The bell rang, and Luna was once again all but running out of school. She flew down the stairs of leading up, and all the way to the end of the front courtyard. Today, there was a bit of a different air to the young girl. There wasn’t any trepidation for the journey home. No worry that at any point she’d be the afternoon entertainment at her own expense. There was a parked police car with a number 77 on the roof.

“Hey, Little Moon.”

“Hi Jake.”

Luna jumped into the car, and the officer rolled the windows up.

“So how was it today?”

“It’s a lot better. Since Cole is still in juvie, his idiot friends have been staying off me. Especially since I’ve been getting a cop to drive me home. These past week has been the best since middle school.”

“That’s definitely good to hear.” McNab said, pulling away from the curb.

“Tia still goes out all the time, and dad’s still working all the time. So I don’t really have that, but I think that’s just the next thing.”

“That’s great, moon.”

Luna looked over at the man. He definitely seemed to be distracted by something.

“Are you okay? You seem a bit more distant today.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Moon.” He sighed. “Luna, I’ve gotta tell you something,”

“What is it?” She was worried now. He never called her by her real name.

“Well you know I’m in the army reserves, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Well,” McNab hesitated. “We got called into a two week training session.”

Luna’s eyes widened.

“You’re leaving?”

“No, not leaving. I’m just going to be out of town for two weeks. I promise you, I’ll be back before you know it.”

“But... you can’t leave! Not now! Cole gets back next week! He’s gonna kill me if you’re not here.”

“I’m sorry, moon. I have to go. I can’t say no to the army.”

Luna slumped in her chair, dread and fear filling her all over again. She was going to be all alone again.

“Hey, moon. I’m not gone yet. Alright?”

“But you will be.”

“Sure, but not until Saturday.”

“It’s Friday.”

McNab sighed.

“I’m sorry.”

The rest of the ride was quiet. McNab kicked himself over and over again, wishing he could stay. Luna’s thoughts went wild, listing off everything that the bullies could possibly do. How alone she would be. Just like she was before. As the ride came to its end, McNab turned to Luna.

“Please, moon. Don’t be mad. I promise I’ll do everything I can to get back as fast as possible.”

“Okay.” Luna said. He was right. He wasn’t gone yet. She nodded, steeling herself. It was just two weeks. “Okay.”

McNab smiled, and they got out of the car. As he’d done everyday for the past week, he grabbed her bag and walked her to the door. She shut the door behind them, and McNab set her bags down.

“Hey, moon. Come here.” He told her. She turned around, coming back to him. “Do you know how to throw a punch?”

Luna grinned, confused. “What?”

“Do you know how to throw a punch?” He asked again, smiling. Luna raised a fist, and swung wildly. “Moon?”

“Yeah?”

“That was terrible.” McNab laughed. Luna laughed back.

“Well how else are you supposed to do it?”

“Okay, well first off, your thumb in under your fingers, see?” He pointed at her hand. He started moving her fingers as he talked. “Keep it out from there, under your front fingers. If you punch a man like that, you’ll break your thumb. Next, you just sort of swung your arm by extending your elbow. Don’t do that either. Keep it bent, and don’t really move your arm. Punch with your shoulder and use your body weight, like this.”

He swung his arm at the air, turning on his foot and putting his whole body into the movement.

“That way, you get a lot more power and weight behind it. Try that.” He held a hand up. “Punch my hand.”

Luna made a fist the way he told her to, and swung her arm, using more of her shoulder. She made contact with his hand, and a resounding slap echoed through the foyer.

“Nice!” McNab laughed, shaking his hand. “That hurt.”

“Sorry.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. That was really good. One more thing.” McNab pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket. “If you can, try and have something in your hand, like this flashlight. This is a good size to wrap your hand around so that when you throw the punch, there’s less give. Steel is a lot less squishy than fingers. So if you have time, do that. Hit them below the ear, and they’ll be out of the fight real quick. Here, you can have this.”

He gave her the flashlight.

“Don’t you need this?” Luna asked, looking it over.

