Helloo! Not much to say so I'll let you get to the story, enjoy!

Shout Outs!:

SmolAvidReader

Yeah, I thought having Toothless partake a more active roll in bootcamp would be fun. Have to get them in there a little. You're welcome :)

GuardianDragon98

I can so totally see them being the most destructive bomber pilots.

Journal 2, Entry 18: "The First Avenger Pt.4"

Hakon slipped into the closet holding the vials, checking over his shoulder as he shut the door—all the other scientists were checking the machine and Erskine was greeting and entertaining the dignitaries. He picked up and uncapped one, then took Loki's dagger and carefully pricked his thumb, gathering the tiniest bit of his blood and letting it fall into the blue liquid.

He magically healed the cut and replaced the vial. He held the handle to the door and waited until Tor tugged on their bond to let him know that it was safe to leave. He and Tor jumped the few steps down to the slightly sunken area where the vast array of computers circled the radiation chamber and the platform it sat on.

Howard turned with a bright smile. "Finally decided to join us, hu?"

Hakon chuckled. "Had some things I needed to take care of real quick. The machine ready?"

Howard almost looked offended. "If it wasn't, do you think we'd be here? Shoot, you gave the final okay."

Hakon held up his hands. "Just wanted to check. I actually want Steve to survive this."

Howard chuckled dryly. "Wouldn't that be ironic if he didn't—opposite of what happened with Dr. Frankenstein."

Hakon smiled wryly at the comparison. "Yeah."

A small commotion drew their attention away to Steve and Erskine now standing on the catwalk next to the radiation chamber. Steve spotted Hakon below and waved, Hakon eagerly returning it.

Hakon skipped up the steps to properly greet Steve as he was taking off his shirt, shaking slightly. Hakon smiled reassuringly and took the discarded clothing. "Hey, if this works, no more asthma problems."

Steve finally laughed and said quietly, "Wouldn't that be something." He took a steadying breath and climbed into the chamber, Peggy standing only a few steps away.

Hakon started triple checking the wires and everything again and shot her a knowing smile to which she returned with a scowl.

Tor huffed in amusement, sitting beside Peggy and watching Steve psych himself up and Hakon perform his usual panicked make-sure-nothing-is-going-to-blow-up-from-this-experiment dance, not that it was always successful. There was a reason why explosions and fires at the New Berk R&D were barely paid attention to unless the dragons were panicking beyond the usual fright.

Erskine stood on the opposite side of the chamber and looked at Steve. "Comfortable?"

Steve wiggled and tried to smile. "It's a little big."

Hakon chuckled. "It won't be before long."

Steve shot him an encouraging smile. "Really? How tall will I get?"

Hakon shook his head with a broad smile. "Who knows? But it will probably make my ancestors proud."

Steve grinned and looked up like it was still a wishful thought and not something that was about to happen. He turned his head to look at Erskine. "Save me any of that Schnapps?"

Erskine's lips turned down regretfully and chuckled. "Not as much as I should have. Sorry. Next time."

Steve nodded and Erskine stepped down, asking Howard about the machine's functions. "We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn but we are ready…as we'll ever be."

The other lab assistants came over and strapped Steve into the chamber and Hakon helped, hoping to give Steve a little comfort with someone familiar doing it. Erskine guided Peggy to the stairs leading up to the observatory with a small comment that made her blush lightly.

Hakon nodded at Steve and the machine. It was as ready as it could get. He smiled reassuringly, and Steve tried to smile back, but it came as more of a grimace. He turned to Torbjörg and nodded to the loft. "You should go up there bud. We don't need dog hair contaminating it once we pull the vials out."

Tor snorted and stared incredulously at Hakon. Hakon knelt and hugged him while burying his face in the black fur to hide his chuckles. "I know you don't shed, bud, but they don't tend to approve of dogs in the operating room. We're lucky no one's raised a fuss so far…actually, Phillips might have threatened them."

Tor huffed but complied and walked up to the observatory. Several of the gathered men turned curiously at his presence, but he ignored them all and sat down near the window. Two men, who looked notably younger than the others, looked at Tor nervously and Tor felt their eyes on him so looked back at them—eyes narrowing. Something wasn't right. After a long second of unbroken eye contact, Tor stood with his hackles raised.

