Author's Note: The characters ages based on what I could make out from pictures of the Phase 1 information stuff. Dates of when each character joined SHIELD are completely made up. Title of the chapter is from the Styx song Come Sail Away.


Chapter Two: But We'll Try Best That We Can to Carry On

Liberty landed carefully on the deck of the dragon transport, carefully avoiding the two lightweight dragons that were sprawled out on the deck. He spotted another dragon by the back of the transport, curled at the base of the control tower. Liberty dug his claws into the wooden deck when he recognized the dragon, trying his best not to growl out loud at the sight of the Athanaraic. He had thought that the dragon had been left behind in Britain after the war, not that he would be brought back to America. Then again, Liberty had no idea what Britain would want with him.

After the war, the nations were trying to get the populations of their dragons up while trying to make sure Germany did not. That was part of the reason that Liberty was so surprised to see that there were three dragons on the deck. The Air Force was trying it's best to reform their ranks, but they had a specific breeding program, one that didn't involve him. He was bad luck; all of the force knew that. And he didn't act like a proper dragon, didn't mourn for a year or so before moving on and looking for a new captain. He was stubborn, and the Air Force didn't want that breeding through. Besides, there were other Firecrackers that they could breed, decorated Firecrackers that had more on their records than being Captain America's dragon.

"Liberty." He perked up at the sound of Peggy's voice, carefully making his way over to the shadow of the control tower. He found Colonel Phillips, Peggy and Howard Stark standing around a table, far too close to the Athanaraic for his comfort. Liberty snorted, giving the other dragon a glare before turning his attention to the three around the table.

Peggy stepped around the table to reach for him, stroking him under his eye. "It's good to see you again."

"You too." Liberty settled to the deck, glancing at the papers. He narrowed his eyes, trying to read what was written on them, but they were far too small for him to read. He sighed and tipped his head to the side, looking over all three of them. "So, what did you call me here for?"

"Well, it seems like the powers that be were impressed with the way we handled Hydra during the war and want us to continue the job." Colonel Phillips leaned over the table to look him in the eye. "Considering that you are still technically under our jurisdiction seeing as you are registered as under Captain Rogers I thought it was a good idea to bring you on."

Liberty bristled. "I won't-"

"Take another captain, I know. And that won't fly with the Air Force. They think a dragon can only be trusted when it has a captain. Now I don't subscribe to that theory, I think you dragons can do just fine without captains. I remember my history." Phillips gave him a lopsided grin. "So, can we start negotiations with the Air Force or will you just go back to the breeding grounds to sire a new batch of little hatchlings?"

He snorted. "Count me in then."

"Good. Then we've got our full contingent of dragons. Now, I've got to yell at the Air Force until they agree." Colonel Phillips stood up and walked into the control tower.

Peggy rolled her eyes as soon as Phillips was out of sight. "Thank you for this."

"As he said, it's better than sitting around the breeding grounds."

"It might be. Or we might just be chasing after rumors." Peggy sighed, bracing herself over the table. "We're still a part of the military, Liberty. It will be the same drill. We're just a…special response team, the only one they've bothered to create for situations like this."

"We've been studying the mythologies of every civilization." Howard took his chance to chime in. "Trying to figure out how to stay ahead of these…people. So far, our main objective is to clean up Hydra."

Liberty shot a confused look at Peggy. He thought that they had stopped Hydra when Steve had killed the Red Skull. Peggy shook her head. "It's a clean up operation, ferreting the last of the organization. The Red Skull was the leader, but there are a few people who would love to restart Hydra. We've just got to keep them from doing that. We'll have crews in over the next few days and then get training. Stark will be making tech for us." Peggy flashed him a smile. "Welcome back to the SSR."

He snorted and stood up to claim a spot in the sun. Liberty paused when Peggy had a hurried discussion with Stark before jogging over to his side, holding a stack of folders in her arms. Liberty stretched out in the sun, Peggy sitting with her back against his foreleg. The folders were spread out along his leg, Liberty peering at the pictures and recognizing a good bunch of them. "The Howling Commandos?"

"All of them have volunteered to help us when we need them. Since they were originally part of your crew, I saw no reason to change it. Of course, we'll give you a full crew. All dragons will have a full crew. I suffered with an understaffed group long enough during the war. I don't want to do that again."

Liberty nosed at the folders, peering at all of the people that were going to be assigned to him. A few of them looked a little young, but he was willing to take any crew that he could at this point, as long as it kept him out of the breeding grounds. Even with Steve gone, he wanted to keep moving. If he had thought that the condolences that he kept getting from the other dragons and staff had been bad when he had still been in Britain, then it had gotten worse since he had gotten home. Older dragons had told him that his captain had been a brave man and would be remembered. The younger dragons had demanded stories about the great Captain America. No one had cared about Steve.

He finished looking through the folders, nosing them back towards Peggy with a nod of thanks. He watched as she gathered them up, his head tipped to his side. "I've been promised that I don't need to have a captain assigned, but someone will want that role. Army, Air Force, Navy, any of them will want someone they can report to, someone who is not a dragon."

"You will have a full array of commanding officers, minus captain." Peggy stood up and straightened her skirt. "I will be serving as your First Lieutenant. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

She nodded at him and walked away, Liberty watching her and shaking her head. It was a relief to know that Peggy would be going along. He was sure that most people would prefer that she stay back, for her own safety. Liberty didn't trust an order to stay back; it just meant that they were too far away when help needed to help. In his own opinion, the people he cared about were safer closer to him.

Liberty sighed, giving the Athanariac one last long look before closing his eyes. It wasn't the ideal situation, it was far from it. But he was ready to help anyone that was working to take out Hydra and to stick close to the crew he had managed to get. He had already lost his captain; he wasn't going to lose anyone else.


Liberty let his tail dangle off the side of the dragon transport deck, watching as the crews for the two lightweight dragons ran through drills. A few of them were raw recruits from the Air Force, the ones that had despaired of ever being put on a dragon because of the rarity of them at the moment. Most of them were veterans from the last war, the ones that weren't quite ready to settle down into life again. And none of the latter had ever been on a dragon. His own crew was comprised of much of the same, minus the Howling Commandos, who were due to arrive any day now.

He chuckled as a few of the recruits bumbled through the harnessing process, one of the lightweights giving him a put upon glance. Liberty just flicked a wing out, the lightweight nodding his head and going back to his nap. It was amazing that the lightweight could do that, especially with Peggy on the ground shouting orders to the men. There were quite a few on the sidelines holding ice to their jaws. Liberty was impressed with her ability to hit the same place on every person.

The sound of another dragon walking up towards him made him growl. Liberty turned his head, not surprised to see the Athanaraic standing to one side. He and the other lightweights had avoided the German dragon on principle. The war had only been over for a year, there were still resentments. Liberty hadn't been hurt by a German dragon, but the second of the lightweights had a nasty set of scars over his flanks from where he had been attacked by dragons during the war.

The Athanaraic froze, lowering his head. "Sorry. I was just…trying to find some sun."

Liberty snorted. "You want to watch too?"

"Yes? It is interesting." The Athanaraic lifted his head, peering at the drills before remembering himself and lowering his head. "Will I get a crew?"

"You're part of this operation. Although I don't know why."

The other dragon puffed up his chest. "I volunteered."

"To work against what your captain did?"

"I…I didn't like what he did. But he was my captain, so I had to follow orders."

"Too many people are using that excuse." That got a wince from the Athanaraic. Liberty didn't bother to hide that he was proud that he had got a reaction. He puffed himself up and raised his head so he was looking the other dragon in the eye. "Go find another place to sun."

For a moment, it looked like the Athanaraic was about to do just that. Then the dragon turned, getting close. Liberty let out a warning growl, surprised when the Athanaraic didn't listen. "I am sorry that your captain died. I could be happy because he killed my captain, but I'm not. I know what we did was horrible. But you would have done the same in my place. You would have followed your captain's orders in public and then argued with him in private, because that is what's done. Now, I'm making up for my faults, since my captain cannot make up for his own."

The Athanaraic snarled, Liberty leaning back in shock as the other dragon walked away. He glanced over at Peggy to see if she would come to his rescue, but she was too focused on the new recruits. Liberty huffed and lifted his tail out of the water, glaring at the Athanaraic as the dragon settled down. "I don't need your sympathy."

"And I don't need yours." The dragon sighed. "Since we are on a team, we can at least try to work together, your hatred of me aside."

"Your people killed my captain."

"From what I heard, his plane crashed. I had nothing to do with it."

"Both of them!" That made the Athanaraic looked over at him in shock. Liberty huffed. "Why couldn't you guys just take your loss the first time? Wasn't it bad enough then?"

"It wasn't me." The Athanaraic's tail slapped against the deck. "All the people that started that are dead or in the process of being captured. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at them but not at me."

The Athanaraic turned his back on Liberty, leaving the dragon gaping at him. Liberty huffed and rested his head on his forelegs, deciding that the best thing to do was to ignore the other dragon. Giving the other dragon the satisfaction of knowing that he had managed to make a point was not something that Liberty was willing to do. It was just easier to be easy at Athanaraic than a bunch of faceless people in his mind. It was far easier to be angry at a dragon than to be angry at Steve for making the choice to crash the plane. It was far easier just to be angry than to be in mourning, angry he could do something.

"If you must, blame me. But remember, if it hadn't been for this war, you wouldn't have met your captain. Be thankful for that."

Liberty stood up, annoyed when the Athanaraic just smirked up at him. He had been well and truly beaten, but that didn't mean that Liberty didn't want to tear into the other dragon. Now wasn't the time, not with officers on deck and new recruits. He was pretty sure Peggy wouldn't try to defend him if he got in trouble, it would be his own fault. Liberty settled for baring his teeth, not daring to do anything else.

He had spent his life around other dragons and a good portion of them he hadn't liked for some reason or another. That was part of their basic training, to deal with the natural aggression that came with being territorial. They were allowed to be possessive of their equipment, the jewels that their captain would buy them and their crew, to a certain point, but not of specific territory. If anything, they were allowed to be possessive of the country as a whole, but with the implication that they had to share with the other dragons.

Liberty was perfectly capable of behaving like he didn't care, even if the Athanaraic seemed determined to get on his nerves.


"Miss? Ma'am!" Peggy sighed, turning around to glare at the man running after her. A quick glance at his uniform showed that he was not Air Force or SSR, which meant that this would not be pleasant. She could always just run. Peggy was sure that she was faster than the man behind her, especially with Liberty waiting to take her into the air. That would just make returning from their ordered run much more difficult and probably involving the man's superiors. Colonel Phillips was a year away from retirement and had given her specific orders to avoid doing anything that would make him have to delay it.

She turned to face the man, untucking her gloves from her belt and pulling them on. If she was going to be delayed, she might as well begin to do what prep for flight that she could. Peggy pulled one glove on, stretching and wiggling her fingers to loosen up the new leather. "Sergeant."

"Sergeant Jones, ma'am." He took off his hat, giving her an earnest smile. "I'm sorry to hold you up, but you can't go out there."

"And why not?"

"The dragons are out there." He took a deep breath. "Now, they aren't dangerous, but they are getting ready to be sent out. It would be better to just stay out of the way and out of danger. If you would please return to your house we'll find a way to get you out of the country as soon as we can."

Peggy sighed. Sergeant Jones meant well, she was sure he did, but she was getting tired of having to go through this every time she left the makeshift covert that the SSR dragons were stationed in. After six years as a de facto captain, she had adopted the style of dress that the Air Force usually used, which was whatever was practical and comfortable for flying. Peggy had ditched her usual suit and skirt for a pair of loose pants and a leather jacket; both would do a better job of keeping her warm while Liberty was flying. To the Sergeant, she probably looked like a woman dressed in her husband or sweetheart's clothes.

She reached up to adjust the handkerchief she wore around her neck, double checking the knot. When she was done, she smiled back at the sergeant. "Thank you for you concern, but I can handle myself. Return to your duties."

"You're British?"

"Yes I am."

"Well," the sergeant looked away, "I know that the British use different methods for controlling some breeds of dragon, but we don't have any Longwings here, just the usual breeds."

Peggy rubbed her forehead. "Sergeant Jones, I could care less about what you know about at the moment, especially since it does not apply to the situation. No, we do not have any Longwings, but that does not make me any less capable of captaining a dragon. The rumors you are referencing are just created by the British Aerial Corps to ease the mind of soldiers, not that it does any female captains any good. Now, you are keeping me from by dragon and my orders."

Sergeant Jones looked completely taken aback, but the made a great effort at rallying himself. Peggy just didn't have the patience or the time to listen to any more of his attempts to keep her here. She reached down to unhook one of her carabineers from where she had put it on her belt. Since coming to Korea, she hadn't dared to keep her personal harness off for more than short periods of time.

She turned away from the sergeant, relieved to see one of Liberty's crew waiting for her at the end of the street. He waved at her before cupping his hands around his mouth. "First Lieutenant Carter! He's ready to go!"

"I'll be there in a moment." Peggy started walking, freezing when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She reached without thinking, slapping Sergeant Jones' hand away and pulling his hand back. Peggy took in the determined look on the sergeant's face before shaking her head. "Get him up, I'll be there."

The crewmember nodded and jogged out of sight. Peggy waited until he was out of sight. She had been trying to discourage her men from fighting over the past week, something that made her long for the discipline of the army. After lecturing them countless times, she was not going to let them see her be anything less than perfectly collected.

When she was sure that the crewmember was gone, Peggy carefully released Sergeant Jones' hand. She gave him a glare before walking off, not surprised when he called for her again. Peggy sidestepped an attempt to grab her again, breaking into a jog. Usually she wouldn't hesitate to knock the man back for getting in her way, but he wasn't worth the few seconds it would take. She had her orders to take Liberty and the Athanaraic up to do a bombing run and then to take her two dragons off to search for something that had piqued the interest of the researchers at the SSR, something close by in China. There had been something about multiple sightings of a new breed of feral dragon guarding something strange, something that sounded like Hydra technology to her.

