Super Soldier: When Trumpets Fade (part 1)
When the duo came to, they found themselves laying back first on the ground in a ruined corridor. The ceiling was all but completely destroyed by their fall and the many pieces of rubble that had come loose from their encounter with the Sleeper. His eyes felt heavy, and the sweet embrace of sleep tried to call him back to its enveloping darkness, but a bang of falling rock and pieces of the castle overhead shook him awake. The first thing he felt about himself is that all of his appendages were either numb or in excruciating pain. Thankfully, he had slipped his shield back on to the magnet mounted to his back to prevent instant death from the fall. Unfortunately that meant his arms and legs were left to absorb the rest of the impact.
His shield arm felt like it was shattered in several places and was dislocated at the shoulder again, which he had hoped wouldnt happen a second time. His left arm fared even less as it was hyper extended in the fall, which meant he would have to get it fixed before they could go onwards.
His legs writhed in pain as they too had not escaped any damage. They felt broken in several sensitive places which made any moving all the more difficult. His chest felt like it was being clamped with a vice, like four separate claws were holding him down to restrain his movement. Opening his eyes completely, Steve looked down and found Firebrand still holding on for dear life with his eyes closed tightly, not realizing that they had already hit the bottom of the hole. Steve chuckled inwardly when Steve saw that it was Firebrand's black horse shoes that were causing him the extra pain, though he felt that he would have to break that fact to the colt rather gently.
"Firebrand, Firebrand, come on buddy. We've stopped falling. Much to my dismay," He grunted.
He could feel Firebrand's grip loosen as one of his eyes opened following his head lifting off of Steve's chest.
"Daddy? What happened?" the little foal asked. "My brain feels cold and stings like after Uncle Howard gave me that ice cream."
Steve gave Firebrand a concerned look. He was by no means knowledgeable at all in magic. He had no idea who even was, but he knew when they got back to London that he would have to if he was going to free the colt from whoever was controlling him.
"We'll figure that out later pal. I have a feeling whatever that was, we will have to deal with one way or another. Right now though, we have to contact Uncle Bucky and find a way out of here before the entire castle collapses on us."
"Alright," the colt replied.
He sat up slowly, immediately regretting his action as he felt pain like a million nails being jabbed into his flesh from all sides. He let out a painful groan which drew Firebrand's attention to his condition.
"DADDY! What happened to you?" he wailed as he pointed at his hyper extended arm.
"Just got a little beat up, nothing to worry about," Steve insisted as he tried standing up on his feet, but collapsed when the pain was too much.
Firebrand tried to offer to make a tourniquet for his arm but given the mission, he couldnt have any of his limbs out of commission until they made it back to the extraction point. His minor healing factor was taking longer to fix him, given the extent of the damage. They couldnt stick around for too long or the constant cave ins were going to trap them inside.
"Don't move Daddy. I think I can help." Firebrand assured. "I dont know why, but I think I can do something."
Steve watched closely, wanting to take in as much information as he could to gain any knowledge he could on the colt's magic.
Firebrand closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as if he was trying to call upon a skill he had not practiced in ages. His horn started to glow crimson and a sound like a large generator activating whirred and sputtered from the tip of his horn. A spiraling steady stream of energy pulsed from Firebrand's horn, enveloping Steve's entire body in a red glow.
In a twinkling of an eye, Steve could feel all the pain in his limbs melt away as his limbs crunched and cracked back in place. It made his skin crawl as all the bones just danced around his insides, pushing and pulling against his muscles and inner layers of his skin. He tried keeping his limbs as still as possible so as to not interrupt Firebrand's process. His hyper extended arm turned and cracked back to its natural shape.
This happened for another minute until Firebrand could no longer handle the amount of magic he had spent. The spell then dis ignited and flowed back into the foal's body as he collapsed to his front knees from exhaustion. He started sweating profusely and panting loudly, trying to gain his energy back.
Steve tried lifting his shield arm carefully and flexed his fingers very slowly so as to not aggravate anything. He still hurt very badly everywhere but not enough to incapacitate him. Whatever Firebrand had done to him, it would give his healing factor a chance to fix everything else as they moved forward. Provided that he didnt fall down a high cliff again. He could move both of his arms sufficiently enough, which prompted him to try his legs next.
As expected, they still felt like he had just laid in a mound of hot coals, but he was able to move them enough to stand up on his feet. He pushed himself up on to his knees as he went over to Firebrand to check on him.
"You alright buddy?" Steve asked concerned.
The foal was still panting heavily and sweat was soaking into his fur, but he made a quick nod as he leaned up against the human.
