IV. LOSE YOUR MIND
_________
Luna checked her phone. Again, just like the last 10 times she checked it in the past five minutes, it said nothing. She huffed, ran a hand through her now-shoulder-length hair and leaned back into the cushions of her crappy couch. It was eerily quiet in her cramped apartment as she waited for an update from Shuri.
The two had kept in contact for the past year, when Luna had left Wakanda and went back to New York. She hadn't wanted to leave, she didn't want to leave her brother alone in a strange country, she didn't want him to be alone if— when he woke up. But T'Challa had insisted Derek would be taken care of, besides, Luna needed to 'deal with her repressed trauma in a familiar space,' or some other bullshit T'Challa had fed her. Luna herself suspected that now that the King and Queen were back, they were getting tired of her.
Luna sighed and thought back to the time she had realized she'd have to return to Brooklyn:
"Luna? Are you okay?" T'Challa asked softly as he walked into the lab.
Luna lay with her head in her arms, sprawled across the desk in front of her. Around her lay papers with the research and test results they had done on Derek, and a couple feet into the lab stood a bed; Derek's bed.
T'Challa chuckled as he heard quiet snores coming from the younger girl. But as he walked closer, he could see she was shivering. He put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped awake.
"What—wh—who's dead?" Luna exclaimed before she spotted T'Challa and calmed down.
He sat down at the other chair at the desk and asked softly, "you were having a nightmare?"
Luna made a weird throaty sound, like a snort. "What? No." Her voice was higher than usual. She cleared her throat and diverted the subject, "anyways, I've gone through the books again—thanks for letting me use your library—and it only has one mention of a 'weird spirit attack' and it's so old, that it's impossible to decipher anything. It's also in some ancient form of Chinese characters, so it's basically impossible to translate," Luna said and visibly deflated, resting her head on her hand.
"Luna, you have been at this for months. Maybe... it is time for you to return home, to Brooklyn," T'Challa said.
"Is this your way of saying I've overstayed my welcome?"
T'Challa chuckled. "Maybe..." he joked. "No, you are always welcome. But you are not helping your brother by disregarding your own health. Physically and mentally."
Luna sat up straighter, saying, "okay, first of all, don't psycho-analyze me."
"It is not psycho-analyzing if Shuri heard you crying over your coco-puffs a week ago."
"That's a completely normal way of dealing with things, thank you. Second of all, I can't just leave Derek. He's gonna need me when he wakes up."
"What about the people who need you in America? Peggy, was it? Where does she think you disappeared to for the past year?"
Luna fell quiet. She hadn't thought about that. About her Gran, her apartment, about... "Amy," she realized quietly.
T'Challa looked behind Luna, a guilty look on his face.
Luna frowned. "What?" She turned to look at Shuri behind her.
"Well," Shuri started and approached the desk, leaning on it in between Luna and T'Challa. "Amy is actually not at the shelter anymore." She hesitated, "I thought to check since you mentioned her so much and—"
"She's been adopted by some nice happy couple," Luna finished her sentence.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. She never had any actual hope of staying with the young red-head forever. Amy was young, still a kid. Luna had long grown out of the 'adorable kiddo' phase of adoption. No one would have wanted her if she stayed, and she soon realized she was dragging Amy down with her.
Shuri nodded. "The Novaks from Kansas. It was a few months in process until two weeks ago when it became official. I didn't... I was not sure how to tell you."
"No, it's fine," Luna said. "It's a good thing. Amy deserves a normal life." It stayed quiet for a while, until Luna stepped up with a vigorous jump. "You're right, young panther," she said to T'Challa. "It's time I went back and start fresh. A new life and all that, right?"
That's exactly what Luna did when she came back. She smoothed over everything to do with her six month long hiatus and cleaned her apartment. She went back to job searching, seeing as an unannounced leave of absence wasn't appreciated at her old one, and landed a barista position at a local coffee shop not far from where she lived.
