I forget all of what I had originally imagined when I was having another faux argument about why Bucky was outta pocket.
Basically, I was wondering if when Sam originally decided to not don the shield & mantle if he reasoned maybe the shield itself actually belonged to the Wakandans.
I'm not recalling how exactly Stark daddy and them got the material fer the shield originally. I almost went to say it was Klaus who came through and killing Okoye's husband's parents, but that had to be a few decades at least removed from Rogers time. But it's not exactly a stretch to imagine they had multiple breaches/attacks because everyone always wants what we have, in every universe.
So I did a cursory glance at some wiki fer info and saw that the Wakandans did sell controlled amounts of vibranium every now and then, but if any comic aficionados has more info regarding where the US government got ahold of it, please hop on in to share if you'd like. Anywhos, back to the original point of my post.
What if Sam had made contact with the royal family at the funeral and the short time I imagined they all spent at the cabin deciding immediate next steps, maybe exchanging communication info? Friendly chatter, silly joking and whatnot before being handed the shield. So when he is gifted it, days after the others are gone and it's just him sitting at the lake with it, does he think about returning it?
Maybe in his brief connection with them and the want of all to stay in communication in the work of heroes and defenders, Sam is given a way to maintain a more direct contact. Perhaps not the kimoyo beads yet, but a phone number and days after Steve leaves, he uses it to set a meeting up with the guard, but instead T'Challa, Shuri and Queen Ramonda agree to meet with him, to Sam's further bewilderment in addition to being gifted and abandoned. Both T'Challa and Shuri were still stateside at the time of his call, visiting one of their first outreach centers after the undoing of the Blip, and they offer to fly him home to meet with their Queen mother.
As a welcomed and returned guest, Sam is asked to stay a few days time to allow for their schedules to sync. Of course he is thrilled to do so, given awesome accommodations and roam of the palace grounds with Dora guard. And in typical fashion, he is charming and enthralling his rotating guards with silly stories of his time on the run with Steve and Natasha, a way of coping in this five years removed from his life and them now both being gone. It hurts, but the laughter, it soothes some while with company, but haunts when he's alone in his quarters again.
For two of the days, Queen Ramonda has cleared part of her day's schedule to spend time with Sam, him of course shamelessly flirting and getting a bit of a thrill at her returned flirting even as she bats his harmless overtures away as they walk arm in arm around the palace gardens and schools.
On the day they're finally all able to meet, Sam sobers as he's showed up to the meeting, shield in hand and the practiced, yet still entirely sincere, delivery of holding it out fer T'Challa, "I believe this belongs to you and your family, here, in Wakanda. "
And with a slight shake of the head, "I do not think that is right, Captain Wilson." He's the first to call Sam by this new title and while it sounds extraordinary and heartfelt from T'Challa, Sam still has his own doubts. But T'Challa could see the burden weighing on Sam, one he could understand in being the next in line to lead, a legacy leader himself. "Sam, please, what is it you mean to do by returning the shield?"
Sam stared down at the bagged shield in silent consideration for a few moments. Clearing his throat, he stood upright to address the royal family, "I mean to return a piece of your technology. To be honest I'm not sure how this bit of vibranium came to be in the hands of experimental scientists of the US government. But if any of what makes this shield is from ill gotten methods, then it's only right to give it back to those who guard it. There's enough stolen property on display in museums and private collections both, the latter boasting about the blood spilled to acquire pieces of other's culture and history. I don't want to be another in a long line of people holding onto that which was stolen."
T'Challa nods in understanding, but it is Queen Ramonda that speaks up first, reaching out for the shield. "Come." The single word directive is spoken after she takes the shield, sitting it in her abandoned chair before again reaching for Sam’s hand. He takes it without hesitation, again walking arm in arm she leads him out onto the walkway behind the throne room, overlooking the vastness of Wakanda, with both Shuri and T'Challa trailing them, the Dora guard their shadows. All are whisper quiet waiting for her to speak again, Sam appreciating the moment of awe at looking at the advanced and thriving country.
"For centuries, our people have guarded the secret of who and what we are from the rest of the world and the way greed and hate spread to lay violent and bloody claim over one another. As we learned the capabilities of the precious gift Bast bestowed upon us, it was without doubt that knowledge beyond our lands would welcome those same hostilities and heavy guard to drain our resources, capture our people in a life of enforced servitude.
"And the decision to conceal was decided. As our own knowledge expanded over the years, and increased invasions moving from coastal lands, it qaa agreed by early leaders that some measure of surveillance was needed among the outsiders, to observe them and their patterns to better protect ourselves with their perspective in mind. Small bits of vibranium were mined for selling, to enter the world consciousness in as docile a matter as possible, but not without first testing and installing many failsafes around our boarders.
The stone's properties made us light-years ahead of them, and our planted devices sold with it as a protective casing to bar its believed instability from harming them in travel allowed us to spy on them, to learn which nations to avoid in trade and commerce. Their knowledge of the properties grew very slowly, intentionally sabotaged by our experts to slow it even further.
As we watched the world advances in violence, our leaders took to limiting vibranium's reach again, avoiding those with weapon upgrades and infiltrating their camps to not only destroy the vibranium but the available research as well. We had of course long known of the redirecting prowess of vibranium, its deflection serving us well to mirror the outside world to avoid detection for generations.
Stark and his intetest to turn the vibranium into a shield...
This is months old and I cannot remember where tf I was going sadly. So have a bit of unfinished thoughts on our dear Sam and the shield.
