A New Brand of Freedom

by Spettro138

Super Soldier: Church on Time

Every step forward brought Steve and Firebrand further and further into a labyrinth of alleyways and backlots. The places people rarely seemed to venture into in this place. The walls on every side were brown and cracked from neglect, covered in slime and fungi. Stagnant puddles covered every inch of the cobblestone, stinking up the passageways in an assortment of foul smells and textures that he didn't want to think about. All the windows were dark in this place, making Steve wonder what the castle town might have been like when it once thrived. If the Zemo family was ever benevolent enough to allow common peasants inside the boundaries of their mountain-top home. The buildings reaching high blocked out most of the cold, grey sky but Cap could tell that a blizzard was on its way to the mountain. The air around the duo was dropping in temperature rapidly, which meant they wouldn't have much time left until the fortress was completely enveloped by the storm.

Firebrand didn't like the silence, save for the sound of his father's feet clacking and splashing over wet cobblestone. It reminded him too much of the silence in that cold place from his dreams. So he thought about asking Steve something to push the thought out of his head.

"Daddy, where do we live?" Firebrand asked twiddling his forehooves.

The oddness and spontaneity of the question made Steve halt his running for a moment as he turned his head to look back at the foal with a raised eyebrow. Firebrand lowered his head in embarrassment partially expecting a negative response, but Steve just smiled.

"Right now, that's a bit complicated little buddy." Steve replied softly. "Before the war, I didn't really have a home of my own. I have just kinda been living with Uncle Bucky for a few years in New York. At the moment though, the S.S.R is our home. After the war...I guess we can go back to New York together...If you want."

"New...York? Where's that?"

"Far to the west on the other side of the ocean pal."

"The Ocean?" the foal inquired.

"Oh yeah, I guess we were too high up over the clouds to see it. Plus, I didn't get to teach you everything I wanted back in Tarvisio." Steve replied as he went back to running. "Its water that covers most of the world bud. Small sections of the ocean are called seas. Don't know too much about it myself. I didn't get much schooling on that kind of thing. All I know is all different kinds of fish, animals, and plants suited for water live in it and its largely unexplored. The most I've seen is the Hudson and the bay around New York. That's just mostly filled with trash, oil, bass and bottom feeder fish. I stopped a Hydra sub from escaping into the Hudson a few months ago."

It was a rather disappointing response for the both of them. Steve wished he could answer every question Firebrand had about the world. He was still only a child after all, and growing faster than any living thing should be. Steve had a thought about taking time in between missions to visit any library he came across. He needed to learn more about the world himself.

"Can we see the ocean?" Firebrand asked hopefully.

"...Sure," he replied. "If we get a chance during these missions or after the war, I'll take you myself. We'll go swimming and fishing."

"Can mamma come too?" Firebrand asked sweetly.

Steve felt his face heat up as he imagined Peggy in a swimsuit.

He cleared his throat and pushed his mind back to the mission at hand.

"Yeah, we'll all go. We'll have the time of our lives."

After that, Firebrand put his mind on more pleasant thoughts as they continued their way through the Castle Town's labyrinth of side streets and alleyways. It only took another ten minutes to find their way out as they turned another corner and found a stairway back out into the open. The streets started to open up wider again and their objective was finally in sight. The chapel was situated on the highest point of the Castle Town across a stone bridge that looked out over the whole place. The chapel was covered in sentry towers and communication wires that didn't blend into the original architecture at all. It was rather sad seeing what must have been a beautiful building at once, turned into an amalgamation of Hydra structures.

"There's the chapel...and its well fortified. Falsworth has to be inside."

Firebrand heard someone closing in near their position and jumped down out of his harness again to prepare for another fight.

"What's wrong?" Steve whispered.

"I smell the big oily men." he replied.

"Scorchers? Where?"

