CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

( HOW TO STEAL A CAR )

STEP TWO: STEAL.

Quinn looked at Rome with a dazed look in her eyes. Here they were celebrating that they had escaped from a government building and he was hitting her with logic she couldn't think of at the moment. She blinks a couple of times. Maybe she had a concussion from that fall. It takes her a few moments to come to the realization that Rome had asked her a genuine question of their plan. "Linnea can hotwire a car," she blurts out, quickly wishing she had swallowed her words until they had gotten further into the woods for shelter. Being this close to the perimeter fence of Quantico's training base made her feel uneasy. She couldn't be the only one that felt this way.

However, it didn't seem to bother Rome, who could literally turn them in at any time. Although he'd probably be in trouble as well now, after helping them steal from a weapons vault, evade detection from the patrol, and hop the fence. Rome blankly stares at her then turns his attention to Linnea as if she were lying. There was no way she could hotwire a car. Linnea crosses her arms across her chest and returns the judgmental gaze as if he were beneath her. "I had strict parents," she simply shrugs. With one swift move, she flips in the opposite direction, heading towards the woods that surrounded the academy.

Rome's face deadpans as he continues to look at her. Something didn't sit well with him. "In Sweden?" he judges, earning a scoff from Linnea as she begins to trek through the woods. He notices that the others have followed her lead, each beginning to take haphazard steps through the muddy terrain, trying not to break their ankles over the overgrown roots of the trees. He looks over his shoulder at the academy once more, surveying it as if it were the last time he'd see it. Something that provided him with an opportunity of a lifetime, something that provided him security - not only living wise but education and a future job. He knew at anytime he could turn back, act as if he was just slacking off on post, have everything go back to normal like how things were before Quinn showed up. But he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing someone's life was in peril.

With a hefty sigh, Rome turns around, following the group into the woods.

Quinn hisses as she stumbles blindly into the dark area. Nothing like going for a midnight stroll in the woods, where everything could kill someone if it wanted to. Her main concern was not falling and breaking her neck on the roots beneath her. Each time she stumbled over one, it caused a new sensation of pain in her ankles. She was glad to see that she wasn't the only one struggling. When she shined her light towards Lena she was taking baby steps around each root to try not to trip.

The only person who seemed to be excelling with the trek was Rome. It's like he knew where each root was and proceeded to walk on top of it like it was nothing. Sadly, this was something she couldn't do that Rome could. She would've fallen in an instant. "So what's the plan?" Rome questions, sounding out of breath. Maybe he was actually struggling as well. She smiled as she heard the strained puff in his voice. None of them were good at something like this.

Rome looked expectantly over at her, flashlight shining in her eyes, blinding her for a moment as if he were telling her to spit out the plan. She grumbled to herself as she neared him, he could barely make out the words "ignorant asshole" from her mumbling. He rolled his eyes, he didn't want to pick a fight with her over a few short words. She was out of breath by the time she had managed to get close to him. The trek was starting to wear her down.

She took a few heaving breaths before fixing her flyaways and looking at Rome, a heated look in her eye. "We hotwire a car, we drive to New York," she begins to list off, Rome nodding at every step listed as if he actually cared. "Hop on a quinjet from Avengers Tower and then head to Portofino," she quickly finished, barely brushing by the last part with ease. She hoped no one really cared where Portofino was located but judging by the furrowed brow of Rome she could tell he wasn't a fan nor knew where it was at. To be fair neither did she until EDGE told her so.

"Where's that?" he asks the dreaded question on everyone's mind. She peered around Rome, looking at Lena and Linnea who had come to a stop as well to listen to her. Even they were blindly following her. She presses her lips together, hoping for the best reaction. "Italy," she answers.

"Italy?" Linnea repeats, her eyes wide from the answer.

"Buongiorno," Lena teasingly whispers, a small smirk appearing on her face. At least she seemed to enjoy the news. Rome, on the other hand, placed his hands upon his hips while giving her a Stern yet annoyed gaze. For half a second Quinn confused him for a younger, knock-off version of Steve, the Australian version of Captain America. She briefly becomes flustered. She needed to see Steve in order for this to go away, or to remember that Rome was the reason she had a fat lip and black eye. "And who's going to fly the quinjet?" he asks in a huff of disappointment.

