Chương 39: Why

0039

The Colonel looked at the tooth in his hand—with the blood and saliva mixed in—and frowned, "You did not even clean this before giving it to me."

"I thought that it was urgent.", he grinned while cleaning his own hands on the captive.

"And what exactly is this?"

An important looking man came over demanding an explanation—who shall be unnamed since most Americans do not even know who represents them in the Government— and Colonel Phillips simply put the bloodied tooth on the man's hand, "Here. The explanation you want"

The man paled at the sight of blood and the smell made him vomit bile.

"Help him up, the congressman must be made to feel safe." Colonel Phillips smiled. "But I do have to question you sir, why was there a spy working as your assistant? One that you hired personally?"

The man was stunned and his face pale, "What did you say?"

"The tooth that I gave you." Colonel Phillips said: "...is a poison capsule particular to spies from a certain nasty organization."

"What is going on here? We heard noises and came here to look", somewhat tired, Erskine makes his way into the room along with others.

"Arthur caught another spy." Carter said.

Stark was the first to come forward, excited: "Another one? He caught another spy? Let me have at it. I researched some fun ways to try out!!! You are a goddamn spy vending machine!"

Dr. Erskine: "Arthur, did you get any injuries?"

"No injuries."

Art shook his head, looked at the doctor, and then at the sweaty hunk of a Steve. It was miraculous. He could not express how much some people would be willing to sell their lives for just the muscle mass in 20 seconds and a penicillin shot back in his world.

Colonel Phillips ordered the man to be taken away and put in a holding cell.

Arthur went with the spy followed by Carter. Howard, too, was unable to contain his excitement and went with them.

Steve wanted to come too but Dr. Erskine stopped him and took him for a physical test.

…

Howard sat, disappointed, outside the room; unable to try out his new techniques. After a while everyone was sent off to prepare for the evening dance.

One thing Art never understood in the movies, is that why did they hold this "party" in the first place? To announce to the whole world that they succeeded? Steve would be a political flag sooner than later anyway, so why paint a target on his face this early? Did they not have enough assassination attempts already?

Colonel Phillips toasted to everyone and congratulated Erskine for his marvelous work followed by an excited cheer of the crowd.

As Dr. Erskine's Bodyguard, Arthur shadowed the doctor throughout the evening and even caught three more spies from different nations aiming for Erskine's life. You might think this would make them cancel the party, but nope. They were "proud" of their security—that was repeatedly proven to be useless—and even more proud of catching these spies—that they had no contribution in.

This made Art speechless.

—At this stage, is it not more important to escort Erskine to a secret location to ensure his safety as well as plan the development and future courses of the serum? What kind of party is more important that this?—

Even Arthur could make a proper judgement on this.

—Won't they have enough time to enjoy after the war is over? —

...

After all the kerfuffle, he finally had time to notice Erskine's mood, the old man looked like he doubted his life.

"Arthur, I succeeded... Isn't it a happy thing?"

The doctor spoke with a smile, facing out of the window.

"…"

Dr. Erskine, absent-minded, was perhaps not looking for his answer as he continued his slow monologue, "Shouldn't I be feeling happy? Satisfied..." He abruptly turned to face Arthur, "Do you want to be the next Steve Rogers? I can even make you better!"

Arthur still did not speak. The doctor's changing mood was scaring him.

Erskine did expect Art to quietly decline as it was the Arthur he knew. "But then I have nothing to do in this life… Almost as if I should not be alive at this moment… … …"

This horrified Arthur. It dawned upon him that something or someone might have noticed his existence. If even Erskine could feel it, then what about other 'beings'.

— Should I have let him die at the explosion? Let things happen as they were supposed to? —Arthur was conflicted.

Both in their own minds sank into silence.

The first to recover was surprisingly Arthur. Smart people tend to overthink but this was not the case for our protagonist. His reasoning was even more simple than him — One, he did what he wanted to and saving someone is not bad, and the other, he was strong enough to handle the consequences. And growing stronger at every encounter with fate. —

He may not have the capabilities to grasp nor handle the 'big picture' or the so called 'greater good', but he did want to stand by his morals and not lose himself. He believed that he had made the correct choices and he would no longer regret the what-ifs.

Steve had a great future ahead of him. And Arthur may not able to be as great as him.

Getting the Super serum also meant being a target as he could never be at ease with surveillance from both ''friends'' and enemies'. Maybe in the future he may get powers beyond humanity itself.

But he cannot tell these to the doctor, can he?

In the silent room, Erskine was the first to break the ice, "Arthur, would you keep something for me?"

"What is it?"

Dr. Erskine stuffed something in his hands and when Arthur looked at it, he was shocked. He had been given a Serum—The Super soldier Serum.

"Why give me this?", he asked.

"It's an extra vial I made in case one of the other containers break." Dr. Erskine said with a smile: "so I just took it back. I can just make more anyway..."

"Still, why?"

"A memory. For being a student, saving my life, for helping me reach my end. I feel my life fleeting, as if I overstepped my life, so remember everything for me. Everything I taught you." Erskine looked relieved.