Eclipse (Born at Dusk - Book 1)

13

March, 10th 1984

"You remember when you were shot?" Kate asked, analyzing the delicate blade beneath her fingertips. The winter soldier huffed in annoyance before he nodded. "With your own gun at that." Kate muttered as she sat up, looking at her soldier.

He stood with his arms crossed, his metal arm glinting under the yellow hue of the workroom lights. The winter soldier wasn't pleased that on his last mission, he'd managed to fumble a target, and get himself shot. He still finished the mission, no witnesses, but brought back a nasty infection from the encounter. The grazed bullet wound in his side had only just finished healing by the time Kate had finished the project she was showing him.

"I'd hoped to finish them earlier, you know, to keep you from getting a bullet in your stomach. But all the same." Kate picked up a gun, weighing it between her hands.

"I don't think you can build something that will keep someone else from shooting me." Barnes muttered, unimpressed. They had initiated the word sequence for him only a couple months previous, and he was already communicating with her how she liked. It didn't make sense to speak to a brick wall.

"Not quite," Kate admitted. "But it just might be better. Give me your hand." Barnes stuck out his left hand and Kate rested the shaft of the gun in his palm. "Go on, shoot." She urged.

He adjusted the gun in his grip and fired a bullet at a target on the wall that had probably taken one too many hits. Waiting for the echo to ring out, Kate smiled as she grabbed the hand that was holding the gun. "Flex your fingers, you'll feel the calibration."

And just as she had guessed, she heard the confirming mechanical click as his grip slid against the custom gun. Barnes' eyebrows raised as he surveyed the mechanics of the weapon. "What does that mean?" He questioned.

Still smiling, Kate picked up a straight-back blade, "now, if anyone holds that gun, they'll receive an electromagnetic shock strong enough to pull them unconscious."

"Really?" Barnes looked over the table of weapons. "Are all of these the same?" He picked up a separate blade, once again hearing a slight calibration as it touched his metal fingers.

"Yes," Kate explained, showing him small details in the hilt of the blade. "I've programmed all of these to recognize the coding in your arm. Once it's in your hand, it's active, meaning if someone else's hand triggers it, the shock is set off."

"What about my other hand?"

Kate hesitated. "That's a bit harder, and will need adjustments to the actual weapon first. I'll start with the blades first, but for now, they're all programmed with your left hand."

He hummed in response, impressed. "Here," Barnes said idly, taking his pick on the next weapon. "Hold this for me."

Just as Kate was about to take the gun from him, she stopped, smacking his side. "I'm not that stupid." She huffed and watched as Barnes picked up a few more things and fired a couple more shots.

"And you're certain they won't malfunction?" He said after finishing.

Kate nodded. "The coding has no interference with the actual barrel or gun, just with your arm. After six hours after it recognizes you, it will destabilize and would need your touch to turn it back on. That way they can be cleaned and moved safely."

Kate looked over the table of weapons again, the winter soldier's standard arsenal and gear he carried with him on missions. It had taken years to figure out how to do such a feat, and a couple more to implement it in his weapons.

"A bit sooner would have helped." Barnes mutters, his hand absently going to where he'd been shot weeks previous. Kate rolled her eyes as she put the weapons back down.