Rosalie Kasten is out of luck and out of time. For the last two years, she's been living on borrowed time. After her involvement with the death of Edwin Pierce - Alexander Pierce's son - it's only a matter of time before Hydra comes for her.
James...
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𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠. Rosalie chose the right target. Whoever they were, had clearance to the lower floors. The two men both ease their stance and lower their hands. James glances over his shoulder and smiles. She happily grins. She had expected a lot worse. For once, it seems they've gotten lucky.
"We continue lookin' like we belong, right?" Bucky asks, glancing between her and Steve.
They both nod. The key card can hopefully open most of the doors without issue. She won't need to hack her way through them. The metallic cage reaches level ten and slide open. It doesn't look dissimilar from the one they came from. The only change is the unnatural lighting. Industrial strobe lights colour the hallways with a sickly pale colour.
Rosalie steps out first, with Bucky close behind, Steve taking up the rear. There's a desk to the left but the person behind doesn't spare them a second glance as they purposefully walk through the hallway. It's going better than she had expected. James's warm hand lands on her back. She isn't sure whether he's doing it for her comfort or his own, but it doesn't matter to her. Rosalie likes it.
They're walking in the direction of what should be a stairwell. From the pictures and plans, she was able to figure out the area it's located in, but there's a difference between plans and seeing it in real life. And there's a door in her way. One with a lock. Rosalie bites her lip. The card could get the elevator here but it being able to open a door is something completely different.
"What?" James impatiently asks, thumb rubbing up and down on her back.
"What if it starts an alarm?" She nervously croaks out.
"Worked in the elevator, didn't it?" Steve says.
"But what if-"
"You're overthinking, Rose," James grunts and nods towards the reader on the side of the wall. She gulps and tentatively raises her hand. Her stomach begins turning. It doesn't feel right. The reader is about to catch, but then she drops the card.
"I'm not doing it," she mumbles and takes her scanner out of her inner pocket.
"That's gonna take a hell of a lot longer!" He hisses and gets ready to pull out one of the guns from his inner pocket.
"Just let me do it," she grumbles, "Steve, take the bag."
The duffel bag slides off her but Steve catches it in his hand before it hits the ground. Rosalie puts the front of her scanner against the reader on the door. Immediately, errors show up. They technically can't talk to each other, but she can fix that.
A few button clicks, activating the programs she's already put in place, and then they're talking together. It takes a minute or two and James gets impatient. The heavy fall of his boots has become silent as he paces back and forth. Thankfully, it doesn't stress her. She works as diligently. All she needs is to find the right code, there are thousands of them in a place like this, but not all of them will work on this particular door. The little red light switches to a green and with a click, it unlocks.
