Chapter Text
Tony tried to keep James a secret for all of a week. After New Years and the spare guests left, Jarvis tracked Tony down and outright asked him who was in the lab. Apparently even with all those guests present, Jarvis still could track everything in the house. Eventually Tony broke down and told Jarvis the bare minimum about James. He talked briefly of the POW, Sgt Barnes, and the files Tony had actually finished reading and wished to burn. At some point, he would need to pick up the stash in Romania, but James assured him the files would remain completely undisturbed for several years without worry. While he did talk about James's origin, he didn’t mention how they met and Jarvis didn’t ask. Rather, the man simply helped Tony introduce James to Ana, who could mother anyone, and left her in charge of the man. At first James seemed to alternate between alarm and confusion when exposed to Ana’s brisk pampering. Ana had a special way to read people that outshone even her husband.
Getting Barnes settled into the mansion was easy. Convincing him to stay there throughout the workday was impossible until JJ pointed out that Tony was trying to convince him to go against one of his objectives: keep Tony within a certain range. Once he noticed that, Tony tried to alter it, but that elicited a panic attack in James. The soldier broke down, babbling about how Tony was going to get bored with him and give him back to his previous handlers. Tony hadn’t known what to do with that. For a time he’d left it alone and let Ana work her magic on the man.
Slowly as time continued without Tony putting James in “the chair”, which gave Tony a veritable platoon of nightmares, James started to relax. He definitely talked with JARVIS Jr all the time and Tony had to work to make sure JJ knew that James's behavior wasn’t normal or healthy. DUM-E, on the other hand, seemed to think the opposite, being determined to help James back to normal behavior as demonstrated by Rhodey. Tony wasn’t sure College-Rhodey was exactly normal either, but it seemed to help James. The ex-assassin learned the beep language of Tony’s bots with remarkable ease and often understood the quirky bot better than Tony or Rhodey, who had raised the goofball.
DUM-E accepted James as a new addition to their little family well enough. He was always thrilled when he gained another friend or sibling. Tony remembered his gentle coaxing of Butterfingers in the future with fondness. Ana and Jarvis simply added the confused man to their list of wards, and attended to him with the same patience Tony and Maria enjoyed.
Under the Jarvis couple’s care, James seemed to bloom. He ate more, slept more and spoke more and more each day. Sometime late January, he finally let Tony modify his current objective from 50 meters distance to safety and location assessment. James could put however much distance he wanted as long as he knew Tony was safe. This seemed to settle something in James and the man calmed considerably.
Eventually James settled in and by the middle of February, Ana and Jarvis were interacting with him while Tony worked, assuming James didn’t follow Tony to work or when Tony worked from home. This was a relief since it allowed Tony to turn his attention a bit towards other issues, like Stark Industries. First, he stepped out of his mother’s way and let her handle Stark Industries’ PR. She seemed to enjoy it and Tony didn’t remember any member of his other PR team fondly except Pepper, whom he still could not find. For the moment, Maria and a woman named Carla had PR under some semblance of control, though Maria confided in Tony once that the current head of the department, a sniveling man by the name of Smythe, needed to retire. His chauvinistic attitude drove Maria to distraction and Tony made a mental note to find the time to overhaul the department somehow.
It had to get put on the TO DO list for later though. Tony had a lot of changes he wanted to add to SI, but first he needed to solidify his control of the company. Turning out great advances was a good first step. He’d spotted a few issues that he remembered coming up later during the design phase and shortened their development time considerably. He’d created what he called his “Future Expo” folder, a list of all the inventions he’d introduce before the next Expo in 2009. He’d taken a few weeks during the previous summer to sit down with the list and ensure that, one, he wasn’t hopping technological discoveries, and two, he’d actually invented them in some part in the first future. Afterall, Tony couldn’t invent everything and scientists needed to understand inventions, and their failures, to learn and grow. So Tony kept a careful eye on the heartbeat of invention, but more or less stayed out of it until it caught up with one of his own inventions.
He did, however, use some of his extra time to consider alternative uses for older inventions. Ideas that hadn’t gone into research purely because new or better discoveries had replaced the concept before the market thought to study a specific issue. Like using the interchangeability of medtents for environmental study or protective gear for industrial workers. Military retail stores were around, but the technology wasn’t spread out into other markets. Since Stark Industries was buying up the DOD contracts still, Tony wrote in that anything not current for DOD would be used in all departments of SI. Soon, Tony hoped that would include medical.
SI also made multidisciplinary teams a standard. Tony worked to remove the Waterfall system and create a bit of an Agile system. Crystal Methods had just made their start and Tony hopped on the train a lot sooner this time around. As the development teams started to form, the new departments would create themselves. Tony could see the shape of the future of SI taking shape. It just needed the capital to do so.
