June 13, 2014
"The court calls the case of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division versus Lucille Moon, case number 78."
"Are you Lucille Moon?"
"Yes, Your Honor."
"Is that your true and correct name?"
"Yes."
"In case number 78, you have been charged with the offenses of treason, espionage, and conspiracy."
Lucy took a deep breath.
"I plead not guilty with counsel, Your Honor."
"Would you like an appointed attorney?"
"She has one, so… no!" Tony suddenly interrupts. The judge frowned and tilted his head at him.
"...Your Honor." Tony adds.
"No, I have an attorney, Your Honor." Lucy answers, resisting the urge to glare at Tony.
"As a flight risk to the United States of America and the United States Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, the defendant is to be sent back to The Core basement level maximum security confinement with no bail."
Lucy could hear the loud sighs of her teammates and she too, sighed, before focusing her attention back to the judge.
"I'm sorry, Miss Moon. I will see you in court on June 27th at 0800."
"What's the timestamp on that document?"
"December 12th, 2013."
"I was not affiliated with HYDRA at that time."
"The timestamp states clearly that you were put on report on December 12th of last year."
"What is today?"
"June 13th, 2014."
"I was not affiliated with HYDRA on December 12th."
"Then you have been affiliated before this?"
"Yes. I was…around 85- or 86-years-old."
"Where were you stationed?"
"Shkhara. There was a small cavity in the mountain-that's where we were."
"Why?"
"I was assigned to the Winter Soldier. I was to work with him in close relations."
"What did you do?"
"We eliminated hostiles."
"Did you kill any S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"
"No, I did not."
The attorney scrutinized the young agent as she sat handcuffed to the bolted table in an orange coverall with the words "S.H.I. . FUGITIVE" stamped in black on the back. Her hair was somewhat disheveled but neat considering that she had charged with three felonies.
"Why would you even decide to join HYDRA?"
"I was lost."
"Lost? You'd worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. before, Lucy. But you went and worked for the bad guys?"
"Look. It was…late 1999 or 2000 when I joined them. The secure laboratory facility and the freezer they put me in-someone was able to release the locks. That was my previous partner. When S.H.I.E.L.D. found about my disappearance, they began a manhunt. Mr. Dunn, I'm pretty sure you weren't with us back then, but it was a true manhunt. Operation Fatale, it was called. In the midst of that, they shot my partner. All I knew was that I would never return to government duties and keep out of the public and private eye of the United States. So I went to HYDRA."
"You were upset because someone shot your friend and so you went and joined a terrorist organization?" He questions stiffly.
"He was the only person I knew and the only person I cared about. It's like taking your wife and kids and shooting them just because you tried to right a wrong. S.H.I.E.L.D. was deemed a terrorist organization not too long ago. Another country's line of defense can be another country's terrorists."
"I don't understand, Moon. Why wouldn't you just let them take you in? It could have prevented what's-his-name's death, don't you think?"
Lucy heaved a sigh when the attorney continued to take out the 'agent' and 'Colonel' title from her name. "I didn't let them take me because I heard what they did to them. This organization's researchers put my friend through tests that even animal testers would protest. If he found out that I decided to come back after knowing what happened to him, he would not have been pleased and considering that he had the strength of Hulk and the exterior of a regular man, it would not have gone down too prettily."
Three consecutive knocks on the door signaled a guest and the two in the room turned their attentions towards the east corner. The door opened and revealed an officer with paper work in their hand.
"We've got Captain Rogers and the Avengers team wanting to speak to her."
"No-"
"I am permitted two visits a day." Lucy interrupts, wishing she wasn't in orange and vibranium cuffs.
The attorney glared at her before heading out of the room, only to bump shoulders and receive a look that could murder from the Captain.
"Captain Rogers."
"Dunn."
As the Avengers stepped into the room and filled the atmosphere with unusual vibes. Uncertainty? Anxiety? Lucy was…gelatinous with exhaustion.
"Lucy. How are you?" Bruce asks. His tone was drenched in a sort of somberness and worry. Possibly with just a hint of disappointment.
"I've been better but I've also been worse."
"We've tried to contact Coulson, but he's been busy at the Playground." Natasha explains carefully.
Lucy paused before giving a shrug. "Thanks for doing that."
"This is the part when you get frustrated." Tony says, furrowing his brows in confusion.
"He's busy. I get it."
"But you need him to testify. He is the only person that can truly do that."
"Sure I need him to testify; he'll be a big help. I also have someone else."
"And who's that?"
"James Barnes."
Steve clamped down on his lip in anxiety and gave a frown.
"He knows I worked with him. I know he knows. I worked with him for an entire year before I quit."
"That's not the smartest idea you've come up with, Lucy." Clint comments.
"I know. But it's better to let him speak for me than to have others who don't know my history all that well," Lucy elaborates. "I'm also looking to speak to the technopath that we rescued from Phoenix-Ariadne Pierre."
"I'll talk to her." Natasha offers.
"Have you had anything else charged against you?" The Captain inquires worriedly.
"I think aside from conspiracy, treason, and espionage, they wanted me for tax evasion, which is absurd because I've been paying my taxes and also did not back then because I wasn't working."
"Why did you join HYDRA in the first place? Maybe if you hadn't you wouldn't be in this chaos." Tony asks suddenly, a strong undertone forcing through his words.
