{CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO}
"You think I stayed to witness the kiss? No thank you."
"Are you in place?"
Harlow grinned down at the screen, her fingers pressed against the desk, watching Nat and Steve in the parking lot. "Uh huh." She hummed, talking into her comm. Taking a glance around, at the limp bodies scattered around, the small room, Harlow moved from the comfy leather chair to lock the door. "There's no signs of Rumlow and his men - they don't know that we're here yet. I'll keep you updated." She told the pair, acting as their eyes for the mission.
"Entering." Nat notified Harlow, casually walking in with Steve by her side. The pair were dressed in disguises - civilian clothing. Harlow was dressed in normal clothing too. She got changed out of her black dress and into plain blue jeans and a large jumper. The girl didn't bother with glasses or a hat since the massive hood seemed to do the trick.
"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Nat told Steve, hurrying him up as they rounded the Apple Store.
Steve shook his head softly, "If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." He stated, glancing briefly down at his shoes that he deemed to be unsuitable.
Harlow held in a scoff at his comment. Just hours early she was chasing down the shooter in heels. Black stiletto heels, that somehow, most likely a miracle, didn't snap while she jumped from building to building. "Bite me." She muttered, with an eye roll, quietly enough so nobody heard. Harlow watched as the pair approached a computer. Just five minutes prior, the teen had to hack the computer in front of her. She was the in the security room, proven by the knocked out security guards. Despite being granted access to the malls cameras, the Apple store cameras weren't. So the girl had to hack her way into their systems.
Nat chose a computer and slyly looked around before getting started. She pulled the flash drive out of her pocket but waited to insert it., "The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." She explained to Steve, presuming Harlow already knew, given what she told them.
As the pair conversed over the task at hand, the red-headed teenager continuously flicked and skipped through the camera feeds to keep an eye out. Whilst waiting, she people watched in the food court cameras, which left her feeling hungry. "Damn it." She sighed.
"How much time do we have?"
"Uh, about nine minutes from..." Nat trailed off, popping the USB stick into the computer. "Now." She chimed her eyebrows furrowing as her eyes roamed the screen, "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?" Steve questioned hopefully.
"Still clear." Harlow updated them, double checking the outside cameras for SHIELDS arrival. Getting slightly bored over her simple task, the girl snooped through the guards supplies. She let out a small whoop as she found a full pack of gum.
"Thank you." Nat replied to the girls update, "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." Nat answered Steve's question, a smirk rising onto her lips.
Harlow continued scanning through the cameras, doubling back on one after believing she saw something shady. "Ah shit! Rumlow's here with agents." She cursed at a hiss, "Standard tac-team, they're entering North but seem to be taking individual floors." She informed them. Without realising, Harlow's fingers started to hit rhythmically against the table, moving to the beat of her heart which was increasing with each minute.
"Language." Steve responded. "You almost there?"
Harlow tried to rack her brain, souring over the image of Rumlow getting closer to the store with each step. "Nat try-try running a tracer. Nick told me about it." She suggested, racking her brain for a fix.
Nat let out a chuckle, "You're a genius." She quipped, going ahead with the suggestion. Upon seeing Steve's confused look, Nat had to hold in another laugh, "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?" A worker greeted the pair with a smile, snooping around them.
"You're a couple!" Harlow yelled into the comm, uttering the first thing that came into her mind.
Nat clenched her jaw, annoyed at the interruption. "Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." She replied, putting a dreamy look on her face when she looked over to Steve.
Steve nodded frantically, "Right! We're getting married." He agreed, wrapping an arm around her.
The employee smile at the two. "Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?"
Steve glanced at the computer screen, seeing the place where it was being traced to. "New Jersey." He responded, overly happy.
Harlow inwardly cringed, "Rumlows still on the bottom level, but all floors are being swept." She spoke, "Come on guys, can we speed this up? We're running out of time."
Nat went to mutter complaints to Harlow as the worker still hadn't left, but Harlow wasn't listening. Hearing a low groan from within the room, Harlow's head tilted in the direction of one of the security guards. He was on his side, his eyes slowly peeling open as he let out a long whimper. "Sorry." Harlow whispered to him, kneeling down beside him and delivering a swift punch - effectively knocking him back out.
"Got it." Nat mumbled, a small smile flashing onto her face. "The signal is coming from Wheaton, You know it?"
Steve sighed softly, "I used to. Let's go." He told her, grabbing the flash drive and pocketing it. "Meet us back at the metro." He instructed Harlow.
Harlow hummed along but waited to give them further directions. "Okay there's two behind you, to across and two coming straight at you."
Nat noticed the incoming SHIELD agents, "Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." She instructed Steve, inching closer to him.
"What?"
Nat scoffed, "Do it!" She barked quietly, Steve quickly wrapping his arm back around Nat and pulled her into him. Fake chuckles fell from his lips.
"Negative at the source."
"Give me a floor rundown." Rumlow demanded.
"Negative on three."
"Negative on two."
Rumple let out a huff of annoyance, "Snake the upper levels, work down to me." He harshly instructed, stepping onto the escalator.
