14: Vogelbaum

  His teeth ched, the force with which he did it had broken them dozens of times, and each of those dozens of times, they returo normal just a few moments ter.

  Then he did it again.

  Because pain was what he o stay scious, because he o keep his mind intact.

  "What a fasating thing," the unpleasant voice made his almost unfocused eyes refocus, and with barely cealed fury, he looked at the man for whom he was suffering so much.

  "Your blood has properties never seen before, with this, diseases could disappear pletely... ailments, injuries..." as the man said this, he lifted a vial of crimson blood, one of the huhat were ly arrahroughout the boratory.

  "I didn't expect to find something like this, but I suppose I should have, a regeion factor like yours must e from somewhere."

  James wao growl, but his tongue had been chewed up just a few moments ago, so instead, it was his brrowl that was heard.

  They both hadn't stopped fighting sihey were captured, despite the tortures, despite the experiments doo them.

  James thought he might go a little crazy after seeing his still-beati pulled out of his chest, but he forced his sanity to stay intact, he wouldn't allow them to think they had won. Somehow, somehow, he would get out of this pce.

  He just had to be patient, and patience was something he had started to learn dozens of years ago.

  It was then that the door opened and the ugliest son of a bit the world walked in. Seeing the scars on his face almost made him smile, but the sharp pain of having hundreds of tubes pierg his body prevented him from doing so.

  Feeling his blood being drained drop by drop was not pleasant at all.

  "What does this mean?!" Seeing the state of both prisoners, Johann Schmidt said with clear irritation in his voice.

  Dr. Zo snapped out of his reverie and quickly turo face him, leaving the vial of blood on the desk.

  "Sir, it's good to see you. I was just about to get in touch with you. I've discovered something fasating," he said excitedly.

  "This better be important, Dr. Zo. We've lost tact with more than four Hydra bases around Austria. If this tinues, we'll soon have Captain America biting our asses, and I don't see my ons ready," he said, looking at the two prisoners.

  "Yes, that's what I wao discuss with you, sir." Now somewhat nervous, Dr. Zo decided to expin quickly.

  "The trol device is almost ready. I reparing to start the operation, but while doing so, I noticed something fasating."

  It was while examining his old samples. Under normal circumstances, blood outside the body degrades and dies over time, a maximum of one or two days.

  Sih subjects were captured, almost a month had passed. The blood samples taken at the beginning of their capture should have bee useless long ago.

  But they didn't. If they had been carefully stored, it might have made sense, but Zo hadn't dohat. The first samples had bee aside because many more could be obtai any time thanks to the rapid regeion of both individuals.

  The fact that they hadn't been discarded was a stroke of luck. Otherwise, Zo wouldn't have noticed how the blood remained in perfect ditioe the time that had passed.

  It was then that he realized there might be something special about it.

  Zo was the leading stist in charge of creating Hydra's ons and armament, but that didn't mean it was his only specialty. Before Dr. Erskine had escaped, Zo had worked closely with him on the creation of the super-soldier serum.

  He wasn't as good as Erskine, but he was undoubtedly one of the best stists of the current era, with highly advanced biochemical aiowledge for the time.

  It had been easy for him to start studying the hiddes in the blood of both prisoners and begin studying their unique cells in an attempt to discover where their regeive factor came from.

  In the world John inally came from, studies oics had taken time and many years of study until only between the 90s and 2000s was the entire human genome sequenced, facilitating the study of geid mutations in the following years.

  In this world, Dr. Erskine had achieved the same thing a long, long time ago, and although it wasn't publiowledge, it was something Zo knew because he had seen him do it in person.

  "I believe, I believe that if I tiudying their blood, I extract this unique factor and use it in others," he said after expining everything to Schmidt

  The leader of Hydra looked ptively at the blood samples, took a vial in his hand, and then looked at both prisoners.

  What an ued treasure.

  "Are you sure you do it?" Dr. Zo fell silent after the question.

  It wasn't something simple. If it were under normal circumstances, he wouldn't dare to cim it, but...

