Tony sat slouched on the patio bench, one arm hanging off the side, the other holding a drink he hadn't touched in over twenty minutes. His helmet sat on the table beside him, scorched. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he hadn't bothered to wipe the dried trail from his upper lip. The whine of repulsors still echoed in his ears.
He was staring at nothing.
Until he wasn't.
A shadow stumbled up the stone steps.
"Jesus Christ," Tony muttered, sitting up fast, forgetting the drink in his hand. It hit the ground and shattered.
Rhiley was wobbling toward him, blood dried on her chin and nose, her shirt stained, her pants torn at the knees, skin scraped raw. Her hands... her hands looked like they'd been through glass. And her eyes—
They weren't all the way there.
"Rhiley," Tony was already on his feet, crossing to her. "What the hell—what happened to you?"
"I'm tired," she breathed, knees buckling.
Tony reached out instinctively, grabbing her arms, steadying her. He brought one of her hands to his cheek to keep her upright, his fingers curling around her bloodied wrist.
"What the hell happened?" he asked again, voice low, urgent.
She blinked, eyes finally focusing. "I fell."
He stared at her.
Bullshit.
But she looked too hollow, too drained for him to argue it.
A flash overhead interrupted them—a streak of white-hot propulsion across the sky. A deep sonic boom followed. Tony's own suit had returned on autopilot, tracking the damage he left behind in a foreign desert.
"Come on," he said, gently guiding her inside.
The foyer was dim. He didn't get far before the dizziness returned. He staggered toward the oversized armchair and collapsed into it, gauntlet arms hissing, still releasing steam. Blood still clung to the side of his face. His hand trembled as he reached for a bottle on the table.
Rhiley stood beside him, swaying slightly.
"Are you going to abandon him?" Howard's voice echoed faintly in her head, slicing through the haze like a knife.
Tony looked up at her, blinking slowly.
"Get us home..." he murmured, eyes unfocused.
The way he said us made Rhiley's heart break just a little more and she didn't know how much she could take.
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Rhiley knew she had a breakdown that night.
She hadn't talked to anyone about it -- especially not Tony.
Pepper kept her distance and Tony himself had started watching her -- carefully, but not closely. Like someone trying to figure out the shape of a storm before it hit.
So she faked it. She smiled. She cracked a sarcastic line or two. She kept insisting, "I'm fine," whenever he caught her spacing out.
Even though her palms still ached. Even though she hadn't slept a full night since. Even though she hadn't returned Phil Coulson's calls or answered the burner phone tucked in her mattress.
Even though every time she blinked, she half-expected to see him again.
Howard. Or at least the ghost of him.
YOU ARE READING
Radioactive | Bucky Barnes
Fanfiction"I want to go back to the time you first told me your name." Rhiley, the twin sister of Howard Stark, finds herself wrapped up with the one and only James Barnes. The next time she sees him is on her new assignment with the 107th Infantry Regiment...
