There Are Such Things As Wizards || Bucky Barnes

6- Operation Bow Wow

TW: Animal Abuse

    Elaina had been tending to her creatures in her den when FRIDAY announced she was needed in one of the conference rooms. She thanked the AI before finishing what she was working on and made her way down the hall. When she walked through the door she noticed that Tony, Steve, Nat, and Bucky were all sitting around the table waiting for her. Tony looked up at her and smiled, "Congratulations, you're going on your first mission."

    Steve had explained that they had gotten intell that there is a Hydra office hidden in the basement of an Animal Shelter in New Mexico. They discussed their plan to get down to the office and gather information about Hydra's whereabouts and any new bases that they might need to look out for.

    The jet was being prepped as everyone left the conference room to suit up. Elaina's suit was designed similarly to Natasha's. The tight black fabric was lined with deep purple stitching. A wand pocket was sewn into the right thigh of her pants for easy access. Her wavy dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, some baby hairs had already fallen out and framed her face. Nerves and excitement were evident on her face as she looked at herself one last time in the mirror before heading down to the jet.

    "Who's walking in with me again?" Elaina asked as the jet landed not too far from the shelter. "I am" answered Steve and she nodded. She put a spell over their suits to make them look like normal everyday clothing. Steve handed his shield to Bucky before he and Elaina stepped out of the jet and made their way to the shelter.

    When they stepped through the door Elaina grabbed Steve's hand, putting on an act for the man standing at the counter. "Hello, my husband and I are looking to adopt a puppy." She smiled, hugging Steve's arm with her free hand. The man nodded and led them to the back where all the animals were kept. Elaina tried her best to stay focused and not get distracted by the suffering animals around her.

    "Get ready to catch him." Elaina whispered to Steve before quietly taking her wand out of her pocket and aimed it at the back of the man's head. "petrificus totalus"  He turned stiff as a board and started falling backwards. Steve quickly caught him and found a closet to lock him inside. The two looked around and found the door that led to the basement. "Alohomora" and the door swung open. Steve contacted the other three over comms and waited for them to join him and Elaina.

    While they were waiting, Elaina lifted the spell off the both of them, revealing their suits once more. When the other three arrived, Bucky handed the shield back to Steve and the five of them quietly descended down the staircase. The set up looked similar to those who have been to a Hydra base before. The basement was a lot bigger than they expected. There were a couple cells, some offices, and some rooms with large medical equipment inside them.

    While the team was searching through the files and gathering information, an alarm sounded off alerting the Hydra Agents that the Avengers were in the building. Agents came from the rooms they hadn't checked and immediately started fighting the team, each of them using different tactics. Bucky used hand to hand combat, Elaina used her wand, Nat used her electric batons, Tony used his blasters and Steve used his shield.

    When some of the fighting died down, Nat had noticed Elaina was missing. "Where's El?" she asked, causing the three men to look around for her while continuing to fight. "She better not be upstairs playing veterinarian" said Tony. They all tried contacting her over comms but got nothing in return. "Does anyone hear that?" Steve asked as he hit an agent with his shield. "Hear what?" Asked Bucky. "I hear panting and growling over comms."

    Just then a black dog came out of nowhere and bit on the leg of a Hydra Agent that was trying to attack Bucky. The man tried shaking off the dog, but the canine was too strong and knocked the man over. The dog continually bit the agent as he was on the ground, putting its full weight on him and barking loudly.

    "How the hell did a dog get down here?" asked Natasha. "I swear, if Elaina is actually playing veterinarian I'm going to lose it." Tony mumbled. Bucky walked up to the dog and grabbed the man's head and slammed it into the ground to knock him out. Bucky patted the dog's head and smiled. The canine then hopped off the unconscious man's body and stood in front of Bucky on its hind legs and its paws on his chest, smiling back at him. Bucky then noticed a strange marking on the right side of the dog's belly. There was no way it could be a birthmark, the color and shape didn't match the freckles on the dog's stomach. It was almost like a tattoo or a brand. The conclusion Bucky came up with was that the poor animal was branded by it's previous owner, which is why the dog is in the shelter. But why is the brand the shape of the sun?

    Once the fighting had finished, the group had gone back to gathering more information while the dog stood as a look out. Right when they were just about done, the man Bucky knocked out slowly gained consciousness. He stood up and made his way towards Bucky pulling the knife from his pocket. The movement didn't go unnoticed by the canine, causing the dog to spring into action and barking loudly. The man was quicker this time, swiftly kicking the dog to the side in its hind leg, creating a loud crack.

    The group was instantly alerted by the dog's actions and became shocked by its efforts to protect them. Bucky moved the quickest and shot the man between the eyes, causing his body to fall limp to the ground. They all then huddled around the whimpering, injured mutt, trying to figure out how to help it.

    "I'm gonna go see if I can find Elaina." said Steve, hoping she would know what to do, as he made his way up the staircase. Nat then knelt next to the whimpering pup, slowly petting its head. "Tony, I don't care what you say, I'm keeping this dog." She whispered with tears in her eyes. Just then the dog had morphed into the person they had been missing the whole time.

    "I don't think I'd make a good pet, Nat." Elaina joked as she laughed though the pain in her leg. The three people standing over her were shocked, unsure what to do next. "I can't find her anywhere." said Steve over comms. Bucky lifted his hand to his ear to respond. "Punk you're not gonna believe this, but she's been with us all along." Steve was confused by the response but made his way back down where the rest of the group was, only to find Elaina on the ground, clutching a broken leg and the dog nowhere in sight.

    "We need to get you back to the compound, Bruce will take a look at your leg." Steve stated, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement. Bucky instantly tried picking up the girl which caused her to protest. "No! Stop! Put me down now!" Confused, Bucky put her down even though she was still panting, clearly in pain.

    "Where's my wand?" She asked, the group looked around the room and Steve found it, thankfully not broken. She thanked him as he handed it to her and aimed it at her broken femur. "Episkey." Elaina groaned as she felt the bone snap back together. She then slowly stood up, putting more weight on the opposite leg, as she still was in some pain.

"Have we got everything?" she asked the group, as they all looked at her with wide eyes. "So you expect us to just gloss over the fact that you're a dog? How come you never told us?" Tony asked. Elaina chuckled slightly, "I never felt the need to mention it, especially since I became an animagus illegally."

On the way back to the compound, the jet had gone through a thunderstorm, which was even louder than normal, the sound bouncing off the metal aircraft. Elaina's eyes were squeezed shut and her hands tightly covered her ears, in hopes to mute the deafening sound. "Elaina, are you alright?" asked Nat. Still covering her ears, she shook her head and responded with, "dog hearing."

When the rain stopped, Elaina sighed in relief and took her hands off her ears. She looked up at her teammates who were all patiently waiting to ask her multiple questions about her abilities that they have just discovered. "So why a dog?" asked Tony. "Well, you don't get to choose the animal you turn into when a person becomes an animagus. I would've chosen a dog anyway since that's what my dad was in his animagus form."

"Well I think it is great. Amazing disguise for future missions. Besides, Snuffles is a great attack dog." Tony joked and Nat, Steve, and Bucky all rolled their eyes at his new nickname for Elaina. Elaina couldn't help but smile when she heard the name, reminding her that it was also the code name her father used when he sent letters to her and Harry. She knew Tony had no idea what the name meant to her and she wanted to keep it that way. "It's actually Snuffles Jr."