Hey there, everyone!
It's summer!!!!! Sooooo excited... more time to write! :) :) 

I'm going to try to update on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. 

Tiny little announcement at the bottom.

Okay, hope you enjoy the chapter! Thanks for reading! :P

Chapter Thirty Seven

Thea's POV

After Titanic, Jack and I sprawl out on the itty bitty sofa across from the table, mainly because Peter has kicked us out. This tells me that he's either doing something that he doesn't want us to know or for Steve and his ilk to know about. My gut instinct is that it's the latter, which makes it ironic that Peter trusts Jack and me about the same as we trust him. Hopefully, that will change soon because Peter is really growing on me. 

Seeing as it's an itty bitty sofa, that means Jack and I are rather crowded for room. Neither of us really mind, since it's rather cold in the plane, and we amuse ourselves by playing a few rounds of Truth or Dare. We give up five minutes later half because the only dares that are happening are perfectly ludicrous ones and half because Max comes up to us and drags Jack away from the couch. 

While I wait for Max to stop yelling at Jack, I close my eyes for a few moments. The hum of the engine is a lullaby, the vibrations trying to send me to sleep. 

Unfortunately, my little siesta is interrupted by movement in front of me. I open my eye to see Loki crouched in front of the sofa, apparently staring into my soul. 

Closing my eyes again, I say lazily, "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything- I'm warning you."

I roll my eyes dramatically, which is difficult to do when your eyes are closed. "Here we go again. What's today's threat?"

"You're getting more cheeky with every passing day, and I am not pleased about it." says Loki.

"Sorry, but in case you haven't figured this out, the world does not revolve around you."

"You could do with that lesson more than I." 

"Shut up Loki and go away." My eyes are still closed.

"Look at me and pay attention," snaps Loki, his tone much more sharp. 

"No."

Two seconds later, I have been yanked up into a sitting position and the surprise of it has simultaneously opened my eyes. 

"I said listen to me." hisses Loki.

"I'm listening, I'm listening, good lord Loki," I say, stretching like a cat to demonstrate that I really do not give a crap about whatever crap Loki is about to spit out. I gesture my hands out, waiting. "Well, go on."

His eyes are not particularly kind right now. "Thea, I have not been more serious than I am right now. You need to learn how to obey. I am aware that this is a sort of foreign concept to you, Thea, but right now, I am threatening you that if you don't listen-"

"You'll chain me up?" I ask dryly. Crap, crap, crap.

He sucks in a breath. "Where did you hear that?" When I don't answer, he shakes me, hard. "Tell me."

"Don't pretend like you're not keeping secrets from me." I say lowly, keeping up my no-care facade. "It's called the end justifies the mean."

Loki snarls and stands up. "I'm not going to bother asking you how you found out. I think my answer is a sort of spider, a bug, really." Both of us look at Peter, who up until now, has been doing a pretty good job at pretending he hasn't been listening.

He holds his hands up defensively. "I didn't tell them anything. They used me."

"Used you how?" Loki demands. 

Peter and I exchange looks. I do my best to look pitiful. This might be the moment that Peter decides once and for all whose side he is really on. Having Loki be hard on me right now might actually not be such a bad thing at the moment. It might persuade kind-hearted Peter. 

Taking a deep breath, Peter says, "They asked questions. I accidentally told them. It was my fault."

Ah, so Peter isn't ratting us out. Interesting.

Loki looks from Peter to me several times, both of us putting on our most innocent expressions. Finally, Loki curses and then sweeps out of the vicinity, not before shooting me a particularly nasty look. 

The door bangs shut.

At this precise moment, Max and Jack come back, Max looking stormy if not slightly proud, and Jack looking exceedingly pleased with himself. After punching my arm gently, Max follows in the room that Loki just vanished into. 

Seeing Peter's and my faces, Jack says, "...What happened?"

I take charge and explain, giving Jack a very obvious look that clearly says, "We need to know for sure if we can trust him." Peter could potentially be extremely helpful.

As it turns out, Peter is ahead of me. "I know that the two of you want to trust me, but you don't want to at the same time. Let me put it this way. I'm really a kid too- don't use that against me later, guys- and I know what it's like to be kept in the dark. Plus, this isn't really my fight. It's Thea's. I should be helping you."

It's a pretty speech, but I'm still hesitant, as is Jack. 

"Technically, it's the world's fight too," points out Jack. "What are you going to do when you're faced with the decision of helping Thea or helping the world?"

Peter looks at me. "I'll make my choice when the circumstances arise."

Jack and I glance at each other.

"Look, I've been working on a decryption program," says Peter, gesturing towards the computer screen. "It downloads all of SHIELD's and other individuals of interests' files pertaining to certain key words. It also breaks into web and audio cameras."

Jack and I do our best not to look particularly interested. 

"Using this, the three of us can be ahead of the quote-on-quote 'adults'. I can't be certain, but you two aren't exactly the sort that I'd label as 'rule followers'."

The 'can't be certain' part is obviously made up for Peter's benefit, because anybody who spends less than 24 hours with Jack and me can clearly establish that we do not follow rules.

Still, Peter is sounding pretty convincing to me, and between Jack and me, I'm usually the more cautious one. 

Jack cocks his head. "This program. Technically it means you can spy on Thea and me too, right?"

Dang, I hadn't thought about that.

"Technically yes," says Peter. "But this is where these come in." He holds up two devices, and Jack and I nearly fall off the couch when we see what they are.

"How'd you get those?" I yelp, staring at the two iPhones in Peter's hands.

