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⌖REPORT DATED:NOVEMBER 2, 2009⌖

⌖WHEREABOUTS:LEVEL 7 UP:NEAR A EUROPEAN UNITED NATIONS EMBASSY⌖

Looking back on it, she probably could've avoided that bullet. But she hadn't and so here she is, stuck on babysitter duty. The bullet had gone through her side, but Nickolas Fury just had the audacity to stick her on a primarily solo bodyguard (aka babysitter) mission.

Elizabeth was assigned to escort and protect the royal family of the small country of Wakanda to and from a United Nations meeting and gala. Still, Elizabeth acting slightly reckless in the field meant that Fury wanted to teach her an actual lesson, and so she's posing as the Crown Prince of Wakanda's date.

"I'm going to strangle him," Elizabeth grumbles while waiting outside of the hotel the royal family had chosen to stay in. She's already checked out the driver and the attendant and cleared them for the assignment. The car is armored and as far as anyone knows none of the others participating in the meeting have had any trouble. To fulfill the assignment as planned, Elizabeth had been placed far outside of her comfort zone and into a lavender, floor-length dress with a slit exposing her right leg. Then again, the exposed skin provides a distraction from the gun and daggers attached to her thighs.

The hotel's poor excuse for a protection service draws Elizabeth's attention to the royal family making their way down to the car. As they make their way toward the car, Elizabeth gives the attendant a look that makes him fumble in panic with the door handle before running to get in the passenger seat. Elizabeth can't help but smirk, she enjoys messing with the people she's in charge of.

Elizabeth places a slight smile on her lips as she bows before the royal family, "your Majesties." She doesn't stand until the king nods, and Elizabeth clenches her fist at the doubt in their eyes.

"We were told security would be provided?"

"Yes, Your Highness. I'll be escorting you to and from the Hall as well as going with you throughout the day. There are two agents cleared to drive us to and from and the extra security in the Hall will be enough for me to handle your personal safety."

Elizabeth could see a small grin growing on the hidden princess's face, and Elizabeth almost groans out loud because she can feel the trouble radiating off of the tween. The king and the queen as well as the princess resign to getting in the limo, and Elizabeth used to getting things in order as soon as she can, waves to the agents upfront to let them know to start the car.

Elizabeth turns away from the front of the limo to come face to face with the Crown Prince. The agent's brow raises, "your Highness?"

The prince meets her eyes, lips parting and closing before he climbs into the car. Elizabeth climbs in after him, closing the door and the limo sets off and pulls away from the curb.

The king, queen, and princess sit in the middle of the car, quietly talking among themselves; however, Prince T'Challa practically refuses to move near his family and instead stays beside the agent. In the almost silence of the ride, Elizabeth uses her abilities to carefully scan thoughts of plots against the royal family until the prince breaks the quiet between them.

"Your name, if you will?"

Elizabeth looks to the man in confusion, "mine? It doesn't matter, your Highness. I'm merely security."

"Please, the formality isn't necessary."

"Formality is my job."

"I thought protection was?"

"It's one of my jobs," Elizabeth says, looking away and clenching her fist at her side in trying desperately not to sass literal royalty.

"Like being my date?" The prince has a smirk painted across his lips as the agent beside him whips back to face him, a little color rushing into her cheeks. Elizabeth pulls the reins in on her shock at the cunningly placed comment and raises her brow. T'Challa offers her a kinder smile than the smirk, and despite knowing little about him, Elizabeth finds herself relaxing.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth Freefall."

"Freefall is an interesting last name?"

"Well, your Highness. I am the top in security business. It would be a danger for me to give out that kind of information wildly."

T'Challa goes to respond, a sarcastic retort on the tip of his tongue when Elizabeth freezes. Her hand rushes to her ear with a com hidden inside and she demands to know why they are slowing down. The assistant comments on the traffic, but Elizabeth fires back about their backup routes and the color drains from her face at the news that everything they have prepared is completely stopped.

