1965-06-24 - Skin-A
Summary: Peter Parker unveils his Skin-A invention to Bucky and Tony.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
bucky peter-parker tony 


Appointments are made! The Buckster Prime, not to be confused with any of the Many Buckettes, are asked to visit Tony and Peter (you know, 'the kid') down in the basement. Its a very serious matter, things are made clear. Down there, Peter looks himself a mini scientist, complete with lab coat and goggles. He's stirring a vat of this off-white colored liquid, looking like about a gallon of it. "The process—" he begins to explain to Tony before pausing, "Should wait for Mister Barnes." He Misters people a lot.


"Sergeant," Tony says. It's not even that he's a stlicker for titles. The word just comes out absent-minded as he looks over some of the notes regarding the stuff in that vat. In deference to the kid's big day, he's wearing a lab coat, though his goggles are perched on his brow. He glances at the vat, and he nods. "Sure. Whenever he gets here, then."


Is he still a sergeant? Twenty years AWOL, arguably, after someone scratched out the MIA-KIA on his file. But the title does stick. Buck comes down the stairs in jeans and a tank top and boots. Clean and polished in deference to the scientists' obsession with neatness. Uncertain, too, by the stony look on his face.


"Sergeant Barnes." Peter corrects himself when Bucky arrives, nodding to the man, "Hi." He flashes a grin, "So, Mister Stark has had me on a project lately to make your arm less conspicuous, if you don't mind?" He gestures the man over, "The Mark VI skin is what I came up with, though Mister Stark began the project so I was just building off of his work… This…" He reaches over and lifts up what looks like a grey rubber hand, "Is the sleeve, sir. Its just there because if you apply skin on top of, well, metal arm, it'd look like, well, a skin colored metal arm. Its just hardened rubber, nothing too special."


Tony gives Bucky an upnod, and he's quiet as Peter speaks. Just taking notes. "I'm just here to observe," he mentions once Peter has said his piece. "This is all Parker's work." Credit where it is due. Hell, he might even be proud of the kid, but to look at him, he's all business, cool and calm.


"Makes sense," Bucky says, slowly. "Do you want this off?" He tugs at the hem of his shirt. The cloth does cover some of the shoulder, after all. "And…I'm glad," he adds, slowly. Shy, perhaps. "I've needed this desperately, and Tony speaks very highly of your skills."


Er. Its a grey rubber hand and arm. "Yes, please." Peter nods to Bucky about the shirt, "Now this should hold up through all normal movement, but don't think it will stand up to combat. Any fighting with your arm is likely to tear the rubber and skin. Don't worry. I have moldings to replicate these easy, and will be keeping a supply of the raw skin…" He nods to the off-white liquid in the strange vat with some controls and wires on it, which in no way looks like it can end up as skin, especially the right _color_. "First we have to prime it, which will ready the skin for setting, and as part of that, the color will be tuned to your skin color." He grabs one of the wires which has an adhehsive part, and once Bucky has his shirt off, sticks it on some exposed skin, "This will tingle but not hurt, don't worry. All of this is safe, I tested it." Pause, "On myself, too."


Tony is the very model of a detached observer. He's allegedly taking notes on what's going on, but it's Tony; he could be drawing naked women on blank paper for all anyone knows. Still, he does seem to be paying attention to the proceedings. Young Parker is proving himself today, and he does deserve, at the very least, his mentor's attention, though Tony offers up no advice nor instruction. This isn't a test. This is the real deal.


He pulls off his shirt, no particular shyness there. Surprisingly few scars, considering his history, save for the rim of proud flesh around the graft. Not entirely able to keep from flinching at that touch - old memories die hard. "Okay," he says, gently. Tony might catch the tightness at his jaw, around his eyes, though.


Peter presses a button, and there's a tingle, but that's all. It takes almost a minute for the liquid skin — which starts swirling — to end up color matching. During this time, he grey rubber arm is snapped open— its got a seam along the bottom middle, and he holds it out carefully to Bucky, to help slide it up over the arm. Peter hesitates: it doesn't _quite_ pull up all the way to the top of the shoulder seamlessly, "I'll work on fixing that with the mark seven. For the time being you won't want to show your shuolder. Which, I mean,.." He grins a little shly, "Beta testing, you know?" He then nods to the liquid, "Phase two is bonding, which… just stick hand in, and the skin will do the rest. Its primed, so it'll naturally seek to the bonding agent on the outside of the rubber. Then we'll do the final stage, sealing."


