A New Brand of Freedom

by Spettro138

Super Soldier: Camus and the Fly (part 2)

Author's Note:

Oh no! Will Firebrand get out of this one? Tune in next time to find out!

But seriously lol, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Sorry for the delay, With work, school, and the other stories, I'm being kept busy.

Also, Masel Tov and Buona Fortuna to you Josh on your wedding! I hope you are still enjoyin the story.

Coming up to the next level of the facility, much closer to the surface, Steve ran up another long flight of stairs into a series of prison checkpoints. There had been signs of a riot, with all of the doors wide open. Scuff marks were on the floor and pieces of the walls had been dented or broken, leading Steve to believe that something large and incredibly clumsy had been trying to subdue the prisoners in this area. The air inside the prison was cold, stale, and stunk badly of rotting corpses as if it was poorly insulated to choke the life out of the unwilling occupants.

Suddenly, Madame Hydra's enraged voice came out once again over the intercom, calling for more reinforcements to come stomp out Steve's life now that he was without his shield.

"Attention Cell Block Security. I'm authorizing the use of advanced weaponry. All safety protocols are lifted. Deploy the Wardens immediately!"

'I don't know who they are, but if the Madame is calling them, they have to be the enforcers around here,' Steve thought.

Circling around another corner, Steve ran into another security door. Decrypting the code was easy enough, but it was almost as if it had been made easy, specifically to draw him in. Pushing the thought aside for the moment, Steve activated the door, leading him into a large room that looked like a muster room for prisoner's to gather for roll call. The door on the other side of the chamber opened up outwards to reveal another Hydra juggernaut outfitted with more of Zola's wicked inventions. This time though, the juggernaut was very much different from its flamethrower wielding counterparts. Its right arm was equipped with a terrifying extending robotic hand that looked big enough and powerful enough to pick up fully grown men. In its left hand it carried a massive riot shield meant to fend off large crowds of prisoners. Its body seemed to be a lot bulkier and massive than a normal human's body should be. He assumed that this had to be one of the Warden's that Madame Hydra had mentioned.

"On the ground scum!"

"You're definitely a big one..." Steve said genuinely surprised. "But I can't let a shiny chrome dome like you get in my way."

Charging at the Warden, Steve went first with a jumping back kick to the neck where it was armor plated which made it stumble if only a little bit. The opening gave Steve the chance to get in a series of strikes to the abdomen as he grabbed its arm where the machinery met actual flesh and threw it over his shoulder. The Warden hit the ground with a bang as it appeared to be damaged, but still managed to get back up on to its feet. The Warden was more prepared as it held up its riot shield and protected itself against the super soldier's next barrage of attacks. Steve made a wrong move and ended up getting lifted by the Warden's mechanical arm as he was smashed into the floor.

Feeling the air being knocked out of him, Steve forced himself on to his feet as he looked at the Warden angrily.

"Oh you are so gonna get it...."

Charging at the Warden, Steve grabbed ahold of its riot shield, using all of his strength to wrench it from his grasp. The tactic worked as it was pushed back, giving Steve another shot at the Warden's body. Whipping his leg like a piston, Steve finally brought down the monstrous soldier with a powerful butterfly kick.

The adrenaline in his body just pumped more and more as the door opened and Steve charged into a room full of unwary grunts. Going from one grunt to the next, Steve dispatched each and every one of them before they even knew what hit them. His speed completely overwhelmed them as he shattered their faceplates with powerful punches. The last soldier in the room, he struck in the ribs which sent him flying through a glass window and down three stories.

"HOW MANY OF YOU IMBECILES DOES IT TAKE TO STOP ONE MAN?" Madame Hydra roared over the intercom.

Going to the next room, Steve easily took care of the six soldiers there and started to notice surroundings that appeared familiar.

"This place looks familiar....I think the lab Zola dragged me through is on the other side. With a bit of luck, I bet I'll find Firebrand there. Along with my shield."

Through one of the viewing windows possibly for a security team, Steve saw a golden Germanic helmet sitting upon one of the tables built into the walls. Going around and through one of the doorways, he approached the table and picked up the helmet. Annoyed, he inspected the helmet and found another journal entry from the as of yet unseen, Baron Zemo.

"I hate wasting time, but I need to focus on gathering intel too," he groaned.

Unfolding the paper, he began to read the next entry in an attempt to get a better understanding as to what this man's connection was to the castle and what might be the secret to everything there.

