A New Brand of Freedom

by Spettro138

Loss and Capture

Why did everything have to turn out this way? The plan was airtight, everyone was prepared for everything and ready for every contingency. Or so they thought. Steve's world was being torn down right around him and he was going to do everything to keep it from happening. His mind and sanity were at its limits, he was emotionally drained and his will had just taken a major blow. With the cold pelting his skin, his body would be the last one to go if the world had its way. The unnatural wind shrieked like a stadium filled with exuberant spectators. He could barely hear the sound of other Hydra troops Firebrand was smacking aside like they were tin cans. He could hear a voice over the wind that sounded like Gabe's, but at this point, the wind could have been playing tricks on him.

In the engine, Dr. Zola and his guards were in a panic, trying to lock down themselves from the rest of the train. He could not detonate the cargo in the train, or the Skull would have his head. No, all he could do was wait for them to come to the next Hydra checkpoint to drive off the Americans with reinforcements. Yes, that was the most suitable course of action for the scientist. He had to contain the foal and study his new power. Pressing a button on the control panel, the doctor opened two wall compartments in the last car before the engine room, hoping his new creations would buy him enough time. Two hulking figures stepped out of the dark, heavy steps clanking against the floor like a hammer hitting an anvil. He watched the security screen with glee and delight as he tapped his fingers against each other in thought. The figures turned toward the camera and two sets of glowing yellow eyes illuminated their vibrant dark green bodies. They each thrusted both arms into the air diagonally with their fists clenched in salute for Hydra.

"Protect me, my faithful prototypes. This will have to be an early test of your capabilities I am afraid." Zola said to the brainless machines. "Go forth, and kill them all my Mankillers! Knock the child out cold, and bring him to me alive and unspoiled if possible. If not, kill him so I may harvest his body."

A loud bang from behind him shook him out of his sense of accomplishment. Suddenly, the entire control panel of the engine began to crust over with frost and ice. In the security camera, the same was happening to the previous car as the armored door on the opposite side looked like it had been hit with a speeding bus. Right before his eyes, it completely froze over as something tore it off of its hinges and sent it falling to the ground.

Zola's glasses were beginning to crust over as well, forcing him to take them off and fling them onto the control board. On the security camera he could see thick fog rolling into the car, as thick as one would see in a harbor, concentrated in the train. Something small and blue levitated into the doorway of the car. Its silvery mane flickered in the wind weightlessly as if it was alive separate from the main organism. It's black eyes turned to the camera and sneered, revealing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, white, like icicles. It let out an inhuman scream into the car that shook the Mankillers but sent them into a defensive posture.

"Your toys won't keep you from me Zola," the foal growled.

Although the Doctor could tell it wasn't his voice. It was like two voices overlapping on one another. Creating a sinister reverb that made it simultaneously deep and high at the same time.

"Go forth and engage my pets!" Zola barked into the microphone.

In an instant, the Mankillers rocketed towards the foal who caught their punches in a constant beam of subzero air that repelled their fists like a magnet. The colt pushed them into the walls of the train which made multiple dents. The metal banged and creaked violently under the pressure, like it was close to breaking open. They still remained on their feet, but noticeably shaken. Frostbite took the opportunity by creating a storm of ice needles and flinging them at high speed. The machines batted them out of the air but missed the colt dashing behind them to freeze their leg servos and break them with a thought. Their torsos collapsed to the ground but still tried vaporizing him with yellow energy blasts from their eyes. Frostbite managed to dodge one set, but the other blasted a hole in the colt's foreleg and cut his cheek.

The act sent Frostbite into a howling fury as he held the damaged appendage and crimson red blood seeped out. With a will from his master and a silvery glow from his horn, ice magically inserted itself into the hole and forced the flesh to heal over. Frostbite twitched and scowled with pain as he did this but when he was finished, he crusted the walls of the car in ice and threw them against each one. The act broke open the walls like liquid nitrogen on a flower, shattering to pieces. Their silent screams would never be heard as they fell into the fog covered valley below.

Zola looked on in terror as the foal turned back towards the camera, now alone in the train car before the camera went dead.

"Where did--" the engineer began before he was sucked out the ceiling sky light screaming.

The armored door was slowly ripped from its hinges as the colt that destroyed his finest creations yet stepped forward with a dead look on his face but a cold fury in his black eyes.

