Liar

Freyja pushed her blonde hair back from her face as she walked through Stark Tower. She had been relocated here from the Helicarrier alongside Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Thor. The only one not here currently was Steve and that was because he had his own apartment somewhere in the city. From what she knew, he was out with his new handler.

She walked into the kitchen, blue eyes briefly glancing around to see who was in the kitchen. Despite a number of rooms being available to them, most of them seemed to convene in this one kitchen. It irritated Tony from what she could tell. It wasn’t like he could do much about it though.

Bruce was doing what he always did, reading something on a tablet and drinking his coffee slowly. She wouldn’t doubt that he’d been there for at least an hour already and the coffee was cold. It was something that he did. Natasha was drinking something or other from a mug. Clint was nowhere to be seen. Thor was eating an entire donut in one bite.

Freyja said nothing as she grabbed a clean mug and filled it with coffee. She left it black as she snagged a donut before Thor could eat them all. He merely glanced at her and smiled, without showing his food, as a way to say ‘good morning’. She nodded before leaning back against the counter.

“You’re all a happy bunch, aren’t you?” Clint commented dryly as he walked in.

Freyja glanced over at him before taking a bite of her donut. None of them had much in common and so they had little to say to each other. Most mornings went like this anyways. Clint had spent most of his time on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier since the attack on New York. There had been a lot of paper work from what she understood.

“Anybody have any updates on Bonnie and Clyde?” he asked when no one said anything.

She felt his gaze turn to her direction briefly, as if he expected her to be offended by the nickname. Freyja met his blue gaze before shrugging.

“Same as last time,” Natasha replied. “Took us out, stole a S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV, disappeared soon after that and left it burnt to a crisp.”

Freyja’s gaze didn’t miss the way Natasha’s hand rose to the spot on her neck where she’d been shot. But she didn’t comment. Her own shoulder throbbed briefly from where the crossbow bolt had ripped through her skin and embedded there in the muscle. Her accelerated rate of healing had repaired it quickly enough but it still hurt occasionally.

“It’s going to be harder to track them since Loki doesn’t have the tesseract, or his staff,” Bruce added in as he laid the tablet on the table top.

“You got any psychic Asgardian voodoo you can do?” Clint asked to both Freyja and Thor.

“I am not gifted in the arts of magic like my brother or Freyja,” Thor rumbled before selecting another donut.

Freyja felt the gaze of the three other superheroes shift to her. She said nothing as she took a sip of her coffee. It burnt a little but didn’t bother her all that much.

“I’m not as strong as Loki is. If he’s smart, he’s found someway to hide himself and Kennedy from anything I can do. You’d need someone of his skill level or stronger to track him,” Freyja shrugged. “Sorry to be a let down.”

“I’m more interested on how she got the jump on us,” Natasha commented. “If she has access to S.H.I.E.L.D data, then the entire organization has been comprised. She has access to almost anything that she needs.”

“Could she have gotten something when the Helicarrier was attacked? Someone’s I.D. maybe?” Bruce asked.

“If that’s the case then S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to double-check every agent across the globe,” Natasha replied.

“That virus in Clint’s arrow left the system compromised,” Freyja pointed out before glancing over at Clint. “Not to blame you or anything. Loki had S.H.I.E.L.D. agents under his control; she could have used one of them to get the information she needed.”

“And then what? Killed the agent?”

“If she was done with the agent? Yeah,” Freyja replied. “After every thing that has happened, I wouldn’t put it past her.”

It did hurt Freyja a little to say that she wouldn’t be able to put it past Kennedy to kill an agent. She wished that she knew her sister better than that. But, clearly, she didn’t. And it worried her slightly. It worried her that she thought of Kennedy like that.

With nothing left to say, Freyja finished her coffee and left the kitchen. She felt like she’d betrayed Kennedy by saying that. If anyone was supposed to be able to believe that Kennedy was still good, it was supposed to be Freyja. But she’d just hung the brunette out to dry without a blink of an eye.

She was sitting by herself in front of one of the big windows on a practically empty floor of the Tower when she heard foot steps approaching. It was late afternoon now, almost dark outside. Freyja didn’t move from where she was sitting, her blue eyes unblinking as she stared at the city outside. Somehow, she’d managed to miss the sound of the door opening.

Briefly, her eyes rose to Natasha’s reflection in the mirror before returning to watch the skyline. If she looked down far enough, she could see the traffic going by and the people too. They were so small down there. So insignificant almost.

“Do you know what you’re going to do once you get your hands on her?” Natasha asked.

“Did you seriously come in here to ask me if I was going to kill my sister or not?” Freyja asked, turning to give Natasha a look over her shoulder.

“If you show her an inch of hesitation, she’s going to take advantage of it,” was Natasha’s flat-toned response. “In case you haven’t noticed, she’s willing to kill to get the things that she wants.”

“I’ve noticed,” Freyja snapped caustically before getting to her feet. “And she’s my family. Would you have killed Clint if he’d worked for Loki willingly?”

Natasha’s expression remained neutral, unfazed by Freyja’s comment but Freyja saw the flicker in her blue eyes. Their jaws both squared, locking at the same time as they stood there. Since Freyja had forced the question, Natasha would be the one to speak next.

“I would have done it,” Natasha replied stiffly, “if I had no other choice.”