About a month in was when she lost the admiring vigor in her steps. She'd thought with a new environment, a new job, a new undercover name and a new haircut, the nightmares would've stopped. But now, she had nothing but time to think about that night. And the nightmares returned twice as painful. It was harder to ignore them, especially when the sudden memories came to her during the day.
And that is how Luna Carter ended up sitting on the couch in the living room of the elderly home she was in, still waiting. Almost a year after returning, and she still hadn't gone back to her great-grandmother. Why? Luna couldn't tell you. But today of all days seemed the right time; Luna's seventeenth birthday.
"You can go in now." The sweet looking nurse stepped out of Peggy's room as they smiled at Luna.
Luna took a deep breath as she straightened her jacket, that somehow managed to stay in one piece throughout everything. She smiled back awkwardly at the nurse before she opened the door. Why was she so nervous? You only left her by herself for two years without properly explaining anything. That could be it. Who knew how the old lady was going to react?
Luna took a seat beside the bed and softly placed her hand on her great-grandma's arm, carefully making sure she was awake.
Peggy opened her brown eyes. She smiled.
"Hey," Luna started awkwardly.
"Hello." Peggy's voice was hoarse, like speaking in the early morning, or chain-smoking for twenty years. Or, simply old age and dementia. Luna's breath hitched as Peggy spoke, "you're a lovely young lady, what's your name?"
Luna eyes glazed over as she answered, "Luna." She tried to smile but the crack in her voice gave it away.
"Are you a nurse? I quite liked the old one..."
This wasn't right. Peggy always recognized her in a way, sometimes she was Luna, sometimes she was grandma Amanda, Peggy's daughter. Luna had never met her but apparently the two looked alike.
Peggy averted her weary gaze before looking back. "Oh, hello. Is it time for lunch? What's your name?"
Luna stood up abruptly, startling Peggy. With her shaking hand she wiped away a stray tear.
Luna felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She spun, grabbed the wrist and turned the person around, pinning their hand behind their back.
"I come in peace!" said a familiar voice.
Luna immediately let go as she looked at the man with wide eyes. "Steve? The hell you doing here?"
Steve stared at the younger girl. She had grown, at least two inches, since he had last seen her. Actually, Luna had grown up in every aspect; she had darker hair and her face had lost its baby-fat, making it more defined. But she also seemed sadder, he barely recognized the spirited girl from two years ago.
Luna was obviously upset, Steve had watched the entire exchange in compassionate silence. He gestured around him.
"Oh, of course, yes." Steve was visiting Peggy, who had already gone back to sleep. He had on normal clothes for once. A little less spangle and a little less sparkle.
Steve gave Luna a sympathetic look. "Are you okay? Nobody's heard of you in two years. We've been trying to find you."
Luna glared halfheartedly, "Yeah, and it was fucking annoying. Can't a girl get some privacy?"
Steve gave her a look that said 'do I need to go full cap-mode on you?'
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, 'I..." she quickly thought of a lie, "was on... vacation."
Not a complete lie. Traveling to a hidden country, tracking through the woods for three days, getting knocked out and dragged further by a river before meeting your past lives and finding out your brother, who you thought had died years ago, was still alive, then him landing in a coma under the watchful eyes of the royal family of Wakanda, still counts as a vacation... right?
Luna smiled smoothly as Steve narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, gotta blast. See ya around Cap'n." She hurried out of the room. Planting her back to the wall outside the door as she listened.
"Steve?" she heard Peggy gasping. "You're alive?"
• • •
It was the next day on an early, chilly morning, when Luna's life got turned upside down for the third time. She'd gotten dressed, played a depressing 80's song on her walk to work and hugged her jacket close to her body, a constant chill resting on her shoulders.
She pulled on her navy blue apron and her half open cap and pinned on her name tag; Annabeth. The fake name that was printed on her job application. Couldn't really go around being the known superhero she was, now could she? Thank god that Luna was barely into puberty when she first became a hero and practically transformed in two years.