"I am Frostbite, Zola. You owe me a scream for what you did to my vessel." it said sadistically.

"I'm sure we could come up with a mutually beneficial arrange--" Zola started.

"Shut up and die."

Frostbite held his hooves together as they whispered and shrieked with magical power. Opening his hooves, a massive dagger made of ice coalesced into being, crackling and fusing together into a solid object.

Zola screamed as Frostbite raised the dagger over him and was about to go into a thrust before something large slammed into him from behind and smashed the colt's face into the console. It hissed as Frostbite tried to get up and turned around from being dazed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a familiar figure with a starred chest giving him a sharp chop to the back of the head to finish the job.

"I'm...sorry...little...buddy," Steve coughed out as he shivered and tried to break the ice from his body.

He went to pick up the foal, but didn't see as the stone in his front pouch began to glow. When the pouch touched his hoof dangling out over the console, Steve watched as the blue and silver coloration retreated from his body like a swarm of insects from water.

Gabe jumped down the already broken skylight and pointed his rifle at Zola who cowered back in fear.

"Now, now, my friends, I'm sure we can work this out," Zola said before Gabe smashed his face with the butt of his rifle and knocked him out.

A dark and cold void once again graced Firebrand's unconsciousness. Empty blackness with whispers of nameless horrors just out of earshot. Before Firebrand could feel a number of things and could see a number of things. Fragments, sounds, voices from the outside. He was shoved to the backseat of his mind when the creature had taken control again. It was a horrifying sensation. When everything went dark, he could only have assumed that the creature had lost control. Floating and wandering in this endless abyss would haunt his sleep.

That is, if someone had not intervened.

"Firebrand...Firebrand...Firebrand...you must awaken." A familiar commanding feminine voice called out. "Much is to be done before you are to meet me properly. You must complete your mission. I will do what I can to keep him out, but the rest is up to the two of you."

The next thing the foal knew, he was waking up somewhere different. He no longer felt dead and cold like before. Instead, something warm and soft had wrapped him up tightly in its embrace. Hot air brushed against his face and a satisfying crackling came to his ears like freshly popped popcorn. Firebrand's eyelids fluttered open and he saw he was in a study in someone's house. It was daytime, that much was certain, but smoke and other pollution dulled the sun's rays somewhat. A charming hearth above a fireplace. The white paint on the walls was cracked but brightened up the room considerably. It was somebody's house.

He could hear a sizzling coming from the kitchen and a delightful smell that hit his muzzle like a ton of bricks. It helped his mood improve somewhat. Especially at the prospect of hot food after his...experience. There was another smell that he couldn't identify but it smelled juicy, crispy and familiar. Not familiar in the traditional sense though. Just a feeling that somewhere, sometime in the past, all of these sights and smells he had seen before, he had felt before.

The foal looked down at his hooves, wondering why he was feeling this way. Like there was a memory he couldn't grab onto with his own two hands even if he tried.

'Hands?' the colt thought. 'That's funny. Where did that come from?'

Suddenly, he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove and turned his attention to the doorway where a pleasant sight greeted him.

"You're awake! Splendid. I am not certain if you can speak English sweetie. If not this will be rather awkward for me."

It was a woman with shoulder length curly black hair, white flower earrings, a pale white face and ruby red lipstick. Almost like his Mama, but not quite. Firebrand could sense an unsure and somewhat nervous quality to her, but still a pure kindness just the same.

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's my daddy?" Firebrand asked tiredly.

"Oh, dear me. Forgive my rudeness. I am Elizabeth Nel dear and this is Chartwell. 39 kilometers from London if you like. When Captain Rogers came back with...the scientist you helped capture, the Prime Minister wished to speak with him privately. He wouldn't let you go for anything, but with much convincing, the Prime Minister let you stay here until you awoke. It was rather endearing."

Firebrand tried getting up and found he was laying in a small bed in the middle of the study. His head was pounding and felt cool. As if his blood hadn't fully warmed back up yet. His horn felt like it had been smashed with a hammer and to boot, his ears were ringing. He held his head in discomfort and Elizabeth went out for a moment before bringing someone familiar in. A cocky man with greasy jet black hair, a sly look in his eye and a sickeningly charming thin mustache Firebrand knew all too well.

