Come Together Chapter 7 - Shields and Uniforms

AN:

Oni: Hullo again!

Harry: Shouldn't you be updating your other fics?

Oni: I'll get around to it...

Tom: But for now, Potter, she likes me better.

Harry: How can you take his side? He's a bloody Dark Lord!

Oni: Not right now he isn't!

Tom: Oni does not own Harry Potter nor the MCU.

Oni: Aaaaand ONWARDS!

It was…beautiful.

Tom marveled at the shield in front of him, running his fingers over the runes carved by his own precise hands on the outer rim with unhidden glee. He and Howard had truly outdone themselves. The shield was even more awe inspiring as the near-finished product than it had been as a drawing. Silver was a brilliant conductor of magic, as well as a deterrent to many dark creatures. It was also very responsive to runic commends. Within the inner circle of the silver coated steel was the symbol of Loki, the two snakes carved out of a dark green jade. Each snake's visible eye was inset as a gemstone, the upper snake with a sapphire eye and the lower snake with a ruby eye. The gemstones were to act as magical stabilizers, while the jade siphoned the energy to its proper area, like blood vessels. The heart of the shield, however, was still missing, with only a diamond shaped indentation in the middle of the whole thing. Tom turned the shield over, looking at its underside. A silver, ornate bazuband was seemingly welded onto the back of the shield, though no welded areas were visibly present.

"Pretty thing, ain't it?" came the voice of Howard, who was standing behind Tom for quite some time, making the wizard jump in surprise.

"My question from before still stands, how were to able to procure all this material in such a short span of time?" Tom muttered, his voice slightly wavered from the jump he had seconds before.

"I'm a rich, influential man with a multi-million dollar company. There's almost nothing I can't get." Howard replied smugly, "Now, are you ready to put in the final piece? God, this feels like a fantasy novel or something."

The young wizard simply nodded, casted a spell on the ring to bend back the metal holding the object of interest in place and letting the Stone fall into the palm of his hand. With careful hands Tom set it into the center of the shield. Almost immediately the Stone began to glow, before the light began to spread. When the light reached the snakes' heads, their eyes emitted a light as if someone had cast a Lumos behind them. Then the magic finally spread out to the runes, filling them with a dull golden light, the same color as the rune inside the Stone of Cadmus.

"Okay, not gonna lie. That's cool." was all Howard could manage out, his eyes fixated on the shield in awe.

Tom slid the band over his left arm, the metal fitting perfectly over his entire forearm. As the magic from the shield resized the band to fit his arm, Tom couldn't help but feel like the Battle Mages of old, fighting valiantly with wand and shield, armor and cloak. It had once been a dream of his to become such a Mage, and now it felt like it was coming true.

Testing the shield, he found it to be very light, but not ridiculously so. But merely a pretty shield it was not, and Tom had taken the liberty to carve some more…interesting and useful runes onto the rim. The shield was, in essence, a kind of magical focus. Body of metal, with the Stone as the core, and the precious stones as the buffers. The difference was is that the 'spells' cast were onto the shield itself and nothing else, which meant they were more like commands in a simple machine.

He coaxed his magic into it, urging his creation to do his bidding. The rim of the shield began to sharpen and spin, slowly at first but then faster, creating a deadly whirring saw on the edge of the shield. A flex of his wrist slowed it down. Another command was sent through his arm, and the entire thing began to glow. With a quick flick of his wrist a still doppelgänger of himself appeared, but fizzled out after a few seconds. Good, he didn't quite need a long term dummy, just a short term escape. Fingers gripped the edge, detaching the shield effortlessly from the metal arm cover. There, in the center of the ornate armband was another diamond shaped indentation, which is where the two pieces of metal connected. He put the shield back in place with a barely audible click.

Now came the feature that Tom was most proud of. A flick of the wrist and the command was sent into the shield, which began to fold into itself, shrinking and detracting until only the metal armband was left, the Stone of Cadmus nestled into the previously empty indentation. By far the most useful feature, Tom had thought to himself while making it, as a shield can be rather cumbersome to carry around.

Howard appeared to shake himself out of his stupor, and went over to Tom. With a hand he beckoned the wizard to hand it over and let the scientist give it a try. Tom smiled wryly, slipping off the silver armband and handing it over.

