II. WHAT HAPPENS IN LAGOS...
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The parasol above Luna and Wanda's table did little to stop the hot Lagos sun from penetrating as the early morning was slowly turning into midday. Before they went to sit down for the stake-out, Cap had handed them both a hat and sunglasses, saying that they'd look less noticeable with them on. Luna had some doubts on the matter.
Currently, their mission to stop the ex-HYDRA agent known as Crossbones from getting his hands on a dangerous bio-weapon, was officially underway. This was what Steve and Natasha had been training them for, and what they would keep doing for as long as they could.
Wanda concentrated hard on her cup of coffee as she poured her second pack of sugar in. Shoving the empty pack under her cup, she picked up the small spoon and stirred the hot liquid. Bringing the white porcelain mug to her lips, she took a small sip. Her face scrunched together and she quickly took another sugar pack, pouring it in.
Luna frowned at the girl's actions. "You want some coffee with that sugar?"
Rolling her eyes, Wanda leaned back in her seat, looking around inconspicuously at the people at the market in Lagos. "It is bitter." She said.
Luna nodded slowly as she adjusted her black sunglasses. "Yes, it's coffee, that's the point."
"I don't like it this bitter." Wanda replied, her eyes darting around the terrace of the small restaurant.
"Then why did you order coffee?" Pietro's voice came through the comms, "you know, they have tea."
"Guys," Cap's voice came through the comms, "Let's stay on mission. Alright, what do you see?"
Luna brought her own coffee up to her mouth and as she took a sip she let her eyes wander. "Low-life cops," she said as she eyed the police station across from the restaurant, "small-ass station. Street's quiet, not a lot of action, don't think they'd expect any either. Oh, and there's this spunky redhead a couple of tables away, looks sus."
The redhead a couple of tables away, also sporting some fancy sunglasses, turned and glared at Luna.
Luna grinned and winked at her.
Pietro, who sat opposite the spunky redhead, hid his grin.
Wanda shook her head at the girl opposite her. "Station's a good target, Cap." She said.
"There's an ATM in the south corner," Cap said from his overview in a building above the street, "Which means..."
"Cameras." Wanda finished.
"I thought this was 'a serious and high-risk mission', not another training session." Luna grumbled under her breath.
"No reason it can't be both, rookie," she could hear Steve's satisfied smile, "both cross streets are one way." He said.
Luna sunk into her uncomfortable seat, she was sure to have back pain later, and stared bored into the blue, cloudless sky. "Means he's getting seen one way or another; compromised escape routes. Not a smart move."
"Maybe," Cap countered, "or our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out. You see the Range Rover halfway up the block?"
Wanda spoke openly, a benefit they had gained when they put two people, Wanda and Luna, at the same table. They could speak into the comms without it seeming weird, or suspicious to bystanders. Natasha and Pietro had the same benefit. "Yeah," she said as she glanced quickly over her shoulder, "the red one? It's cute, better than Luna's crappy convertible."
Luna's mouth fell open. "Hey!" She exclaimed quietly.
"It is true..." Pietro muttered.
"It's also bulletproof." Luna's gaze panned over Wanda's shoulder, to Natasha sipping her coffee. "Which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us." Natasha said.
"You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?" Wanda said as she smiled, as if in a riveting conversation with Luna.
"I have a literal spirit in me that lets me use the elements to my will. Pietro can, like, run really fast." Luna added. "Sometimes it feels like y'all forget we have superpowers. It hurts my feelings." She said, and made a pouting face.
"Doesn't matter that you have powers if the bad guys get the jump on you. Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature." Natasha said.
Luna, almost forgetting there was another person on this mission, tried to stop herself from flinching as Sam's voice came through the radio. He had been stationed on the top of the building that towered over the police station. "Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" He said.
"Not to my face." Natasha replied. "Why? Did you hear something?"
Steve interrupted once again, to remind everybody that they were supposed to be paying attention. "Eyes on target, folks. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him."
