go on her tip toes to see what he was looking at, but she didn't even get the chance before she heard a small click and then an explosion from the upstairs window, spreading glass everywhere. Steve instinctively put his arm around Rebecca and covered her as they crouched down to the ground with the fire. Once glass stopped falling people began to stand up. Steve turned to glance at Rebecca quickly, and she nodded, assuring him she was okay.
Erskine stood up and jerked around to find a man in a gray suit taking the last vial of blue Super-Soldier serum from the machine.
"Stop him!" screamed Erskine. The man smoothly turned around and with two silenced shots, sent Erskine to the ground. The gray-suited man then ran up the stairs and shot the guards, earning a scream from some other women in the room. Agent Carter immediately took her gun out of her holster and began to shoot towards him, skimming the man in the shoulder— but he still ran off.
Steve and Rebecca rushed to Erskine, who lied weak on the ground. Steve knelt over him and Rebecca stood just beside, knowing there was nothing anyone could do. Erskine had brought her here. He had brought both of them here. And only now, after his life's work was finally accomplished, he would die. He dies a hero, thought Bex, as Erskine pointed to Steve's heart. His head then turned to the side and lied limp as he closed his eyes. Steve looked up at the door with determination and began standing up.
He glanced at Rebecca for reassurance, the same look on his face.
"Go!" she told him. He ran out of the facility, shoeless. Rebecca followed him up onto the sidewalk where multiple dead agents laid. Peggy Carter stood in the middle of the street shooting at a car that came toward her. The driver was the man in the gray suit.
Steve ran into the road and tackled her, saving her from the car that zoomed past just in time.
"I had him!" she protested, as Steve scrambled up, surprised at the ability of his new body.
"Sorry!" he said, beginning to run off. He looked down at his new body for a moment and realized he could go much faster— so he did. He ran awkwardly, without leaning forward at all, and his bare feet practically floated over the ground— every step was light. He rounded the corner, still chasing the taxi, and Rebecca and Agent Carter couldn't see him anymore.
"Are you okay, Agent?" Rebecca said, helping her up. Agent Carter accepted her help, though Bex knew she didn't really need it.
"I'm alright," she said, brushing herself off as she stood. "Thank you, Rebecca."
Bex looked down the street and tilted her head in hopes of getting a small glimpse of Steve or the taxi. She saw neither. "Do you think Steve is okay?" she asked, still looking.
