"The solstices are the turning points in the natural world." Sirius explained. "Summer to Autumn, Autumn to Winter, etc. I went into the Veil three days before the June solstice and was spat out here, three days before the March solstice. My arithmancy says that for the best possible result, I should enter the Veil three days before the December solstice and I'll be spat out there three days before the September solstice." He shrugged. "Either that or it'll be three minutes after I entered the Veil. That's a little vague. Both possibilities come up equally viable."
"Then we've got a lot to do in the next few weeks." Bucky said.
"Write up your wish lists and I'll see what we've got in stock and what I can requisition." Phillips ordered.
"Okay…" Peggy looked from Bucky to Sirius. "The first thing we need to know is…? What weapons are you taking?"
"I want a couple of sniper rifles." Bucky said. "But I was thinking… Maybe not standard ones. What do ya reckon our chances are of getting Stark to customise somethin' for us?"
Peggy blinked. "I might be able to talk him into something. I don't know, it depends on what you want?"
"We were hoping that he could modify some of the stuff we use in the field." Bucky answered. "Mainly the Colt, the Walther and the Johnson. Siri thinks he can charm the magazines to be… what was it… never-ending?"
"Ever-full." Sirius corrected. "I'd need to take the magazine apart and etch a series of runes on the inside of it, that were linked to a second set inside a second magazine that bullets were funnelled into."
"That would require a bit of work." Peggy mused.
"Not really, a large box of bullets and some time, is all." Sirius objected. "I can summon them out and lay them all out, butt-first, then we'd need some sort of physical linking mechanism. Like those bullet-chains used for the big anti-personnel guns. I can link smaller bullets together using magic but the moment one goes passed the linking runes for the magazines, the magical link between bullets would fail. A physical link wouldn't. "
"I'll call Howard and get him to come over." Peggy nodded. "Between the three of you, you should be able to work it out." She made a note on the notepad in front of her. "What else?"
"Some knives, KA-bars and the like." Bucky replied. "Not a lot, maybe a dozen. I don't expect to need them but I'd rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them."
"That's true." Peggy nodded. "Anything else?"
"Not really." Bucky shrugged. "I thought about some grenades, but… I can't see the point. Sirius says that he and Remus can always make up some Molotov cocktails using potions instead of alcohol."
"We can use some of the more volatile potions." Sirius grinned. "We can add some Erumpent potion, some exploding potion, some garrotting gas, maybe some jawbind potion… if we can made it contactable rather than ingestible… Then there's the prank potions, marauder bombs, we used to call them. Laughing potions make the user laugh uncontrollably, laxative potions do what you think, manegro makes the user's hair grow rapidly, stink-it-up potion turns into a noxious green gas that on contact with a warm surface… a living body… turns into a sticky green acidic goo, polyjuice turns someone into an exact replica of another person but if you substitute the human hair with animal hair… you get some interesting results." He laughed and turned to Bucky. "Remember to ask Hermione about second year and where she messed up with polyjuice."
Peggy eyes opened wide. "Can anyone make them?"
"If you can get ingredients, yes." Sirius nodded. "Getting them is going to be the hard bit. Here, I mean. There, it's easy, I can just owl-order anything I want. You? Some things grow naturally but I don't know if the muggle plants will have the same properties as those grown around magic."
"Ah." Peggy sighed. "Well, it was a nice thought, while it lasted."
"Yeah." Sirius grimaced.
"What else is on your list?" The woman asked.
"After the weapons?" Bucky asked in reply. "Only clothes and some food."
"Why so little?" Peggy frowned.
"A number of reasons." Sirius answered. "The main reason is I have resources back there, an entire estate's worth, plus, we just don't know what we'll be stepping out into. And that causes some issues. There are four options for our exit from the Veil. One? We exit three days before the September solstice, in the Veil chamber. Two? We exit three days before the September solstice, in my preferred location in Scotland. Three? We exit three minutes after I entered the Veil, in the Veil chamber. Four? Three minutes after I entered the Veil, in Scotland."
"And the benefits or issues of each?" Peggy had her pen ready to take notes.
"One?" Sirius held up a finger. "September solstice, in the Veil chamber. The Veil chamber is underneath the Ministry, getting out could be a problem. I might be able to use a portkey but I won't know until we're in there." He held up a second finger. "Two? September in Scotland. Kind of depends on how far above the ground we exit. The Veil chamber is underneath the Ministry, right in the bowls of London, I exited as far above the alps as the Veil was underground. The Veil here, is at ground level, so I'm hoping that we come out at ground level." A third finger. "Three? Three minutes after entering the Veil, in the chamber. The Aurors and DeathEaters will probably still be there. If they aren't, the Unspeakables will be. We might have to fight our way out." A fourth finger. "Four? It's my preferred of all the options. Three minutes later, in Scotland. I can contact a few people and get things in place pretty fast. By the time the sun rises we should be set and ready to move forward."
"And because the situations can be anything from isolated, to the middle of a security nightmare…" Bucky added. "We have to be able to carry everything on us. The less we take the better we'll be able to move."
"I see…" Peggy was scribbling as she nodded. "Yes, yes, I understand." She looked up. "How many weapons will you be taking? Assuming I can get Howard here and assuming that you and he are successful in modifying them, that is."
"Each of us will have a modified M1941 Johnson rifle strapped to our backs and the pistols in harnesses, everywhere." Bucky answered. "I want at least four of the Walthers PPKs, Harry and Hermione are both smaller, the Walthers will suit them better. A dozen of the Colt M1911s, more if you can work out a way for us to carry them." He shrugged. "A backpack with clothes and some food. The shrunken boxes of ammo have to be attached to our belts. That's it."
"I think we can work this out." Peggy nodded with a smile. "Let me call Howard and see how soon he can get here."
