Suddenly, Steve remembered—his master had approved him joining the army!
His earlier gloom vanished in an instant. The excitement returned like a surge of energy. Forget the rest of the fair—he didn't even say goodbye to Bucky or the girls. He simply followed the arrow under the recruitment poster and disappeared into the narrow corridor behind the exhibition hall.
It took a few minutes before Bucky realized Steve was gone. Looking around, he spotted the same recruitment poster and immediately understood. After all these years, he knew his friend too well.
He's trying again, Bucky thought grimly. He's gone to enlist—again.
From a distance, Chen Mo had already noticed both men leaving the exhibition floor. He exchanged a glance with Eddie and quietly followed them.
By the time Chen Mo arrived at the recruitment station, Steve and Bucky were in the middle of a heated argument.
"You're really gonna try again?" Bucky said, exasperated.
"Why not? It's just the fair's enlistment booth. Maybe I'll get lucky," Steve replied.
"Where this time? Ohio?" Bucky hissed. He knew Steve had been caught falsifying enlistment records several times before. "It's illegal, Steve! You'll get arrested—and if they actually draft you, it'll be even worse!"
"I know you think I can't do it," Steve shot back, "but I'm not the same weakling I used to be! I can handle myself now!"
He said it with the quiet confidence of someone who had truly changed. But Bucky only saw the same frail kid he'd been protecting all his life.
"This isn't some back-alley brawl," Bucky said, lowering his voice. "It's a war, Steve. Real guns, real bombs. You've been training, sure—but that doesn't make you bulletproof."
"I know it's war!" Steve snapped. "That's why I have to go. I can't just stand by while others fight!"
"Then do something else—something safer," Bucky pleaded.
"What, build canned food for soldiers? I can't sit in a factory while others die, Bucky!"
His frustration spilled out in waves.
"I don't want to prove anything," he said—but Bucky shook his head.
"Come on, Steve. You always want to prove something."
That stung because it was true. Steve wasn't driven by pride or anger—he simply refused to give up. His body might be weak, but his spirit was made of iron.
They stood facing each other in silence, neither willing to back down.
Just then, Bucky's date called from a distance,
"Hey! Are we still going dancing?"
"Yeah!" Bucky shouted back, forcing a grin.
Turning again to Steve, he sighed helplessly.
"Don't do anything stupid till I get back."
Steve gave him a small smile.
"Don't worry. I'll catch up—and win the war myself."
They clasped shoulders for a brief moment before parting ways. Chen Mo watched from afar, his expression unreadable. He knew the next time those two friends met… it would be on a very different battlefield.
His eyes then shifted toward a middle-aged man standing quietly in the corner, spectacles glinting under the dim light. He had been there the whole time, listening to their conversation.
Abraham Erskine.
The name alone stirred something in Chen Mo's mind. The creator of the Super Soldier Serum—and the key to his next goal.
Dr. Erskine had come to the fair to observe potential candidates. The army had provided him with a list of tough, muscular soldiers to test the serum on—but what he sought was something rarer.
He didn't need just strength; he needed character. A man who valued compassion over power. Someone who wouldn't abuse the strength the serum granted.
And then he heard Steve Rogers—small, soft-spoken, but burning with conviction. It made the doctor pause.
Such purity of intent was hard to find.
As Bucky left with the girls, Steve turned to go—and Chen Mo stepped forward.
"Steve."
Steve turned, surprised to see his master walking toward him with Eddie at his side.
"Master? What are you doing here? Don't tell me you're enlisting too?"
Chen Mo smiled faintly.
"Of course. My student's heading to war—how could I let him go alone?"
Steve blinked. "You mean… you'll go with me?"
"You're strong, but not invincible," Chen Mo said calmly. "It's still too early for you to handle the battlefield alone. I'll keep an eye on you."
Steve's eyes grew misty with emotion. "Master…"
Chen Mo almost felt guilty for how easily the boy could be moved. He's too pure, he thought. Too easy to fool.
Still, he did mean part of it. Steve had a good heart, but a heart that pure could get him killed in this world. Chen Mo had no intention of letting his pupil meet the same tragic fate as in the original timeline—not the frozen ending, not the lost love, none of it.
He patted Steve's shoulder.
"Come on. If you can't pass the exam this time, I'll just go alone—and you can stay at the dojo sweeping floors."
Steve straightened at once.
"I'll pass this time, Master! You'll see!"
"We'll see," Chen Mo said with a small smirk.
From across the room, Erskine watched them, intrigued. Then, curiosity winning out, he followed.
As expected, when it came time for the medical inspection, Dr. Erskine himself appeared in the room.
For Chen Mo, this was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.
Joining the Super Soldier Program was the cleanest way to obtain the serum—far better than trying to steal it later. But he also knew the risks. Without Howard Stark's vita-ray stabilizer, direct injection could easily kill even a strong man.
He needed to do this right.
And perhaps… he could gain more than one vial.
The doctor entered, reading from a file without looking up.
"So, Mr. Chen—are you planning to go overseas to kill Nazis?"
His tone was almost offhand, but his eyes, when they lifted from the papers, were sharp and assessing.
Chen Mo met his gaze steadily.
"Chen Mo," he introduced simply.
"And you are from…?"
"China," Chen Mo replied without hesitation. His official identity was clean—registered as a wealthy immigrant who had fled wartime China. "I came here to escape the war. But I've realized—running never ends anything. I don't want to hide anymore. I want to fight."
Erskine's brow furrowed slightly. "Fight… to kill?"
"No," Chen Mo said evenly. "To end it. The ones dying shouldn't be soldiers—on either side. The ones who should die are the men who started it."
That answer caught Erskine off guard.
As a German who had fled the Nazis himself, he knew exactly what Chen Mo meant. Soldiers were just pawns—used and discarded by men with ambition and hate.
Perhaps, he thought, with the right man—the serum could truly change the world.
Erskine studied him for a moment longer, then gave a small, knowing smile.
"I can give you a chance," he said quietly. "Only a chance."
He turned, drawing aside the curtain that led to the next room.
Chen Mo followed without hesitation.
"I'll make it count."
As the curtain fell behind them, Chen Mo allowed himself a small exhale.
Step one—complete.