• Published 3rd Apr 2019
  • 3,187 Views, 218 Comments

A New Brand of Freedom - Spettro138



The First Avenger discovers an adorable explosive infant in one of Hydra's hidden labs and decides to raise him as his own.

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New Gear

After Howard was able to get back up, he saw Firebrand trotting up to him with two blank chunks of metal in his mouth and an apologetic look in his eyes.

Howard raised his eyebrow and smiled.

"Don't give me eyes like that, I can't stand eyes that cute." he chuckled. "But hold on a sec...what do you have there for me?"

Firebrand dropped the two pieces in front of Howard and levitated them to him for him to grab. Howard ignored the fact that they were covered in baby drool and did his best to handle them. Upon further observation, he became instantly interested in the chunks. They appeared to be rock-like metallic alloys. Howard could not properly get out of Firebrand where he found the chunks, but after analysis, he concluded that they definitely could not have been from Earth. As Firebrand watched him closely, he noticed that the metal chunks seemed to be strangely drawn to Firebrand as they flew in his direction every time he ignited his horn. But when Firebrand's magical field was cast around them, he was sent flying to the ground as the chunks became as heavy as a mountain.

He decided to do a few tests with the chunks in the next two hours before the Captain arrived to pick out his new gear...

Three hours later, after countless traffic backups and public meetings with English political officials, Steve finally made it back to SSR's Intelligence office. He found everyone even more busy than usual as people rushed to and from every corner of the building. He expected Peggy and the Colonel to meet him near the entrance but found nobody except a woman with blonde hair in the atrium reading the local paper.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Mr. Stark," Steve asked the woman. "I was told he was waiting for me."

"He's in a meeting with Colonel Phillips," she replied uncaringly.

Steve nodded and loosened up as he took a more relaxed stance until the woman recognized him.

"Of course...you are welcome to wait."

Steve awkwardly agreed as he sat down in a nearby chair, eyeing the woman who seemed far too eager to get to know him.

"I heard about what you did," she said as she showed him the newspaper.

Steve tried brushing her praise aside, attempting to defuse whatever was about to happen, but failed miserably,

"You're a hero," the woman whispered in a sultry tone. "The women of America owe you their thanks."

Steve began to mentally panic as she grabbed him by the tie and started to pull him closer. However, before they could make contact, Steve saw something white splat against her hair and face. Looking to the left, he found Firebrand de igniting his horn as he dropped a messy pie tin to the ground with a clatter. The foal was steaming as he threw various office supplies at the woman, chasing her out of the room as she dared to throwback insults at the colt. Following not far behind him was Agent Carter who had a vague look of amusement on her face.

"We're ready for you Captain. If you aren't otherwise occupied," she remarked with vague anger. "Good job Firebrand sweetheart.....next time though, throw the inkwells."

Firebrand looked satisfied with himself as he reached up to Steve who put him on his shoulders. But not before getting a good whack on the nose from Firebrand.

"Bad Daddy, no naughty girls!" he exclaimed angrily.

Agent Carter then walked off with an amused half-grin, as Steve tried to pursue her and explain himself.

"Agent Carter, wait," he tried to start.

"Looks like finding a partner wasn't that hard after all for you."

"Peggy, that's not what you thought it was. Nothing happened I swear!"

Firebrand whacked him on the back of the head again for good measure, making the man rub his head in discomfort.

"No lying to mommy!"

Steve could have sworn for a moment she smiled at that.

"I don't think anything, not one thing, though dear Firebrand sure seems to right now. You always wanted to be a soldier and now you are, just like all the rest. God forbid Firebrand ends up like that as well."

Steve had just about enough of the accusations as he clumsily thought of something to pull himself out of the hole he had made for himself.

"Well, what about you and Stark? I see how he looks at you, how do I know you two haven't been......fonduing?" Steve retorted clumsily.

Peggy just gave him a deadpan glare for three solid seconds before turning around and gave a sigh of defeat.

"You still don't know a bloody thing about women," she replied as she rolled her eyes.

