"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?"
Tony's entrance snapped Rhiley's focus just long enough for her grip on Loki's ankle to falter — not that she'd ever really had him. Still, getting smacked across the face with the blunt end of his scepter hard enough to see stars? Yeah, that's not exactly a story she planned on sharing.
Loki might've finished her off right then and there if Tony hadn't blasted him first, sending the god sprawling a few feet away in a heap of tangled limbs and wounded ego.
Groaning, Rhiley pushed herself up onto her elbows. The world tilted—two Lokis swam in her vision.
She didn't need to look to know Steve was there; his steady presence always gave him away. A firm grip on her arm hauled her the rest of the way up.
"You're bleeding," he said, eyes narrowing at the gash the scepter had carved across her cheek.
"I'm fine," Rhiley muttered — because anything else would've meant slowing down.
And slowing down wasn't an option.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Tony had every weapon in his suit locked and ready, lasers humming, missiles primed, all of it aimed dead center at Loki's chest.
Loki, to his credit, knew when he was beaten. His armor shimmered and dissolved away as he slowly raised his hands in surrender.
"Smart choice," Tony said coldly.
Rhiley shrugged off Steve's steadying hand. He didn't stop her.
"Mr. Stark," Steve acknowledged, voice even.
"Captain."
Tony's helmet retracted just enough for his eyes to meet Rhiley's. Flat. unreadable. Not anger. Not concerned. Nothing.
"Rhiley."
Her stomach twisted. She wished she could disappear, fold herself into the shadows, into the floor, anywhere but here under his hollow stare.
-
-
-
Natasha watched the skies. Always watching. Always waiting.
The others were tucked in the back of the Quinjet, every eye pinned to Loki like he was seconds away from detonating. Maybe he was.
Rhiley sat apart, alone but not unseen. Not to him.
She didn't know what was worse, Tony's cold shoulder or the idea of him saying nothing else after that hollow greeting back on the ground.
At least the sting of the cut on her cheek gave her something to focus on. Something real.
She cleaned it with the med kit strapped inside the jet, doing it quietly and methodically, all while Loki watched her like a cat that had already decided how the game would end.
Natasha's voice broke through the hum of tension. "Not a word." She wasn't talking to them — the comm in her ear was lit green. Orders. Secrets.
Steve shifted. "I don't like it."
Tony didn't look away from Loki. "What, Rock of Ages giving up that easy?"
"I don't remember it being ever that easy." Steve had taken Tony's attention, "This guy packs a wallop."
Rhiley didn't comment, but the ache in her ribs from Loki's bootprint was a silent agreement.
Loki's smirk told her he knew it.
Still playing.
Still watching.
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Tony commented, "What's your thing? Pilates?"
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...