"Good morning, can I take your order?" Luna put on her best barista voice and put on her daily soulless smile.
"Coffee, black. Don't worry, brought my own whiskey," the woman said.
Luna shook her head. "Jesus, Jess, it's not even noon yet. Starting early today?" she said as she put in Jessica's order.
"Five o'clock somewhere and all that bullshit, right?" Jessica smiled and held up the folder of info she gathered.
Normally the woman got her coffee/alcohol-poisoning close by her apartment in Hell's Kitchen, but Luna had contacted her a couple of weeks ago, looking for information on Amy's new life and Jessica Jones, the Private Investigator, had done her job.
"My shift's done in thirty minutes, you can just take a seat and I'll come see you."
"Sure."
"Have a nice day, ma'am!" Luna smiled brightly and chuckled when Jessica made a certain obscene hand gesture at her.
The next customer walked up. Luna suppressed the urge to stab them in their neck, instead opting to put up a friendly face. Even though she really wanted to collapse and go to sleep, she needed every shift she could take and she couldn't afford to get fired. Sleep was scarce these days.
"Next!" Luna said and a couple walked up to the counter. "Morning, how may I—"
Wait a minute, this wasn't a couple, unless Luna missed something while she was on her two-year-long anxiety-driven bender.
"Goddammit, Cap snitched on me, didn't he?"
Tony Stark smiled charmingly at Luna. Next to him, Natasha Romanoff was obviously trying not to laugh at Luna's little work hat. Like Steve Rogers, both of them were wearing a cap and sunglasses to hide their identities. Somewhat effective, because Luna had to do a double take to recognize them. Tony looked the same as usual with his goatee, but Natasha had grown out and straightened her fiery hair.
"It's been a while, kid. Happy birthday." Tony said.
Luna groaned and replied, "and somehow I wished the 'while' lasted a little longer. Unless you got me a present, kindly fuck off, I've got a line."
"We need to talk to you." Natasha said.
Luna stared blankly at her.
"We brought a present."
Luna smiled brightly and wrote down her address on a piece of paper. She gave it to Natasha. "Meet me here. My shift's almost done."
Luna slid in the booth where Jessica sat, folded her hands in front of her and looked at Jessica expectantly.
Jessica opened the folder and papers spread across the table, "From what I gathered the Novak's are a nice couple. A mechanic and a professor living in Kansas. Amy goes to the local elementary school and... that's all. Good?"
Luna leaned back. "Yeah, thanks." She handed Jessica an envelope with the remaining payment she owed. "I just... needed to be sure. Thanks."
The elevator dinged and Luna's nose wriggled at the familiar stench of the hallway that lead to her apartment. She took her key, ready open her door, only to realize it was already ajar. She stood rigid, ready for anything. Until she heard the sound of her coffee machine going and distinct chatter coming from inside.
"Tony, for fu- She is not the type to keep a diary." Luna heard Natasha say, clearly exasperated.
"Romanoff, please, she's a teenage girl, of course she keeps a diary. I just gotta find it," Tony replied.
Luna shook her head and leaned her shoulder against the doorway, watching Tony go through her stuff. "Yeah, sure, just make yourself at home then."
Natasha turned her head before taking a sip of the coffee she had made.
"Carter, there you are. Finally!" Tony exclaimed.
Luna rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her, dumping her stuff on the couch. "So... What're y'all doing here? I'm assuming it's not to wish me a happy birthday, seeing as you didn't actually bring a present. Assholes."
"Yeah, sorry. We came to talk to you." Natasha said.
"It's been two years. If I wanted to talk, I would've come to that ridiculous tower of yours, Stark." Luna snarked and sat down on the other side of the couch Natasha was sitting on.
Tony was standing in front of them both. "We need your help with a mission, it's important."
"That must've been hard for you to say, Tony, that you need help. But either way, if you hadn't noticed, my life is a bit of a clusterfuck at the moment, so I'm gonna have to pass," she said, ignoring the nostalgic feeling that was growing in her chest at the sight of her old teammates.
