Captain America and Bucky busted through a warehouse door, followed by the Howling Commandos. Bucky gave Cap a personally designed gun. Although it wasn't an energy weapon, it packed enough wallop that it could only be wielded by a Super Soldier.
The combination of Cap's shield and the gun Bucky gave him an imposing presence. Cap was like a walking, running, flipping, cunning tank. The shield was his armour, and the gun was his cannon.
As for Bucky, he seemed even more terrifying. Sometimes he fought side by side with Cap, at other times, he supported Cap as a sniper. Bucky never missed. Even more, Cap watched Bucky take a sniper and, using some tools and other gun parts, he created this monstrous sniper.
There was no telling where Bucky was shooting from, because the sniper ensured he could shoot from far, far away. His shooting was like a curse that struck without warning.
No one could agree if his shooting was more fearsome or his use of his sword. His rapier, made of Beskar and Phric, cut through tank canons, shells, and bullets; nothing was tough enough to stop his blade. What amazed them even more was that Bucky could sense the bullets and block them, cut them, and sometimes return them!
Nothing prepared them for the revelation of Bucky's telekinesis. Steve knew about it; he witnessed Arnim Zola being flung from the top of the rocket walkway with a single movement. Then there was that ability to crush things. He could lock a vehicle into an invisible vice and crumple it.
He could also use his telekinesis to throw his sword and make it spin. It could spin through the battlefield and then return to his hand.
If any of that wasn't enough, then when Cyrus used his Force lightning, he could end the fighting almost immediately.
Then there was the armour, Cap and Bucky had theirs hidden by the cloth of their suit. The rest of the Howling Commandos wore their armour over full-body black underwear, as they called it. They painted the armour green so they fit into the forest better.
One day, Howard Stark sent them a marvel.
"What is it? Dum-Dum Dugan remarked at the thin, almost skeletal frame.
"It's clearly an automaton," another soldier said.
"Automoton?" Dum-Dum found it was a difficult word to say.
"You can call it a robot," Cyrus appeared near the other Howlers, as he called them.
"This is a GI Robot, it can run for days on its battery, which is rechargeable using solar energy. It can also act independently; it has a kind of fake intelligence. Let's get him started, and see how he does," The Howlers were incredibly interested.
Steve heard the commotion and came to see what was happening. He saw the robot, about as tall as him. It was holding a unique gun that needed two hands to hold. It looked like something Bucky would make.
"What's this?" Steve stood next to Cyrus, who fiddled with a handheld control box, "This is GI Robot, the newest member of the Howling Commandos. We're going to put it through its paces."
"Is this one of the things you told Howard to make?"
"Yeah, and the gun design is mine too. Maybe you'd like to trade up, Howard sent several backups and lots of bullets," Cyrus said.
"Maybe, let's see how it handles."
"Here it goes, everyone back up," Cyrus said. The men backed up like they saw a live grenade.
The robot's eyes lit up before dimmin and then its body straightened. He looked around at the soldiers, it looked at Cyrus and became more animated, "Ah, Mother, it is good to finally meet you!"
Cyrus stared dumbly at it, "What did you call me?"
"Mother, according to Father, Howard Stark is my father, and you are the mother. You created the idea of me, and he created my body." GI Robot responded.
The men laughed; here was their terrifying sergeant being compared to a woman by Stark.
"Actually, Howard made a mistake, and you must correct it. You must lock this into your memory core. I am your father, and Stark is your mother." Cyrus explained to the robot.
"I'm sorry, Mother, but Father already said you might say something like that. He was very clear that you are the mother, and this is based on the natural relationship of two different sects. Although the relationship is analogous and not meant to be taken seriously, it is a clear and meaningful designation." GI responded.
The robot's reply made some of the soldiers feel a little weird, but they continued to watch the spectacle.
"This is where your mother made a mistake. If we are using the relationship between mother and father to speak of an analogous birth, then we should be as close to the analogy when applying it, don't you agree?"
The robot turned its head to think for a moment, "That explanation seems to be internally consistent."
"If that's the case," Cyrus began again. "You must recognise that since I produced the idea of you, and Howard produced your body, it follows that I am the father and Howard is the mother."
