As Peggy walked away, Steve found himself staring after her like a lovesick teenager. Bucky watched this display with obvious amusement.
"I'm invisible," Bucky said dramatically. "I'm turning into you. It's like a horrible dream."
Steve dragged his attention back to his friend, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. "Don't take it so hard. Maybe she's got a friend."
"Right," Bucky said, though he was still grinning. "Because that's exactly what I need. Another brilliant, beautiful, dangerous woman who could probably kill me with her pinky finger."
As if summoned by his words, Mala appeared at their table. She moved with the fluid grace of a trained warrior, but there was something uncertain in her expression, almost vulnerable.
Bucky looked up and immediately forgot how to breathe. Mala was, without question, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Not just pretty, not just attractive, but stunning in a way that seemed to transcend normal human parameters. Her dark hair caught the pub's lighting like silk, her features were perfectly proportioned, and her eyes held depths that spoke of wisdom and experience far beyond her apparent years.
"You," she said, pointing directly at Bucky with quiet authority. "Show me how to do that."
Bucky's mouth opened and closed several times without producing any sound. Steve had never seen his smooth-talking friend rendered speechless by anything, but Mala had apparently managed it in under five seconds.
"I... uh... what?" Bucky finally managed.
"The dancing," Mala said, nodding toward the piano where couples were slowly moving together on the small dance floor. "I've been watching. It looks... interesting. I want to try it."
Steve bit back a laugh as he watched his friend continue to flounder. Bucky had always been the one with the easy charm, the natural way with women. Seeing him reduced to stammering was both hilarious and oddly endearing.
"You want me to teach you to dance?" Bucky said, his voice cracking slightly on the last word.
"Yes," Mala said simply. "Diana said you're trustworthy. And you don't look like you'd step on my feet too much."
Accessible. Steve had to cough to cover his snort of laughter.
Bucky shot him a look that promised future retaliation, then turned back to Mala with what might have been the beginning of his old confidence. "I... yeah. Yes. I can teach you to dance."
He stood up, his movements careful and deliberate, like he was afraid sudden motion might make her disappear. "It's not complicated. Just... here, give me your hand."
Mala extended her hand with the same directness she did everything else. When Bucky took it, Steve saw him actually shiver at the contact.
"The basic principle is simple," Bucky said, his voice getting steadier as he fell back on familiar territory. "One person leads, the other follows. Usually the man leads, but..."
"I don't follow anyone," Mala said with a slight smile. "Ever."
Bucky blinked. "Right. Of course you don't. Um... okay, how about we just... move together? Same rhythm, try not to crash into each other?"
"I can work with that," Mala said, and Steve caught the hint of amusement in her voice.
They moved toward the dance floor, Bucky looking like he was walking toward either paradise or execution and wasn't sure which. Steve watched them go with a mixture of amusement and genuine happiness for his friend.
The first few minutes were clearly awkward. Mala moved like a warrior, all controlled power and precise motion, while Bucky tried to adjust his own movements to match her style. They stepped on each other's feet twice, and at one point Mala accidentally spun Bucky instead of the other way around.
But gradually, something clicked. Mala's natural grace and Bucky's innate rhythm found a common ground. They weren't dancing like the other couples on the floor, all traditional steps and proper form. Instead, they moved together like partners in combat, reading each other's movements, anticipating, responding.
Steve found himself genuinely impressed. Mala was learning fast, but more than that, she was adapting the concept to suit her own nature. Instead of trying to be something she wasn't, she was making the dance work for who she was.
And Bucky... Steve had never seen his friend look at anyone the way he was looking at Mala. Not just attracted, though that was obvious enough. There was something deeper there, something that looked almost like wonder.
"She's incredible," Bucky said when they returned to the table after three songs, both of them slightly breathless.
"She is," Steve agreed, watching Mala return to Diana's side, looking pleased with herself.
"I mean, she's Amazon royalty," Bucky continued, running a hand through his hair. "She's probably lived for centuries. She could kill me with her bare hands without breaking a sweat. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and she's so far out of my league it's not even funny."
