∆ {2²} {PDAs} ∆
IN THE YEAR and a half since Natasha had found Roxi, she had grown closer to the icy, sarcastic brunette in more ways than one. The agent had begun to open up to her about her newfound powers, which Natasha had agreed to keep quiet about, as long as Agent Ryder 'kept them in check'. The brunette had also shown her emotions more around the redhead, though not very much, but it showed that the two women were becoming closer, and for once, neither of them minded. Their newfound closeness was what made Natasha call the other agent when she was in a bit of a situation.
"Hey, what do you want?" The brown haired woman's voice filtered through Natasha's phone, though with a slight buzz of static and the tweeting of birds in the background.
"What a lovely way to greet someone," She replied as she pressed a few buttons on a vending machine.
"I try my best. Now what's up?" Roxi sat at the other end of the line, fiddling with her keyring again; it'd become a bit of a habit. As Natasha explained over the phone line, Roxi found herself sitting up and leaning onto her table while she concentrated on what the redhead was saying.
"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," She said into the flip phone, closing it with a brief 'bye' so she could get moving. Natasha had asked her to go into D.C and then to a certain Apple Shop not too far from the Triskelion, the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. What she'd gathered from the brief conversation over the phone was that S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised, apparently by an unknown source, which definitely wasn't good. Steve had been given something by Fury, (whose condition she was a bit confused about; Natasha had skimmed over it), a USB stick and the redhead intended to find out what was on it, and figured that the pair might need help and had called Roxi, because she had been away from S.H.I.E.L.D (and apparently someone else) for over a year, which made it much more unlikely that she was a double agent, and Natasha had grown to trust her over time.
Because she was going to such a busy place as D.C, she did put in contacts. They were dark green, and she tied her freshly redyed black hair up in a simple ponytail, before slipping on a grey jumper that had pockets sewn on the inside to hold various things; she'd put her leather jacket in the saddlebags on her bike. She slipped her retracted quarterstaff into one of the pockets, along with a gun and a knife, the last in a padded pocket especially designed for that use. Yes, she didn't need weapons, but she was still working on her powers and keeping them under control, so she preferred to go for the (slightly) safer option. She made sure everything was locked, and that she had one or two of the flip phones in her pockets, before driving as fast as she could (while obeying the limit; she didn't need to be stopped by the police) to the centre of D.C. She stopped her bike and locked it up, grabbing a purse and putting it into her pocket in case she found something that she actually needed. She went up an escalator to the second floor and spotted the Apple Shop quickly. She went in, and found the pair quickly, for two reasons. One, Steve was one of the tallest guys she'd ever met, and two, Natasha was wearing that blue and white striped hoodie she'd been wearing when the pair of them went to see Clint, although she did have her hood up.
She walked up to them, though she went around the long way so that she ended up next to Natasha instead of Steve, who hadn't seen her in two years, and would probably get a shock when he saw her.
"How's it going?" She asked quietly as she took in what was on the screen. Steve turned around quickly as he heard Roxi speak.
"Sorry, this is a private party," he said completely calmly, and Roxi turned to him with a slight smile on her face,
"Yeah well, I got an invitation," she retaliated, and she watched him take in her face.
"Ryder?" He asked, sounding confused. She turned back to the testing computer, as she replied with
"Hey Rogers." He opened his mouth to ask another question, but another voice sounded from behind him, this time, one of the store personnel, and he turned quickly again as Roxi watched the trace that Natasha was running, occasionally pointing out mistakes, while keeping a close ear on the conversation happening next to them.
"Can I help you guys with anything?"
"Oh no, my fiance was just helping me look at honeymoon destinations," Natasha quickly replied, her voice unusually sweet.
"Right, we're getting married," Steve continued, sounding very unsure and slightly confused.
"Yeah, finally, it only took you two years," Roxi added on, playing the role of the over-excited friend or sister, before she too returned her gaze to the screen.
