Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

Human Trials

Firstly, thank you so much to everybody who reviewed, I really really appreciate it! It makes my day when I see someone has commented.

Alrighty on with the story. Some action will happen in the next chapter (finally) but you guys have to sit through some science first. Sorry.

ERIN POV

"If you could just sign here, please." Bruce Banner pointed to a small dotted line on the liability waiver with his pen. Joe Stevenson, a particularly brave member of the engineering department, had volunteered to be the first human for M.F.C.T.S. to be tested on. He nodded, signing his name with a flourish, before taking a seat in the chair that had been placed out for him. Erin smiled and walked up to him, placing her briefcase on the table beside him, and pulling out a small syringe filled with clear colourless liquid.

"Alright, Joe," She said with a smile, "In this tube I have a very small concentration of M.F.C.T.S, a synthetic compound which, hopefully, will make it impossible for you to lie to me."

A mumble ran through the room. The lab was supposed to be empty, apart from Bruce Banner and herself, but when the scientific community had heard that human trials would be taking place today, they had all rushed to be there, excited to see what would happen. It was a lot more stressful than it should have been for Erin. Instead of only having Banner and Joe to witness if she failed, she instead had 90% of S.H.I.E.L.D's Science Officers cramped into the tiny lab, all hanging on to her every word.

She looked behind her shoulder and winced. The room was packed with people. Tony Stark was sat on a table at the front, his legs crossed, the blue light from his arc reactor shining out from underneath his black V-neck T-shirt. He held a half-eaten apple in his hand. He had wished her luck before she had gone in, patting her roughly on the shoulder. Now he gave her a wink and took another bite of his apple. No too far away from him stood James Goodwinson, the young man who had seemed so interested in her work a few weeks ago. He was staring at her intently, his hands, still shaking, clasped tightly in front of him.

She sighed and turned back to Joe. She was never good with an audience.

"We have a list of questions here," She picked up the piece of paper on the desk, "Which I'm going to ask you once you have been given the serum intravenously. All that you have to do is lie."

Joe nodded. He understood what he was doing, and he was getting paid a fair bit of money to do it. It was a great opportunity for him. Just answer a few questions, and end up $1000 richer.

Erin looked at Bruce and he nodded, setting up an IV drip. He took the syringe from Erin, injecting its contents into a clear plastic bag of saline solution and hooking it up to a drip. He disposed of the empty syringe in a 'sharps' bin, and took out another sterile needle.

"If you could just hand me your arm, Stevenson..." He murmured. Erin couldn't help but smile to herself. It was obvious when Banner went into 'Doctor mode', his voice and mannerisms changed from a shy but cheeky physicist to a calm and collected professional in seconds.

Joe rolled up his shirt sleeve and handed Banner his arm, and Bruce carefully searched for a vein, before slipping the needle in and connecting it to the IV drip. The tube filled with clear liquid as the serum began to flow directly into Joe's veins.

The room was silent.

Erin picked up the sheet of questions and perched herself on the corner of a nearby desk. The room was silent, everybody waiting with baited breath. She looked at Bruce, who held his finger up, looking at the level of the solution that was moving down the IV tubing on a small scale.