"But?" Steve prompted, hearing something else in his friend's voice.
Bucky was quiet for a moment, watching Mala talk to Diana about the dancing. "But when she smiles... when she really smiles, not that polite thing she does for everyone else... Christ, Steve. It's like nothing else matters."
Steve was about to respond when he saw Steve Trevor approach Diana with a slightly nervous expression. The pilot said something to her, gesturing toward the dance floor, and Diana's face lit up with genuine delight.
"Looks like Diana's getting asked to dance too," Steve said, nodding toward the pair.
They watched as Trevor led Diana onto the floor with obvious care, like he was handling something precious. Diana moved with natural grace, but there was something different about her now. The warrior's bearing was still there, but softer somehow. More open.
"Look at her," Bucky said quietly. "I've never seen Diana look so... happy."
Steve had to agree. Diana was actually laughing at something Trevor said, her whole face transformed by joy. When Trevor spun her, she threw her head back with pure delight, looking more like a young woman having fun than an Amazon warrior princess.
"They look good together," Steve said.
"Yeah, they do." Bucky paused. "You think she's ever just... danced before? For fun, I mean?"
Steve thought about what he knew of Themyscira, of Diana's training, her responsibilities. "Probably not."
As they watched, Trevor said something that made Diana laugh so hard she had to lean against him for support. The pilot's face was soft with affection, and when Diana looked up at him, there was something there that hadn't been before.
"Well I'll be damned," Bucky murmured. "Our warrior princess is falling for a flyboy."
Before Steve could respond, Mala was back at their table.
"The music is starting again," she said to Bucky, and this time there was definitely a smile in her voice.
"You want another lesson?" Bucky asked, standing up immediately.
"I think I'm getting the hang of it," Mala said. "But I might need a few more tries."
As they headed back to the dance floor, Steve found himself alone at the table, watching his friends. Diana and Trevor were lost in their own world, moving together like they'd been doing it for years. Bucky and Mala had found their rhythm too, though theirs was more like a conversation in movement.
At the Justice Society's table, the others were deep in planning mode with Lucifer, but even they kept glancing over at the dance floor with approval. Logan actually looked like he might be enjoying himself, and Jay had stopped vibrating long enough to watch the couples with genuine interest.
Steve took a long drink of his beer and smiled. Tomorrow they'd go back to war. Tomorrow there would be missions and danger and all the weight of what they were trying to build. But tonight, his friends were dancing, and for the first time since putting on the uniform, everything felt exactly right.
—
SSR HEADQUARTERS, STARK'S LABORATORY – DAY
The next morning, Howard Stark was in the SSR's main research laboratory, surrounded by scientific equipment. The HYDRA energy cartridge sat in a containment chamber, glowing blue and pulsing steadily.
"Emission signature is unusual," Howard muttered to himself as he adjusted the scanning equipment. "Alpha and beta ray neutral. Though I doubt Rogers picked up on that." He glanced at his assistant, a young woman with sharp eyes. "Madeline, are you getting readings on the harmonic frequencies?"
Madeline Joyce looked up from her monitoring station. "The energy patterns don't match anything we have, Mr. Stark. Whatever HYDRA is using; we don't understand how it works."
At another station, Agent Dinah Drake was documenting everything for MI6. Phillips had requested her presence to analyze the intelligence implications of HYDRA's technology.
"The electromagnetic readings are following a pattern," Dinah said. "But not one we recognize. It's like it's trying to communicate."
Patrick Wayne stood near the observation window. His family's money had given him access to advanced technology, so his input was useful even without formal training.
"The containment is holding," Patrick said, "but the chamber walls are vibrating slightly. Whatever that thing is, it wants to connect to something."
"Connect to what?" Howard asked, looking up from his instruments.
"Hard to say," Patrick admitted. "But the pattern suggests it's designed to interface with other similar devices. Like pieces of a bigger puzzle."
