Wakanda Villa
Less Than An Hour After Arrival

Sam decided that he would never take having a real shower for granted again, not after his time on the Raft. Pulling the shirt of a fresh set of workout clothes on that he found had been supplied for him in his room, Sam was startled as the piercing sound of an alarm blared to life.

Had Ross actually found them this quickly?

Running for the door, he threw it open and spotted a pair of T'Challa's villa guards running through the far hallway. Following them into the other wing and down a level, he found himself looking into the windows at the small medical area that he figured Polly had been brought to. From inside of the room he could hear the frantic loud voices yelling in Wakandan at the unknown situation. The guards burst through the doors to join others he saw already on alert.

Cautiously stepping inside of the room, he saw that all of the medical staff were off to one side, with now four male guards armed with long staffs focused on something on the ground in the corner. Finally managing a glimpse between their blocking legs, the lone object huddled moved a bit and Sam realized that he was looking at Polly.

"What's going on?" he heard from behind him as Steve and Clint joined him at the door.

"I just got here. I'm not sure," he told him.

They could see that the staff had removed all of the devices from Polly but he didn't understand what was now going on. A single guard from the group aggressively stepped closer towards Polly, probably in hopes of restraining her. That was when her hand reached out and lashed onto his lower leg, exposed just enough due to the tribal armor, to touch his bare skin while her other pulled the glasses from her face.

"Get away from me," her weak and scared voice firmly commanded.

The guard then instantly began to back up without even looking where he was going, not stopping even when he made contact with the bed which rolled with his movements. He was crying out in Wakandan to the other guards and everyone could hear the fright in his voice at what was happening to him.

Without any hesitation, he continued to retreat until his back was up against the wall not far away from them. They all watched as his feet continued to move, as if he was still trying to walk backwards through the item. Sam guessed that until Polly somehow stopped him, he would continue to do so.

"A song about walking 500 miles suddenly popped into my head," he heard Clint mumble as they saw the three remaining guards now a bit more hesitant to get near her, backing out of her reach. Polly had put the glasses back on, guessing the light still hurt her eyes.

"Everyone, out!" Sam then commanded, trying to take control. He'd helped deal with plenty of patients who'd had outburst and he could see that Polly's was from fright, not anger. But the guards did not seem to understand this.

The medical staff seemed to have no problem listening to him as they quickly brushed past them heading for the hallway. The guards on the other hand didn't even look at him, and after a moment of discussion in their native language, their blunt staffs suddenly transformed into spears now aimed at Polly. He needed to stop this before the situation got out of hand and someone ended up hurt, or killed. Using the same path as the guard, Sam made his way towards the scene.

Steve also stepped further into the room, going over to the retreating guard and guided him backwards out into the hallway where he kept moving.

"Clint, keep an eye on him until we get this figured out," Steve requested.

"Come on fella, lets take a stroll," he heard Clint joke with the frightened guard from further away but not taking his eyes from the scene.

"What is happening?" he heard the sound of T'Challa's voice from out in the hallway. Sam saw a couple of Dora Milaje flanking him.

"It seems that something has happened with Polly, but we are not sure what started it yet," Steve told him as Sam got as close to where she was crouched on the floor as the guards would allow. They had not actively stopped him, considering Polly more of an immediate threat.

"Polly? It's me, Sam," he said raising his hands to show that he was unarmed, unlike the guards. "Do you recognize my voice?"

Her head turned just enough so that he guessed she was looking at him, but the strange glasses she was wearing were so dark that he could not see her actual eyes. But after a few moments, he saw her barely give a simple nod.

Turning back to the others, he requested, "Could Polly and I have a few minutes alone to talk?"

Steve looked over at T'Challa, who seemed to already be reconsidering allowing her to stay, for his approval. But after a few moments, T'Challa called out to the guards, commanding that they leave the room. Without any hesitation, they stopped pointing their weapons at her and obeyed their King.

When the door closed behind them, leaving him and Polly alone, he took a few more steps closer, stopping and sitting cross-legged on the floor a few feet away, making sure to be out of arm reach from her. Even that little display had been very impressive.

"Well, I see that they got all of that junk off of your head," he gave one of his charming smiles, trying to go in a more lighthearted direction with their chat. He had expected her to say or do something, but instead Polly just stared at him. Her breathing was erratic, still frightened even with the guards gone. He decided to go with the basics. Putting on a charming smile, "So, now that we have the opportunity…hi, I'm Sam Wilson."

