Helloo! I'll be slowing down on the updates a bit because I'm going to visit my grandmother and she has no internet and the data reception in her area might as well be nonexistent. I atually meant to get this out last week before I left but I'm still working on story offline so enjoy this one!

Shout Outs!:

CHCHicstrid

Haha, glad its surpassing expectations. Thanks

Stardust333

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :)

SmolAvidReader

Unfortunately. Oh, thing will start heating up with them soon. Thanks

WeAreNumberOne
I love all your catch up review :)
Ch.14: I thought it would be good, they'd be the best secret country friends. Haha
Ch.15: He tries to help so much. Thank you. Toothless can be cute and playful or terrifyingly vicious. I think it's good to have a mix of both—epically in a war setting.
Ch.16: Hehe, oh yeah. That would be funny. I can see her having a few words with everyone over that fiasco. Love doggy Toothless, absolutely love.
Ch.17: Yup. Oooh, you will have to wait and see. He did initially but after Grimmel kidnapped Hiccup from Tønsberg, he created another shield around Niflheim's branch that trapped draugrs and didn't let them pass through the shielding. So Grimmel technically could come to Midgard still but he couldn't go more than fifty feet from the branch because of Loki's wards. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. Good ole Toothless mischief.
Ch.18: Ah, it's fine. I hit a roll and just decided to go with it. Me too, I got so attached :'( It is, sadly. Yes, originally the bomb was normal but I decided to upgrade it, needed something plausible to knock Hiccup out or wind him at least. I have a plan for that, don't worry, I think you guys will like it.

Journal 2, Entry 19: "The First Avenger Pt.5"

Hakon sighed as Howard dragged him down the hallway in the SSR base in London. It was amazing how impatient the man could be. "Howard…can't you just tell me what it is you want to show me? I was kinda busy."

Howard shook his head and huffed. "All that sweet talking I had to do to get him to let you come, and this is the thanks I get?"

Hakon stared at him flatly. "You didn't 'sweet talk' anything. I threatened him."

Howard sighed and stopped outside a regular door. "Yeah, but I warmed him up for you."

Hakon looked down at Tor and gestured to Howard. Tor snorted in a mimicry of a laugh. "I know. It's like he wanted Hydra to kidnap me again. Honestly, leaving me alone with a bunch of soldiers he doesn't even know."

Howard scoffed and shoved the door open, revealing a dark room with a projector wheel and a few seats, Peggy in one of them. "I don't think it was so much that it was your threat to bust Steve out of the Bond business and go undercover AWOL to the front lines."

Hakon shrugged and took a seat. "Bewilderbeast, Dýrsvell."

Both Peggy and Howard stared oddly at him.

Tor half crawled into Hakon's lap, who spoke into the half-lit room as Howard started the reel. "My people's version of tomato, tomato."

Peggy nodded. "That's…a new one. What's a Be-wilder-beast and ah, uh-?"

"Dýrsvell?" Hakon supplied with a smile. "Dragons. My culture is filled with them. They're the same dragon. Different tribes just had different names for it before they ended up congregating together. Both names stuck, but generally we can tell who's descended from who by the verbiage."

Howard grunted in understanding while Peggy said, "I didn't know Vikings were that into dragons."

The projector whined a little as it warmed up, the white canvas flickering to life. Hakon shrugged, staring at the screen. "Most weren't. My people were, odd, not your normal Vikings."

Before either could reply, the reel started. Hakon watched with dismay as the pin-up dancing girls appeared on the screen. A moment later, Steve came on dressed in a ridiculous 'uniform'. The silly outfits worked on the women—it was a part of the customary dancing girl charm—but on Steve…

He looked away. He couldn't stand seeing Steve reduced to this, not when he'd been created to help take down Schmidt—not when Steve joined to fight on the war front. Steve smiled pleasantly enough on the tape, but he'd worn enough false smiles to see Steve's smile was anything but true.

"I should have kidnapped Steve and gone to the front."

Peggy turned worriedly to him but Howard said, "At least he's not completely useless just sitting around in a lab getting stuck a dozen times a day. He is helping, a little…maybe not in the way you and Erskine wanted."

"It's an insult!" Hakon shouted, glaring at the screen as the dancing show ended and a short film of 'Captain America' fighting against the Nazi's started playing. He gripped Torbjörg's fur tightly, shaking in rage. They were making films about what Steve was supposed to do but actually let him do it? Thor forbid!

He glanced over at Peggy and Howard. Both were content enough to watch with small smiles—undoubtedly grateful that they could see him somehow. He couldn't stand it anymore and stood. "Thanks Howard…but I just… can't."

Howard watched him leave sadly, looking back to the 'movie' he'd managed to get sent over from across the pond. "Damn. I was really hoping that would help him out of his funk."

Peggy grabbed his hand and smiled thinly. "It was a good thought. Unfortunately, I don't know what would help him right now."

Howard sighed and looked back up at the film, a little less thrilled to watch it now. He felt bad for both his friends…neither of their situations is what they wanted.

Hakon slipped into a dark corner as a lieutenant passed with a stack of papers, then let his magic wash over him, shifting him to the form of a random cadet and Tor into a black cat who followed silently at his heels. Once they were outside, Hiccup shifted again and disappeared into the crowd. He knew it was a bit risky using his magic so openly but he needed to get away without people staring at his back. He no longer cared if they panicked for a few hours.

Hakon sat in his lab, fiddling with a piece of tech that he was ready to throw against the wall. He didn't realize until now how spoiled he'd become with the Archipelago's Vibranium infused Gronkle Iron. Regular metals were now so inferior it was like working with clay sometimes. His head hit the table and for a moment, he didn't move.