"It won't work with muggles, you know. It's a magical shield that needs spell-like commends from a wizard." he told Howard, who still tightened the straps onto his left arm anyway.

"Well, you don't really know unless you try, eh Tom? Now let's see…"

Sure enough, even when the man attempted to copy Tom's wrist movements, the arm guard did not budge in the slightest. Howard tried again, and again, and again, before eventually sighing and dejectedly giving the object back to Tom, who slid it back onto his forearm and reactivated the shield. The smile on his face was back in seconds, however, and the inventor walked over to the side table where another shield laid. It was Captain Rogers' Vibranium shield. Howard had jokingly called it the Shield of America, probably poking fun at Tom's wording of the Resurrection Stone. Flipping the Vibranium shield in his hands, Howard spoke again.

"So, what are you gonna call it?"

"I beg your pardon?" Tom said in confusion, "Call what?"

"Your shield. We need to call it something. Like this thing here is the Shield of America, or the Vibranium Shield. We can't call yours the Magical Knockoff Vibranium Shield because that's too damn long. And MKV Shield just sounds weird. So what'll it be?"

"What is it with muggles and naming things? First my snake, then my shield…" Tom grumbled out, making the scientist laugh.

"Might want to be careful of the accidental innuendos. But naming things is fun! Besides, don't you wizards have names for your magical relics or whatnot? Isn't that rock in the middle there called The Stone of Cadmus?"

"Very well…" the wizard muttered, caving in to Howard's reasoning, "How about the Shield of Slytherin?"

"Alliteration, that's nice, but a bit of a tongue twister. Say that five times fast. What about…Shield of Riddles?" the inventor tried.

"Definitely not!" Tom almost blanched, "I'd rather not connect a magical item with such a muggle surname!"

"Aw, don't be think that, you said it yourself that you've changed your opinion on us! Still, Slytherin is too weird to say, and Shield of Gaunt makes it sound evil." Howard reasoned, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff.

"Well, how about some middle ground? This ouroboros symbol on the shield is that of the trickster god Loki, the Slytherin line's patron deity. So how about the Shield of Loki?" Tom eventually stated, staring at the shield in contemplation.

"That sounds pretty cool, actually, and it's easier to say." Howard replied, his fingers tapping the gaudy red, white, and blue shield with the white star at the center.

"So how do you even choose your patron god anyway?" came another voice from behind the two men, making them both jump in surprise.

Rogers was standing there with a barely contained smile on his face, in his regular army uniform. Next to him was Bucky, who was trying to force down his smile and failing miserably. Tom recovered first, giving them both a glare without malice.

"A patron god isn't chosen, it is received." Tom sniffed, still displeased that he hadn't noticed them entering.

"So…what, the god himself has to make him your patron god?" Bucky asked in curiosity.

"In a sense, or another deity could do it for them. Sometimes it is done to fix mistakes, other times it's given as a blessing for the magical line. Back then our kind were called Seidrmandr, and records showed that powerful wizards even fought alongside them in the times when the gods were written to have come down from the heavens. The most powerful Seidr wielders came from a deity's blessing and patronage, and the Slytherin line is one of them." Tom explained, rubbing his temples together after detracting his shield.

"So now did your Slytherin guy get this…Loki as a patron god? And what kind of powers did that blessing give you? Are there any other patron gods that people have?" Rogers asked with what Tom was certain were puppy dog eyes.

Tom heaved out a sigh, before leaning back on one of the side tables in the laboratory. It seemed like he was going to have to tell them the story to get them to cease their incessant needling.

"Please remember that most of this comes from the records Salazar Slytherin kept himself. I know not if any of it is true, but it certainly seems plausible.

A very long time ago, Serena Slytherin, my ancestor, was a witch that had contracted a terrible illness due to what records claimed was a Frost Giant attack. Her husband, a Battle Mage, had fought valiantly against them, so well that even the gods were impressed with his skills in magic, even when he fell in battle. She was pregnant with a child at the time, and feared for both her and her unborn child's safety.

When wise Odin and kind Frigg came to their village so the people may pay homage to them, Serena begged them to help her. Kind Lady Frigg, in a moment of respect and pity, produced a bundle in her hands, sly Loki, then just a babe. For reasons unknown, it was Loki that she bound to Serena and her unborn child. His very blood and essence channeled to heal and empower her with the blessing of what was then a baby god. Serena was healed of her Frostbitten condition, and went on to have a healthy baby boy.