"Congratulations, where you guys thinking about going?" The man asked, causing Steve to awkwardly glance back at the screen before supplying an answer. Roxi almost rolled her eyes at how slow he was being; they needed to keep up appearances, but then she reminded herself that he was over 90 and had been raised in the 1920s and 30s. As she faintly heard him answer
"New Jersey," she noticed a display of cheap flip phones a few rows away and figured that she might as well get a couple for her new companions, so she quickly bough a few and accepted a bag; she did have a limited number of pockets. Roxi came back to the pair just in time to hear the worker say
"If you guys need anything, I've been Aaron," before giving Steve a quick nod and walking away.
"You said nine minutes, c'mon," he ushered.
"Shhh, relax," Natasha drew out, "Got it."
"You know it?" She asked as the location 'WHEATON, NJ' popped up on screen as Steve craned his neck to get a closer look.
"I used to," He corrected her.
"Alright let's go," Roxi said, putting her hand on his shoulder (with some difficulty) as she passed. Steve jumped slightly, and hesitated until Natasha followed the other agent before continuing after the pair. Natasha may trust the ice-eyed agent, but he didn't yet. Roxi was fine with that, and was surprised but happy that Natasha had trusted her, it made her feel less lonely.
They made their way through the corridor, and Roxi couldn't help but feel that while they were hiding their faces, Steve and Natasha were being very conspicuous, walking along inside with hood up and hat on, looking down to the floor, while Roxi kept pace behind them, but looking much more relaxed and ambling, occasionally slowing her pace as she pretended to window shop, something she hadn't done in a while. She was sure Laura would persuade her to go together sooner or later, and she was fairly sure she'd get about three times more stuff than she actually needed. She had just caught up to them again when she heard Steve mutter out low lines relating to the positions of the mystery agents looking for them.
"Standard TAC team. Two behind, two across," He began, making a very obvious glance over his shoulder that made Roxi roll her eyes and mutter something about 'thanking the obliviousness of these agents', before he continued, "Two coming straight at us. When they make us, I'll engage and you'll take the cell desk straight over here to the metro." He instructed Natasha, who had other plans.
"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." She said shortly.
"What?"
"Do it," they continued in their hushed tones as Roxi brushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face. Steve did exactly as the redhead had asked, letting out a very forced laugh as Roxi just ambled along behind them; S.H.I.E.L.D (or not) were unlikely to be looking for her, since it'd been two years since she'd gone off the map, and she'd changed her appearance slightly. He looked up a moment later, after the two men had passed straight by them, swinging his head around and looking very confused. The action made her smirk slightly. In all his career as Captain America, he'd never really needed subtleness, but here he was, trying to hide in plain sight and taking instructions from a pair of women he barely knew. A moment later they were on the escalator back to the ground floor, and Natasha very quickly spotted Brock Rumlow, a man who Roxi also recognised from seeing him around S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha turned around quickly, her red hair splaying out, looking straight up at Steve.
"Kiss me," she instructed without a second thought.
"What?" He repeated, sounding very confused. Roxi almost felt sorry for him.
"Public Displays of Affection made people very uncomfortable," Natasha stated and the brunette smirked slightly, before pulling out one of the flip phones she'd just bought and put Nat's number in as slowly as she could.
"Yes, they do," he protested. Roxi was deliberately taking long enough so that by the time she was done, Rumlow had passed and the redhead had turned away from Steve. Roxi felt a different feeling inside of her, one she wasn't used to as she followed the other two down the rest of the escalator. It wasn't a nice feeling, not like that strangely pleasant, warm, fluttery feeling she felt when Natasha turned up at her door. This one seemed angry, but in a calm way. She pondered on it for a few seconds before deciding that it was jealousy. Of what she was jealous, she didn't exactly know. But that could wait.
They made their way out of the center, splitting so Roxi could grab her bike while Steve and Natasha went to go and hijack a truck. When they pulled up in front of her, the brunette hoisted the bike onto the truck bed, though with some difficulty, and closed the flap behind it (after strapping the bike down and grabbing her leather jacket), and then joining the pair in the car, though in the back seat.
A little way into the journey (which had otherwise been filled by silence, radio music and occasionally static), Natasha, who had her feet up on the dashboard turned to Steve and asked him
"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?"
"Nazi Germany," he supplied, before thinking through what the S.H.I.E.L.D agent had said and correcting her, "and we're borrowing; take your feet off the dash." Natasha gave him a look before complying.
