"I know."
Of course, he did. Cap always had that grim little tone in his voice when someone was about to do something noble and stupid.
Tony clenched his jaw. His targeting system danced across the screen, but his focus remained on her figure sprinting through smoke and flame.
He'd seen her fight. She was efficient, brutal, even fluid in a way that reminded him uncomfortably of Natasha. But it wasn't just skill. There was history in her movements. Like, she didn't just train for this. Like she remembered it.
That was the thing about Rhiley.
She always felt a little... off.
Not in a bad way. Just too calm in chaos. Too sharp. Too familiar.
She'd once disassembled one of his prototypes without asking, corrected his arc ratio, and walked off like she hadn't just rewritten Stark tech in thirty seconds flat.
And then there were the details she shouldn't know. The way she handled old SHIELD gear like she'd used it for years. The way she talked about Howard—not with awe or anger like most people, but with... annoyance. Affection. Like she'd known him.
Tony shook his head, jaw tight. He didn't have time to chase shadows right now.
But something Steve had said stuck in his head, echoing louder than it should.
"She's doing it because she thinks it's her last chance to make it mean something."
What the hell did that mean?
Tony didn't know much about Rhiley's past—no one did. Fury kept her locked behind more clearance levels than half the nuclear arsenal. And Rhiley? She played her cards tighter than Steve's old uniform.
But now?
Now, she was sprinting toward an open portal to god-knows-where, and it wasn't just bravery driving her.
It was grief.
Tony recognized it. He wore that grief like a second skin every time he remembered Yinsen, or Obie, or even his parents. But Rhiley's grief was older. Deeper.
She carried it like a scar that never healed.
A shadow passed over him—a Chitauri skimmer diving low—and he blasted it without thinking, turning midair to keep her in view.
He didn't know who she was. But something inside him whispered that he should.
And if she didn't come back from that tower, he might never get the truth.
"Jarvis," he said, voice low, urgent. "Watch her."
"On it, boss."
He rocketed forward, pulse hammering.
She was hiding something.
And he wasn't losing another person before he figured out what.
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FLASHBACK
Rhiley watched them play backgammon from her perch on the table. She didn't like games—they always felt pointless—but she ate what she could and tried not to think about what came next.
"You never told me where you're from," Tony said to Yinsen.
"I come from a small village," Yinsen answered, smile bittersweet. "It was good. Before these men destroyed it."
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...