  "With the power of the Tesseract fueling my iions, I definitely believe I do it..."

  When you have access to infinite energy, almost everything bees possible.

  For someone like Zo, these words were undoubtedly a fact.

  "If you succeed, if you do it, what effects we expect?"

  Zo pondered for a few moments.

  "At first, it should be possible to use it to cure any disease and injury, repairing the body to its maximum health, but I'm not sure yet if it's possible to grant the same level eion that both of them possess."

  The way they could survive any wound and recover to their best state was still something Dr. Zo couldn't fully uand.

  "Anyway, once I achieve it, our soldiers will undoubtedly bee unstoppable. Germany will bee the perfect paradise," he said excitedly.

  "I see, that would indeed give us a great advantage in this war. Still, it seems you've fotten something."

  Eh, Zo blinked, fused.

  "You're still thinking too small, Doctor, despite having something so incredible fall into your hands. I don't bme you; it's uandable." Schmidt caressed the vial of blood with a light of intrigue in his eyes.

  "Tell me, Dr. Zo, what would happen if you mixed Vogelbaum's inplete serum with this?"

  Zo remaiill.

  Vogelbaum, a name he hadn't heard in a long time.

  Not many knew him, as he was a discreet man, but those who did undoubtedly sidered him one of Germany's best stists. Zo had met him only once by ce, a brief versation, but it was enough for him to hold the man in as high regard as Abraham Erskine.

  It wasly clear why the ma Germany to migrate to the Uates, yet the Reiever lost track of him.

  When Hitler came to power and Dr. Erskine began developing the super-soldier serum in preparation for the war, Germany and Hydra had decided to provide the best possible stists to assist him. Vogelbaum was one of the names mentioned.

  The man had founded a small pharmaceutical pany in the Uates, so finding him wasn't difficult.

  A discreet man, a man with no association with the military, he seemed only a stist focused oudy of medie.

  What Hydra found in his private boratories tradicted all of this.

  Even befermany began the super-soldier serum project, Jonah Vogelbaum had almost pleted his own version.

  Of course, they had to capture him, of course, the man would try to escape.

  Of course, Hydra didn't think he'd be crazy enough to immote himself and his entire boratory, along with his primary research, in Aska.

  He had destroyed everything he had worked on without hesitation...

  Well, almost everything.

  "Sir, this is... I 't say..." What remaihe first sample Hydra had stolen of Vogelbaum's serum, was a guaranteed death sentence.

  Its effects were only temporary, and within mihe test subjects lost all reason, creating chaos aru until their bodies self-destructed, turning into lumps of flesh.

  The human body simply couldn't withstand such superhuman ges.

  Even Dr. Erskihought that such a serum was sheer madness, which is why it had been discarded as an absolute failure.

  "Tell me, Dr. Zo, why? Why, despite both of us having Erskine's serum running through our veins, does Captain America exhibit power beyond all expectations? Beyond mine?" At the question, Dr. Zo fell silent.

  He couldn't uand it. He had worked alongside Erskine on the serum; he khe expected effects, which is why he better uood than ahe impossibility of the feats Captain America had been perf.

  "John Benjamin Vogelbaum! A curious name, don't you think? ce? I don't think so!" Schmidt ched the vial in his hand, causing it to explode and stain his uniform in red.

  Zo's eyes widened, his quick mind grasping what the Hydra leader was insinuating.

  "You're saying that—!"

  "You know what I mean! Very clever, don't you think? Making everyone believe he had died, taking all his achievements with him... but we fot something, the greatest achievement of a man lies in his legacy, Dr. Zo."

  Thinking about it made him grit his teeth. How could they have overlooked it? How did Jonah Vogelbaum mao give his son a plete serum without aig?

  And that man, John... he was clever, easily gaining Erskirust, taking his serum, and mixing it with his father's...

  'What a pair of vipers.'

  "Listen to my theory, Doctor. Despite being plete, Vogelbaum's serum is too powerful for any normal human to use, but if the person's body is strong enough, it teray side effects and reap all the bes. Somehow, Vogelbaum's son must have known this, and with that in mind, he gained Erskirust, took his serum, being a super-soldier, and then, without aig, used his father's serum."

