A/N: I am aware that the CIA was technically the OSS before the end of WW2 and thought I caught all the instances when I used CIA instead of OSS in the last chapter, but apparently I was mistaken, my bad.
Hopefully this chapter will tide the Harry lovers over until the story returns to the present, especially since an old friend makes his appearance and we get to see the appearance of Captain America and the introduction of the wizarding world to this story.
Project: Super Soldier
1943
"Gentlemen, welcome to London," Fury breathed in the air as he stepped out of the cargo plane they had flown over in, before pulling out and lighting a cigar. "The place has been bombed to hell and back by the Germans, the weather is shitty, and the food is worse, my kind of place," he grinned as the others exited the plane behind him, carrying three large duffel bags.
"Jeez Nick, you been rehearsing that in your head on the flight over?" Steve joked as he carried his and Fury's bags.
"Cram it Steve," Fury blew smoke at him, know how much it bothered him. "Get your game face on, here come the Brits," he ordered.
"Major Fury?" a man in a grey suit greeted them.
"And you are?" Fury questioned him carefully.
"Special Agent Alec Peel, with his Majesty's Secret Service, here on request of Prime Minister Churchill," the man saluted Fury and the two young men.
"Barnes?" Fury looked back at the Private.
"Picture matches the file sir, it's him," the private nodded.
"Fine, let's get our gear and get to our base," Fury nodded as Peel led them to a jeep.
"We received the crate from Washington two days ago and have kept them secure here at the base," Peel explained as they drove off in the jeep. "We've prepared a set of rooms for you and your men here are the air base in the officer quarters," he continued. "The men know you are here and they know not to get in your way," he added as he pulled up to a building and handed Fury a key. "Your crate in there, it's been under lock and key since it arrived," he explained.
"Good, if I find anything is missing, it'll be your head," Fury pulled himself out of the jeep. "Come on you two," he ordered as he walked over to the door and unlocked the padlock. "You stay," he pointed at Peel and shut the door behind the three of them. "It look intact?" he asked as he caught up to Barnes and Rogers examining a wooden crate.
"The seal hasn't been broken, as far as I can tell," Private Barnes replied after looking closely at the edges of the lid.
"What's in the box Nick?" Steve asked as he looked around the deserted storage room before finding a crowbar in the corner. "What's in the box Nick?" he asked again as he hefted the crowbar and moved to the lid of the crate. "What's in the damn box Nick?" he stopped when he pressed the crowbar to the lid.
"Oh, just some things I had my boys in Washington make up," he waved his hand at the crate. "Go on, open her up," he ordered as Steve frowned and put pressure on the crowbar, popping the lid. He watched as Steve and Barnes pulled out two non-descript duffel bags with their names attached to the top with small plastic tags.
"The last time you were this excited about something was that time in Virginia when you left me in the middle of that forest and made me hike back to the hotel we were staying at," Steve frowned as he picked up the bag, noticing the weight. "What do you have in here Nick, a body?" he frowned as he started opening the bag.
"Just some gear for the two of you, for when you're out in the field on missions," he watched as they examined the contents of the bags, pulling out some handguns, a couple Thompsons, and some hunting knives.
"I don't like guns Nick, you know that," Steve frowned at all the hardware, setting it aside as he dug deeper into the bag.
"I know, but sometimes you'll have no choice but to return fire, and you need to be prepared," Fury shrugged.
"What in god's name is this?" Barnes asked as he pulled some clothes out of the bag from under all the gear. He held up a pair of red gloves, a blue shirt, red pants and dark blue combat boots, eying them in disgust.
"Just a little bit of cover my boys in the OSS came up with to help you stay covert on your missions," Fury smirked. "We'll be sending you on high profile missions and the brass figured it couldn't hurt to use the two of you for a little PR boost here and there with public appearances and all," he snorted when he saw Steve looking into his own bag.
"I ain't wearing this," he shut the bag, looking at Fury. "I agreed to do all this to fight, not to prance around like a damn circus act," he threw the bag down in disgust.
