Day 2 continued…
Alpha woke with a start. Her heart pounded and she couldn't remember where she was at first. She sat up and took time to control her nerves. As she gazed around the room, remembering where she was, she felt something tugging on the back of her neck. She removed the charger and had to cover her mouth to keep from calling out. She remembered exactly what had happened. Alpha twisted around as silently as she could. Her eyes settled on an unconscious Winter Soldier who had fallen asleep hours before. Alpha studied him to be sure he was in fact in a deep sleep before getting up.
She snuck around the room scarcely breathing. The last thing she wanted was to be on her way out the door and for him to wake up. The result would be disastrous. Even as she unlocked the door Alpha's eyes were staring at the sleeping Winter Soldier, watching for any kind of movement, any at all. Then the door slid open with no sound. Alpha opened her mouth in surprise as the anticipation of being outside and home free was near unbearable. Alpha took her eyes from the Winter Soldier for the first time since she woke up and slipped out the door. She closed the door at a painstakingly slow pace. But, she couldn't close it too quickly out of fear of waking her nightmare. The door was shut. Alpha exhaled deeply. She was free.
Alpha ran to the front desk of the motel. She slowed to a walk as to not alarm the old man at the desk too much once he saw her coming. Alpha gave him a brief smile.
"May I borrow you're phone?" Alpha asked as kindly as she could out of breath. The quick run plus the rush of freedom left her breathless. But she couldn't relax until she heard either Clint or Natasha's voice on the other end of that phone.
"I'm sorry miss. My phone has been dead for months and I haven't been able to get anyone in to fix it. There's a payphone at the end of the motel's driveway." The old man replied. Alpha patted her pants pockets only to remember she had changed clothes not like there were any quarters in her old pants pockets either.
"I don't have any change. Do you possibly have some change you won't mind parting with?" Alpha said timidly. She was in a hurry but didn't want to just steal money from an old man. He began laughing.
"Sure I have some change. I'll give you whatever you need little lady. You didn't look to good when that big man carried you out of his car and into that room. He didn't kidnap you, did he?" The old man said, lowering his voice as though the Winter Soldier could hear them from there.
"No, he didn't kidnap me," Alpha lied. "I just need to make an emergency call to some family. You know how it is, let them know we made it out to Indiana and are almost to Ohio. We're on a trip around the country to get to know each other. We're newly step brother and sister so…" Alpha trailed off but the old man understood. He handed Alpha a half roll of quarters.
"Do you kids still know how to use phones like that?" He asked following Alpha out the door. She glanced back at the room to be sure the Winter Soldier wasn't emerging from there, looking for her.
"I know how. I like old phones and I worked in an antique shop for a long time. Thank you, sir." She called out while briskly walking to the payphone. "I hope this thing still works." She grumbled as her shaking hands filed the quarters needed into the machine. Alpha dialed the first number that came to her mind. Natasha's phone was disconnected. She must have gone underground after the fall of SHIELD. She tried Clint's number. That one was also disconnected. Alpha angrily punched the side of the machine. Out of regret for the old machine Alpha stroked the part she had punched and whispered "sorry" to it. Alpha racked her brains for anyone else she could contact. At that point she would have picked anyone if she knew their number. Then one in particular resurfaced. Alpha dialed it slowly. She wasn't sure if it would go through but soon enough a woman's voice appeared on the other line.
"Hello?" She asked. Alpha could cry with joy but she had important things to get out before she could celebrate.
"Hi, Agent Hill? This is Alpha. I honestly can't think of anything else to say that explains who I am." The woman exclaimed excitement on the other end.
"Alpha?! We've been looking for you for over three years! Where are you? Are you safe?" Agent Hill said rapidly. Alpha swallowed.
"I'm doing ok now. I'm… not sure where I am exactly but I'm not alone. I'm safe, I think. They're a bit of a wildcard though. But before I say anything else, I need to know if Clint and Natasha are ok. I heard about what happened to SHIELD and Hydra." Alpha said. She covered up her quick lie with her need for information about her family. She hoped Hill couldn't hear the lie from her hesitation. If she did, Agent Hill would send whatever SHIELD troops were left after her.
"Natasha had to go underground. Clint has been taking personal time to take care of some business. Do you want me to find them to contact you or come get you?" Hill said, back in her business voice.
"I don't want anyone to come after me. This is crucial! I'll only call out for help if I need it. If anyone comes when I don't call might result in a big problem. Can you relay a message for me?" Alpha asked glancing back at the motel. There was still no sign of him.
"Go for it."
"Just tell them I'm ok. I'm doing better than they most likely think I am, Clint worries too much. Tell them I hope to see them soon but to not go looking for me. I can take care of myself for right now and won't need help anytime soon… I hope." Alpha trailed off.
