Both of them stepped out of the car, and Steve looked around, realizing they were in a civilian area.
"What are we doing here?"
"Follow me," Peggy said as she entered the shop, with Steve following behind her.
He noticed several civilians on the street glancing in their direction. Judging by the way they were watching the area, Steve figured they had to be military keeping an eye on things.
Inside, the shop looked completely ordinary, filled with antiques and old furniture, with an elderly woman sitting behind the counter.
"Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?" the old lady asked.
"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella," Peggy replied.
She walked further inside, with Steve following her into a back room. Suddenly, part of the wall slid open, revealing a hidden military facility behind it. Two officers stood on either side of the entrance, guarding the way inside.
As Steve stepped into the facility, everyone working inside turned to stare at him. Their eyes followed him as he walked past, making him feel more than a little nervous.
"Cough, cough."
At the sound, everyone quickly turned back to their work.
Steve followed Peggy toward the main lab area, where Dr. Erskine was already waiting for them. The two men shook hands.
"Are you ready? Take off your clothes. Your shirt, your tie, your hat," Erskine said before walking away to prepare the equipment.
"Yeah, okay." Steve, a little nervous, undressed and handed his clothes to Peggy, who was waiting nearby. He was then told to lie down inside what looked like the main containment pod. Erskine came over with an injection and gave him the shot.
"That wasn't as painful as I expected," Steve said with a small smile.
"That was just a standard immunity injection," Erskine explained
Howard walked into the lab, checking the equipment as he approached.
"Everything checks out. We've got enough power stored to light up half of Brooklyn. We're ready," he said, glancing between Steve and Erskine.
Steve looked around and noticed a raised platform off to the side, where a group of officials and department heads were seated and watching the room below. Colonel Phillips was among them.
As Steve got into position, Peggy and Howard stepped aside, giving Erskine and the technicians room to begin the procedure.
Howard glanced at Peggy and smiled.
"What makeup did you use? You look stunning. I can't find a single sign that you didn't sleep last night. Look at me, my eyes are practically red."
Peggy gave him an unimpressed look.
"Are you finished?"
Howard chuckled.
Peggy's expression quickly became serious as she looked toward the equipment.
"Why didn't you back me up on changing the experiment's location? You know that with Mercer still missing, there's a real chance Hydra knows exactly where we are. That's a serious security risk."
Howard's smile faded.
"I know the risks. But the people up there..." He nodded toward the balcony. "They didn't want to waste any more time. With the possibility that Hydra already has their own Super Soldiers, they want ours ready as soon as possible."
He glanced around the lab.
"Everything here is already set up. Moving to a new location would mean losing two or three more days just getting everything checked and running again. There's no time for that."
Peggy looked toward the officials above them, clearly unhappy with the decision, but she knew arguing now wouldn't change anything.
"Fine."
She turned and moved to her assigned position.
Moments later, the experiment began.
Dr. Erskine stood beside the control panel while the technicians prepared the equipment around Steve.
Erskine turned toward the controls.
"Serum infusion. Three, two, one."
Blue-tinted serum began flowing into Steve from both sides.
"I hate needles," Steve muttered.
"Proceed, Mr. Stark," Erskine said.
Howard activated the machine.
The metal frame around Steve began moving, slowly transforming into a large oval-shaped chamber that closed around him until his entire body was sealed inside.
"Are you okay in there?" Dr. Erskine asked.
"Is this too late to go to the bathroom?" Steve asked.
Hearing that, Erskine gave Stark a small signal. Howard immediately started rotating the wheel on the control panel, and the machine slowly came to life as the energy began to increase.
"Ten percent... twenty... thirty... forty... fifty percent."
At fifty percent, Steve's screams suddenly echoed through the lab.
"Steve, are you alright?"
"Shut it down!" Peggy shouted from the balcony, unable to bear hearing him scream.
"Kill the reactor!" Erskine ordered.
"NO! DON'T! I CAN DO THIS!" Steve's voice cut through the noise of the machine.
Hearing him hold firm, Erskine looked at Stark and gave him a nod. The process continued.
"Sixty... seventy... eighty... ninety... ninety-nine percent."
The moment it reached one hundred percent, the entire building surged with an overload. Systems shut down as sparks of electricity tore through the machines around them.
The lab fell completely silent, every eye fixed on the pod where Steve had been.
"MR. STARK!"
Hearing Erskine's call, Howard pressed the switch to open the chamber.
The machine hissed open. What stood inside was no longer the skinny kid who had walked in, but a man transformed, in peak physical condition from head to toe.
"Steven... Steven," Erskine said, rushing forward to help him out.
"We did it. We actually did it!"
The entire room broke into celebration as the officials on the balcony turned to congratulate each other.
"You actually did it," Howard said, looking at Erskine in disbelief.
"How do you feel?" Peggy asked, walking up to Steve's side.
"Taller," he said, glancing around at everyone now shorter than him. Peggy, a little flustered, handed him back his clothes.
"You do look taller," she said as the rest of the lab kept celebrating around them.
Just then, Erskine noticed a man off to the side acting strangely, reaching for a cigarette in a way that felt off.
BOOM.
An explosion tore through the observation area where the officials had been watching moments earlier. People were thrown to the ground or left in shock.In the chaos, the man grabbed the remaining vials of serum and shot Erskine twice. He then bolted for the exit, gunning down the soldiers who tried to stop him. Peggy raised her gun and fired twice, hitting him in the back, but the man kept running and escaped the lab.
"Doctor!" Steve rushed to Erskine's side, unable to process what was happening. He watched as the man who had changed his entire life slowly slipped away. Erskine weakly pointed toward Steve's chest one last time before going still.
Steve's face twisted with fury as he stared toward the direction the killer had fled.
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