X.
"Those eyes had seen people weep, and had cared, and had hurt them again anyway." - Orson Scott Card, Maps in a Mirror
Kagome regretted choosing her ringtone now. She chose something loud and annoying enough that she couldn't sleep through it or ignore it, as she had a bad habit of doing both. Especially if she downloaded some catchy pop song for it, as she would be too busy humming along with the music to answer it. But now, she was ready to throw it against the wall.
Souta. Four times he called in the last thirty minutes. And she still didn't know if she should answer it or not. Usually it was Souta who ignored her calls and letters, and she couldn't blame him. But she almost felt bad for doing the same to him now. Even though she knew exactly why he was calling.
Not only had he been foolish enough to blow both of their covers in less than a minute, but he did so in front of two ex-members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and newly recruited members of Stark's global security force. And she was positive that Hill knew of it, too. Not to mention Stark likely knew now as well. Which meant that they likely wanted to talk to her, to find out more, and Souta was the best (and only) person to use to do so.
But she was tired. She was tired of agencies, of governments, of living more than one life. And she was beyond tired of messing with her little brother's life.
So she swiped her phone off the table and under some chair, where its ringing was muffled. Then she walked over to bathroom and removed the tank top of the toilet. The Ziploc baggie she taped to the inside was easily removed. She upturned the bag and sat down next to the contents.
One of the very first things she learned after living well beyond what she should have, was that she had to always have an escape plan. Through the centuries, she cultivated little caches for herself to fall back on. Money, a place to live, a new identity; that was the easy part. The hard part was finding a way to leave.
The whole reason she came here was to make sure Souta was all right and safe. And to make sure he stayed that way. Kagome was more than positive that with who he surrounded himself with, not to mention Hill herself, that he would be safe. It had always been for the best, he was safest when they were apart. Even before she had lived for centuries, he was always getting into trouble when she stayed around him. Or she was. The point was, they were better off apart.
Even with S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded, she had her own ways to keep an eye on her baby brother. And there was technology now that always made him just a phone call away.
She sighed and blew her hair out of her face, or attempted to at least. "Where to go…where to go." Five centuries ago, she would have stayed and rode out the consequences. Compared to her, who had centuries, what were consequences? But now… She knew there were some things that haunted no matter what one forgot throughout the centuries, no matter what one thought they could live with.
"Well, we can try Stark Tower for one?" she jumped, grabbing the tank top, ready to beat down whoever broke into her apartment. Once she saw that it was Stark in his suit, she still didn't put it down.
"How did you get in?"
He pointed back toward her living room. "The door. You should really answer your calls, you know."
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