V.
"The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one." – Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
It had taken her a week, but she finally found her way to New York City. Between different modes of transportation and some back-tracking to make sure if someone did want to follow her, they would have to work very hard for her current location, it took some time. But it would be worth it, even though all she had in mind was to make sure Souta was OK. The attack on the base she knew he had worked at didn't take long to reach her ears. And if there was one thing she put paramount over all, it was the safety of her family.
Unfortunately for Souta, he was all that was left of that family. And unfortunately, she didn't believe in random happenstance anymore either. The fact that he was the only survivor from that base didn't escape her notice.
There was just one problem, she didn't know how forgiving he was. And she had much to be blamed for in the direction of his life. So she resolved to stay quiet and low. Let him think she was still off somewhere in the world with no clue as to what he had been going through.
And while he thought that, Kagome settled into a new job just down the street at a cafe. Stark would often drive by or test run his new suits through the street late at night, to which she could only roll her eyes. Captain America and Sam would often jog by in the mornings. She had even seen Agent Hill once or twice walking by, on her phone, thankfully. Hill was the one she had to watch out for, it she was noticed by her then the jig might as well be up.
As the week turned into a month, Kagome managed to avoid detection by Hill. The other members of that little 'Avengers' group didn't worry her, they didn't know her. They only just knew Souta, and he probably had said nothing of having a sister.
Just down the street, in Stark Tower, Souta was having similar thoughts. He hadn't really left the tower in over a month, but he watched and scoured news reports religiously for some type of news. As much as he loved his sister, she had the worst luck. And he knew that if she knew, she would ditch her watchers (possibly in some weird, strange, and very loud event that would escape no one's notice) and try to find him.
While he laughed at Hill's concerns and teased her mercilessly about being scared of his sister and what she could do, he knew her concerns and fears were valid. Just on the wrong reasons. It wasn't his sister they should fear, but whoever was after her. And he knew his sister enough to know she would come looking for him given the information out there.
But no one else in the tower knew of the danger she, and inadvertently him, could put all of them in. If she turned up, he would likely leave to spare them all the trouble that would follow. It was just that this time, he didn't want to leave. Everyone here, everyone he interacted and worked with trying to keep the world safe was fun and nice and they made him feel normal for once.
The guilt of lying to them about everything in his past was eating at him.
"OK, that's the fifth time you've sighed in the last two minutes. Do something else." Wilson said, a glare on his face.
Souta stopped flipping through channels, stopping in the middle of some report about some government agent being extradited for attempted kidnapping somewhere in Peru. "Like what? I'm so bored." It was another lie that added onto his conscience.
"It's because you're lazy. Get your shoes on and come for a run with Steve and me for once."
Souta sighed and leaned deeper into the couch. It was true: he was lazy. Running went against his lifestyle outside of sports. "Fine."
Little did he know that run would change everything.
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