Welcome to ComiCon!

ComiCon 2013, Meadowlands Exposition Center, Secaucas, New Jersey, March 2, 2013

Doctor Doreen Allene Green (DVM) was a bit use to her life being a strange thing now. Ever since getting an acceptance letter to Camp Leary for training for the Central Intelligence Agency in what they called 'the Farm', not one thing had ever gone normal afterwords. Veterinary Doctor, CIA Recruit, HYDRA pet monster, Avenger, superpowered, able to talk to animals, and getting into some rather long conversations with this particularly cute barista named Julia that worked at the Starbucks at the ground floor of Stark Tower, nothing in her life really made much sense anymore from what it was like a year prior. Before, she had been grueling and toiling away at the University of Michigan with her last years as a Pre-Vet, volunteering her time at animal clinics and shelters to get her hours to complete her courses. Like most Pre-Med students, the last few years were a mix of schooling and internships to get the practical lab hours done, leaving only a modicum amount of time for themselves between bouts of study, assignments, and grueling hours at hospitals and clinics. Anyone who lasted at least four years of Pre-Med generally had a wake-up call somewhere in their fifth year, realizing oh dear God I've got about another eight years of education and about another hundred thousand dollars of tuition debt to plow through! Doreen had always been an animal-lover, so she had it easier than most. But still, life was strange, now.

Case in point, going out just to buy a cute bra for a potential date had turned into a full-fledged episode of The Outer Limits involving everyones' favorite assholes, HYDRA.

It had been approximately fifteen minutes when some man in a coat had began speaking Russian of all things to freeze James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes on the spot while she visited with both Bucky and Kamala Aisha Khan, busy trying to figure out why her cell phone wasn't working. Since then, she had been shot in the face with chlorine, Bucky had evidently choked and broke a man's neck, Kamala had figured out most of the current problems, they had stolen a car after somewhat robbing a Walgreen's, and their current destination was nerd heaven. The stolen Mini Cooper pulled into a jam-packed parking lot of the Meadowlands Exposition Center where people were seen in various levels of clothing ranging from normal, to outrageous, to cosplay, to borderline bondage.

To hide three Avengers on the run, the game plan was to go into a ComiCon where regular people would be dressed up as characters from DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, sci-fi movies, sci-fi televisions shows, and… oh yes, the Avengers.

Hiding in plain sight, needle in a needlestack.

"I've got to say of all the harebrained ideas and plans that I've been through, and some of them were real doozies," Bucky began, both his hands on the steering wheel of the stolen British vehicle, "this isn't as bad as I thought it would be." The thought was that Bucky might have a signal jamming device and tracking signal in his prosthetic arm. It made sense now that Doreen thought about it. She knew (thanks to her time in HYDRA) that Bucky had been sent to end leaks and traitors within HYDRA's ranks, a killing machine who was obedient to the very letter. She knew why; before HYDRA got their hands on the Scepter, Bucky had been brainwashed and made to do HYDRA's bidding somehow. She didn't know the details, just what was said around her by the free-will members of HYDRA whenever they brought Bucky out. Doreen hadn't even know he was Bucky Barnes, a hero nearly as legendary as Captain America himself. That's how little they cared about Barnes. Or any of them, but Barnes most of all; six decades of being HYDRA's personal bitch.

Fucking cocksuckers.

"So the game plan is this," Kamala spoke from her seat as she began stuffing her messenger bag with precision tools, bottles of water, Red Bulls, and then Doreen's Glock Safe Arms Model 19 semi-automatic pistol, burying it beneath the Red Bulls, "we're going inside as cosplayers of ourself and bury ourselves amongst our fans while looking for tables or displays showing off something that I can use to work on Bucky's arm. It might end up being a tattoo table." The teenager was going to sneak a gun into a convention center because Doreen didn't have anything more concealing than a lightweight jacket that did little to disguise it. Yes, she had a license to carry one (City, State, and Federal carry permit, and the Lord only knew who the hell Jenn had to bribe or threaten to get one within a week of the Civil War for Doreen, especially the New York City one!), but most places didn't allow armed people inside regardless of Concealed Carry Permits. To think she had found guns distasteful back in college (mostly because of hunters shooting defenseless animals because it was one hunting season or another), and now she never left the Tower without one. Barnes had his pistol as well, a pure Colt 1911A .45 caliber without any silly modifications or additions to it, shoved up his sleeve and more-or-less taped to his left arm since, being metal, would set everything off anyhow. And who hid a pistol on their forearm? "When we find a table we can work with, I'll open up Bucky arm and find the tracker and the jammer, connect them to another power source, and then remove them."

"So they won't realize anything's wrong." Doreen got it; Kamala was going to spoof HYDRA by either making them chase a false signal, or straight into a trap of the Avengers' own making. HYDRA had gotten the jump on them, and Khan wanted to return the favor. The Veterinarian was all for that, and she didn't doubt Bucky would squirm with the thought, either.

"Exactly. We get communications up, we call the cavalry and lead whomever's a part of this to a spot we can get behind them and take down whomever's in charge of this op." Miss Marvel replied, nothing childish in her voice or demeanor. HYDRA had murdered her parents, tried murdering her twice, attempted to publicly destroy her good name by labeling her a terrorist, killed a man she very much looked up to, and was now likely trying to kidnap her so they could have as many goodies as possible for whatever nefarious reasons they had. She might still have been a kid, but Kamala wasn't a fool, not by a long shot. The last time HYDRA met up with the perky, effervescent teenager, she sent an army of holograms to thwart them, led brave members of SHIELD to identified HYDRA Operatives, nearly stalled the battle by appearing twenty stories tall, and hand-crafted the plan that ultimately lead to their defeat with a jaw-dropping blockbuster entrance. It had been Kamala Khan that had blasted HYDRA open by initiating the Second Labor program that exposed all the organizations dirty secrets of seventy years all over the internet for even the most technophobic rube to read at leisure. Clint Barton teased her and called her Heracles for killing a 'Hydra', and he wasn't wrong. The Avengers may have stopped the Second American Civil War, but it had been Miss Marvel that had won the battle on multiple fronts.

In other words, Kamala wouldn't be getting squeamish if a few squids got shuffled loose the mortal coil.

