Chapter 19: Undercover

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Dani, Natasha and Steve go undercover through a mall.

Dani, Natasha and Steve go undercover through a mall

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"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Dani says noticing Steve move suspiciously fast.

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

The trio go to an apple store and Dani wastes no time. Natasha knew that Dani is a faster hacker than she is, so she let her take over.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Natasha informs Steve. 

"How much time do we have?" Steve asks.

"Uh...about nine minutes from," Dani pops the drive into the computer and rapidly begins hacking. "Now. 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." Dani says.

"Can you override it?" Steve asks.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly," Dani says. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

"Can I help you guys with anything?" An Apple employee asks.

"Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations. With our daughter of course." Natasha says motioning to Dani who smiles in a way that is believably innocent. 

"Right! We're getting married." Steve says.

"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" The employee asks.

"New Jersey." Steve says and Dani throws him a discreet look.

"Oh," The employee says and looks at Steve. "I have the exact same glasses." 

"Wow, you two are practically twins." Dani says sarcastically.

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Also, good kid. Uh...if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." The employee says. 

Dani gives Natasha a death glare after Aaron leaves. Natasha smirks and ruffles Dani's hair. "You're adorable, kiddo."

"Not a kid." Dani mumbles.

"To me you are." Natasha says.

"Thank you," Steve says to Aaron and turns to Dani. "You said nine minutes, come on." 

"Shh, relax. Got it." Dani says showing it lead to somewhere in Wheaton, New Jersey.

"You know it?" Natasha asks.

"I used to. Let's go," Steve says and the three leave. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." 

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Dani says to Steve.

"What?" Steve questions.

"Do it!" Natasha urges and Steve complies.

The trio goes to an escalator. Natasha turns to Steve.

"Kiss me." Natasha says to Steve.

"What?" He asks.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." Natasha says.

"Yes, they do." The two kiss and Dani pretends to be on her phone. 

"You still uncomfortable?" Natasha asks.

"It's not exactly the word I would use." Steve says.

⧗⧗

Dani, Natasha and Steve steal a car. 

Dani is in the passenger seat, whilst Natasha sits in the back. Dani had her feet kicked up on the dashboard. A familiar song plays and Dani quickly turns it off.


Natasha's eyes widen and Steve looks at Dani in question. "You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I just didn't like the song," Dani says. "Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?"

"Nazi Germany." Steve says.

Dani hums.

"And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash." Steve instructs and Dani takes her feet off. 

"Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?" Dani says.

"What?" Steve asks.

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" Dani asks with a smirk.

"That bad, huh?" Steve asks.

"I didn't say that." Dani insists.

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

"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had." Dani says.

"You don't need practice." Steve says.

"Everybody needs practice." Natasha joins in.

"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead." Steve says.

"Nobody special, though?" Natasha asks.

"Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience." Steve says.

"Well, that's alright, you just make something up." Dani shrugs slightly.

"What, like you two?" Steve asks.

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I." Dani says folding her arms.

"That's a tough way to live." Steve says.

"It's a good way not to die, though." Natasha agrees.

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." Steve says.

"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?" Natasha asks.

"How about a friend?" Steve asks and Natasha laughs softly. 

"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." Natasha says.

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