Infinity

Chapter 8

Eddie's POV

Howie and I sat side by side in metal chairs in the cold empty hallway of the underground facility. It had been two hours since the experiment and its disastrous conclusion. All I wanted was to go home and put an end to this day, but Colonel Phillips had told us to wait here because there was something being brought in that we needed to look. Howie tried to argue at first, but I place a hand on his shoulder, silently telling him to let it go. There was no point in arguing. Whatever it was that they were bringing in apparently could not wait.

"Are you okay?"

We had spoken once to each other since everything happened. We did not need to. There is something about spending hours on end in a lab, which has made it to where we can basically communicate without uttering a word. Apparently, right now that was not enough for Howie.

"No, but I will be. I've never seen a person get shot before."

He just nodded but did not say anything else.

"Thanks for pulling me out of the way. If you had not, I probably would've ended up like Dr. Erskine."

I looked over, giving him a small smile, which he returned. He looked at me a gave me a sad smile.

"Eddie in the short months I've known you, you've become my closest friend. I was not about to let you get shot over a vile of serum. Even if it would have helped us end the war. To me it is not worth your life. I know its selfish, but you still have a lot to offer the world. You are going to do some extraordinary things. I know it."

I did not know what to say so I just gave him one of my genuine smiles, that him alone has only seen. I may be freer with my smiles, but Howie is the only one who has ever seen my genuine smile.

"Alright you two, it's time to get off your asses and get to work. There is a car out front waiting to take you to the makeshift lab"

We both stood up and Howie turned to face the Colonel.

"Yes, Colonel we have been waiting forever. No Colonel we do not mind the wait. Yes, Colonel we would love two coffees black." His voice was filled with the Stark sarcasm and even though now was not the best time, it did bring a smile to my lips. Based on the face Howie made, that was his goal.

"Stark, I'm not your secretary. Get your own coffees."

"I'll take two sugars in mine thanks." I said this with a pat on the Colonel's shoulder, which earned me an amused smirk from Howie.

"You two are a dangerous combination."

"We know." We both said this together as we walked towards the exit.

The car ride was short, and we spent most of it looking over the preliminary report of what happened. Apparently, the soldier ran down the car, saved a kid, and captured the man, who ended up killing himself. I looked over the words that the man spoke before killing himself with cyanide "Hail Hydra" I recognized the name from some of Erskine's reports.

"What?" Based off the look Howie was giving me, I must have said it aloud.

"The man that the soldier captured uttered those words before clocking out. I vaguely remember the doctor mentioning Hydra in some of the reports. I was trying to remember."

Howie was about to respond when the driver interrupted by telling us that we were there. Howie gave me a look that said later, and we exited the car.

I looked up at the large building, which looked more like a warehouse than a lab. Why would they bring us here and not to one of their nicer labs? My question was answered the moment we walked in. The room was massive, and it needed to be because the machine that we were supposed to look over filled up a good portion of the room. Thankfully, whoever set up the space also provided us with different tools and equipment. Howie and I took a minute to analyze the huge machine, which appeared to be some form of minisub.

"Alright we need two sets of leather overalls, two safety goggles, a radio, and two coffees. One black and one with two sugars."

Two lab technicians wrote all that down and ran out of the room to get everything.

"Seriously Howie. A radio?"

"What? It's proven that people who work to music get more done."

"Where did you hear that?"

"I don't know, the radio maybe."

I just rolled my eyes and walked over to the cockpit.

"What are we looking at Howie?"

"I don't know."