"Not knocking on you, but are you sure this is going to work?" Bucky asked apprehensively, looking back to Kamala as the teenager merely pointed out towards the windshield, where a gaggle of teenagers and young adults were literally walking right by their stolen Mini, each of them dressed in different costumes. There were two Batmans, a Captain America, a Wonder Woman, a Black Widow, and someone that Doreen guessed was suppose to be Spawn. Right behind them was a smaller group where Doreen had to chuckle at the sight of an overweight Bucky Barnes with a cloth sleeve made to look like a metal arm walking next to a girl younger than Kamala dressed up as Miss Marvel. Actually, Doreen also spotted some dressed up in a shabby Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume, and someone else that looked to be a Ghostbuster. Nerd heaven, indeed.

"Oh yeah, this is so totally going to work." Doctor Green said with a smile as she looked over to her teenaged counterpart, who had a big goofy grin on her face.

Ticket Sales/Will Call, ComiCon 2013

Doctor Doreen Green had to admit that, even with some of the plans Kamala had come up with prior involving HYDRA, this one had to be one of the best. And the funniest.

Walking through the parking lot alone had revealed the subtle genius of the teenagers' plan; they really were going to be like looking for a needle in a needlestack. Almost everyone going to ComiCon was dressed up in some fashion with either print shirts, some form of memorabilia, homemade cosplay costumes, and a couple that almost had the Veterinarian wonder if some her actual teammates had actually showed up! She had nearly tripped over her own jaw when she saw what had to be Thor's clone walking by with a very realistic-looking Mjolnir, long blond hair in a top-knot, Asgardian battle armor recreated to perfection. The only thing that actually gave it away was that the guy wasn't six-foot-three and actually had brown eyes, but other than that he was a carbon copy. There were more than a few people dressed up as DC Comic characters thanks to the longevity of the comics, the many shows that some of the characters had, the cartoons, and even the movies. But the past year had certainly changed the look as people came to the comic convention dressed up as real life superheroes, ranging from the Original Six to Avengers 2.0. She almost laughed out loud when she saw two teen girls dressed up as her, two Doreen Greens walking by in the same-looking apparel she wore during the Second American Civil War, though one had what looked to be a stuffed animal squirrel attached to her shoulder, and the other girl most certainly had a muffin top. Yes, they didn't have her facial looks, but they had definitely dyed their hair an auburn color, wore a sleek bodysuit with a leather bomber jacket, and the mark of the wolf's paw on their right shoulder. She almost wanted to get a selfie with them.

Kamala led the three of them right to ticket sales seemingly without a care in the world, at least four people manning the large booth for just that purpose with only small lines at each ticket seller. Doreen was amused to see that every Avenger was represented somehow waiting in line, and that tickets were being sold at a pretty good clip. Despite being five or so groups back, they were at the window where an older woman who had probably seeing it all looked right at them… and didn't even recognize them.

"Hi! Three passes, please!" Kamala spoke up in an effervescent voice as she was pulling out more cash, the group at the window next to them complaining about having issues because the card reader wasn't working. "And what time is the main event?" It was around noon, and Doreen could only assume that 'the main event' would be either some famous comic book artist or one of the guys who played Batman or perhaps Dean Cain. The Doctor could only imagine who that could be and why Kamala would want to know.

"Robert Kirkman will be on the main stage at 2 o'clock." The ticket-woman replied as she rang up three tickets, though they actually looked to be lanyard badges. Doreen had no idea who 'Robert Kirkman' was, but evidently Kamala did by the way she went giddy.

"Oh, I love The Walking Dead!" The teenager gushed as she pulled out a wallet from her messenger bag. "How much?"

"With tax, one-hundred and eighty-five dollars and thirty-eight cents." Bucky most certainly made a choking noise as Kamala peeled off two one-hundred dollar bills with ease, still holding what looked to be several bills in whatever stash she had. How the hell had Kamala gotten a hold of so much money? The young woman paid through the opening in the glass window and got three lanyard badges and her change back as the Pakistani-American thanked the lady in the booth as she motioned with her head to step away from the booth, handing two of the badges to both Bucky and Doreen while dropping her own around her neck.

"There we go! Disguises activated!" The young woman said, a goofy grin on her face. "Now we can walk around rather freely without anyone actually recognizing us! They'll think we're fans with either really good costumes or just really similar looks! And whenever HYDRA shows up, which they probably will in the next ten to twenty minutes or so with a full compliment of squids, they'll have to comb through everybody in order to find us. And these places are stuffed with people!" Doreen had to admit that Kamala had a really good point. While she had never been to a ComiCon, she had been to conventions before (mostly animal-related) and knew that they could get jammed packed. And if one out of three ComiCon-goers was wearing something resembling a superhero costume, then the real them would blend in that much better and be that much harder to find.

"This is so nuts, I can't believe it might actually work." Bucky looked more resigned than disbelieving as he looked at people walking right by him… without being looked at twice. He wasn't wearing anything that really marked him for being whom he was, and his left arm wasn't exposed (Bucky generally wore gloves outside so as to not call attention to his prosthetic). There were people dressing up as Bucky Barnes that were passing by the real deal clueless. Yes, Doreen admitted that HYDRA would likely be sharper about it, but amongst so many people, especially cosplayers, Kamala had put it best; they would be three needles in a needlestack. "Sooner or later they're going to catch wise."

"Yeah, well that's why the second part of this plan is going to be inside the expo. C'mon!" The young woman replied jubilantly, grabbing Doreen's hand and practically dragging her towards the doors. The Veterinarian just looked at the veteran with a shrug as Bucky resigned himself to follow.

And three Avengers entered into ComiCon.

What Do You Mean… High-Profile?, ComiCon 2013

Doctor Doreen Green wasn't sure if she were exactly that keen with the second portion of the 'hide-in-plain-sight' plan, but went along with it anyhow.

Kamala didn't just want them just walking about in their normal clothes with guest badges for anonymity on the hopes that the crowd and the cosplayers would hide them. No, she wanted to disguise them further because she needed time to work on Bucky Barnes' arm to find the tracking device the teenager insisted had to be in it along with the jamming device that was keeping their cell phones from calling out or connecting to the wireless-fidelity network. The Veterinarian had to admit that it was likely possible that Bucky had something in his arm to have those capabilities; he had been HYDRA's go-to assassin for something like six decades. The ability to jam communications while doing black ops seemed a given, and having a tracking device to tag his location when not in radio contact seemed a good possibility, too. Having them in his arm, out-of-sight and out-of-mind, not to mention protected and powered, was a pretty good conclusion. Already people were vocally complaining about their cell phones not working, meaning that it was very recent when their mobile devices stopped working. So a moving jamming device was certainly in the realm of possibilities. And having them split up in this madhouse was a no-no; none of them were going to leave each others side on the possibility for a potential capture by HYDRA.

