Manhattan ⇻ The Avengers [1]

chapter five

"Never better, punk," Winter grinned as she looked at him, still holding the punching bag.

"Punk?" Steve asked, seeming both sad and pleased at the same time, "My platonic used to call me that. I haven't heard it in over-"

"70 years?"

"Yes ma'am," the captain straitened up and gave the woman in front of him a strange look, "How did you know?"

Winter set down the bag before answering, "Everyone has their secrets, Captain."

"And Google," Gen added, snickering.

"Yes, but I don't know how to use Google," the assassin whispered back.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't quite catch that?" Steve phrased it more as a question rather than a statement.

"It was nothing Stevie," Winter played it off, "Anyway, now that we know you're actually here I'll feel a lot more comfortable leaving Kae with you."

"Kae?" He asked, seemingly looking around for the person who the assassin would soon let back into control.

"Multiple personalities," Winter stated, "That's why we were recruited for the Avengers. My name's Winter by the way," the last sentence was said with a more flippant tone in comparison to the seriousness of the previous two.

"Oh," Steve seemed to be dumbfounded, "Okay."

"Well, I trust you'll take care of her, so..." the assassin trailed off, letting Kae regain control once more.

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

"Alright, now that I'm actually here," Kae began, "do you think you can take me to see the boss?"

Kae turned around and began walking to the exit of the gym, "Umm, Winter?"

"I'm Kae. The original personality. Winter came third," the blonde didn't bother to turn around when she spoke, letting her stiff tone of voice send a message.

Steve didn't speak right away, which made the blonde twitchy, knowing from previous experiences that the silence usually meant that they thought she was crazy. She waited a few more minutes to see if the captain would say something, but when he remained silent, she'd had enough and Kae decided to speak again, angrier this time, turning around to face him as she spoke, "Look, I know I'm different. So I don't want your 40's ass to be giving me grief about it."

"Language!" Winter exclaimed almost immediately, appalled even though Kae knew that the other personality felt almost as betrayed as she did.

"I don't think he meant it like that Kae," Allison's soothing tones didn't do much to quell her anger, "He didn't even say anything."

"But he was thinking it," Kae grumbled back, simmering in anger as she turned her head down to speak.

The blonde's head shot up at the sudden hand on her shoulder, about to snap at him again, "I didn't mean to offend you ma'am. I just wasn't expecting that."

She couldn't help but soften her hardened facade when he apologised. He seemed genuine. But still...

"No one ever is..." Kae sighed.

"I used to know a man in the army who had MPD, he was a great human being," Steve said hand still resting on the blonde's shoulder, "I'm sure you're just as wonderful."

"Thanks," Kae gave him a soft smile, her trust in him growing the slightest bit.

Well, that escalated quickly. Kae actually started out as a pretty decent human being, but after a while her character turned kind of bitter in my mind as she really has almost no memories of not being treated as if she were crazy or a freak. However, for Alison (who pretty much has the same memories as Kae), the opposite is true. All of the horrible ways that they were treated just made her kind. As for Gen and Winter, they have separate memories of their past lives, and didn't experience a lot of what Kae and Alison went through. Anyway, my rant is over and I wish you all a wonderful week and I'll see you all next Monday with chapter six.
~ Aria