Winter's Beginning [1]

The Procedure

Chapter 4

The following morning they gathered in the lab to attempt the procedure. There were about fifteen scientists including the Doctor, Abi and Howard Stark, scattered around the floor, but there was also a group of army officials in the upstairs viewing room to oversee the procedure.

Steve walked in and Abi walked over and hugged him. "You ready for this?"

He looked like he was about to be sick, but nodded at her anyway.

"Agent Carter you would probably be better seated in the viewing room." Dr Erskine said. 

Peggy glanced at Abi and Steve before she nodded and walked up the stairs.

Steve took a deep breath as the nurses strapped him into the machine and loaded the vials of the navy blue serum into the side.

"Can you hear me? Is this on?" The Doctor said, addressing the officials in the viewing area. "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. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with vita rays."

"That wasn't so bad." Steve said as Abi pushed an injection into his arm.

"That was penicillin." Abi told him. She stepped away as the arms of the machine lowered onto Steve's biceps.

"Serum infusion, beginning in 5...4...3...2...1." Steve looked from Abi to the Doctor as the machines turned on and the serum was injected into his system. He gritted his teeth in pain as the serum entered his muscles.

"Now Mr. Stark." The Doctor told Howard who was standing close by.

Howard nodded and pulled a lever that lifted the machine up and encased Steve. Pipes were then attached to the two valves at the top.

The Doctor walked up and knocked on the glass. "Steven? Can you hear me?" He asked.

"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" Steve said rom inside making Abi smile.

"We will proceed." The Doctor said nodding to Howard.

Howard nodded and turned a dial; he then put on a pair of darkened glasses and started to turn another lever. Abi pulled her own glasses on and went to stand by him.

"That's ten percent." Howard said. "Twenty percent. Thirty. That's forty percent." He continued turning the dial.

"Vital signs are normal." Another scientist said.

"That's fifty percent!" Howard called. "Sixty, seventy." By now the light coming from the machine was too much to look at.

Abi froze as Steve started screaming in pain. Peggy bolted out of the viewing room door.

"Steven!" The doctor shouted.

"Steve! Shut it down!" Abi yelled at Howard.

"Steven!" The Doctor said knocking fiercely on the capsule.

"Shut it down!" Peggy yelled agreeing with Abi.

"Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark! Kill the reactor!" The Doctor yelled.

"No! Don't! I can do this!" Steve's voice was pained but determined and strong.

And with that Howard walked back over to the dial and began to turn it again.

"Eighty! Ninety!" Howard called over the noise of the machine as the light got brighter. "That's one hundred percent!" 

As it reached capacity, all the machines around the room started to spark and some blew their fuses. Everything stopped, the light from the machine faded and the room went eerily silent.