girl ― saved by captain america

[seventeen] shelter

[Steve]

"What the hell do you mean, 'security breach?' What's going on?" I spit back at Natasha. Girl flinches at my language, and the woman in the doorway steps forward into the room, offering me a hand up. Taking it, I rise shakily to my feet, noticing that the spy's already suited up. As a million thoughts race through my mind, the child on the bed behind me begins to tremble; Natasha turns to her, her face softening.

"Hey honey, you and Steve gotta come with me, okay? We're gonna get you guys somewhere else, somewhere safe," she says. Girl's eyes widen at her words.

"Natasha. Explain," I demand, causing Girl to shrink back again.

"I will, on the way down. Can you carry her?" Nat shoots back.

Sighing in frustration, I turn to the quivering child sitting behind me, her hair still, still wet from the bath, dripping onto her sweater. Opening my arms up for the little girl, I attempt to soften my expression to hopefully help calm her worries. Nonetheless, she winces, clearly frightened by Nat's words and my behavior. "Com'ere, sweetheart. It's okay," I soothe. Bottom lip trembling, Girl hesitates for several moments before finally giving in and leaning forward, allowing me to lift her up and place her on my hip.

Natasha turns and exits the room without another word, Girl and I following close behind as my brain continues to ache with confusion. As we speed down the hallway towards the living space, I open my mouth to press Nat further, but her own voice cuts me off. "Yeah, I got Cap and the kid. We're heading down now." It takes me a second, but I quickly realize that she's speaking into her earpiece. In my head, I scold myself for turning mine off before giving Girl her bath. Reaching up, I tap at the small device in my ear, a beep sounding before I'm added back to the chat. "You didn't hear any of what we were trying to say to you, did you?" Nat asks, talking to me this time.

"No, sorry. We were taking a bath," I reason. As we reach the living room, the spy guides us straight to the elevator, pressing the button before turning back to me and Girl.

"Yeah, I figured. It's fine, happens to the best of us," Nat shrugs, not seeming too upset.

"So, are you gonna tell me what's going on now?" I ask, still slightly frustrated about not being given any sort of explanation.

"A prisoner broke out from our mission in Korea," the woman responds.

"What? And they're here? I thought they were being housed at a separate location," I reply, baffled at the news.

"They were being housed separately. But there was some sort of coordinated breakout, and now they want revenge. They want-" Nat's gaze turns to Girl, and I look down to see that the child has started to cry silently into my chest. I don't know how much of this she's putting together, but I wish I were learning this information without her hearing it.

"You're okay, hey," I murmur to the child, rubbing her back gently as I look back up at Nat. "Was the prisoner who escaped an experiment? Or was it-"

"Dr. Huber," Nat cuts me off. My eyes widen in disbelief.

"Huber? Isn't that-"

"One of the agency's top scientists," she finishes for me. Before either of us can say any more, the elevator bell sounds, the doors sliding open as we pile in hurriedly. Turning to face the control panel on the inside of the cart, Nat hits the button for B1, one of the basement levels where cars and trucks are kept.

"Why aren't we going to B3?" I question, referring to the building's lock-down shelter.

"If they decide to drop a bomb, we don't want the whole tower collapsing on you," the spy replies. Nodding, my head throbs as I take a moment to try to come to terms with everything that's happened with in the past five minutes or so. Glancing down at Girl again, my heart breaks to find the poor child in a mess of a panic, shaking feverishly as big, warm tears rolling down her rosy cheeks.