Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

THE AVENGERS: CHAPTER SIX

The moment she slammed the door of her temporary room on the helicarrier, the dam inside her broke. 

A scream ripped from her throat, raw, furious, ugly, shaking the walls around her. She didn't care. She wanted them to hear.

The chair nearest her didn't stand a chance. With a sharp sweep of her powers, it lifted and crashed hard against the far wall, splintering on impact.

But even that wasn't enough.

None of it ever was.

She could still feel them, their eyes, their words, Loki's voice dripping in her head, Tony's sarcasm digging under her skin, even Steve's steady concern like a hand she didn't want touching her. 

She didn't belong here.

She didn't belong anywhere.

The ground rushed up as she fell. 

Tears she didn't even feel started. Shaking hands buried in her hair. A sob wrenched from somewhere so deep it barely sounded human.

Her body curled in on itself — smaller, smaller — like if she could make herself tiny enough, maybe the ache wouldn't find her.

But it always did.

That was the thing about grief. It knew all your hiding places.

It crawled into bed with you at night. Sat beside you in the quiet. Laughed in your ear when you thought you were safe.

Rhiley pressed her forehead onto the carpet, grounding herself in something real, something solid, because everything else felt like it was unraveling.

"I'm so tired," she whispered.

Like maybe if she said it out loud, someone — anyone — would hear her.

-

-

-

No one questioned her when she quietly made her way back to the rest of the group. Everyone's attention was locked on the screen, watching the live feed of Director Fury facing down Loki.

"In case it's unclear," Fury began, voice sharp, "you try to escape you so much as scratch that glass". He pressed a button, revealing a hatch beneath Loki's cage. "Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" He pointed at Loki. "Ant." Then at the button. "Boot."

Loki's lips curled into a smirk. "It's an impressive cage," he said, almost in admiration. "But not built for me, I think."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury shot back.

From the back of the room, standing apart from the others, Rhiley watched closely. She caught the look Loki threw toward the camera, the same look Banner noticed, too.

"The mindless beast makes play like he's still a man," Loki went on, his voice silk-wrapped poison. "How desperate are you that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury echoed, stepping closer. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You've made me very desperate." His eyes narrowed. "And you might not be glad that you did."

Loki's laugh was low. "Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract. To have unlimited power and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share?" His voice darkened. "Only to be reminded what real power is?"

Fury wasn't fazed. He gave a dry smirk. "Well... you let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." Without waiting for a response, he turned to walk away.