Written in the Scars

Tony was in his lab, blaring music, working on suit upgrades. By most people’s standards it wouldn’t be relaxing, but for Tony it always had been. So when his relaxation was interrupted by a ghost dropping into his lab, he wasn’t exactly happy about it. The ghost was Phantom, which was better than if it had been Scarlett, but that didn’t mean the intrusion was welcome.

“I need you to hear me out,” were the first words out of Phantom’s mouth.

This did not make Tony feel any better. Still, he got a new cup of coffee and sat down on the futon in the corner.

“Alright,” he agreed, propping his feet up.

Phantom drifted over and floated cross-legged in the air across from Tony, over...well, floor. There wasn’t actually any furniture there, but ghosts weren’t bound by that sort of thing, apparently. 

“Do you know who James Buchanan Barnes is?” Phantom asked, after a beat of silence.

“Steve’s old war buddy, yeah. Died falling off a train,” Tony answered.

“Not...exactly,” Phantom hedged.

“Please don’t tell me you found his ghost, too, cause I think Pietro’s is enough already,” Tony retorted.

Phantom blinked at him, once, twice. “Actually, I haven’t had a chance to talk to Ellie about that yet. I mean, I knew, because it’s Ellie but...yeah, no. I didn’t meet his ghost. But he is still alive.”

“He’s what?” Tony asked, blinking furiously. Even if Barnes hadn’t died falling off that train, he probably would have died of old age by now, Tony thinks.

“It’s complicated. You said you’d hear me out,” Phantom hedged, and he was so obviously nervous in a way that reminded Tony of Peter when they’d first met.

“And I will,” Tony agreed.

Phantom nodded. “Okay, okay. This is going to seem unrelated, but do you know the story behind Captain America starting to actually fight in the first place? I mean how he went from being a performer to being a soldier, not how he became Captain America in the first place.”

“I do,” Tony said. “Barnes’ regiment got captured by HYDRA, so Steve convinced Peggy Carter and Howard Stark to help him go behind enemy lines and save them. Everyone had given them up for dead by the time they made it back to camp, on foot.”

“Yeah, exactly. Now, the important part of that isn't really a matter of public record. But when HYDRA had Barnes, they experimented on him. And at that time they were working on trying to replicate the super soldier serum. Which they tested on Barnes, among others.”

Tony didn’t want to have as quick a mind as he did in that moment, because the pieces had started slotting into place, and they weren't pretty.

“He didn’t die when he fell,” Tony whispered.

“No,” Phantom said, emotions in his eyes that Tony couldn’t name. “He didn’t.”

There was a moment of silence.

“HYDRA thought the experiments were a bust,” Phantom said, softly. “But they weren’t. The serum just needed to be activated. It takes a surge of adrenaline, pain, fear, emotion, to kick-start it. Steve had the ultraviolet rays. That was painful, adrenaline inducing, emotional. That kick-started it, for him. Bucky had never had anything like that. Until he plummeted off a train.”

“So he survived,” Tony reiterated, mind whirling with the possibilities.

Phantom nodded. “He did. Just barely, though. He lost his left arm in the process. And when no allies came looking for his body, well, someone else found him first.”

Phantom’s voice was grim, and Tony once again cursed the quickness of his mind as nausea settled heavily in his stomach.

“HYDRA found him, didn’t they?” Tony whispered.

Phantom nodded again.

“What happened next?” Tony asked, afraid of the answer, but wanting, needing to know.

“They brainwashed him,” Phantom said, matter-of-factly. He grimaced. “HYDRA had always been good at that, from what I understand, but they were particularly brutal with Bucky. Any sense of self he had, any notion of free will, well….”

“It was all gone,” Tony finished for him.

“Yeah,” Phantom whispered. “It was.”

They were silent again, for a few minutes this time. Tony was processing, or trying to, working through all the implications of what this could mean.

“They made him into a weapon,” Phantom said, and he sounded incomprehensibly bitter about it, which made Tony think it was somehow personal. “They called him ‘The Winter Soldier’ and ‘The Fist of HYDRA’ and ‘The Asset’. Nothing human, nothing individual, just a weapon for them to use. And when they weren’t sending him to kill someone, they put him in cryofreeze.”

“That’s awful,” Tony said.

Phantom nodded again, set his shoulders. “It is. And I need you to remember that. Because this next part will probably bring up a lot of emotions for you, but I need you to remember that Bucky was just HYDRA’s puppet.”