Firebrand ran to a street corner and peeked around the side of the building. He found a battalion consisting of thirty troops and Scorchers blocking the way towards the chapel. It was an open area with an ornate fountain in the center. Its centerpiece was a horse that looked like it would have spat water out of its mouth into the trough below. For whatever reason, Firebrand felt a pang of familiarity to the fountain. All of the buildings around the open area were badly damaged. Large holes were blasted out of the second story walls, showing fires inside that were slowly starting to blaze out of control. Even the colt knew that they couldn't stay in this place for much longer. He waved Steve over who peeked around the corner carefully as well.

"Gotta get through them quickly," Steve stated.

Firebrand looked around and found a nearby communication pole that was broken from its foundation from the nearby disturbances of the Sleeper. The pole was barely holding on to the cracked chunk of the cobblestone road that it was installed into, with bits and pieces of rebar sticking out every which way. It was buzzing faintly, like it was short circuiting internally. Firebrand came up with an idea on the spot that would either help, or hinder Cap's chances of getting through faster.

He launched his right horse shoe to the left side of the pole, much to Steve's fear and dismay.

"What?!" Steve panicked quietly.

The shoe sailed and broke the pole free from the road, sending it falling down off to the right where the soldiers were. Steve could only hear their shrieks as the pole crashed into the fountain and broke the trough, sending the last bit of stagnant water from the rain flowing across the ground and past their boots. They were startled by the sudden apparent accident, only to feel a wave of pain tingling into their bodies as most of them collapsed to the ground, twitching. Then a shower of glowing red bricks came out of nowhere, pelting the last grunts as they were quickly taken out.

The juggernauts were still on their feet however, not entirely affected by the electricity. A sound of them activating their grenade launchers could be heard which clued Cap in to an opportunity to act. Without thinking, Cap took advantage of the diversion Firebrand had made and quickly knocked out the remaining Scorchers with his shield. When the fight had ended, Steve finally stopped and his brain started working again.

As he caught his breath, he took a moment to take a look around at the chaos, trying to comprehend what had just happened. A pile of still twitching grunts and juggernauts were laying in a heap being perpetually electrocuted. Firebrand retrieved his shoe and walked out into the open. He looked around at the devastated yard seemingly admiring his fine work of destruction. A brick fell from one of the roofs right by his head with a knock and a crack, startling the colt.

"If you are finished having fun, we gotta get up there," Steve urged gently.

Firebrand nodded with worry as they tried to go up the next flight of stairs towards the town square. Two statues of olden German knights holding swords sat in tree islands on either side of the stairway. They came up to a second open terrace where remains of an old medieval marketplace once were. On the other side, they spotted Hydra soldiers dashing away around the corner.

"Its them! Block the way! Don't let them reach the church!" they bellowed.

A massive fiery explosion on the other side followed suit and nearly shook Steve off of his feet.

"What in the world!?" Steve yelled.

He dashed up the next flight of stairs with his shield raised, expecting a hailstorm of bullets headed in the duo's direction. Instead, they finally found what used to be the town square. It was completely blown away, leaving a hole a hundred feet deep on every side. The broadside faces of the surrounding buildings were either completely destroyed or damaged in the blast. Bits and pieces of rubble everywhere were still smoldering with red hot embers.

"Daddy over there!" Firebrand cried.

He looked over to where Firebrand was pointing far off to the left and found the bridge leading to the chapel on the other side. It was being blocked off by three of Hydra's specialized energy tanks that he had seen back in Austria. They were shooting into the sky to ward off the allied fighters attacking the castle.

"We're gonna have to stay out of their line of sight pal."

Firebrand noticed a grunt across the chasm on the third floor of a building standing ready by a mounted rocket launcher. He tried to step forward to get a better look at it, but Steve had noticed it too and pulled him back behind cover before the foal could be spotted.

"I don't think we can take the straight path buddy. We can make some carnage and mayhem later," Steve dryly remarked.

"Awww."

