Marvel: Summoning Xandar.

~~~Camp Lehigh, New Jersey~~~

~~~January 1943~~~

"ROOOMM!"

The transport plane shut down its engines just as it reached its destination, the door of the Douglas C-47 opened, and from inside stepped a tall, burly, battle-hardened man. He was followed by another man of equal size, only with dark skin.

Steve Rogers, and Isaiah Bradley, the two U.S. Army Supersoldiers, the pinnacle of Dr. Erskine's chemical research, the results of years of research, sleepless nights, and hours of stress, had been simplified into what was stepping off the plane today.

Two men capable of changing the course of any war, and the first two to be genetically changed, creating an impetus for what was to come in the future.

"Soldier Steve Rogers, Colonel Bradley, good to see you, welcome," Colonel Phillips greeted them both the moment they touched down, having waited for fifteen minutes for the plane to land, he was thrilled to see the result of what the boy with asthma who had arrived at his camp months before would become.

And the sight surprised him more than he expected, gone was the skinny, almost malnourished boy, whom any strong enough breeze could knock over... Now, a stocky, six-foot-tall man with the aura of a war-ready soldier took his place.

"It's good to be back home," Steve replied with a sincere smile on his face, though now his voice sounded more mature, more serious. "How about we get in the car, gentlemen?" Peggy Carter, who had also come on the plane along with Steve and Isaiah, plus Howard, suggested setting off for the compound.

The advice the four men followed smoothly, all climbing into the Jeep and the driver started the engine and started the car, "So, how was Xandar? With so much strange news coming from that place, I don't know what to believe anymore," not three minutes into the drive, Colonel Phillips asked about the stay of his... Friends in the new realm.

"Well Colonel, all those stories you've heard, they must be true," Peggy said smoothly, after having been six months in Xandar, getting to know several strange and new aspects was no problem, while President Roosevelt and the other scientists returned to the United States as soon as the experiment became successful, Steve, Isaiah, Peggy and Howard stayed behind for a few more months.

Steve and Isaiah did it because, after having superhuman abilities, they had to train them, and what better than to train their abilities with warriors with physical abilities similar to theirs? Azrael agreed, so he arranged for five Unsullied to train the two soldiers.

Howard, for his part, wanted to stay to continue studying the energy provided by the Redstone, for him, to find a compound, which he assumed was a radioactive transuranic element, like plutonium, however, the Redstone, although it emitted radiation, did not act malignantly with its surroundings.

For him, finding an element of such caliber incentivized him to study it as much as he could, and thanks to that he left Xandar with new ideas for creating clean, and hopefully, unlimited or renewable energy as was the case with Redstone.

"Is it that bad?" Colonel Phillips asked doubtfully, he had seen the reports made to him of what was known of Xandar, as the man the two supersoldiers would be in charge of, Phillips should know as much as possible about the place where those men got their abilities.

"I wouldn't say it's bad, Colonel," Steve said, having been on Xandar was a somewhat... Exciting experience, having lived with story witches, dragons, and a completely different culture than what was seen in North America, it did him good, at least it prepared them mentally for what they were about to do.

As soldiers who would be thrown into the field in Europe, they were to go into towns or cities that were wary of foreigners due to the war, and the stay in Xandar was that. "While the experience was somewhat tense at times, it doesn't take away from the fact that they are very straightforward and honest people, as well as very wealthy," Steve said this last part in a joking manner. Which made the others who had come with him on the plane laugh.

With even the children wearing chains, rings, and gold-threaded garments, there was talk of unconventional wealth, but what made the people of Xandar strange in its uniqueness, according to Steve, was that even the rich, very rich people, were that they treated those with less wealth equally, apparently, in Xandar there were no problems with discrimination of ethnicity, status, skin or birth.

They were all one people, and the only problem in Xandar, according to Steve, was the great Xenophobia that was practiced, which could often present a problem.

"Well, be that as it may, Xandar just won the war in the Pacific," the Colonel said, surprising the group. Having been on Xandar, the news of war didn't reach them, or at least the people in the city didn't seem to relate to it. It was as if being in the middle of a war didn't affect them.

Hell, they had even held festivals in August to celebrate the dates of the creation of the city and the kingdom, so the fact that Xandar was waged a war didn't seem plausible. " But it's only been half a year; we're talking about a huge war force," Isaiah said. As Colonel, he of all people knew how complicated a war could be.

The times of these, the amount of dead, and the burning of supplies was a huge burden, and learning the fact that Xandar had already won, created a bad taste in his mouth, an American patriot, knowing that the United States had been fighting with Japan in the Pacific and they had been losing.

"Well be surprised Colonel," Phillips didn't muffle his words, "Osaka, Nagasaki, and Kyoto no longer exist, they were wiped off the map, intelligence says Xandar released one of their dragons, in the company of other beings, they are believed to be biological weapons, capable of flight and firing huge plasma beams capable of wiping out a city in hours."

"What is known for certain, is that all of Japan fell three days after Xandar landed in Osaka and Kyoto, the Japanese Emperor is dead, and the Xandarian presence is strong in Japan, daily we receive plane loads of released American prisoners, the President has been very energetic because of this, and wants to see an equal sight in Europe against Hydra."

"Of course, now that Dr. Erskine is dead and the research and creation of more supersoldiers is stalled, the president's ultimate problem is how to use Steve and Isaiah to his advantage," Howard's scathing comment didn't wait to come, to which Phillips ignored.

"He died doing what was keeping him alive, Mr. Stark, and the result is in front of me, two men who can end this war in a matter of months, besides, I recall that the body of the doctor, whom you sympathize with, was not returned." Of course, it wouldn't be, Dr. Erskine was not dead, and turning over a body with his physical characteristics was off the table, and Xandar had refused to turn over the bodies of those who died on their borders.

There was a law that determined that any alien who died would be buried there, according to due to religious reasons.

"Due to the failure of Project Rebirth, you two will be put in the field as soon as possible, reports have already come in of what you can do, and will get that underway, while the president wanted to use you as guinea pigs and have you in a lab to try and copy Dr. Erskine's research, but due to the Japan thing, Roosevelt scrapped that idea, now what America is hoping for most is a victory, and you are the key to that."

"So what do you offer then, Colonel Phillips?" Isaiah asked, as a soldier, he didn't have a problem in going to the battlefield, moreover, fighting for his country seemed a better idea than being dissected in a lab, although it's not like they could poke them, if bullets couldn't hurt them, what could be expected from a scalpel?

"The Howling Commandos," Phillips replied, "is a group created by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, made up of the best soldiers the army has to offer, I want you two to lead the group, and hopefully kill Johann Schmidt, Hitler and end this damn war once and for all."

"Count us in, Colonel," Isaiah agreed without blinking, Steve, for his part, nodded.

"All right, then meet your group," Phillips said once the Jeep reached their destination, a large rest tent, where The Howling Commandos awaited them.