Both young men took a step back in fear as the dog advanced, several of the older men scrambling aside when they spotted the angry dog. Phillips, however, didn't notice anything—too focused on watching the experiment and praying that it worked—until Torbjörg started growling.

He whipped around and launched at the massive dog just before he pounced on the terrified reporter and photographer. "Torbjörg! Bad dog!"

Tor thrashed in Phillips' grip and kept snapping at the reporter and his photographer.

Phillips grunted as Tor slammed his head back into his chest. He staggered, but held firm and caught sight of a utility closet, snarling through gritted teeth. "Someone get that door."

Erskine's voice came over the intercom as he gave his speech about why this project was taking place. Phillips regretted that he missed most of it over Torbjörg's snapping and baleful howling.

Hakon helped place the vials into the machine, making sure the special one was not left out. Once done, he jumped over the railing to help Howard with the computer.

Howard shook his head at Hakon's disregard for the stairs. "Shouldn't you be up there giving the speech with Erskine?"

Hakon looked up and shook his head. "Nah, he has it c-'' His head shot up to the observatory, eyes unfocussing. Before he even thought about it, he was running past Howard to the stairs—magics and heart pounding with Tor's anger and fear.

Howard, unfortunately, managed to catch Hakon across the stomach but almost sent them both to the floor. "Hakon, what are you doing?"

Hakon looked wildly back at Howard, more fear in his eyes than the man had ever seen. "Something's wrong! I need to get to Tor."

"Serum infusion beginning in five…" Erskine looked down at Howard and Hakon to make sure everything was still in check but was startled to see the pair wrestling, now on the ground.

Phillips grunted in exhaustion and irritation as he fixed his uniform, glaring at the now closed door with the enraged mutt, scratching and howling, safely locked behind it. He returned to the front of the seating area to watch Project Rebirth finally come to fruition.

Howard grunted then wheezed in pain as Hakon drove his elbow into his spleen but still kept a hold of his wrist and hissed, "Hakon, we have to do this experiment now or the entire thing might get called off!"

"One." Erskine finished the countdown and an assistant pushed the lever forward to commence the serum injection.

"But Tor!" Hakon argued, face fluctuating as he tried to explain without giving anything away. "I-I heard him howl, he wouldn't do that unless something is extremely wrong."

"Now, Mr. Stark." Erskine said, looking down with worry marring his face at the pair's position and Hakon's troubled and frightened expression.

Howard let Hakon go and stumbled over to the computers full of readings and awaiting commands for the radiation chamber. "I believe you, okay?" He said breathlessly while holding his side but pulled the lever down to initiate the sequence for the chamber to lift and close, allowing the aides to finish prepping it. "But we need to get Steve taken care of first—then we see what's bothering Tor. He'll last for another minute."

Hakon whined quietly, looking between the chamber Steve was now ensconced in and the observatory Tor was trapped in—the bond still tugging in fury and fear. With a shaky breath, he joined Howard at the console. He was right, Tor could handle himself—he just hoped that whatever had set Tor off wasn't going to come haunt them after this.

Erskine checked to make sure Steve was still doing okay before turning to his newer friend and older companion. "We will proceed."

The technicians all put on glasses that Hakon had designed while Howard grabbed a wheel and slowly started turning it, calling out the percentage of radiation as he continued to open up the flow more.

Hakon unhappily contented himself with watching Steve's vitals but kept shooting concerned glances up at the loft. He winced as Steve started shouting in pain, from the serum activating or the radiation—or maybe both. He didn't want to think about it too much.

Peggy ran out of the observatory, yelling for them to shout it down, and Erskine tried to look in the chamber to check on Steve, shouting his name several times with no response. He ran to the railing and yelled at Howard, "Shut it down! Turn it off, kill it! Kill the reactor!"

"No!" Hakon and Steve shouted at the same time. Erskine and Howard paused, looking back at the chamber trapping Steve as he said, "Don't! I can do this!"

Hakon ran over to Howard and shoved him away from the kill switch. "You can't shut off the reactor now! It'll kill him—it's now both his life and his death."

Howard stared uncertainly at Hakon and glanced at Steve's chamber again before hurrying back over to the wheel to add more radiation and finish the project. He started calling out numbers again as they climbed and Hakon ran back to watch Steve's vitals, praying he would make it.

The computers started sparking as they drew too much on the power grid, overloading their circuits. Several technicians ducked and covered their heads until the light show ended and the blinding light coming from the chamber dimmed until it winked out.