"Sleight of hand and a little nose for spying. But here's the plus. I disconnected the both of yours connection from everyone else's. The only people you're connected to in any way is the other one and myself."

"And you're connected to everyone else?" I ask. 

"Yes. Not only would it make it look obvious if I suddenly went offline, but quite frankly, this gives us some sort of protection that you can't deny."

He's right, we can't deny that.

Jack drums his fingers on the couch seat. "What makes you want to be with us now, mate?"

"Simple. I like you guys better." 

This earns Peter a muted laugh from Jack and a smile from me. 

I glance at the phones. "What else can they do?"

"I'm pretty sure my sabotaging screwed with the the hard drive," Peter holds the phone in front of him, turning it around in his hand gently. "I'm also pretty sure the majority of that cool stuff was eliminated. I can't do anything about that now."

"So what can it do?"

"It can track us, and we can communicate to all three of us through radio or instant messaging."

I'm still a tiny bit hesitant about agreeing to this. But Peter's point is clear, and privately, Jack and I probably won't be able to get through this on our own. 

"Done." I say, hoping that I won't regret this later. 

Jack looks at me, then at Peter. "Done."

~Thea's POV~

"Hey Thea," says Max, poking his head out from where he had vanished earlier. "Can you come here a minute?"

Thea glances at Jack and Peter before following Max into the cockpit section of the plane. As Max slides the door shut behind them, she says hesitantly, "...What did I do now?"

"Nothing, you're fine," says Max. There's something in his tone that Thea does not like.

"What is it, what's wrong?" she demands. Glancing around, she sees that Loki and Steve are both standing very seriously against the walls lining the cockpit. 

Max takes a deep breath. "Thea, it's about your sister."

Thea grasps the railing next to the door. She has gone pale, as if she has seen a ghost. Looking at her, there is no sign of the fierce creature that she has become, just panic for the well-being of her sister. She opens her mouth, but can't manage to say anything.

"She's alive." says Max. "But she has slipped into a coma. She's weak, and we don't know what's going on. It's clearly supernatural, and they are furiously trying to get her revived and feeling better."

Thea stares in front of her. She hasn't moved; hasn't blinked; hasn't responded to Max's news in any way except that her breath has grown more ragged. 

"Thea," says Max, "Listen, Jane radioed me to tell me that she's doing everything in her power. Everyone is. Her chances of survival are good."

A single tear trickles down Thea's cheek, and her lip trembles furiously. It's clear that she's trying to stop herself from crying even harder, but she's breathing harshly, each breath harder and harder to come by. 

"Thea, talk to me," says Max. "C'mon, kid."

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She opens are mouth again as if she is trying to say something, but can't get a word out. She swallows hard. 

"Thea, you need to know that everything's gonna be okay." 

She holds her head high, taking another deep breath, clearly trying to compose herself. "I think I'm going to... going to go to my room."

Nobody points out that she doesn't actually have a room. She just flies out of the room and in a second is gone. Loki moves forward as if to go after her, but Steve stops him. "Just let Thea be fore a while." 

Loki shakes his head, irritated, but doesn't make a motion to leave the room again. 

*

"What?" croaks Thea as someone knocks loudly on hers and Jack's door. 

It's Max. He smiles at her softly, then holds out a phone. "You've got a call."

She grabs it. "Hello?" she asks as Max leaves the tiny room. 

"Sounds like you've had a crappy day, huh?"

Thea frowns and jerks back the phone, looking at it as if questioning its existence. Her eyes are shiny. 

"Hey you, when I ask a question, I expect it to be answered." says Kyle.

"Why are you calling?" she demands. "I thought you're supposed to be on some epic mission."

"And you're still a smart-ass. I am. But being the good samaritan I am, I decided to call you up and see how my favorite annoying little sis is doing."

"I am not your little sister." she states. 

"Fine," says Kyle sarcastically. "I'll see you around then."

The phone's connection ruffles as Kyle begins to hang up the phone. Before she knows what she's doing, she's saying hurriedly, "Wait, wait!" 

There's a pause. "Do my ears deceive me?" asks Kyle, his voice clearly patronizing. "You do in fact want to talk to me?"

This time, it's Thea's turn to pause. "Just don't go." she whispers. 

"Talk to me, Thea." he says, all serious now.

She does. 

Neither know why, although Kyle can hazard a guess. Kyle is the youngest of the adults, and Thea can relate to his snarky personality. Plus, he's not in front of her, and sometimes, it's easier to talk to someone when they're not physically next to you, judging you with their eyes. 

*

~Thea's POV~

A little while later, after I hang up with Kyle, I head back to where Jack and Peter are lounging on the couch with what appear to be video game controllers, facing... the computer?

"...Um, what are you doing?" I ask. 

"Playing Super Smash brothers." 

"...On a computer?" 

"Yeah, why not?" asks Peter, enthusiastically jabbing with the controller as if moving it back and forth is going to make him play better.

"But... it's a computer."

"Shut up and play, Thea," says Peter, tossing me a spare controller. "For all your faults, I'm pretty sure you're a good video game player."

Please vote and comment if you'd like! :) 

Tiny Announcement: If you like making edits or any of those things, feel free to make some about Blue Moon and either PM me the link or post it on my message board or something lol. And if they at least sort of relate to what's approximately happening in the story, I'll put it up next to the current chapter! :) 

Okay. That's it.

Oh, and another tiny announcement. Since it's summer lotsa girls are really focused on their bodies and bikinis and so on. Maybe I'm weird, but please don't worry about that kind of thing. You're pretty just the way you are and don't need anyone to prove it. :) 

Happy summer (or almost summer if you're still in school)!

~Sierra~