As Kendra made her exit from the room, glad that no one trie to stop her, she spared a glance behind her as the Question gave his threat, and she felt herself instinctively clench her teeth and practically choke back any biting comments she had been so tempted to make.
You're not helping yourself, Kendra, she told herself, taking a deep breath. Just walk away. As she was about to continue her exit, she was able to see as Tea, or Armoury as she was also called, slapped Question in the face.
Kendra raised an eyebrow. While a small part of her had expected Sarin to show aggression towards the Question, she had not expected that from Tea. She didn't know much about Tea, who seemed from the outside to be a nice and relatively normal girl who would probably be easy to get on with, and she hadn't really given her a second thought. In the past, Kendra had only really noticed those she felt she had to be wary of - the Question now being one of them - or people she felt she should make a stronger allegiance with. Tea didn't really fit into those categories before now, but that slap, something Kendra had been restraining not to deliver herself, had really given Kendra respect for the other girl, and she felt a need to show at least some sign of gratitude towards Tea.
As Tea exited after her, Kendra slowed her pace slightly so she could be beside the other girl. "Thanks," Kendra said. "I mean, you didn't have to do that, and it might not have been the wisest move... but thanks." The words came out slightly awkwardly and unnatural. How long had it been since Kendra had shown real gratitude towards another person? She couldn't remember. She'd kind of cut herself off from everyone else since Juliet died, never allowing herself to get too emotionally involved with others. Even on Paradise Isles, there had been a barrier between her and the Amazons, something that had made it so she had never truly been able to connect with them. Then again, the Amazons had been wary of her as an outsider, and while they had eventually come to respect her power, she'd never been one of them. If Kendra hadn't been so proud, she would have admitted she felt loneliness at this realisation, but she couldn't admit it. She had to remain the self-dependent person people believed she was. Maybe that was why didn't want people knowing about her past, about her deal with Mammon. She didn't want others to view her as the classic damsel-in-distress who needed to be rescued from the big bad dragon. She wanted people to believe she was capable, competent. She wanted respect.
Though... maybe some long forgotten part of her did desire friendship, but that was secondary. The only person she had really cared about had died, and now there was this huge hole in her heart that Kendra doubted she could ever truly refill. The only thing Kendra had left was her power and the strength it gave her to keep moving on regardless, the image it gave her as the soothsayer, the oracle, the self-reliant warrior who could see the future. She didn't want the Question to take that away from her. What kind of person would be left if she didn't have that?
"We haven't been formally introduced," Kendra continued after a pause. "I'm Kendra, but I'd prefer if you called me Cassandra." She smiled, or rather tried to smile. She wasn't sure how sincere it appeared. "And you're Tea, right?" She decided to say this now, in case she had gotten the other girl's name wrong in her mind. Best to try and memorise everyone's names at this point and at least try to get to know her teammates on some basic level. Not... not because she wanted their friendship. It was purely so they could work together as smoothly as possible in future missions.
Yes. That was the only reason.