It's Magic (Steve R., Bucky B., Thor) Book 1

27.

Nobodies POV

Disguised as a civilian dressed in a hoody, Steve goes back to the hospital to retrieve the flash drive from the vending machine but sees it's gone.

Natasha appears behind him chewing some gum.

In anger Steve pushes her into a room "Where is it?" Steve ask "Safe." Natasha says "Do better!" Steve says "Where did you get it?" Natasha ask "Why would I tell you?" Steve ask

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" Natasha ask "What's on it?" Steve ask "I don't know." Natasha says

"Stop lying!" Steve yells

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." Natasha says "I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" Steve ask

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you." Natasha says "I'm not gonna ask you again." Steve says

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." Natasha says

"So he's a ghost story." Steve says

"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. [she pulls up her shirt to show him the scar on the side of her stomach] Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." Natasha says

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

There's a hint of a smile from Natasha "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." Natasha says

"You took your turn, now it's my turn. Daenerys is out there, probably in pain. I'm doing this for her." Steve says

Natasha holds up the flash drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." Natasha says

Steve takes the flash drive from her "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." Steve says

....

Pierce is holding another virtual meeting with the World Security Council.

"Nick Fury was murdered in cold blood. To any reasonable person, that would make him a martyr, not a traitor." Pierce says

"You know what makes him a traitor? Hiring a mercenary to hijack his own ship." Councilman Rockwell says

"Nick Fury used your friendship to coerce this council into delaying Project Insight. A project he knew would expose his own illegal operations. At best, he lied to you. At worst..." Councilman Singh says

"Are you calling for my resignation? I've got a pen and paper right here." Pierce says

"That discussion can be tabled for a later time." Councilwoman Hawley says

"But you do want to have a discussion." Pierce ask

"We've already had it, Mr. Secretary. This council moves to immediately reactivate Project Insight. If you want to say something snappy, now would be a good time." Councilman Rockwell.

....

Steve and Natasha go to the mall disguised as a civilian couple.

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Natasha says "If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." Steve says

They go to a Mac store to use one of their computers.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Natasha says

"How much time do we have?" Steve ask "Uh...about nine minutes from..." Natasha says

She pops the flash drive into a MacBook Pro.

"Now." Natasha says

....

We see several SHIELD vehicles heading their way.

....

"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." Natasha says

"Can you override it?" Steve ask

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." Natasha says

....

Rumlow and his team pull up outside the mall and head inside.

....

Back at the Mac store, Steve and Natasha continue to try and find out what's on the flash drive.

"I'm gonna try running a tracer. 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." Natasha says

"Can I help you guys with anything?" Apple employee ask "Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." Natasha says

"Right! We're getting married." Steve says awkwardly "Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" Apple employee ask

Steve looks at the monitor and sees the signal traced to somewhere in New Jersey.

"New Jersey." Steve says

The employee looks at Steve for a moment. Steve tenses, fearing that his cover is blown.

"I have the exact same glasses." Apple employee says "Wow, you two are practically twins." Natasha says

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh...if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." Apple employee says

"Thank you." Steve says

....

Rumlow and his team are in the mall looking for Steve and Natasha

....

"You said nine minutes, come on." Steve says

"Shh, relax. Got it." Natasha says

They find the signal is coming from Wheaton, NJ.

Steve's face is overcome with remberance, Natasha notices.

"You know it?" Natasha ask

"I used to. Let's go." Steve says

Steve pulls the flash drive from the computer and they walk out of the store.

"Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." Steve says

As two agents are coming straight towards them "Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Natasha says

"What?" Steve ask "Do it!" Natasha saya

Steve quickly puts his arm around Natasha and laughs.

....

Inside the Mac store one of the agents looks around. "Negative at the source." Jack saus

"Give me a floor rundown." Brick ask "Negative on three." Shield agent # 2 says "Negative on two." Agent #3 says

"Shield Snake the upper levels, work down to me." Brock says

....

As they are going down the escalator Natasha spots Rumlow on the escalator next to them going up, she turns to Steve.

"Kiss me." Natasha says "What?" Steve ask

Steve was slightly panicking, but he didn't show it.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." Natasha says

"Yes, they do." Steve says

Natasha quickly pulls down Steve's head and kisses him making Rumlow look away as he goes past them on the escalator.

"You still uncomfortable?" Natasha ask "It's not exactly the word I would use." Steve says

He was a little horrified, his mind moving to Daenerys.