𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑. | ❛ Divulge. ❜

THE TRIO WAS CURRENTLY DRIVING TO NEW JERSEY, with Steve and Natasha sitting at the front and Jamie sitting in the passenger seat. Jamie was roaming through her bag, trying to find one of her potions. She could already hear Elijah and Anna's scoldings in her mind, and she felt guilty for making them worry. The gash on her side was still healing and she grew more impatient every day. She still hasn't found any clue of why her body was reacting this way.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha broke the silence, earning Jamie's attention as she was pulled away from her thoughts.

Steve glanced at her. "Nazi Germany," he replied.

Natasha hummed in deep thought, placing her feet on the dash. Steve rolled his eyes, "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash."

The redhead turned her head towards him, her face forming into a small smirk. She took 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?"

"What?"

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" Natasha asked with curiosity, giving him a look before she moved her head towards the brunette, who looked back at the redhead with a warning look.

"Nat," Jamie interjected, putting her bag to the side. Natasha gave her a wink. She looked at her bag for a second before she turned her attention to Steve.

Steve let out a small chuckle, "That bad, huh?" he said, his eyes looking at the woman in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

"I wouldn't say that." the ex-soldier said, giving a look Steve couldn't quite grasp.

Steve's lip curved up, feeling the heat rise upon his cheeks. He knew Natasha was staring, and he could feel her intense look. He took a quick glance at the redhead before moving his attention in front of him.

Natasha chuckled, turning in her seat so that she was facing Jamie. "You see that? It means that you were his first kiss since 1945." she joked, her smile causing the brunette to chuckle.

Natasha turned in her seat again and Jamie was glad that she couldn't see her slightly rosy cheeks. She shook her head and turned her attention back to her bag, trying to find her vials.

Steve let out a scoff, giving the girls an annoyed look. "It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead." he clarified, his hands tightening around the steering wheel.

"Nobody special, though?" Natasha asked him.

Steve let out a sigh. "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience," he admitted, his eyes looking at the rearview mirror, showing Jamie's thoughtful look.

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

"What, like you?"

Natasha sighed, "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." she told him.

Steve frowned, "That's a tough way to live."

"It's a good way not to die, though." Jamie butted into the conversation, supporting Natasha with her statement. The redhead looked back at her, her smile faltering as her gaze fell down on a vial that was held in her hands. She narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze to her, watching how she lifted her shirt and checking what seemed like a wound.

"Jamie, are you alright?" Natasha's voice turned soft, her eyes tinting with concern.

Jamie downed the potion, feeling the cold liquid entering her throat. "Yep," she replied with a small cough. She clenched her jaw and covered it with a smile, blocking the burning pain prickling at her side.

Natasha scowled, turning around in her seat. She pointed a finger at the small bottle. "Are you sure?" she asked again, her concern earning Steve's attention.

Jamie looked at the windows, watching their surroundings. Steve pulled up to an abandoned military base, the signal inside the monitor beeping at the location. She looked back at her friend, "We're here. Let's get to work." she urged, wanting to turn their attention elsewhere than her wellbeing.

Steve and Natasha watched her going out of the car first. They shared a look before leaving the car, catching up with the ex-soldier who was not too far away.

__________

The trio walked around the base, trying to pinpoint where the signal came from. Steve took the opportunity, strolling beside Jamie as they entered the old building. "This camp is where I was trained," he said.

Jamie hummed, her eyes taking in the ambiance. "Changed much?"

"A little," Steve answered, his mind slipping into melancholia. His mind wandered off to his former self, running past him as he was getting trained with other soldiers.

"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." Natasha interrupted his thoughts, making him look at her. He moved his head and noticed another building ahead of them.

"What is it?" Jamie asked him.

Steve didn't say anything. He grabbed her arm and guided them over to a building, with Natasha hot in their heel. "Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place." He informed, opening the lock with his shield.

The three entered inside and Steve turned on the lights, noticing it was a SHIELD office. "This is SHIELD." Natasha voiced her thoughts, her eyes looking at the logo painted on the wall.

Jamie folded her arms in front of her chest, sauntering beside Natasha. "Maybe where it started." they heard Steve's voice from behind. The duo entered a room where they found old framed portraits.