The machine powered down and everyone waited with bated breath as the chamber clanked but didn't open until Erskine yelled down and Howard absentmindedly hit the switch. Hakon ran up to the platform and sighed in relief as it opened to reveal Steve, alive and beyond healthy—though he looked out of it from the shock of the transformation.

Erskine ran up to Steven to help him out and the dignitaries flooded out of the observatory to see the unbelievable for themselves. Hakon fought them on his way up, missing Phillip's grab for him and oblivious to his shouts to 'leave the deranged mutt'.

He threw the door to the observatory open and wildly looked around the room, quickly spying the closet door that Tor was still furiously scratching and throwing himself into. He wrenched it open and Tor shot out, he would have tackled Hakon to the ground had he not twisted to the side.

"Tor! What's wrong?"

Tor snarled as he ran for the now shut, main door leading out to the laboratory, jumping up and clawing at it for good measure. Hakon stumbled as Tor continued to growl, heart stopping. Tor barked and called him back to the present with the unsettling and horrible revelation.

He ripped the door open and shouted. "Erskine!"

Erskine turned, worried about Hakon's recent behavior and confused because of his panicked shout. As he turned, he saw the reporter look up at the loft and smirk, raising a cigarette lighter. His stomach plummeted as the reporter turned to look back at him, eyes vicious and victorious.

Hakon sprinted down half of the first flight and drew his dagger to throw it at the undercover agent—but his world exploded in an overwhelming wave of heat and force threw him into the wall. He faintly heard the wall crack behind him then grunted as he fell and hit the metal landing, driving all air from his lungs.

I wonder how I'm going to explain this to Phillips. His mind sarcastically thought before the pain even registered. He coughed as he fought to bring air back into his winded lungs then coughed more as the only air he could draw in was acidic and burned. His ears rang loudly and it was around then that his arm started to spasm. He gasped and grabbed it only to yelp as he grabbed seared flesh. What was in that bomb?

Someone grabbed him under his arms and heaved him up before dragging him up the steps and out through the doorway to the main hallway. He felt the air change instantly and wanted to sink to his knees and let his lungs clear, but whoever was holding him up kept dragging him along. He blinked his gritty eyes and saw a flash from beside him and distantly thought he heard a bang but he couldn't tell if it was a real noise, or the ringing in his ears getting louder. They sounded so alike and both were giving him a massive headache.

Whoever was helping him walk suddenly shifted and grabbed his injured arm, pain overwhelmed his thoughts again and he felt rather than heard the scream rip out from his throat. He tried shaking his head to clear away the agony as the hand tightened around his arm—why aren't they letting go?

His helper, if that's what he wanted to call him, pulled him close and for a moment Hakon almost thought it was Loki as the arm snaked around his chest again—only Loki holds me like this…but where's his magic? He tried to push away, something isn't right, but a warm hand wrapped around his mouth while something else covered his nose. His already muddled thoughts started slipping away, most of his strength gone with the explosion. Well, this isn't good.

Desperately, he called out over the Familiar bond and felt his best friend's fury. It awakened his mind enough to blearily open his eyes and squint at the bright sunlight and breathe in relief as he spotted the massive, black blob.

The person practically carrying him suddenly fell from under him and he hissed as he hit the pavement and rolled onto his burnt arm. Two pairs of furry legs standing on either side of his head was the last thing he saw before his eyes rolled back and he fell completely limp.

Steve, meanwhile, had been standing unsteadily with the help of Howard as he got the feel of his new body, watching happily as the dignitaries congratulated Erskine. Then Hakon shouted and Erskine turned and the room shook with a blue explosion coming from the observatory.

He and most others fell to the floor until the room stopped its quaking. He heard gunshots ring out through the lab, a lady scream, then a few more shots. He stepped over the fallen people to Erskine who had been standing only seconds before and to his horror, he saw red seeping through Erskine's shirt.

Erskine tapped his chest, gasping, then his arm fell and he stilled—eyes open, but dead. A rage filled Steve's chest and he looked up, but the murderer was long gone.

"Steve!" Howard shouted, supporting himself on the railing as his knees still shook from adrenaline.

Steve turned, hands clenched so hard they trembled.

Howard looked panicked, more so than just because they were bombed. "They took Hakon!"

