"Why let him take part?" Colonel Phillips turned to Dr. Abraham Erskine beside him, his deeply lined face full of confusion. "He's the weakest of all the recruits I've seen. His arms are thinner than noodles!"
"Being weak now doesn't mean he'll stay weak forever." Dr. Abraham Erskine took off his glasses, pulled out a cleaning cloth, and carefully wiped them. After putting them back on, he turned to look at the three figures gradually running into the distance, his expression calm.
"Fine, you have the final say." Colonel Phillips shrugged helplessly. "But I still think more highly of Alex."
Hearing Phillips's words, Dr. Abraham Erskine suddenly hesitated. "Alex is indeed excellent. He's a perfect test subject." After pausing for a moment, he continued, "Two choices really make this difficult."
"Why can't there be more than one test subject?" Phillips found that strange. He did not understand science, but if there were two, why not use both?
Dr. Abraham Erskine paused at that. His expression shifted between delight and worry before he finally let out a long breath. "That's a good suggestion, but the experiment will need to be postponed for a while. I only prepared enough for one test subject."
"We have time, before they're ready for the battlefield."
The next day, Colonel Phillips gathered all the recruits.
"General Patton once said, 'Wars are fought with weapons, but won by soldiers.' We will win this war because we have the finest... soldiers... and they will only get better. Much better!" Phillips's sharp gaze swept across every recruit before finally landing on the small, skinny figure in the crowd. His voice faltered slightly, and his tone became a little strained.
That small figure was none other than Steve Rogers.
Phillips gave a muffled snort, shifted his gaze away from Steve Rogers, and continued, "The Strategic Scientific Reserve was established by the Allied nations and consists of the finest people in the free world. Our goal is to build the greatest army in history! Every army needs pioneers. After this week, we will choose them. They will be the first of our new generation of super soldiers. And they will personally send Adolf Hitler to hell!"
All the recruits below could not help getting excited, eager to prove themselves. Alex, however, had no particular thoughts about it. This pioneer was bound to be Steve Rogers, and he did not want to steal the glory that belonged to Captain America.
After Phillips's speech, a beautiful female officer stepped forward. Her long, reddish-brown hair fell in waves, captivating the recruits. One bold recruit made a lewd remark, only to be knocked to the ground by a single punch from the female officer, frightening all the others out of any improper thoughts.
After intimidating the recruits, the female officer began introducing herself. "Gentlemen, I am Agent Carter. I will be responsible for overseeing all affairs in this division. You will undergo even more brutal training."
Carter? Alex looked at the beautiful agent, then turned to look at Steve beside him, his expression somewhat strange.
With Carter's arrival, the training at the base suddenly intensified by several levels. Several consecutive days of high-intensity training drove many recruits to quit, leaving only a handful who could persist. Although Steve could not adapt to such intense training either, he was tenacious by nature and never gave up, gritting his teeth and enduring it.
"Doctor, I think you need to reconsider the test subject." Outside the training ground, Phillips watched Steve Rogers struggle through push-ups and said worriedly, "He's just too frail. Watching him train like this almost makes me cry."
Dr. Abraham Erskine frowned slightly, then turned to Phillips and said seriously, "I value character more than physique."
"Do you know how much effort we've put into this project..."
Seeing Phillips preparing to go on and on, Dr. Abraham Erskine interrupted him helplessly. "Yes, I know how much effort you've put in..."
"Then give me some return on it. Hodge passed every test. He's strong, fast, obedient, and a soldier."
"He's a bully. He was the one who bullied Steve and the others back then." Dr. Abraham Erskine argued reasonably.
"You can't win a war with kindness, Doctor!" Phillips snorted coldly and took a grenade from the weapons cart beside him. "Winning a war takes courage."
Phillips pulled the pin and threw it onto the training ground, shouting, "Grenade!"
The recruits undergoing special training immediately panicked and scattered in every direction. Only Steve leaped forward, throwing himself over the grenade and clutching it to his chest as he shouted, "Run! Take cover!"
Alex neither ran nor hid, much less tried to steal Steve's line. In fact, he had been looking forward to this moment all along. Although he had found this scene ridiculous when watching the movie, seeing it in person deeply shook him. The moment Phillips shouted, Alex's body had instinctively wanted to flee.
But Steve had thrown himself onto it without hesitation. In that regard, Alex knew he could not compare.
Seeing Steve's performance, Carter smiled. Dr. Abraham Erskine smiled. Phillips wore a helpless expression, yet stubbornly insisted, "He's still too frail!"
After waiting for quite some time without hearing an explosion, everyone peeked out from behind cover. Steve also came back to his senses, raised his head to look at Carter standing before him, and asked in confusion, "Was this a test?"
Carter slowly nodded and looked at Steve meaningfully. "Congratulations, Steve. You passed the test."
After waiting for nearly a month, Alex could not help getting excited upon finally hearing the news. Steve was finally about to walk his own path, and the future Captain America was finally about to be born!
Just as Alex was happy for Steve, he noticed Carter walking toward him.
"Congratulations, Alex. You passed the test as well!"
"Huh?" Alex thought he had misheard and stared at Carter in surprise. "What did you say?"
Seeing Alex's blank expression, Carter could not help chuckling. She repeated, "You passed the test. You will become one of the first super soldiers!"
After confirming that he had not misheard, Alex was a little stunned. This was not how the movie went. How could there be an extra person? And he had not done anything at all!
Thinking of that, Alex could not help asking, "Why me?"
"Don't you want to become a super soldier?" Carter did not answer, instead asking him a question.
Alex froze for a moment before quickly nodding. "I do!" Although Alex possessed the two incredible abilities of Teleportation and replication, his actual combat ability was practically nonexistent. If he could inject the Super Soldier Serum and become a super soldier like Captain America, Alex had no reason to refuse.
Before you continue