Tony murmurs amidst his note-taking, "At ease, soldier." He half-smiles, briefly, then gives them both his best impassive glance. He can play Very Serious Scientist with the best of them. There's a flicker of interest in his eyes he can't hide though when the liquid starts swirling, then flushes to Bucky's skin tone. "Hmm," he says. Just that. Enigmatic bastard.


Bucky is docile enough, slipping the cover on with great care. "A t-shirt's a lot better than a long-sleeved shirt," he agrees. "And I know. 's always a work in progress. Never met an engineer who was perfectly satisfied with any piece of work…." Tony gets one of those sidelong, shy smiles. "Sorry," he says. "It's just….mosta my experiences in labs've been pretty bad." Understatement of the year.


"Oh, my only experience in a lab was, well, this one, then that time the spider bit me, but that was all positive so? I'll try to be sensitive, sir." Peter nods then, looking over to Tony, unsure if Hmm is Good or Bad. But back to Bucky, "There's always improvements to be made." he agrees, "And now, sealing…" This is perhaps the most impressive part. As soon as Bucky's finger first touches the liquid, the liquid…starts rising up along his new hand, flowing in a thin layer of Bucky colored skin to rise up over the hand, wrist, arm. Its in defiance of gravity as the bonding agent he applied before Bucky even got there, attracts the liquid's spread. In less then a minute, the sleeve is covered. It doesn't look like skin, though its the right color: its too _regular_. "Sealing involves exciting the polymer chain and activating it, which includes a certain…randomization vector." He pulls a second wire with an adhehsive sticker, attaches it to the 'skin', and he turns a dial seemingly at random, presses a button. A charge that almost certainly Bucky can't feel goes through it, and the skin…sets. And as it does, it… shifts slightly, though its hard to see precisely how unless one is watching very carefully. Its like a fractal that spreads out in random over the skin, but it doesn't look like that when the fractal wave passes. What is left is just slightly irregular. There's a freckle here and there. There's actually a light dusting of hair. Nothing quite even, in a way that thus, makes it look natural. With that, Peter removes the wires and steps back. "This won't fool someone who is shaking your hand— that rubber is for looks not feel, we can work on that— or someone who is looking _close_, within like, maybe a foot or so. But…"


"You're okay," Tony tells Bucky. He stops taking notes as he watches the 'skin' creep up the sleeve, and his attention is quite keen as the fractal wave passes over it. He steps closer, tilting his head as he investigates the arm more closely. "What do you think?" he asks Bucky. The first sign of a real reaction, for good or bad, is finally given when he winks at Peter and steps back.


There's that expression of open wonder, the stony facade falling away. He lifts the hand, turns the arm, ripples the fingers like a piano player warming up. "It's great," he says, with real enthusiasm. "It doesn't have to be perfect…..but this is miles better than what I had. That metal thing is a dead giveaway…."


"I'm not going to work on Mark 7 for awhile— maybe a month or so— in the meantime let me know. I've tested the skin out but not in all day, real life situations with a metal arm? We might need to work on durability. As it stands now, there's no repairing it— that Mark 7's primary goal— but replacing it at any damage. Which is no big deal, don't be gentle with it, that'll skew the data." Peter hesitates, then grins a bit, "While I was working on this, which I call Skin-Alpha, I thought of Skin-Beta. I'm going to make an alternate of the formula as a quick-acting battlefield or emergency dressing, instant-sealing antiseptic bandages, basically. It'll be a spray. It'll save a lot of lives, Sergeant, if I can make it work. Because I needed to make this for you." He nods enthusiastically at that. He looks to Tony then, openly seeking approval from his mentor.


Tony lowers his clipboard, and he regards Peter for a moment. The urge to troll the kid is unmistakable, and there would be so many ways to do it. That enthusiasm, though! And, for the greater good, let's not destroy the kid's self-esteem just because it's possible. He's not his old man. "You solved the natural flaws problem better than I had anticipated," he says instead, opting for the truth. "It looks great. From here, I wouldn't know he had the metal arm if I wasn't fixing it all the time. Barnes, take it out and see what it does. Don't hold back."


Bucky grins, and it's that old, incandescent grin. The one that peels away the years since the war, since he was Cap's sidekick. "Will do, Mr. Parker," he says, still flexing his fingers. "I bet the kids are gonna be impressed." Nevermind that the kids look like they're hisage. "And I will. I tend bar, part-time. It'll be nice to be able to roll up my sleeve."