"Calm down Captain, I'm sure Major Fury…" Barnes tried to defuse the situation, knowing Steve's temper and tendency to blow up at Fury.
"Shut the hell up Bucky," Steve swore, standing face to face with Fury. "I'm not someone who is going to be paraded around out there like a freak," he stared at the Major.
"You done having your little hissy fit?" Fury stared back, blowing smoke in Steve's face.
Steve grabbed the cigar out of his mouth and threw it on the ground, crushing it under his boot. "Start talking," he ordered, staring Fury right in the eye.
"Fine, but you're gonna listen and not interrupt," he poked Steve in the chest. "You want to fight, fine," he waved his hands emphatically. "I'll be giving you all the fighting you can handle and then some," he pointed at Steve again. "What you need to understand is that you aren't just a soldier anymore!" he berated Steve as he pulled another cigar from his jacket and lit up. "You are the result of millions of dollars, hundreds of hours, and over a dozen lives!" he puffed heavily, the end of the cigar glowing red.
"I am not letting all that money and time be for nothing and damn sure am not letting those lives have been lost for nothing," he calmed down a bit. "This damn continent is going to hell in a hand basket, our allies are pinned down almost everywhere, people are dying every day out there," he continued. "The men out there need something to rally behind, something to give hope to all them sorry sons of bitches pinned down in trenches or on some godforsaken beaches dodging gunfire," he cursed up a storm.
"I'm not asking you to be a damn hero," Fury relaxed a bit and stopped to pick up the bag, handing it to Steve. "What I am asking you to do is try it my way Steve," he released the bag when Steve grabbed hold of it. "Just give me one mission my way," he asked, holding up a finger. "Just for one month, stop being Steve Rogers, stop being James Barnes," he looked at the two young men. "Just be a symbol for the men, be a soldier, be someone for them to look up to in this damn war," he finished.
Steve looked at Fury like he had grown a second head, letting the words sink in. "Jeez Nick, how many speeches did you work on during the flight over?" he asked as he looked down at the bag.
"I have a few more about starving orphans and legions of adoring women if this one doesn't take," Fury puffed on the cigar. "One month, you give me one month, you won't regret it," Fury extended his hand.
Steve shrugged then shook Fury's hand. "I ain't wearing this," he shook his head.
"Yes you are," Fury replied.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Barnes asked, holding up a little black mask.
"No," Fury and Steve replied together.
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"So, where are the Captain and the Private?" Peel asked as he waited with Fury outside the small warehouse, smoking a cigarette.
"Hand 'em over," Fury held out his hand, grabbing the folder from Peel. "My team is ready," he watched as he held his cigar up to the papers, watching them slowly burn up before tossing them to the ground.
"This is going to blow up in our faces if it doesn't work," Peel pointed out as he watched the last of the paperwork burn up on the ground.
"I have a good idea about this," Fury took a big puff off his cigar, grinning as the door opened. "About time," he grunted and jerked his head at the jeep. "Agent Peel, allow me to introduce my team, Captain America and Bucky," he grinned, taking in the red, white, and blue getups.
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"Gentlemen, this mission is extremely important," the British Lt. Colonel began the briefing. "We plan to leave on the 26th and arrive at our target at approximately 0100 hours on the 28th, our targets are the German dry-dock and the submarine pens at St. Nazaire," he looked over the leaders of eleven different commando crews, a handful of officers from the Navy, and the three Americans. He turned to the pictures that were tacked to the wall and began to explain the plan of attack.
"We have altered a ship given to us by the Americans to look like a German destroyer and have riddled the ship with high explosives," he pointed at the map, tracing a line through the water. "We plan to come in during the dead of night and ram the gates of the shipyard before blowing the ship to kingdom come and crippling the base," he paused as some of the Navy officers talked between themselves in hushed whispers.
"How good of a disguise job have you done on this American ship?" one of the men asked.
