*A/N I do not own Marvel, or any of its characters. I only own my own OC. Story contains spoilers for the MCU. Bold text in speech denotes spoken in Xhosa. Underlined text in speech denotes spoken in Korean.

20 years ago

Somewhere, South Korea

A young child sat on a snowy mountainside, pushing the cold white mush into little heaps with her bare hands. Despite her young age, she didn't seem to mind the cold as she began to shape the small lumps of snow. Curling her fingers in, she patted the first little ball she'd created with a satisfied smile before she set it down and started on the next. When she had a nice heap of artillery, the girl stood.

Brushing the snow off her skirt, she picked up the first ball and threw it suddenly across the forest. Her hair flew behind her at the abrupt motion but she was satisfied when the snowball smacked the bird sitting on the branch about fifty feet away, causing the creature to let out an indignant, shrill cry. The little girl, on the other hand, smiled delightedly at having hit her target. She reached down for the next snowball but a call stopped her.

"Sun-Mi."

A slight young woman with long dark hair and almond-shaped caramel eyes appeared from behind a tree without a sound. Her expression showed her disapproval and the little girl dropped her weapon reluctantly. The young mother moved to pick her daughter up in her arms but the little girl continued to pout.

"We've talked about this, Sun-Mi."

"That bird pooped on me yesterday!" The child, Sun-Mi, argued.

Her mother shook her head firmly, silencing her daughter. The young woman ignored the disgruntled bird that flew off and instead she looked down at the toddler cradled steadily in her arms as she imparted her stern words.

"You must be careful. No one must ever know the truth."

"But why, mama?" The little girl wondered, pushing back long white hair to look up at her mother in confusion. Her mother sighed and kissed the top of her daughter's head.

"It is dangerous, my darling. So you must hide this part of you from others. It will just be our secret, my little fox. Do you understand?"

"Yes, mama."

Present

June 2016

Undisclosed location

"Agent Ross!"

The voice called out above the din of training agents, drawing a few fleeting glances. Only a dark-haired woman's attention remained on the caller as she looked up from where she was midway through locking a fellow agent's head between her legs. But at a gesture from the agent who had called for her, the woman let go of her fellow. Tucking back short black hair, Talia Ross nodded briefly at her partner in acknowledgement of a good duel before she made her way over to the doors of the training room.

"Yes?" She asked a tad impatiently.

"Task force leader Ross is looking for you." The agent explained briefly. "He's in meeting room 238."

Cocking her brow in surprise, Talia nodded before heading off to the meeting room she had been directed to. Luckily, training had barely started when she was called so there was no need to clean up first. Although, Talia wondered, why was her father looking for her? With Zemo back in custody, she hadn't expected to be called back in so quickly. The CIA's Joint Counter Terrorist task force was busy enough cleaning up the mess left behind by the man who had successfully torn apart the 'mighty' Avengers. Not that this seemed like it would have been a difficult task. In all honesty, based on the little she had witnessed of their interactions, Talia had been more surprised by how long the Avengers had managed to work together.

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, Talia knocked on the meeting room door before opening it and stepping inside. There was only one person inside, a familiar blond man who was currently standing in front of a large screen in the middle of the room.

"Talia." Everett Ross greeted as soon as he saw her. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

"Of course, sir." Talia answered formally. Used to this, Everett gestured at the seat beside him.

"Sit down."

Talia settled into the seat he'd indicated as Everett pulled up a file on the screen for her to see.

"Do you remember this man?"

Talia only needed to glance briefly at the picture of a very tanned man with dark hair and a familiar brand on his neck to know who the man was. But that didn't explain what she was doing in this meeting.

"He's Ulysses Klaue." Talia answered slowly, wondering where Everett was going with this. "Black market weapons dealer, he was also the supplier of the vibranium that Ultron stole a couple years ago in his altercation with the Avengers. He lost his arm in the fight, but he's still managed to evade capture to this day."

Everett nodded before he pulled up some more files.