As she seconds ticked by, he calmly waited for her response, getting a bit worried when it was taking longer than he had thought it would. She was probably considering her options for getting out of here. But finally, she spoke in a ragged voice.

"Polly."

Raising his eyebrow in question at hearing her used Ross' name for her, so he asked, "I know that is only what Ross, and maybe Hydra, called you. Don't you want to tell me your real name?"

Polly then gave a firm couple of shakes, indicating she did not.

"You can trust us. We do not want to hurt you," he told her.

"They did," she pointed with a trembling, crooked finger over his shoulder.

Turning his head that direction, he saw where she was looking out of the room's window to the hallway where the medical staff had gathered to watch what happened. T'Challa was speaking with them, learning their side of the story. Something they had done must have frightened her very badly.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked her.

"They wanted 'ta hurt me, drug me. I won't be taken again," he saw her then eyeing at his bare lower leg. The moment that she reached out for his leg Sam pushed his body backwards to prevent her touch. He needed to calm her down before he ended up walking into the jungle by her command.

"Polly!" he called out. "You are not a prisoner here! Those doctors and nurses are not going to hurt you. They only wanted to do an examination to make sure you are healthy."

"There were needles with drugs! Knives 'ta cut me open again!" she managed to get out before her voice cracked while angrily pointing at the window. He was almost sure that he heard a faint accent from her. But it was her words about being 'cut open again' that helped to fit the pieces into place. That was what had scared her into action. "You're lying to me!"

Now was not the time to try and explain any medical procedures to her. What he needed was for Polly to start to trust them. She needed to see them as normal people…or as close as he could get them.

"You know, I couldn't tell you the last time someone called me a liar," he told her with a smile. She needed to calm down, so he continued, "It was probably years ago when my cousin Marty accused me of eating the chocolate bunny he'd gotten for Easter. Turns out, it was his little sister Amber. We figured it out when she walked into the den with chocolate all over her four year old face. I'm more of a marshmallow Peeps kind of guy anyways. I love biting the heads off of those yellow birds. And between you and me, I don't care what anyone says but the rabbit shaped ones just don't taste the same."

Even with the glasses on, he could see the confused look Polly was giving him, as if he were crazy, but he was trying to get her to focus on anything other than what had happened while also trying to earn her trust. But his strange comments seemed to have had the effect on her that he was hoping for. Her breathing had started to even out as she'd listened to his ramblings. Now that she seemed to be a slight bit calmer, he moved back towards her to where he had been. He didn't want her to think that he was scared of her.

"Polly, I know that they," he gestured towards the windows, "did something to frightened you, and I'm sorry that they didn't explain better to you what was going to happen. But I'm sure it was only to perform a necessary medical test to help you, not to drug you into submission. Nobody here is going to hurt you. But whatever they were going to do as a test, it is no longer going to happen. I'll make sure of that until you are ready to find out if Ross did do any permanent damage to your body. I know that you have no reason to trust us yet, but I promise that we are a much better option than either Hydra or Ross. Could you maybe give us the benefit of the doubt?"

Polly's head turned to scope out the crowd in the hallway for a few moments before stopping back on him. After whatever she had been through, he knew that for her to give strangers any type of trust was a big step. His body eased a bit when she gave a single nod.

Smiling, he slowly stood up and really hoped that his next idea for getting a bit more trust worked.

Reaching out while trying to stay composed, knowing this could backfire on him, he held his hand out for her to take to help her stand up. Polly looked at it, and even with the glasses, he could see the look of fright from her. Then she seemed to focus on Steve, as if waiting to see if he would…

"Polly, do you think Steve will hurt you if you touch me?" he calmly asked.

There was nothing but fear coming off of her, giving small nods of her head.

"That is not going to happen. He would never hurt you and neither would I. In fact, none of our group would every do that."

He could see the mistrust as her mind raced to try and accept his words as truth. He could see a lot of rocky road before them as she learned to trust them. Sam started to think that she was not going to believe him. But moments later, she slowly reached out her trembling, slim hand and carefully placed it in his, allowing him to help her stand.

"Now, how about if we get out of this room for a few minutes and you can meet the others. Maybe later on, if you feel up to it, the nurses can try finish up whatever they were doing to see if you are fine medically. I'll even stay with you if that would make you feel better."

