Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

IRON MAN 3: CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The knock on the hospital room door was too soft to be a nurse and far too polite to be Tony.

Rhiley stirred from her fog of painkillers and half-sleep, her eyes fluttering open to the clinical white ceiling above. The sterile light painted everything in an exhausted kind of gray. Her voice was rough with sleep and sarcasm. "If you're here to take blood, I'm fresh out. Left most of it on an oil tanker."

The door opened slowly, hinges sighing, and a familiar face peeked in—kind eyes, sheepish posture.

"Not here for blood," Bruce Banner said, one hand raised in quiet surrender, like a man who knew too well the cost of a sudden entrance.

Rhiley blinked, her lips quirking. "Well, if it isn't the other walking science experiment. Come on in, Dr. Jekyll."

Bruce stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with care. "I, uh... just had a session with Tony. Thought I'd check on you. See how you're holding up."

"Physically? Like I got hit by a tank. Emotionally? Like the tank backed up and hit me again," she said, her tone dry as ever. She scooted slightly and patted the bed beside her. "Have a seat, unless you're worried I'll stress you into going green."

He chuckled, settling into the visitor's chair. "I think we're safe. You'd have to do something really dramatic for that."

"Already got shot in the heart. Think that covers today's drama quota."

Bruce winced. "Yeah. Rhodey told me. You scared the hell out of him."

Her smirk faded slightly. "Yeah... I guess I did."

Silence settled like a blanket over the room, broken only by the soft, rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.

Bruce finally spoke, his voice quieter now. "I get it, you know. The whole self-sacrificing, I'll-handle-it-alone thing. I've pulled that card more than once."

Rhiley looked at him, a rare glimmer of curiosity in her tired eyes. "And what did it cost you?"

He hesitated. "Everything. For a while. Until people like Tony... and you... reminded me I didn't have to do it alone."

She studied him then—not the scientist, but the man. Quiet strength wrapped in nerves and intellect.

"You're more put together than I expected."

"Therapy session with a genius billionaire. It'll do that to a guy."

She laughed softly, but it faded quickly. "Yeah, well. I'm a little behind on my own sessions."

Bruce nodded toward her chest, voice sobering again. "You should've told him. Tony's been beside himself. You walked off with a hole in your chest and acted like it was nothing."

"I didn't want to distract him," she murmured. "Pepper was in danger. There wasn't time."

"It's never the time," Bruce replied gently. "But if you keep everyone shut out, you'll end up carrying the weight alone. And that? That's a hell of a load."

Her throat tightened. She managed only a nod.

Bruce rose, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Get some rest. And when you're ready to talk, any of us—Tony, me, even Rhodey—we're here."

"Thanks, Doc."

He hesitated at the door. "He told you everything, right?"

"Tony?"

Bruce nodded. "He got it all off his chest. He's... reeling. Little shocked to have an aunt younger than him. But I think he's more mad at Steve than anything."