Serena migrated to an Irish village to raise her son, Salazar, in a better climate, so feared that he might succumb to the cold winters of Norway and the gods' patronage would be for naught. Salazar, on the other hand, seemed to adore the cold. Unlike his blonde haired parents, Salazar was dark haired, a sign of Loki's bind to his blood. He was also a parselmouth, which is a rare hereditary ability to talk to snakes. It is said that Salazar Slytherin's cunning and ambition, the very merit of his House, is also due to his ties to Loki.

It is then no coincidence that the other three exceptionally powerful and gifted Seidrmandrs were also blessed and had a patronage of a deity. Godric Gryffindor, who's family patron is mighty Thor, Rowena Ravenclaw, who's blessings came from wise Odin, and Helga Hufflepuff, who gained the adoration of kind Frigg. The four of them built and founded Hogwarts, the school of magic that I went to. It is said that with the power of all four main gods shining upon Hogwarts, the school became a beacon of hope for the magical community of the United Kingdom."

Tom then flicked his wrist, causing the shield to come out again. It's three stones glowed with power and hidden potential. All three men stared at the shield in a new light.

"The insignia on the Shield of Loki is a way of drawing on the power that was bestowed into my blood since birth, so the shield can only be used to its fullest potential by a member of the Slytherin family, another Bloodline blessed by Loki, though I've heard of none, or the god himself. And let's be honest, I highly doubt any god, never mind Loki, is going to set foot here anytime soon. So as it is right now, I am the only one who can properly use it. Wouldn't want it to be useful in the enemy's hands, after all." Tom explained further, the silver of the shield gleaming in the dull light of the laboratory, "Even so, it might not be able to absorb all spells, so it's not quite the Vibranium equivalent we had been hoping for."

"Well…" Rogers began with a smile, taking his own shield handed to him by Howard, "That just means we will have an extra boost on the playing field. No one's trying to one up another, we're all on the same team."

Tom blinked mutely at Captain Rogers. Was this man for real? Such a…wholesome, selfless man truly existed? Bloody hell, sometimes this place seemed so unreal, and that was coming from a wizard.

"Oh yeah, before I forget." Bucky then said, looking to Howard, "You said that our uniforms were ready?"

"That's right, I've got them in the back." Howard replied, springing into action and walking towards where some cabinets were in the back of the laboratory, "I'm guessing the other guys didn't want to come?"

"Yeah, they said that they really don't care what they look like as long as it's not brightly colored or anything." Bucky told the inventor with a smile, a knowing look cast at Rogers, who looked affronted.

Ah yes, the Captain had said before that the ridiculous design of his show uniform had grown on him, so the battle uniform must derive from that. Howard had come back with a pile of clothing, each wrapped in twine. He dumped the entire pile into Rogers' surprised arms before laughing and patting the soldier's back.

"Don't worry, I've labeled them all! Though I'm pretty sure you can tell which one's yours."

Rogers read the label on the top one, which was obviously the suit for Captain America with its gaudy color scheme matching the shield's, as well as the fact that this was probably the only uniform to contain a mask. He put it aside, checked the next one, and promptly handed it to Bucky, who squawked in surprise. Bucky looked at the folded bundle over and gave Howard a look.

"Hopefully this works better than it looks." was the man's only comment.

"Well if you've got an issue with the design, you better talk to Steve. He designed almost everyone's uniforms." Howard shot back with a smirk.

Bucky snorted, leaving Tom slightly confused and with the feeling he was missing out on something.

"Yeah, figures." was all Bucky muttered in reply, rolling his eyes.

Rogers continued on, listing off Dugan, Jones, Flasworth, Dernier, and Morita, and placing their uniforms down on some free space on the table. Strangely enough, there was one more folded uniform wrapped in twine in his hands. The fabric, as Tom could tell, was pitch black. Was it a spare? No, Tom thought to himself, none of the other uniforms were this black. His confusion turned into surprise when Rogers extended his arm with the last uniform towards Tom.

"Take it, Tom." Rogers said softly, his hand still extended.

Tom slowly reached out. Pale, thin, bony fingers grasped the uniform, blue eyes wide.