After wallowing in his misery for long enough, he grabbed the nonfunctioning tech—though it should work, Loki curse it!—and started taking it apart again. Have to adjust the power levels or the metal will melt with the heat transfer. Also need to space out the absorbers more…

Phillips had his teams forward their results of the bomb to Hakon for him to tinker with—tinker with what, he had no idea at the time, but it kept Hakon busy and not plotting an 'escape' of some kind, so he didn't much care and it might just prove useful—somehow.

Hakon wasn't much interested in what Phillip's teams found. Overall it was pretty moot, but he focused on what he felt, nanoseconds before the explosion. He'd felt the energy a few times before, and always it was from the Tesseract. He'd never touched or tampered with the Tesseract before, but now he had to, even if he didn't have it before him currently. People were dying because he knew, he knew Schmidt had weaponized it and there was no way of shielding yourself without magic. So now he was trying to do the near impossible and create that shield, without any touch of magic.

His nose wrinkled as he fiddled with the device again. It was a challenge, one of such a degree that he couldn't remember the last time he had this much trouble—Super Soldier serum discounted because he'd had Erskine and he did use a bit of magic per say. But with this? He had tried explaining it to Howard but he never felt the Tesseract. Howard had no idea how to even begin making what Hakon was describing. So this project was his and his alone, at least until he could get it off the ground so it was no longer theoretical.

He growled as he looked at the power coupler and started fiddling with it and trying a new configuration. Maybe it's just too condensed, for a first prototype. Hm, that might work. He slowly pieced the machine back together over the next hour with little modifications, then began working on little node-like objects.

After a while longer, Tor bumped his leg and whined. Hakon smiled and scratched his ear. "Okay, bud."

He stood and stretched, Tor leaning back and stretching as well, before exiting his lab and wandering down the hallway to Peggy's office and stuck his head in. "Hey, Tor needs out and I could use some air as well."

She nodded then hit a special button on her desk, placed there after Hakon's many unaccompanied walkabouts. "Alright, thank you for telling us this time."

Hakon's back leaned against the doorway as he crossed his arms. "I still think it's stupid. Howard doesn't need an escort."

Peggy smiled at him, putting down her reports. "He isn't wanted by Hydra."

Hakon snorted. "I feel so loved."

She smiled sarcastically at him and he returned it, Tor wiggled his way past Hakon and nuzzled her arm until she gave him a good scratching.

Hakon stared fondly at him, a pang of loneliness hit him—had he ever been gone this long from the Archipelago? No, and certainly not without his family or friends on an exploration with him. He could swear that there was someone from the Archipelago here, but he always seemed to just miss them. Iit almost enraged him in fact that he couldn't get in contact with whoever this person was. Though, he supposed it probably was for the best. It might be odd if he suddenly got chummy with a person he normally wouldn't have.

A man in normal clothing knocked on the door before waiting patiently for Hakon.

Peggy looked up just before Hakon left the room and grabbed a paper from her drawer, handing it to him. "Hakon, wait. Steve is coming to some of the camps near the front lines in two months. I'm sure I can convince Phillips to have him make a short stop in London on his way back."

Hakon took the flier then looked at Peggy, a halfway genuine smile gracing his face. "I-I'd really like that. Thanks Peggy."

She nodded and took the flier back, safely tucking it away once again. "I'm sure he would, too."

*O*

Hakon stood behind the insulated wall of glass with Howard next to him, Hakon holding the switch that activated the experiment. Howard looked doubtful, but was shocked when Hakon threw his hands in the air and shouted in triumph. "Yes! Take that you inferior piece of metallic-"

He stopped as Howard openly gawked at him. "Are, you swearing? I don't think I've ever heard you openly swear like that."

Hakon blushed. "I.. actually wasn't, not yet."

Howard groaned and crossed his arms. "Dang, I interrupted it!"

Hakon laughed and set the switch aside as Howard deactivated the testing room and made it safe to enter again. Hakon collected his device and looked it over. "Seems alright for the most part…definitely need to insulate the wires, but that's no problem."

Howard was by his side, checking it over as well. "What are you going to do about the build up? It's great that it can power its own shielding, but eventually it's going to be too much…and we have no idea how powerful Hydra's weapons might be."

Hakon agreed wholeheartedly and took the device back to the lab. He and Howard were already bouncing ideas off of each other.

*O*

Howard ran into Hakon's lab, just about out of breath and grinning like a maniac. Hakon shot up off his stool and ran over to his friend, Tor already by his side and sniffing him curiously but found nothing amiss and no recent smells of females—the second most common reason for Howard to act like this. He was always trying to set Hakon up with a date despite Hakon telling him he already had a girl waiting at home.

"Howard, what the heck? Did you get into the laughing gas or something?"

Howard chuckled but shook his head. "No, got a call from Peggy. She needs an excellent pilot to fly Captain America behind enemy lines to rescue his friend and any other prisoners from the Hydra base near Arzano, Italy."

Hakon's heart nearly stopped then fluttered. He couldn't tell if it was in fear or joy. "There's no way Phillips okayed this."

Howard smirked. "Oh, definitely not. We would totally be going against orders and better judgment."

Hakon grinned. "Count me in…besides, my shielding device could use a proper field test."

Howard slung an arm around Hakon as he gathered up the device and the few things needed to tweak it on the flight over. "Sure hope it doesn't electrocute him."

Hakon scowled at him. "That was one time, and on the very first test!"

