When It Snowed

Chapter 33 - Sense of Humor

She opened it, then closed it, opened it, then closed it, opened it, then closed it. No matter how many times she did it, Finn couldn't believe that it was real. HYDRA had technology, and it was technology that was way more advanced than many other parts of the world.

Wakanda though? Wakanda blew them right out of the water.

The arm was lighter, 100 times more comfortable. It fit her body structure better than her original one had. It looked more like a woman's arm.
"I made it out of Vibranium." Shuri, the King's younger sister began. "The metal is indestructible on it's own- but it is lighter too. Just like your friend's shield. If anything is uncomfortable, please let me know."

Suddenly, the door on the far side of the room glided open. Only two people had access to Shuri's lab at the time and that was the King and Bucky. Clearly, by Finley's blank stare, it was Bucky. Quickly she had looked back to the girl's attention.

Then, with a breath, she stretched her arm out again feeling like she had complete control over it. "It feels great, thank you."

Sighing, the girl nodded. "I'm afraid it might not feel like that for long."

This time, Bucky got involved. "What do you mean?"

"Whoever implanted the previous arm, they didn't take that much pride in it I'm afraid." Whisply, Finley chuckled. This little girl had absolutely no idea about her past. "Can you remove your shirt again?"

It made her heart stop. She didn't know how Buck would react, but Finn knew that it was important that he saw her eventually. Right now she didn't believe that he was ready for it, but of course- she obliged to the girl's request. Slipping off the white tank top, Finn tossed it onto the metal table beside her. Instantly, Shuri started going to work ignoring all the other scars. Bucky however, he seemed to be frozen solid where he was.

"Here, at the fusion site, they welded it together." She traced Finn's arm with a pen. Connected to where the metal began, Finn's skin was molted and scared all the way around. It looked like a serious burn, but controlled throughout the entire process. "My best guess is they didn't sterilize it before doing so- your body was contaminated with a large amount of metal. The syrum inside you has been working for years to keep it out, now that the source of it is gone however- I'm afraid your serum is going to be stronger than ever before. You may be experiencing some changes over the next few months, and most of them may not be the most comfortable."

There was no response from either one of them, and Shuri was a little confused at first. Looking to Bucky however, she understood. He was staring at every scar the woman had, and there was a lot of them. Shuri was intimidated at first, and she knew that as soon as this was over she was going to do some digging on Finley's background. Until then however, she knew that she needed to give them some space. "That's all that I had today, come back tomorrow and I'll run some more diagnostics okay?"

She began packing up her things as soon as Finley sent her nod. Then, not long after, Bucky and Finn were left alone in the room. It was silent, all she could hear was his shaky breathing. He sounded so fragile, so hurt, so upset.

It made her feel something deep in her chest.

However, it made her feel desperation too. Staring forward at the wall across the room, Finley muttered in a monotone voice. "I'd tell you if I knew... but I don't."

Her voice broke him from his shocked stare. Still with no words forming however, the man was only able to step forward, stand behind her, and choke down the emotions he was feeling. There was a scar on honestly every inch of her body. Her back, her shoulders, her hips, it was covered. Some were long, some were short, some were skinny, and some were thick. It wasn't until his fingertips grazed the biggest one that he lost it. "Jesus christ." He whispered feeling a tear fall.

They tortured her, that's how they broke her. It had to be. There were so many though, he couldn't begin to imagine everything that they did to her.

"There are some that I remember." Finn grunted before standing up and putting her shirt back on. As she turned to face him, her eyebrows contorted in confusion seeing how emotional he was. "Stop crying." He looked her in the eyes now. "I'm still breathing ain't I?"

Bucky shook his head. "You got those because of me."

"I got these because if I remember right, I tended to have a bad mouth in even worse situations." she started walking out towards the door expecting him to follow.

"You fell." He stopped her dead in her tracks. Looking towards her feet and biting her lip, Finley took a breath letting his words run through her head. "We were on assignment, you, me, and Steve. I got pinned down, and you and Steve came to bail me out. Hydra trapped us, went at us with next gen. weapons. You took a hit for Steve and I, it threw you out the side of the train. You held on and I tried getting to you. Had you in my fingertips, but you fell right through. We thought you were dead-" His voice started getting more shaky, the tears forming once again. "Search parties couldn't find a body, but I guess now we know why."

Finley didn't remember every word that he was saying. The visions she had before though, where a man was reaching out to her and calling her name- now it all made sense. That man was him, he was trying to save her, that's why he was never able to in her dreams.

Biting her lip even harder, Finn turned to face him with her shoulders and head high. "The only thing that I got out of that, is that you tried." his heart became warm looking at her. She was wearing the cocky grin that she used to long ago, the look that if you said anything further that she didn't like- she was going to kick your ass. "I took that hit for a reason, and I know I'd do it again. Unless you want to keep bitchin-" her feet began to carry her backwards. "Then I'll throw you off my damn self."  Bucky had to force out a laugh. "Now come on." She nodded back towards the door. "Believe it or not the science experiment has an appetite. Trick is finding something that you ain't gotta hunt around here."

"You're starting to sound like you again."

Chuckling beside him, her eyes scanned every inch of the hall as they left the lab. "Yeah well, if I recall that was their biggest pet peeve back in Hydra."

"What do you mean?"

She smiled again. "Nobody there had a sense of humor, so they definitely didn't appreciate mine."