p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Chapter 16 :/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 15px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""So," stated Steve, breaking through the silence that had descended across the room once Luna had finished explaining what they had over-heard the Hydra agents saying, "A Hydra weapon of mass destruction is on its way to New York, to take out us and we don't know what or who it is, how it works or where it's coming from. We do know it'll be here in two weeks and Hydra seem to think that they need Luna for it to work." /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Wow Capsicle good job, you just repeated everything we found out," quipped Tony, an ill attempt at injecting some humour into the heavy atmosphere of the room, receiving a jab to the leg from Rhodey who was sat next to him, silencing him soon enough. "Okay," said Natasha, nodding her head as she stood up from her position on the sofa, "me and Clint can call in some favours, see what we can find out." She moved towards the kitchen, pulling her phone out from the grey sweats she was wearing, Clint following quickly in her wake as Natasha's voice softly drifted into the room as she spoke what sounded like French as Clint pulled out a phone of his own. "Ill get F.R.I.D.A.Y on surveillance, all hidden comms channels we have access too, spotlighting any key phrases, see what she can dig up. And I'll start upgrading some tech." Said Tony, suddenly typing furiously on his StarkPhone that was evidently linked up to Fri. "I'll pull some strings with my army contacts, see if they've picked anything up either," added Rhodey shrugging, knowing it was unlikely to come to any fruition, but figuring it was worth a shot. "Me and Buck can get out on the streets, see if we cant pick anything up out there," said Steve, again knowing it was unlikely they would turn anything up, but deciding it was better for his own piece if mind to try, and it would get Bucky out to the tower too; and that was never a bad thing. Luna had stayed practically silent as the avengers around her had sprung into action, making plans, calls and, in Tony's case, coding. "It's okay," Luna spoke up from her place on the sofa, suddenly feeling downhearted as she realised their best practical line of defence, "I'm not stupid. They're after me right, need me to make the weapon work?" she continued, cringing a little internally as realisation grew on the faces of the people around her. "Nope, don't even think it kid." said Sam, the look on his face startlingly fierce, but Luna pushed forward, carrying on, "This isn't me trying to run," she said sincerely, making eye contact with Sam as she said it, trying to convince him just how honest she was being, "But if they need me to make the weapon work, then surely the best line of defence we have to make sure no one gets hurt, is to get me as far away from here as possible." She was being pragmatic, she told herself, trying to ignore the forlorn feeling in her heart as she said the words. br /"Not a chance, младшая сестра," started Wanda (little sister) stopping as Peter carried on, tuning to look her in the eyes as he said "Yeh Luna, we're not letting you go anywhere," as he placed his hand on her shoulder, face heating a little as it lingered. "He's damn right," said Bucky, walking closer to Luna, kneeling in front of her as he said, "you're family kid. And we don't let family walk away just because it'd be easier."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Plus," added Tony nonchalantly to the end of Bucky's sentence, "I didn't just spend all that money on your apartment for you to not even step foot into it before taking off again," he finished grinning. Luna felt herself doing a literal double take at Tony's words, mouth hanging open at what he had just said. She spluttered a few times, trying to find the right words to say, yet none at all came. "Come on kid, you didn't seriously think we'd make you bunk with the grandpa over there forever did you ?" Chuckled Sam after seeing her reaction. She honestly hadn't even thought about it. "I just thought I'd stay with Bucky I guess. I didn't really think about it." /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Well, it's a good thing we did then, isn't it," said Steve, smiling towards Luna. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Come on! I wanna show her," called Tony, pulling himself up off of the sofa with a soft grunt as he raced towards the lift, as much as Tony Stark would race that is, (meaning he sauntered over slowly,) and opened the doors. The rest of the team still in the room stepped in behind them as Tony asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to take the lift to floor 68. "You're sharing a floor with Wanda," said Tony as the doors pinged open, making Luna look to the older woman with a grin spreading across her face "We figured you might like the company," shrugged Tony. The group manoeuvred themselves out of the lift and into the floor in font of them. On either side of the little corridor was a door, one leading to Wanda's apartment and one to hers assumed Luna. Even the hallway was beautiful, it was a small room, one side looking out from floor to ceiling windows at Manhattan, bustling about below them. "Your's is on the left kid," said Bucky, a grin of excitement growing on his own face as Luna walked towards the correct door. She pushed the darl mahogany door open and walked into a gorgeous open plan apartment. The open plan kitchen was directly in front of her, fitted with an oven, microwave, one of Tony's fancy coffee machines, small island and long work surface. It