“Nah, I’ve got this baby.” McNab pulled the large MagLite off of his belt. Luna laughed.

“I can imagine that does a lot more damage.”

“If you use it right.” McNab smiled, dropping it back onto his belt. “Don’t tell anyone I told you how to do that, alright? I don’t need people thinking I’m teaching a girl to kill a man.”

“Would this kill someone?”

“...No?” McNab smiled. Luna laughed. “Next time Cole and his boys come around, I think you’ll fare quite a bit better.”

Luna’s smiled faded slightly.

“I hope so.” She said. McNab looked around, trying to find something to distract her with.

“Hey, I think I can finally beat you at Mario Kart today. What do you think?”

“Pfft. You wish.” Luna said, embracing the distraction as she ran over and to start the TV and console. The familiar logo of a four sided N started up, with the words Nintendo 64 just beneath it. McNab smiled and sat down next to her.

“Let’s do it.”

The weekend came and went, and with it left Jake McNab. He would only be away for two weeks, but for Luna that felt like an eternity away. It was now Monday, and Luna dreaded her trip through the halls of the school. Cole’s boys had laid off her since he was gone, and more so that Luna had McNab with her. But now Cole was back, and McNab was gone.

Oddly enough, Luna had made it through most of the day without any contact with them. Either they didn’t know that McNab was gone, or they decided to lay off her for good. It didn’t matter to Luna. Any time she could get away from them was enough for her. But it seems it wasn’t meant to last.

“Sorry, Luna. I’ve got a meeting today during lunch. You can’t stay in here today.” Mr. Lockhart said. Luna tried to protest, but knew it was ultimately not worth it.

“Okay.” She muttered, leaving the room. She wandered the halls, looking for somewhere else to spend lunch. She found herself outside of the school, deciding that the outdoor picnic tables or a tree would suffice.

“Well if it ain’t Miss Columbine.” A familiar sneer came from behind her. “Where’s your boy in blue? Couldn’t drive you to school?”

Luna grasped the flashlight in her pocket, holding it tightly. She remembered everything Jake had taught her, and decided that she’d finally meet her problem head on.

“What do you want, Cole?” She turned around. Cole’s smug grin met her back.

“You got me in jail. Good thing they ain’t got shit on me.”

“You deserved all that and more.”

“Says you. I say, you deserve everything I’m about to give to you.” Cole pulled his arm back, and walked forward towards Luna.

As fast as she could, Luna pulled her hand out of her pocket with the flashlight in hand, and swung. Right away, she knew that she’d make McNab proud. All that power she could put into the swing made contact, her fist hitting the side of Cole’s head. She seemed to have missed the place Jake had showed her, as he only stumbled back and cussed.

“You bitch!” Cole held the side of his head. The lackeys next to him stared, surprised at the sudden act of violence from the small girl. This wasn’t the easy target they were used to.

Cole jumped back on his feet, and came in for another swing. He’d gone on the attack sooner rather than later, skipping the intimidation and going straight for pain. Luna’s small form allowed her to duck out of the way, Cole missing completely. The lack of any contact threw Cole off balance, and he stumbled forward. Luna was right behind him, hurling insults at him.

“It looks like you’re the stupid bitch now, Cole. Can’t even hit a girl.” She taunted.

Cole growled and swung again, and subsequently missed again.

“Come on, you’re embarrassing yourself.” Luna sneered. She found a certain electrifying energy to the sense of power after years of being on the opposite end. “Let me help you out.”

She walked up to him, and did something she’d seen in dozens of movies. She reared back and sent a solid kick between his legs. He fell to his knees, doubled over in pain.

“You bitch!” He choked out.

“Yeah, I am.”

She swung one more solid hit, now that he was sitting still, and got him right behind and below the ear, where Jake had showed her. His body fell limp almost instantly, and he slumped to the side. She turned around to the two boys watching. They met her gaze with fear, and threw their hands up in surrender. She grinned maniacally.