So Kamala's plan to help out was to buy disguises at a table inside ComiCon…

…and dress up as Avengers.

It was so ridiculous that Doreen and Bucky just went with it as the three of them went to the restrooms to get changed.

Doreen was the first one finished, coming out of the women's restroom wearing a cloth jump suit meant to be quite body conforming, colored deep black along with a few plastic attachments to go along with it, like a Halloween costume. Actually, according to the package, it was a Halloween costume, licensed by The Avengers Foundation so that kids (and adults) could dress up like the Avengers for the October holiday. Kids, of course, got the more 'tame' version. Doreen got the adult version meant for women.

She was dressed up as a rather sexy Black Widow. Complete with a redheaded wig.

Two yellow plastic bracelets adorned Doreen's wrists to replicate the infamous Widow Bites, while a yellow plastic utility belt with the iconic red hourglass at the buckle was around her waist. Due to the fact that it was meant for adult women as well as… promoting a certain appeal, the zipper at the front that started at the navel only ended at the breastbone, splitting the top of the garment to reveal the inner tract of a woman's chest. The Doctor hadn't exactly been too thrilled with the thought that she had to be walking around without a bra on now because it definitely showed hers off. Now everyone could see the inner portion of her boobs all the way up to her collarbone. Somewhere in New York City, Nat was likely laughing her ass off at the Veterinarian's plight.

Doreen saw a man leave the men's room… and saw Captain America.

Bucky was hilariously dressed up as his best friend.

The cloth suit that was an exact replica of Steve's uniform from the Battle of New York fit Bucky like a glove, making him look pretty much spot-on to Cap. The cowl was on as well, leaving only his eyes and his jaw exposed where a bit of his scruff was seen. Otherwise it would be almost impossible to tell the difference between the two save that Bucky had brown eyes instead of blue. The costume even came with an exact-size shield, albeit made of plastic, that was colored the same as Cap's iconic weapon. Bucky stepped out looking every inch the real deal, his metal arm completely covered, along with his face. Doreen got a wig and some exposed cleavage, and Bucky got a shield and a very-nearly full-face cowl covering. Hardly fair.

Bucky just looked at Doreen, doing his best to keep his eyes at eye level, looking uncomfortable as hell.

"Tony, Clint, and Sam are never going to let me live this down." Bucky muttered, then looked at her. "Can you even breath in that thing?"

"About every third attempt." The Widow costume was elastic on purpose, meant to shape about every square millimeter of a woman's body. When this was all said and done, Doreen was going to rampage whoever authorized this costume for an adult woman. Couldn't they have had an exact replica like the Cap uniform? Nat hadn't been running around Manhattan beating alien ass with her tits threatening to pop out every time she breathed. She knew this hadn't been Kamala's fault; the Black Widow had been one of three female costumes available, and the only one for Natasha Romanoff. There had been two others available for the 'girl's section' (as Doreen thought of it), one being her best friends', Jessica Miriam Drew. That costume consisted of basically a black jumpsuit with a replica leather bomber jacket and belonged to some company making a knock-off unlike that of the Original Six who had made the official ones for Halloween (and other fun-filled activities). The Original Six got costumes at the costume table, and the Tempest got one as well because Jess had stopped a MOAB from blowing everything up in, on, or around the Triskhelion. The problem with that costume as a disguise was that it did nothing for the face or head, being merely a cheap jumpsuit and even cheaper fake jacket. At least the Skimpy Widow costume came with a wig that would actually disguise her face somewhat.

That left only one other kind of female Avenger costume available.

"So… how do I look?"

Doreen and Bucky turned to see a young Pakistani-American woman coming out of the woman's restroom… dressed as her costumed self.

Kamala Khan was now wearing Miss Marvel's uniform.

A year prior, when Kamala had been creating and perfecting the Miss Marvel Project, she had created an image clone of herself to thwart bullies who had condemned her for her skin color, her religion, and her intelligence. That image clone, while an exact replica of its creator, had been changed slightly to become something Kamala wished she could be; a braver version of herself. So Kamala had crafted a look for her mirror image, a more heroic persona that she dreamed of one day being, creating a costume for her light-form self as a crimefighter. Miss Marvel had been revealed to the world during the Second American Civil War, becoming a titanic figure that pretended to punch a flying aircraft carrier in the bow to 'deliver' the Incredible Hulk with a stealth strike and shocking everyone who saw it.

Kamala stood before them wearing red cargo pants and a red turtleneck with a periwinkle blue sleeveless mini-dress over the garments, a yellow lightning bolt traveling down the center, bisecting the dress, and a red scarf loosely wound around her neck, its tails draped behind her. Upon her face was the classic domino mask of a superhero from the DC Comics such as the Green Lantern save that it was periwinkle blue much like the dress. Gone was the lightweight jacket she wore, along with the beanie she generally wore over her head. The only thing she kept were her shoes and the messenger bag that had several items contained within.

"I think you should give yourself an autograph." Bucky quipped, making Doreen chuckle as Kamala rolled her eyes. "So we're really going to walk around like this?"

Kamala answered him by whipping out her cell phone and taking a picture of the both of them.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho! This will be even better than when Mum punk'd Nat with the moose and squirrel plushies." The young woman glossed, smiling like a maniac.

"Kamala…" The Doctor gave off a warning tone, but it sailed right over the teenagers' head and dove into the realm of impossibility when a random ComiCon guest stopped and looked at all three of them and said;

"Dude! You pull that costume off! You look just like Cap!" The slightly overweight man who was dressed like Thor exclaimed, all smiles. "You look ripped as hell, too!" The Thor look-a-like brofist'ed Bucky, definitely checked out Doreen's boobs (he never even looked at her face), waved goodbye to them, and went back to wherever he was heading.

"God damn it." Barnes muttered, his question answered.

Forest For The Trees, ComiCon 2013

Three Avengers were now walking in the depths of a crowd who probably salivated at the thought of meeting an Avenger but in complete anonymity.