"Good enough that it should pass the eye test in the middle of the night," the Lt. Colonel replied. "The ship will be flying the German colors and we will be radioing them to keep them off us," he continued. "They should not be using any searchlights, since we will be bombing them continuously as you make your approach," he explained. "The ship has been modified to hold a dozen motor launches that will hold the teams that are being sent after high priority targets as the rest of the commandos disembark and do as much damage as possible before retreating to the retrieval vessels we have following fifteen minutes behind you," he continued.
"The commandos on the ship will be targeting these targets," he pointed out half a dozen circled areas. "These are all vital for ship repair and we want them taken out," he watched as the commandos took notes. "The teams in the motor transports will launch right before the ship impacts the gates and speed along to this canal they dug to feed and control the water in the sub pens," he circled a small waterway. "The canal runs for approximately two hundred meters before it opens into the sub pen, and should be unobstructed at that time of night," he added. "Once in the sub pen, cause as much damage as you can, then get out and get on the retrieval ships," he turned back to the men.
"Our allies, Colonel Fury, the Captain, and Private Bucky," he gestured at the Americans. "Our allies will be piloting their own transport and following the teams headed to the sub pen, before breaking off from you," he gestured at Fury.
"Intelligence suggests that the area where they house their code machines before putting them on the ships for missions is somewhere beyond the sub pen," Fury looked over his own papers. "If I was a betting man, I'd put it a few floors away, so we are going to have to convince someone to tell us where it is," he grinned. "Once we get whatever we can find, we will make our way out by blowing the emergency release to the sub pen's water level and being flushed out to sea and will meet up with one of the recovery vessels a couple clicks offshore," he grinned.
"You're mad," one of the Navy officers stared at him. "Flushing yourself through a submarine pen's emergency drain is going to kill you or drown you," the man pointed out.
"You do your part sailor boy," Fury puffed on his cigar. "My team will do theirs," he relaxed back into his seat between Steve and Bucky.
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"You two nervous?" Fury asked as they waited in the belly of the ship on their transport.
"Nah, just gonna be driving a glorified motorboat into a Nazi naval base as the RAF bombs said base, then need to sneak around, evade capture, flush ourselves out a drainage tunnel, and swim a mile out to sea, no problem there," Steve tried to calm down. "Not to mention Bucky and I are going to be sitting ducks, if a Nazi happens to look our way," he gestured at their brightly covered uniforms. "How come you get to be all sneaky?" he glared at Fury's black BDUs.
"Me? I'm just an officer, not the hero like you two," he shrugged. "Now listen up, I've put this pep talk off long enough," he said seriously, taking his cigar out of his mouth. "Cap, you are the toughest SOB I know," he looked at the man behind the blue mask. "You took the worst training I could give you, the worst training I could think of, and some other shit I just made up," he admitted. "You came out of it just fine, and you trusted me enough to do this mission my way," he sighed. "Thanks," he shrugged.
"And you kid," Fury looked at Bucky. "For some reason, he can't beat your ass as bad as he does with everyone else he spars with," he jerked his head at Steve. "That and he is dumb as a rock and needs someone to keep him in line, so you got stuck with the job," he shrugged before puffing on his cigar.
"Gee Steve, you'd almost thing he's proud of us," Bucky rolled his eyes.
"I think he's been drinking," Steve smirked.
"I have been," Fury snorted. "Don't expect me to drive this toy into enemy territory sober, do you?" he grinned. "You two take care of yourselves out there, I figure you'll either draw all their fire in those getups, or make them pass out laughing, either works for me," he turned away from the glares they shot at him.
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The German soldier stood at his post nervously as he listened to the bombing hitting the rest of the base. He was assigned to guard this wing of the base tonight and was partially glad he was not out with the others getting shelled by the British. He paused as he heard a sound and looked around for the cause. "Hallo? Wer ist dort?" he asked as he walked down the hallway. "Hallo?" he asked again, sticking his head into the intersection.
