What is this? Chapter 20 on the 20th? I lucked out big time and got no homework on a three day weekend.
Stark has been staring at the Asset James for 7.8 seconds. The new voice asks Is there something on my face, pal?
There can't be. The Asset James has just removed the makeshift mask. He watches Stark close his eyes and open them again, looking just as perplexed. "You're Bucky Barnes."
"Who the hell is Bucky?" he asks, even as the unbidden visions flash through his mind. The blond-haired person as a skinny kid, a skinny man, a muscular man, the four girls, a soldier, all calling out for Bucky.
They're visions he's seen since he started defecting, but another one emerges.
He's strapped to a table, in pain, something familiar that makes sense. He's muttering, which is not allowed. "Three-Two-Five-Five-Seven..."
The blond man leans over him, rips the restraints off. "Bucky."
"Steve."
"I thought you were dead." Steve says as he helps him up. He has a flesh arm, not a prosthesis.
"I thought you were smaller."
Harry the Handler wriggles on his lap. "He's James. Like the red engine."
JAMES IS A DESIGNATED CODENAME.
"James Buchanan Barnes." Stark says. The enemy asset had called him the same false name. The Asset James glances through the room, looking for a sign of the enemy asset. Surely the man is tampering with his mind.
Stark grimaces, rubbing his temple. "There's no way. He died in 1945."
Falling from the train, the man in the stars-and-stripes suit- Steve? Steve shouts "Bucky, no!"
"Stop!" the Asset James breathes heavily, fists clenched, before realizing he snapped at a technician.
"Sorry," Harry the Handler whispers in a choked voice. The Asset James lowers his arms, stills his body, waiting for correction. The handler should not be the one apologizing.
Stark scrutinizes him. Being scrutinized by technicians is familiar, routine, finally something that makes sense. Except Stark does not correct him either. "Jarvis, tell me I'm not hallucinating from sleep deprivation."
"You are not, sir. His facial features are a match for Sergeant Barnes." the computer Jarvis says. Several floating transparent images materialize, showing a man with the Asset James's face. His hair is shorter, his face clean-shaven, there's a spark in his eye that makes him looks like a person.
The Soldier is not a person. It is a weapon.
Some of the photos feature the blond man from the visions as well. Steve, the new voice chants in his head.
This has to be an elaborate scheme to destabilize the Soldier.
Harry the Handler peers at the photos. "Is that Bruce Wayne?"
"What? No!" Stark throws his hands up. "Haven't you been listening? Geez, kid, you've been looking at his face for... how long? Don't you see? It's the exact same!"
The Asset James cannot deny that his face is identical to the ones in the photos. The boy looks back and forth from the photos to his face, intently staring.
"Jarvis, how is this possible?" Stark asks. "Human cloning's nowhere near successful. He can't be his son or grandson or anything, can he?"
Harry stops looking at the photos to stare intently at the Asset James. The boy doesn't speak, but the Asset James suspects he is once again wishing that his asset was his father.
"No, sir. His resemblance to Sergeant Barnes is too similar."
The Asset James breathes sharply, his whole body tense as Stark rules out the option of a twin.
Stark was supposed to fix him, rid him of the defects so he is once again operational. Instead, he is almost encouraging the malfunctions, the forbidden visions. Is he in league with the enemy asset?
No. Harry the Handler views Stark as an ally. He is a designated technician for the Asset, unlike the enemies.
"Fix it." the Asset James is not sure if he means the prosthesis or his brain. He already knows Stark does not have a Chair, he needs to be relocated for a wipe, but he needs one so badly.
How does Potts maintain Stark without a Chair or Cryogenic tube? From what he'd heard, Stark talks back to his handler, is mouthy in a way HYDRA would have punished severely. Clearly Potts, like Harry, is a much more lenient handler.
"Bucky-" Stark starts, then switches tactics when the prosthesis clenches, grinding loudly. "No, James... you're already calling yourself James. That's gotta mean something."
James was a name designated by the handler. Does Harry believe he is James Buchanan Barnes as well?