The most hysterical part of it was, in James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes' mind, was the fact that these people were probably the most likely candidates in recognizing any member of the Avenger on sight, from close distance to possibly even a fair distance away. The Veteran had seen Kamala Khan's room in the Tower once, with its enormous plethora of memorabilia involving anything superhero-related, ranging from scores of items from before the Battle of New York, to things after that date (ie, Avenger merch), and some prototypes of merchandise and ideas that didn't quite make it for The Avenger Foundation. If Kamala wanted, she could have probably hosted a small ComiCon right in her own room, probably the only person on the planet to boast unique official items not found in stores because she had items that weren't approved of for marketing and the young woman was a huge fan. Bucky remembered all the memorabilia that was made for Captain America back during the war; the reels, the posters, the trading cards, the comic books, even dolls. When they had been fighting their way through France after Operation: Overlord, the French Resistance and more than a few people recognized Steve on sight mostly due to the wartime propaganda distributed by the American and English forces. ComiCon was like that but a great deal more.

He had lost count how many 'Captain Americas' he had walked by. And Thors. And Iron Mans. He had even seen a few Hawkeyes, too.

Kamala was obviously in hog heaven, like a kid in a candy shop but way more excited as they threaded through the jam-packed Meadowlands Exposition Center where it seemed thousands of people and hundreds of 'vendors' existed to fuel people's dreams and fantasies. Then again, were baseball stadiums any different? Bucky suffered it with a good humor, though; Kamala was a good kid and she had saved him from… what had she called it? Organic software program. Bucky only had a few 'wakeful' memories of his time in HYDRA, most of it under extreme duress and pain. He vaguely recalled 'the Chair' and 'the Lab' were they would experiment on him, but those memories were fuzzy at best, not to mention disjointed from who knew how many times being put under for whatever reasons. He knew, in an academic sense, that HYDRA had to do something to make him compliant and pliable, and the lack of memories and the skips in time meant that they had created a way to erase, suppress, or muddle his memories while at the same time keeping him in some sort of storage so they likely wouldn't have to worry about escape attempts, keeping a room for him, or any of the trivial things a person needed on a day-by-day basis. He had been nothing more than a fire extinguish to them, something brought out to put out a fire, and then put back in a case when no longer necessary.

Someone had spoken, and it was like his mind had seized, motor functions going away, his body not his own as he fell into a gaping black hole that seemed to exist in the center of his own brain.

Bucky had been very dimly away what was happening when it was happening, like watching a television program with bad reception. He could recall Kamala pushing him and crying out his name, Doreen getting shot in the face with something, and the man with those… words. Everyone that was said seemed to suck him in even further, ripping his mind away from his body, turning him into a puppet.

Until Kamala, bless her heart, figured out a way to thwart it.

It was strange; it was like he knew of the words but didn't at the same time. It was like a half-remembered nightmare that seemed to elude his grasp whenever he concentrated on it, but like a nightmare, it left an impression. He didn't actually know the words, but he had been affected by them. He remembered locking up, like his brain and his body weren't connected anymore. The only reason why he thought he could remember this time was that whatever HYDRA did to muck up his memory hadn't happened, so thus he remembered it exactly.

And then Kamala had shouted probably the only word in Russian she knew… and disrupted it.

It had been strange, feeling his control return almost automatically, Bucky feeling like his body was once again his as he focused on the man speaking Russian to him in a slow, deliberate manner. The pain and the absolute rage exploded within as he charged the man and grabbed him by his throat with his metal hand, crushing his throat with ease as he hoisted him up and then breaking his neck with a simple twist one-handed. That man, whomever he was, had wanted the Winter Soldier, and had known how to activate him. The easiest solution had been to deny his ability to talk and then his ability to do just about anything. Oh, the man was likely dead now (complete paralysis usually interfered with the ability to breath, no real loss there), but it could be just as likely that HYDRA might have killed him as a loose end. Either way, Barnes wasn't about to lose sleep over it.

The past half-hour or so had been hit-the-ground running. Bucky didn't need to remind anyone that he had spotted several blacked-out SUV vehicles bearing down on their stolen Mini Cooper on the highway several times before some rather aggressive driving had the three Avengers using the Skyway and its exits to confound their pursuers. Bucky hadn't been shy cutting off people to make them swerve towards possible HYDRA vehicles and using an off-ramp at the last second where following them would be impossible to buy the three people on the lam a few moments respite.

Bucky really owed Kamala big. And if Doreen was right, Bucky would have been the instrument stop stopping Doreen and kidnapping Kamala, perhaps both of them. The teenager had denied HYDRA that.

"So what are we looking for, exactly?" Barnes asked his teenage counterpart, her head on a swivel. His was, too, but for a different purpose; looking for HYDRA hounds.

"A tech bench. Basically anyone who's got tools, a computer, and possibly some kind of prototype on display for investment." Kamala replied. "You'll always see a few guys like that in things like these. This would have probably been easier at an E3, a STEM show, or a MoMA expo, but there's enough nerds and geeks here to have a few people who've come up with ideas and want to show them off." Kamala looked over at a few tables that showed electronics, but then turned away, obviously not what she was looking for. The expo center was huge, and there were hundreds of tables and vendors selling what looked to be comic books, trading cards, artwork, computer programs, costumes, make-up, something called computer animation, some strange kind of comic book with a Japanese word labeling it manga, and hordes of people either in normal clothes or costumes of one form or another. It was a madhouse, but that was a good thing right now. Bucky doubted he would be able to find Doreen or Kamala if they got separated due to sheer volume, and then there were their disguises, which were perfect. Absolutely nobody recognized them for whom they were, and Kamala had hilariously gotten a high-five from another teenaged girl dressed like Miss Marvel as well. He would have gone for the ballcap and sunglasses combination if it had been up to him, but having disguises when practically half the population were wearing something of the sort at the same time? It was a stroke of brilliance.

He had long since taken to wearing the plastic shield on his left arm only so people didn't bang into his metal prosthetic and wonder why it was different. Plus it just looked the part.

Steve would have been amused.

"Doreen." Barnes touched the Veterinarian's arm as they walked, taking a step or two back from the searching teenager in front of them as he got her attention. There was most certainly enough noise to cover their conversation; hell, Bucky had to lean towards the Widow-clad Artemis just so she could hear him over the loud din of noise. "If you shifted, grabbed Kamala, and ran towards New York, how long would it take you to get to the Tower?"

The wig-wearing woman just looked at him as if he had lost his damn mind.

"Buck…" She was even beginning to protest when he cut her off.