Back in the experimental lab, Steve met back with Howard who explained the situation and gained more rolling eyes as he leads the duo through scientists who were calibrating and tinkering with complex gadgets and vehicles.

"Fondue is just cheese and breads my friend," Howard insisted. "Just a little party appetizer, which by the way, I caught your little friend dunking his head and gulping down one I had in the lab an hour ago."

Firebrand gave a tiny belch in response, causing a few of the employees passing by them to chuckle.

"Wait really? I didn't think-

"Nor should you pal, 'cause the moment you think you know what's going on inside a woman's head, is when your goose is well and truly cooked," he said with confidence. "Me, I try to concentrate on work, which at the moment is about making sure, you, your men, and your little tyke don't get killed."

Firebrand seemed interested in the items on the table as he hopped down and poked first at a strange-looking suit expecting an answer from Howard.

"It seems your little friend has good taste. That's carbon polymer, can withstand German bayonets and most European light swords, though I doubt Hydra is gonna go at you with a pocket knife."

Off to a smaller table, Howard displayed some of the smaller gadgets his team made for Steve.

"Laser pen, capable of firing off a heated beam of light for a few seconds, unfortunately, we haven't gotten to that level of science to make it go longer, exploding pen, courtesy of MI6 with a larger blast radius, then there's your flash watch, seemingly ordinary pocket watch that delivers a blinding flash when activated, personal grapnel gun for scaling walls, and gas discs, capable of dealing a stream of tear gas when thrown. And your standard-issue Walther PPK with tranquilizer attachments.

Moving on to the middle of the room, Steve saw four separate scientists working on a Harley motorcycle. They seemed to be installing various gadgets and equipment.

"This is your combat, Harley," Howard explained. "Taking a regular Harley WLA Liberator, we've equipped it with the latest gear and armor plating. Grapnel shooters, machine guns, oil slick canisters, electric caltrops, a grenade launcher, and a self-destruct function that I hope you won't have to use. Unfortunately, we are still working out the bugs on the additional gear that we are outfitting to it. So it might take a few days to get it up and running. I took the liberty of having safety belts installed in case your little friend ever wants to go for a ride."

They then moved over to the next item, which was Steve's tin shield that he used back in Hydra's base. Firebrand looked with distaste at the fist dent left by Johann Schmitt as he flipped it over and began pounding the shield back to its previous smooth state. The two men simply stood there aghast as they watched the little colt attempt to fix the shield. When he rubbed away as much dirt as he could he look back up at Steve with pleading eyes.

"Can I keep it Dadda?" he asked. "Pweeeeese?"

"Sure little buddy, I'll see if the Colonel can't keep it somewhere safe."

"Looks like both you and he are quite attached to shields," Howard exclaimed as he softly patted the old shield.

"They're a lot handier than you might think," Steve replied thoughtfully.

"I took the liberty of coming up with some options for you that are combat appropriate," he stated.

He leads the two over to the next table which was covered with shields of every shape and size. One was tall and broad with tiny viewing glass, one was more pointed at the bottom and flat at the top like a typical knight's shield would be shaped. Two tiny barrels stuck out the front along with what appeared to be a small coil. Plus, it also had what appeared to be two spikes for brutal bashings. Howard pointed to it and began explaining all of its features.

"This one here is fun, it's been outfitted with electrical relays which allow you to administer a powerful shock that can knock out most humans or knock out electrical equipment within 500 meters."

Firebrand brought his attention somewhere else though as the little colt called to him by one of the racks and pointed to something hiding among the equipment. It appeared to be another shield, except it was more smooth and rounded than the others.

"What's that little buddy?" he asked the colt.

"Pretty frisbee!" he babbled happily. "Is dis good?"

Firebrand pulled it out of the equipment rack carefully with his mouth and presented it to Steve. The man grabbed it and wanted to see how it felt.

"No, no, no, that's just a prototype," Howard insisted.

Steve slipped his arm into the strap and found the shield to be both comfortable and incredibly well balanced as he flexed his arm.

"What's it made of?" he asked genuinely interested.

