Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

THE AVENGERS: CHAPTER NINE

the air in the Helicarrier was sterile. Too clean. Like everything had been scrubbed of human error. It reminded Rhiley of hospitals—and she hated hospitals.

She found herself in one of the less trafficked wings of the upper deck, somewhere between the old weapons hold and the observation bay. Empty rooms. Echoing steel. The kind of quiet that made your thoughts sound like they were being shouted back at you.

She stood in front of a floor-length window, watching the clouds roll beneath them. Nothing but sky.

For a second, it felt like being between worlds.

Suspended.

Trapped.

Her hand drifted up to the barely-healed cut on her cheek. It still ached, dull and persistent, a souvenir from Loki's scepter.

She remembered the way he looked at her—like he knew. Not just about James. Not just about Dylan. But about that thing buried in her chest. The part of her that hummed too close to the Tesseract.

The part she didn't understand.

And she wasn't sure she wanted to.

That's why she found herself in the room that held Loki's cell. He sat cross-legged in the center of his glass cell, eyes closed, a strange calm rolling off him in waves. But something felt...off. She stepped closer to the cell, pulse tightening. 

Loki opened his eyes. Slowly. Like he'd been expecting her. "Ah," He said, his voice silky and unhurried, "The stray star returns." 

"We're not close enough for nicknames." She bit, "How do you know?" 

Loki's smile curved lazily. "You've been touched by it." He said, "The way you hum...like a string plucked by the cosmos. It calls to you." He stared at her, through her..." Or does it call to the power inside?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rhiley said evenly. 

"You do." Loki stood now, graceful and slow, like a cat uncurling. "You pretend you don't. But it's in you. Something ancient. Something beautiful." 

She felt her stomach tighten. "You have no idea what I am." 

"Oh, I have some ideas." Loki said, palm inches away from the glass, "Would you like to see them?" 

The lights flickered again. This time, stronger. "I see you." 

And for a split second, just a blink...her vision doubled. 

Blue light. The sound of a scream- hers? Someone else's? A cold so deep it scraped her bones. 

Then it was gone. 

Loki smiled like he had won something. 

She gathered herself quickly. She stepped up to the glass, inches away. "You know nothing." Her eyes flashed red, and something in Loki's demeanor changed. "She holds a power that should bring you to your very knees." 

Rhiley touched the glass, and her veins drummed with red. "How about I show you something?" 

Something flashed in Loki's eyes, something that made me back away, and for a moment, he was speechless. "That's not..." He didn't have the words, "That's not possible." He looked into the red eyes of the being in front of him. "You're a myth." 

Rhiley blinked, eyes no longer red. "A myth?" She chuckled as if the last few moments hadn't happened. "I think the cage is getting to you." She stepped away, ready to live, not wanting to get in trouble for visiting the prisoner.