"They're after her, but I'm the one they're tracking." The veteran reminded the Doctor, his tone indicating this wasn't to be an argument. "Me having a jamming device is pretty damn possible. Me having a tracker is pretty damn possible. I'm the one they need to capture Kamala, maybe even you, too." That had the disguised woman grimace. Obviously she didn't need to be told that. "You don't let an enemy succeed in their objective, Doreen. And we're currently in the middle of a crowd of thousands of people. If HYDRA pulls the cord and decides to start shooting, there's going to be a lot of bodies involved." Doreen, thankfully, saw the point he was making. Yes, the ComiCon thing was a great place to hide, but it was also in the middle of a great deal of civilians. "If you shifted, could you cart Kamala out of here?"

"I've never really had to carry someone like that before, so that probably means her having her arms around my neck and being on my back." The Doctor replied, thinking it over. "I won't be at full speed, but I could probably go about half the speed of a car. The Tower might be asking a lot, though. The Tunnel might not have any surprises for us, but having a large weretabby with a young woman makes for a tempting target. I really can't say that's a better idea." It wasn't a bad point. "But there's something else, Buck.

"I am not going to leave you to those fucking monsters." Doreen's hazel eyes were hard, had no give in them. Barnes knew that she would be a woman of her word; this was the same person who committed herself to fight the very thing she feared most, that had tortured her and more, for the sake of her best friend. It reminded him of this particular Brooklyn shrimp with a perchance of getting into losing fights because he believed that backing down from a fight was worse than losing one.

"If we get surrounded, if it looks like they're taking control of me, or we need to go off-script, you grab Kamala and you get the both of you out of the Meadowlands and on the horn while I'll do my best to stall them." Bucky compromised, knowing that Doreen wouldn't be thrilled with it. "If they take control of me, you can outrun me. Plus the goons will need vehicles to catch up to you. You're more agile, you're bulletproof, and you can get her out of here."

Doreen looked at Bucky for a long, hard moment. He could see the gears grinding in her brain between determination and necessity.

"I make the call when, not you, you noble self-sacrificing dolt." The Doctor replied, having to wipe away fake fiery tresses from her face. "I don't believe in leaving anyone behind…"

"Nor do I." Bucky inserted quickly.

"…but you make good points about the situation we're in." Green didn't look pleased at all. "I know you know what you're asking of me. That's why you're only asking me instead of saying it in front of Kamala. She'd never green light it." The Veterinarian wasn't wrong; Kamala was an optimist and had a heart of gold and she would stay to the bitter end no matter how hopeless things looked. That was why Bucky was talking to Doreen about it; he knew she knew, because she had suffered a similar fate, had a similar fear.

But Bucky would be damned if he let those assholes get their paws on a kid. Steve and Jenn would be pissed, but they'd get it.

"Alright. We keep going with Kamala's plan. Lord knows that kid can pull some pretty wild ideas from under her hat." Honestly, with the exception of stealing another car and gunning for it, his only real other option was to duke it out. In an expo center, that would be horrifically messy, and stealing a car and trying to drive out might wind up bringing a fight onto a highway at high speeds. Also a no-no. Right now, Kamala had bought them time and anonymity. With all the people in the expo, HYDRA could possibly walk right by them without realizing it, only about to get close to the tracker chip he himself might be carrying but still unable to find him thanks to his Captain America costume. Plus if it were true about the jammer and tracker, then he wanted it out of him as soon as possible. The earphones he had on would protect him for the time being against the words, but that was a temporary thing. Barnes didn't doubt at all that once this was said and done, the spunky little teenager would whip out something within a day that would be an even better solution until the Avengers figured out a more permanent workaround.

"Hey, wait! I know him!"

Kamala's voice brought Bucky out from his musings as he looked over to see the teenager looking back at them with a grin as they walked through the long aisles of vendors and tables to see the young woman pointing ahead at something amongst the tables and crowd of ComiCon.

Everything in that smile said jackpot.

Doctor Doreen Green was gritting her fang-like canine teeth as she tried weaving through the crowds of ComiCon like she was shoved into a Blue Man Group or Burning Man concert, the patrons of the Meadowlands Exposition Center thick with fans, nerds, geeks, and seemingly everything in between. She bumped into Trekkies. She gaped at an exact replica of Darth Vader. She knocked over a Superman by accident and tried not to wince at the sight of a Wonder Woman showing a bit too much tit for public decency. Kamala Khan had nearly ran off ahead, weaving and ducking through the crowd like only a nimble teenager could, the Veterinarian forced to push her way through, jostling and elbowing her way forward as she looked back for a second to see that poor Bucky Barnes was having an even harder time, trying to push through without pushing to hard, a six-foot-three 'Captain America' trying to make his way forward without accidentally breaking anything (or anyone). Kamala had something that excited her, and like all kids, went right for the shiny object (whatever said shiny object was). Her last words were that she recognized somebody and more or less bolted forward.

Kamala was a sweet kid, but she still was just a kid. The Ritalin hadn't kicked in quite yet.

It took about another minute for the Doctor and the Veteran to weave their way through to a table that Kamala was standing at, and Doreen admitted that she half-expected it to be loaded with sweet 'merch' (ah, kids and their vernacular!), some rare oddity, or possibly some artist or actor. Instead, the table was manned by a young Caucasian man around Kamala's age, and instead of selling comic books, comic-related cards, memorabilia, some autographs, or toys, Doreen found herself looking at… a table that was covered into tiny little beads of some kind. Metal beads, at that. Most were in the shape of geometric cones save that instead of coming to a point, they were slightly rounded on each end. The rest were dodecahedron of some kind, polygonal circles save that they weren't actually curved, but many planes made to resemble a ball-like shape. It looked like someone had knocked over a Lego set or some kind, if Legos came in other shapes other than squares and rectangles. Now that she looked at them, she wasn't sure what their purpose was save a very strange game of tiddlywinks.

"…I've been messaging you for months, you dolt!" Kamala was actively berating the young man behind the table, who was sitting in a chair and taking it like a champ as Bucky reached Doreen's side, not looking too pleased with having to push their way through to reach Kamala. HYDRA was after them, likely in the same building as they, and Kamala had jetted off at… this kid? She had even taking off the silly blue domino mask off her face likely to prove to this kid she was who she said she was. Which probably meant that he actually knew her. "Why haven't you been answering?"

"It's… complicated." The young man replied from behind the table, sounding a little admonished. Not surly or dejected, but like he knew he had earned… whatever it was.