"What is…?" was all Tom managed to get out, before Howard answered.

"It's your uniform. What? You thought you wouldn't get one? That'd be mighty suspicious to have one un-uniformed guy around here."

It clicked. Ah. A disguise to to take the attention off of him. How thoughtful of them, Tom thought genuinely as his fingers traced what looked like borders stitched in a dull gold thread.

"Ah, thank you. I suppose a sort of disguise is needed when working alongside your muggle army." Tom sighed out, before a chuckle escaped the other three men's mouths.

"Tom…no…Tom, this…this isn't a disguise!" Bucky managed out between bouts of laughter.

"This is your uniform, Tom." Rogers told him with a warm smile, "Remember that two hour long meeting Peg- I mean Agent Carter and I were in last week? That was to discuss you. They managed to find your records. Tom Riddle, born to Tom Riddle the senior and raised in Wool's Orphanage in London. Not much documentation after the age of eleven, I assume that's when you started magic school. Anyways, this was good, because they managed to forge other documentation. In the eyes of the law, you've been in the British Army for two years."

"Welcome to the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Sergeant Riddle." Howard finished with a smirk, looking pointedly at Tom.

Tom, however, was completely silent. His blue eyes were wide and unseeing, his mind whirling and trying to get a grip on the foreign concept. He hadn't felt like this since Dumbledore told him that he was a wizard, all those years ago in that grey orphanage. This emotion wasn't completely foreign, it had simply been rare. The expression on his face was stricken, and soon the other three men began to get worried.

"…Tom?" tried Rogers, with no reply.

Bucky waved a hand in front of his face.

"…I think we broke him, guys. The lights are on but nobody's home." Bucky muttered in half worry and half amusement.

"Bullshit, look at his eyes!" Howard said, trying not to shout.

It was only when the first tear touched his skin that Tom mutely registered what Howard had seen. Before he knew it, a hand came down on his shoulder, squeezing it before another body came onto his, wrapping their arms around him. Judging by the size of the body, it was Rogers. Tom choked back his emotions, embarrassed that he was even losing control like this.

"…I am fine, Captain Rogers." he mumbled into the soldier's chest, which only made the man squeeze a little tighter.

"It's alright to let your feelings go once in a while, you know." Rogers instead replied softly, "You're with friends here. You can cry."

Without permission, stinging tears began to fall as two arms wrapped tightly around the tall figure, one hand clutching the folded uniform. This was acceptance into the fold, a part of something without having to pretend to be someone he wasn't. It seemed lost little Tom wasn't so lost anymore. Choked sobs echoed in the spacious laboratory. No one said a word.

"So…what do you think?"

Both Bucky and Tom looked up at where Steve had just come out of the changing room.

"You want my honest opinion?" Tom asked slowly, face blank.

"Well, yeah, of course!" he said while the wizard crossed his arms.

"It's ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous." was Tom's flat verdict.

Laughter and muffled guffaws came from the other members of the team, who were already decked in their own uniforms. Most of which were in various shades of beige and brown, though Morita's uniform was on the greener spectrum of the camouflage palate. Bucky's uniform, however, consisted of a darker, double breasted muted blue coat with grey buttons, separating him from the others with its unique colors and yet connecting him to them with its base military design. They all wore varying forms of hats except for Bucky, who had chucked away his hat and stating that he would rather run into a HYDRA base naked than wear it into battle.

Steve, on the other hand, was a completely different story. If he wanted Captain America to stand out from the rest of his team, he did a bloody good job of it. By far, this was the most patriotic piece of clothing he had ever seen in his life. Americans.

"You don't like it?" Steve asked with a slight pout.

"Well, if you were looking for something close to that original monstrosity of a uniform that you wore during your tours then congratulations, you have done wonderfully. You have successfully managed to design a uniform that looks both ostentatiously American and incredibly formidable that my brain hurts to look at you." Tom snarked out without fail, earning chuckles from those in the room and a smile from Steve.

"But you do think it looks formidable. That's what you said, wasn't it?" the super soldier replied with a grin.

"Yes." Tom conceded, rubbing his temples, "I will admit it's symbolic potential, but that doesn't take away the fact that you look like a walking flag."

Steve gave what Tom would consider puppy dog eyes, but said nothing. Bucky walked up to the wizard and patted him on the back.

