After arriving at the secret SSR intelligence office in London, Steve and Firebrand met with Colonel Phillips and Agent Peggy Carter to disclose what he had found during his improvised rescue of the 107th. That way, they would be able to properly coordinate a plan to take out Hydra piece by piece all across Europe and Asia. Steve's debriefing took roughly two hours to get through as he was urged to remember as much as he could when he entered Hydra's base back in Austria. During all of this, Firebrand was closely sticking to Steve as much as he could, vainly trying to understand all of what he was saying.
"What happened next Rogers?" Phillips calmly asked. "Don't keep us waiting."
"After I found Firebrand here, I went down another hallway that split off into two directions. I didn't have enough time to go down both of them as Sergeant Barnes was being held in room off the right hand corridor, but I saw a giant map in the room of to the left. Red Markers were all over the map that appeared to be the locations of the other Hydra bases from what I was able to gather."
"Do you think you could tell us where they were on this map?" Peggy asked. "It would certainly go a long way to taking out Schmitt's operations."
Steve looked around the room until his eyes went to one of the large maps on the opposite wall that didn't seem to be serving much of a purpose except for reference. He looked over to the Colonel and gestured to the map in a requesting, respectful manner.
"Sure, go ahead. Knock yourself out. Just try not to let the little squirt rip it up," Colonel Phillips remarked dryly.
As Steve walked over to the map, the Colonel called over one of his employees to observe and take down notes. Steve picked up a pencil and began writing down the locations he was able to remember that were on the map.
"The first one was obviously the one in Austria, but we literally just took that one out," he said as he crossed out the first location with an X. "The second one appeared to be in Cyprus on the south most point of the island. The third one looked like it was in Eastern Basque right on the Mediterranean coast, The fourth one seemed to be somewhere in Bavaria, This one over here was in Poland, close to the Baltic, and the sixth one I could remember was about...here, thirty or forty miles west of the Maginot line."
Firebrand carefully wiggled out of his straps and jumped out of his harness and on to the map. He seemed know something as he trotted over to another part and began pointing to another spot on the map that was just below his legs.
"D-dada fooget," he babbled out as he tapped his hoof.
"I...did?" Steve questioned.
He looked at where Firebrand was pointing and saw that it was on the western border of Russia. After a few seconds of staring at the spot where Firebrand's hoof was, he finally remembered.
"Oh yeah, there was a seventh one on the map. It appeared to be northwest of Moscow, just on the border between Russia and Sweden. Thanks little buddy."
He gave Steve a big smile and hopped off of the table, giving the operative standing by a chance to snatch up the map and share it with the rest of the department's intelligence staff on duty.
"I just got a quick look. I guess Firebrand remembered seeing it too," he said with surprise.
"Well, nobody is perfect," Peggy reassured. "Good thing Firebrand has the better memory of you two."
Steve and Firebrand then followed the Colonel over to the largest map in the room where operatives were placing markers on the spots that Steve mentioned.
"These are just the weapon factories that we know about sir," he explained. "Sergeant Barnes said that before he was captured, he found out that Hydra ships all of their parts to another facility that isn't on this map."
"Agent Carter, I want you to coordinate with MI6, I want every single solitary Allied eyeball looking through every nook and cranny in Europe for that main Hydra base." the Colonel commanded.
"What about us sir?" Peggy asked.
"WE are gonna start getting Stark back from whatever poon house he's holed up in around here and back to finding out what he can on the little blonde squirt here and why Schmitt was so interested in him," the Colonel said. "Then the three of us are gonna make with setting a fire under Johann Schmitt's ass.
Firebrand giggled at the Colonel's profane language.
"What do ya say Rodgers? Its your map, ya think you can wipe Hydra off of it?" the Colonel questioned.
"Yes sir, I'll need a team though," Steve replied.
"Way ahead of you, we are already putting together the best men."
"With all due respect sir, so am I. They're the men who helped me get most of the 107th out safe and steal a sizable number of Hydra's weapons." Steve replied. "I think they're relaxing at a local pub close to here."
"Then it might be a good idea to inform them as soon as you can Captain Rodgers," Peggy replied.
"Alright, I'll get to it then," Steve said as he saluted the both of them and turned to leave.
As Steve saw Firebrand begin to follow him out of the room, he began to remember something important. Particularly, the importance of Firebrand's age and the type of establishment that he was going to. He couldn't very well bring an infant into an adult establishment.
"Hold up bud!" Steve urged as he knelt on one knee to Firebrand's height. "Daddy here needs to go see Uncle Bucky and Uncle Dugan. We need to talk about a few things. And it's at a place where you arent allowed."