“Okay. I’ll hear you out,” Tony agreed, his stomach sinking now for an entirely different reason.

“There isn't an easy way to say this. The night your parents died, they were transporting an experimental batch of super soldier serum to SHIELD headquarters. HYDRA sent the Winter Soldier in to retrieve it. Your parents were collateral damage, killed by the Winter Soldier in compliance with an order to leave no witnesses. The Winter Soldier, who resembles Bucky Barnes only in that they have the same body, killed your parents.”

Tony’s whole world ground to a stop, just for a minute. Or maybe more time. Possibly less. It was infinite and barely a second, all at the same time. Phantom was watching him with a steady, soft gaze that Tony didn’t know how to interpret. Everything was silent.

“Why are you telling me this?” Tony whispered.

Phantom smiled at him, then, a soft upturn of lips. He looked wistful and bitter all at the same time.

“There are a few reasons. The first is that the enhanced soldier that Steve took down on the Project Insight Helicarriers? That was Bucky. Well, the Winter Soldier, but Bucky. Steve didn’t know. He still doesn’t. HYDRA forces people into masks for a reason, so they can’t be recognized. But somehow, that fight, something Steve said or did, helped Bucky break out of his brainwashing just enough to leave on his own, to start a life, try to understand who he was before and who he is now. Recently, Clockwork sent someone to meet with him. See what we can do to help him. The plan right now is to make sure his brainwashing is gone completely and then see what he wants to do. If that’s to see Steve and join the Avengers, Clockwork and I will fight for that. If it’s to build a quiet life somewhere away from all this chaos and terror and pain, then we’ll fight for that, too. The other reason is because I’ve seen what will happen if I don’t, and it’s not pretty.”

“I….how did you find him?” Tony asked. “Is he okay?” he added.

“Clockwork is the Master of Time. He can find anyone, anywhere, anytime. And, as far as I know, he’s doing alright. Still fighting the brainwashing, which I’m sure isn't fun, but I think he’ll improve once he has help,” Phantom answered.

“Why tell me, though? Why not Steve?” Tony asks.

Phantom shrugs. “I’ll tell Steve, too. But you needed to know, first. And Steve will be harder, because he’ll rush off to try and see Bucky as soon as he knows he’s alive, and it’ll take a lot of patience to explain to him why that’s a bad idea.”

Tony snorts at that thought. “Yeah, you’ve got that right. Good luck there.”

“Oh,” Phantom says. “Thanks, but I don’t plan on going in without backup.” He grins, all teeth, and despite himself, despite the circumstances, despite the revelation, Tony laughs.

“Have you ever heard of the Winter Soldier?” a voice behind Natasha asked, pulling her out of her training.

No one had been able to sneak up on her in a very long time. Phantom doing so was disconcerting, but she didn’t let that show as he floated down to her eye level.

“I have,” she answered, evenly.

“Bucky Barnes is the Winter Soldier. Who is very brainwashed. Well, he was. He got away. But also, he killed Tony’s parents when he was brainwashed,” Phantom announced.

Natasha blinked at him once, twice. “Ok,” she said, slowly. “What do you need me to do?”

“I have to tell Steve. And as soon as I do…”

“He’s going to try and rush off and find Barnes without listening to any other part of the story or taking a moment to even consider that that might be a bad idea,” Natasha finished for him.

Phantom nodded. “Exactly. And I already know he doesn’t know me well enough for me to be able to stop him without being forceful about it, and I don’t want to go there unless I absolutely have to.”

“You think you could stop him with force?” Natasha asked, skeptically.

Phantom flashed a grin at her. “I have no doubt I could, Miss Romanoff. After all, I have mind control as an option up my sleeve. Though I’d probably just ice him to the floor.”

“Ice him?” Natasha asked, curious despite herself.

Phantom didn’t answer verbally, but he held up his hand and a perfectly shaped crystal formed in it. He tossed it to her, and she caught it on reflex. It was cool in her hand, but not frigid like she’d expect of ice.

“Ghost ice will only melt if the creator takes their focus off it. You could throw that directly into the sun, and unless I let it melt, it wouldn’t,” Phantom explained.

“It seems like it would make a good weapon.”

Phantom chuckled. “Oh believe me, it does. But it’s also good to keep people places. Just ice their feet to the floor and they’re not going anywhere until you let them up.”

“I can see where that would be useful,” Natasha allowed, holding the ice crystal in her closed fist.

“Yeah. Anyway, will you help me with Steve? Because he seems to trust you more than most of the people around here, and you might be the only one that can help me get logic into his brain once he knows.”

