Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

RADIOACTIVE: PART THREE

"Not many people know this." Rhiley pressed while Dr. Selvig took her blood, "It's not something I go around telling people - it's-" 

"You have my word." Dr. Selvig wrapped a bandage around Rhiley's arm, "I will not tell a soul." He wrote something down on a piece of paper - a chart - he'd created for any test he would perform on Rhiley. "But if I may ask, why tell me?" 

"The only other person I know - knew - who could help me with this thing." She referred to her powers and the hallucinations of her dead brother, "is my brother and you --" 

"There are probably many other S.H.I.E.L.D Scientists-" 

"Phil is the only one I trust at S.H.I.E.L.D and he's not a scientist." She tells Dr. Selvig, "You are a good man." 

"You don't know me." Dr. Selvig responds, sitting down in one of the chairs that had wheels, "How can you tell?" 

"Phil trusts you." 

Their conversation is interrupted when a loud beeping noise draws the doctor's attention. "What is it?" Rhiley asked. Dr. Selvig stood up and walked over to one of the many computers they had surrounding the tesseract. "Explain like I'm nine." She quickly adds, jumping up from her spot - she had learned to add the last part to any scientist she came across, or else they'd only confuse her more with the answers. 

"It seems like the cube is waking up." Dr. Selvig didn't seem concerned, "It's done this a few times, nothing too alarming." Once the beeping stopped, he returned to the blood he drew, "I'll have this back by the end of the day, we'll figure out what's going on, I promise." 

"Thank you, Erick." 

"Agent Rhiley!" 

She pierced her lips at the man's voice, "He doesn't seem to like you-" Dr. Selvig whispered, glancing up from the chart in his hands. 

"He's trying to assert dominance," She hadn't responded to Danny, "I know what he's trying-" 

"Agent Rhiley!" 

"Daniel." Rhiley twirled around and in her most pleasant voice, she answered him. "May I help you?" 

"It's Agent Thompson." 

Rhiley nodded goodbye to Dr. Selvig and headed down the platform's steps, "What are you doing up there?" 

"That's classified." 

"You don't have the clearance to be up there." 

"Neither do you." Rhiley pointed out, "Perhaps if you were nicer, Erick would let you up there to play with the little cube." 

"I don't know why they recruited you after you failed miserably at the exams, it makes me question S.H.I.E.L.D-" His voice lowered, "But I have been working my ass off to get to this position so I will not be undermined by you, Agent Rhiley -- what's with that anyways? Decided to rebrand yourself after you failed the first time?" 

"What did you want?" Rhiley kept her composure even though her skin pulsed with anger. "Agent Thompson." She snapped, glaring up at him. 

"You've been reassigned." He hands her a piece of paper, "Effective immediately." 

"To the outpost of the base?" Rhiley looked up, "The furthest post from the lab, why is that? Is it to teach me a lesson? What are you trying to do here, Agent Thompson?" 

He smirked, "That's classified." 

Rhiley doesn't break eye contact to crumble up the piece of paper and drop it to the ground. "I don't take orders from you." She walked passed him. 

"I will be taking this to Agent Coulson!" 

She flipped him off. 

-

-

-

"I heard you've been giving Agent Thompson some trouble?" 

"He snitched?" Rhiley laughed, walking out of her quarters to find Phil waiting for her, "What a bitch." 

"He is the senior agent." Phil continued after Rhiley gave him a look, "I did let him know you are being outsourced and are not to follow anyone else's orders but mine." 

"Director Fury isn't gonna like that." Rhiley laughed, Phil gave her a look, "I assumed he sent me here to try to put me in my place." 

"That's not-" Phil took a moment to think, "Director Fury does have a slight sense of humor but he sent you here because of the tesseract and wanted his best agents to guard it." 

"Steve said no." 

"Yeah." 

"So he got me, instead?" 

"You are a good asset, Rhiley." Phil took out his phone, "You just don't follow commands very well." 

"I have been told that before." Rhiley stops when Phil stops, "What's wrong?" 

"I need you to get to the lab," Phil puts his phone up to his ear, "Something is wrong." Rhiley didn't need to ask what was wrong when the ground all around her shook. 

She took off towards the lab without a second thought. Rhiley didn't care much about the cube but she did care about Dr. Selvig and when she entered the lab to find the scientists all rushing around along with the Agents and saw the look on Dr. Selvig's, she knew it was time to be concerned. 

"What's going on?" Rhiley shouted. 

"It was stable a moment ago." Dr. Selvig yelled over the noise. "It's not stable now." 

Rhiley glanced at the pulsing blue cube, it continued to shake the ground beneath her feet. "There was an energy surge a few hours ago-" 

"When I was in here last?" 

"Yes." Rhiley kept by Dr. Selvig's side as he rushed back and forth, trying to work out why the tesseract started to act up. "I can't shut it down!" 

"Agent Rhiley!" Agent Thompson's voice doesn't affect her this time, "Agent Coulson just ordered a full evacuation! Now!" 

"Got it!" This had been the first time she didn't argue against one of Agent Thompson's orders. 

"I can't go," Dr. Selvig tells Rhiley when she turns to look at him. 

"Then I'm staying." 

"Rhiley-" 

"I was brought here to keep you and everyone here safe." She cut him off, "That's what I'm going to do, Dr. Selvig." Her voice held command, it wasn't like her casual one that Dr. Selvig had grown accustomed to. 

Rhiley held herself differently. She had a mission. 

When a piece of ceiling dropped and almost hit the Doctor only for Rhiley to simply throw it across the room with a flick of her wrist. How effortless it was. He realized he didn't actually know how powerful this young woman was.