Polly slowly pulled her hand away from his, and at first he wanted to keep it, to show her that she didn't need to fear human contact. But this was new to her, and she would need time. He likened it to a type of PTSD only he had no real idea yet what she might have gone through. Maybe once they moved upstairs, he could learn more of her story so he could figure out how to help her.

She followed him as he led her to the door where the others were curiously waiting to see what happened next. He noticed that she once again put her hands behind her back to walk. The guards followed their movements through the window and Sam could see how disturbed they were by what had occurred. He only hoped that it did not give T'Challa a reason to doubt letting her stay here…or make him decide to put her right back into a cell.

Holding the door open for Polly, they stepped into the hallway where everyone was focused on them. He began the explanation before they even had a chance to ask.

"Polly saw the medical equipment they were going to use. She panicked thinking that they were going to drug, incapacitate, and experiment on her," he explained in a lot of detail to Steve who looked over at her standing quietly behind him before he nodded in understanding.

Their attention was then drawn to Clint and the guard that he was trying to contain up against a wall since he was still trying to walk backwards.

"Polly, could you please undo your command on him?" Steve firmly requested pointing at the guard.

They saw the nervous look that she had but Polly slowly stepped over to the guard. Pulling the glasses down only as far as she needed, Polly placed a single fingertip on his bare hand.

"Ignore what I said," she barely managed to say above a whisper.

But the moment she did, his feet stopped. After a few seconds of staring at her with a scared look on his face, he hurriedly moved to join the other guards a bit further down the hallway.

"Thanks," Sam told her as she turned to face everyone that was staring at her again after witnessing that display.

There was definitely an accent to her voice, Irish maybe, as she asked them, "If I'm not a prisoner, then can I leave now?"

He had noticed how dark the lenses were, wondering what color her eyes were considering the short wavy red hair. In this light, he could also see a small speckling of freckles over her cheeks and nose. Her skin was very fair, but since she'd been on the Raft for two years, it was understandable.

For the answer to her question, the group all looked at each other, waiting to see who was going to try and explain the situation that they all found themselves in before focusing on Steve. No matter what else was happening, even being wanted criminals on the run, he was being put into a leadership role it seemed. It also seemed that Polly fate was joined with theirs for now, but nobody wanted to be the one to tell her that.

"There are things that you need to be informed of first. How about we go somewhere so that we can all talk?" Steve requested, turning to look at T'Challa for his lead.

There was a slightly noticeable drop in Polly's shoulders, not liking his comment. Hopefully she would manage to stay calm until they talked.

T'Challa nodded in approval at the suggestion and lifted his arm to indicate which hallway for them to take to head back upstairs probably to the gathering den area he'd seen earlier. He started walking and the Dora Milaje moved to between him and where Polly was, with Steve and Clint close by. The royal guards were not taking any chances with his safety.

Waiting for her to follow, he noticed that Polly looked hesitant to join them. Sam stepped over so that he was next to her.

"Polly, it will be fine. We want to explain what is going on, what's been happening for the past few weeks," he told her. "Unfortunately, it's not just as simple as walking out the front door."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Let's go sit down so that we can talk. That will help explain a lot. We would also like to find out a bit more about you, that way we can know how to best help you."

Polly looked past him towards where the others had paused down the hallway at the bottom of a spiraling staircase. They were waiting to see if she followed of her own free will. After a couple of long seconds, Polly began walking, easing the tension in his shoulders from worrying about what would happen if she didn't. T'Challa may say that she is a guest here, but after that display, Sam doubted that he would let Polly run around his country unsupervised.

But even as she walked, he could see that she was not comfortable being near them. Of course, she didn't really have any reason to be. All they had done so far was get her away from Ross, like he had gotten her from Hydra, and look what Ross had done. Locked her right back up. She was going to have a lot of trust issues that would take more than just words to get rid of.

The villa was set up with the medical area and staff quarters downstairs, protected underground. The construction was more than a bit modern with some of its design, but it was also very sparse when it came to decorations down here. There was only a tribal pattern imprinted into the concrete wall with a natural stone that shone in the light, almost glowing. Even the floor seemed to be made of another type of stone.

