I Am Iron-Man

Chapter 44

Tony Stark's POV

Well, good news, I have finished the Thank-You gift for Barnes. Bad news, almost completely destroyed the lab from making this small present. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to use the Extremis powers and the Infinity Stone powers combined with the Iron-suit when I need to burn off some steam in the lab. Or in any other area for that matter. Unless it's when the New Avengers have to fight Thanos and his army, of course.

But we'll all deal with that oversized grape when it's time. Right now, I should give my thanks and appreciation to Barnes. Luckily, he's coming down into the lab for his daily appointment for the BARF treatment because I don't think that I can take anymore delusional and one-sided conversations with Rogers or Romanov.

"Hey, Frostbite!", I greeted as he walked into the lab. "How's Snowflake?". Ever since I started Barnes' treatment, I noticed that the BARF treatment separated Barnes and the Winter Soldier into two different personalities. Barnes didn't seem to mind as long as I had gotten the triggers out of his head, so he kind of gotten used to the Winter Soldier inside his head. Since then, I treated them and referred to them as their own individual persons, just like I do with Bruce and Hulk.

He rolled his eyes at me. "He's a little bit more talkative than usual today". That usually meant that Rogers annoyed him again.

"Did Rogers get on his bad side again?"

"As always"

"What did he do this time?"

"Steve kept talking about how petty and unreasonable you were being and how you brainwashed me with your BARF treatment into making me join your 'unauthorized and disrespectful' team"

"Unauthorized? That's a new one. But, of course, New Avengers teams that had been approved by the UN and all of the team members who have been approved as well would be unauthorized since he didn't have anything to do with the recruiting. So, what did Winter do?"

"... He stabbed him, then had us walk away". Barnes just stood there with a blank expression and I couldn't help, but burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry! But the way that you just said that! And the way that you had that look on your face like you didn't care!", I said between laughter. Once I calmed down, I started to speak again. "But in all seriousness, he didn't have to do that"

"If he didn't, then I would've"

"Whatever makes you happy, Frosty, but make sure that you don't kill him. Unfortunately, I don't think that the UN would be happy to find that a team member killed another one of the team member. We need all the help that can get and, unfortunately, that means from Rogers and the rest of the his so-called team. Or whatever is left of it"

"Yeah, by the way, whatever happened to that HYDRA witch? Not that I care, but no-one would say anything"

"I'm not surprised, to be honest. One of the New Avengers teams had a school where they would help train enhanced children to control powers. And since Rogers would always like to make the claim that the witch is 'just a kid, therefore, should be excused from all of the crimes that she committed over the years', she's been sent there to control her powers. But, to be honest, we mostly sent her there because Jessica, her teammates, and I didn't feel comfortable on letting her onto the Young Avengers since most of them are unenhanced and we didn't have someone who could block her powers at the time, so we just sent her there. If you ask me, I think that she does understand and knows the full extent of her powers"

"Yeah, I didn't like her either. I don't trust anyone who would voluntarily work with HYDRA, then work with someone who wanted to cause mass extinction"

"Then I might suggest that you stand clear from Pietro, the witch's brother. He's a nice kid, but I don't think that you or Winter would be that comfortable around him. He also worked with HYDRA and Ultron"

"Noted"

"Anyways, speaking of the Rogue Avengers, any updates on Wilson? I know that he seemed interested in signing the Registration Acts?"

"Yeah, Wilson and I both asked your A.I. about receiving copies of the Acts and we're reading them as of now"

"That's nice to know. So, I'm guessing that you'll be signing as well?"

"Yeah, but not as a full-time New Avenger. I want to be there to help when the threat that everyone's talking about comes, and I want to help when huge emergencies happened, but I also don't want to be held down and keep fighting for the rest of my life. I want to have some freedom back into my life for once and not be forced to fight all of the time"

"That's understandable, Barnes. I think that the UN can agree to make you a half-time New Avenger or an emergency-needed New Avenger"

"I would appreciate that"

"Anyways, before we get started with your treatment, I wanted to give something". I handed him the wrapped present and he opened it and looked at the gift with a surprised expression. It was a new arm. "Surprise! I made it for you. Of course, I almost burned down the entire lab, trying to make it". He looked at me with a confused expression when I said that. I haven't told any of the Rogues that I had Extremis powers, and they definitely don't know about the Infinity Stone powers, not that I plan to tell them anyways.

"Tony, what is this?"

"It's your new arm, I'm sure that it's better than the blown-off arm that you currently have"

"You didn't have to do this. I don't think that I can accept this. You're already giving me enough by offering your services to help remove my triggers, and I can't take this arm. It's too much". I looked at Barnes in shock. No-one has ever rejected my presents before. Some of the New Avengers would be hesitant to take them before they would thank me and accept the gift, but no-one has ever rejected any of the gifts that I had offered.

"Take it, Barnes, I insist. Consider it as a 'thank you' for helping me after Rogers cornered me yesterday. At least, I could also return the favor for blowing off your first arm"

"You wouldn't have done that if I hadn't gotten involved in a fight that didn't have any of my concern and also tried to shoot you with a gun. A gun that you made, nonetheless. Besides, I'm kind of glad that you shot off that arm, it reminded me too much of my time in HYDRA, so I'm glad that it has been separated from my body"

"Well. Now, I can fully remove the blown-off arm with this new arm. It should be much lighter than the old one"

"Well... alright. If you really insist, then thank you"

"If I didn't insist, then I wouldn't have offered it to you". I quickly and carefully removed the burned-off HYDRA arm, then installed the new arm. Barnes moved around his new arm and looked surprised about how light it was.

"You weren't kidding when you said that it was light. What is it made of?". I looked at Barnes with a happy smirk on my face.

"Well, let's just say that Rogers' shield finally came into some good use for me". Barnes looked at me full of shock and surprise, then started to chuckle a little bit.

"Are you serious?", he asked with a small smile and still continued to chuckle.

"Well, the king of Wakanda insisted that I should keep it and it's Stark Industries property anyways, so I could do whatever I wanted with it. Can you blame me?"

"Not at all, but you do know that Steve will have a fit when he finds out what happened to his precious shield?"

"And since when, in the entire time that Rogers has been here, had I ever cared what he thought?"

"Good point"

"Exactly. Anyways, now that's over, shall we move onto your appointment?"

"That's why I'm even allowed to be here in the first place"

"Alright, then. Let's do this"