That was the last straw. Steve's feet were moving before he realized it. He ran, jumping over most of the steps and barreled through a doorway. Distantly, he saw a black blur slip through the closing bookshelf-doors. He smiled. Torbjörg would catch them and he felt no pity for what they were about to receive.

Several gunshots rang out before he burst out of the antique shop's door, almost having a heart attack as a taxi cab was about to rundown Peggy who stood stock still with her pistol raised. Without thinking, he slammed into her and threw them both away from the ramming car, just missing it so that Steve felt its passing wind on his toes.

"I had him!" Peggy yelled as she extracted herself from Steve's arms.

"Sorry." He stood, a bit wobbly at first, and saw Tor standing over a still Hakon with a bloody mess of body and limbs not far from him, while still growling at a slowly moving form of another figure who was holding his bleeding shoulder and trying to scoot away.

Steve pointed to Tor and Hakon as he started running after the last murderer, telling Peggy, "Might want to get him to a doctor."

Peggy's eyes widened as Steve disappeared around the corner and she ran over to Hakon. Tor snarled at her at first then calmed once he realized who she was and stepped back from his protective position.

Phillips and several other soldiers ran out of the antique shop a moment later and the still living presumably-Hydra operative scowled at them before biting down on something. He coughed and gasped for a moment until he fell back onto the sidewalk with a white foam in his mouth.

Phillips sneered at the man, a bit disappointed, but he couldn't decide if it was to capture and interrogate or to shoot him.

"Colonel! We need a doctor!" Peggy shouted, kneeling over Hakon and checking for a pulse as well as other wounds.

Phillips swore and shouted at his men before trotting over to Peggy and slipping an arm under Hakon to carry him back inside.

Tor whined and followed beside Phillips, sniffing Hakon's dangling hand.

Peggy reached out to caress his ears but he ducked away. Her shoulders fell as she followed, looking back at the now closed secret doors.

Schmidt turned to Zola after vaporizing the group Hitler sent to reprimand him and officially breaking Hydra off from the Reich. Zola looked a little sick but he ignored it. Zola was a scientist, not a soldier in any form of the word. He walked over to his desk and glanced at a few papers. "Has the infiltration team succeeded?"

Zola straightened and took a shaky step towards Schmidt, clutching the brim of his hat nervously. "Yes and no. Erskine is dead…However, he has succeeded."

Schmidt nodded approvingly at first then growled. "And Hakon?"

Zola looked down, afraid of Schmidt's infamous wrath. "His dog attacked the agent before they could finish the transport…he was wounded in the attempt."

Schmidt scowled, almost crumpling the paper in his hand—the roughly sketched drawing of the thing. It ate him up with the desire to know what it was that Hakon was powering with the Tesseract.

At first, Zola's speculations about the power source had been that. Speculations. That was, until he found the Tesseract and Zola inspected its container, curious as to how such a powerful energy source had stayed hidden for so long from their instruments.

What he found only turned Schmidt's curiosity into a near obsession about Hakon's designs. There were runes that were the same in the box as on his papers. They couldn't make heads or tails as to what they meant, but the connection was clear.

"How badly?" He asked emotionlessly.

"Reports are unclear, but the speculation is that it's nothing permanent," Zola said evenly, still standing out of arm's reach of Schmidt.

Schmidt nodded and tucked the papers away into a locked drawer. "Keep an agent on him and if they get the opportunity…"

Zola nodded quickly and turned to flee the room. "Of course. I shall give the word."

When Hakon woke up, it was to a dim room and something compressing his arm with his head less fuzzy and no longer ringing, but it did pound dully. A worried whine and dry nose against his cheek helped wake him up. He slowly raised his normal feeling arm to rub Torbjörg's head that rested on the sheets next to his head.

He blinked as he looked around. The room was oddly dim for smelling like a hospital ward and he knew that the doctors these days loved to keep the lights obnoxiously bright. Once he took in his surroundings more, he noted that the only light was coming from the window—all the overhead lights were off.

Voices from the other side of the curtain divider drifted and he recognized them as Peggy and Steve. "Hello?" He asked, coughing a bit even after the single word. Good Thor my through it dry. I feel like I've slept in a Fireworm's den.

The curtain was thrown aside and both smiled at him in relief, Peggy was by his side in an instant. "Thank goodness you're okay. You gave us quite the scare."

