The high-pitched ringing cut through Eleanor's skull at an alarming rate as she tried to open her eyes. They were squinted due to the pain, and all she could make out was darkness beneath her, terrifying within itself even if she couldn't see what it was. "Nat?", she groaned out in barely a whisper, her voice scratchy. So, she cleared her throat and tried again, ignoring her body screaming at her just to close her eyes and fall asleep, "Nat", she spoke, and this time she knew that it was loud enough for someone to hear.

Alarm bells were blaring in her head when there was no response after a few seconds, so with effort, she turned her head and her eyes snapped open as much as they could in her dazed state when she saw Natasha slumped forward in her seat, eyes pressed shut. "Nat", Eleanor lifted her arm and carefully shook her wife by her shoulder, trying not to jostle the car in the process and let them plummet to their deaths. Now that her brain was somewhat awake due to the adrenaline and fear, she was well aware that they were half-danging off of the bridge, her heart pumping at a dangerous rate in her chest whenever the car made a creaking noise.

"Natasha", she said again and breathed out a sigh of relief when Nat let out a small whine as she woke up, clearly feeling the effects of the crash on her own head too. It took a few minutes for her to get her bearings, but as soon as her eyes opened fully and she too saw the river below them along with feeling the car slowly rocking back and forth her head whipped around to face Eleanor. "Are you okay?", she raised her hand and brushed the fallen strands of hair out of Eleanor's face. "Yeah, are you?", the younger woman asked with a frown, Nat had been passed out for a few seconds longer than she had.

Nat answered with a small nod as her breathing picked up slightly whilst taking in the gravity of the situation. Unfortunately, it was likely going to be gravity that gave them their demise. Though Nat soon saw something that made her panic harder, and she began desperately clawing at her seatbelt to get it undone. Eleanor didn't have a clue of what was going on, but Natasha was clearly freaked out about something, "What's going on?".

A response did not make an appearance. As soon as Nat's seatbelt was undone, she fell forward, her hands hitting the bonnet of the car, and the yellow container for the petrol went tumbling out and down into the water below. Both women gasped as Nat clung to the car, and Eleanor clung to Nat, the vehicle tilting back and forth like some terrifying pirate ship swing at a theme park.

"Someone's here", Nat breathed out as she turned to face Eleanor, answering the earlier question with a big delay. Eleanor moved forward ever so slightly and saw that there was in fact someone marching towards them past the trail of flames that the car had left in the crash. Panic flooded her veins as she took in the sight of this stranger. They were tall, very tall, and wore a mask that slightly resembled that of a skull, with navy and silver armour. Whoever they were knew what they were doing and clearly had the supplies in which to do it.

"Oh fuck me", the younger woman muttered as Nat started pushing herself back into the passenger seat, the car tilting back in their favour as she did so. Eleanor gave her a desperate look, urging her to be careful, to which Nat gave her a small nod as she pulled out her gun that was concealed in her trousers.

During this ordeal, Eleanor felt completely and utterly trapped. The seatbelt that was trying to push her back into her seat felt suffocating, and the car itself felt like a vessel of death. She was trying hard to keep her chest from completely restricting, but with Nat now front and centre in the confrontation with this stranger it was a difficult task.

Before she could spiral any further Natasha gave her a small nudge with her foot and held her arm out, signalling for her to start the ascent to the back of the car too. Eleanor gulped but nodded, if she stayed acting like a weight at the front then it was certain death for her, there was no doubt about it. So, she took a heavy breath in and unbuckled her seatbelt. Natasha's breath hitched as Eleanor fell and the side of her body slammed into the dashboard, but luckily she managed to grab onto the headrest bar of her chair and so didn't fall all of the way out.

Nat sent her wife a reassuring smile and opened and closed her hand in the "grabby hand" motion, so Eleanor swiftly placed her hand in Nat's and the two worked to hoist Eleanor up into the backseat as well, the car once again swinging back and forth before settling back into its terrifying position.

"I'm pretty sure Ross has no jurisdiction here!", Nat yelled out the broken passenger seat window once Eleanor was safely settled clinging on for dear life, also grabbing her gun just in case. "And you should know I'm a better shot when I'm pissed off", she continued through gritted teeth. Nat quickly fired multiple shots at the stranger, who quickly lifted what seemed to be a silver and red vibranium shield to defend themselves with. Eleanor's first thought was how similar it was to Steve's, and a shiver ran down her spine at people replicating Avenger's weapons. From training, she knew just how hard they were to fight off.

