𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 || 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵

NOVA REMEMBERED A TIME WHEN HER MIND WOULD BE AT A STANDSTILL WITH HER HEART. The gentle drum of her heart is slow and calm, and her mind can formulate coherent thoughts. Able to act on the drop of a dime and not second guess herself. She envied those years compared to now. She resented the person Fury had managed to shape her into. She wished to be back to dotting over Natasha every second of the day and playfully bickering with Cooper.

It only came back in fast and rapid sparks. Memories appeared behind her eyes, the city streets holding partial attention. At the time, they seemed inconsequential to her. But now, everything piling on, she'd do anything to go back to those simpler times. To live those moments once more in their entirety would be a gift.

The music softly humming through the speakers of her car silenced with the gentle ringtone alerted her. Gaze flickering to the screen in the center of the dash and seeing the contact: Natasha.

Pressing the answer button, Nova shifted in her seat and sniffled. "What's up, Nat?"

"Where are you right now?" Natasha inquired in a hushed tone, piquing Nova's interest.

Nova, shaking her head in slight confusion, looked at her surroundings. Searching for street signs that could tell her exactly where she was. "Uh, I do not know. Why? What's up?"

"Not on the phone. Ditch your phone and use that burner I gave you a few years back," Natasha explained. "Once you get my text, destroy that, all right?"

Inhaling deeply, Nova grabbed her iPhone and sighed. "Understood." Hanging up, Nova rolled her window down and tossed it out the window. Having a feeling some random homeless person will grab it or a vehicle will run over it. Either way, it will play out in her favour.

Lifting the console, she fished her hand through the multiple contents inside; hair ties, papers, sunglasses, and finally the tiny burner flip phone. She flipped it open and used the directional pad to cycle through the many icons until she opened her text messages. A single text message came from a random number, "Hospital. Make sure you're not tailed. Ditch your vehicle when you are near. Trust no one."

She nearly wanted to scoff at how stupid she was to not listen to Natasha's earlier warning that morning. Maybe if she'd taken her seriously, she wouldn't be feeling such a way at the moment. But she also knew that if she didn't find out Cooper was switching sides, the impact of it would've been a whole lot worse.

Discarding the burner phone, she drove to the one hospital she had in mind. Doing exactly as she was told by ditching her car a couple of blocks away–grabbing a different sweater and her Blue Jays hat before making her way on foot. She kept her head on a swivel and finally used her many hours of training from Natasha on espionage.

When she finally stood around a hundred yards from the hospital, a distinct whistle sounded. Slicing through the air and the sound of cars and passersby walkers. She paused, swallowing the lump in her throat before it sounded again, her head snapping in the direction of the sound. Eyes burning through a truck directly to her 2 o'clock. With very little to no warning, she jogged over and opened the back door to see Natasha sitting and waiting with a slightly cautious expression.

"Were you followed?" Steve voiced, alerting Nova of his presence in the driver's seat.

"I should be asking you," she replied. "Everyone is hunting you. I still have time on the clock before I am added to the wanted list."

"Cooper with them?" Natasha asked with a look that showed she had suspected much.

Nova fell silent for a few moments with her bottom lip caught between her teeth. A silent nod followed. "He's hunting Steve and said that if I don't disclose his location in the next 6 hours, I'll be added to the fugitive list," She shook her, pushing out an exasperated breath. "Did you kill him, Steve? Fury?"

"No, of course not."

"Then give me something so I can trust you," she nearly exclaimed. Biting back her tears, Nova sniffled. "Out of all three of us, I'm losing people here, and I want it to stop. So, to ask me to go against my best friend is a tall order."

The idea made dread swim in the lowest part of her gut. Her head already spinning with the acceptance she'd have to do to face Cooper. She should be more than thrilled to put him in his place. After all, he said that if it came to it he would kill her. But she was too vulnerable. Her feelings were all on display and she couldn't think of a way to hide them.

But she did believe what made it harder wasn't the fact of their history but her own achievement of bringing him under her wing. It'd been her decision to bring him into the fold and her first time doing something entirely independent from Fury's permission. She chose him when there might've been worthy applicants that soared higher than even herself. And even though he was a rookie and merely a co-pilot, she treated him like gold. His personal quarters were some of the best on the carrier and a top-line penthouse in New York. She did everything to make his transition and life easier.

And she got a friend out of it. One that felt more genuine than the manufactured "friends" she'd made from work. Because, sadly, Nova probably wouldn't have been inclined to talk to Natasha if she didn't have to. Not saying she didn't appreciate her father for that small deed, but it simply was the truth and the reality of who Nova was as a person. But Nova had managed to create a foundation for herself and Cooper to stand on and rely on one another. So, how long had it been since he felt so indifferent about their relationship? Did none of that shit matter to him like it did for her?

It was a tough pill to swallow for Nova, and it was even harder accepting that at some point she'd have to face him. If it is under good circumstances or bad. All she knew was that she had to be ready for the latter.

Steve's lips rolled for a moment before reaching back and holding out a S.H.I.E.L.D. drive. The insignia is imprinted on the plastic. One thing was for sure; Fury sure didn't keep things inconspicuous.

