Chapter 18
He never buys the paper from the newsstand.
As much as he can keep to himself, columns have been doing on & off reports of him every week.
No one has a current picture of him, & he wants to keep it that way.
As different as the person in the picture is, there's still a chance they would know him.
So he takes it from the corner store, looking down every time.
Combs through it. "DARREN CROSS, CEO OF PYM INDUSTRIES, DEAD: HYDRA INVOLVEMENT IS SUSPECTED. San Francisco, CA- Following the scientific blast that eradicated the Pym Industries Research Facility, local authorities are conducting a thorough investigation of the plant from any files that are salvageable, or may have been shared with other facilities for proof of CEO Darren Cross' possible involvement with HYDRA affiliations, who is presumed dead.
It had been rumoured Cross had found a similar serum to the suspected "Ant-Man" event in the 80's, which had caught the interest of the Nazi organization.
The information comes from an anonymous source, as authorities also search for a suspect-"
He closed the page, thinking. He could vaguely remember Karpov talking about it. Telling the soldiers, "We are the only ones who make ghost stories.". The squad couldn't find anything.
He winced slightly in pain, the link becoming clearer. They didn't find anything on the Ant-Man, but they did hear that Howard Stark was once again resuming research into the Super-Soldier Serum.
One which would be ready a few years later.
Grabbed his notebook to write down the memory, the pang of it in every own stroke.
Breathed in before returning to the paper.
"Farkov Writes: Bucharest Times Opinion Piece
James Barnes: The Hunt For The World's Most Infamous Ghost Story"
There's a small photograph of him in the corner, the one no one besides him, & Steve, knows was taken by HYDRA spies.
Keeps the paper in the small stack to the side for the windows when it rains.
HYDRA makes ghost stories. & he has to stay one, to make sure Steve's safe.
To make sure he, whatever's left of James Barnes, is safe.