Blind

Pushing her water-logged hair from her face, Kennedy rose from the seat of the Quinjet. She lifted the hemline of her shirt and knotted it just at the hem of her bra. Her hands carefully prodded the bandaged skin of her ribcage, feeling the bruised skin and broken bones.

Unknotting her shirt, Kennedy let it fall back down before she walked over to one of the screens. Her eyes watched the screen for just a few seconds, studying their path and time left until their arrival. She turned away then and glanced over to where Loki sat with his scepter in hand.

His green eyes rose from staring at the blue gem in his scepter to meet her different colored eyes. Kennedy held his gaze for several long seconds before she went over to the row of three seats. She carefully lowered herself into one before slumping back against it.

“So, who’s the big blonde?” Kennedy asked as she leaned back in the seat.

“You mean my brute of a brother?” Loki replied, one eyebrow quirking upwards. “And I use the term brother loosely.”

“He’d be the only big blonde that I figured you’d know,” she shrugged ever so slightly.

“You forget our dear friend wrapped in the flag,” Loki said dryly.

Kennedy just shrugged again, her lips pulling into a brief grimace as her torso throbbed. Lifting her arm, she carefully wrapped it about her ribcage as she sat there. She didn’t look away from Loki though.

“When we reach New York, you will leave the city and return when I command you,” Loki said after a minute or two had passed.

Kennedy’s eyes narrowed as her lips curled back into a slight snarl. “Excuse you?”

“Did the near drowning somehow impair your hearing?” Loki returned irritably. “I have no use of a half-cripple who is too prideful to admit that she is injured. What use will you be against any of them in the state you are in?”

Kennedy’s teeth ground together tightly as the fingers of her right hand curled into a fist. After a moment, she exhaled loudly through her nose and forced her hand to uncurl. It took a few minutes longer for her jaws to unclench.

“And what of the odd chance that you lose? Completely hypothetical, of course,” Kennedy said, her gaze meeting Loki’s piercing green eyes.

“I do not intend to lose today,” Loki replied.

“Did you intend to lose in Germany or was that all a part of a larger plan?”

She was toeing a thin line but Kennedy couldn’t help it. She didn’t like being ordered about like this. Right now, she wanted to plant the heel of her boot into his face. Even if she wasn’t strong enough to cause him any damage, it would still make her feel better.

“How do you know Freyja?” Kennedy asked. “Besides the whole Asgardian thing. I’ve never seen her look that terrified to see someone in my entire life.”

“We were familiar with each other for quite sometime a long time ago,” Loki replied with a shrug of his own.

“So you were friends? Or acquaintances?’

“Something more than acquaintances but something less than friends is what we were,” he answered. “We did not share many of the interests.”

“Sounds like the same person that she is today,” Kennedy said, shifting on her seat.

“People rarely, if ever, change.”

Kennedy just nodded before leaning back in her seat. She didn’t attempt to continue the conversation any further. Her mind was already working through the details of things that she’d need to take care of back in New York. One of those things was getting to where her parents lived and making sure any files or pictures of her were incinerated.

She’d need to get what she could from her studio, including Ghost, and find somewhere to hole up for a few days. There were a few places that she could think of, most of which were protected. She’d much rather find a new place to live but she didn’t want to risk the off chance that it would get demolished somehow.

She didn’t have to worry about any of her money being frozen thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. Kennedy kept her money in her studio, locked away in a safe where it couldn’t be accessed by anyone but her. There was easily enough cash for her to find a place and she could get her hands on more if she needed to.

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

Wrinkling her nose at the smell of the hair dye, Kennedy walked across the floor to where her computer was. She dropped down onto the cot alongside Ghost, blue eyes flicking over to the Rottweiler. She blinked a few times as the contacts on her eyes blurred. Those would take some getting used to.

“Gotta get used to a lot of new things, don’t we?” Kennedy asked the Rottweiler.

Somewhere outside the room an explosion echoed and the screen of her computer flickered. Rolling her eyes, Kennedy turned it off before zipping it up in the black bag lying nearby. She rubbed Ghost’s head before getting to her feet and walking over to the sink in the warehouse.

Unwrapping the towel from her head, Kennedy ran her fingers through her lightened, chestnut brown hair. It was lighter than what she was used to but it was a nice change. And it would hopefully only be temporary.

Twisting the towel around, Kennedy ran it beneath the faucet of the sink until it was damp. She wiped the traces of hair and eyebrow dye from her skin. She also took the time to wipe away the rest of her smudged make-up.

“Dyeing my hair is going to get so old so very quickly,” she muttered as she began reapplying make-up.

She ignored the explosions going outside and focused on her make-up. Loki had ‘ordered’ her to leave town but Kennedy, personally, didn’t feel like it. Though she wasn’t going to voice her opinions, she wasn’t quite so confident that Loki was going to have a smooth sailing. Things just didn’t work out that well for the bad guy.

“If I have to save his ass, he so owes me,” Kennedy ranted to herself. “I mean seriously. Alien army versus five good guys. Or six, if Clint’s a good guy again. I’ve seen enough movies to know how this scene turns out anyways. But does anyone listen to me? Nope.”

The fact that Loki coming out on top was highly unlikely brought up the question of whether or not Kennedy should turn herself in. But that meant, undoubtedly, sitting in a cell for a long period of time. And that didn’t sound particularly enticing in any shape or form. She had a fondness for freedom.

After finishing the layer of modest make-up and smoothing her light, chestnut brown hair into a neat bun, Kennedy slid into the form-fitting S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket. She zipped it three-quarters of the way before walking over to the small office at the far end of the warehouse. Her knuckles rapped on the door twice before she opened it.

“Do you have everything set up?”

“All we need is your picture,” the man replied before rising from the desk.

Kennedy followed him over to the freshly painted white wall. She positioned herself in front of it, blue eyes turning to the man as he adjusted the camera. Two minutes later and she was still blinking away the bright spots of color from her eyes while the man busily typed something into the computer.

“If this bombs out, I’m going to string you up by your toes and strangle you with your own intestines,” Kennedy said, “just so you know.”

“Understood, ma’am.” A few more keystrokes and then a finalization. “Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Kylie Anderson.”

A thin smile split Kennedy’s lips. “Now, let’s just hope the boss hasn’t had his ass thoroughly kicked.”