"No one needs to fly it, it has autopilot. I think..." She answers, flustered still. Rome lets out a humorless chuckle as if it had been a faulty plan from the start. "Great and does anyone know how to communicate with an air tower in Italy in Italian?" he questions.

Heat flooded to her cheeks. She hadn't thought that far ahead. If she was being honest to the group she would have said she needed to take a slight pitstop to see Steve. Her mother was right, absence did make the heart grow fonder. Rome expectantly looked not only at her but between Lena and Linnea, a finger pointed at each of them. "No one?"

The group remained silent while Rome continued to glare at them. Once again, he lets out a humorless chuckle that evolves into a sadistic mad laugh. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. This sounds like a half baked plan zombie," he blurts out, obviously upset. He had just thrown away his job security for this. It didn't stop Quinn from being less stubborn as her blood began to boil from the mocking. "That's because it is one and I need you to stop stressing me out about it!" she shouts, glaring at him in return. She turns on her heel, trying to outrun the group so they couldn't see how upset she had gotten.

Leave it to Rome to point out all the flaws in her. Although, he did have a point. Maybe she should've thought about it more before jeopardizing her career path. Just thinking about the consequences made her want to whine with how stupid she was. But she was already out of the academy, there was no turning back now.

"So what makes this friend so important to actually break out of the FBI academy and basically ruin your chances at succeeding in life?" Rome speaks up after a few moments of silence. Instead of berating him with an insult or rolling her eyes sarcastically, she decides to answer him. It was a genuine question after all.

"She's a good friend of mine. She used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent," she answers with a sigh. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night with all these questions. Rome was curious, she couldn't blame him for wanting to know more about her situation, but explaining her whole life story wasn't something she wanted to do at the moment. She just wanted to focus on what lies ahead of them at the moment. Right now, their main task was to get into town to hitch a ride. "Oh, so it's guilt you're feeling," Rome replies, his voice tinged with sarcastic fascination. "You know because you betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D. and now she's magically gone and you think it'll clear you conscious about what happened that day,"

Quinn abruptly turns around to glare at him, her lips pulled down into a tight frown as her brows furrowed in agitation. He had finally struck a nerve that he had been trying to expose for weeks now. A snarky smirk appeared on his face, his blue eyes narrowing as he threw daggers back at her. "Oh yeah, that's what it's about," he chides, relishing in seeing her become even more frustrated with him. It was something that he loved to see.

A hand encases her shoulder, distracting her from him, only to be met with the kind eyes of Lena. "Ignore him, Quinn, he's just trying to get the best of you," she urges. Quinn gives her a curt nod, giving Rome one last glare before turning around and continuing on her path. "And why are you two helping her?" Rome calls out to Lena and Linnea from behind them. "Seems a little odd since we've known her for only a few weeks -"

"Because that's what friends do," Lena abruptly answers, her voice also littered with frustration. "And if you haven't noticed, someone's life is on the line, and it's our duty to save and protect them,"

"Yeah but we're not even special agents, why are you throwing it all down the drain -"

"Why are you out here Rome?" Lena asks, stopping abruptly and coming nose to nose with him. It appears that Rome had also gotten on her last nerve as well. "You, of all people, decided to tag along with us. Why?" Rome stared blankly at Lena, confused as to why she had suddenly snapped. Quinn tried her best to ignore the bickering but had to stop in order to not lose the group.

"Is it because you actually have a decent heart and know someone is in trouble and you want to help? Or is it because Quinn is trying to do something and you think you could do better? Lord knows you've been in the biggest pissing match of the century," Lena rants, barely having enough time to breathe in between her hot takes.

"Or is it because somewhere deep down in that primal caveman mind of yours, you saw Quinn, you knew she was a special case, you've seen her in action, you saw how pretty she was with her blonde hair and big eyes...tell me Rome, do you have a playground crush on our special case?" her eyes narrow up at Rome, gazing upon him in an accusatory manner.