"Not jammed," she whispers, horror running up her spine, and the prince beside her has concern in his eyes.

"Seatbelts on now," she orders, "get this car anywhere that we haven't planned and as far away from the meeting as possible." But no response comes from the front as the car gets slammed into from behind. The princess shrieks as the limo is pushed into the car in front of them, becoming trapped from moving. Shit, shit, shit, her brain is running forty miles a minute because she's planned missions like this herself when she worked for Hydra. And she knows exactly what's coming next.

"Everyone remain calm and undo your seatbelts, we have to get out of this car," but the family is struggling and panicking and Elizabeth screams at them to get it together while contacting home base but she gets cut off as an explosion rocks the car. The three trying to get out of the middle nearly crumble into a pile together, there's screaming all around them as a second explosion goes off close by.

The royal family look at Elizabeth with fear as she yells at them to follow her immediately. She shoves the prince out of the door and points at a building, ordering him to get there as she helps the rest of the family out of the trapped vehicle.

Freefall quickly pulls out her gun and covers the family as they run toward the building she had pointed out. The driver and attendant are dead, she can feel the rush of pain and death that follows as Hydra puts a bullet through each of their heads. She throws her right arm up just in time to deflect several bullets and her thoughts are strained as she begins to push her abilities to their limits. A fog begins to descend from the sky, wrapping the towers in a milky substance that makes it hard to see the ground under them. That doesn't deter Hydra's snipers though, and Elizabeth takes a bullet to her left shoulder as she pushes T'Challa out of its path. Another bullet burns into her calf as she covers the queen and forces the door closed behind them. She uses her powers to break the system to keep it forced shut for a minute more.

Elizabeth tears her heels off as they make their way up the fifty-something stories. The door breaks down as they reach the twentieth floor, but it only takes a second for Freefall to press the detonator on the heel of one of her shoes before it hits the neck of the first agent to burst through. One, two, three. An explosion shakes the building's foundation and Elizabeth gently tilts Shuri's head back to going up the stairs before she can see the carnage below.

Stopping on a platform around the thirty-fifth floor, Elizabeth orders the family to keep going and that help will reach them as soon as they reach the top. She presses the detonator on her other heel and drops it over the side and watches as it blows through the stairs beneath her, and separates the men beneath her from them once again. Occasionally Freefall throws a dagger down at the men until she throws her last one, but they're catching up to the limping agent and the tiring royals.

Elizabeth's only goal is to get them to the quinjet that will meet them on the roof safely, and so she pulls out her gun and starts shooting around the forty-seventh story. Gunfire begins to blast toward them as Hydra closes in and Freefall resorts to throwing her handheld Glock (knocking one of them out) and drawing enough kinetic energy from around her to create a shield.

The gasping royals reach the roof first and are quickly escorted by a SHIELD team into the quinjet that is prepared to take them to the army base these operations are coming out of. Freefall works to lock and block the door, she knows that no matter what she does it will only offer them a few more minutes. A short-lived breath of relief rushes through Elizabeth at the sight of her SHIELD team getting the Wakandan family on board. It gives her just enough time to signal to the pilot to take off, and she turns back to the door as it's assaulted by Hydra on the other side. A shout breaks her focus and she turns back to the jet in concern only to see the door finally closed as it rushes away.

She can feel the bullet in her shoulder beginning to burn again when Hydra finally gets the door down. But Freefall only grins as she looks at the men who seem to freeze at the sight of the single woman standing in front of them. Elizabeth rolls her shoulders, large reddish wings shimmering strong and eagle-like behind her. (Strucker had been furious when during the testing of her kinetic powers took to taking this form. He had thought of them as a flaw, especially when she used them to attempt to escape that one time).

A strong gust of wind blows the Hydra agents backward and tumbling over their limbs as the kinetic wings flap as she takes off. Luckily for her, the wings aren't physically connected to her so her shoulder doesn't feel any pain as the wings pound against the air.

