ONE
It was one of those strange days for Evelyn as she slipped her arm through her black fitted blazer and entered her office. A mutant, she could move things with her mind and most people who knew this had asked her if she was an avenger. She'd quietly shake her head and smile. Evelyn Ross worked for the CIA. And she was very proud of it. It did come with a few rules. Mainly that she couldn't use her powers in the field which made it necessary for her to train herself for combat. Although it didn't make much sense. Her powers could be useful. But maybe the world was getting tired of enhanced individuals. And as much as she liked the Avengers she didn't want to be a part of their team. She was happy taking out terrorist organizations. They could take care of the weird stuff.
This particular day had been odd simply because the winter soldier had resurfaced after being off the grid for two years. A lot of doubts crossed her mind when she thought about it. The winter soldier didn't really seem like someone who would be careless enough to get his picture taken. And why now? And why the UN? It really didn't make any sense. There was no rhyme or reason to it. But it happened and right now the captured assassin was on his way along with Captain America and one Sam Wilson. Tony Stark and the infamous Black Widow waited in the conference room as she looked through her emails.
Her phone buzzed. A text from her subordinate told her that the Wakandan Prince was involved in the mess somehow. T'challa. She recollected. The man had only recently lost his father. She didn't like it though. Involvement of a royalty would only make this already tangled mess even more tangled. Plus she wasn't really sure she wanted to deal with an entitled prince while they handled the Avengers problem. It was quite a shame though. These people, the Avengers had done a lot of good and while she wasn't apathetic to the people who lost their lives in the explosion in Lagos, she didn't like restricting the Avengers. Especially when they had saved the world from alien invasions and homicidal robots. But who was she to complain? She had a job that she wanted to do properly. And as of now, her job entailed arresting the men who had only now reached according to the ping from her phone.
Evelyn walked out, straightening her blazer and met Sharon Carter halfway. She could see a glimpse of the winter soldier being taken into custody. He was kept in a glass box. Sharon introduced her to the Avengers.
"This is Evelyn Ross. The deputy task force commander." Evelyn plastered a smile on her face but she doubted it was genuine. She already felt a hint of sarcasm flowing through her features even without her trying. "What will happen to him?" Steve Rogers asked without wasting a moment. Evelyn tilted her head and the smile faltered. Well, now she knew he wasn't in the mood for any formalities. This just became a lot easier.
"The same thing that will happen to you. Psych evaluation and then extradition." Signaling Sharon to take the fugitives to their allotted rooms, she walked towards the Wakandan prince. "You should be more careful your highness," She smirked at him. "You could have compromised this mission."
T'challa looked down at her and smiled even though she could see something menacing in those dark eyes. "From what I see, without me, your people couldn't have caught that man." Evelyn knew he was right but that didn't mean she wanted to bolster his ego further by admitting it. "And that's the only reason why there won't be any charges held against you. I got a look at your suit. Vibranium weave." She waited then, trying to gauge his reaction.
Even though the Prince did not show it, he was impressed how she had already taken a good enough look at his suit and recognized the vibranium. Not many people had realized that on the first look. But then not many people had come close enough. "You should realize that this puts you under the court's jurisdiction. But I will keep this a secret for now."
"What do you want in exchange for your discretion?" T’challa asked. He knew there wasn't any point in denying what she knew was true. He was simply glad she didn’t inquire much about vibranium. Evelyn turned around and asked him to follow her. "Not much right now. Just for you to stay in my office till everything is sorted out." She stopped, opening a door to her left. She turned to him and gave another sweet yet mocking smile. "Don't leave and don't get in my way." Her emerald eyes shone brightly and T’challa nodded. He could respect a woman like her. She only wanted to do her job. Stepping in, he scanned the office and realized that it was sans any personal belongings. No photographs or other trinkets. There was a laptop on the table beside a phone and a pen stand. He eyed Evelyn as she quietly gestured him to sit on a coffee brown couch right across from her workspace. She herself took a seat in her chair and switched her laptop on. She was probably writing a report on the mission but he couldn't tell. It was still very strange how there wasn’t a single family reminder anywhere in her office and T’challa considered asking. But then he had somewhat promised her that he won't get in her way. So he relaxed on the couch and pulled his own phone out.
