War

Chapter 17

Janis' POV

   I finished my training for the day, still have not knocked Auntie Nat yet but I feel myself getting better every day judging by how little ache. I had my earbuds in as I walked down the hall to take a shower, listening to "Peach Jam" by Joji and quietly singing to myself.

Take you on a picnic then for a ride
Ride it all, ride it alright

   Out of nowhere, I felt a set of hands wrap around me, lift me into the air, and throw me over their shoulder. I didn't get a good look before I was hanging upside down.

"Um, excuse me? Why am I being carried?" I asked, confused. I pulled an earbud out to hear the response.

"You need to always watch your back and expect the unexpected! A very important part of your training." The voice replied with a chuckle. It was obviously Uncle Thor who has seized me.

"Well, I don't expect to be snatched up in my own house." I stated, a little amused. Seeing as the only thing I was able to see was the back of his shirt, I was a bit annoyed as well. He continued as he carried me through a doorway.

"It can happen, and it just did!" He exclaimed, cheerily. I was then placed into a chair and with that, had a perfect view of my surroundings. We were in Steve and Bucky's room, and they were standing there like they were waiting for me. Thor exited, I supposed due to his task in this facade being complete and closed the door behind him. Steve approached with a roll of duct tape and began to speak,

"Now that you've successfully been captured by the enemy, you now need to find a way out." He explained, taping my ankles to the legs of the chair. I snickered at the situation,

"Seems a little much for an exercise, don't you think?" I questioned. He made his way up and put a layer or two of tape around my torso, fastening me to the seat, then took my hands and taped my wrists together.

"This is only the beginning of my lessons on how to not get 'snatched up' as you called it." Steve continued. "Now that your captors have succeeded in acquiring you and binding you, what do you do?" I rolled my eyes, seeing the simplicity of the assignment and wanting to joke around for a bit.

"But, boys, you've threatened me with a good time here! No bad guys in sight and you have me at your mercy." I felt the corner of my mouth perk up into a half-smirk. Bucky's eyes widened and he turned away to face the wall.

"Either you are your dad's daughter with all that talk or you're into some really weird shit"

"por qué no los dos?" I asked, figuring Buck would understand that I just suggested that I am both of those things. I couldn't help but play around a bit, sue me. Steve sighed,

"You gotta take the scenario seriously, babe. As far as you should be concerned, we are not friends here. Now, show us how you'd break out of this situation." He tried to reason. I felt I was not done with my snarkiness, but I figured I would entertain them and do as asked. I assessed the use of duct tape, as well as how and where the tape was placed, then responded.

"For the record, if it was just you and I here, I would not be taking this seriously at all. But, the mistake the enemy made here was taping my wrists out in front of me instead of behind the chair. You could have also taped above the chest and around the arms to make this more difficult." I explained as I demonstrated. "It's a party trick really, you don't have to be Houdini to know how to escape this. It's all about torque, baby." I lifted my arms a bit, pulled my elbows outward, and smacked the gap in my wrists over my knee, causing it to rip. I removed the tape from my wrist from that point and explained further as they watched. "Now that my hands are free, I can tear the tape on my torso, then around my ankles now that I am able to bend." I did as I explained each step. Once I was completely freed, I stayed seated and looked up at both of them, "Give me a harder one next time"