"If he sees us coming that won't be a problem. He kind of hates us." Sam stated.
"There's honking," Pietro noticed, and then his seat was empty for a second before he appeared again, "garbage truck." He said, flattening down his dirty-white hair. "Pushing through the crowd."
Luna's eyes widened, "I wasn't aware it was garbage pick-up day. I didn't put my trash out." She said.
"Sam, you spot it? Tag it." Cap instructed.
"Oh, here he goes," Luna rolled her eyes, "with his little pet robot..."
"Hey," Sam said affronted, "his name's Redwing, put some damn respect to his name." It was quiet for a second as Redwing scanned the truck before Sam continued, "That truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed."
"It's a battering ram." Natasha concluded.
"Go now." Steve commanded.
Luna shook her head, startled. "What?"
"He's not hitting the police."
It clicked in the three rookies simultaneously; the truck was being used to break through the gates of the IFID. Pietro looked at Natasha and as the woman nodded, he sped off. Luna and Wanda quickly, at a slower pace than the speedster, ran through the crowding streets, as Sam flew with his robotic wings above them through the air.
When they reached the building Cap was stationed in, Sam picked him up from the ground, carrying him the rest of the way. Wanda and Luna arrived too late: the garbage truck slammed into the concrete barricade and flipped, breaking the stone archway, Pietro was quick to get the people out of the way from falling rubble.
Luna stopped short in her steps as two mustard-yellow trucks raced through the newly-made entrance, she pushed her arms forward and tried to derail the trucks, resulting in a mere spin of the wheel as the trucks still made it inside. The doors slid open and out walked a plague of heavily-armed agents.
Wanda looked at Luna with a pointed stare.
Luna sighed. "Fine, maybe I haven't got the hang on metal bending, yet!" She complained.
"Let's just go." Wanda said as she went to join the fight.
Luna had long lost track of her other teammates, except for Wanda who was fighting at her side. Natasha was surely kicking some HYDRA ass, Sam would have dropped Cap off on high-ground to oversee the fight and then continued picking off bad guys one by one from the skies. Pietro was impossible to keep track of, as he sped around the fight, getting innocent bystanders out of harm's way.
"Body armor, AR-15's," Captain America informed, "I make fourteen hostiles."
Luna's ears perked up as gunfire came from behind her, the disturbance the bullets made in the air tickling the back of her head. When she turned, it was too late to stop them, but suddenly a whoosh blew her hair in her face and the bullets fell to the ground.
Pietro stopped in front of her. "You are welcome."
Luna shrugged. "Not catching them with your chest this time?"
"Oof," Pietro held a hand to his heart, "too soon, Moony, too soon." He said and sped away.
"Don't call me that." Luna grumbled before spotting the two agents that had shot the bullets, they were coming her way, reloading their guns.
As she was about to bend the ground beneath them and launch them into the air, a red aura appeared around them and they floated in the air, their guns dropped to the ground quickly followed by the unconscious agents.
With a dark gleam in her eyes, Luna turned to where Wanda stood with a victorious look on her face. "Can y'all just let me take down these agents?" She threw her hands up in the air, "I wanna kill some Nazi's!"
"Twelve hostiles, Cap." Wanda said.
"Suka..." Luna said before catching three agents coming up behind Wanda.
Gaining speed, she charged toward Wanda, who stood frozen with wide eyes as Luna launched herself in the air and did a summersault over Wanda, bending the water from her flask and throwing it in ice picks to the agents' chests. They fell to the ground with a thud.
Luna turned to Wanda. "I got nine."
"Is that how you want to play it?" Wanda countered with a smirk before she closed her eyes.
Then, she moved her hand in the air and moved one of the trucks, revealing an agent changing magazines for his gun. Red mist formed around her hands as she pulled the guy through the air.