The pair had settled in a comfortable silence and there wasn't a single word spoken between them. T'challa looked up from his phone as Evelyn tried stifling a yawn and rubbed her eyes. She looked far too young to have reached to her rank in the agency. She must be exceptionally talented. He must have been staring too long and she must have noticed because now she was looking at him with an eyebrow arched up in question. "Do you want to ask me something, your highness?" She asked tucking her brown hair behind her ear. Evelyn didn’t feel flustered easily. But for some reason this man with his thick accent, dark eyes and calculated smile made shivers run down her spine. Beautiful as he was, she couldn't help but feel wary of him.
T’challa, now broken out of his trance had to formulate a reason why he had been studying her face so intently. "I was wondering how a woman of your age made it this far into the agency." His question made Evelyn smile a bit and she slowly shut the lid of her laptop. "To put it simply I can do things not many people can do."
T'challa frowned not entirely satisfied with her reply. "Like giving vague answers?" He quipped. A short laugh escaped Evelyn's mouth. T’challa felt something flutter in his chest. "It’s just that I'm not allowed to talk about it. But then I am already breaking rules today,” she shrugged, “I am a mutant."
When T'challa nodded, clearly interested in learning more, she gestured to the doorknob and twisted it. He looked at the door and then back to her, impressed and a bit glad that she had chosen to show this part of her to him.
They exchanged smiles before the power grid went out plunging them into darkness. "What the hell!" She mumbled as she opened a drawer. "Let me get my flashlight." T’challa wrapped his fingers around her slender wrist. "No time for that. We have to get out."
The lights of the hallway were dimmed. Evelyn was thankful for the hand securely wrapped around her own wrist which kept her from falling or running into someone. It was all a chaos out there. Her feet came to a halt when she heard one of her subordinates speak to her in her earpiece. T'challa stopped too when he saw her expressions change from confused to horrified. "Barnes has escaped," she spoke when he looked at her questioningly. She felt his grip loosen on her wrist and realized he wanted to go after him but he still hadn't moved. "I won't say anything," she whispered when she realized what he needed to hear. "But we have to catch him."
The doctor who took Barnes's psych evaluation was nowhere to be found. But Evelyn was positive that he had done something terrible. Barnes had not resisted at all once he was caught. In fact, he appeared uninterested as if he couldn't care less what they did to him. And yet now when she and the prince saw him, he had been choking the black widow, not showing any signs of slowing down. Before she could move, T'challa ran towards them and kicked him. Natasha coughed as she clawed at her neck. Evelyn helped her stand up and rushed towards where their prisoner was still holding his own against T'challa. Barnes punched him in the stomach with his metallic fist and T’challa staggered back due to the blunt force. Rules be damned, Evelyn psychically forced Barnes to stay in a place, not letting him move. She almost had him levitating in the air before he freed his metal arm and threw a table at her. Her concentration from the soldier broke apart as she diverted it to the table to stop it from hitting her in the face.
Evelyn bitterly realized that they had grossly underestimated Barnes and overestimated their personnel. Even T'challa, without his suit, was a bit rattled. He didn't stop though as he jumped over the railing looking for the escaped soldier. It didn't matter now. Secretary Ross was here and she was on her way to listen how incompetent she had been. She could argue that they had asked her to make sure T'challa didn't create any problems for them. But it didn't matter. He wanted to blame someone. She was the easiest target.
To her relief, he was speaking to Stark while Natasha stood near them and the conversation was quite heated. She easily faded into the background. After Ross had left, she walked up to the pair. "You won't be able to find them in 36 hours. Well, not alone." Natasha looked at her and while she might have disagreed with Evelyn, she didn’t show a single emotion as to what she really felt. To Evelyn’s surprise, she nodded. "You are right Evelyn, can I call you that?" Natasha asked with a smile. She nodded.