“I think he needs to go to the nurse. It seems he had a small tumble off the picnic bench.” She told them. The two looked at each other and nodded, picking up Cole and dragging him to the nurse. Luna grinned in satisfaction.

Maybe I don’t need Jake for the next two weeks.

The rest of the school day came without any additional trouble from the other boys. Luna thought she saw some of them avoiding her, which brought a smile to her face every time she saw it. In the last class of the day, she found herself once again sat staring out of the window. She’d relished the feeling of power she’d gotten from the fight. It was everything she’d dreamed of and more. She could get used to that, if ever the rest of the boys decided to come after her. If she’d beaten Cole Sanford, the rest of his lackeys would be childsplay. The ring of bell split through her daydreams, startling her back to class.

“Alright everyone. We have a test next monday, and homework six is due next class.” The teacher called as everyone rushed to pack up their things. “Luna, come here for a second.”

Luna walked over to the teacher’s desk. Had they heard about the fight? There was no one else around, and there weren’t any windows near the spot that could easily see. Had she missed someone? Had someone talked? A thousand thoughts swirled around her head about what it could be.

“Luna you were having a bit of trouble concentrating today. Have you been getting enough sleep?” The teacher asked.

Hello thought number thousand and one.

“I’ve been having a bit of trouble sleeping due to some… family troubles. I’m sorry, I’ll try better next class.” She said. It wasn’t a total lie. She really did consider McNab as family, and she really had been losing sleep over it. But that wasn’t why she was distracted. The teacher nodded sympathetically.

“I understand. If you ever need someone to talk to about that, the counselors are always available, and I’ll understand if you want to go do that during class. Okay?”

Luna nodded.

“Okay.”

Except the counselors here are about as good at talking about feelings as a drill sergeant. Luna thought.

In her past experience with the school’s counseling staff, they’d been less than helpful. She doubted they’d be any real help. The teacher smiled kindly, like she’d been the most helpful thing in the world to Luna. Luna forced herself to smile back.

“Thanks, Ms. Carver. Have a nice day.”

“You too, Luna.”

Luna rushed out of the doors to the class. That had been a colossal waste of time, and now she just wanted to get home to her games and her bed. That was were she was most comfortable and damn it all if she had to stay here longer than she had to. She pushed open the front doors, and was met with the same two lackeys of Cole’s from before in the yard.

“What do you guys want?” Luna asked, both dreading and relishing the thought of another fight. The two looked at each and the one on the left rubbed the back of his neck.

“W-Well, you totally kicked Cole’s ass today.” The left one said.

“And we thought that since you did that, you’re a lot tougher than Cole ever was.” The right one added.

“So we’re here to do… whatever you want us to do.”

“Right. What he said.”

Luna stared at the two. Confusion, shock and a little bit of that feeling of power melding oddly inside her.

“What?” She asked.

“We’re here to be your… assistants.” The left one said.

“So… you’re just gonna come do whatever I want because I beat up Cole?”

The two nodded.

“Why?”

“Well… we only hang out with the toughest person we know.”

“And since you kicked Cole’s ass, you take that spot from him.”

The two smiled expectantly. Luna shrugged, deciding not to push it further.

“Okay. What are your names?”

“Steel Armor.” The one on the left said.

“Sharp Tool.” The one on the right followed.

Luna grinned, the sense of power overtaking her.

“What happened to Cole?”

“Well after you kicked his ass, we took him to the Nurse. He had a concussion or something and they sent him to the hospital.” Steel Armor started.

“And his parents got so tired of his rough housing they were talking about sending him to this private military boarding school or something.” Sharp Tool continued.

“Yeah, and they were super into the idea. More than I’ve ever seen them about anything.”

“Steel, we ain’t seen them do hardly anything.”

“Yeah but it was a real solid talk. Like they were for sure gonna do it. Like the way Mr. Hyde talks when he convinces himself to do a lab or something.”

“Oh yeah it was a lot like that.” Tool nodded. He and armor exchanged a fist bump, but Luna was already lost in her thoughts again.

