When I was first taken I bit, I clawed, I scratched, I dug at my cage; trying to escape. Slowly I stopped fighting and time lost all meaning. Freeze, unfreeze and freeze again. My memories of the life I had before slowly disappeared every time they took me out of my cage cage. What were they doing to me? I don't know how long I've been here. I don't know the hour, year, or season. I don't know if it's night or day. It's always cold and dark in my cage. The cold and dark didn't bother me but it was always like this.
I had reached a point where I couldn't remember anything. How long has it been? What did the outside feel like? Did I ever used to be outside? I'm different from the others. The two leggeds, I don't understand their growls and grunts. Their sounds are unfamiliar to me, I don't don't understand them. They growl at me all the time, like they're angry, but I don't know what they want.
I heard a loud bang but ignored it. One of the two leggeds probably blew something up again or they shot each other. It had happened before. I ignored the noise, if the two leggeds in white or the bang sticks wanted me they'd come and get me. After a while silence fell and my door opened. In the door way stood a two legged with a shiny fore limb with a red mark. I looked at him but put my head back down. He growled and barked at me but I didn't understand his growls.
I looked at him, he looked familiar. Perhaps he was the one that had been in the cage with me. I looked at the chain on the wall that was connected to a metal collar around my neck. I put my head back down. I couldn't leave, I had stopped fighting, I couldn't remember if I had ever fought. I must have if I was chained.
Bucky's POV
We were storming a HYDRA base. There weren't many people, but there was a lab set up. They were working on something, or someone. I left the others to see if there was anyone being held prisoner here. The rest of the Avengers could handle this. I found a door that wasn't far from the lab. I opened it to see a form laying on the ground. It turned to look at me. I recognized her, we had shared a cell.
On cold nights we would sleep back to back to keep warm. She never spoke, I don't think she could understand. She was here when I got here. She tried to keep me from fighting. How long had she been here? "Do you remember me?" I asked. She looked back at me again then up at the wall before putting her head down. I looked where she did and noticed the chain. She was chained like a dog.
I walked over to the chain on the wall and pulled it free. "Come on, let's go," I said but she just lay there. I pulled on the chain. She turned to look at me, this time getting up. She walked on all fours, like a dog. Just then Steve came around the corner, holding a large file.
"Bucky, they have a girl here, she's been here since 1920."
"I got her Steve," I said leading her from the room. She had been here almost a hundred years. Why couldn't she understand though? Steve got down on her level and she backed up and growled and hissed at him like a cat and swiped her hand at him, as if trying to scratch him.
"Easy, we're here to save you." She continued to growl.
"I don't think she understands Steve. When I was here with her she never spoke or responded to anything anyone said."
"Bucky, she's got to be in her 20's. How can she not understand?" Steve asked.
"What does the file say?" Tony asked coming over. She growled even more at him stepping behind me. Steve looked through reading.
"She was found living in the wilds of Africa at age 12 and brought here. It says she was living with a pride of lions and would gather fruit from the apes." That explained the walking on all fours. "The file also says it is believed she grew up there, without human interaction." Well there was our answer about her being able to understand and speak.
She didn't understand. She knew what a pull on the collar meant and knew what a gun was likely. "Let's get her out of here." We all started walking back to the jet. She followed without question, even on to the jet. She laid down on the floor at my feet as Barton flew us home with Nat as his copilot. She was so thin and her clothes needed to be replaced.
Steve and the others continued to discuss her as she laid on the floor. Would she let us help her? She was led into the cage for the Hulk. Tony went in to remove the collar and she flipped. She growled, hissed, snarled, swiped at him; anything she could to keep him away from her. Loki stood outside the cage watching and she kept moving to him. "Tony, let Loki do it," I said.
Loki could read minds. Maybe he could figure out how to communicate with her, figure out what she wanted. "IF she wants Reindeer Games, fine by me," Tony said. Loki approached her and she didn't back way. He reached out and put his hands on the collar. She just watched him. He took the collar off.
"She wants to go home," Loki said looking at me. "She doesn't know where home is or what her name is, she just knows she isn't like us and wants to go home." She remembered nothing of her previous life. Tony wanted to run some tests on her and Loki had to show her what was going to be done. She didn't seem to trust Tony. Every time she would look at Tony Loki would laugh. I wonder what she was thinking about him.
After a while she lay down and I went to find her some clean clothes. She was only wearing tattered strips of cloth. Natasha was getting her cleaned up or at least trying to. Her hair was one big mat. It had grown long and received little care. She wouldn't let us near her with anything that could cut it.