"Luna, S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone." Natasha said.
Luna fell quiet.
"It went down a year ago. Cap, me and Sam Wilson went on a mission."
"What mission, what happened?" Luna asked quietly as she sat up straight. She vaguely remembered seeing stuff happen on the news, but it happened while she was still in Wakanda, and she didn't ever really look at the news. It made her depressed whenever she did.
"The Winter Soldier. Hydra, basically." Tony said.
"Bucky Barnes, you've heard of him?" Luna nodded.
James Buchanan Barnes. Steve Roger's childhood friend, and part of the Howling Commandos. Died on mission. Peggy had mentioned him once. And of course, he was a part of Luna's history book.
"Hydra altered his mind, controlled him and put him in cryo-freeze. He's on the run now, Cap and Wilson are tracking him as we speak. But Hydra..." Natasha trailed off, looking down. "They've been in S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades. Cap took them down, and now we're trying to shut down the last of their bases."
"They have Loki's scepter." Tony added.
Luna looked up, startled at the news. "That's... bad. How long have they had it?"
"A while, we're not sure. But there's only one base left, that we know of, it could be."
Luna sighed and ran a hand over her face as she said, "Okay..." She took a moment, her mind racing a million miles an hour.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was gone. Everything her great-grandmother had built was for nothing. Who knew who they could trust now? Who is Hydra and who isn't? Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear T'Challa telling her to get off her ass. Then, his voice changed and morphed into Derek's. They were right. The scepter was Luna's responsibility, so was S.H.I.E.L.D., and she and the team had to clean up their mess.
Luna looked at Tony and Natasha and said, "when do we leave?"
• • •
To say Luna didn't sleep well that night would be a correct assumption. Even with her track-record of poor, nightmare-fueled nights the past year, this was somehow worse. She was excited, yet also terrified. Should she have declined on the mission after all? Was it too late to call the whole thing off? I mean, did they really want the scepter back? Who was she kidding, of course they needed the scepter back. It was a dangerous weapon on its own, who knew what Hydra might have done with it already?
Luna made her way across the familiar streets of Brooklyn, flagging down a cab on the way. The tower wasn't far, a little ways into Manhattan but still, driving past the familiar scenes of where she fought for her life years ago triggered some things in her. Anxiety, mainly. And even though she hadn't had a panic attack since she left Wakanda, she wasn't reassured that past memories wouldn't resurface them in one way or another.
She made her way into Stark tower, now apparently Avenger's tower. She ignored the man sitting at the reception, hoping he wouldn't recognize her and quickly sped into the elevator.
"Good morning, Miss. Carter, glad you could join us." JARVIS spoke on the intercom. Luna jumped at the suddenness but calmed herself quickly.
"Morning, JARVIS, everybody already up there?" She asked as the elevator started moving up.
"Just waiting on you."
"Great..." Luna muttered as she played with the hem of her sleeve. She felt the elevator slowing down to a stop and the nerves rose.
Most of these people she hadn't seen in 2 years, and they had no idea where she'd been. Luna had no idea if they even cared. After all, she wasn't the same person she was back then. So much happened. Not only to her, but the others had their own threats to deal with. Her trauma, so to speak, wasn't that special compared to the others and she could deal with it on her own. She had to.
The doors slid open and the Avengers stood gathered around the table, in uniform already.
"I wasn't aware this was a Halloween party?"
All heads turned her way and Luna decided she did not like being watched under their judgmental gazes.
"Lady Carter!" Thor's voice boomed.
Luna smiled at her favorite superhero and shook his hand firmly.
It stayed quiet for a long few seconds.
"Okay, I'll ask; where have you been?" Clint asked and waved at Luna.
Steve gave Luna a stern look, hoping to catch her on her sort-of-lie.
She smiled sarcastically at him and said, "like I told Steve earlier this week, I was on vacation."