Cole’s gone for good? I beat Cole Sanford in his own game! And now I’ve got all his lackeys working for me. I can do anything I want. This is awesome!

“Alright, boys.” Luna straightened up, smiling widely. “Let’s get going.”

“Be ready for inspection early in the morning! Dismissed!”

A couple dozen men and women saluted in unison as the man shouting in front of them walked off. Their posture broke, and everyone started shuffling off to their respective destinations.

“McNab!” A voiced called out. The man in question turned over his shoulder as he walked.

“Hey Bowie.” The man behind him clapped him on the back as he fell in line with the taller man.

“Damn it feels good to be back.”

“Sure does.” McNab said, distracted.

“You alright? You’ve been a bit out of it this time around.”

McNab sighed.

“Bow, can I tell you something?”

The smaller man shrugged and nodded.

“Of course, Jake. You can tell me anything you want.”

“Thanks, Bow.” McNab grinned weakly. The grin quickly fell as he shrugged. “Well, I was out on patrol one afternoon by the high school back in town. It was the same as any other day, until I saw this girl on the side of the road get nailed by a huge water balloon. She got completely soaked and started crying.

“I pulled over the squad car and I get out and try to help her. She’s crying and dripping wet and all that, and I’m trying to just get her dried off and in the car with the heater on. It was pretty damn cold at this point. Anyway, she lets me do all this and I drive her home. Turns out she’s been getting bullied really bad recently.”

“Shit, man.” Bowie said. “That ain’t good.”

“There’s more.” McNab said. “Her parents are divorced, her dad and sister aren’t around to help her and her mom’s off in some other state.”

“Damn. Just keeps getting worse. How long ago was this?”

“Last Tuesday.”

“Are you serious?” Bowie asked. McNab nodded. “Well then what the hell are you doing here?”

“I can’t just not do this.”

“Sure you can! Family or personal matters. Something!”

“She isn’t family.”

“But this sure sounds personal.” Bow shook his head. McNab got really uncomfortable.

“Bow, she was hitting a lot of the signs.”

“Signs for…” Bowie’s eyes widened. “No…”

McNab nodded. Bowie block the man’s way, stopping him and shoved him back.

“Well then I resend my statement. What in the hell are you doing here? You need to get back there!”

“I can’t.”

“God dammit, Jake, I’m serious!”

“Well what the hell can I do?” McNab shouted. “I’m here now. I can’t leave.”

“At least call her or something!”

McNab nodded, sighing.

“Of course I’m gonna do that, Bow.”

Bowie put an arm over his shoulder.

“Jake, the first chance to get out of here, take it.”

“I’d have to get the chance first.” McNab sighed. “I just hope it isn’t for the wrong reasons.”

The phone rang in the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Hey Little Moon, it’s Jake.”

“Hey Jake!” Luna smiled wide. “I didn’t think you’d call.”

“Of course. Sorry for being so late, we just got dismissed for the night.”

“That’s fine. I wasn’t in bed yet.”

“Alright. Well I’m just calling to make sure everything is going alright at school.”

“Yeah, no, everything is fine.” Luna started fiddling with the keys on the counter. “Cole hasn’t bothered me too much today, but I think he’s gonna lay off.”

Luna tensed up. Why was she lying to him?

“That’s great to hear.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “And everything else is alright?”

“Yeah. The test went fine, and all my homework is done. Tia and dad are still not around, but there’s nothing new there.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” McNab sighed. “Well… have a good day at school tomorrow. I’ll try to call again when I can.”

“Alright.” Luna smiled. “Goodnight, Jake.”

“Goodnight, moon.”

Author's Note

Special thanks to my friend Ben who reads this for me, even though he doesn't watch this show and finds it odd that I write fanfiction. He says it's better than the Power Rangers x Warhammer ones he read for his other friend (Yes, that is an entirely true statement. We're not making that up.)

Real quick note about the editor thing. I'm only looking for someone to bounce ideas off of and have pre-read for me for story flow. If anyone is interested, please PM me. Thanks!