Of course, the mission to China was completely dependant on how things went over the next few days. If they didn't managed to get to the site, then securing Korea would allow some SSR team go and investigate.

She lifted an arm to shield her eyes as dirt was blown up, Liberty and Njord taking off. The Athanaraic banked to follow the rest of the American dragons, bright against the usual browns and greens that most of the American dragons were. Only the four Firecrackers that had been brought over were brighter. Peggy smiled at the sight of so many dragons, easily finding Liberty circling close by.

Peggy lifted her arm to wave, feeling the sergeant try to catch at her other arm. She shook him off roughly, watching as Liberty swooped low to the ground. A few of the crew were hanging off the side, ready to catch her up as Liberty went past. Peggy grinned, grabbing onto one of the crewman's arms while another latched an arm around her waist, a third clipping her loose carabineer into the nearest loop as Liberty took to the air.

Only when the jolt from the quick change of direction was over did Peggy untangle herself and start moving into position. The men moved out of her way, most of them double checking their guns and the supply of bombs they had to deliver over the position they were assigned. Peggy paused a couple of times along the way up Liberty's back, helping where she could but mostly supervising.

She reached her position with no hassle, Gabriel Jones helping her over a pile of stowed ammunition to her place just behind the captain's position. Peggy shouted her thanks to him, Gabriel smiling before going back to yelling to the newer members of the crew for their sloppy work. Peggy just shook her head and secured herself into place, unable to keep from glancing over at the bit of fabric they had tied around the metal loops where Steve's carabineers would have gone. They were just scraps of red and blue fabric, nothing huge like the monument that had been erected in Arlington for Captain America, but it was a better token of remembrance. This was where the memory of Steve belonged, felt the most right. On the back of his dragon surrounded by soldiers who were just doing their best to stop the bullies of the world.

Liberty turned his head, shouting over the sound of dragon wings. "What took you so long?"

"I was delayed. The army caught sight of me." Peggy rolled her eyes at the growl that Liberty gave. "They can't do anything, their superiors know better than most of them. But there will be a complaint and I will have to sit through another official explanation of what I do."

"I'm coming along this time."

"Of course you are. You're the best back up a lady could ask for." She leaned over to pat his shoulder. "Not that I don't trust the rest of you boys."

The last part was called back over her shoulder, Peggy smiling as the calls came back from the crew, all in support of her. There was no one on the dragon that would ever think to question her right to be there. Everyone who had was either put on another dragon or was stuck in the research division slaving under Stark.

"Tear them a new one, boss!"

That earned a laugh from Liberty, the crew crouching down as the dragon's body bucked a bit with the motion. The sound drew the attention of Njord, the Athanaraic coming in closer to talk with Liberty. Peggy expected to see the split second of annoyance that usually came with the approach of the German dragon, the one she had been seeing since Liberty had been brought into the SSR. But, judging by the cordial conversation the two were having, they had at least managed to come to some sort of agreement about how to behave. Peggy had seen stranger things pull people together. She was just glad that Liberty and Njord had managed to keep it together during a war.

Peggy rolled her eyes and sat down on Liberty's back, pulling out her map and gesturing for the Howling Commandos to come forward. They all had their instructions, although Njord and Liberty were the outliers on this mission. They weren't flying with a wing but they still had their stretch to bomb. Peggy traced a finger over their portion, listening to the Howling Commandos talk strategy and positioning. They would radio the final orders over to Njord's radio operator, a method that Peggy was glad to be using. She had heard the stories of how orders used to be relayed by flags and how many times orders were misinterpreted.

She folded up the map, securing it again before nodding at the Howling Commandos. "Alright boys, let's give them hell."


The joint retirement party and celebration of her new position had to take place on the deck. Liberty would have kicked up a fuss if he hadn't been able to be there and Peggy had a feeling that Njord would have sulked for days, which would have only encouraged the other two dragons. The top deck was the only place that would hold all of the crews and the people that worked for the SSR. With the entire deck of the ship flat except for the control tower, there was plenty of room for dragons, tables and people. Besides, after nearly five years of knowing Phillips, Peggy was able to see that he cared for the dragons, despite the fact he never called them anything but overgrown lizards in mixed company.

She navigated through the crowd, stepping over a dragon's tail while balancing her plate. She smiled and accepted congratulations as she moved through the crowd, coming to stand in the relative calm by Liberty's side. Peggy slumped against the dragon's side, finally getting to eat her cake. Liberty looked back at her, obviously amused. "Had enough mingling?"

"Until I'm done with this cake, yes." Peggy took another bite. "I have been eyeing this thing since they brought it out. Phillips must have had orders to keep me from it as long as possible."

"Sounds like the sort of thing he would do."

Peggy pulled her plate away from Liberty, glaring at the dragon as he eyed it. She was sure that Liberty wouldn't actually go for the cake; to her knowledge dragons were primarily carnivores. She wasn't even sure that Liberty could digest cake, although she wouldn't put it past him trying. Who knows what Steve had fed him while they were serving together.

She expected the short stab of pain that came with any thoughts of Steve, but it had gotten easier to bear over time. Peggy poked at the piece of cake with her fork, sighing and resting her head against Liberty's side. The dragon seemed to understand, leaning into her for a short moment. It was the best comfort they could offer each other, just an understanding that they were both missing someone. Strangely enough, it was all she needed and it was far better than the mix of sympathy and pity she got on the rare occasions she got a few days off to go and see her family.

Liberty had the good sense to wait until Peggy had finished her cake to bump her lightly, which was still enough to make her stumble forward a step. She reached back to slap his side, hearing the dragon laugh at her. Liberty prevented another retaliatory attack by resting his muzzle on her shoulder. "How does it feel, Director Carter?"

"I don't know. I'll tell you have the first disaster under control." She looked over at where Phillips was talking with a few of the Howling Commandos who had managed to make it over. "I think he's getting the better deal."

"His wife would agree with you."

"I heard she was threatening to come and retrieve him herself if something delayed him."

"I don't blame her. This kind of thing could eat up your entire life." Peggy quickly shut her mouth before she could say anything more. It was exactly the kind of distraction that she was looking for and Liberty knew it. There was a kind of freedom in being able to fly on a dragon whenever she wanted to. Plus, she had gotten where she had wanted to be, the head of a program that meant something to her.

Peggy snapped her fingers, reaching into her pocket and digging around. Liberty hovered close, watching her carefully as she pulled out a scrap of paper with a pin through it. She turned the paper so Liberty could see the two silver bars. The dragon narrowed his eyes, glancing between the paper and her. Peggy sighed and curled her fingers around the pin. "Look, I'm going to be busy over the next few years. This isn't me giving you up; God knows you wouldn't let me do that. This is my assurance that you will be taken seriously."

Liberty nodded slowly before raising his head, giving her a clear path to the bit of harness over his shoulder. Peggy glanced down at the pin, shaking her head. They would need to do something about this, convince someone to make a larger insignia pins, something that would be seen more clearly. Giving dragons the authority to speak for themselves was hardly new, it had happened before in times of need. Peggy didn't really want to have to wait until a crisis to grant that same authority to the dragons of the SSR. She was sure that the other dragons would refuse, they were all happy with their captains, but the option needed to be open for them.

She reached up and pinned the bars into place, patting Liberty's shoulder when she was done. "As of now, you are your own captain. No one can make you give that up."

"Thank you." Liberty turned to nose the bars, Peggy watching the tip of his tail flick happily.

It wasn't the best gift she could give him, but it was the only thing she could. If she was just a little less selfish, she would have encouraged Colonel Phillips to pass over her for the director's position and go on to someone else. The problem was that she had worked too hard to get this far, even if it gave up those every day flights with Liberty. She wasn't going to stay away from him completely, but the position would make it difficult to act as captain. Peggy was sure that Dugan wouldn't mind being promoted to First Lieutenant until he chose to retire, if that ever happened. Liberty would be in good hands.

Judging by the way Liberty was carefully rubbing the bars with his nose, he was enjoying them for the shine alone. Peggy couldn't think of anything that Steve had given him that would appeal to Liberty's hoarding nature, not for lack of trying. The Howling Commandos had been nearly constantly on the move during the war, stopping just long enough to resupply and get a full night's sleep. It wasn't long enough to get Liberty anything shiny, especially on Steve's pay check. She would have to make sure to continue giving him what she could. He had helped her get to this point; it was only fair that she returned the favor.

Liberty briefly abandoned his bars to nudge her backs towards the party. "Go mingle and be friendly while you can. Tomorrow you have to start yelling at all of them."

"Don't remind me." She pushed his muzzle away, ignoring the way that he laughed at her. Peggy waved him away, walking back into the crowd. She would brave the crush, the well wishes and probably snag another piece of cake before the party was over. God only knew how much would be left by the time the newer recruits were let at it.


Liberty raised his head at the sound of a motor, rolling his eyes at the sight of the plane coming in. Of course Howard Stark would continue to use a plane instead of the dragon offered to him. Then again, since the failed mission during the Korean War, they were down a dragon. The Air Force had been too occupied with their breeding program, trying to get dragons that could fly faster, longer, to give them any more dragons. They had to recruit what they could from the breeding grounds, and there had yet to be a dragon interested.

Njord and Viatrix groaned and moved to the side, allowing the plane to land on the dragon transport. Both dragons hissed at the appearance at the plane, too well fed to do anything else. Liberty shook his head fondly and watched as the men scurried around on deck, vying for Stark's attention as he stepped out of the plane. Immediately he was swept away towards the control tower, Liberty watching as Stark went without a complaint. He thought he saw Peggy in the crowd, calming down when she waved him back. This was her first meeting with Stark since she had become Director, another thing to do on her newly busy schedule.

The group disappeared into the hull of the transport, Liberty huffing and letting his head drop again. He would get the news about the new technology that would they would be given soon enough, probably as some of Stark's assistants decked him out in it as Stark explained how he wanted it tested. In the meantime, Liberty was content to doze in the sun. Peggy had promised that they would go out flying after dinner, something that Liberty was looking forward to. Most of the Commandos were busy with their lives after Korea and all of them had families to take care of, so they were rarely around. The only one Liberty really had left was Peggy.

"Howard?" He lifted his head, starting at the woman that had stepped out of the airplane. She stared off in the direction that the crowd had gone before huffing and turning back to the plane. "Honestly, you mention a chance to make something explode to that man and he's off like a shot. It's a good thing you're nothing like that, right Tony?"

She hiked a small child onto her hip, staring down at him. The child twisted in her grip, looking eagerly around the deck. The woman patted the child on the head and got a tighter grip on him as she started toward the control tower. Their passing got the two other dragons to look up, interested in a new face on deck. Then, the woman and her son were in the tower, leaving the rest of them to their naps.

Liberty sighed and turned so he was lying more on his side. He would curl up again if Njord wanted to stretch out, but for now he would take advantage of the space on the deck.

He wasn't down for more than a minute before he heard a childish squeal and the sound of running feet. He lifted his head from the deck just in time to see the child run out from the control tower. Liberty rolled to his feet, walking the two steps to the control tower and becoming a physical block for the child. That didn't deter him, Liberty found himself staring down into serious brown eyes before the child was trying to clamber up his foreleg.

"Tony?" The child's mother ran out onto the deck, taking a relieved breath as she saw Tony with his arms and legs wrapped around Liberty's leg. She smiled and walked over to Liberty, reaching up and patting his leg. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Liberty lowered himself to the ground, gently dislodging Tony. "Viatrix gets angry when she gets woken up from her naps."

"As does Tony. May I?" She gestured at Liberty's side, Liberty nodding. She leaned against his side, watching Tony attempt to climb Liberty again. "Sorry, Howard prefers not to be bothered when he's in a lab. Not even by his wife and son tired from one of his trips around the world."

Liberty tipped his head to the side, trying to recall what news he had heard about Howard Stark. He kept up with what Howard was doing, but not as closely as the other Howling Commandos. Stark had always been on his periphery. He did remember that Peggy had asked for a couple of days off to go to Howard's wedding, but he had never asked about the bride. So this was Maria Stark, he only knew her name because Peggy had told him once during one of Stark's visits while Phillips was still director. He had known nothing about Tony.

He peered down at Tony, not surprised when Tony tried to use his head as a boost, still trying to climb over him. "Tony doesn't seem to be too disappointed about that."

"He doesn't know any better. This week has been one big adventure to him. And it's been revenge, I guess. Howard wanted me to leave Tony at home, but this has been the first time in months that I've gotten to spend any time with my son. I've been doing the society rounds." Maria paused to reach up and pat Tony's head. "He's grown up without me."

"They tend to do that." Liberty gently pulled his muzzle away, watching Tony sit down on his foreleg. He didn't quite understand the maternal attachment to young, even female dragons didn't seem to have it beyond making sure their egg was safe with a human. He felt far more about his first captain than he had for his mother, who he was sure that he had never seen. He only knew about the few eggs he had sired because he had seen them for himself.

Liberty shook his head, watching Tony pat the red scales on his leg. "So how is Howard?"

"Happy." Maria was slow to answer, but she smiled when she did. "If you listened to my complaining, it sounds like he isn't, but he is. He's getting to work on all the new inventions that he could possibly want, all while being funded by the military. Then he's got you guys, who pay him to basically play." She paused, pushing away from his side. "He still looks for Steve you know."

"He what?"

Maria nodded. "Every year he goes out to the arctic and looks. He has expeditions out there nearly all the time, but he goes out personally once a year. He's due to go out soon. Howard hasn't given up on your captain."

"I…Tell him thanks."

"I will." Maria turned away, her focus immediately on Tony as the boy got bored and tried to run around Liberty. "Tony, no. Get back here."