"Alright, I have a question for you, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kinda answering it, and you know-" She asked, before being cut off.
"What?" Steve asked, probably just wanting her to get to the point. Roxi up until then, had been busy entering numbers into the flip phones and altering their programming slightly to make them a little harder to track, but the conversation had gained her interest, so she sat up and listened.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" Natasha continued with no hesitation. Roxi smirked at that and turned to the super soldier, genuinely curious about the answer.
"That bad, huh?" He asked, keeping his eyes solidly on the road.
"I didn't say that."
"Well it kinda sounds like that's what you're saying."
"No, I didn't, I just wondered how much practise you have," Natasha supplied, quickly covering over her implication with another statement that was really a question.
"You don't need practise," Steve protested.
"Everyone needs practise."
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95; I'm not dead." Roxi, who had been watching the conversation with her eyes flitting from one person to another like she was watching a tennis match, chose to interject there.
"Clearly." Steve shot her a look in the mirror, before Natasha continued with her questions.
"Nobody special then?" He let out a small scoff, before answering.
"Believe it or not, it's kinda hard to find someone with shared life experience."
"Well, that's alright, you just make something up," Natasha supplied, hoping to genuinely help him.
"What, like you?"
"The truth is a matter of circumstance, it's not all things to all people, all the time, neither am I."
"It's a tough way to live," Steve told her, his eyes now on her face instead of on the road, where they probably should be.
"It's a good way not to die, though." Natasha replied, with a slightly deflated air to her voice. After a few minutes, Roxi interrupted the silence of awkwardness and road noise.
"Making things up can work out well." That drew the attention to her, although, Steve now had his eyes back on the road, which she was grateful for, she didn't need to be in a car crash on top of everything else going on.
"I manage pretty well," she supplied, seeing only blank faces. After that, Natasha's face softened and she gave the brunette a slight smile, internally wishing that the agent wasn't so hard on herself. After a moment more of no-one being sure what to say, Roxi extended her hand, which had the two new phones in them.
"I've put some numbers in and made them a bit harder to trace," she told them, and Natasha took both, seen as Steve was driving.
"Thanks," The redhead said, the tips of her fingers slightly brushing Roxi's, and even that simple contact made that fluttery feeling inside her grow slightly.
"You seem to bring me a lot of bad news through telephone calls," she joked, thinking back to when Natasha had first called her when she'd been working in Spain.
"Maybe I should just start texting you," the redhead joked back.
"Maybe you should."
"Maybe I will."
"Okay, then just text me next time," Roxi suggested. Natasha seemed to think about what she was going to say, before she replied with
"Nah, I think I'll call you."
"Oh, so that-"
"Where were you?" Steve interrupted their banter with a question of his own. The women's attention was immediately drawn to the blonde, who's eyes jumped from the road, to Natasha, to Roxi's face in the mirror. She didn't quite clock what he meant until he reiterated it.
"After New York." She considered her answer for a moment before replying carefully.
"Figuring things out. I needed some time to just take a step back and and take a look at things." Natasha had been watching her in the mirror with a certain warning look in her eye.
"Yeah, I can relate to that a bit," he paused, meeting her currently green eyes in the mirror, "but it's nice to talk to people."
"I guess so." Roxi turned her gaze towards the back of Natasha's head.
'I had someone to talk to', she added in her mind, before returning her gaze to the dusty road that would eventually reach the army base in Wheaton, NJ.
{A/N:} So in this chapter I opened up Roxi's feelings a bit and we got into the Winter Soldier, but I thought I'd introduce her later into the story-line than most other FanFictions I've read. Thank you SO much for the support I've been getting, especially from @hmwmsm2 , @rwindham18 and @InsanesTheNewNormal for voting on most (if not all) of my chapters and commenting. Sorry for the texts I send you about basically everything about it Abbey xD. See you next chapter :).
JabberJay11
2700 words
Written: 22 / 08 / 2020
Published: 29 / 08 / 2020
REST IN PEACE CHADWICK BOSEMAN, WHO PASSED AWAY EARLY THIS MORNING DUE TO COLON CANCER AT AGE 43. YOU WERE A LEGEND AND YOU WILL BE MISSED.
'In my culture, death is not the end; it's more of a.. stepping off point.'