Much of Tony’s attention remained divided between managing the new, revolutionary products in R&D and James. The man started showing small signs of personality beyond the automaton facade that gave Tony the not-good-kind of shivers. On occasion, if lost enough in his thoughts, a bit of Brooklyn Brawl or Russian Brogue would tint the rough voice. Even more telling to Ana was that on occasion he’d use ‘I’ or ‘me’ instead of ‘this asset’ or ‘James’. Ana told Tony how creepy it was talking to someone who viewed themselves with as much sentience as most people did a toaster. So this was progress Ana was thrilled about. Tony just hoped that meant he was doing something right.
It was mid-February that Tony finished compiling a file he’d been working on since just after Christmas. It had initially been just a side idea, but now that he had the darn thing, he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Staring at it wasn’t going to change anything. Or so he told himself as he sat in his office chair before bed. They’d had an early supper in deference to Maria’s evening plans at the Opera. Jarvis had wanted to accompany her. Leaving Ana and Tony with the mansion to themselves. Well, themselves and James.
Tony sighed and gathered the rather thick folder as he forced himself to rise and exit the office. As expected, he found DUM-E and James playing with the tennis ball. His oldest was thrilled that the newest addition to the family never tired of the game. Unlike most humans DUM-E interacted with, James seemed to find something soothing, almost meditative about the game. Tony had wondered off and on whether DUM-E’s spatial awareness and dexterity would improve with all the attention.
As normal, James immediately looked up upon his entrance. James always identified anyone who walked through the door. With Jarvis, he’d come over to assist, something Ana had suggested. With Ana, he usually continued what he was doing until she requested his attention.
With Tony, as his “master” he nearly always stood at attention to wait. Tony saw him quickly scan the room, especially his own little corner, before stepping into attention position. DUM-E called in greeting as well and left to, hopefully, put the tennis ball where it belonged. Tony found that where something belonged and where the bot placed it sometimes bore only a passing resemblance to each other. Tony watched him fondly. His first special snowflake would always have his own corner of Tony’s heart.
Tony returned his attention to James. The man had finally stopped calling him “Sir” a few weeks ago, much to Tony’s relief. Jarvis and Ana used it as a title of pride. Like Tony was their young master. JARVIS had used it because it reminded Tony of Edwin Jarvis and now JJ used it for a similar reason. But James wasn’t a servant. The man he’d heard stories about and the man he’d met, albeit briefly, in the future was no one’s servant. He followed Steve because he wanted to. And Tony could barely control his stomach at the idea of being compared, however favorably, to James’s bastard handlers in HYDRA. Since he hadn’t known how to fix it, though, he’s withstood it like he was wont to do with necessary things that were also uncomfortable.
Still, it was a relief to be called Tony by James, even if it had the same tone of voice as sir’.
Tony snagged a stool from his work bench as he crossed the lab. Waving at a seat, James joined him at the side table where James did most of his table-requiring activities. Tony mostly kept it free of his tinkering. Not that James would mind, but Jarvis had reminded him that it was very rude.
“I’ve got this for you.” Tony said as he set the folder on the table. “I don’t know if you want it. Or if you even care. Or, I don’t know, maybe its too early yet. Or- Something something psychological mumbo jumbo stuff. Someday you are going to actually stop me in the middle of a rant.”
Tony petered off. It had been a sharp learning curve to remember that James would never ever stop his mutterings or ramblings. Instead, the soldier would stand (or sit) and listen contently for hours. If Tony could be certain the man actually liked the topics, he probably would be more okay with it. But the pervasive thought that James daren’t interrupt his handler kept such a hope at bay.
James looked at the folder with all the curiosity he gave anything Tony gave him. Tony had been throwing every book genre at him under the sun in an effort to keep him occupied and to try to remember preferences with little luck. James had known the very well-known stuff since HYDRA needed him to be able to blend on at least a basic level. But the only thing he’d responded to at all was Tolkien. He’d recognized it from before. And looking back at notes he’d found, Tony guessed that Bucky Barnes had been a scifi fan. But that didn’t translate exactly and Tony had yet to figure out what else the man wanted to do. It was rather frustrating.
Tony slid the folder over gently. “James Bucanan Barnes, born to James and Winifred Barnes 10 March 1917. Three siblings: Tatiana, Rebecca and Daria, born in 1923, 1924, and 1927. Drafted into the US Army December 1942, sent to European theater July 1943 as a tech sergeant with an emphasis on Sniping. Next of kin listed, Steven Grant Rogers, aka Captain America. Date of disappearance: February 2nd, 1945. Survived by mother and two sisters.”
James stared at the folder in confusion. Tony lifted the folder top to show the same picture they used in the museum exhibit. Over the year following his father’s death, Tony reached out to everyone who Howard had loaned Steve’s things to and verified the conditions of those loans. In the process, he collected what little hadn’t been sent back to the Barnes family. Tony had stared at that picture for hours as he waited for the internet to work. He’d forgotten how slow the internet used to be. But in the slow moments, he’d stared at that young soldier going off to war. The first of a long life of choices taken from him due to the Nazis.