Reaching the top of the stairs, he again saw the large overhead windows that had been frosted using some of Wakanda's advanced technology. His room's large window wall had the same and he had used it for privacy while dressing. With a simple push of a button, they would clear back up to reveal the outside. Sam guessed that it was to keep out any prying eyes from seeing the villa's new residences. They should be safe here but hopefully it was just an extra step for security reasons.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Polly taking in the domed decorative ceiling above the staircase before her head turned to the large frosted door in the area. The others were slowly heading down the hall towards an open space beyond but they were stealing glances over their shoulders at their new guest. Past the crowd in front of him, Sam could barely see Wanda, Nat, Scott, and Bucky sitting in the lowered den waiting on them. They must have been told that the situation was under control.

That was when Polly slowed at the top of the stairs and he saw her head tilt to the side as if trying to figure something out. The dull roar of the nearby waterfalls caught his ears. He was continuing to move but seeing her stride stalling, Sam began to worry. She turned to look back at him and then past his shoulder at the entire group was now watching her.

Then the light in the small alcove continued to increase, as if a cloud had moved from partially blocking the sun.

Walking up the stairs behind Sam, she considered that even with them trying to act nice that she needed to get out of here. For all she knew, they were just leading her to a new cell. There was no real decorations at this base, just concrete walls like all the others through the years. It was the lack of windows that worried her the most. She had no idea how far underground she might be this time.

But at least this time she was not shackled. She had obeyed Steve's orders so he had left her free.

When the stairs only went up one level, she gained a bit of hopefulness. That usually meant she was close to ground level. Now she could even hear the roaring of the plane engines outside. She was close to the flight-line!

This was her chance.

Glancing down the hallway past the others leading her along, she tensed up at seeing even more strange looking agents just waiting to help the others take her into custody. She couldn't go that way, walking right into their trap.

That was when the lighting in the domed stairwell began to somehow change. The lights weren't flickering like they needed changing...she knew that sight well. Instead, a distant memory came back to her, one of how the sun would make a room lighter and darker. Inspecting the walls, they didn't look like any concrete or metal that she knew, but they didn't look like windows...unless they had been painted over!

As the brightness continued to grow, she finally spotted a door which blended in perfectly with the walls, the handle being the only difference. Looking back at Sam and the others, seeing them far enough away, she decided this was her best chance to get out of here.

Running for the door, she could only hope that it was not locked and that any guards outside had been ordered to capture her, not kill her.

Sam could only watch as Polly suddenly sprinted for the frosted glass door only a few feet behind her.

"Polly!" he called out to stop her, not sure of where it led or what type of security might be on the other side.

Her hands fumbled to grab the handle and pull it open, making it hard for her to grasp it firmly. Throwing it open, she quickly ran through it without even looking back. He moved to chase after her.

"Sam! Stop her!" he heard Steve yell as pounding footsteps began sounded on the floor heading towards them.

She was prepared to just blindly run across the open concrete landing pad she suspected to be here, then figure out which direction to go...but after only a few steps gauging her surroundings, she stopped dead in her tracks.

There was no large stretch of concrete, no guards with guns aimed at her, no planes or helicopters, no fence blocking her escape.

Instead, she found herself in the most beautiful lush, colorful landscape that she could ever remember seeing. Off in the distance, the engine sounds turned out to be waterfalls which roared with plumes of mist in the air. Blue sky was all around with fluffy white clouds dotting everywhere. Thick green grass was under her feet after having left a smooth pebbled walkway. Tropical flowers and plants of every type surrounded the immediate area. There was a sitting area with normal looking furniture.

And instead of the solid concrete walls of as base as she had expected, there was what she could only consider to be a mansion.

Where was the base they wanted to trap her in? Where were the fences that would hold her prisoner?

Falling to her knees, she could only stare at her surroundings, taking in the sight before her. How long had it been since she'd seen blue? Or green that was not a Hydra uniform? Flowers of red that were not...that hated training room's door color!

Inhaling the deepest breath, there was not a single hint of oil, grease, gasoline, or machinery. Only fresh air!

Holding her palms out, she basked in the feeling as sunlight warmed her cold, pale skin.

She was truly free...and if judging by the voices already behind her, only for a brief moment.

But it had been worth it just to see the outside once again.

Sam was at the door seconds after Polly had gone through pulling it back open.

And what he saw on the other side made him hesitate to go through.

Instead, when Steve and the others reached him after a few more seconds, Sam only put his hand out to stop them from going after her.

"Where is she?" Nat asked trying to get past.

"She's right there," Sam answered as he lifted his chin to indicate outside of the door.

Nat moved to his side so that she could see around him and then she held off from going out.