"Sir, his arm is burning again. I would hazard to guess it is linked to his emotional state."
Stark lets out several expletives before glancing at Harry. "Pretend you didn't hear that, kid. All right, James. Can you take some deep breaths for me? I'm gonna need you to calm down before I start on your arm."
He struggles to comply. His breathing is fast, harsh, erratic like his thoughts. The thoughts jump from Bucky to MAINTENANCE REQUIRED.
His internal chronometer is malfunctioning as well, he does not know how long it is before his breathing returns to baseline.
Stark slowly opens up a plate to the prosthesis, muttering under his breath.
His mind flashes back to other maintenance sessions. Searing agony, the smell of burnt flesh, feeling as if he's being ripped apart and pieced back together again. Zola leaning over him as he stares at the prosthesis, proclaiming "Sergeant Barnes."
There's a loud crash, and then silence. The Asset slowly focuses on the lab, realizing he'd thrown a wrench at one of the cars, completely destroying both the wrench and car door.
He waits for the sound of guns loading, but does not hear any. Just a robot beeping almost frantically.
Harry the Handler is on the floor, having fallen from his lap when the stood up. Why had the boy not stuck with his abilities this time? He is not crying as a child should, instead sitting silently in shock.
THE ASSET HAS HARMED THE HANDLER. UNACCEPTABLE.
He lowers his arm, breathing heavily. He's erratic, dangerous. He should not have moved or thrown anything. A wipe is required immediately.
The new voice is telling him to crouch down, comfort the child as he'd done during his nightmare. What if he harms Harry the Handler again?
The Asset James strides quickly from the lab, up the stairs. He finds himself standing in front of the freezer, staring blankly at its contents. The freezer is nowhere near the temperature required for cryogenic stasis, despite the handler's questions. Even if it was, he would have to rip out all the shelves in order to fit his body inside. He has already wrecked enough.
RETURN TO THE HANDLER. PROTECT.
How could he have left Harry? The enemies could appear at any moment to take the boy away, the Asset James has to remain by his side to protect him.
On the other hand, he is unstable enough that he poses a threat to his handler. It is unacceptable.
He heads towards the gym, and puts himself through a rigorous training regimen. The least he can do is keep the body in optimal condition as his mind deteriorates and the prosthesis remains damaged. It serves as punishment as well. He trains until his every nerve screams with agony, until every muscle is on fire.
He finally collapses to the mat, his world reduced to pain, as it should be.
It is not enough, he deserves more.
He realizes he's broken several weights and two punching bags. They were clearly not built to account for his enhancements.
Even more to punish him for.
His eyes fall on his handler, who is near the boxing ring 3.3 meters away. The Asset James is surprised that Stark let the boy anywhere near him, then corrects the thought. Handlers outrank technicians.
Harry regards the broken equipment fearfully, clearly expecting Stark to deliver a punishment when he discovers the damages. Harry will not be punished. The Asset James will take it for him.
He kneels, head bowed submissively. Most handlers tower over him, making their superiority visually obvious, but Harry is about the same height on his feet as the Asset James is on his knees.
"Awaiting punishment." He notes that the boy has not received permanent injuries from his actions, though that only makes the situation marginally better.
Harry the Handler eyes him cautiously, approaching him slowly as one would a dangerous animal. The Asset James tries to relax his shoulders more, to appear even less threatening.
"Are you hurt?" he asks the handler. Harry shrugs, not seeming particularly bothered about being dropped on the floor. Being tossed around was likely a regular occurrence at the Dursley residence.
The Asset Jame's chest feels as if it is on fire, not just from the physical exertion.
Stark enters the training room, undoubtedly noticing the ruined equipment, though he doesn't comment.
Harry the Handler stammers out an apology about the broken equipment, as if it is his fault. Stark waves a hand dismissively. "Kid, for someone who looks like he's about to keel over, you've got one heck of a left hook."
Those words send visions of the skinny blonde guy- Steve, the punk- flashing through his mind.
"You hurt my Batman," the boy's tone is unapologetic.
