A New Brand of Freedom

by Spettro138


War Horse (part 2)

Weeks went by like this, Steve and Firebrand with their Howling Commandos, scouring the whole of Europe for every last Hydra base. Their next one was in Poland by the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea, right in the middle of a fire fight between Allied, Axis, and Hydra troops. Steve had to risk Firebrand's existence being discovered to rally the American forces against the invaders. But that also meant he had the chance to use his new mode of transportation. His combat Harley outfitted with dozens of built in gadgets by Howard Stark himself. Firebrand enjoyed the ride enough as they rode straight through gunfire and detonated grenades being thrown at them from all sides. Firebrand always had his back, firing away at anything that obstructed them.

From observing their team mates and constant practice in the field, the colt was starting to learn how to fire spells from his own horn as accurately and fast as an assault rifle. The ability was proving to be an invaluable asset to their efforts. Firebrand's "Cherry Bombs" as Steve took to calling them were just as useful for lobbing a strike at incoming tanks from Nazis or Hydra. Steve's shield continually protected them both as he rode. Howard outfitted Firebrand's harness with a powerful magnet Steve could rest the shield on when it wasn't in use. But when he did, Firebrand was always the first to quickly hand it over before Cap leaped into action with it. He was also making better use of his shoes every day, knocking out heavy Juggernaut soldiers that blocked their path or tipping over enemy transports.

Hydra's Baltic base was on the edge of an occupied town only a few miles from the water surrounded by scattered German minefields being set off every few minutes. Soviet landing parties attacking from the water were being decimated by the occupying forces. Hydra tanks and armored transports guarded the perimeter with a curtain of gunfire, trying to push back the invading armies. Steve and Firebrand sped through town, blasting away at every obstacle. The rest of the team was assisting an Allied charge down the hillside, firing down the line at Axis troops holding themselves in barb wired trenches. Troops on both sides were being pelted away by mortar blasts and tank fire.

The duo charged right into the main factory, set off one of their missiles and broke through the opposite wall before the entire structure fell down on top of them. Multiple explosions were set off through the collapsed factory which chased them on their motorcycle through half the length of the battlefield.

The very next day, about a hundred miles to the east, they had tracked down an armored convoy sending armaments and weapons to the other hidden factory in the area. Somehow, they had missed the convoy before they arrived to help the Allied invasion of the area. Steve and Firebrand figured that they had heard of the invasion beforehand and turned around back towards where they had come from. It was close to dawn, so the forest was still covered under a thick layer of fog which made visibility for both sides rather difficult. Lucky for them, Firebrand's eyes were better than anyone's there.

Twenty armored vehicles and tanks slowly but surely made their way down the road Steve's motorcycle couldn't maneuver through the trees properly, so they had to do an overwhelming guerrilla charge on foot. Almost immediately, they were met with volley after volley of gunfire from the convoy. Dugan had his modified shotgun out to provide a better advantage at close range in the confines of the forest. Gabe however ran with his choice M1919 which blasted away at the enemy, providing them with ample cover fire. Firebrand often used his shoes to deflect bullets away from Steve's shoulders and torso where the shield had no reach. A stray bullet caught Steve in the leg, causing him to grunt, but not stop.

"Pay attention maggot!" Firebrand barked. "I'd rather not bring you bag to Mommy in a sack!"

"Bag," Dugan corrected with a chuckle as he cocked his shotgun.

"I know! I know!" Steve replied with strain.

Bark, wood and dirt were exploding into the air from gunfire and grenade explosions being lobbed at them. Ray shots from the cannons obliterated the trees around their position as they continued their charge.

"Keep pushing!"

Out onto the road, grunts poured out of the back of jeeps and other transport vehicles while the convoy kept moving. Four unlucky grunts were set ablaze when Gabe aimed at their truck and ruptured its gas tank. Steve leaped out of the trees and on to the dirt as he went to work, firing away with his pistol and knocking out any grunts that came to close.

"Fire! Take out their tires The "stinky black rings" Steve instructed.

"Yes sir!" the foal replied with zeal.

Hopping off and dashing under the legs of unsuspecting soldiers, one after another, he smashed through the wheels of the transports and demolished their axles to keep them from escaping. Only two each to save on time. When he came to an upgraded tank, he looked back at Steve and saw him using his signature under swing shield toss to slice a mortar in half.

"Daddy won't mind if I do a little extra," he said out loud.

Carefully walking up to the treads of the tank to avoid being seen by the driver, Firebrand looked at his horse shoes and back at the dangerous, grinding wheels and treads.

Steve heard a loud crank and grinding that banged through the forest; it was coming from the front of the caravan. The others kept firing away at each vehicle while darting around the road to avoid being shot. Dashing to the front, the man found five scorchers pouring out of a broken down laser tank. He shot one on the spot and slung his shield, knocking the others off either to the ground out cold or killing them with a broken neck.