She took it silently and stared at it for a few seconds. "There is something on there related to the mission Natasha and I went on. He gave it to me before he died," Steve explained. "Who is responsible is on that drive."

That was where the conversation ended. Nova almost didn't want to know who was responsible. It felt wrong to feel such a way, but she also was scared of herself. Enough so that she'd prefer to hunker down in some log cabin in Montana and patiently wait for things to blow over. At least then she might be able to grasp everything she was feeling and control it.

The trio sits in silence until they arrive at a mall. All of them quickly walk inside and immediately blend into the crowds of people. Keeping a considerable pace that isn't suspicious but also isn't risky.

Of course, Steve, who was used to running headlong into battle, didn't quite catch his bearings as fast as he should've. Compared to Natasha and Nova, he looked like a rookie. "First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk," Natasha stated, eyes fixated ahead of her. Eyes carefully scanning the people and storefronts.

"If I run in these shoes they're gonna fall off." Steve countered, head swinging around to take account of his surroundings.

Arriving at an Apple store, the trio huddled around a laptop. Natasha began to type through the many commands, getting to whatever page she needed to. "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 explained.

"How much time will we have?" Steve asked.

"About nine minutes from-" she plugged in the drive, "-now."

Nova sighed, her hand rubbing against her chest. "I'm so out of my element here."

"Different from being upfront in the action, huh?" Natasha inquired, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'd prefer dying out in a flying blaze of glory than a bullet in the head," Nova muttered, glancing around cautiously. "Especially if it's Rumlow doing the shooting."

"Fury was right about that ship," Natasha murmured, focusing solely on the laptop. "Somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps writing itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?" Steve inquired.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me." She glanced up at the two, smirking. "Slightly."

Turning her gaze back to the screen, she said, "I'm going to try running a tracer. "This is a program 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?"

When neither Nova nor Steve responded for a few moments, Natasha spoke up, smiling. "Oh, no," she reassured. "My fiance was just helping me with some honeymoon destination. Brought her brother along for a third opinion."

The man looked between Nova and Steve in slight confusion. "Adopted," Nova cleared up, feeling her chest untighten when the man nodded in understanding.

Steve smiled uneasily. "Yeah," he said. "They're getting married."

"Congratulations," the worker said. But his brows scrunched together with a faint smile as he motioned to Steve. "I have the exact same glasses."

At that point, Nova drowned out their mini conversation. Already feeling the secondhand awkwardness of having to be near and even hear their conversation.

"You said nine minutes. Come on," Steve urged once the worker wandered off to offer his services to another person.

"Relax," Natasha muttered. "Got it."

On the screen, the scan zoomed in on New Jersey, specifically, Wheaton, New Jersey. At first glance, it didn't hold any significance to Nova. But when she saw Steve lean in to see it clearly, she frowned. "You know it?" She mused, glancing between the screen and the supersoldier.

"I used to," he replied. "Let's go."

The trio made haste with grabbing the drive and making a bee-line toward the entrance of the mall. Still continuing to move with the flow of crowds. Head slightly tilted forward with the hope of it aiding their identities to any possible S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

But although Steve sucked at the whole secrecy part of it, he managed to spot their hunters with ease. "Standard tac team," he announced. "Two behind, two across, and two coming straight towards us."

"Nova wrap an arm around my shoulder, Steve split off and make your way to the entrance." The man nodded, breaking off quickly and quickly blending into a crowd. Nova wrapped an arm around Natasha and bowed her head. As soon as they passed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, her arms fell lifelessly to her side.

They quickened their pace, keeping their eyes forward "You ever miss the thrill of this type of stuff?" Nova asked, hoping to make conversation and make them not seem too out of place.

They stepped onto the escalator and quickly were sandwiched by people from behind and in front of them. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, this." Nova motioned with her hand. "Constantly having to be on your toes. Never too safe to stick in one place."

Natasha pursed her lips. "Sometimes. It's fun giving someone a good chase." The smile on her lips could've been mistaken for a sense of reminiscence. But, for whatever reason, Nova had a feeling there was some underlying meaning. "But being on the run had more negatives than positives. Espionage missions were different. Especially the ones we both went on." She paused, eyes scanning in front of her before turning to Nova. "This was the best part of them..."

Before Nova had a chance to even comprehend or process her friend's words, her lips were pressed against Nova's. Her hands aimlessly grasped at the woman's jacket hoping to find some ground from the suddenness. But she eventually relaxed in it when Natasha moved the kiss to be more intimate.

It was the slow and gentle force behind each press Natasha made against Nova till her back was slightly arched with her hands holding Natasha's hips softly. It's supposed to simply be acting. Nothing more than a meaningless cover to not be spotted. But Nova couldn't refrain from one of her hands gently sliding up Natasha's chest. Moving through the valley of her breasts that elicited a quiet moan and soon finding it tensed around the redhead's throat.

Parting just a mere inch and feeling Natasha's panting breaths on her lips. Her eyes half-lidded as they flickered up to Nova. Not scared of her reddened cheeks being noticed by the younger girl's hungry gaze. "I think I missed that as well."