Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

IRON MAN 3: CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It was quiet.

Not the kind of quiet that follows a battle, not the numb silence of shock or pain. This was deeper. Still. Infinite.

Rhiley stood barefoot in a space that felt like nowhere. The world was a soft void, made of silver mist and warmth that wrapped around her like a memory. She wasn't cold. She wasn't hurting. She wasn't... anything.

She looked down at herself, whole. Clean. No blood, no bruises, no bandages. Her body looked as it had before the Phoenix, before the pain. Just her.

And then—behind her—footsteps.

She turned slowly, already knowing who it would be.

"Agent."

Phil Coulson stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets, that same calm, dry expression on his face. Like he'd just walked out of the SHIELD office with his coffee and had a file ready for her.

Rhiley's lips parted, her voice caught somewhere between disbelief and heartbreak. "Phil?" she looked at him.

He nodded, his smile soft. "You've looked better."

She took a shaky breath and stepped toward him. "Are you—"

"Dead?" He tilted his head. "Yeah. Been that way for a bit now. Still keeping tabs, though."

Rhiley swallowed, emotion thick in her throat. "I didn't get to say goodbye."

"You didn't have to. You always made it count." He looked at her with quiet pride. "You were one of the good ones, Rhiley. Even when everything was hell, you held onto yourself. That's not nothing."

She blinked hard. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I lost control. I almost killed—"

"You didn't." He cut her off gently, stepping closer. "You were twisted up by something darker than either of us can fully understand. But even in that darkness, you hesitated. You gave Tony the window he needed. That's not weakness. That's you."

"But I still—"

"You died saving him. Don't rewrite it."

Rhiley was quiet for a moment, then: "Is this it? Am I staying here?"

Coulson looked up toward something above them Rhiley couldn't see. There was a warmth there, something vast and waiting. "That's not for me to say. But I think..." He stepped forward and reached out, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "You're not finished."

The moment his hand touched her, Rhiley felt it. The roar. The fire that wasn't fire. The Phoenix Force, coiled like a star inside her chest, stirring. It didn't hurt—it just was. Infinite and terrifying.

"That thing inside you," Phil said, pulling his hand back, "it's loud. And angry. But it listens to you. You're not its puppet—you're its anchor. That's rare. Maybe it brought you here so you could decide."

Rhiley looked at him, her expression breaking. "I'm so tired, Phil."

"I know." His voice softened. "But they still need you. Harley. Tony. The others. They think they lost you." He smiled. "Might be fun to prove 'em wrong."

She laughed, a short breath of sound that was more disbelief than humor.

"Do me a favor?" he added, already starting to fade like smoke.

"Yeah?"

"Kick that bastard Dylan's ass. Real cinematic style."

"Deal," she whispered.

And just like that, Phil was gone.

The silver mist cracked. The warmth shattered. The Phoenix screamed. And Rhiley—