Um, hi **waves**
First off, let me apologize for taking entirely too long to update this story. My father passed away and I lost all my motivation to write, or to even get out of bed some days. I finally got past my block a few weeks ago and have been working on this chapter, and chapters for my other fanfics on here and on Wattpad. Anyways, I'm sorry, and I hope you like this new chapter.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Marvel, or even just Loki...but I don't
On we go...
The Violinist
Chapter 12
Max paced back and forth in the quiet hospital room as she waited for Steve to return. Natasha leaned against the wall by the door; ready to jump into action if anyone unwanted entered the room.
"He'll be fine, Maxi. You can stop pacing and save your energy," the redhead assured her. It didn't help the sour feeling she had in her stomach that had been getting worse the longer Steve had been gone.
"Something's not right," she mumbled.
Natasha scoffed, "Of course not. Nick is dead and we're sitting ducks right now while some maniac is out there waiting to take us down."
Max let her head fall at the reminder of her stepfather's murder. Tears instantly sprung to her eyes and she inhaled in a feeble attempt to keep them at bay. Nat felt bad for being so straightforward with the broken girl. She already had so much on her plate and she didn't need the assassin adding more to that.
"Max, I—," she began to apologize, but was cut off as the door was ripped open and she was slammed against the wall. Her training was about to kick in when her eyes connected with the blue irises of Steve Rogers.
"Where is it?" he demanded, pushing her farther into the wall.
"Safe."
"Do better," he snarled, pissed that she was keeping it from him.
"Steve?" Max called out to him, but he ignored her. Right now, the mission needed his full attention.
"Where did you get it?" Natasha questioned.
He backed off and ran his hand through his windblown hair. Don't trust anyone. "Why would I tell you?"
"Fury gave it to you," she deduced. "Why?"
"What's on it?"
"I don't know."
"Stop lying!" he snapped.
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," she retorted.
"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"
At the mention of her stepfather's name, Max moved closer to the two Avengers.
"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty. Fury needed a way in, so do you."
"I'm not asking you again," Steve snarled.
"I know who killed Fury," Natasha revealed. Her eyes flicked between Steve and Max, knowing she had their attention. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones that 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,' he guessed. He glanced down at Max as her arm brushed against his. For a second, he forgot about the situation they were in, an electric jolt spiking through him, and was happy at the fact that she was safe.
"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot straight through me," she explained, lifting her shirt to show them the scar the bullet left. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them," Max said and rolled her eyes.
"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She held out the flash drive for Steve to take. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."
He snatched the drive and looked between the two women, "Then it's time to do some ghost hunting. Let's go."
Steve grabbed Max's hand and pulled her behind him as they exited the room. He ducked his head and she did the same. Natasha crept along behind them as they made their way out of the hospital. They all let out a breath when they reached the parking lot unrecognized.
"We're gonna need a ride to the mall," the assassin spoke up, keeping her eyes moving around the area in case of a threat.
"I have the truck, c'mon," Steve told them, starting to walk in the direction he parked.
They approached the vehicle and Max noticed the bullet holes that hadn't been there earlier. "Steve, what happened?"
"Rumlow and his Strike team attacked me after I met with Alexander Pierce."
"Oh my god. Why?" Max gaped as she hopped into the backseat.
"They're rogue. Nick told me not to trust anyone. Guess he meant them," he sighed and slid behind the steering wheel. Nat took shotgun, staying quiet. "Wonder who else is on that list."
"Are you hurt?" Max worried.
"I'm fine, doll. Not a scratch on me," he promised, looking at her through the rearview mirror. Blush rose to her face when he called her 'doll' in front of her best friend, making a small smile form on Steve's face.
"The closest mall is a twenty minute drive. We should hurry," Nat interrupted their little moment.
Max put on her seat belt and leaned onto the center console. "Why are we going to the mall? Not that I don't love shopping. I would kill for new pants, mine are starting to get tight, but we have people out after us."
"A change of clothes wouldn't hurt to help throw them off, but we need to see what's on this flash drive. Better to do it in a public place where it's harder to track us," Steve clarified.
"We can get you some bigger pants, don't worry," Nat chuckled, sneaking a glance back at her friend.
"Shut up. It's not like I have control over it," Max pouted, making Natasha snicker again.
"Blame the father," the redhead suggested. "Isn't that what pregnant women usually do?"
