𝑾𝑰𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑫 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴𝑺 ━━ 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜

16 New Jersey

PRESENT TIME

STEVE ROGERS and Natasha Romanoff made their way through the bustling mall, blending in as a civilian couple on a casual outing. Steve, dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans, felt slightly out of place amidst the modern surroundings. Natasha, ever the professional, wore a simple but stylish outfit, exuding confidence and ease. 

"The first rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk," Natasha told him, she casually kept an eye on her surroundings, meanwhile, Steve looked like he was actually running away from something.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off."

As they entered the Apple Store, they immediately spotted Kalum, who was casually playing solitaire on one of the display computers. Kalum's eyes lit up when he saw Natasha. "Hey, there you are!" he greeted with a broad smile as he straightened up.

"Hey, Kalum," Natasha replied, giving him a nod. "We don't have much time."

Kalum nodded and stepped aside, watching as Natasha took a flash drive from her pocket. Before plugging it into one of the MacBook Pros, she said, "The drive has a Level Six homing program. As soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are."

Kalum and Steve exchanged a look. "How much time do we have?" Steve asked, concern etched on his face.

"About nine minutes from..." Natasha inserted the flash drive into the MacBook Pro. "Now." She immediately began typing, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "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."

"Can you override it?" Steve wondered, his brows furrowed in concentration as he watched the screen alongside Kalum.

Natasha let out a small huff. "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." She glanced at Kalum, who gave her a playful smirk, admiring her confidence and determination.

"I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program SHIELD developed to track hostile malware. If we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from," Natasha explained.

Kalum leaned in closer, his eyes fixed on the screen. "Just let me know if you need any help," he offered, his voice calm despite the urgency.

Natasha's eyes flicked up to meet his for a brief second. "Appreciate it, but I've got this," she replied, her tone confident. She resumed typing, her focus intense.

Steve nodded, scanning the store nervously. Just then, a cheerful store employee named Aaron approached them, his name tag slightly askew.

"Hey there! Need any help today?" Aaron asked, his eyes darting between Steve, Natasha, and Kalum.

Kalum acted quickly. With a casual air, he placed an arm around Steve's waist and pulled him closer. "Oh, we're just looking for honeymoon destinations," he said, smiling brightly.

Steve stiffened for a moment, his cheeks flushing slightly. "Uh, yeah," he managed, trying to follow Kalum's lead. "Honeymoon. "

Aaron raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued but polite. "Honeymoon? Nice! Any place in mind?"

Kalum looks at the monitor and sees the signal traced to somewhere in New Jersey. He gave Aaron a playful grin. "We're thinking New Jersey," he said.