Natasha chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll help you. But I’m going to need the whole story.”

And so he told her.

“What has Phantom been so busy with, anyway?” Peter asked, staring up at the blue sky, laying on his back on a rooftop.

“Stuff for Clockwork, probably. That’s usually what it is,” Ellie, who was laying next to him on the rooftop, answered.

“What’s the deal with Clockwork, anyway? I mean, I know Phantom is his apprentice and there was something in there about being his sort of grandson, but like-”

Peter was cut off abruptly by Ellie laughing. “What?” he asked, disgruntled.

“Oh, man, I can’t believe he gave you the apprentice line is all. He is Clockwork’s apprentice don’t get me wrong, that’s not a lie or anything. It’s just that Clockwork is...he might be the most important person in Phantom’s life, like, ever. Scarlett was the first, but Clockwork is..” Ellie trailed off, with a wistful smile. “Clockwork was the one that helped him figure things out. Piece himself together after it all fell apart. Taught him how to be himself, or how to be other people. Scarlett helped him master his powers, helped him gain confidence, but Clockwork is the one that taught him how to be vulnerable. How to love people and let them love him back without that constant fear that everything was going to blow up in his face, because everything always blew up in his face. So it’s not surprising that when Clockwork asks him to do literally anything his only ever answer is ‘yes.’”

“Oh,” Peter said, startled.

“Yeah. It’s a thing. But, y’know, if you want to hang out with him I’m sure he’d want to. He’s just a liiiiittlle bit busy right now. And he can be just a bit awkward about, y’know, actually interacting with people his own age. Or sort of his own age. It’s a whole thing. But he’s excited he met you, I can tell you that much,” Ellie said, grinning.

“I don’t have any way to contact him,” Peter admitted, sheepishly.

“Oh, is that all?” Ellie asked, perking up. “Well, that I can help you with.”

“You can?” Peter asked, hopefully.

Ellie grinned, floating up so she was looking down at him. “Indeed I can. Observe.”

And she stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled, high pitched enough that Peter was sure a normal human wouldn’t be able to hear it. A moment later, a tiny little portal opened and a little green...ghost dog? Drifted out. The dog flounced its way right over to Ellie, who immediately bent down to start petting it.

“Who’s a good ghost puppy? You are. Oh, yes you are,” Ellie said, in a baby voice.

Peter smiled as he sat up next to her, the ghost puppy wriggling on her lap.

“This,” Ellie said, holding the puppy up towards Peter with her hands around the puppy’s waist, “is Cujo. He’s a very good boy.”

Cujo barked in agreement, and Peter chuckled and reached out to pet him. Ellie put him down and Cujo jumped into Peter’s lap, wriggling his little green body for all he was worth. Peter laughed as Cujo tried to lick his face through his mask.

“Cujo, this is Spider-Man. Spidey. He’s a friend of ours,” Ellie said, very seriously.

Cujo yipped again and licked Peter’s face with renewed vigor. 

Peter laughed, rubbing at the dog’s sides. “Hi, Cujo. You’re just a little bundle of energy, aren’t you?” he asked.

Cujo yipped in agreement.

“In addition to being absolutely adorable and a very good boy, Cujo’s very good at finding people and following instructions. What I’m saying is, he’s a very good messenger dog,” Ellie explained, reaching over and patting the dog affectionately on the head. “And, if you ask nicely, he’ll even take you places. Or to people.”

“How?” Peter asked. “He’s so small.”

“Not always,” Ellie answered, and that mischievous grin was back. She lifted Cujo off Peter’s lap and set him down beside them. “Alright, Cujo,” she said, with great enthusiasm. “Get big!”

And, with an almost comical “pop!”, Cujo was big. Maybe about the size of an elephant, if Peter had to guess. He was still wagging his tail.

“Okay, that’s awesome!” Peter exclaimed, grinning madly.

Ellie patted him on the shoulder. “You just stick with me, kid, and I’ll teach you everything you need to know,” she drawled.

Then they both broke down laughing. 

Ellie gave him a whistle. It made the same high-pitched noise that she had made with her fingers in her mouth. She agreed with him that, yes, most humans couldn’t hear it. It was, apparently, a ghost frequency. Peter wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that he could hear it. Ellie also showed him how to get Cujo to carry messages, and how to get him to take Peter places or to people. Now, she was showing him how to get Cujo to bring people to him. Which was, apparently, not the most fun way to travel.