"Hello yourself," Steve smirked as the man's jaw dropped, taking in his costume. "Goodnight," he added as he reached back and punched the man in the face, dropping him to the ground before he could pull his gun.
"You owe me five bucks, he was going to laugh," Fury said coarsely as he pushed past Steve and walked further into the base.
"I think he was going to scream," Steve replied, looking around the corner as Bucky frisked the soldier.
"Got nothing, he's just a guard," Bucky shook his head when he got up.
"Where'd the first one say to go?" Fury questioned, chewing his unlit cigar.
"Stairwell at the end of this hallway, then up a floor and first door on the right," Bucky replied, having been the only one who could speak German well enough to interrogate the first soldier they had ambushed.
"You positive he wasn't lying?" Fury frowned as they worked their way to the stairwell carefully.
"You scared him so bad he shit himself Nick," Steve frowned. "He's got a job in Hollywood if he was acting," he paused at the door, listening closely. "Think we're clear," he grabbed the handle and tried to open it. "Locked," he frowned.
"Bucky, get it opened," Fury ordered as he and Steve walked back to the intersection and checked for any company.
"How do you think the commandos are doing?" Steve asked as the two of them looked up and down the halls nervously.
"Well, the ship hit the gates good, so providing the Brits set the charges right, the gate to this place will be shot to shit in three hours," Fury guessed. "It all depends on how fast the Nazis caught on to them," Fury shrugged. "They know their job, you just concentrate on yours," he frowned.
"Got it," Bucky called from at the door, cautiously looking into the dark stairwell. "Clear," he called back after looking and listening in the stairwell.
"Okay, move it up the stairs, next floor should be our target," Fury ordered as they moved up the stairs silently. "Locked," he frowned at the next door. "Bucky?" he asked as the Private crouched and examined the lock with a flashlight. "Not good," he shook his head. "This is going to take a while, but on the bright side, whatever they put behind this lock has to be worth it," he frowned and looked through his lock picking kit.
"No time," Fury shook his head. "Go with plan B," he ordered.
"Yes sir," he nodded and pulled a small charge of explosives out of his pack, setting it around the lock before putting a detonator in it. "Clear," he ordered and took cover with Fury and Steve ducking down the steps a little before the charge blew with a noticeable boom.
"Well they know we're here now," Steve frowned and took point, his hand resting on the handle of his pistol. "Clear," he called back after opening the door and looking around.
"Spread out, find something so we can get out of here," Fury ordered as the three of them looked around the darkened rooms. "Time boys, we need to get out of here now," Fury growled a minute later. "Anything good?" he asked as Steve pulled the watertight satchel from his back and opened it up.
"No whole code machines, but I grabbed some parts that looked important," he pointed at some pieces of metal in the bag.
"Just a bunch of technical specs and building instructions," Bucky dumped an armful of papers in the bag.
"Grabbed some maps and important looking junk, think I was in an officer's office," Fury dumped his booty into the bag before Steve sealed and shouldered it. "Let's get the hell out of here before someone notices us," he grunted and led the way back to the stairwell. "Ah hell," he swore when they entered the stairwell and heard angry German voices coming from below and getting closer. "Go," he hissed and took off up the stairs with the others.
"Any ideas?" Bucky asked as he heard the Germans getting louder, knowing they could hear the Americans.
"Sure, get to the sub pen and get the hell out," Fury frowned and pulled out a grenade tossing it down the stairs behind them. They heard the boom and screams a moment later and paused to look around. "Think we're up on the 6th floor, we're running out of building…" he frowned and lit his cigar.
"I got an idea," Steve said quickly and kicked open a door leading out of the stairway. "Should be that direction," he muttered as he hurriedly walked through the halls, turning here and there. "There we go," he went to a window and looked out it before nodding.
"What are you thinking Captain?" Fury asked as he walked to the window to see what got Steve so excited. "Big deal that's the sub pen, how are we going to get down to the water?" he grunted. "The whole damn place is crawling with Nazis, looks like the Brits made their evac already," he ducked when Steve came out of an office and threw a chair out the window, clearing the glass.
