The Same, Just Deadlier (Book 3)

1.5

June 16, 2014

Steve and I looked around the mall, trying to find the APPLE store. We needed to find what was on this flash drive and we needed to find out quickly. "First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." I mumbled to him, looking up at him. He was too anxious and it was going to get us caught.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." I smiled, chuckling as we walked into the Apple store. I found the first computer I could, taking the flash drive from Steve.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." I tell him as turning on the computer.

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

"Uh... about nine minutes from..." I put the flash drive into the computer. "Now." I tell him. As I looked through the drive, I saw Steve looked at the computer every once in a while. "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." Steve glanced down again.

"Can you override it?" Steve asks me, making me smile up at him.

"Definitely. 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." Just then an APPLE employee walks up to us.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" I look up at Steve and then at the employee, smiling at him.

"Oh no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations." Steve looks down at me, slightly shocked and then back at the employee, nodding.

"Right! We're getting married." My heart dropped a little, hearing those words come from Steve's lips. I always thought I was going to marry Bucky. Steve was like a brother to me.

"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?" Steve looks over at the computer, where there was a map on the screen.

"New Jersey." Steve answered, smiling at the employee.

"Oh." The employee looks at Steve for a moment and then smiles at him. I hold my breath, thinking we had been caught. "I have the exact same glasses." I smile at him, chuckling.

"Wow, you two are practically twins." Steve looks at me with an eyebrow raised as I continue to smile.

"Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Uh... if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." I smile back at Aaron as he walks away, hearing Steve mumble a thank you.

"You said nine minutes, come on." Steve mumbled and I looked up at him, shaking my head.

"Shh, relax. Got it." I look at the signal with Steve, seeing Wheaton, NJ. I look back at Steve. "You know it?" Steve nods.

"I used to. Let's go." Steve pulls the flash drive from the computer and we walk out of the store.

We look around us, trying to assess the situation and find all the agents. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." Two agents come towards us, not yet recognizing us.

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Steve gives me a questioning look but I elbow him and he throws his arm around me, laughing softly. Steve and I step onto the escalator. For a second I think we're clear, until I see Rumlow step onto the escalator going in the opposite direction of us. I groan as I turn to Steve.

"Steve, I'm sorry." I whisper, bringing his attention to me.

"For what..." I cut him off, kissing his lips. He was very different than Bucky, the main difference being their confidence levels. As soon as we reached the bottom of the escalator, I pulled myself away from Steve, not being able to look him in the eyes as I dragged him out of the mall.