“Who should we use as an example?” Ellie asked, contemplative.

“We could do Mister Stark,” Peter offered, mischievously.

Ellie laughed. “Alright, that’s an idea there. Do you have anything of his? Anything he’s touched? Cujo does better when he has something like that to go off.”

“Would my suit work? He made it,” Peter asked.

“Eh, that’s probably close enough,” Ellie decided.

So Cujo sniffed his suit, popped back down to puppy sized, and dove through another portal. It couldn't have taken more than a minute or so for Cujo to come diving back out of the portal, dragging Tony Stark behind him by the ankle. Tony, who looked both terrified and disgruntled until he spotted Peter.

“Really, kid?” he griped, as Cujo let go of his ankle and went over to Ellie for pats. And praise.

Peter grinned at him, even though he couldn’t see it under the mask.

“What even was that?” Tony continued, getting to his feet and brushing his shirt off.

“That was Cujo. He’s a ghost dog. And he’s a very good boy,” Peter answered, with great amusement.

“Why? What?” Tony asked, looking around and spotting Ellie petting Cujo.

“We needed a test subject. Ellie is showing me how to get Cujo to do things,” Peter explained.

“Of course she is,” Tony grumbled, tapping a few buttons on his phone. “Next time, drag Steve through all the portals. Or Clint. Thor, even. Anyone but me. Okay?” 

Peter frowned. Something was up. His mentor was usually a lot snarkier than this. And he seemed...upset?

“Sorry, Mister Stark,” Peter answered. Then, “Is everything alright?”

Tony turned to him with a tired but genuine smile and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll be alright, Underoos. Just some news I wasn’t expecting,” he explained.

An Iron Man suit landed on the roof and opened, and Tony walked over and stepped into it. 

“See you around, Spider-Man,” he said, and flew off.

Peter turned back to Ellie, who had a faraway look on her face. 

“He’ll be alright,” she said. “Phantom just told him some stuff he wasn’t expecting and it brought up a lot of emotions. I think he’s still processing. But he’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, because he wasn’t really sure what to make of the faraway look in her eyes or the fact that she was talking like she was in a dream.

In an instant, she snapped out of it and her face went back to its usual sunny grin. “Thor is on Asgard, right?” she asked, with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Peter liked where this idea was going. “Yeah, as far as I know he is.”

Ellie’s grin mirrored his own. “You don’t have anything he’s touched, by any chance?”

Peter thought about it. “Sorry, I don’t actually think I do.”

Ellie shrugged, unfettered. “Cujo’s smart. I think he just might find him anyway.”

Steve stared down at the paper in frustration. He was trying to draw the scene before him, Vision sitting on the couch in the common room with Wanda curled up against his side, fast asleep. But he couldn’t get the lines just right, and Wanda’s hair was just impossible to capture in charcoal because so much of its personality came from the vibrant red color. He was frowning down at the paper, as if somehow he could make the drawing better through sheer force of will, when the elevator doors opened. Natasha and Phantom stepped out, side-by-side, and started walking towards him. Well, Phantom was floating, but same difference.

Steve set his charcoal down. “What’s going on?” he asked, voice pitched low so he didn’t wake Wanda up.

Phantom smiled at him, not the sharp grin full of teeth that he usually directed towards Steve, but a soft, sympathetic smile. That didn’t bode well at all. Natasha had her poker face on.

“Steve, we need to talk,” she said, voice soft.

He nodded. “Okay. Just not here.” His eyes slid to Wanda and Vision.

Natasha followed his gaze. “Of course,” she assured. “We can go to my floor, come on.”

So Steve followed them into the elevator and down to Natasha’s floor. He had been there before, so he didn’t take the time to look around. Instead, he sat at the seat at the table that Natasha had indicated and let pour two cups of hot coffee. She set one in front of herself and one in front of him. Natasha herself sat across from him, and Phantom sat next to her.

“I have some news for you, and you’re probably not going to like it,” he started.

Steve already didn’t like it. He felt jittery, sitting at Natasha’s kitchen table and cardling the mug of coffee.

“Okay,” he agreed, because whatever it was he obviously needed to know.

“Have you ever heard of the Winter Soldier?” Phantom asked.

“No,” Steve answered.

“He was a legend, in the intelligence community,” Natasha began. “A lot of people thought he was a myth. I never did.”

Steve opened his mouth to ask what this had to do with him, but Natasha held up a hand, silencing him before he could even speak.

