☆ 33 ☆ (TEXT; Private to Bucky | SPAM; OTA)

[punched_hitler]

[TEXT: Private to Bucky]
Hey, I need you to hang on to something for me for a little while, if you don't mind.

[SPAM; OTA]
[It's not that there's a new guy on the Barge - there's not. But anyone used to seeing Captain America around might notice that he's conspicuously missing as of Saturday - or, at least, he's not six-foot two and two hundred twenty pounds anymore. He's five-foot four and about a hundred pounds soaking wet, and he's not apologetic about it in the least. Same haircut, same voice, same style of dress (at least he asked for some civilian clothes that would fit), same attitude.

Steve goes about his day the same as he ever has - he goes for a run through the Barge early in the morning, and he shows up for his lunch shift in the kitchens and his shifts in the infirmary on time. He shows up at T'Pol's cabin for meditation, and he's even in the gym sometimes, working out against the bags. It's just that his mile has gone from two minutes to twenty, and he's got an inhaler in his pocket for those times when running or climbing the stairs - he's not taking the elevator, he refuses - gets to be a little too much.

Of course, he knows people are going to notice, but unless someone says something to him first, they're not going to hear a word about it from him. Actions speak louder than words, after all.]


[ooc: If anyone needs a reference, 1, 2, & 3, just with this haircut, still. Feel free to recognize him or not!]

Comments

spam

[punched_hitler]

Maybe more than a few.

[This really isn't something he's planning to do for a day, or a week. That doesn't prove anything.

But he does nod, at the second part.] What I had isn't really mine to give up, in some ways. I'm not going to belittle the sacrifice of the man who gave it to me. [He'd meant what he said, too, when he'd told Tiffany that he didn't plan to retire. He can't stop being Captain America, and he won't, either.]

But I think he'd understand what I'm doing, for now.

[He smiles a little.] Maybe by then, those kids like Tiffany won't need someone, anyway. [Besides, he doesn't plan to really leave them hanging in the meantime. Being short and shrimpy never stopped him from stepping into the thick of things before.]

spam

[rickitikitarr]

Tell me about that? If you don't mind.

There's nothing remotely like it, where I'm from, and I'm curious.

[Helplessly so, about these strange worlds and these stranger systems. He would have heard about Steve, if he had been there in that war.]

spam (also sorry have a novel sheesh)

[punched_hitler]

Project Rebirth? [Well, pal, it's all classified - or, most of it was, some of it still is, and it doesn't actually matter a bit here, does it.] There's not much remotely like it where I'm from, either, except for a few attempts. And most of us prefer it that way. It's based on a serum developed by a man named Abraham Erskine. He was a German scientist, and when Hitler and Schmidt found out about his research after the Great War... well, they wanted it. Erskine refused, and after that, he needed a bit of a rescue. [To say the least - but he figures you get the point.]

The serum was meant to enhance human abilities to their highest point. Everything - speed, strength, stamina, agility, cognitive skills. Schmidt forced a version of it on himself before it was ready, and it pushed an already insane fanatic further over the edge. Erskine was willing to use the finished formula to help the Allies stop the Nazis and HYDRA, but they needed a test subject. [He shrugs a little.] I had nothing to lose. Dr. Erskine gave me a chance, when the Army wanted someone who was already in peak condition and thought I was a joke, just like everybody else. He said... he said the serum would take care of the physical, but that he wanted somebody who'd do the right thing with it. Who understood what power meant, and how to use it, rather than taking it for granted.

All told, the whole thing took a couple of minutes. Sure felt like a lot longer, to me, [he says dryly,] but - it worked. It worked perfectly, and then HYDRA assassinated Erskine about ten seconds later. So I was all the Army got, and no one's been able to recreate the formula or the procedure exactly, ever since.

Not for lack of trying, though.