Just as Nat got ready to fire more rounds after reloading, the shield was thrown at the car and got lodged diagonally in the back window. A perfect fit. Eleanor jumped out of her skin at the intrusion, and both women were frustrated with what to do next. The only option was to crawl out of the back, so Eleanor gave Nat a quick tap on the shoulder and gestured with her head to the back window. "Yeah", Nat whispered as both women tried to coordinate climbing out of the car, so as to not leave the remaining person stuck in the car as it rocked back and forth again.

They both mouthed "Three, two, one", before hopping out, landing in crouching positions, the car only minimally rocking thanks to the plan. They were met with car lights shining on their faces, which must have been how the attacker had arrived. Flames danced around the car as they crouched near it, making Eleanor feel as though she was in some sort of movie. Probably one with a good plot, but one that the main characters don't particularly want to be living in.

Instantly they pulled their guns out, holding them forward with both arms for stability, but there was no one there. The attacker must have gone somewhere whilst they were clambering out of the vehicle. The hairs on the back of Eleanor's neck stood on end as her ears tried to listen out for any sound that doesn't belong. All that she could hear was the crackling of the fire, her breathing and heartbeat, the wind slowly passing through, and the engine of the car ahead.

Natasha turned her head around to face her and to look past her, seeing if they were missing anything, but a sudden metallic clanging sound brought their attention to the roof of the car, and they saw the stranger somersaulting off of the car to land in front of them. Both fired shot after shot, but their ammo was just getting blocked by the shield. They were in standing positions by the time they had landed in front of them, still trying to fire shots.

Natasha advanced first, taking a few steps forward, her gun promptly getting kicked out of her hand before engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Eleanor could no longer use her gun as the risk of hitting her own wife was too great of a risk. So, she sidestepped around them, trying to gauge a way of entering without immediately getting battered out of the way, or getting in the way of Nat leading to her being battered out of the way instead.

Just as Eleanor was about to run in, Nat tried to perform the trusty 'legs around the neck and throw them to the floor' trick, but it didn't work, and instead, the stranger performed the manoeuvre on her, resulting in her being launched onto the hard concrete, rolling and staring at them with confusion after. Eleanor stopped in her tracks and looked ahead wide-eyed at the sight. "What the-", she started mumbling before something even weirder happened, when Natasha tried to jump onto her feet and land in her classic crouch landing position, the assailant again performed the same move at the exact same time.

Natasha was clearly analysing them before the two looked straight past Eleanor and over to the car. The younger woman turned too and spotted a black box that must have been a part of the package that Mason had brought from Budapest. The stranger stood and calmly walked towards the car, making a move to get past Eleanor, but the younger woman knew better than to go down without a fight in this case. She didn't have to know what was in the case to know that if this person wanted it then it must be valuable, potentially dangerous in the wrong hands.

As the armoured attacker tried to walk past her, Eleanor grabbed onto the back of their shoulder and swung around the front of their torso before landing on their shoulders. She grabbed onto the top of the helmet to drag them backwards, which worked for a few paces and left them discombobulated for a couple of seconds before reaching up to try and get the pest off of them. She made quick work of kicking their chest a few times with the heel of her boot before flipping off of the back of them when hands touched her, not fancying being launched across the bridge.

She landed and stood as the attacker swung multiple punches at her, she blocked each painfully with her forearm before she was picked up by the collar of her shirt. She stared helplessly into the blank eyes of the mask before being catapulted past Natasha, hitting the floor harshly and rolling, her head hitting the floor a few times, her gun flying out of her pocket and out of reach.

Natasha winced and was angered even more by the events taking place, and much like Eleanor, she knew that she couldn't let them get to the miscellaneous case, so she pulled out her small knife and charged forward, making large slashing movements, though the stranger was stronger and disarmed her after a few seconds, holding her by the hair and lifting her, and kicking her in the chest. Nat was sent flying towards Eleanor and gasped in a few laboured breaths. Eleanor sat up and scrambled to her feet to make another attempt as demobilising them, but Natasha was quicker. Unfortunately, she was again brutally kicked to the ground.

Eleanor looked back much like Nat had done to her and felt rage bubbling up inside of her. It had barely been 24 hours in this country that was supposed to be their safe space, and here they were being attacked by a whole new problem. She ran forward to them and kicked the back of their leg, making their knee buckle. They stumbled forward slightly in a comical way, but just as Eleanor was about to grab them a grapple rope wrapped around their ankle, and Eleanor turned to see Nat shooting the grapple at the bridge above them before sprinting towards her.