"Is that all?" Hill asked urgently as the signal began to crackle. Alpha stared gloomily at the dusty ground as wind began to stir the dust around her dirty shoes.
"Can you tell them I love them and that I don't know where I'd be in my life without them? Tell them I really miss them and can't wait to see them. And finally tell them to take care of themselves." Alpha opened her mouth to say more but the signal was getting pretty bad and she felt as though she had said all she wanted to.
"I'll relay the message. Take care kiddo, if you need anything don't hesitate to call me." Agent Hill said. Alpha smiled.
"Thanks… It means a lot to me. Take care of yourself." Alpha waited for a click on the other end before putting the phone back in place. Alpha's shoulders slumped. Why didn't she send out an SOS and ask Hill for the Calvary to invade Indiana and rescue her? Alpha wasn't sure. She began wishing that was what she had done when two heavy feet thudded closer from the direction of the motel. The sun had risen by that point and beginning to warm Alpha's shoulders. She stared down the Winter Soldier as he did his crazy daunting walk towards her.
"Who did you contact?" He growled. Alpha pulled her shoulders back and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I needed to get some information." Alpha began but was cut off by the Winter Soldier punching the payphone.
"Who did you contact?" He growled a bit louder. Alpha turned away so he wasn't as much in her face.
"I contacted an old SHIELD agent to get some information on my family. I needed to know they were ok and I asked for a message of mine to be taken to them." The Winter Soldier loomed even closer over her. If Alpha was to relax and extend her shoulders to their normal position, her left one would brush up against his chest, he was so close.
"What was the message?" Alpha swallowed.
"That I loved them and wanted them to take care of themselves." Alpha's voice shuddered. The Winter Soldier took a step back. Alpha didn't realize it but a singular tear had escaped her left eye. He quickly wiped the tear from her cheek with a few of his curled human fingers.
"I'm sorry. I really need your help and thought that you had called for help." He said in a low voice. Alpha glared at him.
"Well I didn't, I told them not to look for me. You know why? Because if anyone came looking for me you would kill them all. I didn't want to risk more innocent lives being lost because of me." Alpha said angrily. The Winter Soldier stuffed his hands back into his pockets. "Do you know how hard it was for me to tell the people I love and haven't seen in years not to look for me?" Alpha asked, her voice shaking a bit.
"Yes," The Winter Soldier replied.
"Then you understand the feelings going through my head right now." He nodded. "Good, because I'm going to willingly help you but you can't keep treating me like this. I don't want you to keep treating me like you did while you were brainwashed. I'm not a troublesome child that keeps running away for fun. If I run away from you ever again it's probably for a good reason. Don't be so rough with me. If you tell me to do something kindly I'll do it. Understood?" Alpha regretted every word that came from her mouth. She was never that bold, ever, not even at SHIELD where she was allowed to speak her mind and opinion.
"I'm honestly trying to be kinder. I was stuck as the Winter Soldier for so long I've… I've forgotten how." The Winter Soldier explained. Alpha's face softened.
"And I'll be more compliant." She said quietly. The Winter Soldier looked at her with some surprise in his dark eyes. "That might help the situation some." She added. He nodded, affirming her guess.
"We should get ready to leave. You may have asked them not to look for you but you're too good of an asset to pass up. They're probably looking for you anyway. I know the rogue Hydra agents that are still active are looking for you. And none of them are going to stop until they have you."
"I'm never going to be able to stop running, am I?" Alpha asked with worry in her voice. The Winter Soldier hesitated before shaking his head.
"But I'm stubborn. I'm not letting you go that easily." Alpha laughed a singular, breathy laugh.
"I feel like I should be reassured by that but I'm more terrified than anything right now." Alpha ran a hand through her hair, taking it out of its ponytail, and then tied it back up. "If you want it to be harder for people to notice me I should get a haircut." She added once her hair was back into place. The Winter Soldier shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not good at cutting hair." He waved a hand to his head. "As you can see." They began the walk back up the driveway and to the car.
"Do you have any money? I can think of a few salon chains that aren't too expensive." Alpha asked as she opened her door. The Winter Soldier tossed the backpack at her to keep at her feet.
"I have some. I'm not sure if it's enough. The worth of money now is a lot different than when I was… young-er." Alpha couldn't help but snicker. He glared before turning on the car.
"I'm sorry. I keep forgetting how old you are." Alpha said. She wasn't entirely sure why what he said was funny to her, but it was. "You might want to cut your hair too. It'll be easier to hide in the open if you look like everyone else." Alpha added.
"No one's cutting my hair."
