VII. FUGITIVES OF THE LAW
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"Where would Ross keep them? It's a large place, Cap, they could be anywhere," Luna said as she paced back and forth.
"I'm not so sure about that," Steve replied, looking at the schematics of the Raft spread across the table.
He had brought it with him, just in case Luna was thinking what he thought she was thinking; rescuing her friends. "There ain't a lot of places that are strong enough to keep someone like Wanda. They'll be kept here," he pointed to one of the upper levels of the building with a row of cells, all of them lined with metal that probably carried power dampeners with them.
"And if they're not?" she asked.
Steve shrugged. "Let's not think like that, alright?"
Luna sighed deeply. "And the guards? This place is crawling with them. There are cameras around every corner," she said and motioned to the schematics. "I could take them out."
"Not necessary," he said. "Here," he pointed at a room off one of the corridors. "this is the only security room for the whole wing. You take out the people in the room and I'll clear the way to the cells."
Luna nodded along. "So we're really not trying to be stealthy at all?"
"Do we have a reason to be? We're already criminals."
"Good point."
For the rest of the night they stayed up, making sure there would be no surprises when they finally set their plan in motion. They had the quinjet Steve could fly for their entrance and, hopefully, smooth exit.
Luna could already feel her adrenaline flaring. It had been awhile, or at least felt like it, since she had gone on a mission, an actual mission. She hadn't felt like a hero ever since Lagos, but with Cap at the helm and her daggers in her hands, somehow she felt like things could be alright again.
The early morning sun was barely cresting the horizon as the quinjet flew through the air towards the coordinates Natasha had provided. The sky was still a deep navy blue, but little strands of orange had begun floating up, illuminating the clouds in all shades of orange and pink.
"We're approaching the coordinates," Luna said, reading the tablet.
Steve nodded and picked up the radio. "Attention Raft tower, looking for clearance to land."
A crackle sounded through the radio before a voice spoke up. "Security code."
"Accismus," Steve replied.
Luna held her breath as three long seconds passed without an answer.
"Cleared for landing. Look for runway 3," the person said and the radio cut out.
Both of them let out a simultaneous breath of relief as the Raft broke the surface. It was a large, circular building, but at the same time not as large as Luna had expected. Steve landed the quinjet and already they saw two guards coming up to them, presumably to help them with the jet.
"You ready?"
Luna cracked her knuckles. "If you are," she shrugged and shared a smile with Steve before they hopped out of the quinjet, reaching the agents before they could call in their location.
Dragging the two men to a dark and damp corner, they crushed their radios and threw their weapons overboard. It was easy finding their way inside, especially since Luna kept the schematic of the building on her phone. Coming up on a crossroads they stopped and put in their earpieces.
"Left is the security room, I'll call in the second the coast is clear," Luna said.
"I'll clear the way to the cells," Steve added. "Meet me after you're done here."
"Copy that. You got the keycard?"
He held up the card he had stolen from one of the guards outside. They nodded at each other, full of determination, before splitting up. Luna followed the corridor, making sure to keep clear of the cameras. In no time she reached the room. Taking a broad stance, she moved her arms in a pulling motion, slowly creating a vortex, sucking all of the air out of the room. It stayed quiet inside before she started hearing choking sounds.
That was her que to let the air back in and kick the door open. It was a larger room than she had expected and occupied a lot more people. But she had surprised them and at least half of them were knocked out, the rest was in a daze. She took them out easily. Coming up to the screens broadcasting and recording the camera footage, she strained her mind to remember how to loop cameras but eventually made it work.
"Coast is clear," she said through her earpiece. "I'm coming to jo—" she began saying, but something caught her eye.
"Copy that. What were you saying?" Steve responded.
"Keep going. You'll find Sam and the rest," she said, looking at the cameras in the cells. "Wanda and Pietro aren't there," she noticed, they weren't anywhere on the cameras. They're in a different wing, Luna realized.
"Luna, wait for me—"
She cut him off, "don't bother, Cap. Get the rest out of here, we'll meet you at the quinjet."
She heard him sigh. "Don't get dead."
Luna had already begun running before she realized she had no idea in which wing Wanda and Pietro were being kept.
"Fuck..." she murmured as she came to a stop.
Something pulled at her mind. Something so light and unnoticeable that Luna's first thought was to dismiss it. But then she felt it, the familiar and calming presence of Wanda poking at the outskirts of her consciousness. Taking deep breaths, she let the magic breach her mind. Luna began to see a string of red mist floating in the air; Ariadne's string pulling her out of the labyrinth. There was no hesitation as Luna began sprinting.
Turning the corner, she immediately turned back, just in time so that the group of four guards did not catch sight of her.