Firebrand tried to protest and follow behind, but Steve was firm with him on his decision. The colt made an indignant "hmph" and crossed his front forelegs as he scrunched up his face in a pouting manner. Steve giggled at the sight.
"Aw come on don't be like that." Steve urged. "I just need you to stay close to Peggy for a few hours okay? I'll be right back. Plus, I bet she'll give you some chocolate if you ask her nicely."
At the mention of the word "chocolate" Firebrand shot up like a missile and began rapidly nodding his head up and down like it was a paint mixer.
"Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh!" he affirmed excitedly.
Steve simply chuckled at the display.
"Is that alright Agent Carter? Can you watch Firebrand until I get back?" Steve asked the woman in question. "And uhhh, yeah, can you get him just a little treat? Just to calm in down for a little bit?"
She gave him a raised eyebrow for two solid seconds before kneeling down and picking up the tiny pony who cooed as she stroked him.
"Oh, I don't see why not if you are gonna be like this," she replied amusingly. "Stark will probably be needing him for a few experiments and preliminary observations anyway. Plus, I've been meaning to try the new bakery down the street, see if they have any Cherry Lemon Tarts."
"Thanks," he replied.
He then turned back to Firebrand and assured him that he would be back in a few short hours to check up on him and see how he was doing. Firebrand watched as Steve left the room, fighting back the urge as best as he could to sob. Peggy immediately noticed this and discreetly kissed him on the forehead, attempting to calm him down.
"Don't worry." she quietly said comfortingly. "Your...Daddy will be back soon. I have someone that I want you to meet for the time being. He wants to play a little game with you. Then afterward, I'll take you to get something sweet."
He seemed to understand as he wiped his eyes and nodded at her with a small smile. She then went over to a table on the other side of the room where she picked up a phone and began dialing down somebody's phone number on the dial that she kept turning. After a few seconds, Firebrand noticed that she was waiting for quite a while as the phone kept buzzing and making funny sounds.
"Operator, get me room 4B of......Madam Ruby's." Peggy instructed the operator on the other end. "Bollocks, I'm probably going to regret calling him."
This continued for ten minutes as Peggy kept dialing the same number over and over again and nobody answered, making her more and more agitated as time went on. She was about to smash the phone into the wall in a fit of rage when a cheerful voice chimed in from the other side of the line.
"Hello?" she asked again
"Helloooooooooooo?" the familiar voice replied in a sing-song manner.
"Stark is that you?"
"Agent Carter! What a pleasure it is to hear from you again!" the man said slyly through the phone.
She could hear a group of female voices through the phone giggling their heads off at every little thing he was saying. Peggy immediately groaned in annoyance and face palmed.
"Get over here Howard. We have a piece of Hydra tech that the Captain secured and a child from their factory that we need you to inspect."
"Ugh, alright. I'll be over shortly," he replied. "I already got the memo from the Colonel."
"Awww, come on Howard, stay with us. You can even invite your lady friend," she heard another female voice say through the phone.
"I'd rather drink cyanide from a whiskey bottle," she dryly replied to the woman on the other end. "Now get over here if you please, before I start letting Maria know that you've been whoring yourself over here with every other woman that caught your fancy."
She dropped the phone down with an audible clunk as she turned to Firebrand who had his head tilted in a questioning manner. He pointed to the phone with one of his hooves as if he was trying to get an answer for whatever she was doing.
"Oh, never mind yourself about that. It was just the man I told you about. Mr. Howard Stark being a naughty boy....lounging with a group of equally naughty women. The type of woman I sincerely hope you stay far away from sweetie."
After thirty boring minutes of waiting with Peggy and watching her organizing various files, a man that Firebrand didn't recognize came into the intelligence center with a long quick-paced stride. He was a fairly tall man with messed up dark brown hair, slightly tan skin, and beaming brown eyes that seemed energetic, but tired and ragged. His white shirt was slightly unbuttoned and wrinkled up from whatever questionable activities that he was involved with before. As soon as he set eyes on Peggy, he gave her a devilish smile.
"About bloody time, you've shown up Stark." Peggy snapped. "We were waiting for a gosh darn while for you to finally show up.
"Hey, I made it didn't I?" he replied with feigned hurt. "Now where is the little tyke I've been hearing so much about? I don't have as much experience in the biology field as others, but I'll see what I can do."
He looked around his immediate vicinity but found that he could not see the child that he was instructed to look at. With a dry smile, Peggy pointed down towards his feet.