"Then how come we couldn't contact you? And who the hell goes on vacation for an entire year?" Tony said.
"Why am I being interrogated?" Luna crossed her arms accusingly.
"Because you're a kid and we're worried about you."
Luna ignored the fuzzy feeling in her chest. She absolutely did not miss these guys and they did not care for her. "And somehow I'm still more mature than you, Stark."
"Come on guys, stop acting like cops." Bruce said.
Luna almost didn't notice him at first. He has always had the urge to hide himself like that. She smiled brightly at him. "Thank you, Bruce. But FYI, I was on a... spirit quest, of sorts." Again, not a complete lie. "It kind of went badly and..."
I lost my brother, she wanted to say. But she didn't. Because they didn't need to know. They all needed to focus on the mission, not on her.
She sat down on top of the table and smiled awkwardly. "Now, who's gonna brief me, or am I going in blind?"
• • •
Luna bopped her leg up and down as the team sat in the Quinjet, about as spread out as they could be. Steve's motorbike stood leaning against the wall and the weapons hung on the wall next to it. Natasha and Bruce sat on the bench opposite of Luna. Bruce wasn't going in the field, unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, he was mainly here for technical support and communication. Clint was flying the jet, in light conversation with Thor.
Steve stood up from his spot and sat down next to Luna.
She tried to ignore him, but it was hard when the human equivalent of a bulked-up golden retriever sat down next to you and bumped into your shoulder.
"You want something?" Luna asked.
"Just checking up, you were looking kind of zoned out," Steve said, concern in his eyes.
"I quite like my zone, thank you." She made her leg stop moving, instead choosing to let her anxiety out by playing with her hands.
"How are you doing? Did you visit Peggy again after last week?" he asked.
Luna looked at Steve for a second before averting her eyes to her lap. "No. I mean, there's no point now. She doesn't..."
Steve seemed to get what she was grasping at instantly. "Maybe so, but you remember her. She's your family, you can visit her for you."
Luna looked up at Steve. "Maybe." She stayed quiet, pulling at the collar that was all the way up her neck, her face scrunched up in annoyance.
"What's up? You don't like the suit?" Tony asked as he looked up from his tablet.
Before they left, Tony had taken her to the room he stored his back-up Ironman suits in and showed her something he cooked up, just in case Luna agreed to the mission.
The tight fabric was a dark grey, with black protective gear and black straps and a belt that connected the holsters for her weapons from her waist, hips and to her high-top boots that laced up to below her knees. All along the sides of her body went a purple lining, in a strange pattern. It didn't seem to have any use other than looking pretty.
Tony really seemed to have put work into adapting this suit precisely to Luna's needs. The suit was fire- and waterproof, could withstand an explosion without tearing and there was a special compartment at her upper-thigh that could store a small amount of water.
And even with this high-tech suit, Luna still decided to wear her leather jacket over it.
"Oh, sorry, Tony, but not everybody here is used to wearing a tight-ass body-suit," Luna said and glanced openly at Steve and Natasha.
"Team, we're here!" Clint called as they felt the jet descend.
Everybody stood to suit up, ready for a fight.
The Avengers took off into the forest; Captain America on the motorbike, followed by Ironman flying up in the air and Thor swinging his hammer to pull him along. Black Widow and Hawkeye rode along in the roofless truck and Luna pushed the ground beneath her up, like a platform on the ground and used it glide across the forest floor at high speed.
It wasn't long before Hydra figured out what was happening and The Hulk had to join the battlefield. The closer they got to the mountain base, the more Hydra agents they encountered.
Thor swung to a watchtower, slinging the people out. Hulk did what he always did, smashing everything and everyone in his path. Steve zipped through the mass of trees with his bike, knocking down agents with his shield. The two spies in the truck followed after him as Hawkeye hit every target. Tony flew above them all, taking out agents far ahead with his energy beams.
Luna quickly lost sight of her team. Her mind went fuzzy as she tried to drown out the sounds of fighting. She stopped, dropped the platform back in the ground and shook her head. She couldn't think, everything was happening so fast.