Luna shook her head and moved the ground beneath Wanda, sliding the girl a few feet away. In Wanda's distraction, she ran up to the guy and charged at him, kicking him in the face.
"Eight." She said and turned to Wanda, "but it was more of a combined effort."
Luna still didn't have eyes on Cap but his voice crackled in her ear, "seven hostiles."
Once again, gunfire made its way to Luna and Wanda as they were distracted. Sam jumped from the rooftop and spun down, and quickly took the two men out. "I make five." He said.
Luna thrust her arms out and stopped the bullets in their path, before spinning them and sending them on a new course, to a lone agent that was coming after Steve, who was running into the courtyard. The bullets lodged themselves into the agent's back.
Cap stopped running and nodded at Luna. "Four."
Luna gave him a thumbs up, a dumb grin on her face. She felt Wanda at her side before Sam's drone flew past their face, scanning the inside of the building.
"Rumlow's on the third floor." Sam said.
Luna craned her neck. She could see figures moving inside, but the windows were rapidly getting cloudy. The HYDRA agents must have released a knock-out gas to get inside. "He's using a bio-weapon to get a bio-weapon..." Luna commented, "it's bio-inception."
Cap ran up to the two, "Wanda, just like we practiced."
"What about the gas?" Wanda wondered.
Luna cracked her knuckles and said, "Leave that to me."
Cap began running towards the building. Wanda moved her hands through the air and lifted him up to the third floor window. Cap held his shield in front of him and burst through the window, shattering the glass as it fell to the concrete ground. Luna quickly went to work as she pulled all the contaminated air out of the room, simultaneously bending clean air back in.
Wanda and Luna stood outside, looking up as sounds and clacking of fighting and gunfire followed. Sam touched down behind them, spreading his wings to protect them from incoming gunfire from the agents left standing. The gunfire ceased as Sam released two small rockets from his backpack and send them to the two agents.
Luna groaned, straining her arms as she struggled to keep the HYDRA gas from spreading across the courtyard. "Wanda, a little help?" She forced out and Wanda moved her arms in the same way, together they moved the air in a spiral upward, letting it dissipate into the air.
"Pietro," Wanda began into her comms, "everybody out and safe?"
Pietro appeared in front of them, his hair a birds nest on his head, "I have been a little busy," he gave the two a pointed stare, "making sure the stray bullets don't find its targets in citizens."
Luna patted his shoulder. "Good job, Speedy. Gold star for you."
"Rumlow has the biological weapon." Captain America said.
The group fell quiet.
"Cap, I hate to say it, but that really was your job." Luna said with an awkward chuckle.
"That don't change the fact that he's got it." Cap grumbled.
"I'm on it." Natasha said, and the faint sounds of the deep grumbling coming from her motorcycle approached.
Another wave of HYDRA agents approached the four. Between Pietro's speed, Wanda's magic, Sam's missiles and Luna's powers, they made quick work of them.
"Sam." Cap's spoke, his voice strained as the group of four stood in the courtyard, waiting for instructions. "He's in an AFV heading north."
Sam turned to the other three. "You guys good?"
"Yeah," Luna replied, "we got this."
Sam nodded and took off, flying north.
Luna dropped on one knee and touched her hand to the ground that had been laid open by the broken concrete. She concentrated, letting the vibrations flow through her arms. "I got a disturbance back at the market. Lots of running and trampling. Pietro?" She barely had to ask before Pietro was off.
"Jesus." Pietro said through the comms. "He rode the his truck into the stands. I'm getting the people out of there."
"I've got four, they're splitting up." Sam said.
"I got the two on the left." Natasha followed.
"They ditched their gear." Cap said. "Luna, can you track them?"
Luna concentrated but all the vibrations were muddled in her head. "Not from here, not with so many footsteps. Rumlow's heavy, if I can get close enough I can track him."
"Do that." Cap answered. "It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload." A crash blasted through the comms, Cap's voice followed, "never mind. I got contact. Get here, now."