The quinjet sets down at the secluded army base they have been working out of. Elizabeth lands in a separate field, her wings fading into crimson wisps and she winces at her throbbing injuries.

The royal family is being escorted from the jet on the landing platform. Only the prince is trying to find out why they left Elizabeth behind. He's arguing, confused and rageful at the fact that they abandoned their own agent, someone who he knows took a bullet for him.

A soft word fills the com in Elizabeth's ear and she smiles and her eye flutter closed before she makes her way toward the medical bay, a bloody footprint trailing behind her.

She sits awkwardly on a hospital bed, shoulder bleeding steadily and her calf becoming numb. A nurse is taking care of each bullet wound, the medical staff is well aware to not offer any kind of help other than painkillers and taking care of the wounds. A smile reaches Elizabeth's lips at the sight of the familiar redhead with her arms crossed stalking toward her.

"Are you alright?"

"Just two bullets and a couple grazes, Tasha."

"That's a lot, E."

"Not to me," Elizabeth offers her a grin as she stands. The dark spots swarming her vision have faded and she's ready to go to the debriefing.

Natasha watches Elizabeth settle down into a wheelchair, eyes full of concern for her friend who's trying to act like she's fine. The pair begin to walk in the direction of the conference room that has been set aside to keep the royal family.

"Coulson and Clint can handle the debrief if you would rather just get on the jet."

"Despite them having met me a few hours ago, I feel bad. We both know I made the situation thirty percent worse by simply being there."

"Elizabeth, it's not your fault that that organization-"

"They're still watching me, Natasha. We shouldn't pretend like they aren't sometimes. Besides, I'm bound to apologize to them for yelling at them during the near-death experience anyways."

Elizabeth sighs, shifting in the chair and trying to ignore the frown growing on the redhead's lips as she pushes her into the conference room silently.

The two agents aren't even noticed as they stay by the door until Elizabeth asks if everyone is alright. The six turn toward the door and T'Challa's jaw drops open at the sight of Elizabeth. She's sure that she's a sight; the lavender dress is tattered around her feet stained with blood that may or may not be hers and a handful of bandages around her deeper wounds. But she's grinning, head tilted, and a cocky look in her eyes (she knows she'll be getting an earful from Coulson later, but it's worth it to see that the family is safe). Elizabeth sits near Coulson for the rest of the debriefing, mind wandering into far-off places of questions and concerns, most pressing of which: why would Hydra want to get their hands on the royal family of a small country?

With the meeting over, the royal family leaves to be taken home and Elizabeth's team leaves, Natasha whispering that she'll come and get her when they're ready to go. And alone in the room stand the prince and the agent.

Elizabeth meets his eyes with a gentle smile, positive that he has questions that they both know that she cannot answer. T'Challa walks over to her, stopping to where he's right in front of her, and towering over the agent.

"Agent Freefall."

"Your Highness."

There's a playful smirk on her lips and a light in her eyes, and he can't help but match her energy with a little teasing.

"I did ask you to drop the titles, did I not?"

T'Challa squats in front of the woman, he doesn't want her straining her neck to look at him. He doesn't feel comfortable looking down at her when she has that stubborn light in her eyes. And she can't decide whether he's being stubborn or brave when he rests a hand on one of the arms of the chair she's been confined to. They're almost too close.

"You're the one calling me Agent."

His eyes sparkle, Elizabeth can see him fumbling with something in his palm.

"Elizabeth, thank you for keeping us safe."

Her heart seems to skip when he says her name, and she has no clue what this pounding in her chest is.

"That's what I do, T'Challa. I apologize for getting your family stuck in that position in the first place."

"I think that the fact that you got us out of there single-handedly proves that an apology isn't necessary."

Heat floods his cheeks and he prays to all his ancestors that she can't tell. (He wants her to say his name again.)

