Before We Fall

Chapter 36

I pushed myself up and dangled my feet off the bed. My feet touched the cold marble floor and I flinched away from it. I placed my feet back on the floor and stood up. I grabbed onto the IV and pulled it with me. Walking out of my room, I went to the vending machine. I slipped in the few dollars that were on my table and looked through my choices.

My eye caught something that shouldn't have been there. I typed in the number and watched as they all fell. I looked at the drive after getting it from the opening of the machine and looked around. I slid it into the pocket of my gown and went back to my room. I sat down and placed at the gum on the table. The door opened and Nat walked in, holding a bag. I stiffened at the sight of it. She smiled at me as she saw that I was awake.

"Hey, how you going?" She asked, standing next to me.

"Alright. What's in the bag?" I questioned her. She placed the bag on my bed and pulled out articles of clothing.

"Pair of clothes and some shoes. Thought you might want to change when you get released." She said, putting them back in the bag. She placed it in the chair and looked back at me.

"Thanks." I told her. She nodded.

"Well I'll umm...." She paused, probably feeling awkward.

"Thanks Nat." I said to her again. She nodded and reached over, grabbing a piece of gum from the table. She smiled as she put it in her mouth and left.

Once I knew she wasn't coming back, I ripped out the IV out of my hand. I hissed as I felt it slid out from my vein and out of my skin. Blood came up and I dapped it with a few tissues. I grabbed the bag off the chair and dumped the clothes on the bed. I quickly changed into it and tugged the jacket on. I grabbed the drive and slid it into my pocket and walked out of the room. Ahead of me, I saw Steve shove Nat into a room. I quietly walked up to it and listened in on the conversation.

"I'm not going to ask you again." Steve hissed at her.

"I know who killed Fury and tried to kill Riley. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exist. But the ones that do, call him the Winter Soldier. He credit for over two dozen assassination in the last 50 years." I heard Nat tell him.

"So he's a ghost story?" Steve asked her.

"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. Solvik slug, no rifling, bye bye bikinis." She told him.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." Steve said to her.

"Going after him is dead end. I know, I've tried." She admitted. I kicked open the door and they both jumped, looking at me. I placed my hands in my pockets and leaned against the door. I pulled out the drive and both of their eyes widened at the sight of me having it.

"Like you said, he's a ghost story. So let's find out what he wants." I suggested to them.

"What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be resting." Steve turned from shock to a over-protective parent.

"I won't let a minor concussion and a few stitches stop me from finding out who tried to kill me." I lied to them about my injuries. Steve huffed and glanced over at Nat. She shrugged and Steve shook his head in annoyance. Two against one.

"First rule of going on the run, is don't run. Walk." Nat said to Steve as we walked through the crowded mall. Steve was in the middle of us, saying it would look natural.

"If I run in these shoes, they're going to fall off." Steve stated to her. Steve pulled me into the computer store and we went up to a computer.

"The drive has a level six homing program so as soon as we boot up, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are." Nat told us. I watched as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"How much time will we have?" Steve asked, slightly leaning over me. His hand was pressed against the table as he stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. His chest hit my back every time he took in a breath.

"Um about nine minutes from...now." She slid in the drive I gave her. "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?" I asked her. A brow went up as she smiled slightly.

"The person who developed this was slightly smarter than me. Slightly. I'm going to try running a trace here. This is a program that S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to find hostile mowares so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." She answered.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" I jerked around to face the man who came up to us.

"Oh no, my fiancé was helping me on some honeymoon destinations." I said. I smiled at the man as I leaned my head against Steve's chest. His heart raced as I did so.

"Right, we're getting married." He said.

"Congratulations. Where you guys thinking about going?" The man asked, not going away. Steve looked over his shoulder and at the computer.

"New Jersey." He answered the man.

"Oh." The man got a weird look on his face as he stared at Steve. Steve flinched his head back, fearing that he had been noticed. "I have the exact same glasses."

"Wow, you two are practically twins." Nat said sarcastically said from behind us. I let out a soft laugh at her tone.

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh, you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." The guy finally left and we both turned back to Nat.

"You said nine minutes, come on." Steve tried to rush her.

"Shh, relax. Got it." I moved closer to the screen and I recognized the place. "You know it?"

"We both used too." I answered her question. I took the drive from the computer and slid it back in my pocket. I shoved both hands in my pockets as we walked quickly out of the computer store.

"Standard tag team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. They make us, I'll engage, you guys go up the south escalator." Steve planned out.

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Nat ordered him.

"What?"

"Do it." I pulled out my phone and started to fake text. We got onto the escalator when I saw Rumlow going up. I turned around to look at Nat and Steve but they were lip locking. It felt my heart was cave in. My throat tightening in pain as I witnessed it. I lowered my head and looked away, picking at my nails.

"You still uncomfortable?" Nat asked as she walked past me, down the escalator. Steve followed close behind her, then me after him. Like a lost puppy.

"Not exactly the word I would use."