MAL DIDN'T KNOW how long she had been up on that roof, but when her phone rang and she saw the name Nat flash across the screen, she sighed. She couldn't just ignore her.

"Hello?" She asked, pressing the phone up against her ear.

"We got something that needs decoding. You in?" Was the simple reply, and Mal felt her lips quirk up a little in an attempted smile.

"Meet me in the bathroom." She said, ending the call. Mal sighed, nodding slightly to herself. "No more crying." She said out loud, voice firm. "You've got a job to do."

Exiting the roof, Mal descended the flights of stairs, before she reached the right floor. Ducking into the relatively busy hallway, Mal walked quickly, eyes searching for the bathroom. When she found it, she pushed the door open, only to be met with Natasha and Steve.

"Didn't know you used the girls room, Stevie." Mal joked with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Nudging past them, she shrugged off her jacket (which Steve thankfully took from her) before sighing. Turning the water to go as hot as it could be, Mal turned on the faucet, sticking her hands under the hot water. She began scrubbing the dried and flaky blood off of her hands. The water turned red as is swirled down the drain, and steam was beginning to rise up. After a few minutes, the blood was gone, even if some parts of her hands were still lightly stained red. Her skin was pink and irritated from the scrubbing and the hot water now, too. Drying her hands, Steve held her jacket up so she could easily slip her arms in.

Frowning, Natasha ripped a piece of paper towel from the dispenser, wetting it and making Mal turn to face her. Natasha began wiping dirt and blood off of her face, careful around the still-healing cuts and bruises. It was so caring, so gentle, so motherly that Mal almost wanted to cry again. But she steeled herself, only smiling gratefully when Natasha finished.

"Let's go decode a flash drive."

–•–•–

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Natasha stated bluntly, and Mal rolled her eyes, frowning. They had changed into civilian clothes, trying to blend in better with everyone else in the mall. Mal wore sunglasses with a deep burgundy sweater that was a size too big and some black jeans with a regular pair of black converse. She looked like any other teenage girl going to the mall.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." Steve said sarcastically, and Mal held back a laugh as she directed them to duck into a Mac store to use one of their computers.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Natasha said, handing the flash drive off to Mal.

"How much time do we have?" Steve asked as Mal opened the computer.

"About nine minutes from," She pops the flash drive into the MacBook Pro, watching the screen intently. "Now." She said, eyes scanning over the files that flashed onto the screen. "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." Mal explained, making the super soldier frown.

"Can you override it?" He asked, and Natasha smirked at him.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me, but not smarter than Mal." She said confidently, and Mal's lips twitched up into a smile as she continued typing away at the computer.

"I'm gonna try running a tracer, because I don't have enough time to override its AI. 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." Mal said, her eyes not moving from the computer screen. She didn't really pay attention to what the Apple employee was now talking about with Natasha and Steve. Taking her hands off of the keyboard when the signal was finished being traced to the general area, Mal looked pleased with her work. Steve looked at the monitor and saw the signal traced to somewhere in New Jersey, before chatting away with the employee again. Placing her hands back onto the computers keyboard, Mal worked at getting a more precise location for them.

"You said nine minutes, come on." Steve rushed as soon as the employee walked away.

"Got it." Mal said smugly, showing that the signal is coming from Wheaton, NJ. Mal studies Steve's face, his eyebrows furrowed. "You know it?" She asked, curious.

"I used to. Let's go." Steve pulled the flash drive from the computer, and they all walk out of the store. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you two hit the south escalator to the metro." Two agents were heading right for them, and Mal's hands twitched slightly, ready for a fight.

"Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said." Natasha ordered Steve, while she grabbed onto Mal's hand, tugging her back.

"What?" Steve asked in confusion, but Mal fell into the situation quickly, falling back a few steps to be right behind the pair.