"I hope my boss thinks the same as you do."

"Well, I hope you will accept this as a thank you."

T'Challa tries to press a piece of paper into the agent's hand and she immediately tries to refuse.

"I can't, I don't do my job to take people's money like this-."

"It's a good thing it's my private number then."

And her eyes rush to meet his, mouth falling open. His hand shakes as he gently tips her chin back into place with a sly smile. And suddenly he's incredibly conscious of how close they are so he stands and offers to push her out to the airfield.

Before he leaves her side, he leans over to whisper one more thing as he folds her fingers over the little scrap piece of paper.

"That we may speak again, Agent Freefall. And if I may hope, meet face to face."

"That we will, Prince T'Challa."

She's unsure of what this pitter-patter in her chest is, or the disturbing goo her stomach has turned to. But she knows that it feels like flying and she wants it to stay forever.

T'Challa looks out fo the window of the helicopter his family is riding home in. A member of their royal guard sits across from him, watching the army base as well. He can barely hear her insult Elizabeth and tries his best to ignore it.

He won't blame her for being chosen to protect a family that has a hidden mountain of priceless metal and world-altering technology. And T'Challa has no clue how he understands this tightness in his chest. He knows what this feeling is, these butterflies flying in his stomach.

He's never felt like this with someone else before. Oh, and it's against all of Wakanda's rules. Against all of his parents' boundaries.

But when he sees the SHIELD quinjet take off in the opposite direction. When he feels his phone that's pressed against his leg buzz, his heart soars. And when he reads the first awkward message from the agent, even when he has no idea how she caught his eye.

The rules suddenly seem so bendable...

Elizabeth stares up at the helicopter going in the direction opposite she will head, a smile dancing on her lips as she glances down at her private cell. Clint comes up behind her, pushing the one women guard up the ramp and into the quinjet. She presses send and watches as her awkward little message is read.

When the quinjet takes off, heading for the only high-ranking SHIELD Director that the four can get away with yelling at (and Nickolas Fury will definitely be getting an earful) she can feel her phone vibrate in her lap.

The message has one of the most sarcastic replies she's probably ever received but she's grinning like she's gone insane.

She shouldn't be texting a prince, only when their eyes met, she knew that something was different. He's different.

Even with nerves eating her up inside and a past ready to chase her wherever she runs, this one little secret will be worth bending the double sets of rules on her shoulders. Because she has this feeling in her gut, that beyond everything, he could be worth it.

⌖𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙥, 𝙄'𝙢 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙. 𝘼𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙔'𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙝 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙏'𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖. 𝙇𝙄𝙆𝙀 𝘼𝙃𝙃𝙃𝙃𝙃𝙃𝙃𝙃!!!!⌖

⌖𝘼𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙖𝙮... 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙙 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠? 𝘼𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜? 𝙑𝙊𝙏𝙀𝙀! 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙮'𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚.⌖

⌖11-11-2020⌖

AHHHH!! okay so our cute little lovebirds have met and I am beyond excited!! they're so cute together after this and they will forever have a place in my heart.

we also got to see a lot of Elizabeth's skills and personality in this very exciting chapter. y'all also got a glimpse into her powers and how she's able to use them!! Elizabeth may have ended up with quite a few powers from the near-constant experimentation BUT she's not great with all of them. her kinetic abilities work well for little things, shields, and her "wings". her ability to manipulate weather stops at about clouds, fog, and maybe a little change in temperature or rain/sun.

ANYWAYS, we're officially about 5 or so chapters away from getting into "The Avengers" and you'll actually get to see how chaotic these seven are when they're all brought together!! in the meantime there will be no more flashback chapters just a few necessary scenes that lead up to where "the Avengers" takes place!!

I hope that you liked it!! please comment and vote, it really does help me keep motivated!! oh and have these manips of Elizabeth and T'Challa if they hadn't been attacked my Hydra and actually had (got) to pretend to be a couple <3