CHAPTER THREE —
( HYDRA. )

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Evelyn, Steve and Peggy were all sitting in a car, on their way to the lab for Steve to get injected with the serum. Evelyn's leg kept bouncing the whole car ride due to being nervous, and not wanting Steve to end up like Schmidt. She looked out of the window at all of the children playing with each other, some of them oblivious to the raging war outside.

"I know this neighbourhood," Steve pointed out, causing Evelyn to turn her attention to him. "I got beat up in that alley." He pointed out the window. "And that parking lot. And behind that diner."

Peggy frowned. "Did you have something against running away?"

"You start running, they'll never let you stop. You stand up, you push back. They can't say no forever, right?" He said, causing Evelyn to smile.

"We know a little of what that's like, to have every door shut in your face, and just because we're women," Evelyn shook her head.

"I guess I just don't know why you'd want to join the Army if you were a beautiful dame. Or a...woman." Evelyn looked at him with a raised eyebrow, finding amusement in what he was saying. "An agent. Not a dame. You are beautiful, but..." He trailed off.

"You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" Peggy asked him as she turned around in her seat to look at him.

"I think this is the longest conversation I've had with one," he chuckled. "Women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on."

"You must have danced?" Evelyn asked, knowing that their generation loved to dance.

"Well, asking a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying, and in the past few years, it just didn't seem to matter that much. I figured I'd wait," he explained.

"For what?" Evelyn asked.

"The right partner."

Evelyn smiled lightly at his answer, knowing he was one of a kind, then turned to look out of the window. The car slowed down and pulled up to a curve in front of an antique shop. They all stepped out and began walking to the door.

"This way," Peggy said.

"What are we doing here?" Steve asked.

"Just follow us," Evelyn replied as they entered the shop.

An old lady walked out and smiled at the trio. "Wonderful weather this morning, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella," Peggy replied.

The lady walked behind the counter as the trio walked into a side room. They stopped in front of a bookshelf when it slid to the side and opened up. Peggy led the way with Evelyn and Steve in tow. Everybody they walked passed stopped to look at Steve; the possible answer to the end of the war. When they reached the end, two men opened up the doors that led into a massive lab with a capsule sitting in the middle. Everybody stopped what they were doing to look up at Steve. Evelyn turned to look at Steve, who was almost a foot smaller than her and smiled at him as he looked at her. Peggy then directed the two down the spiral staircase and towards Erskine.

"Good morning," he shook Steve's hand. There was a flash of a camera and Evelyn's eyes took a second to adjust from the bright light. "Please, not now." Steve nervously looked at his capsule. "Are you ready?" Steve nodded. "Good. Take off your shirt, your tie, and your hat." Steve turned around and looked at Evelyn nervously. She playfully rolled her eyes and turned around to give him privacy. After a couple of seconds, Evelyn turned back around to see Steve sitting down in the capsule. He then turned around and laid down in it.

Evelyn made her way up to him and smiled. "Comfortable?"

"It's a little big," he admitted.

"If the serum works, you should grow an extra few feet," Evelyn notified him and he nodded.

"You save me any of that schnapps?" Steve asked Erskine who stood beside Evelyn.

"Not as much as I should have. Sorry. Next time," Erskine apologised. "I'm fairly certain Agent Parrish drank it all, anyway." The three shared a laugh while Evelyn shrugged. "Now, Mr Stark, how are your levels?" Erskine called out. Evelyn turned around and watched as Howard walked up to them.

"Levels at 100%," Howard replied, walking up to the trio. He gave Evelyn a large grin and pulled her into his side. "How're you doing, Evie?"

Evelyn grinned back. "Hey, Howard."

Howard turned back towards Steve and Erskine. "We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn, but we are ready as we'll ever be."

"Agent Carter? Don't you think you would be more comfortable in the booth?" Erskine asked Peggy.

"Yes, of course. Sorry," she apologised and quickly headed up.

"You can go too if you want, Evelyn. Or stay here," Erskine said.

"I think I'll stay here, make sure Howard doesn't mess anything up." Howard playfully narrowed his eyes at Evelyn. "Well, sometimes I do have to supervise you or things tend to explode."

"Explode?" Steve quickly asked.