The attacker was soon dragged to the floor and up into the air as Nat and Eleanor moved towards the case. Eleanor unlatched it and opened it as Nat grabbed the contents of it, stuffing the glowing red vials into her jacket pocket. Though the unknown assassin was soon right next to them again with a sword and began making slashing moves at them, leaving them unable to ponder what the vials could contain. The two quickly moved away in separate directions, Nat with the case and shield in her hand. Eleanor felt very empty-handed because she had nothing in her hands, and so did the thing that she did a lot during the fight with Ultron.

She sprinted forward and wrapped her arms around their neck, holding onto them as though she was receiving a piggyback. It was enough to distract them from Natasha, which was a success. However, they quickly grabbed her arm and flung her over their shoulders. She landed on her knees with her arm twisted awkwardly behind her back. Nat looked at her with wide eyes and took a step forward, but Eleanor turned and removed her arm from their grip, and had to quickly duck as a kick was sent at her head. She took a step backwards towards Nat, not wanting the stranger to reach her even though Nat was the one currently with all of the defence.

The stranger swung their sword at her, making her jump backwards, and before they could slash their sword at her again, she ran forward, throwing her body into their front, tackling them to the floor. The sword clattered out of their hands, but they quickly got up, letting Eleanor flop to the floor below them as she tried to get on her feet again.

Just as she stood and readied herself again, seeing Nat moving towards them too in her peripheral, she received a harsh kick to her ribs, sending her stumbling back towards the edge of the bridge. Her heels hung off the side and she reached forward trying to grab onto an invisible force that she could hang onto, but it was no use. She lost her footing and tumbled off of the edge, hearing Nat yell "El!", as she plummeted.

The fall was quick but made her feel as though her stomach was flying out of her mouth, and the sharp, burning pain that she received when her back hit the water was enough for a wave of nausea to wash over her as the rapid water pushed her under. She desperately clawed at the water around her to push herself up, and when she broke the surface she coughed up the stray water that had ended up in her lungs.

Her immediate thought was Natasha. She could be getting murdered up there and she wouldn't have known. She desperately tried to paddle against the current, knowing it would be no use but trying anyway, but she soon heard her name being yelled from a few metres away over and over by a very panicked person. She squinted her eyes and made out a little blob in the distance. Natasha.

"I'm here!", she yelled, trying to keep her head above water, and soon she saw the blob getting closer and closer until it resembled her beautiful wife. "Oh thank God", both women breathed out at the same time before chuckling. When Nat had finally reached Eleanor's side she threw her arms around the younger woman's body before both of them dipped under water.

Spluttering when they came up again, Eleanor laughed, "I need my arms to swim, Nat". Natasha nodded with a smile, "Right, right, I just thought you died and was kinda happy when I saw that you weren't".

"Thank you, my love", Eleanor deadpanned before breaking out into a smile, though her face soon dropped again when a shiver passed through her body, "Come on, let's get to shore". Both swam as best as they could towards the edge of the water, Eleanor's muscles thanking her when they could finally trudge through and not have to swim, though she was panting hard as her lungs burned with anger, hating her for putting her through so much unexpected exercise.

Eleanor reached out and took Nat's hand as they pushed through the shallow end of the water, collapsing onto the grassy river bank against a giant flat rock as soon as they could. Their breaths were all that could be heard as they moved their battered bodies to try and find a position that wasn't excruciating on their new injuries. "The vials", Eleanor croaked out after a few seconds, and Nat pulled out the red vials, both women now sitting up slightly staring curiously at them now that they had the time to do so. Immediately Nat noticed some paper poking out, and lifted it out.

It was half of a photo booth sheet of photos of two young girls, one with blue hair with red roots and one with blonde. Eleanor squinted her eyes at the familiarity, "Is that...", she tried to start, but Nat interrupted. "Oh, shit".

"It's you, isn't it? And Yelena?", Eleanor spoke in a delicate tone. Natasha nodded with a sigh. It seemed as though her past was finally catching up to her, and dragging her wife down too. "It'll be okay", Eleanor said with determination, knowing that Nat would be struggling, but also knowing that they needed to move, "Let's just figure out what to do next, yeah? We'll freeze to death on this damn rock otherwise".

"Yeah, we need to find a way back, get the passports and stuff", Nat agreed with a gulp after. The two stood and Eleanor carefully wrapped her arms around Nat's waist. Her body was tense at first, but as always a few seconds of Eleanor's touch relaxed her, and she tucked her face into the crook of Eleanor's neck, finding a few seconds of peace before the storm blew on.

A/n~ Wrote this instead of writing my essay - thriving :D