Blind

For good measure, Kennedy emptied the rest of the magazine into his chest. And felt her stomach drop a little lower each time a bullet pinged to the floor. Loki just continued to stare and smirk as he waited on her to finally lower the gun. When she did, he mocked dusting off his clothing.

“Now that that matter has been settled, can we continue?” Loki asked.

“I need a drink,” Kennedy muttered, tossing the emptied gun onto the couch.

She moved past him and into the kitchen. For a moment, it was as if she was in a completely new world and didn’t know where anything was. Standing there, she looked around before crossing the kitchen. She knelt by the fridge before opening the cabinet and peering inside.

When she stood back up, Kennedy had a full bottle of vodka in hand. She unwound the cap before raising the bottle to her lips. She fought the urge to take a deep gulp of the liquid and, instead, took a small one. Even then, it still burned going down her throat.

That burned seemed to wake her up though. Keeping the bottle in hand, Kennedy walked out of the kitchen and back into the living room. Her mismatched eyes glanced around, startled to not see Loki anywhere. For a moment, she thought that he might have left. Then she caught sight of his tall frame peering out the windows.

“Is there any feasible way that these could be covered?” Loki asked as lightning flashed again.

Kennedy looked at him for a minute before speaking. “If you tell me what the big beasty out there is, I will.”

“And what if I just don’t like thunderstorms?” Loki replied, looking at her now.

“You’d look a hell of a lot more terrified than that. You just look…spooked right now. And nervous.”

They held gazes for a moment before Loki nodded in concession. “I will give you that.”

Nodding to herself, Kennedy went over to the small linen closet. She had curtains for the windows but had never hung them. She liked the sunshine, mostly because it didn’t cause her hair to expand two feet in every direction. And she liked being able to climb out onto the small balcony outside the windows every once in awhile.

Pulling the curtains from the bottom shelf, Kennedy tossed one onto the coffee table as she unfolded the other. It took some stretching to get the curtain rod down but she wasn’t going to ask the green-eyed giant. He was still preoccupied with peering out of the other large window.

She managed to get both windows covered by the dark curtains within a few minutes though. With the power out and the storm outside having darkened the sky, Kennedy was down to relying on her candles and flashlights. She used the flashlight to help her light the candles. Candles were cheaper and she would rather save her flashlights.

Finally, she dropped onto the couch with a sigh. Her hand wrapped around the neck of the vodka bottle once more as she sat. But she didn’t take a drink; she just held the bottle. A few shards of glass in the eyeball might buy her some time if Loki decided he wanted revenge for the bullets.

Loki had taken up residence on the loveseat though he was half-turned towards the windows. It was almost as if he expected something, or someone, to come flying through the glass at that very instant. And Kennedy had the feeling that if something did, the assault rifle lying a foot away wouldn’t do much damage.

“Are we going to sit here and stare out the windows all night or are you going to get down to business?” Kennedy asked.

Now she had his attention. It was a little startling as he suddenly turned away from the windows and gave her his full attention. The emerald green of his eyes was also a little unnerving in the flickering lights of the candles.

“I have a proposition for you,” Loki said, watching her.

“Why would I want anything from you?” Kennedy returned, leaning forward. “I have a feeling that I could hit you with a rocket launcher and it would do little to deter you. I don’t make deals with things that don’t feel pain.”

“I can assure you that I feel pain,” Loki laughed, smirking once more. “Just on a greater scale than you possess.”

“All the more reason for me not to trust you,” she muttered.

Bringing the bottle of vodka to her lips, Kennedy sucked back another small sip. She let the liquid swill about in her mouth for a moment, burning her tongue, before she swallowed it. For now, it made her head feel clearer. She’d regret drinking it later though.

“Would you like to hear my offer before you make your decision?” he asked.

Glancing up at him, Kennedy chewed on her lower lip for a moment before looking down at the floor. There were stupider things that she had done. It couldn’t hurt to listen to his proposition. After all, she lived job-to-job. She couldn’t really afford to turn them down because the guy offering it was a freak of nature.

“Let’s hear it then,” she said finally, straightening up.