"I had nowhere to go. I was hurt, I was lost, I was unsure. What was I supposed to do, let S.H.I.E.L.D. pick up my pieces again only for them to drop me? Again?" She shook her head no.
"We're going to testify." Clint says.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you testified against me. What have I shown you guys, proved to you? That I can be cruel and vicious? That I can't spend a single minute acting responsibly?"
"C'mon, Moon. It's time to meet your new detention cell." Officer Dunn declares as he nearly takes the door off of the hinges.
Lucy looked at her team one last time and watched as they uncuffed her from the table and cuffed her again in vibranium. He took her away and the team watched idly by, wondering what to do.
Dunn led her back to the basement facility where the inmates yelled out jibes and cursed at her severely, as if this was their way of greeting others. He unlocked the door to the back of the cell before uncuffing her and pushing her in roughly. "Welcome home, Moon."
Lucy stared in front of her and saw the bare minimum. A bed, a sink, and a toilet. And then glass. I am a monster.
"Breakfast is served at 8AM, lunch at 12PM and dinner at 5PM. Free time is scheduled at 1PM until 3PM. I trust you not to end up outside of this cell."
When he left and she heard the doors slam shut to the basement facility, Lucy sat down on her bed with a sigh.
"Screwup."
Her head jerked up at the sound of a familiar voice and she glanced around quickly. "James?"
"Way to go."
"I didn't do anything wrong." Lucy replies, lying back onto the bed and wondering when things would get better.
"They won't let you go."
"I know." Lucy whispers. She tucked a hand behind her head in place of a pillow.
"I thought you were going to get me out."
"Change of plan. We're going to be postponing that until I can get my voice heard to someone."
"You know him?" He asks after a while.
Lucy paused to wonder what he was talking about but stopped when he continued.
"Captain America." He mutters so softly that she almost couldn't hear him.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do know him."
"I knew him too."
"He loves you." Lucy says as she shuts her eyes and listens to the hum of the air-conditioning.
"Sure."
"I'm going to bring you back to him."
"Right."
"At least you're talking to me now."
Silence followed her last word and Lucy laughed at the irony before turning in her bed to glance out the window and narrow her eyes at the clock. 8:30.
"When is your trial?"
"I think they said June 27th. Two weeks from today."
"Good luck."
June 18, 2014
"Do you remember going into Slovakia with me?"
"I remember the Belarus 98, not Slovakia." Bucky replies quietly.
"That's okay. What do you remember about Belarus?"
"Not much. You just sat back."
"That's…partially true. Well, do-"
"Number 1001915, you have a visitor. 1001915."
Lucy glanced up at the intercom, then pulled at her coveralls to check the number to see that it matched. She looked back at Bucky and sighed. "They're early today."
"Let's hope it's not your regulars."
The manipulator nodded and stood from the tables to be taken to the visiting center with three guards. Her wrists were locked in heavy adamantium today as they walked in silence.
The door opened and she focused in on the five plus one people surrounding the visiting table. Tony stood at the sight of her and a guard raised his hand before the billionaire pursed his lips angrily and sat at the insistent tugging of the hem of his shirt; Bruce was the perpetrator.
"You have thirty minutes." One of the guards growl.
Lucy headed to the table and sat down at the head of the table. She smiled at the six visitors. "So what do we have today?"
"We have Steve and Hill ready to testify."
"Any word on Coulson?"
"Nothing yet."
Lucy nodded and Natasha stared at her carefully. "Don't worry, Lu. He'll come around."
"Has any of you spoken with Dunn?"
"He's working on it with the other two attorneys."
"Kemp and Evans?"
"Yeah. I haven't spoken to them since yesterday." Tony replies.
"Agent Pierre, have you talked to my counsel yet?" Lucy asks the guest.
Agent Ariadne Pierre sat up straighter and nodded. "I have my testimony set."
"Is Agent Snyder not available?"
"She's currently working on another court case in interrogation."
"I see. If you can, would you get my counsel to speak with Barnes, Tony?"
"I'll call them as soon as we get out."
"How are you holding up in there, Lu?" Bruce questions, worry lacing his face.
"I'm alright. You don't need to worry about me."
"Are they treating you well?"
"Sure, I mean, it's jail. Prison too, but this is S.H.I.E.L.D. confinement. It's not the worst."
"How's the food? I'm sure it's a whole lot better than Tony's burnt omelettes." Clint chuckles.
"I miss the omelettes and the cardboard meal substitutes. We had so much planned and now I've gone and screwed it all up."
"It's not your fault. No one should judge you based on your past. Especially not you."
"I did a lot of bad things but I didn't expect this to be one of them." Lucy admits. She shrugged. "Maybe I do deserve it."
"Don't say that."
"Have we made any progress on the other files? I need to know exactly why the timestamp states December of last year."
"They're still working on it and all they're finding is more evidence of experimentation on HYDRA Six. They've found more files about you from 2000." Steve says.
"I could-experimentation? Did you say experimentation?"
"On HYDRA Six, yes. Is there something wrong?"
"Did you see what they were experimenting with?"
"No."
"Listen to me, Steve-"
"Your time's up, Moon." A guard declares.
"Find out what they used on them. Come visit me soon."