Looking around, Steve found a path up and across a covered cross section of building that reached over to the other side like a bridge. It would cover their advance perfectly as they approached.

He picked up Firebrand by the scruff of the neck who yelped as he was swung back into his harness and tightened down with one of the straps.

Climbing up the sides of the building and across the bridge section proved to be more difficult than he thought. The handholds were smaller, forcing Cap to strain his fingers and test his luck even more as he shimmied towards the other side. Firebrand tried not to move as much to help him keep his balance. They made it across regardless, and found an opening around the south side of one of the buildings facing an alleyway.

The building was in complete disarray, but Steve managed to find pieces of rubble to jump off of and make it to the second floor. He found another anti aircraft cannon placed in the blasted out side of the building which gave it just enough room to aim, but not enough to be spot from the outside. The fuse box providing power for the cannon wasn't hard to break into as he disarmed it fairly quickly and went back to looking for a way to the third floor.

Across the hall, a Warden broke through a pair of double doors and tried to halt their progress. Steve made sure to keep facing his opponent to keep the Warden's claw from grabbing ahold of the colt. Unfortunately for the both of them, Firebrand came up with another diabolically stupid plan of his own to deal with their obstruction. As the Warden tried going for an upward slash, Firebrand levitated a nearby explosive gas barrel in between them. Before they could halt their attacks, Steve and the Warden collided with the barrel as it exploded outward.

Steve was luckier than his opponent as he had his shield covering himself and Firebrand. They were blasted down to the floor where Firebrand had his lungs crushed by his massive human father. Unfortunately for their opponent, the Warden was blasted through two walls, one of which appeared to be a security door that couldn't stay mounted in the damaged doorway, so it fell with a bang completely intact.

"Owww," Firebrand wheezed out painfully. "Bad me. Sorry daddy. "

"Ow is right. Warn me next time you are gonna try that," Steve snapped. "I'd rather not get the same face that the Skull has."

After that little misstep on Firebrand's part, the colt decided that he should take a breather before moving again or trying anything else. Getting crushed by a 220 pound man certainly hurt. Getting the wind knocked out of himself again was annoying. It took a couple of minutes for Firebrand to breathe normally without gasping. The bruising he would have to bite through until they were safe enough for him to complain about it.

The stairway up to the third floor was just around the corner as they took out any remaining grunts in the building. Steve finally spot the grunt guarding the mounted rocket launcher and snuck up behind him before delivering a sharp chop to the neck. The grunt collapsed to the floor like a sack of potatoes, leaving him to jump on to the turret as dozens of soldier were starting to pour into the area, forcing Cap to blow the alleyways to smithereens. Volley after volley of explosive incendiary rockets lit up the town like fireworks as squad after squad of Hydra soldiers were completely wiped out.

Moving on to the fourth floor, they found the wall facing the chapel was blown off. An artillery marker was left there for soldiers to mark any invading planes for the anti aircraft tanks to target.

"Perfect. I can use that to mark the tanks for artillery strikes. I don't want to push my luck with that explosive spell of yours little buddy. There's no telling how much strain those put on your body."

"Awwww. Okay. Let me see the boom boom tubes then" Firebrand complained.

"I think we can arrange that," Steve chuckled.

Cap activated his communicator and contacted one of his friends on the other side of the canyon.

"Morita, stand by for coordinates. We got some tanks over here that need shelling. I'm just a few hundred feet away from the chapel."

"I've had an itchy trigger finger all day and they've been firing on us for two. Mark em up for us Cap!" his squad mate said gleefully.

In a dark, untouched corner of the room that had not been damaged by Hydra's reckless destruction of the town, Firebrand spotted a secret compartment in the wall that hid another gold family Zemo falcon. The colt levitated it up and placed it in Steve's pouch while the soldier in question went over to the marker and aimed one charge onto the nearest tank to themselves. The charge burnt out the battery in the Range Finder, causing it to smoke and send up a telegraph of the tanks coordinates.