had a table perched in the corner with chairs around it and a large fridge-freezer to the right. It alone was beautiful. She walked through, marvelling at the place around her as she headed into the living room. If she thought the kitchen had been nice, then the living room was majestic. One of the walls was covered in bookshelves, which had a huge gap in it, for a TV, and the book shelves, had books in them. The room was full of books. It made her heart sing. It was a hobby she hadn't been able to indulge in for years. And now, looking at all the books in front of her, was a little overwhelming. In a sudden decisive movement, done before her brain could fully process it, Luna had crossed the room and pulled Tony into a tight hug, whispering a "thank you," as she did so. Tony stood shock still for a moment, before wrapping his own arms around her, reciprocating the hug. "Just glad you're happy kid," he replied genuinely, before turning to the team in front of him, saying, "Right guys, I'm heading down to the lab to see what Fri can cook up for unto use against this weapon, and I think we should leave little moon to get acquainted with her new place." He started moving towards the lift, avengers (and Peter) in tow, leaving only Sam and Bucky loitering behind. "Kid, about what I said in the park," started Sam before Luna interrupted him, saying "I think I want to take you up on that offer." Sam simply smiled at her, before saying, "I'm proud of you, thats the first step. I'll let you get settled in. We can start any time you want." Slowly he made his way out of Luna's apartment, leaving only Bucky and Luna behind, with a heavy silence in the air. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""You know," started Bucky, "when I first got here I took off six separate times." Luna's head jerked up in surprise at his words, after all, she had assumed he would've been at least a little pissed that she had run. But instead he was showing her compassion, understanding, he was being her older brother. "I'm glad you're talking to Sam, don't ever tell birdbrain this but talking to him really helped me when I first got here too. You can always talk to me too kid, don't forget that" he said smiling at her softly, pulling her into a gentle hug as he spoke./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Thank you большой брат" (big brother) whispered Luna. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Always, младшая сестра" (little sister) /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 15px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Bucky had left shortly after that and Luna decided to take another wonder around her apartment. She sat, reading a copy of The Go-Between for a while, but at around 3 in the afternoon Luna looked up to the ceiling, calling sheepishly, "Um F.R.I.D.A.Y ?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Yes, miss Luna?" Came the robotic response/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Would you ask if any of the avengers were available to train? Maybe a powered one?" Was Luna's question/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Of course Miss Luna, Wanda says she would be happy to train with you, and Natasha has offered to come and help. They have both said they will come down to the training floor in half an hour."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Brilliant, thank you F.R.I.D.A.Y," came Luna's reply, as she smiled to herself. She wasn't quite ready to go and socialise with everyone just yet, but training seemed like a good option to get to know a few more members of the team, and secretly Luna was pleased Wanda and Natasha had offered, as she wanted the chance to get to know both women a little more. Fri guided her towards the master bedroom, her bedroom, Luna reminded herself as she walked through her rooms. She quickly made her way to the wardrobe in the room, and was shocked to find it full of a whole range of clothes, from workout gear to ball gowns. Luna hummed, asking herself surreptitiously what she would ever do with a ball gown, but reminded herself that as of right nowise was living with the avengers, so who knew what was coming her way. She picked out a pair of black leggings and a pink sports bra before hopping in her shower and quickly tying her hair into a messy ponytail before heading down to the gym. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 15px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"As she walked into the spacious room she saw Natasha and Wanda stood before the sparring mats, both warming up. She made her way over to the two women quickly, smiling at both of them and saying hi as she started warming up herself. "So," began Nat, "As we learnt last time, I'm not a match for you in hand to hand, so I wanted to see you and Wanda spar with each other. She's been working on controlling her powers more, and this way we can gauge where you are too Luna."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""That is," butted in Wanda, "Only if you feel comfortable using them. There's no pressure." She added with an encouraging smile./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Its all good," said Luna quickly reassuring both women they hadn't overstepped the line. "It'd be nice to get to use my powers for a bit."