"You're kidding, right?" Bucky's jaw dropped when he peeked out the window. "That's got to be thirty feet Steve, not to mention six stories down," he glared at Steve.
"Our forward momentum will carry us as we fall," Steve explained. "Give me the charges," he ordered Bucky.
"Fine, we're jumping," Fury frowned. "How do you expect to get the emergency drain opened, I'm pretty sure they'll notice when we jump out the window and aren't going to take kindly to us wanting to go use their control panel to drain the damn pen," he sighed when he saw Steve remove the watertight satchel and dump out the contents.
"We'll put the charges in here, I'll swim down to the drain and blow it from there," he helped Bucky pack the bag. "Just put the activation cord sticking out the side here and hopefully it won't leak so much to stop the explosion," he ordered Bucky.
"That drain has to be around one hundred feet down there near the bottom Steve," Fury reminded him.
"More like one-fifty," Steve replied. "See, I paid attention at the briefings," he joked. "With the momentum from falling I should make it there fine," he continued.
"What about the whole breathing thing… you know we planned on having enough breath to survive the drain, not enough for you to swim down and then make it through the tunnel," Fury watched Steve carefully.
"Don't worry about it, trust me," Steve shook off the complaints and shouldered the pack. "Unless you have a better idea?" he questioned.
"Fine, go when you're ready Captain," Fury chewed on his cigar violently. "Wait thirty seconds then follow you?" he guessed, trying to figure how fast Steve could swim.
"Sounds good," Steve nodded and walked away from the window to get a running start and disappearing through the window.
"This is a bad idea," Bucky frowned as he saw Steve hit the water and attract attention from the Nazis. "We're going to be sitting ducks if he times it wrong or the charges don't go off," he frowned and watched the seconds tick by on his watch.
"Little late for thinking of that now, besides, I didn't see you with a better plan," Fury laughed and tossed his cigar in the closest room, noting as it ignited some papers. "Let's just hope the Captain does his part," he grinned and sprinted at the window, jumping out into the air.
"This is insane," Bucky groaned before jumping out after Fury. He watched the ground coming up below him and saw the shockwave in the water from the explosion just as Fury hit the water a couple seconds ahead of him. He took a deep breath and braced himself as he hit the water feet first and the entire sub pen's water rushed out the hole in the bottom. He opened his eyes, trying to see where he was headed as the current sucked him down and pushed him to what he hoped was open sea. He caught a glimpse of Fury ahead of him and realized he had been shot, judging by the red coloring in the water around his leg.
He swam with the current, putting an arm around the struggling Fury and together the two men swam until the tunnel opened up and they reached open waters. They struggled and paddled upward, finally breaking the surface, gasping for air. "Damn Nazi bastards shot me in the leg," Fury grimaced and hurriedly pulled off his jacket and tied it tightly around the wound. "Thanks for the help there Barnes," he grunted as the two of them paddled out into the ocean together. "There's Rogers," he pointed over a wave at the other soldier.
"Nice to see you two could join me," Steve greeted the two as he was treading water. "What kept you?"
"I got shot because of your wonderful plan," Fury grunted. "Help me swim, Bucky find out where the hell we are and where the damn recovery ship is," Fury ordered and swing an arm across Steve's shoulder and started paddling.
-------------------------------------------
"I still think the mission was a failure," Steve frowned in the back of the jeep with Fury as Bucky sat in the front with the driver the Brits had sent.
"So we didn't get anything about their code machines, big deal," Fury shrugged, puffing on his cigar. "We made it out, that's what counts. The commandos had to retreat and didn't do as much damage as we planned on, so without our little impromptu escape plan, all of those subs would have been fine, instead of piled up on each other in a half destroyed base," he explained.
"Besides, the sailors were pretty impressed after the picked us up and I explained what happened," Fury laughed. "I have to admit, I like the nickname they gave you, much better than just calling you 'The Captain'," he laughed as Steve rolled his eyes and looked out into the rainy weather.
