Alayna had been washing her dishes, she was supposed to meet up with Steve in the morning, for their regular run.
The vision she had a little over a year ago still haunted her to this day.
Something had changed.
And she was dying to find out what.
She had heard that Katie was dealing with her own situation with her brother at the time so she has no one to talk too.
Alayna's and Steve's relationship was complicated to say the least.
They had said they loved each other and yet they aren't 'together'.
It frustrated Alayna to no end.
Thats when she felt someone behind her.
She turns around sharply raising her fists, ready to attack.
What she saw shocked her.
Loki.
He was here.
"Now don't just stand there-"
Alayna automatically tried to push his shadow down into a chair, she succeeded but when she reached him, her hand went through him.
He was a mirage, his magic.
"Why are you here Loki? What do you want?"
The mirage just smirked at her.
"I just wanted to see you, Lunar." He said.
"Why?"
"Because, you have power, most people would only dream of."
Alayna scoffed and loosened her hold on the mirage and went back to washing dishes.
"You could beat all of the Avengers, just like that."
Loki snapped with made Alayna flinch, she didn't know why though.
"And yet you use your powers for good, how pitiful."
Loki smirked as he saw Alayna stiffen.
She turned from the sink and took one of her knifes out and put it right under his throat, she knew it wouldn't do anything because he was a mirage but, she would try.
"Don't you dare put that in my head." She said threateningly.
"You know it too." Loki smirked.
Alayna turned to the sink and started shaking the objects around her started floating as their shadows were tugged on.
"You could beat all of them."
Alayna glared at him through her blindfold.
"You could control the world."
"Well I don't want too!" Alayna snapped.
"I don't want to destroy the world. I don't want to beat my friends, I don't want this."
Loki smirked from where his mirage sat and the chair.
"Not just beat, kill, destroy them. Control all of them."
Loki got up from the chair.
"You could pull on their strings and destroy the world."
He started walking towards her.
"Because you are a monster, Shadow Puppet."
Smash!
Alayna had thrown a plate right where Loki had been previously.
He had disappeared.
But she knew he had gotten his point a cross.
That name though, how did he know?
Shadow Puppet.
The name drilled into her skull by Hydra, the one that could make her go emotionless instantly just to do their bidding.
She hated that name.
She hated that place.
She hated her powers.
She hated the monster that was herself.
They had made her like this.
Alayna ripped off her special blindfold.
She threw it across the room.
And slumped against the wall.
What she hated is that as soon as Loki entered she saw his face again.
The face that haunted her nightmares because she wasn't able to save him.
If she focused enough, she could feel Loki's and Thor's shadow in Asgard.
So she knew he was no where near here.
Loki was playing with her to see what she would do.
He wanted her reaction and she gave it to him.
Because when it comes to her family she doesn't mess around not her parents no, maybe her siblings but she hasn't seen them in years.
The avengers and Shield were her family now even if everyone was afraid of what she could do.
"Why am I such a monster?"
Alayna whispered to no one in particular.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A man named, Sam Wilson is jogging around Washington, D.C. when Steve quickly catches up to him and runs past him. Alayna doing just the same with Steve.
"On your left."
"On your right." Alayna says to Steve as she passed him.
As Sam continues to jog Steve and Alayna come around again quickly after doing another lap. Alayna was ahead of Steve by a lot which she was very proud of.
"On your left."
"Uh-huh, on my left. Got it." Sam said rolling his eyes.
"On your right." Alayna said to both Steve and Sam.
As Sam is still jogging Steve and Alayna come around again from behind him from another lap.
"Don't say it! Don't you say it!"
"On your left!" Steve continued.
"Come on!"
"On your right."
"At least shes beating you!"
Sam gets angry and tries to catch up to Steve as Alayna bolted away but only after a few seconds he's unable to carry and stops to rest.
As Sam is resting catching his breath sitting by a tree Steve and Alayna walk over to him.