/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Okay, in that case let's head over to the dome." Said Natasha leading the way. Luna followed behind heading over to the part of the room literally buzzing with energy, creating some sort of forcefield around the area. "Stark made it," said Wanda, as she regarded with a soft smile Luna's small look of wonder at the dome. "It's brilliant. I'll have to ask him how he did it sometime." Replied Luna before F.R.I.D.A.Y cut in, saying, "Mr Stark has asked me to inform you that you are welcome in his private lab any time. There's a spare work space in there that he has put aside for you." Luna highly doubted that there was any spare space in that mans lab at all, meaning he had set aside space for her, and the thought made her smile. They wanted her here. Luna made a mental note to see if she could make it down to the lab before the end of the day. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"The three entered the dome, and Wanda and Luna made their way to opposite ends of the space, whilst Nat stood centrally. Wanda's hands began to glow red and Luna braced herself for the flow of energy that magnificently overtook her body as she let her powers out, the blonde in her hair brightening to be a silver and her pupils expanded, covering her iris' in black. Every time she let her powers out It felt euphoric. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Okay," called Nat, "Luna I want you to make a forcefield around yourself, Wanda will send a couple of strikes your way at different intensities until we can gather where you're at." /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Luna nodded, setting up a silver barrier around herself which glowed iridescent when the light caught it. She looked to Wanda and nodded, feeling the first strike hit her shield. Well, she barely felt it, almost like a tiny gust of wind had hit her. Slowly, Luna could feel the intensity of Wanda's strikes grow, and soon enough Wanda was hurling all of her power towards Luna, causing her to stumble slightly backward with the last string of hits. The strikes immediately stopped as Wanda saw Luna's forcefield waver slightly, as Nat called out to her, "Luna, you good?" A sharp nod was the response that Luna sent Natasha's way before she called her powers back to her, this time making herself levitate of the ground. "Okay," called Natasha up to her, "Your turn Luna, show us what you can do kid." /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 15px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"Luna tapped into the power that was centred in her, feeling a warm glow of energy flowing through her, which slowly swirled down her arms and legs in silver tendrils. It lifted her higher into the air as slowly the whites of her eyes began glowing silver and for the first time in a long while she felt powerful as she used her powers, in control, not limited by having to hide them from Hydra goons. She focused on pushing her energy through to her hands and in a second powerful jets of energy were exploding from her hands towards Wanda. They reached her in record speed instantly throwing the older woman into the air and across the room, cracking her forcefield. Luna immediately drew back her powers from Wanda, flying over to her in an instant, reaching her seconds before Natasha did. "Are you okay, oh my god I'm so so sorry. It's been so long since I've used my powers properly I didn't realise how much-" Luna froze, confused as she heard Wanda begin laughing next to her./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Calm down Luna, it's okay." She said as she carried on laughing, "You're brilliant! It's nice to have another person with powers around here, you just took me by surprise is all." /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Wanda," called Natasha as she reached her, "Are you okay?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Im fine мати-павук, just a few bruises," she said pulling herself up onto her feet. "Let's go again." /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Wanda you're bleeding." Said Natasha seriously, as she was a line of blood trickle out of Wanda's nose. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Here let me," before she had even finished speaking Luna reached forward, sending her power into Wanda, feeling only a little pain as she healed her nose with her powers. She felt her powers drain from her a little, sending a wave of tiredness washing over her, as she sank to her knees slowly, the wave hitting her a little harder than she had expected. "That's the second time you've healed me now Luna, without me needing it." Said Wanda, coming to crouch in front of her, a small smile on her face, with a hint of sadness behind her eyes, as she carried on saying, "It's okay, accidents happen during training, It's normal. Don't ever hurt yourself over an accident." She finished, placing an arm around Luna's shoulder, the girl now evidently a little more tired than she had been prior./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Well, the first time I dare say you did need it," joked Natasha as she wrapped one of her own arms around Luna too, the two women slowly helping Luna to her feet. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""I think that might be enough training for today," joked Luna wearily as the women all piled into the lift. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';""Hey F.R.I.D.A.Y ? Take us up to my floor. And initiate protocol girls night." Said Natasha as the lift slowly started moving upwards. /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"-AN-/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"hi all. i took a little break from uploading - sorry ! my MH's been shit recently, but i didnt want this story to just fizzle out, last week i hit my record for number of views in a day! Reviews are always welcome/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"love as always /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"ERS xx /p