It took Sirius and Howard two weeks to stabilise the modifications to the various gun magazines and work out a method of connecting the bullets. A fine thread was attached to each bullet using a speck of synthetic glue, the thread was enough to physically link the bullets and funnel them into the first of the linked magazines. The rune at the base of the first magazine linked to a rune-set at the base of the second magazine, as each bullet reached the first rune, it was banished to the second rune-set, ensuring that the magazine in the gun was always full. As each bullet moved up the magazine, towards the firing chamber, it passed a third rune-set that dissolved the glue and the thread, leaving behind only a minute speck of high-quality gun oil, nothing that could get jammed in the firing mechanism.
Howard even came up with the idea of shrinking the boxes of ammo and attaching them to the base of each gun's handgrip or magazine with magnets, enabling them to remove the boxes and resupply them. He also designed harnesses for the excess pistols, that could be attached to the harness for the Johnson rifle that would be worn on their backs.
Peggy took Bucky's preferred uniform (or lack thereof) and had it altered for him. The trousers and boots were fine but she had his blue double-breasted jacket made into a longer greatcoat, while still keeping the colour and cut. His utility belt would now be worn under his coat and would have a number of small pouches, each one containing a shrunken bag; of clothing, of food or other supplies.
After that, it was the long and arduous task of making the bullet chains and as they wanted each pistol to have a minimum of 10,000 rounds, it was going to take them most of the time between then and entering the Veil.
"So…?" Howard Stark looked from Bucky to Sirius and back again.
"So?" Bucky repeated back, more focused on the large table and its contents, than Howard's curiosity.
"So? You two are… are… you know…" The genius trailed off, gesturing from one to the other.
Bucky and Sirius exchanged amused glances and Bucky continued to check their supplies against the list Peggy had written up.
"We're what?" Sirius raised a brow at Howard. "Lovers? Yes, we are. We'd be married if we weren't in Merlin-be-damned 1946."
"Huh." Howard grunted. "How'd that happen?"
"You really want to know?" Sirius smirked.
"No! Not the details." Howard squawked. "I meant… How'd you get together? Who spoke up?"
Sirius laughed. "He's a sniper, Howard, a sniper. They see everything." He threw a half-hearted glare at Bucky, who ignored it and kept ticking things off the list after he went over each item. "Even when you don't think he's looking, he still sees everything."
"I saw the way his eyes followed some of the guys." Bucky chuckled. "Particularly, when they were walking away. So, I cornered him one morning."
"Before I was wake properly, I might add." Sirius snarked. "I hadn't even got a cup of tea and he was asking questions that I shouldn't have answered but I wasn't awake enough to stop myself and before I knew it, he'd talked his way into us sharing a room."
"And a bed." Bucky added and got swatted for his efforts.
"Hush, you. Keep checking that stuff." Sirius ordered.
Howard laughed. "That's the best way to get answers. Well done." He congratulated Bucky.
Peggy walked in the door as both Howard and Bucky smothered their snickers at Sirius' red face.
"Oh, dear." She sighed. "Do I want to know?"
"Nope." Howard laughed. "But I win, Barnes was the one to make the first move."
"Bugger." Peggy swore and dug into her pocket, pulling out a handful of crumpled notes. "$5 wasn't it?"
"Yep." Howard grinned at the stunned looks on both Bucky and Sirius' faces, as he snatched up the held out money.
"You… You were betting on us?" The wizard squawked.
"Yep." Howard nodded.
"Of course." Peggy said at the same time.
"How long?" Phillips snapped as he stomped into the SSR's version of a Veil chamber.
"About five minutes, we estimate." Peggy answered.
"You got everything?" He directed the question at Bucky and Sirius.
"Guns with enchanted magazines. Knives. Clothes. Food." Bucky answered. "Shrunken boxes. We're good to go."
"Documentation?" Phillips asked.
"No point." Sirius said. "We're travelling fifty years into the future, any documentation that Bucky had is going to be worthless." He frowned. "And I'm not entirely certain, it's even the same world."
"Meaning?" Phillips snapped.
"You'd never heard of the magical world." Sirius explained. "During the muggle World War Two, there was a magical war going on at the same time and I kind of expected there to be hints of it, it should have been obvious if you knew about magic but I've heard nothing. Mind you, I'm not familiar with how MACUSA runs things in America. I could just have missed it altogether."
"Ah. I see." Phillips nodded.
"Anyway, I've got a contact that can get him papers and get them lodged in the muggle world, if we need to." Sirius went on. "But if we stay in the magical world, it doesn't really matter. Identification works on blood. As soon as I can get Albus or Moody involved, we'll bond… ah, that's the magical equivalent of marrying… and that should be enough for Bucky to register on a Gringotts' test. They handle all the identity related matters in the wizarding world."
"Right." Phillips nodded. "What about finances, when you get there?"
"I'm the last Black." Sirius grimaced. "By default I inherit the title and the estate. It's worth a mint. But Bucky's a stubborn man, he cashed in his army pay and given it to Howard to invest. If we are in the same world, that'll give him a nice nest egg, once we arrive. If Bucky's not contacted either Howard, Peggy or one of the Howlies by December 1997, it's to be used to support returned vetrans."
"It's not a huge amount." Howard added. "But I'll invest it as best I can. Should have a nice return by 1996."
"Thanks." Bucky said.
"Come see me, when you get there." Howard mock saluted and sauntered from the chamber.
"Only Stark." Phillips muttered.
"Be grateful there's only one of him." Peggy warned.
"Oh, I am." Phillips nodded. "I most certainly am."
An alarm quietly beeped.
"One minute, gentlemen." Peggy warned.
"Yes, ma'am." Bucky stood up and began to check Sirius' gear, once he was done, Sirius checked his in return. "We're good to go."