CH 10: Helping Sergeant Barnes

The memory fragment Marcus came across was a scene of Barnes saving Steve from his bullies in an alleyway, it was an iconic scene from Captain America's first movie.

The memory showed their love and friendship for each other and was also perfect for bringing back Barnes.

Marcus slowly collected those memories and after what felt like hours, he was finally done.

The first thing Marcus did to restore Barnes' mind was to arrange all his memories in order. Although a lot of memories were absent from Barnes' mind, Marcus did his best to organize whatever was left.

After that, he proceeded to lock up the memories of the code which activated him as the winter soldier. Marcus also suppressed the memories of Barnes getting tortured so that it didn't affect him much.

While arranging these memories was helping Barnes recover, the exhaustion of his Psychic energy was quite a lot, but he was able to hold on because of using his skill: Parallel Thought with his meditation, which supplemented his energy slowly.

Barnes not being able to resist the invasion of his Psychic energy was due to his broken mind which also helped Marcus with lowering his energy usage throughout the entire process.

After completing his work, Marcus retracted his energy and left James's mind, opening his eyes back from inside his own body. After doing so, Marcus noticed that while he was in James's mind, a few hours had passed since he entered but in the real world only a few minutes had gone by.

This was a new revelation for Marcus who was still a novice in using telepathy.

On another note, before leaving, Marcus had taken his reward for fixing Barnes' broken mind. He had planted a seed of loyalty, deep inside his subconsciousness.

Thinking of the many different uses of having a super-soldier by his side, Marcus was elated. And now all he had to do was wait for Sergeant Barnes to wake up.

Meanwhile, while Marcus was elated, Hydra and SHIELD headquarters both were in turmoil. The reason for this was a video of Marcus fighting the winter soldier that had gone viral on the internet.

Although SHIELD didn't know that the man with a metal arm was the infamous winter soldier, Hydra knew all too well who that was.

But they both knew the identity of the man in red Armor because Marcus' car was still visible in the video, and that was more than enough to guess his identity. After all, he was a well-renowned prodigy and it wasn't hard to imagine that he could make an Armor like that for himself.

The video ended when Marcus flew off, with the winter soldier and another guy, in the distance.

The video sparked many controversies on the internet. Some netizens believed that the Armor and the metal-armed man were both a government project and that the armored man was sent to capture the other one.

Others thought that the Armored man was a superhero who was fighting the heinous new supervillain Metal Arm.

But it didn't stop there, the video had also made its way to news agencies and became a breaking news. Debates were going around different channels, government officials denying any involvement with either of the perpetrators in the video.

In just a day, the news had become big enough to be called an international news. Different countries were talking about the Armor and the way it could be used in wars, some countries claimed that America was developing these weapons to go to war against the rest of the world.

While other countries supported America and claimed that the Armor was probably a rogue and the best course of action would be to take custody of the Armor and the person wearing it.

Marcus was oblivious to all of this, he was sleeping peacefully after completing the exhausting task of fixing Bucky's broken mind.

It was evening when Albert woke him up in a hurry, "Wake up, young master! You are in the news."

Marcus woke up lazily, "What is it, grandpa Albert? It's not a surprise for me to be in the news, I am 'America's Young Genius' after all."

"I doubt it's the kind of news you would want to be in."

"Huh? And what kind of news would that be?"

"Well, see for yourself."

Albert's serious tone prompted Marcus to check out the news by himself. He got out of his comfy bed and walked down the stairs to reach the room with the television.

"...the people are calling him many different names, Crimson Titan, Iron Man, Rose-Knight, and even Bear Cuddler. And apparently, Crimson Titan has won the polls by a huge margin..."

"Wait! Is that the picture of me wearing ATMOS and fighting Sergeant Barnes? How did that get to the media? And which 15-year-old emo named me Crimson Titan, what kind of name is that?"

"Young master, you aren't much older yourself." Albert reminded him from the side.

"...and in a new report, other countries have named him The War Machine, they think it's the US government who is creating more weapons of war. What do you think about it, Mr. Henry?..." And then the news segment turned into a debate.