  He said with a dark expression.

  "That's how this 'Captain America' was born."

  Of course, this wasn't the truth, but with all the clues he had, it was the only clusion Johann Schmidt could e to.

  The only way he could accept that someone had preater than his.

  Thus, the doubts that had been pguing his mind vanished. It wasn't because he was a failure, no. Instead, it was because his enemy had cheated.

  But that was fine; he could cheat too.

  He looked at both prisoners and smiled.

  "Tell me, Doctor, do you need both of them to tinue your research?"

  Dr. Zo absentmindedly shook his head, still stunned by the great revetion.

  "Their blood has the same properties." As far as his research had taken him so far, Dr. Zo hadn't been able to detey differences betweewo.

  "Then finish your device. One of them is under our trol, begiing. Create neles of the inplete serum and see if he is able to resist its effects, if he succeeds... then do whatever it takes to extract this ability."

  He wasn't going to fall behind; no matter what it took, he would gain the power to take this world into his hands.

  .

  .

  .

  Uates: New York Uy (NYU)

  "Damn it!" A long sigh was heard, light brown eyes looked at the research table with irritation.

  He was so close.

  "What went wrong?" He looked at the mae's settings; there must be an error somewhere.

  He had to hurry. If he wao tinue his research, he needed results soon. With the war ongoing, the ittee for Stific Researd Development had started looking for new promising projects to fund. If he could impress them and demonstrate the military utility of his iion, they would undoubtedly provide suffit funds.

  He could ge the world pletely!

  If he could make this work...

  "Professor Pym?" Hearing someone call him, he snapped out of his thoughts and turowards the entrance of the boratory.

  There he saw a young woman who seemed barely iwenties. A student?

  "What is it?" He didn't have time for this.

  "Um! I'm Ja, Ja Van Dyne. I came for the assistant position, if it's still avaible, of course," she responded somewhat nervously, scratg her short hair.

  Hank blinked in fusion until he remembered. He had put up that ad, hadn't he?

  Wait, Van Dyne? Where had he heard that name before?

  "Are you reted to Vernon Van Dyne?"

  At the mention of her father, the girl smiled slightly and nodded somewhat unfortably.

  "Yes... he is... family," she said a bit hesitantly.

  Hank thought more deeply this time. There wasn't a stist who didn't know Vernon Van Dyne, more importantly, he was one of the main members of the ittee for Stific Researd Development.

  He could use this.

  "Assistant, right? I still have the position," he said without further thought.

  Ja wao sigh. She had prepared aire resume for nothing, it seemed.

  Still, it was fine. She was here to gain experiend academic points. It didn't matter if she got the position thanks to her father... again.

  "Then I'd love to take it."

  .

  .

  .

  "What do you think they'll make us do this time? Carry more boxes?"

  There were small ughs, some weak but mostly tired.

  "I think they'll make us up their shit. It's the only thing we haven't do."

  The ent elicited some snorts from around the pce.

  The man who asked the first question ughed and sighed, looking into the darkhrough the bars of his cell. His eyes wandered until they nded on a familiar head of blonde hair.

  "Hey, Steve, what are you doing?" he asked, seeing his best friend writing on a piece of paper using a bit of charcoal.

  Where had he gotten that?

  Steve looked back at him, his tired blue eyes still bright.

  "I write for her, Bucky. Once we get out of here, I'll make sure it gets tod knows she's probably worried sick," Steve said, a touch of affe in his voice.

  Bucky scoffed.

  "Still thinking about that girl? I thought you were just having fun with her, not that you were hooked, man."

  Steve smiled.

  "I don't know her very well yet, but I think we're patible."

  "You should've married her, kid. At least that way you wouldn't die single, haha," one of the soldiers nearby said.

  "You're a pessimist, aren't you?" Bucky said with a bit of a pint, but deep down he also felt that this might be the end of the road.

