The 3rd Experiment

Chapter 13

"Raya...?" I hear Marie call out from down the hallway.

I cringe in response. No one has spoken to me today, yet I know what she's going to tell me. The people in the room had found a serum, maybe the same one that had worked on Steve. They had found my paperwork. Something about that seemed too on the dot.

"Raya, there's something we need to talk about." She says, bringing a chair next to mine and sitting down. Something in her tone just reinforced what I was expecting her to say.

"Does it have something to do with the serum?"

"Yes? And also you."

"What does that mean?" I ask, fearing she's going to tell me what I already know.

"They think they've found Erskine's serum, and someone found your paperwork."

"Please tell me you just want me to organize my paperwork better," I say, feeling my stomach sink

"Raya..." She knows she doesn't have to say it, "They just want to know if you'd be willing to volunteer."

"Marie, this- this is crazy." I start to fidget with whatever I can find on my desk.

"They found out that you and Steve have the same blood type."

"Can you guys be sure this will work?" I've picked a staple out of a pack of papers and I'm twisting it around between my fingers.

"Well... nothing is sure. That's why we need to ask you."

"Ask me to volunteer?" The staple pricks my fingertip and I can feel blood starting to puddle.

"Yes." She says, and I can tell she didn't want to be the one to ask me this. I think about it for a few minutes, absentmindedly playing with the prick on my fingertip. I think about what Steve had said that night at the Stark Expo.

"I got no right to do any less than them."

He was right about that. My brothers and my best friend were off fighting the war and now I realized how unimportant my tasks seemed.

"Who will file everyone's papers if I'm off fighting the war?" I joke. Marie smiles at me but something in her expression tells me she's worried about my decision.

|Thursday, August 20, 1942|

I come into work and instead of a bustling back room, time seems to have stopped, and everyone with it. It feels like everyone is watching me walk through the hallway.

I set my bag down on my desk and head to the double doors at the end of the hallway. I've never walked past those doors, only looked through the window and imagined what Steve went through. Marie walks up to my side and links her arms with mine. She leads me to the doors and makes eye contact when it's time to step through.

I stare down at the culmination of buttons and levers below the deck and head down the stairs. Marie is next to me the whole time until one of the doctors greets me. As I'm shaking his hand, a camera flashes to my left. I flinch and look back to Marie for some comfort.

"Take off your jacket and shirt." The doctor tells me. I take a deep breath and start to undo the buttons on my jacket, and then my shirt. I hand the clothing to Marie and look down at my tank top, which I realize is quite see-through under this lighting.

"Climb in." The same guy says to me, "And Agent Burnette, could you go up to the booth and watch? We need our space." She rolls her eyes at the man and exits the 'stage'.

I lay down and some women bring the restraints down on my shoulders and ankles. I start to take another deep breath, feeling my heartbeat quicken but I realize the restraints are locked in.

Those same women pick up the vials and place three in either side of the pod. Now my heart is beating a mile a minute.

A man brings a syringe to my shoulder and injects a small amount of clear liquid.

"Penicillin" I mumble to myself, recalling Steve's telling of this story.

The man at the control panel starts to count down and more restraints tighten along my arms, waist, and thighs, these press further into my skin than the first ones.

"Three, two, one."

The levers are pushed up and I can feel a rush of pain and adrenaline enter my body. I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to seem strong, but I know this isn't even the worst part.

The pod starts to lift, facing everyone in the booth and making me vertical again. The doors close around me, two on the sides, and one above my head with a window. I can hear them push tubes into parts of the pod and it gets louder inside. So loud I can't hear my own thoughts.

Less than a minute later, things get louder. I can still hear a voice calling out to me and the people around me.

"That's ten percent!"

Things start to get bright and I feel like I'm on the surface of the sun.

"Thirty!"

My eyes shut, involuntarily and I can feel the serum starting to change me.

"Sixty percent! Seventy!"

At this point, I'm screaming and clenching my teeth. I know I just have to last a little bit longer but this pain is the worst I've ever felt in my life. He keeps yelling, and I start to question how anyone can hear anything over me and the machine. Even through my eyelids, I can see how bright it is. It doesn't even feel like my eyes are shut anymore. I hear blasts and sparks and eventually, the light dims and I can breathe again.

I open my eyes and start coughing, releasing all of the air I trapped in my lungs. The doors open, air releases from the pod, and the restraints loosen from my body. Just then, my eyes close and I feel every muscle in my body ease. I fall from the pod and feel someone catch me before I fall to the ground.