Howard smirked knowing, carefully stuffing pieces into a bag. "Is Tor coming?"

Hakon raised an eyebrow and stared incredulously at him.

"Right, stupid question. That dog is like a leech on your side and even worse trying to separate the pair of you."

Tor barked approvingly and bumped against Hakon.

Hakon slung the pack over his shoulder and slunk out behind Howard, easily avoiding the guards until the entrance came into sight. Then Tor distracted them with disturbing ease as he stole one man's hat and the other's rifle then led them on a merry chase through the corridors,

Once they were outside, it was a breeze to get to the airport and wait for Tor as the airplane was refueled. Hakon turned to Howard once they were inside the plane, holding Tor's fur for dear life. They hated flying and traveling in general in the metal machines. There was so much that could go wrong in the engines that you couldn't fix as it spun out of control. They had gotten better over the years, sure, but no one from the Archipelago or Wakanda were too keen to travel in outsider machines. "How long until we get there?"

Howard shrugged as he checked over the instruments. "About two and a half hours to get to where Steve is, then they're taking off again immediately."

Hakon nodded and resigned himself to the long flight.

He was half asleep when he felt the wheels jolt from the landing, gasping quietly. The side door opened just long enough for two people to run aboard before the plane was taking off again—Howard wanted out of there before Phillips caught wind of the plan and had the power to ground them.

Hakon hugged Steve as soon as he was aboard and Tor yipped happily, licking his arm and cheek. Steve chuckled and patted Tor's head. "It's great to see both of you again. Wish it was under better circumstances."

Howard snorted, glancing back. "Honestly, I don't really care what the circumstances are—it's finally getting him out. Do you have any idea how much of a handful he is when he's stuck in an underground building?"

Peggy, who had pretended to be blissfully unaware of the stowaways, shook her head and glared at Hakon who smiled innocently while Steve laughed, thinking he had a semblance of an idea. Peggy pulled out a map from her sack and started explaining what they knew of the Hydra base location.

Hakon reached into his own bag and turned to Steve once Peggy paused. "Hey, I want you to try something for me."

Steve tilted his head, eyeing the device warily. "What is it?"

"A shield. I took what I remembered about the bomb and made this. It's never had a proper field test, so try not to get shot directly, but it at least should help if they pull anything funky on you." Hakon almost had to yell to be heard over the engines.

Steve smiled and nodded. "I'm game for it, then. How does it work?"

Hakon started strapping the nodes to Steve's upper arms and hips before attaching the small boxy device to his belt. "Any energy that shot at you should be attracted to these then they'll create a shield. Not sure how long it will last given that we've never been able to test it on Hydra weapons so if it starts whining loudly and like a tea kettle, chuck it as far as you can and run. Also, it only covers the square that the nodes create, so don't get hit anywhere else."

Steve nods, eyeing the device but trusting Hakon.

Howard turned and shouted back. "We should be able to drop you right on their doorstep."

"Just get me as close as you can," Steve reassured, already grateful they got him this far. He tightened his parachute strap and looked up at Peggy and Hakon. "You know, you three are going to be in a lot of trouble."

Hakon snorted. "It honestly can't beat the trouble I got into as a kid," he said, remembering the times he destroyed the village before Toothless…even after, like going after Drago. His life flashed before his eyes on that one before defying his father all over again—not his greatest idea nor without its regrets.

Peggy looked seriously at Steve, ignoring Hakon's comment. "And you won't?"

Steve half smiles as he finishes with the parachute then checks his gun. "Where I'm going, if anyone yells at me, I can just shoot them."

Peggy frowned, not liking that idea. "They will undoubtedly shoot back."

Hakon nods, stroking Tor who's panting heavily between his legs. "Yeah, they're a bit trigger happy."

Steve grunts and taps his shield. "Well, let's hope it's good for something."

Howard suddenly shouted back, offering to make a stop for fondue. Hakon rolled his eyes and smiled encouragingly at Steve who lightly glared at the other genius. Peggy caught Steve's look and tried to convince him of Howard's flying skills, but Tor chuffed and growled. Hakon leaned closer and hugged him.

"I know bud. You're the best in the sky and could fly circles around Howard if you had the chance."

Tor licked his cheek, grateful to be acknowledged still. He hated it when the flying things started taking up the sky, making it all the more necessary for him to camouflage when they flew, especially during the day.

Hakon snorted when he heard Steve ask if Peggy and Howard 'fondue' often—he clearly was gonna have to explain a few things when they all got safely back.

Steve took the radio Peggy handed him and he looked it over skeptically. "Are you sure this thing works?"

Howard smirked and shouted back. "It's been tested more than you, pal."

A light flared outside the window, then the plane shook from a blast. I was quickly followed by more lights and explosions. Tor snuggled close to Hakon and growled at the enemy fire while Steve quickly stood and threw open the side door, ignoring Peggy's demands to stay until they got farther in.

Steve shouted over his shoulder to Howard, "As soon as I'm clear, you turn around and get this thing the hell out of here!"

Peggy held the handle by the door, staring unhappily at Steve. "You can't give me orders!" She argued, trying to keep him in for a little longer.

The plane shook again and Hakon gasped. He hated not having himself or his best friend with flying instincts in control when in a war zone. He gripped Tor tighter and the dog eagerly leaned into him, whining.

Howard shouted back, but grimly focused on flying safely through the onslaught of enemy fire. "I'm a civilian, Peggy. He can't give me orders either, but if he wants to jump now and give us a better shot of getting away with our skins unsigned, I'm game."