Luna didn't think as Hydra began shooting at her, she only deflected the bullets and knocked them out. She used the snow on the ground underneath to her advantage and pushed herself into the air for attacks from above, but never her fire. She didn't trust herself with fire, the burns on her brother's arms flashing into her mind.
It went quiet around her. Agents had stopped coming for now. She heard the battle raging on in the background, and in her mind she thought she could hear her brother's screams among those of the Hydra agents. Panic rose in her.
A loud, distant crash broke through her mind, followed by Tony over the comms, "shit!"
"Language." Cap responded immediately.
Luna's panic sank back at the simple exchange and she quickly got back to fighting.
"JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?" Captain America asked through the comms.
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken," JARVIS answered.
Thor joined in, "Loki's scepter must be there. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last!"
"'At long last' is lasting a little long, guys," Natasha said.
Luna chuckled quietly, "right. I think we've lost the element of surprise."
As she was walking back to the team, three Hydra agents charged at her. She quickly spun her arms as the snow around them became water. Then, she wrapped it around them and clenched her fists, freezing the agents in three blocks of ice. She started running slowly, but her team still wasn't in her sight.
"Wait a second. No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language?'" Tony pointed out.
Cap audibly sighed, "I know. Just... slipped out."
"Taking the 'old man' act a little far, are we, Cap?" Luna added, already out of breath.
She groaned as more agents came her way. Bullets flew around her and into the tree, she felt one scratching her shoulder and Luna suddenly felt grateful for the itchy suit Tony gave her or that would've definitely stung.
"You guys can't aim for shit!" she yelled before kicking out her leg and sending a boulder as large as herself their way.
The agents' screams stirred something in her and it felt as if the rock fell on her. She was transported back to The Spirit Wilds, in the clearing much like the one she was in now. She could hear the distant conversation going on in her ear.
"We have an enhanced on the field," one of them said, Luna thought it might've been Steve.
"Luna," someone said her name, "Clint's been hit, I need you to heal him."
The sentence didn't fully register.
"Luna!" Natasha said again.
This time Luna snapped out, trying to regulate her heartbeat. No doubt Tony installed some sort of health-tracking system in her suit. Luna shook her head and tried to make her way over to Natasha and Clint.
Before she could reach them, she got knocked to the ground by an invisible force.
Luna sat up and blinked in a confused daze. She shook her head before standing up and brushing the snow off her legs. With a whoosh of... something, she got pushed backwards again, but she quickly managed to find her footing and stood steadily.
"What the hell..." She looked around and spoke into the comms, "I think I just spotted the enhanced?"
Her thought was confirmed when she got thrown back again, and saw a boy, maybe a little older than her walk past with a cheeky grin.
"Didn't see that coming?" he said with a rough Russian accent.
Luna frowned, blew a strand of hair out of her face and used air to stand upright within a second. She bend the snow beneath her to splash against the boy's face. It hit perfectly and she looked victorious.
The boy and Luna stood at opposite sides of the clearing, awaiting the other's next move.
"Luna?" Natasha's voice sounded in Luna's ear.
Luna didn't remove her eyes from the silent staring competition with the boy (that she was winning) and responded, "uh- yeah, I'm on my way."
The boy didn't try to stop her. He only winked and disappeared.
Luna shook the confusion off and finally reached Clint and Natasha.
"Sorry, ran into the enhanced," she said quickly, out of breath. She kneeled down next to Clint and inspected the wound.
"Never mind that, can you help him?" Natasha asked.
Luna bend the water and focused it around the wound. The water began to glow. She could see Natasha staring at her in strange fascination.
"Here," she said and let the water fall back to the ground. "This'll do for now but we need to get him to a doctor, pronto."
"Stark, we really need to get inside," Cap's voice crackled over the comms.
"I'm closing in," Tony responded.
Luna looked at Natasha. "You got him?" she said and nodded to Clint.