James stared at the picture. He reached out and picked it up slightly. Tony watched as James seemed to evaluate the picture. After a moment he set it down again. “Is this my new cover?”
Tony blinked at him in surprise. He hadn’t expected that interpretation. “No! No, James, this isn’t a cover. This is history.” He gestured to the folder of papers. James looked at them again, this time in mild confusion. “Do you remember your life before HYDRA?”
James frowned. “This asset was made to be the fist of HYDRA. It is important.” He reached forward to touch the picture of Steve and Bucky leaning over a map. “I know him.” He whispered.
Tony’s heart almost broke. This man didn’t know a thing about himself, but he remembered Steve. They took so much from him, but not this one. Not yet.
“Steve Rogers was your best friend.”
James stared at the picture. “He’s gone.” His hand shook a moment. “He’s gone. That was important. He’s gone forever.”
Tony leaned forward. “No.” Tony bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying the wrong thing. James looked at him, a strange light in his eyes. “He’s not gone. Not as long as we remember him.”
Steve was Barnes’s best friend. Tony would be devastated if Rhodey vanished. It would have broken him. It probably was part of how they broke Barnes, in fact. No matter how much Tony had hated the role Barnes played in Steve’s behavior towards Tony ‘before’ he could not blame this man. He had barely blamed that Barnes. This one, he could not blame for anything.
James stared at him a moment before looking back at the papers. Tony saw him rub a finger across the draft form on top. “This was...before Asset. Before Soldat?”
Tony nodded. “You didn’t volunteer. This wasn’t what you wanted.” He placed a hand gently on the papers. “ This is who you were before. I have people, friends who remember this time, who could tell you about it. Help you remember.”
James remained quiet for a moment. “Is he required?”
Tony blinked at him. He frowned, trying to follow the question. James glanced up and saw the expression.
“Is he required?” James gestured at the papers with his head. “Is this ‘ Barnes ’ required?”
Tony’s eyes widened. Oh! “No!” He yelped. Tony paused when he saw James’s startled look and took a deep breath. “No, you don’t have to be him. You are you. James, if you want the name, is fine to be.”
James watched him warily a moment. Tony felt the need to continue, “I’m sure there are people who would like Bucky Barnes back. Who will expect it of you. But you don’t need to be some past version of yourself. I mean, I’m not. My fifteen year old self hadn’t lost his father, didn’t run a company and hadn’t built two AIs to raise.”
“And thank god for that, Sir.” JJ snarked from the computer screen. “From what Master Jarvis says, your fifteen year old habits would have been even more confusing.” JJ was learning to sass already, Tony was thrilled. DUM-E had probably helped him with that response, since it did sound a great deal like the older bot.
Tony rolled his eyes instead of grinning. “Aaaaaanyway. Bucky Barnes didn’t have all the memories you have. So you are not Bucky Barnes. But you could find some answers to missing parts in the past. And, maybe, you could find something important there too.”
James stared at him a few minutes before looking back at the folder. He closed it slowly and rested his metal hand on it. Tony watched him, waiting for some signal. “Is there a book tonight?”
Tony blinked. He’d forgotten to bring To Kill a Mockingbird down. The folder had encompassed his thoughts since lunch when he realized he’d be unlikely to add to it further and with a nearly empty manor, today was the best chance to give it to James.
“Um, its in my office. To Kill a Mockingbird. I...just...forgot it.” Tony told him hesitantly. James nodded. He stood up from the table and Tony automatically stood as well. Tony glanced back at the table and almost did a doubletake. The folder had vanished.
James didn’t bring up the information again for some time, except to claim it was useful information to know when Tony asked. Tony took that as a hint that the subject was closed. He knew James was asking JJ to locate information for him and some of those searches had included the available information on Captain America and the Howling Commandoes. Tony had tried to explain to JJ what had happened to James and why he was reacting this way, but eventually he had to admit to the confused AI that he didn’t know, that no one probably knew why James reacted to his past or to HYDRA this way.
JJ finally said something that Tony lay awake listening to in his head on repeat. “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you had in mind. It seems to be the hardest step to acceptance. Acceptance seems to be a laudable goal. James is one of us, of our family. Acceptance is how family is identified.” Tony had to admit that while it wasn’t representative of most families Tony had ever been familiar with, it did strike a chord deep in himself. This acceptance, this patience JJ spoke of was what Tony had been looking for all his life. It was in the way Rhodey stuck by a self-destructive genius and the way Pepper trusted a chaotic billionaire. It was in JARVIS’s loyalty and Happy’s tenacity. Tony had never been as glad JJ learned from so many people as he felt in that moment.