Letters

Change of Pace

So there Steve was the morning of February 4th sitting in a taxi cab with Agent Carter. He was nervous, jittery and a bit hungry. He hadn't eaten anything yesterday and nothing this morning. He couldn't with the procedure he was about to undergo. He wondered what food might do to him if he did eat.

Dr. Abraham had explained that everything would be amplified when he got injected with the serum. What did that mean exactly? And if he had eaten, would it make the food taste better? His eyes roamed to the windows and Steve found himself in familiar surroundings.

"I know this neighborhood." Steve blurted out before he could stop himself, pointing down the street. "I got beat up in that alley. And that parking lot." He murmured, moving to look out the left window. "And behind that diner." Wow, he'd gotten beat up in a lot of places.

"Have something against running away?" Agent Carter asked glancing at him a bit perplexed. For someone his size, he seemed to pick a lot of fights.

"You start running, they'll never let you stop. You stand up, you push back. They can't say no forever, right?" Steve asked with a shrug.

"I know a little of what that's like, to have every door shut in your face." Carter replied, shrugging her shoulders a little. Steve hesitated.

"I guess I just don't know why you'd want to join the Army if you were a beautiful dame." Steve stopped. Wrong choice of words. "Or a... A woman. An agent. Not a dame. You are beautiful, but..." He stopped talking.

"Don't talk to many women do you?" Agent Carter asked with a small smile.

"No, not many. Just one." Steve frowned thinking about her. "I told her in my last letter what I was doing. She's going to be really worried."

"What's her name?"

"Willow. Willow Peterson. We were friends before we.." He paused. What were they? They hadn't really talked about it. If he went to see her now would use beg him to run away with her? Would she kiss him?

"Before?" She prompted.

"Well, I don't know what we are anymore with me wanting to go off to war."

"She doesn't approve?" Steve scoffed, shaking his head.

"To put it lightly. She begged me not to go. A friend of ours, one of our best friends he's.. He's already drafted, overseas and we haven't heard from him yet. The three of us, we've been best friends since childhood and now we're the only family we have left. I hate leaving her alone."

"I'm sure she is capable of taking care of herself." Steve laughed a little.

"Yeah, she is. She's strong willed. A journalist."

"Ahh." Agent Carter said with a small smile. Steve nodded his head.

"She's a great girl. You remind me of her." Steve said before wondering if that was weird. When he looked out the window again, he recognized the area. "We're near where she lives." Agent Carter looked out the window, following his gaze. She didn't reply, maybe she didn't know what to say.

----

"Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?" Steve eyed the old women confused. Why were they in this shop? He thought they were going to a lab.

"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella." Agent Carter replied, smiling. She was lying, she didn't have an umbrella. That's when a door opened up behind the women. Oh. Secret doors. This must have been really important.

----

He had to take his clothes off. Just his shirt, and tie but even just taking off his shirt felt weird to Steve. He spotted the Colonel with several men in suits along with Dr. Abraham mingling around some of the orderlies and Agent Carter was chatting up non other than Mr. Stark himself. Steve smiled to himself. If only Willow could see this.

He had to get in a large almost time capsule looking thing. It sort of reminded Steve of a hollowed out bomb. One of the assistants was running around inserting vials of liquid into the machine. Their color freaked Steve out a bit. He stepped into the pod while Stark began to explain to everyone present what was going to happen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace." Always a good way to start off a speech. "We begin with a series of microinjections into the subject's major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays." Steve wasn't a scientist but he got the gist of it. He was going to be poked with a lot of needles.

"That wasn't so bad." Steve murmured after the first injection

"That was penicillin." Steve felt a bit nauseous. Then the real process began.

February 5th, 1943

Dear Willow,

I got your letter Willow and you might have even seen me in the papers, the procedure went well if you couldn't tell. But, to be sure, I've sent you pictures of what I used to look like and what I look like now. Really different right? It's strange. I'm taller. I could be almost as tall as Bucky now. And I have muscles, actual muscles. I never thought I'd see the day.

I had to do this though Willow, it had to be me and I'm fine. I can prove it to you. It looks like I'm not going overseas at the moment. I know the whole point of this procedure was to turn me into a super soldier to fight the Nazi's but they need an army of Super Soldiers, I'm just one man. They don't think I'm enough.

Dr. Abraham, the one who made all of this possible, he's dead. They killed him. That guy I was chasing in the streets, he killed him. He somehow got into the room when the procedure was being done. He's dead now too. I didn't kill him, it was a suicide, so he wouldn't be tortured for information.

I have no idea why I'm telling you this.

My point is Willow, I'm not going. Not yet anyways and they have a job for me. I'm going to become the face of this war. I'm Captain America now, right up there next to Uncle Sam. I'm going to travel across the country trying to get people to do their part to help in this war. The man said I'll  probably be in movies. That will be interesting.

I think they're going to let me come see you. I hope they do because I miss you. I hope you don't think any differently of me when you see me though.

I'll tell Bucky, when I get the chance. Please tell me when he finally sends a letter. I'd love to hear from him.

As for California, I think that's one of my stops on this tour he keeps talking about. I'll bring you something back and later we can go back together.

I talked to Agent Carter about you. We actually drove by the apartment on the way to the procedure. She asked questions about you and seemed genuinely interested. Did you know she's one of the only other women I've been able to hold a conversation with? It was a different experience.

I'm coming home Willow. I'll see you soon, I swear.

Remember the roses, remember the flowers.
I will remember the touch of your hand, in these small hours.
I've never felt more close to you, when I'm so far away
I wish I was beside you, I wish I was there to stay
But I made a promise, one I intend to keep
Just think of me, before you go to sleep.

Love,
Steven Rogers