Blind

Freyja climbed to her feet, blue eyes glancing around as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents began to scurry back to their stations. She could hear alarms screeching and the sound of boots thudding on the Helicarrier’s metal floors. It only took a moment for her brief disorientation to clear out before she was bolting from the bridge.

Thor. Loki. Kennedy. Those were the only thoughts on her mind, though not in that exact order. Kennedy was at the top of the list but Thor and Loki were both tied for second. Those two were tied for different reasons though.

She was more concerned about Loki getting out of his cage rather than his welfare. The explosion wouldn’t have hurt the Asgardian. Freyja didn’t want him getting out at all. The only one capable of stopping Loki would be Thor. If someone beat Thor to Loki, Loki would easily slaughter them.

The explosion shouldn’t have hurt Thor. If it had, that meant she was the only, essentially, with the strength to stand up to Loki. Freyja was strong because of her Asgardian blood. She used magic in fights like Loki did but to say that she was on the same level as Loki would be an extreme overstatement. Strength alone, she might be able to outmuscle him for a few minutes.

Had this been a few thousand years ago, Freyja would have been more confident in her ability to restrain Loki. Living on Earth had left her with little need to use her strength or magic for a long time. She’d just need to bluff as best as she could until she had to use either one.

Turning a corner, Freyja collided with Thor. Hard. She hit the ground just as hard; more stunned from the collision with Thor than she had been from the explosion earlier. Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Thor was doing the same.

“Freyja, my brother,” Thor began as soon as he shook off most of his disorientation.

“I was coming to find you so that we could go find him,” Freyja muttered.

She grasped onto Thor’s outstretched hand and hauled herself to her feet. Her hands dusted herself off out of habit, blue eyes glancing up to Thor’s. For once, he didn’t have Mjölnir in his hand. They would probably need that if Loki had broken out of his cage.

“And your sister?” Thor asked.

Freyja bit down on her lower lip gently. She needed to check on Kennedy. She needed to make sure that Kennedy was at least safely in a cell somewhere. Kennedy had proven to be more than the average opportunist. And if she saw a way to escape, she’d take it.

“We need to find her too,” Freyja replied. “But we need to make sure Loki is where he’s supposed to be.”

And that was that. Without another word, they both broke into sprints to find Loki. Agents scrambled out of Thor’s way while Freyja hung close enough that she didn’t have to scramble after them. She stayed just behind him, her legs stretching to match his longer strides. But she was keeping up with him.

Freyja took the lead as Thor stopped, momentarily unsure of where he was going. He fell into step just behind her, his heavy footfalls somewhat comforting. If Loki was out, she felt safer having Thor right there.

Her pace slowed as she turned down the corridor that led to Loki’s cell. Ahead, she could see the glass-paned cell waiting. At first, she didn’t see Loki until she jogged up the steps. Loki moved away from the side of the cage, his green eyes taking in both Thor and Freyja.

“For the moment, I don’t think I quite want to leave,” Loki smiled, acid dripping from his words.

He lowered himself to the cot, long legs crossing at the ankles. His slim, long-fingered hands rested in his lap while his green eyes watched his thumbs twiddle about. For several long moments there was only silence between the three. That was broken by the bay of something deep within the Helicarrier.

Loki’s lips split into a thin, malicious smile. Freyja looked up at Thor before glancing back to Loki. He was watching Thor and she again, still with that malicious smile on his face.

“Banner,” Thor murmured.

“I do so hope that Agent Romanoff survives,” Loki said casually.

Thor was gone then, bolting away in the direction of Banner’s baying. Freyja turned back to Loki, her blue eyes narrowing. He met her gaze calmly, still smiling to himself about the situation that he had orchestrated. She just shook her head slowly.

“Disappointed in me?” Loki asked as she turned to leave.

“Something like that,” Freyja replied.

The moment she turned down the corridor, she broke into a sprint. She wanted to make sure that Kennedy was where she was supposed to be. She wanted to make sure that Kennedy was okay, for the most part.

Fury had told her where Kennedy was being taken but that didn’t mean that it was easy to find. It took her several minutes to get there. When she did reach the interrogation room, it was empty. One of the wrist restraints had been undone while the other was still locked into place.

