Hello, Who is this?

49) Healing

Just as Nat had predicted. As soon as Riley stepped foot onto the elevator, Friday told her that her mates had requested Riley be brought to them when she was done in the lab. Sighing she walked onto the private floor and asked the boys if she was allowed to grab a shower before the lectures began. 

All four were taken aback by her assumption. "Of course you can grab a shower sweetie. We just wanted to make sure you were okay after the lab. The last time you had to checked over by Banner we had to hear from Wanda that you had been suffering, remember?" Tony took a step towards her as he spoke. He didn't want to crowd her but six months without her had been awful. He couldn't think of a reason to ever complain about the girls wanting her to spend a night with them again. Then the thought of her being taken while with Fury set him off. He couldn't imagine her being any safer with the girls. His breathing hitched and his eyes went wide. He found himself sitting but he didn't remember falling. He looked up to thank Steve when he met the clear blue eyes of his smallest mate. "Easy Mister Mobster. You have to keep being a badass because otherwise everyone will assume you're a pushover." She smiled at him and played with his hair as his breathing normalized. He was in her arms. She was there and not running from him. He nuzzled into her chest and arm, only to realize she didn't smell like herself. Something was very wrong. 

Sitting up, he eyed her seated form. She was stiff and reserved. He noticed how she dropped her hands to her lap as he sat up. The way her back seemed to spasm every few seconds, the shake in her thighs that didn't look as natural as it did when she was exhausted from her mates. 

"Sweetie, how bad is it?"

Riley looked down at her hands and took a deep, calming breath. 

"I will show you all if you promise to stay seated on the bed and don't try to approach me. I need to know I can trust you all with this. Also, Rumlow nor any of those who came with us from that... Hell. None of them are the cause of what you are about to see. Please listen?"

Steve and Bucky sat in the middle of the bed with Tony and Loki sitting at the foot. All of them faced her but she walked into the bathroom and stripped. Finding a small robe, she slipped it on and came back out. Sliding the top of it off her shoulders Riley was able to show the deep bruising just below her collar bones, from one arm, all the way across to the other. It looked like a solid bar had been painted there. After righting the top, she turned around and lifted the back so that her the twin to her chest was shown across her lower back, just above her hips. While still facing away, she removed the robe completely, giving them access to the slightly lighter bruising across her shoulder blades. Lastly, she turned to face them, keeping her head down as her thighs began to show. 

All of her mates were ready to ensure a certain death to whomever had harmed their mate in such a manner. She was their soulmate and they would do anything to keep her safe. They all fisted their hands, most making their palms bleed. They hated seeing her marked the way she was. Only Bucky knew the contraption they had used to make leave her as bruised as she was. He had been ordered to put more than a few enemies of Hydra into the machine. It was a way to keep the women in line and the men would usually do whatever it took to keep their own loved ones out of the machine. It was a series of steel pipes that pressed and spun against your skin and could be put into several positions in order to obtain maximum effect. Judging by the bruises on his mate's thighs, he knew what they were using it for. He stood up after her robe was back on and asked with his eyes if he could come closer. She gave a single nod and watched him like prey caught in the sight of a predator. She allowed him to wrap his arms around her body and squeezed him tightly when she felt him crying. "I am so sorry Sugar. Please understand that I will never allow you near that machine again. Never again. I am so sorry that you experienced that thing. I- I don't have enough words to express. I love you and we are here for you. We love you Sugar."