"We've recently gotten intel that Klaue is back at his old trade. The CIA has pulled me from the task force to find him and arrest him." He looked back at Talia. "I'm bringing you on the team. Effective immediately, you will pull yourself off general training and assist in tracking Klaue down."

"Yes, sir."

Talia stood, ready to be dismissed now that she had her orders. But Everett didn't say anything more as he watched her with probing eyes. Talia frowned.

"Sir?" She asked and Everett pursed his lips before he shook his head.

"No… it's nothing. Dismissed."

Talia appeared puzzled but at the dismissal, she turned on her heel and strode out of the room. He watched her go grimly. Ever since the incident in Germany, she had been… different. Not distracted exactly. She was as focused as ever. But Everett could sense that there was something that weighed on her mind. Something had disturbed her.

Something that he suspected had everything to do with the fiasco caused by the so-called Avengers.

May 2016

Bucharest, Romania

As soon as their car stopped moving, Talia was out the door. Gun cocked and ready, she stood flanked by her fellow agents as she pointed her weapon squarely at the nearest threat: former Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, otherwise known as the Winter Soldier.

The man was easily recognizable, even if Captain America hadn't been standing protectively in front of him. His dark hair was slightly shorter than in the most recent pictures she'd seen of him although admittedly those were from two years ago, but otherwise he was unchanged even from the pictures of him dating back to the Second World War. Except for his eyes. Despite being the same shade of blue she assumed they had been even back when pictures were only available in black and white, there was a haunted look in them now that hadn't been present even when Barnes had been in the middle of war. But then, killing people in cold blood did that to you.

Talia had read his file in great detail as soon as she and her father had been assigned to the task force. And to say his file was coated in red would be a severe understatement. The only time she had ever seen a file as bloodsoaked as his was when Natasha Romanoff's files had been released into the public domain following the fall of SHIELD. There had been some testimony from Captain America that Barnes hadn't been in his right mind when he had done the things in his file, that he'd been controlled by HYDRA. But that was no relief to anyone considering there was no guarantee he wasn't being controlled even now… if he'd even been controlled in the first place.

To his credit, though, Barnes didn't seem to have any desire to try and punch his way out of their current blockade as he had done with the taskforce that had been dispatched to his apartment. And the taskforce that had chased him through the streets of Bucharest. Although that might have to do mostly with General James Rhodes's guns that remained trained on Barnes as the General ordered Steve Rogers and the mysterious panther-masked stranger who had been dueling Barnes to stand down.

Slowly, Captain America was the first to move as he lowered his shield, placing it back on it's holster on his back as Rhodes added sarcastically, "Congratulations, Cap. You're a criminal."

Rogers didn't say anything as the signal was given and the task force rushed forward warily to arrest the foursome who had destroyed the Bucharest highway during their fight. As others moved to handcuff Rogers and Sam Wilson, Talia and her team moved to detain Barnes. He didn't fight them at all, letting the agent beside Talia push him to the ground and cuff his hands behind his back. Talia kept her gun and attention trained on the man, for the most part. He was her immediate concern and priority, the largest threat because if he was but her eyes occasionally darted about, keeping tabs on the larger picture around her as well just in case something went wrong.

But it seemed, the Captain and his strange foe were done fighting as they allowed themselves to be arrested - for now. After only destroying yet more government property and taking out an entire SWAT team, Talia thought snarkily. What was surprising however was when the black-suited individual removed his panther mask only to reveal the new King of Wakanda, T'Challa.

Even Rogers seemed stunned by this while Rhodes paused before he said carefully, "Your Highness."

T'Challa didn't answer but Talia didn't miss the dark look he sent at Barnes. She recalled that the former king of Wakanda had been one of the victims of the bombing in Vienna, which explained T'Challa's apparent vendetta against Barnes. But what it didn't explain was the man's catsuit. At the absurdity of even just the thought, Talia shook her head to herself. The world just kept getting weirder and weirder.

But most disturbingly, it showed no sign of stopping.