"I feel the Illustrious hands of my ancestors at work in what happened today. I have been contacted by a man who shares my vision, if not my noble heritage. He calls himself the Red Skull...an overly theatrical title to my tastes, but I must admit the resources at his disposal are impressive indeed. I have agreed to meet with him."

"Okay, so now I know this guy was involved with all of this. But how exactly?" Steve asked himself. "Did Schmitt help him find this "Sleeper?"

Moving back out of the room, he went through another security door and found himself running across what appeared to be a bridge right through a cavernous tunnel with tracks running down it on either side.

"An underground railway. This must be how they keep this place supplied...."

On the other side of the tunnel, Steve finally found the entrance to one of the laboratories where Zola was presumably keeping Firebrand and his shield.

"He will want them analyzed and experimented on," he stated to himself with fear and disgust.

Kicking open the door, he came face to face with another security team that was guarding the entrance.

"PROTECT THE SHIELD WITH YOUR LIVES!"

The small squad was mowed down easily by his strength within a minute as he gave a quick look around the room and gathered up a schematic for the Wardens like the one he had fought in the other room. It appeared to be a single piece in a set of four schematics for the giant soldiers which he would need to hunt down in time. He looked through every room in the lab but was unable to find any sign of Firebrand anywhere or where they might have been keeping him. With each failure of finding the foal, it ate away at his patience, piece by piece.

He spotted a corridor going down into a larger room which was visible through a viewing glass. It was his shield being analyzed by a group of Hydra scientists attempting to unlock and take its secrets for themselves. He ran around the corner and proceeded to beat down what little resistance was left in the lab. His shield was being levitated in some kind of electromagnetic field being manipulated by a strange machine. Thankfully, it had appeared that they hadn't found out too much about his shield

"Now let's see how you work..."

Walking around the perimeter, he found a panel on the back of the machine which seemed to be for maintenance. Opening it, he messed around with the circuitry inside and shorted out the main power source, which turned off the containment field holding up the shield. It clattered down to the floor with a satisfying clunk as Steve walked over to pick it up and strap himself back into it.

"That's a little better. I felt naked without this. But now I need to find the little guy. NOW."

As if Destiny herself wanted Steve to blow off steam, a security door opened up revealing three troopers coming down a long narrow hallway. By instinct, Steve tossed his shield at an angle which bounced back and forth down the hallway knocking out all of them. The hallway went into another series of security checkpoints in the lab where he caused a bit of a ruckus blowing up a communications unit by throwing a Hydra technician into it and breaking a few walls. Along the way, he found another piece of the series of schematics for the Wardens and another film reel directly from Arnim Zola himself. Soon enough, on the way through the lab, he found his utility belt still equipped with the explosives that Howard Stark had created specifically for him.

"My gear. Good, everything is still intact," Steve said satisfied.

"My poor, foolish Captain. Do you really think you can save them? You are already too late. Your red foal is getting Herr Zola's special treatment and Dugan is busy being my favorite...he reminds me of a dog I used to have SO much fun with." Madame Hydra menacingly said through the comm system.

"Cap....don't...its a trap!" Dugan cried weakly through the speaker.

"Ah, so now you feel like talking. Let's see what else you have to say...."

The next thing Steve knew, he could hear Dugan moan in agony as she continued to torture him. Then it went silent, leaving Steve with fearful thoughts.

"They must have taken Dugan and Firebrand further inside. If I don't find them soon..."

Pushing the thoughts out of his head, he found another security door with an even more complex code than usual. This time, it was timed as well, so Steve had to race against the clock, using what little he had been taught in code cracking to figure out the common numeral. Before the timer ran out, he figured out the number was one, which seemed to be pretty ironic considering his current situation. Inside unfortunately was just a decoy to delay his progress in the form of a ceramic rooster. Angrily smashing it, he sprinted around the lab until he found his way back out to the train tunnel where another platoon was looking for him. In front of the platoon was another Warden guarding the way. Forcing Steve to charge at them with a powerful toss of his shield that bounced across the bridge and all over the next room over, disorienting many of the troopers there. The Warden saw Steve coming and tried to prepare itself for an attack, but Steve's next maneuver completely blind sided it. Leaping ten feet into the air, he used his elbows as solid spears allowing gravity to do its work as he smashed in the Warden's helmet, causing it to collapse to the ground.