Quinn's eyes went wide at the accusation. There was no way, it was impossible for that monster to have any positive feelings towards her - especially attraction. However, that self-assured smirk on his face did hold something that alluded to Lena being right. He didn't even glance in her direction once. He bent over, trying to get level with Lena's short stature, a dazed and self-confident glow in his eye. "I'm doing this to get the satisfaction of seeing zombie fail," he answers, his voice dripping with venom.

"And sweetheart, before you psychoanalyze anyone else, I would evaluate the person beforehand. Then you would remember that I'm also getting a date from you by the end of this," his voice is threatening, deadly, but at the same time, it also sounded sweet, as of he were talking to a toddler. The curve of his lips twisted up into a firm smile as he lifted back up into his original posture, sticking his hand out to pat her twice on the shoulder before brushing past her to keep pursuing the path towards town. "Yeah, we'll see," Lena mutters under her breath, instinctively coming to Linnea's side for comfort.

"Quit looking at me like that, zombie," Rome threatens from ahead of her as he passes. A sudden heat rushes to her cheeks as she feels herself coming back to earth from being distracted. "I w-wasn't," she stutters, eventually giving up on trying to excuse herself. She shakes her head trying to clear her thoughts.

She definitely needed to see Steve again, being around Rome - the only man to give her some sort of attention - was starting to make her have Stockholm syndrome. Perhaps she could sneak a peak of him when they were at Avengers tower, maybe get in a good belly rub for Rudolph. She couldn't think about them at the moment. All she could do was thinking about Blair. Thinking about Steve and Rudolph made her soft and made her felt like retreating back to the academy so she could continue on with her training. She couldn't ignore Blair though. Something was happening to her. She needed to be there for her like she had been for her.

The trek became lighter, easier to walk through the terrain the closer they got to town. It had been a forty-minute journey to the town but they had finally made it. It was a sight for sore eyes. She had seen nothing but the large academy for so long she had forgotten how many lights there were in one single town. Or how many people there were out and about at this time. It was close to midnight, these were all drunkards trying to cut loose after a long day at work.

No doubt special agents would be milling about in the town as well, this was their town after all. She instinctively grabbed onto Lena and Linnea's elbows, tugging them backward and further into the treeline and away from being sighted by anyone.

Her eyes traced the outline of the main street where many cars were pulled up and parked off to the side. One of them was their ticket out of here. The only problem was the people. If they were caught trying to steal a car the authorities would be called, and then they'd be transferred back to the academy where they each would be expelled.

She gnaws on her lip. She hadn't expected a complication this early but to be fair this wasn't the first complication. Her eyes drifted to Rome for a moment before looking back out towards the street, he appeared to be surveying the situation as well. "I did not expect this many people out," Quinn hisses out under her breath, stating the obvious.

"It's a Friday night and there are multiple bars in a three-mile radius of a place that could be considered the most stressful job in America," Rome states.

"Says the Australian," she scoffs. Rome tosses her a glare. "Are you really going to nitpick at my nationality now?" he questions, his voice low with agitation. Her cheeks instantly heat up at the comment. "That is not where I was going with this," she trails off, shaking her head and looking in the opposite direction of Rome. "And where exactly were you headed with that comment?"

Quinn purses her lips. He always seemed to find a way under her skin and just pick. She returns his glare, challenging him. "Linnea, have you found our ride?" she questions without breaking eye contact from Rome.

"Way ahead of you," Linnea answers while peeking her head out from the treeline. Quinn twirls around to see Linnea gazing out at the street. Finally, they were moving along with the plan. This was one of the big points in the plan as well. Hopefully, Linnea had enough sense to choose a car that would actually take them over a hundred miles. Something large too. She didn't want to be cooped up next to Rome for the next few hours.

In a moment's notice Linnea makes a quick beeline towards the street, the others quick to follow, Rome rounding out the back half, looking behind to make sure they weren't being followed. They acted as a synchronized team. If one of them spotted trouble the others would come to their defense. Quinn eyeballed the left side as Lena did the right.

Her knees ached with how crouched over she was. She didn't want to be seen but she also didn't want to look suspicious if they were caught. A half hunkered down woman raise a bit of a red flag if someone saw her. The barrage of voices lingering out on the street was enough to alarm Quinn. Her senses were now on full alert. She couldn't chance getting caught now, especially doing something illegal.