"I do not understand," GI twisted his head from side to side as he tried to make sense of this idea.
"The idea can do nothing if it doesn't have a body. However, a body can never come into existence without the idea. So, you see, there is a causal relationship between my idea and Howard's creation of your body. Without my idea, the mother would never be able to create the body. Does that make sense?" Cyrus asked.
"Indeed, as you said, your use of the analogy of human procreation fits much better than the one originally utilised by Mother."
"Good, okay, Jr. Now we're going to run some tests and see how good a job mother did making you. Are you ready?"
"I am ready, Father." The Howlers witnessed this exchange and felt a little icky and amused at the same time.
"It looks like Howard made a big mistake trying to prank you," Steve whispered to Cyrus.
"Don't worry, when it comes to prank wars, no one can beat me. I already have a couple of ideas," Cyrus whispered back, earning a bright smile from Steve.
Cyrus looked at Steve's smile and thought about all the jokes people made in his world about Steve and Bucky's relationship.
Those guys could never understand that there is a natural, healthy love between men. True friendship of brotherly love, not physical or romantic love. For them, friendship was perverse if it crossed some undefined line.
"I am ready, Father," GI Robot informed him.
"Let's start with an agility test, rack your weapon and move as quickly as you can through the camp. If something is in your way, jump over it. If you break anything, stop immediately. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Father!" GI Robot placed his gun on the rack with the other new guns sent with it.
Then he turned and ran. The dirt was fairly dry, but when he ran, he made a half-inch depression in the ground. When he accelerated or leapt, the depression became deeper.
Sometimes the depth wasn't much, but other times, it could be quite deep.
When the robot ran up to a jeep, it leapt over the hood of the jeep and landed awkwardly, falling backwards, putting a big dent in the jeep's side.
"Okay, there are some minor issues. I'll calibrate you later. Now, target practice. Set up the shooting range, fellas," Cyrus ordered his comrades.
The robot took his gun, and with each shot, he not only hit the target but put a big crater behind it, "Holy Cap! What's in that gun!" Dum-Dum exclaimed, he loved big guns and big explosions, so it was love at first sight.
"Okay, combat, Steve, give him the Super Soldier once over, star-spangled-stripes style!"
Steve and the robot squared off. Fighting without a shield limited some of Steave's typical moves, but they were trying to test the thing, not destroy it!
At first, the robot struggled to land a hit, but once it collected enough data, it went on the offensive. It didn't win, but its punches were getting harder for Steve to dodge.
Cyrus called the fight, and Steve rested, "It's almost like having another super soldier. Are you planning on mass-producing these?"
Laughing, Cyrus explained to his friend, "Way too expensive. These units cost a lot of money to produce, but we can probably produce another five of them before the end of the war. In the future, when we have better materials and greater infrastructure to support their creation, who knows?"
"It sounds like what Howard told me about the Shield; it's too expensive to mass-produce them."
"It's actually a good thing that we can't mass-produce them. Can you imagine the guys in Washington getting their hands on a cheap, powerful mechanical army? How many wars would we be in, and how many of those wars would be over the materials needed to create more mechanical soldiers? What do you think our allies will do when they feel threatened by our technological superiority?
Howard and I talked about this, the weapons and technology that can create a revolution, we'll make them so expensive that the military can only buy so many. We don't want to win the war and then lose ourselves. We'll need time, our culture, to develop slowly enough that our morality and ethics can keep up with the unforeseen consequences of human genius.
Erskine's death probably secured freedom for America and others than the creation of the two of us. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility."
"I like that, 'with great power comes great responsibility. ' Steve thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more he liked it.
"Well, I heard it from a kid in Queens, Peter, I think," he smiled.
"Alright, junior, let me take a look at you and see how your body's holding up. I think we can make a few changes that will boost your capabilities," Cyrus walked with the robot to his private work array. This was another condition of the SSR. He was to create tech for the group in the field; anything useful was to be sent to Stark for feasibility or construction.
Steve returned to his bunk, "With great power comes great responsibility." Steve couldn't help but say it to himself over and over again. He sat on his bed and took out his compass; the interior had the picture of the woman he thought about all the time, Peggy Carter.
"I hope I can see you again soon, maybe take you dancing."