Loki smiled but didn’t reveal his teeth. He seemed to relax though, and visibly so. His body stretched out, shoulders resting against the back of the loveseat that he was sitting on. His long legs extended in front of him while his hands rested folded on his lap.

“I have need of your services,” Loki said. “You will do what I need you too and that’s all you need to know.”

“Which services?” Kennedy asked, eyebrows rising. “I need more details than that.”

“Whichever services of yours fit the situation,” he shrugged. “And you will be provided with them should you take me up on the offer.”

Kennedy looked at him for several minutes in silence. It was the bare minimum of an offer, nothing really solid for her to rely on. But it was the fact that he was dangling it in front of her, denying her the information she wanted that was working for him. Her curiosity was going to get her in trouble one day. At least that was what her sister always said.

At the thought of her sister, her head lifted enough so that she could see the shelf between the windows. There were very few pictures in the apartment. The frames always got broken somehow and then she lost the pictures before she could replace the frame. But she always kept this one picture in a good frame and polished.

It was a picture of herself and her sister, Freyja. The two looked completely unrelated. Freyja was blonde-haired and blue-eyed; Kennedy was black-haired with a hazel eye and a green eye. Freyja was also adopted but that had never really been a problem for Kennedy’s older sister. She fit in just fine.

“How did you know that I’d come down that alley?” Kennedy asked, slowly tearing her gaze from the picture. “You couldn’t have known that I’d come down that exact alley at that exact time on this exact day.”

“And, pray tell, how I might not have known?” Loki returned. “I would think that you might not question me anymore.”

“Then why did you choose me?” she frowned. “Why me and not someone else?”

“Because something tells me that you’re going to be useful. And I like useful things.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

Rolling her eyes, Kennedy slumped back against the couch again. She brought the vodka to her lips and took a sip, a larger sip than she probably should have. But it felt nice going down. That was all that mattered really.

The sound of her phone ringing startled both of them. Kennedy almost dropped the bottle of vodka and was lunging for her gun when she realized that it was just the phone. She was pretty sure that Loki had broken the loveseat when he jumped.

Scooping the device from the table, Kennedy glanced at the name and hesitated for a moment. Freyja rarely called her since the calls were long distance. Kennedy lived in New York, Freyja lived in California. But Kennedy always took the call and this was no exception.

“Freyja? Everything okay?”

“Hey, Ken. Yeah everything’s fine, I was just wondering what you’re doing? Everything good out there?” Freyja sounded breathless and worked up, which was typical.

“Everything is fine on this end,” Kennedy smirked with a soft laugh. “Heading out to another party?”

“No,” she laughed though Kennedy thought she heard a deeper voice in the background. “No, I just got in. Look, I was wondering if you were going to busy for the next few days.”

Kennedy glanced over at Loki to find that he was looking at the windows once more. She caught the way his emerald eyes flicked in her direction briefly though.

“I’ll be a little bit busy but not too much…why?”

“I was thinking about coming out to New York for a few days,” Freyja replied. “We need girl time anyways. I haven’t seen you in months.”

“I guess I’ll see you soon then?” Kennedy laughed.

One Freyja had confirmed that she’d be flying in within the next day or two, Kennedy ended the call and set it down on the table. She turned, looking back to Loki, and found that Loki was watching her. There was a look on his face that she didn’t understand but she ignored it, for now.

“So…when do I start?”

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

Unlocking the door to her apartment, Freyja stumbled inside half-entangled with the blonde she’d brought home with her. After having spent so much time on Earth, she’d learned to perfect the affects of inebriation very well. It helped her feel like she belonged even though she really didn’t.

Giggling as they stumbled about in the darkness, Freyja’s hand swiped across the light switch quickly. The sight of Thor sitting on her couch managed to startle her enough that she screamed. Which drew the attention of the blonde boy. And he promptly turned tail and ran like a child.

“Thor…he was a cute one,” Freyja frowned as she turned and closed the door.

“All of your male companions are ‘cute’ ones, as you say,” Thor replied as she slid the locks into place.

