Beginning of Black Panther

A week later, T'Challa took out human traffickers alongside Nakia and Okoye in time to get back to Wakanda and prepare for his ceremony to become King. While this was happening, Shuri officially created Bucky's new vibrainium arm and attached it to him when he was under anesthesia. He woke up under her care in her lab.

"How is the White Wolf feeling?" she asked, standing to the left of him.

He looked down at his new black metal arm with golden spaces as he slowly moved back into consiousness. He remembered the first time he got his new metal apendage and strangled the man who gave it to him, only to be knocked out against his will.

"The grogginess is wearing off fast," he replied, "but I'm not in pain."

Shuri explained as she walked around the table to his right, "I tried to do the surgery delicately enough so it wouldn't hurt. I can see by all of your scarring that Hydra did not make the same consideration. Anyway, the black parts are vibrainium while the solid gold parts allow for flexibility and dexterity."

He sat up and asked, "This is real gold?"

"Yes," she said, "so I was thinking, in order to become a better person overall from now on and for you to live in the present and for the future, do you have any goals? Any ideas on who you want to be and how you want to live?"

"I never want to kill a human being ever again," he answered.

Instantly regretting asking such a question, she nodded slowly in agreement and said, "Alright, that's a good start. You can work on that and think more about it later on your own time. For now, my brother is coming back in a few minutes and my mother wants me to greet him before the ceremony. Do you want to show him your new arm?"

Bucky glanced down at it again and held his left hand in his right. Still unsure, he confessed, "I don't know."

She said, "You're still not used to making descisions on your own much, huh."

He stood up and said, "You should have seen me before, I couldn't even decide when to eat nevermind what I should eat when I first ran away from Hydra and started remembering everything that's happened."

Shuri got a call on her bracelet from her mother. "Shuri," she said hastily, "T'Challa should be here any minute. Get up here!"

"Can I bring White Wolf?" she asked.

"Sure why not," she said, "just hurry up and get here already."

"Coming, Mother," Shuri hung up, turned back to Bucky and asked, "Want to come?"

"Why not," he said awkwardly.

Outside of the palace, Ramonda and Shuri stood next to each other and Bucky stayed a few feet behind them out of respect. T'Challa walked up to them with Nakia and the Dora Milaje.

Nakia said, "Queen mother, Princess, my comfort for your loss."

"Thank you," Ramonda replied, "it's good to have you back with us."

Okoye said, "Ayo, take her to the River Province in preparation for the ceremony." She nodded and took Nakia away.

Shuri asked, "Did he freeze?"

"Like an antelope in headlights," Okoye replied as they laughed at him.

T'Challa asked, "Are you finished?" She walked off with the rest of the body guards. "I'm surprised my little sister wanted to come out and see me again," he added, looking at Shuri.

"Mother told me to," Shuri replied, "and I'm here to show off White Wolf's new arm." She gestured to Bucky who smiled awkwardly at them.

Bucky outstretched it his arm to show him better. T'Challa said, "It looks great. I'm sure it'll be useful for you. Do you like it?"

After an awkward moment of silence, Bucky answered, "Yes."

"You don't have to say what we want to hear," T'Challa said, "you're allowed to speak the truth and make your own decisions on your own behaf."

"I don't know what to feel," Bucky confessed.

"I like that answer," T'Challa replied.

Shuri interjected, "I also made updates to your suit."

"Updates?" he asked, "It's perfect the way it is!"

"Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved," Shuri replied.

Ramonda said, "You can discuss that with your brother later, Shuri. For now, this man needs to be dealt with accordingly." She gestured to Bucky.

Shuri said, "Of course, Mother. White Wolf, where do you want to spend the day?"

Bucky froze. He asked, half panicked, "I have to decide?"

"You get to make the choice," Shuri said encouragingly.

Seeing him beginning to panic, T'Challa said, "Your options are to be locked inside of the privacy of your own bedroom or to be allowed to visit the nearby village, just know that you will be heavily monitored if you chose that option."

Bucky nodded, understanding his options, and said, "My room is fine."

As Shuri motioned for Bucky to follow her back inside. T'Challa said jokingly, "I can't wait to see what kind of updates you have for your ceremonial outfit!" Shuri flipped him off as she walked away.

"Shuri!" Ramonda shouted.

"Sorry Mother!" she replied as Bucky opened the door for her.

While everyone was at the ceremony, Bucky was locked in his bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. He looked over at his desk from his bed and saw the red notebook staring back at him. He remembered what T'Challa said to him on that mountaintop in Siberia. "Do with it what you want, when you're ready."

He wanted to throw it away. He wanted to never see it again. He stood up and walked over to it seemingly resting in place but in his mind it was ready to attack him at any moment. He lifted the notebook up, even knowing it couldn't hurt him, and placed it in both of his hands. His new arm didn't know the blood, or the pain, or the screams of agony as someone died, yet it still felt like it knew this thing used to control him.