"Uncle Howard!" Firebrand cried with excitement.

"How are you feeling sport? Also hi there Ellie."

The woman coughed politely into her hand and blushed slightly as she curtseyed to Howard politely.

"Like snow was poured into my skull," the foal groaned.

"I think I have an easy solution for that." he replied with certainty.

He pulled something rectangular out of his pocket and began to unwrap it. Firebrand watched in interest as the paper exterior wrapper gave way to a secondary golden foil wrapper. He peeled that back to reveal something sugary and sweet Firebrand loved.

"Is that chocolate?" he asked hopefully.

"All yours little pal. Just a bit of glucose and theobromine to fire up your blood flow and activate your neuron receptors. Should warm the rest of you right up."

He handed the bar to Firebrand who took it gladly and began to gingerly munch on it, savoring each nibble. Suddenly, the colt could feel warmth move back from the tips of his four hooves, all the way to his brain. The silky, rich taste of the chocolate danced across his tongue. Firebrand looked at the bar for a moment, before remembering something that brought the dead feeling back into his soul. He gently placed the partially eaten chocolate bar on the small table next to his bed. Lifting his hooves up, he rested his head in them and started to silently sniffle.

"Its my fault."

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"I messed up, and now Uncle Bucky is gone." Firebrand wept quietly.

"No, you didn't buddy. I read the report. You nearly killed yourself trying to help him. "

"I could have saved him. I SHOULD have been able to save him."

"You did everything you could and more my boy, never be ashamed of that," someone else said. "Damn anyone else who says differently.

Firebrand saw a rather round man wearing spectacles come into the room. He had a strong, commanding presence, and he had a sense that he should know who this man was. He had a big cigar held between his index and middle finger, still smoking. A black bowler hat sat on his head just like the one that Dugan wore. In his left hand he loosely held a cane that he barely seemed to be using. A testament to how lively this man likely was in public.

"Prime Minister. You're back early." Howard replied. "Thanks for letting us use your pad here."

"Not at all, Howard my dear boy. I had to meet our second new champion. A leader must be proactive with his troops." he replied. "Especially one as unique and young as you Firebrand."

"Who are you?" Firebrand asked.

"Winston if you may," he said with a wink as he sat down in a chair and puffed on his cigar. "Now, I hear you are having some internal and external trouble that is eating you up if you'll pardon the expression. I may not be a head doctor but I am a very good judge of character."

Firebrand looked back to Elizabeth and Howard who nodded in approval. He looked at the man as tears continued down his face.

"I couldn't save my Uncle Bucky, I tried to kill my daddy, and something keeps jumping out of me. Something mean and cold. Its making me feel powerless."

"Sergeant James Barnes seemed a good man and a terrific soldier. The Allies will miss him terribly and both America and the whole of the United Kingdom will remember his sacrifice. I can tell you with certainty my lad that he knows how hard you fought for him. You fought through harsh injuries and literal demons that would break lesser men trying to save him. Nobody can take that claim away from you. You have the Almighty watching out for you personally, I'll damn well bet my fortune on it."

The colt shifted, not knowing what to say as he continued looking into his white bedsheets.

"I can't tell you the road ahead is going to be easy my lad. It sure hasn't been for either of our nations We have faced our darkest hour and there are surely darker to come."

Looking out the window pondering in thought, the foal caught a Union Jack on a flag pole dancing in the wind. He saw the flag draped over Falsworth back at the castle but didn't quite understand what it signified. The flag emblazoned upon his father's chest held no meaning for him yet, but he felt like it was something he needed to know.

All this time, he had gone along with his new father and the others, not smart enough to understand everything that was going on yet, but was glad enough to be of some help. The shooting, the hurting, the beating bad guys up, sure it was fun, but there was also an obvious sense of danger around it all. Getting hurt repeatedly in Castle Zemo assured him of that. All who fought against Steve was bad, but Firebrand couldn't fathom why. Everything that was happening was clearly bad, but he didn't know what it was, how bad it was, or why they were all fighting to begin with.

"Mr. Winston, can I ask you a question?"

"Fire away." Winston replied as he took a deep drink from a glass he had filled with something brown that smelled strong.

"Why are you all fighting?"