"What I want to know, is why the royal family wants to see me," he frowned. "And yeah, I like the name too," he rolled his eyes when Fury handed Bucky some cash.
"Told you," Bucky smirked back at the two officers. "Captain America," he laughed a bit before Steve smacked him in the back of the head.
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"Welcome to Windsor Castle," Agent Peel greeted the three of them after they got out of the jeep and ran up the steps to the castle to get out of the rain. "I trust your recovery from the mission is going well?" he asked as he shook hands and led them into the castle and plucking Fury's cigar from his mouth, tossing it out into the rain.
"Bucky and I got through it fine, the old man here is the one that got shot," Steve picked at Fury.
"Hrrmph," Fury grumbled under his breath, ignoring the others. "Why are we here Peel?" Fury asked. "The mission wasn't anything special, despite what the reports say."
"Well, the reports made their way to some very influential people, who have access to some very unique objects," he snorted and motioned the three of them further into the castle, before stopping at a large set of doors. "May I present Her Royal Highness, Princess Elizabeth," he said loudly as he pushed the doors open, leading to a large dining room.
A young woman, maybe seventeen years old was seated at the head of the table, being attended to by half a dozen handlers. She said something sharply to the ladies, causing them to bow and scatter, leaving herself, Peel, the Americans, and a man in a black suit with short red hair. "Greetings," she smiled and got up to greet the men.
"How do we greet a Princess?" Steve said quietly as she approached.
"Think of whatever Nick would do, and do the opposite?" Bucky suggested quickly.
"It is an honor to meet you all," she curtsied when she reached the men.
"It's an honor to meet you too, Princess," Steve said quickly after Fury elbowed him in the back.
"Please, you are not British subjects," she giggled at the uneasiness that all three Americans had. "You may call me Elizabeth, I have heard much about you three," she looked at the three of them. "Major Fury, Bucky, and Captain America," she nodded at them in turn, Fury coughing on a laugh at Steve's new codename. "It is very boring here, being kept safe in the castle, while the war rages outside," she spoke and walked back to the head of the table as they followed. "We have Agent Peel and others who work for the Ministry get us whatever things they think we could find interesting, that's how I got a copy of the report about the attack on St. Nazaire, before the intelligence agencies blacked out your involvement of course," she added.
"That's interesting," Fury glared at Peel.
"Take it easy Major Fury, the documents are destroyed after being read, to protect the involvement of those of us who funnel information to the Princess," he added quickly. "My superiors would not be very happy with the situation either, but it is not causing any harm," he explained. "It might actually cause some good, from what I gather," he finished when they reached the head of the table where the man was waiting with a rather large package.
"This is Alastor Moody, another of the subjects of the crown," she nodded at the man, who looked ready to kill someone. "He works in a specialized area of the Ministry, dealing with certain family artifacts, I had him bring this one here today," she explained as the man put the package on the table.
"They are going to have my job, at the very least, if my involvement here gets out," he said grouchily.
"Don't worry Alastor, you could always come work for me," Peel joked.
"I'd sooner fight a…" he grumbled to himself, looked at the others unimpressed.
"If you will please open the package Alastor," the Princess directed the man who pulled out a small pocketknife and cut the strings keeping the object in the package tied up in cloth. "Thank you Alastor," she smiled and started folding back the cloth to reveal a disk shaped object. "This has been handed down through my family since it was found in one of our castles three generations ago," she explained as she fully revealed the circular object. "As best as our historians can guess, it is from the late 10th century, but it has a unique feature that makes it difficult to date, to say the least," she explained and lifted the shield up by placing her arm through the straps on the backside.
"We've tested it with everything we have and can't even identify what metal it is," she frowned as Moody made a noise in his throat. "But what we did find, is that it is indestructible," she ran her hand over the shield before taking it off. "It is not doing much good locked up in a vault somewhere, so we figured it would be put to better use in your hands," she handed it to Steve, face first, displaying the red and white stripes surrounding the blue outlined star.