Uncontrolled panic flooded Hakon's chest. He felt Tor seize in his arms. "I thought you said you were the best civilian pilot!?"

They all glanced over at his ashen face, Howard grunted as the plane jerked again. "I am! But not the best Airforce pilot! Shoot, not even they could get all the way through this unscathed! This place is a madhouse!"

Hakon wasn't controlling his legs as he ran the few steps to the cockpit and all but threw Howard out of the pilot seat, fighting against the seatbelt. The plane trembled from another close explosion and the loss of a pilot, but Hakon extended some of his magic through it and quickly brought it back under control.

Peggy abandoned Steve and even he forgot about jumping and pulled his legs back in with Hakon's display. "Hakon! What do you think you're doing!?" Peggy screamed.

Hakon didn't hear her, eyes focused on the nearly invisible missile streaking towards them. He jerked on the yoke, tilting the plane almost ninety degrees.. The wings subtly flexed like a dragon's would to keep the plane from stalling and falling out of the air. Tor yelped, his nails scratching against the metal as the floor disappeared from under him and his back muscles spasmed as he tried to flap his nonexistent wings, unconsciously controlling what little the plane's moved.

Howard shouted, then was silenced unnaturally as Tor fell on his chest and crushed the air from his lungs. Steve gripped the handle by the door and wrapped an arm around Peggy's middle, preventing her from flying against the opposite side of the plane.

The plane trembled under the strain on its wings, then dove sharply. Howard screamed once he had access to his lungs again and clutched Tor like those new flotation devices on commercial airlines.

Tor's head and ears swiveled around, silently directing Hakon over their bond. The plane leveled out for a moment and Steve sighed, only to have his heart leap into his throat once more as the plane angled upwards, then spun. If a little ice formed on the airframe to strengthen it, no one noticed.

Howard gripped his seat, wrapping his feet around the legs bolted to the floor, and clenched his eyes shut—regretting not having a belt but when did he have time to put it on? "I don't think this plane is meant for that!"

Explosions continued to ripple around them, but the plane didn't shake though it started groaning under the strain. Hakon was intently focused on the aerial battle but managed to disconnect his mind long enough to shout back. "Steve, if you really want to do this, now's the time to jump!"

Steve released Peggy after she buckled up, then jumped.

Tor barked and Hakon pulled the yoke back and slammed the throttle forwards, putting the plane into a steep climb.

Howard wasn't sure how his heart was still beating with any regularity and yelled. "Hakon, you crazy son of a—" He stopped himself, being in the presence of a lady.

Hakon continued to observe the bombs still flying up at them and noted there were a few ground-to-airs to the northeast. "Well I'm not going back through that warzone,"

Both Peggy and Howard grit their teeth as Hakon maniacally continued flying them through and over the Hydra controlled airspace, Howard keeping a careful ear on the engines, much like Hakon was, but he was unaware of the spells hastily cast over them so the propellers could operate better even at these heights.

*O*

They did end up stopping for fondue, more to give themselves another hour free of Phillips' shouting and reprimands than anything hinky, as well as to let Peggy and Howard empty their stomachs and collectly swear to never let Hakon on a plane again without being drugged, whether it was him or them. Hakon felt bad about ditching Peggy back on the airstrip by Phillips' camp while they hightailed it back to London, but they would be in even worse trouble if they stayed. As they drove up to the entrance of the London SSR facility, the lead security officer stood at the entrance, arms crossed and glaring at both of them.

Hakon and Howard shared caught expressions. They were escorted down the hallway to their rooms where a guard stood outside each of them. Hakon eventually stuck his head out and looked at his guard, cheeks a little red. "Can I go to my lab?"

The man nodded and started walking down the hallway with Hakon when another door threw itself open and Howard ran out of his room, causing his guard to scramble and catch up with him.

He latched onto Hakon's arm and smiled innocently at the soldiers. "I'm coming with! Beats sitting in a room until Phillips hands my arse to me."

Hakon eyed him funny, but shrugged, leaving the guards to grumble amongst themselves about scientists being weird.

*O*

Many miles south, Steve was infiltrating the Hydra base with relative ease. None of the soldiers or sentries were expecting an attack, so it made his one-man infiltration all the easier. Then, once he freed one cell of prisoners, they eagerly freed the others.

So, as they created a distraction with their escape, he ran through the factory to find Bucky. He couldn't be dead. He just knew that he wasn't. He and a little man spotted each other in the long hallway, the man freezing in fear before he took off running again. He trotted down the hallway until he heard mumbling—Bucky!

He freed Bucky and quickly tried to renavigate their way through the base while explaining to Bucky that no, he wasn't delusional, Steve had simply joined the army. They finally made it back to the factory three stories up when red flamed explosions started shaking the base, cutting off their exit route since Steve hadn't seen any doors leading out on this side of the factory. It seemed like a stupid design to him but he was sure the Nazi science extension had its reasons.

Steve growled to himself as the heat accosted them then spotted a crosswalk another story up, he ran up with Bucky at his heels. They were almost to the crosswalk when a strange voice shouted his stage name from the other side, only able to see him through plumes of smoke.

"Captain America!" The speaker was far too amused, given the factory was exploding around them. "How exciting! I am a great fan of your films!"

The speaker, a taller man, walked away from the little man Steve had seen in the hallway and onto the crosswalk. Steve stepped up as well. They needed across.

The man smiled infuriatingly at Steve, amusement there for some unknown reason. "So, Dr. Erskine and Hakon managed it after all. Not exactly an improvement, but still, impressive. How is my young friend?"