The entire room seemed to go silent at the weight of that question. For a moment, nobody knew how to respond. Elizabeth twiddled her fingers nervously and Howard sighed sadly. Winston just gave Firebrand a small smile.

"For Freedom my boy. Duty, Country, Honor, and Freedom. Against the forces of those who would seek to take it from us. That is the short answer. The long answer I am afraid you are too young to readily understand. Let alone know about."

"Huh?"

"We are fighting a war. The biggest war there is so far. With no end in sight and our backs against the wall. A demented man in Germany saw fit to enforce his will upon the rest of the world. Along with carrying out the biggest mass murder there ever will be. Man, woman, and child needlessly slaughtered every day. Something a child like yourself should have never been born into."

He knew he wasn't born here, but he didn't interrupt the man.

"When this Nazi menace came to our front door and our former leaders, including my predecessor tried to appease them, I stepped up. After all, you cannot negotiate with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!"

"Nazi? I thought Hydra was the bad guy." Firebrand asked with a tilted head.

"Hydra and Schmitt my lad, was the other side of the coin we should have anticipated. Johann Schmitt is the cold calculating side of Hitler's burning rage. I trusted Howard here and Colonel Phillips enough to deal with Schmitt while George and I deal with Adolf. Unfortunately, it seems Schmitt saw fit to break away from Adolf to take the world for himself."

All of this was overwhelming the foal, but he was beginning to understand the brunt of it. Him and his father were a small part in something bigger than he could comprehend. Everything he and his father did, impacted normal people, for better or worse. From that moment, he decided to make sure that it was always for better.

"That's why the Captain was chosen and why we are glad you picked up the fight alongside him. Abraham made a very wise decision choosing Steven. Did you know him?"

The colt shook his head and looked up to the ceiling in thought.

"Daddy's teacher. He told me about him and how he got his...powers too." Firebrand replied.

Churchill nodded and struck a match on a matchbook he had in his chest pocket, lighting the cigar again and puffing out a small cloud of somewhat robust smelling smoke.

"I suppose teacher is an apropos word. Dr. Abraham Erskine was one of the most brilliant minds the world has ever known. The only thing that matched his brain was his heart. His sympathy to the Allied cause of ending the tyranny of the Axis powers gave us Steve Rogers. And then Steve Rogers found something special in Austria. You. Though even I had my doubts about you I am afraid. I believe in miracles, but not fairytales...yet at least."

"He's more than a fairytale. He's a walking talking magical unicorn who can blow through enemy forces like tissue paper!" Howard exclaimed.

Winston guffawed at that comment as he scooted to the edge of his chair to lean in closer to the young pony. His spectacles clung tightly to the brim of his nose as he gave Firebrand an expectant look.

"Aren't I supposed to be a secret?" Firebrand asked.

The Prime Minister smiled and tapped his nose.

"As much as we possibly can, but unfortunately rumors of a small red creature that assists the Captain in his crusade against tyranny have already spread through the ranks. All we can do know is make sure they remain folktales and unprovable stories. Do you think you can help me with that? At least until the world is ready for such an encounter."

"Yes sir Mr. Winston sir," Firebrand tiredly saluted to which the Prime Minister gave a good natured chuckle but returned the salute with all due respect.

"I'm jumping through a lot of hoops and paying off a lot of people to keep you out of the mainstream." Howard added with a raised eyebrow.

"And we are all glad that you are Howard," Winston replied. "Now, after a little bit of proper food in your gullet, I think that taking you back to your father is in right order. He is in a terrible way and he will need all the support we can give him."

The colt flung the sheets off of himself, feeling much better already, he stood up on all fours.

"Where is he?" Firebrand asked with growing worry.

"He remained in town to drink his sorrows away. I would imagine Margaret is giving him a talk he desperately needs right now."

'He must mean mommy' Firebrand thought.

The Prime Minister stood up out of his chair and straightened his hat.

"Now, I'm afraid Elizabeth and I must be off. Georgie gets cranky when I don't attend his strategy meetings," Winston stated. "KBO, Firebrand. KBO."

"KBO?"

"Keep buggering on my boy! Keep buggering on! I can say with certainty that as a first contact with a new species, I am quite glad that it was you."

Winston held out his hand to the colt who took it earnestly and shook it. The Prime Minister grabbed a cane that had been sitting in the corner of the room and tapped it to the brim of his hat, giving Firebrand another wink.

