Staying out of sight, Steve and Freya sprint from the Triskelion as fast as they can. They sneak into a nearby gym, knowing they have to ditch their uniforms in order to stay unnoticed. Both steal some sweatpants for themselves along with hoodies. They also destroy their cellphones and discard them. Freya frowns when she thinks about how her parents are going to react when they find out and can't reach her. She forces the thought aside and focuses back on the current situation.
They make their way back to the hospital to get the drive. Quickly walking in, they head for the vending machine. Their hoods are up and their heads are down as they walk side by side. When they step up to it, their hearts stop.
The drive is gone.
They both look at each other before turning back to the vending machine in disbelief. They silently stare at the empty space where it's supposed to be. Not sure what to do now.
Suddenly, a small pop sounds behind them. Focusing in on the reflection of the glass, they see Natasha standing behind them. Smugly chewing the gum that had been hiding the thumb drive. Steve angrily spins on her and pushes her into the room behind her. Freya quickly follows and shuts the door as they enter. Steve roughly shoves Natasha against the wall, pulling a pained grunt from her. He throws his hood off as he gets in her face.
"Where is it?" he growls angrily.
"Safe," she hums back.
"Do better," Steve snaps. Freya pulls her hood back as she silently steps up to his right and eyes the redhead.
"Where did you guys get it?" Natasha asks as she ignores his demands.
"Why would we tell you?" Steve sneers.
"Fury gave it to you two," Natasha says as a look of realization dawns in her face. Her eyes dart back and forth between the two blondes. "Why?"
"What's on it?" Freya asks as she steps closer.
"I don't know," Natasha replies calmly.
"Stop lying," Steve snarls at her.
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," the redhead rolls her eyes.
"Well, it must be pretty fucking important for S.H.I.E.L.D. to hunt Steve and I down like animals, Red," Freya snaps as her eyes briefly glow in anger.
Natasha raises an eyebrow at her when she sees her eyes flicker. Steve is too angry at Natasha to process Freya's foul language. They hear a noise outside the room and look toward the door cautiously before turning back to Natasha.
"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" Steve asks Natasha.
"Wait, what?" Freya asks as her head whips over to him. Shocked at the new information. Natasha watches them in concealed confusion when she realizes Freya had no idea. Then again, Freya hadn't been the one to meet with Pierce.
"Yeah, I didn't get the chance to tell you. We were kinda busy brawling in the elevators and running for our lives," Steve glances at her while he sarcastically replies. Freya just rolls her eyes at him and they turn back to Natasha.
"Well it makes sense," Natasha nods. "The ship was dirty. Fury needed a way in, so did you two-."
"I'm not gonna ask you again," Steve shakes Natasha in frustration.
"I know who killed Fury," Natasha replies, making Freya tense up. She knows what's coming next and she's actually terrified of how Steve will react. The redhead quickly glances at Freya. "So does Frey."
And there it is.
Steve's head snaps to his right. He stares at Freya in confusion while he waits for her to acknowledge the statement. She finally nods her head and his expression turns to shock.
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists," Natasha elaborates. "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," Steve says.
"Five years ago, Frey and I were escorting a couple of nuclear engineers out of Iran. Somebody shot out our tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I would have died if Frey hadn't mitigated the crash with her powers. She pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. We were covering our engineers. He shot mine, straight through me." She pulls up her shirt to reveal the scar from the gun shot wound. "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis."
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," Steve deadpans sarcastically.
"Frey didn't have the ability to create barriers yet, so she used her body as well," Natasha continues as she ignores him. "But the Winter Soldier wouldn't touch her. He only shot her engineer after the dumb-ass panicked and tried to run." Steve looks at Freya in confusion while Natasha presses on. "This wasn't the first time she had encountered him. Apparently, they have some sort of unconventional relationship going on. They seem to have a soft spot for each other."
Steve's expression morphs into one of betrayal. He watches Freya as she avoids his gaze and looks away guilty. Steve looks back at Natasha. Unable to look at Freya at the moment due to his disappointment.
"Don't bother asking her who he is," Natasha sighs. "She doesn't know either. And going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried. So has Frey." She seems to magically produce the drive and holds it up to Steve. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." Steve stares at her for a few seconds before taking it from her.
"Well let's find out what the ghost wants," he replies. Turning, he leaves the room. Not even sparing a glance at Freya. She closes her eyes and sighs defeatedly.
"He was gonna find out eventually whether something like this happened or you told him yourself," Natasha says softly.
"I know," Freya says sadly. "It doesn't make me feel any less shitty, though. What if he finds out about your history with Winter?"
"Maybe he'll be mad. Maybe not," Natasha shrugs. "The difference is I don't have a soft spot for Winter anymore. And I'm not Steve's partner. Or the one that's in love with him."
