verb.
To come or go back to a place or person.
noun.
The firing of a weapon to counter a shooter's shot.
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They recoiled from their pasts, and in doing so found each other.
But the universe isn't kind enough to let a moment of peace last.
It took se...
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"Progress report."
The young woman huffed out a breath at the steady request that came through the black plastic bud settled in her ear, her knees curling up a little tighter to her chest as she precariously braced herself between the shelves of what was little more than a broom closet, her focused features illuminated by the eerie blue glow of the tablet she had wedged between her knees. Idly, she brushed a smear of dust from her shoulder, a remnant of the breathless wriggle through an air vent that had led her to her current location.
"I'm in position." She murmured, just loud enough that her comms would pick up on her report as her fingers tapped impatiently against the sleek device before her; "Going to be a few minutes before I have system access though, Cap."
"So what's our ETA on the warehouse doors?" A second voice, accompanied by the sound of wind whipping through the comms system.
"It won't take me long once I'm in. A minute, tops." She muttered as she watched her software frantically trying to decode the passcode to the security systems. "And I'll let you know as soon as that minute begins, Sam, don't you worry."
"I've only got three before I enter their airspace – I'd give them about thirty seconds past that before they catch me on their radar or I'm a bug on the windshield of those doors."
"I'm working on it. It's not exactly like their password is going to be 'Hail HYDRA' or something like that."
"Have you tried it?"
There was a brief pause in the conversation, punctuated by a few taps against a glossy screen.
"It's not 'Hail HYDRA'."
"Did you try all lowercase?"
"Sam." The level tone of Steve Rogers cut through the playful jibe of their companion, "Focus. Nat, where are you?"
"Still on the roof. Just waiting on Kat getting me camera access."
"No pressure or anything, guys." The blonde woman wedged in the store cupboard grumbled, "You know this all sounded a lot more glamorous when we talked through the plans – I was envisioning more of a Mission Impossible Hacker vibe."
"I can hum the theme if you'd like."
Kat snickered at the offer from Natasha, practically able to hear Steve rolling his eyes over her earpiece as she shook her head. "Wouldn't have the same effect. I'd need a clanky mechanical keyboard. God, I miss eighties keyboards."
"Just because you've got a thing for clanky mechanical stuff-"
"Ew, Sam."
"Guys."
"Sorry, boss." Kat bit her lip to hide her smile at Steve's chiding comment, giving her screen another tap. Her finger froze in place as her trained ear picked up the sound of a passing footstep outside the door of her hiding place, her breath stilling on her tongue as she waited out the agonising few seconds it took for the sound to pass, almost willing her own heart to cease its beating in case the thuds gave her away. It passed though, but it was another moment before she released the breath she had been holding. "How are we for time, Sam?"