'Oh well, I suppose if anyone should have it, Steve should.' Howard thought. 'Maybe I can make a smaller one from that last shield for the little guy'.

"Vibranium," Howard simply replied as he watched Steve flipping the shield around. "It's stronger than steel, and only a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent."

Steve looked around for a serial code or anything marking it but found nothing.

"How come it's not standard issue?" he asked confused.

"That's the rarest metal on Earth next to Adamantium, both of which were found in Africa. What you're holding there, that's all we got."

Suddenly, Peggy walked into the room wearing a clean white shirt and a brown skirt.

"Are we quite finished Mr. Stark? I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business," she asked somewhat impatiently.

"Just about Agent Carter," he replied kindly. "I have a few more things to show and work out with the Captain."

"Very well, just hurry up. There's only so many intelligence files that the Colonel can take before going mad," she dryly joked.

Steve held the shield up to her to get her opinion.

"What do you think?" he asked hopefully.

Looking at him and the shield for a few seconds, she kept the same unreadable expression as she picked up a nearby pistol out of the blue and began firing off four rounds at Steve, causing him to hold up the Shield. Much to his surprise, he found that the bullets bounced right off without making so much as a scratch on the surface of the shield. Steve looked around to find Howard ducked behind a table and Firebrand crouching in a crate of spare parts.

"Yes, I think it works just fine," she replied stoically as she walked past them to attend to her other duties.

Steve and Howard stood there for a few silent moments watching the woman with interest and amazement as she left the room. While they stood there, Steve pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it off to Howard.

"I had some ideas about the uniform that I hoped you could go over," he said quietly.

"Whatever you want pal," Howard squeaked out.

They heard Firebrand calling over to them causing the two to whip their heads around. Howard saw Firebrand pointing up to a display pedestal covered in a cloth as if he was expecting an answer. The man smiled at the foal's eagerness to learn as he began walking over.

"What's that?" Steve asked interested.

"Something your little boy found in the lab after an accident while experimenting with one of those Hydra ammo cartridges you brought for us," he explained. "A metal unlike anything I've ever seen, perhaps even worthy of being the third rarest metal on Earth now. My theory is when your curious little tyke tried to lift the cartridge with his magic, he blew open a portal in space-time."

"You had him in the lab when doing a dangerous experiment?" Steve asked with veiled anger.

"Don't worry, he was just fine afterward. I was the one that got hurt," he joked. "At first, the metal seemed harmless enough, until Firebrand began using his "magic" on it. Then its density infinitely quadrupled in seconds and not even our strongest equipment was able to lift it so much as an inch off the ground!"

Howard showed Steve the dents in the ground where the chunks smashed down as proof.

"But...you're saying Firebrand was?" Steve asked confused.

"That's what was strange. I even had to coax the little guy around the lab to do some more tests on the ingot-like chunks. That's not the strangest part though."

"It's not?" Steve chuckled.

"When we tried heating the metal and pounding it out, it morphed into a familiar predetermined shape," he explained excitedly. "Almost if they were made of liquid and resolidified."

Howard pulled off the cloak revealing the items underneath.

It was a pair of jet-black horseshoes with red accents that seemed to ooze an aura of power and devastation. They were shaped rather unusually though as the front edges strutted a foot upwards as if they were leg guards.

"Are...those for Firebrand?" Steve asked meekly.

"Might as well be for the time being. I can't make heads or tails of them. Hopefully, you two might be able to get some answers about somewhere down the line. Or at least when our methods of scientific analysis advance a bit more".

Before they could react, they heard Firebrand chatter with excitement as he ignited his horn trying to pick up the horseshoes, causing them to emit a strange metallic warbling sound. They flew off of the pedestal and magnetized to Firebrand's front hooves, leaving Steve and Howard completely befuddled.

"What the hay?" they asked in unison.


Next Time: Super Soldier Prelude: Tiny Stowaway

Author's Note:

Hope you guys like this one. After this, I'm gonna start to get back into the action and excitement. As always, give me your thoughts and like to the fic if you like it. I hope you are enjoying this story Josh!

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