The Winter Warrior // Captain America

«Chapter 16»

With a hood covering the majority of his head and his hands dug deep into the pockets of his hoodie, Steve walked through the halls of the hospital, headed for the vending machine where he had left the flash drive Fury had given him. 

The people around him were too busy to notice him, which he was glad about. After all, it wasn't every day that he was a fugitive from one of the biggest organisations in the country. As soon as Steve had escaped, he had called Bucky, telling him to pack and get out of town for a few days until Steve could come and get him. 

Coming to a halt before the vending machine, Steve's stomach dropped, seeing the chewing gum he had hidden the flash drive behind was now gone, and so was the drive.

A figure appeared behind him, popping bright pink chewing gum in her mouth. Steve slowly turned around and waited patiently for the doctor to pass, and when he was gone, Steve dragged Natasha into a dark room, pushing her against the wall. 

"Where is it?" he inquired, whipping off his hood.

"Safe," Natasha said. 

"Do better." 

"Where did you get it?"

"Why would I tell you?" 

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" 

"What's on it?" 

"I don't know." 

"Stop lying!" 

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." 

Steve glanced over his shoulder. "I bet you know Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" 

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, and so do you." 

"I'm not gonna ask you again," Steve snarled, gripping her arms tighter. 

"I know who killed Fury," Natasha said instead. Steve's grip loosened. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe she exists. The ones that do call her the Winter Warrior. She's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years." 

"So she's a ghost story," said Steve. 

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Warrior was there. I was covering my engineer so she shot him straight through me." She pulled up her shirt to reveal an ugly scar right on the left side of her abdomen. "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." 

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," Steve said sarcastically. 

Natasha smirked. "Going after her is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She held up the flash drive. "Like you said, she's a ghost story." 

Steve took the drive from her hand. "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." 

***

Natasha and Steve changed into more civilian clothing. Natasha chose heeled sneakers, jeans, a striped hoodie and a grey jacket. Steve, on the other hand, opted for blue sneakers, jeans, a grey shirt, a blue hoodie and a brown jacket. He paired this with glasses and a blue cap. Not the best disguise, but it helped them blend in with the crowd at the mall. 

"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk," Natasha told Steve in a hushed voice as he anxiously looked over his shoulder. 

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off," he said. 

They entered a computer store and walked over to the first laptop that was available. Natasha started typing. "This drive has a Level Six homing program," she said. "So as soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are."