"Do it!" Natasha hissed, and Steve quickly puts his arm around Natasha and laughs, with Mal doing her best to shoot Steve a dirty looks, attempting to seem like an annoyed teenager out with her parents. Once the agents safely pass, Steve takes away his arm, and Mal moves to stand besides them again.

"We make the perfect fake family," Mal joked, and Steve rolled his eyes with a grin. They all step onto the escalator going down, Mal first, then Natasha and finally Steve. As they are going down the escalator, Natasha spots Rumlow on the escalator going up next to them at the same time Mal does. Mal shifts away, pulling her phone out from her pocket and pretending to type away at it (even though it was off now, since they were being followed.) To hide, Natasha quickly pulls down Steve's head and kisses him making Rumlow look away as he goes past them on the escalator.

When they're in the clear, Mal let's out a sigh of relief. Stepping off of the escalator, Mal turned to Steve and Natasha with a raised eyebrow.

"So, kissing, huh?"

–•–•–

Mal sat in the backseat of the truck, leaning forward to poke her head up between the front seats.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Mal asked, watching him drive.

"Nazi Germany. And we're borrowing." Steve clarified, before looking over at Natasha. "Take your feet off the dash." Natasha smirks, but she does take her feet off the dash.

"Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?" Natasha said, and Mal knew what was coming. Living two years with the woman made her used to Natasha's questions that were impossible to avoid.

"What?" Steve said in slight confusion, glancing over at her.

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" Natasha asked, and Mal groaned, throwing her head back.

"That bad, huh?" Steve asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow at the assassin.

"I didn't say that." Natasha defended, smiling a little.

"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying." Steve replied, and Natasha shook her head.

"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had." Natasha said, as if that was a simple explanation.

"You don't need practice." Steve defended, frowning slightly.

"Everybody needs practice." Natasha said simply with a shrug.

"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead." Mal laughed, smiling brightly.

"Nobody special, though?" Natasha pushed. Steve just chuckled.

"Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience." Steve defended himself. Mal understood that, though in a different way – she was eighteen, not ninety-five.

"Well, that's alright, you just make something up." Natasha said with a shrug, looking to Steve.

"What, like you?" Mal butted in, leaning forward and staring at Natasha.

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I." Natasha explained and Mal nodded slowly.

"That's a tough way to live." Steve stated, and Mal had to agree.

"It's a good way not to die, though." Natasha pointed out.

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." Steve said, and Mal knew there was some kind of hidden meaning in his statement.

"Yeah. Who do you want me to be?" Natasha asked him, and he was quiet for a moment.

"How about a friend?" He asked, Natasha laughs softly.

"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." Everyone laughs quietly, before Natasha turns in her seat to look at Mal better. "What about you, Mal? Any boys catch your eye?" Mal's face flushed as she leaned away slightly, clearing her throat.

"No, I, uh, I don't really date." Mal stammered, and Natasha narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Why not? I know plenty of nice boys that would be tripping over themselves to date you." Natasha said, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"They're not my type, trust me." Mal assured her, and Natasha frowned slightly.

"How would you know? You've never met them." Natasha pointed out, and Mal fidgeted nervously for a moment.

"Because I like girls, Nat. I'm gay." Mal looked between Steve and Natasha for a moment. The two adults looked at each other, but neither looked particularly surprised.

"Well, I know some cute girls, too. Just makes it easier for me to set you guys up on double dates." Natasha said with a shrug, and Mal groaned again, leaning back in her seat.

"I'm convinced this is hell."

–•–•–

"The file came from these coordinates." Mal said once they stopped in front of an old military base.

"So did I. This camp is where I was trained." Steve said, and Mal looked around. She couldn't imagine a pre-serum Steve taking orders and running through several drills in practice to be a soldier.

"Changed much?" Natasha asked, and Steve took a moment to reply.

"A little." He admits, and Mal huffs in annoyance, though not at Steve.

