This afternoon I was talking with the lovely @brendaonao3 about how âcanonâ post CA:CW hasnât been explored as much with Bucky in Cryo and I came up with the following possible story arc: Bucky finds his own triggers and actively fights for mental betterment while in Cryo.
This uses a lot of metaphor and comparison to sports injuries and healing because that hows my brain works and this is about injury and healing. More explanation and rambling and Bucky Feels under the cut.
It has not been determined in canon how conscious Steve was during his time in the ocean and even if he lost consciousness at some point how long that took. It has also been proven multiple times that he can recover from almost anything. Bucky does not have the fancy serum Steve has but he does have a hackjob version that leaves him scarred but able to survive most things, and importantly HEAL. Those two super soldiers can heal almost anything save missing limbs as long as the wound is given the time, energy and option to heal.
The tricky part about Bucky is that his âwoundsâ are not physical objects or flesh wounds they are repetitive wounds to the brain through electrotherapy, conditioning, torture and who knows what else (I donât want to know what else). To me the conditioning and wiping and constant cryo has acted as mental shrapnel for Bucky. They only allow him out long enough that they can either wipe him (reopen wound) or trigger his conditioning (i liken this to cutting open scars).
Bucky is away from his âhandlersâ and getting his memories back, to follow the metaphor his âshrapnelâ has been removed. His mass of scar tissue and old injuries (the conditioning and latent triggers) are still there. These are still at risk to be torn open or re injured. If someone were to find more triggers or ways to reset Bucky to the Asset. Bucky is now the Winter Soldier, they share experiences and guilt and lives taken but where Bucky keeps those memories and knowledge he also has regained some of the personality and will of from before the fall. He is fully aware that he is not the Asset and can make his own decisions but he also has the ability to be dangerous and he does not ever want that control taken out of his hands again.
This to me is one of the main reasons why Bucky (it was HIS choice) Â makes the choice that he wants to be in Cryo until progress can be made. To him this is being preventative about further injury to himself or other until they can truly re-strengthen the old scar tissue and muscle and decrease the potential of future re injury and further injury in general. Bucky is shown to be very self aware in CA:CW, he is aware of his potential but he is also aware of his current state. Remember, he lived on his own for TWO years to figure shit out and to take the threat that was the Asset out of the Arena. He has his journal and was trying to process his memories and who he used to be be but also importantly who he is NOW. Going back into Cryo is not giving up, it is giving technology the chance to catch up with his injuries without him aggravating the wound. His wounds are mental, consciousness and stress and life can be the equivalent of constant shrapnel. He also is aware what this has done to the team, this team that has so much potential but also a lot of attitudes and a team that is full of flawed characters. All of the Avengers have backstories and all of them have reasons to do what they do and I think Bucky respects that. By taking himself out of the current game he is lessening the aggravation of his OWN wounds but he is also lessening the open wound that is the Avengers at the end of the movie.
Bucky is NOT going to let himself be a tool again for evil megalomaniacs, he is not going to let the bad guy win. He was used as a tool again in CA:CW, Bucky or The Winter Soldier was the open wound that festered on Avengers. This is reverting Bucky back to what he escaped from two years ago. He is not going to continue to let that happen. I believe these are all reasons he went back into Cryo.
Now while Bucky is in Cryo, he is not going to allow himself to be a Damsel in Distress. He is going to be part of his own goddamn recovery story and this is more where my headcanon of a potential arc comes in. It relies around a two pronged approach to Buckyâs recovery. In the land of the conscious, for lack of better words, the team in Wakanda is working on ways to rehabilitate his brain and get rid of the triggers. They are doing the equivalent of being putting together a PT program for his injury and making the needed equipment and technology to support this program.
The second prong is BUCKY HIMSELF. Heâs in a situation similar to when you are in the antigravity treadmill at a PT Center for pulled or torn muscles. The machine takes some of the weight of your body off the affected area so that you can train your muscles back up in a low stress environment.  For Bucky, the full stress of consciousness and environment and choice has been taken away  by the cryostasis and he is being given the time and energy to heal.
So while his brain is healing he also has a low stress option to kind of feel out the muscles and search for the tough scar tissue which is his case would be the triggers.
This ladies and gentlemen finally brings me to the point of this post. What if Bucky uses Cryo to feel out his brain and memories in a low stress low danger environment and FINDS HIS TRIGGERS himself? Â Itâs a 2 pronged approach so that when he is woken up and the crew has a possible way to treat his triggers thatâs the equivalent of a PT regimen Bucky can lead them to the mishealed injuries or in his case to his triggers.
This option give Bucky some ownership over his own recovery. Even physical injury and rehabilitation is a tricky mental game that requires the patient to be focused and to truly want to recover. For Bucky this is his memories and his own will that is what is at stake. He is one tough cookie who has survived through everything that has been thrown at him and he is willing to put in the effort to heal himself but also is not too proud to take the offered help of others.
Bucky is also very smart, so when he wakes up he asks for paper immediately and starts writing. Everyone is surprised that he is so focused and he writes for a while and segments the pages and there are different groups of words and some really rough sketches, almost unrecognizable as actual images. he then shows the paper to them and says "I found them, get them out of my brain, you are the geniuses, I did my job. Now it is your time to do yours."
So in summary Bucky is resilient and smart and awesome and the hero to his own story and recovery! I hope you enjoyed this theoretical plot movement and feel free to come talk to me about these awesome characters all you want!
Also, I am not a Physical Therapist or trainer or anything this is just me using my and my friends sports related injuries and healing and training as a way to flush out a head canon.