Liberty flipped his tail into Tony's path, caging the boy in again. That got him a very persuasive pout before Tony plopped down on the deck and glared at the tail like it had personally offended him. Liberty laughed, unfolding one wing to let Tony play with the end of it.

"You have enough of a handful here."

"He can be. The nanny we have is worth her weight in gold." Maria pushed her bangs out of her face, standing up abruptly.

Liberty followed her gaze to where Howard and the others were coming out. It had been a surprisingly quick meeting, although they had probably done nothing but renew contracts or talk about the things Peggy wanted to see for the SSR in the future. The longer meetings would be following, when Howard was fitting for individual dragons. Howard must have been eager to get moving on his exploration to find Steve, although it seemed strange that Howard was leaving so soon after coming back from a round of meetings.

Maria gave his shoulder a final pat before collecting Tony and following her husband. Liberty lifted his head to watch them, keeping a careful eye on the plane as it took off. He had never been able to trust the things; a plane was just a piece of machinery after all. Only when the plane was flying away with no hint of anything going wrong did Liberty turn his head to look down at where Peggy was standing by him. "Did you know?"

"Howard told me, yes."

"And?"

Peggy sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I didn't know how to tell you. Howard is looking for Steve as…the Steve we knew. I, unfortunately, do not have his optimism. I didn't tell you because I was afraid that you would think the same."

Liberty closed his eyes but nodded. "The best I hope for is a corpse. That's all I want Peggy. My first captain had a grave that I visited for years. It was…somewhat helpful."

"You have me there." Peggy patted his side. "We'll just have to muddle through until that point then." She gave him a final pat before stepping away. "I'll see you after dinner to go flying. Until then, I have meetings."

He opened one eye, smiling at her. "Have fun."

Peggy made a rude gesture at him before disappearing back into the transport. Liberty chuckled to himself, moving back to his patch of sunlight and stretching out for a nap. If he was asleep, then he wouldn't be turning over what he really expected when Howard finally found Steve again.


Liberty hated this war.

He didn't like wars in general; he was old enough to no longer get as excited about them, especially since people he cared about tended to die. Usually he was given something back in return, something so small that he had to think back hard about it. This war didn't seem to be giving him anything, only taking.

They had lost Jim Morita the first year of the war, when they had been attacked by guerillas. He had been helping the others back onto Liberty's back when he had been shot. Liberty had just enough time to scoop up Jim's body before taking to the air. He hadn't even been able to go to the funeral. He had been kept over in Vietnam to continue to lend air support. Even with Peggy trying to pull strings with all her contacts hadn't brought him anything but a stern lecture by the general in charge of the dragons. He was a soldier like the rest of them; he had to do as he was told. It was a war and people died, he had to get over that. Like Liberty could have ever forgotten that.

Then, a day ago, he had gotten hit by a shell. He had had to fly the rest of the day before there was even a chance for the surgeon back at the covert to dig the thing out. The surgeon had packed the wound full of bandages and proclaimed him ready for duty. There was one crewman on watch to make sure that the stitches didn't rip open and there was more bandages in the belly netting in case they needed to wrap him up again. He was under orders not to go back unless there was no other choice. Liberty wanted to send something back to Peggy, begging her to get them out of this war, because there was nothing here for the SSR and there was nothing happening but their men getting killed.

Liberty flinched as he twisted to avoid another shell, feeling another few stitches pop out. They would have to change his bandages soon from what Liberty could see when he turned his head. He couldn't trust his sense of smell at the moment anyway. There were too many dragons bleeding and the smell of fire from the forest below. Liberty could only hope that they called the dragons away before they dropped the chemicals. Liberty had seen what some of those chemicals had done to dragons before they had brought in the planes. He avoided that part of the covert, Liberty couldn't stand the screaming.

He heard the men shouting for the next round, Dugan straining forward to shout orders to him. Liberty had to turn his head to properly hear them over the sounds of the other dragons and the gun fire. It had been hard to hear orders over the weapons used in the wars that had lost him his captains, now it was getting close to impossible, not without completely turning his attention to either flying or the orders that he was given. It was another thing that he would have to talk to Stark about a solution. It was getting too dangerous to fly.

He could hear enough from Dugan that he was expected to make another pass over the trees with the other Firecrackers. Liberty glanced down just in time to hear one of the Firecrackers squawk and crumple as it was hit. Liberty didn't bother to track where the dragon fell, another dragon would go down to pick up the crew or they would be left to hack their way back to base. Liberty swallowed, giving a nod of his head, enough of a warning to his crew to hang on tight before he dove. The run had to be quick or else he would end up with another shell in him.

Liberty sucked in a deep breath before breathing out his fire. It took only a few well placed fire balls to set stands of trees ablaze. The sparks that trickled out of his mouth after the last fireball would ensure that a few other places would at least be smoking; another distraction for whatever it was needed for. He flapped his wings to gain altitude again, wincing when the Firecracker beside him went down. A quick glance to the side showed that it was flapping frantically with one wing while the other hung down in shreds and broken bones. Liberty hissed and ducked his head, trying to look out for anything coming his way.

Feeling strangely vulnerable after watching two other dragons go down, Liberty drifted over closer to Njord, the Athanaraic barely glancing at him. Njord was too busy holding himself steady as his crew dropped bombs onto the forest below. The fact that the Athanaraic was steady was the cause of most of Liberty's worry. The Air Force might get it into their heads that Njord would be the perfect dragon to cart the chemicals in. They had nearly lost Fergal that way when the orders had come in. At least Peggy had been able to do something about that.

"For a second, I thought that was you." Njord didn't look over at him, too focused on flying. "I thought you were getting slow in your old age."

"I'm still faster than you."

"Keep telling yourself that, if it makes you feel better."

"Oh, it does. It's just another thing in a long list." Liberty turned his head to grin at Njord, not quite used to the teasing banter that they were throwing back and forth. There were still times that he looked at that Athanaraic and still thought the other dragon was his enemy. The more confusing moments were when he looked over at Njord and thought that the other dragon was something close to a friend. The best way to deal with the confusion was just to ignore it, and it had worked well so far.

Another shout from Dugan had Liberty turning his attention from Njord. He was just starting to piece out the order before the rest of what Dugan was saying was obscured by the sound of another shell being fired nearby. Liberty squawked and dodged to the side, hearing a few of the men on his back shout in surprise. He went to right himself, only to hear a roar from beside him and to get slapped by one of Njord's wings.

He righted himself, shaking his head to clear the ringing out of it. He was too close to the tree line, his talons clipping the tops. Liberty grunted and flapped his wings to clear the trees, turning his head to look at his crew. "Alright?"

Dugan was nodding, but one of the newer crewmembers was staring back behind them. Liberty snorted and turned his head to look behind him. There was a huge gap in the trees, Liberty able to see one wing sticking up through the gap. A quick glance ahead showed that Njord was not with the rest of the wing and no dragon was going back. Liberty snarled and turned around, ignoring Dugan's call to keep flying. He wasn't just going to leave Njord and his entire crew behind.

Liberty thumped down, not wasting time on a graceful landing. He took one look at the downed dragon before stepping over Njord, lowering himself down so he could protect the entire dragon with his body and wings. Liberty hissed, hoping that any soldiers in the forest would decide to stay away. Until Njord's crew was switched over, the humans were vulnerable. Njord could take care of himself until then. Liberty looked down, watching as the men unclipped from Njord and clambered onto his harness, some of them having to double up.

When they were all settled Liberty stepped away from Njord, craning his neck to see over the trees. He could see the rest of their wing continuing their run, but it was very possible that they could catch up. Liberty huffed and stepped away from Njord. "Come on, we're being left behind."

That made Njord raise his head, Liberty snorting and taking a step back at the scent of blood. He tipped his head to the side. He hadn't noticed the blood because of Njord's coloring. It was the bone that he saw first, stark white against the red scales. Liberty whimpered, edging closer despite the shouts of the men on his back. He nudged Njord's neck, far from where the shell had hit him. There was a small response, Njord rolling his head so he could look at Liberty. The two stared at each other for a moment before Njord gave a short jerk of his muzzle towards the sky.

It was an order; there was no doubt about that. With more than a full crew of men aboard Liberty couldn't help Njord back into the air. It would probably take two dragons to do that, and none of them were turning around. None of them had even seemed to notice. Liberty snarled, he was old enough to know that they wouldn't even be able to retrieve Njord's body. His bones would just rest here, and no one would remember him the way he should have. Njord wasn't quite a friend, but he didn't deserve this.

"Fine." His agreement gone a happy noise from Njord, Liberty not even sure that it was proper noise at all. Liberty rocked back onto his haunches, giving Njord one last look before launching himself into the air. He felt the stitches on his haunches rip with the move, but he didn't care. He only vaguely felt the men scrambling around on his back, trying to hold him together long enough to get back to the covert. Let them try. He was going to hang on just to spite everyone.

Liberty turned in the air, circling around where Njord was lying. The thought of leaving the other dragon alone made his stomach roll. They may not be able to retrieve Njord, but he would make sure that any of the natives wouldn't be able to do anything to do with the dragon's body. It was against orders, but Liberty no longer cared. He sucked in a deep breath and spat fire, aiming for the clearing around where Njord was laying. Now no one would be able to get to the dead dragon, and that was enough for Liberty.

He snorted and headed back for the wing, finally giving in and turning his attention to Dugan. When he turned his head, Dugan slapped his shoulder. "Listen to me for once. Just because you're a captain-"

"It wasn't that."

"You couldn't leave him." Dugan cursed, Liberty not quite catching the full explicative. "Just like Steve. He was your captain, but you don't have to act like him. Not when we don't have the SSR here to back us up."

"Peggy will help."

"Director Carter doesn't have the pull that Director Phillips had."

"I don't care." Liberty snorted and turned his full attention to flying. He was too angry to deal with Dugan or any of his crew at the moment. It wasn't completely their fault; it was just another bad thing about this war. Still, Liberty didn't want to have to explain himself to them, not while he was angry. It would just be him and Dugan yelling at each other, which wouldn't be good for morale. The war was messing with his crew and Liberty didn't like it.

As an apology, Liberty held his place in the formation as they flew back to the covert, annoyed that none of the dragons looked back to check on the others in the wing. Back in the other wars, the dragons in a wing always looked out for each other. The dragons in the wings today were too desensitized to one of their number never coming back. They had been out for too long to care about anything other than themselves and their crew. It was why Liberty preferred staying close to the SSR dragons, because they cared.

He circled the covert until he was given the signal to land. Liberty carefully glided in, landing awkwardly to allow the men who had been stuck to the lowest parts of the harness to jump off before he settled completely. Even then the rest of his and Njord's crew couldn't dismount, he had to walk away to leave room for the other dragons that were landing, joining in the line of limping dragons. Unless they couldn't move from where they landed, the dragons were expected to walk back to their assigned spots for medical care. Apparently it was the easiest way to deal with them.

Liberty hunkered down in his spot, the superfluous members of both his and Njord's crew quickly unclipping and scrambling away; leaving those that could tend to the wound over his leg still on. The five men would have to sit there and hold the bandage until a surgeon came to see him to sew the wound up again. He huffed and lowered his head, staring out into the covert. None of the dragons would even get the chance to have their harnesses removed. They could be called into action at any minute, which meant that captains and crew had taken to sleeping near their dragons, just to make it easier on themselves.

Around him, the sound of his crew talking in low voices quickly quieted down, Liberty lifting his head to see what had gotten their attention. He growled as he saw the man in charge of the covert walking towards them. The man wasn't a part of the military and he made no effort to understand any of the actions going on. To him, it was just another job and he was there to take care of the dragon. Of course, the way he treated the dragons was like they were nothing more than another car or another plane, stupid creatures that couldn't think on their own. That was why he never allowed dragons to listen in on the meetings that were called among the captains, despite there being three dragons who had been given the rank of captain themselves. Liberty was forced to get the news from Dugan.

The man barely glanced at him but turned his attention directly to Dugan, Liberty resisting the urge to curl his wing around his first lieutenant. "I should thank you for bringing back the crew of that dragon of yours, but you risked too much by making Sentinel of Liberty haul them back. We need all the firebreathers we can get. And, because he can't actually hide with his coloration, that's the only use we'll get out of your spoiled beast."

That got Dugan to tense, the rest of the crew silently gathering behind him. Dugan calmly accepted his bowler hat from one of the men, dusting it off before settling it onto his head. "I don't see where you get the authority to tell me this. We're with the SSR and the Air Force."

"I am the one keeping this covert in order and I can order your dragon to be kept apart from the rest." The man crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the two bars pinned on the shoulder strap of Liberty's harness. "I can request that those be taken away and a real captain be put up onto your dragon's back instead of a sloppy lieutenant."

Liberty was sure that Dugan had a good retort but he couldn't stand to be silent. He roared and stood up, taking a step so he was standing over his crew. The man stumbled back a step, Liberty forcing him to back up further as he stretched out his neck. "Try it. See how far your argument gets against a decorated war hero."

"Your captain was the war hero, not you."

Liberty snapped at the man, sending him scurrying off. It wouldn't be enough to keep him away; he would be back soon enough, after he had finished tormenting the other dragons without captains. Liberty sighed and took a step away from his crew, settling back on the ground. The crew milled around for a moment before the calls of the five men on his back drew their attention away. Liberty watched them long enough to see that they were taking apart his harness in certain places to allow better access to the gash along his haunches before settling his head down in the mud.

Dugan huffed, adjusting the bowler hat on his head before reaching out to pat Liberty's side. "Ignore him. He doesn't know anything about what we did. He probably just thinks we were the people who carried Captain America's things. Like Steve would have been able to do all of that without us."

