Mister Rogers (Steve Rogers)

6

"Stay here," Steve told me, leaving me in the empty hospital restroom. He left, going to retrieve the hard drive he left behind.

While I waited for him, I looked at myself in the mirror, pulling my high ponytail through Steve's black baseball cap. I continued to wait, anxiously, pacing back and forth in the room.

Unexpectedly, Steve stormed into the restroom, shoving both of us into a stall.

I looked at him, my eyes concerned and searching his for any signs of imminent danger, "What took you so long?"

"I found Natasha," he whispered, "She told me about Fury's killer," he paused, "but it looks like she's going to stay here for now. She's still mourning."

I studied his face and recognized the lie, "Where are we going where Natasha can't join us?"

"We're going to find out what's on this," he placed the hard drive in my palm and I held it up in front of myself, examining it.

"Wait, Steve, the minute we plug this into a computer, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are. I mean, there will me hardly any time to look through the files," I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"We'll work fast then, before they can catch us," Steve said as if it was nothing.

"But there has to be at least a dozen firewalls keeping this information safe-"

"Just find where the drive was made, that's all I'm asking," he said.

"Well I'm no where near Natasha's level when it comes to hacking. We should just ask her-"

He cut me off, "But I'm asking you, Addy. I don't trust her like I trust you," he shook his head, "Not yet. She hasn't proven she's on our side. Please, I can't do this alone."

I wanted to say yes and just go with him, but it wasn't that simple. I knew Steve would protect me, keep me safe, but a mission like this was far past what I had been trained for. The teams I once worked with would be fighting against me and it was the unpredictability of the future that struck fear in me. I would never admit any of this, but Steve knew already. However, he also knew I wouldn't let him go against all of S.H.I.E.L.D. alone. I held on tightly to the hard drive in my hand, contemplating what he was asking of me.

Steve reached for my hand, brushing against the back of my hand gently, "What do you say, Addy?"

"You know you're crazy, right?" I rubbed my eyes tiredly.

"To the mall we go, then," he pulled my hand, leading us out of the bathroom.

-

I struggled to keep up with Steve's fast walking pace as we traveled through the mall. I looked up at him and saw his eyes nervously scanning our surroundings, "You know if you keep looking like that you're going to blow our cover."

He slowed down, keeping his head forward. I kept my eyes on him, smirking slightly, "I like the glasses, Mister Rogers," I teased.

Steve continued walking, ignoring my comment. Suddenly, he pushed the front of my baseball cap over my eyes, blocking my vision.

"Hey!" I adjusted my hat and put my hands in my pockets. I noticed a satisfied smile on his face.

We finally entered the Apple Store and I selected a laptop that faced a wall in the back. Steve tapped my waist, nodding to the security camera pointed directly at our laptop. He stood behind me, blocking the screen from the camera's view.

I removed the hard drive from my pocket, talking quietly, "Okay, once this is in, they'll know exactly where we are."

He looked around the room, "How much time do we have?"