"There's Stark's father." the redhead said.

Steve nodded. "Howard."

Natasha titled her head to the side, looking at the next picture. "Who's the girl?"

Steve's eyes lingered a bit longer on the picture, ignoring the question. He took one last look and turned away to walk further down the room, but stopped by a massive bookshelf.

"If you're already working in a secret office," he murmured, pushing the bookshelf causing it to slide open, revealing an elevator behind it. They went down the elevator, taking them to a room with old-looking computers and machines.

"This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient," Jamie said in a low voice, but enough for them to hear. She saw Natasha placing the flash drive into a computer, activating the computers and machines in the room.

Jamie looked around, her eyes landing on a specific computer a few feet away from her. She took a quick look at the duo before she walked towards it. Nearing the computer, she squinted her eyes at a box camera that was following her every move. She inched closer, watching the lenses analyzing her.

"It's some kind of recording." She hear Natasha say, but she didn't tear her gaze away from the computer and she could feel her breath hitch, watching the unfamous logo that has been haunting her for decades. She could feel her heart palpitate as her eyes took in the source, her blood turning cold.

Jamie took a step back, her trembling hands covering her mouth. Her breathing became more rapid and shallow as she left, and the desire to be close to her friends increased. She clenched her jaw and changed her expression from dread to stoic.

"Accessing archive." Arnim Zola's voice echoed through the room. The computer showed them old footage of the Red Skull and 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. This old saying comes from an ancient organization that existed long before we came." he explained, showing another footage of a woman that made Jamie's blood boil.

Jamie squeezed her hands into fists, her glowering face illuminated by the lights above. She walked to the head computer, the camera box taking in her appearance. Steve and Natasha watched with confusion. "Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly." she finished before the doctor could, causing the camera lens to beep rapidly.

"Barzinji, Jamilla. Born, 1839. One of the prominent soldiers of H.R.N. The master of the blade. What an honor, miss Barzinji." Arnim said, the camera closing to her face.

Jamie's eyes hardened, and her cold expression caught the duo off guard. "We burned that organization and made sure no one would get their hands on it." she spat, her voice wavering a bit at the end, making Steve and Natasha step closer.

Doctor Arnim Zola let out a chuckle, "My Liebling, you don't actually believe that do you?" he said with a tone that made her face form into a scowl.

"Doctor Williams never let her guard down. She knew it became a dead-end, but that didn't stop her. She had people, one of them being your husband." He concluded.

Jamie's stomach churned and she froze, looking at the computer with disbelief. She shook her head. Her chest tightened with every breath she took and she could only hear faint voices. Arnim Zola didn't hold back, expressing how SHIELD was created into HYDRA. Jamie didn't care. She wanted to get out.

A gentle hand rested on her back. Jamie turned her head, meeting Natasha's face. The redhead gave her a worried look, rubbing her back soothingly. However, their short moment got cut off when Steve smashed the computer screen.

"What's on the drive?" Steve said, anger coursing through his veins.

"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." The doctor replied.

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha asked, her frown deepening.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Suddenly the doors closed, and Steve dashed towards the door and tried to put his shield in between but it was too late.

"Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."

Steve quirked an eyebrow, "Who fired it?"

"SHIELD," Jamie said, looking at the screen.

Steve noticed a small opening on the ground and threw thew the metal door aside. Just as the place explodes, he threw himself, Natasha, and Jamie into the hole protecting them with his shield. Natasha's grip on Jamie's waist tightened and the ex-soldier hid her face into her hair, wrapping her arms around her.

A pain shot through Jamie's body. She clenched her teeth, the burning pain from her side worsening. With the pressure from the rocks pooling over them, Jamie's eyesight became whacked. She could feel herself slip, feeling her eyes roll up into her head. She met the darkness with open arms, letting her mind take control.

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

I hope you liked this chapter. I'm sorry for not posting for Jamie. Life's been hectic, but I'm back and Virago will be updated regularly. :) Thank you for supporting and showing massive love for our Heroine.

Don't be a silent reader! Your comments make my day and motivate me to keep going, loves. Happy reading <3

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