inhuman princess

Luna was doing her best to keep her composure in the fact of such catastrophe and terror. Even though she wasn’t face to face with everything that was happening on the outside she was witnessing the after-effects, which were no less horrifying. She had no healing powers of her own, but she was able to calm the patients down while Josh worked on them. She was a calming presence that could make things at least a little easier, although her own emotions were being compromised in the meantime. It was a heavy burden to take on the feelings of others. 

The sound of her mother’s voice made her look up in shock. She’d been holding the hand of a mutant with a head wound while she was waiting for Josh to finish up with a boy who’d been struck by a stray bullet. Some of the injuries were worse than others. “Mom?” The sight of her mother suddenly made her feel suddenly close to tears, but she couldn’t cry. Instead, she patted the girl’s hand reassuringly and stood up to hug her mom tightly. “Are you okay? Is dad with you? Is he okay?”

Closing her arms around Luna alleviated so much of Crystal’s stress she almost laughed with the sudden lightness, the overriding grateful feeling taking hold. She held her tightly a long moment, deaf to the bustling around them because none of it mattered with her daughter here and safe.

At her questioning, which was kind of nice considering he probably wouldn’t have gotten very far thinking about it on his own, Peter frowned and crossed his arms over his chest as he tried to think about what he was doing last. “No, it doesn’t.” Then again, the Guardians did have a few enemies, “No-o, nothing like that. I think I was sleeping.” He squinted his eyes as he thought about that, not really believing the words that came out of his mouth. He just couldn’t be sure, but now that he was on Earth, it only made sense to make the most of it and try to get into contact with the rest of his team. Hopefully they were okay. “I can tell. This place is a mess.” He’s seen worse, his quarters included. “Where do you think she could be? She’s gotta have a place she feels safe, right?” Peter ventured, hoping his outside perspective could help. Another prisoner hurried down the street with arms raised - there was a bat in his hand. Peter shot him down once again, smiling when the man fell with a heavy thud then turned back to Crystal, “We should probably get moving.”

Without wasting more time with the ‘what ifs,’ Pietro scooped Crystal up into his arms like he’d done a hundred times before and took off. Would that it were under better circulstsmces.

There were roadblocks and police set up down several streets. Pietro avoided them or ran so quickly through the area that they couldn’t have stopped him even if they noticed. He came to a sudden halt at the clinic where Luna worked. They had to at least check, right? But the door was bolted shut and the lights inside were turned off.

His arms had always been safe, and even in such dire circumstances, the old familiar feeling settled something within her. This was a place she’d been to many times to count. The run afforded her a moment to breathe before they stopped in front of the clinic to stare at the closed door. Her heart sank, though she already suspected this.

Peter threw his hands up in a defensive gesture, “I don’t know why I’m on Earth. I don’t even know how I got here.” He shrugged, dropping his arms next to him, his tone defensive, “Humans are complicated, okay? We’re weird and smelly, sometimes dumb, but I don’t think a human did this.” He gestured to the chaos and to the television screens in a nearby shop window - there they played various news channels that were all covering the breakouts. Some mentioned mutants, inhumans, even aliens. No one knew what was going on, Peter especially. His tone softened when she asked about Luna; he didn’t know exactly what she was going through, but he could see it written all over her face, “No. Sorry, princess.” He paused, knowing full well he shouldn’t get involved, but damn his need to be a hero. “Do you need help looking for her?” He ducked when Crystal suddenly threw her hands up, and frowned when he was struck in the face with water. Looking not unlike a wet dog, he pulled out his blaster, and electrocuted a prisoner who had just careened around a corner, thusly incapaciting him. “I have more where that came from.”

“A bad procedure,” he agreed, but the ‘authorities’ had said to evacuate before they’d suggested staying put and securing places instead. Luna had just taken it too far and gone to get involved instead of heading home like she should have.

Pietro shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for Crystal. His phone was buzzing already and he knew it was work. They needed him. He had to prioritize, though. “We’ll get there faster if you let me carry you.”

“They act as if this kind of nonsense hasn’t been happening here for months now.” She grumbled, but was a little mollified by Pietro agreeing. Her mind flitted frantically from thought to thought- the best way to find Luna, the best place to start, oh, no, what if she was hurt, and lost her phone and couldn’t-

Ever since Pietro had shown up with no Luna, and neither of them had been able to get ahold of her, Crystal had been out of her mind with worry. She’d run headfirst into the fray with no thought for herself, or for the potential repercussions of donning her jumpsuit and freezing the feet of passing criminals to the ground. It reminded her, vividly, horribly, of the time Luna had been in a museum on Attilan that had been the target of a Kree terrorist attack, and Crystal had rushed against the timer of the bomb to find her and keep her safe. Except this time, her and Pietro suspected their daughter had wandered towards the proverbial bomb, and, well, not having any clue where she was made things much worse.

Of course the moment he came to Earth there’d be some kind of fiasco. Why wouldn’t there be? According to the news, the prison and the asylum had been breached, meaning a shit ton of crazy people were on the loose. Great. And he just so happened to be in the streets as he tried to find a place to hide out. Sure, he was good in combat and he had his guns with him, but if these people had weird powers like the news lady suggested, well, then he was shit out of luck. Fortunately - or maybe, unfortunately - he saw a familiar face donned in her usual, albeit obnoxious, suit. Peter jogged over to her, his eyes scanning the various buildings around them, hoping to god no one tried to attack. “I wish I could explain, but I have literally zero answers.” He rested his hands on his hips, “What the hell is going on here?”

Downtown ran rampant with escaping convicts, and though Crystal’s one overriding thought was to find Luna, she couldn’t help but stop to restrain those that were acting particularly belligerent every now and then. She pulled water from a nearby fire hydrant and froze it around the ankles of a group of them, before taking off again at a run. Her powers and yellow combat suit marked her as one of those the mayor condemned, but it had been ages since she’d been on the Fantastic Four or Avengers here on Earth, and besides, had diplomatic immunity. She had barely gained speed when spotting a startling figure stopped her in her tracks.

Pietro turned his head and looked at the flour, brushing off the stray bits of earth. He plucked the plant off his shoulder and looked at it. “Cute. Maybe we can share a cell.” The last time Pietro had been in one (years and years prior, by then) he hallucinated Crystal and Luna coming to him there. In all his life, he’d never been at a lower point than he was then. He hoped he would never reach that place again, that he actually did possess the capability of learning from his own mistakes and it was not just a case of not being in the exact circumstances to repeat them again. 

He walked toward her and, with a motion too quick to stop, tucked the flower behind her ear. The blue petals were bright against her hair. “You probably have diplomatic immunity,” he said lightly, making himself not stare at her too long. 

“My design sense may not be the best, but I do think I am above a cell.” She said imperiously with a chuckle, then, because the last bit sounded like something Medusa would say, frowned at herself.