Luna turned toward Coulson, who looked utterly stunned, and gave him a playful smile with a hint of mischief.
"Actually, I don't know Legilimency."
"That magic is far too advanced. Hardly anyone in the entire Wizarding World has mastered it. Hermione can do it, but I can't yet."
Coulson stood frozen, his brain short-circuiting for a moment.
She couldn't?
Then what had just happened...?
He looked at Garrett's expression, which had gone rigid before collapsing, then back at Luna's innocent smile, tinged with the satisfaction of a successful prank. Suddenly, he understood.
"Miss Lovegood..."
Coulson didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Were you bluffing them just now?"
Luna's eyes curved into crescents, and she nodded emphatically.
"That's right!"
She looked absolutely delighted, as though she had just done something tremendously entertaining.
"I just thought I'd give it a try. I didn't expect it to work so well."
She glanced around at the petrified soldiers and the ashen-faced Garrett, her voice full of fascination.
"The world outside the Wizarding World really is fun! These Muggles are so interesting!"
She tilted her head.
"If I'd known, I would have snuck out with Hermione to play much sooner!"
Everyone stared at Luna, so innocent yet so sly, at a loss for words.
To them, this had been a crisis that threatened S.H.I.E.L.D.'s very survival and the lives of countless agents.
Yet to this little girl, it was merely an entertaining game.
As expected of Hermione's friend-another seemingly innocent little fox.
One was calm and calculating, the other innocent and sly, but beneath it all, their nasty streak and fondness for watching others suffer were practically identical.
Garrett stared daggers at Luna.
She had been bluffing him!
*He, a veteran agent and a mastermind who had seen it all, had actually been fooled