Wanda and Luna shared a determined glance before they took off. Wanda lifted herself in the air, the red strings of power coming from her hands pushing her forward, Luna bent an invisible ball of spinning wind beneath her and moved swiftly through the air, a foot above the ground at Wanda's side.
As they were coming up to the market, the sounds of panic and chaos became louder and louder. They took to the air, Wanda lifting Luna up higher. Pietro was around, zigzagging through the crowd, getting civilians to safety. It was difficult to spot anything through the thickness of the people there, but luckily they parted as soon as gunshots rang through the air.
"Mine doesn't have it," Sam said, "I'm empty. Up to you, Nat."
"I don't have eyes!" Natasha, and despite her usual coolness, the panic was present in the form of a tremble in her voice.
Luna dropped to the ground, her knees hurting as they landed harshly on the stones and sand and she let the vibrations run through her. "I got... quick footsteps. Running. Coming my way. South. Heavy-set men, carrying guns."
"Got it." Natasha replied.
Luna looked at Wanda and yelled, "I'm going in. You got it here?"
Wanda nodded strictly and that was all Luna needed as she sprung into the thick of it and ran towards where she had felt the loud vibrations.
As she turned the corner, she basically ran into a black-clad agent, who had indeed a semi-automatic in his hands.
He stopped abruptly and for a moment he was too stunned to act.
Luna took advantage and planted her fist on his face before grabbing his shoulder and kneeing him where the sun don't shine. He groaned and let out a short yet painful yell.
Luna grabbed his gun, said, "night, night." and hit him in the head with the back of the gun. The agent crumpled in a ball to the ground. She searched his body for the bio-weapon.
She groaned loudly, "I got one down. He doesn't have it. Nat?"
"Little busy—" A little further from where Luna stood, she heard two gunshots, "Payload secure." Natasha's voice came like a miracle through the earpiece. "Thanks, Sam."
Sam, like the cheeky bastard he was, said, "Don't thank me."
"I'm not thanking that thing." Natasha responded.
Luna chuckled and jogged through the maze of market stands and Nigerian panic and as she turned the corner, the familiar redhead came into view; she was having a standoff with Sam's drone. "Sam, nobody except you likes that thing."
Natasha's head whipped in her direction, she nodded appreciatively.
"Oh, but when he saves your lives he's okay? Explain that logic."
"It's a fucking robot. Its whole purpose is having our backs and scanning shit." Luna said.
"His name is Redwing. He's cute, go ahead, pet him."
An explosion filled the air, erasing all happy-go-lucky banter as the ground shook beneath them. Yet there was no mushroom cloud, no devastating fire or blast. Natasha didn't wait as she took off towards the origin, Luna right behind her.
The sight they walked up on was gruesome. Wanda was struggling, containing the blast and fire that had begun in the middle of the market. Inside the blast was Rumlow, his face contorted in agony as he screamed out, the fire eating him alive.
Cap stood by, helpless as Wanda moved the ball filled with fire and pain higher, going as far upward to the side of the building next to it. It was almost at the top, they had almost done it, when Wanda faltered. The explosion advanced. Fire rushed into the building as the windows shattered and the pillars crumbled. Dark smoke billowed out like clouds of darkness, faint screams faltered from inside.
"Oh my—" Steve said, breathlessly. "Pietro." he began quietly, to the boy that had joined his side.
"On it." Pietro sped away and into the building.
Wanda stumbled back, a hand over her mouth as she stared up at the devastation she reaped.
Luna shook her head, averting her eyes from the ruins and rushed to her side. "Wanda," She said softly, "look at me—hey, hey—look at me." She said again.
Wanda looked at her hesitantly, tears in her eyes, waiting to spill. "It's my fa—"
"No." Luna said sternly as she put her hands at Wanda's neck, turning her face away from the building. She brushed her thumps soothingly over Wanda's cheeks. "Don't look at that, look at me. Look at me, okay?"
