My Little Soldier

Chapter 7

That Saturday started off with an early morning visit to Stark I.T. University. Tony led Sam and Bucky to the engineering building. A lot of young adults, obviously gifted as they were building robots and gadgets. None of which was in Sam's expertise.

"So Peter was a bit busy on other projects in order to help with this but his good friend Shuri was able to hop on this project. You remember her right?"

"Shuri sounds familiar."

"She's T'Challa little sister. And their parents own a more successful engineering university than me on the other side of the world."

"Now I remember, you were jealous when you met them."

"I wasn't jealous."

"You were jealous. They own a rare metal, you don't. You were jealous."

Tony huffed but smiled, he lead them to a private classroom. "Shuri? Where are you?" Tony called out.

"In here." A young African American woman with long braids came out from behind the corner. She looked to be Peter's age. "What's up, Stark?"

"This is Sam and the little guy is James. James is the one who needs to be fitted for an arm."

"Oh, when you said he was young I didn't know you meant baby young."

"He's three." Sam said.

"Still, I've made prosthetics for veterans, not someone so small. I am willing to try, though." She knelt down to Bucky's stroller. "Hi, I'm Shuri." She waved. Bucky whined but didn't try to shy away. "How much does he weigh?"

"He just hit twenty eight pounds."

"You're a small fella for three years old. Can we get you out so I can measure you?" Shuri smiled at him. Sam got Bucky out of his stroller and laid him down on the table. Shuri got a measuring tape and measured Bucky's body and the size of his stump.

"What are you thinking Shuri?" Tony asked.

"I can do it, but as young as he is; he'll be needing another arm within months. So I'm not sure how to make something that would grow to his size."

"And that is where I come in. Nanotechnology will grow with him, it will give him the senses he needs to feel texture and temperature."

"What's the but to this?" Sam asked.

"He will most likely need surgery in order to get the senses in that arm."

Sam sighed deeply. "What does surgery look like?"

"It would be a small chip that will tap into the spine and give him the sensations he needs. And if I give it more thought, he may need two. One in the spine and one at the base of the stump so it can connect properly." Tony said.

"How long do we have until a final decision has to be made?" Sam asked.

"Well it would be better sooner than later but if you want to wait until he builds some muscle, that's fine and we can make prototypes and perfecting until the final decision." Shuri said.

Sam nodded and looked at Bucky, who was staring at the engineering machines on the other wall. "What do you say little man, do you want another arm?" Sam rubbed Bucky's head. Bucky nodded but Sam wasn't sure if he knew what he was agreeing to. "Once we give the okay, who will do the surgery? Will it be one of you?"

"Oh not me, I'm not interested in that type of stuff." Shuri said.

"I know a surgeon who can do it. He has really steady hands and I'm sure he can do it with no complications. Plus I'll be there to supervise." Tony said. It made Sam feel a little better that Bucky would be in good hands once they went forward with it but surgery was a scary thing to think about especially on the spine. Truly one wrong move and Bucky maybe feeling a lot less than his arm. "Sam, I wouldn't recommend it if I thought James would be in any danger. Think about it for a while and talk about it with James, we have his measurements so there is truly no rush." There was a rush actually, there was no telling how soon Bucky would get adopted. Sam would probably have to make a decision before Christmas or at the latest before Bucky's birthday.