Freya's face turns a deep shade of scarlet as she attempts to stutter out a response. She ultimately clamps her mouth shut in embarrassment while Natasha gently grabs her arm and leads her out of the room after Steve. They head for a nearby clothing store to change to stay inconspicuous. As they quickly pick out clothes, Steve walks up next to Freya.
"Were you ever going to mention him?" he asks.
"Eventually..." she glances at him with a sigh.
"Are you two... You know... Are you...-" he stutters out.
"Are we together?" she asks. He nods in response and she shakes her head. "No, it's not like that. Not even close. At least for me. From my side it's mutual understanding."
"When was the last time you saw him?" he inquires. She looks down and fidgets with her hands nervously.
"Uh, it had been three years," she sheepishly replies.
"'Had'?" he questions sternly. She finally looks up at him and slowly nods.
"He showed up at our apartment on Saturday before we left. And then yesterday evening, he followed and intercepted me after I left from headquarters," she answers quietly. She cringes when she sees the angry look starting to form on his face.
"Are you kidding me, Freya?!" Steve whisper yells. "Did it ever occur to you I might need to know this?!"
"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," she stutters out. "I was scared for him. H-He's not the same as when I last saw him. He's being used. He needs help. Steve, he tried to warn me yesterday."
"Freya, he's an enemy assassin. He killed Fury and God knows who else. He doesn't need help, he needs to be stopped." He shakes his head with a large sigh and drags a hand down his face. Clearly disappointed with her. "We're partners, Freya. Best friends. I thought there was something happening between..." His voice trails off for a moment before he continues. "I'm supposed to trust you. How can I do that if you're keeping things like this from me?"
Freya lowers her head guilty when he walks away. Quickly finding clothes, they pay in cash, change and head for the nearest mall. Their next move can't be made until they know what's on the thumb drive. Walking on opposite sides of the soldier while they make their way through the mall, the two assassins are in their element. Knowing exactly how to act to stay undercover. They're walking too slow for Steve, though. It's easy to see he's itching to move faster
"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk," Natasha tells the soldier.
"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off," comes his snarky reply. He looks around to see if they're being followed.
"Stop doing that," Freya hisses as she pulls her hat down a bit more. "You're making it obvious."
Steve glances down at her, but doesn't say anything. He wordlessly looks ahead and follows her advice. They walk into the Apple store and quickly make their way over to an open computer. Natasha approaches it and starts to type.
"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," she informs them. Mainly Steve since she knows Freya already knows this. Who silently nods as she steps up to Natasha's left.
"How much time will we have?" Steve asks as he stands behind them. He nervously glances around the store while Natasha takes out the drive.
"About nine minutes from... Now." Natasha quickly plugs it in and gets to work. "Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something." Her fingers fly across the keyboard as she talks. "The drive is protected by some sort of A.I. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."
"Can you override it?" Steve asks while stepping up to Freya's left and leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen.
"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly," Natasha sighs, clearly annoyed by that fact.
"I recognize this type of protection. When I was little, I would hack into my dad's system all the time when I got bored," Freya narrows her eyes as she studies the program. An idea quickly comes to mind. "This a program S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, right? So, run a tracer. If you can't read it, you can definitely find out where it came from."
"You, my dear sister, are a genius," Natasha chuckles with a smirk. Her fingers fly across the keyboard once more.
"Tell me something I don't know," Freya snorts.
A worker from the store suddenly approaches them. Causing Steve to jump in surprise and step slightly in front of Freya. The two women look up, staying complete calm.
"Can I help you guys with anything?" the worker asks.
"Oh, no," Natasha smiles at him. She leans over to Freya and rests her chin on her shoulder. "I was just helping my sister and her fiancé with some honeymoon destinations," she giggles.
Freya gets into character and grins as she leans against Steve. He awkwardly plays along as he blushes. Snaking his arm around her waist, he pulls her against him.
"Right. We're gettin' married," Steve says awkwardly.
Freya stays in character, but feels her cheeks heat up as he speaks. She pulls her hat down more to better hide her face. A computer tech from an Apple store will no doubt be able to easily recognize a Stark.
"Congratulations," the worker smiles. "Where are you guys thinkin' about going?"
"New Jersey," Steve quickly answers when he looks over at the computer screen.
"Huh," the worker mumbles in slight confusion.
Freya notices him staring at Steve and starts to panic thinking he recognizes him. Steve looks back at the worker and notices the same thing. She can feel him tense up next to her.
"I have the exact same glasses," the worker suddenly points at Steve's face. Steve nods silently, still nervous. Freya sighs in relief and grins.
"You two are practically twins," she jokes. Earning a loud snort of amusement from Natasha.