Turning back to him, she slid the brown leather jacket from her shoulders and tossed it onto a pile of clothes growing nearby. There were piles of clothes growing everywhere. She needed to clean them up at some point but the task grew ever bigger by the day, literally. Every time she actually started to do something about, something happened that drew her attention away.

“You should have let me known that you were dropping in,” Freyja said as she walked into her bedroom. “You could have come to this party. You would have enjoyed it. A bunch of boys thinking they’re super strong. You would have showed them all up.”

“I did not return for parties, Freyja,” Thor sighed, remaining out of sight in the other room.

That wasn’t a characteristically Thor sound. Thor didn’t sigh. And nor did he ever sound tired. Thor always exuded energy and was always happy. For Thor to sound serious, tired even, was serious.

Slipping off her bracelets and rings, Freyja pulled her shoes off before padding back out to where Thor stood. He was staring out the window, blue eyes solemn. That wasn’t a Thor characteristic either. She didn’t like this, at all.

“Thor…” she murmured, “what’s going on?”

“It is Loki. There is word that he may be here on Earth,” Thor said, looking over to her. “Father has asked that I bring you home to Asgard.”

“I’m not leaving because Loki might be here, Thor,” Freyja scoffed. “He won’t even be able to find me. I doubt that I’m even the object of his ire.”

“Things have changed, Freyja. Loki has become…unreasonable and I fear that he may do some very rash things soon.”

“Are we talking about the same Loki here? The Loki that wasn’t able to function normally for a few days when you rearranged some of his literature? Loki isn’t rash, Thor,” she said as she walked into the kitchen. “You have more than filled that role at times.”

“You have not been home to Asgard in a long time. You did not hear that he brought Jötunns into Asgard!” Thor growled, his voice booming in the small apartment.

Turning, Freyja looked at him in shock. Loki loved to play pranks, he always had. He always had the best pranks to play. But bringing a Jötunn into Asgard, and more than one even, was beyond simple pranks and mischief making.

“It is not safe here for you. You must return home,” the blonde god pleaded, his voice softening.

“You should be looking for Loki, Thor. I will be fine here. I’ll call my sister, I’ll stay with her. And when all is safe again, let me know.”

Thor looked at her, his bright blue eyes still pleading with her to reconsider. She knew that he wanted her to return to Asgard where she would be safe. But she had a life here and just suddenly disappearing was usually a bad sign for the mortals. She didn’t want to abandon her life either.

“I will be fine, Thor. I can take care of myself. And I’ll be safe with my sister,” Freyja murmured. “I promise that if I need you, I will let you know.”

“It will be easier for you to get in touch with me. With the Bifrost destroyed, moving between the worlds has become complicated,” Thor sighed.

“Destroyed? Who destroyed the Bifrost?”

Thor glanced up at her quickly before looking away. With a groan, Freyja rubbed her face and turned away from him.

“Thor!”

“Loki would have destroyed all of Jotunheim had I not destroyed it. It had to be done.”

Freyja gave him a look again before brushing her hair from her face. “And how would you have gotten me home had I said yes?”

"Father was prepared to do what had to be done,” Thor replied. “And he will not be happy that I am returning without you, Freyja.”

“Tell the All-Father that I will be fine. And that he can deal with me when I do return to Asgard,” Freyja said, shrugging slightly.

Thor laughed softly but it still boomed. It was enough to get Freyja to smile and laugh, albeit more softly, as well.

“He will be highly displeased with you,” Thor smiled.

“He’s always displeased with me,” Freyja grinned before glancing at the clock. “It’s too late for me to call now but I’ll call in the morning, okay?”

“I will stay with you then.”

“Don’t break my couch.”

With that said and Thor’s promise that he would not, Freyja returned to her room. She left the door cracked just in case anything happened. He was like a large puppy who didn’t know that he was quite large. But he meant well.

When she woke up the next morning, Thor was already awake and he was waiting on her. She was so busy making sure that he was fed that it wasn’t until later that afternoon that she had time to make the call. And even then, she was hesitant to make the call. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and if there was one thing she had ever learned, it was to trust that feeling.