Infinity

Chapter 75

Marlie's POV

To say that Natasha wasn't happy was an understatement. She was pissed that more that I spoke, the angrier she got. Nat angry was one of the scariest things. When she gets angry, she doesn't show it. Instead, she contains it and stores in deep inside, to use it later.

"Is that all you know?" She finally asks me after I finish explaining what little I know.

"Yeah, Maria was about to tell me more when we got the call about Fury. By the way, where is Maria?" I say dusting my self off. Those vents are dirty.

"Maria is dealing with Fury's arrangements." She says and then pauses and thinks. "Ok, I'm going to find out if Rogers knows anything. You see what else you can learn. I'll meet you in the south stairwell in one hour."

I nod and use a chair to climb back into the vents. I then use the security system to try and find Maria. I spend ten minutes scanning the security takes but can't find her. Not even Friday can find her. I then pull up the parking garage feed and see her car gone. "Well, that can't be good." I mumble.

I then have Friday bring up any files found. The most frustrating thing is that every file she was able to find was very redacted. I sighed in frustration. If I want to read any of these files, I'm gonna need the original hard copies. I pull up where that is and gasp.

I know exactly where they are. It looks like if I am going to go on a trip down memory lane. I then look at the time and see that it is almost time to meet up with Nat. So, I start heading to the stairwell. I get there and see her leaning against the wall next to the vent looking at her phone. As soon as I crawl up to the entrance, she pulls her phone up to her ear.

"What did you find?" She asks to me. To anyone near by it would look like she was on the phone.

"I've been locked out of SHIELD. I was able to break into the servers, but the files are redacted. It would take to long to electronically unredacted them, so we're going to have to get the originals if we want to read them. I have the location, but it should only be a last resort. If we can figure it out without the files that would be best. What about you? Does Rogers know something?"

"He is definitely keeping something to himself. He hid a flash drive in a vending machine before going into SHIELD. He'll be back for it."

"Do you, have it?" I asked.

"Not yet. I need three more ones. Do you have any?"

I pull out my wallet and grab three ones and slide them through the vent. "Here. Also, I have a plan." I whisper as she grabs them. She waits expectantly. "Ok. So, you go and get that drive and bring it to me. Then you wait for Rogers. I have some comms I'll give you. I watch everything through the security cameras and let you know when he gets here. Hopefully we can get him on board."

"Not a bad plan there Edwards." She teased.

I scoff. "You don't have to sound so surprised. I am a genius."

I can hear her roll her eyes. "You've been spending to much time with Tony."

I chuckle as I open a compartment in my backpack and pull out a comms set and pass it to her. "Good luck." I whisper.

She goes and gets the drive and I put the comms in my ear. She then returns to the stairwell and passes the drive to me for safe keeping. I pocket in my suit and find the best place camp out. I find an area in the vents that's right above the loudest part of the hospital. The last thing I is to be heard. I then pull up the feed and wait.

I see Nat in position and make sure that she can hear me through the comms. About thirty minutes later I see Steve enter the hospital, wearing an awful disguise. "Nattie, he just entered the building through the north entrance. He should be in your sights in about five minutes. You won't be able to miss him. He is wearing a bad disguise."

"Copy that." She answers.

I watch as Steve steps up to the machine to get the drive. I see his panicked expression, that quickly vanishes when Nat step behind him blowing a pink bubble with her gum, that she bought to get the drive. Steve then harshly grabs her and pushes her into an empty. He then shoves her harshly against the wall and rips his hood off of his head. I listen closely through the comms.

"Where is it?" He asks her, anger boiling under his tone.

"Safe." She states plainly.

"Do better." His anger rising.

"Where did you get it?" She asks him. Studying him closely.

"Why would I tell you?" He replies, looking guilty.

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" She says plainly reading Steve. He really is a bad liar.

"What's on it?" He asks changing the direction of the conversation.

"I don't know." She says plainly.

"Stop lying." He says exasperated.

"I only act like I know everything Rogers." I chuckle a little at this.

"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" He asks and now I'm confused. Pirates? I turn my attention closer to the conversation, hoping to learn what they're talking about.

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you." Nat says plainly.

Steve doesn't seem to like this. His anger flares back up as he pushes her against the wall harder. "I'm not gonna ask again." He warns.

"I know who killed Fury." She says plainly catching both me and Steve off guard. What all is she hiding? "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."

"So, he's a ghost story?" Steve asks.

"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." I watch as she slightly lifts up her shirt showing something to Steve that I couldn't make out. "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis." She finishes with a smirk.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." Steve teased.

I can't help but chuckle at the two of them. They are honestly perfect for each other and don't even know it. Their both my friends and I would love nothing more for them to be happy and I think they could be happy together. I mean there has been underlining sexual tension between the two since they met.

Nat then brings the conversation back to business. "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried. Like you said, he's a ghost story."

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." Steve says with a smirk.

Nat smirks back before pushing him off of her. She then goes over to the door and peaks out. I look at the feed and see that the hallway outside of the room is clear. "You're all clear. I'll guide you out and meet you in the ally on the west side of the hospital."

She doesn't respond to me; she just grabs Steve's arm and pulls him out the door. I guide them out of the hospital before going out myself. I slip out of the vents and sneak over to the ally. As I'm turning the corner. I hear Steve.

"Romanoff what are we doing here? Where is the drive?" I could hear the frustration in his voice.

"Just be patient Steve." I then walk around the corner and see the two of them standing tense next to each other.

When Steve sees me, his face is priceless. "Eddie? What are you doing here?"

I smirk at his shocked expression and hold up the drive. Steve just looks even more shocked and looks between me and Nat.

"I told you it was safe." Nat says to him.

"You're both a real pain in the ass you know that?" He says looking at the two of us. He then looks at me. "Seriously though Eddie. What are you doing here?