When it came time for the test she wore a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. She paced in the lab, still on all fours. She acted like a caged animal, she was breathing heavily, panting pupils wide. I brought her some food and a glass of water. She sniffed at the food before looking at me. She proceeded to ear in a very unhuman like manner. Everyone was watching her, she seemed to ignore that fact. After she ate Tony came to the room and patted the table he wanted her to lay on. She jumped on just like a cat.
"On your back," Tony said as she lay on her stomach. She just growled at him. "Reindeer Games!" Tony yelled.
"What?" Loki asked.
"I need cat lady on her back." That sounded so wrong.
"I'm not your pimp," Loki said.
"Loki," Thor injected.
"Fine," Loki said showing her want Tony wanted. She complied but it didn't look willing.
Loki's POV
It had been a few weeks since Tony's tests on the girl. He was still trying to figure out HYDRA had done to her. She seemed to spend most of her time with me or Bucky. I didn't get why she liked me, no one else in the building did. She was currently in my room looking at a book about Africa. I wasn't sure if she could read it but the pictures held her attention. She got to one that showed chimps, gorillas, lions, leopards, crocs, baboons, and other creatures.
She pointed at it and looked at it. "Home" she thought. "Family." Just then Tony walked in.
"Ha, pride lander, there you are. I need to run more tests."
She growled at him, "Get away from me turtle," she thought. I couldn't stop laughing. She always thought of him as a turtle because of his suit. She could think in an understandable way. She knew what each creature was. She seemed to remember a few things or the pictures triggered something. She had said she remembered nothing from her past. We didn't even have a name to call her.
"Pride lander, let's go!" Tony called again. That's what he had been calling her and she responded to it. She didn't like Tony though. She thought of his as the 'white coats' as she called them. He just didn't have what she called "the lightening bringer". At first I thought she meant my brother, but she meant torture devices.
Girl's POV
I had been at this new place with new two leggeds for a while now. They don't hurt me like the others had done. The turtle liked pointy things and poked me with them all the time. A red furred female was always putting in this thing full of water and washing me. These creatures wore something tight on their skin. It looked weird and they dressed me in it to. The one with black fur and green eyes seemed to be the only one that could understand me. I still couldn't understand them.
They were nice enough. I stayed not knowing where home was or how to get there. Here I was given food, water, a warm place to sleep. They didn't keep me chained like the other two leggeds. I remembered the one with the shiny limb, we had been caged together. He had been hurt, like me. He didn't force me to do things like turtle did. He growled at turtle.
The one with black fur and grren eyes seemed to understand me. I could sense him in my head a lot. He didn't hurt me though, not like the lighting bringer. Every time I saw the lighting bringer more of my life faded away.
Bucky's POV
We still didn't have a name for the girl we took in a few weeks ago. She seemed to already have her favorites among us. She liked me and Loki. She seemed to like Bruce as long he wasn't wearing a lab coat. She seemed okay with Steve, but she didn't like Tony at all. I could tell she was nervous around THor but the others she seemed to ignore.
When we first tried to put clothes on her she fought. She was used to having next to nothing on. She now wore light sweats and tees. She still walked on all fours. She still couldn't understand. We had been trying to teach her, but she couldn't read, write, or understand.
At this moment Steve and I were in the training room sparing. She was watching us, quite intently. She watched almost everyone train. Steve threw a left hook and a right jab as he kicked, almost knocking me to the ground. She was up in an instant, flying towards Steve on all fours. She tackled him to the ground sounding very much like a big cat. She had one hand on his chest as she straddled him, he other hand raised to strike him.
"No! Stop!" I called getting in front of her. Tackling her would only make it worse. She didn't move but glanced at Steve. "We aren't hurting each other." I tried to explain, knowing it was probably useless. She growled at Steve one more time before getting off of him and leaving the room. "I'm sorry Steve," I said pulling him to his feet. He nodded patting me shoulder.
"Don't worry Buck, us sparing probably triggered a memory of when she was with HYDRA and she thought she was protecting you." She always did that when we were caged together. She ended up beaten a lot.
She still slept on the floor. I guess she got used to it and if she had grown up in the wild, then she would have never had a bed.
Girl's POV
I didn't like when the light furred male sparred with the male who had a shiny limb. Their play fighting looked real. I had seen him hurt too many times. I had tried to protect him, but they always hurt him. They made him do things. They used the lightening bringer on him too.
Loki's POV
I watched as the girl looked out the window. When was the last time she was outside? How long had she been stuck behind walls? "Hey Bucky, do you think we could take her to the park?" I asked. Bucky looked at her and watched as she stared out the window. She had yet to experience the outside since being rescued. "I think it may help her," I added.