They finally near the selected car of Linnea's choosing, a tan SUV that seemed to be more than ten years old, the backside of the bumper was rusting off. It's not ideal but it'll hopefully transport them to New York. Hopefully. At the moment all she could do was wish and hope that she wasn't too late for Blair.

After a few moments, her posture begins to relax, to see more causal to the unsuspecting eye. She couldn't seem too tense or the surrounding civilians would start to get suspicious. Her eyes connect with Rome's momentarily, fully displaying how bored his demeanor was but how on edge his eyes looked under the surface. As if he was ready to fight if needed.

She watches how skillfully Linnea is able to jimmy the lock open. With a satisfying thunk, the car door becomes ajar, leaving Linnea to open it before spinning around to see Rome and Quinn's surprised faces. "Huh, " Quinn mumbles out in disbelief. "Didn't think it was that easy to pick a lock,"

"Didn't your apartment get broken into?" Rome scrutinizes.

"Don't you know I suffer from memory loss?" she counters, earning an eye roll from Lena. She didn't have the patience to listen to their constant bickering. It was only a matter of time before she kicked them both to get them to knock it off.

Quinn had to take a step back to admire the champagne-colored vehicle. It was big enough to hold at least eight people, which meant she could put as much room between her and Rome as she wanted. Although, she could never imagine Linnea driving such a big vehicle.

As Linnea opens the door to the front seat she gives Quinn a questionable look, as if she was asking for her opinion about their new ride. "It's not my style, but it'll work," Quinn shrugs in approval. It was only for a few hours.

"I call shotgun," Lena announced, nearing the passenger side of the car.

"I call sitting next to Lena," Rome added, making Quinn furrow her brow. "She's literally getting shotgun," she points out, opening the backdoor behind the driver's seat.

She pushes herself in the truck, the smooth leather, cool against the backside of her thighs. She jumps a bit in surprise as she notices Rome had slid in next to her, struggling to squeeze in. "Shotgun on my lap," he says in between adjusting himself into the seat. She can't help but roll her eyes at him. "Ugh, you can sit in the trunk with that attitude," she mutters as she leans her head against the cool glass window.

Her head was already starting to throb with irritation from listening to Rome. Hopefully, after this escapade, she would never have to hear from him again. Meanwhile, she could hear Linnea struggling to work with the wire that had spilled out from the car when she popped open the compartment. She winced as the wires gave her a small shock after tapping them together.

"Aren't you supposed to be good at hijacking a car?" Rome wondered aloud, causing Linnea to let out a huff of frustration.

"Weren't you supposed to shut up?"

"That wasn't in the terms of agreement of when I came along," Rome states, relaxing into his seat, settling in for the long ride.

"Can we make that a term of agreement?" Linnea mutters under her breath. For a moment she doesn't think he can hear her but then he pipes up. "Oh, sure. Let me just get out of the car and head back and tell everyone you guys have defected -" he begins, shimmying in his seat as if he were about to get out, hand on the handle.

"No!" Quinn interjects in the bickering, halting Rome from opening his door.

He looks at her with a smug grin on his face. He has her right where he had always wanted her - right under his thumb. Being with them, and knowing what they were doing, he could always threaten to head back to the academy and make himself out to look like the victim to put a huge target on her head. At this point, he could have anything he wanted from her.

She didn't like it, but she had to somehow manage this. "You can talk, just stop stressing everyone out. We're all a little on edge," she attempts to deescalate the situation. If only Professor Caulfield could see her now. He'd give her a passing grade for hostage negotiation.

Rome rolls his eyes as he turns to look out the window, mumbling something along the lines of "Pah, no kidding," under his breath.

Finally, there was peace in the truck once again. However, the lingering panic of impending soon seemed to loom over everyone. That's why everyone was so quick to jump at each other's throats. Not even two hours into working with each other and everyone was ready to turn on one another.

It probably wouldn't be as stressful if Rome wasn't in the group, pointing out the flaws in their plan, nitpicking what everyone was doing. She couldn't help but wonder why he had come along in the first place. Of course, he was gaining a "date" from Lena out of this but if he was actually thinking logically, there was no way they'd make it back to the academy without anyone noticing they were gone.

