Chapter 28

"Bruce," started Luna, barely managing to start her sentence out before the rest of her words caught in her throat, choking her a little, as she couldn't manage to convince herself to draw another breath. "You need to stay here Luna, I need you to look at me and stay here." Came the scientists commanding but not cruel voice from where he was stood across the room, eyes glued on the live news feed F.R.I.D.A.Y was projecting onto the wall. It had been hard enough convincing Luna to stay in the tower when Icarus had taken out Rhodey, Tony and Thor. Now, with Bucky unconscious on the ground and Peter trapped in some ungodly concrete prison, Luna was already glowing, her hair having lit up and eyes turned to black. Hell, Bruce thought it was a miracle Luna hadn't flown out of the lab windows the second Icarus had made her appearance. Now though, he needed to play on her rationality to get her to stay.

Bruce stood up and stalked across the room, headed straight in Luna's direction "Look at me kid. Look at me." He reached a hand up to Luna's cheek, turning her head away from where it had locked onto the screen, bringing Luna's own blue eyes to look back at his. "I need you here kid. Bucky and Pete are gonna need you here. The whole team will." The girl in front of him ground out through gritted tech and a clenched jaw "I cant just leave him." Luna tried to shift her eyes back towards the projection, but Bruce turned her head back to him. "Bruce," she said, her voice slipping into a sound of duality as the Black moon came in to play along side Luna, "I need to help Bucky." A desperate look had come into Luna's eyes, one that Bruce could read despite the colour change. "I know Luna, I know. But you have to stay here right now." Luna shook Bruce's hands off of her, shifting enough to finally see the footage again, only for her heart to clench painfully tight as Luna saw Peter punch his way out of the cell Icarus had put him in. She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding in. Only it got caught in her throat as she realised what was wrong with the scene in front of her. "Bruce," she said, voice shaking with worry, "Where the hell is Bucky?" The scientist turned to look straight back at the screen. "And where the hell is Icarus." He responded, the edges of his fingertips turning a dark green colour. Suddenly, with a crackle that made both Luna and Bruce jump out of their skins burst to life across the speakers in Bruce's lab, "Bruce, Luna you gotta get out of there." It was Tony. Tony, who Luna knew was currently stuck on the side of the pavement, with a chunk of black material protruding from his chest. "Ic-Icarus is, she's," Tony let out a hacking cough, "She's coming for Luna, and she- she's got Bucky."

"I'm not going anywhere." Luna's voice spoke swiftly and sternly, heels digging into the ground of the lab, rooting herself in the position, before she had even had the chance to process what she was saying. Her instincts were taking over, and for the moment, Luna was happy to just run with it. "Don't try and tell me otherwise Bruce. You need to go down to the containment room. We don't have time to get you out of here." Bruce stared at her, looking conflicted, evidently not feeling comfortable leaving Luna where he knew she was going to take a stand and put herself in danger. But Bruce didn't get a choice, because when Luna saw he wasn't moving she lifted her hand, and let out a small pulse of silver energy, knocking Bruce backwards and out of the lab, calling out to F.R.I.D.A.Y at the same time, saying in the Black Moons voice "Lock the lab down and get big green in containment Fri." Luna didn't even wait to check the doors had been locked, she trusted F.R.I.D.A.Y would sort it out. And so, without a further thought other than steeling herself against the fight that was about to ensure, Luna walked over to the floor to ceiling windows covering the room and shattered one of the great glass panels with the wave of a hand, before stepping out into the open air and hovering for a moment, turning her gaze to where the fight had taken place, and to where now, a figure with a black mass expanding behind her was heading in her direction, with what looked like a still unconscious Bucky in her claws.

Luna flew up to the roof of Stark tower, landing softly on the concrete that covered the top of stark tower, without even noticing her feet touching the ground. No. Icarus was coming for her, and she had Bucky. She didn't have time to think about Hydra, and her past and what the appearance of this girl would mean for her. No. She didn't have time for that. Instead, with the remaining seconds she had before Icarus' arrival Luna simply shut her eyes and let out a low, long breath, closing her mind off to any distractions (namely, her worrying about Peter) and calling on every drop of power she had in her to see her through this fight. Behind her, Luna's senses alerted her to the fact Icarus had landed behind her, something which was confirmed only seconds later when Bucky's unconscious form let out a small huff of pain as he was dropped onto the harsh concrete. The sun was blazing high in the sky now, beating down on the two women stood away from each other, Luna with her back to Icarus.

"Черная Луна. я пришел, чтобы отвезти тебя домой" (Black moon. i have come to bring you home). It was all Luna needed to hear. As quick as a flash of lighting, Luna span around, locking eyes with Icarus, before gritting her teeth, spitting out a bark of a humourless laugh alongside the words, "No chance," before throwing all of the energy she had just drawn from inside herself towards Icarus, a burst of scolding white light sprinting forwards from Luna's hands connecting immediately with Icarus, hitting her square in the chest, sending her sprawling backwards off of the roof, but for barely a minute, for as soon as Icarus was tumbling through the air, she used her wings to snap up into the air and block off the wave of energy from Luna. She came flying towards her with a vengeance, sending three daggers of black rock towards Luna as she did, all of which the younger girl managed to shatter as they neared her. Icarus kept speeding towards Luna, and quickly a powerful blow knocked the air out of Luna's lungs as Icarus' heels kicked into her chest, forcing her to the ground and rolling over a couple of times from the impact. Like she had done so many days ago however, Luna used the momentum from the blow to roll herself into a defensive crouch, where she quickly stole a glance at the shitty-looking Bucky who still lay now half way across the roof, unconscious. A fire lit within Luna as she stared at the woman in front of her, posed in a crouch much the same to Luna's own.