"Well, enough stalling. It's your turn now!"

Strong hands pushed Tom into the changing room, who held his wrapped uniform in hand. It was a standard changing room with a mirror on one side and a couple of hooks on the other. He pulled the curtain shut and put the package on the small seat, undoing the twine and taking out the coat. The fabric was similar to velvet, and Tom couldn't see the practicality until he felt the material beneath. Ah yes, the 'carbon polymer'. The inner lining of the fabric, interestingly enough, was a dark, Slytherin green. Tom smiled, it seemed Steve, even without knowing him too well then, was quick to pick up certain things. Unfolding it, he could see the embroidery in the same dull gold thread as the borders around the edges.

Once he had changed into it Tom scrutinized the uniform. The pants and boots were like the others, though colored black. His coat, however, was the unique feature. It was double breasted, much like Bucky's, with Victorian styled silver buttons with the trinity knot carved within them. The edges were folded back to show the green underside, which was stitched with silver thread. In fact, the ensemble reminded him of a Victorian frock coat, coattails and all, though the coat itself resembled the design of an official army off-duty uniform.

"You know that uniforms are supposed to be practical, right Steve?" Tom called out.

"I thought it was better than your wizard robes! Besides, Howard put in some some weird stuff on the underside." came Steve's reply from the underside of the curtain.

Tom checked the underside of the coat again. There, in silver stitching, were runes. Arrays for impenetrability and swiftness, as well as an array for…cleanliness? It seemed that Howard took some of the runes for the Shield of Loki and used them for the uniform. Tom was impressed. Even so, he felt like Steve had taken what Tom had told him of the Wizarding World a little differently. Though the man did have the intelligence to widen the cuffs slightly so that Tom could hide his wand holster and armband on either side.

Jormungand, who had been awoken from his sleep after being jostled too many times, whined from the small provided seat. With a roll of his eyes, Tom lifted the snake to his shoulders again, and the small asp slithered into an opening in Tom's collar. A hidden pocket for his snake? Perhaps Steve wasn't as impractical at designing this as he had thought.

"Come on, Tom! We wanna see what you look like!" shouted the voice of Bucky, with voices of agreement following afterwards.

With a sigh, Tom pushed away the curtain and stepped out, putting the stiff, official looking military hat with the Strategic Scientific Reserve insignia in the front on top of his head, straightening up as he did so. Whistles broke out among the group, along with a few chuckles.

"Well Tom, it looks like you'll need an ascot with that getup!" Dugan chuckled, slapping his knee.

"Steve, know that I'm not wearing this hat unless it's for a formal occasion." Tom said blandly, turning to the costumed Captain, "However, I will admit you did a good job designing this."

"He should be!" Bucky commented with a laugh, "Both of us were in art school before we joined!"

"Were you now?" Tom mused, head tilted to the side with a smirk, "The solider with the heart of an artist. How fascinating. So different from your film persona, Captain 'Star Spangled Man With A Plan'."

Steve snapped his head to Bucky so quickly that Tom was sure the poor man had whiplash.

"You showed him those films?!"

"What?" Bucky asked casually with a shrug, "He asked! You try denying him! He gives the same kicked puppy expression as you do!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" Flasworth cut in, his hands clasped together in front of him, "Shall we not dally, or we will all be late for our first meeting with Colonel Philips."

The reminder seemed to get everyone into gear.

"Alright Howling Commandos, let's move out!" Steve ordered in his best 'leader voice', and everyone began to stand up and make their way to the meeting room, which was a couple hallways away.

Steve marched in front, with Tom and Bucky flanking him.

"I think the name for our team is a little silly." Tom muttered lowly.

"What's wrong with it? Our job is to raid and destroy HYDRA bases, I'm pretty sure that's the definition of a Commando." Steve answered back, though he was still looking forward.

"Oh, that's not the part I was talking about." Tom replied smoothly, "But why say that we Howl? We aren't werewolves!"

"Well, I mean it's just a cool sounding name…" Bucky started before the rest of Tom's words caught up with him, light grey eyes widening, "Wait. Werewolves exist?!"

AN:

Oni: That's all for now, folks! Hope you enjoyed it!

Tom: Don't forget to Follow, Favourite, and Review.

Oni: And I'll see you next time, my pretties!