Rex Tyler, who had been quietly taking notes and running calculations, looked up from his work. "If that's true, then these individual cartridges might be relatively low power components. The real question is what happens when they're all working together."
Howard grinned. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Seems harmless enough." He reached for the probe controls. "Hard to see what all the fuss is about."
"Howard, maybe we should run a few more preliminary tests first," Madeline suggested, though her tone suggested she knew it was futile.
"I agree with Madeline," Dinah said firmly. "We don't know what that thing is capable of. We should be more careful."
"Nonsense," Howard replied, already manipulating the controls. "Sometimes you have to poke the bear to see what it does."
The probe extended, crackling with electricity as it approached the cartridge. Howard brought it closer with steady hands.
The explosion was immediate and devastating.
The blast blew out the chamber windows and sent Howard flying across the lab into the far wall. Alarms started blaring as smoke and debris filled the air. Everything smelled like burned electronics and ozone.
Through the chaos, Howard could hear voices calling out, though everything seemed distant and distorted. His ears were ringing, and for a moment he couldn't tell up from down.
Howard pulled himself upright, surprised he wasn't seriously hurt despite being thrown across the room. His suit was singed and his hair was standing up, but nothing felt broken.
"Everyone okay?" he called out.
"I think so," came Madeline's voice from across the room.
Howard turned toward the sound and froze. Madeline was floating three feet off the ground, her body surrounded by a faint golden aura. Her eyes were wide with shock as she stared at her own hands, which were glowing with the same energy.
"What the hell?" she whispered.
"Howard!" Dinah's voice cut through the smoke, and she sounded furious. "What did you just do?"
"Dinah, I can explain—"
"Explain?" Dinah stood up from behind an overturned table, her face red with anger. "You just poked an unknown alien energy source with a metal stick! Are you completely insane?"
Howard held up his hands defensively. "Now hold on—"
"No!" Dinah shouted, her voice rising. "I told you we should run more tests first! I said it could be dangerous! But did you listen? Of course not! You just had to play with your new toy!"
As her voice got louder, something strange started happening. The air around her began to shimmer, and coffee mugs on nearby tables started to crack.
"Dinah, maybe you should calm down—" Patrick started.
"Calm down?" Dinah screamed, and this time the sound hit like a physical force. Windows throughout the lab shattered. Equipment toppled over. Everyone else was thrown backward by the sheer power of her voice.
The scream lasted only a few seconds, but when it stopped, the lab was in ruins. Dinah stood in the center of it all, her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.
"Oh my God," she whispered. "What did I just do?"
Howard picked himself up off the floor, looking around at the destruction. "Well," he said, trying to inject some levity into the situation, "I guess that answers the question about side effects."
"This isn't funny, Howard!" Dinah said, though she kept her voice carefully quiet now. "What's happening to us?"
Patrick and Rex emerged from behind their overturned table, both looking shaken. "The Tesseract energy," Patrick said quietly. "It must have interacted with something in your genetics."
"Mutation," Rex confirmed. "But incredibly rapid. And apparently stable."
Howard reached for his emergency communication device, surprised it still worked after Dinah's scream. "Colonel? We've got a situation. The HYDRA device exploded, and two people are showing superhuman abilities. You need to get down here."
He paused, looking around at the destruction, at Madeline still floating in the air, at Dinah carefully not speaking above a whisper.
"You know," Howard said thoughtfully, "ever since Rogers got his powers, it seems like more and more people are manifesting abilities. Makes you wonder if there's something in the air."
Meanwhile, three floors down in the medical wing, something else was happening.
Adam Brashear had been unconscious for nearly eighteen hours, his body processing the Tesseract energy he'd absorbed during the rescue mission. The medical staff couldn't understand his condition. He showed no signs of radiation poisoning or damage, but his energy readings were off the charts.
Dr. Margaret Pemberton had been monitoring his condition personally. What she was seeing made no sense.
"His cells are completely stable," she told her assistant, studying the scan results. "But the energy output keeps increasing. It's like his body became some kind of battery."