"Гидра послала меня забрать то, что у них. это ты и солдат." ( Hydra have sent me to take back what is theirs. that is you and the soldier. )

"Well then. You can run back to your Hydra officials and tell them to fuck off." Replied Luna, before launching herself in the direction of Icarus, crossing the meters between them with the help of a boost from her powers. Her fist connected almost instantly with Icarus' jaw, and Luna heard a satisfying crack before she carried on raining blows down on Icarus with all the strength she had in herself. Luna got in about 10 blows across Icarus' body before a sharp cry of pain ripped itself out of Luna's lungs and she crumbled over one knee, feeling sick as she recognised one of Icarus' feather-daggers embedded in her thigh. Almost as soon as she had collapsed a wave of force from Icarus' wings hit Luna, sending her once more rolling across the roof of the building, knocking her injured leg on the ground as she went. With a feral growl Luna righted herself, before throwing herself towards Icarus, immediately working on incapacitating the woman's wings to make the fight more balanced. Luna focused her powers on Icarus' left shoulder, knowing it was likely the organic looking wings would have a connection point there, and that is she could take it out, she would stand a better chance of taking her down. This time, as she engaged Icarus, Luna dropped swung low, taking the woman by surprise, as Icarus' legs were forced out from under her, sending her toppling to the ground. With immense pain and teeth gritted so strongly Luna was sure one of them would break, Luna ripped one of Icarus' own wing-fragments out of her own thigh and plunged it straight into the woman's right shoulder, where it looked like the wing connected. Icarus let out an animal scream of pain, and threw Luna off of her, but not strongly enough, because Luna righted herself almost straight away and pounced back onto Icarus, pulling a dagger out from where she kept it hidden in her boot and brought it down towards Icarus' upper back. Except it didn't make contact. Because just as it was about to strike Luna heard Bucky let out a howling scream and as though it was involuntary, Luna flinched and her head snapped towards where the sound of Bucky's pain was coming from. He was writhing on the ground, apparently still unconscious, but screaming in agony as Luna watched tendrils of electricity surge up and down the older mans body. It was a blinding pain on her right temple that made her world tilt and ears ring that Luna next registered. That along with the hazy outline of Icarus, stood with stooped shoulder in front of her, a small remote in her hand.

"Я предупреждал вас, и вы решили не подчиняться. его боль на тебе" (I warned you, and you chose not to comply. his pain is on you) As Luna clawed her way onto her hands and knees, cringing as she put more weight onto her injured leg as she ground out, "Go. To. Hell." Luna drew up her right hand, her whole body quivering with the effort it was taking to keep her upright as her concussed mind screamed at her to just give it up. But she wouldn't. Not for herself. But for Bucky. So she forced her eyes to focus on Icarus, stood in front of her, blocking out the sound of Bucky's pain behind her. With her hand raised, Luna drew on what little power she had left after her fight and got ready to send it into Icarus, in one last attempt to protect herself and Bucky. That was, of course, until a red and blue coloured man swung up onto the rooftop and Luna's world stopped.

Her time at Hydra had been hell. There was no way around it. It destroyed the way she looked at the world and the people around her in it. She didn't trust, she didn't sleep, she barely ate and she never, ever loved. They had fucked her up too much for that. For years, her life had consisted of waking up from Cryo-freeze, doing whatever it was she was told to do. Kill this person. Steal this. Punishment for this. Punishment for that. Hours spent in that demon chair that messed her up so badly she wished her heart would just stop and she could check out of life. It was routine. It was cruel and hellish and she thought she would throw up at the thought of having to go back to it. And the thought of putting Bucky through that again, when he had made so much damn progress. When he had finally found himself a home, a family. He had Steve and Sam and Nat and Tony and every single person in the tower watching his back. How much was it going to destroy him being back in Hydra's palm. Being their play thing. Their toy soldiers. Side by side the Black Moon and the Winter Soldier. God she hoped he wouldn't hate her for this. That was what was killing Luna, not what she would go through, but that Bucky would have to go back too. But it was going to be someone. Luna could see that now. It was going to be her and Bucky, or Peter. She codlin do that to him. He was light and air and joy and innocence and she couldn't, wouldn't make him live through the experiments, the torture, the hours of begging for death, the plain hell that was living under Hydra's thumb. Peter could stick it out until a rescue. She knew that, logically. But she wouldn't make him, not when she could go instead. Luna knew she was damaged goods. Even in her short time with the avengers, she hadn't forgotten that. She was broken. But Peter wasn't. And she was going to keep him safe. She only hoped, prayed, that one day Bucky would be able to forgive her.

Luna, hand lifted, let out a pulse of energy, collapsing under the weight of her own body as she saw it collide with the intended target. The ball of white light hit Peter Parker squarely in the chest, pushing him off the side of the building with an agonised scream as he saw Icarus shoot three of her feathers into Luna, along her spine and landing a blow so hard Peter thought it could rival the Hulks on the side of Luna's head. Knocking her out. It was Karen that shot a web for Peter, stopping him colliding with the ground like Luna trusted she would. With the knowledge that Peter was safe, Luna let consciousness slip away from her and from where the rest of the avengers, injured and in desperate need of medical attention were, they could see Icarus flying away, with Bucky and Luna in tow.

- AN-

hi lovies ! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry its a day late and a bit short ! if you read my last AN im sure you can figure out why, im not coping very well, so uploads may be slightly off schedule. i hope you're all okay. my DM's are always open x

love as always

ERS xx