Hakon's brow furrowed and started to speak but coughed instead.

Steve was by his side a moment later with a cup of water, handing it to him while supporting his back since his other arm was a bit useless at the moment.

Hakon took several slow but long chugs of the water before handing the near empty glass back. "Th-thanks," He rasped. "Wha-what happened? I remember the ser-serum working then going to g-get Tor…" He shook his head slowly, wincing as the dull throb spiked a bit.

Peggy pushed him back down. "Take it easy. You were thrown around pretty good in the explosion. You're lucky all you got was a burned arm and a slight concussion."

Hakon frowned. How was that possible? He's done hundreds of things that would kill a normal man and never suffered more than maybe a scrape and sore stump. Though the burned arm made the most sense, even in a human form—his Jötunn magic made him a bit more susceptible to heat and fire. Ironic, since he loved the forge.

Finally, Hakon asked—despite all these other thoughts floating in his head—the one that kept bugging the forefront of his thoughts. "Why's it so dark in here?"

Peggy smiled softly but sadly. "The explosion caved in a quarter of the lab and hit the power converter Howard's working on rerunning all the wires to the backup generator that Phillips brought in, but it was also crushed.

Hakon winced. "G-glad he's okay. How's Erskine?"

Peggy became silent and Steve looked away with a flinch before mustering up the courage to finally say, "The plants…during the chaos from the explosion, they shot him…I'm sorry Hakon."

Hakon felt his eyes start to water and turned his head away. Why does it always hurt? I should be used to it by now…but it still hurts when one of them dies…Tor pressed his nose into Hakon's hair and breathed down his neck. Hakon raised his good arm again to rub his head gratefully.

Steve glanced at Hakon through the corner of his eye, lips curling in. "He deserved better than this."

Peggy looked up at him sympathetically. "If it could only work once, he'd be glad it was you."

Steve still didn't look pleased about it and heard Hakon snort in amusement along with a whisper so soft he knew only he and Tor heard it. "You have no idea." He looked oddly at Hakon before turning his eyes away.

Hakon grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position and Steve quickly moved to help. "What about Howard?"

A relieved smile graced Peggy's face. "Erskine was the only… casualty. A few others have injuries from the base collapsing, but yours are the worst."

Hakon nodded and breathed a prayer of thanks. After that he swung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand, only to realize he was missing half of a leg. "Uh…can I go see Howard?"

Peggy frowned. "I don't think you should be moving right now."

Hakon waved her off and stared pleadingly at Steve. "I'm not really the one you should be asking," He said, glancing at Peggy with hands raised.

Torbjörg bumped Hakon's good leg and sat, head tilted. Hakon grinned and took the prosthetic from his mouth. "Thanks bud."

Peggy stood and crossed her arms. "Hakon, you almost got blown up, then kidnapped by Hydra. I really think you should be laying down and taking it easy for a few days."

Hakon's eyebrows shot up into his bangs. "I was almost kidnapped? Well, what else is new?"

Peggy choked on her words while Steve watched Hakon oddly as he fit the false leg and quickly tested it like he did every morning. Finally, Peggy found her voice again. "Hakon, this isn't a joking matter. Without Erskine, Phillips and the others are going to turn to you to recreate the formula."

Hakon paused halfway across the room, hand wrapped around Tor's fur to steady his slightly unstable gait, and stared at the floor. "I can't. I had the idea, sure, and made some changes to the formula but…it was Erskine that actually made it and brought it to life."

Steve grabbed a triangle bandage and walked over to Hakon. having his arm hang like that couldn't be comfortable. Hakon smiled thankfully at him and accepted his help in fitting and tying the sling around his left arm.

Peggy frowned as Steve started helping Hakon out of the medical ward but ultimately knew Hakon was too stubborn to stay—something he always liked to joke about and dedicate to his Viking ancestry. They walked down the hallway to the lowest floor where the odd submarine had been towed and where Howard was now taking a look at it.

"It may have been," She argued on the way. "But you both made plenty of notes and you worked with him on it since the beginning—surely you can piece everything back together."

Hakon glared at the far wall. "I guess."

Peggy sighed and shook her head, watching Hakon storm down the hallway. Why is he so against the idea? Maybe it's just too soon…

Steve stayed next to Hakon in case he stumbled, but he was surprisingly sure footed for supposedly having a concussion, though he wasn't sure how he couldn't have with the blast he took.