Evelyn turned back around to Steve and gave him a reassuring smile. "You'll be okay, trust me."

Steve let out a big sigh and nodded. "I trust you."

Evelyn walked away from Steve after one last smile and walked up to Howard who was standing by the controls. "Will it work?" she asked.

"Are you doubting both Erskine and myself?" He teased.

"Well, with how the flying car worked the other day...."

"You helped make that, too!" He exclaimed.

"Whatever," Evelyn chuckled.

"Do you hear me? Is this on?" Erskine asked over the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace." A couple of people wheeled a container towards Steve. "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." Erskine walked over towards Steve as he got his injection of Penicillin. "Serum infusion beginning in five...four...three...two...one."

One of the nurses pulled up a lever and Steve was injected with the blue serum. He groaned a little bit. "Now, Mr Stark."

The capsule that Steve was lying in suddenly sat upright and closed the front around him so that he was no longer visible.

Erskine walked up to the machine, then turned back around. "We will proceed."

Evelyn walked over towards a switch and flipped it. Howard walked up to Evelyn and gave her some sunglasses which she quickly slipped on. Howard then walked over towards the wheel and began to turn it.

"That's 10%...20%...30...That's 40%," Howard announced.

"Vital signs are normal," a man called out.

Evelyn looked down at the wheel. "That's 50 percent."

"60...70." That's when Steve let out a scream.

Evelyn grabbed onto Howard's arm as Steve's screams grew louder. "Shut it down!" she told him as she tugged on his arm. "Shut the goddamn thing down, Howard Anthony Walter Stark."

"Shut it down," Peggy called out from the top of the stairs.

"Kill the reactor, Mr Stark," Erskine instructed Howard.

"Quick!" Evelyn told him. "Turn it off! Kill the reactor!" He rushed towards the machine and was about to turn it off when there was another yell.

"No!" Steve yelled out from the machine. "Don't! I can do this!"

Evelyn hesitantly looked back at Howard and he sent her a look before continuing to turn the wheel.

"80...90...That's 100%." The light got so incredibly blinding that Evelyn had to shield her eyes even with the sunglasses on. The equipment then began to spark and the power went out.

Evelyn placed the sunglasses on top of her head. "Mr Stark?" Erskine called out. Howard flipped the switch and the doors began to open.

It revealed Steve, but not the one that was lying there a few minutes ago. He had grown a few feet and his once skinny physique had completely changed and he was now covered in muscles. Evelyn had never seen a man with this many muscles.

Evelyn quickly patted Howard's arm. "Howie, I think you need this done to you as well," she told him, not taking her eyes off of Steve.

Even though she couldn't see him, Evelyn knew Howard rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure thing, Evie," he sarcastically said.

Erskine walked up to Steve and touched his arm. "Steven. Steven." He woke him up from his daze. Howard quickly moved to Steve's side also and helped him out.

"I did it," Steve breathed out as Evelyn walked up to them.

"I think we did it," Erskine nodded.

"You actually did it," Howard told Erskine as Evelyn stopped to stand in front of Steve, suddenly feeling a bit flustered.

"How do you feel?" Evelyn asked him as she helplessly let her eyes wander down his body.

"Taller," he admitted.

One of the nurses gave Evelyn a shirt. "You look taller, too." She handed Steve the shirt and he pulled it on. Evelyn looked up at him once he did it and realised something. "You're now a few inches taller than me instead of me being taller. How is that fair?"

"Which is a surprise considering how tall you already are, Evie," Howard told her, causing Evelyn to roll her eyes at him. Then, out of nowhere, an explosion went off in the viewing room, causing everyone to duck from the blast.

"Stop him!" Erskine called out. The man who caused the explosion and stole a sample of the serum turned around and shot Erskine a couple of times in the chest before running out.

Evelyn gasped before hurrying over towards Erskine and crouching down beside him, Steve joining after. "Hey, don't die on us, Erskine," Evelyn begged. "The ambulance will be here soon."

Erskine held up both of his hands and placed them on Evelyn and Steve's hearts before his breathing slowed down and his hands dropped to his side. Evelyn glanced at Steve, meeting his determined gaze, and he was suddenly running up the stairs. "Steven!" Evelyn called out as she ran after him. His running was suddenly a lot faster, making Evelyn push herself even more as she began to mumble cuss words.

