VINDICATION- MARVEL

• FIVE •

2014

Cassandra rushed to the hospital where Fury had died. She found the vending machine she'd seen Steve stop at in the corner of her eyes.

Bubblegum.

She shoved a dollar into the machine, and the pack of gum fell out. Cassandra looked back up, more gum. Six dollars later, he finally had her flashdrive. She was walking back, her glasses over her eyes, when she heard quick footsteps from behind her. Steve. He was looking for the same thing.

"What'cha looking for Cap?" Cassandra asked, popping a bubble in his ear.

Steve glared at her, and pushed her into another room, making sure no one was watching. He shoved her against a wall, and flipped down his hood.

"Where is it?" He growled.
"Safe." Cassandra replied, accidently swallowing her gum.
"Do better!"
"Where did you get it?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"Fury gave it to you. Why?"
"What's on it?"
"I don't know."?
"Stop lying!" He said, pushing her farther into the wall.
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."
"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"
"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."
"I'm not gonna ask you again." Steve threatened
"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."
"So he's a ghost story."
"Seventeen years ago, I was in my apartment. I was about to go on a mission, and he found me. I had been out of Hydra's way since 1964, but somehow they found me. He shot me in the chest, kicked me through a window," she pulled her shirt down to show the scar on her collarbone. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." 
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." Steve said.

A hint of a smile showed on Cassandra's lips as she let go of her shirt.

"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried," she held up the flash drive in her fingers. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."

Steve took the flash drive from her, and let go of her shoulders.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

•••••••••••••••

Cassandra and Steve walked through a mall, hoods over their faces, a hat and fake glasses on Steve and Cassandra's faces.

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Cassandra informed.
"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off."

Cassandra and Steve turned into an Apple store, and found an empty computer.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up S.H.I.E.L.D will know exactly where we are." 
"How much time do we have?" Steve asked.
"Uh, about nine minutes from," she out the drive into the laptop. "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."
"Can you override it?"
"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly," she typed a few commands on the comouter, none of which that worked. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that 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."
"Can I help you guys with anything?"

Cassandra looked to the voice, a man that worked at the store stood next to them, not far enough to see what was happening. She out on a smile, and put her arm around Steve.

"Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."
"Right!" Steve said awkwardly. "We're getting married."
"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?"

Steve looked at the computer, seeing the signal had been traced to New Jersey.

"New Jersey."
"Oh," the employee looked at Steve, like he could recognize Steve.
"I have the exact same glasses."
"Wow, you two are practically twins," Cassandra mumbled.
"Yeah, I wish. Specimen," the man said, motioning to Steve. "Uh, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron."
"Thank you." Steve said politely.
"You said nine minutes, come on."
"Shh, relax. Got it," Cassandra said.
"Let's go."

Steve pulled the drive, and walked out quickly. Cassandra looked around, seeing Rumlow and his team.

"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." Steve said. Two agents were walking right towarda them.

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Cassandra ordered.
"What?" Steve asked, obviously confused.
"Do it!"

Steve quickly out his arm around Cassandra, ducking his head, and laughing. Cassandra smiled, letting out a fake giggle. The two were going down an escalator, and Cassandra spotted Rumlow coming up.

"Kiss me." Cassandra said quietly
"What?"
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." "Yes, they do." Steve agreed.

Cassandra pulled Steve's head down as Rumlow looked in their direction. She kissed him, making Rumlow look away just as she knew he would.

If she were being honest, ok yes. Cassandra enjoyed it. But she needed to focus on the mission at hand, get a car, get to New Jersey, figure out what was on the flashdrive. But she did enjoy it. Steve did not, and that was part of the fun.

"You still uncomfortable?" Cassandra asked, walking down the escalator.
"It's not exactly the word I would use."

ok but like honestly, i feel bad about completely throwing away nat's role in the movie, but this story would be very boring without taking away nat. so, i apologize, agent romanoff, but it is all in good thought.
also, hey! double update!! woo hoo!!
love you 3000-