Radioactive | Bucky Barnes

THOR 2: CHAPTER SEVEN

"We must move Jane off-world," Thor declared, voice firm and determined.

"The Bifrost has been shut down, and the Tesseract is locked away in the vault," Sif reminded him, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Rhiley stood beside her, arms just as crossed—but with considerably less grace and considerably more tired sarcasm brewing behind her expression.

Heimdall, ever the quiet observer, finally spoke. "There are other paths off Asgard... Ways only a few know."

"One, actually," Thor corrected.

Rhiley's brow furrowed. There was a strange lilt to his voice—something between annoyance and resignation. And then it hit her.

"Oh no," she said, stepping back with a grimace. "You're not talking about who I think you're talking about."

Volstagg was quicker. "No."

Rhiley held up a hand. "Let me guess. Smug, dramatic, green with envy, and a raging superiority complex?" She looked at Thor. "Seriously? Loki? Thor, he's annoying—and also, in case everyone forgot, a murderer. He killed Phil."

Thor turned to her, a quiet sincerity in his voice. "Lady Rhiley, I understand your hesitation. But... if it were your love in danger—what would you do for him?"

Rhiley's mouth opened to deliver another quip, but nothing came out. She stared at Thor.

Everything. She'd do everything.

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Rhiley stood just a few feet behind Thor as he walked up to his brother, "After all this time, and now you come to visit me?" Loki asked, stepping up to the glass prison he had been stuck in ever since the events of New York, "Why? Have you come to gloat? To mock? I see you brought a new bodyguard."

Rhiley didn't flinch at this, she even ignored him. Yet, she still thought of the conversation they had earlier, and for a split second, she saw the look in Loki's eyes. Had he known what was in her head? Her thoughts?

She hated magic.

"Loki, enough. No more illusions." It had been Thor who saw past Loki's performance. Rhiley should have known -- it wasn't as if Loki would have cleaned up after she had left. Suddenly, his cell was exactly how it was when she had been here.

He had shown her the truth while he covered it up for Thor. "Now, you see me, brother," Loki commented, eyeing Rhiley to see if she would say anything.

She said nothing.

"Did she suffer?" He asked, looking back at Thor.

"I did not come here to share our grief." Thor did not answer Loki's question about their mother: "I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."

"Go on."

"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do." Thor continued, "You help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you, vengeance. And afterward, this cell."

Loki chuckles, "You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. What makes you think you can trust me?"

"I have the phoenix." Thor did not hesitate. "Cross me and you have her to deal with."

It was a threat that made fear cross Loki's eyes for a split second.

"But mother trusted you." Thor added have a moment, "You should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere." He paused, "That hope no longer exists."