necromancy | avengers 1

VII- Specimen

"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk." Celestia nodded in agreement with Nat, pulling on the strap of her tank top. "She's right; hiding in plain sight is the best way to do it." Steve looked down at the brunette on his right, furrowing his eyebrows, wondering how she knew (only 5 people knew what happened after her parents died: Adrienne, Fury, Nat, Tony and herself). She just continued looking forward.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." He spoke, while looking around. Celestia chuckled while they walked into a Mac store.

Nat stood at the computer while Steve and Celestia stood either side of her. "The drive has a level 6 homing program, so as soon as we boot up S.H.I.E.L.D will know exactly where exactly where we are." Celestia raised her brows in confusion.

"How much time will we have?" Steve questioned bringing Celestia back from her daydream. "Uhm, about 9 minutes from..now" she answered while plugging in the flash drive. Celestia imagined the black S.H.I.E.L.D cars driving as fast as they could to their current location.

"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." Both Steve and Celestia were staring at the screen.

"Can you override it?" He questioned, leaning closer.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me." Celestia stared at her in surprise. Nat glanced at Celestia, "Slightly".

"I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program S.H.I.E.L.D developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." Again, Celestia was very confused.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" Celestia jumped at the man's voice, turning to him quickly. Natasha chucked, grabbing Celestia and Steve's shoulders.

"Oh, no, I'm just helping my friend and her fiancé with some honeymoon destinations." Celestia shot a glare at Nat, but she just grabbed onto their shoulders tighter and continued smiling. Steve caught on, smiling, and brining Celestia closer by her hip, as Nat moved back to the computer. "Right. We're getting married."

"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking of going?" Celestia glanced back at the computer. "New Jersey." She spat out, internally cringing.

"Oh." Both Celestia and Steve nodded awkwardly as the man continued staring at Steve. "I have the exact same glasses." Celestia quietly sighed in relief. "Wow, you two are practically twins." Nat said sarcastically from behind them, making Celestia look down trying to hold in a laugh.

"Yeah, I wish." He ghosted his hands over Steve. "Specimen." Celestia glanced at Steve out of the corner of her eye to see him nodding awkwardly, quickly catching her eye. "If you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." The worker said while walking away. "Thank you." Celestia and Steve said in unison.

"You said 9 minutes, come on." Steve hurried as he saw S.H.I.E.L.D agents walking outside, being led by Rumlow. "Shh, relax. Got it." The computer chimed a couple times, and Wheaton, Jew Jersey came up. Steve leant closer to the screen. "You know it?" Celestia asked him. "I used to. Let's go." He pulled the flash drive out of the computer, and they quickly walked out of the Mac shop.

"Standard tac team. Two behind, two across, and two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, yous two hit the south escalator to the metro." Steve explained. "Shut up and put your arm around Tia. Laugh at something one of us said."

"What?" Steve and Celestia asked in unison. "Do it." Steve threw his arm around Celestia's shoulder, Nat went closer to Celestia's arm, and they all fake laughed.

After a few minutes, they got on an escalator going down. Nat leaned forward to Steve and Celestia on the below her. "Kiss Celestia." She said to Steve. The blond and brunette whipped around. "What?" They, once again, asked in unison. "Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." Nat explained.

"Yeah, they do." Celestia and Steve rushed out. Nat rolled her eyes and pushed the two together while turning away, acting disgusted. Celestia sharply inhaled in surprise, her eyes wide open, but as Steve just pulled her closer, she closed her eyes as well, putter her hands around his neck.

Nat tapped her shoulder, clearing her throat. "He's gone guys." Celestia pulled away first, gasping and rubbing the back of her neck. She shot a dirty look at Nat but she just grinned.

"Still uncomfortable?" Nat asked while starting to walk faster trying to get off the escalator. Celestia followed close behind, and Steve walked behind her. "It's not exactly the word I would use." He mumbled.

Nat and Celestia walked ahead of Steve as he was keeping an eye out for S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Celestia nudged Nat with her elbow, getting a nudge back. The brunette looked at Nat and shot her a look as to say 'Seriously?' Nat just grinned back, and nodded her head. Celestia rolled her eyes and hit the redhead in the arm.

**

Nat and Celestia fought over the back 'seat' of the car Steve had just hot wired, but Celestia pushed Nat into the back silently saying, 'payback'. Natasha, begrudgingly, took a seat in the back.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Nat leant forward from the back, aiming her question at Steve.

"Nazi Germany." Nat hummed in response. "And we're borrowing."

It was silent for a few moments before Celestia started speaking. "Hey Steve, I have a question. Which, you don't have to answer, but if you don't answer, you're sorta answering it anyway." She rambled. "What?" Steve asked, interrupting. Nat started laughing, obviously knowing where this was going. "Was that your first kiss since 1945?" She spoke while grinning.

"That bad huh?" Steve questioned. "Hey, I didn't say that" (In reality Celestia thought it was a very good kiss).

"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying."

"No I didn't- I just wondered how much practice you've had." Steve scoffed, "You don't need practice."

"Everybody needs practice." Celestia was quietly laughing now, much different to Nat who was laughing loudly in the back.

"No it was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95, not dead." He finally answered, irritated by Nat's loud laugh.

Another couple moments of silence passed. "Nobody special though?" Celestia questioned again. Steve chuckled, "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience."

Celestia hummed, "That's alright, you can just make something up." She shrugged. "What like you?" He turned his head to her. "I dunno. Truth is just a matter of circumstance I guess. It's not everything to everyone all the time. Nor am I." She smiled half-heartedly at him.

He stared at her. "That's a tough way to live." She chucked internally, just as she thinks Nat would be doing now, 'You have no idea Steve' she thinks to herself. "Good way not to die though."

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone, when you don't know who that someone really is." Celestia hummed again, "Yeah. But, you know everything about me that I want you to know. You know Adi, and she's my whole world. But, what do you want me to be?"

"How about a friend?" Celestia chuckled. "There's a chance you might be in the wrong business Steve." He looked at her, and she smiled.