Valen: A Collector's Item

Hidden

Valen closed her eyes. The sun kissed her skin seeming to make her glow as she sat in the middle of a grass field. Her silver hair gleamed brighter than the sun as it shimmered. Her normally pale white skin was now a fair tan from all the time she spent outside. She could hear the birds chirp and the whistling of the wind as it blew through the trees and tall grass. She laid back, her body making a thudding noise as she hit the solid ground. She was completely hidden as she laid still.

"Shh. She'll hear us." A child tried to whisper only a few yards away from her.

From the footsteps, she could make out three of them approaching her. She listened to the grass fall under their feet, but she didn't move. Instead, she kept her eyes closed as she planned her time of attack.

One child jumped to Valen's position with a battle scream. She was ready to pounce on her unsuspecting opponent, but her scream dropped to silence as she looked around confused.

"Where did she go?" Another child asked looking at the young girl in front of her. Her body filled up with fear since their plan had failed. They were so sure they just saw her in this exact spot only a second ago.

Valen dropped her cloak of invisibility as she grabbed the closest child and spun her around. "Gotcha!" She laughed with her until they both got dizzy from all the spinning.

"How did you do that? You were right there two seconds ago." The child whined.

"A magician never reveals their secrets." Valen whispered as she narrowed her eyes and smirked.

Behind Valen and the three children, a man cleared his throat to get their attention. All four turned their heads around to see T'Challa with his hands behind his back. His stern face made the children drop their shoulders, scared they were in trouble. It was only when he smiled and ran after them did they squeal with laughter and ran away.

"Your highness." Valen bowed mockingly.

T'Challa clicked his tongue as he pushed the girl over. "Shut up."

Valen laughed raising back up to her feet. "How may I serve the King of Wakanda today?"

He looked at her with an annoyed expression. Valen raised her hands in the air as a surrender. She enjoyed how easy it was to pull emotions from the man before her.

"You have a visitor."

Valen's ears perked up. She hasn't seen anyone from her team for months. Only two more months would make it a full year since the battle with Laufey. She was allowed only contact with her adoptive father here and there, but recently she had not heard from him. She wondered about Wanda, Nat, Bruce, Clint, Bucky, but most of all Peter.

Peter should be almost done with his first year of college. He didn't know it but Valen has been keeping her tabs on him. He moved into an apartment with Ned and MJ as they all attended MIT. He was top of his class, not at all surprising to Valen. She had even pulled up news reports about the masked vigilante saving people in Massachusetts instead of New York.

She wanted to reach out to him, but every time she tried, the message would get intervened. Tony had set up a virus to delete anything coming from Wakanda to Massachusetts. She tried using a VPN to change her location, but Tony was too smart for that plan.

"Who?" Valen tried to not sound too excited as she walked side by side with T'Challa.

His eyes filled with pity as he realized the words he said gave her too much hope. He should've worded his statement differently. "Okoye has returned from her mission. Be prepared for an attack rather than a hug."

Valen in her many months of residency has started to train with the Dora Milaje. She would not become one of them, but they did keep her in shape and gave her a run for her money. Rarely would she win in a sparing match between any of the women, but she had gained their respect and friendship. Especially Okoye. The only rule was no powers.