"Sang-hee!" Volkov called to her, his voice barely audible over the crackling sound of fire.
Fortunately, she heard him, glancing over in his direction with an alert expression. "What?" She called out as she tossed the old, decrepit head of the mercenary she just killed.
"Come here." He said, gesturing toward Marcus who was lying on the ground.
Sang-hee frowned. "Tch, seriously?" She said with a head roll. "What the hell do you want me to do?." She asked, shrugging her shoulders as she approached.
Volkov stumbled forward, pointing a finger at one of the dozen shards in his arm. "Can you use your decay touch on this?" He asked, holding out his arm to her.
Sang-hee frowned as she approached Volkov, "I ain't a genius, but can my abilities even work on metal?" She asked grabbing at one of the shards in Volkov's arm.
As she touched the shard, she instantly yanked her hand back as she hissed in pain. "What the fuck is that?!" She asked as she examined her hand.
Volkov grimaced, "of course." He said with a pain-filled sigh. "Decay touch is still ether." He said in disappointment.
Marcus, who has been lost in his own world, chuckled in amusement. "You take all that shit about strength, yet you can't just rip them out?" He asked mockingly as he glanced at Sang-hee, a challenging glint in his eyes.
Sang-hee glared at Marcus. "You can die right here for all I care!" She hissed with a snarl. "You worthless sack of shit."
Marcus's grin grew, "You're useless, nothing more than a worthless paperweight." He said with labored laughter, quickly turning into a pained wheeze.
"Marcus," Volkov whispered. "I can't deal with this right now." His voice was barely above a whisper, he looked to be a hard breeze away from toppling over completely.
Marcus shook his head.
He genuinely found it funny how useless Sang-hee was when it came to anything other than violence. "Volkov should have never agreed to train you." He added, his blood-filled grin widening.
Marcus didn't know why he was insulting Sang-hee, he was in no position to defend himself if she flew off the rails and killed him.
However, it felt good to belittle and mock her, sane as she did to him time and time again. It was almost like retribution.
Sang-hee's expression turned resentful as Marcus continued to provoke her. Her fists became charged with ample amounts of decay touch, black smoke building in her hands as she tightened her fists. "You got a whole lotta fucking nerve boss." She said coldly, approaching Marcus with slow, heavy footsteps.
Luna, who had been quietly attending to Marcus, spoke up. "Take another step and I'll kill you." She said passionlessly, almost as if it wasn't a threat, but a fact.
Sang-hee hesitated for a moment, a hit of fear flickered in her eyes.
However, that hesitation was short-lived. "I guess we'll see then," Sang-hee replied with determination.
She took another step, and without further warning or prompt, Luna disappeared from Marcus's side with a flash of silver light.
Sang-hee's eyes widened as she stepped dead in her tracks. "Where–"
Before she could finish speaking, Luna reappeared behind Sang-hee. Floating in the air with her right hand charged with silver energy. Sang-hee immediately turned around to take aim at Luna, However, she was too slow.
Luna fired off the energy, it popped loudly as it sent Sang-hee flying across forward. Her body twirled in the air like a spinning top. She hit the ground hard, cracking the pavement that made up the airstrip.
Sang-hee groaned out in pain, reaching her face as it had smashed against the pavement first.
There was a tense moment, as Sang-hee struggled to stand off the ground. Her breathing was heavy and laborious, small pebbles and rocks rolled off her body as she continued.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Sang-hee hissed as she rose from the ground. Her face was bloodied and bruised, her body trembling with pain and anger. Her eyes burned with a fierce determination.
Luna wordlessly teleported once more.
Sang-hee immediately turned around and aimed a hand forward. It was clear that she expected Luna to reappear behind her again.
Yet Luna reappeared where Sang-hee was facing a moment ago, giving her a direct line of attack for her back once again. She had a silver sphere of silver energy already prepared, and fired it off into Sang-hee's back once more, sending Sang-Hee crashing down into the pavement once more.
Marcus' eyes widened with mixed emotions as he watched the fight unfold.
He had only ever seen Luna this cold-blooded when he first met her. Ever since then, she had sorta mellowed out, becoming something along the lines of his companion.
So it was shocking to see her actually hurt someone, yet he wasn't mad about it.
Seeing Luna beat up Sang-hee was actually kind of refreshing to him.
Almost needed!
Marcus laughed at the sight, cheering Luna on as she slowly floated toward Sang-hee with a menacing aura.
Sang-hee struggled to rise up once more.
"You…. I'll kill you." Sang-hee words were slurred and broken, Marcus could see that her lips were swollen and bleeding profusely. Her right cheek was cracked open, flesh popping out from the wound.
Her clothes, which were a simple T-shirt and basketball shorts, were almost completely singed, revealing her bruised and bloodied body. Her skin was charred with various burns and bruises, some scars looked to be far older than others, years older.
"How…" Marcus questioned, wondering how that could be the case if the first had only begun seconds ago.
It was then that he realized Sang-hee had those wounds far before she had joined the organization.
Luna began to prepare another bolt of ether, this one far more powerful than the last. It crackled with intense energy and heat that seemed to match that of the star.
Marcus could only watch in horror as he realized Luna wasn't bluffing.
She was going to kill Sang-hee.
"Luna!" Volkov shouted in desperation as he ran towards them. "stop!" Volkov moved with speed and agility which seemed almost impossible given his current state.
He stood in front of Sang-hee and before Luna, his arms spread wider as he shielded Sang-hee with his body. "Please don't do this." He spoke with a strained, yet stern voice. "She's not worth it, she's done, ok?" Volkov explained, barely able to look Luna in the eyes as his head drooped. "She's done."
