When It Snowed

Chapter 39 - Finley Reaser

Finley stopped observing the scene before her.
The only thing that moved on her body was her eyes. She couldn't move anything else. Finley was paralyzed.

"No Tony." Bucky shook his head in anger at the scene before him. "She's not doing that." In the middle of the room was a metal table. It looked cold, uncomfortable, and every muscle in her body screamed for her to fight, run, to do something. There were latches and straps on each end waiting to lock her in place just like HYDRA had created so long ago.

Bucky knew what she was afraid of- and this was it. The straps were a trigger back in Wakanda, whose to say it was any different here?lWe don't know what Wanda is going to find, or if she's going to find anything." Tony warned. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe HYDRA is using her to play you? To use you to-"

"This isn't what this is about." Bucky stood in front of Finley again now getting angry. "You aren't strapping her into that thing."

"Then we aren't doing it." He simply acknowledged.

Now the King stepped in. "I think listening to Mr. Barnes would be wise."

"She doesn't want to Tony." Steve stepped in front of Finley as well. It was a rather large room, and all of the Avengers stood around it as security for both themselves and her. If HYDRA knew she was back in the States, they would be after her in a heartbeat. Finley was their greatest weapon, and they definitely wanted her back.

"Look where you are Rogers, you really want to start this again?" Tony was right, they were in his home with all of his gadgets and security. However, that didn't seem to intimidate Bucky and Steve. They were here to protect their girl, nothing was going to change that. The benefit of having the Black Panther now on their side seemed to help their little confidence boost as well.

"It's fine." Finley grabbed Bucky's arm and stepped through her two friends to approach the table. Passing Bucky however, her soft blue eyes locked on his green and it made all the stress leave his body and his strained form relax. "I can do it.." she hesitated looking at it once more.

"Finn.." Steve tried comforting her as best as he could. "You don't have to."

"Yeah, I do..." she stepped towards it refusing to blink. "it's the only way to figure out what the hell is going on in my head..." her voice trailed off. "I don't know how much longer I can take living like this."

In the back, Natasha Romanoff looked at the woman. How she walked, how her eyes scanned the chair in front of her with hidden fear. The Widow knew what it was like to be tortured- none of the Avengers were a stranger to that anymore. Being skilled in this profession, it all came with a price a little different to each one of them.
One thing that the rest of them shared however, was curiosity.

Silently, Finley tampered with the restraints on the chair. They were all over. The legs, the waist, the arms, the body, the head. The head was where she drew the line. "You can have them all." She nodded towards Tony. "But not this one." Slowly, her metal hand wrapped around the head strap. In a quick turn, she had it broken off and on the floor at his feet.

Seeing her do so, Tony nodded with his hands behind his back before bringing them to the front to comb the facial hair on his chin. Overall, he was willing to make a compromise. Seeing him agree, Finley turned towards the Scarlett Witch. She was cautious, studying up her next target for her little mind games as best as she could. Wanda locked eyes with Finley's Icy blue and let out a breath to comfort them both.

"I can't promise you." Finn shook her head trying to rephrase her words. "I can't promise you'll like what you see. Because-" she swallowed hard. "I don't know what you'll see."