Present

July 2016

Busan, South Korea

Talia leaned casually against the roulette table, feigning interest in the game before her while surreptitiously glancing around the illegal casino.

Men and women dressed in expensive suits and dresses milled around, socializing and drinking and gambling. Conversations were murmured, as to be expected, and contributed to the overall quiet atmosphere of the luxurious secret club. As she looked around, Talia could pick out the rich heirs and businessmen easily from their expensive accessories and shoes, and the shady businessmen from their overly sharp gazes and the lack of progress they made in their drinks. There were no lower class businessmen who simply had a gambling problem in an establishment such as this but that didn't mean there weren't plenty of airheaded arm candies and those who had clearly come seeking to secure a lucrative partner. It was obvious from the length of a woman's dress, her makeup and whether her dress had a back or not, whether she was also from a rich family or had somehow wormed her way into the establishment for reasons that had little to do with cash, drinking or gambling. Well, maybe not entirely not to do with cash.

As the people around her groaned at the results of the latest roll, Talia's eyes drifted around once more. Still no sign of Klaue. But it would only be a matter of time now - selling vibranium was a difficult and dangerous business. Even for someone familiar with the business like Klaue. And they were the highest bidder after all.

But she still couldn't help but be tense beneath the perfect mask she wore. Something - call it anxiety or her gut feel or premonition - was making her uneasy about the whole deal despite Everett's confidence that everything would go according to plan. And maybe Everett had jinxed them as, right at that moment, things started to go awry before they even started.

Talia had been just about to turn back to the table she was stationed at beside Everett, when a dark-skinned couple arrived. She turned away as they came down the stairs and into the establishment, but her mind was whirring at a hundred miles a minute as she tried to place the male whom she had recognized instantly despite the brief glimpse she'd seen of him. It took her a few more seconds; although given the man had been hidden beneath a panther mask for most of their prior acquaintance, she supposed she was lucky she was able to place him at all.

"Sir, we may have a problem." Talia reported softly to her side, not moving her eyes off the table in front of her. "The king of Wakanda is here. On your right."

Everett's head jerked up from his chips and he glanced over his right shoulder. Sure enough, there was T'Challa, dressed to the nines - and looking right back at him. It seemed the king had spotted him at the same time Talia had reported his presence. Despite himself, Everett grimaced. Talia was wrong: this was definitely going to be a problem.

Talia knew it too but she kept her eyes off her father and boss as she walked away from their table with apparent disinterest, just as T'Challa started to come over. The last thing they needed was for the Wakandan king to make her too. It was probably too much to hope for, given he, unlike her, had had an unobstructed view of her face the entire time they'd worked together in Germany. But maybe he wouldn't be able to pick her out so easily here, with her heavy makeup and amongst the other Asians who milled around the opulent room. Talia smoothed out imaginary creases in her black dress as she made her way to the bar, keeping her back to T'Challa as he finally reached Everett.

"Agent Ross." T'Challa greeted smoothly as he settled in beside the older man, his voice carrying over Everett's hidden comm unit and into Talia's ear.

"Your Highness."

T'Challa leaned in closer and he mused softly, "You are buying from Klaue."

"What I'm doing, or not doing, on behalf of the US government is none of your concern." Everett answered shortly. "Now, whatever the hell you're up to, do me a favour, stay out of my way."

"I gave you Zemo." T'Challa said in a wounded tone that fooled no one. Certainly not Everett, who scoffed.

"Didn't I keep it under wraps that the king of a third world country runs around in a bulletproof cat suit? I'd say we were even." He turned, indicating they were done. "You really need to leave, now."

But T'Challa wasn't moved in the slightest. "Klaue is leaving out that door with me. You've been warned."

With that, the taller man stepped away. Everett waited for T'Challa to move away before he whispered urgently over his comms for the entire team's benefit.

"Okay, heads-up. The king of Wakanda is here. He cannot leave with Klaue."

Everett ended the comms, and Talia tilted her head in a silent message to their agents who would be watching Everett and her. Glancing up toward the upper level balcony, she recognized one of the dark-skinned women in a perfectly fitted dress to be the same bodyguard who had stayed close to T'Challa at the CIA base. General Okoye, she thought her name was.