Luna's eyes flickered with a mixture of emotions, rage, frustration, determination, and something else something unreadable. For a moment, Marcus believed that Luna was going to kill both Volkov and Sang-hee.
However, that never happened.
The power that seemed to be unquestionably filled with murderous intent, began to falter. As the energy with her hand diminished, her expression softened ever slow slightly.
"Fine," Luna said coldly. "But if she ever hurts Marcus again, I will not hesitate to put her in the ground."
Volkov nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as he dropped to one knee. "T-thank you." He stammered as he struggled to breathe, "thank you."
Sang-hee, who was still struggling to stand, glared at Luna with hatred and pain. Her body continued to shake and tremble with agony. "I'll… I'll kill you." She whispered hoarsely, "And Marcus…"
Luna looked down at Sang-her with disgust in her eyes. "You can try, but the only one who'll die that day is you."
As Sang-hee's face twisted with rage and anger, Marcus couldn't help but inwardly breathe a sigh of relief. He disliked Sang-hee, and on some occasions that dislike boarded on hatred.
Yet just then, when he saw her facing death itself, something within him ached in pain. Her bruised and abused body didn't help with that in the slightest, as it didn't take a genius to see why Sang-hee was so determined and stubborn.
Marcus realized she wasn't doing it to be mean, but because she had to.
"Fuck…" Marcus whispered to himself as he slowly attempted to rise up.
Just then, three officers emerged from the forest that surrounded the airstrip. Two of them, Marcus didn't recognize, however, the third one he recognized was Lieutenant Lance.
"Check the perimeter for any remaining hostiles," Lance commanded one of the officers.
"On it." The officer replied as he took off to the sky.
Lance then gestured towards the second officer, "Help me get the wounded back to the truck."
"Yes sir!" The officer replied, sprinting towards Sang-hee and Volkov.
Lance approached Marcus with a grim expression, his eyes heavy with an unreadable emotion. "What happened?" He asked in a stern, yet concerned voice.
"You mean before or after the explosion?" Marcus asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Now is not the time for games son," Lance replied as he knelt beside Marcus, examining the shards that were stuck in his arm. He stared at it closely, before sighing deeply.
"You were hit with an EI grenade, how?" Lance asked.
Marcus sighed, "there was this woman, dressed in heavy tactical gear. She caught me off guard while I was fighting her sister…" Marcus went into detail about everything that happened after he arrived on the scene, carefully to avoid speaking about what Luna had done to Sang-hee.
"The kiba mercenary group…" he said with a grim expression, "this is worse than I thought." He then sighed as he began to scoop Marcus up into his grasp. "Arline!" Lance called out to the female officer, "Grab the cadet, Volkov can handle himself."
Arline nodded as she focused her attention on Sang-hee. She knelt down to help her up, yet Sang-hee resisted. "Get the fuck off me." She said angrily as she struggled to push Arline away.
"I'm sorry," Arline said softly as she continued to lift up Sang-hee. "But orders are orders, and you need help."
Sang-hee fell silent as she reluctantly allowed the officer to help.
Luna meanwhile had made her way to Lance's side, grabbing Marcus's dangling hand and squeezing it tightly.
"I'm ok." Marcus said with a smile as he looked down at Luna, "And thank you."
Luna averted her gaze. "Y-your welcome." She replied.
— — —
Hours later, Marcus found himself in a hospital bed within the complex. He was hooked up to various machines and had bandages around his arm and chest.
Looking around, Marcus noticed Luna sitting in a chair beside his bed. Her attention focused on Marcus's phone.
"How long was I out for?" He asked, rubbing his head.
"About an hour," Luna replied. "After they put you to sleep, they brought in a few doctors to remove the shards from your arm and that knife from your chest, your body took care of the rest." She explained, never looking up from Marcus's phone.
Marcus chuckled as he rubbed his chest in the area where he had been stabbed. "It's funny." He began with a soft chuckle, "How ether can heal so fast, yet destroy just as quickly."
Luna remained silent, never looking up from Marcus's phone.
Marcus sighed softly as he settled into the hospital bed. His mind churning with thoughts. He wanted to talk to Luna about Sang-hee, about the airstrip, but he knew she clearly wasn't in the mood for that conversation.
But maybe they didn't need to talk about those things either. Maybe Luna just wanted to feel something more relaxing after something like today.
"Do you wanna… get in bed with me?" Marcus asked hesitantly. Even though he was used to Luna sleeping with him now, and he was sure it was the same for her, it still felt weird to ask.
Luna hesitated for a moment, looking up from Marcus's phone, and focusing her attention on him. Her expression was unreadable and made Marcus feel self-conscious.
"N-never mind." He stammered, "That was stupid." He said while averting his gaze.
Luna smiled faintly as she got up from her seat. "She then approached Marcus's bed and reached her hands up.
Marcus looked over at Luna with a relieved expression, reaching down to pick her up. As Marcus pulled Luna onto his bed, his mood instantly turned better.
He drew her close to him and nestled his cheek with hers.
"How are you so soft?" Marcus joked as he continued rubbing her cheeks against his.
Luna chuckled as she began to return Marcus's affection. "Magic." She said teasingly, giggling all the while.
Marcus knew he couldn't avoid the inevitable, a conversation would have to be held about Sang-hee, Volkov, and that entire incident.
But for now, all he wanted was to enjoy Luna's company after a long day.