"Need a medic?" Steve says jokingly.
"I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you just ran like 13 miles in 30 minutes. Your girl did double you! You guys should need the medic!" Sam said sarcastically.
"I guess I got a late start." Steve said, as Alayna laughed.
"Oh, really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." Sam says as he
hesitates for a moment before saying sarcastically.
"Did you just take it? I assumed you just took it."
"What unit you with?" Alayna asked knowing that Steve was thinking of that. She could feel the chill radiating off of this man, she liked him.
"58, Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA."
"Sam Wilson." He says as he lifts hand out to shake.
Steve gives Sam a hand to rise.
"Steve Rogers."
"Lunar Fury." Alayna said hesitantly.
She didn't know if she should say a last name especially after what had happened.
"Yeah I kind of put that together. Must have freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting thing." Sam said mostly to Steve.
"It takes some getting used to. It's good to meet you, Sam." Steve says nodding his head to the man. Grabbing Alayna's hand turning to leave, but she had stayed put. Alayna had felt Sam's emotion's she knew he was about to question Steve.
"It's your beds, right?" Sam said quietly.
"What's that?" Steve said even though he clearly heard it.
"Both of Your beds, it's too soft. When I was over there I'd sleep on the ground and use rock for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like..."
"Lying on a marshmallow. Feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor." Steve said trying to come up with something.
Alayna shook her head even though she had no idea what it felt like. She did though. She was laid on a bench at Hydra that was what was given to her. She didn't know what it was like to serve her country, she would have rather done that then enter in Hydra, though she was eight so she really didn't have a choice. Alayna would have chosen anything other what she went through at Hydra, but thats the path that was chosen for her.
The path that she didn't want.
Sam smiles and nods his head, to what Steve said.
"How long?" Steve asked.
"Two tours." Sam answered. Alayna almost winced as an awkward silence occured.
"You must miss the good old days, huh?" Sam questions.
"Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot trying to catch up." Steve said trying to find the light in the situation.
Sam looks up to think and raises finger, Alayna knew he had a streak of remembrance his emotions showed it.
"Marvin Gaye, 1972, "Trouble Man" soundtrack. Everything you've missed jammed into one album."
"I'll put it on the list."
Steve gets his small notebook and pen out and notes it down on his list which also includes - in the American version of the movie - I Love Lucy; Moon Landing; Berlin Wall (Up + Down) Steve Jobs (Apple); Disco; Thai Food; Star Wars/Trek; Nirvana (Band); Rocky (Rocky II?); Harry Potter w/ Alayna; Get better with Alayna?; Disney movies; Alayna had never seen this list so she quickly tried to see over Steve's shoulder but he quickly put it back in his pocket.
Alayna and Steve then get a text. Mission alert.
Extraction imminent. Meet at the curb. :)
"Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run. If that's what you wanna call running." Alayna said to him jokingly.
They all shake hands.
"Oh, that's how it is?" Sam questions with a laugh.
"Oh, that's how it is." Steve said.
"Okay. Any time you wanna stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know."
"I'll keep it in mind." Steve said with a smile.
"Okay."
Just then Natasha pulls up in her car by the curb and rolls down the window.
"Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil, and a statue."
"That's hilarious." Steve says, as Alayna sniggers.
Steve and Alayna walk over to her car and get in, Sam gives Natasha and her car an appreciative look.
"How you doing?" Sam said.
"Hey." Natasha said with a smile because she really did not want to talk to him.
"Can't run everywhere." Steve says.
"No, you can't."
"See ya Wilson!" Alayna says waving.
He watches as Natasha quickly pulls away and drives off.
In the car, Alayna looks out the window while Natasha was telling them what the mission was.
"Standard rescue mission, aboard the Lemurain Star. A bunch of pirates have captured hostages. One of them being Jasper Sitwell."
Thats all that was explained, as Natasha continued to drive.
Alayna looked from under her blindfold.
Something was fishy about Natasha's emotions right now.
