driftfleet | [muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

Well, that signal still had to come from somewhere in there. Something should still be working well enough to send it.

[ this is a bit eerie. the last time he and natasha had sought after distant signals, they came upon zola's mind, instilled inside a computer in an old SHIELD bunker inside camp Lehigh - she had asked him about Peg's picture, hanged on the wall.

timelines have really made a mess of their lives, it would seem. Now both of them are here and steve starts walking, if only to chase away the paradox his life has become. ]

If there someone out there, we'll find them. Let's go.

[ -- should she be honest with herself, peggy would likely feel a little guilty over her current excitement. adventure didn't always come easily in the fleet. not, at least, the sort of adventure that allows anyone to go traipsing into the uncivilized woods.

even so, she does her level best not to look too pleased with the prospect of finding something: a source for the signal, or anything else. ]

It strains credulity, of course, that our fleet should be the first ones to answer the call. [ and yet she marches forward regardless. ] But I suppose even a trap becomes less trappish if you know it's likely.

[Natasha smiles a little at that, shaking her head. She understand the logic. That doesn't make it correct, but she understands it.

She hasn't been here as long as Peggy or Steve. She can only imagine the cabin fever doesn't get better.]

I'm not sure that's how it works, but at least we know what we might be running into.

Generally speaking.

I'm also pretty sure trappish isn't a word -

[ there is a smile there, a small level of sass that is entirely dipped in fondness. Going along the line, he looks over at Natasha, entirely dubious. ]

You know, you and I don't really have a history of knowing what we're running into.

[ he may be outnumbered here but it doesn't mean the girls can take him without a fight, ok. ]

[ oh, she'll be damned before she allows this team-up to backfire on her. steve earns himself a mild roll of her eyes, but she does offer natasha an agreeable nod. it doesn't explicitly work logically, no, but peggy's never found a perfectly logical explanation for wading into the gunfire. so to speak. ]

Are you trying to inspire confidence, Captain? [ she knocks aside a low-hanging branch. ]

[Casting a sympathetic glance at Peggy and directed at her in a tone of mock disappointment:]

Before I met him, I almost always had a good idea of what I was running into. He's a bad influence.

[ he has to laugh, open and honest. really, these two; and he was thinking he had the upper hand for a moment there. ]

I gotta say -

[ ever amused ]

I only know of one other person who might agree with you on that.

[ one who, even before the serum had insisted that steve rogers is a punk from brooklyn. ]

-- Tell me, Natasha, has he ever told you the story of when he went AWOL into enemy territory with barely an idea of what he was walking into? [ hmph! ] I can certainly buy the line that he's done little more than introduce utter chaos into your lives.

[To Steve:]

And I don't think you're going to tell me he's wrong about that, either.

[Don't make this too easy for her, Steve. She's clearly confident that she's won that argument.

Natasha turns toward Peggy then, interest in the arch of one brow.]

Somehow, he failed to mention that part. Easy to imagine him doing that, though.

Hold on - she was the one who helped me with that one -

[ an amused huff as he turns to look at Peggy ]

and I did bring you that busted radio back, didn't I?

[ you two are not ganging up on him, no way. ]

He did. [ peggy confirms -- archly. ] Only, when I gave it to him it was anything but busted. [ ... ] And he was late.

[ but he saved a lot of soldiers, that day. ]

Men, hm?

[As though this kind of thing were a hazard of dealing with them.

Which in their line of work, it might be.]

I bet he had the nerve to act like it was all to plan, too.

[ do not feed the trolls, do not feed the tro - ]

Every plan requires some improvising -

[ so much nerve was involved. ]

So you might say it was.

[ men! she guffaws, and doesn't mind the way the thick leafy canopy seems to envelope the sound. softens it; almost muffles it. ]

I very nearly lost my rank over that caper, mind you. So it was damned fortunate that he had a...plan. [ she's too prim to use air-quotes, and yet her tone says it all. ]

I'm sorry you lot have to suffer him now, Ms. Romanoff. Truly.

[Natasha chuckles, barely audible though it shows in her posture and her eyes.]

Well, he makes up for it somehow.

[Natasha sounds less like she's complimenting Steve, more mock incredulous.]

You know if you two want to stay alone for this at any time -

[ he knew these two meeting will eventually spell out a world of trouble for him one way or another but the complaint was hardly sincere and it showed; evidently, Steve Rogers was far too happy about the ladies in his life getting along than really minding them taking turns with this banter. ]

I'm sure we'll reach a clearing eventually.

How quickly he surrenders! [ a good-nature sort of chuckle. ] Though, as for clearings, I can't say I wouldn't mind some manner of...of landmark. We haven't ventured too far from the mesa, and yet the forest is growing rather thick.

I wouldn't put too much hope on finding a real clearing any time soon. From the air, openings looked few and far between.

It's almost like a jungle in here.

[ enhanced eyesight or not, this will be a challenge for him, too if it keeps getting even more dense. ]

If we don't have a landmark, we might as well make one. We can mark one of these trees.

[ a nod to the captain's shield. ]

Are you volunteering? [ peggy took her gun, today, and not her knife. ] Unless you've got a blade, Natasha, then the shield might be our best tool.

Be my guest.

[Not confirming whether or not she's carrying a knife.

Though she is absolutely carrying a knife.]

If I had to guess, I'd say she has four of them.

[ Years of having Natasha as a friend had taught him some things, it would seem. He does take a step back, however and throws the shield in the direction of the closest tree, enough to create a visible line in the bark without breaking it. ]

Right. That should do it.

[ there is a certain selfishness to requesting that steve be the one to mark the trees. she hasn't seen him legitimately wield his shield since the war -- things are either too peaceful in the fleet, or else she hasn't been present when conflict has broken out around him. ]

I'm put in mind of Hansel and Gretel, [ she comments -- wary. ]

Four you'd find.

[She says it as a joke, not serious enough to confirm or deny his statement.]

Sure beats leaving bread crumbs though.

Four I'd dare to look for.

[ he counters even as he ducks beneath a lower branch as they go. if there is a truth universally acknowledged, it's that there is some thing about Natasha one is simply better off not knowing and Steve made peace with that. ]

I hope the difference would me that there wouldn't be a wicked witch in there -

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