𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄. | ❛ Ghost Story. ❜
DISGUISED AS CASUAL CIVILIANS, Steve and Jamie entered the hospital to retrieve the flash drive from the vending machine. Jamie was dressed in a grey oversized hoodie with black jeans, and Steve was dressed in a hoodie with the hood covering his handsome features. Once they neared the food machine, they noticed the device was gone.
Jamie's face lit up, seeing Natasha through the glass. She was standing behind them whilst she chewed on a piece of gum. Steve acknowledged her presence and turned around in anger. He grabbed the Russian by the arm and pushed her into the nearest room.
Jamie's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting him to conduct this type of behavior. She did a double-take, making sure no one was watching. When it was clear she entered the room and locked it before she neared the pair. She frowned at the sight, watching Natasha being pinned against the wall as Steve bombarded her with questions.
"Where did you get it?" Natasha asked, her glare deepening.
"Why would I tell you?" Steve challenged, his glare mirroring the assassin.
"Fury gave it to you. Why?"
"What's on it?" Steve argued, making her scoff under her breath.
"I don't know," she admitted, looking directly into his eyes. He shook his head and pressed her against the wall, his glowering face making Jamie contemplate her existence. "Stop lying!"
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," Natasha told him. The duo went back and forth from mentioning Fury hiring the pirates to bring up Fury's killer. Jamie only watched them with amusement, their bickering radiating how an old married couple bickers.
"Do you lovebirds need a moment? I can just leave if you want-" she butted into the conversation but was quickly cut off by the both of them. "No!" Jamie put her hands up in surrender before she sauntered towards them.
"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." The redhead explained.
"So, he's a ghost story." He voiced out his thoughts, furrowing his eyebrows.
"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 Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She shared, pulling up her shirt to show them her scar on the side of her stomach. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," Steve answered, his rigid face looking at her. A tint of a smile curved on Natasha's lips. "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried and Jamie has tried too. She knows this." she said, holding up the flash drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."
Jamie grabbed the flash drive and gave them a firm look, "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."
__________
The trio walked inside the mall in their disguise. Steve had the girls on his side as they looked for a phone store to hatch the flash drive. "First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk," Jamie told them, earning a nod from the Russian assassin.
"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off," Steve said, briefly glancing at his shoes before entering an Apple store. Jamie fixed the hood on her head, also fixing her hair to cover her face.
"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are," Jamie informed, her eyes narrowed on the computer.
"How much time do we have?" Steve asked whilst his eyes frantically darted across the crowded area.
Natasha inched her face closer to the computer, "Uh, about nine minutes from..." she popped the device into the laptop. "Now."
"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." The redhead said, running her fingers down the keyboard as she tried to get past the blocked site.
Jamie frowned, "Can you override it?"
Natasha nodded, "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly. 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."
"Can I help you guys with anything?" An employee stepped in front of the trio, giving them a smile.
Natasha gave the worker a fake smile, "Oh, no. My fiance and my sister were just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." she told the young man, wrapping both of her arms on Jamie and Steve's shoulder.
Jamie nodded, making Steve mimic her gesture. "Right! We're getting married."
"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" Steve looked back at the computer, seeing the signal traced somewhere in New Jersey.
"New Jersey." he quickly said, giving him a smile.
Jamie rolled her eyes and brought her attention back to the monitor. Natasha slid the computer towards her, wanting her to take a closer look. The ex-soldier tapped on the letters, ignoring the awkward encounter with an employee.
"Yeah. I wish. Specimen." The worker said, his face painted with a tint of surprise at Steve's physique. "Uh, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." he kindly told them before walking over to a few customers.
Steve sighed and looked back at the duo, "You said nine minutes, come on."
"Shh. relax. Got it." The signal marked an area from Wheaton, New Jersey, making Steve let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"You know it?" Jamie asked, noticing his thoughtful look.
Steve looked at her, slowly nodding his head. "I used to. Let's go," he told the girls, pulling the device from the computer and walking out of the store.
"Standard tac-team. Two behind, two cross, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you guys hit the south escalator to the metro." Steve told them as they roamed through the big mass of people. Two agents were coming straight towards them. Their eyes darting across the busy crowd.
"Shut up and put your arms around us, laugh at something we said," Natasha ordered, making Steve furrow his eyebrows, giving her a look. "What?"
"Do it!" Steve obeyed and quickly put his arms around the both of them, letting out a laugh.
The trio went down the escalator with Jamie at the front, Steve standing behind her, and Natasha at the back observing the area. Her eyes caught Rumlow on the escalator next to them, and she said something that caused Jamie almost to choke on air. "Rogers, kiss Jamie."
Steve's cheeks painted a slight crimson color, his eyes slightly wide with surprise. "What?"
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," Natasha added, making Jamie nod her head at her statement before she inched closer to him. She could feel his hot breath on her lips, causing heat to wash over her.
"Yes, they do." He mumbled, giving her a shy smile before bringing his hand to cup her face and kissing her. His lips were soft and she almost melted into the kiss. Jamie's stomach swarmed with butterflies, and she could feel the heat wash over her at his warm hands resting on her cheeks.
Steve could feel his heart hammering loudly against his chest, and he wondered if she could hear him due to her enhanced hearing. Feeling the warmth of her skin at the palm of his hand, along with the taste of her lips lingered far after they quickly pulled away.
Jamie's eyes fluttered open, a slightly sheepish expression etched on her face as she met his soft blue eyes shyly gazing down at her. The short moment was abruptly cut off by Natasha, who stood at the back looking at the pair with a knowing look before she cleared her throat.
The pair turned their heads, noticing they were already at the end of the stairs. Jamie's hand quickly pulled her hand away from Steve's chest and turned her heel, leaving the duo at the back. She pulled her hood up and tightened the ties, hiding her crimson-painted cheeks.
Natasha and Steve sauntered before they fastened their face to catch up with the ex-soldier. The Russian assassin looked at Steve, a playful smile carved on her face. "You still uncomfortable?" she said, her voice hinting at the Heroine.
Steve pursed his lips, his eyes looking straight away completely oblivious that he was staring at Jamie's back, who was not too far away from them. He frowned at her unusual walk, his thoughts wandering about the kiss before shaking his head. "It's not exactly the word I would use."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE.
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