"Ok, then at least put it up into a man-bun then. That plus your scruffy face will make you look a bit like a hipster." The Winter Soldier gave her a confused side glance as they pulled away from the motel.
"What on earth did you just say?" He muttered. Alpha sighed as quietly as she could and sunk into her seat.
"This is going to be a long trip." She murmured. A fork in the road came up. Alpha sat up. "Take I64." She said suddenly, pointing to the sign that led towards Louisville.
"Why?" The Winter Soldier asked.
"That highway, if my mental map is correct, leads to Cincinnati. I heard it's a good city to lie low in, it's one people don't generally think about. Plus their main public library is supposed to be huge. Not as big as the Library of Congress, but pretty big. We should be able to find a good secluded computer to get the info we need." Alpha explained. The Winter Soldier turned the car towards the road to Cincinnati.
"You better be right."
"I hope so too."
"Will this highway go all the way to Cincinnati?" The Winter Soldier asked. Alpha shook her head as her eyes glazed over. Her brain focused on her mental map her AI had provided.
"We'll take 64 all the way to Louisville then jump onto 71. That will take us north all the way to Cincy." Alpha blinked a few times to return her vision from her mind's eye.
"Ok, let's do it."
• • •
The drive on the highway wasn't too terrible. But it was terribly long. When the Winter Soldier told Alpha he might not have enough money for things, he was mostly correct. There was quite a lot there but they would need gas, which would eat that money up rapidly. They would also need some food for him, but he could probably last for a long time with the food they already had. And that left Alpha with the thoughts about getting her hair cut. At that point she was unsure about getting it all chopped off but she knew everyone from SHIELD and Hydra expected her to be running around with long hair. The next question was how short she was willing to go? She wanted it to be a low maintenance as possible for living on the run. Those were the thoughts she used to occupy her hours upon hours in the car.
Soon enough they made it to Louisville, but the car needed gas and they found a place to cut Alpha's hair. Alpha noticed a cosmetology school. She remembered that things there were less expensive because everything was done by the students. They got the car to a full tank again and things were looking up. The Winter Soldier sulked in the waiting seats and watched with eagle eyes as Alpha went back with one of the students.
"What are you thinking today?" The young girl asked.
"I'd like to chop it all off." Alpha said. The girl beamed with excitement.
"This must be exciting for you! How short are you thinking?" She began to play with Alpha's hair once it was down and out of its ponytail.
"Buzzed," Alpha said. She glanced up at the young student. "I'd like something low maintenance for a while. It might be a long time before I can get in my next cut." Alpha added. The girl took everything in stride.
"Alright, sweetie. I'll start off cutting to your jaw and we'll keep going shorter if you don't have any style changes." She said. Alpha nodded then got as comfortable as she could in her chair.
The Winter Soldier watched on from the distance. He could tell Alpha wasn't really comfortable with what she was doing. Her idea to begin changing her looks to hide better was a very good idea. He thought about what she had said about his hair. Normally he kept it swept back and wore a hat. Those were enough to hide himself in a crowd. Or at least he thought so. His attention was brought outside as more people appeared by the salon. Some of them dispersed to other stores and a small group went into the hair salon. They may have just been a large group doing different errands at the same time but he was suspicious.
The Winter Soldier sat up a bit in his chair. One of his guns was tucked into the back of his pants. The other, smaller gun, was in his left boot. Tension settled over him for the rest of the time he waited for Alpha to be done.
The young woman who was cutting Alpha's hair was coming to the end. The black cloth that was tied around Alpha's torso was buttoned high on her neck and extra white cloth was put even higher to keep her hair from getting down the back of her shirt or on her clothes. Alpha came to the realization that with her hair all gone she had no way to hide the machinery on the back of her neck. Alpha wracked her brain for ideas on how to keep the stylist from seeing her stuff.
"And we're all done!" The young woman said excitedly. Right as she turned away to put down her tools Alpha ripped off the black cloth and tossed up her hood. The woman stood with her mouth slightly open from Alpha's rapid change.
"Sorry, all that cloth you had put around me was hiding some bad scars and I only just realized they are visible now." Alpha said hurriedly while handing the woman the white cloths that were still tight around Alpha's neck. The woman closed her mouth and nodded in understanding.
"There's a Target down the road. You can get some nice scarves there if those scars are something you'll want to hide for a while." She suggested, trying to play off the awkward situation. Alpha attempted a smile but quickly bounded from her chair for the register.
Lo and behold, right as the Winter Soldier believed she would never be done, Alpha came out around the corner. She had her hood pulled up and was near unrecognizable. Her idea to cut her hair was a very good idea.
The Winter Soldier stood. Alpha turned to him.
