The Leo Luna (An Avengers Fan-fiction)

Chapter Twenty: Permanent

"Does it feel weird?" I asked the boy in front of me, as he stiffed out a laugh, looking at the chipped wind stone within his covered forearm. He breathed out a shaky breath.

Jack had just woken up, and I requested to see him first. His arm had a protective covering on it, to protect it from anymore damage until the missing piece regenerated.

Bruce told me that when he looked at Jack's composition to help him heal, he found out that since his element is one of the most popular on the earth, that the air particles would be attracted to him wound, and eventually fill it up. He said that's also part of the reason why he got control so easily when the stone was implanted.

"I guess so. It feels weird to have part of yourself chipped away. Quite literally," he said, making me laugh, realizing how much I missed his witty comments.

My mind drifted to a few nights before, when I promised myself that I'd live like there was no tomorrow. We couldn't take anymore chances with people's lives anymore. Especially not the lives of the people who could save the world as we know it. We had to fight with more precautions.

"How about you? Bruce tells me that you took a beating by that chick too," he said, bringing back memories that stung my heart. I played it off, though, not wanting him to worry while he was still recovering from his own injuries.

"I'm good. It was scary but, you know, I'm fine," I said, giving him a smile, as he studied my face with a shocked look in his face. My heart dropped.

"Wh- what?" I stuttered. His face was like a human lie detector. It made me nervous.

"I thought we were past the 'lying to each other for the other's sake' part of our relationship. That hurts my feelings," he said, making my eyes go wide. I shook my head, laughing, trying to prove his theory wrong. He saw right through me. I didn't know how, but he did.

"I- I just don't want to put more on your plate. Plus, you're already stressed enough. I just want you to focus on getting better. Don't worry about it," I said, attempting to steer the conversation away from me. I got up and grabbed a glass of water from off Tony's table he had set up for Jack's checkups.

"Come on. Commmmme on. Maybe I can help," he said, giving me a confident smile, which I returned with a stressed one.

"I'm not sure you can," I said, as I handed him the water, sitting down beside him once more, He gulped down about half before handing it back over to me. I put it on the table across his bed.

"Try me. I'm smarter than you might think," he said, as I finally gave in. There was something about Jack that made me want to tell him. He had the personality to reel me in, even when I resisted the most.

"Well, uh, you know that water is my weakness I presume," I said, as he nodded, getting in a more comfortable position. I couldn't with him sometimes.

"We fought for a while. I don't know if Tony or someone told you, but HYDRA has her mind. If it wasn't obvious enough," I said, as he put up a hand to stop me, as he let the newfound information sink in.

"Wait a minute. Isn't uniting all four stones part of our big ass plan to save the world as we know it? Is this- is this a problem? Sweet Jesus, I was out for like a day and I missed all the info that meant something relevant," he said, rubbing his eyes, groaning like an old man. I sighed along with him. I understood his stress better than anyone else.

"Fury's building a plan to fix this. What we know is that she's in a memory wipe trance. The reason she knew about her family is because that was the one memory that would fuel her anger. Fury said that they found a drive that she left behind on one of the cargo ships. She was bringing back HYDRA's information so we couldn't get it. So, even though we lost her, we got this much. Me, you and Natasha are going to decode it when they get a lead on her next whereabouts," I explained, as he nodded, comprehending what I was telling him.