"Firebrand! where are you?" Steve shouted with worry.

"Here! Help!" Firebrand's muffled voice rang out.

He dashed over to the other side of the tank and found the colt stuck shoe first in the treads of the tank. The colt looked like he had been slapped into the dirt after the tread took one last cycle. His crimson red fur was all caked with dirt and mud and his mane was covered in oil and grime. He was face first in the mud and the colt was clearly unhappy.

"You should probably wait until you have a lot more body strength before you do that again," Steve said. "Those treads could have chewed your leg off if you didn't have those boots. Please be a little more careful."

He broke the tread with his bare hands, letting the shoe fall heavily with Firebrand's forehoof beside him.

"Ouch." the colt whined

Steve just laughed and slung the colt back into his harness. Falsworth came up to the two with a serious face.

"We've received word of another Hydra base that wasn't on your map Captain. A mobile one in Copenhagen ."

"Mobile?" Steve asked slightly nervously.

"Scmitt on a shingle has got himself a super tank Cap," Dugan said bluntly.

"He's had the town under an iron grip for over a year now," Bucky explained. "Hitler only allowed him up there cause he thought Schmitt would be an asset. Joke's on him I guess..."

"Where's Copper...Coopen...that place?" Firebrand asked.

"Denmark little buddy," Gabe replied. "About a few days Northwest of here."

"Big city. My cousin lived there for ten years before the war broke out," Falsworth added. "It's supposed to be neutral territory, but that didn't stop the Germans."

"We're gonna have to hitch a ride around the coast to the western edge. From there we'll need to signal HQ to send us transport. We can't let the Germans see us."


Back at the SSR's London Office, Agent Carter and Colonel Phillips were giving demonstrations and reports to their respective American and English dignitaries. Senator Brandt and Senator Frank Kelly presided over the American delegation while England's local representatives included Secretary Elizabeth Nel and Party Leader Clement Atlee. The Prime Minister was unfortunately indisposed with his responsibilities and set to visit their headquarters at a later date. Howard Stark displayed his blueprints for various different generators he claimed would propel the world into a new age of sustainable energy, yet he did not yet have a sufficient element to go off of. His first blueprint of such a generator was a theorized "arc reactor".

Their visit was followed by a display of footage straight from the front. Everyone gathered in the darkness of the projector room to see the fruits of their labor in the war so far. The operator in the back room activated the projector as it whirred and clicked to life, sending light and images from their film onto the white screen. Everyone remained politely quiet while it played as they were shown transports of their troops moving along the countryside, Hydra bases exploding, and weapons that were confiscated from them.

Everyone showed a particular interest when the footage went to the Captain and his Howling Commandoes planning for their next assault. Steve Rogers and Sergeant James Barnes were overlooking a map alongside a third unseen figure just out of the frame. They were all given a bit of a scare when a big golden eye looked into the camera with interest. It was a very large, gooey, inhuman eye much bigger than anything they had ever seen. Whatever it was quickly had been pulled out of the frame before they could get a good look at it. They looked to Agent Carter and Colonel Phillips who only laughed and rolled their eyes in response.

The Captain began to point down to specific places on their map and make new markings. When the Captain pulled out his compass however, Agent Carter felt every eye in the room on her somehow. It was a picture of herself and a tiny head of blonde hair presumably to a child just out of sight. Phillips looked at her with a kind, but sly smile she had not seen in a long time.

The Colonel understood perfectly what was going on. However he wanted to leave it up to Peggy whether or not to return what the Captain was offering her. So he kept silent as Captain Rogers placed his compass away and went back to their silent planning of their next assault.


Bucky was silently set up in a ruined building, watching the entire area through his scope. The entire city of Copenhagen was put under such a tight lockdown that no man, woman, or child was allowed out of their own homes. Two massive super tanks wandering through the city created a mobile factory split into two separate parts The team was forced to split up to destroy both tanks in one shot.

He watched Steve and Firebrand weaving their way through the wreckage of the city, scanning their immediate vicinity. Like clockwork, he spotted another sniper on the opposite building to Steve's position. He acted quickly as he went in for the shot before the sniper could, cocking his hammer back, and slowing his breathing. Breathing in and out to steady his aim, he could hear his own heart beating into his ear. Pulling the trigger, he felt the crack come from the tip of his barrel and only a moment later, the other sniper fell to the ground with his head blown open.

Firebrand mimicked Steve's movement as they both looked in the direction the shot came from and gave Bucky a salute of thanks.

"He's a keeper Steve, I'll give you that. Maybe I'll bring him along when I'm on a date," Bucky chuckled quietly. "I just hope the little guy's plan doesn't go up in smoke."