"Yeah, I wish," the worker chuckles and gestures at Steve's body awkwardly. "Specimen." It's Freya's turn to snort in amusement while Steve's face turns red. "Uh, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron," he gestures to his badge before walking away.
His name reminds Freya of her friend that's stuck back at headquarters with no knowledge of what's truly going on. Worried sick, she hopes Sharon was able to find him and is keeping an eye on him. Steve just mutters a quiet "thank you" while he turns back to Natasha. Absentmindedly keeping his arm around Freya.
"You said nine minutes," he bugs the redhead after checking his watch. "Come on."
"Shh. Relax," she whispers as she continues to type. "Got it." Steve and Freya lean closer to the screen to look at the location. Natasha looks over at them and notices the expression on his face. "You know it?" she asks Steve. Freya looks over at him and sees a sad look quickly flash across his face. She can feel it through the link too.
"I used to," he mumbles. "Let's go."
He grabs the drive and guides Freya out of the store while Natasha follows. She falls in step on Freya's right and the trio sets off at a quicker pace this time. As they leave the store, they notice groups from S.T.R.I.K.E. patrolling the mall. Steve looks around and begins to formulate a plan.
"Standard tac team," he informs them. "Two behind, two across and two coming straight at us. If they make us I'll engage, you two hit the south escalator to the metro."
"Shut up and put your arm around me. Laugh at something I said," Freya orders sternly.
"What?" he looks down at her in confusion.
"Shut up, Rogers," Natasha hisses while she pulls out her phone and pretends to text. "Just listen to her."
Without another word, Steve throws his arm around Freya's shoulders and they lean into each other. She internally cringes when he lets out the fakest laugh she's ever heard. He slowly retracts his arm after they pass and the three of them head for the escalator. Steve lets the two women step on first. Freya then Natasha. As they ride it downwards, the two assassins see Rumlow riding it up on the other side. Freya quickly turns to her right and starts chatting with the girl next to her.
"Oh, my gosh!" Freya gushes in a preppy voice. "That is such a cute purse! Where'd you get it?!"
The young girl looks at Freya, surprised by the interaction, before replying. The blonde assassin doesn't hear her, though. She turns to look at her two friends to check on them. Only to see them kissing. Freya's heart sinks as she watches them pull away from each other. She knows Natasha is only kissing Steve to keep Rumlow from recognizing them. But it still upsets her. Steve looks up and makes eye contact with her. His eyes go wide and his mouth opens like he wants to say something. Tearing up, she turns away as they get to the bottom of the escalator. Not even acknowledging the girl she had spoken to. She quickly makes her way to the parking garage as the other two hurry to catch up with her.
"Freya!" Steve calls out to her.
He catches up and grabs her arm to get her to look at him. She just yanks it away and keeps walking. Not wanting to show him how upset she is. That proves to be impossible with their link. Knowing they need to find a vehicle, she approaches a blue truck and uses her powers to unlock it. Natasha tries to call out to Freya, but she's ignored. Freya climbs in the back seat and crawls across it to sit against the right door. Leaving them to stand in silence. Natasha climbs into the passenger seat, guilt eating away at her. Steve begins to hot wire the truck, feeling terrible for upsetting Freya, but is confused by her reaction. He keeps asking himself if she actually cares for him like he does for her. The truck finally starts and they get on the highway, heading for Wheaton, New Jersey.
Leaning her head on the window, Freya watches the scenery pass outside. Steve keeps looking at her in the rear view mirror as he tries to catch her eye. Finally, he mentally reaches out to her.
"Freya..."
She ignores him and continues to stare out the window. He knows she's upset. He can feel it through their link.
"Frey, please look at me."
She shakes her head and stays silent. Eventually, she decides to close her eyes and get some sleep. Seeing as how she hasn't slept since she had been knocked unconscious by the grenade. After a half hour of silence, Natasha breaks it.
"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" she asks. Steve puts a finger to his lips and points to the back seat at Freya. Indicating she's asleep.
"Nazi Germany," he whispers. Natasha lets out a hum in reply and he quickly glances at her. "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash."
"All right, I have a question for you," she says as she obliges with a smirk. "Which you do not have to answer. I feel like, if you don't answer it though, you're kinda answering it you kno-"
"What?" Steve cuts her off, becoming impatient.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" she asks as she continues to smirk at him.
"That bad, huh?" he chuckles humorlessly.
"I didn't say that," Natasha denies.
"Well, it kinda sounds like that's what you're saying."
"No, I didn't. I was just wondered how much practice you've had." Her eyes glance toward the back seat where the other blonde is sleeping.
"You don't need practice," he rolls his eyes.
"Everybody needs practice," Natasha refutes.
"It was not my first kiss since 1945," he sighs in defeat, knowing the redhead won't drop the conversation. "I'm 95, not dead."