Liberty just huffed, digging his claws into the dirt. Dugan was just trying to help, but he didn't want to think about Steve, not when everything was going so wrong. Dugan would try to comfort him but he wouldn't actually climb up onto his forelegs and sit there all night. Dragons were still a bit of a mystery to Dugan, something that was too strangely close to humans without actually being human. Liberty lifted a wing, settling it on the pile of armor that they had brought but never put on. The crew gathered under it, accepting the shelter for the rain that was sure to be coming. It was the only comfort that he could offer them.

Dugan smiled and walked under the shelter, leaving Liberty by himself. He glanced back at his crew before turning his attention back to the covert. The other dragons that had flown out with him would be exhausted and would probably sleep until food was herded in for them. Without Njord, he had no one to talk to with Fergal back in the United States and Viatrix away, probably on a courier mission. Liberty sighed, closing his eyes. There was nothing to do but sleep until food came or they were called back into battle. He grunted and shifted to find a more comfortable spot in the mud.

He really hated this war.


Liberty heard Viatrix shift, opening one eye to look at the Grey Widowmaker. She was tucked up against his side, hiding under his wing. Viatrix had gotten back from the front late in the night and had crawled to his side instead of remaining in her assigned place. Liberty assumed that she preferred to stay warm instead of sleeping in the cold. From the gossip he heard around the covert, the lightweight and courier breeds weren't allowed to sleep in their accustomed pile for the sake of speed of getting to them. He didn't mind, he was looking forward to the man in charge of the covert being snapped at. Everyone knew that Grey Widowmakers had the worse temper.

Viatrix sniffed and writhed to find a new position. Liberty shook his head and nudged her closer, she needed the rest. He tucked his wing more securely around her, ready to fall back asleep himself when he heard loud voices. Liberty turned his head, craning his neck to see who was coming towards them. He lowered his head as the shouting came closer, watching as the other dragons lifted their heads to peer at the humans that were arguing.

"I don't care who you are, you can't be here. Unless you're a captain of one of these dragons, and I know for a fact that you aren't."

"Really? Then you haven't been paying much attention to world events."

Liberty twitched at the sound of the familiar voice. He would recognize that voice anywhere. Liberty carefully stood up, ignoring the annoyed hiss from Viatrix. He could see Peggy and the man walking towards them and that was more important than the ire of a dragon smaller than him. Liberty was sure that Viatrix would brighten up when she realized that Peggy was coming. He lowered his head, giving her a nudge. "It's Peggy."

Viatrix stared at him for a while before she really woke up. She trilled and flapped her way onto his back, using the added height to peer in the direction of the voices. Liberty growled at her, not surprised when Viatrix just flipped a wingtip in his direction. "Quiet."

He obeyed, keeping still as he listened for the continuation of the argument.

"I would know, I know everything about these dragons. You are not on the list of any captains, and the current captains are all that I care about."

"You should care about who I am now, considering you had four of our dragons on loan. One has already had to be removed because of his injuries and another has died."

"It's war."

"I know that, I've served in enough of them. But just this morning I got the report that one of our dragons had been injured. Ordinarily, I would just let it slide, but I learned that you were still making him run missions on an injury that should have had him laid up."

"We need every dragon we can get, especially those that can breathe fire. There's no time for too much rest, just enough for them to recover."

"Yes, that's just the way to keep them in fighting shape. And I guess that you never thought about what would happen back home when it was announced that Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America's dragon, was killed in action."

There was a short moment of silence. "He would be hailed as a hero."

"You can't believe that I would just let that slide. I would tell the public the whole story. After all, I was Liberty's captain for a few years. And you know that captains have an attachment to their dragons, no matter what the circumstances. Hence, why I am removing my dragons from your care."

"You can't do that." The two of them rounded the corner, Liberty noticing how Peggy glanced over at him quickly before turning her attention back to the man. The man didn't seem to notice, just pointing over at him. "They are an important part of the war effort."

"And they will continue to be, just in an area more suited to their strengths."

The man threw his hands in the air, Liberty hoping that it meant that he would back off. He was looking forward to getting to go home and not spend his days miserable in the mud. His injury still hurt and it wasn't healing, the skin around it puffy. He had heard his crew worrying about infection, but nothing had been done because there were always more missions to fly.

Liberty was disappointed when the man didn't go away; he just turned and pointed at Peggy. "What you are doing is spoiling him. First you make him a captain and now you want to take him away. He's a weapon, you don't coddle a gun."

"Guns don't breathe or think. Liberty does." Peggy turned her back on the man, holding out a sheet of paper to him. "But this is an order. Now, go call their crews and tell them that we will be leaving."

The man hesitated, Liberty ready to snarl at him. He knew that Peggy could handle herself, but he was of the opinion that some people needed some encouragement. Thankfully the man just made a disgusted face and stormed away. Liberty nodded, glad that they had been left alone. Viatrix didn't show the same decorum.

She fluttered down and snuggled close to Peggy, looking content for the first time in a long while. Liberty pushed back his jealousy and lowered his head. All of the dragons of the SSR liked Peggy; she treated them like they were members of the group instead of just weapons. She always made sure to come down and talk to them after major meetings when they couldn't fit into the meeting room.

Peggy just laughed and petting Viatrix's muzzle. "It's good to see you too. Will you be up for a flight back?"

Viatrix nodded and walked off, probably back to her assigned spot to gather her crew. Liberty watched her go, waiting until she was out of sight before lowering his head to look at Peggy. She smiled at him, stroking him under his eye. "You alright?"

"I should be." Liberty lifted his head out of the way as Peggy circled around him. She was going to check on his injury, Liberty shifting so the gash would be too high up for her to touch. He didn't mind that she was worried about it, but it hurt when anyone touched it. The gash had been prodded enough times in his opinion, at least until they got back to the United States. "I can fly a whole crew back if you need me to."

"I'm sure you can." Peggy circled back around, her hands on her hips. Usually, Liberty would have backed off because it was a sign that Peggy was mad. She drummed her fingers against her hips before sighing. "But you won't be flying any missions for a while. Fergal and Viatrix can handle covert missions." Peggy sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It will be hard without a fourth dragon, but we'll make it."

Liberty nodded in agreement, relieved that they wouldn't be replacing Njord soon. It wouldn't be the same without the Athanaraic. He cleared his throat, wanting to move away from the subject of the dragons that they had lost. "How are things at home?"

"We're surviving. There are a few things that have come to our attention, nothing big, just small strange things happening. Mostly the government wants us spying since we'll have the dragons to do it and the experience. Apparently tracking down secret organizations that they pretend not to know about is experience." She shrugged, staring at the ground. "There's been no word on the Stark front, not for his searches in the arctic anyway."

Liberty just accepted the news, not quite sure how to react. He wasn't disappointed; it was hard to be when he wasn't expecting anything to come out of it. But he had hoped that Howard would have found something by now. After all, Stark had the best technology in the United States, he should have been able to find something. He sighed and glanced over at Peggy. She kept her face blank; Liberty tempted to ask if she was alright. But he would only get a deflective answer, the same kind that he would give.

Instead, Liberty just nudged her shoulder, Peggy leaning into him. She reached up and patted the side of his face. Liberty crooned, glad that she smiled at him. "I'm glad that I'm going home."

"I'm glad too. This is no place for the two of you."

"It's no place for any of us." Liberty pulled his head away from her, looking over the covert at the miserable dragons. The men were equally as miserable, both the crewmen and the men in the army. Liberty had heard the men muttering while out on missions, no one wanted to be there anymore. And, if what he heard from the soldiers who had come back from leave was true, the people back home weren't happy either.

He shook his head, easing himself down evenly. He could hear his crew coming and he was eager to get out of the covert. Liberty glanced over at Peggy, tipping his head to the side. "You riding with me?"

"Of course." Peggy stepped over to the pile of armor, sorting through it until she came up with an extra harness. She strapped it on, moving quickly through long practice. Peggy adjusted the harness before climbing up onto Liberty's foreleg. She swung easily up onto Liberty's back, clipping in as the crew came in. A few of the crewmembers stopped in shock, the older ones saluting Peggy before climbing aboard.

Dugan slid easily back into his old place, Liberty standing up as the members of the ground crew started loading their things into his belly netting. He wouldn't be able to fly all the way back in one night, but there were plenty of islands along the way where they could stop off for the night. It was far better than landing on one of the dragon transports or the aircraft carriers that were starting to show up as the number of useful dragons began to drop. Liberty was hoping that they would replace dragons with planes in Vietnam, just so that he wouldn't have to risk being sent back. Although he doubted that Peggy would just let him go back.

The last piece of luggage was secured, Liberty crouching down again so his ground crew could clamber aboard. He watched as they clipped into place, trying to gauge the weight of the luggage. With all of the men's bags and his own armor, he was going to be heavier than usual. Liberty arched his neck, sneaking a peek at the way it was packed before rocking back onto his haunches.

Jumping from the ground hurt, the weight forcing him to put much more effort into his initial leap. The motion pulled at his wound, making Liberty wince as he climbed into the air. Thankfully, the ache disappeared as soon as he was flying. He glanced around, spotting Viatrix making her way towards him, the little grey dragon almost blending in with the clouds. Liberty banked to head towards the ocean and towards home, Viatrix falling in by his side.


Liberty stretched out further as the dragon who had been sprawled next to him took off, probably called back to work. That still left him surrounded by dragons, all of them dozing in the sun in Central Park. Liberty resisted the urge to look around, not knowing how they would take to his presence. No one had said anything when he had landed awkwardly earlier with Peggy on board, but Liberty doubted that they were all happy with him.

It had been strange coming home. The first few times there had been a fanfare, from the First World War because anyone returning home was a good thing. The second time, he had been Captain America's dragon, as beloved by America as his captain was. After Korea, they were just happy to see that Liberty was still fighting for America, just like his captain had. On his return from Vietnam there had been silence, or at least Peggy enforced silence. That hadn't stopped Liberty from listening to what others had to say.

Many people were against the war, to the point where there were protests of it. Liberty was inclined to agree with those protesting, he hadn't seen the point to it. But what made him shiver was the way that those people spoke about the soldiers who came back. The soldiers who came back weren't war heroes anymore, Liberty didn't think that they were considered anything. He was sure that he was included in that, especially by the way that some of the people had glanced at him the few times he had been out and about. The only thing that he could do was ignore it all and continue to heal.

Liberty lifted his head to check on where Peggy was, glad that she was taking a break as well. He was sure that she should be meeting with contacts while he relaxed, but at least she wasn't stuck behind a desk. At least she wouldn't be pestered by agents with their small problems that could have been solved by themselves.

He carefully stretched out his leg before curling it back again. His wound was getting better since they had gotten him through the infection, he just had to heal up properly now. According to all reports, in about a month he should be ready to fly missions, which would mean that Fergal and Viatrix would have time to rest since they had taken up his slack.

Liberty sighed, tipping slightly to the side to get more sun on his back. This early in the afternoon there were hardly any dragons around, at least ones about the same size as him. Only courier and lightweights were sprawled over the grass and rocks, which meant that Liberty could stretch out as much as he wanted and could claim a spot where he could easily keep Peggy in his line of vision.

The sunlight was just lulling him to sleep when he heard the sound of someone running towards him. Liberty opened one eye, amused to see a small child rushing over, ignoring calls from his mother. He opened both of his eyes, the child stopping a good distance from him. Liberty watched the child shift from foot to foot before looking back at his mother.

The child's mother jogged over to him, holding her son's shoulders. "Sorry to bother you. My son just thought that you were someone else. There has to be a lot of dragons of your species around."

Liberty chuckled, keeping his head low so he didn't frighten them away. "I don't mind. Who did he think I was?"

The mother opened her mouth to speak, but her son interrupted. "Sentinel of Liberty."

"I'm sorry. Phillip has always enjoyed the Captain America comics and movies. He always thinks that every Firecracker is the Sentinel of Liberty." She smoothed a hand over her son's head. "I've tried to tell him otherwise but he just gets excited."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Liberty felt his tail twitch, stopping the motion quickly. There were a few lightweights that wouldn't appreciate being woken up from their nap. "But he's right this time."

He shifted just enough so they could see the bars on his shoulder and the plate that was attached to his harness. Phillip stepped closer, standing on his tiptoes to read the plate. The boy glanced between the plate and Liberty's face before he ducked his head. Phillip mumbled something too quietly for Liberty to hear. Liberty scooted a bit closer, only to have Phillip scoot around behind his mother.

She chuckled, bending down to kiss the top of his head before giving him a little shove forward. Phillip shuffled forward, staring at his feet. "I just wanted to say hello."

"Hello Phillip."

"And I…I wanted to know why you aren't in Vietnam?"

Liberty stared at Phillip for a moment before standing up. To his surprise, Phillip didn't back away, although his mother did. He turned around and resettled himself, titling his haunches so that Phillip could see the gash on his haunch. The boy gasped, placing his hands on Liberty's scales and straining upward. He seemed to realize what he had done and jerked his hands away. Phillip wiped them on his pants. "You got hurt."

"Yes, but I'll be back in action soon."

That made Phillip brighten up. "Good."

For a moment, it looked like Phillip was going to run back to his mother. Then, completely to Liberty's surprise, Phillip turned around and hugged his muzzle. Liberty went still, allowing the boy to clutch him close for a moment. As quickly as he had grabbed on, Phillip let go and took a step away. "Thank you."

And then he was running back to his mother, grabbing onto her hand and pulling her away. Liberty watched them go, shaking his head. They were gone far too soon for Liberty to ask what the thanks were for, but the gratitude was welcome.

He looked down as he felt someone touch his shoulder, Peggy standing by his side with a confused look on her face. "What was that about?"

"A boy just thanked me."

Peggy titled her head, a smile on her face. "You never got to go out among the people much. I'm sorry. They love you as much as they love him."

"It's fine." Liberty lifted his head enough to see the boy and his mother as they walked through the park.

