Luce lay silently in bed, breathing soft as she waited for the sounds of the house to fade away. It hadn't been long since Clint and Coulson left and Pepper had hurried the kids off to bed. With a little bit of luck, Luce might be able to catch their trail, and then her mom. Waiting one more minute, she finally decided the house had been quite long enough to guarantee everyone else was asleep. Silently she slipped out of the covers, already fully-dressed and into her boots. She crossed the room and cracked open the door. Seeing nothing, she crept out into the hall and then quickly strode towards the elevator.
"Going somewhere?" Luce nearly jumped out of her skin as Meri rose up from an armchair and spun the face her. Luce set her jaw, "Yeah, so?" She tossed her hair and continued walking passed Meri, who promptly fell in pace next to her, "You're going to find our mom aren't you?" Luce sighed and stopped, "My mom, and so what if I am?" Meri opened her mouth to say something, but Luce held up her hand preemptively, "And you're not coming with me." Meri, Luce thought, would just slow me down. She's already taken up too much valuable time. With a last glance at Meri's upset face, she walked passed her and pressed the elevator call button. "Do you even know where you're going?" Meri called after her, "Or how to get there? Do you plan on taking the subway at this hour? There's scary people out there you know." Luce scowled and turned to look at Meri who had crossed her arms defiantly as if she had won the argument. "I can handle myself, thank you very much." Meri raised an eyebrow, "But wouldn't it be much easier with these?" She said dangling a pair of car keys in the air. Luce bit her lip but said nothing. Meri walked slowly up to her twin, "Here's the deal, you take me with you and we can use a car. Faster… safer… less smelly… get the picture?" Luce scowled at her but still weighed the pros and cons, finally deciding it might just be worth the hassle, "Fine. But I drive." She reached for the eys, which Meri promptly pulled back, "Nuh uh. License and registration please?" Meri's tone was joking, but Luce clenched her open fist, heisting, which caused Meri to drop her jaw in shock, "Oh my gosh, you don't have a license do you?" Luce said nothing, and Meri burst into laughter, "Seriously?! We're seventeen! Can you even drive?" Offended Luce took a step back, "Of course I can drive! I just never got a license." She muttered the last part under her breath. But then, the elevator doors opened and Luce followed a still cackling Meri all the way down to the parking garage.
...
Luce looked up from where her phone was busy tracking Agent Coulson's and studied Meri through her eyelashes. The subject in question was currently drumming on the steering wheel to the beat of the radio. Why didn't I just take the keys from her? Heck, I could've just knocked her out. Better that than have her tag along. Frustrated, Luce sighed under her breath. Maybe it had something to do with what Clint had said earlier, about trust. Probably not, Luce reassured herself. She wasn't sure if she feared the fact she was actually starting to trust people, or that, heaven forbid, she actually wanted Meri to come with her. She looked back at her phone, then spoke up, "Hey turn right here, it's just ahead." Meri turned the wheel smoothly, then slowly came to a stop. "A shawarma place? What'd they do, decide to have a late night snack?" Meri looked at Luce confused. Luce merely shook her head, taking in the closed shop, with its lights out and lack of activity. Taken all together it was a bad sign. She popped the car door open and crept around the car. Meri started to open her door too, but Luce stopped her. "No, Mer, you can't come." Meri opened her mouth to protest, but Luce just shook her head, "NO. Those people in there? They're the bad guys. Remember the Hand? They kidnapped our mom, but they'll kill you." She stared into Meri's eyes trying to make her understand. So what if Luce got hurt, but Meri, she was just a kid. Meri sighed, "Fine. I'll wait in the car." She sat back in the driver's seat and locked the doors dramatically, throwing her hands up in a "See?" manner. Luce just nodded and sprinted away, around the back of the restaurant.
The alley, much to Luce's disappointment, was frightfully bare of weapons. Not even a plank of scrap wood was lying around. She shook her head, then took a deep breath to steady herself before easing open the shawarma restaurant's back door. Quietly, she ducked inside, carefully shutting the door behind her. Luce paused, letting her eyes adjust to the dark kitchen. Thankfully, it was empty. She strained her ears, listening for any sound. There. A slight murmur of voices was coming from back where the industrial freezer was. Keeping an eye on that direction, Luce scrounged the kitchen for weapons. Then, after arming herself with several kitchen knives and heavy-duty rolling pin, she made her way to the back of the kitchen.
However, the voices weren't coming from near the freezer, they were coming from inside of it. With another steadying breath, she slipped through the propped open door. Creeping through the stacks of frozen food, she approached what looked like another door in the back of the freezer. Typical, she thought, bad guys and their obsessions with secret lairs. Reaching it, she flattened her back along the wall next to it and peered through the open slit.
The room, or better yet, basement, was dimly lit with overhead lights. There were twenty or so men surrounding something in the center. The odd bulkiness in their frames gave away their concealed weapons. Luce squinted trying to see passed the throng of people. She held back a groan as she realized what they were standing around.
Her mother.
How typical, Luce thought. It was just so like her to get caught and fight her way out. "You get more information that way Lu." She could almost hear her mom say the words to her now. A final deep breath and a once-over all of her makeshift-weapons, and Luce stepped through the secret door.