"Incoming!" Harlow yelled the warning, piercing the ears of both Nat and Steve. Neither had the chance to chastise her or send her a glare, as their sights set on Rumlow coming towards them.
"Kiss me." Nat whispered to Steve, spouting the first idea she had.
Steve was once again caught of guard and hesitant. "What?" He questioned incredulously, looking at Nat as though she grew a second head.
Nat rolled her eyes at Steve, "Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." She informed him.
"Yes, they do." He agreed.
Nat saw the window closing and grabbed Steve's face. She steered him into a kiss, which as a result, made Rumlow cast his eyes away.
"You still uncomfortable?" Nat cheekily teased as she pulled away, flashing a daring grin at Steve.
"It's not exactly the word I would use." He retorted, clearing his throat. "Harlow you better be getting out of there."
Harlow chortled over the line, "You think I stayed to witness the kiss? No thank you." She childishly pretended to gag as she narrowly avoided a SHIELD agent.
Meeting Nat and Steve outside, Harlow was pleasantly surprised. The pair were sitting in a car, one that definitely didn't belong to them. She hopped in the back, sliding across the seat and into the middle one.
"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Nat asked with a teasing tone. "I thought we'd have to rely on little miss assassin back there." She added jokingly, trying to ease the subject back into conversation.
"Nazi Germany." Steve answered the question, starting to drive the car away. He accelerated at an increased speed, trying to clear themselves of the mall before SHIELD caught up to them or figured out where they were going.
Harlow leaned forward, her head poking between the two adults. "And it's ex-assassin. Key word is ex." She emphasised, sending a playful sharp look at Nat.
"Yeah let's talk about that again." Steve prompted, glancing at her through the rear view mirror. "And put your seatbelt on." He demanded in a rather fatherly tone.
So they talked about it. This time she had to. Harlow couldn't escape words by showing them.
She had rapidly and very briefly went over the basics of what happened to her while they got to the mall. But, that was the previous extent to their knowledge.
"The only thing you guys didn't know before is that I was kidnapped and taken to Russia. I don't know who by, but they knew me. They wanted to make me their weapon - ya know, mutant assassin. What more could they want? So they taught me everything I needed to know and here I am now." Harlow rambled, ignoring Steve's instruction as she leaned forward and rested her arms on their seats. "But back to you stealing a car..." She added, trailing off as she looked mischievously at Steve.
"We're borrowing, not stealing." He corrected.
Harlow chuckled to herself, which gained a curious look from Steve, "Yeah I told myself that, but the car I stole is still at the hospital."
"Gotta keep an eye on you kid." Steve replied, a smile battling it's way onto his face.
Nat shot Harlow a wink, "Alright, I have a question for you Steve, 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?"
The man glanced at Nat apprehensively, "What?"
A teasing smirk slipped onto Nat's lips as she noticed his nervousness, "Was that your first kiss since 1945?"
Harlow held in a laugh, her lips clamping shut to do so. The look on Steve's face was priceless, almost it as if he had frozen. But in a second his face morphed into a soft smile.
"That bad, huh?"
"I didn't say that."
Steve looked back up to the rear view mirror, choosing to change the subject. "Harlow, tell us more about the shooter."
The girl nodded, leaning back into her seat and finally fastening her seatbelt. "His memory is wiped regularly so it's unlikely that he'll remember me. Or remember shooting Nick." She started, knowing those facts were crucial. Despite it causing her pain, Harlow wanted to make sure that they knew she wouldn't be able to perform a miracle. "I don't know how to make him remember. But I know I can, I've done it before - although it was after shorter periods of time."
Without letting Steve or Nat reply, Harlow continued speaking. "He is being controlled by the people that kidnapped me. They tried to do it to me but their own experimentation fucked it up for them. They enhanced my brain, allowing it to function at a higher level. But he is like Steve. An enhanced individual.-"
"I need to make it clear to you guys that this man, is one of the most important people to me. I've failed him, I escaped and didn't find him - because I'm a coward. So, you are not allowed to kill him under any circumstance. I understand that you will have to defend yourself against him, because he will kill you." She finished emphasising the last part, inhaling deeply to provide needed air into her lungs. It was like when she rambled her past to them, the words spewed out her mouth so fast she had no chance to breath. "Am I clear?"
"Crystal." Nat responded, "We've got the advantage, he may not remember you, but you remember him. Which means you know all his weaknesses and short comings. We can use them against him."
Harlow gritted her teeth, getting a little riled up. "Winnie doesn't deserve to be punished. It's those bastards that force him to kill, forced me to kill." She hissed, sulking in her car seat.
"We'll get them." Steve told the girl, his voice strong and firm.
But the words didn't sit right with her. She didn't want him to get them back for what they did. She wanted to. Harlow wanted to get revenge on those who tortured her. It wasn't Steve's right to.
So with a steady voice, reflecting on her mind, Harlow shook her head. "Thanks but I'll get my revenge. I don't need your help."
Yo! So I'm going on holiday but I'll still be posting! Packing craze made me update last - yet again. Sorry!
Also currently working on my Stranger Things fanfic, it's a Steve Harrington one.
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