The tiny brunette laughed and peeked up at Steve; an anxious expression on his face. It was amusing, thinking that he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Max's pregnancy rage. The rest of the ride to the mall was quiet after that.
It being the start of a new year, just after the holidays, which meant plenty of people to hide amongst. They wasted no time entering the crowded mall and heading straight to the closest clothing stores. Every action went unspoken; each person going with small signals to know what the next move was.
Natasha and Max split from Steve and went into a women's store. All the clothes were super trendy and, for Nat, probably too girly. Max sifted through the racks of blue jeans, excited to finally be in a size that would accommodate her growing belly. She grabbed the first pair that was a size bigger and some random hoodie before racing off to the dressing room. Her friend was already thrashing around in another room, clothes being tossed in every direction. They exited at the same time and Nat grasped Max's hand so she would keep up. Thankfully the employee was distracted by an inquisitive customer and didn't see the two women sneaking out of the store.
Spotting Steve a few stores down, they slowed their pace and approached him. His blond hair was covered with a plain blue baseball cap. The clothes he picked were boring, simple pieces that would make him blend in well. Max watched his eyes travel from her head to her feet, only pausing at her midsection, where the baggy hoodie easily hid the small bump she had.
"Alright we have to be quick," Steve huffed.
"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk," Natasha said, sounding like she was reciting something out of a textbook on being a fugitive.
The Super Soldier sighed, "If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off."
Not missing another beat, the assassin turned and melted into the mallgoers. Max and Steve followed. He slipped his hand into hers and laced their fingers. A small gasp escaped the tiny brunette as a bolt of electricity shot up her arm. Before she could say anything, he tugged her gently into the Apple store where Nat was waiting. He passed an employee helping a customer and snatched the glasses out of his pocket without stopping—seems he thought something was missing from his new look.
"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," the redhead explained.
"How much time do we have?" Steve asked, eyeing Max.
"Uh…about nine minutes from…," she started and paused as she popped the flash drive into one of the laptops. "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 joked and continued typing away.
Max tapped her fingertips on the countertop, impatiently. It was like she could feel the Strike team moving in closer and closer to them. Suddenly, an overly cheery employee popped up next to Steve.
"Can I help you guys with anything?"
Max jumped in immediately so Nat could keep working. She slapped on an over-exaggerated grin and made her voice extra girly. "Oh, no. My wedding planner was just helping my fiancé and me with some honeymoon destinations."
Steve tensed beside her, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets. Max scooted closer and looped her arm through his. He looked super awkward with the situation. "Right!" he spit out loudly. "We're getting married."
"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?"
Glancing over his shoulder to check on Natasha, he saw a dot closing in on a location. "New Jersey," he spit out.
"Oh," the guy seemed surprised with that answer. Then his eyes narrowed as he observed Steve. "I have the exact same glasses."
"Wow, you two are practically twins," Max exclaimed with a nervous giggle.
"Yeah, I wish. Specimen," the employee said and gestured to Steve's muscular body, which was nothing compared to his slightly pudgy body type. "Uh, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron."
The soldier gave a faint 'thank you' and turned to see how Natasha was doing. "You said nine minutes, come on."
"Shh, relax. Got it."
Wheaton, New Jersey.
"You know it?" Max asked after seeing the expression on Steve's face—like he had just flashed back to the 1940s.
"I used to. Let's go," he mumbled and grabbed her hand again after pulling the flash drive from the computer.
They were on high alert as the exited the store. Being on the second floor of the mall, there weren't as many people, which meant they were easier to spot. The ground floor would benefit them much more, and would give them more escape routes.
Max's heart was beating faster. She was beyond afraid that they would get caught, or worse, killed. From what Steve told them, these guys were the 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind. Nat and Steve would keep her safe at any cost, but she didn't want it to come to that.
"Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage. You guys hit the south escalator to the metro," he advised as they hurried to the escalator leading to the first floor.
She had been trained like any other agent, but being pregnant changed how she thought about situations like this one. Steve and Natasha were whispering back and forth, trying to assess the next move.
"Shut up and put your arm around me," she snapped at the blond. "Laugh at something I said."
"What?" he asked, confused at where this was going.
"Do it!"
He wasted no time complying with her demand. His arms slung around her slim shoulders and he laughed. It was hard to tell if she wanted him to do that for comfort or to try and blend in more.