"Shit, okay," Luna muttered under her breath, taking a peek. She did not want to waste her time any longer and turned the corner, saying 'fuck it' to her herself, and charged at the guards.
The second they saw her approaching, their guns were trained on her. Luna reached out and bent the metal towards her, the guns dropping and sliding towards her. Pulling water out of the flask she had brought with her, Luna used it to freeze two of them to the ground and knock them out with her elbows. The other two were on her immediately. Luna used the air around her to put some strength behind her punches and dealt with the remaining guards the way Natasha had taught her.
The door was closed and Luna had not taken a keycard for herself. Fine, she thought, I don't need one. Putting her hands to the door, she felt the metal. She crushed her fist and the metal crumpled together, the hinges breaking. With one last kick, the door flew inside.
Catching her breath, Luna jogged inside of the stark white room, the led lights blinding her for a moment before her eyes adjusted. There were a row of cells, but the red string only led to one of them. The cells were different from the ones where Sam and the rest were being kept. The bars were not just metal, instead Luna could feel the power radiating from them. Power dampening probably. Definitely electric.
Luna ran up to Wanda's cell. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw her. Wanda was curled up on her thin bed, her hair a mess and bags beneath her eyes. That was not the worst of it; she was in a straight-jacket. Anger flared inside of Luna.
"Wanda?" she asked.
Wanda's head snapped her way, her green eyes widening as she saw Luna. "What are—"
"Getting you out of here," she replied, letting a smile cross her lips. She raised her hands, as if to touch the bars.
"No!" Wanda yelped. "They shock you."
"I figured," she said and let her hands crackle with a layer of electricity. She touched a single finger to the bar and let the power flow through her, sucking it out of the metal of the bars and redirecting it to the lights above her.
Carefully, Luna raised her hands once more and grabbed the bars tightly. There was no shock. She let the anger back into her body and withing seconds she had ripped the bars away, grabbing Wanda and pulling her out of the power dampening cell.
Wanda's eyes glowed red, her hair floating up for a second before dropping. "How did you find us?" she asked, still in shock.
Luna turned Wanda around so she could unlock the jacket and set it on fire. "I followed your magic," she said as she looked her in the eye, the green still had a tint of red. "I guess there's some things those cells can't hold."
Wanda, despite her hesitance to trust the girl before her, smiled.
"Okay," another voice spoke up. "This is all very nice but could you maybe get me out as well?"
Luna looked behind Wanda and saw Pietro glaring at the two from behind his own electrified bars. Luna cleared her throat, stepping away from Wanda. "Right. Let's get out of here."
• • •
They were safe, for as far as they could be. Something inside Luna told her the fight was far from over, but those were worries for another time. Steve had decided it would be safer to split up; it would be less conspicuous if they traveled in groups of three. Steve, Natasha and Sam went off together, and Luna, Wanda and Pietro had stayed together.
Bucky was in Wakanda, after Luna had contacted Shuri about his 'condition'. Shuri always knew what to do. Everything was back to normal. Well, if normal meant being on the run from almost every country imaginable. At least Tony had seemingly mellowed out a little, he had bigger things to worry about. Like Rhodey, who was learning to walk again with protheses connected to his legs.
Luna had also called Shuri about Derek. After the initial information she had gotten from T'Challa, she had promised to come visit as soon as she could but those plans had been derailed by all that had come after. Shuri had promised to keep her updated if anything changed.
Natasha had provided Luna and the twins with a safe house in Edinburgh and as much as Luna hated leaving Brooklyn behind, she had to admit that the capital of Scotland had some charm to it.
The silence rung loud as the three opened the door to the apartment, it was the same silence that was thick during the car ride there. All of them carried only a backpack with essentials, the rest they would have to pick up on the way to building their new life.
Luna had no idea what to say. What could she say? Sorry? They knew she was sorry, why else would she have gone against the Sokovia Accords and break them out of The Raft?
She cleared her throat. "So—uhm—Nat said everything was taken care of, but I'm gonna get a job anyway. To keep up appearances, you know," she said awkwardly, putting down her backpack on the kitchen island. "We're new and not from around here, I'm sure our neighbors are gonna notice. Besides, we should save up money, if things go awry."
"I'm going to bed," Wanda said curtly and went to claim her room.
Luna sighed, rubbing her neck that was still sore from the fight. She hadn't had the chance to heal herself yet, and she wasn't in the right state of mind to do it now.
"Sorry about that," Pietro said, catching Luna off guard. She looked up at him, confused. He pointed at her neck. "Did not mean to—you know—do that."
