Brooklyn, New York
Steve Rogers opened his eyes.
The alley was empty. The two mysterious figures were gone.
Steve blinked, looking around.
Had he hallucinated the whole thing? The pain in his ribs was gone.
The fog in his mind had cleared, replaced by a strange, crystalline clarity.
He stood up, expecting his legs to wobble. Instead, he felt grounded. Solid.
"Young man?"
Steve turned. An elderly woman walking her dog was staring at him with concern.
"Are you alright? You've been standing there with your eyes closed for two hours."
"Two hours?" Steve checked his watch. It felt like seconds .
"I'm fine, ma'am," Steve stammered, his face flushing.
"Just... thinking."
He walked home, his steps lighter than they had been in years.
The mental protocol Ernst had implanted wasn't magic, but it felt like it. It was a focus. A way to channel his will into his body.
'I can do this,' Steve thought, clenching his fist.
'I can handle the procedure.'
Hydra Base - The Alps
Ernst and Azazel rematerialized in the private quarters.
Before they could even speak, there was a frantic knock on the door.
Azazel tensed, his hand going to his holster.
"We just got back. Who knows we are here?"
"Relax," Ernst whispered.
"Open it. But be ready."
Azazel opened the door to reveal a terrified junior researcher clutching a clipboard.
"I... I am so sorry!" the researcher stammered, seeing Azazel's cold stare.
"Miss Natalia... she was worried. She said Dr. Ernst hadn't returned to the lab. She asked me to check."
Ernst stepped into the light, his expression bored.
"I was meditating. Tell Natalia that if she sends errand boys to disturb me again, I will have her transferred to the front lines."
"Yes, Herr Doctor!" The man fled.
Ernst closed the door, a smirk playing on his lips.
"She's probing the perimeter. Using the fool as a canary."
He walked out into the corridor and found Natalia waiting around the corner, feigning anxiety.
"Ernst!" she gasped, rushing to him.
"I was so worried. You disappeared..."
"Stop," Ernst said cold, cutting her off.
He grabbed her arm, not roughly, but firmly.
"This is a military black site, Natalia. Do not play games with my security. If Schmidt finds out you are snooping, he will execute you. Do you understand?"
Natalia's eyes welled with tears, perfect, practiced tears.
"I... I just wanted to make sure you were safe."
"I am always safe," Ernst said, releasing her.
"Go to your room. I have work to do."
As she trotted away, playing the heartbroken lover, Ernst's eyes narrowed.
She is getting desperate. The Soviets are pressuring her.
The Lab - One Month Later
The pressure was mounting.
Johann Schmidt paced the laboratory floor, his boots clicking on the tile.
"The Americans have done it," Schmidt hissed.
"Intelligence confirms it. The 'Captain America' is active. He is destroying our factories. He is a symbol."
He turned to Ernst, his red skull visage twisted in envy.
"Where is my serum, Doctor? I need to be at my peak. I cannot be less than him."
"It is ready," Ernst announced, holding up a vial of amber liquid.
"The Vitality Serum. It won't make you a god, General, but it will repair the metabolic damage from your first transformation. It will double your stamina and recovery speed. You will be stable."
Schmidt grabbed the vial, his eyes hungry.
"Excellent. Prepare the injection sequence for tomorrow."
"As you wish."
Ernst's Quarters - Night
That night, Ernst lay in bed, feigning sleep.
Natalia was beside him, her breathing steady.
But Ernst's mind was wide open.
Mental Alert: Threat Detected.
He sensed the spike in her heart rate. He felt the cold intent radiating from her.
Natalia sat up slowly. In the darkness, she reached into the hem of her discarded dress and pulled out a microscopic silver needle.
She hovered over him.
Ernst regulated his own heartbeat, keeping it slow and rhythmic. He waited.
She didn't aim for the heart. She aimed for the carotid artery, a sedative strike.
Smart, Ernst thought.
'My biometric watch is linked to Azazel. If my heart stops, the alarms go off. She needs me alive... or at least unconscious.'
Prick.
He felt the needle slide into his neck. A potent neurotoxin flooded his system.
Normally, this would drop an elephant.
But he simply willed his biology to reject it. His cells, under his total mental command, isolated the toxin molecules and neutralized them instantly.
He lay perfectly still, mimicking the shallow breathing of a comatose man.
"Dr. Ernst?" Natalia whispered, shaking him gently.
He went limp.
Natalia let out a breath she had been holding.
She quickly dressed, pulling on a black tactical suit she had hidden under the floorboards.
She checked the hallway, then slipped out the door.
Ernst opened his eyes. They were clear, focused, and amused.
He sat up, stretching his neck.
"Neurotoxin? Ambitious, Natalia. But useless."
He dressed quickly in his lab coat, slipping a pistol into his pocket. He didn't wake Azazel. This was personal.
He stepped into the hallway, his enhanced senses picking up the soft pad of her footsteps heading toward the secure vault.
She's going for the Serum, Ernst realized. She wants to steal the prize for the Red Room.
He followed her, moving like a ghost.
Let's see how the Black Widow handles a spider in her web.
——-
Author's Note:
Before anyone rushes to the comments with 'BuT sHe Was BoRn in 1984!', put the keyboards down.
In the comics, Natasha has been kicking around since WWII thanks to the Soviet version of the serum.
So yes, she is technically a grandma in the canon.