Anger welled up in Steve as the man came within striking range. This had to be Schmidt, the one who'd ordered the assassination of Erskine. So he let that anger go, straight into his fist and to Schmidt's jaw. "You have no idea."

Schmidt stumbled back a step and held his jaw, staring at Steve in some wonder—no one had been able to knock him back like that since the serum. Steve frowned in confusion. It looked like Schmidt's face had shifted. Schmidt grinned and prepared his own punch. "Haven't I?"

Steve raised his prop shield that had become surprisingly useful, jerking when Schmidt punched the steel and left a print of his knuckles. He stared at it in surprise before reaching down for his gun.

Schmidt punched him in the jaw this time, sending his pistol flying into the flames and him flat on his back. Schmidt grinned but it was distorted by the offset skin still hugging his face, and approached Steve but was quickly kicked back.

They stood for another round, but the smaller man activated the crosswalk and pulled them apart. Schmidt snorted and scowled at Steve. "No matter what lies Erskine or Hakon told you, you see, I was their greatest success!"

Steve glared at him. "From how they spoke of you, it sounded more like their greatest mistake."

In anger, he drew his own, specialized pistol and shot at Steve—the serum wouldn't save him from the power of the Tesseract.

Steve started to raise his shield but the blue bolt was impossibly fast and struck his chest before he could…or, would have struck his chest if it hadn't suddenly split into four smaller parts and disappeared into the nodes Hakon had placed on him. His chest rose and fell quickly. He'd fully believed he was about to die and forgotten about Hakon's machine. He faintly heard the device on his belt whir to life.

Schmidt's already distorted face twisted, and in confused fury, he fired two more rounds. Both soared through the air towards their target, but now they hit a shield the same bright blue as themselves. The shots crackled then fizzled out across the shield. The humming from the device got louder, but not what Hakon said would be dangerous.

Schmidt shook in rage, glaring at Steve and his second shield. "He knew! That lying—if you survive this," he jabbed a finger at Steve, "you tell Hakon I am going to hunt him down and his tricks won't work a second time."

He stepped off the crosswalk onto the adjoining platform. He reached up and grabbed the loose skin around his neck, the twisted mask finally irritating him enough, and pulled it off—Steve and Bucky could only watch in morbid fascination.

Schmidt grabbed a large case from the smaller man and turned to yelled back at Steve. "We have left humanity behind, Captain. I might have to use Hakon as a test subject to recreate the serum again. After all," He eyed Steve's chest and the faintly glowing shield, "I will live for quite some time, and I will need his brain to utilize the Tesseract to its fullest if he can create that without having the Tesseract around at all. But you will die before this war is over!"

Steve's mouth twitched, he wanted to curse Schmidt, but the elevator door was already closed and a new explosion forced him and Bucky to retreat from the railing's edge. Fear flooded his chest as he looked around, not so much for his or Bucky's survival, but for Hakon's.

Bucky followed after him as he led him up another level. "You're not hiding one of those, are you? And was he sane before… whatever happened—are you at risk too?"

Steve smiled at him. "No, and no. Come on."

Escaping from an exploding factory, while not easy and with them getting more than a few singed hairs, was far easier than trying to get to the front without Phillip's blessing, at least as far as Steve was concerned. They met up with the other escapees and marched back to camp like a rag-tag band of Boy Scouts.

Steve briefed the commanders and generals in the yellow-lit London SSR base about the map he saw in the office/torture room he'd found Bucky in as well as anything else he'd gathered from Bucky or the other escaped soldiers on the long walk back.

He and Peggy pulled Phillips away from the maps to the side where a secretary handed him a folder. "What about us?" She asked, glancing at Steve.

"We are going to set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass." He took the papers then smiled at Steve. "What do you say, Rogers? It's your map. Think you can wipe Hydra off of it?"

He looked back at it, then at Phillips, and nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll need a team."

Phillips nodded dismissively. "We're already putting together the best men."

Steve stood a bit straighter and focused solely on Phillips. "With all due respect, sir, so am I."

Phillips sighed, already guessing the men he wanted. At least they were actual soldiers this time. "Fine, if you can convince them."

Steve smiled but it wavered. "Sir, what about Hakon?"

Phillips paused his perusal of the papers and stared at Steve. "Captain, I am dearly hoping you're asking about his condition after the reprimand and not about asking him to join you on the front lines."

Steve winced. "Colonel Phillips, I know it sounds a bit crazy but-"

Phillips set the folder down with a slap. "'Crazy' was going in alone to rescue your friend and the other hostages. This is asinine. And the answer is absolutely not."

Steve ran after Phillips as he started back into the throng of people plotting their next move. "Sir, Colonel Phillips! I spoke with Schmidt. He has some weird fascination with Hakon. He's going to try again to capture him ,and if he almost succeeded once all the way in America, sir, the safest place for him might be on the front lines with us."

Phillips stopped and turned on his heel to glare at Steve. "He is fascinated with Hyse because he's an inventor. He helped create you, just like he did with Schmidt and that shielding device of his. All he wants is the chance to capture him and force him to make weapons against us. Sure, at first it will confuse Schmidt, but he'll catch on fast enough and then what? You can't attack and defend his back at the same time. Hyse is a scientist, not a soldier, Rogers."

"Why can't I be both?" Both men turned with wide eyes to see Hakon leaning against the wall. "I think you might forget, Phillips, but I'm a warrior just as much as I am a scientist. It's the way of my people. And, I've already completed bootcamp, might as well make use of it."

Phillips held up a finger to both Steve and Hakon. "Hyse, this isn't up for discussion."