"Negative at the source," Max heard one of the men say as they stepped onto the escalator. She recognized him as Agent Jack Rollins.
Agent Rumlow stood beside him, scanning the area. "Give me a floor rundown."
"Negative on three."
"Negative on two."
"Snake the upper levels, work down to me," Rumlow ordered.
Max's whole body tensed as she watched two agents riding the escalator towards them. There was no way they wouldn't be seen from this short of a distance.
"Kiss her," Nat chokes out, nudging Steve closer to Max.
"What?" he said, appalled.
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," she elaborated.
"Yes, they do."
Max didn't want to sit there and listen to her friends bicker while they were in danger. So she listened to her best friend and grabbed Steve, pulling him down and smashing her lips to his. Heat coursed through her veins—she felt like she had been struck by lightning. She could feel him go rigid, surprised by her swift action. But after a few seconds, he thawed and worked his lips in sync with hers.
It seemed like they were connected for an eternity, floating through space. Just the two of them. The mall and the Strike team were forgotten for a little bit. Sadly, things came to an end when Nat tapped Steve on the shoulder, signaling that they were in the clear.
He pulled away, but didn't let Max go. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the redhead smirking. She moved down a stair to give Steve and Max some room—she had tucked herself behind the tall Super Soldier while he was caught up the mother of his child. The tension surrounding them dissipated and they sighed. They just had to get back to the truck.
Steve helped Max into the backseat of the truck. She plopped down and he could tell she was exhausted, physically and mentally.
"Nat, there's some snacks in the glove box. Can you grab a couple for Max?"
She popped the compartment open and seized a handful of pouches, tossing them at Max. Excited to be eating, the brunette laid across the seats and ripped into her first bag. The truck hummed to life and they quickly left the parking lot.
Everyone was quiet for a long time—it was a couple hours to New Jersey. Max nodded in and out, Steve keeping an eye on her in the rearview mirror.
"You still uncomfortable?" Romanoff broke the silence.
"It's not exactly the word I would use."
"Alright, I have a question for you, which you don't have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it, though, you're kind of answering it, you know?" she laughed.
"What?" he asked, a little annoyed and a little worried about the question.
"Was Max your first kiss since 1945?"
He sneaked a peek at the woman asleep in the back to see if she woke to the sound of her name. Thankfully she seemed to be out cold.
"Seemed that bad, huh?"
Nat shrugged, "I didn't say that."
"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying," he shot back.
"No, I didn't. I'm sure Max enjoyed it a lot," she laughed. "I just wondered how much practice you've had, ya know, before she came along."
"You don't need practice," Steve replied, defensively.
Max let out an unexpected giggle at that. His heart stopped when he realized she had been faking the whole time. Blush crept into his cheeks.
"Everybody needs practice," Max said, grinning.
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five. I'm not dead."
His heart sunk when he caught Max's face fall at his words. Did that upset her, that he had been with other women? Surely not, they were just friends after all.
Friends having a baby…
"Nobody special, though?" Nat kept pressing.
"Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience," he chuckled.
"Well, that's alright. You'll just make something up," she shrugged it off.
"What, like you?"
"I don't know," she thought. "The truth is a matter of circumstances. It's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I."
"That's a tough way to live," Steve muttered.
"It's a good way not to die, though," Max offered.
"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone is," Steve admitted. It wasn't sure if he was talking about just Natasha…or Max too.
"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?" the assassin inquired.
"How about a friend?"
Max and Nat laughed lightly at that. It was hard for the redhead to be anyone's friend. Max and Clint Barton were the only exceptions to her usual closed-off persona.
"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers."
He didn't respond, his focus was now on something outside the front windshield. Dusk was setting in rapidly, but structures could be made out in the distance beyond a tall barbed- wire fence.
"This is it," he told them.
"The file came from these coordinates," she agreed, checking her phone to make sure.
A haunted look ghosted across Steve's face. "So did I."
Alright, so that was fun. Yay for some kissing. Obviously I altered the movie plot to fit Max in. I hope I did a good job.
Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes. I wanted to get this up before I went to bed.
Let me know what you think. You guys are what pushed me to get back on here an update. I can't thank you all enough for reading this and taking the time to leave me a message. It makes me smile, and I'll do anything to smile these days.
Until next time (and not a year later) -KAITi-
