The last Extremis agent hit the steel deck with a bone-jarring thud, writhing as thick steel cables—ripped from a nearby crane—snapped tight around his limbs. Rhiley's fingers trembled slightly from the effort, knuckles white, but she held the telekinetic bind in place. Her chest rose and fell with slow, deliberate breaths as she fought to keep the fire in her veins under control. It raged beneath her skin now, roaring in the silence, demanding release. Demanding retribution. But she hadn't given in. Not yet.
Then— a scream.
Sharp, human, and too close.
Rhiley's head snapped up. Her gaze followed the sound through smoke and twisted steel, up across the tangle of scaffolding and burning wreckage. At the heart of the chaos, she saw Tony. He was locked in a brutal clash with Killian, Iron Man armor shattered and flickering around him like broken wings. Sparks flew in every direction. Metal shrieked. Desperation clung to the air like gasoline.
And then she saw her.
Pepper.
Dangling from a crumbling catwalk above them, arms flailing as the structure beneath her buckled. The metal groaned and gave way.
Time fractured.
Rhiley's heart stopped. She didn't think. She ran.
Her boots slipped on the oil-slick catwalk, steel grating screeching beneath her as she sprinted forward. She threw out a desperate pulse of telekinesis, hurling herself faster, pushing the world out of her way. Her hand reached out—stretching toward the falling figure—
Too far.
Too fast.
Pepper's scream tore through the inferno.
She vanished into the fire.
Rhiley skidded to a stop at the edge of the platform, chest heaving, lungs struggling against the rising heat. Flames erupted below in a deafening burst, roaring upward like a creature come alive. Wind whipped her hair back from her face, and the fire inside her—always waiting—cried out.
No.
Her eyes stared wide into the blaze, unblinking.
"No... no, no, no—"
Somewhere to her left, Tony's armor sagged mid-strike. His body dropped to its knees. He didn't move. Couldn't.
Pepper was gone.
Rhiley's fists clenched at her sides. She didn't realize the fire on her arms was flickering to life, not in flames, but in the heat that shimmered just beneath her skin. Her breath hitched.
This wasn't just fire.
This was grief.
This was loss. This was James. On that train.
He'd fallen, too. Into the snow. Into death.
She had felt him die. Hadn't she?
But what if she'd been wrong? What if Dylan hadn't lied? What if HYDRA had saved him before the frost took his final breath? What if he was still out there, still fighting some ghost version of himself while she was here, chasing death like it was a friend she knew too well?
The fire crackled louder beneath her, louder than her heartbeat, louder than her thoughts.
And then—
Movement.
A ripple in the inferno.
Rhiley blinked.
A figure was walking through the fire.
Not burning. Not screaming.
Pepper.
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...
