Steve sat in a chair, reading a book, in a Wakanda hospital. His left knee was bandaged tight and crutches were propped up beside him as he sat facing Bucky's hospital bed.
Meanwhile, Bucky stirred awake and focused on his surroundings as best as he could. He felt the several IV's leading into his right arm, and glanced up to see what they were. Saline, a blood transfusion, pain medication, and medication for treating vertigo.
"Hey," Steve whispered as he stood up and hobbled over to him, "How are feeling?"
As Steve stood over him, Bucky had flashbacks of countless doctors leaning over him, cutting him open, and ripping him apart. He flinched and said, "Don't stand over me like that. What year is it?"
Steve hobbled back to the chair and said, "Sorry, it's still 2016." He pulled the chair beside Bucky and asked, "Better?"
"Yeah," Bucky said, "but the book, Steve, where is it?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. confiscated it," he explained somberly, "Tony took it with him when we fled the scene. Last I heard, they're deciphering it as we speak...learning all the things you've done and what Hydra did to you for all those years. Maybe now they'll be more sympathetic towards you." He smiled weakly, hoping to give him hope.
Bucky replied, "Don't count on it. Where are we? What happened to your friends?"
"We're in Wakanda," Steve explained, "in one of their hospitals. It's a country in Africa. My friends are doing alright. Wanda has a good sized hematoma on the side of her head. Natasha wasn't injured, only stunned. Sam has some cuts and bruises here and there, nothing major."
Bucky glanced at him and asked, "What about you? Why are you limping?"
Steve caressed his wounded left knee and lied, "I got caught in the crossfire with Rumlow. No big deal."
"No," Bucky tried to shake his head, "don't lie-ah!" The room spun around him violently and his knees went weak. Nausea rose up from within him.
"Meanwhile," Steve said as calmly as he could, "you got 80 stitches in the side of your head and an inner ear injury. Your ear drums burst in the explosion but they've healed since then. Still, you're going to suffer from vertigo for at least a few days. That and you're missing your arm again."
Bucky glanced down at his left side to see that the metal was gone below his shoulder. He replied, "Been there done that." He frowned and said, "Steve those words are still inside my head. If anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to use me as a weapon, they can."
"Wanda took care of that already," Steve explained, "yeah she used her manipulation powers and said that she closed those pathways in your brain. You'll never be used against your will again even if you hear those words."
Bucky took a deep sign of relief and closed his eyes. In his relief, he fell asleep instantly. Steve couldn't help but smile at him.
There was a knock on the door. Natasha opened it and asked, "How is he?" She stepped inside and saw both of them.
"Asleep," Steve answered, "For now. What about you? How are you feeling?"
She explained, "As he was choking me, I saw some of my life flash before my eyes and uh, from that I've figured out that I wasn't born in 1984 like Zola said."
Intrigued, Steve asked, "What?"
Natasha looked at Bucky in shock as he slept peacefully and said, "I remember now, the red hair he was caressing was mine. I knew him."
After credits
"So it does exist," Everet Ross said as he took the red notebook from Tony, "Captain America wasn't as delusional as I thought. This better be worth it after losing over half of the Avengers over Cap's dear old friend."
"Oh it better be," Tony said as he looked over at Rhodes in a wheelchair.
He said, "I'll be alright. The doctor said that the paralysis is most likely temporary, but it's going to take time."
Everet said, "I'll get an interpreter on this right away. Who knows what insane stuff Hydra wrote in here." He opened different pages and saw countless words, dates, and signatures in Russian.