Blind

Kennedy picked up her boots from the closet floor, her eyes watching Freyja’s sleeping form on the couch. She was careful to move as quietly as she could, her socked feet tip-toeing across the studio floor carefully. The last thing she needed was to wake Freyja up. Then she’d have to explain why she was sneaking about while dressed like she was going to do something most likely illegal.

As quietly as she could, Kennedy crouched and unlocked the small gun case at the bottom of her closet. She picked up the P99 Lucznik, her fingers running over the dark metal before she grabbed one of the magazines that went with it. Rising, Kennedy strapped the holster on at her hip before tucking the gun into it.

The flap of her jacket fell into place, covering the gun as she picked up her Beretta from the bed. Ghost watched her, his dark eyes following her as she cleaned up any evidence of the guns. With that taken care of and a second glance at Freyja, Kennedy rubbed Ghost’s head before grabbing her boots and slipping out the door.

Sitting outside the door, she slid the boots on and laced them up tightly. She took the stairs down instead of the elevator. The elevator would have been faster but it was noisier. And there was no point in waking up every single person that worked in the building.

She was only slightly breathless when she reached the ground floor and slipped outside. Her mismatched eyes glanced around for a moment before she turned and made her way down the sidewalk. There were still people out even at one in the morning.

The rain had let up for the night, leaving behind a cool air and large puddles everywhere. The storm clouds had remained as well, smothering the light from the stars and the moon. Left with only streetlights to give any kind of light, Kennedy stuck close to the lampposts and kept her arms folded over her stomach, one hand tucked under the flap of her jacket and resting on the gun.

She stopped for a moment before darting across the street to the opposite sidewalk. Ten minutes more of walking and darting across streets led her to the address that Barton had sent her. Kennedy even checked the message to make sure before looking up at the building; an abandoned church.

“Because this isn’t creepy as hell,” Kennedy muttered before glancing around.

With no one insight, she grabbed the spires on the fence before hauling herself over. She made her way onto the path once she was inside the churchyard, grateful to leave the damp, clinging grass and weeds behind her. Her boots crunched on the loose stones of the path as she jogged up to the steps of the church.

Kennedy didn’t go inside though. In the shadows of the Victorian-style church, she leaned against the wall beside the rotted door. Her eyes watched the street while she waited, arms still folded over her stomach.

She turned at the sound of boots on stone. Pushing off the wall behind her, Kennedy took a few steps away before turning. After a moment, Barton came through the remains of the half-rotted door.

“Didn’t think you’d show,” he said, watching her.

“I don’t like making promises that I’m not willing to keep,” Kennedy shrugged.

Barton looked at her for a moment, blue eyes sizing her up before he gave a nod. Without a word, he started walking down into the churchyard. Kennedy grimaced before following, her eyes watching him as he led the way to where a black van was parked.

“Get in, we need to hurry,” Barton said as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

Kennedy hauled herself into the passenger seat, pulling the door shut as she climbed inside. Barton started the engine before pulling onto the street in one smooth turn. She still had no idea what they were doing.

“What are we doing?” Kennedy asked, looking over at him.

“We’re borrowing some things,” Barton replied without looking up from the street.

“Like what kinds of things?” she pressed.

“Things that are typically guarded by security systems and big security guards,” he said, still not really helping her at all.

“So things that are going to get us on the FBI’s most wanted list, then?”

“More or less.”

“Perfect.”

Kennedy propped her feet up on the dashboard, her eyes staring out the side window of the van. There was nothing in the back of the van to help them. They were on their own with this and Kennedy wasn’t entirely too thrilled about that. She didn’t really feel as if she could trust Barton to keep her alive.

“The cameras will already be on a loop when we get there, I’ll get the system offline,” Barton said after a few minutes of silence had passed. “You make sure that no one stops me.”

“Sounds like fun,” Kennedy muttered as she flicked some dirt off the toe of her boot.

“Don’t get me killed,” Barton added.

“Don’t get me arrested or on anybody’s radar,” Kennedy shot back with a look at him. “Deal?”

“Deal. Now, put your feet down.”

“Does it annoy you?”

He hesitated, jaw locking slightly. Grinning to herself, Kennedy uncrossed her ankles before crossing them once more. She left them on the dash while watching Barton from the corner of her eyes. Oh yeah, it definitely annoyed him.

“I’ll take them down if you tell me how we’re getting inside,” she offered after a few minutes.

“We’re driving through the front gate,” Barton replied. “Feet, down.”

Rolling her eyes, Kennedy lowered her feet to the floor. She stretched her legs out as far as they would go, mismatched eyes returning to watch the city pass by as Barton drove. They were entering the more industrial area of the city, the factories increasing in number.

She straightened as the van slowed and began to turn. The van rolled to a stop before a gate, the engine idling as Barton lowered the window. For whatever reason, Kennedy expected there to be an armed guard somewhere but there wasn’t. She watched as Barton punched in a key code. A moment later the gates began to swing open and the van was rolling forwards.

He drove through the complex while Kennedy’s eyes scanned the surroundings. Every so often she’d see a movement that caught her attention. The movements usually led her back to armed guards walking around on roofs or in the shadows.

“This isn’t going to go well,” she muttered to herself as she climbed out of the van.

Glancing about, she swung up onto the loading dock and followed Barton inside the building. They made quickly but quietly, boots barely scuffing across the tiled floors. Neither had drawn a woman, yet.

“Like I said, don’t get me killed,” Barton said before ducking inside an office.

Rolling her eyes to herself, Kennedy stayed outside of the room. There was nowhere for her to hide, all the halls open and without dead-ends. She didn’t doubt that the rooms around this one were locked as well. So she was stuck out here in the hall, exposed.

