She didn't remember leaving the building.
One second, she was gripping that stupid business card like it might combust in her hand — the next, she was outside, boots hitting pavement, air too sharp in her lungs.
Her thoughts were loud. Blistering. Every footstep echoed in her skull like gunfire. Her fingers twitched like her skin didn't fit right.
Dylan.
He was supposed to be gone. Dust. Ash. A dead whisper from another time.
And yet—there he was. Clean-cut and smug, walking free like he didn't carve scars into her that never healed.
She barely saw the people she passed. Her brain splintered in five directions—past, present, the way Dylan had asked about her brother' like it meant nothing. Like it wasn't a knife.
Her hand was still holding the business card. She didn't even remember choosing to keep it. But there it was, pressing into her palm like a brand. She wanted to tear it up, but her fingers wouldn't move.
Then—darkness. Silence. A brief flicker of...nothing.
When Rhiley blinked next, she was sitting on Tony's couch.
She looked around like she was waking up from a dream, but her heart was pounding, and her hands were shaking like a panic alarm had been tripped in her body. The place was quiet. Jarvis must've sensed her and chosen not to say anything.
Good.
Because if anyone spoke right now, she might scream.
Her breath came in uneven bursts. She dug her nails into her palms. Focus. Ground. Name five things.
The rug. The glowing arc reactor prototypes are on the shelf. A half-empty coffee mug with Tony's name on it. The ceiling fan. The reflection of her broken face in the glass table.
"Damn it," she whispered.
She wasn't supposed to be here. Tony didn't even want her here.
But her body had chosen for her. It had walked her here, past judgment, past logic, back to where she felt safe.
Or at least where she used to.
She curled in on herself, pulling her knees up to her chest. She should call someone. Steve, maybe. But she couldn't speak. Not yet.
Jarvis's voice finally broke the silence, quiet, like a whisper behind glass. "Miss Rhiley, would you like me to call Mr. Stark?"
She shook her head violently.
"No," she croaked. "No. Don't tell him I'm here."
There was a pause. Then: "Understood."
And she sat in Tony's living room, with Dylan's voice echoing in her head like a curse.
She waited to wake up from this nightmare.
-
-
-
Tony stormed into the living room, tossing a wrench onto the table with a loud clang and muttering under his breath.
"Jarvis, please tell me the place is still mine and no one's broken in again."
A pause.
"I'm afraid Miss Rhiley is here, sir."
Tony stopped dead in his tracks. "You've got to be kidding me."
"She asked me not to inform you," Jarvis added, "but I judged her current condition warranted bending protocol."
Tony scowled. "What condition?"
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...
