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Luna couldn't get over how tiny the city looked from where she sat, her sad eyes scanned the busy streets surrounding her and breaking the silence that always seemed to follow her wherever she went. Her hands fixed the mask keeping her identity away from everyone as anxiety tried to get the best of her. She almost felt peaceful. Almost.
The wrinkled papers inside one of the inner pockets of her coat felt like a big weight on her, she tried to ignore its presence, but it kept bothering her. It urged her to read them, to remember everything.
She grabbed it and held it before her eyes, reading over and over the big letters of the ripped paper from an old local newspaper. It was incredible how Harry managed to find those papers when she tried to bury all the possible evidence of her past. Her mind almost forgot everything, she felt strange holding the paper in her hands again.
"LA NOCHE CIRCUS' BIGGEST STAR, ARTEMISA RAMOS, HAS GONE MISSING"
"DUE REPORTS OF CHILD ABUSE ON YOUNG PERFORMERS, LA NOCHE CIRCUS HAS BEEN CLOSED DOWN"
"LA NOCHE CIRCUS' OWNER, OTTO RAMOS, HAS GONE MISSING AFTER REPORTS OF CHILD ABUSE"
The brunette sniffled back some tears and crumpled the papers in her hand again and watched it disintegrate into ashes. She looked back at the city, and recalled the first time she set foot on New York thinking that she would be safe. How naïve of her. She couldn't phantom the idea of her ending up like that, sitting on the edge of a random building, waiting for her victim to make an appearance that would likely get them killed.
She sighed deeply and fixed the collar of her coat with impatience. Leo had told her the person would be in their apartment at 10, it was almost midnight and they were nowhere to be seen. Luna was tempted to break into the place and finish the job for once and all.
As she stood up and gave the city once last off-the shoulder look, a bad feeling lingered in the pit of her stomach and soon her ears picked up the sound of footsteps getting closer. She drew out one of her blades and prepared herself for the attack, but the moment she turned around, she was stunned to find Michelle, or whatever her name was, standing in front of her.
"Waiting for me?" She smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm quite surprised my plan worked."
Luna arched an eyebrow. "You inserted your own name in our data to assign me this mission?"
The girl clapped slowly. "Bingo! We have a smart villain."
"Villain? What are you? Five?" She snapped, rolling her eyes. "Aren't you going to attack me or something?"
"Nah, I think the little souvenir I left in your arm is enough. I came in peace." Michelle turned to look at the city with silence. She wasn't even using any sort of S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. "Harry told me what happened at his party."
A fire of rage took over Luna as she heard her words. "So he told you." She managed to swallow the anger and keep it locked in her stomach. "It doesn't surprise me."
"He told me some of his old archives disappeared, do you have them?"
The brunette looked straight into Michelle's eyes. "No." Which technically was true, she didn't have them anymore. "What did he tell you?"
The other girl sighed deeply. "Look, I'm risking my job here. But, Harry told me something was odd about you and he hired S.H.I.E.L.D. specifically to find out the truth. It only took a year and a half to find out that you are the Wraith."
"It doesn't make sense, I told him I was the Wraith. That's why we lost contact."
"He already knew."
Bewilderment took over her. "Are you kidding me?" She teared the mask from her face and stared at the girl with astonishment. "Then⏤" Michelle interrupted her.
"Why are you doing this, Luna?"
She hesitated. "Why should I trust you? You can arrest me right now for all I know."
"I've studied you. A lot. I know you're not a bad person, you've proved me wrong." She rested her arms on the edge and stared at her with seriousness. "I know you're not bad because Peter likes you. A lot. He has better judgement than anyone I know."
"Creepy much?" Luna scoffed. "And don't get him into this."
This gained Michelle's interest. "He doesn't know..." She raised her eyebrows. "I wonder why."
"So you basically get paid to put your nose in other people's business?" Luna growled with annoyance. "Because then you do a magnificent job."
"I only put my nose in my friends' business."
"I think you're missing the point, we're not friends." She explained calmly. "And I haven't given you a reason to believe otherwise."
"See me as whatever you like, but I just came to talk to you. To tell you that you can trust me."
"Trust you? You don't know me at all."
"You're right, but I do know your story." The girl pushed herself away from the edge. "You can join us. You can fight against your father, the mafia, even Otto."
Luna's heart sank at the mere mention of the man that made her childhood a living hell, the reason she had accepted to become the Wraith in the first place. The man who could've been following her, spying on her or planning her downfall for all she knew. Otto had been the first father figure she knew before her mom mysteriously disappeared and dark secrets began to surface, all of them against her mom. She still couldn't believe he had turned into a monster so suddenly and for something that wasn't her fault.
"I can't." Luna placed the mask back on her face. "I wish I could, but I can't." She turned, ready to leave the scene.
"Yes, you can. You're just scared."
"I'm not scared." She roared angrily. "You just don't understand what's at stake, Michelle"
"Do you think I'm not informed? Of course I know." She paused with a deep sigh. "And you can call me MJ."
"I'll think about it. Just... just don't tell Peter or Ned about this." Luna looked down at her boots with sadness. "They'll hate me if they knew."
For the first time since the Osborn's ball, MJ sent her a smile. A real smile. "That's not for me to tell, Luna."
"Thank you." She found herself returning the smile. "And, actually, my name is Artemisa."
