CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
PRACTICALLY A CULT

SHE WAS RUNNING LATE. RUSHING into the store, she said the words that would allow her through before entering the room in which everyone was watching Steve who was starting the procedure of becoming a super soldier. Upon entering, she inhaled at the sight of Peggy and Evelyn, quickly making her way over to the two before taking on the other side of the Rogers sibling.

     "Sorry I'm late, what did I miss." The angel breathed, glancing towards the two.

      "They've simply inserted penicillin." Peggy answered and the blonde nodded.

     "Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two, one. Now, Mr. Stark." The serum gets injected and Celeste glanced over, raising an eyebrow as she watched Evelyn tightly squeezing onto Peggy's hand. Steve is placed into the chamber and Dr. Erskine knocks on the window, making sure the boy could hear him before he nodded for Stark to proceed. Howard continued to slowly count up percentages by ten's. Every time it went up, Evelyn's muscles seemed to become tighter and tighter, her grip on Peggy's hand extremely tight, but the blonde was trying. Celeste placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, silently telling her that Steve was going to be alright. When it got to seventy, and Evelyn heard her brother let out a pained scream, she was quick to shoot from her seat and out of the booth with Peggy and Celeste quickly following her.

     "Shut it down!" Evelyn snapped, Celeste and Peggy joining her side.

     "Steven!" Dr. Erskine called to the boy, but he only continued to scream.

     "Shut it down now!" Evelyn yelled, her voice stern as she was no longer asking but demanding.

     "Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark! Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!" Dr. Erskine yelled. Howard was just about to do that, stopping only when Steve's voice could be heard.

     "No!" He yelled, grabbing everyone's attention. "Don't! I can do this!"

     Celeste's heart seemed to ram in her chest, sharing a look with Peggy before looking back towards Steve, listening as Howard continued to count. "Eighty. Ninety. That's 100 percent!" Everything suddenly overloads and shuts down.

     "Steven? Steven?" Dr. Erskine asked. The chamber opened and there Steve was. He was no longer the scrawny boy that Celeste had first met. He was taller, and actually had muscles. A gentle smile fell on the angel's face before she quickly followed after Evelyn and Peggy who had made their way down the steps towards the man.

     "I did it." Steve breathes, looking down at his sister with Howard and Dr. Erskine on either side of him as he allowed himself to gain balance.

     "Yeah, yeah. I think we did it." Dr. Erskine says with a proud smile.

     "We actually did it." Howard laughed, everyone going into a fit of cheers.

     "You know, last I remembered, you were like three feet shorter than me, had asthma, and no muscle whatsoever. Did you take steroids?" Evelyn had a smile on her face as she looked up at her brother who only smiled in response. Celeste grabbed Peggy's hand, the duo sharing smiles with one another as they watched the siblings interact. "Seriously though, how do you feel?"

     "Taller." Steve answered.

     "By three inches. Alright?" Evelyn scoffed and this made the other Rogers chuckle. That's when an explosion sounded, causing everyone to duck and cover. All Celeste heard to make her stand back up was the sound of a gun going off. She looked up just in time to watch Peggy and Evelyn run out of the room, before her eyes landed on Dr. Erskine who had been shot. She was quick to run over to the man just as Steve ran after the suspect.

     "Dr. Erskine, can you hear me?" Celeste whispered, placing a hand over the place in which he had been shot. She closed her eyes, frowning when she heard the lack of heart beat. She met the eyes of Howard Stark before she shook her head. The angel softly sighed before standing up and making her way out of the building, just as Evelyn and Peggy had stood up, looking in the direction Steve had run off to.

     Evelyn turned her head, looking at the woman and frowning. "Oh, I don't like that look."

     "Dr. Erskine is dead." Celeste answered, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear as she frowned. "The bullet lodged into his chest and killed him almost immediately." Evelyn and Peggy both closed their eyes in remorse before looking back towards Celeste as she moved to stand beside of them. She looked around for a moment with furrowed eyebrows before looking back at the two women in confusion. "I thought I saw Steve run out here?"

     "He did." Peggy nodded. "Chased after the man who shot Erskine."

     "He ran hella fast too." Evelyn hummed.

     "Come on." Peggy sighed, placing a hand on both Celeste and Evelyn's shoulders before walking back into the building. When the next day came around, Celeste found herself standing beside of Stark, looking at the machine in which the HYDRA agent Steve had been chasing used in attempt to get away from the man, only for Steve to catch him. She looked around before noticing Evelyn and making her way over towards the blonde just as Colonel Phillips entered the room. Evelyn met Celeste's eyes, to which the angel offered her a gentle smile a small nod of the head.

     "What have we got here?" Phillips asked, looking at Howard.

     "Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country. But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology." Howard stated truthfully.

     "Then who is it?" The Senator quizzed.

     "HYDRA. I'm sure you've been reading our briefings." Colonel Phillips answered like it was the most obvious thing.

     "I'm on a number of committees, Colonel." He responded.

     Celeste looked at the man with her arms crossed over her chest before deciding to speak up. "HYDRA is the Nazi deep science division."

     "It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions." Peggy finished as she and Steve took a stand beside of the two blonde's.

     "HYDRA's practically a cult. They worship Schmidt, they think he's invincible." The Colonel explained.

     "So what are you gonna do about it?" The senator questioned.

     "Spoke to the president this morning. As of today the SSR is being re-tasked." Colonel Phillips explained. "We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags Agent Rogers, Agent Carter. You too, Celeste and Stark. You're flying to London tonight."