They'd be expelled without question if they stepped foot back on campus, well, after they were dragged into questioning. Then they'd be put under a microscope, to make sure no one was actually working for Hydra. He had been so adamant and hellbent on making her life a living hell, why wouldn't he call for security?

A small inkling told her that maybe Lena was right. Maybe she had caught him in his lie back in the woods. Maybe he had treated her like shit, reverting back to his childhood days where boys would tease girls because they "liked them". If he actually did have feelings for her, she certainly did not reciprocate them back, and he had one hell of a way of showing it to her by giving her a black eye during class.

"Hey! That's my truck!"

The shout was enough to bring her back to reality, her breath quickly picking up as she inched her way to the middle of the backseat, looking out the windshield to see a few men heading towards the SUV. They were staggering from being drunk but their stature was bigger than Rome, which made her feel small and uncomfortable. She didn't want to be caught by a group of drunk men for many reasons other than being caught by the academy. "Linnea, go!" she urges, tapping on the headrest of the driver's seat.

"I'm trying to go as fast as I can!" Linnea shouts back, struggling to pick up her pace with all the pressure on her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just shine a light on the wires!"

As Quinn reaches to grab her flashlight from her pants she notices a movement from beside her, drawing her attention towards Rome. She quickly turns on the flashlight, pointing towards the steering wheel where Linnea had wires spilling out, all the while never taking her eyes off of Rome.

He smirks at her as he unbuttons the top part of his holster where a handgun was settled in. "Don't worry," Rome states, catching Quinn's attention. "They're probably Marines. Nothing I can't handle," he shrugs off, taking the gun out of the holster completely.

Her eyes widen with panic as everything seems to move in slow motion. Her adrenaline was at an all-time high. She tosses the flashlight in the air towards Lena, who quickly and instinctively catches the flying object. She outstretches her hand, grabbing tightly into Rome's wrist that had the gun in hand and pulling it back.

He lets out a surprised grunt as he's pulled back further into the car. He turns to glare at Quinn, who was doing the same. As soon as she opens her mouth, he does as well. Their voices interloping with each other as they scold one another.

"Are you crazy?!" Quinn shouts.

"Are you crazy? I took the safety off and you just reached for the gun at an awkward angle!" Rome retorts.

"Don't pull out your gun on a random guy whose car we're stealing!"

"Why not!" Rome questions, scrunching his brows in frustration.

"Because we are in the wrong here!" she seethes through clenched teeth. Rome, begrudgingly, lowers his gun back into his holster growling at the sudden lack of action from him. The men appeared to be getting closer, screaming vulgarities at them, their hands in fists as they began dashing towards the vehicle. Quinn's eyes widen at the closeness of the men.

"Linnea!" she warns, she wants to wail. They got so far, they couldn't stop now. What would be the point? Working under immense pressure didn't seem to worry Linnea, she took her time, making sure there were no errors in her work. Although, Quinn rattling the back of her seat did light a fire under her. With one click of the wires, the truck roared with life, giving all who was in the truck a sense of relief.

"Got it!" Linnea shouts, throwing her hand up to rest on the back of Lena's seat to watch the road. Quinn sat on the edge of her seat, clasping on to the back of Linnea's seat, watching out the windshield as she began to drive. The threats of the men seemed less dangerous now.

However, a sudden kick of excitement from all the suspense made her stomach lurch, and a panicked yet relieved laugh bounced it's way past her lips. The laugh was contagious and quickly spread throughout the vehicle. First from Linnea and then it passed to Lena and finally Rome, who had to eagerly roll down the window as they passed the men, yipping an excited, "Woo-hoo!"

The men's shouts became further and further away until they were silenced by the sound of the vehicle's air-conditioning revving up. The men may have been outsmarted by them, however, she wouldn't doubt that they wouldn't make a police report about it. Once the police knew, the academy would know. They were no longer cadets, they would be put on the fugitive list for sure. She once again, leaned her head against the cool window, a small smirk on her face.

Who knew being on the run was so much fun?