"I know," Stark looks almost guilty. "I thought it was a bad idea, but I couldn't just let the arm burn him."
"Fix it."
"After that reaction?!" Stark's voice is full of incredulity. "Where you just wrecked a car like some kind of knockoff brand super-soldier?"
The Asset James turns to his handler. "A damaged Batman cannot protect you."
"That's the mission, protecting him?" Stark asks. "From who? No offense, kid, but you don't look like some big-shot target. Are you the kid of someone influential? Trust me, I got kidnapped loads of times because of Howard."
Howard the target? Did he have a lab? The Asset James does not ask questions, not that Stark would let him get a word in. "I don't think Jarvis has found a single record of your existence, kiddo. Not even in your relatives' obituary."
The Asset James wasn't told why HYDRA wanted Harry, but he suspects they wanted him for his abilities. What the enemy asset, old man Dumbledore, and severe woman Minerva had wanted with him is another question entirely. They had abilities of their own, seemingly more in control than Harry's.
"My A'set James pr'tects me from bad guys." Harry answers. Is Stark cleared to receive mission intel?
"Where are your parents?" Stark asks.
"Dey died in a car crash." Harry states matter-of-factly.
Something flashes through Stark's eyes. "Same, kiddo. Same."
The mind flashes to the roadside assassination, but the Asset James forces the image away as Stark turns to him.
"Okay, so you're protecting him. Great. But why does that mean you're taking orders from him? Unless he's like, royalty, and even then it'd be ridiculous. He doesn't look old enough to tie his shoes and from what I've gathered, his orders are to find a fictional location from comic books."
FIND THE BATCAVE.
Harry is the Handler. Still, some part of the Asset James knows a target should not be able to give a codeword, as the boy had. Harry should have remained a target. Then he would have been delivered to HYDRA, tied down, cut open, unmade.
The prosthesis spasms as the mission blares KEEP HARRY FROM HYDRA.
"Maintenance is required on the prosthesis."
"That can wait. You're safe here." Stark says. He is wrong. It cannot wait. They are being hunted, Harry is in danger. "I'm not doing it when it clearly pushes you over the breaking point."
"The Batman James would not have acted erratically if it was properly maintained."
"Maintained?" Stark asks, eyes narrowing.
"The visions need to be wiped from the mind for the Batman James to function properly."
Harry the Handler's jaw drops. "You said that's what the bad guys'd do! Dumb-Bell-Door."
The handler does not seem to understand the difference between enemies wiping him and handlers doing so. The latter is necessary.
"Wait, wait, wait." Stark makes several slashing motions through the air with his hands as he speaks. "Hold on a sec! You mean to tell me you've had memories erased? What the-"
The man is his technician, he must answer. He waits exactly 1.0 second, as instructed, before replying. "Visions are to be removed. They make the Batman volatile and noncompliant."
That report may be unnecessary. He'd just demonstrated that fact quite plainly.
Stark massages his temples for 6.6 seconds, muttering expletives under his breath, along with how is this my life?
"You mean to tell me," Stark says slowly, "That you expect your mind to be erased."
According to all sources, Stark is a genius, yet he fails to grasp this simple concept. The Asset James gives another quick nod. Repeating this is inefficient.
"The bad guys were going ta." Harry the Handler briefs Stark. "But we ex-scaped."
"All right, you've got a ridiculously fu-... funny idea of maintenance. I'm not going to give you amnesia or whatever. Seriously, how do you even do that?!"
"The current base does not possess the proper equipment." the Asset James replies. "Relocation to a base with a Chair is required. Possibly the Batcave."
FIND THE BATCAVE.
"No." Harry suddenly declares. "Batman won't do that!"
If the other Batman will not wipe him properly, who will? Does anybody have a Chair besides HYDRA?
AVOID HYDRA.
Harry the Handler is still talking. "Batman won't! Only bad guy witches do that!"
Stark arches a brow. "Witches? Is the final mission destination Never Land? Narnia?"