“I knew he was real, because I met him when I was young. In the Red Room, where I was trained...where I was raised, there was a man that came to teach us. His left arm was metal, and they always made him wear a mask. No one could ever beat him, but we learned from him. They called him many things, never a name. ‘Winter Soldier’ or ‘Asset’ or just ‘Soldier.’ He took another girl and I on missions, sometimes. He never spoke, always followed orders to the letter. Until this one mission. We had finished already, and we were supposed to be reporting back to base. But instead he took us to this little ice cream shop on the corner, let us get whatever we wanted. He didn’t get anything, he was still wearing the mask. But we ate outside at this little cafe table in the sun, and that was the most free I ever felt growing up. He never spoke much, but when he did, he called us his ‘little ballerinas’. I didn’t understand until much later that as much as he was able to, he cared about us. Cared about us being happy, getting to feel that freedom. There’s a reason I’m telling you this, but you have to promise to hear us out and not go rushing through the door as soon as we tell you.”

Natasha fixed a hard stare on him, and for a moment all Steve could do was meet her eyes. She knew how to get him to agree to things, to appeal to his curiosity and then refuse to give answers until he did what she wanted. It worked every time.

“I’ll listen. I won’t go running out. I promise.”

Natasha nodded to him, then turned to Phantom. Steve realized he was the one that was going to be taking over the conversation, so he shifted his focus.

“The reason that Miss Romanoff told you that story is simple. You knew the man who became the Winter Soldier. His name is James Buchanan Barnes. ANd he’s still alive.”

Steve understood the promise not to run out, now. If he hadn’t made it, he would already be moving, calling in favors, doing anything and everything he could to find Bucky. As it was, he let the urge wash over him, forced himself to take a sip of coffee because suddenly he was cold, and determined to hear Phantom out.

“When HYDRA had Bucky, before you saved him, they were doing experiments on him and some of the others. They were trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. They succeeded, they just didn’t know it at the time. The serum has to be activated by a surge of adrenaline and strong emotions, namely fear and pain. You had that when they turned on the ultraviolet rays. 

“Bucky had that when he fell off the train. He survived, just barely. He lost his left arm in the process. And then HYDRA found him again. They replaced his left arm with a high-tech metal prosthetic. And they brainwashed him. Any free will he had was gone. He was strong enough, though, that it would wear off over time. He’d be able to break through a little bit, and then they’d start over. But even with that, he was their best weapon. I’ll spare you the details, but essentially they sent him on missions and stuck him in cryofreeze when he got back. That’s the reason he’s still alive. 

“You actually fought him, on the Project Insight Helicarriers. Something about you let him break free from his brainwashing again, a little more than he had before. That, combined with the chaos within HYDRA of being discovered, allowed him to get away. To establish a new home and a new life for himself and try to figure out who he was and who he is now and what to do with that. As far as I know, he’s still fighting the brainwashing, but he’s okay. He’s alive and he’s okay.”

“Do you know where he is?” Steve asked, voice choked with emotion, because he would do anything to see Bucky alive again, to hold him, to tell him everything would be okay now.

“I do,” Phantom answered, evenly. Then, something like regret flashed in his eyes. “But I’m not allowed to tell you.”

“What do you mean you’re not allowed to tell me?” Steve demanded, angry now. Who was a ghost to keep him from Bucky?

“Clockwork sent Kendra and Scarlett to meet with him. They're still there, actually. They’re going to help him break his brainwashing, and then whatever he wants, we’ll help him get. But right now, even the few people that know he’s alive knowing that is dangerous for him. If HYDRA finds him again…” Phantom let the sentence hang in the air.

Steve deflated.

“At any rate, we’re doing it this way for a reason. As long as they can still activate his brainwashing, he’s in danger. That’s the priority before anything else. Once his brainwashing is gone I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Phantom promised.

“Okay,” Steve nearly whispered. “Okay.”

“So let me get this straight,” Bucky started, staring across the table from Kendra Paris. “You want me to let you take me to Wakanda, which is secretly really technologically advanced, so that the Princess of Wakanda, who is a teenager but still smarter than basically everyone, can get the HYDRA crap out of my head with the help of Danny, who knows very little about neurology but has steady hands?”

Kendra smiled at him. “That about sums it up, yes,” she agreed.

“I’m in.”

Thor was on Asgard. It was very peaceful on Asgard. Until a green ghost dog grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him away through a portal while Loki laughed in the background. Staring up at a masked superhero and a ghost girl from where he landed on his back on the roof of a building was just the cherry on top.