They paused outside the double doors leading to the garage Howard had commandeered to look at the sub and Hakon turned to Tor, whispering something in his odd tongue. Tor yipped then ran off, disappearing around the corner and neither Peggy nor Steve thought to question it.

Steve pulled a door open, allowing Hakon and Peggy to enter and heard Howard tell Phillips and the other senators and generals with him, "Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country." He tapped the lid of the engine compartment. "But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology."

A senator stared at the odd, black sub and asked, "Then who is?"

Phillips scowled at the sub and sighed. "Hydra." The senator stared incredulously at him and he smiled scornfully. "I'm sure you've been reading the papers."

The senator turned to face Phillips down until Peggy cut in.

Hakon ignored them and carefully walked down to the one man submarine. He looked it over and saw that Howard only had the very front panel open on the engine compartment, and it looked rather damaged at that. Rolling his eyes, he walked over to the cockpit of the sub and sighed at the height because of the chains holding it aloft. He looked around then spotted a lidded bucket, full of what he had no idea, but started scooting it closer to the sub so he could peek in.

Howard heard the bucket scraping and looked over the sub. "Hakon? You're supposed to be resting…how are you even awake?"

Hakon shrugged and continued to shove the bucket along with his foot—stupid sling and burnt arm. Howard came over and picked up the bucket and dropped it next to the submarine for him. Hakon smiled thankfully and balanced on the top of the improvised stool. "Hey, any idea what kind of bomb they used?"

Howard shook his head but Hakon didn't see it, looking around the cockpit as he was. "Not a clue. Big, blue and loud. Can't even begin to imagine what they might have used but whatever it was, it doesn't mean good news for us. We have people looking over some of the remains to see if they can make out what it was but I'm not the guy to ask about it. Mechanical engineer, not chemist."

Hakon chuckled and leaned over into the cockpit of the sub, balancing on his stomach so that his legs hovered out behind him.

"Hyse! What on earth are you doing up there? Get down now!" Phillips shouted, having turned to tell Howard to pack his bags.

Hakon grunted, speaking being a little hard with a metal edge digging into his gut, but smiled as his good hand patted a hollow panel and flipped it up to reveal the lever he was searching for. He grasped it and pulled, hearing a satisfying click farther down on the engine block.

Howard stared in shock as a large panel over the engine popped open. "How'd you do that?!"

Phillips fell silent as Hakon hopped down and shoved the panel up, checking the engine and making little mental notes of what they'd done since he last saw them.

Hakon didn't turn to look at the astonished group behind him as he examined the engine and answered casually. "I was held hostage by Hydra for two years. Schmidt knew my specialty wasn't in pathology or chemistry or anything of the sort and there were lots of times when they were working on the formula that there wasn't much I could do…so he'd take me out to see if I had any suggestions for improvement for his machines and weapons."

Phillips felt blood drain from his face. "Did you help design this?"

Hakon snorted and disconnected something in the engine. "Hardly. I never gave that rat any help beyond the formula. Mainly just made fun of him and his tech. I mean, it is advanced but there's lots of little things that they could have easily fixed to make stuff more efficient." He smiled widely, lost in the few funny memories of a bad time. "Oh, it infuriated him but there wasn't anything he could do to me since he knew I was still needed on the project."

Howard stared at him like he was insane and the others with Phillips weren't much better.

"So…did I hear that we're going somewhere?" Hakon asked.

Phillips glared at the sub then stared Hakon down. "Stark, Carter and I are flying out to London tonight. You are staying here."

Hakon's nose wrinkled while Steve stepped closer, looking down into Phillips' eyes—that's going to take some getting used to. "Sir, if you're going after Hydra, I want in."

Phillips shook his head, doing his best to keep his annoyance out of his voice. "You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo with Hakon. With Erskine's notes and your blood, you two are our best shot at recreating this damn project."

Steve scoffed, looking over at Hakon who was glaring at Phillips. "But the serum worked, I should be out there."

Phillips' lips curled. "I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough."

Hakon stormed up the stairs, no longer acknowledging the pain that walking was causing his arm nor the slight wobbling in his head. "How would you know that!? You haven't done anything to test him-"

Phillips clenched his teeth. He hated it when Hakon got stubborn and now Erskine wasn't around to reel him in. "Which is why he's going to Alamogordo. You can run all the tests you want there."