She had stepped out onto the metal frame of a balcony that ran the length of the room. She eased sigh of relief as she noticed no one had seen her yet. Slowly her eyes roamed the room, taking in all the men, their positions and their nearness to cover. Either thankfully, or not, the room large as it was, happened to be fairly empty. Bad for the goons, but also bad for Luce who was ironically, bringing a knife to a gun fight. She steeled herself, and without giving it another thought, she launched herself over the railing.
Luce collapsed with an oomph right on top of the nearest Hand member. Perfect. She rolled to a crouched position as the man began to stand again. Quickly, she swung her leg around, knocking him off balance and then grabbed his coat as he began to fall. The man grabbed her hands, fighting back, but she wiggled out of his grip and grabbed the rolling pin, whacking him across the face. Her hand still holding his jacket strained as he went unconscious. Readjusting her grip, she drug him under the staircase and into the shadows.
Lucky for Luce, the rest of the Hand hadn't noticed the commotion. Benefits of a large room and an interesting prisoner, Luce thought. It wasn't the first time her mom's captivating looks had lent unexpected aid to their missions. Working quickly, Luce untangled the man's gun from its holster. Checking its ammo and then tucking the gun into her waistband, Luce retook stock in the situation. As she scanned the room, a slight motion in the upper corner of the balcony caught her eye. She cocked her head up, and pursed her lips. It was Clint, he had waved her arms at her, and boy did he look pissed. Luce shrugged. She was here now and she could deal with his wrath later. She pointed at the armed men in front of her, as if to say "Shall I deal with them, or?" Clint just rolled his eyes, then muttered something into a comm system. Finally, he gave Luce a nod.
She sprinted out from under the stairs, and launched herself at the men nearest her. The first guy went down with shock and Luce smacked him the head with the butt of the gun to make sure he stayed down. Then squaring her shoulders, she shot the other man a small grin, "Let's play."
The fighting seemed, as it always did, to go on forever. Realistically, it had probably only been a couple minutes. Long enough for her to have abandoned the gun (out of ammo) and to lose a couple knives in the process. Luce had heard gunshots in the background, presumably Coulson's team finally getting in on the action. She pulled one of her remaining knives out of a particular meaty goon's leg and backhanded him across the face with it. The momentary lull in enemies allowed Luce a chance to assess the situation around the room. Most of the men had already been taken out, her mom had been freed and was now fighting back to back with Clint. Guns had been abandoned on the floor, the fight had devolved into a free-for-all. Moments later, the last opponent hit the ground with a thud.
The small silence of victory was shattered as a hail of bullets rained around the room, "ATTENTION PLEASE." Everyone turned towards the disturbance. A small gasp of shock left Luce as she saw the owner of the voice. The man standing at the base of the stairs, was tall, elegant; with white hair and a distinguished goatee. Arthur Wilheim. He might have been taken for a stately grandfather if he hadn't been holding an automatic rifle. Luce scowled, seeing the man who had controlled her for so many years brought up a lot of bad feelings. Made even worse by the fact he was flanked by two men; one of whom was holding Meri with a knife to her throat.
Clint started forward, but Wilheim shook his head. "Ah ah ah now, careful. We wouldn't want this sweet little girl to lose her head now would we?" He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. Clint stopped, but the look on his face was deadly, "If you so much as harm her…" he threatened. But Natasha reached out and grabbed his wrist, causing him to stop. Luce noted the exchange silently, then looked over to Meri.
"Now," Wilheim said, "It's really simple what I want." He slowly walked into the center of the room. Somehow, he had managed to enter through the secret door in the freezer and walk all the way down the stairs without anyone noticing. Either that, or he knew another way in. Which, Luce thought, was probably more likely. She glared at Wilheim.
"We don't negotiate." Coulson spoke up, voice firm. Wilheim tilted his head, "Is that so? I thought your niece might change that?" He gestured to his men, who gripped Meri's arm tighter, causing her to grimace. A small trickle of blood ran down her neck from where he held the knife. Tension ran tight in the room as nearly everyone involuntarily flinched forward. "Ah," Wilheim smiled, "So she does matter. Listen people, it's simple. All I want is to leave scot-free. You can have her." He said gesturing to Meri. "Oh, but I will take that one." He raised his hand, pointing at Luce.
"No deal." Coulson said, "You don't get anyone." Luce shot him a wild look. I can handle myself! She thought, Meri on the other hand… But Coulson wasn't looking at Luce. His eyes, along with everyone else's were on Wilheim. Luce looked back, locking eyes with Meri. This isn't going to work. Someone is going to get hurt. She ran through the scenarios in her head. She knew Wilheim. He would be expecting everything, anything. It would be virtually impossible to coordinate any kind of take-down. Especially in a hostage situation. A plan started forming in her mind. Luce took a deep breath, this will work. She studied Meri and then for the second time that night, acted without another thought. She reached for her last two knives, and threw.
...
dun dun dun, what will happen next? The world will never know! JK you'll probably know next week. So, what did you think? Disappointed? Excited? I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts (what do you want more of, what did you like/hate?) I do my best to cater to you all, after all that's why I am writing! annnd just as a incentive, (and because no school Tues) I might just post the next chapter by Wednesday if i get inspired by, I dunno, say a review? (Just a thought)
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and are having a good weekend!
-Cec