Things went bad almost automatically. Three security guards rounded the corner, not seeing her at first. That was surprising in itself. But it did give her time to reach back and tag the door with the heel of her boot three times before they did see her.

“What are you doing back here?”

“Lost,” Kennedy replied with a slight shrug.

They looked between themselves and continued approaching while doing so. Kennedy watched them, slowly turning her ring about so that the bulkier side faced out. Her boot slipped back, knocking against the door three more times before the guards had reached her.

“How did you get back here?” The tallest of the three asked.

“I walked for the most part,” Kennedy said, unable to rein in the snarky response.

“I think you need to come with us,” the first said, reaching out to grab her wrist.

Kennedy’s right arm snapped out, the balled fist catching him square on the jaw with the metal ring digging in. As he doubled over she drove her knee up into his face. He collapsed on the floor, blood gushing from his knee. She turned, looking at the remaining two security guards.

“You gonna stand there all day or are you gonna do something?” she asked, eyebrows rising.

They both had height, reach and strength on her but Kennedy was faster. Ducking a swipe at her head, she lashed out with her foot and caught the shorter of the two on the thigh. He went down on one knee which gave her time to drive her elbow in his face. Blood sprayed from his nose and he crumpled, clutching his bleeding face.

She started to turn when a pair of extremely muscular arm wrapped around her, pinning her slender arms to her side, and squeezed. Gritting her teeth together, Kennedy thrashed and struggled to loosen the grip. The pressure on her ribs increased every time she exhaled. Sooner or later she wasn’t going to be able to breathe.

After a moment, she went limp against his chest. Her eyes closed, head lolling back against his shoulder. The moment his grip loosened to lower to the ground, her eyes opened and she drove her elbows back into his stomach. With a grunt, he dropped her and Kennedy rolled, staggering to her feet as she sucked in a deep breath of air.

Her ribs protested as she grabbed the nightstick off one of the fallen guards. She turned, swinging it just in time to crack the guard in the jaw. His head snapped back and he staggered backwards a few feet. Without hesitation, Kennedy jumped onto him and drove her first into his face twice. He crumpled to the ground beneath her and she rolled off of his fallen body.

“Not too bad,” Barton said from the doorway, causing her to jump.

“No thanks to you,” Kennedy growled after her initial surprise.

“You didn’t need it,” he returned as he started handcuffing the guards together.

Kennedy scoffed outwardly before grabbing the feet of a guard and dragging him towards the office. Her ribs were still throbbing and were undoubtedly bruised. She didn’t want to think about what color her skin would be in the morning. All she knew was that it was going to be bitch to hide them from Freyja.

Once all the guards had been dragged into the office and the blood mostly wiped away, they set off to wherever it was they were going. Kennedy still had no idea what they were here to get. It wasn’t like she was going to get an answer from Barton though.

“Grab that dolly,” Barton said as he punched a code into a door.

Kennedy grabbed the dolly, following him through the door with it. Her green and hazel eyes scanned the room, taking in the metal drawers lining the walls. She didn’t have long to look as Barton was opening drawers and beginning to pull metal boxes out.

Kennedy started loading the boxes onto the dolly, stacking them each three high. At the moment, she wasn’t really sure that she wanted to know what was in here. This was more than enough over her head and Kennedy wanted to stay slightly clueless with this.

“I need you to stand on the front and keep those from falling,” Barton said.

“Good enough for me,” Kennedy said, climbing up onto the dolly.

“And you’ve got a gun,” he added in, “use it.”

There was no ‘if you need to’ included. Kennedy met his clear blue eyes, her eyes holding his steady gaze. After a moment, she nodded and pulled the Lucznik from his holster beneath her jacket. She thumbed the safety off as Barton pushed the dolly from the room and closed it after him.

“I feel ridiculous up here,” Kennedy said as they rounded a corner and she nearly fell.

“Well, you only look slightly ridiculous.”

Kennedy gave him a look before turning in time to see the guards round the corner. She fired off two shots, the first catching the guard on the left in the head while the second caught the other in the throat. Her lips curled slightly but she said nothing as they kept moving.

Jumping off the dolly as they reached the loading docks, Kennedy fired several shots toward the approaching guards. They scattered as a few of the shots found their marks. Sooner or later they’d realize that they had the greater firepower.

“Hurry up back there!” Kennedy hissed as she backed towards the van.

“Jump in!” Barton called and she heard the sound of a door opening and slamming shut.

Turning, Kennedy jumped into the back of the van. She reached to pull the door shut before jerking her hand back as a bullet pinged against the door. Glancing up, her eyes narrowed and she raised the gun in her head. She fired off a quick shot, a satisfied smirk crossing her face when the man fell.

Her hand wrapped around on the rails at the top of the van as it jumped forward, just in time to keep herself from losing her balance. Another bullet tore through the glass of the other door, sending a spray of dark tinted glass into the van. Bits of glass bit into her hands but she managed to avoid the worst of it. Leaning out as far as she dared, Kennedy grabbed the free door and yanked it shut.

She fired shots through the broken window on the door, peeking out only to get a quick aim. From inside the van she couldn’t tell if any of the bullets hit their mark but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get out of this complex alive.

Once they had blown through the gates, Kennedy climbed back to the front of the van. She dropped into the passenger seat, her scratched and bloodied hands pressing carefully on her ribs.

“Survivors?” she asked, glancing over to find Barton watching her.

His eyes flicked to the side mirror before returning to the road. Kennedy glanced in the side mirror as an explosion lit up the facility. She blinked a few times before leaning back in the seat.

“Taken care of,” Barton replied as he drove.