Wanda nodded wordlessly.
With a gush of wind, Pietro appeared back at their side, shirt stained with soot. Luna stared at him. He shook his head. "The smoke was too thick. The people that were still in there..." He trailed off, a grim look on his face.
Wanda let out a dry sob.
Pietro swiftly pulled his sister to his chest as she clung to him.
"Luna," Cap walked up to them, "can you put it out?"
Luna swallowed thickly, running a hand through her hair that had gotten loose somewhere during the fight. "I—I'm no good at fire... But I can take away the oxygen."
That's exactly what she did; Luna bent the earth to raise her higher up from the ground and took a steady stance, she braced herself as she pulled all the air away from the fire. She pulled, and pulled and pulled as smoke slowly filled her lungs. As the distant sirens of Fire and Rescue got closer, the fire slowly died out to smoldering ashes and puffs of smoke. But it was too late, the damage had been done.
Their mission was done, but there was no success to be found.
• • •
"Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos, when the attack occurred." Said the news anchor, droning on and on about what had happened on the mission a month ago.
Luna leaned against the kitchen counter. She watched as Wanda sat curled up on the couch, a cup of tea in her hands. "Why do you do this to yourself?" She wondered out loud, walking up to the couch and taking a seat beside Wanda.
Wanda sighed, not taking her eyes off the screen as king T'Chaka of Wakanda appeared.
"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil, not only because of the actions of criminals but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them." King T'Chaka said. "Victory at the expense of the innocent... is no victory at all."
Luna grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. Her mind hadn't been quite right ever since she had gotten back from Lagos. More so now than ever, she wished she was still in contact with Shuri, to tell her it wasn't their fault. That there was nothing they could've done. She wasn't even sure if she believed that to be true herself. They were reckless, even with Pietro getting citizens out of the market there was still collateral damage.
Collateral damage. Luna hated those words. There shouldn't be any, that was their job, but they were too busy stopping the bad guys instead off saving the innocents. She couldn't help but agree with T'Chaka, the man who had once been so kind to her. The mission in Lagos didn't feel like a victory, and it should never feel like one.
"Why?" Wanda asked, her throat raspy. "I deserve the hatred." She said, avoiding Luna's piercing stare.
"This wasn't your fault, Wanda. You didn't set off the explosion." Luna said as she rested her hand on Wanda's knee, brushing soothing circles with her thumb.
Wanda lifted her finger and the TV turned back on. "—because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these. What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeri—" Luna turned it back off.
"Listen," Wanda finally looked back at Luna, "they are being very specific. It's my fault."
Luna shook her head. "I should've put the fire out the moment the explosion went off, but I was too afraid. Wanda," Luna took a deep breath, "this is not on you alone. We were all there. We—Cap, Sam, Nat, me—it's on all of us. You tried to help—"
"People died because of me, Luna."
"More people would've died if you did nothing. Cap would've died, Nat... me."
Wanda shook Luna's hand off. "That does not change the fact that those people are still dead. And that everyone else still hates me."
"This job..." Luna sighed. "Honestly, when I started I was fifteen and fighting aliens. I wasn't thinking about collateral damage, and people got killed. Is that on me? Maybe. Or maybe it's on the Chitauri, or on Ultron or on whatever asshole that decided to be an even bigger dick that day." She said and tentatively put her hand over Wanda's. "We were reckless. We didn't pay attention. But if we didn't do anything, more people would've died. Next time, we do better. We learn, we grow and we do better."
Wanda was quiet for a moment, but her hand grabbed onto Luna's tightly, "Luna, I—"
They were interrupted as Luna's phone buzzed. "Hold that thought." She frowned and grabbed her phone.
"What is it?" Wanda asked.
"It's Cap," Luna answered, "says we gotta get to the compound... us and Pietro." She frowned and re-read the message to make sure it was right. "The Secretary of State is waiting for us?"