It was alright, just that little bit of knowledge was enough for him. He was still unsettled by Vietnam and the way the public was reacting to it, but it was heartening that people still remembered what he was proud of. That there were still people who believe in what he and Steve had been trying to do. People who still remembered Steve.

He looked down at Peggy, watching as her smile turned into a rueful expression. Liberty sighed and hunkered down, offering her his foreleg. "Time to go back?"

"I'm afraid so. Sorry to cut this so short." Liberty snorted and flicked a wing in dismissal. Peggy gave his leg a pat before climbing up onto his back and clipping in.


Liberty banked, circling around the dragon transport, watching as Fergal landed. The smaller dragon had just returned from his own missions, which meant that Fergal would get a few weeks off training the new recruits. Viatrix was already out, which means it was his turn. Usually he would be excited, running missions was far better than helping train new recruits or being used in whatever Captain America propaganda that they wanted him for.

The flags from the signal man caught his attention, Liberty coming down to land on the deck. His claws skidded on the steel, Liberty quickly stepping off of the textured steel strip that was used as the landing strip and onto the padded section that was used for the dragons. There would be a short break while his crew was gathered and the flight plans worked out. He would get to look at the maps later.

He hunkered down on the ground, watching as the man who was his first lieutenant rushed off. Dugan had retired after Vietnam, the last of the original Howling Commandos to do so. Liberty kept up with the rest of the Commandos the best he could, but most of them had settled down to a sedate life with a family. Dugan was the only one who consistently returned to the SSR, training up the rawest of recruits before they were even put near the dragons. Still, which his mission schedule and the training, Liberty rarely got to see Dugan. His replacement wasn't too bad, just someone that wasn't completely used to working on a larger dragon. Liberty expected the man to train up a replacement and move back to either Fergal or Viatrix and Liberty had no hard feelings. He was just looking forward to picking out his first lieutenant for himself.

Liberty glanced over at the captain's bars on his shoulder, giving them a quick rub with his nose. He would polish them up when they landed for the mission, he would have plenty of time in the covert while the agents got themselves set up. Liberty flicked his tail, looking up at the sound of people gathering. Of course the new recruits would start gathering in the hopes that they would be chosen to make up part of the crew. And none of them wanted to make a move, either too intimidated by being near a dragon or because of whose dragon he was.

He sighed and looked up toward the control tower. He hoped his first lieutenant would come back soon; he didn't want to have to deal with the stares for too long. All of the recruits were not going to move unless they were called back to their duties. Liberty shook his head and reached back to nudge certain parts of his harness into place. They had gotten twisted and tangled in the quick flight over, the recruits back at the covert having messed up his harnessing. It was easy enough to fix now, but it was still annoying. His first lieutenant had been in too much of a rush to fix it, apparently the mission was more important.

There was a rustle a movement through the crowd, Liberty turning his head back to see one of the recruits pushing forward. He stared at the man for a moment, surprised when the man shook his head and walked over to Liberty, tapping bits of the harness before sighing. "Shift."

Liberty blinked in surprise by obeyed the order, rolling over so the man could reach the twisted straps. He set to work, setting the straps right. Liberty even leaned further over to allow the man to clamber up onto his back, ignoring the gasps from the other recruits. He was too busy trying not to laugh at the running commentary from the man on his back.

"Can't believe they allowed this to fly. These straps shouldn't even reach each other. It's obvious they don't sit right. Hope they get a good talking to." The last was directed at him with a final tug to the last twisted strap. "You tell them that back at the covert."

Liberty nodded, the man sliding down from his back as the first lieutenant showed up. The recruits snapped off a salute, the first lieutenant looking at the harness and smiling. "Well Agent Fury, it seems like you're the only one here who can get work done."

"The harness was twisted; no dragon should fly like that."

"You are right. It compromises the safety of the dragon and the crew." The first lieutenant glanced at the papers in his hand before looking at his watch. "You go get your gear; you're coming with us Agent Fury."

Agent Fury saluted before jogging off, Liberty watching him go with a smirk. The other recruits would be more forthcoming now that they had been shown that taking initiative had its rewards. The other members of his crew would be filled out later and Liberty was willing to bet that the recruits would stew over not being picked first. From what he could tell, there seemed to be a competition for spots on his crew.

Liberty turned his head to look at the first lieutenant, the man already spreading out the map to go over the mission. It would be up to Liberty to figure out the best flight plan, especially knowing the positions of the dragon transports where they could land for the night. Liberty sighed and lowered his head so he could see the map better. It was enough to make him wish that he was one of those new breeds that were coming out, all of them crossbred with Longwings and dragons known for their abilities to fly or glide long distances without getting tired. Those crossbreeds were able to fly across the Atlantic without a problem while Liberty was still stuck hopping from transport to transport.

"Director Carter was thinking about assigning you a permanent crew."

Liberty stared at his first lieutenant, tipping his head to the side. "Really?"

"Apparently there are a few more dragons who want to get themselves out of retirement for a few years that can handle these training missions. They want you, Fergal and Viatrix ready to go out for the important things."

Liberty hummed, thinking over the news as he traced one flight path, counting the number of transports that would be waiting for them. If he hugged the east coast of America before heading out over the ocean, it would be an easier flight, taking the shortest route. The number of transports would be lower, but it would be easy enough. He was still in top condition. Liberty pulled his head back. "I suppose I'll have to talk to Director Carter when I get back. Watch the recruits on this one; I might want some of them." Liberty was about to point out the route to take when he paused, lowering his head so he could get as close to a private conversation with his first lieutenant that he could. "Definitely put Agent Fury on the list."

The first lieutenant nodded. "Everything I've seen from him says that he's competent. I might be able to retire early after all."

Liberty snorted, earning a laugh from the first lieutenant. With the question of his permanent crew settled, it was time to focus on their mission. Liberty carefully pressed the tip of one of his talons against the map, explaining the path they would take as the first lieutenant looked on.


Viatrix whipped by the transport again, twisting and turning as she tried her best to shake the equipment attached to her harness off. Liberty watched her go, ignoring the few retired dragons who were volunteering their time to the SSR cheering her on. From what he could see, the radio and the lightweight armor weren't going to come off, nor did it look like it was impeding her flight. Then again, Liberty had expected nothing less from Stark technologies.

He lowered his head, turning his attention to the table that Stark had set up on the deck, watching as the captains and other officers leaned over. It was a demonstration of all the latest weapons that the SSR had bought from Stark Industries and, from what he could hear from the crowd, it was impressive. Liberty would make his judgment later, when he could see Peggy's face. She was the better judge of the human weapons, just as she would trust him when Stark finally decided to try something out on him. Although, Viatrix was doing a good job of stress testing.

Liberty smiled as he saw Tony walk away from the weapons demonstration. There was no room for a six year old in the crowd and no one was really paying attention to him. Liberty huffed, shooting a glance at Stark before reaching over and gently picking up Tony by the back of his shirt. It was a testament to how much time that Tony had spent around dragons that the child didn't scream, he just went still and waited until he had been set on the ground.

The move got a grin from Tony, Liberty gently bumping his nose against the child. He still didn't know why Stark brought his kid to these things, although it didn't happen often. Howard paid no attention to Tony once the weapons were out or the dragons were flying. It wouldn't take much for Tony to fall off the transport, then again there was always a dragon watching. Liberty supposed that Tony just begged to be taken on these trips; the boy seemed to enjoy talking with the dragons, although it was always about some improvement to the harnesses.

Tony patted Liberty's muzzle before clambering up onto his foreleg, settling in the curve of Liberty's elbow. His attention went to Viatrix when the Grey Widowmaker went through a series of flips that nearly tossed her into the water. Tony laughed, the sound turning into a squeal when Viatrix flicked water at him on one of her passes. Liberty huffed and lowered his head to watch Tony.

He felt Tony patting at his face, taking measurements by the width of his hands. Liberty closed his eyes, not surprised when Tony got distracted by the softer scales around his eyes. He didn't want to ask about Howard, he had learned early on that Tony rarely saw Howard. His father was either in his personal lab or in the office. Maria was a better topic, although she was often working with her own charities and then playing the society wife for Howard. The person that Tony had the most contact with was his nanny, and Liberty knew nothing about that. He was sure that he should have felt more disturbed by the way that Tony was treated, but it was the normal way of life for dragons.

He opened his eyes, Tony laughing and sitting back. Liberty watched the boy snuggle into the cure of his elbow, going back to stroking over his scales. "What do you think of what Father does?"

Liberty hummed, glancing back to where Viatrix was landing. "It's helpful. I wouldn't have anyone else outfitting us."

"That's good." Tony nodded, reaching up to touch the old scar from the First World War that ran across his shoulder and chest. "But you still get hurt."

"That was before."

"There was another one. I saw it on the news."

Liberty sighed, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't distress Tony. He was amazed at how attached the boy was to the dragons in the SSR despite the fact that he was barely around. He flicked his tail, glad that Tony couldn't see. "That wasn't your father's fault. We couldn't wear our armor then, it was the order."

"Oh." Tony looked back to where Viatrix was landing. "So that's why Father wanted to make lightweight armor."

Liberty hummed. "Probably. I'm sure that it'll help in some way."

He expected Tony to be satisfied by the answer. Instead, the boy pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "You'll still get hurt though. Even Father can't stop that."

"It's my job." That explanation didn't seem to agree with Tony either. Liberty sighed. "I don't actually fight anymore; I'm just used for covert missions."

"You might again." Tony stared at him for a moment before breaking into a smile. "So I won't let you go to war again."

Liberty was about to tell Tony that he couldn't do that, but the determined look on Tony's face made him stop. He doubted that Tony really believed that he would fail in anything. Trying to talk him out of it would only make Tony fight harder. Liberty sighed and shook his head. Tony could think what he wanted, he would learn the limits of his power soon enough and Liberty would allow Tony the illusion.

Tony took his silence as an answer, beaming up at him. "Good. I'll tell Director Carter to keep you out of war zones. She'll have to listen to me."

"Tony-"

"Tony! Get down from there!" Liberty jumped, jerking his head around. Howard was standing with his arms crossed, staring up where Tony was perched.

Before he could explain, Tony was already jumping down and running back over to his father. Howard looked at his son and turned back to the table. "I don't have time for you to play around. Stay close to me."

Liberty didn't hear Tony's reply, the boy must have mumbled as he was pushed back to the table. He watched Tony leave, setting his head back down. He wouldn't argue with Howard, not over Tony. It wasn't his place. Liberty narrowed his eyes, keeping a watch over Tony. It might not be his place to come between Howard and Tony, but he would look after the boy. He had become fond of Tony. If there was any chance of it, Liberty would take Tony as part of his crew in a heartbeat. He was sure that Howard would never allow it, but it was a pleasant thought.

"Liberty!" He stood up at the sound of his name, walking over to where Howard was gesturing. He could see his ground crew scrambling to sort out the pile of armor that had been set aside for him. From the side, Howard laughed. "Give it a good run. I want to make sure that this stuff works."

Liberty nodded, settling into a position where the crew could start to attach the armor, avoiding Tony's gaze. By testing the armor, it wasn't Tony breaking his promise. Liberty doubted that he would go into a war ever again, simply because he was too valuable. At least that meant that Tony wouldn't be disappointed.


It was strange to be living in a covert again after so many years of living on a dragon transport or constantly on the move. Liberty curled himself into a tight ball, remaining like that for a moment before remembering that he could stretch out. There was plenty of room here; he didn't have to avoid the other dragons that would lie tangled on the deck. Liberty smiled and rolled onto his side, staring up at the sky. Peggy had been right to take over the abandoned covert when the Air Force had decided to move to a new location, it gave the SSR dragons a place to be between missions other than the dragon transport, which was getting more crowded as the years went on.

The steady rotation of dragons that were close to retirement was doing wonders for them, it kept the original three dragons from getting too exhausted by the constant work. At the last count, Liberty was sure that they had at least seven dragons out with teams. Before, that would have meant that he, Viatrix and Fergal would have been flying from place to place to keep contact with their teams. Now, they were settling into a more permanent fixture.

The sound of footsteps made him roll onto his stomach, Liberty not surprised to see his first lieutenant Fury come walking over. Nick always made sure to check in on him at least once a day, especially now that they were on leave. Or, he was on leave; Nick was taking care of the important business of assembling Liberty's first permanent crew since the Second World War Since Liberty had joined the SSR, he had been on a nearly constant rotation of crew members, his officers being the only ones that stayed put for any length of time. It was surprising what a relief just the idea of having a crew that would be staying with him was.

Nick pulled up the camp chair that he kept stored in Liberty's clearing, setting it down by Liberty's head before sitting down heavily in it. Liberty tried to avoid looking at the eye patch over Nick's left eye, not wanting the guilt. Their last mission had led to Nick losing his eye. Liberty didn't quite know the details, Nick had never told him. He had only found out when other agents had called him in as last minute back up to air lift them away. Liberty had never asked what had happened; too busy lurking around the hospitals as he waited for Nick to be released. To his relief, the eye patch didn't seem to be bothering Nick, even if the man was a bit slower to react as he got used to the limits of his vision.

He settled his head so it was close to Nick's chair, staring at the papers that Nick held. The writing on them was too small for him to see, Liberty huffing. Nick didn't seem to notice his annoyance, staring intently at the papers until he sighed. "I've been looking over these recruits since we've gotten back and I am close to giving up."

"That bad."

"Yes." Nick tossed the papers down in his lap. "All the others have gotten the good people and we're left with the rawest of the recruits."

Liberty was sure that he and Nick pulled the same face. He had served for years as a training dragon for recruits and, while he didn't mind them for short periods of time, Liberty would prefer to have some experienced hands. He was tired of having to sit through three tries to get his harness on when the Howling Commandos had been able to throw the whole thing on in under two minutes.

He dug his talons into the ground, carving grooves as he thought. "And our Plan B."