  "Well, if I get out of here, I'm definitely marrying her," Steve said, smiling, and Bucky scoffed.

  "And I'll be the best man. Why not?"

  "I expe invitation!"

  "Lots of beer!"

  "And dancers! Lots of dancers!"

  More and more soldiers joined in, their cheerfulness filling them for a brief moment.

  Then a shout was heard.

  "Schweigen!"

  A guard arrived, banging on the bars forcefully.

  The momentary cheerful atmosphere vanished instantly.

  Eyes filled with anger ament gred at the guard, who carried a on glowing with blue energy.

  "Your shift will begin soon! Prepare yourselves!" he said in broken English.

  The imprisoned soldiers wao pin but wisely kept their mouths shut, still remembering the fate of the st man who did.

  Only his ashes remained.

  The soldiers sighed, preparing for another day of eormentous hours of work. At this rate, more and more of them were dying from exhaustion.

  Steve tucked away the half-writteer and swallowed, his dry and cracked lips a testament to their dehydration.

  When he enlisted alongside Bucky, he thought things would be different. He didn't expect his ultimate fate to be dying as a sve.

  Well, he supposed that's what you got for recklessly charging ahead into the front lines of war, thinking everything would be fine.

  He closed his eyes for a moment but immediately opehem when he felt the ground tremble slightly.

  "Did you feel that?" he asked Bucky, who looked at him with uainty.

  "Feel what?" Bucky began to say, but before Steve could respond, the tremor returned more forcefully.

  This time, all the captured soldiers noticed it.

  They began to slowly stand up, looking in all dires. Their dimly lit prison barely allowed them to glimpse brief fshes of light.

  The guards shouted and started running in one dire, but before they could do anything, they began to fall like puppets with cut strings.

  Steve watched as the guard who had interrupted them fell not far away with something embedded in his head—was that a dagger?

  "Well, looks like I'm not too te," a voice made everyourn to see a man with a silver star on his chest emerge from the darkness.

  Eyes so blue they almost seemed to glow.

  Explosions shook the pce, oer another, and shouts were heard from outside.

  "So, who wants to escape?" his voiapped everyo of their stupor.

  Light began to fill the eyes of all the prisoners as they realized what was happening. Smiles grew on their faces as the man with the star on his chest began to break open their cell doors and hand them the energy ons the guards had carried.

  Suddenly, a on found its way into Steve's hands, and he smiled nervously. Did he really have to get married?

  .

  .

  .

  Note:

  We're starting with a new arc! things started to escate from now on.

  By the way, to avoid spending too much time on unnecessary details, there will be mentions of several of John's wartime exploits, even if they don't appear directly on s.

  Of course, what I sider most important to the story will still be present and well-detailed. Also, expect other characters to referene of his achievements in future chapters. (In this chapter, Schmidt mentions that John raided more than 4 Hydra bases in Austria off-s.)

  That being said, let's discuss the most iing part of this chapter...

  pound V! Some of you guessed it, although I only hi it in Chapter 2.

  V sucks, It might be gone and we might not see it again, but it left behind some problems that John could have solved if he weren't... well, John.

  Some of you mentiohat John was taking too long to reach Schmidt, and you were right. Everything has sequences, and if he had arrived earlier, many future problems could have been avoided.

  Now Hydra, who previously only had an inplete, lethal, and useless version of pound V, has found a possible way to use it in the blood of the immortal brothers.

  Now, a war that could have been easy is being much more plicated...

  Before I finish, I just want to crify something that I see many of you might ask about.

  The serum Hydra has is inplete, clearly less powerful than the plete version and with some unknown drawbacks. Still, that doesn't make it any less of a problem.

  Furthermore, the effects on eadividual vary; some may be strong, others weak. "The Boys" series is a clear example with all those supers who are mostly on fodder.

  I hope that crifies what I mean.

  Leave your ents, opinions, and critiques—I read them all.

  remember that you find the chapter of this story on Patreon (patreon.maCruzader). If you want to read the chapter in advand get some other bes, you go and check it out. All the support received helps me a lot ;D