WILD CHILD │ barnes ¹

eleven

'How much time will we have,' Steve asks from beside her.

'About,' Natalia presses a button, 'Nine minutes from now.' The flashdrive is plugged in. 'Fury was right about that ship,' she continues, 'Somebody's tryna hide something. This drive is protected by some kind of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to override my commands.'

Where had Natalia learnt all this? They certainly didn't offer these lessons at the Red Room.

'Can you override it?'

'The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me,' a smirk forms on the woman's lips, 'slightly. I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't find the file maybe we can find out where it came from.'

A sudden melon orange voice interrupts them. Evgenia jumps a little in shock and then grips the doll in her hand a little tighter, preparing to throw it at the newcomer.

'Can I help you guys with anything?' The sudden voice belongs to a bearded employer.

Evgenia watches as Natalia transforms into a friendly customer in a split second. Hands grab Captain Roger's shoulder as she leans her head on him lovingly.

'Oh no, my fiance was just helping me with honeymoon destinations.' She doesn't explain Evgenia's presence even when the man looks at the child questionably.

'Right,' Steve offers an awkward, forced laugh as he gestures his hand between him and Natalia, 'We're getting married.'

'Oh, congratulations,' the employer says, oblivious to their current situation, 'Where are you thinking of going.'

There's a flash on the screen. New Jersey, the computer reads. Evgenia moves to block the information from the employer's eyes. 

'New Jersey,' she interjects, American accent poised and collected. 

She notices that Steve looks at her in surprise but she ignores it. There's a slight pained silence as the bearded man opens his mouth, struggling for an answer. 'I have the exact same glasses,' he instead says.

From her place in front of the computer, Natalia's comment comes saracastic and dry, 'Ah, you two are practically twins.'

'Ahah I wish. Specimen,' the Apple employer motions towards Rogers, 'Well, if you need anything, I've been Aaron.'

Evgenia turns away from the scene and pokes her head into the gap between Steve and Natalia as the former thanks the man.

'Didn't you say nine minutes?'

'Relax. I got it!'

'Wheaton, New Jersey?' Steve says interrupting their exchange.

'You know it?' comes Natalia's response.

There's a quick pull of the drive from the laptop as the trio dart out of the store and back into the mall, 'I used to. Come on, let's go.'

In front of them two men dressed in black walk towards them, Evgenia sees the bulge behind their belts - guns. 

'There's a standard tac team,' she offers, this time letting her fake American accent fade away, 'Two behind, two across and two coming right at us.'