CHAPTER THREE:

PROMOTED

"DO YOU HEAR me? Is this on?" Erskine soon asks through a microphone, looking up at the people in the booth. "Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We begin the series of microinjections into the subjects major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subjects will be saturated with Vita-Rays."

Erskine walks in-between the two, both siblings now hooked up. He watches as two nurses stick needles into their arms.

"That wasn't so bad." Steve comments.

"That was penicillin." Erskine slowly informs. The Rogers siblings look over at him, to which he just shrugs. "Serum infusion beginning in, five, four, three, two, one."

Everyone watches as the siblings' faces scrunch up in pain, the needles pricking into their skin. The Rogers siblings both grunt in pain, their eyes suddenly opening wide.

"Now, Mr. Stark." Erskine instructs. Howard obeys, flipping a switch.

The machines start to slowly lift up, then closing, Y/n and Steve inside them. Erskine slowly walks over to Steve's machine.

"Steven? Can you hear me?" Erskine asks as he knocks on the window.

"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" Steve responds.

Erskine chuckles slightly before walking over to Y/n's machine. "Y/n? Can you hear me?"

"Yep." Y/n replies nervously.

Erskine looks back at Howard. "We will proceed."

Obeying, Howard turns a little switch. He then proceeds to place some glasses on before placing his hands on a small wheel, starting to turn it.

"That's 10%." Howard counts. "Twenty percent. Thirty. That's 40%."

"Vital signs are normal." A doctor observes.

"That's 50%. Sixty. Seventy." Howard continues.

All of a sudden, Steve and Y/n start screaming in pain, which catches everyone's attention. In the booth, Agent Carter starts to make her way down.

"Y/n! Steven!" Erskine shouts in a frantic tone over their screams.

"Shut it down!" Agent Carter demands, shouting.

"Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark!" Erskine demands.

"No!" Steve and Y/n suddenly shout. "Don't! We can do this!"

Hesitantly, Howard obeys their shouts, hands going back onto the wheel, turning it again slowly.

"Eight. Ninety. That's 100%." Howard counts.

Suddenly, many sparks happen in the lab before the lights go off, the machines doing the same. After a couple seconds, the doors to the machines open, revealing Steve and Y/n, but bigger. Steve more bigger than his sister.

Nurses and doctors had ran to their sides, keeping them steady. Agent Carter had quickly walked down the stairs, stopping in front of Y/n, staying by the girl's side.

"How do you feel?" Agent Carter asks, resting one hand on Y/n's shoulder, the other on her torso.

"Bigger." Y/n replies in a pant. Agent Carter chuckles as she stays by the girl's side.

All of a sudden, a loud explosion happens, everyone ducking down as glass flies everywhere. The explosion and screams were then followed by gunshots. The Rogers siblings, who were now super soldiers, ran, stopping as they crouching in front of Erskine.

Erskine, who had been shot, stares up at the siblings, then pointing at their chests, right where their hearts laid before he went limp. The siblings share a look of rage before running up the stairs and out of the lab, following after the murderer of Abraham Erskine.

When they make it out of the antique store, in front of their eyes stood Agent Carter, gun aimed as taxi was headed straight her way in the middle of the road. Steve was quick to run and grab ahold of the agent, tackling her to the ground before she could get hit.

"I had him!" Agent Carter exclaims in anger.

"Sorry!" Steve calls as him and Y/n run after the taxi.

The siblings take many turns, now being faster due to the serum. As they run, Steve somehow flew himself threw a window of a bridal shop. He quickly stood up and joined his sister in running, exclaiming he was sorry. Eventually, they were jumping and running over cars before landing on the taxi, where the driver then started shooting at the roof. Suddenly, the car started to flip, the siblings rolling off the car. The man walked out, shooting in their direction, but the siblings used the car doors as shields.

The Rogers siblings then followed the man, avoiding from being shot at as the man had grabbed ahold of an innocent child, holding the boy hostage. The siblings peeked around a corner, then seeing the man hold the gun to the boy's head. They tried using their words to stop him, but the man didn't listen, aiming his gun at them now, but it clicked. In anger, the man threw the child over the edge and into the water, Steve and Y/n quickly peeking over to see if the boy was alright.

"Go get him! I can swim!" The boy reassures as he treaded in water.

Obeying, the super soldiers ran off in the direction the man went. As they ran, they saw a submarine going into the water. Steve was quick to dive after it, Y/n running in the direction it continued going. Eventually, the man was thrown onto the concrete. Upon seeing Y/n, he tried attacking her, but she dodged before kicking him in the face. Steve, after getting out of the water, grabbed ahold of the man's collar.

"Who the hell are you?" Y/n asks.

"The first of many. Cut off one head," the man replies before pushing his tooth out. "two more shall take it's place." Just then, foam started forming in his mouth. "Hail HYDRA."

Steve let go of his collar as the man went limp. The siblings shared a look before looking down at themselves, now examining their bodies. They were taller, bigger, stronger, faster.

~

Y/n and Steve sat in a medical room, two nurses taking their blood. Agent Carter stood across from them. Both super soldiers were now wearing uniforms again, just ones that fit their new figures.

"Think you got enough?" Steve asks after they took more blood from him and his sister.

"Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in both of your genetic codes." Agent Carter replies as they stand up. "But without Dr. Erskine, it would take years."

"He deserved more than this." Steve states.

"If it could work only once, he'd be proud it was you two." Agent Carter says before they walk out of the room, listening to the Colonel's conversation. "HYDRA is the Nazi deep-science division. It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions."

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

"So, what are you going to do about it?" The man questions.

"I spoke to the President this morning. As of today, the SSR is being re-tasked." Colonel Phillips explains.

"Colonel?" Agent Carter questions.

"We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags, Agent Carter. You, too, Stark. We're flying to London tonight." Colonel Phillips explains.

"Sir? If you're going after Schmidt, we want in." Steve informs, gesturing between himself and his sister.

"You two are experiments. You guys are going to Alamogordo." Colonel Phillips responds.

"The serum worked." Y/n reminds.

"I asked for an army and all I got was you two." Colonel Phillips states. "You two aren't enough." With that, he walks off.

"With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point." The Senator starts as he stands in front of them. "I've seen you both in action. More importantly, the country's seen it. Paper." A man walks over, handing the newspaper to him, revealing a picture of the Rogers siblings on the cover. "The enlistment lines have been around the block since your pictures hit the newsstands. You don't take soldiers, symbols like that, and hide them in a lab. Do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"

"Sir, that's all we want." Steve replies.

"Then, congratulations. You two just got promoted." Senator says as he shakes their hands.