"We're done. Can I have some money?" Alpha said with weary in her voice. He dug into his pocket and handed her what she needed. That was when just about everything that could have gone wrong, did. One of the people that the Winter Soldier pegged as 'shady' stood up and walked past Alpha as though he was going for the magazines. He bumped into her and took her hood down along the way.
"Oh, I'm so sorry miss." He said in a fake apologetic voice. The Winter Soldier came closer behind Alpha. She turned quickly on her toes so her back and the mechanical components on the back of her neck weren't visible.
"It's ok, no harm done." Alpha said politely as she brought her hood up again. Alpha turned to give the woman at the cashier money. The man suddenly shoved the Winter Soldier so he fell on his back. He pulled out a gun and wrapped his other arm around Alpha's shoulders. The others that had accompanied the man into the salon rose to their feet and brought out more guns. Everyone began screaming. Alpha pulled and wrenched at the arm of the man but he was much stronger than her. She gripped onto his arm with fists of iron then jumped up. With her body weight and the training Natasha had given her all those years ago, Alpha threw the man over her onto his back. The landing wasn't very smooth but Alpha couldn't take time to complain.
The other two came up behind Alpha and attempted to grab her. Alpha engaged in hand to hand combat with them. Her AI brought up special techniques Natasha had taught her to use if her opponent was larger than her. That being most of the time Alpha mastered as many of those techniques as she could.
After a few rapid paced minutes of fighting one of the attackers pulled their gun on Alpha. Like lightning she dove behind the register counter for cover as the other two began to fire their guns. The Winter Soldier was quick in his shots and the Hydra agents were down within seconds. Alpha turned to the frightened woman behind the same counter as her.
"Ma'am, are you hurt?" Alpha shouted. The woman shook her head with tears in her eyes. Alpha patted the woman's shoulder. "Keep low until the police get here." Alpha added.
"Alpha!" The Winter Soldier shouted as he got up and searched the pockets of his dead enemies. Alpha sprinted to him with jelly legs. He looked her up and down with worry.
"I'm ok, we need to get out of here before others come and people get hurt." Alpha gasped. The Winter Soldier searched her pale face but knew she was right. He grabbed her right wrist and with his gun raised he led her out to the car. They had to duck behind a different car when the others open fired upon them. The Winter Soldier popped up and down and around the car to fire back. Alpha noticed another gun sticking out of his left boot. She swiped it out while he wasn't looking. She got down onto her stomach and aimed under the car for the legs of the attackers. She hoped to injure the attackers enough so they wouldn't pursue them but she couldn't get herself to kill them. The Winter Soldier ducked behind the car for a breather.
"We need to get to the car. I want you to head over. I'll cover you." He ordered. Alpha prepared by the car's back wheel. "Go now!" He shouted. Alpha sprinted while doubled over in hopes of not getting hit. There was an explosion that almost threw Alpha onto the concrete. She glanced back and saw two of the cars the attackers were preparing to get into were up in flames. Alpha made it to the car quickly and got in the passenger seat and started the engine. She remained low in the car as the windshield took some bullets. The Winter Soldier jumped into the driver's seat and pulled out at lightning speed. They both sat gasping for air as they sped from the parking lot.
Alpha sat up stiffly.
"Got any extra hats back there?" Alpha asked. The Winter Soldier reached behind him and pulled out a baseball cap similar to his. Alpha looked at it in surprise.
"Thanks…?" She said as she slipped off her hood and put it on. She had to resize it a few times to get it to fit perfectly but it all worked out in the end. She pulled her hood up over her new hat.
"We need to find a scarf or something to hide the stuff on the back of your neck. That was how they knew it was you. He pulled off your hood and got a glimpse of all that tech." The Winter Soldier commented as he headed for the highway again.
"Good plan, I like that plan." Alpha let her head fall back against the head rest. She thought for a moment. She didn't want to go into a store during the night and steal. Then a light bulb lit in Alpha's mind. She dug through the bag and found one of the looser shirts that didn't fit her as well as the others. She began tearing it until it was similar in shape to a shabby scarf. Alpha tied the ends together then began wrapping it around her neck. With it bunched up to her hairline in the back her metal spine was completely covered. Alpha spread her arms out to the Winter Soldier.
"Ta da! Problem solved." She said with a wide grin. The Winter Soldier glanced at her a few times from the road. He didn't show it but he was rather impressed with her quick thinking.
They continued on the correct highways for a few more hours. Then, as they came around the curve of a hill, a skyline appeared. Alpha sat up in her seat and craned her neck to get a better look. She sighed with relief and her shoulders released all the tension that had built up during the ride.
"There it is." Alpha whispered. "We're almost there." The Winter Soldier's heart began beating faster. They were almost at the point where the truth would emerge.