"It's fine, it'll heal," she replied. "I kinda deserved it..." she added, looking glumly at Wanda's closed door.
"Give her some time," Pietro spoke. "She will forgive you."
Luna bit the inside of her cheek as she turned and looked at the older boy. "And you?" she asked. "Have you forgiven me?"
He shrugged, far more casually than the conversation they were having. "I think you've earned it. Yes, you made mistakes, I have too. We all have. At least you tried to fix them."
Luna let herself smile. "Glad we're back together, speedy."
He smiled back. "Same."
As evening fell and Wanda had still not come out of her room, Luna decided something. So, knocking on her bedroom door, she waited for an answer. She was a little shocked as she heard a 'come in' instead of a 'fuck off'. Slowly, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was dimly lit and a little bit of the moon's light streamed in from the window. Wanda was sitting on the bed, reading a book Luna didn't recognize.
"Hey," Luna said carefully.
Wanda seemed to have softened from the coldness she had given off since they'd arrived. She folded the corner of the page and put the book on her nightstand. "Hey." She sat up straighter as Luna walked closer. "I'm sorry for earlier. My... callousness was uncalled for," she said and cleared a space on the bed.
Luna sat down, turning to face Wanda. "It's fine. I just—" she cleared her throat, "wanted to apologize. Properly. So, I'm sorry. For not listening to you and Pietro and not realizing that I was hurting you. I let this whole thing spin out of control and—"
Wanda cut her off as she grabbed her hand. "Luna. I understand. Neither Tony nor Steve were wrong in this war. People have different ideals and different limits for how far they will take them. I'm just glad—" she averted her eyes for a second before looking back up, "I am glad that we're together again."
"Even though we're fugitives of the law?"
She shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It does not feel like that with you. Was there... anything else?"
Luna felt the need to clear her throat again as her face grew hot. "Uh, yeah." She put the file she had received from Nick Fury on the bed; her parents' file.
Wanda's eyes lit up with recognition.
"You said you'd be by my side when I opened this... that offer still stand?" Luna asked shyly.
"It wasn't an offer," Wanda began, "it was a promise."
Luna breathed a sigh of relief and opened the file, her eyes scanning the words immediately. Most of this she new already from Fury, but the little details about missions finally gave reason to the unexplained absences from her parents so many years ago. At the end of the file stood three little words that made Luna's heart hammer in her chest.
Cause of death: car crash.
For a second Luna could breathe again, until she saw scribbled beneath it: for Luna, assassination by The Winter Soldier covered up by HYDRA agents within SHIELD. Mary and Peter knew. – N.F.
"It was Barnes..." Luna murmured as tears clouded her vision. She did not let them fall. She had already mourned her parents when she was eight, there was no need for it now. "HYDRA killed my parents. They found out about the infiltration within S.H.I.E.L.D. and send their best assassin."
Wanda's eyes did not leave Luna's face. "How do you feel?"
"I... don't know. It feels good to know the truth. It feels bad to know that I let my parents' killer get away. But then it feels good to know that he's in Wakanda, currently getting removed from an innocent man's mind," she explained and then chuckled, wiping her eyes.
Wanda hesitated for only a second before wrapping Luna in a hug.
"Thank you," Luna whispered, her skin tingling where it touched Wanda's. "For everything. And I—" she stammered as she began to pull away. Wanda kept her close, her warm, uneven breaths hitting Luna's face. "Wanda, I—" her breath caught in her throat as her eyes met Wanda's; they were looking down. They were so close... Luna could just lean forward and—
Wanda was quicker. She rushed forward, capturing Luna's lips on her own and everything fell into place. Luna had followed the string and found at the end of the labyrinth something that had always been there, but she only realized it as Wanda's soft lips were on her own, her hand on her waist and the other on her jaw. Something blossomed between them; a matching of heartbeats, the way their lips were like a lock and key, the first flower to grow in the spring.
Luna finally understood why Wanda had been so alluring when they first met, so scary yet never far from her mind.
Wanda knew that in this moment, they could never be pulled apart again.
When they broke apart, Luna had the urge to never stop. To never stop kissing Wanda and to never stop loving her. Because this was it; this was her person. It only took her two years to figure it out.
Luna held Wanda's face as she rested her forehead against hers, both trying to catch their breath. When Luna opened her eyes she found Wanda already looking at her, something new twinkling in her eyes. "I love you..." she whispered. "That was what I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted me."
Wanda chuckled, a broad smile growing on her face. "I love you too."
"Good..." Luna said quietly. "Yeah, that's good..." she leaned in again and as their lips met again Luna was sure: everything was alright again.
For now.
Luna Carter will return in Avengers: Infinity War