Phillips turned to walk out, there was nothing more for him here—everything now laid in Europe.

Hakon stood still in shock for a moment before running up to Phillips and yanking him back by his arm, face red in fury. "We never promised you an army! That was your idea! We promised you a man, and that man is Steve—whether you like it or not! You don't understand what this formula does, you never have. All you see is the muscles and brawn and you never think about the mind within. What you want is to give it to someone like Hodge-"

"Yes!" Phillips roared, whirling around on Hakon. "A soldier."

"Who, at best, has the mind of a tormentor—the serum will only enhance that tenfold. Schmidt was mad before but now…It will do the same to them, to someone like Hodge." Hakon shook his head and back up, chest heaving and scowling at Phillips and the gathered generals and senators who all watched him with varying visual levels of disapproval. "You know what, fine. But make them yourself, I'm done. I've lost enough over this."

He walked away to the door, ignoring Phillips' shouts to 'come back here' and nodded once to Peggy who watched him leave with a downcast gaze. He took the handle and started to pull the door open when Steve grabbed the handle and opened the door for him—a sorrowful but understanding glint in his eyes. "Thanks Steve."

Steve nodded and started to say something when alarms started wailing. Instinctually, he grabbed Hakon and pulled him back behind the heavy, metal doors, peeked out then slammed them shut.

A senator stepped away from the group, eyes wide, fearful of yet another attack. "What is it this time?"

Phillips glared at him. "I don't know, I'm in here!"

The man backed down, but the other's unease didn't go away until ten minutes later when a voice came over the intercom giving the all clear. Phillips grumbled to himself and marched past Hakon and Steve—staring them down and telling them the conversation was not over—to find out what had happened now.

After he disappeared through the door, Torbjörg came prancing in. Hakon bent down and smiled, wrapping his arms around his friend's thick neck and whispered—again, something Steve didn't understand.

With the colonel gone, a senator broke apart from the group and approached Steve with an offer to not become a human Guinea pig more than he already was. Hakon listened sadly as Steve reluctantly accepted, but he knew that was his only option as of now. Phillips was not going to budge without a drastic kick in the butt to get him going.

Hakon sighed and sat in the corner, undoing the bandages to see the wound. It didn't look so bad, but Tor whined and sniffed the skin before carefully licking the burned area. Hakon hissed and gripped the fabric of his pants but let Tor continue until he was satisfied and the arm was thick in dragon spit. He carefully rewrapped the arm and put it back in the sling, glancing at the group and sighed when no one saw the strange sight.

Tor curled up in his lap and growled his best purr while Hakon stroked his ears…what am I supposed to do now? He looked over at Steve then at the ground. He hadn't thought of what was going to happen after they created Steve…and he certainly couldn't leave now and let them deal with his mistakes. It's all still such a mess.

A while later Phillips came back into the garage, face set in what Hakon presumed to now be a permanent scowl. "There was a fire—some flammable canisters leaked out from the cave in and an exposed wire ignited the gas."

Peggy frowned and stepped away from Steve and the senator. "Was anyone hurt?"

Phillips shook his head. "Thankfully no—but it sent the document room up in a blaze of final glory."

Steve's eyes widened while Howard gasped, a general walked away from the chattering group and asked, "And Erskine's notes just happened to be in there?"

Phillips' unamused glare answered him.

The general scoffed. "Probably wasn't from the cave in, but a bomb from the first attempt that had a busted trigger."

Phillips rubbed his eyes. "It's all too possible." He looked over at Hakon still sulking in the corner then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just wonderful."

Howard broke away from the group and approached Hakon. "Hey, I might be able to convince Phillips to let you come with us to London. Heaven knows I could use the help."

Hakon scoffed. "He wants to lock me away in Alamogordo. You really think he's going to take me to the continent that Hydra is most prevalent on?"

Howard smirked. "Well it certainly can't be worse than here. If they managed to get their agents in through all of Colonel Phillips's security. And with their attempt to grab you…something tells me they're going to try again."

Hakon rolled his eyes. "Yay. Even more of a reason for Phillips to lock me away in a bunker sixty feet underground."

Howard smiled sympathetically. "Hey, I'm trying here."

Hakon half smiled at him. "I know, and thanks. I just… don't know what to do anymore."

See you next chapter! R&R