"I saw you there. You’ve got some tricks up your sleeve," Natasha continued. "You could be helpful." Once she realized what Natasha was implying Evelyn shook her head, "I am walking on thin ice as it is with that stunt back there. My boss has already hit the ceiling with me. But I know someone who could be willing to help you guys out."
For the first time, Tony looked at Evelyn and regarded her with a tilted head. "As a matter of fact, I too have someone. Where's yours?"
Evelyn intrigued, nonchalantly replied, "Downstairs. Yours?"
Tony gave her one of his classic smiles.
Evelyn quietly waited for T’challa and his security detail near his car. When he did arrive, he gave her half a smile. The woman accompanying him didn’t look very happy though. "Move. Or you will be moved." Her voice almost made her believe that the woman will attack her any second.
"As entertaining as that would be," T’challa interrupted although with a smirk. "Your people underestimate me," Evelyn said with a crooked smile. "Do not worry, Miss Ross. You impressed me even before I saw you in action." A small blush began to creep up on her face and neck on T'challa's blatant compliment. "Although Ayo doesn't find Americans much tolerable," he added, internally satisfied with Evelyn's reaction to his attempt at flirting. It was no secret that T'challa had always been a ladies man, even when he didn’t try. And Evelyn was a very impressive lady indeed. She smiled at him and shook her head seemingly agreeing with him. "I suppose not many people are fond of us right now."
She cleared her throat, remembering the problems she had to face, being a mutant and all. Her smile faltered and she tried to get back at the matter at hand.
"You're going to go looking for him, aren’t you?" T’challa tilted his head at Evelyn's question.
"We could help each other."
T’challa regarded her for a moment, an amused smile forming on his face even as he ignored the slight constriction he felt in his chest when she regained her professional tone.
"You can get Barnes back if you collaborate with the Avengers. They can help you find him," she continued.
"I can find him on my own. I have considerable resources," he replied, a mask replacing his smile. The same mask he would wear on diplomatic meetings. He thought maybe he wouldn't need it for her. But he was wrong, as she failed to realize his country's true potential and was asking him to work with the Avengers. He didn't hate them but he did dislike their unsupervised use of powers and skills which had landed them in all of this mess in the first place.
He began to walk towards his car but Evelyn stopped him, slim fingers barely touching his bare forearm just below where he had rolled his sleeves up. T'challa thought he might have imagined it, but he felt warm and cold at the same time from where their skins touched. "It took the world 70 years to find Barnes. I'm not underestimating your resources but you could find him in maybe what, half the time?" She asked in a mock question.
"You know where to find him?" He asked, tilting his head and regarding her with those dark eyes again. Evelyn felt her heart beat a bit faster yet again but she didn't budge. "I know someone who can."
"And you won't be joining us?" He asked and she decided that the disappointment she heard in his voice was just her wishful thinking.
"I am no avenger and right now it involves a lot of paperwork to be one. Plus you know the rules."
T'challa yet again, spurred on by the waver in her voice, leaned just a little closer till he could feel her cool breath, "But it seems you've already broken the rules and used your powers on me."
Evelyn tried to come up with a snarky reply but she couldn't as her mouth opened and closed and her cheeks tinted red from his shameless flirting. His eyes sparkled in mirth and she found that she couldn't stand the intensity of his gaze, yet she couldn't look away from his brown endless pools. Her voice shook when she replied, "Good luck on your mission."
She cringed internally at how he had rendered her unable to come up with any cocky remark as she managed to walk away from him. She looked back just once trying to confirm in her head that their conversation wasn't something her stupid mind conjured up because she was infatuated with the king of Wakanda. T'challa was still looking at her with something in his eyes that she didn't dare decipher yet. She looked away immediately, smiling like a teenager who had just realized that her high school crush might reciprocate her feelings, which was in every way absolutely ridiculous. And yet if anyone asked her about that bounce in her step the rest of the day, she would brush them off because no, she is a professional and she doesn't skip through hallways because of cute boys.