Steve snuck into the city under Bucky's watch, taking down any patrol unlucky enough to get close. They couldn't be seen by either Hydra, nor the townspeople who were still in the city. They had no way of knowing how they would react to their rescue nor was it guaranteed they would keep silent. So the two erred on the safe side by rolling past any windows and sticking to the shadows.

"How far do we need to go?" Firebrand asked. "They're gonna see us! I'm not sure why they haven't spot us now in broad daylight!"

The colt looked up to the smoke covered sky and decided to correct his statement.

"Broad day smoke."

"Stark thankfully put a silencer on Bucky's rifle, so there's that. Don't worry, we shouldn't be too much farther from the southside center."

In the distance, Steve began to hear explosions which cued him to begin their forward advance.

Dozens of squads who were patrolling the main streets were distracted and separated to investigate the disturbance. Hundreds of angry German voices were overlapping, creating an incoherent cacophony of noise. Firebrand smelled a group of Scorchers passing by their alleyway before Steve did, but the human was already running too fast to stop.

He launched a Red Cherry against the far corner of the alleyway just outside the sight of any incoming soldier. It bounced and launched into the adjacent sidewalk. Without missing a beat, Steve held up his shield as he leaped out of the alleyway and into the main street just as the explosion enveloped their would be pursuers.

The roar of the explosion only made him push more energy into his legs to run faster. Hydra soldiers screaming in German and Austrian in all directions at where the blast came from echoed through the streets. In the corner of his eyes, Steve could see dozens of eyes peering out at him from behind the windows of the town.

'No time to worry now. I just hope Firebrand remembered what I told him.' Steve thought flippantly.

Taking out his pistol, he gunned down the first few soldiers that tried firing at him before hearing another sharp shot from behind. Bucky still covering his back no doubt. More explosions in the distance rose higher over the rooftops, blackening the sky even further.

Down the street, the rumble of the tank seemed to vibrate the entire area. A lone stack of crates carrying milk bottles by the side of the road tipped over and shattered, sending broken glass all over the road. The sound startled the colt hiding in his mobile human hiding place firing off a red bolt in a random direction as Steve kept sprinting. The soldier himself felt a hot stream of energy shot past his ear and towards the rooftop of a random building that exploded in a blaze. Hot shards of tile, brick, and mortar were sprayed in every direction, launching something else big that was hiding there.

"Aough!"

Steve stopped for a moment as a body fell from the rooftop and landed on the pavement with a thud.

"Don't take my head off!" Steve nervously chided.

"I got him!"

The two blasted and bombed their way through another fifty soldiers guarding the main street, not too concerned anymore with stealth and anonymity.

A massive bang coming from the other side of the city was all Steve needed to go even faster. They circled a corner and walked right in front of a massive cannon barrel pointed right at the street where they were standing.

"We knew you were coming Captain! Time to die!" someone inside shouted.

Firebrand learned many new swear words that day as Steve jumped forward, watching the massive super tank warble and growl as it spat out a bolt of blue energy at the two. From one sidewalk to the other, a crater sized chunk of the road was completely gone, leaving black smoking slag. They ducked in closer to the tank, hoping to close the gap but they were only met with fire from gun ports cut into the body of the machine. Firebrand poked out and tried his best to swat away any streams of bullets coming their way.

"Can I have it?" Firebrand asked madly referring to the massive vehicle.

"I'll see if Stark can't whip you up a little colt sized one back home," Steve said wryly as he ran alongside the length of the tank with his shield held up.

The tank was longer than it was side, reaching half the length of a football field.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Dugan and the others sprinting down an alleyway from the east. They began to draw the tank's fire with volley after volley of shots, killing some of the riflemen on the right side. Steve noticed a grenade belt Dugan had hanging from his shoulder as he dashed around the corner.

"Dugan! The belt! Toss it over!"

The burly man obliged as he slung it over while Steve and Firebrand slid around to the back end of the tank. As it flew through the air though, Firebrand noticed a riflemen inside caught this and tried firing it out of the air. He grabbed it out of the path of bullet fire and shoved it away, before it detonated into the backside of the tank, stunning any rifleman looking through the ports.

"Ah come on!" Gabe whined. "That was our last one!"

Steve and Firebrand ducked into the alleyway before the tank's barrel could begin to turn around to face them.

When they were momentarily out of danger, Firebrand climbed onto Steve's shoulder, pulled off one of his shoes with his pearly white teeth and smacked Dugan on the head before smacking Steve on the head as well. The mustached man rubbed his head nervously as he watched the foal start to steam.

"Don't do that when we are getting shot at by dozens of guns from the same direction, OUT IN THE OPEN!" the foal fumed.

"I'd have to agree, now that I'm thinking about it out loud," Steve replied.

"What do we do now? We used up all we had on the last one in the North side of the city."

"Gunpowder, nitroglycerine, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue, and paper clips, big ones. Office supplies as you Americans say." Jacques stated dryly. "I have some nitroglycerine left."