She stared at the empty room before turning from the room. She had to think like Kennedy. Kennedy would either go for Loki or haul ass out of here. Freyja didn’t know where to go from there.

A gun shot echoed down the hall, gaining her attention. She went in that direction, jogging quickly as she searched for her sister. There was a body lying face down in one of the halls that branched off, a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Blood was pooling beneath his face. Freyja stared at it before turning on her mike.

“Coulson?”

“Miss Cross?” Coulson came in a beat later.

“Kennedy’s missing,” Freyja replied as she looked at the body.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kennedy glanced over her shoulder before looking back at Loki. He was standing by some monitor, his green eyes watching the Asgardian inside the cell. The blonde lunged at the glass pane, the massive hammer in his fist connecting with the glass. It cracked slightly beneath the blow as the entire cell shifted.

Loki froze, his hands reaching out as to brace himself. For a brief moment, Kennedy flashed back to that night at her apartment where her phone had startled them both. He was surprisingly skittish and jumpy at times for a bad guy.

“The humans think us immortal,” Loki chuckled softly. “Shall we test that?”

She watched as Loki flicked open a small glass panel on the nearby monitor. His hand hovered over a, possible, button there for a moment. Kennedy shifted, glancing over her shoulder once more. She understood theatrics, honestly, she did. But they needed to go.

“Move away, please.”

Kennedy froze, her finger curling about the trigger of the ‘borrowed’ gun. She’d barely heard the voice but it wasn’t coming from around here. It was coming from somewhere up near Loki.

Glancing to where Loki stood, she saw that he was facing whoever had spoken to him. His hands were raised in that familiar placating gesture as he watched whoever it was. She stayed where she was but continued to cast looks over her shoulder as if an agent or Clint would pop up at any moment.

Whatever happened next, Kennedy missed. All she heard was the blonde Asgardian bellow a loud ‘no!’ before she turned back. Loki had disappeared from view. A moment later, he walked back into view with his now blood-stained, golden scepter. Kennedy blinked once before brushing her hair back from her face.

The click of a gun and boots scraping the floor caught her attention. Kennedy turned to find the hallway empty. Lifting her own gun, Kennedy crept down the hall to the turn and pressed her back against the wall. Slowly, she peered around the corner. There were two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents just twenty feet away with guns in hand.

Bringing her hand up, Kennedy took aim and fired off a quick shot. It struck one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents in the forehead. He dropped like a stone. The other agent took the time to bring up his gun before moving down the hall to the turn.

She pressed back against the wall, gun still gripped in her hands. Breathing slowly, Kennedy listed to the sound of his quick footsteps. The minute he stepped around the corner, she grabbed the gun and pointed the muzzle to the floor.

Her gun hand swung up, aiming to crack him across the face. The agent managed to block it but he didn’t block her quick knee to the outside of his thigh. His right leg crumpled beneath him. Quickly, he dropped the gun and wrapped his arms around her legs.

Jerked off her feet, Kennedy hit the ground, hard. Her ribs spasmed back into pain as the wind was knocked out of her. Out of self-preservation, she swung her legs up as the agent loomed over her.

Her right leg wrapped over his shoulder and beneath his throat. Kennedy locked her hands behind his head and pulled down harshly as she drove the heel of her left leg into the small of his back. She didn’t drop the choke on his neck until his body went completely limp.

Kennedy pushed him off of her body before reaching over and grabbing her gun and the agent’s gun as well. She tucked the small handgun into the back of her pants before looping the machine gun across her shoulders. A loud explosion behind her caused her to jump and turn.

Without hesitating, Kennedy darted up the steps and onto the metal platform. The cell with the blonde Asgardian was gone. To her right was a large smoking hole in the wall where Loki was struggling to his feet. To her left lay a man with a gun bigger than either of hers and blood seeping through his shirt.

Kennedy quickly back-stepped across the platform towards the hole in the wall. Her mismatched eyes watched the agent lying on the floor until she ducked inside the hole. As best as she could, Kennedy helped Loki to his feet and tired to ignore the dizzying, nauseating flashes of pain that radiated across her abdomen.

“If you’re done with theatrics now, we need to go,” Kennedy muttered tightly.