The Torn Soldier: The Untold Story

The Experiment

Everyone was tense, you could feel it, you could see it.
The world could be changed in a way no one thought possible.
The war could be won. But I mean, it couldn't change everything now, could it?

Scientists in white lab coats were scuttling around the machines, all preparing for the injection of the serum. Steve Rogers walked in, Peggy right behind him. Peggy had mentioned him, a good-hearted soldier who was very kind to Peggy and had tried to enroll many times before they actually gave him an entry. This was the first time she herself would actually get the chance to meet him. As Karolina looked over, she saw them get caught by the flash of a camera when Steve and the doctor shook hands before the doctor waved them away. A few words were exchanged, but she couldn't hear much from where she stood. Peggy looked over at the brown-haired woman as they gave each other subtle nods before getting back to what they were doing.

Most of the women were the nurses or the helpers, yet Karolina, she was among the scientists in those white coats.

She looked over at Steve one last time before catching Howard's gaze, "Everything ready?" She walked over and stood next to him. "Only one way to find out." Karolina rolled her eyes with a soft smile, she took off her white coat and threw it on a chair. "That's your response to everything now isn't it?" Stark looked over at her from his shoulder with a small shrug. She shook her head as she walked over to the right side of Steve who was laying down, "Don't be nervous, if you feel anything wrong you tell us okay?" She looked into his eyes, pretty shade, she thought. "I got it." he nods as she gives him a reassuring smile. "Good."

Her hair was to her shoulders, a dark brown color. They were in some loose waves, and out of her face, she wore a formal buttoned up white shirt and a pair of black wide-legged pants.

Karolina and Stark both readied the machine, and soon enough, the capsule was ready. Both of them had been working on this machine for the past couple of years, yet when they started they always thought of it as a pipe dream, that was until Doctor Erskine had developed a serum and approached them with it. The doctor stepped closer to the observatory box with a mic as he began to speak.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We begin with a series of micro-injections into the subject's major muscle groups." He walked over to Steve as he continued. Karolina looked up at Peggy in her chair before going to help Stark. Her look said it all. She was nervous, everyone was. This was exactly what they called it, a trial. No one knew what to expect, no hypothesis with a dominating percentage, no for sure outcome. It was left to be an estimated guess.

Karolina watched the scientists slowly stop working as they waited on Doctor Erskine's signal. Something odd made a pain appear in Karolina's neck causing her to flinch slightly. Something was wrong. She didn't know what but she felt it. Something was going to happen. Her gaze immediately flicked to the young boy in the capsule.

"The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays...

Serum infusion beginning in five,

four,

three,

two,

one."

As the percentages kept going higher, Steve's screams were heard through the capsule as Karolina froze and lifted her hands from the switch. "Stark," she warned and watched Peggy run out of her seat, "Shut it down!" As the lights inside the capsule get brighter and everyone tries to shield their eyes, Doctor Erskine looks over between the machine and the panel where the other scientists stood. "Mr. Stark kill the reactors." Steve's voice was the next to be heard in a yell, "No! I can do it!" Before Karolina could say anything she saw Stark go back to increasing the power until it reached 100 percent. A few seconds later, it shot sparks of electricity from the panel as it powered off.

Silence engulfed the room as Steve stayed quiet. Everyone was left in suspense, the silence became uncomfortable as they all awaited what truth would lie within the capsule.

As the capsule began to open everyone held their breath, steam rolled out of the capsule and then... relief washed over everyone. Wide-eyed shock filled even the emotionless people who laid eyes on the once skinny guy, now turned into what Karolina liked to call a super soldier. Yet no one thought it would catch on.

A few moments later, the inevitable happened. "Doctor!" Karolina yelled out as the gunshot went off. She ran over next to Steve as he soon went after the undercover Nazi. Peggy soon followed suit and ran after Steve. Karolina walked over shards of glass from the explosion in the observatory and watched the doctor fade away. She took a deep breath and a step back before feeling Stark right behind her, it took her a moment before realizing. "Peggy."

She ran out of the building to see Steve push Peggy out of the way of a moving car before he started running again. "Peggy!" Karolina ran over, "I'm alright." Peggy shook her head and dusted her arms off from the pavement. "And Steve?" Karolina asked as she placed her hand on Peggy's shoulder slowly and nudged her arm softly for them to walk away from the middle of the scene before other people got too curious.

"Went after him, we'll find him." Karolina nodded before looking around. She got a hold of Peggy's arm. "Come on, the doctor... he didn't make it," she said softly in an exhale and went back inside the building with her.

A/N: Okay, this is now my third attempt at rewriting this story, it's always the best try right? More to come...