Combustion ✦ STEVE ROGERS² [✓]

16 | LAGOS

𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁 𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁

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IT WAS A HOT, BLAZING SUMMER DAY IN LAGOS, NIGERIA. The streets below were crowded, filled with a steady stream of people weaving through a dilapidated marketplace and pop up coffee places. Traffic moved carefully down the road, pedestrians hurrying across before motorcycles and vehicles rolled past.

Kato sat in an open courtyard near the marketplace, sipping on some tea as her eyes roamed the area. Sam and Steve were off at different vantage points in the city, watching for suspicious activity. Wanda sat across the table from her, while Natasha was a few tables away from them. The three women were all undercover, dressed in civilian clothing as they assessed the situation.

About a week after that fateful night, Kato and Steve had decided to tell the team about their relationship. None of them were even remotely surprised (though in Kato's opinion Tony gloated a little too much over the fact that they were all right), but congratulated the two regardless. Kato was relieved that they were more than accepting that the two were dating, and was ready to accept all of Tony's teasing that would most certainly follow the announcement.

However, in the full year that Kato and Steve had been together, Kato hadn't once said she loved him. Steve had said it plenty of times, but Kato had never said it back. It wasn't that she wasn't in love with him - she absolutely adored him, and they both knew it. But in her mind, being in love with someone was different than actually loving them. Plus, she still didn't know one hundred percent if what she was feeling was actually love. And even if it was, part of her was too scared to admit it - both to herself and to Steve.

"All right, what do you see?" Steve said after a moment, speaking through comms.

"Standard beat cops," Wanda said, looking around. "Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target."

Kato turned to the station before her. Police vehicles were parked in a neat line before it, a pair of cops leaning against one of them and another nearby.

"There's an ATM in the south corner, which means..."

"Cameras," Wanda replied.

"Both cross streets are one way," Kato informed her.

Wanda nodded slightly. "So, compromised escape routes."

"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out," Steve said.

Kato's took a sip of her tea. "Yeah, no shit."

There certainly wasn't any doubt about Steve's statement. Chaos and collateral damage were not things that bothered their target; he was definitely willing to mow down any who stood in his way. HYDRA had done a good job in instilling such ideology in the man's mind. And that made him dangerous.

"You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, the red one?" Wanda asked. "It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof, which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody," Natasha told her, also speaking over comms. "Probably us."

Wanda lifted her mug to her lips. "You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?"

"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature," Natasha told her, leading the young woman to turn around to Natasha, who gave her a little nod.

"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" Sam asked Natasha.

"Not to my face," Natasha replied. "Why? Did you hear something?"