"Do give my love to Margaret won't you Howard? She's the best Agent to come out of my bureau."

"As long as she doesn't try to punch me again," the man said wryly.

"And keep me posted on the Colonel's interrogation of Zola. I want to know everything that goes on in the good doctor's grimy little head."

In a bombed out part of the city, Steve had found the ruined remains of an old pub. It still seemed cozy enough, despite the extensive damage. He payed no mind to the curfew orders on the loud speakers outside. He just came back from Bucky's short funeral memorial service, in his whole Army uniform, dress greens and everything. It felt odd on him.

So he figured he would help himself to a drink. Or at least try to and think things over. Everything that had happened was doing a number on his morale. He tossed a few coins on the vacant counter and grabbed an entire bottle of Peppermint Schnapps. Just like what his old mentor drank. He grabbed the entire bottle and plopped down into an empty chair that was still intact. He gave a big swig, hoping to feel some semblance of numbing to his senses.

It didn't. Only adding to his feeling of self-loathing he was wallowing at the moment. He heard the crunching of shoes going over rubble and broken glass, followed by them tapping over the floor.

It was Peggy, coming to check on him. He was glad to have the company, if in somewhat bad circumstances. She walked over slowly, looking him over with a sympathetic expression.

"Dr. Erskine said that the serum wouldn't just affect my muscles. He said it would also affect my cells. It would create a protective system of regeneration and significantly slow the aging process. Which means...I can't get drunk. Did you know that?"

Peggy sighed and shook her head as she grabbed a dusty bar stool and sat down in it, peering over the taller American.

"Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person. He thought it might be one of the side effects."

She could sense how miserable he was feeling, especially after what he saw Firebrand turn into again.

"None of that was your fault Steve," she said sternly. "Try to remember that."

"Did you read the report?"

"Yes".

Steve scoffed at himself.

"Then you know that's not true. I let that Scorcher overpower me just like I let that hunk of junk Iron Cross knock me out and drag Firebrand to be experimented on."

"Don't do that to yourself Steve. These things are far beyond any of us expected the enemy to have come up with. You did everything you could."

Steve looked down into the bottle in shame. He turned the bottle to look blankly at the label, absent mindedly wondering what Dr. Erskine was thinking about on his last day alive.

"Did you believe in Bucky? Did you respect him?"

He looked back up with Peggy with a small hint of that fire that she saw when they first met. That indomitable will was still in there. She just had to ignite it again.

"Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Bucky the dignity and honor of his choice. He damn well must have known you were worth it. You still have someone else to look after. Firebrand. He needs you Steve, his father. He would be ashamed to see you beating yourself up like this."

Peggy could tell she was getting through to him. He started swirling the liquid in the bottle in thought before throwing it against the wall and shattering it into a thousand pieces. Steve stood up, feeling something new and good starting to creep in.

"I'm going after Schmitt. And I won't stop until all of Hydra is either dead or captured. Firebrand deserves to see the world without war like Bucky would have wanted him to." Steve proclaimed.

He remembered back to their talk in Tarvisio. All of the things that they promised they would do together when they got back to New York. Introduce Firebrand to the country that would hopefully become his permanent home if nothing else changed with his living situation. See the other states for the first time, now that he had a bit of money to do so. He would have to do it all in Bucky's memory.

"You won't be alone," she replied confidently. "There is one more Hydra factory to hit before we can go after the main one. The one on the Island of Patmos in Greece. With Zola captured, Schmitt will no doubtedly have accelerated his plans. The Colonel will be busy with Zola while we finish off the last factory."

"Well...I've always wanted to see the Pantheon."

Next Time: Mediterranean Vacation

Author's Note:

Everyone needs a pick me up after something horrible. Firebrand just got one from someone famous.

Just one more base to go before the climactic finale. Stay tuned to find out what awaits our heroes in the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

I'm really inconsistent with my writings, I know, I know, with no co writers and proofreaders available to help, its been a nightmare trying to keep up. Life always gets in the way.
Regardless, I hope you are all still enjoying.

Especially you Josh!

Comments

[Big Slick]

Here here! Life does get in the way but the best way forward is always the next step. Keep up the awsome story man. You are writing something you should be proud of