She wasn't lying but it seemed as if she wasn't exactly telling the truth either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now here they were flying over the Indian Ocean the tripo are with Shield agents, led by Brock Rumlow.
"The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago." Brock explained.
"Any demands?" Steve asks.
Alayna examined the ship from a hologram, it was big she could feel how many people were there, twenty five of the enemies, another fifteen hostages. She knew this wasn't going to be easy.
"A billion and a half."
"Why so steep?" Steve asks yet again.
"Because it Shield's." Brock answered numbly.
"So it's not off-course, it's trespassing." Steve said as he looked at Alayna, he could feel the wheels turning in her head, she actually looked really pretty right now, but thats besides the point.
"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha states.
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor." Steve says rolling his eyes.
"Relax, it's not that complicated." Natasha states with a small smile.
"How many pirates?"
"Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc." Alayna says, they look up surprised that she knew that.
Rumlow then shows them a photo of Batroc on the monitor.
"Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."
"Hostages?" Steve asks.
"Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell." Rumlow says as he pulls up Sitwell's photo on the monitor.
"They're in the galley."
"There a total of fifteen." Alayna says adding to the conversation.
"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship? Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Lunar you get up on the roof of the ship and get in the mainframe, control them from the inside. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Let's move."
"Strike, you heard the Cap. Gear up." Rumlow says.
As they are getting ready to dive off the jet, Steve grabs Alayna's hand and squeezes it for a moment only to let go.
"Secure channel seven." Steve said into his communicator.
"Seven secure. Did you do anything fun Saturday night?" Natasha said.
"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so... No, not really." Steve says.
Alayna laughed at that one.
"Coming up by the drop zone, Cap." A pilot said from over comms.
"You know, if you ask Lunar out again, she'd probably say yes." Natasha whispered while Alayna was not paying attention.
Suddenly Alayna had jumped out of the jet, without warning diving in the water making everyone shell shocked and Steve smiled a small smile.
"That's why I don't ask."
"Too shy or too scared?" Natasha continued with a smirk.
"Too busy!"
Steve then jumps out of the jet
"Were they even wearing a parachute?"
Rumlow smiles.
"No. No, they weren't."
After jumping out the jet Steve dives into the ocean and then climbs onto the ship, he sees Alayna is already on the roof. He then beats everyone on the deck swiftly before anyone raises the alarm when he's interrupted by one of the pirates pointing his gun at him.
"Bouge pas! Bouge pas." Don't move! Don't move.
He's shot dead by Rumlow as he parachutes down onto the deck behind Steve.
"Thanks." Steve says.
"Yeah. You seemed pretty helpless without me." Rumlow said sarcastically.
Natasha and another agent parachute down onto the deck to join them.
"Now that Lunar is gone, how's that been going, you guys had your first kiss yet?" Natasha asked with a smirk as they started moving.
"Secure the engine room, then we will discuss my love life." Steve says.
"I'm multitasking."
Natasha then Jumps down to the lower deck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All the while Alayna has made her way into the main frame, taking out as many bad guys as she could. She was basically crawling on the rafters of the ship at this point.
What she couldn't get is why this mission felt so fishy to her.
Why it felt so fake.
Alayna had come up to the rafters above the place where the hostages were kept.
"Oui, Batroc" A french pirate said Yes, Batroc.
He then makes a call.
"Durand. Démarre le moteur." Durand. Start the engine.
"Start the engine?" Alayna muttered quietly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay." Durand says.
Durand puts the phone down, turns and sees Natasha behind him.
"Hey, sailor."
She quickly knocks him down and manages to swing down below deck shooting several of the pirates on the way.
"Ferme ta gueule!" Shut up. Another french pirate had said.
"Bouge pas toi ! Mais qu'est ce qui se passe ! Tu veux jouer les héros, c'est ça ! T'as pas intérêt!" You don't move! But what's this? Want to play hero, is that it? You'd better not!