"Yeah, let's do it," Bucky said. "I'll get the car." I went over to her to explain what was going to happen. I had heard there was a zoo at central park. Maybe that would spark something. If she saw the animals in person, not just in a book. She seemed excited. I don't know if it was to go outside, see the animals, or both. She willingly followed me out to the car and got in. She still walked on all fours. She didn't seem to get how to walk on her feet. People would stare at her for it. I just hoped that's all they'd do.
Once at the park she jumped out of the car and looked at the grass. She carefully started checking things out. It was clear she didn't remember experiencing any of this. She easily climbed the trees and silently moved through the grass. She seemed to be very at home. When Bucky and I got her to the zoo she wanted to join the animals and even tried climbing into the enclosure with them. "We need to call a friend," Bucky said looking at me as I held this young girl. He pulled out his phone and started talking to someone called T'Challa.
He was asking about game preserves and places for protected wildlife. Was he going to release this girl into the wild? How was she supposed to feed herself, protect herself?
Girl's POV
In a few days a new male showed up. He was darker than everyone else here. His fur was short. He seemed to be like the other two males I spent most of my time with. I didn't understand his growls and grunts either.
T'Challa's POV
"This is the girl you told me about?" I asked as the girl padded around my feet. She was sniffing at me.
"Yeah, her file said she was taken from the wilds of Africa. We think she grew up there with no human contact, till she was taken by HYDRA."
"How old is she?"
"We don't know. We know she was taken when she was 12 and has been with HYDRA since 1920," Bucky answered.
"We don't know what they did to her," Loki said.
"Can she speak?" I asked.
"Not in away we can understand and she doesn't understand us. I can understand her thoughts though," Loki answered.
"You're able to communicate with her somehow," Bucky added.
"Not easily." I looked at the girl who seemed to being staying close to Loki and Bucky while watching me.
"Did she ever have any human contact?" I asked.
"Other than HYDRA and us, I don't think so," Bucky replied.
"There is a story of a family in my land who died in a plane crash and supposedly the only survivor was taken in by apes. That was back in 1910."
"That explains the scars on her arms," Bucky said looking at the girl as she pawed at the door. She went over to Loki and grabbed his sleeve in her mouth and pulled him toward the door. She sounded like a lioness calling her cubs.
"She wants out. Bathroom break," Loki said. This girl was clearly used to having a male or a group of them in charge or having them for protection. She looked to Loki and Bucky.
As I watched her I asked the most important question, "What is it you want me to do with her?"
"Take her to a game preserve."
"And you think she will survive?" I asked as we went outside.
"I don't know, but when we got to the zoo she tries to join the animals. I think it's worth a shot," Bucky said.
"How will she react when the two of you leave?" I asked as the girl came back over.
"What do you mean?" Loki asked.
"She sees the both of you as the male lions in her pride, she looks to you for protection, her needs. When you leave her in the wild will you do more harm than good?"
"I don't know but she thinks of the wild as home and the animals as family," Loki replied.
"We do have some lion cubs we are trying to reintroduce to the wild. Maybe she could become part of their pride, but you need to come with her, you'll have to stay with her for a while."
"Thank you T'Challa," Bucky said.
"We'll leave in the morning."
Girl's POV
The next day I found myself in some sort of thing that lifted off the ground. Loki said he had a surprise for me. I slept on this thing, I didn't know where we were going but I had a feeling the flight would be a while. When we did land we were somewhere warm. The sun felt great, there was sand on the ground. I attracted looks as always but it didn't bother me.
I was let in to a space and the males followed. The dark male handed me a small furry thing. I looked at him. What was it he wanted me to do? Loki came over and put it in my hands. The thing of fur moved and made a noise. I was instantly attached. Soon I had four little fur balls around me. I was handed something and shown what to do.
Loki told me it was to feed the cub.
Loki's POV
The cubs were now about seven weeks old and walking around. The girl we had rescued that we now had named Nala was playing with the cubs. Bucky and I were going to stay a bit longer before going home. When the lions reached their first year they would be set into a much large enclosure. Nala had the job of teaching them to hunt. She was their leader. It seemed to be working. The cubs looked to her for everything.
~Two years later~
Bucky and I returned to Wakanda to see how Nala was doing. We were allowed into the enclosure and we called her the same way she called to the cubs. We saw three lioness heads and one male head pop up from the grass and Nala. She ran toward us on all fours and took both of us down. She looked better than ever. She had muscle on her body and a little bit of fat, there was life in her eyes. She wore a doe skin dress that hugged her curves perfectly. It was then I knew she was where she belonged.