"What do you call that spell? The Medigun?," Steve asked cheerfully.
The colt just kept panting as Steve gently picked him up and placed him back into his harness. He decided to take a quick moment to look around the room for anything important.
Steve noticed that it was a meeting room, presumably between a few of the scientists and specialists that were stationed in that area of the castle. A single wall had a control console that appeared to be primarily used for maintenance and cooling systems. Standing in front of it was a rolling blackboard filled with various diagrams and mathematical equations. One schematic in particular detailed power from many facilities being diverted to a specific room in the castle. Steve recognized a name among all of the nearly illegible German cursive that made his blood turn cold. Firebrand looked over Steve's shoulder at the diagram and whimpered fearfully.
"Falsworth!"
"Uncle Fally?
Steve activated his communicator as it chirped to life, so he can try to reach his friends on the surface.
"Bucky, do you read? The Skull got away...but I found some blueprints, and they show a lot of power being diverted to the Northern Chapel. I think that's where they are holding Falsworth." Steve barked into the communicator.
The communicator was silent for a moment, but then he heard Bucky's aggressive voice came in.
"Copy. I want in on this Steve. No arguments." he demanded.
Steve laughed weakly.
"You wont get any from me. Falsworth is definitely gonna be in bad shape...I'll need help extracting him to a medical facility. Can you and Dugan get back in?"
"Hell yes Cap," he heard Dugan shout on the other end. "Let's gear up and haul ass ladies."
"We gotta help him!" Firebrand wailed.
"Don't you worry little man," Bucky assured the colt through the comm. "We found some massive ordinance confiscated from a Russkie commando unit."
"Just get back in here and wreck everything in your way," Cap ordered.
"Sir, yes sir!" Bucky replied gleefully.
"Thanks Buck, I'll see you guys at the castle."
The communicator shut off as Steve and Firebrand went forward, trying to find their way out of the collapsing laboratory.
There was a sudden burst of heat in the passages, like being on the inside of an oven. Around the corner, Cap found a hallway on fire, forcing him to flip across the hallway, using the exposed pipes that clung close to the ceiling. Electrical junctions had been ripped out of the lower sections of the wall, igniting containers of toxic waste that had come from nearby heavy machinery. After being around Firebrand for a while, Steve had built up somewhat of a resistance to extreme heat. With Firebrand clinging to his back, Steve made it across the gap relatively quickly.
The path opened outwards as they came to a turn and found a branching hall with a viewing glass. Outside was a large hangar that stretched out from side to side about half a mile across. Inside were Hydra attack helicopters fully primed and ready for takeoff.
"Helicopters..." he mused.
"Are we gonna fly out?" Firebrand asked expectantly.
"I think so pal." he replied. "After we find everyone of course."
"I hope it doesnt make my tummy grumbly. Those flips and spins are making me feel funny,"
The colt's stomach gurgled almost in response. Steve groaned inwardly hoping that he wouldnt sick on his shoulder.
Heading down the right corridor first, they found a smaller office with an armored locked door on one end and a group of large crates stacked up in random spots. The shelves and drawers in the office were all empty, save for a few stray schematics and papers. Steve concluded that whoever had occupied this office, must have left in a hurry. One of the schematics that got left behind was one that detailed a critical weakness in Scorcher Juggernaut armor. An actuator that separated their accelerant tanks from their flame launchers. Steve quickly folded it up and shoved it into his pouch.
Every couple of steps, the entire structure around him shook violently, telling him just how little time he and Firebrand had left to stop the Sleeper. Running back down the hallway to the leftside passage, Steve clipped his shoulders every so often against lockers and trunks that were set up there. Some of their doors hung wide open and some were still clamped shut.
Firebrand felt the familiar presence of something terrifying approaching from up ahead. It made his head suddenly start flaring up again with a serious migraine as he closed his eyes and tried holding his head.
Steve turned a corner into a long empty room, only to find a powerful pulse being launched at him. He reared back and narrowly dodged the blast. It was another lone Screamer that had somehow escaped Zola's lab.
"There must be dozens of these things all over the castle!" Steve exclaimed.
Firebrand opened his eyes and tried keeping down his terror when his eyes laid upon the Screamer. The single glowing yellow eye, the half dead gaping mouth, and the twisted gangly body that used to belong to a man. He jumped out of the harness for a moment to try to help Cap with his magic. He felt his legs shake and wobble as he finally took in the size of the Screamer without being elevated by his position on Steve's back.
As it approached, Firebrand panicked and launched his horse shoes at the creature, which fractured its protective aura. Steve took the opportunity of it being distracted as he closed in and gave a solid roundhouse kick to the chest, destroying its suit and sending it sprawling.