"C'mon! We both know that the judges didn't give you a real chance. Don't tell me you let that bog you down!" The Pakistani-American woman said, her tone becoming less admonishing and more endearing. "We both know your project was awesomesauce, and if you had had more than a few hundred, you would have been the real threat of the competition. I've been trying to get you an invite and you've been ignoring me?"

Ugh, teenage angst drama.

"Please don't tell me this is a boyfriend/girlfriend tiff." Barnes groused, rolling his eyes as he looked over to Doreen, sharing his anguish.

"What! NO!" Kamala turned backed and waved her hands in rapid denial, her cheeks going darker. "Nonono! Not like that at all!" Well, thank the God of her fathers that wasn't the case. "Soooo… you know how Jenn picked me up because I took first place in the Tri-State Area Science Competition?" Both Doreen and Bucky nodded, knowing that story. That had gotten Kamala Khan a summer internship to Avengers Tower without advertising that the Avengers were doing just that. Because of that Competition, Kamala had a chance to prove her worth to the many Doctors and scientists of Avengers, Inc., so much so that Jennifer Walters had entertained the thought of having the young woman included on small things for the Avengers, most especially involving some British national with mind-controlling powers. "Well, at the same competition, there was one person from Roosevelt Academy whose idea I thought was a threat to my own but in the opposite direction. I had gone with form without substance with my Freeform Light Holographic Projection Drone. He," the young man blushed a little at being singled out, "had gone with substance without form with an engineering project to make quick structures using magnetic-bearing servos and a micro-receiver wrapped in a tungsten carbide shell operated by inductive processing."

"Um, let's pretend I was born most of a century ago and explain that one to me in English terms?" Bucky replied dryly, getting the kid behind the table to look at him oddly.

"Well, why don't you see for yourself?" Kamala smiled as she looked at the young man sitting behind the table. "Can you give us a demonstration? Pretty please?"

"Um, Kamala? Who are they?" The young man asked, looking at Doreen and Bucky (in his defense, Doreen did notice that the boy did try to keep his eyes upward). "You show up dressed as yourself flanked by someone dressed as Captain America and the Black Widow."

"Right. Introductions." Kamala pointed at Doreen. "This is Doctor Doreen Green, Artemis. And that's Bucky Barnes, the Terminator." The young man's eyes went wide as he peered at the both of them, trying to see past their disguises. Doreen signed as she held up a hand where her claw-like fingernails were easily seen… and let them extend a little bit more under the young man's watchful gaze to prove to him she was who Kamala said she was. His eyes went wide as he looked back to Kamala.

"The Avengers are here…" The young man forced-whispered, "…in disguise?" The Veterinarian wasn't sure if the kid was going to lose his shit or squeal with glee. Or both. They were in the middle of a ComiCon (and thus, in the middle of their fans) and nobody knew. Worse, they were incognito, too. Darcy Lewis would have called that a public relation shitshow.

"Someone attacked us at Sinatra Park. I'm all but dead-certain it was HYDRA… and Doreen thinks it's me that they want." Kamala explained softly after looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. Dozens of people were passing them by, but nobody was paying them any mind. "I literally know everything about the Tower; everything inside the computers, what we're working on, what works, what doesn't, places that ChiTech is being stored safely… things that some evil mad scientist would want to have. And HYDRA has this device that will make someone talk and obey without question instantly. It's horrifying." Kamala wasn't pointing out how it was she knew that or the fact that Doreen and Bucky had suffered just that. "We're hiding here because there's literally hundreds of people dressed up as us so it'll be that much harder for them to find us. But I'm all but certain that Bucky's arm has a tracking chip and a WARLOCK device to disrupt communications. Nobody's cell phones work, and it was even disrupting radio. I need a high-tech desk, tools, and an extra pair of hands to remove those before we can call for help.

"Can you help us?"

The young man looked at Doreen for a second (her face, actually, not below it), then to Bucky, and then finally to Kamala. Doreen was pretty certain she knew what the answer was going to be, especially with how bashful the guy looked around Kamala. The Doctor shared a knowing look with the former soldier, who merely snorted as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, I'll help you." The young man replied, nodding his head. "I've brought some of my equipment, as well as my microbots. I've got an entire garbage can filled with them." Doreen could see a two-wheeled blue plastic curbside trash container behind the young man as he thumbed towards it.

Kamala gaped for a second.

"You brought them? A whole garbage can of them?" The young woman squealed, practically leaping into the young man as she gave him a hug. "Ohmygod this will be so fantastic! I saw what you did with a few hundred! How many do you have?"

"Um… about two-hundred and forty-two thousand or so." The young man replied shyly as Kamala took a step back, her eyes wide.

"Two-hundred and forty-two thousand?" The Pakistani-American woman looked happy enough to do backflips. "You've got to show them what you can do! They're looking at us like we're nuts."

"Right." The young man looked at both of them as he pulled out what looked to be a Raspberry Pi, a credit card-size computer that was not much bigger than a deck of cards in total. "What Kamala said is correct; I created an engineering program to create quick sculptures using small devices that interlock through magnetics and can replicate shapes that I decide. You want a ladder?" The hundred or so cone-like and circle-like beads laying on the plastic table slid together immediately and began to shape itself into a classic ladder that was physically standing up! "How about another table?" The beads shifted quickly from the climbing device to that of a four-legged flattop surface in like a couple of seconds. "Perhaps a rope is needed." The beads went straight up, about the same thickness of a rope, but standing about ten feet tall. "Give it a climb. It can hold a man's weight." Bucky looked interested as one of his hands gripped the 'rope' near the top and merely lifted his feet of the ground. Doreen knew that Bucky weighed in at nearly three hundred pounds… and this thing was holding him up! "My project was created to shape objects that are needed at the time quickly, from safety, to tools, to platforms. A break in a bridge? A building needs shoring? Pothole? All can be fixed in an instant with my microbots. And what you see here are around a thousand or so. I have that container," he pointed to the 55-gallon wheeled container behind him, "filled to the brim so…"

"Holy shit." Bucky got it. Doreen got it. No wonder Kamala seemed to be interested in giving this kid an invite. "So, you got a name, sport?"

"Yeah, it's Reed." The young man replied.

"Reed Richards."