Four other riflemen were making his fighting much harder as he flipped over each soldier trying to avoid their fire. He was forced to flip around the room avoiding sniper fire. The snipers were so caught up in trying to kill Steve that they accidentally shot their own men. Making his way up the stairs to the catwalk where the snipers were, Steve held up his shield against the gunfire ramming into one of the snipers. Using the sniper as a human battering ram, he used his incredible strength to knock the three other snipers over the railing before throwing the last one over. Up on the top was what appeared to be another one of Hydra's tactical centers. A conference table atop and ornate market lied across the length of the balcony with dozens of documents and pictures. The centerpiece was a golden falcon with what appeared to be a detachable base. Opening it, he found that the falcon was hollow, where he found another journal entry from Baron Zemo.

This latest entry detailed how Zemo finally decided to create an alliance with the Red Skull, but it still didn't provide any details as to how he fit into Schmitt's plans or where he was.

He folded up the entry and added it to his collection, moving his attention to the recorder mounted to the wall. Cranking the lever, the mechanisms in the recorder activated, playing the message embedded inside.

"The security codes for access doors have been updated since the threat of sabotage has increased. Stand by and take note. Access to the cellblock and labs A and B are as follows: Hotel, Gamma, Four, Two, Alpha, Tango."

The message stopped, letting Steve move to the map on the wall to consider his next move.

"They've got the guys alright. I don't know if Firebrand is here, but I'm gonna do all I can to find him. Bucky must be locked up in an adjoining wing. I just have to find the right door."

Slowly but surely, Steve made his way through a series of giant sliding doors and found another passageway that led to an electrified security checkpoint.

Beyond it was the entrance to the main part of the detention center where presumably everyone was being held captive. He destroyed the transformers powering the gate and blew open the door with a small amount of his explosives. Dashing inside the prison, his only thought was to save his new friends and family before Hydra's lackeys could hurt them. Any soldiers inside would regret getting in his way as he pushed forward.

---

Meanwhile, in a nearby lab, one of Zola's teams of scientists had already begun their preparations on Firebrand. Attempting to unlock the secrets of his abilities for the Red Skull's purposes. Arnim Zola had left for another part of the castle to continue with his other projects, leaving Firebrand with his scientists.

Firebrand had watched, frozen, as he woke up on a cold metal operating table. The armored men around him were examining him, and there was talk about how he was under anesthetic and wouldn't feel a thing, how he would sleep right through it completely unaware. But unfortunately he wasn't asleep, nor was he unconscious. He was completely aware...but frozen, paralyzed, unable to move, and only able to breathe through the plastic tube he couldn't cough out of his throat.

He tried desperately to look around to observe his surroundings. All he was able to tell was he was in a barely lit, dank room, surrounded by devices and machines his young mind couldn't dream of comprehending.

"The subject appears to be responding well to the solution." one of the masked men said to his colleagues. "We shall take samples of the subject in an attempt to ascertain its exact genetic code. If our cloning experiments prove to be fruitful, the samples should prove useful to Herr Zola."

He couldn't flinch as the needle jabbed into his leg, drawing blood. He couldn't wince as a thicker needle bored into his bones, extracting a sample of marrow. He couldn't cry as another needle jabbed into his back, digging into his spinal cord and extracting fluid from there. He couldn't scream in pain when tufts of his mane were torn out his head at the roots.

"We will now attempt to extract a sample from the subject's power source." another one of the masked men stated.

He could only stare in horror as they shaved a sample off the tip of his horn, drilled into the base, extracted a crystalline sample from within, and then sealed the hole with a laser.

After a time, the tube was removed from his throat and he was left there. And when the anesthetic agent they had given him - the one that, for him, turned out to only be a paralytic finally worked its way out of his system, his body finally flexed in response to the agony he'd been through, and a tortured scream ripped its way from his throat. His pain was so great, he was unable to process the explosions that were going around him, nor was he able to hear the men's words about the other experiments escaping....

Comments

[Andonexus13]

Oh boy. The scientists done goofed. When Cap finds out about what they did to Firebrand, they're REALLY gonna get it.

[Rider09]

i love this chapter! and i hope Firebrand and Aramau(is the spelling right?)
have a happy Wedding!

[Well Geboren]

And when the anesthetic agent they had given "his"

Him

Right, back to your story, got more to proof.

[Crystonian]

He could only stare in horror as they shaved a sample off the tip of his horn, drilled into the base, extracted a crystalline sample from within, and then sealed the hole with a laser.

Woah woah woah! Wont that harm his magical flow?!

[Starcat5]

Oh dear Epona, he was awake through that whole thing?!? Oh yeah, someone is going to pay for this.