"There's another one up on the top floor. Left side of the doors when you come in." Talia hissed into her comms as she sipped a glass of wine.

Everett meanwhile had walked back over to T'Challa. He heard Talia's warning and it spurred him to suggest reasonably, "All right. Vibranium from the attack on Sokovia links back to a person that I'm not actually saying I'm here to make a deal with, but that deal will not be called off. When the dust settles, you and me can work something out."

"I'm not here to make a deal." T'Challa was firm and Talia refrained from rolling her eyes. Politics had never interested her but she couldn't help but feel that a king should be a little bit more so.

And then her attention was pulled away from the Wakandan king as a group of men in black arrived at the establishment. Klaue was here. With eight guards. Talia scoffed. It was a bit overkill in her books… but clearly, the man knew exactly how wanted he was. And what was more…

Talia frowned just slightly, hiding it behind a glass of wine. She was sure she had seen a gun on one of the guards as the men spread out across the place and only three flanked Klaue as he made his way quickly down toward Everett. Talia glanced the other way at another guard, and saw the same tell-tale bulge that looked like a crease in the suit pocket but which she knew instantly from her training meant a handheld revolver.

'So much for no weapons allowed.' Talia thought with a scowl. It seemed Klaue had connections in all the right places. But she supposed that was to be expected given he'd chosen the drop point.

"Well, that is quite the entourage." Everett commented dryly when Klaue finally reached him. He nodded at Klaue's men. "You got a mixtape coming out?"

"Oh, yeah." Klaue grinned, flashing a gold tooth. "Yeah, actually, there is one. I'll send you the SoundCloud link, if you'd like." He turned to one of his men. "Hey, Dave, can you get the link to the tape?"

"Please," Everett cut into Klaue's joking quickly. "Don't make me listen to your music. I just meant, you got a lot of people with you."

Klaue's smile shifted, turning into a sly smirk.

"You think they're for you?" The arms dealer asked cockily. As Everett glanced around again, Klaue patted the other man's shoulder with false comfort. "Don't worry. I can do a deal with you all by myself, thank you very much."

And then another six people came out of private rooms, all armed. Talia's face darkened. It was a set-up; and suddenly, she wasn't so anxious that T'Challa was here after all. The man had helped hold off Captain America, Hawkeye, the Winter Soldier, Falcon and Wanda Maximoff. Talia had no doubt he could defend himself against a few mortal men. Talia carefully set her empty wine glass down, making the action seem nonchalant but the glass was perfectly placed on the counter as she signaled for another glass.

"You got the diamonds?" She heard Klaue ask through her earpiece.

Talia's eyes slid over to the side to watch as one of their agents moved at Everett's silent signal and made her way over to the group with a small briefcase. Talia looked away again, her eyes resting on the reflective mirroring behind the bar where she watched as Everett shrugged Klaue's hand off his shoulder.

"Vibranium?" Everett asked curtly.

Klaue smirked as he reached down… and unzipped his trousers. Talia could imagine Everett's disdain because she felt it herself as she spotted Klaue reaching into his trousers and pulling out a paper-wrapped object. She didn't appreciate his crude humour nor did she appreciate his sarcasm as he said cheekily, "Well, I was going to buy a fancy suitcase, but, uh, I thought I'd save myself some money."

Talia scoffed internally while keeping her face smooth as she took the new glass the barman offered with a quiet, "Here is your order."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash behind her. Talia's eyes flew to the mirrored back of the bar and she realized that a man had come tumbling down from the upper level and onto the table right beside Everett and Klaue. One of Klaue's men, to be precise.

And then it all went to hell.

*A/N This story is another that has been buried in my notebook for years until I finally worked up the motivation to seriously put pen to paper. The story is a spin-off from my Captain's Hart series (and no, that's not a spelling mistake) but there is no need to read that to understand this one. Hope you all enjoy another Marvel ride!