Meadowlands Expo Center Parking Lot, ComiCon 2013

Former Lieutenant Commander Jackson Victor Rollins was not in a good mood. Everything had been set, everything had been in play. They teams that he had under his command had practiced this very thing for a solid week waiting for an opportunity to strike. They had the gear, they had the tracking device, they even had several weapons and objects in their disposal to neutralize various Avengers if necessary. But the plan had been straight-forward and simple, poured over, trained, and given the green light when eyes on the target with the necessary payload had been spotted coming out of Avengers Towers thanks to a member of HYDRA simply working at the Starbucks' inside of the lobby at the ground floor for just that purpose.

After nearly five weeks of waiting, after the delegation of Wakanda had visited for a week and nothing had been gleaned as to what was being spoke of in the Penthouse, the most likely candidate for having all that they needed was in play… with the perfect way to succeed.

Kamala Khan was outside the safety net of the Avengers… with James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes at her side.

The plan was simple and effective. At the hint of danger, the teenager would no doubt stick right to the hip of any Avenger with her. Jack knew that Kamala never went anywhere without some superpowered escort, and he wasn't fool enough to think that there wasn't a fall back plan, a panic button, and probably something stashed on the bints' person to thwart an attempt. The girl was young, no real training or experience on her side, but she would be wise enough to know that any kind of attack on her would be a success. So she would stick to the side of a friend.

Thus the plan involving Bucky Barnes and the Control Program that would activate the Winter Soldier.

The left arm of Bucky Barnes, an advanced prosthetic that was created by Howard Stark in the Sixties (the project had been deemed a 'failure' and the budget pulled to keep Howard from making more) and attached to the Asset, had been modified throughout the years to increase onto only the success of a mission, but to keep HYDRA's pet assassin as much the boogieman as possible. Not only could it deflect high-powered rounds thanks to its Osmium Steel sheath, but it could lift a thousand pound and crush steel due to its high-grade hydraulics while still being sensitive enough to hold a pistol or turn a doorknob without crushing it. Other things had been added to it over the years as Rollins understood it, and today it contained a GPS Satellite Tracking Device and a WARLOCK Blue, a device that snowed over a broad portion of the frequencies that were cellular communications and radio waves while being encrypted and able to pass selected frequencies for friendly communications. It had been invented by Stark Industries to deny an enemy both radio communications and the ability to trigger bombs via remote detonation. Neither the tracking device nor the jamming device had been activated yet because they would only have one shot with it, and HYDRA wanted to make it a good one.

Activate the Winter Soldier, kidnap Kamala Khan, abscond with both. That easy.

The Madame had created the plan, the Old Man had approved it… and Jack had been given the honor of grabbing the young woman who had stopped HYDRA's ascent as well as cracking open their network and putting all their works and a great deal of their personnel on the internet. Kamala represented decades of advancements thanks to her position at the Avengers' R+D that they called the 'SCI/TECH Department', allowed to see and touch everything. The rest who worked there were either seasoned warriors (such as Doctor Hank Pym), too dangerous to collect (such as Doctor Bruce Banner), had large question marks over their heads (such as Doctor Jane Foster), had plenty of tricks up their sleeves (such as Tony Stark), or were notoriously good at ducking tails (such as Doctor Erik Selvig). Kamala would be the easiest to capture, the easiest to ply and mold, the one who would advance HYDRA by decades with her knowledge of what the Avengers were working on, and potentially whatever she could create. The Old Man had plans for her.

Jack would have rather put a bullet in her head and have it done with, but orders were orders. Capturing her and watching her brain getting shoved away by the Scepter was a nice silver medal prize.

Somehow, everything had gone to shit.

Both Bucky and Kamala had been spotted leaving Avengers Tower that morning to go to, of all places, a shopping mall. Newport Centre was one of the closer available malls to Midtown Manhattan, and it made sense considering it was only a mile or so from where Kamala use to live in Jersey City; it was the young woman's proverbial back yard, a place she knew well and felt safe at. So that was a good thing for them as HYDRA tracked Bucky's arm and even had a soft tail follow the two as they shopped for feminine apparel (that had Jack laughing when that came up over the radio). What they hadn't expected was the unannounced inclusion of Doctor Doreen Green, the Veterinarian that had once been a part of PROJECT ARGUS and a part of the team that, as Bucky had done in the past, was used to clear and clean out traitors, talkers, whistleblowers, loose-ends, and those who owed HYDRA but were skimpy on their debts. The plan had included the possibility that Kamala might have two or three people escorting the young woman around, and the team had prepared accordingly with a few choice items and weapons for the possibility. Doreen, thankfully, was well-known in what she could do… and what she could take. There were CS Gas Grenades and Chlorine paintball rounds for subduing many of the Avengers by hampering their breathing and their sight, those options likely to take on most members with a high degree of success, even including Captain Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff if they weren't holding their breath. Doreen had tagged along, and the addition to the entourage and the plan was approved; they were to capture Doreen too, a tempting prize that added little in the way of difficulty to the mission.

Everything was going according to plan… but Jack had make a fatal mistake; the same mistake both he and HYDRA made three months prior.

They had underestimated a teenager. Badly. Again.

Everything had been immaculate as ten vans, each holding eight members of HYDRA save a couple of personnel who owed the organization, waited at Sinatra Park where the three Avengers went to get sandwiches at a food vendor cart. The location was perfect, people but no cover, each of the vans covering the roads for potential exits. HYDRA had made its move, sending Doctor Leo Carlton (PsyD) armed with the Control Program word to take control of the Winter Soldier, knock out Doreen Green, and kidnap both female Avengers and have Barnes literally walk into HYDRA's arms like a hat trick.

But then somehow Kamala Khan had thwarted the crucial first step… and Bucky Barnes had been unleashed.

Jack couldn't believe it. He had seen it with his own eyes, had heard it over the radio, everything going to plan during one moment… and falling to pieces the next. Doctor Carlton had been saying the words, and Barnes had been locking up, something that Rollins had seen perhaps a dozen times for the past eight years whenever the Asset was used. That first word was said, and Barnes was like a wooden puppet. But somehow the teenager had figured out what was going on and what to do, and had shouted out a word in Russian that disrupted the Control Program. Yes, Jack knew that was a possibility, which was why the plan was given a green light; neither Natasha Romanoff or Clint Barton, two Avengers who definitely knew Russian, were present.

No one expected Kamala to recognize Russian. And speak it back.

Now eighty men who had been trained and ready for a simple snatch-and-grab were in the parking lot of the Meadowlands Exposition Center.