Shaking his head quickly, Firebrand got the fear out of his system once he saw the Screamer on the ground. It was mobidly comforting being assured that what had traumatized and hurt him so much was just as mortal as he was. The monsters that haunted his mind could be harmed. It gave him a new sense of confidence and strength as he hopped back into his harness and called forth his horse shoes back on to his fore hooves. They slipped back on comfortably with a loud clank as Steve looked back at the foal with concern.
He could tell that those creatures bothered him deeply. Firebrand had gone through an ordeal that nobody should have to endure. It was going to be tough, but with time and patience, he would get him through this just like everything else.
"You alright? I know those things scare you," he asked gently.
"They hurt me." he replied bluntly.
Steve reached behind and grabbed ahold of one of his hooves. It was a loving gesture that Firebrand greatly appreciated.
"And as long as I'm breathing, those things wont lay another finger on you again," he proclaimed.
With that, they came out to a part of the castle that had been destroyed, revealing the side of the mountain, just a few hundred meters under the castle. Pipes spewing out steam and hot water stretched from one jutting part of the cliff side to the other. They turned and went every which way, going to different parts of the castle. Presumably for either plumbing, cooling machinery, or powering something big. Scaffolding and half completed catwalks up and down the cliffside covered in various construction materials was left unoccupied. Steve could tell that they had plans to build the castle even further if it had not been for his and Firebrand's interference.
A cable leading from where they were standing down to another walkway, built in the cliffside provided them with the path they needed. Steve once again stretched out his shield around the cable and held on tight, using it as a zipline for him and Firebrand to get across.
As soon as they made it across, Steve found a path through the scaffolding and mazes of pipes and rigging to use as handholds to climb up. It was an arduous task in his still weakened state, but he managed fine. The pipes moist from condensation were slippery and difficult to get a tight grip on. Three times, Steve nearly slipped and fell to his doom if Firebrand had not found a way to tether them to the handholds with a new spell, just in the nick of time. Cap wasnt sure how it happened. All Firebrand could tell him was that he felt out to the nearest thing he could grab with his magic and it pulled them in.
Eventually, Steve found his way up to a catwalk, near the top of the cliff face. The main exterior of the castle came into view, covered everywhere witth giant Hydra banners that stretched down at least fifty feet. Above them was a landing platform for some kind of aircraft.
Somewhere coming from off to the right, one of Hydra's attack helicopters flew by, heading towards a blimp that was docked there at the landing platform. Steve immediately knew who was inside that helicopter.
"The Skull..." he growled.
Steve went into a full on sprint, desperate to try to catch the Red Skull this time. The cliff face did its best to delay his progress as more paths, ladders, and gaps seemed to appear. When he made it to one of the lower landing platforms, he had Firebrand gather up anything of significance he could see with his magic before moving onF. The upper catwalks prevented him from seeing where the blimp was exactly but he could tell by the sound that he was close. They rounded another corner of the catwalk, and found the blimp speeding away off somewhere else.
"DAMNIT!!" Steve swore. "We just barely missed him."
"What about Uncle Fally?" Firebrand asked worried.
Steve paused for a moment, watching the blimp go off further and further into the distance before shaking his head.
"You're right buddy. We need to get out of here and find a path to the chapel. We'll get the Skull soon enough."
Steve noticed something on the other side of a gap, not far from where he was standing.It was an anti aircraft cannon pointed somewhere off into the distance of the open sky.
'Should probably take that out before we move on.' Steve thought. 'I dont want a single one of those things active when the cavalry gets here.'
It didnt take long as Steve made it across and quickly planted another brick of C5. Activating the countdown, Steve found a power cord heading back down to the landing platform and slid down before they got caught up in the explosion.
Firebrand pointed ahead to a door where they could potentially start making their way up to the surface of the castle. Beside it was another one of Zola's booby trapped code boxes which he would have to crack before they could proceed.
However, before he could even step closer to it, the sound of a propeller buzzing like a chainsaw came from directly behind, causing Steve to curse under his breath. He whipped around to find a rocket coming right at his face, giving him barely enough time to jump out of the way before it exploded against the wall of the castle.
The helicopter was jet black all over, except for the windows and front lights which were bright green. Three propellers were attached to the wings and the tail which seemed to provide the aircraft with increased mobility and speed. The bottom side of the plane was outfitted with a number of rocket launchers and gattling guns which were going to prove problematic if they did not get rid of it quickly.
"Stupid plane!" Firebrand shouted angrily. "Stop shooting at us!"
