When It Snowed

Chapter 30 - I Know

Finley pressed her back against the wall, closed her eyes, and tried to slow her breathing as much as possible. Image after image flashed through her head, and she couldn't get rid of them. It was her, standing above Howard, pulling the trigger, begging herself to stop, meeting him, protecting him, the man reading her something, his face contorted-twisted, looking like he was going to cry.

Then, she felt herself touching his shoulder; telling him that everything would be alright.

She knew Howard, and yet she was still the one that ended his life. How could she do that? That's what she didn't understand in the end. There wasn't a damn thing that she could piece together that Howard had done wrong to her.

Inside the walls of the factory, Bucky and Steve were doing everything they could to hold off Iron Man from getting to her. All three thought she had ran away, they thought that she was somewhere safe. She couldn't run away though, she was always trained to move towards the fight. That's why she was waiting for the right moment.

So, as soon as Steve and Bucky had Tony on his knees, they were sprinting off in the direction they thought she had gone towards. Immediately as they ran past her though, she slid the door closed behind them secluding the two on the other side. The two men turned around hearing the door close and they stared at her in a panic. Bucky's face was the one that sparked something in the back of her head though. Somewhere she had seen this before, him looking through a window at her in a panic. For a split second, she could have sworn that her surroundings had changed to a train car. "Finn?" Buck approached the door snapping her attention back to him. "What are you doing? Open the door!"

Slowly, she backed away from it. Her eyes never left his. All she could do was look at him, study the way he was pleading her to stop what she was doing with his eyes. She needed to do this though, Tony needed her to do this. "I can't keep running away." Breaking eye contact with his, Finn turned her back to Steve and Bucky and began making her way towards the sound of Tony. In the background, she could hear both of the boys telling her to come back.

Instead of listening to them, she searched for Tony. He was struggling to get up, her best guess was from the fight he had just endured not to long ago. As she approached the room, she peaked around the corner first to see him on his hands and knees. Tony was fighting himself, deep inside his head. Back and forth he was cussing at himself to get up, to go after her.

Without a second thought, even ignoring the pounding on the door behind her, she stepped forward silently and crouched to his level. Her tired knees cracked on the way down. Tony didn't notice her at first, not until her hand was outstretched offering to help him up. It was her metal hand though, and she could see his anger reflecting off of it.

There were no words exchanged. Instead, as soon as his eyes locked on hers, she knew what he intended to do. With what power he had left in his suit, his hand began to glow brighter before the blast of energy shot forward and directly towards her. She wasn't going to fight him, instead- she rose her metal hand to try and protect herself.
The energy bounced off her vibrant arm, and the momentum sent her backwards and into the wall behind her. Every ounce of air she had was taken away, and as her muscles went weak she looked up just in time to see Tony charging at her.

She ducked quickly, his momentum sending himself and his suit into the wall behind her.
Backing away from him, she studied the way he squared up to attack her. He wasn't a fighter, this wasn't who he was. There were so many things wrong with his form- but that didn't matter right now. She wasn't out to get him. He needed this- Tony needed to let this out.

So, Finley closed her eyes and let him.

The metal covering his fist connected with her jaw- and she was forced to take a step backwards. Again, he swung and connected- so again, she slipped backwards. It wasn't until another burst of energy hit her though that the damage really started to take it's toll. "You killed them!" He screamed as he pinned her up against the wall with his fingers wrapped around her throat.