Marcus sat on the sofa and switched through different news channels, and almost all of them were broadcasting the same news.

When suddenly, a thought struck his mind, "grandpa Albert, is Sergeant Barnes awake yet?"

"Not yet, young master. Is there a problem? You seem quite worried."

"Yes grandpa Albert, there is a big problem. Please dismiss all the servants till further notice, give them a paid leave and gather all the guards in the hall room. And yeah, pack a few sets of clothes for yourself and me, we are going on an outing."

Albert didn't question Marcus any further and got to work quickly. First, he gathered the guards in the hall room and then gathered the servants in another room to talk with them.

Meanwhile, Marcus greeted the guards in the hall room, "I know that you are all loyal to me, and today is the day we test it. I want you all to leave the mansion and remain undercover at a different place. I will give you the details of your new task when the time is right. But for now, I will need a few of you to get me out of here safely. The plan is…."

After Marcus discussed his plan, the guards dispersed and went back to their positions.

Albert also came back after completing Marcus' request. "Young master, all the tasks you had asked for, have been finished."

"Alright, we have a few more hours left, prepare yourself, grandpa Albert, we are leaving this mansion. I will tell you the details once we are out of here. For now, I will go check on Sergeant Barnes."

After talking to Albert, Marcus made his way to the lab where he had left Barnes unconscious.

The lab was in the same condition as he had left, and Sergeant Barnes was still unconscious. Suddenly, Marcus noticed the red star on the prosthetic arm and an idea popped up in his mind, which he instantly got to work on.

The idea was to take the M.U.S.H.A Mark II prototype Marcus had at home and modify it to function well with Bucky's left prosthetic arm. The Armor would increase Bucky's strength and agility and would also hide his iconic arm. From then on, he could work as a bodyguard for Marcus.

After a few hours of tweaking the hardware and software of the Mark II Armor, it was finally ready for its intended use. And as Marcus finally got off his workbench, he heard a groan.

Turns out that Sergeant Barnes had finally regained consciousness.

Marcus walked beside him and unfastened his restraints, then helped him sit up straight. "Sergeant Barnes, do you remember me?"

Sgt. Barnes was still a little dazed after waking up from his slumber, and although his extraordinary physique had helped him recover from his injuries, his face was still a little swollen after getting beat up in the morning.

"Uhh…of course, I do. You are the guy who beat me up. I also remember that I was sent to eliminate you, but after fighting against you and losing, I woke up here. And my memory feels extremely clear, as if…as if it had something missing before... but it came back to me now."

Barnes was quite confused about what had happened to his memories. But there was one thing he was quite clear about, the kid in front of him had something to do with the mysterious recovery of his memories, and for that alone James was quite grateful, unusually so.

He wanted to ask a few questions but before he could, Marcus interrupted him, "Alright, we don't have time to waste, so hear me out. First of all, yes it was me who fixed your memories and brought you here. Second, today's date is July 26th, 2002. Third, we can not stay here any longer because of you. So, don't ask any questions yet, and just do what I say if you don't want to go back to being the winter soldier."

James was trying to process the information that was dumped at him, mainly the current year. It had been 67 years since he last saw Steve after he fell off the train. The thought made James quite sad, he didn't know whether or not Steve was even alive currently…

"And yeah, if you're thinking of your friend Steve Rogers, don't worry he is alive and has been frozen for a long time. And before you say anything, yes I will help you find him. Now wear this armor quickly, we have got to go, your former employers are here."

Outside Hunt's Mansion…

A voice rang on a radio transmitter, "Alpha team, do you have the target in sight? Over."

"Alpha team reporting, I see a convoy of three cars leaving the garage. Our target might be in there sir. Over."

"Can you get a clear vision of the person inside those vehicles? Over."

"I don't have a clear sight, but each vehicle has people sitting inside them, judging by the silhouettes I can partially see. Over."

"Alright, Alpha Team, follow the convoy. And Delta Team, guard the mansion premises, don't let anyone slip out. Over.

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Edited by: AsDarkAsBlack, pilot_armour