Half of the men had been posted around Sinatra Park in case the initial phase of the plan went awry, if somehow the three Avengers had some sort of communication device or back-up plan if the WARLOCK ICE didn't cover the necessary range to disrupt a call for help. They had also made an incident happen at the Holland Tunnel, less than a mile away, to also jam any possible escape attempts and reinforcements. The other half had been in static positions in case someone came in by a means that wasn't conventional; flying. Of the Avengers, there were only two that HYDRA didn't have a good means to thwart, slow down, or incapacitate; Thor and the Hulk. Thor was off-planet (HYDRA now knew to look for a particular meteorological observance to see the coming and going of the Bifrost), and Doctor Bruce Banner was actually on Long Island enjoying the countryside. They had grenade launchers loaded with HEAT rounds for Stark and Rhodes, CS Gas for Tempest and Captain Rogers, and the only other two who could possible make it to a call for help would be Hope van Dyne and Sam Wilson, the only other fliers. And they hardly would have made an impact against so many men.

Once again, Kamala Khan proved herself the unlikely statistical wild card and disrupted everything.

Jack found himself outside of the Expo Center, sitting inside the van as all of his men finally made it to the Exposition Center. The Avengers' theft of a Mini Cooper and rather erratic escape had him pushing his men into a rolling blockade try and stem their escape, but like all chases, Rollins had to guess at the destination. Obviously, they hadn't gone to the Nissan Xterra that they had been driving initially, purloining someone else's vehicle, and then changed directions twice to thwart HYDRA by eventually head north on the Skyway. Jack had assumed that they were going to head for the Lincoln Tunnel and had sent chase vehicles on the Pulaski Skyway while sending another contingent up Willow Avenue to block off the tunnel. Except that the Cooper had gotten off in New Jersey and headed towards the Meadowlands. That had mystified the former Lieutenant Commander of STRIKE Team DELTA for a moment; there hadn't been any indication that the Avengers or Tony Stark having any kind of safehouse or bed-down in the Meadowlands.

The tracker had led them to the Meadowlands Expo Center, and as soon as Jack saw why, he curse his fucking luck.

ComiCon. Where everyone was dressed like a superhero. It was ridiculous. It was brilliant.

It was a fucking pain in the ass and a great way for him to lose his target. That simply wouldn't do.

Jack had waited for everyone to converge on the Expo while having a few men keeping an eye on the main door. But it was next to impossible to see any of the Avengers they were tracking even if the tracking device gave them a location to Bucky Barnes within a ten meter radius. Ten meters was just over thirty feet, but that was a ten meter radius. And in a building stuffed with people, that would make it next to impossible to find anyone. Especially when about half of the attendees were dressed up like comic book characters… and the Avengers.

Jack had a pretty good idea who came up with this idea; that little fucking raghead.

"Alright, listen up." The former Lieutenant Commander called out on the radio that they were communicating on, the signal encrypted and its frequency one of the few 'protected' ones that wouldn't' be affected by the WARLOCK ICE in Barnes' arm. "Our targets are in the Expo Center, and it is stuffed full of look-alikes. We go in and comb through the place while leaving four men at the doors to make sure they don't walk out. It's possible that they could be in disguise as well, but anyone resembling them is either going to a fan, or they're going to be mistaken as fans. I assume that they're here to buy time for reinforcements to come, in which the only objective is the capture of Miss Marvel. Anyone else and everyone else is to assist in that endeavor from searching to stalling. Kyle, do the front doors have metal detectors or x-ray machines of any kind?" It would seem silly to have James Buchanan Barnes trying to pass by a screening checkpoint with a metal arm, but he was technically a veteran with a prosthetic due to the fact that he lost his arm in the service to his country during a time of war. That could be explained away if Barnes kept his arm still.

"No, no security measures except greeters." The HYDRA member in question replied, one of the four standing near the front doors to see who came in and out. "Boss, there's more than a few people dressed as comic-book villains. We can use that to pass right through without raising a stink."

"Good idea. We'll do that." That was ironically amusing, but if it let them walk into a public expo with grenade launchers and assault rifles, he'd do it. He looked over to the passenger seat where Trevor Slattery sat, thankfully quiet despite the set-backs. "That coked-out brain of yours have any good ideas?"

"If they think they can hide in public, perhaps we should turn the tables on them." The man who called himself the Mandarin replied, looking thoughtful. "Announce their presence among them, and have their fans flush them out for us. After all, who wouldn't want to meet an Avenger?" The bearded man said with a soft sinister smile.

"Heh. That'll do." Jack Rollins replied with a snort. "Saddle up everyone. Let's go be us some cape-killers."

Author's Notes: If the good guys can use a ComiCon to hide, why can't villains use a ComiCon to complete their objective?

Credit goes to Meck Viking for coming up with a prank for Jenn to do for Nat, coming up with the moose and squirrel plushies to mime Rocky and Bullwinkle. It was better than my idea.

Yes, Bucky dresses up as Captain America as a nod to Earth-616, Bucky Barnes becoming the first official Captain America after Steve's death (though yes, Clint did don on the costume once and showed that he could fling the shield with ease as a superior marksman)

Doreen dresses up as 'Sexy' Widow as a nod to all those female Halloween costumes and cosplayers who think less is more ;-)

Hysterically, Kamala is dressed up as her comic book self for the first time; a perfect disguise. There's a rumor that Charlie Chaplain once showed up to a Charlie Chaplain look-alike contest and didn't come in first, but the story was third-hand when written in the 20's. On the other hand, Dolly Parton did lose in a Drag Queen Dolly Parton look-alike contest… because of her height (Dolly measures in at a solid 5 foot/1.52 m). Because it's Dolly, she found the whole thing awesome, shook the winners' hand, and had photos taken with some of the contestants. That's class.

Reed Richards? Yes, Mister Fantastic! But no weird cosmic storm with cosmic energy to warp his little DNA. This time, Kid Fantastic does it the way he should have always done it; with his brains.

And I also tease what his 'power' was going to be, ripped right out of a Disney movie. If you want to be a big hero, you need big toys.

Jack Rollins mentions who created Bucky's arm; Howard Stark. Considering what a robotic arm looks like today, even with the most advanced ones as well as the most advanced prosthetics, Bucky's arm is superior to it by far (the big one is gentleness; we've yet to 'crack' a robotic hand grasping an egg without cracking it). .