"I can't accept this," Steve shook his head as she released the shield, leaving him holding it.
"I have a good feeling about you Captain America, please accept it," she didn't wait for a response and walked back to her chair.
"Hmmm, spiffy," Fury smirked at the shield, flicking it with his finger to test the toughness. "You sure this thing is bulletproof?" he asked Peel as several servants entered the room carrying trays of food.
"Absolutely, tested it myself," Peel nodded. "We can't even get the thing to heat up, so technically it is fireproof too," he shrugged. "The paint is going to need touched up every now and then, depending on how much use you get out of it, but I imagine you Yanks can figure something out," he continued.
"Hear that Bucky, you get to be an artist," Fury smirked at the other man as a tray clattered to the ground.
"Filthy Muggle!" one of the servants shouted as he and three others threw down their trays and reached into their pockets. "Avada Kedavra!" the first one shouted, pointing a wooden stick at the Princess across the table.
"Wand!" Peel yelled and reached for his sidearm along with Fury and Bucky.
The green light that came from the wand sped at the Princess before it was stopped with a squealing noise when it hit the hard metal of the shield that Steve had lunged to place in between her and the curse. The room was silent for a second until Fury, Bucky, and Peel started firing back at the attackers, helped by Moody who was holding a wand of his own. "Get down Princess," Steve ordered as he pulled her to the floor and flipped the heavy wooden dinner table with a grunt.
"Be careful, those men…" she tried to warn him, but he shook her off and jumped the table, rushing at an attacker.
"Pitiful," one of the men said in a heavy German accent, as he waved his wand and the three guns clattered to the floor in several pieces. "Reducto!" he cast the curse at Fury who did the smart thing and dove out of the way.
"Get under cover, you can't fight them," Moody growled and shot off a string of spells at the men, causing them to stumble. "Grindelwald should have known better than to send you here," Moody glared at the men, bringing up the strongest shield he could.
"Bucky, take the one on the left," Fury ordered before rushing the one that was trying to get around the table to the Princess. "Well shit," he swore when the man pointed his wand at him and he stopped his travel mid-air and just floated there.
"You're out of your league boy," the man facing off against Bucky threatened, holding his wand at his side.
"Funny thing about that," Bucky stared at the man's eyes. He jerked his hand up quickly, a thin piece of wood sliding from up his sleeve into his gloved hand. "Stupefy!" he shouted as the man was slow to react and dropped to the floor immediately.
"What…" one of the two men facing Moody reacted to Bucky casting the spell, turning away from Moody. At that moment Steve vaulted over the table and threw the shield at the man holding Fury in the air, knocking him out and flipped through the air as the whirring shield made the other two men duck out of its path. "That's enough you blasted Muggles," the man threatened as he got to his feet and pointed his wand at Moody.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Steve said from behind wizard, shield firmly attached to his arm and his own wand pressing into the wizard's neck. "Got that one secured Bucky?" he asked as Bucky stunned the other wizard.
"Got him Cap," Bucky replied quickly, keeping his wand in his hand. "Cap, uh…," he frowned, realizing that the cat was out of the bag now.
"Later Bucky, first we secure the prisoners," Steve ordered. "Incarcerous," he muttered as ropes appeared and bound the man, making him fall to the ground. "Stupefy," he added for good measure.
Fury rubbed his head as he got up from where he fell to the ground, taking in the scene before him, where the attackers were all incapacitated and Moody, Bucky, and Steve were holding sticks at their sides, eyeing each other nervously. "What in the hell just happened here?" he questioned loudly.
"These men were sent here to kill the Princess and take the shield," Peel replied quickly.
"And the fancy light show and the little sticks of wood?" Fury glared at Peel who obviously knew more than he was letting on.
"They're wizards," Steve replied. "Like myself, Moody, and surprisingly Bucky here," he stared a hole in his sidekick. "How do you fit into this Peel?" he looked at the agent.
