[ Bucky's still wrapping his head around the fact that there's a skeleton wearing clothes that's talking to him. With a book of jokes. He's not sure if that's a punchline to a joke somewhere, and he clears his throat. Okay, he can deal with this. Stranger things have not yet happened, but he's positive it probably would in due time. Maybe.

He glances at the tube he's going towards, unsurprised -- Bucky had wondered about the large monster in the tube, asleep just as peacefully as Steve is. ]

I'm waiting for whoever took him to come back. [ He says at last. Someone took Steve and put him in here, possibly hurt him in ways Bucky hadn't figured out yet, because he knows better than anyone else that the most brutal kind of torture takes place in the mind. ] No one would put them in here if they didn't want to use them.

[ Right? But this stranger is reading a book to his friend, and Bucky's confused. He gestures to the book after a moment. ] Does that help wake them up?