Natasha nodded.
Luna took off, ready to rejoin the mission. She could spot the entrance of the base when four agents made their way to stop her. The first aimed a punch at her face, but Luna easily deflected and threw him against a tree. Two others charged at once and Luna blew one against a wall before they reached her and froze them shut.
But she had taken her eyes off the last two coming her way. They knocked her to the ground, aiming their guns. She gave them a 'really?' look before freezing the guns out of their hands, and swept her leg to knock them both over. They fell to the ground. Luna took out her handgun that was in the holster at her hip and took four shots. One for each knee.
"The drawbridge is down, people," Tony said.
Luna saw the glistering forcefield drop in front of her. She stood hidden at the entrance, scouting inside. There were 2... 4... too much to handle on her own.
"I have eyes inside, there are at least a dozen agents. Gonna need some back-up," she said.
"On my way," Tony replied.
"Clint's hit pretty bad," Natasha said. "Even with Luna's healing... thingy. We're gonna need evac."
"I can get Barton to the jet. The sooner we're gone the better. The rest secure the scepter," Thor said.
That only left Cap, Luna and Stark on the field. As Natasha had to go put her lullaby to the test with The Hulk.
"Copy that," Cap said.
"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony quipped.
Steve sighed and grumbled, "great."
"You're never gonna live that down." Luna said with a breathy chuckle.
Tony finally reached her at the entrance. He didn't hesitated and took down the agents inside with bullets from his suit.
Tony and Luna made their way inside.
"What now?" Luna asked as Tony stepped out of his suit.
Tony walked towards an open wall.
The two shared a look.
"Please be a secret door..." Tony muttered and pushed at the wall. Lo and behold; it revealed a secret door.
Luna walked forward and fist-bumped Tony.
"You go, I'll keep watch," she said and Tony nodded before disappearing into the secret tunnel.
And then there was one. Luna looked around at the unconscious men on the ground and sat down, her back against a control panel.
"How're you doing?" she asked.
One of the agents grunted.
"Rude," Luna huffed.
"We have a second enhanced on the field. Female. Do not engage," Cap said.
Luna didn't have a chance to respond properly as a girl, similar looking to the other enhanced walked inside the room.
"I have eyes on the enhanced," she said and stood up quickly, taking a step back.
The girl's stare bore into her eyes, it creeped her out.
"She's right here. The enhanced is in front of me, right now." Luna watched quietly at the red whisps coming from the girl's hands and the red glow in her eyes. If the enhanced wasn't so creepy, Luna would've thought she was strangely beautiful.
"Look..." Luna began, holding her hands up. "I don't wanna fight, but I also ain't letting you go through that door."
The auburn-haired girl looked strangely at Luna and approached her.
Luna froze, not sure what to do as the girl put her hand at the side of Luna's face. She realized what was happening too late; a red haze went over her mind and the enhanced walked past her. Luna ran a hand across her face and started to go after the girl, but a sound from the ground got her attention. She looked down.
There lay Derek, bloodied and burned. Derek's hand reached up, covered with fresh blood. He could barely open his eyes as he looked at Luna.
"Why?" he said.
Luna frowned, as single teardrops rolled down her face.
"Why would you do this?"
Luna looked at her hands. They were smoking and red with the blood of her brother.
"No. No, I didn't..." Luna muttered to herself.
Derek breathed out, and didn't breath in again.
"Der?" Luna asked as she let herself fall to her knees next to him. She didn't notice when her brother vanished into thin air or when the red haze fell off her mind. She sat on the ground, looking at her shaking hands as tears slowly rolled down her face, one by one.
Luna felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her teary eyes to Tony.
He watched her quietly.
"What just happened?" she asked, trying to regain the strength in her voice.
"The enhanced. She... messed with our minds," Tony said and Luna noticed that he was shaken too. He held out his hand and helped Luna upright. "You okay?" he asked.
Luna wiped a stray tear from her cheek as she looked at Tony. "Are you?"