The Avengers still have to deal with numerous villains, some more brainy, some more brawly, but all determined on erasing the team. The Green Goblin once manages to trick them, having invented his own light bending camouflage gear, so he could follow them on a glider. He succeeds in getting into Wakanda, following them to the palace and inside the lab. He has developed a serum to potentially kill the Hulk, but not tried it yet. When some vials for Bucky's treatment are unattended, he adds a few drops of his serum to it, believing they are for the scientist.
As he exits the lab, and tries to enter the throne room instead, he does get caught, but as they interrogate him, he mocks the guards: "Your secret weapon will soon turn into green goo! I spiked the vials that doctor Banner was experimenting with!“ Cap and Iron Man dash to the lab to check in on the White Wolf, right as an alarm goes off. Banner greets them with an outcry, stating: "Something is wrong, his cells are decaying!“ Then they witness in horror, as the flesh of Bucky's new arm is turning black, and the disintegration starts advancing on his body.
They have to lower the temperature down to near freezing point, just to slow down the process and have a chance to even do anything. Steve pleads with the scientists: "I don't care, let him lose the arm, he'll manage, but please guys, for the love of God, don't let him die! Please!“ They eventually manage to stop the serum and counter it by one Banner makes, but Bucky's body is badly hurt. Steve keeps asking the medical team if he can do something, but they always tell him to just wait and hope for the best. They only slowly restart the growth process, and more healing and stimulation treatment, as the damaged body seems reluctant to wake from its frozen state.
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Bucky's vitals don't get any better, and at some point Shuri even sends his data to Doctor Strange, hoping the neurosurgeon can interpret something that might help them. But according to him, the physical attributes should function normally. So they get Bucks out of the tank and try waking him up, just to see how much his mind has been affected. Yet as they carefully up the dosage of adrenaline, trying to make him respond, he doesn't twitch, it only increases his brains activity in the region for stress.
Finally Banner asks the question: "What if he doesn't want to wake up? What if he just lost the will to live? The psyche has greater effect on the bodies healing ability than any medication. And he's been in some kind of dream world for over a month now, what if he likes it there?“ Shuri's eyes widen with realization, and at first she is excited for the possible usage of this circumstance, but it's Tony who startles them by saying: "Well, in that case, this is the worst possible news! After all, he is still a wanted criminal in many countries, and Shield only agreed to protect him, if he was willing and able to fight for them. Not really a nice home to come back to.“
Dr. Cho argues: "But he does still have Rogers! I mean, his old life with him was pretty okay, and he still can share memories with him, so why wouldn't he want to see his friend again?“ "Because he already does!“, Shuri cries suddenly. The scientists stare at her and she insists: "I remember, there were some patterns in his brainwaves, that would be active whenever he tried remembering his childhood, or some memories concerning his friend, and I'm sure I recognized them in his current brain activities. He probably dreamed up a world, where everything is alright, so he can feel safe there, and why should he not have his friend there with him? Maybe he even thinks, he is already done with the treatment, and back home!“
They discuss the idea, deciding to get Bucky back in the tank to keep his body safe. They run some more numbers, compare data from the beginning of his process, and from the time Shuri trained with him to rinse his mind of Hydra's influence. Steve occasionally takes part in their tests, answering questions about his best friends interests and feelings from his youth as best he can, but he still feels helpless, and checks up on his vitals with dread more than once daily. And then at last, Shuri has a proposal for him.
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