"I dont think they are gonna listen pal," Cap replied dryly. "We are gonna need a lot of firepower to blow that thing out of the sky."
Cap headed up to the top platform of the airdock where he found two mounted rocket launchers there. Unfortunately for him, the plane flexed its wings as they targeted the rocket launchers and destroyed them before the duo could use them to their advantage.
"CRAP!"
The plane unleashed a targeted rain of bullets on the two as Steve held his shield up, doing his best to keep himself and the colt on his back from being struck. A million thoughts and plans raced through his head in a moment, but none of them were viable in this situation. When the plane's guns overheated, a small group of armored soldiers came flooding out of another sealed door, advancing on the super soldier.
They were only a minor annoyance to the two, but the plane quickly getting its weapons back in working condition, it turned their fight into a ticking time bomb which they would need to defuse quickly. Firebrand assisted with the fight, but it seemed they would run out of time just barely as the attack helicopter raised its wings once again, preparing to fire,
"Daddy! Point me at the plane!" he chattered with a new enthusiasm.
"The what--" Steve asked.
Steve didnt know what he was talking about for only a moment, until the gears in his head started to spin.
"Ohhhhhh," Steve replied in realization.
He held up his shield once again, as the aircraft once again unleashed another salvo with its gattling guns and grenade launchers. Firebrand jumped behind Steve to keep himself from being hit. He waited with his until the plane's guns overheated again, giving him the perfect moment to act. Taking the foal, he laid him stomach down over his shoulder as Firebrand stretched out his arms and legs. His mouth curled up into a big pearly white smile that would rival the Cheshire Cat.
Firebrand charged up his horse shoes with his magic as their red glow at the tip of his forelegs grew larger and brighter. When he felt the energy hit its peak, he let it out all at once, and his shoes went flying with a crack, going as fast as a RPG coming out of its barrel.
"MAGGOT!" Firebrand shouted with jubilation.
"The horse shoes impacted against the helicopter, detonating it into a firey pillar as it was launched further into the air and plummeted down the cliff into the valleys far below the mountain. Steve looked over the railing, watching the aircraft fall for a moment before turning to Firebrand who had just recalled his shoes back to his fore hooves again.
"Not bad! We should probably find time to practice your magic. All these new spells could come in handy in the future." Steve said thoughtfully.
Firebrand vigorously agreed as they turned their attention to the door on the floor below. But before they went down again, they checked inside the room that had opened up where the soldiers came out of.
It was a small barracks room with a couple of generators that provided power to this small part of the castle. Along one side of the room was a row of metal shelves filled with all manner of knick nacks and personal items that presumably belonged to some of the soldiers here. Steve picked out another film reel on one of the shelves with a familiar symbol on it. Zola's master mann project which was labelled Iron Cross.
Any intel he received of Zola's inventions would provide them with an edge. Especially of his lumbering enemy which gave him so much trouble not an hour earlier. He pocketed it and they went back down to the first level.
This time, thankfully the code was a little easier as Steve cracked it fairly quickly, allowing them entry back into the depths of Baron Zemo's stone cold castle.
Next Time: Super Soldier- When Trumpets Fade (part 2)
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Hey welcome back! The story's still cracking along I see, it'll be good to get a nice R&R sequence once all involved manage to get clear of this mess.
Goodness knows they'll need it...
I will say this, when I read the bit about the ice transformation, all I could think was that was Firebrand’s opposite... which I will name Frostbite
I still am! I am a professional lurker!
keep this up pls!
the stories getting epicer!
This is a really fun story to read. It’s been on my shelf for a while and I gave it a quick read the other day and, safe to say, I’m hooked...albeit with some confusion about the current arc :How is Jadis, the White Witch factoring into all this when we already have Marvel’s Asgard and MLP FiM mixing in already? Also, HOLY COW! The monsters are proper terrifying and the writing? I can literally see everything happening in my head like I’m watching a film! Spettro? Keep up the amazing work, man. I cannot wait to reread this and see what is in store!
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The Narnia parts I'm debating with myself whether I should keep in or edit them out. Since the book and the movie take place during World War II I figured it would be a good opportunity to insert something like that. To give Firebrand a bit of a Temptation Arc with coming across the White Witch and have her possess him. I guess it isn't working though.
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I think it’s mainly because you’re using elements of Norse Mythology alongside MCU and now are adding Narnia into the mix. I’m liking the idea of this Temptation Arc but the Narnia stuff felt pretty sudden. Again, I’m liking it and look forward to what is in store but am a bit confused (in a good way) about this new element to the story.