Nomad (Steve Rogers)

9

THUD.

The knife embeds itself into the far wall as I skillfully launch it with a quick flick of my wrist. 

"Aster!" Steve now looks unimpressed from where he's sat reading in the corner. "What have I told you about playing with your knives?" 

"I'm bored! Would you prefer it if I threw them at you?" I fire back. 

We haven't spoke about 'that night' since it happened, and that was a good few weeks ago. Since then we've gone from place to place, and all the while i'm still trying to crack the General's files. It's frustrating, but I need a lucky break. 

"Believe me you'd be doing me a favour." He mutters to himself but loud enough for me to hear. 

I throw another knife his way, but he grabs it mid throw by the handle before it can even skim past his head. "Spoil sport." I say and go to check on how the files are coming along with the decoder. 

The amount of things I've inputted in the hope that it would break are too many to count, and it's beginning to annoy me that Ross has gone to these lengths. Whatever's on there must be bad. He could have anything, nudes, a sex tape?! I don't know what the hell I'm gonna find if i eventually am able to decode and open the files. 

"Any luck?" Steve asks as he looks over at me. 

Things have changed between us since 'that night' (that's all I can call it really as well as 'Best Sex Of My Life'). It's like there is unresolved tension in the air and yet neither of us seem to want to address it. I don't know how to act around him anymore, what to do or even say? Does he regret it and that's why he's said nothing? I have no idea. I certainly don't. 

Assassinating Captain America was meant to be my mission, not going on the run or getting railed by him for that matter. 

"Still running through codes and whatnot." I don't look away from the screen as I analyse whether this is yet to be another fail on my part. I've now come to the conclusion that I am probably the worst assassin out there.

 All because of this man. 

Steve is on his feet and comes over, crouching down beside where I'm sat with his brow furrowing at the screen. "What the hell is he hiding?" He questions more to himself than to me. 

"I don't know, but it's something juicy. Like I said, he's shady and has done a lot of things to get where he is."

"How'd you know?" 

"It's my job to know. I background check a lot of my clients as well as my targets, just so i'm well informed." That and it makes for good blackmail tactics, but I don't tell him this.

I sit back and sip at my coffee that I'd left to cool a little. Some of the hotel's we've been in have had either diabolical food or just crappy rooms in general. But a roof is a roof, and it could be far worse. I can feel Steve's eyes on me and look at him. "What?" I ask cautiously. 

"It's nothing." And with those two words brushes it off. 

"It's gonna be a while, why don't you go to bed?" I tell him. After all, there's no point in both of us sitting up and waiting for the screen to tell us whether we've been successful or not. We're moving onto Switzerland in a few days which is going to be interesting, and there's talk of Sam and Nat rejoining us soon. 

Steve gets to his feet knowing that he can't do anymore in this situation. "You should get some rest too, you've been stressing over these files all day." 

"Because they are stressful." I point out helpfully. 

His hands rest firmly on my shoulders. "Aster..." He warns.

I look up at him and give in. I'm pretty tired after all.  "Fine, hopefully this thing will work it's magic while we're asleep." 

Because if it doesn't then i'm going to be having to call it quits - which is something that I never do. 

I get into bed next to him (One bed seems to always be the assumption whenever we grab a hotel room) and lay there quietly for a while. One question does play on my mind though. and now I find myself asking him it before I can keep my mouth shut. "Do you miss her?"

"What?" He asks calmly, not annoyed that I'm about to question him about the woman whose picture is in his compass. He rarely speaks of Peggy Carter, and her name had only ever cropped up once or twice in passing conversation. He held her in the highest regard though, and that is clear. 

"Peggy." I confirm. 

The silence that overtakes the all but dead conversation is only for a minute or two. Not that i'm counting. I'm just curious. I know of what she achieved, and admit that she was quite remarkable. Steve obviously saw that. 

"If you'd have asked me that when I first came outta the ice, I'd have said yes. But now I've been back and she's gone? I guess I've moved on. She was my last link to the past and when she died, the link did too. You can't beat yourself up forever about stuff like that,  you've just gotta keep on going." 

"Y'know, if you weren't Captain America, then you'd make a great therapist." I smirk into the darkness. "You ever thought about giving it up?" 

I don't see him nod but I guess he does, judging by his next words. "I s'pose I have given it up in a way?" and steers himself away from the subject. "Now go to sleep." 

I'm not going to argue with him and turn away with a small 'goodnight', willing sleep to come as quickly as possible. Unfortunately it doesn't and once i know Steve is asleep, I slip out of bed and resume my position at my laptop. 

I must drift off because I wake during the early hours and instantly have my face to the screen. 

It's worked...

I have access...

I click on some files and skim through them. Nothing of interest there, but then one folder catches my eye. It's in another and when I click on it, there is document after document of 'Mission Reports' followed by the surnames.  

One catches my eye. MISSION REPORT: HART and I open it, my blood running cold as I read the contents...

Ross was the one to hire the widow to murder my parents and kidnap me. All for his own personal gain in his rise to General. My head spins and I feel like I want to throw up, but refrain from doing so, pushing myself to turn my attention to the Steve Rogers file. I can deal with the truth about my parents later, but I need to focus right now.

 In here it will tell me exactly why Ross changed his mind and hired me to kill Captain America. 

I read through and then my heart stops at the one word that is now tying everything together. 

HYDRA.