Save Me || Bucky Barnes

05

When I walk into the booth, I take a look around the room before sitting next to the only person I slightly knew: Peggy. She smiles at me so I return the favor before watching Dr. Erskine talk to Steve. Then, the doctor grabs a microphone and turns to look at everyone in the booth.

"Can you hear me, is this on?" he asks as the microphone causes static. Everyone covers their ears for a few moments before returning their attention to Dr. Erskine. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We begin with a series of micro injections 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." Dr. Erskine continues to say once he has our attention again.

I carefully watch a couple nurses place the blue serum in holders around Steve while another one injects him with a clear liquid. Steve says something to Dr. Erskine and he replies to Steve before turning around to look at us again. 

"Serum infusion. Beginning in, five... four... three... two... one. Now, Mr. Stark." Dr. Erskine says. The doors of the pod Steve is in close as Stark pushes a few buttons. The doctor taps on the pod and says something to Steve before addressing Stark.

"We will proceed." Stark nods and puts on sunglasses while he pushes more buttons and begins turning a wheel. 

"That's ten percent. Twenty percent. Thirty. That's forty percent. All signs are normal. That's fifty percent. Sixty. Seventy." 

As Stark updates us, we shield our eyes from the increasingly bright blue light coming out of the pod. All of a sudden, Steve yells out from inside the pod. I share a look with Peggy before we both shoot out of our seats and run to stand at the railing outside the booth.

"Shut it down!" I yell. 

"Shut it down!" Peggy repeats when no one listens to me. 

"Steven! Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark! Kill the reactor!" the doctor yells, running over to the pod. I'm on the verge of tears, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he got hurt and I couldn't do anything about it. 

"No! Don't! I can do this!" Steve suddenly yells from inside the pod. I share a worried look with Peggy and she places a hand on my arm in comfort. Dr. Erskine nods for Stark to continue with the serum infusion. 

"Eighty... ninety. That's one hundred percent!" Stark yells as everyone in the room looks away as the light gets brighter. As the light dims, Peggy and I race towards the pod as Stark opens the doors. I gasp a little in shock as a taller, muscular Steve practically falls out of the pod. Mr. Stark and Dr. Erskine catch him as he falls. 

"How do you feel Steve?" I ask him carefully, placing a hand on his now muscular chest to keep him from falling on me.

"Taller." he responds after a moment. 

"You look taller." Peggy states, standing behind me. I look my older brother up and down and think to myself, "Guess I don't have to constantly watch him now."

As everyone begins to congratulate Dr. Erskine and Mr. Stark on how successful the experiment was, I feel a growing sensation of dread. I make eye contact with Steve, who is now wearing a shirt, just as an explosion goes off from the viewing booth everyone was just in.

Steve dives for me and grabs my waist, tucking me into his side to shield me from the flying glass and debris. Screams erupt from everywhere in the room. When everything settles down, one man in a gray suit who had been sitting behind me in the booth grabs the last flask containing the rest of the super-soldier serum.