"This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Mal said, glaring at nothing in particular. Steve eyes a building ahead of them.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place." He explained as they got closer to the building. Steve opens the lock with his shield and they enter inside. When they turn on the lights they notice it's an old SHIELD office.

"This is SHIELD." Mal said in awe, taking in the old building.

"Maybe where it started." Steve said as they enter a room where they find old framed portraits of three people, but only two that Mal herself recognized.

"There's Stark's father." Natasha said, pointing to a picture of Howard Stark. "Who's the girl?"

"Peggy Carter. She helped start SHIELD. She's a badass." Mal said, adoration sparkling in her eyes. Steve wondered what Peggy would say if he told her that Mal was, apparently, a big fan of hers. Still, Steve doesn't say anything and turns away to walk further down the room and stops by a massive book shelf.

"If you're already working in a secret office," He pushes the bookshelf with ease and it slides open to reveal an elevator behind it. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?" He asked, but no one answered. Slowly, they go down the elevator which takes them to a room with old looking computers.

"This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient." Mal said with a frown, her eyes scanning over the equipment. Pausing, she notices a small flash drive port, and places the flash drive in it which then activates the ancient computer in the room.

"Initiate system?" The computer asked, and Natasha glanced at Mal, who shrugged.

"Y-E-S, spells yes." Natasha typed into the keyboard, and smiles as the old computer starts to crank up. Suddenly they hear an accented voice speaking.

"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Owens, Marcelina. Born, 1996." Mal winces at the use of her full name – the only ones who knew it were Fury, her parents, and Natasha. Looking up, they see an old camera moving above them as it analyzes them.

"It's some kind of a recording." Natasha said quietly, but Mal shook her head. This was no recording.

"I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The computer screen shows an old photo of a man, and Mal frowns.

"Do you know this thing?" Natasha asked Steve, who sighed.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve explained.

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain." Zola said, and Mal scrunched up her nose in disgust at the thought.

"How did you get here?" Steve asked, glaring st the computer screen.

"Invited." Zola said bluntly, and Natasha stepped forward.

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." She said, and Mal shook her head.

"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own." Zola said, and Steve took a step closer to what was left of the scientist.

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull." Steve said fiercely, and Zola's cold laugh echoed into the room.

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Zola said simply.

"Prove it." Steve demanded, and Zola relented.

"Accessing archive." The computer screen shows them old footage of Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull, and of the the original SHIELD founders. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed." Zola said, and Mal was horrified. The people who had turned her into whatever she was, who had made her into a human lab experiment – they were with her the entire time.

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you!" Mal exclaimed, clenching her fists.

"Accidents will happen." The computer screen flickers for a moment, before it shows them that HYDRA had killed Howard and Maria Stark, making it look like a car accident, along with the recent death of Fury. "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life; a zero sum." Suddenly, Steve's shield was imbedded into the screen. Natasha turned to Steve, who looked just as shocked as her. They both turned their attention to Mal, who's hand was held out, glowing green as she glared at the screen.

"Sorry," She muttered, and with a sharp movement of her hand, the shield went back to Steve.

"What's on this drive?" Steve asked, tearing his eyes away from Mal.

"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." Zola said, which explained exactly nothing to them. Even Mal, who had helped work on Project Insight, didn't understand.

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Mal demanded from him, but the computer had the nerve to actually laugh.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Suddenly the doors starts to close, and Steve tries stops it by throwing his shield in between it, but he's too late. The door closes before the shield can stop it, or before Mal can even use her powers to hold it open.

"Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops." Natasha said, making Mal's eyes widened.

"Who fired it?" Steve asked in surprise, and Natasha frowned.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." She answered. They were quiet for a brief moment, before Zola started talking again.

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us, out of time." Steve notices a small opening on the ground, and he throws the metal door aside. Just as the place explodes he throws himself, Mal and Natasha into the hole and protects them with his shield. It wasn't necessary, however, as Mal held up a shield to protect them from the blast. They were covered in dirt, and ash, but they were alive.