That got a smile from Nick. "Steal from other departments. There are a few who are being stuck in the wrong job." He gestured at the papers. "Without resorting to Plan B, we have about five people, counting me."

Liberty tipped his head, the closest he could get to a shrug in a close conversation. "I've flown with less."

"I know. Director Carter has given me permission to do what I want with your crew. And what I want, his another group of Howling Commandos; a small crew that can go anywhere that actually involves the dragon. I don't know about you, but I am sick of running into things that I know you can take out and not having the right equipment to handle the situation."

Liberty glanced at the eye patch, nodding slowly. He could think of many injuries that his crew had suffered over the years that he could have prevented with his presence. The idea of being involved instead of just a carrier was tempting too. He was getting sick of being held back just because he was too much of a national treasure to lose. He was a soldier first and foremost, he had always been that. Even before Steve, he had been a soldier.

He dug his talons into the ground again, restarting the calming pattern of tearing furrows in the ground. "So, who do you have?"

Nick waved the sheets of paper, Liberty assuming that those were the chosen men from the agents that were already on the dragon details. Liberty had a feeling that he knew all of the men already, Nick wouldn't just choose random people to serve on a small crew. He assumed that they would be pointed out to him soon enough. The people Liberty had to worry about were those that weren't usually working with the dragons. "I'm having trouble convincing the others to let some good men go, so we might even be understaffed."

"We'll manage."

"We'll have to. They're already getting assigned missions." Nick sighed and shook his head, Liberty sure that Nick was on the verge of going into his rant about the efficiency of those on the lower levels. Nick sighed and shuffled through the papers again. "Our leave remains the same though."

"Good." Liberty closed his eyes, intending to take a nap. Peggy had promised that they would go flying later, something that was becoming far rarer as the years went on. Liberty liked his new crew and officers well enough, but Peggy was something special.

"First Lieutenant Fury." Liberty tipped his head to the side without opening his eyes, listening as the person came jogging up.

He heard Nick get up from his chair. "Coulson, glad you could make it. I wanted to get you introduced to Liberty before the rest of the crew."

"I've already met him."

Liberty opened his eyes in shock, staring at the man that was standing a few feet from him. He lifted his head slightly, humming. He couldn't remember meeting Coulson, but a lot of people had been introduced to him over the years. For all he knew, it could be one of the agents that had been assigned to him during a training mission. He hardly saw those recruits after their first missions; they were shuffled around between the dragons too much. Liberty huffed and stretched his neck out, trying to place where he would have met the man.

Coulson didn't seem too disturbed by his scrutiny. If anything, the man's smile widened. "I met him when I was a kid, out in Central Park."

Liberty tipped his head to the side, remembering the small boy that had come running up to him. He didn't get to say that he recognized Coulson, Nick cutting into the conversation.

"Familiarize yourself with the equipment, Coulson. I have to drag the rest of his crew away from wherever they are hiding and get this show on the road. I would still like to have some of my leave left to me by the end of this."

"Yes sir." Coulson walked over to the pile of equipment, beginning to sort through it. Liberty edged closer, lifting up some of the heavier pieces and beginning to separate them out. If Nick had the rest of his crew assembled, then he meant to give them a crash course today. Liberty doubted that they would go flying, which was good. He didn't want to cancel on Peggy.

He sat back on his haunches, watching as Coulson finished with his self appointed task. Liberty turned his head as the rest of the crew gathered, sighing and sharing an equally put upon look with Nick. Hopefully they would get this done quickly, he eager as Nick to take full advantage of his leave.


Liberty landed in the middle of the field, glad to see that his whole crew was gathered at the edge. As soon as he had landed, they began moving towards him. He craned his neck, trying to catch sight or scent of something that showed that anyone was injured. He could catch hints of blood, but nothing fresh enough to be an open wound. Liberty relaxed, settling for a glare a Nick.

When they had created his small crew it had been with the promise that Liberty would be used as well. This time, he had just sat on the sidelines, waiting for the call out with the two crewmembers that had stayed behind to act as a ground crew. He should have been relieved that it meant that the mission hadn't involved anything too dangerous, but he was just annoyed that Nick had failed to check in with him over the course of the mission.

He snorted when he saw that Nick was dragging a kid towards them. He hoped that picking up strays wouldn't become a habit; he wasn't sure how Peggy would react to it. It was only a kid after all.

Liberty stretched out a leg, allowing his crew to climb up onto his back. Both Coulson and Fury stopped before mounting up, Fury ignoring the way that the boy that he held squirmed. Liberty glanced at the bow the boy was holding before looking over at Coulson. "What's going on?"

"We're taking the kid." Fury sighed and let go of the kid, climbing into place. Liberty turned his head, hoping to get a better explanation only to get silence.

He huffed and turned to look at Coulson, confused by the amused look on the man's face. Coulson shrugged, walking over to Liberty's side and tapping. Automatically, Liberty stood up, allowing Coulson to grab an extra personal harness. He waited until Coulson was standing in front of him to speak again. "What's going on?"

"We were looking into our contact when they turned on us. This kid just came in and started firing off arrows when we were in a tight spot." Coulson tossed the harness to the kid. He shrugged, starting to climb up onto Liberty. "I guess I started to root for this guy."

Liberty blinked, looking back at Fury. As a captain, he was in his full rights accept or deny the kid a place, but he didn't know the full situation. He would rely on Fury's judgment for this, but that didn't mean that he would just allow this to happen quietly. "The mission?"

"It got complicated. The contact we had turned out to be a double agent for Hydra."

Liberty growled, digging his talons into the ground. "And the kid?"

"Saved our skin, as much as I hate to admit it." Fury crossed his arms over his chest. "He was perched somewhere high up, firing arrows down at Hydra agents calm as can be." There was a short pause before Fury sighed. "He could be useful."

"So we're just going to take him?"

"By his own admission, he's an orphan."

Liberty glanced over at the kid in surprise, watching as he struggled into the harness. "I didn't know we were in the business of adopting orphans."

"We aren't. But a marksman like him is too good just to waste in the circus. So we're bringing him along." Fury raised his voice, shouting down so the kid could hear him. "You're Coulson's problem now, you hear me? I don't want to have to keep checking up on you. Got that?"

The kid gave Fury a sloppy salute, Liberty laughing at the motion and the look of disgust on Coulson's face. He expected that Coulson had expected that the kid would have been passed on to someone else. Liberty tipped his head to the side, flicking a wing out. "So, he's part of my crew."

"Temporarily."

"We do need a good marksman." Liberty fought the urge to grin as Fury sputtered. "You said so yourself not a week ago."

By the way Fury slumped Liberty knew that he had won his argument. He puffed himself up, leaving his crew to clip themselves in as he turned his full attention to the kid. Liberty watched him snap the harness into place, glancing it over before deciding that it would do. There were a few straps that were hooked into the wrong places, but it would hold until they got back to the covert. Liberty snorted and raised his head, glancing back at Coulson. "You'll be teaching him the basics when we get back."

Coulson sighed. "Yes sir."

Liberty gave him a curt nod before offering his foreleg to the kid. "Get on and clip in."

The kid gave him a sideways glance before smirking. "Can I ride on your head?"

"No." Liberty lowered his head so he was staring eye-to-eye with the kid. "You'll ride with the rest of them."

For a moment, the kid looked like he was about to argue. Then he just shrugged and settled the bow over the harness. "Sounds like fun."

Liberty caught the eye roll that Coulson gave and the way that the man mouthed fun. He chuckled to himself, crouching down and pushing off from the ground.


Clint bounced through the crowd, Liberty shaking his head at the archer's antics. Trust Clint to act like a five year old at a party. Then again, Peggy's retirement party wasn't as depressing as he thought it was. What was worrying him was the fact that Peggy hadn't come to speak to him.

Liberty craned his neck, searching for Peggy among the crowd. He spotted her over by the cake, speaking with Nick Fury and a group of people that Liberty didn't recognize. His first instinct was to growl at them, but he kept himself silent, just in case it was the council that Peggy had been talking about. Apparently having the SSR just running on its own wasn't good enough anymore, the government wanted a check. A check and a name change. Liberty snorted and turned his attention back to the party.

Peggy would come over when she was ready, he would just enjoy what parts of the party that he could. He couldn't help but feel a bit used, because a retirement was always taking away his best officers; first Peggy and now Nick. Liberty felt a bit of pride that he seemed to be turning out the best officers, but he couldn't help but feel that it would be better to keep the best officers on dragons instead of stuck behind a desk. Still, he couldn't just stop Nick from being promoted to director, not while it would keep Coulson from getting promoted as well.

Liberty sighed and stood up, carefully picking his way to the end of the dragon transport. He didn't want to be a part of the party at the moment. It wasn't like the first one when Colonel Phillips had retired, then he had known everyone because the SSR was so small. Now it wasn't just a few people and a single dragon transport, it was now a large organization with five transports, a covert and many buildings scattered around the United States. He was proud to see that the SSR had grown, but it didn't stop him from feeling lost in it.

The other dragons clustered around the edge of the crowd, conversing with the people closest to them. That left the back of the deck open for him to sprawl out. Liberty grunted and lay down, staring back at the party. He didn't quite know what had suddenly broken him out of his mood, but he suddenly wanted nothing more than to fly back to the covert where Fergal and Viatrix were waiting. But he couldn't do that, not to Peggy.

He lifted his head as Peggy made her way over to him. Liberty chuckled as he saw that she was holding a piece of cake, making a place for her to sit. "Am I your cake refuge?"

"What?" Peggy stared at him for a moment before she smiled. "Of course. It's the best use of a dragon."

She settled by his side, eating her cake. Liberty lifted a wing over her, tucking his head in as well. Peggy reached over to stroke his muzzle, a sad smile on her face. "We never had the time to do this anymore. I regret that."

"We were busy."

"Work, missions and stolen flights at night. It almost sounds romantic." Peggy chuckled, leaning back against him. "It was fun while it lasted."

"Then why don't you stay?"

"Because I'm getting too old for it. I need to rest these old bones. You're lucky; you have another century before you can think about retiring."

"I don't think I will." Liberty lifted his wing just enough to look at the people on the deck. "I haven't known any other life than this. Retirement doesn't sit well with me."

"Well, it's fine with me." Peggy set her plate down. "I'm old and tired, Liberty. I've spent forty-five years trying to clean up after the war, and we've managed well enough. Forty-five years chasing Steve's ghost around the world seems long enough, don't you think? I woke up a few weeks ago and realized that I was alright with that, I was alright without knowing where Steve was. I'd gotten over his death years ago and I guess it finally got to a point when I realized that I was just kind of stuck in a loop. This is me getting out of it. I don't want to become like one of those war brides, waiting forever for someone that doesn't come back."

She pulled her hair back from her face, putting it into a ponytail. "This isn't goodbye, you know. It's just me sending myself back to the covert."

"So you'll still visit?"

"Of course. Like I could leave you on your own. We're both old hands, you just have the better deal."

Liberty huffed and lifted his head. Peggy tried to bat him away, Liberty easily hooking the hair tie over one of his teeth and pulling away. He laughed when her ponytail came out, Liberty spitting out the hair tie and pulling his head from the cover of his wing. He felt Peggy slapping his side, distracted from the light contact by the sight of Clint and Coulson standing in front of him. Liberty sighed and folded his wing against his side, Peggy standing up quickly and fixing her hair again.

"Hello, gentlemen. I'll be returning your dragon to you now. Please, take care of him. I don't want to have to come back and lecture you."

Coulson shook his head, reaching out to rest a hand on Liberty's side. "Yes ma'am."

Peggy gave Liberty one last pat before picking up her plate and walking away. Liberty lifted his head, watching her go and fighting back the urge to whine. He had no business holding her back no matter how much he wanted to. It would be better to let her go while there was still a chance of visiting her, that he wouldn't be as hurt when Peggy finally died. He had been lucky so far, he had been put through a steady rotation of crews so that he didn't have to watch as his own crew died. It had been hard enough when the Howling Commandos had started to die; Liberty could only imagine what it would have been like when Peggy died if she had still been working with him.

He was distracted from his thoughts as Clint climbed onto his head and settled himself just in front of where the spines started to run over his skull. Liberty held still, far too used to Clint perching on the highest part of him. He had even caught Clint napping on his back a couple of times. Liberty had long since gotten used to Clint and his strange habits.

Coulson came to lean against Liberty, looking back at the party. "They're only removing Director Fury, the rest of us are staying on."

"Good. It would take too much to train up another crew." Liberty raised his head slowly, feeling Clint shift to accommodate the move. "And I don't think you'd appreciate having to work with recruits who all act like Clint."

"Hey, I behave myself."

Coulson ignored Clint, tipping his head back. "I'd like to avoid that, thank you very much. The crew we have is good enough for me. Although, I think we might lose a few to the newer dragons coming in. Maria will definitely want to stick close to Fury."

"A smaller crew doesn't bother me." Liberty sighed. It was true, he preferred a smaller crew, but he didn't like the idea of members of his crew being taken from him. "As long as they can handle themselves."

"They're all Fury trained, I should think so. Even that joker can hold his own."

"Hey!"

Liberty crooned to try and comfort Clint, swaying his head slightly. He heard Clint laugh, Liberty smiling to himself before lowering his head so he could speak on eye level with Coulson. Coulson patted his muzzle with a chuckle. "I think we'll be able to handle ourselves just fine. And, with more dragons being granted to us through a private breeder, you won't have to run yourself ragged. We'll get the prime pick of the missions though."

"Finally. It's good to get the perks of a senior position." Liberty sighed, glancing back at the retirement party. He spotted Peggy again, mingling with the SSR staff. He sighed and curled closer around Coulson. He would be happy for himself and the position he acquired, as well as Peggy and Nick. He just hated the feeling that people would be taken away from him. The Howling Commandos were staring to die and now Peggy was leaving him as well. Suddenly, being able to live for centuries wasn't such an advantage.