The pirate then looks at the hostages who keep their heads down.
"Bon, j'ai trop attendu là." Well, I've waited long enough. He then goes over to the locked door and bangs on it to get the attention of the pirate guarding outside.
"Hé, trouve Batroc, si j'ai pas de nouvelles dans deux minutes, je commence à les tuer." Hey, look for Batroc. If I do not hear anything in two minutes, I'll start to kill them!
Alayna did not like the sound of that.
"D'accord. Je vais le chercher !" Okay. I'll find him!
Alayna then felt Rumlow so she knew everything would be fine.
As the pirate turns to leave Rumlow, who's standing behind him with a stun gun, shoots him, on the other side of the door the other pirate senses something but dismisses it.
"Deux minutes." Two minutes.
Rumlow and another Strike Agent places a bomb on the locked door.
Alayna gets ready for a blast.
"Silence radio du Shield, Batroc." Radio silence from Shield, Batroc. Another French Pirate says.
Steve watches them from the deck, as yet another Strike agent is getting in position.
"Targets acquired."
Below deck Rumlow points his gun at the bomb placed against door where the hostages are being kept.
"Strike in position."
"Natasha, what's your status?" Steve says into his radio.
Alayna then feels Natasha's location she was at the engine room.
Natasha was jumping down below deck to knock out one of the pirates.
"Status, Natasha?"
"Hang on!" Natasha grunted.
As the pirate attacks her she quickly knocks him out; into her radio.
"Engine room secure."
Natasha grabs a pipe from the ground and knocks out one of the pirates.
"Le temps est écoulé. Qui veut mourrir en premier. Hé toi ! Prend la fille." Time's up. Who wants to die first? Hey, you! Take the girl.
"On my mark. Three. Two. One." Steve said into his radio.
Then Alayna jumped down from where she was hiding in the rafters. Surprising all of the pirates.
"Surprise."
She started taking them down one by one.
The Strike team then start shooting at the pirates, blow open the door and Rumlow quickly kills the head pirate.
"I told you, Shield doesn't negotiate." Jasper Sitwell comments with a smirk.
Back in the control room one of Batroc's men tries to get hold of the pirate below deck.
"Halo ? Je pense que la ligne est morte.J'ai perdu le contact." Hello? Batroc, the line is dead. I lost contact with them.
Just then Steve smashes in through the window using his shield but Batroc manages to escape.
"Hostages en route to extraction. Romanoff missed the rendezvous point, Cap. Hostiles are still in play." Rumlow said into his comms as they had finished off the last few soldiers.
Alayna then feels something weird. Natasha, was going to the computer room. Why was she going there? She felt the shadow going, and Natasha's emotions felt guilty.
"Natasha, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages." Steve says into the comm.
"I'm going to find her, if I don't circle back get the hostages out of here." Alayna says to Runlow.
She then jumps onto the roof before, crawling into the ventilation system, and making her way to Nat.
There was still no reply from Natasha.
"Natasha!" Steve yells.
"Lunar just went after her cap." Rumlow says over comms.
Alayna makes her way through half of the ship before she found Natasha in a room with a big computer. She got down from her hiding place silently.
"You know, Steve would not be happy about this."
Natasha jumps at the sound of her voice.
"Well hello there Alayna, how did you find me?" Natasha says still not turning away from the computer.
"Something called shadow tracking."
There was silence for a moment before Alayna broke it.
"Really Nat? On a rescue mission? My dad set this up didn't he?"
Natasha stayed silent.
And that was just the answer Alayna needed.
"I'm not taking the fall for this one Nat. This is on you. Steve is going to be mad, and its not going to be pretty and you know that. This is an idiotic move, we both know that." Alayna said as she made her way out the door.
"You could have trusted me, but you both lied to get your own ends met, for shield. Typical."