Hakon trailed after Phillips as he walked away, Torbjörg trotting next to him. "But I can help o-"

Phillips stopped and stared at Hakon with an expression that mirrored his father when he'd been angry—usually over one of his mess ups. "End of discussion, Hyse. I'm not risking you on the field. You'll be just as useful here as you ever could be on the field. Besides, we have to get your shielding device fitted for Roger's group, as well as learning more about the Tesseract's power and how Schmidt utilized it."

Hakon's feet stopped following after Phillips and held his unwavering stare. "Fine." He turned around and calmly walked to Howard's lab, where they were preparing to take a look at the Tesseract piece, which he was interested to see. His head was tucked as he walked, but he smirked into his chest.

Phillips may not let Hakon onto the field, but there was no stopping Loki's Chosen when the time came. But, for now, he'd play nice and create shields for them—Valhalla knows they'll need it against Tesseract weapons—and experiment with the tiny piece of Tesseract energy now that Schmidt had idiotically broken the seal.

A shiver ran up his spine. He could only hope and pray the repercussions of that would be far out of his lifetime.

Schmidt walked into Zola's lab at their most secured facility, spying copies of Hakon's notes scattered about on his desk. "How goes it, doctor?"

Zola jumps a little but manages a timid smile. "Well, actually. I believe I might know what Hakon designed."

Schmidt's now visibly red forehead furrowed, an impressive feat when the skin looked to be pulled taunt already. "And how do you know that?"

Zola looked over the mounts of notes and books crowding his desk and floor. "Some of our people managed to find an archaeologist and translator who digs in ancient Nordic sights. He recognized a few words, those being 'far-distance' and 'travel' among a few others that are more or less useless. After that, I looked into the Tesseract stories a bit more."

Schmidt stood upright, picking up a book of legends. He briefly recalled it, but it hadn't held terribly much information—even less than the ambiguous 'jewel of Odin's treasure room'. "And what did you find that I did not?"

Zola pulled out another sheaf of papers and handed them to Schmidt. "The archaeologist, actually. He translated some of the stories he found written on their monuments and Great Hall."

Schmidt read the tale and tilted his head in intrigue. "The Ancient Norns used the Tesseract to craft Yggdrasil to link the realms, then later gave it to the Asgardians to create the Bifrost?"

Zola nodded, giddily looking at Hakon's designs in a new light. "If this is true, why would Odin hide it away? This is an untold of prize. How did you find this…archaeologist? I hunted down every lead and myth."

Zola shrugged at his first comment but eagerly answered his second. "He was on an expedition far, far north for a few years then apparently got lost. He and his team argued for quite a while about it. Several of them went their way, but got lost in a terrible ice storm. He and the remaining crew pressed on with what they felt was right. According to him, their instruments pointed them in the correct direction but he felt they weren't, that they had gotten too close to magnetic north. Anyway, he was right. They sailed in confusion for the better part of a month before a local fishing boat met them and pointed them to Iceland, something about navigation devices not working in that area."

Schmidt's head shot up. "What were their coordinates?"

Zola frowned at the notes Schmidt was holding. "They don't know. They didn't know where they were until they suddenly came upon Iceland from the east."

Schmidt glared at the papers and set them on Zola's desk again. "Send some men out to that area."

Zola nodded quickly and started to get up to fulfill the order but Schmidt spoke again. "How comes it with extracting Hakon?"

Zola winced and was afraid to face his superior. "They have him in sight at almost all times. The security around him is impossible to penetrate. Even when he leaves the base…"

Schmidt growled, but waved the doctor away before walking back to his office in deep thought.

*O*

Howard found Hakon in the lab looking over a few of his sketches for Steve's new shield, since he'd decided it's a must for his new armor since his current one was woefully inadequate. "Find anything you might want to add on?"

Hakon looks over and smiles but shakes his head. "Nah. They're all good but…well, a bit too clunky for me," He clumsily waves at his lanky form.

Howard chuckles. "Yeah, none of these would suit you. Good thing they're for Steve."

Hakon nods. "Hey, what are you planning on making these out of?"

Howard picks a few designs out of the pile that he thinks Will work best with Steve's style. "Steel, most likely. If I can get my hands on some, maybe a bit of titanium."

Hakon hums and his brows furrow, picking up the mini models of the shields before spying a cylindrical container about the size of his fist, half buried under the table. "What's in that?"

Howard chuckled. "That, my dear friend, is a metal I promise you you've never heard of. Extremely rare, this is probably all that's on this planet unless there's a deposit at the bottom of the Mariana Trench." He picked up the container and tossed it to Hakon.

Hakon opened it up and stared dumbfounded at its contents. Howard chuckled at what he thought was a confused furrow of the brow and said, "Vibranium."

Hakon thought for all of a second before looking up at Howard. "Mind if I take this and try crafting a shield of my own?"

Howard grinned and waved him off. "Sure. There's not enough of it for me to do much of anything. Just make sure you keep all of it accounted for—don't want the colonel on my arse over it."

Hakon beamed and ran out of the yellow-lit room for his lab. He had a small request to make of Nuffink. "Thanks Howard!"

*O*

Hakon stood next to Howard as he extracted the ball-like ampule for the Tesseract's energy out of the little charging pod Steve had snagged on his rescue mission. His magics flared as the ball pulsed subtly, the call—familiar now—was almost hypnotizing to his magics, to his Æsir especially. He shook his head and glared at the little light. He was going to have to ask Loki about it, have him come near the energy and see if he felt the same way.