"Coordinates locked in. Fire at will!" Cap commanded.

Firebrand still aching from his self inflicted injury pulled himself over Steve's shoulder to witness the bombardment of the Super Fortress squadron flying above. The first tank was blasted to pieces as it seemed to turn into a bonfire in an instant. The colt was wildly entertained with the fiery rain and destruction all around. Doing nothing to curb Steve's mild concern for the foal's mental health.

"The dish is toast. I bet they have another on the other side of the plaza."

"Awww, we have to wait for more colored rain?" Firebrand asked humorously mournful.

"Give me just a few minutes and I'll have more on the way."

Cap moved down a few more hallways and ruined buildings, searching for a path on the other side while Firebrand took a breather in his harness. They could still hear the other tank firing away at the sky, which made Steve pick up the pace as they ran through a maze of ruined hallways and Baroque Era architecture.

Firebrand shrugged and decided that he should at least make himself useful until his extreme soreness had healed up somewhat. He pulled the falcon statue back out of Steve's pouch and examined the figure for another of Zemo's journal entries. It didnt take much longer as the bottom popped off satisfyingly just like the other times. Placing the bottom back into Steve's pouch, Firebrand reached in and found another entry. The page was folded into a neat square but severely yellowed from time and moisture. Clearly exposure to the elements was not good to this entry.

He unfolded it carefully with his magic so as to not rip the page and read the words the mysterious Baron Zemo had written though he didn't understand them himself:

The Skull has summoned more detestable lieutenants, including one young fellow who also claims to be a Baron like myself. Yet he allows the Skull and Zola to order him around like a common domestic. And the woman...if the Baronesses who lived here could see her mannish affectations and scandalous attire, they would faint dead away. I tolerate this duo's presence only with difficulty; should they vex me, they will pay the price.

"What did you find Fire?" Steve asked the colt.

The question startled the foal, but he handed the page to Steve who quickly read through it before handing it back. Firebrand neatly folded it back up and placed it back in his pouch.

"I guess Zemo really did hate them as much as we do." Steve said thoughtfully. "Kinda funny in hindsight I guess, but we'll have to see if we can find him after we deal with Zola. I have a feeling Zemo was privy to all their plans and strategies."

"Is he gonna be a new friend?"

"I certainly hope so...though his attitude does concern me. He had an unhealthy obsession of his own and it seems some dangerous ambitions. He just didn't get the chance to enact them himself when Schmitt got here."

Soon enough, the two found the second range finder on the western side of the plaza. Charging it up, he pulled it down to aim at the last tank blocking the bridge and locked on, burning out the mechanism once more.

"Target locked! Fire when ready!" Cap barked into his communicator.

"Stand clear you two!" Morita yelled back.

Just a few seconds later, a line of bombs lit the plaza ablaze and sent the last tank skyward. It exploded bigger and brighter than the last one. Firebrand ooed and aahed at the display, getting his excitement and energy back.

"How did we do Cap?" Morita asked.

"Aces back to back. Good work!"

"Great news, Cap! Bucky and Dugan are en route to your location. Get in and get Falsworth out of there!"

"I just pray that we're not too late." Steve hoped.

He hopped down from the fourth floor down to the plaza below and vaulted over an iron gate. Three scorchers tried to impede their progress but they were cut down quickly with a bash from Firebrand's horse shoes and Cap's shield as they sprinted for the chapel, ready for whatever horrors were awaiting them within its once hallowed walls, now touched by evil...

Next Time: Super Soldier-The First of The Few

Author's Note:

I'm really, really late with this but I hope you guys all are enjoying it. I have the next chapter started and I'm getting into a four day groove. Each chapter will hopefully be released every four days depending on the length. I've been doing some serious editing on the past chapters with room to do a lot more, and I've replaced a bad plot point with some more norse mythological stuff that actually fits within the confines of the Marvel Universe.

Happy New Year to you all!