A warble and a glow from outside the alleyway signaled them to hit the deck while Steve shoved Firebrand to the ground with his shield covering his body. Half of the building next door was vaporized, with brick and mortar falling on top of them. Steve heard a series of sharp pops echoing above the rooftops hitting the tank. Bucky was trying to give them cover fire.

"We should probably get up and destroy that thing daddy," Firebrand's insisted in a muffled voice.

Everyone jumped to their feet and crouched behind the building that was still standing momentarily.

"What's the plan Cap?" Dugan asked. "Barnes won't last out there by himself for long."

As Steve scratched around in his head, thinking up a way to destroy the highly defended moving fortress, Firebrand spotted something halfway hidden under a tarp in the demolished building. A many variety of other colorful devices and props were stacked up, fallen over, or rusting badly, gathering dust. Falsworth noticed his enraptured state and humored him.

"Circus acts! Always nice to see a bit of something from home." Falsworth happily replied, if a little strained from the stress of the situation. "That in the center is a human cannon. Delightful little act, but respectfully, my dear colt, I fail to see how that will help us at the moment."

Firebrand noticed the length of the barrel barely hidden by the cloth and came up with an idea.

"Daddy! Jacky! Human Howitzer," Firebrand cackled madly. "We can destroy the tank right now if we use the right firepower!"

"Howitzer?" Steve asked before realizing what Firebrand had in mind. "Oh no..."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Dugan asked incredulously. "...I love this kid."

"He has a death wish if you ask me," Morita mumbled. "But I'm listening."

Steve ran over and ripped the cloth off, pulling it out of where it was haphazardly stored.

"Sadly, its the best idea we've got. I can't get up there without being pelted by a thousand rounds at once, even with my shield." Steve lamented. "Dugan, Morita, Jones, lay down some cover fire with whatever you have left. Jacques, see if you can't get a fuse and something to ignite this thing with."

"Oui, Mon Capitan!"

They obliged and started firing away at the tank, trying to buy their comrades some time. Their french demolitions expert quickly set up a small fuse with whatever he had left in his pockets and arranged a small pocket of gunpowder and nitroglycerin in the back of the cannon.

Firebrand unfortunately was getting too excited in the bubbly madness of his destructive idea that he lifted his human father up with his magic and stuffed him in. Much to his dismay and vocal protests. Firebrand kicked the cannon with his shoes through the last standing brick wall and out into the middle of the street. He quickly stunned the only riflemen left with his own Quickfire spell and readied his mad plan. While the others were keeping the riflemen busy, it was clear the main operator had noticed them and started to turn the barrel of the tank towards them. Steve was about to jump out to end this suicidal idea before the colt did something unexpected.

"You feelin lucky Fritz?" Firebrand said with an evil grin.

The colt leapt into the barrel with Steve and maniacally ignited it, as they felt a hot sting of pain hit their feet, followed by a blast of searing hot air and fire that jetted them straight towards the cannon with their weapons held out.

"YA-HOO-HOO-HOY-YA-HOY!"

It was over before they hit the road on the other side of the street. When Steve looked back he saw a clean hole bored right through the barrel of the tank and out the front before the tank lit up the entire city of Copenhagen in a storm of metal and fire.


"YOU ARE FAILING!!!!" Johann Schmitt bellowed.

The supreme commander of what was to be the true Third Reich walked through the pathetic rubble and remains of a factory. One of many destroyed by their brand new enemies. His diabolical cohort Dr. Zola accompanied him to assess the full extent of the damage and salvage whatever remained. He flexed his new robotic hand menacingly, remembering the equine who had destroyed his old one.

"We are close to an offensive that will shake the planet and soon the very universe to its foundations. Yet we are consistently delayed because YOU CANNOT OUTWIT A SIMPELTON WITH A SHIELD AND AN EQUINE INFANT WITH METAL SHOES!!!"

His stocky, round partner twiddled his thumbs in embarrassment and adjusted the glasses on his pink nose as he fumbled his words repeatedly trying to come up with a suitable explanation.

"Its hardly my area of expertise, I merely develop the weapons and armor, I cannot fire them my friend!" Zola stuttered out.

The Red Skull gave the doctor a displeased scowl that bore right into his soul.

"Finish your mission Dr. Zola before the American finishes his! You have business with the Latverian Romanies to attend to. If the foal will not return to me willingly, I must gain a much needed boost in dark power in addition to the Tesseract. I will succeed where the Furher has failed."

A beaten, weary Hydra commander was escorted before Schmitt by three Scorcher officers.

"I am sorry Herr Schmitt. We fought to the last man," he stated tiredly.

The Skull pulled out his energy pistol and disintegrated the impudent subordinate with a blue flash that reflected off of his face.

"Evidently not!"

Next Time: Snow Train