"Anybody special?" she asks with a genuine smile now. She watches his eyes glance at the rear view mirror. He looks at the sleeping figure of Freya and begins to blush. "I knew it," Natasha states triumphantly. Her smile is now from ear to ear. "Something is going on between you two."
"Nothing's going on between me and Freya," he denies weakly.
"Like I said before, you're a terrible liar," Natasha snorts. "You two kissed, right?"
He hesitates before looking over at the redhead and nodding.
"Yeah, we did."
"And? How was it?" Natasha asks. He doesn't say anything. Only breaking into a huge smile while his blush deepens. "You really care about her, don't you, Rogers?" He looks at her again and nods. She can easily read the look on his face. "You're in love with her," she simply states.
"I've never felt this way before," he sighs as he looks at Freya in the rear view mirror again. "I don't think she feels the same way, though."
"She does though," Natasha tells him. "Since she met you, she's more like her old self than she has been in a really long time. You've gotten her to open up again. Which is something Clint and I haven't been able to do. Because of you, she's not afraid to live her life anymore. She isn't afraid to be happy," Natasha says with a small smile. Steve has a skeptical look on his face as he lets her words sink in. "Just promise me you two will talk after this is over. Don't be mad at her about the whole Winter Soldier thing. She has a good explanation. One that you obviously deserve," Natasha sighs. "But you should hear it from her."
He responds with a nod as they fall back into silence. Suddenly, he gets a familiar warm buzz in his head. He panics and immediately looks behind him at Freya, trying to see how she's reacting. Her face scrunches up like she's in pain and he instantly knows she's seeing a bad memory.
"Rogers? What's wrong?" Natasha asks. Freya begins to stir in her seat as she mumbles incoherently.
"No, not here," Steve mutters. He keeps driving as he looks for a place to pull over. Freya's mumbling is getting louder. He can start to hear what she's saying.
"No... no, no, no, please," Freya begs in her sleep. A sob escapes her and Natasha whips her head around to look at her.
"Steve, what's going on?" Natasha demands. "What's wrong with her?"
He can hear the worry and slight panic in the redhead's voice. Natasha reaches out to touch Freya in an attempt to wake her up. But Steve's hand lashes out and grabs her arm.
"No! Don't try to wake her up! It's too dangerous while we're driving!" he says frantically.
Natasha's face scrunches in confusion. Finally finding a spot, Steve swerves off the road. He skids to a stop and throws the truck in park. Jumping out of it, he runs to Freya's door. He carefully opens it and grabs her before she falls out. Natasha climbs out of the truck just as he's scooping Freya into his arms. Her legs are beginning to kick and her head is jerking back and forth as starts to heavily sob.
"No! No, please! No, no, no!" Freya sobs.
Steve walks out into the open dirt area next to the truck and kneels down with her. Natasha is close behind as she watches helplessly. Freya keeps reaching out in front of her like she's trying to grab on to something.
"Frey, you need to wake up," Steve gently strokes her face. "Please, wake up, Doll." When he doesn't get a response from her, he becomes desperate and yells out her name. "Freya!"
"BUCKY! NO!" Freya screams.
She jolts awake as her eyes glow briefly. The ground slightly trembles beneath them from her outburst. Natasha looks around with wide eyes before she settles them back on Freya. The blonde is now sobbing uncontrollably as Steve attempts to calm her down.
"Hey, hey, shh," he shushes her. "It's okay, Doll. You're okay."
"I k-keep seeing him. I keep seeing him f-fall from the train. It hurts s-so much," Freya sobs while she clutches at her chest.
Steve's heart aches for her. She's still seeing Bucky's death for some reason. Ever since she saw it the first time, she's had countless episodes since with the same memory. And they've only been getting more intense with time. Like she's getting closer to something that's going to happen. She's been starting to feel actual physical pain when she sees the memory.
"I don't understand why I keep s-seeing him," Freya says shakily. "I feel like I know him, though. I don't understand..." Her sobs are finally start to die down.
"What just happened?" Natasha asks when she finds her voice.
"It's a newer development with her telepathy," Steve sighs as he looks up at her. "She's been seeing memories. My memories. It happens sometimes when she sleeps. She has a handle on it when she's awake, but when she's asleep she doesn't have control. Not yet at least."
Natasha just nods at him with wide eyes. Not knowing how to respond. He looks back down at Freya who has finally calmed down. She's staring at her hands in silence.
"Hey, Doll?" he says quietly, making her look up at him. Her eyes are red and her face is flushed. "You okay to get back in the truck? We should start moving again."
She wordlessly nods and he helps her stand. He gives her a tight hug and presses a kiss to her forehead. Guiding her back to the truck, he helps her in before hopping in the driver's seat. With one last look at her, he puts the truck in gear and pulls back on to the highway.
