How it really begun | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 30 | Run. Decipher. Hide... Kiss ?

Raven chose the busiest mall of the city, and beside the fact that it's a school day, the place is packed. Lots of people, busy paths, busy stairs, busy stores, busy everything. Natasha and Raven stroll in the mall casually, like they're used to it even if it's the opposite. Crowded places is a relief when you need to hide and go unnoticed, but it isn't the number one choice for people that are not very fond of other people. Raven would choose any type of quiet places over this nightmare, and looking closely at Natasha's behavior, it seems like it would be the same for her. 

The spies eyes are looking everywhere, looking for any threat without looking suspicious, their heads barely moving. Unfortunately Steve is no spy and Raven can't help but rolling her eyes when she look at him, his whole behavior is screaming suspicious and nervous. "Steve, stop running, and looking everywhere like that." She tried saying it quietly but it came out more as a hiss. 

"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk." Natasha try and explain to him, keeping a straight face. Raven start walking a bit faster, breaking their line of three people so it doesn't seem like a trio, thinking of all kind of possibility to help lower their chances at being spotted. 

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." Steve answer sarcastically, Raven rolling her eyes at the jab. She should've let him wear those ridiculous clothes he had. 

"Just stop looking so suspicious Rogers." Raven hiss through gritted teeth, turning her head to make sure he heard her, but also not make it look like she's talking to him. The ex soldier look around, trying to spot this damn Apple store. They need a computer, they can't risk taking one and just decrypt the drive in the car, the USB is protected by a level six homing program which means SHIELD would be able to track them, so Apple store it is. 

She briefly scan a map of the mall, not even stopping in front of it, but immediately spotting the store on the second floor. The duo behind her keep following her as she take the escalator, not questioning her once. The big bright apple could be visible from miles away, the trio marching towards it, looking at their surrounding, trying to find a good computer without a lot of people around but enough to shield them from any prying eyes. 

They get to a good spot, trying to look interested at the computers around them, Natasha getting to work right away. "Steve. Drive." Raven stand beside her typing away on a laptop next to her to get a good look at what the redhead is doing, and make it look like she's looking for a laptop herself. "The drive has a Level six homing program, so as soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are." Natasha explain to Steve, probably trying to reassure and distract the tense man, who keeps looking around like a suspicious person. "How much time will we have ?" 

"About nine minutes from... now." She answer, plugging the drive while saying the last word. Raven start a timer on her watch, Steve doing the same. They had nine minutes now, before a squad of SHIELD agent would get into this mall to hunt them down. Nine minutes to try and understand what is on this drive. 

Raven's gaze stay strictly on the computer, looking over everything popping up on the screen. "Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something." The brunette barely pay attention to what the redhead is saying, instead paying attention to the different files about the Lemurian Star opening up. At first it looked like some sorts of lunch codes, but then looking a bit closer she realized it wasn't. So what where they ? "This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands." This got Raven's attention though, looking closer at what Natasha was trying to do to counter it. The problem with AI being, it's not a guy behind a computer which you try to beat in a game of coding, it's an all other level of battle.