Bucky lifted it over the empty trash can next to the desk and prepared to toss it in as if it was nothing to him. That's where it belonged. That's where it needed to be. Gone. Out of his life forever.

He hesitated.

Why was he letting this nightmare control him?

Why couldn't he let go of it and move on?

After taking a deep breath, he threw it into the can, but it bounced off of the side and tipped the entire thing over. The notebook hit the ground with a small thump.

He couldn't do it. He failed. That damn book still controlled him and it knew it.

Bucky took a deep breath, painfully closed his eyes, and held back tears as best as he could. Maybe that moment wasn't the time but would he ever be able to let go of the pain from his past?

Hours later when the ceremony was over, Shuri walked up to Bucky's room. Before she could knock, Bucky said through the door, "You can come in, Shuri." He was still sitting on his bed, disappointed in himself.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"Your footsteps," he answered, "I heard you walk over to the door."

She unlocked the door and said, "My brother's officially the new king, not that that's surprising or anything. I have some things to show him in my lab, do you want to go down there with me or stay locked up in here?"

Bucky glanced at the notebook still on the floor and said, "I'll go down there."

"Great," she said, "decision made. Come on."

Shuri and Bucky waited for T'Challa to show up in her lab later. When he walked in, she jokingly bowed and said, "My king."

"Stop it," he said, "stop." They did the Wakandan salute.

Bucky asked, "Does that mean something?"

"It's our salute," Shuri replied, "here." She did it again and watched him do it awkwardly back at her. "You'll get used to it," she said.

As they walked down the stairs together, Shuri explained, "I've already sent a car ahead to Busan, South Korea for you."

"South Korea," Bucky muttered. As he had a suddenly flashback of the 1950s, his face shifted to horror. He remembered what he did and who he killed. He shook it off and saw both T'Challa and Shuri were looking at him out of concern.

T'Challa asked, "Are you alright?"

"No I'm fine," he said hastily, hoping he wasn't bothering them with his problems, "I am. I swear. I just...I think I had something to do with North and South Korea. That's all. Sorry. Carry on."

"It's alright," Shuri said empathetically, "anyway, brother, who are you taking with you?"

"Okoye," T'Challa answered, "and Nakia."

"You're sure it's a good idea for you to bring your ex along with you on a mission," Shuri asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

He said as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "Yes, and you'll be on call as back up should we need your help."

"Yes," she said under her breath, then continued, "I have some awesome technology to show you brother. These are communication devices, unlimited range, you can use on your mission and check this out. Remote access kimoyo beads with direct access to my operating table."

T'Challa walked away and asked, "And what are these?"

"The real question is what are those!" Shuri shouted excitedly as she pointed at his shoes.

Completely surprised from that interaction, Bucky said, confused, "...Shoes?"

"It's a meme," Shuri replied as she turned to him, "from Vine, or the internet in general by now."

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"It's from a meme," she repeated.

"Maim?" he asked, still totally confused.

"Meme," she explained, "spelled M-E-M-E."

"That should sound like may-may," he said, "or possibly mee-mee...meh-may?"

T'Challa scolded, "Don't teach him meme culture, Shuri! You're trying to help him, not destroy his brain."

She playfully swatted at him and demanded, "What I need to know is what are your toes doing in my lab?"

"I like my royal sandles," he explained as he showed her, "it makes my feet feel free."

Shuri replied, "I have something better. Try these." She put the vibranium shoes on the ground for him to try. "They're completely sound absorbent and from the old movie Baba used to watch, Back to the Future."

"Interesting," he said, trying them out.

"Guess what I call them," she asked, then said, "sneakers."

Bucky asked, still confused, "Isn't that what they're already called?"

"That's the joke," she said, "because you can actually sneak around in these and not regular ones. Get it? You're not used to puns, are you? Never mind. Over here I have the new suit designs. The entire suit is inside of the necklace."

They watched as it grew over the manikin before them. Bucky, for one, couldn't believe his eyes but didn't say anything as this was clearly normal modern technology for both of T'Challa and Shuri.

T'Challa said, "I'm supposed to be stealthy in the suit, not flashy."

"It looks great!" Shuri said, "Yeah, White Wolf? You agree?"

"Yes," he said, and nodded once, still in too much awe to know what to say, "great."

"It gets better," Shuri explained, "it's designed to hold the kinetic energy for a few seconds and redestributes it across the suit. Hit it." She watched as T'Challa kicked the suit and the manikin flew across the room into the wall. "Not that hard, genius! I invite you to my lab and all you do is kick things around!" Shuri yelled as she ran over to it.

T'Challa said, "You said to hit it, you didn't say how hard."

She calibrated it with her ipad and motioned behind T'Challa for Bucky to back up. "Try now."

"Are you recording this?" T'Challa asked.

"For research purposes," she replied, trying to hide a smile.

When T'Challa kicked it, we went flying across the room in the other direction this time. Bucky was both equally impressed and glad he wasn't dealing with that suit against him anymore.

"Delete that footage!" T'Challa said hastily.