“Then you know it’s not that easy.”

“You still need to make a decision quickly,” Natasha said before holding out a small, iPhone-sized tablet.

Freyja looked at the red-head for several seconds before taking the tablet. Her blue eyes scanned the message several times before she looked over to where Natasha stood.

“It’s your call,” Natasha shrugged before taking the tablet back. “I’m warning you now, though, I will take that shot if I have to.”

Freyja’s lips pressed together in a thin line at the understood threat. If Natasha saw fit, she’d take Kennedy out in a heartbeat. It didn’t matter what Freyja wanted.

“Don’t tell anyone else,” Freyja said finally. “I’ll meet you on the roof top.”

And that was before the alarm started screeching.

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

Kennedy climbed off the small helicopter, her boots raising small clouds of dust as she walked over to the waiting SUVs. She brushed some off of her pants before climbing inside and pulling the door shut behind her. In the front seat sat Rocko, his muscular form resting against the leather seat.

“You sure you wanna be here when the big guns get called in, princess?” Rocko asked, looking back at her. “I thought you wanted to fly below radar.”

“I’m not too worried about the big guns,” Kennedy replied and signaled for the SUV to move out. “If everything goes according to plan and your guy is as good as he says he is, we won’t have much to worry about.”

“He’s as good as it gets, sweetheart. Guy’s a fucking schizo though,” Rocko muttered before glancing at her in the mirror as the SUVs rolled out. “Something’s not right in his head, spent too much time in Russia in my opinion. He’ll keep those guns occupied in New York but you better not be planning to double cross him.”

“If he does his job right, then I won’t have any need to double cross him.”

“I’m just watching your back, Kenny. He’s not some punk of yours or mine that grumbles and dog-eyes us if we cheat him. He’ll be out for your blood and mine,” he warned.

Kennedy glanced up at Rocko before removing the Beretta from the holster on her thigh. She pulled out the magazine and checked the first bullet before reloading it. Purposely, she thumbed off the trigger and slid the gun back into it’s holster.

“Then it’s a good thing that I don’t double cross my business partners, isn’t it,” Kennedy shrugged before smoothing down her bandages.

The rest of the ride was silent but for the sounds of the engines as the SUVs raced over the pavement. Things quieted further as they came to a stop about a half-mile out from their destination. Kennedy climbed out of the SUV with Rocko, the wind catching the straightened strands of her black hair.

From where they stood, Kennedy could see the small town down below. Her mismatched eyes stared at it for several seconds before she looked away. A half-mile’s walk away was the observatory.

“They’re still in there. A few agents are on guard but nothing we can’t handle,” Rocko said as they began the walk.

“And the service is jammed? No phone calls, internet, et cetera?” Kennedy asked as she adjusted the submachine gun in her hands.

“Just like you wanted,” Rocko replied.

“Have your tech guy on standby as to when to send out that S.O.S. signal,” she nodded. “Once we send that, I want your guy in New York to get to work.”

“Aye aye, princess.”

Once the observatory was in sight, Kennedy paused to pull the mask over her face. It covered most of the lower half of her face and looked as if it was to aid her breathing. She flipped the hood of her jacket up, shading the top half of her face in shadow.

There was a brief order in her ear before guns cracked to life. Two agents outside the observatory dropped to the ground. Kennedy and Rocko, as long as the rest of the team, walked out into the open without hesitation. They paused briefly as the members of Rocko’s team that had gone in through the back opened the doors.

“We’ve got the two corralled in one of the labs,” one said as they walked through the halls.

“Make sure everyone else is dead,” Rocko said before glancing over at Kennedy. She nodded slightly. “And send the signals out.”

“There’s another person here. An astrophysicist, Selvig,” the same guy continued as they walked along.

“Keep him with the two then,” Rocko replied when Kennedy nodded again.

He disappeared off down one corridor, talking into his ear piece. Kennedy ignored his voice in her ear as she and Rocko walked into the lab that had been cordoned off. The three people were standing in one corner of the lab, eyes on the door as she and Rocko entered.

“Doctor Foster? Doctor Selvig? And Darcy Lewis?” Rocko asked, approaching them while Kennedy stayed behind him. “I hope that you haven’t been mistreated thus far.”

“You mean besides being man-handled?” Dr. Foster snapped, her brown eyes blazing as Selvig put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

Kennedy said nothing as her eyes scanned the three standing there. The brunette, Darcy, had her hands behind her back as she fiddled with something. It wasn’t noticeable from Rocko’s position but Kennedy was slightly to the side of him. Still saying nothing, Kennedy shifted slightly and dropped a hand to rest on her Beretta.

Her gun was drawn, trained and fired the second she realized Darcy was holding a taser though. The rubber bullet struck her in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground. Foster screamed before lunging towards Darcy but Rocko blocked her.

“It’s a rubber bullet,” Kennedy said, her voice roughened by the mask over the lower half of her face. “The next one won’t be. And it will be a head shot. Do we understand each other?”

There was a slow collective nod as Kennedy used her foot to nudge Darcy onto her back. She dropped fluidly into a crouch over the brunette, her fingertips pulling the woman’s eyelids apart before giving her face a somewhat gentle slap. Darcy groaned and stirred while Kennedy glanced over her shoulder at Rocko.

“Time to wait.”