"Emission signature is unusual." Howard noted as he stared at the blue ball and maneuvered the mechanical arms so that the energy core was suspended in one pincher. He brought the other pincher close to gather more readings. "Alpha and beta rays are neutral. Though, I doubt Rodgers picked up on that."

He and the assistant shared a smile while Hakon shook his head. "Seems harmless enough," Howard said. He continued to monitor and assess the energy through the computers and artificial means while Hakon passively observed it with his magic.

Howard jumped in surprise as the core flared briefly before returning to its near dormant state. He turned to the assistant who'd been watching the computers. "What made that happen?!"

The assistant shook his head in bewilderment and Howard turned to Hakon, but he denied it as well. There was no way he was going to tell them he let his Æsir relax a little and brush by the Tesseract bit's outermost field. He could feel his Jötunn thrumming under his skin, more than a little miffed at the start he'd given the Æsir—it wasn't like it hadn't also mentally startled him or anything.

Howard narrowed his eyes on the blue bit and maneuvered the second arm closer. Hakon felt the Tesseract's field flare, reaching out to complete a circuit. "Howard, wai-!"

Before he could finish, Howard brought the arm close enough to the energy pod that it branched the distance and with a small jolt of electricity to take some readings, it exploded. Shattering the glass and sending Howard and the assistant flying while Hakon dove behind the table.

Howard sat up with a cough while the other scientists across the room ran over to help them. "Write that down."

Hakon winced then sighed as he looked back at the once sealed containment. There was nothing left and the Tesseract's energy was just a whisper lingering on the walls. "Oh come on."

Howard smiled sheepishly at him. "My bad."

Hakon glared at him but he couldn't put too much heat into it—Loki only knows how many times he blew stuff up when experimenting.

*O*

Hakon looked up from his latest improvement of the Tesseract Energy Shield, mostly cosmetic with some added functionality, such as removing the cables so the nodes could cover a whole person. It was a trick that had befuddled Howard and every other scientist, but Hakon was stubbornly not divulging his secrets and enjoyed their shared fits of confusion as they took one of his nodes apart.

"Fondue is just cheese," Howard explained to a consternated Steve.

"Really?" He asked, not sounding like he entirely believed Howard. "I didn't think…"

"Nor should you, pal. The moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked," Howard advised, leading Steve over to a table full of armor and other ways to keep Steve and the newly dubbed Howling Commandos from getting killed.

Hakon tuned them out and focused on his gizmo again, absently scratching Tor when he felt needy—which was always. He jimmied the power store and rewired the connectors, memories of Howard's test fresh in his mind. Best to avoid any chance of that happening.

Tor suddenly took off from his side, nails clacking on the concrete floor. He didn't pay it much attention, figuring some scientist had foolishly brought lunch into the lab and would now have to sacrifice half to his begging friend lest they lose it all.

Howard gestured to the five different shields lying on the table, feeling quite proud of all the different advantages they could bring to Steve. Steve casually looked them over but none of them called out to him and they all seemed… rather clunky for his taste.

A muffed bark from one of Hakon's work stations drew their attention to his furry black friend who was running over to them with a large, silver frisbee. He skidded to a stop in front of Steve and dropped the curved metal at his feet.

Howard sighed and started to walk around the table to pick up Hakon's prototype that Tor had taken a liking to. Rarest metal on Earth and it's used as a dog toy.

Steve picked it up before Howard could and noticed the straps welded to the back. "What about this one?"

Howard repressed a groan and calmly but quickly said, "No, no, that's just a prototype."

Hakon stood and temporarily abandoned his project, his chest fluttering at Steve's fascination with his shield as he asked, "What's it made of?"

"Vibranium. Stronger than steel and a third of the weight." Howard answered, a bit miffed that the simplest design had won. "It's completely vibration absorbent."

Hakon joined them and shot Howard a grin. "It's actually finished, unless you want it painted but that's cosmetic. I designed it after the types of shields my ancestors used." And after the most common shield design for us now. He turned away from Steve to Howard, crossing his arms and leaning against the table. "Did you know that I made a shield that opened up into a crossbow—with good power to it too—had a bola launcher, as well as a tiny catapult?"

Howard glared at Hakon. "That's impossible and just ludicrous."

Hakon laughed while Tor shook his head with a snort. "Nope. Was quite useful, actually. I'll have to draw up the designs for you to take a look at—it was still a lot thinner than these… creations of yours."

"Hey!" Howard trailed after Hakon to his desk as he defended his perfectly good and useful shields.

Steve trotted around the table to his friends, his new favorite shield already resting comfortably on his arm. He glanced at Hakon's upgrades on the shielding device that had saved his life but didn't know what most of the updates and scattered pieces meant. "How come this isn't standard issue?" He asked after Hakon had shoved a quick mockup of his old shield into Howard's hands to shut him up. If the metal was this good, shouldn't every soldier have access to it, have it be a standard part of their gear?

Howard scowled at the sheet but it softened as he addressed Steve. "That's the rarest metal on Earth. What you're holding there, that's all we got." He pointed to the disk. He still wondered how Hakon had pounded that much out of the tiny bit that was in the container. Must be something funky when it heats up—but why didn't it shrink again? Dang it, he's giving me a headache again.

Peggy came in and curtly cut into their conversation. Steve turned with a small smile, holding the shield in front of him, and asked her opinion. To answer, she shot at him—or rather, the shield—startling both Howard and Steve greatly.