"Squib, just like the Princess," he replied before panicking and going to check on her.
"So…you are wizards?" Fury watched his two soldiers. "Ever feel like filling me in on it?" he frowned and pulled out a cigar and lit it.
"There are secrecy issues, we'd be sent to prison if we went and told every Muggle about our world," Moody replied uneasily.
"Muggle?" Fury frowned.
"Non-magical person," Steve explained. "So, who wants to start this round of show and tell? We aren't leaving this room until we get this sorted out," he added, looking between Bucky and Moody.
"Alastor, tell them of your duties," the Princess commanded as she dusted herself off after Peel helped her to her feet.
"I am a special guard to the royal family here at the castle to protect them from magical attack," he reluctantly explained. "Grindelwald's men have been trying to obtain that shield and other relics for some years now," he continued. "The shield is old, from the time of Merlin himself and truly is indestructible," he continued. "It responds to the will of the user, depending on their intentions. The Princess believes in your hands it can do some good," he finished.
"Some guard you are, how did these men get in?" Fury frowned and kicked at the closest.
"Probably polyjuice," Bucky said quickly. "We'll know in an hour," he shrugged, then noticed Fury's confused look. "Um…shape changing potion, sir," he explained.
"Wonderful," Fury puffed heavily on his cigar. "Care to explain why I have two wizards in the US Army under my command?" he eyed Steve and Bucky.
"I can probably cover that one," Peel interjected. "There's a magical component to this war too Major Fury," he explained. "A powerful wizard named Gellert Grindelwald has closely allied himself with the Nazis," Peel continued.
"He's taken the name Heinrich Himmler," Bucky added quickly.
"What?" Peel stared at the young man.
"I joined the Army to get over here and fight, since I could not as a wizard, due to America's neutrality," Bucky continued. "Once I got access to Fury's files and all... I recognized him from wizarding papers, it's him," he frowned. "He's working both sides," Bucky nodded.
"And you Cap? What's your story?" Fury turned to him as he was tucking his wand away.
"Same as always Nick, I see a fight and am too stupid to walk away," he replied as he rubbed the shield. "Born a wizard, unable to join either war over here, so I hopped in with the program, probably why the serum didn't maim me," he continued watching Fury closely.
"What serum?" the Princess asked suddenly.
"Chemicals and injections they put me under, to make a stronger soldier," Steve explained. "As far as I can guess you needed to be a wizard to have a chance of surviving," he shrugged, noticing Bucky look away.
"So I got two wizards, one who has millions of dollars of research pumped into his blood, who is also carrying a hunk of metal that the Nazis want, and will stop at nothing to get," Fury growled, tossing his cigar on the ground. "Am I missing anything?" he glared at Peel.
"No, that seems to be about it…" Peel was alarmed at how easy Nick was taking it.
"Fine, I'm going to get good and drunk, I want a briefing on all this crap in the morning," Fury left them, waving his hand in the air.
"Nick!" Steve called after him.
"In the damn morning!" Fury shouted back before leaving the room.
"That could have gone better," Peel muttered after Fury had left. "How the hell am I going to cover this with the Ministry of Magic…"
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"Alright you three, I don't give a crap about your pasts, whatever little side agendas you may have, I don't care about any of it," Fury shouted at the three men in front of him. "They found some wizard to power the wards to keep England safe after the attack by Grindelwald, so you are all mine now," he stomped in front of them. "To do whatever I want with, or so help me I will lock you all up where no one will find you, is that understood?" Fury shouted at them.
"Sir, yes sir," Steve, Bucky, and Moody replied immediately.
A/N: The Super Soldier chapters take a bit longer to write up than the Green Dawn and Unified Theory ones. Anyway, got some wizard action in there, happy? More wizard talk as Cap, Bucky, and Moody travel with the Allies and march towards Berlin. I'm not going to get too much into the battles, just concentrate on the downtimes between fights and highlights. On the bright side, only 1944, then half of 1945 (hint hint) before we get back to the present.