James Buchanan Barnes was looking out the largest window in the Wakanda royal palace when king T'Challa found him. It was rare for the former assassin to be alone, away from Captain Rogers. They, understandably, spent much of their time together as they had a lot to catch up on. But at this moment the captain was discussing things with some other team members so T'Challa took this opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about the man he had previous tried to kill.
"Your Majesty," the man nodded to him as he approached, his body too still to look relaxed.
"Please, call me T'Challa Sergeant Barnes."
"It's Bucky," the man answered, "And I haven't been a Sergeant for decades."
He waited as the king joined him at the window. Bucky knew he had been sought out for a reason, he had the patience to find out why.
After a long moment T'Challa spoke. "I looked back over the footage of your escape from the CIA with eyes no longer clouded by a need for revenge. You could have escaped at anytime. Did you really let us capture you just because your captain asked?"
Bucky gave a small smile, "Not exactly, but I knew as long as Steve was around I wouldn't be just disappeared somewhere."
"Disappeared?" The king asked, "Were you worried that Hydra had infiltrated the CIA?"
Bucky shook his head, "It didn't have to be Hydra.. How long do you think it would take for some higher up to decide that I should be out there 'earning my keep'. You don't leave a weapon like me on the shelf."
T'Challa mulled that over, finding it unfortunately all too plausible, before moving on. "I find it interesting that though there were casualties there were no fatalities. I must ask, how does a man with an arm that can punch though concrete mange to fail at breaking bones when fighting an unarmoured opponent?"
"My orders were to escape by any means necessary," Bucky looked unseeing out the window as he answered, "but I wasn't told that there were to be no witnesses. Sometimes, if I'm not told to use lethal force I can, just...not. Most of Hydra learned to be very good at giving specific instructions."
"Work to rule," T'Challa chuckled, "A very interesting form of protest, where one does what is ordered but only what is ordered. You really were fighting them all this time."
"For all the good it did," Bucky turned to the king, " T'Challa, you know I've asked to be put back on the ice. I'm guessing you want to know why." The other man nodded.
"Hydra's messed me up. That's pretty obvious, but until Zemo I didn't realise just how easy it would be for them to take me back. For anyone to take me. I'm dangerous, not just because of what I can do, but because I can't guarantee I could stop myself for doing it. I've hurt a lot of people, I can't risk hurting more if I know a way to avoid it."
"Surely the captain will be able to stop that from happening?"
"He won't. Not if it meant he had stop me permanently. I've only ever seen that man stop fighting once and that was because of me. And even if he did manage to kill me it would break him. I can't do that to him."
T'Challa nodded, "Would you like us to try to fix your arm before you go under?"
Bucky shook his head, look back out the window, "No point."
T'Challa looked sharply at the man beside him, "You do not expect to be woken up."
"Would you?" Bucky continued to look out the window, "Hydra's had 70 years to mess with my brain and even when I'm not under their thumb I'm just causing misery. I don't think I'm something that can be fixed. It's better off for everyone if I was just put away and forgotten about."
"This is tantamount to suicide" T'Challa argued, "I have seen you fight. I've seen you with Captain Rogers, I heard of how you got away from your captors. These are not the actions of a man you wants to kill himself."
Bucky looked at the floor, "What I want hasn't mattered in a long time."
"Bucky," T'Challa said softly, placing a hand on the man's shoulder, "What do you want?"
"I'm so tired," Bucky looked at him with sad and ancient eyes, "I just want to rest."
T'Challa sighed, "I will have my scientists prepare something to freeze you. They will work to rid the rest of the programming from your mind. But if they cannot...you will be safe here, I promise."
"Thank you"