"What is it?" Scott then asked, too far back to see after having come down the hall to join them. He could see the other's still in the den through the large glass wall.

"Polly's kneeling on the ground," he simply said still watching where she had stopped only about twenty feet after reaching outside.

There was a large patio area closer to the window of the den off to the left side. To the right was the magnificent cliff overview of the waterfalls. Surrounding the entire area's perimeter was lush landscaping trailing off into the jungle.

"Why?" Steve then asked him, looking over his shoulder at her.

"I'm not sure. But we need to remember that she is not our prisoner. Chasing after her like this is not going to instill trust in her," Sam pointed out.

Taking a couple of steps out of the door and onto the stone path, the others slowly filed out of the door behind him, holding a bit back but close enough to hear and be useful if needed. The others opened the den's door and slowly joined them at a safe distance. Sam didn't feel worried that she would attack him, and that there was something unique going on.

And Polly never looked to see his approach. Why had she taken off only to collapse a few feet away on the lawn?

Making a bit of a circle around her to avoid being in her reach since he was not sure what was wrong with her, Sam crouched down so they were at similar heights and just waited for her to speak.

Even though he was in front of her, Polly never once stopped to look at him. She continued to take in her surroundings which were comprised of the inner courtyard garden and high waterfalls off a short distance away. All sorts of tropical plants and flowers were blooming with the numerous trees swaying in the wind. Her hands just continued to sweep back and forth over the grass.

In a simple motion, Polly tore at a handful of the grass and cupped it into her palms. After bring it up to her nose, she began deeply inhaling the scent as if trying to memorize it...or remember it, the idea harshly struck him. Her kneeling form then began to hunch over and he saw that she gently shook from the soft crying coming from her.

"Polly, what's wrong?" he asked.

In a low, unbelieving voice, she stated, "We're not at a base."

He couldn't help the small grin that he gave.

"No, we are not on any base. We're at a villa, a residence of T'Challa's, in Africa."

"But I always get secured at a base," she sadly pointed out while looking up to him.

There was no mistaking the tears running from under her glasses.

Sam looked back at the group, knowing they had heard the comment. All of them looked a bit surprised.

"We didn't bring you here to secure you," he told her. "We are not your captors. We hope that we can be your friends."

Polly turned to look at him as her head furiously shook, her eyes seeming to dart towards Steve.

In a frantic, low whisper as she leaned towards him, "Don't use that word. Never use that word!"

Playing along hoping for an answer, he leaned a bit too and softly asked, "Why not?"

"The rules. I'll get punished and it will get you killed too."

Sam's back straightened at hearing that. There was a painful story to her remark. Had someone tried to help her and been killed for their actions? It seemed that she was still worried about this 'rule', not taking into account that neither Steve or any of them knew anything about it.

Steve started to slowly move towards them, and Sam knew that he had probably been able to hear her comment, even if Polly did not realize.

Crouching a few feet away, just out of her reach, Steve asked, "Polly, do you think that I would hurt Sam, or anyone, if they tried to be your friend?"

He could see the worry on her face as she hesitated to answer him, her eyes seeming to drop to the ground. Steve looked over to the group watching them. Frustrated at the situation and since he didn't get an immediate answer, Steve went to stand back up.

But as he rose, Polly must have taken the action to be an aggressive move as she fell back away from Steve as if expecting a strike from him.

Steve stared down at her for a second before taking a few steps back and away from her, looking a bit unsure as to what else to do.

"Polly," Sam did the exact opposite and moved a bit closer towards her, trying to show that they were not actually scared of her. "Steve is not going to punish you for anything. Neither will anyone else here."

Her head was swiveling around, taking in him and the rest of the group, as if trying to see if anyone disagreed with him. A few moments later Polly moved so that she was no longer cowering in fear but her tense body language stated that she was still hesitant around them.

T'Challa then walked around the group so that he was in front of Polly a couple of feet away, close to Steve.

"I can assure you that nobody in my country will cause you any harm," he calmly and firmly told her. "I have found Steve Rogers to be an honorable man who would not let an innocent come to any harm. And from what I have heard so far of your story, I believe that you are in need of friends like that."

Polly head turned around looking between all of them surrounding her to the others still in the den watching through the large window.

"I can't have friends," she then told them.

Putting on one of his most charming smiles, Sam informed her, "I have a feeling that it's a bit late for that."