The two raced through the base and past the dead bodies of the workers around them, including the old lady out the front who let them in. When Steve got outside, he tackled Peggy to the ground and out of the way of an incoming taxi.

"I had him!" Peggy yelled at him.

"Sorry!" Steve apologised before running off after the vehicle.

Evelyn rushed over towards Peggy. "Pegs, don't do something like that again. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"But you knew I had him," she said.

"I know."

Evelyn pushed the hair out of her face and helped Peggy brush off her uniform before the two of them walked back into the building. Howard immediately rushed over to Evelyn and pulled her in. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, Howie, I'm alright," Evelyn told him as he pulled back to inspect her face and arms, before pulling her back into another hug.

After he pulled away he asked, "Where's Steve?"

"He went after the man who killed Erskine," Evelyn replied.

"I'm sorry about Erskine, I know you two had a bond," Howard said. "He was a great guy."

"He was," Evelyn sighed, but she couldn't help but think back to when Erskine reached out and touched both Steve's and her chest in his final moments. Evelyn couldn't help but wonder if Erskine had figured out and knew her biggest and most sacred secret that only three other people knew.

"Evelyn." Evelyn turned and watched as Peggy walked up to her. "Steve's in the medical ward." Evelyn quickly hurried after Peggy as she led her through many hallways until they reached a white door. "Here," she whispered, opening the door.

Evelyn walked in and saw Steve sitting on a bench with a nurse taking blood from him. "Are you alright? she quickly asked him.

Steve looked up at Evelyn and nodded, "I'm alright," he sighed. "Think you got enough?" He asked the nurse who took blood from him.

"Any hope of reproducing the serum is locked in your genetic code," Peggy told him.

"You do know that was idiotic going after that man like that, you know that, right?" Evelyn asked. "You hadn't even tested your newfound strength. What if you went after him and you got hit by a car? Or drowned? Died, even?"

"I just had to get him," he replied in defence. "I didn't intend for him to die. I wanted to interrogate him."

Evelyn hummed. "Just don't do something like that again without someone else with you, Okay?"

Steve's gaze met Evelyn's and noticed that she looked both stressed out but also relieved. He nodded his head with a small smile. "Yes, Agent Parrish."

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By the time the next morning approached, they had been able to transport the submarine Steve had stopped back to the lab. Evelyn was called in immediately and both she and Howard spent at least two hours pulling it apart and trying to figure out how it runs.

"What have we got here?" Colonel Phillips asked once he had finally arrived.

"Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country," Howard told them. Evelyn cleared her throat, causing their attention to shift towards her. "One of the best," he corrected and Evelyn sent him a wink. "But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology."

"Then who is?" the Senator asked.

"HYDRA," Colonel Phillips answered immediately. "I'm sure you've been reading our briefings."

"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel," the Senator sassed.

"HYDRA is a Nazi science division led by Johann Schmidt," Evelyn informed the Senator as the trio walked up to the submarine. "Hitler originally hired him to help the Nazis, however, Schmidt decided to go solo because he believed that he was made for a higher power."

"HYDRA's practically a cult. They worship Schmidt, they think he's invincible," Colonel Phillips added.

"So, what are you gonna do about it?" Senator asked.

"Spoke to the president this morning. As of today, the SSR is being retasked," Colonel Phillips informed them

"Colonel?" Peggy asked.

"We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags Agent Carter, Agent Parrish. You, too, Stark. You're flying to London tonight," he said.

"Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in," Steve stopped him.

"You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo," Colonel Phillips answered.

"The serum worked," Steve tried to reason.

"I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough," Colonel Phillips told him before walking away. Evelyn had to bite her tongue to force herself not to say anything that would get her kicked out.

"With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point," The Senator told Steve. "I've seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country's seen it. Paper." A man walked up with the recent paper. "The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands." The paper read 'NAZIS IN NEW YORK. MYSTERY MAN SAVES CHILD.' "You don't take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you wanna serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"

"Sir, that's all I want," Steve replied.

"Then, congratulations. You just got promoted," they shook hands. Evelyn watched the interaction with a frown, knowing that this job that Steve was signing himself up for would definitely not have his best interests at heart.