In the bed next to Adam's, Robert Frank was experiencing his own transformation. The young soldier had been caught in the same energy discharge, though his exposure had been less direct. Unlike Adam's dramatic unconsciousness, Robert had been awake for the past several hours, reporting increasing feelings of restlessness and an almost overwhelming urge to move.
"Doc," Robert said, his words coming in rapid bursts that seemed to get faster as he spoke, "I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like I could run from here to Berlin and back. Is that normal?"
Dr. Pemberton looked up from Adam's readings. "Mr. Frank, nothing about your condition is normal. Your reflexes are testing at impossible levels, and your metabolism has increased by over 400%."
"What does that mean?"
Before Dr. Pemberton could answer, Adam Brashear's eyes snapped open, glowing with bright white light that filled the medical bay. The monitoring equipment went haywire, alarms blaring as the sensors maxed out their readings.
Adam sat up slowly, his movements controlled but clearly requiring effort. When he spoke, his voice seemed to vibrate in everyone's bones.
"Where am I?"
"You're in the SSR medical facility," Dr. Pemberton replied. "You were exposed to unknown energy during the HYDRA facility rescue. How do you feel?"
Adam considered the question, his glowing eyes showing enhanced intelligence. "Different. I can see things I never could before. Electromagnetic fields, radio waves, even the electrical activity in people's brains." He looked at his hands, which were starting to glow white. "And there's so much energy. I feel like I could power this building."
Robert Frank, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly agitated. "I need to move," he said, his words coming even faster now. "I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin if I don't run or something."
Dr. Pemberton made a quick decision. "Mr. Frank, there's a training facility in the basement. Maybe some exercise would help you work through whatever's happening to you."
"Yes," Robert said immediately, climbing out of bed with movements that seemed too quick for a normal person. "That sounds perfect."
As he stood, something extraordinary happened. Robert Frank moved so fast he became a blur, crossing the medical bay faster than anyone could see. He stopped at the door, staring at his own feet.
"Did I just run across the room in less than a second?"
"Yes, Mr. Frank," Dr. Pemberton said. "You did."
Adam watched this with growing understanding. "The Tesseract energy didn't just expose us to radiation," he said slowly. "It activated something that was already there. Something in our genes that was waiting for the right trigger."
"Like a key in a lock," Dr. Pemberton agreed. "The energy somehow knew exactly what changes to make."
Phillips sat in his office reviewing the day's reports. The rescue mission had been a success beyond his wildest expectations. Four hundred and twenty-three Allied prisoners freed from what should have been an impregnable HYDRA fortress. But the cost of that success was becoming clear.
He thought about Steve Rogers and his Justice Society, already planning their next mission against HYDRA. About Diana Prince, who fought like something out of ancient mythology. About the Canadian with claws, the boxer who'd never gone down, the mysterious giant who didn't know his own name.
Enhanced individuals were appearing faster than anyone had anticipated. Each mission, each exposure to HYDRA's cosmic technology, seemed to create more of them. The war was changing in ways no one had planned for.
Phillips poured himself three fingers of whiskey and stared at the stack of reports on his desk. Gods walking among mortals. Devils making deals in London pubs. Weapons powered by forces that shouldn't exist.
Then the phone rang.
Phillips picked it up, expecting another routine report. Instead, he heard Dr. Pemberton's voice, tight with exhaustion and disbelief.
"Colonel, we have a situation in the medical wing. The two men from the Austria mission... they're awake. And they're not exactly normal anymore."
"Define 'not normal,'" Phillips said, though he had a sinking feeling he already knew.
"One of them is glowing like a lightbulb and claims he can see electromagnetic fields. The other just ran across the medical bay faster than I could blink. Sir, how many more of these enhanced individuals are we going to see?"
Phillips looked at his whiskey glass, then at the stack of impossible reports on his desk. He'd given up trying to make sense of any of this weeks ago.
"I have no idea, Doctor," he said with a heavy sigh. "But I suspect we're just getting started."
The Justice Society of America was born. And the world was about to get a lot more interesting.