"I … found this self-repeating, semi-random algorithm I could embed into the polymer chain, which… by itself is very orderly, but if I made it so it only expressed itself ten percent of the time, it looks…random." Peter basks in the praise from the both of them, looking relieved and nodding his head, "The skins' polymers are based on my web fluid partially, so are stronger then actual skin, so it shouldn't damage _easily_ through normal activity, but that's tested only in a lab setting." He pauses, considers a moment, "As soon as I'm done with Skin-B, we'll meet up and go over your notes on how it works for you. Well. Assuming no major damage happens between now and then where you need a replacement." He grins.


Tony tosses his clipboard aside and actually claps for Peter. "Your presentation," he says, "was good. It could be polished, but for a rookie, I'm impressed. I was sold. That's the part of the business that doesn't come naturally to everyone: getting people to understand and like your idea." He comes over, shedding his aloofness, so he can take hold of Bucky's arm (boundaries!) and looks it up and down. "This will help keep the arm clean, too. The dust won't get in with that sleeve on."


Bucky looks back and forth between them, still grinning. "Exactly. Camouflage and cover. I'll do some combat training with Steve and others, see how it holds up to that." He lets Tony take and maneuver the arm without a second thought - no trying to yank his hand away. Used to Tony, like an animal that's been tamed.


"The shoulder connection just needs work, I might need to build a custom harness there, to bind the sleeve, as a separate part, its just how to connect to your body-shoulder-part seamlessly…" Yes, Peter is one of those science nerds who is not going to quit this project until its perfect, so Bucky WILL get a perfect arm eventually. He might get prodded a bit eventually, from Peter's look as Tony manipulates the arm. But despite this distraction, he can't help but grin at the applause and praise from Tony. "If it ends up needing to be more durable, I'll just import some more web fluid polymers. They're…strong. Each strand can support a ton of strength and similar durability, though they're designed to break down over time, I'll have to design that _out_." He grins at Tony, "I never really saw myself as business. I assumed someone else would do that. But… hey, if I'm not bad at it?"


Tony is willing to take advantage of a tamed Bucky to turn his arm this way and that to point out bits he's particularly pleased with. This mole, that feathering of hair. "I'll do the business end for as long as you like," Tony tells Peter. "But I won't always be here, and given our line of work, the sooner you pick it up, the better." Every mission is one bad day away from never coming back, after all. He waves a hand, releasing Bucky's arm back to the super soldier. "You're not bad at it. Just watch me and learn. There are levels of schmooze you've got to pick up, but that'll come with time."


"The more you understand of the business part, the better," Buck says, solemnly. "The Starks didn't get to be where they are just because they were genius designers and engineers. They were looking at things in term of the larger picture - what did the world at large need? What was it willing to pay for? If you don't know the business stuff, you're gonna get screwed over. Look at what Edison did to Tesla."


Tesla. Did Bucky just invoke God? Peter's expression says maybe. But he shakes his head slowly, "This?" He gestures around, "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the opportunity that Mister Stark has given me to intern with Stark Industries, and I love learning and making and…" But he shrugs a little then, "Being rich and powerful isn't important to me. Saving people is. I don't begrudge anyone who is rich, but I've been pretty poor my whole life and am okay with it. As long as my scholarship holds at Columbia so I can get my degree, I'm good. After that? I figure I'll get a job somewhere— I'll probably apply with Mister Stark for a paid job when I have my degree. I'll work. Solving problems. But that's always going to be my second job, my second priority. The Avengers are my first priority." The kid, at this point, simply doesn't have ambition. Not when faced with being a hero.


"It's easier to save people when you have the money and power to make a phone call and get the materials you need," Tony points out. "Learning how to be rich and powerful isn't knowledge wasted, even if all you ever do is work for someone else. It's a mindset." He taps his temple with a fingertip. "Understanding it is key to getting by in this world outside the lab." His expression softens somewhat, and he says, "But you've got time to learn all that stuff. Today's a win. We should celebrate."


Bucky is still examining the arm with the kind of quiet joy one sees on the face of a kid who *did* get the bike he wanted for Christmas. But he looks up at that, before reaching for his shirt and tugging it back on. "We should."


Peter considers Tony's words for a long moment, then nods, accepting them, "I'll watch you, Mister Stark." Then he grins, "Celebration is good. I'll have a beer." And doom will befall them all.


Tony says, "Great! Let's go celebrate." He heads for the stairs, shrugging out of his lab coat to hang up on the way out, along with his goggles. He'll be celebrating with something a little stronger than beer. Don't tell Steve. Beer for the kid, though. Tony Stark's lifestyle is one to eased into, not adopted all at once.


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