Coulson gave him one last pat before disappearing into the crowd, leaving him with Clint. Liberty felt Clint slide down his neck, turning his head when the archer tumbled down his shoulder. Clint grinned up at him and patted Liberty's cheek. "Don't be so down. You still have us."

Liberty wanted to roll his eyes and joke back, but he wasn't in the mood. Clint seemed to sense this and sat back on Liberty's foreleg. "Wake me up when this thing is over. I want to practice shooting and I can't do that with all of these people around. Although it would be amusing."

"Don't annoy the director so early."

"Of course. I'll wait until tomorrow."

Clint waved him away, Liberty waiting until Clint had stretched out to curl around him. Liberty settled his muzzle on the deck, watching the party.


"Clint? Clint answer me!" Liberty banked over the city, hissing when there was no reply. Coulson wasn't answering his calls over the radio either, which was another problem. It was just the three of them now, the other members of his crew had transferred to other dragons or had been sent on other missions. Liberty had argued with Fury the best that he could, but the director had authority over him. Apparently, Fury wanted Liberty as a part of a quick response team, a team that wasn't even assembled yet. Even with a minimal crew, Fury still trusted them with missions that usually would have taken a full crew and Liberty had never argued.

He should have argued this one time.

They had been sent after a particularly difficult agent, one that had been bothering the SSR for a while. Or, Liberty should be calling it the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division. A name change after so many years was hard to handle. It didn't matter in the end, there were a few Russian agents that were causing trouble and they had to be dealt with for another, less experienced team to go in. Unfortunately, Liberty as his team was understaffed.

He growled and went to land on the deserted streets. They were plenty wide enough; the streets had been made to accommodate heavyweight dragons. It was just enough room for him to land and take off, but that wasn't his priority at the moment. Liberty turned his head to check the radio device that was clipped to his shoulder, nodding when he saw the light that was blinking there. The radio was still functioning, but it was Stark Tech so there was no reason that it shouldn't work.

The sound of gunfire made him look up, Liberty crouching for a moment before he growled. He couldn't raise his two crewmembers on the radio, which meant that he had to go in. Liberty tucked his wings in before taking off at a run through the streets. He wouldn't be able to get into some of the alleys, but the main streets were enough if Clint and Coulson had stuck to the plan to lure the agent out into the open. A dragon bearing down on them wasn't the most subtle thing either, Liberty was sure that they could feel and hear him coming.

A flash of black out of the corner of his eye made him turn his head, Liberty twisting to see a woman jumping between two buildings. Coulson had showed him enough pictures of their target for him to know that this was the one that they were after. There were two more agents that were to be killed, but the woman was the priority. Liberty snarled, standing up on his hind legs to snap at her. The woman just dodged out of the way, turning in the direction that Liberty had chosen.

He grinned and dropped back down onto four legs, going back to chasing her through the streets. It was a challenge to keep herding her in the direction of the last place that Coulson had been, she kept trying to slip away from him. It was only because Liberty was larger than her that he managed anything. They doubled back far too many times for Liberty to be comfortable with, the agent almost slipping away at least ten times. But she would always stop short when presented with open jaws and the threat of being bitten. Thankfully, Liberty didn't have to keep her alive, he just wanted back up in case she had a plan that he wasn't aware of.

Finally he had her heading in the right direction, the gasping breaths she took an indication of how tired she was. It was only fair, because he was panting as well, his muscles aching from the tight turns done at high speeds. Dragons weren't meant for running, most of their muscles had developed for flight. Liberty shook his head, planting his hind legs so he could pivot around them and cut the woman off again.

It was then that he heard the crackle of the radio, Liberty giving his head a shake in case the patch that was pressed close to his ear had started to come off. There was another wave of static before Clint's voice came through. "Liberty? Where are you?"

"Ground. Got her." He extended his neck to snap at her again. "Going to Coulson. Get other two."

"I didn't have to." Liberty almost stopped, reacting at the last minute to one of the agent's attempts to break away. There was another rush of static, Liberty's attention snapping back to Clint. "The other two are dead, she must have killed them. I don't know why, but I watched her do it and she knew I was there. She killed two men in under two minutes and didn't get me."

"So?"

"I'm starting to root for her."

That made Liberty skid to a stop, turning his head to look behind him. "Clint?"

"I'm on my way to where you are. Just…let me try something."

Liberty huffed and sat back on his haunches, eyeing the agent. She had stopped running and was standing poised. He was sure that she would take off the next chance he gave her, but he was going to let Clint try out his idea. Liberty had been in the air for most of the mission, chasing off the dragons that were curious enough to investigate. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the agent, fighting back the urge to gather a fire ball. It would only leave him spitting out sparks later, which was an obvious enough threatening move that it might scare her away.

Clint appeared on one of the rooftops, Liberty automatically moving to act as a bridge between the roofs where the agent and Clint was. He got a pat on the head as Clint jumped from him to the next rooftop. The archer settled on the edge of the roof, holding up his bow and quiver before setting them to the side. They were both within easy reach, but the agent had made no move to remove her own weapons, although she was fiddling with something around her wrists. Clint rested one arm on his knee and leaned forward.

"Thanks for that back there, by the way."

The agent made a face and dropped her arms to her sides. "It wasn't for you."

"I know, but you made our job that much easier. So thanks." Clint paused, rocking back. "Would it be too much to ask-"

"Yes."

"Fine. Fine. Don't tell me" Clint held up his hands. "I guess it's fair that I do you a favor since you did us one."

"I told you it wasn't a favor."

"Then this is just me trying to be nice." Clint grinned and motioned with one hand for Liberty to sit. Liberty huffed, resenting the command but followed the order. He was gratified when the agent's eyes jumped to the silver bars that were visible on his shoulder, her eyes widening a fraction, but her attention quickly went back to Clint. He waggled his fingers at her. "We've got you set up for a trap if you continue that way."

The agent tensed, her arms coming up into a defensive position again. "Why would tell me this?"

"Because I like your style. While I am dying to know why you turned on your own people and why you didn't take out me or the other members of my team when you had the chance, I don't need to know. What I am saying is that you can do far better than running around with his rabble, because they're just a mess at the moment."

"I don't care about them and I don't care about you."

"I know you don't. The most important thing is always yourself, right? And that's what I'm offering you." Clint paused and leaned forward, gesturing between the two of them. "Between you and me, I've got a way in with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division and they're the ones in charge of making sure that you cease to exist so you can stop bothering the good people of America. So, I can either let you go with my thanks or make sure that you aren't bothered again. You might not care about us, but you certainly care about yourself."

"Why would you do that?"

Clint shrugged. "Because I like your style. You're efficient and not flashy at all, and I respect that. That and you managed to keep the Sentinel of Liberty on the run until I could get here. There are few people that could do that."

Liberty watched her mouth his name, her eyes widening. He was pretty sure that every country in the world knew him by now, it was just a simple fact that he had come to terms with. The Firecracker breed, while once numerous, had been worn down by the World War II, Korea and Vietnam. To his knowledge, Liberty was the only Firecracker still in active duty, the others had long since gone to the breeding grounds, replaced by new breeds, or had died in the wars.

The agent sighed, looking up at the sky and shaking her head. "What do you suggest?"

"Come with us. The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division can't hunt you down if you are working for them."

"That's a lie."

"True, but at least you'll know where everyone is."

The agent drummed her fingers against her arms. Clint waited her out for a few minutes before standing up and stretching. Liberty saw one hand stray towards his ear, like he was about to call Coulson. He didn't get the chance to before the agent took a step forward. She glanced between the two of them before offering her hand. Clint smiled and walked forward, stopping short when the agent jerked her hand back. "One condition, this is a trial period only."

"Sure thing. Just say the word and me and Liberty will fly you to wherever you want."

She nodded and pulled her hand away, taking the verbal agreement. Liberty had to try not to laugh at the disappointed look that Clint gave her before calling in Coulson. Liberty watched Clint go through what was sure to be a verbal battering and kept an eye on the agent.

If Clint was impressed with her, he would give her a chance. But he was sure that he agreed with Coulson on some level and wouldn't hesitate to rip her in half if she posed a threat to his team. The gratifying part was that the agent realized this too by the way she was giving him a dirty look. Liberty just lifted his muzzle and returned the look, pleased when the agent didn't back down.

They two of them would get along fine.


"What were you thinking? Your orders were to kill the Black Widow to clear the way for our teams, not bring her back. Did it ever cross your mind that she's a spy?"

"It had." Coulson rubbed his forehead, very glad that he had told Clint to stay out of this. Clint would have just charged into an argument with Maria and then nothing would have gotten done. He met her gaze, waiting for Maria to look away before speaking again. "But Clint thought he saw something that the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division needed and I'm willing to trust him."

"Of course you would, you're the one who brought him along."

"Considering that is my track record, I think I would get a little more trust. Liberty agreed with this too."

"Liberty would obey anything his captain said."

Coulson tensed, forcing his hand not to stray up to his shoulder. He didn't carry the visible sign of his rank, mostly because it was just because he was the most senior agent on Liberty. The convention of using ranks on Liberty had fallen out after Fury had been named director; the crew was far too small to actually bother. Even then, it was an insult to Liberty to forget about his position. "Liberty his own captain, he doesn't have to listen to any of us."

"But he will, it's habit."

"I don't think so. He hasn't had to listen to a captain since 1945. Liberty is quite capable of making his own decisions." Coulson picked up the folders from the table and turned to leave the room. He would make a formal report to Fury when he was done looking after Liberty and had gone back to the covert. They had only stopped back at the dragon transport to check in with the teams there.

Coulson walked out onto the deck, blinking in the bright sunlight. He didn't have to squint for too long, Liberty opening up a wing to shield him. Coulson nodded, looking down at the folders, reading over the next mission that they were assigned. He doubted that they would go out on schedule. He still had to sit through Fury's shouting, although he was sure that Fury would eventually agree with him.

He closed the folders, stepping out from under Liberty's wing and over to where Clint and the Black Widow were waiting. He caught the case that Clint tossed him, tucking the papers inside. They would have a proper discussion when they returned to the covert; it would be far more private.

"So, what's the deal?"

Coulson nudged Clint out of the way, climbing back onto Liberty. "So far, there's only been reasons why we shouldn't have brought her along. No one has actually told us to take her back, just that we're idiots."

Liberty lowered his head to join the conversation. "They think she's a spy." He paused and looked over at the Black Widow. "Are you a spy?"

"If I was, I wouldn't tell you?" The Black Widow crossed her arms and glared right back at him.

Coulson wasn't sure if it meant that they liked each other or not. As long as they weren't trying to kill each other, he would take it. Fury had insisted on a small crew for Liberty, but he doubted that the director had meant a crew of two men. Having the Black Widow would make their missions that much easier.

Liberty and the Black Widow stopped their glaring contest when Liberty snorted and pulled away. "A typical answer." The dragon turned his attention back to Coulson. "So, we return to the covert."

"Yes. The director is there and he'll debrief us. Then we won't have to deal with constant questions about why we brought her. Director Fury will calm those soon enough."

"Good." Clint swung up onto Liberty's back, offering a hand to the Black Widow. He looked a little lost when she ignored his hand and climbed up herself, but he recovered quickly, feigning disinterest. "Let's get out of here before they start staring. I'm too tired from this."

Coulson clipped in, waiting until he heard the same sounds from behind him. He leaned over to secure the bag in place, tapping Liberty's shoulder when he was done. Liberty grunted in response, standing up and turning to look down the runway. Liberty stepped out onto the strip, taking a few running strides before jumping from the transport. Per usual, the transport bobbed a bit under the weight of a dragon taking off, but Liberty was away easily. Coulson dropped into the familiar crouch for flying, rocking slightly with Liberty's motion as he climbed.

It only took a moment for Liberty to adjust his course, heading for New York. Reaching the covert would take less than an hour, as long as they didn't run into too much trouble over the city. Coulson couldn't see the traffic over the city, but he trusted Liberty to maneuver them through the tangle of dragons above New York with no problem. He looked over his shoulder toward Clint and the Black Widow, a bit surprised to see them trading barbs. They had been silent all the way back. Coulson could only imagine what the two of them had gotten up to when he was speaking to Maria Hill, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Then again, Liberty would probably tell him soon enough. With this small crew, there was no privacy.


"Where is Barton?"

"He's-shit. He's not in position." There was the faint rush of wind as there always was when she was talking with Liberty. Natasha cursed, ducking further behind the statue that she was using for refuge. "I'll make a pass and try to find him."

"Good luck, he's not responding to any calls." That got a grunt from the dragon, Natasha letting Liberty go back to circling over the city.

It was supposed to be a routine mission, just stop a rising megalomaniac from grabbing an artifact that would give him more power than it should. Or it should have been routine said megalomaniac hadn't been smart enough to bring back up in the form of dragons instead of the usual human back up. That effectively kept Liberty busy, leaving Natasha and Clint to work their way through the ravaged city. Natasha's hopes for an easy mission had flown out the window when Clint hadn't turned up for their check in.

She peeked out from behind the statue as Liberty flew overhead, two other dragons on his tail. Natasha pulled out her gun. It wouldn't be much of a help to Liberty, the bullet would be far too small to really bother the other dragons, especially when they were in full armor. Natasha lowered her gun, settling for shooting one of the few men that their target had brought with him. Liberty wasn't going to get the chance to find Clint if he didn't get the dragons off of his tail.

There was a roar and the sound of falling masonry, Natasha seeing that one of the dragons had missed and turn and was sprawled out on the street. She narrowed her eyes before deciding to make a run for it. Liberty would back her up if she needed it. They could always find Clint later.

She took off at a run, ducking around the flailing dragon. Their target was just ahead, his hands closed tightly around something that was shining bright. Their briefing hadn't covered what exactly the mythical object was aside from the fact that it would grant the user some kind of power. Natasha didn't care what it did beyond that, the object wouldn't work if the person holding it was dead.