Alayna then gets out of the computer room and makes her way up on the roof of the ship again. On the way sending Steve a coded message that Natasha was on her own mission.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suddenly Batroc attacks Steve, they fight on the deck of the ship, with Batroc getting quickly back up on his feet.
"Je croyais que tu étais plus qu'un bouclier." I thought that you were more than just a shield.
Steve puts the shield on his back and takes off his mask
"On va voir." Let's see.
His side had started beeping and that could only mean one thing, he had a message from Alayna.
They start fighting again, Steve manages to finally knock Batroc down by smashing through into one of the rooms where Natasha is downloading something from the computer.
"Well, this is awkward."
"What are you doing?" Steve said madly.
"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into." Natasha said nonchalantly, Alayna scared her more than Steve did.
"Rumlow needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?"
Steve goes over to Natasha and looks at what Natasha is backing up.
"You're saving Shield Intel." Steve says absolutely pissed off, this is what the message from Alayna must have been about.
"Whatever I can get my hands on." Natasha answers.
"Our mission is to rescue hostages." Steve said.
"No. That's your mission."
She finishes backing up and pulls the flash drive out.
"And you've done it beautifully." Natasha continues.
As Natasha goes to leave Steve grabs her arm.
"You just jeopardized this whole operation. You didn't even think to tell me or even Lunar?"
"I think that's overstating things. Plus Lunar found me before you did, I suppose it would have been cheating if I told you.
Suddenly Batroc rises and throws a grenade at the two as he runs off, Steve deflects the bomb with his shield, grabs Natasha and jumps through a window before it explodes.
"Okay. That one's on me." Natasha says as she groans in pain.
"You're damn right." Steve says threateningly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alayna was on the roof of the ship when she felt Batroc run.
She quickly ran to get him.
Taking out one of her knifes she threw it landing him straight in the shoulder blade causing him to collapse.
"I got Batroc." She said into her comms.
"Hes on the upper deck bleeding out of his shoulder blade, we need a medical team immediately."
She got back up on the roof and sat there waiting for everyone to come to the new rendezvous point.
They slowly started trickling up as Rumlow and his men were first and then Steve and Natasha came into the scene arguing.
"You really had to jeopardize this whole thing didn't you?" Steve yelled.
"I was following orders, Steve." Natasha said monotonously.
"You could have thought to tell me! Or even Lunar!"
The two glared at each other as Lunar looked down on them from the roof.
She then jumped down from the roof and separated them. They looked at her wide eyed.
Alayna held her hand out to Natasha.
"What are you doing?-"
"Give me the hard drive, Nat." Alayna said without emotion, which was very scary for everyone.
"I'm afraid I can't do that Lunar."
"You can and you will."
Alayna stared her down, from behind her blindfold for a few moments.
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"I'm not giving it to you!"
"Natasha I swear to god I will take it from you."
Natasha then reached into her pocket and got it out, handing it to Alayna grumbling like a small child.
"Thank you."
"What thats it?" Natasha says to Alayna.
"I really am on edge right now Natasha because both you and my father lied to me. For the second time this year. So I would zip it if I were you."
Steve stands there with his mouth agape as Natasha goes to get checked by medics.
He goes to stand behind Alayna, grabbing her hand.
"What are you going to do with that now?"
"I'm going to have a chat with my father."
Alayna heaved exhausted, emotionally and physically.
She kissed Steve's cheek and dragged him on the plane they leave the ship on.
She stared into the horizon as the plane took off.
She grimaced.
Now it was time to talk to her father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HI Y'ALL IT'S BEEN AWHILE LOL
I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT WE HAVE GOTTEN ALMOST 5k READERS ON THIS BOOK AND I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL.
I'M SORRY THAT I HAVEN'T BEEN POSTING A LOT I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY WITH SCHOOL AS WELL AS FAMILY.
AND ITS REALLY GOOD THAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS BOOK BECAUSE I'M SO HAPPY THAT YOU GUYS DO AND IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.
LOVE YOU ALL
BYE!~ MAYA