"Sir, I don't believe this is the time." Jarvis sounds strangely disapproving for a computerized voice. The Asset James wonders if Jarvis requires maintenance as well. That is not important to the mission.
"Handlers routinely wipe the Asset to prevent defects." How can the handler not understand, after what has just happened? There are enemies after both of them, from multiple organizations. Some of them the Asset James struggles against even when fully operational. Being as unstable as he is now is almost asking for mission failure, risking his handler's safety.
"What exactly are these visions of?" Stark asks. "Because I'd bet a hundred grand you've seen some shi- some real bad stuff." His eyes flick from the prosthesis to the Asset Jame's face, then Harry's. "Both of you. I mean, you just admitted it, but still."
Pal, you don't know the half of it.
The Asset James clenches his flesh fist, willing the voice to be silent. It is one of the defects causing all the problems in the first place.
"Green light an' bad guy laughs?" Harry the Handler asks knowingly. The Asset James does not recall a vision of green light. His handler's question requires an accurate report. Which vision should he even begin the report at? There are too many, he's not even sure if he remembers them all now.
He lists the subjects, in a flat voice.
"Blond boy, later man. Skinny, then enhanced. Steve. Protection detail. War." Part of him does not want to see them go, but that part is drowned out by the logic that they impede the mission and his handler's safety.
"Four unidentified girls." Not the girls in he'd trained, the one who had called him Bucky. "Bein' called Bucky."
Stark's eyes get progressively wider with each vision reported, especially when a trace of a Brooklyn accent, like the new voice, slips out at the last one. "Oh my god. It's really you. You survived falling from a train."
The Asset James is 78% certain he has not mentioned the train vision yet, but with the way his mind is damaged, it wouldn't surprise him if he forgot already.
"We jumped off a train." Harry agrees.
"Kiddo, you weren't alive in 1945." Stark says, then makes a grand gesture to the Asset James "You're looking at a long-lost, and now found, war hero. Sergeant Barnes."
Zola is leering down at him, calling him that. He raises the prosthesis- no, his left arm is flesh.
The Asset James frowns. How can he have both those visions? He's always had the prosthesis.
Harry is beaming at him, appearing even more awed than he'd been before. "I knew you're a hero, Mr. A'set James! Like Batman!"
JAMES IS A DESIGNATED CODENAME.
"Did you mean James Buchanan Barnes?"
Harry shrugs, clearly under the false impression it isn't up to him. "You said you were James. In that dusty old house. So you're James."
He could still be called Batman, James, whatever Harry wants after the wipe. But Harry clearly associates wipes with the enemies with the weaponized sticks, is obviously determined to avoid wiping him at all costs. Going back to HYDRA for a wipe is out of the question. They will hurt the handler.
"You do not wish to wipe the Batman." the Asset James clarifies, and Harry hastily affirms the statement. No wipes. The thought is so foreign that he can barely fathom such a thought exists. His handler called him James, but that was just a codename the boy seemed to like. "The Batman will be hindered by their presence."
"It's not what he wants." Stark cuts in forcefully. "It's what you want. It's your head, they're your memories."
As if that ever mattered.
What Stark said is, if possible, even less comprehensible.
Even if he had been Sergeant James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes at one point, he is not anymore. Not after HYDRA turned him into their Asset, the Winter Soldier.
Yet he is not just the Asset anymore. Being Harry's asset means being the Batman, James, any other title Harry decides.
Those aren't just designations, he realizes. They're new behaviors, programs, standards. Harry the Handler has not used him as a standard asset. The Asset James, codename Batman, has not been sent to assassinate any targets under the boy's command. He fights enemies as per standard, but his mission is to protect.
It's too much. The voice, the visions. They clutter the mind, distract from the mission. But it is not his place to question his handler's decision, as dangerous as it may seem.
C'mon, pal. I'm an asset on this mission. The voice is not the Asset, despite what it says. Is it James Buchanan Barnes? I've got years of experience lookin' after little punks.
There's no way I can keep up this pace over the week, but hopefully I'll have something next weekend.