As confusion began to sink in, Howard felt a few solid tugs on his pant leg that felt like they came from something strangely tingly and warm. He looked down to find the infant Firebrand gazing up at him with big golden eyes. His confusion went from small to severe as he looked at Peggy with an awkward, wide-eyed look.
"I can assure you Howard that you aren't drunk, much to my great displeasure," she said sarcastically and facetiously. "That little dear is your research subject for the day."
He maintained the same awkward face as he looked up and down repeatedly at Firebrand and then Peggy again and again as he was trying to process what he was looking at.
"Get to work and stop staring at them Stark before I throw a coffee mug at your head," the Colonel said as he quickly passed through the room.
He shook himself out of his stupor as he kneeled to Firebrand's eye level and began looking at him up and down.
"Well, at least I know I'm not hallucinating," he stated. "Or I might have to go see a Doctor myself."
"We all thought that when we first saw him. I'm surprised the Captain himself didn't go mad when he found him," she replied. "So, now that you're here, what exactly can you tell us about him? I'm sure you read the report of the creature that the Captain found and its strange abilities?"
Firebrand giggled and booped him on the nose with one of his hooves, causing Howard to warmly smile at the colt.
"Well sure, but I thought it was the Colonel's idea of a joke," he admitted.
Peggy picked up Firebrand who followed Howard into another room where a team of scientists was working. After a few quick orders from the Colonel, they had a containment room set up for Howard to safely experiment with Firebrand just in case something happens. He placed Firebrand on one of the sterilized metal tables to begin observing the tiny pony. The colt in question was constantly interested in all of the instruments that the scientists were using on him to check his vitals.
They did a variety of tests on Firebrand to learn as much as they could about him. Checking his ears, testing the speed of his heart rate, analyzing shed tufts of his fur under a microscope. Take measurements of his body structure, and even taking an x-ray of his skeletal structure. When one of the scientists suggested opening Firebrand up, he was met with a vicious back hand to the face which silenced the idea out of him immediately.
"Well the first thing upon observation is that the subject appears to be somewhat related to the mythological creature, the unicorn." one of Howard's scientists concluded. "And from the body structure, it is equine, although not like any equine species that inhabits Earth. Perhaps a new species?"
"Yeah, I figured that out by looking at the hooves and the obvious horn that sticks out of his head." Howard replied in a snarky manner. "What about his horn-"
Howard's question was answered as Firebrand was so intrigued with all of the instruments being used to observe him that he ignited his horn and began levitating a stethoscope off of the table and started to play with it as he babbled unintelligible nonsense into the end of it. The scientists were shocked for a few seconds as they observed the feat.
"What....the....hell?" Howard quietly exclaimed.
"Incredible! A real authentic example of latent telepathic ability with a visible shifting energy field."
"We should probably find a way to properly analyze its signature." one of the scientists suggested.
Howard carefully picked up Firebrand and while being escorted by Peggy, he lead them into another room that was at least thirty feet in length from one end to the other. On their end was a set of handles and levers that seemed to control two robotic arms on the other side of the room. He picked up a face shield on a nearby table and began to place it on his head, tightening it around his cranium to keep it from getting loose. He placed Firebrand on a suspiciously scorched table on the opposite end of the room and moved over to the controls of the arms.
"Here, I'm going to try to test the affects of Firebrand's "magic" as you were so keen on calling it Agent Carter," Howard explained. "He seems to listen to you, so get him to play with something. While you do that, I'm going to try to experiment with the energy that appears."
"Are you sure this is safe?" Peggy worriedly inquired.
"For the little guy, most likely. For myself, definitely not, but I'm doing it anyway."
Peggy looked around in her immediate vicinity for anything that could be used and found a red stapler on a table outside of the room. She gave it to the little colt and told him to simply play with it, to which he obeyed. Howard spent a few minutes attempting to manipulate the energy field emitted by Firebrand's horn, but nothing seemed to be happening.
Then all of a sudden, they both noticed that Firebrand was beginning to make a strange face that vaguely concerned them when they began touching his horn. He sniffled and huffed and huffed again and again, until...
AAAA-CHOOOOO!!!!
An explosion coming from Firebrand blew Howard onto his ass and dazed the man. After a minute, he weakly lifted his head, revealing a small silly grin on his face.
"Okay, first preliminary conclusion...Let's....clean this place up. Right after a nap."
He then collapsed his head back to the floor and fell asleep. Complete with loud snoring and snorting in his sleep.
Next Time: Cakes, Explosions, and Dwarves Oh My!