Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

IRON MAN: CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The next time Tony awakes, he is alone in his room. He catches his sad reflection in a mirror and out of the corner of his eyes, in a chair someone had dragged in here -- laid Rhiley curled up in a ball --- sleeping. 

He wasn't alone. 

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"I don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D" Rhiley, after weeks of dodging Phil Coulson's calls, finally met up with him at their same diner, at the same time, in their same booth. She had cleaned up the best she could but the look in her eyes showed she was barely even there. 

"Do you trust me?" 

Rhiley looked over at Phil, "I've been spying on my nephew." 

"If it makes you feel better, you haven't been doing a very good job." Phil responded, "Or you've decided where your loyalties lie." He didn't say this to hurt her, he said it without any bit of snark behind it. It was just a fact he finally decided to state. 

"He's Howard's son." Rhiley shakes his head, "He's older than me." 

"We want the same thing, Rhiley." 

"I think you think that's true." Rhiley responded, "I want to protect him and you want to know what he's doing because S.H.I.E.L.D wants to know. It fits your agenda." 

"And you don't have an agenda?" 

"I haven't had an agenda since waking up." Rhiley swirls her coffee, "But protecting Tony feels like something, it feels like a purpose, it feels like I finally figured out why-" 

"Why you're here." 

"What are you gonna tell, Fury?" Rhiley asked looking at Phil. 

"The truth." Phil answers, "One of our Agents went Rogue." 

"I was never an Agent for S.H.I.E.L.D" 

"What were you then?" 

"A contractor, spy, freelancer-" She shrugged, "But you didn't want me." 

"S.H.I.E.L.D didn't want you." Phil corrected, "I saw your potential the moment you broke that nurse's nose." 

'I've been seeing Howard." Rhiley finally admits, "I know he's not real, that it's just my imagination but I've seen him, He's said things to me that are--" 

"You've been through a lot of trauma, Rhiley." 

"He's right, though." Rhiley cuts Phil off, "I did abandon him." 

"So you're making up for it?" 

"Nothing will ever make up for what happened." Rhiley corrects, "But I'm not going to abandon, Tony. I don't care if that makes me just a simple disposable assistant." 

"You aren't disposable." Phil says, "You are his family." 

"He doesn't know that." Rhiley breathes, "and he won't." 

"You never thought about telling him you're a Stark?" Phil asks, "You're his Aunt?" 

"And sound like a lunatic? Absolutely not and it wouldn't matter-" She shakes her head, "It wouldn't matter." She puts down her coffee, "I should get going." She stands up, "I've got a busy day." 

"You're about to do something stupid, aren't you?" 

Rhiley looks down at Phil, "Why would you think that." 

"Because you're a Stark." 

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