Natasha took aim, pausing long enough for Liberty to go rushing overhead again. The man looked up at the sound of wings, Natasha using the sound to cover the sound her gun made. The man went down in a crumpled heap, the small jewel bouncing out of his hands. She ran over, standing over the jewel as she contacted Coulson. "Secured."

"Good, I'll see about pushing through to make the others retreat."

Her own reply was drowned out by Liberty's roar as the dragon crashed down to the ground. Natasha glanced over at the sound of cracking bones, staring at the dragon that was limp on the ground. Liberty growled at the dead dragon before stepping away and walking over to Natasha.

"She was annoying."

"I'll bet."

Liberty lowered his head to stare at the jewel, shaking his head. He turned to nudge his captain's bars with his nose, a sure sign that he was comforting himself. Natasha rolled her eyes and patted his side. "It's not worth it."

"I know, but-"

"Yeah, it's pretty. But not worth it."

Liberty finally nodded in agreement, Natasha relaxing a fraction. She had never thought that Liberty would actually go after the jewel. The dragon had remarkable control over the dragon's natural need to hoard precious objects, but it was far better to be suspicious of everyone and be pleasantly surprised when they didn't try and kill you.

Natasha holstered her gun, looking down at the jewel. "I guess we wait for the extraction team and Barton to get here."

As if talking about him summoned him, the radio crackled. By the way that Liberty tilted his head she could tell that the dragon was getting the message as well. Natasha couldn't help the small smile that crossed her face when she heard Clint's voice over the communicator. "Alright, we're all cleared up down here. That was easy enough. God, I love Budapest."

Liberty and Natasha exchanged a matching expression of exasperation. They had been getting good and coordinating their expressions and, if Natasha hadn't been amused, she would have been worried about what that said about how she was fitting it. Instead she sighed and kicked a nearby piece of rubble. "Speak for yourself Barton."

"Come on 'Tasha. It couldn't be that bad on your end."

Natasha looked down the street, past the body of the dead dragon to the bodies that were scattered around from her approach. It had taken her far too long to work her way up the street, even with Liberty helping her clear a path when the dragons weren't harrying him. Still, Barton didn't have to know that.

"I was just wondering what took you so long."

"You don't rush art, Natasha."

"I thought you were just playing Cupid."

She heard Liberty chuckle at that, tuning out Barton's curses as she saw the extraction team running over to them. Natasha motioned for Liberty to step away, getting a running jump so she could grab onto the bottom of the harness. "Come on, we have to swing by and grab Clint."

She got a grunt in response before Liberty took off, Natasha leaning her head back and enjoying the sensation of flying.


Liberty jerked awake from his nap, stumbling to his feet at the racket that came from the covert. Around him, he could hear the other dragons waking up, a few of the younger ones taking to the air in their panic. Liberty snarled as a courier flew too close to him, twisting so he could snap at the dragon. He kept one eye on the panicking dragons as he stepped out of his spot, careful to avoid the piles of equipment.

Around him, the other dragons were looking up from their spots, muttering between themselves as they waited for news. Liberty stood up on his hind legs to try and get more height. He wasn't going to risk taking flight, not with other dragons overhead. He wasn't as tall as some of the other middleweights or the two heavyweights that were employed by Fury, but he could see a bit further down the covert to the landing area.

There was nothing that Liberty could see, no injured dragon or messenger that was running to the buildings that houses the crew for the covert. Everything looked completely normal, which put him even more on edge.

Liberty snorted and came back down to all fours. A glance toward the other dragons showed that they weren't doing anything but looking and talking. Liberty snarled, shaking his head and starting to walk forward. If no one else was going to do anything, then he would look into it. There could be something dangerously wrong and they could be caught unprepared.

He crouched down to peer at the houses, relieved when an agent rushed out. Liberty lowered his head, the agent giving a sigh of relief. "So we've got one who has enough sense to check in." The man stood on his tiptoes to see the plate on his harness. "Sentinel of Liberty. Oh, I'm sorry, captain."

Liberty flicked out a wing in a dismissive gesture. He honestly didn't care about the title; it was too cumbersome with his name. "Just tell me what happened. Do we need to assemble our crews?"

"No. No. It's just a minor bit of trouble. Someone overreacted and sounded the alarm." The person fumbled with the papers, shaking his head. "It's not in our jurisdiction."

Liberty looked up, tracking the dragons as they were settled. Their captains were probably calling them down, calming them. Those that hadn't taken flight were settling back down for their naps, Liberty watching as the heads disappeared back below the tree line. He was a bit disturbed that none of the other dragons showed any initiative, although they were probably too used to just listening to their captains.

He huffed and turned his attention back to the person, trying to look as sincere as possible. "Well, if it's not in our jurisdiction, there's no reason not to tell me. That'll keep some of the more curious dragons from asking you all day."

The man nodded, but refused to meet his eyes. Liberty wasn't too put off by it, not many people wanted to meet any dragon's eyes while speaking to them. Liberty scooted back a few inches, not wanting to crowd the man. It took a few more minute of looking at the ground before the man responded. "They must have heard that there was an attack on a convoy in Afghanistan. Some of the younger dragons look forward to any kind of mission; they must have thought that it meant they were going to be sent out."

"And?"

"They won't, there's no reason to. The Army and the Air Force will handle things. It wasn't an all out battle, just a one off." The man paused, staring at the pages before muttering a curse. "Apparently there was only one captive. Then again, it's a matter for the Army and the Air Force."

"Who's the captive?"

"Tony Stark."

The man walked away before Liberty could stop him. Liberty meant to make him stop and explain the situation, because Tony was important. Tony was the little boy who had talked to him when Howard was giving demonstrations on the dragon transport. Tony was the man who had always made sure Liberty had the latest technology, things that had saved his life many times in the field. Tony was not just someone to be abandoned, that's the way he had lost Steve. There were still days that he regretted going after Steve and searching through the arctic himself, sure that he would have found his captain.

Liberty turned and ran back to his clearing, not surprised to see Coulson waiting for him. Coulson would be on top of things. Liberty skidded to a stop, ignoring the furrows that he left in the ground. He leaned over, lowering his head so he was even with Coulson. "I need a message sent to Fury."

"Already sent." Coulson was stepping into a harness, quickly buckling it up. "I'm coming with you. We'll need to brief Tony once we find him." Coulson climbed up onto Liberty's back, sitting through the excited bouncing to clip in. He didn't bother to sit up, instead remaining crouched down. "Drop me off in California and then go straight to the base there to join the search. Keep in contact."

Liberty grunted in response, shoving off of the ground and flapping as hard as he could. He stretched his neck out, trying to keep himself as streamlined as possible as he sped toward the west coast.


Liberty licked the last of the blood from his lips before pushing his muzzle into the water trough, drinking in large gulps. He pulled himself back quickly, leaving enough for the next dragon who came in. Liberty walked away from the space that they were using as a feeding area, listening to the other dragons growling and snapping at each other. He was lucky enough to be the oldest dragon there and the one with the most experience, which meant that he could shoulder his way to the front of the lines to eat first. It was the first time he was using that privilege and it was only because they needed to find Tony.

He strode over to where the next patrol was waiting, crouching down and waiting for the crew to load on. After nearly three months of searching, the number of dragons had gone down so they could only run three patrols of two. The military dragons had long since returned to their duties elsewhere or to the United States. The dragons that remained were from Stark Industries or the one old Air Force dragon that only went on search and rescue missions. Liberty turned his head and looked over the six dragons and shook his head.

"Last one of the day." He turned his attention to Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes as the man walked over. Rhodes clambered up onto his back, the same way that Rhodes had every day for almost three months.

Liberty just gave a curt nod in response, spreading his wings. The other middleweight by his shoulder copied him, the two dragons waiting for their crews to settle down. As soon as the signal was given, they were off, Liberty gaining height so he could look down at the ground. The crew was equipped with binoculars, so he could climb to the level where his own sharp eyes would work the best.

He turned his focus to the desert below, scanning for anything that could pinpoint where Tony was. He had gotten good at this part, although it was getting to the point where it was beginning to get boring. But it was the mission, and Liberty wouldn't fail this mission. He couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

They were halfway through their search when the other dragon let out a short roar, enough to get Liberty's attention away from the ground on his side. He turned his head, his eyes widening as he saw someone stumbling down a sand dune. Liberty didn't wait for the orders to come from Rhodes, beginning to circle down. If that was Tony, he didn't want to kick up sand over him. The other dragon stayed circling above, doing a check for any danger before joining him in landing.

Liberty started to walk as soon as he had landed, breaking into a jog. He would let his crew off when he was sure that it was Tony or someone on their side. He didn't have too much time to debate over the identity of the person, the man falling to his knees and flashing a peace sign. Liberty lost what decorum he managed to hold, breaking out into a full out run. "Tony!"

He plowed to a stop, dropping his head and pressing his muzzle against Tony's chest. Liberty jerked at the sharp scent of metal and the hum against his muzzle, but Tony didn't let him go far, hanging onto him like a lifeline. Liberty sighed and leaned slightly into Tony, rocking them both slightly until Rhodes clambered down.

"How was the fun-vee?"

Tony peered around his muzzle, offering Rhodes a smile. Rhodes nearly collapsed his knees beside Tony, reaching around Liberty to rest a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Next time you ride with me."

Tony just nodded, leaning into the two of them.

Rhodes let the three of them lean against each other before standing up, shooing Liberty away. Liberty took a step back, lowering himself to the sand as Rhodes guided Tony over. They had an extra harness that they could put Tony in, so he would be safe on the flight back.

Tony was handed up to the crew, leaving Rhodes on the ground. Liberty turned his head to watch the proceedings, almost afraid to take his eyes from Tony in case he disappeared. A tap against his foreleg got his attention directed down to Rhodes.

"How far could you fly?"

"How far do you need me to go?"

Rhodes rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll take him back to camp for a quick check over and then I want to get him home. I'm sure Tony would appreciate it."

"I'll get us as far as I can, just give me a map with the nearest dragon transports."

That got a smile from Rhodes, the lieutenant colonel swinging back up onto Liberty's back. "I like you so much better than the other dragons back at base. They're always complaining about mileage and strain."

Liberty snorted, standing up. "This is about Tony, he's important."

"I hear you." Rhodes patted his neck before leaning down to help with Tony. Liberty watched the proceedings, tensing when Rhodes stood up. "When you're ready, as fast as you can."

He didn't give the crew much of a warning, pushing off hard from the ground and flapping as fast as he could. Liberty heard the other dragon growl in annoyance, but he was too busy focusing on his orders. They would get Tony back to camp and then turn their attention to getting him back home. Liberty was sure that there would be a relay set up to get Tony back, so he wouldn't get to take him all the way back. It was enough to make him wish that he was one of the long flying breeds, but it wasn't enough to make him want to give up. He would fly Tony as far as he could before stopping, he didn't trust any other dragon with Tony's safety.

Liberty turned his head as much as he could, bringing Tony into his line of sight. It would take some getting used to; he hadn't flown like this since the last war he had been in. But he was carrying precious cargo, and he couldn't be too careful.


Liberty had expected a punishment for taking off from the covert to rescue Tony, even though Coulson had put in a request. The problem was that he had neither waited for the request to come through nor bothered to inform anyone that he was leaving at that moment. Liberty had returned from a dragon transport halfway across the Atlantic Ocean to find that he was being grounded for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, Fury had come out to speak to him directly and clarified that it was only as an example, although there had been a threat that it would become more if Liberty thought about doing it again.

He had never thought that it would be so long.

He hadn't been given missions, just training exercises. Fury had even sent his crew on missions without him, Natasha to Europe, Coulson to California to deal with Tony again and then to New Mexico with Clint. Even Liberty's best pouting hadn't gotten Fury to side with him. And, after his first attempt, Liberty hadn't tried again. Fury was on edge for some reason and Liberty didn't want to push too far with it. So he had accepted his punishment with quiet grace and had done everything that was asked of him.

It had been worth it to save Tony, even if the rescue had led to Tony putting himself in more danger. Liberty had gotten a new set of equipment from Stark Industries as a thank you, new technology that he couldn't even put to good use.

Liberty gave the pile of his stuff a morose look before rolling onto his side, staring up at the sky. There was nothing he could do, especially with all of his crew just getting back from their individual missions. Clint was still sacked out in his SHIELD issued apartment, probably with Natasha crashing on his couch. Coulson was tied up with SHIELD matters, finishing up reports and doing whatever Fury wanted him to do. He briefly considered going to speak to Peggy about flying, but she was nearing ninety and that was far too old for flying. Liberty didn't think he would be able to keep his flight smooth enough to not jostle her. It was one of his biggest regrets.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He just wanted someone to fly with, it was his first day that he could go somewhere other than the airspace around the covert. Even if it was just to the Helicarrier and back, he wanted to do something. He was already immaculately groomed and he had settled all his scores with the newer dragons. Even playing with his new gear was getting boring.

Liberty was contemplating another nap when he saw one of the workers hurrying over to him. With a grunt, he rolled back onto his stomach, instantly alert. To his knowledge, his crew was back and Tony had Pepper to keep him from doing stupid things. There was no reason to have someone coming to get him unless something had happened to Peggy. He shot a panicked glance in the direction that Peggy lived, getting to his feet and opening his wings. When the news came, he would be ready to fly.

The man stopped just in front of him, motioning for Liberty to lower his head. The man didn't even wait for Liberty to get on eye level before he started speaking. "They found him. You have orders to relocate to a SHIELD owned building in New York. Fury will be waiting on the roof for you. It'll have access to a basement area that you can stay in. You crew will be alerted to the change, although I think Coulson is already there."

"What?"

The man huffed before making a shooing motion at him. "They found Captain Rogers."