Five minutes later, Nat and I met Steve and Peter in the ice cream store. They were loitering in the corner, Peter eating cookies-n-creme ice cream while glaring viciously at anybody who went near him, and Steve was licking a vanilla cone suspiciously. As soon as Nat and I stepped into the store, their faces immediately brightened. "Did you get the agents?" Peter asked excitedly.
"Shush!" I scowled at him, looking around and lowering my voice. "Yeah. We did."
"Why is your throat purple?" Steve squinted at me, his protective-dad mode coming back clearly. "Did somebody try to strangle you?"
I shrugged. "Maybe."
Steve coughed. "Okay, so there's a door behind the counter that should lead into the back of the store, and most probably another door, a secret trapdoor perhaps, that leads down into Agnelsson's base. We just have to sneak inside and then it's simple - get to Fury without being noticed."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "But shouldn't we take down Holly? And Ivan and Agnelsson?" I rested my hands on my hips. "Ivan ruined my life; I'm not just going to let him and his cronies run free."
"Yeah." Peter crossed his arms and faced the adults. "Let's not forget the kids with gifts that Agnelsson is experimenting on too. We need to find them."
Nat squeezed my hand. "He ruined my life, too, маленькая птица, and as much as I would like to personally see to him myself, we can't. It would just put you two in even more danger and plus, once we leave with Fury, a team of agents will come to take him out. Holly and Agnelsson also."
"And another team of agents will come to rescue the kids," Steve continued. He locked me with a stare that would have made Ultron himself tremble. "We don't want Kira pulling another stunt like she did last time."
I prodded Steve in the arm. "Coincidentally, that stunt I pulled resulted in us finding Evie and, in turn, Holly, which led us here. So this is all my doing, basically."
"Is that a good thing, though?" Peter looked confused. I kicked him in the leg.
"Okay," Nat's voice hushed even further. "The cashier has just left the store counter. If we move now, we should be able to get into the back room without anybody noticing."
We all nodded and began to move surreptitiously to the counter, the heavenly smell of ice cream hitting me in the face. Steve and Nat had gotten into the back room and Peter and I were about to go through the door to join them when a high, pleasant voice said, "Can I help you?"
I froze, my fingers on the door handle. I could see Nat and Steve looking at me with anxious eyes from through the small gap in the door as I slowly pushed it closed. Peter and I swung around to see a concerned-looking woman in her early twenties with wispy blonde hair tied up into a knot on the top of her head. "Can I help you?" she repeated.
"Uh, well," Peter stammered. "We were..."
I kicked him in the shin to shut him up, an idea springing to mind. I wrapped my arm around his waist and drew him close to me. "Oh, my boyfriend and I were just going to... uh..."
"Boink!" Peter piped up, kissing my cheek fondly.
Coughing from the Brooklyn 99 reference, I said, smiling sweetly, "Yes, boink. That's my preferred term for it too."
The woman's face went bright red. "Well, then, I won't stop you, but please, do it out of my shop."
"Of course, ma'am!" said Peter, dragging me by the waist out of the shop. "We won't bother you again."
As soon as we were out of earshot, I hissed into Peter's ear, "Boink?!"
Peter chuckled. "Yes, my love. We were going to boink."
"Ugh, stop," I whacked him on the chest, giggling. "Or you'll end up like old Marco Arrata over there." I grimaced.
"I thought I was supposed to be your brother!"
"Seriously, stop, if you value all your brain cells to stay in your brain."
Once Peter had finished teasing me and the cashier was serving somebody else, we snuck back into the ice cream store and slipped through the back door into an ice-cold room filled with empty ice cream containers. Nat and Steve were nowhere to be found.
"Mum?" I called out. "Cap?"
I could hear noises coming from over behind a shelf of mint choc-chip and made my way over to it, my jaw dropping when I saw what was going on. Nat and Steve were locked in an embrace, Steve's lips pressed down onto my mother's forehead. I spluttered and coughed but they didn't move.
"Hey Kira, have you seen Natasha and Mr. Rogers...JESUS CHRIST!" Peter's eyes bulged.
At the noise, my mother and Steve sprang apart, Nat's hand on his chest awkwardly. Both of their faces were bright red. "Uh. Hi, kid," Steve said, his face as red as my hair.
"Romanogers confirmed," said Peter from behind me. "That'll be twenty dollars, Bombshell."
I wordlessly reached into my hoodie pocket and handed Peter a crisp twenty dollar note.
"You were betting on us?" Nat looked aghast.
"I didn't think you would," I replied. "Peter did. That's a waste of good money now."
Steve entangled himself from Nat's arms and ruffled my hair. "Your mum and I were... just having a moment, kid," he said. "You okay with that?"
"Seriously?" I couldn't believe it. "Of course! Are you kidding? This is great!" I leapt into Steve's arms and hugged him. I could see Nat watching me and Steve affectionately. She then joined in the hug and, for a few seconds, everything was perfect, until Peter coughed awkwardly to let us know he was still there.
"Not to burst your bubble or anything, but we still need to find Fury," Peter said. "And I'm pretty sure he's down through that door." He was pointing to a locked door half-hidden behind a pile of strawberry ice cream tubs.
We strode over to it and Steve brought back his foot, kicking the door open. It led down to a set of stairs that seemed to disappear into pitch blackness at the bottom. "Ladies first," Peter grinned. I scowled and started the descent, my boyfriend/friend/three time kisser following behind me.
I could've sworn that, out of my peripheral vision, I saw Nat and Steve sharing an affectionate, lingering kiss, before following us down into the darkness.