Hakon barely flinched. Tor whined and nudged against his leg before resting his head on it and watching as Peggy marched out. Hakon snorted a laugh, burying his face into Tor's fur so he wouldn't incur Peggy's wrath as well. "Yes, bud. This time they're fighting because she wants to mate—she's mad another woman made a move and Steve didn't send a clear signal he wasn't interested in her."

Tor snuffed and glared at Steve before yawning then grumbling again, curling up in his luscious bed by Hakon's desk. Hakon chuckled and returned to his work. "Yeah, human mating rituals are stupidly complex. I thought you would have known that by now after me and Astrid, but Fury rituals didn't look much easier either."

Tor turned his head away, hackles rising a bit, and Hakon snickered.

Hiccup crouched in the shadows between several tall pines. The frosted heather crunched beside him and two figures knelt beside him, one in mostly black armor but spotted with white while the other was mostly white with black spots—but both managed to blend in as well as the other with the fog.

Hiccup felt a hand on his shoulder and he smiled at the third arrival, even though it couldn't be seen through his own mask, he knew it was felt. Just as he could feel the returned smile behind the borrowed mask that had become a bit more than borrowed with the modifications and embellishments added to it.

He felt a warning tug over his and Toothless' bond. Steve and the Howling Commandos were nearing the outermost Hydra patrols, and Hiccup signaled for his group to spring into action. They eased through the outer camp with ease and moved like ghosts between the patrols. The black and white pair split off and seemingly sprouted wings, silently soaring up the factory-base wall. A lone soldier saw movement in the fog and completed a comprehensive scan of the area but saw nothing—just the fog and moon playing tricks.

Hiccup and the third slipped inside without the need of a door. They traversed the corridors with the same phantom grace as they had outside, not alerting a soul to their presence. They navigated the twists and turns with little trouble as Loki led the way with his superior magic and tracking skills—the years' worth of accumulation from hunting his Chosen down, with and without the aid of his mark, had made him an excellent tracker.

They paused outside a door, Hiccup holding the handle. He snagged a ball off his belt and cracked the door open, tossing it inside. A chair squeaked as the seat started to turn then a low bang reverberated in the room. After that, neither he nor Loki cared about subtly and rushed into the room. The two communication agents sat frozen in their chairs and didn't make a sound.

Hiccup slipped a small disc device from a slot on his forearm and attached it to the backside of the computer then his fingers flew over the equipment, entering codes and overriding others. He nodded to Loki and tapped his communicator before leaving.

They slipped back through the factory to the main floor where soldiers and unfortunate captives worked on building pieces and fitting them together until they formed glowing rings. Hiccup scowled at everything but threw invisibility over himself before walking to the fringe of activity and snagging several miscellaneous pieces and weapons fitted with Tesseract powered technology.

Their mission done, they found a secluded corner and teleported away. Toothless nudged Hiccup and gave Loki a gummy smile as four others joined them. Hiccup handed his contraband to the primarily black armored man who took it and hugged his father. "So, how are you holding up?"

Hiccup chuckled and removed his mask, Nuffink, Zephyr, and Loki doing the same. "Eh, I'm getting tired of being stuck in a lab with no action. Phillips is incapable of thinking someone like me is capable of fighting as well as inventing."

Zephyr laughed and eyed her father. "No offense, but you do look more like a stick than usual."

He sent her a father's reproachful eye. "I'll have you know, young missy, that I defeated a good deal of my enemies when I was this age."

She shook her head and smiled amusedly at him. "I know. Phillips doesn't. He's just trying to protect a sweet, little, innocent boy like you."

Loki choked on air and stared at Hiccup. "Innocent my foot. Even before we met."

Hiccup gestured to Zephyr and himself wildly, voice raising a little. "I didn't say that!" He groaned and turned to Nuffink who was watching the exchange silently but biting his tongue. "Just make sure that stuff gets analyzed every which way from Solsday. I need to get back before anyone tries to check the rigidity of my illusions, and given Phillip's paranoid tendencies…"

Loki rested a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, smiling softly at him. "Please stay safe, Liten Listig. I do not like it when you draw the attention of this many people to you."

Hiccup grabbed his hand and nodded encouragingly. "I know. Hopefully, this'll all be over soon and I can disappear without raising suspicions."

Loki sighed and closed his eyes. "I look forward to the day, I hate having to sneak meetings that account for only a few days of the year. This has gone on for long enough."

Hiccup stepped away and stood next to Toothless, shifting them both back to Hakon and Tor, face grim, but determined. "Then let's make sure to end this war sooner rather than later. I miss seeing you guys too. I'll let you know when the next attack is planned."

Zephyr stretched her arms and shoulders. "Great! It's been forever since we've had a good fight. This is fun!"

Hakon's head tilted reprovingly. "Zeph, stealth, cut communications only, and steal a few pieces of Tesseract technology. No fighting."

Her shoulders fell. "Fine. But next time I want to take the command room and hit the whack-jobs with a Flightmare Stunner."

Hakon shook his head but wound his hand into Torbjörg's fur. "Okay, Zephyr."

Loki stepped forward and gave Hakon one more hug. It hurt not being able to see his child more freely, constrained as he already was by Asgard and the need for deception there.

Hakon held him tightly before letting go and disappeared in a green flash before reappeared in his designated bedroom. He collapsed onto his bed. Teleporting that far twice was no laughing matter.

Tor gurgled a laugh and crawled into bed next to him. Hakon smiled and curled up around his best friend. "I'm sure Steve's going to do great…" His humorous smile turned devious. "And Schmidt won't be the wiser to it until he decides to check on 'em again."

They're finally getting involved! See you next chapter, have an awesome week!