"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk." I tell Steve, as he briskly speed walks down the mall.
Steve and I were in our local mall, on-route to the Apple Store to be able to find out what was on the Flash Drive before quickly moving on again and hopefully not getting caught or tracked.
Nat was finding us a get away car and meeting us out back once we were done. I had been on the run quite a bit. My main one, nearly being for five years when I was one of Hydra's main targets.
"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." He tells me as we enter the store. I lead him over to an open laptop I know we can use.
"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." I tell him, eyes fixed to the screen.
"How much time do we have?" He asked me, standing right behind me trying to block out what I was doing from everyone else.
"Uh...about nine minutes from...now." I say as I plug in the drive. I immediately get to work decoding the drive to see what was on it .
"Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."
"Can you override it?"
"The person who developed this isn't as smart as me. So yes." I tell him with a slight smirk.
"I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." I say as I decrypt the writing.
Suddenly, an employee comes up to us.
"Can I help you guys with anything?" The man asked.
He looked like your typical nerd. I didn't see him as a threat but I quickly put on an act and hid the screen from his direct view.
"Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." I speak in a fake chirpy voice, squeezing Steve's shoulders as he also turns to look at the man.
"Right! We're getting married." Steve plays along making me chuckle under my breath.
"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" There was a slight pause after the man said this. But luckily, the tracer worked and New Jersey coordinates came up, making Steve speak up.
"New Jersey."
"Oh. I have the exact same glasses." The man states happily, staring at Steve.
"Wow, you two are practically twins." I say not taking my eyes off the screen.
"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh...if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." He finally said before turning and walking away making me sigh in relief.
"Thank you. You said nine minutes, come on." Steve urged me.
"Shh, relax. Got it." I say quickly, pulling out the drive and putting it back in my bra safely before walking off with Steve holding his hand, to blend in better as a couple.
"You see the coordinates? You remember it?" I ask him.
"Yep. Let's go."
We continue to walk, my eyes darting everywhere to check for Rumlow's STRIKE team who I knew would be on our case.
"Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." Steve told me frantically as two agents are coming straight towards us.
"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." I silence him.
"What?" He asks confused.
"Do it!"
Steve quickly puts his arm around me and laughs with me as he ducks his head down out of view.
As we now go down the escalator, I spot Rumlow in front of us coming up. I quickly turn round to face Steve, praying he didn't see me.
"Kiss me." I ask Steve.
"What?" He looks at me confused.
"Do you trust me?" I ask looking directly into his eyes.
"Yes, of course." He replies quickly.
I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down to me, to crash my lips onto his. He immediately responded to the kiss and moulded our lips together while his arms encased my waist.
After a few seconds I pulled away however, Steve was reluctant and kept a hold of me.
As we near the end I step off but Steve still had an arm around me waist as we make our way to the exit unseen and in the clear.
"You still uncomfortable?" I ask him, smiling slightly at his reddened face.
"It's not exactly the word I would use." He replied to me.
We had met Nat just out back of the mall where she had stolen us a blue truck. It was big enough to fit us all in comfortably but desecrate enough to travel in.
We were well on our way to Jersey now, about an hour in. Nat took up the back wanting to lay down across the seats while I was in the passenger seat and Steve drove.
He did drive like an old man though but I guess it added to the act.
"Where did you learn how to steal a car?" Steve picked up conversation, as he gazed to look at Nat in the rear view mirror.
"Five years ago in Berlin Germany." She replied not taking her eyes off the car roof.
"And we're not stealing we're borrowing. Take your feet off the seats." He told her making Natasha scowl but sit up.
"Alright, I have a question for the both of you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?" Nat rambled on making me roll my eyes playfully.
"What?" Steve and I asked at the same time.
"Are you two you know, secretly in a fondue?"
I almost choked on the air I was breathing, I worried about Steve as he literally stopped driving all together for a moment.
"What?!" I ask her loudly.
"Well you know, the rest of us just kind of guessed that you two had taken the next step in your relationship but haven't told anyone and kept it a secret." Nat spoke.
"The rest of you?" Steve asked the same time as I said "Do you see a ring, anywhere?"
"Well I was just wondering, you see Tony may have started a bet and I just wanted to see if I could win." Nat smirked.
"Oh my God I'm going to kill him." I sigh, sinking down in my seat and face palming.
Steve brought a hand over to me and laid in on my thigh.
You were not helping the situation here Steve.
"No Nat, we're not. I'm waiting for the right moment." Steve told her.
There was no rush with Steve and I. We were happy that was all I cared about. I loved him and I knew he loved me. Whenever he was ready, I would be too. I've always hated surprises, something about the suspense made me nervous.
But waiting for Steve to propose.
I didn't mind that surprise.
"Ok. Ok, I just wanted to see." She backed off, raising her hands in innocence.
"Nat stop talking." I mutter still sunk in my seat.
"What about you Natasha? Nobody special, though?" Steve asks, peering back to look at her again.
"Believe it or not Rogers, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience." Nat chuckled.
"Well, that's alright, you just make something up." Steve told her.
"What, like you and Blondie?" She asked still smiling.
I sat back up again, but pulled down the sun shade as the sunlight was bright due to the sunset.
"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time." Steve told her.
"That's a tough way to live." I pipe up.
"It's a good way not to die, though." Nat said.
"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." Steve said truthfully, I nodded in agreement. Even when you think you know someone, you don't. I learnt that recently with SHIELD.
"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?" Nat asked us.
"How about a friend?" Steve asks.
"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." Nat laughed lightly making me frown slightly and lower my hand to link it with Steve's that was on my thigh.