Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

IRON MAN: CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"So you thought starting over meant working for your Nephew?"

Rhiley raised an eyebrow as Agent Coulson walked into her room, "Are you going to interrogate me?" 

He frowned, "I came to check on you." 

"How are the recruits?" She asked, looking up at the ceiling. 

"Good." an awkwardness drips between the two, "How are you?" 

"Peachy." 

"Rhiley." 

"Why are you here, Coulson." Rhiley snapped, "S.H.I.E.L.D is in the past and I thought I was in the past with them." 

"We've always had an eye on you -"

"Until I got abducted?" Rhiley raised her eyebrow and Phil nodded his head, "Why?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D still believes it best for everyone involved if you were kept under surveillance?"

"That's like a fancy way of saying S.H.I.E.L.D. stalks me."

"We need your help, Rhiley."

Rhiley scuffed, clearly irritated by this point, "I was useless to S.H.I.E.L.D why do you guys need my help now? Don't you have skilled Agents to use?"

"You have access that we can't get."

"And what is-" Rhiley glared at Phil, "Tony, this is about Tony Stark."

"He's been dodging my calls."

"Of course," Rhiley laughed, "he doesn't like authority or government agencies and he doesn't like listening to people."

"But he trusted you enough to hire you after meeting you just once."

"You have been stalking me." Rhiley shook her head, looking away from the man, "I don't want anything to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. so whatever you guys want to know about Tony or want me to get, well, you can screw off."

Phil took a card from his jacket, "Well if you change your mind." He placed it next to the whiskey, "I got a new number." then walked off without even a glance back at the young woman.

Rhiley took the business card, crumbled it up, and threw it next to Tony's dumb note that had fired her.

She was tired of life chewing her up and spitting her out over and over again. 

-

-

-

It wasn't until a few weeks later that Rhiley understood why Phil and S.H.I.E.L.D had grown interested in Tony Stark. The playboy billionaire had thrown a conference the second he had returned home and announced the end fo Stark Industry in the weapons business. 

When she found that out, eviction notices started pilling up in Rhiley's mailbox. She ignored them, hoping they would disappear. She applied for jobs but nothing was right for her. 

Rhiley was also labeled the damsel in distress that Tony Stark had saved. Luckily for her, they didn't release a photo. 

Then the fateful day came when the eviction notice was found taped on her door and Rhiley could no longer ignore it. It wasn't like she had anything valuable anyway. So, she grabbed a few things and left. Tearing up the note and throwing it on the ground. 

She really couldn't tell if this was rock bottom, wandering the streets with a single bag, with nowhere to go still healing from being in captivity for three months, or if being in an icey coma for over 70 years was worse. Honestly, it could be a tie at this point. Rhiley was just tired of the cards stacking up against her lately.